Dahr Jamail

One week after Iraqi government forces arrested an Awakening Group (commonly referred to as Sons of Iraq, al-Sahwa) leader, Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad’s Fadhil neighborhood in Baghdad, sparking gun battles that raged for hours between US-backed Iraqi forces and US-allied Sunni militiamen that killed three people, militiamen have once again been detained, widening concerns that sectarian violence may once more engulf Baghdad. There are 50,000 Sahwa fighters in Baghdad alone.

Ill-Equipped Soldiers Opt for "Search and Avoid"
Inter Press Service
By Dahr Jamail

WATERTOWN, New York, Oct 24 (IPS) - Iraq war veterans now stationed at a base here say that morale among U.S. soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions.

Phil Aliff is an active duty soldier with the 10th Mountain Division stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York. He served nearly one year in Iraq from August 2005 to July 2006, in the areas of Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, both west of Baghdad.

What Bush calls “progress in Iraq”
September 7, 2007

Visit the Dahr Jamail website
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
DAHR JAMAIL has spent eight months in Iraq since 2003 as an “unembedded” reporter, providing an indispensable independent analysis of the disastrous U.S. occupation. His book Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq will be released this month, and Dahr will appear at meetings around the country in conjunction with its publication.

Here, he talks to ERIC RUDER about the fact and fiction of the Bush administration’s “surge” of combat troops and the future of Iraq.
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Fighting Amongst Shias Adds to Violence
Inter Press Service
By Ali al-Fadhily*

BAGHDAD, Sep 11 (IPS) - Clashes between rival Shia militas in Kerbala have spread across southern Iraq and Baghdad, adding a new dimension to sectarian violence.

Clashes between the Mehdi Army militia of Shia anti-occupation cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organisation militia of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) erupted over recent days in the holy city of Kerbala, 100 km southwest of Baghdad.

Kerbala, with a population of about half a million, is a holy city, particularly for the Shias, as it is home to the tomb of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

The shrine of Imam Hussein is a place of pilgrimage for many Shia Muslims.

Clerics Begin to Take Over

By Ali al-Fadhily*
Inter Press Service
Sep 10, 2007

BAGHDAD, Sep 10 (IPS) - Religious clerics are beginning to play an increasingly powerful role in Iraq. Many Iraqis now fear that they are endangering human rights and religious freedom in the once largely secular country.

Clerics began to play a major role since the U.S.-led occupation began in April 2003. Despite the promises of U.S. President George W. Bush to turn Iraq into a secular and free country, clerics have become the real leaders, and are beginning to control most political matters.

Samarra Under U.S. Attack
Inter Press Service
By Ali al-Fadhily*

BAGHDAD, Sep 6 (IPS) - Residents are fleeing Samarra city in the face of fierce fighting between U.S. forces and resistance groups.

New defiance is rising against U.S. forces following military "crimes", fleeing residents say.

"On Sunday the 26th of August, there was fierce fighting between armed men and American forces in the Armooshiya district, and I saw Americans evacuate many of their soldiers by stretchers," a man who fled Samarra for Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "As usual, Americans took revenge by bombing the district."

With Donkeys for Transport, All Is Well

Inter Press Service
By Ali al-Fadhily*

FALLUJAH, Sep 5 (IPS) - A brave new attempt is under way to project that all is well now with Fallujah. Residents know better -- or worse.

Former Iraqi minister of state for foreign affairs Rafi al-Issawi visited Fallujah, 60 km west of Baghdad, Aug. 22. Issawi, who resigned Aug. 1 when the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front withdrew from the government, visited the city with other members of the Sunni Accordance Bloc, al-Tawafuq.

The group toured the city and met with senior officials and community leaders in a show of conversion of the city from the most violent to the most peaceful in Iraq.

Children Starved of Childhood

Inter Press Service
By Ahmed Ali*

BAQUBA, Sep 2 (IPS) - The violence around the continuing U.S. military operations in this city has robbed children of their childhood.

Only two provincial schools and one private kindergarten school are functioning in this city of 280,000, located 50 km north of Baghdad. Most children know neither school nor play.

Or even the food they want. "We parents can hardly meet the basic requirements of food," Mahdi Hassan, a father of four, told IPS.

Another U.S. Military Operation, More Unrest
Inter Press Service
By Ali al-Fadhily*

BAGHDAD, Aug 22 (IPS) - New U.S. military operations across Iraq appear to be worsening the situation.

On Aug. 13 about 16,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops began a massive new military operation north of Baghdad. According to the U.S. military, the goal of the operation, named Lightning Hammer, is to "target insurgents who have fled a crackdown in the restive city of Baquba."

The operation is part of a larger military offensive, Operation Phantom Strike, whose goal is "to disrupt al-Qaeda in Iraq and Shia extremist operations in Iraq."

Both operations have included extensive use of air strikes. Many residents speak with bitterness about the operations and the language used to describe tem.

Caught Between the U.S. and Al-Qaeda

Inter Press Service
By Ahmed Ali*

BAQUBA, Aug 20 (IPS) - The major U.S. military operation in Baquba city north of Baghdad has ended, but it has left continuing suffering for residents in its wake.

The U.S. military launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Baquba, 50 km northeast of Baghdad, on Jun. 18. Baquba is the capital city of Iraq's Diyala province.

The stated goal of the operation was to eradicate al-Qaeda from the city and other areas in the province. The region has seen some of the highest number of attacks on U.S. troops.

Shortly after launching the operation, the U.S. military admitted that nearly 80 percent of al-Qaeda militants had fled the area.