Monday, September 10, 2012

The continued violence in Iraq

Sinan Salaheddin (AP) reports an attack on a Dujail checkpoint that has left 3 Sahwa dead.  (Sahwa are fighter originally put on the US payroll to stop attacking US troops and US equipment, in 2008, then top US commander in Iraq David Petreaus -- now CIA Director -- credited Sahwa with turning a phase of the war around.  Sahwa are also known as "Sons of Iraq" and "Awakenings.")  All Iraq News notes a Falluja roadside bombing has left two Iraqi soldiers injured.  Alsumaria adds police are stating that they killed a suicide car bomber in Falluja.  All Iraq News also notes an armed attack in Samarra which left 2 people dead and three people injured.  Trend News Agency notes that Turkish warplanes bombed northern Iraq for over an hour in their ongoing conflict with the PKK.    Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk."  AFP notes Turkish TV (NTV network) today stated that battles between the PKK (and other Kurdish rebels -- PKK are in northern Iraq) and the Turkish military this year  have left over 461 people dead after 1,000 military assaults.

Iraq is still recovering from yesterday's violence which, Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) notes claimed at least 107 lives and left at least 484 injured.  Al Rafidayn notes that the wave of violence left the main hospital in Amara overcrowded and calls for donations of blood were made over loud speakers.

Alsumaria notes that KRG President Massoud Barzani is stating that the Baghdad-based government is failing the people, that is has created a crisis (the political crisis) and, instead of addressing it, has exploited it.  Equally true, Nouri made time to dash over to Iran when Tehran beckoned for a summit when he should have been addressing the ongoing issues in Iraq.   It is assumed (true or not) that al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is responsible for the attacks.  Dar Addustour notes the Ministry of the Interior is blaming that group while Parliament wants answers as to how the attacks happened, how the attacks continue to happen?

That's a question people should ask.  They should have asked it in 2010 when they were going to vote in parliamentary elections.  Nouri's been prime minister since 2006.  At what point does he get held accountable for his actions?

Remember that Nouri has not filled the security ministries.  He was supposed to do that in December 2010.  Instead, he has assumed leadership of them in what was rightly called a power-grab at the start of 2011.  As violence has increased in Iraq, there has been no Minister of Defense, no Minister of the Interior and no Minister of National Security.  At what point does Nouri get held accountable for failing to provide security and failing to staff the security posts?




Bonnie reminds that Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Tom Hayden Democrats" went up yesterday.   On this week's Law and Disorder Radio,  an hour long program that airs Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. EST on WBAI and around the country throughout the week, hosted by attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Michael S. Smith and Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights) topics addressed include Bradley Manning, Heidi speaks about the national security events at the political conventions and attorney Darius Charney speaks about the class actional lawsuit against NYC over Stop And Frisk.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.


 


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