Security Incidents for 04/27/07

Photo: Passengers on a bus watch as Iraqi soldiers and U.S. soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division conduct a joint patrol in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, April 27, 2007. REUTERS/Bob Strong (IRAQ)

Baghdad:

Around 1 pm, a mortar shell hit Shulla neighborhood injring 2 civilians.

Around 3 pm, a roadside bomb exploded in Nahrawan neighborhood killing 1 and injuring 1.

Around 5 pm, mortar shelling hit Jisr Diyala neighborhood (east of Baghdad) without casualties.

Around 5.30 pm, mortar shelling hit Shulla neighborhood (north west Baghdad) without casualties

Seven corpses were found all over Baghdad: ( 4) in east Baghdad( Rusafa Bank) ; 2 in Kamaliya and 2 in Adhamiya While (3) found in west Baghdad ( Kharkh Bank ; 2 in Amil and 1 in Doura.

Mussayab:

Gunmen killed three people when they shot at a house belonging to a guard of MP Ezat Shahbandar from the Iraqi National List, a political bloc headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. The attack took place in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Basra:

Yesterday night and early morning , Basra international airport where the British base was a target for indirect fire for thee times (10 pm, 3am and 9 am) without knowing the damages

Camp Bucca:

In another development Friday, the U.S. military also said an Iraqi detainee at Camp Bucca, a U.S. Army prison in Iraq, died the day before from injuries apparently sustained during an assault by other prisoners. The case was being investigated.

Hit:

A suicide bomber blew up a truck rigged with explosives near the house of the Hit police department in the western Iraqi city, leaving scores of casualties, eyewitnesses said on Friday. "A suicide bomber attacked the house of Brigadier Hamed Gazaa, chief of Hit police department, by a booby-trapped truck in al-Zewiya region," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

At least fifteen people were killed and twenty five others were wounded in the suicide bombing attack that targeted the house of the chief of Hit police in western Iraq, a medical source said on Friday.

Mosul:

#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol missed its target but killed a civilian in Mosul, police Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim al Jubouri

Kirkuk:

A local human rights activist was shot dead by gunmen near his home, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

Around 8.45 pm of yesterday night, a roadside bomb exploded in Al-Wasiti neighborhood in Kirkuk targeting a police patrol injuring one civilian who was nearby and damaging the police car.

Around 9 pm, five civilians were injured when unknown person threw a grenade inside a café in Mesla neighborhood in Kirkuk .

Early morning , a suicide bomber exploded himself near a check point at Zanazeel neighborhood in Kisk district( north of Kirkuk) killing 4 policemen and injuring 5.

Around 10 am, a roadside bomb exploded in a village east of Musil killing one civilian and injuring 3.

Three corpses were found in Kirkuk by the police ; one is found at 6.30 am in Rahimawa in Musil on the main way to Arbil, the second is found at Rubaidha near Daqouq in Kirkuk and the third is found near Qazan Blakh (west of Kirkuk). All the corpses are transferred to the morgue of Kirkuk

Tal Afar:

A suicide car bomb has killed and wounded dozens of people near the religiously mixed town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, police say. One police source said the attack took place on the road between Tal Afar and the city of Mosul. Another police source in Mosul said the bombing had targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint.

Senior Iraqi security officials have denied there had been a suicide car bombing in northern Iraq on Friday.

Al Anbar Prv:

Three Marines assigned to Multi National Force-West died April 26 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.

Unknown gunmen on Friday attacked and killed a university professor in eastern Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a police source said.

Thanks to whisker for ALL the links above.

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Amnesty International Appalled By Stoning To Death of Yezidi Girl

Amnesty International is appalled by the killing of Du’a Khalil Aswad, aged about 17, who was stoned to death on or around 7 April 2007 for a so-called honour crime. A member of Iraq’s Yezidi religious minority from the village of Bahzan in northern Iraq, she was killed by a group of eight or nine men and in the presence of a large crowd in the town of Bashika, near the city of Mosul. Some of her relatives are said to have participated in the killing. Du’a Khalil Aswad’s murder is said to have been committed by relatives and other Yezidi men because she had engaged in a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy and had been absent from her home for one night. Some reports suggested that she had converted to Islam, but others deny this. Initially, she was reportedly given shelter in the house of a Yezidi tribal leader in Bashika, but her killers stormed the house, took her outside and stoned her to death. Her death by stoning, which lasted for some 30 minutes, was recorded on video film which was then widely distributed and is available on the internet. The film reportedly shows that members of local security forces were present but failed to intervene to prevent the stoning or arrest those responsible. In an apparent act of retaliation, some 23 Yezidi workers were attacked and killed on 22 April, apparently by members of a Sunni armed group. The Yezidis, reportedly all men, were travelling on a bus between Mosul and Bashika when the vehicle was stopped by gunmen, who made the Yezidis disembark and then summarily killed them.

Failed Suicides Create Plastic Surgery Demand

Many of those who survive attempts at self-immolation are now opting to have cosmetic surgery to get rid of their scars. Suham Ghafoor obsessively tries to hide her face in public. Once proud of her beauty, she now is ashamed to show the scars left on her face by her attempt to burn herself to death. Last year, after many bitter arguments with her husband, the young woman decided to end her life by setting herself on fire. It was the only way she could think of to escape a life of abuse at the hands of her husband. Now she is one of a growing number of women having plastic surgery to remove the burns left by her failed suicide bid. Before she set herself alight, Ghafoor said she wondered what would happen to her two children without her, but even that didn’t stop her. "I knew it was the end of my life," she said, "I just wanted to escape from life and the insults of my husband." Armed with five litres of kerosene and a lighter, she disappeared into the bathroom where no one could see her. Soon afterwards, she rushed out, covered in flames and screaming for help. Neighbours came and smothered her in wet blankets before taking her to the hospital, where she spent several weeks in recovery before returning home to her old life.

Iraqis Powerless To Fix Generators

Electricity generators that Bechtel Corp. installed at Baghdad International Airport have not been maintained by the Iraqi government and no longer run, according to a report Thursday. San Francisco's Bechtel installed 17 generator sets capable of producing 22 megawatts of power to run the airport, for a total cost of $11.8 million. But when personnel from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction visited the airport earlier this year, 10 of the sets - worth $8.6 million - weren't working. They will need significant repairs to run again, according to the report. The generators were working when they were turned over to the Iraqi government in 2005. The airport power plant manager told inspectors that his staff hadn't received any maintenance manuals for the generators. The same manager, however, had received maintenance manuals and signed for them, according to the U.S. government agency overseeing Bechtel. Bechtel's reconstruction work in Iraq ended last year.

Life In Diyala Province

Because of the numerous checkpoints and extremist groups lying in wait, Salim Sultan's journey from his hometown Baquba to Baghdad takes him two days, involving the many detours. The 60-kilometre trip used to take him an hour. Many residents of Diyala province, which borders Baghdad to the city's north, are in the same position, he says. Armed attacks in the region in the past weeks have increased because some of the Sunni terrorists and criminal gangs from the capital found refuge in the province. In other words, the extremists were not destroyed, they just moved house. Even Baghdad itself, despite the new dividing wall and added troops, has seen no real respite from the violence. On April 18, more than 200 people were killed in one day. Though US troops and the Iraqi government report short-term partial successes in particular neighbourhoods, the attempt to bring peace to the capital reminds some Iraqis of putting out a big fire with a small blanket. Scarcely have the flames on one side been dowsed, when the fire rekindles on the other side. On the road that leads from Baquba to the Iranian border there are almost no travellers after terrorists slaughtered many Shiites there. And even in the more northern cities in Salahaddin province have seen the security situation worsen since security forces stepped up the pressure in Baghdad, say local politicians. Deputy governor Abdullah Jabura says: 'What they're doing in Baghdad now is applying pain relief locally while the entire country is suffering from the same disease.' Before the US military and Iraqi government security plan came into effect in February, there was violence between the differing ethnic and religious groups in Diyala, which is a mainly Sunni province with Shiites and Kurds as minorities. But now barely a day goes past without a momentous attack.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Force Will Not Bring Security, Say Tribal Chiefs

Tribal leaders in Salahiddeen Province have urged the government to replace the use of military force with diplomacy and dialogue. The meeting held in Tikrit, the provincial capital, reviewed four major issues: national reconciliation, the policy of debaathification, amending the constitution and the former army. The leaders hold a lot of sway in areas north of Baghdad and many have pledged to flush out insurgents and terrorists from their tribal areas. The meeting was attended by a U.S. embassy representative before whom the tribal chiefs put their demands. But Stephen Butler told the gathering that there was little the U.S. could do to help due to the latest upsurge in violence across the country. However, he said, the U.S. believed Iraqi tribes had a crucial role to play in reinstating law and order. Many tribal leaders left the meeting disappointed as most of their demands were turned down. They wanted the U.S. to transfer prisoners from the province to jails where their relatives could visit them easily. They demanded the U.S. to pressure the government to recruit members of the former army into its current military operations.

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Serving British Soldier Exposes Horror of War in 'Crazy' Basra

A British soldier has broken ranks within days of returning from Iraq to speak publicly of the horror of his tour of duty there, painting a picture of troops under siege, "sitting ducks" to an increasingly sophisticated insurgency. "Basra is lost, they are in control now. It's a full-scale riot and the Government are just trying to save face," said Private Paul Barton. The 27-year-old, who returned from his second tour of Iraq this week along with other members of 1st Battalion, the Staffordshire Regiment, insisted that he remains loyal to the Army despite such public dissent. He said he had already volunteered to go to Afghanistan later this year. But, he said, he felt strongly that somebody had to speak out: "I want people to see it as it is; not the sugar-coated version." His public protest is a sign of the groundswell of anger among the troops, and predictions that more will come forward to break the traditional covenant of silent service. Just last month, Pte Steve Baldwin, 22, a soldier in the same regiment, spoke to The Independent about the way he had been "pushed aside" since being injured by a roadside bomb which killed three others during the Staffords' first tour of Iraq in 2005. And on Monday, Cpl Richard Bradley also chose to air his views on television: "Blokes are dying for no cause at all and blokes are getting injured for no cause at all."

Stealing From The Poor and Giving To The Rich

His statements were shocking, as were his many statistics: Iraq was simply and shamelessly robbed blind during the period of US-championed UN sanctions. Sadly, the robbery and mismanagement continue to this day, but now the figures are much more staggering. As Mr von Sponeck spoke, I reflected on my lengthy interview with Iraq's former Ambassador to the United Nations Mohamed Al-Duri. Al-Duri, being interviewed for the first time by English-language media since taking up his post at the UN, revealed to me in early 2001, in equally shocking detail, what sanctions had done to his country and people. He claimed that the UN was a key part of the problem. Led by two countries, the US and Britain, the UN Oil for Food Programme and the "humanitarian" mission it established in Iraq was reducing Iraqis to beggary, robbing the country blind and mis-managing funds, whereas the large bulk fuelled UN-related missions and operations, with needy Iraqi families receiving next to nothing. He spoke of the manipulation of Iraq's wealth for political purposes and alleged that the UN was a tool in the hands of the US government, aimed at encouraging widespread popular dissatisfaction with Saddam's government, before the country was dragged into war.

In hindsight, Al-Duri's assessment was very accurate. Promoting his new book, A Different Kind of War, von Sponeck reiterated in essence and substance Al-Duri's claims; the only difference is that von Sponeck was an insider; his numbers and stories impeccable and hardly contestable. It's no wonder that one and a half years after taking up his post in Baghdad, in 1998, he resigned. Even within such an uncongenial bureaucracy like the UN, some people still possess a living conscience; von Sponeck was and remains a man of great qualities. By March 2003, when American forces invaded Iraq, the UN was generating $64 billion in sales of Iraqi oil, according to von Sponeck. But scandalously, only $28 billion reached the Iraqi people. If distributed evenly, each Iraqi received half a US dollar per day. According to UN figures, an individual living under one dollar per day is classified as living in "abject poverty". Even during the most destructive phases of the war with Iran, Iraq managed to provide relatively high living standards. Its hospitals were neither dilapidated nor did its oil industry lie in ruins. Only after the advent of UN sanctions in 1991 did Iraqis suffer with such appalling magnitude. Alas, the tyranny of Saddam Hussein expanded to become the tyranny of the international community as well.

COMMENTARY

Fisk Takes Western Officials - And Reporters - To Task

In wide-ranging remarks during a lecture at the American University of Beirut on Thursday, veteran British journalist Robert Fisk sharply criticized US policy in Iraq, analyzed shortcomings in Western journalism on the Middle East and reflected on the state of politics in the region, saying he was "distressed" by what he called the people's hesitancy to question rulers. The lecture, entitled "After the Collapse: Disengagement in the Middle East," ran for about 45 minutes and was followed by more than 20 minutes of questions. A live telecast of the remarks was broadcast in a second room to accommodate an overflow crowd. Fisk, who lived and reported in Lebanon throughout the Civil War, has for many years worked in the region as a correspondent for Britain's Independent newspaper. He is also the author of the widely read "Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War," among other titles. In a spirited style that kept the audience laughing, Fisk lampooned Western journalists for their lack of historical perspective when reporting from the Middle East. "I asked myself, how do our journalists go to war without history books?" he said. In order to drive home his point about how poorly journalists had covered the Iraq war and how ignorant of history they had been, Fisk retold the story of the failed 1917-1920 British occupation of the country in a way that mirrored the current track of the United States there. The US excursion has been a "fingerprint parallel of history," he said. Again pointing a finger at Western journalists, Fisk ran through articles from The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, noting that although the incidents reported in the articles took place in Iraq, the only sources cited were US officials. Fisk discussed journalists' tendency to illustrate division in the Middle East, such as divisions between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds in Iraq, by using maps. He then noted that journalists rarely dare to show such disunity within their own countries, noting that a US paper would never run maps of the racial divisions in Washington.

Iraqi Positions on the Democrats' "Withdrawal" Initiative

An Al-Hayat reporter prepared a round-up of comments by people from some of the main political groups in Iraq, on the Democrats' passage of the bill that would tie war-funding to the announcement of a schedule for withdrawal. (This assumes "withdrawal" means what it says. Critiquing that is another question entirely).

What this comes down to is that spokesmen for the Maliki administration, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and the main Kurdish coalition in parliament, all think the bill is a bad idea, and mostly for the same reason: Namely, that US "withdrawal" should be tied to the ability of the Iraqi forces to take over all security responsibilities, and should not be scheduled independently of that. In various ways, these groups all warn about chaos if that factor is ignored.

On the other side of the question is the Sadrist spokesman:

Nasr al-Saadi, deputy for the Sadrist block, said: "The occupation forces are the root cause of all of the security and political problems from which the country is suffering. ...The American administration controls the decisions of the Iraqi government, and consequently the latter lacks autonomy and desicion-making power. Once the occupation withdraws from the country, the government will be able to extend its control over the Iraqi scene".

And the journalist notes the Sadrists aren't the only group supporting the withdrawal idea.

The issue of American withdrawal from Iraq is a core demand of the main armed resistance groups, which have made [withdrawal] a condition to their entering into any negotiations with the American forces that would involve disarming and entering in to the political process.

Quote of the day: "The essence of tragedy is not the doing of evil by evil men but the doing of evil by good men, out of weakness, indecision, sloth, inability to act in accordance with what they know to be right." - I. F. Stone