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In the summer of 2002, as British troops were preparing to invade Iraq, a senior army officer emailed a colleague about a meeting that had taken place on how to handle prisoners. The officer noted that the meeting was addressed by a US army captain "who told us all about what they were doing in Bagram [in Afghanistan] and Guantánamo". The British officer continued: "It did enable me to remind the assembled crowd … not to get too wound up in prisoners’ rights at the expense of intelligence."

This telling exchange is among many heard over the past two weeks at the thinly attended public inquiry, adjourned today until the autumn, into the death of Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel receptionist, in the custody of British soldiers in September 2003. The inquiry has already painted a picture of a military chain of command either unsure of what interrogation techniques are prohibited under domestic and international law, or willing to ignore them. As far back as 1965, the joint intelligence committee issued a directive to military interrogators. Apart from moral considerations, it said: "Torture and physical cruelty of all kinds are professionally unrewarding, since a suspect may be persuaded to talk, but not to tell the truth."

British and US military interrogators and security and intelligence agencies chose to forget this axiom as they captured suspected insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were also ignorant, we are told, of past controversies. After evidence of abuse in Northern Ireland, Edward Heath told the Commons in 1972 that five techniques – wall-standing, hooding, subjection to noise, sleep deprivation, and deprivation of food and drink – would be banned "in any future operations worldwide, unless parliament decided otherwise". A hitherto secret document released at the Baha Mousa inquiry heard that senior British officers responsible for the conduct of military operations claimed they were unaware of the ruling "until it was raised in the last two weeks". The document was dated 17 May 2004, well after Mousa’s death but a few days after another incident involving allegations of abuse of Iraqi civilians.

The inquiry heard how a British soldier screamed at hooded Iraqi prisoners, and others made Iraqis cry out in an "orchestrated choir". According to hitherto unreported evidence at the inquiry, one soldier who happened to be passing a room in the British detention centre in Basra described seeing an Iraqi detainee "kneeling on the floor with his legs crossed behind him and his hands tied behind his back. He was hooded and had his head bowed. There was a soldier beating him really hard. The detainee had his hands tied behind his back, he couldn’t fight back."

The inquiry heard how another detainee "was struggling to maintain the stress position and [a British soldier] was screaming at him, ‘Sit up, Grandad!’. A large soldier was kneeing this detainee hard in the back … All of the detainees were in a state of distress. They were shaking, whimpering and crying, and they had soiled themselves. He says there was a really strong smell and there were pools of faeces and urine."

As the inquiry was getting under way in London, the Ministry of Defence was being forced in the high court to concede a separate independent inquiry into allegations that British soldiers mutilated and murdered civilians in Amara, north of Basra, on 14 May 2004. It was forced to do so after it infuriated senior judges by withholding from the court vital evidence, including correspondence with ministers, about the incident.

These incidents, and there may be more, reveal a worrying lack of discipline among British soldiers and arrogance among senior defence officials. The good thing is that lawyers, judges and human rights laws are subjecting their activities to unprecedented scrutiny.

Cruel truths from Basra | Richard Norton-Taylor | Comment is free | The Guardian

قامت قوة تابعة الى حماية شركة نفط الجنوب في البصرة
باعتقال مراسل قناة الفيحاء في البصرة طالب البديري والمصور قيس العيداني اثناء توجههما الى مقر الشركة
وذلك على غرار موعد مسبق مع مدير الهيئة الادارية في شركة النفط (علي طارش) من اجل استطلاع الاراء حول العقود النفطية المبرمة مع شركة نفط الجنوب …..
واستمر الاعتقال ساعات طويلة من دون أعطاء مبرر من قبل المسؤول في الشركة ….
وقد أفاد مراسل قناة الفيحاء طالب البديري في مكالمة هاتفية معه من موقع الاحتجاز بان منتسبي شرطة شركة النفط قاموا بسحب الكاميرا من المصور الذي كان يرافقه وتم احتجازهما في مكان الحراسات التابعة للشركة .
من جانب اخر استنكر عدد من الصحفيين والإعلاميين في مدينة البصرة هذا الانتهاك الذي يمنع السلطة الرابعة من اخذ دورها الحقيقي والكف من تلك الأعمال المشينة التي تذكرنا , مطالبين الجهات المسؤولة بالتدخل لاطلاق سراح الزملاء الصحفيين .

Sotaliraq.com – صوت العراق

A $10 million project funded by the European Community to improve Iraq’s water and sanitation services is underway.  Implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works and the Ministry of Municipalities in Kurdistan, the project will increase the government’s provision of services as well as strengthen their capacity to manage and develop Iraq’s water and sanitation sector.  

“This investment will provide over 100,000 people including children from 30 schools in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Muthanna, Thi-Qar, Missan, and Basra with improved access to water and sanitation facilities” stated Sikander Khan, UNICEF Iraq Representative.  “The project also provides a critical support to the government’s efforts to improve its overall delivery of water and sanitation services to millions more people.  We aspire to enhance quality water and sanitation coverage to all Iraqi children and families, which will ensure the millennium development goal of reducing by half the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015 is attained.”

Iraq’s water and sanitation sector is currently unable to meet much of the population’s needs.
After years of chronic under-investment and inadequate maintenance due to conflict and sanctions around six million people, 4.5 million of whom live in rural communities, currently do not have access to safe drinking water.  Of these, nearly 2.5 million people are accessing their water from a river or streams, putting them at very high risk of contracting water borne diseases such as acute watery diarrhea, the second largest killer of children in the country. 

In the next year, the project will train hundreds of government staff on best global water and sanitation practices, support the establishment of a water and sanitation Knowledge and Training Center, produce an up-to-date survey on the water and sanitation sector to identify the most critical areas in need of investment, and develop water and sanitation plans in two governorates that could be replicated in all governorates to ensure quality services are planned to reach the majority of the population.

Coinciding with the project’s development, after six years of ensuring its operational response from Amman, Jordan due to conflict UNICEF Iraq is reinforcing its presence in Iraq with the arrival of five senior staff to Baghdad.  This marks the beginning of the UNICEF Iraq country office’s full transition back to Iraq over the next year.

“UNICEF has started relocating to Baghdad to strengthen its support to the government so that the long standing issues that have impinged children’s rights are systematically resolved,” stated Khan.  “With children representing the most critical resource for Iraq’s future stability and prosperity we must now, as reconstruction starts, ensure every effort and investment is made so their survival and development prospects improve.  We look forward to developing and enhancing partnerships with all aspects of Iraqi society to bring the situation of Iraqi children on par with that of children in developed countries.” 

UNICEF – Press centre – $10 million European Community water and sanitation project underway in Iraq; UNICEF relocates Country Office to Baghdad

البصرة:التهم حريق كبيرعددا من المحال التجارية في منطقة كوت الحجاج وسط البصرة جنوبي العراق  وقال مصدر في الدفاع المدني ان الحريق ناتج عن تماس كهربائي وقد ادى الى احتراق عدد من محال بيع الاثاث المستورد / مشيرا الى ان سيارات الاطفاء تمكنت من السيطرة على الحريق والحد من انتشاره الى مناطق اخرى … ولم يشر المصدر الى وجود اصابات جراء الحريق.او الخسائر المادية وتقديرها بالدنانير العراقية

Dozens of civilians are still losing their lives on a daily basis in parts of Iraq. During the month of May, the ICRC continued to respond to the emergency needs of the population. 19-06-2009  Operational update

In May, the Iraqi Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the ICRC signed a memorandum of understanding which led to the launching of a programme to strengthen emergency services in Iraq. The two-year programme focuses on training around 600 doctors and nurses from all over Iraq in the management of trauma, control of infection and teamwork. It involves senior ICRC medical personnel based in Suleimaniya and Najaf governorates. "We hope that this joint initiative will help improve the quality of emergency services provided in Iraq," said Pascal Ollé, the ICRC health coordinator.
As part of its activities to promote international humanitarian law and raise awareness of the ICRC’s mandate and work in Iraq, the organization hosted several round table discussions with senior officials, religious leaders, Imams, professors and students in Erbil in late May.

Visiting detainees and helping them maintain contact with their families

The ICRC continues visiting people detained under the authority of the Iraqi central government, the US led Multi-National Forces-Iraq (US/MNF-I) and the Kurdistan regional government to monitor their conditions of detention and the manner in which they are treated.

In May, the ICRC:

• visited detainees held at Camp Cropper in Baghdad by the US/MNF-I authorities;
• for the first time visited detainees held at the First Brigade Prison in Baghdad (Ministry of the Interior);
• visited Kadhemiya Maximum Security Prison in Baghdad (Ministry of Justice);
• conducted a follow-up visit to Tobji Juveniles Prison in Baghdad (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs);
• visited detainees in Fort Suse Prison, in Suleimaniya (Ministry of Justice) as well as four other detention facilities in Erbil, Dohuk and Suleimaniya governorates.

The ICRC and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society also help detainees to stay in touch with their families through the exchange of Red Cross messages and phone calls. In May alone, more than 12,570 Red Cross messages were exchanged between detainees and their families. The ICRC also provides financial assistance to families to visit their detained relatives. Families made more 2,800 visits to detainees in Camp Bucca.

Assisting the most vulnerable groups

The ICRC provides relief assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their homes because of the armed conflict.

In May:

• More than 40,000 IDPs in Ninewa, Suleimaniya, Diyala and Baghdad governorates received food and hygiene products monthly, as well as essential household items, such as kitchen sets, buckets, thermos flasks and jerrycans.
• About 100 households headed by women in Adhamiya, in Baghdad, were provided with food parcels and rice.
• Several pilot projects aimed at helping households headed by women earn an income got under way in Baghdad and Najaf governorates..
• The ICRC issued 73 travel documents to allow Palestinian refugees from Al-Waleed Camp (Anbar governorate) to be resettled in a third country with the UNHCR’s assistance.

Improving water supplies and health care

With the beginning of the hot season, the consumption of water has increased. As the current water supply is insufficient to meet existing needs, the ICRC is continuing to support the repair and improvement of infrastructure, and helping address emergency water needs.
In May, it

• supplied and installed new pumps to improve the treatment and delivery of water from Abu Tiban Water Treatment Pant in Anbar governorate, which serves around 65,000 people;
• cleaned pits and replaced submersible pumps in six sewage stations in Basra city;
• completed the installation of a new compact unit in Sergtkan, in Erbil governorate, serving about 10,000 beneficiaries.
  Water was delivered by truck to:
• Qalawa Quarter IDP camp, which shelters around 360 people in Suleimaniya governorate;
• 4,500 IDPs in Sadr city, Al-Rashad Psychiatry Teaching Hospital, Al-Imam Ali Teaching Hospital and Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, in Baghdad.

The ICRC also improved water and sanitation at hospitals and primary health care centres.
In May the organization completed:

• the repair of the mechanical incinerator in Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital in Baghdad;
• the water and sanitation system and electromechanical repairs in Al-Suaidah health care centre;
• the rehabilitation of Qal’at Sukkar health care centre in Thi-Qar governorate;
• and connected Al-Huwair primary health care centres, in Basra governorate to the water-supply system.

Promoting international humanitarian law

In line with its mandate, the ICRC promotes international humanitarian law and works to ensure respect for it.. In May seminars and presentations on this body of law were organized for different audiences in Baghdad and Erbil.

Source: ICRC | Iraq: ICRC activities in May 2009

يقوم وزير الخارجية التركي أحمد داؤود أوغلوا بزيارة رسمية الى العراق في الأيام القليلة المقبلة.
واشار المتحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية التركية براق أوزغوركين في تصريحات صحفية الى أنه بعد زيارته الى العاصمة بغداد، من المقرر أن يزور وزير الخارجية مدينتي الموصل والبصرة بغرض فتح قنصليات تركية بشكل رسمي في كلتا المدينتين.
وكشف أوزغوركين في تصريحاته عن احتمال زيارة وزير الخارجية التركي مدينة أربيل كجزء من برنامج زيارته الى العراق.

اعلن رئيس اللجنة الأمنية في محافظة البصرة علي غانم المالكي ان القوات الأمنية التابعة لوزارة الداخلية تستعد لتنفيذ خطة أمنية واسعة في كافة انحاء المحافظة.
واكد المالكي في تصريح صحفي نشر اليوم الأثنين على جاهزية القوات العراقية لتأدية واجباتها بعد انسحاب القوات الأميركية ، مبينا ان القوات الأمنية في محافظة البصرة ستنفذ حملة واسعة تشمل مركز المدينة والأقضية والنواحي التابعة لها .
من جانب اخر كشف مصدر في مديرية شرطة البصرة طلب عدم ذكر اسمه عن تعرض دورية أميركية إلى هجوم بقنبلة يدوية في منطقة الجبيلة ، موضحا ان الهجوم لم يسفر عن أية اصابات أو أضرار .

البصرة: تعرضت دورية امريكية الى هجوم من قبل مجهولين  في منطقة الموفقيه وسط البصرة وافاد مصدر  في قيادة شرطة البصرة إن قنابل يدوية خارقة للدروع أطلقت على الدورية الاميركية التي كانت تقف بالقرب من مركز شرطة الموفقيه، وأشار المصدر إن الهجوم لم يخلف  ضحايا في صفوف القوات الاميركية التي طوقت المكان بالتعاون مع القوات الأمنية العراقية وفرضت حظر التجوال قرب موقع الانفجار من اجل تعقب المسلحين الذين لأذو بالفرار، ويذكر إن الاسبوع الماضي قد شهد تزايدا في الهجمات على القوات الاميركية حيث سقطت عشر قذائف هاون على مطار البصرة الدولي مستهدفة القاعدة العسكرية الاميركية  فيما انفجرت أربع عبوات ناسفة على دوريات للقوات الاميركية في مناطق متعددة من البصرة

من المقرر ان يكون استيراد مفردات البطاقة التموينية بشكل مباشر من قبل الوزارة دون الاستعانة بالتجار.
وأكد مدير الشركة العامة للمواد الغذائية في البصرة جاسم ثامر عثمان في تصريح صحفي انه بعد إيعاز من وزير التجارة وكالة رئيس الوزراء نوري المالكي ان وزارة التجارة ستعمل بنظام LC مما يعني إيصال المواد بشكل مباشر من قبل الوزارة وتوزيعها على المراكز التموينية. مشيرا الى انه بذلك ستصل المواد من المورد إلى المستهلك وبأسرع وقت وبدون تلف وبسلع أفضل للمستهلك.
وعلى صعيد متصل اوضح معاون مدير الشركة العامة للأسواق المركزية فرع البصرة عماد جاسم محمد ان الشركة وبالتعاون مع مجلس محافظة البصرة ستقوم بتفعيل دور الأسواق المركزية في المحافظة من خلال استيراد مواد وأجهزة خاضعة للتقييس والسيطرة النوعية وبأسعار مدعومة للمستهلكين.