Islamic State launch gunboat attack on river-side town: "Degrade and Destroy" Islamic State

U.S. banks on strong Iraq coalition, but allies are hesitant Sat, Sep 13 04:36 AM EDT image By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - The United States says it is "comfortable" it can forge an international coalition to fight Islamic State, but with Western and Middle Eastern allies hesitant, it risks finding itself out on a limb. President Barack Obama this week unveiled a rough plan to fight the Islamist militants simultaneously in Iraq and Syria, thrusting the United States directly into two different wars in which nearly every country in the region has a stake. The broad concept of a coalition has been accepted in Western capitals and on Thursday 10 Arab states, including rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar, signed up to a "co-ordinated military campaign". "I'm comfortable that this will be a broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States, others," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Ankara on Friday. But he added it was "premature" to set out what tasks individual coalition partners would shoulder. And the devil could be in the details. "This coalition has to be efficient and targeted," said a senior French diplomat. "We have to keep our autonomy. We don't want to be the United States' subcontractor. For the moment they haven't made their intentions clear to us." The United States and Britain pulled out of striking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year hours before French planes had been due to take off, leaving President Francois Hollande embarrassed and isolated. This time around Paris wants clear commitment and international legality for any action in Syria. In Iraq, it wants a political plan encompassing all sides of society to be in place for the period after Islamic State (IS) is weakened. "The coalition must be the most legal possible," said former French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine. "It needs members of the Security Council and as many Arab countries as possible and there has to be a follow-up. Otherwise it will all start again in three months. There needs to be a long-term vision." That is the idea of a conference in Paris on Sept. 15 that will bring Iraqi authorities together with 15-20 international players. The talks come ahead of a U.N. Security Council ministerial meeting on Sept. 19 and a heads of state meeting at the U.N. General Assembly at the end of the month. "The goal is to coordinate aid, support and action for the unity of Iraq and against this terrorist group," Hollande, the first Western leader to travel to Iraq since Islamic State's advances in June, told reporters in Baghdad on Friday. France has so far sent weapons to Kurdish fighters in Iraq and humanitarian aid. It is likely to send about 250 special forces troops to help direct strikes for Rafale fighter jets. But what it can offer is limited. France's forces are stretched, with more than 5,000 troops in Mali and Central African Republic. Its planned 450 million euros overseas defense budget for 2014 is already over a billion euros, at a time when the government is under severe pressure to cut spending. BRITAIN KEEN - TO A DEGREE Britain, Washington's main ally in 2003, has sent mixed messages. It has stressed the West should not go over the heads of regional powers or neglect the importance of forming an inclusive government in Iraq. Like France, it is also cautious about action in Syria because of legal questions and Syrian government air defenses. In Iraq, it has delivered humanitarian aid, carried out surveillance, given weapons to Kurds and promised training. On military action, Britain supports U.S. air strikes and Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly said Britain itself has ruled nothing out except combat troops on the ground. "We need to keep working closely and talking, thinking about the strategy. It shouldn’t be presented too much as ‘here is the plan, these are the roles, who wants what’," said a British government official. With an election less than nine months away, the British government is well aware of public opposition to Britain's role in invading Iraq with the United States in 2003. Cameron is also scarred by the memory of an embarrassing parliamentary defeat last summer, when he recalled MPs during the summer recess only to fail to win their approval to leave open the possibility of military action against Syria. Members of the government have said they would again try to seek authorization from parliament for involvement in any strikes, unless it became necessary to act quickly due to a humanitarian emergency or a threat to Britain. "As the global resolve to tackle (IS) strengthens, we will consider carefully what role the United Kingdom should play in the international coalition," Foreign Office Minister David Lidington said on Friday. "The basic fact is that no decisions about UK military action have been taken or are being asked of us at the moment." Most other European countries appear unwilling to go beyond humanitarian and logistical aid. Germany and the Czech Republic have promised to help arm the Kurds. But Berlin has been adamant it will not take part in air strikes. NATO is ready to facilitate and coordinate airlift supplies, and could offer training to Iraqi forces. "We have to try to support and sustain the local protagonists who may be able to stop and contain Islamic State in those areas," Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said. "The Americans have chosen to carry out air strikes. We haven't yet chosen that," she said. ARABS AND TURKS ON BOARD? The U.S.-led coalition will want active military support from Middle Eastern states, to at least avoid the appearance of waging a Western "crusade". In the campaign to bring down former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the United Arab Emirates contributed to air strikes, while Qatar provided weapons to rebels. But in Iraq, the stakes for regional players are higher. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt are unlikely to want to take a key role in military operations. "The situation is critical on our border because (Islamic State) are close. Yes, Saudi Arabia is ready to help, but America must first show it is with us now," said a Saudi Arabian military officer in Paris last week. Turkey, a NATO member which shares long borders with both Syria and Iraq, has so far also conspicuously avoided committing itself to the new military campaign. U.S. officials have played down hopes of persuading Ankara to take a combat role, focusing more on Turkey's efforts to stem the flow of foreign fighters crossing its territory and the provision of humanitarian aid. From the early days of the Syrian conflict, Turkey has backed mainly Sunni rebels fighting Assad. Although it is alarmed by Islamic State's rise, it is wary about any military action that might weaken Assad's foes. It is also nervous about strengthening Kurds in Iraq and Syria. Turkey's own Kurdish militants waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state and are engaged in a delicate peace process. Pro-government newspapers on Friday welcomed Ankara's reluctance to take a frontline role in the coalition, questioning whether U.S.-led military action was the answer and drawing parallels with 2003, when Turkey's parliament rejected a U.S. request to use Turkish territory to invade Iraq. "In a coalition, you are not expected to do the same things. Some can provide humanitarian help, others financial and others military support," said another French diplomat. "The importance is that everything is coherent." (Additional reporting by Adrian Croft in Brussels, Kylie MacLellan in London and Jazon Szep in Ankara; Editing by Andrew Roche and Tom Heneghan) ====

Reidar Visser on Tuesday, 9 September 2014 1:40 no major promises have been issued along the lines of the pompous ( 1. Characterized by excessive self-esteem or exaggerated dignity; pretentious) Erbil agreement of 2010. In itself, perhaps not a bad thing. Also the timing of the whole process is admirable, for the first time entirely consistent with the Iraqi constitution. ISCI was awarded additional ministries, Badr and the Sadrists seem to have only two each, though the Sadrists also control one of the three deputy premier positions. Badr was at one point on the verge of boycotting the entire session after they were denied the interior ministry portfolio. As in previous government formations, the PM kept these portfolios for himself, though promising to present candidates within a week. The vice presidents have even less power, and it is an ironic sight to now have three major players in the previous term – Nuri al-Maliki, Ayad Allawi and Usama al-Nujayfi – in these sinecure-like positions. On a legal and constitutional note, parliament speaker Jibburi made it clear during the vote that he intends to follow a supreme court ruling that says “absolute majority” in the Iraqi constitution means “absolute majority of those present” as long as “absolute majority of parliament membership” is not expressly mentioned. This seems to indicate that whereas all blocs may have supported their candidates and made a strategic decision to be inside the government, wholehearted enthusiasm is still not widespread

. ====== Kerry calls new Baghdad government 'heart' of fight against Islamic State Wed, Sep 10 22:59 PM EDT image 1 of 7 By Jason Szep BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday endorsed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's plans to mend Baghdad's relations with Sunnis and Kurds, and said Iraq's new government was "the heart and backbone" of the fight against Islamic State. Kerry, on a tour of the Middle East to build military, political and financial support to defeat the militants controlling parts of Iraq and Syria, said: "We all have an interest in supporting the new government of Iraq."

" "The coalition that is at the heart of our global strategy I assure you will continue to grow and deepen in the days ahead ... because the United States and the world will simply not stand by to watch as ISIL's evil spreads." he said, using an alternative acronym for Islamic State. A new and inclusive Iraqi government has to be the engine of our global strategy against ISIL. Now the Iraqi parliament has approved a new cabinet with new leaders, with representation from all Iraqi communities, it’s full steam ahead."

In a statement later, after a speech by President Barack Obama in Washington laying out his strategy that depends on a strong coalition, Kerry said the new Baghdad government "forms the heart and the backbone of our anti-ISIL efforts." Obama sought to rally Americans behind another war in a region he has long sought to leave, backed by what Washington hopes will be a coalition of NATO and Gulf Arab allies committed to a campaign that could stretch beyond the end of Obama’s term in 2016. U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia, where Kerry will meet many regional allies on Thursday, had agreed to host a training program for Syrian rebels who the United States hopes will eventually help in the fight against the Islamist State. Kerry told Abadi he was encouraged by his plans for "reconstituting" the military and his commitment to political reforms reaching out to all of Iraq's religious and ethnic communities. Abadi formed his government on Monday in what was billed as a break from the more abrasive style of his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki, whose policies were blamed by many Iraqis for fuelling sectarianism and pushing the country to the brink of collapse. Islamic State fighters seized large chunks of Iraq's north and west this year, welcomed by many of the Sunni Muslim minority, who blamed the government for targeting them with indiscriminate arrests and discriminatory policies. Abadi appealed to the international community to help Iraq fight Islamic State, urging them "to act immediately to stop the spread of this cancer." Abadi faces multiple crises, from the need to convince the Sunnis they should stand with Baghdad against Islamic State to persuading minority Kurds not to break away and convincing his own majority Shi'ites he can protect them from Sunni hardliners. Kerry highlighted Abadi's readiness "to move forward rapidly on the oil agreements necessary for the Kurds, (and) on the representation of Sunnis in government." In a sign of the eagerness among Iraq's political elite for a fresh start, new Parliament Speaker Selim al-Jubouri, a Sunni, told Kerry: "We are ... hopeful that we will be able to defeat terrorist organisations and establish democracy in Iraq." ENTRENCHED SECTARIAN TENSIONS Unlike his predecessor, Abadi enjoys the support of nearly all of Iraq's major political groups, and the two most influential outside powers, Iran and the United States. U.S. officials hope he will present a unified front to weaken Islamic State, which has seized a third of both Iraq and Syria. But it will be hard to placate all the forces in Iraq. On Wednesday, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, head of a powerful Shi'ite movement, said Iraq should not cooperate with "occupiers", a reference to the United States. Sadr's opinions hold sway over tens of thousands of militants. Three car bombs exploded on Wednesday in a Shi'ite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 29, a police officer said. While it is unclear what steps will be taken to strengthen the Iraqi army after its collapse in the face of an Islamic State onslaught in June, the senior U.S. official said tentative plans for a new National Guard unit, announced by Abadi on Monday, were intended to deprive Islamic State of safe havens by handing over security to the provinces. Abadi in parliament on Monday described the proposed National Guard units as a means to absorb the Shi'ite militia groups now taking up the slack for a badly depleted army in fighting Islamic State. Iraqi and U.S. officials have said the units would be a mechanism for Sunni Muslims to defend their provinces against Islamic State. Kerry also touted the idea during his visit, saying he expected Abadi to take up the initiative in next week's cabinet meeting. Baghdad has lost control of the main Sunni provinces and the central government has yet to convince Sunnis it can be trusted. Sectarian tensions appeared as entrenched as ever, possibly worsened by a month of U.S. air strikes on Sunni jihadists. While Kurdish and Shi'ite fighters have regained ground, Sunni Muslims who fled the violence near the northern town of Amerli are being prevented from returning home and some have had their houses pillaged and torched. Sunni Arabs are also feeling a backlash in villages where they used to live alongside Kurds, who accuse them of collaborating with Islamic State. On Wednesday, Shi'ite militia north of Baghdad forced dozens of Sunni families from their homes during an offensive, stealing possessions and burning houses, a Shi'ite policeman and government source told Reuters, asking for anonymity to allow them to report on the offensive, which they said they opposed. While the U.S. official praised weeks of U.S. air strikes as "highly precise" and "strategically effective", he acknowledged much work lay ahead. "It’s going to be a very difficult, long road to get there," he said. Any campaign to defeat Islamic State could take one to three years, Kerry said. Kerry was to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah later on Wednesday, and travel on Thursday to Saudi Arabia for talks that will include Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which comprises Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. Saudi Arabia is unnerved by the rapid advance of Islamic State and fears it could radicalise some of its own citizens. A senior U.S. official in Washington, speaking after a phone call between Obama and Saudi King Abdullah to discuss cooperation on Islamic State, said there was "a commitment from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... to be a full partner with us," including by hosting the rebels' training program. Arab League foreign ministers agreed on Sunday to take all necessary measures to confront Islamic State. In Jordan, Kerry is expected to receive requests for extra military aid, including helicopters and border security equipment, along with part of the $500 million the Obama administration has proposed to accelerate training of moderate Syrian rebels, a Jordanian official told Reuters. French President Francois Hollande will travel to Baghdad on Friday ahead of a conference of regional and international powers in Paris on Monday to coordinate efforts to tackle Islamic State. (Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Baghdad, Isabel Coles in Arbil, Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman, John Irish in Paris, Adrian Croft in Milan and Angus McDowall in Riyadh; Editing by Janet Lawrence, David Storey and Eric Walsh) ==== Top News Blast kills leader of Syrian Islamist group, other top figures Tue, Sep 09 16:39 PM EDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - An explosion killed the leader of one of Syria's most powerful Islamist insurgent groups Ahrar al-Sham on Tuesday, the group said, and an organization that monitors violence in the civil war said at least 28 of its commanders had died. Ahrar al-Sham is a hardline Islamist group and part of the Islamic Front alliance that has been in armed conflict with the Islamic State group which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. A statement posted on Ahrar al-Sham's official Twitter feed said the blast had hit a meeting in Idlib province in northwest Syria and confirmed Hassan Aboud, the group's leader, among at least 12 dead. "We don't know the cause of the explosion yet," Abu Mustafa al-Absi, a member of Ahrar al-Sham's politburo told Al-Jazeera TV in an interview. "We do not rule out the infiltration of elements who were able to plant a bomb," he added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group, said some 50 of the group's leaders had been gathered at a house when the blast went off. Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, said the blast had occurred inside the meeting. Ahrar al-Sham, which is widely believed to have received funding from Gulf states, aims to implement Islamic sharia law in Syria. It was at one point considered the strongest insurgent group in the Syrian civil war. Syrian state TV flashed an urgent news headline reporting Aboud's death. Syria descended into civil war after an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule in 2011. The United Nations recently put the death toll above 191,000 people. In January another senior Ahrar al-Sham leader, Abu Khaled al-Soury, was killed in a suicide attack. Soury had fought alongside al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was close to its current chief Ayman al-Zawahri. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) ==== https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MUU-EZw7zM Mon, Sep 08 05:53 AM EDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters attacked a riverside town north of Baghdad on Monday with gunboats and a car bomb, killing 17 people and wounding 54, a security source said. The source said the attack on Dhuluiya, around 70 km (45 miles) from the capital, was carried out before dawn and continued for two hours before the militants were pushed back. Among the dead in the attack, the largest of its kind in the area, were civilians and Iraqi forces. Most of the casualties were caused by the car bomb, which struck a market, the source said. Dhuluiya is part of a belt of Sunni Muslim towns north of Baghdad where the hardline Sunni Muslim Islamic State has managed to wrestle some control, often aligning with local militia who distrust the Shi'ite-led government. Islamic State fighters took advantage of the chaos in Iraq to muscle in and become the dominant force among Sunnis. US President Barack Obama ordered air strikes in northern Iraq last month as Kurdish-controlled territory fell to the Islamic State and the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan looked in danger. These have since spread to central Iraq. A tribal source near the Kurdish city of Kirkuk said Iraqi Air Force jets bombed two areas near the town of Hawijah, killing 14 civilians in Islamic State-controlled territory. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Dominic Evans) Kirk H. Sowell ‏@UticensisRisk 2m The breakdown of talks b/n Abadi & the Kurds is precisely what I expected given Abadi's record on oil & budget issues. ==================== Underage and trapped: female Iraqi factory workers need help BABIL, Iraq — Shayma Hassan, 16, walks 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) each day to the brick factory in Bahr al-Najaf in the city of Najaf, 161 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad. Her hectic work day starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. Summary⎙ Print A tougher framework is needed to protect Iraqi girls who are working illegally in factories, as many are being exploited, harassed and sexually abused. Author Wassim Bassem Posted September 2, 2014 Translator(s)Cynthia Milan Along with four other women, Shayma moves bricks out of molds and into and out of the oven. For all this hard work, she gets paid $7 per day. “I never went to school because I live in the village and I need to make money. My only hope now is to have my own family, since my mother decided that I should get married,” she told Al-Monitor. Even when she's ill, Shayma has to work in this polluted environment to put food on the table, especially since her mother, who used to work in the same factory, is sick and can only take care of some plants around the house. Shayma’s employer Abu Haidar, who preferred not to give his full name, told Al-Monitor, while Shayma timidly stared at the floor, “The women here work with dignity and I help them with their living expenses." However, Abu Haidar added, “The wage is minimal, but most of the brick factories are no longer as profitable as they were before.” Many girls who work are violating the Iraqi labor law. For instance, the girls who work in the plastic waste recycling factories in the city of al-Mahawil, north of Hillah in the center of Babil province (100 kilometers, or 62 miles, south of Baghdad) are not 16 yet. The labor law prohibits minors from working and stipulates that education is mandatory up to age 16. In these factories, young girls work tirelessly on assorting garbage before putting it into thermal and plastic cutting machines for recycling. Saad al-Heli, the owner of a plastic waste recycling factory, told Al-Monitor, “Girls are more suitable [for this work] than boys, since they are more compliant.“ Fatimah, 16, told Al-Monitor, as she cleaned her face and hair from the plastic ooze coming from the machine, “I get paid $5 for about 6 hours of work.” As all other girls there, Fatimah comes from a poor family and has never been to school. However, she prefers to work in this female-only factory, because she was a victim of sexual assault when she worked in a factory with men. Fatimah refused to give details concerning the incident and she simply commented, “Working with men is risky,” referring to the incident. This is probably why Heli does not hire boys to work with the girls in his factory. “They created many problems and the police had to interfere,” he said. But he seems fine with hiring underage girls, saying, “There is no real supervision and I make sure to treat them like my own daughters.” Ghofran Majed, a local feminist activist, told Al-Monitor in the town of Babil: “Hiring uneducated young girls has serious social repercussions. … Field studies show that many working girls become victims of oppression and sexual harassment, which delays their marriage. Most of these young girls come from poor families that allow them to work because they need the money.” Ferial Mhamdawi, 15, has been working in factories since she was a child. She got married at a very young age, probably two or three years ago (parents in these regions of Iraq marry their daughters off at age 11 or 12), but is now divorced and back at work. “The biggest mistake of my life was not attending school,” she said. She married a man 20 years her senior who accused her of being involved with another man, which led to their divorce. In general, girls often become the victim of rumors that affects their reputation, according to social researcher Sakinah Daoud, who told Al-Monitor, “The future of young working girls remains uncertain until they get married. In case they do not, they risk [getting involved] in prostitution and the sex trade.” Suheila Abbas, a member of the council of Babil, told Al-Monitor: “The solution to this phenomenon is to create a social protection network, which prevents child labor as well as the labor of young girls, in addition to establishing laws that penalize illegal employment.” This first step, Abbas said, “Is to create job opportunities under the auspices of the government, while simultaneously launching civil society initiatives to provide medical care and proper education for all segments of society, especially women and children who are forced to work.” Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/iraq-underage-girls-working-illegal-exploitation.html#ixzz3CioK2JyP =========================== Iraq's Shi'ite militia, Kurds use U.S. air strikes to further own agendas Tue, Sep 09 03:33 AM EDT image By Isabel Coles SULEIMAN BEG Iraq (Reuters) - A small group of people pick through putrefying human remains laid out on plastic sheets by the side of a road in northern Iraq, searching for any trace of missing friends and relatives. Some had brought spades to help dig up the mass grave near Suleiman Beg after the town was retaken from Sunni Islamic State militants who held the area until last week. "They (Islamic State) slaughtered him simply because he was Shi'ite," said Jomaa Jabratollah, hauling the remnants of his friend, a truck driver, into a coffin, having identified him from the lighter in his breast pocket. "We must take revenge". Helped by the United States and Iran, Kurdish forces and Shi’ite militia are finally beating back Islamic State militants who overran most Sunni Arab areas in northern and central Iraq nearly three months ago. But the aftermath illustrates the unintended consequences of the U.S. air campaign against Islamic State. Kurdish and Shi'ite fighters have regained ground, but Sunni Muslims who fled the violence are being prevented from returning home and some have had their houses pillaged and torched. Rather than help keep the nation together, the air strikes risk being used by different factions for their own advantage in Iraq's sectarian and ethnic conflicts. The fallout also risks worsening grievances that helped Islamic State find support amongst Iraq's Sunnis, and allows the militant group to portray the U.S. strikes as targeting their minority sect. That may make it more difficult to bring Sunnis on side and convince them to fight the militants. "NO WAY BACK" The unlikely coalition of Kurdish peshmerga fighters, Shi'ite militias and the U.S. air force won a major victory when it broke a siege of the Shi’ite Turkman town of Amerli last week and drove Islamic State from 25 nearby Sunni towns and villages. But the aftermath is far from what the Americans envisioned. Smoke now rises from those Sunni villages, where some houses have been torched by Shi'ite militia. Others are abandoned, the walls daubed with sectarian slogans. “There is no way back for them: we will raze their homes to the ground,” said Abu Abdullah, a commander of the Shi’ite Kataib Hizbollah militia in Amerli. The area is now held by Kurdish peshmerga and Shi’ite militia, who have become the most powerful forces on the ground, rather than the Iraqi army, whose northern divisions collapsed this summer when Islamic State attacked. By the time IS was expelled from around Amerli, many Sunni civilians had fled, fearing for their lives. They have few places to go and are too frightened to return. "If a regular army were holding the area we could return, but as long as the militias are there we cannot,” said a 30-year-old displaced Sunni resident of one village near Amerli, who asked to remain unnamed. "They would slaughter us on the spot." He admitted some villagers had supported IS, but said it was only one or two for every 70 to 80 households, and that the rest were innocent civilians who were too scared to stand against the militants or had nowhere else to go. Sunni Turkman al-Muradli and his family left Suleiman Beg the day after it fell to Islamic State in June and moved to a Kurdish-controlled town nearby. A month later, their 21-year-old son was abducted. The next time they saw him was in a video on the internet captioned "arrest of an Islamic State member", which appears to show their son being beheaded by Shi'ite militia fighters. His weeping mother insisted he was an innocent student and said her son's killers had phoned her demanding $2,000 to return the corpse without a head, which the caller claimed to have taken to Baghdad as a trophy. "We cannot return. Even if the Shi'ite army and militia withdraw, Islamic State will come back and the same will happen all over again," said the mother. The mayor of Tuz Khurmato confirmed the account and said at least four other Sunnis had been abducted in the area in recent weeks, presumably by Shi'ite militia. At least one other video has circulated online of Shi'ite militiamen brandishing the heads of alleged Islamic State fighters. Pictures online, also allegedly from Amerli, show two militia fighters posing with a pair of charred corpses. A 42-year-old Shi'ite volunteer said it would eventually be safe for Sunnis to return and that no more than ten houses of known Islamic State members had been deliberately destroyed. "The Sunnis will come back to their villages but not now: after a few months," he said. "Since there is no confidence between Sunni and Shi’ite any more, they need guarantees from a third party, maybe the Kurds, then we can live peacefully together again, as we were." ETHNIC TENSIONS Sunni Arabs are also feeling a backlash in villages where they used to live alongside Kurds, who accuse them of collaborating with Islamic State. Kurds, who are also mostly Sunni but identify first and foremost with their ethnicity, have taken back at least 127 villages since the start of the U.S. air campaign, some of which were home to Arabs too. In one such village, returning Kurds have sprayed over the word "apostate" on the walls of houses and written "Kurdish home" instead. Arab households remain empty. Kurds in the Makhmour area, from which IS was pushed out in August, say they no longer trust Arabs enough to live with them. "All my neighbors were Arabs. Now most of them are with Islamic State," said Abdul Rahman Ahmed Abdullah, a member of the Kurdish security services from the village of Baqirta, south of Arbil. "We cannot be mixed together. The only solution is for them to leave." SOLIDARITY SHORT-LIVED During the operation to reach Amerli, Kurds gave passage to Shi'ite militia through territory they control and allowed them to use their bases, where they fired artillery at IS positions side by side in an unusual show of solidarity. "Amerli united Iraqis," said Taleb Jaafar Mohammed, a Shi'ite Turkman teacher, holding a pistol in one hand and a string of prayer beads in the other. But even during the operation, there were cracks in the coalition: Shi'ite militia and Kurdish forces fought under their own banners and the least visible flag was that of Iraq. Now that the common enemy has been pushed back, the alliance is unraveling. Kataib Hizbollah, which controls access to Amerli, is denying Kurds entry to the town and one peshmerga commander described the militia as the "Shi'ite IS". The tensions reflect a struggle for territory which the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad claims, but the Kurds want as part of their autonomous region in the north of the country. "This land is ours: they are an occupying force," said Sirwan, a Kurdish fighter, when asked about the Shi'ite militia presence. "There will be bigger problems than Islamic State in this area." (Editing by Giles Elgood) =========== Islamic State shows captive British journalist in new video Thu, Sep 18 18:55 PM EDT By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Thursday that they said shows British journalist John Cantlie in captivity saying he will soon reveal "facts" about the group to counter its portrayal in Western media. The Islamic State, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq, has already beheaded two American journalists and one British aid worker in recent weeks in what it said was reprisal for U.S. air strikes against it in Iraq. But in the new roughly three-minute video posted on social media sites, the man identified as Cantlie appears in good health and promises to "convey some facts" in a series of "programs," suggesting there would be further installments. "Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'He's only doing this because he's a prisoner. He's got a gun at his head and he's being forced to do this.' Right?" the man in the video, wearing an orange shirt and closely-cropped hair, says. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had heard reports of a video on social media and said authorities would look closely at any material released online. "These videos can be very distressing for the families of the individuals involved," he told reporters during a visit to Copenhagen. U.S. President Barack Obama has been trying to build an international coalition to destroy Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim extremist group which has exploited the chaos of Syria and Iraq to seize swathes of territory in both countries. The United States has already carried out scores of air strikes against the group in Iraq and Obama said in a policy speech he would not hesitate to strike it in Syria as well. In the new video, titled "Lend Me Your Ears, Messages from the British Detainee John Cantlie," the man identified as Cantlie says he was captured by the Islamic State after arriving in Syria in November 2012. He says he worked for newspapers and magazines in Britain including the Sunday Times, the Sun and the Sunday Telegraph.

"Well, it's true. I am a prisoner. That I cannot deny. But seeing as I've been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose." "After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why is it that our governments appear so keen to get involved in yet another unwinnable conflict?" the man says in the video. "I'm going to show you the truth behind the systems and motivation of the Islamic State, and how the Western media, the very organization I used to work for, can twist and manipulate that truth for the public back home." Cantlie said other Western governments have negotiated for the release of their hostages but that the British and U.S. governments chose to do things differently. "I'll show you the truth behind what happened when many European citizens were imprisoned and later released by the Islamic State, and how the British and American governments thought they could do it differently to every other European country," the man in the video says. "They negotiated with the Islamic State and got their people home while the British and Americans were left behind," he says. "Maybe I will live and maybe I will die," the man identified as Cantlie says. "But I want to take this opportunity to convey some facts that you can verify. Facts that, if you contemplate, might help preserving lives.

PREVIOUS CAPTURE The United States resumed air strikes in Iraq in August for the first time since the withdrawal of the final U.S. troops from the country in 2011. The raids followed major gains by Islamic State fighters who have seized a third of both Iraq and Syria, declared war on the West and seek to establish a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East. The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday Obama's plan to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels in a message of support for his military campaign to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State Britain has delivered humanitarian aid, carried out surveillance, given weapons to Kurds and promised training in Iraq. On military action, Britain supports U.S. air strikes and British Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly said Britain has ruled nothing out except combat troops on the ground. Cantlie had previously been taken hostage in July, 2012 along with Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans while working near the Syrian border with Turkey. They were released the same month after a group of "Free Syrian Army" fighters freed them. Cantlie told media after his release they were threatened with death unless they converted to Islam, and both were shot and slightly wounded when they attempted to escape. He was shot in the arm, Oerlemans in the leg. At the time, Cantlie wrote in the Sunday Times that the group of about 30 militants had been made up of different nationalities, many British and none Syrian, and that the British jihadists had treated him the most cruelly in captivity. On Saturday, Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines. A black-clad man in the video said another hostage, identified as Alan Henning, would be killed if Cameron continued to support the fight against Islamic State. Thursday's video made no mention of Henning. (Additional reporting by Michael Holden,; editing by Samia Nakhoul and Dominic Evans) ====================

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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Bombs kill nine and wound 54 in northern Iraq

Sat, Nov 23 16:55 PM EST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb and a suicide bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 54 in northern Iraq on Saturday, police and medical sources said, in the latest of a wave of attacks in crowded public places. The bombings took place in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (100 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, in a region which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan claim as theirs. The first bomb detonated in a car in a busy market near a Shi'ite mosque after prayers and was quickly followed by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest, the sources said. Iraqi authorities are struggling with the worst violence in at least five years and say Sunni Muslim insurgents linked to al Qaeda are to blame for most of the attacks, which have killed hundreds each month since the beginning of 2013. Since U.S. troops withdrew at the end of 2011, attackers have been increasingly targeting markets, cafes and sports events, rather than just army checkpoints and police patrols. The victims have mainly been civilians in Shi'ite areas. Iraq's sectarian balance has come under pressure from a prolonged political stalemate at home and the civil war in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting to topple a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran. So far Iraqi Shi'ite militias, most of which disarmed in recent years and joined the reconstituted security forces or entered the political process, have largely held their fire. But a worsening Sunni insurgency could prompt Shi'ite militia to again take up arms to defend themselves. This has fuelled fears that Iraq could slide into the kind of sectarian violence of 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed. In a sign of growing frustration in the Sunni community, some Sunni Muslim mosques closed in Baghdad on Saturday in a rare protest at recent attacks on worshippers. It was not clear how many mosques in Baghdad had shut down and some in the center of the city remained open. A council of senior clerics said last week that all Sunni mosques in the capital should be shut in protest at the security situation. They said Iraq's security services had not done enough to protect their communities. Two roadside bombs went off near Sunni mosques in the southern and western outskirts of Baghdad after prayers on Friday, killing three worshippers and wounding 12, the police said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but the clerics say there is sustained a campaign against Sunni worshippers and imams. (Reporting by Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk and Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Iraq car bombs kill +90, target Eid celebrations: يا قائم ال محمد لك نشتكي. (لماذا يقتلونا )

عااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااااجل الفات نظر لكل مسؤل يجلس على كرسي ووراء المكتب ومع الاسف ناسي الشعب وابناء الوطن النتخبوهم وصعدوهم للمناصب بعد ماكانو متسكعين بالدول الي هية هسة استباحة دمنة (((((((((((( اذا باقية عدكم ذرة من المروة والنخوة )))))))))) يمة يمحمد روح للسوك جيبنة دجاج وطرشي اوخظرة يمة يمحمد موتنسة للعطــار تمرلة وتجيب الجاي والكهوة يمة يمحمد لفانة الظيــــــف موتتأخر على امك ياابو المروة ليش اتأخرة يا ظوا العيــــــن عيب من خطارك فاتتة الغدوة يايمة اشمالك تأخر الوكة حيل يمة يمحمد وينك اروحلك فدوة يمة سمعة صوة انفجار ودوة عالي يمة يوليدي وينك يالعــــــزوة اسمعت صوة من ابعـــــــيد ام محمد محمد راحلج فدوة صحة الله اكبر حيــــــــــــل اشبيه اوليدي يربي وشسوة صاحو بية كل الموجيدين ها ام محمد وين محمد ابو النخوة كلت حيل ابلا شـــــــــعور محمد استشهد التحق بالدرة ذاك استشهد بسبب اسرائيل ومحمدنة استشهد بالفـــرة قبل يوم السياسين يقترعون عالمناصب والماينجح يطلع بينة الحرة انا اسف عن الاكمال لان اتفاعلة وية الموقف جدا اسف مشاعري سيطرة علية والدموع انهالة شفت بالعيد كوم دمووووووع-- وشموع الفرح صارت مطفاية طفل بالعيد يلعب وامه تفرح بيه ويصير انفجار وتبدي الدماية وتتحول الفرحة الحزن محتوم يبدي من الفرح بس ما اله نهاية ياريت ماعيدت يارييييييت---لان مو عيد هذا --حفل بجاية ردنة انجيب مطرب يطرب الناس-- بالاخر لطمنا وجبنا ملاية عالاساس نوزع كليجت فرح بالعيد-وزعناها بس اختلفت الغاية ردنا عالفرح تاكل كليجة الناس-اكلت عالثواب انكلبت الاية ضحكة طفل جنت انتظر بالعيد--بس الشفت اني دموع اماية مسؤلين عدنه جلاب ولد جلاب--بس بالاقتراع اذكرو لولاية واحدهم يريد الراتب يزيد---وثانيهم يكول اختلف وي راية بعيون الوطن مرسومة كوم اجراح وبوسط الكلب حطولة سلاية عندي حجاية وحدة وينتهى الموضوع اريد أسأل يناس بياذنب هاية؟؟؟؟؟؟ ياعراق أمتدت أوجاعك إلاما لا نهايه فصبرا صبرا فلقد ولدت لتكوني بلد التضحيات الا متناهيات فهيهات أن تهدأ الحسرات والونات،ويقبع في قلبك حسين شهيد طريد بعيد أعطيت الحزن وتجلببتي به ،وتخدتي الويلات والأكدار حصنا لك وملاذا فقط أطفال العراق مكتوب عليهم القتل اين العالم من هذه الجرائم هذه هدية العيد لهذا الطفل البرئ آلا لعنة الله على الساكتين عن الحق الله واكبر ياعراق شوكت ترتاح منظر يخلي العيون تبجي دمممممممممممممممممممممم بس اريد احد يجاوبني شنو ذنب هذا الطفل وين الحكومة والقادة الامنين والله كلبنة خلص كافي عاد واللة العظيم الحكومة هي المسؤلة الوحيدة سولنة حل كافي بعد الحمدلله رب العالمين ماذنب هولاء الصغار او هذا الشعب ذنبة انه شيعي اوعراقي انولدة على فطرة حب علي وعشنة بهذا البلد المشتكى الى الله سيعلم الذين ظلموا اي منقلب ينقلبون والعاقبة للمتقين انا لله وانا اليه راجعون مؤمل الكربلائي يا قائم ال محمد لك نشتكي. (لماذا يقتلونا ) ﻻ أريد أشكر احد على مروره كلنا أصحاب عزاء، وفي بداية البوست علقت ،وفوضت أمري الى موﻻي الحجه بن الحسن وأنا الآن أخذ باياديكم الكريمه ونرفعها إلى بارئنا ان لم يجيبنا قائمنا فقط نترحم ونشجب ونستنكر هذا هو كل ما لدينا إذن دعوهم يطغون أكثر واكثر أولاد العواهر لاحول ولا قوة إلا بالله العلي العظيم. تبا للجبن وللجبناء الكل يغطي عيونه حتى لا ينظر الى تخاذل وجبن وذل شيعة العراق الله يلعنا في الدنيا وألأخره وتبا لنا من امة نجسة الم ياخذ المالكي رئاسته الوزراء من خلال مرجعيتكم العليا؟ هل الحكومة الحاليه تمثل الشيعه في العراق؟ اهكذا كان علي بن ابي طالب يحكم؟ وهكذا يعامل المواطنين؟ لما هذا الاختلاف الشاسع في بين حكم علي و حكم من يقولون اننا على طريق علي بن ابي طالب؟ اي وبعدين إلى متى والساده ساكتين على اﻻقل اي تصريح يبرد القلب اي تعليق على الوضع الراهن لو نبقى بس على اضعف الايمان! !!!!! جرح والف سؤال .ماذا جنت اطفالنا.... آآآه آه يامنتقم,يامنتقم على العراق اقروا السلام,,, بعد مااحجي من يسمع اطفال بعمر الزهور يملئهم الفرح وهم يحصلون على بعض من النقود (العيديات ) متجهين بها الى اشباه الالعاب لا كالتي في دبي بل هي ارجوحة وبضع العاب بسيطة... المهم الاطفال فرحيين بالعيد وفجأءة تتلاشى احلامهم بعد ان تلاشت اجسادهم باحدى العاب الاجرام فما ذنب الاطفال استشهدوا وهم فرحيين بعيد الفطر. اللهي نشكوا اليك من ضلمنا فانت ربنا وانت تأخذ بحقنا. لا تخرج قبل ان تقل اللهم ارحم شهداء العراق. Sat, Aug 10 13:30 PM EDT "In my country, Eid has died." 11 after noon explosions,took place within an hour, rocked Kadhmiya, New Baghdad, Al-Amel,Ma'alef,Al-Jawadain,Al-Hurriya &Abu Dushair # AFP tracking attacks today in Baghdad, Tuz Khurmatu, Kirkuk, Nasiriyah, Neel (in Babil), Hilla, Qaiyarah, al-Jadaa (in Nineveh). on #Iraq-iyia official TV ,Baghdad's Op commander on+11 car bomb explosions "blames media" for reporting untrue high casualties,#cry loud 1h 55 قتيلا على الاقل وأكثر من 200 جريح في سلسلة تفجيرات في العراق استشهاد واصابة 14 مدنيا بانفجار مفخخة وسط كركوك استشهاد واصابة 40 مدنيا بانفجار 3 مفخخات وسط ذي قار people killed /35 wounded in 3 car bomb explosions in 3 different central Thiqar neighborhoods. استشهاد واصابة 16 مدنيا بانفجار مفخخة وسط كربلاء 1h #Iraq 's uncertain future amid wave of violence :bbc http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23637296 …? Suicide bomber detonated bomb in car on busy street in town of Tuz Khurmato, killing at least 10 people /injuring 45 #Iraq RT "@prashantrao: This is becoming an all-too-familiar sight in the @AFP Baghdad bureau: pic.twitter.com/Idfey6khGM ============== By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of car bombs in mainly Shi'ite areas of Baghdad killed 50 people and wounded 140 on Saturday, in what appeared to be coordinated attacks on people celebrating the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Ten separate blasts targeting markets, busy shopping streets and parks where families like to mark Eid, were part of a surge in sectarian violence in Iraq since the start of the year. This has been one of the deadliest Ramadan months in years, with regular bomb attacks killing scores of people, especially in the capital. The latest bombings were similar to attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday in which 50 died. More than 1,000 Iraqis have been killed in July, the highest monthly death toll since 2008, according to the United Nations. The Interior Ministry has said the country faced an "open war" fuelled by Iraq's sectarian divisions. Sunni Islamist militants have been regaining momentum in their insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government, and have been emboldened by the civil war in neighboring Syria, which has stoked sectarian tensions across the Middle East. On Saturday, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan said his region was prepared to defend Kurds living in neighboring Syria, in what appears to be the first warning of a possible intervention and a further sign that the conflict is spilling over Syria's borders. Outside Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a car on a busy street in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of the capital, killing at least 10 people and wounding 45, medical and police sources said. Tuz Khurmato is located in a particularly violent region over which both the central government and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan claim jurisdiction. Police believe the bomber was trying to reach the local headquarters of a Kurdish political party, but was unable to reach the building because of increased security in the area, a police source said. In the town of Nassiriya, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, twin car bombs near a park killed four people and wounded eight, police sources said. Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been rising, and the renewed violence has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian slaughter of 2006-2007. Iraqis have endured extreme violence for years, but since the since the start of 2013 the intensity of attacks on civilians has dramatically increased, reversing a trend that had seen the country grow more peaceful. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk and Gassan Hassan in Tikrit; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Mike Collett-White) ================== #Iraqi media claims The Guardian published secret Christopher Hill telegrams on #Saudi terrorist support,any 1 read it in the Guardian?? In Hasakah province, Salafi battalions of SIF like Jaysh al-Tawheed coordinate w/ ISIS/Nusra against Kurdish forces. Note also the boundary between Jabhat al-Nusra & Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham not clear-cut in Hasakah province. Blurring. observation can be inferred from fact Kurdish sources using Jabhat al-Nusra & Islamic State of Iraq & ash-Sham's name. Further, jihadi sources that report on the fighting of the 'apostates' of YPG generally report operations as joint Nusra-ISIS interchangeably رئيس أقليم كردستان #العراق مسعود برزاني يعلن أستعداد الأقليم للدفاع عن أكراد #سوريا اذا تعرضوا للأعتداء من قبل بعض الجماعات المسلحة Local Manbij outlet in rural #Aleppo reporting that FSA and ISIS fighting PKK: ..عن شاهد عيان|| ريف حلب || منطقة الشيوخ وماحولها ||108-2013:: عودة الاشتباكات بين دولة الاسلام في العراق والشام والجيش الحر ضد عناصر البي كي كي تقدم لعناصر الحر في المنطقة والسيطرة على 3 دوشكات واسر عدد من قناصي البي كي كي وقتل مايزيد عن 40 منهم https://www.facebook.com/manbejalfyha/posts/558918884173002 … #Syria @Brown_Moses @vvanwilgenburg === First 60 days of PMLN 360 lost their lives in terror related incidents foreign reserves fall to USD 10.053B in first 50 days and deficit raised to 2 B USD in first 50 days of PMLN govt =========== Attacks Amount to Crimes Against Humanity Reportfrom Human Rights Watch Published on 11 Aug 2013 PrintEmailAuthorities Should End Draconian Responses (Baghdad, August 11, 2013) – Militants who carried out a series of bomb attacks in Iraq on July 29, 2013, deliberately killing more than 60 people committed crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today. Crimes against humanity are some of the most serious crimes under international law. The Islamic State of Iraq, as Al-Qaeda in Iraq now calls itself, has claimed responsibility, saying publicly that it organized and committed the July 29 attacks and a series of others over the last four months. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has issued statements claiming responsibility for numerous lethal suicide, car bomb, and other attacks in Iraq that, taken together, amount to an ongoing and systematic policy of killing civilians in gross breach of international law. On August 6 and August 10, another series of car bombs targeted busy markets, shopping streets, and parks where families were celebrating the end of Ramadan in and around Baghdad, killing at least 130 people, though no one has claimed responsibility. “The July 29 attacks, coming on top of other horrific attacks in recent months, provide clear evidence that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is guilty of crimes against humanity,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “No political goal or grievance can possibly justify this widespread and organized murder campaign, which is wreaking terrible suffering on Iraqis.” The July 29 attacks were some of the deadliest of 2013. The car bomb explosions, predominantly in Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad, killed more than 60 people and injured hundreds more, including many civilians. They were part of a surge of bomb attacks by al-Qaeda and other militant groups during Ramadan in both Shia and Sunni areas. Attacks also targeted state institutions and military installations. Together, these attacks made July the bloodiest month in over five years according to the United Nations. On August 1, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) released figures showing that acts of terrorism and violence in July claimed the lives of 1,057 Iraqis and wounded 2,326 others. The dead included 204 police officers and 129 members of the Iraqi Security Forces. The acting special representative for Iraq of the United Nations Secretary-General, Gyorgy Busztin, issued a statement on August 1 warning that the past months’ violence may herald a return to an era “when the blind rage of sectarian strife … inflicted … deep wounds upon this country.” According to a report from the Institute for the Study of War, an independent research organization based in Washington, DC, Al-Qaeda in Iraq has repeatedly carried out attacks with vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices during a recent 12-month period. The report said these attacks – as many as eight bombings a day – “became more frequent and lethal” in spring 2013,” sometimes occurring twice a week. The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility on July 30 for the July 29 bombings. On July 23, the group issued a statement claiming responsibility for attacks two days earlier on two Baghdad-area prisons, Abu Ghraib and al-Tajji, which led to a mass escape of prisoners. According to a Justice Ministry statement, the attack on Abu Ghraib killed at least 68 members of the security forces and an unknown number of prisoners. Between 500 and 1,000 detainees escaped. In claiming responsibility for the prison attacks, the group said that attack, and others during the previous four months, were retaliation for an attack by government security forces on a Sunni protest camp in Hawija on April 23 that killed 51 people. On August 6, car bombs in northern, eastern, and southern Baghdad targeted areas crowded with shoppers and worshipers near a mosque, mainly in Shia neighborhoods. A bombing at a football field on June 30 killed 12 people, mostly boys under 16. In another, on July 12, 10 people died when a car bomb explosion at a Shia funeral in Moqdadeya, west of Baghdad, was followed by a suicide bomber’s attack on emergency services workers going to assist the first set of casualties. Other attacks have targeted cafes in a busy Shia neighborhood of Baghdad, government security installations, and both Sunni and Shia mosques. Other armed groups, including Shia militias, have also carried out numerous suicide and car bomb attacks, as well as targeted assassinations. Residents of Moqdadeya town told Human Rights Watch that umat least 100 families fled their homes after the Shia militia group Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq distributed flyers threatening to kill Sunni residents who failed to vacate the area. One local man told Human Rights Watch that he believed that the militia group had issued the threats in reprisal for the attack on the funeral procession. Neither Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq nor Iraqi Hezbollah, another Shia militia, have claimed responsibility for attacks, but the threatening flyers, which Human Rights Watch saw, clearly bear the logo of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq. A third Shia militia, the Moqtar Army, has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks, including repeated attacks on Camp Liberty, where members of an Iranian dissident group are currently accommodated. Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal jurisdiction, meaning that those responsible, including those complicit in such crimes, can be prosecuted anywhere in the world. As a matter of customary international law, the term “crimes against humanity” includes a range of serious human rights abuses, including murder, committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack by a government or organized non-state group against a civilian population. Those who commit crimes against humanity, order, or are otherwise complicit, should be held individually criminally responsible for their actions, Human Rights Watch said. The Iraqi authorities’ failure to hold anyone accountable for security force violence against Sunni protesters, their widespread use of torture to extract confessions from detainees, regardless of their sect, and the courts’ reliance on secret informant testimony that the defense cannot see and coerced confessions to issue arrest warrants and obtain convictions may constitute a failure to take the necessary steps to prevent and prosecute crimes against humanity. Iraqi authorities need to take all possible measures to protect the right to life through ending these attacks. They should identify, arrest, and prosecute those responsible, and others complicit in assisting the attacks. To do that, Iraqi authorities should undertake urgently needed criminal justice reforms, including revising the Draconian anti-terror law. Iraqi authorities should also repeal criminal procedure code articles that allow the use of secret informant testimony and coerced confessions that taint court proceedings. Judges and security officials should base convictions on evidence, not on confessions, which may be coerced. The government should put into effect a zero-tolerance policy for bribery, which permeates much of the justice system, ranging from detention officials who seek bribes to release detainees to security forces who bribe judges for false or after-the-fact arrest warrant. In the past 12 months, Human Rights Watch has spoken to at least 20 current and former detainees who allege that police, army, or other security forces that answer directly to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held them in prolonged incommunicado detention due to corrupt relations between those holding them and judges who issue detention orders or to coerce them to confess. Some detainees’ families told Human Rights Watch that security forces demanded sums of over US$6,000 to release their relatives. Since the prison breakout on July 21, reports from members of parliament and local activists suggest that the security forces have carried out mass arrests in the Sunni areas, to which they believe the escapees have fled. A member of the parliament’s security and defense committee told Human Rights Watch that Abu Ghraib and Tajji residents told him that security forces had conducted numerous mass arrest operations in these areas, detaining several of their family members at a time, but that he had been unable to verify them because of a security forces clampdown in the areas. A Ramadi lawyer told Human Rights Watch that, according to Anbar residents, the security forces had arrested “entire families” of escaped prisoners to coerce the escapees to surrender. The two prisons remain “on lockdown,” Ali Shubbar, a member of the parliament’s Human Rights Committee, told local media. He said that he and other members of an official investigation into the prisoner escapes and allegations that guards shot prisoners during the attack could not yet visit either prison. “In the current climate, attacks are committed by all sides – Sunni insurgent groups, Shia militias, and government security forces – and each invokes the others’ violence as a justification for their own,” Stork said. “Rather than responding with increased brutality and resorting to torture, forced confessions, mass arrests, and unfair trials, the government needs to take the lead to end this brutal cycle.” For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iraq, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/iraq Human Rights Watch: ============================== Al Qaeda claims bombings in Iraq, warns of more Mon, Aug 12 07:12 AM EDT 1 of 3 By Sylvia Westall BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Iraq which killed dozens of people during a Muslim holiday and warned the government to stop arresting suspected militants or face more violence. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), formed earlier this year through a merger of al Qaeda's affiliates in Syria and Iraq, said on jihadist forums it was behind the attacks across Baghdad and southern provinces on Saturday. "The Islamic State deployed some of its security efforts in Baghdad and the southern province and other places to deliver a quick message," ISIL said, according to the SITE Monitoring group, which tracks jihadist websites. Bombs ripped through markets, shopping streets and parks late on Saturday as Iraqi families were out celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Nearly 80 people were killed and scores wounded, police and medical sources said. On Monday, there was no respite from the violence. A roadside bomb close to a school killed two people and wounded 11, including children, in the town of Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. It has been one of the deadliest Ramadan holidays in years in Iraq, where Sunni Islamist militants are waging an insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government. July had the highest monthly death toll from attacks since 2008, with more than 1,000 Iraqis killed, according to United Nations statistics. The renewed violence prompted a statement from Washington condemning the attacks and offering to work closely with Baghdad to confront al Qaeda and other groups. ISIL, which has also claimed responsibility for jail breaks in Iraq last month in which hundreds of convicts escaped, said a government campaign to arrest suspects and ramp up security in the capital had only made things worse. "They will pay a high price for what they did, and they will not be secure day or night during Eid or other times," the ISIL statement said according to the SITE translation. "They should watch their footsteps and stop the detention campaigns and cease harming the Sunni clans, and ... expect more of what will harm them and what will bring them to their senses." The Interior Ministry, which said last month it was facing an "open war", said on Sunday that media reports about the attacks had been exaggerated and that its recent security crackdown had been effective. (Editing by Elizabeth Piper) ===================== Baghdad Nightlife Cloaked in Fear Smoke rises in Baghdad, July 16, 2011, after a parked car bomb targeted a nightclub. (photo by REUTERS/Saad Shalash) By: Mushreq Abbas for Al-Monitor Iraq Pulse Posted on August 12. إقرأ باللغة العربية Ali al-Karadi owns a share in several nightclubs in Baghdad. He drives to his venues after midnight, and with the start of the curfew, carries a special permit for artists and singers who are allowed to commute at that hour. Amid curfews and an unstable security environment, Iraqis in the nightlife business live in constant fear of militia attacks, security raids and customer brawls. The Nights of Baghdad Between Nightclubs and Police Patrols.. And Its Songs Are Captives of Curfews and Customer Greetings Author: Mushreq Abbas Posted on: August 12 2013 Translated by: Naria Tanoukhi Categories : Originals Iraq Security Karadi recently resumed work after Ramadan, during which nightclubs and liquor stores close. He is not sure, however, if his business can survive in light of Ramadan attacks on a number of Baghdad cafes on the ground that they spread vice. Karadi said with concern, “If they have attacked cafes that serve tea and shisha, what will they do to us?" In September 2012, heavily armed security forces descended on nightclubs and other social establishments in Baghdad. They were closed under the pretext that they lacked official permits to conduct business. Karadi told Al-Monitor from Baghdad on Aug. 9, “The government does not issue such permits. The local government in Baghdad municipality has delegated the responsibility of granting permits to the tourist police, and the latter has delegated the responsibility to the Ministry of Tourism." He explained, “No one in Iraq, be they a politician or administrative official, assumes the responsibility of issuing permits to open nightclubs, or even liquor stores, since the religious parties that dominate the state fear that such an act would be used against them by political opponents.” Karadi also revealed, “Still, Baghdad nightclub-goers, who willfully lock themselves inside nightclubs from midnight until the end of the curfew in the morning, do not hesitate to head to clubs, which take the risk of opening on the Eid holidays, especially in major hotels.” During his night rides, Karadi takes along bags filled with food or nuts, which he hands out at checkpoints when he is stopped. Most of the policemen at the checkpoints know him and greet him enthusiastically. They consider these night shifts to be a vacation, some kind of reward, with some bribing their bosses to move them to these slots. Hassan, manning a checkpoint on Sadoun Street in Baghdad, told Al-Monitor, "We relax after the curfew, since hardly any cars drive by, except those carrying government officials. Also, there have been no attacks or operations against checkpoints after midnight, while the day shift carries the risk of death by any of the thousands of vehicles that stop at our checkpoint daily." Speaking of Baghdad's nightlife, Karadi offered, “The police, and even high-ranking officers, do not have negative views about nightclubs. Many of them go to nightclubs in civilian attire. However, some senior officers and government officials would rather see them closed since they attract their children.” According to Karadi, “Senior officers and their children are regular customers at our [nightclubs]. We offer them discounts and facilities in return for protection.” He shared an incident in which a senior officer came to a nightclub frequented by his young son and threatened to close it. Karadi asserted, "I told him quietly that closing the club would not protect your son, as he will find another source of entertainment, either inside and outside Iraq. Here, he is [at least] in front of your eyes and near you." He continued, “The officer only left after I promised to watch his son’s movements. I send him text messages daily about when his son comes to the club, the people he meets and what time he leaves." Sometimes big problems do occur. Said Karadi, "In the presence of prostitutes, dancers, singers, alcohol and impulsive youths, quarrels are inevitable. We have a security team that handles such incidents. But sometimes, incidents happen between gangs or officers and develop into fights that we try to move outside the club." Karadi described a club, saying, “The show opens with a singer and usually lasts for an hour. However, the singer only sings for a few minutes. He wastes most of the time walking between tables and sending greetings from one table to another or to themselves and their families. This is accompanied by the scattering of hundreds of bills, as a display of wealth, influence and clout." A young singer who requested anonymity told Al-Monitor, "We are forced to do this. The market price of a singer in Baghdad is determined based on the amount of money scattered during his show, and not his singing." The singer, who wore shiny white clothes and hair gel, added, "The problem is that when these greetings begin to convey political, racial or sectarian messages, we find ourselves in a very awkward position. Sometimes, we get attacked, whether for sending these greetings or refraining from doing so." The singer, who has worked at clubs in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, says that nightlife in Baghdad is no different from anywhere else in the world. It is secretive, however, constrained by curfews and filled with anxiety about potential attacks by militias or security agencies and fist fights between customers who have grown tired of showing off by spending money. Mushreq Abbas is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor’s Iraq Pulse. He has been managing editor of Al-Hayat’s Iraq bureau since 2005 and has written studies and articles on Iraqi crises for domestic and international publication Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/08/nighclub-workers-baghdad-attacks-fear.html#ixzz2bowoAO6W ========================= Deadly Iraq bombings target cafe, school and playground Mon, Aug 12 14:04 PM EDT 1 of 3 By Sylvia Westall BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 16 people were killed and 41 wounded on Monday in a suicide bomb attack on a crowded cafe in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, part of the worst wave of violence in Iraq in around five years. Two roadside bombs - one planted near a playground and another near a school - also killed six people and wounded dozens, some of them children, in the town of Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of the capital. Those blasts underlined a shift in tactics by suspected Islamist militants, who are increasingly targeting not only military checkpoints and marketplaces, but also cafes and recreational areas used by families and children. The latest bloodshed came as al Qaeda claimed responsibility for weekend bombings across Iraq which killed dozens of people during Eid al-Fitr, the festive end to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, heightening fears of even wider sectarian slaughter. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), formed earlier this year through a merger of al Qaeda's affiliates in Syria and Iraq, said on jihadist forums it was behind the attacks across Baghdad and southern provinces on Saturday. It also warned the government to stop arresting suspected militants or face more violence. "The Islamic State deployed some of its security efforts in Baghdad and the southern province and other places to deliver a quick message," ISIL said, according to the SITE Monitoring group, which tracks jihadist websites. Bombs ripped through markets, shopping streets and parks late on Saturday as Iraqi families were out celebrating Eid. Nearly 80 people were killed and scores wounded, police and medical sources said. DEADLY RAMADAN It has been one of the deadliest Ramadan holidays in years in Iraq, where Sunni Islamist militants are waging an insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government. July had the highest monthly death toll from attacks since 2008, with more than 1,000 Iraqis killed, according to United Nations statistics. The renewed violence prompted a statement from Washington condemning the attacks and offering to work closely with Baghdad to confront al Qaeda and other groups. The worst single incident on Monday occurred in Balad, where mayor Maliki Laftah told Reuters that all of the casualties were civilians. In a separate attack near the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen intercepted a car carrying three soldiers who were on their way to join their unit and shot them dead, police said. It was not immediately clear who was behind Monday's violence, although suspicion is likely to fall on ISIL. The group, which has also claimed responsibility for jail breaks in Iraq last month in which hundreds of convicts escaped, said a government campaign to arrest suspects and ramp up security in the capital had only made things worse. "They will pay a high price for what they did, and they will not be secure day or night during Eid or other times," the ISIL statement said, according to the SITE translation. "They should watch their footsteps and stop the detention campaigns and cease harming the Sunni clans, and ... expect more of what will harm them and what will bring them to their senses." The Interior Ministry, which said last month it was facing an "open war", said on Sunday that media reports about the attacks had been exaggerated and that its recent security crackdown had been effective. (Additional reporting by Ziyad al-Sanjari in Mosul, a Reuters reporter in Baquba, Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Mike Collett-White) ==================