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The ayatollahs continue to enrich uranium, despite the high profile meeting on July 19, in Geneva between Tehran's top nuclear negotiator and senior western diplomats representing the Group of 5+1. No surprise there. They are banking their regime's survival on nuclear capability. Ali Larijani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator, once said that giving in to the West's demands that Iran suspend its enrichment would be suicide. But, however much their regional role is tied to developing a nuclear weapon, domestically their grip is being challenged on a daily basis. Indeed, the backbone of the ayatollah's regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps...

Presidential candidate Barack Obama has taken his pander machine on the road around the world in an effort to demonstrate two points vital to the success of his campaign for the office of Commander-in-Chief… * That he is willing to step into the hot zone and confront facts on the ground as defined by military and security experts before setting his official international security policy in stone. * That despite a nearly blank résumé, void of any military or security experience whatsoever, executive or otherwise, he has what it takes to become the next Commander-in-Chief of the last remaining super-power...

MOSCOW - Russian strategic bombers may soon be deployed at airbases in Cuba, Venezuela and Algeria as a response to the U.S. missile shield in Europe and NATO's expansion, Russian daily Izvestia said on Thursday. Moscow has strongly opposed the possible deployment by the U.S. of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and an accompanying tracking radar in the Czech RFepublic as a treat to its national security. Washington says the defenses are needed to deter a possible strike from Iran, or other "rogue" states...

Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, despite owing his job to Bush and McCain, presented Obama with a big fat bouquet. His assertion, in an interview with Der Spiegel, that American forces should leave Iraq “as soon as possible,” and preferably on the 16-month timeline proposed by Obama, was just what the messiah ordered — effectively tossing McCain under one of those metaphorical buses the 2008 campaign seems to produce by the fleet. Now, let me be clear about my biases. I have been a supporter of the surge but not an enthusiastic one. I’ve always thought it necessary but insufficient in...

    Major gongs for heroic Our Boys   Award ... Captain Paul Britton is congratulated by Major General Gary Robison    By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence Editor Published: Today     AN Army officer who led a battle despite a lump of burning shrapnel in his shoulder was one of 19 forces heroes awarded the Military Cross yesterday.   Praise ... Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb  Captain Paul Britton, 28, refused morphine so he could control artillery and air strikes to beat off Taliban attackers in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Royal Artillery officer was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade...

MOSUL, IRAQ: The Battle for Mosul over the past several years has worked as a microcosm for the larger Iraqi conflict, with Coalition and Iraqi forces successfully imposing its will only after Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups held large parts of the city and region for long periods. Control over the city of 1.9 million people and the surrounding Ninewa province have been lost to Coalition and government forces twice since 2003. Only a successful security operation in May has brought attacks to their lowest recorded levels since the conflict began. Operation “Lion’s Roar” in May involved 5,000 Coalition...

ATHLETES from Iraq have been banned from taking part in this summer's Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced. The team was already the subject of an interim ban after the Iraqi Government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees. Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence. As a result, the team of two rowers, two sprinters, one archer, one weightlifter and one judo competitor cannot attend the Games. "We sent a letter to the Iraqi Government today saying that as the situation stands, today it is unlikely to have Iraqi...

Barack Obama concedes that America's troops have contributed to improvements on the ground in Iraq, but he still stands by his vote against the surge. Why not just admit that he was wrong? Come on, senator, this is a lot easier than changing churches. Say: "As a proud American, I'm delighted that the surge has worked so we can move forward with my timetable for withdrawal. Look, if I'd known how successful it was going to be, I would have voted for it. At the time it didn't seem like a good bet, but prognosticators go broke in wartime." See,...

Iraq banned from Beijing Olympics Seven Iraqi athletes from five different sports qualified for the Olympics Athletes from Iraq have been banned from taking part at this summer's Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee has announced...

After her brief visit to Perth, the United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will fly to New Zealand tonight. Dr Rice will fly into Auckland tonight and her minders will need to be on alert after a student group announced a reward for anyone who could arrest her. Auckland University's Student Association is offering $5,000 to anyone who can make a citizen's arrest. Association president David Do says Ms Rice should be ashamed of her role in the Iraq war. "I think New Zealanders have an inherent sense of fairness and justice and they understand why we are doing...

In a stunning upset, Barack Obama this week won the Iraq primary. When Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki not once but several times expressed support for a U.S. troop withdrawal on a timetable that accorded roughly with Obama's 16-month proposal, he not only legitimized the plan. He relieved Obama of a major political liability by blunting the charge that, in order to appease the MoveOn left, Obama was willing to jeopardize the astonishing success of the surge and risk losing a war that is finally being won. Maliki's endorsement left the McCain campaign and the Bush administration deeply discomfited. They underestimated...

<p>All charges against Sgt Johnny Winnick have been dismissed without prejudice by LtGen Samuel Helland.</p>

FORT HUACHUCA — Some of the most dangerous detainees in American custody in Iraq have established sharia courts within the compounds in which they are held and have tried and executed fellow detainees who refused to join them, the Army’s senior military police officer said Wednesday. “Detainees do not stop fighting just because they are detained. Their new environment is merely an extension of the battlefield,” said Brig. Gen. Rodney L. Johnson, the provost marshal general of the Army and the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. He made his comments to about 300 people attending the first...

TIKRIT — More than 1,100 former fighters have reconciled with Iraqi Security and Coalition forces in the Salah ad Din province since May. Musalahah, meaning reconciliation in Arabic, is a combined effort between the Qadah level Government of Iraq, the leadership of the Iraqi Police, the 4th Iraqi Army Division and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. By turning themselves into the Joint Coordination Centers across the province, Iraqis are seeking to clear their names. Men who are thought to have committed crimes are given a court date, so they can plead their cases before an Iraqi judge....

A student of the Al Abbas primary school explains locations on a map that is painted on the outside of the newly refurbished school, July 17. Photo by Staff Sgt. J.B. Jaso III. CAMP TAJI — The schoolhouse is run down. Water leaks through numerous cracks in the roof and air conditioners do not operate, effectively causing temperatures inside the building to climb to unbearable lengths.The walls covered with mold, no doors to the classrooms, broken windows, and cracks in the walls large enough to see the surrounding farmlands.Despite all this, approximately 600 students at the Al Abbas primary school,...

7/24/2008 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- The Joint Base Balad Town Hall filled with brothers and sisters mourning the loss of a military family member July 20. Tech. Sgt. Jackie Larsen, a paralegal working with the Law and Order Task Force of the 732nd Expeditionary Support Squadron, died from non-combat related causes July 17. Sergeant Larsen, deployed from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., operated out of Forward Operating Base Shield and was the NCO in charge of all personnel movements for the LAOTF. The LAOTF trains Iraqi lawyers, paralegals and investigators in proper investigations and documentation of evidence...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 – Al-Qaida terrorists have been largely marginalized in Iraq’s Babil province, thanks to the joint efforts of Iraqi and U.S. security forces, as well as local “Sons of Iraq” citizen security groups, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today. “The organization related to al-Qaida is severely disrupted, … as well as the [extremist] militia” in Babil province,” Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, said during a satellite-carried news conference with Pentagon reporters. “Overall, we are extremely optimistic about the security situation in Babil province, because...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces detained five suspected terrorists and found weapons caches during recent operations in Iraq, military officials said. Yesterday in Baghdad, coalition and Iraqi forces captured five suspected terrorists and uncovered an insurgent rocket-launch site, officials said. Iraqi troops discovered and blocked off the site after spotting a rocket and rail system in the city’s Jihad neighborhood. Soldiers from 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team searched the surrounding communities, eventually detaining the suspects – three in the Saydiyah neighborhood and two in the Zubaida community, officials said. Coalition troops found two roadside...

Barack Obama recently gave an address on the Iraq war. It was a bizarre speech, as if it had been written two years ago, when it would have made more sense. Liberals ought to hate the speech. It will make their side vulnerable to the common conservative charge that they ignore crucial facts in favor of manufacturing their own reality. The crucial facts in this case – absent two years ago – which have been emphasized repeatedly in recent months even by such bibles of the left as The New York Times and the Washington Post, is that the reconstruction...

BAGHDAD, July 24, 2008 – In another sign of progress in Iraq, 62 tribes and 68 sheiks have organized four private trucking companies to form the Iraqi Transportation Network. A driver for the Iraqi Transportation Network, an Iraqi-owned and operated logistics network, watches as containers are loaded onto his truck July 15, 2008, at Camp Liberty, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Andrea Merritt  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The sheiks approached the U.S. military with a proposition for the ITN to haul their cargo throughout Iraq, guaranteeing safe shipment and taking financial responsibility for any loss. They...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq, July 24, 2008 – Medics and doctors play a key role in maintaining the health and safety of U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq. A doctor from Montgomery Village, Md., brings especially important skills to the combat theater. Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Margaret Swanberg, of Montgomery Village, Md., checks the pupils of Army Spc. Michael Woywood, of San Antonio, for dilation during a military acute concussion evaluation demonstration at Forward Operating Base Hammer, Iraq, July 18, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Michael Schuch, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

BALAD, Iraq – Since the beginning of July, three highly sought after suspected terrorists have surrendered to Iraqi Security and Coalition forces. An emir of the Sinjar area Islamic State of Iraq, a front organization for al-Qaeda in Iraq, surrendered to the Iraqi Army for reconciliation in Kisik July 5, about 43 km west of Mosul. The suspect is reportedly involved in terrorist and foreign fighter facilitation and a leader of rocket and improvised explosive device cells. In Rutbah, a suspected AQI emir of the Rutbah region turned himself in to Coalition forces. The suspect is known to facilitate foreign...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- When Iraqi youths were not granted visas for World Youth Day in Australia, Iraq's Chaldean Catholic bishops decided they would bring World Youth Day to Iraq. The bishops organized processions, catechesis, the Way of the Cross and Masses in several northern Iraqi cities. More than 6,600 Iraqi youths participated in the alternative World Youth Day. Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq, invited Lebanese Capuchin Father Joseph Azzo to travel to Iraq for the July 16-20 gatherings. Father Azzo invited Lebanese singer Abir Nehme to accompany him; both spoke to Catholic News Service when they returned...

A coworker recieved this email from a soldier he knows in Iraq today. ******************************** Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to "The War Zone". I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plan and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he...

"And then we sat down with [Barack Obama] to talk about what has become an open disagreement between military commanders here and Obama, over his plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq on a 16-month timetable." -- Terry Moran Barack Obama ABC Interview July 21, 2008 ABC's Terry Moran: "And then we sat down with [Barack Obama] to talk about what has become an open disagreement between military commanders here and Obama, over his plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq on a 16-month timetable. Did General Petraeus talk about military concerns about your timetable?" Barack...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Kamal was just 16 when gunmen snatched him off the streets of Baghdad, stuffed him in the trunk of a car and whisked him away to a house. But the real terror was about to begin. The men realized he was gay, Kamal said, when he took his shirt off and they saw his chest was shaved. "They told me to take off my clothes to rape me or they would kill me immediately. This moment was the worst moment in my life," he told CNN, weeping as he spoke of the 2005 ordeal.

TIKRIT, Iraq – More than 1,100 former fighters have reconciled with Iraqi Security and Coalition forces in the Salah ad Din province since May. Musalahah, meaning reconciliation in Arabic, is a combined effort between the Qadah level Government of Iraq, the leadership of the Iraqi Police, the 4th Iraqi Army Division and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. By turning themselves into the Joint Coordination Centers across the province, Iraqis are seeking to clear their names. Men who are thought to have committed crimes are given a court date, so they can plead their cases before an Iraqi...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports. An Iraqi Olympic Committee official said the IOC sent letters in Arabic and English confirming the ban. The official said the seven Iraqi athletes who were to travel to China for the games in August are disappointed by the decision

GZG: FREEBIE OFFER FOR BFPO/APO TROOPS! We wanted to make a small supporting gesture towards the personnel from both sides of the Atlantic who are currently serving out in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly those who are keen gamers, so we came up with the following idea: We have allocated SIX SETS of FULL THRUST INTRO FLEETS, each worth £25.00 GBP (plus FREE rules!) to GIVE AWAY COMPLETELY FREE to personnel currently serving out there in the hot zones – three sets for British troops at BFPO addresses and three for US ones via APO. What we'd like is for people...

ANTIWAR HYPOCRITES NO MORE 'BRING THE TROOPS HOME' by Ralph Peters AM I the only one who's noticed the silence? Mere months ago, left-wing bloggers and demonstrators were wailing Support our troops, bring them home! seven days a week. Now their presidential candidate has announced that he won't bring all those troops home, but will simply transfer combat forces from Iraq to Afghanistan - expanding that war. (He's discussed possibly invading Pakistan, too.) And the left's quiet as a graveyard at midnight. Where are the outraged protests from MoveOn or the DailyKos? I thought the extreme left felt sorry for...

IRAQI Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has cut the legs out from under John McCain by basically endorsing Sen. Barack Obama’s troop-withdrawal plan. Just when McCain had Obama on the defensive over the Democrat’s plan to surrender after we’ve won in Iraq, Maliki has made McCain look the naif for opposing a timetable for withdrawal. Unless McCain changes his approach, he’s lost the use of this issue. He can’t come out for staying in Iraq longer than the government we support wants.

On Wednesday, the editors of the Washington Post wrote [emphases added]: Mr.Obama says that because Iraq is "a distraction" from more important problems, U.S. resources devoted to it must be curtailed. Yet he also says his aim is to "succeed in leaving Iraq to a sovereign government that can take responsibility for its own future." What if Gen. Petraeus and Iraqi leaders are right that this goal is not consistent with a 16-month timetable? Will Iraq be written off because Mr. Obama does not consider it important enough -- or will the strategy be altered? Arguably, Mr. Obama has given...

Presidential Candidate Obama’s statements in and about Iraq in the past 24 hours have been nothing less than shameless and disgraceful. While we strive to avoid political discussion at ThreatsWatch, criticism of his words transcends rank political partisanship if for no other reason than his claims are simply and flatly untrue, made in a war zone, during a time of war and while running to become the Commander in Chief of US Military Forces. This simply cannot stand unchallenged. Not only does Senator Obama apparently think the Anbar Awakening and the Shi’a militia stand-downs that have occurred are somehow separate...

American pop culture has skewed the public’s view of what makes a hero in today’s world and what types of behavior make a person worthy of our attention and accolades. Those who contribute to the greatness of our country are largely ignored by the media who worship the cult of celebrity. Most Americans are familiar with the latest celebrity scandal; they can recite the particulars of the latest Hollywood divorce and Rattle off a list of “American Idol” winners. They know who set the new home run record or led his team to a Super Bowl victory. But if asked...

John McCormack catches Wes Clark in a couple of egregious errors on the surge today on Morning Joe. The lesser mistake is Clark’s insistence that the surge didn’t involve Anbar at all, when as McCormack notes the Marines sent two extra battalions to the hotbed of terrorist activity as part of the increased deployment. Worse, though, Clark tries to tell Scarborough that the surge had nothing to do with the Marines, and everything to do with the Saudis paying off the Sunni tribes: This isn’t exactly a lost history. Actually, 4,000 extra Marines went to Anbar. The extra Marine battalions...

Yesterday I had an interesting conference call with Royal Navy Captain Paul Abraham. He is the Director of Maritime Strategic Transition Team in Iraq. The call focused on the development of the Iraqi Navy (no, it's not a joke. They DO have a Navy); specifically: " his experiences working with Iraqi partners in building and developing the Iraqi Navy, which led to their recent operational success in seizing control of their own territorial port of Umm Qasr, protecting 90 percent of all of Iraq's imports and exports." Currently, the Iraqi Navy consists of about a dozen hard-used small patrol boats...

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- Far from Amman, Jordan, where the world's news media were fixated on Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain told a town hall meeting here that U.S. troops "have succeeded, and we will win the war in Iraq." In midday remarks to a lively crowd in the old Rochester Opera House, McCain criticized Obama for sticking to his proposal for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. "Now he wants to reverse the success we have had and set a date for withdrawal," McCain said. He did not address recent statements supporting withdrawal by 2010 from the...

Rome, 23 July (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki on Friday for the first time during his official visit to Italy. Al-Maliki is due to arrive in Rome on Thursday to meet his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi on the second leg of his European visit after talks with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin on Tuesday. The Iraqi prime minister will meet the Pope at the pontiff's summer residence at Castelgandolfo, outside Rome. He will then hold separate talks with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state. Iraq is home to the Chaldean...

Politics: Barack Obama's refusal to admit he was wrong on President Bush's successful change of strategy in Iraq is as laughable as it is disingenuous. It also calls into question his qualifications to be president.Obama was clearly opposed to the surge as he courted the Democrats' anti-war base. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence," he said in 2007. "In fact, I think it will do the reverse." But when he was confronted this week by ABC News' Terry Moran with the success of the surge, asking if he would...

BAGHDAD, July23, (VOI) - A lawmaker from a Shiite bloc on Wednesday announced forming a parliamentary committee to return the displaced families to their native districts in Baghdad. Speaking at a joint press conference in Baghdad, MP Bahaa al-Araji, from the Sadrist bloc loyal to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said “the presidency of the parliament ordered forming a committee consisting of him and MP Harith al-Ubaidi to help the displaced return to their houses in districts of al-Adel(west Baghdad), al-Ghazaliya(north-west Baghdad) and al-Hurriya (north Baghdad)”. With violence at its lowest since early 2004, Iraq has taken step to demonstrate...

Glenn has pretty well covered the imbroglio-inducing statement, but here’s a less-examined claim that really shows how separated from reality Klein has become: Obama, the poker player, has drawn to an inside straight: the Iraqis favor his plan over McCain’s long-term bases. Only the most intellectually dishonest reading of the situation could justify that statement; the WaPo has devoted an entire op-ed to debunking the ridiculous notion that Iraqis would rather see al-Ameriki withdraw on a fixed timetable from Washington without regard to conditions on the ground: But an Iraqi government statement made clear that Mr. Maliki’s timetable would extend...

Link only - Pack your bags for Baghdad? Iraq looks to tourism

Staff Sergeant Brian Doty (left), of Orange, Va. and Cpl. Sam Weaver, of Fayetteville, N.C., both with Company B, 13th Psychological Operations Battalion, are accompanied by local children while on a foot patrol in the city of Suwayrah in northern Wasit province. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. COMBAT OUTPOST SUMMERS — Walking down the busy streets of Suwayrah at sundown, the city’s residents met Soldiers with handshakes and friendly smiles. Children gathered everywhere the Soldiers stopped to talk to residents. As the patrol of Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment continued on its way, the...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 – As violence levels maintain a steady decrease across Iraq, coalition forces and the Iraqi government are able to focus their efforts on reconstruction and civil issues, a senior coalition military official in Iraq said today. Iraqi forces are improved, and the government continues to develop and progress, Army Brig. Gen. David Perkins, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said in a news briefing from Baghdad. “Government, security and economic institutions continue to surge forward” throughout Iraq even as the last of the initial five surge brigades – 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team – redeployed...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 – The surge in Iraq has been a success by any measure, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said during a news conference today. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell holds a press briefing on July 23, 2008, to update reporters on the latest news and events within the Department of Defense. Defense Dept. photo by R. D. Ward  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The surge has allowed Iraq to make improvements from security, political and economic standpoints, Morrell said. The last of the five surge brigade combat teams recently left Iraq. The policy, announced by...

BAGHDAD, July 23, 2008 – Water is a critical resource in the desert, and the water level at Camp Victory here has decreased significantly over the past few months, the result of an unseasonably dry winter that saw very little rain. Water from the Jaddriyah Pump Station is pumped into the Al Faw Lake on Camp Victory, Iraq. The water is used by personnel on the Victory Base Complex as well as the Iraqi people who live outside of the installation. U.S. Army photo by Maj. James Daffron, 926th Engineer Brigade  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The water...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke out on the need for additional troops in Afghanistan, potential troop reductions in Iraq, and the upcoming U.S. presidential election during a wide-ranging “Newsmakers” interview on PBS’s “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” last night. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen noted recent progress in Iraq, saying “the security has improved remarkably.” But when asked about the possibility of lower troop levels there and sending more troops to Afghanistan, he said it’s too soon to make any decisions. Military leaders in Washington and Iraq will continue evaluating improvements based on...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 – Iraq’s fledgling navy is gaining prominence within its country’s security forces due to its role in protecting the nation’s oil infrastructure, a coalition advisor said July 22. British Royal Navy Capt. Paul Abraham, director of the Maritime Strategic Transition Team and senior advisor to the Iraqi navy, explained during a conference call with military bloggers that in addition to quickly expanding their naval force, Iraqi marines and sailors also are fast moving into a lead role in defending Iraq’s major ports and oil terminals from insurgent attack. “The Iraqi navy's aim is to be able...

A U.S. marine watches children play in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. (AP File Photo/Todd Pitman)(CNSNews.com) – American heroism has been ignored and overlooked by networks at home and overseas for the duration of the Iraq war, while insurgents and terrorists have used willing media outlets to score public relations wins. That bleak assessment comes from U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq during the pre-surge time frame, when the insurgency was its height. A collection of graphs and charts made available through the public affairs office of the Multi-National Corps in Iraq indicates that the media has pulled back...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces caught five suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches in Iraq over the past three days, military officials said. In separate raids in Baghdad today, troops captured a suspected kidnapping cell member and nabbed a man with alleged ties to al-Qaida leaders in Iraq and other countries. The operations targeted al-Qaida in Iraq's financial infrastructure around the Iraqi capital, military officials said. In a related operation yesterday, coalition forces detained an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq financier and one additional suspect during a raid near Samarra, 70 miles north of Baghdad. Elsewhere...