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BAGHDAD (AP) — A woman accused of helping recruit dozens of female suicide bombers looked into the camera and described the process: trolling society for likely candidates and then patiently converting the women from troubled souls into deadly attackers. The accounts, in a video released Tuesday by Iraq police, offer a rare glimpse into the networks used to find and train the women bombers who have become one of the insurgents' most effective weapons as they struggle under increasing crackdowns. In a separate prison interview with The Associated Press, with interrogators nearby, the woman said she was part of a...

In the overwhelmingly male arena that is Iraqi politics, it was a striking sight. A local sports ground, an election rally and a candidate - a female candidate. Zahra Hamza Ali is upbeat about her chances. In private interviews she speaks of speeding up dormant reconstruction projects in Basra province, of stability and security, but not to the exclusively male audience, who still insist that women in public life are seen and not heard. The men, about 3,000 of them, rapturously waved vibrant Shia Islamic and political flags in the main Basra sports arena as they waited for the prime...

BAGHDAD, Jan. 28, 2009 – Nearly 500 new Iraqi policewomen graduated from the Baghdad Police College here Jan. 26, marking the largest female class ever to graduate from the school, officials said. Among their first duties, the new graduates will serve front-line roles providing security for the Jan. 31 election. “We feel proud and happy that we are bringing new opportunity to Iraqi women today, and more women will follow us,” a graduate said. Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bulani congratulated the new graduates for “taking another step toward rebuilding Iraqi security.” “These women are now sharing duties with the policemen...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Jan. 21, 2009 – Coalition and Iraqi leaders discussed programs to improve Iraqi women’s rights and a vision for a more united future during a Women’s Initiative Seminar here. An interpreter translates a speech for Sameera al-Mosawi, right, board president for the Council of Representative of Women, Family and Children Committee, on programs to benefit women’s rights during the Women’s Initiative Seminar on Camp Victory, Iraq, Jan. 17, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I want to bring forward studies on women and human rights to be...

The program, suggested by an Iraqi women's group, is part of an effort to reestablish the country's once-thriving dairy industry as well as a way to help impoverished women and children.Reporting from Anbar Province, Iraq -- As American forces work to revive Iraq's tattered farming economy, they seem to have found an effective new weapon. Cows. At the suggestion of an Iraqi women's group, the Marine Corps recently bought 50 cows for 50 Iraqi widows in the farm belt around Fallouja, once the insurgent capital of war-torn Anbar province. The cow purchase is seen as a small step toward reestablishing...

This is Um Sa'aad (mother of Sa'aad, and probably 13 other ugly, anti-American kids), the sexy sister of Iraqi urinalist Muntadar Al-Zeidi, the guy who threw shoes at President Bush and should probably get a try-out with the Dearborn Jihadists NFL Expansion Team. His sister looks like she should be one of their cheerleaders. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, eat your pork hearts out. As you probably know, her 28-year-old, violent, immature bro is being hailed as a hero around the Islamic world. But, wait, I thought they loved America, and that they were so peaceful. They'd never cheer on the throwing...

We are winning the war in Iraq. Another policy that Bush will never get credit for. http://thebulletin.us/articles/2008/12/12/news/world/doc4941efa0db8da462843364.txt

FOB DELTA — Obstetricians and midwives at the al Zahara Hospital in al Kut received maternal and child care training from hospital staff and Coalition forces, Nov. 26. Eighty-seven students attended the lecture, which covered topics on maternal health, child care and treatment for choking, taught by Dr. Halam Turki, an Iraqi-American obstetrics and gynecological surgeon. The Wasit director general for health; Company C, 589th Brigade Support Battalion, 41st Fires Brigade; and the 304th Civil Affairs Bde., of Philadelphia; sponsored the training. The training is part of the ongoing Operation Gunner Med, to improve the state of health care in...

THI QAR PROVINCE — Residents in a southern Iraqi city will soon receive more drinking water thanks to the efforts of three women with remarkable stories. In Fadiliya, the community of 10,000 people currently receives only 60 percent of its water needs from existing infrastructure. A new 200-cubic-meter-per-hour treatment facility is under construction and expected to be complete by the end of the year. Project Engineer Colleen Hickey and Construction Representative Toni Graves with the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are overseeing the construction of the $748,000 facility located adjacent to the existing water treatment plant there....

Although the overall level of violence in Iraq has decreased to a four- year low, the country has recently witnessed a sharp rise in a violent trend that alarms many Iraqis: female suicide bombings. This year the number of suicide bombings carried out by women has more than tripled to 29 attacks, say US military officials. Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups have turned to women to exploit cultural practices that do not allow men to search women. As a result, females can pass through most checkpoints in Iraq without someone so much as looking in their handbags. To combat...

Drugged girl, 15, a reluctant bomb martyr Published Date: 30 August 2008 By Tim Cocks in Baghdad RANIA is only 15, but in the past week the softly-spoken Iraqi girl has been drugged and strapped with explosives, before being arrested and thrown into a detention centre. Now she finds herself at the heart of a propaganda war waged by the Iraqi security forces against the al-Qaeda militants who tried to use her as a suicide bomber. Police arrested the teenager on Sunday in Iraq's violent Diyala province, where tADVERTISEMENThe Sunni militants are waging a bitter campaign against US and Iraqi...

Tears streaming down her face, she is confronted by police - a teenage girl apparently planning to blow herself up in front of an Iraqi school. The officers handcuffed her to a metal balustrade before moving in with extreme caution to uncover a vest full of explosives hidden under her colourful robe. The dramatic scenes were captured on a video shot by the police.-SNIP- Police in Baqouba, where the girl was caught on Sunday, said she was fitted with the vest by female relatives of her husband, whom she married five months ago. They also claimed that the girl's father...

Tears streaming down her face, she is confronted by police - a teenage girl apparently planning to blow herself up in front of an Iraqi school. The officers handcuffed her to a metal balustrade before moving in with extreme caution to uncover a vest full of explosives hidden under her colourful robe. The dramatic scenes were captured on a video shot by the police.

ANAH — The usual droning of sewing machines was absent at a textile factory when Marines with the Iraqi Women’s Engagement Team, Detachment 1, Civil Affairs Team 5, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, met with local female workers to discuss working conditions and other city matters. The IWE team had also visited the city of Rawah the previous day in an effort to give the females of that area an ear to listen too. “The goal of the IWE (program) is to give the women a chance to get together and discuss community concerns,” said Capt....

During the Northern Iraq Women’s Conference, held in the Professor Sa’ad Conference Center in Irbil, Iraq, June 4, women from the northern provinces gathered to discuss major issues affecting the Iraqi women today. Although women spoke one of three languages, they were able to effectively communicate with each other through interpreters. Photo by Spc. Karla Rodriguez Maciel. IRBIL — Many women of Iraq have endured violence, poverty and suppression due to their environment throughout the years. However, more and more women, each day are taking a stand into stopping this trend. Influential women of the northern Iraq provinces, members of...

Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called "honour" killings and female suicides on the increase. "At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone," a doctor told AFP in the region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah. "Seven of them took their own lives, the other seven were murdered in still unexplained circumstances" -- apparently the victims of "honour" killings. "Over the same period, we recorded 11 attempted self-immolations. These women were so desperate they set fire to themselves," the doctor added,...

The parents of Iraqi babies with congenital heart problems are facing a dilemma: should they allow their children to be treated in Israeli hospitals when they have been brought up to believe that Israel is their mortal enemy? Hostility towards the Jewish state in Iraq is so strong that many parents refuse to travel to Tel Aviv for free life-saving hole-in-the-heart surgery. Some accept the offer but never reveal where their children were treated, even though the operation has not been available in Iraq since its leading cardiac clinic burnt down after the American-led invasion in 2003. Other parents are...

Two weeks ago, The Observer revealed how 17-year-old student Rand Abdel-Qader was beaten to death by her father after becoming infatuated with a British soldier in Basra. In this remarkable interview, Abdel-Qader Ali explains why he is unrepentant - and how police backed his actions. Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies report * Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies * The Observer, * Sunday May 11 2008 For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her...

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British solider in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death. Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he said. Rand, who was studying...

Iraqi women's committee representatives from all over Iraq sit together for a meeting regarding the needs of women and children of Iraq at the Women’s Council Social held on May 5 at the Rasheed Nahia City Center, Rasheed, Iraq. U.S. Army Photo by Pfc. Rhonda Roth-Cameron. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Representatives from four local women’s committees in the Rasheed Nahia met in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, May 5. Among those attending the gathering were Soldiers of Multi-National Division – Center and the U.S. State Department’s embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team Baghdad-7, who helped organize the committees. Women’s issues...