Iraq Politicial Situation Thread

[harrybarracuda]

In an effort to put all ME related conversations in one place, I've opened this thread in Middle East Issues into which you can put all Iraq-related news, commentary and opinion.

Cheers,
Harry

[harrybarracuda]

Car bomb attacks target Baghdad Shiite areas

At least nine people killed in bomb attacks in Sadr City Shiite bastion, Shula amid violence sees no sign of abating in Iraq.

BAGHDAD - A series of car bombs exploded in Shiite areas of Baghdad Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 60, an interior ministry official said.

Two of the bombs exploded within half an hour of each other in the capital's Sadr City Shiite bastion, killing six people and wounding 32, the official said.

The first bomb ripped through a group of workers at around 6:45 am (0345 GMT) while the second exploded outside a bakery. Among the wounded were two women and a child.

A third car bomb exploded in Shula, a northwestern district of the capital, killing two people and wounding 16, while a fourth killed one person and wounded 13 in the northern neighbourhood of Al-Hurriya, the official said.

The bombings are the latest in a spate of attacks against Shiites, which have risen since US forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq on December 18.

Though violence in Iraq is down markedly from its peak during 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common, and more than 200 people have been killed since the US drawdown.

The pullout coincided with a political crisis in Iraq, pitting the Shiite-led government against the main Sunni-backed bloc which accuses Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of centralising power.

Reflecting the ongoing tensions, the Honein jihadist forum posted a message on Monday vowing further attacks against Iraqi Shiites.

"The violent attacks against the Rawafid (the name used for Shiites by Sunni extremists) will continue," Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq said in a statement, while claiming responsibility for attacks on Shiite pilgrims over the past month.

"The lions of the Islamic State of Iraq (will not cease their operations)... as long as the Safavid government continues its war. We will spill rivers of their blood as reciprocity."

The jihadists often invoke Iran's Safavid past, referring to the Shiite dynasty that ruled Persia between the 16th and 18th centuries, and conquered part of Iraq, when denouncing the Baghdad government, which they say is controlled by Tehran.

[harrybarracuda]

This seems a positive step on the part of the Sunnis. It remains to be seen if the Shi'a will respond in kind, starting with lifting the arrest warrant on the VP.

Mind you, he would be foolish to trust them and re-appear in Baghdad.

Iraq's Sunni-backed ministers end boycott

February 7, 2012 - 11:30 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - An official from Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc says its ministers have ended their boycott of the Cabinet, a move that could restore some stability to the war-ravaged nation.
Iraqiya spokeswoman Maysoun al-Damlouji says the overwhelmingly Sunni bloc's ministers will attend Tuesday's session of the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet.
The decision comes after weeks of boycott over the government's arrest warrant against the country's top Sunni official.
Al-Damlouji says the decision is Iraqiya's "second good will gesture" in efforts to ease sectarian tensions. Iraqiya lawmakers returned to parliament last week, The Associated Press reported.
The political crisis erupted after U.S. troops left in December. Combined with a surge of bombing attacks, it has raised concerns of a reignited sectarian war.

Iraq''s top leaders agree to solve political conflict via constitution 2/7/2012 1:03:00 AM | Gulf News BAGHDAD, Feb 6 (KUNA) -- Iraq's major political parties' leaders Monday vowed to work relentlessly to address political challenges to ultimately achieve national consensus that would honor aspirations of the Iraqi people.
Leaders of the Iraqiya List, Kurdistan coalition and the state of law alliance met at President Jalal Talabani's office and decided to address the political conflict in line with the constitution.
Talabani, prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki and parliament speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi attended the meeting, the president's office said in a statement.
The participants pledged to stay united against terrorists and armed groups.
They also agreed that the constitution be the basis for resolving conflicts, added the statement.
They asserted importance of keeping the judiciary distant from political wranglings. (end) ahh.bs KUNA 070103 Feb 12NNNN

[harrybarracuda]

And to think they had the opportunity to double tap this bastard and didn't take it.

Sadrists mark Iraq departure of US 'occupiers'
Anti-US Shiite cleric Sadr: The armies of resistance terrified the occupiers, so they left after they lost.
Middle East Online

By Salam Faraj – BAGHDAD

Sadr: American forces "turned from being a liberating army, as they said, into an occupying army

Supporters of anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia fought pitched battles with American forces, on Thursday officially celebrated the departure of the "occupiers" from Iraq.
The last American soldiers except for a small number under US embassy authority departed Iraq in mid-December, after almost nine years in the country.
But the official Sadrist celebration was held on Thursday after the end of Arbaeen, the 40-day period of mourning following the Ashura commemorations, which mark the death in battle of Imam Hussein, a formative event in Shiite Islam.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for the event, which was held in Sadr City in northern Baghdad, an area named for Moqtada's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, who was killed along with two of Moqtada's brothers in 1999 by gunmen allegedly sent by dictator Saddam Hussein.
"The armies of resistance terrified the occupiers, so they left after they lost," Moqtada said in a recorded message broadcast on a large screen at the celebrations.
American forces "turned from being a liberating army, as they said, into an occupying army," he said.
"The occupying forces were working for strife and destruction and to destabilise security. The occupier is not the one who can bring peace and safety to Iraq, but rather you, and only you."
At the urging of the cleric, his supporters shouted, "Yes, yes, to unity, yes, yes, to peace, yes, yes, to resistance."
Thousands of Sadr Movement members marched in formation with Iraqi flags at the event, while supporters gathered on the roadside, some holding banners reading, "No, no to America, no, no to Israel."
Among those attending the event, which was held under tight security, were cabinet ministers, members of parliament and religious figures, as well as representatives of some Arab countries.
Hazem al-Araji, one of the leaders of the Sadr Movement, said that, "Today is the day of the real victory for the people and a message of unity that we throw in the face of the occupier."
"The occupier can never divide the Iraqis," Araji said.
"Today, the Sadr Movement is sending a positive message to all of the Iraqi people requesting that they preserve the country's unity," Abbas al-Bayati, an MP from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law list said.
Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which the cleric has since deactivated, fought -- and lost -- brutal battles with US forces in Najaf in February and August 2004, and with Iraqi forces backed by the Americans in Sadr City in March 2008.

[sabang]

And I've moved it to News, because in 3 posts you haven't provided one Link harry.

[Mid]

err , links ARE de rigueur in news .

[FlyFree]

Iraq is sorted. Democracy delivered. Job well done boys. Not news anymore.

Next.

[harrybarracuda]

What I tried to do was move the related topics into Middle East issues so they'd all be in the same place, but some wanker then decided there wasn't enough comment on some of the news articles to justify them being in a Issues thread.

So now we have two threads to monitor, and the mods are still being utterly fucking pedantic.

Give me fucking strength.

Can we not set up a Middle East News and Comment thread *somewhere* so that those of us interested in the subject can post, comment and read without having jobsworths picking fucking holes all the time?

Give me fucking strength, get a fucking life some of you.

[Mid]

just post the link is all that's being asked , everyone else manages it

[harrybarracuda]

just post the link is all that's being asked , everyone else manages it

Just remind me if I forget, FFS.

As if it's that important. A simple google of any of the text normally puts it at the top of a search.

[harrybarracuda]

More sectarian violence in Iraq.

Simultaneous early morning attacks on mostly Shi'ite targets across Iraq killed at least 60 people and wounded dozen today in one of the bloodiest days of violence since U.S. troops pulled out in mid-December.

The attacks that appeared to pitch al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim insurgents against Shi'ites raised fears of a return to the widespread sectarian carnage that tore Iraq apart and cost thousands of lives in 2006 and 2007.
The violence breaks weeks of relative calm as Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Sunni leaders have sought to resolve a political crisis that threatened to unravel their power-sharing agreement following the U.S. withdrawal.
At least 32 people were killed in blasts in Baghdad where 10 explosions tore through mainly Shi'ite neighbourhoods during rush hour and other attacks targeted police patrols, commuters and crowds gathered in shopping areas.
"We were sitting at a restaurant having soup for breakfast when the bomb exploded. I lost consciousness and then saw smoke and dust when I came to. I saw people and body parts everywhere," police officer Ahmed Kadhim told Reuters.
Kadhim suffered shrapnel wounds to his left leg and back when a car bomb exploded near a restaurant killing six people and wounding 18 in Baghdad's northern Kadhimiya district.
The interior ministry blamed al Qaeda and affiliated armed groups for the attacks it said were an attempt to show that Iraq's security situation remained unstable.
The blasts hit just weeks before Baghdad plans to host an Arab League summit, which has been postponed because of regional turmoil and acrimony between Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and some Sunni Gulf states.
"The attacks aimed to spark sectarian strife among the Iraqi people, and to prevent the Arab League meeting from being held," Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said.
More than a dozen blasts and attacks hit other cities across Iraq from Mosul in the north to Hilla, south of Baghdad, many of them targeting police.
The violence was aimed at Shi'ite neighbourhoods but also against security forces, a frequent target of Sunni insurgents. Iraqi officials had predicted such groups would try to stir sectarian tensions with attacks after American forces went home.
While violence has ebbed since the height of the war, Sunni insurgents affiliated to al Qaeda are still capable of large-scale assaults. Some rival Shi'ite militias have said they will cease fighting since the U.S. withdrawal.
In Thursday's violence, one car bomb in the capital killed at least nine people and wounded 27 in the upmarket Karrada neighbourhood, hurling shrapnel into the next street and blowing out glass from nearby buildings.
Witnesses saw at four wrecked cars full of shrapnel and bloodied seats near an ice-cream shop at the site of another blast.
In at least three Shi'ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad, nine policemen were killed, and in the capital's northwestern Kadhimiya district, a car bomb killed six people when it struck a street lined with restaurants.
In the biggest attack outside the capital, a car bomb killed seven people and wounded 33 in the town of Balad, north of Baghdad.
Iraq's political crisis erupted after Maliki moved against two senior members of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc shortly after the U.S. troop withdrawal in December, prompting a walkout by Iraqiya lawmakers that lasted until late January.
Tensions eased as Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs tried to negotiate an end to the crisis. But a week ago a panel of judges detailed 150 attacks they said were carried out by death squads under Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's command. Maliki sought Hashemi's arrest in December.
Hashemi, who has taken refuge in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, has denied accusations made against him, dismissing them as part of a plot to destroy Maliki's opponents.
The crisis was followed by a wave of attacks in December and January on Shi'ite neighbourhoods, including a suicide bombing on a Shi'ite funeral procession that killed 31 in Baghdad and an attack on Shi'ite pilgrims that left 53 dead in Basra.
Violence had ebbed until Sunday when a suicide car bomber killed 19 people in an attack on a Baghdad police academy.

Link

[socal]

just post the link is all that's being asked , everyone else manages it

Just remind me if I forget, FFS.

As if it's that important. A simple google of any of the text normally puts it at the top of a search.

The violence is just part of the ongoing revolution. In 10 or 20 years, Iraq will mirror a place like Turkey. Then it makes your assertion that Saddam should have stayed look very stupid.

But we know you have a soft spot for Saddam Hussain... Because he launched scud missiles at Isreal in 1991

[socal]

Just in case anyone is wondering why Harry misses Saddam Hussain...

Lets go back in time for a moment...

1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel


Iraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War. Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, its main seaport, were hit in the attacks, which began at 0300 local time (0100 GMT), when most residents were asleep.
Reports from Tel Aviv say the air was filled with the wail of sirens and minutes later up to eight missiles streaked in and exploded in balls of flame.

[Lostandfound]

Almost everyone I spoke to when visiting the north of Iraq (KAR) twice last year is pissed off with the supposed "model" administration in the KAR under Barzani.

All the top jobs, contracts and licences for new businesses are the preserve of Barzani's extended family.

I stayed with a senior government civil engineer and his family. He is exaspareted that a typical contract for, say, a $10m stretch of road with be bought and sold four times among the Barzani cabal before being awarded for $3m to actually do the work.

They're so pissed off in fact that the locals even overran the Halabja memorial, tearing down the Kurdish flag there. For Kurds to be that pissed off you realise just how upset people are.

[harrybarracuda]

just post the link is all that's being asked , everyone else manages it

Just remind me if I forget, FFS.

As if it's that important. A simple google of any of the text normally puts it at the top of a search.

The violence is just part of the ongoing revolution. In 10 or 20 years, Iraq will mirror a place like Turkey. Then it makes your assertion that Saddam should have stayed look very stupid.

But we know you have a soft spot for Saddam Hussain... Because he launched scud missiles at Isreal in 1991

What a fucking idiot.

Lot of Shi'a in Turkey, are there?

[harrybarracuda]

Just in case anyone is wondering why Harry misses Saddam Hussain...

Lets go back in time for a moment...

1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel


Iraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War. Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, its main seaport, were hit in the attacks, which began at 0300 local time (0100 GMT), when most residents were asleep.
Reports from Tel Aviv say the air was filled with the wail of sirens and minutes later up to eight missiles streaked in and exploded in balls of flame.

Ah yes, I have a piece of the one that landed a few km from where I'm sitting.

Fucking hell, you really a retard, aren't you?

[HermantheGerman]

JIraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War.

Israel had succeeded in drawing the U.S. into the Gulf War. Israelis stayed at home with their hands over their heads and laughing at the goys.

[HermantheGerman]

Iraq is sorted. Democracy delivered. Job well done boys. Not news anymore.

Next.

The U.S. has placed Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq = Al- Qaida.

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s al-Qaida branch has claimed responsibility for the latest wave of bombings and other attacks that killed dozens in Baghdad and across the country in a single day, raising concerns over the government’s ability to provide security after the U.S. troop pullout.

[harrybarracuda]

JIraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War.

Israel had succeeded in drawing the U.S. into the Gulf War. Israelis stayed at home with their hands over their heads and laughing at the goys.

Don't be so bloody daft.

America had to stop Saddam, otherwise he might well have marched on into Saudi Arabia.

If anything, the yanks had to pay off Israel (to the tune of $10bn IIRC) to stop them sorting out Saddam themselves and getting the rest of the Arabs all riled, which was his intention.

Which is precisely why the Blue Suede Shoes are panicking that, as a last resort, Assad might decide to attack Israel for exactly the same reason.

Then again, they'd get another wad of cash out of America, so they probably wouldn't complain.

[socal]

JIraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War.

Israel had succeeded in drawing the U.S. into the Gulf War. Israelis stayed at home with their hands over their heads and laughing at the goys.

ohhh, now it was a Mossad agent pulling the levers behind Saddams missiles..

[Lostandfound]

America had to stop Saddam, otherwise he might well have marched on into Saudi Arabia.

And why not have let him have Saudi as well as Kuwait? Saddam was pragmatic, after all; he hated the Iranian mullahs and would have done a deal on the oil. In fact he pretty much went in to Kuwait at Bush Sr.'s welcome.

Who cares about the two corrupt fiefdoms of Saudi and Kuwait apart from a few thousand uber rich Arabs who were all on holiday at the time in any case?

[Takeovers]

And why not have let him have Saudi as well as Kuwait? Saddam was pragmatic, after all; he hated the Iranian mullahs and would have done a deal on the oil. In fact he pretty much went in to Kuwait at Bush Sr.'s welcome. Who cares about the two corrupt fiefdoms of Saudi and Kuwait apart from a few thousand uber rich Arabs who were all on holiday at the time in any case?

You are not wrong on this count. With Saddam the oil would flow. That is why the argument about the war being about oil is ridiculous. Saddam would have sold it.

The problem comes in on how he would spend the oil revenue. He would have had his weapons of mass destruction. An ugly scenario.

[Lostandfound]

Saddam went into Kuwait because he was broke having fought the US/ Gulf states proxy war against Iran. Not to mention the Kuwaitis were stealing Iraqi oil from the Ramallah oil fields.

As many countries have discovered, it's safer to be an enemy of the USA than a friend.

[Lostandfound]

The problem comes in on how he would spend the oil revenue. He would have had his weapons of mass destruction. An ugly scenario.

Saddam's WMD were never more than a populist stunt to keep the Kurds and Shia in line and reinforce his image as the strong man in Baghdad.

He used chemical weapons against the Iranians and against the Kurds at Halabja, just two and a half years before invading Kuwait. The West, Turkey and the Gulf states scarcely lifted a finger. In fact the west sold him the raw material.

I visited Halabja in August last year. Later the same evening I was really shocked to be chatting with local Kurds in Suleymaniya who felt that things were better under Saddam. He may have been a bastard, but the current line up in Erbil and Baghdad make him look like a favorite uncle in comparison.

[socal]

The problem comes in on how he would spend the oil revenue. He would have had his weapons of mass destruction. An ugly scenario.

Saddam's WMD were never more than a populist stunt to keep the Kurds and Shia in line and reinforce his image as the strong man in Baghdad.

He used chemical weapons against the Iranians and against the Kurds at Halabja, just two and a half years before invading Kuwait. The West, Turkey and the Gulf states scarcely lifted a finger. In fact the west sold him the raw material.

I visited Halabja in August last year. Later the same evening I was really shocked to be chatting with local Kurds in Suleymaniya who felt that things were better under Saddam. He may have been a bastard, but the current line up in Erbil and Baghdad make him look like a favorite uncle in comparison.

And what about 10 or 20 years from now ? You think it would be better under saddam hussain ? bullshit