The Common Ills: 16 dead, 23 injured

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

16 dead, 23 injured

National Iraqi News Agency reports the military killed 2 suspects in Mtaibijh, a Mosul roadside bombing left two people injured, another Mosul roadside bombing claimed 2 lives and left a police officer injured, a Falluja roadside bombing injured three people, an armed clash to the west of Mosul left 4 Federal Police and SWAT forces dead and four more injured, a Kirkuk roadside bombing claimed 1 life and left another person injured, and last night a Baquba suicide bomber attacked a cafe leaving 7 people dead and twelve injured. -- last night's bombing has resulted in allegedly tighter security and in "popular cafes in the city of Baquba" closing their doors today. That's 16 dead and twenty-three injured.

Still on the topic of violence, last week kicked off a series of repeated bombings of football fields in Iraq -- the most recent being on Sunday. Khalis Rifhan (Goal) reports:

Sheikh Salman has urged the local government to ensure that spectators are safe at football matches and insisted that the game should be used to unite people

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has strongly condemned the series of attacks on football stadia in Iraq.
A bomb recently went off at a Baghdad arena, killing 15 people, mostly youngsters, during a domestic league match between Karbala and Air Force.
Several Karbala players were also wounded as a result of the incident, while coach Mohammed Abbas died from injuries sustained in the bombing.

Turning to the KRG, from yesterday's snapshot:

There's also political news out of the KRG. Al Rafidayn reports that, amidst outcries from the Goran (Change) opposition party, the KRG Parliament voted to extend the term of President Massoud Barzani by two years. Alsumaria notes that this will extend Barzani's term to 2015 and that this two-year-extension may not be repeated. The Turkish Press notes that the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -- the KRG's two major political parties voted in favor of the measure while Goran, Yekgirtu and Komal (minor parties) were against the measure and refused to vote. The move means that, while provincial elections are scheduled for September in the KRG, the presidency will not be voted on until 2015. Though minor parties were upset, the Kurdish people most likely will not be. Last week, Alsumaria reported on a new poll of the KRG which find that 69% of those surveyed want Barzani to serve a third term. That number is much larger than any press reports have indicated. At issue was a measure passed during Barzani's first term as president limited the president to two terms only. The measure was not retroactive. So Barzani could have run for the presidency again -- and there was support from his political party for another run. The two-year extension appears to be a way to avoid a third term.

Kamal Chomani (World Bulletin) opines today:

While President Masoud Barzani was in a meeting with the French President François Hollande, discussing the Kurdistan Region’s booming economy and democracy, his Kurdistan Democratic Party was in another meeting with Jalal Talabani’s party, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, breaching the laws and violating the most basic principles of democracy in their effort to extend Barzani’s incumbent term for another two years. However, a surprising development occurred when a few of the PUK’s Politburo members and the KDP agreed, in a clandestine meeting, to postpone extending Barzani’s term until August 19, 2015, and to extend the Parliament’s term to be continued till November 1, 2013.

In the comments (there are two) to the article, already one rejects Chomani's conclusions and offers that the stability is needed due to the fact that Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution has still not been implemented and disputed Kirkuk remains unresolved. That's actually not going to be a rare opinion. The reason for the massive support (69%) in the poll had to do with that and it had to do with the fact that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's fate remains a question mark.

Last December, Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently. At the end of May, photos popped up -- Al Mada ran a photo of Jalal Talabani seated outdoors with his medical team -- to refute rumors that Talabani was worse than was being let on. Repeated assertions that he would return to Iraq shortly have yet to pan out.

There are two main political parties in the KRG: the PUK and the KDP. They transfer power back-and-forth rather easily. With the question mark around Jalal currently, it's not a surprise that his PUK would side with the KDP and would most likely argue that this is a stability issue -- important as calls for Jalal to be replaced include a small number of calls for him to be replaced with a Shi'ite (which would strip the Kurds of the ceremonial post of president which carries little weight but a great deal of international prestige).

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority without a homeland. The KRG is semi-autonomous but not autonomous -- or not yet autonomous. Barzoo Eliassi offers a take on the Kurdish movement at Rudaw:

While a large part of the leftist intellectuals and writers continue to enchant certain national movements like the Palestinian movement as an anti-imperialist/anti-racist/anti-colonial movement, some of them tend to marginalize and mute the Kurdish national movements in the Middle East as internal problems of certain states and fail to see the historically imposed fragmentation of the Kurdish identity.
These intellectuals (e.g. Tariq Ali and Hamid Dabashi) are more in favor of sustaining the sovereignty of the current authoritarian states (that are in itself imperial and colonial constructs), rather than altering them or advocating for the national rights of the Kurds.
Further, the Kurdish national movements are often regarded as proxies for imperialist and Zionist plots against Middle Eastern states. This discourse has been used by Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey to dismiss Kurdish demands for political, economic and cultural rights.
Prominent leftist writers and intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Harold Pinter and Dario Fo have been much more consistent and inclusive than Ali, Said and Dabashi when representing the situation of different oppressed groups in the Middle East.
Chomsky who is also a strong pro-Palestinian and a friend of the late Said, has continuously criticized both the vicious Turkish policies against the Kurds and the American weapon trade with Turkey. Equally, Pinter engaged very early with the Anti-Apartheid movement and was a fierce opponent of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but also advocates for the linguistic rights of the Kurds, which made him an unwanted man in Turkey.

Whether you agree with that or not, it expresses the feeling of many Kurds. And many look to the KRG as the closest to a homeland they currently have. Those who do so tend to feel vested in the future of the KRG and will be more likely to see the Barzani move as for the overall good of Kurdish interests. I'm not saying that it is in the overall good or that it isn't, but I am saying those attempting to object to the move by the KRG Parliament are going to find themselves in a lonely minority because most Kurds in the region support the move or are willing to go along with it to see how it plays out. That's how you end up with a poll demonstrating 69% support for Massoud Barzani having a third term. Equally true, as he's stood up to Nouri since 2011, he's become an even stronger figure on the national and international stage -- a stage he's also made less mistakes from allowing him to become one of Iraq's most recognized leaders internationally.

The following community sites -- plus Cindy Sheehan, Adam Kokesh, Pacifica Evening News, Tavis Smiley and Antiwar.com -- updated last night and this morning: