Men wearing military police uniforms broke into the house of the brother of Iraq's Sunni vice president on Monday, chased him onto a neighbor's roof and shot him in the head, killing him, Iraqi authorities and witnesses said.
Amir al-Hashemi was the third sibling of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi to be killed since spring. His death underscored just how deeply Baghdad has sunk into lawlessness, particularly in its religiously mixed neighborhoods, and was similar to the politically motivated assassinations that have plagued Iraq since the American invasion.
A bomb in a parked car exploded at nightfall on Monday in a crowded market area in Shaab, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood, killing at least 13 and wounding 46, a police official said. It was the first large bombing in the capital in almost a month, and brought the number of Iraqis killed in violence on Monday to 18.
In addition, Iraqi authorities said they found 57 bodies in eastern and western Baghdad.
The military announced Monday the deaths of four American service members. One was killed by small arms fire in eastern Baghdad, and three marines died from wounds on Sunday in Anbar Province in western Iraq. The deaths brought the toll to more than 30 this month.
The above is from Sabrina Tavernise's "Iraqi Vice President, a Sunni, Loses 3rd Sibling to Violence" (New York Times). The above takes care of itself and requires no comment. Thom Shanker contributed "Army and Other Ground Forces Meet '06 Recruiting Goals" which is the topic of a number e-mails. ". . . the Pentagon is to announce . . ." is the key. The Pentagon will announce. The data will follow. After everyone's written up the press conference, or in Shanker's case, the press release, the data will follow.
At which point it will be discussed and analyzed and maybe it will turn out to be another year where recruitment tanked (so targets were lowered). Numbers run today haven't been analyzed. Eye balling them (while noting they have not been gone over by anyone outside the Pentagon), you'll note how everyone managed to just surpass the target goal. That may suggest a drive to sign up those who weren't qualified. Or those who shouldn't have been signed up. For instance, Steven D. Green was recruited. The military managed to hustle him out of Iraq and their ranks just before the scandal broke there. Or you can remember (and we should) the case of Tim Queen who was recruited and never should have been, who passed through military doctors and never should have, and who would go onto to receive a discharge of "Other than Honorable." (Michael Bronner wrote about this case and other abuses in "The Rcruiters' War" for the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair.)
Martha notes Amit R. Paley's "Poisoning Suspected After Hundreds Fall Ill at Iraqi Post" (Washington Post):
Hundreds of Iraqi army and police officers became violently ill after breaking their Ramadan fast Sunday evening at a base in southern Iraq, in what authorities are investigating as a possible mass poisoning attack.
At least 10 people died and 1,200 were sickened at a base in Numaniyah after eating a chicken dinner that may have been laced with cyanide, according to recruits and an army colonel with knowledge of the investigation. He said the food was undergoing laboratory tests.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces, said the head of the base's mess hall and several other employees there had been arrested. But he said that only 350 to 400 people fell ill, that four had to be treated at a hospital and that none died.
The U.S. military announced the deaths of four troops, a soldier who was killed Monday morning by small-arms fire in eastern Baghdad and three Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 who were killed Sunday in Anbar province, the volatile Sunni insurgent stronghold.
Already today, the US military has announced the death of US soldier ("died of wounds sustained from an explosion while on a vehicle patrol Sunday, Oct. 8, north of the city of Tikrit") which brings the total number of US troops killed in Iraq this month to 34 and the number since the start of the illegal war to 2748.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
sabrina tavernise
thom shanker
the washington post
amit r. paley
