All the latest news, sport, showbiz,entertainment,celebrity scandals news, science and health stories from around the world ,latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, new video free uncensored leaked celebrity news and more
Suicide bombers and other attackers killed at least 62 people in co-ordinated attacks on Iraqi security forces throughout the country yesterday, less than a week before US troops formally end combat operations.
The bombings also wounded more than 250 people, underscoring the fragility of Iraq’s security and the uncertainty of its political situation more than five months after an election that produced no outright winner and as yet no new government.
The onslaught was launched a day after the US military in Iraq cut its strength to under 50,000 as President Barack Obama, facing a war-weary American public, seeks to fulfil a pledge to end the war launched 7½ years ago by his predecessor.
Security members gather at the site of the bomb attack in Basra.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and former dictator Saddam Hussein’s banned Baath party, and warned of more attacks as US troops end their combat mission on August 31 ahead of a full withdrawal next year.
“It is necessary that our armed and security forces are at the highest levels of vigilance and cautiousness during this sensitive period of Iraq’s history, and take all the required measures to protect the citizens and state institutions and fight terrorism strongly and firmly,” he said in a statement.
The US military spokesman in Iraq, Major-General Stephen Lanza, called the attacks “desperate attempts” to undermine faith in the Iraqi security forces and a sign that al Qaeda was trying to re-establish itself after suffering many blows.
The geographic spread of the attacks on the security forces showed that while weakened, the insurgency retains the ability to organise and carry out a nationwide assault involving dozens of operatives, under the noses of the authorities.
In Kut, 150km southeast of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed 30 policemen and wounded 87 after destroying a police station, said Lieutenant-Colonel Aziz al-Amarah, head of the rapid response police force in the province of Wasit.
The blast shattered the building. Burnt-out cars littered the scene as rescue workers searched for survivors.
“Parts of the building collapsed and there are still policemen’s bodies, including the police chief, under the rubble,” Amarah said by telephone.
In Baghdad, a suicide truck bomber killed 15 people and wounded at least 56 others in an attack on another police station, Interior Ministry and police sources said.
Parts of the police station in Baghdad’s northern Qahira district also collapsed and surrounding houses were severely damaged, the Interior Ministry source said.
Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi warned of more attacks as US troops gradually withdraw.
“We have plans to face those terrorist attacks,” he said.
Elsewhere, a car bomb near a police station in the Shi’ite holy city of Kerbala, southwest of Baghdad, and a minibus packed with explosives near a police station in the southern oil hub of Basra, wounded more than 40 people.
In Buhriz, about 60km northeast of Baghdad, gunmen detonated bombs near the houses of policemen and raised the flag of al Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate on a building.
Other attacks in Baghdad, Diyala province, Anbar province and the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, brought the national death toll from the attacks to at least 62.
Iraq is on high alert for attacks by suspected al Qaeda-linked groups following the inconclusive election.
More than 4,400 US soldiers and at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the sectarian warfare and fierce insurgency unleashed after the invasion in 2003.
Overall violence has dropped sharply since the height of sectarian carnage in 2006-07. But bombings and killings take place daily, suggesting insurgents are trying to exploit the political vacuum as Iraq’s leaders jostle for power.
“We’re very concerned about these attacks,” the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said in Chicago yesterday.
“But we’re more anxious about the setting up of the new government. What Iraq needs and what the people are calling for is a new government so they can move forward as well.”
US and Iraqi security officials say al Qaeda’s local affiliates are also trying to prove they remain a potent force after many of their top leaders were killed earlier this year.
Policemen direct traffic in central Baghdad, August 6, 2010.
The explosion of a power generator, possibly triggered by a bomb, at a busy market in Iraq’s southern oil hub Basra yesterday killed dozens of people and wounded scores more, morgue and security sources said.
A source at the city’s morgue said at least 25 bodies had been taken there. A security source who asked not to be identified said the toll was 45 killed and 162 wounded while a hospital source said 16 had died and at least 110 were wounded.
Witnesses reported that two or three explosions struck the popular market in the centre of Basra and two security sources said at least one of the blasts was the detonation of a car bomb. Basra Police Chief Adil Daham told al-Hurra television the explosion was caused by a malfunctioning generator.
“We’re investigating the cause. We don’t know whether it was a terrorist attack or something else,” said Ali al-Maliki, the head of the security committee in the Basra council.
Firefighters and ambulances rushed to the scene, the central al-Ashaar market in one of Iraq’s largest cities. Fierce flames and smoke could be seen.
“There were three explosions in this very crowded area,” lawmaker Hussein Talib told Reuters television at the scene. “There were women and children and poor vendors.”
“As a lawmaker from Basra I hold the military and police leadership responsible for the blood that has been shed.”
Oil-rich Iraq has remained in a political void since an inconclusive March 7 election while Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions try to sort out a coalition government.
Politicians and security officials say insurgents appear to be trying to take advantage of the power vacuum.
Overall violence has ebbed since the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006/07 but bombings and suicide attacks still occur regularly. Iraq has the world’s third-largest oil reserves and most of its exports come from oilfields located around Basra.
A man at the scene of the explosions blamed politicians, who have failed in their attempts to form a government in the five months since the election.
“They are all fighting over their chairs. Is that what they want? Explosions in Basra, another one in Mosul. Oh my God, why is this happening?” the man, Furat Yasir, said.
More than a dozen people were killed in other attacks across Iraq on Saturday, including four policemen in clashes with gunmen in Baghdad during a raid on a house where car bombs were being made. In the northern city of Mosul a suicide bomber killed a policeman and wounded six other people.
Nearly 400 civilians were killed in bombings and other attacks in July, almost double the June toll, Iraqi authorities say.
Tens of thousands of people were killed during the height of Iraq’s sectarian slaughter in 2006-07.
A policeman stands guard at a checkpoint at the entrance to Sadr City, northeastern Baghdad, April 24, 2010.
A review panel on Monday invalidated votes cast for 52 candidates in Iraq's election, throwing into doubt the slim lead of a Sunni-backed alliance and setting the stage for a possible spike in sectarian violence.
Electoral officials and politicians said Monday's decision may not alter the final outcome of the election, but a more significant ruling was expected on Tuesday, when the panel considers the fate of six to nine winning candidates.
The developments could raise tensions at a vulnerable time, with Iraq adrift in a political vacuum almost two months after the inconclusive March 7 vote, and U.S. troops preparing to end combat operations in August ahead of a full withdrawal by 2011.
Former prime minister Iyad Allawi, whose cross-sectarian Iraqiya alliance won a slim lead with strong support from the Sunni minority, said his coalition would fight the ruling while some of his allies said they might seek a new election.
"We have instructed lawyers to appeal against the panel's decision," Allawi said in Ankara. "We are very concerned about certain groups controlling the political process in Iraq."
Allawi and other Iraqiya leaders demanded U.N. intervention.
"We will not accept this election and its results if it continues like that. We will call for a new election ... under direct international observation and the U.N. will carry out this election," senior Iraqiya member Osama al-Nujaifi said.
Iraqiya won 91 seats, just two ahead of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, which would gain the most from any upheaval in the final result.
At least one of those barred on Monday for alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party was a winner for Iraqiya.
Allawi's allies said they did not see the election result changing because the number of votes invalidated was small. They said any winning candidates affected would be replaced by the next Iraqiya nominee in line in the same constituency.
But any reduction in Iraqiya's representation could reignite Sunni anger, just as the sectarian violence unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion recedes.
U.S. Ambassador Chris Hill said he was concerned about the time it was taking Iraqi politicians to certify the election results and begin negotiations to form a coalition government.
"This is a country that has an economy that's barely getting itself off the ground ... So this is a country that clearly needs to move ahead," Hill said.
"SHOW ON THE ROAD"
"We are concerned that the process is lagging and that we have not gotten onto the government formation as yet. It seems to me that it's time to get this show on the road here."
Hill said that he believed two or more of Iraqiya's candidates could be affected by Monday's decision.
Saad al-Rawi, one of nine commissioners at the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), of which the review panel is a part, said one winning candidate was affected.
"I don't think this would affect the number of seats for the (Iraqiya) bloc," Rawi said. "Iraqiya got millions of votes, 5,000 or 10,000 votes (less) would not affect it."
The invalidation of votes comes before the expected start next week of a recount in Baghdad, which could also change the result and enrage Sunnis who saw Iraqiya's success as a vindication of their claim to greater political clout.
Sunnis' resentment at their fall from power after the ousting of Sunni dictator Saddam in 2003 helped fuel the bloody sectarian war and a fierce Sunni Islamist-led insurgency.
Iraqis had hoped the election would help the war-damaged country cement improved security and stability.
Instead, the lack of a clear result has spawned protracted political uncertainty as the Shi'ite-led, Sunni-backed and Kurdish factions try to negotiate tie-ups that would allow them to gain a working majority and pick the next government.
"This decision (of the review panel) builds a wall between the political parties when they should be getting closer to forming a government quickly," said Khamis al-Badri, a professor of political science at Baghdad University.
The impasse has also occurred as international oil firms are starting to invest in Iraq's vast oilfields, launching the country on a path that could more than quadruple its oil output capacity to Saudi levels of 12 million barrels per day.
IHEC commissioner Hamdiya al-Husseini said Monday's ruling was not final as the affected candidates had a month to appeal.
Iraqi journalists and representatives of Iraqi political blocs and entities look at a screens showing the partial preliminary results from four of 18 provinces in Iraq in Baghdad, Thursday March 11, 2010, which showed the secular coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has the lead in the former insurgent strongholds of Diyala and Salahuddin, north of Baghdad, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was ahead in two mainly Shiite provinces in southern Iraq
Graphic shows preliminary results of the Iraq parliamentary election
Iraqi journalists and representatives of Iraqi political blocs and entities look at a screen showing the partial preliminary results from four of 18 provinces in Iraq in Baghdad, Thursday March 11, 2010, which showed the secular coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has the lead in the former insurgent strongholds of Diyala and Salahuddin, north of Baghdad, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was ahead in two mainly Shiite provinces in southern Iraq.
Counting and data input workers at the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 11, 2010, as data is calculated before an election result can be declared. The partial preliminary results from four of 18 provinces in Iraq show the prime minister's bloc and a secular challenger winning two provinces each
An Iraqi Shiite religious alliance with ties to Iran is leading in one southern province according to the latest vote tallies released.
Results have only been released for six of 18 provinces, excluding Baghdad, so the final outcome is far from certain.
Election officials said Friday that the Iraqi National Alliance has almost 30,000 votes in Maysan province, which borders Iran, compared to about 23,000 for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition.
The results are based on 23 percent of the votes counted in that province.
Friday's announcement complicates the picture after results released the day before showed al-Maliki's coalition and a secular alliance led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi winning in two provinces each.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi prime minister's bloc says it has started laying the groundwork to form a coalition government after preliminary election results showed it winning in at least two southern provinces.
Friday's announcement that Nouri al-Maliki's alliance has created a committee to open talks with other groups signals growing optimism about a strong showing in the parliamentary balloting.
Partial tallies have only been released from only five of Iraq's 18 provinces, excluding Baghdad. They show the prime minister and his secular rival, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, locked in a tight contest amid fraud allegations.
But Al-Maliki supporter Abbas al-Bayati says the alliance has already reached out to other parties and believes it will need at least two allies.
An Iraqi man and his wife shows the indelible ink on thier fingers after casting their votes at a polling center at the start of a three-day Iraqi balloting, in Amman, Jordan, Friday, March, 5, 2010. Iraqis flocked into polling stations across the Jordanian capital and three other provinces at the start of a three-day balloting organized by Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission in Jordan.
An Iraqi woman casts her vote at a polling center at the start of a three-day Iraqi balloting, in Amman, Jordan, Friday, March, 5, 2010. Iraqis flocked into polling stations across the Jordanian capital and three other provinces at the start of a three-day balloting organized by Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission in Jordan.
An Iraqi woman casts her vote at a polling center at the start of a three-day Iraqi balloting, in Amman, Jordan, Friday, March, 5, 2010. Iraqis flocked into polling stations across the Jordanian capital and three other provinces at the start of a three-day balloting organized by Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission in Jordan.
An Iraqi man, inks his finger after casting his vote at a polling center in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday March 5, 2010. Iraqis living abroad have began casting ballots in their homeland's crucial parliamentary elections. The United Nations refugee agency estimates that around 2 million Iraqis are living abroad after fleeing since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion
A car bomb killed four Iranian pilgrims near Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine on Saturday, a day before a parliamentary election that Sunni Islamist insurgents have vowed to wreck.
The blast gutted two tour buses parked near the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, which draws millions of pilgrims from Iraq and Iran each year. Salim Nema, a Najaf health official, said the attack wounded 54 people, including 17 Iraqis and 37 Iranians.
At least 49 people have been killed in the last few days of campaigning, some of them soldiers and police voting early.
Sunday's election is a test for Iraq's young democracy, and will help decide whether the country can avoid relapsing into violence as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's bid to win a second term on a platform of providing services and security is under challenge from former Shi'ite partners and from a cross-sectarian, secularist group headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Insurgents have warned Iraqis, especially minority Sunni Arabs dominant under Saddam Hussein, to stay at home on Sunday. Sunni militants say the vote will solidify power for Shi'ite factions they see as hostile, heretical and unfit to rule.
Iran, which has close ties to many Shi'ite and other Iraqi parties, condemned the Najaf bombing as "murderous and inhuman."
U.S. ambassador Chris Hill said this week's attacks in Najaf, Baghdad and elsewhere would not deter Iraqi voters.
"Overall we believe the security issues are not driving the political issues; that is, the people are going to be out there voting and we believe, so far so good," he told Reuters during a stop-off at a U.S. military base in the northern city of Mosul.
DECISIVE OUTCOME UNLIKELY
No clear winner may emerge from the election, setting the scene for lengthy negotiations to form a coalition government and perhaps making Iraq vulnerable to renewed conflict.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all Iraqis to vote. "The peaceful conduct of these elections is of paramount importance and should contribute to national reconciliation in Iraq," he said in a statement in New York.
The election is unfolding as global investors weigh opportunities in Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves but is also desperate to diversify a shattered economy.
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply, despite some devastating suicide bombings in Baghdad since August.
"Nationwide attacks remain at their lowest levels since before January 2004," said the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Major General Steve Lanza, in a statement.
He said attacks had dropped more than 90 percent since the United States ramped up its military presence in June 2007 -- one of several factors that combined to tamp down violence.
Some Sunni tribes and ex-insurgents turned against al Qaeda, an anti-U.S. Shi'ite militia stopped fighting, and sectarian carnage subsided after hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes in previously mixed neighborhoods.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani acknowledged in a televised speech on Friday that his country's path to democracy had not been "paved with flowers," calling the election another test.
"We all must prove to ourselves and the whole world that we will not abandon this course," the veteran Kurdish leader said.
Campaigning officially ended on Friday. Millions of Iraqis will go to the polls from 7 a.m. on Sunday amid heavy security, including a vehicle ban aimed at preventing car bombings.
Around 600,000 people have already voted inside Iraq, mostly soldiers, police, detainees, hospital staff and patients, while another 1.4 million Iraqi refugees and expatriates were eligible to cast ballots early in 16 foreign countries, officials said.
The blast in Najaf, where authorities hope religious tourism will buttress rebuilding and growth, blew out windows of nearby hotels and left a meter-wide crater in the pavement. Iranian women visiting when the bomb went off wailed nearby.
"These are Saddamists who hope to prevent transparent democracy in Iraq. Even if all Iranians here today had been martyred, we would still come to Najaf," said Iranian pilgrim Ahmed Rafi.
Accustomed to bloodshed after seven years of violence, some Iraqis, such as shopkeeper Jabbar Radhi, struck a defiant tone.
"Nothing will shake us, not killings, not explosions."
Thousands of Iraqis living abroad lined up at polling stations to cast ballots in their homeland's crucial parliamentary elections Friday, a constituency Iraq's Sunni Arab minority hope will boost their showing.
Voting was being held in 16 countries across the globe, from neighboring Syria and Jordan, which are home to the largest Iraqi expatriate communities, to Australia and the United States.
The United Nations refugee agency estimates that around 2 million Iraqis are living abroad — the majority of whom fled violence following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
A large proportion of those — particularly in Jordan and Syria — are Sunni Arabs who fled the fierce wave of sectarian killings at the height of the Iraq war.
That has made their votes a major focus of attention for Sunni leaders in Iraq, who are hoping a solid turnout among their community will counterbalance a strong vote among the Shiite majority for their own religious parties.
Voting abroad will be held for three days, while in Iraq most voters go to the polls on Sunday, choosing a 325-seat legislature. The largest bloc in parliament will try to put together a government to lead Iraq for four key years as U.S. troops withdraw.
In Jordan, a Sunni tribal leader from the western Iraqi province of Anbar, Saad Al-Hardan, warned that after the Americans leave, Iran will try to dominate Iraq — a common fear among Sunnis because of the deep ties between Iraqi Shiite parties and Tehran.
"The U.S. occupation will end, but the Iranian one is there to stay. The Iranian influence is significant in parliament and in the government," he said.
Many of those voting said they wanted liberal and secular politicians to take over from Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who many Sunni Muslims accuse of isolating Sunnis.
Al-Maliki's government "hasn't done anything for Iraq," said Samir al-Abdali, 56, who voted with his wife and daughter at a polling center in Damascus, one of 23 stations in Syria.
He said he voted for Iraqiya, a secular list that includes both Shiites and Sunnis. Among its leaders are Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.
In Amman, Amal Janabi, a 39-year-old Sunni who worked at Iraq's agriculture ministry for seven years until she fled to Jordan after the invasion, said she too voted for Allawi's Iraqiya.
"He's a secular leader and his list comprises all Iraqi sects," said Janabi, in a Western-style black suit and a conservative Muslim headscarf. "He will be able to cut across the sectarian divide and restore peace and security."
Syria has nearly 800,000 Iraqi refugees, while Jordan's community is estimated as high as 500,000, according to the UNHCR.
The head of the Iraqi election commission in Amman, Nehad Abbas, said turnout out Friday was good. He expects around 180,000 Iraqis in Jordan to cast their ballot.
Voting seemed slower in Lebanon, home to around 50,000 Iraqis.
In the U.S., Haider al-Khasali, 39, said he would like to see al-Maliki stay on as prime minister because "he is a good man and he respects the people, the law."
"But maybe he need more time because Saddam Hussein's Baath party is still working in Iraq," al-Khasali said after voting in Nashville, Tenn.
The issue of out-of-country voting nearly derailed the election when al-Hashemi vetoed an early version of the election law because he said it did not treat votes by Iraqi expatriates as equal to those within the country. The issue was eventually resolved but highlighted just how important Sunnis view expatriate voting.
On Friday, the final day of campaigning in Baghdad, al-Maliki touted the Iraqi-U.S. security pact requiring all American troops to leave by the end of 2011 his government's "most important achievement."
Also, election commission member Hamdiya al-Hussaini said that 600,000 people had cast their ballots Thursday in early voting across Iraq. Those who took part included security officials, detainees and medical workers and others who might not be able to get to the polls Sunday.
The early vote was marred by a string of deadly blasts that killed 17 people, highlighting the fragile nature of the country's security gains.
Despite possible election violence and further turmoil afterward as politicians haggle over a new government, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday the U.S. sees no reason for now to adjust its timetable to bring troops home.
"We do not believe there is any basis that we're aware of for not following through on our withdrawal plans," she told reporters in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Among the refugee communities in Syria and Lebanon are known to be some prominent tribal sheiks once accused of aiding Iraq's bloody insurgency and members of Saddam's dissolved Baath party.
Zuhair Abdullah, a former Baathist now in Syria, blasted the elections as "illegal and illegitimate because they are conducted under the U.S. occupation." Still, he said he would participate to support what he called "nationalists" over the "sectarians."
Voting also started Friday in the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Britain, Denmark, Holland, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey.
Mother's agony: BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson is shown photographs of children with birth defects in the Fallujah clinic
A photograph of another disabled youngster born since the American assault on Fallujah
Birth defects: A Fallujah mother holds her little girl, who was born without a left forearm and hand
Curse of Fallujah: This little girl was born with deformed feet
Collateral damage? Another Fallujah youngster born with six fingers on one hand
Mystery: An infant born with just one eye battling to stay alive in the Fallujah clinic
A soldier from the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division leaps through an opening in a broken wall while clearing abandoned buildings of insurgent fighters in Fallujah in 2004
The battle for Fallujah: Insurgents load a rocket-propelled grenade into a launch tube during an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah on November 8, 2004
A high number of children are being born with birth defects in an Iraqi city where U.S. forces may have used chemical weapons during a fierce battle in 2004.
Children in Fallujah are being born with limb, head, heart and nervous system defects. There is even a claim that a baby was born with three heads.
The number of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than the rate in Europe. The city, 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq war in late 2004. U.S. Marines led Operation Phantom Fury to recapture it from insurgents.
British troops were involved in manning checkpoints on the outskirts of the city as the Americans went in. The U.S. has admitted that it used white phosphorus in the attack, but only as an illumination device.
Under international law it is illegal if used as an offensive weapon. America has never given a clear response to claims it also used depleted uranium weapons against the insurgents, such as ‘bunkerbuster’ bombs. Both types of weapons can contaminate crops and water supplies.
The BBC’s John Simpson reported on Thursday from Fallujah that, while there had been no authoritative medical investigation, there was growing evidence of an alarming incidence of birth defects We went to a clinic for the disabled, and were given details of dozens upon dozens of cases of children with serious birth defects,’ he said. ‘One photograph I saw showed a newborn baby with three heads.’
He said that while he was at a U.S.-funded hospital in the city, a stream of parents arrived with children who had limb defects, spinal conditions and other problems. A British-based Iraq researcher, Malik Hamdan, told the BBC that Fallujah doctors were swamped by a ‘massive, unprecedented’ number of heart defects and other problems.
Figures from a city doctor from 2003, before the war, showed she was dealing with one birth defect every two months at that time, but was now seeing at least one case a day.
Miss Hamdan said data from this January showed the rate of heart defects among newborns was 95 per 1,000 births – 13 times that of Europe
Simpson said that the worst problems appeared to be in a part of the city which was at the heart of the resistance to the Allies.
The Americans said they took public health concerns ‘very seriously’.
A U.S. military spokesman added: ‘No studies to date have indicated environmental issues resulting in specific health issues.’
Fallujah became infamous after the burned corpses of four U.S. contractors were dragged through the streets in March 2004. Rebel leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had gathered up to 5,000 rebels there.
It was encircled by U.S. forces, along with the Black Watch Regiment, to ensure no rebels escaped. However, civilians were encouraged to leave and up to 90 per cent of the 300,000 population did so.
The attack began late on November 7 and by November 16, U.S. officials announced that Fallujah had been cleared. The battle cost America 51 dead but up to 1,400 gunmen were killed. SHELLS WITH A RADIOACTIVE PUNCH
Radiation experts claim the birth defects have been caused by uranium. Depleted uranium, or spent nuclear fuel, is twice as dense as lead, making it an effective material for armour-piercing shells and bullets.
On hitting a tank or bunker, they disintegrate, with up to 40 per cent of the uranium, which is still radioactive, turning into fine powder.
Roger Coghill, a Government adviser on the health risks of radiation who has research labs in Gwent, said: ‘The particles are so small that they don’t fall back to earth, they hang around in the atmosphere and are still very deadly years after the conflict.’
The dust particles are not only poisonous, they can enter the bloodstream and become lodged in the lymph glands from where they emit radiation that could cause cancer.
Chris Busby, an Ulster University expert in the effects of radiation, said the uranium particles can also wreck the DNA of sperm and eggs produced by contaminated adults – causing a multitude of birth defects in any baby they conceive.
Professor Busby, who is also co-founder of environmental consultancy Green Audit, said: ‘White phosphorus is not something that specifically damages the DNA.
‘But depleted uranium, normal uranium and enriched uranium are all mutagens and cause birth defects at quite small concentrations.
Trijicon of Wixom, Michigan, confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. The company says the practice began under the company founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash. The company's vision is described on its web site as, "Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom."
A close look at the scope reveals that it is imprinted with the "JN8:12" reference.
A U.S. Army sergeant allows an Iraqi police officer to look through the ACOG scope on his M-4 carbine assault rifle at a post in Hayy, Iraq
Trijicon scopes are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. Here, Iraq Provincial Security Forces sight targets through ACOGs mounted on M-16A4 rifles at a training range at Observation Post Delta in Karmah, Iraq, May 8, 2008.
A close look at the scope reveals a marking for "JN8:12."
The ACOG is the first standard issue scope for the United States Marine Corps (USMC). In this photo, a USMC sergeant holds up an M-4 service rifle equipped with the ACOG during a training exercise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Trijicon's Reflex scope, which according to the company, is "the fastest, most user-friendly gunsight in the field." According to Trijicon, "the U.S. Special Operations Command has designated the Trijicon Reflex as a vital part of the…Accessory Kit fielded by all Special Operations Forces. This scope is imprinted with the marking "2COR4:6", a reference to the second book of Corinthians in the New Testament, Chapter 4, Verse 6. The verse reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
In August of 2005 Trijicon was awarded a $660 million dollar, multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 of its Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) to the U.S. Marine Corps. According to Trijicon, the ACOG is "designed to function in bright light, low light or no light conditions," and is "ideal for combat due to its high degree of discrimination, even among multiple moving targets." At the end of the scope's model number, you can read "JN8:12", which is a reference to the New Testament book of John, Chapter 8, Verse 12, which reads: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (King James Version
A U.S. Army captain gives an Iraqi boy a peek through the ACOG on his M-4 carbine assault rifle in the village of Sudoor, Diyala, Iraq in December of 2009.
Following an ABC News report that thousands of gun sights used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan are inscribed with secret Bible references, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps said the Corps is 'concerned' and will discuss the matter with the weapons manufacturer.
"We are aware of the issue and are concerned with how this may be perceived," Capt. Geraldine Carey, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps, said in a statement to ABC News. "We will meet with the vendor to discuss future sight procurements." Carey said that when the initial deal was made in 2005 it was the only product that met the Corps needs.
However, a spokesperson for CentCom, the U.S. military's overall command in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he did not understand why the issue was any different from U.S. money with religious inscriptions on it.
"The perfect parallel that I see," said Maj. John Redfield, spokesperson for CentCom, told ABC News, "is between the statement that's on the back of our dollar bills, which is 'In God We Trust,' and we haven't moved away from that."
Said Redfield, "Unless the equipment that's being used that has these inscriptions proved to be less than effective for soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and military folks using it, I wouldn't see why we would stop using that."
A spokesperson for the Army told ABC News that the Army was looking into the procurement "to see if anything is amiss here. We are still checking."
As ABC News reported Monday, the sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.
'This Does Not Constitute Proselytizing'
One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them.
Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.
On Monday, spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps both told ABC News their services were unaware of the biblical markings. On Tuesday, Redfield of CentCom told ABC News that the inscriptions did not violate the directive against proselytizing. "This does not constitute proselytizing because this equipment is not issued beyond the U.S. Defense Department personnel. It's not something we're giving away to the local folks."
But ABC News was able to find repeated references to the Biblical citations in on-line discussions of the gun sights. In August 2009, a poster named "Latex Ducky" tells other posters on a forum for firearm enthusiasts called "The Firing Line" about the inscriptions. "Here's something interesting: There should be a reference to a Bible verse on the base of the scope."
Back in 2006, on a self-described "Armageddon Forum," a number of users discuss the Bible references. "Seems there's a different verse on each model," writes Mr45auto. "They chose some whoppers too!"
After the Blotter's report Monday morning, the TPM Muckraker news Web site listed numerous references to the Trijicon Bible codes on-line dating back several years, including a January 2006 thread on a gaming forum that said "DoD contractor puts bible verses on it's (sic) products."
In May of 2006, a poster on Militaryphotos.net began a comment thread by asking, "Has anyone ever noticed the Bible verse on their ACOG sight?" Another user responds, "Yeah I read about that recently, but I didn't know there were than many different verses on all the different optics."
A video on YouTube that discusses the Bible verses had close to 20,000 views. "One of the really cool things that I like about this sight," says the maker of the video, is the Bible verse. "It says JN8:12. What that is is John 8:12."
"I love it. I love it. Yes, Trijicon, those guys are Christians. On all of their different sights they have verses on there."
"For those of you who aren't Christians, well, you know, get over it."
In another video, the same YouTube user notes the reference to Second Corinthians on a Trijicon scope.
'They Should Fix Them All'
"It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military.
Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."
Weinstein said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of those who call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan "a Crusade."
Retired Army Major General William Nash, now an ABC News consultant, said he had "no problem" with organizations providing Bibles and other religious tracts to U.S. troops. "But I do have a problem," said Nash, "with military equipment being labeled in a way where it seems like it's our god against their god."
Nash, who commanded the first brigade of the third armored division during Desert Storm in Iraq, said the Pentagon should make Trijicon remove the Bible codes from their sights.
Said Nash, "They should fix them all, they should do a modification on those sights and take off those inscriptions. And if they fail to do that they should be penalized."
Which Biblical verses should be cited on the gunsights of the M4 and M16 rifles that American soldiers are using in Iraq and Afghanistan? That’s right. The Michigan company making the gunsights has been putting Biblical citations on them, as in John 8:12 (”I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness …”) and 2 Cor 4:6 (”For God who said, `Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of [Jesus] Christ.”)
ABC News had the story this week, with help from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Trijicon, the Michigan company that makes the gunsights, said it has imprinted weaponry with Biblical citations for a long time.
It’s hard to believe that the government is fighting wars that depend heavily on winning over the good will of Muslims while using weaponry emblazoned with Biblical references. And furthermore, references that point to the key religious difference Christians and Muslims have, Jesus’ divinity. (Some of the weapons are being used to train Iraqi soldiers, according to The AP.) It’s also incredible that a military spokesperson would downplay the issue by comparing the gunsight imprints to the “in God we trust” on U.S. currency.
But if the Defense Department isn’t going to apologize quickly for this colossal error, perhaps some other Biblical verses can be used in the meantime: John 18:11 (”Put your sword into its scabbard”) or Matthew 5:44 (”love your enemies”), for instance.
