Operation Iraqi Freedom/External links: Year Five (Part One)

Year Five - Beyond Quagmire of Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced on March 19, 2007.

This section is Part 1 and covers March 19, 2007, through April 30, 2007.


 * Part 2 covers May through July 2007
 * Part 3 begins with August 1, 2007

Also see Task Bar for more links.

Extended Coverage

 * "America at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terror and More", Washington Post.
 * "Iraq on the Record: The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq" presented by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform website. Searchable by name of Bush administration official, topic, or key word.
 * "A Timeline of the Iraq War" from Think Progress.

Fourth Anniversary, March 19, 2007

 * "Iraq By the Numbers," Center for American Progress, March 19, 2007.
 * 3,217: Number of American troops killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
 * 54: Percentage of troops killed who were 24 years old or younger.


 * Karen DeYoung, "Iraq War's Statistics Prove Fleeting," Washington Post, March 19, 2007.
 * "Iraq: Where Things Stand," USA TODAY, March 19, 2007.
 * Robin Fields, "Assessing Iraq war as 4th anniversary nears. Experts disagree on whether the conflict will ultimately prove worthy of the sacrifices," Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2007.
 * Claudia Parsons, "Few Iraqis trust U.S. forces four years on," Reuters (Washington Post), March 19, 2007.
 * jurassicpork, "Teenage Wasteland," Welcome to Pottersville Blogspot, March 19, 2007.
 * Ben Feller, "Standoff Over Iraq War Funding Looming," Associated Press (ABC News), March 19, 2007.
 * Aaron Clark, "Iraq War's Anniversary Sparks Protests," Associated Press (Washington Post), March 19, 2007.
 * Marcus Wohlsen, "Antiwar protests attract thousands. Demonstrations in US and overseas," Associated Press (Boston Globe), March 19, 2007.
 * Nico Pitney, "Tony Snow 'Defensive' On Iraq Anniversary, Tells CNN's Ed Henry To 'Zip It'," Think Progress, March 19, 2007. re Tony Snow and Bush administration
 * Matt Spetalnick, "Bush to warn of dire effect if U.S. leaves Iraq," Reuters (ABC News), March 19, 2007.
 * "Bush Talks About War Anniversary. Poll: U.S. Coalition Lacks Iraqi Confidence," TheBostonChannel.com, March 19, 2007.
 * Mark Silva, "'This is going to be... a long war'," The Swamp Blog/Chicago Tribune, March 19, 2007.
 * "Bush: Cannot allow terror to spread," UPI, March 19, 2007.
 * William Branigin, "Bush Warns U.S. Security Will Suffer if Troops Withdraw From Iraq," Washington Post, March 19, 2007.
 * Karin Brulliard and Howard Schneider, "Rice: Iraq War 'Worth the Sacrifice'. Secretary Asks for Patience as Deadly Bombings Rock Baghdad and Kirkuk," Washington Post, March 19, 2007.
 * "Five blasts in Iraq's Kirkuk kill 18, wound 37," Reuters (Washington Post), March 19, 2007.
 * Sameer N. Yacoub, "Bomb kills 8 at Baghdad Shiite mosque," Associated Press (Houston Chronicle), March 19, 2007.
 * Kitty Kelley, "Why aren't the Bush daughters in Iraq? The president's family has set an appallingly bad example for wartime sacrifice," Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2007.

March 2007

 * Mark Benjamin, "Army deployed seriously injured troops. Soldiers on crutches and canes were sent to a main desert camp used for Iraq training. Military experts say the Army was pumping up manpower statistics to show a brigade was battle ready," Salon, March 26, 2007.
 * Rosemary Desmond, "Iraq diggers 'contaminated with radiation'," Herald Sun (Australia), March 27, 2007.
 * Richard Horton, "Counting the cost. The figures have now been vindicated by the government's own advisers. It's time we held our leaders to account for the 650,000 Iraqi dead," comment is free... / Guardian Unlimited (UK), March 27, 2007.
 * Kirk Semple and Alissa J. Rubin, "Sweeps in Iraq Cram Two Jails With Detainees," New York Times, March 28, 2007.
 * Sarah Olson, "Opposition to the War Growing Among Troops," truthout, March 28, 2007.
 * Tom Engelhardt, "Tomgram: Have the car-bombers already defeated the surge? Mike Davis on the weapon no one can stop," TomDispatch.com (WorkingForChange), March 28, 2007.
 * Lydia Georgi, "Saudi King Slams 'Illegitimate Occupation' of Iraq," Agence France Presse (Common Dreams), March 28, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "McCain insists Baghdad is safe. From Baghdad, CNN's Michael Ware is not sure what part of Neverland McCain is talking about," AMERICAblog, March 28, 2007.
 * Karin Brulliard and Robin Wright, "Strikes on Baghdad's Green Zone on the Rise. On 6 of Past 7 Days, Rockets or Shells Have Hit Sector That Includes U.S. Embassy," Washington Post, March 29, 2007.
 * Shalaigh Murray, "Senate Passes Iraq War Funding Bill," Washington Post, March 29, 2007. re Congressional actions on the Iraq War
 * Joshua Partlow, "More Than 100 Killed in Baghdad, Nearby Town. Blast in Capital Hits Area Central To Security Plan," Washington Post, March 30, 2007.
 * "Tal Afar bomb toll hits 152, deadliest of Iraq war. Tally arrives during week in which more than 500 died in sectarian violence," MSNBC, March 31, 2007.

April 2007

 * Sherry Ricchiardi, "Obstructed View," American Journalism Review, April/May 2007: "Extreme danger and sky-high security costs have diminished the press corps in Iraq and severely limited access to a deepening morass. The result is a clouded picture of perhaps today’s most important news story."
 * "U.S. death toll in March twice that of Iraq forces. 81 American troops killed in first full month of security crackdown," Associated Press (MSNBC), April 1, 2007.
 * Babak Dehghanpisheh, "A Sunday Stroll in Iraq's Capital," Checkpoint Baghdad / Newsweek, April 1, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "McCain takes 'safe' stroll in Baghdad market... wearing body armor, flanked by 100 American soldiers, 3 Blackhawk helicopters, and 2 Apache gunships," AMERICAblog, April 1, 2007.
 * Mark Mazzetti, "Qaeda Is Seen as Restoring Leadership," New York Times, April 2, 2007. re Al Qaeda
 * Joe Sudbay, "McCain's Iraq delusions, Part II," AMERICAblog, April 2, 2007.
 * Kirk Semple, "McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say," New York Times, April 3, 2007.
 * Julie Mason, "Less than a rally, more than a stare-down," NewsWatch: White House Blog/Houston Chronicle, April 4, 2007.
 * Greg Mitchell, "EXCLUSIVE: Soldier In New Friendly Fire Case Did Not Get Full Training," Editor & Publisher, April 4, 2007.
 * "12,000 more Guard troops may be going to Iraq. Deployment order planned to lessen surge's strain on stretched-thin Army," MSNBC and NBC News, April 5, 2007.
 * Mark Thompson, "America's Broken-Down Army," TIME Magazine, April 5, 2007.
 * Deborah Sontag, "Injured in Iraq, a Soldier Is Shattered at Home," New York Times, April 5, 2007.
 * Nico Pitney, "'Strangely Quiet' Scene As Bush Visits Base Where Medically-Unfit Troops Were Deployed," Think Progress, April 5, 2007.
 * "The response was underwhelming," The Carpetbagger Report, April 5, 2007.
 * Peter Spiegel, "Troop 'surge' duration unclear, Gates says. Evaluation of the military buildup in Iraq won't take place till midsummer, he asserts," Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2007.
 * Alexandra Zavis, "4 British, 8 U.S. troops are slain in Iraq. Another American helicopter goes down, injuring four of the people aboard," Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2007.
 * William H. McMichael, "You could benefit from early, extended tours," Army Times, April 6, 2007.
 * Marilou Johanek, "Americans see through Rovewellian charade," Toledo Blade (OH), April 6, 2007.
 * Bassem Mroue, "Truck bomb loaded with chlorine kills at least 27 in Iraq," Associated Press (Globe & Mail), April 6, 2007.
 * Joe Garofoli, "THE FEW. THE PROUD. THE DISILLUSIONED. Conflict in Iraq: Some active duty troops, while proud to serve, are speaking out and signing a petition against the war," San Francisco Chronicle, April 7, 2007.
 * James Hider, "Insurgents transform US military jails into 'terror training camps'," Times Online (UK), April 7, 2007.
 * Susan Milligan, "Conservative activists fear war dwarfing social agenda," Boston Globe, April 7, 2007.
 * David Swanson, "You Can't Hurt a Troop by Defunding a War," OpEdNews, April 8, 2007.
 * Edward Wong, "Do Over. Iraq Plan’s Elusive Target: Fear Itself," New York Times, April 8, 2007.
 * Ronald Glasser, "War's New Wounds. A Shock Wave of Brain Injuries," Washington Post, April 8, 2007.
 * Thomas E. Ricks, "Politics Collide With Iraq Realities. Commanders Seek Longer-Term Focus," Washington Post, April 8, 2007.
 * Charles J. Hanley, "Allawi Book Rips 'Incompetent' U.S. Occupation," Associated Press (Editor & Publisher), April 8, 2007.
 * Khaled Farhan, "Iraqis flock to city for anti-U.S. protest," Reuters, April 8, 2007.
 * "Former Iraqi official says U.S. mismanaged war," Associated Press (The Decatur Daily), April 9, 2007.
 * "Iraqi Shias protest in holy city," BBC News, April 9, 2007.
 * Khaled Farhan, "Big anti-U.S. protest in Iraq, Baghdad under curfew," Reuters, April 9, 2007.
 * Alissa J. Ruben and Edward Wong, "Patterns of War Shift Amid U.S. Force Buildup," New York Times, April 9, 2007.
 * "Pentagon alerts Guard soldiers for Iraq duty," Reuters (Washington Post), April 9, 2007.
 * Mark Thompson, "Trying Times for the National Guard," TIME Magazine, April 10, 2007.
 * Peter Spiegel and Richard Simon, "Pentagon strains to uphold troops levels in Iraq. It plans to send four National Guard units back into combat and may extend the tours of five Army brigades," Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2007.
 * Lizette Alvarez, "Iraq Looms Closer for 13,000 Reservists," New York Times, April 10, 2007.
 * Stuart Biggs, "Iraq's Al-Maliki Says No Need for Withdrawal Deadline (Update2)," Bloomberg News, April 10, 2007.
 * "Iraqi Staffer for McClatchy Lists Gains After 4 Years of War -- Such As Inventing Many New Ways to Kill," Editor & Publisher, April 10, 2007.
 * Robert Parry, "'Surging' Toward Failure in Iraq," Consortiumnews.com, April 10, 2007: "The Washington pundits and the press are all atwitter wondering how successful George W. Bush's Iraq 'surge' strategy will be and how fast the Democrats will crumble in a showdown with the steely-eyed President over his demand for $100 billion more for the war with no strings attached."
 * Also see Congressional actions regarding President Bush's 2007 proposed troop "surge" in Iraq and Congressional actions on the federal budget/110th Congress


 * Alexander G. Higgins, "Red Cross: Iraq Is 'Ever-Worsening'," Associated Press (Washington Post), April 11, 2007.
 * Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks, "3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar'. Bush Seeks Overseer For Iraq, Afghanistan," Washington Post, April 11, 2007. re Jack Keane, Jack Sheehan and Joseph W. Ralston
 * Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "A Failure of Management," The Next Hurrah Blog, April 11, 2007.
 * Al Pessin, "US Extends Deployments of Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan," Voice of America News, April 11, 2007.
 * David Wood, "Soldiers' tours in war zones extended. Pentagon orders extra 3 months for active-duty Army," Baltimore Sun, April 12, 2007.
 * Robert Burns, "Army Extends Iraq Tours to 15 Months," Associated Press (ABC News), April 12, 2007.
 * Tina Susman, "Al-Maliki faces revolt over timetable dispute," Los Angeles Times (San Francisco Chronicle), April 16, 2007.
 * Edward Wong and Graham Bowley, "Influential Shiite cleric orders allies to quit Iraqi cabinet," International Herald Tribune, April 16, 2007. See Moqtada al-Sadr for more information.
 * John J. Sheehan, "Why I Declined To Serve," Washington Post, April 16, 2007.
 * "Iraqi PM welcomes Sadr pull out," ABC News (Australia), April 17, 2007.
 * Frances Williams, "UN warns of Iraqi refugee crisis," Financial Times, April 17, 2007.
 * "Defense Secretary Gates Says Resignations Could Have Effect Of Stabilizing Iraqi Government," Associated Press (CBS News), April 17, 2007.
 * Nicole Belle, "Bush Uses Troops To Denigrate Democrats, While Troop Losses Surge," Crooks and Liars, April 17, 2007: "From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. March also marked the first time that the U.S. military suffered four straight months of 80 or more fatalities."
 * Peter Popham, "UN calls on the West to help four million displaced Iraqis," The Independent (UK), April 18, 2007.
 * "At least 157 killed in series of Baghdad blasts," CBC News (Canada), April 18, 2007.
 * David Byers, "Carnage in Iraq as 157 confirmed dead," Times Online (UK), April 18, 2007.
 * Tom Vanden Brook, "Gates: Failure in Iraq would be felt in Mideast before U.S.," USA TODAY, April 18, 2007.
 * Ed Crooks, "Iraq may hold twice as much oil," Financial Times, April 18, 2007.
 * Brad Friedman, "233 Killed in Iraq on Wednesday; 183 in Single Incident in Baghdad; More Than 430 Dead Citizens Since Sunday," Brad Blog, April 18, 2007.
 * Dean Yates and Ibon Villelabeitia, "Nearly 200 killed in Iraq bombings," Daily Telegraph (Australia), April
 * Karin Brulliard, "Bombers Defy Security Push, Killing at Least 158 in Baghdad," Washington Post, April 19, 2007.
 * Anne Flaherty, "Reid offers bleak assessment of Iraq war," Associated Press (Houston Chronicle), April 19, 2007.
 * "Pentagon Confirms President Misstating Funding Facts In Iraq," Democrats.Senate.gov, April 19, 2007.
 * Caren Bohan, "U.S. Republicans battle charge Iraq war is lost," Reuters, April 19, 2007.
 * Andrew North, "Despair stalks Baghdad as plan falters," BBC News, April 20, 2007.
 * Jeff Zeleny, "Leading Democrat in Senate Tells Reporters, 'This War Is Lost'," New York Times, April 20, 2007.
 * Lolita C. Baldor, "Gates: Iraq Progress to Set Troop Levels," Associated Press (Fox News), April 20, 2007.
 * Noam N. Levey and James Gerstenzang, "GOP Sen. Snowe sponsoring Iraq withdrawal bill. The Maine moderate is the third Senate Republican to take such a stance in the face of pressure from Bush," Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2007. re Olympia Snowe (R-Me.)
 * Peter Baker and Shailagh Murray, "Iraq Pullout Would Lead To Bloodbath, Bush Warns. Democratic Leader Reid Says War Is Already Lost," Washington Post, April 20, 2007.
 * Nancy A. Youssef, "Training Iraqi troops no longer driving force in U.S. policy," McClatchy Newspapers, April 20, 2007.
 * Ewen MacAskill, "Latest US solution to Iraq's civil war: a three-mile wall," Guardian Unlimited (UK), April 21, 2007.
 * "Sunni leader attacks Baghdad wall," BBC News, April 21, 2007.
 * "Iraqi PM criticises Baghdad wall," BBC News, April 22, 2007.
 * "Higher U.S. troop levels in Iraq likely beyond summer," Reuters, April 22, 2007.
 * Karin Brulliard, "'Gated Communities' For the War-Ravaged. U.S. Tries High Walls and High Tech To Bring Safety to Parts of Baghdad," Washington Post, April 23, 2007.
 * Qassim Abdul-Zahra, "Baghdad Barrier Construction Halted," Associated Press (TIME Magazine), April 23, 2007.
 * "US, Iraqi Army defend Baghdad wall plans," ABC News Online (Australia), April 23, 2007.
 * Gerry J. Gilmore, "Extended Deployments Should Lessen Army Stress, Commander Says," American Forces News Service, April 24, 2007.
 * Sudarsan Raghavan and Thomas E. Ricks, "Outposts increase US troops' vulnerability. Group claims responsibility for 9 US deaths," Washington Post (Boston Globe), April 25, 2007.
 * Lolita C. Baldor, "Petraeus Eyes Long Commitment in Iraq," Associated Press (Spokesman Review), April 26, 2007. See The Long War.
 * "Top Iraq General Says War May Get Harder," Associated Press (CBS News), April 26, 2007.
 * Nancy A. Youssef, "General: Surge has not reduced bloodshed. Top commander says Iraq could get worse before it gets better," Modesto Bee, April 27, 2007.
 * David S. Cloud and Michael R. Gordon, "U.S. commander says fall pullback in Iraq would lead to more violence," International Herald Tribune, April 26, 2007.
 * Julian E. Barnes, "Petraeus sees more violence if force shrinks. In Washington to help Bush defend the buildup, the general also gives new details on Iranian activity in Iraq," Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2007.
 * Lolita C. Baldor, "Petraeus: Iraq Needs Enormous Commitment," Associated Press (ABC News), April 27, 2007.
 * "U.S. officer criticizes generals for Iraq war," Reuters (Washington Post), April 27, 2007.
 * See Lt.Col. Paul Yingling, "A failure in generalship," Armed Forces Journal, May 2007.


 * Karen DeYoung, "Tenet Details Efforts to Justify Invading Iraq. Former CIA Director Says White House Focused on the Idea Long Before 9/11," Washington Post, April 28, 2007.
 * David E. Sanger, "The White House Scales Back Talk of Iraq Progress," New York Times, April 28, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Bush is changing his Iraq talking points. 'Progress' is out," AMERICAblog, April 28, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "The Democrats should give Bush enough money for Iraq until September," AMERICAblog, April 28, 2007.
 * David E. Sanger, "The White House Scales Back Talk of Iraq Progress," New York Times, April 28, 2007.
 * Kevin Drum, "NO LIGHT IN THE TUNNEL....Is it a surge or an escalation?" Washington Monthly, April 28, 2007.
 * Robert Scheer, "President Bush shifts blame to the troops," Creators Syndicate (PasadenaStarNews.com), April 29, 2007.
 * Jeremy Scahill, "Who Will Stop the U.S. Shadow Army in Iraq? Don't Look to the Congressional Democrats," TomDispatch.com, April 29, 2007; Salon, May 1, 2007.
 * Joshua Partlow, "Maliki's Office Is Seen Behind Purge in Forces. Some Commanders Had Pursued Militias," Washington Post, April 30, 2007. Compare this to President George W. Bush's January 10, 2007 address to the Nation.
 * SilentPatriot, "Iraqi Parliament Planning TWO MONTH Recess," Crooks and Liars, April 30, 2007.

Related SourceWatch articles
In particular see:
 * civil war in Iraq
 * Democrats in Congress are trying to micromanage
 * Exit Strategy from Iraq
 * Iraq Study Group
 * Iraqi unified resistance
 * McCain doctrine
 * stay the course
 * violence in the Middle East
 * Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal
 * War Crimes Against the Civilians of Iraq