Who Benefits?
Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
February 24, 2006

The most important question to ask regarding the bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on the 22nd is: who benefits?

Prior to asking this question, let us note the timing of the bombing. The last weeks in Iraq have been a PR disaster for the occupiers.

First, the negative publicity of the video of British soldiers beating and abusing young Iraqis has generated a backlash for British occupation forces they’ve yet to face in Iraq.

Indicative of this, Abdul Jabbar Waheed, the head of the Misan provincial council in southern Iraq, announced his councils’ decision to lift the immunity British forces have enjoyed, so that the soldiers who beat the young Iraqis can be tried in Iraqi courts. Former U.S. proconsul Paul Bremer had issued an order granting all occupation soldiers and western contractors immunity to Iraqi law when he was head of the CPA. but this province has now decided to lift that so the British soldiers can be investigated and tried under Iraqi law.

This deeply meaningful event, if replicated around Iraq, will generate a huge rift between the occupiers and local governments. A rift which, of course, the puppet government in Baghdad will be unable to mend.

The other huge event which drew Iraqis into greater solidarity with one another was more photos and video aired depicting atrocities within Abu Ghraib at the hands of U.S. occupation forces.

The inherent desecration of Islam and shaming of the Iraqi people shown in these images enrages all Iraqis.

In a recent press conference, the aforementioned Waheed urged the Brits to allow members of the provincial committee to visit a local jail to check on detainees; perhaps Waheed is alarmed as to what their condition may be after seeing more photos and videos from Abu Ghraib.

Waheed also warned British forces that if they didn’t not comply with the demands of the council, all British political, security and reconstruction initiatives will be boycotted.

Basra province has already taken similar steps, and similar machinations are occurring in Kerbala.

Basra and Misan provinces, for example, refused to raise the cost of petrol when the puppet government in Baghdad, following orders from the IMF, decided to recently raise the cost of Iraqi petrol at the pumps several times last December.

The horrific attack which destroyed much of the Golden Mosque generated sectarian outrage which led to attacks on over 50 Sunni mosques. Many Sunni mosques in Baghdad were shot, burnt, or taken over. Three Imans were killed, along with scores of others in widespread violence.

This is what was shown by western corporate media.

As quickly as these horrible events began, they were called to an end and replaced by acts of solidarity between Sunni and Shia across Iraq.

This, however, was not shown by western corporate media.

The Sunnis where the first to go to demonstrations of solidarity with Shia in Samarra, as well as to condemn the mosque bombings. Demonstrations of solidarity between Sunni and Shia went off over all of Iraq: in Basra, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Kut, and Salah al-Din.

Thousands of Shia marched shouting anti-American slogans through Sadr City, the huge Shia slum area of Baghdad, which is home to nearly half the population of the capital city. Meanwhile, in the primarily Shia city of Kut, south of Baghdad, thousands marched while shouting slogans against America and Israel and burning U.S. and Israeli flags.

Baghdad had huge demonstrations of solidarity, following announcements by several Shia religious leaders not to attack Sunni mosques.

Attacks stopped after these announcements, coupled with those from Sadr, which IÍll discuss shortly.

Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, shortly after the Golden Mosque was attacked, called for “easing things down and not attacking any Sunni mosques and shrines,” as Sunni religious authorities called for a truce and invited everyone to block the way of those trying to generate a sectarian war.

Sistani’s office issued this statement: “We call upon believers to express their protest … through peaceful means. The extent of their sorrow and shock should not drag them into taking actions that serve the enemies who have been working to lead Iraq into sectarian strife.”

Shiite religious authority Ayatollah Hussein Ismail al-Sadr warned of the emergence of a sectarian strife “that terrorists want to ignite between the Iraqis” by the bombings and said, “The Iraqi Shiite authority strenuously denied that Sunnis could have done this work.”

He also said, “Of course it is not Sunnis who did this work; it is the terrorists who are the enemies of the Shiites and Sunni, Muslims and non Muslims. They are the enemies of all religions; terrorism does not have a religion.”

He warned against touching any Sunni Mosque, saying, “our Sunni brothers’ mosques must be protected and we must all stand against terrorism and sabotage.” He added: ‘The two shrines are located in the Samarra region, which [is] predominantly Sunni. They have been protecting, using and guarding the mosques for years, it is not them but terrorism that targeted the mosques.”

He ruled out the possibility of a civil war while telling a reporter, “I don’t believe there will a civil or religious war in Iraq; thank God that our Sunni and Shiite references are urging everyone to not respond to these terrorist and sabotage acts. We are aware of their attempts as are our people; Sistani had issued many statements [regarding this issue] just as we did.”

The other, and more prominent Sadr, Muqtada Al-Sadr, who has already lead two uprisings against occupation forces, held Takfiris [those who regard other Muslims as infidels], Baathists, and especially the foreign occupation responsible for the bombing attack on the Golden Mosque in Samarra.

Sadr, who suspended his visit to Lebanon and cancelled his meeting with the president there, promptly returned to Iraq in order to call on the Iraqi parliament to vote on the request for the departure of the occupation forces from Iraq.

“It was not the Sunnis who attacked the shrine of Imam Al-Hadi, God’s peace be upon him, but rather the occupation [forces] and Baathists, God damn them. We should not attack Sunni mosques. I ordered Al-Mahdi Army to protect the Shi’i and Sunni shrines.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, urged Iraqi Shia not to seek revenge against Sunni Muslims, saying there were definite plots “to force the Shia to attack the mosques and other properties respected by the Sunni. Any measure to contribute to that direction is helping the enemies of Islam and is forbidden by sharia.”

Instead, he blamed the intelligence services of the U.S. and Israel for being behind the bombs at the Golden Mosque.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that those who committed the attack on the Golden Mosque “have only one motive: to create a violent sedition between the Sunnis and the Shiites in order to derail the Iraqi rising democracy from its path.”

Well said Mr. Blair, particularly when we keep in mind the fact that less than a year ago in Basra, two undercover British SAS soldiers were detained by Iraqi security forces whilst traveling in a car full of bombs and remote detonators.
uruknet.info

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan on Saturday successfully test-fired a short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the military said, two weeks ahead of peace talks with arch rival neighboring India.

The launch of the Haft-II Abdali missile, which has a range of 120 miles, was conducted from an unspecified location inside Pakistan, the military said.

The Abdali is considered capable of being fitted with a nuclear warhead.
cnn.com

Well Iran and Afghanistan are right next-door too.

A campaign launched this week to convince American Jews to buy homes in the West Bank is the first organized sales effort of its kind, activists from both sides of the political spectrum said.

Amana, the settlement arm of Gush Emunim, hosted housing fairs in New York and New Jersey this week and plans are underway for similar events in Miami and Chicago.

Never before have Diaspora Jews been asked to directly underwrite settlement expansion by either buying or financing the building of West Bank homes. But spurred by what they have termed a successful start, Amana has set its sights on Jewish communities throughout the U.S., with hopes of expanding the new and somewhat surprising trend.

About eight homes in settlements, including Kiryat Arba and Karnei Shomron, were sold this week and dozens of American buyers are “seriously considering” purchasing in the coming weeks, representatives of Amana told AngloFile.

Ranging in price from $93,000 to $165,000, the homes are to be rented to settlers for $250 to $400 a month and are as being marketed as a way to “leave your thumbprint on the destiny of Israel.” The campaign essentially allows Israeli settlers, who will pay the American owners monthly rent, the opportunity to live in homes they would not have been able to afford to buy.
haaretz.com

Iran has started building a 700 kilometre-long concrete wall along its border with Pakistan. Pakistan’s neighbour to the west has also increased patrols along the border with Pakistan and has stepped up checks on pilgrims crossing the international border.

In addition, the border’s zero point had not been opened for 17 hours causing a severe shortage of food and other essential items in the colonies alongside the border.

This stringent security comes in the wake of a bomb blast in Zahidan on February 17, which killed thirteen people, including nine Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials, and another incident in which four people were killed, and two kidnapped from along the Pak-Iran border. The construction of the 3-foot thick and 10-foot high wall entails the use of extra strength steel rods.

Iran Asks Pakistan to Vacate Border Town

Iranian border security forces have given an ultimatum to the residents of a Pakistani border town to vacate the town within 10 days, Daily Times has learnt.

Residents of the Sorap locality in the Mand area of western Mekran region in Balochistan province told a group of journalists visiting the area that they did not know why the Iranian border forces were asking them to leave their homes.

The people of Mand, which falls in the constituency of Federal Minister Zobaida Jalal, depend on edible goods illegally coming from Iran.

‘Our livelihood hugely depends on goods from Iran, but that does not mean that Iran should be dictating us to leave our homes,’,said Qaim Khan, a local elder.

Balochistan government spokesman Raziq Bugti said he did not know about any such warning from the Iranian side.
india-defence.com

US Forces Pursue Taliban Into Pakistan”
WASHINGTON (AP) – American forces on Afghanistan’s eastern border routinely fire upon and pursue Taliban enemies into Pakistan, defense officials told Congress on Thursday, offering the most detailed description to date of U.S. action in that region.

They said the Taliban threat is greater now than it was a year ago, and they agreed that the Pakistan government can and must do more to get at the large, ungoverned sectors along the remote Pakistan border that are safe havens for Taliban insurgents.

‘We have all the authorities we need to pursue, either with (artillery) fire or on the ground, across the border,’ said Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Lute, who is chief operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said soldiers can respond if there is an imminent threat. But he said they would have to seek the Pakistan government’s permission to go after a munitions factory further inside the Pakistani border.

The discussion came just days after Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in an effort to urge a more aggressive Pakistani effort to hunt al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who are expected to increase attacks into Afghanistan this spring.

The Pakistani military has been more aggressive in going after al-Qaida than the Taliban, who are more protected by tribal leaders in some of the border regions.

I’d say the fence is to keep the US out as well…

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday blamed Bush administration failings in Iraq for strengthening the strategic position of Iran, which he says must be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Illinois senator said that means “direct engagement” with Iran similar to the meetings with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

“One of the most profound consequences of the administration’s failed strategy in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran’s strategic position; reduce U.S. credibility and influence in the region; and place Israel and other nations friendly to the United States in greater peril,” Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group.

The Bush administration recently altered its position, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying this week that the U.S. is willing to talk to Iran on security in Iraq.

Obama also emphasized in his speech his commitment to protecting the security of Israel, which he called “our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy.”

“Our job is to renew the United States’ efforts to … help Israel achieve peace with its neighbors while remaining vigilant against those who do not share that vision,” Obama said.

The speech was the second time in recent months that Obama has formally addressed foreign policy in his hometown of Chicago. In November, Obama called for a reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

But Obama focused on Iran Friday, calling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime “a threat to all of us.”

A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama said the world ‘not just the United States’ must stop Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

“While we should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons,” Obama said.

Obama said Iranian nuclear weapons would destabilize the region and could set off a new arms race.
sfgate.com

At least 10 anti-fence activists wounded in Bil’in demonstration
At least 10 activists were wounded on Friday in clashes with security forces at the weekly protest against the separation fence in the West Bank village of Bil’in.

Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired rubber-tipped bullets at protesters who hurled stones at them. Protesters said soldiers also targeted youths who did not take part in the violent exchange.

Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian youths clashed with IDF soldiers near the Qalandiyah Refugee Camp roadblock just north of Jerusalem.

Two protesters were shot in their legs and were rushed to hospital to receive treatment.

Since they are called ‘actvists’ and ‘protestors’ I assume they are israeli.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran could be interested in cooperating with the United States to combat al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, a leading U.S. expert on Afghanistan said on Thursday.

Barnett Rubin, one-time adviser to former U.N. special representative to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, said Iranian officials have told him privately that al Qaeda poses a new threat to Afghanistan that could have implications for Iran’s national security.

“They believe that al Qaeda is the number one threat to Iran, maybe after the United States,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Iran’s ruling Muslim clerics are Shi’ite, an Islamic sect opposed by the Sunni-dominated al Qaeda and Taliban.

“They told me they had some information about it, and they would like to cooperate with the United States. But neither their government in Tehran, nor our government in Washington, had authorized the sharing of that information, which they found frustrating,” Rubin added.

The committee’s top Democratic and Republican senators said they would urge the State Department to consider Rubin’s remarks ahead of two conferences with Iran and Syria set to begin next week in Baghdad.

“That’s pretty important information,” said Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the panel’s Democratic chairman. “That directly relates to even the limited purpose that’s been stated for meetings with Iran and Syria.”

Rubin did not identify the Iranian officials he met in Kabul last November. But he said they also expressed interest in cooperating with the United States against the Taliban.

“Every time I meet with Iranians, they warn me that I should tell the U.S. government not to make a deal with the Taliban, because they’re concerned that the U.S. is too soft on the Taliban,” said Rubin, who is now at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation.
news.yahoo.com

The U.S. is supporting al Qaeda incursions into Iran, so this is a pretty crazy story. But of course there is more going on here than meets the eye. Check this interview with Chalabi, who’s obviously being positioned to take over Iraq. Not America’s darling anymore? I hardly doubt it. There are obviously elements in the Iranian government who are in the U.S. ‘regime change’ plan, maybe even Ahmedinajad, who is going to Saudi Arabia today for a chat.

Chalabi Interview

Ibrahim Polat (code name is ‘Haci’), former chauffeur of Osman Ocalan in Northern Iraq, claimed that the US officials in Iraq regularly meet with the PKK militants. Mr. Polat was a PKK militant in Iraq for 12 years before he escaped from the PKK camps and joined the Osman Ocalan group. Osman Ocalan is Abdullah Ocalan’s brother but formed another group apart from the PKK in Iraq. Ibrahim Polat was captured by Turkish security forces three months ago in Habur Border Gate.

Ibrahim Polat also argued that the Americans gave Osman Ocalan a suitcase full of US dollars. According to Mr. Polat the US officials in Iraq met every month with Murat Karayilan, the head of the active armed PKK militants,

Former PKK militant Polat also said that the Barzani and Talabani groups in Iraq provided arme and explosives to the PKK organization. He added ‘The PKK’s satellite and wireless equipments were provided by the Korek and Asya companies in Iraq. Korek is a KDP company, and the Asya is KPU company.’

Mr. Polat also claimed that the Talabani Group gives 7.000 US dollars to Osman Ocalan every month. And Polat says the KDP’s aid to Osman Ocalan is about 10.000 US dollars every month.

Iran accused the US of meeting with the PKK terrorists in Iraq last year, yet the American officals had denied the allegations.
turkish weekly

KARACHI – The Pakistani establishment has made a deal with the Taliban through a leading Taliban commander that will extend Islamabad’s influence into southwestern Afghanistan and significantly strengthen the resistance in its push to capture Kabul.

One-legged Mullah Dadullah will be Pakistan’s strongman in a corridor running from the Afghan provinces of Zabul, Urzgan, Kandahar and Helmand across the border into Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to both Taliban and al-Qaeda contacts Asia Times Online spoke to. Using Pakistani territory and with Islamabad’s support, the Taliban will be able safely to move men, weapons and supplies into southwestern Afghanistan.

The deal with Mullah Dadullah will serve Pakistan’s interests in re-establishing a strong foothold in Afghanistan (the government in Kabul leans much more toward India), and it has resulted in a cooling of the Taliban’s relations with al-Qaeda.

Despite their most successful spring offensive last year since being ousted in 2001, the Taliban realize they need the assistance of a state actor if they are to achieve “total victory”. Al-Qaeda will have nothing to do with the Islamabad government, though, so the Taliban had to go it alone.

The move also comes as the US is putting growing pressure on Pakistan to do more about the Taliban and al-Qaeda ahead of a much-anticipated spring offensive in Afghanistan. US Vice President Dick Cheney paid an unexpected visit to Pakistan on Monday to meet with President General Pervez Musharraf.

The White House refused to say what message Cheney gave Musharraf, but it did not deny reports that it included a tough warning that US aid to Pakistan could be in jeopardy.
asia times

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday ruled out a direct role in areas of northern Pakistan, which, it said, witnessed rising al-Qaeda activities.

The US says it is working with Islamabad to ensure that the region does not become a safe haven for terrorists. Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on War Funding, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan has a strong interest in not allowing extremism breed in the area.

ÒThe vice-president will come back and report to the president on what he learned. But I do think that we need to remember that the Pakistanis have a very strong interest also in not having extremism breed in that area,Ó Rice said.
thenews.com.pk

WASHINGTON – Sunni Muslim insurgents remain by far the biggest threat to American troops in Iraq, despite recent U.S. claims that Iran is providing Shiite Muslim militia groups with a new type of roadside bomb, a review of American casualty reports shows.

While U.S. military officials have held briefings to publicize their concerns about the potent bombs known as explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) or penetrators, casualty reports suggest that such weapons in the hands of Shiite militias are responsible for a relatively small number of American deaths.

U.S. officials have said that attacks with such weapons increased 150 percent in the past year. But a review of bombings by location shows that less than 10 percent of attacks that killed at least two American service members in the past 14 months were in areas where Shiite militias are dominant.

Those reports show that fewer than half the bomb attacks on heavily armored U.S. vehicles such as Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles were in areas where Shiite militias dominate.

While it’s difficult to know which armed group planted a bomb, analysts say the casualty numbers show that U.S. officials are exaggerating the importance of EFPs, which military officials say have been used only by Shiites.

“There were relatively few American deaths from explosively formed penetrators until recently, but you can say the same thing about attacks on helicopters or chlorine attacks,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a policy research group in Arlington, Va. “The fact of the matter is that the insurgents, both Sunni and Shiite, are becoming a lot more sophisticated in their tactics. Explosively formed penetrators are only one part of that, and they are not a particularly important part.”

Pentagon officials say the issue is important because the Iranian government appears to be involved.

“I think the issue is not whether or not materials and supplies are coming from Iran – they are – but rather how far up the Iranian leadership is involved,” said Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman.
realcities.com