Nearly 30 Dead in Basra Bombing, 62 Wounded
Political violence in the Iraqi Civil War left 44 dead on Saturday in an arc that stretched from the far south to the northeast of the country.
In Basra, guerrillas used a car bomb to kill 28 persons (according to late reports) and wound 62. The bomber set it off at a market in the south of the city, late afternoon on Saturday. Basra security has deteriorated dramatically this year. It is unclear who the perpetrator is. Some Arabic sources are speculating that it is an answer to Zarqawi's call to redouble the fight against Shiites. Al-Hayat speculates that it might have been a response to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's call to curb the oil-smuggling gangs in the city.
Courtesy KarbalaNews.net.
In the northeast, guerrillas launched a sophisticated attack on a police checkpoint near Baqubah. They threw grenades and used RPGs against police, killing 7 of them and wounding 10 other persons.
Also near Baqubah, heads of 8 persons were sent to the police, including 7 cousins and a Sunni mosque preacher, in empty banana cartons (-al-Hayat]. The preacher, according to a note found with the head, stood accused of having arranged for the assassination of 4 Shiite physicians in the area.
In Baghdad, a Russian diplomat and one other person were killed by guerrillas, who kidnapped 3 other Russian embassy personnel.
A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister's office on Saturday rejected a US military appraisal that troops at Ishaqi in mid-March did nothing wrong. They attacked a safe house from which they maintain they took fire, and appear to have shot dead 11 civilians, including 4 children and 5 women. They then demolished the house and reported only 4 civilian deaths in such a way as to imply that they had died in the collapse of the building. A videotape was leaked to the BBC last week that clearly showed the bodies had died of gunshot wounds. The Iraqi government says it will do its own probe of Ishaqi.
Salafi Jihadi militiamen wearing black dominate some Sunni Arab neighborhoods in once-modern Western Baghdad, and they terrorize unveiled women.
A "British Brigade" of 150 young radical Muslim Britons has gone off to Iraq to fight for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his Salafi Jihadi movement. The illegal Iraq War and Anglo-American occupation of Iraq has radicalized many British Muslims, including the cell that blew up the London subway on 7/7 last year, and which was probably run by Ayman al-Zawahiri. Of the 150, those who survive will learn deadly skills that they can apply to future terror operations in the West.
Meanwhile, 23 Yemenis went on trial Saturday for forming an armed unit and planning to go fight the Americans in Iraq. Yes, you can hear the purling waters of Bush's Arab Spring just everywhere.
The networks in their evening news segments have given less and less attention to Iraq. It is hard and expensive to cover, reporters risk their lives, and they often get pressure in the aftermath for not having been "balanced".
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/04/2006 12:30:00 AM
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There's an unfortunate failure in this blog on occasion to repeat newspaper reports as fact. The Times have a "senior security source" saying that there is a foreign legion fighting for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. This could be complete nonsense. I could in fact be the security services feeding lies to the press.
You were devastatingly effective in unmasking the newspaper stories about the alleged Iranian clothing laws. Of course, this was because you had there wherewithall to be able to contradict them. Clearly, you can't prove that 150 young Britons have gone to fight in Iraq. One cannot prove such a thing incorrect. One can discredit its sources, but in this case there is nothing to the sources but heresay. This should have been reported as an allegation, not as a fact, by you, sir.
With all due respect, to an otherwise great comments, when you state
(...) the cell that blew up the London subway on 7/7 last year, and which was probably run by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Was he running it from mountainous Afghanistan/Pakistan in real time with pigeon flights ?
It is quite possible now to end the occuptation, in an orderly fashion, without Bush's consent.
End of 2007 has appeared in the Iraqi PM statement and in the plan adopted by the US Senator Dianne Feinstein. It seems close enough for the anti-occupation forces, and far enough to permit the "real" rebuilding of the Iraqi Army -- with proper weapons and infrastructure.
The Iraqi Parliament is entitled, and willing, to demand the exit of ALL the troops (no Embassy guards; trainers; advisors; or any other juvenile tricks)by the end of 2007.
The US lawmakers should respond by declaring an end of all funding beyond that date.
All this must happen quickly, and unequivocally. The insurgent who are really fighting to end the occupation will have no more reason to risk their lives and to harm Iraqis. Those who continue would have lost all legitimacy and public support and can be crushed and defeated.
It seems that George Bush treats the war as a matter between him and his God who is testing his resolve in the Crusade against the Infidels. Reasoning with someone like that is pointless.
Please, stop complaining and end the nightmare, for the sake of everone.
The plan can be found at :
http://www.americanprogress.org/StrategicreDeploymentTwo
The networks in their evening news segments have given less and less attention to Iraq.
The networks are in the infotainment business. The news from Iraq is unspinnably bad. Therefore it doesn't exist.
The mob that controls the MSM hopes that as long as they link arms and whistle past the graveyard the American public will go along with their decision to keep the news no one wants to hear off the air.
It's worked so far. It will probably continue to work until the magic number is reached at the gas pump.
A hundred thousand innocents murdered in the Anglo-American war of aggression in Iraq, the imminent elimination of the Palestinian nation by the US/Israeli Neocon Axis, the emptying of the national treasury by the greedy cronies of the present US regime, all proceeding calmly as the blowback gathers like the sea retreating into the vortex of the coming tsunami... all of this means nothing to us American ostriches.
But if gas hits five or six bucks a gallon a sense of OUTRAGE will sweep the nation!
So if that's what it takes, than as for high gas prices... Bring 'em on!
American Empire: "Divide and ....
Get Dissed"
If it is really American policy to divide Iraqis into mutually fratricidal groups and sub-groups, the process seems to be going at increasing speed, though still at relatively low levels. (See below.)
But one key player has not yet gotten the message: US favorite, PM Maliki. He's busy calling US troops killers and US leaders liars. Khalizad intervened to get this guy into office? Rice and Rum twisted arms to get this government into office, and this is their reward?
Of course, it doesn't help that Newsweek, in it's little embedded "color" piece about US Marine unit 3/1, more or less called them horse thieves and gladiator wannabes, often zonked out on pills, or tired, or freaked out, or just uninterested.
And the US is saying it will hand over "all" the information on the Haditha incident? Unredacted, with names not blocked out? That should be interesting, but not as interesting as if the files go over with names and other identifiers covered over with magic marker.
W. has kept a sense of perspective in all this hullabaloo, deciding it's again time to come down once more (but certainly not for the last time, as long as it keeps working to deflect attention) against gay marriage, the biggest threat he can perceive to American society.
But in a way he is right, gay marriage is a bigger threat than any thing Iraq poses in the way of a threat to us. Nil vs. nil, take your pick.
Hell, civil war isn't even posing that much threat to Iraqi society: At 30 killed per day, that's a 1,000 a month, or 12,000 per year.
Supposing that on average, 1 percent of Iraqis would die a year (60 year life span, but more kids than older people, but infant mortality up, do your own math), or about 240,000 a year, or 20,000 per month. Malnutrition and bad sanitation each probably take out an order of magnitude more young Iraqis than the "civil war" does, so far.
Right now, the atrocities are just "mutual massacration."
It could get much worse, and probably will, if US troops and policy remain in place.
A resignation by the entire top leadership of the US is the most healing thing that could happen for Iraq.
Failing that, a full and immediate withdrawal of all US forces would dampen the violence in short order. Sort of shock and awe in reverse--quiet and a chance for healing. It would be a wonder.
Short of that happening, a continuation of current trends seems unavoidable--a sharp worsening of the situation, with new and more horrible news every week.
Zawahiri had Muhammad Siddiq Khan's "martyrdom tape" and broadcast an introduction to it. He likely worked with a Pakistani Jihadi group to have the young men recruited and given this mission. He had threatened to hit the UK in an earlier tape. Since no one knows where Zawahiri is, he has some freedom of movement and operational planning, and can carry this kind of thing off.
Zawahiri may have been involved in the London bombings and he's certainly still operating but the general feeling coming from the reports and the "government narrative" seems to be that the group was essentially self-generating and independent. They may have recieved some training in Pakistan but that trip, it appears, may have been motivated by their radicalisation rather than a cause of it.
Most reports discount the idea that they were "run" by al Qaida. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not true, of course, but from what I've seen and read, it does appear credible.
On the political situation, the appointment of Interior and Defence minister's has apparently been postponed indefinitely.
According to the constitution, Mailki has 30 days to name his cabinet. He was appointed on 22nd April. He has failed. The constitution (pdf),Article 73:
2nd- The prime minister is assigned to name members of his Cabinet within a period of 30 days, at the longest, from the date of the assignment.
3rd - The president assigns a new candidate to be the prime minister within 15 days if the prime minister assigned to form the cabinet during the period mentioned in the 2nd clause fails.
According to the constitution, Maliki should have been dismissed and a new PM should be selected by Jaafari. He's got two or three days left to make the new appointment.
This abandonment of the constitution does not bode well for the future of the political process.
And in Basra, it's being claimed that the Sunni population has fallen from 40% to 15% in the last three years. The numbers might be an exaggeration but it's clear that the lack of security is causing increasing numbers of people into forced sectarian segregation.
Bush and Blair still seem determined to "stay the course". They still, even after all that's happened, don't appear to understand that the road they're on is only going to lead to disaster.
Mark suggests that anonymous sources in Rupert Murdoch's London Times cannot be trusted. Does the fault lie with the Times, or with the "security officials" who bumble from shooting a Brazilian who looks like he might be a Muslim, to shooting a Muslim who looks like he might be a terrorist? There should be more than one Blair facing criminal charges, but for now the only one in that category is the chief of Scotland Yard.
When the Times reports "up to 150," that probably means pick a number between 1 and 150, and it's not a good idea to blog just the 150 estimate.
Regarding Ishaqi and Haditha:
The Iraqis will conduct their own investigation - And then do what? Stuff themselves? Under the law, as written out by Paul Bremer and signed by Iraqi legislators, ALL the U.S. troops AND foreign mercenaries contracted by the U.S. have total immunity from Iraqi law...
What do the Iraqis think they are? Sovereign?
Spin Proof suggests Diane Feinstein ownership of the Korb/ Katulis (Center for American Progress) proposal for American redeployment etc. That's a bit of a stretch. It's not a bad proposal, but is being talked up by several Representatives as well. It may be the best we can do at this point, but let's not be naive. A conflict resolution exercise a la Dayton to bring peace to Iraq? No "permanent " bases in Iraq after withdrawal? The British bases weren't permanent either. And to back the impermanent bases, we keep all the Gulf bases (and I suppose the Central Asian bases) as well, and keep a few aircraft carriers nearby just in case. And by the way, focus our attention "especially on Islamist extremists" (undefined). Korb/Katulis may be just the face-saver we need, but it certainly doesn't represent a fundamental shift in US foreign policy. I'm reminded of the continuity of that policy in Iraq from 1980 onwards. At best, it would be a de facto return to the dual containment Bush/Clinton policy. Which, of course, suits Feinstein well.
This coment properly should be addressed to a discussion of Kolb/Katulis; if anyone knows of one, please pass it on.
In reply to Arizoniana, I must defend the thesis that the Times is not to be trusted, particularly since it is now launching in the United States. Murdoch has a policy of intervening in political ways in the editorial lines of media he owns, from Fox News to the Times. No part of this story is trustworthy. It's meaning is sheerly political, beating the drum of war and Islampophobia.
But one key player has not yet gotten the message: US favorite, PM Maliki. He's busy calling US troops killers and US leaders liars.
Maliki still needs U.S. troops to stay in power, since the Iraqi Army is still years away from being able to stand on its own. So how does he make himself not look like a U.S. stooge? He angrily denounces the U.S. That has the effect of building his own stock among those Iraqis who might still be fence-sitting. It also gives a sense of national unity, since you have a guy from a Shi'ite block criticizing the killing of Iraqi Sunnis.
It also is good for U.S. interests, since an Iraqi government that looks like a U.S. stooge and completely lacks legitimacy simply adds fuel to the insurgency.
Prof. Cole thanks for the clarification. Indeed put in context it makes utter sense, even though it seems to me that the "local" cell narrative is more credible.
I apologize for my naivety almustashriq.
Here are some of the consequences of the troops being outside Iraq:
1) The CIA offices, openly operating in Iraqi cities with heavy Gurka and troop presence, with the right to abduct and murder anybody they fancy will go.
2) The 8,000 'Embassy' staff wreaking havoc with their cash suitcases will not be able to stay without the troops.
3) America's Iraqi 'friends', such as the Kurdish lawlords and double agent Hakim will end their territorial demands and the mayhem they are causing.
4) The humiliation and daily murders dished out by American troops will be no more.
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