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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Iraq
UNAMI, Coordination Framework leaders welcome al-Sadr's declaration
2022-08-31
[SHAFAQ] Iraqi and international figures and bodies commended the powerful Shiite holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry...
's decision to ease the tension in Iraq after instructing his followers to withdraw from Baghdad's Green Zone.

"Thank you Moqtada al-Sadr," Iraq's parliament speaker Mohammad al-Halboosi tweeted, "your decision is in the size of Iraq. It deserves our appreciation."

A statement by media office of al-Siyada bloc said that the head of the Sunni alliance Khamis al-Khanjar held a phone call with al-Halboosi and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, to discuss the situation in Iraq.

The leaders called for preserving the security and stability in the country and pursuing dialogue to lead Iraq to safety.

The head of al-Nasr bloc, Haidar al-Abadi, said, "all the armed people shall withdraw immediately. There is no explanation for the state to stand idly and watch, especially after the speech of Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr."

"The wisemen of Iraq shall find solutions to prevent abysmal infight, jeopardizing the lives of the people, and undermining the state," he said.

"Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr proved he is a descendant of the Sadrist school that made sacrifices for its religion and people," the head of the Islamic Supreme Council, Homam al-Hammoudi, said in a statement.

Al-Hammoudi ascribed al-Sadr's position as "brave and responsible."

"There is no contrast between reform and state. They complete each others," he added, "hand by hand, the state is preserved and rectified by reform."

UNAMI in a tweet welcomed "the most recent moderate declaration by Sayed Moqtada al-Sadr."

"As stated yesterday: restraint and calm are necessary for reason to prevail," it said.
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Iraq
AlKazemi appoints Abdul Karim Hashem as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq minister
2020-05-02
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Link


Iraq
US seeking to resurrect Daesh in Iraq: Political leader
2018-12-30
[PRESSTV] Leader of a major political party in Iraq has said that there have been clear intelligence evidences suggesting that the United States is trying to resurrect ISIS-led militancy in the Arab country after the Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
 terrorist group was defeated in neighboring Syria.

Humam al-Hamoudi, who chairs the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
Led by Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, formerly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRII, pronounced Scarey)) is not nearly as supreme as it makes out to be. The al-Hakim family business is merely another one of political parties, this one Shiite and with its power base in the south of the country. The Iranian government sponsored the party's creation in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq war after the leading Iraqi Islamist group was weakened by a government crackdown. Designed as an umbrella organization to unite Iraqi Shi'a groups, the party supports Islamic government controlled by holy men. In post-Saddam Iraq ISCI has worked closely with other Shi'a organizations to provide social services and humanitarian aid. Though accused of receiving money and weapons from Iran, ISCI leaders maintain that the party is committed to democracy and peaceful cooperation. The Badr Brigade initially acted as ISCI's armed wing but later to split to form the independent Badr Organization., said on Saturday that Washington’s main strategy in Iraq has been to make the Arab country dependent on American military presence by keeping militancy alive in parts of the Iraqi territory.

Speaking to the Iranian television, Hamoudi said many ISIS snuffies fled to Syria after being defeated in Iraq over the past years. However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
 he said, the snuffies are mulling a comeback to Iraq with the help of the US after they lost most of their positions in Syria.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Calls for disbanding Iraq's PMU, sign of new plot against Mideast: Iran official
2017-12-05
[PRESSTV] Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani says calls for disbanding Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) indicate a new plot aimed at bringing back insecurity to the Middle East.

The fact that a Western country's president echoes calls by the Israeli regime and emphasizes the disbanding of the volunteer pro-government forces, commonly known by their Arabic name as Hashd al-Shaabi, shows a new plot is being hatched to bring insecurity and terrorism back to the region, Shamkhani said in a meeting with the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
Led by Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, formerly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRII, pronounced Scarey)) is not nearly as supreme as it makes out to be. The al-Hakim family business is merely another one of political parties, this one Shiite and with its power base in the south of the country. The Iranian government sponsored the party's creation in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq war after the leading Iraqi Islamist group was weakened by a government crackdown. Designed as an umbrella organization to unite Iraqi Shi'a groups, the party supports Islamic government controlled by holy men. In post-Saddam Iraq ISCI has worked closely with other Shi'a organizations to provide social services and humanitarian aid. Though accused of receiving money and weapons from Iran, ISCI leaders maintain that the party is committed to democracy and peaceful cooperation. The Badr Brigade initially acted as ISCI's armed wing but later to split to form the independent Badr Organization.
and the first deputy speaker of the country's parliament, Sheikh Humam Hamoudi, in Tehran on Monday.

He added that wisdom of the Iraqi officials, particularly the politicians, would thwart the enemies' plots to undermine the country's solidarity and national security, saying, "Certainly, such plots will be foiled."

During a visit to Iraq on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a "gradual demilitarization" and the "dismantlement" of the PMU fighters and all militias in Iraq. His call was widely received with outrage and anger by many in Iraq.

Ahmad al-Assadi, one of the PMU’s leaders, was quoted by AFP as saying that "any such discussion is rejected and we do not accept interference in Iraqi affairs."
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Iraq
Iranian advisor dies in Mosul
2017-02-07
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Erbil, London- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Sunday that Kheirallah Ahmadi Far, one of its commanders linked to the Nabi al-Akram Corps, was killed during battles with ISIS near the Iraqi city of Tal Afar west of Mosul.

The commander was operating in the area as an advisor to the Popular Mobilization Forces.

The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency ISNA quoted on Sunday head of the Revolutionary Guards PR official in the Kermanshah province Colonel Fardin Kahramani as saying that Ahmadi was killed during a military operation in Mosul, adding that his body would be transferred to Iran in the coming days.

Separately spokesperson for the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Hamid Mueala, who attended the meeting between the visiting Shi’ite delegation headed by Ammar al-Hakim and the Kurdish President Masoud Barzani in Erbil last Saturday, said that the two sides have discussed the issue of Kurdistan’s independence.

It is premature to talk about such independence, he said, claiming the Kurds have recently proved that they are true partners in the political process.

Mueala told Rudaw TV on Sunday that the issue “was rather one of the topics stating that ‘if we did not reach satisfactory solutions [with Baghdad] which reflect the aspirations of the people of Kurdistan,’ then the issue of independence is one of the options that we may seek.”
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Iraq
Kurdish presidency: Shiite leader’s remarks sound like Saddam, ISIS
2016-11-22
[RUDAW.NET] The Kurdistan Region’s presidency said on Monday that remarks by a Shiite leader who reportedly threatened to deploy the Iraqi forces in Kurdish areas liberated by the Peshmerga, follow the path of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and ISIS, both enemies who lost due to the bravery of the Kurds.

Baqir Jabir Solaq, a Shiite leader from the Islamic Supreme Council, in remarks published on social media and some media outlets titled "Bashiqa, we are coming," reportedly said the Iraqi forces and their allied Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries have become strong enough to head to liberated Kurdish areas

"We now have a strong army and Hashd al-Shaabi that cannot be stopped by any border or embankments as a response to the remarks by some that say they will stay in areas that were liberated recently by the Peshmerga," Solaq said.

The Islamic Supreme Council is headed by the powerful Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakeem, who also heads the Shiite National Alliance with whom the Kurdish parties had very strong relations, in particular during their struggle against the former Iraqi regime, ties which have continued since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Last month, the Kurdish President Masoud Barzani in a joint presser with Hakeem in the newly-liberated Bashiqa town hailed the unprecedented cooperation between the Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga in their war against the ISIS.
Link


Iraq
Baghdad celebrates Quds Day with photos of Iranian ayatollahs
2015-07-12
[RUDAW.NET] Baghdad celebrated Quds Day with hundreds of people coming out to the streets holding photos of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and of deceased Iranian Islamic Theocratic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"The photos of Khomeini and Khamenei that were raised during the Al-Quds Day parade on Friday are used for religious purposes, because those two people are considered religious people and not politicians," Hassan Khallati, the spokesperson of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
Led by Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, formerly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRII, pronounced Scarey)) is not nearly as supreme as it makes out to be. The al-Hakim family business is merely another one of political parties, this one Shiite and with its power base in the south of the country. The Iranian government sponsored the party's creation in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq war after the leading Iraqi Islamist group was weakened by a government crackdown. Designed as an umbrella organization to unite Iraqi Shi'a groups, the party supports Islamic government controlled by holy men. In post-Saddam Iraq ISCI has worked closely with other Shi'a organizations to provide social services and humanitarian aid. Though accused of receiving money and weapons from Iran, ISCI leaders maintain that the party is committed to democracy and peaceful cooperation. The Badr Brigade initially acted as ISCI's armed wing but later to split to form the independent Badr Organization., told Rudaw. "Raising their photos on this day is normal."

"Those who mix this issue with politics aim to create sectarian division and sedition among the Iraqi people," he said.

However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
 not all were pleased with Iranian leaders being featured so prominently in Iraq.

"This is a violation of Iraqi illusory sovereignty, because those two individuals are the supreme leaders in their country," Iraqi MP Khaled Al-Mafraji, the leader of the Coalition of National Forces, told Rudaw.

"Why did they not raise the photos of Iraqi religious leaders instead of Khomeini and Kamenei?" he asked.
Link


Iraq
Hakim, Karim discuss situation in Kirkuk
2015-01-17
[Iraq News] The head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
Led by Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI, formerly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, pronounced Scarey)) is not nearly as supreme as it touts itself. The al-Hakim family business is merely another political party, this one Shiite and with its power base in the south of the country. The Iranian government sponsored the party's creation in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq war after the leading Iraqi Islamist group was weakened by a government crackdown. Designed as an umbrella organization to unite Iraqi Shi'a groups, the party supports Islamic government controlled by holy men. In post-Saddam Iraq ISCI has worked closely with other Shi'a organizations to provide social services and humanitarian aid. Though accused of receiving money and weapons from Iran, ISCI leaders maintain that the party is committed to democracy and peaceful cooperation. The Badr Brigade initially acted as ISCI's armed wing but later to split to form the independent Badr Organization.,
Ammar al-Hakim, discussed with the Governor of Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
 Najim al-Din Karim, the situation in Kirkuk province.

A statement by the SIIC received by IraqiNews.com cited Hakim received Karim at his office in Baghdad where they discussed the situation in Kirkuk province and the situation of the displaced citizens.
Link


Southeast Asia
Moro militants admit alliance with ISIS
2014-08-23
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) confirmed that it has forged an alliance with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. However, BIFM spokesman Abu Misry Mama said they have not sent any of their members to Iraq or Syria to fight alongside ISIS, or even to train there.

Earlier, former president Fidel Ramos said around 100 Filipino Muslims had gone to Iraq and Syria to help ISIS.

Mama said, "There is no truth to the reports that we have sent fighters to Syria and Iraq. We do not need to train there because our training grounds in Mindanao are enough already."

He said members of the BIFM's armed-wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), did not need foreign training, adding, "In fact, there are also no foreigners in our camps to train us because we can train on our own."

While denying the BIFM has sent fighters to Iraq and Syria, Mama said an alliance had indeed been formed between ISIS and BIFM. He said the alliance was finalized through the use of mobile phones and the Internet in July.

He said it was BIFM vice chair for political affairs Sheikh Ismail Abu Bakr and the group's Islamic Supreme Council chair, identified only as Kuti, who formalized the alliance. Mama said, "There was also a time that they directly communicated with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the alliance, we have agreed that we are brothers under the same sky… that if one finger is hurt the entire body will feel the pain."

But Mama said his organization did not financially benefit from the alliance. He said, "If we will ask them for money they might send us millions but we are not asking for any."

Mama said BIFM funds come mostly from "supportive businessmen and politicians".

He said Moro communities also keep the BIFM alive by giving what they could afford. This is not taxation, Mama said, but a "required charity contribution" by the communities to "fund the jihad".

"For example, if you till the soil and you harvest 10 sacks you give one sack to the mujahideens," Mama said.

Reacting to the ISIS beheading, Mama said it must have been strictly guided by Islamic principles. He said, "You cannot just cut hands and heads because you want to. It is being done as part of a judicial process. Your hands will only be cut if you steal and the beheading is only done to those who killed people as a crime."

He said for example, the BIFM had to expel one of its top leaders for the beheading of two civilians in September 2013. Mama said one of those beheaded, 31-year-old Ricarte Dionio, was a policeman — a legitimate target. But he said beheading him was inappropriate and a violation of the rules of the BIFM.

He said this caused then BIFM vice chair for political affairs, Muhammad Ali Tambako, to be expelled from the group. Mama said, "The man was a legitimate target but the beheading was unnecessary. What is worse is that the man was beheaded even if he was dead already."
Link


Iraq
Tater jumps the Maliki ship
2014-07-07
[Iraq Sun] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition should withdraw its support for his third term bid and pick another candidate, urged Shi'ite Moslem holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He's studying to be an ayatollah...
, amid parliamentary deadlock over the formation of a new government.

Maliki has come under mounting pressure since Islamic State murderous Moslem forces of Evil rampaged through the north and west of the country last month and declared a mediaeval-style caliphate on land they and other gangs captured in Iraq and Syria.

In a statement published on his website late on Saturday, Sadr said Maliki "has involved himself and us in long security quarrels and big political crises" and suggested that preventing Maliki from serving a third term would be a "welcome step".

"It is necessary to demonstrate the national and paternal spirit by aiming for a higher, wider goal from individuals and blocs and by that I mean changing the candidates," said Sadr, who gained political influence during the U.S. occupation.

The radical holy man and his political allies had previously advocated the next prime minister be chosen from outside of Maliki's State of Law coalition.

State of Law is part of the National Alliance, a bloc comprising the country's biggest Shi'ite parties, including both Maliki's list and his foes.

"I remain convinced that the brothers in the State of Law coalition must present the candidate for prime minister ... because it is the biggest bloc within the National Alliance," said Sadr.

Dhiya al-Asadi, secretary general of the Al-Ahrar bloc, the Shi'ite political party loyal to Sadr, echoed his stance.

"We are fine with any State of Law candidate as long as he is not Maliki," he told Rooters.

The United States, Iran, the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
, and Iraq's own Shi'ite holy mans have called on Iraqi politicians to overcome their differences to face the insurgency.

As Shi'ite politicians sought a way to end the political deadlock, a video was posted online of the man purporting to be the leader of the murderous Moslem Islamic State praying at a mosque in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, one of the cities the group seized last month.

Maliki's opponents blame his divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
 rule for fueling the political crisis and want him to step aside. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
 he refused on Friday to give up his quest for a third term in power.

The first meeting of Iraqi parliament since its election in April collapsed last week without agreement. Kurds and Sunnis walked out, complaining Shi'ite politicians had not yet determined who they would put forward as premier.

Maliki's main Shi'ite rivals say there is already consensus among the Shi'ite coalition and among the Sunnis and Kurds against his bid for a third term.

"There is a wish by all political blocs except the State of Law ... [for] the change," said Ali Shubber, a leading member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), a Shi'ite party that came second to Maliki's State of Law in the April elections.

"We feel that the change must take place in order to change the political equation."
Link


Great White North
Canadian imam issues fatwa against honor killing
2012-02-05
On Saturday, a senior Muslim leader in Canada ordered an end to honor killings and domestic abuse, saying the Koran does not endorse such violence. Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, issued the fatwa following the convictions in Ontario, this week in the deaths of four Muslim women killed by relatives.

Soharwardy said, "Those who think honor killing is OK are dead wrong.
In contrast with their victims, who are just dead.
There is no place for violence in Islam."

He added that "a very small minority" of Muslims adhere to the concept and "need to be corrected."

Soharwardy said he had been researching the issue for a while but it was the recent murder trial that led him to act. The imam said he and other scholars also want infidels non-Muslims to understand that mysogyny is not sanctioned by Islam.

Soharwardy noted while a fatwa is "not legally binding" it is "morally binding."

It is just the third fatwa Canadian organization has issued in the past decade. The most recent one was in January 2010 when the council said Muslims were not to commit acts of terrorism against Canada or the United States.
Link


Great White North
Imam says Muslims being persecuted like Jews
2011-12-14
A Calgary-based Imam says Muslims are being attacked in the same way Jews were before Hitler ordered their extermination.

Syed Soharwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, says a regulation change requiring Muslim women to remove their niqabs and burkas when swearing the oath to become a Canadian amounts to Muslim bashing.

From intimidating and bad-mouthing the Muslim faith and belittling the Koran and Muslim beliefs, he drew a parallel with the treatment of Jews in Germany.

“Muslims are going through that situation right now that the Jews faced before the Holocaust,” Soharwardy told CFCN TV in Alberta.

“That was going on in Germany before the Holocaust, same thing is happening now about Muslims. So this is absolutely an alarming situation.”

A Queen’s University expert on constitutional law specializing in women’s rights says Kenney is conforming regulations to “his stereotype of the ‘good’ Canadian woman.”

And professor Bev Baines said the changes could violate the Charter.

“The Charter should protect women who wear the niqab when they assert a nexus between their right to gender equality and their right to freedom of religion,” she says.

Shahina Siddiqui, executive director of Winnipeg’s Islamic Social Services Association, said Kenney has pushed the envelope too far.
“People need to pay attention because today it is the niqab, tomorrow we could have a minister who doesn’t like nose rings…Like, where do you draw the line?”

Kenney says the issue is not about religion, and says if Muslim women don’t like the changes they picked the wrong country to call home.

“This decision underscores the essentially public nature of the oath,” he said in the Commons.

“It also underscores our belief in social cohesion and such democratic values as the equality of men and women and our equality before the law.”
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