Rewan women's center in Sulaimaniyah

Tarza, 22, meets with Runak Faraj, head of the Rewan women's center in Sulaimaniyah, 260 kilometers, 160 miles, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 25, 2007. She gave birth out of wedlock in 2003, a few months after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, and said her male-dominated clan wanted to kill her for sullying their reputation. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

After the bombs, lingering car wrecks haunt Iraqis

A resident walks past the wreckage of vehicles, which were destroyed in bomb attacks, in a parking lot in Baghdad October 6, 2007. (Mohammed Ameen/Reuters)

By Abdulrahman Taher
1 hour, 28 minutes ago



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Blackened, broken and twisted, they are a daily reminder of the violence which Baghdad residents would rather forget.

Across the Iraqi capital the shells of bombed and burnt-out cars litter the streets, stranded by the roadside long after the bombs go off, the dead and wounded are dragged away and the blood and shrapnel are swept up.

"Look at this ugly sight. How can someone forget the war when he sees these cars, their destruction, the blackness?" asked Fayez Saddiq Ahmad, pointing to a central Baghdad parking lot filled with wrecked vehicles.

Dozens of cars in various stages of destruction have been dumped at the site, across the road from a school in the Salhiya district.

Some are almost intact, their windows blown out and black marks showing where an explosion may have struck. Others are charred shells, their doors or bonnets blown out by the blasts.

A few, probably used as car bombs, are little more than mangled sheets of metal. Traces of orange and white -- the distinctive color of Baghdad taxis -- are the only recognizable feature in one pile of scrap.

"This has a psychological impact on people. When they see it they remember the fear, terror, death," said Wathiq Adnan. "We want to remove this image and replace it with something more optimistic and joyful, so people can forget what is happening."

U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up security across Baghdad in recent months, hoping to stem the waves of roadside bombings and car bombs which have killed thousands of people since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein four years ago.

Officials say the increased security patrols have curbed the rampant violence, but bombs are still a daily feature of Iraq's sectarian war.

In many parts of Baghdad cars are simply left at the scene of an attack -- dragged away from the traffic and abandoned by the side of the road.

The city municipality says 1,500 car wrecks have been removed so far this year, but concedes that many are still scattered around.

Some become playgrounds for young children, who clamber through the windscreen frames, play with the doors and jump from rusty roofs onto the bonnets.

But their lingering presence angers many residents.

"This is a very painful situation. We don't ever want to see it," said Mazen Kazem, standing among the wrecks in the parking lot. He called on authorities to clear the cars and plant trees and flowers in their place.

"...There is a school here. Children should be able to see a garden, not burnt out, exploded cars," he said.

Iraqi Shi'ite leaders sign deal to curb violence

By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Iraq's two most powerful Shi'ite leaders have signed their first written agreement, pledging to prevent bloodshed by working together to avoid confrontation, Iraqi officials said on Saturday.

Supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), the two biggest Shi'ite blocs in parliament, are locked in a power struggle for control of towns and cities in the predominantly Shi'ite south.

The factions have clashed more often this year throughout the south, areas where U.S. forces have little or no presence. Political analysts fear the struggle for dominance will intensify ahead of provincial elections expected next year.

"Sayyed Abdul Aziz al Hakim and Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr have agreed on the necessity of preserving and respecting Iraqi blood under any condition," said the agreement signed by Hakim and Sadr, which was seen by Reuters.

Shi'ite officials said the deal was aimed at preventing clashes similar to those in Kerbala, southwest of the capital, in August.

At least 52 people were killed when Sadr's Mehdi Army clashed with police linked to Hakim's rival Shi'ite political movement, the SIIC and its Badr Organisation.

The police in many southern towns are seen to be loyal to Badr. Two SIIC governors of southern provinces were assassinated in August.

Last month, the political movement loyal to Sadr in parliament pulled out of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki's United Alliance in which it has the same number of seats as Hakim's grouping.

Sadr suspended armed action by the Mehdi Army for up to six months after the Kerbala violence. His aides have said the order was to let him weed out rogue elements in the militia.

The agreement between Hakim and Sadr recommended forming committees in all provinces to bring the two groups' views together and to manage problems.

"This deal could be seen as the first step towards preventing clashes and fighting between the two groups, specially after the Sadrists pulled out of the Alliance," a Shi'ite official in the Alliance told Reuters.

Young Iraqi refugees forced into prostitution

Young Iraqi refugees forced into prostitution

Proposed Federal System in Iraq

Demonstrators wave Iraqi flags during a protest in Baghdad October 6, 2007. Members of the Iraqi Democratic Nation Party held a rally in Baghdad on Saturday protesting against the federal system in Iraq which was proposed by the U.S. Senate.
REUTERS/THAIER AL-SUDANI

Five facts about Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf

06 Oct 2007 06:09:54 GMT
Source: Reuters

(For related story see PAKISTAN/ or [ID:nSP87174])

Oct 6 (Reuters) - Eight years after he seized power in a bloodless coup, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf looks set to cruise to re-election on Saturday as the two-chamber parliament and four provincial assemblies cast their votes.

The result of the vote will not be known until at least Oct. 17 when the Supreme Court will reconvene to decide whether Musharraf was in fact eligible to run for office while still army chief.

Here are five facts about Musharraf, whose five-year term as president expires in November:

* The second of three brothers, Musharraf was born into a middle class Muslim family in India in August 1943. His family moved to the newly created majority-Muslim state of Pakistan following India's independence and partition in 1947. He spent seven years in Turkey, during his civil servant father's posting to Ankara. In 1956 the family settled in Karachi, where Musharraf attended Roman Catholic and other Christian schools.

* Entering the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961, the keen sportsman and career military man first saw action as a young officer in the 1965 war against India, which saw him decorated for gallantry. Marrying in 1968, he endured the army's humiliating defeat by India in the 1971 war and served voluntarily for seven years in Pakistan's special service commandos group.

* Promoted to the rank of general and named army chief in October, 1998, Musharraf seized power from then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 in a bloodless coup. He first led the country as chief executive and then won a five-year presidential term in a 2002 referendum critics say was rigged.

* One of President George W. Bush's most important non-NATO allies in Washington's war on terrorism, supporters paint Musharraf as a strong leader who can save Pakistan's moderate Muslim majority from militant, religious extremism seeping into cities from tribal areas along the northwest frontier. However a bloody army assault on Islamabad's Red Mosque in July, during which 102 people were killed, led to a rise in attacks by Islamist militants that have killed several hundred people.

* A failed attempt to sack Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in March created a judicial and political crisis. Musharraf's popularity slumped and the Supreme Court reinstated Chaudhry. With exiled ex-leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif threatening to return, Musharraf has made some pre-election concessions -- dropping long-standing graft charges against Bhutto, and designating a successor to take over as army chief so he can finally shed his uniform and be sworn in as a civilian president by Nov. 15.

Source: Reuters, Presidential Web site (www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/Biography.aspx)

Opening of US Embassy in Iraq delayed

A portion of the new U.S. embassy under construction is seen from across the Tigris river in Baghdad, in this May 19, 2007 file photo.The opening of a mammoth, $600 million U.S. Embassy, which had been planned for last month, has now been delayed well into next year, U.S. officials said Thursday. (AP Photo)

By ANNE GEARAN and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writers
2 hours, 3 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The opening of a mammoth, $600 million U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which had been planned for last month, has now been delayed well into next year, U.S. officials said Thursday. The Vatican-sized compound, which will be the world's largest diplomatic mission, has been beset by construction and logistical problems.

"They are substantially behind at this point," and it would be surprising if any offices or living quarters could be occupied before the end of the year, one official told The Associated Press.

Problems identified so far are related to the complex's physical plant, including electrical systems, and do not pose a security risk, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official also said the delays would have no direct cost to taxpayers because contractor First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. had agreed to deliver for a set $592 million price.

That official, and another who works in Iraq, said it had been clear for some time that the promised September completion date could not be met and that State Department officials had been overly optimistic in insisting the timeline was realistic.

State Department spokesmen have in the past played down construction problems at the embassy and attributed them to the normal hurdles faced in building such a large complex.

Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Thursday he was not aware of any new major delay in the opening of the embassy that will sit on a 104-acre site and have working space for about 1,000 people.

The U.S. official said the complex was supposed to be substantially completed in August. The first move of offices or personnel from temporary quarters in the fortified Green Zone had been planned for this fall.

Embassy employees have been working and living in a makeshift complex in and around a Saddam-era palace that the Iraqis have said they want back quickly.

The temporary quarters are cramped and increasingly dangerous. Many employees live in trailers that are not fully protected from mortars fired from outside the Green Zone.

Insurgents have gotten better at firing into the heavily guarded zone in attacks this year have killed several people. The new complex is supposed to be safer, with additional blast walls and other protection.

In a letter sent to Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Thursday, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, demanded explanations for what was holding up the project.

"I am writing to express my serious concern that our new embassy compound in Iraq is apparently facing significant contractor deficiencies that will delay its opening for weeks or even months past its promised delivery date of September 2007," Lantos wrote.

"These delays and deficiencies undermine the security and the living standards of the almost 1,000 foreign service officers and other embassy staff that will be housed at the Baghdad embassy, and they raise serious concerns about Department of State contracting for new embassy construction in other locations as well," he said.

Lantos noted that his committee had been assured on numerous occasions by State Department officials, notably by retired Army Maj. Gen. Charles Williams, who oversees embassy construction projects around the world, that the construction would be completed on time.

"Why was the committee assured as late as August that the embassy would open on time when these obviously significant defects existed?" he asked.

Casey, the deputy spokesman, could not say if Negroponte had seen Lantos' letter.

Another influential lawmaker, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Governmental Reform Committee, has harshly criticized the State Department and its inspector general for failing to follow up on allegations of malfeasance and fraud by the embassy contractors.

The new questions come as the department is struggling to deal with the furor over a Sept. 16 incident in which private security guards protecting an embassy convoy were involved in a shooting in Baghdad.

At least 13 Iraqi civilians were killed in the incident, which has sparked Iraqi anger and prompted several separate investigations into not only the shooting, but the State Department's security practices and reliance on private contractors in Iraq.