News & Views 05/16/07

Photo: A member of Special Police commando keeps the photographers away during a protest in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad May 16, 2007. More than one hundred people took to the streets of Basra and burned tyres as they protest against the shortage of electricity supply to households in the southern Iraqi city, protesters said. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ)

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

New Detainees Strain Iraq's Jails

The capture of thousands of new suspects under the three-month-old Baghdad security plan has overwhelmed the Iraqi government's detention system, forcing hundreds of people into overcrowded facilities, according to Iraqi and Western officials. Nearly 20,000 people were in Iraqi-run prisons, detention camps, police stations and other holding cells as of the end of March, according to a U.N. report issued last month, an increase of more than 3,500 from the end of January. The U.S. military said late last week that it was holding about 19,500 detainees, up more than 3,000 since the U.S. and Iraqi governments began implementing the security plan in mid-February. Estimates of those inside Iraqi facilities, where reports of beatings and torture are common, vary widely because detainees are dispersed among hundreds of locations run by different ministries. The U.S. military holds detainees at two main centers, Camp Bucca in southern Iraq and Camp Cropper near Baghdad, and officials say they are committed to avoiding the abuses that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The Iraqi constitution mandates that documents outlining the preliminary investigation must be submitted to a judge within 24 hours of a suspect's arrest, with a possible extension of another day. But the flood of prisoners has worsened a situation in which many often wait weeks or months before their cases are heard. Human rights officials say Justice Ministry facilities offer the best an Iraqi prisoner can hope for, as they generally meet international standards for space and treatment. But officials are increasingly concerned about the detention camps run by the Iraqi army and the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police force. In particular, several officials raised concerns about a detention center in Kadhimiyah, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of northern Baghdad. The center, built to hold about 400 people, is said to house more than 1,000, with juveniles mixed into the population, officials said. Some former inmates at Kadhimiyah have told human rights officials that they were tortured. "They described routine ill treatment or abuse while they were there," said a U.N. official in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "Routine beatings, suspension by limbs for long periods, electric shock treatment to sensitive parts of the body, threats of ill treatment of close relatives. In one case, one of the detainees said that he was forced to sit on a sharp object which caused an injury."

Child Mortality Soars Because of Violence, Poor Health Care

A recent report by the US-based NGO Save the Children says that although Iraq’s under-five mortality rate is in the middle range when compared to other developing countries, it has worsened faster than in any other country. Observers say the main reason for this is the continuing violence and lack of funds for the health sector. “Never in Iraq’s history have so many children died because of diseases and violence. The mortality rate among them has jumped to a level which will require years to be controlled,” said Dr Jaffer Ali, a senior official and paediatrician in the Ministry of Health. “In Iraq, children are dying from the easiest curable diseases worldwide like diarrhoea and pneumonia but with the deteriorated health situation in the country, the increase in the number of malnourished children and thousands of displaced living in poverty conditions, the possibility of reducing this high figure is remote,” Ali added. According to Save the Children’s report ‘State of the World's Mothers’, released on 8 May, 50 Iraqi children died per 1,000 live births in 1990. Today, the rate is 125 per 1,000 births, more than double. The organisation said some 122,000 Iraqi children died in 2005 before reaching their fifth birthday. More than half of these deaths were among newborn babies in the first month of life.

Educational Standards Plummet

Education specialists in Iraq say they are concerned that pupils and students in the current academic year will leave school without completing this year’s curriculum, and new graduates will not be competent to pursue their careers. “Violence and lack of resources have undermined the education sector in Iraq. No student will graduate this year with sufficient competence to perform his or her job, and pupils will end the year with less than 60 percent of the knowledge that was supposed to have been imparted to them,” said Professor Fua’ad Abdel-Razak, an educationist at Baghdad University. “Many other factors have worsened the situation, including the lack of experienced professionals or good salaries for teaching staff, a paucity of text books and no work experience during their last year at college,” Abdel-Razak added. ………“Children’s capacity for learning has been reduced and the main reason for this is the effect the violence has had on their minds and this might continue to affect them for years to come,” she added.

Caravan

Of old, wise men said “Don’t love anybody in caravan company (during travel), to avoid suffering when they reach their destinations”. In my opinion they are right. You should always stay away from pain of departure - at least you protect yourself - if possible. But is it possible? And like many people I tried to follow this proverb, when possible. But it is always impossible because we live in a moving caravan called Iraq. Our life is just a big caravan, and each of us has his own direction, imposed upon him by force. For years, Iraqi families have been living in this caravan and we always depart by many ways; but the most famous one was - and still is, death; and in second place comes emigration as an escape from death; and in each case you should suffer parting; so this proverb has lost its meaning in Iraq … Country of Departure, it is worthy of this name. A few days ago, I returned home to find that more than fifteen of my relatives had left Iraq without return; and the next day at work, our dear colleague Dulaimy told us “Tomorrow I leave.”….What ?? What you mean you leave?? You serious?? If you are in Iraq you will live in departure feeling every minute. Die…leave…die…leave ….Oh God how can we avoid this lasting pain … it will kill us like any explosion.

Relaxing, On My Day On

The next task was taking my mum to the dentist; she had broken one of her very precious teeth the night before, and it was giving her a lot of pain. Bad news! Our regular dentist has fled the country! Appointments were – of course, out of the question ,,, we never could be on time, even if we could make it there. Where to now?? I called my acquaintances there and then to ask for the address of a good dentist. None were still around; none that we could reach, that is. There was nothing for it ,,, we must go to the hospital. "Not the hospital! We hear of terrible things ……" "No Mum, it's all exaggerated, please don't worry. We'll be in and out in no time." The hospital was surrounded with a blast wall. There was a small opening, hardly visible from a few meters away. I had to park the car quite a distance away, and because my mum can't walk any great distance, took a taxi to the tiny entrance, that was about three hundred meters from the dental clinic hidden inside. As we were walking very slowly towards the clinic, an ambulance stopped at the tiny entrance, its shrieking siren tearing up the atmosphere. My mum became very pale. "Sahar, Sahar …", "Don't worry Mum; it's probably a lady in labour or something."

But knowing better, I tried to steer her away from the route to be taken by those hurrying from the tiny break in the towering wall. But she couldn't move quickly enough. They rushed towards us; their heavy burdens soaked in crimson red – so bright … so bright .... so still and silent. I took my mum in my arms and physically turned her so that her back was to the inhuman sights and dragger her, as gently as I could, out of the way, and kept her in my embrace. She was muttering incoherently; she had seen. Ages later, I eased my nervously tight hold; and looked her in the eye. Tear-filled eyes looked up at me from a pale face … a weary look. "Please take me home." We started back towards the opening. Slipping, almost falling, she looks down, and so do I.

We were walking in puddles of blood.

VIDEO: BBC Covers Sadr City

This film shows many scenes in the city, but you have to listen to BBC propaganda while watching it. This does show many aspects of life in this sad corner of the world.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Violent clashes erupt between Al-Mahdi militias, security forces in Iraq

Violent clashes erupted Wednesday in Al-Nasriyah province among Al-Mahdi Army militias, police and army troops killing and injuring 25 people with the militias taking over public buildings in Al-Shatrah, Al-Refai towns and other parts of the governorate.
The clashes broke out after arrest of a leading member of Al-Mahdi militia members in Al-Gharraf area, for he was accused of setting off explosive devices targeting the Multi-National Force (MNF) in the province, police said. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Iraqi police Major Feras Al-Zerajawi said armed men from Al-Mahdi army attacked the house of the chief of emergency squad using RPGs, avenging arrest of their comrade. Officials said at least 25 people were killed and wounded in the fighting.
The clashes closed the bridges in Al-Shatrah along with Al-Mahdi army controlling the police station there.

Deadly Day of Violence Wracks Much of Iraq

Sprawling street battles between militia gunmen and Iraqi security forces erupted in three cities in Iraq on Wednesday on a day of wide-ranging violence that underscored the grave security situation across much of Iraq. In the northern city of Mosul, more than 200 Sunni Arab insurgents launched a sophisticated attack on several targets using suicide car bombers, rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and improvised bombs, said Maj. Gen. Watheq al-Hamdani, the top police commander in Mosul. Four police officers died in the fighting, while 14 others were wounded along with 16 civilians, General Hamdani said. The attack began at dusk when gunmen tried to storm the main provincial jail, the commander said. When police forces responded, the insurgents attacked them with six suicide car bombs and 14 bombs planted on surrounding roads. As the police and insurgents fought near the prison, gunmen also attacked the houses of General Hamdani and Khasro Goran, the deputy governor of Mosul Province and one of the senior members of a leading Kurdish political party, the police commander said. Neither men was wounded in the attacks. Gunmen also fired on a woman and her child in an eastern neighborhood, killing the woman and severely wounding the child, although it was unclear whether the shooting was related to the siege, said Gen. Said Ahmad al-Jibouri, a spokesman for the Mosul police.

Ban on Bomb Site Photography

Iraq's government began enforcing a ban on the news media photographing the aftermath of bomb attacks. Iraqi officials said it would keep photographers and television cameramen away from such scenes to prevent them from tainting evidence. But media watchdog groups expressed concern that the order was aimed at stopping images of Iraq's chaos from being shown around the world. Police turned away photographers and cameramen Tuesday at the scene of bomb attacks in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad that killed seven people and wounded 17, the Associated Press reported.

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Iraq Attacks Stayed Steady Despite Troops Increase, Data Show

Newly declassified data show that as additional American troops began streaming into Iraq in March and April, the number of attacks on civilians and security forces there stayed relatively steady or at most declined slightly, in the clearest indication yet that the troop increase could take months to have a widespread impact on security. Even the suggestion of a slight decline could be misleading, since the figures are purely a measure of how many attacks have taken place, not the death toll of each one. American commanders have conceded that since the start of the troop increase, which the United States calls a “surge,” attacks in the form of car bombs with their high death tolls have risen. The attack data are compiled by the Pentagon but were made public in a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office. It analyzed the effect of the attacks on the struggling American-financed reconstruction program in Iraq, especially the program’s failings in the electricity and oil sectors.

COMMENTARY

What Bremer Got Wrong in Iraq

I arrived in Iraq before L. Paul Bremer arrived in May 2003 and stayed on long after his ignominious and furtive departure in June 2004 -- long enough to see the tragic consequences of his policies in Iraq. So I was disappointed by the indignant lack of repentance on full display in his Outlook article on Sunday. In it, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority argues that he "was absolutely right to strip away the apparatus of a particularly odious tyranny," including the Baath Party and the Iraqi army. He complains about "critics who've never spent time in Iraq" and "don't understand its complexities." But Bremer himself never understood Iraq, knew no Arabic, had no experience in the Middle East and made no effort to educate himself -- as his statements clearly show. Time and again, he refers to "the formerly ruling Sunnis," "rank-and-file Sunnis," "the old Sunni regime," "responsible Sunnis." This obsession with sects informed the U.S. approach to Iraq from day one of the occupation, but it was not how Iraqis saw themselves -- at least, not until very recently. Iraqis were not primarily Sunnis or Shiites; they were Iraqis first, and their sectarian identities did not become politicized until the Americans occupied their country, treating Sunnis as the bad guys and Shiites as the good guys. There were no blocs of "Sunni Iraqis" or "Shiite Iraqis" before the war, just like there was no "Sunni Triangle" or "Shiite South" until the Americans imposed ethnic and sectarian identities onto Iraq's regions.

Despite Bremer's assertions, Saddam Hussein's regime was not a Sunni regime; it was a dictatorship with many complex alliances in Iraqi society, including some with Shiites. If anything, the old tyranny was a Tikriti regime, led by relatives and clansmen from Hussein's hometown. Hussein punished Sunnis who became too prominent and suppressed Sunni Arab officers from Mosul and Baghdad in favor of more pliable officers from rural and tribal backgrounds. Local Sunni movements that were not pro-Hussein were repressed just as harshly as the Shiites. Bremer was not alone in his blindness here. Just two weeks ago, I interviewed John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, about the crisis of Iraqi refugees, who now number more than 2 million. He displayed the same dismal approach to Iraq as Bremer. Bolton claimed that most of the refugees were Sunnis, fleeing because "they fear that Shiites are going to exact retribution for four or five decades of Baath rule."

Quote of the day: After every reason we were given for this war in Iraq turned out to be false or misguided, one of the only remaining justifications for the war was to make Iraq a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. Those who believe that this was part of our mission must be pleased. This administration remains determined to teach the Iraqis the true meaning of democracy, no matter what the majority of the Iraqis think or what the majority of Americans think. - Breck McCormack