Turkish war planes attacked targets inside Iraq again on Wednesday, only days after the Turkish military withdrew ground troops after a major incursion. Reuters says:
‘n Iraqi border guard official said Turkish aircraft struck a village in the Amadiya area close to the Turkish border on Tuesday evening. There were no reports of casualties. At about the same time, Turkish aircraft struck two villages in the Zete area of Arbil province, local officials said. There was no word on any damage or casualties, they said. ‘
The Iraqi cabinet is encouraging the federal oil ministry to sign agreements with foreign oil firms, in hopes of boosting oil production. A relatively modest 500,000 barrels a day is being aimed at initially by these measures.
The acquittal of Hakim al-Zamili , a former health minister. is being protested. and has angered Sunnis. He was accused of running emergency rooms as torture chambers. He could not be convicted because, very conveniently, all the witnesses suddenly declined to testyify. The Islamic Iraqi Party, which is largely Sunni Arab, complained that the Iraqi government did not know how to protect witnesses.
The Bush administration maintains that it need not seek Congressional approval for a set of new regulations and commitments concerning Iraq, including what appears to be a status of forces agreement.
Robert Scheer upbraids the corporate media for ignoring the significance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Baghdad on Sunday and Monday. He says it points to the Bush administration Middle East policy being in shambles.
Reuters reports political violence for Wednesday:
‘MAHMUDIYA – A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded three others near Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD – Iraqi soldiers killed two suspected militants and arrested 38 others during operations across Iraq in the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.
KIRKUK – A roadside bomb wounded one civilian in an attack against the convoy of Major-General Hazim al-Khazraji, a senior police officer in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
* UDHAIM – A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded two others near Udhaim, north of Baghdad, police said.
* TUZ KHURMATO – Four truck drivers were kidnapped in Tuz Kurmato, 220 km (135 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Syrian identity documents were found inside the trucks.
* KIRKUK – Gunmen killed Abdul-Sattar Tahira, a professor at Kirkuk University, police said. Tahira held New Zealand citizenship, they said.
BAGHDAD – U.S. forces detained 22 suspected insurgents during raids against al Qaeda in northern and central Iraq, the U.S. military said.
TUZ KHURMATO – Gunmen killed two people and wounded three other family members in an attack on a house in Tuz Khurmato, police said.
SAMARRA – A bomb in a parked car killed two people and wounded six others, including four members of a U.S.-backed neighborhood security unit, near a checkpoint in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Another police source put the death toll at one and said the attack was by a suicide car bomber.
BAGHDAD – Two bodies were found in different areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.’
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