We know Iraq has been the scene of several wars in recent years. But it seems increasingly clear that it has been a set of dirty wars.
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Ali al-Lami, an Iraqi politician, protege of Ahmad Chalabi,and member of the Debaathification Committee,is being charged by a high unnamed American official with providing information on Iraqis to the “special groups” (Iranian-run cells within Iraqi Shiite militias like the Mahdi Army), which was useful to them in assassinating these individuals.
Now that is “debaathification” with extreme prejudice!
The official said al-Lami made regular trips to Iran, Lebanon and Russia (?!) in support of the aims of Iranian intelligence.
So what is being alleged is essentially that the United States (Rumsfeld & Paul Bremer) installed on the Debaathification Commission a secret agent of Iran who was running Iran-backed death squads based on the information to which he became privy by virtue of being on the commission! The same article carries allegations by Ahmad Chalabi that the car used in the attempted assassination against him last week came from an Iraqi government ministry.
This isn’t a government,it is a mafia movie: The Godfather IV!
So you’ve been having Iran-backed assassination teams running all over the place killing Sunnis and helping ethnically cleanse them so Iran can nail down Baghad as a Shiite city, extending the region of Shiite dominance in Iraq west and north. And they have been working out of government ministries and agencies!
Of course we knew about the Sunni Arab death squads, which the US calls “al-Qaeda” if they are anti-American and “Sons of Iraq” if they take our money.
Now for yet another set of death squads. It is increasingly clear from press reporting, and from Bob Woodward’s new book, that the Surge was not just 30,000 extra troops building blast walls.
The Surge was a dirty war. It was a vast effort at identifying, finding and assassinating the leaders of the Sunni Arab resistance.
‘ A third factor, which Woodward argued may have been the most significant, was the use of new highly classified U.S. intelligence tactics that allowed for rapid targeting and killing of insurgent leaders. Woodward agreed to withhold details of these secret techniques from his book so as not to undercut their continuing success.’
That is, US officers in Baghdad were playing Col Mathieu in a rerun of the Battle of Algiers, tracking down and killing the members of the Sunni resistance cells with ever increasing efficiency.
Crowing about the success of Surge wouldn’t look so pretty if you were actually celebrating an assassination campaign.
Or, since the originally US-appointed Ali al-Lami was helping the Iranians to kill Sunni guerrillas, as well, we should say assassination campaigns in the plural.
One caveat: The French won the Battle of Algiers in the capital of their colony, 1954-1960. By 1962 they had nevertheless been forced out of Algeria anyway, by nationalist fighters outside Algiers. I am not saying the same thing will necessarily happen in a pacified Iraq. But it could.
McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Monday:
‘ Baghdad
Eleven civilians were injured by a roadside bomb in al Shabaka intersection in Palestine Street in east Baghdad around 7:00 a.m.
Around 7:45 a.m. Gunmen In New Baghdad neighborhood in east Baghdad opened fire targeting a vehicle for the ministry of displaced people migrants injuring four employees (3 females employees and the driver of the vehicle).
The guards of the minister of displaced people and migrants opened fire randomly in al Muthanna airport Street in downtown Baghdad killing a woman and inuring six civilians.
A civilian was killed and two people (a civilian and a policeman) were injured by an IED that targeted a police vehicle in al Wathiq intersection in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 8:30 a.m.
Two civilians were injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to a vehicle of the emergency battalion in Palestine Street around 2:00 p.m.
Gunmen threw a grenade towards a sedan car in Qahtan intersection in west Baghdad injuring two civilians who were in the car.
Police found one unidentified body in Sadr city.
Nineveh
On Sunday evening; a parked car bomb exploded in Qaiyara area south of Mosul targeting the commander of Hammam al Aleel training camp Colonel Yaseen Majeed. Majeed was injured with another two companions.
Two policemen were injured by an IED in Dorat al Yarmouk neighborhood in Mosul city on Sunday evening.
Gunmen opened fire upon the house of the deputy of Mosul governor Khisro Koran (Kurdish politician from the PDK Party) in al Faisaliyah neighborhood in east Mosul city. No casualties were reported.
A member of Rabi’a Sahwa council in of west of Mosul was injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to his car on Sunday evening.
Gunmen killed a traffic police near his house in al Hadba’a neighborhood in west Mosul on Monday morning
A policeman was killed and four civilians were injured by a parked car bomb that targeted a police patrol in Bab Sinjar area west of Mosul city around 12:00 p.m. ten cars were damaged by the explosion.
Policemen opened fire upon a suicide car bomber who tried to attack a police check point in Um al Rabiain area west of Mosul city around 1:00 p.m.
Diyala
Gunmen attacked the house of Raad Rasheed; the Sahwa leader in Shirween area north of Baquba on Monday morning. The gunmen kidnapped Rasheed. While the patrols from the Iraqi army were chasing the kidnappers, a roadside bomb exploded. Three Iraqi soldiers were injured.
A civilian was killed by US army when he came from a bystreet driving his car towards US forces in downtown Baquba around 11:30. US military confirmed the incident.
Salahuddin
Two people were killed and four others were injured when a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint in Biji city north of Tikrit city around 4:30 p.m.
Basra
A civilian was injured by a roadside bomb that targeted a convoy of the MNF in Baghdad Street in west Basra around 9:00 p.m.’
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