“Gliding” toward elections in Iraq:
In the second major assault on Baghdad’s police force in two days, two car bombs -including at least one detonated by a suicide attacker -exploded next to an Iraqi police station just outside Baghdad’s Green Zone on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding 59, mostly police. Insurgents killed 16 officers in an attack the day before.
The U.S. military announced that four American military personnel died in separate attacks Friday and Saturday.
Two car bombs exploded at 9:30 a.m. (0630GMT) Saturday near a checkpoint leading to Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the offices of Iraq’s interim government and several foreign missions, including the U.S. Embassy. Only one blast was heard at the time, suggesting the bombs may have been timed to detonate simultaneously.
[…]
A U.S. soldier in a truck north of Baghdad was killed when a roadside bomb destroyed his vehicle on Saturday. Another U.S. soldier died and five were injured in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Baghdad.On Friday, a suicide bomber killed two Americans along the Iraqi-Jordanian border, the military said.
[…]
Police in the northern city of Samarra also came under attack Saturday. Mortars were fired at a station after midnight, wounding two officers. Gunmen injured two policemen in another attack at about 10 a.m., according to police Maj. Sadoon Ahmed Matroud.New details emerged about heavy fighting in the last day in Mosul, the northern Iraqi city that has seen a surge in violence recently including several attacks in which insurgents captured and looted several police stations. The U.S. military said in a statement the fighting began when insurgents attacked four police stations but were repelled.
About 70 insurgents also tried to ambush a U.S. patrol with roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. After regrouping, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an assault on “pockets of resistance” in Mosul, killing more than two dozen insurgents.
It’s a good thing the US broke the back of the resistance in Fallujah! Imagine how bad it would be if they hadn’t! So, how is the Satan-hunt going in Fallujah?
William Lind: My favorite (quote) last week was the American general who claimed Falluja had “broken the back” of the insurgency. Insurgencies, like octopi, are invertebrate.
Al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi, architect of the political process leading to elections in Iraq:
It would be impossible to hold elections in Iraq in January if the security situation remains as precarious as it is, a UN adviser has said.
“Elections are no magic potion, but part of a political process. They must be prepared well and take place at the right time to produce the good effects that you expect from them.”
Asked if it was possible to hold elections as conditions exist now, al-Ibrahimi said: “If the circumstances stay as they are, I personally don’t think so.”