There were so many military actions during this period that to report all of them would require to many pages. Only the main ones will be mentioned here, some more details can be found in Annex 10.

Estimated forces in Iraq from countries that are part of the US-led coalition, as of early August 2004, and estimated major pullouts in 2004:

Countries with troops in Iraq:
United States: 138,000
United Kingdom: 9,000
Italy: 3,000
Poland: 2,400
Ukraine: 1,576
Netherlands: 1,400
Romania: 700
South Korea: 660; additional 3,000 troops being sent to northern Iraq
Denmark: 500
Japan: 500
Bulgaria: 480
El Salvador: 380
Australia: 300
Hungary: 300
Mongolia: 173
Azerbaijan: 151
Georgia: 150
Portugal: 120
Latvia: 116
Slovakia: 105
Czech Republic: 90
Lithuania: 90
Albania: 71
New Zealand: 60
Estonia: 45
Kingdom of Tonga: 44
Macedonia: 35
Kazakhstan: 27
Moldova: 12

Countries that are withdrawing or have withdrawn troops:
Thailand: 423 troops leaving early on Aug. 31 instead of Sept. 20; 20 withdrawn on Aug. 10.
Norway: 10 currently in Iraq; 140 withdrawn on June 30. Cited reason: growing domestic opposition and peacekeepers needed elsewhere, such as Afghanistan.
Dominican Republic: 302 withdrawn on May 4. Cited reason: growing domestic opposition.
Honduras: 370 withdrawn on May 12. Cited reason: Troops were sent for reconstruction, not combat.
Nicaragua: 115 withdrawn on Feb. 4. Cited reason: lack of funds.
Philippines: 51 withdrawn on July 19. Cited reason: to save lives of hostages.
Singapore: 160 withdrawn on April 4. Cited reason: completed humanitarian mission.
Spain: 1,300 withdrawn on May 4. Cited reason: new government fulfilled campaign pledge.

On November 12, 2004, we were given a list of the arms used in Iraq:
- The Americans: they are using M1A1 Abrams tanks; M2 Bradley, AH-1W Super Cobra and the OH-52 Kiowa helicopters: assault Amphibian vehicles troops transport; 155mmm howitzers; M-16 rifles, M-4 carbines, M249 Squad Automatic Weapons, M2 heavy machine guns; a variety of grenades, grenade launchers, mortars and rockets.
- The insurgents use the AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, antiaircraft machine guns, and improvised explosive devices.
And the Americans proudly say that they are winning the war! What a surprise with this difference in armament! Now the Americans are admitting that there were between 1,200 and 3,000 insurgents in Falluja before the assault started. On the other hand, 15,000 US soldiers are involved as well as an unknown number of Iraqi (perhaps 4,000!) No comments are required!

On January 28, 2005, South Korea was now the country with the third most soldiers deployed in Iraq after the USA and Britain. They have a mobile clinic and a big hospital that cure many Iraqi civilians. Initially the coalition included 45 countries but six have already left -including Spain- and another six have reduced their forces or will do so soon. In Iraq there are now 150,000 US troops and about 23,000 from other countries, the main ones being:
- Britain, 8,760
- South Korea, 3,600
- Italy, 3,085
- Poland, 2,500
- Ukraine, 1,589
- Netherlands, 1,345
- Romania, 700
- Japan, 550
- Denmark, 496
- Bulgaria, 485

A. The Americans
Insurgent violence against American troops continued on July 6, 2004. Four US Marines were killed in western Iraq. The attacks, aimed at undermining Iraq's new government, led interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and his supporters to declare war against the guerrillas, who also have sabotaged pipelines and electricity-generating plants.

On July 8, 2004, guerrillas have killed five US soldiers and two Iraqi guards in a mortar attack on National Guard headquarters in Samarra, north of Baghdad. Eighteen US soldiers and four Iraqi guards were also wounded and the building, also used by US troops, was severely damaged. A US Army Apache attack helicopter fired Hellfire missiles at a nearby building after the strike, killing four insurgents. The deaths in Samarra, a mainly Sunni Muslim town, brought to 651 the US combat death toll in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March last year to topple Saddam Hussein.

On July 15, 2004, the Bush administration said the international coalition in Iraq is in good health and cites the Australian government decision to send more troops involvement as proof. But the Philippines decision to withdraw its troops in the hope of saving the life of a hostage is the latest in a series of blows to the international war grouping. Until now, four countries have withdrawn from the coalition and another four could do so soon.

On Saturday September 18, 2004, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been named as the link between Iraq and al Qaida and is accused of orchestrating a spate of suicide bombings and attacks in the Middle East country. The US is offering a 25 million reward for his capture. The militant is said by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to be one of Osama bin Laden's closest associates. Members of al-Zarqawi's group have kidnapped Briton Kenneth Bigley and two Americans in Iraq and are threatening to kill them if their demands are not met. Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian descent, is suspected of masterminding bombing raids on Shiites in Kerbala and Baghdad in a bid to cause civil unrest. He was reportedly involved in the beheading of American contractor Nick Berg in May. It was claimed the 37-year-old even carried out the fatal blow. It is also alleged he claimed responsibility for suicide boat attacks that killed three Americans and disabled Iraq's biggest oil terminal for more than 24 hours in April.

Some US troops could be ordered home even if they fail to quash the mounting insurgency in Iraq, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on September 24, 2004, admitting for the first time that the "heavy footprint" of American tanks, soldiers and warplanes might be fomenting more opposition than it quells.

The Pentagon may reduce as early as next year the 18-month tours required of National Guardsmen serving in Iraq amid hardships for their families and employers. The current tour, which includes a year in Iraq, could be cut to as six to nine months in the country if violence decreases, more Iraqis are trained to fight and the Guard retrains troops to meet the needs of the conflict. That includes converting about 80,000 troops trained in Cold War combat missions to handle policing, civil duties and intelligence.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies said on Tuesday October 19, 2004, that war in Iraq has increased the risk of terrorism against the West, at least for the short term. The IISS has added a section on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network to "The Military Balance," its authoritative yearly defence handbook, which lists the size and capabilities of the world's armed forces. It said about half of al-Qaida's 30 top leaders had been killed or captured since the September 11, 2001, attacks, but about 20,000 militants who trained in camps in Afghanistan remain at large with varying levels of capability and motivation.

On October 23, 2004, the US intelligence agencies reported that they have not found any evidence of plans to disrupt the presidential elections. Bush and his team said the opposite.

On October 24, 2004, Edward J. Seitz was the first American diplomat killed in Baghdad. He was hit by mortars or rockets launched on a US base near the airport.

On October 24, 2004, the top-contracting official for the US Army Corps of Engineers asked for a high-level investigation into the contracts given to Halliburton. Greenhouse has found that representatives of Halliburton were allowed to sit in the meetings where the terms of their contracts were discussed. As a result she was removed from that job.

On October 27, 2004, the US military authorities and the provisional Iraqi government had to admit that the Iraqi city of Ramadi is partly in the hands of the insurgents. In other words, they are loosing control like in Falluja.

On October 30, 2004, nine US Marines were killed in Iraq, the worst day in six months (since May 2). A suicide car bomb attack near the infamous Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad killed 8 Marines and injured 9 others. Another Marine was also killed but it was not revealed where and what happened.

On November 3, 2004, with the US presidential election over with Bush re-elected the US is free to launch all-out attacks on the sunny-held rebels towns in Iraq, mainly Falluja and Ramadi. The political and financial consequences could be high for the Bush administration. The risk of loosing many American lives is high and the financial cost will be enormous. If many Iraqis are killed the Sunnis could boycott the elections foreseen for January 2005 and this would deligitimate the elected assembly -that would only include Shia and Kurds- and the government that the assembly would elect as well as the constitution that they must draft.

On November 15, 2004, a US army investigation recommended that 24 reservists serving in Iraq should be punished for refusing to deliver fuel from Tallil Air Base near Nasiriyah to Taji. They refused for safety reason; no armed vehicles were included in their convoy. Most reservist soldiers will probably be fined, demoted and/or reprimanded but up to five could face a court-martial.

On November 23, 2004, US, British and Iraqi troops launched a new offensive to "clean" a Sunni region known as the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad. The first attack was against the town of Jabella where 32 insurgents were arrested. This is the third major operation after those in Falluja and Mosul. It involves about 2 to 3,000 US troops, 1,000 Iraqis and 850 British. Mosul was quiet but it was revealed that in the last five days 28 bodies had been found, some beheaded, some shot in the head, some burned and others mutilated.

On November 23, 2004, General James Jones, the top US military commander in Europe, complained that up to 12 NATO member nations refused to provide military instructors to train Iraqis although they approved this mission. As a result those countries that contribute will have to send more instructors. France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece refused to provide instructors.

On November 26, 2004, the USA is so short of battle-ready soldiers that it is offering up to $30,000 to induce some who are ready to leave to extend their active service.

On December 1, 2004, we were told that in order to improve the security in Iraq before the elections, the USA is sending 12,000 soldiers there. There will now be 150,000 US soldiers in Iraq by the end of the year, the highest number since the war started. Until now the highest number was 148,000 on May 1, 2003.

On December 6, 2004, the US military punished 23 soldiers who, in October, refused to drive a fuel convoy from Tallil Air Base near Nassiriya, southern Iraq to Taji north of Baghdad. They complained that they did not have the usual armed escort, that their fuel was contaminated and that their vehicles had not the necessary protections against roadside bombs and snipers. They will not be sent to a court marshal but they could be reduced in rank, loose some pay and be confined to their base. Eighteen others have already been disciplined and five more will know their punishment later.

On December 8, 2004, Donald Rumsfeld was in Kuwait where he organised a kind of "town hall meeting" for the troops. He certainly did no appreciate all the questions. Specialist Thomas Wilson, a Tennessee Army National Guard, complained that their vehicles had not the necessary protection against roadside bombs and small arms attacks. He added that him and his comrades were looking through the junkyards for rusted metal sheets to act as make-do armour. Donald's answer was pathetic: "As you know, you go to war with the army you have. They are not the army you want or wish to have at a later time." Another soldier complained that was being kept in the Army against her wishes by a Pentagon ""Stop-Loss" order. Another National Guard complained that the guards units were given antiquated equipment inferior to those given to the regular soldiers. All that Rumsfeld could say was that" somebody has to receive the older gear." Rumsfeld's answers were heavily criticised by Washington's politicians, mainly Democrats.

On December 10, 2004, two US helicopters hit each other killing two US soldiers and wounding four but they went back to duty later that day.

On December 15, 2004, the US Army began shipping more supply by air to avoid roadside bomb attacks that have already killed or wounded about 100 US soldiers. They are also trying to purify and bottle water in Iraq rather that transporting it from Kuwait. Water represent 30% of all US transport through Iraq. Three thousand vehicles in about 215 convoys are on the Iraq roads every day.

On December 16, 2004, the US government intends to spend $4bn in armour to protect their soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it will take time to do it. The question is: why did not the US government and the Pentagon waited until a soldier complained before doing anything?

A 122 mm rocket hit a military mess tent in a US base (Forward Operating Base Marez) near Mosul on December 21, 2004 (it was after said that it was a suicide bomber). It was lunchtime, 15 US soldiers, five US contractors and two Iraqi soldiers were killed. In addition at least 66 persons were wounded including 42 US soldiers. The mess was in a tent and the rocket went through the roof without problem. Once again the troops were not protected. The radical Sunni group Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility.

On December 23, 2004, the bombing at Mosul that killed 22 people -14 US soldiers, four US civilians, three Iraqi National Guards and one unknown, possibly the bomber-was not due to a rocket hitting the mess but by a suicide bomber who could have worn an Iraqi Army uniform. There were also 69 wounded including 44 US soldiers, seven US contractors and five civilians working for the Americans, two Iraqi civilians and ten contractors of other nationalities. They are talking about an Iraqi or foreign worker working on the base since about October. And so-called perfect American security? About 50 of the wounded were flown to Ramstead in Germany for treatment.

On December 31, 2004, the US authorities had to admit that the situation in Iraq has degraded since the summer (more US soldiers dead and wounded, more insurgent attacks). Insurgents seem to be more efficient. More than 348 US soldiers died in the last four months, the number of wounded is now above 10,000 and the number of attacks grew from 1,400 in September to 1,600 in October to 1,950 on November. At the same time in 2003 the number of attacks were between 649 to 896 a month. For the whole of 2004 838 US soldiers died in Iraq, more than 700 in action. Since the war began, nearly 200 Guards and Reserve troops died in Iraq.

On January 4, 2005, we were told that the bomber responsible for killing 22 people in a US Army mess in Mosul on December 21 was a Saudi Arabian medical student.

On January 9, 2005, a US plane dropped a bomb on the wrong house in the village of Aitha near Mosul killing at least five innocent Iraqi civilians. The local people said that 14 people were killed including seven children.

On January 20, 2005, the US army charged a soldier, Sergeant Kevin Bederman, with desertion for refusing to go back to Iraq for a second time. He now objects to war.

On January 26, 2005, a US helicopter CH-53E Super Stallion crashed in an Iraqi desert near the town of Rutbah 220 miles west of Baghdad killing all people aboard, 30 Marines and one Navy sailor. This was the deadliest day for Americans since the war began in March 2003. It seems that the helicopter crashed on its own in bad weather, possibly during a desert sand storm. However inquiries are still going on to find the causes of the disaster.

The United States plans to maintain 135,000 troops in Iraq through this year even as more US military advisers are embedded with Iraqi forces to prepare them for a larger security role, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Thursday February 1, 2005. Wolfowitz and Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, refused to be drawn on a timeline for replacing US troops in Iraq with Iraqi forces. Wolfowitz said commanders believe that areas of Iraq can be turned over to Iraqi security forces over the next six months.

Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hailed what he described as progress in Iraqi security forces after seeing some of them in action Friday February 11, 2005, but said it was too soon to discuss when US troops could begin coming home. Rumsfeld shuttled around Iraq to observe Iraqi security and military units demonstrate their training. At Camp Victory outside Baghdad, Rumsfeld watched an Iraqi counter terrorist team attack a compound in a demonstration that began with a sniper taking out a mock sentry from a thousand yards away. Two helicopters swooped in, one disgorging a team of Iraqi commandos, who rappelled into the compound while the other circled above. More commandos arrived on Humvees, and together the team blasted into the compound. In talks with soldiers, both Iraqi and American, Rumsfeld emphasized the importance of handing over security to Iraqi forces so US troops can come home. But he acknowledged that it takes time to train and equip the Iraqis.

On February 21, 2005, US Marines and Iraqi security forces launched a new offensive against insurgents in troubled cities west of Baghdad after two days of carnage that left nearly 100 people dead. Meanwhile, gunmen in Iraq have abducted a female Iraqi television presenter in the northern city of Mosul.

US forces in Iraq faced new strains with allies on Monday March 7, 2005, when Bulgaria said they had probably shot dead one of its soldiers after angering Rome by killing an Italian secret agent who rescued a hostage. The shootings confirmed what for many Iraqis is a daily reality -that US forces are too quick to open fire and often kill innocent civilians in their efforts to crack down on insurgents, who killed at least 23 people in fresh attacks. The US military says it does all it can to minimize the risk of Iraqis and foreign civilians being killed. Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolai Svinarov said an investigation into the death of the Bulgarian soldier showed he was probably accidentally killed by American troops.

The second anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq proved to be another bloody day in Iraq but US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threw some of the blame for the troubles to Turkey. Mr Rumsfeld hailed Iraq's liberation and January elections but said the insurgents' success was a result of the Government in Ankara blocking US troops from entering Iraq from Turkey, to the north. "If we had been able to get the 4th Infantry Division in from the north, in through Turkey, more of the Iraqi, Saddam Hussein, Baathist regime would have been captured or killed," Mr Rumsfeld said. "The insurgency today would be less." Coalition troops were forced to use southern Iraq corridors, which the US military says allowed insurgents to evade capture in the north.

Iraqi commandos backed by US ground and air fire uncovered an apparent insurgent training camp on March 22, 2005, that hosted fighters from as far away as the Philippines. The discovery was made after the members of Iraq's 1st Police Commando Battalion were attacked while on a noontime patrol north of Baghdad, near Samarra. As they approached a group of buildings, they were attacked by sustained heavy fire from RPG, small arms, and mortars. Seven Iraqi commandos were killed and six were wounded. There were an estimated 70 to 100 attackers and they were in dug-in positions. US air support was requested and attack helicopters responded. Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team also responded in support. An "undetermined number" of the attackers were killed," and no US soldiers were reported killed or wounded. The fight lasted about 90 minutes. Once the insurgents broke contact, they fled by either boat back toward nearby Lake Tharthar or into local areas by vehicle or on foot. At the scene, the commandos found documents indicating that there were Syrians, Algerians, other Arabs and at least one Filipino among the insurgents.

The US military denied on Wednesday March 23, 2005, an earlier report about air strikes in two cities, Haditha and Haqlaniyah, west of Baghdad. Local residents and medics said that the air strikes took place after insurgents near the Haditha hospital attacked the US forces and four people were wounded in the raids. They also said the US soldiers detained the hospital guards for several hours. Meanwhile, witnesses said a US base in Ramadi was attacked with mortar rounds and US soldiers immediately sealed off the roads leading to the city.

On April 1, 2005, US troops in Iraq are holding a top aide to the most wanted rebel there, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but the militaries declined to identify the man, who they said held joint US and Jordanian citizenship. The man was held in a raid late in 2004, explosives and arms had been found in his Iraqi house. Zarqawi's captured aide was an emissary to insurgent groups in several cities in Iraq.

The International Federation of Journalists urged US officials Friday April 8, 2005, to provide credible evidence their troops did not intentionally kill two television cameramen at a Baghdad hotel in 2003. The two were killed April 8, 2003, when a US tank fired at the Palestine Hotel, where scores of journalists were based during the invasion of Iraq. US officials insist the soldiers believed they were being shot at when they opened fire. The US tank killed Jose Couso, cameraman for Spanish television network Telecinco, and Taras Protsyuk, Ukrainian TV cameraman for Reuters. But critics said the journalists were targeted by US troops moving in on Baghdad and the IFJ said Friday a report on the killings was a "whitewash."

B. The British
The grieving parents of a soldier who killed himself while on leave from Iraq asked on October 1, 2004, for conflict counselling for all returning troops. Pte Gary Boswell, 20, was found hanging at a playground near his home in Milford Haven, west Wales, in July. An inquest at Milford Haven last week recorded a verdict of suicide after hearing how he was found hanging from swings at a town play area. He had joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers as a teenager in 2002 and had since taken up duties in Iraq.

Britain looked set on Tuesday October 19, 2004 to agree to a US request to send its troops into violence-plagued areas of Iraq a move, opponents argue, is politically motivated and could see British casualties multiply. A day earlier, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced Britain was considering the move and that a decision would be reached later in the week after consultations with military top brass. But he strongly hinted the decision would be positive, an impression reinforced on Tuesday by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who said the government supported the idea strongly.

On October 21, 2004, Britain agreed to move 850 crack troops closer to Baghdad to aid efforts to crush rebel strongholds. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced in London that Britain had agreed to a US request to redeploy an "armoured battle group" from the Black Watch regiment into a US-controlled section of Iraq, west of Baghdad. Lawmakers are concerned at the increased danger to their troops, and some are grumbling that Britain is "bailing out" US President George W. Bush. He told parliament the move was not related to the November 2 US presidential elections, as many critics have suggested. But nobody believes him! In Washington, the Bush administration welcomed the move.

Hundreds of British soldiers will be redeployed in central Iraq in response to a US request, the defence secretary has confirmed. Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons the deployment of about 850 Black Watch troops and support staff would last "weeks rather than months". He said they would remain under the day-to-day command of British generals. There were shouts of protest from the benches as opposition members questioned Mr Hoon after his statement. Mr Hoon said the decision was based on military advice. The 650-strong Black Watch regiment and about 200 support personnel would move from their base in Basra to near the capital Baghdad.

On October 22, 2004, it was clear that the British soldiers sent to central Iraq will face a much greater danger that in Basra. Towns like Mahmudiya and Yusufiyah do not want British troops anymore that they wanted the US Marines before. Some small towns and villages are no-go parts of Iraq for any coalition soldiers and the insurgents will do their best to keep it this way.

On October 27, 2004, some of the 850 British soldiers of the Black Watch and their equipments and vehicles were on their way to north in Iraq. They are being moved there to free some US Marines required for a all out attack, on Falluja. They are heading for a base near Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad. They could be deployed also in Iskandariya and Nasiriyah where they will no be welcomed. On October 28 the first troops arrived in their new base.

On November 4, 2004, three British soldiers of the Black Watch were killed in a suicide attack. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed and eight British soldiers were wounded. These soldiers were moved from Basra north near Baghdad to replace some US soldiers who are required to launch an assault on Falluja. Prime Minister Blair agreed to the American request and bear full responsibility for these deaths. Seventy-three British soldiers have now died in Iraq.

A British Hercules transport plane crashed north of Baghdad on Sunday January 30, 2005. There are some victims but no detail is available yet. It is not known if it was an accident or the result of an attack. On January 31 the investigations continued. It was revealed that all aboard, nine RAF personnel and one British soldier were killed. Some sources said that SAS soldiers were on the plane but the military authorities denied it. The Arabic television al-Jazeera broadcasted a tape from a militant group showing what looks like the plane being hit by a rocket as well as the wreckage following the crash. This possibility was not confirmed by the inquiry. However the Ansar al-Islam and the "1920 Revolution Brigade" claimed responsibility for the drowning.

As of January 31, 2005, 84 members of the British forces died in Iraq. More that half of them died in accidents. On February 1 the ten victim names of the recent plane crash were released to the media. On February 2, the British inspectors thought that the disaster could be due to the explosion of heavy weapons and ammunition that the plane was taking to Balad where there is a US base used by British Special forces. It also looks like the plane was flying quite high, out of range of anti-tanks and shoulder-held surface-to-air missiles.

The likelihood that hostile fire downed a British transport plane on January 30 in Iraq increased Monday March 7, 2005, when military officials ruled out sabotage and engine failure in the crash that killed 10 people. An interim report by the Royal Air Force board of inquiry excluded a range of possible explanations, including lightning, collision with another aircraft or cargo exploding in the crash of the Hercules C-130 transport north of Baghdad about a half-hour after polls closed in Iraq's landmark elections. But the panel did not rule out the possibility that the Hercules, which was on an administrative flight between Baghdad and a US air base at Balad, may have been shot down by guerrillas with a surface-to-air missile.

C. The Insurgents, Iraqis and Others
- Terrorist actions
On July 6, 2004, the deadliest car bombing since Iraq regained sovereignty exploded in Khales, Iraq, killing at least nine people and wounding 37, while an attack on a northern gas pipeline threatened power supplies. The suicide car bomber detonated near a house in Khales where a memorial service was being held for two Iraqis killed in an attack on Sunday in the nearby town of Baquba. On the same day an armed group threatened to kill Islamic militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi -blamed by US and Iraqi officials for a series of attacks- if he did not quit Iraq.

On July 13, 2004, many Iraqi policemen raided east Baghdad and arrested about 500 suspected criminals including drug dealers and weapon traders. Many of them are criminals freed by Saddam Hussein in October 2002. They are believed to be behind the crime wave in the capital but not necessarily involved in the fights against the occupants. One man was killed and two wounded.

On July 14, 2004, gunmen assassinated the US-appointed governor of Mosul, Youssef Kashmola. His convoy of five cars was attacked on the road from Mosul to Baghdad. In a suicide bomb-attack against one entrance to the Green Zone in Baghdad at least 11 people were killed and about 40 injured including an American soldier.

From June 28 to July 15, 2004, gunmen have killed six Baghdad councillors putting comprehensive fear in all the others. These dead come in addition to the 61 of the Baghdad 750 councillors appointed by the Americans killed in 2003, that is 8% of the total.

On July 17, 2004, the Iraqi Justice minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan's convoy on his way to work was blow up by a suicide car bomber. Four of his bodyguards died but the minister escaped serious injury. Two hours later a remote controlled bomb exploded at the same location as policemen kept coming to control the traffic. The same day another suicide car driver blew his bomb in Mahmoudia near about 50 people queuing near a National Guard recruitment centre. One guardsman was killed and 25 civilians were injured.

On July 18, 2004, Issam Jassem Qassim, a senior defence ministry official, was shot dead by three gunmen outside his home in Baghdad. The insurgents are attacking and killing more and more people working for the interim government.

On July 20, 2004, Hazem Taufic Ainachi, interim governor for the province of Basra, died after being shot by members of the Iraqi resistance on his way to his office. The authors of the attack, who managed to escape, also killed two bodyguards and injured one other.

In Mosul on July 24, 2004, gunmen assassinated a senior member of Iraq's armed forces as he travelled to Friday prayers. Brigadier General Salim Blaish and one of his neighbours, who was travelling with him, were killed in a drive-by shooting.

On July 24, 2004, gunmen kidnapped the head of an Iraqi state-owned construction company as he drove from his home in Baghdad to work. Raad Adnan Mahmoud, director of the al-Mansour Contracting Company, was seized after the gunmen blocked his car. Al-Mansour, one of the country's largest construction companies, has carried out several reconstruction projects for various ministries, including a housing complex and military barracks for the new Iraqi army. As well as running al-Mansour, Mahmoud is also a senior official in the Housing and Construction Ministry.

On July 29, 2004, a car suicide bomber killed 70 people and wounded 30 more in Baquba. Several market stalls and many building were destroyed; shoppers were badly hit as well as men queuing at a police recruiting office.

August 1, 2004, was the day Christian churches were bombed for the first time in Iraq. The attacks hit four churches in Baghdad, killed 11 people and injured more than 50; in Mosul one person was killed and 11 wounded in another church bombing. The 750,000 Christians in Iraq are a small minority (3% of the population) but they always lived in peace with the Muslims. Among the churches hit were one Armenian, one Assyrian and two Chaldeans. A fifth bomb did not explode near another church in Baghdad. Many Christians have already left the country because they feel threatened. A suicide bomber hit a police station in Mosul killing at least five people and wounding more than 50.

On August 2, 2004, the most senior Iraqi Shia Muslim, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani denounced the recent attacks on Christian churches in Baghdad and Mosul. At the same time, many Iraqi Christians are preparing to leave the country because they fear that there is no future for them in Iraq now.

On August 12, 2004, some Shia leaders from southern Iraq have called for a split from the central government in Baghdad as a protest for the government approval of the US heavy dealing with Shia cities. It is believed that 172 Iraqis have been killed and 600 wounded on August 11 and 12 in southern Iraq only. These victims are mainly civilians. In Kut 72 people died and violent battles took also place in Amara, Sadr City, Shula, and Diwaniya. Such a request, if approved by three governorships, could be legal according to the interim constitution.

On August 22, 2004, a car bomb exploded in the Iraqi town of Baquba, killing two Iraqis and wounding at least four. The target of the attack was the town's deputy mayor, Ghasan Ghadren, who survived the blast. The bomb exploded as the official's convoy passed through Baquba. It is not known if it was a suicide attack or detonated remotely.

On August 24, 2004, two Iraqi interim government ministers have survived assassination attempts in Baghdad. Convoys carrying the environment and education ministers were attacked on their way to offices. At least four bodyguards of Environment Minister Mishkat Moumin were killed in the attack as well as one of Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar. Both ministers were unharmed. Several people are reported to have been wounded in the attacks.

A senior woman academic was shot dead by unknown gunmen as she was driving to her university department in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul on August 28, 2004, police said. Iman Abdul Moneam Younis, head of translation at Mosul University's College of Art, died instantly when gunmen drew up alongside her in a car and opened fire.

Shia leader Moqtada Al Sadr on Monday August 30, 2004, ordered a nationwide ceasefire and announced his militant movement would join the political mainstream.

A senior aide to militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was assassinated on August 31, 2004, on the road between Najaf and Baghdad. Sayed Bashir al-Jazaeri was killed when his car came under fire as he was returning from Najaf. Al-Jazaeri headed one of al-Sadr's local offices near the capital. He accused the interim Iraqi government of failing to provide security south of Baghdad. The government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said there is a place for al-Sadr in Iraqi politics if he renounces violence and disarms his militia.

Baghdad and Iraq were mostly quiet on September 1, 2004, despite the collapse of peace talks between the interim Iraqi government and negotiators for the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who fiercely opposes both the government and the US presence in Iraq. The government rejected a tentative deal that would have barred US forces from the streets of Sadr City, a huge Shiite slum in Baghdad that is a stronghold of Sadr. In return, insurgents loyal to Sadr would have disarmed. But the two sides have discussed resuming negotiations, and Sadr City remained quiet even as US patrols continued. Coalition forces did not report any US or coalition soldiers killed yesterday.

Violence continued in Iraq on September 1, 2004 as politician and disgraced former Pentagon favourite Ahmed Chalabi escaped unharmed after an assassination attempt in which two of his bodyguards were killed, two wounded and another two went missing. The former Washington ally said a judge had informed him counterfeiting charges against him had been dropped. Chalabi added that an arrest warrant for his nephew Salem Chalabi, who is supervising Saddam Hussein's trial, had been reduced to a summons. Meanwhile, gunmen ambushed and killed a senior aide to Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and two other people on the road between Najaf and Baghdad. Sayed Bashir Al-Jazaeri was killed when his car came under fire as he was returning from Najaf. Jazaeri headed one of Sadr's local offices near the capital.

In Baghdad on September 7, 2004, the city's governor narrowly escaped assassination in an attack on his convoy. In addition to the attack on the Governor of Baghdad, the son of the governor of the northern province of Niniveh was killed in a drive-by shooting.

In the middle of September 2004, to many experts the conflict in Iraq has entered a new phase that resembles a classic guerrilla war with US forces now involved in counterinsurgency. And despite the lack of ideological cohesion among insurgent groups, history suggests that it could take as long as a decade to defeat them.

The Iraqi security forces -long a target of suspicion from US-led troops- suffered a fresh blow to their credibility as the US military announced it had detained a senior National Guard commander for eastern Iraq on suspicion of links with insurgents.
The officer, a former general in Saddam Hussein's army, was one of the most senior Iraqi security personnel detained for alleged involvement in anti-coalition attacks. The coalition has been struggling to recruit, fund and train a credible force capable of relieving US-led troops and British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged for the first time in an interview Sunday that disbanding the old army completely might have been a mistake.

In Baquba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, a police commander was assassinated in a drive-by shooting, police said. There were also assassinations in Baghdad, where gunmen killed a senior official of Iraq's Sciences and Technology Ministry and an employee, Abdul-Rahman said.

On Saturday October 16, 2004, explosions hit five churches in the capital as violence flared while Iraqi Muslims began marking the holy month of Ramadan. Homemade bombs exploded in quick succession before dawn at the five churches in four separate Baghdad neighbourhoods, causing no casualties but further alarming the Christian minority community. Mortar shells exploded Saturday near Ibn al-Betar hospital, killing one employee and wounding three others, and in the parking lot of the Mansour Hotel, which houses the Chinese embassy and is home to foreign diplomats and journalists. No one was killed in the hotel attack. Community leaders in Falluja offered to resume peace talks with the government if US forces stop their attacks on the city and free their chief negotiator.

On October 17, 2004, the Tawhid and Jihad Group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, saying it is in contact with Al Qaida over operations in Iraq. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement. The United States always said Zarqawi is Al Qaida's link to Iraq.

Mortar rounds exploded near Prime Minister Ayad Allawi on Thursday October 21, 2001, as he visited the northern Iraq of Mosul, but there were no reported injuries in the attack. Five mortar rounds fell about two blocks away from Allawi and his entourage as they readied for a helicopter trip after talks with the governor and other officials in Mosul.

During one week about 9,000 weapons -rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, grenades- were handed to the authorities in Sadr City, Baghdad, for cash.

On October 26, 2004, interim Iraqi Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, blamed the coalition forces for the death of 49 new trained Iraqi soldiers. They were taken home for a leave without any protection. Usually they should have travelled in an armed convoy. The killing took place in an area controlled by Polish troops.

On November 1, 2004, gunmen shot dead the deputy governor of Baghdad, Hatim Kamil; two security guards were wounded.

At least six Iraqis were killed -including three policemen- and more than two dozens wounded on November 8, 2004, in a series of bombings in Baghdad. On bomb exploded near St George Church, another near St Matthew's and a suicide car bomb was detonated near a hospital's emergency room entrance. An American soldier was also killed when insurgents with small arms attacked his convoy while another died in a bombing attack on the road to Baghdad airport. The same day a British soldier was killed and two wounded by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad near Camp Dogwood.

On November 9, 2004, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared a nighttime curfew in Baghdad and surroundings to prevent the insurgents to open a second front that would draw US soldiers from Falluja. It is the first curfew in Baghdad for one year.

On November 11, 2004, the US soldiers are trying to bring order in Mosul after the insurgents attacked police stations and bridges to try to divert the assault on Falluja. In Baghdad a bomb exploded moments after an US patrol went by; 17 Iraqi civilians were killed and 30 wounded. Another car bomb in Kirkuk directed to the governor's convoy wounded 14 people. And in Samarra 3 Iraqis were shot dead during a shootout between US soldiers and insurgents.

On November 12, 2004, the military situation in Mosul seems to be deteriorating so fast that even the interim Iraqi government s sending more of its troops to regain control before it becomes a second Falluja. The local policemen have fled and the insurgents are in the streets. One US soldier was killed there on November 11. The head of the city anticrime task force, Brigadier General Mowaffaq Mohammed Dahham was also killed and his home set on fire.

On November 12, 2004, the insurgents shot down a US Army UH-60 Black hawk helicopter near Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad. The three crewmembers were wounded. Due to the emphasis on Falluja it was not really noticed that this is the third helicopter shot down this week. The first two were marine Super Cobra helicopters shot over Falluja. An American soldier was killed in clashes in Baghdad. Samarra, Hawiya and Tal Afar but there are not report of America victims.

On November 28, 2004, it looks like the Iraqi insurgents have moved their main base from Falluja to Mosul where dozens of corpses were found in the streets these last few days. Most of the victims are Iraqi policemen and National Guards.

On November 28, 2004, we were told that the followers of the radical Iraqi cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr are regrouping in a political and charity group. They will enter the coming elections and the movement could be very popular.

On December 26, 2004, Iraq's top general, Babaker B. Shawkat Zebari, rejected President Bush's criticisms that some Iraqi troops were unwilling to fight insurgents and have deserted. According to him President Bush is baldly informed -or lying as usual in my view. He accepted that some new recruits left after they were told that they would be sent to Falluja. He added that the man who bombed the US Army mess in Mosul was not a member of the Iraqi security forces.

On December 26, 2004, masked gunmen killed a high-ranking police officer, Colonel Yassin Ibrahim Jawad, in Baghdad wounding also two of his bodyguards.

On December 26, 2004, a suicide car bomber exploded outside the largest Shiite party political headquarters in Baghdad. Nine guards and visitors were killed and 67 wounded. The leader of the party, Abdel Aziz al-Hakin was there but escaped unhurt. Hakin is one of the top Shiite leaders and a most important candidate in the coming elections. The attack was soon attributed to Baathist and/or Sunni elements wanting to disturb the elections.

On January 4, 2005, the governor of the Baghdad region, Ali al-Haidari, and six of his bodyguards were killed by gunmen on their way to work. He was known as a faithful American collaborator. The group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqiwi claimed responsibility.

On January 13, 2005, a top Shiite cleric, Sheik Mahmoud Finjan, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Salman Pak, was shot down and killed by insurgents together with his son and four bodyguards. This is another actions by the insurgents to stop the January 30 elections.

A suicide bomber tried to kill the powerful Uzbek leader, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, on January 20, 2005. Dostum was unhurt but some at least two people were killed and 21 wounded.

On January 24, 2005, security forces in Iraq said that they captured two senior aides to the top insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Captured are his chief bomb maker, Sami Muhammad Ali Said, and his propaganda chief, Hasam Hamad Abdullah Muhsin al-Dulaymi also known as Dr. Hassan. The bomb maker admitted masterminding most bomb attacks in Iraq including the assault on the UN offices in 2003.

On January 24, 2005, in Iraq a suicide car bomb exploded near the headquarters of Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's political party. At least 10 people were wounded.

Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession Saturday February 19, 2005, in a wave of attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched and lashed themselves with chains in ritual mourning of the 7th century death of a leader of their Muslim sect. Ninety-one people have been killed in violence in the past two days. For the second year running, insurgent attacks marked the commemoration of Ashura, the holiest day of the Shiite religious calendar, but the violence produced a smaller death toll than the 181 killed in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala a year ago.

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for calm on Sunday February 20, 2005, following suicide bombings on Shiite Muslims and said the first priority after last month's elections should be for occupation forces to leave. Sadr, who led two bloody uprisings against US-led troops in April and August, also told Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera that he would not take part in Iraq's political process as long as US-led forces remained.

A man described as a key figure of the country's most feared terrorist group was arrested on February 27, 2005. Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi, also known as Abu Qutaybah, was arrested Sunday in a raid by Iraqi security services in Anah, a Sunni triangle town 160 miles northwest of Baghdad.

On February 28, 2005, at least 114 and perhaps as much as 125 people have been killed by a massive car bomb in the worst single such incident since the US-led invasion. At least 130 others were wounded in the blast in Hilla, 100km south of the capital, Baghdad. The car, reportedly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded near a queue of people applying for government jobs. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms".

Gunmen have shot dead the chief of a central Baghdad police station and at least two other Iraqi policemen during an ambush on March 10, 2005. Insurgents in vehicles fired on the police chief's car as he drove to work.

Shia Iraqi victims of Thursday March 10, 2005 suicide bomb attack on funeral mourners in the city of Mosul have been buried in separate funerals. Earlier, officials and relatives called off plans for a large joint Sunni/Shia funeral procession because of fears insurgents might target it. The US military said the death toll of the explosion had risen to at least 50, with 80 wounded. Of the wounded, at least 10 suffered serious injuries and were taken to a US military hospital.

Iraqi Special Forces backed by US troops have killed 84 insurgents in a raid on a lakeside training camp near the city of Tikrit on March 22, 2005. A 240-strong Iraqi commando unit engaged in heavy fighting before seizing the camp, 160km northwest of Baghdad. Iraqi officials said that at least seven Iraqi commandos died, alongside insurgents from a number of countries. Iraqi Special Forces attacked the training camp, at Lake Tharthar, on the border between the troubled mainly Sunni provinces of Anbar and Salaheddin. After encountering heavy fire from an estimated 100 insurgents, they called in US ground and air reinforcements. Iraqi officials said the insurgents included at least 10 foreign recruits.

Insurgents were still manning a training camp in northern Iraq after a raid by the Iraqi army supported by US helicopters. On Wednesday March 23, 2005, about 30 to 40 fighters were still at the lakeside training camp attacked by US and Iraqi forces on Tuesday and denied they had ever left. There were numerous discrepancies in the accounts given by the rebel and Iraqi security forces. The US military was investigating the new accounts of a rebel presence after what had been reported as a crushing raid. The AFP correspondent, who travelled to the camp in the village of Ain al-Hilwa on Lake Tharthar, 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, said he saw the remains of three burnt-out vehicles on a dusty road leading to the site. A fighter named Amer, who claimed membership in the Secret Islamic Army of Iraq, said the men had never abandoned the camp and only 11 of his comrades were killed in air strikes on the site. Iraqi commanders have said 85 suspected insurgents were killed in an assault by Iraqi troops and US aircraft on the camp Tuesday, adding that no one was captured and others had fled by boat.

New details from an intense battle between insurgents and Iraqi police commandos supported by US forces cast doubt Thursday March 24 2005, on Iraqi government claims that 85 insurgents had been killed at what was described as a clandestine training camp. Accounts of the fighting continued to suggest that a major battle involving dozens of insurgents had occurred Tuesday on the eastern shore of Lake Tharthar, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad. But two US military officials said Thursday that no bodies had been found by American troops who arrived later at the scene. A spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, meanwhile, said he presumed the death toll was accurate, but he played down the scope of the fighting.

Police mistook a group of Iraqi soldiers wearing civilian garb for insurgents Thursday March 24, 2005, and killed five of them in northern Iraq. The soldiers in the northern city of Rabia, 90 miles west of the larger city of Mosul, were armed and dressed in street clothes. Three soldiers and two police were killed, while eight were wounded in the 10-minute exchange of friendly fire.

On April 2, 2005, heavily armed militants have launched an audacious attack on Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, wounding 44 US troops and 12 prisoners inside. They struck after dark, targeting an outbuilding with a car bomb and following up with another bomb, gunfire and grenades. At least 40 militants were involved. Al Qaida's wing in Iraq claimed responsibility for the raid on Abu Ghraib prison that wounded 44 US soldiers, and said more attacks would follow.

- Humanitarian comments
An increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished, a UN report said on March 30, 2005. Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led invasion -to nearly 8% by the end of last year. And the US said that it came to Iraq to improve the condition of the people who suffered under Saddam Hussein!

On April 5, 2005, US and UK officials have denied reports that increasing numbers of children in Iraq are facing chronic food shortages and malnourishment. A UN report last week said malnutrition in under-fives had almost doubled since the US-led invasion of 2003; it blamed the worsening situation in Iraq on the war led by coalition forces. The UK government says hunger levels fell between 2000 when a UNICEF survey was carried out and 2004 when the Iraqi Statistical Office did its own survey. About 8% of Iraqi children are now going hungry compared with 4% under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the UN Human Rights Commission reported in Geneva.

Human rights groups, aid workers and war correspondents around the world are paying tribute to the courage of a young American activist who was killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad Saturday. Marla Ruzicka worked tirelessly in Afghanistan and Iraq to document cases in which innocent civilians were killed during combat involving US forces. In an effort to get the US government to compensate the families of civilian war victims, Ruzicka founded a nongovernmental group called CIVIC -"Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict." Her efforts convinced the US Congress to allocate some 17 million dollars in direct aid to civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.

D. The UN and other International Organisations
On July 9, 2004, the name of the suicide bomber who run his truck into the UN headquarters in Baghdad killing the UN envoy Segio Viera de Mello, and 21 other people, was revealed. He was Abu Farida al-Masri, an Egyptian who once played hockey for an Italian team.

On August 15, 2004, Reporters Without Borders condemned the Iraqi authorities for ordering journalists to leave the holy Shiite city of Najaf on the eve of a major new US military offensive against anti-regime militants there and called on the government to drop the ban at once. Police ordered all journalists out of the city on 15 August, supposedly for their own safety, and warned that those who refused to leave risked arrest. "This blackout on news from the city is completely unacceptable and is unprecedented in Iraq," said the worldwide press freedom organisation. "The presence of journalists in Najaf is vital since the worst atrocities are always committed in the absence of independent witnesses. Reporters must be allowed to decide for themselves whether they wish to leave for their own safety."

On September 8, 2004, the remaining international aid agencies in Iraq are considering pulling out of the country after the kidnapping of four humanitarian workers, including two Italian women, from their headquarters in Baghdad. Jean-Dominique Bunel, a coordinator for the agencies, said the abduction on Tuesday had already prompted some aid workers to leave and others would follow by the end of the week. Speaking to Agence France-Presse, he said: "It seems that most of the international non-governmental organisations are preparing to leave Iraq and some foreign staff already left this morning. "More will follow in coming days. The flights are full until Friday."

The IMF predicted Monday October 18, 2004, a post-conflict economic boom in Iraq this year and in 2005, but admitted lending to Baghdad is a big risk because of the fighting and huge debt. The International Monetary Fund cleared a $463 million loan to Iraq on Sept. 29. The Iraqi gross domestic product (GDP), or total economic output, should soar 52 percent this year, 17 percent in 2005 and 9 percent a year on average from 2006 to 2009 and oil output should climb from 2.1 million barrels per day this year to 3.5 million by 2009.

On October 20, 2004, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari complained the United Nations has not done enough to help prepare the country's January elections, saying it has not sent enough election workers to help out with the vital balloting.

On October 21, 2004, the Iraqi government voiced concern over a lack of UN experts on the ground to prepare for the landmark polls, which are threatened by the insurgency.

It is still "technically possible" for Iraq to hold elections in January as scheduled, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday October 21, 2004, while acknowledging that the United Nations may not have enough staff on the scene to support preparations for the vote. The decision on whether to hold or delay Iraq's elections "will be their call, not ours," adding "I want to stress that it is the Iraqis who are planning the elections, who are organizing the elections. We are offering support and advice." "There has been some question as to whether we have enough UN staff on the ground or not. As we move forward, it will become necessary to send in additional staff," adding that staffing arrangements will depend on either a more secure environment of "solid arrangements for protection." Fiji has offered 130 troops to protect UN staff and facilities in Iraq - the first country to respond to requests for a protection force separate from US-led coalition forces. The United Nations also is holding discussions with the coalition to provide a unit to protect the perimeter of UN facilities and UN staff travelling outside the heavily guarded Green Zone in Baghdad, UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. Although the United Nations had sought to distance itself from relying on American and coalition troops, it has had no choice but to rely on coalition troops to protect the small UN staff now in Baghdad.

On November 4, 2004, the medical agency "Médecins sans Frontières" has decided to stop all its operations in Iraq because of increasing insecurity. This follows the decisions by Care International to also suspend its activities following the kidnapping of its local director, Mrs Margaret Hassan.

On December 13, 2004, the Iraqi interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer demanded more help from the United Nations ahead of the January 30, 2005, elections. He added that poor security was not an acceptable excuse for the UN to stay away. The UN has now 59 foreign staff advising Iraq's electoral commission including more than 20 election experts. Yawer added that if the instability continues, conditions could emerge for an "Iraqi Hitler" to emerge. He also said that the USA made a big mistake when they dismantled the Iraqi security forces after the invasion. Dissolving the Defence and Interior ministries was wrong. It would have been easier to screen the bad apples out that screen the good one in again.

On January 9, 2005, we were told that the USA is trying to replace the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr Mohamed ElBaradei. He is the only candidate until now (for a third term). He is known as an independent minded Egyptian diplomat and this kind of man is not wanted by Bush who prefers puppets like Blair, Berlusconi, Allawi,....ElBaradei challenged the Bush administration about the possible attempt by Iraq and Iran to develop a nuclear weapon programme. The USA is trying to gather a coalition on the IAEA Board of Governors to replace him. Let us hope that enough countries will refuse to do it since ElBaradei is doing the job he has been appointed for and not as a Bush's puppet.

E. Others
On July 2, 2004, the Polish troops said that they found 17 rockets and 2 mortar shells containing cyclosarin, a chemical agent. These shells date from the 1980's. The terrorists offer up to $5,000 on the black market to get them.

On July 2, Jordan and Yemen offered troops to Iraq. This is a major policy shift that could be an attempt to encourage other Arab and Muslim nations to help the coalition forces. However both Jordan and Yemen added that their offer to send some soldiers to Iraq was valid only if they are part of an UN-controlled force.

On July 5, 2004, some Arab nations have begun making separate offers of military assistance to Iraq, but analysts say they are not getting an eager response from the new interim government in Baghdad. Jordan, Bahrain and Yemen are all offering military help to Iraq's new government.

On July 20, 2004, the group headed by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, a Jordanian linked to al-Qaida, told Japan to withdraw its troops from Iraq to save its citizens in the country from attacks. ``We have a message to the Japanese government: Follow in the footsteps of the Philippines. We will not show mercy to anyone who backs Iraq because you are only protecting Americans."

On August 11, 2004, the local police has detained at least three Iranian reporters, including the Baghdad bureau chief of Iranian news agency IRNA, in Iraq. Earlier reports had suggested an armed group had kidnapped the men.

On August 12, 2004, the security officials in Baghdad revealed that 30 Iranians were caught fighting with a Shia cleric in Iraq. This could mean that Iran's involvement is bigger that thought until now. It is known that arms have also been brought across the border from Iran. The 30 men were captured in the city of Kut on August 11. It is not clear if they came on their own or sent by Tehran. If the latest were the case it would be very close to a declaration of war between the two countries.

On August 21, 2004, Iraq's government has admitted that police detained three reporters for Iran's state IRNA news agency who went missing on August 9. Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said that he had assurances that IRNA's Baghdad bureau chief Mostafa Darban, who went missing with Iraqi colleagues Mohammad Khafaji and Mohsen Madani, was in good health.

The Japanese government is considering extending the mission for Self-Defence Forces in Iraq and near Afghanistan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested Wednesday October 20, 2004. While noting the deployments are both based on time-limited special laws, Koizumi said, "Basically, I think Japan will have to continue providing assistance in line with UN resolutions calling for international assistance both over Afghanistan and Iraq."

A bloody attack took place on October 23, 2004, in Mosul where two truck drivers were killed -one Turk and one Yugoslavian- and two others were wounded during an attack on a convoy.

On November 1, 2004, the US embassies in Finland and Latvia warned the Americans of a high risk of terrorist attacks in shopping centres and public transport in these two countries. Norway closed its embassy in the Latvian capital, Riga, for the same reasons. Is it serious for a change?

On November 3, 2004, the Hungarian government said that it will pull its 300 non-combat troops out of Iraq by the end of March 2005.

On November5, 2004, President Putin of Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. This treaty seeks to slow global warming by reducing gas emission. Until now 55 nations have signed the treaty that will become operative 90 days after Russia notify the UN of its ratification. The USA (since Bush came to power) and Australia have refused to sign it.

On December 9, 2004, Japan has decided to keep its troops in Iraq for another years. The 500 soldiers are non-combat troops. They help increase the supply of clean drinking water and participate in other infrastructure projects.