THE TRAIL OF WAR

WAR...22 - 26 JAN 08

The decrease in violence over the last month has been attributed to a deal we made with tribal leaders who command their own Army like the well known Al-Sadar… The so-called awakening movements have spread to other areas and have been hailed by the U.S. military…But the military has acknowledged concerns that some members could retain allegiances to al-Qaida, particularly if they were former insurgents themselves...

Iraq's 'Awakening' pacts prove complicated

Agreements with U.S. deliver everything from militia paychecks to seeds

HAWR RAJAB, Iraq - They know him as the sheik. But what that really means in this Sunni town is a bit of everything: community leader, public works supervisor, agricultural planner, militia captain.

It also helps explain why Maher al-Moaeini and his 500 men threw their lot with the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. The American military could deliver the goods -- from steady paychecks for the militiamen to seeds for farmers.

Mutual bargains such as these _ U.S. aid and respect to Sunnis in exchange for their fighting power _ drive the so-called Awakening Council movement that has marked one of the most significant shifts in the power balance in Iraq since the insurgency took root in 2004.

Sunnis across Iraq -- more than 70,000 at last count -- are turning to the Pentagon as generous patrons and allies. Yet it could all sour quickly if the U.S. assistance to Sunnis dries up or the Shiite-led government resists Washington's pressure to reward the Sunni militiamen with jobs in the security forces.

The first Sunni clans made cautious overtures to U.S. commanders last year in the western Anbar province, then the main insurgent staging grounds. As more Sunni tribes joined the uprising, al-Qaida and its supporters found their footholds shrinking. And a delighted U.S. military kept sweetening the pot for more Sunni allies who felt ignored by the Shiite-led government.

Bomber kills 12 at funeral in northern Iraq

Attack latest in spate of deadly bombings in provinces, U.S. says

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a funeral tent Monday in a predominantly Sunni village north of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 17.

It was the third such bombing in Sunni areas in as many days. Nobody claimed responsibility, but it bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been trying to derail a movement that has seen Sunnis join forces with the U.S. against the terror network

Police rounded up clansmen in Anbar province Monday as a U.S.-backed tribal leader suggested a teenager who carried out a suicide bombing near Fallujah the day before against the anti-al-Qaida fighters had help from inside the group.

Sunday's attack killed six people in the former insurgent stronghold and raised concerns about the infiltration of Sunni groups that have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

General: Iraqi forces improving, but not ready

U.S. commander says troops are a long way from becoming self-sufficient

WASHINGTON - A senior military commander told a House panel on Thursday that Iraq’s security forces are on track to add another 80,000 personnel by the end of the year, putting them well within reach of their goal of more than 600,000. He said the forces are still a long way from becoming self-sufficient.

Lt. Gen. James Dubik, head of the Multi-National Security Transition Command, said the Iraqi defense minister has stressed to him that the country probably won’t assume responsibility for internal security until as late as 2012. Also, it would be unable to defend its borders until at least 2018.

There are “positive signs, indeed, and steps forward, but the truth is that they simply cannot fix, supply, arm or fuel themselves completely enough at this point,”

Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said, “In terms of them being able to fight, they’ve really increased their capacity to do that.”

Rep. Ike Skelton, said he is worried that while Iraqi forces get up to speed, U.S. troops will become worn out.“Security in Iraq has improved over the past year, due to the heroic efforts of our troops. ... But the question now is how do we sustain it?”

At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that “all available evidence” shows U.S. plans to withdraw five combat brigades through next summer remain on track — which would bring the overall troop level to about 130,000

ANALYSIS: Discontent surges in Iraq

By HAMZA HENDAWI

BAGHDAD - In the depths of a strangely cold winter in the Middle East, Iraqis complain that the lights are not on, the kerosene heaters are without fuel and the water doesn't flow _ and they blame the government.

And with the war nearing its fifth anniversary, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is feeling the discontent as well from the most powerful political centers in the majority Shiite community.

"My children are so happy when the power comes back on they dance," said Marwan Ouni… the nonstop power cuts have made my life tedious. It's depressing."

"Where's the kerosene and the water?" asked Amjad Kazim, a 56-year-old Shiite who lives in eastern Baghdad. "We hear a lot of promises but we see nothing."

Stinging criticism late last week from Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of parliament's largest Shiite bloc, was a stark break with the past. And a threat by Muqtada al-Sadr, the maverick Shiite cleric who once supported al-Maliki, not to renew an expiring six-month cease-fire he imposed on his feared militia could upend recent security progress.

U.S.: Armor-piercing bombings in Iraq decline

Fewer Iran-made bombs in recent days, but training still suspected

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said Sunday that attacks in Iraq with Iranian-made bombs have fallen off in recent days after a sharp but brief increase earlier in the month, and that the overall flow of weaponry from Iran has dropped

The Iranian armor-piercing bombs are a threat on a very different front for the Americans. The bombs, known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, have killed hundreds of American soldiers.

Violence increases and tensions rise among Iraqi Shiites

BAGHDAD — A police raid Saturday on an extremist Shiite Muslim mosque thought to be the headquarters of an extremist cult capped a weekend of violence in southern Iraq, while elsewhere tensions between Iraq's Shiite-led government and renegade Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr continued to escalate.

Iraq's national security advisor said he was briefly taken hostage Saturday in a Baghdad mosque and implied that his captors were Sadr supporters. Mowaffak al Rubaie was released only after Iraq's interior minister, who oversees the police, intervened.

On Friday, a spokesman for Sadr warned that the cleric might not extend a six-month cease-fire by his Mahdi Army militia, which U.S. officials say has contributed to the reduction in violence in Iraq. "This will force us to reconsider the decision to extend the cease-fire despite repeated public statements in the past that we will."

Despite dropping violence, Gates calls for extended U.S. presence in Iraq

WASHINGTON — Against the backdrop of the improved security situation in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced Thursday a shift in U.S. strategy that will require an extended U.S. presence in Iraq, although with fewer troops.

Gates and top uniformed officers sketched out a plan that runs counter to pledges by Democratic presidential contenders to bring about a rapid drawdown of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. One candidate, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, called for the withdrawal of nearly all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2009.

Gates and the uniformed military leadership said a smaller U.S. presence will be needed for the foreseeable future to provide support for Iraqi forces. They didn't go as far as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., however, who says that U.S. troops may be stationed in Iraq for decades or even a century.

"We'll have some people here, if the government of Iraq wants it, for some period of time. That could be five to 10 years. But it will not be at the levels we're at now. I don't believe that that will be necessary," said Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, during a teleconference from Baghdad.

Pakistan military retreats from Musharraf's influence

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As President Pervez Musharraf grows more unpopular in Pakistan, his newly named successor as army chief is seeking to distance the institution from the Musharraf regime and pull back its virtual occupation of the top senior ranks of civilian ministries and state corporations.

Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who was named to the top military job in late November, took two steps this week. First, he barred all senior military officers from meeting directly with Musharraf without prior approval and prohibited officers from having any direct involvement in politics. Second, he recalled many army officers from civilian job assignments.

It also could be the Pakistan military's best chance to defeat an increasingly aggressive Islamist insurgency and check rising political violence in a nation that's fast becoming the central front in the Bush administration's battle with Islamic radicalism.

While senior officers in Pakistan have for decades expected such posts as a reward for their military service upon retirement, Musharraf's embedding of hundreds of active-duty officers in prominent civilian posts sparked cries that the country's bureaucracy was being militarized.

Sectarian suicide blast kills 9 at Pakistani mosque

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The violence that's engulfing Pakistan lurched in a sectarian direction Thursday as an apparent suicide bomber targeted a gathering of Shiite Muslims in the northwestern city of Peshawar, leaving nine people dead and 25 injured.

Witnesses said the assailant — who appeared to be a teenager — entered a prayer hall, opened fire with a gun, then blew himself up.

The assailant somehow circumvented strict security measures that the government had put in place for the mourning period, with worshipers frisked and sent through metal detectors before being allowed to enter Shiite prayer halls.

It was the third major bombing since the assassination Dec. 27 of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Blasts in Lahore and Karachi have claimed dozens of victims.

Islamic militants capture Pakistani fort

By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspaper

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Hundreds of Islamic militants overran and occupied a fort near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan in a bold assault that left as many as 47 people dead.

The loss of the Sararogha Fort was a significant blow to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's efforts to re-establish control over the frontier region of South Waziristan, which has become a base for Taliban and al Qaida operations.

Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants fled after a U.S. assault drove them out of Afghanistan in 2001, is fast overtaking Iraq as the central front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism. U.S. officials are increasingly worried that if militants seize control of the region, they could establish an even more secure terrorist base than the one they already have and further destabilize Pakistan's shaky central government.

"This was a very intense attack, and the number of the militants this time was quite large," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq

By Laith Hammoudi | McClatchy Newspapers

The daily Iraqi violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.

BAGHDAD

An IED exploded targeting a US convoy near al Nosoor square west Baghdad around 8,00 am. No casualties reported.

Around 8,15 am, two mortar shells hit Owereeg industrial area south Baghdad causing no casualties.

Three civilians were injured in an IED explosion that exploded after the passing of an American convoy in Baladiyat neighborhood east Baghdad around 10,00 am. Some cars were damaged in the explosions while no casualties among the American patrol were reported.

Two road side bombs (2 bottles filled with explosive materials) exploded near al Qubbanchi mosque in Harthyah neighborhood south Baghdad around 1,00 pm. No casualties reported.

Police found seven anonymous bodies in Baghdad today. Four bodies were found in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (1 body in Zayuna, 1 body in New Baghdad, 1 body in Ma’amil and 1 body in Talbiyah). The three other bodies were found in Karkh, the western side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in Tobchi and 1 body in Doura).

Police said that all the bodies were handcuffed, eye folded and shot dead.Two civilians were killed and nine others were wounded in a parked car bomb downtown Gayara town south of Mosul city today morning

Sulaimaniyah

Gunmen killed attacked a house in Kalar village 140 kms south of Sulaimaniyah province yesterday night killing a 35 years old mother and her 13 years old daughter.

Salahuddi

15 civilians were killed and 8 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself inside a mourning tent in al Hajjaj village south Tikrit around 7,00 pm. The suicide bomber tried to assassinate the security deputy of Salahuddin province Ahmed Abdullah who was in the mourning tent of his dead uncle. Abdullah survived from the assassination attempt.

Diyala

Two policemen were wounded in an IED explosion that targeted their patrol in Muqdadiyah town east of Baquba city today afternoon

Gunmen destroyed with explosives Mecca al Mukarrama primary school and a house in al Malali village, part of Wajihiyah district east of Baquba city today afternoon. The gunmen burnt also al-Malali mosque.

U.S. troops also killed two al-Qaida-linked militants and detained 18 Monday during raids in central and northern Iraq

A roadside bomb killed a soldier in the rural al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold of Arab Jabour on Saturday

U.S. warplanes bombarded more than 30 targets in Arab Jabour during overnight airstrikes to clear the way for ground forces during the latest offensive in the volatile area.

U.S. military spokesman, said the military had al-Qaida on the run with recent operations. But he warned the group remains a force in eastern Anbar, northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, in areas surrounding the northern city of Kirkuk, "in small numbers to the south of Baghdad" and in the northern city of Mosul.

New portrait of Iraq’s foreign fighters emerges

Cache of individual records leads U.S. military to reassess assumptions

By Karen DeYoung

WASHINGTON - Muhammad Ayn-al-Nas, a 26-year-old Moroccan, started his journey in Casablanca. After flying to Turkey and then to Damascus, he reached his destination in a small Iraqi border town on Jan. 31, 2007. He was an economics student back home, he told the al-Qaeda clerk who interviewed him on arrival. Asked what sort of work he hoped to do in Iraq, Nas replied: "Martyr."

Algerian Watsef Mussab, 29, who arrived in Iraq via Saudi Arabia and Syria, said he had come for combat. He complained that the Syrian smugglers who brought him to the border took his money, but he contributed what he had left to the insurgent cause -- a watch, a ring and an MP3 player.

Their stories are among the individual records of 606 foreign fighters who entered Iraq between August 2006 and August 2007. The cache of documents was discovered last fall by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar.

Analyzed and made public last month by the Army's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the documents have led the U.S. military in Iraq to reassess some of its earlier assumptions about the insurgent group and those who carry out most of the suicide missions that are its signature method of attack.

Based on the Sinjar records, U.S. military officials in Iraq said they now think that nine out of 10 suicide bombers have been foreigners, 90 percent of foreign fighters entering Iraq during the one-year period ending in August came via Syria, more North Africans were foreign terrorists than previously assessed," said Col. Steven A. Boylan

Saudi Arabia was by far the most common country of origin of foreign fighters, with about 40 percent of the total, a surprising share -- 19 percent -- came from Libya. Overall, about 40 percent were North African

President Bush wanted Iraq to be the center on the war on terrorism and his wish came true to a point (terror attacks around the world have increased also)

So many fanaticals travel thousands of miles and will endure anything to make it to Iraq and kill Americans....become a "Martyr"...get their Virgins...

1 in 5 returning troops may have brain injury

Many do not know symptoms can be treated, U.S. Army officials said

WASHINGTON - As many as 20 percent of U.S. combat troops who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan leave with signs they may have had a concussion, and some do not realize they need treatment, Army officials said Thursday.

Concussion is a common term for mild traumatic brain injury, or TBI. While the Army has a handle on treating more severe brain injuries, it is "challenged to understand, diagnose and treat military personnel who suffer with mild TBI," said Brig. Gen. Donald Bradshaw

It estimated that from 10 percent to 20 percent of soldiers and Marines from tactical units leaving Iraq and Afghanistan are affected by mild traumatic brain injury. The most common cause was blast from an explosion.

Security worsens in south
Abed Battat, Azzaman

Fierce clashes have been raging in the cities of Basra, Nasiriya and Diwaniya for the third consecutive day with the government giving conflicting versions for the causes leading to the upsurge in insecurity.

The groups fighting government forces and allied militias are still something of a mystery.

While the Interior Ministry says they are remnants of the so-called Jund al-Sama (Soldiers of Heaven) other sources close to the government say they are former Baathists and supporters of the former leader Saddam Hussein.

Local media decline to describe them as opponents of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as armed opposition on such large-scale from the Shiite heartland would give a clear signal of how shaky his administration is.

Residents from the three cities tell Azzaman that there has been a lot of random shooting in streets and residential areas.

Several police stations have come under attack and reports from Basra alone speak of 97 people killed and 117 injured.

'Jund al-Sama’ fighters were blamed last year for plans to thwart the annual pilgrimage to the Shiite shrines in Najaf and Karbala.

Government troops aided by U.S. helicopter gun ships attacked the group. In the ensuing battle hundreds of people were killed among them women and children.

The government has imposed tough restrictions on the pilgrims who are forbidden from raising slogans hostile to the authorities – a move analysts likened to the constraints Saddam Hussein had in place.

The government has yet to announce the losses inflicted on police and security forces.

In Nasiriya, which was placed under strict curfew for two days, the provincial officials and tribal leaders took part in a funeral procession of "a number of army officers killed in the clashes."

Iraq settles flag dispute

Iraq's parliament has voted to adopt a new, temporary, national flag after the country's Kurdish minority said the Saddam Hussein-era banner is a reminder of his rule.

In a rare act of unity, members of parliament agreed on Tuesday on the emotive issue, representing a symbolic break with the past.

Without any serious opposition from Shia, Sunni Arab or Kurdish blocs, 110 out of 165 members supported the new flag, which is still red, white and black.

However, three green stars in the centre, which represented Saddam's Baath party motto of unity, freedom and socialism, have been removed.

The phrase Allahu Akbar (God is great) in green Arabic script remains on the new flag.

Four Iraqi tribal leaders killed in bombing

Suicide bomb attack kills members of Iraq’s anti-Qaeda ‘Diyala Awakening Council’.

BAQUBA - A suicide bomber exploded his vest inside a house in central Iraq, killing four tribal leaders spearheading the fight against Al-Qaeda in Diyala province, police and the US military said Saturday.

The attack took place Friday evening in the home of Sheikh Taha al-Obeidi in the village of Dojemah, near the town of Khalis about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Baghdad, Khalis police official Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed al-Obeidi said.

"Several people were inside the house. The explosion killed four tribal leaders, all members of the Diyala Awakening Council," Obeidi said.

"The chief of the Awakening council in Khalis district, Sheik Fayez Lafta, was among those killed."

A US military statement said Lafta and two other people had been killed in what it said was a bombing, but it gave few other details.

A doctor at the hospital in Khalis said the facility had received the bodies of four people.

Awakening Councils have sprung up across Iraq, structured on the lines of the Anbar Awakening Council formed by Sunni tribal sheikhs in the western in the western Iraqi province of Anbar to fight the Al-Qaeda in

Iraq group.

Al-Qaeda has warned it will target leaders working alongside the US military against insurgents, and claimed the September 13 car bomb killing of the leader of the Anbar Awakening Council, Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha.

MRAP Sees First Iraq Death

BAGHDAD - A Soldier killed over the weekend south of Baghdad was the first American casualty in a roadside bomb attack on a newly introduced, heavily armored vehicle.

The V-shaped hull of the huge MRAP - Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected - truck is designed to deflect blasts from roadside bombs, a weapon that has killed more American Soldiers than any other tactic used by Sunni insurgents and militia fighters in Iraq.

The Soldier who died Jan. 19 was the gunner who sits atop the MRAP vehicle. Three crew members tucked inside the cabin were wounded. The vehicle rolled over after the blast and it was not clear how the gunner died - from wounds in the explosion or in the subsequent roll-over.

66 killed in southern Iraq clashes

US military forces surround battle area as Iraqi soldiers take on members of Shiite doomsday cult.

NASIRIYAH, Iraq - Street battles between members of a shadowy messianic sect and Iraq's security forces in two southern cities killed at least 66 people, mostly cultists.

At least 35 members of the Shiite doomsday cult were killed in the southern port city of Basra and 18 in Nasiriyah, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) south of Baghdad.

Bomber kills Iraqi police chief touring blast site

Chief, 2 officers slain on wreckage of attack that killed 34 a day earlier

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed an Iraqi police chief and two other officers Thursday after they toured the site of the wreckage of a blast a day earlier that devastated a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in the volatile northern city of Mosul.

The bomber on Thursday was wearing an explosives vest under an Iraqi police uniform when he struck, killing Brig. Gen. Salah Mohammed al-Jubouri, the director of police for Ninevah province, the U.S. military said. Two other policemen died and a U.S. soldier, three Iraqi police and an Iraqi soldier were wounded, the military said.

24 JAN 08 McClatchy Newspapers

Baghdad

Two policemen were killed and 3 others wereinjured including a policeman in an IED explosion in al Andulos square downtown Baghdad around 8,00 am

A civilian was injured in an IED explosion in Zafaraniyah district southeast Baghdad around 4,30 am

Police found three anonymous bodies in Baghdad today. Two bodies were found in Doura neighborhood in Karkh, the western side of Baghdad while the third body was found in Ma’amil neighborhood in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad.

Mosul police chief Brigadier General Salih Mohammed Hasan al Jobori and one of his guards were killed and 10 other people including al Jobori guards were injured when a suicide bomber detonated himself among them while al Jobori was visiting al Zinjili area west Mosul city where the explosion happened yesterday. Police said that the suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform confirming that al Jobori was injured seriously and he died after moving him to the hospital.

Karbala

The spokesman of Karbala health directorate Dr. Saleem Kadhim said that two of the guards of Sistani’s representative sheikh Abdul Mahdi al Karbala’i were killed and two others were injured in an IED explosion that targeted his car only 500 meters away from the shrine of Imam Hussein downtown Karbala city south of Baghdad at 9,00 pm. Abdul Mahdi’s received minor injuries and he left the hospital after being treated, Kadhim said.

The toll of the explosion of Zinjili which took place yesterday rose to 40 killed people and 220 others injured.

Iraqi Reinforcements Rush to Mosul

Al-Maliki announced reinforcements for Mosul two days after an abandoned apartment building, believed to be used as a bomb-making factory, was blown apart as the Iraqi army was investigating tips about a weapons cache.

At least 34 people were killed and 224 wounded when the blast tore through surrounding houses in the Zanjili neighborhood, a poverty-ridden district on the west bank of the Tigris River.

A suicide bomber then killed a police chief and two other officers Thursday as they toured the devastation. Residents taunted the chief and pelted him with rocks moments before he was killed.

There have been several assassination attempts against al-Sistani's followers in recent months as internal Shiite rivalries increased in the oil-rich southern Iraq, which also is home to some of the majority sect's most sacred shrines.

Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq

By Laith Hammoudi | McClatchy Newspapers

The daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It's posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy's Washington Bureau.

Baghdad

Around 8 a.m. gunmen used machine guns to attack policemen in Bab Al Sharqi, killing one policeman and injuring one.

A roadside bomb targeted civilians in Al Qanat area causing no casualties.

Around 10 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted civilians near Al Shaab soccer stadium, injuring five civilians.

Diyala

- Iraqi police said the American and Iraqi troops clashed with gunmen near Al Wajihiya area (about 25 Kilometers east of Baquba) killing four gunmen including a high ranking member of Al Qaeda.

- Iraqi police found one body in Dora

A roadside bomb targeted the personal car of one of Diyala governor's body guards in Abu Saida area. The guard was killed in the attack

Gunmen attacked a local council building in Baquba injuring two guards

A roadside bomb targeted police in Muqdadia, killing one police officer and injuring 3 others

Mortar shells slammed into Al Salam town about 20 kilometers east of Baquba, injuring three residents.

Sulaimaniyah

Police found two bodies in two different areas of the province. The first deceased was Alaa Atiya, 27 years originally from Karbala, with two gun shots in the head and the knee and was found west of Sulaimaniyah city yesterday. The second body belongs to a Kurdish young man who was found in Sulaimaniyah city with gunshots in the body, police said.

2008 McClatchy Newspapers

Bush says US forces could stay for decade in Iraq

US president says on track for troop cut, warns Syria, Iran to stop fuelling violence in Iraq.

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - US President George W. Bush said his goal of reducing troop numbers in Iraq by July was on track but called on Syria and Iran to stop fuelling violence in the war-torn country.

"I think the only thing I would say we are on track for... I will be on track to get down to 15" brigades from the current 20, Bush told reporters after talks with General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker.

"The levels of violence are significantly reduced. Hope is returning to Baghdad and hope is returning to the towns and the villages throughout Iraq"

Syria "needs to further reduce the flow of terrorists" going into Iraq, and "Iran must stop supporting militias" that attack US forces and Iraqis, he added.

Bush's comments came only day after he conceded that US forces could stay for a decade in Iraq, which is still gripped by bombings almost five years on from the US-led invasion despite last year's troop "surge."

Asked in an interview with NBC television whether the US military presence might last 10 years, Bush said: "It could easily be that, absolutely."

Bush calls for ‘an ideology of hope'?

You are doing the hard work necessary to protect the United States of America because you have defeated an enemy overseas so we don't have to meet them at home," Bush said.

He described the fight against terrorism as an "ideological struggle," adding: "History will show that the best way to defeat the ideology of hate is with an ideology of hope."

Stand up for your Country

It simply amazes me and I guess I am doomed to never understand why after after learning the truthful facts of Bush’s rush to War with Iraq…ie Lies deceit…covering up...money...power and more… the America people are not Outraged…like wise with his “I am the Decider” and even if Lura and Barney (his dog) turn against him he will not bring our troops home till he decides…

We know he plays the 911 fear card when ever we get a little out of line…To this very day he still is lying…He has so many different phrases who can keep up to him…He has ignored the rule of law after taking an oath to uphold it…He has threatened our world powers with the“Your either with us or against us”… and all the illegal wire taps...Where is the outrage???

The “Surge” is working for the military boots on the ground but the violence is still there it’s just heading in a different direction…Shiite on Shiite…tribal leaders throwing their soldiers in with ours and Iraq to defeat the terrorist(which they are???)…The last three days of headlines on this page tells me there is plenty of violence going on in Iraq…

The tough talk of Bush to Iran and Syria continue on a dangerous level…what would it take for them to get fully involved in Bush’s madness…??? The fighting has already spilled into Turkey and Pakistan…two of our closest allies…how many more insurgents of other countries will come to Iraq to kill “Americans”… I don’t have the answers but I do know that this game that Bush is playing has cost our greatest resource…The American Soldier...

Stand up for this great Nation...it take a few minutes to e-mail a Congressman...the White House...The Senate...There are litterlly thousands of ways you can help restore the greatness and pride we once had...The world is ran by those who show up...make a difference and get involved...after all it's your country...

Are you happy with it's state of affairs...???

CLICK

IRAQ

There have been 4,237 coalition deaths -- 3,931 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 25, 2008

AFGHANISTAN

There have been 750 coalition deaths -- 475 Americans, four Australians, 87 Britons, 78 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 25, 2008.