Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

Shi'ite cleric wounded in ambush

BAGHDAD, August 24, 2008 -- (AP) - Gunmen seriously wounded a Shiite cleric and an outspoken critic of sectarian militias in an ambush on a van carrying his wife, mother and sister, police and hospital officials said Sunday.

The cleric, Haider al-Saymari, was attacked Saturday in the southern city of Basra. His relatives were not harmed, said police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Al-Saymari, 38, is a follower of Iraq's top Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a moderate. Al-Saymari is known as a critic of extremists and armed groups in Basra, particularly the Mahdi Army militia of al-Sistani's rival, radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Saymari had lived and worked in the holy Iranian city of Qom since 1991, but returned to his native Iraq to take part in a Shiite religious ceremony earlier this month.

He was heading back to Iran Saturday, passing through downtown Basra, when gunmen firing from a car ambushed his van. Al-Saymari was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Iraqi police officials initially said he was pronounced dead but other police and hospital officials contacted later said he was seriously wounded.

In other violence, assailants attacked police patrols in Baghdad and Baqouba, northeast of the capital.

Gunmen driving an ambulance opened fire on a foot patrol in Baqouba, capital of the turbulent Diyala province, killing three policemen and wounding a bystander, police said.

In eastern Baghdad, assailants set off back-to-back roadside bombs.

The first bomb was detonated when a police patrol stopped in the area, according to Maj. Mark Cheadle, spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces. When a quick response unit of the Iraqi security forces arrived at the scene, a second blast went off.

Cheadle said two Iraqis were killed and 13 people wounded, including seven members of the security forces. Iraqi police reported three dead and 20 wounded.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed in violence since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The number of roadside bombs, suicide attacks and sectarian killings has ebbed in recent months after a U.S. troop buildup, a Shiite militia cease-fire and a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq.

[Al-khiyal]

Five killed, 19 wounded in Iraq violence

BAGHDAD, August 24, 2008 -- A double bombing in Baghdad and a shootout in the restive city of Baquba claimed the lives of at least five people and wounded 19 others on Sunday, security sources said.

Up to three people were killed and eight wounded, including five policemen, when a bomb targeting a patrol exploded on a through-road leading to Iraq's interior ministry, security sources at the ministry said.

As police ran to help a second bomb went off, wounding another five officers, they said.

Meanwhile, in Baquba, two policeman were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout, the defence ministry said.

Earlier this month Iraqi forces backed by US troops launched a massive assault against insurgents in Diyala, one of Iraq's most dangerous areas where fighters regularly carry out attacks.

[Proteus]

After five years, and countless billions wasted, Iraq now has again what it had before the invasion:

""Iraq is now producing as much power as it did on the eve of the US-led invasion of 2003 but is still meeting barely 50 percent of peak demand, a senior electricity ministry official said. "2008 is the first year when production has reached the level prior to that of Saddam Hussein's fall," the ministry's operations and control chief Adel Mahdi said in an interview. "But we still need much more." Current production stands at 5,302 megawatts, virtually the same as the 2002 level of 5,305 MW, Mahdi said. ""

Middle East Online

[Al-khiyal]

Maliki: Foreign troops to exit Iraq by 2011

BAGHDAD, August 25, 2008 -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday said Washington and Baghdad have agreed that there will be no foreign forces in the war-torn country after 2011.

"There is an agreement between the two sides that there will be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011," Maliki said in a statement issued by his office.

Washington and Baghdad have for months been negotiating a controversial military security pact to decide the future of US-led foreign troops in Iraq once a UN mandate expires in December.

On Friday, the chief Iraqi negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud said that the security pact had been finalised by both the sides and already approved by US President George W. Bush.

He said that under the 27-point deal all American combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraqi cities by next June ahead of a complete withdrawal by 2011.

Bush and Maliki had agreed last November to formalise such an agreement by July 31.

The arrangement was delayed by strong opposition from Iraqi leaders over issues such as a timetable for withdrawal, how many bases Washington would retain and whether US troops would be immune from Iraqi laws.

Hammoud said all issues had been addressed in the deal.

He added, however, that there was a possibility US troops could leave before 2011 or remain beyond the target date.

"There is a provision that says the withdrawal could be done even before 2011 or extended beyond 2011 depending on the (security) situation," he said.

Hammoud said that even if the withdrawal is completed by 2011, some US troops could remain to train Iraqi security forces.

He said the issue of how many bases Washington would retain in Iraq depended on the number of troops left behind for training purposes.

A number of committees would also look into offences committed by American troops in Iraq. The immunity offered to US soldiers currently in Iraq was one of the main sticking points in the negotiations which began in February.

The deal has drawn sharp criticism from Iraq's political factions, especially from the anti-US group of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

[Proteus]

"some US troops could remain to train Iraqi security forces."

How many are "some", is the question I'd like the answer to. I note that the discussion seems to be rooted in the withdrawal of "combat troops". Funny, one would imagine that is by definition a soldier. How many of these are leaving? How many are staying?

For some reason there seem to be no precise numbers supplied.

This is not by mistake.

[Al-khiyal]

Four killed in car bombing north of Baghdad

TIKRIT, August 26, 2008 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and six others injured in a car bomb explosion near a government office in Tikrit, the capital city of Salahudin province on Tuesday, a provincial police source said.

"A booby-trapped car bomb detonated at about 07:45 a.m. (04:45 GMT) at the gate the provincial Health office in Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad," Col. Hassan Ahmed, from the provincial police command, told Xinhua.

Two policemen guarding the office were among dead, Ahmed said.

Iraqi security forces rushed to the scene and cordoned off area while ambulances evacuated the victims to the city hospital, he added.

The attack apparently targeted Hassan Zen-al-Abdeen, the director of the health office, who was not at the office at the time of the attack, he said.

Zen-al-Abdeen is a member of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), headed by the Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who is also head of the Unified Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the leading Shiite bloc in the Iraqi parliament.

Violence persists in some Iraqi areas including Salahudin province despite a relative lull of violence as a result of a U.S. military surge.

[Al-khiyal]

U.S. soldier shot dead in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, August 26, 2008 (Xinhua) -- An American soldier died of wounds sustained from a small-arms attack in northern Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The soldier, who assigned to a Multi-National Division-Baghdad, died on Monday at a military hospital after being shot by a small-arms fire while he was conducting a foot patrol in the area, a military statement said.

The soldier was evacuated to a medical facility but later died due to his fatal wounds, the statement said.

The name of the deceased soldier is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, it added.

More than 4,145 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.