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WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2007 – Tribal leaders in Iraq’s Diyala province are banding together to secure peace and protect their people, the commander of coalition forces in the province told reporters yesterday. “They (tribal leaders) signed a peace agreement and swore to protect the land and their people from al Qaeda and to bridge the gap between tribes and to have a provincial-wide reconciliation movement,” Army Col. David W. Sutherland said as he sat alongside the Iraqi security forces commander in Diyala, Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem, during a joint news conference in Baqubah, Iraq. Referring to Kareem as his “friend”...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2007 – Recent strides in Iraq’s economic development, including the reopening of a flour mill last week, are occurring as Iraqi and coalition forces disrupt al Qaeda and other terrorist elements, a senior military spokesman in Iraq said today. “Local production of flour in a previously dormant mill is a small but meaningful step in Baqubah that demonstrates that as al Qaeda in Iraq is driven out, economic growth emerges,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, deputy spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said at a news conference. The flour mill in Baqubah, closed for nearly a year,...

BAGHDAD — Raw sewage is no longer inundating a neighborhood in east Baghdad. Residents in Oubadi, located near Sadr City, are benefiting from a recently completed $14.9 million Gulf Region South district project that connected their homes for the first time ever to a new functioning sewer collection system. “People there are very pleased with the improvement,” said Iraqi engineer Mustafa Haddad who works for the GRS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “For over two years we’ve been working on this project and the community has been very supportive throughout. They were using slit trenches and lakes of raw sewage,...

How can one gather and assess information about Iraq -- collected on a trip or from any other source? Information from a war zone is difficult to attain and interpretation is open to many views. Unfortunately, much of the blogosphere and other media outlets have emphasized the wrong question, challenging the integrity of anyone who dares to express politically incorrect views about Iraq. Last week, Jonathan Finer criticized on this page [" Green Zone Blinders," Aug. 18] a New York Times essay that Ken Pollack and I wrote, as well as the comments of several senators, for claiming too much...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2007 – More Iraqis are stepping forward to defend their democracy as young men sign up for the army, police patrol the streets, and joint coalition and Iraqi operations double, President Bush said during today during his weekly radio address. “As the Iraqi people feel more secure, they are also forming neighborhood watch groups. They’re volunteering important information about the terrorists and extremists hiding in their midst,” Bush said. The increase in tips helps account for the marked reduction in sectarian murders, Bush said. Also, driving out terrorists from cities and neighborhoods creates conditions for reconciliation...

THE SUMMARY OF the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq released today is the predictable product of the process that created it. The consensus report of 16 intelligence agencies is full of on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand paragraphs that allow partisans of either side to make their points, if they are willing to quote selectively from the 4-page document. And it is a 4-page document (not 10 pages, as some media reports have it--the first six are title pages and descriptions of the methodology, and only the last four discuss Iraq). Its findings are broad and sweeping generalizations backed by little or...

After months of surreality, the Iraq debate has quite abruptly acquired a relationship to reality. Following the Democratic victory last November, panicked Republican senators began rifling the thesaurus to find exactly the right phrase to express exactly the right nuance to establish exactly the right distance from the president's Iraq policy, while Murtha Democrats searched for exactly the right legislative ruse to force a retreat from Iraq without appearing to do so. In the last month, however, as a consensus has emerged about realities on the ground in Iraq, a reasoned debate has begun. A number of fair-minded observers, both...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2007 – Iraqis who once aligned themselves with militants are now taking up arms against al Qaeda, a top commander in the Iraqi capital said during a conference call today. Likening members of terrorist organizations to “street gangsters,” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of Multinational Division Baghdad and 1st Cavalry Division, said Iraqis are becoming tired of price gouging on staples such as gasoline and ice when militant groups move in and take over neighborhoods. “We have found that throughout the city there is increasing distrust, fatigue and disillusionment by the population with al Qaeda and...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2007 – Efforts to improve Iraq’s electrical power grid continue to make good progress, a senior U.S. military engineering officer reported from Baghdad today. For example, all four thermal turbine electricity generators in Baghdad’s Doura district are now up and running, Army Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh told Internet reporters and “bloggers” during a conference call from Iraq. “You’ll see smoke coming out of all four of them, so we’re pretty pumped about that,” Walsh said of the Doura power plant’s chimneys. Four more turbine generators in Mussaib are slated to come on line in the next...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 24, 2007 — Members of the Salah Ad Din Sheik’s support council held a press conference via satellite at the Combined Press Information Center, Aug. 23. "It is a long battle against the terrorists. . . We cannot define or decide how long this battle will take. But we think that we are going in the right direction. We believe in our capabilities and we also depend on God. We ask God to provide security for all the Iraqis and progress for Iraq." Hamood Shekti al Qaisi Governor of the Salad Ad Din province. Hamood Shekti al Qaisi,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2007 – As the U.S. troop surge has taken effect in areas of Iraq, Iraqi citizens are shifting away from extremist groups and stepping forward to assist coalition and Iraqi security forces and secure their communities, a U.S. commander in Iraq said today. (Video) The increase in troops allows the coalition to move into areas that previously had no coalition or Iraqi security force presence and get rid of extremist elements, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Multinational Division Center, told reporters at the Pentagon via videoconference. As soon as locals see that the security...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2007 – The latest National Intelligence Estimate update released yesterday reports a drop in violent attacks and measured progress in Iraq and suggests that, with continued robust counterinsurgency operations and mentoring by coalition forces, Iraqi security forces will continue to improve. “While the February NIE concluded that conditions in Iraq were worsening, today's key judgments clearly show that the military's counterinsurgency strategy, fully operational since mid-summer, has begun to slow the rapidly increasing violence and patterns of that violence we have been seeing in Iraq. This change is a necessary precondition to the stability and increased...

When People Refuse to be Terrorized 27/07/2007 In every terrorist war there comes a time when even the deadliest operations begin to lose impact. Every human endeavor is subject to the law of diminishing returns. In the case of terrorism, whose aim is to cow the adversary into submission, this means a growing refusal by the adversary to be cowed. In time, terror also loses whatever initial support it might have enjoyed as more and people discover its ugly face. This maybe what is happening in the Muslim world now. The latest surveys show that support for suicide-murder operations is...

BAQOUBA, Iraq, Aug. 23, 2007 — The Baqouba public flour mill began processing wheat Aug. 20, after being closed for nearly a year, marking the local production of flour in the Diyala Province as a major step toward Iraqi self-sufficiency. "This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here. It's probably the most important thing we've done." Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here," said Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of...

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq, Aug. 23, 2007 — Every action taken by coalition forces in Iraq is leading toward the ultimate goal of accomplishing Provincial Iraqi Control. "I hope the Iraqis take our training and run with it. They have the opportunity to make a real difference in their country after we are gone." U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marlon Romero construction electrician. Whether it’s routing out insurgents alongside the Iraqi Army or helping Iraqi police maintain peace, much of the recent success in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq can be attributed to Americans and Iraqis working together....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2007 – Due to the sustained presence of coalition forces in former insurgent safe havens and increased capability of Iraqi security forces, levels of violence in Iraq are the lowest they’ve been since June 2006, an operational leader on the Joint Staff said today. (Video) Army Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provides an operations update during a Pentagon news briefing Aug. 23, 2007. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Brig. Gen. Richard Sherlock, deputy director...

Iraq report may bolster surge policy By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago Intentionally or not, a new assessment of Iraq's political and military prospects landed just in time to bolster President Bush's case that the United States should maintain its troop buildup in the country and stand by its beleaguered government. The consensus report by U.S. spy agencies contained a veiled warning: Any move to shift U.S. troops out of their role directly combating insurgents could squander the modest security gains secured by the troop surge. "A change of mission ... would place security improvements at risk,"...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Intentionally or not, a new assessment of Iraq's political and military prospects landed just in time to bolster President Bush's case that the United States should maintain its troop buildup in the country and stand by its beleaguered government. The consensus report by U.S. spy agencies contained a veiled warning: Any move to shift U.S. troops out of their role directly combating insurgents could squander the modest security gains secured by the troop surge. "A change of mission ... would place security improvements at risk," the report concluded. That conclusion, coming unanimously from the nation's 16 intelligence...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Civilian casualties remain high, sectarian groups can't get along, al Qaeda in Iraq is still pulling off high-profile attacks and "to date, Iraqi leaders remain unable to govern effectively," said the declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate released Thursday. The intelligence community briefed the media on the assessment hours after senior Bush administration officials told CNN the classified version of the report expressed doubts that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is able to lead the war-torn country. The report concluded that al-Maliki may not have the ability or capacity to "push forward" legislative reforms, according to...

Freedomswatch is running a series of ads over the next few weeks. These ads ask good Americans to contact their Congressmen to support our continued efforts to attack terrorists in their breeding ground, before they attack again here. I was happy to participate in these ads. Please, contact your Congressman and Representatives and tell them that Surrender is NOT an option. Thanks, Deb Argel Bastian Proud mom of Derek Argel