Tomb Attack Stokes Sectarian Conflicts

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Clashes in Iraqi City of Halepce: 1 Killed, 6 Wounded

Clashes in Iraqi City of Halepce: 1 Killed, 6 Wounded
Halepce, Bagdat (Baghdad)
Published: Thursday, March 16, 2006
zaman.com


One person has died, six people were wounded in the conflict that broke out between protestors and security forces in the Iraqi city of Halepce.

During the speeches made by officials on the 18th anniversary of the Halepce massacre, police opened fire on thousands of people protesting incidents of bribery and insufficient services.



Reportedly, six people were wounded in the incident.



Meanwhile, a prisoner has been killed at Abu Gharib prison in Iraq.



A statement from the US military said “the prisoner most probably died due of natural causes; however, an inquiry will be launched into his death.”



The statement informed that the 24 year old Iraqi prison was found unconscious in his cell, and resuscitation efforts failed to revive him.



Iraq’s Abu Gharib prison contains nearly 10,000 inmates.

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US Army Starts Invasion-like Operation in Samarra

US Army Starts Invasion-like Operation in Samarra
By Cihan News Agency, Bagdat (Baghdad)
Published: Friday, March 17, 2006
zaman.com


The United States has launched the biggest offensive in Iraq since it began its occupation in 2003.

The attack on the city of Samarra was launched with the support of 50 planes, 200 armored vehicles and 1,500 soldiers.

Widespread attention focused on the fact that the US operation against the insurgents was launched just two days before the third anniversary of the occupation.

The US Army announced the strike would continue until the insurgents were found. Samarra, 100 kilometers from Bagdat (Baghdad), had come to the agenda for recent sectarian conflicts. Theauthorities warned the US about civilian losses.

In the frame of the US Army's biggest operation in Iraq in the last three years, AC 130 fighter planes and attack helicopters were reported to have struck the predetermined insurgence targets during the operation and the troop transfer to the region still continues.

Some American officials pointed at probable drawbacks of the Samarra offensive held at a crucial time in Iraq.

Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Thursday that a considerable number of civilian losses may take place in an air strike held in a residential area. McCaffrey highlighted the biggest threat in Iraq now originates from sectarian conflicts tending to turn into a civil war and said the operation against the Sunni resistant targets may increase the inter-sectarian conflicts further.

The new parliament determined in the December 15 elections in Iraq convened for the first time after a three month interval.

Disagreements marked the first session that was chaired by the oldest member Adnan Pacaci.

According to the Iraqi Constitution, the speaker of the parliament must be determined in the first session, yet the groups failed to reach an agreement on the issue.

The government must be assembled within 60 days following the first session.

Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, holding a news conference after the parliamentary session, said he may step aside as a prime ministerial candidate for a second term if he is asked to do so.

"If my people want so, I will withdraw," the prime minister said.

During the ceremony held for the 18th anniversary of the Halabaja massacre, 2,000 Kurdish demonstrators determined to walk to the Cenotaph were shot at. One person died and five were injured in the turmoil.

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Iraqi People Hopeless in 3rd Year of Occupation

Iraqi People Hopeless in 3rd Year of Occupation
By M. Alihan Hasanoglu, Cihan News Agency, Bagdat (Baghdad)
Published: Sunday, March 19, 2006
zaman.com


The situation of Iraq and the Iraqi people is still ambiguous on the 3rd anniversary of the Iraqi occupation that the US realized on claims that weapons of mass destruction existed in the country. The US had promised to bring democracy to Iraq with the occupation.

The country is far from the wealth and democracy that the US promised to bring before the Iraq war. The people are concerned and hopeless most about the inability to maintain security in the country. While dozens of people lose their lives in violent incidents every day, the recent Shiite-Sunni tension is dragging the country to a civil war. The Iraqi people are at such a point that they miss the days of Saddam’s era and they demand the end of occupation, which makes their life even harder. The ethnic and sectarian division is seen as the biggest obstacle before the democratic structure in Iraq.



Although more than three months have passed over the last Iraqi elections, the parties are still arguing over establishing the government. The weapons of mass destruction, which was shown as the ground of “Iraqi Liberation Operation”, still could not be found in the country as Iraqi was shaken by intelligence scandals concerning the war. During this period, public support for the Iraqi war and the popularity of President George W. Bush declined by half.



Bloodshed in Iraq has been increasing since the Iraqi occupation started in 2003. While there has been an increase in the number of attacks, which were supposed to decrease with the political process, 75 incidents occur in the country on average every day. Independent sources remark that more than 100,000 civilians lost their lives in three years while a web-site named “iraqbodycount” report that the death toll is 34-38,000. The number of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war reached 2,317. The most dreadful matter in Iraq is the “civil war” threat, which reached the climax with the bombardment of a Shiite military tomb in Samarra. The mosques were set on fire in the clashes occurring after the bombardment, resulting in the death of hundreds of people. In an aim to settle the incidents, the American army launched the biggest operation in Samarra in which 50 helicopters and 200 armored vehicles participated.

Public Effort to Drive off US Military


The number of people suffering from a nationwide famine has doubled since the Saddam Hussein period, officials said. The United States-led invasion of Iraq has brought with it starvation instead of affluence, divergence instead of democracy, the Iraqis told Cihan News Agency when they pressed a demand for the United States military to leave. Salim Jabir, an Iraqi who is dismayed to see no progress in the last three years, expressed his disappointment as follows: “The situation is growing worse. We had different expectations. We thought life would be better. We anticipated having self-confidence, and we actually looked to the future with high expectations. The United States administration has done nothing for us for the past three years now. The United States military brought us blood and tears only.” The Iraqi women suffered a lot during the war in Iraq, said Yanar Mohammed, head of the Iraqi Association for Women. Women comprised 40 percent of the national population of workers in 1980, said Mohammed: “It is now clear to us what has happened to the country.” Abdullah Abbas, another Iraqi disappointed at being fooled by broken promises for more wealth, said the United States military does not regard the Iraqis at all.

Bush’s rating dropped by 30 percent

In Iraq, where two elections and one constitution referendum was held last year, the assembly could hold its first meeting only three months after the elections and carried on initiations to form a national unity government. Ensuring security, deciding on federation, resolving the Kirkuk problem, and petroleum revenue are the issues awaiting the Iraqi assembly while it has not agreed on who will be the president of the assembly yet. The leading party in the assembly Shia United Iraqi Alliance is resolute against the reactions of Kurds and Sunnis reappointing Ibrahim al-Jaafari as the prime minister. Kurds agreed to nominate Talabani for presidency while the Sunnites are still discussing whom to nominate for assembly presidency.

The Bush administration, which claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and launched the “liberation operation,” has experienced hard days for three years. American public support to Bush was 67 percent in 2003, when the war first started, while now it is around 37 percent as a result of the scandals. At the beginning, 70 percent of the American people supported the war, but it dropped to 29 percent. The soldier death toll along with the increasing cost of war is said to have affected the drop. It is noted that the war costs the US $6 billion semiannually.

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Soldiers Deserting British Army Triple Since Start of Iraqi War

Soldiers Deserting British Army Triple Since Start of Iraqi War
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), London
Published: Sunday, March 19, 2006
zaman.com


The number of soldiers absconding from the British army has tripled since the beginning of the Iraqi war.

Independent on Sunday newspaper reported 380 soldiers left their barracks without notice in 2005 alone. Officials were unable to obtain news from them every again, affecting the morale of other soldiers.


According to the newspaper, army lawyers believe the situation is related to the increasing suspicion of the Iraqi war’s legitimacy and the failure of British- American coalition in putting an end to violence and anarchy in Iraq.


According to the Defense Ministry, the number of soldiers, who escaped from the army in 2001 was 86, increasing to 118 in 2002, and 135 in 2003. In 2004 the number leaped to 230 and then to 383 in 2005

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Iraq in civil war, says former PM

Iraq in civil war, says former PM

Iraq is in the middle of civil war, the country's former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has told the BBC.

He said Iraq had not got to the point of no return, but if it fell apart sectarianism would spread abroad.

The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war, but Mr Allawi suggested there was no other way to describe the sectarian violence.

Meanwhile, at least 12 people have been in a series of violent incidents in the north of the country.

Cycle of reprisals

Analysts say Mr Allawi's comments are part of political manoeuvring as talks continue over creation of a government.

Speaking to troops in Basra, UK Defence Secretary John Reid insisted that the terrorists were failing to drive Iraq into civil war.

There has been a cycle of sectarian reprisals and revenge killings between Sunnis and Shias.

The destruction of the Shia shrine at Samarra on 22 February made some observers wonder if the country was heading towards civil conflict.

The BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says the unrest is threatening hopes among the US and its allies for substantial troop withdrawals in the coming months.

In other incidents across the country on Sunday:


US-led Operation Swarmer, against insurgents and foreign fighters near Samarra, is now into its fourth day

Police say that at least eight civilians - including a woman and a child - were killed when US forces opened fire after coming under attack in the town of Dhuluiya, north of Baghdad

Gunmen killed three Iraqi police in the northern town of Mosul

Two bomb attacks killed a policeman and wounded 12 other people in Baquba, north-east of Baghdad

There were reports of a mortar shell exploding in the southern city of Karbala as Shias gathered for one of the biggest events of their religious calendar. No casualties were reported.
'Sectarianism will spread'

Mr Allawi heads the Iraqi National List, a secular nationalist alliance made up of Sunnis and Shias.

Speaking on BBC TV's Sunday AM programme, he said it would be a mistake to underplay Iraq's problems, although the country was "edging towards" a political deal

He said he had warned against creating a vacuum in the country and raised concerns about the insurgents and the dismantling of the military.

"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more.

"If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."

Mr Allawi added that a national unity government may not be "an immediate solution" to the country's problems.

Iraq is moving towards the "point of no return", he said, when the country would fragment.

"It will not only fall apart but sectarianism will spread throughout the region, and even Europe and the US will not be spared the violence that results...," he said.

bbc.co.uk

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Occupation in Iraq Enters 4th Year

Occupation in Iraq Enters 4th Year
By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Monday, March 20, 2006
zaman.com


The US-led occupation against Iraq initiated on the grounds that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to humanity and with the aim of rescuing the Iraqi people from their suffering, has entered its fourth year.

Despite the loss of more than 2,000 US soldiers in addition to tens of thousands of civilians and with millions of dollars spent, the three-year occupation has failed to bring political stability and domestic security to the country.

The political conflict caused by disagreements on the country's new constitution and the increase in violence is being interpreted as a civil war by some circles.

The Iraqi policy, declared US President George Bush, "We are using a strategy to bring about victory. This victory will make Iraq a securer country and make it possible for the next generations to live in peace," and denied that the 75 acts of resistance per day and the deaths of 50-60 each day does not mean that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war.

The current pessimistic image of the US, which it failed to prevent with expenditure of more than $300 billion, has now reached Bush supporters. Support for Bush has fallen to 30 percent since the elections in 2003.

The occupation which the US administration started on the premise that they were trying "to prevent Iraq from becoming a nuclear threat"-an allegation that has never been proved- was protested with demonstrations worldwide at the end of the third year.

Shouts of "Stop the war," and calls to withdraw foreign troops stationed in Iraq were made at the demonstrations held around the globe, from hurricane-hit Louisiana, to the Australian city of Sydney.

Nearly 200 veterans, hurricane survivors and peace supporters in Louisiana pointed out the occupation's effects on the US and accused the Washington administration of focusing on the Iraqi issue and overlooking the necessary care for hurricane survivors in the US.

Nearly 200 peace supporters in another demonstration held over weekend marched from 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York to Times Square. Seventeen of demonstrators were arrested by police.

About 15,000 people joined demonstrations held in London. The demonstration moved from the Houses of Parliament to Trafalgar Square ended without any incidents.

While most of the demonstrations were held in countries that sent troops to Iraq, a crowd of about 800 people protested the war in Japan’s capital, Tokya, shouting "No to war", "stop the war."

Demonstrations were also held in South Korea, the country that sent the most troops to Iraq after the US and UK. Anti-war slogans were shouted in the demonstration where more than 1,000 people participated.

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Over 350 Prisoners Released in Iraq

Over 350 Prisoners Released in Iraq
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Bagdat (Baghdad)
Published: Monday, March 20, 2006
zaman.com


The US Army announced Saturday the release of more than 350 detainees in Iraq.

No detailed information about where the prisoners were released were included in a written statement, but the decision was reached after a four-party commission meeting among the multinational forces, the Iraqi Justice, the Interior, and Human Rights ministry representatives held to examine the prisoners’ files.

This commission has regularly examined prisoner files since August 2004.

Independent sources say about 14,000 Iraqi prisoners are held in US detention centers in Iraq

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Khalilzad: Iraq is Bleeding

Khalilzad: Iraq is Bleeding
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Washington
Published: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
zaman.com


US Ambassador to Bagdat (Baghdad) Zalmay Khalilzad said, “Iraq is bleeding,” referring to the situation in Iraq.

The Ambassador told NBC on the anniversary of the US occupation in Iraq that there is no civil war in Iraq, but that Iraq is experiencing a difficult period.

Although three months have passed since the elections, political party leaders have not reached any agreement on forming a government and choosing the prime minister, he complained.

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Iraq war enters 4th year with security and political future uncertain

Iraq war enters 4th year with security and political future uncertain

The Associated Press / Baghdad



As the Iraq war entered its fourth year, nearly 1,500 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers sought to root out insurgents from farming villages an hour's drive north of the capital, and at least 35 people died in insurgent and sectarian violence nationwide.

Iraqi politicians still had not formed a government more than three months after landmark elections for the country's first permanent post-invasion parliament, but they announced an agreement Sunday on naming a Security Council to deal with key matters while negotiations proceed.

The 133,000 American troops on the ground inside Iraq was nearly a third more than took part in the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein that began in the early hours of March 20, 2003.

At least 2,314 U.S. military personnel have died in the war, which is estimated to have cost $200 billion (164 billion euros) to $250 billion (205 billion euros) so far. U.S. President George W. Bush says about 30,000 Iraqis have been killed, while others put the toll far higher.

Returning to the White House after a weekend at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, Bush offered an upbeat assessment.

"We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq. And a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come," he said.

Many politicians both inside and outside Iraq said the continuing violence could only be described as a civil war.

"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more," former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told British Broadcasting Corp. "If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."

The Bush administration and U.S. military leaders disagreed.

"Personally don't believe, one, that we're there now; two, that civil war is imminent; and, three, that it is inevitable that it will happen," Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an interview with Fox television.

In a sign of political progress, Iraq's top politicians emerged from the fourth in a series of U.S.-brokered all-party meetings on forming a new government and reported they had established an advisory, 19-member Security Council.

The council, to be headed by President Jalal Talabani, was established as an interim measure as politicians struggle to agree on the makeup of a new government following the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

"It was a successful meeting, and we have agreed on forming a National Security Council whose powers will not contradict the constitution," Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab political leader, told The Associated Press.

Al-Dulaimi said nine council seats would go to Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, while Kurds and Sunni Arabs each would control four seats and the secular bloc two. Talabani, a Kurd, would head the group.

The exact powers of the council, if any, were not explained. But it appeared to have been formed to ensure that politicians from minority blocs would at least be consulted in advance on important government and security decisions.

The political discussions on forming a government began last week under pressure from U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. Al-Dulaimi said the talks would not resume until Saturday because of Shiite and Kurdish holidays this week. Khalilzad has urged patience for the prolonged political negotiations. "I think it will take a few more weeks," he said Friday.

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Gunmen storm Iraqi police station killing dozens

Gunmen storm Iraqi police station killing dozens

The Associated Press / Baghdad



Insurgents stormed a jail about dawn Tuesday in the Sunni Muslim heartland north of Baghdad, killing at least 17 policemen and a courthouse guard.

Authorities said all 33 prisoners in the lockup were freed and 10 attackers were killed in the battle.

As many as 100 insurgent fighters - armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades - stormed the judicial compound in Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers northeast of the capital. The assault began after the attackers fired a mortar round into the police and court complex, said police Brig. Ali al-Jabouri.

After burning the police station, the insurgents detonated a string of roadside bombs as they fled, taking the bodies of many of their dead comrades with them, police said. At least 13 policemen and civilians and 15 gunmen were wounded in the attack.

Five other police were wounded in two separate roadside bomb attacks targeting patrols in northern and southern Baghdad early Tuesday, police said.

Tuesday's assaults came a day after 39 people were reported killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs in Iraq, continuing the wave of violence that has left more than 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a Shiite Muslim shrine.

Police found the bodies of at least 15 more people - including that of a 13-year-old girl - dumped in and near Baghdad. The discoveries marked the latest in a string of execution-style killings that have become an almost daily occurrence as Sunni and Shiite extremists settle scores.

As night fell on Monday, a bomb struck a coffee shop in northern Baghdad, killing at least three civilians and injuring 23 others. The bomb was left in a plastic bag inside the shop in a market area of the Azamiyah neighborhood, police Maj. Falah al-Mohammadewi said.

At about the same time, gunmen killed two oil engineers leaving work at the Beiji refinery north of Baghdad. An electrical engineer and technician were gunned down at the nearby power station, Beiji police Lt. Khalaf Ayed Al-Janabi said.

Separately, the owner of a small grocery in downtown Baghdad was shot and killed.

In southeast Baghdad, also toward evening, a roadside bomb blew apart a minibus, killing four pilgrims returning from the holy city of Karbala, where millions of Shiite faithful gathered to mark the 40th and final day of the annual mourning period for Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Five pilgrims on their way to Karbala were wounded in a drive-by shooting earlier in the day, police said.

Otherwise, the commemoration passed largely without incident and absent the violent bomb attacks that have hit pilgrims there over the past two years.