More GIs, Cholera, Ordinary? No. Iraq!

[uppityperson]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/APWires/headlines/D8RM00381.html

Bush: More GIs to fill Iraq support role

While "formidable challenges" remain in Iraq, President Bush said Saturday, the United States will start shifting more troops into support roles - in addition to the troop withdrawals announced earlier in the week.

In December, the United States will begin a new military phase in Iraq - one in which "our troops will shift over time from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces, and eventually to overwatching those forces," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Bush was following the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003885609_iraqcholera15.html

Number of cholera cases in Iraq keeps going up

The number of suspected cholera cases in northern Iraq continues to rise, with 16,000 people now showing symptoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday.

As of Monday, 6,000 have been reported with symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting in the province of Sulaimaniyah, another 7,000 in Tamim province, and 3,000 in Irbil province, the WHO said in a statement.

To date 10 people have died and 844 cases of the disease have been confirmed, the WHO said. Earlier in the week, regional authorities reported 11,000 people with symptoms, 700 confirmed cases and 10 deaths...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003885612_iraqlife15.html

Ordinary? Residents describe life in Baghdad as miserable

"Ordinary" isn't a word that Baghdad residents use to describe their lives.

Gunmen are driving people from neighborhoods in the city's southwest. Electricity, depending on which block you live on, is available as little as two hours a day. Running water, if it's available, is unsafe to drink.

Car bombings are down, but most residents won't leave their neighborhoods, frightened that they will encounter Shiite Muslim militiamen or Sunni Muslim extremists who will kill them. Some markets are reopening in the southern neighborhood of Dora under the watch of U.S. soldiers, but no one from outside the neighborhood visits. As for schools, it's hard to say: The school year hasn't started.

Yousef al-Mousawi, 28, a Shiite resident of Sadr City, told this story Friday: Two days ago, his friend Mustafa was kidnapped from his computer shop. He was found dead, shot in the head. It wasn't unusual. Al-Mousawi sees bodies every day in his neighborhood -- controlled by the Mahdi Army militia, loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr....(more)

:grr: :cry: :cry: :cry: :grr: