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Iraq

'US to surrender Iraq to extremists'

2010-01-25

An Iraqi parliamentarian warns of alleged US plans to surrender the country to extremists, urging resistance on the part of Baghdad. The Iraqi Press Agency (IPA) quoted female Shia lawmaker Maha al-Douri as saying that the United States aims to cede the country to Baath, the outlawed party of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and Takfiris -- both considered to be extremist groups. Al-Douri, which serves the parliamentarian bloc associated with senior Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, said a recent visit by US Vice President Joe Biden had been in line with the plans. Biden met with the Iraqi leadership on Saturday after the country's Justice and Accountability Commission barred more than 500 candidates from contesting the country's eagerly-anticipated parliamentary elections on March 7, linking some of the questionable figures to the Baath party. The visit, some say, was aimed at reversing the decision The IPA called Biden an advocate of Iraq's disintegration into three federal states along ethnic and religious lines, the US 2003 invasion of the country and 2001 occupation of Afghanistan. Two of the candidates barred by the commission were Dhafer al-Ani and Saleh al-Mutlaq, who reportedly had strong Baathist orientations. Al-Ani prompted concerns after he lavished praise on the Baath in several television interviews. Iraq's President Jalal Talabani subsequently ordered for al-Ani to be stripped of his immunity as the chairperson of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc and that he be tried in a court of law. Al-Douri said Iraq should not bow to US demands as submission equaled ignoring the country's sovereignty and violating the Iraqis' civil rights. Meanwhile, a new classified document, obtained by some Iraqi parties from the Baath leaders based at home or abroad, says that the Baath is after staging a comeback on the political stage through a coup. The subversive plan is to be implemented in cooperation with some Arab states and coordination with a number of current Iraqi political heavyweights, it added The document has named some famous Iraqi political figures, specially Allaw and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi as advocates of a Baathist return, claiming the two are secretly contacting the Baath leaders and the Arab countries disappointed by the current political trend in Iraq. It also referred to secret liaison between some Baath leaders and American officers without giving details.

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Iraq

Iraq unveils results of prison abuse investigation

2009-06-17

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s interior minister said Tuesday more than 40 police officers face charges after an investigation into prison abuse found inmates incarcerated without warrants and others with their rights violated. Jawad al-Bolani’s announcement came as the government tried to contain a scandal over charges of widespread torture in Iraqi prisons, which is threatening to become a major issue ahead of Jan. 30 national elections. He spoke during a tour of one of the most notorious prisons in eastern Baghdad, where prisoners were packed by the dozens into small cells with clothes hung on the wall to dry and pillows on the floor. Politicians loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — whose followers were rounded up in droves last year as part of a crackdown against militia fighters — kept up their pressure on the government over prison conditions. Sadrist lawmaker Ali al-Miyali told reporters Tuesday that torture has been used to extract confessions in a prison in the southern city of Diwaniyah and other facilities. He also alleged that inmates have been detained on false accusations from politically motivated informants and some families have been forced to bribe “corrupt police officers” for the release of their relatives or even for visitation rights. “We demand that the government punish those officers and eliminate them from the security services,” he said. More than 300 detainees from al-Sadr’s movement began a hunger strike this weekend at the Rusafa prison in eastern Baghdad, hoping to draw attention to their plight, according to family members and aides to the cleric. The issue took on added prominence last week when a Sunni lawmaker who was an outspoken advocate of rights for prisoners from both Islamic sects was killed after delivering a sermon at a Baghdad mosque. Harith al-Obeidi, the head of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, was slain Friday after delivering a sermon that raised the complaints of prisoner abuse. He also was involved in a parliamentary debate on the issue. The interior minister said a special committee had looked into 112 complaints following a June 11 parliamentary session on the issue, al-Bolani said. The committee found 23 cases of human rights abuses and 20 cases of inmates incarcerated without warrants, leading to court action against 43 police officers, he said, adding that dozens of others were being questioned for allegations that have surfaced recently in the media. Concern about abuse within the Iraqi judicial system has have been heightened as the United States has begun to turn over control to the Iraqis of thousands of detainees in its custody under a new security pact that would end the U.S. mission in Iraq by 2012.

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Iraq

Iraqis blame al-Qaida for Sunni lawmakers killing

2009-06-14

[Jerusalem Post Middle East] The government blamed al-Qaida in Iraq Saturday for the killing of a prominent Sunni lawmaker, as political figures joined together across sectarian lines in a show of solidarity against a return to violence. Sunni and Shi'ite lawmakers called the slaying of Harith al-Obeidi - the leader of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament - an attack against moderation, as they took turns at the podium to call for a united front against terrorism. Al-Obeidi and a bodyguard were gunned down as they left a mosque after Friday prayers. The Iraqi parliament held a special session to honor him after a funeral service at Baghdad's Convention Center in the guarded Green Zone. US and Iraqi officials have warned violence is expected to increase as insurgents try to rekindle sectarian violence before national elections scheduled for early next year. The brazen daylight shooting in a heavily guarded area also raised new concerns about the ability of Iraqi forces to maintain security with US forces withdrawing from cities by the end of the month. The attack took place in a western Baghdad neighborhood that was a Sunni insurgent stronghold until local tribal leaders turned against al-Qaida in Iraq. Shi'ite lawmaker Jalaluddin al-Saghir called on Iraqis to unite against a resurgence of violence, which has fallen sharply over the past two years. "They think they can mess with the political process and those supporting it when the American forces leave," he said at the parliamentary session. "We have to improve the security forces ... to make it impossible for such killers and criminals to bring us back to square one of civil and sectarian wars," he said. The 47-year-old lawmaker had been a champion of prisoners' rights and was at the center of a stormy parliamentary debate over claims of torture in Iraqi jails. He was known for his advocacy for both Sunni and Shi'ite detainees. Colleagues said that the day before his death, he had called on parliament to summon officials from the interior and defense ministries, which oversee the jails, to respond to the allegations. That raised suspicion that his slaying may have been linked to his campaign on behalf of detainees. But Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the evidence so far indicates al-Qaida in Iraq was behind the attack. He declined to elaborate while the investigation is ongoing. The Sunni terror network and other insurgents have frequently targeted other Sunnis who are perceived as cooperating with the US-backed government's efforts to promote national reconciliation. During the funeral, which was broadcast on all of Iraq's television stations, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, and lawmakers from all sects vowed the killing would not set back security gains in Iraq. Two caskets holding al-Obeidi and his bodyguard were carried by an Iraqi military honor guard. Hundreds of people later gathered for his burial in the main Sunni cemetery near the Abu Hanifa mosque in northern Baghdad. "His assassination is an attempt to embarrass al-Maliki's government, the reconciliation project and renew the chaos and turmoil of the past," said Sheik Kheir-Allah al-Basri, a Shi'ite lawmaker. Sunni lawmaker Dhafir al-Ani applauded al-Obeidi's political moderation. "Al-Obeidi established a school of moderation inside the parliament. He expressed his position with courage and without any fear," he said. Al-Obeidi took the helm of the Iraqi Accordance Front - which holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament - in May after his predecessor, Ayad al-Samarraie, became the parliamentary speaker. He was the fourth Iraqi member of parliament to be killed since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

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Iraq

Parliamentarians say sovereign condition to pass security pact

2008-10-21

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Parliamentarians from different political blocs on Monday stipulated that the security agreement with the U.S. must respect Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, ruling out signing it without the Parliament’s approval. “Realizing the national agreement is necessary for the signing of the security agreement with Washington,” MP from the United Iraq Alliance (UIA) Abdul Hadi al-Hasani told Aswat al-Iraq, ruling out that the government passes the agreement without realizing he national consensus on it. He ruled out the possibility of the government signing any agreement that touches Iraq’s sovereignty, noting that authorizing the Parliament to accept or reject the pact asserts the government’s intention to have a national consensus on the agreement. The MP said that the government will not respond to any kind of pressures, highlighting that the main point which got the agreement by all Iraqis is lifting immunity on the U.S. soldier on Iraq’s territory. Taha al-Lahiebi, MP from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) said that his bloc would study the last draft of the agreement and give its opinion on it, noting that Iraq’s current status needs a country to protect it. For his part, Lawmaker from the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) Mouhsen al-Saadon told Aswat al-Iraq that the government is the only body who has the decision to sign the agreement. “The law and the constitution gives the government the right to sign international agreements,” he explained, explaining that the parliament’s role is to ratify them. Any deal must be approved by the Iraqi cabinet, the three-man Presidential Board, and critically, by the Council of Representatives.

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Iraq

US raid kills 7; Iraqis say they were civilians

2008-09-20

U.S. troops hunting for a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant raided a house Friday and killed seven people, including three women, drawing an angry protest from Iraqi officials that all the victims were civilians. The U.S. military said the raid in Adwar _ a Sunni town 70 miles north of Baghdad and just south of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit _ targeted an extremist responsible for suicide attacks and roadside bombings. Neighbors and Iraqi officials claimed all the dead were from a poor family that had been uprooted by sectarian violence and had no links to the insurgency. Iraq's government demanded that those responsible for the raid be punished. The dispute comes as the United States and Iraq are negotiating a security agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for foreign forces, which expires at year's end. Iraqi negotiators have insisted on oversight of U.S. military operations and the lifting of blanket immunity for American troops and security contractors. U.S. airstrikes and conflicting claims about civilian deaths have been common throughout the war, prompting public outrage and underscoring the challenges faced by American forces fighting enemies who live among the population and don't wear uniforms. Iraq's largest Sunni Arab bloc denounced Friday's raid. "Even if, as they claim, a man attacked them, that does not give them the excuse to target women and children," said Salim Abdullah al-Jubouri, a spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front. Dozens of people marched to the site chanting "God is great" and "We condemn this inhumane act." Abdullah Hussein Jibara, deputy governor of Salahuddin province, said he did not accept the initial explanation given by the Americans. "We think that this tragedy could have been avoided if there were real coordination between U.S. forces and Iraqi authorities," Jibara said. "We condemn this random targeting of civilians, including women and children." The preacher of Adwar's main mosque, Amir al-Douri, called on the Iraqi government to take legal measures against the U.S. soldiers who carried out the raid and to demand a full explanation from the U.S. Army.

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Iraq

Opposition parliamentary blocs slam implementation of Amnesty Law

2008-06-30

Baghdad, Jun 29, (VOI) - Two opposition parliamentary blocs' representative commented on the implementation of the Amnesty Law, considering it "inadequate" and "below its expected level." "Members of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) faulted the amnesty law on a number of its legal items," MP Harith al-Ubaidi told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). The lawmaker noted, "we contacted officials from the concerned government ministries, and discovered that they either tried to escape the issue or to lay the blame on others," adding "how can others be expected to abide by the law while legal offices are flouting it." In February 2008, the Iraqi Parliament enacted the General Amnesty Law that allows the exclusive release of Iraqi wanted persons and detainees from Iraqi prisons and U.S.-run detention centers, according to certain terms and conditions. The Iraqi Presidential Council ratified the Law on March 27, 2008, and it was implemented during the same month. "Iraqi laws do not allow the detention of a prisoner for more than 48 hours without appearing in front of an investigating judge," Ubaidi pointed out. The MP criticized some executive offices for delays in carrying out the law, causing "detainees to serve several years without their legal files being referred to investigating judges." He attributed the excesses to "influences played by political parties to delay the implementation of the law's items before they are amended by the Parliament." Ubaidi called on the Supreme Judicial Council "to provide the Parliament with names of detainees in order to follow up on their release procedures." On the other hand, Fawzi Tarzi, MP from the Sadrist Movement loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the law "released detainees, yet it is still below the expected level." "Endorsing the law was a positive sign and may contribute in ending persecution for many Iraqi people who remain under custody," he said. Yet he highlighted, "our movement's detainees have not benefited from the law since most of them remain in U.S. detention centers," calling on the government to "force U.S. troops to carry out the amnesty law and to release thousands of detainees unjustly held in their prisons." However, the Kurdish bloc applauded the amnesty law for having ensured the release of a great number of innocent detainees. MP Muhsin al-Saadoon from the Kurdish List said "legal committees continue to work on the law and it is too early to announce a verdict on its failure." "If the law has shortcomings, we can amend them in the Parliament," adding "the law has produced important results." The lawmaker called upon the government to "issue similar laws that will contribute to meeting the desires of the Iraqi people, who underwent great suffering." For its side, Abdul Sattar Birqardar, spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, said "the number of persons who have benefited from the general amnesty has reached 100,238, throughout Iraq." Birqardar noted that there are an estimated 13,199 prisoners in Iraqi jails against whom no judicial sentences have been issued. According to the spokesman, 46,371 detainees were released on bail, while 33,273 wanted persons included in the law and have not been arrested thus far.

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Iraq

Sahwa leader denies pressuring government into rejecting IAF candidates

2008-05-29

(VOI) – Well-known chieftain and leader of Anbar Salvation Council Ali Hatim Suleiman on Wednesday denied claims about pressurizing the government into rejecting candidates from the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) in the new government. "The problem is between the front and the government. The Sahwa (Awakening) councils have no relationship whatsoever with the tension surrounding the choice of candidates. We did not put any pressure on the government ," the leader of al-Dulaim tribes said in response to a statement made by IAF member, Nadira Ayef al-Aani, in which she accused Sahwa councils of exerting pressure on the Iraqi government to accept council members into the cabinet. Earlier, al-Aani told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI) that her front believes that Sahwa councils had pressured the government to include some of its members in the cabinet, which she said affected the front's quota of ministerial portfolios. Suleiman told VOI earlier that Sahwa councils informed the government in early May about its decision of not joining the new cabinet. The Anbar Salvation Council did not submit a slate because it does not want to participate in the government, Sulaiman said. Suleiman wondered about the nature of pressure that might be exerted by the councils, adding, "We depend on provincial council elections to show our real size."

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Iraq

Talabani, Crocker discuss long-term strategic Iraq-U.S. ties

2008-05-26

(VOI) – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and U.S. ambassador in Baghdad Ryan Crocker discussed on Sunday the means of ensuring the success of negotiations to establish long-term strategic ties between Iraq and the United States to serve both sides' interests, according to a presidential statement. "The two sides also deliberated the means to enhance cooperation and coordination between the two friendly countries," read the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. President George W. Bush signed in early November 2007 an agreement on strategic partnership between the two countries, sanctioning a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq to protect it from "foreign threats" and maintain its internal stability. Talabani and Crocker also discussed recent developments on the return of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front ministers to the government and re-formation of a national unity government. The IAF had withdrawn its five ministers and deputy premier from the Maliki government in early August 2007. The step was followed by withdrawal of other blocs including former Premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National List (INL), which had five cabinet ministers. The IAF, which has 44 out of the Iraqi parliament's 275 seats, is the third largest bloc after the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC)'s 83 seats and the Kurdistan Coalition (KC)'s 55 seats.

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Iraq

Islamic Party evacuate government offices in Mosul

2008-05-26

(VOI)-The Iraqi Islamic party on Sunday announced it evacuated its Mosul offices in response to the Prime Minister’s call for political parties and movements to leave state properties. “The Iraqi Islamic Party (IP)-Ninewa branch evacuated its headquarters in response to the order issued by the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to leave government properties in Mosul ”, IP statement received by Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI) said. The Sunni Islamic party led by Vice president Tareq al-Hashemi is a major component in the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) bloc, which holds 44 out of the parliament’s total 275 seats. Last week, the Iraqi Premier called for political parties and movements to leave the government properties in Mosul and assigned the Interior Ministry to fulfil the order in ten days. The announcement pointed out “the party evacuated four headquarters across Ninewa province areas and would leave the rest of properties in due time”. The evacuation order coincided with a major offensive codenamed UM al-Rabeen(Mother of Two Springs)that has launched by the government to impose the rule of law in Ninewa.

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Iraq

IAF member foresees "collapse" in negotiations with govt.

2008-05-26

(VOI) – A member of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front on Sunday expected negotiations between the IAF and the government regarding the return of the withdrawn ministers to "collapse." "The IAF is unprecedentedly discontented over the government's reply to the front's recent messages regarding the cabinet lineup. The government's reply did not meet the minimum demands of the IAF," lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar al-Karbuli said in a press release on Sunday. "The front will have a final bid to save the negotiations from an expected collapse in case the government fails to respond to its demands," Karbuli said. He pointed out that the procrastination practiced by the government in its negotiations with the IAF is in nobody's interests. "The government's statements that there was no accordance within the Iraqi Accordance Front did not justify this procrastination," he said, adding "the bet on inter-IAF differences is definitely a lost one." The IAF withdrew its five ministers and deputy premier from the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki government in early August 2007. The step was followed by the withdrawal of other blocs, including former Premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National List (INL), which had five cabinet ministers. The IAF, which has 44 out of the Iraqi parliament's 275 seats, is the third largest bloc after the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC)'s 83 seats and the Kurdistan Coalition (KC)'s 55 seats.

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Iraq

Iraq PM rides high on successes - BUT!

2008-05-24

BAGHDAD - After two years in office, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has managed only in the past two months to stamp a semblance of authority in this unwieldy nation with bold crackdowns on Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Baghdad, Basra and the north. The progress has brought the Shiite prime minister's political rehabilitation, quieting critics at home who have long seen him as ineffective, indifferent to corruption or biased toward Shiite interests. It also has won him praise from American officials and the military, only months after some in the United States were calling for him to be replaced for failing to achieve political benchmarks. His current political buoyancy also comes in no small part from an overall drop of violence — the U.S. military said that last week it recorded the lowest number of attacks since April 2004. But al-Maliki is not out of the woods yet. Security gains made in the crackdowns he has personally overseen remain fragile and could quickly unravel, leaving him with little to show for his efforts and sparking new instability. Ah, the ubiquitous MSM "but" statement. Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have stepped up their rhetoric against al-Maliki in recent days, accusing him of trying to eliminate them — straining a truce with the Sadrists' Mahdi Army militia that has been key to success in Sadr City and Basra. The goodwill he has created has also yet to translate into concrete gains in reconciliation between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. A deal still has not been sealed on returning Sunni Arab rivals to his government or on passing a crucial law on sharing oil wealth, blocked in part by his Kurdish allies. Reconciliation will be key as al-Maliki faces the potentially divisive political events that loom ahead — like provincial elections expected in November and negotiations over a long-term presence of U.S. forces. Al-Maliki also has to face the daunting tasks of reducing popular discontent over services, employment and crime. Better-than-expected oil income — $60-plus billion this year — should enable him to cushion some of the hardship Iraqis face. Still, al-Maliki acknowledged last week during a visit to the southern city of Najaf that power cuts — the scourge of Iraqis during the unforgiving heat of the summer months — may stay the same because of a decline in the volume of water available to hydraulic power stations. "The Iraqis and the Americans seem to be going in vicious circles," said Thamer Abdul-Rasoul, a 42-year-old government employee and father of three from Baghdad. "They make progress in one area and do nothing about others. Security now is better than 2005 and 2006, but electricity still comes four or five hours a day in total." Al-Maliki became Iraq's longest-serving prime minister since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, marking his two-year anniversary on Tuesday. For much of that time, his opponents have accused him of doing little as Shiite factions and their militias gained power in many areas. But his move against Shiite militias in Basra — though troubled when it began in late March — and the Iraqi security forces' deployment last week in Sadr City have some critics hopeful. "Perhaps the message was finally received that what has gone on for the past two years cannot continue and the prime minister must take a decisive position," Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told Associated Press Television News this week. Still, nothing has yet come out of an agreement reached nearly a month ago with al-Hashemi for the return of Sunni ministers who quit the Cabinet in August. "The ball now is in the government's court," al-Hashemi said. He said al-Maliki had rejected two lists of nominees to fill the vacant Cabinet posts presented by the Iraqi Accordance Front, parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc. The Basra assault sparked clashes with the Mahdi Army across southern Iraq and in Sadr City. But after a truce in mid-April, Basra is calmer and government forces have greater control. Violence in Sadr City continued for weeks until another truce was reached there in May. That paved a way for a large military deployment that has so far gone off without a shot in the district, where Mahdi Army fighters once operated unquestioned. An unusual calm has descended on Baghdad since fighting ended in Sadr City. But Mahdi Army militiamen have largely ignored al-Maliki's order to hand over medium and heavy weapons in Basra and Sadr City, suggesting they are keeping them to fight another day. The negotiated truces do not address the larger question of the future of the Mahdi Army, which earned notoriety for killing thousands of Sunni Arabs at the height of sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. "We're hopeful that it will hold," Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday about the Sadr City truce. "But we recognize that, like anything, it is fragile and so there are a number of things that could happen, and we have to prepare ourselves for that eventuality." Upcoming elections hold dangers: Al-Maliki has spoken of banning parties with militias from running, a move that would anger the Sadrists. A new outbreak of violence with the Mahdi Army could throw everything back into turmoil and strain what the U.S. military says is an improved performance by Iraqi forces. The militia fought with tenacity in Sadr City and Basra, while the Iraqi army and police suffered the embarrassment of about 1,000 cases of desertions in Basra, casting serious doubt on their readiness. Al-Qaida and Sunni insurgents are also not out of the picture. The offensive against them in Mosul was publicized by the government as early as January, months ahead of its launch, giving the terror network's fighters time to flee and regroup elsewhere.

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Iraq

Two al-Qaeda senior commanders captured east of Mosul

2008-05-13

Arbil, May, 13, (VOI) - Iraqi Army forces on Tuesday arrested two al-Qaeda senior commanders east o Mosul while escaping the all-out offensive launched by joint troops in Ninewa since four days, a military source said. “A force from the Iraqi army captured two al-Qaeda network senior commanders on the high road between Makhmour district and al-Qayara district near Makook village, 40 km west of Makhmour,” a source from Iraqi army 5th brigade, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). The source pointed out “the detainees confessed in the primary investigations to be senior commanders in al-Qaeda network in Iraq (AQI) escaping the Operation Lion’s Roar in Rightful Assau launched in Mosul.” “The detainees admitted they involved in killing and kidnapping civilians,” he added. Earlier, Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), major Sunni bloc in parliament, revealed on Tuesday large numbers of gunmen have escaped after the commencement of military operations to the city of Hamrin and Upper Mosul towns. On Sunday, the Ninewa operations commander Lt. General Riad Jalal Tawfiq said in a press conference that the military operation to crack down gunmen of al-Qaeda network in the province has started after "huge" military reinforcements arrived from the Iraqi capital Baghdad. "The operation, codenamed Za'eer al-Assad Fi Saulat al-Haq (Lion's Roar in Rightful Assault), is focused on hunting down the al-Qaeda remnants in Ninewa as well as misled terrorist groups and outlaws," Tawfiq said in a statement he read out to reporters at the Ninewa Operations Command headquarters. Makhmour district is a disputed area between Arbil and Ninewa provinces, lies 70 km south-west Arbil city, which lies 349 km north-east Baghdad. AM/SR

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