Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

Iraq is embroiled in a “low-level civil war” that is forcing the United States to react to events on the ground rather than shape them, according to a former U.S. military adviser who spent two years there studying the insurgency.

“Once you start reacting to events, you cannot impose a solution,” said Ahmed Hashim, a professor at the Naval War College who worked with U.S. troops in Iraq from November 2003 to September 2005 in an effort to understand the emotions and loyalties driving Iraq’s insurgents. “You go along with the flow.....”

Adviser: Iraq ‘civil war’ places U.S. in reactive role

[Al-khiyal]

Basra bloodshed shows Iraq's Shi'ite south volatile

[Al-khiyal]

Turkish, Iranian armies build up forces along Iraq's only quiet area

[Al-khiyal]

The nightmares that fill the Baghdad night

[Al-khiyal]

A half-dozen armoured sport utility vehicles with guns pointed out the windows careen onto Baghdad's busy airport highway, bringing traffic to a screeching halt. Iraqis have learned to keep a wary distance from the convoys of foreign guns-for-hire in mirrored sunglasses and bullet-proof vests, who have a reputation of firing at any vehicle that gets too close because of the ever-present danger of suicide bombers. Iraqi officials accuse many of the companies providing protection in violence-plagued Iraq of being a law unto themselves, prompting a flurry of attempts to better regulate an industry that is expanding rapidly around the world. South Africa and Britain are proposing tough new laws governing the participation of their nationals in foreign conflicts. Humanitarian groups are trying to identify gaps in international law. And the industry itself is pushing greater self-regulation.

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who oversees the activities of private security companies, accuses them of being "militias." Some companies counter that Jabr, who has himself been linked to a private Shiite force accused of widespread abuses against Sunni Muslims, is contributing to the problem by refusing to register security contractors. Since militaries were slashed at the end of the Cold War, private companies have been a growing presence on the world's battlefields, performing jobs conventional forces can no longer handle. It is a hugely competitive, multibillion-dollar industry, with clients ranging from governments and blue-chip corporations to warlords, drug cartels and terror groups. In Iraq, at least 20,000 contractors _ local and foreign are guarding coalition bases, protecting U.S. officials, training Iraqi security forces and interrogating detainees. They also protect businessmen, journalists and humanitarian workers, among others.....

Rise of guns-for-hire in Iraq creates regulatory quandary

[Al-khiyal]

Five garbage collectors were killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in western Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said.

"An explosive charge went off at about 9:30 a.m. in the Abu Jaafar al-Mansur Square, killing five garbage workers and wounding another," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi court investigator was assassinated on his way to work in western Baghdad on Thursday, a police source said.

Gunmen shot dead Firas Muhammed at about 8:30 a.m. near the Baghdad's Karkh courts complex in Mansur, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Five garbage collectors killed in bomb blast in Baghdad, court investigator shot dead

[Al-khiyal]

Baghdad's most senior Shiite cleric urged Iraqis Wednesday to unite for the sake of security as about 50 clerics and tribal leaders met in the capital to discuss ways of ending widespread violence.

Dressed in outfits ranging from business suits and ties to traditional Arab robes and head scarves, the tribal leaders and Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish clerics met at Al-Hashimi mosque in northern Baghdad. At one point, they knelt on a carpet to pray together in a unified ritual.....

Iraq clerics discuss ways to end violence