Free Republic

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 10, 2005) – Iraqi and U.S. government officials announced Aug. 6 that contracts have been awarded for the renovation of 43 Iraqi schools. As part of the Iraq Relief Reconstruction Fund, more than $1.3 million has been set aside to continue a nationwide school repair program. The renovations, scheduled to take about six weeks, will be complete just in time to allow approximately 18,000 Iraqi school children to attend refurbished schools this school year. Repairs include rehabilitating sanitary facilities, and electrical and mechanical systems, as well as structural repairs to schools in Karbala, Dahuk,...

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen, including a major in the new Iraqi police force, attacked a group of American soldiers, sparking a gunbattle in which the officer was killed and two other attackers wounded, the U.S. military said Sunday. The soldiers were observing a house belonging to a person suspected in rocket-propelled grenade attacks on American forces in the village of Qadisiyah, 30 miles south of Tikrit, when the gunmen opened fire Saturday evening, the military said in a statement. The Americans fired back and threw a hand grenade at the attackers, killing one and wounding two. Two more...