Operation Phantom Fury--Day 287 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 182

US soldiers patrol the streets of Kabul on August 18. Four US soldiers were killed and three wounded in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.(AFP/File/Shah Marai)

The state funeral in Madrid, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2005, for the 17 Spanish soldiers, who died when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan. The Spanish soldiers were part of the NATO-led security force preparing for next month's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. The crash on Tuesday was NATO's largest single loss of life in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Bernardo Rodriguez, Pool)

An Afghan soldier stands guard at an outpost in Qargha, western Kabul, August 19, 2005. Strong foreign-led security planning would prevent militants from seriously disrupting Afghanistan's parliamentary elections next month, the new U.S. ambassador said on Thursday. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A horse is decorated with Afghan flag at the ceremony to mark the 86th anniversary of Afghan Independence day at the Kabul stadium, Afghanistan on Friday Aug. 19, 2005. Thousands Afghans gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Afghan Independence day Day that marks its liberation from Britain in 1919 after The Third Anglo-Afghan War. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Aqaba attack may signal new Zarqawi front in Jordan

Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:41 AM ET

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - A rocket attack which narrowly missed two U.S. warships in Jordan may be a signal Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi has opened a new front against Washington's closest Arab ally, security experts said on Sunday.

The two U.S warships were likely to be carefully chosen targets, the experts said. The vessels are among those that have been regularly docking and unloading supplies in the Red Sea port of Aqaba since the U.S. led the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Jordanian intelligence experts say the attack using Katyusha rockets indicates Zarqawi may favor expanding military attacks to pro-U.S. ally Jordan to hurt Washington's war effort in Iraq.

"Zarqawi appreciates more than ever that by hitting the U.S. military in Jordan he would score not just a symbolic victory but maybe disrupt a hitherto safe supply route for the U.S. army into bases in the western desert (of Iraq)," said one intelligence expert and official who requested anonymity.

Jordan denies providing logistical backing to Washington's military campaign though the U.S. military have said in briefings it has used the country as a main supply route.

Friday's attack missed the USS Ashland and its sister ship the USS Kearsage and was the most serious on U.S. targets in the staunchly pro-Western kingdom since the killing of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman in 2002.

"This is the first time they actually penetrated in a well coordinated military operation. Zarqawi will have learned from this how to conduct a military operation in Jordan even if it missed its target...," one security official said.

The incident has stoked fears in a tightly policed country that has not seen the kind of attacks on tourist resorts and Westerners that have taken place elsewhere.

"The possibilities now exist of an increase in terror attacks and wider targets. It's unavoidable we have now become targeted like Saudi Arabia and Egypt," said Mahmoud Kharabsheh, a prominent deputy and a former senior intelligence official.

The last major attempt by Zarqawi's group last year was a plot to wage a chemical attack using suicide bombers against government and U.S. targets in the kingdom.

Audio tapes purportedly from Zarqawi have vowed to punish Jordan's rulers for "aiding the treacherous enemy America."

Security sources say Jordanian militants, who have become battle hardened in Iraq, may have brought their first hand fighting skills closer to home.

"It's premature to tell now but if the attackers trained in Iraq then this could be a very dangerous turn. We have so far only seen Jordanian militants heading to Iraq and blowing themselves up in suicide bombings," one former minister with ties to the intelligence community said.

Jordanian security officials say several hundred die-hard militants with links to other radical Arab groups have entered Iraq via Jordan and Syria since the U.S. invasion.

U.S. probes killing of Iraqi by marines

Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:36 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it had opened a criminal investigation into the killing by U.S. Marines of a relative of Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations.

A statement from the military said the commanding general of the II Marine Expeditionary Force had referred the case of the death of Mohammed al-Sumaida'ie to the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service for further investigation.

"At the conclusion of the investigation, a report will be provided to the command for review and further action as appropriate," the statement said.

Mohammed al-Sumaida'ie, the son of ambassador Samir al- Sumaida'ie's first cousin, was shot dead near Haditha, western Iraq, as Marines were searching his family's home on June 25.

In July, ambassador Sumaida'ie, who has been Iraq's representative at the United Nations since last year, accused U.S. troops of killing his 21-year-old relative, an engineering student, "in cold blood" and demanded a full inquiry.

Sumaida'ie said at the time the ramifications of what he called a "serious crime" were enormous for the United States and Iraq. U.S. officials promised a thorough investigation.

The U.S. military has been accused many times since the 2003 Iraq invasion of killing innocent Iraqis in house raids or at roadblocks.

The military says its troops do everything they can to minimize civilian casualties and exercise restraint at all times.

Following complaints, some investigations have been launched and U.S. troops have been convicted of wrongful deaths. But Iraqis say it is often very difficult to get the military to open investigations.

US planning four more years in Iraq

Sunday 21 August 2005, 7:20 Makka Time, 4:20 GMT

The US Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq - well over 100,000 - for four more years, the Army's top general said.

According to an Associated Press interview on Saturday, General Peter Schoomaker said the Army is prepared for the "worst case" in terms of the required level of troops in Iraq.

He said the number could be adjusted lower, if called for, by slowing the force rotation or by shortening tours for soldiers.

Schoomaker said commanders in Iraq and others will decide how many troops will be needed next year and beyond. His responsibility is to provide them, trained and equipped.

About 138,000 US troops, including about 25,000 Marines, are now in Iraq. "We are now into '07-'09 in our planning," Schoomaker said, having completed work on the set of combat and support units that will be rotated into Iraq over the coming year for 12-month tours of duty.

Schoomaker's comments come amid indications from officials of President George Bush's administration and from commanders in Iraq that the size of the US force may be scaled back next year if certain conditions are achieved.

Conditions

Among those conditions: an Iraqi constitution must be drafted in coming days; it must be approved in a national referendum; and elections must be held for a new government under that charter.

Reservists account for about 40% of the total US forces in Iraq

Schoomaker, who spoke aboard an army jet on the trip back to Washington from Kansas City, Missouri, made no predictions about the pace of political progress in Iraq.

But he said he was confident the army could continue to provide the current number of forces in Iraq for many more years.

He was in Kansas City for a dinner on Friday hosted by the Military Order of the World Wars, a veterans' organisation. "We're staying 18 months to two years ahead of ourselves" in planning which active-duty and National Guard and Reserve units will be provided to meet the commanders' needs, Schoomaker said in the interview.

Change in rotations

The Army has changed the way it arranges troop rotations.

Instead of sending a full complement of replacement forces each 12-month cycle, it is stretching out the rotation over two years.

The current rotation, for 2005-07, will overlap with the 2006-08 replacements. Beyond that, the Army is piecing together the plan for the 2007-09 switch, Schoomaker said.

With the recent deployments of National Guard brigades from Georgia and Pennsylvania, the National Guard has seven combat brigades in Iraq - the most of the entire war - plus thousands of support troops.

Along with the Army Reserve and Marine Reserve, they account for about 40% of the total US forces in Iraq. Schoomaker said that will be scaled back next year to about 25% as newly expanded active-duty divisions such as the 101st Airborne enter the rotation.

No risk

August has been the deadliest month of the war for the National Guard and Reserve, with at least 42 fatalities thus far.

Schoomaker disputed the suggestion by some that the Guard and Reserve units are not fully prepared for the hostile environment of Iraq.

"I'm very confident that there is no difference in the preparation" of active-duty soldiers and the reservists, who normally train one weekend a month and two weeks each summer, unless they are mobilized. Once called to active duty, they go through the same training as active-duty units.

In internal surveys, some in the reserve forces have indicated to army leaders that they think they are spending too much time in pre-deployment training, not too little, Schoomaker said.

"Consistently, what we've been (hearing) is, 'We're better than you think we are, and we could do this faster,"' he said. "I can promise you that we're not taking any risk in terms of what we're doing to prepare people."

Egypt's security forces hunt down terror suspects in Sinai

CAIRO, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Egyptian security forces, backed by armored vehicles, launched at dawn on Sunday a wide-scale searching campaign in central Sinai to pursue "terror suspects," the official MENA news agency reported.

Security forces were searching for "elements suspected ofinvolvement in a series of bombings in Taba, Sharm el-Sheikh andel-Goura," said MENA, referring to three separate attacks in theSinai peninsular since last October.

Following a string of suicide bombings which hit Taba and Ras Shitan, two Sinai resorts, on Oct. 7 last year, triple bombings rocked Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on July 23.The first attack killed 34 people while in the second attack, at least 64 lost their lives.

Last Monday, another remote-controlled bomb went off near a base of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in el-Goura, North Sinai, damaging a MFO patrol vehicle and slightly injuring two ofits Canadian members.

Suspecting the attacks were carried out by a home grown terrorist cell in the Sinai area with international support, Egyptian security forces have been conducting a massive man hunt in the region.

Security forces started massive combing operations in mountainous and desert areas in Sinai to arrest the terror suspects, believed to have sought refuge in these areas, said MENA. The cleanup is to include el-Hosna, el-Nakhl and el-Qasimah districts, in addition to the border areas between North and SouthSinai, and between Ismailia and Suez.

Recent investigations have indicated that some terror suspects involved in these incidents fled to remote areas in the Sinaipeninsula, added the report.

Iraq “holding 281 foreign insurgent suspects”

21 August 2005

BAGHDAD - Iraq has in custody 281 foreigners suspected of involvement in insurgent activity, a spokesman for the Iraqi government said on Sunday.

“All of the foreigners currently in custody are involved in charges that are related, one way or another, to terrorism networks,” said spokesman Leith Kubba.

“Figures from the former regime, according to intelligence information, are regrouping in a neighbouring country,” Kubba said.

“They have begun funding the spreading of rumours to demoralise Iraqis, damage the image of democracy and thwart the referendum on the constitution.”

Topping the list of detainees’ nationalities were Egypt (80), followed by Syria (64) and Sudan (41). Kubba said there was also a Briton in the group.

He named a total of 14 countries, all of them Arab, except Iran, Turkey and Britain.

Al Qaeda group tells Iraq’s Sunnis to boycott charter vote

(AFP)

21 August 2005

DUBAI - Ansar Al Sunna, an extremist group linked to Al Qaeda, has warned Iraq’s Sunni Muslims to boycott a referendum on the constitution due to be held in October, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Sunday.

“Some are calling on Sunnis to take part in the referendum under the pretext that it will lessen injustice and allow them to recover their rights. These are lies ... which will lead to a split between Sunnis and their mujahedeen (Islamic fighter) children,” according to the statement.

“A constitution is for illegitimate states,” it said. “Anyone who obeys a law other than God’s law is a miscreant.”

The statement was issued as Sunnis in Iraq -- who largely boycotted the January elections -- began registering to vote in the October referendum on the constitution.

However, the charter itself has not yet been written, with Iraqi politicians racing against the clock to meet a new August 22 deadline for the draft to be submitted to parliament.

The Organisation of Al Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers (Iraq), the movement headed by most wanted militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, has previously issued death threats against those who take part in the referendum.

Gary Qualls, of Temple, Texas, holds up a cross bearing his sons name that he took from Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford, Texas, Saturday. Qualls had asked Sheehan's supporters to stop using his son's name. This is the second cross he had taken from this camp.

Bush supporters start own camp

By Angela Brown Associated Press

CRAWFORD, Texas - A patriotic camp with a "God Bless Our President!" banner sprung up downtown Saturday, countering the anti-war demonstration started by a fallen soldier's mother two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch.

The camp is named "Fort Qualls" in memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, killed in Fallujah, Iraq, last fall. His father, Gary Qualls of Temple, said his 16-year-old son also wants to enlist, and he supports that decision.

"If I have to sacrifice my whole family for the sake of our country and world, other countries that want freedom, I'll do that," said Qualls, a friend of the local business owner who started the pro-Bush camp, Bill Johnson.

Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., started the war protest Aug. 6 off the road leading to Bush's ranch. It has grown to about 100 core participants, and hundreds more from across the nation have visited, many staying a few days.

Sheehan remained Saturday in Los Angeles, where she flew Thursday after her 74-year-old mother had a stroke. Her mother has some paralysis on her right side but is in good spirits, and if she improves Sheehan may return to Texas in a few days, some demonstrators said.

In her absence, the rest of the group will keep camping out for the unlikely chance to question the president about the war that has claimed the lives of about 1,850 U.S. soldiers. Sheehan's 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, died last year just five days after arriving in Iraq.

LM Otero Associated Press

Gary Qualls, of Temple, Texas, kneels in front of a memorial to his fallen son Marine LCPL Louis Qualls in Crawford, Texas, Saturday. Qualls son died in Iraq and he has started his own camp in Crawford to support President Bush and the war in Iraq.

Sheehan had refused to leave until Bush talked to her or until the end of his monthlong vacation, scheduled for Sept. 3. Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan but won't change his schedule to meet with her. She and other families met with Bush about two months after Casey died, before she became a vocal opponent of the war.

Large counter-protests were held in a ditch near Sheehan's site a week after she arrived, and since then a few Bush supporters have stood in the sun holding signs for several hours each day.

But Johnson, who owns the town's biggest gift and souvenir store Yellow Rose, said he created "Fort Qualls" as a larger, more convenient place for Bush supporters. The tent and a trailer on a vacant lot beside his store will be staffed each day, but people will probably not sleep there.

"A lot of people saw a problem (with the war protest) and said there needs to be relief," Johnson said Saturday afternoon, as patriotic music played at the tent containing a life-size cardboard cutout of Bush.

Qualls gained attention last week when he went to Sheehan's camp, which has hundreds of crosses as a tribute to troops killed, and removed one bearing his son's name. But he said protesters keep replacing it; he has yanked two more crosses, saying the protesters' views are disrespectful to soldiers.

Johnson and others at "Fort Qualls" have asked for a debate with those at the Crawford Peace House, which is helping Sheehan.

It's unclear if that will happen. But a member of Gold Star Families for Peace, co-founded by Sheehan and comprised of relatives of fallen soldiers, said her group would not participate.

"We're asking for a meeting with the president, period," said Michelle DeFord, whose 37-year-old son, Sgt. David W. Johnson, was in the Army National Guard from Oregon when he was killed in Iraq last fall. "We don't want to debate with people who don't understand our point of view."

Kurds Fault U.S. on Iraqi Charter

Posted GMT 8-21-2005

BAGHDAD -- Kurdish politicians negotiating a draft constitution criticized the U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Saturday for allegedly pushing them to accept too great a role for Islamic law in his drive to complete the charter on time.

Although a Sunni delegate made similar charges, U.S. officials declined to comment publicly while they worked with politicians as a Monday deadline loomed.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad spent Saturday shuttling among Iraqi political leaders, members of Iraq's constitutional committee said. Distribution of oil revenue dominated the talks, but no agreement was reached, delegates said. Shiite Arab, Kurdish and Sunni Muslim factions differ on how much revenue should be controlled by the government and how it should be divided.

The question of Islamic law drew strong public protests from Kurds.

The working draft of the constitution stipulates that no law can contradict Islamic principles. In talks with Shiite religious parties, Kurdish negotiators said they have pressed unsuccessfully to limit the definition of Islamic law to principles agreed upon by all groups. The Kurds said current language in the draft would subject Iraqis to extreme interpretations of Islamic law.

Kurds also contend that provisions in the draft would allow Islamic clerics to serve on the high court, which would interpret the constitution. That would potentially subject marriage, divorce, inheritance and other civil matters to religious law and could harm women's rights, according to the Kurdish negotiators and some women's groups.

Khalilzad supported those provisions and urged other groups to accept them, according to Kurds involved in the talks.

"Really, we are disappointed with that. It seems like the Americans want to have a constitution at any cost," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the constitutional committee. "These things are not good -- giving the constitution an Islamic face.

"It is not good to have a constitution that would limit the liberties of people, the human rights, the freedoms," Othman said.

Other delegates also complained about pressure from Khalilzad.

"His main interest is to push the constitution on time, no matter what the constitution has in it," said Salih Mutlak, a Sunni delegate who has been outspoken against some compromise proposals.

"No country in the world can draft their constitution in three months. They themselves took 10 years," Mutlak said, referring to the United States. "Why do they wish to impose a silly constitution on us?"

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said Saturday that Khalilzad remained immersed in the talks and could not be reached for comment. U.S. officials declined to comment.

Khalilzad, an energetic and engaged diplomat, has taken a direct role in the constitutional talks since taking his post late last month.

Many factions, including the Kurds, credit Khalilzad for skill at bringing the sides together and pushing compromises.

The constitutional debate led to demonstrations Saturday. More than 3,000 people rallied to support voter participation in Ramadi, a center for Sunni Arabs.

Demonstrators also denounced a proposed federal system sought by Kurds and some Shiites. A speaker, cleric Mushehin Ahmed, called the draft a "federalism of Iran," alleging it would build ties between the Shiite south and neighboring Shiite Iran.

In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, several hundred Arabs demonstrated against the charter, chanting, "Yes to unity! No to federalism!"

A roadside bomb killed an American soldier in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Gunmen killed two policemen and two civilians in separate attacks in Baghdad, the Associated Press reported, quoting police.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in Fallujah in a grenade attack and one involving a roadside bomb, the AP reported, citing hospital sources.

By Ellen Knickmeyer

Washington Post

Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Sunnis Threaten to Derail Charter

Provided By: The Associated Press

Last Modified: 8/21/2005 9:52:38 AM

BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni Arabs complained Saturday they were being sidelined in talks on the new constitution only two days before the deadline and warned that their community will reject the document if it is submitted to parliament without Sunni consent.

"They will surprise us in the final hour," Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four main Sunni negotiators, told The Associated Press. "We will reject it and the people will be angry, the street will be angry and as a result we will be back to square one."

But a Shiite politician, Khaled al-Attiyah, was upbeat and said the negotiations were in the final stage. He said the Shiites submitted a new proposal on the distribution of Iraq's oil wealth, one of the remaining obstacles to a deal by the Monday night deadline.

Sunni Arabs also object to demands by Kurds and the largest Shiite party for a federal state, and oppose a major role for Shiite clergy in Najaf.

On Saturday, it appeared that only Kurds and Shiites were negotiating. Sunni Arabs were not present at the deliberations and al-Mutlaq said "things are not good."

Another principal Sunni negotiator, Ayad al-Samarai, said Sunnis agreed with the Kurds and Shiites on some unspecified points.

He added: "Concerning federalism, we are still holding to our position, which is that it be postponed until after the general elections, and we refused to accept it in the constitution at this time."

Al-Samarai said the Sunnis accepted the existence of the Kurdish self-ruled region, established in 1991, but did not want the system duplicated elsewhere as long as U.S. and other foreign troops remain in Iraq.

Al-Mutlaq alleged that the Americans, Shiites and Kurds were cutting deals and "we have no idea what is going on." He complained that Sunni negotiators were being sidelined "after we convinced the (Sunni) people to take part in the political process through mosque preachers, who used to condemn such participation."

A U.S. soldier assigned to the 42nd Military Police Brigade was killed Saturday in a roadside bombing, the U.S. military said. At least 1,865 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Also Saturday, about 5,000 people gathered outside the main mosque in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi to condemn the constitutional process. And in the northern oil city of Kirkuk several hundred Sunni Arabs demonstrated against the charter, chanting "Yes to unity, no to federalism."

On Friday, three members of the largest Sunni Arab political party were abducted by gunmen in Mosul as they were hanging posters urging Sunnis to register to vote. The gunmen drove them to a mosque, forced them against a wall and shot them dead in front of horrified witnesses.

Police said one of the cars used in the kidnapping was confiscated Saturday after a shootout in which three insurgents were killed. It was unclear if those three insurgents were part of the assassination team, police said.

Shiites and Kurds have enough seats in the 275-member parliament to push through a constitution without Sunni approval, but doing so would risk a backlash from the community at the forefront of the insurgency. One of the main U.S. goals was to have the Iraqis produce a constitution to satisfy everyone involved and that would, in time, lure Sunnis away from the insurgency.

Once the constitution is approved by parliament, it will go to the voters in a national referendum Oct. 15. However, if two-thirds of the voters in three of the 18 provinces reject the constitution, it will be defeated.

Sunni Arabs comprise about 20% of the national population but are in the majority in at least four provinces.

U.S. officials have expressed hope that a new constitution will allow for a reduction in the American force there — it now numbers about 138,000 troops. But Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army's top general, said Saturday the Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq for four more years.

"We are now into '07-'09 in our planning," Schoomaker said, having completed work on the set of combat and support units that will be rotated into Iraq over the coming year for 12-month tours of duty.

As the haggling dragged into its final hours, violence continued.

Twenty civilians were injured in Fallujah on Saturday after attackers tossed two hand grenades into a crowded marketplace, the U.S. military said. The U.S. military said there were no Iraqi security forces killed or wounded and all casualties were civilians.

Elsewhere, two Iraqi policemen were killed in a gunfight in western Baghdad.

The U.S. military said Saturday that U.S. troops raided an insurgent hideout in central Baghdad, rescued a hostage and arrested three kidnappers. The military did not give the nationality of the hostage freed in the Thursday night raid.

'Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?' Iraq TV's 'Cops' wins viewers, breaks new ground

TINI TRAN Associated Press Writer

KIRKUK, Iraq — Shattered glass, body parts, a blood-splattered blue sedan: the grainy video pans over the scene as Iraqi officers comb the site of a drive-by assassination.

It's "Cops" Iraqi-style, minus the "Bad Boys" soundtrack but otherwise roughly modeled after the American TV show.

Created to make government more transparent, "The Cops Show" featuring Kirkuk officers in action is the first of its kind in the country and is breaking new ground in Iraqi television. A live call-in portion gives the public the chance to praise the security forces or gripe about them.

Screened weekly on Kirkuk Television, which broadcasts in this northern city of nearly 1 million people, "The Cops Show" has opened the floodgates in a community long suppressed.

"During Saddam Hussein's time, it was very different," station manager Nasser Hassan Mohammed said. "You were unable to ask questions. You couldn't say anything bad about police.

"Now people can call in directly. Anyone has the right to do this. This is the difference now. This is freedom."

The call-in portion, initially a novelty, has become a staple of the show, and panelists field up to 30 calls per segment, Mohammed said. And because Kirkuk is ethnically mixed, the show switches among the languages spoken by Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen or Assyrians.

It took Iraqis a while to master the art of the phone-in.

"But after more than a year, they understand very well," Mohammed said.

Col. Gordon Petrie, the show's American military adviser, said it marks a new era for community service television.

"There has been a sea change in media," said Petrie, who heads public affairs for the 116th Brigade Combat Team. "Before 2003, it was all-Saddam, all-the-time.

"Kirkuk, which was one of the largest TV stations, basically was robotic. They'd get the Baghdad feed and send it out again. Now they are in charge here."

Until January's landmark elections, the Americans "ran the shows, booked the guests, and tried to show them what community service programming was about. But after Jan. 30, we became the monitors. They haven't disappointed us," Petrie said.

The show also aims to change a Saddam-era image of police as corrupt, inept and unapproachable.

"The first thing we wanted was to show friendship between citizens and police. They are not your enemy. They are your friend," Mohammed said.

Provincial police chief Gen. Sherko Shakir has appeared as a guest several times. His spokesman, Abdullah Abdul-Qadir, is host and moderator. During a recent taping, the panelists included Kirkuk's police chief, Gen. Burhan Taha, and two local police station commanders.

The show opened with graphic videotape of the body of an off-duty police captain, assassinated just days after his wedding. Taha decried the shooting as a "cowardly job" and urged the public to help.

"Don't be afraid. Give tips anonymously. That way, you can stop bad activities," he said.

Callers were just as quick to demand more of their local police force.

"I was standing on the main road near bridge No. 3. I saw some criminal activity. We don't have security in our area. Sometimes, we have to secure the area by ourselves," one man said.

Another, identifying himself as Ibrahim, demanded more police presence in southern Kirkuk.

"We don't have enough patrols and traffic checkpoints," he said. "The criminals all know where the checkpoints are."

Callers are often complimentary about the police, said Mohammed, but a few have been rude.

"Our policy is 'Thanks for your opinion.' They are free to say what they like," the station manager said, laughing and shaking his mane of gray hair.

The show's popularity has not gone unnoticed by its enemies, and the studios are heavily guarded. The station's employees regularly get threats, Mohammed said, adding that he himself was hit by more than two dozen bullets during an assassination attempt in May 2004.

The station remains undeterred, Mohammed said.

"After liberation, many things changed. Many dreams were realized. We use freedom and democracy," he said. "Our duty is to show people that freedom."

Thai police arrest two Pakistani men, seize 112 stolen passports

21 August 2005

BANGKOK - Thai police arrested two Pakistani men for allegedly purchasing stolen passports that were to be altered and then sold, police said on Sunday. They seized a total of 112 passports.

Acting on a tip, police investigators followed Muhammad Saqib and Aman Ullah on Saturday in the parking lot of Bangkok’s international airport, a tourist police bureau statement said.

Police arrested the men after a foreign woman gave them a gray suitcase in which police later found 58 stolen passports from 13 countries, mostly European, the statement said.

The woman fled the scene and escaped, it said.

It said Saqib told police that they had met the woman, identified as an Italian named Tara, near the popular backpacker street Khao San Road. It said they ordered and purchased the passports, which she delivered to them on Saturday.

Near the airport, police later found a bag belonging to the woman which contained 54 more stolen passports, the statement said.

It said the suspects had planned to deliver the passports to a foreigner named Johnny who would alter and then sell them.

The passports were from 10 European countries, New Zealand, Vietnam and Israel. Fifty-three were from France and 25 were from Northern Ireland, tourist police said.

The suspects have been charged with possession of stolen property and face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a 10,000 baht (US$243; Ð200) fine.

Thailand is a center for stolen and fake passports. Police had been investigating this case after receiving reports of stolen passports from tourist police in the popular resort areas of Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai, the statement said.

Iran’s new president pushes cabinet, says no to liberalism

(AFP)

21 August 2005

TEHRAN - Iran’s hardline President Mahmood Ahmadinejad put his proposed cabinet to parliament on Sunday, lashing out at the West and liberalism and promising a government that will ”promote virtue and prohibit vice.”

Signaling his shock election win had delivered a clean break from the previous reformist administration of Mohammad Khatami, Ahmadinejad pledged to fight off liberalism that he argued threatened Islamic values.

“The international community they go so far as to condemn us. What sort of balance is this? This is injustice and oppression, and our nation will not accept this in international affairs,” Ahmadinejad, who took office on August 3, told parliament.

It was a clear reference to threats against Iran in the wake of Tehran’s decision to resume sensitive nuclear work earlier this month. The regime has refused to return to a full freeze of nuclear fuel work the focus of fears the country is seeking atomic weapons.

Ahmadinejad also vowed a more assertive trade policy.

“Currently we are importing from some countries billions of dollars whereas they are not buying our oil and they are also not buying our products,” he said in a speech one MP described as “more about ideals than strategies”.

“These countries should be thankful to us because we are helping their economies boom, but they are not thankful and are looking at us as if we were indebted to them,” the 49-year-old former commando told the conservative-controlled assembly.

The speech to the Majlis, carried live on state television and radio, opened a debate that could last several days on the former Tehran mayor’s proposed 21-member cabinet.

Although right-wingers dominate the assembly, the procedure may not be a mere formality. Of those nominated, only two have previously held ministerial posts while the others are mostly unknowns.

Ahmadinejad said four principles would guide the policy of his new government: “expansion of justice, serving people, elevating the country financially and spiritually, and kindness to people”.

“Liberal thought justifies and recognises all abnormalities and deviations (and) isolates the values defined by religious training such as equality, forgiveness, selflessness, chastity and immaculacy,” he told the 290-seat Majlis.

“Our nation does not and will not tolerate such a thing,” he said, vowing a “culture of spirituality” in the Islamic republic.

“We should expand a culture that promotes virtue and prohibits vice, and also favourable to Islamic traditions such as respect to parents, visiting relatives, generosity to orphans and philanthropy... and we should fortify the education, universities, mosques, seminaries and genuine cultural groups.”

Ahmadinejad has allocated political posts such as the interior ministry, intelligence and culture to fellow ultra-conservatives, while technocrats have been appointed to head the oil and foreign ministries.

Since Ahmadinejad announced his team earlier this month, eyebrows have been raised over some nominees’ qualifications including Ali Saidloo, nominated for the sensitive oil ministry, science portfolio nominee Mohammad-Mehdi Zahedi and health ministry nominee Kamran Baqeri-Lankarani.

“If the parliament behaves reasonably and logically, some nominees will not receive the vote of confidence. If the parliament behaves politically, all the ministers would be approved,” Mohammad Khoshchehreh, an MP from Tehran, told IRNA.

One MP, Hassan Sobhani, was quoted as saying by IRNA that ”strategies to remove administrative corruption were missing” from Ahmadinejad’s programme, and cautioned that faced with globalisation, “we should not be passive and wait for the Islamic civilisation to appear.”

Another MP, Bijan Shahbazkhani, warned that government plans to give ordinary Iranians a share of the nation’s oil wealth appeared to contradict efforts to contain inflation.

But Iran’s all-powerful leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has given his backing to Ahmadinejad’s line-up, calling Friday for the Majlis to “complete its legal duty” so the “the new administration is in place as soon as possible”.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.