Al-Zaidi, Injured, Pleads Guilty;
Mosul Still in Turmoil
Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi suffered, according to his brother, "suffered a broken hand, broken ribs and internal bleeding, as well as an eye injury" and had to go to hospital after he protested Bush's press conference in Baghdad by throwing shoes at the president. The Doha Center for Media Freedom has expressed concern about the injuries allegedly inflicted on al-Zaidi and has called on Iraqi authorities "to ensure that the rights of this prisoner are respected.”
Al-Zaidi appeared briefly in court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty. Although apparently Iraqi law specifies a jail term of up to 2 years for the infraction of insulting the head of state, prosecutors are speaking of a 7-year term.
What I am wondering is if the law under which al-Zaidi would be sentenced is a Saddam Hussein-era statute? Much of Iraqi law is still Baathist law, since the parliament has reviewed and reaffirmed much of the previous legislation rather than starting from scratch.
Al-Zaidi is apparently popular in Pakistan.
Iraqi crowds continue to stage rallies daily to protest al-Zaidi's detention and to demand his release.
A Saudi man has offered to buy the shoes tossed at Bush for $10 million.
Aljazeera English reports on the al-Zaidi incident.
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Sadr Movement is demanding that the upcoming provincial elections be monitored by international observers.
The article says that the race in the Shiite south is hard fought, and that over-zealous supporters of one Shiite party versus another have torn down campaign posters from the opposing party in cities such as Basra.
Jane Arraf reports for CSM that Mosul is still violent, with up to 10 attacks a day and a volatile ethnic mix between Arabs and Kurds.
Nick Turse at Tomdispatch.com puts the "industrial" in the "military-industrial complex.
McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Tuesday:
'Baghdad
Three people were killed (two members of the national police and a civilian) and 13 people were wounded (two policemen and 11 civilians) by a roadside bomb in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 10 a.m.
A roadside bomb detonated in Qadisiyah neighborhood in west Baghdad around 10 a.m. No casualties reported.
Three people were wounded (a security member and two civilians) by a parked car bomb that targeted the convoy of the minister of science and technology in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 2 p.m.
Diyala
Four Iraqi soldiers were killed by a parked car bomb in Sadiyah, a city 50 miles east of Baquba around 9 a.m.
Two people were killed (a policeman and a civilian) and seven others (three policemen and four civilians) by a bomb.
Gunmen killed Sattar al Hadidi, a leader of the Sahwa council in Sadiyah while Hadid was leaving the mosque on Monday evening.
Nineveh
Four Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a suicide car bomber tried to attack a check point of the Iraqi army in Rabiaa area west of Mosul con Monday evening. The soldier opened fire and detonated the car before reaching the checkpoint.
Kirkuk
A policeman was injured by a roadside bomb that targeted his vehicle in Rashad area west of Kirkuk.
Sulaimaniyah
A source in the border police said that an Iranian force had chased liquor smugglers inside the Iraqi land in north Sulaimaniyah province and killed and Iraqi man and an Iranian Kurdish man.'
posted by Juan Cole @ 12/17/2008 12:56:00 AM
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11 Comments:
The 2 year sentence would have been for insulting a foriegn leader. But Al-Zaidi has been charged with assaulting the head of state, which carries a 7 to 15 year sentence under a Saddam era law.
Maliki has clearly been pressured to do that because it will destroy his new nationalist skin.
See the charging news (in Arabic)in
http://www.alsabaah.com/paper.php?source=akbar&mlf=interpage&sid=74552
According to Reuters, the charges against al-Zaidi for aggression against a foreign head of state involve attempted murder. It's highly unlikely that a thrown shoe could have killed Bush:
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37062720081216
The court decided to keep Zaidi in custody and, after the judge has completed his investigation, it may send him for trial under a clause in the Iraqi penal code that makes it an offence to try to murder Iraqi or foreign presidents.
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Professor Cole,
why is nobody talking about the obvious solution to the shoe-thrower situation ?
Get him sentenced by the Iraqi courts in the next couple of weeks, and then President Bush can pardon him.
Photo op in the Rose Garden.
Bush apologizes to all Muslims who mistakenly thought that we were waging war against them.
That will win Hearts and Minds.
For those who don't know any better, and who might ask what business the US President has, interfering in the internal affairs of the sovereign Iraqi government, .....
HA! Gotcha!
...
Also, Dr. Cole,
while nobody compares to you,
can you refer me to a Blog that attempts to duplicate on the subject of Somali Pirates what you do at "Informed Comment ?"
Thanks.
Your avid student.
.
When, not if, the Americans withdraw from Mosul, the Kurdish Peshmerga (disguised as the Iraqi Army and being quoted in the misleading article as such) will finally end their occupation too.
So the US withdrawl will end most of the violence which they cause by humiliating the locals and aiding the Kurdish occupation and terror.
AP is reporting Al-Zaidi DID NOT appear in court... 2 hrs 16 mins ago (about 8 am Pacific Standard Time):
"Al-Zeidi's family went to the Central Criminal Court expecting to attend a court hearing for him, said his brother, Dhargham. He added they were told the investigative judge went to see him in jail and that they should return in eight days.
"That means my brother was severely beaten and they fear that his appearance could trigger anger at the court," he added."
Source
Somali Pirate Pass-along:
Global Guerrillas
"Networked tribes, systems disruption, and the emerging bazaar of violence. Resilient Communities, decentralized platforms, and self-organizing futures. By John Robb"
Other interesting info resides on his site, for instance, did you know that after the Nigerian rebel group MEND chased Shell and it's private army out of the Niger Delta, when the company returned 2 years later they found that 435 miles of their pipeline had vanished into thin air?
Global Guerrillas was the only news-related source for that information.
Re Mosul, Anonymous states: "So the US withdrawal will end most of the violence..."
I second the impression that the Iraq Army of the N. is dominated by Pesh heavy units, such as the locally feared units that twice helped 'ob-liberate' the Turkomen of Talafar.
But how will removal of the relatively light US forces that garrison S. of the Kurdish frontier moderate ambitions for a greater Kurdistan? The demographic map tells me those ambitions envelop Kirkuk, and extend to the Tigris well S. of Mosul. Kurd leadership asserts a 'right of return', and wants to control 'their' oil export routes. Given the fragmented Arab opposition, why not?
When the US sent Strykers South to Fallujah-1, the fighting in Mosul rapidly spiraled out of control. News reports blamed 'insurgents' and 'terrorists'. But peshmerga, in whatever uniform, have shown greater mobility and cohesion than most of the IA that Baghdad controls.
If you have facts or sources to back your 'US leaves, Kurds leave' thesis, I'm interested and listening.
As an aside, I raise the issue of whether a broad US over-reliance on Kurd intel and translators played a role in the invasions unhappy aftermath. There was an intel component in the early relations between Chalabi and his private Kurdish army.
2nd IAD is about 43% Kurdish. It isn't Peshmerga. The accusation is Baa3thist propaganda.
31% of the Iraqi Army are Sunni Arabs.
With reference to Walking Wounded, the US forces in Mosul can very quicklly unleash enormous fire power from the air to back up the Pesh Merga. Take that away, and their barracks will be showered with rockets and mortar, with the risk of being overpowered by a ground attack.
Since the creation of the Iraqi Army in the 1920's and until 2003, Mosul provided more than half of all commissioned officers. The wholesale sacking, with no severance pay and with the branding of Saddam's men created immense anger which still continues. The attacks in Mosul are mostly by these people and not the "al-Qaeda". The Maliki regime had tried to ressurect some of the old army cadre who do not need any training, but the Kurds and their US allies have vetoed that.
When the Americans and the Pesh Merga are expelled, solid, well armed, Army and Police units loyal to Iraq can be created in weeks. These will have the trust of the populace, including local Kurds, and the ability to restore ordre.
Anand should tell the officers of that division that they are Iraqi Army, perhaps they would listen to you.
According to the NY Times, no other -- may be the NYT are Ba'thist too:
In the turmoil, he and another officer in the division, Brig. Gen. Nadheer Issam, say their loyalties are first and foremost to Kurdistan.
“If I were made to choose, I would not even think for a second — I would leave the army,” General Issam said.
Ref:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/world/middleeast/28mosul.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&pagewanted=all
If these are straight forward Iraqi divisions, then surely the Defence Ministry can relocate them and change their staff without any fuss from the Kudish warlords and their American friends.
PS: throwing around statistics of unknown or dubious origins works on simpletons, not the informed.
2nd IAD has 17,000 assigned. So what if 5 thousand came from a Kurdish Corps that merged with the IA in 2004.
If you want confirmation on the percentage of Kurds in 2nd IAD, please e-mail the Public Affairs Officer for MNF-I on your own and ask them.
Only one brigade 5-2, is still mostly Kurdish. The 8-2 is currently in special training. Presumably many Shia and Sunni Arabs are joining its ranks. The other two brigades are pretty diverse.
To the Baa3thi Saddamists here, when was the last time the great Baa3this fought the 2nd IAD? What happened to the Baa3this when they attacked 2nd IAD? How embarrassing for the Saddamist Baa3this. Why do they fight so poorly against 2nd IAD.
Remember what Colonel Twitty said about 2nd and 3rd IAD one and a half years ago:
"these are two of the best army divisions I have ever worked with." That is army divisions from "any" army. Why is the 2nd IAD better quality today than any regular Iraqi army division from February 2003? How embarrassing for the Saddamists.
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