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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/21/iraq-al-sadr-rejects-any-iranian-attack-on-iraq/#respond" title="Comment on Iraq: Al-Sadr rejects any Iranian attack on Iraq">No Comments</a></span> Posted on June 21st, 2011 by Harith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/21/iraq-al-sadr-rejects-any-iranian-attack-on-iraq/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iraq: Al-Sadr rejects any Iranian attack on Iraq">Iraq: Al-Sadr rejects any Iranian attack on Iraq</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/asharq-al-awsat/" rel="tag">Asharq Al-Awsat</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/asharq-alawsat-newspaper/" rel="tag">asharq alawsat newspaper</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iranian-ambassador/" rel="tag">Iranian Ambassador</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iranian-embassy/" rel="tag">Iranian embassy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/muqtada-statements/" rel="tag">Muqtada - statements</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/muqtada-al-sadr/" rel="tag">Muqtada al-Sadr</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/nuri-al-maliki/" rel="tag">Nuri Al-Maliki</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadrist-movement/" rel="tag">Sadrist movement</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/state-of-law-coalition/" rel="tag">State of Law Coalition</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="text-align: left; unicode-bidi: bidi-override; direction: ltr"> <p>Controversial Iraqi political and religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr has stated that he comprehensively rejects any Iranian attack on Iraq, even if it targets the "American occupiers". To date, this is the strongest position taken by the firebrand cleric who is the leader of the Sadrist movement and enjoys strong ties with Tehran. </p> <p>Al-Sadr’s surprising comments comes in response to a statement made by Iranian ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaifar to local Iraqi media. In this statement, Danaifar threatened that Iran would respond against Iraq in the event of the US carrying out an attack on the country from its bases within Iraq. He stressed that "we informed the Iraqi officials that Iran will, of course, respond to any attacks carried out against it from within Iraqi territory." The Iranian ambassador to Iraq also confirmed that "our Iraqi friends have confirmed that they would not allow any country to use its territory to launch at attack on Iran." </p> </p></div> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/06/21/iraq-al-sadr-rejects-any-iranian-attack-on-iraq/#more-13557" class="more-link">» أقرأ التفاصيل .. | Read the rest of this entry »</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11864"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/05/saudi-arabia-rated-a-bigger-threat-to-iraqi-stability-than-iran/#respond" title="Comment on Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 5th, 2010 by Abdus-Samad</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/05/saudi-arabia-rated-a-bigger-threat-to-iraqi-stability-than-iran/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran">Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ali-khamenei/" rel="tag">ALi Khamenei</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ali-larijani/" rel="tag">Ali Larijani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ambassador-christopher-hill/" rel="tag">ambassador christopher hill</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/america/" rel="tag">America</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/analysis/" rel="tag">Analysis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ayatollah-akhbar-hashemi-rafsanjani/" rel="tag">Ayatollah Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/brigadier-general-qasem-soleimani/" rel="tag">Brigadier-General Qasem Soleimani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/economic-development/" rel="tag">Economic development</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/elections/" rel="tag">Elections</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/feridun-sinirlioglu/" rel="tag">Feridun Sinirlioglu</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/foreign-interference-accusations-of/" rel="tag">foreign interference - accusations of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-resistance/" rel="tag">iraqi resistance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/irgc/" rel="tag">IRGC</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/jalal-talibani/" rel="tag">Jalal Talibani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mahmoud-ahmadinejad/" rel="tag">Mahmoud Ahmadinejad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/national-alliance/" rel="tag">National Alliance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/nouri-al-maliki/" rel="tag">nouri al maliki</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/press/" rel="tag">Press</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/regional-influence/" rel="tag">regional influence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resistance/" rel="tag">Resistance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resources/" rel="tag">Resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-arabia/" rel="tag">Saudi Arabia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-hostility/" rel="tag">Saudi hostility</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/state-department-cables/" rel="tag">state department cables</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey/" rel="tag">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wikileaks/" rel="tag">Wikileaks</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Baghdad says it can contain influence of Shia neighbour, unlike powerful Gulf state that wants a return to Sunni dominance</p> <p>Iraqi government officials see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/saudiarabia" class="external" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia</a>, not <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran" class="external" target="_blank">Iran</a>, as the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/226620" class="external" target="_blank">biggest threat to the integrity and cohesion of their fledgling democratic state</a>, leaked US state department cables reveal.</p> <p>The Iraqi concerns, analysed in a dispatch sent from the US embassy in Baghdad by then ambassador Christopher Hill in September 2009, represent a fundamental divergence from the American and British view of Iran as arch-predator in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq</a>.</p> <p>"Iraq views relations with Saudi Arabia as among its most challenging given Riyadh’s money, deeply ingrained anti-Shia attitudes and [Saudi] suspicions that a Shia-led Iraq will inevitably further Iranian regional influence," Hill writes.</p> <p>"Iraqi contacts assess that the Saudi goal (and that of most other Sunni Arab states, to varying degrees) is to enhance Sunni influence, dilute Shia dominance and promote the formation of a weak and fractured Iraqi government."</p> <p>Hill’s unexpected assessment flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that Iranian activities, overt and covert, are the biggest obstacle to Iraq’s development.</p> <p>It feeds claims, prevalent after the 9/11 attacks, that religiously conservative, politically repressive Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from, is the true enemy of the west.</p> <p>Hill’s analysis has sharp contemporary relevance as rival Shia and Sunni political blocs, backed by Iran and the Saudis respectively, continue to squabble over the formation of a new government in Baghdad, seven months after March’s inconclusive national elections.</p> <p>Hill says Iraqi leaders are careful to avoid harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia’s role for fear of offending the Americans, Riyadh’s close allies. But resentments simmer below the surface.</p> <p>"Iraqi officials note that periodic anti-Shia outbursts from Saudi religious figures are often allowed to circulate without sanction or disavowal from the Saudi leadership. This reality reinforces the Iraqi view that the Saudi state religion of Wahhabi Sunni Islam condones religious incitement against Shia."</p> <p>Hill reports the Saudis have used considerable financial and media resources to support Sunni political aspirations, exert influence over Sunni tribal groups, and undercut the Shia Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and Iraqi National Alliance.</p> <p>Hill adds that some Iraqi observers see Saudi aims as positively malign. "A recent Iraqi press article quoted anonymous Iraqi intelligence sources assessing that Saudi Arabia was leading a Gulf effort to destabilise the Maliki government and was financing ‘the current al-Qaida offensive in Iraq’."</p> <p>Hill and his Iraqi interlocutors are not alone in their suspicions of Saudi policy. At a meeting in Ankara in February this year a senior Turkish foreign ministry official, Feridun Sinirlioglu, told an American envoy that "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/250705" class="external" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia is ‘throwing around money’ among the political parties in Iraq</a> because it is unwilling to accept the inevitability of Shia dominance there".</p> <p>Returning to more familiar ground, Hill asserts that Iranian efforts in Iraq are also "driven by a clear determination to see a sectarian, Shia-dominated government that is weak, disenfranchised from its Arab neighbours, detached from the US security apparatus and strategically dependent on Iran". Such an outcome is not in the interests of the US, he notes drily.</p> <p>But he passes on to Washington the arguments of Iraqi officials who say they know how to "manage" Iran. "Shia contacts … do not dismiss the significant Iranian influence but argue that it is best countered by Iraqi Shia politicians who know how to deal with Iran." These officials also maintain Iranian interference "is not aimed, unlike that of some Sunni neighbours, at fomenting terrorism that would destabilise the government". They predict Tehran’s meddling will "naturally create nationalistic Iraqi resistance to it, both Shia and more broadly, if others do not intervene".</p> <p>The difficulties encountered by Iranian-backed Shia parties in coming together to form a new government, despite much urging from Tehran and the co-opting of the hardline Iran-based cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, could be seen as evidence that Iran’s overall influence has been exaggerated and that public "resistance" to Iran’s role is indeed growing.</p> <p>All the same, American officials continue to blame Iran principally for instigating and fomenting much of the sectarian and insurgent violence that has disfigured Iraq since the 2003 invasion. James Jeffrey, Hill’s successor as US ambassador, claimed in August that about one-quarter of all US casualties in Iraq were caused by armed groups backed by Iran.</p> <p>A Baghdad embassy cable from November 2009 says Iran continues to view Iraq as "a vital foreign policy priority for the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/234583" class="external" target="_blank">Iranian government’s efforts to project its ideology and influence in the region</a>". At the head of this effort, it says, is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods (Jerusalem) Force, or IRGC-QF, led by Brigadier-General Qasem Soleimani, whose authority is "second only to supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei".</p> <p>Soleimani has close ties with prominent Iraqi government officials, including the president, Jalal Talibani, and prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, the cable reports. "Khamenei, President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, Speaker [Ali] Larijani and former president [Ayatollah Akhbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani consult regularly with visiting GOI [government of Iraq] officials as part of the IRIG’s [Islamic Republic of Iran government] broader ’strategic’ council of advisers seeking to influence the GOI."</p> <p>The cable continues that Iran’s tools of influence include financial support to and pressure on a cross-spectrum of Iraqi parties and officials; economic development assistance, notably to religious organisations; lethal aid to selected militant Shia proxies; and sanctuary to Iraqi figures fearful of US government targeting, or those seeking to revitalise their political-religious credentials, most notably Moqtada al-Sadr.</p> <p>"This leverage also extends, to a lesser extent, to select Sunni actors, including such public figures as Iraqi speaker [Iyad al-] Samarra’i, whose September visit to Tehran included meetings with several senior IRIG officials."</p> <p>The cable comments that Iran is watching the US troop withdrawal schedule closely as it tries to make permanent its "strategic foothold". All US troops are expected to leave Iraq by the end of next year. But the cable’s American author also injects some welcome historical perspective.</p> <p>"Iran will continue to flex its muscles to ensure its strategic outcomes are met. This should not lead to alarmist tendencies or reactions on our part. The next Iraqi government will continue to cultivate close ties with Iran, given longstanding historical realities that precede Iraq’s ties with the United States.</p> <p>"On the other hand Iran’s influence should not be overestimated. As the GOI continues to gain its footing, points of divergence between Tehran and Baghdad become increasingly evident on such sensitive bilateral issue as water, hydrocarbons, maritime borders and political parity. Some prominent Iraqi leaders, including those with ties to Iran, are increasingly sensitive to being labelled Iranian lackeys."</p> <p>A visit last December by US diplomats to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, the "epicentre of Shia Islam", finds further evidence of Iraqi public resentment of foreign meddling from whatever quarter. One local leader "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/239665" class="external" target="_blank">singled out Saudi Arabia and Iran as the biggest culprits</a> but noted that a ‘mental revolution’ was under way among Iraqi youth against foreign agendas seeking to undermine the country’s stability".</p> <p>Iraqi sources also tell the visiting Americans that the Iranian government and the IRGC cannot match the "social and political clout" that Iraq’s Shia establishment, led by the Shia world’s most senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, wields among the ordinary citizens of both Iraq and Iran.</p> <p>Sistani, it is noted, rejects the fundamental tenet of Iranian clerical rule – the unchallengeable "custodianship of the jurist" adopted by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to justify his de facto dictatorship. Seen this way the entire Iranian Islamic revolution is illegitimate.</p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/05/wikileaks-cables-saudi-meddling-iraq" class="external" target="_blank">WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran | World news | guardian.co.uk</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-10604"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/19/qa-iraq-had-elections-so-why-isnt-there-a-new-government-mcclatchy/#respond" title="Comment on Q&A: Iraq had elections, so why isn’t there a new government? | McClatchy">No Comments</a></span> Posted on May 19th, 2010 by Nur Hussein Ghazali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/19/qa-iraq-had-elections-so-why-isnt-there-a-new-government-mcclatchy/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Q&A: Iraq had elections, so why isn’t there a new government? | McClatchy">Q&A: Iraq had elections, so why isn’t there a new government? | McClatchy</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ahmad-chalabi/" rel="tag">Ahmad Chalabi</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-sadr/" rel="tag">al sadr</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/allawi/" rel="tag">Allawi</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/arabs/" rel="tag">Arabs</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baath/" rel="tag">Ba'ath</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baath-party/" rel="tag">baath party</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baathists/" rel="tag">baathists</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/bombings/" rel="tag">Bombings</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/caretaker-government/" rel="tag">caretaker government</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/chalabi-ahmed/" rel="tag">Chalabi - 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The margin was so close, however, that political maneuvering to change the results has delayed the seating of a new government.</p> <p>Here’s a look at where the election results stand, what happens next and when a new government might take shape in Baghdad.</p> <p>Q: Have the major players changed since election day?</p> <p>A: Not much. The main blocs are still Allawi’s Iraqiya, a mixed-sect ticket with broad Sunni support; Maliki’s State of Law, mostly from his conservative Shiite Dawa Party; the Iraqi National Alliance, the main religious Shiite grouping of Iranian-backed parties, including politicians loyal to militant cleric Muqtada al Sadr.</p> <p>The two main Kurdish parties ran on a single ticket as the Kurdistan Alliance. An upstart Kurdish opposition party, Gorran, won some seats, as well.</p> <p>Q: One of the first snags was an attempt to disqualify some winning candidates by accusing them of ties to the late dictator Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. Did they lose their seats?</p> <p>A: There were several rounds of de-Baathification, the controversial process of rooting out former Baathists and barring them from public service. Former exile and Bush administration ally Ahmad Chalabi and his deputy Ali al Lami, who both ran in the elections, oversaw the purges.</p> <p>Hundreds of candidates were eliminated, but an Iraqi court Monday ruled in favor of nine victorious candidates whose cases were in dispute. Those candidates are expected to take their seats in the next parliament.</p> <p>Q: Maliki rejected the election commission’s results and demanded a partial recount. Did the recount uncover fraud or change the results?</p> <p>A: At Maliki’s insistence, a court ruled that the election commission should conduct a recount, but only in Baghdad province. The recount uncovered no major fraud and didn’t alter Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc’s slight lead.</p> <p>Q: OK, so now the recount is over and the de-Baathification efforts have been suspended. What’s next?</p> <p>A: The next step is for Iraq’s top court to certify the final election results, which would start the clock on forming a government in accordance with the Iraqi constitution. The chief delay now is the intense, behind-the-scenes haggling over who’ll get the prime minister’s post and other key positions. With no group winning an outright majority, alliances are starting to take shape.</p> <p>For now, it looks as if Maliki’s State of Law and the Shiite-dominated Iraqi National Alliance are pairing up to challenge Allawi’s group for a majority in parliament. However, the Sadrists, a backbone of the Alliance, have long opposed Maliki as premier, which jeopardizes cooperation between the two groups.</p> <p>Also, there’s growing concern that cutting out Allawi, whose bloc was the nation’s top vote-getter, would be unacceptable to millions of Iraqis who voted for him, especially the Sunni minority.</p> <p>Q. What do ordinary Iraqis think?</p> <p>A. The word on the street is similar to the criticism from political quarters: The leadership is too busy guarding its own interests to pay attention to the security and other needs of ordinary citizens.</p> <p>With so many government offices in limbo, Iraqis say, everyday aspects of life have slowed to a halt: obtaining passports, approving state jobs, road and utility repairs, awarding contracts, to name just a few.</p> <p>The longer and bloodier this transition becomes, the more Iraqis begin to question their participation in the democratic process.</p> <p>Q. So when can we expect to see a new government?</p> <p>A. It’s hard to say. Maliki has predicted that it won’t take longer than July. Foreign diplomats speculate it’ll be sometime this summer; religious authorities hope things will be resolved in time for the holy month of Ramadan, which begins in August; and other political observers fear that it could last into the fall.</p> <p>Q. What are some of the main points of negotiation among all these blocs?</p> <p>A. Each bloc holds some powerful cards. Allawi’s bloc is the top vote getter, has the most Sunni support and is looked upon favorably by both the Americans and Iraq’s Arab neighbors. Maliki also won a huge number of votes, is the incumbent and has branded himself with some success as a nationalist.</p> <p>The chief kingmakers are the Sadrists, who want hundreds of their prisoners released and some senior cabinet posts, and the Kurds, who are insisting on keeping the presidency, gaining control of oil-rich Kirkuk and other territories that Sunni Arabs also claim, and holding cabinet positions in numbers that are proportionate to the Kurdish population.</p> <p>Q. What’s the role of the Americans, the Iranians and other foreign powers with vested interests in the outcome of the Iraqi elections?</p> <p>A. Both the Americans and Iranians have played it cool publicly, while meeting privately with all the key players.</p> <p>The Americans prefer a government that includes Sunnis and other minorities and is diverse enough to act as a spoiler to outright Iranian control.</p> <p>The Iranians, who have numerous allies and agents in Iraq, would like to see a continuation of Tehran-friendly, Shiite-dominated government, though some Iranian officials have said that some of Allawi’s allies must be included in order to work toward a more stable Iraq.</p> <p>Q. Who’s in charge while all these negotiations are going on? Are there limitations on the caretaker government?</p> <p>A. Maliki’s administration is carrying on with business as usual, but absent a parliament, the government cannot enter into international treaties, declare war or make any other major decisions that normally would require parliamentary approval.</p> <p>Q. Are there constitutional mechanisms to ensure that the paralysis doesn’t last forever?</p> <p>A. Yes. However, the current government found loopholes after the last parliamentary elections in 2005. For example, the constitution calls for the naming of a speaker of parliament in the legislature’s first session. To get around this and buy more time, the last parliament simply called a session to order and didn’t adjourn it for several weeks.</p> <p>Strictly speaking, once the top court certifies the election results, the parliament must convene within 15 days. In the first session, the members are required to choose a speaker and two deputy speakers. After that, they’re supposed to name the Iraqi president, though the constitution doesn’t specify a timeline.</p> <p>Once a president is elected by parliament, the president has 15 days to ask the nominee of the largest bloc in parliament to form a government within a month. If that fails, the president can ask another candidate from any bloc to try.</p> <p>Q. Will the delay in forming a government affect security in Iraq?</p> <p>A. Many Iraqis, including members of the current parliament, argue that the delay already has chipped away at security.</p> <p>In the aftermath of a series of devastating bombings, including a day when attacks killed more than 100 people, some Iraqi politicians said that militants were taking advantage of the security void, which they blamed on the Iraqi leadership’s preoccupation with political negotiations.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/18/v-print/94397/qa-iraq-had-elections-so-why-isnt.html" class="external" target="_blank">Q&A: Iraq had elections, so why isn’t there a new government? | McClatchy</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/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/05/18/17th-18th-may-2010-selected-english-language-coverage/#respond" title="Comment on 17th-18th May-2010 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rel="tag">suicide bombers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/suicide-bombing/" rel="tag">suicide bombing</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/summaries/" rel="tag">Summaries</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tariq-hassan/" rel="tag">Tariq Hassan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/the-nation/" rel="tag">The Nation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tigris/" rel="tag">Tigris</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tigris-river/" rel="tag">Tigris River</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tpao/" rel="tag">TPAO</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey/" rel="tag">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkish-petroleum-corporation/" rel="tag">Turkish Petroleum Corporation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/violence/" rel="tag">violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/who/" rel="tag">WHO</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/world-cup/" rel="tag">World Cup</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/xinhua/" rel="tag">Xinhua</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/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="post clearfix" id="post-7512"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/10/15/the-other-kurdistan-seethes-with-rage/#respond" title="Comment on The ‘other’ Kurdistan seethes with rage">No Comments</a></span> Posted on October 15th, 2009 by Editors</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/10/15/the-other-kurdistan-seethes-with-rage/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to The ‘other’ Kurdistan seethes with rage">The ‘other’ Kurdistan seethes with rage</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/america/" rel="tag">America</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/asayish/" rel="tag">Asayish</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/asia-times/" rel="tag">Asia Times</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ataturk/" rel="tag">Ataturk</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/caliphate/" rel="tag">Caliphate</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/central-asia/" rel="tag">central Asia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/damascus/" rel="tag">Damascus</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/eni/" rel="tag">ENI</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/gulf-war/" rel="tag">Gulf War</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/history/" rel="tag">History</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/hit/" rel="tag">Hit</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ied/" rel="tag">IED</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iran/" rel="tag">Iran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-kurdistan/" rel="tag">Iraqi kurdistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/irbil/" rel="tag">Irbil</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islam/" rel="tag">Islam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kemalism/" rel="tag">Kemalism</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kirkuk/" rel="tag">Kirkuk</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kurdistan/" rel="tag">Kurdistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/middle-east/" rel="tag">Middle East</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/news-sites/" rel="tag">News Sites</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/northern-iraq/" rel="tag">northern iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ocalan-abdullah/" rel="tag">Ocalan - Abdullah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/occupation/" rel="tag">occupation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/oic/" rel="tag">OIC</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/oil-contracts/" rel="tag">oil contracts</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/peshmerga/" rel="tag">Peshmerga</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/pjak/" rel="tag">PJAK</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/pkk/" rel="tag">PKK</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/president-assad/" rel="tag">President Assad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/qandhil-mountains/" rel="tag">Qandhil Mountains</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religious-minorities/" rel="tag">Religious minorities</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/reuters/" rel="tag">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/russo-marsh-rogers/" rel="tag">Russo Marsh & Rogers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/secular-vs-religious/" rel="tag">Secular vs. Religious</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sulaimaniyah/" rel="tag">sulaimaniyah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syria/" rel="tag">Syria</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey-vs-pkk/" rel="tag">Turkey vs. PKK</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkish-syrian-relations/" rel="tag">Turkish-Syrian relations</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a3%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%b4/" rel="tag">أسايش</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/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></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>IRBIL – The Qandil Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan have maintained a reputation for relative tranquility and stability in a diagonal belt across northern Iraq while much of the rest of the country has burned with sectarian nihilism and anti-occupation insurgency. </p> <p>Three years ago, the California public relations firm Russo Marsh & Rogers launched an advertising campaign entitled "The Other Iraq" [1] which showed Kurds at peace and thankful for the removal of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. The campaign was intended to lure American and British private investment to Iraqi Kurdistan and to let the world know that at least part of the war was an outright success at a time when the Iraqi insurgency was at its worst. </p> <p>All this glossed over the fact that Iraq’s Kurds had been operating as a de facto state for quite some time – since the implementation </p> <p>of Operation Northern Watch in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War (though this process of democratization was interrupted by the Kurdish civil war of the mid-1990s). </p> <p>Iraqi Kurdistan is a stable statelet that is remarkably secular in its outlook. The area suffers from only the rare suicide attack, and it even has an army of trash trucks providing regular rubbish pick-ups. </p> <p>This unusual serenity is run by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its President and "CEO" Massoud Barzani. Indeed, the three KRG governorates of Duhok, Irbil and Sulaimaniyah are for the most part oases of relative calm in Iraq. </p> <p>According to a source in the General Security Directorate, known locally in Kurdish as the Asayish, all of the territory held by the KRG is admittedly not under its control. Very recently, Asia Times Online made a clandestine trip to the notorious Qandil Mountains along the Iraq-Iran border region where the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), from southeastern Turkey, and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), from northwestern Iran, control territory. </p> <p>As, over time, the KRG fuses with the once-rival ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and trade increases rapidly with Turkey and, to a lesser degree, with Iran and Syria, the notion of a sovereign Iraqi Kurdish state becomes more plausible while making the fantasy of reunification of "Greater Kurdistan" much less so. </p> <p>Kurdistan cannot escape its landlocked geography quadrisected in the ashes of World War I. The roughly 35 million ethnic Kurds are the world’s largest ethnic group without their own country. Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling politicians and their corresponding corporate interests are now shuttling between the central government in Baghdad and various regional capitals to feel out which way the winds of change are blowing. </p> <p>The Kurds have been caught in a web of wildly varying, intolerant nationalisms for most of the post-Ottoman era from which they have not been able to escape. The most significant of these is Turkey’s secular and militarist Kemalism. Mustafa Kemal, known as Ataturk the "Father of Turks", replaced the unifying Islam of the dying Ottoman caliphate with so-called "Turkishness". </p> <p>Millions of Kurds, in what would become the Turkish Republic, were to be absurdly labeled "Mountain Turks". Ataturk insisted on doing away with any cultural practice related to the caliphate, including the tolerance of linguistic and religious minorities under its jurisdiction. </p> <p>The newly created Turkey, forged in 1923, left no room for "Kurdishness" and Turkey’s Kurds began rebelling almost at once. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in neighboring Iran did away with the enforced secularism of the Pahlavi dynasty and enshrined a form of Shi’itism as the state ideology around which the nascent Islamic Republic was formed. </p> <p>The then-new Iranian regime presented itself to the outside world as a pious Persian Shi’ite monolith, leaving little room for Iran’s restive, mostly Sunni Kurdish minority. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s unorthodox interpretation of traditional Shi’itism and the creation of the velayat-e-faqih ("The rule of the jurisprudent" – considered an unwelcome innovation by much of the Shi’ite clerical establishment) left the Kurds of Iran’s Kordestan and Western Azerbaijan provinces disaffected even more so. </p> <p>The takeover of Iraq and Syria by Ba’athists in the 1960s led to the rise of a myopic pan-Arabism in Baghdad and Damascus that left no room for the Kurds’ distinct language, culture and traditions. The Cold War Arab socialism of the Ba’ath party was, for the Kurds, simply more ethno-chauvinist demagoguery, that, as in Turkey and Iran, was bent on the destruction of their massive stateless nation. </p> <p>One of the only identifying factors that these highly divergent ideologies of Kemalism, Khomenism and Ba’athism had in common was their policy of constant Kurdish repression. Internal jingoistic state policies being carried out in their respective Kurdish-majority regions in the name of law and order over the decades have now morphed across borders into external forces of political expediency unifying Turkey, Syria and Iran on the suppression of their respective "Kurdish questions". </p> <p>Along with all of the external historic forces allied against them, the Kurds themselves are also internally divided by dialect, tribe and clan. In the case of Iraqi Kurdistan, these divisions translated into political allegiances that have now formed the backbone of the KRG. </p> <p>Save for the very short-lived, Soviet-backed Republic of Mahabad in 1946, the Irbil-based KRG is the closest thing any of the Kurds in Kurdistan’s four sectors have to an independent state. As Turkey’s hopes for full-scale European Union accession have been fading into the background, Turkey’s relations with Iran, Iraq and Syria have greatly improved. </p> <p>Syria, which for a time once supported PKK insurgents in a petty proxy struggle with Turkey regarding disputes over water usage rights, has long since dropped all known tolerance of Turkish Kurd fighters operating from Syrian territory. Turkey has come to the realization that as much as it has looked Westward from Ataturk’s secularist revolution onward, it has no choice but to integrate a higher level of cooperation with its less stable borderlands to the south and east. </p> <p>Oil flowing north into Turkey from Iraq, and water flowing south into Syria and Iraq, defies Turkey’s past isolation from Middle Eastern issues and may slow its Europeanization. Syria’s realization that it needs Turkish cooperation on water caused the Bashar al-Assad regime to quickly snuff out its support of the PKK in Syrian Kurdistan, espoused by his late father. In so doing, Damascus has produced a remarkable thaw in Turkish-Syrian relations. </p> <p>The KRG security source told Asia Times Online that no representative from his organization had been to the Qandil area since 2006, due either to its physical inaccessibility or, much more likely, to the increasing political inconvenience of hosting brotherly violent dissident movements in KRG territory. </p> <p>This correspondent, when asking for permission from the head of the General Security Directorate to enter the Qandil region, was met with a stern phone call the following day strictly advising against such an endeavor. </p> <p>While the PKK has been active in the area for decades, the formation of the PJAK in the spring of 2004 led to much speculation from both Americans and Iranians of alleged external support for the PJAK. </p> <p>Asia Times Online met with a group of PJAK guerrillas recently who emphatically denied any rumored US Central Intelligence Agency linkages or support from any European Union intelligence services. This correspondent was secreted to a PJAK installation in the shadow of the Iraqi side of the Qandil range. </p> <p>A series of switchback roads avoiding Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga checkpoints led me to their remote outpost. After a vegetarian lunch, top-ranking PJAK commander Agiri Rojhilat admitted that the PJAK was invited to Kirkuk shortly after its formation, but that the PJAK denied US officials’ demands that they abandon the ideology of the founder of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, and allegiance to the PKK in exchange for covert US support. </p> <p>Many press accounts have described the PJAK as simply an offshoot of the PKK. To further cloud the issue, several PKK members have made this association as well. But the PJAK tells it a bit differently. </p> <p>Rojhilat explained that the PJAK is without question an independent organization defending the interests of Iran’s Kurds who happen to follow Ocalan’s personality driven ideology, (sometimes referred to as Apoism) identical to the PKK. It is difficult for the outside observer (and apparently the KRG) to understand the transnational dynamics occurring in the Qandil Mountains, he said. </p> <p>Turkish warplanes are striking PKK positions from above while Iran is firing Katuysha batteries at PJAK positions over the ridgeline from the Iranian side of the border. The Turkish and Iranian goals in the area appear to be the same and it seems to serve both Ankara and Tehran to conflate the two groups. The PKK rebels have also made statements in the press contradicting what was recently told to this correspondent by the PJAK regarding its operational independence from the PKK. </p> <p>The United States government has been supplying Turkey with "actionable intelligence" [2] to target PKK outposts in Iraqi territory which the PJAK told Asia Times Online was being shared with the Iranians. Allegations that Turkey is passing on classified US intelligence to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps cannot be going down well at the Pentagon. </p> <p>Turkey and Iran, at odds since Iran’s revolution in 1979 collided with Turkey’s rigid secularism, have a common foe in their shared attacks on Kurdish irredentists sheltering in Iraq. </p> <p>Rojhilat told Asia Times Online that for the two opposing state ideologies, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", in reference to their dislike of the Kurds in their midst. </p> <p>Last week, Turkey’s parliament ratified a renewal of the mandate allowing its military to continue to strike Iraqi territory [3] and further coordination with Tehran may become the norm. The PJAK states that it seeks to topple the Islamic Republic to replace it with an inclusive, federal democracy – but the group does not maintain secessionist sentiments in the immediate term. The PJAK claims to have broad support among the Kurds of northwestern Iran and the EU’s Kurdish diaspora. At least one of the men I met had arrived in Qandil from Finland to take up arms against Iran. </p> <p>For now, the PKK and the PJAK maintain their hearty guerrilla bases in the Qandil Mountains, while Irbil continues to look the other way. For the stateless Kurdish revolutionaries launching operations out of Iraq’s hinterlands, the tolerance of their bases could evaporate as the Kurds of Iraq assert themselves and Baghdad’s unstable politics continue to evolve. </p> <p>The prospect of an internationally recognized Kurdish state carved out of northern Iraq may seem far-fetched at present to many, but Iraqi Kurdish elites are harboring contingencies for such an eventuality. This scenario would make quite a bitter pill for Turkey, Iran and Syria to swallow and the independence of one sector may forever negate the potential for secession of the other three. </p> <p>So while Iraqi Kurdistan elects its own parliament, forges oil contracts independent of Baghdad and prepares for its future, the "other" Kurdistan still seethes with repression and rage from nation-states that have refused to accept the Kurdish realities existing within their borders. </p> <p>Notes <br/>1. The website of the "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.theotheriraq.com/advertising" target="_blank" class="external">The Other Iraq</a>" advertising campaign. <br/>2. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31307050" target="_blank" class="external">US giving Turkey intelligence on PKK in Iraq</a> Reuters October 31, 2007. <br/>3. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=parliament-renews-military8217s-mandate-to-hit-pkk-in-iraq-2009-10-07" target="_blank" class="external">Turkey’s parliament renews military’s mandate to hit PKK in Iraq</a> Hurriyet, October 7, 2009. </p> <p>Derek Henry Flood is an American freelance journalist specializing in analysis of Middle Eastern, South and Central Asian geopolitics through traditional reporting and photography combined with digital multimedia.</p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KJ16Ak01.html" class="external" target="_blank">Asia Times Online | The ‘other’ Kurdistan seethes with rage</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-5941"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/04/26/iran-senior-diplomat-calls-for-help-to-stop-drug-trade/#respond" title="Comment on Iran: Senior diplomat calls for help to stop drug trade">No Comments</a></span> Posted on April 26th, 2009 by Mohammed Ibn Laith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/04/26/iran-senior-diplomat-calls-for-help-to-stop-drug-trade/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iran: Senior diplomat calls for help to stop drug trade">Iran: Senior diplomat calls for help to stop drug trade</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/afghanistan/" rel="tag">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/amphetamines/" rel="tag">amphetamines</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/crime/" rel="tag">Crime</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/criminal-gangs/" rel="tag">Criminal gangs</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/drug-addiction/" rel="tag">Drug Addiction</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/drug-smugglers/" rel="tag">drug smugglers</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/drugs/" rel="tag">drugs</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/eupol/" rel="tag">EUPOL</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/europe/" rel="tag">Europe</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/europol/" rel="tag">Europol</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/heroin/" rel="tag">heroin</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/icos/" rel="tag">ICOS</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iran/" rel="tag">Iran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/isfahan/" rel="tag">Isfahan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/italy/" rel="tag">Italy</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mashaad/" rel="tag">Mashaad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/narcotics/" rel="tag">narcotics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/opiates/" rel="tag">opiates</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/opium/" rel="tag">opium</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/pakistan/" rel="tag">Pakistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/shiraz/" rel="tag">Shiraz</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/taleban/" rel="tag">Taleban</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Rome, 24 April (<a title="AKI" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3246455765" class="external" target="_blank">AKI</a>) – Iran needs more international help to stop vast quantities of opium being trafficked from Afghanistan to Europe across its territory, a senior Iranian diplomat has told Adnkronos International (AKI). Iran’s vice ambassador to Italy, Hossein Moghaddam, said that drug trafficking worth billions of dollars had created a serious a problem of drug dependency in Iran and was also funding terrorism in the region. </p> <p>"Narcotrafficking is not a regional problem, but an international one that Iran cannot fight alone," he said. </p> <p>The United Nations and the European Union could help defeat drug traffickers by providing security forces to help police Iran’s more than 1,000 kilometre-long border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. </p> <p>"We have tried to control this problem, but with no positive results," he said. "The terrain along the border is mountainous, and is riddled with caves and underground tunnels and few roads. There are many holes, many places you can’t control." </p> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2009/04/26/iran-senior-diplomat-calls-for-help-to-stop-drug-trade/#more-5941" class="more-link">» أقرأ التفاصيل .. | Read the rest of this entry »</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"></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 href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130127010453/http://gorillasguides.com/2012/04/19/hezbollah-says-latest-bombings-in-iraq-thwart-mission-to-build-state/">Hezbollah says latest bombings in Iraq “thwart mission to build state”</a></li> <li><a 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