Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

Reports on Wednesday included another horrifying display of turture photos from Abu Ghraib. Amid more civilian and military deaths, the call for reporter Jill Carroll's release continue, and an Iraqi community unites in a witness for peace. We found no new reports of Tom Fox and the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq.

from Reuters: Ruined Iraqi city promotes peace with olive trees

Residents of Falluja, the Iraqi city devastated by a U.S. offensive in 2004, have begun planting thousands of olive trees in a bid to promote peace.

The first trees were planted on Wednesday near a football pitch that became a graveyard for the victims of the U.S. military assault against insurgents holed up in the city. The aim is to plant 250,000 trees by April, organisers said.

"It is a peace message to all Iraqi cities to cast away all the sectarian and ethnic issues and hold together," said Hassan Muhammed, a member of Falluja's Cultural House group.

Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, was a stronghold of Sunni Muslim militants until the U.S. offensive, which left much of the city -- known as the "city of mosques" -- in ruins.

Tom paints an intimate portrait of Falujah in an article posted just a few weeks before he was kidnapped:

There are no words. A city that has been demonized by Americans and many Iraqis, using the words “the city of terrorists.” A city that its residents call “the city of mosques.” A city that even its residents have to enter at checkpoints, often taking up to an hour to traverse. A city that is being choked to death economically by those same checkpoints.

from the Associated Press: Televised Pleas for Journalist Jill Carroll's Release

Iraq's state television has begun broadcasting ads appealing for the release of kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll including footage of her mother and a major Sunni Arab politician describing the 28-year-old freelancer as a friend of Iraq.[...]

"The kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll loves Iraq and she now needs your help," a male narrator says. "It's time for Jill Carroll to go home safely."

Mary Beth Carroll, the journalist's mother, spoke in English with an Arabic voiceover.

"I, Jill's father and sister directly appeal to Jill's kidnappers to free her, that young woman who worked hard to publicize the suffering of Iraqis," she said.

Meanwhile, an Australian TV network broadcast a new batch of torture photos from the Abu Ghraib prison. The SBS (Special Broadcasting System) is renowned for its investigative reports. The photos can be viewed in RealPlayer video; they are gruesome and appalling, and are already evoking an outraged response in many quarters.

from the Associated Press: Bomb Kills Four Iraqi Schoolchildren

A bomb exploded in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing three girls and a boy on their way to school as violence targeted all walks of life in the capital. Nearly 20 people were killed in car bombings and shootings elsewhere.

With the bloodshed showing no sign of abating, politicians held protracted talks over formation of a new government, which the U.S. hopes will help stamp out the insurgency by encouraging Sunni Arabs and Shiites to work together. [...]

"We are poor people who have nothing to do with politics," the father sobbed at the police station. "We only wanted to live a decent life. What is the guilt of my dead children? They were only heading to school. Now I am left with only two children. This is a disaster for my family." [ more ]

from Reuters: Military and civilian deaths in Iraq

A roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine in western Baghdad on Tuesday near Abu Ghraib, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military also reported on Tuesday that a sailor was killed by a roadside bomb in western al-Anbar province.

United States casualties as of Tuesday were 2,269

Civilian iraqi deaths are plausibly estimated at over 100,000.