Thursday, August 15, 2013

Baghdad slammed by bombings

BBC News reports Bahgdad has been slammed today with "at least six car bombs."  Al Jazeera counts 7 bombings, 40 dead and fifty-six injured and notes:

 Aljazeera's Imran Khan said most authorities in Iraqi government have been finger-pointing one group, a group calling itself al-Qaeda in Iraq, adding that there has been no claims of responsibility so far.
"Timing is very interesting, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave a speech on state TV on Wednesday night," Khan said.


 Xinhua explains, "One of the car bombs went off in the crowded district of Alawi, near the Green Zone which houses the Iraqi government offices and some foreign embassies, killing four people and wounding 12, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity."  ITV news offers this on the Green Zone:





  • Green Zone is the common name for a 10 square kilometre site in the centre of Baghdad which houses the coalition government buildings.
  • Surrounded by a seventeen foot high concrete fence it was where the key diplomats from the international community where based.



Kristen Butler (UPI) notes, "The attacks took place at nearly the same time across the city, during rush hour." ITV offers a Reuters photo essay here.


Heather Saul (Indpendent) quotes Mohammed Sabri, eye witness to a Baghdad market bombing stating, "I got closer and saw burning cars, two charred bodies and several people on the ground. Security officials keep telling us that their forces are able to protect us, but this has not happened yet."  Kareem Raheem, Raheem Salman, Sylvia Westall and Elizabeth Piper (Reuters) quote an Iraqi male who was injured (and declined to give his name), "Windows were smashed and my children started screaming and running everywhere, smoke and dust filled my house. The politicians are responsible for the deterioration in security."


Best Tweet of the morning?  Probably this:


  1. 2m
    Maliki: armed forces have "completely destroyed" Al-Qaeda's infrastructure is the Green Zone in a different planet?
    View media

Like his dubious actions (mass arrests), little good comes from Nouri's empty words.

ITV notes the death toll has risen to 42.  It may go higher.  But Baghdad's not the only place in Iraq targeted with violence.   National Iraqi News Agency reports a Falluja roadside bombing left two Iraqi soldiers injured, a Mosul roadside bombing claimed 2 lives and left two more people injured, and "an armed attack on the road between Shatrah county and Aldawwayah village" left 1 person dead and two more injured.  Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 390 violent deaths so far this month.


Today Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's Foreign Minister meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry.  All Iraq News notes that earlier today in Iraq, US Senator Bob Corker met with Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq.

 While politicians continue to meet for talks,  Iraqis are met with violence.

The following community sites -- plus The Diane Rehm Show, Dissident Voice, Antiwar.com, Pacifica Evening News, Susan's On the Edge, Black Agenda Report, The Bat Segundo Show and  the Center for Constitutional Rights -- updated last night:


The International Crisis Group issued the following media release yesterday:

 With Sunni Arab frustration at a boil at home, unprecedented Sunni-Shiite polarisation in the region and deadly car bombings plaguing the country, Iraq is inching toward relapse into generalised sectarian conflict.
Residents carry coffins during the funeral of victims killed in clashes with security forces in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, January 26, 2013. Thousands of mourners attended on Saturday a funeral procession for protesters killed on the day before in Falluja during clashes with Iraqi soldiers in the wake of protest against government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. At least three people were killed on Friday when Iraqi troops opened fire during clashes with Sunni protesters in Falluja city. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) “Maliki’s strength typically has resided in his ability to present himself as a national leader. He would be well advised to do so again”
Peter Harling, Crisis Group’s Middle East Senior Adviser
In its latest report, Make or Break: Iraq’s Sunnis and the State, the International Crisis Group examines the question of Sunni Arab participation in the political order that has beleaguered the transition since its inception. Quickly marginalised by an ethno-sectarian apportionment that confined them to minority status in a system dominated by Arab Shiites and Kurds, community members first shunned the new dispensation then fought it. The past few years of participation have produced few dividends and again convinced many Sunni Arabs that their only realistic option is a violent conflict increasingly framed in confessional terms. In the absence of a dramatic shift in approach, Iraq’s fragile polity risks breaking down, a victim of the combustible mix of its longstanding flaws and growing regional tensions.
The report’s major findings and recommendations are:
  • The question of Sunni Arab representation in Iraq’s political order is more acute than ever; since late December, Sunni protesters have mobilised in peaceful demonstration against the government and found no answer to their grievances; the crackdown on the sit-in in Hawija empowered the most radical voices among them, mutating the political crisis into an armed conflict.
  • After Hawija, Iraq is on the brink of a relapse into generalised conflict, confronted with a resurgence of Sunni militant operations, the strengthening of al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and waves of attacks fuelling sectarian tensions. The government has tightened security measures even further, exacerbating the divide between Sunni constituents and central authorities.
  • The government should find ways to integrate Sunni Arabs in the political process, negotiate local ceasefires with Sunni officials and cooperate with local actors to build an effective security strategy within their provinces and along the Iraq-Syria frontier.
  • In the run-up to the 2014 provincial elections, both Sunni national leaders and the government should focus efforts on restoring Sunni constituents’ confidence in the political process.
“Deploying additional troops and special forces, arresting more people and attempting to subdue whole swathes of society through intimidation produces the opposite of the desired effect: it consolidates the split between Sunni Arabs and Baghdad’s central authorities”, says Maria Fantappie, Crisis Group Middle East Analyst. “Maliki, who partly owes his power to the U.S., ought to know this best, insofar as Washington pursued this approach before concluding that it would not succeed”.
“This time around, U.S. firepower would not be available, and Iraq’s volatile strategic environment would present far greater challenges than a weak state could hope to overcome”, says Peter Harling, Crisis Group Middle East Senior Adviser. “Maliki’s strength typically has resided in his ability to present himself as a national leader. He would be well advised to do so again”.



The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.










 


 



 
 



 


 
 





 








iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq
Posted by at