Posted 3:14 AM by Dil
Guardsmen: 'We had him'

By DAVID HENSON, The Reporter, Vacaville

VACAVILLE - A radical Shiite cleric who is at the center of a manhunt by coalition forces in Iraq was in custody several months ago, but U.S. forces ordered his release, two National Guardsmen said Monday.

"We had him, but we had to let him go. It was frustrating," said Lt. Michael Drayton of the Army National Guard's 870th Military Police Company.

Muqtada al-Sadr rose to prominence by denouncing coalition forces and directing last week's militia takeover of three Iraqi cities. He has since withdrawn his militamen from the cities, but now the U.S. military says it wants the cleric found, dead or alive.

Ironically, members of the 870th took the cleric into custody in Najaf late last year, said Drayton, an insurance adjuster from Newport Beach.

Drayton and other troop leaders, who were celebrating their homecoming at the unit's headquarters Monday in Fairfield, said the company was instructed to release al-Sadr.

During the troops' service in Najaf, al-Sadr already was speaking out against the coalition and organizing protests. However, the cleric's speeches were viewed as a kind of First Amendment right, said Staff Sgt. Thomas Perry of Tacoma, Wash.

"We knew that in the future, he'd be a problem," Perry said.

Originally, the military police company was sent to Karbala and then to a prison in Baghdad to provide law and order and to train Iraqis to assume law enforcement duties.

But one platoon, about 25 troops from the 870th, was sent to Najaf to relieve two full police companies, the soldiers said. They established and operated the police department. Their first arrest was the city's corrupt mayor.

"We were an MP platoon already short (of personnel), conducting an MP company mission," Perry said.

One of their headquarters was adjacent to a Najaf mosque. From there they could hear al-Sadr's speeches, inciting his followers to unite and stand against coalition forces, they said.

"The majority of weapons and bad guys hide out in the mosques," said Perry. "The U.S. government is very political when it goes into wars. We know where the bad guys are, but we can't say, 'Let's go get them.' "

The company was told not to infiltrate holy shrines or places of worship.

"We knew there was a lot of illegal activity in the mosques, but we couldn't touch it, and people there knew we would stay away from mosques," Drayton said.

The company began its service in Iraq in March 2003 and took several thousand prisoners into custody. During that time, no solider in the 870th was killed. The 870th was the only California military police company to accomplish that feat.

- David Henson can be reached at schools@thereporter.com.

Posted 3:05 AM by Dil
Posted on Tue, Apr. 13, 2004





U.S. General Denounces Arab TV Stations

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq has accused two Arab television stations of lying about American attacks in the city of Fallujah.

Army Gen. John Abizaid denounced Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya for broadcasting what he said were false reports of American troops deliberately targeting civilians in Fallujah.

The predominantly Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad has been the site of fighting between insurgents and American troops after a mob mutilated the bodies of American security contractors killed in a March 30 ambush.

"They have not been truthful in their reporting," Abizaid said of the two television stations. "They haven't been accurate. And it is absolutely clear that American forces are doing their very best to protect civilians and at the same time get at the military targets there."

Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said the TV station had also interviewed American officials "to be as balanced as possible." The station had an early advantage because it was the only news organization present in Fallujah during the first days of the recent fighting, he said.

"I don't think pictures lie. We have tried to be as comprehensive as possible," Ballout said from the station's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Al-Arabiya's editor-in-chief Salah Negm said his station was doing its job properly despite working under difficult conditions.

"We know that Iraq is a free country and we are practicing the responsible freedom of the press that covers all sides of the story," he said.

Anti-American protests erupted Friday in Cairo among crowds who supported the Fallujah insurgents. Jordan's King Abdullah, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, sent relief supplies to the city, saying Fallujah was subject to "blockade, killing and destruction."

About 600 Iraqi dead, mostly civilians, were recorded by the main hospital and four clinics in Fallujah, hospital director Rafie al-Issawi told The Associated Press. U.S. officials say most of the dead probably were insurgents.

A tenuous cease-fire declared by the Americans in Fallujah appeared to be holding Monday, said Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground troops in Iraq.

Posted 11:23 AM by Dil
So why do Chinese consumers like Western stores so much? I asked Linda Shu from Ikea, another Chinese success story.

She described it as aspirational shopping, fuelled by clever ad campaigns. We tell people that if they buy small products they can change their lives step by step, she told me.

And it seems like Chinese consumers are buying not only the argument, but also the products that accessorise it.

Ikea has only two stores in China so far, one in Shanghai, and another in Beijing, but it plans to open ten stores by the end of the decade.

Linda Shu says she's noticed a huge contrast in consumer behaviour at its stores, with shoppers in Shanghai more picky and price-conscious than those in the capital.

And retail analysts warn that it's a mistake to think of China as one market. Each city is a separate market, with its own quirks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3614545.stm

Posted 11:21 AM by Dil
So why do Chinese consumers like Western stores so much? I asked Linda Shu from Ikea, another Chinese success story.

She described it as aspirational shopping, fuelled by clever ad campaigns. We tell people that if they buy small products they can change their lives step by step, she told me.

And it seems like Chinese consumers are buying not only the argument, but also the products that accessorise it.

Ikea has only two stores in China so far, one in Shanghai, and another in Beijing, but it plans to open ten stores by the end of the decade.

Linda Shu says she's noticed a huge contrast in consumer behaviour at its stores, with shoppers in Shanghai more picky and price-conscious than those in the capital.

And retail analysts warn that it's a mistake to think of China as one market. Each city is a separate market, with its own quirks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3614545.stm

Posted 6:46 AM by Dil
Those cases are among three dozen closed investigations involving alleged assaults on troops by other military personnel released to the Post under the Freedom of Information Act. The Army records offer the clearest picture yet into the military's handling of sexual assault reports during the Iraqi war. The Navy and Air Force have not released similar data.

In one investigation, three Fort Bragg soldiers with the 519th military intelligence battalion were accused of assaulting an Iraqi woman held in the Abu Ghraib prison. Though no details were provided, the report notes that the enlisted men were each fined at least $500 and demoted in rank.

Another case involving an assault on an Iraqi citizen led to a six-year prison sentence for a 4th Infantry Division soldier. He was found guilty by court martial of repeatedly molesting an Iraqi boy in Kirkuk, Iraq.

http://www.theargusonline.com/Stories/0,1413,83~1968~2078434,00.html

Posted 5:48 AM by Dil
Chalabi: Iraqi uprisings predictable

IGC’s acting president unrest happening now has been predicted before war, Shiite concerns must be addressed.

LONDON - Ahmed Chalabi, acting president of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), said Monday that the uprisings in Iraq were predictable, and that real efforts must be made to address Shiite grievances.

"What is happening now is something we have spoken about and that we have predicted before the war," Chalabi, who also leads the Iraqi National Congress, told BBC radio from Baghdad.

"We warned the British government ... in May (last year) that an occupation was ill-advised, as Iraqi people understand liberation but reject occupation," he said.

Despite the upsurge in fighting and kidnappings, however, Chalabi said the planned June 30 handover of sovereignty in Iraq must go ahead - but Shiite concerns also need to be addressed.

"We have to work very hard to reintegrate this community into the new Iraqi state," he said. "They feel they have lost control, position, privileges."

Chalabi said that the death toll in fighting in Fallujah and elsewhere was "far fewer" than what it would have been if Saddam Hussein had not been deposed.

"We believe that the people are much better than they were under Saddam despite all the fighting," said Chalabi, a Shiite Muslim IGC member and Pentagon favourite.

Posted 4:36 AM by Dil
Korea, U.S. Don’t See Eye-to-Eye on Troops in Iraq
While hostilities in Iraq continue and as South Korea has second thoughts about sending more troops, it has emerged that the United States has reportedly insisted on numerous occasions since the end of last year that military engineering troops would not be needed. This indicates that the two countries have different plans for the character of South Korea’s military presence in Iraq.
According to a high-ranking government official, between last October and early this year, when Korea was promoting the dispatch of troops for the reconstruction of Iraq, the United States clarified several times that such military aid would not necessary and instead requested combat troops.

General Leon LaPorte, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, personally told Defense Minister Cho Young-kil that there are many countries offering engineering troops and that such forces from Korea would not be necessary, the source said referring to the conversation between LaPorte and Cho.

The United States’ request for combat troops was overtly discontinued when the National Assembly passed the motion for sending 3,600 peaceful reconstructing troops to Iraq. However, reports of ongoing requests for combat troops confirmed the differing stands the two countries are taking, which would likely bring about conflict concerning the duties of Korean troops.

A Defense Ministry official said that last month the United States reportedly expressed concern about the battle readiness of the Korean troops and suggested a joint combat attack in Kirkuk. However, the result was an assignment of Korean troops to another region.

The Defense Ministry said that when its fact-finding group returns from Iraq on April 19, Korean troops are expected to be relocated to either Arbil or Sulaimany on a mission of peaceful reconstruction.