Stix Blog

Anbar Awakening

The true story of the Anbar Awakening.

H/T to The Jawa Report

Al Queda in Iraq is being defeated

Scott over at Flopping Aces had the pleasure of being in on a conference call with Brigadier General Simeon Trombitas. Trombitas is the Director of the Counter-Terrorism Transition Team in Iraq, and has helped Counter-Terrorism Teams all over Central and South America, and also Korea.

He has dealt with many fine Countrer-Terrorist special forces and is helping wonderfully in Iraq. Many of those that he trained are also helping out. this is not just American special forces kicking al Queda in Iraq's butts, it is an international team.


Go over to Flopping Aces to check out what went on in the conference call.

Meet Steve Schippert

Steve Schippert is a former Marine and blogs at Threats Watch and the Tank on NRO.  He gives a little lesson in the history of the Iraq Awakening and the "Surge".  I am sure that Obama and the rest of his Merry Leftists will take notes.

Sen. Obama, Meet Steve Schippert   [Andy McCarthy]

Mark Levin had this on the radio last night.  Our friend Steve Schippert, a former Marine who blogs at his terrific site, Threats Watch, as well as at the Tank on NRO, provided this stirring history lesson yesterday — debunking Obama's claim that the Anbar Awakening was somehow a result of his plan for encouraging Iraqi political progress:

I would remind the candidate that the Anbar Salvation Council (which later grew exponentially and developed into al-Sahwa al-Iraq - the Iraq Awakening) started with one man, Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu al-Risha, and seventy men fighting al-Qaeda in defense of their families, not in pursuit of a ‘political’ anything. They simply wanted to live and end al-Qaeda’s assassination and murdering spree against their families and tribe. Sheikh Abdul Sattar, later assassinated by al-Qaeda in Iraq , had seen 10 family members, including 4 brothers, killed by al-Qaeda for their cooperation with US forces. He had had enough.

Obama’s plan - unoriginal and pieced together like a quilt from others against the Iraq war - was entirely Baghdad-centric, about laws and revenue sharing and conferences. The Anbar Awakening had nothing to do with Baghdad when they began and when they turned the neighborhood tides in Ramadi and elsewhere in Anbar province. It was about killing the terrorists before the terrorists killed them. One must, after all, live to ultimately see progress on any scale beyond one’s neighborhoods.

Obama wanted laws written, press conferences, and an immediate pull back of US troops. As Senator Chuck Schumer so brilliantly said at the time about ‘the plan,’ US forces were to withdraw post-haste to the periphery “in more of a counterterrorism role.” This would have abandoned the Anbar Salvation Council - and Anbar Sunnis and Shi’a alike - entirely. It would have been feeding them to the bloodthirsty wolves of al-Qaeda so that domestic American political figures could champion themselves as ‘ending a war’ and conducting business “in more of a counterterrorism role.”

This is precisely what I tried to scream when I wrote “This Is Counterterrorism, Senator” over a year ago for National Review Online. And winning the counterinsurgency is about aligning a population with us. Neither of these, counterterrorism nor counterinsurgency, could have been successfully addressed by ‘The Plan’ put forth by Obama and others in opposition to The Surge. The Surge was all about protecting the population within their own neighborhoods, while ‘The Plan’ was about abandoning said population to complete animals unassisted. Yet Obama - and surely others - would oppose it all over again.

The Iraqis have done what they have done for themselves in spite of the likes of Obama, Schumer, Pelosi and all the rest. What’s more, now that The Surge has accomplished much of what it set out to do to help the Iraqis - again in spite of Obama, Schumer, Pelosi and the rest - a presidential candidate who opposed the surge, would still oppose The Surge and had absolutely no clue about the Anbar Salvation Council when it was pleading and begging for US support (since at least September of 2006) wants to champion their success as somehow his brainchild and a sign of the political development he envisioned?

One is left to suppose that he overlooks the fact that so many in Anbar and throughout Iraq are alive in spite of attempts to push such a sacrificial ‘Plan.’ There’s no other way to describe it. Dead people - crucified, baked and beheaded - do not live to contribute to ‘political progress.’ Sheikh Abdul Sattar - and today, his brother Sheikh Ahmed al-Rishawi - understood this. Too many Americans seem flip to dismiss this comfortably from afar.

The Anbar Salvation Council didn’t have a damn thing to do with political resolution. It needed to simply survive first; family by family, town by town, tribe by tribe. The movement that eventually saved Iraq laid ignored and unsupported until General David Petraeus changed that when he arrived to command The Surge that Obama said he would still oppose.

Obama’s (et al) ‘plan’ and ‘political’ demands would have fed them to the wolves, slaughtered with their families while we were to have breathed a sigh of relief that the war was finally over. Funny thing about the Iraqis: They want to live, no matter what our politicians profess.

07/23 06:45 AM

Also at Grizzly Groundswell

Which Obama should we believe???

Which one of the Obama's should we trust if he gets in the White House

H/T to Stop the ACLU

Ricin and botulinum found in Iraq

Ricin and botulinum were found in the hidden camp for Ansar al-Islam. Ansar al-ISlam are affiliated with Al Queda.   Ricin andbotulinum are both made with everyday common items.   I think this might be the place where they tested the poisons on dogs on video that wasreleased a few years ago.   Ansar al-Islam is not affiliated with Saddam but with Al Queda, but there were many meetings between representatives of Iraq and Al Queda.  Is this a smoking gun, not exactly.  But it does show that the terrorists have the ability to make WMD with common items.  Both sarin and botulinum are easilydispsersed to give more bang fo the buck than a dirty bomb.  So in a way,this should be looked at carefully by the intelligence agencies.

H/T to Flopping Aces

U.S. intelligence says the Sargat camp, shown here in a satellite photo taken before its destruction, was a "terrorist poison and explosives factory."

Positive test for terror toxins in Iraq

Evidence of ricin, botulinum at Islamic militants’ camp

By EXCLUSIVE By Preston Mendenhall

MSNBC

SARGAT, Iraq, April 4 - Preliminary tests conducted by MSNBC.com indicate that the deadly toxins ricin and botulinum were present on two items found at a camp in a remote mountain region of northern Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist training center by Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The field tests used by MSNBC.com are only a first step in the evidentiary process and are typically followed by more precise laboratory testing that MSNBC.com has not conducted. U.S. intelligence agents were conducting their own tests in the same area and had not yet released their results, according to officials in northern Iraq.---PMSNBC

Electric Avenue Iraqi Style

H/T to the Jawa Report

Nice to see that they didn't loose the White Man disease and still can't dance

Nice ot see them act like normal guys.  Making fools of themselves.  I think that maybe they can make the Jihadis laugh themselves to death.

A few myths about Iraq debunked

H/T to Iraqi Status Report

Iraq Fact Check: Responding To Key Myths

Written by Office of Public Liaison

Wednesday, 07 May 2008 00:00

1.  MYTH: The American people are footing the bill for Iraq’s security and reconstruction while Iraqis sit on large windfall oil profits.

....

2.   MYTH: “It's no big deal” if Congress fails to pass a war supplemental bill by Memorial Day.

....

3.  MYTH: The Iraqi government has not taken advantage of reduced violence by making political progress.

...

4.  MYTH: The U.S. is negotiating a back-door treaty with Iraq’s government that will tie the hands of future Presidents.

...

5.  MYTH: Iraqis are not defending their country.

...

6.  MYTH: Current spending on the war is historically unprecedented.

Go and read the facts

Why we are fighting

via email

Cross posted at Grizzly Groundswell

Why doesn't someone like this run for president?

This is one of the most profound articles that I have ever read about this Presidency, this era, and this so-called war. No matter your politics, you owe it to yourself to read this.

An assessment of where the US stands in relation to the Middle East problems, this one is from the guy who had his finger on the nuclear trigger for three years as head of our defense and response complex buried under Cheyenne Mountain at Colorado Springs. He was the only person who could initiate a nuclear attack after advising the sitting president of a missile launch by our enemies and our need to respond. No political or civilian type in the US had more knowledge about day to day military actions around the world.

 

 

Everyone should find quiet time to read this. As far as I am concerned, it is exactly the direction we should go and the consequences of not doing so are well thought out.

 

 

-John R. ( Jack ) Farrington, Major General, USAF (Retired)

Middle East Imperative
by: James Cash, Brigadier General, USAF, Retired

 

 

 

 

 

I wrote recently about the war in Iraq and the larger war against radical Islam, eliciting a number of responses. Let me try and put this conflict in proper perspective.

 

 

Understand; the current battle we are engaged in is much bigger than just Iraq. What happens in the next year will affect this country and how our kids and grand kids live throughout their lifetime, and beyond. Radical Islam has been attacking the West since the seventh century. They have been defeated in the past and decimated to the point of taking hundreds of years to recover. But they can never be totally defeated. Their birth rates are so far beyond civilized world rates, that in time they recover and attempt to dominate again.

 

 

There are eight terror-sponsoring countries that make up the grand threat to the West. Two, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, just need firm pressure from the West to make major reforms. They need to decide who they are really going to support and commit to that support. That answer is simple. They both will support who they think will hang in there until the end, and win.

 

 

We are not sending very good signals in that direction right now, thanks to the Democrats.

 

 

The other six, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Libya will require regime change or a major policy shift. Now, let's look more closely.

 

 

Afghanistan and Iraq have both had regime changes, but are being fueled by outsiders from Syria and Iran . We have scared Gaddafi's pants off, and he has given up his quest for nuclear weapons, so I don't think Libya is now a threat. North Korea (the non-Islamic threat) can be handled diplomatically by buying them off. They are starving. That leaves Syria and Iran. Syria is like a frightened puppy. Without the support of Iran they will join the stronger side.

 

 

 

 

 

So where does that leave us? Sooner, or later, we are going to be forced to confront Iran, and it better be before they gain nuclear capability.

 

 

In 1989 I served as a Command Director inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex located in Colorado Springs, Colorado for almost three years. My job there was to observe (through classified means) every missile shot anywhere in the world and assess if it was a threat to the US or Canada. If any shot was threatening to either nation I had only minutes to advise the President, as he had only minutes to respond.

 

 

I watched Iran and Iraq shoot missiles at each other every day, and all day long, for months. They killed hundreds of thousands of their people. Know why? They were fighting for control of the Middle East and that enormous oil supply. At that time, they were preoccupied with their internal problems and could care less about toppling the west. Oil prices were fairly stable and we could not see an immediate threat.

 

 

Well, the worst part of what we have done as a nation in Iraq is to do away with the military capability of one of those nations. Now, Iran has a clear field to dominate the Middle East, since Iraq is no longer a threat to them. They have turned their attention to the only other threat to their dominance, they are convinced they will win, because the US is so divided, and the Democrats (who now control Congress and, unfortunately, may control the Presidency in 2008) have openly said we are pulling out.

 

 

Do you have any idea what will happen if the entire Middle East turns their support to Iran, which they will obviously do if we pull out? It is not the price of oil we will have to worry about. Oil WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE to this country at any price. I personally would vote for any presidential candidate who did what JFK did with the space program---declare a goal to bring this country to total energy independence in a decade.

 

 

Yes, it is about oil. The economy in this country will totally die if that Middle East supply is cut off right now. It will not be a recession. It will be a depression that will make1929 look like the "good-old-days".

 

 

 

 

 

The bottom line here is simple. If Iran is forced to fall in line, the fighting in Iraq will end over night, and the nightmare will be over. One way or another, Iran must be forced to join modern times and the global community. It may mean a real war---if so, now is the time, before we face a nuclear Iran with the capacity to destroy Israel and begin a new ice age.

 

 

I urge you to read the book "END GAME" by two of our best Middle East experts, true American patriots and retired military generals, Paul Vallely and Tom McInerney. They are our finest, and totally honest in their assessment of why victory in the Middle East is so important, and how it can be won. Proceeds for the book go directly to memorial fund for our fallen soldiers who served the country during the war on terror. You can find that book by going to the Internet through Stand-up America at http://www.ospreyradio.us/,  http://www.ospreyradio.us/ or http://www.rightalk.com/, http://www.rightalk.com/.

 

 

On the other hand, we have several very angry retired generals today, who evidently have not achieved their lofty goals, and insist on ranting and raving about the war. They are wrong, and doing the country great harm by giving a certain political party reason to use them as experts to back their anti-war claims.

 

 

You may be one of those who believe nothing could ever be terrible enough to support our going to war. If that is the case I should stop here, as that level of thinking approaches mental disability in this day and age. It is right up there with alien abductions and high altitude seeding through government aircraft contrails. I helped produced those contrails for almost 30 years, and I can assure you we were not seeding the atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

The human race is a war-like population, and if a country is not willing to protect itself, it deserves the consequences. 'Enough - said!'

 

 

Now, my last comments will get to the nerve. They will be on politics. I am not a Republican. And, George Bush has made enough

 

 

mistakes as President to insure my feelings about that for the rest of my life. However, the Democratic Party has moved so far left, they have made me support those farther to the right.

 

 

I am a conservative who totally supports the Constitution of this country. The only difference between the United States and the South American, third world, dictator infested and ever-changing South American governments, is our U.S. Constitution.

 

 

This Republic (note I did not say Democracy) is the longest standing the world has ever known, but it is vulnerable. It would take so little to change it through economic upheaval. There was a time when politicians could disagree, but still work together. We are past that time, and that is the initial step toward the downfall of our form of government.

 

 

I think that many view Bush-hating as payback time. The Republicans hated the Clinton's and now the Democrats hate Bush. So, both parties are putting their hate toward willingness to do anything for political dominance to include lying and always taking the opposite stand just for the sake of being opposed. JUST HOW GOOD IS THAT FOR OUR COUNTRY?

 

 

In my lifetime, after serving in uniform for President's Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush, I have a pretty good feel for which party supported our military, and what military life was like under each of their terms. And, let me assure you that times were best under the Republicans.

 

 

 

 

 

Service under Jimmy Carter was devastating for all branches of the military. And, Ronald Regan was truly a salvation.

 

 

You can choose to listen to enriched newscasters, and foolish people like John Murtha (he is no war hero!), Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, Harry Reid, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy, and on-and-on to include the true fools in Hollywood if you like. If you do, your conclusions will be totally wrong!

 

 

The reason that I write, appear on radio talk shows, and do everything I can to denounce those people is simple. THEY ARE PUTTING THEIR THIRST FOR POLITICAL POWER AND QUEST FOR VICTORY IN 2008 ABOVE WHAT IS BEST FOR THIS COUNTRY! I cannot abide by that.

 

 

Pelosi clearly defied the Logan Act by going to Syria, which should have lead to imprisonment of three years and a heavy fine. Jane Fonda did more to prolong the Vietnam War than any other human being (as acknowledged by Ho Chi Minh in his writing before he died). She truly should have been indicted for treason, along with her radical husband, Tom Hayden, and forced to pay the consequences.

 

 

This country has started to soften by not enforcing its laws, which is another indication of a Republic about to fall.

 

 

All Democrats, along with the Hollywood elite, are sending us headlong into a total defeat in the Middle East, which will finally give Iran total dominance in the region. A lack of oil in the near future will be the final straw that dooms this Republic.

 

 

However, if we refuse to let this happen and really get serious about an energy self-sufficiency program, this can be avoided. I am afraid, however, that we are going in the opposite direction.

 

 

If we elect Hillary Clinton and a Democrat controlled congress, and they carry through with allowing Iran to take control of the Middle East, continue to refuse development of nuclear energy, refuse to allow drilling for new oil, and continue to do nothing but oppose everything Bush, it will be over in terms of what we view as the good life in the USA.

 

 

Now, do I think that all who do not support the war are un-American? Of course not. They just do not understand the importance of total victory in that region.

 

 

Another failure of George Bush is his inability to explain to the American people why we are there, and why we MUST win. By the way, it is not a war. The war was won five years ago. It is martial law that is under attack by Iranian and Syrian outside influences, and there is a difference.

 

 

So, what do I believe? What is the bottom line? I will simply say that the Democratic Party has fielded the foulest, power hungry, anti-country, self absorbed group of individuals that I have observed in my lifetime. Our educational system is partially to blame for allowing the mass of America to be taken in by this group. George Bush has done the best he can with the disabilities that he possesses.

 

 

A President must communicate with the people. And, I would tell you that Desert Storm spoiled the people. Bush Senior's 100-hour war convinced the people that technology has progressed to the point that wars could be fought with no casualties and won in very short periods of time. I remember feeling at the time, that this was a tragedy for the US military. To win wars, you must put boots on the ground. When you put boots on the ground, soldiers are going to die. A President must make the war decision wisely, and insure that the cause is right before using his last political option.

 

 

HOWEVER, CONTROLLING IRAN AND DEMOCRATIZING THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE ONLY CHOICE IF WE ARE HELL BENT ON DEPENDING ON THEM FOR OUR FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS.

 

 

-Jimmy L. Cash, Brigadier General, USAF, Retired

See no progress, Hear no Progress, Speak no Progress

Joe Lieberman saidot best yesterday,"hear no progress in Iraq, see no progress in Iraq, and most of all, speak of no progress in Iraq."  The Defeatocrats in the Senate are using the hearings with General Petreuas and Ambassador Ryan Crocker as a poitical show.  They do not listen or do not want to hear of the successes the Iraqi government has made.  They are playing petty political games with our military to the Left Wing base in their party. They should be ashamed of themselves.

'See No Progress'
April 9, 2008

A useful measure of General David Petraeus's achievement is the turn in the political mood, even in the U.S. Congress. In September, Senators felt entitled to lecture, even berate, the Iraq commander. This time he was accorded more respect, no doubt because the surge is showing results even Democrats can no longer deny. Instead, they ignored them.

At yesterday's Senate double-header, General Petraeus was sober and candid in characterizing the security progress made since last spring, calling it "significant but uneven" and ultimately "fragile and reversible." He noted important advances: Both high-profile terror attacks and civilian deaths, including those due to ethno-sectarian violence, are in decline. Half of Iraq's 18 provinces are under Iraqi control, and Anbar and Qadisiyah are expected to transition over the coming months. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been greatly diminished because of "relentless pressure" and better counterinsurgency intelligence.--WSJ

Petition for General Patreaus

I got this from a RedState email.

Dear RedState Reader,

All the best,

I'm sorry to have filled your inbox this week, but there are so many pressing matters this week.

First up, please consider signing Congressman Mike Conaway's petition in support of General Petraeus, who keeps getting attacked by the Democrats to undermine his credibility.

Second, The Democrats and the media are at it again.  This week is very instructive for how the media and Democrats coordinate their activities together.  It also shows just how ignorant Democrats and the media are about the military, both equating a military presence with actually being at war.  Do we want a President who shows such a profound misunderstanding?

Barack Obama has said repeatedly in the past several weeks, things like this:  "[McCain] wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100 years."

Then Obama's campaign strategist would say, as he did Monday morning on MSNBC, "Senator Obama hasn't said that Senator McCain said we would be at war for 100 years."

The media would then report on the Presidential campaign using quotes from Barack Obama like this one in the Chicago Tribune:  “Meanwhile, Sen. McCain has been saying I don’t understand national security, but he’s the one who wants to keep tens of thousands of United States Troops in Iraq for as long as 100 years,’ Obama said.”

No where would they point out that major nonpartisan fact checking organizations have called that statement a "gross distortion."

Just so you have the facts, here is what John McCain said in response to a question about leaving troops in Iraq for 50 or 100 years:

"We've been in Japan for 60 years, we've been in South Korea for 50 years, that'd be fine with me as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed.  That's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training and recruiting and equipping people."

Clearly McCain was talking about a peace time standing presence.  The "not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed" line kind of gave that away.

Notwithstanding that, the DNC is now out with an email blast begging for money, saying again that John McCain wants to fight another 100 years.  No doubt the media will keep repeating it, never pointing out the gross distortion of what McCain said.  It is important, however, that we all have the facts to point out the Democrats and media are working together to push this lie.

Of course, it could just be that the Democrats are clueless about the military.  Someone should ask the Democrats if they think we're still at war with the confederacy, the Germans, and the Japanese given all the standing American armies in the South, Germany, and Japan.

Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com

Liberal Values does not agree

   

WMD in Syria????

There is a report to come out that says Saddam transfered weapons to Syria. Who would have thought of that???

An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday.

Furthermore, according to a report leaked to the TV channel, Syria has arrested 10 intelligence officials following the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh.

JPost

Also posting:

Liberty Cafe

Flopping Aces

Did you know?

Welcome Wizbang readers.   Take a look around.

Did you know?

I didn't know!

   

How could we?

Did you know that 47 countries' have

Reestablished their embassies in Iraq ?

 

Did you know that the Iraqi government

Currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

 
Did you know

That 3100 schools have been renovated,

364 schools are under rehabilitation,

263 new schools are now under construction;

And 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq ?

Did you know

That Iraq 'S higher educational structure consists

Of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers,

All currently operating?

Did you know

That 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in
January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program?

Did you know

That the Iraqi Navy is operational?

They have 5 - 100-foot patrol craft,

34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.

Did you know

That Iraq ' S Air Force consists of three operational squadrons,

Which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft

(under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night,

And will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?

Did you know

That Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?

Did you know

That the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000

Fully trained and equipped police officers?

Did you know

That there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq

That produce over 3500 new officers every 8 weeks?

Did you know

There are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq ?

They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals,

83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities

And 69 electrical facilities.

Did you know

That 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5

Have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Did you know

That 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?

Did you know

That there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq

And phone use has gone up 158%?

Did you know

That Iraq has an independent media that consists of

75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Did you know

That the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?

Did you know

That 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a
Televised debate recently?

 

OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!

WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW?

BECAUSE OUR MEDIA WON'T TELL US!

Instead of reflecting our love for our country,

We get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib

And people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades.

Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive

In Iraq serves two purposes:

It is intended to undermine the world's perception

Of the United States thus minimizing consequent support;

And it is intended to discourage American citizens.

----
Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site.

http://WWW.defenselink.mil/

Did you know?

I didn't know

But I know now.....

......Pass it on! Give it a Wide Dissemination

Iran behind attacks in Iraq

General Patreus says he has eveidence that the Iraian Quds frce was behind yesterday's Green Zone attack.

H/T to GatewayPundit

Iran 'behind Green Zone attack'

The most senior US general in Iraq has said he has evidence that Iran was behind Sunday's bombardment of Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets.

He said Iran was adding what he described as "lethal accelerants" to a very combustible mix.

There has as yet been no response from Iran to the accusations.

...

The rockets that were launched at the Green Zone yesterday, for example... were Iranian-provided, Iranian-made rockets," he said, adding that the groups that fired them were funded and trained by the Quds Force.

"All of this in complete violation of promises made by President Ahmadinejad and the other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts."

The barrage hit the Green Zone on Sunday morning. Some rockets missed their targets killing 15 Iraqi civilians. ---BBC

AlQueda Torture house destroyed

Thanks to Amy Proctor for this good news.  If you want to see what a real torture chamber is like, not the interrogation rooms our intelligence agencies use, look at this video.  They found more  like this before with drills and instructions on how to use the drills for torture without killing someone, batteries attached to beds for electrocution and many other methods of torture.  They actually have a book that shows how to torture people.