Iraqis Take Control as US Troops Leave Cities

30 June

Iraqi security officers parade with their rifles during a display in the southern city of Najaf, 160 kms south of Baghdad. (AFP)

An Iraqi police officer lights a flare during festivities celebrating the pull out of US troops from cities and towns on June 30, in the Zawra Park in central Baghdad. (AFP)

Iraqi security forces celebrate in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqi forces prepared to take control of towns and cities nationwide on Tuesday as American troops finally withdrew in a milestone for the country's recovery six years after the US-led invasion.

Baghdad's streets were quiet and traffic much lighter than usual as people stayed at home for a national holiday to mark the June 30 pullback, ahead of a complete US withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Iraqis celebrated into the night but soldiers and police were out in force to prevent insurgent groups spoiling the party as American troops quit their posts in urban centres.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani marked the security handover by thanking US forces for the sacrifices they made in overthrowing now executed dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, and in the years of violence that followed.

"They beared the burden and dangers against the most cruel regime and against the mutual enemy -- the terror," Talabani said on state television.

The US army announced that four of its soldiers died from combat-related on Monday, taking to 4,321 the number of US soldiers killed since the invasion.

The pullout is part of a landmark security agreement signed last year between Baghdad and Washington covering the fate of the some 133,000 US troops still in Iraq.

Security was tight in the the wake of several massive bombings that have killed more than 200 people this month alone.

All leave for security force personnel has been cancelled and motorcycles, a favoured form of transport for several recent bombers, have been banned from the streets.

"Our expectation is that maybe some criminals will try to continue their attacks," interior ministry operations director Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf said.

"That is why orders came from the highest level of the prime minister that our forces should be 100 percent on the ground until further notice."

On Monday, the former defence ministry building in the capital, taken over in the wake of the US-led invasion, was handed back to the Iraqi government.

"This marks the end of the rule of the multinational force," said General Abboud Qambar, the head of Baghdad Operation Command.

It was a landmark celebrated by huge crowds of revellers in Baghdad's largest park on Monday evening.

Popular Iraqi singers including Salah Hassan, Kassem Sultan and Abed Falek, who all live abroad, returned home for the celebration.

"Since 2003, I have never been to a party but today I am coming to hear the singers I love," Ahmed Ali, 20, told AFP.

Revellers had to undergo three security checks to enter the park but no one seemed to complain amid a jubilant atmosphere, where an onstage banner declared that Baghdad's sovereignty and independence had been recovered.

Even policemen joined in the fun, dancing with the party-goers.

"Today is the day that we got back our country," said Salim Mohammed, from the sprawling Shiite working-class district of Sadr City.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned earlier this month that insurgent groups and militias were likely to step up attacks in the run-up to June 30 in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraq's own security forces.

There have been several large bombings since, the deadliest near the northern oil hub of Kirkuk on June 20, when a truck loaded with explosives was detonated, leaving 72 people dead and more than 200 wounded.

A source close to Iraq's counter-terrorism office revealed on Monday that a truck loaded with 64 mortar rounds believed intended for use in sabotaging the pullout had been intercepted in Baghdad after successfully negotiating 11 roadblocks.

But Maliki and senior government officials have insisted that Iraq's 750,000 soldiers and police can defend the nation against attacks.

Only a small number of US forces in training and advisory roles will remain in urban areas, with the bulk of American troops in Iraq quartered elsewhere.

The Status of Forces Agreement, which set the pullback deadline, says US commanders must seek permission from Iraqi authorities to conduct operations, but American troops retain a unilateral right to "legitimate self-defence".

Source: Asharq Alawsat

Obama committed to Iraq troop pullout despite attacks

June 25

BARACK Obama is having no second thoughts about pulling US troops out of Iraqi cities, despite attacks that have killed 150 people in the past week, the White House says.

The latest incident, just six days before a deadline for American soldiers to withdraw from the cities, towns and villages under an agreement with Iraq, killed at least 62 people when a bomb went off in a Baghdad market.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, had told Mr Obama the deadline would be kept.

“I know the president has had meetings and continues to have meetings about ensuring that we're making sufficient political progress on the ground,” Mr Gibbs said.

“General Odierno has mentioned that we have seen violence greatly decrease even in the past many months from what it was, and he feels confident in moving forward.”

Asked whether Mr Obama had any second thoughts about the pull back, or whether he had approached the Iraqi government about a change in arrangements, Mr Gibbs said: “No, No.”

Violence has dropped markedly in Iraq in recent months, with May seeing the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 invasion. But attacks remain common, particularly in Baghdad and Mosul.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned earlier this month that insurgents and militiamen were likely to step up their attacks in the coming weeks in a bid to undermine confidence in the Iraqi security forces.

Source: The Australian

Iraq truck bomb kills 64

By Marwan Ibrahim in Kirkuk, Iraq | June 21

A TRUCK bomb has killed 64 people near the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, the country's bloodiest attack in 15 months just 10 days before US troops are due to quit urban areas.

The attack, which also wounded 202 people, struck near a mosque in Taza Kharmatu, a predominantly Turkmen Shi'ite town south of Kirkuk, at around 1pm (local time on Saturday, with women and children among the victims, officials said.

"This ugly crime is an attempt to harm security and stability and spread mistrust of the Iraqi forces," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said.

"Our forces ... will arrest those who committed the crime in Taza Kharmatu and bring them to justice."

Sabah al-Daoudi, the Iraqi health ministry's representative in Kirkuk, said 64 people had died and 202 were injured in what he described as a "suicide explosion". Shukur Abdullah, the head of Kirkuk hospital's mortuary, confirmed the death toll.

Mr Daoudi said around 30 of the wounded were being kept in hospital for treatment.

A senior police official, who did not want to be identified, said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, and appeared to have been an al-Qaeda bombing.

More than one tonne of explosives was used in the bombing, the official said.

"I saw a truck passing through a very narrow road and, a few minutes later, I heard a huge explosion and the ceiling of my shop collapsed on my head," said Akbar Zain al-Abdin, 40, whose fertiliser and farm products store was almost completely destroyed.

"I didn't see a fire, but I saw a huge cloud of sand in the sky," he said.

"The victims were our relatives and our friends, their houses collapsed on them."

The Turkmen Front, Iraq's main Turkmen political party, announced three days of mourning and called for an "immediate investigation... and for the criminals to be brought to justice."

The attack, which took place around 400 metres from the Shiite Al-Rasul mosque, also seriously damaged dozens of houses, with police saying that many victims could still be under the rubble.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the bomb left a deep crater in the ground.

In the aftermath of the attack, police urged local residents to donate blood.

The bombing was the bloodiest single attack in Iraq since March 6, 2008, when a roadside bomb was followed by a suicide attack in central Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood, killing 68 people.

More recently, a car bomb on June 10 in a market in Batha, in the largely peaceful southern province of Dhi Qar, killed 19 people and wounded 56. The attack was blamed on al-Qaeda.

Also on Saturday, a car bomb in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, killed three police and wounded seven others.

The Taza bombing comes barely a week ahead of a deadline for US troops to pull back from Iraq's built-up areas as part of a landmark security accord signed between Washington and Baghdad in November.

The agreement calls on US forces to leave Iraq altogether by the end of 2011.

On Saturday, the US army handed over to Iraqi control a base in Baghdad's sprawling Shi'ite neighbourhood of Sadr City, once a bastion for anti-US radicals.

The Iraqi premier warned earlier this month that insurgent groups and militia would likely step up their attacks in the coming weeks in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraq's own security forces.

Violence has dropped markedly in Iraq in recent months, with May seeing the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 invasion. But attacks remain common, particularly in Baghdad and the main northern city of Mosul.

Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, is plagued with intercommunal tensions among its Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab communities.

Those tensions prevented the holding of provincial elections on January 31, when all but three autonomous Kurdish provinces voted for new councils.

Source: The Australian

British conclude combat in Iraq

May 01

BASRA, Iraq: British forces formally ended combat operations in Iraq last night, one month ahead of schedule, after a ceremony to remember their dead from six years of warfare.

The conclusion of the military campaign, which began with the war that toppled Saddam Hussein launched in 2003, came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met his Iraqi counterpart, Nuri al-Maliki, in London.

"Today marks the closing chapter of the combat mission in Iraq," Mr Brown said. "The flag of 20 Armoured Brigade will be lowered as British combat patrols in Basra come to an end and our armed forces prepare to draw down."

"Today, we are taking steps to strengthen and deepen our relationship and to make it a long-term partnership of equals," he added.

A formal transfer-of-authority ceremony was held in the southern city of Basra after British forces paid tribute to their 179 colleagues killed since the US-led invasion of March 2003.

British troop numbers were the second-largest in the Iraq campaign, peaking at 46,000 at the height of combat operations that resulted in Saddam's ouster and his eventual execution for crimes against humanity.

The official withdrawal of forces was launched on March 31 when the pennant of the British headquarters in Basra was lowered and the base handed over to US control.

A deal signed by Baghdad and London last year had agreed that the last 4100 British soldiers would complete their mission - primarily training the Iraqi army - by June, before a complete withdrawal from the country in late July.

The names of the 179 soldiers, as well as those of 55 multinational forces personnel who died in British-led operations in the Basra area, were read out at the memorial service, which was attended by British Defence Secretary John Hutton.

The drawdown of foreign troops comes amid an upturn in violence last month.

A series of bombings, suicide attacks and shootings killed at least 48 people yesterday.

Source: The Australian

Bush shoe-thrower jailed for three years

BAGHDAD: AN Iraqi court has jailed for three years the journalist who shot to fame in the Arab world for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a 30-year-old television journalist, had pleaded not guilty at the hearing in the Iraq Central Criminal Court to assaulting Bush during his farewell visit to Iraq last year.

"He was sentenced to three years in jail," defence lawyer Yahia Attabi told reporters outside the Baghdad court.

"We expected the decision because under the Iraqi criminal code he was charged with assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit," Attabi said, adding: "We will appeal this decision."

Zaidi, whose shoe-hurling gesture is considered a grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world, had risked up to 15 years in jail on the charge of aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit.

The former US president, deeply unpopular in the Arab world for ordering the 2003 invasion of Iraq, had been at a globally-televised media conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki when Zaidi let rip with his shoes, zinging them at Bush, who managed to duck just in time.

When Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie asked Zaidi if he was innocent, the journalist responded: "Yes, my reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi (would have done)."

After the verdict, his 25-strong defence team emerged to scenes of chaos outside the court, where several family members screamed: "It's an American court... sons of dogs."

Wearing a light-brown suit, brown sweatshirt and thin-framed glasses, Zaidi had been brought into the packed courtroom under a heavy police escort.

Chief defence lawyer Ehiya al-Sadi had argued that his client's motives were "honourable".

"He was only expressing his feelings. What he could see was the blood of Iraqis at his feet when he watched the US president speaking about his achievements in Iraq."

He also argued that although Iraqi law considered it an attack on a visiting head of state, "his throwing of the shoe did not cause any injury or damage.

"The president did not lose a leg or hand or finger. It was not an attempt to murder but an attempted assault.

"But it was not a real assault because he wanted to insult the president. The way he did it was buy throwing a shoe not a mortar or bomb.

"His goal was to insult Bush for the the pain Iraqis have suffered.

He asked for the court to consider Zaidi innocent and take note of the fact that he had already been in jail for three months.

The trial first opened on February 19 but was adjourned to determine the nature of Bush's December 14 visit. The judge told the court that government ministers had declared it official.

There was standing room only at the courtroom on the edge of Baghdad's high security Green Zone as some 200 family members, reporters and lawyers crowded in.

One of Zaidi's brothers, Uday, said he expected Muntazer to be found guilty, describing the trial as a "farce."

The Baghdadia television reporter told the court in February that he had been outraged and was unable to control his emotions when Bush started speaking at the December media conference.

"I had the feeling that the blood of innocent people was dropping on my feet during the time that he was smiling and coming to say bye-bye to Iraq with a dinner.

"So I took the first shoe and threw it but it did not hit him. Then spontaneously I took the second shoe but it did not hit him either. I was not trying to kill the commander of the occupation forces of Iraq."

As well as throwing the shoe, Zaidi also insulted Bush verbally, shouting: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," before security forces wrestled him to the ground.

Zaidi said he had been beaten and tortured while in custody.

His brothers said they wanted to bring torture charges against Bush, Maliki and his bodyguards at a human rights court in either Belgium or Spain.

A Syrian lawyer said she was preparing to file a complaint.

Source: The Australian

What Happened in Basra

By Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan

On March 24, 2008, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) under Lieutenant General Mohan al-Fireji launched a series of attacks against illegal Shia militias and criminal elements in the city of Basra.

The attack appears to have resulted from an impulsive order by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who had gone down to Basra to see the preparations for a more deliberate operation then being planned. The militias, which included elements of the Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) nominally under the control of Moktada al-Sadr as well as the Special Groups--secret cells organized by the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps--were well dug-in and fought back.

Iraqi forces in Basra, supported by American advisers and air support, pressed the attack and sent reinforcements. Special Groups and elements of JAM attacked the ISF throughout Shia Iraq in what appears to have been an attempt to ignite widespread fighting in Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla, Kut, Nasiriya, and Diwaniya. Iraqi forces repulsed these attacks with very little assistance in the area between Baghdad and Basra, and coalition forces worked closely with the ISF to contain the violence in Baghdad. Read more ...

Source: The Weekly Standard