The Common Ills: Tikrit -- like that political solution -- still not seized

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Tikrit -- like that political solution -- still not seized

Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) report fighting continues in Tikrit and that Minister of Interior Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban expressed the belief that Tikrit will be liberated or 'liberated' "within the coming hours." Press TV provides a lengthier quote, “There are only a few pockets of resistance left and we will announce the good news within the coming hours that these pockets of resistance are eliminated."

Yes, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi did announce victory yesterday and, yes, it was a premature announcement.

Katherine De Guzman (Yibada) notes, "According to CNN, although the Iraqi military and security forces already claimed victory, the battle is still ongoing and the fighting ensues. The ISIS Militants did not yet clear the area as a significant number of them are still in Tikrit. "

As we noted yesterday, al-Abadi gave a speech thanking everyone for their efforts . . . except US forces dropping the bombs he begged for.

Today, the omitted receive attention from Moqtada al-Sadr. Alsumaria reports the cleric and movement leader denounced the US forces as "occupation forces" and called for them to stay out of Iraq's affairs.

Moqtada also called for the Iraqi forces to treat civilians in the liberated or 'liberated' areas fairly.

UNAMI released their figures for March, finding a minimum of 997 deaths from violence and 2,172 left injured.

Where's that political solution?

The Iraqi Parliament did meet today . . .

and less than four hours later adjourned with the plan to hold another session on Saturday.

While Barack's insisted a political solution is the only answer to Iraq's crises, little US diplomacy has been spent on that goal.

And as he and the State Dept continue to dally, many longterm watchers realize, kick the can only lasts so long.

If they're thinking, "Oh, we can wait"?

They don't know Iraq.

The Parliament has no plans to work through the summer heat.

This was an issue earlier in the Iraq War, only because the US Congress threw a fit -- rightly -- that as US forces were fighting to secure Iraq, the Parliament was going on a month long summer vacation.

The deadline for political solutions to be reached?

Approaching.

As usual, the White House has been caught off guard and unaware.

Moving over to Canada, Dean Walcott and Joshua Key are among the US war resisters fighting to remain in Canada and this is the latest on their efforts.

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com -- updated: