[Vision2020] Today's Headlines

[Tom Hansen]

Posted below is a synopsis of a majority of today's (July 10, 2006)
headlines found in the Early Bird Edition of the Army Times -

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Scores Of Sunnis Killed In Baghdad
Neighborhood Residents Describe Signs Of Torture
(Washington Post, July 10, 2006, Pg. 1) 
Shiite Muslim militiamen rampaged through a Sunni Arab neighborhood in
Baghdad early Sunday morning, killing more than 50 persons and discarding
bodies in the streets, according to Iraqi officials and witnesses. Hours
later, attackers struck back, detonating two car bombs near a Shiite mosque.
Sunni politicians described the violence against the Sunni residents of the
al-Jihad neighborhood in western Baghdad as one of the deadliest waves of
murder since the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

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4 Soldiers Accused Of Rape, Murder
Six Now Implicated In Slaying Of Iraqi Family
(USA Today, July 10, 2006, Pg. 1)
Four more soldiers were charged with rape and murder in connection with the
slaying of a young Iraqi woman and her family in Mahmoudiya, south of
Baghdad, the U.S. military announced. Another soldier was accused of failing
to report the offenses but was not believed to be involved in the attack. In
all, six soldiers have been implicated in the March 12 incident, the latest
of several alleged crimes by U.S. service members in Iraq.

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U.S. Warns Iran To Halt Nukes Or Face 'Action'
(Washington Times, July 10, 2006, Pg. 1)
U.S. officials accused Iran of stalling negotiations and said the deadline
has arrived for the country to halt nuclear production or face sanctions in
the United Nations. "We offered them two paths, negotiations or Security
Council action," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said, referring to
incentives offered to Iran if it gives up its nuclear ambitions. "The
Iranians can choose, but the time to choose has come."

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Detainee Rights Create A Divide On Capitol Hill
(New York Times, July 10, 2006, Pg. 1)
The Supreme Court decision striking down the use of military commissions to
bring terrorism detainees to trial has set off sharp differences among
Republicans in Congress over what kind of rights detainees should be granted
and how much deference should be shown the president in deciding the issue.
The debate is expected to consume the rest of the summer as lawmakers head
into an election season expected to be dominated by issues of national
security.

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Republican Lawmakers Cite Shells As WMD Proof
(Washington Times, July 10, 2006, Pg. 1) 
Congressional Republicans are at odds with Democrats-and the Bush
administration-over the significance of 500 munitions found in Iraq since
2003 and recently disclosed by the Pentagon. The rocket and artillery shells
hold deadly sarin and mustard gas, and Republican lawmakers say they are
evidence that Hussein was still concealing weapons of mass destruction in
2003 in violation of United Nations resolutions to disarm. Democrats dismiss
the findings, saying the munitions were found in small clusters and are of
1980s vintage. The administration is downplaying the discovery, as well.

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Baghdad Erupts In Mob Violence
(New York Times, July 10, 2006, Pg. 1) 
A mob of gunmen went on a brazen daytime rampage through a predominantly
Sunni Arab district of western Baghdad, pulling people from their cars and
homes and killing them in what officials and residents called a spasm of
revenge by Shiite militias for the bombing of a Shiite mosque on Saturday.
Hours later, two car bombs exploded beside a Shiite mosque in another
Baghdad neighborhood in a deadly act of what appeared to be retaliation.
Even by recent standards the violence was frightening, delivered with
impunity by gun-wielding vigilantes on the street. In the culture of revenge
that has seized Iraq, residents all over the city braced for an escalation
in the cycle of retributive mayhem between the Shiites and Sunnis that has
threatened to expand into civil war.

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If The Militant Gangs Succeed, Daily Toll Will Be In Thousands [Analysis]
(London Times, July 10, 2006) 
Iraq's bloodshed is rarely the result of militant groups engaged in mindless
sectarian slaughter in the name of religion. Violence such as Sunday's is
carefully planned and deliberately calculated to achieve a political
objective. If the groups responsible can trigger a continuous cycle of
tit-for-tat violence, they hope to create a broader civil war and make Iraq
ungovernable. The newly formed government in Baghdad would crumble, the
thinking goes, and the fledgling security forces would fall apart.

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Portrait Of A Besieged Capital
(Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2006) 
Visiting the Yarmouk Hospital compound in central Baghdad has long been a
routine part of covering the violent events in Iraq. But Sunday, after an
outbreak of fighting between rival Sunni and Shiite gangs in the Jihad
neighborhood, there were no wounded witnesses to interview, no details to
glean about the fighting. Instead, the hospital was a bleak, bloody and
confusing portrait of a besieged city: dead men systematically shot in the
head lay in freezers; mute, wounded children from all over the city carried
burned metal in their flesh; grieving relatives cried to the heavens for
answers.

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Four More GIs Charged With Rape, Murder 
Fifth Soldier In Iraq Accused Of Dereliction Of Duty For Failing To Report
Incident
(Washington Post, July 10, 2006, Pg. 14)
Military investigators brought charges against four more American soldiers
accused of taking part in the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the
killing of three members of her family, the U.S. military said. The four
active-duty soldiers from the Army's 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th
Infantry Division are accused of conspiring with Steven D. Green, a former
private, who was charged with rape and murder in federal court earlier this
month.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


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"In America, anybody can become president.  
That's one of the risks you take . . ."

- Adlai Stevenson

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