Saturday, April 21, 2007
INM daily summary – 21 April 2007
Scroll down for full articles.
- A major immunisation campaign is to take place in Iraq in a bid to prevent an outbreak of measles.
- Kurdistan regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announced on April 19 that he will visit Iran in the coming days to discuss the issue of terrorists crossing the Iranian border into the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
- European Union nations said Friday there was no urgent need to accept more Iraqi refugees, agreeing only to consider sending more humanitarian aid to Syria and Jordan to take in Iraqis.
- At least two major insurgent groups are battling al-Qaida in provinces outside Baghdad, American military commanders said Friday.
- The government has allocated $160 million (approx. 246 billion dinars) for the reconstruction of the Province of Basra.
- As part of the Baghdad security crackdown, 54 "security stations" have been set up across the city, each receiving between 10 and 15 calls per day from the local communities, Maj Gen Caldwell.
- The political bloc of anti- American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has reappointed two members as lawmakers after sacking them earlier this month for meeting U.S. officials.
- A wall U.S. troops are building around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad came under increasing criticism on Saturday.
- Australian Defence Minister Brendon paid an unannounced visit to Baghdad for talks with Nouri al-Maliki.
- Controversial film-maker Oliver Stone is to direct an advert for a campaign calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
- The head of the parliament's de-Baathification committee said Friday he will fight a U.S.-backed draft law that would allow former senior members in ousted leader Saddam Hussein's ruling party to resume government positions.
- The United Nations-sponsored International Compact for Iraq (ICI), will be launched in Egypt early next month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last night.
- U.S. special coordinator for Iraq David Satterfield held talks on Friday with Turkish officials in Ankara, ahead of the key Iraq meeting in Sharm El Sheikh on May 3-4.
- A group linked to al Qaeda on Saturday claimed responsibility for attacking the convoy of the son of powerful Iraqi Shi'ite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim in southern Baghdad, according to an internet statement.
- Security round-up.
Round-up of violence across Iraq
Security
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1100 GMT on Saturday:
* denotes new or updated items
* MUSSAYAB - Mussayab mayor Mehdi Abdul Hussein al-Najem and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush, police said. A roadside bomb exploded next to their vehicles in the attack at Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, and gunmen then opened fire.
BAGHDAD - One soldier was killed and two others were wounded when they were hit by a roadside bomb during a patrol southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said
KHALIS - The bodies of eight people were found in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said. All showed signs of torture and four had been beheaded.
BAGHDAD - A bomb planted in a minibus in Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City killed up to two people and wounded about five others, police said. Another bus next to it was also hit by the blast.
KIRKUK - Gunmen stormed a house and killed four members of the same family -- a wife, husband and their two children -- in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad.
DIWANIYA - One Polish soldier was killed and four more were wounded in a roadside bomb attack near Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, on Friday, Poland's Ministry of Defence said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb attack on a U.S. military patrol wounded two soldiers at Baladiat, east of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
MUSSAYAB - An Iraqi civilian was found shot dead in Mussayab, police said.
* denotes new or updated items
* MUSSAYAB - Mussayab mayor Mehdi Abdul Hussein al-Najem and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush, police said. A roadside bomb exploded next to their vehicles in the attack at Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, and gunmen then opened fire.
BAGHDAD - One soldier was killed and two others were wounded when they were hit by a roadside bomb during a patrol southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said
KHALIS - The bodies of eight people were found in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said. All showed signs of torture and four had been beheaded.
BAGHDAD - A bomb planted in a minibus in Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City killed up to two people and wounded about five others, police said. Another bus next to it was also hit by the blast.
KIRKUK - Gunmen stormed a house and killed four members of the same family -- a wife, husband and their two children -- in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad.
DIWANIYA - One Polish soldier was killed and four more were wounded in a roadside bomb attack near Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, on Friday, Poland's Ministry of Defence said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb attack on a U.S. military patrol wounded two soldiers at Baladiat, east of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
MUSSAYAB - An Iraqi civilian was found shot dead in Mussayab, police said.
Labels: ambush, Baghdad, bomb, Diwaniya, gunmen, Khalis, Kirkuk, Mehdi Abdul Hussein al-Najem, Mussayab, roadside bombs
Islamic State in Iraq claims Ammar al-Hakim assassination attempt
Security, Politics
(Reuters) - A group linked to al Qaeda on Saturday claimed responsibility for attacking the convoy of the son of powerful Iraqi Shi'ite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim in southern Baghdad, according to an Internet statement. Six bodyguards were injured in Thursday's attack on the convoy of Ammar al-Hakim, which his father's office had said was not an attack on him personally.
"By the strength of God, an attack with light and medium weapons and rocket propelled grenades was launched on the convoy," the staunchly Sunni self-styled Islamic State in Iraq said in a statement on the Internet. It called Ammar al-Hakim a villain and Iranian infidel. "He was very close to being killed," the group added.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim is leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the biggest party in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity cabinet. Ammar al-Hakim also holds positions in SCIRI. The party had said that Ammar al-Hakim's convoy was fired on as it was travelling in the southern Baghdad district of Doura after leaving the southern holy Shi'ite city of Najaf. In February, U.S. troops detained Ammar Hakim for several hours near the Iranian border, sparking protests in Shi'ite cities. He was later freed.
"By the strength of God, an attack with light and medium weapons and rocket propelled grenades was launched on the convoy," the staunchly Sunni self-styled Islamic State in Iraq said in a statement on the Internet. It called Ammar al-Hakim a villain and Iranian infidel. "He was very close to being killed," the group added.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim is leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the biggest party in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity cabinet. Ammar al-Hakim also holds positions in SCIRI. The party had said that Ammar al-Hakim's convoy was fired on as it was travelling in the southern Baghdad district of Doura after leaving the southern holy Shi'ite city of Najaf. In February, U.S. troops detained Ammar Hakim for several hours near the Iranian border, sparking protests in Shi'ite cities. He was later freed.
Labels: Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, Ammar al-Hakim, Islamic State in Iraq, SCIRI
U.S. coordinator for Iraq holds talks in Turkey
Turkey, Kurdistan, U.S.
(Turkish Daily News) - U.S. special coordinator for Iraq David Satterfield held talks on Friday with Turkish officials in Ankara, ahead of the key Iraq meeting in Sharm El Sheikh on May 3-4. During his one-day visit, Satterfield first paid a courtesy visit to Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertuğrul Apakan and later met with Turkey's special envoy for Iraq, Oğuz Çelikkol.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry sources told the Turkish Daily News that a possible cross-border operation by the Turkish military to crack down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq was not discussed during the meeting. The ministry sources underlined that Satterfield was Iraq coordinator, not an envoy to counter the PKK. They said Turkey and the United States exchanged views on peaceful solutions to the problems faced by Iraq on the basis of consensus.
Later in the day, Satterfield visited the office of the Chief of General Staff. Satterfield's visit comes one week after Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt called for a military incursion into northern Iraq. Washington advises Turkey to avoid any unilateral action against Iraq.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry sources told the Turkish Daily News that a possible cross-border operation by the Turkish military to crack down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq was not discussed during the meeting. The ministry sources underlined that Satterfield was Iraq coordinator, not an envoy to counter the PKK. They said Turkey and the United States exchanged views on peaceful solutions to the problems faced by Iraq on the basis of consensus.
Later in the day, Satterfield visited the office of the Chief of General Staff. Satterfield's visit comes one week after Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt called for a military incursion into northern Iraq. Washington advises Turkey to avoid any unilateral action against Iraq.
Labels: David Satterfield, Ertuğrul Apakan, Oğuz Çelikkol, PKK, Sharm El Sheikh
Ban Ki-moon announces International Compact for Iraq
International, Development
(UN) - The United Nations-sponsored International Compact for Iraq (ICI), which seeks to consolidate peace in the war-torn country and pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years, will be launched in Egypt early next month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last night. Speaking to reporters in Bern, Switzerland, during a joint press conference with that country’s President Micheline Calmy-Rey, Mr. Ban said he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would attend the launch in Sharm el-Sheikh on 3 May.
The launch marks the culmination of a preparatory process that began last July and was initiated by the Iraqi Government to establish a new partnership with the international community. The Compact is a five-year national plan that includes benchmarks and mutual commitments from both Iraq and the international community, all with the aim of helping Iraq on the path towards peace, sound governance and economic reconstruction.
The UN – through its Special Adviser on the ICI and Other Political Issues, Ibrahim Gambari – and Iraq have been co-chairs of the preparatory process, which has also had the support of the World Bank. After his talks in Bern, Mr. Ban headed to Geneva today, where he attended his first meeting of the Chief Executives Board (CEB), which brings together top officials from across the UN system.
During the opening session of the two-day meeting, participants discussed system-wide coherence across the UN and how to better coordinate their efforts to achieve “aid for trade,” a strategy to enable developing countries to take a greater role in the international trade system. Mr. Ban also spoke with UN staff at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, and attended a working breakfast with the State Council of Geneva, where he voiced appreciation for the city and region’s commitment to the UN by hosting so many international organizations and civil servants and their families.
On Sunday the Secretary-General is scheduled to wrap up the Swiss leg of his four-nation official trip, before heading to Doha, Qatar, for the Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade. His last stop will be the Syrian capital, Damascus, where meetings with senior Government officials, including President Bashar Assad, are expected.
The launch marks the culmination of a preparatory process that began last July and was initiated by the Iraqi Government to establish a new partnership with the international community. The Compact is a five-year national plan that includes benchmarks and mutual commitments from both Iraq and the international community, all with the aim of helping Iraq on the path towards peace, sound governance and economic reconstruction.
The UN – through its Special Adviser on the ICI and Other Political Issues, Ibrahim Gambari – and Iraq have been co-chairs of the preparatory process, which has also had the support of the World Bank. After his talks in Bern, Mr. Ban headed to Geneva today, where he attended his first meeting of the Chief Executives Board (CEB), which brings together top officials from across the UN system.
During the opening session of the two-day meeting, participants discussed system-wide coherence across the UN and how to better coordinate their efforts to achieve “aid for trade,” a strategy to enable developing countries to take a greater role in the international trade system. Mr. Ban also spoke with UN staff at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, and attended a working breakfast with the State Council of Geneva, where he voiced appreciation for the city and region’s commitment to the UN by hosting so many international organizations and civil servants and their families.
On Sunday the Secretary-General is scheduled to wrap up the Swiss leg of his four-nation official trip, before heading to Doha, Qatar, for the Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade. His last stop will be the Syrian capital, Damascus, where meetings with senior Government officials, including President Bashar Assad, are expected.
Labels: Ibrahim Gambari, ICI, International Compact for Iraq, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sadrist to fight law to reinstate senior Baathists
Politics
(AP) - The head of the parliament's de-Baathification committee said Friday he will fight a U.S.-backed draft law that would allow former senior members in ousted leader Saddam Hussein's ruling party to resume government positions. Falah Hassan Shanshal, a follower of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, made his comments hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called Iraqis to pass legislation on political reconciliation that includes amending a so-called de-Baathification law.
The proposal, one of several benchmarks set for the Iraqi government by the U.S. administration, is designed to appease Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Arab minority in a bid to blunt the country's insurgency and return members of the minority to the political process. The law would allow those in the feared security and paramilitary forces to resume government positions but would exclude former regime members already charged with or sought for crimes.
The reconciliation program includes parliament's approval of a draft law that would allow senior former members of Saddam's Baath party to resume government positions. The draft law was introduced last month by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, but it still has to be approved by Cabinet and before it is sent to Parliament."The reconciliation draft law includes many legal and constitutional violations. We can even say that it is a coup that will bring members of the fascist, Saddamist Baath to power without any justification," Shanshal said in an interview with the U.S.-funded Radio Sawa. "Everyone has agreed to stand against it, not only the Sadrist bloc."
When contacted by The Associated Press, one of his colleagues in the al-Sadr bloc said the legislator went on a trip abroad earlier in the day. It is not clear yet when the draft will be sent to parliament, but if approved, the draft law would allow thousands of senior former Baath Party members to regain their jobs or grant them pensions if they are denied jobs they once held in the government or military. Al-Sadr has 30 lawmakers in the 275-member parliament, so Shanshal's comments could signal a serious stumbling bloc to the legislation.
About 1.5 million of Iraq's 27 million people belonged to the Baath party. Most say they joined for professional, not ideological, reasons, because career advancement, university enrollment and specialized medical care depended on party membership during Saddam's rule.
Labels: de-baathification, Falah Hassan Shanshal, Moqtada Al-Sadr
Film-maker Oliver Stone to direct ad calling for U.S. troop withdrawal
Media
(BBC) - Controversial film-maker Oliver Stone is to direct an advert for a campaign calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. A US serviceman or woman, or relatives, will discuss the impact of the war in the ad, as part of the campaign by the MoveOn and VoteVets organisations. "America needs to listen to our servicemen and women," said Stone.
The US is sending 28,000 extra troops to Iraq in a "surge" to combat the insurgency in the country. "We have leaders in Washington who say they're 'supporting our troops' - but the people who suffer most from their policies are the troops themselves," said Stone in a statement. "I decided to participate in this project because, as a veteran, I know that America needs to listen to our servicemen and women. "They've been there and they know what's really going on. They need to be part of this debate."
Stone won a Purple Heart as a US infantry private in the Vietnam War, later using his experiences as the basis for his Oscar-winning film Platoon. His career has frequently aroused controversy, with movies including Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Natural Born Killers and World Trade Center. The serviceman or woman or family to appear in the commercial is to be chosen from about 20 finalists in an online vote.
The US is sending 28,000 extra troops to Iraq in a "surge" to combat the insurgency in the country. "We have leaders in Washington who say they're 'supporting our troops' - but the people who suffer most from their policies are the troops themselves," said Stone in a statement. "I decided to participate in this project because, as a veteran, I know that America needs to listen to our servicemen and women. "They've been there and they know what's really going on. They need to be part of this debate."
Stone won a Purple Heart as a US infantry private in the Vietnam War, later using his experiences as the basis for his Oscar-winning film Platoon. His career has frequently aroused controversy, with movies including Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Natural Born Killers and World Trade Center. The serviceman or woman or family to appear in the commercial is to be chosen from about 20 finalists in an online vote.
Videos of the candidates appear on MoveOn's website and the video-sharing site YouTube. "Stories from veterans and family members have poured in over the past few years and we wanted to provide a platform where they could speak directly to the American people and policy-makers," said MoveOn's Nita Chaudhary. On Friday, US President George W Bush said early indications suggested that the security surge begun in Iraq more than two months ago was "meeting expectations".
Labels: advertisement, MoveOn, Oliver Stone, U.S. troop withdrawal, VoteVets
Australia to play bigger role in Iraq reconstruction
(AFP) - A more than two-month-old security plan for Baghdad is heading in the “right” direction despite efforts by insurgents to undermine it, Australian Defence Minister Brendon Nelson said on Saturday. Nelson’s unannounced visit to the Iraqi capital comes a day after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates wound up a two-day trip to check on the progress of the crackdown.
A number of high-profile car bombings killed more than 200 people this week in Baghdad despite the presence of some 80,000 Iraqi and US troops on the capital’s mean streets. “The security plan currently in action is going in the right direction despite the challenges,” Nelson said in his talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
A statement from Maliki’s office said Nelson pledged Australia’s ”full support” for the Iraqi government, particularly in developing the country’s dilapidated infrastructure. “Our country is intent to play a bigger role in the reconstruction drive that is currently on in Iraq,” the statement quoted Nelson as saying. Australia has around 1,400 troops in Iraq, of which 550 are combat troops and largely deployed in the south alongside British forces.
A number of high-profile car bombings killed more than 200 people this week in Baghdad despite the presence of some 80,000 Iraqi and US troops on the capital’s mean streets. “The security plan currently in action is going in the right direction despite the challenges,” Nelson said in his talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
A statement from Maliki’s office said Nelson pledged Australia’s ”full support” for the Iraqi government, particularly in developing the country’s dilapidated infrastructure. “Our country is intent to play a bigger role in the reconstruction drive that is currently on in Iraq,” the statement quoted Nelson as saying. Australia has around 1,400 troops in Iraq, of which 550 are combat troops and largely deployed in the south alongside British forces.
Labels: Australia, Brendon Nelson, Nouri Al-Maliki, reconstruction
Azamiyah residents complain about barrier
Security
(AP) - A wall U.S. troops are building around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad came under increasing criticism on Saturday, with residents calling it "collective punishment" and a local leader saying construction began without the neighborhood council's approval.
The U.S. military says the wall in Baghdad is meant to secure the minority Sunni community of Azamiyah, which "has been trapped in a spiral of sectarian violence and retaliation." The area, located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, would be completely gated, with entrances and exits manned by Iraqi soldiers, the U.S. military said earlier this week.
But some residents of the neighborhood, which is surrounded by Shiite areas, complained that they had not been consulted in advance about the barrier. U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities such as Ramadi in an effort to prevent attacks, including suicide car bombs. But the Azamiyah project appears to be the biggest effort ever to use a lengthy wall in Baghdad to break contact, and violence, between Sunnis and Shiites.
The U.S. strategy for stabilizing Iraq now involves persuading Iraqis to live in peace and support their democratically elected government and launching a security plan in the capital that calls for 28,000 additional American troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers.
The U.S. military says it began building the barrier April 10. AP Television News footage from the site on Saturday showed small concrete blocks, piles of dirt and coils of barbed wire on a main street. Eventually, the military said, the wall will be three miles long and include sections as tall as 12 feet. Community leaders said Saturday that construction began before they had approved an American proposal for the wall.
"A few days ago, we met with the U.S. army unit in charge of Azamiyah and it asked us, as a local council, to sign a document to build a wall to reduce killing and attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces," said Dawood al-Azami, the acting head of the Azamiyah council. "I told the soldiers that I would not sign it unless I could talk to residents first. We told residents at Friday prayers, but our local council hasn't signed onto the project yet, and construction is already under way."
The U.S. military says the wall in Baghdad is meant to secure the minority Sunni community of Azamiyah, which "has been trapped in a spiral of sectarian violence and retaliation." The area, located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, would be completely gated, with entrances and exits manned by Iraqi soldiers, the U.S. military said earlier this week.
But some residents of the neighborhood, which is surrounded by Shiite areas, complained that they had not been consulted in advance about the barrier. U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities such as Ramadi in an effort to prevent attacks, including suicide car bombs. But the Azamiyah project appears to be the biggest effort ever to use a lengthy wall in Baghdad to break contact, and violence, between Sunnis and Shiites.
The U.S. strategy for stabilizing Iraq now involves persuading Iraqis to live in peace and support their democratically elected government and launching a security plan in the capital that calls for 28,000 additional American troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers.
The U.S. military says it began building the barrier April 10. AP Television News footage from the site on Saturday showed small concrete blocks, piles of dirt and coils of barbed wire on a main street. Eventually, the military said, the wall will be three miles long and include sections as tall as 12 feet. Community leaders said Saturday that construction began before they had approved an American proposal for the wall.
"A few days ago, we met with the U.S. army unit in charge of Azamiyah and it asked us, as a local council, to sign a document to build a wall to reduce killing and attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces," said Dawood al-Azami, the acting head of the Azamiyah council. "I told the soldiers that I would not sign it unless I could talk to residents first. We told residents at Friday prayers, but our local council hasn't signed onto the project yet, and construction is already under way."
Labels: Azamiyah, barrier, Dawood al-Azami, U.S. military
Sacked Sadrists reinstated
Politics
(Reuters) - The political bloc of anti- American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has reappointed two members as lawmakers after sacking them earlier this month for meeting U.S. officials, the movement said on Friday. The political committee of Sadr's movement said the sacking of Salam al-Maliki and Qusay Abdul Wahab was "unprompted and unintentional," adding their "innocence from the charges against them has been established."
"The previous measure concerning their ejection from the parliamentary Sadrist bloc is to be cancelled," the political committee said in a statement. Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, confirmed the two had been reinstated as lawmakers for the movement. Maliki, a former transport minister, had previously denied he had been fired and also said he had not met any U.S. officials.
Sadr's movement holds a quarter of the parliamentary seats in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Sadr withdrew his six ministers from Maliki's government on Monday to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq.
"The previous measure concerning their ejection from the parliamentary Sadrist bloc is to be cancelled," the political committee said in a statement. Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, confirmed the two had been reinstated as lawmakers for the movement. Maliki, a former transport minister, had previously denied he had been fired and also said he had not met any U.S. officials.
Sadr's movement holds a quarter of the parliamentary seats in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Sadr withdrew his six ministers from Maliki's government on Monday to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Labels: Moqtada Al-Sadr, Nassar al-Rubai, Qusay Abdul Wahab, Sadrists, transport minister Salam al-Maliki
Security stations in Baghdad to increase
Security
(Gulf News) - As part of the Baghdad security crackdown, 54 "security stations" have been set up across the city, each receiving between 10 and 15 calls per day from the local communities, Maj Gen Caldwell, the US Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Effects, explained. The number of stations is set to increase to 76 in the coming weeks, as more people report incidents in their areas. "What we are trying to do is find a balance between providing security and not impeding people's lives," said Maj Gen Caldwell.
Labels: Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, security crackdown, security stations
$160 million for Basra province reconstruction
Reconstruction
(Azzaman) - The government has allocated $160 million (approx. 246 billion dinars) for the reconstruction of the Province of Basra, said the head of the provincial council. Mohammed Saadoun said the council has already approved the projects that are to be implemented through the money. The province of which the city of Basra is the capital is among the most backward in Iraq, suffering from the lack of basic services like clean water, power and health.
Saadoun said the money will be spent on a variety of public service projects and will cover the whole of the province and not only the provincial center. But the money dedicated for Basra city municipality will be released immediately, he said, urging the inhabitants to cooperate to bring ‘Basra’s reconstruction to success.’
Saadoun said the money was not enough and urged the central government to funnel more resources to the province. He said the council is demanding ‘a special budget’ for Basra to be deducted directly from the country’s oil revenues. Almost all of Iraq’s current oil exports originate in the province.
Saadoun said the money will be spent on a variety of public service projects and will cover the whole of the province and not only the provincial center. But the money dedicated for Basra city municipality will be released immediately, he said, urging the inhabitants to cooperate to bring ‘Basra’s reconstruction to success.’
Saadoun said the money was not enough and urged the central government to funnel more resources to the province. He said the council is demanding ‘a special budget’ for Basra to be deducted directly from the country’s oil revenues. Almost all of Iraq’s current oil exports originate in the province.
Labels: Basra, Mohammed Saadoun, reconstruction
Insurgent groups fighting against al-Qaeda in Iraq
Security, Tribal
(AP) - At least two major insurgent groups are battling al-Qaida in provinces outside Baghdad, American military commanders said Friday, an indication of a deepening rift between Sunni guerrilla groups in Iraq. U.S. officers say a growing number of Sunni tribes are turning against al-Qaida, repelled by the terror group's sheer brutality and austere religious extremism. The tribes are competing with al-Qaida for influence and control over diminishing territory in the face of U.S. assaults, the officers say. The influx of Sunni fighters to areas outside the capital in advance of the security crackdown in Baghdad may have further unsettled the region.
Even Sunnis who want to cooperate with the Shiite-led government are becoming more emboldened to speak out against al-Qaida. In Anbar province, more than 200 Sunni sheiks have decided to form a political party to oppose the terror group, participants said Friday. The clashes have erupted over the last two to three months, pitting al-Qaida in Iraq against the nationalist 1920 Revolution Brigades in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces north of Baghdad as well as Anbar to the west, U.S. officers said. In Diyala, another hard-line militant Sunni group, the Ansar al-Sunna Army, is also fighting al-Qaida, they said.
"It's happening daily," Lt. Col. Keith Gogas said Thursday in an interview at an Army base in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. "Our read on it is that that the more moderate, if you will, Sunni insurgents, are finding that their goals and al-Qaida's goals are at odds." American commanders cite al-Qaida's severe brand of Islam, which is so extreme that in Baqouba, al-Qaida has warned street vendors not to place tomatoes beside cucumbers because the vegetables are different genders, Col. David Sutherland said.
Such radicalism has fueled sectarian violence in Iraq and redrawn the demographics of many mixed Sunni-Shiite towns in Diyala, where tens of thousands of Shiites have been forced to flee large population centers. Previously 55 percent Sunni, 45 percent Shiite, Baqouba, where rival insurgents also have clashed, is today 80 percent Sunni and 20 percent Shiite, Sutherland said. The rift among insurgents has also been sparked by reports that some militants have been negotiating with the government and U.S. officials, who are trying to draw Sunni groups away from al-Qaida. Iraqi police and security forces, not Americans, have been negotiating with 1920 Revolution Brigades fighters, who have said "they want some help against al-Qaida," Baker said.
In a recent interview on Al-Jazeera TV, Ibrahim al-Shimmari, a spokesman for a rival group, Islamic Army in Iraq, said he did not recognize al-Qaida's claim to constitute a state. He said there could be no state "under crusader occupation" and vowed resistance against both American forces and Iran, which has close ties to the Shiite majority in Iraq.
The Islamic Army accuses al-Qaida of killing 30 of its members. Al-Shimmari also accuses al-Qaida of assassinating the leader of the 1920s Revolution Brigades, Harith Dhaher al-Dhari, who died March 27 when gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades on his car outside Baghdad. The Islamic State in Iraq groups eight Sunni insurgent factions, including al-Qaida. Key Sunni insurgent groups are not part of the coalition, including the Islamic Army of Iraq, the Ansar al-Sunna Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades.
"As tribe after tribe begins to reject al-Qaida, we are witnessing an escalation in violence by AQI (al-Qaida in Iraq) against the tribes," said Maj. Jeff Pool, military spokesman for Anbar. "East of Fallujah in the Zaidon and Zoba'a districts ... 1920 Revolution Brigades are fighting large-scale battles with AQI across their tribal areas."
Speaking in Baqouba, Mixon said that "less and less of the population, by way of the tribes, is willing to be dominated by these groups because if they are, then the tribe loses its influence in the area." And, "because of pressure we have put on them in certain areas, they have begun vying for control of space and the population," he said.
Even Sunnis who want to cooperate with the Shiite-led government are becoming more emboldened to speak out against al-Qaida. In Anbar province, more than 200 Sunni sheiks have decided to form a political party to oppose the terror group, participants said Friday. The clashes have erupted over the last two to three months, pitting al-Qaida in Iraq against the nationalist 1920 Revolution Brigades in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces north of Baghdad as well as Anbar to the west, U.S. officers said. In Diyala, another hard-line militant Sunni group, the Ansar al-Sunna Army, is also fighting al-Qaida, they said.
"It's happening daily," Lt. Col. Keith Gogas said Thursday in an interview at an Army base in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. "Our read on it is that that the more moderate, if you will, Sunni insurgents, are finding that their goals and al-Qaida's goals are at odds." American commanders cite al-Qaida's severe brand of Islam, which is so extreme that in Baqouba, al-Qaida has warned street vendors not to place tomatoes beside cucumbers because the vegetables are different genders, Col. David Sutherland said.
Such radicalism has fueled sectarian violence in Iraq and redrawn the demographics of many mixed Sunni-Shiite towns in Diyala, where tens of thousands of Shiites have been forced to flee large population centers. Previously 55 percent Sunni, 45 percent Shiite, Baqouba, where rival insurgents also have clashed, is today 80 percent Sunni and 20 percent Shiite, Sutherland said. The rift among insurgents has also been sparked by reports that some militants have been negotiating with the government and U.S. officials, who are trying to draw Sunni groups away from al-Qaida. Iraqi police and security forces, not Americans, have been negotiating with 1920 Revolution Brigades fighters, who have said "they want some help against al-Qaida," Baker said.
In a recent interview on Al-Jazeera TV, Ibrahim al-Shimmari, a spokesman for a rival group, Islamic Army in Iraq, said he did not recognize al-Qaida's claim to constitute a state. He said there could be no state "under crusader occupation" and vowed resistance against both American forces and Iran, which has close ties to the Shiite majority in Iraq.
The Islamic Army accuses al-Qaida of killing 30 of its members. Al-Shimmari also accuses al-Qaida of assassinating the leader of the 1920s Revolution Brigades, Harith Dhaher al-Dhari, who died March 27 when gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades on his car outside Baghdad. The Islamic State in Iraq groups eight Sunni insurgent factions, including al-Qaida. Key Sunni insurgent groups are not part of the coalition, including the Islamic Army of Iraq, the Ansar al-Sunna Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades.
"As tribe after tribe begins to reject al-Qaida, we are witnessing an escalation in violence by AQI (al-Qaida in Iraq) against the tribes," said Maj. Jeff Pool, military spokesman for Anbar. "East of Fallujah in the Zaidon and Zoba'a districts ... 1920 Revolution Brigades are fighting large-scale battles with AQI across their tribal areas."
Speaking in Baqouba, Mixon said that "less and less of the population, by way of the tribes, is willing to be dominated by these groups because if they are, then the tribe loses its influence in the area." And, "because of pressure we have put on them in certain areas, they have begun vying for control of space and the population," he said.
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Ansar al-Sunnah, Baqouba, Diyala, Salahuddin, Sunni guerillas, Sunni tribes, the 1920 Revolution Brigades
E.U. - no urgent need to accept more Iraqi refugees
Humanitarian
(AP) - European Union nations said Friday there was no urgent need to accept more Iraqi refugees, agreeing only to consider sending more humanitarian aid to Syria and Jordan to take in Iraqis. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters that EU justice and interior ministers did not consider the current refugee crisis urgent enough for Europe to open its doors to more asylum-seekers from Iraq.
"The situation is not such at the moment that we have to start emergency measures. At the moment, the problem is such that we should try to tackle it locally in the region," Schaeuble said. "The amount of money we can use to resettle them here could best be spent there because you can help ten times more refugees there."
However, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said he would set aside up to $9.5 million in special funds to help EU nations if they want to take in more Iraqis. EU officials also said that on top of $15.2 million already sent to Jordan, Syria and Iraq to help pay for housing, feeding and hosting fleeing Iraqis, they were readying an additional $13.6 million, which could be disbursed later this year.
The U.N. refugee agency and human rights groups have urged the EU to help ease the burden on Jordan and Syria and take in more Iraqis until the security situation in Iraq improves. About 50,000 people continue to flee Iraq every month, mostly to those two countries, according to the UNHCR.
"The situation is not such at the moment that we have to start emergency measures. At the moment, the problem is such that we should try to tackle it locally in the region," Schaeuble said. "The amount of money we can use to resettle them here could best be spent there because you can help ten times more refugees there."
However, EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini said he would set aside up to $9.5 million in special funds to help EU nations if they want to take in more Iraqis. EU officials also said that on top of $15.2 million already sent to Jordan, Syria and Iraq to help pay for housing, feeding and hosting fleeing Iraqis, they were readying an additional $13.6 million, which could be disbursed later this year.
The U.N. refugee agency and human rights groups have urged the EU to help ease the burden on Jordan and Syria and take in more Iraqis until the security situation in Iraq improves. About 50,000 people continue to flee Iraq every month, mostly to those two countries, according to the UNHCR.
Labels: E.U., Franco Frattini, humanitarian aid, Iraqi refugees, Jordan, Syria, UNHCR, Wolfgang Schaeuble
Kurdistan's prime minister to visit Iran
Kurdistan, Iran
(RFE/RL) - Kurdistan regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announced on April 19 that he will visit Iran in the coming days to discuss the issue of terrorists crossing the Iranian border into the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, "Ibril Peyamner" reported. "We have had a thorough follow-up on the recent failed terrorist attack against a border point in Pinjwin," east of Al-Sulaymaniyah, Barzani said. "We take those events very seriously because they pose a threat to the security and stability of our region." Kurdish officials have indicated that the Iraqi Kurdistan-Iranian border region has been used as an entry point by the terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam to infiltrate Iraq and carry out attacks.
Labels: Ansar al-Islam, border, Iran, Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani
Major immunisation campaign launched
Health
(BBC) - A major immunisation campaign is to take place in Iraq in a bid to prevent an outbreak of measles.
The World Health Organization and Unicef are overseeing the work of 8,000 volunteers who aim to give up to 3.9 million children the MMR vaccine. The children, aged one to five, have missed out on their routine jabs because of the instability in Iraq. Health experts warn measles could kill up to 10% of infected children if an epidemic took hold.
Iraq's Ministry of Health is organising the two-week MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) immunisation campaign, which is also being funded by the European Commission. Dr Naeema Al-Ghasser, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Iraq, said: "All children between 12-59 months everywhere in Iraq need to be immunised, even if they have had the vaccine before. The vaccine is safe and effective, and gives lifelong immunity against measles."
Roger Wright, Unicef special representative for Iraq added: "The timing of this MMR campaign is critical. "This vaccine will certainly save many young lives and we are calling on everyone in Iraq to ensure vaccinators reach children safely over the next two weeks." The campaign is part of Iraq's Measles Elimination Plan, which has so far reduced the incidence of measles cases nearly 20-fold - from 9,181 in 2004 to under 500 last year.
Unicef recently called for increased funding for its work in Iraq. It says it urgently needs an initial $20m - of which only 11% has been received to date.
The World Health Organization and Unicef are overseeing the work of 8,000 volunteers who aim to give up to 3.9 million children the MMR vaccine. The children, aged one to five, have missed out on their routine jabs because of the instability in Iraq. Health experts warn measles could kill up to 10% of infected children if an epidemic took hold.
Iraq's Ministry of Health is organising the two-week MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) immunisation campaign, which is also being funded by the European Commission. Dr Naeema Al-Ghasser, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Iraq, said: "All children between 12-59 months everywhere in Iraq need to be immunised, even if they have had the vaccine before. The vaccine is safe and effective, and gives lifelong immunity against measles."
Roger Wright, Unicef special representative for Iraq added: "The timing of this MMR campaign is critical. "This vaccine will certainly save many young lives and we are calling on everyone in Iraq to ensure vaccinators reach children safely over the next two weeks." The campaign is part of Iraq's Measles Elimination Plan, which has so far reduced the incidence of measles cases nearly 20-fold - from 9,181 in 2004 to under 500 last year.
Unicef recently called for increased funding for its work in Iraq. It says it urgently needs an initial $20m - of which only 11% has been received to date.
Labels: children, Dr Naeema Al-Ghasser, Iraq, measles, Ministry of Health, MMR, Roger Wright, UNICEF, WHO
Friday, April 20, 2007
INM daily summary – 20 April 2007
Scroll down for full articles.
- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on an announced visit to Iraq, says the U.S. commitment to the war in Iraq is not open-ended.
- U.S. soldiers are building a three-mile wall to protect Azamiyah, a Sunni Arab enclave surrounded by Shiite neighborhoods in a Baghdad area.
- The Islamic State of Iraq announced in a 5:10 minute web video produced and issued to jihadist forums on Thursday, April 19, 2007, the establishment of the cabinet of the “first Islamic administration”.
- Iraq's use of the death penalty has risen rapidly since it was reinstated in mid-2004 and it now ranks as the country with the fourth-highest rate of executions in the world, Amnesty International said.
- The provincial council in Kirkuk has allocated $5 million for the construction of a new airport in the province.
- Grand Aytollah Ali Sistani has forbidden the killing of Muslims in Iraq and has urged the government to disarm all militia groups in the country.
- Iraqi Finance Minister Baqer Jabur Solagh urged his Egyptian counterpart Boutros Ghali to wipe out the huge debts owed by the Iraqi government.
- The son of the Iraqi deputy interior minister was killed along with three bodyguards by a group of gunmen in the northern Iraqi town of Shurqat, 80 km south of Mosul.
- Equipment to detect explosive charges was delivered to Iraq to be used soon, a senior Iraqi official said on Thursday.
- The northern Iraqi city of Mosul has been placed under curfew from Thursday at 8:00 pm till further notice, Ninewa TV said.
- Clashes have erupted near the Baiyaa mosque mosque in western Baghdad before Friday prayers, witnesses and local media said.
- A group of Sunni tribal leaders in beleaguered Al Anbar province said Thursday that it intended to form a national party to oppose insurgents such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and reengage with Iraq's political process.
- The son of prominent Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim came under attack in a town south of Baghdad in which six of his security personnel were wounded, officials said Friday.
- The Kuwaiti Gulf Company for Petroleum Investment (Petro-Gulf) said on Saturday that it intends to assist in building an oil refinery at an investment of $ 130 million in northern Iraq with two others partners.
- Iraq's Oil Minister said that the ministry is reviewing Kuwait's appeal for natural gas though Iraq's domestic market.
- Authorities in the volatile Iraqi town of Tal Afar have imposed an indefinite curfew after militants distributed leaflets threatening to carry out chemical attacks.
Curfew imposed on Tal Afar
Security
(Reuters) - Authorities in the volatile Iraqi town of Tal Afar have imposed an indefinite curfew after militants distributed leaflets threatening to carry out chemical attacks, local officials said on Friday. Dozens of families have fled the religiously mixed town in northwestern Iraq in recent days after militants urged Sunni Muslim residents to leave the area.
Suspected Sunni al Qaeda militants killed 152 people with a truck bomb in Tal Afar last month -- the deadliest single insurgent attack in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. That attack sparked reprisal killings by Shi'ite gunmen and Iraqi police in a Sunni district that left 47 dead. Most of Tal Afar's residents are Shi'ite and Sunni ethnic Turkmen.
"We have imposed a total curfew from April 19th ... to calm people because these statements are not serious. We do not think that these groups have the capability to launch attacks using chemical weapons," said Najim al Jibouri, Tal Afar's mayor. "These groups only want to scare people," he said.
Insurgents across Iraq have recently turned to car and truck bombs that spew out poisonous chlorine gas. When an explosion turns chlorine from solid or liquid form into gas, it causes severe burns when inhaled and can be lethal. Lieutenant Colonel Ali Hadi said most of the families who have fled Tal Afar are Sunnis. Those who have left since the reprisal killings last month have taken shelter in a camp set up for refugees in the nearby city of Mosul.
Suspected Sunni al Qaeda militants killed 152 people with a truck bomb in Tal Afar last month -- the deadliest single insurgent attack in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. That attack sparked reprisal killings by Shi'ite gunmen and Iraqi police in a Sunni district that left 47 dead. Most of Tal Afar's residents are Shi'ite and Sunni ethnic Turkmen.
"We have imposed a total curfew from April 19th ... to calm people because these statements are not serious. We do not think that these groups have the capability to launch attacks using chemical weapons," said Najim al Jibouri, Tal Afar's mayor. "These groups only want to scare people," he said.
Insurgents across Iraq have recently turned to car and truck bombs that spew out poisonous chlorine gas. When an explosion turns chlorine from solid or liquid form into gas, it causes severe burns when inhaled and can be lethal. Lieutenant Colonel Ali Hadi said most of the families who have fled Tal Afar are Sunnis. Those who have left since the reprisal killings last month have taken shelter in a camp set up for refugees in the nearby city of Mosul.
Labels: chemical attacks, curfew, Tal Afar
Iraq reviews Kuwait gas request
Gas, Kuwait
(MENAFN) - Iraq's Oil Minister said that the ministry is reviewing Kuwait's appeal for natural gas though Iraq's domestic market will be the priority, Gulf News reported. He went on to state that Iraq's central government will utilize the gas for supplying the country's power plants. A senior Kuwaiti Oil Ministry official announced that the Kuwaiti government will conduct further discussions with Iraqi officials in the near future on Kuwait's request and does not discard the possibility gas imports to start by the end of 2007. It is worth mentioning that the Kuwaiti government signed a preliminary contract with Iraq three years ago to purchase a maximum of 200 million cubic feet of Iraqi gas per day, though the agreement has not yet been fulfilled.
(MENAFN) - Iraq's Oil Minister said that the ministry is reviewing Kuwait's appeal for natural gas though Iraq's domestic market will be the priority, Gulf News reported. He went on to state that Iraq's central government will utilize the gas for supplying the country's power plants. A senior Kuwaiti Oil Ministry official announced that the Kuwaiti government will conduct further discussions with Iraqi officials in the near future on Kuwait's request and does not discard the possibility gas imports to start by the end of 2007. It is worth mentioning that the Kuwaiti government signed a preliminary contract with Iraq three years ago to purchase a maximum of 200 million cubic feet of Iraqi gas per day, though the agreement has not yet been fulfilled.
Labels: 10th Iraqi Army division, Gas, Kuwait
Petro-Gulf to assist in building $130 mn oil refinery
Oil, Business
(IRAQdirectory) - The Kuwaiti Gulf Company for Petroleum Investment (Petro-Gulf) said on Saturday that it intends to assist in building an oil refinery at an investment of $ 130 million in northern Iraq with two others partners. According to a statement published on the Kuwaiti bourse web site on the Internet, the Company said that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Turkish group Chokorova to build a refinery with the capacity of 20 thousand barrels a day within other oil projects.
The statement also mentioned that the other partner is the Company of Taqat which is a contributor in Petro-Gulf Company. The statement added that the refinery is expected to be ready for operation within a year and a half. Petro-Gulf Company, which works in the oil fields business such as drilling operations and engineering operations of the upstream and downstream activities, will own 10% in the refinery project.
Labels: Chokorova, northern Iraq, oil refinery, Petro-Gulf, Taqat
Al-Hakim's son attacked
Politics, Security
(AFP) - The son of prominent Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim came under attack in a town south of Baghdad in which six of his security personnel were wounded, officials said Friday. Ammar al-Hakim, himself a well-known cleric and politician, was on his way to Baghdad from the Shiite holy city of Najaf when gunmen fired on his convoy as it passed the town of Latifiyah, Najaf provincial spokesman Ahmed Duaibl said.
"The convoy came under attack in Latifiyah. It was fired at from a distance," he told AFP, adding that it may have been an opportunistic attack on an official-looking motorcade rather than a planned assassination bid. An official from Hakim's office said four police escorts and two of his personal bodyguards were wounded in the attack. Hakim escaped unhurt, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Latifiyah, located in a region south of Baghdad dubbed the triangle of death, is notorious for such attacks as armed gangs randomly fire on passing convoys. Hakim senior heads the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Shiite former rebel group that is one of the leading factions in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's governing coalition. The Shiite faithful consider both men to be sayyids, or descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. Their party was founded in exile in Iran and retains links to the Tehran government.
In February, US troops detained Ammar al-Hakim for several hours after his convoy crossed back into Iraq from Iran, accusing him and his guards of behaving suspiciously during a search of their vehicles. The arrest triggered SCIRI-sponsored street protests and he was released.
"The convoy came under attack in Latifiyah. It was fired at from a distance," he told AFP, adding that it may have been an opportunistic attack on an official-looking motorcade rather than a planned assassination bid. An official from Hakim's office said four police escorts and two of his personal bodyguards were wounded in the attack. Hakim escaped unhurt, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Latifiyah, located in a region south of Baghdad dubbed the triangle of death, is notorious for such attacks as armed gangs randomly fire on passing convoys. Hakim senior heads the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Shiite former rebel group that is one of the leading factions in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's governing coalition. The Shiite faithful consider both men to be sayyids, or descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. Their party was founded in exile in Iran and retains links to the Tehran government.
In February, US troops detained Ammar al-Hakim for several hours after his convoy crossed back into Iraq from Iran, accusing him and his guards of behaving suspiciously during a search of their vehicles. The arrest triggered SCIRI-sponsored street protests and he was released.
Labels: Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, Ammar al-Hakim, gunmen, Latifiyah
Anbar tribes to form political coalition
Politics, Tribal
(LA Times) - A group of Sunni tribal leaders in beleaguered Al Anbar province said Thursday that it intended to form a national party to oppose insurgents such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and reengage with Iraq's political process. The announcement came after 200 sheiks said to represent 50 tribes met and agreed to form a provincial sheiks council and hold the first convention in May of their new party, called Iraq Awakening. Sheiks from three other provinces will attend, organizers said.
The driving force behind the new party, Sheik Abdul-Sattar abu Risha, said in an interview that the tribal leaders would be pushing a slate of candidates in Al Anbar provincial elections later this year, as well as in the next round of national parliamentary balloting, scheduled for 2009. One purpose of the party, Sattar said, is to promote a better image of American-led forces "to the Iraqis here." He added that the tribes also would participate in a U.S.-backed effort to reestablish a court system in Ramadi, the provincial capital.
The sheik is a leader of the Abu Risha tribe that is part of the larger Dulaimi tribal confederation in Al Anbar. His grab for power has been resented by some. His base of support remains around Ramadi, although he has been trying to reach out to other branches of the Dulaimi tribe around the province. Still, his history remains the subject of speculation, and others are wary of him, even though they may seek nominal affiliation with his movement as tribal leaders move to battle Al Qaeda in Iraq and its affiliates.
U.S. military leaders here said they were cheered by the announcement because cooperation from sheiks in Al Anbar in recent months had contributed to a rise in Iraqi police and army recruitment and a sharp reduction in insurgent attacks on U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies.
Al Anbar Gov. Mamoun Sami Rasheed said Thursday that the sheiks marginalized themselves by refusing to participate in Iraq's 2005 elections and, in some cases, supporting the Al Qaeda in Iraq organization. The sheiks in turn have mocked some of the provincial representatives for being absentee politicians with no local track record. Sattar said the sheiks council would offer "full accountability for anyone in his tribe. Also they will know of any strangers — man, woman or child — who try to mix in their neighborhoods."
Analysts who lauded the sheiks' announcement as well as U.S. efforts to work with them cautioned that the political situation remained fluid. "It's only now that the United States appears convinced of the need to build up local support against Al Qaeda," said Joost Hiltermann, a consultant with the International Crisis Group in Amman, the capital of Jordan. "What these people want is a restoration of Sunni power, or a preservation of certain privileges, or more simply, protection of their community from the Shiite majority and Iran."
Vali Nasr, a Middle East expert at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., said the "most important result may not be in the battlefield but in producing new Sunni voices that Shiites and Kurds can negotiate with." Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution in Washington said that improving U.S. relations with Sunni sheiks made "eminent sense" but that officials needed to be thinking about the "next step." "We need better contacts among Sunnis for the purposes of negotiating an end to the civil war," he said, "and this could create an opportunity to create partners in the larger project while also serving an immediate need."
Labels: Abu Risha tribe, Al Anbar, Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraq Awakening, politics, provincial elections, Sheik Abdul-Sattar abu Risha, Sunni tribal leaders
Clashes erupt near Baghdad mosque
Security
(Gulf News) - Clashes have erupted near a mosque in western Baghdad before Friday prayers, witnesses and local media said. Witness Basim Abu Ali told the Associated Press that US helicopter gunships and tanks fired on the Baiyaa mosque opened fire on "unarmed worshippers heading for prayers." He said four people were killed and seven others hurt. Parts of the mosque were damaged, he said. Iraqi police and the US military could not confirm the incident. State television also reported a "coalition jet fighter" bombed the Baiyaa mosque but gave no further details.
Labels: Baghdad, Baiyaa mosque, clashes
Mosul placed under curfew
Security
(Voices of Iraq) - The northern Iraqi city of Mosul has been placed under curfew from Thursday at 8:00 pm till further notice, Ninewa TV said. "Ninewa governor Duraid Mohammed Kashmula imposed curfew from Thursday 8:00 pm till further notice," the official Ninewa TV said. The local channel did not give the cause of the curfew but Ninewa police chief General Wathiq Mohammed al-Hamdani told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) "the imposition of the curfew was made to start a new security plan."
Labels: curfew, Duraid Mohammed Kashmula, Mosul
Iraqis to start using bomb detection equipment
Security
(VOI) – Equipment to detect explosive charges was delivered to Iraq to be used soon, a senior Iraqi official said on Thursday. "High tech sophisticated equipment for detecting car bombs and explosive charges was delivered to Iraqi authorities," director of the National Command Centre at the Interior Ministry General, Abdul Karim al-Juburi, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The new equipment will be used throughout Iraq soon," he added. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in explosions by car bombs and explosive charges.
Labels: Abdul Karim al-Juburi, bomb detection, car bombs, explosive charges
Deputy interior minister's son killed
Politics, Security
(VOI) – The son of the Iraqi deputy interior minister was killed along with three bodyguards by a group of gunmen in the northern Iraqi town of Shurqat, 80 km south of Mosul, while policemen found two bodies inside a civilian car in the town, a security source in the Shurqat police department said on Thursday. "An armed group opened fire at Muthanna Mohammad Khalaf al-Juburi, son of deputy interior minister, inside his car in central Shurqat, south of Mosul, killing him on the spot along with three bodyguards," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The unidentified attackers showered the car with bullets, setting it ablaze," he added. Meanwhile, police forces found two unidentified bullet-riddled bodies inside a civilian vehicle, along with a third man who was seriously injured, the source also said, adding no further details.
Labels: deputy minister of interior, Muthanna Mohammad Khalaf al-Juburi, Shurqat
Iraq appeals to Egypt to wipe out Iraqi debts owed
Finance, International
(VOI) – Iraqi Finance Minister Baqer Jabur Solagh urged his Egyptian counterpart Boutros Ghali to wipe out the huge debts owed by the Iraqi government, as Egypt is the host country for the international conference on Iraq this May."The Egyptian minister presented the idea to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and vowed to forgive Iraq's debts by 100% as a sign of Egypt's support of the Iraqi government," the Iraqi Finance Ministry said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
"There are (also) good signs from Saudi Arabia on forgiving Iraq's debts. Iraqis are looking for such a step, especially from Arab neighboring countries," the statement added. "There are also contacts and talks with Kuwait and Turkey for the same purpose," it noted. "The Iraqi minister also met with his Slovenian counterpart to urge him to wipe out Iraq's debts, highlighting the importance of Slovenian participation in Iraq's conference," the statement said. The conference will be held at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from 3-4 May, 2007.
Labels: Baqer Jabur Solagh, Boutros Ghali, debt, Egypt, Iraqi government, Kuwait, Turkey
Sistani urges government to disarm all militia groups
Security, Religion
(Azzaman) - Grand Aytollah Ali Sistani has forbidden the killing of Muslims in Iraq and has urged the government to disarm all militia groups in the country. Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, made the call in a meeting which grouped both Muslim Shiite and Sunni clergy from the provinces of Baghdad, Basra, Diyala, Tikreet, Ramadi, Kirkuk and the Kurdish region.
The visit was to explore ways of ending the current sectarian strife in the country and methods to bring about national reconciliation. “We have come to visit (Sistani) to back the project of national reconciliation … Sistani has forbidden the shedding of blood of all Muslims and reiterated the necessity of the state being the sole possessor of arms in Iraq,” said Sheikh Mohammed Talabani, a Sunni cleric and head of the delegation.
Ali Khafaji, another cleric in the delegation, said the visit was to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that both Shiite and Sunni clergy were against the shedding of Muslim blood. “The visit was to spread the spirit of love among the sons of one nation and put an end to discord and confront those sowing it,” he said.
The visit was to explore ways of ending the current sectarian strife in the country and methods to bring about national reconciliation. “We have come to visit (Sistani) to back the project of national reconciliation … Sistani has forbidden the shedding of blood of all Muslims and reiterated the necessity of the state being the sole possessor of arms in Iraq,” said Sheikh Mohammed Talabani, a Sunni cleric and head of the delegation.
Ali Khafaji, another cleric in the delegation, said the visit was to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that both Shiite and Sunni clergy were against the shedding of Muslim blood. “The visit was to spread the spirit of love among the sons of one nation and put an end to discord and confront those sowing it,” he said.
Labels: Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, disarmament, militias, Sheikh Mohammed Talabani, Sunni clerics
$5 mn airport for Kirkuk
Construction
(Azzaman) - The provincial council in Kirkuk has allocated $5 million for the construction of a new airport in the province. The oil rich city of Kirkuk is the capital of the province and is currently a bone of contention between various Iraqi ethnic groups due to its massive oil reserves. The airport is one of 52 other projects the council plans to implement in the province this year. They include water purification plants, pavement of roads, parks, housing schemes and other public service projects.
Labels: airport, construction, Kirkuk
Amnesty - Iraq has fourth highest rate of executions worldwide
Humanitarian
(Reuters) - Iraq's use of the death penalty has risen rapidly since it was reinstated in mid-2004 and it now ranks as the country with the fourth-highest rate of executions in the world, Amnesty International said on Friday. The London-based human rights group said in a report that Iraq had sentenced more than 270 people to death since sovereignty was handed back to the Iraqis by the Americans in mid-2004. Of those, at least 100 have so far been executed.
"Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006," the group said. "Higher totals were recorded only in China, Iran and Pakistan." Among those to have been executed are former president Saddam Hussein and three of his closest advisers who were convicted last year of crimes against humanity for their part in scores of deaths in the 1980s. But beyond those high-profile executions, which Amnesty said took place after a trial that "failed to meet international fair trial standards", the rights group said it was also concerned about lower-key cases in the Iraqi Central Criminal Court.
Death sentences are frequently handed down after very brief trials in which defendants are poorly represented, seldom allowed to give evidence and are often tortured into making confessions that are then used against them. "The restoration of the death penalty in Iraq and its extension to additional crimes was a grave and retrograde step," Amnesty said. "More than this, it was a grievously short-sighted development, one that has contributed to, rather than helped alleviate, the continuing crisis in Iraq." The group urged Iraq to introduce a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty, which is opposed by the European Union and the United Nations but remains common in the United States.
"Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006," the group said. "Higher totals were recorded only in China, Iran and Pakistan." Among those to have been executed are former president Saddam Hussein and three of his closest advisers who were convicted last year of crimes against humanity for their part in scores of deaths in the 1980s. But beyond those high-profile executions, which Amnesty said took place after a trial that "failed to meet international fair trial standards", the rights group said it was also concerned about lower-key cases in the Iraqi Central Criminal Court.
Death sentences are frequently handed down after very brief trials in which defendants are poorly represented, seldom allowed to give evidence and are often tortured into making confessions that are then used against them. "The restoration of the death penalty in Iraq and its extension to additional crimes was a grave and retrograde step," Amnesty said. "More than this, it was a grievously short-sighted development, one that has contributed to, rather than helped alleviate, the continuing crisis in Iraq." The group urged Iraq to introduce a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty, which is opposed by the European Union and the United Nations but remains common in the United States.
Labels: Amnesty International, death penalty, executions
Islamic State of Iraq announces establishment of cabinet
Insurgency
(SITE) - The Islamic State of Iraq announced in a 5:10 minute produced and issued to jihadist forums on Thursday, April 19, 2007, by its al-Furqan Foundation for Media Production, the establishment of the cabinet of the “first Islamic administration”. An individual indicated to be the official spokesman for the Islamic State sits at a desk with his face blurred, naming the ten Ministers in the group’s “cabinet” beneath the emir, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi:
Sheikh Abu Abdul Rahman al-Falahi as First Minister for the Emir of the Believers
Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Minister of War
Professor Sheikh Abu Uthman al-Tamimi, Minster of Shari’ah Affairs
Professor Abu Bakr al-Jabouri, Minister of Public Relations
Professor Abu Abdul Jabar al-Janabi, Minister of Security
Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Mashadani, Minister of Information
Professor Abu Khadr al-Eissawi, Minister of Martyrs and Prisoners Affairs
Engineer Abu Ahmed al-Janabi, Minister of Oil
Professor Mustafa al-A’araji, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Professor Dr. Abu Abdullah al-Zabadi, Minister of Health
From prior communications from the Islamic State of Iraq and its Emir, the group portrays itself as functioning as a state and governing body, possessing means of taxation and jurisprudence, the Mujahideen acting as arbiters, and providing security to Muslims. This latest propaganda of naming ministers is another step within these actions. The announcement unveiling an "Islamic Cabinet" for Iraq appeared to have multiple aims. One was to present the Islamic State of Iraq coalition as a "legitimate" alternative to the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and to demonstrate that it was growing in power despite the U.S. military push against insurgents.
It also likely sought to establish the coalition's dominance among insurgents after an embarrassing public dispute with other Iraqi Sunni militants. The Islamic State of Iraq is a coalition of eight insurgent groups, the most powerful of them al-Qaida in Iraq. It was first announced in October, claiming to hold territory in the Sunni-dominated areas of western and central Iraq.
Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the "war minister" is the name announced as the successor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in the summer of 2006. The U.S. military and Iraqi government have identified him by another pseudonym, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The names listed by the spokesman were all pseudonyms and their real names were not known, though the pseudonyms included the names of some major Sunni Arab tribes. The video came on the heels of a rare public dispute between the coalition and other insurgent groups.
Sheikh Abu Abdul Rahman al-Falahi as First Minister for the Emir of the Believers
Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Minister of War
Professor Sheikh Abu Uthman al-Tamimi, Minster of Shari’ah Affairs
Professor Abu Bakr al-Jabouri, Minister of Public Relations
Professor Abu Abdul Jabar al-Janabi, Minister of Security
Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Mashadani, Minister of Information
Professor Abu Khadr al-Eissawi, Minister of Martyrs and Prisoners Affairs
Engineer Abu Ahmed al-Janabi, Minister of Oil
Professor Mustafa al-A’araji, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Professor Dr. Abu Abdullah al-Zabadi, Minister of Health
From prior communications from the Islamic State of Iraq and its Emir, the group portrays itself as functioning as a state and governing body, possessing means of taxation and jurisprudence, the Mujahideen acting as arbiters, and providing security to Muslims. This latest propaganda of naming ministers is another step within these actions. The announcement unveiling an "Islamic Cabinet" for Iraq appeared to have multiple aims. One was to present the Islamic State of Iraq coalition as a "legitimate" alternative to the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and to demonstrate that it was growing in power despite the U.S. military push against insurgents.
It also likely sought to establish the coalition's dominance among insurgents after an embarrassing public dispute with other Iraqi Sunni militants. The Islamic State of Iraq is a coalition of eight insurgent groups, the most powerful of them al-Qaida in Iraq. It was first announced in October, claiming to hold territory in the Sunni-dominated areas of western and central Iraq.
Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the "war minister" is the name announced as the successor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in the summer of 2006. The U.S. military and Iraqi government have identified him by another pseudonym, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The names listed by the spokesman were all pseudonyms and their real names were not known, though the pseudonyms included the names of some major Sunni Arab tribes. The video came on the heels of a rare public dispute between the coalition and other insurgent groups.
Labels: Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, cabinet, first Islamic administration, Islamic State of Iraq
Three-mile wall to protect Sunni part of Baghdad
Security
(AP) - U.S. soldiers are building a three-mile wall to protect a Sunni Arab enclave surrounded by Shiite neighborhoods in a Baghdad area "trapped in a spiral of sectarian violence and retaliation," the military said.
When the wall is finished, the minority Sunni community of Azamiyah, located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, will be completely gated, and traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers will provide the only means to enter it, the military said.
"Shiites are coming in and hitting Sunnis, and Sunnis are retaliating across the street," said Capt. Scott McLearn, of the U.S. 407th Brigade Support Battalion, which began the project April 10 and is working "almost nightly until the wall is complete," the statement said. It said the concrete wall, including barriers as tall as 12 feet, "is one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence" in Baghdad.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities such as Ramadi in an effort to prevent attacks, including suicide car bombs. American forces also have constructed huge sand barriers around towns such as Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border, to limit access to them.
The Wall Street Journal reported on April 5 that U.S. forces in the mostly Sunni area of Dora in southern Baghdad had erected massive concrete barriers to separate Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in an effort to stop widespread sectarian violence there. And Britain's Independent newspaper reported April 11 that U.S. forces are planning a counterinsurgency operation that would seal off large areas of Baghdad, using barricades to create "gated communities" that could only be entered with newly issued ID cards.
Currently, the U.S. strategy for stabilizing Iraq involves getting Iraqis to reconcile and support the democratically elected Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, and a security plan in the capital that calls for 28,000 additional American troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers. U.S. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the top spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, was quoted as saying Wednesday that he was unaware of any effort to build a wall dividing Shiite and Sunni enclaves in Baghdad and that such a tactic was not a policy of the Baghdad security plan.
When the wall is finished, the minority Sunni community of Azamiyah, located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, will be completely gated, and traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers will provide the only means to enter it, the military said.
"Shiites are coming in and hitting Sunnis, and Sunnis are retaliating across the street," said Capt. Scott McLearn, of the U.S. 407th Brigade Support Battalion, which began the project April 10 and is working "almost nightly until the wall is complete," the statement said. It said the concrete wall, including barriers as tall as 12 feet, "is one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence" in Baghdad.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities such as Ramadi in an effort to prevent attacks, including suicide car bombs. American forces also have constructed huge sand barriers around towns such as Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border, to limit access to them.
The Wall Street Journal reported on April 5 that U.S. forces in the mostly Sunni area of Dora in southern Baghdad had erected massive concrete barriers to separate Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in an effort to stop widespread sectarian violence there. And Britain's Independent newspaper reported April 11 that U.S. forces are planning a counterinsurgency operation that would seal off large areas of Baghdad, using barricades to create "gated communities" that could only be entered with newly issued ID cards.
Currently, the U.S. strategy for stabilizing Iraq involves getting Iraqis to reconcile and support the democratically elected Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, and a security plan in the capital that calls for 28,000 additional American troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers. U.S. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the top spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, was quoted as saying Wednesday that he was unaware of any effort to build a wall dividing Shiite and Sunni enclaves in Baghdad and that such a tactic was not a policy of the Baghdad security plan.
Labels: Azamiyah, Capt. Scott McLearn, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell
Gates: U.S. commitment to Iraq not open-ended
Security, U.S.
(RFE/RL) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on an announced visit to Iraq, says the U.S. commitment to the war in Iraq is not open-ended. Gates, who arrived in Baghad on April 19 from Israel, flew on by helicopter to Al-Fallujah along with the most senior U.S. military officials. In the city that was once the symbol of the Iraqi insurgency, Gates told reporters that "the clock is ticking." He added that he will tell Iraqi leaders that they must move faster on political reconciliation and in passing legislation on sharing oil revenues.
Gates' visit came one day after bombers killed more than 200 people in attacks mainly in Baghdad, and one week after a deadly bombing inside the Iraqi capital's heavily fortified Green Zone. Meanwhile, Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, said on April 19 that the war in Iraq "is lost." Reid told reporters in Washington that a U.S. troop surge ordered by President George W. Bush is failing to bring peace to Iraq.
Reid says he delivered the same message to Bush on April 18, when the president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war-funding bill. The senator said he believes the Iraq war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically. Congress is seeking to tie funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq next year. Bush has vowed to veto any such bill.
Labels: Fallujah, Iraq, Robert Gates, U.S.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
INM daily summary – 19 April 2007
Scroll down for full articles.
- Iraq's oil reserves are significantly untapped and daily production could be doubled within five years, a report has concluded.
- Iraqis vented their anger at a Baghdad security plan on Thursday, a day after almost 200 people were killed in attacks, including a truck bombing, the deadliest in the capital since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
- Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will not sign up to details in the emerging oil law that would centralise control of most of the country's reserves.
- In a new sign of the resurgence of death squads, both Sunni and Shia, despite an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi security operation, several dozen people were found dead across the country.
- The Committee for Women and Children in the Baghdad Governorate Council revealed in a press statement that there are over 300,000 widowed mothers and 900,000 orphaned children in Baghdad.
- A leader of one of the largest Sunni Arab tribes in Kirkuk denied news reports on the formation of a tribal force to combat Al-Qaeda elements in the oil-rich northern city.
- Attacks on Yazidis have surged recently and almost all Yazidi families living outside the autonomous Kurdish region have fled the country.
- Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani said on Wednesday the enactment of an oil and gas law is a national achievement for Iraq’s people, underlining that it would have a positive affect on Iraq’s unity.
- The Iraqi Islamic Party announced on Tuesday that two gunmen belonging to the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" had bombed two of its headquarters west of Baghdad, injuring and killing many people.
- The Ministry of Finance said that the number of countries that have reduced their debt on Iraq hit 54 states.
- In a joint statement issued on 14 April, nine Kurdistani parties announced that they "strongly criticize [Iraqi Premier] Nuri al-Maliki's government and demand that the government implement Article 140 without any delays and as scheduled.
- Suggestions will be made to beef up security in Karbala by increasing police forces and digging a trench around the city.
- In a new report, the International Crisis Group says two factors are to blame for growing tensions in Kirkuk: Kurdistan Regional Government insistence on a status referendum by year’s end, despite bitter Arab and Turkoman community opposition; and exploitation by Jihadi fighters.
- The bloc of Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr is debating its next move after quitting Iraq’s government, but its militia will not take up arms even after a wave of bombings in Shia areas in Baghdad
- Security round-up.
Round-up of violence across Iraq
Security
(Reuters) - Security developments in Iraq as of 1030 GMT on Thursday:
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a fuel tanker, killing 10 people and wounding 21 in the southern Jadriya district of Baghdad, police said.
KIRKUK - Gunmen wounded seven employees working in the North Oil Company when they attacked their vehicle in Kirkuk, police said.
BAQUBA - Gunmen attacked a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding five others in the religiously mixed city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi army killed 20 insurgents and arrested 84 others during the last 24 hours in operations across Iraq, police said.
SHIRQAT - Police said they found four charred dead bodies inside a car in the town of Shirqat, south of Mosul.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a fuel tanker, killing 10 people and wounding 21 in the southern Jadriya district of Baghdad, police said.
KIRKUK - Gunmen wounded seven employees working in the North Oil Company when they attacked their vehicle in Kirkuk, police said.
BAQUBA - Gunmen attacked a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding five others in the religiously mixed city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi army killed 20 insurgents and arrested 84 others during the last 24 hours in operations across Iraq, police said.
SHIRQAT - Police said they found four charred dead bodies inside a car in the town of Shirqat, south of Mosul.
Labels: Baghdad, Baqouba, car bomb, gunmen, Iraq, Kirkuk, North Oil Company, Shirqat, violence
Sadrists: Mahdi Army won't take up arms
Politics
(Reuters) - The bloc of Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr is debating its next move after quitting Iraq’s government, but its militia will not take up arms even after a wave of bombings in Shia areas in Baghdad, top Sadrists said.
Senior Sadr official Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri told Reuters on Thursday there were growing demands from ordinary Shias for the Mehdi Army militia to return to the streets in force, a day after car bombs killed 191 people. US and Iraqi officials have blamed Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda for the attacks.
“Iraqis won’t be patient for much longer. There is pressure from our people, pushing us to provide security but we can’t move without approval from the government,” Muteyri said. Muteyri’s remarks and those of other officials in Sadr’s movement signal that the fiery anti-American cleric still backs a two-month-old security plan in Baghdad that many see as a final attempt to halt all-out sectarian civil war.
When he pulled his six ministers from Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s government on Monday, one of the first concerns to emerge was whether Sadr would continue to rein in his militia. He ordered his ministers to quit over Maliki’s refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Sadrist lawmaker Bahaa Al Araji said the movement -- which has kept its parliamentary seats -- would stay in the political process. He declined to give specifics about the movement’s next steps, but indicated it would play the role of an opposition. “We will focus on monitoring the state from parliament where we have a large bloc,” he said.
Some analysts have said Sadr might have wanted to withdraw his ministers to distance himself from the government and the security crackdown, especially if the offensive fails or major attacks targeting Shias continue unabated. One prominent Sunni politician told Reuters on condition of anonymity that his community feared the Mehdi Army was just waiting for the day when US forces start to draw down.
“In recent weeks, I admit we’ve heard the voice of moderation from the movement but we’re afraid they’re waiting to weather the American storm and re-emerge to capitalise on the weakness of Iraqi forces once American soldiers leave,” he said. Muteyri denied Sadr’s movement would rebel again. “It’s difficult for us to return to armed resistance. The occupier managed to deplete our energy with bombings and terrorism so everyone’s fed up with bloodshed,” he said. The US military has detained hundreds of Sadr’s followers in recent months, including close aides of the youthful cleric.
Another senior Sadr official said the movement could split with the ruling Shia Alliance if other Shia parties in the bloc did not take a clear position on a timetable for pulling out US forces. “In future, we will only ally with those who believe the occupation is the root of our problems and who wish to speed up their departure,” he said. Sadr officials cited another reason for quitting the government as their disapproval of partisan quotas which they say cripples Maliki’s ability to govern -- a position some observers believe will increase the movement’s popularity by appearing to rise above party interests.
Senior Sadr official Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri told Reuters on Thursday there were growing demands from ordinary Shias for the Mehdi Army militia to return to the streets in force, a day after car bombs killed 191 people. US and Iraqi officials have blamed Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda for the attacks.
“Iraqis won’t be patient for much longer. There is pressure from our people, pushing us to provide security but we can’t move without approval from the government,” Muteyri said. Muteyri’s remarks and those of other officials in Sadr’s movement signal that the fiery anti-American cleric still backs a two-month-old security plan in Baghdad that many see as a final attempt to halt all-out sectarian civil war.
When he pulled his six ministers from Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s government on Monday, one of the first concerns to emerge was whether Sadr would continue to rein in his militia. He ordered his ministers to quit over Maliki’s refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Sadrist lawmaker Bahaa Al Araji said the movement -- which has kept its parliamentary seats -- would stay in the political process. He declined to give specifics about the movement’s next steps, but indicated it would play the role of an opposition. “We will focus on monitoring the state from parliament where we have a large bloc,” he said.
Some analysts have said Sadr might have wanted to withdraw his ministers to distance himself from the government and the security crackdown, especially if the offensive fails or major attacks targeting Shias continue unabated. One prominent Sunni politician told Reuters on condition of anonymity that his community feared the Mehdi Army was just waiting for the day when US forces start to draw down.
“In recent weeks, I admit we’ve heard the voice of moderation from the movement but we’re afraid they’re waiting to weather the American storm and re-emerge to capitalise on the weakness of Iraqi forces once American soldiers leave,” he said. Muteyri denied Sadr’s movement would rebel again. “It’s difficult for us to return to armed resistance. The occupier managed to deplete our energy with bombings and terrorism so everyone’s fed up with bloodshed,” he said. The US military has detained hundreds of Sadr’s followers in recent months, including close aides of the youthful cleric.
Another senior Sadr official said the movement could split with the ruling Shia Alliance if other Shia parties in the bloc did not take a clear position on a timetable for pulling out US forces. “In future, we will only ally with those who believe the occupation is the root of our problems and who wish to speed up their departure,” he said. Sadr officials cited another reason for quitting the government as their disapproval of partisan quotas which they say cripples Maliki’s ability to govern -- a position some observers believe will increase the movement’s popularity by appearing to rise above party interests.
Labels: Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri, Mahdi Army, Moqtada Al-Sadr, politics
ICG report - growing tensions in Kirkuk due to the KRG and Jihadis
Security
(ICG) - A new approach is urgently needed to settle the status of Kirkuk, where security is deteriorating and an explosion of ethnic tensions could destroy any gains anticipated from the U.S. surge in Baghdad.
Iraq and the Kurds: Resolving the Kirkuk Crisis,* the latest International Crisis Group report, examines the northern Iraqi city and region which are ethnically mixed and rich in oil. Two factors are to blame for growing tensions: Kurdistan Regional Government insistence on a status referendum by year’s end, despite bitter Arab and Turkoman community opposition; and exploitation by Jihadi fighters, who have found fertile ground for chaos by exacerbating communal tensions.
“The Bush administration is preoccupied with saving Iraq by its new security plan in Baghdad and has ignored the Kirkuk crisis”, says Joost Hiltermann, Crisis Group’s Deputy Middle East Director. “This neglect could cost the U.S. severely”.
Kurds consider Kirkuk a lost heirloom they are about to recover by following steps laid out in the Iraqi constitution. Arabs and Turkomans consider the process a rigged prelude to possible break-up of Iraq. Turkey fears both worsening of its own Kurdish problem if Iraqi Kurds gain Kirkuk and more chaos on its borders if Iraq breaks up.
With all sides dug in, debate should move off outcomes to focus on a fair and acceptable process. The U.S. should recognise the risks of explosion and press Kurds, Baghdad and Turkey alike to adjust policies. A referendum conducted against the wishes of the other communities in 2007 could cause the civil war to spread to the Kurdish region, until now Iraq’s only quiet area. A referendum postponed without a face-saving alternative could lead the Kurds to withdraw from the Maliki cabinet, producing political crisis.
Washington, with UN help, should encourage the Kurds to forge an alternative Kirkuk strategy, which will need to incorporate progress on Iraq’s hydrocarbons law (key elements of which are still to be negotiated) so as to cement the Kurdish region within Iraq; and address Turkey’s concerns about the PKK, the Turkish-Kurd guerrillas.
Fortunately all sides in Kirkuk seem to agree on need for dialogue. The Kurds recognise that the strategy they have followed might gain Kirkuk but will not enable them to hold it peacefully. Some appear ready for a new approach. The international community should encourage the Kurds gently but firmly to pull back from the referendum and implement confidence-building measures such as reallocating administrative posts to better reflect Kirkuk’s ethnic balance. All sides should reduce rhetoric.
“Imposition of exclusionary Kurdish rule in Kirkuk via an ethnically-based, simple-majority vote and annexation is a dead-end street”, says Middle East Director Robert Malley. “A lasting settlement requires a deliberative and consensus-based process”.
Iraq and the Kurds: Resolving the Kirkuk Crisis,* the latest International Crisis Group report, examines the northern Iraqi city and region which are ethnically mixed and rich in oil. Two factors are to blame for growing tensions: Kurdistan Regional Government insistence on a status referendum by year’s end, despite bitter Arab and Turkoman community opposition; and exploitation by Jihadi fighters, who have found fertile ground for chaos by exacerbating communal tensions.
“The Bush administration is preoccupied with saving Iraq by its new security plan in Baghdad and has ignored the Kirkuk crisis”, says Joost Hiltermann, Crisis Group’s Deputy Middle East Director. “This neglect could cost the U.S. severely”.
Kurds consider Kirkuk a lost heirloom they are about to recover by following steps laid out in the Iraqi constitution. Arabs and Turkomans consider the process a rigged prelude to possible break-up of Iraq. Turkey fears both worsening of its own Kurdish problem if Iraqi Kurds gain Kirkuk and more chaos on its borders if Iraq breaks up.
With all sides dug in, debate should move off outcomes to focus on a fair and acceptable process. The U.S. should recognise the risks of explosion and press Kurds, Baghdad and Turkey alike to adjust policies. A referendum conducted against the wishes of the other communities in 2007 could cause the civil war to spread to the Kurdish region, until now Iraq’s only quiet area. A referendum postponed without a face-saving alternative could lead the Kurds to withdraw from the Maliki cabinet, producing political crisis.
Washington, with UN help, should encourage the Kurds to forge an alternative Kirkuk strategy, which will need to incorporate progress on Iraq’s hydrocarbons law (key elements of which are still to be negotiated) so as to cement the Kurdish region within Iraq; and address Turkey’s concerns about the PKK, the Turkish-Kurd guerrillas.
Fortunately all sides in Kirkuk seem to agree on need for dialogue. The Kurds recognise that the strategy they have followed might gain Kirkuk but will not enable them to hold it peacefully. Some appear ready for a new approach. The international community should encourage the Kurds gently but firmly to pull back from the referendum and implement confidence-building measures such as reallocating administrative posts to better reflect Kirkuk’s ethnic balance. All sides should reduce rhetoric.
“Imposition of exclusionary Kurdish rule in Kirkuk via an ethnically-based, simple-majority vote and annexation is a dead-end street”, says Middle East Director Robert Malley. “A lasting settlement requires a deliberative and consensus-based process”.
Labels: International Crisis Group, Kirkuk, KRG
Suggestions to dig trench around Karbala
Security
(Al-Sabaah) - The Interior deputy of police affairs General Mehdi Sabeeh said that they would offer suggestions to the ministry for protecting Karbala'a such as digging of trench around the city and rehabilitation of the police forces besides increasing of their members. On the other hand, he said that the interior minister agreed appointing of 1,000 policemen to form an additional battalion for protecting Karbala'a and to prevent any security breach situations. On his part, Sabeeh added that they prepared a new suggestion to dig a trench around the city three kilometers long and four kilometers wide, as well as re-structuring police forces in the province.
Labels: General Mehdi Sabeeh, Interior minister, Karbala, security
Kurdish parties issue joint statement demanding implementation of Article 140
Politics
(BBC Monitoring) - In a joint statement issued on 14 April, nine Kurdistani parties announced that they "strongly criticize [Iraqi Premier] Nuri al-Maliki's government and demand that the government implement Article 140 without any delays and as scheduled. Otherwise, we will ask the people of Kurdistan to call for a referendum through the UN to determine their fate." The statement was issued at the headquarters of the Kurdistan Toilers' Party.
Another part of the statement reads: "We condemn the Turkish threats and intervention in the Kirkuk issue."
Saman Majid, member of the Political Bureau of the Democrats Party of Kurdistan [this is not the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP], told Hawlati: "We believe that Article 140 will not be implemented on time; therefore, all of us should have a stance. Our stance in this regard is to warn Al-Maliki's government."
The nine parties include the Kurdistan Toilers' Party, the Democrats Party of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party, the Kurdistan National Party, the Kurdistan Liberation Party, the Democratic Member of the People of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Leftists' Party, the Kurdistan Independent Labour Party and the Communist Union of Kurdistan.
Another part of the statement reads: "We condemn the Turkish threats and intervention in the Kirkuk issue."
Saman Majid, member of the Political Bureau of the Democrats Party of Kurdistan [this is not the Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP], told Hawlati: "We believe that Article 140 will not be implemented on time; therefore, all of us should have a stance. Our stance in this regard is to warn Al-Maliki's government."
The nine parties include the Kurdistan Toilers' Party, the Democrats Party of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party, the Kurdistan National Party, the Kurdistan Liberation Party, the Democratic Member of the People of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Leftists' Party, the Kurdistan Independent Labour Party and the Communist Union of Kurdistan.
Labels: Article 140, Kirkuk, Kurdish parties, Nouri Al-Maliki
54 countries reduce Iraq debt
Finance
(Iraq Directory) - The Ministry of Finance said that the number of countries that have reduced their debt on Iraq hit 54 states, and the government is continuing its efforts to reduce the remaining debt and hopes to reduce some of its debt to the rate of 100%, while the Adviser of the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Kamal Al-Basri, said the Paris Club settlement stipulated stopping the State’s subsidy to a number of sectors and activities in order to drop 80% of Iraq's debt.
The Ministry of Finance noted that the follow-up efforts of the Ministry will continue in order to cancel the debts of Iraq once and for all to promote the economic reality of the country and ensure a decent life for all its citizens; the Ministry was working to repatriate funds, especially those funds and real estates stolen by the former regime and his followers and smuggled outside the country, as well as following-up Iraq's dues for loans granted to some countries where the Iraqi Fund for Foreign Development is following-up Iraq’s debts and their benefits according to time periods.
Adviser of the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs said that there is a plan to compensate the current ration card with cash and provide a competitive market for supply materials; the plan will be implemented in three provinces: Dahuk, Samawah and Hillah, where the amount of compensation will be $ 10 per person, since the volume of the State’s expenditure, the big deficit in its budget and the total amount of the government’s subsidy has become a major burden on the State’s budget and its economic growth. He continued that Iraq needs 200 billion dollars for reconstruction, and this amount can only be provided after 20 years if the National Oil Company were able to maintain the production of three million barrels per day.
The Ministry of Finance noted that the follow-up efforts of the Ministry will continue in order to cancel the debts of Iraq once and for all to promote the economic reality of the country and ensure a decent life for all its citizens; the Ministry was working to repatriate funds, especially those funds and real estates stolen by the former regime and his followers and smuggled outside the country, as well as following-up Iraq's dues for loans granted to some countries where the Iraqi Fund for Foreign Development is following-up Iraq’s debts and their benefits according to time periods.
Adviser of the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs said that there is a plan to compensate the current ration card with cash and provide a competitive market for supply materials; the plan will be implemented in three provinces: Dahuk, Samawah and Hillah, where the amount of compensation will be $ 10 per person, since the volume of the State’s expenditure, the big deficit in its budget and the total amount of the government’s subsidy has become a major burden on the State’s budget and its economic growth. He continued that Iraq needs 200 billion dollars for reconstruction, and this amount can only be provided after 20 years if the National Oil Company were able to maintain the production of three million barrels per day.
Labels: debt, Ministry of Finance, ration cards
Iraqi Islamic Party criticises government for lack of security
Security, Politics
(VOI) - The Iraqi Islamic Party announced on Tuesday that two gunmen belonging to the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" had bombed two of its headquarters in the neighborhoods of al-Ghazaliya and al-Amiriya, west of Baghdad, injuring and killing many people. "The explosions took place a few hours after a statement made by the so-called 'Abu Omar al-Baghdadi,' the leader of the self-styled 'Islamic State of Iraq,' in which he accused the Iraqi Islamic Party of inciting and stirring sedition," the party said on Tuesday in a statement that the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) obtained a copy of on Wednesday.
"While the Iraqi Islamic Party condemns these acts, which only serve the interests of the foreign project, it categorically denies the accusations made by the so-called 'Abu Omar al-Baghdadi,' through which he tried to disguise his hatred for all Iraqis, who have seen his true colors… Inciting and stirring sedition has never been the policy of the party," the statement added.
The party held the Iraqi government responsible for the gross and clear negligence with regards to Baghdad's security file. It also wondered about the role of security forces, following more than two months of the enforcement of the rule of law in Baghdad. The Iraqi Islamic Party, led by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, is part of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), represented by 44 members in the Iraqi parliament.
Labels: attack, Iraqi Islamic Party, Islamic State of Iraq, politics, security
Oil minister discusses draft oil law
Oil
(VOI) - Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani said on Wednesday the enactment of an oil and gas law is a national achievement for Iraq’s people, underlining that it would have a positive affect on Iraq’s unity. "The law tops Iraqis' interests and its clauses are based on realizing national interests," the state-run al-Iraqia satellite channel quoted the minister as saying during a forum held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday.
"The oil and gas law consists of 43 clauses and four articles," the minister said in the forum, which was attended by deputy parliamentary speaker, Khaled al-Attiya, and a number of Iraqi lawmakers. "The law stipulates that the cabinet will be responsible for approving federal oil policy and supervising drilling, extracting, producing and marketing oil," al-Shahrestani also said. "To fulfill these responsibilities, the federal council for oil and gas will be established," the minister stated.
"The council consists of the oil, finance and planning ministers, the federal government, the governor of the Central Bank, a representative of each province where production capacity exceeds 100,000 barrels per day, and a number of Iraqi experts," he added. "The council will be assigned to make federal oil policies and production plans, grant licenses for drilling, and to sign contracts," al-Sharestani noted.
"An office of Iraqi independent experts will also help the council to fulfill its work," he highlighted."Licenses for drilling will be granted for four years," the minister said, noting that in the case where oil and gas are found in the field, the council will grant a license for two years for estimating production, and sign a contract for 20 years to produce oil and develop oil fields," the oil minister concluded.
Labels: draft oil law, Hussain al-Shahrastani, Iraq Oil, licenses
Surge in attacks on Yazidis
Security, Minorities
(Azzaman) - Iraqi Yazidis are paying a heavy price for their tenacious adherence to their religious practices which do not appeal to armed fundamentalist factions and groups in the country. Attacks on Yazidis have surged recently and almost all Yazidi families living outside the autonomous Kurdish region have fled the country.
According to a statement issued by the League of Yazidi intellectuals 192 Yazidis have been killed in the past four years since U.S. troops invaded Iraq. Most of the killings were perpetrated on religious grounds as fundamentalist and Islamist groups see them as infidels who either have to convert or be killed.
The Yazidi religion is a conglomeration of different faiths and includes traces of Christianity, Islam and Zorastrianism. They worship the fallen Angel abhorred by Muslims, Christians and Jews. They have their main sanctuaries in Iraq close to the northern city of Mosul but currently are situated within the semi-independent territory Iraqi Kurds have carved up for themselves.
There are nearly half a million Yazidis in Iraq and most of them live in two major localities – in Shaikhan north of Mosul and Sinjar to the west. Ethnically they are Kurds and speak Kurdish as their mother tongue. Officially, they are treated on equal footing like other citizens in the Kurdish north but many members complain of discriminating behavior. They have three deputies in the Kurdish parliament and two in the national parliament in Baghdad.
According to a statement issued by the League of Yazidi intellectuals 192 Yazidis have been killed in the past four years since U.S. troops invaded Iraq. Most of the killings were perpetrated on religious grounds as fundamentalist and Islamist groups see them as infidels who either have to convert or be killed.
The Yazidi religion is a conglomeration of different faiths and includes traces of Christianity, Islam and Zorastrianism. They worship the fallen Angel abhorred by Muslims, Christians and Jews. They have their main sanctuaries in Iraq close to the northern city of Mosul but currently are situated within the semi-independent territory Iraqi Kurds have carved up for themselves.
There are nearly half a million Yazidis in Iraq and most of them live in two major localities – in Shaikhan north of Mosul and Sinjar to the west. Ethnically they are Kurds and speak Kurdish as their mother tongue. Officially, they are treated on equal footing like other citizens in the Kurdish north but many members complain of discriminating behavior. They have three deputies in the Kurdish parliament and two in the national parliament in Baghdad.
Labels: attacks, Mosul, Sinjar, Yazidis
Sheikh denies formation of tribal force in Kirkuk
Security, Tribal
(AINA) - A leader of one of the largest Sunni Arab tribes in Kirkuk denied news reports on the formation of a tribal force to combat Al-Qaeda elements in the oil-rich northern city. Sheikh Abdullah Sami Al-Assi, chief of the Ubaid, a Sunni Arab tribe that extends from Kirkuk to Ba'quba, northeast of Baghdad, and member of the Kirkuk Governorate Council, said that there was no truth to the reports that Arab tribes around Kirkuk were preparing to confront Al-Qaeda, similar to other groups in Anbar, adding that such reports aim to stir trouble in the governorate.
Labels: Al Qaeda, Sheikh Abdullah Sami Al-Assi, tribal forces, Ubaid
Drastic rise in number of widows and orphans in Baghdad
Security, Humanitarian
(AINA) - Zainab Al-Ghurban, head of the Committee for Women and Children in the Baghdad Governorate Council revealed in a press statement that there are over 300,000 widowed mothers and 900,000 orphaned children in Baghdad. Al-Ghurban said that military operations and acts of violence in the capital are behind the rise in the number of widows and orphans, adding that most orphans are children between the ages of three and nine. "The phenomenon of orphaned children begging on the streets and carrying out work for material gains is spreading," she said.
Labels: Baghdad, Committee for Women and Children in the Baghdad Governorate Council, orphans, widows, Zainab Al-Ghurban
The resurgence of death squads
Security
(AINA) - In a new sign of the resurgence of death squads, both Sunni and Shia, despite an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi security operation, several dozen people were found dead across the country Monday. In Baghdad, 25 bodies with signs of torture were found dumped in different areas yesterday, bringing the total over the last three days to 67, the highest number since the start of the U.S.-led Imposing Law security operation. Anecdotal evidence from local sources in Baghdad suggest the numbers are much higher, since many corpses are left on the street for days without being picked up by authorities.
Residents in the Sunni-majority district of Adhamiya reported several bodies in their area, including one in the middle of the commercial Dhubat Street left by insurgents who were described as "Al-Qaeda" by locals. Almost all victims are Sunni, some of them members of rival insurgent groups, local council members, or Islamic Party members and other Sunnis who have participated in the political process, according to residents.
Residents in the Sunni-majority district of Adhamiya reported several bodies in their area, including one in the middle of the commercial Dhubat Street left by insurgents who were described as "Al-Qaeda" by locals. Almost all victims are Sunni, some of them members of rival insurgent groups, local council members, or Islamic Party members and other Sunnis who have participated in the political process, according to residents.
They said anyone who dares even look at the body, let alone touch it or remove it, would risk immediate execution by militants. U.S. and Iraqi forces are just a few hundred meters away at the newly renovated Adhamiya police station, residents said, but they are usually oblivious to what is going on around them behind the concrete blast walls when they are not out on patrol. Similar scenes are described in many parts of western and southern Baghdad.
Labels: Adhamiyah, death squads, sectarian violence
KRG will not sign draft oil law
Oil, Kurdistan
(Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will not sign up to details in the emerging oil law that would centralise control of most of the country's reserves, the region's top energy official said on Wednesday. Disagreement could delay the country's parliament from passing the law, seen as key to attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment needed to overhaul the industry and boost oil output. Annexes to the draft oil law that aim to wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them in the hands of a newly formed state-oil company are unconstitutional, Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq told Reuters.
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, draft oil law, Kurdistan Regional Government
Over 200 killed in bloodiest day since start of security operation
Security
(AP) - Grieving relatives retrieved bodies from hospital morgues Thursday, and passers-by gawked at the giant crater left by a market bomb in one of four attacks that killed 183 people on the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop increase began nine weeks ago. But violence did not abate Thursday, as a suicide bomber exploded in another mostly Shiite district, killing at least 11 people and wounding 28, police said. The car bomb exploded next to a fuel tanker in Karradah, setting fire to the truck. The death toll was expected to rise.
Many of the more than 230 Iraqis killed or found dead nationwide a day earlier were buried in quiet ceremonies before Thursday's noon prayer, according to Muslim tradition. Other bodies lay in refrigeration containers, still unidentified, at morgues across Baghdad. The most devastating blast struck the Sadriyah market as workers were leaving for the day, charring a lineup of minibuses that came to pick them up. At least 127 people were killed and 148 wounded, including men who were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead.
On Thursday, collective wakes were being held for multiple victims in huge tents erected in narrow alleys and at nearby mosques within view of the blast site. Onlookers gathered around a crater about three yards wide and one yard deep, left by the force of the explosion. The car bombing appeared meticulously planned. It took place at a pedestrian entrance where tall concrete barriers had been erected after the earlier attack. It was the only way out of the compound, and the construction workers were widely known to leave at about 4 p.m., the time of the bombing.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told The Associated Press that al-Qaida in Iraq was suspected in the bombing. "Initial indications based on intelligence sources show that it was linked to al-Qaida," Caldwell said in a late-night telephone interview. The attacks appeared to be yet another attempt by Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida to force Shiite militiamen back onto the streets. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to put away their weapons and go underground before the security crackdown began, leaving regions like those bombed on Wednesday highly vulnerable.
An outburst of violence from the Shiite militia would also ease pressure on the Sunni insurgents, creating a second front for U.S. and Iraqi soldiers struggling to diminish violence in the capital and provide time for the Iraqi government to gather momentum for sectarian reconciliation.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the Iraqi military spokesman, said, "We have not seen such a wave of attacks since the security plan began. These are terrorist challenges. Ninety-five percent of those killed today were civilians." Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel who was in charge of security in the region around the Sadriyah market. The colonel's name was not given.
The 127 deaths in Wednesday's market bombing were recorded by Raad Muhsin, an official at the al-Kindi Hospital morgue where the victims were taken. A police official confirmed the toll, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Besides the market attack, bombs struck Shiite targets in the capital at a police checkpoint, near a hospital and in a small bus. Nationwide the number of people killed Wednesday or found dead was 233, which was second only to a total of 281 killed or found dead on Nov. 23, 2006. Those figures are according to AP record-keeping, which began in May 2005.
Many of the more than 230 Iraqis killed or found dead nationwide a day earlier were buried in quiet ceremonies before Thursday's noon prayer, according to Muslim tradition. Other bodies lay in refrigeration containers, still unidentified, at morgues across Baghdad. The most devastating blast struck the Sadriyah market as workers were leaving for the day, charring a lineup of minibuses that came to pick them up. At least 127 people were killed and 148 wounded, including men who were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead.
On Thursday, collective wakes were being held for multiple victims in huge tents erected in narrow alleys and at nearby mosques within view of the blast site. Onlookers gathered around a crater about three yards wide and one yard deep, left by the force of the explosion. The car bombing appeared meticulously planned. It took place at a pedestrian entrance where tall concrete barriers had been erected after the earlier attack. It was the only way out of the compound, and the construction workers were widely known to leave at about 4 p.m., the time of the bombing.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told The Associated Press that al-Qaida in Iraq was suspected in the bombing. "Initial indications based on intelligence sources show that it was linked to al-Qaida," Caldwell said in a late-night telephone interview. The attacks appeared to be yet another attempt by Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida to force Shiite militiamen back onto the streets. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to put away their weapons and go underground before the security crackdown began, leaving regions like those bombed on Wednesday highly vulnerable.
An outburst of violence from the Shiite militia would also ease pressure on the Sunni insurgents, creating a second front for U.S. and Iraqi soldiers struggling to diminish violence in the capital and provide time for the Iraqi government to gather momentum for sectarian reconciliation.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the Iraqi military spokesman, said, "We have not seen such a wave of attacks since the security plan began. These are terrorist challenges. Ninety-five percent of those killed today were civilians." Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel who was in charge of security in the region around the Sadriyah market. The colonel's name was not given.
The 127 deaths in Wednesday's market bombing were recorded by Raad Muhsin, an official at the al-Kindi Hospital morgue where the victims were taken. A police official confirmed the toll, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Besides the market attack, bombs struck Shiite targets in the capital at a police checkpoint, near a hospital and in a small bus. Nationwide the number of people killed Wednesday or found dead was 233, which was second only to a total of 281 killed or found dead on Nov. 23, 2006. Those figures are according to AP record-keeping, which began in May 2005.
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Karrada, Sadriyah market, suicide bomber, violence
Survey - Iraq has reserves to overtake Saudi as top oil producer
Oil
(BBC) - Iraq's oil reserves are significantly untapped and daily production could be doubled within five years, a report has concluded. Iraq is sitting on potential reserves of 100 billion barrels, nearly twice as much as currently estimated, according to a study by energy analysts IHS. If these reserves were exploited, it said, Iraq could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil producer.
But a major improvement in security and investment was needed, it added. The IHS survey, which examined Iraq's oil reserves both before and after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, is the most comprehensive conducted since the 2003 invasion. It found that Iraq had known reserves of 116 billion barrels and could be sitting on a further 100 billion barrels.
Current output of two million barrels a day is lower than in early 2003, when three million barrels were being pumped, and almost half that being produced in 1979. However, it said Iraq had the capacity to increase production to four million barrels by 2012 and to further increase that to six million within time. "Iraq's reserves are clearly phenomenal," said Ron Mobed, president and chief operating officer of IHS, adding that they represented a "gold star opportunity".
The report found that Iraq's two main oilfields, at Kirkuk in the north of the country and Rumaila in the south, were operating below capacity. This was partly due to damage caused by the war and previous sanction regimes although Mr Mobed said this was not "irreparable".
Earlier this year, the Iraqi government agreed a draft law for how its oil wealth would be shared among different ethnic groups, seen as crucial to encouraging new investment. The proposed law is due to be considered by the Iraqi parliament shortly, although the Kurdish region rejects some of the proposals.
But a major improvement in security and investment was needed, it added. The IHS survey, which examined Iraq's oil reserves both before and after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, is the most comprehensive conducted since the 2003 invasion. It found that Iraq had known reserves of 116 billion barrels and could be sitting on a further 100 billion barrels.
Current output of two million barrels a day is lower than in early 2003, when three million barrels were being pumped, and almost half that being produced in 1979. However, it said Iraq had the capacity to increase production to four million barrels by 2012 and to further increase that to six million within time. "Iraq's reserves are clearly phenomenal," said Ron Mobed, president and chief operating officer of IHS, adding that they represented a "gold star opportunity".
The report found that Iraq's two main oilfields, at Kirkuk in the north of the country and Rumaila in the south, were operating below capacity. This was partly due to damage caused by the war and previous sanction regimes although Mr Mobed said this was not "irreparable".
Earlier this year, the Iraqi government agreed a draft law for how its oil wealth would be shared among different ethnic groups, seen as crucial to encouraging new investment. The proposed law is due to be considered by the Iraqi parliament shortly, although the Kurdish region rejects some of the proposals.
Labels: IHS, Iraq, Kirkuk, oil, oil reserves, Ron Mobed, Rumaila field
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
INM daily summary – 18 April 2007
Scroll down for full articles.
- Iraq's hotly debated draft oil law is to be sent to parliament "within the coming few days if everything goes well," the Oil Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
- About 100 Kurds are trapped on the Jordanian-Iraqi border and another 100 or so refugees are at the nearby Rweished camp.
- A two-day conference sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Iraqi displaced persons opened in Geneva on April 17.
- Syria has changed the rule for temporary resident visas for Iraqi refugees.
- Iraq plans to take security control of all its provinces from foreign forces before the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said.
- U.S. troops have laid siege to two villages in the restive Province of Anbar.
- The Director of Basra International Airport said that the airport stopped flights on Tuesday for security reasons, while eyewitnesses said that the British base in the airport was rocketed.
- Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Tuesday $25 million was allocated to support Iraqi refugees abroad.
- Attackers set off deadly bombs in neighborhoods across Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 45 people and wounding others, an Interior Ministry official said.
- Political and sectarian fighting in Iraq's oil capital, Basra, intensifies, threatening most of Iraq's oil production and all its oil exports.
- Hairdressers are being threatened and killed by extremist groups in Kirkuk.
- In a conference in Erbil, KRG President Massound Barzani said failure to reach a consensus on Article 140 would spell disaster.
- The World Bank signed a credit agreement to finance the Emergency Electricity Reconstruction Project for US$124 million.
- Strict security measures are being implemented to keep Arbil safe from car bombs and infiltrators including building a tunnel to segregate the border between Arbil and the turbulent Mosul and Kirkuk provinces.
- A group of senior Sunni clerics visited Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, in Najaf yesterday and emerged from the meeting saying followers of the two sects are 'brothers.'
- Saudi Arabia has decided to write off 80 percent of the more than $15 billion it is owed by Iraq, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
- Security round-up.
Round-up of violence across Iraq
Security
(Reuters) - Security developments in Iraq as of 1200 GMT on Wednesday:
* denotes new or updated item.
* BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 20 people and wounded 31 others near an intersection in the Shi'ite district of Sadr city in northeastern Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 15 in the predominantly Shi'ite district of Karrada in central Baghdad, police said.
BAGDHAD - A bomb inside a minibus killed two people and wounded five near al-Shurja in central Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded four, including two civilians, near Baghdad, police said.
TAJI - One insurgent was killed and eight others were detained during two raids near Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers discovered a cache of nitric acid during a raid on a warehouse in eastern Baghdad on April 12, the U.S. military said. The nitric acid, which can used in manufacturing explosives, was stored in 600 five-gallon containers. Three people were detained in the raid.
BAGHDAD - The bodies of 25 people were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
GARMA - U.S. forces killed five insurgents, wounded four and detained 26 more during an operation near Garma, about 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed six insurgents and arrested 126 during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.
TAL AFAR - Gunmen attacked Iraqi army and police checkpoints in two different districts, police said. A policeman and a soldier were wounded in Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed Ismail Kadhim, a police major who was also a security guard for the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
BAGHDAD - Four policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their patrol in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
* denotes new or updated item.
* BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 20 people and wounded 31 others near an intersection in the Shi'ite district of Sadr city in northeastern Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 15 in the predominantly Shi'ite district of Karrada in central Baghdad, police said.
BAGDHAD - A bomb inside a minibus killed two people and wounded five near al-Shurja in central Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded four, including two civilians, near Baghdad, police said.
TAJI - One insurgent was killed and eight others were detained during two raids near Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers discovered a cache of nitric acid during a raid on a warehouse in eastern Baghdad on April 12, the U.S. military said. The nitric acid, which can used in manufacturing explosives, was stored in 600 five-gallon containers. Three people were detained in the raid.
BAGHDAD - The bodies of 25 people were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
GARMA - U.S. forces killed five insurgents, wounded four and detained 26 more during an operation near Garma, about 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed six insurgents and arrested 126 during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.
TAL AFAR - Gunmen attacked Iraqi army and police checkpoints in two different districts, police said. A policeman and a soldier were wounded in Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed Ismail Kadhim, a police major who was also a security guard for the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
BAGHDAD - Four policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their patrol in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
Labels: Baghdad, Garma, Iraq violence, Taji, Tal Afar
Most of Iraq's debt to Saudi to be cancelled
Finance
(Gulf News) - Saudi Arabia has decided to write off 80 percent of the more than $15 billion it is owed by Iraq, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. As part of its plan to help Iraq rebuild, the Bush administration has been pressing Iraq's creditors to follow Washington's lead and write off debt it is owed by Baghdad. A senior Saudi official, who was not named, told the Post that his country would write off 80 percent of Iraq's debt. The official estimated Iraq's debt to his country at $15 billion to$18 billion.
Iraq's Finance Minister Bayan Jabr estimates Iraq's debt at $140 billion. Much of that money was borrowed to finance the 1980-1988 war between Iraq and Iran. Jabr, who was in Washington for World Bank meetings, said he had asked Saudi Arabia to forgive all of Iraq's debt but was rebuffed. So far, 52 countries have cancelled 80 to 100 percent of Iraq's debt, Jabr told the Post.
Iraq's Finance Minister Bayan Jabr estimates Iraq's debt at $140 billion. Much of that money was borrowed to finance the 1980-1988 war between Iraq and Iran. Jabr, who was in Washington for World Bank meetings, said he had asked Saudi Arabia to forgive all of Iraq's debt but was rebuffed. So far, 52 countries have cancelled 80 to 100 percent of Iraq's debt, Jabr told the Post.
Labels: debt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia
Sunni clerics visit Sistani
(Gulf News) - A group of senior Sunni clerics visited Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, in Najaf yesterday and emerged from the meeting saying followers of the two sects are 'brothers.' "Everybody's aim is to extinguish the fire of strife in our country. This is our call to everyone," said Shaikh Mohammad Talabani, head of the Clerics Association in Kurdistan.
Iraq's Sunni mufti, Shaikh Jamaluddin Al Dabban, said Al Sistani asked him to give his regards to all Sunni scholars in the country. "We call for unity," Al Dabban said. A third cleric from the Kurdish city of Arbil, Shaikh Ali Al Khafaji, said, "Our aim is Iraq's unity. There is no difference between Sunnis and Shiites. They are all our brothers." Sunni clerics have frequently visited Al Sistani in the past. They also visited three other top Shiite clerics in Najaf yesterday.
Iraq's Sunni mufti, Shaikh Jamaluddin Al Dabban, said Al Sistani asked him to give his regards to all Sunni scholars in the country. "We call for unity," Al Dabban said. A third cleric from the Kurdish city of Arbil, Shaikh Ali Al Khafaji, said, "Our aim is Iraq's unity. There is no difference between Sunnis and Shiites. They are all our brothers." Sunni clerics have frequently visited Al Sistani in the past. They also visited three other top Shiite clerics in Najaf yesterday.
Labels: Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Clerics Association in Kurdistan, Najaf, Shaikh Jamaluddin Al Dabban, Shaikh Mohammad Talabani
Tunnel to keep Arbil safe from Al Qaeda
Security, Kurdistan
(Gulf News) - The capital of Kurdistan differs completely when compared to what is currently taking place in other regions of Iraq, however strict security measures are being implemented to keep Arbil safe from car bombs and infiltrators. Measures include building a tunnel to segregate the border between Arbil and the turbulent Mosul and Kirkuk provinces, as well as setting up surveillance barricades along this tunnel.
In an interview with Arbil's governor, Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, he said, "The tunnel was built due to some difficulties we are facing related to border control with Kirkuk and Mosul, especially in the absence of natural impediments and barriers like high mountains which can protect the city." Mawlood confirmed that the stability of Kurdistan's territory is under serious threat. He said, "The terrorists want to deliver a message that the whole of Iraq is in a bad situation."
A few days ago, the Al Qaida organisation in Iraq announced that it will form special battalions in Kurdistan. This statement has prompted stringent security measures and inspection procedures around vital installations in Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah.
"Intelligence information indicates renewed Al Qaida activity in the Panjwin and Bayara areas in Sulaimaniyah near the Iraqi-Iranian border," Mawlood said. The governor added, "Increased security services in Kurdistan include preventive measures by monitoring the movements of Al Qaida in these two regions and addressing any penetration or infiltration."
In an interview with Arbil's governor, Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, he said, "The tunnel was built due to some difficulties we are facing related to border control with Kirkuk and Mosul, especially in the absence of natural impediments and barriers like high mountains which can protect the city." Mawlood confirmed that the stability of Kurdistan's territory is under serious threat. He said, "The terrorists want to deliver a message that the whole of Iraq is in a bad situation."
A few days ago, the Al Qaida organisation in Iraq announced that it will form special battalions in Kurdistan. This statement has prompted stringent security measures and inspection procedures around vital installations in Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah.
"Intelligence information indicates renewed Al Qaida activity in the Panjwin and Bayara areas in Sulaimaniyah near the Iraqi-Iranian border," Mawlood said. The governor added, "Increased security services in Kurdistan include preventive measures by monitoring the movements of Al Qaida in these two regions and addressing any penetration or infiltration."
Labels: Al Qaeda, Bayara, Kurdistan, Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, Panjwin, Sulaimaniya
