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</div> </form> </div> </div> <hr/> <div id="content" class="span-13 append-1"> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12671"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/03/07/you-only-need-a-few-fanatics-and-it-all-falls-to-pieces/#respond" title="Comment on You Only Need A Few Fanatics And It All Falls To Pieces">No Comments</a></span> Posted on March 7th, 2011 by Burhan Aydin</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/03/07/you-only-need-a-few-fanatics-and-it-all-falls-to-pieces/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to You Only Need A Few Fanatics And It All Falls To Pieces">You Only Need A Few Fanatics And It All Falls To Pieces</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/andrew-white/" rel="tag">andrew white</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/canon-andrew-white/" rel="tag">Canon Andrew White</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christian-minority/" rel="tag">christian minority</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christianity/" rel="tag">Christianity</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians/" rel="tag">Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians-persecution-of/" rel="tag">Christians - persecution of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ethnic-cleansing-of-christians/" rel="tag">Ethnic cleansing of Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/gzg-failure-to-protect-christians/" rel="tag">GZG failure to protect Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/independent-the-uk/" rel="tag">Independent -The (UK)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/invasion/" rel="tag">invasion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/invasion-of-iraq/" rel="tag">invasion of iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-christians/" rel="tag">iraqi christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islam/" rel="tag">Islam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kidnapping/" rel="tag">kidnapping</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/press/" rel="tag">Press</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/reconciliation/" rel="tag">reconciliation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/streets-of-baghdad/" rel="tag">streets of baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/terry-jones/" rel="tag">terry jones</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86/" rel="tag">بالمسيحيين</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"> <p><font size="3"><strong>The Monday Interview:</strong> With his 30 armed guards, Andrew White, ‘Vicar of Baghdad’, lives on Christianity’s front line. Jerome Taylor meets him:</font></p> <p> <a title="20100307_canon_andrew_white_in_baghdad by Gorillas Guides, on Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorillasguides/5506077910/" class="external" target="_blank"><font size="3"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin: 0px auto 5px" height="381" alt="20100307_canon_andrew_white_in_baghdad" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133im_/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/5506077910_55e027241d_o.jpg" width="280"/></font> </a> </div> <p>Canon Andrew White leans over his desk and – with a mischievous glint in his eye – prepares to deliver what I now suspect is a signature move when greeting new guests. Handing over a copy of one of his books, his face breaks into a wide grin as he asks: "Would you like me to sign that for you? I tell you what, I’ll use this pen. It was the same one used to sign Saddam Hussein’s death sentence." </p> <p>Such a macabre piece of historical memorabilia might appear an unusual keepsake for an Anglican priest but then Canon White – the so-called Vicar of Baghdad – is no ordinary clergyman. As pastor to St George’s, the only Anglican church in Iraq, Canon White has been on the front line of the most violent and barbaric persecution of a Christian minority in living memory. </p> <p>Cut off from the streets of Baghdad by blast-proof barriers, razor wire and round-the-clock security, St George’s is one of the few churches still able to operate weekly services for the Iraqi capital’s rapidly diminishing Christian congregation. Scores of his worshippers have been kidnapped or murdered, and militants have routinely tried to storm the complex which lies outside the comparative safety of the Green Zone. </p> <p>Canon White, 47, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has been shot at and kidnapped but still he returns, making sure to spend at least three weeks of every month with an embattled congregation that refer to him as their abouna (father). </p> <p>The 6ft 2in, bowtie-loving priest spoke on a brief visit back to his picturesque home in a quiet Hampshire village which he shares with his wife and two boys (for security reasons he asks us not to give their names or location). The stopover was part publicity tour for his new book Faith Under Fire, part a chance to catch up with the family. </p> <p>The Hampshire house is a pretty, single-storey family home in a quiet curving cul-de-sac, containing a theologian’s study filled with books and crucifixes from across the world. Work is a war zone 3,000 miles away, where Canon White is protected by 30 security guards. A place of sandbags and terror, particularly for Iraqi Christians, whose population has plummeted in the past 20 years from 1.4 million to just 300,000. </p> <p>The fountain pen, which Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki borrowed for a couple of days and used to sign Saddam’s death warrant, is a way of breaking the ice before talking about a subject that will inevitably be gruesome. We meet just days after Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet member, was gunned down in Islamabad and it is inevitable that the conversation quickly turns to violent persecution of Christians. "All over the world there are increasing threats against Christians," Canon White says. "Bhatti’s death is deeply disturbing. But when you’re living in the midst of the fire like in Baghdad, it’s really what happens there that concerns you. We have had 123 people killed in Baghdad since November." </p> <p>Last year in fact was a particularly brutal year for Iraq’s Christians and 2011 looked like it was going to be no different. But in the past few weeks the killings have stopped. </p> <p>As head of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, Canon White has built unparalleled relationships with Iraq’s senior Sunni and Shia clerics. In late January he gathered them in Copenhagen to issue a joint fatwa (religious edict) condemning any attacks on minority communities. "Until then Christians were being killed every day," he says. "After the fatwa the killings stopped. It’s crucial to remember that the vast majority of Muslims we work with, they are our friends. We can only do what we do with their help." </p> <p>When he is not administering to his flock, it is these kinds of delicate negotiations between Iraq’s religious power players that occupy much of Canon White’s time in Baghdad. He has been a key negotiator in kidnappings including that of the IT worker Peter Moore, who was released, and Ken Bigley, who was killed. He has himself been taken hostage, held in a room where freshly severed fingers and toes littered the floor, and has negotiated for the release of countless Iraqis. The violence he has seen is harrowing. Does he ever lose his faith? "Never," he says. "If anything, my faith has got stronger." It’s a reply you often hear from religious people in conflict zones – but how can religion be a force for good when it does so much harm in these situations? </p> <p>"I remind myself that if religion is a force for bad it is also a force for good," he says. "If religion is the cause of this horrific violence then it is also the cure. The only way you will be able to stop this violence is engage with Iraq’s religions in a religious way. The best thing we can do is work with the Islamic leaders as most of them are not terrorists." </p> <p>Canon White places the blame for the violence against his congregants squarely at the feet of al-Qa’ida in Iraq, the primarily foreign militant network inspired by Osama bin Laden. "Those who instigate violence are mainly from outside," he says. "There are certain people you simply can’t work with and the al-Qa’ida people fall into that category." </p> <p>But he is equally infuriated by Christian bigots and publicity seekers – such as the American pastor Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Koran. "Pastor Terry Jones is directly responsible for the murder of some of our people," Canon White says. "They have no idea how terrible it was. Throughout the time he threatened to burn the holy Koran, they were warning us that our people would be attacked. Four of my guards were killed throughout that time. He can try and say from the safety of Florida he was trying to make an important point. But it was an important point that killed our people." </p> <p>Canon White was himself a supporter of the American-led invasion of Iraq, but after all the killing, the mutilations, the kidnappings and the mass exodus of Iraq’s Christians – does he still think it was worth it? </p> <p>It’s the first time he seems unsure of himself. "I had one day in the whole of my life when I thought to myself, why did we do this," he says. "But I remember what it was like in Iraq before the war, the fear people lived under." Yet he adds: "But at least you could walk down the street." </p> <p>I press again, was it really worth it, so much violence, so many deaths? </p> <p>"I had seen the terror of the Saddam regime and I knew there was absolutely nothing the Iraqis could do to remove that terror," he replies. "It’s been hell. So many people killed. I still say the regime had to be removed but we should have done things differently afterwards." </p> <p>Regrets are a luxury Canon White cannot afford. He has a flock in Iraq to attend to. While a semblance of peace has returned for Baghdad’s Christians thanks to the joint fatwa, Canon White knows it is temporary. "From my years and years in Palestine, Israel and Baghdad I know that the majority of people can live together," he says. "But you only need a few fanatics and it all falls to pieces." </p> <p><b>Christianity under fire</b></p> <p>IRAQ In the past 20 years, the flight of Christians has reduced the community’s population from 1.4 million to 300,000. </p> <p>EGYPT On New Year’s Day, 21 Copts were killed in a bomb in Alexandria. </p> <p>PAKISTAN Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s only Christian cabinet member, was assassinated last week. </p> <p>NORTH KOREA Christianity is vehemently prosecuted in North Korea, where any expression of religion in the totalitarian state is viewed as open insurrection against the Communist regime. </p> <p>NIGERIA Sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians in central Nigeria has broken out with horrendous violence over the past two years in and around the city of Jos. </p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andrew-white-the-vast-majority-of-muslims-are-our-friends-2234252.html" class="external" target="_blank">Andrew White: ‘The vast majority of muslims are our friends’ – Profiles, People – The Independent</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12103"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/04/%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b0%d8%a7-%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%84%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%85-%d9%80-%d8%ba%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a8%d9%8a-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82/#respond" title="Comment on ماذا دار في لقاء صدام ـ غلاسبي في العراق عشية حرب الخليج">No Comments</a></span> Posted on January 4th, 2011 by Saba Ali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/04/%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b0%d8%a7-%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%84%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%85-%d9%80-%d8%ba%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a8%d9%8a-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to ماذا دار في لقاء صدام ـ غلاسبي في العراق عشية حرب الخليج">ماذا دار في لقاء صدام ـ غلاسبي في العراق عشية حرب الخليج</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>لندن: أماطت وثائق "ويكيليكس" المسربة اللثام عن لقاء ولّد الكثير من التساؤلات الإعلامية، وشكّل مفصلا في سلسلة الاحداث التي أدت إلى حرب الخليج الثانية، بين الرئيس العراقي السابق صدام حسين، والسفيرة الاميركية في العراق أبريل غلاسبي في 25 تموز 1990. وتنقل البرقية الاميركية السرية تفاصيل الحديث الذي جرى في هذا اللقاء، حيث أكدت غلاسبي أن أميركا "لن تعذر أبداً تسوية الخلافات بأي طرق غير سلمية"،</p> <p>ناقلة "رسالة صداقة" من الرئيس الاميركي حينها جورج بوش الأب، فيما ردّ صدام على هذه الرسالة بمثلها، لكنه أبدى قلقه من الدعم الاميركي لـ"أنانية" الكويت والإمارات، مشدداً على أن العراق لا يريد الدخول في حرب إلا أنه سيقوم بذلك، إذا تعرض للإهانة العلنية، مهما كان الخيار غير منطقي ومدمّراً. وتفيد البرقية الاميركية العائدة إلى 25 تموز 1990 التي اعدتها غلاسبي، بأن الرئيس العراقي السابق صدام حسين استدعاها، والتقاها بحضور وزير الخارجية العراقي حينها طارق عزيز، ومدير مكتب صدام، ومدونين، ومترجم عراقي. وأكدت غلاسبي ان صدام "كان مضيافاً وعقلانياً، بل حتى حميماً خلال اللقاء الذي دام ساعتين". وبدأ صدام حديثه بالقول إنه يريد توجيه رسالة إلى بوش، ثم أعاد سرد "تاريخ القرارات العراقية في إعادة العلاقات الدبلوماسية (مع أميركا)، وتأجيلها عند ابتداء الحرب (مع ايران)، كي لا ينظر إلى العراق على أنه ضعيف ومحتاج". وتابع صدام واصفاً "الانتكاسات" التي شهدتها العلاقات الثنائية منذ عام 1984، "وأبرزها فضيحة ‘ايران غايت’". كما أكد الرئيس العراقي السابق، أنه "بعد انتصار الفاو، ازدادت الشكوك العراقية حول النوايا الأميركية، وبأن أميركا لم تكن راضية عن رؤية الحرب تنتهي". وفيما أشارت غلاسبي إلى أن صدام اختار كلماته "بحذر"، قال الأخير إن هناك "بعض الدوائر" في الحكومة الأميركية، بما يشمل وكالة الاستخبارات المركزية (سي آي ايه) ووزارة الخارجية، التي تتصرف بسلبية ازاء العلاقات العراقية – الاميركية. وأضاف صدام "بعض الدوائر (الاميركية) تجمع المعلومات عمن قد يخلف صدام حسين، وتواصل تحذير الجهات الخليجية من العراق، وتعمل على ضمان الا تقدم أية مساعدة للعراق". وشدد صدام على أن العراق يواجه مشاكل مالية جدية، بدين يبلغ 40 مليار دولار أميركي، موضحاً أن "العراق الذي أحدث انتصاره في الحرب ضد ايران، فارقاً تاريخياً بالنسبة للعالم العربي والغرب، يحتاج إلى خطة مارشال"، ومستطرداً "لكنكم تريدون أسعاراً منخفضة للنفط"، فيما اعتبرته غلاسبي "اتهاماً" للأميركيين، بحسب الوثيقة. لكن صدام اكد أنه بالرغم من هذه الانتكاسات، "التي أزعجتنا فعلاً، نأمل في أن نتمكن من تطوير علاقة جيدة"، وأضاف "لكن هؤلاء الذي يفرضون انخفاض أسعار النفط، يشنون علينا حرباً اقتصادية، ولا يمكن للعراق أن يقبل تعدّياً كهذا على كرامته وازدهاره". وأوضح صدام ان "رأسي الحربة هما الكويت والإمارات"، مردفاً "بحذر"، أن "العراق لن يهدد الآخرين، لكنه لن يقبل أي تهديد له. نأمل في ألا تسيء الحكومة الأميركية الفهم". وقال الرئيس العراقي السابق، إن "العراق يقبل بأن لكل دولة الحرية في اختيار اصدقائها، لكن الحكومة الاميركية تعرف أن العراق، لا أميركا، هو من حمى أصدقاء اميركا خلال الحرب (مع ايران)، وهذا متوقع بما أن الرأي العام الاميركي، ناهيك بالجغرافيا، كان ليجعل من المستحيل قبول أميركا بسقوط 10 آلاف من جنودها في معركة واحدة، كما فعل العراق". وتساءل صدام "ماذا يعني ان تعلن الحكومة الاميركية التزامها بالدفاع عن أصدقائها، فردياً وجماعياً؟"، قبل أن يجيب بنفسه: "بالنسبة للعراق، يشكل ذلك انحيازاً فادحاً ضد الحكومة العراقية". وفي "التطرق إلى إحدى نقاطه الأساسية" بحسب غلاسبي، قال صدام إن المناورات الأميركية مع الإمارات والكويت، "شجعتهما في سياستهما البخيلة"، مشدداً على أن "حقوق العراق ستسترجع، واحدا تلو الآخر، حتى لو تطلب ذلك شهراً أو أكثر من عام بكثير"، معرباً عن امله في أن "تكون الحكومة الأميركية متناغمة مع كل أطراف هذا الخلاف". وأوضح صدام أنه "يفهم ان الحكومة الاميركية مصممة على تواصل تدفق النفط، والمحافظة على صداقاتها في الخليج"، لكن ما لا يفهمه هو "لماذا يشجع الأميركيون هؤلاء الذين يضرون بالعراق؟"، في إشارة منه إلى المناورات الاميركية في الخليج. وأعرب صدام عن "اعتقاده التام" بأن الحكومة الأميركية تريد السلام، لكنه توجه إلى غلاسبي قائلا "لا تستخدموا الأساليب التي تقولون إنكم لا تحبونها، كليّ الذراع". و"استفاض" صدام بحسب غلاسبي في الحديث عن "عزّة العراقيين" الذين يؤمنون بـ"الحرية أو الموت"، قبل ان يؤكد أن العراق سيضطر إلى الرد إذا استخدمت أميركا هذه الأساليب. وقال صدام إن العراق "يعلم أن باستطاعة اميركا إرسال الطائرات والصواريخ وإنزال الأذى العميق بالعراق"، لكنه أضاف متمنياً ألا "تدفع اميركا العراق إلى نقطة الإهانة، التي سيتم عندها التغاضي عن المنطق. العراق لا يعتبر أميركا عدوة، وقد حاول أن يبني صداقة"، وتابع قائلا إن "العراقيين يعرفون معنى الحرب ولا يريدون المزيد منها. لا تدفعونا إليها، لا تجعلوها الخيار الوحيد المتبقي للدفاع عن كرامتنا". وأكد الرئيس العراقي، الذي أطيح عن السلطة إبان الاحتلال الأميركي للعراق عام 2003، إنه لا يطلب أي دور اميركي في الخلافات العربية – العربية، لأن "الحلول يجب ان تأتي من خلال الدبلوماسية العربية والثنائية". واعتبر أن بوش (الأب) لم يقم بأي خطأ استثنائي ازاء العرب، لكن قراره حول الحوار مع منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية كان "مخطئاً، فقد اتخذ تحت الضغط الصهيوني". وبعدما طالب صدام أميركا بأن تنظر إلى حقوق "200 مليون عربي، بالطريقة نفسها التي تنظر فيها إلى حقوق الإسرائيليين"، خلص إلى القول بـ"إننا لن نتضرع إلى أميركا للحصول على صداقتها، لكننا (إذا حصلنا عليها) سنفي من جانبنا بها". ونقلت غلاسبي عن صدام استرجاعه حادثة كمثل عما قاله، مفادها أنه أبلغ زعيم الأكراد العراقيين عام 1974، بأنه "كان مستعداً لتقديم نصف شطّ العرب إلى ايران، للحصول على ازدهار لكل العراق، فراهن الكردي على أن صدام لن يقوم بذلك، وكان الكردي مخطئا. وحتى اليوم، فإن المشكلة الحقيقية الوحيدة مع ايران هي شطّ العرب، وإذا كان إعطاء نصف الممر المائي هو العائق الوحيد بين الواقع الحالي وازدهار العراق، فيؤكد صدام انه سيتخذ قراراً متماشياً مع ما قاله عام 1974". من جهتها، قالت غلاسبي لصدّام إن الرئيس الأميركي طلب منها "توسيع وتعميق العلاقات مع العراق"، معتبرة أن تعرض "بعض الدوائر" الاميركية في السياسة والإعلام سلباً للحكومة العراقية، لا يقع تحت سيطرة الحكومة الاميركية. واعتبرت غلاسبي أن معارضة بوش لقانون العقوبات على العراق كانت بادرة حسن نية منه لتأكيد الصداقة مع بغداد، فـ"قاطعها صدام ضاحكا"، وقال "لا شيء يمكننا شراؤه في اميركا، كل شيء ممنوع ما عدا القمح، ولا أشك في ان ذلك سيعلن مادة ذات استخدامات مزدوجة قريبا"، لكنه أضاف انه قرّر عدم إثارة هذه القضية، والتركيز بدلاً عن ذلك، على "قضايا أكثر أهمية بكثير". وسألت غلاسبي صدام "أليس منطقياً أن نكون قلقين عندما يقوم الرئيس العراقي ووزير خارجيته بالقول علنا إن خطوات الكويت تساوي اعتداءً عسكريا؟ ومن ثم نعلم أن وحدات عديدة من الحرس الجمهوري أرسلت إلى الحدود؟ أليس منطقياً أن نسأل بروح الصداقة لا المواجهة: ما هي نواياكم؟". فأجاب صدام بأنه سؤال منطقي وأن "من واجب أميركا القلق على السلام الإقليمي كقوة كبرى"، ثم استطرد: "لكن كيف يمكننا أن نجعل الكويت والإمارات تفهمان عمق معاناتنا؟"، موضحاً أن الوضع المالي وصل إلى درجة من الصعوبة ستضطر عندها الحكومة العراقية إلى قطع المساعدات عن يتامى الشهداء وأراملهم، قبل أن "ينهار المترجم وأحد المدونين مجهشين في البكاء"، بحسب غلاسبي. وروى صدام عند هذه النقطة محاولات تواصله مع دول الخليج، قائلا "صدقيني لقد حاولت أن أقوم بكل ما في استطاعتي: أرسلنا مبعوثين، وكتبنا رسائل، وطلبنا من الملك فهد (السعودي)، تنظيم قمة رباعية (العراق، السعودية، الإمارات والكويت). اقترح فهد قمة لوزراء النفط عوضاً عن ذلك، ووافقنا على اتفاق جدة على رغم أنه كان ادنى من مستوى توقعاتنا بكثير. وبعد يومين أعلن وزير النفط الكويتي أنه سيريد إلغاء الاتفاق خلال شهرين".وأضاف صدام "أما بالنسبة للإمارات، فقد ترجيت الشيخ زايد بأن يتفهم مشاكلنا، عندما ذهبنا إلى الموصل للترفيه بعد قمة بغداد. وقال الشيخ زايد: انتظر حتى أعود إلى ابو ظبي. لكن عند عودته ادلى وزير النفط بتصريحات سيئة للغاية". ثم خرج صدام من اللقاء ليتلقى مكالمة من رئيس الجمهورية المصري حسني مبارك، طلبت منه غلاسبي ان يخبرها بتفاصيلها. وقال صدام إن مبارك نقل له خبر موافقة الكويتيين على التفاوض، وأن "رئيس الوزراء الكويتي سيلتقي في الرياض مع الرجل الثاني في الحكومة العراقية عزت ابراهيم الدوري، ثم سيأتي الكويتيون إلى بغداد قبل الإثنين 30 تموز 1990".</p> </p></div> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11986"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/24/christian-exodus-from-iraq-gathers-pace/#respond" title="Comment on Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 24th, 2010 by Nur Hussein Ghazali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/24/christian-exodus-from-iraq-gathers-pace/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace">Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86/" rel="tag">بالمسيحيين</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Their cathedrals stand silent and their neighbourhoods are rapidly emptying. Now <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq</a>’s Christians face two further unthinkable realities: that Christmas this year is all but cancelled, and that few among them will stay around to celebrate future holy days.</p> <p>It has been the worst of years for the country’s Christians, with thousands fleeing in the past month and more leaving the country during 2010 than at any time since the invasion nearly eight years ago. Christian leaders say there have been few more defining years in their 2,000-year history in central Arabia.</p> <p> <a title="20102412_captioned_memorial_murdered_christians by Gorillas Guides, on Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorillasguides/5287899085/" class="external" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin: 0px auto 5px" height="276" alt="20102412_captioned_memorial_murdered_christians" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133im_/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5245/5287899085_689e1097d8_o.jpg" width="460"/></a> <p>The latest exodus follows a massacre led by al-Qaida at a Chaldean Catholic church in central Baghdad on 31 October, which left about 60 people dead, almost 100 maimed and an already apprehensive community terrified. Since then, the terrorist group has targeted Christians in their homes, including family members of those who survived the attack.</p> <p>In Baghdad, as well as the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, Christmas services have been cancelled for fear of further violence. Church leaders said they would not put up Christmas decorations or celebrate midnight mass. They told families not to decorate their homes, for fear of attack after al-Qaida reiterated its threat to target Christians earlier this week.</p> <p>"Now more than 80% of Christians are not going to the churches," said the head of Iraq’s Christian Endowment group, Abdullah al-Noufali. "There is no more sunday school, no school for teaching Christianity. Yesterday we had a discussion about what we would do for Christmas. We took a decision just to do one mass. In years before we had many masses."</p> <p>Noufali’s church was closed and barricaded in 2005 when violence was consuming Baghdad. Many others had stayed open since then. Until now. In the wake of the attack on the Our Lady of Salvation church, at least 10 churches are believed to have been closed. At others, congregations are down to a handful.</p> <p>Iraq’s Christian population has halved since the ousting of Saddam Hussein. But in the past two months, the rate of departure has soared. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is reporting high numbers of registrations by Christians in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. And in Iraq’s Kurdish north, the number of refugees is overwhelming.</p> <p>Christians have been arriving since the president of the Kurdish regional government, Massoud Barazani, offered them protection and refuge days after the massacre.</p> <p>Kurdish officials say at least 1,000 families have taken up the offer. Noufali believes the number is far higher. He says the Kurds have been warm and welcoming, but fears that moving there does not offer his community a long-term solution.</p> <p>"We have seen in Kurdistan that they have no ability to accept the Kurdish students in the universities," he said. "There are not enough chairs in the university for them. They must have opportunity to learn and work. The problem is not just security."</p> <p>In Lebanon, the plight of Iraq’s Christians is being carefully scrutinised. Father Yusef Muwaness, of the Council of Catholic Churches in the Middle East, said: "We understand the shock [the Iraqis] are enduring. We want them to know that they won’t be left alone.</p> <p>"There are ancient issues at work. These people [al-Qaida] are killing because of a fatwa. There has not been a mufti who has stood up and said this is wrong."</p> <p>Lebanon’s Christians once held a demographic majority. Emigration and a brutal civil war has whittled numbers away. Amin Gemayel, a former Lebanese president and now patriarch of many of the country’s remaining Christians, believes far more could be done by Muslim leaders to ensure that the exodus is not total.</p> <p>"The Christians were very nationalistic," he said. "They are part of the foundations of this area. We can’t understand such extremity then passivity from the leaders. When the region is completely cleansed of other religions (apart from Islam) it will be a surrender to the fundamentalists."</p> <p>In the Chaldean archdiocese in Baabda, above Beirut, Father Hanna has been receiving Iraqi families fleeing their homeland. "I would go back there to give a service in front of one person, if I had to," he said. "But even that may not be possible now. Since 1 November, we have seen 450 families register here. Many more have gone to the UN."</p> <p>Among those who have stayed in Iraq and tried to build a new life in the north, there are mixed feelings. "Three days after the church attack I left my house (in Baghdad) and came to the KRG," said Georges Qudah, 30, a pharmacy assistant. "At the main checkpoint I said we are a Christian family, and they said we are welcome to stay as long as we want. I feel safe and comfortable here, but the problem is how to live. The council here has given us blankets and beds, but housing is very expensive."</p> <p>In Baghdad, there are few signs of the joy of Christmas.</p> <p>"There is no hope here anymore," says Noufali. "No one can believe they [the Christians] will stay. Christmas came with two messages, peace in the world and hope for the people and we need these two things for our life in Iraq. If there are no more Christians here, I am certain Iraq will become a more dangerous country."</p> <h3>Christianity in the Middle East</h3> <p> Freedom of worship for Christians varies greatly across the Middle East. <p>In Lebanon, where about half the population are Christian, believers are allowed to practise their faith without fear of persecution. The Maronite Church is the largest, most politically active and influential denomination, holding 34 of the 64 Christian seats in the Lebanese parliament.</p> <p>In Jordan, Christians are free to profess their faith, build churches, schools, hospitals and universities. They attend mass and there are public celebrations of religious festivals and ceremonies. They experience less discrimination and more freedom than fellow believers in Egypt and Iraq. There is a similar portrait of stability and freedom in Syria, where Christians comprise up to 10% of the population.</p> <p>Evangelising bvy Protestants in Jordan has prompted a crackdown on churches, visas and summer camps. Attempting to convert Muslims is illegal, but there is no law against proselytising to other Christians and some Catholic and Orthodox groups have complained of energetic wooing from Protestants. It is this evangelising that has offended authorities, keen to avoid religious zealotry of any sort.</p> <p>What Saudi Arabia lacks in violent persecution it makes up for in outright intolerance. There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, which counts a million Catholics in its population. The country allows Christians to enter for work purposes but severely restricts the practise of their faith.</p> <p>Christians worship in private homes and there are bans on religious articles including Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings and items bearing religious symbols. The religious police bar the practice of any religion other than Islam. Conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy and carries a death sentence if the accused does not recant. Still, Christians in Saudi Arabia are positively blessed compared with those of Iraq. <strong>Riazat Butt</strong></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/23/iraq-christian-exodus-christmas" class="external" target="_blank">Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace</a> | by Martin Chulov in Baghdad |  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.guardian.co.uk/" target="_blank" class="external">The Guardian</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11715"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/10/26/%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%85%d8%a7-%d8%a8%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%b7%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%82-%d8%b9%d8%b2%d9%8a/#respond" title="Comment on محكمة (عراقية) تصدر حكما بإعدام طارق عزيز">No Comments</a></span> Posted on October 26th, 2010 by Ali Ibn Hussayn</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/10/26/%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%85%d8%a7-%d8%a8%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%b7%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%82-%d8%b9%d8%b2%d9%8a/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to محكمة (عراقية) تصدر حكما بإعدام طارق عزيز">محكمة (عراقية) تصدر حكما بإعدام طارق عزيز</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/human-rights/" title="View all posts in Human Rights" rel="category tag">Human Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/abed-hamid-hmoud/" rel="tag">Abed Hamid Hmoud</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/aswat-al-iraq/" rel="tag">Aswat Al Iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/death-penalty/" rel="tag">Death Penalty</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/occupation-of-iraq/" rel="tag">occupation of iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/revolutionary-command-council/" rel="tag">revolutionary command council</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saadoun-shaker/" rel="tag">Saadoun Shaker</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tariq-aziz/" rel="tag">Tariq Aziz</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; width: 300px; padding-top: 0px"> <div class="container"> <div class="shadow"> <div class="frame"><strong><font color="#800000">الإعدام شنقا بحق طارق عزيز وعبد حمود وسعدون شاكر في قضية تصفية الأحزاب الدينية</font></strong> <p><a title="tariq_aziz by Gorillas Guides, on Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27086036@N02/5117906517/" class="external" target="_blank"><img height="417" alt="tariq_aziz" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133im_/http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1158/5117906517_6c07c35c3f_o.jpg" width="275"/></a></p> <p>أصدرت المحكمة الجنائية العليا حكما بالإعدام شنقا حتى الموت بحق ثلاثة من أركان النظام السابق في قضية تصفية الأحزاب الدينية. <br/>وشمل القرار الذي صدر قبل قليل كلا من وزير خارجية النظام السابق طارق عزيز والسكرتير الأول لرئيس النظام السابق عبد حمود ورئيس جهاز المخابرات سعدون شاكر.</p> </p></div> </p></div> </p></div> </p></div> <p>اصدرت المحكمة الجنائية التي انشأها بريمر احكاما بالاعدام  على المسؤولين العراقيين السابقين الثلاثة طارق عزيز وسعدون شاكر وعبد حميد حمود بعد ادانتهم في قضية "تصفية احزاب دينية". <br/>وقال المكتب الاعلامي التابع للمحكمة إن المحكمة أصدرت حكما باعدام طارق عزيز أحد أبرز مساعدي الرئيس العراقي الراحل صدام حسين. <br/>والحكم بالاعدام هو الأول الذي يصدر ضد عزيز. <br/>وكان الجيش الأمريكي قد سلم إلى حكومة بغداد، في شهر يوليو الماضي 26 مسؤولاً عراقيا سابقاً كان يعتقلهم، بينهم نائب رئيس الوزراء السابق طارق عزيز. <br/>وصرح حينها محامي طارق عزيز، بديع عارف، أن "حياة موكله الآن في خطر". <br/>واعتبر تسليمه "انتهاكاً لميثاق الصليب الأحمر الذي لا يجيز تسليم موكلي الى خصومه".</p> <p>يعتبر طارق عزيز، نائب رئيس الوزراء العراقي السابق، ووزير الخارجية الأسبق واحداً من اشهر مسؤولي حكومة صدام حسين على الصعيد الخارجي. </p> <p>وبزر على الساحة الدولية بعد توليه وزارة الخارجية إبان حرب الخليج الثانية عام 1991، وكان المتحدث باسم الحكومة</p> <p>بدأت علاقة طارق عزيز بصدام حسين في أواخر الخمسينيات من القرن الماضي من خلال عضويتهما بحزب البعث الذي كان محظوراً في ذلك الوقت، وكان يمارس العمل السياسي السري بهدف الإطاحة بالنظام الملكي المدعوم من قبل بريطانيا. </p> <p>العمل الصحفي </p> <p>وقد ولد طارق عزيز، اسمه الحقيقي ميخائيل يوحنا، عام 1936 قرب مدينة الموصل في شمال العراق في اسرة متواضعة كلدانية كاثوليكية</p> <p>درس الأدب الإنجليزي في جامعة بغداد ثم مدرسا وبعد ذلك صحفيا </p> <p>وأهله العمل في مجال الصحافة لتولي أول منصب وزاري في حياته السياسية، إذ عين عام 1970 كوزير للإعلام. </p> <p>وفي عام 1977 انضم لمجلس قيادة الثورة، وهي اللجنة التي كانت تضم كبار مسؤولي حزب البعث الذين كانوا يحكمون العراق فعليا. </p> <p>وفي عام 1983 عينه صدام حسين وزيرا للخارجية. </p> <p>ونجح عزيز خلال فترة قصيرة في اعادة العلاقات الدبلوماسية مع الولايات المتحدة بعد اجتماعه مع الرئيس الامريكي حينذاك رونالد ريغان في الابيت الابيض عام 1984 بعد قطيعة دامت اكثر من 17 عاما. </p> <p>كما تمكن من تأمين دعم الولايات المتحدة لبغداد أثناء حرب الخليج الأولى مع ايران في الثمانينيات بعد اقناع الرئيس ريغان وموفده الخاص دونالد رامسفيلد بأن العراق يمثل حاجزا اساسيا في وجه ايران. </p> <p>واستطاع بحنكته الدبلوماسية إقامة علاقات اقتصادية قوية مع الاتحاد السوفييتي السابق. </p> <p>وبرز اسم طارق عزيز في وسائل الإعلام العالمية بعد انتشار الجيش العراقي في الكويت في أغسطس/ آب من عام 1990، والحرب التي أعقبته حيث كان يقود المفاوضات مع الامم المتحدة والولايات المتحدة قبيل بد حرب الخليج الثانية </p> <p>وعشية حرب الخليج الثانية، اتخذ طارق عزيز موقفاً كان له أصداء واسعة برفضه قبول رسالة تحذر من حتمية الحرب وجهها الرئيس الأمريكي جورج بوش الأب لصدام حسين، خلال اجتماعه في جنيف مع وزير الخارجية الامريكي الاسبق جيمس بيكر. </p> <p>كما عاد عزيز الى واجهة الاحداث عام 2003 قبل غزو العراق من قبل الولايات المتحدة وحلفائها معلنا ان العراق لا يمثل مصدر تهديد عسكري، لكنه كان متأكدا من حتمية وقوع الحرب التي كانت حسب رأيه بسبب النفط والعامل الاسرائيلي. </p> <p>بعد الغزو الامريكي للعراق </p> <p>سلم عزيز نفسه للقوات الامريكية بعد شهر من احتلال العراق. </p> <p>وقد نشرت صحيفة الاوبزرفر البريطانية عام 2005 رسالة لعزيز شرح فيها ظروف اعتقاله قائلا "اننا منقطعون عن العالم الخارجي ولا يمكننا الاتصال بأسرنا ونرغب بالحصول على محاكمة عادلة ومعاملة حسنة". </p> <p>ونجح طارق عزيز في الحفاظ على رضا الرئيس العراقي عنه، كما نجا من محاولة اغتيال عام 1980. </p> <p>ويقول المقربون من طارق عزيز عنه إنه إنسان هادئ ودمث الخلق، ويتمتع بالقدرة على الحديث بطلاقة. </p> <p>لكن هذه الصورة الوديعة تخفي وراءها سياسيا محنكا ذا شخصية صلبة، تمكن من البروز وتقلد أعلى المناصب في عهد الرئيس العراقي صدام حسين.</p> </p></div> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11705"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/10/26/tariq-aziz-sentenced-to-death/#respond" title="Comment on Tariq Aziz, Saadoun Shaker, and Abed Hamid Hmoud sentenced to death">No Comments</a></span> Posted on October 26th, 2010 by Ali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/10/26/tariq-aziz-sentenced-to-death/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Tariq Aziz, Saadoun Shaker, and Abed Hamid Hmoud sentenced to death">Tariq Aziz, Saadoun Shaker, and Abed Hamid Hmoud sentenced to death</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/abed-hamid-hmoud/" rel="tag">Abed Hamid Hmoud</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/aswat-al-iraq/" rel="tag">Aswat Al Iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/death-penalty/" rel="tag">Death Penalty</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/occupation-of-iraq/" rel="tag">occupation of iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/revolutionary-command-council/" rel="tag">revolutionary command council</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saadoun-shaker/" rel="tag">Saadoun Shaker</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tariq-aziz/" rel="tag">Tariq Aziz</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <blockquote> <p>The Supreme Criminal Court has issued a decision on Tuesday for the execution of three of Iraq’s former high-ranking officials during former President Saddam Hussein’s regime, including former Deputy Prime Minister, Tareq Aziz, according to the semi-official Iraqiya TV Channel.</p> <p>“The Supreme Criminal Court has issued a decision to execute three leading members of the former (Iraqi) regime, charged with the elimination of the religious parties, including former Deputy Prime Minister, Tareq Aziz,” the Iraqiya TV Channel said, adding that the two other former officials were former Interior Minister, Saadoun Shaker and Saddam Hussein’s Office Chief, Abed Hamid Hmoud.</p> <p>Tareq Aziz, 74, was the only Christian member in Saddam Hussein’s leadership, who handed himself up to the U.S. troops after their occupation of Iraq in April, 2003, and had been among very few membersof Saddam’s regime who escaped death till this date.</p> <p>Tareq Aziz is looked upon by the world at large as having been the leading spokesman in the name of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial regime, as he held the post of deputy prime minister in 1991, after holding the foreign minister’s post for a long time.</p> <p>Aziz had charged U.S. President, Barrak Obama, with “having left Iraq for the wolves,” when Obama issued his decision to pull out the U.S. combat troops, despite the escalation of terrorism in Iraq recently.</p> <p>He had also been sentenced for 15 years under charges of having contributed in the execution of 15 Iraqi merchants, during the previous regime, along with another 7-year sentence for his role in forcing large numbers of Iraqi Kurds to leave their home towns in northern Iraq</p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=138329" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Tareq Aziz, sentenced to death : Aswat Al Iraq</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11577"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/10/09/association-with-occupying-powers-makes-christians-targets/#respond" title="Comment on Association with occupying powers makes Christians targets">No Comments</a></span> Posted on October 9th, 2010 by Mohammed Al-Hamadani</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/10/09/association-with-occupying-powers-makes-christians-targets/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Association with occupying powers makes Christians targets">Association with occupying powers makes Christians targets</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/human-rights/" title="View all posts in Human Rights" rel="category tag">Human Rights</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/arabs/" rel="tag">Arabs</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/armenians/" rel="tag">Armenians</a>, <a 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Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-situation/" rel="tag">security situation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/shabak/" rel="tag">Shabak</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syriac-catholic/" rel="tag">syriac catholic</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tariq-aziz/" rel="tag">Tariq Aziz</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/yazidi/" rel="tag">yazidi</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/yazidis/" rel="tag">yazidis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86/" rel="tag">بالمسيحيين</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p><a title="20101009_deutsche_welle_soldier_protecting_christian_church_caption_top_and_bottom by Gorillas Guides, on Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27086036@N02/5065378540/" class="external" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline; margin: 10px 0px 5px" height="359" alt="20101009_deutsche_welle_soldier_protecting_christian_church_caption_top_and_bottom" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133im_/http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/5065378540_0f27f45bce_o.jpg" width="300" align="right"/></a> <p>Their churches are burnt-out husks and heaps of rubble. Their businesses are targeted by extremists. Their leaders are kidnapped and assassinated. The Christian minority in Iraq, once a community left in peace to prosper, continues to be under threat from a campaign of persecution which has forced as many as 500,000 Christians to flee the country.</p> <p>During the reign of Saddam Hussein, the estimated 1.4 million Christians – many of them Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics – were generally left alone if they didn’t oppose the government and they lived in relative peace with the country’s Sunnis and Shiites. </p> <p>Some, such as Tariq Aziz, Saddam’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, rose to the highest levels of power.</p> <p>Things changed after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam’s regime. Christians became a target of violence when Islamist groups and ordinary Muslims angered by the military action began seeing them as the enemy, associating with them with the "crusaders" – the invading armies of the United States and Britain.</p> <p>Tensions over their religious ties with the West and their differing beliefs to the strict Islamic majority, which had been simmering for years, spilled over as the occupying forces dug in.</p> <p>"Iraqi Christians became caught up in the overlapping violence and multiple conflicts unleashed after 2003," Dr. Kristian Ulrichsen, an Iraq expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told Deutsche Welle. "They became exposed to the similar patterns of kidnappings, extortion, beheadings, rape and forced taxation that affected all other communities as the erosion of central government control left a security vacuum that was exploited by organised and opportunistic criminality and anti-occupation resistance groups." </p> <p>"In addition to this, Christians specifically were targeted by Church bombings and assassination attempts owing to a perceived association with the aims and intentions of the occupying forces."</p> <h3>Association with occupying powers makes Christians targets</h3> <p>In 2004, insurgents launched a coordinated bombing campaign targeted churches in Baghdad. In 2007, after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be anti-Islam, nationwide attacks on churches hit an all-time high and a priest in the northern city of Mosul was kidnapped and later found beheaded. In January 2009, 40 Iraqi Christians were killed and approximately 12,000 fled their homes.</p> <p>In February this year, at least 10 Iraqi Christians were killed by unknown gunmen in Mosul as the country was preparing for the March 7 elections. The escalating violence ahead of the ballot led to hundreds of Iraqi Christians taking to the streets in a number of protests, chanting slogans such as "Stop the killing of Christians."</p> <p>During the years since the invasion, life for the Christian minority has become beset by danger. The waves of violent attacks against churches, businesses and homes have forced more than half of the Christian population to flee for their lives, according to statistcs from the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Those churches which remain standing are mostly empty, their congregations long gone or too afraid to attend.</p> <p>"The Christian minority in Iraq has been reduced to a shadow of its former self," said Ulrichsen. "Up to two-thirds of the pre-war community has been displaced or forced to flee the country. Although conditions in Iraq have improved somewhat since 2007, the security situation remains intensely fragile and prone to reversal, and the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes has been very slow and halting."</p> <p>"There’s a real possibility that 2,000 years of settlement by Christian communities in Iraq is in danger of near-total extinction." </p> <h3>US withdrawal leave Christians’ fate in Iraqi hands</h3> <p>As the United States steps up its military withdrawal from Iraq, the Christian minority is forced to look at the Iraqi security structure for protection. However, the prospect of being protecetd by the Iraqi police and armed forces fails to instill any confidence in the Christian minority.</p> <p>"The greatest concern about a US pullout is that extremists will exploit any lapses in security and attack vulnerable groups, including Christians," Samer Muscati, an Iraq expert from the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch, told Deutsche Welle. </p> <p>"Although the Iraqi government publicly condemns violence against Christians and other minority groups, it has not taken measures to bolster security in areas where minorities are particularly vulnerable to attacks, and it has not thoroughly investigated attacks," he added. "Iraqi security forces rarely apprehend, prosecute and punish perpetrators of such attacks, which has created a climate of impunity."</p> <h3>Christians search for ways to protect themselves </h3> <p>One muted proposal to protect the Christian minority involves the creation of an autonomous province on a neglected area of land located to the north and west of Mosul, called Ninawah Plain, which would act as a sanctuary.</p> <p>While advocates of the idea say it wouldn’t stop the violence against Christians in the large, high-risk cities of Mosul, Baghdad, and Al-Basrah, it would give the Christians a place where their needs could be met, their beliefs supported and their security guaranteed.</p> <p>The proposals suggest that Ninaweh Plain would an autonomous administrative region in which the Christian minority could govern themselves and would be free to participate in the federalist system which is developing in Iraq.</p> <h3>Creation of autonomous region plagued by problems </h3> <p>However, the idea of an autonomous region for the Christian minority in reality looks unviable. </p> <p>"The image of a real autonomy is unrealistic," Nizar Hanna, director of the Assyrian Democratic Movement’s Baghdad office, told Deutsche Welle. "Up to now, there are no concrete plans which show how this would work. Even in the Kurdish constitution, they have the right to autonomy in the areas where they are the majority but nowhere is this the case. Besides, there are no areas in which only Christians live. Shabak, Yazidis, Kurds and Arabs also live there." </p> <p>"To an extent a safe haven for Christians exists in Iraqi Kurdistan," Kristian Ulrichsen said. "Thousands of internally displaced Iraqi Christians have moved there. Although viable on humanitarian grounds, the creation of a specific region for Christians would be a short-term measure that does not offer a longer-term solution to the reconstruction of Iraqi society and the reintegration of its communities."</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6052335,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf" class="external" target="_blank">Iraqi Christians fear escalating persecution as US forces withdraw | World | Deutsche Welle | 09.10.2010</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11314"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/07/09/paradise-found-water-and-life-return-to-iraqs-garden-of-eden/#respond" title="Comment on Paradise found: Water and life return to Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’">No Comments</a></span> Posted on July 9th, 2010 by Sagib</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/07/09/paradise-found-water-and-life-return-to-iraqs-garden-of-eden/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Paradise found: Water and life return to Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’">Paradise found: Water and life return to Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/amil/" rel="tag">Amil</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/arabian-sea/" rel="tag">Arabian sea</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a 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align="right"> <p><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 42px; float: left; margin: 3px 1px 0px 0px; line-height: 36px; font-style: normal! important">O</span>ne of Saddam Hussein’s greatest acts of ecological destruction – the draining of the Mesopotamian marshes – has been reversed as birds and rivers return to the region</p> <p>Saddam Hussein’s draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible – was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them.</p> <div class="container"> <div class="shadow"> <div class="frame"> <p><a title="20100708_marshes_guardian_nature_iraq_captioned" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27086036@N02/4777445917/" class="external" target="_blank"><img alt="20100708_marshes_guardian_nature_iraq_captioned" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133im_/http://static.flickr.com/4074/4777445917_ea65faecc3.jpg" border="0"/></a></p> </p></div> </p></div> </p></div> <p>  <div style="clear: both"> </div> <p>But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world’s third largest wetland to some of its former glory.</p> <p>The story of this once almost impossible restoration is told in an exhibition of photographs that has opened in the UK. They show the huge expanses of reeds and open water – now at least half the size of the Florida Everglades – where plants, insects and fish have returned, creating a vast feeding area for migrating and breeding birds, including the majestic Sacred Ibis, the endemic Basrah Reed Warbler and the Iraq Babbler, along with most of the world’s population of Marbled Teal ducks, bee-eaters and many more.</p> <p>"We call them stop-over sites, refuelling sites," said Richard Porter, Middle East advisor for the conservation group Birdlife International, who has helped train biologists and other experts for the local Birdlife partner <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://natureiraq.org/English/" class="external" target="_blank">Nature Iraq</a>. "They are as important as the breeding and over-wintering grounds for species; if you have got to make a journey from central Africa to norther Europe and Asia, and you’ve got nothing to feed on, you’re stuffed."</p> <p>The Mesopotamian marshes originally made up an area more than three times the size of Norfolk, where the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.birdscapesgallery.co.uk/" class="external" target="_blank">exhibition is showing, in Holt</a>. It sprawled across thousands of square kilometres of floodplain where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers divided into a network of tributaries meandering and pulsating south to the Arabian sea. They were home to more than 80 bird species, otters and long-fingered bats, and hundreds of thousands of Marsh Arabs who grew rice and dates, raised water buffalo, fished and built boats and homes from reeds.</p> <p>In the early 1990s, this way of life came to an abrupt end when Hussein ordered the marshes to be drained to punish the local population for an uprising after his failed invasion of Kuwait, a problem exacerbated by the continued construction of dams upstream.</p> <p>He ordered the area to be hemmed in by constructing around 4,000km of earthen walls that towered up to 7m above the unbroken flat landscape. The wetlands retreated to as little as 5-10% of their original size, according to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/1000/1716/meso2.pdf" class="external" target="_blank">a 2001 United Nations Environment Agency report</a>.</p> <p>After Hussein was toppled by American forces in 2003, Azzam Alwash returned from his adopted home in the US to the area, where he had lived for part of his childhood, and learned to hunt ducks with his father while they inspected the irrigation ditches. Alwash found the local people who had stayed had already begun to break up the walls with shovels or earth diggers, and they have continued to do so. They have destroyed up to 98% of the embankments, he told the Guardian, "not because they are tree-huggers or bird-lovers, but because it’s a source of economic income to them, because they can harvest reeds and sell them. They can fish and feed a family or sell them to earn extra income."</p> <p>Alwash, a civil engineer, set up Nature Iraq and has organised training for graduates who help with monitoring work. "We take guards with us with Kalashnikovs, but the most difficult part is the road between [the capital] Baghdad to the marsh," said Alwash. "Once I’m inside the marshes it’s relatively safe."</p> <p>About half the original marshland has been restored – even more had been reinstated, but there was a setback last year because of a drought. Nature Iraq has now drawn up a plan to cope with the diminishing water flows from dams upstream in Turkey by channelling irrigation water back into the rivers and building a barrage to retain meltwater from the mountains and create a "mechanical flood" of water to replicate the important pulses of freshwater that wash through the marshlands every spring.</p> <p>Alwash and his team are also trying to tackle the problem of local poaching, although he has great sympathy with those who have few alternative sources of income, and hopes the opening of a new oil industry will help create jobs.</p> <p>"We have done some work in trying to educate the locals," he added. "We say: ‘Go out and hunt but take less; make $10 today – you don’t have to make $20, and make $10 tomorrow’. We just keep at it. You can’t give up."</p> <p>• The exhibition runs until July 25 at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.birdscapesgallery.co.uk/" class="external" target="_blank">Birdscapes Gallery in Glandford, Norfolk</a></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/09/iraq-marshes-reborn" class="external" target="_blank">Paradise found: Water and life return to Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’ | Environment | The Guardian</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10774"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/28/selected-english-coverage-i-would-hate-irakis-too-if-i-were-kuwaiti/#respond" title="Comment on Selected English Coverage: I would hate Irakis too – if I were Kuwaiti">No Comments</a></span> Posted on May 28th, 2010 by Sagib</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/28/selected-english-coverage-i-would-hate-irakis-too-if-i-were-kuwaiti/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Selected English Coverage: I would hate Irakis too – if I were Kuwaiti">Selected English Coverage: I would hate Irakis too – if I were Kuwaiti</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/analysis-briefings-commentary/" title="View all posts in Analysis Briefings Commentary" rel="category tag">Analysis Briefings Commentary</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/america/" rel="tag">America</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/arab-league/" rel="tag">Arab League</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/border-disputes/" rel="tag">border disputes</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/british-troops/" rel="tag">british troops</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/businessweek/" rel="tag">BusinessWeek</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/cockburn-patrick/" rel="tag">Cockburn - Patrick</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/commentary/" rel="tag">commentary</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/compensation/" rel="tag">compensation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/etihad-airways/" rel="tag">Etihad Airways</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/gulf-war/" rel="tag">Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/history/" rel="tag">History</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/independent-the-uk/" rel="tag">Independent -The (UK)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/irakikuwaiti-relations/" rel="tag">Iraki/Kuwaiti relations</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-airways/" rel="tag">Iraqi Airways</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-airways-dissolution-of/" rel="tag">Iraqi Airways - dissolution of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kuwait/" rel="tag">kuwait</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kuwait-airways/" rel="tag">kuwait airways</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kuwaiti-investment-in-syrian-dams/" rel="tag">Kuwaiti investment in Syrian dams</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/looting/" rel="tag">Looting</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/lufthansa/" rel="tag">Lufthansa</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/middle-east/" rel="tag">Middle East</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/middle-east-online/" rel="tag">Middle East Online</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/oil-production/" rel="tag">oil production</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/oil-revenues/" rel="tag">oil revenues</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/reparations/" rel="tag">reparations</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/team-members/" rel="tag">Team Members</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/war-with-kuwait/" rel="tag">War with Kuwait</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>I do love the gift for understatement shared by the English and the Irish, here is the Irish journalist Patrick Cockburn writing on Iraki-Kuwaiti relations in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.independent.co.uk/" target="_blank" class="external">The Independent</a>: </p> <blockquote><p>But the animosity between the two sides makes compromise difficult. Other key disputes include the payment to Kuwait of five per cent of Iraq’s oil revenues as reparations. Kuwait Airways’ demand for $1.2bn as compensation for the snatching of 10 aircraft in 1990 forced the closure of state carrier Iraqi Airways this week.</p> </blockquote> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/legacy-of-gulf-war-and-border-dispute-continue-to-dog-relations-with-kuwait-1985072.html" class="external" target="_blank">Legacy of Gulf War and border dispute continue to dog relations with Kuwait – Middle East, World – The Independent</a>.</p> <p>"<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/animosity" class="external" target="_blank">Animosity</a>" does not even begin to describe what the Kuwaitis feel for Irak, and no the fall and subsequent hanging of Saddam has not appreciably lessened Kuwaitis’ intense feelings of hatred and fear of Irak and Irakis.</p> <p>Perhaps I have a somewhat unusual perspective on Irak compared to the other team members. I am not Iraki. Although I have lived here all my adult life and am married to an Iraki nevertheless I remain a Pakistani and as such my perspective is a bit different from that of most of the other team members. I have many good friends here, but I also have good friends in Kuwait. All of which is my way of leading up to the English language articles I want to discuss. First a sign of hope the German airline Lufthansa is resuming services to Baghdad after a hiatus of 20 years:</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-28/lufthansa-first-west-european-carrier-to-resume-baghdad-flight.html" class="external" target="_blank">Lufthansa First West European Carrier to Resume Baghdad Flight – BusinessWeek</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-biggest carrier, will restart regular service to Baghdad, the first western European or U.S. carrier to resume flights to the Iraqi capital. <br/>The airline will serve Baghdad from Munich beginning Sept. 30, following a 20-year break, as economic growth attracts customers to the former war-ridden country, Cologne-based Lufthansa said in an e-mailed statement today. A Boeing 737 operated by Switzerland-based PrivatAir on Lufthansa’s behalf will offer four weekly flights, it said. <br/>The carrier offered Baghdad flights between 1956 and 1990, when it stopped service because of the first Gulf War, during which a U.S.-led army pushed Iraq’s forces out of neighboring Kuwait. The Middle Eastern nation aims to double oil production and lift revenue from crude sales by 60 percent in the coming four years even as it struggles to find a government that’s acceptable to all its major ethnic and religious group</p> </blockquote> <p>Nor are they the only ones as the article goes on to make clear:</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Competing Flights</strong></p> <p>Turk Hava Yollari AO, also known as Turkish Airlines, became the first carrier in Europe to resume Baghdad flights to in October 2008. The airline is offering one daily connection, according to its website. Bahrain-based Gulf Air began serving the Iraqi capital in September, while Abu Dhabi-owned Etihad Airways followed last month. Both airlines operate five flights there a week, according to their websites.</p> </blockquote> <p>Alas Iraqi Airways has not been so lucky as this AFP report from <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/" target="_blank" class="external">Middle East Online</a> makes clear:</p> <blockquote><p>Baghdad said Wednesday it is to close state-owned Iraqi Airways in the face of a decades-old financial dispute with Kuwait that prompted the seizure of one of its aircraft last month.</p> <p>The sudden move comes a day after the airline announced it was dropping its services to Sweden and Britain over the legal row with Kuwait, but it was not immediately clear if a new company would be formed to take its place.</p> <p>"The cabinet decided yesterday (Tuesday) to wind up the Iraqi company," transport ministry spokesman Aqeel Kawthar said.</p> <p>"The decision was taken because of the numerous acts of harassment that the company has faced from Kuwait that have prevented its planes from taking on fuel and food at various airports," Kawthar said.</p> <p>"The transport ministry will carry out the decision by the council of ministers, even though we disagree with it," he added, without giving details on whether a new company would be formed.</p> <p>… … …</p> <p>On Tuesday, Iraqi Airways announced it was ceasing its services to Britain and Sweden, with chief executive Kifah Hassan Jabbar blaming the decision on the legal battle with Kuwait.</p> <p>"We are sorry to announce to our fellow citizens, especially the communities living in Britain and Sweden, that Iraqi Airways will stop flying to these two countries because of difficult circumstances as a result of Kuwaiti escalation," Kifah Hassan Jabbar said.</p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=39197" class="external" target="_blank">Middle East Online: Iraqi Airways closes down after Kuwait row</a>:</p> </blockquote> <p>There has been a long running legal battle between the Kuwaiti airline and Iraqi Airways. Briefly the Kuwaitis are suing Iraqi Airways for $1.2bn (£837m, €979m) reparations which they say they are owed because Iraqi airways took looted aircraft and parts from them during the Iraki invasion of Kuwait. The legal battle over this started in the British courts in 1991.</p> <p>"How can they do this?" Say Irakis to me. " We have suffered enough" they go on. And certainly no one can deny that Irakis suffered grievously first under the tyrant and then under the Americans who managed to be even worse than that monster.</p> <p>The problem is that the Kuwaitis suffered too. Oh not the elite who scuttled off to their luxurious properties in London and other western capitals. But the normal average Kuwaiti suffered dreadfully during <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait" class="external" target="_blank">the invasion</a>. Saddam ordered his troops to go on a rampage and they did, they slaughtered, burnt, and looted all around them. Every single Kuwaiti that I know who stayed in Kuwait has some horror story or another to tell. There are still Kuwaitis "missing presumed dead" even after all this time, to say nothing of the material losses caused to ordinary Kuwaitis by wide scale looting.</p> <p>But it gets worse you see the Kuwaitis are afraid of Irak and they have good reason to fear their northern neighbour. Consider that during the 1930s that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghazi_of_Iraq" class="external" target="_blank">Ghazi of Iraq</a> wanted to annex Kuwait, thirty one years later <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Karim_Qasim" class="external" target="_blank">Abd al-Karim Qasim</a> reasserted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://looklex.com/e.o/qasim_a_k.htm" class="external" target="_blank">the longstanding Iraki claim to Kuwait</a>. (See also the Wiki entry section <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Karim_Qasim#Foreign_policy" class="external" target="_blank">3.4 Foreign policy</a>). Qasim backed down in the face of British troops, the Arab League and hefty secret payments into Baghdad’s treasury from the Kuwaiti emir. But the claim to Kuwait was never dropped. It was that claim that Saddam Hussein used as justification for his <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait" class="external" target="_blank">invasion of Kuwait</a> and his declaration incorporating its territory into Irak as the 19th governorate. Even still, as Cockburn makes clear in his article, there are border disputes to be settled:</p> <p><cite>The maritime border was drawn up in Kuwait’s favour after the first Gulf War. Endorsed by the UN, it was accepted by Saddam Hussein when his fortunes were at low ebb in 1993 and he was prepared to make concessions to stay in power.</cite></p> <p>When I speak and write to my Kuwaiti friends I detect among a very few of them a very reluctant willingness to consider an opening towards more normal relations with Irak. A few talk of Kuwait becoming a gateway to Irak. But most are not willing to consider this. Although they accept that Irak is unlikely to ever invade Kuwait again they cannot shake themselves of the fear engendered by the history of the last century they cannot resist the temptation, however short sighted and counter-productive it might be, to hit Irak while it is down.</p> <p>Cockburn’s article is short and well worth your while reading <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/legacy-of-gulf-war-and-border-dispute-continue-to-dog-relations-with-kuwait-1985072.html" class="external" target="_blank">reading in full</a>, I hope that my far wordier offering helps you understand the background. It is not about border disputes, or war reparations, or even <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kuwaiti-investment-in-syrian-dams/">Kuwaiti investment in Syrian dams</a> in order to reduce the amount of water that Irak receives. It is all of those things it is about a small and weak state, Kuwait, that will not forget that it was invaded and brutalised by its neighbour and seizes every opportunity it can to keep that neighbour weak.</p> <p>Sagib</p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10698"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/25/najaf-cemetery-witness-to-iraqs-tragic-history/#respond" title="Comment on Najaf cemetery witness to Iraq’s tragic history">No Comments</a></span> Posted on May 25th, 2010 by Erdla</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/25/najaf-cemetery-witness-to-iraqs-tragic-history/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Najaf cemetery witness to Iraq’s tragic history">Najaf cemetery witness to Iraq’s tragic history</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/battle-of-najaf/" rel="tag">Battle of Najaf</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/burial/" rel="tag">burial</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/casualty-levels/" rel="tag">Casualty levels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/cemeteries/" rel="tag">cemeteries</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/graveyard/" rel="tag">graveyard</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/gulf-war/" rel="tag">Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/history/" rel="tag">History</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/invasion/" rel="tag">invasion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iran-iraq-war/" rel="tag">Iran-Iraq War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islam/" rel="tag">Islam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mahdi-army/" rel="tag">Mahdi Army</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mahdi-army-militia/" rel="tag">mahdi army militia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mahdi-army-vs-americans/" rel="tag">Mahdi Army vs. Americans</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/muqtada-al-sadr/" rel="tag">Muqtada al-Sadr</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/najaf/" rel="tag">Najaf</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadrists-vs-americans/" rel="tag">Sadrists vs. Americans</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/southern-iraq/" rel="tag">southern iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/un-sanctions/" rel="tag">U.N. sanctions</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wadi-us-salaam/" rel="tag">Wadi-us-Salaam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b4-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%87%d8%af%d9%8a/" rel="tag">جيش المهدي</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 42px; float: left; margin: 2px 1px 0px 0px; line-height: 36px; font-style: normal! important">P</span>ictures of the two brothers stare out, side by side, separated by the gulf of a quarter century. Rahim Jabr died in 1981, a foot soldier in the bloody eight year war with Iran, while Naeem was a casualty of the savage sectarian fighting that gripped Baghdad in 2006.</p> <p>They were reunited in the end, their tombstones placed side by side surrounded by a decorative metal cage in the vast Shiite graveyard of Najaf in southern Iraq.</p> <p>There is no holier place on earth for Shiites to be buried than this city of the dead, stretching to the horizon from the doorstep of the tomb of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and Shiite Islam’s most sacred martyr. While Sunnis put their dead in local plots, Shiites for a 1,000 years have been burying their fallen here and everyone has at least one relative in the graveyard.</p> <p>That has made it a kind of map to Iraq’s history, at least that of its Shiite majority. Its natural disasters, wars and tragedies are etched across the tombstones densely packed into every square foot of the dusty, sun-blasted expanse.</p> <p>The violence that has overwhelmed Iraq since 2003, much of it directed against Shiites, fed a massive expansion of the graveyard, swelling it by 40 percent to about three square miles (7.5 square kilometers) – triple the size of the U.S.’s Arlington National Cemetery – according to Ihsan Hamid Sherif, the official in charge of receiving bodies.</p> <p>But in a measure of the country’s gradual return to stability, those working at the cemetery say in recent years the flood of bodies has slowed.</p> <p><a title="20100525_wadi_as_salaam_caption" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.flickr.com/photos/27086036@N02/4638265163/" class="external" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" height="394" alt="20100525_wadi_as_salaam_caption" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133im_/http://static.flickr.com/3024/4638265163_725936e72d.jpg" width="575" border="0"/></a>"We used to receive 200 to 250 bodies a day, now it’s less than a hundred," said Najah Abu Seiba, the patriarch of a family that have been gravediggers here for three centuries. "We used to work 24 hours a day."</p> <p>On a recent day this month, the cemetery was peaceful, the wind whipping colorful flags flying over the graves, with only the occasional three-wheeled transports buzzing by, taking relatives to graves.</p> <p>"My mother, father and brothers are buried here," said Mouayed Hamed al-Lami as he brought the wife of his uncle to be buried in the cemetery’s newer section. His relatives clambered out of the minibus hired to carry the body from Baghdad, a three hour drive away.</p> <p>"We are burying her here because it is the place of Imam Ali," he said, gesturing at the distant golden dome of the tomb shrine. "It is the closest place to heaven."</p> <p>The violence has not ended completely. That same day, 119 people died across Iraq in bombings that mostly targeted Shiites. So by evening, minibuses stacked with coffins of many of the victims began pouring into Najaf.</p> <p>But the slowing pace of the dead over the past year has workers hopeful that the era of chaos ushered in by the 2003 U.S. invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein may be easing.</p> <p>Abu Mohammed al-Sudani says he now even has the time to try to organize the section of the cemetery he manages, a corner called the "Garden of Martyrs," dedicated to the dead of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They lie in brightly decorated graves adorned with plastic flowers and large portraits of young men dressed in black and often swathed in bandoliers of ammunition.</p> <p>The section has grown every year since 2004, first with the clashes against American forces, then the sectarian wars of 2006-2007 when Shiites and Sunnis were killing each other at a murderous rate, and finally in the 2008 battles with the Iraqi army. In recent years, though, its growth has slowed.</p> <p>"It used to be clashes with the occupier, now those killed are from assassinations, explosions or they died in detention," said al-Sudani. He estimated over 4,000 were buried in his section.</p> <p>A mother dressed in black, accompanied by her son and daughter, weeps at one of the Mahdi Army graves from 2006. They leave behind a smoking stick of incense. Her son walks with a limp.</p> <p>Al-Sudani said that with more time on their hands, they are now looking to damp down the colorful riot of the tombs and standardize their look with uniform grave markers and martyrs’ pictures. "Back then, we didn’t have time to organize the graves," he said.</p> <p>Organization and uniformity of style, however, are totally absent from the rest of the graveyard where tombstones from many eras jostle for room.</p> <p>The graves get older closer to the Imam Ali shrine and the old city that surrounds it, with one section dominated by the fallen from the Iran-Iraq war – a titanic conflict that claimed an estimated million lives.</p> <p>At the time, the style was a three-foot-high (1-meter-high) brick grave marker with a black and white photo of the dead surrounded by a decorative cage. They are everywhere in this section, interspersed with later tombs from other family members. In one, three brothers share the same cage. They all died in 1981.</p> <p>The cemetery itself has twice been the scene of heavy fighting. Wide paths cut through the densely packed older sections, cut by Saddam’s army as it crushed a Shiite uprising after the 1991 Gulf War, when President George Bush called on Iraqis to revolt.</p> <p>The rebels took refuge in the narrow spaces among the crowded tombs and so the Iraqi army bulldozed its way through the graves of its fellow soldiers. To this day, piles of wrecked cages from the graves remain stacked on the roadsides.</p> <p>American Bradley tanks and Humvees would drive down the same paths 13 years later in 2004 battles with the Mahdi Army, who similarly hid among – and in – the graves and tombs.</p> <p>Among the tombstones are the room-size family crypts built by the wealthy, often topped by domes. Many now have splintered door and window frames after scavengers pulled off the metal doors to sell for scrap during the lean years of the U.N. sanctions in the 1990s.</p> <p>Inside the crypts, it smells of rose water, sprinkled by visiting family members and sold by the case along the cemetery’s main thoroughfares.</p> <p>Many of these crypts have underground burial chambers where militiamen used to hide in ambush for U.S. soldiers.</p> <p>Graves from the 1930s and 1940s have their own style, soaring up 10 feet (3 meters) with rounded tops so that people would see them over their neighbors. The inscriptions are often in stucco and the dates use the Islamic calendar.</p> <p>One dating back to 1914 has an epitaph in Persian, a relic of when Iranian Shiites would regularly come here to be buried – a phenomenon that is reviving once more with improved relations between the two countries and ebbing violence.</p> <p>The gravedigger, Abu Seiba, said it is impossible to guess how many bodies are buried here, perhaps tens of millions, as each grave is built on top of an older one.</p> <p>Despite the living through the sectarian war, Abu Seiba finds the Iran-Iraq war graves the most chilling.</p> <p>"Muslims fought Muslims and we killed each other because of the desires of one person, Saddam Hussein," he said. "Even after the fall of Saddam, the killings continued because this thing is part of the Iraqi people, but now, perhaps people are learning to become civilized."</p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAQ_HISTORYS_GRAVEYARD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-05-25-02-06-35" class="external" target="_blank">Najaf cemetery witness to Iraq’s tragic history By PAUL SCHEMM APwriter</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10582"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/18/17th-18th-may-2010-selected-english-language-coverage/#respond" title="Comment on 17th-18th May-2010 Selected English Language Coverage">No Comments</a></span> Posted on May 18th, 2010 by Nabil</div> <h3><a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sectarianism/" rel="tag">sectarianism</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sinan-al-saudi/" rel="tag">Sinan al-Saudi</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sinochem/" rel="tag">sinochem</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/soccer/" rel="tag">Soccer</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/society-and-economy/" rel="tag">Society And Economy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/south-africa/" rel="tag">South Africa</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/state-of-law-coalition/" rel="tag">State of Law Coalition</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/suicide-bombers/" rel="tag">suicide bombers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/suicide-bombing/" rel="tag">suicide bombing</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/summaries/" rel="tag">Summaries</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tariq-hassan/" rel="tag">Tariq Hassan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/the-nation/" rel="tag">The Nation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tigris/" rel="tag">Tigris</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tigris-river/" rel="tag">Tigris River</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tpao/" rel="tag">TPAO</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey/" rel="tag">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkish-petroleum-corporation/" rel="tag">Turkish Petroleum Corporation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d9%85%d9%82%d8%aa%d8%af%d9%89-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1/" rel="tag">مقتدى الصدر</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/violence/" rel="tag">violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/who/" rel="tag">WHO</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/world-cup/" rel="tag">World Cup</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/xinhua/" rel="tag">Xinhua</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ad%d8%b1%d9%83%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1/" rel="tag">حركة الصدر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>I have selected Nizar Latif’s article "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100517/FOREIGN/705169809/1002/rss" class="external" target="_blank">Alliance could keep al Maliki in power</a>" in "The National" because it covers very well the situation that the other blocs find themselves in with regard to the Sadrists. In that context I should mention this posting (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/18/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b1%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%84-%d9%88%d9%81%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b9-%d8%a5%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b1/">العراقية تستعد لإرسال وفد رفيع إلى إيران لمقابلة السيد مقتدى الصدر | Gorilla’s Guides</a>) made by my colleague Nabil which reveals that a delegation from Allawi’s list (the Iraqiyal list) met members of the Sadrist trend’s political bureau and that they are preparing to send a delegation to Iran to meet Muqtada al-Sadr.</p> <p>I have also picked an article that appeared in the London "Times" about the plan to build a wall around Baghdad in the hope of keeping bombers out.</p> <p>More immediately there is a lot of interest in the two al-Qaeda members arrested and who apparently were planning to attack the World Cup in South Africa. A <em>lot</em> has been made of the claims that one of them was a Saudi military officer, <em><strong>"not so fast"</strong></em> say the Saudis. (And if you think from Major General Mansour al-Turki’s name that Saudi Arabia is a family business you’d be right).</p> <p>Did you know that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.411141523" class="external" target="_blank">"most of the prisoners freed by American forces from their prisons in the last few years have become Al-Qaeda leaders once they are released"</a> ? </p> <p>No? No, I did not know it either, but it does explain why every time that an alleged al-Qaeda member is killed/captured/accidentally blows themself up that they are always described as being a "senior" al-Qaeda commander/leader/prince/warlord. </p> <p>62 of them were sentenced to death today i don’t know how many of them received a fair trial or how many of them were truly members of an al-Qaeda affiliated movement. ( That there is an al-Qaeda inspired fighter movement in parts of Irak is true and they enforce their will brutally as the slaughter of two clergy proved).</p> <p style="padding-bottom: 1em; border-bottom: gray 1px solid">Nabil</p> <h3 style="color: #800000">The Day(s) In Quotes:</h3> <ul> <li><strong>Sheikh Dhea al Shouki, a leading preacher at Kufa mosque, in the Sadrists’ heartland to Nizar Latif on the political crisis: </p> <p></strong>“I tell the Iraqi people to look out for themselves and to protect themselves because the coming situation will be one of sectarianism and interference in Iraq by neighbouring countries. The Iraqi government is corrupt and the Iraqi army is not serving the people well.” </p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100517/FOREIGN/705169809/1002/rss" class="external" target="_blank"><strong>Source</strong></a><strong> </strong></li> <li><strong>Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman  Major General Mansour al-Turki to <em>Asharq Al-Awsat</em> on the identity of the Saudi military officer detained in Irak as an al-Qaeda commander  <br/></strong> <br/>"The identity of the individual mentioned by the material evidence requires verification, especially as the public information confirms that he has previously impersonated another figure. " </li> </ul> <h3 style="color: #800000">Human Rights:</h3> <p> <strong>62 Iraqis sentenced to death</strong><strong>: Xinhua</strong><br/> <blockquote>RAMADI, Iraq, May 18 (Xinhua) — A court in Anbar province gave death penalties to 62 Iraqis and different prison terms, including life imprisonment, to 130 others, a source from Anbar police command said on Tuesday. <p>The court in the province delivered the verdicts according to article 4 of the Iraqi counter-terrorism law after the court found them guilty for crimes of killings, bombings, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. </p> <p>Some senior leaders of the al-Qaida organization and leaders of other insurgent groups were among those who received death sentences, the source said. </p> <p>Many of the 130 convicts were either fighters of al-Qaida group or involved in assisting the group to carry out deadly attacks, the source added. </p> <p>"All the convicts were residents of Anbar province," he said </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-05/18/c_13301622.htm" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>:</strong></p> </blockquote> <h3 style="color: #800000">Politics and Security</h3> <p><strong>Alliance could keep al Maliki in power – The National Newspaper</strong><strong>: </strong></p> <blockquote><p><em>snip</em></p> <p>Until yesterday it had seemed unlikely that Mr al Maliki would be chosen as the new alliance’s candidate for prime minister, with the Sadrists, a major faction in INA, saying they would veto his election. </p> <p>However, that threat has now apparently been withdrawn, giving a significant boost to Mr Maliki’s hopes of leading the country for another four years. </p> <p>“We have no veto over Mr al Maliki being chosen as prime minister and we can work with him, for the good of Iraq,” said Bahar al Araje, a senior Sadrist, confirming statements made by Saleh al Obeidi, a spokesman for the group’s leader, cleric Muqtada al Sadr. </p> <p><em>snip</em></p> <p>According to Mr al Araje, the Sadrists continue to harbour reservations about Mr al Maliki and he made it clear that, while the Sadr movement would not veto the prime minister’s coveted reappointment, it may not give him its outright support. </p> <p>“We still have criticisms of Mr al Maliki, including that he does not consult when he makes decisions, that he continues to detain followers of Muqtada al Sadr and that he has politicised the security forces,” Mr Araje said. “While we will not veto him, and while we will continue in an alliance with the State of Law coalition, I do not expect Mr al Maliki to be prime minister again, It will be another candidate.” </p> <p>The Sadr movement indicated it had laid down conditions for ending its veto against Mr al Maliki, including that he release scores of detainees. That has not yet happened. </p> <p>While a major obstruction to Mr al Maliki’s return as prime minister appears to have been removed, his position is far from certain. </p> <p>The State of Law/INA alliance has yet to name its leader, with a 14-member committee supposed to make the selection. </p> <p><em>snip</em></p> <p>Although the Sadrist leadership appears to have ended its open hostility to Mr al Maliki, Muqtada al Sadr’s followers seem far from convinced. </p> <p>With the atmosphere in Iraq increasingly one of alarm at rising violence and recent deadly sectarian attacks, Sheikh Dhea al Shouki, a leading preacher at Kufa mosque, in the Sadrists’ heartland, said he feared for the future. </p> <p>“I tell the Iraqi people to look out for themselves and to protect themselves because the coming situation will be one of sectarianism and interference in Iraq by neighbouring countries,” he said in a telephone interview. “The Iraqi government is corrupt and the Iraqi army is not serving the people well.” </p> <p><em>snip</em></p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100517/FOREIGN/705169809/1002/rss" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Baghdad to enclose city with 15ft wall to keep suicide bombers out – Times Online</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote>Baghdad is to resort to one of the oldest forms of defence by building a massive wall around the capital to keep out insurgents, The Times has learnt. <p>A series of recent suicide bombings has driven the governor of the Iraqi capital to propose the concrete barrier, which will be 15ft (4.5m) high and 70 miles (112km) long. Every man, beast and vehicle entering will be searched at one of only eight gates along the main highways. </p> <p>Baghdad, roughly the same size as London and with approximately five million inhabitants, will face severe disruption as a result. Freedom of movement will be limited and workers and visitors alike will probably have to wait for at least an hour to enter. Once inside, though, it is hoped they will be much safer. Shatha al-Obeidi, an aide to Salah Abdul Razzaq, the governor, said: “We want to stop the terrorist from sneaking in. With the wall it will be much easier.” </p> <p>Building work is expected to take about a year. Once the wall is completed, officials plan to remove most of the 1,500 checkpoints and many miles of cement blast barriers that have sprung up inside Baghdad over the past few years. “We have become a city filled with concrete,” said Ms al-Obeidi. “That will change.” </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7129217.ece" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Iraqi forces capture 2 non-Iraqi Arab Qaida leaders</strong><strong>: Xinhua </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>BAGHDAD, May 17 (Xinhua) — Iraqi security forces said Monday they have arrested two non-Iraqi Arab Qaida leaders, and one of them is said to be part of a plan to carry out terrorist act during the coming soccer World Cup in South Africa. </p> <p>The two were allegedly a Saudi and Algerian nationals who were captured in separate raids in Baghdad, according to a military spokesman. </p> <p>Azzam Saleh al-Qahtani, known as Sinan al-Saudi, 31, was an officer in the Saudi Army before he came to Iraq in 2004. Al-Saudi later became an al-Qaida security leader in Anbar and Salahudin provinces in western and central Iraq respectively, Major General Qassim Atta told a news conference. </p> <p>Atta said that al-Saudi was involved in "planning and coordination to carry out attacks during the World Cup in South Africa in complicity with Ayman al-Zawahiri (al-Qaida’s No. 2 top leader)." </p> <p>Al-Saudi was also involved in the Baghdad massive bombings and many robberies against jewellers and killings of many people, Atta added. </p> <p>Another Qaida leader named Tariq Hassan Abdul Qader, known as Abu Ysseen al-Jazairi, 34, an Algerian national, was also captured by a joint U.S. and Iraqi force, Atta said, adding that al-Jazairi was captured in November last year but his captured was not announced as he was interrogated for information about his terrorist group. </p> <p>Al-Jazairi, who entered Iraq in 2005 through Anbar province, was the leader of al-Qaida’s military wing in Karkh area, the west side of Tigris River that bisects the Iraqi capital, Atta said.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-05/17/c_13299597.htm" class="external" target="_blank">source</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Saudi Arabia Wants to Verify Identity of World Cup Terrorist Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>After the Iraqi security services announced their arrest of Saudi citizen Abdullah Azzam Saleh Misfar al-Qahtani, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour al-Turki informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Saudi Arabia is also looking for a fugitive with a similar name and characteristics. Iraq claims that al-Qahtani is a former Saudi army officer and a senior member in the Al Qaeda organization in Iraq, and that he was planning to carry out a terrorist attack at this year’s World Cup which is set to begin in South Africa in the next few weeks. </p> <p>Saudi Interior Ministry Security spokesman Major General Mansour al-Turki refused to confirm or deny that al-Qahtani had been arrested, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that "the identity of the individual mentioned by the material evidence requires verification, especially as the public information confirms that he has previously impersonated another figure. " </p> <p>In his statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, Major General al-Turki said that the information available to the Saudi security apparatus "refers to the departure of a Saudi citizen who has a similar name [to this] outside of Saudi Arabia as part of an unessential holiday in the month of Shawwal 1425 (2004) and that his return [to Saudi] has not been recorded until now." </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=20993" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Iraq: Former prisoners ‘becoming Al-Qaeda leaders’ – Adnkronos Security</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote>Iraqi security forces are concerned that many of the prisoners released by US troops are becoming leaders in the Al-Qaeda terror network on their release. According to local news site, Al-Sumaria News, Baghdad security forces spokesman Major General Qassim Atta revealed the level of concern to reporters on a visit to Abu Ghraib prison. <p>"Most of the prisoners freed by American forces from their prisons in the last few years have become Al-Qaeda leaders once they are released," he told reporters. </p> <p>"To stop this phenomenon we have signed a security accord with US troops, so that before freeing any prisoner they ask Iraqi forces their opinion." </p> <p>In the past US troops, who had more than 20,000 prisoners in Iraqi prisons, could release prisoners without informing local security forces.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.411141523" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p><strong>News – World: Imams ’slaughtered in Iraq’</strong><strong>:</strong> </p> <blockquote><p>Baquba – Two Sunni Arab imams were brutally killed on Monday in Iraq, including one who was decapitated and had his head planted on a power pole, in attacks blamed on al-Qaeda, military officials said. </p> <p>The slayings in the province of Diyala, north-east of Baghdad, were against anti-Qaeda preachers who regularly railed against the terror network during Friday sermons. </p> <p>"At around 2.00pm (11.00 GMT), armed al-Qaeda members captured Sheikh Abdullah Shakur while he was in Saadiyah market," said a Diyala military command officer who declined to be identified, referring to the central town. </p> <p>"They returned an hour later with his head and attached it to an electricity post." </p> <p>Shakur, imam of Saadiyah’s mosque, had received several death threats from al-Qaeda, who had demanded that he leave the town, which is home to large Sunni, Shiite and Kurd populations. </p> <p>The town, located about 100 kilometres east of the Diyala provincial capital Baquba, was an al-Qaeda stronghold during Iraq’s sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007. </p> <p>According to the Diyala military officer, in the village of Al-Bushaheen, 20 kilometres north of Baquba, gunmen burst into the home of Sheikh Hashim Arif at about 3.00am (00.00 GMT), dragged him to his garden and shot him dead in front of his family.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20100517165430331C338773" class="external" target="_blank">source</a></strong><strong>:</strong> </p> </blockquote> <h3 style="color: #800000">Society and Economy:</h3> <p> <strong>France24 – Iraq signs oil field deal with Chinese, Turkish firms</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote>Iraq signed a deal with Chinese energy giant CNOOC and Turkey’s TPAO on Monday to develop a major southern oilfield complex, its 11th deal with foreign energy firms as Baghdad aims to boost crude output. <p>Among the cluster of fields in the Maysan complex, along Iraq’s border with Iran, is a field partially claimed by Tehran, whose forces temporarily took over an oil well in the Fakka oilfield in December for several days but withdrew after talks between the two countries. </p> <p><em>snip</em></p> <p>CNOOC and TPAO agreed to be paid 2.30 dollars per barrel of oil extracted from the Maysan cluster of fields, which has proven reserves of 2.6 billion barrels of oil. </p> <p>Under the deal, output is projected to be ramped up to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to current production of around 100,000 bpd. </p> <p>The Chinese firm will have an 85-percent stake in the joint venture, while TPAO holds the remaining 15 percent. The Iraqi government will have a 25-percent stake in the overall project. </p> <p>The agreed deal was worth around a tenth of what was initially requested — CNOOC and Sinochem, another Chinese energy firm, had originally asked for 21.4 dollars per barrel when the field was auctioned to foreign firms last June. </p> <p>Sinochem has since pulled out of the deal. </p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.france24.com/en/20100517-iraq-signs-oil-field-deal-with-chinese-turkish-firms" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Iraq, Kuwait still going at it » Kuwait Times Website</strong><strong>: </strong><br/> <blockquote> <p>A fierce legal fight between the national airlines of Iraq and Kuwait has revived deep resentments that have been simmering since Saddam Hussein first sent his army into oil-rich, neighboring Kuwait back in 1990. The dispute has been playing out in British courts since soon after the end of the first Gulf War, with Kuwait Airways claiming it is owed $1.2 billion by Iraqi Airways for 10 aircraft and spare parts that were looted during the occupation by Iraqi forces.</p> <p>Lawyers representing Kuwait have accused Iraq of perjury, forgery and a general pervasion of the justice system. In turn, Kuwait has been accused of exploiting Iraq’s instability and being insensitive to the suffering of the Iraqi people. The dispute resurfaced April 25 when the first Iraqi Airways flight from Baghdad to London in more than 20 years was met at Gatwick Airport by lawyers representing Kuwait Airway armed with an injunction issued by a British court. The authorities confiscated the passport of Iraqi Airways director Kifah Hassan Jabbar, and impounded the aircraft, which had been leased from a Swedish company.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTMzNjM5NTE2NQ==" class="external" target="_blank">read in full</a></strong><strong>: </strong></p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/page/2/">« Previous Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar" class="span-10 last"> <div class="span-10" id="tabs"> <ul> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#featured-articles">Featured Articles</a></li> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#latest-articles">Latest Articles</a></li> </ul> <div id="featured-articles" class="widget"> <ul> <li><a 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target="_blank">AdvancedSearch Lite</a></p></form>  </div> </div> <div class="column span-4 last"> <div class="widget"><h4>Articles in English</h4><ul> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-iraq-activities-update/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update">International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update</a> <p class="post-date">5 Jul 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/its-dj-vu-all-over-again-2/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again">It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again</a> <p class="post-date">5 Jul 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/iraq-open-to-reconciliation-with-anti-us-fighters/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Iraq open to reconciliation with anti-US fighters">Iraq open to reconciliation with anti-US fighters</a> <p class="post-date">4 Jul 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/xinhua-iraqi-public-differ-over-planned-u-s-pullout/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout">Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout</a> <p class="post-date">4 Jul 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/03/fars-news-agency-zebari-rejects-speculations-on-extension-of-us-mission-in-iraq/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Fars News Agency :: Zebari Rejects Speculations on Extension of US Mission in Iraq">Fars News Agency :: Zebari Rejects Speculations on Extension of US Mission in Iraq</a> <p class="post-date">3 Jul 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/02/casualty-statistics-for-june-2011/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Casualty Statistics For June 2011">Casualty Statistics For June 2011</a> <p class="post-date">2 Jul 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/28/iraq-icrc-maintains-independent-humanitarian-effort-for-camp-ashraf-residents/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Iraq: ICRC maintains independent humanitarian effort for Camp Ashraf residents">Iraq: ICRC maintains independent humanitarian effort for Camp Ashraf residents</a> <p class="post-date">28 Jun 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/27/ratcheting-up-the-resistance/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to Ratcheting Up The Resistance">Ratcheting Up The Resistance</a> <p class="post-date">27 Jun 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/24/new-union-aims-to-protect-iraqi-bloggers-iwpr/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to New Union Aims to Protect Iraqi Bloggers – IWPR">New Union Aims to Protect Iraqi Bloggers – IWPR</a> <p class="post-date">24 Jun 2011</p> </li> <li class="cat-post-item"> <a class="post-title" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/23/%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%81%d8%a7%d8%b9-%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%af-%d8%b6%d8%ad%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d8%aa%d9%81%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%b3%d9%88%d9%82-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a5%d9%84%d9%89-3/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to ارتفاع عدد ضحايا تفجيرات سوق بغداد إلى 34 قتيلا و82 مصابا| Death Toll Rises To 34 Dead and 82 Wounded">ارتفاع عدد ضحايا تفجيرات سوق بغداد إلى 34 قتيلا و82 مصابا| Death Toll Rises To 34 Dead and 82 Wounded</a> <p class="post-date">23 Jun 2011</p> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="widget"> <h4>Last 15 Posts</h4> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ab%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ab%d8%a7%d8%a1-5-%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88-2011/" title="الثلاثاء, 5 يوليو 2011">الثلاثاء, 5 يوليو 2011 </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/international-committee-of-the-red-cross-iraq-activities-update/" title="International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update">International Committee Of The Red Cross: Iraq Activities Update </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/05/its-dj-vu-all-over-again-2/" title="It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again">It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/iraq-open-to-reconciliation-with-anti-us-fighters/" title="Iraq open to reconciliation with anti-US fighters">Iraq open to reconciliation with anti-US fighters </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/xinhua-iraqi-public-differ-over-planned-u-s-pullout/" title="Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout">Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%ab%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%86-4-%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88-2011/" title="الإثنين, 4 يوليو 2011">الإثنين, 4 يوليو 2011 </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/03/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%ad%d8%af-3-%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88-2011/" title="الأحد, 3 يوليو 2011">الأحد, 3 يوليو 2011 </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/03/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b5%d8%b1%d8%a9-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%87%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84/" title="التيار الصدري في البصرة يتهم القوات الأميركية بترويع المدنيين وانتهاك حقوقهم">التيار الصدري في البصرة يتهم القوات الأميركية بترويع المدنيين وانتهاك حقوقهم </a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/03/%d9%82%d9%88%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%85%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%ab%d8%b1%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%ac%d8%ab%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%b7%d9%8a-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%87%d8%a7-%d8%a7%d8%ab%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%aa/" title="قوة امنية تعثرعلى 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2011">الخميس, 30 يونيو 2011 </a></li> </ul> </div><div class="widget"><h4>Tags</h4><div><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d9%86%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1%e2%80%8e/" class="tag-link-3033" title="245 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.16355140187pt;">الأنبار‎</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b5%d8%b1%d8%a9%e2%80%8e/" class="tag-link-2945" title="371 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.98785046729pt;">البصرة‎</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b5%d9%84/" class="tag-link-2939" title="625 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 10.6495327103pt;">الموصل</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b5%d9%84%e2%80%8e/" class="tag-link-1885" title="356 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.88971962617pt;">الموصل‎</a> 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topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 13.1158878505pt;">Baghdad</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/basrah/" class="tag-link-377" title="426 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 9.3476635514pt;">Basrah</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/bombings/" class="tag-link-52" title="685 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 11.0420560748pt;">Bombings</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/child-poverty/" class="tag-link-112" title="240 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.1308411215pt;">Child Poverty</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/children/" class="tag-link-20" title="566 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 10.2635514019pt;">Children</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians/" class="tag-link-282" title="367 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 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style="font-size: 8.26822429907pt;">Features</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/follow-up/" class="tag-link-21" title="243 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.15046728972pt;">Follow Up</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/human-rights/" class="tag-link-18" title="363 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.93551401869pt;">Human Rights</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/irin/" class="tag-link-311" title="264 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.28785046729pt;">IRIN</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/karbala/" class="tag-link-806" title="252 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.20934579439pt;">Karbala</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kirkuk/" class="tag-link-2991" title="590 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 10.4205607477pt;">Kirkuk</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/krg/" class="tag-link-274" title="220 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8pt;">KRG</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/middle-east/" class="tag-link-208" title="370 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 8.98130841121pt;">Middle East</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mosul/" class="tag-link-78" title="759 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 11.5261682243pt;">Mosul</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ninawa-governorate/" class="tag-link-73" title="648 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 10.8pt;">Ninawa (Governorate)</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125133/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/politics-and-security/" class="tag-link-1614" title="2,360 topics" rel="tag" style="font-size: 22pt;">Politics and Security</a> <a 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