Soldiers from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, attempt to enter a shed suspected of containing an enemy weapons cache, in Anah, Iraq. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway.

Americans killed in two major offensives in Iraq

HAQLANIYAH, Iraq -- The first American casualties are being reported from two offensives in western Iraq.

In Operation River Gate, U-S troops are moving against rebels who drove out Iraqi troops and killed 20 Marines in August.

US warplanes and helicopters carried out airstrikes in Haqlaniyah, Parwana and Haditha in the Euphrates River Valley.

Some of the strikes took out bridges across the Euphrates River to prevent militants from escaping over them into the desert. Witnesses said US snipers took positions on rooftops in Haqlaniyah as troops blared warnings on loudspeakers ordering residents to stay inside their homes.

But in the hours before Operation River Gate began, a roadside bomb hit US troops in Haqlaniyah, killing three.

US troops also are conducting a similar offensive near the Syrian border. One Marine was killed by a roadside bomb as part of Operation Iron Fist. - krqe.com

Security incidents in Iraq, Oct 8

*HAQLANIYA - Two U.S. soldiers were killed by small arms fire on Saturday during Operation River Gate, a military statement said. U.S. and Iraqi forces are conducting a major push in western Anbar province against insurgents in Iraq's Euphrates river valley.

KIRKUK - A member of the Hawija city council was shot dead by gunmen near the northern oil city of Kirkuk. Colonel Serhet Kadir said Abdul Majid Ahmed was attacked as he was driving to Kirkuk from Hawija, about 70 km (40 miles) to the southwest.

RIYADH - A child was killed and five people in the same family were wounded when a mortar round targeting a U.S base landed on their house in the village of Riyadh, 60 km southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

*ISKANDARIYA - A roadside bomb exploded on a road near the town of Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding three others, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb blew up near a U.S. military patrol in Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad, police said, adding there were casualties.

The U.S. military had no immediate information on the attack. Police officer Karim Salim said U.S forces cordoned off the area and detained 16 suspects.

FALLUJA - Police said ten mortar rounds landed near a U.S military base at Habaniya, near Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad. U.S forces returned fire killing three people, medics said. The U.S. military had no immediate information about the incident. reuters

"BRINK OF CIVIL WAR"

Several hundred monitors, including from the Arab League, are set to oversee the referendum, which will be the largest organisational effort Iraq has undertaken since January's election, when more than eight million people cast ballots.

Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, told BBC radio on Saturday that the country was close to civil war and said there seemed to be no strategy for bringing rival groups together.

"The situation is so tense ... a civil war could erupt at any moment, although some people would say it is already there."

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor announced a series of strict security measures ahead of the referendum, echoing arrangements made in January, saying the country's borders would be sealed for four days and curfews imposed overnight.

Cars will be banned from moving between provinces and no civilians, even those with permits, will be allowed to carry weapons.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers will be on duty to protect more than 6,000 polling sites, with U.S. and other foreign troops backing up if needed.

U.S. forces have launched a series of operations in western Iraq in the run up to the referendum, aiming to quell the insurgency and make it safer for people to vote.

Late on Friday U.S. commanders said they had completed operation Iron Fist, which was focused on insurgents believed to be hiding out near the Syrian border, and said they had killed more than 50 rebels.

A second push against guerrillas in the Euphrates valley, a key transit route from Syria to Baghdad, continued. Residents reported more clashes around Haditha, where Marines said they had found improvised bombs inside a mosque.

On Friday, military officials said six more Marines had died in attacks by such bombs planted on roads -- raising the U.S. death toll since the 2003 invasion of Iraq to at least 1,948.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who heads al Qaeda in Iraq, has threatened all-out war on Iraq's Shi'ites and has claimed responsibility for several recent deadly attacks.

U.S. officials in Washington said they had recently intercepted a letter written to Zarqawi by Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's overall number two, telling Zarqawi that his brutal tactics risked alienating Muslims from the group's cause.

The authenticity of the letter could not be confirmed. excerpt from reuters newsflash

Iraq on verge of civil war - Arab League chief

Security incidents in Iraq, Oct 12

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents reported in Iraq on Wednesday, Oct. 12, as of 1200 GMT.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad.

MOSUL - At least 30 people were killed and 35 wounded when a suicide bomber strapped with explosives blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqi military recruits at an army base in the northern town of Tal Afar, police said.

BALAD - Two U.S soldiers were killed and one wounded when their vehicle rolled over while conducting a combat logistics patrol near Balad, 90 km (55 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S military said in a statement.

BAQUBA - Seven Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were wounded when a suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi checkpoint in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - A major pipeline for transferring crude oil from Kirkuk wells to the oil refinery at Baiji was set on fire when a bomb planted under the pipeline exploded in Fatha, 95 km (59 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, an official at the North Oil Company said.

BAGHDAD - The minister of state for the provinces, Saad Nife al-Herdan, escaped death when his convoy was struck by a suicide car bomber in southwestern Baghdad, police said. Four bodyguards and three civilians were wounded in the incident.

TIKRIT - Gunmen on Tuesday killed Hikmet Mumtaz al-Baz, the sheikh of the Albu Baz tribe, in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, local authorities said.

TIKRIT - U.S. forces shot dead Umran Hamed, a lecturer at Tikrit University, in Duuz, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Tikrit, local authorities said. (Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan from Tikrit, Fares al-Mehdawi from Baquba, Aref Mohummed in Kirkuk and Baghdad Newsroom) - alertnet.org

Ten U.S. troops killed in combat in Iraq

Wednesday 12th October, 2005 - Nine U.S. soldiers and an 18-year old Marine have lost their lives in separate incidents in Iraq since Sunday.

Two 1st Corps Support Command soldiers were killed and another was injured Wednesday when their vehicle rolled over while conducting a combat logistics patrol near Balad.

Military officials also announced that two soldiers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) died Wednesday of wounds suffered Monday when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in Ramadi, Iraq. Several Army units are serving with the 2nd MEF in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Kimmell, 30, of Paxton, Ind., died in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. Kimmell was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Ky.

On Monday Spc. Jeremy M. Hodge, 20, of Ridgeway, Ohio, was killed in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. Hodge was assigned to the Army National Guard's 612th Engineer Battalion, Tiffin, Ohio.

Also Monday Staff Sgt. Jerry L. Bonifacio Jr., 28, of Vacaville, Calif., was killed in Baghdad, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his checkpoint. Bonifacio was assigned to the Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, Dublin, Calif.

Meanwhile Lt. Col. Leon G. James II, 46, of Sackets Harbor, N.Y., died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on Monday, of injuries sustained in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sep. 26, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations. James was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 314th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 78th Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

An 18 year old Marine was killed Sunday by an improvised explosive device while in combat in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. He was Lance Cpl. Sergio H. Escobar, of Pasadena, Calif., Escobar was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif. In Iraq his unit was attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).

Also Sunday Staff Sgt. Gary R. Harper Jr., 29, of Virden, Ill., was killed in Baghdad when his reconnaissance mission was attacked by enemy forces. Harper was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Ky. big news network

30 Iraqi army recruits blown up by suicide bomber

Wednesday 12th October, 2005 - Iraqi police say a suicide bomber has blown himself up in a crowd of Iraqi army recruits, killing at least 30 people and injuring 35 others at an army base near the Syrian border.

Wednesday's attack in Tal Afar, was the second in the town in two days. On Tuesday, a suicide car bomber struck a busy market killing 30 people.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned of an increase in violence ahead of Saturday's constitutional referendum.

Late Tuesday, Iraq's main Sunni Arab political party - the Iraqi Islamic Party - announced its support for the draft constitution, after Shi'ite and Kurdish negotiators agreed to allow parliament to consider amendments to the constitution.

Parliament will discuss the deal at a special session later Wednesday.

It is unclear if other Sunni groups not involved in the negotiations will reverse their calls for voters to reject the constitution. big news network

Security incidents in Iraq, Oct 13

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents reported in Iraq on Wednesday, Oct. 13, as of 0900 GMT.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government in Baghdad.

UDAIM - Two senior officials from ethnic Turkmen parties were abducted on Wednesday in Udaim, south of Kirkuk.

Police captain Said Ahmed said Kana'an Shakir, the secretary general of the Independent Turkmen Movement, and Hashim Ali, an official in the Turkmen Front, were kidnapped with nine of their bodyguards near Udaim on their way from Baghdad.

MOSUL - Two civilians were killed and one wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. A U.S. Humvee vehicle was also destroyed, police said, although the U.S. military had no immediate comment on the incident.

RAMADI - A women was killed and 10 other people were wounded on Wednesday when U.S. force conducted an air strike on a residential district in Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, doctor Uday al-Rawi said. The U.S. military had no immediate information about any air strikes in the area.

TIKRIT - A civilian was killed when a mortar round landed on a vegetable market in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAIJI - A policeman from the Facility Protection Service, a government-run security force, was killed by gunmen in Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Eight policemen were wounded when two mortar rounds landed on Aadamiya police station in northern Baghdad, police said. They said one of the wounded was Brigadier Khalid, the director of the police station. - alertnet.org

Bush Praises US Troops Before Iraqi Vote

By Michael Bowman White House 13 October 2005

President Bush has told U.S. troops in Iraq that they face a ruthless, cold-blooded enemy in Iraqi insurgents opposed to freedom and democracy, but that U.S. forces will not withdraw until victory is achieved. Mr. Bush spoke to a gathering of soldiers via video teleconference two days before Iraqis are to vote on a proposed constitution for their nation.

President Bush told the soldiers their mission in Iraq is vital for peace and security, and that a free Iraq will be a blow to terrorists and their deadly aims.

"Part of their strategy is to use the killing of innocent people to get the American government to pull you out of there, before the mission is complete," said Mr. Bush. "I am going to assure you of this: that so long as I am the president, we are never going to back down. We are never going to give in. We will never accept anything less than total victory. It is important for you to know that. It is important for the enemy to know that, as well."

The officers were gathered in Tikrit, hometown to Saddam Hussien and, at times, a focal point of Sunni opposition to coalition efforts in the country, a fact that was not lost on the president. Mr. Bush said, as their commander-in-chief, he is proud of the work the troops are performing, particularly in helping to secure Iraq before Saturday's landmark constitutional vote, the run-up to which has seen an increase in insurgent-led violence.

Mr. Bush then posed a series of questions, each of which was answered by a different officer. All who spoke sounded upbeat and optimistic, particularly regarding Iraqi preparations for the vote, and progress made in training Iraqi security forces.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries with the president, Master Sergeant Corine Lombardo has this to say.

"I can tell you that, over the past 10 months, we have seen a tremendous increase in the capabilities and the confidence of our Iraqi security force partners," she said. "We have been working side-by-side, training and equipping 18 Iraqi army battalions. Since we began our partnership, they have improved greatly, and they continue to develop and grow into sustainable forces."

She added that, over the next month, she expects to see one-third of Iraqi forces conducting security operations, without coalition assistance.

Before the event, the officers were seen and heard rehearsing their statements to President Bush. A Defense Department official told them the nature of the president's questions in advance, and asked which of the soldiers wanted to answer.

Asked about what appeared to be a choreographed event, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the exchange was coordinated with the Defense Department to overcome technical issues associated with the satellite feed. But he dismissed suggestions that the troops were coached in their answers, saying their responses were their own. - VOA [psyops]

Background on Iraq's Constitutional Referendum

By VOA News [psyops] 13 October 2005

Iraqi official from independent electoral commision fills out form for constitution referendum in a registration center in central Baghdad

More than 15 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in Saturday's "yes/no" referendum on the country's proposed new constitution.

Iraq's majority Shi'ites and Kurds are expected to vote to adopt the document, which includes provisions for a democratic, federal nation that guarantees the rights of women and minorities.

The Sunni Arab community, which was part of the ruling elite under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, has expressed concern that its influence will be greatly diminished if the charter is adopted.

In a last-minute deal Tuesday, the main Sunni Arab political party - the Iraqi Islamic Party - announced it would support the draft constitution, after Shi'ite and Kurdish lawmakers agreed to a mechanism to consider amending the constitution if it is approved. But other Sunni groups have not publicly declared their support for the document.

A majority of all voters must approve the constitution for it to be adopted. It can be rejected if two thirds of voters in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no."

If the charter is adopted, it will pave the way for new parliamentary elections by December 15.

If it fails, the national assembly will be dissolved, and a new transitional assembly and government will be elected in December and will begin the constitution drafting process again. - voanews.com

Security incidents in Iraq, Oct 14

KIRKUK - Five people were wounded when a car bomb detonated near a mosque in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad. Police Captain Salam Zangana said four of the wounded were guards from the Northern Oil Company.

BAGHDAD - Police said four civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol exploded in the southern Bayaa district of Baghdad. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military on the incident.

FALLUJA - Gunmen set fire to an office of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, local officials said. A roadside bomb exploded next to another Islamic Party office in Baghdad, and gunmen attacked and destroyed the party's office in Baiji, north of Baghdad, police sources said. The party decided this week to back the constitution in Saturday's referendum, the first Sunni Arab organisation to do so.

MOSUL - Police said 15 insurgents were arrested as they prepared to attack referendum polling centres in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

RAMADI - Three detainees were killed and seven wounded on Oct. 11 when insurgents attacked a convoy carrying them to a regional detention facility outside Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the attack. - alertnet

Security incidents in Iraq, Oct 15

BAQUBA - Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and three wounded when their convoy was targeted by a roadside bomb near the Iranian border, 80 km (50 miles) east of Baquba, police in Baquba said.

BAGHDAD - Four civilians were wounded when police opened fire near a referendum polling centre in the southwestern Amil district of Baghdad, a police source said. The source said the police units had fired on each other.

BAGHDAD - Police said a woman was injured when Iraqi soldiers shot at a car in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad. They had suspected the car was carrying militants.

BAGHDAD - Another civilian was seriously wounded when a gunman shot him near a polling centre in Ghazaliya.

BAGHDAD - Three roadside bombs, which targeted a police patrol, exploded in the western Amiriya district of the capital, wounding one policeman, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - Police said three mortars fell on a referendum polling centre in western Baghdad. There were no casualties from the attack.

RAMADI - Witnesses said clashes involving mortars, rockets and machine gunfire were ongoing between U.S. and Iraqi army with insurgents in parts of the Ramadi province, 110km (68 miles) west of Baghdad. There were no reports on casualties. - reuters alertnet

Blackout, Attacks Mar Eve of Iraq Vote

Fri Oct 14, 3:31 PM ET BAGHDAD, Iraq - Electricity went out for hours across the greater Baghdad area Friday evening, and Sunni insurgents launched five attacks on the largest Sunni Arab political party, all on the eve of Iraq's vote on whether to approve a new constitution. Insurgents bombed and burned the party's offices and the home of one of its leaders in retaliation after the group dropped its opposition to the draft constitution.

The cause of the blackout was not immediately clear. Mahmoud al-Saaedi, the head of the information office of the Electricity Ministry in Baghdad, said "technical problems" cut off electricity on lines from northern Iraq. He said there was no sign insurgent sabotage was the cause. Iraqi and U.S. forces have clamped down with intensive security measures to prevent insurgent attacks on voters at the poll on Saturday. The lights went out soon after the sunset breaking of the daily fast of the holy month of Ramadan, at around 6 p.m. and were still off more than two hours later - ahead of the start of the 10 p.m. curfew. The Baghdad skyline was black except for pinpoints of light from private generators. The blackout appeared to have affected much of the Baghdad governorate, an area of about 2,250 square miles.

"This has affected large areas of the central Iraq and other large surrounding regions," he told The Associated Press. "Our crews are working on fixing them and the problem could be solved soon and the power will be back gradually." The frequent power outages that hit Baghdad and other parts of Iraq are a constant cause of complaint by Iraqis. Friday night's blackout, however, hit a larger area than most.

The attacks on the political party came as Sunni and Shiite clerics gave their last advice to their followers in sermons during weekly Friday prayers - a key political platform. Shiite imams transmitted the word of the majority community's most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani: Go to the polls and vote "yes." The message among the Sunni Arab minority was more muddled after the Iraqi Islamic Party threw its support to the constitution after last minutes amendments were made to the draft in an attempt to assuage Sunni objections ahead of Saturday's referendum.

In Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown north of Baghdad, the preacher at the main mosque denounced the Islamic Party, saying it "broke the nationalist ranks in return for nothing." Sheik Rasheed Yousif al-Khishman told worshippers at Tikrit's al-Raheem mosque to vote against the "infidel constitution written by foreign hands." Mosques throughout the town told people to cast "no" votes and warned "anyone who does not go to the polls is not considered a Sunni."

But in the nearby town of Samarra, Sheik Adil Mahmoud, of the Association of Muslims Scholars, was more tempered in his sermon. "I will go to the polls and vote 'no', but I leave the choice to you to follow you political references," he told worshippers. "I respect the opinion of the Iraqi Islamic party and any other party."

In Baghdad's biggest Sunni neighborhood, Azamiyah, several hundred demonstrators marched toward the district's biggest mosque, Abu Hanifa - a center for the Iraqi Islamic Party - touting banners proclaiming "No to the Constitution" and chanting slogans describing the party's chief, Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, as "a traitor."

Before dawn, someone threw a grenade at the house of the main cleric of the Abu Hanifa Mosque, pro-Islamic Party Sheik Muayad al-Azami, but no one was hurt in the explosion. The night before, his son was threatened by Sunni opponents during prayers, al-Azami said.

In four other attacks, Islamic Party offices were damaged by roadside bombs in Baghdad and the northern towns of Beiji and Seniyah, and by an arson attack in Fallujah, police said. No injuries were reported. Fallujah is the city west of Baghdad that was heavily damaged by a U.S. offensive against insurgents in 2004.

Before Friday, Sunni insurgents had rarely targeted a Sunni political party. It "was expected because of (the party's) new stand toward the referendum," Iraqi army Maj. Salman Abdul Yahid said after the Baghdad blast. "Insurgents had threatened to attack the group and its leaders to get revenge," he told The Associated Press.

Alaa Makki, a senior party official in Baghdad, condemned the attack in the capital and said it won't stop the moderate group's efforts to "use the political process to fight terrorism and promote stability in Iraq."

On Thursday, Iraqi Islamic Party banners urging a "no" vote had been removed from where they hung near monuments such as the Grand Imam mosque.

Other Sunni Arab parties still oppose the charter. They fear it would divide Iraq into three separate districts: powerful mini-states of Kurds in the north and majority Shiites in the south, both capitalizing on Iraq's oil wealth. By contrast, many Sunnis fear, their minority would be left isolated in central and western Iraq with a weak central government in Baghdad.

In another insurgent attack in Baghdad on Friday, the Muslim day of worship in Iraq, a roadside bomb wounded four Iraqi civilians when it exploded near one of the many schools in the capital that U.S. soldiers are fortifying with concrete barriers and barbed wire so they can be used as polling stations in Saturday's vote, said police 1st Lt. Mua'taz Saladin.

As police removed bloodstained shoes and shattered glass from damaged cars at the scene, one of the U.S. soldiers working there remained defiant. "This won't affect anything planned for tomorrow. The election will go off without a hitch," Lt. David Forbes said in an interview with an Associated Press Television News.

In Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a Kurdistan Democratic Party office, wounding five civilians, said police Brig. Sarhad Qadir.

On Wednesday night, Iraq's National Assembly endorsed last-minute changes to the draft constitution worked out by Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni powerbrokers that will allow a new parliament scheduled to be elected in December to adopt amendments to the constitution.

The compromise may have been enough to split the Sunni "no" campaign, boosting chances of the referendum's passage.

The draft requires a simple majority vote to pass - but it can be defeated if two-thirds of voters in any three provinces say "no." Sunnis have a majority in four of Iraq's 18 provinces, but most overcome strong Shiite and Kurdish communities in several of them.

Coalition forces have warned of a spike in attacks by the militants ahead of Saturday's vote, and nearly 450 people have been killed in violence over the past 19 days, often by insurgents using suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and drive-by shootings.

Hundreds of Iraqi police and army troops have fanned out across Baghdad, and an eerie calm has settled over the capital and other cities, with little traffic on the streets, few pedestrians and many shops closed.

Coalition forces closed Iraq's borders and its international airport in Baghdad in another effort to improve security to protect voters. On Thursday, a new 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was imposed and government offices and schools are closed for four days.

All civilian vehicles will be banned on Saturday as Iraqis are expected to walk by the thousands to 6,100 polling centers in Iraq.

In Shiite areas of Baghdad, hundreds of posters and banners urging a "yes" vote were plastered on many walls and shop windows.

But few such posters hung in mostly Sunni districts of the city.

In the so-called Triangle of Death, a mainly Sunni area south of Baghdad that is known for kidnappings and killings, there was no sign of posters either. On Thursday, Iraqi troops searched cars under the watchful eyes of comrades manning machine-gun positions nearby. U.S. helicopters hovered over the area. Traffic on the road through the "triangle" was thin.

"I will vote 'yes' so as to isolate the troublemakers," said Faisal Galab, a Sunni Arab sheik from the town of Youssifiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad. "I have asked my family and clan to vote 'yes.'" - yahoo.com

U.S. sees victory as Iraq counts votes

By Andrew Quinn and Mariam Karouny - BAGHDAD, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi voters look almost certain to have approved a new U.S.-backed constitution, overcoming Sunni Arab opposition in a vote seen by Washington as boosting its beleaguered Iraq strategy, results showed on Sunday.

Early results from Saturday's referendum indicated the vote split as expected along largely communal lines. Tight security kept the polls mostly peaceful although five U.S. soldiers were killed in the Sunni west, the military said.

Despite high turnout in some Sunni Arab areas, partial counts suggested that the charter's opponents were unable to muster enough "No" votes to veto it. According to the referendum rules, a two-thirds "No" vote in three of Iraq's 18 provinces could block the constitution even if most Iraqis backed it.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in London as the vote-count in Iraq was in progress, said the constitution had probably passed. That angered some Sunni leaders, who accused her of pressuring Iraqi officials to fix the result.

"Most people assume on the ground that it probably has passed," Rice said. That result would be welcome in Washington, where President George W. Bush has been keen to show Iraq making progress toward stability as U.S. casualty figures mount.

Rice said later the final result was still not known.

The five soldiers killed by a roadside bomb that wrecked their vehicle in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi took the number of Americans to die in the Iraq war to at least 1,970.

The high toll from the blast suggested the use of more powerful devices that U.S. commanders say insurgents have developed this year.

Electoral Commission chief Hussein al-Hendawi told Reuters turnout was running at 63-64 percent, well above the 58 percent seen in January when many Sunnis boycotted the country's first elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni.

Local election officials gave a picture of a strong "Yes" vote in the Shi'ite Muslim provinces of the south and of massive rejection in the Sunni Arab heartlands of the north and west.

SUNNI COMPLAINT

Sunni nationalist leader Saleh al-Mutlak said he estimated more than 80 percent of Sunni Arabs -- who make up 20 percent of the population -- voted "No" despite a U.S.-brokered deal with one Sunni political party which backed the constitution in return for a promise to consider amendments next year.

Mutlak questioned the validity of any result: "Condoleezza Rice made a statement," he told reporters. "I believe it is a signal to the Electoral Commission to pass the constitution."

Salahaddin province, one of at least three with a Sunni Arab majority that might help veto the referendum, voted "No" by 70 percent, an electoral official said on Sunday. Another province, Anbar, whose capital is Ramadi, was also likely to reject it.

But the "No" camp trailed in the northern province of Niniveh, around the city of Mosul, decreasing chances of a veto.

A senior government source said 419,000 of the 643,000 ballots cast in Niniveh had been counted and that the results were showing 75 percent had voted "Yes" -- virtually ruling out the possibility the province would reject the charter.

Kurdish leaders, who originally inserted the three-province veto clause to protect their own interests, have denied Arab accusations of packing Mosul with Kurdish voters.

Diyala, another province with a big Sunni population, seemed unlikely to return a "No" vote big enough to block the charter.

U.S. HOPES, IRAQI FEARS

Under pressure to extract its 150,000 troops from Iraq's unremitting violence, the United States championed the new charter as a step towards stability despite concern the document may further fuel sectarian tension.

Sunni militants fear the charter hands the country, and especially its oil-rich regions, to the Shi'ite majority and their Kurdish allies and are waging a bloody campaign of attacks that many Iraqis fear is tipping the country into civil war.

Unlike Iraq's last election in January, which saw more than 40 die in suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks, a huge security clampdown prevented all but a handful of ineffectual strikes on Saturday's vote itself.

In schools and government buildings around the country, officials counted and stacked piles of "Yes" and "No" ballots. Clear plastic ballot boxes, sealed with red tape, were stacked into Iraqi army lorries and driven under escort to Baghdad.

If the constitution passes Iraqis vote again in December for a new, four-year parliament, a step Washington says will mark its full emergence as a sovereign democracy and new Western ally.

A "No" vote in the referendum would force Iraq's feuding factions back to the drawing board. The December poll would then be only for another interim parliament to redraft the charter.

In Falluja, where insurgents battled U.S. troops a year ago, 90 percent of registered voters turned out, local election chief Saadullah al-Rawi said, and 99 percent of them voted "No".

South of the capital, despite some surprisingly strong rejection by nationalist followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the "Yes" camp was clearly ascendant.

In the provinces of Najaf and Kerbala, local officials said the constitution was approved by about 85 percent.

Many Iraqis expressed relief the vote had been completed in an orderly and virtually bloodless fashion.

"When I went to the polling centre, I found that everything was organised," said a man who gave his name as Samad, standing outside one Baghdad polling place on Sunday.

"No-one forced us to write 'Yes' or 'No'. We chose." (Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Alastair Macdonald, Ahmed Rashid, Michael Georgy, Luke Baker, Omar al-Ibadi in Baghdad, Ibon Villelabeitia in Mosul Ibon Villelabeitia in Mosul, Ghaswan al-Jibouri in Tikrit, Fadel al-Badrani in Falluja, Sami Jumaili in Kerbala and Khaled Farhan in Najaf) (IRAQ; editing by Andrew Marshall)) - alertnet.org

Some Sunnis suspicious of election results

Sunday 16th October, 2005 (UPI) - Some Sunnis in the town of Ishaki were convinced Saturday the Iraqi government had rigged the constitutional referendum in favor of Kurds, Shiites and Iran.

Dozens of locals, all planning to vote against the draft constitution, had been turned away from the single polling station in town, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

According to election officials all those rejected were registered at another polling station 3 miles away -- but a driving ban designed to stop suicide bomb attacks prevented the Sunnis from making the trip, effectively disenfranchising them.

Coordinators for the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq insisted it was a genuine mistake and rushed to remove the voting restriction. But for Sunnis the damage had been done.

Turnout was high in Balad, the main Shiite city in the province.

Sabeh Abad, a Shiite resident of Balad, said he had voted yes because the constitution would usher in a new era of peace.

But with the Sunni population apparently convinced the constitution would be passed, by fair means or foul, many predicted worsening violence ahead, the newspaper said. - Big News Network.com

British soldier faces charges for refusing service in Iraq

LONDON, Oct. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A doctor of Britain's Royal Air Force faces court-martial for "disobeying a lawful command" by refusing to serve in Iraq because he questions the legality of the war in Iraq.

Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, is to become the first British soldier to face court-martial for refusing an order to serve in Iraq, the Times reported on Monday.

Kendall-Smith had served two tours in Iraq. His third notice to deploy to Iraq came after an intense public debate this year about the legality of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

He made his decision after studying the legal advice of Britain's attorney general and told his commanding officer that he felt it wrong to return to Iraq.

The Ministry of Defense said the officer faced four charges under the Air Force Act 1955 for disobeying a lawful command. Sources in the ministry said he had not claimed to be a conscientious objector, but had just refused to go to Iraq.

No further details have been given as to the date or location of the court martial.

Kendall-Smith's lawyer, Justin Hugheston-Roberts, said his client was arguing the war was "manifestly unlawful" and that his client has a better understanding of the legal issues since he served in the Gulf in 2003. Enditem - xinhuanet

Security incidents in Iraq, Oct 17

BAIJI - Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven wounded when a roadside bomb struck a joint U.S and Iraqi army patrol in Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, an army source said.

RAMADI - U.S. jets and helicopters killed around 70 suspected militants in a series of air strikes in and near the western city of Ramadi on Sunday, a military statement said. Local police and doctors spoke of 20 civilian dead including children, but the military said no civilians were in the area.

KIRKUK - Two police officers were killed by gunmen in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said.

MAHMUDIYA - A joint U.S and Iraqi army operation killed 11 insurgents and arrested 57 suspects in Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad, on Sunday, an interior ministry statement said.

* HAQLANIYA - U.S. Marines shot dead three men they said had planted a roadside bomb near Haqlaniya in western Iraq, the military said in a statement. Aircraft then destroyed caves where weapons were being stored and made.

* QUSAYBA - Marines killed about 12 insurgents who attacked their base near Qusayba, close to the Syrian border, on Sunday, the military said in a statement.

* KARABILA - Marine helicopters fired missiles, rockets and machineguns, killing three guerrillas in the nearby town of Karabila, who had fired on U.S. troops with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles on Sunday, the military said in a statement. - alertnet

U.S. strikes militants as Iraq counts vote

By Andrew Quinn BAGHDAD, Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes and helicopter gunships killed about 70 suspected militants near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the military said on Monday, and a landmark referendum appeared to have backed a new constitution.

Ramadi police said about 20 of those killed in the U.S. strikes were civilians, including some children who had gathered around the wreckage of a U.S. military vehicle. But the U.S. military said it believed they were all "terrorists".

Election officials slowly counted up to 10 million ballots from Saturday's referendum, with partial results pointing to a clear win for a charter Washington hopes will help establish Iraq as a stable democracy able to do without U.S. troops. Movement of ballot boxes to the Baghdad counting centre was complicated by a sandstorm across much of Iraq which grounded helicopters and prevented any transport of boxes by air. Opponents of the constitution in the Sunni Arab minority complained of fraud and questioned the time taken for the count. The Electoral Commission, where officials indicate privately that the charter is all but ratified, said all was in order but very high local votes, both "Yes" and "No", of up to 80 or 90 percent had to be audited in line with international practice.

The violence in Ramadi, a rebellious city about 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, highlighted the challenge posed by Sunni Arab insurgents opposed to the U.S.-backed constitution. Few people in Ramadi voted, yet for the first time, many Sunnis elsewhere in Iraq took part in the referendum, even if a large majority of them voted "No", provisional figures show.

Iraqis digested the news that the constitution had probably passed, with some hailing it as a good sign and others warning it could push the country closer to complete breakdown.

"If the constitution passes without consideration for the voters who said 'No', it will lead to a sectarian war," said Faisal Houmud, 37, a merchant in the Sunni bastion of Falluja.

Sunni politicians were divided on the issue but several conceded that the constitution would come into force come what may. They would thus focus their energies on an election on Dec. 15 to boost their power to amend it in parliament.

U.S. President George W. Bush hailed the vote, which went off amid tight security and almost without bloodshed in the absence of insurgent attacks the U.S. military had predicted. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, however, said the result showed divisions ran deep and violence might continue:

"We had hoped that the constitutional process would have been an exercise that would have been totally inclusive, and pull together all the Iraqis, helping with reconciliation. Obviously that did not happen and has not happened," he said.

AIR STRIKES

A U.S. military statement said the Ramadi battle occurred on Sunday and involved U.S. jets, helicopters and ground troops. It said at least 20 suspected militants were killed when an F-15 aircraft bombed a group of men burying a roadside bomb -- one of the deadliest weapons in the insurgent arsenal. Another 50 militants were killed in a series of separate strikes, the statement added, saying military commanders had no indications of any U.S. or civilian casualties in the operation.

However, Ramadi police Lieutenant Karim Salim said 20 of those killed were civilians, including some children as young as 11. Doctors in the city had made a similar assessment on Sunday.

"Their bodies were completely ripped apart," Salim said.

Iyad al-Dulaimi, a doctor at Ramadi general hospital, told Reuters the hospital had received 20 civilian bodies since U.S. operations in the city began on Friday.

The U.S. military statement said all attacks "were timed and executed in a manner to reduce the possibility of collateral damage" and that it had no reports of any civilian casualties.

Ramadi residents who survived the attack were furious. "The planes came and bombed us right after prayers," one man shouted as others buried bodies near Ramadi. "These are innocent civilians. To hell with this constitution."

The military said separately that 18 insurgents had been killed in three separate clashes elsewhere in western Iraq. Iraq's Defence Ministry said separately U.S. and Iraqi troops had killed 12 insurgents south of Baghdad on Sunday.

In the northern city of Mosul, police found the bodies of eight men believed to be Iraqi soldiers shot through the head.

U.S. officials have sought to portray the big Sunni vote as a sign Iraq is moving towards full democracy which will ultimately allow the withdrawal of 156,000 U.S. troops. Six more U.S. soldiers were killed in the Sunni Arab-dominated west of the country over the weekend, bringing the total U.S. toll to 1,971 since the 2003 invasion. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Hassan, Azeel Kami and Mariam Karouny in Baghdad, and by Ammar al-Alwani in Ramadi)

alertnet.org

Iraqi election officials investigate vote peculiarities

Tuesday 18th October, 2005

Iraqi election officials are investigating what they say are "unusually high" numbers of "yes" votes in about 12 provinces from Saturday's referendum on a new constitution.

Election workers discovered the "yes" votes exceeded 90 percent in provinces that are either majority Shi'ite or Kurdish.

The two communities - which comprise the majority of Iraq's population - support the new constitution, while many minority Sunni Arabs oppose it.

Some Sunni Arab leaders have alleged fraud during the referendum.

Election officials say the investigation will delay the release of the final tally for a few days. Initial results suggested the U.S.-backed charter had been approved.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military says two American Marines and four insurgents were killed in fighting in western Iraq Monday. Big News Network.com

Bush credibility haunts Rice testimony

By PAMELA HESS UPI Pentagon Correspondent WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a skeptical and at times combative Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday in her first hearing on Iraq before the panel since she assumed office.

Rice's problem is an ironic one: the reality in Iraq is finally catching up to Bush administration rhetoric, but the White House's ability to tell the story is hamstrung by its compromised credibility on the war.

Senator after senator - Republican and Democrat - counseled Rice to speak plainly about Iraq to the public, more often, to shore up faltering support for the war. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll indicates 51 percent of the people don't think removing Saddam Hussein from power was worth the cost in U.S. lives and treasure; 58 percent want to reduce the number of American troops; and 56 percent are now less confident of a successful conclusion to that war. A recent Pew poll shows 41 percent of the people think the war in Iraq has increased the chance of a terrorist attack on the United States. Only 25 percent think it has diminished the chance.