Thread: Iraq/Dinar News until 5/23/07 Midnight CST

Baghdad deaths fall after security drive
By Steve Negus

Published: March 14 2007 17:33 | Last updated: March 14 2007 17:33

US and Iraqi officials on Wenesday claimed that civilian deaths had declined precipitously in Baghdad since the push to secure the capital began a month ago.

The Americans acknowledged, however, that car bombs remained a big threat that could restart the cycle of violence, and said they were concentrating operations in areas where such weapons were believed to be assembled.

Brigadier Qassim Moussawi, Iraqi military spokesman, said the number of Iraqis killed by violence in Baghdad in the 30 days since Operation Enforcing the Law began was 265, down from 1,440 killed in the previous month. He said that the number of attacks in surrounding provinces had increased, although he did not provide figures.

Major General William Caldwell, US military spokesman, meanwhile said: “Murders and executions have come down by over 50 per cent [in Baghdad].”

He acknowledged there had been a slight climb in the number killed in the last seven days, but not as much as at the equivalent point in the cycle of previous Baghdad security plans. “This past week is normally the week in which the number of murders goes back to their previous levels,” he said.

Stepped-up operations by US and Iraqi forces appear to have had much more impact on death-squad activity than on car bombings, however.

Brig Moussawi said the number of car bombs had declined in the last month from to 36 from 56, but blasts attributed to Sunni insurgents, such as a March 6 pedestrian suicide attack on a procession of Shia pilgrims, which killed nearly 120 people, continue to take a high toll.

Even before the offensive, the radical Shia militiamen who are believed to be responsible for most such killings around the capital began disappearing from the streets, and some Shia claim this has left them vulnerable to Sunni extremists.

“If the high-profile car bombs can be stopped or brought down to a much lower level, we’ll just see an incredible difference in the city overall,” Maj Gen Caldwell said. “The high-profile car bombs is the one [form of attack] we’re really focused on because that’s what will start that whole cycle of violence again.”

Many of the car bombs detonated in Baghdad are believed to be assembled in the predominantly Sunni parts of the belt of farmland surrounding the city, and US forces have in recent days stepped up operations in the capital’s southern outskirts.

US troops have also been moving into areas outside Baghdad that have also been hit hard by sectarian violence, such as Diala province, where 700 US troops equipped with Stryker armoured vehicles redeployed on Wednesday.

The full 21,500-strong force that was earmarked for Iraq as part of the US troop surge announced in January will not be in place for several more months, Maj Gen Caldwell said.

Two of five brigades were in place and a third was currently deploying through Kuwait, he said.

Transition team assists local police
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
By Staff Sgt. Tony White
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment


An Iraqi police officer pulls security at the Ashaki police station. The police station is one of several in the area being mentored a Police Transition Team (PTT) from the 128th Military Police. The PTT works with the Ashaki police officers several times a week, helping the police station and it's police officers to operate more efficiently.SAMARRA — As Iraqis continue to assume greater responsibility for their own country the importance of Iraqi Police (IP) continues to grow. Police Transition Teams have been designated as the intermediate link between Coalition Forces and their Iraqi counterparts to cultivate this growth.

For the Soldiers of 128th Military Police Company this is the task they have faced everyday since arriving in theater nearly seven months ago. The company has elements in Samarra responsible for training the Iraqi Police. Although a daunting task, because of recent car bombings at police stations in Samarra and Ashaki, these troops know they still have a job to do.

“If they show me that they are willing to help themselves, then I’m more willing to help them out,” said Staff Sgt. Christopher John Hodge, a squad leader.

“This is not an overnight job,” continued the native of Lawrenceburg, Tenn. “We realize this is going to takes months and years, but we are getting there. We probably won’t see it before we leave, but I know we have already made some improvements.”

Formerly an air defense artillery unit, many of the Soldiers completed the military police training less than a year ago. By combining their experiences from previous deployments with the insight of those with law enforcement experience, these National Guardsmen are installing the fundamentals for a well-run police department in the area.

Recently, the team spent a day training with their Iraqi counterparts at the Ashaki precinct. “We gave the policemen a class on operations planning, from setting up the checkpoints to raiding a house,” said Sgt. Raymond Grissett, a Police Transition Team leader. “We also taught them a class on room entry. Basically, we have a lecture for them, followed by a demonstration from our team. Then the police officers will take part in a practical exercise.”

“Our main mission is to create a police department and teach the ‘average Joe’ police techniques,” continued the native of Mobile, Ala. “We are trying to train them so they can protect themselves and have the proper equipment to protect themselves.”

Breaking down into squads of 12 Soldiers, consisting of four teams of three, the Soldiers have established a bond with the Iraqi police officers which is essential to their short- and long-term success.

“We have built a relationship with the IP,” Hodge said. “They know us, and they trust us more. They know that we are there not to run the show, but to help them do it.”

“The police officers tend to be grateful, at least the ones we have trained,” Grissett concluded. “They are very interested in what we have been teaching them. They have been taking it in and hopefully they are using it.”

FEATURE-Shi'ites battle for power in Iraq's Basra
Tue 15 May 2007 7:30 AM ET
(Eds - this story has been reported from Basra by a Reuters reporter who is not being named for security reasons)

BASRA, Iraq, May 15 (Reuters) - Basra, the richest city in Iraq and gateway to the Gulf, could erupt into all-out war between rival Shi'ite groups seeking control of its vast oil wealth as British forces prepare to draw down.

The power struggle between factions of the Shi'ite majority that has dominated Iraqi politics since the first post-war general elections in 2005 threatens to affect oil exports accounting for virtually all of Iraq's income.

In the latest development of a turf war that has all the ingredients of a gangster movie set in 1920s Chicago, rivals of the provincial governor fell one vote short of voting him out of office last month but have pledged to keep up the standoff.

Basra, Iraq's second largest city, is more or less free of the car bombs and the violence between Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs raging in central Iraq, but it has descended into a chaos of its own. Sporadic militia battles, endemic corruption and death threats now scar the once tranquil port.

"Everyone's trying to grab resources and make a quick profit without considering a long-term programme or attempting to establish a power base for the future," said Peter Harling, an analyst for the International Crisis Group who focuses on Iraq.

"The interesting thing about violence in Basra is that it's not related to the two big factors of violence elsewhere: fighting the occupation and sectarian violence," he said.

Residents fear that violence could be a sign of things to come, especially as British troops disengage from the south.

Britain, which has already turned over three southern provinces to Iraqi control, is poised to reduce its 7,000-strong force in Basra to about 5,500 by the beginning of June.

British troops have pulled out of three bases in and around Basra and are expected to leave a fourth base at a former presidential palace during the summer and move to their main compound at the international airport on the city's outskirts.

"The political battles are very worrying," student Ahmed Habib said. "If they don't resolve their differences quickly it could evolve into armed conflict."

Imad Khalil, a 32-year-old government employee agreed.

"These disagreements can very easily become violent because politicians rarely use dialogue instead of force."



"LUNG OF IRAQ"

Dubbed the "lung of Iraq" because it is an entry point for goods from wheat to cars, Basra was the port from where fictional Sinbad sailed off on his seven voyages.

But its strategic position on the Gulf also makes it a paradise for oil smugglers.

On Saturday, the New York Times cited a U.S. government accountability draft report that said as much as $15 million worth a day of Iraq's declared oil production was unaccounted for, possibly siphoned off through corruption or smuggling.

The power struggle involves militias and politicians loyal to young Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the Fadhila party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC).

Locally powerful Fadhila, which controls key oil industry jobs in Basra, opposes the creation of a Shi'ite "super-region" espoused by SIIC, the dominant Shi'ite faction in Iraq.

Basra Governor Mohammed al-Waeli, from Fadhila, wants a Basra region of its own, independent from Najaf to the north, seat of the Shi'ite political establishment but bereft of oil.

"Federalism is a large factor behind the dispute," said one Fadhila official who declined to be identified. Waeli could not be reached for an interview despite several requests by Reuters.

One of Waeli's main opponents, former governor Hasan al-Rashid from SIIC's Badr Organisation, said his allies had received death threats warning them against deposing Waeli.

"There are several points why we are opposed to him, including Basra's worsening security and his constant absence from the provincial council," Rashid told Reuters.

Some in Basra are worried that a British withdrawal would encourage groups to use force to control the oil fields. With sabotage halting exports in northern fields, the Basra terminal is essentially Iraq's only source of income at present.

Attacks by suspected militants against British forces are on the rise -- April was the deadliest month for British troops since the first month of the war -- but a spokeswoman for the British consulate in Basra played down fears of political warfare after the planned reduction in British forces.

"The most important question is not whether there'll be trouble in Basra but whether Iraqi security forces can handle it. We have seen the Iraqis are increasingly ready and willing to assume more responsibilities," she said.





© Reuters 2007

We've Not Yet Seen The Worst Case In Iraq
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Posted GMT 5-15-2007 14:58:15
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No matter how bad or how good Iraq gets from day to day, the war is always reported as a worst case scenario by a mainstream media that hates George Bush more than it loves America. Simply put, the war coverage is being slanted with the conscious intent of demoralizing America's will to fight, so that a defeat can be hung round the neck of Bush and the GOP. This is a supremely immoral act, since Bush does not have an Army in Iraq -- America does.

It is not "Bush's War"; it is an American War. And any defeat will wound America long after George Bush has returned home to Texas to write books and play on his hobby farm. So let's take a step back from the political spin and consider what a worst case in Iraq would actually look like, because we haven't seen anything close.

A true defeat in Iraq -- withdrawing under fire, Saigon style, and allowing the insurgents to flood into the streets (and onto the airwaves) declaring uncontested victory -- would be a disaster unparalleled in American history. In an afternoon, it would destroy America's reputation as a military power for at least a generation. Stop and imagine how the world would react to seeing America's soldiers running from a fight we started, while our enemies' propaganda machine goes into overtime crowing about the weakness of the United States and the power of jihad, terrorism, suicide bombing and radical Islam.

Our enemies would be energized as only victory can energize a movement. And a victory on such a history-changing scale would send shockwaves of confident jihadis throughout the Middle East and the world. Kiss Saudi Arabia goodbye as you know it today, because it will fall to a bin Laden clone in short order, and Jordan would be lucky to escape the same fate. Millions of Sunni Arabs and the world's largest oil supply will become resources in the hands of fanatics who hate America and believe the fastest way to defeat it is direct violent attack.

If we run, the Shiites that are currently our nominal allies in Iraq will feel betrayed and disgusted by America and will likely openly align themselves with Shiite powerhouse Iran, whose aid they will need in fighting a true all-out civil war with the Sunni population. Iran's de facto Shia Empire will then extend from the Afghan border to metastases on the Mediterranean and it will control even more oil.

Regardless of who wins, loses or draws in the conflict that will follow our retreat, the region will be filled with refugee camps the size of major cities -- an ideal breeding ground from which to recruit terror disciples for both "victorious" Sunnis and betrayed Shiites. All will see America as a weak enemy and a worthless friend.

America currently has only two true friends in the Middle East: Israel and the Kurds of Iraq. Once we run, we'll lose the Kurds like we lost the friends we had in Vietnam. The Kurds will fight on, and probably survive. But they'll know how truly useless we are as long term allies.

Terrorism in Europe and America will spike and remain high. And why wouldn't it? Nothing succeeds like success. The radicalization if Islam will be complete. Once the sole superpower has been defeated and sent home crying, what ambition will seem beyond the grasp of the radical leaders? Remember that Hitler's rise to power, and all the disasters that followed, was fueled by his restoration of simple pride to the humiliated German people. How powerful will the Middle East's new radical leaders be after they can claim victory over the United States?

And before you answer, consider that Arab culture is perhaps the world's best major example of an honor/shame culture. Shame is feared more than death. Honor is loved more than life. The population will flock overnight to those that offer such honor, and whose victory seems to erase so much shame.

Outside the Arab and Muslim Worlds, our enemies in Russia, in Asia, in Latin America, in Africa and elsewhere will see the example of our defeat and be moved into new ways of thinking about the wisdom of conflict with America. We are 300 million strong, and yet we consider surrender after only 3000 dead spread over years. Why not fight us? Anyone can kill a couple of Americans a day, if that is all it takes to break us.

Look for humiliations like the Iran hostage "crisis" of the 1970's to pop up wherever a piss-ant dictator needs an ego boost. Everyone is a tough guy when you're down. Many little wars and rescues, interventions and treaty obligations will begin to appear. Defeat encourages attack. Withdrawal encourages chase. "Bring the troops home" now, and you will save a few in the short term. And then they will be sent back out again -- all over the world -- without their aura of competence and power to help protect them.

That is the worst case. What we have now is just a protracted guerilla war, one that cannot go on forever, because no war ever does. If you think the war is hard on you, since you have to hear about two or three American deaths on the news each night, imagine what it is like for the insurgents and their host population. They die in far larger numbers than we do, their families suffer deprivation, they are increasingly hounded by Iraqi death squads bent on block punishment, and they see their most hated enemy (Iran, not us) growing stronger, while their Al Qaeda "allies" try to brainwash their children and take over their communities.

On the other side, the Shiite population suffers terror attacks daily, cannot exploit their oilfields, and risks global dishonor if they fail to control the country. This war is thus an untenable long-term situation. It will end. War is inherently unstable and shakes out to a settlement when one side prevails or both sides have had enough. When the war ends in this natural and inevitable way, we win. No, the peace will not be final; there will be another war five or 20 years from now. But that will be a different war. Perhaps we can sit that one out after we go home intact and undefeated at the end of this present war.

But we would do well to slog this war through. The consequences of defeat are too great for anyone who loves America -- Republican, Democrat, or Independent -- to allow that to happen. The troops in Iraq are not fighting for the ungrateful Iraqis as claimed by the demoralizers. They are fighting for America. They are fighting to avoid the worst-case scenario: defeat and its disastrous aftermath.

The American people booted Republicans from control of Congress because of dissatisfaction with the war. Now the Democrats, rather than coming up with a better plan for victory, seem to have settled on a plan to accelerate defeat -- through timetables for withdrawal and de-funding of the troops in the field. Defeat in Iraq will destroy the GOP, it's true. But it will also damage America so severely that it will consume the Democrats too, for leading the retreat. The electorate will wish a pox on both houses. Surrender is no plan for avoiding defeat.

We must win. The only thing worse than a long war is a lost.

by Mac Johnson
Conservative News, Views & Books - HUMAN EVENTS

© 2007, Assyrian International News Agency

Al Maliki boosts National Reconciliation

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:38 GMT

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki confirmed that horizons are open for all who would like to participate in the national reconciliation process. In this context, members of Parliament stressed the importance of engaging first all government parties in the national reconciliation. Meanwhile, other MPs called to acknowledge the resistance and differentiate between the latter and terrorism, in a step considered as a milestone in the longed for national reconciliation.






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© 2007 Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network

New political alliance in Iraq Parliament

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 07:27 GMT

Iraqi Parliament is working on forming a new political parliamentarian alliance that includes the Kurdish list. MP Mahmoud Othman said Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called three weeks ago to form a political bloc with the participation of all Iraqi sects in order to support the government and renounce political sectarianism






For her part, MP Alia Nassif confirmed that talks on the formation of the bloc have reached an advanced stage and would be announced within the few coming weeks.
Back

© 2007 Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network

Extension sought for amendment report

By HAMZA HENDAWI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
BAGHDAD -- A parliamentary committee set up to study amendments to Iraq's constitution has failed to agree on a number of issues and will seek a weeklong extension of its deadline to present a report to parliament, lawmakers said Monday.
The 30-member committee was to present its report Tuesday - four months after it was established. Amending the constitution to address Sunni Arab concerns is one of the key benchmarks for measuring political progress in Iraq.
But the committee was unable to agree on recommendations and lawmakers said it would ask for an extension until May 22, the next time parliament is scheduled to meet.
Iraqi politicians said the major stumbling block was a provision about the future of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to annex into their semiautonomous northern region. Arabs and Turkomen object.
The constitution provides for a referendum by the end of the year in which Kirkuk residents will decide whether the area joins the Kurdish region or remains under central government authority.
Lawmakers cited other differences, including whether to describe Iraq as an Arab country as Sunnis have demanded, and the powers of the prime minister. But some Sunni officials said the widest differences were over Kirkuk.
Iraqis ratified the constitution in an October 2005 referendum, but substantial numbers of Sunni Arabs voted against it. The document was hammered out during protracted negotiations under intense U.S. pressure.
At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged the document did not satisfy Sunnis, but argued the differences could be resolved later by amendments.
Sunni leaders agreed to sign off on the draft only after the Shiites and Kurds agreed to study amendments.
Under the constitution, the committee's recommendations will be voted on by parliament as a single package. If adopted by a simple majority, the amendments will be presented to the voters in a referendum.
Sunni Arabs, as well as some politicians from the majority Shiites, fear the Kurds may decide to break with Iraq and establish their own independent country if they get their hands on Kirkuk's vast oil wealth.
Sunni Arabs have proposed extending the deadline for the referendum for a year, according to Sunni Arab lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar.
Salim Abdullah, another Sunni Arab lawmaker, said a compromise was under study, but declined to give details. Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish lawmaker, said the Kurdish bloc in parliament remained adamant that a referendum on Kirkuk be held before the end of the year.
The lawmakers said the committee was still studying amendments to reduce the powers of the prime minister and give a bigger say in running he country to the president and his two deputies.
President Jalal Talabani is a Kurd. His two deputies are Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, and Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite. Al-Hashemi has been pressing for a greater role for the three-man presidential council to offset what he sees as al-Maliki's excessive powers.
---
Associated Press reporter Qassim Abdul-Zahra reported to this report.



Extension sought for amendment report

Pakistan proposes Muslim peace-keeping force in Iraq

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf proposed sending a Muslim peace-keeping force to Iraq as foreign ministers of Islamic countries met on Tuesday to discuss problems facing the Muslim world.

"The mass killing that taking place (in Iraq), the carnage that is taking place there has to stop," Musharraf said at the start of a three day meeting of ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

"If all the warring factions, different factions in Iraq, if they accept, then maybe a Muslim peace-keeping force under the United Nations umbrella could be looked at if that leads to peace and resolution of the crisis."


Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf Salutes to the crowd during a gathering in Texila, some 20 km west of Islamabad, April 7, 2007. (REUTERS/Stringer/Files)
Musharraf opened the OIC meeting in the capital Islamabad with a call for a political solution to bring peace to Iraq.

"A political solution is a dire necessity now, we have to stop all outside interference... And if outside interference stops, I think internal control would be possible."

Musharraf also called for an early resolution of the Palestinian dispute that he said was at the core of many other disputes around the world.

Despite mounting challenges to his authority at home, the Pakistani leader has sought to take a lead in Middle East diplomacy, visited several Muslim and Arab nations earlier this year to push a new Middle East peace initiative.

The OIC foreign ministers meeting on the theme of "Peace, Progress and Harmony" will discuss a new charter for the organisation in the next two days to enable it to "effectively" represent the Muslim nations.

The OIC is the world's largest body of Islamic nations, grouping 57 member countries and five observers.




Copyright © 2007 Reuters

Iraq’s Women Under Pressure


The lives of many Iraqi women have become appreciably harsher following international sanctions and the US-led invasion. Although pleased to see Saddam toppled, some look back on the prosperity and social liberation of the Ba’athist years with nostalgia, says Nadje Sadig Al-Ali.


Iraqi women sometimes remember that they have lived in a multi-ethnic, multicultural national entity with a prospering economy and rapid modernisation; at other times they recall repression, discrimination, declining living conditions and sectarian tensions.

I have tried to document the diversity of experiences during the monarchy, the years after the revolution of 1958, the economic boom (and the expansion of the middle class) in the 1970s, the Iran-Iraq war from 1980-88, the first Gulf war of 1991 and the economic sanctions of 1990-2003.

Since the United States invasion many under-represented sections of society fail to acknowledge these experiences as different. I feel uneasy when people say “Iraqi women think…” or “Iraqi women want…” because how can that represent such a wide variety of views? The difference in perspectives is historically based and cannot simply be reduced to ethnicity and religion.

The period after the first Ba’athist coup of 1963 is associated with increased political violence, greater sectarianism and a reversal of progressive laws and reforms. Yet many women remember relative social freedom and cultural vibrancy during the rule of the Arif brothers, 1963-68, and the early Ba’ath period, 1968-78.

Many secular, apolitical middle-class Shia, Sunni, Kurdish and Christian women appreciated the achievements of the early Ba’ath period in education, modernisation of infrastructures and welfare provisions. While those who actively opposed the regime remember political repression, mass arrests, torture and executions, even some who had first hand experiences of the regime’s repressive practices retrospectively appreciated its developmental policies.


Cosmopolitan Baghdad


Women’s memories show that an urban middle-class identity, especially the cosmopolitan Baghdadi identity, subsumed ethnic and religious differences even throughout sanctions. A middle-class Shia family in Baghdad had more in common with its Sunni Arab and Kurdish middle-class neighbours in mixed neighbourhoods than they did with the impoverished Shia living in Madina al-Thawra (renamed Saddam city, now Sadr city) or with Shia in the south. Baghdadi families were often multi-religious and multi-ethnic, and mixed marriages were common among the urban Baghdadi middle classes.

Zeynab, a sympathiser of the Islamist Shia Da’wa party who now lives in Dearborn in the United States, said: “We were all friends. We celebrated holidays together. When we had the [Shia] celebration in commemoration of Imam Hussein, even Jews and Christians joined us. We never thought about race or religion. Schools were open to everybody. In schools, we had Jewish, Christian, Sunni and Kurdish classmates. There were no bad feelings towards anyone.”

From the late 1970s differences between secular and Islamist political positions started to matter more, influencing experiences of the regime. Members or sympathisers of the Da’wa party were targeted not so much for their religious affiliation but because of their opposition to the regime and their aim to establish an Islamic state. No one wants to diminish the suffering that members of the Shia Islamist opposition parties endured, but they were not the only targets of state repression; Kurds and others, including Sunni Arabs who actively resisted the regime, all suffered.

The Shia Islamists’ claim to having been singled out because of religious affiliation rather than political conviction contributes to the current atmosphere in which rights, privileges and power are linked to sectarian divisions and arguments over who suffered most. Of course, specific atrocities committed by the previous regime should not be swept under the carpet for the sake of national unity. The trial of Saddam Hussein was a missed opportunity to initiate a credible truth and reconciliation process.

Many Iraqi women gained socially and economically during the 1970s despite political repression. Living conditions improved for most of the population as the state relied not only on force and its power to control, but also devised generous welfare programmes and opened opportunities for investment and capital accumulation that helped many in the expanding middle classes.

Yet, from the 1980s on, political repression, the Iran-Iraq war, then the first Gulf war and the militarisation of society began to affect women, through the loss of family and economic decline. Under sanctions there was a radical shift; women had less work or access to education, and health care and social services declined. As unemployment worsened and infrastructure collapsed, women were pushed back to their homes.


‘All this was cut’


Sawsan, an Assyrian woman from the north, worked as a teacher in a high school until 1995. She said: “We did not feel it so much during the first years of sanctions, but by 1994 it really hit us. Social conditions had deteriorated. The currency had been devalued while salaries were fixed. Many women started to quit work. Some of my friends could not even afford transport to the school. Before sanctions, the school made sure that we were picked up by a bus, but all this was cut. For me, the most important thing was my children. I did not want them to come home and be alone in the house. It became too unsafe. And I know from my own work that schools deteriorated badly; teachers had to quit work and there was no money for anything. So I felt that I had to teach them at home.”

Since the 2003 invasion, survival is a priority as lack of security is accompanied by difficult living conditions. The infrastructure has further deteriorated; lack of electricity, clean water, sanitation and a proper health system are part of everyday life. Intisar, who is a doctor in a teaching hospital in Baghdad, says: “We only have electricity for three to five hours a day. There isn’t enough clean drinking water. Lack of sanitation is a big problem, one of the main causes of malnutrition, dysentery and death among young children.”

According to recent reports published by UNICEF and the British-based charity MEDACT, the occupation has led to a deterioration in health, malnutrition, a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases and increasing mortality rates for children under five (from 5% in 1990 to 12.5% in 2004 according to UNICEF). As during the sanctions, women suffer -- often the last to eat after feeding children and husbands. They have to stand and watch while their sick, malnourished children fail to get the care they need.

Even so, women have been trying to improve conditions. Locally-based women’s initiatives and groups flourish, answering practical needs related to poverty and the lack of health care, housing and social services. Women have pooled resources to address the need for education and training (such as computer classes) as well as income generation. Many initiatives filling the gap in state welfare and health are associated with political and religious bodies, but independent, non-partisan professional women have also mobilised.

Leila, a woman’s rights activists still living in Iraq, said: "Initially many of us were very hopeful. We did not like foreign soldiers on our streets, but we were happy Saddam was gone. Once the general chaos and the looting settled down a bit, women were the first to get organised. Women doctors and lawyers started to offer free services to women. We started to discuss political issues and tried to lobby the American and British forces. But the Americans sent people to Iraq whose attitude was: ‘We don’t deal with women.'" [Presidential envoy Paul] Bremer was one. Iraqi women managed to get a woman’s quota despite the Americans who opposed it. Their idea of women’s issues was to organise big meetings and conferences and build modern women’s centres. Do you think anyone went to visit these centres?”


Threats to women


Although bombings of residential areas caused many deaths, Iraqis have also been shot by US or British troops. Whole families have been killed approaching a checkpoint or through failing to recognise prohibited areas. There are many documented accounts of physical assaults on women at checkpoints and during house searches. Several women I talked to said they had been verbally or physically threatened, and assaulted by soldiers as they were searched at checkpoints. US forces have also arrested wives, sisters and daughters of suspected insurgents to pressure them to surrender; in effect, taken hostage by US forces and used as bargaining chips. Such arrests cause a sense of shame associated with detention. There is mounting evidence of torture and rape; identified women become potential victims of honour crimes.

Women’s organisations have also documented Islamist violence to women, including acid thrown into faces, even targeted killings. In 2003 many women in Basra reported that they were forced to wear a headscarf or restrict their movements because men began to harass or shout at them.

Women of all ages are now forced to comply with dress codes and be careful when they go out. Suad, a former accountant and mother of four, lives in a neighbourhood of Baghdad that used to be mixed before sectarian killings in 2005 and 2006. She told me: “I resisted for a long time, but last year I started wearing the hijab, after I was threatened by several Islamist militants in front of my house. They are terrorising the whole neighbourhood, behaving as if they were in charge. And they are actually controlling the area. No one dares to challenge them. A few months ago they distributed leaflets around the area warning people to obey them and demanding that women should stay at home.”

The threat of Islamist militias now goes beyond dress codes and calls for gender segregation at university. Despite, indeed partly because of the US and British rhetoric about liberation and rights, women have been pushed into the background and into their homes. Women with a public profile (doctors, academics, lawyers, NGO activists, politicians) are threatened and targeted for assassination. There are also criminal gangs who worsen the climate of fear by kidnapping women for ransom, sexual abuse or sale into prostitution outside Iraq.

It isn’t a surprise that many of the women I interviewed remember the past nostalgically.

Nadje Sadig Al-Ali is senior lecturer in social anthropology at the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter and author of Gender, Secularism & the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s Movements (Cambridge University Press, 2000). Her latest book is Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (Zed Books, March 2007).

© 2007 Le Monde diplomatique

Garda has 1,800 workers in war zones
Private security in iraq, afghanistan. Two big acquisitions in last 2 years land Montreal firm in Baghdad's Green Zone
MARY LAMEY, The Gazette
Published: Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Where most people see trouble, Stephan Cretier sees opportunity.

The president of GardaWorld Security Corp. has more than 1,800 employees providing security to diplomats, aid workers and companies doing business in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This kind of work is a growing business," he said in a telephone interview yesterday. "It's more risky, but also more profitable."


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Font: ****The Montreal-based Garda plunged into the personal security business in a big way two years ago with its $67.25-million acquisition of Vance International Inc., one of the largest private-security operations in the world. It followed that with the purchase last December of Kroll Security International, based in London. KSI is a leading risk-management company in the region.

The takeovers have helped vault Garda to fifth position among the world's private security providers.

With 50,000 employees and annual revenues in the $1.5-billion range, it still trails North American leader Brink's Co. with revenues of $2.5 billion U.S. last year.

Currently, Garda is active in Baghdad's Green Zone, where it provides security to the British Embassy and to non-profit groups including USAID and the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, where it provides personal security to the Anglican vicar of Baghdad, Rev. Andrew White.

The foundation recently recognized GardaWorld with its inaugural peace prize.

"GardaWorld has provided an outstanding service to every aspect of our work in Iraq and, in reality, is the biggest contributor to our efforts of peace-making," White said in a press release. The foundation promotes reconciliation among Iraq's various religious groups.

While the danger is real, Cretier says the image of life in Iraq is somewhat distorted by the news headlines. The country has 18 provinces, of which four are embroiled in daily conflict.

GardaWorld is active in Kurdistan, where a series of truck bombings this month interrupted the relative peace.

Despite the ongoing violence, GardaWorld has yet to suffer any fatalities in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"It hasn't happened yet, but I know it is going to happen," Cretier said. "It's a part of the business. It's also true that I'll probably lose more people in my cash-handling business than I will in Iraq."

He rejects the notion that his employees are mercenaries, saying that GardaWorld's operatives are deployed for "defensive purposes, not offensives purposes."

"We're not going there as soldiers. We hire locals, which is rare, we work with the local population. We're perceived differently because we're Canadian," he said. "It's a good flag to work under."

Cretier launched Garda 12 years ago, with $25,000 he raised by taking a second mortgage on his home. The company has made 20 acquisitions in the last three years. For now, "we're in digestion mode," Cretier said.

"That isn't to say we won't make more acquisitions in the months ahead, but I don't see in the next few weeks."

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© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
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