Turkey Bombs again;
Demo Planned against new Babil Governor
Turkey bombed northern Iraq again on Sunday, in an apparent attack on suspected bases of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. Early reports were that no one was killed.
US officials in Baghdad are convinced that some of the reduction in the number of attacks on US troops is owing to conscious Iranian decisions not to back the Shiite militiamen who had targeted Americans. If this is true, it is a refutation of the Cheney gang's insistence that the Iranians can only be dealt with by force and enmity.
Asharq al-Awsat reports in Arabic that the Sadr Movement is planning a big rally on Monday against the appointment of Fadil Raddam as the new provincial police chief for Babil. They maintain that Raddam was the head of the Baath secret police in Najaf in the later Saddam years. Another source says that the tribal leaders are planning a big demonstration for Monday.
The death of the jihadi guerrilla movement in Iraq against the US has been much exaggerated, according to Aljazeera.
McClatchy reports political violence on Sunday:
Baghdad
- Around 6:30 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted civilians in Zafaraniyah, killing two civilians including one woman and injuring two civilians.
- Around 11 a.m. a roadside bomb targeted a joint U.S. and Iraqi convoy in Al Ghazaliyah, no casualties were reported.
- Police found three bodies in Baghdad, one in Sadr, in Doura and Amil.
Diyala
- Gunmen attacked Iraqi army checkpoint in Saqr village near Al Khalis, five gunmen were killed and two soldiers were injured. . .
Kirkuk
- Gunmen attacked police patrol in Al Zarga town south of Kirkuk yesterday, two gunmen were killed and two police officers were injured.
- An IED targeted a house in central Kirkuk. The explosion caused damages to the targeted house. Police said the house belong to Ahmed Zeinal who works with U.S. forces.
Reuters adds:
MOSUL - Gunmen killed Nyyef al-Shimmari, an Iraqi army lieutenant-colonel, in a drive by-shooting in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
NEAR MOSUL - One civilian was killed and five policemen were wounded when a parked car bomb targeted a passing police patrol just south of Mosul, police said. . .
LATIFIYA - A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded two others in the small town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
MAHMUDIYA - One body was found with gunshot wounds in the town of Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. . .
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/24/2007 12:49:00 AM
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6 Comments:
"If this is true, it is a refutation of the Cheney gang's insistence that the Iranians can only be dealt with by force and enmity."
No, Juan, haven't you learned anything? The neocons are never wrong, never have been and never will be, and in fact, it's logically impossible that they ever could be. If the Iranians are being more compliant, it's because of our threat of force, and therefore we should increase it. If they are not, then obviously more force is needed.
If violence in Iraq is high, it proves our troops must stay to prevent a sectarian civil war. If violence declines, it proves our troops must stay because they are so effective in preventing sectarian civil war.
They create their own reality, and they create their own rules of logic, too. Must be nice.
US officials in Baghdad are convinced that some of the reduction in the number of attacks on US troops is owing to conscious Iranian decisions....If it is true
The author of the WaPo story was on NPR yesterday and the "if it is true" is crucial. If it is true, it means that the past year's wild claims by the administration about Iran's involvement in Iraq are true. So far I've seen no evidence of this.
Given the size of the Kurdish population within Turkey, Turkey is at war with itself.
The Sadr movement seems to act autonomously from Iran. Its decision to back away from attacks on the US was in all likelihood made for its own purposes, and was not driven by Iran. The WAPO article, along with the NIE, was more likely driven, not by any changes in Iran's policy, but rather by a sector of US policy makers who were afraid of the Cheney move towards war with Iran, and wanted to move us back from the brink.
Re Iran controlling the rate of Iraqi violence.
In the WaPo/DeYoung article, Amb. Crocker is paraphrased as saying :
[... "given Iranian influence, particularly within the Sadr movement and JAM," the freeze on JAM operations that began four months ago would not exist without Iranian approval.]
I seems obvious that the info-war talking points will always link Sunni's we don't like (or accidentally kill) as 'al qaida', and Shiites we kill or disfavor as having been under the control of Iran.
I don't doubt that the underclass sadrists, whether they are allied with JAM or Fadhila party militias, will take support wherever they can get it. But Badr commander and über-Shiite pol Hakim is the one who checks in with Iran before cancer treatment, and his son and heir apparent was detained during border crossings with his Chalabi-like armed convoy.
The bottom line in a democracy is that we get to know what we (and our representatives) are voting on. Anything less than open disclosure is a sham democracy, a Roman republic.
The conduct of this war continues to be an attack on our freedoms. And we're liable for the debt that is paying for it!
Leadership that misleads our representatives, and the voters that elect them, has breached the constitutional contract. "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."
uh, way off topic, but i stopped by to wish prof. cole a very merry xmas!
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