News & Views 11/12/07

Photo: A relative carries a severed head of an Iraqi army soldier wrapped in a blanket out of a hospital in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 12, 2007. The soldier was kidnapped by unknown gunmen last week, and the authorities found his beheaded body west of Kirkuk. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

IRAQ: A Tale of One City, Now Two

The separation of religious groups in the face of sectarian violence has brought some semblance of relative calm to Baghdad. But many Iraqis see this as the uncertain consequence of a divide and rule policy. Claims are going the rounds that sectarian violence in Iraq has fallen, and that the U.S. military "surge" has succeeded in reducing attacks against civilians. Baghdad residents speak of the other side of the coin – that they live now in a largely divided city that has brought this uneasy calm. "I would like to agree with the idea that violence in Iraq has decreased and that everything is fine," retired general Waleed al-Ubaidy told IPS in Baghdad. "But the truth is far more bitter. All that has happened is a dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq." And as with Baquba and other violence-hit areas of Iraq, he says a part of the story in Baghdad is that there is nobody left to tell it. "Most of the honest journalists have left." "Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and neighbourhoods," Ahmad Ali, chief engineer from one of Baghdad's municipalities told IPS. "There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with. Then, each is divided into little town-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands who had to leave their homes." Many Baghdad residents say that the claims of reduced violence can be tested only when refugees go back home. Many areas of Baghdad that were previously mixed are now totally Shia or totally Sunni. This follows the sectarian cleansing in mixed neighbourhoods by militias and death squads. On the Russafa side of Tigris River, al-Adhamiya is now fully Sunni; the other areas are all Shia. The al-Karkh side of the river is purely Sunni except for Shula, Hurriya and small strips of Aamil which are dominated by Shia militias.

…. A UN report released September 2005 held interior ministry forces responsible for an organised campaign of detentions, torture and killings. It said special police commando units accused of carrying out the killings were recruited from the Shia Badr and Mehdi militias. Retired Col. James Steele, who served as advisor to Iraqi security forces under former U.S. ambassador John Negroponte, supervised the training of these forces. Steele had been commander of the U.S. military advisors group in El Salvador in 1984-86; Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to neighbouring Honduras 1981-85. Negroponte was accused of widespread human rights violations by the Honduras Commission on Human Rights in 1994. The Commission reported the torture and disappearance of at least 184 political workers. The violations Negroponte oversaw in Honduras were carried out by operatives trained by the CIA, according to a CIA working group set up in 1996 to look into the U.S. role in Honduras. The CIA records document that "special intelligence units", better known as "death squads", comprised CIA-trained Honduran armed units which kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands of people suspected of supporting leftist guerrillas. Negroponte was ambassador to Iraq for close to a year from June 2004. [40,000+ UNIDENTIFIED bodies have been buried in Najaf cemetery since March 2003, according to officials in Najaf. – dancewater]

Cholera Update

The most important development during weeks 44-45 is the steep increase in the number of cholera cases reported from Baghdad. The number of laboratory confirmed cases jumped from 11 to 32 cholera cases representing an increase of 290% in the cumulative cases. 44% of new confirmed cholera cases this week were reported from Baghdad Resafa; mainly form the highest risk areas in the three most disadvantaged districts in Baghdad (Saddr City, Me’dain, and Resafa districts). Data provided from Baghdad is neither complete nor timely; therefore what is reported may be an underestimation of the real situation.

From Juan Cole’s blog:

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Syrian officials say 1,500 Iraqis are being forced to leave Syria every day as a result of strict new visa requirements. Still, about 500 new Iraqi refugees are able to come into Syria every day, since they managed to get visas. There are an estimated 1.4 million Iraqi refugees in Syria. There is now a net reduction of 1,000 per day, so that if it continues, in about 4 or 5 years all the Iraqis will be out of Syria. Which is probably what the Syrian government intends. Note, however, that this influx of 7,000 Iraqis a week from Syria is not spurred by better security in Iraq (otherwise, why are 500 a day or 3500 a week still leaving Iraq for Damascus?) The exodus is being dictated by new Syrian strictness about visas and residency permits.

Fighting Who In Iraq?

Think for a moment of what has happened in Iraq since the Bush administration's shock-and-awe invasion in March 2003. There are, by now, perhaps a million dead Iraqis, give or take a few hundred thousand. If a typical wounded-to-dead ratio of 3:1 holds, then you're talking about up to 4 million war, occupation, and civil-war casualties. Now, add in the estimated 2-2.5 million who went into exile, fleeing the country, and another estimated 2.3 million who have had to leave their homes and go into internal exile as Iraqi communities and neighborhoods were "cleansed." Despite a growing number of recent returnees, these internal refugee figures increased significantly in 2007, quadrupling between the beginning of the "surge" in February and the end of September, according to the Red Crescent Society, with up to 83% of them being women and children (with, in turn, most of those children being 12 or under). The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, in a recent report to Congress, estimated that 14% of the population, or one out of every seven Iraqis, has been "displaced by war." So perhaps you have 6-8 million Iraqis put out of action in one way or another from of a pre-invasion population that was only an estimated 26 million to begin with. A striking percentage of those who remain are children and conditions remain grim. This is certainly one way to pacify a country -- by setting off one of the true disasters of our time.

Transportation

Oil crises have become habits for us as we have once in a season and may last till the end of it to get the second one! My point in this blog is not the oil crisis, but the consequences of the matter. Each time in such a case we have prices rise in oil products, food stuff, bread, the fee of the power supply from the streets’ generators and transportations. I want to focus on the latter thing “transportations”. In every crisis, the taxi drivers and mini bus ones ” the main means of transportation for most people “ put a rise on the fee which is some how fair concerning to the amount of money they pay for the fuel which has reached its double price . I give them ,as many people do , the excuse to raise their fee , but I won’t do this when they keep this fee in normal situation when the oil crisis is over .The matter doesn’t end at this point ,but when we have the second crisis we have some more fees to pay. In this year we witnessed three crises, from the last winter till this autumn, waiting winter to come so soon. The fee of the mini bus which I use to ride to reach my place has reached its double price of the last January. In addition to that the drivers begin to use new tricks to have the double price, but with the half distance they have to take. Sometimes, they use another trick saying that the road is blocked for the reasons we know, American patrols, clashes on the road or false check points which the people are familiar with. I am asking of the government’s role in controlling both the oil crises and transportations’ rises.

Today

"But Doctor Ylaf, what can I do - There are no patients. People are too afraid to come into the hospital for treatment. What can I do??" "If you don't treat patients, you will have a failing mark. I cannot do anything either." The students are trying to find a way around this terrible situation. Hospitals that people are too afraid to enter! Dr. Ylaf was a kind hearted woman in spite of her strict words. "Listen ----------, last year the students had the same problem and we allowed them to bring in their own patients." "How do you mean, Doctor??" "Friends, relatives, anyone you can convince to come, on condition that they are in real need of treatment." This is what I got from my daughter at 08:15 this morning. She spoke to me half crying telling me that she is going to fail after all - unless we can find people who are in need of dental care and convince them to go to that hospital where she can work on their teeth under the supervision of her teachers. I pick up my phone and start dialing the numbers of uncles, aunts, friends and everyone I know who is still in Baghdad. "I'm Sorry, Sahar. You understand. Our lives are more important than our teeth." is the average answer I got. At last! "Of course we'll come! I'll bring her uncle and we'll both be there! We understand. Although we are all in need of dental care, none of the young ones will be with us. You understand."

2,879 prisoners released from U.S. detention centers

"The council has concluded agreements with the Multi-National Force (MNF) in mid-July 2007 to reconsider the cases of Iraqi detainees and release anyone not proved posing a threat to Iraqi citizens' security," Judge Abdul-Sattar Bayraqdar said during a joint press conference with U.S. and MNF officials in Iraq. On the prisoners detained in Iraqi jails, Bayraqdar replied that the Iraqi government, which has been carrying out the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan since February 2007, "has released 7,457 prisoners while 4,052 others were referred to relevant courts for trials in accordance with evidence." Bayraqdar, however, did not mention the total number of detainees in U.S. or Iraqi jails.

Karbala's citizens…concerns and hopes...

In a city that is so much part of everyday conflict in Iraq, it is very difficult to separate people's fears from their hopes. With constant clashes between armed groups and security forces, Karbala, Iraq's second holy Shiite city after Najaf, is living a reality that is far from its residents' dreams. Two months ago, armed clashes broke out between gunmen and local police forces in Karbala at a time when thousands of worshippers from all over Iraq converged on the city for the mid-Shaaban visit or al-Ziyara al-Shaabaniya. Leaving hundreds of people killed or wounded, the bloody incidents were followed by a wave of organized assassinations that targeted religious and political figures and an escalation in arrests by security forces. As described by many citizens, the last straw in the chain of events was pictures of alleged human rights violations and torture of a local family by a local police officer.

A few days ago, the Iraqi satellite channel al-Sharqiyya showed pictures of a family from Karbala alleging torture by a major in the local police. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior said it had sent an inquiry committee to probe into the alleged human rights abuses and vowed to take strict action if allegations were proven. Interviewing several residents about their reactions to the traumatic events, Awwad al-Hasnawi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), "The mid-Shaaban incidents made us realize that insecurity is inevitable. Those who target our holy shrines will find no fault in killing an innocent citizen." "We do not know who is right. We have heard that Mahdi Army militias are fighting with security forces. We are the losers!" he added. "We blame security forces for their horrifying arrest campaigns. They storm residents' houses, beat them up, and fire gun shots, violating the simplest principles of human rights," al-Hasnawi indicated.
"They should arrest suspects without terrifying their children," he added.

Some more security incidents:

18 gunmen killed, arrested in Talafar

21 suspected gunmen arrested under Baghdad security plan

Policeman killed, 6 people injured in Salah el-Din blasts

Talafar chieftain, 4 attackers killed

One killed, two houses burnt in Basra tribal clashes

Headless corpse found in Kirkuk

Cop-led plundering gang arrested in Najaf

Five unknown bodies found in Baghdad

8 gunmen killed, 60 suspects arrested- army chief

Two bodies traders captured in Najaf

Police forces on Monday afternoon arrested two individuals at a checkpoint in northern Najaf, suspected of trading unknown bodies, a police source said. "Police forces captured two people in northern Najaf while trying to smuggle an unknown dead body," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) under condition of anonymity, noting that one of them was working for the forensic medicine department in Najaf. "The body was found in their vehicle's trunk," he noted. "They were smuggling the bodies to Baghdad for armed groups, which use them as bombs in their attacks and to blackmail their families," the source also said.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Iraq Premier Sees Families Returning to Safer Capital

Over a million Iraqis have fled their homes in the past year and a half, nearly three-quarters of them from Baghdad. And though the Iraqi government is offering one million Iraqi dinars, or roughly $812, to each Baghdad family that returns, only a fraction of residents has done so. [Iraqi Premier tells lies. – dancewater]

1920 Revolution Brigades: Operation “Rock Hard”

1920 Revolution Brigades announced today the following: “After the occupation forces declared the brutal military “Iron Hammer” campaign in the northern provinces of our beloved country, your brothers from 1920 Revolution Brigades in these provinces prepared themselves, their ambushes and booby-traps to respond with the operation “Rock Hard” campaign, which is going to break the occupation’s “Iron Hammer”.

Security forces continue purge of Adhamiya-Baghdad operations

Iraqi security forces will continue their military operations in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya until they purge the neighborhood of armed groups, a media source from Baghdad's operations command said on Monday. "In cooperation with Adhamiya Awakening Council, Iraqi security forces have managed to hold full sway over the neighborhood after driving out armed groups belonging to al-Qaeda organization," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Mercenaries Working for U.S. Casually Kill Baghdad Taxi Driver

"They just killed a man and drove away."

Sex Determined Army Iraq Contracts

A former employee of a Tennessee defense company is accused of sleeping with an Air Force contracting officer to secure Iraq contracts. Eric W. Barton, who worked for EOD Technology Inc., which won at least $2.5 million in Iraq contracts, is accused of having a six-month relationship with Air Force Capt. Sherrie Remington, who at the time was in charge of awarding some contracts for work in Iraq, The San Antonio Express-News reported Nov. 11. A report by the U.S. Army urges the company be debarred, which means the company -- which has been escorting military supply convoys in Iraq -- would not be allowed to get any more government contracts, the newspaper said. From 2005 through spring 2006, when the affair was allegedly taking place, the company's contracts increased from $3.8 million to $106 million.

COMMENTARY

In the Mideast, America Casts an Imperial Shadow

So it may come as a bit of a shock to learn that the United States has had an uninterrupted military presence in the Middle East for 65 years, dating to 1942. Most Americans would also bristle at the idea that this presence, from the arrival of GIs in North Africa onward, has essentially become a continuation of nearly a century and a half of European military adventures in the region. But history shows a disturbing continuity between what the European colonial powers did in the Middle East, starting with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798, and what the United States is now doing in Iraq and elsewhere. Indeed, the United States has managed in a few short years to do more damage in the region than did the hated colonial powers that were finally driven out only a few decades ago.

…..Iraq has changed everything. In Washington, a city obsessed with the present, it was easy to forget that as recently as a few years ago, the United States was not particularly disliked in the Middle East and that al-Qaeda was a tiny underground organization with almost no popular support. It was equally easy to forget that in the last phases of the Cold War, the United States had managed to protect its interests in the Middle East with no land forces on the ground, through an over-the-horizon presence. Today, al-Qaeda in Iraq threatens the security of entire districts of the country; policymakers hint at a "South Korean" model of an indefinite U.S. military presence in Iraq; the Pentagon is weighing long-term plans for U.S. bases all over the region; and Washington seems to assume that U.S. national interests require our troops to fight their way across West Asia and North Africa to stop "the terrorists," failing which we will find them crawling up the beaches of Miami and Long Island. This is madness. People in the Middle East are angry at the United States not because of our values, many of which they share: democracy, free enterprise, even many of our cultural values such as love of family and respect for religion. They are angry at us, essentially, because our forces are doing things in their back yard that we would never tolerate from foreign troops in our own region.

Quote of the day: “We are the greatest power in world history. But that will make not a whit of difference to the outcome in Iraq. We will not - we cannot - force the Iraqis to do what we want, any more than the British could toward the end of their own attempt to rule Iraq, although they managed to hold on for much longer than our doomed occupation will.” ~ Rashid Khalidi