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These are not the best of times for Saddam loyalists, jihadists, common criminals and associates of Abu Musab Zarqawi who comprise the insurgency that has terrorized the Iraqi people for almost two years. Iraq's soldiers and private citizens are fighting back. The first major blow against the insurgents came as a result of the Jan. 30 elections, in which millions of Iraqis defied the terrorists and went to the polls to begin the process of writing a new constitution and electing a government. The second damaging development is the fact that Iraqis have become much better at defending themselves. During...

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 well as documents and weapons. The dead terrorists...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (news - web sites) - Piles of rubble still line the streets here, but a few shops have opened on the main drag, schools are finally in session and a compensation program to help families rebuild made some token initial payments this month. Four months after the assault on Fallujah, in the center of Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland, American forces working to rebuild the city say they're seeing some progress, albeit limited, in a city that's still blockaded and under a curfew. Even a little progress is an important development in a city that's been a major test...

The top-ranking Marine in Iraq tells the New York Times that the insurgency has tailed off to its lowest level in months, evidence that the Ba'athist remnants and the foreign jihadists have lost the momentum and any popular support they might have had: The top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, a development that he called evidence that the insurgency was weakening in one of the most violent areas of the country. The officer, Lt. Gen. John...

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iraqi Christians crowded Palm Sunday services in Baghdad. “We are not afraid,” said Mayssoun Ishoo, a Syriac Catholic who, with other faithful, attended services at Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad to start Holy Week celebrations.The church was one of the five Christian places of worship hit by bomb attacks in August 2004. It was further targeted by another bomb last October. But yesterday, Palm Sunday, it was hit by throngs of people, families with their children.Arriving at the church the faithful performed the traditional act of reverence before the statue of Our Lady which stands in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Nearly two years after American troops captured Baghdad, Haifa Street is like an arrow at the city's heart. A little more than two miles long, it runs south through a canyon of mostly abandoned high-rises and majestic date palms almost to the Assassin's Gate, the imperial-style arch that is the main portal to the Green Zone compound, the principal seat of American power. When most roads in central Baghdad are choked with traffic, there is rarely more than a trickle of vehicles on Haifa Street. At the day's height, a handful of pedestrians scurry down empty sidewalks,...

'Hope' on horizon in IraqBy Borzou DaragahiTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished March 20, 2005 BAGHDAD - The torrential rains have stopped, and the gold-domed shrine at the center of Kadhemiya, a middle-class Shi'ite section of northern Baghdad, sparkles under clear blue skies and the late-morning sun.     The crowded alleyways surrounding the shrine teem with Kadhemiya's unique blend of commerce, faith and politics.      "It's hard to even think about what it used to be like before," said Abdul-Karim Mahdi, a 45-year-old employee of the Ministry of Public Works.     "We used to live in fear. We used to unplug the phones whenever we...

Taleban coming in from the cold By Andrew North BBC News, eastern Afghanistan They are nervous, frequently tugging on their beards. Neither man wants to give his name. "It is very dangerous for us," says one. "Both here and in Pakistan." They are former members of the Taleban, allowed to return to their homes in Khost under a low-key reconciliation initiative here, involving the US military and local Afghan officials. There are cautious hopes such efforts could help end the Taleban insurgency that has affected much of eastern and southern Afghanistan since 2003. The message from these two men is...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Senior Bush administration officials have warned in recent weeks that al Qaeda is regrouping for another massive attack, its agents bent on acquiring nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in a nightmare scenario that could dwarf the horror of Sept. 11. But in Pakistan and Afghanistan — where Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy are believed to be hiding — intelligence agents, politicians and a top U.S. general paint a different picture. They say a relentless military crackdown, the arrests last summer of several men allegedly involved in plans to launch attacks on U.S. financial institutions, and...

AMMAN, Jordan - The military's top general gave his most optimistic public assessment on Thursday of progress in Iraq, saying the insurgency shows signs of slipping as the U.S.-led international effort gains momentum in building Iraqi police and military forces. During a visit to a training base for Iraqi police cadets outside of Amman, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in recalling his stop Monday in Iraq, "I came away more positive than I've ever been" about the prospects for overcoming the insurgency and stabilizing the country. He also saw evidence, however, that obstacles...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- The United States has demanded that the IRA disband after the guerrilla group's astonishing offer to shoot the killers of a murdered Northern Ireland Catholic man. "It's time for the IRA to go out of business," U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said Wednesday. For the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's biggest Irish nationalist party, the U.S. demand was yet another blow to its democratic credentials. Reiss told BBC radio: "It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated. "You can't sign...

JERUSALEM — Since Israel's intelligence community closely follows al Qaeda and regularly exchanges information about the terror group with U.S. officials, it was intriguing recently to hear the views of Israel's military intelligence chief. "Since the American attack in Afghanistan, al Qaeda was dismembered," said Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi. "Today, the organization is based on several networks around the world." Some parts of al Qaeda are spread in small zones, of 30 to 60 miles each, along the Pakistan-Afghan border — and that's where Osama Bin Laden and his senior aides are likely hiding, he said. But al Qaeda also...

Wednesday, March 2, 2005 1:37 p.m. EST Liberals Hold 'Name Coulter's Book' Contest A "Name Ann Coulter's Next Book" contest launched by campusprogress.org, a fledging liberal Web site and offshoot of the slightly crazed Center for American Progress, challenged students to come up with appropriate titles. According to the Web site, the rules for the contest were simple: The book title had to be the same format as Coulter’s books — a single word followed by an explanatory subtitle, as in Coulter's "Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism." According to the Washington Post's Reliable...

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2005 – A new State Department report hails human rights advances in Iraq since the coalition toppled the repressive Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. The 2004 annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released this week, praised Iraq for conducting democratic elections and constructing a constitutional order under the framework of the Iraqi Governing Council’s Transitional Administrative Law. “We believe events like these elections will increase the prospects for peace, provide a solid grounding for self-government in these countries and help create momentum for the improvement of human rights practices for all people participating in them,” stated...

WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda is feeling the pinch from intelligence units working to flush out terrorist leaders including Usama bin Laden (search), Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Abizaid said U.S. commanders and intelligence officials still believe that bin Laden and senior leaders of Al Qaeda (search) are hiding in the Afghan/Pakistan border region and Pakistan is continuing to pressure the terrorist group. Though he didn't name any new breakthroughs in the hunt, Abizaid said the maturing efforts in the region are helping to "narrow the ring until we get...

“Man and Woman”, “Wife”, “Husband”, “Widow”, “Widower” Banished From all Ontario Law Terms, when referring to spouses, are banned from all government programs, services, documentsToronto, February 25, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With the obscenely rapid, three-day introduction and passage of its same-sex “marriage” Bill 171, the Ontario government has advanced a revolutionary change in the way all laws and government programs and institutions refer to marriage and married persons. Everything referring to spouses must now be gender neutral. No longer can a married couple be referred to as “husband and wife” or “man and woman”. The terms “Widow” and “widower” are...

Guard: "The Iraqis are getting a taste of what it means to be free," one returning soldier says Utah National Guard soldiers returning home on Saturday recounted their yearlong deployment in Iraq - overseeing the construction of schools, Iraqi police stations, watchtowers and security checkpoints and paving the Main Supply Route, dubbed "MSR Tampa," a road all U.S. convoys must travel. "MSR Tampa was nothing more than a goat trail when we got there," said Sgt. 1st Class Jay Howard, of West Jordan. "The dust got so thick that there were several head-on collisions." Howard was among 80 soldiers from...

Amadiyah (AsiaNews) – Terrorism in Iraq is losing steam as terrorists are arrested and neutralised. People are taking heart and their morale is getting better as Iraqi police and army are getting more successful in their fight against terrorist groups, this according to Mgr Rabban Al-Qas, Bishop of Amadiyah (Iraqi Kurdistan), who spoke to AsiaNews. Despite improvements, the country is still experiencing violent acts on a daily basis—a suicide bomber yesterday blew himself up in a police station killing 15 officers in the city of Tikrit. But Bishop Rabban noted that the “police and the army now have the means...

The U.S. military has begun to transfer authority to Iraqi security forces. Officials said the U.S.-led coalition has been quietly handing over the command to Iraq's military and security units in the four most violent provinces in the country. Fourteen of the 18 provinces have already been under Iraqi security control. In the latest move, the U.S. military has transferred control to the Iraq Army in Baghdad. The U.S. Army's First Cavalry Division has handed over authority in several areas to Baghdad to the Iraq Army's 40th Brigade. "We have reached a certain stage," Iraqi Brig. Gen. Jalil Khalaf said...

Democrats Split on Electoral Strategy in the South BY BILL WALSH Newhouse News Service WASHINGTON -- As former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean took the helm of the Democratic National Committee a week ago, he declared he would make the party competitive in all 50 states, including in the South. It was a bold promise for a party that has not won a single Southern electoral vote in the past two presidential elections. To Southern ears it sounded all the more unlikely coming from Dean, who famously remarked early in his failed presidential bid last year that...