Iraq (& Afghanistan) News
IRAQ's Growing Government-Hostility to Christianity
IRAQ: THE PERSECUTION OF MANDAEANS
The Creation of the Taliban: Hidden History ?
Charlie's war, act two
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - July 19/05 - Today's media have all but forgotten that the emergence of Afghanistan's Taliban can be largely attributed to the policies of
[certain intelligence agencies] and a hard-drinking, party-loving Texas congressman who helped funnel billions of dollars in arms to "freedom fighters" like Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
In the 1980s, Charles Wilson, a colorful and powerful Democrat from East Texas, was a member of a Congressional appropriations sub-committee. From that position of power he funneled billions of dollars in secret funding...
Iraq: Christians Face Threats From All Sides
By Kathleen Ridolfo
Christians in a Baghdad church
July 3/05 - (RFE) - As Iraqis work to draft a permanent constitution that may deem Islam a source of legislation for the country, the Christian community faces the prospect of a life where they may worship freely, but will have little representation or benefits from government.
The protest by Christians from a number of Iraqi towns and villages in northern Iraq
who were not afforded the vote in January's elections
has been well documented. Ballot boxes never arrived at polling stations in several towns, and an investigation carried out by the Independent Election Commission deemed that it would not allow the vote to take place at a later date. The National Assembly election resulted in six Christians gaining seats in the parliament; Christians argued they were entitled to twice as many seats.
Many of Iraq's Christians see their plight in ever-disheartening terms, and view their fate as part of a history in which their community has suffered at the hands of more dominant groups in Iraq.
Since the fall of the Hussein regime, Christians have been targeted in bombings against churches, shrines, hair salons, and liquor stores. Christian women and children were routinely kidnapped and held for exorbitant ransoms. Muslim zealots have forced women to veil in markets, universities, and schools, some Christians claim.
A 26 June report in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) daily "Kurdsitani
Nuwe" contends that many families have sought shelter from the attacks in the
PUK-controlled areas of eastern Kurdistan. Other families -- as many as 40,000 people according to some reports -- have migrated to foreign countries, most notably Syria.
Those families who relocated to PUK areas are considered internally displaced people, and PUK head and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has ordered the Kurdistan local government to provide these families with plots of land, homes, and employment, according to the report.
Assyrians living in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)-controlled area of western Kurdistan also experience good relations with their Kurdish neighbors. However, some Assyrians claim there is tension between them and the
KDP. The tension appears directly related to aspirations by some Assyrians for an autonomous self-administered area comprising their towns and villages in northern Iraq. Residents of these villages and towns have claimed that the KDP has not allowed for the implementation of Article 53 of the Transitional Administrative Law issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority last year that states: "This law shall guarantee the administrative, cultural, and political rights of the
Turkomans, Chaldo-Assyrians, and all other citizens."
The villages in question further claim that the KDP government has not distributed revenues to their towns, and they want their fair share. U.S.-based Freedom House's Nina Shea has supported the claim, saying Kurdish administrators have withheld U.S. reconstruction funds from
Chaldo-Assyrian areas and confiscated Christian farms and villages, iht.com reported on 14 March.
Christians south of the Kurdistan region face greater difficulties. More than 20 churches have been bombed since the fall of the Hussein regime. Purported Islamist militants have kidnapped, killed, and in some cases beheaded Christians.
Insurgent propaganda in Iraq has always portrayed U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq as "Christian Crusaders" who have made Iraq the first stop in their quest to conquer the Arab world and destroy Islam. The comparison has left Christians in Iraq more vulnerable to insurgent attacks. However, it appears until now to have had little impact on Iraqis' views of indigenous Christians.
There is a growing fear among Christians in Iraq, however, that proselytizing evangelical Christians who entered the country after the war may inflict the most harm on the Christian communities. Christian leaders are worried about their congregations dwindling after the mass exodus of Christians before and after the war. Moreover, proselytizing has never been accepted among Muslims in Iraq and religious communities have long practiced a policy of not trying to convert other religions to their fold. Indigenous leaders fear the practice may strain Muslim-Christian relations.
"The way the preachers arrived here...with soldiers...was not a good thing," the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, Jean Sleiman told washingtonpost.com on 23 June. "I think they had the intention that they could convert Muslims, though Christians didn't do it here for 2,000 years," he continued, adding: "In the end, they are seducing Christians from other churches." Sleiman posited that new churches were creating a "new division" among Iraq's Christians because they impacted the cultural tradition of Christians there.
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) addressed the issue of Kurdish Muslims who have converted to Christianity in recent months through the efforts of evangelicals in a 29 June report. Converts told IWPR that the Muslim community tends to ostracize converts. "I consider that those who turn to Christianity pose a threat to society," said Muhammad Ahmad
Gaznayi, Kurdish religious affairs minister. The Kurdistan Islamic League has called the practice an "unhealthy phenomenon" and a "strange and terrible act," IWPR reported.
U.S. Saving Iraq...for IRAN...
Iraq goes courting in Iran
By Safa Haeri
PARIS - July 19/05 - ATimes - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has taken the first important steps in the sensitive process of normalizing relations with former foe and rival Iran. His three-day official visit to Tehran, which ended on Monday, was "very important and significant", say senior Iranian analysts.
Jaafari arrived in Tehran on Saturday, soon after his defense minister visited, taking with him a large political and economic delegation
primed to rebuild ties between the two Shi'ite-dominated countries, which fought an eight-year war in the 1980s.
The visit comes three weeks after the surprise victory of Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Iran's presidential elections and less than a month before the new leader takes over from President Mohammad Khatami. "The timing of this visit, delayed twice because of the Iranian presidential elections, is very important. It has certainly been approved and even encouraged by Washington," observed Alireza Nourizadeh, a veteran Iranian journalist based in London, speaking to Radio Farda (Tomorrow) the Persian service of Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.
Iraqi Assyrians: Barometer of Pluralism
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Expert Mistrusts Polls Showing Public Support for Homosexuals in Military
By Chad Groening
April 18, 2005
(AgapePress) - A conservative military watchdog says she does not agree with several media polls that show increased public acceptance for allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military.
Associated Press recently reported that more than six in ten Americans support the idea of homosexuals serving in the military, while only five in ten supported that idea a decade ago. However, Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness says those results are distorted because many people mistakenly believe that homosexuals are already eligible to serve in America's armed forces.
Donnelly contends that other statistics exist to bear this out. "Another poll that was done among military members recently found that, among the military -- where knowledge of the law is more prevalent than it is in the civilian world -- the opposition level is three to one. So I think we have to take that into consideration," she says.
The military readiness expert also disputes the argument from homosexual activists and their supporters that the U.S. military needs homosexual soldiers in order to meet recruiting goals.
"If you want to make recruiting troubles worse," she asserts, "then all you have to do is repeal the law on gays in the military. The American people would not stand for that. I think our values certainly are reflected in that law."
Donnelly feels the Pentagon needs to make it clear that homosexuals are not eligible to serve in the military. She points out that knowing what the existing laws state has a profound influence on how people respond to questions about military policy changes -- something she learned while serving on the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Services.
htp://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/182005f.asp
BBC - Ap 5/05 - The US has named Zalmay Khalilzad as its next ambassador to Iraq.
Mr Khalilzad has spent the past 16 months in the same role in Afghanistan, where he has urged fighters still loyal to the Taleban to lay down their arms.
His appointment, which requires confirmation by the US Senate, was announced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Mr Khalilzad was widely tipped to take the job after incumbent John Negroponte was appointed US intelligence director.
"I am pleased to announce the president's intention to nominate Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to be our next ambassador to Iraq," Ms Rice said.
Mr Khalilzad was born in Afghanistan and served as US special envoy to the country in the aftermath of the 2001 ousting of the Taleban regime.
BBC - Ap 4/05 - Hajim al-Hassani may have been voted in as speaker of Iraq's parliament more because of who he is not, rather than who he is.
The grey-bearded 50-year-old took the position reserved for a Sunni Arab by a large majority of 215 votes out of 241 deputies present.
He was one of only two Sunni Arab MPs who were acceptable for the high profile, but largely powerless post.
The rest were either members of the Shia list - or had connections with
the former Saddam Hussein regime which was unacceptable to Shia deputies who hold a majority in the parliament.
The only other possible candidate - outgoing President Ghazi Yawer - had ruled himself out.
Exile
Born in Kirkuk and a graduate of Mosul university, Mr Hassani moved to the United States in 1979 and spent most of his working life there.
He has degrees in agriculture and economics from the universities of Nebraska and Connecticut.
He then spent 12 years working in Los Angeles, where he became head of an investment and trading company.
During that time he became an activist in the anti-Saddam opposition and rose through the ranks of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood movement
Baghdad Shopkeepers Kill Three Militants
BAGHDAD, Iraq -Mar 22/05 - Shopkeepers and residents on one of Baghdad's main streets pulled out their own guns Tuesday and killed three insurgents when hooded men began shooting at passers-by, giving a rare victory to civilians increasingly frustrated by the violence bleeding Iraq
The clash in the capital's southern Doura neighborhood erupted when militants in three cars sprayed bullets at shoppers, Interior Ministry officials said. Three people — a man, a woman and a child — were wounded.
The motive was unclear, but there have been previous attacks in the ethnically mixed neighborhood. Earlier in the day, gunmen in the same quarter killed a policeman as he drove to work, police Lt. Col. Hafidh Al-Ghrayri said.
A forceful citizen response is rare, but not unheard of in a country where conflict has become commonplace and the law allows each home to have a weapon. Early this month, police said townsmen in Wihda, 25 miles south of Baghdad, attacked a group of militants believed planning to raid the town and killed seven.
Tuesday's gunbattle came as seven-member U.S. congressional delegation paid a one-day visit to Baghdad, and the man expected to serve as the next prime minister, Shiite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari, reportedly told the group he is in no hurry for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
Iraq Legislators Vow to Uphold Democracy
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Mar 16/05 - Two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi legislators were sworn in Wednesday as members of the 275-seat National Assembly, vowing to uphold freedom and democracy. But before taking their oath, they had to endure mortar barrages and wailing air raid sirens as insurgents made their presence felt.
The deputies failed to set a date to reconvene, did not elect a speaker or even nominate a president and vice president — all of which they had hoped to do. Instead, the session was spent celebrating the moment, and the enormous obstacles Iraq has overcome.
"This day marks a new birth for all Iraqis. It marks the birth of the parliament," said Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shiite politician expected to be Iraq's next prime minister.
Many of the new deputies wore traditional robes trimmed in gold, and mingled with austere Shiite clerics in black robes and turbans. Men thought to be pegged for government jobs mostly wore tan or gray suits, while nearly all the 85 women lawmakers wore headscarves.
Absent from the assembly hall were large numbers of Sunni Arabs, thought to make up the core of the insurgency. Sunnis, who were favored under Saddam's regime, mostly stayed away from the national elections — either to honor a boycott call or because of fears of being attacked at the polls by militants.
Mar 16/05 - BBC -The reconstruction of post-war Iraq is in danger of becoming "the biggest corruption scandal in history", Transparency International has warned.
The anti-corruption body said urgent steps were needed to ensure that corruption did not become endemic.
Publishing its annual report, TI said there was evidence of "high levels" of corruption in post-war Iraq.
The Iraqi government, coalition forces and foreign donors must be more "aggressive" on corruption, it said.
'Strong measures'
Foreign contractors should be bound by anti-corruption laws while the management of Iraq's oil revenues needed to be much more transparent and accountable, Transparency International said in its Global Corruption Report 2005.
"Strong and immediate measures must be taken to address corruption before the real spending on reconstruction starts," it said.
Iraq has so far failed to learn the lessons of post-war reconstruction in Cambodia, Congo and Afghanistan, TI said, where a combination of weak government, thriving black markets, and a legacy of patronage allowed corruption to flourish.
Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, bribery has taken place at all levels of government while officials within the Coalition Provisional Authority, contractors and ministry staff have admitted to corruption.
According to Transparency International, the former regime's control of the economy left a legacy of corruption which survived its collapse.
'Secret process'
However, the body is critical of the United States' handling of the reconstruction process, arguing that its process for awarding public contracts was secretive and favoured a small number of large firms.
Its comments echo those of the International Advistory and Monitoring Board, a United Nations body, which in December criticised the CPA for awarding contracts to oil services firm Halliburton and other firms without a competitive process.
Sept 24/04 - Halliburton said it will restructure and may even sell its Kellogg, Brown and Root subsidiary, the business at the root of recent controversy.
KBR, an engineering and construction business, has come under scrutiny over contracts in Iraq and employee corruption in Nigeria.
Halliburton will decide on the future of KBR once it has settled the unit's $4.2bn (£3.2bn) asbestos claims bill.
It will favour a sale if the overhaul fails to boost the share price.
'Frustrating'
"We're looking for improvement in the near term," said Halliburton chief financial officer Chris Gaut.
First Tibetan US soldier dies in Iraq
Shias reach deal to
form Iraqi government
In the five weeks since elections were held, on January 30, various factions have jostled for influence in Iraq's first democratic government in modern times.
The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), backed by the powerful Shia clergy, won 140 out of the 275 seats that will make up the new national assembly, which is to convene on March 16.
Although it has more than half the seats, the alliance needs the 75 seats won by the Kurds to muster the two-third majority required to elect a president and secure its choice for prime minister.
Today, after days of negotiations, the two groups announced a deal after reaching agreement on demands made by the Kurds for their support.
The (UIA) has given an assurance that a new government will begin talks on the return of around 100,000 deported Kurds to the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. The deal also involves promises to redraw the existing Kurdish regions, where the Kurds already have a large degree of autonomy, to include Kirkuk.
The redrawing of the regions will be incorporated into Iraq's new constitution, which it is hoped will be written by the end of the year.
Fuad Masoum, a member of the Kurdish coalition, said: "We agreed to solve the issue [of Kirkuk] in two steps. In the first step, the new government is committed to normalising the situation in Kirkuk. The other step, regarding annexing Kirkuk to Kurdistan, is to be left until the writing of the constitution."
The party, which won the 30 January election with 48% of the vote, was allocated 140 seats.
The Kurdish parties, which came second in the poll, have 75 seats and interim PM Iyad Allawi's party gets 40 seats.
The new 275-seat National Assembly will now have to choose a president and two vice-presidents, who will then decide on a prime minister and cabinet.
'Extremely successful'
Chief UN election adviser, Carlos Valenzuela, congratulated those involved with making the election happen.
"The elections were not perfect, they were never meant to be, but they were extremely successful," he said.
Iraqi exile voters put Chaldean-Assyrian Christian in New Iraqi assembly
BAGHDAD, Iraq -Feb 16/05 - Yonadam Kanna owes his seat in the new Iraqi National Assembly to people from places such as Detroit and San Jose, Calif., who voted for his slate in the Jan. 30 elections.
Without the 18,538 votes he received from expatriates, Kanna's slate would have been about 12,000 votes short of the number required to secure a seat in the assembly. Though more than 260,000 expatriates voted, Kanna's National Two Rivers slate is one of only three that received more than half their votes from abroad, and it's the only one that owes its seat on the assembly to expatriate votes.
Kanna said that isn't surprising: Generations of persecution sent many of his constituents into exile. The Two Rivers slate represents the Chaldo-Assyrians, a small Christian minority here that speaks a modern-day version of Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
"There were a lot of irregularities everywhere - we were expecting 10 or 12 seats - but still we are happy because the democratic process has begun," Kanna said, sitting in his office in a vast compound once occupied by a brutal security force run by one of Saddam Hussein's sons.
The irony of his office location delights Kanna, who said he was twice sentenced to death for opposing Saddam's regime.
"Three hundred thousand criminals trained here," he said. "There are torture rooms here."
Kanna recounted stories of family members killed, Christian churches and monasteries burned and villages destroyed during Saddam's "faith campaign" in the 1990s.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Voting
"Irregularities" Suggest IRAQ falling into IRANIAN SPHERE OF
INFLUENCE ???
MASSIVE IRAQI ELECTION FRAUD - ORCHESTRATED
IN TEHRAN!
(Too Soon to Say)
By Ken Joseph Jr.
Special to ASSIST News Service
BAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) -- I will never forget standing at the bedside and praying
with the dying Shah of Iran in Cairo, Egypt. His dear friend, President Anwar
Sadat had provided him with one of his palaces in Cairo.
Clearly weakening he spoke of all things he wished he had done differently,
but I will never forget two things.
First, he said, "All I wanted was to bring my people into the 20th
century and see them enjoy the fruits of the modern world. I wanted to do it
in my lifetime and did it too fast."
Second he continued, "My biggest regret is what will happen now! If it
were even the communists taking over after me I would not be so worried - at
least they would be progressive - it is the mullahs! They will turn my country
back 500 years!"
As I watched the election results coming out of Iraq I remembered his words
from July of 1980. How prophetic they were, not only for Iran but for Iraq as
well.
In a meeting recently with the President of Iraq he confirmed that up to one
million Iranians had come across the border into Iraq. More recent figures --
all unconfirmed of course put the number up to 4 million.
It is believed that these were provided with false registration and provide
much of the basis for the unusually high voting percentages.
Having been in Iraq since before the war I, along with all other Iraqis saw
firsthand the process of the "Iranization" of Iraq.
We begged the CPA Administrators to close the border and stop the Iranian
Television Station which still beams vicious propaganda into Iraqi homes.
While I, along with others, rejoiced at the purported high voting figures for
Iraq as I saw them come in and compared them to the reports of massive voter
suppression in the non-shia areas of Iraq, I remembered the Shah’s words and
the words of President Yawar of Iraq.
The voting figures are simply shocking! The Assyrian Christian who had at
least 700,000 in Iraq as well as an equal number overseas are credited with
only 32,000 votes!
The United Iraqi Alliance, (Further
Below on United Iraqi Alliance) the Iranian front organization to which
the fraudulent votes went reported a voting tally of 4,075,295 -- absolutely
impossible, particularly when you are in Iraq and Iraqis across the board are
very clear that they do not want in any form the mullahs in government.
The Kurdistan Alliance from where most of the Assyrian Christian votes were
"stolen," again comes up with an impossible tally -- 2,175,551!
Impossible from the numbers and right if you factor in the "stolen"
votes from the Assyrians, Yezidis and others in Kurdistan.
As an Assyrian Christian, the original people of Iraq we experienced the exact
opposite.
I warned our people over and over to oppose the election as the voting process
was not being done correctly.
First, the voting of overseas Iraqis was opposed by the United Nations until
the very end. I spoke with Mr. Carlos Valenzuela in charge of the election as
late as November and he adamantly said, "There will be no voting for
overseas Iraqis."
It was under great duress that they were held and they were purposely designed
to suppress the voting of overseas Iraqi for a very simple reason -- in the US
for example approximately 85% of all Iraqis are in fact not Moslem but
Assyrian Christians.
The number of international election observers in Iraq was approximately 70,
with none leaving their bases to actually inspect the electoral system.
Electoral boxes were stuffed with voting papers, obviously just dumped into
the boxes at random.
It is worse in Iraq! Just as I expected voting in the Assyrian Christian area
of Iraq was suppressed. The Iraqi Independent Electoral High Commission
publicly acknowledged that out of 330 voting stations in the Assyrian
Administrative Area only 93 were opened denying the vote to nearly 300,000
Assyrian Christians.
Voting materials were not delivered to the districts of Al-Hamdaniya (Qaraqosh-Baghdeda),
Karamlesh, Bartilla County, Bashiqa, Bahzani, and the district of Al-Shikhan (Ain-Safni),
which have a population of 300,000.
While on one hand Iran sent in between one and four million people to
fraudulently vote to turn Iraq into the Islamic Republic of Iraq on the other
hand up to 800,000 Assyrian Christians both in and outside of Iraq were denied
the vote.
I ask the simple question that I have asked now for nearly two years -- did
1,400 young men and women die to create the Islamic Republic of Iraq?
The fault lies squarely in one court - the United Nation. The United Nations
has done all in it power to assist the transformation of Iraq into an Islamic
republic.
The initial plan of the United States, as it did in Japan and Germany, was to
have a constitution written, elections based on that constitution and then a
government in place and then the handover were stopped due to the pressure
of the UN whom Iraqis despise to this day for having worked hand in hand with
Saddam Hussein.
The ultimate irony would be for Iraq to turn into another Iran and be worse
off than it ever was.
The Assyrian Christians, the indigenous people of Iraq are the "canary in
the mine." If the International Community and the United States in
particularly do not immediately demand the right for this precious minority -
one of the last Christian groups in the Middle East to be able vote and to
have their Assyrian Administrative Area as provided for in the current Iraqi
Constitution the future of freedom, democracy and the rule of law in the
Middle East is for all practical purposes over.
Whether one was for or against the war, nobody believes the sacrifice of 1,400
young men and women was to create the Islamic Republic of Iraq.
Having paid in blood for the liberation of Iraq the United States has the
right to demand that the government of Iraq be democratic and free, the
Assyrian Administrative Region for the Assyrian Christians and article 7,
which says, "Islam is the religion of the nation" be removed. If not
than 1,400 young men and women will have died in vain!
I can never forget the sad and broken eyes of the late Shah of Iran as he
spoke of his country. What he had intended for good had resulted in the
opposite -- instead of moving forward -- Iran moved backward as he had
predicted 500 years.
We must not make the same mistake in Iraq!
BAGHDAD (AFP) -Feb 15/05 - The Shiite
list which won Iraq (news
- web
sites)'s elections agreed on Vice President Ibrahim Jaafari as its
candidate for the premiership, as parties continued to haggle over the makeup
of the next executive.
In Washington, US President George W. Bush asked lawmakers for 81.9
billion dollars for the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as
for Indian Ocean tsunami relief.
And one of Turkey's richest businessmen, who was taken hostage in Iraq
almost two months ago, has been freed, the foreign ministry in Ankara said.
Jaafari, the man now poised to succeed Iyad Allawi and become Iraq's
first elected premier since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in April
2003, is a popular politician who heads the country's oldest Shiite party,
Dawa.
"In two or three days it will probably be announced that Mr Jaafari
is the candidate for the premiership. We anticipate this to happen in a few
days," Jaafari's deputy, Adnan Ali, told AFP.
A source from the rival Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq confirmed that its own candidate, Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, had
dropped out of the race.
"Doctor Jaafari was chosen after discussions with the other lists
and agreement on this question was reached yesterday (Monday)," said
United Iraqi Alliance candidate and SCIRI member Janan al-Obeidi.
BBC - Jan 29/05 - Iraq will not have a Shia-dominated government after Sunday's elections, Iraq's national security adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie has said.
Mr Rubaie said the transitional government would be a broad coalition, with "meaningful" Sunni representation.
He said Iraq would not be a theocracy, because the constitution, yet to be drafted, would reflect the country's many religious and ethnic groups.
Mr Rubaie was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Iraqi Shiite leader Ali al-Sistani
Iraq Shiite unveil Goal:
leaders demand Islam be the Main source of law
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq 's Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and another top cleric staked out a radical demand that Islam be the sole source of legislation in the country's new constitution.
One cleric issued a statement setting out the position and the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shiites made it known straight away that he backed demands for the Koran to be the reference point for legislation.
The national assembly formed after last month's historic elections is to oversee the drawing up of the new constitution and Sistani is the figurehead of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance expected to become the largest single bloc.
The role of Islam has been at the heart of months of debate between rival parties and factions as well as the US-led occupation authority which administered Iraq until last June.
Sistani leads the five most important clerics, known as marja al-taqlid, or objects of emulation, who had portrayed a more moderate stance going into the election.
The surprise statement was released by Sheikh Ibrahim Ibrahimi, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ishaq al-Fayad, another of the marja.
"All of the ulema (clergy) and marja, and the majority of the Iraqi people, want the national assembly to make Islam the source of legislation in the permanent constitution and to reject any law that is contrary to Islam," said the statement.
A source close to Sistani announced soon after the release of the statement that the spiritual leader backed the demand.
"The marja has priorities concerning the formation of the government and the constitution. It wants the source of legislation to be Islam," said the source.
"We advise the government not to take decisions which would shock Muslims, such as the conscription of Muslims and the publication of their photos with foreign instructors," Ibrahimi went on his statement.
"We warn officials against a separation of the state and religion, because this is completely rejected by the ulema and marja and we will accept no compromise on this question.
"If they (the government) want the stability and security of the country, they must not touch the country's Islamic values and traditions," the sheikh said.
The role of Islam was a particular sticking point when an interim constitution was drawn up under the US-led occupation.
After often acrimonious debate and the threat of a veto by US administrator Paul Bremer, the final version completed in March last year said that Islam should be "a source" of legislation.
No law that "contradicts the universally agreed tenets of Islam" would be accepted, said the final draft of the so-called "fundamental law".
Sistani and the other top clerics mainly live in the central holy city of Najaf.
On top of Sistani and Fayad, there are the ayatollahs Bashir al-Najafi and Mohammad Said Hakim. A fifth, Ayatollah Kazem al-Hairi, lives in Iran.
Source
Here
Shia (Shiites) hold lead in Iraqi election
BBC - Feb 7/05 - Further partial results from Iraq's landmark election show Shia parties strengthening their lead.
The Shia United Iraqi Alliance list so far has more than twice the votes of the second-placed Kurdish alliance.
The Shia alliance has even taken a surprise lead in the province of Salaheddin, which includes the majority Sunni cities of Samarra and Tikrit.
Meanwhile, officials have confirmed irregularities in Mosul, saying more than 15,000 people were denied a vote.
Commission official Izzedine al-Mahmoudi said some people in the northern city and surrounding province were unable to cast ballots because voting materials ran out and election staff failed to turn up.
Some polling stations were also raided by gunmen, he said.
The electoral commission says it has received more than 100 complaints of irregularities, and has formed an independent team of three lawyers to investigate.
Sunni boycott
The election commission announced partial results from 13 of the country's 18 provinces on Monday.
They showed that the United Iraqi Alliance had about 2.3 million votes, with a coalition of Iraq's two main Kurdish parties winning around 1.1 million.
The secular bloc led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had about 620,000.
IRAQ-VOTE-POLITICS-SHIITE-CELEBRATE
BAGHDAD (IRAQ), 02/05 (AFP) - Iraqi Shiite muslims celebrate their "169" party victory inside Buratha Shiite mosque decorated with candles, the symbol of the party, in Baghdad 05 February 2005. According to results announced 04 February, the United Iraqi Alliance list backed by Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has over 2.2 million out of 3.3 million votes counted.
Classic Middle East Power Grab
Iraq Sunnis demand US exit timetable as price for rejoining mainstream
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Feb 5/05 - Iraq's leading Sunni clerics group has demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops as the price of their participation in drawing up a new constitution, as more than 20 people were reportedly killed.
Italy meanwhile scrambled to secure the release of a woman reporter kidnapped in Baghdad, a day after an ultimatum posted on an Islamist website gave Rome 72 hours to order a pullout of its 3,000 troops.
Following talks with UN special envoy Ashraf Qazi, the Committee of Muslim Scholars said Saturday it was willing to take part in drafting a new constitution provided a consensus was found on a date for the departure of US-led troops.
"We told him (Qazi) that we had conditions and that we would discuss them with the parties that boycotted the polls and would put forward a common stance," said spokesman Omar Ragheb.
"These demands focus on reaching a consensus with all political parties on a withdrawal of foreign forces," he added.
The committee, which persuaded the main Sunni religious faction, the Islamic Party, to boycott last Sunday's election, hinted that it would press Sunni Arab insurgents to abandon their campaign of violence if its demands were met.
"Then, the country's elders will tell the resistance: 'No need to spill more blood'," Ragheb said.
Many observers believe that the constitution, which the national assembly is supposed to draw up, will only command nationwide respect if the Sunni Arab elite that dominated all previous governments, is drawn into the process.
Italy was meanwhile rocked by a new hostage crisis following Friday's abduction of Giuliana Sgrena, 56, correspondent for the leftist Il Manifesto.
Iraqi Election Commission Says Main Shi'ite Coalition Maintains Strong Showing
Feb 4/05 - VOA -The Iraqi election commission says the main Shi'ite coalition has maintained a strong showing in Sunday's landmark elections.
Partial results show the United Iraqi Alliance, which has the support of influential Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, with 2.2 million of the 3.3 million votes counted so far.
The party of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is in second place with less than 20 percent support.
The results so far are from mainly Shi'ite regions, and a complete tabulation is not expected for another week.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed Thursday when a troop convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul.
AFGHAN PRESIDENT VISITS EASTERN IRAN.
Feb 4/05 -RFERL - President Hamid Karzai, accompanied by his Iranian counterpart, Hojatoleslam Mohammad
Khatami, traveled to Iran's eastern Khorasan Province on 27 January, international news agencies reported. While there they inaugurated the new highway linking Herat and
Dogharun. Karzai said at the ceremony, "Today, with the inauguration of the
Herat-Dogharun road, not only do we facilitate travel and transit for the people of Afghanistan and Iran but also for our neighboring countries," Radio Farda reported. "Peace and stability in Afghanistan and the reconstruction of Afghanistan are in the interests of Afghanistan, its neighboring countries, and the region." Officials from the two countries signed cooperation documents relating to the highway's inauguration, Iran's provision of electricity to Herat Province, and the construction of checkpoints along the border. On 26 January, IRNA reported, the handover of seven such checkpoints along the shared border of Iran's South Khorasan Province and Afghanistan's Farah Province took place. Farah Governor Asadollah Falah expressed his gratitude.
Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Iranian Influence grows in afghanistan
Will Islamization move Even Faster ? Afghan-Iranian highway opens
(Half of Afghanistan Economy to move through Iranian Highway)
BBC - Jan 27/05 - The Afghan and Iranian presidents have opened a major road linking their two countries as part of reconstruction efforts aimed at boosting trade.
It is estimated the $60m Dogharun-Herat road, paid for by Iran, will carry over half of Afghan imports and
exports.
The highway has been called a modern day "silk route" and it is hoped it will eventually link the whole of Asia.
Afghanistan's illegal drugs trade and its leaders' close ties with the US have tested relations with
Iran
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Iran to inaugurate the road and a power line is his first official trip since being elected last year.
"This is a very important step on the way to Afghanistan's reconstruction," he said at a ceremony on at Dogharun on Iran's eastern frontier.
Following the Afghan drugs trail:
Reality not the same as progressive image shown on
Mainstream TV Networks
BBC - Nov 18/04 - The Afghan drugs trade is growing so fast some fear the country could become a narco-state, where drugs barons rule, not the government.
Earlier this year, Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, visited the country to assess the situation, touring north and western Afghanistan before meeting President Karzai and other leaders in Kabul.
ELECTIONS IN IRAQ
5000+ Polling & Voting Locations
ELECTIONS A SUCCESS
IRAQIS RISK THEIR LIVES TO VOTE & SEND MESSAGE
SUICIDE BOMBINGS & EXPLOSIVES VERY LIMITED
HEAVY TURNOUT
Hungry to vote in Iraqi Kurdistan
BBC- Jan 29/04 - In a mountain hamlet so small and remote that it does not even have a name, Aisha was drawing water from the outside standpipe which supplies her family of eight and her neighbours in the cluster of mud-brick houses.
The spectacular ranges which crowd the horizon were mantled in snow.
"Of course we'll all be voting in the elections," she said.
"If the weather's good, we'll go by
car. If not, we'll have to walk through the snow. We're doing it for our own good, for the future of the Kurds."
In 10 days of travelling through Iraqi Kurdistan, I did not meet a single person who did not intend to go to the polls in the first Iraqi election since the downfall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Kurds turned out in their masses to elect their own Kurdistan National Assembly in 1992, demonstrating a huge hunger for democracy and self-expression.
That same eagerness is now focused on winning the biggest possible bloc of seats for Kurdistan in the new Iraqi parliament in Baghdad.
'National duty'
Because of the proportional representation system adopted, the scale of the turnout determines the number of seats allocated to each list contesting the polls.
This persuaded the two main Kurdish parties - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to shelve their normal rivalry and form a United Kurdistan Coalition with Turcoman, Assyrian, Islamic and other parties.
Institutional Islam Expresses Pessimism about Elections
Jan 29/05 - BBC - Reports and editorials in Middle East newspapers show widespread gloom peppered with stark warnings on the eve of Iraq's landmark election.
Some papers depict a "path of fire" or speak of booby-traps and political minefields ready to explode in voters' faces.
But there's a flicker of hope amid the uncertainty, especially in Iraqi Kurdish and Iranian pro-Shia newspapers.
Iraq 'will not be Shia-run state' - Jury Still Out
Jan 29/05- BBC - Iraq will not have a Shia-dominated government after Sunday's elections, Iraq's national security adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie has said.
Mr Rubaie said the transitional government would be a broad coalition, with "meaningful" Sunni representation.
He said Iraq would not be a theocracy, because the constitution, yet to be drafted, would reflect the country's many religious and ethnic groups.
Mr Rubaie was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Also in Davos, US Senator John McCain said "some pretty horrific things" might happen on Sunday, but promised the US would "stay the course".
"The insurgents know that if we can pull off the election, then their days are numbered," he said.
'No Shia state'
Mr Rubaie, who is expected to be a prominent member of the next government, said if Sunnis were "not well represented... we have a mechanism to make up for this deficiency".
He also assured Sunnis that "we have no intention to have a religious state in Iraq, to have a Shia state in Iraq".
"Religion is going to have a strong role, but it is going to be an advisory role, not a supervisory role," he said.
Mr Rubaie is a close adviser of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, and is known to meet Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, at least once a week.
Ayatollah Sistani is "one of the most ardent democrats that I have ever met", Mr Rubaie said.
 |
Are Elections In Kurdistan A Done Deal?
By Kathleen Ridolfo
Jan 30/05 -RFERL - The
Kurdish areas in northern Iraq are hardly a model for self-rule. After
almost 14 years of autonomy and 12 years after the Kurdish parliament
first convened, Kurds will cast their ballots to elect a new parliament
in the north on 30 January. But it appears that democratic evolution in
Kurdistan has been stifled by the corruption and nepotism of the two
main Kurdish parties, which have dominated Kurdistan politics since
1991.
In December 2004, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) announced that they had formed a joint list for
the Kurdistan parliamentary elections that also includes about nine
smaller parties. Numerous Iraqi and western media reports indicated that
the agreement includes a deal in which the KDP and PUK would split about
80 percent of the 111 parliamentary seats (at 41 seats each) and divide
the remaining seats among the parties on their list.
The agreement has caused uproar among the other lists competing in the
elections, while media reports indicate voter apathy ahead of the
election. Assos Herdi, the editor of the weekly "Hawlati,"
said of the vote: "What we are facing now is not a democratic
election, but a sort of single-party referendum," "The Globe
and Mail" reported on 6 January. Student Sa'id Muhammad said:
"It's like George Bush and John Kerry running together against
Ralph Nader," referring to the three U.S. presidential candidates
from November's election.
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (http://www.iwpr.net) reported
on 19 December 2004 that members of the smaller political parties said
that the dual government system (led by the two main parties) now in
place in Kurdistan, the lack of an active Kurdish parliament, and the
abuse of power by the KDP and PUK have all contributed to eroded
confidence among the electorate.
Kurdish officials have argued that the list was necessary to solidify
support for the more important Iraqi National Assembly election.
Communist Party candidate Dler Muhammad Sharif told Inter Press Service
news agency that the agreement reached among the parties on the list is
not in itself a good thing, adding that "democracy hasn't really
taken root in Iraq yet." "We should be arguing on the basis of
ideology, but right now we think the case of Kurds is in a threatened
position. That's why we have decided to be on the same slate as Kurdish
parties," the news agency reported on 26 January.
Interim Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, who served as prime minister
in the Kurdistan Regional Government before his appointment to the
interim Iraqi government, acknowledged to AP last year that parties in
Kurdistan need to clean up their acts. "With Saddam Hussein gone,
and with the opportunity of building a federal democratic Iraq and after
12 years of self-government, we no longer can use Saddam Hussein [as an
excuse] for maintaining some of the unacceptable ways of politics,"
Salih said. He said voters in Kurdistan want "political reforms
genuinely fighting corruption [and] eliminating cronyism and
nepotism."
There are a handful of other lists competing in the Kurdistan
parliamentary elections; some of the groups have complained about the
KDP-PUK agreement. Fereydun Rifiq Hilmi of the Independent List
criticized the agreement and the list system in general in a 3 December
2004 article posted on kurdistanobserver.com. "The problem is our
people, who have no previous experience of democracy, are easily duped
into thinking that this is what is meant by democracy," Hilmi said
of the list system.
Of the current parliament, Hilmi said: "Twelve years of
'parliamentary democracy' then, and no one knows anything about the
people's representatives. Over 100 members of this most sacred of
democracy's establishments and these appointed members have been
receiving fat salaries and privileges, living in their ivory
towers...far away from the madding business of running the country....
They ruled without any opposition and started to [take] everything from
the land, water, and oil, as well as every financial asset...without any
accountability or questioning. While they did this the people were kept
on the breadline through the now infamous oil-for-food program...and
every senior member of both parties is a multimillionaire.... In general
there is hopelessness and apathy towards every aspect of life which
needs to be urgently tackled."
At least one group, the Constitutional Monarchy Movement, led by Sharif
Ali bin Al-Husayn, has complained that the KDP and PUK have such a hold
on Kurdistan that other parties have not been able to campaign in the
north for the Iraqi National Assembly.
"We do not have any offices in the northern region because the
Kurds banned any non-Kurdish lists there," al-Husayn told Jeddah's
"Ukaz" in an interview published on 22 January. "They
[Kurds] even arrested the envoys that we sent to the north to promote
our electoral program. We needed high-level mediation and intervention
to secure their release.... The election in Kurdistan will not be free
or fair," he added.
Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Contestants On The Ballot in Iraq For The Transitional National Assembly
Source:
the Independent Election Commission of Iraq
Jan 30/05 -RFERL -
 |
Abd al-Satar Jabr Kat'a al-Abudi
| Iraq Democratic Current
| Democratic Society Movement (HMD)
| Falah Hasan Abd al-Amir al-A'radi
| Islamic Action Organization in Iraq
| General Unity for the Youth of Iraq
| Democratic Iraqi Gathering
| Malik Abd al-Husayn Ghafuri
| Muhammad Abd Awad al-Dulaymi
| Islamic Democratic Movement
| Iraqi Commission for Civil Society Enterprise
| Iraqi Popular Democratic Coalition
| Kurdistan Alliance List
| Hashemite Iraqi Royal Gathering
| Iraqi National Brotherhood Party
| Kazim Jasim Ali al-Fadili al-Husayni
| Assyrian National Gathering
| Ibrahim Khalil Sa'id al-A'isawi
| Islamic Union Party in Iraq
| Twentieth Revolution Grandchildren Gathering
| Coalition for Iraqi National Unity
| Al-Rafidayn Democratic Coalition
| Muhammad Dahham Nazal
| Islamic Conference of Iraqi Tribes
| Wadi Muhammad Wadi al-Khalifah
| National Gathering for Centrist Current
| Abbas Ali Zaki Hasun al-Miyah
| Independent Democratic Gathering
| Amin Haidar Hamad
| United Labor Democratic Front
| National Front for the Unity of Iraq
| Ali Musallam Jarallah Ali al-Baydani
| Unified Iraq Coalition
| Iraqi Assembly for Democracy
| Iraqi Turkoman Front
| Turkoman Nationalist Movement
| Ahmad Hasan Mahmud
| Liberal Democratic Iraqi Party
| Iraqi Council for Humanitarian Nongovernmental Organizations
| Mosul Tribes Union Council
| Islamic Al-Da'wah Movement
| Iraqi Independent Democratic Gathering for Liberation and Construction
| Al-Risaliyah National List
| Homeland Gathering
| Al-Rafidayn National List
| Al-Amir Ahmad Taha Ahmad Yasin Mahmud
| Democratic Construction Party
| List of Independents
| Baghdad Independent Citizen Gathering
| Free Officers and Civilians Movement
| Thar Allah Islamic Organization
| Al-Kaldani Democratic Unity Party (Chaldean)
| Home Democratic Liberal Party headed by Haitham al-Hasani
| Abd Jassim al-Sa'idi
| Al-Izidiyah Movement for Progress and Reform (Yezidi)
| Democratic Iraqi People's Party
| Ali Abd Hamza al-Tamimi
| Baqir al-Baqir
| Islamic Talia'a Party
| Muhammad Rashad al-Fadl
| Democratic Islamic Party
| Democratic National Coalition
| Al-Qasimi Democratic Assembly
| Iraqis
| National Democratic Alliance
| Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party
| Al-Bayan Independent Gathering of Iraq
| Muhammad Kazim Fayruz al-Hindawi
| Al-Sha'baniyah Iraqi Uprising of 1991
| Islamic Wifaq Movement
| New Iraq Revival Movement
| Amir Ali Husayn A'wid al-Murshadi
| Muhammad Muhsin Ali al-Zubaydi
| Independent List
| Islamic Group of Kurdistan -- Iraq
| Iraqi List
| Nizar Talib Abd al-Karim
| Democratic Arab Front
| National Iraqi Gathering
| Union Party
| Iraqi National Rescue Party
| Ghalib Muhsin Abd Husayn al-Sabahi
| |