THE Iraqi Government said today it had captured a key terror suspect who allegedly confessed to hundreds of beheadings.

Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samir al-Batawi was arrested by a terrorist combat unit in Baghdad yesterday, according to the prime minister’s office.

The unit also seized documents, mobile phones and computers that contained the names and addresses of other wanted terrorists and information on Islamic extremist groups, the Government said in a statement.

“Al-Batawi is considered at the top of the terrorist list,” the statement said.

He had “committed the ugliest crimes against innocent civilians especially in Hurriyah neighbourhood that witnessed many massacres.”

The Government said al-Batawi confessed under questioning that he beheaded hundreds of Iraqis in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.

Yeah and if they catch the two or three guys working with him, that accounts for all the beheaded bodies all over the place, right?

Foreign terrorists, led by fighters from Saudi Arabia, are behind an upsurge in attacks against British troops in Basra, military sources said yesterday.
telegraph.co.uk

Foreign Office hails state of emergency in Basra
LONDON (Reuters) – The Foreign Office said on Wednesday the declaration of a state of emergency in Iraq’s second city showed the central government is determined to impose security there after British troops suffered their bloodiest month yet patrolling Basra.

Nine British service members have died this month in two bomb attacks and a helicopter crash in Basra, their worst death toll in the city since they seized it during the 2003 invasion.

Iraq’s new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Basra on Wednesday, declared a city-wide state of emergency and ordered his army into the streets, normally patrolled by police whose loyalty has been suspect.

The Foreign Office said in a statement it welcomed Maliki’s “focus on security and his decision to visit Basra so soon after taking office”.

“This demonstrates the new Iraqi government’s determination to get to grips with the situation in Basra,” it said.

IRAQ’S new ambassador to the US said yesterday US forces cold-bloodedly shot and killed his cousin last year in Haditha.

It is the same town where marines are alleged to have gone on a rampage, killing 24 civilians.

Samir Shakir al-Sumaidaie’s accusations — aired just hours after President George Bush welcomed him at the White House — came as the US military faced growing pressure to complete its investigation into the Haditha deaths.

Ambassador Samir al-Sumaidaie said his relative was shot dead five months before the November killing of 24 civilians.

The ambassador said Mohammed al-Sumaidaie, a bookish 21-year-old engineering student, was killed after opening the door of the family house to US marines on June 25.

“I believe he was killed intentionally. I believe he was killed unnecessarily,” Mr al-Sumaidaie said.
heraldsun.com

U.S., Allied Troops in Iraq to Undergo ‘Core Values’ Training
Even before the final report is delivered, Army Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, today ordered that all U.S. and allied troops in Iraq undergo new “core values” training in how to operate professionally and humanely. Not only will leaders discuss how to treat civilians under the rules of engagement, but small units also will be ordered to go through training scenarios to gauge their understanding of those rules.

The training, to include slide-shows, would highlight ”the importance of adhering to legal, moral and ethical standards on the battlefield,” said Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Multi-National Corps-Iraq commander in a statement today. “As military professionals,” he said, “it is important that we take time to reflect on the values that separate us from our enemies.”

hahahaha

* U.S. forces said they fired at a car that failed to stop despite warnings, and a security body said two women driving to a maternity hospital were killed “by mistake” in the incident north of Baghdad.

An order for the arrest of four defence witnesses in the trial of Saddam Hussein has been made.

A US official close to the court said the order was to hold the witnesses to allow an investigation of their allegations of impropriety against the prosecution.

“Four defence witnesses have been ordered held,” the official said on Wednesday.

The official said the inquiry would focus on witness allegations that Jaafar al-Musawi, the chief prosecutor, had attended an event celebrating a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam.

Saddam and seven co-defendants are accused of crimes against humanity for bloody reprisals after the attempt on his life which led to the killings of 148 Shia men and teenagers from the town of Dujail.

Officials at the US-backed Iraqi court were not immediately available for comment.
aljazeera.net

weird story

Everyone has known New Orleans is a sinking city. Now new research suggests parts of the city are sinking even faster than many scientists imagined _ more than an inch a year.

That may explain some of the levee failures during Hurricane Katrina and it raises more worries about the future.

The research, reported in the journal Nature, is based on new satellite radar data for the three years before Katrina struck in The data show that some areas are sinking four or five times faster than the rest of the city. And that, experts say, can be deadly.
breitbart.com

The performance Wednesday of Exxon Mobil Corp. chief executive Rex W. Tillerson at the company’s annual meeting might have been downright warm and fuzzy compared with his predecessor’s, but that didn’t stop shareholders from adopting a resolution over the objections of the company’s board of directors.

Exxon officials said they believed it was the first time in the company’s history that a resolution had been adopted over the objections of the company, and it was seen as a sign of anger over the board’s decision to award outgoing chief executive Lee Raymond a final-year pay package of $69.4 million and a retirement lump sum of $98.4 million.

…”I’m looking at the world 15 to 20 years out,” he said. “That’s where I’m living.” He said that the mix of energy sources 20 years from now would resemble the mix today. “It’s a question of whether these are going to make a meaningful difference or not,” he said. “We’re going to do what’s in the best long-term interests of shareholders.”
washingtonpost.com

What a visionary.