Saturday, May 12, 2007

 

Fears of Iranian-influenced outbreak of violence in Basra

Security
(Stratfor) - Iranian influence in Basra, Iraq, is spreading fears of an outbreak of armed conflict between parties in the city, Saudi news Web site Elaph reported May 11. Bassam Sharif, deputy head of the parliamentary coalition of the Fadhila party, confirmed the existence of groups trying to destabilize the situation in Basra by smuggling in weapons.

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Round-up of violence across Iraq

Security
Roundup of violence in Iraq - 12 May 2007
(McClatchy Newspapers) - The daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.
Baghdad
- Around 8 am , a suicide truck (Hino) driver led his car near a petrol station at Al-Meda'en, but the police commandos of the checkpoint in the neighborhood exploded the truck with the suicide driver inside who was killed at the explosion . No casualties recorded.
- Around 9 am, a roadside bomb exploded at Amiriya neighborhood without casualties.
- Around 11 am, a roadside bomb exploded when an American patrol passed by at the commercial street in Saidiya neighborhood without any casualties.
- Around 12 pm, a roadside bomb exploded at Baladiyat neighborhood when an American patrol passed in the area without casualties recorded. Salahuddin
- Early morning, gunmen bombed Asad's brother's house , the chairman of Samara municipality , after forcing the whole family to evacuate the house which is in Hay Al-Sikak south Samara (North of Baghdad). Basrah
- At dawn, a roadside bomb exploded when a British vehicle passed through Timimiya neighborhood(near Ashar) in the downtown of Basra ( south of Iraq) having some damage to the vehicle with no casualties recorded.
- Around this day, a British patrol had found a trench filled with ammunitions north of Zubair (35 km west of Basra) including 20 mortar bombs ,30 cannon bombs and two grenades .
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1245 GMT on Saturday:
* denotes new or updated item.
* NEAR MAHMUDIYA - Insurgents attacked a team of seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter south of Baghdad, killing five soldiers while three others were missing, the U.S. military said in a statement.
* NEAR LATIFIYA - Three bodies were found shot dead near the small town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained three suspects and destroyed a car bomb during a raid in the Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City aimed at breaking a network suspected of procuring sophisticated explosives from Iran, the U.S. military said. It said the three were believed to have ties to a secret network that smuggles so-called EFPs and sends Iraqi militants for training to Iran.
* DIWANIYA - Gunmen killed a policeman in front of his home in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya, police said.
* FALLUJA - Gunmen killed a man who was an army colonel under Saddam Hussein in Falluja, west of Baghdad, police said.

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Billions of dollars of Iraqi oil production unaccounted for

Oil
(Reuters) - Billions of dollars' worth of Iraq's declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for, possibly having been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, The New York Times said on Saturday. Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels of Iraq's daily output of roughly 2 million barrels is missing, it said, citing a draft report prepared by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and government energy analysts which is expected to be released next week.
The discrepancy was valued between $5 million and $15 million daily, using a $50 per barrel average, the report said. That adds up to billions of dollars over the four years since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The newspaper was provided the draft report by a separate government office that received a review copy.
The GAO declined to discuss the draft, the paper said. The report did not make a final conclusion on what happened to the missing oil, and provided alternative explanations besides corruption or smuggling, including possible Iraqi overstating of its production. A State Department official who works on energy matters offered possible explanations including pipeline sabotage, or inaccurate reporting of oil production in southern Iraq.
"It could also be theft," the Times quoted the unnamed official as saying, with suspicion falling on southern Shi'ite militias. "Crude oil is not as lucrative in the region as refined products, but we're not ruling that out either," the official said."There is not an issue of insurgency, per se, but it could be funding Shia factions, and that could very well be true.""That would be a concern if they were using smuggling money to blow up American soldiers or kill Sunnis or do anything that could harm the unity of the country," the Times quoted the official as saying.
The newspaper characterized the report as the most comprehensive look thus far at what it called faltering U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq's oil and electricity sectors. The GAO tapped experts at the Energy Information Administration within the United States Department of Energy for its oil analysis. Erik Kreil, an oil expert at the administration who is familiar with the analysis, said a review of industry figures worldwide indicated Iraq's stated production figures did not add up.
"Either they're producing less, or they're producing what they say and the difference is completely unaccounted for in any of the places we think it should go," Kreil told the Times. "Either it's overly optimistic, or it's unaccounted for." Analysts outside the government said such a large discrepancy indicated that there was either a major smuggling operation in place or that Iraq was not generating accurate production figures, the newspaper added.

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U.S. soldiers missing after attack

Security
(CNN) - Four American troops and one Iraqi army interpreter have been killed and three American troops are missing after an attack on Saturday morning 12 miles west of Mahmoudiya -- a city south of the capital in Babil province, the U.S. military said. The coalition team of seven Americans and the Iraqi interpreter was attacked before dawn, the military said. A nearby unit heard explosions, and 15 minutes later, a drone aircraft spotted two burning vehicles, according to a U.S. military statement. "Coalition Forces are currently using every means at our disposal to find the missing Soldiers, and we will continue these efforts until all are accounted for," the statement said.

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Talabani appeals for foreign troops to stay longer

Security
(AHN) - While members of the U.S. Congress as well as Iraq's Parliament are considering timetables for U.S. troops to withdraw, Iraq's president is asking that troops stay at least one more year - possibly two. In an address to Britain's Cambridge University Cambridge Union Society on Friday Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said his country needed British and U.S. troops to stay at least that long to help stabilize Iraq.
His remarks came in response to a question from the audience as to how long he thought the troops would need to stay. He also mentioned hope that the United States Congress would reconsider a recent vote to limit funding for Iraq. "We are concerned and we hope that Congress will review this decision and help the American army to stay until the Iraqi army will be ready," he said, according to Britain's the Telegraph.
Although 144 members of Iraq's 275-seat parliament have signed a draft bill to set a timetable for U.S. troops leaving Iraq, in a partisan split others are in Washington, D.C. lobbying Congress not to withdraw troops. On his visit to Britain, Talabani also expressed his condolences to the families of British soldiers who have died in Iraq. He also called Britain's outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair a "hero" saying he hoped that Gordon Brown would continue the work Blair started.

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SCIRI leader calls for 'security agreement'

Politics
(AP) - The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party on Saturday called for a "security agreement" to be negotiated between Iraq and U.S.-led forces to outline the authorities of each side in a further indication of growing frustration over America's role in Iraq. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim did not give more details of the proposed pact. In the past he has repeatedly complained that the U.S. military's lead in the fight against Sunni insurgents hampered the work of Iraq's Shiite-dominated security forces, which he contended were better qualified to fight the insurgents given their knowledge of the terrain and language.
"We are working toward reaching a security agreement to define the authority of each side," al-Hakim told a news conference after a two-day meeting of his party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Al-Hakim's comments coincided with an ongoing campaign by lawmakers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to get parliament to adopt legislation demanding a timetable for the withdrawal of the U.S.-led troops in Iraq and a freeze on the number of foreign forces already in the country. Officials said this week the proposed legislation has been signed by 144 members of the 275-member house, but it is not likely to retain the support of all of them if it is put to a vote.
Addressing the same news conference, senior al-Hakim aide Hummam Hamoudi sought to play down the significance of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces, saying it was more important to reach a timetable for the training and equipping of Iraqi troops.
Al-Hakim said his party remained committed to the creation of a semiautonomous region in Iraq's mainly Shiite south, but stressed that such a move hinged on popular support. A federal Iraq is a key plank of the party's ideology, but politicians from the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority insist that federalism would eventually lead to the breakup of the country. Federalism was enshrined in a new constitution adopted in 2005. "We are working for the creation of a region in the center and south ... under the mechanisms provided by in the constitution and with the approval of the people," he said.

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SCIRI changes political platform, name

Politics
(Stratfor) - The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said May 11 it will change its political platform to align itself more closely with Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and to move toward an "Iraqization" of the party. SCIRI members said the party's name will be changed to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, removing the word "revolution," which was a reference to the fight against the Baathist regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein. The announcement follows a four-day SCIRI meeting of members from around the world.
Reuters reports that since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, SCIRI has been a key player in Iraqi politics. It holds around a quarter of the seats in parliament in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. SCIRI's leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is a powerful cleric who has good relations with the United States.
Officials said SCIRI would introduce terms such as democracy and elections into its political platform to reflect what they called the changing situation in Iraq. "There will be a change in two aspects -- the structure of the group and also in its political language, taking into consideration the political facts on the ground," another official who is at the conference said without elaborating.
"On political language, we will introduce terms more like democracy and elections. Those who follow us closely will notice that we have introduced new terms in our speeches for a while, now we are setting it out formally."

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Vital Baghdad bridges struck by suicide truck bombers

Security
(Al Jazeera) - Suicide truck bombs have struck three vital bridges near Baghdad, killing 26 people and wounding 60 others, in an apparent attempt by fighters to paralyse road links into the Iraqi capital. Describing Friday's attacks, an Iraqi army source said a truck bomb hit a bridge near the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, on the main highway connecting the capital with cities in the north.
He said it was quickly followed by a car bomb that killed four soldiers there.
The US military said the bridge was impassable for northbound traffic. A police source said eight policemen were among the dead in the attacks on the bridges south of Baghdad, but it was unclear how many casualties were caused by each blast.
Police said the first bomber damaged the old Diyala bridge.
Minutes later, a few kilometres away, another attacker detonated a truck bomb on the new Diyala bridge. The two bridges over the Diyala river, a tributary of the Tigris, are commonly used by Shia pilgrims on their way to holy Shia cities to the south. Last month, a truck bomb destroyed the Sarafiya bridge in Baghdad.
On Friday, Major-General Benjamin R Mixon told Pentagon reporters by video conference from Iraq: "I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala to get that security situation moving. "We have plans to put additional forces in that region." Mixon commands the area that includes Diyala. He said he has already received extra troops, but violence in Diyala is on the rise both because more fighters have moved in and because multinational forces are taking the offensive.
"We have made progress ... we have taken terrain back from the enemy. "We are sure there are elements of both Sunni extremists and Shia extremists that have moved out of Baghdad and relocated into not only Diyala province, but also into Salah ad Din province."

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Reporters Without Borders provides financial help to slain journalists families

Media, Aid
(AP) - Reporters Without Borders is providing financial help to the families of journalists killed in Iraq, the advocacy group said Friday. The group's secretary-general Robert Menard traveled to Baghdad this week to deliver the aid to the Iraqi journalists' families. He said funds were provided to 20 families in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and 57 families elsewhere in the country also would receive funds. He did not say how much each family would receive.
"We will do the same for other families in the future," Menard said, according to a statement. Menard also said he met with Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and urged the authorities to go after those responsible for the killings of journalists and to adopt legislation that would promote press freedom. He also referred to eight Iraqi journalists he said were being held by the Iraqi security forces and the U.S. Army, and he expressed concern about 12 Iraqi journalists who were taken hostage. The U.S. has been detaining an Associated Press photographer, Bilal Hussein, in Iraq for a year.
"They are detained on suspicion of links with terrorists without anyone producing evidence and without being brought to trial," he said. Reporters Without Borders says at least 123 journalists and 51 media assistants have been killed since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003.

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Friday, May 11, 2007

 

INM daily summary – 11 May 2007

Scroll down for full articles.

 

Round-up of violence across Iraq

Security
Roundup of Iraq Violence - 10 May 2007
(McClatchy Newspapers) - The daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1200 GMT on Friday:
* denotes new or updated item.
* BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed and two others were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military said. One of the wounded soldiers later returned to duty, the military said.
TIKRIT - One U.S. soldier was killed and nine were wounded by an explosion on Thursday during combat operations in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
DIWANIYA - A U.S. soldier was killed on Thursday when his patrol came under small-arms fire in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire on Thursday in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - U.S. troops killed four militants suspected of involvement in car bomb networks, including one believed to have links to senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders in a series of raids in and around Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul over the past two days, the U.S. military. Nine militants were detained.
ZAAFARANIYA - A mortar bomb killed two people and wounded four when it hit a market in Zaafaraniya district in southern Baghdad on Thursday, police said.
BAGHDAD - Police said they found 20 bullet-riddled bodies in different districts of Baghdad on Thursday.
MOSUL - Police found six bodies on Thursday in different districts in Mosul, north of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Two mortar bombs killed two people and wounded one in southern Baghdad's Doura district on Thursday, police said.
DIWANIYA - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded five policemen and three other people on Thursday in Diwaniya, police said.
KIRKUK - Police said they found an unidentified bullet-riddled body bearing signs of torture on Friday in Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk.
KIRKUK - Gunmen killed one civilian in a drive-by shooting in Kirkuk, police said.
FALLUJA - U.S. forces killed several insurgents and destroyed three trucks with mounted anti-aircraft weapons on Tuesday near Karmah, a town near the western city of Falluja, the U.S. military said.
FALLUJA - Gunmen killed the deputy mayor of Falluja's municipal council in a drive-by shooting near his house, police said.
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces found a large cache of mortar rounds in western Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

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$140 bn. for Basrah reconstruction

Reconstruction
(Addustour Newspaper) - 10 MAY - The Finance Ministry has allocated 140 billion dollars in additional budget funding to speed up reconstruction in the governorate in 2007. Basrah Governorate Advisor, Ihsan Abd Al Jabar, said that this money from the Finance Ministry is for the governorate’s service sector. It is the governorate’s duty to follow how this money is spent and to oversee the projects which this money is used for.

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Defense Minister Will Announce His Resignation In The Next Few Days

Politics
(Addustour Newspaper) - 10 MAY - Addustour has learned from Accord Front sources that the Defense Minister, Mohammed Abd Al Qadr Ubaidi [Mufriji], will announce his resignation in the next few days. Al Ubaidi is now on an official visit to Germany and will likely announce his resignation there. A source confirmed that Al Ubaidi agreed to resign after pressure by the Accord Front on the government. Finally, a secret report from the PM’s office states that the PM agreed to fire the MOD in exchange for the Accord Front’s continued participation in the political process.

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Iraq's oil workers threaten to strike on Monday

Oil
(UPI) - Iraq's government will respond to oil workers who have delayed a strike that could take 1.6 million barrels per day from the market. In a news release Tuesday, the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions said it would stop work Thursday in opposition of the proposed hydrocarbons law, as well as other worker conditions.
Michael Eisenscher, national coordinator of U.S. Labor Against the War, said the workers postponed the strike until Monday "because they had a conversation with somebody at the Oil Ministry who said they wanted to respond to workers demands and needed time to prepare a response." USLAW is a coalition of labor unions in regular communication with Iraqi workers, including organizing a tour of the United States for Iraqi labor leaders in June.
The IFOU boasts more than 26,000 members, mostly in the southern region where most of Iraq's 2 million bpd are produced and all of the 1.6 million bpd are exported. The vast majority of that goes through the port of Basra. "If the port were to close down, that's one way of bottling it up," Eisenscher said, as well as utilizing "critical workers in the pipeline area or refineries."
The unions have struck before, successfully fighting wage decreases and privatization. "It's an issue of such import to them that I can't imagine they wouldn't have tremendous support for workers," Eisenscher said. The unions oppose language that they deem offers too much of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of proven reserves to foreign companies.
"Since we are working to make progress in production, we need a real participation in all the laws that are related to the oil policy," IFOU President Hassan Jumaa Awad told United Press International in March. "We are the sons of this sector, and we have the management and technical capability and we have the knowledge on all the oil fields."

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Will Maliki be able to stay the course?

Politics
(Gulf News) - The fate of Nouri Al Maliki's government has been the subject of many Iraqi rumours and possible scenarios. Rumours differed on whether Al Maliki will continue as the prime minister or leave office. Described by observers, Baghdad is witnessing political momentum towards 'military coup' to overthrow the Shiite coalition government headed by Al Maliki.
In Baghdad, analysts believe coming July will be crucial and decisive and decide Al Maliki and Iraq's fate. In Shiite circles there are speculations that the Shiite coalition leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, if Al Maliki failed in the security and reconciliation, will announce the Shiite autonomy territory in the south and middle of Iraq including nine provinces.
Mudhir Al Husaini, a Political researcher at Baghdad University, told Gulf News: "The new security plan for Baghdad, which started three months ago, is a double-edged sword. If Al Maliki succeeds in halting the decadent security situation then he will remain in his office but if he fails to do so then his position is increasingly shaky".
He added: "The Sharm Al Shaikh international covenant conference and the neighbouring countries meeting was considered as Al Maliki's last opportunity to prove his effectiveness in halting sectarian violence or he would lose the support provided by the conferees and have to leave his office".
One name that surfaces while discussing Al Maliki's successor is Eyad Allawi, Iraq's former interim prime minister who is Shiite and more secular than Al Maliki and not deeply tied to Iran. He seeks to exploit the recent prime minister's security and political failure in the light of Americans desire to form an Iraqi emergency government.
Allawi will most probably be the leading candidate for heading the next alternative government, and accordingly he is seeking to gain trust and support from political blocs like Kurds, the Sadr trend, the Fadhila party and some Sunni parties, beside moving towards obtaining vigorous backing of some regional states. Mohammad Abdul Sahib, a senior official at the Iraqi National Dialogue Ministry, told Gulf News: "We have gone to lengthy rounds in contacting Iraqi opposition armed groups which have their own conditions."

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Iraqi women launch peace movement

Security
(Voices of Iraq) - A group of Iraqi women launched a peace movement, called Balad al-Salam Bas lil Unf (Abode of Peace…No More Violence) in an effort to promote peace, put an end to violence and random killings, and defuse the political tensions in the country, the movement secretary said on Thursday.
"The movement is set up to respond to Iraq's need for a new philosophy and an honest and collective will. It is established to provide stability and security for the Iraqi people, to bring peace and to resolve current conflicts in Iraq," Iraqi Minister of Environment and Secretary General of the movement Nermin Othman said in a press conference held to announce the launch of the movement.
"Therefore, we, Iraqi women, have taken the initiative to set up this independent peaceful movement under the name 'Abode of Peace…No More Violence.' This movement is based on our belief that a great responsibility lies on our shoulders and women play an instrumental role in the peace-building process," the minister added.
"The movement aims to actively participate in the peace-building process and play an effective role in putting an end to violence in Iraq by opposing all manifestations of violence, increasing the effective participation of women in the political process and promoting the culture of peace," said MP Mayson al-Damluji from the Iraqi National Slate, who is a member of the emerging movement.
Al-Damluji highlighted the importance of bringing all Iraqi women together. "No matter what the level of our disagreement, we will work together to establish peace in Iraq." Explaining the movement's strategy, al-Damluji said that it will encourage civil society organizations to participate in its activities, and coordinate with official bodies to support peace efforts and increase women's participation in political negotiations. According to al-Damluji, the movement will also put pressure on the Iraqi political forces to include women in various community committees, reduce unemployment and improve the socio-economic conditions of the Iraqi people.
Comprised of Iraqi women from various sects and political blocs, including parliamentarians, judges and the minister of environment, the movement called on all Iraqi women to join in "from their homes."

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Speaker adjourns session after heated argument over deteriorating security situation

Politics
(Voices of Iraq) - The Iraqi House Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani adjourned Thursday's session until this Saturday half an hour after its start following a heated argument between Iraqi parliamentarians over a report on a sit-in staged by Diala residents in the Shiite city of Karbala, protesting the deteriorating security situation in their province and a demand by a woman legislator who branded the government as "weak" to summon the Prime Minister to attend the parliament session for deteriorating security in Iraq.
According to a parliamentary committee assigned to write a report on the situation following a field visit to Karbala, residents of Diala held a sit-in in the street linking the shrines of the third Shiite Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas, calling on the government to improve the security situation in Diala.
The report submitted to the parliament revealed that during one year 11,200 people were killed, 9,500 families displaced, 8,250 women widowed, 16,500 children orphaned, 66 Shiite tombs destroyed, 350 groves set on fire and an equal number looted. The report blamed the U.S. forces for the deteriorating situation in Diala.
Legislator Shatha al-Mousawi, from the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition, asked the House Speaker to summon Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki along with interior and defense ministers to attend a special parliamentary session on the deteriorating security situation in Diala province and elsewhere in Iraq. She said the government is "weak." Diala is located in central Iraq, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, whereas Karbala, the second Shiite city after Najaf, is 110 km southwest of Baghdad.

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'Mass graves memory day' selected by government

(Voices of Iraq) - Iraq's cabinet approved selecting May 16 every year to commemorate the mass graves memory in Iraq, a government's statement said on Thursday. "The cabinet approved choosing May 16 to commemorate mass graves memory in Iraq to honor the great humanitarian sacrifice of Iraqi citizens," read a statement of the cabinet received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The statement appealed to the Iraqi people to get ready to celebrate this occasion. The statement attributed selecting this date because of finding the first and biggest mass grave in al-Mahaweel in May 16, 2003. Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 many mass graves were found all over the country, that were believed to host bodies of victims killed under orders by the former regime.

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Kurdish officials to meet central government over draft oil law

Oil
(Reuters) - Senior Iraqi Kurdish officials will travel to Baghdad next week hoping to end an impasse with the central government over a draft oil law to share revenues from the world's third-largest oil reserves. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, speaking ahead of the meeting in Egypt in which industrialised powers pressed reforms in Iraq in exchange for aid, told reporters in Saudi Arabia last week that Kurds were "very happy" with the draft law and that all the groups had agreed to pass it by the end of May.
But an oil industry source told Reuters on Thursday the bill was in a state body charged with drafting legislation, and that Kurds still had misgivings over annexes they say would wrest oilfields from regions and place them under a new state-oil firm. Iraq's Kurdish Prime Minister Nejruvan Barzani said he will lead a high-level delegation of Kurdish officials to discuss the annexes with the central government next week.
"Next week, new negotiations will start over the appendixes to the oil law and the revenue distribution law. I will participate in a large part of these negotiations," Barzani told reporters in the northern city of Arbil late on Wednesday. "The Kurds had a big role in writing the draft of the suggested oil law. I am optimistic in resolving the disputes."
Barzani has insisted that Kurds want to include a separate law on oil revenue management that would set up a Kurdish fund. The central government has said it wants revenues put in a central account and distributed according to Iraq's population. Iraq's Deputy Prime minister Barham Salih, the chief architect of the draft oil law, told Reuters in an interview earlier this month he was confident a draft oil law would be approved in parliament after officials from the central government and Kurdistan meet to iron out differences.

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Study - 50 per cent of deaths due to cancer in southern Iraq

Health
(Azzaman) - Cancer-related death rates have increased substantially in southern Iraq particularly in the provinces of Basra and Missan, a medical study has found. The study by the Basra University’s Medical College scientists said cancerous diseases are now the cause of “a large percentage of deaths” in southern Iraq.
It said 10 different cancers were prevalent in the region. The researchers used hospital morgue statistics for their investigation and findings. The study reveals that 56.3 per cent of all male deaths in southern Iraq are caused by cancer. “Cancer-related female deaths amount to 43.7 per cent,” the study said.
Meanwhile, another study by Basra University’s Maritime Research Center has shown that pesticides were being used excessively in Iraq leading to detrimental impact on the environment and agricultural produce. The high concentration of chemical substances in water and locally produced vegetables and other foods was much higher than normal standards, the study said. It said chemicals were even being used in fishing. “The high percentage usage of chemicals particularly in southern Iraq has an adverse impact even on breast feeding and pregnant women,” it said.

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Billions of dinars in reconstruction projects start in Najaf

Reconstruction
(Azzaman) - The provincial authorities in the holy city of Najaf have started scores of projects worth billions of Iraqi dinars (1 bn. Iraqi dinars = $792,110). Ahmad Duaibel of the city’s local administration said work on 81 projects had started and on completion they should improve Najaf’s infrastructure. Health, agriculture and water purification schemes are among the top priorities, Duaibel said. He said 23 projects to develop the province’s transport infrastructure were underway.
But most of these projects, he said, would only revamp those which were affected “by recent events” in Najaf. Najaf has been the scene of violent car bomb attacks as well as sporadic clashes involving rival Shiite militia groups as well U.S. occupation troops. Duaibel did not say when these projects will be completed and declined to reveal the names of the contracting firms.

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Kurdistan sends troops to Iranian border

Security, Kurdistan
(AFP) - Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has sent 1,000 peshmerga troops to its border with Iran to prevent attacks by the Islamist insurgent group Ansar al-Islam, a spokesman said on Thursday. Major General Jabbar Yawir said an Ansar-allied group calling itself the "Kurdistan Brigades of Al-Qaeda" has repeatedly attacked Iraqi Kurdish forces in the region around the border town of Penjwin.

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Joint Forces Begin Search Operation In Bayaa

Security
(Addustour Newspaper) - 10 MAY - Local Hay Al Bayaa citizens said that a joint Iraqi-US force began searches and raids in the city looking for wanted for wanted suspects and illegal weapons. A local eyewitness stated that the joint force blocked the main street in the area only allowing people to move on foot before they began their searches. Another local witness said these forces used different types of military vehicles in their operation. There has not yet been any news about any arrests. The Commander of Baghdad Operations, MG Aboud Qanbar, visited Bayaa to inspect the situation after last week’s clashes between groups of gunmen.

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Nine employees of the MOI and MOD executed by Islamic State of Iraq

Insurgency
(SITE) - The Islamic State of Iraq, through its al-Furqan Foundation for Media Production, issued to jihadist forums, Thursday, May 10, 2007, a one-minute video depicting the gunshot execution of the nine captured employees of the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense.
A prior video released by the group on Monday showed these individuals bound and standing in front of the Islamic State’s flag, as demands for their release within a 72-hour period were made of the Iraqi government. These demands, including the release of female Sunni Muslim prisoners and the turnover of Shi’ite police officers allegedly guilty of the rape of Sabrin al-Janabi and women in Tal Afar, mirror the demands made by the Islamic State in similar incidents for the past two months, which went unheeded.
After a message declaring that the deadline had passed and the Shari’a Court had decided to implement the “Rule of Allah” upon the captured, the scene cuts to outdoor footage of each prison bound and blindfolded, and shot in the back of the head one-by-one by the executioner.
The group behind the executions also demanded that the government hand over officers it said were involved in the killing of Sunni Muslims in the northern town of Tal Afar but gave no details of the events. An old audio recording from a statement by Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, al-Qaeda's Iraq wing leader, was edited into the tape, calling for retaliation after the alleged rape.
"Destroy their checkpoints, invade their camps, severe their limbs, wrench their hearts out of their bodies. Today is the day of battle. Today we wipe off the disgrace. Today we shed blood," he said. On April 19, the group issued a video showing the killing of another group of 20 Iraqi soldiers and policemen who it claimed to have kidnapped in retaliation for the rape.

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Violence flares in mixed district in Baghdad

Security
(AP) - Three months into Baghdad's security crackdown, sectarian violence is back on the rise, this time, in a mixed neighborhood that had previously been relatively calm while Sunni-Shiite strife tore apart other parts of the Iraqi capital. Baiyaa, a middle-class district in western Baghdad, has started to display the fears and flight that have already carved up much of the city, which has become a patchwork of separate Sunni and Shiite enclaves.
Snipers have begun appearing in parts of Baiyaa. Many stores have closed, and both Shiite and Sunni families have fled the area in recent weeks. Last Sunday, a car bomb devastated a food market, killing 30 people. The rumblings in Baiyaa have ominous implications for the U.S.-led security plan. They show that previously calm areas are still vulnerable to violence despite the flood of U.S.-Iraqi forces onto Baghdad's streets since February.
In the early days of the security sweeps, American troops came into Baiyaa in large numbers and patrolled on foot, according to residents. But U.S. forces significantly scaled back by March and ventured only occasionally into Baiyaa, which is on the road leading to Baghdad's international airport. Security was left mostly in the hands of the Iraqi military, dominated by the country's Shiite majority.
The precise reasons for Baiyaa's troubles are not clear, but accusations are thick on both sides. Sunni politicians have accused the Shiite-dominated government of allowing Shiite militias to operate in Baiyaa and elsewhere. Members of three Shiite families that fled Baiyaa a few days ago claimed Sunni extremists had threatened them. Those residents of the neighborhood spoke by telephone on condition of anonymity because they fear reprisals by armed gangs.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said security operations have been stepped up in the larger district that includes Baiyaa. The military has divided Baghdad into 10 districts, each with a permanent U.S.-Iraqi garrison, called a joint security station. The station for the Baiyaa district is in another neighborhood. Baiyaa, however, seemed ripe for trouble. Its dusty streets and low-slung houses borders areas where the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr holds sway.
Baiyaa has a Shiite majority but is also the main commercial center of the Sunni-dominated part of Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris River. Baiyaa's Sunnis are mostly drawn from the Janabi clan dominant in areas south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death" because of insurgent activity and attacks against Shiites. Baiyaa's Shiites have their roots in southern Iraq.
COMMENT: The word on the street should not be ignored as simple hearsay, even though much of it is obviously false. It helps shape Iraqi opinions and perceptions. These are the latest rumours regarding Bayaa:
In the recent past, Al Rahman Mosque in Bayaa was well-known for harboring Wahabi fighters. In the past few weeks, the rumor is that these Wahabists opened fire on a US patrol that was passing near the mosque. However, the US forces thought that Mahdi Army members opened fire on them and they then fired and called in air support on Mahdi Army members who were at a nearby Hussainiya (Shiite religious complex). The US air support strikes killed many Mahdi Army members. In revenge, Mahdi Army members from Ali Al Bayaa Mosque destroyed Al Rahman Mosque. In the past week, since the clash with US forces, Mahdi Army members have taken over Al Rahman Mosque in Bayaa and changed its name to Imam Al Askari Mosque. COMMENT ENDS.

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Muslim Scholars Association condemns U.S. Samarra siege

Politics, Security
(RFE/RL) - The Sunni-led Muslim Scholars Association issued a statement on its website on May 9 condemning the nearly weeklong siege of Samarra by U.S. forces and describing it as collective punishment. "These forces carried out raid-and-arrest campaigns against the sons of the city without leveling any charges against them," the statement said.
"While condemning these inhuman acts, the Muslim Scholars Association calls on the international community to shoulder its responsibility and stand in the face of the occupation forces and the current government." Samarra has been sealed off and under curfew since leaflets by the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq warning of attacks against the Iraqi military and police were distributed in the city. On May 6, a suicide car bomb struck a police station in Samarra, killing 12 police officers.
COMMENT: The Hayat Al-Ulama Al-Muslimin [Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS] is also known as the Ulema Council. Ulema is the community of legal scholars of Islam and the Sharia. The Muslim Ulema Council is the highest Sunni authority in Iraq. It has many activities on the political, social, economic, and religious levels. They as of yet have not joined the newly formed government and remain as opposition group due to the fact that they believe joining the process whilst iraq is under occupation is unjust. COMMENT ENDS.

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Thursday, May 10, 2007

 

INM daily summary – 10 May 2007

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Round-up of violence across Iraq

Security
Roundup of violence in Iraq - 9 May 2007
(McClatchy Newspapers) - The daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondent Hussin Kadhim in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 0700 GMT on Thursday:
BAGHDAD - Police said they found the bodies of 21 people shot dead in different districts of Baghdad on Wednesday.
MOSUL - A hospital received the bodies of three people, two women and a man, from one family in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL - The bodies of two police officers were found in Mosul, police said.
MAHAWEEL - The bodies of two people shot and tortured were found in the town of Mahaweel, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
ISKANDARIYA - A roadside bomb wounded five people on Wednesday in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed three insurgents and detained four others suspected of being involved in the smuggling of weapons from Iran into Iraq during raids in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
HAWIJA - Gunmen killed a policeman while he was heading to work in the town of Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

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Iraqi national security advisor lobbies U.S. politicians to keep troops in Iraq

Politics, Security
(UPI) - Iraqi national security advisor Mowaffak Al Rubaie is lobbying US politicians in Washington to keep US troops in Iraq to avoid anarchy. Monday and Tuesday, Rubaie visited two Democrats leading the Congressional charge to reduce troop numbers by fixed dates - Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan and Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported. "I know that they are running out of patience, and I understand this very well," Rubaie told The Times in an interview. "And we have to play the political game. But I feel we are on the last mile of a walk toward success, and if they let go and don't take our hand, I feel that we are going to lose everything."
President Bush has promised to veto any bill that includes withdrawal dates, and his administration said that it would review troop numbers and tour lengths in September. Meanwhile, Rubaie said that opponents to the war needed to be more aware of consequences of a sudden-pullout. "If you ram it down our throats and sync it to Washington because of the election cycle, things will crumble," he said.

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Iraqi Christians call on the government to protect them

Security, Religion
(AFP) - The leaders of Iraq's Christian minority on Thursday called on the country's beleaguered government to protect their community from attacks by Al Qaeda-inspired Muslim extremists. In a joint statement, Patriarch Mar Dinka IV of the Catholic Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Emmanuel Delly of Babylon said Baghdad's remaining Christians were facing persecution. They blamed the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq", an alliance of Islamist insurgent groups that serves as an Al-Qaeda front, for much of the violence.
"Christians in a number of Iraqi regions, especially those under the control of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, have faced blackmail, kidnapping and displacement," the statement said.
The churchmen expressed surprise that Al-Qaeda's influence has "reached parts of Baghdad while the government has kept silent and not taken a firm stance to stop their expansion."
Before the US invasion in March 2003 there were estimated to be around 800,000 Christians in Iraq, around three percent of the otherwise largely Muslim population, living mainly in urban centres such as Baghdad.
Although there were some attacks on churches in the immediate aftermath of the fall of
Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Christians were not especially targeted while rival Sunni and Shiite Muslim factions went to war. As a relatively wealthy community, however, many Christians fell prey to kidnap and ransom gangs and many -- probably more than half -- of them have fled the country or moved to the relative safety of Iraqi Kurdistan. Now there are reports that Salafist groups such as Al-Qaeda, fundamentalists who believe Islam can be renewed by returning to the values of the era of the Prophet Mohammed, are targeting Christians on purely sectarian grounds.
In recent weeks a "fatwa" or Muslim religious decree has been issued by extremists ordering Christians to flee Dura, a southern suburb of Baghdad which is a hotbed of Sunni insurgent groups. In addition to calling on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to protect them, the patriarchs also urged the United Nations to intervene.

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Iraqi lawmakers endorse bill calling for foreign troop withdrawl

Politics
(AP) - A majority of Iraqi lawmakers have endorsed a bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number of foreign troops already in the country, lawmakers said Thursday. The legislation was being debated even as U.S. lawmakers were locked in a dispute with the White House over their call to start reducing the size of the U.S. force here in the coming months.
The Iraqi bill, drafted by a parliamentary bloc loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was signed by 144 members of the 275-member house, according to Nassar al-Rubaie, the leader of the Sadrist bloc. The Sadrist bloc, which sees the U.S.-led forces as an occupying army, has pushed similar bills before, but this was the first time it had garnered the support of a majority of lawmakers.
The bill would require the Iraqi government to seek approval from parliament before it requests an extension of the U.N. mandate for foreign forces to be in Iraq
, al-Rubaie said. It also calls for a timetable for the troop withdrawal and a freeze on the size of the foreign forces. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in November to extend the U.S.-led forces' mandate until the end of 2007. The resolution, however, said the council "will terminate this mandate earlier if requested by the government of Iraq."
Al-Rubaie said he personally handed the Iraqi bill to speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Wednesday. Deputy Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah told The Associated Press the draft legislation had not been officially submitted to the speaker, but was currently being reviewed by the house's legal department, apparently the final step before it can be submitted. Al-Rubaie said al-Mashhadani had a week to schedule a debate on the bill before he would use the majority that backs it to force a debate.
Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which launched two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004, has been blamed in much of the recent sectarian violence against Sunnis and has been one of the main targets of a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown. Last month, the cleric ordered his six Cabinet ministers to leave the government after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to put a timetable for foreign troops withdrawal.

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Iraqi government to settle debt with Turkish bank

Turkey, Finance
(Zaman) - The Iraqi government has taken a constructive step in efforts to settle its YTL 2 billion ($1.5 billion) in debt to Turkey's Central Bank, nominating US accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young to negotiate its amount outstanding with the Turkish Treasury. As the central bank's biggest partner, the Treasury is dealing with the collection problem in the name of the bank and has also enlisted the help of the UN towards this goal.
The debt began accumulating before the US invaded Iraq in 1991. In accordance with commercial agreements between the two countries before the first Gulf war, the Turkish Central Bank was proceeding with payments to Turkish exporters and contractors that do business in Iraq. The funds expended were later collected from the Iraqi government. The system was working smoothly until it broke down after the US invaded Iraq 16 years ago. Iraq has been unable to pay the remaining debt since then due to internal disorder created after the war.
The Iraqis’ debt to the Turkish Central Bank is equal to 31 percent of the bank’s annual expenditures. Although the bank is making allowances to hedge the risk for bad debts, it has not made any provision for receivables from Iraq since 2002, when it adopted international accounting standards.
The state-owned Turkish Pipeline Company (BOTAق) is also owed a significant sum by Iraq, totaling as much as $900 million. This debt stems from transportation costs through the Kirkuk-Yumurtal‎k oil pipeline. BOTAق officials say they are waiting for the Iraqi government to settle its debt with the government since there is no appropriate authority to deal with the problem.

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Sunni armed groups flee from Anbar to Mosul

Insurgency
(Kurdish Globe) - As tribal leaders and Sheiks in Anbar Province declare war on Al-Qaeda and other Iraqi Sunni armed groups battle them, Al-Qaeda is heading to Mosul Province, as witnessed by the increasing level of violence in the northern Iraq region. A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) headquarters in Mosul city stated that insurgents distributed threatening leaflets there on Saturday, May 5, stating that they will launch attacks on Kurdish political party offices in the city.
"They (insurgents) said they will attack the offices belonging to Kurdish political parties, assassinate Kurdish officials, and launch suicide attacks on Kurdish checkpoints in the city," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject. Massoud Barzani, the President of Kurdistan Region, leads the KDP. According to the source, the same day the threatening leaflets were distributed an unknown gunmen killed a Kurdish citizen in the Arbaji neighborhood in Mosul, and the body of a Kurdish citizen was found after unknown gunmen in Shangal district kidnapped him.
Ali Karim, a Kurd, who fled from Mosul city three months ago due to attacks and threats against Kurdish people in the city, accuses former members of Baath Party and Arabs from other countries of attacking Kurds in the city. "Former Members of Baath Party and Arabs from other countries are responsible for most of the majority horrific attacks; they don't have any faith for the city and Iraq," said Karim in an angry tone.
Last month, on April 26, double suicide car bombs and an insurgent wearing a suicide belt attacked two KDP offices in the Zumar area, 50 km northwest of Mosul city, killing 3 and wounding 13 Peshmergas (Kurdish fighters).
An official at the Joint Coordination Office in Mosul Province stated that, during the last week, a suicide car bomb exploded, 64 unidentified bodies were found, 29 roadside bombs exploded, 23 mortar shells reigned mostly on security centers in the city, and 23 clashes erupted between Iraqi forces and unknown gunmen. The source did not mention the number of statistical dead and wounded and assassination operations by acts of violence in the city during the current week and last week.
Additionally in April, said the source, 241 unidentified bodies were found in Mosul Province, 137 roadside bomb exploded, 123 armed accidents occurred, 93 clashes erupted between Iraqi forces and armed groups, 14 car bombs exploded, and 9 kidnapping cases were reported.
Brigadier Salim al Hajj, head of Mosul City Council, said that the level of violence in Mosul Province has risen because tribal leaders in Anbar Province have declared war against terrorist groups, particularly Al-Qaeda, causing most of the terrorists to flee Anbar Province and head to Mosul Province. Insurgents accuse the Kurds, particularly Kurdish political parties and Peshmerga forces, of being American allies.

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National Security Minister meets with al-Sistani

Politics
(Voices of Iraq) - Iraqi National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waili arrived on Wednesday morning in Najaf to meet top Shiite cleric in Iraq Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Al-Waili is also expected to visit the hospitals that hosted the wounded of yesterday's blast that occurred in Kufa city, 10 km east of Najaf. On Tuesday, Sixteen people were killed and 70 others wounded when an explosive vehicle ripped through the al-Shahrestani square in Kufa city. Al-Waili is expected to give a news conference after meeting Ayatollah al-Sistani.

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Worse security conditions despite 'surge'

Security
(Azzaman) - Baghdad inhabitants say the presence of armed groups has intensified since the start of U.S. military operations to pacify the city more than two months ago. More and more armed groups are springing up in Baghdad, they say, and restive quarters like Doura and Ghazaliya have turned into major insurgent strongholds.
The Ministry of Interior which plays a big hand in the current operations targeting armed and rebel groups in the city would not comment on reports on the escalation of the number of armed in the city. But a ministry source, refusing to be named, said, “The security forces are striking with a fist of iron all the hatcheries of armed groups in various areas (of Baghdad) and the provinces by capturing many of them every week.”
But Baghdad residents have different stories to tell. Kadhem Abedsada who has been forced to flee al-Ghazaliya district, said security conditions have aggravated since the government began its security plan. “I have never seen such a wide presence of armed groups before. Their hideouts dot al-Ghazaliya and they are breeding like mushrooms. They call themselves resistance but they kill and kidnap on identity cards and ask for massive ransoms,” Abedsada said.
A woman, refusing to be named, said her husband was abducted by armed men who forced their way into their house in the violent neighborhood of Saydiya. “My husband was kidnapped from our home in Saydiya by an unidentified armed group. They entered our house, handcuffed my husband and took away our money and jewelry. “Then they asked for $30,000 as a ransom but later reduced it to $20,000 when I told them they had already taken almost all what we had. “After paying the ransom, they released my husband on condition that we immediately evacuate the neighborhood and so did we,” said the woman, who only spoke on condition of anonymity.
Abu Ahmad from al-Jamia neighborhood said their areas had turned into hideouts for armed groups. “Armed groups operate and act with impunity. They can do whatever they want as there are no Iraqi security forces in most of our neighborhood. “Occasionally, U.S. troops storm certain areas and arrest some people most of whom are innocent,” Abu Ahmad said.
Conditions in Amiriya neighborhood have also worsened since U.S. and Iraqi forces launched their security plan. Hadi Mahmoud said many residents in Amiriya now fear leaving their homes and a trip outside the neighborhood is for many ‘a journey to certain death.’ “We cannot leave our areas and our homes. Our neighborhood looks almost deserted apart from the sight of armed groups brandishing their weapons and wandering freely in the streets,” said Mahmoud.
COMMENT: The Azzaman Arabic Daily is a self declared “independent” newspaper printed in Great Britain and distributed throughout the Arab community. The Editor-in-Chief, Sadi Al Bazzaz is a former employee of the Iraqi Ministry of Information, who fled Iraq in the early 1990’s to Great Britain. Azzaman is widely read throughout Baghdad as a valuable source of information. Azzaman continues to be the most popular printed news source in Baghdad. Azzaman takes more of a center approach in its reporting and editorials, rather than being pro-Coalition. The paper does run anti-Coalition pieces that label the US presence in Iraq as an occupying force. Azzaman Arabic Daily resembles a liberal, non-religious based, western paper; providing local and international news, sports, fashion, arts, a cyber section called “@.” This paper and those like it were not available in Baghdad during the Saddam regime.COMMENT ENDS.

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Green Zone under attack again

Security
(AP) - A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone - the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital - has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside. The order, obtained by The Associated Press, has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone following a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the U.S. government is building a massive and expensive new embassy.
The situation marks a sharp turnaround for the heavily guarded Green Zone - long viewed as the safest corner of Baghdad with its shops, restaurants, American fast-food outlets and key Iraqi and American government offices. The security deterioration also holds dire implications for the Iraqi government, which uses the Green Zone as a haven for key meetings crucial to its ability to govern. On Wednesday, for example, Vice President Dick Cheney held meetings in the Green Zone with Iraq's prime minister.
The increase in mortar attacks comes despite the presence of tens of thousands more American and Iraqi soldiers in the streets of Baghdad as part of the security crackdown ordered by President Bush in January.The vest and helmet security order was issued May 3, one day after four Asian contract workers working for the U.S. government were killed when rockets or mortars slammed into the Green Zone. It was at least the third straight day of barrages against the 3.5-square-mile area along the west bank of the Tigris River in the center of Baghdad.
Because of the "recent increase of indirect fire attacks" - the military term for mortar and artillery barrages - the order told embassy employees that until further notice, "outdoor movement" must be "restricted to a minimum." Government employees who work outside of a "hardened structure" such as the current embassy building or travel "a substantial distance outdoors" must wear "personal protective equipment," meaning flak jackets and helmets, the order said.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman confirmed the order was in effect until further notice. But he refused to say more, citing security, and would not allow his name to be published, citing embassy regulations. Attacks on the Green Zone are nothing new: They have occurred from time to time since the first months of the U.S. presence in Iraq. Often, the rounds landed in open fields - part of a system of parks that Saddam Hussein built when the area served as the headquarters of his regime.
But the latest attacks have been unnerving because of their frequency, the size of the ordnance and the accuracy of some hits. Some rounds appear to have been fired from Sunni insurgent strongholds to the south of the Green Zone. Others have come from areas where Shiite militiamen operate.
At last week's regional summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said it was unclear if the attackers were becoming more skilled, had better weapons or tools or were just getting lucky. He noted that it was difficult to stop mortar attacks. Extremists can carry the weapons in vehicles, set up quickly, fire them and drive away. It is also likely that rounds fired from Shiite areas are intended as a warning to Iraq's Shiite-led government not to bow to American pressure and disband the militias.

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Iraqi parliament votes to start legal proceedings against Al Jazeera

Media, Politics
(AP) - Parliament overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to start legal proceedings against Al-Jazeera television over perceived insults by the Arabic news channel against Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. It was not immediately clear what the legal action would amount to. Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, said only that the matter would be decided by parliament's legal department.
The move by the 275-seat house followed protests Friday in the southern cities of Basra and Najaf by hundreds of Shiites angered by an Al-Jazeera talk show in which the host questioned al-Sistani's leadership credentials and appeared to cast doubt on whether he personally authored his edicts.
The controversy has received extensive coverage by the Iraqi media, with some Shiite television channels devoting hours of air time to politicians and clerics expressing indignation. And in Shiite Iran, al-Sistani's birthplace, parliament on Sunday decided to ban Al-Jazeera reporters from its building in protest.
"We regret the Iraqi decision," Al-Jazeera's editor in chief Ahmed al-Sheik said from Doha, the Qatari capital. "This is an Iraqi decision. There is nothing that we can do. We have no problem with the Iraqi government and we deal with it like any other government," he said in a telephone interview.
Debating the issue before the vote, which was taken by a show of hands, several deputies suggested that the Qatar-based network be sued before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for what they said was its role in stoking sectarian strife in Iraq, a charge routinely leveled by Shiite politicians against the station.
Criticism by Sunni and Kurdish legislators, however, was muted, with some suggesting that the best defense against Al-Jazeera was for Iraqis to put their own house in order. Responding to calls by some deputies for a boycott of Al-Jazeera by Iraqi politicians, Sunni Arab lawmaker Mahdi Hafez said the station's allegations should be countered by Iraqis appearing on its programs. In unusually candid comments, lawmaker Safiyah al-Suheil said the root cause of the latest furor over Al-Jazeera was that al-Sistani has been brought into politics.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Shiite politicians have accused Al-Jazeera of championing the former leader's rule and the Sunni insurgency. The channel has been banned from operating in Iraq since 2004.

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U.S. military blames Iran for arming Sunni insurgents

Security, Iran
(AP) - A U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday that Shiite-dominated Iran is providing support to some Sunni insurgents fighting American forces in Iraq. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the military had credible intelligence to support the allegation but did not elaborate. He said the support to Sunni insurgents was limited to select groups, which he did not identify.
"It's not all Sunni insurgents but rather we do know that there is a direct awareness by Iranian intelligence officials that they are providing support to some select Sunni insurgent elements," Caldwell told reporters. On Sunday, a U.S. general also said powerful armor-penetrating roadside bombs believed to be of Iranian origin were turning up in the hands of Sunni insurgents south of Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Army's Task Force Marne, said the presence of "explosively formed penetrators," or EFPs, in Sunni weapons caches suggests some degree of Iranian influence among Sunni as well as Shiite extremists. But Lynch, whose command covers the southern rim of Baghdad and mostly Shiite areas to the south, said it was unclear whether the Iranians were supplying the weapons directly or whether the Sunnis were buying them on the black market.
Caldwell said the weapons issue was still being investigated, but "we do know that they're providing support in terms of financial support at this point." U.S. military officials have been saying for months that the Iranians were supplying EFPs to Shiite militias, despite strong denials by Tehran. Some Sunni insurgent groups are strongly anti-Iranian, blaming the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government for helping Iran expand its influence here.

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Turkey - Kirkuk is Iraq's internal affair but must speak up for minorities

Turkey
(The New Anatolian) - Turkey believes Kirkuk is an internal affair of Iraq but also says it has to speak up for the rights of Turkmens, Kurds, Arabs and all other groups living in this oil rich city, according to sources close to the Foreign Ministry. The sources say they feel the current situation in Kirkuk will not allow the November referendum to take place as scheduled and say the whole process should be delayed.
A source close to the ministry said Turkey has the right to speak about the future of Kirkuk as any other country. "When western countries speak about the oil law in Iraq are they interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq? So others also speak about the future of Iraq and of Kirkuk. Turkey is not interested in interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq," the source said.
The sources say the Iraqi Arabs as much as the Turkmens are against the referendum taking place in November. They also say deadlines set in article 140 of the Iraqi constitution for the future of Iraq have already passed with no action. "So the delays are already there. Besides this there is no healthy atmosphere for holding the census in Kirkuk in July which will be a prelude for the referendum."
The sources said there is growing recognition among the international circles that the referendum has to be delayed. The sources said the Arabs also are not too much in favor of the referendum in 2007 and are stalling. "They take a decision on Article 140 but then they do not apply it. Thus there are delays." The Kurds insist the referendum will take place in 2007. They are known to be threatening the al-Maliki government of a walkout from the cabinet if the referendum is stalled.

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Why Iraqis cannot agree on an oil law

Oil
Lionel Beehner from the Council on Foreign Relations discusses what the oil law is about, the difficulty of drafting the oil law, the main points of contention, how much oil Iraq has, why oil production has stalled and how long it will take for the draft oil law to pass.
Disagreements over oil and revenue sharing threaten to unravel hopes for a political breakthrough and national reconciliation in Iraq. A draft oil law has drawn criticisms from Iraq’s Sunnis, who prefer a stronger role for the central government, and from Kurds, who prefer a stronger role for the regional authorities. The majority Shiites have sought to mollify the Sunnis by keeping control of Iraq’s oil sector in Baghdad, not the provinces. The role of outside investors, as well as the classification of old versus new oil fields, also divides Iraqi politicians. Oil, of course, is the country’s most vital resource, accounting for 95 percent of government revenue. Yet output has fallen well short of Baghdad’s production targets, mostly due to corruption, poor security, and lack of investment.
Follow the link to read in full.

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Iraqis demonstrate against Cheney's visit

Politics
(Al Jazeera) - The US vice-president has urged Iraqi leaders to end fighting and act on overcoming sectarian differences on a visit to Iraq's capital. Dick Cheney kicked off a week-long Middle East tour on Wednesday but his Baghdad stop was met by demonstrations and spiralling violence punctuated by an explosion that shook windows at the US embassy he was at.
He met Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to discuss security issues and "challenges we are facing in our own political process". He also urged parliament to abandon plans for a two-month summer vacation, saying with important issues pending, "any undue delay would be difficult to explain".

Cheney said Iraqi leaders felt sectarian violence was "down fairly dramatically" even though car bombings and suicide attacks still claim a heavy toll. "I think everybody recognises there still are serious security problems, security threats, no question about it", adding that "we've got a long way to go. I emphasised the importance of making progress on the issues before us, not only the security issues but also on the political issues that are pending before the Iraqi government," he said. "I do believe that there is a greater sense of urgency now than I'd seen previously."
Despite his claims of progress, hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad and Najaf to protest against his visit and call for the withdrawal of US troops.
Cheney was at the US embassy inside the heavily protected Green Zone in central Baghdad when an explosion rattled windows, prompting officials to move reporters to the basement for several minutes.
Witnesses said a mortar or rocket appeared to have been fired from the mostly Shia areas on the east side of the Tigris river towards the Green Zone. In Washington, sagging public opinion of George Bush, the US president, has put pressure on the White House to show al-Maliki's government is making progress in attaining stability.
US troop withdrawal will begin later this year if progress is shown. The vice-president's visit comes two days after Bush held a video conference with al-Maliki about achieving political reconciliation among the majority Shia, the Sunnis and the Kurds.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

 

INM daily summary – 9 May 2007

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Sadr calls for talks with Sunnis opposed to Maliki's government

Politics
(McClatchy Newspapers) - Both Sunni and Shiite political factions are threatening to withdraw from the already weak government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a prospect that threatens the political accommodations needed to calm Iraq's sectarian warfare. Maliki supporters say the threats are nothing more than the bluster of negotiations and that the prime minister will be able to hold his fragile coalition together.
But Sunni politicians said Tuesday that they're serious about pulling out of parliament over what they say is Maliki's reluctance to share power. Maliki is a Shiite.
Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that loyalists of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also are considering breaking away from the Shiites' United Iraqi Alliance in the legislature, a move that would rob that ruling political bloc of its slim majority. Sadr followers denied that, but they said the cleric has asked them to reach out to rival Sunni groups.
The threat to the Maliki government comes as sectarian violence appears to be on the rise. On five of the last seven days, the number of unidentified bodies found on Baghdad's streets has surpassed 25, a significant increase over previous weeks.
But dissent is coming not only from Sunnis. Sadr, too, was expressing dissatisfaction, which could threaten the government. At issue were Maliki's delay in replacing six Sadrists who walked out of his Cabinet last month to protest the arrests of fighters from Sadr's Mahdi Army and his refusal to set a deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw. Maliki still hasn't named replacements for the six ministers, though an aide said those nominations could come this week.
Now Sadr is calling for talks with Sunnis who are bitterly opposed to the Maliki government, including Harith al-Thari, the head of the Muslim Scholars Association. An aide to Maliki, speaking on condition that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the topic, said even if Sadr were to withdraw from the United Iraqi Alliance coalition, giving it less than a majority, the prime minister could still triumph in parliament votes.
Kurdish members of parliament would stick with the prime minister on pivotal matters, and his fellow Shiites would be unlikely to bolt.
"The Sadrists would not leave," he said. "There is no other parliamentary bloc they would join." Still Sunni parliament members say the government is reaching a crisis. "It would be unfortunate if we gave Maliki an ultimatum and he either ignored it or was unable to commit to it," said Omar Abdul Sattar, a Sunni member of parliament and a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

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Round-up of violence across Iraq

Security
(McClatchy Newspapers) - Roundup of violence in Iraq - 8 May 2007
The daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondent Hussein Kadhim in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.
(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1000 GMT on Wednesday:
ARBIL - A suicide truck bomber killed 14 people and wounded 87 when he blew up his payload near the Kurdish regional government's interior ministry in Arbil, north of Baghdad, local officials said.
BAGHDAD - The bodies of 25 people were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked workers who were setting up concrete barriers in the Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya in Baghdad, killing one and wounding two others, police said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting police commandos wounded three policemen in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, police said.
FALLUJA - A hospital received the bodies of five people shot and tortured in the city of Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, doctor Bilal Mahmoud said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed a general director in the Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction in northern Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL - Gunmen killed two men from the ancient Yazidi faith in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
SHIRQAT - A roadside bomb killed two people in the town of Shirqat, 80 km (50 miles) south of Mosul, police said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed two people and wounded six in Zaafaraniya in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

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$2.5 bn. annually required to rebuild Iraq's electricity sector

Reconstruction
(Iraq Directory) - Iraqi Minister of Electricity, Kareem Hassan, said that Iraq must attract between 2 billion and $ 2.5 billion annually from international aid and investments to be able to rebuild the electricity sector. The Minister is in London to request help from energy companies, including B.B.
In an attempt to improve electricity, it has been agreed to a ten-year plan in 2006 with the assistance of the international community to add about 2000 megawatts to the generating capacity of the current 5000 megawatts. Hassan said that funding will come from the government budget amounting to 2 billion dollars annually, but the total cost ranges between four billion and $ 4.5 billion, which leave a shortfall of between 2 billion to $ 2.5 billion.
The minister continued, "we urge the donors to implement the commitments they have made in Madrid conference (for rebuilding Iraq) ... We also urge the sectors of electricity to contribute". He said that he is holding meetings in UK with all major electricity companies and with B.B concerning the gas project in the south of the country. Hassan added: "We discussed with them the main plan of gas as well."

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$300 bn. needed for Iraq reconstruction

Reconstruction
(Iraq Directory) - An Iraqi lawmaker has urged foreign firms attending an international reconstruction fair in Jordan to help rebuild his battered country. "Iraq needs more than 300 billion dollars for reconstruction in all fields -- oil, economy, industry, agriculture, infrastructure," said Yunadem Kanna, a member of Iraq's parliamentary commission on the economy, investment and reconstruction.
"Iraq is a huge market that needs expertise and technology in order to take its seat among world countries," he said at the opening of the 4th Rebuild Iraq international trade fair which lasts through Thursday. "There are security problems but we have safe areas in the north and the south, and there is an investment law that gives foreign firms many benefits," he said.
More than 700 Arab companies and foreign firms from Iran, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Saudi Arabia are at the fair. Observers believe Iraq has great potential because of its abundant oil and gas resources. Last week the leaders of more than 50 countries agreed at an international conference at Sharm al-Sheikh to fund Iraq's reconstruction if the embattled nation meets certain economic benchmarks.

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Islamic State of Iraq shows nine captured security guards

(SITE) - The Islamic State of Iraq, in several communiqués issued to jihadist forums between Monday, May 7, 2007, and Tuesday, May 8, reported harvest of operations reports for Baghdad and Diyala, and claims for attacks, of which in three, the group provides details for a large-scale operation Samarra and attacks in Baquba and Abu Ghraib.
The group also issued an 8:16 minute video today through al-Furqan Foundation, showing nine captured employees from the Iraqi Interior and Defense Ministries, including five officers ranging in rank from first lieutenant to captain. Each individual states their name and position, and the Islamic State makes the same demands of the Iraqi government for their release as they have made in prior arrests: giving a 72-hour deadline for the release of Sunni Muslim women from prison and for those Shi’ite police officers who allegedly raped Sabrin al-Janabi and women in Tal Afar to be turned over.
In Baquba, in the governorate of Diyala, yesterday, the Islamic State claims its Mujahideen detonated a large improvised explosive device (IED) on a Stryker armored vehicle that exploded with such intensity that it flipped a vehicle behind the Stryker. Fifteen American soldiers and a journalist who accompanied them are stated to have been killed, and vehicles on the scene were left burning for many hours. Media reports indicate that Dmitry Chebotayev, a Russian photographer, was killed in this attack along with six American soldiers. The previous day, Saturday, May 5th, a suicide bomber from the Islamic State detonated his car on a gathering of volunteers for the Iraqi army in Abu Ghraib. The attack, which was referenced in the statement of warning from the Islamic State’s Ministry of War to army volunteers, allegedly killed not less than 100 and injured another 150.

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Hoshyar Zibari says detained Iranians may be released

Politics, U.S., Iran
(The Independent) - The five Iranian officials whose abduction in an a US helicopter raid in January led to a crisis in relations between the US and Iran could be released in June according to the Iraqi foreign minister. In an interview in Baghdad, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, said that legally the US can only hold the Iranians for six months. It must then charge them, hand them over to Iraq or release them.
The Iranians were captured when the US launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian office in Arbil, the Kurdish capital in northern Iraq, on 11 January. Mr Zebari confirmed that the real targets were two senior Iranian security officials, the deputy head of Iran's National Security Council and General Minojahar Farouzanda, the head of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Both men were on an official visit to northern Iraq at the time of the US attack during which they had seen Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. Misled by the presence of their official car at the liaison office in Arbil - although they were in Mr Barzani's headquarters at Salahudin - US forces tried and failed to seize them.
Mr Zebari said there was "a possibility they will be released". This is because under an agreement governing such detentions the US "can detain them for 90 days and this can be renewed once. This is the military rule for holding such people: charge them, hand them over to the Iraqi authorities or release them. The time for their detention will expire in June when a decision will have to be made."
The Arbil raid came after George Bush made a speech on 10 January, identifying Iran and Syria as prime enemies of the US in Iraq. Mr Zebari has been outspoken in demanding their release, He said that since the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting last week the Iranian prisoners have been allowed to receive family visits.

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Barzani tells EU that Turkey should stop interfering

Politics, Kurdistan
The leader of the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq appealed to Turkey on Tuesday to stop interfering in Iraqi internal affairs, in particular trying to delay efforts to bring the oil-rich city of Kirkuk under Kurdish control. Massoud Barzani told EU lawmakers that the northern Iraqi city should be put under the regional control of Kurds, a move which Turkey fears could be used to fund a bid for independence.
Under Iraq's constitution residents living in Kirkuk are expected to hold a referendum before the end of the year on whether the city should join the autonomous region run by Kurds in northern Iraq. The Iraqi government last month decided to implement the constitutional requirement to determine the future status of Kirkuk — which is disputed among several different ethnic groups. The plan is expected to turn Kirkuk and its vast oil reserves over to Kurdish control, a step rejected by many of Iraq's Arabs and Turkmen — ethnic Turks who are strongly backed by Ankara.
"Kirkuk is an Iraqi city, with Kurdistan characteristics, and no one outside has a right to intervene," Barzani said. Barzani, who was in Brussels to hold talks with EU officials, including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee that Iraq's neighbors, including Turkey, had nothing to fear from his autonomous region, which he said was a rare area of security and stability in Iraq.
Turkey fears that any moves toward greater independence for Kurds in northern Iraq could incite Turkey's own estimated 14 million Kurds to outright rebellion. It has urged Baghdad to delay the vote, an appeal also made by some EU lawmakers on Tuesday, who fear the vote will lead to new conflict between ethnic groups in Kirkuk. Barzani warned however, that any delay would violate Iraq's constitution and could lead to unrest among Kurds.

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