The death toll of US soldiers in Iraq passed 4,000 March 23 as four troops died in a roadside bomb attack on a patrol in southern Baghdad. More than 29,000 US soldiers have been wounded in five years of conflict in Iraq, according to the icasualties.org website. At least 97% of the deaths have come after George Bush announced the end of "major combat" in Iraq on May 1, 2003. At least 50 Iraqis, most of them civilians, also died March 23 in violence including bomb blasts and shootings. (AlJazeera, March 24) Gunmen in three cars opened fire on pedestrians in southern Baghdad's mixed Zaafariniya district, killing at least seven and wounding 16. (Reuters, March 23)

From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), March 22:

Letter to the Anti-War and -Occupation Forces of the World
On the Fifth Anniversary of US Administration and its Allies' Barbarism
The memory of March 19th puts out terror in the world. On this day the human race realizes that its destiny is in the hands of a bunch of criminals and blood-suckers in the US Administration. March 19th is a message to the world that freedom, civil rights and human dignity have no value to the corporate mafia interests of the US and its allies in the world.

The Bay Area group Direct Action to Stop the War marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion March 19 by blocking key intersection in downtown San Francisco, staging "die-ins" and halting traffic. The corporate headquarters of Chevron and Bechtel and a military recruiting center were also blockaded. Some 150 were arrested at several sites around the city. (Indybay, March 19) Three were charged with felonies such as assault on an officer. (Infoshop News, March 20)

At least 52 are dead following a March 17 bomb blast near the shrine of Imam Hussein, a pilgrimage center for Shi'ites in Karbala. Most reports identified a female suicide bomber as the perpetrator, but the Karbala police chief said it had been a bomb planted in a crowded area. About 75 were injured in the blast, the worst attack on Shi'ite civilians since the Ashura holy period.

Musayyib power plant sit-inThe March monthly bulletin of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) notes numerous labor actions in the energy sector throughout the country last month. On Feb. 4, thousands of electricity workers walked off the job and marched through the streets in Basra, Musayyib, Hilla and Kut to demand moves against corrupt bureaucrats in the Energy Ministry, electrification of poor districts, better housing for workers, and redress of other grievances. When there was no response to their petitions, the workers held sit-ins at power stations and industrial sites in these cities the following day. Some 7,000 workers at the Ur industrial complex near Nasiriyah also held a sit-in to demand upgrading of power facilities, as well as the right to free unionization and repeal of the Saddam-era anti-union Law 150.

Iraq's government noted the 20th anniversary of the Halabja massacre March 16 by announcing plans to take legal action against the suppliers of chemicals used in the poison gas attack that killed 5,000 people. "The cabinet decided to take legal measures to sue the companies who provided the ex-regime with the chemical weapons used in Halabja," the statement said, without naming the companies.

As the Bush administration heads into months of negotiations with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the future of US troops in Iraq, it aims to stretch the bounds of executive power to unprecedented lengths. The administration plans to bypass Congress to forge a status of forces agreement (SOFA) that would grant the US an unlimited "authority to fight" provision, according to statements by the State Department's Coordinator for Iraq, David Satterfield, and Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week. Drafts of the SOFA, a binding pact, also provide legal immunity for US private contractors operating in Iraq, according to a January New York Times article.

We've noted that CentCom commander Adm. William Fallon is an exponent of the "pragmatist" view on Iran—a point also stressed by this March 11 AP account of his sudden resignation. Does this signal a silent coup by Cheney and the neocons—and point towards an "October surprise" invasion of Iran? We sure hope not.