Photo: The bodies of a man and a woman outside a hospital in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday, June 8, 2007. The two bodies are among 13 civilians killed after two suicide bombers with explosives vests blew themselves up Friday afternoon in the Shiite-dominated town of Dakok, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Kirkuk, also wounding other 14 civilians.(AP Photo/Emad Matti)
REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ
Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In War On Iraq - At Least 655,000 + +
199 Killed in First Week of June in Iraq
Nearly 200 people were victims of Baghdad's sectarian violence in the first week of June, with 32 bodies dumped around the capital on Thursday, an Iraq Interior Ministry official said. The unidentified bodies bore the hallmarks of Iraq's sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunnis: gunshot wounds and signs of torture. They are among the 199 bodies that police have recovered in the first seven days of the month, the Interior Ministry official said. In May, civilian deaths across the nation jumped by nearly 30 percent to 1,949, among them 746 bodies found dumped on the streets of Baghdad.
A Week In Pictures
Iraqi Reporter Latest Victim of Violence Against Women Journalists
A courageous Iraqi journalist, who covered sectarian violence in the north of the country, has been murdered in Mosul, the latest victim of attacks against Muslim women reporters. Sahar Hussein al-Haideri, 45, a top Iraqi reporter working in the perilous Mosul region, who fearlessly wrote about efforts by extremist forces to take control of the city and foment sectarian conflict, was murdered outside her home on June 7. Haideri reported for a Mosul newspaper, the Voices of Iraq news agency, and the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, IWPR, where she had participated in numerous training and exchange programmes over the past three years. Her most recent story was a moving feature on the stoning to death of a young Yezidi girl who had converted to Islam after falling in love with a Muslim boy. See "Honour Killing” Sparks Fears of New Iraqi Conflict. Haideri had long been concerned about her security, and for the past year had contributed reports to IWPR under a pseudonym. Six months ago, her husband and four children moved to Damascus, and she had recently relocated to Syria herself. She was on a brief visit back to her home in Mosul. Several individuals confronted her as she left her house on June 7 and shot her dead.
REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS
Insurgent Group Announces Truce With Al-Qaeda In Iraq
A Sunni insurgent group that waged a deadly street battle last week against the rival group al-Qaeda in Iraq in a Sunni neighborhood of west Baghdad announced Wednesday that the two forces had declared a cease-fire. The Islamic Army of Iraq, a more moderate and secular Sunni group, said it had reached the cease-fire with al-Qaeda in Iraq because the groups did not want to spill Muslim blood or damage "the project of jihad." Last week, the two groups fought for several days in the Sunni neighborhood of Amiriyah, leaving about 30 of their fighters dead. Residents of the neighborhood and leaders from the Islamic Army, which reportedly is made up of mostly Sunnis from the disbanded army of Saddam Hussein, said they had risen up against al-Qaeda in Iraq because it was imposing strict rules on the neighborhood and killing fellow Sunnis without evidence of wrongdoing. In a statement posted on the Internet, the Islamic Army said the groups had agreed to end all military operations against each other, stop criticizing each other in the media, and stop taking prisoners. The groups would create "a judicial committee" to resolve differences, the statement said.
Oil strikers met by Iraqi troops
On the third day of an oil strike in southern Iraq, the Iraqi military has surrounded oil workers and the prime minister has issued arrest warrants for the union leaders, sparking an outcry from supporters and international unions. "This will not stop us because we are defending people's rights," said Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of IFOU. As of Wednesday morning, when United Press International spoke to Awad via mobile phone in Basra at the site of one of the strikes, no arrests had been made, "but regardless, the arrest warrant is still active." He said the "Iraqi Security Forces," who were present at the strike scenes, told him of the warrants and said they would be making any arrests. The arrest warrant accuses the union leaders of "sabotaging the economy," according a statement from British-based organization Naftana, and said Maliki warned his "iron fist" would be used against those who stopped the flow of oil. IFOU called a strike early last month but put it on hold twice after overtures from the government. Awad said that at a May 16 meeting, Maliki agreed to set up a committee to address the unions' demands.
In Diyala Province, U.S. Aligns With Tribal Leaders
U.S. military officials say they are making progress in negotiating with tribal leaders in a turbulent region north of Baghdad, using a formula that helped reduce violence in western Iraq. "Within the last three or four months we've seen a much greater interest in tribal reconciliation and we've seen a shift in tribal attitudes," Maj. Tim Brooks, a staff officer for the Army brigade based in Diyala province, said in a telephone interview from Iraq. The efforts to form alliances with tribes highlights a new emphasis on local initiatives aimed at political reconciliation. Iraq's central government has been slow to take steps aimed at ending sectarian divisions. Iraq's parliament has yet to pass laws on the distribution of oil revenue and other issues that have divided the country on sectarian lines. "One of the concerns that I've had was whether we had focused too much on central government construction in both Iraq and Afghanistan and not enough on the cultural and historical, provincial, tribal and other entities that have played an important role" in both countries, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said recently. Iraq's central government has struggled to provide services and money to the provinces, said Army Col. Mike Everett, the political division chief of the U.S. command in Baghdad. "The greatest challenge in this country is how do you make national government effective."
Al-Sadr television interview decries U.S. presence in Iraq
In a rare appearance on state-operated Iraqi television, radical anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "neglectful" and sectarian and blamed Iraq's problems on the U.S. presence in the country. The tone of his statements weren't surprising. Al-Sadr has been consistently anti-American since his Mahdi Army militia first rebelled against the U.S. presence in 2004. He's also grown increasingly critical of al-Maliki, who came to office last year largely on the strength of al-Sadr's support, and last month al-Sadr withdrew his backers from al-Maliki's government. But his willingness to sit for an interview that lasted nearly an hour marked a new stage in his efforts to recast himself as a nationalist figure capable of uniting Sunni and Shiite partisans, two weeks after he resurfaced from a months-long absence. Al-Sadr also rejected any interference from Iran, which the U.S. military has accused of supplying elements of the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias with weapons, training and support. The U.S. military said al-Sadr took refuge in Iran during his absence. Al-Sadr's aides deny that he was outside Iraq. "I must maintain friendly and good relations with Iran, but nothing else," al-Sadr said. He said he would never negotiate with American officials, despite assertions last week by Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. military commander in Iraq, that the U.S. was interested in opening such talks. "I refuse any sit-down with the occupation, whether in Iraq or outside," he said. Many people in Iraq believe al-Sadr is Iraq's most popular political figure, thanks largely to the millions of impoverished Shiites who were devoted to his father, a popular cleric who was assassinated during Saddam Hussein's rule. Al-Sadr has cemented that loyalty with his Mahdi Army, which many Shiites credit with protecting them from Sunni insurgents.
Shiites Rising: Sect leaders craft message for masses
Emerging for the first time after months in hiding from US forces and Shiite rivals, Moqtada al-Sadr swept into Iraq's Kufa mosque in late May to deliver a potent sermon. "No, no, no to Satan! No, no, no to America! No, no, no to occupation! No, no, no to Israel!” he roared, wearing a white shroud over black robes to indicate his readiness for martyrdom. But along with strident calls to resist, the cleric struck another theme that is increasingly heard from ascendant Shiite leaders: Muslim unity. "I want to say now that the blood of Sunnis is forbidden to everyone," preached the cleric. "They are our brothers in religion and in nationality." The message is a pan-Islamic blend of Shiite ideology and nationalism heard also in Lebanon from Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and in Iran from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Those populist leaders, at the fore of new Shiite prominence in the Middle East, are defining an "axis of resistance" to America and its allies in rhetoric and action. That stance is winning some support across the sectarian divide, while their extensive social programs inspire support from the region's poor. Sadr does it by playing all sides in Iraq's power matrix. He has seeded loyalists in the US-backed government, played kingmaker for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and controlled some ministries that matter to ordinary Iraqis, including health and transport. Sadr's six ministers resigned in April in political protest, but were widely seen as ineffective and corrupt.
But Sadr can also claim the anti-American crown – unlike his main Shiite opponents who, while close to Iran, have also been received in the Oval Office. Sadr has avoided US capture and was wounded in 2004 when his militia took on American forces. But even while reaching out to Sunnis, the Mahdi Army has been engaged in ethnic cleansing of Sunnis from mixed neighborhoods, is accused of kidnapping five Britons last week, and has been engaging in lethal clashes with rival Shiites vying for power in southern Iraq. Sadr rejects talks with US commanders and says that they still want to kill him, as they vowed to do in 2004: "There is nothing to talk about," he told the Independent on Sunday of London last week. "The Americans are occupiers and thieves, and they must set a timetable to leave this country." He said the intra-Shiite fighting in "many parts of Iraq is the result of a sad misunderstanding."
REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ
How Permanent Are Those Bases?
For the last week, news jockeys have been plunged into a debate about the "Korea model," which, according to the New York Times and other media outlets, the President is suddenly considering as the model for Iraq. ("Bush has told recent visitors to the White House that he was seeking a model similar to the American presence in South Korea.") You know, a limited number of major American bases tucked away out of urban areas; a limited number of American troops (say, 30,000-40,000), largely confined to those bases but ready to strike at any moment; a friendly government in Baghdad; and (as in South Korea where our troops have been for six decades) maybe another half century-plus of quiet garrisoning. In other words, this is the time equivalent of a geographic "over the horizon redeployment" of American troops. In this case, "over the horizon" would mean through 2057 and beyond. This, we are now told, is a new stage in administration thinking. On April 19, 2003, soon after American troops entered Baghdad, Times' reporters Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt had a striking front-page piece headlined, "Pentagon Expects Long-Term Access to Four Key Bases in Iraq." It began:
"The United States is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region, senior Bush administration officials say. American military officials, in interviews this week, spoke of maintaining perhaps four bases in Iraq that could be used in the future: one at the international airport just outside Baghdad; another at Tallil, near Nasiriya in the south; the third at an isolated airstrip called H-1 in the western desert, along the old oil pipeline that runs to Jordan; and the last at the Bashur air field in the Kurdish north."
The Pentagon, that is, arrived in Baghdad with at least a four-base strategy for the long-term occupation of the country already on the drawing boards. These were to be mega-bases, essentially fortified American towns on which those 30,000-40,000 troops could hunker down for a South-Korean-style eternity. The Pentagon was officially not looking for "permanent basing," as it slyly claimed, but "permanent access." [The US Congress passed a bill outlawing any permanent bases in Iraq. Of course, bush ignores this. – dancewater]
Report Of Turkish Raid In Iraq Disputed
Hundreds of Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq on Wednesday pursuing Kurdish guerrillas who stage attacks on Turkey from hideouts there, Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurd official said. Iraqi and U.S. officials denied reports Wednesday that several hundred Turkish troops had crossed the border into northern Iraq in pursuit of rebels. The Associated Press, citing three unnamed Turkish security officials, reported that Turkish troops moved into Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, targeting Kurdish rebels based in the area. One official told the AP that the troops left Iraq by the end of the day. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Turkey's military, angered by Kurdish rebels who it says routinely stage attacks in Turkey and then retreat to Iraq, has massed thousands of troops along the border in recent weeks. A large-scale invasion could bring violence to one of Iraq's most peaceful regions, and pit two U.S. allies - the Turks and the Iraqi Kurds - against each other. Turkey's foreign minister denied any incursion had taken place. Iraqi Kurds in Baghdad also said there was no sign of such a raid. "Frankly, we believe this (report) is not true," said Mahmoud Othman, a leading Kurdish lawmaker. "We have just checked with our sources in the north, and there has been no sign of incursions," said Hiwa Osman, senior adviser to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. In Washington, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggons told a news conference that there were "no indications or no reports that the Turks have conducted a cross-border operation into Iraq." However, Jabar Yawir, an Iraqi deputy minister responsible for security forces in the Kurdish area, told Reuters news agency that Turkish helicopters with about 150 troops had landed in a village about 2 miles from the border. He said they left after two hours.
Marine Says He Erased Photos Of Haditha Victims
A staff sergeant testified Thursday that he was ordered to destroy grisly pictures of women and children killed by Marines so that the images would not be part of a statement being prepared for an investigative officer and a magazine reporter. The testimony by Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, taken under a grant of immunity, is the first evidence suggesting that any Marine officer may have engaged in a coverup in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005. Other testimony has suggested that officers made only a superficial review before deciding that the deaths were combat-related and thus no war crimes investigation was required. At the Article 32 inquiry, similar to a preliminary hearing, for a former battalion commander, Laughner testified hat he felt the order to destroy the pictures, which he said was given by Lt. Andrew Grayson, amounted to obstruction of justice but that he complied and later lied when asked whether any pictures had been taken. "It was wrong," Laughner said. "Somebody was asking for them [the pictures], and we're not going to give them to them? It's not right, but I didn't say anything." Although Laughner deleted the pictures from his computer, the images remained on his digital camera and are now part of the criminal case against four officers and three enlisted Marines.
COMMENTARY
In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals
British and American collusion in the pillaging of Iraq's heritage is a scandal that will outlive any passing conflict. Fly into the American air base of Tallil outside Nasiriya in central Iraq and the flight path is over the great ziggurat of Ur, reputedly the earliest city on earth. Seen from the base in the desert haze or the sand-filled gloom of dusk, the structure is indistinguishable from the mounds of fuel dumps, stores and hangars. Ur is safe within the base compound. But its walls are pockmarked with wartime shrapnel and a blockhouse is being built over an adjacent archaeological site. When the head of Iraq's supposedly sovereign board of antiquities and heritage, Abbas al-Hussaini, tried to inspect the site recently, the Americans refused him access to his own most important monument. Yesterday Hussaini reported to the British Museum on his struggles to protect his work in a state of anarchy. It was a heart breaking presentation. Under Saddam you were likely to be tortured and shot if you let someone steal an antiquity; in today's Iraq you are likely to be tortured and shot if you don't. The tragic fate of the national museum in Baghdad in April 2003 was as if federal troops had invaded New York city, sacked the police and told the criminal community that the Metropolitan was at their disposal. The local tank commander was told specifically not to protect the museum for a full two weeks after the invasion. Even the Nazis protected the Louvre.
……….Hussaini confirmed a report two years ago by John Curtis, of the British Museum, on America's conversion of Nebuchadnezzar's great city of Babylon into the hanging gardens of Halliburton. This meant a 150-hectare camp for 2,000 troops. In the process the 2,500-year-old brick pavement to the Ishtar Gate was smashed by tanks and the gate itself damaged. The archaeology-rich subsoil was bulldozed to fill sandbags, and large areas covered in compacted gravel for helipads and car parks. Babylon is being rendered archaeologically barren. Meanwhile the courtyard of the 10th-century caravanserai of Khan al-Raba was used by the Americans for exploding captured insurgent weapons. One blast demolished the ancient roofs and felled many of the walls. The place is now a ruin.
How to Help Iraqi Refugees
Quote of the day: "All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation
ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it." - Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French historian
Photo: The bodies of a man and a woman outside a hospital in 
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