Too Much Fun In One Day!

I can't even keep track!

The EU might call it quits on a constitution! Finally, ze Germans inject some order!

Hamas was trying to take over?! Who put this genius in charge?

We like to brag about how much Iraqi ass we're kicking. (We just don't want anyone to know how bad we're getting spanked!) [text below]

Meanwhile, things are peaceful on the home front. If by "peaceful" you mean psycho-socially bereft and violent!

June 20, 2007
Fighting Heavy as U.S. Troops Pursue Iraqi Insurgents
By ALISSA J. RUBIN

BAGHDAD, June 20 —American troops continued their aggressively push today in Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, in an effort to rid it of extremists believed to be part of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

The fighting was heavy in some places in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, with soldiers moving block by block through large sections of the city, clearing houses and removing roadside bombs.
At least 30 insurgents tied to Al Qaeda were killed and 14 bombs were dismantled during the first full day of operations, according to the United States military and the Iraqi Army.

With the exception of southern Iraq, much of the rest of the country was relatively quiet. In Baghdad, the death toll from Tuesday’s bombing at a busy square rose to 87 as more bodies were recovered and some of the injured died.

But south of Baghdad, in Shiite-dominated areas, violence appeared to be on the rise. In Hilla, three Sunni Arab mosques were bombed, signaling the rising tension between the Shiite majority in the area and the minority Sunnis.

Nasiriya, the capital of Dhi Qar province, about 225 miles south of Baghdad, was finally quiet today after American forces intervened in a battle with members of the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, according to a statement from the American military and from the Sadr office in Nasiriya.

Several Nasiriya police force members had been badly injured in fighting on Monday and Tuesday, and Iraqi Army forces came to try to rescue them. The soldiers came under heavy fire from the Sadr militia men, who were positioned on rooftops and fired at them from every direction, the American military said. Iraqi soldiers returned fire, but were unable to overcome the militia gunmen. Later, the American troops called in an airstrike to suppress the fire from the Sadr militiamen, according to the American military statement.

Sadr supporters said by the time the American strike came, they were trying to retreat on orders from Mr. Sadr in Najaf.

“A delegation from Sadr’s office in Najaf visited Nasiriya and met with the leaderships there. A solution based on consensus was reached,” said Hussein al-Araji, one of Sadr’s representatives with the Sadr office in Nasiriya. “The Mahdi Army withdrew quickly. The delegation carried direct orders from Moktada that they were not to attack security forces even if they attack Mahdi Army.”

Over the last three days, three Sadr gunmen were killed and 45 injured, according to an American military statement, and Iraqi security forces took 30 casualties. It was not clear if any Iraqi soldiers were killed or if they sustained mainly injuries.

The American military in Baghdad also announced it had rescued 24 severely malnourished and maltreated orphan boys, some of whom appeared to be retarded. The rescue was first reported by CBS News on Monday. The soldiers discovered the orphanage on June 10. The children, aged 3 to 15, were found naked in a darkened room, some of them in pools of their own excrement.
Some were tied to their beds. They had hollowed eyes and were emaciated, their bones painfully visible through their skin. Some were unable to stand on their own when they were untied.

American soldiers found a room with food and fresh clothing for the children next to where they had been all but abandoned, the military said. The Iraqi Army and the local neighborhood council helped rescue the children and American medics gave them initial care. They have been moved to a nearby orphanage for girls from which they had initially been removed because of concerns that boys and girls should not live together, according to workers at the orphanage, the military said.

The military found three female caretakers and two men, including the orphanage director at the orphanage. The report on CBS said that soon after the boys were found, the director fled. The local neighborhood council was reported to be shaken by the discovery and immediately hired 10 caretakers to help care for the children.

Alissa J. Rubin contributed reporting from Baghdad and an employee of The New York Times contributed from Diyala province.