Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
March 9, 2008 By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Thousands took to the streets Saturday in Basra, protesting deteriorating security in the city where Iraqi forces assumed responsibility for safety in December.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Iraqi security forces had discovered a mass grave in Diyala province containing perhaps 100 bodies. Also Saturday, two separate bombings in the province northeast of Baghdad left six people dead.
In Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the urban center of an oil-rich region, Shiite groups have been wrestling for control.
Residents are becoming increasingly alarmed, saying killings, kidnappings and other crimes have increased significantly since British forces turned over responsibility for Basra at the end of last year.
In February, two journalists working for CBS were kidnapped in the city. One was released, but the other, a Briton, is still being held.
As many as 5,000 people demonstrated near the Basra police command headquarters Saturday, demanding that the police chief, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, and the commander of joint military-police operation, Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji, resign.
Many carried banners, decrying the killing of women, workers, academics and scientists. Dozens of women were slain in Basra by religious extremists last year because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings."
Saturday's protesters, overwhelmingly men, came from several Shiite political movements, including the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and its militia wing, known as the Badr Brigade.
Khalaf said at a news conference later that "today's demonstration was a natural right of the citizens and the political parties to express their opinions."
He defended the performance of the police, saying they had freed 10 people who were kidnapped in the past 10 days and "detained 64 people accused of carrying out sabotage and terrorist operations all over Basra."
Questions about oil revenue
The Democratic chairman and Republican former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee have asked government auditors to determine what Iraq is doing with the billions of dollars in oil revenue it generates.
"We believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years, despite Iraq earnings billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks," Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John Warner, R-Va., said Friday in a letter to the head of the Government Accountability Office.
"At the same time, our conversations with both Iraqis and Americans during our frequent visits to Iraq, as well as official government and unofficial media reports, have convinced us that the Iraqi government is not doing nearly enough to provide essential services and improve the quality of life of its citizens," they said.
They estimated that Iraq will realize "at least $100 billion in oil revenues in 2007 and 2008."
March 9, 2008 By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Thousands took to the streets Saturday in Basra, protesting deteriorating security in the city where Iraqi forces assumed responsibility for safety in December.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Iraqi security forces had discovered a mass grave in Diyala province containing perhaps 100 bodies. Also Saturday, two separate bombings in the province northeast of Baghdad left six people dead.
In Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the urban center of an oil-rich region, Shiite groups have been wrestling for control.
Residents are becoming increasingly alarmed, saying killings, kidnappings and other crimes have increased significantly since British forces turned over responsibility for Basra at the end of last year.
In February, two journalists working for CBS were kidnapped in the city. One was released, but the other, a Briton, is still being held.
As many as 5,000 people demonstrated near the Basra police command headquarters Saturday, demanding that the police chief, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, and the commander of joint military-police operation, Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji, resign.
Many carried banners, decrying the killing of women, workers, academics and scientists. Dozens of women were slain in Basra by religious extremists last year because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings."
Saturday's protesters, overwhelmingly men, came from several Shiite political movements, including the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and its militia wing, known as the Badr Brigade.
Khalaf said at a news conference later that "today's demonstration was a natural right of the citizens and the political parties to express their opinions."
He defended the performance of the police, saying they had freed 10 people who were kidnapped in the past 10 days and "detained 64 people accused of carrying out sabotage and terrorist operations all over Basra."
Questions about oil revenue
The Democratic chairman and Republican former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee have asked government auditors to determine what Iraq is doing with the billions of dollars in oil revenue it generates.
"We believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years, despite Iraq earnings billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks," Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John Warner, R-Va., said Friday in a letter to the head of the Government Accountability Office.
"At the same time, our conversations with both Iraqis and Americans during our frequent visits to Iraq, as well as official government and unofficial media reports, have convinced us that the Iraqi government is not doing nearly enough to provide essential services and improve the quality of life of its citizens," they said.
They estimated that Iraq will realize "at least $100 billion in oil revenues in 2007 and 2008."