Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi'ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque.

"After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was. There's been huge misinformation," Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

He rejected the accusations of a massacre that prompted the Shi'ite-led government to demand U.S. forces cede control of security but declined to spell out which group he believed moved the bodies.

Government-run television has shown footage of bodies lying without weapons in what Shi'ite ministers say is a mosque compound run by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The security minister accused Iraqi and U.S. troops of killing 37 unarmed men......

U.S. troops defend raid, say Iraqis faked 'massacre'

[Al-khiyal]

A U.S. soldier serving in the occupation forces at Ar Ramadi was asked; "What do you say when people say the media doesn't tell enough good news stories out of Iraq?"

Here is his reply:

"I never hear that because we all here know the good news stories are bullsh*t and do not really affect the mission in any way. It's like this thing we keep saying here about all the new people we've recruited for the iraqi police. It leaves out the fact that my platoon was in a 40 minute gun fight with the iraqi police. So you recruited more of them ... awesome! I am sure that will make everything better. Also, they don't do ANYTHING. They don't even leave their building, and that is not an exaggeration. They don't. So what good is a billion-man police force that doesn't do anything? Also, they get almost no training. They tried to stand up some kind of mentoring initiative here using the guardsmen that are civilian cops, but it so far has fallen through. They will get set up to be killed, as is already suspected of the THREE SVBIEDs that have hit their station. Inside jobs, all. During our fight with them, we picked up the police chief (who was riding in a car that was shooting at a coalition vehicle -- an M1A1. You know how that story ends) and he was with a guy (who it turned out was his nephew) who had this radical islamic terrorist literature on him. It would be a joke if it weren't costing our lives.

"the iraqi army is making progress and we're handing over more and more to them everyday." Complete bullsh*t. What's the good news in the fact that all their logistics, medical, engineering, staff function, etc. is being done by us? ALL OF IT. And PS, they're not being trained on any of the other sh*t, either, except a broken medical training program.

You can clearly see by reading the news how much it matters that X number of people have power now. The bottom line is, the overwhelming majority of people live in fear. We can do NOTHING to help them. We don't have anywhere near the manpower, and our actions are too severely restricted. Good thing 2500 people died for this.

What are the good news stories? I would love to hear them. Spare me the heart warming tales of a single family or school or neighborhood that was helped. Operation Iraqi Freedom is, at this point, an abject failure. This is the most dangerous place on earth and it's getting worse, not better.

Also, you have to consider that our definition of good news is not the iraqi definition of good news. These people are not americans. Culturally, they do not respect or appreciate the same things we do. "Our neighborhood has power now! It's about time, infidels. What about the water?" "Hey, thanks for the medicine for our clinic! I'm still totally supporting the insurgency, but at least i can provide them better medical care now." Giving them sh*t does not win their allegiance. They don't think, "wow, I was wrong about americans." It just gives them sh*t.

The "we don't hear good news from Iraq" mindset is one that is totally ignorant of Iraqi culture. There is no good news. There's a bunch of people getting handed sh*t, and it doesn't change a single thing."

[Al-khiyal]

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq - A court in Erbil sentenced a writer who wrote an accusatory article about Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani to 18 months in prison Sunday in a case that has raised doubts about the judiciary's independence. Kamal Karim Qadir, an Iraqi-born Kurd with Austrian citizenship, was arrested last fall and charged with threatening the national security of Kurdistan.

The charges came after he wrote a series of controversial articles in 2004 that were critical of the Barzanis, Kurdistan's ruling family. The articles accused Barzani, the president of the Kurdish region, of cooperating with the Iranian government against the interests of the Kurdish people. It said his son, Masroor Barzani, had used prostitutes to spy on Kurds in Europe.

After a one-hour trial in December, Qadir was sentenced to 30 years in prison. At Sunday's hearing, that sentence was reduced.

A high-ranking Kurdish official, Qubad Talabani, later told CNN that Barzani probably would pardon Qadir. "Maybe it's time to revise certain laws," he said. "We are an emerging democracy. ... We need to improve our institutions."

The judge in the December proceeding, which was held in secret, had ties to the KDP's intelligence service, which is headed by Masroor Barzani, according to a Kurdish government source with knowledge of the judicial proceedings who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Erbil Gov. Nawzad Hadi Mawlood said Qadir's writings endangered the Kurdish region. "Kamal wrote that we sold Kurdish land to Israel -- that kind of talk is very dangerous to us," Mawlood said. "Our neighbors -- Turkey, Iran, the Arabs -- nobody would accept this, and the fact that a Kurd is writing these accusations makes them more credible. These writings could lead them to try to destroy us, to attack us."

Writer sentenced to prison for criticizing Kurdish leader

[Al-khiyal]

Baghdad provincial Governor Husayn al-Tahan said he is suspending all cooperation with U.S. forces until an independent investigation is launched into the killing of 20 Shi'a, allegedly in or near a mosque.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, al-Tahan said, "Today we decided to stop all political and service cooperation with the U.S. forces until a legal committee is formed to investigate this incident."

He said the inquiry panel should include representatives from the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi Defense Ministry, but not the U.S. military.....

Baghdad Governor suspends cooperation with U.S. forces

[Al-khiyal]

Over 1,200 pages of previously unavailable reports from the U.S. State Department's planning for post-Saddam Hussein Iraq - Warnings and recommendations by experts and Iraqi exiles ignored by Bush administration:

Reports from the Future of Iraq Project

[Al-khiyal]

Shi'ites accuse U.S. of deliberately trying to foment civil war in Iraq

[Al-khiyal]

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has asked one of Iraq's most prominent Shiite politicians to seek the withdrawal of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's contentious nomination for a second term, two aides said Monday.

The aides to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, had asked their boss during a meeting Saturday to personally deliver the message to al-Jaafari.....

U.S. envoy reportedly seeks new Iraq PM

The U.S. doesn't want anyone to get strange ideas about who is really 'in charge', eh?