Informed Comment

Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Monday, March 31, 2008

Iran Brokers Call for Ceasefire;
Bush reduced to Irrelevancy in Iraq;
Fighting Continues

McClatchy provides a lot of important detail about Sunday's surprising developments regarding the fight between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army. A parliamentary delegation from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's own coalition (mainly now the Da`wa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) defied him by going off to the holy seminary city of Qom in Iran and negotiating directly with Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr and with the leader of the Quds Brigades of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Qasim Sulaymani.

As a result of those parleys, Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to stand down, though I read his statement as permitting continued armed self-defense, as at Basra where the Iraqi Army is attacking them and the US is bombing them. Significantly, he calls on the Mahdi Army to stop attacking the HQs of rival political parties. That language suggests that the parties are suffering from such attacks and are worried that party infrasture is being degraded ahead of the October 1 provincial elections. The southern parties have essentially defied al-Maliki and Bush to make a separate peace.

The entire episode underlines how powerful Iran has become in Iraq. The Iranian government had called on Saturday for the fighting to stop. And by Sunday evening it had negotiated at least a similar call from Sadr (whether the fighting actually stops remains to be seen and depends on local commanders and on whether al-Maliki meets Sadr's conditions).

Al-Sadr's statement is translated here. The main points:


' We have decided the following:

1. Cancel the armed manifestation in Basra and all over the governorates.

2. Stopping the illegal and random raids and arrests.

3. Demanding the government to apply the General Amnesty law and release all the prisoners that was not proved to be guilty and especially the prisoners of Sadr movement.

4. We announce our innocence from any one who caries the weapon and target the government and services apparatuses and establishments and parties offices.

5. Cooperating with the government apparatuses in achieving security and condemn criminals according to the legal procedures.

6. We assure that the Sadr movement doesn't have any heavy weapons.

7. Working on returning the displaced people that moved due to security events to their original places.

8. We are asking the government to take care of the Human rights on all of its procedures.

9. Working on achieving the constructional and services projects all over the governorates.

[Signed and stamped Muqtada Sadr 22/Rabi Awal/1429]'


The NYT notes the irony here that the al-Maliki government is dependent on Muqtada al-Sadr to pull its fat from the fire:
'Many Iraqi politicians say that Mr. Maliki’s political capital has been severely depleted by the campaign and that he is now in the curious position of having to turn to Mr. Sadr, a longtime rival and now his opponent in battle, for a solution to the crisis.'


McClatchy reports civil war violence on Sunday, suggesting that any cease fire has not yet taken hold:

' Baghdad

- Rockets hit the Green Zone (IZ) in Baghdad in different times in the morning and afternoon. No casualties reported.

- Around 5 pm, gunmen attacked New Baghdad police station (east Baghdad) .Three policemen were injured.

- Around 5 pm, mortars hit Dora police station .No casualties recorded.

- Around 5 pm, clashes took place in Ur between gunmen and Iraqi police . Six people were injured including two policemen.

- At 5:10 pm, two mortars hit Karrada neighborhood , one hit Al-Hussein intersection near Al-Hussein two floor bridge killing 3 and injuring 8 others while the second shell hit a barber shop few meters of the same intersection killing 3 and injuring 13 others.

- Police found five dead bodies in . . . neighborhoods in Baghdad . . .

Basra

- Around 7:30 pm, three people were killed due to a fighter plane bombing at Abu Sukheir neighborhood (north Basra).

Diyala

- Around 9:30 am, American planes bombed Jizan neighborhood of Wajihiyah (20 east Baquba).One civilian was killed and another was injured.

- In the morning, one civilian was killed during the clashes between the Iraqi army and gunmen at Kanaan (10 km south east Baquba)

- Around 10 am, a roadside bomb targeted the convoy of Ibrahim Hassan, the head of Diyala governorate council , while it was on its way at Saadiya (90 km east Baquba) between Baquba and Khanaqeen .Two of his guards were killed in that incident.

Karbala

- Around 9.30 pm of Saturday night, a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol at Al-Haidriyah (Khan Al-Nus) in midway between Najaf and Karbala. One officer was killed with two other soldiers.

Salahuddin

- In the morning, gunmen attacked a police check point at Bishkan village (10 km east of Dhulwiyah near Balad) .Six policemen were killed including an officer with their vehicle damaged.

- Today, an American force arrested two members of Al-Alam supporting council near AlLaqlaq village (35 km north of Tikrit) one of them is an officer .

Mosul

- In the morning, clashes took place between gunmen and police at Sahachi (west Mosul).Colonel Qasim Ziad, the commander of the first police battalion in Mosul was killed with one of his guards.

Kirkuk

- In the morning, a roadside bomb targeted a rescue police patrol at Tiseen street in Kirkuk city. Three people were injured in that incident including two women. '

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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Mahdi Army Unsubdued;
Iran asks for End to Fighting


Iraqi Police surrendering to the Mahdi Army in Baghdad. Courtesy AFP via al-Hayat.

Ned Parker of the LAT does a good job in clarifying the rivalry between the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (with its Badr Corps paramilitary) and the Sadr Movement (with its Mahdi Army paramilitary). The Iraqi government is supporting, and supported by, Badr. An ISCI cleric, Jalal al-Din Saghir, openly admits that the conflict is over control of the provinces.

Someone leaked the information that US special forces are fighting alongside the new Iraqi Army to quell the Mahdi Army.

The British forces also began fighting alongside Iraq military.

Aljazeera English does a report on the fighting between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army. The video shows that the Mahdi Army is still in control of its Basra neighborhood strongholds:



The Iranian foreign ministry called Saturday for an end to the fighting, saying that it strengthens the US hand in Iraq and may have the consequence of prolonging the US presence. Iran tends to back the Da'wa Party of Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, so it is significant that Tehran is criticizing this push by those two to destroy the Sadr Movement. I take them at their word. They are genuinely afraid that al-Maliki's poorly conceived campaign will backfire and that Bush will use it to insist on keeping troops in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Turkey claimed that it shelled northern Iraq late last week, killing 15 members of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. The Iraqi Kurds denied the report.

McClatchy reports civil war violence for Saturday:

' Baghdad

- Ten mortar shells hit the Green Zoon today.

- Two mortar shells hit Arasat neighborhood, no casualties were reported.

- A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army vehicle in Al Amil neighborhood, killing one soldier and injuring three others.

- A mortar shell hit a house in Al Mansour neighborhood, injuring two members of one family.

-Police found two dead bodies throughout Baghdad, one in Sadr city and one in Baladiyat.

Basra

- An air strike targeted a vehicle used by gunmen in Al Hayaniyah neighborhood, killing 6 gunmen and 2 civilians and injuring 7, eyewitnesses said. U.S. military said an AC130 airplane bombed a house and a truck western Basra killing six.

- U.S. jet bombed targets in Al Maqal area, north of Basra, killing three gunmen and injuring two, according to eye witnesses. Late Saturday U.S. airplanes bombed a mosque in Al Maqal area and targets in other areas of the city injuring seven militia members, eye witnesses said. U.S. military said that an air strike killed 11 and injured 22 near Basra today.

- Basra morgue received today 39 dead bodies of citizens were killed in clashes.

Diyala

- Mortar shells slammed into Khan Bani Saad town (about 9 miles south of Baquba) killing three members of one family.

- A U.S. aerial fire targeted a truck (Kia) in Al Atheem (31 Miles north of Baquba) killing 4 members of one family; the parents and their two children today, Iraqi police said. U.S. military said they have no reports of the incident.

- Iraqi security forces found 5 dead bodies in Muqdadiyah.

Al Anbar

- Two suicide bomber driving car bombs targeted police stations in different areas of Garam east of Fallujah today, the first didn’t reach its target and killed two kids were nearby and the second suicide killed two police men. '

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Saturday, March 29, 2008

Police Mutiny, Refuse to attack Sadrists;
Clashes continue in Basra;
Sadrists open New fronts throughout Shiite South


Mahdi Army Militiamen, courtesy Al-Zaman of Baghdad.

Another US soldier was killed in Baghdad on Friday.

The Times of Baghdad reports in Arabic that clashes continued on Friday between Iraqi government forces and the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and the provinces of the middle Euphrates and the south, causing hundreds of casualties, including among women, children and the elderly. The fighting also did damage to Iraq's infrastructure, as well as to oil facilities and pipelines, damage that might run into the billions of dollars.

The US got drawn into the fighting on Friday. US planes bombed alleged Mahdi Army positions both in Basra and in Sadr City in Baghdad (as well as in Kadhimiya). Kadhimiya is a major Shiite shrine neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, and the spectacle of the US bombing it is very unlikely to win Washington any friends among Iraqi Shiites.

Despite the US intervention, government troops were unable to pierce Mahdi Army defenses or over-run their positions.

Al-Zaman says that the police force in Basra suffered numerous mutinies and instances of insubordination, with policemen refusing to fire on the Mahdi Army. The government response was to undertake a widespread purge of disloyal elements.

[Hmm. I wonder where fired policemen with combat training and guns could find another job . . . Maybe with the Mahdi Army?]

The Mahdi Army opened a number of new fronts in the fighting, in Nasiriya, Karbala, Hilla, and Diwaniya, as a means of reducing the pressure on its fighters in the holy city of Karbala. Local medical officials reported 36 dead in the fighting in Nasiriya.

The Mahdi Army used its position near Nasiriya to attack government troops attempting to go south to join the effort in Basra, and is said to have inflicted substantial casualties on them.

In Baghdad, Mahdi Army fighters clashed with government forces in 31 districts.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for a decisive military victory and rejected calls by southern tribal sheikhs and a large number of Shiite ayatollahs for him to engage in dialogue and negotiation in order to reach a ceasefire and to save civilians who are threatened with a humanitarian catastrophe from shortages of water and food, as well as lack of medical care.

At the same time, Al-Zaman maintains, the Sadrists stipulated that al-Maliki and his brother-in-law, who heads the emergency forces that have been sent down to Basra from Baghdad and Basra, must withdraw.

The Iraqi minister of defense, Abdul Qadir Jasim, admitted in a news conference in Basra that the militiamen had taken the Iraqi security forces off guard. He added that the Iraqi government had expected this operation to be routine, but was surprised at the level of resistance, and was forced to change its plans and tactics.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari said that the government intends to defeat the Sadrists, but said he did not know how long the endeavor would take.

The attempt of parliament to meet and take up the issue of the battle with the Mahdi Army failed when the federal legislature could not muster a quorum. The session then turned into a mere discussion session. Al-Hayat, writing in Arabic, says that one reason that parliament could not get a quorum was that the Kurdistan Alliance and the United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite) support al-Maliki and boycotted the session.

The tableau above is tragicomic. The Iraqi security forces haven't even begun to take key Mahdi Army territory in Basra, and in fact have been rebuffed. The Mahdi Army claims to have captured heavy arms and even Iraqi soldiers from the government. The minister of defense admits that Baghdad was surprised at the level of resistance to the campaign. (After the spring of 2004? Why?) The British contingent of 4,000 troops out at the airport is not getting involved, raising questions as to what they are doing there.

McClatchy reports civil war violence in Iraq for Friday:


' Baghdad

Gunmen capture a National Police patrol in al-Amin neighbourhood, east Baghdad at 10 am today. The US military and Iraqi security forces have intervened to find out the fate of the 3 policemen in the patrol.

Gunmen capture 2 National Police patrols, set the policemen free and make off with the vehicles and weapons in al-Darwish Junction, al-Alam neighbourhood, southwest Baghdad.

The US military made an air strike on Sadr City, northeast Baghdad at noon today, Iraqi Police said. No casualties were reported. No comment was available from the US military at the time of publication.

Clashes broke out between gunmen and the Iraqi Army in Bayaa, west Baghdad at around one this afternoon. No casualties were reported.

3 mortar rounds hit al-Muthanna military base in central Baghdad at 3 pm. No casualties were reported.

The US military made an air strike at an armed group during a surveillance trip in the sky of al-Kadhimiyah area at 3 pm today, killing 3 gunmen, injuring 8, Iraqi Police said. No comment was available from the US military at the time of publication.

3 mortar rounds fell near Vice President, Tariq al-Hashimi's residence inside the Green Zone injuring 2 of his security detail.

The US military carried out air strikes on section 8 in Sadr City from 5 pm to 8 pm. 12 people were killed and 60 injured, Iraqi police said. No comment was available from the US military at the time of publication.

4 mortar rounds hit the Green Zone at around 5 pm today. No casualties were reported.

2 mortar rounds fell on a commercial centre near the rail track in Qadisiyah neighbourhood west of central Baghdad injuring one woman.

2 mortar rounds hit the traffic tunnel under the suspension bridge (one of the entrances to the Green Zone) in Karrada at 5.15 pm injuring 3 civilians.

2 mortar rounds fell on the Green Zone at 7.45 pm. No casualties were reported.

Clashes broke out between Mahdi Army members and the Iraqi Army in Washash, central Baghdad this evening. No casualties were reported.

Basra

The death toll resulting from the fighting in Basra has risen to 120 dead and more than 300 wounded, according to medical sources.

Clashes between gunmen and al-Maliki tribe in Qurna city, 100 km to the north of Basra city left 5 dead and 2 wounded from both sides.

An Iraqi military helicopter was shot down by gunmen at 12.30 am. It crashed to the ground behind the military hospital in north Basra. The fighting between Mahdi Army and the security forces in northern Basra continues.

Thi Qar

The toll for clashes between Mahdi Army and security forces in the province since Thursday until Friday evening reached 30 killed and 52 wounded.

Diwaniya

The toll for the clashes between the security forces and the Mahdi Army since Thursday evening to Friday evening was 4 killed and 10 wounded. '

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Friday, March 28, 2008

Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra Neighborhoods;
Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki

People are asking me the significance of the fighting going on in Basra and elsewhere. My reading is that the US faced a dilemma in Iraq. It needed to have new provincial elections in an attempt to mollify the Sunni Arabs, especially in Sunni-majority provinces like Diyala, which has nevertheless been ruled by the Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. But if they have provincial elections, their chief ally, the Islamic Supreme Council, might well lose southern provinces to the Sadr Movement. In turn, the Sadrists are demanding a timetable for US withdrawal, whereas ISCI wants US troops to remain. So the setting of October, 2008, as the date for provincial elections provoked this crisis. I think Cheney probably told ISCI and Prime Minister al-Maliki that the way to fix this problem and forestall the Sadrists coming to power in Iraq, was to destroy the Mahdi Army, the Sadrists' paramilitary. Without that coercive power, the Sadrists might not remain so important, is probably their thinking. I believe them to be wrong, and suspect that if the elections are fair, the Sadrists will sweep to power and may even get a sympathy vote. It is admittedly a big 'if.'

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki continues to refuse to negotiate with the Mahdi Army militiamen, and said, "They have no other choice but to surrender." He did extend the deadline for them to surrender heavy arms from 3 days to 10, and promised monetary rewards to those who complied. Al-Maliki said he was unconcerned with political parties, but that he could not abide armed gangs that interfered with the work of the government. He was referring to the Mahdi Army.

Clashes continued between government troops and the Mahdi Army on Thursday in Basra and other cities in the south for the third straight day. Some 45 are said to be dead in Kut, the capital of Wasit province, and US helicopter gunships are said to have killed 60 in Hilla south of Baghdad.

On Friday morning, there are reports of clashes in Nasiriya and Mahmudiya.

The LA Times says of the fighting in Basra on Thursday, when its downtown was a ghost town:


' Residents said food prices were soaring because it was difficult to get goods into the city, where clashes continued Thursday. In a Sadr stronghold in west Basra, hundreds of people led by tribal sheiks held a protest demanding that the government halt the military operation and restore electricity and water, which they said had been cut three days earlier. '


McClatchy reports that so far the 30,000 Iraqi government troops in Basra have proven unable to dislodge the Mahdi Army from its strongholds:

' In Basra, the Mahdi Army retained control of its four main strongholds of al Hayaniyah, al Qibla, al Timimiyah and Khamsa Mil. Al Timimiyah is in the center of the city, and the three other areas are on the main road from Baghdad to Basra. '


Water, electricity and medicine were said to be lacking for people in Basra.

BBC reports that on Friday morning, there was a lull in the fighting and people were coming out:

' "Today since early morning it's quiet. No shooting. And the people in Basra are going out of their houses for shopping. The buses have started working. And the cars are also working on the streets," the councillor said. '


In Baghdad, al-Hayat says, thousands of protesters came out to rally against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, demanding that he resign and threatening him with a trial worse than that of Saddam Hussein.

Clashes broke out between Mahdi Army militiamen and government security forces in 10 Baghdad districts, but appear to have subsided when a curfew was imposed, which forbids vehicles to circulate until Sunday.

The Green Zone, where the US embassy and other US facilities are, took more heavy mortar fire on Thursday. An American earlier wounded in that sort of bombardment later died.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports in Arabic that various parties in parliament are responding differently to al-Maliki's military campaign in Basra. The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, with 85 members in parliament, strongly supported the operation. The major component of the UIA is the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a rival of the Sadrists of Muqtada al-Sadr. Ironically, ISCI is denouncing the maintaining of a paramilitary by a party; yet it has its own militia, the Badr Corps.

In contrast, the Sunni fundamentalist Iraqi Accord Front is opposed to the attack on the Mahdi Army, with its leader Adnan Dulaimi, saying that it does not work to the benefit of Iraq.

A member of Iyad Allawi's National Iraqi List, which has 22 seats in parliament, said it was necessary to stop the activities of lawless gunmen. But Izzat al-Shahbandar warned that if the campaign went on very long, it could derail the political process in Iraq.

McClatchy reports civil war violence in Iraq for Thursday:

' Baghdad

12 mortars hit the Green Zone starting at 10 am until this report was prepared at 2 pm, Thursday, said Iraqi Police. The U.S. Embassy said no one was injured.

2 mortar rounds fell on Ur neighbourhood, east Baghdad near an open air marketplace killing one civilian, injuring two.

2 mortar rounds hit Karrada Kharij Street, central Baghdad injuring 1 civilian.

17 wounded Iraqi Army soldiers from Basra were taken to al-Yarmouk Hospital for treatment.

Clashes in al-Mansour district, from Iskan neighbourhood to Abu Jafar al-Mansour began this morning between Mahdi Army members and security forces. 3 Iraqi Army soldiers were injured and the clashes continued at the time of publication.

A parked car bomb exploded near the Red Crescent office, Andalus Square, in central Baghdad causing some material damages to its outer wall.

Clashes between Mahdi Army members and National Police in al-Amin neighbourhood started this morning and continue until the preparation of this report at 2 pm. Casualties have not been reported until this time.

The office of al-Da'wa Party in al-Shaab neighbourhood has been torched, causing only material damages.

3 mortars hit al-Alawi bus station, central Baghdad, killing 2 civilians, injuring 15.

Updating Sadr City news, since the fighting started on Monday until now, the toll has reached 38 killed and 47 wounded, Iraqi police said.

Gunmen kidnapped the civil spokesman of the Baghdad Security Plan, Tahseen al-Shaikhli. An armed group attacked his home, took him captive, let his family go and torched his house. They also took a government pick up truck, loaded it with 26 pieces of weaponry belonging to his security detail.

8 Iraqi soldiers were wounded in clashes between Iraqi Army and members of the Mahdi Army in Talbiyah, north Baghdad at around 3 pm Thursday.

Random fire by gunmen passing in a speeding car killed a father and his son, 13 years old in Talbiyah, north Baghdad at 5 this afternoon.

1 civilian injured when gunmen opened fire randomly across Sabah al-Khayat Square in Shaab area in north Baghdad at around 5 pm.

1 mortar round fell in Battawin neighbourhood, which is a largely commercial area in central Baghdad, injuring 2 civilians at 5 pm.

Clashes between gunmen and Iraqi Army in Zafaraniyah, southeast Baghdad at around 5.30 pm left 2 soldiers seriously injured.

2 mortar rounds hit the Ministry of Interior, al-Tasfeerat compound in central Baghdad at 6 pm killing 1 employee and injuring 4.

A mortar shell hit a residential building in Karrada Dakhil, central Baghdad at 6.15 pm, injuring 2 residents and causing material damage.

Clashes broke out between National Police and gunmen in Husseiniyah neighbourhood at around 6.30 pm and the clashes continued at the time of publication.

4 mortar rounds hit the US military base in Rustamiyah at 6.30 pm. No casualties were reported and no comment was available from the US military at the time of publication.

Gunmen target a police patrol at the entrance of al-Hurriyah neighbourhood at 8 pm injuring 1 policeman.

Thursday at 8 pm the Shoala Police Station fell in the control of an armed group.

5 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today. 1 in Ur, 1 in Zayuna, 1 in Husseiniyah, 1 in Mansour, 1 in Alawi al-Hilla, Sheikh Ma'roof.

Basra

Fighting in Basra between the Mahdi Army and the security forces has been ongoing since early Tuesday, and the toll of the fighting is at least 97 killed and around 300 injured, a medical source in the Directorate of Health in Basra said.

Hilla

Clashes have resumed in the city centre of Hilla city causing the injury of 30 people, 22 of whom were police and army, 8 civilians amongst who was a woman and the death of 1 soldier and 2 policemen.

Clashes in Chiffel neibourhood inside Hilla city continue, and the offices of al-Da'wa Party and the Supreme Council were torched by members of al-Mahdi Army causing the death of 3 policemen and the injury of 4.

Maysan

Gunmen torch Badr Organization Bureau located in Hitteen Square, in the centre of Amara city. They launched 4 RPGs at the bureau, three of which hit the bureau and burned the building to the ground. The fourth hit an adjacent house, injuring one of its inhabitants.

Clashes between Iraqi Army and Mahdi Army members as the regular army was crossing what is commonly known as the Yugoslav Bridge, north Amara. 2 civilians were killed and 7 injured by cross fire.

Salahuddin

Gunmen attack a Sahwa, US sponsored militia, member's house in al-Khadhraa neighbourhood, downtown Samara and kill both him and his son and injured his wife and one of his daughters. Joint forces, Iraqi army and US military announce a curfew in order to search for the armed group, said First Lieutenant Muthanna Shakir. US military did not include this report in their release.

A roadside bomb exploded yesterday, Wednesday targeting a Support Force, CLC, checkpoint on the main road near Awja city injuring 7 Sahwa members and 2 civilians.

A mortar shell fell on Tel al-Jarad, Baiji city, yesterday evening killing a woman Mona Ajaj, injuring 5 civilians, amongst whom were 3 children and a woman.

IED exploded targeting a soldier as he left his home going to work, in Malha neighbourhood, north Baiji, causing his death.

Diyala

5 unidentified bodies were found in a mass grave by security forces in al-Zor area, Muqdadiyah district, 25 km to the east of Baquba.

Local police found 4 bodies in al-Asaiba village, Shahraban district, 8 km south of the town of Baladruz. . .

A roadside bomb exploded targeting a civilian car in the town of Khanaqin injuring 2 civilians.

The District Commissioner's office in Khan Beni Saad was targeted with mortar fire by the Mahdi Army today. The security forces announced a curfew in the town in order to track the armed group.

Anbar . . .

5 Iraqi Army soldiers from Anbar were killed in the fighting in Basra. Their bodies were returned to their families today.

Kirkuk

A suicide car bomb targeted an Asayesh, a Kurd security intelligence agency, vehicle killing an officer, Captain Tayib Mahmoud, and injuring 2 of his security detail and 5 civilians in the proximity of the explosion. The incident took place in al-Quds Street, Tiseen neighbourhood, downtown Kirkuk city early Thursday morning.

Gunmen assassinated the Commander of Garmian Peshmerga Forces, of the KDP. The gunmen opened fire upon his motorcade in a town near Daqooq, south Kirkuk, killing him and 4 of his security detail. '

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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Dozens Dead in Basra Clashes;
Mahdi Army Occupies Kut

There was heavy fighting Wednesday and Thursday morning in the Jumhuriya district of the southern oil port of Basra. That is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of Muqtada al-Sadr, now under assault by the Iraqi military, with rocket propelled grenades, mortars and small arms fire raining down on the civilian neighborhood.

Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that the Mahdi Army still controls its neighborhoods in Basra. It says that there are reports that rival militiamen, presumably the Badr Corps of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, have converged on the Sadrist neighborhoods and have joined the fight against the Mahdi Army side by side with government troops.

Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrists, demanded that Prime Minister al-Maliki leave Basra so that local notables and clergy could negotiate a settlement of the crisis. That was his reply to al-Maliki's ultimatum that the Mahdi Army disarm within three days.

A Sadrist leader told al-Zaman, "The objective of the operations in Basra is to impose a provincial confederacy on the south, which the Sadr Movement opposes."

Al-Zaman says that an attempt to negotiate a political settlement by Basra governor Muhammad Misbah al-Wa'ili of the Islamic Virtue Party (Fadhila) failed in the face of al-Maliki's insistence on a military victory.

Al-Zaman says reports are circulating that the Iraqi army has committed atrocities throughout the south, conducting mass executions in many places, including Basra and Kut.

It also says that there is a humanitarian crisis developing in the neighborhoods that the Iraqi army is besieging in Basra, with women, children and old folks trapped and food and potable water running low.

The Mahdi Army still controls Sadr City in East Baghdad and the US is unable to dislodge it for the moment. Al-Zaman says that the capital could erupt into fighting at any moment.

AFP reports one underlying reason for the assault:


' US military spokesman Major General Kevin Bergner told a news conference on Wednesday that 2,000 extra Iraqi security forces had been sent to Basra for the operation. He said it was aimed at improving security in the city ahead of provincial elections in October. '


Remember how attacking Fallujah in Nov. of 2004 was to provide security before the elections, but all it did was convince the Sunni Arabs to boycott, thus throwing the country into civil war?

The Mahdi Army is fighting vigorously against the assault on its strongholds in Basra. It set a roadside bomb to hit the convoy of the city's police chief, killing three policemen. There are rumors that it blew up a bridge to stop government reinforcements from getting into the city easily. And then there is this:

Gunmen blew up an oil pipeline in Basra province. Such sabotage of the pipelines down there is rare, in contrast to the situation in the north around Kirkuk. But if the Sadrists feel unfairly attacked by the government, they clearly are willing to play spoiler, just as some Sunni Arabs have in the north.

As it is, if the fighting goes on a few more days, the next shift of oil workers won't be able to reach the fields, which will shut down some production. Basra fields produce between 1.8 million b/d and 2 mn b/d, and export 1.5 mn b/d. The Iraqi government is heavily dependent on that income.

Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that the Mahdi Army has taken over the southern city of Kut, and has surrounded the governor's mansion, trapping the remaining government police in it.


Aljazeera English on the internal divisions among the Shiite factions (from Monday):



McClatchy reports civil war violence in Iraq for Wednesday:

' Baghdad

At least 20 people were killed and 115 wounded in clashes that broke out on Tuesday evening and lasted until Wednesday morning between Mahdi army militia and the Iraqis security forces supported by the American forces in Sadr city in east Baghdad.

US embassy in Iraqi said that three US officials were wounded seriously in one of the attacks that targeted the green zone on Wednesday morning.

Around 5:30 a.m. three mortar shells hit the green zone. No reports about casualties.

Around 8:00 a.m. the US forces left Sadr city after clashing with Mahdi army. The final toll of the casualties is 20 people killed and 115 wounded.

Five people were injured when members of Mahdi army opened fire targeting civilians in al Kifah neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 8:30 a.m.

Six people were injured when members of Mahdi army opened fire targeting civilians in Sadoun Street in downtown Baghdad around 9:00 a.m.

Around 9:15 a.m. three mortar shells hit the green zone. A fourth shell hit one of the buildings in Salhiyah street near the green zone. One civilians was killed and 6 others wounded.

Two civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in al Fallah intersection in Sadr city in E|ast Baghdad around 11:00 a.m.

Three civilians were killed and fifteen others were wounded when four mortar shells hit different parts in Karrada neighborhood.

Three civilians were killed and twelve others were wounded when threemortar shells hit Risala neighborhood southeast Baghdad around 12:00 p.m.

Around 1:00 p.m. mortar shells hit the green zone in downtown Baghdad. No reports about Casualties.

Two civilians were killed and five others were wounded when two mortar shells hit Sayd Idrees shrine and the social car house in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 1;30 p.m.

Four civilians were inured in clashes between insurgents and the Iraqi national police in Shaab neighborhood in north Baghdad around 1:30 p.m.

Around 2:00 p.m. clashes broke out between the Iraqi army and members of Mahdi army in Kadhemiyah neighborhood in North Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

Around 3:00 p.m. mortar shells hit the green zone. No casualties reported.

Four civilians were wounded when a mortar shell hit Beirut intersection in east Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.

Three civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in Darwish intersection in Saidiyah neighborhood in South Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.

Around 5:30 p.m. a mortar shell hit Kadhemiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad. No Casualties reported.

Clashes broke out between the US army and Mahdi army militia in jisr Diyala area south of Baghdad. No news about casualties reported. . .

Police found three unidentified bodies . . .

Tikrit

A source in Tikrit hospital said that a patrol from the 1st battalion the 14 brigade brought the body of Mohammed Shakir Mahmoud who died after being tortured by a US sponsored militia near al Mamlaha village east of Samara on Wednesday morning.

Eight people were killed including Judge Munaf al Azawi a court judge and his two sons, two women, a child and a man when U.S. soldiers raided two houses in al Qadisiyah neighborhood north of Tikrit, Iraqi police said. The US military said that the Coalition Forces were targeting an Al Qaida member suspected of organizing car bombs for the group. During the targeted raid they came under fire and responded. . . .

Basra

Medical source in Basra province south of Baghdad said that 33 people were killed and 150 others were wounded in the clashes that took place between the Iraqi security forces and Mahdi army in different neighborhoods of the province.

Four policemen were killed when their vehicle was targeted with RBG7 rocket near Basra police directorate on Wednesday afternoon. . .

At least seven detainees were wounded when mortar shells hit the detainees affairs department in downtown Basra on Wednesday afternoon.

Najaf

A mortar shell hit al Mujtaba police station in downtown Najaf city south of Baghdad around 8:15 p.m. causing casualties among the staff of the police station, police said. The police of Najaf announced a curfew in the city until further notice. . .

Two policemen were wounded when gunmen opened fire targeting al Mujtaba police station in downtown Najaf city on Wednesday evening

Babil

At least 60 people were killed and wounded when the MNF helicopters bombed the neighborhoods of al Askari and Nadir in Babil province south of Baghdad, the spokesman the Iraqi police in Babil province Muthanna Ahmed said. The MNF couldn’t immediately confirm the strike. '

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Cole on Lehrer News Hour

I'll be on the Lehrer News Hour, PBS, Wednesday evening March 26.

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Sadrists clash with Iraqi, US forces in Basra;
Curfews in Shiite cities

The truce between the Mahdi Army and the US military has broken down, putting a question mark over the future of the 'surge'.

Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that members of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, formerly SCIRI, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim); the Da'wa Party led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki; and the Badr Corps paramilitary of ISCI have fled their HQs in Basra and Kut, because of the threat that they will be stormed by Mahdi Army militiamen [seeking revenge for the current offensive], In fact, some such buildings already have been attacked.

Eyewitnesses reported clashes on Tuesday in Sadr City, east Baghdad, led by Mahdi Army militiamen against American and Iraqi forces. The latter had encircled Sadr City, while the Mahdi Army roamed its streets within. The sound of gunfire could be heard, and helicopter gunships were seen hovering above.

Nassar al-Rubaie, a leader of the Sadrist parliamentary bloc, announced that it would boycott parliamentary sessions until the targetting of his people ceased. The Sadrists have 30 seats in parliament.

Also in Baghdad on Tuesday, the Sadrists pursued a campaign of civil disobedience in Karkh and Rusafa to the west of Sadr City.

Al-Zaman says its sources in the Sadr Movement confirmed that the Mahdi Army has gained control of the main road between Amara and Basra, allowing it to cut the government troops off from military supplies.

A statement issued by Sadr said, "we call on all Iraqis to show restraint, throughout Iraq, as a first step. If the government does not respect the demands of the masses, then the second step will be disobedience in Baghdad and the rest of the provinces."

Eyewitnesses reported that heavy fighting was going on in Basra, in the slum districts of Hayaniya, Five Mile, and Jumhuriya in downtown Basra. Likewise in al-Ma`qal, al-Janinah, and al_Kazirah to the north of the city.

The head of the Sadrist politburo, Liwa' Sumaysim, said from Najaf. that "Sadr follows the events, and his communiques specify the need to resolve these clashes" . . . through dialogue and negotiation.

Fighting also started back up Tuesday evening in Kut, the center of that governorate.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Frontline on the Iraq War

Don't miss part II of Frontline's (PBS) special on the Iraq War tonight.

Part I, aired last night, is or will be available in streaming video, as will the whole thing.

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Sadrists' Civil Disobedience Campaign


On Tuesday morning, major clashes broke out between government security forces and local Basra militias (including the Mahdi Army) that sent black smoke billowing in the air above the oil port. A strict curfew was imposed and schools were closed. Reuters reports:


' "Basra is half empty. There are no vehicles and no one is going to work. People are afraid to go out," said a military official in the city, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A hospital source said "tens of wounded" were arriving at hospitals and that some were too busy to accept more casualties. '


Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Sadr Movement announced a "civil disobedience" campaign on Monday in every region of Iraq. The Sadr Movement follows Shiite cleric Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement is complaining that the government continues to target is supporters.

McClatchy reports of Baghdad:
' On Monday, the Sadrists all but shut down the neighborhoods they control on the west bank of Baghdad. Gunmen went to stores and ordered them to close as militiamen stood in the streets. Mosques used their loudspeakers to urge people to come forward and join the protest.

Fliers were distributed with the Sadrists' three demands of the Iraqi government: to release detainees, stop targeting Sadrist members and apologize to the families and the tribal sheiks of the men. '


On Monday Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Basra at the head of a big security force, at the beginning of the major security sweep of that city that produced Tuesday's fighting.

It is being rumored, al-Hayat says, that the prime minister is planning to remove the military commander in the city, Gen. Mohan Hafiz al-Furayji, as well as the police chief, Major-Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf. UPI says that he will attempt to institute a tighter command and control structure in the city. Although the US had been putting pressure on Britain to send some of its troops from the airport back into Basra city, Gordon Brown appears to have resisted Washington's blandishments in this regard. The US military is concerned that if security collapses in Basra, it could cause the center-north to unravel, as well (this calculation is correct).

Michael Schwartz shows how Bush crippled Baghdad.
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Problems in Firefox with Text Blanked Out

Some readers have complained that occasionally postings are partially obscured when viewed with the Firefox browser. I haven't seen this effect in Firefox myself, so I assume it is a setting problem. Or CSS formatting conflict?

It can also occur in in I.E., apparently, and it positively does not in Safari 3.0. A reader has written in that the problem does not occur in Firefox 3.0 beta.

[The most expert opinion appears to favor upgrading your browser to the latest version, as well as emptying your cache and setting text size to normal; people say when they have done these things, the problem goes away. Apparently Apple's new Safari browser also has the virtue of not having this problem.]

Another reader said the site does not validate well. However, I'm just using Doug Bowman's Minima template for blogger.com, and I never have bothered to learn css, and the useful comment would be to direct me to a similar but better-validated blogger.com template.

Do any of my technically ept readers have any suggestions to fix the grey block problem in Firefox? It seems to be a user setting, since it does not occur very often. One kind reader sent a screen shot, below.


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Monday, March 24, 2008

4,000 US Troops Dead;
Nearly 60 Dead in Iraq Attacks;
Sadrists Threaten General Strike



All hell broke loose again in Iraq on Sunday, with political violence killing nearly 60 persons according to official statistics.

A roadside bomb killed 4 US troops, bringing the total dead in Iraq on the American side to 4,000. The thing I most mind about the deaths of those brave warriors is that our government has not been honest about why they died. We don't know the answer to that question. We've been lied to.

The Bush administration still has not told us why they died. It was not to protect the US from "weapons of mass destruction" (see below; that was a fabricated cover story). It was not to spread democracy. It may have been to nail down a major petroleum-producing country for US geostrategic goals (ensuring its resources were available to the US and could be denied if necessary to growing rivals such as China). If so, one has to ask whether the objectives (which were hidden from the American people) were the top priority for the US, or only for the petroleum industry; whether those objectives have been achieved; and whether there was another way to attain them. No such debate has ever been held. Was it in part to ensure Israeli security, as Mearsheimer and Walt argue (and Craig Unger implicitly argues, below)? If so, that should be stated, it should be debated. Even the former head of Shin Bet did not agree that it increased Israel's security. It is not right to ask men and women under arms to die for their country without telling them exactly how they are benefiting their country. For all we know, they have died so that Bush and Cheney could throw goodies to their "base," so that Halliburton could escape bankruptcy and Hunt Oil could get new development contracts.

The Green Zone was subjected to repeated mortar and rocket attacks on Sunday, which wounded 1 American and 4 others inside, and killed at least a dozen on its edges (because those firing them were bad shots). The Green Zone is where the US Embassy and major Iraqi government buildings are. It had been a little safer recently, or at least the Pentagon was peddling that line to CNN during last week's commemoration of the 5th anniversary of the war (see the CNN piece below). It is a measure of how the war objectives keep being defined down, that for the Green Zone to be relatively safe was trumpeted as an accomplishment. The "green zone" was always supposed to be safe, since it was heavily guarded and surrounded by blast walls. I take it that the US ceasefire with the Mahdi Army has actually broken down, in part because the US army and its Iraqi allies keep arresting commanders of the Mahdi Army. The Bush administration attitude has been, that's not a truce, that's an opportunity to make a bust.

Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that the Sadr Movement is demanding that recently arrested members of the Mahdi Army be released by the al-Maliki government. If their demands are not met, they say, they will launch a general strike. I suspect that the shelling of the Green Zone on Sunday was proffered as evidence that they really would be willing to take extreme actions if that would free the arrested Sadrists.

CNN transcript of Kyra Phillips' interview. The clip below seems laggy but you get the idea.



McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Sunday:

' Baghdad

- Around 6 a.m. four mortars hit the Green Zone, Iraqi police said.

- Around 8 a.m. A roadside bomb targeted Iraqi police patrol near the Shaab stadium, injuring three policemen.

- Around 11 a.m. Iraqi police said 6 rockets targeted the Green Zone, two of them hit the Green Zone and four others hit different areas of Baghdad. One hit a residential building in Kamaliyah killing five civilians and injuring 8, one hit cars parking yard near the Qadiri shrine in central Baghdad injuring 5 civilians. The other two hit different areas in Karrada causing no casualties.

- Around noon gunmen in three civilian cars opened their machineguns fire towards civilians near a cooking gas factory in Zafaraniyah, killing 7 civilians and injuring 16 others.

- Around 3 p.m. a suicide bomber driving a car bomb targeted civilians near a gas station in Shoala neighborhood, killing 5 civilians and injuring 7.

- Around noon a roadside bomb targeted civilians on Uqba bin Nafia square, injuring two civilians.

- Around 5 p.m. two rockets or mortar shells hit the Green Zone, a third missed its target and hit in Sadoun street, injuring one civilian, Iraqi police said.

- Around 8 p.m. a mortar shell hit residential buildings (called the Palestinians' buildings) injuring four civilians.

- At 8:26 p.m. several mortar shells or rockets targeted the Green Zone fell short and hit different areas 3 in Karrada and 1 in Arasat killing 2 and injuring 7 civilians. Another hit a house in Sadoun Street, killing 5 civilians from one family.

- Police found 6 dead bodies throughout Baghdad . . .

Nineveh

- Around 7 a.m. a suicide bomber drove his truck bomb into an Iraqi army headquarter in the industrial area west Mosul, killing 13 soldiers and injuring 30 soldiers and 12 civilians.

- A suicide bomber driving a car bomb targeted an Iraqi army convoy in Al Nour neighborhood in Mosul, killing one officer and injuring 3 soldiers and 7 civilians.

- A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army vehicle in Al Hadbaa neighborhood in Mosul, injuring 7 civilians.

- Iraqi police found one dead body in Mosul.

Diyala

- Iraqi police said U.S. troops killed 14 men and injured five people including a woman then used aerial fire to hit four homes in Al Dahalga village (about 28 miles east of Baquba). The U.S. military said they killed 12 men that were a part of a suicide bombing network. . .

- Gunmen killed citizen Ali Hassan in front of his house in central Baquba, Hassan was returning home yesterday after he was displaced.

- Gunmen killed Brigadier General Akram Awad Radhi and his driver as he was heading back to Baquba from Abu Saida area (about 12 miles east of Baquba).

- Gunmen attacked policemen in central Baquba killing a police lieutenant and injuring two other policemen.

- A mortar shell slammed into Al Gatoun area west Baquba, killing two civilians and injuring one.

- A mortar shell slammed into Kanaan town (about 9 miles east of Baquba) injured an infant girl and a woman.

Kirkuk

- Gunmen using two cars attacked an Iraqi army fixed check point to monitor a main road south of Kirkuk (about 16 miles) killing four Iraqi army soldiers and burning their Humvee.

Salahuddin

- A suicide bomber driving a car bomb targeted the house of Al Muatasim town (about 12 miles south of Samarra) mayor yesterday, killing 3 policemen and injuring two civilians. '

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Unger: The Iraq War was a Conspiracy

Craig Unger's email, part of an interchange on a private discussion group, is reprinted here with permission:


[A critic, let us call him X, objected] to Jim Lobe's suggestion that Iraqi WMDs and ties to Al Qaeda had nothing to do with starting the Iraq War. But Lobe is right. X is off base when he says nothing "suggests anything other than they believed Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs."

As my recent book, The Fall of the House of Bush--which owes a debt to Lobe's fine reporting on the neocons) shows in great detail, Cheney and the neocons effectively created an alternative national security apparatus to circumvent, sabotage and subvert the $40 billion a year that the nation spends on intelligence and to disseminate false intelligence about Saddam that would create a basis for war.

To be specific, let's take the Niger documents that falsely asserted that Saddam had agreed to buy 500 tons of yellowcake from the Republic of Niger. Many unanswered questions remain about the origin of the documents. But no one contests that they were forgeries that were based on documents stolen from the Niger Embassy in Rome over New Year's Eve in 2000.

I traveled to Rome to investigate the fabrication and dissemination of the documents, and, as I report in my book, I found that both the documents themselves and the information in them were distributed by right wing elements of Italian intelligence and the neocons in a deliberate manner to make it appear as if there were multiple independent sources corroborating one another, when in fact the only source were the original phony documents.

When the White House wanted to use the documents to build the case for war in an October 2002 speech Bush gave in Cincinnati, the CIA intervened twice to say the information was not reliable.

As I also show in my book, these documents and/or the information in them were discredited by Western authorities(including the CIA and the State Department) on at least fourteen such occasions before Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address

But none of that stopped Bush from citing this information--or, rather, disinformation-- as a casus belli in his famous sixteen words in his 2003 SOTU Address. [ Col. Larry Wilkerson, chief of staff to Colin Powell, told me, if he took something out of Colin Powell's UN speech 47 times, the neocons would put in 48.]

X seems to suggest that all this could have been the result of mere ineptitude. However, I cite, on the record, no fewer than nine former officials in the military and intelligence worlds who characterize the Niger document episode as black propaganda or part of a disinformation campaign that was intentionally done to mislead the American people into supporting a war.

Likewise, one has only to talk to Tyler Drumheller, the former head of European operations for the CIA, who has recounted at great length how he vetted "Curveball," the prized Iraqi exile who spun phony yarns about mobile weapons vans, and told his superiors again and again and again that Curveball could not be trusted. Yet George Tenet, under pressure from the White House and the neocons, ignored him. As a result, Colin Powell told the world about the phony mobile weapons vans.

One could go on at great length with many other examples(as I do in my book). But the point is, the neocons had deliberately gamed the system. As their policy papers show, they knew they wanted to start the war long before the administration took office and in order to do so they knew they had to control intelligence. That's why Wolfowitz, Perle, and Eliot Abrams began making semi-secret trips to Austin as early as 1998 to convince Bush that an invasion was necessary. That's why, in December 2000, they tried to put Wolfowitz in as head of the CIA. And that's why, when that didn't work, they moved him to the Pentagon where he oversaw the creation of the Office of Special Plans which was in charge of putting out phony intelligence.

Likewise, Cheney put John Bolton in at State to keep an eye on Colin Powell and to make sure that State Department analysts at INR( who had repeatedly discovered the errors in the phony neocon intelligence) were kept out of all the key meetings. As a result, Colin Powell made his presentation to the UN based on intel that came from the neocons in Cheney's office and the Pentagon--not the professionals at Langley and at [the State Department's intelligence analysis branch,] INR.

In other words, we went to war not because of intelligence failures, as X seems to think, but because of intelligence successes--successful black propaganda operations, successful disinformation operations--that were deliberately designed to mislead the American people.

As to why, again, I believe that Jim Lobe is on the right track. One has only to read the various neocon policy papers dating back to the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance papers(aka the Wolfowitz Doctrine), A Clean Break in 1996, David Wurmser's Tyranny's Ally in 1997, the PNAC papers of 1998, and scores of other articles to see that the neocons had been hoping to start the war for roughly a decade before it actually began. According to these papers, the chief reasons for this grand new strategy of overhauling the Middle East were regional security(ie, Israel) and to protect America's strategic resources(ie, oil.)

Craig Unger

Vanity Fair Magazine

Go here for information about The Fall of the House of Bush and to buy the book.

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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Pope Calls for Christian-Muslim Good Will
in Memory of Slain Iraqi Archbishop;
4 US Troops Killed

This Easter is an especially sad one for Iraq's Chaldean Christians. Their archbishop was kidnapped and held for ransom, then killed by guerrillas. His captors had demanded that the Christians support demands that the US withdraw from Iraq and pay $3 mn. [Since Chaldeans are patriotic Iraqis, there was no reason to think they did not already support withdrawal of US troops.]

Nor was that the last of their problems, according to this article by Peter Lamprecht:


' Days after the body of a kidnapped archbishop was found buried in northern Iraq, fresh kidnappings and murders continue to haunt the country’s Christians this Passion Week.

“We have people threatened, people kidnapped, people killed – this is Holy Week,” Kirkuk’s Chaldean Archbishop Luis Sako said.

Danger in Mosul may be great enough to effectively cancel Easter in the city this year, one clergyman said.

“We could close our churches in Mosul to protect ourselves and say to everyone that we don’t accept the situation,” Dominican Father Najeeb Mikhail said. “Or we can hold all the celebrations, and maybe we will receive some bombs or attacks.”

Fr. Mikhail affirmed that Mosul’s Christian denominations planned to remain in the city despite the attacks.

His comments came yesterday, only hours before meeting with Mosul’s Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Catholic bishops to decide how to help the city’s now leaderless Chaldean flock. Chaldean Archbishop Paulus Faraj Rahho, kidnapped last month while leaving a Mosul church, was found dead last Thursday (March 13), buried in a shallow grave. '


Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a memorial mass for Archbishop Rahho last week. He said then, ""Let his example support all Iraqis of good will -- Christians and Muslims -- to work for a peaceful coexistence, founded on human brotherhood and reciprocal respect . . ."

Surely that is the way Archbishop Rahho would have wanted his death to be commemorated, by increased Christian-Muslim understanding.

AFP notes that Pope Benedict seemed profoundly upset by the archbishop's killing, and in his Palm Sunday sermon last Sunday at St. Peter's Square said:

"Enough with the slaughter. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!"

Someone should put it to music and sing it at peace rallies.

The press says there was applause. There is certainly applause from me. The Catholic Church was among the few major institutions in the world to come forthrightly out against the Iraq War on principle.

There were about 800,000 Christians in Iraq in 2002, and it is widely thought that about half have been forced to flee the country, mainly to Syria and Lebanon.

The deaths of 4 US troops were announced on Saturday. One was killed on Friday, and three more were struck by a roadside bomb on Saturday.

You contrast the concerns of the Iraqi Christians, with just staying alive this Easter or finding enough food to eat or avoiding being kidnapped, with those of Americans in southern California. Many are struggling to avoid losing their homes; for some it is too late, and they just have to be grateful for their new small apartments. Then this brought me up short:

' Former Marine Cpl. Gustavo Aguilar Jr., a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war who was profiled in the Daily News last week, also has something to be thankful for in tough times.

Aguilar had been laid off from a bakery-delivery job and feared losing his home. But after his story appeared in the Daily News, Aguilar immediately received several job offers.

He now likely will be able to avoid either foreclosure or having to sell his Sylmar town home.

"Despite all the hard times we've gone through, we never lost faith," Aguilar said. "If it can carry us through, it can do the same for the country." '


So if the Iraqis are being devastated by the war, and if the Americans who fought the war are losing their lives, or if alive are losing their jobs and barely avoiding being made homeless, who exactly is benefiting from the war?

Enough with the slaughter. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq.

Sing it.

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Jihadi Movement Calls For Efforts To Prevent Iran From 'Interfering' in Iraqi Affairs

The USG Open Source Center translates an Arab nationalist call to the southern Shiite province of Maysan, which is ruled by the Sadr Movement of Muqtada al-Sadr, to block Iranian influence. In fact, Maysan, which borders Iran, is negotiating with Iran to receive electricity and other aid.

Movement Calls For Efforts To Prevent Iran From 'Interfering' in Iraqi Affairs
Jihadist Websites -- OSC Summary
Saturday, March 22, 2008

Terrorism : Movement Calls For Efforts To Prevent Iran From 'Interfering' in Iraqi Affairs

On 14 March, a jihadist website posted a statement issued by the Iraqi Movement for Defending Iraq's Arabism, in which the group calls on the chief of police of Maysan Governorate to support the national movement in the governorate and take action to prevent Iran from interfering in Iraqi affairs. The statement is attributed to the Iraqi Movement for Defending Iraq's Arabism and is dated 14 March 2008.

A summary of the statement follows:

The statement starts by addressing the people of Maysan Governorate, saying that "the occupation came to kill your love for your nation and to divide you into sects so that it would be able to control your resources completely."

The statement goes on to say that this [American] "occupation coincides with Iranian infiltration into Iraq under the banner of Shiism and the love of Prophet Muhammad's household," and calls on Maysan's chief of police to "side with the forces and movements that raise the banner of Arabism and Islam, reject the occupation, and seek to prevent Iran from interfering in our affairs." The statement also calls on the governorate's officials "to join the Iraqi Movement for Defending Iraq's Arabism in order to take part in saving the nation from the new tragedy that awaits it."

The statement concludes by urging the people not to give up their city and homeland and calls on them to prevent "foreign interference" in their affairs.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Militia Blues

A US soldier was killed and four wounded by rocket fire south of Baghdad.


Courtesy ABC News

The Guardian video does a report, streamed below, on the prospect that some of the 80,000 members of the Awakening Councils or Concerned Local Citizens in Diyala Province and elsewhere are going to go on strike. Many of them say that they haven't been paid for a while. Others complain about their continued subjection to the Shiite government (this complaint is common in Diyala Province). Still others resent the refusal of the al-Maliki government to integrate them into the formal state security services.



Al-Hayat writing in Arabic says that it is especially the Awakening Council members in Baghad who say they will strike

Meanwhile, this money graf doesn't strike me as promising:


' As of March 2008, fully a year and a half after the beginning of the sahwa movement, less than 11% of the 90,000-plus force has been integrated into the ISF. Moreover, the Maliki government has stated that under no circumstances will it integrate more than a quarter of these militants into the ISF. '


Mahdi Army militiamen in the southern Shiite city of Kut attacked police checkpoints late Thursday, setting off battles that only ended on Friday. AP writes, "Also Friday, U.S. and Iraqi forces raided neighborhoods of southern Baghdad and Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of the capital, detaining suspected members of the Mahdi Army, Iraqi police said."

A Sadrist member of parliament, Ahmad al-Masoudi (loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr), charged that the arrests of Sadrist leaders was intended to forestall a Sadrist victory in the October, 2008, provincial elections. He said that PM Nuri al-Maliki's Da'wa Party and his ally the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq were attempting to affect the course of the elections. AP reports:

' "They have no supporters in the central and southern provinces, but we do," Ahmed al-Massoudi told the AP. "If the crackdown against the Sadrists continues, we will begin consultations with other parliamentary blocs to bring down the government and replace it with a genuinely national one." '


AP also says that Shaikh Nasir al-Mashayikhi, a Sadrist cleric in Basra, warned against any attempt to arrest Sadrists in that southern port city:

' Basra is not Kut or Diwaniyah," he said. "Basra will turn into a cemetery for those who try to fight the Sadrists or detain them." '


AP says that the troubles in Kut and arrests in Baghdad raise questions about the durability of the current cease-fire of the Mahdi Army.

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Friday, March 21, 2008

Bush Lies about Iran on Now-Ruz





On Thursday, Bush lied about Iran again: "President Bush said the Iranian government has "declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people . . ." The Iranian leaders have consistently condemned nuclear weapons as inhumane and denounced them and said that they don't want them and it would be illegal in Islamic law to use them. Bush is welcome to disbelieve them, but he is not welcome to lie about what they said. He again hinted around that they might have a nuclear weapons program, for which there is no evidence and which flies in the face of the findings of his own intelligence analysts, in the National Intelligence Estimate.

It is all the more insulting that these were Bush's remarks on the occasion of the Persian New Year, which should have been a moment for diplomacy and reaching out.

When Bush's spokesman was pressed for a clarification of Bush's lies, he responded with more lies, saying Bush was referring to a combination of Iran's nuclear ambitions and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threat to 'wipe Israel off the face of the map.' But the nuclear ambitions are civilian as far as anyone can prove, and Ahmadinejad never threatened any such thing.

William Branigan (with Robin Wright) of the The Washington Post notes:

" In an October 2005 speech to a conference on a "World without Zionism," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by a state-run Iranian news agency as agreeing with a statement by Iran's late spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that "Israel must be wiped off the map." Iran's foreign minister later said the comment had been incorrectly translated from Farsi and that Ahmadinejad was "talking about the [Israeli] regime," which Iran does not recognize and wants to see collapse.

According to Farsi-speaking commentators including Juan Cole, a professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan, Ahmadinejad's exact quote was, "The Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Cole has written that Ahmadinejad was not calling for the "Nazi-style extermination of a people," but was expressing the wish that the Israeli government would disappear just as the shah of Iran's regime had collapsed in 1979.

In December, a U.S. intelligence review concluded that Iran stopped work on a suspected nuclear weapons program four years earlier, reversing a previous assessment that Iran was determined to acquire nuclear arms."

Branigan deserves some sort of medal for fearless truth-telling. You can only imagine the sort of pressure he will get over these paragraphs from the Propaganda Corps.

I heard Barack Obama speaking last August, and he said something very interesting. He said words to this effect: "You know how they say that if you repeat a Big Lie often enough, it becomes accepted as reality? Well, the same thing can be said of the truth." If you repeat the truth often enough, you can get it accepted as the truth. Obama, as usual, is right and more-- he reminds us that there is hope, that we don't have to surrender to cynicism or the Propaganda Corps in American political life. I think this WaPo article is the biggest success I've ever had in that regard.

Just to give you an idea of how wrong Bush is, here is what Ahmadinejad actually said in a recent interview in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais:


' Throughout its history, Iran has always been a peaceful country. We have not attacked anybody. Everything we are doing is aimed at defending the country. We think that the age of nuclear weapons is over. If they were useful, the United States would not have the troubles it currently has and the Soviet Union would not have disappeared. The Zionists have atomic bombs, but they are failing against HAMAS. We not only think that the age of nuclear weapons is over, but we are also not interested in building them, because we consider that they are against human rights and dignity. Our security doctrine is a defensive doctrine. '

Ahmadinejad isn't saying something new here. I discussed his earlier statement here:

'"Iran is not a threat to any country, and is not in any way a people of intimidation and aggression." He described Iranians as people of peace and civilization. He said that Iran does not even pose a threat to Israel, and wants to deal with the problem there peacefully, through elections:

"Weapons research is in no way part of Iran's program. Even with regard to the Zionist regime, our path to a solution is elections." '

Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei has condemned nuclear weapons, said Iran does not want them, and pledged no first strike with any sort of weapon:

' "Their other issue is [their assertion] that Iran seeks [a] nuclear bomb. It is an irrelevant and wrong statement, it is a sheer lie. We do not need a nuclear bomb. We do not have any objectives or aspirations for which we will need to use a nuclear bomb. We consider using nuclear weapons against Islamic rules. We have announced this openly. We think imposing the costs of building and maintaining nuclear weapons on our nation is unnecessary. Building such weapons and their maintenance are costly. By no means we deem it right to impose these costs on the people. We do not need those weapons. Unlike the Americans who want to rule the world with force, we do not claim to control the world and therefore do not need a nuclear bomb. Our nuclear bomb and our explosive powers are our faith, our youth and our people who have been present on the most difficult scenes with utmost power and faith and will continue to do so. (Chants of slogan, God is great). '

Ahmadinejad says a lot of kooky, bigotted and objectionable things things, and he is a hardliner who has tried to purge liberals. But Bush's propaganda only has the effect of building him up as important and improving his electoral chances.
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"Al-Qaeda" Deploys Widows as Suicide Bombers in Iraq: Fayyad


courtesy al-Sharq al-Awsat

The misery of the some 2 million widows in Iraq has security implications. Ma'd Fayyad reports in Arabic that fundamentalist Sunni guerrillas in Iraq are increasingly deploying widows as suicide bombers. Two major bombings this week, at Baladruz and Karbala, appear to have been undertaken by women. Fayyad says that one change is that a radical group has issued a fatwa or ruling that women have the same rights in fighting a holy war as do men. (He wickedly quotes Arab feminist Saba Khalid as asking, "So women have the same rights as men in death, but not in life?)

Alexandra Zavis of the LA Times writes of the most recent such incident, on Wednesday:


' Underscoring the danger, a woman with explosives hidden under her black gown attacked a police convoy Wednesday, killing five people and injuring 11 northeast of Baghdad, police said. It was the ninth suicide attack carried out by a woman this year.

The latest attack happened in a busy commercial district of Balad Ruz, a religiously mixed city in Diyala province. The woman stepped into the street as a convoy drove by ferrying a police captain to work, according to the provincial operations center. Two policemen were among those killed and four were injured, police said. '


Lois Kazakoff at SFC discusses the plight of women in Iraq. She says of a poll done last fall:

' Only 26.9 percent of those polled expressed optimism for the year ahead. Conversely, 85 percent described the situation in Iraq as "bad or very bad." . . .

A majority of the women respondents said violence against women is increasing and respect for women's rights is fading. . ."


With all the hoopla about the 5th anniversary of Bush's invasion of Iraq, the plight of the 2.3 million Iraqi refugees outside the country has largely been ignored in the press. It is almost 10 percent of the country's population! It would be as though 25 million Americans had been displaced to slummy conditions in Mexico and Canada.

The three brave diplomats who resigned over the Iraq War reflect on their action five years later.

The Bush administration claimed that Congress was confused by a bad translation when it objected to the language of Bush's security agreement with Iraq. (Congress is supposed to get to vote on such commitments if particular things are mentioned, like mutual defense, e.g.) The White House tried to maintain that the problem was translation errors. But experts who looked at the Arabic text found it was probably translated from the English and was a near perfect replica of the original.

Steve Clemons's and my conversation on McCain and al-Qaeda is at the NYT video blogging op-ed page.

McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Thursday:

' Baghdad

A roadside bomb exploded in Zafaraniyah, southeast Baghdad at around 10 am today. No casualties were reported.

A Katyusha rocket fell on a house in al-Mashtal neighbourhood, east Baghdad at 3 pm today seriously injuring two of its inhabitants and causing material damages to the house.

A mortar shell fell in al-Rafah junction, down from Jadriyah Bridge towards Saidiyah, south Baghdad at around 4 this afternoon. It fell near a police patrol and injured 2 policemen.

5 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad today by Iraqi Police. 1 in Husseiniyah, 1 in Shaab, 1 in Bab al-Sheikh, 1 in Amil and 1 in Alam.

Nineveh

A parked car bomb was detonated under control in al-Sukkar neighbourhood near al-Khansaa hospital at 2 pm injuring 2 policemen.

Updating yesterday's truck bomb incident, the detonation killied one Iraqi Army soldier, wounded 16 soldiers, and also wounded three civilians in Mosul yesterday, March 19, said the US military today in a release. The car bomb was a dump truck with approximately 2,000 pounds of explosives.

A roadside bomb exploded targeting a police patrol in al-Nebi Younis neighbourhood, central Mosul this afternoon, injuring two policemen.

Sulaimaniyah

Sulaimaniyah Police found an unidentified body at the foot of Goezha Mountain Thursday morning. The body was of a young male wearing black garments.

Tikrit

Raad Shallal, advisor in the ministry of electricity and supervisor of Baiji power station was kidnapped, with his driver by gunmen on the highway between Baiji and Haditha yesterday, Wednesday. The kidnappers contacted the family and demanded a ransom, 250 000 USD.

A booby trapped house at a water treatment plant killed an Iraqi Army soldier and wounded another in Diyala yesterday, March 19, said a US military release today.The Iraqi soldiers were conducting a clearing mission in the water treatment plant when one of the soldiers triggered a booby-trapped wardrobe door.

Anbar

A bomb was adhered to a policeman's private car causing him to lose one of his legs, and many other injuries, said a medical source in Fallujah hospital. The Police commented that this was a new style of attack by using adhesive bombs. The explosion took place near Abu obaida Mosque, downtownn Fallujah, yesterday March 19.

Kirkuk

Gunmen kidnapped Khalid al-Seyid Mohammed, who works as a security guard in a private security company from al-Hurriyah neighbourhood, Kirkuk city. The gunmen were driving a new red Opal.

Gunmen kidnapped the owner of a store in the central market of Kirkuk city, Lu'ay Semeer this afternoon.

Gunmen driving a fast car opened fire upon an Iraqi soldier in Aziziyah, Riyadh district, west Kirkuk, seriously injuring him. '


Farideh Farhi on the meaning of the recent elections in Iran.

At the Napoleon's Egypt Blog, two letters by Gen. Berthier on Bonaparte's plans for defeating an Ottoman landing at Abuqir on the Egyptian coast.

Nick Turse on the military-entertainment complext at Tomdispatch.com.

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Iraqi TV Channels Carry Reactions to Fifth War Anniversary

The USG Open Source Center translates Iraqi television reactions to the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq


Iraqi TV Channels Carry Reactions to Fifth War Anniversary
Iraq -- OSC Summary
Thursday, March 20, 2008 . . .

Al-Rafidayn [Sunni fundamentalist, affiliated with the Association of Muslim Scholars]


Harith al-Dari

Within its 0700 GMT newscast, the [Rafidayn] channel carries the following announcer-read report: "Harith al-Dari, secretary general of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said that Iraq has become an arena for conflicts among foreign forces. He added that Iraq's people and civilization are facing a war of elimination that seeks to wipe out their identity. Addressing the conference of the Higher Council for Islamic Affairs, Al-Dari said that the Iraqi issue is not being handled in a satisfactory manner by the Arab countries and the international community. He went on to say: After five years of the invasion, the country is facing a grievous security crisis. In fact, there is no security at the political, health, and economic levels."

At 0807 GMT, the channel carries an episode of its "Political Dialogue," moderated by Imad al-Dulaymi. The program, which discusses the fifth anniversary of the war on Iraq, hosts Ayatollah Husayn al-Mu'ayyad, head of the Iraqi National Trend.

Al-Mu'ayyad says: "There is no doubt that the occupation committed the most appalling form of humiliation against the Iraqis. Eliminating Iraqi sovereignty and bringing the country under heinous military occupation is, by all means, a humiliation of the Iraqi national pride. The launch of a political process away from the will of the Iraqi people and the suppression of the Iraqi national scheme are nothing but a stab in the heart of each Iraqi citizen. The outrageous violation by the occupation of human rights at Abu-Ghurayb is another attempt to humiliate the Iraqi people."

He adds: "The United States wants to control oil sources, rather than exports. The United States views oil as a treasure upon which it has to lay its hand. Therefore, it is not enough for them to ensure that oil will be exported to them. They want to control oil and use it as a means to control international politics and to exert pressures even on Europe. This is what the new world order is all about."

Asked to assess the current security situation, he says: "Since the start of the security plan, I have repeatedly said that this plan is a failure. Security cannot be restored through the imposition of martial law. No one can say there are security successes if the streets are full of policemen and soldiers. This is not a professional way to keep security in any country. Security should be maintained while the army is in its barracks and the police are in their stations. There has to be a security umbrella that covers the whole country. A citizen has to feel that security is based on objective justifications and principles, rather than on dividing the same city into cantons; turning shops into jails; and filling streets with tanks, armored vehicles, and armed men. This is not the way to keep security. On the contrary, this indicates lack of security and lack of security guarantees."

Baghdad Channel [affiliated with the Sunni fundamentalist Iraqi Islamic Party of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi] :



Iraqi VP Tariq al-Hashimi

Within its 1800 GMT newscast, the channel carries the following announcer-read report over video: "A large-scale political frustration now dominates the US stances at the logistic, field, local, and international levels. In addition, it has become evident that many of the circumstances preceding and engulfing the invasion of Iraq in 2003 are groundless. It has also become clear that most of the justifications to launch that war -- particularly the alleged wish to eliminate weapons of mass destruction that Iraq was claimed to have possessed then, were unrealistic and invalid."
The channel then carries field interviews with some Iraqi citizens.

An unidentified citizen says: "We were hoping that the new situation will be different. We thought a dramatic change would happen. But things are becoming worse. Every side is after its own interests. A certain side wants to defend itself, while another one wants to defend its party. The simple citizens are left alone to face the horrible smell of the sewage system. Sewage water overflows almost every day. Our children's health is deteriorating because of various disea ses. Potable water is another story to tell."

Another citizen says: "It is five years of destruction and deterioration. Things are becoming worse and worse. Nothing has improved. What improvement is there? Some appear on TV and claim that security is there. But these are just empty words. Security is limited to one small spot in Iraq; namely, the Green Zone."

The channel then carries the following announcer-read report over video: "Dozens of Iraqis gathered in Al-Firdaus Square in central Baghdad, demanding the occupation troops to leave their country. Today's scene is totally different from the scene which this very square saw five years ago. The Iraqis still vividly remember the sounds of powerful blasts, the smell of gunpowder, and the shrieking of planes. They cannot forget those scenes, which enroot in one's memory the images of death, damage, chaos, unemployment, and a series of disasters represented in storming houses, arrests, and indiscriminate killings. Such acts soon dominated the scene and eclipsed the alleged democracy, security, prosperity, and peace. The occupation has, indeed, left a dark era that unveiled the falsehood of the allegations and lies that were fabricated at the Pentagon's decision-making circles."

Within the same cast, the channel carries a live interview over telephone with Sa'd al-Hudaythi, a political analyst, to comment on US President George Bush's speech on the fifth anniversary of the war on Iraq.

Al-Hudaythi says: "The US rhetoric has been the same since the first day of the invasion. In my view, it is not to the interest of the US Administration to abandon this rhetoric at this phase, particularly given the fact that the US elections are approaching."

"Five years have passed since the start of the US occupation. We have had a mixture of hopes and pains. An assessment of the first two years of the occupation shows that hopes were greater than pains. But in the third and fourth years, pains overruled hopes. However, there has been a relative change over the past few months. We hope that this change will be for the better and will be sustained. Of course, this depends on many requirements which the Iraqi political forces have to fulfill. In addition, let us not forget that there is a negative regional influence over the stability of Iraq," he adds.


Al-Furat [affiliated with the Shiite fundamentalist Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who is close both to Bush and to the ayatollahs in Iran.]


Abdul Aziz al-Hakim

Within its 1700 GMT newscast, the [Furat] channel carries the following announcer-read report: "On the fifth anniversary of the war on Iraq, the Iraqis said that the reckless practices of the toppled regime against the Iraqi people and the neighboring countries are the main factor leading to the war in the region. The Iraqis went on to say that they are no safer now after the fall of the horrible dictatorship. They added that democracy is the best means to replace the ousted regime."

The channel then carries field interviews with a number of Iraqi citizens.

A citizen says: "If it were not for the Multinational Force, Saddam and even his grandsons would be still ruling us. This is a positive point. But there are some disadvantages now. The Iraqis were suppressed and were done injustice, so they were waiting for any one to save them. What else could they have done?"

Kazim Jasim says: "A war would end and another would start. With a war against Kuwait and another against Iran, the people got exhausted. What did he (Saddam Husayn) think he was doing? The people were powerless. Saddam Husayn is to blame for the current incidents. The people have to show patience. But we are too tired. Saddam had been suppressing us for 35 years."

Jalal Hashim says: "He will not return. The dead do not come back. His regime will not return either. The Ba'thists will never be back. The people are now aware of their real face, means, and purposes."
Another citizen says: "No one wants dictatorship. We want good people from our country to work for the interest of the country and the youth and to address the current situation."

Another citizen says: "The US troops used Saddam Husayn as a pretext to enter Iraq. It is true that there is no security now. But it is also true that you can wander around in a climate of freedom and democracy."

Al-Fayha [Independent, broadcast from Sulaymaniya, a Kurdish city in the north run by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headed by Kurdish Iraqi President Jalal Talabani]

Within its 1900 GMT newscast, the channel carries the following announcer-read report: "Under a young democratic system, the Iraqis mark the anniversary of the fall of the idol. The decent Iraqis have agreed to sustain this system, turn their backs on the appalling past, and go ahead with the building up of the unified Iraq. On the fifth anniversary of the start of Iraq's freedom operations -- which toppled Saddam's dictatorial regime -- one cannot help recalling the unforgettable events."

The channel then carries the following announcer-read report over video: 'The war began and the Iraqis started to live moments of suspense. They could not believe the news that the blind suppression would end. The Multinational Force used smart bombs to target the buildings which Saddam's regime used for suspicious activities. From the very first moment, the bombing brought an end to the fascist Ba'th Party's ambitions to remain in power."
The channel then carries field interviews with Iraqi politicians to comment on the anniversary.

An unidentified representative of the Iraq Communist Party says: "Our vision called for the fall of the regime. But we did not want it to be this way. We and some other forces were hoping to gather the forces of our people. We pinned hopes on the army, the national forces, and decent officers, as well as on the unity of Iraqi opposition and decent political, international, and media support. This was our vision. We wanted to gather all those forces to get rid of the regime. We had already realized that foreign interferences would lead to certain consequences."

In another interview, an unidentified citizen says: "When the military operations to depose the regime in Iraq started, we felt optimistic. Our dreams were different from what is happening now. We expected things would be better. We thought that the freedom of the Iraqis would improve, especially after the injustice and suppression we had put up with."

. . . This summary highlights select Iraqi TV reporting on the fifth anniversary of the war on Iraq. It covers reports carried on 19 March by: -- Cairo Al-Rafidayn Satellite Channel in Arabic -- Pro-Sunni, anti-US Iraqi channel believed to be affiliated with the Association of Muslim Scholars -- -- Baghdad Baghdad Satellite Television in Arabic -- television channel believed to be sponsored by the Iraqi Islamic Party -- -- Baghdad Al-Furat Television Channel in Arabic -- Television channel affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) led by Abd-al-Aziz al-Hakim -- -- Al-Sulaymaniyah Al-Fayha Television in Arabic -- A private, independent satellite channel that addresses Iraq-related issues, supervised by Muhammad al-Ta'i, an Iraqi media figure . . .

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