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WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE Awesomely Awesome: US Soldier Calls Out Mahdi Sympathizers in Iraqi Police You thought Christian Bale could toss the f-bomb with aplomb and threaten to kick someone's ass? That was just a cameraman. This cat threatens to kick Mahdi army's asses personally. He uses the Paul Anka style of leadership to awesome effect. A lot of f-bomb here, but worth it. Newsworthy, so you can get away with it, I think.

NUMANIYAH, Iraq - A smoke grenade is tossed and Iraq's most elite paramilitary commandos storm an apartment building. The raid goes off without a hitch The problem is that it's just an exercise — part of the Pentagon's four-week drills for the Iraqi National Police. In reality, Iraqi commanders say it could be years before the force is competent enough to control Baghdad on its own. Or like "trying to build an airplane while you're flying it," said Col. Chip Lewis, the chief U.S. training officer for the National Police. The slow pace of police training highlights just one of...

BAGHDAD — The Basra police commander on Friday said the roadside bomb used in an attack that killed four British soldiers had not been used in southern Iraq before, and his description of the deadly weapon indicated it was a feared Iranian-designed explosively formed projectile. Anbar province has been a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency but many tribes in the region recently switched allegiance, with large numbers of military-age men joining the police force and Iraqi army in a bid to expel Al Qaeda in Iraq fighters. The U.S. military has claimed Iran is supplying Shiite militia fighters in Iraq...

WASHINGTON - Training the police is as important to stabilizing Iraq as building an effective army there, but the United States has botched the job by assigning the wrong agencies to the task, two members of the Iraq Study Group said Wednesday. "The police training system has not gone well," said former Rep. Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the bipartisan commission. For a second day, a key Republican directly challenged President Bush to do more than pay "lip service" to this and other recommendations on how to resolve the troubled conflict in Iraq. "As a nation we'd be much better off...

'Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?' Iraq TV's 'Cops' wins viewers, breaks new ground Monday, August 22, 2005 By Tini Tran The Associated PressKIRKUK, 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...

<p>KARABILAH, Iraq — U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces battled insurgents on two fronts Saturday in a restive western province, killing about 50 militants in a dusty frontier town in the military's latest campaign to stop foreign fighters infiltrating from neighboring Syria (search).</p>

BAGHDAD , Iraq – Acting on intelligence sources and tips provided by Iraqi citizens, Multi-National forces conducted simultaneous raids in the Rahwah and Karabilah regions to capture or kill terrorists within the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi network. Multiple sources of intelligence indicated that elements of the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network were operating in the area, including key lieutenants, suicide bombers, and a contingent of foreign fighters. Multi-National forces engaged and destroyed these targets. Operations against suspected foreign fighter strongholds resulted in killing over a dozen terrorists and foreign fighters. Specifically the bodies of three Saudis and one Moroccan have been...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi forces swept through Baghdad on Sunday, erecting checkpoints and searching vehicles as they launched the largest offensive of its kind since Saddam Hussein's ouster, but insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 21 people, including a British soldier. [end] The first of more than 40,000 soldiers and police, who are being supported by U.S. forces, searched hundreds of vehicles and raided several houses, described as "terrorist dens" in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, arresting several suspects, army Capt. Ihssan Abdel-Hamza said. Operation Lightning was launched as a direct challenge to the bloody wave...

More than 23,000 young Iraqis in the southern province of Dhiqar have responded to a call to set up a new battalion to protect the province. The provincial authorities have been swamped with applications, Governor Aziz Kadhem told the newspaper. He said the authorities had asked for maximum 1,000 volunteers but “we have received more than 23,000 applications so far.” The new force will be based in Nasiriya, the province’s capital and home to more than 550,000 people. Nasiriya, on the Euphrates River, is relatively quiet but, according to Kadhem, the new force is needed to bring stability across the...

Iraqi combat capability on the upswing Written by W. Thomas Smith Jr. Friday April 1, 2005 "It's going to be tougher than anything you've ever experienced," a U.S. Marine recruiter warns a young leatherneck hopeful. "You'll face down your fears, overcome terrifying obstacles, and at times function on little food and no sleep." Sounds severe, but everything is relative. Recruits hoping to earn the title, "Marine," expect training to be demanding. They also take for granted the enormous efforts made to ensure their safety during dangerous training, and – despite accidents and the occasional "bad seed" drill-instructor – no one...

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2005 – A 3-ton cache of TNT and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition are off the streets of Iraq following an Iraqi army raid near Jurf al-Sakher on March 25, Iraqi military officials reported. A press statement from Iraq’s Defense Ministry said 121 suspects were detained in the raid, conducted by the Iraqi army’s 8th Division, based in Karbala. Besides the TNT, Iraqi soldiers seized 624 rifles, 250,000 light ammunition rounds, 22,000 medium rounds, 193 rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, 300 RPG rockets, 27 82 mm mortar tubes, and 155 82 mm mortar rounds. Today, Task Force Liberty...

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician. Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.

Say the word mujahid — or holy warrior — these days and many inhabitants of Baghdad are likely to snigger. An appellation once worn as a badge of pride by anti-American insurgents has now become street slang for homosexuals, after men claiming to be captured Islamist guerrillas confessed that they were holding gay orgies in the popular Iraqi TV programme Terror in the Hands of Justice. For Iraqis opposed to the predominantly Sunni Islamist insurgency, Terror in the Hands of Justice, which airs twice daily on Iraqi public television, has broken the mystique of a force that used to strike...

IRAQ: Al Qaeda Losses Up, American Losses Down March 24, 2005: More Iraqis are losing their fear of terrorists. In the last three days, tips from Iraqis have led Iraqi police and troops to several terrorist hideouts. This has resulted in some spectacular gun battles, and the deaths of over 130 terrorists (and about a dozen police and soldiers.) The Iraqis have been using their growing force of SWAT teams to carry out the raids, with American forces providing backup and air cover. One raid, north of Baghdad, left 85 terrorists dead, and revealed a suicide car bomb workshop, as...

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BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 23 - Iraqi and American forces killed at least 80 insurgents during a Tuesday morning raid on what appeared to be the biggest guerrilla training camp yet discovered, Iraqi officials said today. Seven Iraqi police officers were also killed and six were wounded in what American and Iraqi officials characterized as an especially fierce battle. "It was one of the largest such engagements that I'm aware of," said Col. Robert Potter, a spokesman for the American command in Baghdad. The number of anti-government fighters killed was the most reported in a single conflict since the American offensive...

Iraq Forces Capture Two Saddam Relatives Mon Mar 14,11:55 AM ET Add to My Yahoo! Middle East - AP BAGHDAD, Iraq - Security forces in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown captured two of the ousted dictator's relatives, who allegedly were helping insurgents launch attacks in Iraq (news - web sites), the government said Monday. The two were identified as one-time Saddam bodyguard Marwan Taher Abdul Rashid and his cousin, Abdullah Maher Abdul Rashid — who also was the brother-in-law of Saddam's son, Qusai, state-run Iraqiya television reported. The two were captured March 8 in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown north...

Blasts Kill 40 at 3 Iraq Police StationsASSOCIATED PRESS BASRA, Iraq (AP) - Near-simultaneous explosions believed to have been caused by car bombs ripped through three police station in southern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 40 people and injuring some 200, a hospital source said. At one station in the Saudia district of the city of Basra, four vehicles were seen destroyed including two school buses. At least one of the school buses appeared to have been full of passengers, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. The facade of the Saudia station was also heavily damaged and...

France, Germany and Japan could work together closely to train Iraq's police and soldiers once Iraqis have control of their government, the French defense minister said Thursday. Michele Alliot-Marie reiterated France's position after meeting with Japan's defense chief, Shigeru Ishiba, who was in Europe for talks on Iraq. ``We have said notably that we could play a role in defense as concerns training the future Iraqi army and police,'' Alliot-Marie told reporters before leaving for Washington for talks. She said that France would carry out the task ``in close collaboration with our German friends and also with our Japanese friends,...