Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

The death of Baha Mousa

September 15 2003: Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist in Basra, is beaten to death while being held by British soldiers on suspicion of being an insurgent. He sustains 93 separate injuries.

January 6 2004: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) discloses it has paid compensation to Mousa's family without accepting any liability for his death.

May 10 2004: Amid reports of several cases of abuse by British soldiers against Iraqi civilians, Geoff Hoon, the then defence secretary, says a decision is pending on whether to take action against any soldiers involved in Mousa's death.

July 28 2004: Mousa's family challenges in the high court the government's decision not to hold an independent inquiry. The court is asked to rule on whether the Human Rights Act 1998 applies to British troops in Iraq.

December 14 2004: The high court rules in favour of a full inquiry, saying Mousa's death in British custody in Iraq falls within the European convention on human rights. Previous MoD investigations are deemed inadequate.

February 25 2005: General Michael Jackson orders an internal army review of all alleged cases of abuse against Iraqi civilians.

July 19 2005: Seven British soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment are charged in connection with Mousa's death and abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Brigadier Geoffrey Sheldon calls it an "isolated, tragic incident" that every member of the regiment "bitterly regrets". Hoon's successor as defence secretary, John Reid, says it is vital that "justice is allowed to take its course".

December 21 2005: The court of appeal rules that an "independent and effective" inquiry must be held into how Mousa died, upholding the earlier high court decision. The MoD takes the case to the House of Lords.

September 19 2006: Corporal Donald Payne, 35, pleads guilty to inhumane treatment of Mousa, becoming the first British soldier to admit to a war crime, as the court martial of the seven soldiers charged over Mousa's death begins. Payne denies charges of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. The six others, including commanding officer Colonel Jorge Mendonca MBE, plead not guilty to their charges.

February 14 2007: All charges are dropped against four of the seven soldiers. Mendonca, the highest-ranking British serviceman ever to face a court martial, is among those cleared.

March 13 2007: The six-month court martial ends with the acquittal of the remaining soldiers. Senior army officers and defence lawyers criticise the proceedings. Colonel David Black of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment says soldiers need to operate without being worried about "over-zealous and remote officialdom". Phil Shiner, who represented the Iraqis at the court martial, says the outcome is a "travesty".

April 16 2007: Lawyers acting for the family release pictures of Mousa's fatally injured body.

April 30 2007: Payne is jailed for a year and dismissed from the army. He is cleared of manslaughter because it cannot be proved he inflicted the fatal injuries.

June 6 2007: Mousa's family begins a civil case against the MoD.

June 13 2007: The law lords uphold the ruling that UK human rights laws did apply to Mousa while in British custody in Iraq, paving the way for a public inquiry.

January 25 2008: The army report ordered by Jackson in 2005 is made public. It says that while changes are needed to rectify serious flaws in the way soldiers are trained to deal with Iraqi prisoners, there is no evidence of systemic abuse.

March 27 2008: The MoD admits breaching Mousa's human rights and those of eight other Iraqi men.

May 14 2008: The MoD announces an inquiry into Mousa's death.

[Al-khiyal]

U.S. military deaths in Iraq at 4,065

U.S. military deaths in Iraq at 4,077

[Al-khiyal]

Suicide bomber at Iraqi funeral kills 22

BAGHDAD, May 14, 2008 -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took personal charge today of a military operation to rout Al Qaeda in Iraq in what the U.S. has described as the terror group's last major stronghold, even as a tenuous cease-fire took hold over Baghdad's Sadr City slum.

The campaign in the northern city of Mosul was the third by al-Maliki in two months as he attempts to stamp out Shiite militants and Sunni extremists across the country.

Also today, a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded 40 in an attack on a funeral tent in a village west of Baghdad, Iraqi police Col. Faisal al-Zubaie said.

Many Sunnis opposed to Al Qaeda were at the funeral for Taha Obaid, a school principal who was shot dead Tuesday.

South of the capital, a young girl strapped with explosives killed an Iraqi captain and wounded four soldiers today. Iraqi army Lt. Ahmed Ali said the explosives were detonated by remote control as the girl approached the Iraqi commander in Youssifiyah, in the area once known as the Triangle of Death.

Both Iraqi and American spokesmen confirmed that the attack took place, and the U.S. military said it was investigating. Maj. John Hall, a coalition spokesman, said U.S. reports indicated one Iraqi soldier was killed and seven wounded.

Al-Maliki's flight to Mosul, 225 miles northwest of the capital, Iraq mirrors a trip he took almost two months ago to the southern city of Basra, where government troops fought radical Shiite militias. That fighting spread to Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad, where a cease-fire to end fighting was reached this week.

Associated Press Television News footage showed al-Maliki being briefed by senior Iraqi officers and officials who used large maps to point out their operations. Al-Maliki made no comment.

"The Iraqi prime minister has arrived in Mosul to supervise the military operations, and its second phase is due to start today,'' Mohammed al-Askari, the spokesman of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told The Associated Press. "The main aim of this operation is to purge and clean Ninevah province of all militants and their weapons and declare it a safe area.''

Mosul is considered the last important urban staging ground for Al Qaeda in Iraq after the terror group lost its strongholds in Baghdad and other areas during the U.S. troop buildup last year.

Al-Maliki has been promising a crackdown since January. But no major offensives have been mounted even as Al Qaeda in Iraq tried to exert its influence through attacks and intimidation.

Al Qaeda and its supporters would find themselves without a major base of operations if ousted from Iraq's third-largest city, which occupies transport crossroads between Baghdad, Syria and other points. But a drawn-out fight could serve to rally insurgents and expose potential security weaknesses where U.S. troops are thin and Iraqi forces must take a front-line role.

"We are closely linked with Iraqi security forces and will support operations that the prime minister is developing over the next couple of days," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said. He added that Iraqi troops had arrested more than 500 people and captured five weapons caches. He said the operation was shifting gears.

In western Iraq, a senior U.S. commander said today that Al Qaeda persists and that a recent increase in attacks shows that the group remains a threat there. A group of Al Qaeda fighters recently infiltrated the area, went to the homes of 11 Iraqi police officers in the Anbar town of Husaybah and beheaded them and one of their sons, he said.

Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the commander of U.S. forces in Anbar province, said it appeared the insurgents crossed from the Syrian border, talked their way through a checkpoint and then went around the town grabbing police individually.

"I went up to the site yesterday and had never seen so much blood," he said today at his office at Camp Fallujah. Kelly said 11 of the victims were police officers and another was the son of one of the officers. "We are so hard to kill, they target the police," he said.

"Al Qaeda is not defeated. It's an ideology," he said. "Al Qaeda is still operational but on a smaller scale."

Sadr City was largely quiet today as Shiite fighters appeared to respect a cease-fire agreement, though some skirmishes were still being reported. The fighting left five dead and 22 wounded, according to hospital officials.

"The cease-fire is still active and we are still at square one," said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi army spokesman. "Nothing has been achieved so far as security forces are still waiting for the Sadrist leaders to prepare the appropriate atmosphere to enable our security forces to enter Sadr City to do their duties."

Bergner said that while U.S. commanders around Sadr City reported a drop in violence, some fighting persisted.

[Proteus]

This seems to be pretty important:

"When a group of Iraqi envoys headed to Iran recently, they were fully prepared for some tense moments. But they also hoped to come away with something to show for it: pledges of cooperation on weakening Shiite militias in Iraq. Instead, they got a scolding from some of Iran's most powerful voices — accusing the Iraqi leadership of bowing to Washington and forgetting about Tehran's support for Shiites persecuted by Saddam Hussein.
[...]
On Monday, the hard-line Iranian newspaper Jomhuri-e-Eslami accused al-Maliki of lacking backbone in alks with Washington, which include the long-range status of U.S. military operations in Iraq. The daily, which is considered close to Iran's ruling clerics, claimed Washington wants a "full-fledged colony" in Iraq. It was a rare public jab at al-Maliki, a Shiite. But it was mild compared with the closed-door recriminations during the high-level Iraqi visit, according to accounts by Shiite politicians close to Iraq's prime minister.
[...]
"The (Iranian) argument is that the destruction of the Sadrists will weaken Shiites at a time when Sunni tribes are being armed and getting stronger," said Nasr, a professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University."

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=168710

[Proteus]

This is a strange sort of situation. On the one hand, Sadr is consistently seen as the more 'nationalist' of the Shia factions, and the one who is actually bothering to fight the Americans. On the other hand, Iran would hardly want to undercut SCIRI for Sadr, would it? The way I read this is that Iran is playing the same sectarian game the US is, and intends to probably use Sadr as a blunt instrument against the US and the Sunna until his usefulness is worn off, at which point he and his movement will be discarded, and SCIRI / Dawa become the favourites once more.

The question is, of course, which forces have the most influence and where. Will Sadr's purported nationalism win out over Shiite solidarity? Will the "Awakening" stay bought? Is the pan sectarian nationalist front still viable?

Any comments will be appreciated.

[Proteus]

"Iraq government authorities say seven people were killed and 19 others wounded overnight Thursday from continuing fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City district. Interior Ministry officials told CNN clashes between U.S.-supported government forces and Shiite militias raged in the sprawling Baghdad slum area through the early morning hours. The new fighting came despite an agreement reached between the Iraqi government and cleric Moqtada Sadr to halt the fighting in Baghdad. A security official in charge of enforcing the peace agreement told CNN the plan to bring calm to Sadr City was still at "square one.""

Seven killed in overnight Baghdad fighting - UPI.com

[Proteus]

"After guards from Blackwater Worldwide protecting a State Department convoy killed at least 17 Iraqis in a hail of bullets last September, we hoped the Bush administration would rethink the folly of relying on mercenaries, who have no accountability to Iraqi or American law. The ever-stubborn administration decided it couldn’t stay at war without its gunslingers. More than six months after the event, not a single charge has been brought against the guards. Last month, the State Department — which is supposed to be sensitive to local politics and perception — renewed Blackwater’s contract in Iraq for another year."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/op...on&oref=slogin