Photo: A wounded man and his son rush to a hospital after a bomb attack in Kirkuk, about 155 miles north of Baghdad, July 16, 2007. (Slahaldeen Rasheed/Reuters)
REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ
Situation of Iraqi Children Much Worse
"Children today are much worse off than they were a year ago, and they certainly are worse off than they were three years ago," said Dan Toole, director of emergency programs for the United Nations Children's Fund. He said Iraqis no longer have safe access to a government-funded food basket, established under Saddam Hussein to deal with international sanctions.
Toole said conditions for women and children in Iraq had worsened significantly since the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, which triggered a wave of sectarian violence and displacement that continues today. He added that gains made shortly after the U.S. toppled Saddam's government in 2003, when people were able to move around the country freely and had access to food markets and health centers, had been lost. "Nutritional indicators, health access indicators are all changing for the worse," Toole said. He said recently published data showing improvement referred to the situation a couple of years ago and is outdated.
Traumatised Iraqi children suffer psychological damage
For two months, Obeid Jaafar Khalifa, 52, has been worrying about how he will cope with looking after his deceased brother's four children. Obeid already has six of his own children to look after. "In total, I have to feed 10 children in addition to my wife and me," said Khalifa, an employee at Iraq’s Agriculture Ministry. He took over responsibility for the children when a car bomb killed their parents five months ago. The example of Khalil’s nephews highlights the plight of children orphaned by the violence in Iraq. The UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) said in its update last week on the plight of Iraqi children that the number of war orphans was rising because of the high civilian death toll. UNICEF is increasingly concerned that the number of vulnerable children in Iraq has outstripped the country’s capacity to care for them. "Iraq's conflict is taking an immense and unnoticed psychological toll on children and youth that will have long-term consequences," said Bilal Youssif Hamid, a Baghdad-based child psychiatrist. "The lack of resources means the social impact will be very bad and the coming generations, especially this one, will be aggressive," Hamid added. According to UNICEF, half of Iraq's four million people who have fled their homes since 2003 are children. Many were killed inside their schools or playgrounds and gangs routinely kidnap children for ransom.
Last year the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a survey of 600 children aged 3-10 in Baghdad: 47 percent were found to have been exposed to a major traumatic event over the past two years. Of this group, 14 percent showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In a second study of 1,090 adolescents in the northern city of Mosul, 30 percent showed symptoms of the disorder. Many of the children Hamid treats have witnessed killings. They have anxiety problems and suffer from depression. Some have recurring nightmares and wet their beds. Others have problems learning at school.
Iraq celebrates 49th anniversary of July 14 Revolution
Today marks the 49th anniversary of the July 14, 1958 Revolution led by Iraqi leader Abdul-Kareem Qasim, which overthrew the monarchy and founded the first Iraqi republic. On the occasion, Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani congratulated the Iraqi people, explaining that the July 14 Revolution was a result of political and social harmony and the long struggle for victory by all segments of Iraqi society. "Today we celebrate the anniversary of the revolution and recall its positive results," said the president, calling on the Iraqi people to learn lessons from the revolution and overcome religious, ethnic and partisan differences. Faiq Batti, an Iraqi press historian, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that all newspapers ceased publication on the day of the revolution. "Al-Bilad newspaper was the first to resume publication on July 16, 1958. A proclamation of an Iraqi republic, the revolution's statements and (former) Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser's congratulations made headlines in the newspaper," he explained. A few days after the revolution, other newspapers resumed publication, but were placed under military supervision.
Baghdad Militants Defy Security Plan
Recent bolstering of security forces in the capital has done little to quell sectarian violence in some suburbs. Several neighbourhoods in southwestern Baghdad remain centres of sectarian and militia violence, despite the capital's new security plan. Mortar and sniper attacks, car bombs and expulsions of residents are still common in the mixed Sunni-Shia areas, along the road to Baghdad's airport. Extremist Sunni groups and the Shia Mahdi Army militias battle on the streets, which are often deserted as residents live in a constant state of fear. Over the past few months, dozens of bodies have been found - many of the victims showing signs of being executed - in the area. Brigadier-General Qasim Atta, the Iraqi government's spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, called the neighbourhoods of southwestern Baghdad "incubators of terrorism". Residents say that violence is rising and they do not understand why the government and US forces have not secured the area yet.
'Go'
"Is the car registered in your name?" "Yes."
"Papers." I give him my papers. He isn't looking at them. Why, then, did he ask for them?? Another walks up. "You're a doctor, aren't you? I remember you. You work at the Nursing Home. I know you because I used to work there." His eyes dark were looking straight into mine, but they were mocking, not serious. Until he brought up the "doctor" matter, I was OK. Just another checkpoint. I took out my papers sixteen times on my way home the other day. But doctors were different. Targeted by kidnappers for ransom money, and sometimes killed. But more dangerous, they were targeted by people with an agenda that says "Harass Iraqi doctors until they flee; if they don't run, kill them."
"No, you must be mistaking me for someone else." Sweet smile. Heart pounding. "I'm a teacher, not a doctor." Keeping my hands steady and relaxed on the steering wheel was a feat. "Why are you lying? I know you. Don't lie to us!!" His piercing eyes still mocking me, daring me to say what I wanted to say, that they were toying with their prey, that there was something very wrong here. The "us" worried me. Who were they?? Uniforms don't mean anything nowadays. "Pull up to the side of the road" Trying to move my foot to comply with the "order," I realized the extent of my fear, my foot wouldn't budge. It was numb, dead.
In Baghdad, even babies quickly learn to duck snipers
Nawal Na'eem Karim was surprised this week to hear her toddler tell her, "Talaq inana! Talaq inana!" — "Bullets here! Bullets here!" He was warning her to step cautiously past the windows. Their house is in a kill zone. At 18 months, her baby already had learned counterinsurgency survival. He still wears a diaper. Karim's family is among hundreds in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim-dominated Amil neighborhood who are under siege in their homes; in this case from two local snipers, one apparently stationed in a minaret of a nearby Sunni Muslim mosque. Her experience shows that the U.S. troop buildup has yet to penetrate everywhere in Baghdad, as President Bush pressed Thursday for more time for the increase to show results.
VIDEO: INSIDE THE SURGE
The Guardian's award-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith spent two months embedded with US troops in Baghdad and Anbar province. His harrowing documentary exposes the exhaustion and disillusionment of the soldiers.
[I recommend watching this video. I posted it on Saturday, but I am putting it up again because it does give an idea of what is going on in Iraq for the civilians there and for US troops. – dancewater]
REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS
Basra workers demonstrate against oil, gas law
The executive bureau of Basra's trade unions organized a large demonstration on Monday, where hundreds of workers called for reconsidering the oil and gas law and the government's recent decision to increase fuel prices. "Members of all Basra's trade unions took to the streets to show solidarity with the oil trade union, calling for reconsidering the oil and gas law and the government decision to increase fuel prices," the head of the bureau, Hussein Fadel, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The executive bureau issued a statement last week calling for the removal of the oil minister, freedom of syndicates to organize their administrations and activities and the cancellation of decision no. 150, which bans syndicates' activities in public sector institutions. "The demonstration reflected the unity of Basra's trade unions. The ports, electricity, services, municipalities and other trade unions all united to call for the legitimate demands of the oil trade union's workers," he added.
Iraq announces it is holding more than 2,000 foreign suspects
A top Iraqi official said Sunday Baghdad supports Saudi efforts to prevent cross-border infiltrations while the Interior Ministry announced having detained over 2,000 foreign suspects. ….Meanwhile, the head of the National Command Center at the Interior Ministry, Major General Abdel-Karim Khalaf, said Iraqi authorities have recently arrested 2,489 suspected terrorists, mostly from Iran, Egypt and Afghanistan, KUNA reported. He did not specify the period the arrests were made. He reporters that among those still being questioned, "11 were Jordanians; 64 Syrians; nine Saudis; two Algerians; six Moroccans; six Yemenis; two Libyans; 57 Palestinians; 284 Egyptians; 113 Sudanese, two Emiratis; three Lebanese and one Somali." He added that the suspects included 461 from Iran and others came from Kenya, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Britain, France, Holland, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The impossible task set for an embattled government
The benchmarks the Iraqi government is meant to achieve in exchange for US support were never realistic and have more to do with American than Iraqi politics. The weak and embattled Iraqi government is supposed to make changes which the US at the height of its power in Iraq failed to make stick. At stake are policies deeply divisive among Iraqis that are to be introduced at the behest of a foreign power, the US, in a way that makes the Iraqi government look as if it is a client of America. One US benchmark is for the elimination of militias and an end to sectarian violence. But the Shia-Kurdish parties that make up the ruling coalition almost all have their own powerful militias that they have no intention of dissolving. In much of southern Iraq the militias and the local police forces are the same. In almost all cases units of the security forces are unwilling to act against their own community.
The new law on oil and gas is critical for the distribution of economic power in Iraq. It is not something that can be decided in a hurry. The sense that a new law is being foisted on Iraq by the US is also tainting it in the eyes of many Iraqis who have always suspected America is after the country's oil wealth. The US is demanding the government conciliate the Sunni community and reverse de-Baathification. But the previous US ambassador, Zilmay Khalilzad, made conciliating the Sunni his main objective in 2005-07 without positive result. Those Sunni politicians who were conciliated turned out to have no influence over the insurgents.
Two Dozen Iranians Escapt South Iraq Jail
Two dozen Iranians jailed in a southern Iraqi police station for illegally entering the country escaped over the weekend, but most have since been recaptured, the provincial police commander said Monday. The Iranians, believed to be Shiites who slipped into the country to make pilgrimages to shrines in Iraq's south, broke out on Saturday in a village about 12 miles from the Iranian border, Brig. Hussein Abdul Hadi Mahbub said. Mahbub blamed "negligence by the guards" for the escape. After the escape, police imposed a curfew in the desert village of Badra. Twenty of the escapees were recaptured, and police are hunting for the remaining four, said Mahbub, police commander for the southern city of Wasit.
REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ
Mahdi Army, Not Al-Qaeda, is Enemy No. 1 in Western Baghdad
The lights were on in Baghdad. Something was wrong. Two platoons were creeping through the southwestern neighborhood of al-Amil well past midnight last week. Headlights snapped off, night vision lenses lowered into place, they maneuvered their Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles down narrow streets, angling for surprise. As they approached the suspected homes of the militia leaders they were hunting, their cover of darkness disappeared, fluorescent bulbs on the houses and street lights casting a glow on their vehicles. At 3 in the morning in a city notoriously hard up for power, these blocks were strangely bright. Capt. Sean Lyons, the company commander leading the raid, said he knew why. "This whole area here is just absolutely dominated by Jaish al-Mahdi," he said, using the Arabic for the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia led by the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "They control the power distribution."
In the 10-square-mile district of West Rashid, the Mahdi Army also controls the housing market, the gas stations and the loyalty of many of the residents, according to the soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. The militia has a structure familiar to U.S. soldiers: brigade and battalion commanders leading legions of foot soldiers. Its fighters are willing and able to attack Americans with armor-piercing bombs, mortars, machine guns and grenades. Meanwhile, the political wing of Sadr's movement plays an outsize role in the national government.
The brazen attacks on U.S. soldiers also appear to challenge the idea that the Mahdi Army has been lying low to avoid confrontations with Americans. Street fighting between the Mahdi Army and U.S. forces has also broken out in other parts of the capital recently, including clashes in the al-Amin neighborhood Thursday in which Apache attack helicopters were called in to quell the gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades targeting U.S. troops. The next day, U.S. soldiers killed six Iraqi policemen during a raid in which they captured a police lieutenant believed to be working with Iranian-backed Shiite militias. [A lot of the “information” in this article is just crap, but it does show that the US forces are fighting native Iraqis, who are fighting for their country. – dancewater]
Al-Qaeda Escapes U.S. Assault
Air strikes have destroyed civilian homes rather than al-Qaeda targets under the U.S. military operation in Baquba, residents say. But signs have emerged of an al-Qaeda presence here earlier, and some residents speak of relief that al-Qaeda has been driven out of the city by U.S. forces. Located 50km northeast of Baghdad, the volatile capital city of Diyala province is home to roughly 325,000 people. The region that has been home to fruit orchards and rural farming has been hard hit by the military conflict. On Jun. 19 tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers were deployed in Operation Arrowhead Ripper to attack militants in Baquba. The ongoing operation is one of the largest ever thus far in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Diyala province is inhabited by a mix of Sunni and Shia Arabs, as well as Kurds. The province has been openly hostile towards occupation forces, and attacks against U.S. forces have been commonplace since early in the occupation. According to the U.S. Department of Defence, Diyala province is the fifth deadliest of Iraq's 18 provinces for U.S. troops, with at least 186 killed there thus far. After several weeks of the siege in Baquba, people were allowed in recent days to go to work. Witnesses spoke to IPS about fierce attacks by helicopters, and shelling of houses by U.S. tanks. "The U.S. military bombed houses that were completely uninhabited," Kadhim Rajab, a 39-year-old city official told IPS. "Al-Qaeda had left the city before the operation even began because they knew what was coming even before we did." But residents did speak of an al-Qaeda presence earlier. "U.S. troops bombed a number of houses that were actually used by al-Qaeda," Ibrahim Hameed, a 43-year-old secondary school teacher told IPS. "But there was no resistance at all, we heard no shooting." Ismail Aboud, a 51-year-old physician, said the U.S. military had deliberately avoided armed clashes with militants. "It seems that the forces allowed the terrorists to leave the battlefield in order to avoid direct military clashes," he said.
COMMENTARY
The US Media’s Tragic Misunderstanding of Iraqi Domestic Politics
There’s a case to be made that a majority of Iraqis – both on the street and in politics, including members of parliament – believe in a unified Iraq with its capital in Baghdad. Among those who support that view are the vast majority of Sunni Arabs, who don’t want to be squeezed into an oil-poor “Sunnistan,” and a significant majority of Shia Arabs, who support Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc and the important, but usually ignored Fadhila (Virtue) party. When put together with the dwindling, but still important middle class and the secular bloc of voters represented by Iyad Allawi’s party, the “nationalists” achieve or are close to majority status in the parliament. If you count the extra-parliamentary forces, including the Sunni-led Iraqi resistance and some Shia fighters who disdain parliament, the nationalists have a large majority among Iraqi Arabs.
The “separatists,” meanwhile, are represented by the Kurds, who are scheming to win U.S. support for an independent Kurdistan, and the party that used to call itself the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which is pushing hard for a Shiite super-region in the south that is widely seen as the first step toward a breakaway, Iran-allied “Shiastan” in the south. Why isn’t the press making more of this? Why aren’t they asking American officials to explain why U.S. support mostly lines up behind the separatists, i.e., the Kurds and SCIRI? Why aren’t they asking whether SCIRI (and, for that matter, Al Dawa, the small party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki) have much support left among the 60 percent of Iraqis who are Shia Arabs?
IRAQI REFUGEES
VIDEO: Iraq Refugee Problem
This year the Bush administration announced a $20 million increase in funding to support refugee programs. And U.S. State Department Undersecretary Paula Dobriansky said the U.S. would work with the UNHCR, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, to significantly increase the number of Iraqis allowed into the country. Limon says so far the government is failing to meet its own goal. The problem she says is partly bureaucratic mismanagement but she also believes the administration wants pro-American Iraqis to continue to help the war effort in Iraq.
VIDEO: Palestinians in Iraqi No Man’s Land, Part One
As death tolls and temperatures rise in Baghdad, Iraqis are not the only ones suffering in Iraq, and may not even be the worst off. Each difficulty that has been experienced by an Iraqi Arab or Kurd, or Turkoman or Assyrian, has been experienced by a Palestinian living in Iraq. Unfortunately Palestinians in Iraq lack even the most basic necessities of life, much less representation in the government, civil rights, or most everything else one might expect a nascent democracy to protect. Today there are more than 1400 Palestinians stranded in a purgatory between Syria and Iraq. These Palestinians find themselves not only reviled and targeted in Baghdad, where many have lived for the past 60 years. Now they live in tents in the desert, left to wonder why none of the world’s governments will give them safe passage. Furthermore, so they claim, when the rare offer of resettlement comes, they’re left waiting desperately, hoping the government of “their country,” the Palestinian Authority, will permit the move. Many claim the PA is using them as just another pawn in a shell game of victimhood, distraction, and deal-making.
How to Help Iraqi Refugees
Iraq Moratorium Day – September 21 and every third Friday thereafter ~ "I hereby make a commitment that on Friday, September 21, 2007, and the third Friday of every subsequent month I will break my daily routine and take some action, by myself or with others, to end the War in Iraq."
Quote of the day: "Foolish men imagine that because judgment for an evil thing is delayed, there is no justice...Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed...but it is sure as life, it is sure as death." ~ Thomas Caryle
(Sorta) OFF TOPIC VIDEO: What Hasn’t Changed in 25 Years
George Bush Sr. operated a secret government while a senile Ronald Reagan dozed and coasted on his Hollywood presentation skills. Yet when the Iran-Contra scandal broke, Reagan and others took the heat, while George Sr. remained safely in the shadows. Shameless, contemptuous of the law, and masterful liars...many of the members of the Bush Sr. support term manage things today behind the scenes for Junior. [Justice has been long delayed in this case. - dancewater]
Photo: A wounded man and his son rush to a hospital after a bomb attack in 
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