Christians flee Iraq’s Mosul

US Using Iraqi Political Discord to Justify Continuance of Occupation

Dahr Jamail

t r u t h o u t, February 25, 2010

As Iraqi national elections on March 7 approach, violence and political discord in the country have escalated dramatically.

On February 22, Gen. Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, announced that the US was preparing contingency plans to delay the withdrawal of all combat forces from Iraq if violence or political instability increases after the national elections scheduled for March 7. Read more→

US has “Plan B” to keep combat troops in Iraq after August

By Patrick Martin
25 February 2010

n an apparent effort to prepare US and Iraqi public opinion for a change in policy, the top US commander in Baghdad announced Monday that he had briefed the Pentagon on plans to keep combat troops in Iraq after an upcoming August 31 deadline for their Read more→.

Christians flee Iraq’s Mosul

By Jareer Ahmad

Azzaman, February 24, 2010 Christian families are fleeing Mosul in droves in the aftermath of the murder of a Christian family in the city. Our correspondent in the city says the flight is a reminder of the 2008 exodus in which thousands of families fled the city. The fleeing families are heading for the string of Christian villages, towns, churches and monasteries to the east and north of the city. Anti-Christian attacks have intensified recently in the city, the second largest in Iraq. Five more Christians were killed in the past two weeks. Many Christians were openly told to leave or face the consequences. Violence has relatively receded in Iraq in the past two years, but Mosul remains one of the most volatile and violent in the country. Tensions are building up between Kurds and Arabs in Mosul and its outskirts which Kurdish militias have occupied. Kurdish militiamen are even heavily present inside the city itself. But neither the Kurdish militias nor Iraqi troops are doing enough to put an end to Christian suffering in the city. Observers say the Christians in the city are most probably paying for the struggle over territory between the Arab majority and Kurdish minority in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital. Iraqi Christians are of divided loyalty despite their shaky situation. Some of their factions openly support the Kurds. Others have aligned with Arabs. The observers say the struggle over Christian votes might be one of the reasons behind the latest anti-Christian campaign. The Iraqi al-Qaeda branch could be involved. The group had vowed to derail the elections, only a few days away.

International study confirms doubling of childhood leukemia rates in southern Iraq

February 18, 2010

Childhood leukemia rates have more than doubled over the last 15 years in the southern Iraq province of Basrah, according to the study, "Trends in Childhood Leukaemia in Basrah, Iraq (1993-2007), published in the American Journal of Public Health Read more→.

Kurdish militia tighten grip on non-Kurdish districts in Iraq’s Mosul

By Zeena Sami

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Azzaman, February 18, 2010 A senior official in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital has denounced the presence of Kurdish armed militias in several provincial districts and towns. In response, the militias, known locally as peshmerga, have tightened their grip on these areas, arresting and harassing people and officials resisting their rule. Osama al-Najaifi accused the Kurds of forging documents and counts in order to legitimize their occupation of these areas. "The Kurds have controlled these areas through their militias in an attempt to annex them to their region. This is a move which flagrantly violates the law," he said. Kurdish militias are even present in Mosul itself. At least half of Mosul, the part on the left bank of the Tigris River, is under Kurdish militia occupation. Most attacks targeting Iraqi minorities, particularly Iraqi Christians, have taken place in areas under Kurdish militia control in Mosul. Officially, the provincial districts which the Kurds control, are part of the Province of Nineveh. But Kurdish militias have the last say in them and this week they mounted an arrest campaign which observers say is politically motivated as it comes a few days before the general elections. The Kurds have put behind bars Hussain Hamadi, the head of the municipal council in the Christian district of Hamdaniya and the head of the police force in the district of Tal Kaif, a few kilometers away from Mosul. A representative of Yazidis, a religious minority of several hundred thousand followers to the north-west of Mosul, said Kurdish militias of Kurdistan Democratic Party headed by Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish region, were interfering in his election campaign. Iraq: The new name “Operation New Dawn” By Fatih Abdulsalam Azzaman, , February 25, 2010 There is no way to know how the U.S. code-names its foreign wars. And we have no information on whether there has been any investigation after the failure of a military campaign on whether the names given to it match the reality of the situation on the ground. The invasion of Iraq took place under the rubric "Operation Iraqi Liberation", although U.S. discourse at the U.N. and U.N. Security Council was performed under the rubric of "weapons of mass destruction." Even today the countries taking part in the American coalition say their participation was to conduct a search for the alleged weapons and to have them dismantled and not for the overthrow of the Iraqi government for fear of being held accountable under international law. Of course this issue has become old and hackneyed and has no value in today’s discourse in light of the calamities that have fallen over the heads of the sons of our country And probably to get even more immersed in the mud of nomenclatures that have nothing to do with the reality of the situation in Iraq, the Pentagon will call the war in Iraq "Operation New Dawn" as from September this year. No one exactly knows which "dawn" they are talking about as they pack and leave a country they have imploded and humiliated its people for seven years. The Americans have not told us whether "Operation New Dawn" will need a new war or the nomenclature is simply a lexical addition to the previous war. Names of operations do not reveal their true nature. This "new dawn" Iraqis have not and probably will not see. Instead of the "dawn" they are talking about, Iraqis have borne witness to rivers of blood, deprivation, hunger, displacement, a surge in number of prisons and new laws and regulation that allow any force with or without uniform to storm houses at night. A new dawn for a country which is in eclipse. A new dawn for a country in which the number of professionals – doctors, engineers, university professors, etc. – has slumped to half what they were before the invasion instead of increasing. The benchmark for a job in the government is now, as it was under the former Baath regime or even worse, unwavering loyalty to a certain faction. A "new dawn" ... Aren’t they laughing at us; aren’t they adding salt to our wounds and our slow death. A "new dawn" where a heavy cloud of darkness has descended over my homeland, covering its mountains and valleys. مجلة امريكية: اوديرنو طلب رسميا الابقاء على لواء قتالي بعد موعد الانسحاب النهائي دم قائد قوات الاحتلال الامريكية في العراق طلبا رسميا للابقاء على لواء قتالي في محافظة كركوك بعد الانسحاب الامريكي من العراق . ونقلت مجلة السياسة الخارجية الامريكية عن شخصين مطلعين على المداولات ان الجنرال اوديرنو طلب الابقاء على لواء قتالي في محاولة للحفاظ على السلام في مدينة كركوك وقد حصل على موافقة اولية غير رسمية من الرئيس الامريكي باراك اوباما عندما أثيرت هذه المسألة خلال لقاءاته الأخيرة في واشنطن . وعلقت المجلة بالقول انه إذا تم الابقاء على لواء في شمال العراق بعد الموعد النهائي للانسحاب فسيصار الى عدم وصفها بالوحدة القتالية بل مثل الالوية الستة الاخرى التي ستبقى بعد الموعد النهائي للانسحاب أي ستوصف بانها وحدة استشارية.