The Common Ills: Iraq: At least 41 killed, forty-five injured

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Iraq: At least 41 killed, forty-five injured

National Iraqi News Agency reports that Jameel al-Shimari, Diyala Province's Police Commander, emerged alive and unhamred from a Baquba assassination attempt. Others in Iraq today were not as fortunate.

NINA notes a southwest Baghdad car bombing left 2 people dead and nine more injured, an Abu Ghraib market bombing left 2 people dead and eight injured, a Baghdad bombing (west Baghdad, Amiriya district) left five people injured, a bombing on the University of Mosul campus (targeting university president Abe al-Dowachi) left one campus employee injured, an Okashat roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 person and left another injured, a Falluja bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and left two more injured, 1 "police intelligence agent" was shot dead in Mosul, 2 suicide bombers in Tarmiya apparently attempted to target the mayor who was unharmed but the 2 did kill 7 people and left fifteen more injured, 1 police officer was shot dead in Mosul, and a Baladruz suicide car bombing claimed the lives of 2 police officers and left four more injured. All Iraq News adds that 4 suicide bombers stormed Tikrit's social welfare building resulting in 22 deaths and thirty people being injured.

That's at least 41 deaths and 45 injured. And it's not the only reported violence. I have no idea why US outlets are publishing -- right now -- that 20 or so people have been killed in Iraq. They need to work a little harder.

Salam Faraj (AFP) offers an analysis of the ongoing violence which includes:

Diplomats, experts and human rights groups have argued for months that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite Arab, must reach out to the country's Sunni minority and start work to reform anti-terror laws and rules barring members of former dictator Saddam Hussein's party from participating in public life.

They also say security forces must stop using heavy-handed tactics in Sunni sections of Baghdad and western and northern Iraq, such as mass arrests and the closing off of entire neighbourhoods.

Sunnis, who were in ascendance during Saddam's rule, have for months protested over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities, complaining specifically of wrongful arrest, long periods of detention without trial and abuse in prison.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) has an important article regarding the parliamentary elections planned for April 30th:

The low number of voters who showed up to update their records in preparation for the legislative elections in April 2014 is worrisome and raises questions about the will for change. The figures leaked from the Electoral Commission indicate that fewer than 500,000 people updated their records days before the expiration of the statutory period.
Even though leaders such as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on voters to update their records, this failed to raise the participation rates to numbers significant enough to make an impact.
This raises concerns of political leaders such as Ethel Nujaifi, the governor of Mosul, who said that only 4% of Mosul’s Arabs showed up to update their records.

No one's done more than Ammar al-Hakim when it comes for calling for the records to be updated. The leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq issued a call for updating again as last week ended and he issued one on Monday as well.

We didn't note it because we'd noted his call before -- and that of other political leaders.

I point that out because Nouri's State of Law has an MP furious with me over something I didn't note in the snapshot.

He is correct, I didn't note it.

The first snapshot after the end of the month -- check the archives -- always has as its main focus the death toll for the month that's ended.

I also didn't explore David Bacon's article -- which did get into the snapshot -- but hope to later in the week.

In terms of what Nouri said, the plan was to cover it today.

If I do, State of Law won't be pleased.

I don't trumpet empty words. And I will of course be required to note that real leaders addressed the topic last week, that we called Nouri out here for not addressing it.

Ayad Allawi had an important statement yesterday. It didn't get noted either. It'll be noted today.

Some times, when something's not noted, there's no "grand conspiracy to overthrow" Nouri (as the e-mail alleges me being part of), I'm just not in the mood to spend forever on a snapshot or I just don't have the room.

I did see the reports on Nouri's remarks. It is a topic we take seriously -- as evidenced by the fact that we're the only ones in the US who bothered to cover it in any form last week. But yesterday's snapshot was primarily about the violence.

The Jewish artificats? That wouldn't have even been included if a Los Angeles Times friend hadn't asked for a link. (That story is important and we covered it at least twice last week. It would have made a snapshot this week. But if it weren't for the request, it wouldn't have made it into Monday's snapshot.)

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, Jane Fonda, Black Agenda Report, NPR and Jody Watley -- updated: