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Thousands of Iraqis protest against government corruption

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iraq.thumbThis is the second Friday of protests in Baghdad and across Iraq, with people initially calling on authorities to address the country’s chronic electricity problems as temperatures in the capital soared above 50 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit).

But with little action from the Shiite-dominated government following last week’s demonstrations, the call for a government shake-up intensified, the AP reports.

As Haider al-Abadi nears his one-year anniversary since assuming the role of Iraq’s prime minister, he faces his biggest challenge yet as an economic crisis and crippling war with the Islamic State group put a choke on domestic services. Discontent is rising, even among the country’s Shiite majority, with protests springing up in cities from Baghdad to Basra.

“Change, that’s what we need,” said schoolteacher Najlaa Malek, one of the protesters in the square Friday.

“The problems in this country have become too many to list. And our leaders talk a great deal but then they do nothing to fix them.”

One man circled the square holding a mock donations box, with the written message: “proceeds go to the house of representatives.”

The protesters represented mixed political and religious affiliations, organizers of the protest saying that about 75 percent were liberals, communists, linked to various political groups for youth, or independent.

Professional syndicates were on hand, with the members of the lawyers syndicate marching in their judicial
robes through the square demanding basic human rights.

#Iraqi top commander says #Turkey still backing #ISIL, #BoycottTurkishProduct

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Hadi al-Ameri, the commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces fighting the ISIL Takfiri group in Iraq (AFP)

Hadi al-Ameri, the commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces fighting the ISIL Takfiri group in Iraq (AFP)

The commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces fighting the ISIL Takfiri group says there is no evidence that Turkey has altered its stance against the terrorist group and is still supporting the militants.

“Turkey has not changed its stance; it carried out operations against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), which is fighting with the Kurds against ISIL in Syria,” Hadi al-Ameri said on Monday.

Ameri made the remarks after a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Turkey launched a military campaign against what it claims to be ISIL targets in Syria and PKK positions in northern Iraq last week, after an ISIL attack in the southwestern Turkish town of Suruç claimed the lives of at least 32 people on July 20.

“Turkey still supports ISIL right now,” said Ameri, adding “I think [the strikes] Turkey carried out were to support ISIL and not what some had imagined,” said Ameri.

Ankara blames the PKK for a string of attacks against its security forces in recent days and has vowed to continue fighting ISIL, which has taken over parts of land in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Turkey’s pledge to confront ISIL Takfiris comes despite its longtime support for the militancy against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with reports showing that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri extremists operating in Syria, and also facilitates the safe passage of foreign terrorists into the Arab country.

Iraq’s army has been joined by Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen in operations to drive the ISIL terrorists out of the areas the Takfiri militants have seized.

Source: presstv

While Turkey busy killing Kurds in Iraq, ISIL abducts over 180 children in Iraq’s Mosul

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ffc4bf3b-f9a6-419c-8773-b63d2ac53251The Takfiri ISIL terrorist group has abducted more than 180 children in the Iraqi city of Mosul over the past few days, an Iraqi Kurdish official says.

Saeed Mamouzini, a senior official from the Iraqi Kurdistan’s Democrat Party (KDP), said on Saturday that the children, aged between 10 and 15, have been transferred to the ISIL military camps in the city of Mosul to receive training.

“During the past few days, ISIL militants kidnapped 182 children from the city of Mosul… The children were transferred to centers for ideological training, weapons and suicide operations,” media outlets quoted Mamouzini as saying.

Latest figures show the militant group has abducted about 1,500 children since capturing the city over a year ago.

The Takfiri group uses children in both Syria and Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks and executions.

Some videos released by the ISIL terrorists show children or teenagers executing captured soldiers and civilians.

Media reports also indicate that the ISIL terrorist group is teaching children to carry out beheadings by showing them gruesome videos of decapitations in training camps.

The Takfiri group is also currently recruiting teenagers and children in the areas under its control in Syria and Iraq by offering them gifts or threatening and brainwashing them.

Iraq exhumes 470 bodies from Tikrit mass graves

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Iraq-isisIraq has exhumed the remains of 470 people believed to have been executed by militants near Tikrit last year in what is known as the Speicher massacre, the health minister said Thursday, AFP reports.

“We have exhumed the bodies of 470 Speicher martyrs from burial sites in Tikrit,” Adila Hammoud said at a press conference in Baghdad, referring to the nearby military base that the massacre was named after.

In June 2014, armed men belonging or allied to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group abducted hundreds of young, mostly Shi’ite recruits from Speicher base, just outside the city of Tikrit.

They were then lined up in several locations and executed one by one, as shown in pictures and footage that has emerged since.

 

Source: Panorama.a

Saddam-era general killed by Iraqi troops in Tikrit

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iraqi_general_killed.thumbSadek al-Husseini, a senior Iraqi general, said that Abu Anas who was a former general in the regime of Saddam Hussein was killed during an operation in Baiji on Sunday, Fars News Agency reported.

“Joint security forces succeeded in killing one of the well-known leaders of the dissolved Ba’ath party, known as Abu Anas,” he said.

Abu Anas was one of the high-profile commanders of the ISIL terrorist group.

Back in April, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam Hussein’s Right-Hand Man and a senior commander of the ISIL Takfiri group, was killed during an operation by Iraqi popular forces in Salahuddin province in Iraq.

Additionally, the top war commander of the ISIL, Sheet Al-Samarrai who was called by the terrorist group as its war minister, was killed in an Iraqi airstrike on April 27 in Nineveh province.

On May 13, Abu Ala Afri, the successor of the Leader of the ISIL terrorist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in an air raid in Nineveh province.

The Syrian army killed the so-called oil minster of the ISIL terrorist group along with 40 other militants in Deir Ezzur on May 16.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control shrinking swathes of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.

Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.

The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.

Report: fall of Ramadi “Top Kurdish commander story & betrayal by the Iraqi Special Operations command”

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By Hemin Lihony
130785Image1A shocking betrayal, waves of suicide attacks, days hiding in the desert. This is a first-hand account by a top Kurdish commander in the Iraqi armed forces about what really happened – and what happens next – in Ramadi, Anbar and Iraq.

Transcript begins: Report rudaw.net

In the past year and half we engaged in major battles. At times, ISIS targeted the Iraqi Army and police with 25 car bombs, yet our forces managed to fight back and repel the attacks.

But this time there was a major betrayal by the Special Operations command. This command was formed by the Americans during [former] prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and they carried the latest advanced weapons.

Two days prior to the ISIS attack we had accurate information that the Special Operations had packed up and abandoned their base in Ramadi.

I personally relayed the information through the chain of command and contacted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

This command was formed by the Americans during [former] prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and they carried the latest advanced weapons.

I informed him of the photo and video evidence and location of hundreds of army vehicles and Humvees of the Special Operations forces assembled and about to abandon Ramadi.

I explained to PM Abadi the exact location of the forces on the map. It was 4am. They flew a plane to the place I told them and took photos of the assembled vehicles. They learned that the intelligence was correct and that indeed the forces were getting ready to withdraw.

Later that day more than 200 army vehicles abandoned their posts and their withdrawal led to the defeat of all other forces that were in Anbar to fight.

Why did the Special Operations act this way? I personally think there was a political reason behind it.

As a military commander, I don’t think PM Abadi or the Ministry of Defense have any authority over the Special Operations. Or it could be that the Shiite forces close to Maliki committed this act in order to embarrass and bring down Abadi’s government.

The Anbar police force numbers 29,000, but over the course of the year and half that I was there I never saw more than 500 policemen showing up for duty. Most of them had settled in the Kurdistan region and still continued to receive their pay.

I had met with the Interior Minister, Iraq’s police chief and my chain of command that there didn’t exist in Anbar a police force and that the small number who remained were involved in spying, betrayals and causing us trouble.

They weren’t there to fight.

The confrontations broke out at 4am on May 17. As the Special Operations abandoned their posts, ISIS militants managed to enter Ramadi and cut off the remaining forces still fighting inside the city.

It was an extraordinary withdrawal and there was no reason for it. They pulled out so fast that in most cases they left their vehicles intact with their weapons and ammunition inside.

A day earlier, ISIS attacked us with car bombs as well as bulldozers, armored vehicles and loaders all laden with explosives but our force stayed put and didn’t pull back.

The operations commander and I stayed until 5pm in the base. Most of the Special Operations command base had by then fallen to ISIS. By the evening of that day, most of the soldiers of the Special Operations had fled. Even the personal guards of the commander took with them their six Humvees and left the commander alone.

I had with me 40 personnel who stayed on and didn’t abandon me. I was a Kurd and my guards were all Arabs. We were the last to leave Ramadi. We torched what we couldn’t carry to prevent it from falling to ISIS.

The Anbar police force numbers 29,000, but over the course of the year and half that I was there I never saw more than 500 policemen showing up for duty.

At 6pm, I was still inside the city stadium. When I realized it was all lost we pulled out, too. Along the way out of Ramadi I caught up with the force that had withdrawn earlier. There were 600-700 vehicles filled with soldiers, police officers and their families.

They were held up in a small area and had no way out.

At 7pm, I contacted the Defense Ministry and said that the forces were defeated, besieged by ISIS and under heavy attack with mortar fire. I said, If you do not come to our rescue a second Camp Spiecher would happen.

The place where we were held up was smaller than a football field. There were many dead and injured and we knew that if we stayed there until morning no one would make it out alive.

At that point, I realized that we had no other choice but to fight our way to safety. So I led my forces about 25km through the enemy forces. We were under fire from all sides. From there we made a turn into the Anbar desert.

We torched vehicles that broke down so that ISIS didn’t take them. That’s the way we managed to get out of Anbar. In that process of fighting our way out we lost 25 men and 45 were injured.

Once we reached a safe area of the desert we stayed behind in 15 vehicles. We were there for two days and two nights without food or water. The dead and injured had already started to smell. In that desert there was no mobile network coverage or proper roads.

Some still managed to get out with their vehicles. Others walked away on foot. For 350km in different directions people and soldiers were dispersed and everyone tried to get as far away as possible.

As commanders we could not leave them.

We checked at all times to make sure no one was left behind. The commanders couldn’t just save themselves and abandon the rest. The forces were in such defeated morale that we could neither control them nor organize them.

My guards stayed with me to the end because of our personal relationship and not the commander-soldier relationship.

We continued that way until we reached Nukhaib and from there to Karbala where we reached safety.

Iraqi and coalition jets offered limited assistance. The Americans weren’t really that serious in hitting ISIS to help us.

The last vehicles to get out of there that night were ours. Thankfully we all got out and we brought with us the dead and injured without leaving anyone behind.

I realized that we had no other choice but to fight our way to safety. So I led my forces about 25km through the enemy forces. We were under fire from all sides.

By all accounts and evidence I can say that the Special Operations command were responsible for the fall of Ramadi.

We had seen bigger wars and tougher confrontations without faltering. But the army in Ramadi collapsed in a short battle.

Two days before those events the Special Operations was split into two commands. One led by Muhammad Khalaf Saeed of the 12th division and the other, at Habanyya, was under the command of Fadhil Barwari. The Special Operations was responsible for the fall of both fronts.

Anbar is gone and will not be taken back.

Last year, the Iraqi army had 15 divisions and some of the best weapons and was in charge of Mosul and Tikrit, yet it couldn’t take back 10 percent of Anbar that was out of control. How can it retake this province with Mosul and Tikrit gone?

The ISIS of now is different from that of a year ago in terms of fighting tactics, arms and devotion.

About five days before the attack on Ramadi I had intelligence that 400 armed vehicles had entered Iraq from Raqqah through the Qaim border crossing. Their plan was to deploy 200 vehicles to Tikrit and the other 200 to Ramadi.

I informed my superiors of the ISIS plan and suggested they be taken out by airstrikes on the road but that didn’t happen and the convoys reached Anbar and Tikrit.

Within hours of their arrival 24 car combs attacked us. This means foreign suicide bombers had come to Anbar from Syria. That day, however, ISIS couldn’t advance. The next day they sent 30 suicide bombers into our defense lines.

An enemy that can prepare 50 suicide bombers overnight, isn’t a joke.

I don’t think all the airstrikes and attacks on ISIS in the past year and half have degraded any of the ISIS capacity. In fact, ISIS is getting stronger and has weapons that we don’t have.

ISIS now poses a 70 percent threat to the capital Baghdad and all the Shiite militia could do is to prevent the army from pulling out. I don’t think they can take back any territory from ISIS.

Source: Rudaw

Is Kirkuk next Kosovo? #Turkey is training Iraqi Sunni Turkmen just like what they did with KLA

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n_81040_1Turkish officers are participating in the training of 800 Sunni and Turkmen fighters in a camp located in al-Shikhan district 12 kilometers north of Mosul in northern Iraq.

The fighters receive military techniques including defusing explosive devices, a commander told Anadolu Agency on April 14.

http://globalsecuritystudies.com/NATO%20and%20the%20KLA%20TWO.pdf

The 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia had the dubious distinction of being the first time NATO aligned itself with a terrorist organization fighting an insurgency against a sovereign state. Defying the UN Security Council, the United States and its allies bombed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 78 days, providing vital air support for the Kosovo Liberation Army. The result of this open for support for the KLA has helped to encourage ethnic Albanian separatists to use terrorism to start insurgencies in Serbia

New video Mustafa Barzani and Saddam Hussein what went wrong, “Halabja massacre” Episode 14

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Saddam-Barazani

Mustafa Barzani and Saddam Hussein what went wrong

Ba’ath Coup of 1968 and 1970 peace accord and the Collapse of the peace accord the triggering of the first largest Armenian migration from Iraq 1970  (The Untold Story)

In July 1968 the Ba’ath Party, supported by the army, overthrew the Arif government and assumed control of Iraq, returning Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr back to power. The Ba’ath realized the toll the military operations in Iraq were taking and signaled its willingness to settle the Kurdish issue peacefully. The Ba’ath initially hoped to seek an agreement with the Talabani-Ahmad faction to bypass Barzani, prompting Barzani to enter into hostilities with the government again, shelling Kirkuk in March 1969. Barzani’s ability to secure aid from Iran caused trouble for the new Ba’ath government, which saw that it would prevent any conclusive victory militarily.

By May 1969 the government indicated its willingness to negotiate with Barzani, culminating in formal negotiations by December that year. Barzani demanded that the Ba’ath sever ties with pro-government Kurds and the Ahmad-Talabani faction, and recognize him as the sole power within the KDP, as well as terms of autonomy was also discussed. With Dr. Mahmoud Othman conducting negotiations on behalf of the KDP, and Saddam Hussein on behalf of the government, the final agreement was reached on March 11, 1970.[31] The final terms of the agreement recognized the Kurdish people and considered Kurdish language a second official language of the republic with Arabic, along with autonomy in northern Iraq excluding Kirkuk, Khanaqin and other Kurdish cities, in exchange of full control of Iraqi army over Kurdistan.

Collapse of the peace accord 

The government began reconstruction in northern Iraq and work towards creating an autonomous region, appointed five Kurdish men to junior-level ministries in the government, incorporating the Kurds along with the ICP into the National Front and provided Barzani with a stipend to manage the KDP. Ibrahim Ahmad and Jalal Talabani also reunified with the KDP. However relations quickly began to deteriorate as Barzani accused Iraq of continuing Arabification to decrease Kurdish standings in contested cities such as Kirkuk and in not being committed to a genuine autonomous zone. An assassination attempt took place against Barzani on September 1971 when Barzani received religious officials in his headquarters. The clerics had thought they were carrying suitcases with recording devices for the benefit of Baghdad, but had instead been wired with explosives. The explosion did not kill Barzani but killed others participating in the meeting, and in the confusion Peshmerga guards rushed in and killed the clerics. The government drivers who drove the clerics tried to salvage the assassination and tossed a grenade, killing a Peshmerga and wounding twelve, but missing Barzani, before they themselves were shot and killed.[33] Despite being unable to capture any of the conspirators for questioning, Barzani would maintain that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the attack.[34]

With his perception of the Ba’ath soured, Barzani refused to close the border of Iran and continued receiving arms and supplies from Iran, which increased following the Soviet-Iraqi Treaty of Friendship in April 1972 once the United States was concerned about Iraq entering into the Soviet sphere like Syria. Israel also increased support to Barzani hoping to frustrate the Ba’ath in Iraq. The moves would bolster Barzani and his forces, but would alienate many figures within the KDP as well as leftists sympathetic to the Kurdish cause within Iraq.[35] Among the defectors from the KDP was Barzani’s own son Ubeydullah who defected from the movement and preferred to cooperate with the regime in Baghdad.[36] Through much of 1973, Barzani began to rebuild and reorganize the Peshmerga in anticipation of another conflict with Baghdad.[37]

On March 11, 1974, the Ba’ath government passed the autonomy law which it presented to Barzani for approval. With Kirkuk not included and his faith in the Ba’ath for a genuine autonomy low, Barzani rejected the agreement. Joining his son Ubeydullah, a number of disillusioned members of the KDP, angered with Barzani’s opening towards the United States, Israel, and Iran and the perceived betrayal of KDP’s socialist origins, defected to Baghdad.

The Halabja chemical attack:

also known as the Halabja Massacre or Bloody Friday, was a genocidal massacre against the Kurdish people that took place on March 16, 1988, during the closing days of the Iran–Iraq War in the Kurdish city of Halabja in Southern Kurdistan. The attack was part of the Al-Anfal campaign in northern Iraq, as well as part of the Iraqi attempt to repel the Iranian Operation Zafar 7. It took place 48 hours after the fall of the town to Iranian army and Kurdish guerrillas.

The attack killed between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injured 7,000 to 10,000 more, most of them civilians.[1][2] Thousands more died of complications, diseases, and birth defects in the years after the attack.

The incident, which has been officially defined as an act of genocide against the Kurdish people in Iraq,[4] was and still remains the largest chemical weapons attack directed against a civilian-populated area in history.[5]

The Halabja attack has been recognized as a separate event from the Anfal Genocide that was also conducted against the Kurdish people by the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein.[6] The Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as an act of genocide on March 1, 2010, a decision welcomed by the Kurdistan Regional Government. The attack was also condemned as a crime against humanity by the Parliament of Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

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Iraqi forces liberate Tikrit center from ISIL hold

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07e7ce27-2a0e-40fd-983b-9e99b5ce6020Iraqi armed forced, backed by volunteer and tribal fighters, have liberated central parts of the Iraqi city of Tikrit with major government buildings now retaken from ISIL Takfiri militants.

A statement by Iraq’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday said major government buildings close to the city’s center have been retaken from ISIL terrorists.

Security officials said most of the ISIL militants in the city have begun retreating. report presstv

The advances on Wednesday came after nearly a week of heavy fighting for the liberation of the city, around 160 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad. Tikrit was one of the two major strongholds of ISIL in Iraq, the other being Mosul.

Iraqi forces managed to retake Tikrit’s military hospital located in al-Qadisiya neighborhood earlier in the day. A mop-up operation was launched to hunt down ISIL militants scattered across the city.

The operation includes a combined force of more than 30,000 fighters both from the Iraqi armed forces and volunteers, known as Popular Mobilization forces. It is the largest operation launched by the government to date and many see it as a prelude to recapturing the northern city of Mosul.

The operation is being assisted by Iranian military advisers who have made a huge contribution to similar offensives against the Takfiri militants. The US-led international coalition against ISIL has no role to play in the operation to retake Tikrit, although Iraqi officials have announced they would use the support of coalition airstrikes in the battle for Mosul.

Takfiris hemmed in

Speaking from near Tikrit, Press TV’s correspondent said fierce clashes are continuing between the terrorists and Iraqi forces, especially in the western parts of the city, where militants have a stronger presence.

The army’s advance in southern parts of the city has been faster, while other units are tightening the noose around the militants from the northern axis.

The Press TV reporter said the battle to liberate the entire city will not be an easy one as the ISIL militants are putting up a strong fight against Iraqi forces.

The operation to retake Tikrit began from four directions and the army tried to besiege the militants and cut off their supply lines. However, reports showed that the militants have managed to destroy a bridge east of the city, holding off the army’s advance on that front.

The Iraqis have all left the city, which is under the complete siege of the Iraqi army and volunteer forces.

“Tikrit has effectively become a prison for ISIL militants,” the Press TV correspondent said. The liberation of the hospital was a major gain for the Iraqi forces as the site was used by militants as a place to hold captive citizens.