Free Iraq

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Al-Maliki declared June 30 2009 a "holiday" commemorating the "withdrawal" of the American occupier soldiers from Iraqi cities. Fools may be celebrating. Let us see if the July 30 2009 referendum will be allowed.
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"On November 17, 2008, when Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker signed an agreement for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, citizens from both countries applauded. While many were disappointed about the lengthy timeline for the withdrawal of the troops, it appeared that a roadmap was set to end the war and occupation. However, the first step — withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 — is full of loopholes, and tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers will remain in the cities after the "deadline" passes.

The failure to fully comply with the withdrawal agreement indicates the United States is looking to withdraw from Iraq in name only, as it appears that up to 50,000 military personnel will remain after the deadline.

The United States claims it's adhering to the agreement, known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), even with so many troops being left in the cities. But the United States is changing semantics instead of policy. For example, there are no plans to transfer the 3,000 American troops stationed within Baghdad at Forward Operating Base Falcon, because commanders have determined that despite its location, it's not within the city.

The original intent of moving troops out of the cities was to reduce the U.S. military role and send the message to Iraqis that the United States would be leaving the country soon. But troops that are no longer sleeping in the cities will still take part in operations within Iraqi cities; they will serve in "support" and "advisory" roles, rather than combat functions. Such "reclassification" of troops as military trainers is another example of how the United States is circumventing the terms of the SOFA agreement.

The larger loophole in the agreement is the treatment of military contractors. There has been little mention of the 132,610 military contractors in Iraq. Of these, 36,061 are American citizens, according to a recent Department of Defense report.

Since September 2008, only 30,000 troops have left Iraq. The 134,000 soldiers that remain are just slightly below the number of troops that were in Iraq in 2003. These numbers are likely to remain well above 100,000 until 2010.

Instead of sending soldiers stationed in cities home, the military has been expanding and building new bases in rural areas to accommodate soldiers affected by the June 30 deadline. And Congress just passed a war-spending bill that includes more funding for military construction inside Iraq.

The implications of the June 30 pullout are manifest: As Iraqis grapple with increasing responsibility for the security of their country and American military leaders search for avenues to project their influence, withdrawal from urban areas will set important precedents for the proposed full withdrawal of American forces.

The ability of Iraqi and U.S. commanders to subvert the SOFA and extend the stay of U.S. troops in Iraqi cities past the June 30 deadline does not bode well for the other withdrawal deadlines laid out in the agreement. Moreover, the vague language of the agreement lends itself to the possibility that U.S. forces will remain in Iraq past the December 31, 2011 deadline.

This all may be for naught, however, as a referendum on the SOFA is scheduled for July 30 in Iraq [emphasis added]. Despite attempts by the Iraqi cabinet to postpone the vote, lawmakers think a delay is unlikely. The measure is likely to lose if it goes to popular vote given the widespread opposition to the SOFA in Iraq, which is seen as legitimizing the U.S. occupation until 2011. According to the latest polls, published in the Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index, 73% of Iraqis oppose the presence of coalition forces [emphasis added]. If the SOFA is struck down by the vote, U.S. forces could be forced out of Iraq immediately as the forces would not be legally protected.

The referendum could create big problems for the Obama administration, which has quietly discouraged the Iraqi government from holding it. The pressure from the administration is inconsistent with their goals of promoting democracy in Iraq. The people, who have been forced to live under occupation for the past six years, deserve a chance to have their voices heard.

Obama campaigned on a promise to leave Iraq. Yet the response to the June 30th deadline, the lack of support for the referendum, and the passage of another $70 billion for the war are stark indicators of what the real Iraq policy may be [emphasis added]."
A Withdrawal in Name Only June 24, 2009
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Adel Muhsin Abdullah, the Health ministry's inspector general high tails it to his family in London on an airplane from Baghdad airport just hours before the Ministry of Health's contracts' documents offices (with corrupt contract deals galore) are scorched to ashes last Thursday June 18, 2009 with staff casualties.
Huge fire in health ministry building in Baghdad June 19 2009
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ـ" " تشغل الشركة العامة لتسويق الأدوية والمستلزمات الطبية (كيماديا) ثلاث طوابق من مبنى وزارة الصحة هي على التوالي الطابق الخامس والسادس والسابع، ويعتبر الطابق الخامس مقر الشركة ومنطقة مفتوحة تم تخصيصها للزيارات والمراجعة، حيث يقوم الأشخاص المراجعين ومعظمهم من ممثلي شركات الأدوية والمستلزمات الطبية والمعدات والأجهزة الطبية المختلفة تابعين لشركات عربية وأجنبية ومحلية، لغرض متابعة معاملات العقود والمناقصات والعطاءات التي تمنحها وزارة الصحة لهذه الشركات عن طريق شركة (كيماديا) ومتابعة أعمالهم، وفي الطابق الخامس كذلك توجد بعض مكاتب اللجان الاستشارية التي يتعلق عملها بمتابعة مثل تلك المواضيع، وتقدير الاحتياجات الطبية بين الشركة المجهزة والوزارة، وكذلك في هذا الطابق يتم استقبال المراجعين والموظفين من فروع شركة (كيماديا) المنتشرة في مختلف المحافظات العراقية، والمتعلقة بإعمال توزيع الأدوية والمستلزمات الطبية في المستشفيات والمركز الصحية "ثم يضيف لنا المسؤول ويوضح لنا الأكثر خطورة من هذا الحريق المفتعل المتعمد أن " الطابقين السادس والسابع من مبنى الوزارة فيهما توجد جميع أسرار شركة (كيماديا) منذ تأسيسها ولغاية لحظة جريمة الحريق المفتعل، وفي المكاتب المنتشرة في هذين الطابقين فيهما التفاصيل الدقيقة عن كل ما قامت به (كيماديا) بانجازه من مشاريع صحية مختلفة، واستيراد أدوية، ومستلزمات طبية وغيرها من الأمور التي تتعلق بعمل الشركة خلال السنوات الماضية وخصوصآ بعد الاحتلال والغزو الأمريكي، وهناك أمر مهم جدآ حيث يمنع منعآ باتآ على المراجعين وممثلي الشركات الدوائية من دخول هذين الطابقين، إلا بتصريح خاص يصدر من قبل مدراء الأقسام بشركة (كيماديا) ولظروف محددة ومعينة تتعلق بموضوع المراجعة ومدى أهميته، وهذا كان معمول به سابقآ، إما خلال الفترة الماضية فتم التهاون في هذا الأمر كثيرآ نتيجة التسيب الإداري وعدم الشعور بالمسؤولية، وطغت المحسوبية الشخصية والحزبية على المهنية الوظيفية في هذا الأمر، حيث يكفي لأي مراجع اليوم ابرزا هويته الحزبية أو مرجعيته السياسية، أو من قبيل استغلال مناصبهم السياسية الحكومية بالذهاب والصعود إلى هذين الطابقين المهمين، أو حتى بإرسال أشخاص عاديين يسبقهم اتصال تلفوني من مسؤول في الحكومة بمسؤولي شركة (كيماديا) لغرض تمشية أي معاملة رسمية تخصهم أو تخص شركات تجارية تابعة لهم، أو الاستفسار ومتابعة العطاءات والمناقصات التي تطرحها الشركة دائمآ، وهذا يعتبر كله مخالف للقوانين والأنظمة الوظيفية ولكن نجدها مع الأسف بكل وضوح اليوم في ظل حكم المحاصصة الطائفية والحزبية مما يؤدي بالنتيجة إلى الدخول في قنوات ودهاليز الفساد المظلمة ".ـ

ـ.......وقد أوضح لنا كذلك أحد الموظفين بالوزارة، والذي كان في وقتها قريب من حادث الحريق المفتعل المتعمد بقوله لنا " في البداية وقبل منتصف النهار تقريبآ بنصف ساعة قالوا لنا أن هناك اجتماع سيكون مع أحد المسؤولين المهمين في الحكومة في القاعة الخاص بالاجتماعات في الوزارة، ثم بعدها سمعنا موظفين يتحدثون عن وجود أشخاص تصرفاتهم غريبة وتثير الشك والريبة يدخلون المكاتب الشركة في الطابقين السادس والسابع دون أن يتحدثون مع الموظفين، أو حتى يعترضهم إي شخص أو مسؤول، ثم سمعنا بعدها صراخ من بعض الموظفين يقولون أن هناك حريق في إحدى المكاتب في نهاية الممر القريب من باب الطوارئ مع دخان كثيف يخرج حيث هرع الجميع للنزول إلى الطوابق السفلية من مبنى الوزارة، أما في الطوابق العليا فلم يسمع الموظفين في بداية الأمر بالحريق إلا بعد أن التهمت النيران بسرعة كبيرة واتت على جميع محتويات مكاتب الشركة المهمة في الطابقين السادس والسابع ومن ثم امتدت السنة النيران إلى الطابق الثامن " ثم يضيف لنا الموظف بالوزارة ويؤكد أن " هذا الحريق لم يكن بفعل تماس كهربائي أبدآ كما روج له بعض المسؤولين لوسائل الإعلام، ولكن كان الحريق متعمد قام به أشخاص محترفين يعرفون ما يفعلون، وليس أشخاص هواة يحملون قنينة بنزين أو صفيحة من نفط لغرض إحراق مكاتب الشركة المهمة جدآ والموجودة في هذين الطابقين"ـ

كشف المستور... خفايا وأسرار الحريق المتعمد بوزارة الصحة (العراقية) للتغطية على جرائم الفساد كما رواها لنا المسؤولين الحكوميين - صباح البغدادي - 19 أيار 2009

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This is a recent one-on-one interview that was aired last Friday evening June 12, 2009 on Al-Jazeera English channel's "Inside Iraq" program (23 minutes) ; if you are interested.

The main points of the above interview were mentioned, in Arabic (and this is part 2 of that nterview) in a Dubai Commercial channel which was aired on March 29, 2003, and only a week after the occupation of Iraq. It is one of several other recordings of my first radio and television interviews when I decided to speak out (months before and immediately after) against the March 2003 disastrous and illegal occupation of Iraq. These are available in a previous posting dated November 15, 2005. You might have to wait for a few minutes for the downloading of some of the interview files.

This is another appearance on Al-Jazeera's "Inside Iraq" on March 19, 2008 on the fifth bitter anniversary of the occupation of Iraq.

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In a retort to a previously posted item: "The Iraqi Resistance, once again" May 31, 2009 by Dahr Jamail, an old friend (see Friend1 in a posting here of November 26, 2005), who adamantly eschews non-resistance in Iraq, had this reservation:

"From this article we realize that former military intelligence "general" leads an Al-Sahwa group and a "resistance" group and that money - not principle!!- is the main motivation for their shifting alliances (see paragraph 11).

I congratulate Dahr Jamail on this analysis! He is preparing us for more mayhem in the days ahead."

Surely one is not forgetting the astute patriotic “principles” of the present Iraqi puppets (among them those that are still on the CIA payroll (see posting of Novemebr 12, 2008) in the Iraqi government; by the way, they are four now with Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie's departure two months ago) and their failed pathetic attempts to distance themselves from partaking in the endemic "corruption money”.

Yet it does behoove one not to be that blind as to what is also at one of the roots of the real "mayhem" in Iraq, whether in some of the atrocities of the past few years, the present relatively large scale readily attributed “suicide" bombings or in future American "Balck Ops" operations, and until these Death Squads are thoruoghly neutralized:

“The Iraq Special Operations Forces (ISOF) is probably the largest special forces outfit ever built by the United States, and it is free of many of the controls that most governments employ to rein in such lethal forces. The project started in the deserts of Jordan just after the Americans took Baghdad in April 2003. There, the US Army's Special Forces, or Green Berets, trained mostly 18-year-old Iraqis with no prior military experience. The resulting brigade was a Green Beret's dream come true: a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with American equipment, that would operate for years under US command and be unaccountable to Iraqi ministries and the normal political process.

According to Congressional records, the ISOF has grown into nine battalions, which extend to four regional "commando bases" across Iraq. By December, each will be complete with its own "intelligence infusion cell," which will operate independently of Iraq's other intelligence networks. The ISOF is at least 4,564 operatives strong, making it approximately the size of the US Army's own Special Forces in Iraq. Congressional records indicate that there are plans to double the ISOF over the next "several years."
Iraq's New Death Squad June 3, 2009

By the way, an Update on the new American version of "Democracy in Iraq"

"An Iraqi national referendum on last year’s security pact with the US is currently scheduled to take place on July 30. According to Iraqi law, if voters reject the pact, which calls for the US to remove all troops by December 31, 2011, Washington would have to remove its military 17 months sooner—by July 30 of 2010. Should the vote be held as scheduled, it is a virtual certainty that the Iraqi masses will repudiate the pact.
Washington, of course, has no intention of obeying any popular referendum. Yet it wishes to avoid the political embarrassment of a broad repudiation of its occupation of the oil-rich country. “American diplomats are quietly lobbying the government not to hold the referendum,” the New York Times notes. The US has long justified its invasion and occupation of Iraq—which has resulted in the deaths of well over 1 million Iraqis and made refugees out of millions more—as a selfless exercise in building “democracy.” "
US opposes Iraqi popular vote on troop withdrawal, June 13, 2009
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