Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

There was no news on Tuesday January 31 of Tom Fox or the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq. Once more we call on their captors -- release them!

from the Associated Press: German Hostages in Iraq Shown in Video

A roadside bomb killed a British soldier in southern Iraq Tuesday as a new video from kidnappers threatened to kill two German hostages if Germany fails to stop cooperating with the Iraqi government.

We call for the release of these and all other innocent persons held captive in Iraq.

from Aljazeera: Several bodies found in Baghdad

Iraqi police have found the bodies of 11 young men, all blindfolded and shot in the head, in the back of a deserted truck in western Baghdad.

Police said the bodies of the men, all apparently civilians, were found in Baghdad's violent Ghazaliya district on Tuesday. They had marks on their wrists, indicating they had been restrained.

Three other bodies were found dumped near a road in Rustamiya on the southeastern outskirts of the capital. They also had gunshot wounds to the head. Police said their identities were not known.

Since the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in March 2003, hundreds of bodies have been found dumped in fields, at roadsides and in rivers, often bound and shot in the head.

Anti-US Iraqi fighters regularly capture and kill Iraqi soldiers, policemen and civilians suspected of working with the US-led forces in Iraq.

Iraqi Sunni Arabs, who dominate the revolt against the US-led forces in Iraq and the US-backed Shia-led government, accuse the Iraqi security forces of kidnapping their sect members and brutally torturing them before executing them. The Shia-led security forces deny the charges.

from Reuters: US Iraq casualties ease amid drop in rebel attacks

The death toll among U.S. troops in Iraq dropped back to average levels in December and January after a bloody autumn, and U.S. officials said on Tuesday insurgent attacks have been waning since October.

The number of attacks conducted by insurgents has dwindled from more than 700 per week in the first week of October, just before the Oct. 15 referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, to the current level of about 430 per week, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. [...]

There have been 2,242 U.S. military deaths in the war, according to Pentagon figures released on Tuesday. Another 16,606 U.S. troops have been wounded in combat, 7,683 of whom were too badly hurt to return to duty, the Pentagon said.

UK army faces strain if Iraq, Afghan missions run on

Britain's army is under pressure in Iraq and ramping up operations in Afghanistan this year, but if the situation on the ground does not improve fast Washington may soon find that its closest ally is stretched too tight.

Word of the 100th British death in Iraq arrived on Tuesday just days after the announcement of an ambitious new mission to southern Afghanistan that will see Britain's forces there increase from just 1,000 now to a peak of 5,700.

"When you spend your holidays from Afghanistan in Iraq, that is where you stretch your army to breaking point," said Tim Ripley, who writes for Jane's Defence Weekly.

"You're talking about them coming back from Iraq and going straight to Afghanistan and then going back again. And that puts a real strain on whether these people want to stay in the army."

Prime Minister Tony Blair said there would be no turning back either in Iraq or Afghanistan.

from the Associated Press: Top U.S. General Says Army 'Stretched'

The top U.S. general in Iraq acknowledged Thursday that American forces in this country are "stretched," but he said he will only recommend withdrawals based on operational needs. [...]

"The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that," Casey said. "But the Army has been for the last several years going through a modernization strategy that will produce more units and more ready units."

He reiterated he would only recommend reductions in the more than 130,000-strong U.S. military presence in Iraq based on the situation on the ground.

Iraqi Desertions Complicate U.S. Mission

Just two days before a mission to send hundreds of Iraqi soldiers after insurgents in this troubled western part of Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi commanders confronted an untimely problem - an Iraqi battalion commander was suddenly fired for incompetence. [...]

The missing battalion underscored what U.S. commanders call the Iraqi army's most glaring weakness in this restive part of the country: a shortage of soldiers able to take on their own "battle space," or areas where they are primarily responsible for security.