News & Views 04/02/07

Photo: A man rushes a bomb attack victim to a hospital in Kirkuk, about 250 km (156 miles) north of Baghdad, April 2, 2007. A truck bomb killed 12 people and wounded around 150 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police said. REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed (IRAQ)

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Baghdad: Mapping the Violence

An interactive map of the major car bombs in Baghdad since 2003, and a map of the change in ethnic makeup of areas in Baghdad.

Iraqi Civilian Deaths Up in March

Iraqi figures estimate civilian deaths in violence across the country rose by 13% last month, despite the security crackdown in Baghdad. Data compiled by several ministries put civilian deaths in March at 1,861 - compared with 1,645 for February. A BBC correspondent in Baghdad says insurgents seem to have shifted their focus outside the capital to avoid recently introduced security measures. US diplomats say violence in the Iraqi capital has fallen by 25%. In renewed violence on Sunday, two truck bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul, killing two people and injuring 17 others, Reuters news agency reported. And the US military said six of its personnel were killed in roadside bombings south-west of Baghdad over the weekend.

Tal Afar Bombing Deadliest So Far

The Iraqi government yesterday raised its estimate of the death toll in a truck bombing in the northern town of Tal Afar on Tuesday to 152, making it the deadliest single bombing of the four-year-old war. The explosion, in a Shia area, wounded another 347 people and destroyed 100 homes. A few hours later, Shia police and gunmen made reprisal attacks in a Sunni area of the town. Between 50 and 70 men were shot dead. The slaughter in Tal Afar was the worst in a wave of bombings, blamed on al-Qa'ida in Iraq, which killed 400 people in Shia areas in the past week. The attacks were doubly damaging to the US administration: not only did they appear to show the ability of insurgents to attack at will, undermining the gains of the security crackdown in Baghdad, but Tal Afar had been regarded as a model for the "surge" operation in the capital. A year ago President George Bush praised the achievement of US forces in Tal Afar, where an inspirational commander drove insurgents out and threw a security cordon around the town. This led to a dramatic fall in attacks, but violence resumed once US troops withdrew. The lessons learned there have been applied to the "clear, control and hold" operation in Baghdad and neighbouring areas, for which the US is sending in nearly 30,000 extra troops.

Images of Busy Rooftops

For several decades, evenings passed in the gardens was what distinguished our summers. We would sprinkle the grass with fresh water, wash the trees, sweep the patios and arrange our garden chairs. Anyone is welcome to visit for an “istican” of tea and some “klaecha” (dough stuffed with dates, walnuts and sugar or coconut), and very many do. Some TV addicts took to putting a TV set out there as well! Now, generations later, we wish the tradition could be resumed. The world is taking giant steps forward but the war has taken us decades backwards. It has made us wishful for long gone images of gayety and happiness. The US Administration said it came to save the people, it came to restore our rights, to open the way to democracy. Yet in the previous war it hit the electricity stations, harming none but the people. It invoked sanctions against Iraq, starving none but the people. And after this war, after “freedom” and “democracy” have been at last served the Iraqi people, what have we gained?? Re-construction is a lie. We have seen none. We live in darkness. We are in the middle ages, we use candlesticks and kerosene light-wicks. Even the tradition of sleeping on our rooftops is denied us. For we do not feel safe enough there, not safe from insurgents … not safe from militias … not safe from rape and killing … not safe from the bullets that are flying about freely in our skies – we sweep them daily from our doorsteps. Not even evenings in our gardens are safe for us. Only the dark glum walls of our homes, where no one can visit, out of fear for their lives.

Sunnis Surge Beyond Baghdad

A wave of sectarian attacks that swept Iraq last week and this weekend is giving new steam to hard-liners of all stripes. From mosques to party headquarters, extremists have seized on the events to drive a wedge further between Shiite and Sunni, laying down tough challenges to US and Iraqi forces. At least 600 Iraqis died in the violence last week, the deadliest period since the Baghdad security plan started in February. While US and Iraqi officials say that Baghdad is quieter, violence has grown outside the capital. Bombings in Tal Afar provoked Shiite policemen to kill dozens of Sunnis in retaliation. Insurgents targeted other Shiite areas, and in Mosul on Sunday bombs exploded at an Iraqi Army base. In March, some 1,861 Iraqis were killed, 216 more than in February.

VIDEO: “Iraqis Shooting Each Other”

VIDEO: Iraqi Health Issues, Diverse and Dire

Shiite Cleric Opposes Return of Baathists in Iraq

Iraq's top Shiite cleric opposes a draft law that would allow former members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party to resume government positions, the head of the committee dealing with the Baathists said Sunday. Ahmed Chalabi met with Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani on Sunday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf to discuss the draft law that would allow thousands of former Baath Party members to regain their jobs or grant them pensions if they are denied jobs they once held in the government or military. The proposal, long demanded by the U.S., is designed to appease Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Arab minority in a bid to blunt the country's insurgency and return members of the minority to the political process. The law would allow those in the feared security and paramilitary forces to resume government positions but would exclude former regime members already charged with or sought for crimes.



As An Embedded First-Hand Witness in Iraq...I Want to Share Stories the American Public is Not Aware of and the Mainstream Media is Not Telling

Iraqi American Sami Rasouli was a well-known restaurateur in Minneapolis. In 2004, in the midst of the war and occupation - three decades after leaving Iraq - he returned to his home country to help it recover from the war and U.S. occupation. Rasouli has spent much of his time in the Shiite holy city of Najaf where he was born. He also helped establish the Muslim Peacemaker Team. He recently returned for a visit back to Minneapolis where he joins us today for an extended interview.