A US soldier has been killed and four others wounded in a rocket attack on a coalition base north-west of Baghdad.
The US military says the attack happened at 2:20pm local time.
" One Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed and four others wounded during a rocket attack on a coalition base north-west of Baghdad ," the statement said.

A suicide bombing has taken place outside the Baghdad home of an aide of Iraq's interim interior minister, with the aide and his family wounded, the minister said.
"There was a suicide attack against one of my deputies outside his home in Baghdad. My aide and his family are in hospital," Samir al-Sumaiday said, without giving any further details.
He did not identify the deputy hurt in the attack.

A car bomb has exploded in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing up to five people.
Witnesses have said a car packed with explosives crashed near the home of a government official.
The explosion lifted cars off the ground and shattered windows.
The engine block of one vehicle was thrown more than 50 metres away from the blast.
The car bomb exploded in the front yard of the home of Abdel Jabar Yussef, the Under Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior.
Mr Yussef and his family were injured.
Witnesses say up to 20 security guards were killed or injured in the blast.
The attack happened in a middle class neighbourhood in the east of the capital.
United States soldiers have sealed off the site.
Bewildered neighbours are starting to clean up the damage.
Many families were preparing to take their children to school when the explosion tore through the street.

U.S. troops and Iraqi police on Thursday suddenly surrounded and raided Chalabi's house - and police also searched offices of his organization, the Iraqi National Congress.
CIA sources told Fox News there are reports that the INC passed information to Iran, but as far as what type of information, the sources said that isn't known for sure.
Defense officials also told Fox News there was speculation that INC members allegedly shared information with Iran (search) and misused funds and property belonging to the Iraqi Governing Council.
CBS News reported that the U.S. has evidence Chalabi has been passing highly classified U.S. intelligence to Iran, citing senior U.S. officials.
CBS said the "rock solid" evidence was said to show that Chalabi himself gave Iranian intelligence officers information so closely guarded that if revealed it could "get Americans killed."

[Habib] is a Shia Kurd who ran a program for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress which the Pentagon funded to gather Saddam Hussein-era documents and provide informants until it abruptly dropped its support this month. The Information Collection Program had received $340,000 a month since October 2002.
A U.S. intelligence source said that information about Karim's activities came in part from a detainee at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are being held.
Another source with access to sensitive intelligence and who was interviewed separately confirmed that the United States had developed information leading the government to believe that "this guy is an agent of the Iranians."

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The head of Iraqi Governing Council (search) was killed Monday in a car bombing near a U.S. checkpoint in central Baghdad, an Iraqi official said.
Abdel-Zahraa Othman, also known as Izzadine Saleem (search), was among four Iraqis killed in the blast, according to Redha Jawad Taki, a member of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite Muslim organization.
Saleem, the name he went by most frequently, was a Shiite and leader of the Islamic Dawa Movement (search) in the southern city of Basra. He was a writer, philosopher and political activist, who served as editor of several newspapers and magazines.

Overnight fighting has claimed 15 coalition and Iraqi lives and left dozens wounded in several Iraq cities, according to military and hospital sources.
Nine Iraqis were killed and 14 others were injured during clashes overnight between radical Shiite militiamen and Italian troops in the southern city of Nasiriyah, hospital sources said on Monday.
The clashes followed fighting on Sunday during which six Italian soldiers were injured, one seriously, as the coalition troops were forced to temporarily abandon a position on one of the main bridges.
Twenty-eight people were also hurt on Sunday when a shell hit a market in the centre of the city, 375 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, where the Italians and the Mehdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr continued to exchange fire.
Meanwhile, a US soldier was killed and two others injured in a gun battle in a city south of Baghdad, the American military said in a statement.
The soldiers, from the 1st Armoured Division, were not named.
The statement did not specify the city where the clash happened.
In Karbala, at least five Shiite militiamen were killed and 32 injured during fighting overnight between US troops and fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, hospital sources said.

Fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr drove Italian forces from a base in the southern city of Nasiriyah and attacked coalition headquarters there with grenade and mortar fire as tensions in the Shiite region escalated.
Two US soldiers died elsewhere and gunmen killed three Iraqi women working for the US led-coalition.
[…]
Two Iraqi fighters were killed and 20 were wounded in battles in Nasiriyah, mostly at two bridges across the Euphrates, residents said.
[…]
At least 10 Italians were wounded, one critically, contingent spokesman Lt. Col. Giuseppe Perrone told The Associated Press by phone. He said the Italians relocated to the nearby Tallil air base.
[…]
Also in Nasiriyah, a convoy transporting the Italian official in charge of the city, Barbara Contini, came under attack as it neared the headquarters of the US -led Coalition Provisional Authority, Perrone said. Two Italian paramilitary police were wounded.
[…]
Elsewhere in southern Iraq, assailants in Basra fired a mortar shell that hit a house near a British military base, killing four Iraqi civilians, including 2-year-old twin girls, witnesses said. Four people were wounded. All the victims were related.
Gunmen fired on a minibus and detonated explosives in Baghdad on Sunday, killing two Iraqi women and their driver and injuring another woman. Police said the women were working for the Americans but did not specify their jobs.
Early yesterday, a female Iraqi translator working with US troops was killed and another was critically injured when gunmen broke into their houses in Mahmoudiyah, Dawood al-Taee, director of the city's hospital, said.
The civilian killings appeared to be part of a rebel strategy to deter co-operation between Iraqis and the coalition, which plans to hand over sovereignty on June 30.
One US soldier was killed on Saturday night when a bomb exploded beside a vehicle in Baghdad, the Army said. A second soldier died of wounds suffered during a fire fight on Saturday south of the capital, the military said.

Gunfire erupted across Baghdad and tracer bullets lit the night sky last night, but this was not war, it was joy. Iraq's young footballers have qualified for their first Olympics.
[…]
The final home game of the qualifying tournament against Saudi Arabia was played in Amman, the capital of neighbouring Jordan.
Fans glued to television screens erupted in traditional Iraqi manner, blasting Kalashnikov rifles and machine guns into the air when Hawar Taher made it 3-1 a minute from time.
Carloads of men drove crazily round Baghdad, horns blaring.
[…]
Qualification looked unlikely after a shaky run that left both Iraq and the Saudis able to go through only if it ended level between Kuwait and Oman in Kuwait City.
A 0 -0 draw there sent Iraq to Athens ahead of Oman, who finished level on points.

TIKRIT, Iraq - Task Force Danger Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 113th Field Artillery, detained an Iraqi Army soldier after finding sketches of a Coalition base in his possession during a shakedown inspection around 2 p.m. May 11.
The Iraqi soldier was taken to a Coalition detention facility for questioning.

Wow, I'm impressed and awed!
Who are you and what's a blogger? I being the computer idiot know barely enough to get around the email.
Did you think this up, because this is awesome.
Susan, mom of many

The Tom Family Education Trust
P.O. Box 2236
Fairfield, Ca. 94533

The young Iraqi cleric leading a month-old Shiite uprising against US occupation says he is prepared to disband his militia army.
However, with a now familiar ambivalence, Moqtada al-Sadr also told a rare news conference at Islam's holiest Shiite shrine he still opposes a US -led occupation he likens to the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein.
It was hard to separate face-saving bravado from hard bargaining during the young firebrand's first personal comment on talks in the holy city of Najaf.
Under mounting pressure from rivals in the Shiite establishment and from US forces on the ground, his aides had already pencilled in their agreement to a deal that could end the insurgency.

Four Filipino workers have been killed in Iraq in a mortar attack on a United States military camp, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said.
The contractors were among more than 1,360 Filipinos working at Camp Anaconda in Balad.
Another Filipino worker was killed by attackers in Iraq at the end of April.
The Philippines, a staunch ally of Washington, also has about 100 police, soldiers and medical personnel assisting in reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

United States troops, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, have killed up to 25 militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in fierce fighting in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, a senior US military officer said.
Locals said the fighting erupted on Tuesday evening (local time) and was still going on as dawn broke, with members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia holed up in a mosque and surrounded by US forces.
A senior US official in Baghdad said 20 to 25 militiamen were killed and seven American soldiers were wounded.

A relative of mine was forced as the millions of Iraqis to serve in Saddam's army. He was poor and peaceful and couldn't stand the humiliation and the torture that service meant. He lived in Baghdad and served in Basrah. He was paid about 10 thousand Iraqi Dinars a month, which equaled about 5 US $ at that time, while the ride from his place to his unit cost about 2 or 3 thousand Dinars. Above all he had to bribe the sergeants and the officers only to avoid the hell they could make his life there, as they could've made it a lot worse. Others more fortunate paid money to the officer in charge to stay at home and the officer would arrange it to look like they are serving. This may amount to 250-300 thousand Iraqi Dinars a month, and it was a very common practice at that time. And as tens of thousands of Iraqis, he decided to run away. He remained a fugitive for years, hiding from the eyes of the military police. He couldn't see his family more than 2 or 3 times in the year. We helped him find a job and a place to hide where they couldn't find him.
Few days ago I was visiting his family to pay our respect in the 1st annual anniversary of his father's death.
When I saw my relative, and despite the nature of the occasion, I felt happy. Here's a free man.
I smiled as I said, " you must be very happy to be free again, and not fear the MP ".
He said, " you can't imagine! It's like being born again. I've never felt so free before ".
" But what are you doing for a living now? I hope you've found a job ". I asked.
He smiled as he said, " I volunteered in the new army ".
" Really! I thought you'd never wear a uniform after that terrible experience "
he replied " Oh no, this is entirely different ".
I said, " I'm sure it is, but who convinced you to do so!? And when did that happen?"
" A friend of mine who volunteered before I did told me some nice stuff that encouraged me to do the same, so I volunteered about a couple of months ago ". He replied.
" So tell me about it, are you happy with this job?" I asked. ]
" You can't imagine! It's nothing that we've learned or knew about the military life". He answered.
" I expected it to be so, but can you tell me about it" I asked and I didn't have to ask anymore, as my relative started talking excitedly without a stop.