Iraqi Journalists Call on United Nations to Act over Media “Nightmare”20 Dec 2006Journalists’ leaders from Iraq today issued an urgent appeal to the United Nations to take urgent action over the “media nightmare” in the war-torn country that has seen 163 journalists and media staff killed since 2003. Meeting in Amman, leaders of the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate and the Kurdistan Journalists’ Syndicate, called on the United Nations Security Council which is this week considering a first-ever resolution on protection of media in conflict zones, to set aside political differences and to focus on the humanitarian crisis that has overtaken the country’s media.
Suspension of Red Crescent work could affect the lives of thousands19 Dec 2006The lives of thousands of Iraqis are going to be adversely affected by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society’s decision on Monday to suspend its activities in Baghdad, according to doctors, humanitarian workers and ordinary Iraqis who depend on the organisation for their survival. However, he said that IRCS work elsewhere in the country would not be affected. Seventeen out of the 30 volunteers kidnapped on Sunday have since been released.
Slim Chance for Reconciliation Recedes19 Dec 2006Iraq’s national reconciliation conference held on the weekend highlights the gap between the country’s various political groups and their lack of consensus on a common basis for reconciliation. Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s call for the return of members of the country’s dissolved army under former president Saddam Hussein was interpreted as positive, but the absence of major Sunni armed groups at the conference held in Baghdad could dash hopes of a comprehensive reconciliation plan. Several major parliamentary blocs boycotted the conference, including the al-Iraqia slate of first post-war premier Ayad Allawi, the Sunni slate of the Iraqi Front National Dialogue led by Salih al-Mutlak, and the al-Sadr bloc loyal to young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Small Pieces Fly Easier to Heaven19 Dec 2006Iraqi blogger Still Alive, in this devastating and beautifully crafted piece, mourns the death of a child she helped to name. Now living abroad, her loss causes her to feel like she felt “when Baghdad was just falling into the fire.” As Iraqis flee the country by the tens of thousands, she writes, “We all leave with wounded hearts.”
Soldier Suicides18 Dec 2006Brian Turner was an infantry leader for a year in Iraq beginning in November 2003. I couldn’t help but recall one of Turner’s poems, published in his book Here, Bullet, when I read a Reuters headline today: US soldiers’ suicide rate in Iraq doubles in 2005.
Security Crisis Mutes Baghdad Wedding Joy18 Dec 2006Decorated cars, honking of horns, cries of joy and loud music were once the stuff of Baghdad’s famous wedding processions,” writes Iraqi reporter Hind al-Saffar. “The families of the bride and groom felt obliged to invite as many relatives and friends as possible to the ceremony. They now tend to be much more modest, almost clandestine. In neighbourhoods under the thumb of radical Muslim militias, more and more young couples opt for traditional Islamic weddings to avoid problems.
Aid agencies call for respect from armed groups17 Dec 2006Ahmed Hussam (not his real name), 32, was shell-shocked after his colleagues were kidnapped on Sunday while on duty in the Iraqi Red Crescent Society’s (IRCS) office in the capital, Baghdad. “I saw my colleagues being taken by kidnappers and the ones who remained couldn’t do anything to help them because the men were carrying guns and wearing police uniforms,” Hussam said. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) have called for the immediate release of the workers, saying the Iraqi Red Crescent provided vital help for those in need.
Iraqi Women Activists Defy Extremists in Call for Tolerance17 Dec 2006“With sectarian tension growing by the day,” writes Iraqi journalist Haider al-Musawi, “the Iraqi women’s NGO Al-Khansa recently sought to do its bit to counter the trend by organising a conference on religious tolerance and dialogue in Najaf. For three days last month, a hotel hall in the holy Iraqi city teemed with 90 mainly female human rights activists and journalists, as well as clerics and religious scholars. The event attempted to bring together Iraqi Muslims and Christians in a common front against sectarian violence. Islamic clerics who attended the Najaf conference suggested that Muslim radicals were largely responsible for Islam’s worsening reputation in the western world.”
Seven Lives!17 Dec 2006Zappy provides a rundown of his recent experiences in Baghdad. For each close call, he subtracts one of his nine lives, leaving him, by his own tally, with seven lives at the end of a week of close calls. The diary begins on a Thursday, where Zappy barely escapes a deadly car bombing in Sadr City. It ends with a heroic attempt to make his way to the airport.
Iraqi Red Crescent workers kidnapped16 Dec 2006The Iraqi Red Crescent is the only Iraqi aid agency working in all of Iraq’s 18 provinces. According to Reuters, the agency has 1,000 staff and 200,000 volunteers. Last week, the Iraqi Red Crescent accused U.S. forces of repeatedly attacking its offices.Today there is this headline: “Gunmen Kidnap Dozens at Red Crescent Baghdad Office”
Palestinian refugees fear for their lives after recent attack16 Dec 2006Palestinian refugees living in Iraq say there is increasing fear in their community after a recent attack on a predominantly Palestinian Baghdad neighbourhood left nine people dead and several injured, including children. “We are getting worried about our situation in Iraq. We cannot leave the country because the borders are closed to us and the government doesn’t give us any hope that it can increase our security,” said Ahmed Muffitlak, spokesman for the Baghdad-based Palestinian Muslims Association (PMA). On 13 December, local militia attacked the al-Baladiya district of the capital, where hundreds of Palestinians have lived for years.
Why Withdrawal Is Unmentionable14 Dec 2006“The report of James A. Baker’s Iraq Study Group has already become a benchmark for Iraq policy, dominating the print and electronic media for several days after its release, and generating excited commentary by all manner of leadership types from Washington to London to Baghdad,” writes Michael Schwartz. “This is not, however, good news for those of us who want the U.S. to end its war of conquest in Iraq. The report is not an “exit strategy;” it is a new plan for achieving the Bush administration’s imperial goals in the Middle East.”
Reporter Summoned to Testify Against War Resister14 Dec 2006The U.S. military subpoenaed an independent journalist Thursday, demanding she testify as a witness for the prosecution of First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to be court-marshaled for refusing to serve in Iraq.
U.S. Troops Raid Hospital Again14 Dec 2006“Iraqi doctors and medical staff are outraged over yet another U.S. military raid at Fallujah General Hospital,” Jamail and Fadhily report. “Eyewitnesses at Fallujah General Hospital said U.S. soldiers raided the hospital “as if it were a military target. Eyewitnesses at Fallujah General Hospital said U.S. soldiers raided the hospital ‘as if it were a military target.’ Doctors and medical staff were arrested and insulted, and some were called terrorists, witnesses said. The hospital was then closed, and could no longer offer even minimal treatment.”
Losing Arab Allies’ Hearts and Minds14 Dec 2006Attitudes towards the United States reached new lows through most of the Arab world over the past year, according to the findings of a major new survey of five Arab countries released Thursday. The report found that attitudes towards U.S. cultural and political values have become increasingly negative, although not nearly as negative as Arab views of specific policies. Particularly remarkable, negative opinions towards the United States have skyrocketed in two key Arab monarchies long considered close allies of Washington.
Where do you go when the news makes you want to throw up your hands?13 Dec 2006Stand here on these streets and you will know this is a civil war.” So said CNN’s Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware to the network’s viewers on November 27. To illustrate his point, he read from a diary published on Electronic Iraq. Our award-winning websites, The Electronic Intifada, Electronic Iraq, and Electronic Lebanon bring the voices of those living through the most frightening and brutal events to a worldwide audience. We illuminate the cultural and social creativity and resistance through which people proclaim their dignity and pursue peace with justice.
Al Hurra journalist escapes second murder attempt13 Dec 2006Reporters Without Borders called for an end to the impunity with which journalists are being targeted in Iraq after Omar Mohammed, of US-run Arabic satellite channel al Hurra, escaped a second murder attempt after being ambushed in Baghdad.
Pax Christi International calls for comprehensive Middle East peace process13 Dec 2006Pax Christi International calls for immediate international efforts towards a new, just and comprehensive peace process in the Middle East. The situation in the Middle East today is fragile. Conflicts and the threat of more violence and war are dominating the region and beyond. The challenges and unresolved issues are enormous. Civilians, especially the poorest and weakest, lack the protection which they are entitled to under International Humanitarian Law.
“Fixing” the War13 Dec 2006Tom Engelhardt tells the history of war games, Iraq, “faulty intelligence,” and the Iraq Study Group, sent to clean up the mess caused in Iraq by the US invasion and occupation, while ignoring the only real solution – withdrawal from Iraq. Englehardt writes, “It turns out, of course, that when you control both sides of a war game or the range of opinion on a panel, you are assured of the results you’re going to get. The problem comes when you only control one side of a situation; and when, as American commanders learned in the early days of the Korean War and again in Vietnam, whether due to racism or imperial blindness, you also discount and disrespect your enemies.”
Health officials in Iraq ordered to deport HIV-positive foreigners13 Dec 2006Health officials in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region have said they lack anti-retroviral drugs and the necessary equipment for testing for the HIV virus and that they have been instructed by health authorities in Baghdad to deport foreigners who have been found HIV-positive. “We do not have drugs,” said Dr. Sayfadin Mohadyin Ahmad, head of the epidemic diseases section and HIV/AIDS unit in Kurdistan’s Ministry of Health.
Iraq’s border refugees reject new proposals13 Dec 2006Iranian Kurd refugees arrived at the border between Iraq and Jordan after fleeing al-Tash refugee camp in Iraq’s western Anbar governorate, following clashes there between insurgents and US forces in January 2005. Stuck on the Iraq-Jordan border for nearly two years, they say they will not leave their make-shift camp until they are resettled to a third country. Some 200 Iranian Kurdish refugees living in deteriorating conditions categorically rejected recent proposals by US-based NGO Human Rights Watch to resolve their problem.
U.S. Weighed Sunni Offer to “Clean Up” Militias13 Dec 2006U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad negotiated with Sunni armed groups for several weeks earlier this year on an agreement that would have supported Sunni forces in attacking pro-Iranian Shiite militias, according to accounts given by commanders of armed Sunni resistance organisations. The new accounts make it clear for the first time that the main objective of the talks was to explore possible U.S. support for building a Sunni military force directed primarily against Shiites in Iraq.
Public Ever More Pessimistic on Iraq War13 Dec 2006The findings of a spate of polls taken since last week’s release of the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations for U.S. policy show a sharp drop in public confidence both in President George W. Bush’s handling of the war and in the chances that the U.S. will prevail there. The findings will likely make it politically more difficult for the administration to rally support behind sending as many as 50,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq in a major effort to stabilise the situation.
Well-connected students exploit programme designed to get former peshmerga into higher education13 Dec 2006When the Kurdish government introduced a new academic system in the region in early 2000, it granted ex-peshmerga – Kurdish fighters – what’s known as “Special Acceptance”, meaning they could go to university without meeting the official entrance requirements. The Kurdish fighters had lost out on an education during their struggle with the Ba’ath regime, but after the autonomous Kurdish region was established in 1991 they settled back into civilian life. Now there are charges that this system is being exploited.
“I lost my only two sons in the explosion”12 Dec 2006A man driving a pick-up truck pulled up alongside a large group of Shi’ite day workers, calling them to him. He then detonated his explosives packed truck. At least 70 people were killed in the attack. Kawkab Barakat, 62, lost her two sons in the explosion. Needing sedatives to stay calm, she speaks about her tragic loss: “I lost my only two sons in the explosion. I cannot control the pain. Now I understand what every Iraqi mother who lost their sons feels. They were trying to work to bring food and pay our rent, which is three months late.”
Electronic Iraq