Fearful citizens flee from Ramadi
BAGHDAD, Iraq ã Frightened by warnings of an imminent offensive by U.S. troops massed around Ramadi, residents are pouring out of the insurgent-infested city.
U.S. and Iraqi forces cordoned off the city Saturday and were asking civilians to evacuate, residents and Iraqi officials said. Airstrikes on several residential areas picked up, and troops used loudspeakers to warn civilians of a fierce impending attack, Ramadi police Capt. Tahseen Aldulaimi said.
U.S. military officials refused to confirm or deny reports that an offensive in the city of 400,000 was under way.
Thousands of families remain trapped, those who have fled say. Many can’t afford to leave or lack transportation, and other families decided to wait for their children to finish final exams at school.
“The situation is catastrophic. No services, no electricity, no water,” said Sheik Fassal Guood, the former governor of Ramadi. “People in Ramadi are caught between two plagues: the vicious, armed insurgents and the American and Iraqi troops.”
seattletimes.nwsource.com
Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers deserting every month
BAGHDAD, June 10 (UPI) — Erratic pay, inadequate food and poor living conditions are driving several hundred Iraqi soldiers out of the army every month.
Lt. Moktat Uosef is a company commander in the 4th Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Army Division. U.S. Marines working with the brigade told Stars and Stripes, the U.S. armed forces newspaper, that its strength dropped from 2,200 soldiers in December to 1,400 in May.
“Many of my soldiers have not gotten paid in six months,” Uosef said. “Sometimes, they don’t eat for two or three days at a time. I tell my commander, but what else am I supposed to do?”
Desertions are a major problem in Anbar Province, the major stronghold of the insurgency. But officials say logistical problems are hurting morale far more than danger is.
In April, hundreds of soldiers staged what amounted to a short strike, refusing for two days to go on patrol. The job action strained their relationship with U.S. troops.
“We won’t make any real progress until we stop hemorrhaging the personnel,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kenny, who commands the Marines working with the 2nd Brigade, 7th Army.
Iraq war bill deletes US military base prohibition
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional Republicans killed a provision in an Iraq war funding bill that would have put the United States on record against the permanent basing of U.S. military facilities in that country, a lawmaker and congressional aides said on Friday.
The $94.5 billion emergency spending bill, which includes $65.8 billion to continue waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to be approved by Congress next week and sent to President George W. Bush for signing into law.
As originally passed by the House of Representatives, the Pentagon would have been prohibited from spending any of the funds for entering into a military basing rights agreement with Iraq.
A similar amendment passed by the Senate said the Pentagon could not use the next round of war funding to “establish permanent United States military bases in Iraq, or to exercise United States control over the oil infrastructure or oil resources of Iraq.”