[Centraal] Irak na de oorlog - deel 33

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2006 19:30 schreef zakjapannertje het volgende:

Immediate Withdrawal: Power Vacuums in Gaza and Iraq

By Doron Ben-Atar | Tuesday, July 11, 2006

With Iraq on the brink of civil war, popularity has increased for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region. According to Doron Ben-Atar, there exist striking similarities between the proposed U.S. retreat and Israel’s 2005 pull-out from Gaza. He explores the dangers of a U.S. withdrawal while instability looms across Iraq.

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2006 22:44 schreef Glasnosteraar het volgende:

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je ziet het! men luistert naar mij. Ze hebben blijkbaar mijn Wegwezen uit het Midden-Oosten - Pat Buchanan topic doorgenomen

Wegwezen uit het Midden-Oosten

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2006 22:49 schreef Dubbelzuurrr het volgende:

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Heel goed, gezichtsverlies waarmee de machtspositie van de VS in de internationale betrekkingen danig aangetast raakt. Ík zou er alleen niet op rekenen dat het ook echt plaatsvindt omdat Dorot-Ben-Hatar het zegt....

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2006 23:02 schreef Glasnosteraar het volgende:

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De machtspositie van de VS met Bush aan het roer is al dusdanig aangetast dat Bush als een leproos over de wereld rondreist.
En de verandering van opinie merk ik ook op een Amerikaans forum waar ik zo nu en dan rondhang. Of zich dat ook in beleidt vertaald moeten we natuurlijk afwachten, dat hangt in sterke mate af van de volgende president.

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Stubborn Man Tries to Govern in Violent Iraq

Mamoon Sami Rashid is the governor with 29 lives.

That’s the number of assassination attempts he has counted since joining the Anbar provincial government in January 2005.

“You see, over there, that is where the suicide bomber tried to kill me,” Governor Rashid said with a smile as he drove his armored S.U.V. to work. Across the road, where he was pointing, lay the charred shells of half a dozen automobiles.

“Over here,” he said after a time, pointing again, “this is where they tried to shoot me.”

Car bomb, suicide bomber, mortar, gun; in his car, in his house, in a mosque: insurgents have tried to kill Mr. Rashid so many times and in so many different ways that he has nearly lost count. But life being what it is in Ramadi, Anbar’s tumultuous capital, Mr. Rashid probably will need a few more lives to survive until his term expires this year.

“They want to kill me,” he said, spinning the wheel, “because I will not let them have power.”

Mr. Rashid stands as the measure of both the tenacity and the weakness of the American-backed government in Anbar Province, west of Baghdad. Like the battered outpost that he calls his office, Mr. Rashid hangs on even as colleagues and friends have either lost their will or, in some cases, their lives.

His predecessor, Raja Nawaf, was kidnapped and killed. His deputy, Talib al-Dulaimi, was shot to death. Khidr Abdeljabar Abbas, the chairman of the provincial council, was killed in April. Last month, the governor’s secretary was beheaded.

Mr. Rashid, 49, survives largely with — and only with — the protection of American marines. They hold down the Government Center and escort him to and from work. They fly him around Anbar in a helicopter. Indeed, Mr. Rashid is more than just the symbol of the Anbar government; he seems the only functioning part. Most of the senior members of the government refuse to come to work or to show their faces in public.

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Op dinsdag 11 juli 2006 23:02 schreef Glasnosteraar het volgende:

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De machtspositie van de VS met Bush aan het roer is al dusdanig aangetast dat Bush als een leproos over de wereld rondreist.
En de verandering van opinie merk ik ook op een Amerikaans forum waar ik zo nu en dan rondhang. Of zich dat ook in beleidt vertaald moeten we natuurlijk afwachten, dat hangt in sterke mate af van de volgende president.

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Dozens of Shiites kidnapped from Iraq bus station

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Dozens of Iraqi Shiites were kidnapped by gunmen from a bus station in the restive town of Muqdadiyah, northeast of the capital, a leading MP has announced in parliament

"There was a very serious breach of security in Diyala province today when 60-80 Shiites were kidnapped from the bus station in Muqdadiyah," senior Shiite MP Jalaleddin al-Saghir said following the prime minister's speech in front of the chamber.

"The police appear to be complicit in this incident because they pulled out of the area right before the kidnapping," he added Wednesday, echoing a charge more commonly raised by the minority Sunni community against the security forces.

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Suicide bombing in Baghdad kills 7

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding 31, while gunmen kidnapped at least 17 people in an ambush on a bus station north of the capital.

The attack on the restaurant occurred in New Baghdad, a mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, local police chief Col. Ahmed Aboud said.

Gunmen also stormed a bus station in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, abducting 17 civilians and taking them to an unknown destination, police said.

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In Baghdad streets, little sign of rule of law

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Private Uday Abdullah is one of 50,000 Iraqi troops and police sent on to Baghdad's streets last month to make the city safe -- but he does not see the point.

Lounging in the shade to escape the midday heat on Tuesday, the soldier said it is gunmen from rival Shi'ite and Sunni parties with clout in the government who rule the streets.

"We arrest lots of gunmen and they just walk free the next day. They're always from the Mehdi Army or the Badr Brigade or the Islamic Party. So what's the point of our job?" he said.

Many in Baghdad wonder the same thing as checkpoints set up as part of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on violence spawn ever greater traffic jams but have failed to prevent dozens dying in sectarian shootings and bombings this week.

"We do nothing but create huge traffic jams with these checkpoints," Abdullah said.

Pointing to the traffic backed up on Senak Bridge, a major artery over the Tigris river, he said: "I am standing here. But I have no desire to be here."

Raed Abd al-Hafudh Saleem, a lieutenant in Baghdad's traffic department, is equally bemused and cynical.

From his concrete booth in the middle of a busy intersection in upmarket Mansour, he has a clear view of the many vehicles carrying heavily armed men that speed past every day.

"I don't know who these people are. I can't stop them because they never hesitate to point their guns at me."

Every morning, when he reports for duty at his little booth, he finds fresh bullet casings littering the road.

"I don't know where they come from. Everyone carries a gun in this country, from the bodyguards of officials and members of parliament to private security companies.

"How can I distinguish between all those and the insurgents, and militias?" he said.

He told how bodyguards recently fired into the air to clear the road for a ministerial convoy. When he remonstrated with them, one man fired a burst from his AK-47 just past his head.

"He said to me: 'Who are you to say this? I am the state."'

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Iraqis turn to fake IDs for safety

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bookstore in eastern Baghdad is getting more customers these days, but they aren't looking for something to read. The owner sells fake IDs, a booming business as Iraqis try to hide their identities in hopes of staying alive.

Although it's nearly impossible to distinguish between a Sunni and a Shiite by sight, names can be telling. Surnames refer to tribe and clan, while first names are often chosen to honor historical figures revered by one sect but sometimes despised by the other.

For about $35, someone with a common Sunni name like Omar could become Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite name that might provide safe passage through dangerous areas.

"I got a fake ID card to protect myself from the Shiite militias who are deploying in Baghdad and hunt Sunnis at fake checkpoints," said Omar Abdul Rahman, a 22-year-old university student. He refused to give the name on his fake ID.

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Op woensdag 12 juli 2006 09:43 schreef klez het volgende:

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Dat is allemaal maar schijn. De Westerse leiders (onze leiders) zijn maar wat blij dat de Amerikanen een allang sluimerend gezwel hebben blootgelegd en de gevechten weten te concentreren in het Midden-Oosten. Al-Qaida en de Arabische fascisten die allang met hun stiekeme oorlog tegen het westen bezig waren kunnen geen kant meer op. Het is nu erop of eronder.
Die terugtrekking op korte termijn komt er helemaal niet; kijk maar wat er in Afghanistan gebeurt.

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Op woensdag 12 juli 2006 14:42 schreef Glasnosteraar het volgende:

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nou, als ik die artikelen van autodidact zo lees, ook die van 2 pagina's, besluipt me toch het gevoel dat dit niet meer goed gaat komen. Deel Iraq maar in drie stukken, en in zowel het shiitische en het sunnitische deel zal alleen een brute dictator de rust nog enigzins weten te bewaren.

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Gekke is trouwens dat ik nog geeneens zo lang geleden een toeristenboekje (eind jaren 70) in handen had van Irak. M'n vader had een aanbod gekregen om te werken in Irak (voor Scania). Ging niet door omdat de oorlog met Iran uitbrak. Merkwaardige gewaarwording was dat.

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Op woensdag 12 juli 2006 17:17 schreef klez het volgende:

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Dat in drieeen delen, daar zal het wel op uit draaien als de Irakis dit niet zelf de kop in weten te drukken. Denk je dat het westen daar lang wakker van ligt...
Dat nut van die dictator zie ik verder niet zo.

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Ik weet niet wat hij nu doet, maar veel "expats" komen buitengoed terecht, weet ik uit ervaring. Irak onder Saddam was nu niet echt een makkelijk land om integriteit te bewaren, lijkt me.

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Sesame Street helps army children



US children's TV show Sesame Street is to be used to help American military families explain why a parent has to leave to serve overseas.

A DVD featuring popular character Elmo and his parents who are preparing for Elmo's dad to be deployed, will be handed out for free in August.

The DVD, produced in both English and Spanish, also features interviews with real-life families.

It also deals with the mixed feelings that occur when families are reunited.

About half a million children up to the age of five belong to families with one or both parents on active duty in the US, said Leslye Arsht, a US government undersecretary for military community and family policy.

Joanna Lopez and her family are featured in the DVD. Her husband has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Some parents don't know how to deal with children when there is a deployment," she said.

"Other kids in school will say, 'My daddy is away killing bad guys.' This prepares the mom or dad to prepare the kids with better things to say."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/5180458.stm

Published: 2006/07/14 12:56:01 GMT

© BBC MMVI

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In one of the few comprehensive surveys of how many Iraqis have fled their country since the US invasion, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants said last month that there were 644,500 refugees in Syria and Jordan in 2005 — about 2.5 per cent of Iraq’s population. In total, 889,000 Iraqis had moved abroad, creating “the biggest new flow of refugees in the world”, according to Lavinia Limon, the committee’s president.

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Gunmen kill 41 in raid on Iraq market

AGHDAD, Iraq - Dozens of heavily armed attackers raided an open air market Monday in a tense town south of Baghdad, killing at least 41 people and wounding 42, police and hospital officials said.

Some reports put the death toll far higher. Most of the victims were believed to be Shiites.

The attack in Mahmoudiya began about 9 a.m. with a brief mortar barrage, followed by an armed assault by dozens of gunmen. They killed three Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint, then stormed the market while firing automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, police Capt. Rashid al-Samaraie said.

Following the attack, police rushed to the market, arresting people at random in an attempt to find the assailants, witnesses said.

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Bomber kills 26 at cafe in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber detonated explosives Sunday inside a cafe packed with Shiites in northern
Iraq, killing 26 people and injuring 22, an Iraqi general said. Gunmen seized a top Oil Ministry official, the second major kidnapping in as many days.

The U.S. military said an American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in south Baghdad. No further details were released.

In the south, a British soldier was killed and another wounded during a raid against a "terrorist suspect" in Basra, the British military said. British troops arrested a top Shiite militia leader in the city, Iraqi police said, but it was unclear if the two events were linked.

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30 at Sports Meeting In Iraq Are Abducted

BAGHDAD, July 15 -- The security guard at the Oil Ministry Cultural Center was bending down to kneel for midday prayer Saturday when someone behind him said, "Turn around and do not move."

The guard, Yasin Ibrahim Mustafa, turned to face the barrel of an AK-47, held by a man wearing an Iraqi police commando uniform. The man told Mustafa to stay in the guard room, then walked into the center in downtown Baghdad and joined dozens of other gunmen in the kidnapping of the head of Iraq's Olympic Committee and more than 30 other people who were attending a sports conference, police and witnesses said.

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Car bomb in Iraq's Kufa kills 15: police

KUFA, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb hit a group of laborers near a Shi'ite mosque in the southern Iraqi city of Kufa on Tuesday, killing 15 and wounding 21, police said.

Hospital sources said they had received 17 bodies after the blast hit a crowded market that is next to the mosque. Policemen who arrived in the scene were pelted with rocks by angry protesters. Police fired into the air to disperse the crowds, and a Reuters witness two wounded from the shooting.

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Op dinsdag 18 juli 2006 19:15 schreef Glasnosteraar het volgende:
At least 53 dead in latest Iraq bombing

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Op dinsdag 18 juli 2006 20:41 schreef Autodidact het volgende:

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Dezelfde als deze dus: [Centraal] Irak na de oorlog - deel 33

Alleen dan geactualiseerd (even om het plaatje weer goed te krijgen )

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Op dinsdag 18 juli 2006 20:58 schreef Autodidact het volgende:
Of je leest even de berichten die al geplaatst zijn. Het is wel handig als je geactualiseerde berichten krijgt hoor, maar dat mensen niet gaan denken dat je de twee op kan tellen of zo.