Dan's Iraq Briefing 2003-12-11

Welcome! Our goal 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. Our Winds of War coverage of the global War on Terror is a separate briefing today, and both are brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

TOP TOPICS

• A crowd of ~10,000 Iraqis (per Zeyad) held demonstrations against terrorism today in Firdus Square. Healing Iraq has pictures and more.

• The US is reportedly pulling together fighters from all of the major Iraqi militias to form an elite unit to fight the Baathists.

• URGENT REQUEST from Chief Wiggles in Iraq. Can you help these girls?

Other Topics Today Include: Raids near Mosul; roadside bombing in Duluiyah; raids near the Syrian border; car bombing in Tal Afar; 41 arrests in Spanish intelligence officers' murder case; Iraqi Civil Defense Corps formed; AFN to broadcast in Baghdad; the al-Dujaile Massacre; Iraqi war crimes tribunal; Basra revenge killings; MEK expelled; Iraqi Air Force scrapped; source of the 45 minute claim.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

• The 101st Air Assault Division has been conducting raids just south of Mosul.

• Soldiers from the Stryker Brigade have encountered their first roadside bomb just south of Duluiyah on the Tigris River.

• US forces are conducting operations along the Syrian border as well as Samarra in an effort to root out the insurgents.

• 31 US soldiers were injured in a car bombing at Tal Afar, near Mosul.

• US forces have arrested 41 in part of the investigation into the killing of 7 Spanish intelligence officers on November 29.

RECONSTRUCTION AND THE ECONOMY

• The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps is getting up and running, with

• American Forces Network (AFN) will begin broadcasting live from Baghdad all throughout this week, featuring everything from news to information on Iraqi culture and language.

• Omar over at Iraq the Model provides a chilling account of a Baathist massacre at al-Dujaile in 1982.

• The Iraqi Governing Council has voted to establish a war crimes tribunal to prosecute former members of the Baathist government.

• The Shi'ite population of Basra (which revolted against Saddam Hussein during the war) is engaging in revenge killings against members of the former regime. This jives with Zeyad's remarks on a similar subject aptly entitled "Halhoola lil Baath al-Samid."

• JK: Women in Iraq are demanding a greater role.

• The Iraqi Air Force, meanwhile, is being scrapped in favor of pots and pans.

INTERNATIONAL STAGE

• The Iraqi Governing Council has voted to expel the the Iranian communist organization Mujahideen-e-Khalq, which fought for Saddam Hussein both during and prior to the war. This could serve as a possible means for members of the MEK to be turned over to Iran if they take the Jordanian offer on al-Qaeda seriously.

WMD HUNT

• Iraqi Lieutenant Colonel al-Dabbagh has been revealed as the source of the controversial 45 minutes claim that made it into British intelligence dossier on Iraq. The UK newspaper Daily Telegraph takes a look at how al-Dabbagh's claim made it all the way to the top of the British intelligence apparatus.

ETCETERA

• Which "cards" have we captured so far? The CENTCOM list. And the visual version of "Ba'ath Poker."

• The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated December 1, 2003]

• And don;t forget the "Toys for Iraq" drive.