LATEST REPORTS

Swine Flu Alert Raised to Level 5 — Global Outbreak Deemed ‘Imminent’

Claudia Daut / Reuters

Map: Track the disease 

Symptoms, precautions 

More information 

5/21/09 U.S. Update

U.S. Swine Flu Deaths Hit Double Digits

Math teacher Emelinda Mabulay places flowers in memory of her supervisor Mitchell Wiener, who was assistant principal at IS 238 Susan B. Anthony School in New York. Wiener died earlier this week after contracting swine flu. (Photo credit: Craig Ruttle / AP)

May 21, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY – Swine flu forced Christina Huitron to make a choice no mother should ever have to make.

On Wednesday she told doctors to take her 21-year-old son off life support, making Marcos Sanchez the nation’s 10th fatality associated with the newly discovered virus that continues to spread across the globe.

“I knew he was suffering,” Christina Huitron told KSL-TV. “I don’t know how he was feeling, but I just knew I had to do it because he was passing away slowly anyways, and I didn’t want him to suffer anymore.”

Sanchez checked into a suburban hospital Saturday, vomiting blood and burning with fever, Huitron told The Salt Lake Tribune. By Tuesday he was suffering from multiple organ failure. …

In neighboring Arizona, health officials said Wednesday a 13-year-old boy from Tucson also has died with swine flu. The teenager died Friday of complications from the flu. He had been hospitalized May 10. …

Swine flu has sickened more than 11,000 people in 41 countries and killed 85, according to the World Health Organization, whose figures often trail those of individual countries. …

In New York City, officials, colleagues, friends and family gathered Wednesday at a funeral home to remember Mitchell Wiener, an 55-year-old assistant principal who died of swine flu Sunday. …

6/19/09 U.S. Update

U.S. Swine Flu Cases Top 21,000 as Deaths Rise

Video

Officials warn of continued swine flu (NBC News Channel, June 19) — Health officials warn of second wave of H1N1 flu. NBC’s Leanne Gregg reports. (01:16)

June 19, 2009

WASHINGTON – America’s count of swine flu cases has risen to 21,449 cases and the number of deaths have nearly doubled to 87.

The continued spread signals the new strain of H1N1 flu is causing “something different” to happen in the United States this year — perhaps an extended year-round flu season that disproportionately hits young people, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The latest numbers, released Friday by the CDC is a jump from last week’s count of 18,000 cases and 44 deaths.

Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases reached 44,287, the WHO reported Friday. WHO says cases increased by more than 10 percent in two days. …

A total of 93 countries had reported cases to WHO by Friday.

In the U.S., Wisconsin, Illinois and Texas were the states with the most reported illnesses, and the Illinois count rose more than 500 since the last report. But CDC officials say much of the most recent flu activity has been in the Northeast. A quarter of the new deaths were in New York. …

And infections among health care workers suggest that people are showing up at work sick — meaning that workplace policies may be contributing to its spread, officials reported.

The new strain of swine flu is officially a pandemic now, according to the World Health Organization. So far the virus is causing mild to moderate disease. The United States has been hardest hit, with upward of 100,000 likely unconfirmed cases and probably far more.

“The fact that we are seeing ongoing transmission now indicates that we are seeing something different,” the CDC’s Dr. Daniel Jernigan told a news briefing.

“And we believe that that may have to do with the complete lack of immunity to this particular virus among those that are most likely affected. And those are children,” Jernigan added.

“The areas of the country that are most affected, some of them have very high population densities, like Boston and New York. So that may be a contributor as well. Plus the temperature in that part of the country is cooler, and we know that influenza appears to like the cooler times of the year for making transmission more effective.”

Jernigan said in areas that are the most affected up to 7 percent of the population has influenza-like illness.

Summer of flu

“The United States will likely continue to see influenza activity through the summer, and at this point we’re anticipating that we will see the novel H1N1 continue with activity probably all the way into our flu season in the fall and winter. The amount of activity we expect to be low, and then pick up later.”

One worrying pattern: health care workers are being infected, and most reported they did little or nothing to protect themselves, the CDC’s Dr. Mike Bell said. …

Doctors, nurses and technicians who have flu can spread it to vulnerable patients, Bell noted. At least 81 health care workers have been infected.

8/30/09 U.S. Update

Return of Swine Flu: What’s Next for Americans?

U.S. and rest of Northern Hemisphere brace for fall surge of H1N1

Aug. 30, 2009

WASHINGTON – The alarm sounded with two sneezy children in California in April. Just five months later, the never-before-seen swine flu has become the world’s dominant strain of influenza, and it’s putting a shockingly younger face on flu.

So get ready. With flu’s favorite chilly weather fast approaching, we’re going to be a sick nation this fall. The big unknown is how sick. One in five people infected or a worst case — half the population? The usual 36,000 deaths from flu or tens of thousands more?

The World Health Organization predicts that within two years, nearly one-third of the world’s population will have caught it. …

Full report

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CENTRAL MINNESOTA / MN 6th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT REPORTS AND UPDATES 

Rocori Students Return to Class (May 6)

State Finds 8 Probable Flu Cases (May 1)

Governor, Health Officials Urge Calm (Apr. 30)

Updated: Apr. 30 09:23 AM

CDC confirms new flu strain in MN patient  Testing by the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the Minnesota resident with ties to ROCORI Middle School did contract the H1N1 novel virus …

Central Minnesota Awaits Results of Swine Flu Test (Apr. 30)

Rocori Middle School (Photo credit: KARE 11)

Area Legislators Respond to Possible Swine Flu Case in Cold Spring 

“It has come to my attention that a Minnesotan with close ties to the Sixth District is possibly infected with the swine flu. I am grateful that the individual appears to be recovering, and I want to assure 6th District residents that I am closely monitoring the situation to ensure that state and local officials have the necessary resources to alert the public and prevent this occurrence from spreading further.” — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

“I must stress that although this issue is serious, we need not be reactionary. The best protection against contagions like influenza is reasoned thinking and information. As a longtime member of the Health and Human Services budget committee, I am confident that the state is well prepared for public health emergencies.” — Sen. Michelle Fischbach, R-Paynesville

“Now is the time to pay attention to the advice of national, state and local public health officials and your own doctor, not rumors on the Internet, talk radio, cable news or anywhere else. If we want to get through this or any other potential epidemic, it just makes sense to pay heed to the people who know what they’re talking about.” — Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud and Rep. Larry Hosch, DFL-St. Joseph, in a joint statement.

College of St. Benedict | St. John’s University Swine Flu Update (Apr. 29)

MN-06 U.S, Rep. Michele Bachmann Comments on Swine Flu Outbreak (Apr. 28)

Related report on this site

Flu Pandemic Fear Spreads in U.S. (Apr. 26)

RESOURCES

Minnesota Department of Health: 800 657-3903

Stearns County Emergency Operations Center: 320 650-5802

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Costs Soar for Iraqi Military Training

Iraqi soldiers secure the site of a roadside bomb attack in Basra, southern Iraq, April 20, 2009. (Photo credit: Haider Al-Assadee / EPA)

April 28, 2009

BAGHDAD – Iraq is falling fall far behind schedule in creating a system to maintain its own military equipment, costing American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to fill in the gaps, according to a new U.S. audit.

The report highlights some of the fundamental worries among American commanders as they look past the U.S. military exit from Iraq at the end of 2011: Will Iraqi security forces be able to handle tasks as basic as keeping their vehicles on the road?

The U.S. has spent billions of dollars to develop Iraq’s security forces with an emphasis in recent years on Iraq’s maintenance and supply capabilities — seen as essential for the country to maintain a self-sufficient force after the lifeline from Washington is trimmed back.

It’s part of the Pentagon’s wide-ranging plans to train and upgrade Iraq security forces from street-level police units and rebuild Iraqi naval and air power.

But the audit — by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction — found a pattern of negligence and shortcomings by the Iraqi military in planning for the basic needs of the military: repairing and maintaining equipment and supplying troops. …

Ballooning costs

In one case, Iraqi soldiers abandoned a 90-day maintenance training class in March 2008 because they hadn’t been paid in weeks by their units. The report said the Iraqi army has not yet assigned other soldiers to take a class.

But the study, released Sunday, also faulted the U.S. military for setting unrealistic training timetables — saying it added $420.5 million to the costs.

Initially, the contract costs were put at about $208 million to train Iraqi soldiers in routine but critical roles that include repairing equipment, construction and running warehouse operations.

The audit says the contract has ballooned to more than $628 million in part because there was no clear blueprint for the programs, which led to frequent extensions and cost overruns. …

The skyrocketing costs for Washington in Iraq go well beyond efforts at making the Iraqi military ready for the U.S. withdrawal. …

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

HOR RIJAB – Five people were killed and five were wounded by a roadside bomb in Hor Rijab, a village on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb wounded five civilians in the Shurta district of southwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – At least 41 people were killed and 68 wounded when twin car bombs exploded in a busy market in northeastern Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, police said.

BAGHDAD – Two bombs placed in parked cars killed two people and wounded eight others near a Shi’ite mosque in the Hurriya district of northwestern Baghdad, police said.

HIMREEN – Three Iraqi soldiers were killed on patrol and two others wounded when two roadside bombs went off in the Himreen area of northeastern Diyala province, police said.

MOSUL – Two separate roadside bombs in southern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, killed one policeman and wounded five civilians, police said.

MOSUL – Two civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb in eastern Mosul, police said.

No report filed for April 28, 2009.

Following are security developments in Iraq on Monday, April 27, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

SALMAN PAK – Major General Adel Dahaam, police chief of the southern city of Basra, was unharmed in a roadside bomb attack in Salman Pak, 20 miles southeast of Baghdad. Police said Dahaam was off-duty at the time.

MOSUL – A roadside bomb wounded two Iraqi soldiers and one civilian in nothern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Police said they found the body of a man who had been shot in the head and chest in western Mosul.

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Late update

Car Bombs Kill 41 in Baghdad Market

Iraqis protest as Iraqi army officers hold them back following several car bombs in the market place in Baghdad’s eastern Sadr City district on Wednesday. (Photo credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP – Getty Images)

BAGHDAD – Two car bombs killed at least 41 people at a busy market in Baghdad, Iraqi police said Wednesday.

The blasts went off in quick succession from parked cars filled with explosives near a restaurant in the Shiite district of Sadr City. A police official told Reuters the bombs also left 68 people wounded.

A third car bomb was discovered but later defused, police said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release the information.

Angry residents of the sprawling slum threw stones and empty bottles at Iraqi soldiers afterwards, blaming them for not providing enough protection.

The blasts come less than a week after bombings claimed more than 150 lives over a two-day span, raising fears that suspected Sunni insurgents are regrouping as the U.S. military begins to withdraw. …

The increase in high-profile attacks in recent weeks has raised questions about the ability of Iraq’s forces to sustain security gains as they increasingly take over from the Americans. …

On Tuesday, the Iraqi government announced it has captured the alleged leader of an al-Qaida front group. The military presented the first image of the man it says is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, saying his arrest would deal a major blow to the insurgency. …

4/30/09 Update

Death Toll from Twin Iraq Car Bombs Rises to 51

 
April 30, 2009

BAGHDAD – The death toll from twin car bomb blasts in a crowded Baghdad market rose to 51 Thursday, police said, and the country’s main Sunni political party condemned the attack on a heavily Shi’ite Muslim area.

The car bombs Wednesday, which also wounded 76 people in the capital’s sprawling Sadr City slum, followed a series of other attacks in the past two weeks that have stirred fears of a return to broader sectarian bloodshed in Iraq. …

The upsurge in violence this month has ended the sense of growing calm and security that had gripped Baghdad earlier this year. …

Analysts said Iraq is likely to suffer suicide and car bomb attacks for several more years. While that will certainly present a dire threat to Iraqi civilians, it is less clear whether it presents a mortal threat to the state.

More dangerous to Iraq’s medium-term stability than bombs is the fact not enough has been done in the political arena to foster reconciliation between Sunnis and Shi’ites, the analysts say. …

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Shaped by Wetterling Tragedy, Soldier Shares Story

U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Aaron Larson poses with his fiancée Jackie Tentinger and 2-year-old son, Anikan, as he arrives home April 17, 2009 in Slayton, Minn. (Photo credit: Justine Wettschreck — Daily Globe /Associated Press)

By Justine Wettschreck
Worthington Daily Globe 

April 20, 2009  

SLAYTON, (Minn.) — After spending a year defending his country, Staff Sgt. Aaron Larson is home from Iraq and able to hold his little boy close — something that means a lot to a man who suffered the loss of his boyhood friend, Jacob Wetterling, when he was just 11 years old.

Larson came home to Slayton on April 17, and was greeted with flags, balloons and family. A day later, he sat in his living room and talked about his son, his time in Iraq and the event that altered his life.

“He has changed a lot,” Larson said, watching his 2-year-old son, Anikan, scamper through the living room with mom in pursuit. “I came home in November for his birthday, but he has changed even since then.”

Larson, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, served as a technical engineer specialist with the Third Expedition Sustainment Command, or ESC, at the joint base in Balad, where he worked to make sure the 17,000 military men and women had what they needed to complete their missions. Larson’s job was to review construction projects over $250,000, but he was also able to work with Iraqi people on smaller projects.

“I liked meeting the people, and getting a feel for their lifestyle,” he said. “It was interesting to ask them questions. We talked about how their lives have changed in the last few years, and I heard from them about how things are improving.”

At an old Iraqi Air Force base about 37 miles north of Baghdad, Larson met local people who were grateful for the presence of the U.S. military personnel and who said infrastructure has improved and jobs are becoming available. Meeting them was a good feeling for Larson, who said he could understand how being military personnel in areas where their presence was resented must be frustrating, especially for men and women who would rather be home with their families.

“You want to go over and accomplish so many things,” Larson said. “There is so much you can see that needs doing.”

Connections

The hardest part about being away was the separation from his son and his fiancee Jackie Tentinger, who has had a long year of being Anikan’s only parent.

“It’s a big, huge sigh of relief,” Tentinger said of having Larson home. “It has been a year of me and Anikan, and now I can say, ‘OK, your turn.’ And it is so nice to hear Anikan say, ‘Daddy.’”

“But I’ve missed out on so many little things,” Larson said. “Things I’m never going to get back.”

Unlike some military deployments, Larson was able to communicate on a regular basis with family and friends via e-mail and phone, which helped make his time away easier to bear.

When he was called to active duty a year ago, he was given nine days of advance warning of his deployment, which caused wedding plans to be left by the wayside.

“Our wedding was planned for Sept. 9,” Larson said. “But obviously the Army isn’t going to plan around my schedule. We’ll work on setting a new date now.”

Best friend

Born in Murray County, Larson moved with his family when he was 4 or 5 years old. The family settled in St. Joseph, and he became best friends with Jacob Wetterling. Larson was 11 when he, Jacob and Jacob’s 10-year-old brother Trevor rode their bikes to a convenience store.

On that Sunday, Oct. 22, 1989, a masked man approached with a gun and ordered all three to throw their bikes into a ditch and lie down on the ground.

He asked each boy his age. Trevor Wetterling and Larson, one at a time, were told to run toward a nearby wooded area and not look back or else he would shoot them. They ran, but they looked back to see the man grab Jacob and drag him away.

Now 31 years old and with a child of his own, Larson wonders if he will be too overprotective as a parent, and understands how difficult it must have been for his mother to not hold on too tight after Jacob’s abduction.

“What happened changed who I was,” he said. “That one night changed the course of my life.”

A changed life

When Larson and Trevor ran home that night and reported what had happened, cars began to arrive. The Wetterling house was packed with people, he said — authorities, family, media.

“There were police cars everywhere, and every time someone pulled up I would run to the window and look,” Larson said. “I’d expect to see Jacob getting out of the car because he had been found or returned.”

A friend of the families called the media immediately, which Larson said was a good thing.

“He knew to get the media involved right away,” Larson said. “Before, it could take days to get the word out.”

Larson remembers returning to school the following Tuesday, but not staying for the whole day.

“Everybody looked at me, like they were kind of in awe,” he said. “I remember getting walked out of the school by a police officer, but I’m not sure why. Maybe for protection or something?”

For the next two weeks, Larson was at the Wetterling house every day, where he said it felt good to be around people who understood what he was going through.

“Other people didn’t say much to me. I think it was awkward for them,” Larson said. “I was an 11-year old boy, and not very emotional.”

Trying to get back to any kind of normalcy was not much of an option, because the person he played sports with, hung out with and spent so much time with gone.

“Normalcy was what I did with that one person,” Larson said. “He wasn’t there.”

The uncertainty was difficult, and the experience left him “a little more guarded,” he said, adding, “I lost my best friend.”

“When it first happened, I was assured he’d be back,” he said. “It wasn’t ‘if’ Jacob came back, it was ‘when.’ You never really lose hope. It’s good that they are still looking, because people need resolution.”

Joining the Army

In 2002, Larson moved back to Murray County. In the summer of 2003, he joined the U.S. Army Reserves. He liked the idea of the new experiences the reserves might bring.

“At the time, I was kind of teeter-tottering, and didn’t know which way to go,” he said. “I’m a competitive person and always up for a new challenge, and I thought I could also learn new skills.”

“I’m glad I did it,” Larson said. “I have met a lot of great people.”

Still, he is glad to be home and planning to spend some time with friends and family before heading back to his job as a special lines claims adjuster with Progressive. He has been in touch with the company throughout his year away, but no specific date has been set for his return.

“Right now I just want to go to the lake and play and hang out,” he said, cuddling a wiggly Anikan before setting him free to run. “While I was gone, Jackie would ask Anikan ‘Where’s Daddy?’ and he would point to a picture, even when I came home for his birthday and was sitting right there. Now he points to me.”

“Now that Daddy is home, Anikan doesn’t want to let him out of his sight,” Tentinger said.

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Related links

In St. Joseph, pain of Jacob Wetterling’s abduction is still near the surface (Jan. 8, 2009) 

Dr. Jerry Wetterling continues to a wear a button bearing his missing son’s picture. “Jacob’s always with me. This is just my little way to keep him close to my heart” (Photo credit: KARE-11) 

The Search for Jacob [Alternative link -- PDF]
(Steve Irsay, Court TV)

One of the last pictures of Jacob Wetterling, on a day trip two months before he was kidnapped on October 22, 1989, wearing the same blue mesh shirt he wore the night he vanished.

Find Joshua Guimond

 
One of the last pictures of Josh Guimond, taken on the campus of St. John’s University (6 miles from the Wetterling abduction site) shortly before his disappearance on November 10, 2002.

All possibilities should be investigated in Guimond case
(Aubrey Immelman, The Record, Nov. 11, 2004)

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Related reports on this site

Jacob Wetterling Freedom Walk (Dec. 21, 2009)

Guimond: “Justice for Josh” March (Nov. 9, 2009)

Missing Person Joshua Guimond (Nov. 7, 2009)

Jacob Wetterling 20 Years On (Oct. 22, 2009)

Jacob Wetterling Celebration (Oct. 16, 2009)

Jaycee Lee Dugard Found Alive (Aug. 28, 2009)

Wetterling Friend Shares Story (Apr. 28, 2009)

Jacob Wetterling Lead Unravels (Jan. 7, 2009)

Ottis Toole Murdered Adam Walsh (Dec. 16, 2008)

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Iraq: Deadly U.S. Raid Breaks Security Pact

Residents of Kut shout angry slogans on Sunday, calling Americans “criminal occupiers” as they carry the coffins of two people killed in a U.S. raid. (Photo credit: Jaafer Abed / Reuters)

April 26, 2009

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s prime minister denounced a deadly U.S. raid on Sunday as a “crime” that violated the security pact with Washington and demanded American commanders hand over those responsible to face possible trial in Iraqi courts.

The U.S. military, however, strongly denied that it overstepped its bounds and said it notified Iraqi authorities in advance — in accordance with the rules that took effect this year governing U.S. battlefield conduct.

The pre-dawn raid in the southern Shiite city of Kut ended with at least one woman dead after being caught in gunfire and six suspects arrested for alleged links to Shiite militia factions.

But efforts were quickly launched in an attempt to tone down the dispute.

The six detainees were released, said Major Gen. Read Shakir Jawdat, head of the provincial police that includes Kut. At the same news conference, U.S. Col. Richard Francey offered condolences to the family of the woman killed.

Most serious test of security pact

The fallout marks the most serious test of the security pact so far and could bring new strains during a critical transition period.

U.S. forces plan to move out of most major Iraqi cities by the end of June in the first phase of a promised withdrawal from the country by the end of 2011.

A statement from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — in his role as commander general of Iraqi forces — called the raid a “violation of the security pact.”

He asked the U.S. military “to release the detainees and hand over those responsible for this crime to the courts,” according to an Iraqi security official who read the statement to The Associated Press. …

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the mosque in Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, to decry the American action and demand an investigation. …

Operation was ‘approved’

The U.S. military said its troops acted within the framework of the security pact, saying “the operation was fully coordinated and approved by the Iraqi government.” …

At least one person died in the raid, which the U.S. military said targeted the financier of Shiite militia factions believed to be backed by the Iranians. Iraqi officials placed the death toll at two.

The Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammed al-Askari, said an Iraqi brigade commander and a battalion commander were arrested for “allowing American troops to conduct a military operation in Kut province without informing the Iraqi government or coordinating with it.”

‘Stepped into the line of fire’

The military said a woman was in the area during an exchange of gunfire with one of the suspects and “stepped into the line of fire.”

It said those detained were suspected of aiding so-called “special groups” — Shiite militia factions that were once part of the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr — and another faction known as the Promise Day Brigades created by al-Sadr. …

Iraqi police officials say the wife and brother of a local clan leader were killed. They also say the soldiers arrested the clan leader, Ahmed Abdul Muneim al-Bdeir, his brother — an Iraqi police captain — and five others related to the al-Bdeir. …

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Security Developments in Iraq

A man carries the body of his granddaughter, who was killed in Baghdad on Friday in a bomb attack, in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, April 25, 2009. In a second day of major bloodshed in Iraq, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a Shi’ite Muslim shrine in Baghdad on Friday, killing 60 people, police said. (Photo credit: Reuters / Ali Abu Shish)

Following are security developments in Iraq on Sunday, April 26, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

KIRKUK – A Christian woman was killed inside her home in southern Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, police said. Another woman was wounded in the attack. 

KIRKUK – Within hours of that raid [reported above], armed men stormed the house of another Christian family in the same part of Kirkuk and shot dead one man, wounding his brother and father.

BAGHDAD – A policeman was killed by a roadside bomb that exploded in the Doura neighborhood of southern Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – A man was killed in front of his home in eastern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Two brothers were killed in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police said.

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Click here for the latest news on the swine flu outbreak

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New U.S. Swine Flu Cases Spread Pandemic Fears

Afternoon update

U.S. Declares Swine Flu Public Health Emergency

Government officials have declared a public health emergency in connection with the swine flu outbreak that has killed dozens in Mexico and sickened 20 in the U.S., said the nation’s director of Homeland Security Sunday.

Secretary Janet Napolitano also said border agents have been directed to begin passive surveillance of travelers from affected countries, with instructions to isolate anyone who appears actively ill with suspected influenza.

The number of cases confirmed in the United States by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now 20, including eight New York City high school students. Other cases are in Ohio, California, Texas and Kansas. Patients have ranged in age from 7 to 54.

Government health officials expect to see more cases of swine flu here, including possibly serious infections, a senior CDC official said.

“We expect there to be a broader spectrum of disease here in the U.S.,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for the agency’s Science and Public Health Program. “I do fear that we will have deaths here.”

Napolitano said the emergency declaration is a warning, not a notice of imminent danger, similar to preparing for a hurricane. …

CDC officials said they don’t yet have basic information about how the virus spreads, including how many cases each primary case might create, or how long it might take for them to be infected. However, agency officials believe the virus is spreading person-to-person. In the U.S., all the patients have recovered and only one patient was hospitalized. …

The incubation period for the virus is 24 to 48 hours, health officials said. President Barack Obama recently traveled to Mexico but the president’s health was never in any danger, said John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. …

“The government can’t solve this alone; we need everybody to take some responsibility,” Napolitano said.

[Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC] urged Americans to practice frequent handwashing and to stay home if they feel sick. “If your children are sick, have a fever and flu-like illness, they shouldn’t go to school.”

Schuchat said symptoms that would trigger alarm include high fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea. But she cautioned those could also be signs of any number of respiratory diseases. …

U.S. to screen travelers at borders

The U.S. will begin screening travelers at the nation’s borders and isolating people who are actively ill with suspected influenza, Napolitano said. No travel restrictions are issued currently, but that could change, she said. …

Health officials said the facts of the outbreak don’t yet warrant testing or quarantine of travelers from Mexico, but that that could change if the situation gets worse.

Anne Schuchat reiterated that the outbreak can’t be contained.

“We cannot stop this at the border,” she said, adding: “But we think there’s a lot we can do to limit the impact on health and to slow transmission.” …

Officials said Sunday they are considering whether to begin manufacture of a vaccine.

“At this point, there is not a vaccine for this swine flu strain,” Besser said.

Deaths in Mexico

Symptoms in the eight newly-confirmed cases in New York have been mild, said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. City health officials said more than 100 students at the St. Francis Preparatory School, in Queens, recently began suffering a fever, sore throat and aches and pains. Some of their relatives also have been ill.

Some St. Francis students had recently traveled to Mexico, The New York Times and New York Post reported Sunday.

The World Health Organization chief said Saturday that the strain has “pandemic potential,” and it might be too late to contain a sudden outbreak.

Monitoring possible cases

State infectious-diseases, epidemiology and disaster preparedness workers have been dispatched to monitor and respond to possible cases of the flu. Gov. David Paterson said 1,500 treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu had been sent to New York City. …

No immunity

Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A flu viruses, the CDC’s Web site says. Human cases are uncommon but can occur in people who are around pigs. It also can be spread from person to person.

Health officials are concerned because people appear to have no immunity to the virus, a combination of bird, swine and human influenzas. …

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Click here for the latest news on the swine flu outbreak

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4/28/09 Update

Bachmann Links Swine Flu To Democrats, Gets History Wrong

By Rachel Weiner
The Huffington Post
April 28, 2009

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, following Rush Limbaugh’s cue, suggested on Tuesday that President Obama was to blame for the swine flu crisis. She went even farther than the talk show host, implying that swine flu epidemics are a Democratic phenomenon that dates back to President Carter.

“I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.”

Unfortunately, Bachmann’s facts are a little off. As Glenn Thrush notes, Republican President Gerald Ford, not Carter, led the country during the last outbreak of the virus.

Related reports

Bachmann: It’s ‘interesting’ that the last swine flu outbreak also occurred under a ‘Democrat President’

Bachmann: ‘Interesting coincidence’ that Dems in power during swine flu outbreak

Bachmann: Dem connection to outbreak ‘interesting’

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Nonpartisan site tracking claims by Rep. Bachmann:

The Bachmann File 

In the 1970s, “the swine flu broke out . . . under another Democrat, President Jimmy Carter.”

Swine flu isn’t blue

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4/29/09 Update

Swine Flu Alert Raised to Level 5

Global outbreak deemed ‘imminent’ 

• Nearly 100 cases in US 
• Map: Track the disease 
• Symptoms, precautions 

——

IRAQ UPDATE

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq 

As of Saturday, April 25, 2009, at least 4,275 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …

The latest identifications reported by the military:

• Cpl. Brad A. Davis, 21, Garfield Heights, Ohio, died April 22 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Cpl. William C. Comstock, 21, Van Buren, Ark., died April 22 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Supply Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 25, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualty Count

Afghanistan Casualty Count 

—— 

Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Saturday, April 25, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

KIRKUK- A U.S. soldier died from injuries sustained in an attack on a patrol, the U.S. military said, giving no details.

BALAD – Seven Shi’ite pilgrims were wounded when gunmen opened fire at their minibus near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, while they were traveling to Samarra, police said.

MOSUL – Two soldiers were killed when gunmen attacked their checkpoint in eastern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – An off-duty policeman was killed when gunmen attacked him in central Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen attacked and killed an off-duty policeman when they stormed his house in eastern Mosul, police said.

Following are security developments in Iraq on Friday, April 24, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A bomb attached to a vehicle killed a police major in the Saidiya neighborhood of southern Baghdad, police said. Three civilians were wounded.

BAGHDAD – At least 60 people were killed and 125 were wounded in twin suicide attacks at a revered Shi’ite mosque in Baghdad’s Kadhimiya neighborhood, police said.

JALAWLA – A suicide car bomber killed one person and wounded 26 others, six of them policemen, in Jalawla, 70 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi Army patrol killed one soldier and wounded one civilian southeast of Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

SINJAR – The son of a local sheikh was killed by a bomb attached to his vehicle in Sinjar, 240 miles northwest of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK – A police major was shot and killed on Thursday in front of his home in central Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

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Major Attacks in Iraq Since Jan. 1, 2009

April 24, 2009

Major attacks in Iraq since Jan. 1, when a new U.S.-Iraqi security pact took effect:

• April 24 — Back-to-back suicide bombers strike near Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing 60.
• April 23 — Baghdad suicide bomber hits Iraqis collecting humanitarian aid, killing 31.
• April 23 — Suicide bomber strikes restaurant north of Baghdad in Muqdadiyah, killing 57.
• April 6 — Series of bombings within four hours in Baghdad kill 37 people.
• March 26 — Car bomb tears through market in Shiite area in east Baghdad, killing 20.
• March 23 — Suicide bomber strikes Kurdish funeral north of Baghdad in Jalula, killing 27.
• March 10 — Suicide bomber targets tribal leaders at market in Abu Ghraib, killing 33.
• March 8 — Suicide bomber strikes police academy in Baghdad, killing at least 30.
• March 5 — Car bomb tears through livestock market in Hillah, killing 13.
• Feb. 13 — Female suicide bomber targets Shiite pilgrims in Musayyib, killing 40.
• Feb. 11 — Twin car bombs explode at a bus terminal and market area in Baghdad, killing 16.
• Jan. 4 — Female suicide bomber strikes Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, killing 38.
• Jan. 2 — Suicide bomber hits luncheon at a tribal leader’s home in Youssifiyah, killing 23.

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Michele Bachmann vs. The Truth

Gannett Washington correspondent Larry Bivens reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which supports Democratic candidates for Congress, has created a Web site “devoted to some of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s controversial statements.” The site is intended as a virtual “truth squad” to expose Bachmann’s “fantastic claims and lies – lies that can quickly be disproven.”

The new site launched April 24 under the header shown below, debunking Bachmann’s false claim about the cost of the Obama administration’s Cap-and-Trade proposals; Bachmann’s false claim that she did not accept earmarks; Bachmann’s false claim that the Obama administration’s economic recovery package includes $5 billion for ACORN; and Bachmann’s false claim that the “Democrat government” has already committed tax dollar expenditures that would equal “a check in the amount of $1,430 written to every man, woman, [and] child in the world.”

Bill Prendergast reports at follows on the Dump Bachmann blog:

It looks like the DCCC is going to focus on the “liar” portion of our characterization of Michele (”nut, liar, and bigot” — I knew I should have gotten trademark protection for that).

I don’t know how the other contributors [to Dump Bachmann] feel, but it just slays me that I’m not going to see a dime out all this “big Dem money” that’s going to be thrown at the monkeys who run this new DCCC-funded website. As you know, Dump Bachmann is and has always been a non-partisan blog, digging up Bachmann’s ridiculous lies and fact-checking them for free. And now the DCCC gravy train – going by us like that French bullet train full of big fat money, going by so fast that it look like a freakin’ blur, splashing mud on Dump Bachmann and the wind blowing our hair all out of shape, zipping by so fast that we didn’t even get a chance to wave — zooms right by our non-partisan asses.

I wonder how much the Dems are going to pay people to do the research and the web upkeep that we have been doing here for free, for all these years? I would really like to know that. They’re probably going through the DB [Dump Bachmann] archives right now, as I speak. Why not? They’re free, anybody can pick up any information they want out of the articles and cite it in a letter to the editor or a news or broadcast article. It’s sourced.

But it kills me that I’m not gonna get so much as free latte out of this frikkin’ salt mine we’ve been working in, after all these years — while some wet-behind-the-ears teen web design geek and some cigar chomping Dem insider editor live it up on contribution money. Because all of a sudden, after three years, the CFL light bulb over the national Dems’ heads go “on” and they think, ”Hey — it might be a good idea to do some kind of a ‘web page’ (I think that’s what the kids call it) on how she lies all the time. That might be a ‘good thing’ to fund, since we have cash shooting our asses.”

Although I’m inclined to respond favorably to any initiative — irrespective of party-political affiliation — to expose the Rep. Bachmann’s verbal atrocities and shameful refresentation, I can relate to Prendergast’s indignation.

For starters, the title “Bachmann Watch” is already spoken for — in my blog at St. Cloud Times online, which I have maintained since February (though admittedly – akin to Prendergast’s ironic observation that Dump Bachmann should have sought trademark protection for its characterization of Bachmann as a “nut, liar, and bigot” — I never had any realistic expectation of copyright protection).

More important, I share some of Prendergast’s frustration that those of us who have been working tirelessly in the trenches to defeat Bachmann will likely be left toiling in our mud-splattered trenches long after the Democratic gravy train has whizzed by. (Check out the reader comments on my Bachmann Watch blog at St. Cloud Times online to see the abuse we have to put up with from Bachmann apologists when we stand up for reason, sanity, and truth.)

——

Related report

Democratic Site Tracks Claims by Bachmann

By Larry Bivens
Times Washington correspondent
St. Cloud Times
April 25, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has created a Web site devoted to some of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s controversial statements.

The DCCC, which supports Democratic candidates for Congress, calls some of the statements “lies that can quickly be disproven.”

The page called “Bachmann Watch — Michele Bachmann vs. The Truth” can be viewed beginning tonight at www.BachmannWatch.com. In addition to the statements, it carries video clips.

It is the DCCC’s latest attack on the Minnesota Republican, who was re-elected last November to a second term after creating a stir during the campaign season by calling then-presidential candidate Barack Obama “anti-American.”

Bachmann’s opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, donated $250,000 to the DCCC in two March contributions of $125,000 each, according to a report he filed April 15 with the Federal Election Commission.

“Congresswoman Bachmann is out of touch with the hardworking families of Minnesota who are looking for common-sense solutions to the challenges facing our country,” said Gabby Adler, DCCC spokeswoman for the Midwest. “Contrary to the congresswoman’s claims, she focuses her time and energy pursuing extremist rhetoric and promoting false claims in order to bolster her far-right wing ideology.”

Bachmann’s spokesman brushed aside this latest attack, saying it reflects a futility by the DCCC to sway Bachmann’s constituents against her.

“When you can’t defend your policies and you’re so far out of touch with the American people, I guess there’s nothing more you can do than nitpick your opposition,” spokesman Dave Dziok said.

——

Nonpartisan site tracking claims by Rep. Bachmann:

The Bachmann File 

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More than 60 Dead in Mosque Attack

The Associated Press and Reuters, via MSNBC.com
April 24, 2009

BAGHDAD – Back-to-back suicide bombings killed 60 people Friday outside the most important Shiite shrine in Baghdad, a day after the country was rocked by its most deadly violence in more than a year.

The bombings Friday and Thursday — in which nearly 80 people were killed — are the latest in a series of high-profile attacks blamed on Sunni insurgents. A new review of available evidence compiled by The Associated Press also suggested that more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The bombers Friday detonated explosive belts within minutes of each other near separate gates of the tomb of prominent Shiite saint Imam Mousa al-Kazim, located in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah, according to a police official. Another police official said the bombers struck shortly before the start of Friday prayers as worshippers streamed in to the mosque — an important site for Shiite pilgrims.

Among the dead were 25 Iranian pilgrims, police and a hospital official said. Both said at least 125 people, including 80 Iranian pilgrims, also were injured in the blast. …

Sectarian divide

Analysts say the sectarian divide remains between Shiites and Sunnis that led to tens of thousands being slaughtered, while Kurd-Arab tensions over disputed lands in the north could also provoke renewed conflict.

The shrine has been a favored target of insurgents, most recently in early April when the a bomb left in a plastic bag near the shrine killed seven people and wounded 23.

In January, a man dressed as a woman blew himself up near the shrine, killing more than three dozen people and wounding more than 70. …

Meanwhile, funerals began Friday for those killed in the suicide bombings a day earlier in Baghdad and in Diyala province.

Coffins were loaded on trucks near the Baghdad offices of the Iraqi Red Crescent, whose volunteers were distributing food parcels in central Baghdad when a suicide bomber killed 31 and wounded at least 50 others.

Related reports

Iraq bombings threaten to renew chaos

Iraqi blasts stir worries of insurgent push

Nearly 150 dead in two days of bloodshed; April already deadliest month in Iraq this year with about 350 Iraqis killed in war-related violence.  

——

Report: 110,600 Iraqis Killed Since Invasion

Dozens of bodies are laid to rest in a mass grave in Baqouba, Iraq, on December 13, 2008. (Photo credit: AFP – Getty Images)

April 24, 2009

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to statistics obtained by The Associated Press that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.

Combined with tallies based on hospital sources and media reports since the beginning of the war and an in-depth review of available evidence by The Associated Press, the government figures show that more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The number is a minimum count of violent deaths. The official who provided the data to the AP, on condition of anonymity because of its sensitivity, estimated the actual number of deaths at 10 to 20 percent higher because of thousands who are still missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records.

The Health Ministry has tallied death certificates since 2005, and late that year the United Nations began using them — along with hospital and morgue figures — to publicly release casualty counts. But by early 2007, when sectarian violence was putting political pressure on the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the Iraqi numbers disappeared. The United Nations “repeatedly asked for that cooperation” to resume but never received a response, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday.

The data obtained by the AP measure only violent deaths — people killed in attacks such as the shootings, bombings, mortar attacks and beheadings that have ravaged Iraq. It excluded indirect factors such as damage to infrastructure, health care and stress that caused thousands more to die.

Authoritative statistics for 2003 and 2004 do not exist. But Iraq Body Count, a private, British-based group, has tallied civilian deaths from media reports and other sources since the war’s start. The AP reviewed the Iraq Body Count analysis and confirmed its conclusions by sifting the data and consulting experts. The AP also interviewed experts involved with previous studies, prominent Iraq analysts and provincial and medical officials to determine that the new tally was credible.

The AP also added its own tabulation of deaths since Feb. 28, the last date in the Health Ministry count.

The three figures add up to more than 110,600 Iraqis who have died in the war. …

Iraq Body Count’s estimate of deaths since the start of the war, excluding police and soldiers, is a range — between 91,466 and 99,861.

‘We have lost everything’

The numbers show just how traumatic the war has been for Iraq. In a nation of 29 million people, the deaths represent 0.38 percent of the population. Proportionally, that would be like the United States losing 1.2 million people to violence in the four-year period; about 17,000 people are murdered every year in the U.S. …

“We have lost everything,” said Badriya Abbas Jabbar, 54. A 2007 truck bombing targeting a market near her Baghdad home killed three granddaughters, a son and a niece. …

The Health Ministry figures indicate such violence was tremendously deadly. Of the 87,215 deaths, 59,957 came in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian attacks soared and death squads roamed the streets. The period was marked by catastrophic bombings and execution-style killings.

Quantifying the loss has always been difficult. Records were not always compiled centrally, and the brutal insurgency sharply limited on-the-scene reporting. The U.S. military never shared its data. …

The AP obtained a two-page computer printout listing yearly totals for death certificates issued for violent deaths by hospitals and morgues between Jan. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2009.

The ministry does not have figures for the first two years of the war because it was devastated in the aftermath of the invasion, the official said.

Experts said the count constitutes an important baseline, albeit an incomplete one. Richard Brennan, who has done mortality research in Congo and Kosovo, said it is likely a “gross underestimate” because many deaths go unrecorded in war zones.

The Iraqi Body Count numbers are likely even more incomplete, given that many killings occurred in incidents journalists were unaware of or in inaccessible areas.

Mass graves have been turning up as improved security allows patrols in formerly off-limits areas, but how many remain will never be known.

The death toll in Iraq has been a hotly disputed subject because of the high political stakes in a war opposed by many countries and by a large portion of the American public. Critics on each side accuse the other of manipulating the death numbers to sway opinion.

While the Pentagon maintains meticulous records of the number of American troops killed — at least 4,276 as of Thursday — it does not publicly release comprehensive Iraqi casualty figures. …

The AP has filed Freedom of Information Act requests since 2005 seeking that data, but has not received it.

The U.S. policy to not fully address civilian deaths has drawn heavy criticism from human rights groups.

“We believe that all warring parties have a duty to keep information on casualties,” said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch in New York. “It’s one of many factors one needs to analyze compliance with international humanitarian law.”

The AP has tried since the first days of the war to understand how many Iraqis were being killed.

Poor record-keeping

In 2003, AP journalists traveled across Iraq to search hospital records for civilian deaths during the first chaotic month of the invasion. They found that at least 3,240 civilians died that month, including 1,896 in Baghdad, but acknowledged that number was a fraction of the total because record-keeping often fell victim to the bloodshed.

Beginning in May 2005, the AP has tracked war-related casualties as reported by police, hospital and government officials, mosque workers and verifiable witness accounts, breaking down the victims into civilians, soldiers and police. That tally has reached 46,065, including 37,205 civilians, but also underrepresents the true casualty number because many killings go unreported, especially in more remote areas. …

Some experts say casualty tallies based on media reports are inaccurate, because too many deaths go unreported. Some favor cluster surveys, in which conclusions are drawn from a select sampling of households.

The largest cluster survey in Iraq was conducted in 2007 by the World Health Organization and the Iraqi government. It concluded that about 151,000 Iraqis had died from violence in the 2003-05 period, but that included insurgents.

A more controversial cluster study conducted between May and July 2006 by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, published in the Lancet medical journal, estimated that 601,027 Iraqis had died due to violence. The authors said roughly 50,000 more died from nonviolent causes such as heart disease and cancer because of deteriorating health conditions caused by the war.

Critics argue that such surveys are flawed in Iraq because the security situation prevents a proper sampling. They also have margins of error that could skew the numbers by the tens of thousands. …

“The loss of life among those caught up in conflict is tragic whatever the numbers reported,” said Gilbert Burnham, one of authors of the Lancet survey. “And finding approaches which will reduce these deaths is of great importance.”

Related report: Secret tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead since 2005 

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Suicide Bombers Strike, Killing At Least 78

Shanoon Humoud, 70, sat weeping amid burned food packages scattered on the ground at the site of a suicide attack in Baghdad on Thursday, April 23, 2009. Her husband, son, and two grandchildren were killed in the blast. A suicide bomber blew himself up amid Iraqi policemen and  Iraqi Red Crescent workers distributing humanitarian aid to displaced families, killing at least 31 people and wounding about 50, police and hospital officials said. (Photo credit: Ali Abbas / EPA)

April 23, 2009

BAGHDAD – Suicide bombers struck a humanitarian aid distribution point and a crowded restaurant in separate attacks Thursday in Iraq, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest day of violence to strike the country this year.

The attacks were the latest in a series of high-profile bombings that have raised concern of an uptick in violence as the U.S. military scales back its forces before a planned withdrawal by the end of 2011. …

Iranian pilgrims among the dead

In Thursday’s attacks, a suicide bomber killed 47 people, including Iranian pilgrims, in a crowded restaurant north of Baghdad, said Iraqi and U.S. military officials.

Military spokesman Derrick Cheng said 47 people were killed and about 69 were wounded when the suicide bomber detonated an explosives vest near Muqdadiyah, an insurgent hotbed about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Iraqi police and hospital officials said the dead included 37 Iranian pilgrims.

In Baghdad itself, a suicide bomber struck a group of Iraqis collecting humanitarian aid in a mainly Shiite area, killing at least 31 people, the military said. …

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, but one witness said it appeared to be a woman. Women have been used in suicide bombings in Iraq, most recently during a Feb. 13 attack on Shiite pilgrims in Musayyib. …

Abbas Ibrahim, a 24-year-old college student, described pools of blood on the ground and the smell of burned flesh in the air.

“We regret that violence has come back to Baghdad,” he said.

Some police were among the dead and wounded, the military said.

Bomb-clearing soldiers head to Afghanistan

The Pentagon’s top Middle East adviser, Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Colin Kahl, said Wednesday that insurgent attacks in Iraq will probably increase as U.S. forces start to leave, but that there’s no plan now to delay troop departures.

On Thursday, American soldiers who specialize in clearing bombs from roads boarded a plane from Iraq to the Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, part of the largest movement of personnel and equipment between the two war fronts. …

——

Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Thursday, April 23, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber killed 28 people and wounded 50 when he, or she, targeted police helping to distribute relief supplies to displaced families in central Baghdad, police said.

MUQDADIYA – A suicide bomber killed at least 48 people and wounded 77, most of them Iranian Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims, in a restaurant near the town of Muqdadiya, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

AL-UDHAIM – A roadside bomb killed three people and wounded three from a U.S.-backed Sunni Arab militia in the town of al-Udhaim, 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said. Police said one of the dead was Mubarak Humadi al-Ubaidi, a leader of the Sunni patrolmen, or “Sahwa,” in al-Udhaim.

MOSUL – A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol, wounding two civilians, in eastern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Four people were wounded by a roadside bomb in western Mosul, police said.

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Taliban Advance Near Pakistan’s Capital

U.S. warns area could become sanctioned base for al-Qaida

A student on the site of a destroyed school building on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 in Mingora, capital of Pakistan’s troubled Swat valley, now under Taliban control. (B. K. Bangash / AP)

April 22, 2009

ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants have extended their grip in northwestern Pakistan, pushing out from a valley where the government has agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles from the capital.

Police and officials appear to have fled as armed militants also broadcast radio sermons and spread fear in Buner district, just 60 miles from Islamabad, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.

Pakistan’s president signed off on the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the one-time tourist haven’s 1.5 million residents.

Critics, including in Washington, have warned that the valley could become an officially sanctioned base for allies of al-Qaida — and that it may be just the first domino in nuclear-armed Pakistan to fall to the Taliban.

“The activities in the Swat do concern us. We’re keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military,” Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker told Pentagon reporters in a 35-minute videoconference call from Afghanistan. …

Militants take over shrine

In recent days, the Swat militants have set their sights on Buner, a district just south of the valley, sparking at least one major clash with residents. The moves indicate the militants want to expand their presence beyond Swat to other parts of Malakand at the very least, under the guise of enforcing Islamic law. …

The militants in Buner also are using radio airwaves to broadcast sermons about Islam, and have occupied the homes of some prominent landowners, said a police official who insisted on anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation. He said the militants have also warned barbers to stop shaving men’s beards and stores to stop selling music and movies. …

The militants have established a major base in the village of Sultanwas and have set up positions in the nearby hills, the police official said. Militants also have taken over the shrine of a famed Sufi saint known as Pir Baba, he said. …

Since the provincial government agreed to the deal in February, Taliban fighters had adopted a lower profile and stopped openly displaying weapons in Swat as part of a cease-fire.

Armed patrols roam

But on Tuesday, upon the radio-broadcast orders of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, the militants began roaming parts of the valley with rifles and other weapons. An AP reporter saw the patrols in Mingora, the valley’s main city.

Residents from nearby towns in Swat said militants were setting up checkpoints on several roads. The residents requested anonymity out of fear for their lives.

Fazlullah ordered his fighters to withdraw again in a broadcast on Wednesday. He didn’t explain why.

Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan could not be reached for comment.

Khan said recently that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the U.S. from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected in Swat — a statement the government condemned.

He also said the militants want to see all of Pakistan under Islamic law — a cry echoed by several other Islamist firebrands. …

4/23/09 Update: Taliban Pushing Toward Capital in Pakistan

Pakistani force & NATO terminal attacked in region crucial to U.S.

——

5/12/09 Update

Shaky Pakistan is seen as target of Al Qaeda plots

Supporters of a Pakistani religious group Jamaat-e-Islami burn an effigy of President Barack Obama on Sunday during a rally in Lahore against suspected U.S. drone attacks in tribal areas. (Photo credit: K. M. Chaudary / AP)

Pakistan: 1.3 million flee full-scale assault

Pakistan, U.S. confront refugee problem

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Tensions Rise in Iraq’s Mosul Amid Kurdish Boycott

 
April 22, 2009

MOSUL – Tensions between Kurds and Sunni Arabs are rising in Iraq’s volatile northern city of Mosul and the surrounding province following local elections in January which saw Sunni representation jump dramatically.

Kurdish-led provincial council members and Kurdish-run towns have vowed to boycott the now Sunni-dominated provincial council, some going as far as to say they want to join the nearby semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

There is already underlying discord between Baghdad and Arbil, the autonomous Kurdish capital, over the division of oil wealth and control of northern towns, especially the oil-rich and ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.

On Wednesday in Zummar, one of the Kurdish towns that has joined the boycott against the provincial council, a suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint run by Kurdish Peshmerga forces while a Peshmerga commander survived a separate car bomb attack, police said. …

While violence has fallen sharply across most of Iraq, al Qaeda and other insurgents have made a stand in Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, and the surrounding Nineveh province, where Arabs, minority Kurds and Christians and others make for an uneasy mix.

Mosul, and similarly mixed Diyala province, are the two areas where the U.S. forces that invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein still conduct major combat operations.

Analysts and U.S. officials had hoped that provincial elections in January would ease some of the tensions in Mosul. …

In Zummar on Wednesday, an attacker tried to ram a car packed with explosives into a Kurdish checkpoint. Police sources said one of the Kurdish soldiers opened fire at the car and it detonated before reaching its target.

In a separate incident, also in Zummar, a Kurdish Peshmerga commander escaped death when a car bomb exploded near his convoy. No one was hurt in the attack, police said.

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Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 5 in Iraq Mosque

 
April 22, 2009

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside a mosque in central Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding 15, police said.

The attack took place at a Sunni Muslim mosque in the town of Dhuluiya, 45 miles north of Baghdad, police in Tikrit said. Initial reports said the attack injured Nadhim al-Jubouri, a leader of a local armed guard unit, but police later said he was not among those injured.

An official at a security forces command center in Tikrit said the bomber was a young man of around 15 to 16 years old.

The violence in Iraq unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003 has eased from the worst of the sectarian bloodletting in 2006-2007.

But suicide bombings and other attacks continue to jar Iraq’s fragile calm, especially in ethnically mixed areas, even as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011.

On Monday, a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform killed four policemen near a local government headquarters in northeastern Diyala province. Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded.

Some say violence could surge anew as rival political and armed groups position themselves ahead of anticipated national elections slated for late this year.

The U.S.-backed mainly Sunni guard units, known as Sons of Iraq or Awakening Councils, are credited with helping drive al Qaeda militants out of much of Iraq since they sprang up in western Anbar province in 2006.

But the relationship of the guards, many of them former insurgents themselves, with the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad has often been strained.

—–

Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier died after being injured during a patrol in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

DHULUIYA – A suicide bomber killed at least five people inside a mosque in Dhuluiya, 45 miles north of Baghdad, also wounding 15 people, police said.

MOSUL – A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in a crowded market wounded eight people, including a policeman, in central Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR MOSUL – A Kurdish Peshmerga leader escaped death when a bomb in a parked car exploded near his convoy in the small town of Zummar, northwest of Mosul, police said. No casualties were reported.

NEAR MOSUL – Also in Zummar, a suicide car bomber attacked a security checkpoint run by Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Police sources in Mosul said one of the Kurdish soldiers opened fire at the car and it detonated before reaching its target.

KIRKUK – Gunmen in a car kidnapped a judge while he was heading to his office in southwestern Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, police brigadier general Sarhat Qader said.

MOSUL – A suicide car bomber on Tuesday attacked a military checkpoint and seriously wounded two soldiers in eastern Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD – A bomb on Tuesday killed a policeman and wounded three others when it struck their patrol in the Amiriya district of western Baghdad, police said.

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U.S. Senate Confirms Christoper Hill as Iraq Envoy

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill (Photo credit: Evan Vucci / AP) 

April 21, 2009

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Barack Obama’s pick to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Christoper Hill, after debate over whether he mismanaged international disarmament talks with North Korea.

Hill, a veteran diplomat, won confirmation in a 73-23 vote. 

Obama’s Democratic colleagues complained Republicans had used Senate rules to stall the vote for weeks when Hill should have been rushed to Baghdad to help manage the president’s troop drawdown. …

Hill’s critics said he lacked Middle East experience and mishandled multilateral talks with North Korea aimed at scrapping its nuclear program as the Bush administration drew to a close.

Republican Senator Sam Brownback questioned how those talks could be called successful since Pyongyang announced this month it would quit them and restart a plant that makes weapons-grade plutonium. He also charged that Hill had turned a blind eye to human rights issues during the talks. …

Republican Senator John McCain rapped Hill’s lack of Middle East experience, saying that “our next ambassador must hit the ground running” in Iraq and Hill was not ready.

Hill’s defenders said he had proven in the North Korea talks and in the 1995 Dayton Peace negotiations that ended the Bosnian war that he had skills for the Iraq post. …

Brownback also proposed legislation to return North Korea to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington took Pyongyang off the list last October as a reward for steps North Korea had taken during the talks on denuclearization.

Hill, who has been serving as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, is also a former ambassador to Poland, Macedonia and South Korea. He pledged to go to Baghdad within a day of his confirmation.

Update: New U.S. ambassador arrives in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP, April 24) – The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq has arrived in Baghdad to take up his post. Christopher Hill formally presented his credentials Friday to Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. …

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IRAQ UPDATE

Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Monday, April 20, as reported by Reuters.

BAQUBA – A suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform killed four policemen, wounding seven civilians and eight U.S. soldiers near the local government headquarters in Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, police and U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD – Gunmen killed a man working as a driver for the Planning Ministry in the Ghadir district of eastern Baghdad, officials said. 

MUSSAYAB – Police said they pulled the body of a man who had been shot in the head and chest from a waterway in Mussayab, 40 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

Following are security developments in Iraq on Sunday, April 19, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – Unknown gunmen killed an off-duty lieutenant-colonel in his car in west Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded five people including two policemen in the Zaafaraniya district of southeast Baghdad, police said. 

BAGHDAD – A mortar round wounded two civilians when it hit a power generator in the Zayouna district of east Baghdad.

MOSUL – Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint killing two policemen and wounding another in the city of Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Mosul, killing one soldier, police said.

BAGHDAD – Unknown gunmen killed seven people using silencers at a gold shop in Baghdad’s Tobchi district, the city’s security spokesman said.

MOSUL – A parked car bomb targeting a U.S. patrol wounded seven people in the east of the city of Mosul, police said.

HILLA – Police found the bodies of two Sunni Arab militiamen with bullet wounds to the head and chest in Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb wounded four people in the Doura district of southern Baghdad late on Saturday, police said.

BAGHDAD – A bomb wounded two people in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad late on Saturday, police said.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq 

As of Monday, April 20, 2009, at least 4,274 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,215 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

The latest identifications reported by the military:

• Marine Lance Cpl. Ray A. Spencer II, 20, Ridgecrest, Calif., died April 16 after a non-combat incident in Anbar province; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
• Sgt. Raul Moncada, 29, Madera, Calif., died April 13 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 563^rd Military Police Company, 91^st Military Police Battalion, 10^th Sustainment Brigade, 10^th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
• Spc. Michael J. Anaya, 23, Crestview, Fla., died April 12 in Bayji, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties 

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Shells Hit Baghdad’s Protected Green Zone

April 18, 2009

BAGHDAD – Suspected militants shelled Baghdad’s protected Green Zone on Saturday in the first such bombardment in more than three months.

The back-to-back strikes reverberated across the Tigris River to a popular promenade, sending families packing up from fish restaurants and abruptly halting a party at a club.

Violence across Iraq remains sharply down compared with past years, but attacks and bloodshed have edged up in recent weeks and brought worries that it could slow the return of nightlife and commerce to parts of Baghdad.

The U.S. military said the Green Zone was hit by two “indirect fire” rounds — which typically means either rockets or mortars — but there were no casualties or damage reported.

A police official says the rounds were fired from predominantly Shiite eastern Baghdad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

The attack came during a light sandstorm, which prevents helicopter patrols and gives militants cover.

The Green Zone was last targeted by rockets or mortars on Jan. 15, leaving one person injured. The attacks are usually blamed on Shiite militias. The area contains the U.S. and British embassies and key Iraqi government offices.

West of Baghdad, Iraqi forces launched raids into an industrial zone in Fallujah where authorities fear Sunni insurgents could be seeking to regain footholds in areas they once controlled. …

There are worrying signs of violence returning.

On Thursday, a suicide bomber struck an Iraqi military base in Habbaniyah near Fallujah. The blast injured at least 38 Iraqi soldiers — and was the fourth major attack against Iraqi security forces this month. …

Gunmen in Baghdad, meanwhile, killed a police intelligence official working for the Interior Ministry, said police and hospital officials.

The drive-by shooting occurred as Col. Haider Hadi Fadhil stopped his car at the gate of his house in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. …

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