Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Jordan won't hand over Saddam's daughter to Iraq
Region
(AP) -- Jordan indicated Monday it is not ready to surrender Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter to Iraq, despite a new push from authorities in Baghdad for her to face charges of funneling money to Sunni insurgents. A visiting Iraqi delegation last week handed Jordanian authorities a list of wanted fugitives, including Raghad Saddam Hussein, the independent newspaper Al Arab Al Yawm reported Monday. Interpol has posted a "red notice" on its Web site, advising that Saddam's daughter is wanted by the Iraqi government for "crimes against life and health" and for inciting terrorism.
Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh said Monday that Jordan was "not dealing with that situation right now. We will deal with this issue when it happens, but it isn't on the agenda," he said. "It's only a warning from Interpol and not an arrest warrant." Red notices from Interpol are not international arrest warrants, but are intended to advise police forces that an individual is sought by a member government, according to Interpol's Web site.
The issue of what to do with Saddam's daughters is complicated by Sunni Arab hostility, including in Jordan, toward the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq. An estimated 750,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis, have fled to Jordan to escape the chaos back home. Raghad, 38, and her sister, Rana, were granted refuge in Jordan by King Abdullah II after their father's regime collapsed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Since then, the Jordanian government has turned down repeated requests by Iraq to hand over Raghad, insisting that to do so would violate Arab traditions of hospitality."We have always said that she is here on purely humanitarian grounds," Judeh told reporters. "It was agreed with her that she would never practice any political or media activities." Last year, Iraqi authorities included Raghad on a list of most wanted fugitives accused of supporting Sunni insurgents. Many of those on the list are believed to be in Jordan.
According to Al Arab Al Yawm, the Iraqis also asked for other Iraqi Sunnis, including Raghad's cousins, Ahmed Watban and Mohammed Sabawi; Harith al-Dhari, a hard-line cleric believed linked to Sunni insurgents; and Ziad Aziz, son of Saddam's deputy, Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who is now in U.S. custody. Iraqi authorities have not released detailed information to support the allegations against Raghad or the others.
In the absence of such public evidence, Jordan is unlikely to risk a Sunni backlash by handing over Sunnis to Iraq. "If Raghad Saddam Hussein was responsible for all that is happening in Iraq with the chaos, massacres, car bombs, al-Qaida, the Mahdi Army ... then the Americans shouldn't be in dialogue with the Iranians, but with her," a former information minister, Saleh Qallab, wrote Monday in the pro-government daily Al Rai.
"It's about time that Iraq, instead of creating the 'Interpol hurricane,' proves its courage and says loudly and clearly that the one responsible for all that is happening in Iraq is Iran," he said. Raghad has been known to speak publicly in support of the anti-American insurgency in Iraq - most recently in Yemen in February, when she joined hundreds of Baath party supporters commemorating the 40-day period since Saddam's death.
At the gathering, Raghad - who supervised Saddam's defense before his conviction and subsequent hanging - said that "as long as the resistance and the mujahedeen are fulfilling their duties in Iraq, the Iraqi people, without any doubt, will achieve victory."
Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh said Monday that Jordan was "not dealing with that situation right now. We will deal with this issue when it happens, but it isn't on the agenda," he said. "It's only a warning from Interpol and not an arrest warrant." Red notices from Interpol are not international arrest warrants, but are intended to advise police forces that an individual is sought by a member government, according to Interpol's Web site.
The issue of what to do with Saddam's daughters is complicated by Sunni Arab hostility, including in Jordan, toward the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq. An estimated 750,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis, have fled to Jordan to escape the chaos back home. Raghad, 38, and her sister, Rana, were granted refuge in Jordan by King Abdullah II after their father's regime collapsed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Since then, the Jordanian government has turned down repeated requests by Iraq to hand over Raghad, insisting that to do so would violate Arab traditions of hospitality."We have always said that she is here on purely humanitarian grounds," Judeh told reporters. "It was agreed with her that she would never practice any political or media activities." Last year, Iraqi authorities included Raghad on a list of most wanted fugitives accused of supporting Sunni insurgents. Many of those on the list are believed to be in Jordan.
According to Al Arab Al Yawm, the Iraqis also asked for other Iraqi Sunnis, including Raghad's cousins, Ahmed Watban and Mohammed Sabawi; Harith al-Dhari, a hard-line cleric believed linked to Sunni insurgents; and Ziad Aziz, son of Saddam's deputy, Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who is now in U.S. custody. Iraqi authorities have not released detailed information to support the allegations against Raghad or the others.
In the absence of such public evidence, Jordan is unlikely to risk a Sunni backlash by handing over Sunnis to Iraq. "If Raghad Saddam Hussein was responsible for all that is happening in Iraq with the chaos, massacres, car bombs, al-Qaida, the Mahdi Army ... then the Americans shouldn't be in dialogue with the Iranians, but with her," a former information minister, Saleh Qallab, wrote Monday in the pro-government daily Al Rai.
"It's about time that Iraq, instead of creating the 'Interpol hurricane,' proves its courage and says loudly and clearly that the one responsible for all that is happening in Iraq is Iran," he said. Raghad has been known to speak publicly in support of the anti-American insurgency in Iraq - most recently in Yemen in February, when she joined hundreds of Baath party supporters commemorating the 40-day period since Saddam's death.
At the gathering, Raghad - who supervised Saddam's defense before his conviction and subsequent hanging - said that "as long as the resistance and the mujahedeen are fulfilling their duties in Iraq, the Iraqi people, without any doubt, will achieve victory."
Labels: Jordan, Raghad Saddam Hussein, Saddam Hussein, Sunni insurgents
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sunni insurgent groups to form a political alliance
Politics
(The Guardian) - Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the Guardian.
In their first interview with the western media since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police - said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and denounced al-Qaida for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.
Speaking in Damascus, the spokesmen for the three groups - the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna and Iraqi Hamas - said they planned to hold a congress to launch a united front and appealed to Arab governments, other governments and the UN to help them establish a permanent political presence outside Iraq.
Abu Ahmad, spokesman for Iraqi Hamas said: "Peaceful resistance will not end the occupation. The US made clear it intended to stay for many decades. Now it is a common view in the resistance that they will start to withdraw within a year. "
The move represents a dramatic change of strategy for the mainstream Iraqi insurgency, whose leadership has remained shadowy and has largely restricted communication with the world to brief statements on the internet and Arabic media. The last three months have been the bloodiest for US forces, with 331 deaths and 2,029 wounded, as the 28,000-strong "surge" in troop numbers exposes them to more attacks.
Leaders of the three groups, who did not use their real names in the interview, said the new front, which brings together the main Sunni-based armed organisations except al-Qaida and the Ba'athists, had agreed the main planks of a joint political programme, including a commitment to free Iraq from foreign troops, rejection of cooperation with parties involved in political institutions set up under the occupation and a declaration that decisions and agreements made by the US occupation and Iraqi government are null and void.
The aim of the alliance - which includes a range of Islamist and nationalist-leaning groups and is planned to be called the Political Office for the Iraqi Resistance - is to link up with other anti-occupation groups in Iraq to negotiate with the Americans in anticipation of an early US withdrawal. The programme envisages a temporary technocratic government to run the country during a transition period until free elections can be held.
The insurgent groups deny support from any foreign government, including Syria, but claim they have been offered and rejected funding and arms from Iran. They say they have been under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to unite. "We are the only resistance movement in modern history which has received no help or support from any other country," Abdallah Suleiman Omary, head of the political department of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, told the Guardian. "The reason is we are fighting America."
All three Sunni-based resistance leaders say they are acutely aware of the threat posed by sectarian division to the future of Iraq and emphasised the importance of working with Shia groups - but rejected any link with the Shia militia and parties because of their participation in the political institutions set up by the Americans and their role in sectarian killings.
Abd al-Rahman al-Zubeidy, political spokesman of Ansar al-Sunna, a salafist (purist Islamic) group with a particularly violent reputation in Iraq, said his organisation had split over relations with al-Qaida, whose members were mostly Iraqi, but its leaders largely foreigners.
"Resistance isn't just about killing Americans without aims or goals. Our people have come to hate al-Qaida, which gives the impression to the outside world that the resistance in Iraq are terrorists. We are against indiscriminate killing, fighting should be concentrated only on the enemy," he said. He added: "A great gap has opened up between Sunni and Shia under the occupation and al-Qaida has contributed to that."
Wayne White, of Washington's Middle East Institute and a former expert adviser to the Iraq Study Group, said it was unclear, given the diversity within the Sunni Arab insurgency, what influence the new grouping would have on the ground.
He added: "This does reveal that despite the widening cooperation on the part of some Sunni Arab insurgent groups with US forces against al-Qaida in recent months, such cooperation could prove very shortlived if the US does not make clear that it has a credible exit strategy.
"With the very real potential for a more full-blown civil war breaking out in the wake of a substantial reduction of the US military presence in Iraq, Shia and Kurds appreciate that the increased ability of Sunni Arabs to organise politically and assemble in larger armed formations as a result of such cooperation could confront them with a considerably more formidable challenge as time goes on."
In their first interview with the western media since the US-British invasion of 2003, leaders of three of the insurgent groups - responsible for thousands of attacks against US and Iraqi armed forces and police - said they would continue their armed resistance until all foreign troops were withdrawn from Iraq, and denounced al-Qaida for sectarian killings and suicide bombings against civilians.
Speaking in Damascus, the spokesmen for the three groups - the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Ansar al-Sunna and Iraqi Hamas - said they planned to hold a congress to launch a united front and appealed to Arab governments, other governments and the UN to help them establish a permanent political presence outside Iraq.
Abu Ahmad, spokesman for Iraqi Hamas said: "Peaceful resistance will not end the occupation. The US made clear it intended to stay for many decades. Now it is a common view in the resistance that they will start to withdraw within a year. "
The move represents a dramatic change of strategy for the mainstream Iraqi insurgency, whose leadership has remained shadowy and has largely restricted communication with the world to brief statements on the internet and Arabic media. The last three months have been the bloodiest for US forces, with 331 deaths and 2,029 wounded, as the 28,000-strong "surge" in troop numbers exposes them to more attacks.
Leaders of the three groups, who did not use their real names in the interview, said the new front, which brings together the main Sunni-based armed organisations except al-Qaida and the Ba'athists, had agreed the main planks of a joint political programme, including a commitment to free Iraq from foreign troops, rejection of cooperation with parties involved in political institutions set up under the occupation and a declaration that decisions and agreements made by the US occupation and Iraqi government are null and void.
The aim of the alliance - which includes a range of Islamist and nationalist-leaning groups and is planned to be called the Political Office for the Iraqi Resistance - is to link up with other anti-occupation groups in Iraq to negotiate with the Americans in anticipation of an early US withdrawal. The programme envisages a temporary technocratic government to run the country during a transition period until free elections can be held.
The insurgent groups deny support from any foreign government, including Syria, but claim they have been offered and rejected funding and arms from Iran. They say they have been under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to unite. "We are the only resistance movement in modern history which has received no help or support from any other country," Abdallah Suleiman Omary, head of the political department of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, told the Guardian. "The reason is we are fighting America."
All three Sunni-based resistance leaders say they are acutely aware of the threat posed by sectarian division to the future of Iraq and emphasised the importance of working with Shia groups - but rejected any link with the Shia militia and parties because of their participation in the political institutions set up by the Americans and their role in sectarian killings.
Abd al-Rahman al-Zubeidy, political spokesman of Ansar al-Sunna, a salafist (purist Islamic) group with a particularly violent reputation in Iraq, said his organisation had split over relations with al-Qaida, whose members were mostly Iraqi, but its leaders largely foreigners.
"Resistance isn't just about killing Americans without aims or goals. Our people have come to hate al-Qaida, which gives the impression to the outside world that the resistance in Iraq are terrorists. We are against indiscriminate killing, fighting should be concentrated only on the enemy," he said. He added: "A great gap has opened up between Sunni and Shia under the occupation and al-Qaida has contributed to that."
Wayne White, of Washington's Middle East Institute and a former expert adviser to the Iraq Study Group, said it was unclear, given the diversity within the Sunni Arab insurgency, what influence the new grouping would have on the ground.
He added: "This does reveal that despite the widening cooperation on the part of some Sunni Arab insurgent groups with US forces against al-Qaida in recent months, such cooperation could prove very shortlived if the US does not make clear that it has a credible exit strategy.
"With the very real potential for a more full-blown civil war breaking out in the wake of a substantial reduction of the US military presence in Iraq, Shia and Kurds appreciate that the increased ability of Sunni Arabs to organise politically and assemble in larger armed formations as a result of such cooperation could confront them with a considerably more formidable challenge as time goes on."
Labels: Abd al-Rahman al-Zubeidy, Abdallah Suleiman Omary, Al Qaeda, Ansar Al Sunna, Iraqi Hamas, Political Office for the Iraqi Resistance, Sunni insurgents, the 1920 Revolution Brigades
Al-Sadr reaches out to the public
Politics
(New York Times) - After months of lying low, the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has re-emerged with a shrewd strategy that reaches out to Iraqis on the street while distancing himself from the increasingly unpopular government. Mr. Sadr and his political allies have largely disengaged from government, contributing to the political paralysis noted in a White House report last week. That outsider status has enhanced Mr. Sadr’s appeal to Iraqis, who consider politics less and less relevant to their daily lives.
Mr. Sadr has been working tirelessly to build support at the grass-roots level, opening storefront offices across Baghdad and southern Iraq that dispense services that are not being provided by the government. In this he seems to be following the model established by Hezbollah, the radical Lebanese Shiite group, as well as Hamas in Gaza, with entwined social and military wings that serve as a parallel government.
He has also extended the reach of his militia, the Mahdi Army, one of the armed groups that the White House report acknowledged remain entrenched in Iraq. The militia has effectively taken over vast swaths of the capital and is fighting government troops in several southern provinces. Although the militia sometimes uses brutal tactics, including death squads, many vulnerable Shiites are grateful for the protection it affords.
At the same time, the Mahdi Army is not entirely under Mr. Sadr’s control, and he publicly denounces the most notorious killers fighting in his name. That frees him to extend an olive branch to Sunni Arabs and Christians, while championing the Shiite identity of his political base. On May 25, in his first public Friday Prayer in months, he explicitly forbade sectarian attacks. “It is prohibited to spill the blood of Sunnis and Iraqi Christians,” he told Shiites in a much publicized sermon. “They are our brothers, either in religion or in the homeland.”
Now that the leadership is in poor repute, Mr. Sadr has shifted once again. The six ministers in the cabinet and 30 lawmakers in Parliament allied to him have been boycotting sessions. They returned Tuesday, but it is not clear they will stay long. The mainstream political parties in Iraq realize that Mr. Sadr is growing more influential, but appear to be flummoxed over how to deal with him. They see him as unpredictable and manipulative, but too politically and militarily important to ignore.
“He’s powerful,” said Jaber Habeeb, an independent Shiite member of Parliament and political science professor at Baghdad University. “This is a fact you have to accept, even if you don’t like it.” The latest stance by the more conventional political parties is to keep him at arm’s length. The two major Shiite parties, Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, along with the two Kurdish parties, have been negotiating to form a new moderate coalition.
Mr. Sadr’s political leaders were told he was welcome to join, but the invitation came belatedly, after the other groups had all but completed their discussions. Mr. Sadr’s lieutenants announced that he had no interest in joining. Experts in Shiite politics believe that efforts to isolate Mr. Sadr are bound to fail.
“Sadr holds the political center in Iraq,” said Joost Hiltermann, the director of the International Crisis Group’s office in Amman, Jordan. “They are nationalist, they want to hold the country together and they are the only political organization that has popular support among the Shias. If you try to exclude him from any alliance, well, it’s a nutty idea, it’s unwise.”
The mainstream parties talk about Mr. Sadr carefully. Some never mention his followers or the Mahdi militia by name, but speak elliptically of “armed groups.” Others acknowledge his position but are reserved on the challenge he poses.
Mr. Sadr has been working tirelessly to build support at the grass-roots level, opening storefront offices across Baghdad and southern Iraq that dispense services that are not being provided by the government. In this he seems to be following the model established by Hezbollah, the radical Lebanese Shiite group, as well as Hamas in Gaza, with entwined social and military wings that serve as a parallel government.
He has also extended the reach of his militia, the Mahdi Army, one of the armed groups that the White House report acknowledged remain entrenched in Iraq. The militia has effectively taken over vast swaths of the capital and is fighting government troops in several southern provinces. Although the militia sometimes uses brutal tactics, including death squads, many vulnerable Shiites are grateful for the protection it affords.
At the same time, the Mahdi Army is not entirely under Mr. Sadr’s control, and he publicly denounces the most notorious killers fighting in his name. That frees him to extend an olive branch to Sunni Arabs and Christians, while championing the Shiite identity of his political base. On May 25, in his first public Friday Prayer in months, he explicitly forbade sectarian attacks. “It is prohibited to spill the blood of Sunnis and Iraqi Christians,” he told Shiites in a much publicized sermon. “They are our brothers, either in religion or in the homeland.”
Now that the leadership is in poor repute, Mr. Sadr has shifted once again. The six ministers in the cabinet and 30 lawmakers in Parliament allied to him have been boycotting sessions. They returned Tuesday, but it is not clear they will stay long. The mainstream political parties in Iraq realize that Mr. Sadr is growing more influential, but appear to be flummoxed over how to deal with him. They see him as unpredictable and manipulative, but too politically and militarily important to ignore.
“He’s powerful,” said Jaber Habeeb, an independent Shiite member of Parliament and political science professor at Baghdad University. “This is a fact you have to accept, even if you don’t like it.” The latest stance by the more conventional political parties is to keep him at arm’s length. The two major Shiite parties, Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, along with the two Kurdish parties, have been negotiating to form a new moderate coalition.
Mr. Sadr’s political leaders were told he was welcome to join, but the invitation came belatedly, after the other groups had all but completed their discussions. Mr. Sadr’s lieutenants announced that he had no interest in joining. Experts in Shiite politics believe that efforts to isolate Mr. Sadr are bound to fail.
“Sadr holds the political center in Iraq,” said Joost Hiltermann, the director of the International Crisis Group’s office in Amman, Jordan. “They are nationalist, they want to hold the country together and they are the only political organization that has popular support among the Shias. If you try to exclude him from any alliance, well, it’s a nutty idea, it’s unwise.”
The mainstream parties talk about Mr. Sadr carefully. Some never mention his followers or the Mahdi militia by name, but speak elliptically of “armed groups.” Others acknowledge his position but are reserved on the challenge he poses.
“Moktada Sadr is one of the political leaders of this country,” Adel Abdul-Mahdi, one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, said in a recent interview. “We disagree on some things, we have differences. We have to work to solve our differences.” Rahman al-Mussawi, 38, says he is proud that he still has Sunni Arab neighbors on his block, even though Sunni insurgents most likely killed his three younger brothers. A picture of them hangs in his living room.
The Sadrists exhibit a quiet confidence, and are pulling ever more supporters into their ranks. “The Sadr movement cannot be marginalized; it is the popular base,” said Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, the chief spokesman and a senior strategist for Mr. Sadr’s movement in Najaf. “We will not be affected by efforts to push us to one side because we are the people. We feel the people’s day-to-day sufferings.”
A number of working-class Shiites reflected that sentiment in conversations about the Mahdi militia and Mr. Sadr. Their relatives and neighbors work both for the Sadr offices and for the militia, blurring the line between social programs and paramilitary activity.
Mr. Sadr’s offices are accessible storefronts that dispense a little bit of everything: food, money, clothes, medicine and information. From just one office in Baghdad and one in Najaf in 2003, the Sadr operation has ballooned. It now has full-service offices in most provinces and nine in Baghdad, as well as several additional storefront centers. In some neighborhoods, the militiamen come around once a month to charge a nominal fee — about 5,000 Iraqi dinars, or $4 — for protection. In others, they control the fuel supply, and in some, where sectarian killings have gone on, they control the real estate market for empty houses.
The Mahdi militia is deeply involved in that sectarian killing. In a vicious campaign in the Amil neighborhood in western Baghdad, once a mixed working-class neighborhood of Shiites and Sunni Arabs, it has driven out many Sunnis and isolated others in a few enclaves.
Young men, said by residents to be part of the Mahdi militia, check every car coming into the Shiite section of the neighborhood. And many mornings, the bodies of several Sunni Arabs are dumped in a brick-strewn lot near the neighborhood’s entrance. Local Shiites routinely claim that the bodies are of foreign terrorists.
However, each community insists that it is the victim of the other. A sniper in the Sunni Arab area shoots at Shiites lined up to buy at a gasoline station that straddles the two communities. That, in turn, is used to justify retaliatory attacks on Sunni Arabs.
Among Shiites, the militia is viewed as their best form of protection from Sunni Arab insurgents. “This is the Mahdi Army standing in our streets,” said Rahman al-Mussawi, 38, a community leader who says he is proud that he still has Sunni Arab neighbors on his block, even though Sunni insurgents almost certainly killed his three younger brothers. They disappeared along a deadly stretch of road south of Baghdad where Shiites have been victims of Sunni extremists.
Mr. Mussawi gestured to the end of the block, where young Mahdi guards in T-shirts checked cars entering the neighborhood: “The Americans chase them away. If the Americans just would leave, then the neighborhood would be quiet.” The Mahdi Army’s darker side is rarely discussed in Shiite neighborhoods. In Amil, some people fiercely reject any suggestion that the group runs death squads. Others might admit to some problems, but dismiss them as the excesses of a few bad apples.
The Sadrists exhibit a quiet confidence, and are pulling ever more supporters into their ranks. “The Sadr movement cannot be marginalized; it is the popular base,” said Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, the chief spokesman and a senior strategist for Mr. Sadr’s movement in Najaf. “We will not be affected by efforts to push us to one side because we are the people. We feel the people’s day-to-day sufferings.”
A number of working-class Shiites reflected that sentiment in conversations about the Mahdi militia and Mr. Sadr. Their relatives and neighbors work both for the Sadr offices and for the militia, blurring the line between social programs and paramilitary activity.
Mr. Sadr’s offices are accessible storefronts that dispense a little bit of everything: food, money, clothes, medicine and information. From just one office in Baghdad and one in Najaf in 2003, the Sadr operation has ballooned. It now has full-service offices in most provinces and nine in Baghdad, as well as several additional storefront centers. In some neighborhoods, the militiamen come around once a month to charge a nominal fee — about 5,000 Iraqi dinars, or $4 — for protection. In others, they control the fuel supply, and in some, where sectarian killings have gone on, they control the real estate market for empty houses.
The Mahdi militia is deeply involved in that sectarian killing. In a vicious campaign in the Amil neighborhood in western Baghdad, once a mixed working-class neighborhood of Shiites and Sunni Arabs, it has driven out many Sunnis and isolated others in a few enclaves.
Young men, said by residents to be part of the Mahdi militia, check every car coming into the Shiite section of the neighborhood. And many mornings, the bodies of several Sunni Arabs are dumped in a brick-strewn lot near the neighborhood’s entrance. Local Shiites routinely claim that the bodies are of foreign terrorists.
However, each community insists that it is the victim of the other. A sniper in the Sunni Arab area shoots at Shiites lined up to buy at a gasoline station that straddles the two communities. That, in turn, is used to justify retaliatory attacks on Sunni Arabs.
Among Shiites, the militia is viewed as their best form of protection from Sunni Arab insurgents. “This is the Mahdi Army standing in our streets,” said Rahman al-Mussawi, 38, a community leader who says he is proud that he still has Sunni Arab neighbors on his block, even though Sunni insurgents almost certainly killed his three younger brothers. They disappeared along a deadly stretch of road south of Baghdad where Shiites have been victims of Sunni extremists.
Mr. Mussawi gestured to the end of the block, where young Mahdi guards in T-shirts checked cars entering the neighborhood: “The Americans chase them away. If the Americans just would leave, then the neighborhood would be quiet.” The Mahdi Army’s darker side is rarely discussed in Shiite neighborhoods. In Amil, some people fiercely reject any suggestion that the group runs death squads. Others might admit to some problems, but dismiss them as the excesses of a few bad apples.
Labels: Adel Abdul Mahdi, Amil, Dawa party, Hezbollah, Mahdi Army, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, SIIC, Sunni insurgents
Monday, July 16, 2007
Twin car bombings kill 80 in Kirkuk
Security
(AP) - Twin suicide car bombings exploded within 20 minutes of each other in the northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing at least 80 people and wounding around 150 in attacks targeting a Kurdish political office and ripping through an outdoor market, police said. The attacks began around noon when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed truck near the concrete blast walls of the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
The explosion blasted a 10-yard-deep crater in the pavement and collapsed part of the roof of the one-story PUK office. Outside the offices, the burnt shells of more than two dozen vehicles were in the street. Soon after, the second bomber attacked the Haseer market, 700 yards away, destroying stalls and cars, said Kirkuk police Brig. Sarhat Qadir.
The outdoor Haseer market, with stalls of vegetable and fruit sellers, is frequented by Kurds in Kirkuk, a city where tensions are high between the Kurdish and Arab populations. At least 80 people were killed and around 140 wounded, said police Brig. Burhan Tayeb Taha. The attack came just over a week after one of the Iraq conflict's deadliest suicide attacks hit a village about 50 miles south of Kirkuk, killing more than 160 people.
Iraqi officials have said Sunni insurgents are moving further north to carry out attacks, fleeing U.S. offensives in and around Baghdad, including in the city of Baqouba, a stronghold of extremists on the capital's northwestern doorstep. The month-old sweeps aim to pacify the capital and boost the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The explosion blasted a 10-yard-deep crater in the pavement and collapsed part of the roof of the one-story PUK office. Outside the offices, the burnt shells of more than two dozen vehicles were in the street. Soon after, the second bomber attacked the Haseer market, 700 yards away, destroying stalls and cars, said Kirkuk police Brig. Sarhat Qadir.
The outdoor Haseer market, with stalls of vegetable and fruit sellers, is frequented by Kurds in Kirkuk, a city where tensions are high between the Kurdish and Arab populations. At least 80 people were killed and around 140 wounded, said police Brig. Burhan Tayeb Taha. The attack came just over a week after one of the Iraq conflict's deadliest suicide attacks hit a village about 50 miles south of Kirkuk, killing more than 160 people.
Iraqi officials have said Sunni insurgents are moving further north to carry out attacks, fleeing U.S. offensives in and around Baghdad, including in the city of Baqouba, a stronghold of extremists on the capital's northwestern doorstep. The month-old sweeps aim to pacify the capital and boost the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
COMMENT: Retribution attacks are likely to increase in the Kirkuk area during the run-up to Article 140 of the constitution which states a referendum will be held on the status of the oil-rich, multi-ethnic Kirkuk, which will determine whether it will become part of Kurdistan or Iraq. The referendum was supposed to be held in September but the central Baghdad government and the Kurdistan Regional Government are in dispute over whether to hold it now or delay it.
Although insurgent activity can never be ruled out in order to stoke sectarian violence, it is possible the bombings were carried out by the other minorities in Kirkuk who do not want to become part of Kurdistan. However, the attack does bear the hall marks of Sunni insurgents. COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Haseer market, Kirkuk, PUK, suicide car bomber, Sunni insurgents
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
British troops in secret talks with Sunni militants
Insurgency
(Daily Telegraph) - British military officers in Iraq have been party to secret talks with Sunni insurgent leaders there, Iraq's president said in an interview published Tuesday. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph while in London, Jalal Talabani added that Sunni rebels were shifting their perceptions to view Shiite-dominated Iran as more of a threat than foreign forces.
"There are resistance movements that are now meeting with the prime minister, with me, with British military officers and the ambassador for reconciliation talks," Talabani told the paper. "The biggest step forward would be to have the full participation of all the main groups in Iraq ... We need national unity. We must convince the Sunni Arabs they are a real partner."
Talabani reiterated comments made at Cambridge University last week when he said coalition troops would have to stay in Iraq until the end of next year, at which point they would be able to leave. He also said Sunni insurgents felt more threatened by Iran than by coalition troops. "There is a big change in the mentality of the Sunni Arab," he said. "They are now considering Iran is the danger and no longer considering America the danger."
Talabani also linked Iran's battles against internal dissent with attacks against British forces in southern Iraq.
"When there are some attacks (in Iran) they think it is British-backed activities, so they (the Iranians) do some limited things in Basra," he said.
"There are resistance movements that are now meeting with the prime minister, with me, with British military officers and the ambassador for reconciliation talks," Talabani told the paper. "The biggest step forward would be to have the full participation of all the main groups in Iraq ... We need national unity. We must convince the Sunni Arabs they are a real partner."
Talabani reiterated comments made at Cambridge University last week when he said coalition troops would have to stay in Iraq until the end of next year, at which point they would be able to leave. He also said Sunni insurgents felt more threatened by Iran than by coalition troops. "There is a big change in the mentality of the Sunni Arab," he said. "They are now considering Iran is the danger and no longer considering America the danger."
Talabani also linked Iran's battles against internal dissent with attacks against British forces in southern Iraq.
"When there are some attacks (in Iran) they think it is British-backed activities, so they (the Iranians) do some limited things in Basra," he said.
Labels: British military, Jalal Talabani, Sunni insurgents
Thursday, May 10, 2007
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.
"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.
Labels: EFPs, explosively formed penetrators, Iran, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, Major General William Caldwell, Sunni insurgents
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Government in talks with Sunni insurgents to lay down arms
Security, Politics, Insurgency
(AP) - The government has been indirectly talking to several Sunni insurgent groups over the past three months in a bid to persuade them to lay down their arms and join the political process, a senior government official said Thursday. Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi of the Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation said the talks were initiated at the request of the insurgents and have been taking place inside and outside Iraq.
He refused to identify the groups, but said they did not include al-Qaida in Iraq or Saddam Hussein loyalists. Members of the former president's outlawed Baath party took part, he added. Speaking to The Associated Press in a telephone interview, al-Muttalibi said the negotiations were deadlocked over the insurgent groups' insistence that they would lay down their arms only when a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq is announced.
The government's response was that such a move could only be taken when security is restored. Future rounds of negotiations are planned, he said, but did not elaborate. Al-Muttalibi's comments came one day after he expressed optimism in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government was making progress in talks with insurgent groups, predicting some factions might be close to laying down their arms. "One of the aims is to join with them in the fight against al-Qaida (in Iraq)," he told the BBC.
He refused to identify the groups, but said they did not include al-Qaida in Iraq or Saddam Hussein loyalists. Members of the former president's outlawed Baath party took part, he added. Speaking to The Associated Press in a telephone interview, al-Muttalibi said the negotiations were deadlocked over the insurgent groups' insistence that they would lay down their arms only when a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq is announced.
The government's response was that such a move could only be taken when security is restored. Future rounds of negotiations are planned, he said, but did not elaborate. Al-Muttalibi's comments came one day after he expressed optimism in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government was making progress in talks with insurgent groups, predicting some factions might be close to laying down their arms. "One of the aims is to join with them in the fight against al-Qaida (in Iraq)," he told the BBC.
Labels: Baathists, Iraq's Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation, Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi, Sunni insurgents
Monday, March 12, 2007
Insurgents burn down houses in new tactic
Insurgency
(New York Times) Sunni militants burned homes in a mixed city northeast of Baghdad on Saturday and Sunday, forcing dozens of families to flee and raising the specter of a new intimidation tactic in Iraq’s evolving civil war, Iraqi officials and witnesses said. Attackers burned both Sunni and Shiite homes in a neighborhood of Muqdadiya, a city of about 200,000 in Diyala Province, about 60 miles from Baghdad. There were differing reports about how many houses were affected. A security official in Diyala said that at least 30 houses were completely burned, including occupied and abandoned buildings, while a Sunni Arab politician from the area said that only six houses were destroyed. Some witnesses said as many as 100 houses were set on fire.
Victims from both sects blamed the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization for Sunni extremists that has taken over several other towns in the area. Residents said the group had recently demanded money, weapons and oaths of support from the local populace. They said the burnings were intended to scare people into giving in or running away. Dozens of families escaped the city, either left homeless by the attacks or terrified that they would be next.
The attacks reignited fears that Iraq is being hollowed out by efforts in some areas to drive out those who do not support an extremist sectarian agenda. Many mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad have already been transformed into homogenous enclaves, with Shiites and Sunnis issuing death threats to the minority sect and even those who intermarry or have cross-sectarian friendships.
Even before the house burnings over the weekend, Diyala had become a cauldron of daily violence, with American and Iraqi forces fighting a growing Sunni threat that has often overwhelmed the province’s Shiite leaders. Residents report that in some villages, the Islamic State of Iraq brazenly flies flags that declare loyalty to Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, in what appears to be both a warning and a taunt to the group’s opponents.
American military officials have said they are increasingly concerned about the area’s slide into chaos. The commander for northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, said this week that he had already shifted additional troops to the province and asked for extra reinforcements. On Thursday, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, said Diyala would “very likely” get more troops as part of an increase concentrated in Baghdad.
Victims from both sects blamed the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization for Sunni extremists that has taken over several other towns in the area. Residents said the group had recently demanded money, weapons and oaths of support from the local populace. They said the burnings were intended to scare people into giving in or running away. Dozens of families escaped the city, either left homeless by the attacks or terrified that they would be next.
The attacks reignited fears that Iraq is being hollowed out by efforts in some areas to drive out those who do not support an extremist sectarian agenda. Many mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad have already been transformed into homogenous enclaves, with Shiites and Sunnis issuing death threats to the minority sect and even those who intermarry or have cross-sectarian friendships.
Even before the house burnings over the weekend, Diyala had become a cauldron of daily violence, with American and Iraqi forces fighting a growing Sunni threat that has often overwhelmed the province’s Shiite leaders. Residents report that in some villages, the Islamic State of Iraq brazenly flies flags that declare loyalty to Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, in what appears to be both a warning and a taunt to the group’s opponents.
American military officials have said they are increasingly concerned about the area’s slide into chaos. The commander for northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, said this week that he had already shifted additional troops to the province and asked for extra reinforcements. On Thursday, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, said Diyala would “very likely” get more troops as part of an increase concentrated in Baghdad.
Labels: Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, Islamic State of Iraq, Muqdadiya, Sunni insurgents
Thursday, March 01, 2007
U.S. troop casualties highest in Sunni areas
Security
(McClatchy Newspapers) Sunni Muslim insurgents remain by far the biggest threat to American troops in Iraq, despite recent U.S. claims that Iran is providing Shiite Muslim militia groups with a new type of roadside bomb, a review of American casualty reports shows.
While U.S. military officials have held briefings to publicize their concerns about the potent bombs known as explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) or penetrators, casualty reports suggest that such weapons in the hands of Shiite militias are responsible for a relatively small number of American deaths.
U.S. officials have said that attacks with such weapons increased 150 percent in the past year. But a review of bombings by location shows that less than 10 percent of attacks that killed at least two American service members in the past 14 months were in areas where Shiite militias are dominant.
Those reports show that fewer than half the bomb attacks on heavily armored U.S. vehicles such as Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles were in areas where Shiite militias dominate. While it's difficult to know which armed group planted a bomb, analysts say the casualty numbers show that U.S. officials are exaggerating the importance of EFPs, which military officials say have been used only by Shiites.
"There were relatively few American deaths from explosively formed penetrators until recently, but you can say the same thing about attacks on helicopters or chlorine attacks," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a policy research group in Arlington, Va. "The fact of the matter is that the insurgents, both Sunni and Shiite, are becoming a lot more sophisticated in their tactics. Explosively formed penetrators are only one part of that, and they are not a particularly important part."
Pentagon officials say the issue is important because the Iranian government appears to be involved. "I think the issue is not whether or not materials and supplies are coming from Iran - they are - but rather how far up the Iranian leadership is involved," said Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.
U.S. military officials accuse Iran of supplying Shiite militants with EFPs, which fire a molten slug of metal that can punch through the thickest American armor, including tanks and other vehicles designed to withstand heavy blasts. The officials say the bombs have killed at least 170 U.S. and allied service members and wounded more than 620 since they were first discovered on the battlefield in mid-2004. "Explosively formed penetrators are not some exclusive franchise for the Iranians," Thompson said. "They are fairly common around the world."
Explosively formed penetrators are also known as shaped charges. The warheads were developed after World War I to penetrate tanks and other armored vehicles. Rocket-propelled grenades and antitank missiles are conventional examples. Shaped charges also are used in the oil and gas industry.
John Pike, the executive director of GlobalSecurity.org, an online clearinghouse for military, intelligence and homeland-security information, said that while designing a shaped charge would require expertise, fabricating the devices was simpler, requiring only skill in using metal-machining tools. Asked who'd have the expertise to manufacture a shaped charge, Pike cited "people who had worked with explosives in the petroleum industry." In Iraq, he said, "there would be a fair number of those."
U.S. military officials say EFPs are more dangerous than other types of roadside bombs because they typically produce more casualties. American casualty reports show that the deadliest roadside-bomb attacks of the war have occurred in predominantly Sunni areas or areas with mixed ethnic and religious populations.
While U.S. military officials have held briefings to publicize their concerns about the potent bombs known as explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) or penetrators, casualty reports suggest that such weapons in the hands of Shiite militias are responsible for a relatively small number of American deaths.
U.S. officials have said that attacks with such weapons increased 150 percent in the past year. But a review of bombings by location shows that less than 10 percent of attacks that killed at least two American service members in the past 14 months were in areas where Shiite militias are dominant.
Those reports show that fewer than half the bomb attacks on heavily armored U.S. vehicles such as Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles were in areas where Shiite militias dominate. While it's difficult to know which armed group planted a bomb, analysts say the casualty numbers show that U.S. officials are exaggerating the importance of EFPs, which military officials say have been used only by Shiites.
"There were relatively few American deaths from explosively formed penetrators until recently, but you can say the same thing about attacks on helicopters or chlorine attacks," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a policy research group in Arlington, Va. "The fact of the matter is that the insurgents, both Sunni and Shiite, are becoming a lot more sophisticated in their tactics. Explosively formed penetrators are only one part of that, and they are not a particularly important part."
Pentagon officials say the issue is important because the Iranian government appears to be involved. "I think the issue is not whether or not materials and supplies are coming from Iran - they are - but rather how far up the Iranian leadership is involved," said Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.
U.S. military officials accuse Iran of supplying Shiite militants with EFPs, which fire a molten slug of metal that can punch through the thickest American armor, including tanks and other vehicles designed to withstand heavy blasts. The officials say the bombs have killed at least 170 U.S. and allied service members and wounded more than 620 since they were first discovered on the battlefield in mid-2004. "Explosively formed penetrators are not some exclusive franchise for the Iranians," Thompson said. "They are fairly common around the world."
Explosively formed penetrators are also known as shaped charges. The warheads were developed after World War I to penetrate tanks and other armored vehicles. Rocket-propelled grenades and antitank missiles are conventional examples. Shaped charges also are used in the oil and gas industry.
John Pike, the executive director of GlobalSecurity.org, an online clearinghouse for military, intelligence and homeland-security information, said that while designing a shaped charge would require expertise, fabricating the devices was simpler, requiring only skill in using metal-machining tools. Asked who'd have the expertise to manufacture a shaped charge, Pike cited "people who had worked with explosives in the petroleum industry." In Iraq, he said, "there would be a fair number of those."
U.S. military officials say EFPs are more dangerous than other types of roadside bombs because they typically produce more casualties. American casualty reports show that the deadliest roadside-bomb attacks of the war have occurred in predominantly Sunni areas or areas with mixed ethnic and religious populations.
Labels: EFPs, explosively formed projectiles, Iran, Shiite militias, Sunni insurgents
Friday, February 16, 2007
Al-Hashemi says 'resistance' should have option to join political process
Security, Insurgency, Politics
(AP) Sunni insurgents who are "honorable and genuine" must be given the chance to join the political process now that the United States is anxious to pull its troops from Iraq, the country's Sunni vice president said in an interview published Friday. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told the Arabic language daily Al-Hayat that U.S. and Iraqi representatives must negotiate "with the participation of the resistance" after "America has failed to run the country.
Furthermore, al-Hashemi said that "the honorable national resistance" must adopt "a new ideology to manage the crisis." Al-Hashemi, leader of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, has in recent months been sharply critical of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over his alleged reluctance to move against Shiite militias linked to sectarian killings. Shiite leaders have recoiled at the use of the word "resistance" to describe Sunni insurgents — especially those who attack U.S. and coalition troops rather than Iraqi civilians. Shiite politicians, including al-Maliki, refer to Sunni insurgents as "terrorists," "Saddamists" or "Takfiris," religious extremists who consider Shiites as infidels.
Al-Hashemi also criticized the militant Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, accusing it of meddling in politics and rejecting the notion that it represents the country's Sunni Arabs. Many Association figures are believed closely linked to insurgents. The vice president accused al-Maliki of squandering the opportunity early in his administration to deal with the Shiite militias. The U.S. has been pressing al-Maliki to crack down on Shiite gunmen, especially the Mahdi Army of his political ally, Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Hashemi said that recently, the prime minister "realized the danger to the law posed by the militias but his move against them is late again." He said al-Sadr's militia had hidden their weapons and their key leaders slipped out of the country to avoid the recently launched crackdown in Baghdad.
Furthermore, al-Hashemi said that "the honorable national resistance" must adopt "a new ideology to manage the crisis." Al-Hashemi, leader of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, has in recent months been sharply critical of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over his alleged reluctance to move against Shiite militias linked to sectarian killings. Shiite leaders have recoiled at the use of the word "resistance" to describe Sunni insurgents — especially those who attack U.S. and coalition troops rather than Iraqi civilians. Shiite politicians, including al-Maliki, refer to Sunni insurgents as "terrorists," "Saddamists" or "Takfiris," religious extremists who consider Shiites as infidels.
Al-Hashemi also criticized the militant Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, accusing it of meddling in politics and rejecting the notion that it represents the country's Sunni Arabs. Many Association figures are believed closely linked to insurgents. The vice president accused al-Maliki of squandering the opportunity early in his administration to deal with the Shiite militias. The U.S. has been pressing al-Maliki to crack down on Shiite gunmen, especially the Mahdi Army of his political ally, Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Hashemi said that recently, the prime minister "realized the danger to the law posed by the militias but his move against them is late again." He said al-Sadr's militia had hidden their weapons and their key leaders slipped out of the country to avoid the recently launched crackdown in Baghdad.
Labels: politics, Sunni insurgents, Tariq al-Hashemi
