Photo: A partial view of Baghdad as seen from a United States Army helicopter, on route from Baghdad International Airport to the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad October 2, 2007. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he expects Iraqi authorities to take control of Basra province within two months and the number of British troops there to drop to 4,500 by the end of the year. REUTERS/Lefteris Pitarakis/Pool (IRAQ)
To our Muslim readers: Ramadan Mubarak
REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ
Bishops fear for future of Iraqi Christians
A delegation of Iraqi bishops representing the country’s multifarious denominations has given a tragic picture of conditions in Iraq particularly the capital Baghdad. The bishops have flown to Europe to explain the plight of their congregations and whether anything is left to be done not to let the country be emptied of its once prosperous Christian minority. Numbers are receding drastically and from nearly 1 million Christians registered in the 1987 census the bishops said their church records now include a little bit more than one third of the figure. Most affected have been Christians in Baghdad who once were served by nearly 100 churches. The monasteries and seminaries have been shut down and U.S. occupation troops have occupied two of them in the restive and violent Doura neighborhood. “I alone have to look after 2,000 displaced Christian families in Baghdad. They were forced to leave their districts simply because they were Christians,” one of the bishops said. The bishops did not want their names mentioned for security reasons. They were unanimous in their criticism of the United States and its blunders in Iraq.
Two Different Accounts of Deadly Airstrike in Baghdad
For the battered working-class district of Abu Dshir, Ramadan evenings bring a rare air of festivity. The temperature is still warm, but the heat of summer has abated. Families stroll outdoors, and young men play nightly matches of a traditional Ramadan game called mihaidis, in which teams try to find a hidden ring. As the teams lined up Thursday for the game, neighborhood residents said, a crowd of men gathered to watch. They lighted a large oil lamp which illuminated the street, a small shopping area where grocers and fruit vendors stay open late this time of year. Two American helicopters hovered overhead, witnesses said. Moments after the game began, the helicopters opened fire on the crowd, the witnesses said. Seven men were killed, Sayyid Malik Abadi, the head of the district security committee, who arrived at the scene shortly after the episode, said Friday. He said perhaps an eighth man had died as well, but too many body parts were scattered about to be certain exactly how many were killed.
“The helicopters watched, and they thought it was a gathering and fired on it,” Mr. Abadi said. “They fired rockets. When people started to run, the helicopters’ machine guns began shooting at the people who were running.” The American military had a different version of events, which took place in the Saha part of the Abu Dshir district. A spokesman said that earlier in the evening American forces had twice observed episodes when two or three men fired mortars into the neighborhood to the north. After the second episode, the military called for an airstrike. “We assess possibly two or three were killed or wounded,” said Maj. Brad Leighton, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad. “We were not able to get an accurate assessment,” he added.
Introduction – Special Report: Media in Iraq
Jawad al-Daami was a well-known poet and line producer for al-Baghdadia, an independent channel based in Cairo. On September 23, his day off, al-Daami reportedly attended a cultural conference in Baghdad. As he headed home, he was shot dead in his car in Baghdad’s southwestern neighbourhood of Al-Qadissiya, making him the 113th journalist to be killed in Iraq since March 2003, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported. “Baghdad is fraught with risk for journalists trying to cover what is happening in Iraq - they contend with targeted killings, abductions, and other harassment,” said CPJ executive director Joel Simon, in a statement. Four and a half years ago, following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the media here mushroomed. Since then, organisations such as IWPR have supported local journalists by offering on-the-job training. Some of those who we’ve worked with have gone on to become editors. Others have left the trade because of the dangers associated with their work. And a number have lost their lives. Journalism has made incredible strides in Iraq since 2003, but it has also suffered painful setbacks. In this latest special report, IWPR takes a look at some of threats and problems journalists face across the country.
Climate of Fear Stymies Basra Reporters
As a reporter for a US-backed radio station in the southern city of Basra, Majid al-Brekan had received threats before - but none like this. One day in late March, as Brekan slipped into the driver’s seat of his car in front of his house, he noticed three masked men riding on a motorcycle behind him. Fearing trouble, Brekan quickly turned on his ignition and slammed on the accelerator. The men shot and damaged his car, but Brekan escaped without injury. The incident shook the journalist so much that he decided to flee his home city. The press is not free in the southern oil-rich city, said Brekan bitterly, because journalists are in harm’s way. "We are fearful and cautious about our work,” said Brekan, who works for Radio Sawa - an Arabic language radio station, funded by the United States government and broadcast throughout Iraq. “We can't report the full story in detail because no one protects us." After the ousting of Saddam’s regime, hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations were established throughout Iraq. In Basra, there are now 90 media organisations - 60 of these are newspapers issued by political parties and groups. As the violence has escalated in Basra, journalists have become increasingly under attack. They say inadequate security provision means they are at the mercy of militias and kidnapping gangs. Several reporters have fled the city after receiving threats connected to their work, and at least three have been killed over the last three years, including 40-year-old Abdul Hussein Khazal, a local newspaper editor and correspondent for the US-backed al-Hurra channel. Khazal and his three-year-old son were shot to death outside of his house in February 2005. Last year, a website of an unknown militant group posted a hit-list of 17 Basra journalists. Some of the journalists including Adil Hamid, a local media adviser, fled to neighbouring Kuwait.
Biased Kirkuk Media Inflame Tension
News organisations aligning themselves with ethnic-based and religious parties are inflaming tensions in Kirkuk by pushing the agendas of those they represent. Kirkuk journalists and residents complain that the media often presents biased reports that create discord among the city’s diverse population. Media critics maintain that rather than writing in the public’s interest, Arab, Turkoman and Kurdish media organisations in Kirkuk tend to represent the views of the groups they back - and, in doing so, are fuelling the conflicts that are fracturing city. "There is no newspaper in Kirkuk that tells the truth, and the media is generally responsible for escalating feelings of malice and hatred,” said Nariman Sadiq, a teacher in a girls’ intermediate school. Miqdad Mustafa, who has served as editor of several Kirkuk newspapers, agrees. "The newspapers issued through political parties have narrow views and don’t address general Iraqi issues. They deal with ethnic or sectarian affairs.” At the heart of the conflict lies a power struggle for control of the city.
Reactions to Congress resolution to divide Iraq dominate Iraqi press
Iraqi newspapers on Tuesday highlighted reactions to the "non-binding" resolution approved by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday calling for dividing Iraq into federal regions. In its editorial the government-funded al-Sabah newspaper criticized the resolution and Senator Joseph Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate and a primary sponsor of the resolution. Praising several Iraqi factions for their unified stance against the U.S. project, the editorial called on Iraqi politicians and leaders to put their differences aside and concentrate their efforts on building a strong and modern state. In another article the newspaper revealed an initial agreement between the Iraqi government and armed groups, which it said was made as part of the national reconciliation project announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The initiative aims to include factions which are ready to renounce violence in the Iraqi political process and restore peace and stability to the war-torn country. Al-Daawa newspaper, issued by the Islamic Daawa Party- Iraq Organization, highlighted statements by the secretary general of al-Mihrab Martyr Foundation, Ammar al-Hakim, who is also the deputy chairman of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), in which announced his categorical rejection of the U.S. project. Describing it as "interference in Iraq's interior affairs," al-Hakim said that the resolution violates the sovereignty of the Iraqi state and is strongly disapproved by many Iraqi political forces.
No connection between today's raid, oil coupons case
The editor-in-chief of al-Mada newspaper played down the value of documents confiscated by Iraqi army forces on Tuesday, however he called for their return, denying any connection between the raid on the paper's office and the corruption case the newspaper unveiled in early 2004. "A U.S. force raided a building belonging to the independent al-Mada newspaper in central Baghdad on Monday night, Iraqi army forces raided it again on Tuesday morning and confiscated some books and documents," Fakhri Karim, chief of al-Mada Institute for Media, Culture, and Art told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). He denied any connection between the raid on his newspaper and the big corruption case the paper unveiled it in 2004, known as "oil coupons.” The newspaper unveiled on January 25, 2004, a large corruption case by publishing a document issued from the Iraqi oil marketing company, including names of the companies and personalities, or what are called oil coupons, from the former regime to export limited quantities from the Iraqi oil, in accordance to the third stage of the oil in return for food agreement signed between Iraq and the U.N.
IRAQ: Scabies said to be rife in several Iraqi prisons
Bad hygiene in several Iraqi prisons has caused prisoners to become infected with scabies, and no treatment is being given, according to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dealing with prisoners. “At least four Iraqi prisons have been infected with scabies as a result of bad hygiene,” said Khalid Rabia’a, a spokesman for the local NGO Prisoners’ Association for Justice (PAJ). “The problem has been identified in Ministry of Interior prisons but we don’t yet know if it also exists in prisons run by the US army.”
Scabies is a contagious infection caused by a mite which in turn causes intense itching and inflammation. Most commonly affected by scabies are the hands and feet, the inner part of the wrists, and the folds under the arms. It may also affect other parts of the body, particularly the elbows and areas around the breasts, genitals, navel and buttocks. Scabies is usually transmitted by skin-to-skin contact and spreads more easily in crowded conditions. Infections are treated by the application of medicated cream or lotion to the skin all over the body to kill the mites.
Abu Ghraib prisoners accuse US companies of torture
Two US Army subcontractors accused of torturing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail go to court Wednesday in a case that highlights the murky legal status of private US companies in Iraq. Titan and CACI International were hired by the Army to provide interrogators and interpreters at the notorious prison, the scene of well-documented abuses of detainees following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. One former Iraqi prisoner now living in Sweden says that under the companies' watch, he was sodomized, nearly strangled with a belt, tied by his genitals to other detainees, and given repeated electric shocks. "This is probably the most important case still standing against Abu Ghraib because the cases against the government have essentially failed so far," said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "This case represents our last hope for getting some accountability for the torture in Iraq and getting any compensation for the victims," said Ratner, whose group has fielded lawyers to assist in the lawsuit.
Shuttered Lives: Iraq Through the Eyes of It’s Women
I love Iraq. I don't want to live anywhere else. Everyone I love is here: my granny, my aunt, my uncle, all my family and friends. Everyone we know and love is going away, my friends Nazaline and Aya and Hayat, the school bus drivers. My friend Taqa's dad went to Syria, my friend Nour's uncle to Egypt. The most important thing in my life, besides my mother and family, are my friends. Nour and Zeinab are my best friends now. In my class, we used to have three rows of desks, 10 in each row. Now we have two rows, with just five girls in each row.
…..My husband distanced himself from me for a month after I was kidnapped and my mother still blames me for ruining the family. I open my eyes. I see the gun by my bed. My husband and I no longer talk, nor do we laugh together. We worry someone will attack us. I used to watch out of the window and feel alive. Now I make sure my face is hidden by the curtain. I look with longing at the street that was alive once upon a time.
REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS
Parliament votes on statement rejecting, condemning U.S. Senate resolution
The Iraqi parliament voted on a statement issued by its leadership in which it expressed its categorical rejection and condemnation of a U.S. Senate resolution calling to divide Iraq along ethnic lines. "Iraq is not a U.S. property. The parliament has to show its unity to the whole world," stated MP Mustafa al-Haiti, who is also a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front (NDF), adding, "Despite disagreements between political blocs over some articles in the constitution, they can reach a solution that is acceptable to all." Meanwhile, Hadi al-Aameri, the secretary general of Badr Organization, one of the components of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), described the U.S. project as "interference in Iraq's internal affairs."
Maliki urges Brown for British support against division resolution
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reiterated his government's rejection of a U.S. Senate resolution calling for separate Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish federal regions in Iraq and called on his British counterpart to support Iraq's stance against any resolution that "does not serve Iraq and the region," according to a statement released by al-Maliki's office on Tuesday.
Iraq Foreign Minister Urges Patience
Iraq's foreign minister said Monday a premature pullout of U.S. troops could send the country and region spiraling into chaos and called a U.S. Senate proposal to divide Iraq into three regions well-intentioned but a bad idea. Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari also said during a speech at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government that he remains optimistic despite the strife roiling his country. "The task facing us is challenging, but I'm confident about the future of my country," Zebari said. "No matter how close we came to the brink, the Iraqi people have risen to the occasion." He said that crucial to helping Iraq maintain a path toward democracy and stability are the 160,000 U.S. troops there. Though support for the war among U.S. voters has waned, he said a rapid withdrawal could lead to the collapse of Iraq's government and allow terrorist groups like al-Qaida to set up permanent shop within his country.
Iraq’s KRG signs four more oil deals
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government has announced four more controversial oil deals, despite Baghdad’s condemnation, and says more are on the way. The KRG said in a statement that an initial $500 million will go toward upstream exploration projects now the deals have been signed. “The projects will spearhead international investment for the whole of Iraq,” KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said in the statement.
Companies involved in two of the production-sharing contracts have been announced: a subsidiary of the Canadian firm Heritage Oil and Gas and a subsidiary of the French firm Perenco S.A. The other two deals will be detailed soon, the statement said. The KRG also announced contracts to build two new oil refineries with 20,000 barrels per day capacity each, sorely needed in Iraq, which suffers from extensive fuels shortages.
REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ
U.S. Data Show Nearly 19,000 Iraq Kills
American and coalition troops have reported killing and capturing more suspected insurgents in the first half of 2007 than in any other similar period of the Iraq war, while military officials said so-called "body count" reports are meant to give "scale" to the fight. Last week, USA Today reported that since June 2003, the U.S. military in Iraq has kept a count of insurgents killed, injured and detained. Those figures were later released by the military to Stars and Stripes. Through August 2007, those figures show, 18,832 suspected insurgents had been reported killed, 5,196 injured and 119,752 arrested by U.S. and coalition forces. In 2007, the figures show, coalition troops arrested an average of around 100 suspected insurgents each day. Military officials have said both the increased casualty and capture figures are attributed in part to the "surge" and more aggressive tactics by units throughout the country. The figures are compiled from "significant action" reports received from the field, said Capt. Michael Greenberger, who released the statistics to Stars and Stripes.
Billions over Baghdad
Between April 2003 and June 2004, $12 billion in U.S. currency—much of it belonging to the Iraqi people—was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Some of the cash went to pay for projects and keep ministries afloat, but, incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed. Following a trail that leads from a safe in one of Saddam's palaces to a house near San Diego, to a P.O. box in the Bahamas, the authors discover just how little anyone cared about how the money was handled.
The Bush administration's ties to Blackwater
The ties between State and Blackwater are only part of a web of relationships that Blackwater has maintained with the Bush administration and with prominent Republicans. From 2001 to 2007, the firm has increased its annual federal contracts from less than $1 million to more than $500 million, all while employees passed through a turnstile between Blackwater and the administration, several leaving important posts in the Pentagon and the CIA to take jobs at the security company. Below is a list of some of Blackwater's luminaries with their professional -- and political -- résumés. Erik Prince, founder and CEO: How did Blackwater go from a small corporation training local SWAT teams to a seemingly inseparable part of U.S. operations in Iraq? Good timing, and the connections of its CEO, may be the answer.
Prince, who founded Blackwater in 1996 but reportedly took a behind-the-scenes role in the company until after 9/11, has connections to the Republican Party in his blood. His late father, auto-parts magnate Edgar Prince, was instrumental in the creation of the Family Research Council, one of the right-wing Christian groups most influential with the George W. Bush administration. At his funeral in 1995, he was eulogized by two stalwarts of the Christian conservative movement, James Dobson and Gary Bauer. Edgar Prince's widow, Elsa, who remarried after her husband's death, has served on the boards of the FRC and another influential Christian-right organization, Dobson's Focus on the Family. She currently runs the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, where, according to IRS filings, her son Erik is a vice president. The foundation has given lavishly to some of the marquee names of the Christian right. Between July 2003 and July 2006, the foundation gave at least $670,000 to the FRC and $531,000 to Focus on the Family.
Americans are still welcome in Kurdistan
In Kurdistan, an American passport makes you a VIP. Often it doesn’t take even that, just blue eyes and a Kurdish escort who says you’re an American and — zip! — you’re in the ministry door or waved through one of the seemingly endless security checkpoints that keep terrorists from the rest of Iraq out and investors flocking in. Iraqi Kurds love to see Americans. And no wonder. The United States got rid of Saddam Hussein, who killed tens of thousands of Kurds, some of them with poison gas. Now, with Hussein gone, Kurdistan has blossomed into a vibrant economic success
IRAQI REFUGEES
SYRIA: UNHCR presses for “humanitarian visas” as Syria closes border to Iraqis
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is continuing to push for “humanitarian visas” for Iraqi refugees after Syria once again closed its borders to the continuing influx of refugees fleeing Iraq. UNHCR witnesses at the Syria-Iraqi Al-Tanf border crossing on 1 October reported that entry was closed to refugees, with “only commercial drivers receiving visas”.
Iraq refugees may be undercounted, experts say
The number of Iraqis driven from their homes by war and sectarian violence could be far larger than official estimates of the country's deepening humanitarian crisis, some experts say. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Iraqi Red Crescent estimate that more than 4.2 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes within the country or have crossed Iraq's borders to become refugees. The number includes about 2 million displaced before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion by Saddam Hussein's campaigns against opponents including Shi'ites and Kurds. But some analysts and organizations that focus on Iraq believe tens of thousands more Iraqis made homeless by violence have avoided registering with host governments abroad or the government in Iraq for fear that their safety and freedom of movement could be jeopardized. That would suggest significantly larger humanitarian and security problems for Iraq and its neighbors, particularly Syria and Jordan, in what is already the worst crisis of its kind in the Middle East since 1948. Other experts say some estimates could be inflated or have failed to reflect a migration of Iraqis refugees from Jordan to Syria and Lebanon.
How to Help Iraqi Refugees
ANOTHER Way to help: The Collateral Repair Project
COMMENTARY
'We'll revoke Al-Maliki's licence first'
The killing of 11 civilians in Baghdad two weeks ago has once again put Blackwater on the spot. The US security firm first came into the public eye in early April 2004, when four of its personnel were killed and mutilated by mobs in Falluja. Although Iraqi religious parties denounced the attacks at the time, Bush gave the town four days to deliver the perpetrators before ordering an all-out attack, one in which thousands of Falluja inhabitants perished. The Iraqi government would like to see Blackwater brought to account. But that is not going to be easy. The spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Abdul-Karim Khalif, says that the ministry provided Iraqi courts with evidence against Blackwater concerning other shootings over the past seven months. In one shooting last February, three of the guards of Al-Iraqiya television were killed. On 9 September, five Iraqis were killed when Blackwater personnel fired at them near the municipality building in Baghdad. Three days later, five other citizens were wounded in another shooting on Palestine Street. Blackwater, the Iraqi Interior Ministry maintains, is also involved in the killing of an Iraqi journalist near the Iraqi Foreign Ministry building in Baghdad in February, as well as the killing of a citizen near the Iraqi Interior Ministry building in Baghdad in May.
"Most of the laws passed by Paul Bremer, the civilian administrator of Iraq under US occupation, remain in force. Some of these laws violate Iraqi sovereignty, including a law that prevents Iraqis from prosecuting any American or any individual who cooperates with America or the coalition authorities, whether civilian or military," Abu Abdullah, an Iraqi lawyer, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Following the recent incident in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki threatened to revoke Blackwater's licence. What he later discovered was that the company was working in Iraq without a licence. The Americans weren't impressed by Al-Maliki's uncharacteristic boldness. "We'll revoke Al-Maliki's licence before he revokes Blackwater's licence," a US official quipped.
RESISTANCE
Special Radio Broadcast from Vets for Peace Convention
Quote of the day: "You know your country is dying when you have to make a distinction between what is moral and ethical, and what is legal." -- John De Armond
Photo: A partial view of 
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