From The Australian :

US warplanes pounded the flashpoint Iraqi city of Fallujah today as gunfire could be heard from within and US troops outside responded with artillery shells, Major Todd Desgrosseilliers, an executive officer with the marines, told an AFP reporter embedded with the US forces.

”There are aircraft carrying out precision engagements inside the city on identified enemy positions,” he said.

Insurgents had been firing from the targeted sites as recently as Sunday night, he added.

Warplanes rumbled over the Sunni Muslim bastion, west of Baghdad, pounding rebel positions for at least an hour from about 8:00 am (1500 AEDT).

And from the AFP, via The Australian :

Twelve people were killed in US air strikes and ground fire in the centre of the rebel-held Iraqi city of Fallujah today, an official from a local medical clinic said.

The official said 10 people were killed when a US aircraft bombed their house near the Faruq mosque in the centre of the Sunni Muslim bastion.

Two hours later, shells landing near a local cemetery killed two other people taking part in a funeral procession, he said.

From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A number of prisoners, said to be foreign fighters, have been paraded on television in Iraq.

According to officials the 19 men were among more than 160 people taken into custody during recent raids.

They are alleged to have entered Iraq illegally and were planning suicide bomb attacks.

Most of the prisoners said they came from Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt, but only one said he had gone to Iraq to fight the Americans.

From The Australian :

A car bomb exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul tonight, injuring one US soldier and 12 Iraqi bystanders, US military and hospital officials said.

The car bomb exploded at 10.30 a.m. (6.30pm AEDT) near a US army convoy, wounding the soldier, who was evacuated to a nearby military hospital, said Captain Angela Bowman.

Officials at the al-Salaam hospital said that 12 Iraqis were brought in for injuries.

The entire convoy was able to move out of the explosion area, she said, though three civilian vehicles were damaged.

From Reuters via The Australian :

A car bomb blew up near a US convoy on Baghdad’s airport road today, killing at least two Iraqi civilians, police said.

US troops sealed off the area and there was no word on any American casualties.

One of the dead Iraqis was a woman.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• The battle for Fallujah has begun as American troops seized two bridges across the Euphrates River in western Fallujah. Wretchard takes a look at the preparations the Coalition made for the battle, as well as an assessment of the initial reports.

• Arthur Chrenkoff’s Good News from Iraq compilation is out. Winds of Change.NET has it in a uniquely improved format.

• Terrorists killed at least 33 people in a series of car bombings, undermining the claims of the Iraqi government to have pacified the city.

Other Topics Today Include: British casualties continue to mount; prepping the objective in Fallujah; more lights come on in Iraq; Saudi clerics issue new fatwa; Iraq gains a little EU support; is Arab support for the terrorists fading; SAMs go missing in Iraq.

Continue Reading “Winds Monday Iraq Report: Nov 8/04”

Iraq’s interim defense minister Hazem Sha’alan has lashed out at U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and leaders of other Arab countries during a pep talk for Iraqi troops before an expected assault on the insurgent-held city of Falluja.

Annan warned in a letter dated October 31 to the United States, Britain and Iraq that such an assault would have a “negative impact” on the prospects for elections, now scheduled for January.

But Sha’alan said on Sunday that Annan did nothing to help Iraqis under the rule of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

“Where was Kofi Annan when Saddam was slaughtering the Iraqis like sheep?” Sha’alan said.

“Where were the calls we hear from Arab and Islamic countries when Saddam was messing up the country?”

Read more…