[Cid_Yama]

<b>Fuel supplies for US troops hit</b>

Some 40 road tankers supplying fuel to American troops in Afghanistan have been destroyed by suspected pro-Taleban militants on the border with Pakistan.

The attack on the fuel tankers took place at about 2000 local time on Sunday.

Local officials said two explosions were heard in an area where more than 100 fuel lorries had been parked for the night, waiting to cross the border and deliver fuel to US forces in Afghanistan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7311064.stm

[Cid_Yama]

<b>Hezbollah backs down</b>

Nasrallah said Hezbollah will choose the "time, the place, the way and the means" by which the Shiite militant group will seek revenge for the death of Imad Mughniyeh in a Damascus car bombing on February 12.

Nasrallah said that although his group was still bent on Israel's destruction, it would nonetheless continue negotiations to free Lebanese prisoners in Israeli custody.

"Although they killed Mughniyeh, we will not stop negotiations to free the detainees. We will continue our work," he said.

"Eighty-five percent of the Lebanese people support the decline of the Zionist regime," he said. "But this does not mean that we are going to open a battlefront in the south of the country. This is not Lebanon's responsibility."

link

Yeah, yeah Nasrallah. Put up or shut up, you wimp. What happened to waging "open war" against Israel?

[Kaj]

This discussion supports what you are saying Cid, that Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Israel crises are all very interconnected at this time. They agree the tensions are very close to the edge, and seem quite excitable.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/ ... ew.war.cnn

You can tell these guys are just loving the geopolitics

[Cid_Yama]

Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraq's government and the U.S. embassy, appeared to be under rocket or mortar attack on Monday, Reuters witnesses said.

A siren wailed inside the U.S.-protected compound and a recorded voice warned people to take cover amid the sound of explosions. A dust storm enveloping the city made it difficult to see where the missiles were landing.

The attack came a day after Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mehdi Army fighters off the streets in an effort to end six days of clashes with Iraqi and U.S. forces.

Many of the attacks on the Green Zone have been launched from Sadr City, a Mehdi Army stronghold in eastern Baghdad.

link


<b>Rockets spread fear in Baghdad's Green Zone</b>

With volleys of mortars and rockets raining down daily on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, security rules for soldiers and diplomats in the complex have taken on a chilling new urgency.

Two US officials and two Iraqi guards of Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi have been killed since last Sunday, when the first waves of attacks began on the zone, seat of the Iraqi government and home to foreign embassies.

Some staff members of the US embassy admit they are in a state of constant fear. "The atmosphere is tense," said a US embassy staffer who asked not to be named. "Our nerves are shot. We are always afraid."

link


<b>'Thousands' deserted al-Maliki side in Iraq fighting</b>

The apparent thousands of Iraqi policemen who refused to fight against Shiite militias have been relieved of duty, the Iraqi interior minister said Monday.

The decision by Jawad al-Boulani covers units operating in Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and the predominately Shiite areas in southern Iraq, including Basra.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered Iraqi forces to crack down on militias affiliated with cleric Moqtada Sadr and other influential Shiite leaders, sparking widespread violence that rippled throughout the country last week.

Thousands of Iraqi police officers refused to fight the militias and several Iraqi army units joined their forces in Baghdad, the Iraqi daily, Azzaman said.

The move, the newspaper said, may boost the ranks of the Shiite militias as those relieved of duty may join their forces instead.

link

[steam_cannon]

under rocket or mortar attack on Monday

But what about "Mission Accomplished"?

A dust storm enveloping the city made it difficult to see where the
missiles were landing.

More important I expect that the volleys are hard to pinpoint where
they are coming from. So they can't be counter attacked. "The
green zone" is nothing but a big old fashion castle in sand storm
conditions. Old time cannons and trebushets would be effective
under those conditions. Smart attack really, really unnerving too
striking a blow against the center of US fortifications.

Dust storms knock out all our toys: flying drones, nightvision and airstrikes.
I'm not cheering the terrorists, but you have to give them credit for
recognizing this hole in our defenses. But on the other hand, the
green zone is a sitting duck anyway. It's big and easy to aim a
mortar that way and walk away. The mortar fires off and even if
they did an airstrike back they wouldn't hit anyone. Even rebels firing
rifles in that direction are bound to hit something. The classic
problem of a fixed target, is it's a fixed target.

If only we had some sort of mountain fortress like.

By the way, anyone see Bin Laden lately?

[threadbear]

Hopefully this means a cessation of American led death squads run by Sunnis. Yep, that's right. Somehow the Americans, through some kind of circuitous reasoning, killed Saddam, relieved the military, and in an attempt to deBaath Iraq, ended up in bed with the Sunnis, who are predominately Baathist. This so exposes the utter bullshit this war was premised on.

Bring on the new Tet offensive!

[heroineworshipper]

Well, to their credit, the news dropped Iraq coverage for the 12 months when there was no bad news. Having said that, US is pretty worthless against the suicide empire. They should stick to playing mortgage pyramid & leave to fighting to Israel.

[Kaj]

Hopefully this means a cessation of American led death squads run by Sunnis. Yep, that's right. Somehow the Americans, through some kind of circuitous reasoning, killed Saddam, relieved the military, and in an attempt to deBaath Iraq, ended up in bed with the Sunnis, who are predominately Baathist. This so exposes the utter bullshit this war was premised on.

Bring on the new Tet offensive!

At least one thing has changed however. Saddam's palace now has a swimming pool. Check it out:
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/signs-of-occupation.html

[Kaj]

Wait I think I see it on the old photo, but I don't think there's water in it!

[mos6507]

All I have to do is read the headlines. If it has to do with bad news for the US or its allies, Cid posted it.

[sicophiliac]

On a side note I am surprised (or i guess not so surprised) the media hasn't called this and especially the fighting in Basra what it is. A civil war ! Militias battling government forces, in any other place or time or circumstance this would be defined as a civil war, plain and simple. Not here for some reason. I guess the corporate media wants to down play it as much as possible till the election comes up this fall. So much for the troop surge.

[Tyler_JC]

All I have to do is read the headlines. If it has to do with bad news for the US or its allies, Cid posted it.

You can say that again.

At least he doesn't bother with a "hidden" agenda. He lays it out in the open.

I can respect that.

[steam_cannon]

On a side note I am surprised (or i guess not so surprised) the media
hasn't called this and especially the fighting in Basra what it is. A civil
war ! Militias battling government forces, in any other place or time or
circumstance this would be defined as a civil war, plain and simple. Not
here for some reason. I guess the corporate media wants to down
play it as much as possible till the election comes up this fall. So much
for the troop surge.

Sure I guess you could call it a civil war, if Iraq is a state of the US!

Maybe rebels fighting the "government" in Occupied France were in a "Civil War"?

[dissident]

Gee, what a bunch of humanitarians the US and its "allies". More of that inane WWII imagery that is completely upside down. This time around it is the US and its "allies" that are in the role of the aggressor Nazis. Don't spew about democracy you cretins, Hitler was out to remake the world in his image too. When Saddam was in power hundreds of civilians weren't dying every day and Iraqis are not more free today under the new theocracy than they were under the Baathist dictatorship. In fact, half the population (women) were much more free. And no it does not matter if it is Iraqis killing Iraqis, it's on your watch and the presence of doctor death squad Negroponte in Iraq on more than one occasion makes all the domestic strife suspect as a divide and rule ploy.

[Cid_Yama]

<i>At least he doesn't bother with a "hidden" agenda. He lays it out in the open.</i>

My 'agenda' is stated in my signature. The press in the US has been subverted and is like what we were told news in the old Soviet Union was like, little more than propaganda.

I am a patriot in the 'founding fathers' sense of the word. Thomas Paine revealed the truth about the American colonies relationship to the crown of King George.

I do the same today.

[Cid_Yama]

<b>Iraqis demand end of occupation - Attacks on Green Zone continue</b>

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his forces to halt random raids across Iraq on Friday, as crowds of Shiites spilled on to the streets to denounce him and demand that US troops quit their areas.

Crowds surged on to the streets after the main weekly Muslim prayers in Sadr City, Kadhimiyah and Shuala -- Mahdi Army strongholds in east Baghdad -- as well as in Basra, correspondents said.

"No! No! to occupation. Yes! Yes! to Islam," chanted the crowd in Sadr City, many of them carrying posters showing a caricature of Maliki bearing the words "Maliki is a puppet of Hakim."

Sadr's supporters accuse the premier of siding with rival Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim in the battle for control of Basra -- Iraq's main oil hub -- ahead of provincial elections in October.

Protestors in Sadr City also demanded the withdrawal of US forces.

Though much of the fighting in Sadr City which raged during the Basra operation has subsided, Stover said attacks on US patrols were continuing.

The US spokesman said there was also persistent mortar and rocket fire against Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=223957