samedi 25 juin 2011

NATO and Iraq discuss further cooperation


23 Jun. 2011

NATO and Iraq discuss further cooperation

The NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Claudio Bisognero, and the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Rowsh Noori Sideq Shaways, met today at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

They discussed the current training activities led by the Alliance in support of the Iraqi Security Forces and the possibility of expanding cooperation in that field.
They also exchanged views on possible areas of future long term cooperation between NATO and Iraq such as Counterterrorism, Capacity Building of the Defence Sector and Energy Security in the context of the Strucutre Cooperation Framework.

Ambassador Claudio Bisognero and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister also spoke about the NATO current led mission in Libya in implementation of the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1973.


From left to right: NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, Mr. Rowsh Noori Shaways, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, and Mohammed Alhumaidi, Ambassador of Iraq

vendredi 24 juin 2011

IRAK KÜRTLERİ IRAK’TAN TOPRAK TALEP EDİYOR!

IRAK KÜRTLERİ IRAK’TAN TOPRAK TALEP EDİYOR!


ALİ KERKÜKLÜ ( Irak’a Özgürlük Operasyonu ve Kerkük Kitabının Yazarı)





Kürtlerin Hayal Ettikleri Ve Bölge Ülkelerinin Topraklarını da İçine Alan Sözde Kürt Devletinin (İkinci İsrail‘in) Haritası. İşin İlginç Yanı Bu Topraklar Her Gün Genişliyor


Kürt grupları, Kürt ırkını yücelten politikaları, Kürtlerin kendi etnik hedefleri için tehdit oluşturduğunu düşündükleri herkesle kavga etmeye hazır, fanatik ve ırkçı bir kuşağın ortaya çıkmasını teşvik eden, yanlış tarihi ve coğrafi bilgilere dayalı ders programları hazırladılar. Bu şartlar altında Peşmerge, Asayiş ve kürt istihbarat örgütleri (Parastin ve Zenyari) aynı anlayışla oluşturuldu.


Kürt grupları sözde toprakları başkaları tarafından işgal edilip bir mazlumiyet ve mağduriyet duygusu yaratmaya çalışıyorlar, başta petrol zengini Türkmen şehri Kerkük olmak üzere Kürt bölgesinin içinde olduğunu. Farklı bir görüş ortaya koyan tarihi ve akademik kaynaklara rağmen, onlar geniş Irak toprakları üzerinde sözde Kürt devletini (ikinci İsrail’i) inşa etmelerinin tarihi hakları olduğuna iddia etmeye başladılar.


Kürtler ta­rih­siz­ler, ya­pay geç­miş ya­rat­ma­ya ça­lı­şı­yor­lar. Kürt ta­rih­çi­le­ri ve ay­dın­la­rı bir da­la tu­tun­mak ve ye­ni bir ta­rih ya­rat­mak is­ti­yor­lar, ama ta­ri­hi da­ya­nak­la­rı yok ve id­di­ala­rı­nı da hiç­bir ta­ri­hi kay­nak doğ­ru­la­mı­yor. Ya­pa­bil­dik­le­ri tek şey, baş­ka mil­let­le­rin ta­ri­hi şah­si­yet­le­ri­ni ve kül­tü­rel var­lık­la­rı­nı ken­di­le­ri­ne mal et­me­ye ça­lış­mak. Yarında Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun kurucularının Kürtler’in olduğunu söylerlerse kimse şaşmasın.


Saddam Hüseyin’in devrilmesinden sonra ortaya çıkan otorite boşluğu pek çok grup tarafından fırsat bilinmiş, özellikle Kürt gruplar bu fırsatı en iyi şekilde değerlendirmeye çalışan kesimlerden biri olmuştur, otoritenin sarsılması (Merkezi Hükümetin zayıflığı) ve işgal, Kürtler tarafından tarihi bir şans olarak algılanmıştır. Bu bağlamda ABD, İngiltere ve İsrail’in desteği ile 1991 yılında kazanılan özel statüyü korumuş ve işgalden sonrada federasyonu elde eden Kürtler, bölgelerini genişletmek için de yeni topraklara (Musul,Kerkük,Selahaddin ve Diyala İllerine) göz dikmiştir.


Irak devlet kurumlarının neredeyse tümünün parçalanmış ve Iraklıların psikolojik ve ekonomik olarak bitkin düşmüş olması, iyi organize ve silahlı Kürt partileri ve peşmergelerinin işgal güçlerinin gözetimi altında dört ilde (Musul,Kerkük,Selahaddin ve Diyala) ve buradaki devlet kurumlarına girip denetim alanlarını genişletmelerini kolaylaştırdı. Asgari eğitim seviyesine sahip olmayan Kürt Peşmerge ve partizanları şehirlerde, ilçelerde ve beldelerde üst mevkilere geldi. Sonuç olarak, ilçe ve beldelerin idari amiri ve belediye başkanı olarak atandılar. Böylece, devlet dairelerinin müdürlerinin çoğu etnik olarak Kürtlerden olup, bunlar devlet daire yönetimi ve belediye meclislerinin denetimini de ele geçirdi. Irak’ın Kuzeyinden onbinlerce Kürt, devlet dairelerine yerleştirilerek bazı bölgelerde devlet personelinin sayısı iki kat arttı. Atamalarda Kürt milliyetçiliği ve parti mensubiyeti esas alındı. Bu yollarla Kürt olmayan birçok kişi Kürt partilerinin gündemi doğrultusunda çalışmak zorunda bırakıldı. Ayrıca, Kürt partileri ABD, İngiltere ve İsrail’in desteği ile kendi büyüklükleriyle orantısız olarak Irak devletinde çok sayıda önemli görevi ele geçirdiler. Irak Devletindeki toplam 165 üst düzey görevden 65’ine Kürtler sahip bulunuyorlar. Yeni kurulan Irak Hükümetinde Kürtler oldukça önemli olan bakanlılardan 3’ü vekaleten olmak üzere 7 tanesini aldılar, Cumhurbaşkanlığı makamında Celal Talabani başta olmak üzere Başbakan yardımcısı ve Ticaret Bakanı (vekaleten) Roj Nuri Şiveys, Dışişleri Bakanı ve Kadınlardan Sorumlu Devlet Bakanı (vekaleten) Hoşyar Zebari yer aldı.



Tüm şehir, ilçe ve beldelerde peşmergelerin desteğini arkasına alan yüzlerce Kürt parti merkezleri ve kürt istihbarat büroları açıldı. Kürt partiler diğer milliyetlerin mensuplarından çok sayıda işbirlikçi kazanmak için büyük meblağlar harcadı.



Seçimler sırasında oylarını almak için kendilerine sembolik meblağlar ödenerek Kürt olmayan insanların yoksulluğu sömürüldü. Dahası, önemli mevkilerde bulunan kişilerin birçoğuna Kürt partilerin gündemlerini desteklemeleri için büyük meblağlar ödendi. Peşmergeler hemen hemen tüm seçim bürolarına baskı yaparak Türkmenlerin oy kullanmaları engellendi ve her türlü manipülasyon ve seçim hilelerine başvurarak Kürt partileri çoğu bölgede seçimi kazandı, ve bu da onların bu bölgelerde yönetim ve karar mekanizmasının belli başlı tüm mevkileri üzerindeki denetimlerini arttırdı. Kürtler, bugün başkent Bağdat da bile parayla bir çok gazeteci, basın kuruluşu ve tv’yi elde etmişlerdir. Kürt partileri aleyhlerine yazan kalemleri şantaj, tutuklama, ölüm tehdidi ile susturmaktalar ve hatta öldürmekteler. Türkmen şehri Erbil’de bulunan Selahaddin Üniversitesi’nde İngilizce bölümünde okuyan ve İşmani gazetesinde çalışan 23 yaşındaki Zerdüşt Osman, “Barzani’nin kızıyla aşk yaşıyorum” başlıklı yazısında, Mesud Barzani’nin damadı olsam yoksulluktan yakayı kurtaracağım temasını espiriyle kaleme almıştı. Osman’ın işkence edildikten sonra kafasına iki kurşun sıkılarak öldürüldü.



Kürt asıllı Avusturya vatandaşı öğretim görevlisi Dr. Kemal Seyyid Kadir, yıllar sonra döndüğü memleketine, KDP istihbarat servisi Parastin'in tarafından kaçırıldı, daha sonra tutuklandı. Kadir Sırf Barzani ve ailesini eleştiren yazılar yazdı diye yıldırım hızıyla 30 yıl hapis cezasına çarptırıldı. Bazıları diktatör Saddam’ın Türkmenlere yaptıkları neden anlatılmıyor diye soruyor, evet zalim Saddam Türkmenlere baskı, zulüm, işkence, göçe zorlama, asimilasyon, etnik temizleme ve katliamlar yaptı. Bugün Türkmenlerin yaşadıkları dünden farkı ne? Saddam gitti yerine Saddamlar geldi!



Irak Hükümeti, 11 Mart 1970 yılında Kürtlere istedikleri özerkliği tanıdı.1970'li yıllardan bu yana özerkliğe sahip olan Kürtlerin siyasi beklentileri gelişerek, 2003’den sonra yerini federasyona bırakmıştır. Irak’ın işgalinde, işgalcilere öncülük ve savaş süresince ABD ve İngiltere ile işbirliği yapan Kürtler federasyonu da elde etmiştir. İşgalcilerin desteği ile Kürtler, şimdilik Irak'ın yeniden yapılandırılması sürecinde belirleyici güçlerden biri haline gelmiştir. Bölgesinde merkezden bağımsız olmuş, fiili egemenliklerini devam ettirmiş, kurulan hükümetlerde önemli konumlar kazanmış ve Irak'ın iç ve dış politikasında etkili olmuşlardır. Bu bağlamda Irak cumhurbaşkanlığı Kürtlere geçmiştir. Bugün Kürtler işgalcilerin sayesinde Irak’ı yönetiyorlar.


Nitekim PKK'nın Kürt bölgesel yönetiminin hakim olduğu bölgelerde konuşlanması, korunması, silah, para, istihbarat ve lojistik destek alması da günümüze kadar taşınmıştır. Bu arada Kürtler bölgelerini genişletme isteği yoğunluk kazanmıştır. 2003’ten sonra geçmişte hayal bile edemeyecekleri hakları elde eden Irak Kürtleri, Bugün Irak’tan toprak talep ediyorlar, Kürtlerin ana amacı Kerkük’e ithal edilen 700 bin Kürt nüfusu bahane ederek petrol zengini Türkmen şehri Kerkük’ü sınırları içine katmak ve hayal ettikleri Kürt devletini (İkinci İsrail’i) kurmaktır.


Dış güçlerin yardımıyla bir Sonraki hedef ise Türkiye, İran ve Suriye’den de toprak talebinde bulunmak. Kürtlerin senaryosu bu ülkelerde de sahneye konulmuştur; kimlik tanıma, anadilde eğitim, özerklik veya federasyon ve son hedef ise Kürt devleti (ikinci İsrail’i) kurmaktır, bilinmelidir ki, bu bir komplo teorisi değildir. Irak’ta bu senaryo 50 sene önce sahneye konulmuştu, Irak’ın durumu ortada! Şimdi ise bu senaryo (kimlik tanıma, anadilde eğitim, özerklik veya federasyon) Türkiye’de sahneye konuldu, yani cehennemin kapısı Türkiye’ye de açılıyor! akıllı anlar.


Bölge ülkeleri, olup bitenleri çok iyi takip etmeli ve birbirleri ile işbirliğine girmelidir. Irak’ta gelişecek ayrılıkçı bir Kürt hareketinin, hele bir Kürt devletinin bölge ülkelerini etkilemeyeceğini düşünmek mümkün müdür?


Irak Krallığı 30 Mayıs 1932 tarihinde, Milletler Cemiyeti tarafından hazırlanan deklarasyonu kabul ettiğini bildirmiş ve 29 Haziran tarihinde Milletler Cemiyeti’ne Irak Krallığı’nın onayladığı deklarasyonu sunarak, Irak, 1932 yılında bir bütün ve sınırları belirlenmiş ‘tam bağımsız’ bir devlet olarak Milletler Cemiyeti’ne üye olmuştur. Yani Irak, Birleşmiş Milletler ve komşuları tarafından tanınan bir bütün ve sınırları belirlenmiş bir ülkedir, bütün dünyada bunu kabul etmiştir. O zaman Irak’ı parçalamak için tezgahlanan bu oyuna, Kürtlere neden dur diyen yok. Kürtler bu sınırsız ve bitmez istekleri Irak halkı arasında Kürtlere karşı kin ve nefret duygusu uyandırmaktadır. İşgalciler 2011’in sonuna kadar Irak’tan gidecek, Kürtleri kim koruyacak?


Kürtlerin hayal ettikleri Irak, Türkiye, İran, Suriye ve Ermenistan topraklarında sözde Kürt devletinin (ikinci İsrail’in) sınırları : İskenderun Körfezi’nin batısından başlayan sınır, Amanos’un doğu ucu ve Toros Dağı’nın otlakları boyunca kuzeydoğu yönünde, Kahramanmaraş ve Malatya’nın yanından geçerek Fırat Nehri’nin batı kıyısı boyunca kıvrılır. Kuzeye doğru ilerler ve Dersim(Tunceli) yaylalarını içine alarak Karasu’nun (Fırat Nehri’nin batısı) oluşturduğu halka boyunca doğuya döner. Buradan Karasu’nun yukarı kısımları boyunca, Erzurum’un içinden geçerek genişler. Bu noktada Kars ilinin bazı bölümlerini içine alarak kuzey-kuzeydoğu yönüne kayar, Türkiye sınırlarını geçerek Ermenistan’daki Alagöz Dağı boyunca ilerler. Nahçivan’ı içine alacak biçimde keskin bir dönüşle Erivan’ın güneyine yönelir, Koy’un doğusundan geçerek Salamas, Urmiye ve Uşnu’yu içine alacak biçimde Urmiye Gölü’nün batı kıyıları boyunca ilerler. Urmiye Gölü’nün güneyinden küçük bir açıyla doğuya yönelir; Miyandup ve Bicar’ın etrafını dolanır. Uzun Kızıl Nehir’in yukarı kısmını keserek Kangavar’a değin gider. Buradan güneybatıya doğru büyük bir yay çizerek Kirmanşah’ı içine alır ve Luristan’ın kuzey sınırındaki Maniş Kuh’ta sonlanır.


Bu noktadan sonra, hilalin iç kenarını oluşturacak şekilde kuzeybatı yönünde ilerler, Hanakin’de İran-Irak sınırının yakınından geçerek Zohab ve Mahidaş ovalarını içine alır. Kızlarbat yakınlarında Diyala Nehri’ni geçerek kuzey-kuzeybatıya yönelir. Kifri ve Kerkük yakınlarından geçerek Altun Köprü’de Küçük Zap’ı keser. Buradan batıya dönerek Karakoç Dağı’nı ve Erbil Yaylası’nı içine alır. Eski Kelek’te Büyük Zap’ı geçerek Musul ve Duhok’a değin Maglup Dağı’nın güney ucunu takip eder ve simayl’e ulaşır. Ardından Dicle’yi kesip önce güneye sonra kuzeye yönelerek Habur yakınlarından geçer ve Sincar Dağı’nı içine alır. Daha sonra batıya yönelerek Yukarı Cezire’nin kuzeyinden geçer. Oradan Tur Abdin ve Karacadağ’ın güney yamacını izler, Türkiye-Suriye sınırı boyunca batıya doğru ilerleyerek Kamışlı, Mardin, Şanlıurfa ve Kilis yakınlarından geçer ve İskenderun Körfezi’nin batısında son bulur. Kürtler, Sözde Türkiye’nin doğusu (Kuzey Kürdistan), Irak’ın kuzeyi (Güney Kürdistan), İran’ın kuzey batısı (Doğu Kürdistan) ve Suriye’nin kuzeyine (Batı Kürdistan) diye gönderme yapıyorlar.


Kürtler, kendilerine ait olmayan toprakları ısrarla talep etmeleri ve bölgeyi sürekli kargaşa ve kaosa sürüklemeleri, bölge insanları ve devletlerinin sabrını taşırmaktadır. bilinmelidir ki başkalarının haklarına tecavüz eden Kürtler, Kürt toplumunun sonunu getirecektir.

ALİ KERKÜKLÜ

ITM

IRAQI TURKMEN MEDIA CENTRE

mardi 21 juin 2011

Gunmen kidnap Turkmen physician in the city of Kerkuk

On Monday morning, Adwal Ali, a physician from the Iraqi Turkoman minority, was kidnapped by three gunmen in front of his house in al-Mu'alimeen district in central city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Also on Monday, gunmen kidnapped an 11-year-old boy near his house at a village near the city of al-Hawijah, some 50 km southwest of Kirkuk city, the source said without giving further details about the incident.

Earlier in the day, the police reported the killing of two people and the wounding of 13 others in separate attacks in Baghdad on Monday morning, including an attack on a convoy of a foreign security firm guarding French embassy vehicles that wounded four Iraqi guards and three civilians.

Brian Haw, one of the most recognisable figures in the British anti-war movement, has died.







Brian Haw, one of the most recognisable figures in the British anti-war movement, has died.



Haw set up camp outside the UK parliament in 2001 to protest against British and US foreign policy, staying there for 10 years.



Exposing the plight of victims of Britain's policies, Haw remained a thorn in the side of UK politicians who used legislation to him move out of the immediate vicinity of the parliament.



Al Jazeera's Christina Marker reports from London.

dimanche 19 juin 2011

Missing Iraq cash 'as high as $18bn'

Missing Iraq cash 'as high as $18bn'
Iraq's parliament speaker tells Al Jazeera unaccounted reconstruction money is three times the reported $6.6bn.
Last Modified: 19 Jun 2011 07:08

Osama al-Nujaifi, the Iraqi parliament speaker, has told Al Jazeera that the amount of Iraqi money unaccounted for by the US is $18.7bn - three times more than the reported $6.6bn.

Just before departing for a visit to the US, al-Nujaifi said that he has received a report this week based on information from US and Iraqi auditors that the amount of money withdrawn from a fund from Iraqi oil proceeds, but unaccounted for, is much more than the $6.6bn reported missing last week.

"There is a lot of money missing during the first American administration of Iraqi money in the first year of occupation.
"Iraq's development fund has lost around $18bn of Iraqi money in these operations - their location is unknown. Also missing are the documents of expenditure.

"I think it will be discussed soon. There should be an answer to where has Iraqi money gone."

The Bush administration flew in a total of $20bn in cash into the country in 2004. This was money that had come from Iraqi oil sales, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food programme and seized Iraqi assets.

Officials in Iraq were supposed to give out the money to Iraqi ministries and US contractors, intended for the reconstruction of the country.
'No trace'
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that Iraqi officials argue that the US government was supposed to safeguard the stash under a 2004 legal agreement it signed with Iraq, hence making Washington responsible for the cash that has disappeared.
Pentagon officials have contended for the last six years that they could account for the money if given enough time to track down the records.
The US has audited the money three times, but has still not been able to say exactly where it went.
Al Jazeera's Iraq correspondent, Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said: "It's an absolutely astonishing figure - this goes back to 2003 and 2004.

"There is going to be a fairly wide net cast - some of them [involved in mishandling of this money] are thought to be US officials, but many here believe that it is the Iraqis who have filled their pockets.

"Safeguarding the money was up to the Americans ... after the invasion, provisional authority here was run by the American military.
"Piles and piles of shrink-wrapped US dollars came here, but the cash coming in is not the important part - it is what happened to it after [it got here].

"There are no documents to indicate who got it, where it was spent and what was ever built from it."
Source:
Al Jazeera

TURKMENS fight for identity in KERKUK

samedi 18 juin 2011

Iraqi Kurdistan: Bloodied, beaten but ready to speak out

By Tracey Shelton and Harem Bahaddin in Sulaimaniyah


Freedom-of-speech protesters in Kurdistan are daily risking their lives



June 18, 2011



SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — The masked man screamed insults as he slashed a knife at Ismail Abdulla's face. His words were almost as sharp as the blade.



''You son of a dog,'' the attacker yelled. Others joined in, threatening to rape Abdulla's mother - an unthinkable horror in this part of the world. Then they beat him with their rifle butts, breaking his nose in a burst of blood.



The brutality occurred on May 27, after Abdulla had been abducted by eight men wearing balaclavas and Kurdish army uniforms. He was taken to a remote spot, beaten, cut and threatened with death if he ever participated in anti-government demonstrations again.



''I had been expecting this,'' said the 28-year-old behind dark glasses covering two black eyes. Deep slash marks stretched from his sleeve to his broken fingers.



For two months before the attack, Abdulla took to a podium each day in Sulaimaniyah's public square to rally protesters against government corruption.



Inspired and often overshadowed by pro-reform uprisings throughout the Middle East, Abdulla and other Kurdish activists spearheaded a protest movement that raged in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq from February to April this year.



The streets are calm, for now, but beneath the facade of peace is anger and disillusionment over a government that prefers bullets before dialogue.



If the protests here remained on the sidelines of higher-profile regional revolts, it's because the government wanted it that way and used violence to assure it.



Medical workers said at least 500 protesters were injured and 10 killed by the military over the course of the protests. Activists recorded more than 900 arrests. In many cases the detainees were held without charge. And, like Abdulla, many were beaten, threatened and abused.



An Australian citizen of Kurdish descent recounted his abduction by police in the regional capital, Erbil, during a visit from his home in Sydney. Dr Pshtewan Abdullah joined protesters in an Erbil shopping district when he was abducted by Kurdish secret police and locked in a small room where officers punched and kicked him for more than four hours.



''There was blood coming from my nose, ears, arms, back, thighs, my right eye,'' Abdullah told Amnesty International in his recount of his abduction.

A Kurdish youth is arrested as some 4,000 people rallied in Tahrir Square in the centre of the Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region of Iraq, on April 1, 2011. Photo: Getty Images.





Brave few ... Protesters gather in Sulaimaniyah in opposition to Kurdistan government corruption, March 2011. Photo: Saman Majeed.

''Every five minutes they would have a break and then two different officers would replace them … They were swearing at me, swearing on my wife and kids.''



After decades of war against the army of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan region gained relative independence in 1991 with the backing of key Western nations including Australia.



Two ruling political parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), still dominate the government and economy. In contrast to the rest of Iraq, security in Kurdistan was stable and business booming - until this year and cries for change.



The protests released a darker side of Kurdistan. More than a month after the demonstrations were quashed by government forces, arrests and threats continue. Hundreds of protesters, journalists and intellectuals remain in hiding.



Joost Hiltermann, Iraqi political analyst for the International Crisis Group qualified the protesters' cries of government corruption saying: ''The Kurdish system of government is opaque, pervasively corrupt and nepotistic, with weak and partisan institutions, political parties that control appointments at all levels of government and favours party members.''



International human rights' groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have condemned the brutal crackdown but ruling parties deny the use of excess force, claiming the measures used were necessary for keeping the situation peaceful.



''In Egypt the people had no freedom,'' said Azad Jondyani, a member of the PUK. ''They had no choices. Here people are free to have an opinion, to protest.''



Among their demands, protesters called for the dissolution of party-affiliated militia forces, intelligence and espionage agencies. It is these militia forces that have been instrumental in ending the protests and inciting fear among those involved.



The Minister of the Peshmerga, or security forces, Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, said the military had never been used in the interests of the ruling parties nor to threaten, harm or intimidate protesters. But others,www.ekurd.netsuch as 300 students from the University of Sulaimaniyah, disagree.



On April 19, in the final days of the protest campaign, government forces rounded up the hundreds of students from the university campus and took them by bus to a secluded location outside the city limits.



Students said for seven hours they were beaten, insulted and kept in the sun without food or water. Female students reported being threatened with rape and referred to as prostitutes.



Today, Sulaimaniyah is cloaked in an uneasy silence. Government forces still stand guard in the town square wielding guns.



''It is a nice lie to say we have democracy in Sulaimaniyah,'' said a protest committee member, Soran Omar, speaking at a secret location. He is in hiding after his home was raided twice and his car set on fire.



''If we have democracy in Iraqi Kurdistan, then democracy is killing and shooting in the street. Democracy is arresting intellectuals and holding them in prison. Democracy is led by murderers and run by government military. This democracy means those who complain, have their tongues cut out.''


http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/6/state5191.htm

Iraqi Kurdistan: Not so Democratic

Assyrian International News Agency


Iraqi Kurdistan: Not So Democratic


Posted GMT 6-18-2011
(AINA) -- The emergence of an almost completely autonomous Kurdistan in the Iraq's north has often been hailed by commentators as a happy by-product of the American-led invasion of the country. For example, Jeffrey Goldberg, in a dispute with Glenn Greenwald last year, cited the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Premier, Barham Salih, to defend the invasion from the charge that it was a "criminal act." Even Joe Klein, who disparages the "dreadful" Iraq War, celebrates Iraqi Kurdistan as amounting to "liberation of the Kurds." Of course, this image is based on the notion that Iraqi Kurdistan is more democratic, liberal and pro-American than the government in Baghdad. But is that an accurate judgment?



One particularly useful way of answering this question is to look at how the Kurdish authorities have responded to protests in their territory that have arisen as part of what has widely been dubbed the "Arab Spring." To preface, however, I should like to state that I am not interested in debating the rights and wrongs of the Iraq War by reference to developments in Iraqi Kurdistan. Questions such as whether the U.S. should have invaded in the first place or whether Iran's position in the region has been strengthened, have been debated ad nauseam. I see no reason to revisit them here.



Despite the conventional wisdom that Iraq has been fairly quiet during the "Arab Spring," in reality there has been continual unrest across the nation since February. Demonstrators in both Iraqi Kurdistan and areas of the centre and south have a variety of grievances, including the Turkish and Iranian stranglehold on the country's water supplies, massive corruption in government, poor public services and lack of security and protection against terrorist attacks.



During a visit to Doha (the capital of Qatar), Barham Salih had an interview with a Qatari paper, affirming that the protests in Kurdistan were an indication of the strength of democratic and civil society in the Kurdish areas of Iraq. As he himself put it, "We should not be afraid of the protests. We should not be afraid of our people when they demand reforms. On the contrary, it's a step forward for reforms." Unfortunately, however, he entirely glossed over the harsh crackdown on demonstrations by the Kurdish security forces, harassment of media covering the protests, and the punitive measures undertaken against the opposition parties that aligned with the protestors. Rather than being a sign of a healthy liberal-democracy in Iraqi Kurdistan, the course of events during the unrest in the north paints a more sobering picture that is little different from the authoritarian response of Nouri al-Maliki's government in Baghdad to demonstrations in the central and southern provinces.



Protests in Kurdistan first took off in mid-February. On February 17, there was a gathering in Saray Square in the city of Sulaymaniyah, an important economic center for Iraqi Kurdistan around 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. In this case, the demonstration's organizers had received permission from the city council to stage their protest. That day also saw a march on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which comprises half of the ruling coalition in the KRG.



During the march, protestors threw rocks at the building. In response, security guards opened fire to disperse the crowd, resulting in the death of a 15-year old boy and leaving 50 others injured. Meanwhile, in the city of Arbil, which lies 50 miles east of Mosul and is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, protests were planned but were thwarted by the authorities, who refused to grant permission. Even so, a few turned up, only to face violent reprisal at the hands of the Kurdish security forces, and agents quickly spread throughout Arbil, promptly imposing a curfew in an attempt to prevent any further gatherings of protestors from taking place. The ruling authorities then turned their attention towards the "Change List," which is the largest opposition group in the KRG, seeing the protests in Sulaymaniyah as a casus belli. Indeed, security forces and supporters of Massoud Barazani, president of the KRG, attacked the Change List's offices in Soran, Shawlawa, Dohuk, Dinaslawa and Arbil. In Arbil, the office was set on fire, and the Change Movement's TV station (KNN) was banned from broadcasting.



On the other hand, the Change List denied any involvement in the demonstrations while vociferously condemning the violent crackdown on protestors. In any case, the initial authoritarian measures undertaken by the Kurdish protestors did not deter people from gathering at Saray Square on an almost daily basis until the end of April. In other cities, demonstrators continued to stage rallies, facing violent opposition from the security forces. Consequently, the opposition would come to align itself with the protests, whereas media that tried to cover the events would be harassed in various ways.



On February 19, around 2000 university students in Sulaymaniyah attempted to hold a demonstration, occurring on the same day as other protests in Baghdad. Besides the expected denouncing of corruption, unemployment and poor public services, added to the list of grievances was a demand for Massoud Barazani to apologize for the shootings at the earlier protests in Sulaymaniyah. As Frishta Karim, a 21-year-old student at Sulaymaniyah University put it, "The authorities in the region [i.e. Kurdistan] do not understand what democracy means. We firmly reject the use of weapons against demonstrators." However, police refused to allow the student protestors to leave the university campus. In addition, on February 19, approximately 1000 people showed up at Saray Square, demanding the release of individuals arrested on suspicion of ties to organizers of the rally that took place two days before. They further called for the head of the KDP's office in Sulaymaniyah to be prosecuted, claiming that he had given the order for KDP guards to open fire on demonstrators. As with the protest on February 17, security forces again shot at protestors, killing two and injuring fourteen.



Nevertheless, over the course of the following week, unrest began to spread across Sulaymaniyah Governorate. For example, in the town of Halabja" (about 150 miles northeast of Baghdad), demonstrators marched on February 22 in solidarity with the protests in Sulaymaniyah, attacking the headquarters of the local branch of the KDP with stones. There were demands that the Kurdish government and parliament resign in order to make way for what nearly three weeks ago the Change List had termed "early transparent elections. "Furthermore, the protestors complained of the "monopolization" of political and economic authority by the KDP-led government. During this protest, 20 people were wounded in a confrontation with the local security forces, and spokespersons for the ruling coalition in the KRG described the demonstrators as "anarchists and vandals, putting at stake Kurdistan's achievements and security."



Two days later, people in Sulaymaniyah marched on the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which makes up the other half of the ruling coalition in the KRG and is headed by current Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. They were throwing stones at the building. In response, security guards fired back at protestors. One policeman was killed and two protestors were wounded in the clashes, even as the KRG declared officially that it would commission an investigation into the incidents in Sulaymaniyah on February 17.



February 25 was known across Iraq as the official "Day of Rage," with major demonstrations throughout the country, including protests in Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, Ranya, Chamchamal, Sayid Sadiq and Kalar, although Arbil and Dohuk remained relatively quiet on that day. In particular, Chamchamal -- a town with a mixed Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish population of 180,000 -- witnessed a 500 person strong march on the office of the town's deputy mayor and the KDP headquarters, culminating in a clash with security guards that killed a 12-year-old child and left several injured. It was claimed that protestors began stoning the deputy mayor's office, but it remains unclear as to whether the protestors or security forces initiated the violence. In Kalar, another multi-ethnic city, a 19-year-old protestor, Dilan Ahmed, was killed and 26 were wounded, including four policemen, as the KDP's local branch was attacked by the demonstrators. The KDP likewise saw its local headquarters stoned in Sayid Sadiq, leaving three policemen and one officer wounded.



Meanwhile, protestors in Sulaymaniyah issued a variety of demands to the KRG, including the right to allow demonstrators to attend the meetings of political parties, freedom of expression in universities and removing political parties from government administration. They also called for reforming the Kurdish constitution, appointing non-partisan bureaucrats to the security ministries, putting on trial security guards who shot at demonstrators, and cutting the salaries of top officials and lawmakers. In light of this, the Change List and two minor Islamist opposition parties, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), began to come out in support of the protests, partly because they had made similar demands and with the intention of putting pressure on the KDP and PUK.



Indeed, following the "Day of Rage," the opposition jointly issued a 7-point reform program that primarily condemned the use of force against the protestors and stressed the necessity for calling early elections. However, citing the continued employment of violence against the protests, the opposition would eventually boycott the regional government", and call for the dissolution of the government as a vote of no confidence was rejected by a majority of the KRG's parliament, with a margin of 67 to 28 votes in the 110-seat parliament. This was so despite six emergency meetings held by the KRG parliament between the 26 February and 10 March.



As is the case at present with the Baathist regime in Syria, these expressions of discontent caught the ruling coalition of the PUK and KDP off guard. In fact, just one day before the protests in Kurdistan began, a senior Kurdish parliamentarian, Mahmoud Othman, said that the demonstrations happening across the Middle East and North Africa could not take place in Iraqi Kurdistan, pointing to what he said was the democratic political environment and stable security situation of the region.



Initially, the ruling coalition launched verbal attacks on the demonstrators and the opposition. For example, Rwber, a weekly newspaper that publicly professes to be independent but is in reality closely affiliated with the KDP, tried to discredit the protestors by accusing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard of being behind the unrest that began in Sulaymaniyah on February 17. It claimed the demonstrations were plotted "in revenge" for the stoning of Iran's consulate in Arbil in January by people denouncing the execution of Kurdish activists in Iran. In a similar vein, a Kurdish news outlet close to the KDP, Peyamner, said that the leadership of the Change List was conferring on the border with Iranian officials in order to incite protestors to attack KDP headquarters in Sulaymaniyah. Quoting an unnamed source, Peyamner affirmed that the Revolutionary Guard's "Mariwan headquarters, a Kurdish city in Iran, had recently urged its agents to create a state of disorder in Sulaymaniyah and consequently a civil war." At this point, the KIU claimed that several of its members and media personnel in Arbil received death threats via phone call, amidst reports suggesting that some leaders from the Kurdish Islamist parties were amongst those for whom the security forces had issued an arrest warrant for supposedly joining the protestors and inciting them to violence.



The PUK proceeded to target independent media and opposition-affiliated press that were covering the protests in Iraqi Kurdistan. On February 17, an independent TV and radio station known as "Nalia Radio and TV" (NRT) started broadcasting; it was the only channel running stories about the initial protests in Sulaymaniyah. Three days later, NRT TV's director received threatening phone calls, before around 50 armed men broke into the channel's offices and set them on fire. KRG Prime Minister Barham Salih would later claim that nine people were arrested in connection with this act of vandalism, and that two of them were members of a counterterrorism unit as part of the Kurdish security forces. Nevertheless, no evidence has since emerged even of a trial, let alone a punishment for the men involved in the attack.



Similarly, Kamal Rauf, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Hawlati, reported that many journalists working for his newspaper and covering the protests were assaulted by the security forces. He also complained that his staff had to evacuate the newspaper's headquarters for a few days because of threats via phone calls. In Kalar, Deng Radio station was attacked by unidentified gunmen, who destroyed the station's building and stole some valuable equipment. By March 10, the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate (KJS) reported that around 100 journalists operating in Iraqi Kurdistan had been threatened with death or physically assaulted.



The PUK authorities in Sulaymaniyah also targeted the activists behind the protests. On February 26, anti-riot police employed sound bombs and fired live ammunition into a crowd gathered in Saray Square, trying to disperse the protest. One protestor was subsequently killed. The next day, an imam gave a speech in the square, denouncing corruption in the KRG. He was then kidnapped by four Peshmerga (Kurdish militiamen) from the PUK, beaten, tortured and held for four days. At the end of March, he was arrested again and detained for a week. On March 1, an opposition lawmaker from the Change List, Karwan Salih, said that seven people were arrested and tortured by the police in Arbil amid protests there on the previous Friday.



In contrast, the KDP in Arbil were more proactive and authoritarian in their repression of protests from the beginning. In mid-February, the Kurdistan Students' Union, tied to the KDP, ordered all university students in Arbil to go home or all the services at the colleges would be shut down. This pre-emptive act sought to send away all potential demonstrators who might try to organize rallies in the coming days. On February 25, some protestors attempted to hold a march in Arbil's central square, only to be dispersed by security officers. Seven members of the Change List who were taking part in the protest were arrested before the demonstration even started, while reporters for Radio Nawa and independent cameramen saw their equipment confiscated by the security forces in the face of threats of rape. In addition, a man working for a local NGO was kidnapped and beaten, since he refused to give up his cell phone in the square. A clear message of deterrence was thus sent out to would-be protestors and those intending to report on demonstrations in Arbil.



As March dragged on, however, the Kurdish authorities began to state in public that they were ready and willing to listen to the protestors' demands. For example, on March 17, Jalal Talabani announced his support for the demonstrators' grievances in a speech at Saray Square, addressing the protestors' "Temporary Council." As he himself put it, "We support all your legitimate demands and strive to accelerate their achievement." He also took the opportunity to proclaim that the authorities wished to ensure "decent life and freedoms for you." This echoed statements issued by Barham Salih three days before. Salih declared that he fully agreed with the demands for the release of those detained during demonstrations, questioning of interior and Peshmerga forces in the parliament and the need to try those responsible for the deaths of protestors. He also gave a formal apology on behalf of the KRG to the people of Iraqi Kurdistan for the clashes between security forces and protestors, as well as the subsequent casualties.



On March 21, the head of the provincial council in Sulaymaniyah, Kawa Abdullah, claimed that Massoud Barazani would resign as president of the KRG if the government failed to implement his proposed reform package within four months. Barazani further suggested early elections to reshuffle the then 18-month-old Kurdish cabinet (the sixth one since the establishment of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in 1991 after the First Gulf War), and emphasized the need to set up an integrity committee to look into the problem of government corruption. At the end of the month, Barazani said that he would pass a 7-point program that featured concessions and warnings to activists. For, while it promised to compel the courts to take legal action against members of the security forces who fired on protestors during demonstrations in Sulaymaniyah in February, it also threatened the arrest and trial of any activists who held a gathering without a permit or attacked government property.



Even now, none of the promised reforms documented above has been implemented by the KRG, something that should not come as a surprise, if we consider the record in practice during the months of March and April. On March 6, masked men attacked tents that demonstrators had set up in Saray Square, and on March 11, the KDP organized a celebratory rally in Arbil to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Iraqi Kurdistan from Saddam Hussein. The intention of the latter was to block a planned protest on that day. On April 2, protestors attempted to march through Sulaymaniyah, but faced the water cannons and bullets of riot police who aimed to break up the demonstration. As a result, 44 members of the police and 12 protestors were injured in the violent confrontation that ensued.



Tired of the continual unrest by mid-April, the KRG acted decisively to end the protest movement. Beginning on April 17, protestors tried to hold another march through Sulaymaniyah, only to be met by police who utilized tear gas and batons, leaving 56 wounded. This occurred while Azad Jundiani, the politburo spokesman for the PUK, said that the PUK and KDP would engage in talks with the opposition in order to "find a way out of the current crisis in Kurdistan." Another clash followed on the next day in Sulaymaniyah, with security forces firing on protestors and wounding sixteen of them. Likewise, a rally on April 18, held in Arbil at the local Salah al-Din University and staged by a group of university professors, clerics and students, was broken up forcefully, with 22 wounded in clashes as journalists and bystanders with cameras were attacked by police. A local police chief in Arbil later did his best to deny that any protest had occurred or that there had been any clashes between civilians and local security forces.



On April 19, the security forces, anti-riot police and Peshmerga militia swiftly moved in to clear Saray Square of all remaining protestors. They also broke through a march that was heading towards Sulaymaniyah's main court, in the hope of preventing protestors from holding a sit-in outside the court's building. A number of demonstrators were arrested on that day. The Governorate of Sulaymaniyah then banned all "unlicensed demonstrations" in the city. The security committee of further vowed to end all protests in Sulaymaniyah. By this point, protestors had continuously remained in Saray Square for 62 days, affirming that they would not go home until their demands were met. Yet the protestors' resilience was not to last, as Saray Square was cleared from April 19 onwards.



Meanwhile, the authorities intensified their efforts against the local media and opposition as part of their crackdown on the protest movement. To conceal the harsh suppression of the demonstrations, journalists covering the protests were chased away by the security forces, amidst a strike staged by the Kurdistan Lawyers Syndicate (KLS) in outrage at the assaults committed against protestors who had gathered in front of a court in Sulaymaniyah, whereas KNN TV, affiliated with the Change List, had its transmission blocked. Moreover, the KIG's Payam TV station was surrounded by security forces and then attacked with live ammunition. In the meantime, a spokesman for the demonstrators, a journalist for the KIU and a member of the Sulaymaniyah provincial council (head of the KIU faction in the 41-member council) all had their cars destroyed with explosives, and two of the KIU's offices were attacked. By the end of the month, the Change List as well as the two Islamist parties all reported that their budgets had been cut by the KRG, saying they planned to go to court to contest the KRG's decision to reduce their budgets in retaliation for their support for the protests. In Iraqi Kurdistan, funding for political parties in the parliament is distributed by the KRG, and not necessarily according to the number of seats that a party has in the parliament. For instance, the Kurdistan Communist Party, with one seat, receives the same allocation as the Change List that has 25 seats.



And so by the start of May the protest movement in Iraqi Kurdistan was largely finished, put down with methods that have differed little from Nouri al-Maliki's ruthless tactics in Baghdad. Since February 17, activists in Iraqi Kurdistan say that around 10 protestors have been killed in protests, more than 500 injured and more than 900 arrested by the police and security forces, while the Iraqi Association for Defending Journalists has documented 226 reported violations of press freedom in Sulaymaniyah. The talk of reform in the KRG was little more than a farce, and the authorities showed their true colors in targeting not only demonstrators but also media and opposition groups in Arbil and Sulaymaniyah. Iraqi Kurdistan is frequently touted as the "other Iraq," in contrast to the central and southern regions of the country. That is, it is supposedly the more stable and democratic region of Iraq, yet in reality the Kurdish ruling parties have been just as authoritarian as Nouri al-Maliki.



Even before the protests, these illiberal, anti-democratic trends should have been noticed in the behavior of the Kurdish authorities towards minority groups in Iraqi Kurdistan. A hallmark of liberal democracy is the protection of minorities and their rights. On this matter, the KRG has proven to be a sore failure. A 2007 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) notes:





Government complicity in religiously-motivated discrimination is reported in the pro-Western Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). According to the State Department, Christians and other minorities 'living in the area north of Mosul asserted that the KRG confiscated their property without compensation...Chaldo-Assyrian Christians have also alleged that KRG officials affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party deny Christians key social benefits, including employment and housing.



The report goes on to note that:





KRG officials were also reported to have used public works projects to divert water and other vital resources from Chaldo-Assyrian to Kurdish communities...leading to mass exodus, which was later followed by the seizure and conversion of abandoned Chaldo-Assyrian property by the local Kurdish population. Turkmen groups in the region surrounding Tel Afer also report similar abuses by Kurdish officials, suggesting a pattern of pervasive discrimination, harassment and marginalization.



Indeed, the Kurdish authorities have actively engaged in political violence and cultural suppression of minorities in Iraq's north. Just as Arab nationalists insist that all people in the Middle East and North Africa must be part of a pan-Arab identity, the KDP and KPU have been attempting to impose a pan-Kurdish identity on the people of northern Iraq, in pursuit of a vision of a greater Kurdistan. This has above all entailed repressive measures against political parties representing minorities such as the Assyrians. For instance, during the 2005 elections, Kurdish authorities given the task of delivering ballot boxes to Assyrian districts in Iraqi Kurdistan failed to do so, while Assyrian election workers were fired on and killed. This was all done with the goal of marginalizing the Assyrian Democratic Movement that is the legitimate representative of the Assyrian community in Iraq.



A more recent case in point was the arrest of Wa'ad Hamad Matto, leader of the Yezidi Progress Movement (representing the Yezidis, who refuse to identify as Kurds but are not recognized as a distinct ethnic group in Article 5 of the KRG constitution), on 5 September, 2009. Today, he remains in jail, since he refused to submit to demands for Kurdish control over certain Yezidi communities in the Nineveh plain, having criticized Kurdish security forces on television for failing to maintain security in the Sinjar area, where two explosions had taken place.



Of course, it is lamentable that there has been so little coverage in the international press of the authoritarianism and cultural imperialism of the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq, not only vis-à-vis the protest movement that first arose in February of this year but also the treatment of minorities since Iraqi Kurdistan first achieved a degree of autonomy in 1991. The unfortunate consequence of the lack of media attention is that the ruling parties in Iraqi Kurdistan feel no outside pressure to initiate reform. Their foremost concern has been to keep a firm hold on power, as they have done so for at least 20 years through familial, tribal and political connections, combined with repression of political opponents. This has thoroughly instilled in the Kurdish authorities a sense of a lack of accountability. It is time for the Western media outlets in particular to stop ignoring these unpleasant developments in Iraqi Kurdistan, and for Washington to think beyond simply maintaining friendly ties with the KRG while turning a blind eye to anti-democratic trends in Iraq's Kurdish areas.



By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi


Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student of Iraqi descent at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and is an intern at the Middle East Forum.

Iraqi citizens plan to sue George W. Bush

BAGHDAD, June 16 (UPI) -- An unknown number of Iraqis have decided to sue former U.S. President George W. Bush over relatives who were killed in the war, officials said.

Aswat al-Iraq reported Thursday the suits are to be based on U.S. military operations in west Iraq's Anbar Province during the years that followed Iraq's occupation in 2003.

"I have lost five of my sons in the first and second battles in 2004 … what was the guilt of my sons, who were killed by the American Army," said Najim al-Mohammady, 53. "There isn't a single house in Anbar whose family had not lost a martyr or two.

"Hundreds of relatives of martyrs, who lost their sons, have decided to raise a judicial case against the former American president, and we shall assign a number of lawyers to revenge for part of the sacrifices made by Iraqis and to account the occupier for his acts," Mohammady said.

One man said two of his sons were killed inside his home in an attack by U.S. troops.

Shawla Taha, 32, said U.S. soldiers killed her brother.

"The Iraqi political blocs and parties are after gains and raise red papers to expel those who they don't wish from the Parliament, but we shall act according to the law to restore the rights of our sons from the American Army, who killed them and to account those who were in power in the Iraqi government and supported them," Taha said.

Mohammady didn't say when or where the lawsuits would be filed.


© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/06/16/Iraq-citizens-plan-to-sue-George-W-Bush/UPI-45711308230207/print/#ixzz1PbxQUSrn

vendredi 17 juin 2011

Higher Strategic Policies Council should go to Turkmen - White Iraqiya

BAGHDAD: The head of White Iraqiya bloc, Qutaiba al-Jubouri, suggested today that the post of Higher Strategic Policies Council go to the Turkmen because they did not get a real post in the present government.


Jubouri made a statement today, a copy of which was received by Aswat al-Iraq, stating that "granting this post to the Turkmen is important because they are the third ethnic entity in the country.

Their popular participation and history should enable them a real representation."


"Granting them this post will substitute their deprivation of the vice-presidency post and a matter of equality and national partnership principles," he added.


© Aswat Aliraq 2011

jeudi 16 juin 2011

URANIUM AND HEALTH - REPORT

ECRR
Uranium and Health
The Health Effects of Exposure to Uranium and Uranium Weapons Fallout
Chris Busby
Documents of the ECRR 2010 No 2
...
Brussels, 2010
See More

mardi 14 juin 2011

Le Monde report on birth defects in Falluja

Le Monde report on birth defects in Falluja

In Falluja, "monster babies" raise questions over US weapons used in 2004

LEMONDE.FR
10.06.11
20h48 • Mis à jour le 10.06.11
21h02





"Did the American army use nuclear weapons in Iraq?" This is the surprising question raised by France Info on Friday June 10. In partnership with Paris-Match, Angélique Férat, radio correspondent for the area, returned to the city of Fallujah, about fifty kilometers from Baghdad. The city, a stronghold of the Sunni insurrection, was attacked and partially destroyed by American forces in April 2004 and again in November the same year. Since then the city has seen a very high number of birth defects - so much so that, according to Angélique Férat, "almost every family has its own 'monster baby'". The Iraqi authorities refuse to consider the subject and there are no official statistics.

Ms. Férat is not the first journalist to consider the fate of the city's children. In May 2008, the British television channel Sky News sounded an alarm about the rate of congenital malformations there. An official of a local human rights organisation spoke of 200 cases of congenital malformations, the majority of which happened after the bombardment of the city. In November 2009 the British daily newspaper The Guardian ran two articles a photo collection and a video report. The newspaper summarised information collected by a Fallujah hospital paediatrician who saw 37 malformed babies born in less than three weeks. The mother of three children between three and six years old said they were all unable to walk or feed themselves.



This is incomprehensible to the hospital's doctors. For lack of evidence, they refuse to draw a direct link with the combat which touched the city in 2004. According to them, multiple factors can explain these malformations: air pollution, radiation, chemical pollutants, the drugs used during pregnancy, malnutrition or stress in the mother. In March 2010, it was a BBC journalist's turn to go (video and report). After seeing a photograph of a baby with three heads he said "When you are over there, the evidence is ghastly."



In normal circumstances, the probability of such phenomena is zero

The various reports attracted the attention of scientists. Christopher Busby, director of environmental consultancy Green Audit and famous for his denunciation of weapons using depleted uranium, went to the site. With Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi he carried out a population survey based on a questionnaire. The results were published in July 2010 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (pdf). In the period 2006-2009, infant mortality in Falluja rose to 80 per 1000 births, while the rate in Egypt and Jordan stayed at 19,8 and 17 per 1000 respectively.

In December 2010, a new study carried out by another research team appeared in the same Journal. The results are eloquent: in Falluja, a newborn had eleven times more chance of being born with malformations than in the rest of the world. "It is important to understand that in normal circumstances, the probability of such phenomena is zero" explained Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, one of the authors of the report. For May 2010, 15% of the 547 newborns presented serious deformities, while 11% were born prematurely (before thirty weeks of pregnancy). For the first time, this report clearly mentions the possibility that the genetic damage observed is related to the weapons used by the United States, and in particular depleted uranium.



Less radioactive than natural uranium, depleted uranium is a heavy metal and very dense. It is used in artillery shells to improve their penetrating ability. Like all heavy metals, it presents a toxic risk if it gets into the body or if its radiations penetrate the skin. Its military use is regularly denounced but no link with the children of Falluja has ever been proved.



Enriched Uranium? "It's absurd"

In the most recent study, soon to appear in the British scientific journal The Lancet, British scientist Christopher Busby goes further. He says traces of enriched uranium were found in samples of soil, air, water, and human hair. But Jean-Dominique Merchet, a journalist specializing in military issues and author of the blog Secret defence said that, unlike depleted uranium, enriched uranium is radioactive. "It has military uses in nuclear bombs and in propelling submarines or aircraft carriers. Using it on battle fields where your own soldiers are is absurd. Merchet also points out that there was a time when Saddam Hussein made use of deformities in young children. "He took journalists to visit orphanages where the children suffered from malformations", he remembers. So Merchet calls for caution until The Lancet article is published, and pending possible proof.

Translation by LLRC. 12th June 2011
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Related

New Scientist 6th September 2008 (pay per view) and complete article free to view.

Ex-soldier died of cancer caused by Gulf War uranium .

samedi 11 juin 2011

Kerkuk Turkusu Sinan Sait ve Nermine Memedova - Evlerinin önü yonca

Kerkuk Turkusu Sinan Sait ve Nermine Memedova - Evlerinin ogu yonca


Evlerinin önü yonca
Yonca kalkmış dam boyunca
Boyu uzun beli ince

Nine yavrum ninne
Esmer yavrum ninne
Ninne ninne

Evlerinin önü lala
Saki doldur ver piyala
Sarhoş olak düşek yola

Nine yavrum ninne
Esmer yavrum ninne
Ninne ninne

Evlerinin önü bakla
Güvercinler atar takla
Al beni koynunda sakla

Nine yavrum ninne
Esmer yavrum ninne
Ninne ninne

Evlerinin önü susam
Sıyrılıp koynuna girsem
Her gün sabah boyun görsem


Nine yavrum ninne
Esmer yavrum ninne
Ninne ninne


TRT THM Rep. No : 2287
Yöre:Kerkük
Kaynak kişi : Abdulvahit Küzecioğlu
Derleyen:Emin Aldemir

vendredi 10 juin 2011

Iraq's Kut province votes to ban U.S. troops

Iraq: what has the 100 day initiative really achieved?

niqash
Kholoud Ramzi
wed 08 jun 11


In response to protests, Iraq’s prime minister set a deadline of 100 days for reforms. That deadline has passed. But what, if anything, has actually been achieved? NIQASH takes a closer look.


Earlier this year thousands of Iraqis demonstrated against their government. In Iraq’s version of the Arab spring style protests which are still going on around the Middle East today, Iraqis made it clear that they were just as angry about high unemployment, government corruption and human rights abuses as their neighbours in the region. Their demands also included better rationing and no more interruptions to electricity supply.


In order to appease the demonstrators, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who holds power thanks to a delicately balanced coalition in the Iraqi parliament, set a 100 day deadline for reforms on February 27. That deadline expired on June 7 – and it seems highly likely that protestors will take to the streets again on Friday June 10, Friday being the beginning of the weekend in Muslim countries.


As the deadline approached, and then expired, there has been plenty of political wrangling going on – opposition parties have said that the country’s ills were supposed to be cured within 100 days and that al-Maliki has failed and should resign, while al-Maliki’s supporters say the 100 days was just about setting an agenda for reform and that this has begun.


Al-Maliki himself said there would be a transparent assessment of the successes and failures within each ministry after the deadline had passed. Specific and objective criteria would be used to assess performance and political bias would not come into it, a government spokesperson argued.


However the political rumour mill was already suggesting that some whole ministries might even be closed down, and in particular those ministries that were apparently only created in order to curry favour with certain voting blocs in parliament.


But what has really been achieved at street level in Iraq, if anything?


On political reforms:


Protestors in different parts of the country had demanded political reforms, and in particular the dismissal of state governors and council leaders who were performing poorly or perceived to be corrupt.


As a result of protests in their regions, the governors of the states of Basra, Babel and Wasit – respectively, Shiltagh Aboud, Salman al-Zarkani and Lateef al-Tarfa – all resigned. Apart from al-Tarfa, the resignations actually took place just before al-Maliki announced the 100 Day initiative.


After the US-led invasion of Iraq that deposed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, local councils had more power to make decisions about their own regions. But the councils have been heavily targeted by protestors, who say they have achieved very little and have been corrupt and inefficient.


In response, al-Maliki’s government said that early elections could be held so that new state officials could be voted in. However no moves appear to have been made in this direction.


At the federal level, the general secretary of Iraq’s council of ministers, or cabinet, Ali al-Allaq, said that the 100 Day initiative had resulted in some improvements. He listed various ministries that had successfully assessed pertinent issues and prepared timetables for dealing with them. These were the ministries of justice, industry and minerals, health, finance, municipalities, public works and youth, al-Allaq said.


On power problems:


One of the major issues that angered protestors was the fact that electricity supplies were continuously interrupted in many parts of Iraq.


While the supply of electricity has improved since the US-led invasion in 2003, supply is still patchy and has not kept pace with demand. Baghdad had always had fairly regular electricity but the rest of the nation had only ever had between three and six hours of power a day. Many Iraqi homes have their own generators to make up for the shortfall.


And the Ministry of Electricity was not on the list of federal ministries that had apparently completed a programme for reform.


A senior official at the ministry was surprised to discover this. As the official told NIQASH, “the ministry submitted a complete plan featuring three main points before the 100 Day deadline elapsed. The first point talked about distributing electricity fairly throughout all the residential areas in Baghdad, the various provinces, cities and villages,” he explained.


“The second point evaluated contracts signed with Korean companies to connect electrical systems purchased from Siemens, in Germany, which should provide Iraq with 10,000 megawatts of electricity per day. And finally, the third point discussed the supply of generators, complete with fuel, to locals.”

In fact, the senior official said, his ministry had already started on the third measure, in co-operation with the Ministry of Oil, to provide extra power in some of Baghdad’s residential areas. The distributed generators were to provide around 12 hours of electricity to residents.

However residents of those areas told NIQASH that the supplied generators were only providing around six hours of electricity every day: two hours in the morning and four at night.


On corruption:


Financial and administrative corruption were also serious issues for Iraqi protestors. In terms of corruption, the Berlin-based organisation Transparency International had ranked Iraq fourth to last out of 178 countries in its 2010 index.


Ordinary Iraqis also wanted to see those officials accused of corruption brought to justice somehow.


However reports indicate that Iraq’s Commission on Integrity, which is supposed to investigate corruption at all levels of government, has not handled any significant cases within government institutions within the last three months.


Al-Maliki chose to highlight several potential instances of corruption personally. The Iraqi prime minister made a surprise visit to Directorate of Passports in Baghdad where he stressed that it was the right of every Iraqi to have a passport, before admonishing bureaucrats to conduct their business in a non-corrupt manner.


Al-Maliki also intervened personally in the case of the Trade Bank of Iraq; the bank’s general manager had fled the country for Lebanon as he was about to be arrested after an investigation into financial irregularities at the institute. Iraq has asked Lebanon to extradite the bank manager.


On human rights:


In mid-May the Iraqi cabinet ratified a draft law on freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration, the official Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said.


Additionally al-Dabbagh reported that 200 new jobs were being created at the Ministry of Human Rights.

lundi 6 juin 2011

Petition to protest the Iraqi Foreign Affairs Ministry for ignoring the Turkmens

Türkmenim diyen üstüne düşen görevini bilir
This email has been forwarded by Turkmen Info Centre to all Turkmen communities and associations in Canada.




حملة "المليون توقيع" لتنديد وزارة الخارجية العراقية لتجاهلها التركمان في العراق

ومطالبة شعبية لوقف سياسة التهميش القومي للتركمان في العراق



Campaign to collect signatures to protest the Iraqi Foreign Ministry for ignoring the Turkmens in Iraq



İmza toplamak için Kampanya başlattık, Irak Türkmenlerini görmezden gelen Irak Dışişleri Bakanlığı'nı protesto amaçlı


إدخل ووقع من أجل وجودك يا أيها التركماني ونطلب دعم كل انسان خير وغيور على إنسانيته








 

الكل مسؤول لنشر هذه الحملة دون استثناء وشكرا لكم

dimanche 5 juin 2011

Alleged chief of PKK's money in Europe taken into custody in Paris

Sunday, June 5, 2011
Alleged chief of PKK’s money in Europe taken into custody in Paris

Four Kurds were arrested after French police raided a Kurdish association in a Paris suburb, including the alleged chief of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK’s, money in Europe.
The French police raided the Kurdish association based in Villiers le Bel. Nedim Seven, Bülent Atmaca, Gülay Aydemir and Rahmi Arıc have been taken into custody.
While the police carried out the search, Kurds living in the area gathered in front of the association to protest the raid.
In the aftermath of the raid, the protesters occupied the train station and violent conflicts occurred between the police forces and the protesters. Garbage cans were set on fire and announcements were made at the station to warn the public about the Kurdish protest. Bus and train services have been canceled because of the protests.
The police organized another anti-terror raid on the Evry branch of the Kurdish association. Kurds gathered in front of the association to protest there as well. Four people were injured and taken to hospital. Three people were taken into custody.

The French Communist Party criticized the police raid and also alleged that Nedim Seven is the chief of PKK’s money in Europe.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

samedi 4 juin 2011

Iraq-Kuwait Argue Over Competing Port Plans In the Persian Gulf

http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com


Iraq and Kuwait have been trying to patch up relations for the last eight years. Saddam Hussein was considered an existential threat to the kingdom because of his 1990 invasion, and many Kuwaitis are still caught up in the past, and have been slow to adapt to the new Iraq. Still, the two have been carrying on a series of talks about a wide range of outstanding issues between them. The problem is that every time they seem to make some progress, something comes up, which strains relations. That’s happening currently over two plans to build ports, one in Kuwait and one in Iraq, which have led to a new series of accusations and recriminations.

In April 2011, Kuwait began work on its Great Mubarak Port. It is located on Bubyan Island, just off the coast of Iraq. Kuwait signed a contract with South Korea’s Hyundai to build the port, which is supposed to be completed by 2016 for a cost of $1.1 billion. It will include container docks, deep water harbors, a free trade zone, a rail network, and residential areas. By the end of May, an official from Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works claimed that 48% of the first phase of construction had already been completed. When finished it will be the largest port in the Persian Gulf.

The problem for Iraq is that it plans on building the Grand Faw Port right across from Kuwait’s Mubarak. On April 15, 2009, Iraq signed a deal with Italy’s Technital to design the port. On April 4, 2011 Iraq’s Transportation Minister laid the corner stone for Faw. Construction is supposed to cost $6 billion. It will have a capacity of 99 million tons of cargo per year, and include a railway line to Europe via Turkey. Iraq wants it to be not only the biggest port in the region, but to make it a major transit point between Asia and Europe, and to compete with the Suez Canal. The government is arguing that it will be cheaper and faster to unload containers at Faw, and then ship them to Europe by rail, then going through Egypt. The entire project is supposed to be finished by 2017. The Transportation Minister has threatened to resign if Faw was not completed. Currently, Um Qasr is the only deep water port in Iraq, but it is old and lacks capacity. Faw is part of Iraq’s grand plan to rebuild and prosper after twenty years of wars and sanctions.
This map highlights the close proximity between Kuwait's Mubarak port being built on Bubyan Island and Faw where Iraq plans on building a grand port

With that vision it should have come as no surprise that Iraq was greatly angered when Kuwait started work on Mubarak. An Iraqi economist claimed that Iraq would lose 60% of its business if Kuwait’s port was built, and warned that plans for the Faw port could be scrapped as a result. The Minister of Transportation said that Mubarak was part of a conspiracy against Iraq, and that the issue should be sent to the United Nations because Mubarak encroached upon Iraqi territorial waters and contravened the international border between the two nations. Basra’s Governor Khalaf Abdul-Samad, claimed Kuwait’s port would devastate his province’s economy, and cost thousands of jobs. The Iraqi Overseas Captain told the press that traffic to Mubarak would push mud into Iraqi ports, affect its fishing, and cause a maritime traffic jam as vessels would have to travel up the same canal to reach both ports. The Iraqi parliament called for a special session on the issue, and there was a small demonstration in Basra on May 18 about it as well. Many other officials made similar comments, reflecting the general surprise and indignation that Iraq felt about Kuwait’s action. At the same time, they are making so many accusations that the only possible positive outcome for them is if Kuwait scraps Mubarak, which is not going to happen.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was forced to act. On May 17, a joint technical committee was created to deal with both ports, and a high level delegation has been put together, which will travel to Kuwait to discuss the matter soon. Since so many have framed the Mubarak-Faw issue of national importance to not only Basra, but the entire country, Baghdad had to become involved.

Kuwait so far has expressed a willingness to talk. Kuwait’s ambassador to Iraq said that his country would negotiate over the ports, and that it would even sign an agreement over the issue. The ambassador stated that Mubarak would not affect Um Qasr or Faw, and that Mubarak was 20 kilometers from any Iraqi docks, not the one or two that Iraqis claimed.

At the same time, Kuwaiti papers and analysts have made some inflammatory statements as well. The head of the Kuwait Center of Strategic Studies told Al Jazeera that Mubarak would benefit both countries. He said Iraq was incapable of building a deep water port, and that therefore Kuwait had to be the supply route for goods heading there. He went on to say that the only reason why Iraq was complaining about Mubarak was that they were pro-Iranian, and Tehran wanted to cause trouble in the region. He even said that Mubarak was safer because it was out of range of Iranian artillery while Faw would not be, as if that was going to be an issue anytime soon. A Kuwaiti paper also interviewed a local analyst who said that Iraq was controlled by Tehran, that Iran was going to annex southern Iraq, and that therefore the Persians were behind all the problems over the ports. Those comments reflect the general paranoia Kuwait, and many other Gulf States have about Iran’s influence, and their trepidation at Shiite rule in Iraq, which they associate with being under the thumb of Tehran.

What has largely been left out of the argument is the fact that Iraq itself can be blamed for much of this problem. It has been talking about building a port at Faw since 2003, with little to show for it. Former Basra parliamentarian Wail Abdul Latif claimed that the province came up with a plan for Faw right after the U.S. invasion. Plans were laid out the following year. An Iraqi news site posted a text of a government document from Iyad Allawi’s time as prime minister in 2004, which said that Baghdad had agreed to the port. Nothing happened until April 2009, when Iraq signed the design contract with Technital. On February 1, 2010, the Transportation Ministry said that it would be laying the corner stone at Faw in a few weeks, but did not do so until April 2011. In April 2010 the Ministry held a ceremony in Basra to announce that construction would start that month, but nothing happened. In fact, Technital will not be finished with its design until the end of 2011, and 2012 is when work is supposed to start. The government still doesn’t have the funding together either. Parliament has not allocated any money, and Baghdad has not raised any foreign capital. A tender is not due to be offered until the end of the year. Like too many major projects in the country, Faw has largely been talk, with little action. Iraqi politicians are acting like it is just about to become reality however, which is why they are so mad at Kuwait.

Many have tried to explain why it has taken Iraq so long to move ahead with the Faw port. The head of the economic development committee in Basra’s provincial council blamed the Transportation Ministry for never getting any money for the project. Others have said individuals and other countries have been bribing officials to hold up work. Another factor was the long delay in forming a new government after the March 2010 election. While any and all of those might have played a role, it’s also true that Iraq has gone through the American administration, and four separate governments since the Grand Faw Port was first discussed, and the only thing they have accomplished is a design contract being signed, and one stone laid down.

Iraq-Kuwait relations are characterized by taking one step towards reconciliation, and then two steps back. The Mubarak-Faw dispute is becoming a huge issue between them, and the two countries are making bold statements about each other. Iraq thinks that Kuwait is purposely undermining their economic future, while Kuwait argues their port will not have a negative affect upon Iraq, and that Baghdad is only making noise because it is controlled by Iran. Neither is quite true, but as long as they stick with those positions the argument can only escalate. Iraq is also in denial about its own lack of capacity and incompetence in following through with its plans for Faw, which have been discussed for the last eight years. The slow pace they are working at could mean that Mubarak will be a fait accompli before Iraq even begins construction on its own port. Rather than escalating the rhetoric, Iraq and Kuwait need to take a step back, conduct some technical studies upon how the two plans will affect each other, and then negotiate some compromises. That may not be possible because the politicians carry so much baggage about each other that it clouds their judgment.

SOURCES

Arab Times, “Kuwait to Offer Guarantees on Port Project?” Iraq Business News, 5/30/11

Aswat al-Iraq, “Kuwaiti port will affect our waters – Maritime official,” 5/25/11
- “Iraqi politicians, officials, reject Kuwait’s Mubarak Port, call for defending Iraq’s rights,” 5/29/11
- “Iraqis won’t allow building of port, affecting Iraq’s economy, MP says,” 5/17/11
- “Minister Threatens to Resign, High Ranking Delegation to Visit Kuwait This Week,” 5/25/11

Aziz, Raber and Smith, Patrick, “Economists: Kuwait port will cut Umm Qasr traffic by 60%,” AK News, 5/14/11

Dredging Today, “Iraq: Transport Minister Unveils Plan for New Grand Faw Port,” 3/28/11

Gulf Daily News, “Italian firm to build Iraq port,” 4/17/09

Hurriyet Daily, “Italian companies to build Iraq’s biggest port,” 4/6/10

Al Jazeera, “Iraq Port Row: New Plans By Kuwait Anger Iraqis,” 5/31/11

Al-Khadumi, Bahaa, “Demonstrations in Basra against Kuwaiti port,” AK News, 5/18/11

Latif, Nizar, “Kuwait trumps Iraq Gulf harbour plan with its own huge industrial port,” The National, 5/24/11

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Al-Rafidayn, “Unprecedented Iraqi Escalation Against Kuwait Regarding Construction of Kuwait Port,” MEMRI Blog, 5/27/11

Sowell, Kirk, “Inside Iraqi Politics No. 15,” 5/26/11

Al-Tamimi, Noor, “Proposed Kuwaiti port encroaches on Iraqi territory, says minister,” AK News, 5/26/11

Al-Wanan, Jaffar, “Emergency delegation sent to Kuwait to fight port plans,” AK News, 5/12/11