This Iraqi kidnapping has the mark of an undercover police operation
by Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill; The Guardian; September 16, 2004

When Simona Torretta returned to Baghdad in March 2003, in the midst of the "shock and awe" aerial bombardment, her Iraqi friends greeted her by telling her she was nuts. "They were just so surprised to see me. They said, 'Why are you coming here? Go back to Italy. Are you crazy?'"

read Tarek's blog at www.tarek.2y.net/iraq

The News From Planet Falluja

by CHRISTIAN PARENTI

[posted online on July 5, 2004]

Tariq is an upper-middle-class Canadian medical student of Palestinian origin. He is a Muslim, fluent in Arabic and English, very smart, very young, brave and a bit naïve. He is an obsessive computer geek with a tendency toward pedantry on matters technological. Over the past two years he has spent several months in Palestine doing solidarity work.

1. Hizb Allah condemns beheading- al jazeera

2. The Merciless Killing of Nicholas Berg-by Marwa Elnaggar from Islam Online posted at www.globalresearch.ca

1. Hizb Allah condemns beheading

By DENIS D. GRAY

May 3rd, 2004 NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Militiamen pounded a U.S. base with mortars Monday in the most intense attacks yet on U.S. troops in Najaf, where the Americans have been holding back their full firepower to avoid enflaming the anger of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. Another American soldier was killed in Baghdad.

Threat to kill hostages - Al Jazeera, Monday April 27

An Iraqi group has reportedly threatened to kill its three Italian hostages unless protests are held in Italy against Rome's policies in Iraq.

Italian hostage killed - Aljazeera TV

Thursday 15 April 2004, 0:02 Makka Time, 21:02 GMT

A group calling itself the Green Brigade says it has killed one of the four Italians hostages it had captured.

Kidnaps blow to rebuilding efforts

· Countries tell workers to leave
· Forty people now held hostage

Jamie Wilson and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Wednesday April 14, 2004
The Guardian

The process of trying to rebuild the shattered Iraqi infrastructure took another turn for the worse yesterday as several governments urged their citizens to leave the country immediately in reaction to the spate of kidnappings and growing instability in the country.

In an effort to toughen the Iraqi forces, Abizaid said the U.S. military will reach out to former senior members of Saddam Hussein's disbanded army — a reversal in strategy. The military has tried to avoid relying on top officials from the ousted regime. "It's ... very clear that we've got to get more senior Iraqis involved — former military types involved in the security forces," he said. "In the next couple of days, you'll see a large number of senior officers being appointed to key positions in the ministry of defense and the Iraqi joint staff and in Iraqi field commands."

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 — American troops continued to withhold their firepower today outside three Iraqi cities where insurgents have seized control, allowing Iraqi intermediaries time to seek negotiated solutions to the most serious challenge yet to the year-old occupation. But United States officials warned that the resistance in all three centers would be crushed if the insurgents maneuvered for long.

U.S. military says 23 troops killed in past 3 days

Seven Chinese men are latest kidnap victims

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three U.S. Marines have been killed in fighting west of Baghdad, bringing the total number of U.S. troops killed since Friday to 23, the Coalition Public Information Center said Monday.