US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,115

As of Tuesday, July 8, 2008, at least 4,115 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,353 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The AP count is two fewer than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 30,349 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

The latest deaths reported by the military:

A soldier died Tuesday of injuries from a roadside bomb in Amiriyah, a neighborhood in western Baghdad.

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Sistani opposes Iraq-US security deal

Iraq’s most senior cleric voices opposition to a proposed security deal with the US, saying such a deal would threaten Iraq’s sovereignty.

In a meeting with Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie on Tuesday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani expressed his concerns over the security deal by calling it an excuse that will justify the presence of US forces in Iraq.

Ayatollah Sistani had earlier noted that any long-term pact with the US should observe four key terms: safeguarding Iraqis’ interests, national sovereignty, national consensus, and parliament approval.

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suggested a timetable for the departure of US forces from Iraq.

However, Washington played down calls for a firm withdrawal deadline, saying any pullout will be based on the conditions on the ground.

“We’re looking at conditions, not calendars here,” State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said on Tuesday.

Baghdad and Washington are negotiating a treaty that would allow the American troops to stay in Iraq after their mandate under the UN expires in December 2008.

The controversial security deal has faced fierce opposition from Iraqi religious and political figures who believe the deal would turn the country into a US colony.

MMS/PA

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Maliki condemns US raid in Karbala

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maiki has condemned the recent US raid in Karbala Province, saying the incident infringed Iraq’s sovereignty.

On Friday, American soldiers killed an unarmed Iraqi civilian and arrested four others in an early-morning military raid in Ganaga district, which is the birthplace of the Iraqi premier.

Maliki described the operation as a clear example of ‘breaking the law and infringing Iraq’s sovereignty’.

The control of security of the province has been handed over to Iraqi authorities.

According to Iraqi officials in Karbala province, before the operation US military airplanes deployed dozens of American troops to the area without informing them.

Earlier, outraged Iraqi officials had ordered an investigation into the lethal incident which drew the ire of Iraqi people.

They said that the US military operation violated the terms of the agreement on the handover of Karbala province to Iraqi troops.

“We denounce the operation and demand an explanation from US forces, as security forces in Karbala did not know about it,” said Oqeil al-Khazaali governor of Karbala city on Friday.

The civilians, who were killed and detained in the operation in the Ganaga district, were not outlaws nor did they belong to any armed group, he added.

DT/DT

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US hidden agenda in Iraq security agreement

Iraq and the US are now at loggerheads over a new open-ended security agreement which would sanction continued presence of the US military in the country, envisage permanent military bases, and give the American military personnel and security contractors the license to kill more Iraqi civilians.

The US-proposed agreement would legalize the presence of the American military after the UN mandate expires after December 31. So the agreement if concluded will be the US ace in the hole in Iraq.

With their capitulatory right, the US military can freely detain the Iraqi civilians under the guise of military operations.

In November, US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed a secret non-binding statement of principles for the negotiations for the conclusion of a final pact due to be in July. No one really knows the terms of the agreement. Yet, they can be easily surmised by a mind familiar with US policies.

The agreement brought swift condemnation from politicians and religious leaders who barely discern an iota of goodwill in the US-proposed agreement. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said he would not allow the Iraqi government to strike a pact with “the US occupiers” as long as he was alive.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq, said that there was “a national consensus on rejecting many of the points put forward by the American side in the agreement, because they detract from national sovereignty.”

The brave Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also urged a referendum for the agreement.

Also in Iran, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani believes that the United States is trying to enslave Iraqis through the deal.

He has said that the ‘essence of this agreement is to enslave the Iraqis before the Americans if it is sealed. This will not happen. The Iraqi people, the Iraqi government and the Islamic nation will not allow it.” He warned of a permanent occupation of the country which is to be seen a danger to all nations of the region.

Iraqi MP Hasan al-Sanid has told al-Iraqiyah that “Iraqi negotiators rejected all US demands and talks have been suspended to allow negotiators to refer to decision makers with the aim of changing US ideas.”

One of the sticking points in the agreement is that the US has demanded absolute powers in the so-called anti-terror fight which would undermine Iraq’s sovereignty. In fact, the agreement gives the US the blank check to render its own definition of terrorism in the world. In plain language, Iraq will remain a killing field so the US military may implement their policy of terror and coercion in the region.

The agreement artfully drafted by US officials will not only jeopardize the Iraqi sovereignty but will also give the US military the right to use Iraq as a launching pad for attacks against other countries, including Syria and Iran.

The US military, however, says that it has no plans for permanent bases in Iraq. Yet, if facts are taken into account, one will see but a hidden agenda behind the agreement.

The US has built overwhelmingly huge military bases including air bases, detention centers, ground force headquarters, and logistical depots in different parts of Iraq with the express intention of exercising complete control over the whole country. More than one billion dollars has been spent on the construction of these military bases. This also gives the negative signal to the Iraqi people that they are planning to perpetuate their presence in the country. Some of the main bases are; al-Balad, also known as Camp Anaconda, north of Baghdad; al-Talil, southwest of Nasiriya; al-Asad, west of Baghdad; al-Qayyara, southeast of Mosul; Camp Victory/Camp Liberty, a complex near the Baghdad International Airport. Many of these bases are well-equipped with diverse amenities to boost the morale of the military such as mess halls, sports facilities, Post Exchange department stores, fast food restaurants including a 24-hour Burger King, a Pizza Hut, a Starbucks knockoff called “Green Beans,” and Baskin Robbins ice cream outlets.

The construction of a sizeable number of bases and a gargantuan embassy complex is certainly meant for long-term military and political activities.

The Iraqi people have constantly expressed resentment and concern over these military bases which can be interpreted as only long-term presence of the US military, exploitation of the country’s resources and violation of independence, sovereignty and freedom.

Also, the construction of a mammoth embassy complex in Baghdad leaves no doubt in the mind that the US government harbors some hidden agenda in the country.

The one-billion dollar New Embassy Compound in the Green Zone occupies 104 acres – ten times the size of its kind anywhere in the world, and six times the size of the UN compound in New York. There are reportedly 1000 diplomats working there many of whom are CIA agents who are working there as technicians. As the Persian saying goes, they have anchored their ship of greed there.

Manifestly, the US government seeks to have a permanent presence in the country, have full control over air space and lands, secure the capitulatory right to immunize its army against the detention and killing of the Iraqis, and finally to use Iraq as a safe launching pad to attack the countries which antagonize the US expansionistic policies in the region including Iran and Syria.

The agreement is yet another US stratagem to practice its long-term policy of expansionism and military adventurism in the region.

It is to the best interests of the Iraqi people if the US troops just leave the land to the afflicted people and let them write their own fate. And it is better for the US government to pull out the teeth of greed and avarice it has long whetted for the region.

Ismail Salami is the author of ‘Iran Cradle of Civilization’ and numerous articles on Middle East and Asia. He can be reached at salami@salamionline.com.

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Iraqi MP-MKO security pact exposed

Information obtained by Iraqi intelligence agencies indicates that the National Dialogue Front has signed a security pact with the MKO.

Intelligence gathered by Iraq’s agencies shows that two years ago, the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, lead by MP Saleh al-Mutlaq, signed a security, information, and training agreement with the Mujahedin Khalq Organization [an Iranian terrorist group now based in Iraq], Farsnews reported on Tuesday.

Iran, Iraq, Canada, the United States, and the European Union have recognized the MKO as a terrorist group. The MKO is responsible for carrying out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran and Iraq over the past 25 years. It also is responsible for countess bombings and assassinations targeting Iranians.

The MKO was closely allied with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and contributed to the suppression of the Iraqi people under the Ba’athist regime.

According to Farsnews, the MKO is training forces affiliated with the Iraqi Dialogue Front to carry out operations at the al-Ashraf camp, the main headquarters of the group.

Up to 20 individuals, led by Iraqi MP Mohammad al-Daini, are also believed to be among the trainees.

MJ/JG/RA

Iraq urges US to stop backing MKO

Iraq bans any deal with the members of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO), calling on the US to stop supporting the terrorist group.

“The Cabinet decided to ban any dealings with this organization by any Iraqi or foreign individual, organization or party,” a statement said on Tuesday.

In the statement, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization is meddling in the country’s internal affairs and supporting anti-government activities.

The statement warned that those who violate the order will face charges under the anti-terror law.

Earlier today, Iraq’s main political blocs in the parliament demanded the expulsion of the MKO members from the country.

Before the US-led invasion in 2003, the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization had enjoyed Saddam Hussein’s support.

After the US-led invasion of the country the US put the group’s members under protection in a northern part of Iraq amid reports that they had been used for by Washington for espionage and violence-related activities.

SB/DT

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Sadr to form new resistance group

Iraq’s influential leader Moqtada al-Sadr has announced plans to set up a new resistance group to fight US occupation in the country.

“The resistance will be carried out exclusively by a special group which I will announce later,” Sadr said in a statement read out at a mosque in the holy town of Kufa.

The cleric vowed to uphold resistance against the occupiers until the liberation of Iraq

Sadr said the group will direct its operations against occupying US forces and will be banned from fighting any Iraqis.

The 60,000-strong Mahdi Army led by Moqtada al-Sadr had regularly clashed with US forces since their invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The group, however, declared a ceasefire last year in August, and maintains that so far its fighters have lived up to it.

The announcement follows Sadr’s call for continued protests against negotiations with Washington over the US presence in the country until a referendum is held on the issue.

Iraqis remain wary of an agreement in principle between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and US president George Bush that would give a legal basis to US troops in Iraq -currently numbering to about 150,000- after the December 31 expiry of a UN mandate defining their current status.

MRS/MMN

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Chomsky: Bush a catastrophe, a gambler

Noam Chomsky believes that everything the Bush administration has done has turned into a catastrophe, calling war on Iran a wild gamble.

When interviewed by Press TV about the possibility of a US-led attack Iran the world renowned US foreign policy analyst said, “It is conceivable that they would be willing to enter a wild gamble and to see what happens. Remember that everything Bush administration has done almost without an exception has turned into a catastrophe for the interests they represent.”

“US intelligence seems to oppose it. The US military opposes it. The Americans and surely the whole world oppose it,” he said while acknowledging his own doubts if the Bush administration would be swayed by those pressures.

“People like DicK Cheney are unpredictable,” he said in the live Friday interview.

About Iran’s nuclear talks with the IAEA, he said, “The right solution to this problem is to declare a nuclear weapons’ free zone in the entire region which would include Iran, Israel, American forces deployed there and so on. About three quarters of Americans favor it and I think that’s the right idea.”

About the controversial US long-term security treaty with Iraq which stipulates American investors are to be given concessions denied others to Iraq’s resources, he said, “That’s brazen imperialism, saying we invaded you so that we could control your country, and so that our corporations can have privileged access to your resources.”

RZS/HAR

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Iraq SOFA deal allows future wars

The proposed Iraq-US security treaty includes classified articles that would give US the right to attack other nations from Iraqi soil.

As reported by Press TV correspondent from Baghdad, the controversial classified articles in question include the following measures:

1. US forces would be free to attack via Iraqi airspace, land or waterways any country which threatens global and regional peace and security, menaces Iraqi government and constitution, or instigates terrorist and paramilitary groups.

2. US forces would have the right to set up additional military bases and stations inside Iraq that will support the Iraqi army. The number of the bases would depend on several factors, including the security conditions the US government deems desirable, negotiations with the US Embassy in Baghdad and the US command as well as discussions with the Iraqi Defense Ministry and relevant authorities.

3. The Iraqi government and its judiciary would not have the right to prosecute American forces or individuals. The immunity measure would extend to the US military, security, non-military and logistics firms affiliated with the US Army.

4. The Iraqi government would not have the right to independently determine whether US forces inside Iraq are qualified, nor would it have the right to limit or determine the size of American military bases and their routes.

5. US security forces would have the right to build security centers, particularly their own special prisons, to maintain security.

6. US forces would have the right to use their privilege to arrest those who threaten peace and security without a warrant from the Iraqi government or its institutions.

7. The US government must be informed of and negotiated with on Iraq’s regional and international relations as well as signing of agreements so as to safeguard the country’s security and constitution.

8· US forces will control Iraq’s defense, interior and intelligence ministries for 10 years to carry out efforts toward training and enabling their staff, a measure which would mean even the weapons used by Iraqi forces and their types must be employed with the consent of US forces.

9. The agreement to be signed would be a pact rather than a treaty.

10· US forces would remain in Iraq for an unspecified and presumably lengthy period depending on conditions in the country. Future reviews on the matter would depend on the US and Iraqi governments. Any review would only be made under certain preconditions, including that Iraq’s security and military organizations improve their performance; the country’s security situation improves; national reconciliation takes place; neighboring countries are warned; the Iraqi government regains complete control throughout the country; and put an end to the presence of paramilitary forces inside Iraq.

According to Press TV’s Baghdad correspondent, the 14-member American delegation now in Iraq to negotiate the deal were asked to revise several articles of the status of forces agreement (SOFA) in order to secure the approval of the Iraqi government.

The decision came only after public protests against the security treaty and opposition from various Iraqi political and religious leaders.

MJ/MR/BGH

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‘Ayatollah will not allow US-Iraq deal’

Iraq’s most revered Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has strongly objected to a ’security accord’ between the US and Iraq.

The Grand Ayatollah has reiterated that he would not allow Iraq to sign such a deal with “the US occupiers” as long as he was alive, a source close to Ayatollah Sistani said.

The source added the Grand Ayatollah had voiced his strong objection to the deal during a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday.

The remarks were made amid reports that the Iraqi government might sign a long-term framework agreement with the United States, under which Washington would be allowed to set up permanent military bases in the country and US citizens would be granted immunity from legal prosecution in the country.

While the mainstream media keep mum about the accord, critics say the agreement would virtually put Iraq under the US tutelage and violate the country’s sovereignty.

The source added Ayatollah Sistani, however, backed PM al-Maliki’s government and its efforts and that of the nation to establish security in the country.

The mandate of US troops in Iraq will expire in December 2008 and al-Maliki’s government is under US pressure to sign ‘a mutual security agreement’ which would allow the long-term presence of US troops in Iraq.

Washington’s plan has so far faced fierce protests by religious figures including Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Haeri, another senior Shia cleric, and it is expected that other religious figures join the efforts to prevent the deal.

The US has signed similar agreements with countries like Japan and South Korea and thousands of US troops are now stationed in the countries.

SB/RE

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