www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Newsletter No. 139
February 6th, 2010
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Military news U.S. forces put off release of Kirkuk detainees Aswat al-Iraq reports (January 23rd): U.S. forces have postponed the release of several detainees from Kirkuk residents until after the upcoming parliamentary election despite a lack of evidence against them, a member of Kirkuk’s provincial council said. “The U.S. forces have informed the council that they will postpone the release of 14 detainees from their jails until March 14, 2010,” Ramla Hameed al-Obeidi, who belongs to the council’s Arab List, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Abuse Baha Mousa inquiry: Soldier disgusted by officer's assault on Iraqi prisoner The Guardian reports (January 19th): A former British soldier said today he had been disgusted after witnessing the "brutality" of a senior officer towards a prisoner in Iraq. In evidence to an inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, the soldier alleged that his commanding officer at the time, Colonel Jorge Mendonca, punched the man in the side of the face in front of more than 100 army personnel after a raid on a derelict building. Three men were arrested in the 2003 raid, which was not related to the death of 26-year-old Mousa. Mousa died in the custody of the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment in September 2003, having suffered 93 separate injuries. US to appeal 'Blackwater' ruling Al-Jazeera reports (January 23rd): The US says it will appeal a court decision to dismiss manslaughter charges against five members of an American security firm accused of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad three years ago. Blackwater's Youngest Victim Jeremy Scahill writes for The Nation (January 28th): Every detail of September 16, 2007, is burned in Mohammed Kinani's memory. His 9 year old son was the youngest person killed by Blackwater forces in the infamous Nisour Square massacre. In May 2008 Mohammed flew to Washington to testify in front of a grand jury investigating the shooting. But this past New Year's Eve, federal Judge Ricardo Urbina threw out all the criminal charges against the five Blackwater guards. The manslaughter charges were dismissed not because of a lack of evidence but because of what Urbina called serious misconduct on the part of the prosecutors. Then, a few days after the dismissal of the criminal case, Blackwater reached a civil settlement with many of the Nisour Square victims, reportedly paying about $100,000 per death. Blackwater released a statement declaring it was "pleased" with the outcome, which enabled the company to move forward "free of the costs and distraction of ongoing litigation." But Mohammed Kinani would not move on. He refused to take the deal Blackwater offered. As a result, he may well be the one man standing between Blackwater and total impunity for the killings in Nisour Square. Daily Life Iraq littered with high levels of nuclear and dioxin contamination, study finds The Guardian reports (January 22nd): More than 40 sites across Iraq are contaminated with high levels or radiation and dioxins, with three decades of war and neglect having left environmental ruin in large parts of the country, an official Iraqi study has found. Areas in and near Iraq's largest towns and cities, including Najaf, Basra and ¬Falluja, account for around 25% of the contaminated sites, which appear to coincide with communities that have seen increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years. The joint study by the environment, health and science ministries found that scrap metal yards in and around Baghdad and Basra contain high levels of ionising radiation, which is thought to be a legacy of depleted uranium used in munitions during the first Gulf war and since the 2003 invasion. The environment minister, Narmin Othman, said high levels of dioxins on agricultural lands in southern Iraq, in particular, were increasingly thought to be a key factor in a general decline in the health of people living in the poorest parts of the country. Sectarian tension ahead of polls threatens “humanitarian crisis” – analysts IRIN reports (January 24th): A government move to exclude a number of prominent Sunni candidates from national parliamentary elections on 7 March could re-ignite sectarian violence and create a new humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country, according to some analysts. “Iraq is on the verge of another humanitarian crisis if the current political situation continues to worsen between the political parties or between Sunnis and Shia over participation in the coming elections,” Mohammed Abdul-Aziz Jassim, a political sciences lecturer at the University of Anbar, told IRIN. Barred Politicians Mostly Secular, Iraqi Says NY Times reports (January 21st): The two biggest secular coalitions were hit hardest by this month’s decision to bar about 500 candidates from parliamentary elections in March, a top election official said, as efforts to resolve what has become a political crisis intensified. The decision infuriated Sunnis and deepened their fears of being excluded from the political process. Critics have warned that the disqualifications, made on the grounds that the candidates promoted the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein, could damage the credibility of the March 7 vote. Iraq's crippled infrastructure fails to help struggling war amputees Gulf News reports (January 23rd): Amputee Hamza Hameed is a living reminder of the US "shock and awe" bombardment during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, one of up to three million Iraqis disabled after years of war, sanctions and economic deprivation. He lost his right leg, amputated just below the hip, and the index finger on his left hand when he was wounded in a marketplace during what he says was a nearby US bombing run. Iraq's health ministry said it has no specific figures but it estimates the number of physically and mentally disabled people at between 2 million and 3 million. Blogger arrested Layla Anwar blogs (January 31st): I just received this fresh information regarding Hiba Al-Shamaree this fellow Iraqi woman writer/blogger who has been kidnapped/arrested by the Iraqi forces on the 20th of January 2010 in the Sayyediya neighborhood in Baghdad. Her sister has just updated her blog with the following: “Hiba Al-Shamaree is detained by Baghdad's security forces on the charges of supporting the Iraqi Resistance (through her writings). I am now authorized by Hiba to reveal her true identity to you: Hanan Ali Ahmad Al Mashadani, age 33, profession: Doctor in Ophtalmology. The charges pressed against her: Inciting to violence and supporting the Resistance and according to informed sources this is a charge that falls under the Terrorism law. ” Corporate Takeover Tony Blair’s £1m-a-year paymaster seeks giant Iraqi oil deal The Times reports (February 3rd): A Middle Eastern investment fund that pays Tony Blair about £1m a year as an international adviser is in talks to develop one of Iraq’s biggest oilfields. Mubadala, a United Arab Emirates investment firm, is in negotiations to join a consortium of western oil companies developing the Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq. More than £6 billion of investment is required for the project. Blair has always insisted that the Iraq conflict was never linked to the country’s vast oil reserves, but he was facing criticism this weekend over his role with Mubadala. Anti-war news Arrest Blair for crimes against peace This site offers a reward to people attempting a peaceful citizen’s arrest of the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, for crimes against peace. Anyone attempting an arrest will be entitled to one quarter of the money collected at the time of his or her application. | 
