THE IRAQ WAR READER: A History of War Crimes and Genocide. The Unleashing of America’s New Global Militarism

THE IRAQ WAR READER: A History of War Crimes and Genocide. The Unleashing of America’s New Global Militarism


ONLINE INTERACTIVE I-BOOK





by Michel Chossudovsky and Finian Cunningham





http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31067

IRAQ: Two new border gates

The Kurdish administration in the northern part of Iraq announced that an understanding had been reached with Turkish authorities regarding two new border gates.



An announcement was made by the press office of Prime Minister of the Kurdish administration in the northern part of Iraq Neçirvan Barzani as follows, “It has been decided to open two new border gates at the Turkey-Northern Iraq border to strengthen relations with Turkey. The relevant authorities of both parties will get together next week”.



The announcement also included the information that Mr.Barzani and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had discussed the Turkey-Northern Iraq border and transporting crude oil to the refineries in Turkey at the World Economic Forum held in Istanbul.



It was indicated that approximately 12 billion dollars worth of exports was realized through the Habur gate between Iraq and Turkey annually.

Baghdad and Erbil Clash Over Oil ‎

By Denise Natali – Al Monitor – 7.6.2012 -Denise Natali is the Minerva Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University and the author of The Kurdish Quasi-State: Development and Dependency in Post Gulf War Iraq.



The Iraqi energy sector is more divided than ever. While Baghdad insists on central government control of the country’s natural resources, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is autonomously developing its own oil market. Underlying these differences is a brewing cold war between Baghdad and Erbil, particularly as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki consolidates power and the Kurds attempt to check it.





Still, Baghdad is regaining leverage over Iraq’s energy arena. Increased state oil production and revenues, despite the mediocre results of the fourth bidding round, have reinforced central government authority and the means by which it can appease and control challengers. This trend, along with the absence of a cohesive anti-Maliki block and the unlikelihood of a direct KRG pipeline deal with Ankara, will further frustrate negotiation of a national hydrocarbons law and keep Kurdish crude in political and economic limbo.



Baghdad’s energy ambitions reflect the larger goal of reaffirming central authority in Iraq. Despite the ongoing chaos, security threats, administrative bottlenecks and the KRG’s “export embargo,” the central government has increased oil production to nearly 3 million barrels per day. Last April, it realized its highest export level since 1990.



These developments, alongside improved economic relations with regional and international actors, have strengthened Baghdad’s sense of resource nationalism and state control of energy management. Even though major international oil companies (IOCs) showed little interest in Iraq’s fourth energy auction, Turkey’s state-run oil company TPAO secured another contract with a Kuwaiti consortium, www.mesop.de marking its fourth investment in Iraqi fields that border or are near Iran. These regional interests may not raise Iraqi reserves to the levels planned, but they affirm important state-to-state energy-sector ties.



Indeed, if Baghdad wants to further expand Iraq’s oil and gas reserves and increase production and export levels, then it will have to modify its contracts and entice major IOCs to its energy sector. Plans are already underway for a fifth bidding round, which could be another litmus test for potential compromise between the central government and IOCs. Still, even if Baghdad renegotiates profit margins it will be unlikely to cede full ownership of oil and gas to foreign firms. This issue remains a red-line for Baghdad, and is embedded in the commitment to Iraqi sovereignty and assuring “Iraqi oil for Iraqis.”



How will these trends impact the Kurdish energy sector and Baghdad-Erbil relations?



In the short term, hardly at all. The KRG will continue to sign its own production-sharing contracts and attempt to bring in more oil majors to its market. In fact, as long as the KRG can profit from higher sign-on bonuses, partially pay IOC costs by securing undisclosed revenues for the region through domestic crude sales and smuggling to Iran and continue to receive its annual multi-billion-dollar budget from Baghdad, then it has little to lose from the current impasse.



It is more likely that political obstacles will emerge as the KRG attempts to navigate around Baghdad’s payment and export constraints. Not only has the KRG’s ExxonMobil deal exacerbated tensions with Baghdad, but it has caused a backlash from Iraqi Arab populations that could undermine the Kurds’ longer-term energy interests. Although some Sunni Arab elites currently support the KRG in an anti-Maliki alliance, local Sunni Arab groups and Iraqi officials in southern and central Iraq have turned toward Maliki against the Kurds. Their goal is to protect Iraqi unity from what they perceive as Kurdish land grabs and an over-reaching Kurdistan Region, tied to KRG oil deals in the disputed territories.



These challenges are particularly important because the KRG has no viable alternative in which to operate its energy sector other than with Baghdad. The recent Kurdish proposal to build a direct pipeline to Turkey may have stimulated a media frenzy and investor confidence, but it offers no real guarantee for independent Kurdish exports. The verbal agreement between Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Kurdish Oil Minister Ashti Hawrami to pursue shared energy interests does not translate into official Kurdish oil sales to Turkey. Not only is there no signed agreement, but the Turkish minister affirmed that any pipeline plan would require Baghdad’s approval. Yildiz also was careful not to endorse a separate Kurdish line but rather to fill the “current Iraqi line to a higher capacity.”



Moreover, despite the KRG’s potentially cheap energy — or easy transshipping profits for Turkey — Ankara has serious border-security concerns that will ultimately shape the deals it makes with the KRG, and the degree of Kurdish autonomy it permits. As the PKK issue heats up in Turkey and Syria, and as long as the PKK base remains in Iraqi Kurdistan, this tension will become increasingly salient. Nor are neighboring states likely to further empower the KRG, particularly with expanding trans-border Kurdish nationalisms and an unstable Syrian situation.



These geopolitical realities leave the KRG, which is fully dependent upon Baghdad for its budget, with two viable options. It can continue to sell its crude to local markets and truck it across borders, or export its oil through the official Iraqi line. The first option allows the KRG to remain largely in control of its oil and revenues, although at about half of official market prices and at a reduced level. The second option could lead to larger output and revenues, but would require some concessions on KRG control of its energy sector and its nationalist and territorial claims. The latter may be the least palatable choice for the KRG at the moment, but it has the most realistic chance of leading to a national oil law, maximizing Iraqi energy potential and enabling the KRG and its IOCs to fully monetize production.

Sadr warns Maliki over ties to Turkey

Baghdad

Iraqi Parliament Speaker al-Nujaifi (C) speaks as Iraqi radical Shiite Muslim cleric al-Sadr (R) listens during a press conference in the southern holy city of Najaf. AFP Photo

The relations between Turkey and Iraq are experiencing difficulties and the most difficult part of this period is when “sectarian games are played,” Shiite Sadrist leader Muqtada al-Sadr said. Al-Sadr hosted Selahattin Özgündüz, Turkish Caferi leader, and a delegate accompanying him in Najaf.

“The most difficult phase of Turkey-Iraqi ties is when sectarian games are played. The wrong perspective is to see Iraq as only a Shiite country and Turkey as a Sunni country,” al-Sadr said, adding that Iraq should be a country of all sects, religions and races. “Like in Turkey, Turkey belongs to all religions, sects, and races.” Sadr also thanked Özgündüz for his efforts on the Day of Aşura.

Upon Özgündüz’s remarks that they didn’t want to see Kirkuk tied to a Kurdish administration and they believed they had enough power to prevent it from happening, al-Sadr said: “Kirkuk is neither Shiite, Sunni nor Kurdish. It belongs to Iraq.”

The Shiite leader also said it was not acceptable to burn the flag of a Muslim nation after around 200 protesters demanding that Ankara extradite Iraq’s fugitive vice president burned the Turkish flag May 19 at a demonstration near the Turkish Consulate General in Basra. Al-Sadr called on neighboring and Muslim countries to keep ties at a good level.

On the crisis with Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, al-Sadr said the tension was a result of political disputes and advised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government not to raise the tension. “We advise al-Maliki not to strain ties with Turkey any more,” al-Sadr said, adding that all situations concerning al-Maliki raised the sectarian crisis in the country.

The al-Hashemi crisis engulfed Iraq after al-Maliki’s government issued an arrest warrant for the country’s Sunni vice president in December. Al-Sadr also said they were mediating between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government to ease the ongoing crisis and added that the Kurdish administration did not want to split from Iraq.

June/02/2012

Published in Hürriyet Daily News

ITF Turkey Representative Dr.Hicran Kazancı visited CHP Member of Parliament Former Ambassador his Excellency Osman Korutürk

Iraqi Turkmen Front Turkey Representative and MKYK member Dr.Hicran Kazancı visited CHP Istanbul MP Former Ambassador Osman Korutürk in his office.



The Former Iraq Special Envoy and Former Ambassador Osman Korutürk and ITF Turkey Representative Dr.Hicran Kazancı mainly assessed the agenda of Iraq and Kirkuk, their political approaches and the political and economic situation of the Iraqi Turkmen.



They also changed views regarding the Middle East policy of Turkey and the recent developments in Syria during the meeting.



At the end of the meeting Hicran Kazancı thanked CHP MP Former Ambassador Osman Korutürk for his interest.


Dr. Hicran Kazancı

Iraqi Turkmen Front

Turkey Representative

Dr Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative attended the Delegation for relations with Iraq Meeting at the EU Parliament

European Parliament, Brussels - 29th May 2012

Dr Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative; MEP Ana Gomez; Ambassador Lahebib Adami, Head of the Liaison Office of the League of Arab States in Brussels; Representative of the League of Arab States in Belgium.

MEP Struan Stevenson, Chair of Delegation for Relations with Iraq; Ambassador Lahebib Adami, Head of the Liaison office of the League of Arab States in Brussels and H.E. Ambassador Mohammed Abdullah Al-Humaimidi, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq in Belgium.

MEPs who attended the meeting: Ms Ana Gomez and Ms Alexandra Thein

Several Iraqi Embassy staff also attended the meeting

The Chair, Mr. Struan Stevenson, welcomed the two Ambassadors and thanked them for attending  the exchange of views on the regional role of Iraq.

The Chair  announced the death of MEP Miguel Portas (Portugal) who passed away after a long illness, he asked the assembly to stand up and hold a minute of silence in his memory.  MEP Portas will be replaced by Ms Alda Susa (MEP from Portugal).

Regarding the Inter-Parliamentary meeting of the Delegation with the Iraqi Council of Representatives which should have taken place on 25^th April 2012, the Chair said it had to be cancelled as Iraqi representatives could not come for administrative reasons.

The Chair announced that on 11^th May 2012 the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement had been signed in Brussels by Ms Catherine Ashton - High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission - and Mr. Hoshyar Zebari – Foreign Minister of Iraq.

He also informed that on 24^th May 2012 Ms Catherine Ashton had issued an important statement, following the talks of E3+3 with Iran In Baghdad (on 24^th May 2012) in which she thanked the Iraqi government for the excellent hospitality and organisation of these talks.  Please see link below:

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/130417.pdf

Regarding Camp Liberty, the Chair said there were still many problems: lack of water treatment, sewage and bad maintenance. He said he trusted that the Iraqi Ambassador will help in getting the Iranians out of Iraq quickly.

The Chair congratulated Iraq who now holds the presidentship of the Arab League.

Ambassador Lahebib Adami, Head of the Liaison office of the League of Arab States in Brussels took the floor.  Ambassador Adami  said that the Arab Summit had taken place in Iraq on 28-29 March 2012, that Iraq is a great Arab country with a rich culture and civilisation and that it has an important role to play.

Regarding  Palestine, Ambassador Adami called on all international actors to find a solution because there is stagnation of the U.S. role, despite the promises made by President Obama.  The Ambassador of the Arab League mentioned the inhuman embargo inflicted on Gaza, the destruction of the houses, the cruel treatment of prisoners. He said that the Summit had requested the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Regarding the Syrian crisis, Ambassador Adami said that the Summit had called upon the Syrian authorities to respect and implement the decisions of the Arab League and the recommendations of Mr. Kofi Anan.

Regarding the WMD, Ambassador Adami said that the Summit had requested the implementation of the non-proliferation treaty of 2010 and the denuclearisation of the region.

Regarding the fight against international terrorism, Ambassador Adami said that the Summit had adopted some resolutions.

Regarding the Arab Parliament, Ambassador Adami said that it would seek to cooperate with the world’s parliaments.

Regarding the Arab League, he said that it would be restructured and that its functioning would be revised.

The Chair gave the floor to H.E. Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq in Belgium Mohammed Abdullah Al-Humaimidi .

Ambassador Al-Humaimidi thanked his colleague Ambassador Adami.

Ambassador Al-Humaimidi said that there were a lot of prejudices against Iraq due to the actions of the former regime. Iraq was isolated from the world following the policies of the Baath regime. Iraq had suffered for more than 13 years under the harsh economic sanctions. Since 2003 Iraq was establishing democracy and has a new constitution.

Iraq has signed a cooperation treaty with the EU on 11.05.2012.  The country now has excellent relations with the international community and in the region.  There is a joint ministerial commission between Iraq and Kuwait. The Ambassador  added that Iraq is a factor of balance in the region. He said that Iraq and Iran were working to reinstall demarcation boundaries. Iraq is working with Turkey to find a solution for PKK.

Regarding Camp Ashraf, Ambassador Al-Humaimidi said that UNAMI have their people in the camp, that it is in the hands of the UN and  that the EU can help in this issue.

The Chair asked the EEAS Ambassador if he had any comments or questions, his answer was no.

The Chair asked MEP Ana Gomez if she had any questions.

MEP Ana Gomez asked what progress had been made in terms of security. She also asked about the water problem. She asked : how do you see the situation in Syria, terrorists have now shifted to Syria. What do you think about Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s role. What do you think about the internal issue on KRG regarding Kirkuk.

The Chair asked MEP Alexandra Thein if she had any questions

MEP Alexandra Thein thanked the Ambassador of the Arab League for having made decisions regarding Palestine during the Summit. She asked what is the Arab League doing about Syria’s WMD. Regarding the Arab Parliament she asked to be given  more info because she could not find any on the internet. Regarding Camp Ashraf refugees  she asked how many had EU citizenship.

On the water situation between Iraq and Turkey  Ambassador Al-Humaimidi said that since 1960 there is a tripartite Committee (Iraq-Turkey-Syria) which is working on this problem.

Regarding the Syrian crisis, Ambassador Al-Humaimidi said we are very clear, we respect the will of the people and we support Kofi Anan’s recommendations.

Regarding KRG and Kirkuk, Ambassador Al-Humaimidi said that Article 140 is very clear, we have to adhere to it, this will be settled peacefully.

Regarding Camp Ashraf ,  Ambassador Al-Humaimidi said that there are more than 200 Camp Ashraf residents who have EU citizenship.

Regarding MEP Thein’s question about the Arab Parliament, Ambassador Adami  said he would send her the info by email.

At the end of the meeting  ITF EU Representative Dr Hassan Aydinli spoke with H.E. Ambassador Lahebib Adami, Head of the Liaison office of the League of Arab States in Brussels. He informed him of the problems that Turkmens, who are Iraq's third main ethnic community and northern Iraq’s second main ethnic community, are  still facing in Iraq and especially in Kerkuk, despite the regime change in 2003.

Dr. Hicran Kazancı was a guest of the program “Rising value Turkey”.

Dr. Hicran Kazancı was a guest of the program “Rising value Turkey”.

Iraqi Turkmen Front Turkey Representative Dr. Hicran Kazancı was the guest of the program “Rising Value Turkey” which is broadcast every Tuesday at 18.40 hrs on TRT Avaz.

The program which was shot at a an approximately 1 hour long shooting at the ITF office consisted of subjects such as rising value of Turkey in the region and the Middle East, the political struggle of the Turkmen in Iraq, the impact of the Turkmen in the political presence of Iraq and the growing economy of Turkey in the world in addition to the dialogue between Turkey and the Middle East. In addition Hicran Kazancı indicated that the great successes of the foreign policies of Turkey as well as its growing economy had made Turkey a regional power.

--

  Dr. Hicran Kazancı
  Iraqi Turkmen Front
Turkey Representative

U.S. Department of State report: 38 percent of PKK members are under the age of 18

Half of the PKK consists of children

“SABAH”26.5.2012 – A report prepared by the U.S. Department of State dealing with ‘Child Militants’, includes the PKK which it states consists of 38 percent of members under the age of 18.





According to a Human Rights Report prepared by the United States Department of State, the PKK terrorist organization’s wing in the mountains continues to bring in children, with almost half of the members now under the age of 18. The 2011 report also states that the number of deaths and injuries sustained by security forces in the fight against terrorism has more than doubled compared to the toll from the year prior. The death toll and number of wounded civilians has also increased since 2010. Reports from security forces in Turkey (military, police and gendarmerie) reveal that in the first ten months of the year, 31 civilians were killed and 53 wounded in combat related to the fight against terrorism. In the first ten months of the year, 220 security force members were killed and 475 wounded. Meanwhile, 303 terrorists were killed and five wounded, with the majority of combat taking place in the Southeast.



ACADEMIC RESEARCH FINDINGS



In the section entitled ‘Child Militants’, based on information from an academic research, it states; “The PKK regularly brought in children to join the terrorist group. Thirty-eight percent of PKK members are under the age of 18.”



http://english.sabah.com.tr/National/2012/05/26/half-of-the-pkk-consists-of-children