Monday Iraq Report, Dec 20/04

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

• Car bombs in the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala killed at least 64 and wounded more than 120 while an ambush in Baghdad killed three election officials.

• Ali Hasan al-Majid, AKA Chemical Ali, will be the first of Saddam's former regime tried for crimes against humanity. He is accused of ordering the Halabja chemical weapons attacks against Kurds in 1988, among other things. Also appearing in court will be General Sultan Hashim Ahmad, Saddam's Defense Minister.

• If you haven't already stopped by, don't miss the Carnival of the Liberated, a regular roundup of Iraqi bloggers. Meanwhile, Arthur Chrenkoff's Good News from Iraq is also up now (Winds version, with "jump-to" section links).

Other Topics Today Include: a bomb targets Al-Sistani's aides; armored HMMWVs revisited; 3d ID heads back to Iraq; concerns over the coming elections; the UN pledges additional support to elections; election advisors to stay home; another mass grave discovered.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

• A bomb exploded at the gates of Karbala's Imam Hussein Shrine, the most holy of Shia's shrines in Iraq. The blast killed a top aide to Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani and wounded Sheik Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalayee, who was the likely target.

• Who are the insurgents in Mosul? Stryker Brigade News has details regarding our best information at this time. Note the presence of Ansar al-Sunna, and also the "rent-out" phenomenon. Fortunately, Iraqi forces are getting better at dealing with them.

• Few will forget the excitement generated by a soldier's questioning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last week. But bloggers of the year Powerline note that the soldier's unit had precisely 20 unarmored vehicles when he asked that question, and all of its vehicles are up-armored now. That story probably won't get quite as prominent coverage, though.

• They led the charge into Iraq and made the thunder run into Baghdad that will be remembered in the annals of warfare. Now the Rock of the Marne is returning to Iraq. Rebuilt as the first of the Army's 'units of action,' a new structure designed to be more flexible, 3d Infantry Division will test the new structure on the field of battle in January.

• From The Questing Cat, The Jersey Cowboy talks about an early Christmas present arriving at his FOB in Iraq. Meanwhile, The Questing Cat discusses the dichotomy between a soldiers life in Iraq and a soldier's life in the "real world", while on leave in Germany.

RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY

• The international airport in Basra is undergoing a USD $5 million rennovation and security screening upgrade project and will be ready for commercial air traffic by July 2005.

IRAQI POLITICS

• The Belgravia Dispatch examines some of the threats facing the coming elections and asks some tough questions about the strategy being employed in Iraq. Meanwhile the Belmont Club examines how the elections may affect Iraq's neighbors, and how they're approaching the elections.

• Campaigning has begun in earnest in Iraq. Prime Minister Allawi is one of the many running for various offices in the first national elections since 1969. It is reported there are nearly 5000 candidates for the various offices among 83-100 separate candidate lists.

THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

• UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, responding to criticism begun in October about the UN's meager support for the upcoming elections, has stated the UN will increase its support of the Iraqi elections, if need be.

• It takes a rare kind of courage to observe an election in a country torn by violence aimed at halting the elections. Apparently more courage than can be found among the world's international election observers, who are opting out of overseeing Iraq's elections in January due to the risks. (Where's Jimmy Carter when you need him?)

ETCETERA

• Another mass grave has been found in Northern Iraq, which is believed to contain 500 bodies - likely Kurds. PM Allawi made this gruesome announcement to the Iraqi National Council on Tuesday.

• Ali at Iraq the Model is hanging up his blogging shoes in response to unspecified issues that likely spring from Juan Cole's asinine accusations. Here's the complete link compilation regarding this brouhaha.

• 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. And if you have a tip for a future Iraq Report, email us at MondayIraqReport(at)windsofchange.net.