Operation Iraqi Freedom/External links: Year Four (March-August 2006)

Year Four of Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced on March 19, 2006. Due to the length of this article, it has been subdivided. Articles in this section relate to March through August 2006.

Also see:

• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Four
• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Four (September 2006-March 2007)
• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Daily & Current News Updates

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Articles & Commentary

March 2006

• News Release: "President Remarks on Third Anniversary of Beginning of Iraq Liberation," White House, The South Lawn, March 20, 2006. Fact Sheet: "Operation Iraqi Freedom: Three Years Later," March 18, 2006 (includes Bush's radio address).
• Editorial: "Shock, awe and humility," Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2006.
• Timothy M. Phelps and Craig Gordon, "Exit strategy remains elusive. With country in chaos, the U.S. fights on with no end in sight," Newsday, March 19, 2006.
• Bob Deans, "Iraq's true cost continues to grow. The bottom line includes a staggering death toll among troops and civilians, Pentagon spending at $6 billion a month and damage to U.S. credibility," Cox News Service (Houston Chronicle), March 19, 2006.
• Charlie Savage, "Change of heartland. On the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, many Indianians are no longer strongly behind the war," Boston Globe, March 19, 2006.
• Alex Maxie and Alex Salmond, "Iraq - three years on and was it really worth it?" The Scotsman, March 19, 2006.
• "Thousands in Europe protest 3rd anniversary of Iraq war, turnout in US small," AFX News Limited (Forbes), March 19, 2006. Pictures posted by the BBC.
• "Anti-war rallies mark Iraq anniversary," Associated Press (USA Today), March 19, 2006.
• "Japanese call for troops to come home from Iraq," Reuters, March 19, 2006.
• Les Payne, "Preventive war grasps at straws," Newsday, March 19, 2006.
• Editorial: "Mission not accomplished. Three years after the invasion, the only way to look at Iraq is through a glass darkly," Newsday, March 19, 2006.
• James Sterngold, "The Iraq War: Three years. White House no longer sees quick end to difficult war," San Francisco Chronicle, March 19, 2006.
• Joe Klein, "Our Eyes Are Open. Now What?" TIME, March 19, 2006.
• "Will Fourth Year Bring Civil War or Peace in Iraq?" ABC News, March 19, 2006.
• Nedra Pickler, "Bush Marks Anniversary, Never Says 'War'," Associated Press (ABC News), March 19, 2006.
• Christopher Swan, "Quiet disapproval in US marks war’s anniversary," Financial Times (UK), March 19, 2006.
• Greg Harkin, "Congress probes 'IoS' revelations on IRA link to Iraq," Independent (UK), March 19, 2006.
• Nedra Pickler, "Bush: Iraq strategy will work. President, administration reassert that progress is being made 3 years into war," Associated Press (IndyStar.com), March 20, 2006.
• Tom Regan, "Increasingly, Rumsfeld a lightning rod for Iraq criticism. Retired US general, former top officials take Rumsfeld to task on Iraq war's 3rd anniversary," Christian Science Monitor, March 20, 2006. Re "Rumsfeld's Iraq-Germany analogy disputed. Former top officials disagree with comparison," CNN, March 19, 2006: "'Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis,' Rumsfeld wrote in an opinion piece ..."
• Bassem Mroue, "Iraqis detail deadly U.S. Marine raid," Associated Press (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), March 20, 2006.
• Jim VandeHei, "Old Forecasts Come Back to Haunt Bush. Erosion in Confidence Will Be Hard To Reverse, Say Pollsters, Strategists," Washington Post, March 21, 2006.
• Terri Judd, "British troops swoop on Basra 'smugglers'," Independent (UK), March 21, 2006.
• News Release: Press Conference of the President, James S. Brady Briefing Room, White House, March 21, 2006.
• Dan Froomkin, "Incredibly Optimistic," Washington Post, March 21, 2006.
• John Holusha, "Bush Pushes His Defense of Iraq War, Saying It Can Be Won," New York Times, March 21, 2006.
• "Bush Says Iraq Moving to Democracy as Terror Persists (Update3)," Bloomberg News, March 21, 2006.
• Ron Hutcheson, "Skeptics confront president at forum about Iraq, Iran. Bush Says Force Is Option in Iran," Knight Ridder Newspapers (The Mercury News), March 21, 2006.
• Terence Hunt, "Update 28: Bush: Troops to Stay in Iraq Through '08," Associated Press (Forbes), March 21, 2006.
• Richard Tompkins, "Bush beats drum for Iraq resolve," UPI (Monsters and Critics (UK)), March 21, 2006.
• "Bush denies Iraq is in civil war," BBC, March 21, 2006.
• Alistair Macdonald, "Military probes killing of Iraqi family," Reuters, March 21, 2006.
• "US military probes Iraq killings," BBC, March 21, 2006.
• "US military investigates Iraq massacre claims," Telegraph (UK), March 21, 2006.
• Bassem Mroue, "Iraqi Video Details End of Alleged Attack," Washington Post, March 21, 2006.
• Ali al-Mashhadani, "Iraqi residents say bodies in video from US raid," Reuters (Washington Post), March 21, 2006.
• Tom Baldwin, "Inquiry into civilian deaths," Times Online (UK), March 22, 2006.
• Vanessa Arrington, "Update 8: Senators to Iraqis: U.S. Losing Patience," Associated Press (Forbes), March 25, 2006.
• Alexander Cockburn, "Why There's No Strategy to End This War," CounterPunch, March 25/26, 2006.
• Patrick Cockburn, "The Battle for Baghdad: It's Already Begun," CounterPunch, March 25/26, 2006.
• Jonathan Finer, "McCain, Feingold Air Views in Iraq. Visiting Legislators Debate U.S. Policy as Violence Rages," Washington Post, March 26, 2006.
• "Iraq told to expedite unification," Associated Press (The Calgary Sun (Canada)/Canoe News), March 26, 2006.
• "US calls for Iraqi militia crackdown," ABC News (Australia), March 26, 2006.
• Patrick Cockburn, "War Crime in a Mosque. US Soldiers Massacre 22 in Baghdad Mosque," CounterPunch, March 27, 2006.
• Patrick Cockburn, "Shias May Now Turn on US Forces. Fury Over Mosque Massacre," CounterPunch, March 28, 2006.
• William Fisher, "Iraq left to rebuild itself," Asia Times, March 29, 2006.
• Ehsan Ahrari, "Fighting with Friends," Asia Times, March 29, 2006.
• Iason Athanasiadis, "Talking to the enemy," Asia Times, March 29, 2006.
• "Bush blames Iraq's instability on Hussein," Associated Press (CNN), March 29, 2006. Bush said "that Saddam Hussein, not continued U.S. involvement in Iraq, is responsible for ongoing sectarian violence that is threatening the formation of a democratic government."
• Michael Schwartz, "What went wrong in Iraq? Wrong answer," Asia Times, March 30, 2006.
• Mark Perry and Alastair Crooke "How to Lose the War on Terror. PART 1: Talking with the 'terrorists'," Asia Times, March 31, 2006.
• Ehsan Ahrari, "Democracy: Iraq votes, Bush vetoes," Asia Times, March 31, 2006.

April 2006

• Mark Perry and Alastair Crooke, "How to Lose the War on Terror. PART 2: Handing victory to the extremists," Asia Times, April 1, 2006.
• Ehsan Ahrari, "A silver bullet aimed at Iraq's head," Asia Times, April 4, 2006.
• Andrew Buncombe, "US and UK forces establish 'enduring bases' in Iraq. Despite talk of withdrawal 'when the job is done', there are signs that coalition troops will be there for the long term," The Independent (UK), April 4, 2006.
• Thomas Frank, "Civilians take up arms amid Iraqi violence," USA Today, April 4, 2006.
• Gareth Porter, "US anti-militia strategy another wrong Iraq move," Asia Times, April 5, 2006.
• Patrick Cockburn, "Iraq three years on: Don't look away," The Independent (UK), April 8, 2006: "And don't believe all that our leaders tell us about democracy. Three years after the toppling of Saddam, Iraq is a bloody mess. Yesterday 70 people were killed in an attack on a Baghdad mosque."
• M.K. Bhadrakumar, "'Searching for attackers lurking in the night'," Asia Times, April 8, 2006.
• John Ward Anderson and Jonathan Finer, "Three years later, it's all come down to Baghdad," Washington Post (Seattle Times), April 12, 2006.
• Iason Athanasiadis, "A town without law, much less order," Asia Times, April 12, 2006.
• Vanessa Arrington, "U.S. Death Toll in Iraq This Month Hits 35," Associated Press (Guardian Unlimited (UK)), April 12, 2006.
• Aamer Madhani, "By any name, civilians see civil war in Iraq," Chicago Tribune, April 13, 2006.
• "Death toll for U.S. troops surges. Insurgent activity may be on rise; newly aired tape shows al-Qaida deputy praising militants," The Detroit News, April 13, 2006.
• Mai Khuyen, "Political gridlock leads Iraq to brink of civil war," Viet Nam News, April 14, 2006.
• Jonathan Weisman, "Unforeseen Spending on Materiel Pumps Up Iraq War Bill. Senate to Take Up Measure as Military Fights to Keep Guns, Tanks Working," Washington Post, April 20, 2006: Cost of the war "$48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago, a new Congressional Research Service report found."
• Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed, "To the barricades! Snapshot of Iraq's civil war," Asia Times, April 21, 2006.
• Sami Moubayed, "Iraq's next premier: Spot the difference," Asia Times, April 25, 2006.
• Iason Athanasiadis, "Arabs stake a claim in Iraq," Asia Times, April 27, 2006.
• Ehsan Ahrari, "Loud and clear: No respite in the 'long war'," Asia Times, April 27, 2006. See The Long War.

May 2006

• Sami Moubayed, "In Iraq, chaos by another name," Asia Times, May 3, 2006.
• Sami Moubayed, "Iraq at the mercy of 'kingmaker' Muqtada," Asia Times, May 6, 2006.
• Sami Moubayed, "Basra, Britain's Mesopotamian mess revisited," Asia Times, May 20, 2006.
• Michael Hirsh, "Washington’s New Watchword: Containment. As Iraq’s weak new government takes shape, the Bush administration’s best hope is for a non-bloodbath," Newsweek (MSNBC), May 22, 2006.
• Sami Moubayed, "Iraq's cabinet falls short," Asia Times, May 23, 2006.
• Anna Badkhen, "Violence aside, Baghdad is broken. Water runs only an hour a day, power is on for 4 hours, and sewage runs in the streets San Francisco Chronicle, May 24, 2006.
• Gregory Djerejian, "'Last Throes' Anniversary," The Belgravia Dispatch, May 30, 2006. See "Iraq insurgency in 'last throes,' Cheney says," CNN, June 20, 2005.
• "U.S. moves 1,500 troops into Iraq. Insurgent attacks kill 47 people," CNN, May 30, 2006.
• Ellen Knickmeyer, "U.S. Will Reinforce Troops in West Iraq. Car Bomb Kills 2 From CBS News," Washington Post, May 30, 2006.
• David S. Cloud, "U.S. Is Sending Reserve Troops to Iraq's West," New York Times, May 30, 2006.

June 2006

• Ashraf Fahim, "Iraq: Alas in wonderland," Asia Times, June 2, 2006.
• Sami Moubayed, "My Lai to Haditha, wars' turning points," Asia Times, June 6, 2006.
• Charles Crain, "Marines on the beat in Iraq," Asia Times, June 7, 2006.
• Michael Schwartz, "Car bombings: Iraq's time bomb," Asia Times, June 8, 2006.
• "Snow on 2,500 U.S. Fatalities In Iraq: 'It's A Number'," Think Progress, June 15, 2006. re Tony Snow
• "From the Embassy, a Grim Report. From the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, a stark compendium of its local employees' daily hardships and pressing fears," Washington Post, June 18, 2006.
• Judd Legum, "Snow: There Is Too Much Focus on Kidnapped U.S. Soldiers," Think Progress, June 18, 2006.
• Jonathan Finer and Joshua Partlow, "Missing Soldiers Found Dead In Iraq. GIs Were Isolated In Insurgent Haven," Washington Post, June 20, 2006.
• John Aravosis, "19 Republican Senators think the terrorists who murdered these two US soldiers today deserve amnesty," AMERICAblog, June 20, 2006.
• Robert Dreyfuss, "Iraq: The beat goes on and on," Asia Times, June 20, 2006.
• "New Facts In 2004 Deaths Of Two GIs. Probe Reportedly Concludes Iraqi Officers Killed American Soldiers," CBS News/Associated Press, June 21, 2006.
• Hector Becerra and Scott Gold, "Iraqis Killed Their U.S. Trainers, Probe Finds," Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2006.
• Chris in Paris, "Propaganda program #1 failed, so it's back to FEAR," AMERICAblog, June 21, 2006.
• Kimberly Hefling, "Troops Echo Frustration Over War in Iraq," Associated Press (1010 WINS), June 21, 2006.
• Kim Gambel, "Baghdad in state of emergency. U.S. and Iraqi troops struggle with insurgents in armed street battle," Associated Press (Detroit Free Press), June 24, 2006.
• Kimberly Hefling, "Guardsmen: Iraq a Minute-by-Minute Battle," Associated Press (BreitBart.com), June 24, 2006.
• Dahr Jamail and Ali Fadhil, "Fallujah: A city still under siege," Asia Times, June 27, 2006.

July 2006

• Ana Radelat, "Thousands of troops say they won’t fight," Gannett News Service (Air Force Times), July 5, 2006: "Since 2000, about 40,000 troops from all branches of the military have deserted, the Pentagon says. More than half served in the Army. But the Army says numbers have decreased each year since the United States began its war on terror in Afghanistan. ... Those who help war resisters say desertion is more prevalent than the military has admitted."
• John Aravosis, "Republicans have lots of respect for our dead troops. Too bad they couldn't care less about the living ones," AMERICAblog, July 12, 2006.
• Faiz Shakir, "Administration To Request Another $110 Billion For Iraq Next Year," Think Progess, July 13, 2006.
• Peter Spiegel, "Is U.S. Winning? Army Chief Is at a Loss," Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2006.
• "A look at U.S. military deaths in Iraq," Associated Press (Chron.com), July 15, 2006: "... at least 2,549 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,012 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers."
• Roxana Tiron, "Dems urge funding for Army readiness," The Hill, July 26, 2006.
• Holly Yeager, "Democrats and the war: Murtha rises on back of Iraq crusade," Financial Times (MSNBC), July 26, 2006.
• Jan Frel, "Conservative, old Pentagon pals are the Dems who lead on Iraq. It's odd, isn't it, that the Democrats who are out front on getting out of Iraq are Ike Skelton and Jack Murtha?" The Mix / AlterNet Blogs, July 27, 2006.
• Will Dunham, "US boosts Iraq troop levels amid Baghdad violence," Reuters, July 27, 2006.
• "Army's Readiness Questioned," Military.com, July 27, 2006.
• Pauline Jelinik and Ryan Lenz, "U.S. May Send 5,000 More Troops to Baghdad," Associated Press (ABC News), July 28, 2006.
• Josh White, "3,700 Troops' Stay In Iraq Is Extended," Washington Post, July 28, 2006.
• Lolita C. Baldor, "Pentagon to Boost Iraq Troops to 135,000," Associated Press (Washington Post), July 28, 2006.
• Rowan Scarborough, "Army diverts funds to war," Washington Times, July 31, 2006.
• Joe Sudbay, "The war in Iraq really is still happening -- and Americans are really still dying," AMERICAblog, July 31, 2006. re Frank Rich's subscription required-"The Peculiar Disappearance of the War in Iraq," New York Times, July 31, 2006.
• Joe Sudbay, "Top 12 Dems in Congress to Bush: start Iraq withdrawal by end of year," AMERICAblog, July 31, 2006.
• "Hagel: Iraq Is Vietnam All Over Again," Nebraska StatePaper.com, July 31, 2006.

August 2006

• Charles Babington and Jim VandeHei, "Hill Democrats Unite to Urge Bush to Begin Iraq Pullout," Washington Post, August 1, 2006.
• Michael Atkinson, "Unembedded. The Iraq war finally gets its definitive documentary," Village Voice, August 1, 2006.
• Sean Gonsalves, "The Iraq war is over. Occupation, however, still going strong," Cape Cod Times (MA) (WorkingForChange), August 1, 2006.
• John Aravosis, "I think Bush is preparing the American people for an all-out disaster in Iraq," AMERICAblog, August 4, 2006.
• Jimmy Breslin, "In Case We All Forgot, Americans Are Still Dying in Iraq," New York Newsday, August 6, 2006.
• Dahr Jamail, "Ehren Watada," truthout, August 14, 2006. re Ehren Watada
• Tom Lasseter, "Rosy assessments on Iraq 'not related to reality,' some say," McClatchy Newspapers (Mercury News), August 14, 2006.
• Anne Plummer Flaherty, "Misconduct by Military Recruiters Cited," Associated Press, August 14, 2006.
• Hendrik Hertzberg, Comment: "Snake Eyes," The New Yorker, August 14, 2006 (posted); August 21, 2006 (issue).
• George Soros, Commentary: "A Self-Defeating War," Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2006.
• "Veteran Baghdad Reporter Explodes Upbeat U.S. Assessments," Editor & Publisher, August 15, 2006.
• Joe Sudbay, "July was most violent month yet in Iraq," AMERICAblog, August 16, 2006: "At least 3,438 civilians died violently that month, a 9 percent increase over the tally in June and nearly twice as many as in January."
• Tom Lasseter, "Iraqis: Reality worse than U.S. believes. Politicians, some soldiers see a world policymakers ignore," McClatchy Newspapers (The Olympian Online), August 16, 2006.
• Bryan Bender, "Pentagon studying its war errors. Analysts assess tactics in Iraq, Afghanistan," Boston Globe, August 16, 2006.
• Lolita C. Baldor, "Marines to Recall Troops to Active Duty," Associated Press (1010 WINS), August 22, 2006.
• Peter Laufer, "Report. You wouldn’t catch me dead in Iraq. Scores of American troops are deserting — even from the front line in Iraq. But where have they gone? And why isn’t the US Army after them?" Times Online (UK), August 27, 2006.
• Patricia Wilson, "Cheney: Early Iraq pullout 'ruinous' to US security," Reuters, August 28, 2006.
• Editorial: "Our Agora: The American Legion and the public square," Salt Lake Tribune (Utah), August 28, 2006.
• "Cheney Brings His Alternative Universe to Reno," Desert Beacon, August 28, 2006.
• Paul McLeary, "What's the Object of Objectivity?" CJR Daily, August 28, 2006.
• Julian E. Barnes, "Bush Shields U.S., Cheney Says. The vice president says 'sound policy decisions' by the president, and a vigilant government, have deterred terrorist strikes since 9/11," Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2006.
• John Amato, "Rumsfeld says war critics are Nazi appeasers," Crooks and Liars, August 29, 2006.
• E.J. Dionne Jr., "Slowly Sidling To Iraq's Exit. Many GOP Candidates Part Company With Bush," Washington Post, August 29, 2006.
• Jerome Taylor, "At least 100 die as militia force Iraqi troops out of town," The Independent (UK), August 29, 2006.
• Ann Scott Tyson, "Rumsfeld Assails Critics of War Policy," Washington Post, August 30, 2006.
• Walter Pincus, "Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract," Washington Post, August 31, 2006.

Related SourceWatch Resources

In particular see:

• civil war in Iraq
• Exit Strategy from Iraq
• Iraqi unified resistance
• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Three: Quagmire
• stay the course
• violence in the Middle East
• War Crimes Against the Civilians of Iraq