Thursday, December 21, 2006
The latest developments in Iraq:
Documents presented in court Wednesday suggested Saddam Hussein's deposed government deliberately targeted Iraqi civilians with chemical weapons during a late-1980s counterinsurgency operation meant to stamp out a Kurdish rebellion. Saddam, facing charges of genocide against the Kurds, vehemently has maintained that his so-called Anfal campaign was a justified attempt to defend the country against Iranian invaders and their agents in Iraq. But prosecutors Wednesday pointed to a sentence in a document that apparently showed government officials knew the chemical weapons would have little effect on Iranian troops. Iran and Iraq fought a brutal eight-year war ending in 1988. "Most Iranian agents in the targeted area have the necessary equipment and medical kits to protect themselves from a 'special ammunition' attack," said a letter signed by Col. Farhan Mutlaq Jabouri, a military intelligence officer now standing trial as one of Saddam's six co-defendants.
The deputy leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, told the United States it is negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq, suggesting in a video released Wednesday that his terror group was the real power broker in the country. The terrorist chief warned that al-Qaida would keep fighting U.S. troops in the Muslim world and target Western nations in retaliation. But he also criticized rival Islamic militant groups, such as the Palestinian Hamas, for being too soft in waging "jihad" or holy war.
U.S. forces ceded control of southern Najaf province to Iraqi police and soldiers, who marked the occasion Wednesday with a parade and martial arts demonstrations. Home to 930,000 people, Najaf saw heavy fighting two years ago, but has been relatively peaceful lately. About 1,500 police officers, soldiers and security personnel staged a parade around an infield of stubby brown grass, in festivities complete with warriors on horseback. At one point, a small group of soldiers stepped forward with a live rabbit and tore it to pieces. The leader bit out the heart with a yell, then passed around the blood-soaked remains to his comrades, each of whom took a bite. The group also bit the heads off frogs, as some of those in the crowd held their noses from the stench. Chewing on live animals is a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq and was also observed by special units during Saddam Hussein's rule.
The bodies of 76 unidentified people were recovered in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said, the highest 24-hour toll so far for the anonymous slayings that have become a grim part of life in the capital. All of the victims were men between the ages of 20 and 50.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed by separate roadside bomb explosions Wednesday. One soldier died while investigating an explosion on foot with a combat patrol southwest of the capital, the military said. Another soldier died after an explosion near his vehicle during a road-clearing mission in southern Baghdad. Six soldiers were wounded in the explosions.
The U.S. military announced Wednesday that coalition soldiers last Thursday captured an al-Qaida leader suspected of attacks last year in Baghdad and Mosul that resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, including the downing of a coalition helicopter, kidnappings and suicide car bombings. The leader was identified in the military statement only as "The Military Emir of Mosul" and, later, "The Military Emir of Karkh."
The Pentagon wants the White House to seek an additional 99.7 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information provided to The Associated Press. The military's request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year's budget for those wars to about 170 billion.
Source: Combined dispatches