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Letter to the editor

Last week in Iraq

By Times Wires
Published October 28, 2007

Attacks

-An Iraqi journalist working in Baghdad for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was reported missing Monday morning after police officers found the body of her driver, who had been shot and killed on a city street, the American-backed radio network said.

-Two bombs Wednesday killed at least nine people in Jisr Diyala, a Shiite district southeast of Baghdad, and mortar fire killed at least five in Hibhib, 30 miles north of Baghdad.

Military

-The U.S. military said its forces killed 49 militants during a dawn raid Oct. 21 to capture an Iranian-linked militia chief in Baghdad. Iraqi officials reported only 15 deaths including three children, and said all the dead were civilians. Iraqi government and American military officials on Monday agreed to form a joint committee to investigate the combat actions.

-President Bush asked Congress on Monday to approve $196-billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other national security programs, setting the stage for a new confrontation with Democrats over the administration's handling of Iraq.

-The U.S. military has agreed to give about $650,000 to three British soldiers and a Kuwaiti interpreter who were injured when an American military truck slammed into their vehicle in Iraq, a lawyer said Monday.

-Dozens of Turkish military vehicles streamed toward the Iraqi border with heavy artillery and ammunition Monday after Kurdish guerrillas killed a dozen soldiers Oct. 21 and claimed to have captured eight in an intensifying crisis threatening to spill into Iraq.

-October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. American commanders cited the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists.

-A U.S. helicopter opened fire Tuesday on men seen planting roadside bombs in a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad, then chased them into a nearby house and continued to shoot, killing 11 Iraqis, including five women and one child, the military said. It was the third claim of civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes in as many days.

-Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships reportedly pounded Kurdish rebel positions along the Turkey-Iraq border Wednesday, broadening military operations against insurgents amid persistent fears Turkey will launch a major offensive inside Iraq.

-The top U.S. commander in northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, said Friday that the U.S. military will stay out of skirmishes between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish military.

-Turkey's leadership said Friday it would hold off on an invasion of Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels until after the prime minister's meeting with Bush on Nov. 5.

Rebuilding

-Osama bin Laden scolded his al-Qaida followers in Iraq and other insurgents Monday, saying they have "been lax" for failing to overcome fanatical tribal loyalties and unite in the fight against U.S. troops.

-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday ordered new measures to improve government oversight of private guards who protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, including tighter rules of engagement and a board to investigate any future killings.

-A U.S. project to replace the Iraqi government's opaque and easily manipulated Saddam Hussein-era accounting system has failed after four years and more than $38-million, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a U.S. oversight agency, reported Wednesday.

-The State Department official responsible for overseeing Blackwater USA and other private security contractors in Iraq resigned abruptly Wednesday. Richard Griffin faced stiff criticism from Congress over his handling of last month's deadly Blackwater shooting of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad.

-The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad began payments Wednesday to the victims of the Blackwater shooting in September. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said it is not a final settlement of claims. Some families were offered $12,500 per death, relatives said, and several declined.

Deaths

As of Saturday, 3,840 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Identifications as reported by the U.S. military and not previously published:

-Navy Seaman Anamarie S. Camacho, 20, Panama City, Fla.; noncombat Monday; Bahrain.

-Army Pfc.Adam J. Chitjian, 39, Philadelphia; small-arms fire Thursday; Balad.

-Navy Seaman Genesia M. Gresham, 19, Lithonia, Ga.; noncombat Monday; Bahrain.

-Army Staff Sgt.Robin L. Towns Sr., 52, Upper Marlboro, Md.; explosion Wednesday; Beiji.

[Last modified October 28, 2007, 01:32:28]