BAGHDAD - Iran's commitments to stem the flow of weapons and explosives into Iraq "appear to be holding up" and have contributed to a sharp drop in roadside bombs across the country, a U.S. general said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. James Simmons, a deputy corps commander, said that in October, U.S. forces logged 1,560 cases in which bombs were either found and exploded.

That compared with 3,239 incidents in March, he said. The October figure was the lowest since September 2005, he added.

In August, Iraqi authorities said Iranian officials promised Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that they would stem the flow of weapons and ammunition smuggled to extremists in Iraq.

Since then, U.S. military officials have reported finding fewer "explosively formed penetrators," a particularly deadly form of roadside bomb they believe come from Iran.

"We believe that the commitments that the Iranians have made appear to be holding up," Simmons said.

Iranian officials have publicly denied smuggling weapons to Shiite extremists. But U.S. authorities insist penetrator bombs are the signature weapon of Shiite militants.

Simmons said that penetrator bombs were still being found in Iraq but they appeared to have entered the country months ago.

U.S. authorities said penetrators were used in an attack Wednesday against a U.S. Stryker vehicle near an entrance to the Green Zone, killing an American soldier and wounding five others. Iraqi police said two Iraqi civilians also were killed.

It was the first major attack against a U.S. military vehicle in that area in the last four or five months, Simmons said.

He said the vehicle was struck by "an array" of penetrators. The attack occurred in one of the most heavily protected areas of the capital, raising questions how the explosives could have been planted without collusion from Iraqi police or soldiers.

The general said U.S. and Iraqi authorities were investigating the attack.

Simmons said U.S. authorities also were encouraged by an increase in tips from Iraqi citizens about weapons caches, which he interpreted as a sign the public was turning against both Shiite and Sunni extremists.

"We had found more caches by May of this year than in all of 2006," he said.

Simmons said most of the roadside bomb attacks recently had occurred in Sunni areas north of Baghdad.

Northern Iraq also has seen a spike in violence in recent months as extremists were pushed from strongholds in and around Baghdad.

In Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city 180 miles north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a police patrol in Kirkuk, killing six people and wounding more than 20, said police Brig. Sarhad Qadir.

The city has seen a rise in bloodshed ahead of a planned census and referendum to determine the future of the city — whether it will join the semiautonomous Kurdish region on its border, or remain under Baghdad's control.

The bomber's apparent target was the six-car convoy of a senior Kurdish police officer, Brig. Gen. Khattab Omar, who heads the city police department's quick response force, Qadir said.

Three of Omar's officers were killed, along with three civilians, but the commander survived with serious injuries to his chest and head, Qadir said. Omar was being evacuated to a larger hospital, he said.

Video from AP Television News showed a charred Iraqi Humvee being towed from the scene.

Many of the 21 people wounded were children who had been walking to school when the bomber struck. APTN video from inside a nearby hospital showed a young girl in a school uniform, drenched in blood. A child's shoe could be seen peeking out from under a tarp covering corpses — suggesting at least one of the dead civilians was a child.

Also Thursday, the U.S. military said a U.S. soldier had been killed a day earlier in an explosion in Diyala province that wounded four other soldiers.

At least 3,865 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said they were investigating whether U.S. troops had mistakenly killed about two dozen anti-al-Qaida fighters earlier this week north of Baghdad.

LINK

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton College tuition should be free, so should healthcare.

Ugh, all these articles say basically the same thing. Do we really need new threads every single time?

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quote:

Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Ugh, all these articles say basically the same thing. Do we really need new threads every single time?

Especially when he refuses to respond to the valid criticisms of the stories in all of the other threads.

I can't beat 'em, so I'll ignore and yell somewhere else seems to be the tactic.

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"Go back to bed america your government is in control
Here's American Gladiators, here is 56 channels of it,
Watch these picturary retards bang their fuckin' skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom,
Here you go America you are free to do as we tell you
We want your soul
Your cash, your house, your phone, your cash, your house, your life" -Adam Freeland - We Want Your Soul

Here we go again with the latinloser news feeds. Isn't this one of the rules of the PDD????

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Whats the point of this article, anyway? I dont see anything on this that can be a direct achievement of US military/government. I know LatinLover would love to give credit to USA and its Surge doctrine as teh winner, but its the Iranians who are actually the ones who are bringing the region closer to peace by offering to crack down on rogue elements within its military, radicals within its borders who are sneaking through weapons and armaments. And so far USA is still pretty dam harsh on Iran. Iran for a millionth time has extended its hand of co-operation and support on the Iraq issue ... yet I see no sign of silly willy American government doing the same for Iran.

Why should Iran continue to dig itself a deeper hole by allowing US troops to free up in Iraq to prepare to attack Iran? I can see why Iranians might be involved in the Iraqi violence, but I can equally see clear hostile and aggressive methods being employed by US administration against Iran. When is USA finally going to give Iran a break that it deserves?

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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture

LOL

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"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

This is funny.. hes actually TRYING to convince us things are going dandy there haahhahaha

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"This place isn't big enough for me to blow it up."
-MARCO V

quote:

Originally posted by Cyrus King This is funny.. hes actually TRYING to convince us things are going dandy there haahhahaha

Latin is the ultimate Bush whore. I thank God that the neocons are going down in flames next year, and we will finally be getting out of this mess.

Hmmm, so since things are going so swimmingly there, Latin, shall we expect you to get over your authoritarian issues, enlist in the military and fight for the cause you so fervently support soon?

I just can't see any other way for a war supporter like yourself to truly show support for the cause then by enlisting and fighting yourself, can you?

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Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...