Lest we forget the thousands of prisoners in Iraq

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO MISSED IT
A MUST SEE BBC DOCUMENTARY:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7749921.stm

As for Iraqi Journalist Muntadher al-Zaidi, I have not been able to find anything about his trial which was supposed to begin in Baghdad.

Muntadher’s lawyer has only been authorized to visit him once since he has been detained.

Muntadher was right to do what he did, he did it in the name of all Iraqis who have suffered and are still suffering because of the US invasion, destruction and occupation of their country.

Those shoes demonstrated Iraqis’ refusal of US occupation.

Muntadher’s shoe throwing was a symbolic gesture in the name of all the Iraqi deaths, in the name of millions of Iraqi widows and orphans.

FREE MUNTADHER AL-ZAIDI IMMEDIATELY!

Abant Platform calls for tolerance in closure statement

The Abant Platform's meeting in Arbil, "Searching for Peace and a Future Together," held in cooperation with Salahaddin University and the Mukriyani Institute, was conducted with goodwill and sentiments of friendship felt by participants.

Gathered together and guided by the common denominators of human rights, democracy, the rule of law, mutual security and stability, the participants underlined the need to foster tolerance and friendship.

In the two-day discussions, it was strongly emphasized that mutual relations and the freshly established dialogue process should be maintained and expanded.

The Abant Platform, Salahaddin University and the Mukriyani Institute hereby announce the following points as a text jointly approved by all parties:

1. Developing relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq will bring peace and stability not only to both parties, but also to the entire region. This development will be to the benefit of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Assyrians, Syriacs, Keldanis, Armenians and all Middle Eastern peoples in Iraq.

2. History, geography and culture have made the Turkish and Kurdish peoples sister peoples. It is our responsibility to reinforce these ties of brotherhood.

3. All sorts of policies based on ethno-nationalism are rejected.

4. Iraq's border with Turkey is a gateway to Europe for Iraq. Turkey's border with Iraq is a
door to history and civilization for Turkey. These doors must be kept fully open.

5. Close cooperation should be established between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq not only in politics, but also in culture, economy, commerce, education and health.

6. Passage through border gates should be facilitated as soon as possible.

7. Parties regard respect for human rights secured by the rule of law as the most precious common denominator.

8. Every opportunity or occasion should be used to establish and improve an atmosphere of tolerance and dialogue.

9. Parties believe that securing democratic rights and freedoms, reinforcing democratic institutions and mobilizing democratic players in these relations are inevitable.

10. Parties deem it a positive step to organize a conference where Kurdish political groups may discuss issues through peaceful and democratic methods.

11. Media organizations should use peaceful, respectful and constructive language.

12. Parties reject violent methods in the settlement of all sorts of problems.

13. Parties attach importance to organizing and popularizing meetings of this kind by utilizing all available resources.

14. It is a generally voiced wish that a Turkish consulate should be opened in Arbil and a representation office of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq should be opened in Ankara.

17 February 2009, Tuesday

TODAY'S ZAMAN İSTANBUL
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=167184

Political Instability on Horizon in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Michael Rubin

Iraqi Kurdistan may no longer be the bastion of stability which its lobbyists say it is. Over the weekend, five senior members of Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan—including the former prime minister—reportedly resigned. There have also been resignations in Qubad Talabani’s office in Washington. According to the independent Kurdish newspaper Hawlati (whose editor Jalal Talabani and his son Qubad have sought to jail), Jalal Talabani has ordered 3,800 members of the Kurdish peshmerga militia who are providing security in Baghdad back to Sulaymani in case of trouble.

Meanwhile, KurdishMedia.com reports that, in another sign of declining confidence in Iraqi Kurdistan, KDP leader Masud Barzani’s son Masrour Barzani has been trying to pull strings to gain U.S. citizenship, presenting a test for the Obama administration, which would have to waive disqualifying factors involving Masrour’s connection, according to the Austrian police and several human rights agencies, in questionable human rights practices.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWNjMzllOTc2ZDRlNjQ0M2FkZDUyNjE1Njg5ZWQ3MmE

More photos from the "oil-rich" city of Kerkuk

Recent photographs taken in Kerkuk by Iraqi Turkmen photographer Mohammed Kelenchy

show how the Turkmens' capital city, oil-rich Kerkuk continues to be neglected

Infamous military contractor 'BLACKWATER' renamed 'Xe'

Blackwater Worldwide Hopes New Name Will Remove Taint

"Xe" Will Be the New Name for Infamous Military Contractor

February 13, 2009
Brand recognition is usually a good thing. Unless you’re Blackwater Worldwide, that is. The military contractor who’s name has become synonymous with some of the ugliest chapters in the war in Iraq has decided that it would be best to change its name. Henceforth, they shall be known as Xe (pronounced “zee”).

So from now on, Xe will be the contractor that is banned from operating in Iraq. The State Department will be looking for a replacement for Xe, and the contractors facing 14 counts in manslaughter will now be Xe guards. Oh, and Xe is under review in Afghanistan.

The company says its attempt to rebrand reflects that it is moving away from “providing private security.” Cleansing itself of its sordid history is likely to take considerably more than an enigmatic new name.
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/02/13/blackwater-worldwide-hopes-new-name-will-remove-taint/

Yezidis voted against Kurdish dominance in North Iraq

GMT 2-13-2009 1:33:37Assyrian International News Agency

North Iraq (AINA) -- The Yezidi Movement for Reform and Progress, an independent entity in Iraq, won the one quota seat reserved in the Nineveh province for the Yezidi minority. The win has infuriated Kurdish leaders who were taken by surprise by the strong Yezidi opposition to Kurdish dominance.

Kurdish political groups have invested heavily over the past years in the Kurdification of the Yezidis (AINA 12-1-2008) by different methods as well as presenting them to the outside world as Kurds, amounting to an attempt to eradicate an ancient indigenous community with roots in ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

The surprising win of the independent Yezidi Movement for Reform and Progress in Nineveh province is seen as a rebuke of Kurdish aggression.

Commenting for AINA, Qanat Hammo, one of the founders of the Yezidi Movement for Reform and Progress, said "Despite all the oppression and coercion of the Kurds our people were able to fight back using the ballot box. We want them to leave us alone, we are not Kurds and they need to respect this fact." Yezidis are erroneously described as Kurds for political reasons, an identity to which they object. They make up the majority in the Sinjar area west of Mosul and in the Shekhan district in the Nineveh Plain.

Observers maintain the independent Yezidis won the seat because the Kurds were taken off guard.

"The Kurds thought they had the Yezidis in their pockets, so they put all their efforts on the Assyrians instead," said Qanat Hammo, "going to great length to make sure the Assyrian seat would be won by the Kurdish backed Ishtar slate, but they were really taken by surprise."
The Kurdish backed Ishtar slate won the Assyrian quota seat in the Nineveh province amidst many allegations of illegal campaign methods (AINA 2-12-2009, 2-10-2009).available as: html

The EU must recognize the fact that "Kurdish terror" exists in the north of Iraq

Street in the "OIL-RICH" city of KERKUK

Photo by Mohammed Kelenchy

In Kerkuk Kurdish asayish and peshmerga continue to intimidate the city’s original inhabitants: the Turkmens

When will the Turkmens feel free and safe in their capital city?

The answer is: not as long as the chauvinistic Kurdish warlords and their brutal peshmerga and asayish are allowed to impose their rule by force in northern Iraq.

Our friend Mr. Mohammed Kelenchy, an Iraqi Turkmen photographer who lives in the U.K. has recently travelled to Iraq where he visited Baghdad and Kerkuk.

He spent several days taking photographs in and around Kerkuk of people, mosques, churches, important buildings and monuments. While he was taking some photos in the streets of Kerkuk a Kurdish policeman arrested him and started to question him in a rude manner, refusing to talk to him in Arabic or Turkmen. Our friend was obliged to ask someone to translate for him. Later five more policemen arrived in a van and they brutally pushed him into the van and continued to treat him rudely. His camera was taken and checked and all the photographs he had taken (over 250) in view of making a documentary on Kerkuk city and its surroundings were deleted by the chief police officer (a Kurd) without any justification. Our friend was very annoyed because he lost most of the important shots he had taken during the past two days.

When leaving Iraq Mr. Kelenchy travelled from Kerkuk to Turkey by road, during the journey he and his fellow travellers were stopped twelve times - at each check point - and every time they were questioned and searched and their passports were checked by the Kurds. He said it was a terrifying experience as they did not know whether they would be allowed to continue their journey and because he was afraid that the Kurdish police would confiscate all his CDs and memory sticks.

Our friend further reports that most Arab passengers were taken out of their cars and buses and were forbidden to go through the regional Kurdish area.

It is high time that the European and American human rights defenders and policy makers pay attention to the reports, appeals and complaints from Turkmen, Arab, Shabak, Yezidi and Assyrian communities in the north of Iraq who continue to be victims of exactions and threats by Messrs. Talabani’s and Barzani’s peshmerga and asayish.

An honest and impartial assessment of the situation in the north of Iraq is urgently needed, the European Union must admit that Kurdish terror exists in the north of Iraq and European politicians must put pressure on the Kurdish warlords Messrs. Talabani and Barzani and demand that they immediately stop their racist behaviour and criminal actions against non-Kurds in Iraq.

The Horrors in Iraq

Iraq's Shocking Human Toll: About 1 Million Killed, 4.5 Million Displaced, 1-2 Million Widows, 5 Million Orphans


02.02.2009 alternet.org By John Tirman, The Nation

Please click on:

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=2672