Iraq Theater

Iraq: protests mount against oil law

From the US Labor Against the War (USLAW) and Oil Change International, July 16:

Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions Draws Line in the Sand

Basra, Iraq – Today hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), took to the streets of Basra to demand that the Iraqi Parliament reject the proposed Oil Law. Simultaneous demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya. Local governate officials made statements in support of the demonstration and, along with the governor of Basra, have committed to sending letters to the Minister of Oil supporting the Union's demands.

Kirkuk terror pushes city closer to brink

At least 85 people were killed and more than 180 injured by a car bomb and coordinated truck bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk July 16. One car bomb exploded in a crowded market near an office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the second went off in a commercial area. Later, a third bomber driving a Volkswagen Passat attacked a police patrol in southern Kirkuk, killing one police officer and seriously wounding 10 others. Many victims were women and children shopping in the busy street market. The attacks come amid rising ethnic tensions in Kirkuk, which is 60 miles west of Sulaymaniyah, the largest city in the PUK-controlled region of Kurdistan. Kurds have aggressively moved into Kirkuk since the 2003 invasion, angering Turkmen and Arab residents who fear PUK designs to annext the oil-rich city. (Al-Bawaba, Jordan; NYT, July 16)

Katha Pollitt on Iraqi "resistance": she almost gets it

Katha Pollitt writes for her blog in The Nation, July 13:

2,4,6,8! This Beheading is Really Great!
Why is the anti-war movement so lacklustre when 70% of Americans want to bring the troops home by spring and George W. Bush is the least popular president in history?

Iraq: foreign minister warns of civil war

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned July 9 against a quick withdrawal of US troops. Zebari said Iraqis "understand the huge pressure that will increase more and more in the United States" ahead of the progress report by the US ambassador and top commanders in Iraq. "We have held discussion with members of Congress and explained to them the dangers of a quick pull out from Iraq and leaving a security vacuum. The dangers could be a civil war, dividing the country, regional wars and the collapse of the state... In our estimations, until Iraqi forces are ready, there is a responsibility on the United States to stand with the government as the forces are being built."

UK terror scare: no way around Iraq connection

Remember all the "not-about-Iraq" spewing after the July 2005 London bombings? Nobody's saying that this time around. From the Washington Post, July 6:

LONDON -- Bilal Abdulla, one of the two doctors arrested after a blazing Jeep Cherokee rammed into the Glasgow Airport terminal on Saturday, is a deeply religious Iraqi who was angry that his prominent Sunni family "lost everything" following the 2003 invasion led by the United States and Britain, according to a close family member.

Iraq: civil resistance leader killed by US forces

From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), July 6:

Statement of Iraq Freedom Congress on the Assassination of Abdelhussein Saddam

The terrorist US forces kidnapped Abdelhussein Saddam, head of the Safety Force of the Iraq Freedom Congress after opening fire at him and his daughter on the 4th of July in Alattiba neighborhood in Baghdad. Two days after the abduction, his body was found in the Forensic Center in Yarmouk Hospital. The US force that committed this criminal act was a special task force who used special vehicles with the assistance of the Iraqi National Guards.

Iraq: details on US attack against civil resistance leader

From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), July 4:

The US Special Forces attack the head of Safety Force, Abd-alhussien Sadam;
opened fire at him and his daughter

A US special unit escorted by Iraqi national guards had attacked the house of the head of the IFC Safety Force on July 4, 2007 at 3:00 AM. The unit began its raid by opening fire and [throwing] grenades on the house causing, severe injuries to Abd-alhussien Sadam and his daughter. The attackers soon kidnapped Sadam but left his girl bleeding on the floor.

Cindy Sheehan back in the game

Cindy Sheehan announced July 3 that she is asking people to join her in a 10-day walk from Atlanta to Washington DC, starting July 13 for a "people's accountability movement." On her blog, she said "the straw that broke my camel's back of exhausted ennui" was Bush's commuting the prison sentence of former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby. "I tried to remove myself from the political realm of the U.S., what BushCo is turning into an Evil Empire, but the blatant audacity of George commuting Scooter's sentence ... has dragged me kicking and screaming back in," she wrote. The march will began after Sheehan celebrates her 50th birthday at her former protest site in Crawford, TX, where she will turn over the deed of her 5-acre lot there to its new owner, radio talk-show host Bree Walker. (AP via TruthOut, July 3)

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