- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Enjames-saif

Iraq blasts leave 22 dead

EnJames — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:45:51 +0000

A car packed with explosives rammed into a concrete wall at the provincial police headquarters. It was followed by a motorcycle bomb that was detonated among the crowd of police and bystanders who had rushed to the scene to help. A third blast, another car bomb, went off outside of the city’s main hospital.

Explosions coming in quick succession, designed to target rescuers and security forces who rush to the scene to assist, were a hallmark of al-Qaeda in Iraq during the height of the Sunni insurgency.

Baghdad bombing leaves hole in diplomatic corps

EnJames — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:03:17 +0000

Iraqi diplomats are clearing out the rubble of their bombed Foreign Ministry building while the nation grapples with the aftermath of an attack that has rocked the foundation of its fragile security and served notice that the country is still at war.

The twin suicide truck bombs that exploded outside the Foreign Ministry and Finance Ministry last week killed more than 100 people and wounded almost 600 in attacks on two major symbols of Iraqi sovereignty.

“What happened on Black Wednesday was truly a national tragedy,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters in a press conference Saturday aimed at showing the ministry was working through the destruction. “This incident targeted the whole Iraqi government, the whole Iraqi state, to bring it down.”

Outside the twisted facade and gaping windows of the 10-story building, city workers reerected blast walls taken down earlier this year in what Mr. Zebari bluntly described as overconfidence and a systemic failure of security.

Iraqi Army: almost onequarter lacks minimum qualifications

EnJames — Tue, 26 May 2009 06:36:07 +0000

Baghdad – In a legacy of the US rush to build up Iraqi security forces, almost one-quarter of the Iraqi Army currently fails to meet its own minimum qualifications for soldiers, the Iraqi government is discovering in its first real look at the composition of the Army.

“They’re finding about 24 percent are not qualified based on Army criterion for being in the Army,” US Brig. Gen. Steven Salazar says of an ongoing rescreening of Iraq’s 253,000 soldiers.

“A very small number of them are overage, a little bit bigger number of them would be medically disqualified, and then somewhere – around 15 percent they’re finding – are illiterate,” says General Salazar, deputy commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq, in an interview.

Lambs too costly for traditional Iraq sacrifice

EnJames — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:27:06 +0000

The sheep markets looked different this year: They were packed with customers buying animals to sacrifice in memory of recently lost relatives, but many people went home empty-handed due to the enormous demand and steeply rising prices.There’s an ancient tradition in Iraq of honoring deceased loved ones during the annual Eid al Adha religious holiday, when Muslims donate part of a slaughtered lamb to neighbors and part to Baghdad’s poor.However, the demand for lambs has soared as Iraqis this week remember tens of thousands of people who died during the war.Before the war, Iraqis who followed the tradition could find plenty of animals at affordable prices. This year, the prices skyrocketed.

Iraqi Shias: Come, let us sleep with your wife, daughter, and sister, so the Mahdi may return

EnJames — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:36:07 +0000

Mahdi-Alert. Apparently some Shia groups in Iraq are operating under a doctrine that maintains if people engage in debauched behavior — sowing corruption in the earth — that would only speed up the return of the...

Islamic beliefs honor Women

EnJames — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:28:15 +0000

Have you ever walked through a mall and seen a woman with a veil covering her hair? What crossed your mind? Did you think she was one of the many wives of a rich Saudi Arabian oil sheik? Did you feel sympathy for her because some man forced her to...

Predictions Vs. Reality in Iraq

EnJames — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:28:28 +0000

On Sept. 10, 2002, I asked 35 questions regarding war with Iraq. The war resolution passed on Oct. 16, 2002. Now today, as some of my colleagues try to reestablish credentials regarding spending restraint, I want to call attention to my 18th...

CentCom Position may go to Top Iraq Commander

EnJames — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:07:22 +0000

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has recommended the top military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, be appointed head of US Central Command.

Iraq's Sadr threatens to scrap ceasefire

EnJames — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:15:12 +0000

hi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened on Tuesday to end a truce he imposed on his militia last year, raising the prospect of worsening violence on a day when top U.S. officials testified on Iraq in Washington.

The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, told a Senate panel he was recommending a 45-day pause in troop cuts after July when an initial drawdown is completed. He said he would then decide over time when to recommend more reductions.

Widow of Soldier Successful In Having Sperm Extracted

EnJames — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:23:53 +0000

A soldier’s widow has succeeded in having sperm taken from his body and frozen four days after he was slain in Iraq, though medical experts said it’s highly unlikely she would be able to bear his child.

Sergeant Dayne Darren Dhanoolal, 26, died on March 31 when an explosive detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. He had talked often with his wife Kynesha about having children, according to court papers filed by her lawyer.