More Than 50 Brutally Executed in Baghdad
By Joshua Partlow and Saad al-Izzy
BAGHDAD, July 9 -- Shiite militiamen rampaged through a Baghdad neighborhood Sunday morning, killing more than 50 people and leaving many of the bodies littering the streets, according to Iraqi officials and witnesses. The attacks were apparently retaliation for a car bombing at a Shiite mosque the...
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Full Version: Iraq News Volume 11
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > Foreign Policy and National Defense > Foreign Policy & National Defense Issues Archive
Dozens killed in Baghdad attacks BBC News
Gunmen in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 40 people at a fake police checkpoint, in an apparent sectarian attack against Sunni Muslims. Police say Shia militants stopped cars in the western Jihad district, separated Sunnis and shot them. Later, at least 25 people died when two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the capital, police said. There has been an upsurge in sectarian violence in Iraq in recent months, raising fears of a civil war. Sunni Arabs say government-backed Shia militias are behind many of the attacks. But officials have denied any involvement. The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Baghdad says the style and scale of Sunday morning's incident was breathtaking. Witnesses said Shia militiamen entered Jihad and set up roadblocks.
Call for calm
Another told the Associated Press news agency: "They came and started shooting. One of my relatives tried to help but was also shot while doing so. What crime have my people committed, I ask?" Officials say they are getting reports of drive-by shootings in the area, and the number of deaths is expected to rise. Security forces have sealed off the area and imposed a curfew, in an effort to prevent revenge attacks. Officials said the shooting could be in retaliation for a car bomb that killed at least two people at a nearby Shia mosque on Saturday. Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr appealed for calm following the shootings. Mr Sadr calls on Sunnis and Shias to "put our hands together for the sake of Iraq's independence and stability", AP quoted him as saying. Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army militia was suspected of involvement in the attacks, but Mr Sadr's office denied any responsibility.
'Revenge' attack
In more bloodshed hours after the shootings, Baghdad's northern Kasra district was rocked by the double car bomb attack. Police said the vehicles exploded in a market place near the local Shia mosque, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens of others. Our correspondent says it may have been revenge for Sunday morning's attack or it may have been planned beforehand. But he says whatever the motive, the impact is the same: Iraq's capital is tearing itself apart. A wave of sectarian killings has engulfed many parts of Iraq - especially Baghdad - since the bombing in February of a revered Shia shrine in Samarra. In other violence on Sunday, an Iraqi army intelligence officer was shot dead in Karbala, south of Baghdad. Several policemen and civilians were also killed in separate attacks around the country.
Gunmen in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 40 people at a fake police checkpoint, in an apparent sectarian attack against Sunni Muslims. Police say Shia militants stopped cars in the western Jihad district, separated Sunnis and shot them. Later, at least 25 people died when two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the capital, police said. There has been an upsurge in sectarian violence in Iraq in recent months, raising fears of a civil war. Sunni Arabs say government-backed Shia militias are behind many of the attacks. But officials have denied any involvement. The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Baghdad says the style and scale of Sunday morning's incident was breathtaking. Witnesses said Shia militiamen entered Jihad and set up roadblocks.
QUOTE("Eyewitness")
They came and started shooting - one of my relatives tried to help but was also shot
Drivers were reportedly pulled from their cars and their identity cards inspected. Any Sunni Muslims identified were then separated from the rest and killed. "They also went into certain Sunni houses and killed everyone inside," said a witness quoted by AFP news agency.Call for calm
Another told the Associated Press news agency: "They came and started shooting. One of my relatives tried to help but was also shot while doing so. What crime have my people committed, I ask?" Officials say they are getting reports of drive-by shootings in the area, and the number of deaths is expected to rise. Security forces have sealed off the area and imposed a curfew, in an effort to prevent revenge attacks. Officials said the shooting could be in retaliation for a car bomb that killed at least two people at a nearby Shia mosque on Saturday. Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr appealed for calm following the shootings. Mr Sadr calls on Sunnis and Shias to "put our hands together for the sake of Iraq's independence and stability", AP quoted him as saying. Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army militia was suspected of involvement in the attacks, but Mr Sadr's office denied any responsibility.
'Revenge' attack
In more bloodshed hours after the shootings, Baghdad's northern Kasra district was rocked by the double car bomb attack. Police said the vehicles exploded in a market place near the local Shia mosque, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens of others. Our correspondent says it may have been revenge for Sunday morning's attack or it may have been planned beforehand. But he says whatever the motive, the impact is the same: Iraq's capital is tearing itself apart. A wave of sectarian killings has engulfed many parts of Iraq - especially Baghdad - since the bombing in February of a revered Shia shrine in Samarra. In other violence on Sunday, an Iraqi army intelligence officer was shot dead in Karbala, south of Baghdad. Several policemen and civilians were also killed in separate attacks around the country.
US soldiers charged in rape case BBC News
Four US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder over an attack on an Iraqi woman who was killed along with her family last March. The soldiers, on active duty in Iraq, are accused of conspiring with former soldier Steven Green to commit the crimes in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Mr Green, who is being held in the US, denies the rape and murder charges. A fifth soldier serving in Iraq has been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the offences.
Investigation
The US military did not release the names of the soldiers charged in Iraq. They are all infantrymen from the 101st Airborne division, one of the elite US army units. A statement said they would face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law.
Mr Green denied raping the Iraqi woman and murdering her and three members of her family when he appeared in court in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday. He faces a possible death sentence if found guilty. The woman he is alleged to have raped and killed was aged between 14 and 20, the US military says. The case is one of five investigations in which US troops are accused of murdering Iraqi civilians.
Four US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder over an attack on an Iraqi woman who was killed along with her family last March. The soldiers, on active duty in Iraq, are accused of conspiring with former soldier Steven Green to commit the crimes in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Mr Green, who is being held in the US, denies the rape and murder charges. A fifth soldier serving in Iraq has been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the offences.
Investigation
The US military did not release the names of the soldiers charged in Iraq. They are all infantrymen from the 101st Airborne division, one of the elite US army units. A statement said they would face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law.
42 killed in sectarian massacre as U.S. occupation continues: :
At least 42 people have been killed by roving bands of masked gunmen who appeared to be targeting Sunnis in the Baghdad neighborhood of Jihad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060709/wl_mi...aqunrestbaghdad
===
Blasts Near Baghdad Mosque Kill At Least 15 :
At least 15 people were killed and 35 were wounded today when two car bombs went off near a Shi'ite mosque in a Sunni district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
http://tinyurl.com/j9kho
===
Another 12 Killed In Continuing Violence:
The bodies of four people shot in the head were dumped blindfolded and handcuffed in a street in Baghdad's southwestern Jihad district
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM926990.htm
===
Iraqi forces kill 9 "armed men," as IED kills 5 :
United States military said Sunday Iraqi security forces reinforced by American forces killed nine armed men and arrested seven others in a raid operation north of the capital.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=884591
===
Police Abuses in Iraq Detailed:
Brutality and corruption are rampant in Iraq's police force, with abuses including the rape of female prisoners, the release of terrorism suspects in exchange for bribes, assassinations of police officers and participation in insurgent bombings, according to confidential Iraqi government documents detailing more than 400 police corruption investigations.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13927.htm
===
4 GIs Charged in Iraq Rape, Murder Case:
The U.S. statement said the four soldiers still on active duty will face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether there is enough evidence to place them on trial.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2169994
===
US officers ignored massacre reports:
SENIOR US marine officers failed to carry out a proper investigation into reports that troops had killed civilians in Haditha, according to Lieutenant-General Peter Chiarelli, the second highest ranking commander in Iraq.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2261859,00.html
===
U.S. reaps what the Army sows:
This administration never holds anyone in senior positions accountable for derelict performance. However, unless there is full accountability for the war crimes of Iraq - wherever the evidence leads - there is a high probability that the lessons today's lieutenants and captains need to learn about the law of war and command leadership will never be sufficiently absorbed
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_4028285
===
Budget document details $50 billion war request:
President Bush would spend a quarter of the $50 billion down payment he wants for next year's Iraq and Afghanistan war costs to replace damaged weapons and equipment, while an additional $3 billion would go to train and equip Iraqi and Afghan forces.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/14994804.htm
At least 42 people have been killed by roving bands of masked gunmen who appeared to be targeting Sunnis in the Baghdad neighborhood of Jihad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060709/wl_mi...aqunrestbaghdad
===
Blasts Near Baghdad Mosque Kill At Least 15 :
At least 15 people were killed and 35 were wounded today when two car bombs went off near a Shi'ite mosque in a Sunni district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
http://tinyurl.com/j9kho
===
Another 12 Killed In Continuing Violence:
The bodies of four people shot in the head were dumped blindfolded and handcuffed in a street in Baghdad's southwestern Jihad district
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM926990.htm
===
Iraqi forces kill 9 "armed men," as IED kills 5 :
United States military said Sunday Iraqi security forces reinforced by American forces killed nine armed men and arrested seven others in a raid operation north of the capital.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=884591
===
Police Abuses in Iraq Detailed:
Brutality and corruption are rampant in Iraq's police force, with abuses including the rape of female prisoners, the release of terrorism suspects in exchange for bribes, assassinations of police officers and participation in insurgent bombings, according to confidential Iraqi government documents detailing more than 400 police corruption investigations.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13927.htm
===
4 GIs Charged in Iraq Rape, Murder Case:
The U.S. statement said the four soldiers still on active duty will face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether there is enough evidence to place them on trial.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2169994
===
US officers ignored massacre reports:
SENIOR US marine officers failed to carry out a proper investigation into reports that troops had killed civilians in Haditha, according to Lieutenant-General Peter Chiarelli, the second highest ranking commander in Iraq.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2261859,00.html
===
U.S. reaps what the Army sows:
This administration never holds anyone in senior positions accountable for derelict performance. However, unless there is full accountability for the war crimes of Iraq - wherever the evidence leads - there is a high probability that the lessons today's lieutenants and captains need to learn about the law of war and command leadership will never be sufficiently absorbed
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_4028285
===
Budget document details $50 billion war request:
President Bush would spend a quarter of the $50 billion down payment he wants for next year's Iraq and Afghanistan war costs to replace damaged weapons and equipment, while an additional $3 billion would go to train and equip Iraqi and Afghan forces.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/14994804.htm
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...icle1169714.ece
Dozens die as sectarian attacks escalate in Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 10 July 2006
Iraq moved further towards all out sectarian civil war yesterday after Shia gunmen attacked a Sunni district in Baghdad, killing at least 42 people. Many were dragged from their cars at two fake police checkpoints and shot dead.
Masked Shia militiamen, probably from the Mehdi Army, stormed into the Sunni district of Jihad in west Baghdad in revenge for a bomb attack on a Shia mosque. Four carloads of gunmen arrived at 10am and started stopping vehicles. Those with identity cards showing they had Sunni names were shot. Bodies were dumped throughout the area.
Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi, the Shia owner of a supermarket, said he saw heavily armed men drag four people out of a car, blindfold them and make them stand by while they forced five other men out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes," he said, "the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away and opened fire on them."
The slaughter of people with the "wrong" identity cards in the heart of the Iraqi capital has not happened on this scale before, and marks a serious escalation in sectarian hatred. Tit-for-tat mass killings are now commonplace. In an act of retaliation for the massacre of Sunnis in Jihad district, two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the evening, killing 17 people and wounding 45.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, attacked the Shia stronghold of Qadamiya, killing nine people, wounding 30 and arresting seven.
Three Americans and one Iraqi government soldier were wounded. The US troops appear to have been looking for a Mehdi Army commander called Abu Diraa, accused of torturing and killing Sunnis. Local people said all those arrested were civilians, including a school teacher.
A savage sectarian conflict is now raging in Baghdad and nearby provinces in central Baghdad. Both the Shia and Sunni communities are turning districts in which they are a majority into bastions from which the minority is expelled.
Districts that have not been attacked fear that they may be stormed. After the Shia gunmen stormed Jihad yesterday, the Mehdi Army sealed off Shula, a mainly Shia neighbourhood, fearing that there would be a retaliatory attack.
The inability of the government to stop sectarian warfare has become ever more evident in the past few days. The US-Iraqi government attack into Qadamiyah, which caused heavy damage to buildings, was seen by many Shias as the US leaning towards the Sunnis.
The US has always been opposed to Iraq becoming a Shia-dominated state, led by religious parties and closely allied to Iran. One effect of the increasing sectarian violence has been to reduce US casualties, with only nine American soldiers killed this month - which is less than half the usual rate.
Baghdad is becoming more like Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, with people being routinely slaughtered because of their identity card showing their name and place of birth. Many mixed districts are becoming either Sunni or Shia. Even a hardcore Sunni district such as Amariya in west Baghdad was once 30 per cent Shia.
Mehdi Army leaders denied that they were responsible for the killings. The nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, to whom the Mehdi Army is nominally loyal, said: "I urge all government and popular forces to exercise restraint and take responsibility in front of God first, and society generally." Most of the political parties have their own militias. Meanwhile, five American soldiers have been charged with rape and multiple murder in a case which has infuriated Iraqis.
According to documents obtained by Reuters news agency, the girl who was raped, Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, was only 14 years old, going by her identity card. US officials had claimed she was 20.
Private Steven Green has been charged with a rape and four murders, along with four other soldiers. American witnesses said the men had gone to a house, killed the parents and a six-year-old child before carrying out the rape. They then killed the girl, burned the bodies and the house.
Iraq moved further towards all out sectarian civil war yesterday after Shia gunmen attacked a Sunni district in Baghdad, killing at least 42 people. Many were dragged from their cars at two fake police checkpoints and shot dead.
Masked Shia militiamen, probably from the Mehdi Army, stormed into the Sunni district of Jihad in west Baghdad in revenge for a bomb attack on a Shia mosque. Four carloads of gunmen arrived at 10am and started stopping vehicles. Those with identity cards showing they had Sunni names were shot. Bodies were dumped throughout the area.
Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi, the Shia owner of a supermarket, said he saw heavily armed men drag four people out of a car, blindfold them and make them stand by while they forced five other men out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes," he said, "the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away and opened fire on them."
The slaughter of people with the "wrong" identity cards in the heart of the Iraqi capital has not happened on this scale before, and marks a serious escalation in sectarian hatred. Tit-for-tat mass killings are now commonplace. In an act of retaliation for the massacre of Sunnis in Jihad district, two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the evening, killing 17 people and wounding 45.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, attacked the Shia stronghold of Qadamiya, killing nine people, wounding 30 and arresting seven.
Three Americans and one Iraqi government soldier were wounded. The US troops appear to have been looking for a Mehdi Army commander called Abu Diraa, accused of torturing and killing Sunnis. Local people said all those arrested were civilians, including a school teacher.
A savage sectarian conflict is now raging in Baghdad and nearby provinces in central Baghdad. Both the Shia and Sunni communities are turning districts in which they are a majority into bastions from which the minority is expelled.
Districts that have not been attacked fear that they may be stormed. After the Shia gunmen stormed Jihad yesterday, the Mehdi Army sealed off Shula, a mainly Shia neighbourhood, fearing that there would be a retaliatory attack.
The inability of the government to stop sectarian warfare has become ever more evident in the past few days. The US-Iraqi government attack into Qadamiyah, which caused heavy damage to buildings, was seen by many Shias as the US leaning towards the Sunnis.
The US has always been opposed to Iraq becoming a Shia-dominated state, led by religious parties and closely allied to Iran. One effect of the increasing sectarian violence has been to reduce US casualties, with only nine American soldiers killed this month - which is less than half the usual rate.
Baghdad is becoming more like Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, with people being routinely slaughtered because of their identity card showing their name and place of birth. Many mixed districts are becoming either Sunni or Shia. Even a hardcore Sunni district such as Amariya in west Baghdad was once 30 per cent Shia.
Mehdi Army leaders denied that they were responsible for the killings. The nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, to whom the Mehdi Army is nominally loyal, said: "I urge all government and popular forces to exercise restraint and take responsibility in front of God first, and society generally." Most of the political parties have their own militias. Meanwhile, five American soldiers have been charged with rape and multiple murder in a case which has infuriated Iraqis.
According to documents obtained by Reuters news agency, the girl who was raped, Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, was only 14 years old, going by her identity card. US officials had claimed she was 20.
Private Steven Green has been charged with a rape and four murders, along with four other soldiers. American witnesses said the men had gone to a house, killed the parents and a six-year-old child before carrying out the rape. They then killed the girl, burned the bodies and the house.
Dozens die as sectarian attacks escalate in Iraq
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 10 July 2006
Iraq moved further towards all out sectarian civil war yesterday after Shia gunmen attacked a Sunni district in Baghdad, killing at least 42 people. Many were dragged from their cars at two fake police checkpoints and shot dead.
Masked Shia militiamen, probably from the Mehdi Army, stormed into the Sunni district of Jihad in west Baghdad in revenge for a bomb attack on a Shia mosque. Four carloads of gunmen arrived at 10am and started stopping vehicles. Those with identity cards showing they had Sunni names were shot. Bodies were dumped throughout the area.
Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi, the Shia owner of a supermarket, said he saw heavily armed men drag four people out of a car, blindfold them and make them stand by while they forced five other men out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes," he said, "the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away and opened fire on them."
The slaughter of people with the "wrong" identity cards in the heart of the Iraqi capital has not happened on this scale before, and marks a serious escalation in sectarian hatred. Tit-for-tat mass killings are now commonplace. In an act of retaliation for the massacre of Sunnis in Jihad district, two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the evening, killing 17 people and wounding 45.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, attacked the Shia stronghold of Qadamiya, killing nine people, wounding 30 and arresting seven.
Three Americans and one Iraqi government soldier were wounded. The US troops appear to have been looking for a Mehdi Army commander called Abu Diraa, accused of torturing and killing Sunnis. Local people said all those arrested were civilians, including a school teacher.
A savage sectarian conflict is now raging in Baghdad and nearby provinces in central Baghdad. Both the Shia and Sunni communities are turning districts in which they are a majority into bastions from which the minority is expelled.
Districts that have not been attacked fear that they may be stormed. After the Shia gunmen stormed Jihad yesterday, the Mehdi Army sealed off Shula, a mainly Shia neighbourhood, fearing that there would be a retaliatory attack.
The inability of the government to stop sectarian warfare has become ever more evident in the past few days. The US-Iraqi government attack into Qadamiyah, which caused heavy damage to buildings, was seen by many Shias as the US leaning towards the Sunnis.
The US has always been opposed to Iraq becoming a Shia-dominated state, led by religious parties and closely allied to Iran. One effect of the increasing sectarian violence has been to reduce US casualties, with only nine American soldiers killed this month - which is less than half the usual rate.
Baghdad is becoming more like Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, with people being routinely slaughtered because of their identity card showing their name and place of birth. Many mixed districts are becoming either Sunni or Shia. Even a hardcore Sunni district such as Amariya in west Baghdad was once 30 per cent Shia.
Mehdi Army leaders denied that they were responsible for the killings. The nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, to whom the Mehdi Army is nominally loyal, said: "I urge all government and popular forces to exercise restraint and take responsibility in front of God first, and society generally." Most of the political parties have their own militias. Meanwhile, five American soldiers have been charged with rape and multiple murder in a case which has infuriated Iraqis.
According to documents obtained by Reuters news agency, the girl who was raped, Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, was only 14 years old, going by her identity card. US officials had claimed she was 20.
Private Steven Green has been charged with a rape and four murders, along with four other soldiers. American witnesses said the men had gone to a house, killed the parents and a six-year-old child before carrying out the rape. They then killed the girl, burned the bodies and the house.
Iraq moved further towards all out sectarian civil war yesterday after Shia gunmen attacked a Sunni district in Baghdad, killing at least 42 people. Many were dragged from their cars at two fake police checkpoints and shot dead.
Masked Shia militiamen, probably from the Mehdi Army, stormed into the Sunni district of Jihad in west Baghdad in revenge for a bomb attack on a Shia mosque. Four carloads of gunmen arrived at 10am and started stopping vehicles. Those with identity cards showing they had Sunni names were shot. Bodies were dumped throughout the area.
Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi, the Shia owner of a supermarket, said he saw heavily armed men drag four people out of a car, blindfold them and make them stand by while they forced five other men out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes," he said, "the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away and opened fire on them."
The slaughter of people with the "wrong" identity cards in the heart of the Iraqi capital has not happened on this scale before, and marks a serious escalation in sectarian hatred. Tit-for-tat mass killings are now commonplace. In an act of retaliation for the massacre of Sunnis in Jihad district, two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the evening, killing 17 people and wounding 45.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, attacked the Shia stronghold of Qadamiya, killing nine people, wounding 30 and arresting seven.
Three Americans and one Iraqi government soldier were wounded. The US troops appear to have been looking for a Mehdi Army commander called Abu Diraa, accused of torturing and killing Sunnis. Local people said all those arrested were civilians, including a school teacher.
A savage sectarian conflict is now raging in Baghdad and nearby provinces in central Baghdad. Both the Shia and Sunni communities are turning districts in which they are a majority into bastions from which the minority is expelled.
Districts that have not been attacked fear that they may be stormed. After the Shia gunmen stormed Jihad yesterday, the Mehdi Army sealed off Shula, a mainly Shia neighbourhood, fearing that there would be a retaliatory attack.
The inability of the government to stop sectarian warfare has become ever more evident in the past few days. The US-Iraqi government attack into Qadamiyah, which caused heavy damage to buildings, was seen by many Shias as the US leaning towards the Sunnis.
The US has always been opposed to Iraq becoming a Shia-dominated state, led by religious parties and closely allied to Iran. One effect of the increasing sectarian violence has been to reduce US casualties, with only nine American soldiers killed this month - which is less than half the usual rate.
Baghdad is becoming more like Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, with people being routinely slaughtered because of their identity card showing their name and place of birth. Many mixed districts are becoming either Sunni or Shia. Even a hardcore Sunni district such as Amariya in west Baghdad was once 30 per cent Shia.
Mehdi Army leaders denied that they were responsible for the killings. The nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, to whom the Mehdi Army is nominally loyal, said: "I urge all government and popular forces to exercise restraint and take responsibility in front of God first, and society generally." Most of the political parties have their own militias. Meanwhile, five American soldiers have been charged with rape and multiple murder in a case which has infuriated Iraqis.
According to documents obtained by Reuters news agency, the girl who was raped, Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, was only 14 years old, going by her identity card. US officials had claimed she was 20.
Private Steven Green has been charged with a rape and four murders, along with four other soldiers. American witnesses said the men had gone to a house, killed the parents and a six-year-old child before carrying out the rape. They then killed the girl, burned the bodies and the house.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329525221-103550,00.html
Shia massacre revives fears of civil war
· Mahdi army blamed for Baghdad street slaughter
· Shias killed as car bombs explode near mosque
Jonathan Steele
Monday July 10, 2006
Guardian
At least 40 people, apparently all Sunnis, were killed yesterday by Shia militants in a rampage in a Baghdad suburb - one of the capital's most deadly sectarian pogroms - that revived fears of civil war.
Witnesses said gunmen, some masked, set up roadblocks and stopped motorists in the mainly Sunni suburb of Jihad, near Baghdad airport, demanding to see identity cards. Those with Sunni names were shot dead; Shias were released.
The slaughter lasted several hours, according to Alaa Makki, a spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic party, one of the main Sunni parties, who blamed the Mahdi army, the Shia militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. "There is a lot of evidence it was done by the Mahdi army," he told the Guardian by phone from Baghdad.
Mr Sadr, whose aides denied Mahdi army involvement, responded last night by calling for calm and reconciliation between Shias and Sunnis "for the sake of Iraq's independence and stability".
But as evening fell, another 17 people were killed, this time Shias cut down by two car bombs exploding near a Shia mosque in northern Baghdad. Last night, US forces were seeking to restore order with a two-day curfew.
Sectarian attacks have plagued Baghdad and other cities with mixed populations since the bombing in March in Samarra of a shrine sacred to Shias. But yesterday's massacre stood out from previous incidents because of its scale and the insouciance of the killers. Attacks took place in daylight and on several streets.
The militia were also said to have gone into houses and detained people. In one case a family was murdered and the house was then set on fire. A police lieutenant, Maitham Abdul-Razzaq, said 37 bodies were taken to hospitals and police were searching for more victims reportedly dumped in the streets. Several houses were burning, other police sources said.
Wissam Mohammad Hussein al-Ani, a 27-year-old Sunni calligrapher, told Associated Press reporters that three gunmen had stopped him as he was walking to a bus and asked him to show identification. They let him go after he produced a fake ID with a Shia name but seized two young men standing nearby.
The Shia owner of a supermarket said he had seen heavily armed men pull four people out of a car, blindfold them and forcethem to stand aside while they grabbed five others out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes, the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away from the market and opened fire on them," Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi said.
The killings in Jihad followed tit-for-tat attacks on Sunni and Shia places of worship on Friday and Saturday. Mr Makki said these attacks were made by unknown "third parties who want to provoke violence and get Sunnis to leave the area".
Since violence developed earlier this year the Mahdi army has set up armed vigilantes to guard Shia mosques and small prayer halls, known as husseiniyas
"Witnesses have been coming to our headquarters all day," Mr Makki said. "They say they saw gunmen emerging from a husseiniya. Some were shouting 'The Mahdi army is coming'. They warned Sunnis to leave the area. Some witnesses recognised well-known local Sadrists among the gunmen".
Mr Makki accused the police of standing by and watching the killing. The Baghdad police are largely made up of Shias, and groups within them are loyal to another militia known as the Badr brigades. Police commandos have been involved in running secret prisons and death squads, according to US officials. The US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, has been urging the new interior minister to purge the police of militia loyalists.
The deputy prime minister, Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, a Sunni, called the attack "a real and ugly massacre" and blamed Iraqi security forces. "There are officers who, instead of being in charge, should be referred to judicial authorities," al-Zubaie told al-Jazeera TV. "Jihad is witnessing a catastrophic crime."
Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, a senior official of the Sadrist movement, denied the Mahdi army was involved. He said the attackers put on black uniforms, which are often worn by Sadrists, to provoke sectarian tension.
Tens of thousands of Sunnis and Shias have fled in recent weeks in Baghdad and other towns near the capital to areas where people of their sect are in a decisive majority. Most of southern Iraq is Shia, while the West is largely Sunni.
While most refugees have had time to pack cases and even sell their homes in a slow-motion sectarian version of "ethnic cleansing", what happened in Jihad today resembled a pogrom. Houses were set on fire, others were raided, and people were murdered simply because of their sectarian identity.
Almost all mosques in Baghdad are guarded by sectarian gunmen. Makeshift barricades have appeared in suburbs, manned by vigilantes on a pattern last seen in the chaotic days after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
A few kilometres away from Jihad, staff for the Reuters news agency in the district of Shula, a mainly Shia island in Sunni west Baghdad, said Mahdi militia were blocking streets with burning tyres and telling residents to stay indoors, apparently fearing reprisal attacks.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
Shia massacre revives fears of civil war
· Mahdi army blamed for Baghdad street slaughter
· Shias killed as car bombs explode near mosque
Jonathan Steele
Monday July 10, 2006
Guardian
At least 40 people, apparently all Sunnis, were killed yesterday by Shia militants in a rampage in a Baghdad suburb - one of the capital's most deadly sectarian pogroms - that revived fears of civil war.
Witnesses said gunmen, some masked, set up roadblocks and stopped motorists in the mainly Sunni suburb of Jihad, near Baghdad airport, demanding to see identity cards. Those with Sunni names were shot dead; Shias were released.
The slaughter lasted several hours, according to Alaa Makki, a spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic party, one of the main Sunni parties, who blamed the Mahdi army, the Shia militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. "There is a lot of evidence it was done by the Mahdi army," he told the Guardian by phone from Baghdad.
Mr Sadr, whose aides denied Mahdi army involvement, responded last night by calling for calm and reconciliation between Shias and Sunnis "for the sake of Iraq's independence and stability".
But as evening fell, another 17 people were killed, this time Shias cut down by two car bombs exploding near a Shia mosque in northern Baghdad. Last night, US forces were seeking to restore order with a two-day curfew.
Sectarian attacks have plagued Baghdad and other cities with mixed populations since the bombing in March in Samarra of a shrine sacred to Shias. But yesterday's massacre stood out from previous incidents because of its scale and the insouciance of the killers. Attacks took place in daylight and on several streets.
The militia were also said to have gone into houses and detained people. In one case a family was murdered and the house was then set on fire. A police lieutenant, Maitham Abdul-Razzaq, said 37 bodies were taken to hospitals and police were searching for more victims reportedly dumped in the streets. Several houses were burning, other police sources said.
Wissam Mohammad Hussein al-Ani, a 27-year-old Sunni calligrapher, told Associated Press reporters that three gunmen had stopped him as he was walking to a bus and asked him to show identification. They let him go after he produced a fake ID with a Shia name but seized two young men standing nearby.
The Shia owner of a supermarket said he had seen heavily armed men pull four people out of a car, blindfold them and forcethem to stand aside while they grabbed five others out of a minivan. "After 10 minutes, the gunmen took the nine people to a place a few metres away from the market and opened fire on them," Saad Jawad Kadhim al-Azzawi said.
The killings in Jihad followed tit-for-tat attacks on Sunni and Shia places of worship on Friday and Saturday. Mr Makki said these attacks were made by unknown "third parties who want to provoke violence and get Sunnis to leave the area".
Since violence developed earlier this year the Mahdi army has set up armed vigilantes to guard Shia mosques and small prayer halls, known as husseiniyas
"Witnesses have been coming to our headquarters all day," Mr Makki said. "They say they saw gunmen emerging from a husseiniya. Some were shouting 'The Mahdi army is coming'. They warned Sunnis to leave the area. Some witnesses recognised well-known local Sadrists among the gunmen".
Mr Makki accused the police of standing by and watching the killing. The Baghdad police are largely made up of Shias, and groups within them are loyal to another militia known as the Badr brigades. Police commandos have been involved in running secret prisons and death squads, according to US officials. The US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, has been urging the new interior minister to purge the police of militia loyalists.
The deputy prime minister, Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, a Sunni, called the attack "a real and ugly massacre" and blamed Iraqi security forces. "There are officers who, instead of being in charge, should be referred to judicial authorities," al-Zubaie told al-Jazeera TV. "Jihad is witnessing a catastrophic crime."
Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, a senior official of the Sadrist movement, denied the Mahdi army was involved. He said the attackers put on black uniforms, which are often worn by Sadrists, to provoke sectarian tension.
Tens of thousands of Sunnis and Shias have fled in recent weeks in Baghdad and other towns near the capital to areas where people of their sect are in a decisive majority. Most of southern Iraq is Shia, while the West is largely Sunni.
While most refugees have had time to pack cases and even sell their homes in a slow-motion sectarian version of "ethnic cleansing", what happened in Jihad today resembled a pogrom. Houses were set on fire, others were raided, and people were murdered simply because of their sectarian identity.
Almost all mosques in Baghdad are guarded by sectarian gunmen. Makeshift barricades have appeared in suburbs, manned by vigilantes on a pattern last seen in the chaotic days after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
A few kilometres away from Jihad, staff for the Reuters news agency in the district of Shula, a mainly Shia island in Sunni west Baghdad, said Mahdi militia were blocking streets with burning tyres and telling residents to stay indoors, apparently fearing reprisal attacks.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
At least 30 killed Monday as U.S. occupation continues:
Two bombs blasted Baghdad's Talbiya district, a stronghold of Shi'ite militia fighters, killing 12 people and wounding 62, police said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO038872.htm
===
7 killed as gunmen ambush bus in Sunni neighborhood:
The gunmen killed all six passengers, including a woman, and the driver before setting the bus on fire in the Amariyah neighborhood of western Baghdad, police Capt. Jamil Hussein said
http://tinyurl.com/phyc2
===
Iraq's Islamic Party accuses Iraqi police of murdering Muslim cleric:
Iraq's Islamic Party claimed Saturday that the Iraqi police murdered a Muslim cleric on a security checkpoint in southern Iraq.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=884366
===
Maliki appeals for unity :
Iraq's prime minister pleaded for Iraqis to "unite as brothers" on Monday as a fresh spasm of violence gripped Baghdad, where 60 people were killed at the weekend in a dramatic escalation of sectarian bloodletting.
http://tinyurl.com/nly84
===
Shia massacre revives fears of civil war :
Mahdi army blamed for Baghdad street slaughter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1816661,00.html
===
Sacked policemen storm government office in Iraq:
Some 200 sacked policemen from a province where Iraqi forces will take over security from British troops this month stormed the governor's office on Monday, beating people with hoses and stabbing them with knives.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO056640.htm
===
Documents prove alleged Iraqi rape-murder victim was 14, not 20 as the military says:
Documents obtained by Reuters on Sunday showed the rape victim was a minor aged just 14, and not over 20 as U.S. officials say. Abeer’s sister Hadeel was just six when she died of “several gunshot wounds”.
http://tinyurl.com/grvye
===
Chris Floyd: Home Free: American Power in Mahmudiyah :
Let this be a lesson to all the cannon fodder out there: don't get above your raising, don't emulate your betters. Law is for the lowly, not the great and good.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13937.htm
===
American soldiers, keeping the streets of Iraq safe :
Well, well, well. The Ministry of Truth has now scrubbed out Green's photo. If you access the cached version of the article you can still see it.
http://tinyurl.com/qphf6
===
Iraq to ask UN to end U.S. immunity after rape case:
Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the human rights minister said on Monday, as the military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1007392006
===
In case you missed it: Iraq:
Free Fire Zones: 2 Minute Video:
Former US Marine Rob Serra spoke in CT in 2004. He had taken part in the invasion of Iraq the year before and he tells what first turned him against the war.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13945.htm
===
4 Minute Video: War Is Not A Game:
This video is rapidly becoming a "defining" song for the peace movement. War Is Not A Game is written by combat veteran, emergency room physician, and congressional candidate Dr. Bill Durston.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13943.htm
===
Are Americans getting an accurate picture of what’s going on in Iraq?: :
It’s a lot worse over here [in Iraq] than is reported. The administration does a great job of managing the news.
http://tinyurl.com/o7l5w
===
Friendly fire death inquiry reopened:
AN INQUIRY into the shooting of Iraq's trade minister's bodyguards by Australian troops has been reopened by the Defence Force after complaints from the Iraqi Government.
http://tinyurl.com/s6v4k
Two bombs blasted Baghdad's Talbiya district, a stronghold of Shi'ite militia fighters, killing 12 people and wounding 62, police said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO038872.htm
===
7 killed as gunmen ambush bus in Sunni neighborhood:
The gunmen killed all six passengers, including a woman, and the driver before setting the bus on fire in the Amariyah neighborhood of western Baghdad, police Capt. Jamil Hussein said
http://tinyurl.com/phyc2
===
Iraq's Islamic Party accuses Iraqi police of murdering Muslim cleric:
Iraq's Islamic Party claimed Saturday that the Iraqi police murdered a Muslim cleric on a security checkpoint in southern Iraq.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=884366
===
Maliki appeals for unity :
Iraq's prime minister pleaded for Iraqis to "unite as brothers" on Monday as a fresh spasm of violence gripped Baghdad, where 60 people were killed at the weekend in a dramatic escalation of sectarian bloodletting.
http://tinyurl.com/nly84
===
Shia massacre revives fears of civil war :
Mahdi army blamed for Baghdad street slaughter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1816661,00.html
===
Sacked policemen storm government office in Iraq:
Some 200 sacked policemen from a province where Iraqi forces will take over security from British troops this month stormed the governor's office on Monday, beating people with hoses and stabbing them with knives.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO056640.htm
===
Documents prove alleged Iraqi rape-murder victim was 14, not 20 as the military says:
Documents obtained by Reuters on Sunday showed the rape victim was a minor aged just 14, and not over 20 as U.S. officials say. Abeer’s sister Hadeel was just six when she died of “several gunshot wounds”.
http://tinyurl.com/grvye
===
Chris Floyd: Home Free: American Power in Mahmudiyah :
Let this be a lesson to all the cannon fodder out there: don't get above your raising, don't emulate your betters. Law is for the lowly, not the great and good.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13937.htm
===
American soldiers, keeping the streets of Iraq safe :
Well, well, well. The Ministry of Truth has now scrubbed out Green's photo. If you access the cached version of the article you can still see it.
http://tinyurl.com/qphf6
===
Iraq to ask UN to end U.S. immunity after rape case:
Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the human rights minister said on Monday, as the military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1007392006
===
In case you missed it: Iraq:
Free Fire Zones: 2 Minute Video:
Former US Marine Rob Serra spoke in CT in 2004. He had taken part in the invasion of Iraq the year before and he tells what first turned him against the war.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13945.htm
===
4 Minute Video: War Is Not A Game:
This video is rapidly becoming a "defining" song for the peace movement. War Is Not A Game is written by combat veteran, emergency room physician, and congressional candidate Dr. Bill Durston.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13943.htm
===
Are Americans getting an accurate picture of what’s going on in Iraq?: :
It’s a lot worse over here [in Iraq] than is reported. The administration does a great job of managing the news.
http://tinyurl.com/o7l5w
===
Friendly fire death inquiry reopened:
AN INQUIRY into the shooting of Iraq's trade minister's bodyguards by Australian troops has been reopened by the Defence Force after complaints from the Iraqi Government.
http://tinyurl.com/s6v4k
Iraq’s Civil War Spins out of US and Iraqi Government Control
DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report
July 11, 2006, 7:39 PM (GMT+02:00)
Four essential factors underlie the deadly upsurge of Shiite-Sunni sectarian savagery in Baghdad this week:
1. No one, including US forces, has stepped in to halt the sectarian cleansing operation engulfing Baghdad in the last six months, the largest of its kind the world has seen in recent years.
Shiite fighters, many in the uniforms of the new Iraqi national army or Iraqi security forces, are battling Sunni gunmen, in defiance of their duties to - and the authority of – the Nouri al-Maliki government. This conflict is nothing but outright civil war.
First the two hostile camps fought one another for Baghdad suburbs. In early June, they clashed over the control of streets. Now they are dueling for single buildings that overlook strategic sections or installations in the capital. Some streets are consequently ruled half and half, and any Sunni or Shiite venturing into the wrong end of the street takes his life in his hands.
2. The most powerful military force in Baghdad today is the radical Shiite cleric Moqatada Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia. With an estimated 15,000-20,000 men under arms, the Mehdi Army outnumbers the government’s military and security forces’ strength in the capital.
3. In contrast, the Sunni’s command only a few thousand fighting men. Most belong to the various insurgent groups and Islamist terrorist organizations linked to al Qaeda, which are also responsible for attacks on the American Army and Iraqi officials and institutions.
The Sunni groups seek to compensate for their numerical inferiority in three ways:
First, they are drawing Sunni fighters from all over Iraq - albeit with small and variable results.
Second, they are perpetrating large-scale massacres of Shiites as a deterrent to their militias spreading out to more sectors of the capital.
Third, they have enlisted prominent Sunni clerics for decrees ordering all Sunnis to rally for the war on their Shiite compatriots.
Last week, they persuaded Sheikh Yusuf Qardawi, the most prominent Sunni Muslim religious authority today, who is obeyed even by al Qaeda, to publish a dispensation permitting all Sunni guerrilla fighters to join the ranks of Iraqi security forces and police for the sake of saving Sunni positions in Baghdad. Incredibly, notorious al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents are ready to join the forces pledged to hunt them down, on the authority of an imam of high repute, because they are convinced that the last Sunni stand in the heart of Baghdad is impending.
Fourth, the fortified Green Zone, nerve center of the Iraqi government and high command, and seat of the US embassy and military headquarters, goes on functioning calmly in the eye of the storm of civil warfare and apparently divorced from its violent currents. However, intelligence sources estimate that, after the bloody struggle is decided, the Green Zone will find itself held to siege by the winning side.
The descent of Sunni-Shiite duel in Baghdad into sheer brutality was highlighted on Sunday, July 9. Shiite gunmen in Iraqi police uniforms put up fake roadblocks, stopped cars for inspection and pulled the passengers out. When the names on their identity cards proved the terrified passengers to be Sunnis, they were shot dead on the spot. Altogether 41 Shiites, including women and children, were mercilessly murdered in this way.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that Shiite militiamen committed this slaughter in revenge for the killing of Abu Dar’a by the Sunni commandos of the 37th Battalion of the Iraqi government’s special operations force a few days earlier.
Abu Dar’a was condemned to death during Saddam Hussein’s rule as a murderous robber chief. He was awaiting sentence in March 2003, when the US-led invasion of Iraq began. Saddam then opened the prison doors and let hundreds of hardened criminals loose on the streets. Abu Dar’a, given a new lease of life, took up residence in Baghdad’s Sadr City, joined Muqtada Sadr’s militia and embarked on a career as terminator of Sunni Muslims in the area north of Baghdad. His savagery earned him the soubriquet of the “Shiite Zarqawi.”
The Medhi Army, burning to avenge his death, was responsible for the furious Shiite rampage against Sunnis of the last few days.
This fresh crisis sent prime minister Maliki speeding to Irbil, the Kurdistan capital Monday, July 10, for what was officially designated as a visit to the Kurdish parliament. Maliki went there to plead urgently with Iraq’s Kurdish president Jalal Talibani and the Kudistani prime minister Masoud Barzani, for several thousand Kurdish peshmerga commandos, as the only force capable of saving Baghdad. He appears to have given up on an American forces coming to the rescue.
DEBKAfile’s Iraq sources reveal that the two Kurdish leaders were in no hurry to respond to the Iraqi prime minister’s appeal. They see no profit in intervening in a Shiite-Sunni civil conflict, especially when the Kurdish community is itself split into Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Furthermore, whereas they are not keen on seeing central government in Baghdad collapse, neither are they willing to fight for its survival. And lastly, Maliki offered the Kurdish no real incentives for sending their best troops to fight in Baghdad.
In the absence of a competent army available to stem the bloody spiral of death gripping the heart of the Iraqi capital, Shiite-Sunni violence will probably intensify in the days to come and threaten to spill out into the rest of Iraq.
DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report
July 11, 2006, 7:39 PM (GMT+02:00)
Four essential factors underlie the deadly upsurge of Shiite-Sunni sectarian savagery in Baghdad this week:
1. No one, including US forces, has stepped in to halt the sectarian cleansing operation engulfing Baghdad in the last six months, the largest of its kind the world has seen in recent years.
Shiite fighters, many in the uniforms of the new Iraqi national army or Iraqi security forces, are battling Sunni gunmen, in defiance of their duties to - and the authority of – the Nouri al-Maliki government. This conflict is nothing but outright civil war.
First the two hostile camps fought one another for Baghdad suburbs. In early June, they clashed over the control of streets. Now they are dueling for single buildings that overlook strategic sections or installations in the capital. Some streets are consequently ruled half and half, and any Sunni or Shiite venturing into the wrong end of the street takes his life in his hands.
2. The most powerful military force in Baghdad today is the radical Shiite cleric Moqatada Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia. With an estimated 15,000-20,000 men under arms, the Mehdi Army outnumbers the government’s military and security forces’ strength in the capital.
3. In contrast, the Sunni’s command only a few thousand fighting men. Most belong to the various insurgent groups and Islamist terrorist organizations linked to al Qaeda, which are also responsible for attacks on the American Army and Iraqi officials and institutions.
The Sunni groups seek to compensate for their numerical inferiority in three ways:
First, they are drawing Sunni fighters from all over Iraq - albeit with small and variable results.
Second, they are perpetrating large-scale massacres of Shiites as a deterrent to their militias spreading out to more sectors of the capital.
Third, they have enlisted prominent Sunni clerics for decrees ordering all Sunnis to rally for the war on their Shiite compatriots.
Last week, they persuaded Sheikh Yusuf Qardawi, the most prominent Sunni Muslim religious authority today, who is obeyed even by al Qaeda, to publish a dispensation permitting all Sunni guerrilla fighters to join the ranks of Iraqi security forces and police for the sake of saving Sunni positions in Baghdad. Incredibly, notorious al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents are ready to join the forces pledged to hunt them down, on the authority of an imam of high repute, because they are convinced that the last Sunni stand in the heart of Baghdad is impending.
Fourth, the fortified Green Zone, nerve center of the Iraqi government and high command, and seat of the US embassy and military headquarters, goes on functioning calmly in the eye of the storm of civil warfare and apparently divorced from its violent currents. However, intelligence sources estimate that, after the bloody struggle is decided, the Green Zone will find itself held to siege by the winning side.
The descent of Sunni-Shiite duel in Baghdad into sheer brutality was highlighted on Sunday, July 9. Shiite gunmen in Iraqi police uniforms put up fake roadblocks, stopped cars for inspection and pulled the passengers out. When the names on their identity cards proved the terrified passengers to be Sunnis, they were shot dead on the spot. Altogether 41 Shiites, including women and children, were mercilessly murdered in this way.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that Shiite militiamen committed this slaughter in revenge for the killing of Abu Dar’a by the Sunni commandos of the 37th Battalion of the Iraqi government’s special operations force a few days earlier.
Abu Dar’a was condemned to death during Saddam Hussein’s rule as a murderous robber chief. He was awaiting sentence in March 2003, when the US-led invasion of Iraq began. Saddam then opened the prison doors and let hundreds of hardened criminals loose on the streets. Abu Dar’a, given a new lease of life, took up residence in Baghdad’s Sadr City, joined Muqtada Sadr’s militia and embarked on a career as terminator of Sunni Muslims in the area north of Baghdad. His savagery earned him the soubriquet of the “Shiite Zarqawi.”
The Medhi Army, burning to avenge his death, was responsible for the furious Shiite rampage against Sunnis of the last few days.
This fresh crisis sent prime minister Maliki speeding to Irbil, the Kurdistan capital Monday, July 10, for what was officially designated as a visit to the Kurdish parliament. Maliki went there to plead urgently with Iraq’s Kurdish president Jalal Talibani and the Kudistani prime minister Masoud Barzani, for several thousand Kurdish peshmerga commandos, as the only force capable of saving Baghdad. He appears to have given up on an American forces coming to the rescue.
DEBKAfile’s Iraq sources reveal that the two Kurdish leaders were in no hurry to respond to the Iraqi prime minister’s appeal. They see no profit in intervening in a Shiite-Sunni civil conflict, especially when the Kurdish community is itself split into Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Furthermore, whereas they are not keen on seeing central government in Baghdad collapse, neither are they willing to fight for its survival. And lastly, Maliki offered the Kurdish no real incentives for sending their best troops to fight in Baghdad.
In the absence of a competent army available to stem the bloody spiral of death gripping the heart of the Iraqi capital, Shiite-Sunni violence will probably intensify in the days to come and threaten to spill out into the rest of Iraq.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
An Illegal War Degenerates
Iraq: Raped
By RAED JARRAR
A few months ago, Abir Al-Janabi was just another 14-year-old Iraqi girl in a small town called Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Both of her parents are from the Al-Janabi tribe, one of the biggest tribes with Sunni and Shia branches.
Omar Al-Janabi, a neighbor and relative, was informed by Abir's mother that the young girl was being harassed by U.S. soldiers stationed in a nearby checkpoint. That is why Abir was sent to spend the night in her neighbor's home. The next day, Omar Al-Janabi was among the first people who found Abir, with her 34-year-old mother Fakhriyah, her 45-year-old father Qasim, and her 7-year-old sister Hadil, murdered in their home. Abir was raped, killed by a bullet in her head, and then burned on March 12, five months before her fifteenth birthday.
Muhammad Al-Janabi, Abir's uncle, reached the house shortly after the attack as well. Iraqi police and army officers informed him and other angry relatives that an "armed terrorist group" was responsible for the horrifying attack. This is exactly what the angry relatives of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha four months before this incident had been told as well. In that case, U.S. officials initially claimed that a roadside bomb planted by terrorists had killed the 24 Iraqi civilians and one U.S. soldier in Haditha, but the Iraqi people knew that it was the Americans.
Unlike the case of Haditha, where Iraqi public opinion was furious about the massacre months before it reached to the U.S. mainstream media, the Iraqi press had not even heard of Abir until the U.S. army accidentally found out information about her while investigating another incident. This raises questions about the number of other similar cases that were never investigated and were blamed on non-occupation parties instead.
According to Iraq Body Count, a credible project documenting Iraq's civilian casualties, the occupation armies are directly responsible for killing more than one fourth of civilians in Iraq since the beginning of the war. This makes the assumption that Abir's case is just one of many even more plausible.
The "Hadji Girl" song is yet another indicator that what happened to Abir is most like not an anomalous case. "Hadji Girl" is a videotaped song about killing Iraqis written and performed by U.S. Marine Corporal Joshua Belile while he was at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq. The song became controversial a few weeks ago when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) discovered it on the internet and objected to its lyrics.
The lyrics, accompanied by loud laughter and applause, include lines as such as "So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally. Then I hid behind the TV, and I locked and loaded my M-16, and I blew those little "expletive deleted"ers to eternity. And I said Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad, Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah, they should have known they were "expletive deleted"ing with a Marine". A two-week investigation held by the U.S. army ended with no punishment for Corporal Belile. Furthermore, according to the spokesperson for the Mike Church Show, Mike Church is planning to record and release "Hadji Girl" and give royalties to Belile. The right-wing presenter will sing and release the song on air this week.
But even if you believe that the case of Abir is a rare exception, it is still a major scandal in Iraq. Issues relating to honor are even more sensitive for the Iraqi public and government than the ongoing daily civilian murders. The first Iraqi governmental reaction came when an Iraqi female member of Parliament asked for an urgent session for which Prime Minister Al-Maliki was called back home to attend. The Iraqi Parliament described the rape as a crime against "the honor of all Iraqis". As a result, Al-Maliki asked for a review of the laws put in place by U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer, giving foreign troops immunity from prosecution in Iraq. This seems to be an Iraqi public demand. Iraqi tribal leaders had a number of meetings across the country last week on the anniversary of "Thawrat Al-Eshrin", the 1920 revolution against the British occupation. The largest meeting was that of the mostly Shia Middle Euphrates Tribes. During this meeting, they threatened to initiate a full-scale revolution against the occupation, similar to what had happened in 1920, unless the U.S. army hands over to them all soldiers accused of raping the "Al-Mahmudiyah Virgin," as she is now known.
The uproar created in the wake of the death of Abir is but the culmination of over three years of pent-up frustration and rage the Iraqi people feel. It will only end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. What is happening in Iraq is a rape of a nation, not just a rape of a 14-year-old girl, and it has to be stopped as soon as possible.
Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi living in the United States, is the director of the Iraq Project at Global Exchange. Jarrar can be reached at: jarrar.raed@gmail.com
An Illegal War Degenerates
Iraq: Raped
By RAED JARRAR
A few months ago, Abir Al-Janabi was just another 14-year-old Iraqi girl in a small town called Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad. Both of her parents are from the Al-Janabi tribe, one of the biggest tribes with Sunni and Shia branches.
Omar Al-Janabi, a neighbor and relative, was informed by Abir's mother that the young girl was being harassed by U.S. soldiers stationed in a nearby checkpoint. That is why Abir was sent to spend the night in her neighbor's home. The next day, Omar Al-Janabi was among the first people who found Abir, with her 34-year-old mother Fakhriyah, her 45-year-old father Qasim, and her 7-year-old sister Hadil, murdered in their home. Abir was raped, killed by a bullet in her head, and then burned on March 12, five months before her fifteenth birthday.
Muhammad Al-Janabi, Abir's uncle, reached the house shortly after the attack as well. Iraqi police and army officers informed him and other angry relatives that an "armed terrorist group" was responsible for the horrifying attack. This is exactly what the angry relatives of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha four months before this incident had been told as well. In that case, U.S. officials initially claimed that a roadside bomb planted by terrorists had killed the 24 Iraqi civilians and one U.S. soldier in Haditha, but the Iraqi people knew that it was the Americans.
Unlike the case of Haditha, where Iraqi public opinion was furious about the massacre months before it reached to the U.S. mainstream media, the Iraqi press had not even heard of Abir until the U.S. army accidentally found out information about her while investigating another incident. This raises questions about the number of other similar cases that were never investigated and were blamed on non-occupation parties instead.
According to Iraq Body Count, a credible project documenting Iraq's civilian casualties, the occupation armies are directly responsible for killing more than one fourth of civilians in Iraq since the beginning of the war. This makes the assumption that Abir's case is just one of many even more plausible.
The "Hadji Girl" song is yet another indicator that what happened to Abir is most like not an anomalous case. "Hadji Girl" is a videotaped song about killing Iraqis written and performed by U.S. Marine Corporal Joshua Belile while he was at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq. The song became controversial a few weeks ago when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) discovered it on the internet and objected to its lyrics.
The lyrics, accompanied by loud laughter and applause, include lines as such as "So I grabbed her little sister and pulled her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally. Then I hid behind the TV, and I locked and loaded my M-16, and I blew those little "expletive deleted"ers to eternity. And I said Dirka Dirka Mohammed Jihad, Sherpa Sherpa Bak Allah, they should have known they were "expletive deleted"ing with a Marine". A two-week investigation held by the U.S. army ended with no punishment for Corporal Belile. Furthermore, according to the spokesperson for the Mike Church Show, Mike Church is planning to record and release "Hadji Girl" and give royalties to Belile. The right-wing presenter will sing and release the song on air this week.
But even if you believe that the case of Abir is a rare exception, it is still a major scandal in Iraq. Issues relating to honor are even more sensitive for the Iraqi public and government than the ongoing daily civilian murders. The first Iraqi governmental reaction came when an Iraqi female member of Parliament asked for an urgent session for which Prime Minister Al-Maliki was called back home to attend. The Iraqi Parliament described the rape as a crime against "the honor of all Iraqis". As a result, Al-Maliki asked for a review of the laws put in place by U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer, giving foreign troops immunity from prosecution in Iraq. This seems to be an Iraqi public demand. Iraqi tribal leaders had a number of meetings across the country last week on the anniversary of "Thawrat Al-Eshrin", the 1920 revolution against the British occupation. The largest meeting was that of the mostly Shia Middle Euphrates Tribes. During this meeting, they threatened to initiate a full-scale revolution against the occupation, similar to what had happened in 1920, unless the U.S. army hands over to them all soldiers accused of raping the "Al-Mahmudiyah Virgin," as she is now known.
The uproar created in the wake of the death of Abir is but the culmination of over three years of pent-up frustration and rage the Iraqi people feel. It will only end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. What is happening in Iraq is a rape of a nation, not just a rape of a 14-year-old girl, and it has to be stopped as soon as possible.
Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi living in the United States, is the director of the Iraq Project at Global Exchange. Jarrar can be reached at: jarrar.raed@gmail.com
OVER 55 KILLED, INCLUDING 25 IN SADR CITY BOMBINGS; IRAQ TO ASK UN TO WITHDREW US TROOP IMMUNITY JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, JULY 11): The guerrilla movement, which is mainly led by secular Arab nationalists, ex-Baathists or post-Baathists in the main, has been trying to set Sunnis and Shiites at each other's throats as a way of making the country ungovernable and forcing the US out.
http://www.juancole.com/ (scroll down link for item)
IRAQ: GREEN ZONE OFFERS UNCERTAIN REFUGE FROM BAGHDAD VIOLENCE - BY LAYLA AHMAD (RFE/RL, JULY 10): Many Iraqis say they look with envy at the Green Zone, the heavily guarded complex of Iraqi government and U.S. embassy facilities in the center of the capital.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/...bd0903962d.html
AN ILLEGAL WAR DEGENERATES -- IRAQ: RAPED - RAED JARRAR (COUNTERPUNCH, JULY 11): The uproar created in the wake of the death of the 14 year-old girl Abir is but the culmination of over three years of pent-up frustration and rage the Iraqi people feel.
http://www.counterpunch.org/jarrar07112006.html
IRAQ WILL ASK UN TO REVOKE US TROOPS' IMMUNITY: ALLEGATIONS OF CRIMINAL ACTS PROMPT THE CONSIDERED ACTION IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL - TOM REGAN (CSMONITOR.COM, JULY 11)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0711/dailyUpdate.html
LETTING GO: AT THE END OF THE WAR, THE ARMY DIGS IN - LAWRENCE F. KAPLAN (NEW REPUBLIC, JULY 11): As its sense of ownership grows deeper with each year it spends here, the Army has created its own universe in Iraq -- an ecosystem with its own values, requirements, and purposes.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060710&s=kaplan071006
SEND IN THE ADVISERS - ANDREW F. KREPINEVICH (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 11): Success or failure in this war lies in the hands of some 4,000 soldiers -- the American officers and sergeants embedded as combat advisers in the new Iraqi security forces.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/opinion/...agewanted=print
A SPANISH LESSON FOR IRAQ ON HOW TO MAKE FEDERALISM WORK - KEITH HERNANDEZ AND DENIS MCDONOUGH (BALTIMORE SUN, JULY 12): The best lesson Iraq could take from Spain is its implementation of an asymmetric federalism that has allowed it to please the more autonomous parts of the country.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines
AMERICAN PETROCRACY: AMONG THE SHIFTING RATIONALES FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ, THE MOST PLAUSIBLE MOTIVE MAY BE THE LEAST DISCUSSED: ACCESS TO OIL - KEVIN PHILLIPS (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, JULY 17)
http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_07_17/cover.html
http://www.juancole.com/ (scroll down link for item)
IRAQ: GREEN ZONE OFFERS UNCERTAIN REFUGE FROM BAGHDAD VIOLENCE - BY LAYLA AHMAD (RFE/RL, JULY 10): Many Iraqis say they look with envy at the Green Zone, the heavily guarded complex of Iraqi government and U.S. embassy facilities in the center of the capital.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/...bd0903962d.html
AN ILLEGAL WAR DEGENERATES -- IRAQ: RAPED - RAED JARRAR (COUNTERPUNCH, JULY 11): The uproar created in the wake of the death of the 14 year-old girl Abir is but the culmination of over three years of pent-up frustration and rage the Iraqi people feel.
http://www.counterpunch.org/jarrar07112006.html
IRAQ WILL ASK UN TO REVOKE US TROOPS' IMMUNITY: ALLEGATIONS OF CRIMINAL ACTS PROMPT THE CONSIDERED ACTION IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL - TOM REGAN (CSMONITOR.COM, JULY 11)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0711/dailyUpdate.html
LETTING GO: AT THE END OF THE WAR, THE ARMY DIGS IN - LAWRENCE F. KAPLAN (NEW REPUBLIC, JULY 11): As its sense of ownership grows deeper with each year it spends here, the Army has created its own universe in Iraq -- an ecosystem with its own values, requirements, and purposes.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060710&s=kaplan071006
SEND IN THE ADVISERS - ANDREW F. KREPINEVICH (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 11): Success or failure in this war lies in the hands of some 4,000 soldiers -- the American officers and sergeants embedded as combat advisers in the new Iraqi security forces.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/opinion/...agewanted=print
A SPANISH LESSON FOR IRAQ ON HOW TO MAKE FEDERALISM WORK - KEITH HERNANDEZ AND DENIS MCDONOUGH (BALTIMORE SUN, JULY 12): The best lesson Iraq could take from Spain is its implementation of an asymmetric federalism that has allowed it to please the more autonomous parts of the country.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines
AMERICAN PETROCRACY: AMONG THE SHIFTING RATIONALES FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ, THE MOST PLAUSIBLE MOTIVE MAY BE THE LEAST DISCUSSED: ACCESS TO OIL - KEVIN PHILLIPS (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, JULY 17)
http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_07_17/cover.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0712/p01s04-woiq.html
from the July 12, 2006 edition
DAMAGE CONTROL: An Iraqi police officer patrolled a car-bomb site Monday in Baghdad, where sectarian violence is escalating despite a new government plan to bring order.
SAMIR MIZBAN/AP
Revenge cycle fragments Iraqi capital
Sectarian murders this week test Iraqi prime minister's promise to stabilize Baghdad.
By Dan Murphy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BAGHDAD – In the month since a new security plan was unveiled in the capital involving 10,000 Iraqi soldiers and police, sectarian murders and tit-for-tat mosque bombings by Shiite and Sunni militias have surged.
A visit to Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital reveals how far the capital has been thrust into civil war. In a 30-minute period Tuesday, the stream of tragedy through its doors included both Shiite and Sunni victims of rival killing squads, civilians and soldiers gunned down at work, and a fiercely angry boy who had just lost both parents.
There is still hope that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be able to stem the tide by getting the Army and police to act as peacekeepers between warring Muslim sects. But it appears that his political honeymoon, in Baghdad at least, may be over.
"We have Iraqis killing Iraqis every day and the police do nothing,'' says Imad al-Zekki, waiting at the hospital to collect his murdered cousin's body for burial. "Where is Maliki? Is this what his security plan is all about?"
Serial atrocities against Shiites and Sunnis in recent days, all in close proximity to police stations and US and Iraqi Army installations, are undermining confidence in Mr. Maliki's vows to restore stability quickly to Baghdad.
"The country is sliding fast toward civil war," said Dawa parliamentarian Ali Adib during a contentious parliament session Tuesday in which the prime minister was attacked by members of his own Dawa Party for the sharp decline in basic security.
The massacres - like the two-hour spree of a Shiite gang who roved over the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Jihad Sunday, killing about 50 Sunnis in a reprisal attack for the bombing of a Shiite prayer room Saturday evening - are now clearly being carried out by Iraqis, not the "outside forces" that so many here prefer to blame. Fitnah, a catch-all Arabic word for civil war and sectarian discord, is now on many Iraqis' lips.
Police and Iraqi Army checkpoints have been more visible on Baghdad's major roads, but security forces have yet to patrol deeply into troubled neighborhoods, drawing complaints from both Shiite and Sunni politicians. They say that security forces are aiding the "other" side. US officials here admit that infiltration of the security forces by both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias remains a major problem.
Sectarian divide widens
While there are no precise measures for sectarian hatred, the subjective evidence points to communal trust being at its lowest ebb since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003. The bitterness of three years of political competition and occupation has made the city ripe for the spread of sectarian militias, leading to countless murders and personal tragedies.
The destruction of the Shiite Askariya Shrine by Sunni insurgents last February, and the attacks on dozens of Sunni mosques by Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen afterward, further widened divisions and fed the current cycle of gruesome revenge attacks.
In recent weeks, sectarian tension has risen to new heights. Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital provides the grimmest of evidence of that.
Tuesday evening, Iraqi soldiers roared up and carried a wounded comrade inside, shot in the leg in a firefight with Sunni insurgents in Dora; then Iraqi police commandoes arrived, bearing the wounded and the dead from a suicide car bomb on Karada Meriam street, a block from the protected Green Zone; then wailing was heard inside as an extended Shiite family learned their relative had died on the operating table. Two sedans pulled up with three Sunni victims of a shooting in Mansour - two dead men and a middle-aged woman, breathing but in shock.
Hamid Khadim, a nurse, shrugs when asked how he copes with the daily toll. "You get used to it - today is about average for the past month,'' he says. "It's been like this since the new government was formed."
Massacre in Jihad
Sunday's massacre in Jihad - three miles from the airport and the US military's sprawling Camp Victory - shows how Baghdad's seemingly random violence is spreading hatred and institutionalizing atrocity.
Tensions in the area - which is mostly Sunni but, unusually for suburbs west of the Tigris, still has many Shiites - have been running high all year. Until recently, the violence had been confined to assassinations of Shiite residents in ones and twos, notes slipped under doors warning Shiite residents to move or else, and roadside bombs.
But, recently, Shiite residents have been getting organized into their own militias, with the help of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, according to two residents of the area - one a Shiite, the other Sunni. Since the Askariya shrine bombing on Feb. 22, locals deemed to be salafiyah - a rigid Sunni ideology that has much in common with the Wahabbism of Saudi Arabia - have been taken away at night and murdered, though not as often as Shiite residents, they say.
After a recent string of explosions at Shiite mosques and Hosseiniya (Shiite prayer halls) to the west of the river, local Shiites have reportedly mounted their own intimidation campaign, with notes slipped under doors and murmured promises of revenge for future attacks.
Fleeing to safety
On Saturday night, a bomb planted at the garage of the Zahra Hosseiniya, founded after the fall of the regime in a building confiscated from Mr. Hussein's Baath Party, killed eight worshippers leaving evening prayers.
By 9 o'clock the next morning, revenge attacks were in full flow. One Shiite man, called by his brother to take two nieces and a nephew to a safer area, recalled the harrowing trip. After passing an armory for the national in a compound once used to train Hussein's domestic spy agency, he turned onto National Security Street, which marks the area's eastern edge, and found militias in control.
A mile to the north, gunmen were manning a road block. Another gang stood watch a half-mile to the south. He darted into a residential street between their checkpoints, passed three bodies, and arrived at his brother's house.
After talking with a Sunni neighbor who also wanted to move his children to a safer place, his brother loaned him a second car and they began to make their way from the neighborhood - past more bodies, with the witness ordering his young relatives to duck their heads beneath the seats, but too late to stop their tears.
In front of the Zahra Hosseiniya - half a mile from Jihad's main police station - he saw gunmen roughly hauling blindfolded men - presumably Sunnis - into a waiting minibus. He called the police emergency line on his cellphone, but there was no answer.
Finally back at the small side road he'd used to get into the neighborhood, the way out had been blocked with tires and concrete. He ordered his 12-year-old nephew, Haider, to hop out, "quick as you can," and remove the obstacles. The gunmen took little notice, and they sped off.
"After about five minutes, we came to a police commando checkpoint. I told them, 'I'm a Shiite, but people are being slaughtered over there, do something,' " he says.
"But they looked at me like I was crazy. 'If we go over there, they'll just run away. Why bother,' one of them said. I was there for over an hour - shooting was almost nonstop - and I didn't see a single police, Iraqi Army, or US Army patrol."
Hoping for justice
Back at Yarmuk Hospital, bad news unleashed a cacophony of grief for Haider Abdel Satah and his family.
The 13-year-old's father had just died in the operating room, joining his mother and 10 other relatives killed about an hour earlier. Haider said gunmen in uniforms opened fire on the minibus carrying the family and a dead relative - killed in a terrorist attack the day before - to the holy city of Najaf for a funeral.
The attack happened on Mechanic's Bridge in Dora, a Sunni stronghold on Baghdad's southern edge. Insurgents and Iraqi soldiers have been holding prolonged firefights there all week.
The bare-chested boy, his right bicep bandaged where a bullet fragment was extracted, stormed out of the emergency room when a group of Iraqi soldiers arrived with a wounded comrade. His grief became anger.
"You killers and cowards,'' he shouted, an aunt trying to shush him. "You murdered my whole family!"
Haider insisted that the army opened fire on the minibus, though an AP report Tuesday quoted Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud as saying 10 members of the family were killed by unknown gunmen.
Surrounded by extended family members, Haider was almost chillingly lucid, perhaps a byproduct of his childhood on Baghdad's Haifa street, where hundreds have been killed since the start of the war. He said the family was attacked with an RPK, a heavier variant of Ak-47 that fires 10 rounds per second.
"I've seen the bodies of the wahabbi victims, I've seen the drill holes in their foreheads, but I've never seen as many bodies as I have of my family," he said. "The car came to a halt and they just kept shooting. I was reaching for my Dad's mobile when I got hit."
"I want justice but I know I'm not going to get it."
from the July 12, 2006 edition
DAMAGE CONTROL: An Iraqi police officer patrolled a car-bomb site Monday in Baghdad, where sectarian violence is escalating despite a new government plan to bring order.
SAMIR MIZBAN/AP
Revenge cycle fragments Iraqi capital
Sectarian murders this week test Iraqi prime minister's promise to stabilize Baghdad.
By Dan Murphy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BAGHDAD – In the month since a new security plan was unveiled in the capital involving 10,000 Iraqi soldiers and police, sectarian murders and tit-for-tat mosque bombings by Shiite and Sunni militias have surged.
A visit to Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital reveals how far the capital has been thrust into civil war. In a 30-minute period Tuesday, the stream of tragedy through its doors included both Shiite and Sunni victims of rival killing squads, civilians and soldiers gunned down at work, and a fiercely angry boy who had just lost both parents.
There is still hope that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be able to stem the tide by getting the Army and police to act as peacekeepers between warring Muslim sects. But it appears that his political honeymoon, in Baghdad at least, may be over.
"We have Iraqis killing Iraqis every day and the police do nothing,'' says Imad al-Zekki, waiting at the hospital to collect his murdered cousin's body for burial. "Where is Maliki? Is this what his security plan is all about?"
Serial atrocities against Shiites and Sunnis in recent days, all in close proximity to police stations and US and Iraqi Army installations, are undermining confidence in Mr. Maliki's vows to restore stability quickly to Baghdad.
"The country is sliding fast toward civil war," said Dawa parliamentarian Ali Adib during a contentious parliament session Tuesday in which the prime minister was attacked by members of his own Dawa Party for the sharp decline in basic security.
The massacres - like the two-hour spree of a Shiite gang who roved over the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Jihad Sunday, killing about 50 Sunnis in a reprisal attack for the bombing of a Shiite prayer room Saturday evening - are now clearly being carried out by Iraqis, not the "outside forces" that so many here prefer to blame. Fitnah, a catch-all Arabic word for civil war and sectarian discord, is now on many Iraqis' lips.
Police and Iraqi Army checkpoints have been more visible on Baghdad's major roads, but security forces have yet to patrol deeply into troubled neighborhoods, drawing complaints from both Shiite and Sunni politicians. They say that security forces are aiding the "other" side. US officials here admit that infiltration of the security forces by both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias remains a major problem.
Sectarian divide widens
While there are no precise measures for sectarian hatred, the subjective evidence points to communal trust being at its lowest ebb since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003. The bitterness of three years of political competition and occupation has made the city ripe for the spread of sectarian militias, leading to countless murders and personal tragedies.
The destruction of the Shiite Askariya Shrine by Sunni insurgents last February, and the attacks on dozens of Sunni mosques by Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen afterward, further widened divisions and fed the current cycle of gruesome revenge attacks.
In recent weeks, sectarian tension has risen to new heights. Baghdad's Yarmuk Hospital provides the grimmest of evidence of that.
Tuesday evening, Iraqi soldiers roared up and carried a wounded comrade inside, shot in the leg in a firefight with Sunni insurgents in Dora; then Iraqi police commandoes arrived, bearing the wounded and the dead from a suicide car bomb on Karada Meriam street, a block from the protected Green Zone; then wailing was heard inside as an extended Shiite family learned their relative had died on the operating table. Two sedans pulled up with three Sunni victims of a shooting in Mansour - two dead men and a middle-aged woman, breathing but in shock.
Hamid Khadim, a nurse, shrugs when asked how he copes with the daily toll. "You get used to it - today is about average for the past month,'' he says. "It's been like this since the new government was formed."
Massacre in Jihad
Sunday's massacre in Jihad - three miles from the airport and the US military's sprawling Camp Victory - shows how Baghdad's seemingly random violence is spreading hatred and institutionalizing atrocity.
Tensions in the area - which is mostly Sunni but, unusually for suburbs west of the Tigris, still has many Shiites - have been running high all year. Until recently, the violence had been confined to assassinations of Shiite residents in ones and twos, notes slipped under doors warning Shiite residents to move or else, and roadside bombs.
But, recently, Shiite residents have been getting organized into their own militias, with the help of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, according to two residents of the area - one a Shiite, the other Sunni. Since the Askariya shrine bombing on Feb. 22, locals deemed to be salafiyah - a rigid Sunni ideology that has much in common with the Wahabbism of Saudi Arabia - have been taken away at night and murdered, though not as often as Shiite residents, they say.
After a recent string of explosions at Shiite mosques and Hosseiniya (Shiite prayer halls) to the west of the river, local Shiites have reportedly mounted their own intimidation campaign, with notes slipped under doors and murmured promises of revenge for future attacks.
Fleeing to safety
On Saturday night, a bomb planted at the garage of the Zahra Hosseiniya, founded after the fall of the regime in a building confiscated from Mr. Hussein's Baath Party, killed eight worshippers leaving evening prayers.
By 9 o'clock the next morning, revenge attacks were in full flow. One Shiite man, called by his brother to take two nieces and a nephew to a safer area, recalled the harrowing trip. After passing an armory for the national in a compound once used to train Hussein's domestic spy agency, he turned onto National Security Street, which marks the area's eastern edge, and found militias in control.
A mile to the north, gunmen were manning a road block. Another gang stood watch a half-mile to the south. He darted into a residential street between their checkpoints, passed three bodies, and arrived at his brother's house.
After talking with a Sunni neighbor who also wanted to move his children to a safer place, his brother loaned him a second car and they began to make their way from the neighborhood - past more bodies, with the witness ordering his young relatives to duck their heads beneath the seats, but too late to stop their tears.
In front of the Zahra Hosseiniya - half a mile from Jihad's main police station - he saw gunmen roughly hauling blindfolded men - presumably Sunnis - into a waiting minibus. He called the police emergency line on his cellphone, but there was no answer.
Finally back at the small side road he'd used to get into the neighborhood, the way out had been blocked with tires and concrete. He ordered his 12-year-old nephew, Haider, to hop out, "quick as you can," and remove the obstacles. The gunmen took little notice, and they sped off.
"After about five minutes, we came to a police commando checkpoint. I told them, 'I'm a Shiite, but people are being slaughtered over there, do something,' " he says.
"But they looked at me like I was crazy. 'If we go over there, they'll just run away. Why bother,' one of them said. I was there for over an hour - shooting was almost nonstop - and I didn't see a single police, Iraqi Army, or US Army patrol."
Hoping for justice
Back at Yarmuk Hospital, bad news unleashed a cacophony of grief for Haider Abdel Satah and his family.
The 13-year-old's father had just died in the operating room, joining his mother and 10 other relatives killed about an hour earlier. Haider said gunmen in uniforms opened fire on the minibus carrying the family and a dead relative - killed in a terrorist attack the day before - to the holy city of Najaf for a funeral.
The attack happened on Mechanic's Bridge in Dora, a Sunni stronghold on Baghdad's southern edge. Insurgents and Iraqi soldiers have been holding prolonged firefights there all week.
The bare-chested boy, his right bicep bandaged where a bullet fragment was extracted, stormed out of the emergency room when a group of Iraqi soldiers arrived with a wounded comrade. His grief became anger.
"You killers and cowards,'' he shouted, an aunt trying to shush him. "You murdered my whole family!"
Haider insisted that the army opened fire on the minibus, though an AP report Tuesday quoted Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud as saying 10 members of the family were killed by unknown gunmen.
Surrounded by extended family members, Haider was almost chillingly lucid, perhaps a byproduct of his childhood on Baghdad's Haifa street, where hundreds have been killed since the start of the war. He said the family was attacked with an RPK, a heavier variant of Ak-47 that fires 10 rounds per second.
"I've seen the bodies of the wahabbi victims, I've seen the drill holes in their foreheads, but I've never seen as many bodies as I have of my family," he said. "The car came to a halt and they just kept shooting. I was reaching for my Dad's mobile when I got hit."
"I want justice but I know I'm not going to get it."
http://washtimes.com/upi/20060711-051207-2596r.htm
Saudis fighting with Iraq insurgents
Jul. 11, 2006 at 10:09AM
Saudi authorities acknowledged that Saudi nationals have joined the insurgency against U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq.
Foreign Ministry Director General Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Saoud was quoted Tuesday as saying in daily al-Madina that "certain Saudis are present in Iraq after they have been lured to go there and are involved in violent activities."
He said the Saudis infiltrated Iraq through neighboring countries which he did not identify and called on the Iraqi government to extradite them in case they were captured so that they will be interrogated at home.
Turki stressed that "relations between the Saudi and Iraqi peoples are deep rooted and old and that many Saudis are present in Iraq for business while others have family relations there."
He also pointed out that developments in Iraq "affect Saudi Arabia directly but the kingdom which follows a foreign policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries has been keen on following up closely events in Iraq since the beginning of the crisis and their possible repercussions."
Turki noted that the oil-rich kingdom focused on humanitarian issues in Iraq and set up field hospitals in addition to carrying out relief projects under the supervision of the Saudi Committee for Relief of the Iraqi people.
The Iraqi government has declared on several occasions that Saudi nationals were involved in terror and violent activities in Iraq.
Saudis fighting with Iraq insurgents
Jul. 11, 2006 at 10:09AM
Saudi authorities acknowledged that Saudi nationals have joined the insurgency against U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq.
Foreign Ministry Director General Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Saoud was quoted Tuesday as saying in daily al-Madina that "certain Saudis are present in Iraq after they have been lured to go there and are involved in violent activities."
He said the Saudis infiltrated Iraq through neighboring countries which he did not identify and called on the Iraqi government to extradite them in case they were captured so that they will be interrogated at home.
Turki stressed that "relations between the Saudi and Iraqi peoples are deep rooted and old and that many Saudis are present in Iraq for business while others have family relations there."
He also pointed out that developments in Iraq "affect Saudi Arabia directly but the kingdom which follows a foreign policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries has been keen on following up closely events in Iraq since the beginning of the crisis and their possible repercussions."
Turki noted that the oil-rich kingdom focused on humanitarian issues in Iraq and set up field hospitals in addition to carrying out relief projects under the supervision of the Saudi Committee for Relief of the Iraqi people.
The Iraqi government has declared on several occasions that Saudi nationals were involved in terror and violent activities in Iraq.
Iraq province power transferred BBC News
Britain has handed over responsibility for security in one of Iraq's 18 provinces to local forces for the first time since the country was invaded. An agreement transferring power in Muthanna was signed by Major General John Cooper, who commands coalition forces in southern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was present, said the handover "will bring happiness to all Iraqis". It ended the permanent presence of coalition troops in the province. UK Defence Secretary Des Browne said it was a "milestone" for the people of the region and of Iraq. "It is a proud day for the Iraqi Security Forces and the Iraqi government. They have worked hard to get here and have shown a lot of determination. "Today takes them one step nearer to assuming full responsibility for their own security and to building a stable and democratic future for their country." Mr Maliki said: "It is a great national day that will be registered in the history of Iraq. "This step forward will bring happiness to all Iraqis."
Quiet area
The numbers involved in the handover were small - just 700 British and Australian soldiers. However, the British and US governments hope the move will mark the beginning of a process which will eventually allow them to return the entire country to the Iraqis.
Britain has handed over responsibility for security in one of Iraq's 18 provinces to local forces for the first time since the country was invaded. An agreement transferring power in Muthanna was signed by Major General John Cooper, who commands coalition forces in southern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was present, said the handover "will bring happiness to all Iraqis". It ended the permanent presence of coalition troops in the province. UK Defence Secretary Des Browne said it was a "milestone" for the people of the region and of Iraq. "It is a proud day for the Iraqi Security Forces and the Iraqi government. They have worked hard to get here and have shown a lot of determination. "Today takes them one step nearer to assuming full responsibility for their own security and to building a stable and democratic future for their country." Mr Maliki said: "It is a great national day that will be registered in the history of Iraq. "This step forward will bring happiness to all Iraqis."
Quiet area
The numbers involved in the handover were small - just 700 British and Australian soldiers. However, the British and US governments hope the move will mark the beginning of a process which will eventually allow them to return the entire country to the Iraqis.
It is hoped other provinces will follow Muthanna
Developments in the province will be monitored by politicians in London and Washington in the anticipation that other provinces will soon be able to follow suit. A small Australian force will continue to offer assistance. It will also provide an "operational overwatch" from neighbouring Dih Qar. Muthanna, a sparsely populated desert area with a population of little over half a million, was chosen as the first because it has been one of the quietest areas of the country. Maj Gen Cooper said that, if it went smoothly, it would provide a blueprint for further handovers as control of more and more of the country was returned to the Iraqis. "The significance of today is that it is the first province to have undergone this process. We should not overplay it but we shouldn't underplay it either," he said.
Saddam begins fresh hunger strike BBC News
Saddam Hussein has begun a hunger strike as part of a continuing protest over security for defence lawyers at his trial, US officials have said. Three co-defendants of the former Iraqi leader are also said to have refused some food over the past six days. The group, which includes Saddam Hussein's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, also boycotted court sessions this week in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein and seven co-accused deny crimes against humanity. The defendants say they were not responsible for the deaths of 148 Shia Muslim villagers following an assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein in 1982.
Fluids
Saddam Hussein has embarked on hunger strikes several times over the course of his trial.
Saddam Hussein has begun a hunger strike as part of a continuing protest over security for defence lawyers at his trial, US officials have said. Three co-defendants of the former Iraqi leader are also said to have refused some food over the past six days. The group, which includes Saddam Hussein's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, also boycotted court sessions this week in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein and seven co-accused deny crimes against humanity. The defendants say they were not responsible for the deaths of 148 Shia Muslim villagers following an assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein in 1982.
Fluids
Saddam Hussein has embarked on hunger strikes several times over the course of his trial.
Khamis al-Obeidi's death sparked the latest protests
The latest protest is the second such protest since a senior member of his defence team, Khamis al-Obeidi, was shot dead in June. Fellow hunger strikers Barzan al-Tikriti, a former intelligence chief, and senior aide Taha Yassin Ramadan, are among those who boycotted court proceedings this week. US military officials said that the strikers were had refused meals since 7 July, but were receiving medical attention and were drinking fluids with nutrients added. "Saddam has participated in various hunger strikes during his detention, but his health has never been in danger," US spokesman Lt Col Keir-Kevin Curry said. On Tuesday the chief judge in the trial, Raouf Abdel Rahman, adjourned the trial's closing statements until 24 July, and ordered all defendants to attend court or face an imposition of court-appointed lawyers.
At least 20 killed as bloody occupation Of Iraq continues:
A suicide bomber blew himself up in the city council of the town of Abi Saida, 80 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding three
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO331205.htm
===
Administration To Request Another $110 Billion For Iraq Next Year :
Yesterday, the White House released its FY2007 mid-session budget review with great fanfare, celebrating its projection that the deficit will be nearly $300 billion this year.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/12/110-billion/
===
Britain prepares secrets case over Iraq memo :
Details of the still-undisclosed memo began to leak out, first in a Daily Mirror article reporting that during the Bush-Blair conversation the president, shockingly, had suggested that allied forces should bomb the Arab television network Al Jazeera.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/12/news/britain.php
===
Dahr Jamail: "This is going to be a big war.":
Now that the U.S. military/Rumsfeld (who was just in Baghdad) and Khalilzad have declared war on the Shia Mehdi Army, accusing them of terrorism, all bets are off. Of course, the timing of this with Israelis attacks against Hezbollah couldn't be more perfect. Coincidence?
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/...ches/000417.php
A suicide bomber blew himself up in the city council of the town of Abi Saida, 80 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding three
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO331205.htm
===
Administration To Request Another $110 Billion For Iraq Next Year :
Yesterday, the White House released its FY2007 mid-session budget review with great fanfare, celebrating its projection that the deficit will be nearly $300 billion this year.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/12/110-billion/
===
Britain prepares secrets case over Iraq memo :
Details of the still-undisclosed memo began to leak out, first in a Daily Mirror article reporting that during the Bush-Blair conversation the president, shockingly, had suggested that allied forces should bomb the Arab television network Al Jazeera.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/12/news/britain.php
===
Dahr Jamail: "This is going to be a big war.":
Now that the U.S. military/Rumsfeld (who was just in Baghdad) and Khalilzad have declared war on the Shia Mehdi Army, accusing them of terrorism, all bets are off. Of course, the timing of this with Israelis attacks against Hezbollah couldn't be more perfect. Coincidence?
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/...ches/000417.php
U.S. ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPINGS IN IRAQ: CONGRESS DEMANDS THAT THE PENTAGON RELEASE DOCUMENTS ALLEGING THAT U.S. FORCES KIDNAPPED FAMILY MEMBERS OF TERROR SUSPECTS - MARK BENJAMIN
(SALON, JULY 14)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/...dnap/print.html
IRAQ WAR'S HIDDEN TOLL: CIVILIANS KILLED ACCIDENTALLY BY U.S. TROOPS TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN, JULY 14)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines
THE HIDDEN WAR ON WOMEN IN IRAQ - RUTH ROSEN (TOMDISPATCH, JULY 13): In Mahmudiya, a town 20 miles south of Baghdad this March, a group of five American soldiers allegedly were involved in the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza, a young Iraqi girl. Amid the daily explosions and gunfire that make the papers is a wave of sexual terrorism, whose exact dimensions we have no way of knowing.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=101034
EVEN IN IRAQ, ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL - RORY STEWART (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 12): A great many of the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq arise from a single problem: the American-led coalitions? lack of trust in local politicians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/opinion/...agewanted=print
THE IRAQI CIVIL WAR HAS BEGUN - CENK UYGUR (HUFFINGTON POST, JULY 14)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/t...html?view=print
IRAQ'S HELPLESS GOVERNMENT EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 24): As everyone from the White House to the streets of Baghdad now recognizes, the Maliki government probably represents Iraq?s last chance to fulfill its people?s hopes for a better, more secure life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/opinion/...agewanted=print
FOREIGN AFFAIRS ROUNDTABLE [ON IRAQ] MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, JULY 13)
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark..._affairs_1.html
MOST JAPANESE HAPPY WITH OUTCOME OF IRAQ MISSION ECCENTRIC STAR (JULY 14)
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/public_di...japanese_h.html
(SALON, JULY 14)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/...dnap/print.html
IRAQ WAR'S HIDDEN TOLL: CIVILIANS KILLED ACCIDENTALLY BY U.S. TROOPS TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN, JULY 14)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines
THE HIDDEN WAR ON WOMEN IN IRAQ - RUTH ROSEN (TOMDISPATCH, JULY 13): In Mahmudiya, a town 20 miles south of Baghdad this March, a group of five American soldiers allegedly were involved in the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza, a young Iraqi girl. Amid the daily explosions and gunfire that make the papers is a wave of sexual terrorism, whose exact dimensions we have no way of knowing.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=101034
EVEN IN IRAQ, ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL - RORY STEWART (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 12): A great many of the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq arise from a single problem: the American-led coalitions? lack of trust in local politicians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/opinion/...agewanted=print
THE IRAQI CIVIL WAR HAS BEGUN - CENK UYGUR (HUFFINGTON POST, JULY 14)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/t...html?view=print
IRAQ'S HELPLESS GOVERNMENT EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 24): As everyone from the White House to the streets of Baghdad now recognizes, the Maliki government probably represents Iraq?s last chance to fulfill its people?s hopes for a better, more secure life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/opinion/...agewanted=print
FOREIGN AFFAIRS ROUNDTABLE [ON IRAQ] MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, JULY 13)
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark..._affairs_1.html
MOST JAPANESE HAPPY WITH OUTCOME OF IRAQ MISSION ECCENTRIC STAR (JULY 14)
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/public_di...japanese_h.html
Gunmen abduct Iraq Olympic chief BBC News
Gunmen in Iraq have kidnapped the country's Olympic committee chief and 30 other officials, police have told the BBC. Olympic chief Ahmed al-Hadjiya and the officials were taken when their convoy was stopped by uniformed men. Police said the incident took place at a conference centre near central Baghdad, and that the kidnappers wore Iraqi army uniforms. Other reports said uniformed gunmen had stormed the committee's offices.
Gunmen in Iraq have kidnapped the country's Olympic committee chief and 30 other officials, police have told the BBC. Olympic chief Ahmed al-Hadjiya and the officials were taken when their convoy was stopped by uniformed men. Police said the incident took place at a conference centre near central Baghdad, and that the kidnappers wore Iraqi army uniforms. Other reports said uniformed gunmen had stormed the committee's offices.
Iraq: At least 39 killed as U.S. occupation continues:
Gunmen wearing police-style camouflage abducted the head of Iraq's national Olympic committee Ahmed al-Hadjiya, and about 30 other people including bodyguards and committee staff as they met in Baghdad on Saturday
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15618617.htm
Iraq: 16 Bodies Found,:
According to a police source in al-Hillah, eight bodies were found in Alexandria, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, four bodies in al- Latifiya, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, and four bodies in Jarf al- Sakhr, 50 kilometres south of Baghdad.
http://tinyurl.com/lz6xo
Two U.S. soldiers killed around Baghdad :
Two U.S. soldiers were killed in the Baghdad area when roadside bombs struck their Humvees on Saturday in separate attacks, the military said.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/46486.html
Survivors of Baghdad's Jihad massacre seek refuge in tents:
Taking little more than a few personal effects, these men, women and children have left their homes to live in courtyard of the large Ibn Taymiyah mosque on the road to the airport.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060715/wl_mi...unrestdisplaced
Closer to the beginning’ in Iraq war:
The Army’s top uniformed officer said Friday he did not think the United States was losing the war in Iraq but declined to say the nation was winning.
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1319304&secid=1
Video: Putin: Russia doesn't want 'kind of democracy' US has in Iraq:
At a joint press conference held in Russia on Saturday with President Bush, President Putin joked that his country didn't want to have the same kind of democracy that the United States has in Iraq.
QuickTime video.
http://tinyurl.com/n4zpv
Gunmen wearing police-style camouflage abducted the head of Iraq's national Olympic committee Ahmed al-Hadjiya, and about 30 other people including bodyguards and committee staff as they met in Baghdad on Saturday
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15618617.htm
Iraq: 16 Bodies Found,:
According to a police source in al-Hillah, eight bodies were found in Alexandria, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, four bodies in al- Latifiya, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, and four bodies in Jarf al- Sakhr, 50 kilometres south of Baghdad.
http://tinyurl.com/lz6xo
Two U.S. soldiers killed around Baghdad :
Two U.S. soldiers were killed in the Baghdad area when roadside bombs struck their Humvees on Saturday in separate attacks, the military said.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/46486.html
Survivors of Baghdad's Jihad massacre seek refuge in tents:
Taking little more than a few personal effects, these men, women and children have left their homes to live in courtyard of the large Ibn Taymiyah mosque on the road to the airport.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060715/wl_mi...unrestdisplaced
Closer to the beginning’ in Iraq war:
The Army’s top uniformed officer said Friday he did not think the United States was losing the war in Iraq but declined to say the nation was winning.
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1319304&secid=1
Video: Putin: Russia doesn't want 'kind of democracy' US has in Iraq:
At a joint press conference held in Russia on Saturday with President Bush, President Putin joked that his country didn't want to have the same kind of democracy that the United States has in Iraq.
QuickTime video.
http://tinyurl.com/n4zpv
British soldier killed near Basra BBC News
A British soldier has died following a clash north of the city of Basra, Iraq, on Saturday. The soldier was one of two wounded during a firefight between British troops and "suspected terrorists", said a military spokesman. Two suspects were held during the operation, which took place in the Garmat Ali tribal area, north of Basra. Some 8,000 British troops are stationed in southern Iraq. The death brings the total of British dead there to 114. Defence Secretary Des Browne described the death of the soldier as "terribly sad". He said: "I would like to offer my deepest condolences to their family and friends. "I wish the soldier who was injured a speedy recovery and pay tribute to the bravery of both troops."
Name withheld
The BBC's correspondent in Baghdad Jonny Dymond said the troops had been sent out to apprehend suspects intelligence sources had identified were involved in the insurgency. They met resistance, which is when the two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds. They were evacuated to a military hospital where one later died of his injuries, the Ministry of Defence said. The name of the dead soldier has been withheld until next of kin are notified. The MoD said in a statement: "An operation was conducted by multi-national Forces in Iraq in the early hours of this morning to apprehend those associated with terrorist activities "We can confirm that as a result of this operation, two men suspected of involvement in serious crime and terrorism in the Basra province have been apprehended." British forces spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said it had been an intelligence-led operation, and that the mission's objective had been achieved.
Transfer of duties
"We have been pleased with the outcome of the operation - it went according to plan. But we do mourn the loss of one of our soldiers." He said further details about the significance of the operation would later be released. Lieutenant Tom Mildinhall, 26, and Lance Corporal Paul Farrelly, 27, both of the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry), were killed when a Land Rover they were travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb in north west Basra on 28 May. Last month it was announced that security in one of Iraq's 18 provinces was being handed to local forces for the first time since the country was invaded in 2003. Defence Secretary Des Browne said the decision to give Iraqi troops control of power in Muthanna was a "milestone" for the Iraqi people.
A British soldier has died following a clash north of the city of Basra, Iraq, on Saturday. The soldier was one of two wounded during a firefight between British troops and "suspected terrorists", said a military spokesman. Two suspects were held during the operation, which took place in the Garmat Ali tribal area, north of Basra. Some 8,000 British troops are stationed in southern Iraq. The death brings the total of British dead there to 114. Defence Secretary Des Browne described the death of the soldier as "terribly sad". He said: "I would like to offer my deepest condolences to their family and friends. "I wish the soldier who was injured a speedy recovery and pay tribute to the bravery of both troops."
Name withheld
The BBC's correspondent in Baghdad Jonny Dymond said the troops had been sent out to apprehend suspects intelligence sources had identified were involved in the insurgency. They met resistance, which is when the two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds. They were evacuated to a military hospital where one later died of his injuries, the Ministry of Defence said. The name of the dead soldier has been withheld until next of kin are notified. The MoD said in a statement: "An operation was conducted by multi-national Forces in Iraq in the early hours of this morning to apprehend those associated with terrorist activities "We can confirm that as a result of this operation, two men suspected of involvement in serious crime and terrorism in the Basra province have been apprehended." British forces spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said it had been an intelligence-led operation, and that the mission's objective had been achieved.
Transfer of duties
"We have been pleased with the outcome of the operation - it went according to plan. But we do mourn the loss of one of our soldiers." He said further details about the significance of the operation would later be released. Lieutenant Tom Mildinhall, 26, and Lance Corporal Paul Farrelly, 27, both of the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry), were killed when a Land Rover they were travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb in north west Basra on 28 May. Last month it was announced that security in one of Iraq's 18 provinces was being handed to local forces for the first time since the country was invaded in 2003. Defence Secretary Des Browne said the decision to give Iraqi troops control of power in Muthanna was a "milestone" for the Iraqi people.
Iraqi PM denounces 'criminal' strikes on Lebanon and Gaza: -
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday denounced Israel's attacks on Lebanon, calling them dangerous for the entire Middle East.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=133705
At least 35 killed as U.S. occupation continues:
Gunmen attacked the medical detention department in Baquba main hospital and freed at least 13 prisoners and killed four policemen
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO622727.htm
Bomber Kills 25 at Cafe in Northern Iraq :
A suicide bomber detonated explosives Sunday inside a northern Iraqi cafe popular with Shiites, killing 25 people and injuring 23, an Iraqi general said
http://tinyurl.com/lmlv6
British soldier killed in Iraq operation :
A British soldier was killed and another wounded during a raid near Iraq's main southern city of Basra
http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=23765
Frank Rich: From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You ‘Axis of Evil’ :
Operation Together Forward is just the latest model of the Axis of Evil gimmick. In his Rose Garden press conference last month, Mr. Bush promised that this juggernaut of crack Iraqi troops and American minders would “increase the number of checkpoints, enforce a curfew and implement a strict weapons ban across the Iraqi capital.” It’s been predictably downhill ever since.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14012.htm
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday denounced Israel's attacks on Lebanon, calling them dangerous for the entire Middle East.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=133705
At least 35 killed as U.S. occupation continues:
Gunmen attacked the medical detention department in Baquba main hospital and freed at least 13 prisoners and killed four policemen
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO622727.htm
Bomber Kills 25 at Cafe in Northern Iraq :
A suicide bomber detonated explosives Sunday inside a northern Iraqi cafe popular with Shiites, killing 25 people and injuring 23, an Iraqi general said
http://tinyurl.com/lmlv6
British soldier killed in Iraq operation :
A British soldier was killed and another wounded during a raid near Iraq's main southern city of Basra
http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=23765
Frank Rich: From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You ‘Axis of Evil’ :
Operation Together Forward is just the latest model of the Axis of Evil gimmick. In his Rose Garden press conference last month, Mr. Bush promised that this juggernaut of crack Iraqi troops and American minders would “increase the number of checkpoints, enforce a curfew and implement a strict weapons ban across the Iraqi capital.” It’s been predictably downhill ever since.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14012.htm
DEFINING BINLADENISM
JOHN MANCHESTER (TSC, JULY 17): The Iraqis are discovering the futility of violent extremism. Here's a task for "public diplomacy": help the rest of the Arabs, and Muslims in Europe too, feel the same way as the Iraqis do.
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=071706C
NO BACKTRACKING FROM ENVOY TO IRAQ AL KAMEN (IN THE LOOP, WASHINGTON POST, JULY 17): Last month, The Washington Post published a June 12 telegram from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad to the State Department that recounted the increasing dangers and harassment faced by Iraqi staff working in the embassy's public affairs office. Khalilzad to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week: "I stand behind that cable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1600688_pf.html (scroll down link for item)
JOHN MANCHESTER (TSC, JULY 17): The Iraqis are discovering the futility of violent extremism. Here's a task for "public diplomacy": help the rest of the Arabs, and Muslims in Europe too, feel the same way as the Iraqis do.
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=071706C
NO BACKTRACKING FROM ENVOY TO IRAQ AL KAMEN (IN THE LOOP, WASHINGTON POST, JULY 17): Last month, The Washington Post published a June 12 telegram from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad to the State Department that recounted the increasing dangers and harassment faced by Iraqi staff working in the embassy's public affairs office. Khalilzad to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week: "I stand behind that cable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1600688_pf.html (scroll down link for item)
ABU GHRAIB REWARDED EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 17): William Haynes II, the Pentagon?s general counsel, has been closely involved in shaping some of the Bush administration's most legally and morally objectionable policies, notably on the use of torture. The last thing he is suited to be is a federal judge, but that is just what President Bush wants to make him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/opinion/...agewanted=print
MEANWHILE, IN OTHER WARS: CASCADING CRISES MUST NOT DISTRACT THE ADMINISTRATION FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 16): Americans and Iraqis alike want U.S. troops out as soon as possible, but a withdrawal that leaves Iraq in chaos and at the mercy of terrorists would not strengthen America's position in the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1500745_pf.html
IRAQ AND U.S. SIGN COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT - ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 17): Iraq and the United States signed a commercial cooperation agreement Monday that officials hope will help this country move into a free market after decades of wars, sanctions and state control.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6071700143.html
RICE CALLS IDEA THAT IRAQ WAR CONTRIBUTED TO REGIONAL INSTABILITY ?GROTESQUE? (THINK PROGRESS, JULY 16)
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/16/rice-grotesque/
THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF DR. EVIL: SPURRED BY A SALON INQUIRY, THE ARMY IS REOPENING AN INVESTIGATION INTO WHETHER SADDAM'S POISON MASTER [DR. MUHAMMAD MUNIM AL-AZMERLI] DIED AS A RESULT OF ABUSIVE TREATMENT BY U.S. TROOPS - MICHAEL SCHERER (SALON, JULY 14)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/...erli/print.html
WESTERN-EMPLOYED IRAQIS RISK ALL FOR WORK - KIM GAMEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1500386_pf.html
ARE WE HEADING FOR THE EXIT IN IRAQ - JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY (MIAMI HERALD, FLORIDA, JULY 16/COMMON DREAMS): Even if the civil war that's now claiming hundreds of Iraqi lives each week begins to claim thousands or scores of thousands of lives each week, the American drawdown may only accelerate.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0716-28.htm
RATIONALIZING WAR CRIMES: SAYING THE OBVIOUS TO CONCEAL THE DEVIOUS - REV. WILLIAM ALBERTS (COUNTERPUNCH, JULY 13): The apparent aim of President Bush's visit to Iraq was not to win the hearts and minds-and consciences of the Iraqi people but of American voters once again. The aim is to continue justifying the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq, and thus keep Republicans in power come the midterm November elections.
http://www.counterpunch.org/alberts07132006.html
IRAQ ENSNARED IN QUEST TO ESCAPE ARAB POLITICS [REVIEW OF THE FOREIGNER'S GIFT: THE AMERICANS, THE ARABS AND THE IRAQIS IN IRAQ BY FOUAD AJAMI] - RAYYAN AL-SHARAF (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JULY 16)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&type=printable
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/opinion/...agewanted=print
MEANWHILE, IN OTHER WARS: CASCADING CRISES MUST NOT DISTRACT THE ADMINISTRATION FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 16): Americans and Iraqis alike want U.S. troops out as soon as possible, but a withdrawal that leaves Iraq in chaos and at the mercy of terrorists would not strengthen America's position in the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1500745_pf.html
IRAQ AND U.S. SIGN COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT - ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 17): Iraq and the United States signed a commercial cooperation agreement Monday that officials hope will help this country move into a free market after decades of wars, sanctions and state control.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6071700143.html
RICE CALLS IDEA THAT IRAQ WAR CONTRIBUTED TO REGIONAL INSTABILITY ?GROTESQUE? (THINK PROGRESS, JULY 16)
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/16/rice-grotesque/
THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF DR. EVIL: SPURRED BY A SALON INQUIRY, THE ARMY IS REOPENING AN INVESTIGATION INTO WHETHER SADDAM'S POISON MASTER [DR. MUHAMMAD MUNIM AL-AZMERLI] DIED AS A RESULT OF ABUSIVE TREATMENT BY U.S. TROOPS - MICHAEL SCHERER (SALON, JULY 14)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/...erli/print.html
WESTERN-EMPLOYED IRAQIS RISK ALL FOR WORK - KIM GAMEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1500386_pf.html
ARE WE HEADING FOR THE EXIT IN IRAQ - JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY (MIAMI HERALD, FLORIDA, JULY 16/COMMON DREAMS): Even if the civil war that's now claiming hundreds of Iraqi lives each week begins to claim thousands or scores of thousands of lives each week, the American drawdown may only accelerate.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0716-28.htm
RATIONALIZING WAR CRIMES: SAYING THE OBVIOUS TO CONCEAL THE DEVIOUS - REV. WILLIAM ALBERTS (COUNTERPUNCH, JULY 13): The apparent aim of President Bush's visit to Iraq was not to win the hearts and minds-and consciences of the Iraqi people but of American voters once again. The aim is to continue justifying the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq, and thus keep Republicans in power come the midterm November elections.
http://www.counterpunch.org/alberts07132006.html
IRAQ ENSNARED IN QUEST TO ESCAPE ARAB POLITICS [REVIEW OF THE FOREIGNER'S GIFT: THE AMERICANS, THE ARABS AND THE IRAQIS IN IRAQ BY FOUAD AJAMI] - RAYYAN AL-SHARAF (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JULY 16)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&type=printable
Car bombing kills dozens in Iraq BBC News
A car bomb attack in the southern Iraqi city of Kufa has killed at least 53 people and left 103 injured. The bomb hit a crowd of labourers as they gathered close to a Shia shrine in the centre of the city at 0730 local time (0330 GMT), officials said.
Police attacked
Nasser Kadhim, who lost his brother and was injured in the blast told the AFP news agency that a vehicle pulled over and dozens oflabourers surrounded it, expecting to be offered work.
"A few minutes later the explosion happened and everything was thrown into the air," he said. Some reports said the minibus had filled up with volunteers and was pulling away as it blew up. Policemen who arrived at the scene were pelted with stones and fired shots into the air to disperse the crowds, Reuters reported.
Anger and mistrust
The blast took place close to the golden-domed mosque in Kufa, a key Shia pilgrimage site. It marks the site where Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, is said to have been mortally wounded.
A car bomb attack in the southern Iraqi city of Kufa has killed at least 53 people and left 103 injured. The bomb hit a crowd of labourers as they gathered close to a Shia shrine in the centre of the city at 0730 local time (0330 GMT), officials said.
The bomb targeted labourers seeking work
Witnesses said the labourers seeking work had gathered around a minibus which then exploded. Shia Muslims in Kufa, 160km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, have been the frequent targets of attacks.Police attacked
Nasser Kadhim, who lost his brother and was injured in the blast told the AFP news agency that a vehicle pulled over and dozens oflabourers surrounded it, expecting to be offered work.
Anger and mistrust
The blast took place close to the golden-domed mosque in Kufa, a key Shia pilgrimage site. It marks the site where Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, is said to have been mortally wounded.
Monday's attack on Mahmoudiya left at least 48 dead
The town is also a stronghold of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose Mehdi army militia is widely accused by Sunnis of carrying out sectarian attacks. The bombing comes a day after at least 48 people were killed and more than 60 injured in a gunfire and mortar attack on a market in the town of Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Most of the victims were believed to be Shia Muslims. The BBC's Adam Brookes in Baghdad says this sectarian violence is designed to fuel, anger and mistrust between the different sects. It aims to undermine Iraq's new government by making it appear powerless in the face of the armed groups who now roam Iraq looking to wreck its new politics, our correspondent says.
Israel claims Iran link to crisis BBC News
Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers last week was timed to divert attention from Tehran's nuclear programme, the Israeli PM has claimed. Ehud Olmert said that the cross-border raid in which the two soldiers were taken and eight others killed was co-ordinated with Tehran. About 30 people died in a seventh day of conflict, most of them in Lebanon. US President George W Bush has meanwhile accused Syria of trying to use the crisis to return to Lebanon. "Syria is trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks like to me," Mr Bush said in Washington. "It's essential that the government of Lebanon survives this crisis. We've worked hard to free - and we meaning the international community - worked hard to free Lebanon from Syrian influence." The US state department refused to confirm comments by an Israeli ambassador that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the region on Friday.
Israel launched its assault and blockade last Wednesday after the two soldiers were captured. About 230 Lebanese people have been killed since then - the majority of them were civilians, but the toll includes about 30 soldiers. The number of Hezbollah militants killed is not known. Twenty-five Israelis have died - 13 civilians and 12 members of the military. Israel has frequently blamed Syria and Iran for arming and backing Hezbollah, but Mr Olmert's comments were the first explicit claim of Tehran's direct involvement in the capture of the soldiers, correspondents say.Mr Olmert said the timing of the incident was not an accident, and the international community at the G8 summit in Russia had fallen for it - discussing Lebanon rather than Iran's nuclear programme. Earlier, Israel's foreign minister met a UN team trying to negotiate a ceasefire, but said the soldiers' release and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south would have to precede any ceasefire. Thousands more foreigners have continued to flee Lebanon as the crisis deepens. The UN announced that its non-essential staff would join the exodus. A British warship docked in Beirut at the start of a mission to transport up to 12,000 Britons and a further 10,000 people with dual British-Lebanese nationality to Cyprus. The US, Canada and other governments were also organising evacuations by land, air or sea.
In other developments:
Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers last week was timed to divert attention from Tehran's nuclear programme, the Israeli PM has claimed. Ehud Olmert said that the cross-border raid in which the two soldiers were taken and eight others killed was co-ordinated with Tehran. About 30 people died in a seventh day of conflict, most of them in Lebanon. US President George W Bush has meanwhile accused Syria of trying to use the crisis to return to Lebanon. "Syria is trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks like to me," Mr Bush said in Washington. "It's essential that the government of Lebanon survives this crisis. We've worked hard to free - and we meaning the international community - worked hard to free Lebanon from Syrian influence." The US state department refused to confirm comments by an Israeli ambassador that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the region on Friday.
QUOTE("FOREIGNERS IN LEBANON")
- Canada: 40,000
- Philippines: 30,000
- Australia: 25,000
- US: 25,000
- UK: 22,000 (inc. 10,000 with dual nationality)
- France: 20,000
- Foreigners describe ordeal
- Trapped in southern Lebanon
In other developments:
- Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora said Israel was "opening the gates of hell and madness" on his country, and said Israel's response to the soldiers' capture had been disproportionate
- Pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud vowed to stand by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he expected European nations to contribute troops to a proposed stabilisation force to end the fighting
- The UN warned of a humanitarian disaster as Lebanese flee their homes, with air strikes on roads and bridges hampering efforts to help them
- Shlomo Goldwasser, the father of one of the missing Israeli soldiers, said he hoped all means - legal or illegal - would be used to get his son Ehud back
Nearly 6,000 Iraqi Civilians Killed In May, June as U.S. occupation continues:
The report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, which was released today, said most of the victims were killed in Baghdad.
http://tinyurl.com/oa7ry
200 dead, wounded in south Baghdad car explosion, Maliki vows justice:
Death toll of the car explosion that occurred earlier Tuesday in the southern Iraqi city of Al-Kufa rose to 135 while the number of wounded mounted to 65, Iraqi Police sources said.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=887847
Another 14 bodies found outside Iraq massacre town:
Iraqi authorities have discovered 14 bodies south of Baghdad near the town of Mahmudiyah, where 48 civilians were massacred at a market earlier this week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060718/wl_mi...nrestmahmudiyah
Roadside bomb kills another nine Iraqis north of Baghdad:
A roadside bomb Tuesday killed nine Iraqis, including six policemen, at Howeija, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a police source said.
http://tinyurl.com/rhbht
Two U.S. soldiers killed in attacks in Iraq :
Two U.S. soldiers were killed in two attacks in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Tuesday
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200607/1...718_284330.html
The report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, which was released today, said most of the victims were killed in Baghdad.
http://tinyurl.com/oa7ry
200 dead, wounded in south Baghdad car explosion, Maliki vows justice:
Death toll of the car explosion that occurred earlier Tuesday in the southern Iraqi city of Al-Kufa rose to 135 while the number of wounded mounted to 65, Iraqi Police sources said.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=887847
Another 14 bodies found outside Iraq massacre town:
Iraqi authorities have discovered 14 bodies south of Baghdad near the town of Mahmudiyah, where 48 civilians were massacred at a market earlier this week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060718/wl_mi...nrestmahmudiyah
Roadside bomb kills another nine Iraqis north of Baghdad:
A roadside bomb Tuesday killed nine Iraqis, including six policemen, at Howeija, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a police source said.
http://tinyurl.com/rhbht
Two U.S. soldiers killed in attacks in Iraq :
Two U.S. soldiers were killed in two attacks in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Tuesday
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200607/1...718_284330.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...icle1185356.ece
Civil war spreads across Iraq as bomb at Shia mosque kills 59
By Patrick Cockburn in Iraq
Published: 19 July 2006
A civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslims is spreading rapidly through central Iraq, with each community seeking revenge for the latest massacre. Yesterday a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives blew himself up outside the golden-domed mosque in Kufa, killing at least 59 and injuring more than 130 Shia.
In the past 10 days, while the world has been absorbed by the war in Lebanon, sectarian massacres have started to take place on an almost daily basis, leading observers to fear a level of killing approaching that of Rwanda immediately before the genocide of 1994. On a single spot on the west bank of the Tigris river in north Baghdad, between 10 and 12 bodies have been drifting ashore every day.
In Kufa, a city on the Euphrates 90 miles south of Baghdad, the suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a dusty square 100 yards from a Shia shrine at 7.30am. He knew that poor day-labourers gathered there looking for work. He reportedly said: "I need labourers" and they climbed into his van, which exploded a few moments later, killing them and other workers near by. "Four of my cousins were killed," said Nasir Feisal, who survived the blast. "They were standing beside the van. Their bodies were scattered far apart by the blast."
The severe escalation in sectarian killings started nine days ago when black-clad Shia militiamen sealed off the largely Sunni al-Jihad district in west Baghdad and slaughtered every Sunni they identified, killing more than 40 of them after glancing at their identity cards. Since then there has been a tit-for-tat massacre almost every day.
On Monday, gunmen - almost certainly Sunni - first attacked Shia mourners at a funeral near Mahmoudiya, a market town 20 miles south of Baghdad. They then shot another 50 people in the local market.
The failure of the newly formed government of Nouri al-Maliki to stop the mass killings has rapidly discredited it. The Shia and Sunni militias - in the latter case the insurgents fighting the Americans - are becoming stronger as people look to them for protection. After the explosion in Kufa angry crowds hurled stones at the police demanding that the militiamen of the Mehdi Army, followers of the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, take over security in the city. Others chanted at the police - who began to fire in the air to disperse them - "you are traitors!" and accused them of being "American agents".
In much of Baghdad the militias have taken over and are killing or driving out the minority community. It has become very easy to be killed anywhere in central Iraq - where a third of the 27 million population lives - through belonging to the wrong sect. Many people carry two sets of identity papers, one forged at a cost of about $60 (£30), so they can claim to be a Sunni at Sunni checkpoints and Shia at Shia checkpoints.
Even this may not be enough to ensure survival. Aware of the number of forged identity papers being used, Mehdi Army checkpoints in the largely Shia Shu'ala district in west Baghdad have started to ask drivers questions about Shia theology which a Sunni would be unable to answer. One man, a Shia, passed the test but was still executed - because he was driving a car with number plates from Anbar, a wholly Sunni province.
While the White House and Downing Street still refuse to use the phrase "civil war", Iraqis in the centre of the country have no doubt what is happening. Baghdad's mortuary alone received 1,595 bodies in June, and it has got worse since then.
Many people are fleeing. One day early this month, at the al-Salhai bus station in central Baghdad, there were 23 buses, each carrying 49 people, and 30 four-wheel drive vehicles departing for Syria with refugees. Access to Jordan has become more difficult, with many Iraqis turned back at the border.
All buses on routes to these countries have Sunni drivers nowadays, after five Shia drivers were killed as "spies" while driving through the Sunni heartlands of western Iraq on the way to Jordan and Syria.
A civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslims is spreading rapidly through central Iraq, with each community seeking revenge for the latest massacre. Yesterday a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives blew himself up outside the golden-domed mosque in Kufa, killing at least 59 and injuring more than 130 Shia.
In the past 10 days, while the world has been absorbed by the war in Lebanon, sectarian massacres have started to take place on an almost daily basis, leading observers to fear a level of killing approaching that of Rwanda immediately before the genocide of 1994. On a single spot on the west bank of the Tigris river in north Baghdad, between 10 and 12 bodies have been drifting ashore every day.
In Kufa, a city on the Euphrates 90 miles south of Baghdad, the suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a dusty square 100 yards from a Shia shrine at 7.30am. He knew that poor day-labourers gathered there looking for work. He reportedly said: "I need labourers" and they climbed into his van, which exploded a few moments later, killing them and other workers near by. "Four of my cousins were killed," said Nasir Feisal, who survived the blast. "They were standing beside the van. Their bodies were scattered far apart by the blast."
The severe escalation in sectarian killings started nine days ago when black-clad Shia militiamen sealed off the largely Sunni al-Jihad district in west Baghdad and slaughtered every Sunni they identified, killing more than 40 of them after glancing at their identity cards. Since then there has been a tit-for-tat massacre almost every day.
On Monday, gunmen - almost certainly Sunni - first attacked Shia mourners at a funeral near Mahmoudiya, a market town 20 miles south of Baghdad. They then shot another 50 people in the local market.
The failure of the newly formed government of Nouri al-Maliki to stop the mass killings has rapidly discredited it. The Shia and Sunni militias - in the latter case the insurgents fighting the Americans - are becoming stronger as people look to them for protection. After the explosion in Kufa angry crowds hurled stones at the police demanding that the militiamen of the Mehdi Army, followers of the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, take over security in the city. Others chanted at the police - who began to fire in the air to disperse them - "you are traitors!" and accused them of being "American agents".
In much of Baghdad the militias have taken over and are killing or driving out the minority community. It has become very easy to be killed anywhere in central Iraq - where a third of the 27 million population lives - through belonging to the wrong sect. Many people carry two sets of identity papers, one forged at a cost of about $60 (£30), so they can claim to be a Sunni at Sunni checkpoints and Shia at Shia checkpoints.
Even this may not be enough to ensure survival. Aware of the number of forged identity papers being used, Mehdi Army checkpoints in the largely Shia Shu'ala district in west Baghdad have started to ask drivers questions about Shia theology which a Sunni would be unable to answer. One man, a Shia, passed the test but was still executed - because he was driving a car with number plates from Anbar, a wholly Sunni province.
While the White House and Downing Street still refuse to use the phrase "civil war", Iraqis in the centre of the country have no doubt what is happening. Baghdad's mortuary alone received 1,595 bodies in June, and it has got worse since then.
Many people are fleeing. One day early this month, at the al-Salhai bus station in central Baghdad, there were 23 buses, each carrying 49 people, and 30 four-wheel drive vehicles departing for Syria with refugees. Access to Jordan has become more difficult, with many Iraqis turned back at the border.
All buses on routes to these countries have Sunni drivers nowadays, after five Shia drivers were killed as "spies" while driving through the Sunni heartlands of western Iraq on the way to Jordan and Syria.
Civil war spreads across Iraq as bomb at Shia mosque kills 59
By Patrick Cockburn in Iraq
Published: 19 July 2006
A civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslims is spreading rapidly through central Iraq, with each community seeking revenge for the latest massacre. Yesterday a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives blew himself up outside the golden-domed mosque in Kufa, killing at least 59 and injuring more than 130 Shia.
In the past 10 days, while the world has been absorbed by the war in Lebanon, sectarian massacres have started to take place on an almost daily basis, leading observers to fear a level of killing approaching that of Rwanda immediately before the genocide of 1994. On a single spot on the west bank of the Tigris river in north Baghdad, between 10 and 12 bodies have been drifting ashore every day.
In Kufa, a city on the Euphrates 90 miles south of Baghdad, the suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a dusty square 100 yards from a Shia shrine at 7.30am. He knew that poor day-labourers gathered there looking for work. He reportedly said: "I need labourers" and they climbed into his van, which exploded a few moments later, killing them and other workers near by. "Four of my cousins were killed," said Nasir Feisal, who survived the blast. "They were standing beside the van. Their bodies were scattered far apart by the blast."
The severe escalation in sectarian killings started nine days ago when black-clad Shia militiamen sealed off the largely Sunni al-Jihad district in west Baghdad and slaughtered every Sunni they identified, killing more than 40 of them after glancing at their identity cards. Since then there has been a tit-for-tat massacre almost every day.
On Monday, gunmen - almost certainly Sunni - first attacked Shia mourners at a funeral near Mahmoudiya, a market town 20 miles south of Baghdad. They then shot another 50 people in the local market.
The failure of the newly formed government of Nouri al-Maliki to stop the mass killings has rapidly discredited it. The Shia and Sunni militias - in the latter case the insurgents fighting the Americans - are becoming stronger as people look to them for protection. After the explosion in Kufa angry crowds hurled stones at the police demanding that the militiamen of the Mehdi Army, followers of the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, take over security in the city. Others chanted at the police - who began to fire in the air to disperse them - "you are traitors!" and accused them of being "American agents".
In much of Baghdad the militias have taken over and are killing or driving out the minority community. It has become very easy to be killed anywhere in central Iraq - where a third of the 27 million population lives - through belonging to the wrong sect. Many people carry two sets of identity papers, one forged at a cost of about $60 (£30), so they can claim to be a Sunni at Sunni checkpoints and Shia at Shia checkpoints.
Even this may not be enough to ensure survival. Aware of the number of forged identity papers being used, Mehdi Army checkpoints in the largely Shia Shu'ala district in west Baghdad have started to ask drivers questions about Shia theology which a Sunni would be unable to answer. One man, a Shia, passed the test but was still executed - because he was driving a car with number plates from Anbar, a wholly Sunni province.
While the White House and Downing Street still refuse to use the phrase "civil war", Iraqis in the centre of the country have no doubt what is happening. Baghdad's mortuary alone received 1,595 bodies in June, and it has got worse since then.
Many people are fleeing. One day early this month, at the al-Salhai bus station in central Baghdad, there were 23 buses, each carrying 49 people, and 30 four-wheel drive vehicles departing for Syria with refugees. Access to Jordan has become more difficult, with many Iraqis turned back at the border.
All buses on routes to these countries have Sunni drivers nowadays, after five Shia drivers were killed as "spies" while driving through the Sunni heartlands of western Iraq on the way to Jordan and Syria.
A civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslims is spreading rapidly through central Iraq, with each community seeking revenge for the latest massacre. Yesterday a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives blew himself up outside the golden-domed mosque in Kufa, killing at least 59 and injuring more than 130 Shia.
In the past 10 days, while the world has been absorbed by the war in Lebanon, sectarian massacres have started to take place on an almost daily basis, leading observers to fear a level of killing approaching that of Rwanda immediately before the genocide of 1994. On a single spot on the west bank of the Tigris river in north Baghdad, between 10 and 12 bodies have been drifting ashore every day.
In Kufa, a city on the Euphrates 90 miles south of Baghdad, the suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a dusty square 100 yards from a Shia shrine at 7.30am. He knew that poor day-labourers gathered there looking for work. He reportedly said: "I need labourers" and they climbed into his van, which exploded a few moments later, killing them and other workers near by. "Four of my cousins were killed," said Nasir Feisal, who survived the blast. "They were standing beside the van. Their bodies were scattered far apart by the blast."
The severe escalation in sectarian killings started nine days ago when black-clad Shia militiamen sealed off the largely Sunni al-Jihad district in west Baghdad and slaughtered every Sunni they identified, killing more than 40 of them after glancing at their identity cards. Since then there has been a tit-for-tat massacre almost every day.
On Monday, gunmen - almost certainly Sunni - first attacked Shia mourners at a funeral near Mahmoudiya, a market town 20 miles south of Baghdad. They then shot another 50 people in the local market.
The failure of the newly formed government of Nouri al-Maliki to stop the mass killings has rapidly discredited it. The Shia and Sunni militias - in the latter case the insurgents fighting the Americans - are becoming stronger as people look to them for protection. After the explosion in Kufa angry crowds hurled stones at the police demanding that the militiamen of the Mehdi Army, followers of the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, take over security in the city. Others chanted at the police - who began to fire in the air to disperse them - "you are traitors!" and accused them of being "American agents".
In much of Baghdad the militias have taken over and are killing or driving out the minority community. It has become very easy to be killed anywhere in central Iraq - where a third of the 27 million population lives - through belonging to the wrong sect. Many people carry two sets of identity papers, one forged at a cost of about $60 (£30), so they can claim to be a Sunni at Sunni checkpoints and Shia at Shia checkpoints.
Even this may not be enough to ensure survival. Aware of the number of forged identity papers being used, Mehdi Army checkpoints in the largely Shia Shu'ala district in west Baghdad have started to ask drivers questions about Shia theology which a Sunni would be unable to answer. One man, a Shia, passed the test but was still executed - because he was driving a car with number plates from Anbar, a wholly Sunni province.
While the White House and Downing Street still refuse to use the phrase "civil war", Iraqis in the centre of the country have no doubt what is happening. Baghdad's mortuary alone received 1,595 bodies in June, and it has got worse since then.
Many people are fleeing. One day early this month, at the al-Salhai bus station in central Baghdad, there were 23 buses, each carrying 49 people, and 30 four-wheel drive vehicles departing for Syria with refugees. Access to Jordan has become more difficult, with many Iraqis turned back at the border.
All buses on routes to these countries have Sunni drivers nowadays, after five Shia drivers were killed as "spies" while driving through the Sunni heartlands of western Iraq on the way to Jordan and Syria.
U.S. Occupation Death Toll Rises Above 100 Per Day, U.N. Says:
Anaverage of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported Tuesday, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad.
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt7_19_06_4.htm
Iraq: At Least 57 Killed As U.S. Occupation Continues:
The bodies of 18 men with gunshot wounds, bearing signs of torture, were found on the outskirts of Mahmudiya, police said. Among the bodies were those of three policemen.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MOU938617.htm
Killing reaches new heights:
696 Iraqis were killed in sectarian or occupation-related violence in the first 18 days of July. That's a sharp rise over the same period last year, when an AP count showed more than 450 Iraqis were killed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Iraq PM hints at expelling anti-Iran opposition group:
Under the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, the PMOI was supplied with weapons and tanks and periodically carried out armed incursions against Iran as well as helped Iraqi forces put down rebellious Shiites in 1991.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060719/wl_mi...raqiranpolitics
Secrecy ruling by judge on Blair-Bush talk :
The public must be prevented from learning the contents of a conversation between Tony Blair and President George Bush about the conduct of the war in Iraq - crucial evidence in a forthcoming official secrets trial - an Old Bailey judge ruled yesterday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14063.htm
Turkey Announces Readiness To Invade Iraq:
Turkish officials announced today that their country is now fully prepared to go into Iraq, if American, as well as Iraqi, forces do not combat Turkish Kurdish guerilla troops
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Turkey-Anno...raq-30266.shtml
Anaverage of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported Tuesday, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad.
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt7_19_06_4.htm
Iraq: At Least 57 Killed As U.S. Occupation Continues:
The bodies of 18 men with gunshot wounds, bearing signs of torture, were found on the outskirts of Mahmudiya, police said. Among the bodies were those of three policemen.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MOU938617.htm
Killing reaches new heights:
696 Iraqis were killed in sectarian or occupation-related violence in the first 18 days of July. That's a sharp rise over the same period last year, when an AP count showed more than 450 Iraqis were killed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Iraq PM hints at expelling anti-Iran opposition group:
Under the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, the PMOI was supplied with weapons and tanks and periodically carried out armed incursions against Iran as well as helped Iraqi forces put down rebellious Shiites in 1991.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060719/wl_mi...raqiranpolitics
Secrecy ruling by judge on Blair-Bush talk :
The public must be prevented from learning the contents of a conversation between Tony Blair and President George Bush about the conduct of the war in Iraq - crucial evidence in a forthcoming official secrets trial - an Old Bailey judge ruled yesterday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14063.htm
Turkey Announces Readiness To Invade Iraq:
Turkish officials announced today that their country is now fully prepared to go into Iraq, if American, as well as Iraqi, forces do not combat Turkish Kurdish guerilla troops
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Turkey-Anno...raq-30266.shtml
Sistani calls for end to violence BBC News
Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, Ali al-Sistani, has called for an end to sectarian "hatred and violence". The grand ayatollah said the violence would only prolong the presence of US forces in the country. His call came as the US military admitted the level of violence was little changed since a large security crackdown in Baghdad last month. A number of people were killed in fresh violence in the capital and other parts of the country on Thursday.
'Blind violence'
Correspondents say the ayatollah's comments were his strongest public statements on the issue of sectarian violence in recent months.
Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, Ali al-Sistani, has called for an end to sectarian "hatred and violence". The grand ayatollah said the violence would only prolong the presence of US forces in the country. His call came as the US military admitted the level of violence was little changed since a large security crackdown in Baghdad last month. A number of people were killed in fresh violence in the capital and other parts of the country on Thursday.
'Blind violence'
Correspondents say the ayatollah's comments were his strongest public statements on the issue of sectarian violence in recent months.
QUOTE("US Maj Gen William Caldwell")
We have not witnessed the reduction in violence one would have hoped for in a perfect world
"I call on all sons of Iraq... to be aware of the danger threatening their nation's future and stand shoulder to shoulder in confronting it by rejecting hatred and violence," he said. Ayatollah Sistani said the bombing in February of a Shia shrine in Samarra had unleashed "blind violence". Unless halted the violence would "harm the unity of the people and block their hopes of liberation and independence for a long time", he said. The US military on Wednesday again urged the Sunni and Shia communities to root out militias and death squads. But the US military admitted on Thursday the massive security clampdown that followed the killing of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had achieved only a "slight downtick" in violence. The security plan included up to 50,000 police and soldiers on the streets of Baghdad and more checkpoints and raids on violent areas. US Maj Gen William Caldwell said: "We have not witnessed the reduction in violence one would have hoped for in a perfect world." The US said attacks had risen from an average of 24 a day between 14 June and 13 July to about 34 a day over the past five days. The threat of sectarian violence has caused an increasing internal refugee problem. Iraq's migration ministry said more than 30,000 people had registered as refugees this month alone, bringing the total of people seeking help since the Samarra bombing to 162,000. In other developments on Thursday:- A US marine died as a result of hostile action in western Anbar province, the military said
- At least three car bombs exploded in Baghdad - one killing three people and injuring 10 in a market area in Shula, police say
- Iraq's National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie says Iraq will be in charge of security in eight of the country's 18 provinces by the end of the year.
Daily Attacks in Baghdad Increasing
--------------------
By Julian E. Barnes
Times Staff Writer
July 20 2006, 11:15 AM PDT
BAGHDAD -- More than a month after beginning a sweeping security crackdown and the death of Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Baghdad remains gripped in violence and the number of daily attacks has risen.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...l=la-home-world
--------------------
By Julian E. Barnes
Times Staff Writer
July 20 2006, 11:15 AM PDT
BAGHDAD -- More than a month after beginning a sweeping security crackdown and the death of Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Baghdad remains gripped in violence and the number of daily attacks has risen.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...l=la-home-world
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....C_0_US-IRAQ.xml
Thousands flee as Iraq violence deepens
Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:18 AM ET
By Ahmed Rasheed and Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tens of thousands more Iraqis have fled their homes as sectarian violence looks ever more like civil war two months after a U.S.-backed national unity government was formed, official data showed on Thursday.
Iraq's most powerful religious authority, Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, joined the United Nations and U.S. officials in raising the alarm that a spike in bloodshed and "campaigns of displacement" threaten Iraq's very future.
The U.S. military admitted violence in Baghdad was little changed by a month-long clampdown and the city morgue said it had seen 1,000 bodies so far in July, a slight increase on June.
A day after the United States issued a stern warning to both Shi'ite and minority Sunni leaders to match talk with action on reining in and reconciling "death squads" and "terrorists" from their respective communities, the Migration Ministry said more than 30,000 people had registered as refugees this month alone.
"We consider this to be a dangerous sign," ministry spokesman Sattar Nowruz told Reuters, acknowledging that many more people fled abroad or quietly sought refuge with relatives rather than sign up for official aid or move into state camps.
The increase took to 27,000 families -- some 162,000 people -- the number who have registered for help with the ministry in the five months since the February 22 bombing of a Shi'ite shrine at Samarra sparked a new phase of communal bloodshed.
Among 11 new tented camps being set up by the ministry is one in the southern city of Diwaniya, where police said some 10,000 Shi'ite refugees have arrived in recent weeks.
They include Abd Hammad al-Saeidi: "Gunmen told us to leave or they would kill us," said the farmer from the violent lands just south of Baghdad. His family of 11 now live in a tent.
At a Sunni mosque in Baghdad, Red Crescent officials said numbers taking refuge there rose sharply after suspected Shi'ite militiamen killed 40 in the Sunni district of Jihad on July 9.
Mother of 10 Um Yaseen recalled fleeing the area: "It was a black day ... and not a single policeman was there to help us."
CRACKDOWN
The U.S. military conceded that a massive security operation launched a month ago to stop violence tearing Baghdad apart had achieved only a "slight downtick" in bloodshed.
"It's a start. We're moving in the right direction," Major General William Caldwell said, saying it would take "months not weeks" to gain a victory he described as a "must win" for Iraq.
A car bomb killed three people in west Baghdad on Thursday.
The United Nations matched the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. military commander in Iraq on Wednesday in sounding an alarm, two months after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition of Sunnis, Kurds and fellow Shi'ites was sworn in by parliament.
The U.N. envoy to Baghdad warned of a risk of civil war.
Sistani, a reclusive sage whose restraining grip on Shi'ite militias appears to be slipping, issued a rare statement: "I call on all sons of Iraq ... to be aware of the danger threatening their nation's future and stand shoulder to shoulder in confronting it by rejecting hatred and violence," he said.
The Shi'ite Endowment, which oversees mosques, joined its Sunni counterpart in suspending work for five days in protest at the kidnapping of 19 Sunni Endowment officials in Baghdad.
Iraq's Olympic Committee is missing after another big kidnap this week but four of those seized with him were freed unharmed.
Four of the bloodiest incidents this year have taken place this month -- two al Qaeda car bombings of Shi'ite markets in Baghdad and Kufa and two gun attacks blamed on Shi'ite militias.
Those four alone, two of them just this week, claimed some 220 lives. But as the United Nations said this week, that is a fraction of some 100 civilians a day who are dying in violence.
Maliki goes next week to Washington, where President George W. Bush hopes for progress in Iraq that may help at November's congressional elections and make it easier to withdraw troops.
But Iraqi politicians and diplomats increasingly question the resolve within the government and parliament to set aside partisan aims to stop a bloody break-up of the oil-rich state.
Maliki has outlined a national reconciliation plan that he calls a "last chance" for peace. He announced a first meeting of a panel on Saturday that he said would feature former opponents. But there is little substance yet to be seen in the plan.
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy, Aseel Kami and Hiba Moussa in Baghdad and Imad al-Khuzaie in Diwaniya)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Thousands flee as Iraq violence deepens
Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:18 AM ET
By Ahmed Rasheed and Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tens of thousands more Iraqis have fled their homes as sectarian violence looks ever more like civil war two months after a U.S.-backed national unity government was formed, official data showed on Thursday.
Iraq's most powerful religious authority, Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, joined the United Nations and U.S. officials in raising the alarm that a spike in bloodshed and "campaigns of displacement" threaten Iraq's very future.
The U.S. military admitted violence in Baghdad was little changed by a month-long clampdown and the city morgue said it had seen 1,000 bodies so far in July, a slight increase on June.
A day after the United States issued a stern warning to both Shi'ite and minority Sunni leaders to match talk with action on reining in and reconciling "death squads" and "terrorists" from their respective communities, the Migration Ministry said more than 30,000 people had registered as refugees this month alone.
"We consider this to be a dangerous sign," ministry spokesman Sattar Nowruz told Reuters, acknowledging that many more people fled abroad or quietly sought refuge with relatives rather than sign up for official aid or move into state camps.
The increase took to 27,000 families -- some 162,000 people -- the number who have registered for help with the ministry in the five months since the February 22 bombing of a Shi'ite shrine at Samarra sparked a new phase of communal bloodshed.
Among 11 new tented camps being set up by the ministry is one in the southern city of Diwaniya, where police said some 10,000 Shi'ite refugees have arrived in recent weeks.
They include Abd Hammad al-Saeidi: "Gunmen told us to leave or they would kill us," said the farmer from the violent lands just south of Baghdad. His family of 11 now live in a tent.
At a Sunni mosque in Baghdad, Red Crescent officials said numbers taking refuge there rose sharply after suspected Shi'ite militiamen killed 40 in the Sunni district of Jihad on July 9.
Mother of 10 Um Yaseen recalled fleeing the area: "It was a black day ... and not a single policeman was there to help us."
CRACKDOWN
The U.S. military conceded that a massive security operation launched a month ago to stop violence tearing Baghdad apart had achieved only a "slight downtick" in bloodshed.
"It's a start. We're moving in the right direction," Major General William Caldwell said, saying it would take "months not weeks" to gain a victory he described as a "must win" for Iraq.
A car bomb killed three people in west Baghdad on Thursday.
The United Nations matched the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. military commander in Iraq on Wednesday in sounding an alarm, two months after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition of Sunnis, Kurds and fellow Shi'ites was sworn in by parliament.
The U.N. envoy to Baghdad warned of a risk of civil war.
Sistani, a reclusive sage whose restraining grip on Shi'ite militias appears to be slipping, issued a rare statement: "I call on all sons of Iraq ... to be aware of the danger threatening their nation's future and stand shoulder to shoulder in confronting it by rejecting hatred and violence," he said.
The Shi'ite Endowment, which oversees mosques, joined its Sunni counterpart in suspending work for five days in protest at the kidnapping of 19 Sunni Endowment officials in Baghdad.
Iraq's Olympic Committee is missing after another big kidnap this week but four of those seized with him were freed unharmed.
Four of the bloodiest incidents this year have taken place this month -- two al Qaeda car bombings of Shi'ite markets in Baghdad and Kufa and two gun attacks blamed on Shi'ite militias.
Those four alone, two of them just this week, claimed some 220 lives. But as the United Nations said this week, that is a fraction of some 100 civilians a day who are dying in violence.
Maliki goes next week to Washington, where President George W. Bush hopes for progress in Iraq that may help at November's congressional elections and make it easier to withdraw troops.
But Iraqi politicians and diplomats increasingly question the resolve within the government and parliament to set aside partisan aims to stop a bloody break-up of the oil-rich state.
Maliki has outlined a national reconciliation plan that he calls a "last chance" for peace. He announced a first meeting of a panel on Saturday that he said would feature former opponents. But there is little substance yet to be seen in the plan.
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy, Aseel Kami and Hiba Moussa in Baghdad and Imad al-Khuzaie in Diwaniya)
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jh...7/21/do2102.xml
Meanwhile, Iran gets on with its bomb
By Con Coughlin
(Filed: 21/07/2006)
The UN Security Council should this week be discussing how to punish Iran for refusing to halt its uranium-enrichment programme. Instead, the world's leading powers are trying to bring a halt to the escalating violence in Israel and Lebanon, and Iran's nuclear programme has fallen off the international agenda.
It would be an understatement to say the mullahs in Teheran are delighted by this. But then, for them at least, it was hardly unexpected. Ever since Iranian exiles revealed the existence of the radical Islamic regime's top-secret uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz three years ago, Teheran has used every conceivable tactic to impede international attempts to halt its attempts to acquire an indigenous nuclear capability, which the West's intelligence community is convinced will ultimately result in an Iranian atom bomb.
The work of the inspectors dispatched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to examine the Iranian programme was obstructed at every turn. Even Iran's offer to suspend its enrichment activities proved to be bogus. IAEA officials now privately concede that Iranian scientists took advantage of the year-long suspension to refine their enrichment techniques, so they were able to make rapid progress when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unilaterally resumed the programme earlier this year.
Iran's duplicity so sorely tested the patience of Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, that he concluded the issue should be resolved by the Security Council. That was supposed to happen in New York this week after Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, walked away last week from an EU offer to help Teheran with the development of a nuclear power industry.
But just as world leaders were steeling themselves to confront the threat that Iran's nuclear programme poses to international security (the subject was also due for discussion at last weekend's G8 summit in St Petersburg), two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hizbollah, Iran's proxy militia in southern Lebanon, thereby lighting the current conflagration.
Just how much responsibility Teheran bears for initiating hostilities remains unclear, but certain facts are now emerging that indicate the timing of the Israeli soldiers' abduction was no coincidence. To start with, there is the visit Mr Larijani paid to Damascus last week after his discussions in Brussels with Javier Solana, the EU's foreign affairs representative, ended without agreement. Apart from fulfilling his duties as chief nuclear negotiator, Mr Larijani, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, is chairman of Iran's national security council and a close confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spiritual guardian of the Islamic revolution and the driving force behind the attempts to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.
During his stay in the Syrian capital, Mr Larijani briefed Syrian intelligence officers about the nuclear talks and the latest developments in Iran's mutual defence co-operation with Damascus. Mr Larijani then met senior Hizbollah representatives.
The following day, Hizbollah launched its operation against Israel's northern border, kidnapping two soldiers and killing eight others. The operation had been more than a month in the planning, and Teheran dispatched a team of 20 Iranian Guard commanders to southern Lebanon in mid-June to oversee the preparations. There were also shipments of military equipment, including surface-to-surface and anti-ship missiles: the Iranians were well aware that Israel would not tolerate an attack on its northern border with impunity.
Apart from helping Hizbollah to carry out the initial attack, the Revolutionary Guard contingent has remained in Lebanon to operate the sophisticated Iranian-made weapons systems that are being used against Israeli military and civilian targets. They have worked with Hizbollah to direct the missile barrages that have caused havoc in the northern Israeli port of Haifa, and Revolutionary Guards fired the Chinese-made Noor anti-ship missile that hit an Israeli warship, killing four sailors.
Whatever Iran's motives for starting this conflict, the events of the past week have not all been to Teheran's advantage. A robust response from Israel was to be expected, but not even the Iranians could have predicted the ferocity of the Israeli counter-attack, directed as much against Lebanon as against Hizbollah. One consequence of Israel's destruction of much of Lebanon's newly built infrastructure is that Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, now seeks the same ultimate resolution of the conflict as Israel - the disarming of Hizbollah.
The Iranians will also have been surprised by the failure of the world's major powers to intervene. While there has been much criticism of Israel's "disproportionate" response, none of the leading powers feels inclined to act in any way that might be to Hizbollah's benefit. This is particularly true in America, where the Bush Administration has made it plain it is in no hurry to get involved, so long as the conflict is confined to its current parameters. The White House is well aware of Iran's sponsorship of Hizbollah, and has in effect given Jerusalem a free hand to do whatever it believes is necessary to destroy Hizbollah's effectiveness.
The eradication of Iran's most important foreign ally would be a serious blow for the ayatollahs, and was clearly not one they took into their calculations when they precipitated this crisis. But even if Teheran has overplayed its hand in southern Lebanon, Iran's leaders will console themselves that it is a sacrifice worth paying for the maintenance of its all-important uranium-enrichment programme.
As even Dr Hans Blix, the dovish former UN weapons inspector, conceded this week, if Iran's programme continues at its current rate of progress, Teheran will have an atom bomb within five years.
Meanwhile, Iran gets on with its bomb
By Con Coughlin
(Filed: 21/07/2006)
The UN Security Council should this week be discussing how to punish Iran for refusing to halt its uranium-enrichment programme. Instead, the world's leading powers are trying to bring a halt to the escalating violence in Israel and Lebanon, and Iran's nuclear programme has fallen off the international agenda.
It would be an understatement to say the mullahs in Teheran are delighted by this. But then, for them at least, it was hardly unexpected. Ever since Iranian exiles revealed the existence of the radical Islamic regime's top-secret uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz three years ago, Teheran has used every conceivable tactic to impede international attempts to halt its attempts to acquire an indigenous nuclear capability, which the West's intelligence community is convinced will ultimately result in an Iranian atom bomb.
The work of the inspectors dispatched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to examine the Iranian programme was obstructed at every turn. Even Iran's offer to suspend its enrichment activities proved to be bogus. IAEA officials now privately concede that Iranian scientists took advantage of the year-long suspension to refine their enrichment techniques, so they were able to make rapid progress when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unilaterally resumed the programme earlier this year.
Iran's duplicity so sorely tested the patience of Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, that he concluded the issue should be resolved by the Security Council. That was supposed to happen in New York this week after Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, walked away last week from an EU offer to help Teheran with the development of a nuclear power industry.
But just as world leaders were steeling themselves to confront the threat that Iran's nuclear programme poses to international security (the subject was also due for discussion at last weekend's G8 summit in St Petersburg), two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hizbollah, Iran's proxy militia in southern Lebanon, thereby lighting the current conflagration.
Just how much responsibility Teheran bears for initiating hostilities remains unclear, but certain facts are now emerging that indicate the timing of the Israeli soldiers' abduction was no coincidence. To start with, there is the visit Mr Larijani paid to Damascus last week after his discussions in Brussels with Javier Solana, the EU's foreign affairs representative, ended without agreement. Apart from fulfilling his duties as chief nuclear negotiator, Mr Larijani, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, is chairman of Iran's national security council and a close confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spiritual guardian of the Islamic revolution and the driving force behind the attempts to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.
During his stay in the Syrian capital, Mr Larijani briefed Syrian intelligence officers about the nuclear talks and the latest developments in Iran's mutual defence co-operation with Damascus. Mr Larijani then met senior Hizbollah representatives.
The following day, Hizbollah launched its operation against Israel's northern border, kidnapping two soldiers and killing eight others. The operation had been more than a month in the planning, and Teheran dispatched a team of 20 Iranian Guard commanders to southern Lebanon in mid-June to oversee the preparations. There were also shipments of military equipment, including surface-to-surface and anti-ship missiles: the Iranians were well aware that Israel would not tolerate an attack on its northern border with impunity.
Apart from helping Hizbollah to carry out the initial attack, the Revolutionary Guard contingent has remained in Lebanon to operate the sophisticated Iranian-made weapons systems that are being used against Israeli military and civilian targets. They have worked with Hizbollah to direct the missile barrages that have caused havoc in the northern Israeli port of Haifa, and Revolutionary Guards fired the Chinese-made Noor anti-ship missile that hit an Israeli warship, killing four sailors.
Whatever Iran's motives for starting this conflict, the events of the past week have not all been to Teheran's advantage. A robust response from Israel was to be expected, but not even the Iranians could have predicted the ferocity of the Israeli counter-attack, directed as much against Lebanon as against Hizbollah. One consequence of Israel's destruction of much of Lebanon's newly built infrastructure is that Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, now seeks the same ultimate resolution of the conflict as Israel - the disarming of Hizbollah.
The Iranians will also have been surprised by the failure of the world's major powers to intervene. While there has been much criticism of Israel's "disproportionate" response, none of the leading powers feels inclined to act in any way that might be to Hizbollah's benefit. This is particularly true in America, where the Bush Administration has made it plain it is in no hurry to get involved, so long as the conflict is confined to its current parameters. The White House is well aware of Iran's sponsorship of Hizbollah, and has in effect given Jerusalem a free hand to do whatever it believes is necessary to destroy Hizbollah's effectiveness.
The eradication of Iran's most important foreign ally would be a serious blow for the ayatollahs, and was clearly not one they took into their calculations when they precipitated this crisis. But even if Teheran has overplayed its hand in southern Lebanon, Iran's leaders will console themselves that it is a sacrifice worth paying for the maintenance of its all-important uranium-enrichment programme.
As even Dr Hans Blix, the dovish former UN weapons inspector, conceded this week, if Iran's programme continues at its current rate of progress, Teheran will have an atom bomb within five years.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.p...nt=yes&id=16137
An Iranian Import Iraq Doesn't Need
by A. Yasmine Rassam
Posted Jul 21, 2006
Iran's influence permeates political and daily life in Iraq, especially in the South where close family, religious, and cultural ties have been the norm for centuries. In the coming months, however, Iraq must reject one of Iran's more insidious exports -- the institutionalization of Iranian-style Islamic law that codifies women's position as second-class citizens.
Since the liberation of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi society has made significant strides in terms of political participation for women and the safeguarding of women's rights. However, social and political obstacles still have the potential to restrict women's rights and marginalize their participation in Iraq.
Politically, the implementation of Article 41 of the Iraq constitution threatens to replace Iraq's fairly progressive civil Personal Status Code (family law) with shari'a law. On the social front, Iraqi women from Mosul to Basra who demand a larger role in public life or refuse to wear the veil are being targeted by zealots from both Sunni and Shia Islamic militias.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has complicated Iraqi politics with meddling intervention that not only serves Iranian interests, but also the interests of its Iraqi proxies. Like Iraq's other neighbors, Iran's overall strategy seems to be to avoid a dangerous situation in Iraq that might spill over borders, be it chaos or democracy. Allowing Iraqi women to exercise freedoms unknown to Iranian women would be a dangerous model for the future.
The Iranian ruling classes maintain that their political and social model of Islamic rule is the only relevant one for Muslims-at least for those who are Shia. Hence, it's no surprise that Iran has allocated huge amounts of money, propaganda and media coverage to support the various radical Shia groups in Iraq. Iran's goal is to ensure political and social continuity across the borders so that Iraq will not become a magnet for Iranian aspirations for democratic rule. Subjugating Iraqi women to the same kind of restrictions that afflict their Iranian counterparts will be part of that insurance.
Despite the prominent role of many women during the Iranian revolution in 1979, only two weeks after Aytollah Khomeini came to power, he replaced the Shah's fairly modern family laws with strict interpretations of Islamic law. Women came under strict dress requirements and were segregated in all aspects of public life, including schools and offices. Those who resisted were subjected to abuse that ranged from public humiliation, such as painting their exposed knees with red paint or cutting off their uncovered hair, to execution as enemies of the new Islamic Republic.
Over the course of the last twenty-five years, many Iranian women have fought diligently for equal rights under the law and have paid dearly for their protests. Some have paid with their lives.
Although such restrictions are not yet institutionalized in neighboring Iraq, Iraqi women-even non-Muslims-increasingly face a vicious campaign of intimidation and abuse by militias and gangs that seem to be taking over large swaths of Iraqi cities. In the southern regions around Basra, women have been stoned in the street for wearing makeup and murdered simply for going to work. Fatwas have been issued banning women from driving or from walking alone on the street. In Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad, groups of vigilante extremists, many with allegiance to al Qaeda, patrol the streets threatening to kill, kidnap or otherwise terrorize anyone who deviates from their notions of appropriate behavior. Unless the rule of law can be established and the capacity of the central government expanded to include enforcing progressive laws across the country, Iraqi women face a slippery slope which could end in lives as constricted as Iranian women.
Fortunately, the new Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki has made disbanding the militias one of his top priorities. Hopefully, Mr. Al-Maliki will have the political independence and courage to crack down not only on terrorists, but also on those that are enforcing their radical versions of Islam on Iraqi women in all aspects of their everyday lives.
Iraqi women are also organizing and strategizing on how to best modify the implementation of Article 41 of the constitution. International support for these women is urgently needed to prevent the establishment of shari'a law. Separate courts and codes for different sects for example should not be tolerated if Iraq is to be a modern state.
Most immediately, Iraqi women must be protected from attacks by militias and other radicals and must be allowed to exercise their free will. Help must come from outside to allow Iraqi women to organize and advocate separate from the militia and Islamic party structures.
On one point Iran is right. Creating a stable democracy that respects women's rights will serve as a model for the region. That's exactly why the United States must do its part in making it a reality.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
An Iranian Import Iraq Doesn't Need
by A. Yasmine Rassam
Posted Jul 21, 2006
Iran's influence permeates political and daily life in Iraq, especially in the South where close family, religious, and cultural ties have been the norm for centuries. In the coming months, however, Iraq must reject one of Iran's more insidious exports -- the institutionalization of Iranian-style Islamic law that codifies women's position as second-class citizens.
Since the liberation of Iraq in 2003, Iraqi society has made significant strides in terms of political participation for women and the safeguarding of women's rights. However, social and political obstacles still have the potential to restrict women's rights and marginalize their participation in Iraq.
Politically, the implementation of Article 41 of the Iraq constitution threatens to replace Iraq's fairly progressive civil Personal Status Code (family law) with shari'a law. On the social front, Iraqi women from Mosul to Basra who demand a larger role in public life or refuse to wear the veil are being targeted by zealots from both Sunni and Shia Islamic militias.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has complicated Iraqi politics with meddling intervention that not only serves Iranian interests, but also the interests of its Iraqi proxies. Like Iraq's other neighbors, Iran's overall strategy seems to be to avoid a dangerous situation in Iraq that might spill over borders, be it chaos or democracy. Allowing Iraqi women to exercise freedoms unknown to Iranian women would be a dangerous model for the future.
The Iranian ruling classes maintain that their political and social model of Islamic rule is the only relevant one for Muslims-at least for those who are Shia. Hence, it's no surprise that Iran has allocated huge amounts of money, propaganda and media coverage to support the various radical Shia groups in Iraq. Iran's goal is to ensure political and social continuity across the borders so that Iraq will not become a magnet for Iranian aspirations for democratic rule. Subjugating Iraqi women to the same kind of restrictions that afflict their Iranian counterparts will be part of that insurance.
Despite the prominent role of many women during the Iranian revolution in 1979, only two weeks after Aytollah Khomeini came to power, he replaced the Shah's fairly modern family laws with strict interpretations of Islamic law. Women came under strict dress requirements and were segregated in all aspects of public life, including schools and offices. Those who resisted were subjected to abuse that ranged from public humiliation, such as painting their exposed knees with red paint or cutting off their uncovered hair, to execution as enemies of the new Islamic Republic.
Over the course of the last twenty-five years, many Iranian women have fought diligently for equal rights under the law and have paid dearly for their protests. Some have paid with their lives.
Although such restrictions are not yet institutionalized in neighboring Iraq, Iraqi women-even non-Muslims-increasingly face a vicious campaign of intimidation and abuse by militias and gangs that seem to be taking over large swaths of Iraqi cities. In the southern regions around Basra, women have been stoned in the street for wearing makeup and murdered simply for going to work. Fatwas have been issued banning women from driving or from walking alone on the street. In Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad, groups of vigilante extremists, many with allegiance to al Qaeda, patrol the streets threatening to kill, kidnap or otherwise terrorize anyone who deviates from their notions of appropriate behavior. Unless the rule of law can be established and the capacity of the central government expanded to include enforcing progressive laws across the country, Iraqi women face a slippery slope which could end in lives as constricted as Iranian women.
Fortunately, the new Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki has made disbanding the militias one of his top priorities. Hopefully, Mr. Al-Maliki will have the political independence and courage to crack down not only on terrorists, but also on those that are enforcing their radical versions of Islam on Iraqi women in all aspects of their everyday lives.
Iraqi women are also organizing and strategizing on how to best modify the implementation of Article 41 of the constitution. International support for these women is urgently needed to prevent the establishment of shari'a law. Separate courts and codes for different sects for example should not be tolerated if Iraq is to be a modern state.
Most immediately, Iraqi women must be protected from attacks by militias and other radicals and must be allowed to exercise their free will. Help must come from outside to allow Iraqi women to organize and advocate separate from the militia and Islamic party structures.
On one point Iran is right. Creating a stable democracy that respects women's rights will serve as a model for the region. That's exactly why the United States must do its part in making it a reality.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
Baghdad 'calmer' after new curfew BBC News
Baghdad has seen a day of relative quiet after a daytime traffic ban was extended in a bid to curb violence. The ban, enforced on Fridays to prevent attacks on mosques during weekly prayers, now covers most of the day.
Baghdad has seen a day of relative quiet after a daytime traffic ban was extended in a bid to curb violence. The ban, enforced on Fridays to prevent attacks on mosques during weekly prayers, now covers most of the day.