60 Killed in Diyala Bombing;
NDU Study: Iraq War Debacle;
Netanyahu: 9/11 benefitted Israel
A suicide bombing at a funeral for pro-American militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province killed at least 60 persons on Thursday and wounded a similar number. This attack follows a previous bombing in the provincial capital of Baquba that had killed 60. The US-backed 'Awakening Councils' are being fought in Diyala by Sunni guerrillas, some of them calling themselves 'the Islamic State of Iraq.' In Diyala, unlike al-Anbar, one also sees reports that older, less fundamentalist guerrilla groups such as the 1920 Revolution Brigades, the armed wing of the Association of Muslim Scholars, continue to attack US troops. Diyala is a mixed province, and poor Sunni Arab relations with Shiites and Kurds make the Awakening Councils more difficult to implement, especially since the Shiites control many key institutions.
A National Defense University study by a former Pentagon official finds that the Iraq War is a debacle, the outcome of which is in doubt. McClatchy reports of the paper:
' The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs, with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in Iraq have diverted "manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers" from "all other efforts in the war on terror" and severely strained the U.S. armed forces.
"Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there (in Iraq) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East," the report continued. '
The US will free about half of its 23,000 Iraqi prisoners, 2/3s of whom are Sunni Arabs. (By the way, this statistic proves that the US has been fighting ordinary Iraqis in Iraq, not "al-Qaeda." It typically has less than 150 foreign fighters in custody.) This prisoner release was a demand of the Iraqi Accord Front, the Sunni Arab political coalition that withdrew from the al-Maliki government last summer. There are now reports that the IAF will rejoin the al-Maliki government, with six cabinet posts given to its members.
Does this mean that the US has been holding some 12,000 Iraqis who actually aren't dangerous?
Secretary of State Condi Rice wants the Arab states to shield Iraq from Iran's "nefarious influence." Rice seems unaware that she has installed in Baghdad parties like the Islamic Mission Party (al-Da'wa) and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) that are very close to Tehran, and that Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia advised her not invade Iraq because this would happen. And Sunnis, Salafis and Wahhabis would dissuade Iraq's Shiite majority from good relations with their Iranian Shiite neighbors . . . how? Whenever I hear Bush administration officials say something about the Middle East, it is as though I am listening to bad fiction read with a drunken slur. Opinion polling does not find that the Arab publics are afraid of or worried about Iran in any numbers, and in fact Israel's attack on largely defenseless little Lebanon in 2006 made Iran and Hizbullah more popular in the region.
Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail do interviews with Fallujans who maintain that the city is still crippled and was largely destroyed by the US.
Far rightwing Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud party says that 9/11 was good for Israel. Even if it were true, couldn't Netanyahu have the decency not to say it? Netanyahu also made crazy allegations against Iran of preparing for global domination or something. Hmmm. I should have thought people who are the objects of bizarre conspiracy theories themselves would be sensitive about spreading them around about other people. Iran isn't even very powerful in its own neighborhood and has not aggressively invaded another country in its modern history. It isn't colonizing anyone else's land and hasn't dropped bombs on its neighbors. It doesn't have an atomic bomb and there is no evidence it is seeking one. In all these ways, the contrasts favor Iran over the Israeli Right.
Robin Wright at WaPo writes that "Suicide bombers conducted 658 attacks around the world last year, including 542 in US-occupied Afghanistan and Iraq . . ." 542 out of 658 is about 83%, lending further testimony to Chicago Political Scientist Robert Pape's theory that suicide bombings tend to occur in countries under foreign military occupation by an otherwise democratic government. (That is, they are staged for the public in the occupying country to some extent; people tend not to bother to blow themselves up when occupied by a dictatorship.)
I am looking forward to reading Wright's new book, "Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East"
McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Thursday:
' Baghdad
A roadside bomb exploded in the industrial street 52, Karrada, downtown Baghdad at 10 am Thursday, injuring 2 civilians.
Gunmen riding a motorbike opened random fire upon the stores in al-Rubaei Street, a shopping centre in east Baghdad at 10.30 am today, injuring 3 civilians.
A roadside bomb targeted a US Military convoy in Abu Disheer, south Baghdad at 11 am Thursday. No comment from the US Military was available at the time of publication.
A roadside bomb targeted a US Military convoy in Bayaa, southwest Baghdad at noon Thursday. No comment from the US Military was available at the time of publication.
A Katyusha rocket fell behind the Mansour Milia Hotel on the river bank in central Baghdad at 4.45 pm today. One civilian was injured.
A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near the new Diala Bridge in Zafaraniyah, southeast Baghdad at 3 pm Thursday, killing 1 policeman and 1 civilian. The explosion also injured 6 policemen and 4 civilians.
1 Katyusha rocket fell inside the Green Zone at 4 pm today. No casualties were reported.
Doura Local Council Member, Saad al-Nuaimi was assassinated by gunmen at 5 pm today. He was driving his car near the bridge intersection and his son, Saifuddin was with him. Al-Nuaimi was killed outright, but his son, although severely injured, survived.
A roadside bomb targeted a Sahwa checkpoint, the US sponsored militia in Akhtal Street, Adhamiyah, north Baghdad at 5.30 pm Thursday. The explosion killed 5 Sahwa members, 1 civilian and injured 2 children.
4 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad today by Iraqi police. 2 in Shaab, 1 in al-Amin and 1 in Doura.
Diyala
A suicide bomber detonated in the funeral of a tribal sheikh who was a leading member in the local Sahwa Council, a US sponsored militia, in al-Hiwaysat village, al-Athaem area, Thursday. The explosion killed 60 civilians, injured tens.
4 MNFI servicemen and 1 Iraqi Army officer were wounded during a raid conducted by the joint force in Jalowlaa district near the town of Khanaqin, northeast Diyala, said Iraqi Police. A gunman targeted them with a hand grenade from one of the houses in the area being searched, said Iraqi police. No comment from the US Military was available at the time of publication.
Basra
Gunmen driving a modern car opened fire targeting 2 policemen in Jazair neighbourhood, near al-Abayachi Mosque in Basra city centre killing both instantly.
A policeman from the National Police was targeted by gunmen while he was on guard duty on top of a high building in al-Kornish area in the centre of Basra city. He escaped with superficial wounds.'
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 4/18/2008 12:30:00 AM
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20 Comments:
Hello Juan,
I have made a report on Falluja last december. I stood there 2 weeks and it was very interesting. People live in a jail. It's available in my weblog (in french....)
http://feuratalani.blogspot.com
By the way, I really appreciate your website, very good and new informations.
Rice knows how Iran-friendly the Iraqi puppet leadership are.
Asking the Arab countries to fend off Iran is a feeble attempt to get an Iran-Arab confrontation. They tried that before with the "moderate" Arab + Israel pact idea which only encouraged the Arabs to get more friendly with Iran!
Rice is similar to Maliki at times. She shows great cowardice when dealing with her colleagues, but stick a microphone in front of either of them and the grand-standing and hot air make the room stink.
"We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq."
Netanyahu said that right after the attack to a reporter for the NYTimes, who kiciked him under the table and got him to backpedal and commiserate with the American victims of the attack.
Now the Neocons are so firmly in charge of US foreign policy and the deployment of American armed forces around the world, and the Israelis are so confident of literally getting away with murder in Gaza and the West Bank, that they wouldn't pay any attention to the NYTimes, if the NYTimes itself felt there was any more need to kick them under the table.
Clinton/McCain/Obama. All wholly owned subsidiaries of the AIPAC Inc. Well, maybe not McCain.
Vote Gravel/McKinney/Nader. There is no hope for us as long as the Duopoly is in charge.
I suppose that many Israelis may feel that 9/11 helped Americans experience some of the terror which they have lived under. What Netanyahu does seem to have a truly demented perspective on the world, and Likud could ultimately hasten the decline of Israel has an independent nation for Jews in the Middle East.
The National Defense University study recognises that the main beneficiary of the US's failing adventures in Iraq, is Iran. Without firing a shot themselves they have gained a huge advantage in the Middle East's chaos.
But I feel that Gaza is the ticking bomb that will cause the most damage to US interests, namely Israel.
Gaza is becoming the modern day version of the Warsaw Ghetto, the final suicidal attack from it's hopelessly beseighed inhabitants, against the Israeli Army must be only days away.
When that happens, it may easily spread to Lebanon, then Syria.
Who will gain most from this happening...? Iran!
The line about suicide bombings and dictatorships is interesting. It is confirmed by something I noticed once.
When the US occupied the Green Zone, it had to build blast walls. This had been one of Saddam's palaces in the heart of Baghdad. It is interesting to note that it hadn't needed blast walls before the Americans took it over.
see video: Sounding the Alarm: Stop the War President Now "I am pleased that we have taken time from our schedules to come to the floor tonight to sound the alarm. The saber rattling is going on by this administration. The remarks that we're hearing day in and day out are more accusatory toward Iran. We are made to believe that we are somehow being placed at a great threat by Iran."
"We know where this is going. We know what this means." "We all know that U.S. strikes against Iran would be disastrous." - Rep. Maxine Waters April 15, 2008
Professor Cole, you overstate your position regarding Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force did bomb Iraq during the Imposed War (1980-88), and there were ballistic missile strikes on Iraq from Iran. In fact, the Osirak reactor in Iraq was bombed by the IRIAF eight months before the Israeli Air Force repeated the feat in 1981. However, the Iranian strikes on Iraq were retaliatory for the invasion of Iran by Sadaam Hussein in 1980.
Gareth Porter over at Asia Times has a very different story to tell about Maliki's foray to Basra: "Maliki was deliberately upsetting a Petraeus plan to put US and British forces into Basra for a months-long operation to eliminate the Mahdi Army from the city."
If this story is true, and he does cite some evidence and there is some logic to the tale, then the scene is far more complex than it was to begin with. Dr. Cole, if you can indepenently verify this story, then both you and Porter have a very large scoop.
Netanyahu naturally confuses benefits for his re-election campaign with benefits to Israel's.
In the Reuters article linked from your post, Rice says that Iraq's Sunni neighbors need to "confirm and work for Iraq's Arab identity." Isn't that what Saddam was doing -- in his case, going to atrocious lengths such as forcibly displacing non-Arabs from Kirkuk, for instance?
I am also reminded of Jon Stewart's comment on the Daily Show the other day that all the horrible things the pro-war camp says will happen if we withdraw -- emboldened Iran, escalation of ethno-sectarian conflicts -- are things that began with our invasion.
And on Diane Rehm's show on NPR the other day, a man called in to ask her guests, which included pro-war neocon Fred Kagan, what they expected to happen when Iran's arch enemy, who once was supported by the U.S. in his war with Iran, was removed. Kagan's response was the usual dodge: we can't dwell on the mistakes of the past.
Now, I know I don't know much, but it seems to me that folks who want to bring the will of the U.S. to bear on the Middle East might wish they still had their old ally Saddam in power. They should have appreciated what they had!
Thanks, as always, for your great blog Mr. Cole.
It was my impression that Jalowlaa, near the town of Khanaqin, was a majority-Kurd area.
Is this a case of Peshmerga attacking US forces ?
If so, isn't that big news ?
What would explain that ?
avid student
I wonder if Netanyahu met with Cheney during Cheney's recent trip. Anyone know?
Hmm seems like Netanyahu knew the same thing as the Israelis who were arrested on the Brooklyn bridge for jumping and celebrating the attacks on 9/11.
Perpetual warfare on muslims, and not a single Israeli needs to die for it to happen... Well so they thought till the 800 pound Gorrilla on the northern border tapped them on the shoulder for a 34 day scrap in the playground.
It's clear that 9/11 was useful to the Israeli Right. To generalize that benefit as "good for Israel" is a weird form of stupidity, because almost nothing that has been good for the Israeli Right has been good for Israel in the long term.
The words of Iraqi citizen Fatima Jameel [brought to us today thanks to Siun at FDL http://firedoglake.com/2008/04/18/adding-more-skin-to-the-game/], who has escaped for a few days from the American-imposed horror of daily life in al-Shula:
"I can only talk about al-Shula where I live and that was two days ago before I left Irak for this trip. No electricity, no water, very little food getting through. The Badr brigade death squads are back."
and
"I am Sunni, as is my husband. We live in a 'Shia' area and the two orphanages we run get their money equally from the Sadrists and a Sunni charitable foundation. Both of us are Sadrists. That is not an uncommon situation in Irak. You are very conveniently forgetting that the JAM [al-Sadr's Mahdi Army] has excellent relations with some of the more active sections of the so-called 'Sunni' resistance and that JAM fighters fought alongside the so-called 'Sunni' resistance in Fallujah, Hit, Ramadi ….
As to the Kurds - they are I['m] told by our Kurdish members increasingly unhappy with the KRG and the Peshmerga."
and
"The enemy is the government and people of the United States of America who are waging war against my people. I see no difference - NONE between the imperialist party called the republicans and the imperialist party called the democrats.
NONE."
and
"[U.S.-backed Armed Forces] are trying to split [Sadr City] into sectors [via a new concrete wall Americans are funding] so that they can control it."
And in response to a question from Jim White - who quoted Gareth Porter citing the March poll indicating that 69% of Iraqi respondents in the south believe security would improve if foreign troops were withdrawn - asking if Fatima thinks "the rest of Iraq feels the same way [as those polled]?" she replied:
"Yes."
[Translated by those with whom she is staying in Denmark and whose internet connection she is using: "Fatima is writing her replies in Arabic; Khaled and I then translate them."]
Juan
News today that the US is building walls around parts of Sadr city. No doubt the latest trend in Arab control borrowed from Israel.
I don't know which is the more despicable, the builders or the so-called Arab leaders who sit idly by while their people are walled into old European style ghettos.
Is this John McCain's tausend jahre Reich?
How much longer will the Arab states stand for this?
My militia is more untouchable than yours
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JD18Ak02.html
on a side note, anybody know how reporters / journalists such as Pepe Escobar and Patrick Cockburn are able to slip into and out of Iraq without being kidnapped / detained by Occupation forces / killed ?
are they actually reporting from Iraq ? Cockburn has stated that he has never set foot in the Grren Zone and never will as the stories that he wants to report are not there. This Escobar fellow seems to be everywhere. How do they do it ?
Anon at 3:10 AM asked:
anybody know how reporters / journalists such as Pepe Escobar and Patrick Cockburn are able to slip into and out of Iraq without being kidnapped / detained by Occupation forces / killed ?
Answer: They cheat. This is not to take anything away from their courage and dedication, but they do not wander around or insist on unlimited access.
For example, Patrick Cockburn has visited dangerous Mosul several times recently, but it is not how one would expect. He goes to Kurdistan first, and gets the Kurdish militias (Pesh Merga) to take him to Mosul, in an unmarked car under disguise, where he visits the deputy governor, who is a Pesh Merga leader himself and a strong US ally, in his office. He chats to this one person, then leaves the same way he came.
It is not the GreenZone, but close.
I am an Israeli and know very well that it was Zionist "Left" which started colonial enterprise here. Most of Israel agressive wars were waged by Labor government.
Regarding war, occupation and anti-Palestinian racism there is NO difference between Netaniahu and Peres.
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