The Battle of Baghdad (Law Enforcement)

[salim]

The high court blessed the sentences on Chemical Ali and two of the ex-Iraq army who participated in the Kurds Anfal genocides .The rule is bringing the burden on the presidential council "Kurd, Shia and sunni" to approve it before the execution is taking place, according to the new LAW issued by the Maliki government and got legalized by the parliament on last April. That law didn't cover the bit hall: What if the presidential council fail to approve the court rule.? According to the Iraqi constitution, the rules of the Genocides courts can't be stopped by any authority.. How ever , according to Iraqi new law, it needs the presidential approval to execute it. Talabani is OK with go with it on two of the three accused but not with the third , The former defense minister. He told reporters that General Sultan was in indeed in contact with the opposition to topple Sadam. How ever vice president Hashimi went for different reason not to sign two of the three. Both of them are ex generals. He told reporters that any officers should not be punished for their fulfilling their orders ! I can understand Talabani concerns, but I have concere of why he didn't step to the court with his witness that might make it into account. I failed to understand Hashimi's. If that right, then the Nat zee's officers should not be punished too. Any how , I think Hashimi is trying to reach Army officers, also he might be trying to mix papers to make it more difficult for others to sign.

 

[salim]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20689394/

 

 

Both reports of Petraeus and Crocker were received in Iraq with conflicting reaction. As the case with the political diversity in Washington, in Baghdad there were two expectations.. The anti Maliki government "mainly Sunni factionist politicians and Allawaee " were waiting for some signals that would support their claims of US administration be supporting Allawee against MAliki. Maliki's supporters "the four main Shia and Kurds parties with Sunni tribes shaikhs" were cautious that any of the two most important US men in Iraq would go out of the course.

On both Capitols , there are some who hate to hear of any achivements that might benefit their opponents .

 

I think the later party is celebrating today in Baghdad while the former are looking for how to contain the damages. ALiraqia TV was airing the whole session with translation live during the prime time night . This morning , most Iraqis were talking about how great democracy is.. A reporter on Iraqia was talking about the details and how much Iraqis need to learn from political conflict . He compared the way that both parties were showing all respect and support for Peatrues, with how some political opposition in Iraq are behaving in discrediting those brave Iraqi security members.

 

I think both men might have hard times in Washington, however they got big hearts open of so many Iraqis.. One of them told me that he feels both men more Iraqis than some Iraqis!

 

I heard some politicians wondering why the political process is not moving as fast as the security one.. Those who raise that question usually try to blame Maliki.. They forget that MAliki government had passed the main laws of Debaathification and oil and revenue share , it is the Parliament that is not moving them into action.

 

The other side is they forget that the surge was to open window for political process to move on.. So it needed that surge to achieve it's goals before the political process can make it's final steps. And hear come the question: do these critics think the surge had already made it's goals to ask about the the political process? if so why are same people challenging Peatrues Claims of victory ?

I think what had happened is that the surge and it's great achievements had open the doors for the political process to move on and we will see critical turn over in the next months to come . This time it will be the real process, the one that is going down up.

[salim]

Shiekh Abo Risha never fail short of putting his name in the martyr list!

Abo Risha gave Iraqis his best lesson, a leader should fight in the fronts with his soldiers and die for the cause like them!

 

 

God bless the soul of the brave Iraqi Shiekh Abo Risha, one of the founders of new Iraq.. In the hard times we need to remeber that thin tinny man who stood to fight for Iraq and it's people.. He is different than all others , he stood where it is hard to hide out!

 

 

Abo Risha will not die , at least in the minds of all Iraqis!

[salim]

Closely following Iraq daily affairs is something not easy to do without getting into moments of frustration. The day of murdering Sheikh Abu Risha was for sure one of these unforgotten days...

The reaction to the criminal act was so wide across the nation. Shia, Sunni, Kurds , Christians, Yzedi's , all showed their grief and shock. For all of them, this little young man had represented a hope and national symbol.

 

He came up from nowhere to transform a family tragedy, losing his father and two brothers to Qaeda fight, into a national call for unity and solidarity that went beyond sectarian lines to reach all over Iraq.

On political side, most Iraqis parties expressed their condemnation excluding some.

 

Let me go over these some of odd reactions

 

First Alqaeda: since the emerge of the early news, most Alqaeda affiliates web site started to exchange congratulations among their commentators and visitors.

 

 

 

Sadamists on other hand went first into couple of hours of silence before coming with intensive articles posted on their web sites by prominent Sadamists writers celebrating the act by "the honest resistant sleeping cells in Ramady" as one of them went to.

 

 

 

Sunni factionist parties in the parliament: most of them failed to hide their relief. Some of them with close relation to Sadamists ,went as far as trying to cover the criminals by accusing the government of committing it. None of these parties representatives had shown in the ceremonies of the Sheikh's memorial services today.

 

 

 

Alawee who criticized Bush's meeting with Sheikh two days ago, had never commented or issued any type of announcement and chose to keep low profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Qaeda just released claim that its network took responsibility of the murder. Anyhow whoever behind it let me go over what is needed to be done?

Sheikh Ahmed Abu Rica was just nominated by the tribal elderly to be the successor of his brother... I don't know much about the new leader of the Awakening "Sahawa" of Iraq council, but from some brief interviews I would put my faith into the other young Abu Risha... This is a family that had lost five of their members to the fight againsts Sadamists and Qaeda. There is no other more than Ahmed Abu Risha to peruse the mission that his father started and that of his three brothers pay their lives for.

I think a move by the US administration, in all upmost possible levels, is necessary to show support in public to the family and the people of Anbar.

 

Iraqi Government need to do more than condemnation announcements , putting a brigade of national police under orders of the Abu Risha's council and naming a main square in Ramadi after his name. The Sahwa council needs to have a say in the leadership council of Iraq security ... This has nothing to do with replacing the withdrawn Sunni slates from government. Abu Risha is not considering himself a Sunni, he is an Iraqi. That is why he chose to change his council from Anbar to Iraq council. That is why, just four days ago, he reached out to some prominent Shia tribe leaders from the central Iraq and that is why he announced that he was planning to visit Alsader city .

Finally, that is why Alsderees issued a very surprising announcement condemning the crime and praising a man who just shakes hand with OCCUPATION leaders!

 

Abu Risha is the best to be honored by the US congress as representative of Sunni and Shia Iraqis. Rather than listening ONLY to some factionists and Sadamists who lost their popular support , get the opportunity hosting those who are getting the real power on ground.

 

Iraqi government need to name Alfirdos main square in Baghdad after Abu Risha.. It is the square that witnessed the fall of the statue on the Iraq liberation day, it is one of most beloved squares .

[salim]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...q_but_al_q.html

 

 

 

 

Have a look putting in mind that Abu Risha was not pro-American , he was pro Iraq and it's ellected government..!

He fought Qaeda two years before the American got convinced that the CROP sunni political groups in Bgahdad are not a real representative of the Sunni arab.. Thanks to maliki for bringin it up ..

 

Last Thursday al Qaida killed with a roadside bomb Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, who was becoming to Iraq what Ahmad Shah Massoud was to Afghanistan. Sheikh Abu Risha was the founder and leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, the coalition of Sunni tribes that banded together to fight al Qaida. He, more than any person save Gen. David Petraeus, is responsible for the dramatic turnaround in Iraq.

 

The political "leadership" in Iraq has ranged from poor to frightful, in large part because Saddam Hussein ruthlessly murdered anyone who might one day oppose him. But Sheikh Abu Risha rose far above mediocrity.

 

"It is an Iraqi national disaster," Iraq's national security adviser, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, said at Sheikh Abu Risha's funeral Friday. "What Abu Risha did for Iraq, no single man has done in the country's history."

 

"Sattar was seen as a legitimate, pro-American alternative to the current crop of Sunni leaders in the Iraqi government," wrote independent journalist Bill Roggio.

 

By murdering the Lion of Anbar, al Qaida hopes to fragment the Anbar Salvation Council, weaken Sunni efforts to fight the terror group, and to foment strife between Sunni and Shia.

 

It could work out that way. But the murder of Sheikh Abu Risha also may backfire. More than 1,500 mourners attended his funeral. Mourners chanted "We will take our revenge," and "There is no God but Allah and al Qaida is the enemy of Allah," the BBC reported.

 

It cannot warm Osama bin Laden's heart (assuming it's still beating) to have so many Sunni Muslims in what just a year ago was al Qaida's stronghold in Iraq declaring that al Qaida is the enemy of Allah. Support for al Qaida has plummeted in seven of the eight Muslim countries polled by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. The assassination of Sheikh Abu Risha will not enhance the terror group's diminishing popularity.

 

The Anbar Salvation Council has chosen Sheikh Abu Risha's brother, Ahmed, as its new leader. "All the tribes agreed to fight al Qaida until the last child in Anbar," Ahmed Abu Risha said.

 

"The killing will give us more energy...to continue confronting al Qaida members and to dispose of them," said another member of the council, Sheikh Rashid Majid.

 

 

[salim]

= The Ghost of Anbar -- And -- Progress In Iraq? Part 1/3

 

The Ghost of Anbar -- And -- Progress In Iraq? Part 2/3

 

= The Ghost of Anbar -- And -- Progress In Iraq? Part 3/3

[salim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/world/mi...blackwater.html?

 

Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First

By SABRINA TAVERNISE and JAMES GLANZ

 

Published: September 19, 2007

American Embassy officials had said Monday that the Blackwater guards had been responding to a car bomb, but Mr. Dabbagh said the bomb was so far away that it could not possibly have been a reason for the convoy to begin shooting.

 

Instead, he said, the convoy had initiated the shooting when a car did not heed a police officer and moved into an intersection.

 

"The traffic policeman was trying to open the road for them," he said. "It was a crowded square. But one small car did not stop. It was moving very slowly. They shot against the couple and their child. They started shooting randomly."

 

In video shot shortly after the episode, the child appeared to have burned to the mother's body after the car caught fire, according to an official who saw it.

 

In interviews on Tuesday, six Iraqis who had been in the area at the time of the shooting, including a man who was wounded and an Iraqi Army soldier who helped rescue people, offered roughly similar versions.

 

 

 

The case of the last Blackwater's incident was not the first, I kept hearing reprots by Iraqis in Baghdad of many different cases were the security armed personals had behaved in such careless manner.

 

The question is why did Maliki choose to step forward with a more aggressive move now?

 

There are two answers: either it is the feather that had broke the loaded Camel, as per Iraqi traditional say.

Or there is political motives behind it

 

I think it is both.. Iraqis really hate these security personal prejdudice and savage non respectful behaviors, something that reminded Iraqis with similar behavior used to be exercised by Saddam's body guards "himaia".

Iraqis might not be able to tolerate such conducts any more..

 

Any how, I think there are also some political reasons. Maliki might want to invest into the recent unity calls among Iraqis , specially after the murder of Abu Risha. He want to create a common national demand by Iraqis that most of them are supporting, no matter from which sect or race.

The other reason might be to put some limit to what these security companies can go in violating the Iraqi sovereignty being covered by Bremer's LAW no.17. Recently , there were accusations that some out laws had escaped the country with help of these companies. On example is the Alawee's minister of electricity who was under the Iraqi court warrant for allegation of stealing Ministry money . He was freed by some of these private companies from the jail that facilitated his escape to UAE using their free pass in Baghdad airport.

 

What is more interesting is the reaction by some groups who should find this incident an opportunity to expose the OCCUPIERS.. On contrary, most of the Sadamists's and Qaeda media channels tried their best to downgrade the focus . Some went as far as not mentioning it. Same reaction was recorded for some Iraqi politicians such as Alawee and Sunni Tawafuc slates.

 

I don't have answer, but for now I think there are two possible reasons. Either they find Maliki is making a good case to reach Iraqis and they don't want to serve such cause.

Or, there is some mutual interest by some of these groups in having such bad behaviors around to legitimize their agenda.. I think the latest is behind the soft stand by the US administration toward Maliki's wide step of reviewing the LAW 17 !

[salim]

Things are moving faster, Baghdad city council decided to include those who were killed by Balckwater personals on the list of terror victims with full rights decided by the government.. This can be considered as indication of the mood of the Baghdad's residents of having putting the company on the Iraqi list of terror organizations.

 

Mr. Tariq Harb, a very respectful Iraqi law specialists, told news media today that the Law no. 17 doesn't cover the private security companies. He said that there are two different regulations issued by Bremer ,both of them came under number 17!

 

The first one is Law no. 17 in 2003 which cover the US army that put immunity to Army personals to the Iraqi laws.

The second, which covers the private security personals, is memo 17 in 2004. That one clearly stated that they are governed by Iraqi laws of 1969.

 

Today on Iraqia TV, well known commentator Wajeeh Abbas, in his daily morning show "the statue of liberty" went far to raise questions of possible role of these private security companies in the death squad operations that tried to ignite sectarian war. He said that there are at least one thousand of such companies with no government control. There are growing feelings by Iraqis that they need to get together, such theories would make it easier to move away the blames by each group on others. Putting it on shoulders of a third party would help their reconciliation process. Imagin the case when such third party is a one that they don't have sympathy to..

 

I think the US administration needs to deal with this case so carefully, it touchs a very sensitive Iraqi national pride nerve. It might need to deal with from not a very close distant to the accused personals. Yes for granting a fair investigation but No for any attempt to cover any wrong doing..

 

[salim]

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091901704.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

 

Shaky Allies in Anbar

<H2></H2>

 

By David IgnatiusThursday, September 20, 2007; Page A21

 

 

Like other journalists who follow Iraq, I began talking with Sunni tribal leaders in 2003. Most of the meetings were in Amman, Jordan, arranged with help from former Jordanian government officials who had perfected the art of paying the sheiks. One contact was a member of the Kharbit clan, which had long maintained friendly (albeit secret) relations with the Jordanians and the Americans. The Kharbits were eager for an alliance, even after a U.S. bombing raid killed one of their leaders, Malik Kharbit, in April 2003. But U.S. officials were disdainful.

 

During a visit to Fallujah in September 2003, I met an aging leader of the Bu Issa tribe named Sheik Khamis. He didn't want secret American payoffs -- they would get him killed, he said. He wanted money to rebuild schools and roads and to provide jobs for members of his tribe. U.S. officials made fitful efforts to help but nothing serious enough to check the insurgency in Fallujah. Back then, you recall, the Bush administration was playing down any talk of an insurgency.

 

A Sunni tribal leader who pushed bravely for an alliance with the Americans was Talal al-Gaaod, a leader of one of the branches of the Dulaim tribe. Looking back through my notes, I can reconstruct a series of his efforts that were mishandled by senior U.S. officials: In August 2004, he helped arrange a meeting in Amman between Marine commanders from Anbar and tribal leaders there who wanted to assemble a local militia. Senior U.S. officials learned of the unauthorized dialogue and shut it down.

 

 

 

The American plan now, apparently, is to extend the Anbar model and create "bottom-up" solutions throughout Iraq. For example, I'm told that U.S. commanders met recently with the Shiite political organization known as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and gave a green light for its Badr Organization militia to control security in Nasiriyah and some other areas in southern Iraq and thereby check the power of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. We're interposing ourselves here in an intra-Shiite battle we barely understand.

[salim]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...151.html?sub=AR

 

 

 

Maliki Denounces Blackwater 'Crime'

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By Megan GreenwellWashington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 20, 2007; Page A18

[salim]

Guards’ Shots Not Provoked, Iraq Concludes

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/world/mi...blackwater.html

 

The shooting enraged Iraqis, in part because they feel powerless to bring the security companies to account.

 

“What happened in Al Nisour was that citizens felt their dignity was destroyed,” Jawad al-Bolani, Iraq’s interior minister, said in an interview. The Iraqi “looks at the state and wonders if it can bring him back his rights.”

 

“It’s important that the company show its respect to the law and Iraqi law,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “Iraqi citizens need to see good treatment, especially when they operate on Iraqi soil.”

[salim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/world/mi...blackwater.html

 

 

Security Firm Faces Criminal Charges in Iraq function getSharePasskey() { return 'ex=1348286400&en=40928298b3088000&ei=5124';}function getShareURL() { return encodeURIComponent('http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/world/middleeast/23blackwater.html');}function getShareHeadline() { return encodeURIComponent('Security Firm Faces Criminal Charges in Iraq');}function getShareDescription() { return encodeURIComponent('The Iraqi government plans to refer charges to its courts within days in the killing of at least eight Iraqis.');}function getShareKeywords() { return encodeURIComponent('Defense Contracts,United States Armament and Defense,Iraq,Blackwater USA');}function getShareSection() { return encodeURIComponent('world');}function getShareSectionDisplay() { return encodeURIComponent('International / Middle East');}function getShareSubSection() { return encodeURIComponent('middleeast');}function getShareByline() { return encodeURIComponent('By JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE');}function getSharePubdate() { return encodeURIComponent('September 23, 2007');}

 

By JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISEPublished: September 23, 2007

 

 

 

The push against foreign security companies, some Western officials have suggested, may be motivated by more than the quest for justice. There could also be a financial motivation, particularly if, as some Iraqi officials say, the episode could result in new rules that would cut down on the number of foreign companies operating here.

 

Fewer foreign companies would mean more space for Iraqi companies, and Iraqi officials in charge of licenses for the private security industry have become slower at issuing them to foreigners for more than a year, according to one security industry official formerly in Baghdad.

 

In 2006, rules for registration changed dramatically, the official said, with two new steps, including consulting with Mr. Waili’s ministry, added to the already complicated process.

 

What is obvious, though, is the emotional push for change created by the Nisour shooting.

 

“It was really painful,” Mr. Waili said. “We are losing Iraqis every day, but this was a really painful incident. They were innocent people.”

 

I don't think one more thousands job position possibilities would make the Iraqi government move such wide step.. It is part of Iraqi stepping up to restore their sovereignty.. With the current new political/social class taking over the country, it is expected that they start to extend their rule of control .. The current immunity to the forgiegn security armed personall represent a threat to Iraqi nation pride and rule. I think it is just an alarming sign that I don't be supprised to see a much bigger move in the next coming months..

 

 

[salim]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7100201824.html?

 

 

 

 

Federalism, Not Partition

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By Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Leslie H. GelbWednesday, October 3, 2007; Page A23

 

 

Instead, Maliki and the administration -- through our embassy in Baghdad -- distorted the Biden-Brownback amendment beyond recognition, charging that we seek to "partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means."

 

 

 

We want to set the record straight. If the United States can't put this federalism idea on track, we will have no chance for a political settlement in Iraq and, without that, no chance for leaving Iraq without leaving chaos behind.

 

First, our plan is not partition, though even some supporters and the media mistakenly call it that. It would hold Iraq together by bringing to life the federal system enshrined in its constitution. A federal Iraq is a united Iraq but one in which power devolves to regional governments, with a limited central government responsible for common concerns such as protecting borders and distributing oil revenue.

 

Iraqis have no familiarity with federalism, which, absent an occupier or a dictator, has historically been the only path to keeping disunited countries whole. We can point to our federal system and how it began with most power in the hands of the states. We can point to similar solutions in the United Arab Emirates, Spain and Bosnia. Most Iraqis want to keep their country whole. But if Iraqi leaders keep hearing from U.S. leaders that federalism amounts to or will lead to partition, that's what they will believe.

 

 

Most Iraqis disliked the intiative by the Congress for two reasons

1- The proposal based the fedral system to be on sect and race, while the constitution that they vote for is based on provinces and public vote

2- They found the Congress getting into a criticle issue that only Iraqis are the one to decide upon

 

Fedralism is there in the constitution, so what is new in Biden's proposal.. No think but making it based on race and sect, which Iraqis hate most..!

 

 

[salim]

It was long time since I wrote commenting on Baghdad and it's Battle to restore stability and services in it's hard fight against violence and criminal groups . It was about one month that some might think it is not so long period in the history of such long fierce war. Indeed it was not, what had happened in that short period was equivalent to what had happened to almost more than three years of chaos and destruction

I can assure every one that Baghdad today is just normal big city that had some isolated discrete neighborhoods that got out of government reach and control and ruled by criminal gangs who act in the shadow..Other than that, it is just a normal city that run out of terror and outlaw excersice.

 

Over most of Baghdad, people are going to work, schools. Shops are open , services are restored .Electricity and water are running for more hours that what residents in Damascus or Cairo or Bombay can get.! In Alsader city slum of Baghdad ,streets are looking even clearner than high scale Karada's.. Green areas and refurnishing of the shelfs and planting of spaces is every where..

 

Most important is that spirit of unity among almost all Iraqis .Factions politicians who clamp the scene benefiting from sectarian tensions are loosing fuel. People are more open to those with unity messages, they are more concerned of corruption and performance of government agencies in providing services and social programs than talking about criminal gangs and car bombs..

 

Last week, a famous group of actors led by Nationally famous old actor Subhi abdul Hameed performed an open air play in the street of Almutanbi The ancient street of Baghdad libraries who was hit by two car bombs couple of months a go... The famous street of Abu Nouas had recovered it's health too, restaurants and green play grounds by the Tigris river started getting their visitors till late night ... Those who don't know Baghdad might not be aware that this street is the night street of Baghdad with it's famous delicious Maskof fish Bar-B-Que resturants in the open air ...

 

According to official records, more than 46 thousands Iraqis returned from Syria in the month of October alone. The price to rent a car from Damascus to Baghdad jumped to 700 dollars from 50$ for the 15 hrs trip over the safe eight lanes , 700 kilometer long, high way through the desert of Alanbar. The main rout that connects Baghdad and Iraq to it's westren neighbors was almost abundant over the last three years. The waiting list to get back by the air plane trip on Aliraqia air planes is too long in one one direction only!

 

I was talking to my brother, whose family had just decided to return back from Syria after one year of forced vacation. He told me that they were lucky to get air tickets.. I was surprised that the four members of a low rank governement employee chose to come back through rather expensive route. My wife told me , that is the new Iraq.. Iraq of mid class .. For first time in Iraq history since that fiftees, Young men have previlage finding a wife if they are working for the governement.. The old days of mid class governemnt officail getting 7 $ a month had gone ...

 

I have a feeling that Iraq had past it's hard times, it is the time of rebuild.. May be that is why no more one hear about Iraq and Baghdad any more !

[tajer]

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/opinion/...8c9&ei=5087

 

The $2 Trillion Nightmare

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By BOB HERBERT

Published: March 4, 2008

We’ve been hearing a lot about “Saturday Night Live” and the fun it has been having with the presidential race. But hardly a whisper has been heard about a Congressional hearing in Washington last week on a topic that could have been drawn, in all its tragic monstrosity, from the theater of the absurd.

 

Skip to next paragraph

 

 

Go to Columnist Page » The war in Iraq will ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers not hundreds of billions of dollars, but an astonishing $2 trillion, and perhaps more. There has been very little in the way of public conversation, even in the presidential campaigns, about the consequences of these costs, which are like a cancer inside the American economy.

 

 

 

 

An Iraqi writer wrote :

"If nine terorists cost USA more than one trillion dollars on 9/11, how much would few thousands that were killed and captured in Iraq, valued?"