Gorilla’s Guides

Main stories  on Aswat Al Iraq last night:

• Baaquba 4 civilians kidnapped.
• Baghdad At least 8 civilians  killed at least 10 wounded by a car bomb in Talibiyah (east Baghdad).
• Baghdad Director of Baghdad medical city hospital survived 3 of his guards wounded.
• Baghdad The occupations forces said that one U.S. army of occupation soldier was killed and two wounded when their vehicle rolled over by the side of a canal in Southern Baghdad.
• Baghdad Two higher education ministry employees wounded in an attack by gunmen.
• Basra Two British army of occupation soldiers wounded in a bombing attack on their patrol.
• Karbala District mayor and his driver shot and killed in Karbala.
• Najaf The U.S. forces killed in the early hours of Wednesday Sahib al-Aamiri a major Sadr movement leader at his home  near Najaf.

  The head of the Shaheed Allah Foundation Sahib al-Aamiri was shot at his home Hiyrah  18 km south of Najaf, in front of his wife and children during a raid led by American army of occupation troops at 4 am this morning. 

• Sulaimaniyah Iraqi police arrested 15 people suspected of involvement in the Khanaqin bombing.
• Sulaimaniyah 30 members of Islamic Kurdish parties with charges of planning arrested and charged with planning “terrorist” attacks.
• Wassit Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a road side bomb attack near Sawiyrah.

URL [Arabic] 

Analysis & Commentary:

There’s absolutely no doubt what the main story of the day is. Nor can there be any doubt that this development is going to be disastrous for the American occupation of Iraq and its war against her people. Who was Sahib al-Aamiri?

Sahib al-Aamiri and The Shaheed Allah Foundation

Sahib al-Aamiri was a lawyer who was the the head of the Shaheed Allah [Martyr of God] foundation. He was deeply religious and deeply charitable. Like many who work with the poorest of the poor in Iraq he became a Sadrist and in his personal capacity was active in politics. The key word in the preceding sentence is “personal”.

The Shaheed Allah founation is a charity for orphans and the poor it’s not part of the Mehdi Army it is renowned for the charity work it does - particularly for widows, orphans, and street children. So was its director. Moreover contrary to what you’ll read in the Western reports it was not a political organisation.

There’s no doubt he was a Sadrist, there’s equally no doubt that a less likely candidate for leading a bomber cell could be found anywhere in Iraq.

How He Died

At 4AM this morning green zone government troops from a unit conspicuously loyal to SCIRI and led by American army of occupation troops burst violently into his home. However who it was who actually shot him dead in front of his wife and children was the American “advisor” in command of the raid.

The ATBABBO Version of Events 

This latest ATBABBO action was described by the art-loving ATBABBO spokesweasel in chief Major General William Caldwell as follows:

“8th Iraqi Army Division Forces, with coalition advisors, killed a suspected improvised explosive device facilitator and cell leader during operations Dec. 27 in Abu Sukhayr, near An Najaf. The person was implicated in an October 2006 IED attack on a police chief in An Najaf. The suspect allegedly provided recently several IEDs to his cell for an attack that he allegedly directed be carried out against Iraqi and Coalition Forces in the An Najaf area.

During operations, Iraqi forces and coalition advisors entered the individual’s house to search for and detain him. Upon entrance, a man was observed moving up a set of stairs leading to the roof of the house. He ignored repeated verbal warnings to stop. Iraqi Soldiers and coalition advisors followed the man up the stairs and onto the roof.

First on the roof was an Iraqi Soldier, followed by a Coalition Forces Soldier. The Coalition Soldier observed the male, now armed with an assault rifle, turning his weapon toward the Iraqi Soldier. The Coalition Soldier observed the man’s hostile intent against the Iraqi Soldier and shot the man, neutralizing the threat and resulting in his death.

The man was identified as the suspected IED facilitator.

There was minimal damage done to the objective. There were no Iraqi forces or Coalition Forces casualties.” [I don’t have any press briefing transcripts yet that’s the press release - markfromireland.]

Caldwell’s statement however is flatly contradicted by the family who say that he was shot:

“on the pretext that he resisted arrest. “

Source

It’s far more likely that the family is telling the truth than Caldwell. Consider the following:

• The raid took place at 4 in the morning.
  • Visibility isn’t exactly good at that time.
• To those who’ve seen them in action green zone government troops aren’t exactly good at moving around quietly.
  • The victim would have heard them arrive.
• The reports I’m getting from people in Najaf are that as a cautious man he would have gone up onto the roof to investigate the suspicious noises from outside. This is an entirely reasonable course of action for a father with a young family in present day Iraq.
• Najaf is one of the parts of Iraq where SCIRI are desperately eager to hang on to control.
  • The deceased was a popular and increasinly infuential man. He believed passionately in the unity of Iraq.
  • He was adamantly anti-sectarian.
  • He had repeatedly and trenchantly criticised SCIRI on both those counts.
  • He had repeatedly condemned death squad activity throughout the governorate.

All of these are amongst the reasons why people in Iraq don’t believe a word of Caldwell’s statement. Come to that I don’t either. Trigger happy doesn’t begin to describe the ATBABBO troops in Iraq. It’s entirely likely that the ATBABBO who shot him simply opened fire without warning. It’d be very far from the first time. All you have to do is look at the CERPS figures to give an idea of the scale of carnage wreaked by American troops upon the Iraqi populace.

The Reaction and Consequences

Reaction in to the killing was swift and angry. Al Sadr issued a statement calling for “calm and restraint.” More to the point is the reaction of many of his followers who refuse to be drawn into a confrontation with the occupation yet. However you  take it that when his senior policy adviser Abdul-Razzes al-Malawi said:

“U.S. forces want to drag us into a confrontation, but we won’t be dragged into it. However, we promise them there will be a reaction at the appropriate time.”

That he wasn’t making idle threats.

markfromireland

Indexed under: Briefings, Najaf, SIIC (Formerly SCIRI)

Posted on December 27th, 2006 under Analysis Briefings Commentary, Iraq, Politics and Security. Tags: Briefings, Najaf, SIIC (Formerly SCIRI). RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.