Nederlandse militairen zijn gisteravond betrokken geweest bij een schietpartij rond een overheidsgebouw in de Zuid-Iraakse stad As-Samawah. Toen met klein kaliber op het gebouw werd geschoten, schoten Nederlanders die daar gelegerd waren, terug.

Een raketgranaat die de aanvallers afschoten,miste doel. Voor zover bekend vielen er geen gewonden en is niemand gearresteerd.

Explosions from shells sent Japanese troops scurrying for cover and officials in Tokyo scrambling Thursday for information about the first attack against the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq.

Defense Agency officials said there were no injuries and no structural damage from blasts caused by either mortar or rocket shells fired near the Ground SDF camp in Samawah in southeastern Iraq.

There were also unconfirmed reports of explosions near the Dutch military camp in the city.

A majority of the Dutch public believe the country's military contribution to the US-led coalition cannot stay in Iraq "in the present circumstances", according to a new opinion poll.

Some 59 percent of respondents in the survey carried out by polling organisation Interview/NSS for current affairs television programme Nova said the 1,300 Dutch marines based in southern Iraq should be withdrawn.

(...)

If the Dutch troops were attacked, 67 percent of people questioned for the poll said the marines should be withdrawn immediately, news agency ANP reported.

(Situatie afgelopen 2 dagen)

Our troops in Iraq don't know who they're fighting and who they're saving. They don't know when they're coming home or when they're being forcibly re-upped by Rummy. Our diplomats in Baghdad don't know who they're handing the country over to next month. And Bush officials don't know where to go for help, since the military's tapped out, the allies have cold feet, the Arab world's angry and the rest of the globe is thinking, "You got what you deserved."
- Maureen Dowd, New York Times Op-Ed

Kans dat God bestaat is 67 procent

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LONDEN De wiskundige waarschijnlijkheid dat God bestaat, is 67 procent. Dat zegt de Britse wiskundige Stephen Unwin, die zich baseert op het zogeheten theorema van Bayes, in de Britse krant The Times.

Unwin,die in de VS onder meer de kans op nucleaire rampen berekende, nam in zijn berekeningen factoren op als het bestaan van kwaad en lijden, vrije wil en de aangeboren goedheid van de mens.

De uitkomst valt Unwin tegen. Hij had de kans op een opperwezen hoger ingeschat. Unwins boek 'De waarschijnlijkheid van God: een eenvoudige berekening die de ultieme waarheid bewijst',ligt in april in de boekwinkel. Deo volente.

"Two Apaches opened fire on armed members of the Mehdi Army," said Showla resident Abbas Amid.

The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said.

Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.

The soldiers fled their vehicles and headed for cover and then began to battle both the Mehdi Army and the ICDC members, he said. Their vehicles were set ablaze.