Posted on 04/08/2005 8:44:35 PM PDT by TexKat
Happy liberation day ChadGore!!
Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold a demonstration in Baghdad's Firdos Square April 9, 2005, where a statue of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was pulled down by Iraqis and American soldiers two years ago. The rally was called on the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with protesters demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq and a speedy trial for former president Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Akram Saleh
Shiites Mark Anniversary of Baghdad's Fall
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 9, 9:02 AM ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest against the American military presence at the square where Iraqis and U.S. troops toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago.
Supporters of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr burn the American while holding up a poster of assassinated Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr. Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr demanded US troops leave Iraq and called on God to cut off their necks in a fiery speech to tens of thousands in Baghdad on the two-year anniversary of the city's fall to the Americans.(AFP/Ali Al-Saadi)
Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold a protest in Baghdad April 9, 2005. The rally was called on the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with protesters demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq and a speedy trial for former president Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
The protesters back Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric whose militia led uprisings against U.S. troops last year, and their large numbers reflected frustration both with the U.S. government and anger toward the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
"This huge gathering shows that the Iraqi people have the strength and faith to protect their country and liberate it from the occupiers," said Ahmed Abed, a 26-year-old who sells spare car parts.
U.S. officials, who are slowly handing security to Iraqi forces, have refused to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying the troops will stay until Iraqi forces are able to secure the country.
The protesters filled Firdos Square and spilled onto nearby avenues, waving Iraqi flags. Mimicking the famous images of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis pulling down a statue of Saddam as Baghdad fell, protesters toppled effigies of President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Saddam — all dressed like Iraqi prisoners in red jumpsuits. Other effigies of Bush and Saddam were burned.
Iraqis raise effigies of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, Saddam Hussein, and U.S. President George W. Bush, all wearing chains, nooses and orange jumpsuits during a rally in Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, April 9, 2005. Tens of thousands of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings last year against U.S. troops, called Saturday for American forces to withdraw from Iraq. The demonstration overflowed Firdos Square, where protesters pulled down a towering statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago to the day. A new sculpture at left, symbolizing freedom, stands on the same pedestal as the former Saddam statue.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
An Iraqi man strikes his boot against a cut out of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, at left, during a rally in Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, April 9, 2005. Tens of thousands of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings last year against U.S. troops, called Saturday for American forces to withdraw from Iraq. Cutouts of U.S. President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein are carried at right.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
"Force the occupation to leave from our country," one banner read in English.
The Shiite protesters also called for the now-jailed Saddam to face justice, and they held up framed photos of al-Sadr's father, a prominent cleric executed by Saddam. Mahdi Army militiamen searched people entering the demonstration area as Iraqi policemen stood to the side.
Al-Sadr officials said the cleric did not attend the protest because of security concerns. He has largely stayed close to his home in the holy city of Najaf since a U.S.-led assault on his militia in the city in August 2004.
Al-Sadr has wide support among impoverished and young Shiites but overall fewer followers than Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in the country.
Shiites make up 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, and thousands killed by Iraqi forces under Saddam.
Demonstrators swung from a statue said to represent freedom and constructed on the pedestal where Saddam's statue once stood. They also acted out examples of prison abuse widely reported after photos were released showing U.S. soldiers piling naked inmates in a pyramid at Abu Ghraib prison.
Iraqis demonstrators stage a mock reenactment of Abu Ghraib Prison abuses during a rally in Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, April 9, 2005. Tens of thousands of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings last year against U.S. troops, called Saturday for American forces to withdraw from Iraq. The demonstration overflowed Firdos Square, where protesters pulled down a towering statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago to the day.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Iraqi Shi'ites loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr re-enacts a torture scene from the Abu Ghraib prison during a protest rally in Baghdad April 9, 2005. The rally was called on the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with protesters demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq and a speedy trial for former president Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Kimo Atal
Robed and turbaned Shiite clerics were seen among the crowd.
No violence was reported, although late Friday a senior al-Sadr official who had arrived from Karbala to take part in the protest was gunned down in the New Baghdad neighborhood. Fadhil al-Shawky died in the attack on his car. Two others were wounded.
U.S. and Iraqi security forces kept a close eye on the march, with U.S. soldiers standing behind blast walls topped with barbed wire and armed soldiers watching from rooftops. The protest was held in the shadow of the Sheraton and Palestine hotels, both of which have been home to foreign journalists and contractors.
A US tank blocks a bridge across Baghdad's Tigris River. Tens of thousands of protestors poured into Baghdad's Firdos square to demand US troops leave the country, as 15 Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing.(AFP/Sabah Arar)
U.S. Army soldiers watch as Shi'ite protestors demonstrate against the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq, in Najaf, April 9, 2005. Tens of thousands of followers of a rebel Shi'ite cleric marched in Baghdad on Saturday to denounce the U.S. presence in Iraq and demand a speedy trial of Saddam Hussein, on the second anniversary of his overthrow. REUTERS/Abu Shish
Iraqi soldiers hold-up the national flag as they secure a street in the capital for an anti-US protest in Baghdad. Tens of thousands of protestors poured into Baghdad's Firdos square to demand US troops leave the country, as 15 Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing.(AFP/SABAH ARAR)
Al-Sadr had stayed out of the limelight since leading failed uprisings last year in the southern city of Najaf and in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. But he has stepped up criticism of the United States in recent weeks, mainly by organizing Saturday's protest, which fell far short of the 1 million people he hoped would assemble.
Officials organized the demonstration with the Iraqi Interior Ministry's promise of protection. A group of protesters and police spent all night securing the square. Roads in central Baghdad were closed to traffic as streets filled with people.
Sunni Muslim clerics also called on their followers to protest on the two year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, but officials in the influential Association of Muslim Scholars refused to say Saturday where or when the protests would take place. Iraq's Sunni minority was dominant under Saddam and is believed to make up the backbone of the country's insurgency.
Shi'ite protestors demonstrate against the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq in Najaf, April 9, 2005. Tens of thousands of followers of a rebel Shi'ite cleric marched in Baghdad on Saturday to denounce the U.S. presence in Iraq and demand a speedy trial of Saddam Hussein, on the second anniversary of his overthrow. REUTERS/Abu Shish
Jalil al-Shemari, a senior al-Sadr official, said the Sunnis would not be joining in the Shiite rally at Firdos Square.
During his Friday morning sermon in the capital, the head of an influential Sunni group accused coalition forces of "killing the Iraqi people daily."
"We demand that the occupation troops withdraw from Iraq. We don't want them to do it immediately, but we want them to set a timetable for their withdrawal," said Sheik Harith al-Dahri, whose Association of Muslim Scholars is believed to have ties to Iraq's insurgents.
Other marches were held across the country to demand that the United States set a timetable for its withdrawal. In the central city of Ramadi, thousands of protestors demonstrated in the al-Sufayaa neighborhood and at Anbar University, demanding that U.S.-led coalition forces set a withdrawal date.
Also Saturday, in the troubled northern city of Mosul, a car bomb detonated near a police patrol, killing at least two policemen and injuring 13 civilians, Dr. Baha al-Deen al-Bakry of the Jumhouri hospital said.
Iraqi National Guard (ING) soldiers secure the scene of a suicide car bomb blast in the northern city of Mosul April 9, 2005. One policeman was killed and at least 14 people were injured when a suicide car bomber attacked a joint Iraqi police and ING patrol, witnesses said. REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen
Brig. Gen. Watheq Ali, deputy police chief of the Nineveh province, said the blast was an assassination attempt against him, although he was unhurt. He said a suicide car bomber rammed a car into the rear vehicle in his seven-car police convoy as it was stopped at a traffic light. _____
An Iraqi man waves the nation's flag from atop a new sculpture symbolizing freedom upon the pedestal of the former Saddam Hussein statue on Firdos Square during a rally in Baghdad, Iraq Saturday, April 9, 2005. Tens of thousands of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led uprisings last year against U.S. troops, called Saturday for American forces to withdraw from Iraq.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
An Iraqi Shi'ite loyal to cleric Moktada al-Sadr holds a photograph depicting Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein and U. S. President George W. Bush during a protest rally in Baghdad April 9, 2005. The rally was called on the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with protestors demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq and a speedy trial for former president Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Akram Saleh
An Iraqi Shi'ite loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ties a noose around an effigy of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as it stands next to effigies of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) and U.S. President George W. Bush (R) during a protest rally in Baghdad April 9, 2005. The rally was called on the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with protestors demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq and a speedy trial for former president Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
Iraqi Shi'ites loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr carry cut-outs of U.S. President George W. Bush and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein at a protest rally in Baghdad April 9, 2005. The rally was called on the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with protestors demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in Iraq and a speedy trial for former president Saddam Hussein. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
Associated Press reporters Qasim Abdul-Zahra and Sameer Yacoub contributed to this report from Baghdad.
Indy Pendance
Ft. Riley ping to post #19.
By Scott Stearns - Washington
09 April 2005
President Bush is using his weekly radio address to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II, who was buried at the Vatican Friday. The president says the funeral ceremonies were a powerful and moving reminder of the profound impact the pope had on the world.
During nearly three decades, Mr. Bush says, Pope John Paul brought the message of hope and love and freedom to the far corners of the Earth.
"Many in the West underestimated the pope's influence," he said. "But those behind the Iron Curtain knew better, and, ultimately, even the Berlin Wall could not withstand the gale force of this Polish pope."
Mr. Bush was the first sitting American president to attend a papal funeral. He lead a delegation that included his father - former President George Herbert Walker Bush - former President Bill Clinton, First Lady Laura Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush says the call to freedom that defined John Paul's papacy was forged in the experiences of the pope's own life, studying for the seminary during the Nazi occupation of Poland and later contributing to the fall of communism by spreading a moral truth that, Mr. Bush says, was a force greater than armies or secret police.
The president says the pope held a special affection for America and the self-evident truths of human dignity enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
"It is these timeless truths about man, enshrined in our founding, the pope said, that have led freedom-loving people around the world to look to America with hope and respect," he said. "And, he challenged America always to live up to its lofty calling. The pope taught us that the foundation for human freedom is a universal respect for human dignity."
By his own example, in the face of illness and suffering, President Bush says, the pope showed all humanity the path to a culture of life, where the dignity of every human person is respected.
While the president and pope differed over the war in Iraq and the death penalty, they were allies on more conservative social issues, including opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
Oops, some posts coming across delayed.
You did not do anything. I was just bumping your post as a good find, good post and pinging freeper IP who has a daughter that is supporting the group who found the cache.
Iran's President Mohammad Khatami, center, Israeli President Moshe Katzav, top left, King Abdullah of Jordan, bottom left back to camera, and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, top right, stand in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Friday April 8, 2005, prior to a funeral mass for Pope John Paul II. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Khatami Denies Shaking Hands With Katsav
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami strongly denied shaking hands and chatting with Israeli President Moshe Katsav at Pope John Paul II's funeral, state-run media reported Saturday.
Following the pope's funeral on Friday, Katsav said he shook hands and chatted briefly with Khatami and the leader of another archenemy of Israel, Bashar Assad of Syria. Syria on Friday confirmed the handshake between Assad and Katsav but played down its political significance.
But after returning to Iran, Khatami denied shaking Katsav's hand.
"These allegations are false like other allegations made by Israeli media and I have not had any meeting with any one from the Zionist regime," the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khatami as saying.
Khatami was cited as saying his country "morally and logically" does not recognize Israel but will not interfere in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, meanwhile, said he doubted the handshake could represent a diplomatic breakthrough.
"I hope that it can be a new beginning, certainly. But frankly I doubt it," Shalom said in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa published Saturday. "Khatami and Assad are two extremists. It could only have happened thanks to the truly magnetic personality of John Paul II."
Israeli media reported Friday that during the Pope's funeral ceremony, Khatami talked briefly with Katzav. Some suggested the exchange was a small breakthrough between the leaders of two nations that have had no relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran toppled the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The Iranian-born Katsav said he and Khatami conversed about Yazd, the region in central Iran where both men were born.
"The two of us were born in the same region in Iran, two years apart," Katsav was quoted as saying.
"The president of Iran extended his hand to me, I shook it and told him in Farsi, 'May peace be upon you.'"
Iran and Israel have been bitter enemies for years — Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that must be wiped from the world map.
Iran is accused of supporting Lebanon's Shiite Muslim militant group, Hezbollah, which fought Israeli soldiers until they withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah continues to launch occasional attacks against Israeli troops in a disputed parcel of land on the southern Lebanese border.
Iran also hosts militant Palestinian groups, including Hamas, and President Bush recently accused Iran of being the "the world's primary state sponsor of terror."
Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, has repeatedly said the destruction of Israel is the only way to solve the problems of the Middle East. But Iran's reformers, including Khatami, avoid using such language.
9 April 2005
BAGHDAD - Twenty-nine people were killed and scores wounded in attacks against Iraqi security forces and civilians on Saturday, the second anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
In the most deadly attack, a roadside bomb killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded others on the main highway through Latifiyah, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, a defense ministry official said.
The bomb exploded at 7:30 am as a convoy of Iraqi troops passed through the town, the official said. No other details were immediately available.
On the same road just outside Latifiyah, five civilians were gunned down by attackers, said Imad Al-Dulaimi, a doctor at a nearby hospital, adding that he had no further details.
The area around Latifiyah, populated by a mix of Sunnis and Shias, is called the “triangle of death” for its high rate of murders and kidnappings.
Also south of Baghdad, four drivers were killed and four wounded in an ambush on a 14-truck trade ministry convoy traveling between Kut and the capital, an interior ministry source said.
Truck drivers have been killed with increasing frequency in recent months as insurgents hit economic targets and the route from Kut, 175 kilometres southeast of the capital, has become a regular target for insurgents.
In Baghdad, a deputy to anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr was killed in the southern Dura district as he drove to an anti-US protest in the capital, a Sadr official said.
Assailants in another car opened fire on Sayed Fadel Al-Shoq, deputy director of Sadr’s office in the city of Karbala, killing him and wounding another Sadr deputy from the nearby city of Al-Hor, the Sadr official said.
Dura has been riven by sectarian strife. A US army officer in the district has described a low-level war in Dura between Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia and Sunni insurgents.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomber in an Opel blew himself up, killing a police officer and a civilian and wounding 14 other people, including 11 policemen, medical sources and police told AFP.
Mosul transformed into an urban war zone in November when rebels executed Iraqi security officers and over-ran police stations.
In other violence, an Iraqi soldier and a civilian were killed in a roadside bombing in Mashaada, 30 kilometres north of Baghdad, said army Captain Assad Saddad.
Iraqi army and police killed one insurgent and arrested three suspected insurgents in a morning clash in Balad, 75 kilometres north of Baghdad, police said.
The corpses of an Iraqi contractor and a truck driver were found at 5 am in Dujail, north of the capital. Rebels in the Sunni Muslim heartland north of Baghdad have killed dozens of people suspected of working with the Americans and the new Iraqi government.
Meanwhile in the southern port of Basra, two civilians were wounded around 9:30 am in another roadside bomb targeting an Iraq police convoy in Basra, said Haider Abdul Mahdi, a police spokesman.
Sat Apr 9, 2005 01:54 PM ET
RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead the newly appointed police chief in the Iraqi town of Haditha as he left a meeting with U.S. troops on Saturday, Iraqi police said.
They said Ziad al-Joghaithi had been appointed police chief in the town, in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad, earlier this month.
Blackanthem.com, TARMIYA, Iraq, April 9, 2005
An explosion sent shockwaves across the road as an improvised explosive device was detonated in the path of a patrol from 1st Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment, 3rd Brigade 1st Armored Division, shortly before 8 a.m. April 7.
No U.S. troops were injured in the attack.
A white vehicle raced away from the scene of the attack, attracting the attention of Apache helicopters which were dispatched as close air support. U.S. forces tracked the vehicle until Soldiers from 1-13 Armor stopped and searched the car 12 minutes after the detonation.
The Soldiers detained three Iraqi males and found a video camcorder as well as a remote detonating device.
The video contained footage of the alleged terrorists manufacturing an IED and scouting locations to attack U.S. convoys.
“This is a unit patrol…over there is a bomb,” said one of the men on the tape. “By the help of God, we will execute them.”
The video shows the suspects watching U.S. convoys and planting the IED.
“There is a hummer over there,” one man said. “The one before the last one, no, no, no.”
Then the tape went blank, presumably when the IED was detonated.
Task Force Baghdad officials say this type of apprehension is significant because a complete IED team has been taken out of action.
“It’s rare that you get evidence this good,” said Maj. Andy Boston. “Usually, you have to work a lot harder to catch the ‘trigger man.’”
The terror suspects were detained and now await legal review and incarceration if convicted.
The road leading to Tarmiya is historically a hotbed of IED activity, however, local leadership is working with U.S. forces to encourage stability in the region.
“The Tarmiya Sheik Council is working with us to stabilize and promote growth and political participation in their region,” said Boston.
This type of cooperation allows the Sunni tribal leaders in this area to participate in the process of increasing security in Iraq.
Another example of international cooperation came April 7 when two local Tarmiya sheiks worked in conjunction with coalition forces to have rendered into their control Arkan Mukhlif al-Batawi’s sister and mother who were detained for questioning as terror suspects April 2 during a cordon and search of their house in the Taji area.
The sheiks offered to take responsibility for the women so they would not be required to remain in coalition custody.
The women described the U.S. forces as very polite. “The Soldiers treated us better than we would even expect a brother to treat us,” they said.
“We hope there is a new bond between our people and the coalition forces” said one of the Mushadani tribal leaders.
By Sgt. Kevin Bromley 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division PAO
Multi-National Force-Iraq
April 08, 2005
Marine dies in Fallujah mishap CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq – A Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary...more
Detained mother, sister rendered to local sheik BAGHDAD, Iraq – Two women detained by Iraqi Police and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers were rendered into the control...more
Four detained in raid in Khadasia TIKRIT, Iraq – Task Force Liberty Soldiers detained four suspected terrorists during a raid in Khadasia, north of Tikrit, at about 10:20 p.m. April 7...more
Task Force Baghdad veterinarian brings life to livestock MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq - Captain Katherine M. Knake has wanted to be a veterinarian since she was 8 years old. Now the native of...more
Multi-National Forces detain terrorists MOSUL, Iraq – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five suspected...more
Patrol strikes IED, nabs suspected ‘trigger man’ TARMIYA, Iraq -- An explosion sent shockwaves across the road as an improvised explosive device was detonated in the path of a patrol from...more
Soldiers awarded for Egyptian hostage rescue CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq -- One Soldier received a Bronze Star and eight Soldiers received the Army Commendation Medal April 5 for rescuing two...more
Task Force Liberty Soldier killed by IED TIKRIT, IRAQ -- One Task Force Liberty Soldier was killed when an IED detonated around 12:00 p.m. on April 8. The attack occurred near Hawijah...more
While the weebel woobel shite trouble instigating cleric remains at his undisclosed hide out.
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer There are growing signs of hostility between secular Iraqi insurgents and Muslim extremists — some of them foreigners — fighting under the banner of al-Qaida.
The factions have exchanged threats and are increasingly divided over the strategy of violence, much of it targeting civilians, that aims undermine the fragile new government.
The increased tension, critically, arises as the mainstream component of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency — which remains active, deadly and vibrant nearly two years since it began — has opened a campaign designed to reap political gain out of its violent roots.
Post-election realities appear to have forced the tactical change as majority Shiites and Kurds consolidate power and the population grows increasingly angry over the largely Sunni-driven insurgency that is killing vast numbers of ordinary people and the country's fledgling army and police force.
"You see a withering of the insurgents that had a short-term agenda, like preventing the January election. But the insurgency is not unraveling yet," said Peter Khalil, former director of national security policy for the now-defunct U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq.
The divide among militants, however, is becoming more noticeable.
In Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province and a stronghold of the insurgency, homegrown Iraqi fighters have begun recently to air their differences in menacing fliers plastered on walls and distributed in mosques — making threats and denouncing the tactics of the extremists, according to witnesses who have seen the fliers.
Some of the fliers threaten reprisals against the militants or threaten to inform police of their identity and whereabouts. The extremists have not publicly responded, but residents say the fighters have kept a low profile since the appearance of the fliers in the Euphrates-side city and that some of them may have moved to the outskirts to avoid clashes.
Ramadi's insurgents argue that al-Qaida fighters are giving the resistance a bad name and demand they stop targeting civilians and kidnappings. Al-Qaida militants counter that Iraqis who join the army and police are "apostates" — Muslims who renounce their faith — and deserve to be killed.
"They have tarnished our image and used the jihad to make personal gains," said Ahmed Hussein, a 30-year-old mosque imam from Ramadi, speaking of al-Qaida fighters. "They have no legitimacy," said Hussein, who claims insurgency links but says he's not a fighter himself.
In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Azamiyah district, another insurgency hotbed, residents have repeatedly brought down from walls and street light poles the black banners of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The rift also involves Sunni Arab tribal leaders frustrated by the continuing violence. And it is being encouraged by Iraqi authorities in the hope that it would isolate the militants. Iraq's local TV channel, Al-Iraqiya has recently been showing nightly interviews with captured Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters, many who speak of alleged links to Syrian intelligence.
Iraq's newly elected president, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, urged insurgents to sit down and talk with the new government, but he's made it clear his offer is exclusively available to homegrown Iraqi insurgents and not to extremists or foreign fighters.
"We must find political and peaceful solutions with those duped Iraqis who have been involved in terrorism and pardon them, and invite them to join the democratic process," Talabani said Thursday as he was sworn in at parliament. "But we must firmly counter and isolate the criminal terrorism that's imported from abroad and is allied with criminal Baathists."
Ideological or tactical shifts within the insurgency are difficult to gauge because of the secrecy surrounding it and the different, sometime conflicting, agendas of its disparate groups — with the majority of homegrown insurgents hardcore members of Saddam's Baath party, former members of his army and security forces as well as religious nationalists.
Associated Press reporters in the insurgency strongholds of Ramadi, Baqouba and Samarra say there have been fewer attacks in those towns in recent weeks. They also report rising hostility toward militants associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian al-Qaida leader in Iraq.
U.S. defense officials say nationwide attacks were down to 40-45 a day in recent weeks, lower than the pre-election daily average of 50-60.
The change was apparent after the Jan. 30 elections, with the number of U.S. soldiers killed dropping from 58 in February to 33 in March — the lowest monthly death toll since 20 American soldiers were killed in February 2004, according to an Associated Press count.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed news reports in Arab media that factions of the insurgency may be indirectly negotiating with authorities to lay down their arms in return for amnesty, jobs and reconstruction money. The Iraqi government has not commented.
There is a growing feeling among Sunni Arabs that boycotting the landmark Jan. 30 election may have been a mistake. Shunning the vote left Sunni Arabs, who make up 15 percent to 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 million people, with less than 20 of parliament's 275 seats.
Some experts believe the insurgency has begun to rely on Sunni Arab leaders, particularly the influential clerics of the Association of Muslim Scholars, to act as its political wing.
Many in Iraq see this as a division of labor in the pursuit of political gains, with one Iraq expert — Ahmed S. Hashim, of the U.S. Naval War College — saying it mirrors the arrangement between the Irish Republican Army in British-ruled Northern Ireland and Sinn Fein.
"The insurgency's political wing needs the leverage provided by the military wing," said Hashim who had spent time in postwar Iraq. "Military operations ensure that Sunni Arabs can be taken seriously," he said.
In the most striking example so far of the shifting Sunni ground, the Association of Muslim Scholars — which has tacitly supported the insurgency — made a surprise about-face last week and appealed to supporters to join Iraq's nascent army and police.
If heeded, that move could improve the perception of Iraq's U.S.-trained army and police as the exclusive domain of Shiites and Kurds. it also could — significantly — lure away from the insurgency any fighters looking for a regular income and a less perilous life.
In addition, in towns across the mostly Sunni Arab Anbar province, worshippers have recently been asked to fill questionnaires about whether Sunni Arabs should take part in drafting the country's new constitution or participate in the next general election.
It's not known who is behind this polling exercise, but those who received the forms were asked to return them to mosque imams.
US embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The United States shut its embassy in Yemen for what it called 'administrative work' after Britain suspended operations at its mission, citing a 'credible security threat'.(AFP/File/Khaled Fazaa)
U.S. Embassy in Yemen Closes After Warning
Sat Apr 9, 8:03 AM ET
SAN'A, Yemen - The United States and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen for security reasons Saturday after warning against travel to the country.
U.S. Embassy spokesman John Balian did not elaborate on the security concern or say how long the embassy would remained closed.
On Friday, the State Department said the threat to U.S. citizens "remains high due to terrorist activities" and authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency personnel and eligible family members. It also advised U.S. citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Yemen.
The State Department said it was concerned that extremists might carry out attacks against U.S. citizens or interests and that the embassy may temporarily close or suspend public services occasionally for security reasons.
The British Embassy also closed to the public Saturday citing security reasons.
On Friday the British government warned its citizens to avoid travel to the area around Sa'dah, a city 125 miles northwest of San'a where clashes between government troops and supporters of a slain rebel Shiite cleric have killed at least 43 troops and 37 militants since March 28.
Yemen is the ancestral home of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. In 2000, al-Qaida suicide bombers blew a hole in the destroyer USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors.
While long tolerating Muslim extremists, Yemen cracked down on militants following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and aligned itself with the U.S.-led war on terror.
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