Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.
TOP TOPICS
- The fighting in Fallujah is now being described as a hornet's nest. US Forces have the remaining insurgents trapped between the hammer swinging down from the north and the anvil set up on the southern edge of the city. The resistance is fierce as the insurgents have realized they cannot escape. There are also reports of another large battle occuring in central Fallujah. "They were playing the game of surrendering, but had their AKs under their cloaks."
- US Forces are reported as occupying the entire city of Fallujah, with no large pockets of resistence apparent. It appears insurgent activity in other cities in the Sunni triangle and in hotspots in Northern iraq has risen dramatically and may call for rapid deployment of troops to those areas in the near future.
Other Topics Today Include: much more on Fallujah; could things get worse across Iraq; Russia offers an economic olive branch to Iraq; a new Iraqi political party appears; overseas ballots will be available for Iraqis too; kidnapped French journalists' driver found; Iraq the Model celebrates its first birthday.
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
- The latest in what's happening in Fallujah collected in one place. Too good to be true? Only if you haven't been paying attention to WoC's latest (semi-)regular feature.
- Fallujah is only the most prominent front in the war. Wretchard examines how Fallujah fits into the larger problem of the Sunni Triangle.
- Zeyad warns that the situation may get worse before it gets better, describing the situation in his own home, Baghdad. Alaa at the Mesopotamian has similar concerns.
- Meanwhile the LA Times claims that, regardless of the outcome in Fallujah, the instability in the rest of Iraq will ensure the elections scheduled for January will not be viewed as credible by the Iraqis. (Hat tip: Iraq'd.)
RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY
- Russia is considering writing off a portion of $8 billion in Iraqi debt, saying they would negotiate with either the interim government or the newly elected government after the January elections.
IRAQI POLITICS
- A former senior member of the Iraqi National Congress political movement, Mithal al-Alousi, has founded a new political party. The Democratic Iraqi National Party has been added to the laundry list of political organizations with a hat thrown into the January elections.
- After some debate, it appears the nearly 3 million Iraqis living abroad will be allowed to vote in the upcoming January 31 elections.
THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
- The two French journalists kidnapped more than 85 days ago are still missing, but their driver was found by US troops hancuffed in a building in Fallujah. Mohammed al-Joundi said he was separated from the journalists immediately after their capture and has not seen them since.
ETCETERA
- Abu Ghraib may no longer dominate the headlines, but there remain many questions about it still to be answered. Fortunately, Phil Carter is on the job, currently taking a look at Bush Administration AG nominee Alberto Gonzales' role in the legal discussions that may have (inadvertently or not) helped spawn the horrors of Abu Ghraib.
- Iraq the Model is one year old, and Omar, Ali and Mohammed reflect on one year of blogging and freedom.
- The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops: American, Australian, British, Canadian & Polish. Anyone out there with more information, contact us!
- Don't forget Chief Wiggles' Toys for Iraq drive!
Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". If you think we missed something important, use the Comments section to let us know.
If you're interested in the situation in Mosul, Kurdo's World is doing a great job covering it. He's got stuff from the Kurdish news services and an annotated map of the city. I'll be continuing to link his and other Iraqi bloggers coverage over at The Glittering Eye and tomorrow on The Carnival of the Liberated at Dean's World.