Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions
A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.
For the first time, the extent to which some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding has been researched by the BBC's Panorama using US and Iraqi government sources.
A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.
The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.
While George Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.
To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.
The president's Democrat opponents are keeping up the pressure over war profiteering in Iraq.
Henry Waxman who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, its egregious.
"It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history." (BBC)
Labels: Contractors, Iraq, Military Contractors, U.S.
Al-Maliki's Balancing Act Leaves Iran Cool
As Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought to alleviate neighbouring Iran's increasing concerns about a security deal between his country and the United States, he strove to keep a delicate balance with the two countries which are vying for hegemony over Iraq.
Speaking alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Tehran last Saturday, al-Maliki pledged that "Iraq will not be used as a military launch pad'' against Iran. The remarks by al-Maliki come at a time when Iran is becoming ever more suspicious of U.S. intentions toward it, fearing the superpower might consider using Iraq either as a base or a corridor to attack Iran.
But his apparent reassurances to Iran over a contentious security deal can hardly be mollifying to Iranians and perhaps at worst, in their view, denote al-Maliki's determination to maintain a strong relationship with the U.S.
Even the defence deal al-Maliki signed with Iran, which was meant to signify the importance Iraq attached to relations with its neighbour, hardly nears the new agreement with the U.S., which is still being negotiated but was outlined in the Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed by Iraqi and U.S. leaders late last year. The DoP states clearly that the U.S. will protect Iraq in the face of "foreign aggression", which many say is a code phrase for Iranian intervention in Iraq, as alleged by Washington. Iran is not going to be pleased with that sort of attitude from al-Maliki, a Shia whom Tehran expects to be more attentive to its concerns in Iraq.
The Iraq-Iran-U.S. triangle is a highly complex and complicated web of relationships. (IPS)
US: Iraq security pact can be finalized in July
The U.S. State Department's top Iraq adviser said Tuesday he believes an agreement to establish a long-term security relationship between Iraq and the United States will be completed by the end of July.
"We're confident it can be achieved, and by the end of July deadline," David Satterfield told reporters in Baghdad's U.S.-guarded Green Zone.
The pact also would provide a legal basis for keeping American troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.
But tempering the optimism were recent reports in Iraq and Washington that the talks had stalled because of stiff Iraqi opposition, and it would not be finished before President Bush leaves office.
A senior Bush administration official close to the talks told The Associated Press on Monday that it was "very possible" the U.S. may have to extend the existing United Nations mandate.
Iran also has lashed out at the agreement, suggesting that if permanent U.S. military bases are established on Iraqi soil, the country could be used as a launching pad for attacks on the neighboring country.
Satterfield disputed that Tuesday, saying Washington "does not think Iraq should be an arena, a platform for attacks on other states." (AP)
Will it be 'Obama's war'?
Senator Barack Obama has repeatedly assured the public that, if elected to the presidency, he will withdraw US troops from Iraq, and in a manner more cautious than the way in which the US went in.
He is unclear as to how many troops he would withdraw, which leaves a suspicious amount of ambiguity. Nonetheless, the Democratic faithful believe that he will keep his word and that his word denotes large-scale withdrawal. There are, however, extraordinary obstacles to large-scale withdrawal, which make some doubt that this change is one in which we can believe in.
The next president, regardless of his party, will face powerful foreign pressures to keep a major US commitment in Iraq, perhaps only somewhat less than the troop level of 140,000 we will have soon. Saudi Arabia warned the US against toppling Saddam Hussein's government. Brutal and sometimes menacing though it was, Saddam's Iraq was at least a barrier to Shi'ite and Iranian expansion in the Middle East. His ouster created a vacuum, and geopolitics abhors a vacuum at least as much as nature does.
Fearful that Iran might march west or at least incite the Shi'ites of Saudi Arabia and those in other Sunni states, the Saudis wish the US to stay in the region, indefinitely, as a guardian against Iran. Israel is also worried. It is not just the fear of an Iran with nuclear weapons; Israel also fears the expansion of Iranian influence in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is probably closer to Iran's Quds Force than ever. Iran has even gained influence with Hamas - a Sunni group - in Palestine. The Saudis and pro-Israel groups are exerting pressure on the US to maintain its troops in Iraq. Each of those groups wields considerable influence throughout Washington. Combined, their influence will be very difficult to overcome. (Asia Times)
Applying Iraq’s Lessons in an Afghan Village
United States marines pushed the Taliban out of this village and the surrounding district in southern Helmand Province so quickly in recent weeks that they called the operation a “catastrophic success.”
Yet, NATO troops had conducted similar operations here in 2006 and 2007, and the Taliban had returned soon after they left. The marines, drawing on lessons from Iraq, say they know what to do to keep the Taliban at bay if they are given the time.
“There is definitely someone thinking out there,” said Capt. John Moder, commander of Company C of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, speaking of the Taliban. “That’s why we need these people to be at least neutral to us,” he said, gesturing to the farmers who have been slowly filtering back to harvest their fields.
Originally sent to Garmser District on a three-day operation to open a road, the marines have been here a month and are likely to stay longer. The extension of the operation reflects the evolving tactics of the counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, building on the knowledge accumulated in recent years in Anbar Province in Iraq. (NY Times)
Labels: Afghanistan, Iraq, U.S.
U.S. Official Cites 'Hardening' of Iraqi Detainees
U.S. combat commanders are currently sending about 30 prisoners a day to the main U.S.-run detention centers in Iraq, with more of the detainees likely to be held for longer periods as security risks than those prisoners taken when the U.S. troop buildup first began last year, according to Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone Jr., the former head of the Iraq detention program.
"We're seeing a hardening of the population where there are guys that are as bad as they come," Stone told reporters yesterday at a Pentagon news conference. "Division commanders have gotten much better at determining that the guy's a real, legitimate . . . imperative security risk," he added, saying "conditions are perhaps a little bit less chaotic on the ground, so you can collect more information" about the detainees and determine that they would not be released after their initial six-month review.
Stone, who is ending a 14-month tour in Iraq during which he transformed the U.S. detention program, said there are now less than 21,000 Iraqis being held in U.S. facilities, down from a high of around 25,000. He said the number is coming down slowly, with about 50 detainees leaving and 30 entering daily, for a net decline of 20 per day. (Washington Post)
Iraqi artifacts return to Baghdad
The Iraqi antiquities department has taken delivery of 11 ancient ceremonial seals that were looted after the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.
Originally from the national museum, the artifacts, some of which date from 3,000BC, were seized by US customs officials in the city of Philadelphia.
The circumstances of their discovery have not been made public.
Iraq has previously blamed the looting of thousands of artifacts on organised smugglers and occupying foreign troops.
The country has been carrying out a worldwide campaign to get the objects back.
In April, 700 stolen pieces - including gold coins and jewellery - were seized by customs officials in Syria and returned to Iraq.
Officials say a further 1,600 items are awaiting return from Jordan. (BBC)
Iraq troops decision 'this year'
The final withdrawal of British troops from Iraq could be announced by the end of the year, the BBC has learned.
Discussions have begun about pulling forces out if the security situation continues to improve.
However, any withdrawal of troops could take many months after a political announcement is made.
Ministers are under pressure from the military to release the 4,000 troops who are currently serving in Iraq while pressures are mounting in Afghanistan.
Previous plans to reduce troop numbers to 2,500 were put on hold in March.
This followed a bout of violence dubbed the "battle of Basra". (BBC)
Monday, June 9, 2008
Iran Urges Closer Defense Ties With Iraq
Iranian officials advocated a close defense relationship with Iraq during meetings Sunday in Tehran with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his subordinates.
The talks came as Tehran grows increasingly concerned that a proposed long-term security agreement between the United States and Iraq would pose a threat to Iran.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar said there were many possibilities for security and defense cooperation between Iran and Iraq, emphasizing what he called "the great strategic potential" of the two oil-rich countries.
"We believe that sustainable Iran-Iraq defense cooperation will play a positive role in promoting long-term peace, security and stability in the Middle East," Najar said in a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart, Abdul-Qadir Muhammed Jasim.
"Iraq's ambition to build a strong military calls for further cooperation with Tehran, and for Baghdad to draw on its neighbor's defense potential," Jasim said.
With a U.N. mandate authorizing the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq due to expire at the end of the year, the Bush administration has proposed a long-term security agreement that would allow American troops to remain in Iraq. (Washington Post)
Iraq arrests Qaeda members, seizes explosive belts
Iraqi police have arrested 13 suspected members of al Qaeda and seized 58 explosive belts prepared for suicide bombings, a local official said on Sunday.
Hikmat Jubair, mayor of the town of Hit west of Baghdad, said the suspects were arrested on Saturday night in possession of 13 explosive belts and then led police to another 45 hidden in a house.
"Acting on a tip delivered to the police, 13 people from al Qaeda were arrested while they were gathering in a house in western Hit," Jubair said.
Hit is 130 km (80 miles) west of Baghdad in Anbar province, once an al Qaeda base and bastion of Sunni Arab insurgents fighting U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Jubair said the 13 militants were suspected of involvement in a suicide bombing late last month that killed Hit's police chief, eight other policemen and four civilians.
U.S. and Iraqi military officials say al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq and that the group's networks in its last urban stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq have been broken. (Reuters)
Iranian leader: US military is Iraq's top problem
Iran's supreme leader told the visiting Iraqi prime minister Monday that the U.S. military presence is the main cause of Iraq's problems, according to Iranian state television, making clear his opposition to a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's talks with Iranian leaders during his three-day visit here have focused on the proposed security agreement that Iran fears will keep the American military in neighboring Iraq for years.
Al-Maliki has tried to push Iranian leaders to back off their fierce opposition to the proposed pact, promising that Iraq will not be a launching pad for any attack on Iran.
But the agreement has become a point of contention as Baghdad tries to balance its close ties to rivals Washington and Tehran.
Iran, which has repeatedly said the way to end instability in Iraq is for U.S. forces to withdraw, believes the proposed pact could lead to permanent U.S bases on its doorstep amid fears of an eventual American attack. (AP)
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Iraqis condemn US defence pact plan
Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, denouncing a proposed deal that would keep US troops in Iraq beyond 2008.
Protesters set fire to a US flag and to an effigy of George Bush, the US president, following Friday prayers.
The protests followed a call by Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader, to reject a US-proposed "security alliance" that is reported would enable US troops to permanently occupy bases in Iraq.
Banners at the protest read: "The agreement with the Americans is an act of war against the Iraqi people."
Sattah al-Batat, who led Friday's prayers, told worshippers the agreement "would give full authority to the Americans as well as the right to do whatever they want".
"As long as Moqtada Sadr rejects the agreement, it will not be signed" by the government, Batat told worshippers.
Bush and Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, have agreed in principle in November to sign the Status of Forces Agreement by the end of July. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.
Ex-Premier Is Expelled From Governing Party in Iraq
In a shakeup at the top of Iraq’s Shiite power structure, former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was expelled from the governing Dawa political party, officials said Saturday.
Dr. Jaafari, a physician who was an Iraqi exile leader for decades before returning in 2003 to serve as prime minister, was expelled for creating a political movement that had opened talks with rivals of Dawa’s leader, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a senior party member, Haider al-Abadi, said in a telephone interview.
Dr. Jaafari had fallen out with Mr. Maliki last year, when the party elected Mr. Maliki secretary general. This spring, he formed his own movement, the National Reform Movement. “He cannot be in Dawa and another organization at the same time,” Mr. Abadi said. He said the party was considering expelling three other members affiliated with Dr. Jaafari, but played down the possibility of wider expulsions.
Still, the shakeup may resonate more widely in Iraqi politics. (NY Times)
Labels: Iraq
Iraqi PM begins talks in Tehran
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has arrived in Iran for talks aimed at improving relations between the two neighbouring countries.
He is expected to raise allegations of Iranian support for violent Shia militias in Iraq.
Also on the agenda are the ongoing US-Iraqi talks over the two countries' future, long-term relationship.
Mr Maliki, on his third visit since taking office, was met in Tehran by Iranian Vice-President Parviz Davoudi.
"The prime minister's visit to Iran is considered a step in a series of visits... and to form a strategy committee to develop the relationship between the two nations," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP news agency.
Government sources say Iraqi security officials with the delegation will be showing the Iranians evidence of their alleged support for the militias, the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad reports. (BBC)
Labels: Iran, Iraq, Mehdi Army
Car bombings in Baghdad leave at least 6 dead
A suicide car bomb and another car packed with explosives targeted Iraqi police patrols Saturday on opposite sides of Baghdad, killing at least six people, police said.
The suicide attacker rammed into a police patrol mid-afternoon in Nisoor Square on the capital's west side, killing a civilian and a policeman, police said. Another five people were wounded.
The other explosion took place nearly simultaneously across town at a crowded bus stop where passengers were lining up to catch rides to eastern Shiite neighborhoods, though police said the target was the passing convoy of a top Iraqi police general.
Four people were killed and 18 wounded, Brig. Gen. Nazar Majeed among them, said an officer on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media. Three of the dead were policemen, he said.
The area includes shops that sell spare auto parts and tires, and is frequently used as a shortcut for Interior Ministry convoys trying to avoid traffic jams on another main street leading to government buildings, the officer said.
Tareq Salman, who owns a tea stall nearby, said he heard a huge explosion and then saw smoke spewing from the bus station. (AP)
Labels: Iraq
Seizures in Iraq reveal militia's arsenal
Iraqi troops sweeping through the Baghdad stronghold of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have found large quantities of weapons, including helicopter missiles and an anti-aircraft gun, the U.S military said on Saturday.
Some 10,000 Iraqi government troops entered the sprawling slum of Sadr City unopposed on May 20 under a truce between Sadr's supporters and ruling Shi'ite political parties that ended weeks of fighting in which hundreds were killed.
A U.S. military statement itemizing the weapons seized in the last three weeks gave the first real glimpse of the formidable arsenal that Sadr's feared Mehdi Army militia has been building up.
The statement said government forces had seized 100 caches of weapons, including 295 mortar rounds, 367 AK-47s, 109 anti-tank mines, 39 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, an anti-aircraft gun, six helicopter rockets, sniper rifles, improvised explosive devices, 123 grenades and artillery shells.
Sadr City, a bastion of Sadr's Mehdi Army, had been off-limits to U.S. and Iraqi forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein in the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. (Reuters)
Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.
Women bombers show shifting insurgent tactics in Iraq
A girl strapped with explosives approaches an Iraqi army captain, who dies in the suicide blast. A woman posing as a mother-to-be to disguise a bulging bomb belt strikes a wedding procession as part of a coordinated attack that kills nearly three dozen people.
The attacks last month were among the latest blows by female suicide bombers - and further evidence of shifting insurgent tactics amid an overall drop in bloodshed around Iraq.
U.S. military figures show the number of female suicide attacks has risen from eight in 2007 to at least 16 so far this year - not including a suicide bombing Friday near Ramadi that Iraqi police believe was carried out by a woman. That compares with a total of four in 2005 and 2006, according to the military.
Some female bombers appear motivated by revenge, like the woman who killed 15 people in Diyala province on Dec. 7. She was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party whose two sons joined al-Qaida in Iraq and were killed by Iraqi security forces.
But activists and U.S. commanders also believe al-Qaida in Iraq is increasingly seeking to exploit women who are unable to deal with the grief of losing husbands, children and others to the violence. (AP)
Labels: Iraq
Friday, June 6, 2008
US raids target al-Qaeda in Iraq
The US military says it has captured 32 suspected militants, including 10 on a wanted list, in a wave of arrests across Iraq.
The leadership of the al-Qaeda in Iraq group has been degraded, the military said after the arrests in Baghdad, Mosul and the Tigris river valley.
One of the 14 arrested in Mosul is believed to have been involved in car bombs and kidnappings.
The US also captured two suspected Shia militiamen near Kut, south of Baghdad.
The US military accused the two of being members of Iranian-trained "special groups" - Shia fighters who are not observing a ceasefire called by the Shia cleric and militia leader Moqtada Sadr.
The arrest of two other suspected Shia militiamen was announced on Thursday.
Correspondents say US allegations of Iranian support for Shia fighters are expected to be on the agenda when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki visits Tehran on Saturday. (BBC)
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraq, U.S.
2 Shiite extremists surrender in Iraq
Two Shiite militia leaders surrendered to American soldiers Friday, while tens of thousands of supporters of hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr streamed out of mosques to protest against an agreement which could keep U.S. troops here for years.
The arrests and demonstrations occurred on the eve of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's trip to Shiite-dominated Iran, his second visit there in a year.
U.S. officials allege that Iran is arming and training Shiite militiamen and encouraging a public campaign in Iraq against the proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which the Iranians oppose.
One of those who surrendered early Friday allegedly ordered attacks on U.S. troops, directed the kidnapping of Iraqis and helped smuggle Iranian weapons into Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The other tried to escape by wading through an irrigation canal before turning himself over to U.S. soldiers. (AP)
Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.
What it means when the US goes to war
Troops, when they battle insurgent forces, as in Iraq, or Gaza or Vietnam, are placed in "atrocity producing situations". Being surrounded by a hostile population makes simple acts, such as going to a store to buy a can of soda, dangerous. The fear and stress push troops to view everyone around them as the enemy. The hostility is compounded when the enemy, as in Iraq, is elusive, shadowy and hard to find. The rage soldiers feel after a roadside bomb explodes, killing or maiming their comrades, is one that is easily directed, over time, to innocent civilians who are seen to support the insurgents.
Civilians and combatants, in the eyes of the beleaguered troops, merge into one entity. These civilians, who rarely interact with soldiers or marines, are to most of the occupation troops in Iraq nameless, faceless and easily turned into abstractions of hate. They are dismissed as less than human. It is a short psychological leap, but a massive moral leap. It is a leap from killing - the shooting of someone who has the capacity to do you harm - to murder - the deadly assault against someone who cannot harm you.
The war in Iraq is now primarily about murder. There is very little killing. The savagery and brutality of the occupation is tearing apart those who have been deployed to Iraq. As news reports have just informed us, 115 American soldiers committed suicide in 2007. This is a 13% increase in suicides over 2006. And the suicides, as they did in the Vietnam War years, will only rise as distraught veterans come home, unwrap the self-protective layers of cotton wool that keep them from feeling, and face the awful reality of what they did to innocents in Iraq. (Asia Times)
UAE foreign minister promises to reopen embassy in Baghdad
The United Arab Emirates said on Thursday it is to name an ambassador to Iraq within days, in the first such move by a US ally in the Gulf since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The announcement came during a landmark visit to Baghdad by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the first by such a high-ranking official from an Arab country in the Gulf since the US-led invasion. The foreign minister told reporters that the UAE would reopen its embassy and name an ambassador soon.
"Consultations are under way between the UAE and the Iraqi government about naming the ambassador to Iraq and reopening the Emirati Embassy in the next few days," he told a press conference in Baghdad.
Sheikh Abdullah said he hoped to see "an active and effective Emirati Embassy in Baghdad in the coming weeks."
"We view Iraq as an important partner in the region, and we aspire to [Baghdad] being an important partner of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council]," the UAE's official WAM news agency him as saying. (AFP)
Iraq May Request Extension For U.S.
The Iraqi government may request an extension of the United Nations security mandate authorizing a U.S. military presence, due to expire in December, amid growing domestic criticism of new bilateral arrangements now being negotiated with the Bush administration, according to senior Iraqi officials.
Iraqis across the political spectrum have objected to Bush administration proposals for unilateral authority over U.S. military operations in Iraq and the detention of Iraqi citizens, immunity for civilian security contractors, and continuing control over Iraqi borders and airspace.
Failure to reach an agreement on the arrangements, which must be approved by the Iraqi parliament, would leave the negotiations over a future U.S.-Iraqi relationship and the role of U.S. forces in the country to the next American president.
Differences over Iraq policy are among the sharpest distinctions between the two U.S. presidential contenders. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) advocates continuing the current strategy, with no timetable for the withdrawal of what are likely to be about 133,000 troops remaining in Iraq by the November election. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has said he would begin an immediate withdrawal of combat troops, to be completed within 16 months. (Washington Post)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
U.S. Not Seeking Permanent Iraq Bases, Ambassador Says
The United States ambassador to Iraq on Thursday dismissed any suggestion that the Bush administration is maneuvering to set up permanent military bases in Iraq.
“I’m very comfortable saying to you, to the Iraqis, to anyone who asks, that, no indeed, we are not seeking permanent bases, either explicitly or implicitly,” Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker said at a State Department news briefing.
Mr. Crocker commented at length, and sometimes disdainfully, on a London newspaper report of “a secret plan” whereby the United States would keep 50 permanent military bases in Iraq, keep control of Iraqi airspace and insist on legal immunity for American soldiers and contractors.
“Is this what you’re looking for?” a journalist asked.
“Well, as a matter of fact, it is not,” Mr. Crocker said, rejecting the suggestion of a hidden agenda in American negotiations with the Iraqi government on future relations between Washington and Baghdad. (NY Times)
Senate Panel Accuses Bush of Iraq Exaggerations
In a report long delayed by partisan squabbling, the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday accused President Bush and Vice President Cheney of taking the country to war in Iraq by exaggerating evidence of links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda in the emotional aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“The president and his advisers undertook a relentless public campaign in the aftermath of the attacks to use the war against Al Qaeda as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein,” Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement accompanying the 171-page report.
The committee’s report cited some instances in which public statements by senior administration officials were not supported by the intelligence available at the time, such as suggestions that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda were operating in a kind of partnership, that the Baghdad regime had provided the terrorist network with weapons training, and that one of the Sept. 11 hijackers had met an Iraqi intelligence operative in Prague in 2001. (NY Times)
IRAQ: Animals Too Struggle for Survival
Amidst the huge and growing death toll, it has been easy to forget that animals, in their own way, are finding it hard to survive in Iraq.
"Like human beings, animals find it very hard to stay alive now," Dr. Sammy Hashim, a veterinarian who lives and works west of Baghdad, between Fallujah and the capital city, told IPS. "Naturally, no one cares for the poor animals when nobody seems to care even for human beings under the occupation."
Dr. Hashim said animals cannot get basic needs. "Good drinking water, good feed, vet care and medicines are all unavailable in Iraq since the U.S. occupation of the country began in the spring of 2003. When we complain to the government, they laugh at us, saying humans are first priority."
Farmers seem to have lost hope for the future of their animals. "We treat animals like our own children," Hamdiya Alwan, 50-year-old widow of a farmer in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad told IPS. "We were brought up to treat animals in the best way possible, but now it is getting very hard.
"It costs a lot to keep a cow or a few sheep with prices of feed so high, and agriculture in such bad shape. Of the six cows and 30 heads of sheep that we had before my husband was killed in 2004, I only have one cow and four heads of sheep now." (IPS)
Labels: Iraq
US Marine acquitted in Haditha killings
A court martial has acquitted a US Marine for his role in the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha in Iraq in 2005, the sixth man to be exonerated in the affair.
Lieutenant Andrew Grayson, 27, was declared "not guilty on all charges" by a jury, said a spokesman for the Camp Pendleton military base in southern California where the hearing started on May 28.
Grayson had been charged with making false statements and attempting to fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps. He was also charged with obstruction of justice, but the military judge dismissed this charge Tuesday.
He was the first Marine to stand trial in connection with the killings of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, the most serious war crime allegations leveled at US forces since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
On November 19, 2005, a US soldier on patrol was killed by a roadside bomb in the village of Haditha, 260 kilometers (160 miles) west of Baghdad.
Defense lawyers claim insurgents hidden in nearby houses subsequently opened fire on the soldiers, forcing them to respond.
But prosecutors say there were no insurgents, alleging that the soldiers opened fire unprovoked in revenge for their colleague's death.
In a three-hour shooting spree, they say, the soldiers shot five passengers of an approaching taxi and killed 10 women and children at point blank range, among others.
The Marines said in a press release issued immediately after the killings that 15 Iraqis had been killed by the roadside bomb that claimed the life of Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas. (AFP)
Possible Deal on Kirkuk Could Be a Stabiliser
A possible breakthrough over the fate of the contentious Iraqi province of Kirkuk appears to be underway, which could be a significant source of relief for the United States as it is trying hard to stabilise the country.
On Tuesday, for the first time a top Kurdish official explicitly said Kurds are ready to break a stalemate that has been in place for years, if not decades, raising hopes the potential time bomb of Iraq could be defused.
"In Kirkuk, as Kurds, we are ready for power-sharing," Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency in Dubai.
"We are pushing for a solution, not especially a referendum. We have asked the U.N. to be technically involved because the situation is complicated," he said.
Barzani's remarks signal Kurds' new willingness to compromise over the oil-rich city after longtime resistance to any settlement other than a popular referendum. Because Kurds' numbers have grown hugely in Kirkuk since the end of 2003 war, Kurdish insistence on a referendum was interpreted by others as a desire to take over the city. (IPS)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Oil dips to $121 as reserves grow
Officials in the Iraqi city of Karbala say the mausoleum of Shia Islam's most revered leader is threatened with structural damage from flooding.
Engineers say water from leaking pipes has already reached the mausoleums of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
The shrines lie about two and a half metres below the surrounding streets.
Research in 2000 revealed damage to the drinking water and sewerage systems inflicted in 1991 when Karbala was bombed during a Shia uprising.
Iraqi government engineers initially tried injecting 1,000 tonnes of cement around the two shrines to protect them from the water, says BBC religious affairs reporter Frances Harrison.
However, cavities in the soil meant the cement flowed in the wrong direction.
In 2003 a project was proposed to replace the old water and sewerage system near the shrines and build a huge underground wall around the shrines. (BBC)
Labels: Iraq
Iran: US-Iraq security deal aims to enslave Iraqis
One of Iran's most powerful politicians vowed Wednesday that the Islamic world will stop a long-term security agreement that is being negotiated by the U.S. and Iraq.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told a gathering of Muslim figures in the holy city of Mecca that the United States is trying to enslave Iraqis through the deal. This comments were the strongest and most high-level public condemnations of the potential security deal by an Iranian official.
"The essence of this agreement is to turn the Iraqis into slaves before the Americans, if it is sealed," the former president of Iran said. "This will not happen. The Iraqi people, the Iraqi government and the Islamic nation will not allow it."
Rafsanjani said the U.S. "occupation of Iraq represents a danger to all nations of the region" and warned that the security deal would create a "permanent occupation." Rafsanjani heads two of the country's most powerful clerical governing bodies, the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts.
Iran's previous criticism of the security agreement has largely been in private talks with Iraqi officials. (AP)
Truck explosion kills 18 in Baghdad, wounds 75
A tractor-trailer loaded with Shiite militia rockets accidentally exploded Wednesday in a densely populated area of northeast Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding 75, the U.S. military said. It was the deadliest explosion in Baghdad in more than two months.
Iraqi police said the blast was a suicide truck bomb that struck near the home of an Iraqi police general, killing his nephew and wounding his elderly parents.
But the U.S. military said Shiite extremists were positioning a large truck of loaded with rockets and mortars, aiming the weapons at a U.S. combat outpost 700 yards away, when it mistakenly exploded.
"They were trying to attack us at that FOB (forwarding operating base), and it went off (accidentally). They wouldn't waste rockets like that," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman.
Stover said the militants responsible for the truck had likely fled recent fighting in Sadr City.
The explosion crumbled several two-story buildings, buried cars under rubble and sheared off a corrugated steel roof.
Also Wednesday, three U.S. soldiers were shot dead in northern Iraq, and the decaying bodies of at least 23 Iraqis were discovered in a shallow grave and a sewer shaft at separate sites near Baghdad. (AP)
U.S. Opens Site For Processing Iraqi Refugees
The U.S. government has opened its first permanent office here for Iraqi refugees seeking to settle in the United States, responding to criticism that the Bush administration has failed to help thousands of Iraqis whose lives are in danger because of their work with American organizations.
The office, which began interviewing applicants May 10, has already finished processing 80 embassy employees for departure, and the first two arrived in the United States this week, according to Ambassador James B. Foley, who is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's senior coordinator for Iraqi refugees. Foley, in an interview in Washington, said that 1,141 refugees were settled in the United States in May and that he believes the administration will reach its goal of 12,000 for this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
The Baghdad refugee processing office, located in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, will make it possible for Iraqis who cannot travel outside the country to apply for resettlement. Iraqis have complained for years that they could not reach offices in Syria, Jordan and Egypt because of cost or visa restrictions.
"The whole goal is to provide greater access to people who are in trouble or in threat based on their association with the U.S.," said an American official in Baghdad, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not allowed to speak publicly. (Washington Post)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Winter Soldiers Hit the Streets
In a clear change of strategy to energise public anti-war sentiment, Iraq veterans led a determined demonstration of hundreds through the streets of downtown Seattle last Saturday, following regional Winter Soldier hearings at the Seattle Town Hall.
A larger Winter Soldier event occurred at the National Labour College in Silver Spring, Maryland from Mar. 13 to Mar. 16 earlier this year. But the strategy for those hearings appeared to be based on keeping the event from being directly affiliated with any demonstrations or anti-war activities in an attempt to reach a broader audience. Those hearings were closed to the public, and no demonstrations or other overtly public actions were tied to the event.
This tactic was apparently meant to draw in more national mainstream media coverage of the event, which, with few exceptions, did not materialise.
Chanan Suarez Diaz, the Seattle Chapter president of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), which organised last weekend's event, had told IPS that his chapter, along with others in the northwest region, intended to make a major effort to draw the public into both the testimonials and taking action afterwards.
The Seattle regional Winter Soldier event was open to the public.
A late April poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. found that nearly three-quarters (68 percent) of respondents opposed the Iraq war. The strategy of the regional IVAW groups is clearly meant to capitalise on the growing opposition to the occupation of Iraq among the U.S. public. (IPS)
US-Iraq security pact shapes up as major battle as Iraqi prime minister goes to Iran for talks
A proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement is shaping up as a major political battle between America and Iran, as the debate over the future of troops here intensifies ahead of the fall U.S. presidential election.
The agreement, which both sides hope to finish in midsummer, is likely to be among the issues discussed this weekend when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is due to visit Iran - his second trip there in a year.
Ahead of the visit, his party sought to calm worries by insisting that the deal would not allow foreign troops to use Iraq as a ground to invade another country - a clear reference to Iranian fears of a U.S. attack.
For their part, congressional Democrats have urged the Bush administration not to bypass Congress, which they believe should approve any deal. They fear a long-term security deal with Iraq - if it committed the U.S. to protecting Iraq - could make it difficult for the next president to withdraw U.S. forces.
But the toughest words have come from Iraqi politicians, especially those loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric whose militiamen fought U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad until a May truce ended seven weeks of fighting. (AP)
Kurdish official: Iraq should sharply boost oil output
Iraq should boost crude oil export capacity to 6 million barrels a day, nearly three times the amount the country currently sends to international markets, a top Kurdish political leader urged Tuesday.
The goal set by Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, gave no proposed timetables and would far exceed even the nation's peak oil output shortly before the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. But the Kurds and the Iraqi government are locked in a dispute over the rights to sign oil contracts, and export levels remain a critical issue for both sides.
"We think Iraq needs to export more oil," Barzani told a news conference.
He added that talks over Iraq's long-awaited oil law will resume within two weeks in Baghdad, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
On Monday, Iraq's oil ministry said the country's oil production and exports have risen to their highest levels since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Iraq's exports reached 2.11 million barrels a day in May while the total output - which include exports and domestic consumption - stood at about 2.5 million barrels a day, spokesman Assem Jihad told The Associated Press. (AP)
POLITICS-US: How Cheney Outfoxed His Foes on Iran and EFPs
For many months, the propaganda line that explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) that could penetrate U.S. armoured vehicles were coming straight from Iran has been embraced publicly by the entire George W. Bush administration. But when that argument was proposed internally by military officials in January 2007, it was attacked by key administration officials as unsupported by the facts.
Vice President Dick Cheney was able to get around those objections and get his Iranian EFP line accepted only because of arrangements he and Bush made with Gen. David Petraeus before he took command of U.S. forces in Iraq.
The initial draft of the proposed military briefing on the issue of EFPs, which asserted flatly that EFPs were being manufactured and smuggled to Iraqi Shiite groups directly by the Iranian regime, was met with unanimous objection from the State Department, Defence Department and National Security Council staff, as administration officials themselves stated publicly.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley tried to push back against Cheney's proposed line because they recognised it as an effort to go well beyond the compromise policy toward Iran that had been worked out in December and early January. The compromise policy had been to focus on networks working on procuring EFPs within Iraq and not to target Iran as directly responsible. (IPS)
Labels: Iran, Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.
IRAQ: Death Toll 'Above Highest Estimates'
The real number of the dead is far higher than even the highest declared in death tolls, many Iraqis say.
A study by doctors from the Johns Hopkins School of Health in conjunction with Iraqi doctors from al-Mustanceriya University in Baghdad, published in the British medical journal The Lancet in October 2006, estimated the number of excess deaths as a result of the occupation at above 655,000.
Just Foreign Policy, an independent organisation "dedicated to reforming U.S. foreign policy" offered an updated total of 1,213,716 at the time of this writing.
On Sep. 14, 2007, Opinion Research Business (ORB), an independent polling agency located in London, produced a figure of 1,220,580 deaths as a result of the invasion.
These estimates are above any official figures from Iraq, but they do consider the reported official figures.
Iraqis believe that the authorities are hiding these figures. "The U.S. military benefits from hiding the real totals," said a political analyst who declined to give his name because of the atmosphere of fear within Iraq. "And the Iraqi government is a puppet of the Americans, so their figures are ridiculously low as well."
The report published in The Lancet did not take into account many circumstances of death, say residents in Baquba, capital of Diyala province 40km north of capital Baghdad. (IPS)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
US deaths in Iraq hit all-time low, Australian troops pull out
US forces recorded their lowest monthly death toll in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, officials said on Sunday as Baghdad also reported a big drop in Iraqi deaths and Australia prepared to withdraw its troops.
Nineteen American soldiers were killed in May, the lowest death toll since the US-led invasion, the US military said as the government reported an almost 50 percent reduction in the number of Iraqi fatalities.
However the military also reported that an American soldier was killed on Sunday in a roadside bomb attack in northeast Baghdad.
The month which saw the highest US losses was November 2004, when 137 American troops were killed, according to the independent icasualties.org website. The previous low was in February 2004 when 20 soldiers were killed.
Visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner commented on the "improving security" situation in Iraq and said he was pleased that local military and civilian authorities were taking charge of their own affairs. (AFP)
Iraq cites problems with US security pact
Iraq's chief spokesman acknowledged differences with the United States over a proposed long-term security agreement and pledged on Sunday that the government will protect Iraqi sovereignty in ongoing talks with the Americans.
Australia became the latest member of the U.S.-led coalition to pull combat soldiers from Iraq, fulfilling an election promise that helped sweep Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to power in November.
Opposition has been growing in Iraq to the proposed security pact with the U.S., which will replace the current U.N. mandate and could provide for a long-term American military role in this country.
Much of the opposition comes from anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but statements critical of the deal have also been issued by mainstream Sunni and Shiite figures who fear it will undermine Iraqi sovereignty.
Chief government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iraqi negotiators have a "vision and a draft that is different" from the Americans but that the talks, which began in March, were still in an early stage.
"There is great emphasis by the Iraqi government on fully preserving the sovereignty of Iraq in its lands, skies, waters and its internal and external relations," al-Dabbagh said. "The Iraqi government will not accept any article that infringes on sovereignty and does not guarantee Iraqi interests."
U.S. officials have refused to comment on the talks until they are complete but have insisted they are not seeking permanent bases. The agreement is to replace a U.N. mandate for U.S.-led forces that expires at the end of the year. (AP)
Baghdad Jews Have Become a Fearful Few
The tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel in Kifl, south of Baghdad, used to be a pilgrimage site for Jews. It is one of few traces that remain of a once-vibrant Jewish community in Iraq. A pogrom in 1941 and other traumas led to a sharp decline in the Jewish population.
Written in broken English but with perfect clarity, the message is a stark and plaintive assessment from one of the last Jews of Babylon.
The community of Jews in Baghdad is now all but vanished in a land where their heritage recedes back to Abraham of Ur, to Jonah’s prophesying to Nineveh, and to Nebuchadnezzar’s sending Jews into exile here more than 2,500 years ago.
Just over half a century ago, Iraq’s Jews numbered more than 130,000. But now, in the city that was once the community’s heart, they cannot muster even a minyan, the 10 Jewish men required to perform some of the most important rituals of their faith. They are scared even to publicize their exact number, which was recently estimated at seven by the Jewish Agency for Israel, and at eight by one Christian cleric. That is not enough to read the Torah in public, if there were anywhere in public they would dare to read it, and too few to recite a proper Kaddish for the dead.
Among those who remain is a former car salesman who describes himself as the “rabbi, slaughterer and one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Iraq.” (NY Times)
Labels: Freedom of Religion, Iraq
Robert Fisk: So al-Qa'ida's defeated, eh? Go tell it to the marines
So al-Qa'ida is "almost defeated", is it? Major gains against al-Qa'ida. Essentially defeated. "On balance, we are doing pretty well," the CIA's boss, Michael Hayden, tells The Washington Post. "Near strategic defeat of al-Qa'ida in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al-Qa'ida in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al-Qa'ida globally – and here I'm going to use the word 'ideologically' – as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam." Well, you could have fooled me.
Six thousand dead in Afghanistan, tens of thousands dead in Iraq, a suicide bombing a day in Mesopotamia, the highest level of suicides ever in the US military – the Arab press wisely ran this story head to head with Hayden's boasts – and permanent US bases in Iraq after 31 December. And we've won?
Less than two years ago, we had an equally insane assessment of the war when General Peter Pace, the weird (and now mercifully retired) chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said of the American war in Iraq that "we are not winning but we are not losing". At which point, George Bush's Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, said he agreed with Pace that "we are not winning but we are not losing".
James Baker, who had just produced his own messy report on Iraq then said – reader, please do not laugh or cry – "I don't think you can say we're losing. By the same token, I'm not sure we're winning." Then Bush himself proclaimed, "We're not winning; we're not losing." Pity about the Iraqis. But anyway, now we really, really are winning. Or at least al-Qa'ida is "almost" – note the "almost", folks – defeated. So Mike Hayden tells us. (Independent)
Labels: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraq, U.S.
Iraqi Military Extends Control in Northern City
The recent successes in quieting violence in Basra and Sadr City appear to be stretching to the long-rebellious Sunni Arab district here in Mosul, raising hopes that the Iraqi Army may soon have tenuous control over all three of Iraq’s major cities.
Joint Iraqi-American checkpoints like this one in Mosul have helped limit violence in the city.
In this city, never subdued by the increase of American troops in Iraq last year, weekly figures on attacks are down by half since May 10, when the Iraqi military began intensified operations here with the backing of the American military. Iraqi soldiers searching house to house, within American tank cordons, have arrested more than 1,000 people suspected of insurgent activity.
The Iraqi soldiers “are heady from the Basra experience,” Brig. Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, the commander of American forces in Mosul, said in an interview. “They have learned the right lessons.” (NY Times)
Labels: Iraq