Sadrists Demand US Withdrawal
UIA asks Sadrists to Rejoin
Will Blackwater be Expelled?
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Shiite fundamentalist ruling bloc in the Iraqi parliament, the United Iraqi Alliance, has called on the Sadr Movement to reconsider its decision to withdraw from the UIA, given the latter's willingness to discuss all outstanding issues. The statement said it was important for all political forces inside the political blocs to remain united, given the situation in Iraq. The UIA formed a committee to work on enticing the Sadrists back in. AFP has more.
Al-Hayat says that the Sadr Movement is refining its statement of national principles, which most factions in the UIA signed off on 2 years ago. It will include a demand that US forces withdraw, or that a timetable be set for their withdrawal, with a commitment that no American bases will remain in the country.
Ned Parker casts doubt on whether Iraq really will expel the Blackwater security firm. The implication is that State Department personnel in Iraq could not accomplish anything unless they are guarded by Blackwater operatives.
Gary Kamiya at Salon.com ponders how the Iraq stalemate might be broken: "The Iraq war has moved into a weird purgatorial endgame. Almost no one believes in it anymore, but it keeps going. Americans keep dying, Iraq continues to fall apart, there is no end in sight, but nothing changes. Much of the country wants the war to end, but the political system is deadlocked."
One of the great tragedies of Washington's Iraq war has been the destruction or looting of Iraq's historical heritage, as Robert Fisk explains. Not only, as Fisk says, has the archeological heritage been deeply damaged but as he has pointed out elsewhere, it seems clear that the 20th century history of an entire country is gone.
At the Napoleon's Egypt blog, Bonaparte writes a despairing letter to his brother.
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 9/18/2007 12:20:00 AM
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Leila Fadel, Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, reported that "whether the Iraqi Interior Ministry will be able to enforce its decision to ban North Carolina-based Blackwater Security from operating in Iraq is likely to be a major test between the government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki and the United States." Her report is titled "Iraq threatens action against U.S. security firm": http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19804.html
Another witness, who was shot four times fleeing the scene, said "there were eight of them in four utility vehicles and all shooting with heavy machine guns": http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/21877
Naomi Kline, in her newly released book, asserts that allowing the destruction of Iraqi history was intentional. Makes sense.
It will be interesting to see if the Iraqi government is powerful enough to overturn one of Paul Bremer's edicts which directly limits its sovereignty. I expect the outcome will be another proof that the government there is simply a puppet managed by an unskilled puppeteer. The Iraq expedition is a shameful sham perpetuated by an inept administration that is somehow able to cow the legislature.
As to the looting it's very sad, but at least if the artifacts are sold off they'll presumably go to people who value them and appreciate them and thus will be safer than in Iraq where a stray missile or Hummer could run them over over blow them up. Better in a private collection in the US than shattered in the deserts of Anbar.
...and at least this way there's a chance of getting them back someday.
The Iraqi Government has ben asked to consider banning Aegis also:
"Following the decision of the Iraqi government to expel private security company Blackwater from the country Belfast mother Jean Mc Bride has appealed to the Iraqis to ‘also show the door’ to British company Aegis Defence Services. The CEO of Aegis is former Scots Guards officer and mercenary Tim Spicer. Soldiers under Spicer’s command murdered 18 year old Peter Mc Bride in Belfast in 1992 yet Spicer refused to accept that his soldiers did wrong in shooting an unarmed teenager in the back in broad daylight."
http://www.tomgriffin.org/the_green_ribbon/2007/09/jean-mc-bride-c.html
There is an interesting article by Greg Palast which just came out:
http://www.gregpalast.com/
"Bush’s Fake Sheik Whacked:
The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny"
In a nutshell his premise is "(1) Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik (2) He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda, (3) The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik- and a murderous deceit."
He also has links to an independent journalist's investigation in Anbar.
Crooks&Liars.com links to an excellent video interview by CNNinternational of the author Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army : “Scahill: …instead the administration is building a ‘coalition of corporations’. Right now in Iraq, private personnel on the US government payroll outnumber official US troops. There are about 186,000 so-called private contractors operating alongside 165,000 troops. The US military is the junior partner in this coalition.—-This is a shadow war. We’re in the midst right now of a discussion about a surge, and about troop withdrawals, and we hear conflicting messages. But there’s been a surge on for four years of the private sector, in Iraq, this mercenary army that the Bush administration has built up all over that country”
“The arrogance of the West, toward Iraq is incredible. This is a civilization that’s been around for thousands and thousands of years. We think that we’re going to somehow bring the solution to Iraq? No, these are people that can very much dictate their own destiny and they should be allowed to do so, and mercenaries need to get out of Iraq immediately.”
Although far-fetched... if opponents of the military occupation of IRAQ in the U.S. Congress could somehow manage to either: (1) cut off a significant portion of the funding for contractors = ‘mercenary personnel’; or, (2) redefine their legal status such that contractors would be subject to military, or civilian, or Iraqi jurisprudence (making their risk burden unassumable, thus), while never touching the sacred "support the troops" direct funding -- then de facto redeployment without 'losing face', so to speak ~ would be a fait accomplis EXIT STRATEGY.
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