RT News

Sunday, July 06, 2014

ISIS jihadists demolish mosques, shrines in northern Iraq

The people of Amerli near Tuz Khurmato have been under siege by ISIS for over 3 weeks now, still holding out but in desperate need of help Shia militias have joined forces with Iraqi government troops to recapture the town of Balad, north of Baghdad http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28322645
Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta ‪#‎The‬ Khilafah is NOT merely a name. The Khilafah is a state of significance, and the Shariah has stipulated the methodology for it's establishment and the manner for it's Ahkam(rulings) extraction for ruling, politics, economics and international relations...and it is not a mere announcement in name only that is broadcasted on websites or printed. visual or audio media outlets. Rather it will be a great event that will shake the entire world, and it's roots will be stable in the ground, its authority will maintain security internally and externally on that land, and will implment Islam within it and will carry Islam to the world through Dawah and Jihad... Original Arabic Source: https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/310905275744223/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta ‪#‎Khilafah‬: Where are the components, authority, security and protection? The organisation that has announced the Caliphate has neither auhority, in either Syria or Iraq, nor did it achieve security and protection internally or externally, even more they have given allegiance (bayah) to a Khaleefah who is unable to declare himself even publicly rather his situation has remained hidden like the situation prior to the declaration of the State! And this is contradictory to what the Messenger of ALlah SAW did. Peace and Blessings upon him was permitted to hide in the Thawr Cave before the state, but after the state, he took care of affairs, led the armies, judged in disputes and sent envoys and received them publicly; thus the situation differed before and after the state... Thus the announcement by the organisation of the Khilafah is mere rhetoric without any weight, it is similar to those who announced the Khilafah previously, without authenticity on the ground or components, rather to satisfy something within themselves, so there was some who declared themselves as a Khaleefah and others who declared themselves as a Mahdi, and so on... without having the components, authority, security or protection...! Original Arabic Source: https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/310647612436656/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta The ‪#‎Khilafah‬ must have obvious authority. Any organisation that seeks to announce the Khilafah in an area is obliged to follow the Methodology of the Prophet SAW in it, and from it is that this organisation should have the obvious visible authority on the place, where it can maintain security internally and externally, and that this area should have the components of a state in the area where the Khilafah is announced....This is what the Prophet SAW performed when he established the Islamic State in Medina Al-Munawarra: the authority was with the Prophet SAW and the internal and external security was with the authority of Islam and it had the components of a state in the surrounding area. Arabic original source: https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/310423319125752/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta O People of ‪#‎Mesopotamia‬ (‪#‎Iraq‬)… “Leave it, its rotten” ------------------------------ O people of Mesopotamia this matter will not be reformed except with a remedy from the start: ruling by what Allah has revealed, and jihad in the name of Allah ... holding fast to the rope of Allah and breaking the bond with the enemies of Allah... and the rejection of sectarianism and madh’habism«دَعُوهَا فَإِنَّهَا مُنْتِنَةٌ»“Leave it, its rotten”,Bukhari narrated from Jabir... Quit the titles of sectarianism and madh’habism, and hold on to the name that Allah named us (هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ) “Allah named you ‘Muslims’”]Al-Hajj: 78[.So return to Him and establish His state, the rightly guided Khilafah, by it you will be glorified, and by it you will address the clouds once again, and by it you will return servants of Allah as one brotherhood… (إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَنْ كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ )“Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or who listens while he is present [in mind].”[ Qaf: 37 ] النسخة العربية https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/pb.154433208058098.-2207520000.1404912457./309683972533020/?type=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta O People of ‪#‎Iraq‬… Do not incline towards America and Europe ---------------------------------- The guide does not lie to his people, and Hizb ut Tahrir is a sincere advisor to you, so do not incline towards America and Europe, they will not give you any weight, but they are serious in inflicting you with fatal wounds ... so that they create three entities in Iraq that are connected together by a worn-out bond in a nominal state as a prelude to cut this bond in the later stages... We are able to understand the direction of the poisoned arrows of America and the West at us ... But for the people of Iraq to accept that, and even struggling to achieve it, and all of them seeking the help of America in that, then this is a widespread evil. (وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنْصَرُونَ)“And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped.” [Hud: 113].You are one Ummah that is prohibited from being fragmented. (وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا)“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided.” [Al-i-Imran: 103]. And you are prohibited to dispute, otherwise your strength would collapse and your enemy will become greedy with you. (وَلَا تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ)“... and do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart...” [Al-Anfal: 46]. ******* النسخة العربية https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/309322372569180/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta ‪#‎Iraq‬: ‪#‎Islam‬ has unified you but you seek diaspora?! ------------------------ Islam has unified you for centuries, and its Banner has shaded you for a long period of time, so you were strong and dignified. You shared the Good together, and you fought the Evil together... Your country is the land of tournaments; the land of al-Qadisiyah, the land of al-Buwaib the Persian Yarmouk, the country of Haroon al-Rashid and al-Mu’tassim, the country of Salah al-Din, the country of the conquerors, the former and the subsequent Allah willing. The undivided Iraq is strong by its people, and the torn Iraq is weak by its rips... If the Kurds assume that the presence of a Kurdistan region or a state of Kurdistan will bring them dignity, it would not exceed a short period, but will lead to their death after a while... And if the Sunnis assume that the existence of a territory that belongs to them in the Northern and Western Iraq will bring them a decent living, it would not exceed a worthwhile period, and then misery and hardship will inflict afterwards... If the Shiites assume that the presence of the territory that belongs to them in the South will bring them the power of tyranny it would only be for a short time, and then matters shall return to weakness and humiliation. النسخة العربية https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/309017185933032/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta ‪#‎Iraq‬: O Muslims... O Arabs... O Kurds... O Sunnis... O Shiites... O People of ‪#‎Mesopotamia‬... Your blood has been shed, your wealth looted and your homes, rather your Mosques destroyed, and Iraq has become a failed fragile state that does not block a meddling hand... Is there not among you a man of reason to reflect on what happened? Do not you see that America and their alliances, agents and followers ... All exasperate the sedition (fitneh), so it boils then trickles down into three branches, three rips, three territories: Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, that are not gathered by any relation except by a thin thread or much less...! Is not it so? Do you not wonder how America has protected the Kurdistan region? And how Bremer implanted in its constitution the seeds of the ‘madh’habism’ (school of thought) and sectarian-based system? Do not you wonder how America created in the current government a tyrant in power who infuses the sectarian strife without modesty or shame? Do not you wonder how America is watching the situation and feeding it for the Kurds to diverge from the Arabs, and the Sunnis to diverge from the Shiites? Do not you wonder how America meets with Britain, the agents and the followers, and everyone is marching in the direction of feeding into this sedition (fitneh), this with the knowledge that the interests of America and Britain are different, but they meet on tearing Muslims lands?! النسخة العربية https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta ‪#‎Iraq‬ and its Divisions! Whoever reflects on the current events sees them as an episode in a series of episodes that were not only initiated by America with its occupation of Iraq, but also before the occupation, since America imposed no-fly zones in North of Iraq in 1991, where Kurdistan became a quasi-state region! And when America occupied Iraq in 2003, the American governor of Iraq, Bremer set a constitution carrying the seed of dismantling Iraq that made him utter with confessional and sectarian-based quota system. The seed continued to grow until the month of 12/2011, when America exited Iraq with its military appearance but remained in it with its security and political reality, wherein the tree of sedition blossomed. Then America fueled it placing an intolerant sectarian tyrant at the head of the government in Iraq. So Maliki deliberately crushed the areas of Northern and Western Iraq, and tyrannized and oppressed in unprecedented brutality, whenever it receded, he ignited again with provocative acts and sayings to aggravate those areas ... And the sectarian incitement escalated with the creation of the Shiite armed militias, and in return focusing on ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) as being Sunni terrorism, although the movements that have entered Mosul and Tikrit and the others were from several movements, including ISIS... And the matter did not stop at this point, but the neighboring countries raced in highlighting sectarianism... all in the implementation of US policy, and marching behind it Britain, then the agents and the followers who do not want Iraq to be a unified entity, but want it to be a fragmented feuding divergent entity, killing each other! And each party clings stubbornly to have a territory, and the calls for provinces and divisions became publicly proclaimed... And because events occur without concealment, the Kurdistan region realized the reality of the situation, and therefore at a time the rebels controlled Mosul, the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan region came to fully control Kirkuk and the surrounding areas. Reuters quoted on 15/06/2014 Fuad Hussein, Barzani's chief of staff, as saying: "Iraq has entered a new phase that is completely different than before control of Mosul and that the Kurds will discuss how to deal with this new Iraq." النسخة العربية https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/308043542697063/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta ‪#‎Iraq‬ and its Divisions! Whoever reflects on the current events sees them as an episode in a series of episodes that were not only initiated by America with its occupation of Iraq, but also before the occupation, since America imposed no-fly zones in North of Iraq in 1991, where Kurdistan became a quasi-state region! And when America occupied Iraq in 2003, the American governor of Iraq, Bremer set a constitution carrying the seed of dismantling Iraq that made him utter with confessional and sectarian-based quota system. The seed continued to grow until the month of 12/2011, when America exited Iraq with its military appearance but remained in it with its security and political reality, wherein the tree of sedition blossomed. Then America fueled it placing an intolerant sectarian tyrant at the head of the government in Iraq. So Maliki deliberately crushed the areas of Northern and Western Iraq, and tyrannized and oppressed in unprecedented brutality, whenever it receded, he ignited again with provocative acts and sayings to aggravate those areas ... And the sectarian incitement escalated with the creation of the Shiite armed militias, and in return focusing on ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) as being Sunni terrorism, although the movements that have entered Mosul and Tikrit and the others were from several movements, including ISIS... And the matter did not stop at this point, but the neighboring countries raced in highlighting sectarianism... all in the implementation of US policy, and marching behind it Britain, then the agents and the followers who do not want Iraq to be a unified entity, but want it to be a fragmented feuding divergent entity, killing each other! And each party clings stubbornly to have a territory, and the calls for provinces and divisions became publicly proclaimed... And because events occur without concealment, the Kurdistan region realized the reality of the situation, and therefore at a time the rebels controlled Mosul, the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan region came to fully control Kirkuk and the surrounding areas. Reuters quoted on 15/06/2014 Fuad Hussein, Barzani's chief of staff, as saying: "Iraq has entered a new phase that is completely different than before control of Mosul and that the Kurds will discuss how to deal with this new Iraq." النسخة العربية https://www.facebook.com/Ata.abualrashtah/photos/a.154439224724163.1073741827.154433208058098/308043542697063/?type=1&relevant_count=1 Sheikh 'Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashta Regarding what has been Declared by ‪#‎ISIS‬ about the Establishment of the ‪#‎Khilafah‬ (Translated) To all the brothers and sisters who sent inquiries about the declaration of the organization’s establishment of the Khilafah State... and my apologies for not writing your names, they are too long to list… Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatahu, We have previously duly sent an answer and I reiterate: (Dear Brothers and sisters, 1. Any organization that seeks to announce the Khilafah in an area is obligated to follow the Methodology of the Prophet (saw) in it, and from it is that this organization should have the obvious visible authority on the place, where it can maintain security internally and externally, and that this area should have the components of a state in the area where the Khilafah is announced…. This is what the Prophet (saw) performed when he established the Islamic State in Madina Al-Munawarra: the authority was with the Prophet (saw) and the internal and external security was with the authority of Islam and it had the components of a state in the surrounding area. 2. The organization that has announced the Caliphate has neither authority, in either Syria or Iraq, nor did it achieve security and protection internally or externally, even more they have given allegiance (bayah) to a Khaleefah who is unable to declare himself even publicly rather his situation has remained hidden like the situation prior to the declaration of the State! And this is contradictory to what the Messenger of Allah (saw) did. Peace and Blessings upon him was permitted to hide in the Thawr Cave before the state, but after the state, he took care of affairs, led the armies, judged in disputes and sent envoys and received them publicly; thus the situation differed before and after the state… Thus the announcement by the organization of the Khilafah is mere rhetoric without any weight, it is similar to those who announced the Khilafah previously, without authenticity on the ground or components, rather to satisfy something within themselves, so there were some who declared themselves as a Khaleefah and others who declared themselves as a Mahdi, and so on ….without having the components, authority, security or protection! 3. The Khilafah is a state of significance, and the Shariah has stipulated the methodology for its establishment and the manner for its Ahkam (rulings) extraction for ruling, politics, economics and international relations….and it is not be a mere announcement in name only that is broadcasted on websites or printed, visual or audio media outlets. Rather it will be a great event that will shake the entire world, and its roots will be stable in the ground, its authority will maintain security internally and externally on that land, and will implement Islam within it and will carry Islam to the world through Dawah and Jihad. 4. The announcement which occurred was mere rhetoric, which will not increase or decrease in the reality of the state structure. The organization is an armed movement before the announcement and after the announcement. Its circumstance is like other armed movements who fight with others and with the regimes, without any of them being able to attain any authority in Syria or in Iraq or both of them. Had any of these factions, including ISIS, actually been able to establish its authority in an appropriate area, with the components of a state, and subsequently announced the establishment of a Khilafah and it implemented Islam, then it would have been deserving of study to see if the Khilafah actually was established according to the Shariah rules, and then it would have been followed, and that is because the establishment of the Khilafah is a Fard upon all the Muslims and not just on Hizb ut Tahrir, so whoever rightfully establishes it will be followed... However the matter is not like this, rather all the armed movements are militias, which includes ISIS, have neither the elements of state or authority on the ground nor security and protection. Therefore, the announcement by ISIS of the establishment of a Khilafah is mere rhetoric, which is undeserving even of observation as to its reality, since it is visible… 5. However, what is deserving of study and observation are the negative impact of this announcement, regarding the idea of Khilafah among the ordinary people; since the notion of the Khilafah shatters from its mighty position and its great significance for the Muslims. It will plunge from that to a feeble idea, as simply a way of venting frustration by some individuals, so one of them will stand in an open square or in a village and announce that he is the Khaleefah and then he will relegate assuming that what he has done is good! It will lose the importance and greatness of the Khilafah will erode in the hearts of these ordinary people; and it will become no more than a beautiful word, uttered but devoid of any substance…This is what requires observation and especially at this time as the establishment of the Khilafah draws closer than ever before and the Muslims are waiting for it eagerly, and they are seeing Hizb ut Tahrir progressing in the path of the Prophet (saw) in how he established the state in Madina al Munawarra... and they see the live and meaningful interaction, between the Hizb and the Ummah that embraces it. Therefore the Muslims realize from this interaction the meaning of the brotherhood in Islam and they will rejoice with the success of the Hizb in establishing the Khilafah and the wellness in care-taking of affairs and that this would be a genuine Khilafah on the methodology of the Prophethood… At this time this announcement came, it gave an obscure picture if not distorted on the actual reality of the Khilafah in the minds of ordinary people… 6. All of this raises a question, rather several questions ….about the timing of this announcement when the people who made the announcement have no authority, through which they maintain security and protection internally and externally. In fact they only announced simply on Facebook and the media… such timing is dubious, and especially since these armed groups are not established on an ideological structuring allowing for easy penetration and the entry of the evil ones from the East and West, and it is known that the West and East plot against Islam and the Khilafah, and it matters that they distort its image, because they haven’t been able to obliterate its name. They are vigilant that the Khilafah remains merely a name without any weight. Whereas the mighty occurrence that will stun the Kuffar becomes merely a joke for the enemies. 7. Despite the actions of the evil ones, we declare to the enemies of Islam in the East and West and their agents and their ignorant followers that the Khilafah which had led the world for centuries is well-known and not unknown, impregnable in spite of plot and conspiracy. ﴿وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ﴾ “They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but Allah is the best of planners.” [Surah Al-Anfaal 8:30] Allah the All Powerful the Victorious has guided a party for the Khilafah, that includes men for whom neither trade nor sale can divert from the remembrance of Allah, they embrace the Khilafah with their hearts, hearing and sight, they prepare for it with what is needed, and extracted its ruling (ahkam) and its constitution from the source of Islam, including its structure in the governance and administration. They marched to establish it by following exactly the methodology of the Messenger of Allah (saw)... They are, by the Permission of Allah, the shield that resists any distortion, they are the rock upon which the conspiracies of the Kuffar and their agents and followers are shattered by, by the strength of Allah, they are the aware politicians who by the strength of Allah (swt) resist the plot of the enemies of Islam and Muslims and turned it back on its head, ﴾ ﴿وَلَا يَحِيقُ الْمَكْرُ السَّيِّئُ إِلَّا بِأَهْلِهِ “But the evil plot does not besiege except its own authors.” [Surah Faatir 35:43] O My Dear Brothers and Sisters The matter of the Islamic Khilafah is great and its matter enormous, and its establishment will not be mere news in the fraudulent media, rather by the will of Allah (swt) it will be an earthquake that will shake the international order and it will change the face and direction of history… And the Khilafah will return on the methodology of Prophethood as was foretold by the Prophet (saw) and those who will establish it will be like the ones who established the first righteous Khilafah, pure and pious, the Ummah will love them and they will love the Ummah, and they will pray for it and the Ummah will for them, and they will be happy to meet the Ummah and it will be happy to meet them, not that it will hate their presence within it…. This is how the people of the coming Khilafah on the methodology of the Prophethood will be. Allah (swt) will give it to those who are worthy of it, and we make Duaa to Allah that we be from its people, and we make Dua to Allah to enable us to establish it, فَاسْتَبْشِرُوا بِبَيْعِكُمُ الَّذِي بَايَعْتُمْ بِهِ﴾ ﴿ “Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded” [Surah At-Tawba 9: 111] Do not despair from Allah, Allah will neither waste any efforts that you made, nor reject that the Duaa that you make to him, nor dash the hope that you reposed in Him. Therefore, help us through more effort thus proving to Allah your goodness, so He will increase you with goodness, and do not allow mere rhetoric to slow down your serious work. Wassalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatahu Third of Ramadan 1435 AH 01/07/2014 CE Your Brother) End of the answer which I sent earlier. I pray that this answer is sufficient, May Allah grant you success and help you, and May Allah guide us to the righteous matter. Your Brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah 04 Ramadan 1435 AH 02/07/2014 CE
Who is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terrorist group ISIL (file photo) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terrorist group ISIL (file photo) Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:28AM GMT By Kevin Barrett Related Interviews: 'US must be held accountable over ISIL' 'Iraq moving to form unity govt.' The largely unknown leader of the Takfiri terrorist group ISIL has declared himself “caliph” of Islam and rightful ruler of the world’s nearly two billion Muslims. Al-Baghdadi’s declaration was met with a barrage of ridicule. Observers pointed out that al-Baghdadi declared himself Caliph while wearing a Rolex wristwatch – a symbol of enslavement to Western materialist consumer culture. Muslim scholarly authorities – even those deluded enough to support the “Syrian rebels” – have unanimously repudiated Baghdadi’s bogus caliphate. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the best-known pro-Syrian-rebels TV scholar, dismissively rejected Baghdadi’s claim. Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia’s Al-Nahda Party, called Baghdadi’s self-promotion “reckless,” “deceptive,” and “ridiculous.” The most important group working to restore the caliphate, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, said Baghdadi’s proclamation distorted the reality of what a caliphate is supposed to be. Even Assem Barqawi, the spokesperson for the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front – an erstwhile ally of ISIL in the Syrian war – spurned al-Baghdadi’s claim, and ripped ISIL for its brutality. In short, al-Baghdadi and ISIL have no support whatsoever among Muslims. They are loathed even by their fellow ultra-Salafis, Wahhabis and Takfiris. Yet the self-proclaimed “caliph” and his roughly 2000 ISIL followers have been relentlessly promoted by the Zionist-dominated Western media and terror-industry think tanks. For example, terror expert William McCants of the Brookings Institution told the New York Times: “ISIS is now officially the biggest and baddest global jihadi group on the planet… Nothing says ‘hard-core’ like being cast out by Al Qaeda.” A naive, angry young Muslim who saw this in the New York Times might get the idea that ISIL is cool. That’s exactly what the Zionist New York Times and the Zionist Brookings Institution want. Zionist propagandist Sheldon Filger – who treasonously shilled for Israeli citizen Stanley Fischer’s appointment as head of the American Federal Reserve – is also shilling for al-Baghdadi. Filger writes: “The lessons of history itself should compel us to take Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's promise to wage a ferocious worldwide war of vengeance against those he sees as the enemies of God with the utmost seriousness. His sermon in Mosul may very well mark the opening shots of the Third World War...” Worse yet, al-Baghdadi and ISIL are not just being hyped – they are also being armed, trained, and dressed in identical black Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles uniforms. The money is coming from US taxpayers, CIA drug-money slush funds, and CIA-asset Persian Gulf oil sheikhs. Why are the CIA and the Zionists supporting ISIL and promoting al-Baghdadi’s fake caliphate? And why does Israel provide support and medical treatment to ISIL terrorists in Syria? This paradoxical situation – a self-proclaimed “caliph of Islam” who has no support among Muslims, but massive support from Zionists and imperialists – points to an ineluctable conclusion: ISIL is a manufactured fake-opposition group. So who manufactured ISIL – and how? Circumstantial evidence suggests that al-Baghdadi may have been mind-controlled while held prisoner by the US military in Iraq. The American and Zionist authorities are scrambling to hide the fact that al-Baghdadi spent more than five years in US custody. Why would they engage in such a cover-up unless they had something big to hide? Wikipedia, a tool of the Zionist wing of the CIA, is peddling the following falsehood: “According to US Department of Defense records, al-Baghdadi was held at Camp Bucca as a ‘civilian internee’ by US Forces-Iraq from early February 2004 until early December 2004, when he was released. A Combined Review and Release Board recommended an ‘unconditional release’ of al-Baghdadi and there is no record of him being held at any other time.” This may not be an outright lie. There may indeed be “no record” of the fact that al-Baghdadi was held and treated by a secret CIA mind-control unit at Camp Bucca from 2004 until 2009. The records of such a “fabricate a fake ‘radical Muslim’ leader through mind control” operation would undoubtedly be destroyed or concealed behind a high-level National Security classification. But is such a thing really possible? Sadly, yes. CIA mind control technology has made tremendous strides since it began in the 1950s with the lavishly-funded MK Ultra program. MK Ultra was closed around 1960 because it had achieved its objective: Power over the human mind such that a brainwashed “Manchurian candidate” assassin could be created. That is, an ordinary human being, after CIA treatment, could be made to kill someone – anyone – without the slightest conscious awareness of his actions. The most notorious “Manchurian candidate” is Sirhan Sirhan, the mind-control slave who was set up as a patsy in the CIA’s murder of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. The CIA also has a track record of creating cults – and their charismatic leaders. The Reverend Jim Jones, an anti-establishment clergyman, was turned by CIA mind-control into a fire-breathing, charismatic puppet-master, who convinced hundreds of people to join him in a mass suicide. Ironically, the puppet-master was himself a CIA puppet; the mass suicide was a CIA experiment designed to discover whether a large group of political dissidents could be so totally controlled that they would kill themselves on command. This experiment, like the murder of RFK, was a success. More recently, the CIA has been conducting Nazi-style mind-control experiments on Muslim inmates in Guantanamo and other terror prisons. Jon Ronson – a mainstream journalist and bestselling author who generally keeps his humorous distance from “conspiracy theories” – discovered in 2003 that Guantanamo inmate Jamal al-Harith and others had been subjected to torture and “silent sound” mind-control experiments while in US custody. In her book The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein shows that CIA torture is not designed to elicit information. Its real purpose is to “break” the subject so he or she can be mind-controlled. Douglas Rushkoff’s book Coercion explains how CIA mind control works: The subject is “broken,” then the CIA interrogator presents himself as a substitute parent figure and seizes total control of the subject’s mind. That is how Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times in a single month, was convinced by his mind-control torturers that he was involved in the 9/11 attacks. The secrecy surrounding al-Baghdadi’s five years in US custody strongly suggests that the self-proclaimed “caliph of Islam” is actually a Muslim version of Jim Jones. His “Islamic State” is a Muslim Jonestown. It is designed to mass-suicide Islam by turning Muslims against each other. Fortunately, the world’s Muslims are not drinking the kool aid. KB/HJL Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Ph.D. Arabist-Islamologist, is one of America's best-known critics of the War on Terror. Dr. Barrett has appeared many times on Fox, CNN, PBS and other broadcast outlets, and has inspired feature stories and op-eds in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, and other leading publications. Dr. Barrett has taught at colleges and universities in San Francisco, Paris, and Wisconsin, where he ran for Congress in 2008. He is the co-founder of the Muslim-Christian-Jewish Alliance, and author of the books Truth Jihad: My Epic Struggle Against the 9/11 Big Lie (2007) and Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters (2009). His website is www.truthjihad.com. More articles by Dr. Barrett ====== Iraq headed for chaos unless politicians unite, U.N. says Sat, Jul 12 11:33 AM EDT image By Ahmed Rasheed and Maggie Fick BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi soldiers backed by Shi'ite militias fought Sunni rebels for control of a military base northeast of Baghdad on Saturday as a U.N. envoy warned of chaos if divided lawmakers do not make progress on Sunday toward naming a government. Forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched an early morning push to repel Islamic State militants who fought their way on Thursday into a military base on the edge of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of the capital. Heavy fighting raged for hours and was continuing on Saturday afternoon, local security sources said. Sources at the morgue and hospital in the nearby town of Baquba said they had received the bodies of 15 Shi'ite militia fighters transferred after the morning's fighting. State TV also reported that 24 "terrorists" had been killed. Seven civilians including children from nearby villages were killed by helicopter gunship fire, police and medics said. The Sunni militants had moved toward the base after seizing the town of Sadur just to the north, another security source and eyewitnesses said. They were equipped with artillery and mortars and drove vehicles including captured tanks and Humvees. In the western city of Falluja, a hospital received three bodies and 18 wounded people on Saturday after army helicopters bombed the city, government health official Ahmed al-Shami said. Kurdish peshmerga security forces attacked Islamic State positions in Jalawla late Friday night, killing at least 15 militants and three Kurdish security personnel, spokesman Halgurd Hikmat said. The town, in the eastern province of Diyala near the Iranian border, was seized by insurgents last month. Bickering lawmakers in Baghdad are under pressure from the United States, the United Nations and Iraq's own Shi'ite clerics to form a new government swiftly to deal with the Sunni insurgency, which seized territory in the north and west last month, and has held it in the face of ground and air attacks. Few doubt that an inclusive government is needed to hold Iraq together, but there is no consensus on who should lead it. The national parliament elected in April met for the first time on July 1 but failed to agree on nominations for the top three government posts. The U.N. special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said the country could plunge into chaos if parliament fails to move forward on a government in a next session now set for Sunday. He also urged lawmakers to turn up, after fewer than a third attended the first session when Sunnis and Kurds walked out after Shi'ites failed to nominate a premier to replace Maliki. MALIKI SITTING TIGHT Most of Iraq's Sunnis and Kurds demand Maliki leave office, and Shi'ites are divided, but he shows no sign of quitting. Under a system created after the removal of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the prime minister has always been a member of the Shi'ite majority, the speaker of parliament a Sunni and, with one exception, the occupant of the largely ceremonial presidency has been a Kurd. With politics in Baghdad paralyzed, and Maliki continuing in a caretaker role, the fighting rages on. The death toll rose to 30 on Saturday from a suicide bomb attack on Friday at a Kurdish-controlled checkpoint on the southern edge of Kirkuk province, where families fleeing violence in Tikrit and other areas overrun by militants last month were waiting to pass through. Maliki's opponents accuse him of ruling for the Shi'ite majority at the expense of the Sunni and Kurdish minorities, and want him to step aside. Senior Shi'ite parliamentarian Bayan Jaber, a former interior and finance minister, said on Thursday that he hoped the Shi'ite National Alliance bloc, in which Maliki's State of Law coalition is the biggest group, could agree on its nominee for prime minister before Sunday's meeting. But he said that if Maliki remained the sole nominee, "the problem will remain". Prominent Sunni Arab lawmaker Dhafer al-Ani said this week that "partition of Iraq will be the natural result" if the Shi'ite bloc could not put forward another candidate. "If they insist on Maliki as the prime minister, then we will withdraw from the government," he said. "I believe that it would be hard for any Sunni politician to raise his hand and vote for Maliki as prime minister for a third term." The head of the Kurdish Gorran bloc, Aram Sheikh Mohammed, said Kurdish factions would attend Sunday's session, but the prospects of progress were poor. "If Maliki nominates himself, I think neither the Sunnis nor Kurds will nominate their candidates (for speaker and president)," he said. Kurdish forces seized two oilfields in northern Iraq from a state-run oil company on Friday. SECTARIAN KILLINGS The political deadlock raises fears that Iraq could splinter along ethnic and sectarian lines, a reality already playing out in parts of the country. Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, urged fighters on Friday to respect the rights of all Iraqis, regardless of sect or politics. There have been many reports of disappearances and suspected mass killings since the insurgents' offensive began last month. A prominent man in the Sunni majority town of Buhriz, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad was kidnapped from his home on Friday night and found dead hours later, police said. Tensions are high in Sunni areas north of Baghdad where Islamic State militants have lashed out at communities they see as supporting government forces. Iraqi security forces and government affiliated militias appear to have unlawfully executed at least 255 prisoners over the past month in apparent revenge for killings by Islamic State fighters, a Human Rights Watch report said. (Additional reporting by Raheem Salman, Dominic Evans and Reuters TV in Baghdad, Kamal Namaa in Ramadi, and Isabel Coles in Arbil; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Kevin Liffey and David Evans) ======================================================================= View translation أمريكا تعاقب شركة اماراتية لبيعها مواد نفطية الى الحكومة السورية. الامارات تواصل النفاق السياسي ، تعلن دعم المقاومة وفي السر تدعم بشار ! America punish the UAE company to sell oil products to the Syrian Government. Political hypocrisy continues, the support of the resistance in support of Bashar! نـفــود الدهـيـم ‏@nfuod · Jul 5 View translation إعتقال وتعذيب 3 قطريين في #أبوظبي حسبهم الله ونعم الوكيل، إن الله يمهل ولا يهمل! Sadrist leader Muqtada al-Sadr, Saturday, his support for the State of law coalition candidate for the Premiership as the largest bloc in the national coalition, noting that "the nomination is valid within the coalition would be a Pope to end suffering, Sadr said in a statement that" Although brother Maliki has plunged himself and takes us with security rhetoric long but great political crises, and in particular the cooperation of the Iraqi judiciary in the largest coalition bloc replaced most, but with all this I think that you should To submit a candidate prime are brothers of the State of law coalition and especially after Al-Maliki last that he would renounce the Premiership if the candidate from the State of law. " Sadr said that "the candidate must be from the State of law coalition as the largest bloc within the National Alliance which was not previously" disagree, noting that "If the nomination is valid from within a State of law, especially after the Iraqi Parliament waived brother Osama Al-nujaifi, thankfully this would be Pope to end the suffering of his exalted". Sadr stressed the need to "respect and activating the National Alliance within legal frameworks, national and otherwise it will be blank the content, and do not be consequences as unique by the hand without the other," stressing "the national spirit and parental top purpose and names of characters and clusters". Http://bashaer.iq/permalink/5113.html Forum on the Gospels (Translated by Bing) ISIS jihadists demolish mosques, shrines in northern Iraq (PHOTOS) Published time: July 05, 2014 17:18 Blast, Iraq, Politics, Religion, Security, Terrorism Islamic militant sect, ISIS, which has been rampaging across the north and west of Iraq since last month, has been demolishing sacred sites such as shrines and mosques around the historic northern city of Mosul in Nineveh province. Photographs from the area posted online under the banner “Demolishing shrines and idols in the state of Nineveh” depicted mosques being turned into piles of rubble – explosives deployed against Shiite buildings - and bulldozers flattening the shrines. At least four shrines to Sunni Arab or Sufi figures have been destroyed by the bulldozers, according to AFP. The structures had been built around graves of Muslim saints. Six Shiite mosques have also been destroyed using explosives. “We feel very sad for the demolition of these shrines, which we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers,” 51-year-old Mosul resident Ahmed told AFP. “They are landmarks in the city,” he said. Local residents verified that buildings had been destroyed and two cathedrals occupied to the agency. Crosses at the front of Mosul’s Chaldean cathedral and Syrian Orthodox cathedral were removed and replaced with the black flag of the Islamic State. Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES on the Iraq crisis The city of Tal Afar, approximately 70km west of Mosul, was also targeted, with a Shiite Huseiniya temple being blown up. One of the shrines destroyed had survived a prior targeting by the group on June 24. “Dozens of men, women and children formed a human wall and surrounded the sacred shrine of Sheikh Fathi in al-Mushahada neighbourhood of western Mosul and prevented the terrorists from storming it,” Ninawa tribal council deputy head Ibrahim al-Hassan told Al-Shorfa shortly after the incident. Sheikh Fathi’s shrine – one of Mosul’s most important, dating back to 1760, was among those destroyed. Mosul was captured on June 10 when Sunni militants drove Iraq’s army out of the city. Thousands of civilians fled as jihadists took control of the city against the Shi’ite majority Baghdad government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Maliki has sworn to defeat the jihadists; on Friday he stated publicly that: “Pulling out of the battlefield while facing terrorist organizations that are against Islam and humanity would show weakness instead of carrying out my legitimate, national and moral responsibility.” “I have vowed to God that I will continue to fight by the side of our armed forces and volunteers until we defeat the enemies of Iraq and its people,” he said. = Baghdad: Self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made an unprecedented appearance in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which his forces helped capture last month, and ordered Muslims to obey him, according to a video posted online. That marks a significant change for the shadowy jihadist, whose Islamic State (IS) group led a lightning offensive that overran swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad. The onslaught has alarmed world leaders, displaced hundreds of thousands and piled pressure on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as he seeks a third term in office following April elections. The video posted Saturday showed a portly man clad in a long black robe and turban with a long greying beard addressing worshippers at weekly prayers at Al-Nur mosque in central Mosul. "I am the wali (leader) who presides over you, though I am not the best of you. So if you see that I am right, assist me," said the man, purportedly Baghdadi. "If you see that I am wrong, advise me and put me on the right track, and obey me as long as I obey God." - Pan-Islamic 'caliphate' - Text superimposed on the video identified the man as "Caliph Ibrahim", the name Baghdadi took when the group on June 29 declared a "caliphate", a pan-Islamic state last seen in Ottoman times, in which the leader is both political and religious. The video is the first ever official appearance by Baghdadi, said Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on Islamist movements, though the jihadist leader may have appeared in a 2008 video under a different name. Baghdadi is believed to have been born in the Iraqi city of Samarra in 1971, and joined the insurgency against the US military following the 2003 invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. He spent time in a US military prison and eventually took over leadership of a group, then affiliated with Al-Qaeda and known as the Islamic State of Iraq, in 2010. At the time, the group was believed to be on the ropes, but Baghdadi led it back to prominence. Last year, the organisation expanded into Syria, becoming a major player in the war to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Baghdadi subsequently cut all ties to Al-Qaeda, and his influence now rivals that of that group's global chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Influential Sunni Muslim scholar Yusef Al-Qaradawi, meanwhile, warned that the establishment of a caliphate by "a group known for its atrocities and radical views does not serve the Islamic project". The title of caliph can only be "given by the entire Muslim nation", not by a single group, the cleric added. IS is known for its brutality, executing and crucifying opponents, and photographs emerged Saturday showing its militants demolishing Sunni and Shiite mosques and shrines in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province. Iraqi security forces wilted when faced with the initial IS-led onslaught, and while they have since performed more capably, they have struggled to retake territory from insurgents. An assault on Saddam's hometown of Tikrit has gone on for more than a week without retaking the city, while a suicide car bomb killed 15 people Friday near the sensitive shrine city of Samarra. The group, formerly called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, renamed itself simply the Islamic State last week. Iraq has reached out for international assistance and Washington has sent military advisers, but Baghdad's request for American air strikes against the militants has been rebuffed. Tehran has also pledged assistance, and state media reported Saturday that an Iranian pilot was killed in Iraq, without providing details on whether he died while flying sorties or fighting on the ground. Maliki's security spokesman, meanwhile, told AFP Saturday that ground forces commander Ali Ghaidan and federal police chief Mohsen al-Kaabi have both been sacked, the most senior officers to be dismissed since the militant offensive began. - Government formation deadlock - The crisis has polarised Iraq's Shiite Arab, Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities, just as their leaders look to form a new government following April elections. Maliki, labelled at home and abroad as authoritarian and sectarian, insisted Friday that he would not give up on his quest for a third term. He pointed to his strong electoral mandate, in which his bloc won nearly three times more seats than its closest challenger. His remarks came after a farcical parliamentary session in which Iraq's various factions -- many of which strongly oppose him staying -- failed to unite and choose a speaker. That sparked criticism from abroad and from the country's top Shiite religious leader. Further highlighting Iraqi disunity, the leader of the country's autonomous Kurds has called on their lawmakers to work towards holding a referendum on independence. The Kurds' long-held dream of statehood has been advanced by the latest crisis, with their forces having moved in to take control of disputed territory they want to incorporate over Baghdad's strong objections. ====== Iraq names moderate Sunni parliament speaker in move to break political deadlock Tue, Jul 15 14:20 PM EDT image 1 of 5 By Isra' al-Rubei'i and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi politicians named a moderate Sunni Islamist as speaker of parliament on Tuesday, a long-delayed first step towards a power-sharing government urgently needed to save the state from disintegration in the face of a Sunni uprising. But after quickly picking Salim al-Jabouri as speaker, lawmakers argued bitterly for hours over his Shi'ite deputy, suggesting they are still far from a deal on a new government or a decision on the fate of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Iraq's army and allied Shi'ite militia launched an assault to retake the executed former dictator Saddam Hussein's home city Tikrit from the al Qaeda offshoot known as the Islamic State and allied militants, who seized it in mid-June during a lightning assault through the north. The stunning advance by the militants over the past month has put Iraq's very survival in jeopardy even as its politicians have been deadlocked over forming a new government since an election in April. Maliki, whose State of Law coalition won the most seats but would need allies to form a government, has ruled since the election as a caretaker, defying demands from Sunnis and Kurds that he step aside for a less-polarising figure. Washington has made clear that setting up a more inclusive government in Baghdad is a requirement for its military support against the insurgency. Under Iraq's governing system in place since the post-Saddam Hussein constitution was adopted in 2005, the prime minister is a member of the Shi'ite majority, the speaker a Sunni and the largely ceremonial president a Kurd. Each of the three is meant to have two deputies, drawn from the other two groups. Picking the Sunni speaker is parliament's first task, but Sunni leaders had previously refused to nominate one until a deal was reached on a prime minister. Parliament now has 30 days to elect a president, who will then have 15 days to nominate a prime minister. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Maliki's predecessor as premier and now head of the National Alliance, a Shi'ite umbrella group that includes Maliki's State of Law bloc and rivals, hinted that a wider deal had been reached: the alliance would vote for Jabouri and expected support from Sunni politicians in return. "It is the nature of any deal that any commitment should be mutual. It doesn't make sense that we support them and they don't support us," Jaafari said. However, he did not specify whether the Shi'ites now intended to nominate Maliki for a third term as prime minister or choose another candidate. Parliament chose Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's State of Law bloc, as the Shi'ite deputy speaker, but only after three rounds of voting and hours of contentious debate, during which he was unexpectedly challenged for the post by Ahmad Chalabi, a former ally of the United States. Although Chalabi eventually withdrew, his decision to stand suggested ongoing discord within the Shi'ite alliance over how to allocate top posts, perhaps including the premiership itself. However, the decision to award the deputy speaker's post to Maliki's ally Abadi could increase the likelihood that the prime minister steps aside: an aide to a senior Kurdish politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that in the past the Shi'ite parties had chosen deputy speakers from outside the prime minister's bloc, to maintain unity among Shi'ite factions. SHARP SWORD Iraq's army and allied Shi'ite militia have managed to halt the advance of Sunni fighters north of Baghdad but have struggled to recapture territory, launching several attempts so far to retake Tikrit. The Defence Ministry said troops launched their latest assault on the Tigris River city, operation "Sharp Sword", at dawn on Tuesday, attacking from the south and battling insurgents in the southern districts. An officer taking part in Tuesday's assault said uniformed volunteer fighters and militia forces, including the Shi'ite Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, were fighting alongside the army while following orders from their own militia commanders. The assault was launched from the village of Saddam's birth, Awja, some 8 km (5 miles) south of the city which the army retook on the night of July 3. Tuesday's initial fighting focused around the Shishin district of south Tikrit, the officer and another soldier said, adding that the army was also heading towards Saddam's former presidential palace compounds, where Islamic State fighters had held captives and run their Islamic court trials. Soldiers were also fighting to take Tikrit hospital on strategic high ground. Across the Tigris River to the east, the army landed paratroopers in Albu Ajeel, a village where Iraqiya state television said some insurgents had fled. One army officer in the fighting said they were surprised the resistance they experienced was less fierce than expected. Five civilians including two young girls and an elderly woman were killed when by stray fire from an army helicopter, a local police officer said. The Sunni insurgency is led by the Islamic State, which shortened its name from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after last month's advance into Iraq and declared its leader caliph - ruler of all Muslims. It now controls a swathe of territory from Aleppo in Syria close to the Mediterranean to the outskirts of Baghdad. In Iraq last month it initially won the support of other armed Sunni groups, including tribal fighters and Saddam loyalists, but there have been signs that those groups are turning against the al Qaeda offshoot in recent days. Residents of a town north of Baghdad found 12 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds on Monday following fighting overnight between Islamic State fighters and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by Saddam loyalists. Washington hopes a more inclusive government in Baghdad could save Iraq by persuading moderate Sunnis to turn against the insurgency, as many did during the "surge" offensive in 2006-2007 when U.S. troops paid them to switch sides. Two suicide bombers detonated explosive-packed cars at a restaurant on the road between Samarra and Tikrit, a witness said. A doctor at Samarra hospital said 12 soldiers and volunteer fighters were killed in the blast. In the town of Mada'in, southeast of Baghdad, two bombs at an army recruitment centre killed nine people, police and medical sources said. In Yousefiya, also south of Baghdad, four soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb on their patrol. In Falluja, which fell to Islamist militants and other insurgents in January, shelling and air strikes began near dawn and continued through the morning. A doctor at Falluja hospital said five people were killed and 17 wounded, including a child. Helicopters dropped barrels loaded with explosive in the town of Karma, northeast of Falluja, killing four civilians and wounding 22, a source at the town's hospital said. The hospital was later bombed so severely that it could not receive patients, the source said. Fighting has yet to reach Baghdad itself, but the capital is frequently attacked by bombers. Two car bombs in quick succession in the Shi'ite Sadr City district killed 12 people and wounded more than 20, police and hospital sources said. (Additional reporting by a correspondent in Salahuddin province, Maggie Fick in Baghdad, Isabel Coles in Arbil, Kamal Namaa in Anbar province; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Graff) ===============
Reidar Visser says Full Atrticle: http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2014/07/15/the-iraqi-parliament-elects-its-new-speakership/ Claims and counter-claims continue ----- The vote today was historical also for reasons beyond the ongoing struggle against ISIS. Above all, it is the first time in Iraq’s post-2003 history that Iraqi deputies have followed the constitution to the letter and held a separate vote on the parliament speaker and his two deputies.The votes on the new speaker and his two deputies were in themselves interesting, although not much is known about voting patterns because of the secrecy (paper ballots) with which the votes were conducted. Firstly, Salim al-Jibburi (originally of the Sunni Islamist Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) from Diyala and currently part of a wider Sunni alliance headed by Usama al-Nujayfi, the former parliament speaker), won the speakership itself with an impressive 194 votes, far more than the required absolute majority of 165 votes. His challenger, Shuruq al-Abaji (a female MP) from a smaller secular bloc got only 19 votes--- The first deputy vote was more dramatic, with Ahmed Chalabi mounting a surprise internal Shiite challenge to Haydar al-Abbadi of the Maliki list. Abbadi did win the competition with Chalabi 149-107 but that was not enough for an absolute majority. Chalabi then withdrew and Abbadi won the second vote with 188 votes, though 76 deputies voted blank. The bomb represented by the Chalabi challenge may have been an attempt at testing the waters for a forthcoming premier candidacy and his ability to attract votes outside the Shia alliance, although it has been suggested that it is difficult to compare the Abbadi-Chalabi struggle with a future Maliki-Chalabi struggle because Abbadi has more friends than Maliki outside his own faction. At any rate, it was quite impressive for Maliki’s coalition to gain 149 votes for Abbadi in today’s heated political atmosphere, where the advance of ISIS has been so marked that it could now be hurting Maliki more than it is helping him. Perhaps the most important result of today’s vote was the leap of faith that Iraqi politicians conducted. Shiites and Kurds voted for the Sunni Islamist Jibburi as speaker without any guarantees regarding the deputy speakers – not to speak about the president or the PM. This in turn could have positive side effects, and hopefully the president will be duly elected in the same manner and with adherence to the constitutional timeline – 30 days from the first parliament meeting on 1 July.
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