Nur al-Cubicle

A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Iraq Timeline for Wednesday

Jacques Chirac says the world a more dangerous place. In an interview with BBC-2 Newsnight, French President Jacques Chirac says that although the removal of Saddam Hussein was a good thing, the reaction it provoked--the mobilisation of Muslim men and women in certain countries--has made the world more dangerous.

In an interview in Die Zeit, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder says he hopes George W. Bush will realize that winning a war doesn't mean winning the peace and that the US had learned a lesson. Schröder hopes that January's election will give Iraqis a legitimate government.

Ghazi al-Yawar cancels visit to France. al-Yawar's scheduled 23 November meeting has been postponed.

UN refuses US Senate request for Oil-for-Food dossier. Paul Volker says the time has not come for making the dossier public and calls on the UN to balance the desire for transparency with the need to respect the confidentiality of its members.


19:25 Fifty-six political parties to participate in Iraqi election. Out of a list of 91 political parties in Iraq, 56 have been approved by the caretaker government to slate candidates in the January election. Among the approved parties were SCIRI, Iraqi Communist Party, and the Shi'ite Dawa party. Iraqi voters will elect a National Assembly, an autonomous assembly for Kurdistan, and fill slots in provincial governments. [What were the other 35 parties?]

18:46 Kofi Annan "shocked" by Hassan execution. Spokesman Fred Eckhard calls execution an odious crime.

18:12 Two carbombings foiled. Salah Hassan Al Shammary, Chairman of the Provincial Council of Dhi Qar, says Italian troops and Iraqi forces foiled two carbombings at the beginning of November.

18:08 Nassiriya, Zarqawi collaborator arrested. Salah Hassan Al Shammary, Chairman of the Provincial Council of Dhi Qar, says al Zarkawi operative captured.

17:50 Carbomb in Baiji kills 15 people and wounds 22. Six of the dead are children. The marketplace bomb also gravely wounded three US soldiers travelling in a convoy targeted by the bomber.

17:04 35 police kidnapped. Thirty-five newly trained police returning from training in Jordan were kidnapped from a hotel in Rutba, not far from the Jordanian border. [AFP says 60 were kidnapped].

15:56 Baiji, 14 dead. Carbomb kills 14 and wounds 26 in Baiji.

15:10 Pentagon insists on censoring Fallujah tape. The Pentagon has ordered NBC to delete footage showing a US marine killing an Iraqi prisoner out of concern the marines might be identified.

15:00 Arab League demands investigation. The Arab league has demanded an immediate investigation into the killing of a wounded Iraqi insurgent inside a mosque in Fallujah.

14:14 Marines say battle for Fallujah over.

13:49 Nato approves military training program. NATO has launched a program to send 300 military trainers to Iraq to prepare 1000 graduates per year at an Iraqi military academy to be located outside Baghdad.

13:11 Clashes in Ramadi, at least 9 are dead. At least 9 persons are dead and 15 wounded in combat early this morning in downtown Ramadi between insurgents and US troops.

13:09 Scelli: "Hopeful that Baldoni remains may be returned". Italian Red Cross head Maurizio Scelli says he is optimistic about recovering the remains of executed reporter Enzo Baldoni.

12:28 Kidnapped chauffeur of French reporters was separated from them. Mohammed al Joundi was with French reporters when they were kidnapped on 20 August but spent only two weeks with them in captivity before being separated. US troops found al Joundi in Ramadi, where he had been held prisoner.

12:20 Carbomb in Baiji, 5 dead. A carbomb blew up in the central market square of Baiji in northern Iraq. The bomb went off as a US convoy passed in front of the explosives-laden car.

12:11 63 police kidnapped. 62 newly trained police were kidnapped from their hotel in Rutba. Recruit Leith Saad Naama and another man were able to elude the kidnappers.

12:00 Shi'ites form the "Brigades of Anger." Shi'ites form paramilitary force to combat Sunni extremists.

11:27 US concludes counter-offensive in Mossul. US ends two days of intense fighting in Mosul. Eight insurgents were killed and two US soldiers wounded in a carbombing. 1,200 GIs and 1,600 Iraqis participated in the action.

11:25 Tikrit, Iraqi engineer killed. The body of an Iraqi engineer was found in Tikrit, 100 km north of Baghdad. The man, who worked for the US military, brings to 40 the number of "collaborators" killed by the insurgents.

11:07 Baquba, teenager killed. A teenager was killed and three others wounded in clashes between US troops and rebels.

10:45 Two Turkish truck drivers assassinated. Two Turks were killed near Balad, 75 km north of Baghdad.

10:30 British soldier wounded in bombing near Baghdad.

10:15 British soldiers escape carbombing. Several British soldiers escaped death or injury in a carbombing targeting a highway checkpoint.

10:13 Samarra, oil pipeline sabotaged.

08:36 Iraqi hostage released. Iraqi police supported by US marines free an Iraqi truck driver.

07:51 Combat in Ramadi. US troops and Iraqi insurgents engage in fighting in Ramadi.

07:37 Fallujah, clashes resume. US deployes C-130 gunships against rebels.

07:13 Fallujah, residents will be able to return within a few days.

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