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CAMP ECHO, Iraq – Coalition forces turned over Camp Zulu in As Suwayrah, Iraq, to the Iraqi Army Aug. 21. This is the first coalition forces camp within the Multi-National Division Central’s South area of responsibility to be turned over to Iraq’s 8th Division. The division’s 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade will be permanently housed there.

IRAQ [Michael Ledeen] I've been reading the Italian press on the Iraqi constitution, and some of the smarter commentators point out some things I think we've missed. First, there is hardly a country in the region without some language acknowledging Sharia as either "the" or "a major" basis for national legislation. But Iran, for example, says that Allah is the sole source of authority, while the Iraqi constitution says that the people are the only legitimate source of authority. This in itself is a revolutionary event. Big celebrations were under way among Kurds and Shi'ites, when the 3-day holiday was...

Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2005 10:12 a.m. EDT CENTCOM: Successes in Iraq U.S. military commanders on the ground in Iraq must be scratching their heads in bewilderment over Sen. Chuck Hagel's recent comments painting their efforts as an abject failure. A day after Hagel trotted out his message of doom and gloom on ABC's "This Week," CENTCOM officials issued a press release listing some of their recent accomplishments - a list of achievements that has somehow escaped the notice of the establishment press. Before Sen. Hagel does anymore damage to the war effort, we'd urged him to review the CENTCOM release...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2005 – Afghan National Army forces and U.S. Marines killed more than 40 enemy combatants during an offensive operation over the last few weeks in the districts of Chawkay, Asadabad, Pech and Narang, in Afghanistan's Konar province. The ANA and Marines fought side by side in 29 separate engagements against the enemy, disrupting hostile activity during Operation Whalers. The operation's purpose was to disrupt enemy forces in the area and to clear the way for successful elections, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials said. "The ANA have demonstrated their abilities with great success," said Marine...

WASHINGTON: The rebuilding effort continues in Iraq, and coalition military officials here today provided a summary of the past week's progress. Children in a village of Tamim province received school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a coalition forces-run program known as "Operation Provide School Supplies," which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the United States. More than 600 children will return...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Some of the Iraqi citizens benefiting from reconstruction this week were school children. Several projects were completed across the country, including school buildings. The Iraqi Security Forces continued to display their capability, and local citizens contributed to the security of their communities.Children in Dobak Tappak village of Al Tamim Province received much-needed school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a non-governmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a Coalition...

I've never seen Breaking News on C-SPAN before but they just flashed a comment on the bottom of the screen that an agreement has been reached on a constitution at 10:25 ET.

JIM Molan is the unsung hero of Australia's Iraq war, the man who made Iraq's first free national election happen. From his Baghdad operations centre deep inside Saddam Hussein's main palace, the major general planned and ran the coalition's huge hi-tech counter-insurgency operation in Iraq. He has directed the largest and most modern military force in the world - the 140,000 strong multinational force in Iraq (MNF-I) together with the growing Iraqi army of 130,000. These forces are fighting the most intense military conflict of the early 21st century. On behalf of his coalition commander, George Casey, a US general,...

Iraq's new air force is being rebuilt from the ground up at this sprawling desert base outside Nasiriyah, once Saddam Hussein's center of air operations against Iran during the 1980-1988 war. Now the site, 375 kilometers (235 miles) southeast of Baghdad, is home to Air Force Squadron 23 and its three C-130 Hercules transport planes. The US-donated planes are backbone of Iraq's new air force, which also includes a dozen light reconnaissance planes and another dozen helicopters spread across the country. Officials are vague on numbers for security reasons. Currently, 109 Iraqi students - all air force veterans with years...

If you only receive your news on the run from the mainstream media you might easily be conned into believing that Iraq would have been better off under Saddam. That nothing could be farther from the truth is though borne out by a much more searching analysis of what is actually going on around the country and away from the terrorist car bombings. Even the BBC Today radio programme this morning carried a piece revealing how vastly improved life already was for many in some of the outlying areas in the Kurdish area. But today a Chaldean Bishop in Baghdad,...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq, Aug. 19, 2005 – The coalition turnover of the security mission to Iraqi forces is proceeding apace in the area around Saddam's hometown, said the coalition commander in the area. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto, commander of the 42nd Infantry Division and Multinational Division North Central, said that Iraqi security forces are picking up the missions in his region and they are able to take the fight to the insurgents. Taluto spoke with reporters traveling with Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Myers is in the midst of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2005 – The rebuilding effort continues in Iraq, and coalition military officials here today provided a summary of the past week's progress. Children in a village of Tamim province received school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a coalition forces-run program known as "Operation Provide School Supplies," which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the United States. More than...

Conservative activist and commentator L. Brent Bozell III recently wrote about an encounter with a veteran: My son's friend Todd Jones just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. At a celebratory gathering at his parents' home, we chatted a while, and I asked him what he thought were the biggest problems facing the military. Without hesitating, he shot back: "The terrorists and the media."-snip In a rare moment of balance on CBS, Army Capt. Christopher Vick echoed that sentiment: "I think it's hard for Americans to get up every day and turn on the news and see the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2005 – With elections on the horizon, Iraqi security forces in Iraq's northwest provinces are continuing to grow in ability and confidence, a senior commander in Iraq said today. "The Iraqi security forces continue to make strides in improving security for all Iraqi citizens," Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of Multinational Force Northwest and Task Force Freedom, said during a news conference from Mosul. "Units of the 2nd and 3rd Iraqi Army divisions are conducting more effective combined and independent counterinsurgency operations and they're continuing to develop to be a source of pride for the country...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2005 – Progress in Iraq continues, and this includes the work extension granted earlier this week to draft the country's new constitution, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today. "They have made substantial progress," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said about the Iraqis during a Baghdad briefing today, "but needed more time to put together a document that will be the foundation of a free and democratic Iraq for years to come." "As Iraq's President (Jalal) Talibani said after the vote to extend the work on the constitution, 'We should not be hasty regarding the issues and...

The work will also train local operators on site in the technology and maintenance of the water systems. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 18, 2005 — Three governorates will soon see an upgrade in treated potable water, according to an announcement today by a team of Iraqi and U.S. government entities. From the $18.4 billion allocated for the total Iraq Reconstruction Program, about $3 million is budgeted to bring treated potable water to approximately 25,000 Iraqi citizens in the Dahuk, Babylon, and Wassit governorates. The projects will upgrade 15 systems each, including water wells, compact potable water treatment plants and pumps. The...

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq (August 18, 2005) -- The Ramadi Glass Works Factory, which was once the second largest employer in western Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, is slowly coming back to life. The factory’s management is working with coalition forces to gradually reopen the plant, which was closed last November after insurgents used the factory to stage attacks. Due to its key role in the local economy, both groups have pushed to open the facility, which also includes a ceramics factory. “It employs 2,300 people and the way we look at it those are 2,300 families affected,” said...

Monsignor Rabban al Qas, a Chaldean bishop in Iraq, was recently interviewed by a foreign journalist, who asked him, "Twenty-three Iraqis are killed every day in Iraq. Nearly two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, there is no security as yet. Is there still hope in Iraq?"

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The capital's Sadr City section was once a hotbed of Shiite Muslim unrest, but it has become one of the brightest successes for the U.S. security effort. So far this year, there has been only one car bombing in the neighborhood, and only one American soldier has been killed. A year ago, militiamen with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades roamed the streets in open revolt against the American presence. But U.S. troops quelled the uprising and today calmly patrol the district, aided by loyalists of the radical cleric who spurred the violence. Life in Sadr City, a...

Kabul, 12 August (AKI) - Three hundred new telephone booths have been installed in the Afghan capital, Kabul. During the inauguration ceremony, the Afghan minister for communication, Amirzai Sangeen, explained that half the phone boxes were placed in the city's shopping areas, while the rest were installed in the more densely populated areas of the capital. Built by the German company Siemens, the booths cost 200,000 US dollars and were paid for by the Afghan government and installed by a local private company. The authorities took the initiative to set up the booths to meet the needs of Afghan citizens...