Iraq Occupation Focus
www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Newsletter No.184
October 29th, 2011
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Military news
Iraq rejects US request to maintain bases after troop withdrawal
The Guardian reports (October 21st): The US suffered a major diplomatic and military rebuff when Iraq finally rejected its pleas to maintain bases in the country beyond this year.
Barack Obama announced at a White House press conference that all American troops will leave Iraq by the end of December, a decision forced by the final collapse of lengthy talks between the US and the Iraqi government on the issue.
U.S. and Iraq Had Expected Some American Troops to Stay
NY Times reports (October 21st): This year, American military officials had said they wanted a “residual” force of as many as tens of thousands of American troops to remain in Iraq past 2011 as an insurance policy against any violence. Those numbers were scaled back, but the expectation was that at least about 3,000 to 5,000 American troops would remain.
But they misread Iraqi politics and the Iraqi public. Still burdened by the traumas of this and previous wars, and having watched the revolutions sweeping their region, the Iraqis were unwilling to accept anything that infringed on their sovereignty. Acutely aware of that sentiment, the Iraqi leadership quickly said publicly that they would not support legal protections for any American troops.
The Iraq War Ain’t Over, No Matter What Obama Says
Spencer Ackerman reports for Wired.com (October 21st): America’s military efforts in Iraq aren’t coming to an end. They are instead entering a new phase. On January 1, 2012, the State Department will command a hired army of about 5,500 security contractors, all to protect the largest U.S. diplomatic presence anywhere overseas.
The State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security does not have a promising record when it comes to managing its mercenaries. The 2007 Nisour Square shootings by State’s security contractors, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed, marked one of the low points of the war. Now, State will be commanding a much larger security presence, the equivalent of a heavy combat brigade. In July, Danger Room exclusively reported that the Department blocked the Congressionally-appointed watchdog for Iraq from acquiring basic information about contractor security operations, such as the contractors’ rules of engagement.
Iraq Postpones Demilitarizing Cities
Antiwar.com reports (October 9th): The Iraqi government says it is postponing withdrawing army troops from its cities over concerns that local or federal police cannot handle security yet. The pullout was planned for the end of the year when U.S. troops are scheduled to withdraw from Iraq too. Although most U.S. troops would ostensibly be going home (pending more deal-making), the Iraqi soldiers would instead be moving their operations to bases outside the cities.
Daily Life
Uranium and other contaminants in hair from the parents of children with congenital anomalies in Fallujah, Iraq
Conflict and Health report (September 2011): Recent reports have drawn attention to increases in congenital birth anomalies and cancer in Fallujah
Iraq blamed on teratogenic, genetic and genomic stress thought to result from depleted Uranium contamination following the battles in the town in 2004. Contamination of the parents of the children and of the environment by Uranium and other elements was investigated using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.
Findings suggest the enriched Uranium exposure is either a primary cause or related to the cause of the congenital anomaly and cancer increases. Questions are thus raised about the characteristics and composition of weapons now being deployed in modern battlefields.
Lack of resources stalls opening of Iraq Museum
Azzaman reports (October 9th): Apart from a short period in 2009, Iraq’s National Museum has been shut since the 2003-U.S. invasion, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Abdulzahra al-Talaqani, said the Antiquities Department had to close the museum’s doors, following a short opening in February, 2009, due to lack of allocations and resources.
Talaqani said the government had made no special allocations to rehabilitate the museum which was looted and parts of it burned in the chaos that followed the invasion.
Hopes dim to change Iraq laws to protect women
AP reports (October 11th): Iraqi experts believe that domestic abuse has increased during the years of war and economic hardship since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But attempts to strengthen laws to protect women have gone nowhere in the face of heavy cultural and religious resistance.
The World Health Organization has estimated that one in five Iraqi women has reported being a victim of domestic violence, and experts say the rate is much higher. Government officials say for the time being there's little hope that laws giving men wide rights to "discipline" their wives will be changed.
Iraq okays executions of 53, including five foreigners
AFP reports (October 21st): Iraq's presidency approved on Thursday the executions of 53 people, including five foreigners, according to the head of the presidency council office.
Unreported Afghanistan
UN report documents systematic torture of Afghan detainees
WSWS reports (October 12th): A report released Monday by the United Nations documents what it calls "systematic" torture at Afghan government prisons of suspected insurgents captured by US, NATO and Afghan authorities.
Based on interviews with 379 randomly selected prisoners conducted between October 2010 and August 2011, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) document describes savage and sadistic treatment of nearly half of those who were interrogated by the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and a third of those who were held by the Afghanistan National Police (ANP). Both agencies are funded and trained by the United States.
US-led forces kill Afghan farmer
Press TV reports (October 9th): The US-led forces have killed a 60-year-old Afghan farmer in an overnight raid in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, Press TV reports.Tribal leaders have confirmed to Press TV that the victim was a 60-year-old farmer and had no links with militants.
Afghan teacher, two daughters killed by NATO-led forces
M&C reports (October 16th): A teacher and two of his daughters were killed late Saturday, allegedly in an operation by the NATO-led international forces in central Wardak province, an official said.
