This first photo in a set of three shows boys playing in a pool of water in front of the wall the Americans are erecting to divide Sadr City. The caption suggested by AFP reads as follows:

Iraqi boys play in the muddy waters of a broken water mains in front of the concrete wall being built by the US army through the restive Sadr City district of northeastern Baghdad. Iraqi troops have poured into Sadr City for the first time in eight weeks, without resistance from militias who have fought deadly street battles with US forces.

Well … … …  yes … … …  I suppose you could call water contaminated with faecal matter “muddy”.

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Abbas Jabbar was two years old he was one of the children killed in the mortar attack on Mamil. Sadr City hospital officials originally gave the death toll as 4 but later upgraded the toll to 5 children killed and several wounded. In the first photo Abbas’ wrapped corpse is seen in the living room of his home. The man sitting beside his body to the left is his father Nadim, his mother and other family members are seen gathered round the corpse.

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في عام 2003، أُجبِرت هبة (ليس اسمها الحقيقي)، التي كان عمرها حينئذ لا يتجاوز 11 عاماً، على الزواج من قريبها. وفي اليوم التالي تم نقلها من بغداد إلى الحدود مع سوريا وبيعت لتجار الجنس. وفي دمشق، أجبرت على الرقص في النوادي الليلية والمنازل الخاصة، وبعد أربع سنوات من ذلك، ألقت السلطات السورية القبض عليها بتهمة البغاء وكانت حاملاً آنذاك.

وعندما وجدتها المفوضية السامية للأمم المتحدة لشؤون اللاجئين، كانت هبة على وشك أن تُرحَّل إلى العراق. فتولت المفوضية في بداية هذا الشهر ترتيبات إعادة توطينها في كندا حيث وضعت مؤخراً مولوداً ذكراً اسمته زمان. وقالت عن اختيارها لهذا الاسم: “لقد أسميته كذلك نسبة إلى الزمان الذي لم أنعم به”.

ولا تعتبر هبة حالة فريدة من نوعها. فبالرغم من عدم وجود أرقام موثوقة حول الاتجار بالبشر، إلا أن المنظمات الإنسانية والناشطين في المجال يقولون أنه يتم تهريب والاتجار بمئات الأشخاص من مختلف أنحاء العالم إلى سوريا سنوياً من أجل العمل في البغاء والأعمال المنزلية أو حتى من أجل بيع الأعضاء. وقد ازدادت المشكلة تفاقماً بسبب تدفق أكثر من 1.5 مليون لاجئ عراقي على سوريا منذ عام 2003.

مسودة قانون جديد

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I perceive that it is necessary to include a condition that cancels the freeze decision in case the U.S. army or Iraqi security forces commit an act of aggression against us, especially if it is an unprovoked attack. We should hold our weapons against those who carry weapons to commit aggression against us; otherwise, we would be a target for them, as happened during the first term of the freeze decision.

Editor’s Note: The Arabic language posting of this feature by the independent Iraki newsagency Aswat Al Iraq (Voices of Iraq) is here Gorillasguides.com تجميد جيش المهدي بين مطرقة الالتزام وسندان المضايقات  Aswat Al Iraq published their English language version under the title; “Freezing Mahdi Army, issue of power and power of issue.” I have somewhat freely translated the Arabic Title to give a better sense of the article.

Nur.

Baghdad, Feb. 27, (VOI) – The decision made by the Shiite leader, Muqtada Al-Sadr, to extend the freeze on his Mahdi Army’s militia’s activities, for a period of six months that initially began on February 26, 2008, was welcomed by the Iraqi government and the different players on the political arena in Iraq. Within the Sadr Trend itself however, and particularly its armed wing, the Mahdi Army, there are different stances in this respect, ranging from the necessity to abide orders, and fears of becoming easily-captured targets.

At the time that Lewaa Semaisim, head of the political committee of the Sadr Trend, revealed that there will be further compelling orders for Mahdi Army’s performance, some leaders of the militia showed different point of views regarding the decision to freeze their activity. Debates covered the expected outcome of the extension, and the possibility of becoming simple targets, but all those leaders agree that they are committed to obeying the extension order of Mahdi Army’s freeze.

“Sayid Muqtada al-Sadr will embrace a number of new mechanisms to organize the activities of Mahdi Army, after he issued the decision to freeze their activity,” Semaisim said to Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI), explaining that the first freeze period has been evaluated, and decisions have been made accordingly, refusing to expose any further details concerning the new mechanisms.

When the current Iraqi cabinet was formed on May 20, 2006, the Sadr Trend held six ministerial posts out of the 37-member cabinet, but in April 2007, the Trend withdrew its ministers demanding that Premier Nouri Al-Maliki replace them with “independent, honest, and qualified technocrats;” however, the Sadr Trend is still considered a powerful political entity, as it occupies 30 out of the 275 seats of the Iraqi parliament landscape. 

The Sadr Trend joined the election of December 15, 2005, as part of the Shiite United Iraqi Coalition (UIC), but in July 2007, the Trend became a separate entity in the Iraqi parliament, after accusing other allies at the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC – headed by Sayid Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim), and Dawa Party (headed by Iraqi Prime Minister – Nouri Al-Maliki) of making decisions without first consulting UIC members.

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Eid in Mosul

العيد في الموصل

English:

The Iraki Red Crescent has issued a statement expressing regret that inaccurate statements are being made about Iraki Internally Displaced Persons. In a statement passed to the the independent Iraki newsagency Aswat Al Iraq (Voices of Iraq) the Iraqi Red Crescent, said on Monday, that it "deeply regretted" the statements circulated recently by officials about the Displaced in Iraq and said they were not related realities of the situation faced by the displaced.

The body said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to the Independent News Agency (Voices of Iraq) that it deeply regretted the statements made by some green zone government officials regarding the situation of displaced people inside Irak, downplaying the sufferings and harsh conditions they are facing.

The society outlined a week ago in a report the numbers of migrants and displaced within the country and outside and the harsh living conditions they suffer, and said in its report that there were some two million and three hundred thousand displaced inside Iraq alone.

In their statement they said that,

"The real number of displaced persons by October (was) well over two million, three hundred thousand displaced inside the country."

Green zone government Brigadier Qasim al-Musawi, spokesman for the fard qanoon plan being implemented since February by American occupation troops and green zone government forces last week questioned the figures contained in the latest report issued by the Red Crescent, which said that the numbers of displaced inside the country were still increasing.

Al-Musawi criticised the Red Crescent for saying that the number of displaced persons was rising continuously.

The Red Crescent statement quoted an official from the Iraki organization as saying that "The number of displaced people in Iraq announced (by the Iraki organisation) does not represent the real number. There are 25 per cent who do not register their names as displaced in Iraq because of their circumstances."

It added that "the Iraqi Red Crescent was ready to engage any governmental or non-governmental organizations on the methodology of the census and it’s classification according to age groups."

The [Red Crescent] statement continued that "such statements [editor’s note: The statement by the green zone government] do not serve the Iraki people and are harmful to displaced persons and the forcibly displaced."

Green zone government authorities have spoken in the [recent] past about the return of thousands of families to their homes, who had previously left the areas they inhabited because of violence, the green zone government authorities have tried to claim that this has occurred because of the improved security situation in the country.

[Editor’s Note: Aswat Al Iraq - have a very brief English version of the Arabic language article here.]

Um Thalit & Nur

تفقدت عوائل مسيحية بيوتها بعد تحسن الاوضاع الامنية في منطقة الدورة عقب اكثر من شهر من العمليات العسكرية والمداهمات التي قامت بها قوات الجيش العراقي باسناد القوات الاميركية لتطهير المنطقة وما يجاورها من الارهابيين.

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