Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Iraq

Pentagon Report: Iraq’s Security Forces Overrun by Iranian-Backed Militants

2022-02-16

[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Iraq’s security forces are overrun by Iranian-backed Death Eaters, the Pentagon disclosed for the first time publicly in a report indicating Tehran’s anti-American militias have long been cashing in on U.S. taxpayer funds.

"Iran
Iran

...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...
and Iran-aligned militias continue to have strong ties to some elements of Iraq’s traditional security forces," the Pentagon’s inspector general informed Congress in a new report on U.S. military operations in the region. Iraq’s federal police and emergency response division, both overseen by Iraq’s Interior Ministry (MOI), as well as the Iraqi Army’s fifth and eighth divisions "are the units thought to have the greatest Iranian influence." However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
"officers sympathetic to Iranian or militia interests are scattered throughout the security services."

The report marks the first unclassified admission that Iran controls and directs large swaths of Iraq’s security infrastructure, according to current and former U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon. Though Iran’s influence has been an open secret for decades, the Pentagon continued to provide funding to Iraq’s MOI, which is siphoned to the country’s Badr Corps, an Iran-created fighting force that was absorbed into Iraq’s security infrastructure after the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003.

The high-ranking presence of the Badr Corps in Iraq’s security forces has long been a source of concern for Iran hawks in Congress. But the Pentagon’s first public acknowledgment of their power is renewing calls for the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft
...the collection of boodlers, grifters, hangers-on, and self-proclaimed experts affiliated with the Biden Crime Family. Entrusted with an entire nation as the result of a suspicious election, they set about happily implementing stuff they absorbed in college, all of which blew up and splattered the rest of us...
to cut off funds to Iraq’s MOI and designate the Badr Corps as a terrorist group due to its ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"The DoD’s Inspector General report proves what we’ve known for too long—Iraq’s federal police and MOI have been infiltrated by Iranian-backed militias," Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Free Beacon. "President Trump’s [National Security Council] warned of this exact scenario and made efforts to cut off funding. With this report in hand, it’s time Congress finally take action to defund any U.S. support going to Iraq’s MOI and federal police forces. Our U.S. taxpayer dollars have no place in the hands of the Iranian regime."

While the Trump administration privately raised concerns about the Badr Corps and Iran’s growing presence in Iraq’s security forces, it was not able to cut funding due to objections from the Pentagon, according to sources familiar with the matter. Despite their ties to Iran, the Badr Corps and other Iranian militia groups in Iraq are seen as central to the battle against ISIS, a rival terrorist faction.

"It was always surprising that DOD justified paying the MOI given their control by Badr Corps and the IRGC," one former Trump administration official who handled Iran and Iraq policy told the Free Beacon. The official requested anonymity in order to openly discuss the sensitive topic.

With the Biden administration in the final stages of inking a new nuclear accord with Iran, it is unlikely the United States will cut funding to the MOI and Badr Corps.

Matthew Zais, a former senior Trump administration official, acknowledged on Twitter last week that the Trump administration "tried to stop" the Defense Department from giving cash to Iraq’s MOI. These efforts were followed with a bid by the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest GOP caucus in Congress, to stop American funds from reaching Iranian-backed bully boyz in Iraq. In its 2021 budget proposal, the RSC called for defunding Iraq’s MOI due to Iranian infiltration of its ranks.

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Afghanistan

Islamic Emirate Appoints 27 Senior Officials

2021-11-24

[ToloNews] The Islamic Emirate officials said they appointed 27 people in senior positions to ministries as well as to other departments and to the military.

Zabiullah Mujahid, front man for the Islamic Emirate, said these people have been appointed to these positions based on an order by Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
Based on a list which Mujahid posted on Twitter, Mawlawi Shahabuddin Delavar has been selected as the acting minister of mines and petroleum, and Mullah Mohammad Abbas Akhund has been named the acting minister of disaster management.

The following have been appointed:

Mawlawi Shahabuddin Delavar, acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum

Haji Mullah Mohammad Isa Akhund, Deputy Minister of Mines and Petroleum

Mullah Mohammad Abbas Akhund, acting Minister of Disaster Management

Mawlawi Sharafuddin, Deputy Minister of Disaster Management

Mawlawi Enayatullah, Deputy Minister of Disaster Management

Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahed, head of the National Procurement Authority

Sheikh Abdul Rahim, Deputy Director of National Procurement Authority

Mawlawi Qudaratullah Jamal, Head of the Supreme Audit Office

Mawlawi Ezatullah, Deputy Director of the Supreme Audit Office

Mawlawi Mohammad Yusef Mestari, acting Director of Prisons

Mullah Habibullah Fazli, Deputy Director of Prison Affairs

Mawlawi Keramatullah Akhundzadeh, head of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission

Mawlawi Ahmad Taha, Deputy Minister for Borders and Tribal Affairs

Mawlawi Gul Zarrin, head of the Kuchi department in the Ministry of Borders and Tribal Affairs

Sheikh Mawlawi Abdul Hakim, Deputy Minister of Martyrs and the Disabled

Mawlawi Saeed Ahmad Shahidkhel, Deputy Minister of Education

Mawlawi Abdul Rahman Halim, Deputy Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development

Mawlawi Atiqullah Azizi, Deputy Minister of Finance and Administration at the Ministry of Information and Culture

Mullah Faizullah Akhund, Deputy Minister of Youth at the Ministry of Information and Culture

Mawlawi Saifuddin Taieb, Deputy Director of Communications at the administrative office

Mawlawi Fathullah Mansour, head of Kandahar airport

Mohammad Ismail, Executive Commander of the Military Court

Mawlawi Esmatullah Asim, Deputy of Afghan Red Islamic Thingy Society

Mawlawi Rahimullah Mahmoud, Deputy Commander of al-Badr Corps in Kandahar

Mawlawi Abdul Samad, Deputy Commander of the Azm Corps in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
Mullah Nasir Akhund, Deputy Minister of Finance

Mawlawi Arefullah Aref, Deputy Minister of Energy and Water.

Link

Iraq

Iraq Vows to ‘Deter Aggressors’ after Attacks against PMF

2019-08-27

[AAWSAT] The Iraqi president, prime minister and speaker of parliament condemned on Monday the attacks against the Popular Mobilization Forces, saying they were "hostile acts" that target the country.

President Barham Salih hosted Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi and PMF top brass to discuss the developments.

"These attacks are a blatant, hostile act that target Iraq," the presidency said in a statement, adding: "Iraqi illusory sovereignty and the wellbeing of its people are a red line."

It stressed the government would take all necessary steps to "deter aggressors and defend Iraq", but did not threaten a military response.

Among the attendees were PMF chief and national security advisor Faleh Fayyad, the head of the Badr Corps Hadi al-Ameri and the premier's chief of staff Mohammed al-Hashimi.

A string of incidents at PMF bases began in mid-July, when an Iraqi fighter was killed and two Iranians were maimed in shelling on a base in Iraq's Amerli region by "an unidentified drone," according to a statement by the Iraqi joint operations command.

On Sunday, an attack struck a position held by Brigade 45, a PMF unit based near Iraq's desertic western border with Syria, killing one fighter and severely wounding a second.

The Iraqi government has investigated some of the incidents, blaming an unidentified drone for one and saying another was a "premeditated" act without accusing any side or publishing the probes' full results.

Iraq's military front man Yehya Rasool told AFP on Monday the government had launched a new investigation into Sunday's attack.

Asked what diplomatic action Iraq could take, the foreign ministry told AFP it would wait for official conclusions before resorting to the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
.

Link

Iraq

Iraq wants Shia militias as ‘indivisible’ part of army by July 31, militia headquarters closed, Tater withdraws

2019-07-02

[PRESSTV] Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has issued a decree that further integrates the Popular Mobilization Forces, which have proven a decisive force in Baghdad’s counter-terrorism operations, into the country's armed forces.

"In the interest of the public good and as per the powers granted to us by the constitution...the following is decreed: All Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) are to operate as an indivisible part of the armed forces and be subject to the same regulations," read the decree, which was issued on Monday, AFP reported.

The fighters, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, joined forces with the military in 2014 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...
terror group of ISIS launched a campaign of bloodshed and destruction against the nation.

They effectively contributed to the country’s anti-terror struggle, especially in liberation of ISIS-held areas lying to the south, northeast, and north of the capital. The combined push -- reinforced by Iraq’s allies, including Iran, which has been lending military advisory support to the Iraqi military -- led to ISIS’s expulsion in late 2017.

This prompted Abdul Mahdi’s predecessor Haider al-Abadi to order the PMU’s formal inclusion in the Arab country's security forces last March. That order granted the PMU many of the same rights as members of the military.

Rudaw adds:

A July 31 deadline has been set for all Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) paramilitaries to integrate into the Iraqi army, said the Iraqi Prime Minister in a statement on Monday, reining them in to centralized control.

Formally incorporated into Iraq’s armed forces back in 2016 following a parliament bill, the forces will work under the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi armed forces - the Prime Minister - and Falih Fayadh, current National Security advisor and head of the Hashd al-Shaabi Commission, an authority to oversee the groups who was appointed by the PM.

The almost entirely Shiite PMF paramilitaries were formed in 2014 based on a fatwa (religious decree) by Ayatollah Sistani, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, as Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) began looming uncomfortably close to Baghdad.

While many of the PMFs soldiers are individuals who responded to the threat of ISIS, many had fought against US forces during its occupation of Iraq, while some received Iranian training and funding.

Each paramilitary group has its own name, with the most known among them including Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Badr Corps, and Hezbollah Iraq.

"All other names under which the factions of Hashd al-Shaabi operated during the heroic battles that eradicated the ISIS terrorist entity will be abandoned and replaced with military terms (division, brigade, regiment, et cetera)," said the decree, while PMF members will also adopt military rankings.

Implementation of the decree looks less than certain, though, considering the extensive political influence of PMF groups.

In Iraq’s May 12, 2018 elections, a newly-formed coalition, named the Fath Alliance, won the second highest number of seats in the Iraqi parliament. The Alliance was composed of parties who each possessed their own PMF faction. Abdul-Mahdi’s decree seeks to sever these political ties "on an individual or organizational level."

With PMF soldiers training in centralized Iraqi military barracks, bases belonging to any faction of the PMF will be shut down, while all checkpoints, "economic offices" or interests outside the "new working framework" will be closed, the PM added.

Forces who choose not to integrate may "transform" into a political party, but they will not be allowed to carry weapons for any reason other than the protection of its offices, according to the decree.

Abdul-Mahdi has been under pressure to curb the actions of Iran-affiliated groups after a spate of rocket attacks against US military and economic targets in Iraq, with attacks carried out on ExxonMobil’s Basra headquarters and military camps where US troops are stationed, as well as a near-miss attack against the US embassy in Baghdad. Additionally, a May 14 attack on US ally Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
’s oil infrastructure, attributed to Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s, is suspected by US officials to have been launched from Iraq.

The attacks have largely been attributed to PMF factions, some of whom have expressed support for Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
as tensions between it and the US rise.

Iraqi #PM orders to close all headquarters of Armed #militias in #Iraq
[TWITTER]

#BreakingNews | #Iraqi #PM orders to close all headquarters of Armed #militias in #Iraq - Reuters#Baghdadpost pic.twitter.com/xPqAVrmuuK
— The Baghdad Post (@BaghdadPostPlus) July 1, 2019

Al Sadr announces his withdrawal from Saraya Al Salam #militias
[TWITTER]

#BreakingNews | #Sadrist Movement Leader #Muqtada Al Sadr announces his wuithdrawl from Saraya Al Salam #militias, directs to immediately close all its #HQs #Baghdadpost pic.twitter.com/MSrvZ0r2LN
— The Baghdad Post (@BaghdadPostPlus) July 1, 2019

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Irans Shifting Strategy

2008-05-15

This goes with the article just below -- Pity Lebanons Shia Community

By NIBRAS KAZIMI May 12, 2008

The healing in Iraq and the deterioration in Lebanon are not unrelated. In fact, Iraq will serve as both cause and effect to Lebanons misfortunes. Iran, eclipsed in Sadr City, had decided to allow its sectarian acolytes to put on a show of strength in Beirut. And the jihadists of Al Qaedas ilk, soon to be eclipsed in Mosul, will migrate to Beirut to meet Irans challenge.

Five years ago, there was a hope that held Iraq as a would-be beacon for democracy throughout the Middle East, but that vision had too many determined enemies both inside and outside Iraq. Yet as the situation there darkened through the actions of these regressive forces, the spontaneous outpouring of liberty demonstrated by the Lebanese people seemed to validate the notion that democracy and liberty would take in the region, and that the hope for what Iraq may portend was not misplaced. But the Cedar Revolution, as the March 2005 events of Beirut are remembered, also had too many internal and external enemies determined to spoil the elation.

Two countries that were dead-set against Iraq succeeding were Syria and Iran. These are also the two countries most responsible for fomenting political paralysis and chaos in Lebanon.

In Iraq, the Iranians and the Syrians began a joint-partnership aimed at harnessing the disruptive energies of the Mahdi Army as a weapon by which to retaliate against America should either of them get attacked, as well as acting as a force keeping Iraq in a state of permanent disorder.

Syrias influence on the Sadrist movement from which the Mahdi Army springs is often overlooked: Damascus was a refuge for many prominent Sadrists during the latter years of Saddam Husseins tyranny, and the Syrian Baathists brokered the initial rapprochement between the Sadrist old guard and Iran. Many of these Sadrist apparatchiks were openly hostile to the Iranians and Irans preferred acolytes in Iraq such as the Hakim family, long-standing rivals of the Muqtada al-Sadrs father, the man who founded the Sadrist movement. Actually, many of them continue secretly to believe that Saddams regime had nothing to do with their leaders murder in early 1999 and lay the blame solely on the Hakims and Iran.

However, after the first major confrontation between the Sadrists and American troops in the spring of 2004, the Iranians saw potential in Sadrs thugs at around the same time as they were becoming increasingly disappointed with the Badr Corps, the Iranian-trained militia under the leadership of the Hakim family. The Hakims had become too invested in, and integrated within, the Iraqi state their revenues from contracts and trade earned inside Iraq exceeded the overall budget of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which had funded them previously and could not be counted on to act as Irans agents of disorder. Whereas the Hakim turned independent as they didnt need Iran anymore, the Sadrists were desperate for arms and training, and Iran was more than willing to accommodate them with the Syrians acting as go-betweens.

It was in this vein that the first batch of Iranian-administered training was supposed to take place in Damascus during November 2004. It was geared towards turning ten of the top Mahdi Army field commanders into the security chiefs of a parallel intelligence agency working on behalf of the Iranians. The seminar did not take place on time, and it is unclear whether it ever subsequently took place in Damascus.

But other training, on security matters and terrorism, did take place in a camp near Tehran, according to captured Mahdi Army commanders in Iraq, and it was administered by instructors from Lebanese Hezbollah. It should also be noted that the political channel through which the Syrian leadership maintains its relationship with Hezbollah primarily through General Muhammad Nassif, ostensibly the Syrian prime ministers deputy on security matters is the very same channel through which the Syrians communicate with the Sadrists.

Thus, the Iranians and the Syrians were hoping to turn the rag-tag elements of the Mahdi Army into an Iraqi version of Hezbollah, with both a political wing represented by Mr. Sadr and a military wing that they called the majamee alkhasa, or Special Groups, a name chosen in Tehran and not a technical term invented by American commanders as so many Iraq-watchers seem to think.

And boy, was that a mistake: the Mahdi Army as a whole and the Special Groups in particular have collapsed after seven weeks of fighting against a confident and capable Iraqi Army that was bolstered by American air cover and logistical support. On Thursday, the Sadrists effectively offered their surrender to Prime Minister Maliki, who had earlier put them on notice that he would smash into their redoubts, especially Baghdads slum of Sadr City, if they continued to act as saboteurs. Mr. Maliki was prepared to go all the away, including displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sadr City and arresting Sadrist parliamentarians.

Iran had lost and the leaders in Tehran needed to save face fast. Iran needed to show that it could create mischief around the region for that has always been one of Tehrans strategic strengths. That is why they pushed Hezbollah to overreact when given a juicy provocation by the American-backed cabinet of Fouad al-Siniora. The Lebanese government has done and said many provocative things in the past but Hezbollah chose this particular provocation to throw a theatric and violent tantrum.

The situation in Lebanon is immensely complex and there are too many factors to list as to why it had been so messy, yet it was a manageable mess that never seemed to boil over that is, until Hezbollah decided to rampage through Beirut and humiliate the Siniora government and the March 14 coalition that supports it; showing them up as weak and feckless, and in turn embarrassing America and Saudi Arabia for being unable to do anything to help their allies. This was no coup or deft move aimed at breaking the political stalemate: Iran was simply flexing its muscles in Beirut through Hezbollah because Irans other pawns were shown-up as feckless and weak in Sadr City.

That too was a major mistake. The Iranians and the Syrians may have concluded that they have passed the worst of the Sunni-Shia tensions that were roiling the Middle East over the last couple of years. In particular, the ruling Alawites of Syria, a Shia-offshoot minority, were worried about internal fall-out should the majority Sunni Syrians get exposed to headlines blaring sectarians strife in Lebanon next door. However, recent polling from the Middle East seemed to indicate that being virulently anti-American and anti-Israeli was enough to offset the stigma of being a Shia or an Alawite among Sunni audiences, and this may have emboldened the Syrians to go along with Irans plan.

But there was no escaping the potent imagery of armed Shia gangsters, under orders from Hezbollah and its affiliates, seemingly emasculating Beiruts Sunnis and wounding their pride, especially given the rising sectarian temperatures in Lebanon that had never abated. Suddenly, the Sunnis of Lebanon felt exposed and no longer able to trust their established communal leaders, such as the Hariri family, to protect them. That is why they may look elsewhere for muscle, and thats why jihadist internet forums have lighted up with giddy expectations of taking the jihad against the Shias from the streets of Baghdad to the streets of Beirut.

Mr. Maliki has just ordered the launch of a much-anticipated military campaign to rid Mosul, Iraqs third largest city, of whatever significant vestige of Al Qaedas remaining in Iraq. The inevitable jihadist collapse there will push more and more jihadists to re-establish their efforts elsewhere, and nowhere looks more promising than Lebanon.

Mr. Kazimi is a contributing editor to The New York Sun.

Link

Iraq

U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia

2008-03-28

U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the area as American troops took the lead in the fighting.

Four U.S. Stryker armored vehicles were seen in Sadr City by a Washington Post correspondent, one of them engaging Mahdi Army militiamen with heavy fire. The din of American weapons, along with the Mahdi Army's AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, was heard through much of the day. U.S. helicopters and drones buzzed overhead.

The clashes suggested that American forces were being drawn more deeply into a broad offensive that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, launched in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, saying death squads, criminal gangs and rogue militias were the targets. The Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite rival of Maliki, appeared to have taken the brunt of the attacks; fighting spread to many southern cities and parts of Baghdad.

As President Bush told an Ohio audience that Iraq was returning to "normalcy," administration officials in Washington held meetings to assess what appeared to be a rapidly deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country.

Maliki decided to launch the offensive without consulting his U.S. allies, according to administration officials. With little U.S. presence in the south, and British forces in Basra confined to an air base outside the city, one administration official said that "we can't quite decipher" what is going on. It's a question, he said, of "who's got the best conspiracy" theory about why Maliki decided to act now.

In Basra, three rival Shiite groups have been trying to position themselves, sometimes through force of arms, to dominate recently approved provincial elections.

The U.S. officials, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said that they believe Iran has provided assistance in the past to all three groups -- the Mahdi Army; the Badr Organization of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Iraq's largest Shiite party; and forces loyal to the Fadhila Party, which holds the Basra governor's seat. But the officials see the current conflict as a purely internal Iraqi dispute.

Some officials have concluded that Maliki himself is firing "the first salvo in upcoming elections," the administration official said.

"His dog in that fight is that he is basically allied with the Badr Corps" against forces loyal to Sadr, the official said. "It's not a pretty picture."

Elements of Sadr's militia have fought fiercely, including rocketing the Green Zone, the huge fortified compound in Baghdad where the U.S. Embassy, Iraqi government offices and international agencies are located.

Starting about 5:25 p.m., the Post reporter heard the launch of 14 rockets, which Mahdi Army officers in the area said were aimed at the Green Zone. U.S. officials reported that 12 rounds hit the zone in that time frame, including six that fell inside the embassy compound. An American civilian contractor was killed in a residential area of the embassy compound, while another death was reported in the zone's U.N. compound.

Several Mahdi Army commanders said they had been fighting U.S. forces for the past three days in Sadr City, engaging Humvees as well as the Strykers. By their account, an Iraqi special forces unit had entered Sadr City from another direction, backed by Americans, but otherwise the fighting had not been with Iraqis.

"If there were no Americans, there would be no fighting," said Abu Mustafa al-Thahabi, 38, a senior Mahdi Army member.

In August, Sadr ordered his militia to observe a cease-fire, a move widely credited with helping to reduce violence across Iraq. In recent days, Sadr officials have said the cease-fire remains in force. But in practice, his fighters and Iraqi and U.S. forces are waging full-scale war in places. Further fighting with his men could slow U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq.

American commanders said in recent days that their units were taking only a backup role in the offensive and that Iraqi forces were growing strong enough to shoulder the country's security needs.

Maj. Mark Cheadle, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said he could not make an accurate assessment of what the Post reporter saw without knowing the precise location. He underlined that U.S. troops were playing a backup role in the offensive but that on a battlefield that is "360 degrees," it might seem at times that they were out front. If an Iraqi unit was about to be overwhelmed by an enemy, "of course we are going to assist."

On Thursday, thousands of followers of Sadr turned out for a peaceful demonstration in Baghdad. Iraqi television channels carried crowd scenes in which people carried a coffin draped in flags and decorated with a portrait of Maliki. They denounced him as a "new dictator" and chanted: "Maliki keep your hands off. People do not want you."

Gunmen wearing police commando uniforms stormed the Baghdad home of a well-known member of Maliki's government, Tahseen al-Sheikhli, and took him hostage, according to the Information Ministry. Sheikhli is a chief spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, in charge of building public support for government efforts to quell violence in the city.

As fighting continued in Basra, saboteurs blew up one of the city's main oil pipelines. Gunmen opened fire on the city's police chief, wounding him and killing three of his bodyguards.

Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Mohammad, director of military operations at Iraq's Defense Ministry, said the Basra operation would continue until security forces captured the outlaws or wiped them out. He said the Iraqi military planned to seal and search every neighborhood to capture suspected criminals and confiscate weapons.

But an adviser to Iraqi security forces, who had predicted that the fight in Basra would take 10 days, said it could go on much longer. He also said Iraqi forces were calling on U.S. and British forces for help. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he said he was not authorized to speak with reporters.

"I think the government can't win this battle without interference of Americans or British," he said. "I think the aid or assistance is on the way." In his view, the Iraqi military needed air coverage and help with logistics and intelligence.

The fighters "are opening many, many fronts against the army," he said. The adviser said the militia's weapons, some of them made in Iran, are more powerful than those of the Iraqi army.

So far, casualties in Basra on all sides have totaled about 400 killed and 300 wounded, he said.

Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman, said Iraqi security forces were "consolidating their current positions" and preparing for the next stage of the offensive. They were cordoning off areas and trying to gain control of the city "bite-size chunk by bite-size chunk."

Residents in Basra said they observed Mahdi Army militiamen gathering in their neighborhood stronghold of Jumhuriyah, assembling men and weapons while dodging gunfire from Iraqi army snipers at intersections.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Dissident: Iran Is Training Iraqis

2007-03-21

Iraqi insurgents, guerrilla fighters and death squads are being trained in secret camps in Iran with the blessing of top Tehran leaders and at least three senior Iraqi political figures, an Iranian opposition figure said Tuesday. Would-be Iraqi fighters are smuggled into Iran, schooled in everything from sniper techniques to explosive devices and sent back to Iraq to wage war on U.S.-led coalition forces, Alireza Jafarzadeh said at a news conference.

"The Iranian regime is secretly engaged in the organization and training of large Iraqi terrorist networks in Iran to heighten insecurity and instability and force the coalition forces to leave Iraq, which would in turn pave the way for establishment of an Islamic republic in Iraq," Jafarzadeh said. He has worked for the political wing of the Mujahedin Khalq, an Iranian opposition group that Washington and the European Union list as a terrorist organization.

Jafarzadeh, who heads the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting think tank, is credited with having aired Iranian military secrets in the past. The group claims to obtain its information from a network of resistance informants inside the country. But U.S. officials considered some of Jafarzadeh's past assertions inaccurate.

There was no independent confirmation of the latest information. The U.S. Mission to the United Nations had no immediate comment. "His statement today is a public announcement that this group has been the source of allegations which U.S. officials are making about Iranian intervention in Iraq," said Mohammad Mir Ali Mohammadi, a spokesman for Iran's U.N. Mission.

Jafarzadeh said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are closely connected to the training. He said Abu Ahmad Al-Ramisi, governor of southern Iraq's Al-Muthanna province, and two members of Iraq's National Assembly are also involved. He identified one as Hadi Al-Ameri, who he said is chairman of the legislature's security committee and head of the Badr Corps, the Iran-based military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The other is an assembly member known in Iraq as Abu Mehdi Mohandas, he said.

Jafarzadeh displayed maps and satellite photos showing some of the purported camps' locations, including two near the former shah's palace in Tehran, one south of that city in Jalil Abad and another at the Bahonar base in Karaj. Other camps, he said, are in Qom, in Isfahan and in Iraq-Iran border areas near Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Ilam and Khuzestan. The camps are run by several top commanders of the Qods Force, the most highly trained branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, with some Hezbollah members from Lebanon also taking part, he said.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Missing Iranian generals family suspects Israel

2007-03-12

The family of Ali Reza Asgari, the Iranian general and former deputy defense minister who disappeared from Turkey last month, snubbed recent newspaper reports claiming he defected to the West and insisted instead that he was kidnapped by foreign agents. His wife Ziba Asgari, 46, contended Western reports that Asgari was a spy and smuggled his family out of Iran prior to his escape. We are here. Those are mere rumors being spread by the enemies, she said. His 20-year-old daughter Alham told journalists she was certain Israel or the United States kidnapped him, as they are Irans main enemies. My father worked hard for the regime and he had many enemies due to his position, she was quoted by Fars, the Iranian news agency.

According to the Fars report, Asgaris wife, two daughters, son and brother arrived at the Turkish embassy in Tehran Monday seeking information on his whereabouts and met with Deputy Ambassador Dorim Ozturk. Asgaris brother demanded answers from the Turkish representatives, who noted that the matter was being examined and vowed to help as much as they could. We tried to check for ourselves if there was any new news. Were very concerned. I really miss my father, Alham told reporters.

Ziba, 46, said the since her husband retired from military positions, he was an olive and olive oil merchant in Syria . She said the family had last been in contact with him in December. On December 7, she said, Asgari traveled from Damascus to Istanbul and checked into a hotel. Two days later, they lost contact with him. We were in touch with him until Friday, December 8, but on Saturday, we lost contact. His cell phone was turned off and we started to be concerned, Ziba said.

She rejected outright various reports that her husband defected to the West after smuggling his family to a safe place. He had no problems in Iran that would make him want to escape. Someone seeking refuge takes his family with him, she said.

Unless he's already got himself a sweet young thing..

On Sunday the British newspaper The Sunday Times reported that Asgari had been spying on Iran since 2003 when he was recruited on an overseas business trip.
Asgari, 63, was apparently at a NATO base in Germany undergoing a debriefing, the report said. According to the Times, a daring getaway via Damascus was organized by western intelligence agencies after it became clear that his cover was about to be blown. Irans notorious secret service, the Vavak, is believed to have suspected that he was a high-level mole, the report said.

London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Friday that upon his disappearance Asgari was carrying documents and maps that shed light on Irans military and the Revolutionary Guards' links to Hizbullah , Islamic Jihad, the Mahadi Army and the Badr Corps (military forces of The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq).

Last week an official American intelligence source told the Washington Post that Israel had orchestrated Asgaris defection to the West and that he was was cooperating with his questioners and divulging classified information on Iran.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iranian general defected with classified documents

2007-03-09

Former Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Ali Rez Asgari left Turkey for an undisclosed location in Europe with a false passport with the help of Western officials, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Friday. A former colleague told the newspaper that Asgari took with him documents and maps that shed light on Irans military and the Revolutionary Guards' links to Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, the Mahadi Army and the Badr Corps (military forces of The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq).

For this, he gets the really good guest house....

The Iranian source said Asgari was also in possession of documents related to Irans ballistic missiles project and was privy to confidential information regarding the Islamic Republics plan in case of a conflict with the US.

....with 24 hour room service.

A senior American official said on Thursday that Asgari is providing Western intelligence agencies with information on Hizbullah and Iran's ties to the organization.

Saudi newspaper Al-Watan recently reported the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are instilling changes in the defense systems protecting the countrys nuclear reactors for fear that Israeli and US intelligence agencies are now in possession of specific information that may threaten the facilities.

According to Asharq al-Awsat, Asgari informed an American official of his desire to defect a few weeks in advance, after which he was quickly transferred to a safe house in Turkey and given a false passport.

Link

Iraq

Amara, Iraq and 1929 Chicago, Illinois, USA

2006-10-21

Analysis by Bobby

On October 20, the media reported insurgents had taken over police stations in Amara in Iraq, showing the police were no better than two years ago and the insurgents were, shall we say, resurging.

End of sound bite.

Fact: It was not al-Qaeda, not insurgents, not even the usual sectarian violence, just a simple gang war for local power.

Cant tell the players without a scorecard:

Mahdi Army is Shi'ite - Badr Corps is Shiite

Mahdi Army is loyal to al-Sadr - Badr Corps is loyal to SCIRI

Mahdi Army is nationalist - Badr Corps is trained in Iran

Mahdi Army is a militia - Badr Corps controls the police department

Mahdi Army dominates the region - Badr Corps control the police department

The play:

1. The Madhi Army assassinated a police official, trying to assert their power
2. The police and/or the Badr Corps kidnapped and/or arrested five guys, including a brother of Madi Army bigshot
3. The Mahdi army retaliated by attacking the police/Badr Corps in the police stations
4. News media stringers show up, film at 11.
5. Media reports hopeless quagmire
6. Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki sends in the Army, and the violence stops.
note that today (10/21), according to the Jerusalem Post, Iraq's main Sunni Arab party on Saturday strongly backed a fledgling agreement between Sunni and Shi'ite religious figures aimed at ending sectarian bloodletting. Maybe a positive outcome from yesterday's violence?

(A much longer, more detailed discussion of events, which is the basis for the above summary, is reprinted in the footnote below, for those with a longer attention span.)

So whats the point? A little perspective:

The St. Valentine's Day massacre is the name given to the shooting of seven people as part of a Prohibition Era conflict between two powerful criminal gangs in Chicago, Illinois in the winter of 1929: the South Side Italian gang led by Al "Scarface" Capone and the North Side Irish/German gang led by George 'Bugs' Moran.

On the morning of Thursday, February 14, St. Valentine's Day, seven members of Moran's gang were lined up against the rear inside wall of the garage of the S-M-C Cartage Company in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago's North Side. They were then shot and killed by five members of Al Capone's gang (two of whom were dressed as police officers).

The massacre marked the end of Moran's power on the North Side, and his gang vanished into obscurity, enabling Capone to take over the area; however, the event also brought the belated and full attention of the federal government to Capone and his criminal activities. This was ultimately Capone's downfall, for it led to his conviction and imprisonment on the Volstead Act and income tax evasion charges in 1931.

Did the press say the Chicago police were no good, and that the City of Chicago was hopeless and should be abandoned to the gangsters? I imagine some folks thought that.

Did the press call for a new President of the United States because of a gang war in Chicago? I doubt it, although President Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was replaced by Herbert Hoover less than three weeks after the Massacre on March 4, 1929.

It was Inauguration Day; Hoover had been elected President in November, 1928.

Again, you ask: Whats the point?

The press is reporting inaccurately (see the footnote) and does not give any background. The press thinks every story is about the failure of something and is not interested in anything more complex, especially on the evening news.

Saddam controlled this sort of activity by crushing one or both sides. Remember he drained thousands of square miles of marsh to punish the Marsh Arabs. Even such an enormous environmental catastrophe as that was not well reported. I read about it in Civil Engineering Magazine, in an article written by an Iraqi civil engineer who fled the country in 1991. There were no doubt other atrocities that were not reported at all, in this country.

With Saddam in the slammer, Pandoras Box has been opened, just like in Yugoslavia after strongman Tito died. The violence in Iraq pales compared to the genocide in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, and there are still thousands of NATO troops in the region.

The point: The war in Iraq is not lost just because the press only reports failures. A bit of balance:

The US State Department reports weekly to Congress on the war. (See the whole report at - http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/74934.pdf Earlier weeks are available, too.) This week they reported a total of 312,000 Iraqi police and army have been trained and equipped. The Iraqi Army has taken total control of Ramadi, the so-called Hotbed of the Insurgency. The insurgents tested them a few days later with a complex, three-pronged attack. The Army repelled the attack with no losses.

The average Baghdad resident gets 6 hours of electricity a day; for the rest of the country, it is 12 hours a day not good, but better than last year. Oil production hovers quite close to the Iraqi Ministrys goal of 2.5 million barrels a day, and Iraq is exporting about half that.

The real point: Slanted, short-sighted, stupid press coverage really makes me angry.

Footnote:
From the leftist Juan Cole:

..Amara is the capital of Maysan province (pop. 770,000). Maysan province in general and Amara in particular support the nationalist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Maysan and its capital are among the places to which the Marsh Arabs were displaced when their swamps were dried up by Saddam in retribution for the uprising in 1991, and they are often desperately poor and very tribal, and they seem to have joined the Sadr Movement en masse during the past 3 years.

When the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) controlled the Interior Ministry in 2005 and until May, 2006, it used the ministry's national oversight of local police forces to infiltrate members of SCIRI's paramilitary, the Badr Corps, into the Amara police force. There is a bubbling low-level feud between the Sadrists in Maysan and the SCIRI police.

So recently the Mahdi Army assassinated Qasim al-Tamimi, a police official who was also a member of the Badr Corps. The Badr Corps was formed in Iran and trained by the Revolutionary Guards, and is viewed by many in the Iraqi-nationalist Mahdi Army as the tool of a foreign power.

Then the police arrested or abducted (when militia are in police, how could you tell?) 5 men, including the brother of a Mahdi Army leader in Amara.

Then protests escalated into fighting, and the Mahdi Army took over several police stations and killed or wounded dozens of police/ Badr Corps militiamen.

The Western press is mostly reporting this story backwards, as a pro-Iranian Sadr Movement taking over Amara. In fact, the Sadr Movement already dominated Amara politically, but the (Iranian-trained) Badr Corps had this unnatural niche in the police. It was Badr that had "taken over" the security forces in a largely Sadrist city. The Mahdi Army was attempting to align local politics with local power.

Muqtada al-Sadr, the young spiritual leader of the Sadr Movement and the Mahdi Army, demanded that his men stop fighting and said that he washed his hands of anyone who disobeyed his orders, according to Aljazeera.

Link

Iraq

Al-Qaeda's Omar Corps formed to fight Badr Corps

2006-05-10

In April 2006, credible representatives of mujahideen fighting in Iraq released a new audiotape recorded by an individual identifying himself as Abu Anas al-Maqdisi (likely of Palestinian origin). According to the tape, this production took place somewhere inside Iraq after overcoming tight security measures We were able to meet with dear brother Abu Ali al-Sharqi and brother Abu Abdullah al-Shamali who agreed to give us this rare opportunity to talk to them, because they are very busy in conducting and overseeing the different military operations executed against the enemies of Allah. Abu Ali al-Sharqi is further identified as the commander of a fighting unit based in the Iraqi city of Al-Qaim and, furthermore, a co-founder of Al-Qaidas notorious Omar Corps which, according to the tape, was responsible for destroying the [Shiite] Badr Corps in Baghdad and assassinating its leaders.

Some highlights from the interview:

- "The death [of Saudi Al-Qaida leader Abdallah al-Rashood] is a major loss for us. I remember that that day was when the American forces initiated a massive attack in the Karabilah area... In the morning after the attack, we were informed that Abdallah al-Rashood, Abu al-Ghadiyah al-Suri [from Syria], and Abu al-Laith were killed in the bombing. When we reached the area, we saw Abdallah al-Rashood smiling with his index finger pointing and the scent of musk in the air..."

- "We get nervous when we use modern advanced weapons and we feel much more confident using old shotguns and RPG launchers... Every time we were faced with hard times in one city, we were counting successes in other places. When we had hard times in Al-Qaim, then in Baghdad or Samarra things would be working to our benefit, praise be to Allah for his blessing. Your al-Tawheed brothers are spread out everywhere, and we should not forget to mention our Ansar brothers [native Iraqi recruits] who assisted us and have led some of the major operations... Those who failed to adopt this path are the biggest losers. Before I joined the path of jihad, I used to care about driving the nicest cars and wearing the most beautiful clothingbut now, you see your fighting brothers caring less about such things. They care about having their weapons ready, praying, serving each other (both locals and foreigners), and purchasing big trucks (common among the martyr brothers). Our most precious possession is our weapon. Our intention is to obey Allah and attack the enemies of Allah. Our wish is to die in the cause of Allah when the time comes without any hesitation.

Link

Iraq

Former CPA advisor sez militias need to go

2006-05-02

While the formation of a new Iraqi government is one necessary condition to avert a civil war there, another is for the US and Iraqi governments to get control of the Shiite militias that American forces have been reluctant to fight.

American commanders have said that if a Sunni-Shiite civil war erupts in Iraq, they will look to Iraqi security forces to deal with it. Unfortunately, Iraqi security forces have become increasingly Shiite and, in the case of the police, infiltrated by Shiite militias.

As a result, the US position is tantamount to letting the Iraqis slug it out. That raises a question about the point of keeping a large US force in Iraq. But the alternative of putting American troops in the middle of a civil war would be even worse.

This predicament stems from two mistakes made after the Iraqis assumed sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in 2004. First, the American and Iraqi governments failed to implement the ban on militias negotiated by the CPA and enacted as Iraqi law - even though all militias except the Mahdi Army of the renegade Shiite Muqtada al Sadr agreed to the ban. Second, the Ministry of Interior, which controls Iraq's police, was allowed to fall into the hands of another Shiite militia, the Badr Corps.

Even as it combats the Sunni insurgency, the US should use whatever clout it has left in Iraq to get control of the Shiite militias. Though a long shot, the only path may be to revive and finally implement the 2004 ban on militias. The terms of that deal are:

1. Provide job training and placement for militia fighters willing to lay down their arms. Many militiamen probably would welcome such an opportunity at a time when jobs are scarce. The US and Iraqi governments should mount a large-scale program to give individuals an alternative to becoming fighters in a civil war and instead train them to do the construction work needed to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated housing and ruined infrastructure. The cost would be trivial compared with the enormous bill of a sectarian war. Europeans and others could be asked to help fund this worthy cause.

2. Permit militia fighters to join Iraq's security forces as individuals, but not in groups with their command chains still intact. This was the original intention. It means that the Ministry of Interior, as well as the Ministry of Defense, must be taken out of the hands of parties and politicians who want their militias to dominate Iraq's security forces. The US and new Iraqi governments now appear determined to place these "power ministries" under capable nonpartisan ministers.

3. Enforce the disbanding of what is left of the militias after individuals enter job training or Iraqi security services. The 2004 law states that any political party retaining a militia - such as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq that controls the Badr Corps - should be excluded from politics, instead of being rewarded with high office. Beyond that, US and Iraqi forces must be prepared forcibly to disarm any militias that remain active. Because the Iraqi police have already been largely compromised, this means that the Iraqi Army and the US military must act jointly. The alternative is to let Shiite militias flout the law and escalate sectarian violence - just what Sunni extremists such as Al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi want.

The more successful the first two measures, the easier it will be to rid Iraq of remaining militias. Conversely, the first two measures will not work without a credible threat to disband the militias.

The Kurds also have militias and must also obey the law. But Iraqi law allows most of these fighters to become official forces of the Kurdish Regional Government.

Neither the new Iraqi government nor the US can dissolve the militias by itself. This must be done in partnership and as the first order of business. The danger is that the new Iraqi government could be dominated by the very Shiite parties that control militias. However, early signs are that Prime Minister Jawad al-Maliki will not let this happen.

Now that Iraqis have created a new government, they and the US may be able to avert civil war if, perhaps only if, they implement and enforce the militia law. If they do not, keeping US troops in Iraq will get harder and harder to defend.

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