Anne Nivat's film : ‘IRAK: L’OMBRE DE LA GUERRE’ on Youtube

A MUST SEE : Film of French Reporter and Writer Anne Nivat:  ‘IRAK: L’OMBRE DE LA GUERRE’

'IRAQ, the shadow of war' 

To my Iraqi Turkmen friends: Anne stayed with a Turkmen family when she visited Kirkuk, she interviewed her hosts Mrs Nidret Hashem al-Hurmuzu, Mr Adeeb Ahmed Aljerrah, and Mr Ali Mehdi Sadek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anXUtPH9pU

Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil

Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil

By Antonia Juhasz, Special to CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz/index.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fedition_meast+%28RSS%3A+Middle+East%29&utm_content=FaceBook

U.S. Marines in northern Kuwait gear up after receiving orders to cross the Iraqi border on March 20, 2003.

It has been 10 years since the American-led invasion of Iraq that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. Look back at moments from the war and the legacy it left behind. For more, view CNN's complete coverage of the Iraq War anniversary.



STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Juhasz: Opening up Iraq to foreign oil companies was main goal of Iraq War
Plans for Western oil exploration in Iraq were drawn up years before 2003 invasion
Bush administration pressured Iraqi government to pass law allowing foreign firms in
Chuck Hagel in 2007: "People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are."

Editor's note: Ten years ago the war in Iraq began. This week we focus on the people involved in the war, and the lives that changed forever. Antonia Juhasz, an oil industry analyst, is author of several books, including "The Bush Agenda" and "The Tyranny of Oil."

(CNN) -- Yes, the Iraq War was a war for oil, and it was a war with winners: Big Oil.

It has been 10 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom's bombs first landed in Baghdad. And while most of the U.S.-led coalition forces have long since gone, Western oil companies are only getting started.

Before the 2003 invasion, Iraq's domestic oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies. A decade of war later, it is largely privatized and utterly dominated by foreign firms.

Antonia Juhasz

From ExxonMobil and Chevron to BP and Shell, the West's largest oil companies have set up shop in Iraq. So have a slew of American oil service companies, including Halliburton, the Texas-based firm Dick Cheney ran before becoming George W. Bush's running mate in 2000.

The war is the one and only reason for this long sought and newly acquired access.

FULL COVERAGE: The Iraq War, 10 years on

Oil was not the only goal of the Iraq War, but it was certainly the central one, as top U.S. military and political figures have attested to in the years following the invasion.

"Of course it's about oil, we can't really deny that," said General John Abizaid in 2007, former head of U.S. Central Command and Military Operations in Iraq. Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan agreed, writing in his memoir: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Then-Senator and now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the same in 2007: "People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are."

Witness to war in Iraq

Baby Noor: An unfinished miracle

Iraq: Where were the journalists?

Surviving al Qaeda

For the first time in about 30 years, Western oil companies are exploring for and producing oil in Iraq from some of the world's largest oil fields and reaping enormous profit. And while the U.S. has also maintained a fairly consistent level of Iraq oil imports since the invasion, the benefits are not finding their way through Iraq's economy or society.

These outcomes were by design, the result of a decade of U.S. government and oil company pressure. In 1998,Kenneth Derr, then CEO of Chevron, said, "Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas-reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to." Today it does.

EXCLUSIVE: Hans Blix on 'terrible mistake' in Iraq

In 2000, Big Oil, including Exxon, Chevron, BP, and Shell, spent more money to get fellow oilmen George W. Bush and Dick Cheney into office than they had spent on any previous election. Just over a week into Bush's first term, their efforts paid off when the National Energy Policy Development Group, chaired by Dick Cheney, was formed, bringing the administration and the oil companies together to plot our collective energy future. In March, the task force reviewed lists and maps outlining Iraq's entire oil productive capacity.

Planning for a military invasion was soon underway. Bush's first Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill, said in 2004: "Already by February [2001], the talk was mostly about logistics. Not the why [to invade Iraq], but the how and how quickly."

In its final report in May 2001, the task force argued that Middle Eastern countries should be urged "to open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment." This is precisely what has been achieved in Iraq.

Here's how they did it.

The State Department Future of Iraq Project's Oil and Energy Working Group met from February 2002 to April 2003 and agreed that Iraq "should be opened to international oil companies as quickly as possible after the war."

Sunni and Shia divided in Iraq, the land of Cain and Abel

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/iraq/130315/cain-abel-iraq-sunni-shia-rift



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A body rests on a gurney at the Yarmouk hospital morgue in Baghdad, Iraq. Parents make a pilgrimage here every day in search of lost relatives that have disappeared during the night. These photographs are a selection of Franco Pagetti's work in Iraq over the last decade.
PHOTO BY: Franco Pagetti/VII






















July 26, 2006 - A body rests on a gurney at the Yarmouk hospital morgue in Baghdad, Iraq. Parents make a pilgrimage here every day in search of lost relatives that have disappeared during the night. These photographs are a selection of Franco Pagetti's work in Iraq over the last decade.
PHOTO BY: Franco Pagetti/VII


Jane Arraf

March 18, 2013 06:02

Sunni and Shia divided in Iraq, the land of Cain and Abel


How the US invasion of Iraq unleashed a chain reaction of sectarian violence.


DAKUK, Iraq — In the rugged landscape of northern Iraq where biblical tradition holds that Cain killed Abel, the ancient fault lines of sectarian and ethnic conflict are laid bare.

There is no map that points to where the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve’s first-born son killing his brother might have taken place. The Bible says only that it lays ‘East of Eden.’ But 13th century historian Yacout al-Hamawi places it in the shadow of the Hamreen Mountains near this ancient town that would have been on the road from Babylon to Nineveh.

Today, in this same troubled land, the divisions that have wracked the region for centuries are coming to the surface. On the tenth anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq, the struggle for power is playing out not just in the halls of government and parliament but in the car-bomb factories and bank accounts that fuel sectarian attacks.

Some believe the seeds of the popular movements across the Arab world that have toppled dictatorial regimes were sown with the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. In Iraq, the demise of his iron-fisted dictatorship blew the lid off of suppressed sectarian conflict and opened the door to regional extremists.

In a country known for its relative religious tolerance, one of the biggest forces at play has become an ideology in which a tiny number of Sunni Muslims believe it is a religious duty to kill Shia Muslims. Those attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq are again increasing. Some believe the al-Qaeda front group is hijacking a growing protest movement by Sunni Iraqis who believe they have been displaced by the Shia’s historic rise to power.

In a culture in which neighbors refer to each other as brothers, the parables of Cain and Abel are still being played out in this ancient land of prophets.



Dozens of Jewish, Christian and Muslim prophets — major and minor — are believed to have been born and have died here. In Islam the split between Shia and Sunni over who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad was irrevocably deepened on the battlefield in Karbala with the killing of Imam Hussein.

In modern Iraq, sectarian divisions were cemented over by a socialist, pan-Arab Baath party. But it was the Shia, a minority in the region but a majority in Iraq, whose religion was suppressed. Saddam Hussein, who saw any competing allegiances as a threat to his power, banned public commemorations of Shia rituals and imprisoned and assassinated hundreds of clerics and deported thousands of Iraqi Shia.

2003 – 2013 : Dix ans de guerre en Irak en deux documentaires

2003 – 2013 : Dix ans de guerre en Irak en deux documentaires
18/03/2013





Ville de Debis en Irak (Reuters/STRINGER Iraq)



La guerre d’Irak a 10 ans. Attaque de Bagdad, traque de Saddam Hussein, état du pays aujourd’hui : deux documentaires font le récit d’un chaos organisé.


Dix ans après le début d’un des conflits les plus injustifiés de notre ère, l’insensée guerre d’Irak, lancée par une coalition menée par les États-Unis sous des prétextes fallacieux, un documentaire fait le point sur ses prémisses en mars 2003, un autre sur l’état du pays en 2013.

Tonnerre roulant sur Bagdad de Jean-Pierre Krief retrace essentiellement, en deux parties, l’attaque de Bagdad, avant, pendant et après. Enquête très détaillée, fruit de quatre ans et demi de travail sur le terrain, tissée de témoignages d’Irakiens, d’Américains et d’une multitude d’images d’archives. S’il se concentre sur l’année 2003 et ne développe pas les événements dans toute l’Irak, ce film donne néanmoins un très bon aperçu de l’effet de cette guerre dans un pays qui ne tenait debout que grâce à l’implacable parti Baas, bras armé du dictateur Saddam Hussein. L’édifice s’est effondré comme un château de cartes dès l’arrivée de la coalition occidentale.

Un pays miné de l’intérieur

Le film de Krief montre clairement comment les États-Unis n’ont fait qu’une bouchée d’un pays miné de l’intérieur ; le long embargo en avait détruit l’économie et réduit les habitants à la misère. Dès lors, son armée, sous-équipée, ne pouvait faire face à l’armada américaine. On découvre d’ailleurs un édifiant document filmé, où des stratèges irakiens exhibent fièrement à Saddam Hussein les armes de destruction massives prévues pour que le peuple puisse résister à l’envahisseur : des lance-pierres, des clous et des arcs ! On est loin des armes chimiques prétextées pour envahir l’Irak (soit dit en passant, lors des préparatifs de leur armée dépenaillée, on constate que ce sont les Irakiens qui craignaient les attaques chimiques des Américains).

La prise de Bagdad en elle-même n’est pas passionnante car, comme on s’en souvient, elle ne rencontra aucune résistance, sauf à l’aéroport défendu par la garde républicaine du régime. L’essentiel des combats se déroula ailleurs dans le pays. On relate tout de même cette bataille de l’aéroport, et la destruction d’une imposante statue de Saddam avec l’aide de l’armée US, ainsi que certains détails étranges, comme la protection du ministère du Pétrole irakien par un char Abrams (américain) alors que le musée de Bagdad était livré au pillage sans que personne ne moufte.

Le rôle devastateur du gouverneur d’Irak, Paul Bremer
Mis à part le médusant témoignage d’un certain Eric Maddox – version réelle de Dan, le tortionnaire de Zero Dark Thirty –, inquiétant interrogateur de la DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) qui narre comment il a fait craquer un garde du corps dévoué de Saddam, lequel l’a mis sur la piste du raïs tapi sous terre, le film de Krief a surtout le mérite de mettre en évidence le rôle dévastateur de Paul Bremer, gouverneur d’Irak de mai 2003 à juin 2004. Celui-ci, par une série de décrets, a irrémédiablement plongé le pays dans le chaos, notamment en prononçant la dissolution du parti Baas et de l’armée irakienne, ou la fermeture des usines d’État, mesures qui eurent comme effet de réduire au chômage et d’enrager des centaines de milliers d’Irakiens. S’ensuivit une litanie infernale d’attentats et une montée en puissance de la haine anti-yankee. La guerre a aussi eu pour effet de déchaîner les unes contre les autres des communautés jusque-là soudées tant bien que mal, notamment les Arabes chiites et sunnites, les Kurdes et les Turkmènes. Certes, les Kurdes, martyrisés par Saddam, ont plutôt bénéficié du conflit.

C’est du reste notable dans Irak, l’ombre de la guerre d’Anne Nivat, reporter de guerre aguerrie, qui sillonne l’Irak depuis 2003 et y retourne en 2013 pour faire le point. À Kirkouk, centre pétrolier, elle constate la mainmise des Kurdes sur l’or noir. Ils dominent la ville aux dépens des autres communautés, particulièrement les Turkmènes, ravalés au rang de caste inférieure, qui n’en mènent pas large. D’ailleurs personne, dans l’Irak de 2013 qu’Anne Nivat parcourt de long en large, en dépit de nombreux obstacles (certaines villes n’étant accessibles que grâce à des connivences locales), n’en mène “large”.

Et au fait, les Irakiens ?

“L’Irak est en phase postopératoire”, explique à la reporter un dominicain francophone, le père Youssif (occasion de découvrir la persistance inattendue d’une communauté chrétienne locale). Si nombreux craignent l’imminence d’une guerre civile, la vie quotidienne se réorganise timidement. Les commerçants en profitent, surtout les restaurateurs de Bagdad : en l’absence de distractions, leurs établissements restent les seuls havres de loisirs. Mais la précarité est omniprésente. Par exemple dans le milieu artistique de Bagdad, réduit à la portion congrue. Un prof d’arts plastiques explique que tous ses étudiants envisagent de s’exiler à l’étranger. Tout comme le jeune pharmacien sympathique, vivant près de la frontière irakienne, chez qui Anne Nivat séjourne.

Grâce au film de Jean-Pierre Krief, qui détaille le processus initial de la guerre, et à celui d’Anne Nivat, qui fait l’inventaire de ses conséquences, on peut raisonnablement conclure que la résurrection de l’Irak sera ardue, voire miraculeuse.

Vincent Ostria

Tonnerre roulant sur Bagdad (Bande annonce) de Jean-Pierre Krief. Mardi 19 mars, 20 h 50, Arte

Irak, l’ombre de la guerre d’Anne Nivat. Lundi 18 mars, 23 h 15, France 3

Iraqi Turkmens celebrating NAVRUZ in Belgium

DÜNYA TÜRKLERİ AVRUPA PLATFORMU

European Parliament Urges Protection For Iraqi Turkmen

European Parliament Urges Protection For Iraqi Turkmen

On Thursday 14 March 2013, the European Parliament adopted the resolution "Iraq: plight of minority groups, in particular the Iraqi Turkmen", urging the Iraqi government to provide the Iraqi Turkmen with "security and protection".

PRESS RELEASE                                              for immediate release 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

UNPO Welcomes European Parliament Resolution On The Plight Of The Iraqi Turkmen

*    *    *

European Parliament Puts Pressure On Iraqi Government To Do More To Protect The Iraqi Turkmen Community

Brussels, 15 March 2013

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) welcomes the decision, made yesterday (14 March) at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, to adopt the Resolution on the plight of minority groups in Iraq, in particular the Iraqi Turkmen.

The resolution states that the European Parliament condemns the recent attacks on the Turkmen community and affirms that ‘despite the reference in the Constitution to the rights of Turkmen and other minorities, these minorities continue to be plagued by ethnic sectarian violence and discrimination’. The European Parliament also calls on the Iraqi government ‘to take the necessary measures to provide security and protection for all Iraqi citizens in general and members of vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities in particular’.

This resolution was supported by MEPs from across the political spectrum and was passed unanimously, apart from one abstention. The UNPO welcomes the breadth of support shown for the Iraqi Turkmen within the European Parliament.

This comes at a crucial time for the Turkmen community in Iraq who are being targeted in frequent and bloody sectarian attacks. On 23 January 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded mosque during the funeral of a Turkmen civil servant – himself the victim of sectarian assassination the previous day – killing 42 and injuring a further 117. Unfortunately, this is far from an isolated incident. Attacks on the Turkmen have seen a dramatic increase since the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and there is currently no sign of an end to this violence. Violence and intimidation have become a part of daily life for the Iraqi Turkmen, who have been caught up in the collateral damage of the conflict between the Arab and Kurdish populations of Iraq.

The UNPO now urges the Iraqi government to implement the terms of this resolution, in order that the Iraqi Turkmen – and the other minorities within Iraq – receive the appropriate protection from the Iraqi Government as guaranteed to them in the Constitution.

For media queries please contact:

Maud Vanwalleghem  |  +32 251 314 59  |  m.vanwalleghem@unpo.org 

The full text of the resolution can be found here.

(Photo courtesy of the European Parliament)

http://www.unpo.org/article/15643

Speech by MEP Metin Kazak on IRAQ: Plight of Minority groups in particular the Turkmens

Speech by Metin Kazak [ ALDE MEP / Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe / European Parliament ] on : Iraq: plight of minority groups, in particular ...
VIDEO OF MR. METIN KAZAK'S SPEECH AT THE EU PARLIAMENT ON 14th MARCH 2013