[wvns] BAGHDAD MORGUE OVERFLOWING: BODIES IN COURTYARD
VIDEO: BAGHDAD MORGUE OVERFLOWING WITH BODIES IN COURTYARD
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Raw Story
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Baghdad_morgue_overflowing_with_bodies_in_0611.html
On Sunday, CNN showed bodies laid out in an Iraq courtyard for wailing
relatives to reclaim, reporting that "for over a year, there's been
little or no room in Baghdad's morgues."
The "surge" plan did appear to be reducing sectarian killings in March
and April, as the militias laid low, but now, as reported by the
Washington Post in late May, the number of murders is nearly back to
pre-surge levels. Almost 750 bodies were found last month, many of
them showing signs of torture.
An Iraqi police colonel explained to CNN that "the killings will
continue as long as the security forces remain on the outskirts of
neighborhoods. Few Iraqi police dare to enter inside the most
dangerous areas."
The US military describes the increase in murders as a "spike," saying
that overall levels of violence are lower since the surge. However,
the report concludes, with "only a quarter of the capital under
control, it's difficult to see how increased troops on the ground will
consistently reduce sectarian violence."
The following video is from CNN.
Video:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Baghdad_morgue_overflowing_with_bodies_in_0611.html
===
Zionist Mossad increasing presence in western Iraq, tribal leader reports.
http://www.aliraqnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=30649
In a dispatch posted on its website Saturday, Quds Press reported that
the head of the Union of Tribes of Western Iraq in the area of the
Upper Euphrates near the Syrian border had disclosed that the
"Israeli" Mossad had increased its presence in those areas, beginning
two months ago. He said that US forces are extending protection to the
Mossad・s cars and headquarters in the area.
Shaykh Ahmad al-Khanjar, the Chairman of the Union of Tribes of
Western Iraq, an organization of 13 Iraqi tribes, told Quds Press that
four-wheel-drive GMC cars belonging to the Mossad are present in the
areas of al-Hadithah and nearby al-Haqlaniyah, 'Anah, al-Qa・im,
Jubbah, and other villages. He said that the "Israelis" have been
there for several months under American protection.
The Mossad men, al-Khanjar said, wear civilian clothing (some of them
including yarmulkes) and travel around western Iraq under American
guard. He said that the Mossad operatives stay in the headquarters
that the Americans have set up in the old Customs Building near the
Syrian border, in the former Iraqi Army Camp in the area of
al-Baghdadi, about 200km northwest of Baghdad, and at the phosphate
mining complex.
Shaykh al-Khanjar said that they have also established their own
headquarters similar to the facilities used by the American occupation
forces. The Mossad set up one of its headquarters in the former Hafsah
Primary School in al-Qa・im on the Syrian border, and in the large
building that formerly housed the headquarters of the "Projects for
Roads, Bridges, and Travelers・ Rest Stops." The Zionists have
surrounded their facilities with large security fortifications and
barbed wire, making it virtually impossible to break in. They have
also set up communication towers atop those headquarters. In addition,
the Shaykh said, they have recruited Iraqis willing to work for them
inside the city.
Shaykh al-Khanjar said that the Mossad operatives come out of their
headquarters every day, making three rounds outside the city
accompanied by US escort vehicles. He said that local people were
certain that the Mossad agents・ mission was of a non-combat
character, consisting of espionage and gathering information. Shaykh
al-Khanjar said that the Iraqi Resistance attacked them on 17 July,
destroying one of their vehicles and killing four of the people
inside. After the attack it became clear from the papers and documents
on the men that they were members of the "Israeli" Mossad.
===
The Reality on the Ground in Iraq
Nir Rosen
The Salient
September 3, 2007
www.uruknet.info?p=35950
Unembedded Journalist par-excellence Nir Rosen explains whats going on
in the country that used to be Iraq right now. (from Steve Clemons'
Washington Note)
Host Tom Foreman: Nir, let me start with you. Who is running the show
in Baghdad? Or is anyone?
Nir Rosen, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Well it depends where you are. As
it has been since April 9, 2003, when Baghdad fell to the Americans,
militias have been running the show. Whoever has power in the given
neighborhoods, whatever local warlord, he's the one running the show.
The government is basically a theater. Whatever happens in the green
zone doesn't matter. It's always been militia leaders, political
leaders at the party level who control the various militias and the
ministers, not the prime minister and not the Americans, certainly. it
is various militias.
FOREMAN: Nir, based on what you are saying though the problem is there
is no credible alternative is there?
ROSEN: There is no government to begin with. It's a collection of
militias. And indeed, there is no alternative. The whole focus on the
government in Baghdad is the -- problem is that -- in everybody's
approach. In Iraq it used to be you could have a coup replace the
government and the whole country followed. But now Iraqi is a
collection of city states, Baghdad, Tikrit, Kirkuk, Mosul, Basra,
Erbil, each one with its own warlords. They don't answer to Baghdad.
Baghdad has no control over them. When we overthrew Saddam, we imposed
one dictator after another. We didn't like Prime Minister Jaafari
[because he wouldn't approve the oil law] so we got rid of him and we
put in his close ally, Maliki. And now the occupier is once again
upset that the occupied people are not being sufficiently obedient.
But it doesn't matter. We are past that stage. Iraq doesn't exist as a
state anymore. The government has never existed. It has never brought
in any services. Even the most fundamental service the government can
provide, a monopoly over the use of violence, it doesn't provide that
because it has never controlled the militias and militias are the ones
that control the police and the army.
FOREMAN: So Nir, we keep hearing reports, though, nonetheless out of
Baghdad. People saying that give us time, we are trying to get this
government worked out. We are going to make some progress. Do you see
any way that can happen?
ROSEN: No. This has been the case for the past would two years at
least. There is no hope. There is no government. Neither side is
interested in compromise and why should they? The Shias control
Baghdad. They have removed the Sunnis from Baghdad, from Iraq's
political future.
FOREMAN: What's going to change that if anything?
ROSEN: Nothing is going to change that. The Shias have actually
expelled most of the Sunnis from Baghdad. It went from being a
majority Sunni city. Now it is a majority Shia city. The last few
pockets of Sunnis are slowly being purged by the police and the Mehdi
army. It's now irrevocably a Shia city and Sunnis are just out.
Unfortunately, Iraq has been completely remade and it is time to be
honest. It is time for the American leaders to be honest and American
military to be honest with their people. There can be no
reconciliation. This does - the latest show we had a few days ago
where they brought a few leaders together and pretended like they were
going to reconcile, the Sunnis are still out of the government and
they remain so and why should they be? They have been expelled from
Iraq. The majority of the three million refugees that we have from the
region, from Iraq are Sunni. The majority being internally displaced
are Sunni. Of course, whatever agreement were to be reached,
parliament would never ratify it anyway.
Recently, when Rosen was speaking Democracy Now's Amy Goodman(with
audio) about the enormous refugee crisis, he explains why there is no
more Iraq:
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk further about the refugee crisis? Again, lay
out the numbers that we're talking about inside Iraq and outside.
NIR ROSEN: Outside Iraq, we're approaching three million refugees who
have left since 2003. There were, of course, refugees who left before
then, due to Saddam and other factors.
Inside, I think you have a similar number of internally displaced
Iraqis fleeing their homes in mixed areas and going to more homogenous
areas. Sunnis from Basra are heading to Sunni neighborhoods, Baghdad,
or all the way up to Kurdistan. Shias from Diyala province are going
to safer areas for Shias. Kurds from Mosul going up to Kurdistan, as well.
And a family like the one we just saw on the show is never going to go
back to their home again, actually, it seems.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
NIR ROSEN: Iraq has been changed irrevocably, I think. I don't think
Iraq even -- you can say it exists anymore. There has been a very
effective, systematic ethnic cleansing of Sunnis from Baghdad, of
Shias --from areas that are now mostly Shia. But the Sunnis especially
have been a target, as have mixed families like the one we just saw.
With a name like Omar, he's distinctly Sunni -- it's a very Sunni
name. You can be executed for having the name Omar alone. And Baghdad
is now firmly in the hands of sectarian Shiite militias, and they're
never going to let it go.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of Senator Levin calling for the Maliki
and the whole government to disband?
NIR ROSEN: Well, it's stupid for several reasons. First of all, the
Iraqi government doesn't matter. It has no power. And it doesn't
matter who you put in there. He's not going to have any power. Baghdad
doesn't really matter, except for Baghdad. Baghdad used to be the most
important city in Iraq, and whoever controlled Baghdad controlled
Iraq. These days, you have a collection of city states: Mosul, Basra,
Baghdad, Kirkuk, Irbil, Sulaymaniyah. Each one is virtually
independent, and they have their own warlords and their own militias.
And what happens in Baghdad makes no difference. So that's the first
point.
Second of all, who can he put in instead? What does he think he's
going to put in? Allawi or some secular candidate? There was a
democratic election, and the majority of Iraqis selected the sectarian
Shiite group Dawa, Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution, the Sadr
Movement. These are movements that are popular among the majority of
Shias, who are the majority of Iraq. So it doesn't matter who you put
in there. And people in the Green Zone have never had any power.
Americans, whether in the government or journalists, have been focused
on the Green Zone from the beginning of the war, and it's never really
mattered. It's been who has power on the street, the various different
militias, depending on where you are -- Sunni, Shia, tribal,
religious, criminal. So it just reflects the same misunderstanding of
Iraqi politics. The government doesn't do anything, doesn't provide
any services, whether security, electricity, health or otherwise.
Various militias control various ministries, and they use it as their
fiefdoms. Ministries attack other ministries
*********************************************************************
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