The Common Ills: Over 240 deaths in Iraq already this month

Saturday, September 07, 2013

Over 240 deaths in Iraq already this month

Following a meeting with the Cabinet, Alsumaria reports, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi. Both dismissed using a military strike on Syria. Both agree the only answer is a political solution. Nouri's already called for a meet-up (usually referring to it as Geneva II) and he's also stated he has an 8-point peace plan to propose.

The thought of Nouri having a peace plan is laughable to many including the Ashraf community. Press TV reports, "The Iraqi government has ordered the remaining members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to immediately evacuate Camp Ashraf following the recent attack against the group." This follows the attack on Camp Ashraf (by Nouri's forces) Sunday. The US State Dept issued a statement on that.

Press Statement

Marie Harf
Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

September 1, 2013

The United States strongly condemns the terrible events that took place at Camp Ashraf today, which according to various reports resulted in the deaths of and injuries to numerous camp residents. Our condolences go out to the families of the victims and those who were injured in today’s violence.
We are deeply concerned about these reports and are in regular contact with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), as well as Government of Iraq officials. We support UNAMI's efforts to conduct its own assessment of the situation and call on the Government of Iraq to fully support those efforts.
We further call on Iraqi authorities to act with urgency to immediately ensure medical assistance to the wounded and to secure the camp against any further violence or harm to the residents. We underscore the responsibility of the Government of Iraq and all relevant stakeholders to ensure the safety and security of residents at both Camp Ashraf and Camp Hurriyah, and we affirm the call by UNAMI for a full and independent investigation into this terrible and tragic event. Those found to be responsible must be held fully accountable.

As we noted in Thursday's snapshot, this latest attack prompted no 'humanitarian concern' from the people who insist Syria must be bombed for 'humanitarian reasons.' From that day's snapshot:

All the ones arguing humanitarian grounds for Syria -- including the ridiculous US House Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz with her "as a Jew" statement -- need to ask where is the humanitarian concern for the Ashraf community?

The United States could actually put more boots on the ground in Iraq as a result of that attack. International law would allow that (some legal scholars would argue that international law compels it).

I must have missed Debs Wasserman weighing in on the attack, "as a Jew," right?

Adam Schreck (AP) reported Tuesday that the United Nations just confirmed the deaths of 52 Ashraf residents. Al Mada noted Monday that Nouri's declared he should be over the Iraqi investigation since he's commander-in-chief. And that's exactly why he shouldn't be over it. Tuesday, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a statement which included:

Reiterating his previous statement, the UN Envoy expressed his outrage at the brutal killing of the camp’s residents. Mr. Busztin took note of the statement issued by the Government of Iraq announcing it has initiated its own investigation into the tragic events and acknowledging its responsibility for the safety of the camp’s residents. “I call on the Iraqi government to ensure that a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into this atrocious crime is conducted without delay and that the results of the investigation are made public”, he said.

Today, Christopher Booker points out, "We wring our hands over Syria, but not the massacre of 52 Iranians" (Telegraph of London). The National Council of Resistance of Iran notes the remarks of three US commanders:

US Lieutenant Colonel Leo McCloskey told a ceremony on September 6 to commemorate the dead that he had promised the people of Ashraf in 2009 that they would be protected and now he 'had been lied to'.
He said: "We have not given them the protection. We have made them commitment and these people dying today and tomorrow.
"This has got to stop. We as Americans have to help. These crimes against humanity cannot be tolerated. People need to be brought to justice. We need an international tribunal to try these people for these crimes.
"We need the UN to put people on the ground now, not next week or the week later. We need it now. We need more heroes like these people.
"I have not slept since the day in 2009 when I turned the responsibility over to the Iraqi army. They promised to protect these people and they haven’t. We have to stand up. We have to fight this injustice. Pray to God these people rest in peace."
US Colonel Barry Johnson added: "The needless slaughter of 52 of your comrades in the latest attack and murder of residents both sickens and angers me. I assure you that it angers anybody who is in uniform and has been a part of mission to protect the people of Ashraf and Liberty.
"It angers me because we who believed in the promises of the US mean something and promise of protection to people in these camps mean something, the US utterly failing our commitment to you.
"We received a promise as well, a promise from the government of Iraq that they would hold the commitment of protection, but instead the people of Camp Ashraf and Liberty have received nothing but harassment and death.
"The time for more words and more promises has long past. The latest attack and murders must be seen as an immediate call to the US and the UN to take action. The actions have been spoken before I state them again."
[. . .]

And Colonel [Thomas] Cantwell told the ceremony: "As a military commander I was responsible for the security of Camp Ashraf 10 years ago in 2003.
"The attack on Ashraf that took place last week was a brutal attack, very cold blooded. It was well planned obviously. UNAMI has asked the government of Iraq to conduct an investigation. The US government has applauded the government of Iraq’s announcement that they would conduct an investigation.
"I have been responsible for security in Ashraf. Ashraf is a large compound surrounded by miles of desert. I find it very difficult and in fact beyond belief that the security forces at Ashraf did not know that the camp was under attack, especially if it was attack from three different directions.
"I simply find it unbelievable that the security forces there were unaware of the attack. For me, requesting the government to investigate, you are asking the government that was either complicit in the attack as a willing partner or a government that criminally neglected its responsibility to secure the camp. That is simply unacceptable.
"I echo the calls for an impartial investigation by a third party. I would also say that the third party has to be outside UNAMI as well because it appears that UNAMI was partially complicit in a sense that they are apparently denying protective equipment to the people at camp Liberty."

UNAMI issued the following on Nouri's announcement that he's moving the last fifty or so Ashraf residents (the rest of the community was forcibly moved to Camp Hurriya last year):

Baghdad, 7 September 2013 – The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has been informed that the Government of Iraq has served an order to relocate the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya. The United Nations believes that the Iraqi Government will move to enforce this order without delay.

“We strongly hope all parties will act responsibly and that the process of relocation to Camp Hurriya will be peaceful and voluntary,” the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Gyorgy Busztin, said.

The UN Envoy repeatedly urged both sides to act responsibly and to show restraint to prevent any violence during the relocation process. “The United Nations has made tireless efforts to facilitate an agreement between the two sides, and went every extra mile for peaceful relocation,” Mr. Busztin added.

“The UN stands ready to monitor the process, should an agreement be reached between all parties involved to relocate voluntarily to Camp Hurriya,” Mr. Busztin concluded.

Nouri and his forces will be the biggest threat to the Ashraf community -- as has always been the case.

Camp Ashraf housed a group of Iranian dissidents who were welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they could utilize. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the Geneva Conventions. This is key and demands the US defend the Ashraf community in Iraq from attacks. The Bully Boy Bush administration grasped that -- they were ignorant of every other law on the books but they grasped that one. As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp repeatedly attacked after Barack Obama was sworn in as US President. July 28, 2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). In a report released this summer entitled "Iraqi government must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009; by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike." April 8, 2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the assault took place). Amnesty International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on 8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive, including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on other occasions when the government has announced investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation was, in fact, carried out." Those weren't the last attacks. They were the last attacks while the residents were labeled as terrorists by the US State Dept. (September 28, 2012, the designation was changed.) In spite of this labeling, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions." So the US has an obligation to protect the residents. 3,300 are no longer at Camp Ashraf. They have moved to Camp Hurriyah for the most part. A tiny number has received asylum in other countries. Approximately 100 were still at Camp Ashraf when it was attacked Sunday. That was the second attack this year alone. February 9th of this year, the Ashraf residents were again attacked, this time the ones who had been relocated to Camp Hurriyah. Trend News Agency counted 10 dead and over one hundred injured. Prensa Latina reported, " A rain of self-propelled Katyusha missiles hit a provisional camp of Iraqi opposition Mujahedin-e Khalk, an organization Tehran calls terrorists, causing seven fatalities plus 50 wounded, according to an Iraqi official release."

In today's violence, NINA reports Ali Hayawi, neighborhood mayor, was shot dead in Baquba, a Baghdad suicide bomber killed 2 police officers and left five more injured, Dawa party member Mohammed al-Zubaidi was injured in a Musayab car bombing (he died at the hospital), a Mosul roadside bombing injured a police officer and 2 Iraqi soldiers, a woman was shot dead in Mosul, a Mosul roadside bombing injured a police officer, and a Mosul bombing (hidden in or near a corpse) claimed the life of 1 police officer. Yesterday was the 6th day of the month. Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 236 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month. That's nearly forty deaths a day.

In other bad news, Aswat al-Iraq reports, "And report prepared by two NGO organizations revealed that Iraq has 6 million illiterates, with no solutions to solve the problem. In a copy received by Aswat al-Iraq, the report was issued on the International day on Illiteracy Eradication, today. It pointed out that the last census made was in 1997, but no exact statistics were published on illiteracy in Iraq." That is an appalling figure. That's approximately one-fifth of Iraq's population. Nouri long ago should have done serious spending on public services including education. (Nouri has been prime minster since 2006.)

In other political news, NINA reports:

Leader of Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), Ammar al-Hakeem, stressed the necessity to pass the Election Law and hold it on time.
A statement issued by the SIIC said that in meeting with Speaker of Parliament, Usama al-Nijaif, on Friday Sep. 6, Hakeem stressed the necessity to support security agencies in countering terrorism; pointing out the importance of meetings between political forces to create positive environment that help in solving problems and serving the citizens through local governments.
The two discussed developments of the political process in Iraq and events in Syria. Hakeem stressed the necessity of peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis, and warning from military. intervention.

On the issue of holding the parliamentary elections on time, Nouri is insisting they should be delayed for eight months. Why?

His term didn't start until November 2010 and the elections were held in April 2010, so he says he deserves an additional 8 months.

Of course, Nouri lost the election to Ayad Allawi.

Ayad Allawi is supposed to be prime minister.

But Nouri refused to vacate the office. He stamped his feet and the White House (and the Iranian government) supported him in this theft. The US government brokered The Erbil Agreement, a contract that went around the Iraqi Constitution to give Nouri what the voters didn't want him to have). Having succeeded in stealing a second term, he now wants to whine he needs 8 more months.

The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, War News Radio, Ms. magazine's blog, Tavis Smiley, Antiwar.com and the House Foreign Affairs Committee -- updated last night and today -- also plus Wally's "THIS JUST IN! IT'S GROWING!" which isn't showing up currently: