Time to Close the US Embassy

I don't try to start an internet campaign very often, because the blogosphere has its own priorities and logic that are democratic and should not be forced. But here is a plea for everyone in the blogging world to help force congress to save our diplomats.

Bush is trying to Shanghai several hundred foreign service officers and force them to go to Iraq. They are protesting.

Now is that time for all Americans to stand up for the diplomats who serve this country ably and courageously throughout the world, for decades on end. Foreign service officers risk disease and death, and many of them see their marriages destroyed when spouses decline to follow them to a series of remote places. They are the ones who represent America abroad, who know languages and cultures and do their best to convince the world that we're basically a good people.

The Jesse Helms Right always hated the State Department, because it is about compromise and finding peaceful solutions, whereas the US Right is about war, violence and imposing its will on people. But is is the State Department that, despite some lapses over the decades, generally embodies the best of what America is abroad.

The guerrillas in Iraq constantly target the Green Zone and US diplomatic personnel there with mortar and rocket fire. State Department personnel sleep in trailers that are completely unprotected from such incoming fire. At several points in the past year, they have been forbidden to go outside without protective gear (as if outside were more dangerous). The Bush administration has consistently lied about the danger they are in and tried to cover up these severe security precautions.

The US embassy in Iraq should be closed. It is not safe for the personnel there. Some sort of rump mission of hardy volunteers could be maintained. But kidnapping our most capable diplomats and putting them in front of a fire squad is morally wrong and is administratively stupid, since many of these intrepid individuals will simply resign. (You cannot easily get good life insurance that covers death from war, and most State spouses cannot have careers because of the two-year rotations to various foreign capitals, and their families are in danger of being reduced to dire poverty if they are killed).

There is, in addition to the daily danger, no good escape route for civilian personnel from Baghdad. The troop escalation will be reversed by next year this time, and as the US draws down, the Green Zone is in danger of being overwhelmed by the Mahdi Army. The State Department employees sent there for two year missions are the ones who may end up in secret JAM prisons, as happened in Tehran in 1979.

Bush should not be allowed by Congress to commit this immoral act against the civilians who serve us so faithfully.

Please write your congressional representatives and senators and demand that the US embassy be closed and the forced deportation of US diplomats to Iraq be halted.

The Democrats have been facing the dilemma that they are blocked from doing much about Iraq. This is something they can do. Cut off funding for the embassy and force most of the diplomats home. This is the way to start ending the war.

Now.

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Anti-Gay Church Fined by Court Can Robertson be far Behind?

A jury has found an independent "Baptist" church (which doesn't actually appear to have anything to do with the Baptist Church) in Topeka, KS, guilty of inflicting emotional distress on the bereaved family of a Marine killed in Iraq. The "church" (i.e. cult) members had protested at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder against the US military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. There is no reason to think Snyder was gay, but the "Church members said the soldier's death was God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality" . . . according to Reuters.

This is the time to remind everyone that after September 11, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, who inflicted the inaccurately labeled and proto-fascist 'moral majority' on the rest of us, said that God had 'allowed' 9/11 because the US tolerated gays and feminists. And Pat Robertson, the host of the 700 Club on which the remarks were made, agreed entirely and even issued a subsequent statement to the same effect.

Here is the text:

'FALWELL: What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact--if, in fact--God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

ROBERTSON: Well, yes.

FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.

In a subsequent news release, Robertson stated:

We have allowed rampant pornography on the Internet, and rampant secularism and the occult, etc. to be broadcast on television. We have permitted somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40 million unborn babies to be slaughtered by our society.

We have a court that has essentially stuck its finger in God's eye and said, "We are going to legislate You out of the schools and take Your commandments from the courthouses in various states. We are not going to let little children read the commandments of God. We are not going to allow the Bible or prayer in our schools."

We have insulted God at the highest level of our government. Then, we say, "Why does this happen?" It is happening because God Almighty is lifting His protection from us. Once that protection is gone, we are vulnerable because we are a free society.

Don't ask why did it happen. It happened because people are evil. It also happened because God is lifting His protection from this nation and we must pray and ask Him for revival so that once again we will be His people, the planting of His righteousness, so that He will come to our defense and protect us as a nation." '

Falwell later issued a faux apology of the 'I'm sorry you're fat' variety; Robertson's organization tried to weasel out of responsibility by claiming he hadn't understood Falwell, which is impossible given the texts above).

So, I say that Falwell's and Robertson's organizations owe the rest of us Americans $10 million each for emotional distress.
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Letters to the Editor

In my absence, my readers are making what seem to me especially substantial, informed and incisive comments, and several of those posted today seemed to me worthy of being put on the "front page". (Not everyone reads comments). So here they are:

"1. On the Dam

At 11:21 PM, Alex said...

On the dam. There was a report made in 1951 by British engineers proposing various sites for dams on the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is fairly widely available in academic libraries, though not on the internet. When the dams were built under Saddam in the 1980s, other sites were chosen. Although I do not remember what was said about the Mosul dam, the site of the Haditha dam was definitely advised against. So I suppose that is another dam in danger.

However, there is a factor that may not have been taken into account by the US engineers in preparing their assessment of danger, and that is the rate of alluviation. The waters of both the Tigris and the Euphrates carry large amounts of alluvium, washed off the Turkish mountains, and which settles on the bottom when the water is stopped by a dam. At Samarra, the dam was finished in 1954. When I first went to Samarra in 1977, there was an open lake behind the dam. Now there is only dry land and a river channel. The Mosul dam has been in use for half that time. I suspect there is much less water behind the dam than supposed, and thus less danger, but we have not seen the detailed report.

I am only speculating here. There are other factors; the alluvium might be trapped by the Turkish dams upstream, and they will have have the problem in the future. Though it might be a reason the Iraqi engineers are less worried than the US. It depends on how you make the calculations.

Nevertheless, this is a problem typical of an occupation that declares itself not an occupation. The Iraqi government is effectively prevented from acting, and then the occupiers say "not us", fault of the Iraqi government.


2. Basra (Anon.)

Re Basra, oil, and impending intra-shiite war

Without control of the oil exports and ports of entry, Maliki is just Mayor of the Green Zone, with Odierno his sherif.

The Kurdish militias sit astride the N. piplines, waiting the propitious time to take Kirkuk and hoping to straighten their zone of control SW to the Tigris river, absorbing the Northern production area and Kurdish areas from Ninevah to Diyala.

The Sunni tribes and Marines control the upper Euphrates river and road to Amman, all the way back to Baghdad city limits. No Dawa need apply out West. Iraq's southern oil capitol and only port is contested by opposition Shiite parties and miitias. The 'fired' governor of Basra is still holding the governate, months after Maliki threatened to move in with the 'Iraqi' army. The Basra chief of police is unable to command his troops reliably. Tens of millions in oil revenue is flowing to whoever chas teh guns to put deals for $90 bbl crude delivery together.

Baghdad is essentially under lock-down, the war zoned into neighborhoods and barrios, for the time being. Electricity, food and fuel are being rationed, traded and used for collective reward or punishment by this or that faction.

The great Petraeus' counter-offensive has paused for a breath, with the collateral risks of bombardment being substituted for the military casualties associated with surface patrols. Seems sort of opposite of the COIN doctrine of taking risks to protect civilians.

It sure is good to hear that the US finally has a winning strategy to get Pres. Clinton out of Iraq by 2013. Maybe.

"Peace, peace, but there is no peace."



3. Ineptitude of the al-Maliki government

You say:” Now if only the al-Maliki government could assert itself in, and provide services for, Iraq itself.” No chance! In fact things are going to get even worse (now the sword of the September US report is gone.)

In today's Sotaliraq.com there are reports on two statements of interest:

1) A letter from the new . . . head of the anti-corruption office [appointed by Malik in clear violation of the constitution], addressed to the leaders of the US Congress. I very much hope will be published in English, at least for its entertainment value [now in Arabic at:]

http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnews.php?id=276

The guy is complaining about being treated like dirt by the US Embassy who do not even give him a security badge to allow him into his office (good for them) and defending the scum he is supposed to be watching over. Maliki's letter prohibiting the investigation of the top thieves in Iraq, including his own cousin as the ex-minister, which is undisputed except by Ms Rice and is in the public domain is ignored. He says allegations against Maliki are for the parliament only! He then holds the contradiction that there is corruption, but the officials are not corrupt. But he justifies it saying it is all America's fault. Then he attacks about the ex-head muttering some hilarious stuff about Pinochet and other South American dictators. Now, Maliki first said that the ex-head “may be tampered with some papers” then upped it by accusing him of assassinations no less.

2) The new Agriculture Minister. He is described as a technocrat, but in fact an ex-minister in Ja'fari's ruinous sectarian government. He proudly declares [in Arabic at:]

http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnews.php?id=258

that he aims for full self-sufficiency in all crops! A very stupid idea copied from Iran which is hurting their land; farmers; and economy.

We also have the news that the two new ministers were approved unanimously, yet opposed by the big Sadrists and Sunni blocs! Has anyone heard of a parliamentary vote where the voting result is in dispute? Apart from in Iraq that is.

Maliki seems to have come to the conclusion that he and the sectarian parties in general, have no long -term future in Iraq. So they better concentrate on the looting, for as long as they are allowed to maintain the current term.


4. Lack of State Department competence to grant immunity to Blackwater

At 6:41 PM, exomikey said...

"Sen. Pat Leahy is slamming the Bush administration for bestowing immunity on private US security guards in Iraq."

When did the State Department get the power to grant immunity to anyone? I'm not sure that they can grant immunity. I'll take Artios' position on this until someone who knows chimes in:

Atrios [says]

"Muddle
So I just learned on CNN that the State Department offered immunity to the Blackwater guards. That they don't have the power to do it. That they did it anyway. That senior State people didn't sign off on this thing they didn't have the power to do. This thing they didn't have the power to do will inhibit any efforts to prosecute them.

I hope someone at the State Department offers to give me Martha's Vineyard! They may not have the power to do it, but once they do any efforts to take it away from me will be inhibited!

-Atrios 09:02"

Comment s (259) Trackback (0)

5. Rules of Engagement:

At 6:43 PM, Anonymous said...

The unanswered question, from the apparently one-sided Blackwater shootout last month that killed and wounded dozens, from the Haditha killing of more than a dozen women and children in their homes, is what are the rules we operate under?

The mutable rules of engagement (ROE) are classified, but the bottom line can be inferred from the comments used to justify a bad shoot. Blackwater says that it's guards felt threatened while driving the wrong way in a traffic circle, and responded to a perceived threat by clearing civilians and cars from the huge square, using automatic weapons fire and explosive rounds.

The Haditha defendants also stated the Marines felt threatened in the aftermath of a fatal IED attack, and so they attacked to eliminate the threat. No fighters or weapons were captured, no expended AK shells were found in the houses where civilians died, but the military court accepted the marines testimony. "I felt threatened' was sufficient defense for the shooting of unarmed prisoners, use of grenades and rifles on civilians trapped in their bedrooms.

This war is in a conquered country where most Sunni Arabs, and half the Shiites say they feel that attacks on the occupier (us) are justified. The perception of fear on the part of our 165,000 soldiers and 30,000 mercenaries makes nearly all killing on the part of our men justifiable.

ROE concerns can usually be resolved with a word about a feeling. Mr. Koch is correct in that.

I would ask our red-state war supporters to consider how the 1860 War of Northern Aggression story would have ended, if the occupation troops had spoken another language, and been armed with rapid-fire weapons?

It's going to be a very long war for some of our returning men and their families. They are our soldiers, in our service. Most have done the best they could for comrades, country, and contract. War changes men. This war will follow some home, and many of us will taste from that same tree of knowledge.

Things will get better for our guys, as Iraqis take over mine-clearing, search, siezure, and interrogation. Our combat role will increasingly shift to air attack and artillery fire against enemy buildings. Our casualties will fall to politically acceptable levels. Rules for indirect fire called in by US advisors will be classified, a matter for Iraqis to witness and justify.

Gen. Sherman pointed out, as his men left Atlanta for Charleston, that war is not nice, however noble the justifications. "

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

US Gives Turkey Intel on Kurds Militia Rule in Basra

The US is giving Turkey intelligence on the Kurdish Workers Party, according to Reuters. It seems to me that there is a contradiction between US calls for Turkish restraint and this attempt to supply Ankara with "actionable" intelligence. Is it that the US wants Turkey to hit some parts of the PKK in some parts of Iraq? Or is it just an attempt to make the Turks happy while not doing anything that the Kurdistan Regional Authority in Iraq could object to?

Meanwhile, the Turkish military says it killed 15 PKK fighters near the Iraqi border.

Basra's police chief, Maj. Gen Jalil Khalaf, has admitted that Basra and the nearby port of Umm Qasr are basically under militia rule and that his policemen either cannot fight them or have been actively infiltrated by them. Gasoline and kerosene smuggling are worth billions in that area.

Nevertheless, PM Nuri al-Maliki is insisting that his forces are in a position to take over the security command in Basra. Al-Maliki seems to define such readiness as willingness to take on the "terrorists" by which he means the tiny number of Sunni covert operatives in the deep south. He doesn't count the Shiite militias in that category.

The Iraqi government is dismissing warnings of the US Army Corps of Engineers that a major dam north of Mosul is structurally unsound and could collapse, with apocalyptic consequences for Iraq. This pie in the sky attitude about all the problems facing Iraq seems infectious. Maybe the Iraqi government caught it from Karl Rove, the Republican spinmeister who has convinced over a quarter of Americans that Bush is doing 'a good job' in Iraq! I have a sinking feeling that Mosul and Baghdad face their own Katrina (actually much, much worse) down the line, if the Iraqi officials are this unconcerned.

Oil production in Iraq is down from this quarter a year ago, but the capacity of the country's production facilities has risen. The northern fields and pipelines are better guarded now.

An interview with Dahr Jamail on what the US military occupation looks like on the ground to ordinary Iraqis.

Ali Eterazi on Islamic reform and 'post-Islamism'.

Michael Schwartz at Tomdispatch.com on the place of oil among US motivations for its invasion and occupation of Iraq.

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Iraq Cabinet Proposes lifting Immunity for Private Security Guards

The Iraqi cabinet has reported out draft legislation that will remove immunity from prosecution for private security guards such as those of Blackwater. The immunity was put into law by US viceroy Paul Bremer in 2003-2004 when the US was running Iraq as a colony. Such 'extra-territoriality' is common in a colonial situation, since it would be unseemly for 'natives' to sit in judgment of citizens of the metropole. Typically the first thing modern nationalist regimes like Egypt did when they moved toward independence of colonial powers such as Britain was to abolish extraterritoriality, i.e. laws shielding foreign residents from prosecution inn local courts. Extraterritoriality for US troops in Iran in the 1960s was one of Khomeini's complaints against the Shah. The Iraqi cabinet move is a step toward renewed independence and self-assertion for the Iraqi government vis-a-vis the United States. Now if only the al-Malik government could assert itself in, and provide services for, Iraq itself.

Sen. Pat Leahy is slamming the Bush administration for bestowing immunity on private US security guards in Iraq. Since Iraq's new law will not affect past infractions, the US courts are the only arena where murders might have been punished. Not likely.

Mark Kukis of Time in Baghdad asks if the recent horrific violence in Baquba (see below) is a signpost for the future. The US troop escalation can't last forever, and by this time next year there will be at most 130,000 US troops in Iraq. As the extra units are drawn down, will the violence start up again? Likely, yes.

Iran is denying that it has any role in killing US troops in Iraq. Since the Iranian regime has not been shy in claiming credit for, e.g., Hizbullah attacks on Israel, it is significant that it is going out of its way to deny the US allegations.

The Turkish military is still squeezing PKK guerrillas and trying to close off their escape routes in eastern Anatolia near the Iraq border.

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Iraq's Katrina? 3 US Soldiers Killed in Bombing Diyala Roiled by 28 Police Killed, 20 Headless Bodies

Iraq's Katrina? The Army Corps of Engineers is worried that a dam north of Mosul will collapse. CBS warns, ' A catastrophic failure, engineers believe, could unleash a 60-foot-high wall of water that would be inundate Mosul - and flood Baghdad to a depth of 15 feet. The casualty count would be in the hundreds of thousands. ' If this happened on the Bush administration's watch, it would certainly be blamed on the United States, and even the lack of dam upkeep can be traced in some part to the UN/ US sanctions on Iraq of the 1990s, which debilitated its infrastructure. An article in the Scientific American in 1999 warned that a Katrina could happen to New Orleans. Now we have the ACE warning of this dam/ flood catastrophe. I have a sinking feeling that George W. Bush is incapable of taking such threats to civilian lives seriously. Imagine if the great United States, having occupied a major Muslim Arab country in the world's driest region, managed to drown two of the most revered cities in Islamic history.

Reuters reports that:

' NEAR BAGHDAD - Three U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Four policemen were killed and eight others wounded when a car bomb exploded near their patrol in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. '

There are concerns among truck drivers and the business community about the possible closing of the Turkish-Kurdish border, according to VOA.

The kidnapped tribal sheikhs of Diyala were rescued by the US military, which is apparently fingering a Special Groups rogue guerrilla who split from the Mahdi Army, Arkan Hasnawi. Some proportion of the JAM commanders rejected Muqtada al-Sadr's cease-fire with the US. A Sadrist spokesman denied Hasnawi had ever been in the Jaysh al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army or JAM).

Diyala was also hit on Monday by a massive bombing of police recruits that killed 28 and wounded 20, and by the discovery of twenty decapitated bodies near the provincial capital of Baquba.

Although over-all deaths are down in Iraq this fall according to the Iraqi ministry of health (which however has not been reliable in its past estimates and which has been caught not releasing bad numbers when the real ones were leaked to journalists), there is still a lot of debilitating violence (including waves of largely unreported assassinations, as in Basra) in the country that interferes with trade, employment and getting the country back on its feet.

Reuters reports civil war violence for Tuesday. Major incidents beyond the US troops killed and the bombing of police in Samarra:

' BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed four suspected militants and detained 17 in operations on Monday and Tuesday . . .

BAGHDAD - A militant killed one street cleaner and wounded six others when he threw a hand grenade at their vehicle in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna neighborhood, police said.

BAGHDAD - A bomb in a minibus killed one person and wounded four others in the central Baghdad Alawi bus terminal, police said.

BAGHDAD - Two policemen were wounded when a mortar round landed in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A bomb inside a minibus wounded two people on a highway in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four bodies were found in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, police said.

BAQUBA - Police confirmed Iraqi academic Jamal Mustafa was taken from his house on Sunday in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the abduction.

MOSUL - Police said they found four bodies in the northern city of Mosul. . .

KIRKUK - Three nightguards were wounded, some seriously, in a drive-by shooting about 35 km (22 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said. . .

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Breaking News: Turkish Gunships fire into Iraq

Indian NDTV is reporting Tuesday morning that Turkish Cobra helicopter gunships have fired into Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) positions inside northern Iraq. The action comes after following on an engagement in the border region on the Turkish side that began on Monday and went late into the night. AP does not mention the strikes inside Iraq, but NDTV apparently has a reporter in the area. If the Indian account is true, it is a step up in the building Turkish-Kurdish confrontation.

Turkey is also squeezing Iraqi Kurdistan economically, putting embargoes on firms connected to Kurdistan leader Massoud Barzani.

In an interview this weekend, Barzani had threatened that any Turkish incursion would "mean war."

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Reconciliation Sheikhs Kidnapped; Kirkuk, Karbala Bombings

LA Times says that 11 members of The Salam (Peace) tribal council of Baquba, were kidnapped at gunpoint as they were driving back from the Green Zone toward Baquba, where they are based. They had been conducting talks with the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Although the kidnapping occurred in a largely Shiite district of the capital, it cannot be assumed that the Shiites are the problem.

There were also big bombings in the northern oil city of Kirkuk (8 dead, 25 wounded) and in the southern Shiite shrine city of Karbala. About Kirkuk, LAT says:

' A suicide car bomber killed seven people and wounded 25 in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday, targeting a crowded bus terminal heavily used by travelers to the provinces that form the semiautonomous Kurdistan region, police and witnesses said. Ten shops and 15 cars were set ablaze by the afternoon explosion. "It was a suicide car; the driver detonated himself in front of a civilian crowd next to the bus terminal," said witness Rebowar Mohammad, 32. "I was close to the explosion. There was thick, dark smoke covering the place."

As for Karbala, the bombing, which left 6 dead, came in the wake of the announcement that US troops are withdrawing from the province, which is a big pilgrimage center. The withdrawal will allow the Shiite factions that have been fighting there to more openly contest control of it, and the bombing is probably an opening salvo. The martyred grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husain, is interred in a shrine in Karbala.

The NYT says that Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq are thumbing their noses at Turkey. About the US dilemma in northern Iraq, where it is caught between its Kurdish and Turkish allies, Sabrina Tavernisse wickedly quotes a local Kurd: "The United States “is like a man with two wives,” said one Iraqi Kurd in Sulaimaniya. “They quarrel, but he doesn’t want to lose either of them.”

For just how rugged the territory is in which the PKK is hiding out, see Gordon Taylor at Progressive Historians.

The British officer corps says of the remaining UK presence in Basra, "Get us out of here!" and admits that in recent months the foreign troops may have been doing more harm than good.

McClatchy reports of Basra on Sunday:

' Basra

Yesterday night, Gunmen attacked a convoy of the Islamic Party killing one member in the party and injured 3 others. The attackers kidnapped 2 others from the convoy which was coming from Zubeer twon southwest Basra city towards Basra.

Gunmen killed one prominent member of the Supreme Election Committee in Basra (Ausama Al Abadi) downtown Basra yesterday night.

Around 12.00: the FBS of South Oil Co. in Basra open fire against the demonstrators who gathered in front of building of the company to demand of providing them with jobs in this company. 6 of demonstrators were injured in the incident. '

The Telegraph article talks of death squad rule in the city.

Tom Engelhardt reflects on Saturday's anti-war demonstrations in the US.

Francois Furstenberg on Bush as a Jacobin. It is a point I've made, too, in connection with my book on Napoleon's Egypt.

In its 10/28/07 roundup of Iraq news items, the USG Open Source Center gives several items from the hard line Sunni Fundamentalist newspaper al-Basa'ir, which is close to the Association of Muslim Scholars. AMS leaders have denounced the Iraqi Salafis who have begun styling themselves 'al-Qaeda' and who often engage in indiscriminate violence, but AMS is uncompromisingly Sunni fundamentalist itself, and has some sort of connection to the 1920 Revolution Brigades, which the US views as an insurgent group.

'Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on the front page a 600-word report on Statements 485 and 486 the Association of Muslim Scholars issued accusing the Shiite militias of displacing Sunni families in Baghdad and other governorates.

Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on the front page a 300-word report on Statement 488 the Association of Muslim Scholars issued accusing the occupation forces of committing a massacre against the innocent Iraqi people in the Al-Sadr City. The statement also accuses the Iraqi Government of supporting the crimes committed by the occupation forces.

Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on the front page and on page 2 a 1,200-word report on Statement 487 the Association of Muslim Scholars issued accusing the Shiite Militias of blowing up the Al-Barakah Mosque in the Al-Washash District in Baghdad.

Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on the front page a 130-word report on the news statement the Association of Muslim Scholars issued condemning the kidnapping of priests in Mosul on 13 October.

Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on the front page and on page 2 a 600-word report on the meeting of Abd-al-Salam al-Kubaysi, Association of Muslim Scholars undersecretary, with the association's employees and members in the Umm al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad on 21 October. Al-Kubaysi affirmed that the association will not give up on its anti-occupation policies. . .

Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on the front page a 600-word editorial saying that the Iraqi political forces, which are protected and backed by the occupation forces, have failed to implement their project to partition Iraq under the pretext of federalism. The writer says that the only way for the occupation forces to resolve the challenges they are facing in northern, central and southern Iraq is to withdraw and annul the political process. . .

Al-Basa'ir on 24 October publishes on page 5 a 300-word report on the Statements 481, 482, 483 and 484 issued by the Association of Muslim Scholars. The statements condemn the oil contracts signed by the Kurdish Government, Turkish threats to invade Kurdistan, the killing of 15 civilians in the Al-Tharthar District and the arrest of Association Member Yunus al-Akidi, in the Abu-Ghurayb District.'

(I am traveling abroad this week and postings may be irregular. Can't put anything up Tuesday morning, e.g., but maybe later that day. Check back frequently.)
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Muqtada al-Sadr Says Freeze on Al-Mahdi Army's Military Action Still in Effect

The USG Open Source Center summarizes and translates a recent statement of Shiite clerical leader Muqtada al-Sadr, issued two weeks ago, insisting that the suspension of military operations by his Mahdi Army is still in effect.

'Muqtada al-Sadr Says Freeze on Al-Mahdi Army's Military Action Still in Effect
Iraq -- OSC Summary
Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Mujahidin Al-Amarah News Network (formerly visible at (http:// al3marh. net/ news/%20 but now gone blank). . . -- which reports on Al-Sadr trend's activities and statements and other events in Iraq, was observed to post the following statement on 23 October:

The following is the full text of the report:

Office of the Martyr Al-Sadr (May God sanctify his secret)

Your Eminence Hojjat ol-Islam val Muslimin Al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr (may you live in glory), can you please answer our questions and queries. May God reward you.

1. Is the decision to freeze the Army of Imam al-Mahdi (may God speed up his return) still in effect because some parties are circulating news that the freeze stopped after Id al-Fitr?

In the name of God Almighty: Yes, it is still in effect and it can be extended if we deem this to serve an interest. It is absolutely not true that it has been lifted. In fact, some hostile parties are spreading this news to tarnish the reputation of this heroic ideological army, which proved its obedience to its leaders by implementing the freeze in the best manner possible except by some of those who took it upon themselves to obey the enemies and who ignored the freeze order by their hawzah (religious seminary). We appeal to all to implement this decision on all levels. Otherwise, a disobedient person would be dismissed from this heroic ideological army. The army has no place in it for disobedient persons. Our lord and master, Imam Al-Mahdi (may God speed up his return) wants obedience and faith, and not disobedience and rebellion.

2. If the freeze did not stop, we would like to inquire about some actions, which some units of the Army of Imam Al-Mahdi have continued to carry on, including some financial, tribal, and social affairs and others.

In the name of God Almighty. This question can be answered on two levels:

First, this freeze includes the "military" aspect in particular and some aspects, which I will mention implicitly, God willing. It does not include the ideological and cultural aspects. As we know, jihad is two parts: cultural and military. We are facing a (Jewish-American) attack on our beloved Islam. Therefore, dear brothers, you should make yourselves immune to these attacks so as to make Islam immune as well. This cannot be done by attack, disunity, disintegration, disobedience, rebellion, unilateral action, differences, and other similar negative phenomena that have spread among you. It is done by piety, rectitude, purity, ethics, faith, modesty, fraternity, and worship, and not by seeking mundane pleasures, polytheism, and parties.

Second, concerning what was mentioned in the question about the financial, tribal, and social aspects, if any individual wants to intervene in these things, he cannot do that by using his affiliation to the Army of Imam Al-Mahdi. Otherwise, he will be disobeying higher orders.

3. In the current period, in which the Army of Imam Al-Mahdi has been frozen, what are the responsibilities that they can carry out?

In the name of God Almighty. The dear brothers in the Army of Imam Al-Mahdi have the full powers to go about their social affairs, such as making visits, forming friendships, helping the needy, and attending to the needs of the believers in a manner that does not conflict with the tolerant Islamic shari'ah and that does not break the freeze. They may also seek to educate themselves religiously, ideologically, scientifically, and ethically by conducting lessons, lectures, seminars, and examinations under the supervision of the cultural commission that is affiliated with the Office of the Martyr. They may also carry out any peaceful action that reflects their love of their religion and homeland and their endeavor to achieve its unity, land and people.

I also advise you to refrain from any action that could hurt the reputation of this beloved army. Its reputation is a trust that you bear. Do not fear the blame of anyone while implementing the above. God is able to grant you victory. Be like a solid structure, while each one of you offers advice to the other and loves the other so that the enemy will not be able to infiltrate you. Beware of those who stir up sedition and the infiltrators among your ranks. I advise you and myself to fear God in secret and in public and to carry out religious duties and abandon what is forbidden and to conduct religious rituals, such as congregational prayer, the husayniyah sessions, and many others.

Holy Al-Najaf

Muqtada al-Sadr

5 Shawwal 1428 (corresponding to 16 October 2007)

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Major US Anti-War Protests Karbala turned over to Iranian-backed Badr

Tens of thousands of Americans rallied against the war in major cities on Saturday.

The US military is turning over security duties in Karbala to the Iraqi security forces (dominated in that city by the Badr Corps, the paramilitary trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps). This turn-over has now been carried out in 8 of Iraq's 18 provinces. There never was much of a US military presence in the 3 Kurdish provinces of the Kurdistan Regional Authority, so actually it is just 5 that have effectively been turned over-- the Shiite provinces of Muthanna, Dhi Qar, Najaf, and Maysan-- and now Karbala.

A departing US general has accused the Shiite-dominated ministry of the interior of dragging its feet on hiring Sunni Arab policemen. Sectarian concerns, he implied, are interfering with the establishment of security in Iraq.

Undiagnosed brain injuries among soldiers and civilians are a major legacy of the Iraq War.

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Turkish, Iranian Presidents Condemn Kurds

AFP reports that Prime Minister Rejep Tayyib Erdogan of Turkey said Saturday, of the Kurdish Workers Party guerrillas holed up in Iraq, "We will launch an operation when it will be necessary, without asking for anybody’s opinion . . .”

The USG Open Source Center translates an article about Turkish President Abdullah Gul calling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Turkey's plans to end the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) presence in the region. Iran's president expressed sympathy for the terrorism Turkey suffered at Kurdish hands and stressed that Iran had faced similar terrorism. (The implication is that the United States was 'running' Kurdish terrorists and the Mojahedin-e Khalq against Iraq's neighbors).

George W. Bush's special greatness is that his coddling of Kurdish separatism and terrorism has brought together the Sunni Turks and the Shiite Iranians, traditional enemies. Yes, these are the birth pangs of the New Middle East.

'Turkey's Gul Tells Ahmedinejad 'Channels of Diplomacy' on PKK 'Being Exhausted'
"President Gul Held a Phone Conversation With Ahmedinejad" -- AA headline
Anatolia
Saturday, October 27, 2007

Ankara (AA) - 27.10.2007 - It was reported that Iranian President Ahmedinejad called President Gul on the phone and received information on the latest developments on Turkey's fight against terrorism. According to reports, Gul told Ahmedinejad that Turkey attaches great importance to Iraq's territorial integrity and that all the Iraqi people with the Shi'a, Sunni, Arab, and Kurd are the kin of Turks. Gul also stressed that Turkey does not target the Iraq administration and the Kurds.

It was also reported that President Gul emphasized Turkey's determination in ending the PKK presence in the region after pointing out that the terrorist organization is using northern Iraq as a base and that the channels of diplomacy are being exhausted.

Ahmedinejad, in turn, was reported to have said during the conversation that Turkey's concerns are received with understanding, that Iran is also fighting terror, and that Iran is closely watching the developments with concern. Ahmedinejad also extended his condolences to the families of the martyrs.

(Description of Source: Ankara Anatolia in Turkish -- Semi-official news agency; independent in content) '
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Iraqi Sunni, Shiite Preachers Denounce al-Qaeda

The USG Open Source Center reports on Iraqi sermons on Friday.

Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 26 Oct
Iraq -- OSC Summary
Saturday, October 27, 2007

Al-Iraqiyah . . . "Shaykh Jalal-al-Din al-Saghir, [Shiite] imam and preacher of the Buratha Mosque, said that the recent statements by terrorist Usama Bin Ladin to the remnants of his followers in Iraq show the defeat of the terrorist organization in Iraq following the strong blows dealt to it by the Iraqi security forces, backed by the tribes."

The report adds: "In a Friday sermon, the Buratha Mosque preacher called for renouncing violence and all armed manifestations and bolstering unity among Iraqis."

Shaykh Al-Saghir says: "Bolstering unity between the Shiites and Sunnis is the only way to eliminate those criminals. This would not have happened had the Shiites and Sunnis not rejected all the terrorists' attempts to drive a wedge between the two honorable sects."

Shaykh Al-Saghir adds: "We consider Usama Bin Ladin's recent statement as an official announcement on the defeat of the Al-Qa'ida in Iraq. Therefore, before this statement and message, we were not astonished to see Harith al-Dari trying to bring some life to the dead body of Al-Qa'ida when he spoke and advised the armed groups to accept Al-Qa'ida by saying they are from us and we are from them."

Al-Saghir says: "The militias of any party are against the existence of the state."

The report adds [that Sunni]: "Shaykh Ahmad Abd-al-Ghafur al-Samarra'i, head of the Sunni Waqf Bureau, has called for renouncing all armed manifestations and differences among the sons of the one country. In a Friday sermon at the Al-Siddiq Mosque in Al-Ghazaliyah, Shaykh Al-Samarra'i urged the Iraqis to close their ranks to foil enemy plans to foment sedition among them."

Al-Samarra'i says: "I express my appreciation for all the good efforts and for all those who achieved security and stability, and brotherhood and amity among the sons of Iraq. Unity, amity, mercy, and love bring us closer to God. The Sunni must live safely in a Shiite area and a Shiite must live safely in the Sunni areas."

Al-Samarra'i says: "They wanted to foment sedition between the Shiites and Sunnis and to play on the tune of sectarianism. However, praise be to God, all the sons of Iraq in general, and the sons of Al-Ghazaliyah in particular, and specifically the sons of this mosque, have exposed the game, realized the conspiracy, and got united with each other. They did not discriminate between a Shiite and Sunni, an Arab or Kurd, or a Muslim and a non-Muslim. People from all ethnic groups were united and stood as one man in the face of anyone who wanted to harm this country or this area."

The report says: "Within the same framework, Shaykh Ala Abd-al-Wahhab, imam and preacher of the Yusuf al-Hassan Mosque in the Basra Governorate, urged the Iraqis to unite and renounce all forms of estrangement and sectarianism and to close the ranks among the sons of the one people. Shaykh Abd-al-Wahhab noted that the crisis the Iraqis are experiencing necessitates more patience."

Al-Furat [Supreme Council, Shiite]: . . . "Friday preachers in Baghdad urged the Council of Representatives to discuss the effective forces' request to prevent any political interference by the Independent Higher Election Committee."

The report adds: "The crisis on the Iraqi-Turkish border and the government's efforts to find solutions to it was present in the Friday sermons. The preachers stressed the need for not turning Iraq into arena to settle scores and a springboard for terrorist organizations to attack the neighboring states."

Shaykh al-Saghir says: "I call on the Council of Representatives, specifically the chairmanship of the Council of Representatives, to examine the request that was submitted by heads of the three major blocs in the parliament and to hold an urgent meeting for the committee, the political blocs, and the United Nations, to put things in order in a way to guarantee the independence, neutrality, and transparency of the committee."

On Bin Ladin's recent audiotape, Al-Saghir says: "We consider Usama Bin Ladin's recent statement as an official announcement on the defeat of the Al-Qa'ida in Iraq. Therefore, before this statement and message, we were not astonished to see Harith al-Dari trying to bring some life to the dead body of Al-Qa'ida when he spoke and advised the armed groups to accept Al-Qa'ida by saying they are from us and we are from them."

Commenting on the crisis on the Iraqi-Turkish border, Na'il al-Musawi, imam and preacher of the Al-Khillani Mosque, says: "Now there is the issue of stopping its (PKK) activity. The problem is that the (Turks) want us to hand over some of the wanted PKK elements. Now, there is the issue of stopping its political and military activities and closing its offices. We are not an arena of struggle. Iraq is not an arena of struggle. Iraqi Kurdistan is a part of Iraq."

The channel carries an episode of its weekly "Friday Sermons" program at 1809 GMT, as follows:

Shaykh Al-Saghir speaks about "mistakes in the Election Committee Law, which should be corrected." He adds: "Very regrettably, I was given promises to correct these mistakes, but these promises are so far not reassuring and are not encouraging. I say that the parties' tampering with the committee will destroy this committee and end any hope for its neutrality. Consequently, I say that October is about to end and we will then have a new budget, but we will not approve one penny for the committee if measures to reassure us that this committee enjoys neutrality and transparency are not taken."

He adds: "Therefore, all the political parties, taking into consideration that the problem lies in the political parties, should be seriously aware of these issues. Any tampering with the issue of the independence of the committee will disrupt the entire situation."

He says: "I call on the Council of Representatives, specifically the chairmanship of the Council of Representatives, to examine the request that was submitted by heads of the three major blocs in the parliament and to hold an urgent meeting for the committee, the political blocs, and the United Nations, to put things in order in a way to guarantee the independence, neutrality, and transparency of the committee. Without this, we will have another stand, which definitely will not be in the interest of the current committee. I know that there are sincere intentions, but I also know that there are political trends within this committee."

Shaykh Na'il al-Musawi, imam and preacher of the Al-Khillani Mosque, says: "Praise be to God, the tension that used to exist among the political blocs in the past has eased a great deal. Some sides used to wager on toppling the government and to think that it was possible to do so and if this government falls they will assume power. Now, the situation is different. The situation is now better and anyone who monitors events will see that the security situation is better than before."

He adds: "We hope that all Iraqis, all sects, all religions, and trends will work against terrorism, taking into consideration that terrorism does not discriminate between a Sunni or a Shiite, Christian or Muslim, or Sabian or Azidi. Terrorism targets all Iraqis."

[Shiite] Shaykh Abd-al-Mahdi al-Karbala'i, imam and preacher of the Karbala Friday sermon, says: "I want to discuss the unstable security situation in some of the cities of the south and the center of our beloved country, Iraq. I say that some citizens in these cities have asked us to convey their complaints and suffering through the Friday pulpit to the brother officials, whether in the executive or legislative agencies. Some members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives have also asked us to convey their views to the brothers in the executive agencies and heads of the political blocs." . . .

Shaykh Bashir al-Najafi, imam and preacher of the Al-Najaf Friday sermon, says: "We call on all the brother officials to do their duties toward these people. They should exert all efforts to do so."

Shaykh Jamal al-Dawsari, imam and preacher at an unidentified mosque in Basra, says: "We were tested in our country, Iraq. We are still being tested and the enemies of God are still wagering on fragmenting the unity of this country. The enemies of humanity are still wagering on destroying Iraq and on turning Iraq into a springboard for their terrorism, a base for their corruption, and a safe haven for evildoers and terrorists. However, Iraq's people now have enough awareness to the point where no one can deceive or fool them. This is because we knew who wants to have mercy on Iraq and who seeks to destroy Iraq, especially since the picture has become clear for those who understand and those who do not understand. There is nothing secret, but every thing is clear and obvious."

Shaykh Mahmud al-Khafaji, imam and preacher at an unidentified mosque in Babil, says: "The spread of cholera was caused by the terrorists. The cause of the spread of the disease is not scientific. From a scientific and medical viewpoint, everyone knows that this disease spreads in hot areas and not in cold areas, taking into consideration that the cold weather is not suitable for it. It spread in the Arbil Governorate and the areas of northern Iraq. This is a dirty act of terrorism. Terrorism is there, however, we cannot blame the terrorists, but we should take the employees to account. The administrative agencies should appoint the honest employee who has a national and a religious sense of responsibility toward the sons of his people to make sure that such a disease will not spread." . . .

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Basra and a Mahdi Army Resurgence?

AP reports that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is concerned about a wave of assassinations and killings in the southern port city of Basra:

' A spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, called on the Iraqi government to stop violence he said was increasingly plaguing southern Iraq and warned the inaction could further alienate Iraqis from the political process.

Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai said 200 people were killed in the past three months in the city of Basra alone, in addition to kidnappings, and he accused the government of failing to hold the attackers accountable or to stop oil smuggling operations.

Al-Karbalai's figures could not be independently verified, but his complaint was a sign of growing frustration over rampant clashes and violence in the mainly Shiite south largely blamed on rival militia factions.'

Aljazeera reported this week that the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr had routed the Basra police force and taken over the center of the city. These allegations are exaggerated, but it is possible that the Mahdi Army is growing in power in this key southern port through which most of Iraq's oil exports flow. The report said:

' The militia took over the city in clashes with the Iraqi police and reports say that the fighting was still going on. According to Al Jazeera, during the clashes, the local police chief, Muhammad Qaji, was forced to flee the city and the militants took control of the city's main power centres and deployed their men along Basra's main streets. Currently, at least four people are dead - three Iraqi soldiers and a militant - and at least 10 are injured. The men of the Mahdi army have also reportedly captured 50 police officers. The most violent clashes were in the city's central district of al-Andalus district. '

In contrast, AFP reported the police side of the story, in which there was a little trouble but they had it under control. (Though the police case that the skirmishes were minor is undermined by their apparent need to exaggerate the number of foreign residents they had arrested, by giving the figures from way back last June to present.)

Millenarian Shiites in Basra believe that the US and British forces are creating chaos in Iraq in order to distract Shiites from the Second Coming of their Promised One.

AP also reports that the Mahdi Army is reconsidering its truce with the rival Badr Corps, another major Shiite paramilitary. The Sadrists complain that the truce has yielded no tangible benefit to them.

The Mahdi Army is also considering ending its truce with the US military, having been angered by American raids on the militia's leaders.

---

At the Global Affairs group blog, Farideh Farhi on the significance of Bush's new sanctions on Iran; and Barnett Rubin on Afghanistan.

At the Napoleon's Egypt blog, Gen. Bonaparte issues orders for the organization of Egypt's provinces, appointing provincial governing councils, police chiefs and tax collectors.
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

US Sanctions on Iran

The Bush administration announced wideranging new sanctions on Iran on Thursday, which target three Iranian banks, nine companies associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and several individuals, as well as the IRGC (roughly analogous to the National Guard in the US, i.e. a populist adjunct to the formal Iranian army).

These unilateral sanctions clearly reflect frustration on the part of Bush/Cheney that they have not been able to convince the UN Security Council to apply international sanctions. (Iran has not been demonstrated to be doing anything that is illegal in international law.)

The sanctions may work but may not. The Dutch Shell corporation is thinking seriously of bucking the US and helping develop Iranian oil and gas production. China is negotiating a big deal with Iran. The world is energy hungry. Iran has energy. The US is a debtor nation, and has gone even more deeply into debt under Bush. It may just not be able to stand in the way of the development of Iranians energy.

The hypocrisy of the Bush case is obvious when it complains about Iran supporting Hizbullah and Hamas. The Kurds based in American Iraq have done much worse things to Turkey in the past month than Hizbullah did to Israel in June of 2006. Yet when Israel launched a brutal and wideranging war on all of Lebanon, destroying precious infrastructure and dumping enormous amounts of oil into the Mediterranean, damaging Beirut airport, destroying essential bridges in Christian areas, and then releasing a million cluster bomblets on civilian areas in the last 3 days of the war-- when Israel did all that, Bush and Cheney applauded and argued against a 'premature' cease-fire! Yet they are trying to convince Turkey just to put up stoically with the PKK terrorists who have killed dozens of Turkish troops recently and kidnapped 8 (again, more than the number of Iraeli troops that were kidnapped). Bush's coddling of the PKK in Iraq is not different from Iran's support for Hizbullah, except that the PKK is a more dangerous and brutal organization than Hizbullah.

Not to mention the US-backed Kurdish front against Iran itself, as Farideh Farhi explains.

Among the more fantastic charges that Bush made against Iran was that its government was actively arming and helping the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. In fact, the Taliban are extremist Sunnis who hate, and have killed large numbers of Shiites. Shiite Iran is unlikely to support them. The neo-Taliban are a threat to the Karzai government, which represents the Northern Alliance (Tajiks, Hazara and Uzbeks) along with non-Taliban Pushtuns. The Hazara are Shiite clients of Iran, and both the Tajiks and the Uzbeks are close to Tehran. The neo-Taliban are being supported by Pakistan, which resents the Northern Alliance, not by Iran, which favors it.

That Iran is trying to destabilize the Shiite government in Baghdad is absurd. The Bush administration charge that Iran is the source of explosively formed projectiles is based on very little evidence and flies in the face of common sense; in fact these bombs are probably made in Iraq itself or perhaps come from Hizbullah in Lebanon.

The charges are frankly ridiculous, and certainly are so if proportionality is taken into account. That is, if one bomb was sold by an Iranian arms dealer to the Taliban for profit, a hundred bombs were given to the Taliban by Pakistan for tactical reasons. Likewise, the Shiite militias in Iraq have killed very few American troops when the US troops have left the Shiites alone; most attacks on the US come from Sunni Arabs.

The Senate Kyl-Lieberman resolution helped legitimize this new Bush policy, which is why the senators should not have voted for it. It took us one more step down the road to war with Iran.

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Iraqi Delegation Pleads with Turkey not to Invade; Turkish Shelling of Iraqi Villages KRG: No PKK Offices in Iraq

The USG Open Source Center translates television news concerning the crisis between Turkey and Iraq over the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla actions against Turks; the PKK fighters are given safe haven inside Iraq by the Kurdistan Regional Authority, led by Massoud Barzani. In a second item, OSC translates a Kurdish t.v. report on the Turkish shelling of Iraqi villages in reprisal for PKK terror attacks in Turkey.

'Al-Sharqiyah, Al-Iraqiyah Report on Latest Political Developments in Iraq
Iraq -- OSC Summary
Thursday, October 25, 2007

[Al-Sharqiyah Television (Dubai)]: "The government of Iraqi Kurdistan Region denied Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's claims that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has offices in areas under the control of the government of the region. Jamal Abdallah, spokesman for the government of the region, said that the PKK has no offices or headquarters in the region, asserting that the government of the region does not know what the prime minister meant by closing the PKK headquarters and where they are located."

"During his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who visited Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki promised to close the offices of the PKK, which he described as a bad terrorist organization, and to prevent it from working in Iraq."

"The spokesman said: "If Al-Maliki has offices in other areas in Iraq, let him close them." He asserted that there are no PKK offices in the areas under the control of the government of the region."

-- "The Iraqi government delegation, headed by Defense Minister Abd-al-Qadir al-Ubaydi, started talks with Turkish officials in Ankara over the crisis caused by the PKK insurgents in northern Iraq. Informed Iraqi sources said that the Iraqi delegation includes National Security Minister Shirwan al-Wa'ili; Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Lubayd Abbawi; Defense Minister Spokesman Muhammad al-Askari; Karim Sinjari, the interior minister in the government of Iraqi Kurdistan Region, as representative of the region; and a number of ministers. The sources added that the Iraqi delegation seeks to prevent a Turkish military invasion of northern Iraq to pursue the Kurdish insurgents, who stage attacks against Turkish military targets coming from mountainous areas in northern Iraq."

-- "Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi asserted that there are no Iraqis in the list of wanted people he received from the Turkish Government during his visit to Ankara. In press statements, Al-Hashimi said that he received a list of names of members of Kurdistan Workers Party, who are wanted by justice for involvement in terrorist activities. He added that the list, which is not for publishing, does not contain names of Iraqis."

"In another development, Al-Hashimi said in a statement issued by his office that the Iraqi Al-Tawafuq Front still wants to participate in the government, but it will do this after correcting the current situation and after the government shows respect to the constitutional responsibilities given to the Iraqi presidency. He added that the technocratic government, which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he intends to form, should start with the prime minister, not only the Cabinet members."

[Al-Iraqiyah (Baghdad):] -- "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani chaired a regular meeting of the Presidential Council in Baghdad with the presence of Vice Presidents Adil Abd-al-Mahdi and Tariq al-Hashimi. The meeting discussed the latest political security, the current security challenges, and the nature of tasks shouldered by Iraqi political leaders."

"In press statements following the meeting, Talabani said that the council held a fruitful meeting, during which they discussed main issues in Iraq and agreed on a number of steps to find solution to issues on the political, security, and government levels. He described these agreements as good steps toward achieving national reconciliation and unifying the ranks."

-- "Dr Ali al-Dabbagh, official spokesman for the Iraqi Government, said that Iraq seeks to establish the best relations with its neighbor Turkey and that it will not allow any armed operation against its territory."

-- "Ninawa Governorate today witnessed a peaceful demonstration in protest against the Turkish threats against Iraq. The demonstrators expressed their rejection of using excessive force to resolve crises in the region."

-- "The Iraqi Government decided to revoke the immunity granted to private foreign security companies in Iraq by the Bremer-led Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004. A statement cited Iraqi Government Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh as saying that the Council of Ministers decided in a session held the day before yesterday to exclude private security companies from resolution 1, which was issued in 2004 by the Bremer-led Coalition Provisional Authority. Al-Dabbagh said that a draft law will be submitted in the regard to the Council of Ministers in the next meeting." '

=========

[Sources]

. . . Dubai Al-Sharqiyah Television in Arabic, independent, private news and entertainment channel focusing on Iraq, run by Sa'd al-Bazzaz, publisher of the Arabic-language daily Al-Zaman, carries between 1300 GMT and 2000 GMT on 25 October the following reports on latest political developments in Iraq . . .

Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic, government-sponsored television station, run by the Iraqi Media Network, carries within its 1700 GMT newscast . . .

The second report has to do with the Turkish shelling of Iraqi Kurdish villages in reprisal for PKK attacks on Turkish security forces and civilians.

'Kurdish TV Station: Turkish Fighters Bombarded 13 Villages in Northern Iraq
Announcer-read report over video
Roj TV
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Document Type: OSC Translated Text

Fighting and attacks have escalated in South Kurdistan after the ratification of a motion declaring war on South Kurdistan was ratified by the Turkish Parliament. Meanwhile, clashes and bombardments intensified in the area. It was reported that 13 villages in South Kurdistan had been bombarded by fighter planes. In addition to bombardment by fighter planes which took off from Amed (Diyarbakir), the villages also came under gunfire.

Local sources said that F-16 fighters bombarded Kale, Baloka, Zozanit, Abasarki, and Fistahirori villages in Zakho and Nizordi, Saca, Cemki, Koperi, Resaba, and Zili villages in Amediye until dawn.

Meanwhile, military operations launched by the Turkish army in North Kurdistan continue. It was reported that a new operation was launched in a rural area near Tulu village in Dersim (Tunceli) and Kutudere. A large number of troops have reportedly been dispatched to the region.

(Description of Source: Brussels Roj TV in Turkish -- Kurdish television; supportive of the PKK and the People's Congress of Kurdistan, KONGRA-GEL) '

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

2 US GIs Killed, 8 Wounded; Turkish Air Strikes against Kurds; Bombs in Baghdad Kill 8; Basra Police Chief Escapes Attempt on his Life

Turkish war planes and helicopter gunships attacked Kurdish guerrillas in eastern Anatolia on Wednesday, making at least one raid into Iraq according to wire services. An Iraqi delegation is going to Ankara to try to resolve the crisis, which may eventuate in a Turkish incursion into Iraqi territory.

A bombing of the Shiite Diyala Bridge district killed 8 persons and wounded 20 in the Iraqi capital.

A day after Basra security forces clashed with the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr, gunmen attempted but failed to assassinate the city's police chief. The police chief is from the Islamic Virtue Party (Fadhila) which is nominally in charge of the province. The party is opposed by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and by Sadrists, among others.

Muqtada al-Sadr insists that his Mahdi Army paramilitary continue the 6-month freeze on its activities.

It should be remembered that the JAM laid low in fall of 2004, as well, but eventually reemerged to engage in violence. It is a mass movement; it cannot be summarily decommissioned, and is likely to show back up eventually.

An Iraqi commission found Blackwater security guards guilty of killing 17 Iraqis in cold blood and the Iraqi government is determined to see the company expelled from the country and wants substantial reparations paid to the families of the victims.


Fred Kaplan on how the new air strike policy of dealing with Iraqi guerrillas is bad counter-insurgency and guaranteed to alienate the Iraqi population further from the US. See also my comments of yesterday.

John Judis on the way Bush's Iraq War is of a piece with the history of imperialism.

Reuters reports civil war violence in Iraq for Wednesday. Major incidents (in addition to the bombing in Baghdad mentioned above):

' BAIJI - Insurgents killed a U.S. soldier and wounded five others near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji, 180 km (112 miles), the U.S. military said. . .

TIKRIT - A U.S. soldier was killed and three others wounded when a mine exploded while they were conducting security operations in Salahuddin province, the U.S. military said. . .

BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces found six bodies across Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. . .

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a police commando patrol, wounding three people, including two policemen, in the Qadissiya district of southwestern Baghdad, police said. . .

BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed five gunmen and arrested 48 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - Clashes erupted between insurgents and police in the capital Baghdad, leaving two policemen and two insurgents dead and one insurgent wounded on Tuesday, police said.

HIB HIB - Three mortar rounds killed three people and wounded 24 others when they landed on the village of Hib Hib, 8 km (5 miles) northwest of Baquba, police said. . .

DIWANIYA - Iraqi police arrested Sulaiman al-Edami, a member of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political movement, when they raided his house in a town near Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Four bodies, including a woman and a girl, were found shot in separate attacks on Tuesday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. '

McClatcy has more. A warm congratulations to the six Iraqi women journalists of McClatchy's Baghdad bureau on their 'Courage in Journalism' award. Well deserved!
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Cole on Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now", Oct. 23

My appearance on Amy Goodman's 'Democracy Now' is now available online. I am also giving the YouTube links below, which are clickable. But do help support DN at their web site.

I discuss developments in Iraq and Iraq, and in no. 3 below discuss the resonances of Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt to contemporary affairs.

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3.


For "cont'd" postings, click here.

US Troop Deaths up over 2006 Air Strikes Rise Four Times Iraqi Cities under Curfew

At Salon.com, my column on the collapse of Bush's Middle East police, with the troubles on the Turkish/Iraq border and the huge bomb that greeted Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan.

Edward Luce of FT argues that Iraq has faded as a campaign issue in the 08 presidential election. He attributes this lower profile for the issue to a drop in US military deaths in Iraq and to the rise of Iran as an issue instead.

I may have been the first to point to the new salience of Iran to the race, in my Salon column last week, so I do not disagree with that assertion.

But I think it is way too early to write Iraq off as an issue. In fact, given the current crisis at the northern border with Turkey, it is a little bit bizarre to suggest that things have all calmed down, either over there or domestically.

First of all, the assertion that US troop deaths have fallen is extremely misleading. In fact, It is only late October and already more US troops were killed in Iraq in 2007 than in all of 2006. Indeed, 2007 will almost certainly hold the record for the year of the most US military deaths since the war began.

According to the Iraq Casualties Site, these are the yearly numbers of death of US military personnel in Iraq:

Year       US Deaths
2003       486
2004       849
2005       846
2006       822
2007       832

It is true that October is on track to be the least deadly for US troops since March of 2006.

It is, however, not clear why exactly US troop deaths have fallen so much in October. It is possible that they are being given few military missions and spending more time on base.

Indeed, the sort of ground missions that might involve hand to hand fighting and high US casualties may have been replaced by air strikes against suspected insurgent targets. US air strikes on Iraq are up by a factor of four in 2007 over 2006, according to Newsay. The US launched 1,140 bombing missions in 2007 through the end of September, as opposed to 229 in all of 2006. The US has flown as many as 70 such air missions a day this October, more than at any time since the November, 2004, assault on the Sunni Arab city of Fallujah.

Obviously, for an Occupation military to bomb a densely-populated city that it already largely controls is a violation of human rights law. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq has just condemned the US for using this tactic, which inevitably kills children, women and other non-combatants. You can't drop a bomb on an urban apartment building without killing lots of people, not only inside the building but also all around it. The bomb turns bits of the building into deadly projectiles. I am told that the US Air Force takes no responsibility for these aerial strikes when they are called in by army troops on the ground, and makes no assessment as to whether proportional force was deployed or excessive civilian casualties were incurred. So you have a convoy of soldiers in humvees driving through deeply hostile Sadr City, and someone starts sniping at them from a building. Obviously, running into the building is dangerous; it could be booby-trapped, or snipers could have set up there. I wouldn't want to do it. So the tendency would obviously be to take out the snipers by taking out the building they are using. That makes military sense. It doesn't make sense in the international law of occupations.

The US military spokesmen are always going on about precision strikes and reducing civilian casualties. I know they are sincere in thinking they can do that, but they just aren't dealing with a simple reality. They are bombing apartment buildings in densely populated cities!

The US military, then, may be artificially keeping US military deaths down this fall by resorting to many more aerial bombings. These bombings have repeatedly drawn forth powerful condemnations from the elected Iraqi political authorities and are unlikely to be viable much longer.

Evidence that US troops are being extremely careful also comes from the new policy on checkpoints. All vehicles are going to be stopped from now on except those of a high-ranking Iraqi politician such as the prime minister. One reader observed to me in an email of this story, that apparently the US in Iraq has fallen on such hard times that it can't trust anyone below the rank of prime minister.

The use of curfews and bans on vehicle traffic also seems to have expanded. The large northern city of Mosul (pop. 1.5 million) was put under curfew after bombings in late September. Several neighborhoods of Diwaniya are under curfew after clashes between the Mahdi Army and local police.

The entire city of Falluja appears to continue to labor under a ban on the operation of private vehicles (i.e. you cannot drive your car there). This policy has produced 80% unemployment. Basically keeping an entire city under lockdown has allowed the drawdown of US Marines from the city, with only 250 left. But it is crazy to think that this policy can be kept in place forever, and when the cars start circulating again, won't there be trouble?

That US reporters put such a positive spin on stories like the vast increase in aerial bombardment or the lockdown in Falluja just boggles my mind. Have they all drunk the Kool-Aid?

Reuters reports civil war violence for Tuesday. Major incidents:

' SAMARRA - The U.S. military said six Iraqi civilians were among 11 people killed in an air strike by an attack helicopter near Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, after five men were seen planting a roadside bomb. Iraqi police said 16 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 14 wounded.

NEAR BAQUBA - A roadside bomb exploded near a minibus, killing three people, including one woman, and wounding 10, including five women, on the main road near the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR FALLUJA - Police found 15 men shot, bound and blindfolded, in a deserted building on Monday in a town near Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police Lieutenant Colonel Jubair al-Dulaimi said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded two people in the eastern Zayouna district of Baghdad, police said. .

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed one insurgent and detained 10 suspected insurgents during military operations on Oct. 20-22 in the areas of Baghdad, Mosul, Thar Thar and Rabiae, the U.S. military said. . .

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed one insurgent and wounded five in an air strike on Monday in northern Baghdad on men planting a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said.'

For "cont'd" postings, click here.

US Pressures Turkey not to Attack Mahdi Army attacks Police in Karbala Rubin on Cheney's Roll-out of Iran War

The Bush administration made a diplomatic 'full court press' with Turkish leaders to dissuade them from attacking the Kurdish Workers Party [PKK] guerrillas hiding out in Iraq after the killing of 17 Turkish troops and the capture of 8 others by the PKK on Sunday. Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Tayyip Erdogan is alleged to have told US Secretary of State Condi Rice that the only way for the US to forestall a Turkish invasion is for its military to arrest the PKK leaders in Iraq themselves and to turn them over to Ankara.

Under all this American pressure, The PKK is said to be offering a conditional ceasefire with Ankara. The 'conditional' part doesn't seem very promising to me.

Although the US says it cannot control the PKK because it has few troops in the north of Iraq, this excuse neglects another reason that the US is essentially coddling a terrorist group that is killing fellow NATO troops. The fact is that the PKK is being coddled by Massoud Barzani and his Peshmerga, who could stop them hitting Turkey if they so desired. The other fact is that the US only has one really reliable ally in Iraq, which is the Kurds, and their paramilitary or the Peshmerga is the only element in the new Iraqi army that fights with any spunk or initiative. The US cannot afford to alienate Barzani or the Peshmerga; hence it is forced to try to wheedle Turkey into inaction in the face of a rather dramatic set of provocations.

South of Baghdad in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, fierce clashes broke out between Mahdi Army fighters and Iraqi police (most of them from the rival Badr Corps paramilitary of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq). The Mahdi Army guerrillas ambushed the police, killing 6 of them. The fighting came on the heels of a US military strike on a building being used by guerrillas in Sadr City (which is politically largely Sadrist) that killed 49. The Iraqi government maintains that many of the dead were civilians, including women and children. The US apparently arrested a prominent Karbala-based Mahdi Army leader, named Abdul Hadi al-Muhammadawi, then in Sadr City, during its operation.

Reuters reports civil war violence for Monday. Major incidents:

'
MOSUL - Five bodies, including one of a female lawyer, were found in various parts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police said they found five bodies dumped across Baghdad on Monday.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed one soldier and wounded two others in the Jamiea district of western Baghdad, police said. . .

BAGHDAD - Police found six bodies, victims of violence, across Baghdad on Sunday, police said. . .

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed two people and wounded 13 when it exploded in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Two roadside bombs killed two people and wounded eight others, including three policemen, when they exploded in quick succession in the southern Baghdad outskirt of Zaafaraniya, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed Ahmed al-Mashhadani, an advisor of senior Sunni politician Adnan al-Dulaimi, on Thursday, Dulaimi's party said. . .

KUT - Gunmen killed a former member of the ousted Baath Party in a drive-by shooting in the city of Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

IFECH - Abbas al-Ghurabi, a local Sadr official in the town of Ifech near the southern city of Diwaniya, was found critically wounded hours after local police had arrested him, officials in Sadr's office said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded four, including one policeman, in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. . .

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen killed an automotive engineer in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - A roadside bomb killed two men on Sunday evening in the town of Iskandariya, police said. '

Barnett Rubin follows Cheney's roll-out of his campaign for war on Iran, a roll-out of which his sources warned us last month. He joins Fareed Zakariya in asking what planet we are on if we think Iran a threat to the international order.

Chalmers Johnson at Tomdispatch.com on intellectual fallacies of the 'war on terror.'
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

Morning News on Napoleon's Egypt

From the Morning News Book section:

'Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East by Juan Cole

Book Digest: As the bibliography of the disaster known as the Bush administration grows, a useful early distinction will be chronicle versus analysis and context. Cole, a thoughtful and imaginative scholar, offers the latter with his account of an earlier, disastrous attempt to interfere in the Arab world. As the New York Times’s Stephen Kinzer points out: “Cole’s book reminds us that today’s leaders are not the first to find the Islamic world far more complex than they imagined. It not only offers delicious stories about the private lives of invaders, but also teaches urgent lessons for the modern age.” '

I liked the "thoughtful and imaginative" part. :-)

Thanks to The Morning News.

Napoleon's Egypt at Amazon.com.
For "cont'd" postings, click here.

US Air Strike kills 49 in Sadr City PKK Kills 17 Turkish Soldiers Turkey Shells Iraq

Ferit Demir reports (via The Scotsman):

' Kurdish rebels [of the PKK/ Kurdish Workers Party] killed at least 17 Turkish soldiers, wounded 16 others and took several hostage in an ambush near the Iraqi border yesterday . . .

Turkey's military general staff said 32 rebels were killed in continuing clashes. Its artillery also shelled areas inside Iraq yesterday morning but no casualties were reported. In response to the ambush, [Turkish PM Tayyip] Erdogan said: "We are very angry. ... Our parliament has granted us the authority to act and within this framework we will do whatever has to be done. The Turkish defence minister, Vecdi Gonul, speaking in Kiev after talks with the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said that 17 soldiers were killed, 16 injured and ten others were still missing. The PKK said it had taken a number of soldiers hostage. Asked if there would be a military response to those attacks, Mr Gonul said: "Not urgently. They are planning a cross-border [incursion]." "We'd like to do these things with the Americans." Abdul Rahman Jaderji, a senior PKK official said the rebels had killed 40 soldiers. The pro-PKK Firat news agency, which is based in western Europe, said eight soldiers had also been taken hostage. '

So the US military went into Sadr City or the Shiite slums of East Baghdad in search of the leader of a "special group" or cell of the Mahdi Army whom they suspected of being part of a kidnapping -for- ransom ring. Then they took hostile fire from, well, hostile Shiite slum militiamen. The troops called in an air strike on the building from which the fire came. You can't, obviously, avoid killing civilians if you bomb a heavily populated slum from the air. So the real question is how many civilians they killed this way. The Iraqi government maintains that the victims were mostly children and innocent non-combatants, and PM Nuri al-Maliki has ordered an investigation-- to mollify the very angry Iraqi Shiites who saw the bombing as a war crime.

The US military did not catch the cell leader they were originally after.

The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases how the US air strike on East Baghdad was reported on the satellite news channels:

' Al-Jazirah, Al-Arabiyah Highlight Civilian Deaths in US Operation in Baghdad
Iraq -- OSC Summary
Sunday, October 21, 2007

Both [Aljazeera and Alarabiya] channels reported the US version of events, which states that US forces entered the area in pursuit of Al-Mahdi Army elements suspected of masterminding the abduction and murder of US soldiers, but were forced to open fire and call in air support when a bomb targeted them, ultimately killing 49 gunmen and no civilians. The channels, however, were more interested in the Iraqi version, which speaks of multiple civilian casualties.

Injured Iraqis (Al-Jazirah)

Al-Jazirah was the first to carry images of the aftermath of the operation in a video report it aired during its 1200 GMT newscasts. The report conveyed both the US and Iraqi accounts of the incident, but noted, against the backdrop of images of wounded citizens being treated in a hospital, that "regardless of what triggered the clashes, they ended in the killing and wounding of a total of 60 people. The US Army says it has no evidence that any of these people were civilians, and that coalition forces are doing their best to protect innocent civilians." The report was repeated in later newscasts.

The report was followed by an interview with Iraqi Journalist Falah al-Sharqi, who said that Apache gunships attacked residential neighborhoods in Al-Sadr City "contrary to their claims of confrontations between the Al-Mahdi Army and US forces," and insisted that the entire operation targeted only civilians. Al-Jazirah's anchorwoman commented: "Indeed, these pictures (of wounded civilians) support what you are saying, contrary to what the US Army said about there not being any civilian victims in this operation."

Mourning Iraqis (Al-Arabiyah)

Al-Arabiyah reported civilian casualties as early as 0800 GMT, and carried its first video report in its 1300 GMT newscasts. In it, the channel showed an Iraqi man saying: "We were asleep when US forces came here with their planes and attacked us. We were sleeping. We have no weapons or any bad people here." The report showed Iraqis examining damage to their homes and a man mourning his children and said: "The US forces said that the raid led to the death of a group of gunmen, but it did not mention the death of civilians and children." It also notes that officials in the Al-Sadr trend deemed the operation "barbaric." The report was repeated in later newscasts.

Al-Jazirah carried a second report in its 1800 GMT newscast. The report was an expansion on the first one and contained footage of two dead infants, and it noted that the US Army says it has no evidence of civilian casualties and is keen on protecting them, "words that the father of one of the two dead children would contest as he gazes upon the beds and pictures of his children" -- the video shows a tearful man holding a picture of his children.
The footage used by both channels came from the same source and was virtually identical.

Al-Jazirah dedicated its "Behind the News" talk show to discussing tensions between the United States and the Al-Sadr trend. Iraqi analyst Dr Liqa Makki, a frequent guest on the channel, opens with the following remark: "As is known, Al-Sadr City is very crowded, and any bomb falling from the sky is destined to kill many, if not all, of the civilians in its blast area. What the Americans said is yet to be corroborated, but they always do this -- they bomb civilian areas under the pretext of gunmen presence there."

At 2039 GMT, Al-Jazirah interviewed Shaykh Salah al-Ubaydi, head of the media branch of the Martyr Al-Sadr Office, who maintained that there were no clashes with the Al-Mahdi Army, that US helicopters bombed residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of Al-Sadr City, and that most of the casualties were civilian.'

McClatchy adds:

'Six dead bodies were found in Baghdad. 4 in Ameriya, 1 in Sadr, 1 in Sleikh.

Karbala

- Two mortar shells slammed into holy city of Karbala on Saturday, targeting a police center in the Saif Saad area and another building near a shrine yesterday night. One man was killed and two others were injured. Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew in fear of more attacks.

Mosul

- Gunmen killed Yousef Ibraheem, a coach of a local team, eastern Mosul today. . .

At the Global Affairs blog, Barnett Rubin looks at the way Afghan President Hamid Karzai finds himself caught between Iran and the US, and he tells us that the Iranians have explained exactly how they will reply to a US attack-- with rocket attacks of their own on US bases. I.e. they will behave as Hizbullah did during the Israel war on Lebanon in summer of of 2006.

At the Napoleon's Egypt Blog, a letter from the French admiral on the journey to Egypt and the exposed position of the French fleet.
For "cont'd" postings, click here.