The Monster of Mosul: How a Sadistic General Helped ISIS Win
ISIS’s success in Mosul could have something to do with the Iraqi government putting a general accused of carrying out systematic torture in charge of the city’s security.
The top Iraqi officer in Mosul, whose forces fled with hardly a fight as ISIS militants and their allies took over Iraq’s second-largest city, is an accused torturer who was once targeted by the U.S. military and the Iraqi criminal justice system.
That fact may help explain why the Iraqi security forces abandoned the city despite their superior arms and numbers and why large elements of Mosul’s Sunni population seemed to welcome a group as notoriously brutal as ISIS. Most importantly, it explains much of the hostility and distrust Iraq’s Sunni population feels toward the government in Baghdad, and why, at this stage, the reunification of Iraq will be so difficult to achieve.
Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minster Nuri Al Maliki fired Staff Lieutenant General Mahdi Al Gharawi, relieving him of command of Nineveh province, the area where Mosul is located that is now largely under ISIS control. The prime minister also ordered that the general and his immediate subordinates face criminal charges for abandoning their posts. It’s a strange turn, because it was Maliki who decided to appoint Al Gharawi to the position in the first place over the strenuous objections of U.S. advisers and the Iraqi justice system.
After being investigated for years, Al Gharawi was charged by an Iraqi court in 2008, accused of running secret prisons and systematically torturing detainees when he was commander of the 2nd National Police Division in Baghdad. According to testimony collected from Al Gharawi’s victims and from officers who had served under him, “he ordered savage beatings and watched as interrogators brutalized detainees.” As Time Magazine reported in 2008, “some witnesses told the task force that Al Gharawi personally took part in torture in other instances.”
The charges against Al Gharawi played out against a backdrop of increasing sectarian violence in Iraq. From 2006 to 2008 Iraq was on the brink of civil war. The violence was spurred on by vicious attacks on Shia civilians, led by ISIS’ predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, while Shia militias and sectarian death squads that often included members of the government’s security forces also tortured and killed Sunni civilians indiscriminately.
From 2006 to 2008, U.S. military lawyers and commanders pressed Maliki to support sending Al Gharawi to trial, to prove he was serious about weeding out sectarianism in the ranks of his security forces. Those efforts failed. A 2006 diplomatic cable released by wikileaks shows then-U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilizad explaining Maliki’s intransigence. “Mahdi has proven valuable enough to Maliki,” Khalilizad wrote, “that he rebuffed our request that he execute an Iraqi warrant for Mahdi’s arrest.”
A unit called the Major Crimes Task Force, consisting of both American and Iraqi lawyers and investigators, built a strong case against Mahdi. The unit compiled dozens of witness statements about his participation in the systematic torture of detainees along sectarian lines at the height of the violence between Sunni and Shia factions in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. (In 2007, as an American officer in Baghdad, I assisted the Major Crimes Task Force in their efforts to pursue General Mahdi’s arrest and trial.) This investigation augmented a previous Iraqi warrant from 2006. Twenty brave witnesses delivered statements that he ordered the systematic torture of detainees and often supervised it himself.
In an excerpt of that confidential cable dated the 7th of August 2006, Khalilizad discusses the government’s arrest of security force members being charged with violent criminal acts—war crimes, essentially:
“Mahdi is alleged to have committed gross human rights violations and extra-judicial killings during his service as the National Police’s Second Division Commander at the detention facility known as Site 4. Mahdi has proven valuable enough to Maliki, however, that he rebuffed our request that he execute an Iraqi warrant for Mahdi’s arrest. MoI Bulani has also been unhelpful on this issue. He has told us that Mahdi was absolved of allegations against him pursuant to Section 134B of the Iraqi Criminal Code that allows a Minister to block the implementation of an arrest warrant if the suspected individual is conducting the official duties of his office.”
The cable offers a firsthand insight into Maliki’s priorities at the time—concentrating authority and instilling sectarianism in the Iraqi Security Forces. In fact, the Iraqi government would drag its feet on arresting General Mahdi for another two years before finally refusing once and for all.
Ironically, it was an Iraqi legal code intended to prevent sectarian targeting that the Maliki government used to help Al Gharawi escape justice through a loophole. According to an Iraqi statute, section 134B of the Iraqi Criminal Code, a minister can dismiss criminal charges against a member of his ministry to prevent the sectarian prosecution of his ministerial employees. It was not intended to protect police generals facing trials for the mass torture and execution of civilians but, perversely, that’s how it was applied in Al Gharawi’s case.
Heated exchanges followed between U.S. and Iraqi officials when Al Gharawi’s charges were dropped. Both U.S. Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus tried to convince the Iraqi government that it had to show its skeptical Sunni citizens that a Shiite government was willing to arrest senior Shiite security officials for sectarian violence. Instead, the predominantly Shia government decided to let Al Gharawi go. Once the accused war criminal was free, the Iraqi government then put him in charge of the largest Sunni Arab majority city in the country, Mosul, where Al Qaeda was still actively resisting the government.
Even if Mahdi Al Gharawi was somehow innocent of all these charges, the message his appointment sent to the citizens of Nineveh province was unmistakable: that Maliki was not concerned about a Shiite general with this taint on his reputation being in charge of a Sunni province. And the U.S. is implicated too, as Al Gharawi assumed command in Nineveh before the U.S. withdrew from Iraq. How much the U.S. command at the time resisted this decision is unknown, but American memories in Iraq are notoriously short and it is entirely possible that many officers in 2011 were simply unaware of his unsavory reputation despite the fact that two successive American ambassadors in Iraq had campaigned for his arrest.
Even worse is that Human Rights Watch recommended his relief only a year ago for ongoing abuses committed under his command in Mosul.
The Human Rights Watch report from last year details a pattern of abuse in Al Gharawi’s 3rd Federal Police Division during 2012 and 2013. The report recounts the disappearance of a 15-year-old boy in police custody whose body was later found with large-caliber gunshot wounds, and an incident where Federal Police opened fire on peaceful protesters, killing one and injuring others.
By all indications, the general was operating exactly as he had in South Baghdad in 2005 and 2006, abusing and alienating the population.
It’s not a straight line from Al Gharawi’s release and later promotion in Nineveh to the ISIS takeover of Mosul, but the events are connected. Religious absolutists like ISIS may be beyond political persuasion but many of ISIS’ supporters are not. The non-religious fundamentalists in the Sunni coalition supporting ISIS may never have been receptive to the group if Maliki had governed inclusively and proved that he was willing to punish crimes committed by his Shia loyalists. Instead, a segment of Iraq’s Sunnis were driven into an alliance with ISIS, in no small part by the ruthless sectarian logic that the Baghdad government had embraced and the Al Gharawi exemplifies.
Now, while Iraq moves closer to the brink, we can only wonder how events in Mosul might have gone differently if Al Gharawi had been sent to the trial he was meant for years ago.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... nning.html
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ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sat Jun 21, 2014 2:30 am
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sat Jun 21, 2014 2:54 am
Islamic Army of Iraq founder: Isis and Sunni Islamists will march on Baghdad
By Ruth Sherlock, and Carol Malouf in Erbil
Exclusive: Founder of Islamic Army of Iraq who was once described by the US as a top terrorist target, explains how the fight against 'American or Iranian occupation’ has united Isis and other Sunni Islamists in the Battle for Baghdad
A top commander of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has told The Telegraph how his men are fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham to take back Baghdad, even if it means pushing the country to civil war.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Dabash, 47, a founder of the Islamic Army of Iraq, who fought the allied invasion in 2003, has told how thousands of his men are participating in the Isis-led insurgency that swept across northern Iraq, and which now threatens the gates of the capital.
The Islamic Army, however, does not share the same extremist ideology of Isis, Mr Dabash said in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, and raised the prospect of his faction one day turning its guns on their jihadist comrades.
“If Maliki [the Iraqi prime minister] does not step down, then there is no doubt that we are moving on Baghdad,” said Mr Dabash. “We will go all the way.”
For over a decade, Mr Dabash has been a mastermind of the Sunni insurgency that fought the United States led occupation of Iraq in 2003.
Then an influential imam in Baghdad and a leading figure in the Batawi family, one of the country’s largest Sunni tribes, Mr Dabash mobilised tens of thousands of men, forming the Islamic Army of Iraq.
Initially in tandem with al-Qaeda, the Islamic Army battled allied troops across Iraq, making Mr Dabash one of America’s most wanted, with the US government describing him a key terrorist target in 2006.
Today, his men have regrouped to fight Iraq’s prime minister and his Shia-led, Iranian-backed, government.
“We are here to fight any occupation, whether American or Iranian. We have a common enemy with Isis now, and for this we are fighting together,” said Mr Dabash.
For the past six months Sunni insurgents have advanced, seizing territory in Anbar province and then, in the last two weeks, occupying Iraq’s second city of Mosul, and sweeping south, toppling towns and villages as the approach Baghdad.
Isis’ propaganda, promoted through Twitter, jihadist forums and even the groups’ own television station, announced its motivation for the onslaught as the desire to build an “Islamic State” comprising swathes of Iraq and northern Syria.
Little however has been known about the incentives of the factions who have joined the insurgency, providing the numbers and support that have made the group’s dramatic takeover possible.
In his first ever sit down interview, Mr Dabash, revealed the demands being made by fighters in the domestic insurgency.
“Maliki must first be deposed,” said Mr Dabash. “Then we demand the fragmentation of Iraq into three autonomous regions, with Sunnis, Shia and Kurds sharing resources equally.”
“And finally we need compensation for the one and half million Iraqis, most of them Sunnis, who have been killed at the hands of the Americans and the Maliki regime.”
Mr Maliki denied that Isis were the drivers of the attacks, instead describing the recent attacks as a sectarian “awakening” of Sunni Iraqis, who he said have suffered a decade of oppression.
“Is it possible that a few hundred Isis jihadists can take the whole of Mosul?,” said Mr Dabash. “No. All the Sunni tribes have come out against Maliki. And there are parts of the military, Baathists from the time of Saddam Hussein, clerics, everyone came out for the oppression that we have been suffering.”
“Those who are 18 today were children ten years ago. They grew up in a hateful environment,” said Mr Dabash. “They have seen too much oppression and violence; first by the Americans, and then by the Iraqi government who came to power on an American tank. Now, they are eager to bite off the head of the snake.”
Mr Dabash said he preferred a “political solution”, whereby the Iraqi government meets the Islamic Army’s demands.
But he accepted that this was unlikely, and that his men were ready to fight in a bloody sectarian civil war.
In the past week the Iraqi government and Shia spiritual leaders have called Shia men to arms to fight the Sunni advance.
With the national army weakened, and having entirely fled the north of the country, the fighting in Iraq is increasingly delineated along sectarian fault lines.
“The call by the Shia sheikhs to their people to fight is going to lead to a civil war,” said Mr Dabash. “We hope they will retreat from this but if they do not then we are ready. All the Sunnis now are in one direction.”
As jihadists used Iraq as a rear base for their insurgency in neighbouring Syria in the past two years, the fragile country was once again acquiring the trappings of a civil war.
The senseless killings, so common during the country’s civil war in the early 2000s, once again returned, with suicide bombings in markets, on roads and in schools in both Shia and Sunni neighbourhoods across the country.
Some 2,764 civilians have died from violence in Iraq so far in June, according to Iraq Body Count, the highest count since the 2007 civil war.
The decision by the Islamic Army to take up arms again came in December of last year in Anbar province, said Mr Dabash.
“Before that we had been demonstrating peacefully for one year. But in spite of this, the Shia factions attacked us. They called the demonstrators terrorists and assassinated the peaceful movement.”
For several months after, Sunni factions held control of Anbar province, only moving on Mosul two weeks ago.
“We decided to attack Mosul to distract the army from their siege of Anbar,” said Mr Dabash.
The plan worked. Partly terrified of the threat of torture, and summary executions, including beheadings, bandied by Isis propaganda, and realising that Isis had the support of local Sunni militants, the Iraqi army capitulated.
The, mostly Shia, commanders fled back to Baghdad, leaving their troops to shed their uniforms and return to civilian life, or to join the insurgents.
Despite their current alliance, Mr Dabash said his group and Isis fundamentally differed in their goals.
While Isis foresees the creation of a hardline Islamic State ruled by Sharia, Mr Dabash’s men are more nationalistic, pushing for Iraq to become a confederation.
“We are not extreme like Isis, and we disagree with their policies. We reject using Sharia. We want a constitution under civil law.”
Mr Dabash was circumspect on whether he would turn against Isis, not wanting to cause rifts in their current alliance.
But, should the extremist group not bow to his group’s laws, he implied to The Telegraph that there would be little choice but to fight them.
Mr Dabash is a master at changing alliances. In 2003 he said he was a “brother to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” al-Qaeda’s leader.
In the next three years, his name was associated with some of the most brutal sectarian attacks. The US accused him of financing the bomb attacks in the Shia holy city of Karbala on March 2, 2004 that killed 140 worshippers.
Mr Dabash denied to The Telegraph having any involvement in the Karbala attack.
In 2006 the Islamic Army broke away from al-Qaeda, denouncing them as “too extreme”.
However, they continued to fight the Americans in a bitter war that saw 293 members of Mr Dabash’s tribe killed, including four women.
“I was wanted, and so many of my relatives died in US targeted air strikes. They were trying to kill me,” he said. “Many were also killed by Shia forces trained by the US.”
Eventually Mr Dabash was captured and spent two years under interrogation in an American jail in Iraq.
Now, however, Mr Dabash is willing to make peace with the West if it means ousting Mr Maliki. He said he would welcome limited American support against the Maliki government, but not a full reoccupation of Iraq.
“We used to fight the Americans, but now, if they want to come they will be our guests, they will be our friends. We have no problem to meet with the secretary of state,” he said.
“We are one of the biggest factions fighting, and we will accept western military support to stop Maliki.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ghdad.html
By Ruth Sherlock, and Carol Malouf in Erbil
Exclusive: Founder of Islamic Army of Iraq who was once described by the US as a top terrorist target, explains how the fight against 'American or Iranian occupation’ has united Isis and other Sunni Islamists in the Battle for Baghdad
A top commander of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has told The Telegraph how his men are fighting alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham to take back Baghdad, even if it means pushing the country to civil war.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Dabash, 47, a founder of the Islamic Army of Iraq, who fought the allied invasion in 2003, has told how thousands of his men are participating in the Isis-led insurgency that swept across northern Iraq, and which now threatens the gates of the capital.
The Islamic Army, however, does not share the same extremist ideology of Isis, Mr Dabash said in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, and raised the prospect of his faction one day turning its guns on their jihadist comrades.
“If Maliki [the Iraqi prime minister] does not step down, then there is no doubt that we are moving on Baghdad,” said Mr Dabash. “We will go all the way.”
For over a decade, Mr Dabash has been a mastermind of the Sunni insurgency that fought the United States led occupation of Iraq in 2003.
Then an influential imam in Baghdad and a leading figure in the Batawi family, one of the country’s largest Sunni tribes, Mr Dabash mobilised tens of thousands of men, forming the Islamic Army of Iraq.
Initially in tandem with al-Qaeda, the Islamic Army battled allied troops across Iraq, making Mr Dabash one of America’s most wanted, with the US government describing him a key terrorist target in 2006.
Today, his men have regrouped to fight Iraq’s prime minister and his Shia-led, Iranian-backed, government.
“We are here to fight any occupation, whether American or Iranian. We have a common enemy with Isis now, and for this we are fighting together,” said Mr Dabash.
For the past six months Sunni insurgents have advanced, seizing territory in Anbar province and then, in the last two weeks, occupying Iraq’s second city of Mosul, and sweeping south, toppling towns and villages as the approach Baghdad.
Isis’ propaganda, promoted through Twitter, jihadist forums and even the groups’ own television station, announced its motivation for the onslaught as the desire to build an “Islamic State” comprising swathes of Iraq and northern Syria.
Little however has been known about the incentives of the factions who have joined the insurgency, providing the numbers and support that have made the group’s dramatic takeover possible.
In his first ever sit down interview, Mr Dabash, revealed the demands being made by fighters in the domestic insurgency.
“Maliki must first be deposed,” said Mr Dabash. “Then we demand the fragmentation of Iraq into three autonomous regions, with Sunnis, Shia and Kurds sharing resources equally.”
“And finally we need compensation for the one and half million Iraqis, most of them Sunnis, who have been killed at the hands of the Americans and the Maliki regime.”
Mr Maliki denied that Isis were the drivers of the attacks, instead describing the recent attacks as a sectarian “awakening” of Sunni Iraqis, who he said have suffered a decade of oppression.
“Is it possible that a few hundred Isis jihadists can take the whole of Mosul?,” said Mr Dabash. “No. All the Sunni tribes have come out against Maliki. And there are parts of the military, Baathists from the time of Saddam Hussein, clerics, everyone came out for the oppression that we have been suffering.”
“Those who are 18 today were children ten years ago. They grew up in a hateful environment,” said Mr Dabash. “They have seen too much oppression and violence; first by the Americans, and then by the Iraqi government who came to power on an American tank. Now, they are eager to bite off the head of the snake.”
Mr Dabash said he preferred a “political solution”, whereby the Iraqi government meets the Islamic Army’s demands.
But he accepted that this was unlikely, and that his men were ready to fight in a bloody sectarian civil war.
In the past week the Iraqi government and Shia spiritual leaders have called Shia men to arms to fight the Sunni advance.
With the national army weakened, and having entirely fled the north of the country, the fighting in Iraq is increasingly delineated along sectarian fault lines.
“The call by the Shia sheikhs to their people to fight is going to lead to a civil war,” said Mr Dabash. “We hope they will retreat from this but if they do not then we are ready. All the Sunnis now are in one direction.”
As jihadists used Iraq as a rear base for their insurgency in neighbouring Syria in the past two years, the fragile country was once again acquiring the trappings of a civil war.
The senseless killings, so common during the country’s civil war in the early 2000s, once again returned, with suicide bombings in markets, on roads and in schools in both Shia and Sunni neighbourhoods across the country.
Some 2,764 civilians have died from violence in Iraq so far in June, according to Iraq Body Count, the highest count since the 2007 civil war.
The decision by the Islamic Army to take up arms again came in December of last year in Anbar province, said Mr Dabash.
“Before that we had been demonstrating peacefully for one year. But in spite of this, the Shia factions attacked us. They called the demonstrators terrorists and assassinated the peaceful movement.”
For several months after, Sunni factions held control of Anbar province, only moving on Mosul two weeks ago.
“We decided to attack Mosul to distract the army from their siege of Anbar,” said Mr Dabash.
The plan worked. Partly terrified of the threat of torture, and summary executions, including beheadings, bandied by Isis propaganda, and realising that Isis had the support of local Sunni militants, the Iraqi army capitulated.
The, mostly Shia, commanders fled back to Baghdad, leaving their troops to shed their uniforms and return to civilian life, or to join the insurgents.
Despite their current alliance, Mr Dabash said his group and Isis fundamentally differed in their goals.
While Isis foresees the creation of a hardline Islamic State ruled by Sharia, Mr Dabash’s men are more nationalistic, pushing for Iraq to become a confederation.
“We are not extreme like Isis, and we disagree with their policies. We reject using Sharia. We want a constitution under civil law.”
Mr Dabash was circumspect on whether he would turn against Isis, not wanting to cause rifts in their current alliance.
But, should the extremist group not bow to his group’s laws, he implied to The Telegraph that there would be little choice but to fight them.
Mr Dabash is a master at changing alliances. In 2003 he said he was a “brother to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” al-Qaeda’s leader.
In the next three years, his name was associated with some of the most brutal sectarian attacks. The US accused him of financing the bomb attacks in the Shia holy city of Karbala on March 2, 2004 that killed 140 worshippers.
Mr Dabash denied to The Telegraph having any involvement in the Karbala attack.
In 2006 the Islamic Army broke away from al-Qaeda, denouncing them as “too extreme”.
However, they continued to fight the Americans in a bitter war that saw 293 members of Mr Dabash’s tribe killed, including four women.
“I was wanted, and so many of my relatives died in US targeted air strikes. They were trying to kill me,” he said. “Many were also killed by Shia forces trained by the US.”
Eventually Mr Dabash was captured and spent two years under interrogation in an American jail in Iraq.
Now, however, Mr Dabash is willing to make peace with the West if it means ousting Mr Maliki. He said he would welcome limited American support against the Maliki government, but not a full reoccupation of Iraq.
“We used to fight the Americans, but now, if they want to come they will be our guests, they will be our friends. We have no problem to meet with the secretary of state,” he said.
“We are one of the biggest factions fighting, and we will accept western military support to stop Maliki.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ghdad.html
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:30 am
Militants Take Iraqi Town on Syrian Border
Sunni fighters have seized an Iraqi town that borders Syria, allowing the militants to pass freely along with their weapons between the two countries.
Security officials say fighters with the al-Qaida breakaway group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, took the border town of Qaim overnight after a day of heavy fighting on Friday. The Associated Press quotes officials speaking on the condition of anonymity saying people are now crossing back and forth freely.
In another development Saturday, fighters loyal to powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr paraded with weapons through the streets of the Sadr City section of Baghdad. They vowed to fight ISIL, which now controls a large portion of northern Iraq and has been moving closer to the capital.
On Friday, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric called for a new, "effective" government that avoids "past mistakes," adding to the pressure on the country's Shi'ite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
The remarks by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani come after U.S. President Barack Obama called on Mr. Maliki to create an agenda "inclusive" of Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish minorities or risk civil war.
U.S. officials would not comment directly Friday on Sistani's statement. But White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said a successful Iraqi government would be one that governs in an "inclusive fashion." State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said one of the administration's primary messages to Iraqi leaders is that "now is a time to be unified" against the shared threat they face.
The advance by ISIL began early last week with the militants' takeover of the city of Mosul. Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes to counter the militants.
President Obama said Thursday he is ready to take what he called "targeted" military action as necessary. He said he is prepared to send more equipment and up to 300 military advisers to help train, advise and support Iraqi forces in the fight. But he ruled out sending U.S. ground forces back into Iraq. And he said ultimately, the crisis is going to have to be solved by the Iraqis.
President Obama is sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East and Europe next week to consult with partner countries on Iraq. Kerry will travel to Jordan before heading to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and then to Paris for meetings with regional partners and Gulf allies.
U.S. Defense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters Friday the first teams of advisers being sent to Iraq comprise personnel who are already in Baghdad. He said the U.S. is pursuing a statement in writing from the Iraqi government on legal protections for the military advisory teams.
The U.N. Refugee Agency announced Friday that conflict in Iraq has displaced one million people since the beginning of the year.
Iraqi troops and Sunni militants have been locked in fighting since Tuesday for control of the country's biggest oil refinery. Reports had said each side held a portion of the Beiji refinery, about 250 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The U.S. State Department says the ISIL fighters also have control of what used to be a chemical weapons production facility under the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Mr. Maliki is facing fierce opposition from his rivals as he tries to retain the prime minister post after his State of Law bloc won the most seats in parliament in Iraq's April 30 elections.
The newly-elected parliament must meet by June 30 to elect a speaker and a new president, who will then ask the leader of the largest bloc to form a new government.
http://www.voanews.com/content/militant ... 42031.html
Sunni fighters have seized an Iraqi town that borders Syria, allowing the militants to pass freely along with their weapons between the two countries.
Security officials say fighters with the al-Qaida breakaway group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, took the border town of Qaim overnight after a day of heavy fighting on Friday. The Associated Press quotes officials speaking on the condition of anonymity saying people are now crossing back and forth freely.
In another development Saturday, fighters loyal to powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr paraded with weapons through the streets of the Sadr City section of Baghdad. They vowed to fight ISIL, which now controls a large portion of northern Iraq and has been moving closer to the capital.
On Friday, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric called for a new, "effective" government that avoids "past mistakes," adding to the pressure on the country's Shi'ite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
The remarks by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani come after U.S. President Barack Obama called on Mr. Maliki to create an agenda "inclusive" of Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish minorities or risk civil war.
U.S. officials would not comment directly Friday on Sistani's statement. But White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said a successful Iraqi government would be one that governs in an "inclusive fashion." State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said one of the administration's primary messages to Iraqi leaders is that "now is a time to be unified" against the shared threat they face.
The advance by ISIL began early last week with the militants' takeover of the city of Mosul. Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes to counter the militants.
President Obama said Thursday he is ready to take what he called "targeted" military action as necessary. He said he is prepared to send more equipment and up to 300 military advisers to help train, advise and support Iraqi forces in the fight. But he ruled out sending U.S. ground forces back into Iraq. And he said ultimately, the crisis is going to have to be solved by the Iraqis.
President Obama is sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East and Europe next week to consult with partner countries on Iraq. Kerry will travel to Jordan before heading to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and then to Paris for meetings with regional partners and Gulf allies.
U.S. Defense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters Friday the first teams of advisers being sent to Iraq comprise personnel who are already in Baghdad. He said the U.S. is pursuing a statement in writing from the Iraqi government on legal protections for the military advisory teams.
The U.N. Refugee Agency announced Friday that conflict in Iraq has displaced one million people since the beginning of the year.
Iraqi troops and Sunni militants have been locked in fighting since Tuesday for control of the country's biggest oil refinery. Reports had said each side held a portion of the Beiji refinery, about 250 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The U.S. State Department says the ISIL fighters also have control of what used to be a chemical weapons production facility under the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Mr. Maliki is facing fierce opposition from his rivals as he tries to retain the prime minister post after his State of Law bloc won the most seats in parliament in Iraq's April 30 elections.
The newly-elected parliament must meet by June 30 to elect a speaker and a new president, who will then ask the leader of the largest bloc to form a new government.
http://www.voanews.com/content/militant ... 42031.html
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:30 am
Sunni insurgents capture three towns in Iraq's Anbar - sources
(Reuters) - An al Qaeda splinter group thrust east from a newly-captured Iraqi-Syrian border post on Sunday, taking three towns in the western Anbar province in a push to evict Iraqi security forces from Sunni Muslim areas, witnesses and security sources said.
Sunni militants spearheaded by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a hardline al Qaeda offshoot, have pushed the army from cities and towns across Iraq's north and west over the past two weeks, shocking the Shi'ite-led government.
On Saturday, fighters seized the border post near the town of al-Qaim, helping ISIL secure supply lines to Syria, where it has exploited the chaos of the three-year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad to establish a major presence.
ISIL's stated aim is to create an Islamic Caliphate which ignores boundaries set by colonial powers a century ago. Sunni tribes in the mostly desert border regions span both sides of the frontier.
The fall of Qaim represented another step towards the realization of ISIL's military goals, as a twentieth centry border appeared to crumble in a day.
On Sunday, Sunni militants led by ISIL expanded their grip to the towns of Rawa and Ana along the Euphrates River east of al-Qaim, as well as the town of Rutba further to the south on a road leading from Jordan to Baghdad.
A military intelligence official said troops had withdrawn from Rawa and Ana after ISIL militants attacked the settlements late on Saturday night.
"Army troops withdrew from Rawa, Ana and Rutba this morning and ISIL moved quickly to completely control these towns," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They took Ana and Rawa this morning without fighting."
The office for the prime minister's military command said it had no immediate comment and would be giving an update on events in a press conference later on Sunday.
The Euphrates towns are on a strategic supply route between ISIL's positions in Iraq and in eastern Syria, where the al Qaeda spinoff has taken a string of towns and strategic positions from rival Sunni rebels over the past few days.
The last major Syrian town not in ISIL's hands in the region, the border town of Albukamal, is controlled by the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's branch in Syria which has clashed with ISIL but also agreed to local truces at times.
STRATEGIC GAINS
ISIL, which began as al Qaeda in Iraq but was disowned by the central organisation in February, has captured the north's biggest city, Mosul, and pushed down the Tigris River valley, seizing towns and taking large amounts of weaponry from the fleeing Iraqi army.
Overnight, ISIL fighters attacked the town of al-Alam, north of Tikrit, according to witnesses and police in the town. The attackers were repelled by security forces and tribal fighters, they said, adding that two ISIL fighters had been killed and two others arrested.
State television reported that "anti-terrorism forces" in coordination with the air force had killed 40 ISIL members and destroyed five vehicles in fighting in Tikrit.
There was a lull in fighting at Iraq's largest refinery, Baiji, 200 km (130 miles) north of the capital near Tikrit, Sunday morning. The site had been transformed into a battlefield since Wednesday as Sunni fighters launched an assault on the plant. Militants entered the large compound, but were fended off by Iraqi military units and currently surround the refinery's main gates.
A black column of smoke rose from the site, but refinery officials said it was the result of a controlled burn to deal with waste from the site.
The advance has been driven by an amalgam of Sunni tribal and Islamist militias, and former officers of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, united in their hatred of Maliki's Shi'ite-led government, which they accuse of marginalising their sect. But ISIL has spearheaded the revolt and assaults on cities and towns.
IRAQ SPLINTERS
Relations between the diverse Sunni groups have not been entirely smooth. On Sunday morning, clashes raged for a third day between ISIL and Sunni tribes backed by the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by former army officers and Baath party loyalists, around Hawija, a Sunni bastion southwest of Kirkuk, local security sources and tribal leaders said.
More than 10 people were killed in the clashes in the towns, which lie southwest of Kirkuk, the sources said.
On Friday evening, ISIL and Naqshbani fighters began fighting each other in Hawija, where a crackdown on a Sunni protest over a year ago triggered unrest leading to the current insurgency. Iraqi and Western officials believe that as ISIL and other Sunni factions start to consolidate their control of newly-won territories, they will start turning on each other.
U.S. President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 U.S. special forces advisers to help the Iraqi government recapture territory seized by Sunni armed groups including ISIL but has held off on granting a request for air strikes.
The fighting has further splintered Iraq along sectarian lines and highlighted divisions among regional powers, especially Iran, which has said it would not hesitate to protect Shi'ite shrines in Iraq if asked, and Saudi Arabia, which has warned Iran to stay out of Iraq.
Iraq's Kurds have meanwhile expanded their territory in the northeast to include the oil city of Kirkuk, which they regard as part of Kurdistan.
The government has mobilised Shi'ite militia to send volunteers to the front lines - thousands of fighters in military fatigues marched in a Shi'ite slum of the capital Baghdad on Saturday.
(Reporting by correspondent in Anbar, a correspondent in Tikrit, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/2 ... BN20140622
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:46 am
I see that there is a real danger of the jihadists splitting into hundreds of smaller groups as they have in Syria - only if this happens in Iraq the groups will become even more entrenched in the local Sunni community
Another problem I foresee - and one being for the most part ignored - the Sunni Muslims living in fear of retribution within Baghdad - they are far from happy with the increase of untrained uncontrolled Shites converging on Baghdad with a blood-lust to kill all Sunnis
If the Sunnis within Baghdad are pushed hard enough they may well become actively supportive of ISIS - this scenario does not bode well for the Sunnis themselves nor for the Baghdad as a whole
What if:
What if the very reason ISIS has not as yet launched an all out attack on Baghdad - is that they are waiting for that very thing?
WE know that ISIS are not stupid - they could be waiting for the Sunnis within Baghdad to join them - Baghdad could never hold out against an all out frontal attack if it was supported by an internal attack at the same time
Another problem I foresee - and one being for the most part ignored - the Sunni Muslims living in fear of retribution within Baghdad - they are far from happy with the increase of untrained uncontrolled Shites converging on Baghdad with a blood-lust to kill all Sunnis
If the Sunnis within Baghdad are pushed hard enough they may well become actively supportive of ISIS - this scenario does not bode well for the Sunnis themselves nor for the Baghdad as a whole
What if:
What if the very reason ISIS has not as yet launched an all out attack on Baghdad - is that they are waiting for that very thing?
WE know that ISIS are not stupid - they could be waiting for the Sunnis within Baghdad to join them - Baghdad could never hold out against an all out frontal attack if it was supported by an internal attack at the same time
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sun Jun 22, 2014 2:12 pm
Kurdish Fighters Mull Whether to Defend Iraq
Jabar Yawar runs his pointer along a map of Iraq, indicating the territory now controlled by the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“We are sharing a thousand-kilometer border with the terrorists,” said Yawar, General Secretary of the Ministry of Peshmerga, the Kurdish armed forces alarmed by the ISIS gains. “Right now the Peshmerga just want to defend and strengthen this line and stop the terrorists from entering Kurdistan.”
As ISIS militants advanced, Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts, and the Peshmerga quickly moved in, filling the security vacuum and laying easy claim to contested lands. So far ISIS has made no threats on the Kurdish territory, but it’s not clear if that’s a recognition of the Kurdish claim, or an unwillingness to open new front in their offensive, particularly against the capable Peshmerga fighters. The Peshmerga battled Baghdad and Ankara for national recognition and territory for decades. Many in the West recognize the Peshmerga from images of their female recruits with military fatigues, long braids and Kalashnikovs training in the mountainous region between Iraq and Turkey.
Years of combat against large, if not well-trained armies, and ingrained nationalism fueled by decades of oppression, left the Kurds with a strong fighting force.
“There is great national soul inside our fighters,” Yawar said, adding that retired soldiers have been asking to reenlist to fight against ISIS.
Today, there are many young recruits lingering outside Yawar’s office at the Peshmerga ministry building. Most have never seen combat, as the Kurdish fighters haven’t been in a proper war since they fought the Iraqi army more than a decade ago.
Still the 200,000-strong force might be the best chance to fight ISIS, as the U.S.-built Iraqi army remains ineffective.
Even with internal political dissent, the Peshmerga are a source of national pride among the Kurdish population. In a shop in Erbil, a group of men watch their forces maneuver in the desert against ISIS on a Kurdish TV channel. The soldiers in camouflage fly their sun-crested Kurdish flag against a patriotic soundtrack.
“I’m Peshmerga,” said Wali Mustafa, smiling. Like many here, he fought with the Peshmerga when they were a less formal force. “The Iraqi government needs the Kurds now,” he said. “We don’t have to prove anything, but this is definitely an opportunity.”
But officials in the Kurdish administrative center of Erbil say they won’t be quick to join Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s fight. Erbil warned Baghdad about the impending assault on Mosul and the northern province, according to sources in the Kurdish government, but there was no action from the capital. Once ISIS entered the city, there was a call from Baghdad requesting Peshmerga assistance, but at that point it was declined. So far, there has been no official request for Kurdish forces to cross their newly-held border.
“We are not a force that takes requests,” said Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir. He is the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)—essentially a complicated title for a man who heads-up foreign affairs for an entity which is not a formal state, but looks and acts like one. “How could al-Maliki ask for this when he has not respected the Peshmerga forces. … They were supposed to be paid, trained and equipped by the federal [Iraqi] government as part of the national defense system, but they have been ignored.”
For the last six months, Baghdad held the purse strings of the KRG, failing to transfer the 17 percent of the Iraqi budget Erbil is mandated under the constitution. Further, Baghdad objected to independent Kurdish oil sales.
“Before June 10 there was already an atmosphere of mistrust between Erbil and Baghdad,” said Hoshang Waziri, an Iraqi political analyst. “You can’t reduce it to one issue, but a big part was the Kurdish acting like there was no central Iraqi government, but still saying ‘give us our 17 percent’.”
Wazir said both sides have resorted to finger pointing in the current crisis, with the Kurds blaming Baghdad and Baghdad claiming the Kurds are using the instability to their advantage.
But Kurdish affection for Washington is strong—even on Kurdish military compounds, young fighters wear “US Army” shirts bought in a local market. Still, while the U.S. has been a longtime ally, Kurdish leadership has been burned before, supporting American objectives and getting little in return. In 2003, the Peshmerga fought alongside American forces, running Saddam Hussein’s army out of the north and taking important cities including their aspirational capital, Kirkuk. But the Kurds left Kirkuk shortly after, at the Americans’ request.
Bakir says he feels Washington sides with Baghdad over Erbil.
“We did everything to support the political process in Iraq that was initiated by the Americans, but unfortunately in return we were not rewarded,” Bakir said.
Beyond security and American let-downs, Bakir said his people are not willing to support tyrannical rule from Baghdad. He said American airstrikes alone will not solve Iraq’s crisis. “The point is we don’t have democrats in the country,” he said, “we don’t have democracy yet in Baghdad.”
http://time.com/2905812/iraq-kurds-isis/
Jabar Yawar runs his pointer along a map of Iraq, indicating the territory now controlled by the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“We are sharing a thousand-kilometer border with the terrorists,” said Yawar, General Secretary of the Ministry of Peshmerga, the Kurdish armed forces alarmed by the ISIS gains. “Right now the Peshmerga just want to defend and strengthen this line and stop the terrorists from entering Kurdistan.”
As ISIS militants advanced, Iraqi soldiers abandoned their posts, and the Peshmerga quickly moved in, filling the security vacuum and laying easy claim to contested lands. So far ISIS has made no threats on the Kurdish territory, but it’s not clear if that’s a recognition of the Kurdish claim, or an unwillingness to open new front in their offensive, particularly against the capable Peshmerga fighters. The Peshmerga battled Baghdad and Ankara for national recognition and territory for decades. Many in the West recognize the Peshmerga from images of their female recruits with military fatigues, long braids and Kalashnikovs training in the mountainous region between Iraq and Turkey.
Years of combat against large, if not well-trained armies, and ingrained nationalism fueled by decades of oppression, left the Kurds with a strong fighting force.
“There is great national soul inside our fighters,” Yawar said, adding that retired soldiers have been asking to reenlist to fight against ISIS.
Today, there are many young recruits lingering outside Yawar’s office at the Peshmerga ministry building. Most have never seen combat, as the Kurdish fighters haven’t been in a proper war since they fought the Iraqi army more than a decade ago.
Still the 200,000-strong force might be the best chance to fight ISIS, as the U.S.-built Iraqi army remains ineffective.
Even with internal political dissent, the Peshmerga are a source of national pride among the Kurdish population. In a shop in Erbil, a group of men watch their forces maneuver in the desert against ISIS on a Kurdish TV channel. The soldiers in camouflage fly their sun-crested Kurdish flag against a patriotic soundtrack.
“I’m Peshmerga,” said Wali Mustafa, smiling. Like many here, he fought with the Peshmerga when they were a less formal force. “The Iraqi government needs the Kurds now,” he said. “We don’t have to prove anything, but this is definitely an opportunity.”
But officials in the Kurdish administrative center of Erbil say they won’t be quick to join Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s fight. Erbil warned Baghdad about the impending assault on Mosul and the northern province, according to sources in the Kurdish government, but there was no action from the capital. Once ISIS entered the city, there was a call from Baghdad requesting Peshmerga assistance, but at that point it was declined. So far, there has been no official request for Kurdish forces to cross their newly-held border.
“We are not a force that takes requests,” said Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir. He is the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)—essentially a complicated title for a man who heads-up foreign affairs for an entity which is not a formal state, but looks and acts like one. “How could al-Maliki ask for this when he has not respected the Peshmerga forces. … They were supposed to be paid, trained and equipped by the federal [Iraqi] government as part of the national defense system, but they have been ignored.”
For the last six months, Baghdad held the purse strings of the KRG, failing to transfer the 17 percent of the Iraqi budget Erbil is mandated under the constitution. Further, Baghdad objected to independent Kurdish oil sales.
“Before June 10 there was already an atmosphere of mistrust between Erbil and Baghdad,” said Hoshang Waziri, an Iraqi political analyst. “You can’t reduce it to one issue, but a big part was the Kurdish acting like there was no central Iraqi government, but still saying ‘give us our 17 percent’.”
Wazir said both sides have resorted to finger pointing in the current crisis, with the Kurds blaming Baghdad and Baghdad claiming the Kurds are using the instability to their advantage.
But Kurdish affection for Washington is strong—even on Kurdish military compounds, young fighters wear “US Army” shirts bought in a local market. Still, while the U.S. has been a longtime ally, Kurdish leadership has been burned before, supporting American objectives and getting little in return. In 2003, the Peshmerga fought alongside American forces, running Saddam Hussein’s army out of the north and taking important cities including their aspirational capital, Kirkuk. But the Kurds left Kirkuk shortly after, at the Americans’ request.
Bakir says he feels Washington sides with Baghdad over Erbil.
“We did everything to support the political process in Iraq that was initiated by the Americans, but unfortunately in return we were not rewarded,” Bakir said.
Beyond security and American let-downs, Bakir said his people are not willing to support tyrannical rule from Baghdad. He said American airstrikes alone will not solve Iraq’s crisis. “The point is we don’t have democrats in the country,” he said, “we don’t have democracy yet in Baghdad.”
http://time.com/2905812/iraq-kurds-isis/
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Sun Jun 22, 2014 2:24 pm
This from a friend in the oil business:
This video taken two days ago inside Mosul shows a fairly normal life - we cannot guarantee it's authenticity
This video taken two days ago inside Mosul shows a fairly normal life - we cannot guarantee it's authenticity
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:11 am
Telegraph
Iraq crisis: US will not play 'whack-a-mole' against al-Qaeda groups, says Barack Obama
US president warns Middle Eastern leaders that it is their own job to halt the region’s security slide as Isis seize key Syria and Jordan border crossings in western Iraq
Barack Obama said on Sunday that he would not play a global game of “whack-a-mole” against al-Qaeda groups, warning Middle Eastern leaders that it was their own job to halt the region’s security slide.
In comments showing his frustration at the ease with which jihadists have swept through northern Iraq, Mr Obama said it was up to local security forces to prevent them destabilising the entire region.
“What we can’t do is think that we’re just going to play whack-a-mole and send US troops occupying various countries wherever these organisations pop up,” he said.
“We’re going to have to have a more focused, more targeted strategy and we’re going to have to train local law enforcement and military to do their jobs.”
As Mr Obama spoke, fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) tightened their grip on western Iraq. While the exact picture was unclear, they appeared to have seized the border crossing of al-Walid with Syria and Turaibil with Jordan, as well as the town of Rutba on the Iraq-Jordan motorway.
Coming on top of the capture of the major Syrian border crossing at Qaim on Friday night, it means Baghdad is effectively cut off from the north and west.
There were fears on Sunday night that the militants, who have already blown up key bridges in the area, now had in their sights on the major dam at nearby Haditha. Destroying it would cause major flooding and wreak havoc to Iraq’s already patchy national grid.
Iraqi officials said they had despatched more than 2,000 troops to protect the dam, but acknowledged the fall of the other towns. They claimed they had retreated to protect other areas and would soon return.
In Qaim, meanwhile, claims emerged that 70 volunteers who had come to assist the Iraqi army from Baghdad had been killed. The men had apparently travelled towards Qaim hidden in frozen food trucks, only to be rumbled by Isis gunmen.
Separate reports said that a total of 21 local leaders had been killed by Isis in the newly-captured towns over the weekend. Isis militants were also said to have taken US Humvees captured in Iraq into Syria, using them in fighting in Aleppo province.
The prospect of Isis’s black flag now fluttering on the border of Jordan, a key US ally, shows the potential for the violence to spread right through the Middle East. In his remarks on Sunday, Mr Obama noted that similar threats were now also dragging the US into Africa, where last month Nigeria sought American help to rescue 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.
During a visit to Egypt, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, distanced America from the region’s problems, saying it was “not responsible” for terrorism problems in Libya and Iraq.
He also discouraged Arab nations from sending financial support to even moderate opposition Sunni groups in Syria, saying that “sectarianism”, not Washington’s interference, was the root cause of the problems.
However, while Washington sought to downplay America’s role as a world policeman, Mr Obama was criticised by Dick Cheney, the former Vice-President to George W Bush. Mr Cheney blamed the problems in Iraq on Mr Obama’s attempts since taking office to reduce Washington’s focus on the Middle East.
Mr Cheney, one of the most hawkish advocates of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said: “One of the things I worried about 12 years ago – and that I worry about today – is that there will be another 9/11 attack and that the next time it’ll be with weapons far deadlier than airline tickets and box cutters.”
Meanwhile, in a sign that talk of US and Iranian cooperation in Iraq may be premature, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he was opposed to any US air strikes on Isis militants in Iraq, even though the government in Baghdad has requested them.
“We strongly oppose the intervention of the US and others in the domestic affairs of Iraq,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He described the ongoing strife as part of a plot to bring Iraq back into the US fold.
The prospect of American and Shia-ruled Iran cooperating in Iraq has emerged because the two share an interest in countering Isis, which is anti-Shia as well as anti-Western.
But while Washington and Tehran’s goals are shared to an extent, on Sunday night Iran’s arch-enemy, Israel, warned America that any kind of cooperation would be a mistake.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said: “What you’re seeing in the Middle East today in Iraq and in Syria is the stark hatred between radical Shiites – in this case led by Iran – and radical Sunnis led by al-Qaeda and Isis.
“Now both of these camps are enemies of the United States, and when your enemies are fighting each other, don’t strengthen either one – weaken both.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Obama.html
Iraq crisis: US will not play 'whack-a-mole' against al-Qaeda groups, says Barack Obama
US president warns Middle Eastern leaders that it is their own job to halt the region’s security slide as Isis seize key Syria and Jordan border crossings in western Iraq
Barack Obama said on Sunday that he would not play a global game of “whack-a-mole” against al-Qaeda groups, warning Middle Eastern leaders that it was their own job to halt the region’s security slide.
In comments showing his frustration at the ease with which jihadists have swept through northern Iraq, Mr Obama said it was up to local security forces to prevent them destabilising the entire region.
“What we can’t do is think that we’re just going to play whack-a-mole and send US troops occupying various countries wherever these organisations pop up,” he said.
“We’re going to have to have a more focused, more targeted strategy and we’re going to have to train local law enforcement and military to do their jobs.”
As Mr Obama spoke, fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) tightened their grip on western Iraq. While the exact picture was unclear, they appeared to have seized the border crossing of al-Walid with Syria and Turaibil with Jordan, as well as the town of Rutba on the Iraq-Jordan motorway.
Coming on top of the capture of the major Syrian border crossing at Qaim on Friday night, it means Baghdad is effectively cut off from the north and west.
There were fears on Sunday night that the militants, who have already blown up key bridges in the area, now had in their sights on the major dam at nearby Haditha. Destroying it would cause major flooding and wreak havoc to Iraq’s already patchy national grid.
Iraqi officials said they had despatched more than 2,000 troops to protect the dam, but acknowledged the fall of the other towns. They claimed they had retreated to protect other areas and would soon return.
In Qaim, meanwhile, claims emerged that 70 volunteers who had come to assist the Iraqi army from Baghdad had been killed. The men had apparently travelled towards Qaim hidden in frozen food trucks, only to be rumbled by Isis gunmen.
Separate reports said that a total of 21 local leaders had been killed by Isis in the newly-captured towns over the weekend. Isis militants were also said to have taken US Humvees captured in Iraq into Syria, using them in fighting in Aleppo province.
The prospect of Isis’s black flag now fluttering on the border of Jordan, a key US ally, shows the potential for the violence to spread right through the Middle East. In his remarks on Sunday, Mr Obama noted that similar threats were now also dragging the US into Africa, where last month Nigeria sought American help to rescue 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.
During a visit to Egypt, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, distanced America from the region’s problems, saying it was “not responsible” for terrorism problems in Libya and Iraq.
He also discouraged Arab nations from sending financial support to even moderate opposition Sunni groups in Syria, saying that “sectarianism”, not Washington’s interference, was the root cause of the problems.
However, while Washington sought to downplay America’s role as a world policeman, Mr Obama was criticised by Dick Cheney, the former Vice-President to George W Bush. Mr Cheney blamed the problems in Iraq on Mr Obama’s attempts since taking office to reduce Washington’s focus on the Middle East.
Mr Cheney, one of the most hawkish advocates of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said: “One of the things I worried about 12 years ago – and that I worry about today – is that there will be another 9/11 attack and that the next time it’ll be with weapons far deadlier than airline tickets and box cutters.”
Meanwhile, in a sign that talk of US and Iranian cooperation in Iraq may be premature, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he was opposed to any US air strikes on Isis militants in Iraq, even though the government in Baghdad has requested them.
“We strongly oppose the intervention of the US and others in the domestic affairs of Iraq,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He described the ongoing strife as part of a plot to bring Iraq back into the US fold.
The prospect of American and Shia-ruled Iran cooperating in Iraq has emerged because the two share an interest in countering Isis, which is anti-Shia as well as anti-Western.
But while Washington and Tehran’s goals are shared to an extent, on Sunday night Iran’s arch-enemy, Israel, warned America that any kind of cooperation would be a mistake.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said: “What you’re seeing in the Middle East today in Iraq and in Syria is the stark hatred between radical Shiites – in this case led by Iran – and radical Sunnis led by al-Qaeda and Isis.
“Now both of these camps are enemies of the United States, and when your enemies are fighting each other, don’t strengthen either one – weaken both.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Obama.html
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:38 am
Detainees killed in ambush
Sixty-nine detainees were killed in a militant attack on an Iraqi convoy transporting them in an area south of Baghdad, AFP reports citing officials.
One policeman and eight gunmen were also killed in clashes that erupted during the attack in the Hashimiyah area of Babil province, according to a police captain and a doctor. It was not immediately clear how the detainees died.
It is the second instance of a large number of detainees being killed since the start of a militant offensive on June 9 that has overrun major areas of five different provinces.
At least 44 prisoners were killed during a militant assault on a prison in the city of Baquba last week.
Accounts differed as to who was responsible for the Baquba killings, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman saying the prisoners were killed by insurgents carrying out the attack, and other officials saying they were killed by security forces as they tried to escape.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle ... ve-updates
Sixty-nine detainees were killed in a militant attack on an Iraqi convoy transporting them in an area south of Baghdad, AFP reports citing officials.
One policeman and eight gunmen were also killed in clashes that erupted during the attack in the Hashimiyah area of Babil province, according to a police captain and a doctor. It was not immediately clear how the detainees died.
It is the second instance of a large number of detainees being killed since the start of a militant offensive on June 9 that has overrun major areas of five different provinces.
At least 44 prisoners were killed during a militant assault on a prison in the city of Baquba last week.
Accounts differed as to who was responsible for the Baquba killings, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security spokesman saying the prisoners were killed by insurgents carrying out the attack, and other officials saying they were killed by security forces as they tried to escape.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle ... ve-updates
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:42 am
Concerns about Isis gaining ground and support in Jordan are underlined by a video of a pro-Isis demonstration in the southern Jordanian city of Ma'an.
The demonstration, which involved scores of young men carry black flags and banners expressing support for Isis, is said to have taken place on Friday.
The demonstration, which involved scores of young men carry black flags and banners expressing support for Isis, is said to have taken place on Friday.
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Mon Jun 23, 2014 10:27 pm
Ashamed Iraqi soldiers seek redemption after the army’s collapse
IRBIL, Iraq: Iraqi soldier Bassil Hasan says he wept as he abandoned his base in the face of a Sunni militant advance and is desperate to redeem himself by returning to the fight.
He stands outside the Iraqi Airways office in the northern city of Irbil, clamoring for a ticket on any plane to Baghdad to rejoin his unit.
He is one of many Iraqi army soldiers who left their posts, clearing the way for Sunni militants, including jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), to seize major cities.
“I’ve been in the army for five years, and I’ve never withdrawn without a fight,” Hasan says.
“Before we left, we were weeping. We feel so ashamed, because we didn’t fight, we were defeated without firing a single shot.”
He says soldiers in his unit in Kirkuk province began deserting individually in the hours after the northern city of Mosul fell and militants were reported to be entering the province.
His commander summoned the troops and said they could leave if they wanted.
“Then 10 minutes later he came back and said there’s an order from Baghdad to leave, put on civilian clothes and go back to your families.”
Security forces in Mosul and surrounding Ninevah province, as well as Salahuddin and Kirkuk largely wilted when faced with the militant onslaught, which began late June 9 and overran swathes of territory north of Baghdad.
Soldiers and police have regrouped in recent days, though insurgents have still made progress, particularly in western Iraq.
Now, with the federal government in Baghdad having ordered the forces to return to duty immediately, Hasan and others are eager to prove their mettle.
Hussein Ali, a 28-year-old army mechanic, was based in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.
He was on leave in his hometown of Kirkuk when the militant advance began, and the checkpoints they have established on the road to Baghdad made it impossible for him to return.
“I’m not one of those who ran away, I was on leave,” he says.
“Now my boss is accusing me of going absent” without leave, he adds, his voice rising at the accusation.
“I’m trying to get a [plane] ticket, but they say there are no seats.”
He says soldiers who abandoned their posts in places like Mosul and Tikrit, which are now under militant control, are “traitors,” and insists he is eager to go back.
“I want to support the fight against the terrorists. I want to play my role.”
Nearby is 26-year-old Mustafa Hussein, an electrical engineer with the army, who was based in Kirkuk.
He says the men in his contingent were forced to leave their station when troops from the Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga arrived.
“We didn’t withdraw,” he said.
“The peshmerga came and said we were going to cooperate as a joint force, but then problems started with them, they even pointed their weapons at us, and then they kicked us out.”
He is bitter at the Kurdish troops, saying he and his colleagues would have been happy to cooperate with them and contribute their expertise.
But he also says his superior in Baghdad encouraged him to leave.
“We asked the commander, who was in Baghdad, to help us and give us weapons but he refused and told us to go home.”
For the last four days, he has been coming to the airline office to try and find a flight back, with no success.
More than half a million Iraqis fled their homes in cities that fell to militants, and many of them are trying to fly south to areas that are still safe, for now.
“As soon as there is a seat, I will go to Taji base, and get back to work,” Hussein says, referring to a base north of Baghdad.
Hasan, like many withdrawing troops, left his weapon behind, but he expects to get a new one when he rejoins his unit.
“I want to return to my brothers because I belong to the army,” he says.
“My unit is going to be reconstituted in Baghdad ... We will go and fight wherever they send us.”
“ISIS is a disease and hopefully Iraq can be cured of this disease.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle ... lapse.ashx
“Then 10 minutes later he came back and said there’s an order from Baghdad to leave, put on civilian clothes and go back to your families.”
Not only did the Iraqi soldiers leave Kirkuk but they left their weapons behind for ISIS to use
By their actions Iraq has given up any and all claim it might have tried to make on Kirkuk
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:22 pm
ISIS joins forces with Saddam loyalists in bid to take Baghdad
For 10 years, members of Saddam Hussein's Baathist party -- including many of the dead dictator's top generals -- have hidden in the shadows of Iraq, persecuted by government in Baghdad and plotting, praying and preparing for the chance to reclaim their country.
Now they are back, paired in a bloodthirsty alliance with the brutal jihadis of the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria/Levant. These vicious Islamic radicals fighting alongside top officials from Hussein's dictatorship, are working to seize control of the battle-scarred nation. For now, their objectives converge.
"[We are] unified by the same goal, which is getting rid of this sectarian government, ending this corrupt army and negotiating to form a Sunni Region,” a senior Baathist leader told FoxNews.com.
"[We are] unified by the same goal, which is getting rid of this sectarian government, ending this corrupt army and negotiating to form a Sunni Region.”
- Baathist leader in northern Iraq
After the invasion of Iraq, thousands of Baathist’s lost their jobs: teachers, doctors, professors, soldiers. Banished from holding any public-sector positions, many found themselves unable to support and feed their families, and their anger grew. This purge is considered one of the major blunders of the invasion, and although it was partly overturned in 2008, the damage had been done.
For a decade, tensions in the Sunni regions simmered under these conditions, as Maliki’s Shia government sought retribution for decades of Saddam's brutal rule. Many who once were part of the regime found it hard to put food on the table, their anger building as their communities suffered. That the Maliki government continues to shell rebel held cities today, despite the fact many within are innocent civilians, further isolates Sunni communities and pushes them into the sphere of Sunni rebels.
Ultimately it was the failure of Maliki’s government to reach out to these elements that created the ISIS alliance in Iraq. It has drawn comparisons to Syria, where ISIS forces joined with the Free Syrian Army with the intention of toppling Bashar al-Assad's regime; but in Syria the alliance imploded. The patriotic group fighting to liberate Syria, eventually faced off against the violent jihadists seeking to carve out an extreme fundamentalist state, and today they are at war.
Much has been written about ISIS's blitzkrieg across northern Iraq, but it is unlikely the fighters would have been as successful without the Baathists. Three of Saddam's former generals led the takeover of Mosul, and eight of the top 10 generals in the ISIS army are believed to be Baathists. Izzat Douri, a former military commander who Saddam considered to be like a brother, is widely rumored to be in Mosul, overseeing the conflict after hiding out in Qatar and Syria for a decade.
In addition to their military training, the Baathists have been able to tap strong tribal ties in the region to command countless followers. That's helped to keep the conquered territory in ISIS hands while the army of terrorists and freed soldiers moves forward toward the prize: Baghdad and the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.
“As an effective fighting force alone, ISIS would never have been able to hold such large territories, a Kurdish intelligence officer told FoxNews.com but with the help of Baathists [united under the banner of the Naqshbandi army], they have been able to keep the momentum going.”
The ISIS fighters, their ranks swollen with foreign jihadists hardened from conflicts in Syria, Chechnya, Afghanistan and others locations, lead the charge. Under the direction of former Iraqi generals and the ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi, they rely on the strong network of Sunni tribes and Baathists behind them, many nostalgic for the security of Saddam's era.
Hussein's image has again become popular in the north and west, and soldiers call out “Father, father,” while they watch video tributes to him. His image is found in many a home from Fallujah to Mosul. The Kurdish judge who sentenced Hussein to death in 2006, Raouf Abdul Rahman, was reportedly captured and executed on Sunday, although his death cannot yet be confirmed.
And this remains a family cause. Raghad Hussein, who now lives in Jordan, gave an interview a few days ago.
“I am happy to see all these victories,” she said. “Someday, I will return to Iraq and visit my father’s grave. Maybe it won’t happen very soon, but it will certainly happen.”
In the meantime she has been indicted by Interpol, for “inciting terrorism in Iraq.”
The alliance between ISIS and the Baathists may be their greatest strength at the moment, but the rifts are growing. In the last week, there have been internal clashes, as the more moderate Sunni fighters struggle with the brutality of ISIS. Many within the Baathist party are unsure they can control ISIS, and fear that once they have secured territory, they will try to impose strict Sharia law on towns under Baathist rule.
In a petty rift, ISIS troops fought Naqshbandi soldiers over an armored vehicle, with five men killed. In another battle on Sunday, 17 fighters were killed as the groups clashed again. As one Sunni fighters put it "unlike ISIS, we are not playing football with people's heads"
With the U.S. already considering the strange prospect of working with Iran to curb the ISIS advance, it is possible that down the road, America's allies could be the very Baathists and Sunni fighters it once ousted from power.
Benjamin Hall is a freelance journalist currently in northern Iraq. Follow him on Twitter: @BorderlineN
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06/23 ... e-baghdad/
For 10 years, members of Saddam Hussein's Baathist party -- including many of the dead dictator's top generals -- have hidden in the shadows of Iraq, persecuted by government in Baghdad and plotting, praying and preparing for the chance to reclaim their country.
Now they are back, paired in a bloodthirsty alliance with the brutal jihadis of the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria/Levant. These vicious Islamic radicals fighting alongside top officials from Hussein's dictatorship, are working to seize control of the battle-scarred nation. For now, their objectives converge.
"[We are] unified by the same goal, which is getting rid of this sectarian government, ending this corrupt army and negotiating to form a Sunni Region,” a senior Baathist leader told FoxNews.com.
"[We are] unified by the same goal, which is getting rid of this sectarian government, ending this corrupt army and negotiating to form a Sunni Region.”
- Baathist leader in northern Iraq
After the invasion of Iraq, thousands of Baathist’s lost their jobs: teachers, doctors, professors, soldiers. Banished from holding any public-sector positions, many found themselves unable to support and feed their families, and their anger grew. This purge is considered one of the major blunders of the invasion, and although it was partly overturned in 2008, the damage had been done.
For a decade, tensions in the Sunni regions simmered under these conditions, as Maliki’s Shia government sought retribution for decades of Saddam's brutal rule. Many who once were part of the regime found it hard to put food on the table, their anger building as their communities suffered. That the Maliki government continues to shell rebel held cities today, despite the fact many within are innocent civilians, further isolates Sunni communities and pushes them into the sphere of Sunni rebels.
Ultimately it was the failure of Maliki’s government to reach out to these elements that created the ISIS alliance in Iraq. It has drawn comparisons to Syria, where ISIS forces joined with the Free Syrian Army with the intention of toppling Bashar al-Assad's regime; but in Syria the alliance imploded. The patriotic group fighting to liberate Syria, eventually faced off against the violent jihadists seeking to carve out an extreme fundamentalist state, and today they are at war.
Much has been written about ISIS's blitzkrieg across northern Iraq, but it is unlikely the fighters would have been as successful without the Baathists. Three of Saddam's former generals led the takeover of Mosul, and eight of the top 10 generals in the ISIS army are believed to be Baathists. Izzat Douri, a former military commander who Saddam considered to be like a brother, is widely rumored to be in Mosul, overseeing the conflict after hiding out in Qatar and Syria for a decade.
In addition to their military training, the Baathists have been able to tap strong tribal ties in the region to command countless followers. That's helped to keep the conquered territory in ISIS hands while the army of terrorists and freed soldiers moves forward toward the prize: Baghdad and the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.
“As an effective fighting force alone, ISIS would never have been able to hold such large territories, a Kurdish intelligence officer told FoxNews.com but with the help of Baathists [united under the banner of the Naqshbandi army], they have been able to keep the momentum going.”
The ISIS fighters, their ranks swollen with foreign jihadists hardened from conflicts in Syria, Chechnya, Afghanistan and others locations, lead the charge. Under the direction of former Iraqi generals and the ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi, they rely on the strong network of Sunni tribes and Baathists behind them, many nostalgic for the security of Saddam's era.
Hussein's image has again become popular in the north and west, and soldiers call out “Father, father,” while they watch video tributes to him. His image is found in many a home from Fallujah to Mosul. The Kurdish judge who sentenced Hussein to death in 2006, Raouf Abdul Rahman, was reportedly captured and executed on Sunday, although his death cannot yet be confirmed.
And this remains a family cause. Raghad Hussein, who now lives in Jordan, gave an interview a few days ago.
“I am happy to see all these victories,” she said. “Someday, I will return to Iraq and visit my father’s grave. Maybe it won’t happen very soon, but it will certainly happen.”
In the meantime she has been indicted by Interpol, for “inciting terrorism in Iraq.”
The alliance between ISIS and the Baathists may be their greatest strength at the moment, but the rifts are growing. In the last week, there have been internal clashes, as the more moderate Sunni fighters struggle with the brutality of ISIS. Many within the Baathist party are unsure they can control ISIS, and fear that once they have secured territory, they will try to impose strict Sharia law on towns under Baathist rule.
In a petty rift, ISIS troops fought Naqshbandi soldiers over an armored vehicle, with five men killed. In another battle on Sunday, 17 fighters were killed as the groups clashed again. As one Sunni fighters put it "unlike ISIS, we are not playing football with people's heads"
With the U.S. already considering the strange prospect of working with Iran to curb the ISIS advance, it is possible that down the road, America's allies could be the very Baathists and Sunni fighters it once ousted from power.
Benjamin Hall is a freelance journalist currently in northern Iraq. Follow him on Twitter: @BorderlineN
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06/23 ... e-baghdad/
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:55 pm
BBC News Middle East
Iraq crisis: Key oil refinery 'seized by rebels'
Sunni rebels in Iraq say they have fully captured the country's main oil refinery at Baiji, north of Baghdad.
The refinery had been under siege for 10 days with the militant offensive being repulsed several times.
The complex supplies a third of Iraq's refined fuel and the battle has already led to petrol rationing.
Insurgents, led by the group Isis, have overrun a swathe of territory north and west of Baghdad including Iraq's second-biggest city, Mosul.
They are bearing down on a vital dam near Haditha and have captured all border crossings to Syria and Jordan.
A rebel spokesman said the Baiji refinery, in Salahuddin province, would now be handed over to local tribes to administer.
The spokesman said that the advance towards Baghdad would continue.
Full article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27990478
Iraq crisis: Key oil refinery 'seized by rebels'
Sunni rebels in Iraq say they have fully captured the country's main oil refinery at Baiji, north of Baghdad.
The refinery had been under siege for 10 days with the militant offensive being repulsed several times.
The complex supplies a third of Iraq's refined fuel and the battle has already led to petrol rationing.
Insurgents, led by the group Isis, have overrun a swathe of territory north and west of Baghdad including Iraq's second-biggest city, Mosul.
They are bearing down on a vital dam near Haditha and have captured all border crossings to Syria and Jordan.
A rebel spokesman said the Baiji refinery, in Salahuddin province, would now be handed over to local tribes to administer.
The spokesman said that the advance towards Baghdad would continue.
Full article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27990478
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Anthea - Shaswar
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Tue Jun 24, 2014 8:43 am
BBC News Middle East
Iraq crisis: Kerry in Irbil for talks as crisis rages
The US secretary of state has arrived in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil to hold talks with Kurdish leaders as Sunni rebels continue their offensive.
John Kerry's trip comes a day after he visited Baghdad and pledged US support for Iraqi security forces.
Mr Kerry said Iraq faced a moment of great urgency as its very existence was under threat.
Mr Kerry's meetings with Kurdish leaders come as Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani strongly suggested that his region would seek formal independence from the rest of Iraq.
The Baiji refinery, in Salahuddin province, had been under siege for 10 days, with militant attacks repulsed several times. The complex supplies a third of Iraq's refined fuel and the battle has already led to petrol rationing.
A rebel spokesman said it would now be handed over to local tribes to administer, and that the advance towards Baghdad would continue.
A local journalist told the BBC that Iraqi government 160 soldiers who had been defending the refinery had agreed to lay their weapons and leave after negotiations mediated by local tribal leaders.
Full Article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27991414
Iraq crisis: Kerry in Irbil for talks as crisis rages
The US secretary of state has arrived in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil to hold talks with Kurdish leaders as Sunni rebels continue their offensive.
John Kerry's trip comes a day after he visited Baghdad and pledged US support for Iraqi security forces.
Mr Kerry said Iraq faced a moment of great urgency as its very existence was under threat.
Mr Kerry's meetings with Kurdish leaders come as Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani strongly suggested that his region would seek formal independence from the rest of Iraq.
The Baiji refinery, in Salahuddin province, had been under siege for 10 days, with militant attacks repulsed several times. The complex supplies a third of Iraq's refined fuel and the battle has already led to petrol rationing.
A rebel spokesman said it would now be handed over to local tribes to administer, and that the advance towards Baghdad would continue.
A local journalist told the BBC that Iraqi government 160 soldiers who had been defending the refinery had agreed to lay their weapons and leave after negotiations mediated by local tribal leaders.
Full Article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27991414
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Anthea - Shaswar
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Re: ISIS – IRAQ - KURDISTAN : NEWS THREAD
Author: Anthea » Tue Jun 24, 2014 9:08 am
An oil refinery that provides a third of Iraq's refined fuel was defend by
160
government soldiers
Speaking at the US embassy in Baghdad, Mr Kerry said US support would "allow Iraqi security forces to confront [Isis] more effectively and in a way that respects Iraq's sovereignty".
"The support will be intense, sustained, and if Iraq's leaders take the steps needed to bring the country together it will be effective," he said.
Someone really should tell Mr Kerry what has been going on
Obama should send someone with a brain or at least a basic knowledge of what has happened in Iraq:
Saddam's horrific treatment of the Kurds
The terrible treatment of the Shite by Saddam's Sunni forces
In more recent years the terrible treatment of the Sunnis by the Shite government - never forget how the Iraqi government incarcerated large numbers of innocent Sunni wives
Sunnis hate and mistrust the Baghdad government - I do not blame them - I do not think that America should take sides
The number of new Sunni Jihadist splinter groups is growing
There are also mixed Sunni and Shiite groups who have come together to remove Maliki from power
The only safe and sane place in Iraq is Kurdistan
160
government soldiers
Speaking at the US embassy in Baghdad, Mr Kerry said US support would "allow Iraqi security forces to confront [Isis] more effectively and in a way that respects Iraq's sovereignty".
"The support will be intense, sustained, and if Iraq's leaders take the steps needed to bring the country together it will be effective," he said.
Someone really should tell Mr Kerry what has been going on
Obama should send someone with a brain or at least a basic knowledge of what has happened in Iraq:
Saddam's horrific treatment of the Kurds
The terrible treatment of the Shite by Saddam's Sunni forces
In more recent years the terrible treatment of the Sunnis by the Shite government - never forget how the Iraqi government incarcerated large numbers of innocent Sunni wives
Sunnis hate and mistrust the Baghdad government - I do not blame them - I do not think that America should take sides
The number of new Sunni Jihadist splinter groups is growing
There are also mixed Sunni and Shiite groups who have come together to remove Maliki from power
The only safe and sane place in Iraq is Kurdistan
Good Thoughts Good Words Good Deeds
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Anthea - Shaswar
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