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U.S. monthly death toll drops to new low * Iraq says oil production at post-war high * Australia pulls out combat troops By Ross Colvin BAGHDAD, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war high. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq's oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil...

Iraqis gathered in the Hayyaniyah district of Basra, Iraq to answer a recruiting call by the Iraqi army May 29. More than 3,000 Iraqi men from the area turned out for the event though the Iraqi army only had 1,000 positions available. BASRA — Soldiers with the 1st Iraqi Army looked to increase their numbers and support in Basra, Iraq May 29. Operation Charge of the Knights has been successful in rooting out criminal elements and restoring the rule of law to the city as well as increasing local support for the government of Iraq. The increased support for the...

Don't look now, but the U.S.-backed government and army may be winning the war.[From the Washington Post!] THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled...

CIA Director Michael Hayden gave a noteworthy interview to the Washington Post this week. According to the Post: Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda’s allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group’s core...

KIRKUK, Iraq – Arab tribal leaders conducted a significant meeting in the Ta’mim province, May 27, a day after a large weapons cache was discovered by the Iraq Army. Tribal leaders from the Daquq district met with district council members, representatives from the Iraqi Security and Coalition forces in the village of Ghaida in the Southern Rashaad Valley. At the meeting, ISF, local government leaders and CF discussed community issues with the local tribes. The meeting presented the tribes with an opportunity to have their voice heard by members of the district council which is primarily composed of Kurds and...

CIA director Michael Hayden came under stiff challenge for portraying Al-Qaeda as on the defensive after global setbacks, even in its safe havens along the Afghan-Pakistani border.Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Jay Rockefeller, said Hayden's upbeat appraisal was not consistent with intelligence assessments provided his committee over the past year."In fact, I have seen nothing, including classified intelligence reporting, that would lead me to this conclusion," Rockefeller said in a scathing letter to the Central Intelligence Agency director.Hayden's assessment -- one of the most positive since the September 11, 2001 attacks -- comes less than a year after US intelligence warnings...

TIKRIT, Iraq, May 29, 2008 – Northern Iraqi leaders came together for an energy conference at Contingency Operating Base Spiecher in the province of Salahuddin yesterday. The conference covered the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity within the northern region of Iraq. All four northern provinces -- Tamim, Diyala, Salahuddin and Ninevah -- had official representation at the conference, and they all spoke on their areas within the region. Officials also represented three Kurdish provinces: Sulaimaniyah, Irbil and Dahuk. The Iraqi Minister of Electricity, Iraqi military leaders and coalition soldiers were in attendance to bring awareness of the energy issues...

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2008 – Last week, Iraq experienced the lowest level of “security incidents” since March 2004, a reduction that military officials attribute in part to improvements in Iraqi security forces. “The collective efforts … to increase the capacity of the Iraqi security forces is a key part of the reason why we saw last week the lowest level of security incidents in Iraq the past four years,” Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said this morning during a news conference in Baghdad. “It is also why we are seeing Iraqi citizens increasingly supporting their...

Basra had erupted into a Shiite-on-Shiite power struggle, and as long as Maliki ignored the evident instability in the South, whispered doubts flourished about his dedication to national unity. Maliki was still struggling with many Sunnis and Kurds over his willingness to tackle Shiite troubles and in-fighting. On March 23, Maliki launched Operation Knight's Assault, in Basra. Thousands of soldiers stormed the southern Shiite bastion, specifically targeting Muqtada al Sadr and his army. The early stages of the operation were shaky at best — 1,000 soldiers deserted ranks as they refused to fight against their brethren in the Mahdi army....

The Iraq war American KIA are the lowest since the war began. 19 so far this month. Bear in mind that we still have 3 days left in the month. But the only month that even comes close is February, 2004 when there were 20 American KIA.

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces found and confiscated numerous enemy weapons stockpiles and killed or captured enemy fighters in recent operations, military officials reported. In operations today: -- Iraqi National Police officers confiscated two rocket-propelled grenades, two RPG rounds, more than 80 AK-47s, three SKS rifles, three 9 mm pistols, a 38 mm pistol, four radio handsets with batteries and an unknown amount of detonation cord this morning. Later, officers from the same unit seized what coalition officials call an “explosively formed penetrator,” or EFP -- a powerful roadside bomb designed to pierce armor – as...

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2008 – Increasingly capable Iraqi security forces and increased participation by nonmilitary U.S. agencies have been instrumental in improving conditions in Iraq, a top coalition commander there said in a “CNN Late Edition” interview with Wolf Blitzer. In the interview, taped May 23 and aired today, Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Multinational Division North, acknowledged that in the summer of 2007 he believed the U.S. military was “carrying the burden of this conflict on our shoulders.” “What I've seen since I've been over here now is we now have partners over here,” he said....

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – Amnesty drop off points are not a new idea in the Army. Whether coming off a range, field exercise or going through customs returning home from deployment, such drop off points give Soldiers a chance to discreetly dispose of contraband and avoid repercussions. Now, in the Maderiyah area, 25 kilometers south of Baghdad, the same privileges are being offered to citizens. “The biggest fear a lot of these people have is getting arrested,” said 1st Lt. Greg Highstrom, platoon leader for 2nd Platoon, Battery B, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team,...

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaida's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups. Ryan Crocker's comments came as Iraqi forces have been conducting crackdowns on al-Qaida militants in the northern city of Mosul and on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Thousands of Iraqi forces also moved into the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad last week imposing control for the first time in years. But truces with the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers seized multiple munitions caches in southern Baghdad May 23. Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, discovered a munitions cache at approximately 3:30 a.m. May 23 in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad. The Soldiers seized 107 mm rockets, plastic explosives and fuses inside an abandoned house in the Bayaa community. Iraqi National Policemen from the 1st Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd NP Division, located a weapons cache May 23 at approximately 2 p.m. while conducting a patrol in the...

BAGHDAD – A safer and more secure environment has not only brought Iraqis and their neighbors out of their homes to enjoy life, but has given the Government of Iraq a chance to reconnect with its citizens.Over the last 15 months, leaders with the Multi-National Division - Center have seen where the GoI has made significant headway in its administration of security, governance and reconstruction. “There have been positive steps: better budget execution, better distribution of services, more involvement with civil organizations. The list goes on,” said Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon, deputy commanding general for support for MND-C. “There is...

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2008 – Iraq’s security forces should be manned to near capacity by the end of the year, a senior coalition official said yesterday. “Force generation has been the focus of our efforts and still really remains the focus of our efforts up to now,” British army Brigadier Johnny Torrens-Spence, deputy commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, said in a teleconference with online journalists and bloggers. Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq’s job is to generate and sustain Iraqi security forces, not to be directly involved in combat operations, Torrens-Spence said. “Our job is to help the Iraqis...

HABBANIYAH, Iraq, May 23, 2008 – Habbaniyah Mayor Hussein Ali Hussein, city council members and directors-general celebrated the groundbreaking of the Habbaniyah Government Center in Iraq’s Anbar province May 21. The center, in the Khalidiyah neighborhood west of Camp Habbaniyah, is centrally located to address the demands of people from Husaybah east to Fallujah. "This is a step in the right direction -- a place for people to go if they need help from their government," Hussein said. "We are all very grateful for the hard work that everyone has put into these projects, as well as the help that...

Mileposts: As President Bush's term winds down, signs are there that the war on terror is being won. The conflict in Iraq is ebbing, and worldwide terror attacks are down. When will someone call it what it is? VICTORY.Back from the front, Gen. David Petraeus called on Congress Thursday to begin considering a drawdown of U.S. troops after five years of war. Violence in Iraq has plunged to its lowest levels since 2004, and al-Qaida is a tattered shadow of its formerself — key leaders dead, successors weak and recruiting down. "My sense" Petraeus said, "is I will be able...

TIKRIT, Iraq, May 22, 2008 – Iraqi and U.S. forces have significantly improved security in Iraq’s Ninevah province, a senior U.S. military commander in the region said yesterday. Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Task Force Iron and Multinational Division North, spoke at a news conference about the positive outcomes of the Iraqi-led and coalition-supported operations focused on al-Qaida in Iraq and other terrorist threats in the province. The operations in Ninevah are focused on eliminating terrorists who attack and inhibit improved security, the general said, with a goal of returning normalcy and reestablish a safe environment for...