Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Iraq: Mortar attacks, moats, burning buildings

Through Monday, Iraq Body Count count 452 violent deaths in Iraq so far this month.  Today, National Iraqi News Agency reports the corpse of a 10-year-old child was discovered 2 weeks after the child was kidnapped, Nouri's forces killed 1 man in Tikrit,  a Mosul bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left two more injured, a mortar attack on military headquarters outside of Mosul left 1 civilian dead and seven more injured, and 2 police officers were shot dead in Mosul.  Meanwhile Alsumaria reports a fire has broken out in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals.

We don't generally include fires in the violence section but this is a government building.  It's said to be resulting from 'electrical issues' and that may well be true.  But government buildings should be up to code and if Nouri has failed at something even that basic . . .  Nouri has repeatedly ignored basic public service issues.  In contrast, All Iraq News reports that the Kurdistan Regional Government has allocated 9 billion dollars to address the water problems.

Nouri lives in denial and apparently cultivates it within State of Law.  All Iraq News quotes State of Law MP Sadiq al-Labban declaring that there will not be another crisis between Baghdad and Erbil.  Not only have the for-show meetings not ended the current crises between Baghdad and Erbil, but there are emerging problems.  NINA notes that Kurdistan Alliance MP Vian Dekeel is objecting to the push to pass "important and disputed laws in the House of Representatives in one basket deal." That puts them in direct opposition to State of Law.

On the violence, ABC News Radio quotes Baghdad University professor Nabil Mohammed stating, "People can’t say that things are getting better or are going to be better in the near future.  People are just looking for something to help them survive."


Hence the return of the proposed 'moats.'  This time the 'protective trench' would be around dispute Kirkuk.  Yerevan Saeed (Rudaw) reports:


 Two months ago Kirkuk’s Provincial Council decided in a majority vote to dig a 58-kilometer security trench around the city, in a controversial decision to control entrance into the oil-rich and violence-wracked area which is at the center of a dispute between Iraq’s different ethnic and religious groups.
This plan would leave the city with four main entrances, which are to be monitored by surveillance cameras. The trench itself is to be reinforced with barbed wire and regular police patrols.
Hassan Turhan, a Turkmen official in Kirkuk’s provincial council, first proposed a security trench in 2012. But Kirkuk officials only put the plan into action this year, particularly after a series of deadly bombings that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

World Bulletin notes:

 
Iraqi Turkmens are the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq and live primarily in Kirkuk and Tuzhurmatu. Kirkuk Province is a historically diverse area; in addition to ethnic Turkmens, there are also many Arabs and Kurds. Friday's blast in the city took place in an area of previous ethnic, sectarian and political clashes.
Mehmet Tütüncü, the general director of the İstanbul-based Iraqi Turks Culture and Mutual Aid Society (ITKYD), told Today's Zaman that there is a bomb blast every day of the week in Iraq and pointed out that there are many more attacks occurring in predominately Turkmen areas as compared to other ethnic groups in Iraq.
“It is very hard to say who is behind the attack in Kirkuk, but I can easily say that there are many attacks directed at areas where Turkmens live,” Tütüncü said, underlining the fact that the Turkmen community is the only unarmed ethnic group in Iraq.

Lastly, there's some news on whistle-blower Ed Snowden.  Eyder Peralta (NPR) reports, "Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked a cache of classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs, officially filed for temporary asylum in Russia on Tuesday, a human rights lawyer and WikiLeaks say."

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