Musayyib power plant sit-inThe March monthly bulletin of the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) notes numerous labor actions in the energy sector throughout the country last month. On Feb. 4, thousands of electricity workers walked off the job and marched through the streets in Basra, Musayyib, Hilla and Kut to demand moves against corrupt bureaucrats in the Energy Ministry, electrification of poor districts, better housing for workers, and redress of other grievances. When there was no response to their petitions, the workers held sit-ins at power stations and industrial sites in these cities the following day. Some 7,000 workers at the Ur industrial complex near Nasiriyah also held a sit-in to demand upgrading of power facilities, as well as the right to free unionization and repeal of the Saddam-era anti-union Law 150.

Iraq's government noted the 20th anniversary of the Halabja massacre March 16 by announcing plans to take legal action against the suppliers of chemicals used in the poison gas attack that killed 5,000 people. "The cabinet decided to take legal measures to sue the companies who provided the ex-regime with the chemical weapons used in Halabja," the statement said, without naming the companies.

As the Bush administration heads into months of negotiations with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the future of US troops in Iraq, it aims to stretch the bounds of executive power to unprecedented lengths. The administration plans to bypass Congress to forge a status of forces agreement (SOFA) that would grant the US an unlimited "authority to fight" provision, according to statements by the State Department's Coordinator for Iraq, David Satterfield, and Assistant Secretary of Defense Mary Beth Long, at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week. Drafts of the SOFA, a binding pact, also provide legal immunity for US private contractors operating in Iraq, according to a January New York Times article.

We've noted that CentCom commander Adm. William Fallon is an exponent of the "pragmatist" view on Iran—a point also stressed by this March 11 AP account of his sudden resignation. Does this signal a silent coup by Cheney and the neocons—and point towards an "October surprise" invasion of Iran? We sure hope not.

Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, kidnapped in Iraq last month, was found dead on March 13, his body half-buried in an empty lot in the northern city of Mosul. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed Rahho's death on al-Qaeda and said his Shi'ite-led government was committed to protecting Christians, who make up about 3% of Iraq's population. "The perpetrators of this horrible crime will not run from the hand of justice," Maliki said. Pope Benedict, who had made several appeals for Rahho's freedom, called his death "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being" in a letter to Iraqi church leaders. (Reuters, March 13)

From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), March 8:

On the 8th of March This Year...
"No to Women Killing... No to the Gangs Who Promote Sexual Cleansing...
Yes to an Iraq that is Free of Women Haters"
The 8th of March is the International Women's Day, on which the voices are lauding and protests against sexual discrimination are widening every day even in the most developed countries. In Iraq however, the discrimination against women has reached to a degree of sexual cleansing carried out by sectarian militias linked to the regime of mullahs in Iran and groups of Al Qaeda. These groups have committed the most heinous crimes against humanity, and women in particular to the extent of sexual genocide in the cities of Basra, Baghdad, Mosul and Diyala.

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani said March 8 he seeks a "strategic" partnership with Turkey as he wrapped up a visit to Ankara aimed at easing tension sparked by the Turkish military's eight-day incursion into Iraq last month. Speaking to members of a Turkish-Iraqi joint business group, Talabani also called on Turkish interests to invest in Iraq's oil sector. "We want to forge strategic relations in all fields including oil, the economy, trade, culture and politics," Talabani said. Addressing Turkish fears, Talabani stressed that Kurdish rebels would not be tolerated inside Iraq's borders, and said Iraq was continuing to put pressure on the PKK to lay down arms. (AP, March 8)

A double bombing in a crowded Baghdad shopping district killed at least 53 people and wounded 130 March 6. The blasts took place in the primarily Shi'ite, middle-class Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah. The tactic was to draw in the people with the first blast—especially security and medical workers—before a second bomb detonates. (AP, March 8) Iraqi security forces uncovered a mass grave containing about 100 bodies in the Diyala province March 8. (Xinhua, March 8)