Mohammed Ibn Laith
News From Irak 2007/02/20 – 2007/02/21 Part 3
The American invasion of Irak has failed. It was doomed to failure from the start. The failure was not only predictable but was widely predicted. Those of us who predicted its failure were excoriated, and in some cases subjected to professional and personal attacks which we will neither forgive nor forget. In this the third part of our collaborative posting I outline the magnitude of that failure and set the scene for the remaining postings in the series.
“The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it.” Source: What’s an Iraqi Life Worth?
“But this is America, the so-called guardian of humanity, and killing people for them is like drinking water. I shall go after them until I avenge the blood of my son.”
“A Well Known Military Tactic Engaged In Exclusively By Losers”
Actions have consequences, unpleasant actions typically have unpleasant consequences, brutal and barbaric actions typically have brutal and barbaric consequences. The failure of the American invasion of Irak was inevitable. The magnitude of that failure has been exacerbated by a consistent pattern of brutality and of lawless behaviour by American troops and their commanders.
Nothing short of complete withdrawal of all invading troops from Iraki soil will even begin to rectify the situation in Irak. And the inevitable result of American policies and tactics in Irak mean that that withdrawal will be both accompanied and followed by extreme violence.
In this part of a collaborative multipart posting parts 1 and 2 of which are here. I discuss recent events in Irak and lay the groundwork for putting them into a framework to help those of our readers who unfamiliar with Irak and unfamiliar with military doctrine understand what is going on Irak. While it has been clear for a long period that that the American invasion and subsequent occupation of Irak is a failure it can be helpful for lay readers to have a watershed event to use as a starting point or point of reference. The Al-Sadriya market bombing was just such an event.
markfromireland
The Al-Sadriya Market Bombing
The truck bomb that detonated in the street market of Baghdad’s Sadriya district killing more than 130 people and wounding more than 300 were was just such an event. That particular market has repeatedly been targeted by bombers. Three bombs in December of 2006 killed 51 for example. On February 10th Mohammed Ibn Laith wrote about the most recent major bombing. In that posting he cited several other examples of marketplace bombings all of which either I or one of my colleagues have written about, here, here, here, here, and here.
About Al-Sadriya Market
Another Woman’s Rape Claims Put Iraqi Government In Fresh Quandary
“When I said I did not know their whereabouts, the four soldiers led me to another house and raped me,”
My husband and brothers are all detained and only women are left in the house
As I reported in this posting several other rape cases are coming to light. To refresh you memory here is what I wrote two days ago:
Rape Cases:
The Iraqi Accord called upon the government to protect the human rights of women during arrest and search operations by its troops. At a press conference today Abdel Nasser al-Janabi called for female detainees to be released and said that the rape incident involving Ms. al-Janabi was not the only such that had occurred, that similar cases. not declared had taken place on Palestine Street and Haifa Street amongst other areas.
As I also wrote in that posting:
I am disgusted even at the thought of an Iraki sinking to the level of an American soldier. They will be dealt with and they know it. Your puppet Maliki will be also be dealt with.
I am reproducing below the “more” link and without comment the entire text of a feature published by the independent Iraki news agency Aswat Al Iraq. The text was been published both in Arabic and in English. The Arabic language article received wide attention. I would advise our western readers to handle with care reports in the western Media of how Iraki media are reporting this. In the west it is being reported as a strictly sectarian issue. In large measure they are relying upon translations of articles in Iraki newspapers, American spokesmen, and American “experts” such as Professor Cole, a man who has never lived in Irak and who when he appears on Al Jazeerah speaks in English not Arabic.
What these western “experts” are not telling you but I will is that when you read something, particularly an editorial, or a “comment and analysis” piece from Irak you need to know who it is who owns the newspaper or TV station, or magazine, in question, and which political party or faction they support. Aswat Al Iraq and Al Sabah Al Jadeed are independent which is why concentrate on reports from them.
What I will also tell is that reports of what is being said in the large and important Mosques can be very misleading. This is why we rarely report the sermons from the large mosques. Far more indicative of Iraki public opinion is what is said in the small neighbourhood mosques, and the mosques in the Qadhas. What is being said there by Sunni and Shia alike is that the rape of any Iraki woman is a crime that calls for vengance and the blame is being laid squarely where it belongs, at the feet of the American people whose government and army has repeatedly raped our land and its people.
Do you think it is an accident that we call your army “the rapist army?” Do you think that rape of Abeer was the only such committed by your troops? Do you think that the rapes being committed by the puppet army of your puppet government are the only such?
Enjoy your surge – your puppet government will not last long now. The choice was yours, you chose to invade, you chose to permit your soldiers behave infinitely worse than Saddam ever did, you chose to set up a rigged election, when even that did not work for you you got rid of your first puppet Al Jaafari, and demanded that Al Maliki be put in his stead.
Enjoy your surge. It will not be long now. As for me, I shall content myself with repeating what my young colleague Mohammed the son of Laith the Imam says:
Predators can become prey.
I am looking forward to going hunting, it will be quite like the old days.
Saba Ali Ihsaan,
Baghdad,
Irak.
Ahmed Qassim Hamza and Mohammed Qassim Hamza.
These two children are Ahmed Qassim Hamza and Mohammed Qassim Hamza.
Ahmed is the boy on the left has the age of 9. His brother Mohammed is 11. They are not much older than the children I teach in our school in the refugee camp that I and my children live in.
They are not much older than my children.
These two children all that is left of the the family of Iraki 14 year old girl Abeer who was raped and murdered in Mahmoudiya by 5 US soldiers. The 5 American animals in uniform did this because they wanted to and because they could for no other reason. And now your dirty American rapist soldiers the ones who got caught are crying like bad children who have been caught doing something wrong. This is what your “brave American soldiers” did to the family of these two children:
- Their father Qasim Hamza Raheem’s head was “smashed” by bullets.
- Their mother Fakhriyah Taha Muhsin was murder by Americans shooting her in the head.
- American soldiers shot their seven year old younger sister Hadeel Qasim Hamza dead. Maybe we should be grateful that they didn’t rape her too.
- Their fourteen year old sister Abeer Qasim Hamza first raped then shot and her body burnt.
Their sister Abeer heard all of this being done as she was being raped by your brave American boys. Your brave American boys whose parents brought them up to believe that they could behave as they wish in other people’s homes. Your brave American boys who steal constantly when they smash in the doors to our homes to force their way in. . If you are the wife of an American soldier ask him which Iraki home he stole your new rings and earrings from. No do not bother he probably will not know. We all look the same to you don’t we?
I am not interested in hearing from Americans about forgiveness or justice or mercy. I give thanks to God that I am not an American. When you have sent your rapist invaders to an Iraki court to be tried and sentenced according to Iraki law then we can start talking about “mercy” and “forgiveness.”
The only reason these two boys are not dead is because they were away at school. When they came back from school they saw what your brave American boys had done to their family and to their home.
- They could see their dead parents.
- They could see and smell the blood of their murdered parents.
- They could see their dead sister Hadeel.
- They could see the flames in their home set on fire by the same American soldiers who had murdered and raped the people they loved.
Their cousin Abu Firas Janabi found them standing crying in front of the door to their home. the home that the brave American soldiers set on fire after murdering their family, and raping their sister, they could see the dead bodys of their parents and the dead body of their younger sister.
There is no excuse for what your American troops do. But there is a reason they did this because they were Americans and they wanted to do it so they did. They did it because they were badly brought up by bad parents in a bad country. Yes their parents are bad people If they were decent people who had done their job properly their sons would not be in my country preying upon Iraki children like mine and like the sister of these two boys.
Zeynab
Post Card To America February 22nd 2007
I read this on Reuters and was so grateful I thought I should send you a postcard:
RAMADI, Iraq, Feb 22 (Reuters) – U.S. forces killed at least 12 insurgents and wounded three others in a six-hour gunbattle in Ramadi involving heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and air strikes, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
Residents in Ramadi said three buildings were destroyed in the clashes. A civil defence official and an ambulance driver, both of whom declined to be identified, said as many as 26 people were killed, including some women and children.
A Reuters photographer saw the bodies of an infant and a young boy who had been pulled from the rubble of one of the demolished buildings. At least one other body, which appeared to be that of an adult, was wrapped in a blanket.
“We have no reports of civilian casualties and there were no coalition casualties,” said Lieutenant Shawn Mercer, a spokesman for U.S. Marines operating in western Iraq.
“The firefight lasted approximately six hours, and resulted in at least 12 AIF (anti-Iraqi forces) killed and three wounded.”
He said the battle started on Wednesday evening when gunmen attacked U.S. forces in the east of Ramadi, the capital of restive Anbar province and a volatile Sunni insurgent stronghold that U.S. forces have always battled to control.
“The scale of the fight eventually led to coalition forces using precision-guided munitions (air strikes) and causing damage to a number of structures,” Mercer said in an email response to questions
Source: Reuters AlertNet – U.S. says 12 militants killed in Iraq gunfight
Mohammed Ibn Laith
News From Irak 2007/02/20 – 2007/02/21 Part 1
This joint posting combines analysis and a news summary. It is part one of a three part posting. The news summary has been prepared primarily from Arabic media sources. We have used some western sources also. The big news of February 20th which does not seem to have penetrated Western conciousness is that the siege of Baghdad by fighters resisting the American invaders is continuing to tighen. As American and allied soldiers “surge” into Baghdad they leave the surrounding governorates clear for the fighters resisting the American invasion to tighten their grip on the capital’s supply lines. The destruction of a fuel convoy 107 kilomtres north of Baghdad in Qadha Al Azim is typical of such attacks which have increased to the extent that they often now go unreported. The reasons for this are two-fold.
- They occur so often that they are no longer news or if reported are buried as a brief mention in longer news reports.
- They occur in parts of the country where even Iraki journalists dare not operate, word of such attacks in those areas filters out slowly and is often difficulty to verify.
Also seemingly unnoticed by the Western media is the impact of the Sabrine Al Jabani rape case on Iraki opinion. In a military context the announcement by the group that styles itself the the Islamic Army in Iraq posted to numerous sites demonstrates the ever diminishing legitimacy of the green zone government and the increasing political legitimacy of the fighters resisting the American occupation. We reproduce below its key passage shorn of the rhetoric in which such statements are customarily phased:
All the operations that we carry out this month will be concentrated against the Iraki security forces and will be called Operation Sabrin. We of the Islamic Army in Irak say to sister Sabrine that we will have no peace until we have sought revenge for her and for the honour of all Muslim women who have been raped.
There is every indication that they have started to carry out this threat and that other fighter groups Sunni and Shia alike are also intensifying their operations. The failed American invasion of Irak is moving into it’s penultimate phase — the penultimate phase of all failed invasions and occupations — repeated battles for the capital
markfromireland, Saba Ali Ihsan, Omar Abu Abdullah,
4 Safar 1428/February 21st 2007
Our particular thanks to:
Mohammed Ibn Laith of;
Al-Sadriya
Baghdad,
Irak
Who worked through the night and who somehow found the time to create the readers’ competition at the bottom of this posting. Our particular thanks are also due to:
Ali, Ali (Al Basrawi), Laith Abu Mohammed, Omar Abu Abdullah, Ali Ibn Hussein, Hassan Abu Othman, Khalil Ibn Omar, Khalil (Al Baghdadi), Yusuf, Salah, Omar in Mosul, Dubhaltach. Declan, Tony Byrne, and “Smurph.”
News Summary From Irak for: 4 Safar 1428 (2007/02/20)
Truth Teller Of The Day 1:
We’re going to be on the ground in Iraq as soldiers and citizens for years. We’re going to be running a colony almost,”
Paul Bremer to Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce Meeting, February 23 2003
Liar Of The Day:
“The Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the secret police coming after them in the middle of the night, and they don’t have to worry about their husbands and brothers being taken off and shot, or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are over.”
Paul Bremer, Administrator, [Iraq] Coalition Provisional Authority, Sept. 2, 2003
Rapist of The Day — Sgt. Paul Cortez :
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky, Feb 20 (Reuters) – A second U.S. soldier pleaded guilty on Tuesday to raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family, a crime for which three others still face charges.
Sgt. Paul Cortez, 24, chewed gum and responded with the occasional “yes, sir,” as a military judge read out the plea agreement, in which Cortez described how he held the girl down and acted as a lookout so other men could take turns raping the teenager before she and her family were killed.
[snip]
Spc. James Barker pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced to 90 years in a military prison.
In the plea agreement, Cortez said he held the girl’s hands while Barker raped her, then he raped her himself.
The suspected ringleader, Steven Green, shot to death the girl’s father, mother and 6-year-old sister. He then raped the girl while Cortez acted as a lookout. Green finally shot the girl dead, according to the plea agreement.
Cortez, wearing a dress green uniform and flanked by his civilian lawyer and his military lawyer, showed little reaction to the judge’s recitation of the crime. Fewer than two dozen spectators attended the trial in a tiny courtroom inside a Kentucky military base.
Despite his guilty plea, Cortez did not agree that the rape and murder were premeditated. His lawyer, William Cassara, said prosecutors will try to prove on Wednesday that the crime was planned ahead of time.
Prosecuting attorney Alex Pickands said the soldiers “gathered together over cards and booze” last year in Baghdad and came up with a plan to rape and murder the teenage girl.
Even if premeditation is not proven, the sentencing options are the same: a maximum of life in prison without parole or a minimum of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Barker and Cortez both avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty. Sentencing is expected on Wednesday or Thursday.
The trial was adjourned after less than three hours so that lawyers could discuss Cortez’s involvement in the burning of the girl’s body in an attempt to cover up the attack. Cortez pleaded guilty to arson and breaking into the girl’s house.
The suspected ringleader, Green, was discharged from the Army for a “personality disorder” and is in a Kentucky prison awaiting civilian trial.
Cortez also pleaded guilty to helping get rid of the murder weapon, an AK-47, which was thrown into a canal. He also admitted to drinking whiskey prior to the attack, a violation of Army rules against alcohol in that area of Iraq.
The other soldiers accused in the case are Pvt. Jesse Spielman and Pvt. Bryan Howard.
Source: Reuters – U.S. soldier pleads guilty in Iraq rape, murders
Truth Teller Of The Day 2:
No Iraqi woman under the circumstances- under any circumstances- would publicly, falsely claim she was raped. There are just too many risks. There is the risk of being shunned socially. There is the risk of beginning an endless chain of retaliations and revenge killings between tribes. There is the shame of coming out publicly and talking about a subject so taboo, she and her husband are not only risking their reputations by telling this story, they are risking their lives.
No one would lie about something like this simply to undermine the Baghdad security operation. That can be done simply by calculating the dozens of dead this last week. Or by writing about the mass detentions of innocents, or how people are once again burying their valuables so that Iraqi and American troops don’t steal them.
Source: Baghdad Burning
Puppet on String Of The Day 1:
Brigadier Qasim Atta of the green zone “government” forces and his so-called “source” who “prefers to remain anonymous.”
The Rape of Sabrine Al Janabi Press Conference Cancellation:
An “anonymous” source in the press office of the General Command of the Green Zone Goverment armed forces called Iraki news sources and cancelled the scheduled press conference meant to “clarify” the rape allegations made by Sabrine al-Janabi that soldiers and officers of the Ministry of the Interior Internal Affairs had raped her during a search of her home in al-Amil.
The source, who “preferred to remain anonymous,” told the independent Iraki news agency Aswat Al Irak (Voices of Irak) that the conference which was to have been given by the Brigadier to “clarify” Sabrine al-Janabi’s circumstances:
was canceled for technical reasons.
The “anonymous source” did not disclose the nature of those “tecnnical reasons.”
Puppet on String Of The Day 2:
Nouri Al Maliki who issued a statement after a 4 hour investigation rewarding the officers and soldiers involved and in a very rare and heavily protected foray onto the streets claimed the sole purpose was to disrupt the plan to secure the capital for the green zone government.
Other Puppetry:
The sometimes an American puppet and sometimes an Iranian puppet Ahmad Chalabi known thoughout the entire Middle East as “Ahmad the thief” for his role in stealing from Petra bank in Jordan has proposed further amaedments to the laws on de-Ba’athification measures.
Death And Destruction In Irak:
Baghdad
The bombing involving the chlorine tanker at the Shia owned al-Bayt restauraunt in al-Taji killed 6 and wounded at least 135. Most of the victims were women and children because there are schools in the immediate area of the bombing.
The bombing close to the fuel station between al-Bayaa and al-Sayyidiya southwest Baghdad killed three people and wounded ten.
The American Invader fortress in the middle of the heavily poplulated Abu Dashir district of south baghdad opened fire with an artillery bombardment this afternoon eyewitnesses said at least ten shells were fired by the American invaders.
Murdered Journalist’s Body Identified
The bodys of Abdul Razak Hashim Khaghani, an editor who worked in the Republic of Iraq Radio, and body of his cousin who was with hin when he was kidpnapped last month were identified at morgue of Baghdad Medical Centre forensics. They were kidnapped in Jihad district of West Baghdad while visiting family members. Both had been shot. The Iraqi Journalists union called for a protest front of its headquarters on Wednesday to protest the recent attack against it by the Americans. [See also fuller report from Middle East Online in English - Mohammed]
Baghdad Death and Destruction Continued:
News From Irak Summarised From Arabic 2007-02-19
This is a summarisation of the main news in Arabic from Aswat Al Iraq for February 19th 2007 it is delayed. To make up for the delay I have written you a postcard. There is also also a feature article about conversations between Irakis on the buses in Kut here is a small sample:
A sound of a woman broke from among the passengers, saying “I am Shiite and two of my daughters are married to Sunni men,” followed by a young man saying “I am Sunni and my fiancée is Shiite and my sister is married to a Kurd.”
The bus driver, Ali Kazem Hassoun, said “I got used to these conversations on a daily basis. They mirror the Iraqi reality and the Iraqis’ cares and problems.”
I am a Muslim I am Iraki like the majority of Irakis my tribe is a mix of Sunni and Shia. One of my parents is Sunni one is Shia. I live in Baghdad. Our neighbourhood has Sunni and Shia arabs, Sunni and Shia Kurds, we have some Christian neighbours such as the goalkeeper in my football team, we have Shabaki and Yezhidi in our neighbourhood also.
Postcard From Baghdad Sent February 20th 2007:
Ana Iraki Ya Irak
Mohammed Ibn Laith
Puppets on Strings Part 1:
A statement was issued by the Green Zone Puppet Prime Minister’s Office today, Monday saying that Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the formation of a special committee to investigate the attack on the Iraqi woman subjected to immoral behaviour of by soldiers and officers during a search of a house in west Baghdad. The Green Zone Puppet Prime Minister’s Office also issued a statement condemning bombings calling on people who have fled in fear for their lives to return to their homes and hailing the “success” of the security plan. (I do not want to even begin to think what this “government” would call a failure – Mohammed.)
Puppets on Strings Part 2:
Green zone puppet government Oil minister Shahistrani announced a plan to protect the Irak’s largest oil refinery at Baiji. The Baiji refinery, Iraq’s biggest refineries has a design capacity of 300 thousand barrels per day.
Kurdish officials played down the threats launched by Ansar Al Sunnah published on the internet against Kurdish forces taking part in the green zone puppet governments’s plan to control Baghdad. (He said that such threats did not frighten the Peshmerga Kurdish forces!!! – Mohammed)
The American predator government mouthpiece Ambassador to the “government” in the green zone made a statement condemning all the murders by the recent bombings. The mouthpiece forgot to mention all the Iraki people murdered by the predator invaders. Because introducing Iraki sand niggers to force comes under the heading of “collateral damage” and so does not count.
Sultan Abdul Samad Rahman, issued a statement saying that returning refugees who return as part of the green zone government security plan for Baghdad and the home areas and who need assistance will be offered 250 thousand dinars. A special form for the inventory of the property of these displaced families will be distributed through branches of the Ministry in Baghdad and in the governorates. [250,000.00 IQD is 194.719 USD at official rate of exchange from the money changers - Mohammed] The president of the Baghdad municipal council made a similar appeal but without mentioning money, promising that video surveillance would be installed, and calling on the clergy who have fled to return.
The two Kurdish separatist parties the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who control the Kurdish region with American help using their Peshmerga militias denied in a joint official statement supporting the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and accused the Turkish government of making baseless accsuations.
Death And Destruction:
A British helicopter fired five air-to-surface missiles on Monday evening close in the area of a densely populated housing complex north of Basra without causing damage according to eyewitnesses. They were apparently responding to a katyusha attack on their base in the airport.
Basrah Helicopter Bombing Update:
There is more news and the feature after the link below:
The One That Got Away
Post Card From Baghdad
Mohammed Ibn Laith
Another One Of Condi’s Birth Pangs
The dead boy that this man is carrying was killed on February 18, 2007 by a car bomb that exploded as part of a 2 phase bomb attack near the al-Baydaa cinema “New Baghdad,” southeast of Baghdad. 
At the time of writing casualties were confirmed as 67 dead and 143 wounded. Earlier Bush’s mouthpiece American Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had boasted the success of the puppet government’s “security plan.”
This was another “birth pang” of the new middle east that the American government is giving birth to. It is just that this pang was a little delayed that is all.
Mohammed Ibn Laith.
Site News We Will Be Back On Sunday
We will be back on Sunday. The secure portal the Iraqi members use for logging in is having a hardware problem. This is a technical problem and not sinister.
Until then we suggest you can find news about Irak on the Independent Iraki News Agency Aswat Al Iraq:
Link to Aswat al Iraq :: Reports In English
or for very comprehensive coverage of Iraq in the international news media and blogs run by a team of volunteers we recommend you go to the the new site for
Thank you for your patience we are sorry about this problem.
Saba Ali
