u.s. lists repercussions for iraq refusal to sign agreement

U.S. lists services it’ll cut off if Iraq rejects pact on troops

More on this Story

• Story | U.S. threatens to halt services to Iraq without troop accord
• Story | Iraqis are being attacked and killed for returning to their homes
• Story | Powerful Iraqi party claims U.S. killed innocent man
• Story | Iraq’s prime minister won’t sign U.S. troop deal
• Story | Iraqis take over security of once-violent province
• Story | Iraq’s unschooled children evidence of devastation’s depth
• Story | Thousands rally in Iraq against proposed U.S troop deal

By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, informed Iraqi officials last week that if their country doesn’t agree to a new agreement governing American forces in Iraq, it would lose $6.3 billion in aid for construction, security forces and economic activity and another $10 billion a year in foreign military sales.

The warning was spelled out in a three-page list that was shown to McClatchy on Monday. Iraqi officials consider the threat serious and worry that the impasse over the so-called status of forces agreement could lead to a crisis in Iraq. Without a new agreement or a renewed United Nations mandate, the U.S. military presence would become an illegal occupation under international law.

Odierno’s spokesman, Lt. Col. James Hutton, said that the list “provided information as a part of our normal engagements with many in the government of Iraq.”

If no new mandate or agreement is in place on Jan. 1, the U.S. would stop sharing intelligence with the Iraqi government and would cease to provide air traffic control, air defense, SWAT team training or advisers in government ministries, according to the document. The list also says that there’d be no “disposition of U.S.-held Iraqi convicts” without a security agreement.

Odierno’s letter adds that American forces would stop training Iraq’s Security Forces and its barely functioning navy and air force, patrolling its borders and protecting its waterways. The U.S. military would stop employing some 200,000 Iraqis and wouldn’t refurbish 8,500 Humvees it’s given to the Security Forces. Nearly every Iraqi unit works in tandem with the roughly 151,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and American training teams are training Iraqi Security Forces nationwide.

With no agreement, U.S. troops would pull back to their bases and begin to withdraw from Iraq, American officials have said.

Without coalition forces, Iraq would virtually shut down.

The U.S. military controls the Iraqi intelligence services and Iraqi airspace, and Iraqi officials often use American military aircraft to travel safely. The Iraqi government is unable to monitor air traffic over the country, so commercial airplanes flying over Iraq would have to be rerouted and flights to and from the country would be grounded.

The Iraqi government is examining contingency plans. Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki wants an extension of the U.N. security mandate, but with changes that would allow Iraq to prosecute private contractors in Iraq. The U.S. would veto any changes to the mandate, however, which provides immunity from prosecution for American troops and contractors.

At a recent meeting of Iraq’s Political Council for National Security, the ministers of finance, planning, defense and interior argued that not signing the agreement would be a mistake. Despite their concerns, the country’s dominant Shiite Muslim alliance is demanding changes to the latest draft of the security agreement between the nations. Iran is pressuring Shiite Iraqi officials not to sign the agreement.

The amendments were supposed to be presented to Cabinet members Sunday, but on Monday the Shiite alliance still hadn’t finalized its changes. It’s been insisting that Iraq have the right to search American cargo, mail and military bases, which the U.S. would never accept. The alliance also wants to delete a provision that gives the Iraqi government the right to extend the security agreement beyond 2011.

An agreement by Dec. 31 is virtually impossible at this point, Iraqi officials said in interviews this week, and a number of officials have told McClatchy that Maliki won’t sign the current draft of the agreement.

U.S. officials have hardened their public stance on the draft but have been unwilling to shut the door on negotiations. Last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, “There is great reluctance to engage further in the drafting process. I don’t think you slam the door shut, but I would say it’s pretty far closed.”

reaction to drone killings in afghanistan: anger

Massacre by Drone in Afghanistan: Kid Killers are BarbariansMassacre by Drone in Afghanistan: Kid Killers are Barbarians

There is yet more news from Afghanistan about the killing of civilians by foreign forces’ air attacks. The BBC reported that “Angry villagers took 18 bodies – including badly mangled bodies of women and children – to the governor’s house in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Haji Adnan Khan, a tribal leader in the city who had seen the bodies, was reported as saying. He said there might be more bodies trapped under the rubble. A BBC reporter in Lashkar Gah said he saw the bodies – three women and the rest children ranging in age from six months to 15. The families brought the bodies from their village in the Nad Ali district.” Ho hum; just another day in the war for freedom.

And then there was the killing of kids next door, as it were, for it was reported from Pakistan only a few days before the Lashkar Gah atrocity that “Eleven people were killed in Upper Dir district . . . when a roadside bomb exploded near a police van [and] four schoolchildren in a passing bus were among the dead.”

The criminal fanatics who planned and directed the Dir atrocity would claim, just like American official mouthpieces after the blitzing of tribal wedding parties or memorial services, that innocent people are simply unfortunate to be in the way when they tried to hit the main target. These barbarians attempt to convince us that in some way women and children are themselves at fault when they are killed by lunatic bombers or almost equally deranged controllers of aerial slaughter-machines. Another line is that it is the responsibility of those whom they target because they permit civilians to be close by. These claims are not persuasive enough to let us ignore the innocent children and their weeping families. In fact they are evidence of hand-washing arrogance.

People who kill kids, for whatever reason and no matter in what manner, are disgusting, murderous, cowardly barbarians.

Suicide bombing is not the way to achieve paradise, but alas there appears to be nobody influential enough to make this clear to the world at large. The problem is that rabble-rousing, brutal, religious bigots use their position to persuade poorly-educated (and some not-so-poorly-educated), easily-influenced people that those who die for their Faith, even if that involves murdering children, are assured of heaven.

It is tragic that the real meaning of the Koran, as well as civilised common sense, decency, and respect for human lives, are thrust aside by such as the rabidly fanatical Egyptian cleric Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who claims that Islam justifies suicide bombings.

In a BBC interview Al-Qaradawi said that “I consider this type of martyrdom operation [by suicide bombing] as an indication of the justice of Allah Almighty. Allah is just – through his infinite wisdom he has given the weak what the strong do not possess and that is the ability to turn their bodies into bombs like the Palestinians do. Islamic theologians and jurisprudents have debated this issue, referring to it as a form of Jihad under the title of ‘jeopardising the life of the mujaheed.’ It is allowed to jeopardise your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed if this act of jeopardy affects the enemy, even if it only generates fear in their hearts, shaking their morale, making them fear Muslims.”

A tortuous argument, to put it mildly ; and just as poorly constructed and badly delivered as the justification for the US slaughter of innocent men, women and children attending a night-time memorial service in the Afghan village of Azizabad on August 22. In that case it was at first (and as usual) flatly denied that there had been any civilian deaths. As the New York Times recorded : “The US hotly disputed the toll [of 90], claiming initially that no civilians were killed, then later revising the number up to 5-7 civilians. They also accused Afghan civilians who claimed a higher toll of spreading “outrageous Taliba n propaganda.” They were forced to re-examine their findings, however, when video evidence of the toll went public.”

United Nations officials conducted an inquiry immediately and found that 90 civilians had been killed, of whom 60 were children, but the US ignored the report, and when the Afghan government confirmed that there were scores of dead a US spokesman called the statement “outrageous.”

It was unfortunate – at least for the liars who deliberated concocted falsehoods about the massacre – that “Cellphone images that a villager said he took, and seen by this reporter [Carlotta Gall, a marvellous and courageous journalist], showed two lines of about 20 bodies each laid out in the mosque, with the sounds of loud sobbing and villagers’ cries in the background. An Afghan doctor who runs a clinic in a nearby village said he counted 50 to 60 bodies of civilians, most of them women and children and some of them his own patients, laid out in the village mosque on the day of the strike . . . In a series of statements about the operation, the US military has said that extremists who entered the village after the bombardment encouraged villagers to change their story and inflate the number of dead.”

If there had been no independent reporting of the atrocity it would, like so many others, have been forgotten about. (Nobody would have known about the atrocities at Abu Ghraib if photographs hadn’t appeared.) But Washington was forced to order an inquiry. Not that there is any intention to take disciplinary action against those responsible for any aspect of the horrible affair, even when it was eventually admitted there were “more than 30″ civilians killed, because, with indifferent callousness, the spin-masters pronounced that the strike was against “a legitimate target.”

The pattern is clear : first lie your head off after a war crime has been committed; then try to play down the gravity of the slaughter and while you’re at it, vilify anyone courageous enough to have held an independent inquiry that discovered the truth. After it is obvious that a major atrocity did actually take place, all must wring hands and announce that an inquiry is to be held. (If anxious to appear serious it is better to state that it will be a “full” inquiry. But on no account must there be representation at the inquiry by officials, or, indeed, attendance by any citizens of the country in which the attack has taken.) Last, when irrefutable evidence has to be grudgingly admitted, say that there has been a mistake but that the people who identified the target, fired the missiles or lied in their teeth about the squalid affair are not going to receive even a wrist-slap in punishment. Then the whole affair will be forgotten except by the few hundred more Afghans, Iraqis or Pakistanis who have been persuaded that US “freedom” is meaningless and queue up to join the ranks of anti-western fanatics and suicide bombers.

There is a chilling parallel between the types of child killers. On the one hand, a formal military organisation is adamant that “legitimate targets” must be blasted even if the deaths of children are inevitable. On the other, the psychotic savages who plan and carry out suicide bombings that slaughter innocent youngsters are convinced their atrocities are justified by a warped interpretation of their Faith.

The potential victims of attacks – the ordinary innocent citizens of Pakistan and Afghanistan – should be protected; but this is impossible, given the zeal of both types of attackers. There can be no excuses for killing children, but violence feeds violence, courtesy of trigger-happy moronic foreigners and home-grown fiendish monsters. The terrible thing is that they have so much in common : mainly barbarity.

police are dispatched to protect christians

 

Iraq pours in police to protect Christians

 

Agence France-Presse Published: Sunday October 12, 2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq dispatched nearly 1,000 police to the northern city of Mosul on Sunday to protect Christians fleeing the worst violence perpetrated against them in five years, the government said.

“Two (national police) brigades were sent to Christian areas in Mosul and churches were surrounded and put under tight security,” interior ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf told AFP.

The reinforcements were deployed from midnight on Saturday along with two investigation teams, one security and the other criminal, sent in to probe the incidents, he said.

Nearly 1,000 Christian families have fled their homes in the city since Friday, taking shelter on the northern and eastern fringes of Nineveh province after at least 11 Christians died in attacks since September 28.

At least three homes of Christians were blown up by unidentified attackers on Saturday in the Sukkar district of Mosul, which is regarded by US and Iraqi security forces of one of the last urban bastions of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Mosul military command spokesman Khalid Abdul-Satar said he did not know who was behind the violence but pledged to protect the Christian community as security forces started patrolling the streets.

“We told the Christians through their churches and priests that we are ready to provide security to any house or individual that needs our protection. We have enough forces to do that,” he said.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the violence perpetrated against Christians in both Iraq and India.

“I invite you to pray for peace and reconciliation as situations cause concern and great suffering…. I think of violence against Christians in Iraq and India,” he said.

The provincial governor for the Mosul area, Duraid Kashmula, called it the worst violence against Christians in five years.

“The (violence) is the fiercest campaign against Christians since 2003,” Kashmula told AFP on Saturday. “Among those killed over the past 11 days were a doctor, an engineer and a handicapped person.”

The flight came as Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako last week called on the US military as well as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government to protect Christians and other minorities in the face of a rash of deadly attacks.

In an interview with AFP, Sako called on the Americans to do more to protect Christians and other minorities.

“We are the target of a campaign of liquidation, a campaign of violence. The objective is political,” Sako said.

He said that since the US-led invasion of 2003 more than 200 Christians had been killed and a string of churches attacked, with the violence intensifying in recent weeks, particularly in the north.

It was now time for Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-led government to deliver on repeated promises to do more to protect Iraq’s minorities, Sako said.

“We have heard many words from Prime Minister Maliki, but unfortunately this has not translated into reality,” he said. “We continue to be targeted. We want solutions, not promises.”

There were around 800,000 Christians in Iraq at the time of the US-led invasion, a number that has since shrunk by around a third as the faithful have fled the country, the archbishop said.

In March, the body of the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Paul Faraj Rahho, 65, was found in a shallow grave in the city two weeks after he was kidnapped as he returned home from celebrating mass.

Iraq’s Christian community includes various denominations, including Syrian Orthodox and Catholic, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic congregations.

christian families flee mosul

1,000 Christian families flee north Iraqi city: governor Agence France-Presse Published: Saturday October 11, 2008   MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) — Nearly 1,000 Christian families have fled their homes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul following the worst wave of violence against them in five years, provincial governor Duraid Kashmula said on Saturday. The Christians had taken shelter over the past 24 hours in schools and churches in the northern and eastern fringes of Nineveh province after attacks that have killed at least 11 Christians since September 28, Kashumula said. At least three homes of Christians were blown up by unidentified attackers in the Sukkar district of Mosul, regarded by US and Iraqi security forces of one of the last urban bastions of the Al-Qaeda in Iraq. “The (violence) is the fiercest campaign against the Christians since 2003,” Kashmula said. “Among those killed over the past 11 days were a doctor, an engineer and a handicapped person.” The latest flight came as Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako this week called on the US military as well as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to protect Christians and other minorities in the face of a rash of deadly attacks. In a recent interview with AFP, Sako called on the Americans to do more to protect Christians and other minorities. “We are the target of a campaign of liquidation, a campaign of violence. The objective is political,” Sako said. He said that since the US-led invasion of 2003, more than 200 Christians had been killed and a string of churches attacked, and added that the violence had intensified in recent weeks, particularly in the north. It was now time for Prime Minister Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-led government to deliver on repeated promises to do more to protect Iraq’s minorities, Sako said. “We have heard many words from Prime Minister Maliki, but unfortunately this has not translated into reality,” he said. “We continue to be targeted. We want solutions, not promises.” There were around 800,000 Christians in Iraq at the time of the US-led invasion, a number that has now shrunk by a third as the faithful have fled the country, the archbishop said. He said Christians are dependent on the government and its US backers for protection. Unlike the Shiite majority, the Sunni Arab former elite or the Kurds, they have no powerful tribes or militias to defend them. “The Christians of Iraq are not militias or tribes to defend themselves, we have a bitter feeling of injustice, because innocent people are killed and we do not know why,” he said. Christians used to pay protection money to insurgents groups, but the increase in violence in the past few months has forced some villages to start organising their own fighting forces to protect themselves. In March, the body of the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Paul Faraj Rahho, was found in a shallow grave in the city two weeks after he was kidnapped. Rahho, 65, was abducted during a shootout in which three of his companions were killed as he returned home from celebrating mass on February 29. In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead a Syrian Orthodox priest, Youssef Adel, near his home in the city centre in April in an attack condemned by Pope Benedict XVI. Former archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey has warned that the ethnic cleansing of Christians from Iraq had intensified since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Iraq’s Christian community includes various denominations, including Syrian Orthodox and Catholic, and Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic congregations.

afghanistan needs help NOW

General Wants Help in Afghanistan Now

AP

WASHINGTON (Oct. 1) – The top American military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that he needs more troops and other aid “as quickly as possible” in a counter-insurgency battle that could get worse before it gets better.

 

Gen. David McKiernan said it’s not just a question of troops — but more economic aid and more political aid as well.

 

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, the head of NATO forces in Afghanistan said there has been a significant increase in foreign fighters coming in from neighboring Pakistan this year — including Chechens, Uzbeks, Saudis and Europeans.

 

“The additional military capabilities that have been asked for are needed as quickly as possible,” he said.

 

He said he was encouraged by recent Pakistani military operations against insurgents waging cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, but also said that it is too soon to tell how effective they have been.

 

Officials have said that violence in Afghanistan is up about 30 percent this year compared with 2007. The Taliban and associated militant groups like the terrorist network al-Qaida have steadily stepped up attacks in the last several years and more U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan already this year than in any year since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

“We’re in a very tough fight,” McKiernan said. “The idea that it might get worse before it gets better is certainly a possibility.”

 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that he may be able to send thousands more combat troops to Afghanistan starting next spring.

 

McKiernan was scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House late Wednesday.

refugees fleeing pakistan in droves

Some 20,000 refugees flee Pakistan for Afghanistan

29 Sep 2008 11:00:26 GMT

<!– 29 Sep 2008 11:00:26 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove –>

Source: Reuters

By Jonathon Burch, 

KABUL, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Some 20,000 people from Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of Bajaur have fled to Afghanistan this summer due to intense fighting between government forces and militants, the United Nations said on Monday. 

The Pakistani military launched an offensive in August for control over the strategically key region of Bajaur and have been involved in heavy fighting since then. 

“More than 3,900 families, or around 20,000 individuals, have fled fighting in Bajaur … into Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan,” said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Afghanistan. 

“In the last two weeks alone, over 600 Pakistani families have fled into Afghanistan,” it said. 

Bajaur is the smallest of Pakistan’s seven so-called tribal agencies, semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun regions along the Afghan border, with a population of one million people. 

U.S. officials say Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters, financed by drug money, use the tribal regions as an operating base to launch attacks inside Afghanistan, where Western forces are struggling to stem a growing insurgency. 

Around 9,000 Pakistani soldiers are deployed in Bajaur and up to 1,000 militants have been killed in clashes this month, according to the Pakistani army. 

Several hundred thousand people have fled their homes because of fighting, seeking refuge in other parts of the country or in neighbouring Afghanistan. 

“They have mainly been provided accommodation by relatives and friends,” UNHCR spokesman Nadir Farhad told reporters. But some 200 families are already living without shelter, he said. 

UNHCR has been coordinating aid efforts and hopes the refugees will be able to return soon but said it was prepared for the winter. 

“It’s very difficult to predict the security situation on the other side of the border but what we hope is that the security gets better and people will be able to go back,” he said. 

“But if it continues, we will definitely provide them with … assistance … so we can get them through the winter months.” 

Around 70 percent of the families are Pakistani, said Farhad, the remainder being Afghan. 

In the past, refugees crossed the other way, to escape from violence in Afghanistan. Some four million Afghans escaped civil war in the 1980’s and 1990’s seeking refuge in Pakistan. More than half have now returned. 

While Pakistani refugees have crossed into Afghanistan to escape tribal or sectarian violence in previous years, this recent influx is biggest yet. (Editing by Valerie Lee)