Iraqis demand better life amid new calm

Now that bombs are relatively rare, and the gunfire is sporadic, the gentle whirring of generators have become the sound of Baghdad. Electricity supply in the Iraqi capital is scarce at best. People have to make do with just a few hours of power every day, and sometimes there is none.

From the invasion until now we have seen nothing from them. Every day they say they are going to provide electricity, but they do nothing. When will they pay attention to the people and solve our problems?" Baghdad resident

It is clear that the security situation in Iraq is getting better. All the statistics show that the number of violent incidents, and the number of people who are getting killed, are on the decline.

This is generally attributed to three factors: the ceasefire declared by a major Shia militia; the decision by many Sunni tribesmen to fight against al-Qaeda rather than with them; and the US military surge.

However, that new American tactic was meant to create the "space" to enable Iraqi politicians to bring real change to the country. Changes like the restoration of reliable electricity and water supplies.

Until a few months ago this area was an al-Qaeda stronghold. Now the tribesmen are fighting against al-Qaeda, rather than alongside them. In exchange they expect the government to transform their lives.

"We have no services in this area", said Sheikh Jummah Ghanem Muhammad al-Zubae.

"No electricity, no water, no schools, no health care, no roads. It has been like this for a year," Sheikh Zubae...

Main Sunni Group Vows No Deal with US

The Islamic Army, the main Sunni insurgent group in Iraq, is adamant it will not make common cause with the Sunni militias tackling al-Qaeda with U.S. support, and will instead fight the Americans "to the end."

"The Islamic Army has nothing to do with the Awakening councils," Ibrahim al-Shimmari, official spokesman of the Islamic Army in Iraq, told AFP in an email interview.

"No one can be a member of the Islamic Army and the Awakening at the same time. Our war is for self-defence and we are targeting those who attacked us."

Shiite militias supported by Iran and death squads are still playing a large role in the violence

"We realise that our battle will not be a short one. We will resist the U.S. forces as long as they are in Iraq, until the departure of the last American soldier from our country."

"Wealth and children are the adornment of life."

KORAN

"Fight for the cause of God with the devotion due to Him...He has given you the name of Muslims..."

Surah 22:78

If you should die or be slain in the cause of God, His forgiveness and His mercy would surely be better than all the riches..."

Surah 3:156

I saw it in Nam…babies…kids…old men and women fighting and dying in the same old fight…This is not what Allah or Mohammed or Jesus Christ or Buddha taught… Our children are the tomorrows…they are precious….not a tool to be used to kill those not like you…

Suffer not the little children that come unto me is what my God say's along with love thy neighbor and turn the other cheek...There is but one God and he is called by many names and Butcher is not one of them..

"Wealth and Children are the adornment of life."

KORAN

U.S. Launches Major Offensive in Iraq

BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major operation to strike against al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists, the U.S. military said Tuesday, in an effort to build on a recent overall reduction of violence and push militants from their strongholds.

The division and brigade-level operation, dubbed Phantom Phoenix, will cover the entire country, the military said.

"Al-Qaida in Iraq is attempting to regain strength and establish new support areas in northern Iraq," said Lt. Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for the U.S. military. "AQI has fled its former sanctuaries and remains a dangerous foe."

Extremists have been pushed out of their former stronghold in Anbar province west of Baghdad to the east and north, and appear to be concentrated in the province of Diyala to the northeast of the capital and in Mosul to the north.

U.S. and Iraqi forces will "continue to pursue al-Qaida and other extremists wherever they attempt to take sanctuary," Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in a statement announcing the start of the joint operation. "We are determined not to allow these brutal elements to have respite anywhere in Iraq."

''Our generals are not worthy of their soldiers"

Lt. Col. PAUL YINGLING

"Some say two wars are being fought here: the one the enlisted men see, and the one that senior officers and politicians want the world to see."

''Little kids wave at us and their parents slap them in the back of the head and make them stop…It makes me feel like I wasted my time over here and they don't appreciate what we did…''
-Spc. Anthony Combs

"This duty is absolutely ridiculous… We are combat troops. We are trained in combat. We are not trained in peacekeeping. We should all be home by now. It's like we won the Super Bowl, but we have to keep on playing."
-Sgt.

"What are we getting into here? The war is supposed to be over, but every day we hear of another soldier getting killed. Is it worth it? Saddam isn't in power anymore. The locals want us to leave. Why are we still here?"

-Sergeant from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division

"I really think it has much less to do with operational security and classified secrets and more to do with American politics and how the war is seen by a public that is getting increasingly shaky about the overall venture,"…on blogs

"For me, it's like snap-shot photos. Like pictures of maggots on tongues, babies with their heads on the ground, men with their heads halfway off and their eyes wide open and mouths wide open. I see it every day, every single day. The smells and the torsos burning, the entire route up to Baghdad, from 20 March to 7 April, nothing but burned bodies."
-Sgt. Meadows

U.S. officials need to get our [expletive] out of here…I say that seriously. We have no business being here. We will not change the culture they have in Iraq, in Baghdad. Baghdad is so corrupted. All we are here is potential people to be killed and sitting ducks."

"There's so many different groups of Iraqis, different tribal groups and religious groups of course and so some were very happy to see you, some are not as happy to see you and everywhere you go the kids are pretty much happy to see you,"

" Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home."
-Anonymous

"We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through."

Joint operation with Iraqi troops targets al-Qaida in Iraq, other extremists

BAGHDAD - Nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of the capital, the U.S. military reported Wednesday.

The losses came as many militants fled U.S. and Iraqi forces massing in Diyala, a province of palm and citrus groves that has defied the trend toward lower violence. The campaign's scope is nationwide but is mainly focused on gaining control of Diyala and its most important city, Baqouba, which al-Qaida has declared the capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate.

Six soldiers were killed and four were wounded Wednesday in a booby-trapped house in Diyala, the U.S. command said. It also announced that three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded in an attack Tuesday in Salahuddin province, north of Diyala.

40,000 Pounds Of Bombs Dropped In Just 10 Minutes Targeting Al Qaeda Safehavens

(CBS/AP) U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense airstrikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping 40,000 pounds of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected al Qaeda in Iraq safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.

The mighty barrage - recalling the Pentagon's "shock and awe" raids during the 2003 invasion - appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week to try to cripple remaining insurgent strongholds.

After Thursday's fierce airstrikes, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers advanced through smoldering citrus groves into areas that were considered important al Qaeda enclaves around Arab Jabour, southeast of Baghdad. An Iraq officer said the soldiers discovered two houses used to torture kidnap victims and arrested at least 12 suspected insurgents.

Pentagon To Deploy Extra Forces In April To Hold Off Another Expected Taliban Offensive

CBS/AP) The Pentagon is preparing to send at least 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan in April to bolster efforts to hold off another expected Taliban offensive in the spring, military officials said Wednesday.

Some of the Marines would be sent directly into combat in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan; the rest would help train the Afghan army and police, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

The move represents a shift in Pentagon thinking that has been slowly developing after months of repeated insistence that the U.S. was not inclined to fill the need for as many as 7,500 more troops that commanders have asked for there. Instead, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressed NATO allies to contribute the extra forces.

ESAIWID, Iraq — With extraordinary secrecy, and even an information blackout aimed at most of their Iraqi Army comrades, American troops began a major offensive on Tuesday to drive Sunni insurgents from strongholds in Diyala Province. But many insurgents still managed to flee the first villages the Americans went into, showing just how difficult it is to trap the elusive militants.

The offensive, in an area around this village 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, began just before dawn. Seven American battalions, accompanied by Iraqi Army units, pushed into a 110-square-mile area in the fertile northern Diyala River Valley in search of 200 insurgents with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the largely homegrown Sunni insurgent group that American intelligence says is foreign led and now represents the principal threat to stability in Iraq.

The offensive is part of a wider operation across northern Iraq to drive extremists from the region, where many of the fighters and leaders of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia are thought to have fled after military operations around Baghdad and in Anbar Province, as well in Baquba, the Diyala provincial capital 30 miles south of here

Iraq

There have been 4,210 coalition deaths -- 3,904 Americans, two Australians, 174 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, one Korean, three Latvian, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of January 17, 2008

Afghanistan

There have been 748 coalition deaths -- 475 Americans, four Australians, 86 Britons, 77 Canadians, one Czech, nine Danes, 12 Dutch, two Estonians, one Finn, 12 French, 22 Germans, 10 Italians, three Norwegians, one Pole, two Portuguese, five Romanians, one South Korean, 23 Spaniards, two Swedes -- in the war on terror as of January 17, 2008.