[Centraal] Irak na de oorlog - deel 38

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'Britse troepen binnen jaar uit Irak'

ANP

LONDEN - Britse militaire bevelhebbers ontwerpen plannen voor de terugtrekking van Britse troepen uit Irak. De verkozen Britse premier Gordon Brown krijgt bij zijn aantreden aan het eind van de maand het advies de troepen binnen een jaar uit Irak terug te trekken. Dat meldde de Britse krant The Sunday Telegraph.


De hoge functionarissen van Defensie zullen Brown adviseren ‘in snel tempo’ uit Irak terug te trekken en de Britse troepenmacht te concentreren in Afghanistan, waar ze al vechten tegen de radicaalislamitische Taliban.

‘Groot-Brittannië is niet in staat om zowel in Irak als Afghanistan oorlog te voeren. De vraag is welke we zullen opgeven. De regering en de bevelhebbers hebben besloten dat we Irak moeten opgeven’, zei een hoge militair tegen de krant.

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Op zaterdag 2 juni 2007 11:53 schreef Slayage het volgende:
Turkish army warns Iraqi Kurds after soldiers 'harassed'

Fri Jun 1, 6:41 PM ET

ANKARA (AFP) - The Turkish army on Friday warned Kurds in control of neighbouring northern
Iraq that Ankara would respond "at the highest level" if its soldiers in the autonomous region are treated badly or harmed.

The warning came in a general staff statement, carried by the Anatolia news agency, which said that Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq had earlier Friday harassed Turkish soldiers at a checkpoint in the city of Sulaymaniyah.

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U.S., Iraqi troops control only a third of Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led soldiers control only about a third of Baghdad, the military said on Monday, almost four months into a security crackdown during which troops are dying at rates not seen for more than two years.

More than 18,000 extra U.S. troops have been deployed around Baghdad as part of the campaign, which began in mid-February and is seen as a last-ditch attempt to drag Iraq back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.

The last of five brigades to be deployed in the crackdown will be in place soon, military spokesman Lieutenant-Christopher Garver said, adding it would not be possible to judge the success of the crackdown until all units were in place.


"Obviously we're constantly doing an assessment of the plan, but that plan doesn't kick in until everyone's here," he said.

But with violence spiking across Iraq as Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and insurgents try to derail the crackdown, U.S. President George W. Bush and military leaders have warned that a bloody summer lies ahead.

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Op maandag 4 juni 2007 01:58 schreef Paltalk het volgende:

[..]

ik kan niet wachten tot de Turken Noord-Irak binnenvallen en op hun lazer krijgen
De V.S gaat zich er mee bemoeien en zeker niet in 't voordeel van de Turken

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Op maandag 4 juni 2007 01:58 schreef Paltalk het volgende:

[..]

ik kan niet wachten tot de Turken Noord-Irak binnenvallen en op hun lazer krijgen

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124 Teletekst za 09 jun
***************************************
Protest Irak tegen Turkse aanvallen

***************************************
` Irak heeft bij Turkije geprotesteerd
tegen bombardementen in het Koerdische
noorden van Irak.Het Iraakse ministerie
van Buitenlandse Zaken heeft in een
brief aan de Turkse gezant in Bagdad
geëist dat de aanvallen stoppen.

Bij de bombardementen op woensdag en
donderdag is volgens Irak veel schade
aangericht,maar details zijn verder
niet bekendgemaakt.

De Koerdische afscheidingsbeweging PKK
heeft kampen in Noord-Irak.De regering
in Ankara zegt dat de PKK achter enkele
recente aanslagen in Turkije zit.Turkse
media sluiten niet uit dat het Turkse
leger binnenkort Noord-Irak binnenvalt.

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BBC NEWS

US pits Iraqi Sunnis against al-Qaeda
By Jim Muir
BBC News, Baghdad

There are growing signs that the US is increasingly turning to a new tactic in facing the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq.

On Sunday, US military commanders and Iraqi provincial officials held a meeting with 130 Sunni tribal sheikhs in Saddam Hussein's old hometown of Tikrit.

According to the US, the tribal leaders reached a "historic agreement" to play a more active role in defending their troubled province, Salahuddin, against al-Qaeda and other radical insurgent groups.

It is the latest move in what is clearly becoming one of the main thrusts of the US exit strategy here - to empower and arm Sunni Arab tribes and factions, provided they pledge to resist outside militants like al-Qaeda.

'Insurgent hotbed'

One of the top US military commanders, Maj-Gen Rick Lynch, confirmed the US was moving in the direction of training and arming Sunni groups to secure their own areas, often under the mantle of the Iraqi police force.

"There are tribal sheikhs out there who say: 'Hey, just allow me to be the local security force. I don't care what you call me. You can call me whatever you want. Just give me the right training and equipment and I'll secure my area.' And that's the direction we're moving out there," Gen Lynch said.

[Al-Qaeda in Iraq's] uncompromising brand of extreme fundamentalist Islam has apparently begun to alienate the more nationalist Iraqi strands of the insurgency

US commanders on the ground have been authorised and encouraged to enter into truces and agreements with local Sunni factions wherever possible, even if they are suspected of using arms against US forces in the past.

It is a tactic that is deemed to have worked successfully in the western province of al-Anbar, where Sunni tribes have increasingly clashed with al-Qaeda and its allies.

Al-Anbar was until recently a synonym for "insurgent hotbed", but US commanders have reported a marked drop in violence since many of the province's Sunni tribes signed up with the government and encouraged their followers to join the local police.

Some police recruiting posts in al-Anbar were also attacked by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, further fuelling local resentment against them.

The insurgency has always been made up of multiple strands.

The US and Iraqi governments have always regarded the groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq as being irreconcilable and beyond the pale, and they still do.

Variously known as jihadis or salafis, many of the groups' fighters and suicide bombers are believed to be Islamist radicals from outside the country.

Their uncompromising brand of extreme fundamentalist Islam has apparently begun to alienate the more nationalist Iraqi strands of the insurgency, some of them former Baathists, others just Sunnis with a grudge against the US-led coalition and a government they feel ill represents their interests.

Tacit admission

However, a recent statement from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq sought to cast doubt on the extent to which the tribes had turned against it.

It thanked tribal leaders for "assisting and supporting the mujahideen in their confrontation with the Crusaders and rejecting some who sold their religion and people at a very cheap price".

The group said "dozens of pledges from the chiefs and noblemen of the tribes have been received by us".

It said that tribes "even after four years of fighting and killing, continue to offer their children [and] provide shelter for the mujahideen".

However, there has been conflict between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Islamic Army of Iraq, a more local nationalist Sunni faction, for control of the Amariya district in south-west Baghdad.

The two sides, former allies against the US presence, agreed to a truce, though the underlying tensions remain.

The US decision to turn increasingly to local security is a tacit admission that, in at least some areas, the policy of relying on the Iraqi armed forces and police simply has not worked.

Those institutions are riddled with problems.

It has proven hard to find seasoned officers to take the lead. Sectarianism and penetration by militias are rampant, especially in the police.

US military officials admit the current Baghdad troop "surge" is suffering from the fact that the Iraqi police have not proven to be up to the task of holding areas secured by the push.

Empowering Sunni tribes and groups to look after their own security may prove to be part of the solution - though it will not solve all the country's problems by any means.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6740683.stm

Published: 2007/06/11 12:41:35 GMT

© BBC MMVII

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Tribal Coalition in Anbar Said to Be Crumbling
U.S.-Backed Group Has Fought Al-Qaeda in Iraq

By Joshua Partlow and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 11, 2007; Page A11

BAGHDAD, June 10 -- A tribal coalition formed to oppose the extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq, a development that U.S. officials say has reduced violence in Iraq's troubled Anbar province, is beginning to splinter, according to an Anbar tribal leader and a U.S. military official familiar with tribal politics.

In an interview in his Baghdad office, Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, 35, a leader of the Dulaim confederation, the largest tribal organization in Anbar, said that the Anbar Salvation Council would be dissolved because of growing internal dissatisfaction over its cooperation with U.S. soldiers and the behavior of the council's most prominent member, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha. Suleiman called Abu Risha a "traitor" who "sells his beliefs, his religion and his people for money."

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The IAI Steps Up (and Backs Down) in its War With Al-Qaida

June 11, 2007
The IAI Steps Up (and Backs Down) in its War With Al-Qaida
By Evan Kohlmann

Those who closely follow the internal workings of the insurgency in Iraq may already be aware of the unexpected truce offer tendered last week by the dominant Sunni insurgent group known as the Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI) to Al-Qaida's so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" after weeks of bitter wrangling and internecine bloodshed. Yet, it is far more difficult to reach definitive answers as to precisely why the IAI abruptly backed off in its armed confrontation with Al-Qaida, seeking instead a mediated settlement. Indeed, the drastic change in tone hardly seems consonant with an audio recording released only two days earlier by IAI spokesman Dr. Ali al-Nuaimi, which all but declared open war on Al-Qaida. In his speech, al-Nuaimi accused Al-Qaida of killing at least 40 members of the IAI in recent weeks, including unarmed individuals hiding inside Sunni mosques in Baghdad. He further charged Al-Qaida with responsibility in various other criminal actions, including kidnappings, robberies, and the enforcement of arbitrary rules on other insurgent groups. Al-Nuaimi offered unprecedented and striking detail regarding the recent reported battles between Al-Qaida and the IAI in various Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad:

"...[There was an] attack on the IAI in the al-Ameliyah and Hay al-Jamiyah areas... [that] lasted for several days. During these attacks, brothers from the Al-Qaida network attacked brothers from our organization [the IAI] and kidnapped three of our brothers in al-Ameriyah as retaliation for an incident where an Al-Qaida network operative was killed while erasing slogans scrawled on one of the walls of the neighborhood. Nevermind the fact that we had no connection whatsoever with those scrawled slogans. Later, they attacked the Al-Maluki mosque with heavy fire and used the mosque’s loudspeakers to spread their false propaganda against our organization [the IAI] and against the Sunni people. They also spread lies about several Imams serving that area and against several others whose names they associated with the IAI. In that mosque [Al-Maluki], they shot to death brother Abu Teeba from the IAI—neither the sanctity of Muslim blood, nor the brotherhood of jihad, nor the sanctity of that place were enough to stop them from killing Abu Teeba. Then [the Al-Qaida network] attacked places in Al-Ameriyah where IAI brothers gather and the IAI brothers fought back. Then, the Americans suddenly appeared but the brothers from Al-Qaida did not fight them. Instead, they remained in their vehicles with their massive guns attached on the back, driving in front of the Americans... this attack was directed against the Sunnis and their mosques, during which they [Al-Qaida] killed two innocent unarmed men praying in the Al-Tikriti mosque. During that attack, Al-Qaida used their snipers, RPGs, and mid-range weapons to attack the mosque. Later on, when the Americans implemented their curfew in the Al-Ameriyah neighborhood, the Al-Qaida network decided to launch an attack on the IAI in the Hay al-Jamiyah neighborhood and their attacks are still continuing now even as we speak."


And so, we return to the question, why would the IAI so suddenly decide to change approaches in their troubled relationship with Al-Qaida? Perhaps the decision was a reaction to recent moves within the past two weeks by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army to formally join Al-Qaida's Islamic State. The IAI had bargained that, faced with political pressure, Ansar al-Sunnah would instead join the IAI's own insurgent umbrella organization, the Reform and Jihad Front--especially after Al-Qaida fighters were accused of killing Ansar al-Sunnah members in the same fashion they had attacked the IAI. Consequently, the IAI's leadership may have misread the long-term aspirations of Ansar al-Sunnah and was shocked to witness native Iraqi Sunnis who had themselves been targeted by Al-Qaida nonetheless siding with Al-Qaida.

Of course, another possible contributing factor is the outpouring of anger and resentment in jihadist circles against the IAI for its ideological assault on Al-Qaida, a phenomenon which continues on despite the IAI pledging to keep its disputes in private in the future. Many Islamic extremists have accused the IAI of treachery and siding with America and the "apostates" against Muslims everywhere. This is quite troubling for a group whose basic ideological platform is itself based upon an extreme interpretation of Islam. Still, even so, it seems hard to conceive what would have changed for the IAI between June 4 and June 6 that would have forced them to so suddenly back down from a face-off with Al-Qaida.

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Groot VS-offensief in Irak tegen al-Qaida
Het Amerikaanse leger is in Irak begonnen met een groot offensief in Irak tegen al-Qaida. Ongeveer tienduizend Amerikanen en Irakezen zijn ingezet in de operatie met de naam Arrowhead Ripper. Volgens de Amerikanen is het één van de grootste militaire operaties sinds de invasie van 2003.

Tot dusver zouden al meer dan twintig doden zijn gevallen aan de kant van al-Qaida. De gevechten spelen zich af in en rond de stad Baquba in de provincie Diyala.

In Diyala wordt al maanden gevochten. In de provincie wonen zowel soennieten als sji'ieten. Infiltranten van al-Qaidda proberen hun conflict aan te wakkeren.

De inzet van gevechtshelikopters en grondtroepen is bedoeld om al-Qaida in Irak te elimineren. De operatie begon kort nadat de door president Bush toegezegde uitbreiding van de troepen was afgerond

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26 Iraqi soldiers killed, three civilians wounded in Kirkuk attack

IRBIL, June 19 (KUNA) — Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 19 others were wounded on Tuesday in an armed attack on their convoy south of Kirkuk, the Iraqi police said.
The police said that three other Iraqi civilians were also killed in a booby-trapped car blast in the city of Mosul.
Police Chief of Al-Aqthia in Kirkuk Brigadier Sarhed Qader told KUNA that unidentified gunmen attacked a convoy of Iraqi soldiers south of Kirkuk leaving seven soldiers killed and 19 civilians wounded.

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Heavy mortar bomb attack on Baghdad Green Zone
Tue 19 Jun 2007 16:57:24 BST
BAGHDAD, June 19 (Reuters) - Militants fired a spate of mortar bombs at Baghdad's Green Zone on Tuesday in one of the heaviest attacks in weeks on the heavily fortified compound that houses the U.S. embassy and Iraqi government offices.
It was unclear if there were any casualties from the barrage of around 10 mortar bombs. Reuters reporters could see several plumes of smoke rising from the compound on the west side of the Tigris River.

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Op dinsdag 19 juni 2007 20:47 schreef zakjapannertje het volgende:

[..]

voor foto's zie: http://www.vrtnieuws.net/(...)070619_Irak_kinderen

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Kijk computer en zie hoe grof oorlog is
Britse website plaatst filmpjes die de strijdende partijen zelf maken
Met helmcamera’s en gsm’s filmen soldaten het geweld in Irak en Afghanistan. Pijnlijk om op internet te zien, die filmpjes. Toch grijpt het Amerikaanse leger niet in.

Rotterdam, 9 juli. Vergeet de verslaggeving van embedded en unembedded journalisten. De rauwe werkelijkheid van de slagvelden van de Oorlog tegen de Terreur komt van de vechtende partijen zélf. Van Amerikaanse en Britse soldaten én van de opstandelingen in Irak en de Afghaanse Talibaan.

Allemaal hebben ze de afgelopen jaren vele duizenden videofilmpjes geschoten met helmcamera’s, handycams en gsm’s. Van vuurgevechten in de Afghaanse woestijn en van bermbomaanslagen in de buitenwijken van Bagdad (Bekijk video: (1 ) en (2 ). Gefilmd vanuit beider perspectief. En ze staan allemaal op www.liveleak.com. Dat is boeiend voor de geïnteresseerde, maar al die onversneden beelden bezorgen de militaire censor hoofdpijn.
[..]
Enkele video’s die, letterlijk, zijn geschoten door de sluipschutter ‘Juba’ maken hoe dan ook diepe indruk. Juba heeft op zijn Russische Dragoenov-sluipschuttergeweer een handycam gemonteerd. De videocamera is op maximale zoom ingesteld.

Een compilatie van tientallen videofragmenten verloopt volgens hetzelfde stramien: door het vizier van de handycam zie je in de verte, honderden meters verderop, Amerikaanse soldaten patrouilleren, in de mitrailleurkoepel van een Hummer zitten, een sigaret roken op een wachttoren van een kampement.

Dan zie je de camera een lichte schok maken: ‘Juba’ heeft geschoten. En een fractie van een seconde later zie je een soldaat ineen zijgen of een gehelmd hoofd naar achter klappen. En altijd breekt paniek uit bij zijn maten.

Paniek moet ook zijn uitgebroken bij het thuisfront. Bij een kwartiertje ‘Juba’ zijn zó dertig dode Amerikaanse soldaten te turven. Hoeveel ‘Juba’s’ zijn er wel niet? En is het écht zo eenvoudig om onze arme jongens als weerloze konijnen af te knallen? (Bekijk twee video's van Juba: ( 1) en ( 2).)