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 bombings in Baghdad, Kerbala and Aadhamiya killed at least 30 Iraqis and wounded at least 70 more on Sunday, while a British helicopter was shot down with the loss of five British troops on Saturday. Followers of Muqtada al-Sadr attacked British and Iraqi troops moving to the site of the helicopter crash.
- Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second ranking U.S. general in Iraq, vowed to stop the trafficking of bomb materials from Iran on Sunday. The Iranian government insists that they are not providing IED components to the Iraqi insurgency, but the United States says it has evidence of Iranian parts in sophisticated IEDs used in southern Iraq.
Other Topics Today Include: Interior Minister arrests general; Iranian forces in Iraq; 100,000 Iraqis displaced; rebuilding Iraq; Iraqi customs brings in the money; Fallujah water treatment unit complete; possible deal with insurgents soon; Carnival of the Liberated; Iran to reopen Iraq embassy.
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
- Bayan Jabor, the current Interior Minister of Iraq, says he has ordered the arrest of a Major General believed to be involved in kidnapping and death squads within the ministry. Jabor is attempting to keep his job in the new administration, and the Sunnis are very unhappy with the perception the Interior Ministry has served Shiite interests rather than Iraqi interests.
- Iranian forces have entered Iraq and shelled suspected PKK guerillas in the Arbil province of Iraq.
- 100,000 Iraqis have been displaced from their homes since February, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration, an appalling sum, if true.
RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY
- A new report finds that thousands of schools, hundreds of police stations, and dozens of firehouses have been rebuilt in Iraq. But some things are reportedly not at prewar levels yet.
- Iraqi customs has garnered ID60 billion from reconstruction materials entering the country in the past 2 months.
- A programme to help and encourage Iraqi expatriates wanting to contribute to the reconstruction of their country is currently selecting 60 people to work in various Iraqi government ministries for assignments ranging from between three months to a year.
- Installation is complete on the US$ 1 million Al Tahadi Compact Water Treatment Unit in Fallujah, Al Anbar Province. Check out some other recent project updates.
- A senior U.S. official said Gulf Arab states and other foreigners should help Iraq build new power stations, as U.S. investment in the electricity sector winds down after three years of reconstruction aid.
IRAQI POLITICS
- Iraq's president said on Sunday he and U.S. officials had met with insurgents and that a deal with some groups to end violence could be reached.
- This week's Carnival of the Liberated is up.
THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
- Iran announces it will re-open it's consulate in Basrah soon. It was closed at the outbreak of war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980's. Iran opened a consulate in Kharbala in December 2005.
- Iraq will soon receive a loan from Japan estimated at 3.5 billion dollars.
ETCETERA
- Do you have your GI Bracelet? Many military families fall into financial hardship when the breadwinner is injured or killed. The entire purchase price of the GI Bracelet is donated to support our troops and their families! Please join us to give back to these brave people in their time of need.
- 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!
- Many American troops have taken it upon themselves to reconstruct schools and gather learning tools for the children of Iraq. Their efforts have been met with immense gratitude from the local Iraqis and their children. You can help too! Visit Operation Iraqi Children and get involved.
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Kirk Sowell at Arab World Analysis presents additional perspective on the Sadrist role at staging camera-friendly violence at the Lynx crash site in Basra.
One more reminder that allowing Sadr to live has been a mistake.
"Lieutenant "GENERAL" (maybe...) Peter Chiarelli..."
Fixed, thanks.
Funny how the news media paints it as "angry Iraqis" who attack rescue operations, as if the Iraqi people are rising up against the crusaders. What hogwash. Is worldwide media reporting from Iraq now controlled exclusively by Al Jazeera?
That 100,000 displacement figure actually isn't disturbing becuase it's so big, it's weird because it's so small.
There was CNN Money article recently which reported that a net of over 200,000 people per year are being 'displaced' from the New York metro area simply as a function of housing prices.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/19/real_estate/net_migration_tilts_south/index.htm
The violence in a major urban center, as the press reports it, should result in many more people moving to safer locations, one would think. It's somewhat odd that it apparently doesn't.
I hope somebody over there comes to their senses and hands the Interior Ministry over to a Kurd. They are the only group that has no use for death squads (in Baghdad at least). Put a Kurd in charge and give him a Sunni and Shiite sub-director. This should pacify the Sunni and Shiia who mainly dont want each other in charge, and it should make the Kurds happy because the Interior department is perhaps the most likely place from which a coup would originate that could put a new Saddam in charge which would ultimately threaten Kurdistan.