Radio Free Bush, 8/18/07: "The terrorists remain dangerous and brutal, as we saw this week"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 18, 2007

President's Radio Address



In recent months, American and Iraqi forces have struck powerful blows against al Qaeda terrorists and violent extremists in Anbar and other provinces. In recent days, our troops and Iraqi allies launched a new offensive called Phantom Strike. In this offensive, we are carrying out targeted operations against terrorists and extremists fleeing Baghdad and other key cities -- to prevent them from returning or setting up new bases of operation. The terrorists remain dangerous and brutal, as we saw this week when they massacred more than 200 innocent Yezidis, a small religious minority in northwestern Iraq. Our hearts go out to the families of those killed, and our troops are going to go after the murderers behind this horrific attack.

As we surge combat operations to capture and kill the enemy, we are also surging Provincial Reconstruction Teams to promote political and economic progress. Since January, we have doubled the number of these teams, known as PRTs. They bring together military, civilian, and diplomatic personnel to help Iraqi communities rebuild infrastructure, create jobs, and encourage reconciliation from the ground up. These teams are now deployed throughout the country, and they are helping Iraqis make political gains, especially at the local level.

In Anbar province, at this time last year, the terrorists were in control of many areas and brutalizing the local population. Then local sheikhs joined with American forces to drive the terrorists out of Ramadi and other cities. Residents began to provide critical intelligence, and tribesmen joined the Iraqi police and security forces. Today, the provincial council in Ramadi is back, and last month provincial officials re-opened parts of the war-damaged government center with the help of one of our PRTs. Thirty-five local council members were present as the chairman called the body to order for its inaugural session.

Similar scenes are taking place in other parts of Anbar. Virtually every city and town in the province now has a mayor and a functioning municipal council. The rule of law is being restored. And last month, some 40 judges held a conference in Anbar to restart major criminal trials. In the far west town of al Qaim, tribal leaders turned against the terrorists. Today, those tribal leaders head the regional mayor's office and the local police force. Our PRT leader on the ground reports that al Qaim is seeing new construction, growing commercial activity, and an increasing number of young men volunteering for the Iraqi army and police.

In other provinces, there are also signs of progress from the bottom up. In Muthanna, an overwhelmingly Shia province, the local council held a public meeting to hear from citizens on how to spend their budget and rebuild their neighborhoods. In Diyala province, the city of Baqubah re-opened six of its banks, providing residents with much-needed capital for the local economy. And in Ninewa province, local officials have established a commission to investigate corruption, with a local judge empowered to pursue charges of fraud and racketeering.

Unfortunately, political progress at the national level has not matched the pace of progress at the local level. The Iraqi government in Baghdad has many important measures left to address, such as reforming the de-Baathification laws, organizing provincial elections, and passing a law to formalize the sharing of oil revenues. Yet, the Iraqi parliament has passed about 60 pieces of legislation.

And despite the lack of oil revenue law on the books, oil revenue sharing is taking place. The Iraqi parliament has allocated more than $2 billion in oil revenue for the provinces. And the Shia-led government in Baghdad is sharing a significant portion of these oil revenues with Sunni provincial leaders in places like Anbar.

America will continue to urge Iraq's leaders to meet the benchmarks they have set. Yet Americans can be encouraged by the progress and reconciliation that are taking place at the local level. American politician once observed that "all politics is local." In a democracy, over time national politics reflects local realities. And as reconciliation occurs in local communities across Iraq, it will help create the conditions for reconciliation in Baghdad as well.

Thank you for listening.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070818.html

[Botany]

1. What a load of crap.

Pure lies and propraganda.

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/index.html

Saturday, August 18, 2007
War News for Saturday, August 18, 2007
(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Friday, August 17th. Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack.

(2) The DoD has announced what looks like a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM: Staff Sergeant Robert R. Pirelli, 29, of Franklin, Massachusetts. Pirelli, a Green Beret with the 10th Special Forces Group out of Fort Carson, CO, died in a small arms fire attack on Wednesday, August 15th. According to a press release published by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, he died in Diyala Province. Pirelli enlisted in the Army as an infantryman in December 2003, but then went on to complete the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2006. In March of 2007 he was deployed to Iraq for the first time. Pirelli is survived by his parents, a brother and a sister.

______________________


Baghdad:
#1: Eleven bodies were found dumped in different parts of Baghdad over the past 24 hours, police said.

#2: U.S forces killed two militants and detained 16 others during operations in central and northern Iraq, the U.S military said in a statement.

Diyala Prv:
Khalis:
#1: Mortar shells barraged a Shiite enclave north of Baghdad, killing at least three people on Saturday. About 16 mortar shells rained on houses in the Sharqiya residential area in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, police said. They said 24 people were wounded in addition to the three killed.


Iskandariya:
#1: Police found three bodies in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. All had been shot in the head.


Kut:
#1: Clashes broke out between fighters of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias and U.S. forces in Kut during the early hours of Saturday, eyewitnesses from the city said. "A U.S. force backed by warplanes tried to enter the neighborhood of al-Jihad but was resisted by Mahdi Army militiamen's light arms fire and forced the attacking troops back," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The witness could not specify whether there were casualties on either side and security sources could not be reached for information.


Hawija:
#1: Gunmen killed a police officer in a drive-by shooting in Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: a series of bombs struck commercial areas in the disputed city, killing at least four people and wounding 38. The attacks started Friday evening when a bomb struck a mainly Turkomen open-air market in the Qoriyah district in the city center, killing two people and wounding 25, police Col. Burhan Tayeb Taha said. Three more explosions struck the city within three hours, killing two people and wounding 13, Taha said. Police said at least three women and five children were wounded, including 4-year-old Diyar Mohammed.

[unhappycamper]

2. You, everything's going just fine.

From http://icasualties.org/oif/

08/18/07 AP: Mortars hit town north of Baghdad
At least three people are dead and two dozen more hurt in a mortar barrage today on a Shiite neighborhood in a town north of Baghdad.

08/18/07 MCT: Disabled Iraq war veterans compete in Brazil
When James Stuck regained consciousness in a military hospital in late-2005, he realized something was wrong even before he looked down at
the stump where his lower right leg had been.

08/18/07 Reuters: U.S forces kill 2 militants, detained 16 others
U.S forces killed two militants and detained 16 others during operations in central and northern Iraq, the U.S military said in a statement.

08/18/07 Reuters: 3 bodies found in Iskandariya
Police found three bodies in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. All had been shot in the head.

08/18/07 Reuters: Gunmen kill policemen in Hawija
Gunmen killed a police officer in a drive-by shooting in Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

08/18/07 Reuters: Eleven bodies found dumped in Baghdad on Friday
Eleven bodies were found dumped in different parts of Baghdad over the past 24 hours, police said.

08/18/07 Reuters: Bombs kill 4, wound 34 in Kirkuk
At least four people were killed and 34 others wounded when two bombs exploded in quick succession inside a market in central Kirkuk on Friday, police said.

08/18/07 NYTimes: White House to Offer Iraq Plan of Gradual Cuts
The White House plans to use a report next month assessing progress in Iraq to outline a plan for gradual troop reductions beginning next year that would fall far short of the drawdown demanded by Congressional opponents of the war...

08/18/07 LATimes: Iraqi scholars seek asylum
Ali Fadhil and his Iraqi medical school classmate promised two years ago to return home when their Fulbright scholarships in the United States ended. That was before sectarian violence worsened last year...

08/18/07 belfasttelegraph: Medical crisis in Iraq as doctors and nurses flee
The humanitarian disaster in Iraq is being compounded by a mass exodus of their medical staff fleeing chronic violence... A report by Oxfam International shows the lack of doctors and nurses is fracturing a health system on the brink of collapse.

[msongs]

3. the war criminal in chief describing himself for the world to hear...again nt

[CJCRANE]

4. Iraq wasn't created in 2003.

That's what gets me, * talks like the Iraqis never had their own army, police force or civil service before. Well, they did, until Rummy disbanded everything.