Iraq: Testimonies point to dozens of revenge killings of Sunni detainees

© Amnesty International.

Amnesty International has gathered evidence pointing to a pattern of extrajudicial executions of detainees by government forces and Shi’a militias in the Iraqi cities of Tal ‘Afar, Mosul and Ba’quba.

Surviving detainees and relatives of those killed gave graphic accounts that suggest Iraqi forces had carried out a series of vengeful attacks against Sunni detainees before withdrawing from Tal ‘Afar and Mosulf in northern Iraq. Both are now controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). In Ba’quba, central Iraq, government forces and Shi’a militias have been fending off attempts by ISIS to capture the city.

“Reports of multiple incidents where Sunni detainees have been killed in cold blood while in the custody of Iraqi forces are deeply alarming. The killings suggest a worrying pattern of reprisal attacks against Sunnis in retaliation for ISIS gains,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser, who is currently in northern Iraq.

“Even in the midst of war there are rules that must never be transgressed. Killing prisoners is a war crime. The government must immediately order an impartial and independent investigation into the killings, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.”

Survivors and relatives of the victims told Amnesty International that around 50 Sunni detainees were extrajudicially executed in the building of the Anti-Terrorism Agency in al-Qala’a in Tal ‘Afar, on the night of 15 June. 

A survivor who narrowly escaped the attack described how four soldiers opened the door of the room where he was being held and began shooting at random:

“It was about 1.45 at night when four soldiers opened the door and called out a few names; it seems they were trying to check that they had the right room. They started to shoot continuous automatic fire, which went on for a long time…Three had Kalashnikov rifles and one had a machine gun...  There were at least three others that I could see behind them; maybe more but I could not see them. I was towards the back of the room and took cover by the toilet and then I was covered by the bodies of detainees who fell on top of me. I was saved by those who died. In the room where I was 46 were killed and I heard that some others were killed next door.”

One woman, Umm Mohammed, described the horrific state of the body of her cousin’s son, Kamal Fathi Hamza:

“He had been shot several times in the head and chest; the body was covered in blood but you couldn’t tell whose blood it was as the bodies were one on top of the other. He had not been convicted of anything; had just been arrested 10 or 15 days earlier. He had only just got married less than a month before he was killed.” 

Several other families also said they had relatives among the detainees who were killed in the Tal ‘Afar jail, in some cases with two or more relatives from the same family. Most said their relatives were arrested shortly before the killing and had been held in pre-trial detention. None had been tried.

In a separate incident in Mosul, several Sunni detainees were killed in the Anti-Terrorism Agency in Hay al-Danadan district. A survivor said that at around 10pm on 9 June soldiers came into the cell and took away 13 of the 82 detainees being held there. Then they heard gunshots ringing out.

“The soldiers took some of us out and beat us with cables and said we were terrorists, and then took us back to our cell. At 11.30 pm they opened the door and threw a hand grenade into the cell and closed the door and turned off the light. Six detainees were killed on the spot and many were injured, me among them; I was injured in the eye and leg. One died of his injuries several hours later. In the early morning some armed guys came and released us and took the injured to the hospital. It was then that we learned that the army and security forces had left Mosul.”

The Mayor of Ba’quba, Abdallah al-Hayali, told Amnesty International that his nephew Yassir al-‘Ali Ahmed al-Hayali, 21, was amongst up to 50 people extrajudicially executed in a similar incident in al-Wahda police station in the Mufaraq district central Baquba in the early hours of 16 June. He said that Yassir was arrested about a month earlier and tortured, including by having his nails removed and being given electric shocks in custody.

He was killed along with a number of others by members of a Shi’a militia in the presence of the head of al-Wahda police station in in Ba’quba. According to a medical report obtained by the Mayor, he had been shot in the head. Many of those killed with him had been shot in the head and the chest. Sunni policemen who witnessed the killing fled their posts afterwards for fear of reprisal.

The Governor of Diyala, ‘Amer al-Mujama’i told Amnesty International that he spoke to the only survivor to the mass killing, Ahmed Khalas Zaydan al-Haribi, during his visit to Ba’quba Teaching Hospital. He told him: “We were having a quiet night when we heard the shooting, then armed men in the presence of the head of the police station entered and started shooting at us”. Ahmed was injured in his leg and shoulder during the attack and was taken to the hospital. Two hours later he was abducted by members of a militia who killed him and dumped his body behind the hospital.

The Chief of Police in Diyala governorate said to the media that the detainees died because of mortar strike and reckless shootings by ISIS in an attempt to break into the prison.

Amnesty International is currently investigating reports that a large number of convicted prisoners have been killed by ISIS in Badoush Prison in Mosul.

The organisation is  calling on ISIS, as well as all armed groups and forces on all sides of the conflict to end the summary killings and torture of detainees, as well as the deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, all of which amount to war crimes and must be prosecuted under international law.

“Those among the warring parties in Iraq who are committing war crimes should know that the impunity they currently enjoy won’t last forever and that they may one day be held accountable for their crimes”, said Donatella Rovera.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/iraq-testimonies-point-dozens-revenge-killings-sunni-detainees-2014-06-27

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العراق: شهادات تشير إلى وقوع العشرات من أعمال القتل الانتقامية بحق المحتجزين السنة

© Amnesty International. 

جمعت منظمة العفو الدولية أدلة تشير إلى وجود نمط من الإعدامات خارج نطاق القضاء للمحتجزين من قبل القوات الحكومية والمليشيات الشيعية في مدن تلعفر والموصل وبعقوبة العراقية.

وتحدث المحتجزون، الذين ظلوا على قيد الحياة وأقارب المحتجزين الذين قتلوا، في رواياتهم عن قيام القوات العراقية بتنفيذسلسلة من الهجمات الانتقامية ضد المعتقلين السنة قبل الانسحاب من تلعفر والموصل في شمال العراق، اللتين تخضعان اليوم لسيطرة الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام (داعش). وفي بعقوبة، وسط العراق، تصدت قوات الحكومة والميليشيات الشيعية لمحاولات داعش للاستيلاء على المدينة.

وقالت كبيرة المستشارين لمواجهة الأزمات في منظمة العفو الدولية، دوناتيلا روفيرا، الموجودة حالياً في شمال العراق، إن "هناك تقارير عن حوادث عديدة قتل فيها المحتجزون السنة بلا رحمة أثناء وجودهم في قبضة القوات العراقية، وهي مثيرة للقلق العميق. وتشير عمليات القتل إلى نمط يبعث على القلق من الهجمات الانتقامية ضد السنة للرد على انتصارات داعش".

وأوضحت قائلة: "حتى في خضم الحرب هناك قواعد يجب أن لا يتم تجاوزها أبدًا. فقتل الأسرى جريمة من جرائم الحرب. ويتعين على الحكومة أن تأمر فوراً بإجراء تحقيق نزيه ومستقل في أعمال القتل، وضمان مثول المسؤولين عنها أمام العدالة".

وأبلغ ناجون وأقارب لضحايا منظمة العفو الدولية أنه جرى إعدام حوالي 50 من المعتقلين السنة في مبنى و"جهاز مكافحة الإرهاب" في القلعة، في تلعفر، ليلة 15 يونيو/حزيران.

ووصف أحد الناجين، الذي  نجا بالكاد من الهجوم، كيف فتح أربعة جنود باب الغرفة حيث كان محتجزاً، وبدأوا بإطلاق النار بشكل عشوائي:

"كانت الساعة قرابة 1.45 ليلاً عندما فتح أربعة جنود الباب ونادوا على بضعة أسماء؛ ويبدو أنهم كانوا يحاولون التحقق من أنهم في الغرفة الصحيحة. وأخذوا يطلقون النار بشكل تلقائي ومستمر، الأمر الذي استمر لفترة طويلة...كان ثلاثة منهم يحملون بنادق كلاشنيكوف، بينما حمل الآخر سلاحاً رشاشاً... وكان هناك ثلاثة آخرون على الأقل استطعت أن أراهم يقفون خلفهم؛ وربما كانوا أكثر، لكني لم أستطع رؤيتهم. إذ كنت في الجزء الخلفي من الغرفة، واحتميت بالمرحاض، ثم وجدت نفسي مغطى بجثث المعتقلين الذين انهالوا علي. وأنقذ أولئك الذين لقوا حتفهم حياتي. حيث قتل 46 في الغرفة التي كنت فيه،ا وسمعت أن البعض الآخر قتل في الغرفة المجاورة."

ووصفت امرأة، تدعى أم محمد، حالة جثة ابن عمها، كمال فتحي حمزة، المروعة قائلة:

"تم إطلاق النار عليه مرات عدة في الرأس والصدر. وكان جسمه مغطى بالدم، ولكن لم أستطع أن أعرف دم من كان، لأن الجثث تراكمت الواحدة فوق الأخرى. ولم يكن قد أدين بشيء؛ إذ اعتقل قبل 10 أو 15 يوماً. وكان قد تزوج للتو قبل أقل من شهر من مقتله."

وقالت إنه كان لللعديد من الأسر الأخرى أيضاً أقارب من بين المعتقلين الذين قتلوا في سجن تلعفر، وفي بعض الحالات اثنان أو أكثر من أفراد العائلة نفسها. وقال معظمهم إن أقاربهم اعتقلوا قبل وقت قصير من قتلهم، وقد كانوا موقوفين تمهيداً للمحاكمة، ولم يحاكم منهم أحد.

وفي حادثة منفصلة في الموصل، قتل العديد من المحتجزين السنة لدى "جهاز مكافحة الإرهاب" في حي الدنادان. وقال أحد الناجين إنه في حوالي الساعة 10 من مساء 9 يونيو/حزيران، جاء الجنود إلى الزنزانة واقتادوا 13 من 82 معتقلاً كانوا محتجزين هناك. ثم سمعوا  قرقعة طلقات الرصاص.

"أخذ الجنود بعضنا وانهالوا علينا بالضرب بالكابلات وقالوا إننا إرهابيون، ثم أعادونا إلى زنزانتنا. وعند الساعة 11:30 مساءً فتح الباب وألقيت قنبلة يدوية داخل الزنزانة، وأغلق الباب وأطفئ الضوء. فقتل ستة معتقلين على الفور وأصيب كثيرون، كنت من بينهم؛ حيث أصبت بجروح في العين والساق فقط. وتوفي شخص متأثراً بجروحه بعد عدة ساعات. وفي الصباح الباكر، جاء بعض الرجال المسلحين وأطلقوا سراحنا وأخذوا المصابين إلى المستشفى. وعلمنا بعد ذلك أن قوات الجيش والأمن قد غادرت الموصل."

وأبلغ قائممقام بعقوبة، عبد الله الحيالي، منظمة العفو الدولية أن ابن شقيقه، ياسر العلي الأحمد الحيالي، البالغ من العمر21 سنة، كان بين ما بربو على 50 شخصاً أعدموا خارج نطاق القضاء في حادثة مماثلة في في مركز شرطة الوحدة، في حي المفرق، بوسط بعقوبة، في الساعات الأولى من صباح 16 يونيو/حزيران. وقال إنه قبض على ياسر قبل حوالي الشهر وتعرض للتعذيب، بما في ذلك خلع أظافره وتعريضه للصدمات الكهربائية في سجنه.

وقتل إلى جانب آخرين على يد أعضاء ميليشيا شيعية بحضور رئيس مركز شرطة الوحدة في بعقوبة. ووفقاً لتقرير طبي حصل عليه القائمقام، فقد أصيب بالرصاص في رأسه. وأصيب العديد من أولئك الذين قتلوا بالرصاص في رؤوسهم وصدورهم. وفر رجال الشرطة السنة الذين شهدوا عمليات القتل من مواقعهم بعد ذلك خوفاً من الانتقام.

وأبلغ محافظ ديالى، عامر المجمعي، منظمة العفو الدولية أنه تحدث إلى الناجي الوحيد من عمليات قتل جماعية، وهو أحمد خلاص زيدان الحربي، أثناء زيارته لمستشفى بعقوبة التعليمي. وقال له: " كانت ليلة هادئة عندما سمعنا إطلاق نار، ثم دخل رجال مسلحون بحضور رئيس مركز الشرطة وراحوا يطلقون النار علينا". أصيب أحمد في الساق والكتف أثناء الهجوم، وتم نقله إلى المستشفى. وبعد ساعتين اختطفه أفراد إحدى الميليشيات وقتلوه وألقوا بجثته خلف المستشفى.

وقال رئيس شرطة محافظة ديالى لوسائل الإعلام إن المعتقلين توفوا بسبب قذائف الهاون وعمليات إطلاق النار المتهورة التي مارستها داعش في محاولة لاقتحام السجن.

وتحقق منظمة العفو الدولية حالياً في تقارير أفادت بأن داعش قتلت عدداً كبيراً من السجناء المحكوم عليهم في سجن بادوش في الموصل.

وتدعو منظمة العفو الدولية داعش، فضلاً عن جميع الجماعات والقوات المسلحة من جميع أطراف النزاع إلى التوقف عن أعمال القتل بإجراءات موجزة وعن تعذيب الحتجزين، فضلاً عن الهجمات المتعمدة والعشوائية على المدنيين، التي تشكل جميعها جرائم حرب، ويتعين محاكمة مرتكبيها بموجب القانون الدولي.

وأكدت دوناتيلا روفيرا قائلة: "يتعين على الأشخاص الذين يرتكبون جرائم حرب من الأطراف المتحاربة في العراق أن يعرفوا أن الإفلات من العقاب الذي يتمتعون به حالياً لن يدوم إلى الأبد، وأنهم سيساءلون يوماً ما عن جرائمهم". 

http://www.amnesty.org/ar/news/iraq-testimonies-point-dozens-revenge-killings-sunni-detainees-2014-06-27

The Real Story of Iraq – Liberation from Religious Persecution

June 16, 2014

Once again the violence in Iraq makes the news headlines. Unfortunately the events in Iraq are not being accurately portrayed in most of the media outlets. Here are some major points that need to be highlighted:

1. ISIS is NOT the only one taking over the predominantly Sunni cities in Iraq. Last week a small group of ISIS fighters along with others entered the second largest city in Iraq, Mosul, unopposed by Maliki's security forces; an event which many in Mosul believe was allowed to occur by the Maliki security services to justify a "successful" battle Maliki can use to get people to rally behind him. Within a day or so, however, other larger more moderate armed groups entered Mosul forcing the thousands of the Maliki security forces to flee. The Maliki forces fled without even a fight, which is an indication of the nature of the security apparatus in Iraq.

2. The groups that are in control of Mosul and have taken the cities of Tikrit, Tal-Afar, Huwaija, Beiji, Miqdadiya and many other towns between Mosul and Baghdad and in Diyala are a host of various rebel groups that previously fought both the military occupation and ISIS-Qaida mesh. These groups include Nationalist as well as Islamist groups. They include the Tribal Army, Islamic Army, Salahadeen Brigades, Mujahideen Army, Naqshabandi force, and few others. They include former Iraqi Army officers. These rebel groups out number the ISIS fighters by more than 9 to 1.  

3. These rebel groups have the backing of the local population. Mosul has been quiet for the last week, and civil servants have gone back to work. There are no public floggings, executions, or violence like that associated with ISIS.

4. These "revolutionaries" as they are now calling themselves have allowed the Maliki forces to leave (or flee) peacefully. In Mosul, Tikrit, Beiji, and more recently Balad (Spiker base) these groups requested the Maliki forces to leave their weapons and leave peacefully. Thousands of Maliki soldiers have left with their vehicles unarmed and peacefully, unlike the Maliki forces who have been executing jailed prisoners before they flee.

5. These rebels have captured vehicles and weapons and are trying to move onto Baghdad from all four sides.

6. The Iraqi Sunni population has had enough of Maliki's oppression. Thousands of Sunni families have been expelled from their homes in Basra, Nasiriya, Diyala, and Baghdad in the past 11 years. Thousands of Sunni young men languish in jails without trials. Many are tortured and executed. The Army and Security forces are 95% Shitte and drawn from the sectarian militia groups which have the notorious reputation of ransacking homes and screaming sectarian insults through loudspeakers (like the infamous Muthana brigade). The Sunnis have been for the most part excluded from the central government and the Sunni provinces have been either neglected (not given financial resources) or oppressed (hospitals and schools bombed and mass arrests and expulsions). The people have had enough.

7. Even the Sunni politicians who have participated in the political process have been targeted by the Maliki regime. As soon as any Sunni politician criticizes the arbitrary arrests of Sunnis or mass expulsions of Sunni families, they become targets of arrest, torture, and or have death sentences passed on them. They include Members of Parliament like Mohamed Al-Daine who had to flee for his life and MP Ahmed Alwani who was arrested and tortured and whose brother was executed by security forces, and most notably the Vice-President Tariq Al-Hashemi, who had 3 death sentences decreed against him. Maliki uses the Anti-Terrorism law (Provision 4) to persecute Sunnis. In Iraq, this Provision 4 is known as the "Anti-Sunni" Law.

8. In February 2014, Human Rights Watch published a 104-page report of how Maliki's security services torture and rape women in prisons. Human Rights Watch said that the "vast majority of the more than 4,200 women detained in Interior and Defense ministry facilities are Sunni."  Most of the men languishing in Maliki's jail are also Sunnis.

9. The 6 predominantly Sunni provinces have had mass peaceful protests of hundreds of thousands of people for over a year, without much media attention or any response of the Maliki regime. Instead Maliki tried to crush the peaceful protests in Falluja and Ramadi by force and that was what sparked the fighting earlier this year in Anbar province.

10. The Sunni population will not allow the Maliki forces to return to their areas. They feel like they are finally liberating their people from religious persecution, oppression, and genocide, that they have endured and suffered from for past 11 years.

Maliki is now openly using his last card, the fatwa for jihad. He is relying now on the recent fatwa by Ali Sistani for a jihad against the Sunni areas. If Maliki has his way, the country will be heading towards a bloody civil war.

It would be a monumental mistake if the Obama Administration gets the US involved to prop up the corrupt and bloody Maliki regime which has polarized Iraqi society. It would be like adding fuel to the fire.

The best thing the Obama Administration can do is to encourage a formation of a more inclusive government that includes real power sharing and division of resources. They need to reach out to the Sunni leaders (in Parliament, the provincial leaders, religious & tribal leaders). Otherwise the country will be effectively divided.

The story being told in the media is a like fictional story, far from the truth.  But now you have the real story.

Iraq: Security Forces Abusing Women in Detention

Torture Allegations Underscore Urgent Need for Criminal Justice Reform

Watch Video of Rape Victim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9C6gaG0WFZQ

Human Rights Watch

February 6, 2014 (Baghdad) – Iraqi authorities are detaining thousands of Iraqi women illegally and subjecting many to torture and ill-treatment, including the threat of sexual abuse. Iraq’s weak judiciary, plagued by corruption, frequently bases convictions on coerced confessions, and trial proceedings fall far short of international standards. Many women were detained for months or even years without charge before seeing a judge.

The 105-page report, “‘No One Is Safe’: Abuses of Women in Iraq’s Criminal Justice System,” documents abuses of women in detention based on interviews with women and girls, Sunni and Shia, in prison; their families and lawyers; and medical service providers in the prisons at a time of escalating violence involving security forces and armed groups. Human Rights Watch also reviewed court documents and extensive information received in meetings with Iraqi authorities including Justice, Interior, Defense, and Human Rights ministry officials, and two deputy prime ministers. “Iraqi security forces and officials act as if brutally abusing women will make the country safer,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“In fact, these women and their relatives have told us that as long as security forces abuse people with impunity, we can only expect security conditions to worsen.” In January 2013, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki promised to reform the criminal justice system, beginning with releasing detained women who had judicial orders of release. A year later, the brutal tactics of security forces remain essentially the same and hundreds of women remain in detention illegally.

As fighting raged between a multitude of Sunni insurgent groups and government security forces in Anbar province in January 2014, Anbar residents expressed their frustration to Human Rights Watch over Maliki’s failure to carry out promised reforms. Residents’ lack of trust in security forces, caused by their policy of attacking residents in Sunni areas, including the abuses of women Human Rights Watch documented, is undermining the government’s military efforts against Al-Qaeda in Anbar, they said.

Many of the 27 women who spoke with Human Rights Watch described being beaten, kicked, slapped, hung upside-down and beaten on their feet (falaqa), given electric shocks, and raped or threatened with sexual assault by security forces during their interrogation. They said security forces questioned them about their male relatives’ activities rather than crimes in which they themselves were implicated. Security forces forced them to sign statements, many with fingerprints, which they were not allowed to read and that they later repudiated in court, they said.

One woman entered her meeting with Human Rights Watch in Iraq’s death row facility in Baghdad’s Kadhimiyya neighborhood on crutches. She said nine days of beatings, electric shocks, and falaqa in March 2012 had left her permanently disabled. The split nose, back scars, and burns on her breast that Human Rights Watch observed were consistent with the abuse she alleged. She was executed in September 2013, seven months after Human Rights Watch interviewed her, despite lower court rulings that dismissed charges against her following a medical report that supported her alleged torture.

Human Rights Watch found that Iraqi security forces regularly arrest women illegally and commit other due process violations against women at every stage of the justice system. Women are subjected to threats of, or actual, sexual assault, sometimes in front of husbands, brothers, and children. Failure by the courts to investigate allegations of abuse and hold the abusers responsible encourages the police to falsify confessions and use torture, Human Rights Watch said.

The vast majority of the more than 4,200 women detained in Interior and Defense ministry facilities are Sunni, but the abuses Human Rights Watch documents affect women of all sects and classes throughout Iraqi society. Both men and women suffer from the severe flaws of the criminal justice system. But women suffer a double burden due to their second-class status in Iraqi society. Human Rights Watch found that women are frequently targeted not only for crimes they themselves are said to have committed, but to harass male family or members of their communities. Once they have been detained, and even if they are released unharmed, women are frequently stigmatized by their family or community, who perceive them to have been dishonored.
Iraq’s broken criminal justice system fails to achieve justice for victims either of security force abuses or of criminal attacks by armed groups, Human Rights Watch said. Arrests and convictions Human Rights Watch documented appeared often to have been predicated on information provided by secret informants and confessions coerced under torture.

“We don’t know who we fear more, Al-Qaeda or SWAT,” said one Fallujah resident, referring to the special forces unit that carries out counterterrorism operations. “Why would we help them fight Al-Qaeda when they’ll just come for us as soon as they’re done with them?” Human Rights Watch reviewed a video in which a man representing himself as a leader of Al-Qaeda asks a crowd of onlookers in Ramadi, “What are we supposed to do when the army is raping our women? What are we supposed to do when they’re imprisoning our women and children?”

Peaceful protesters posed these same questions to Iraqi authorities in mass demonstrations that began over a year ago, but Maliki’s promises to address these issues remain unfulfilled. Women detainees, their families, and lawyers told Human Rights Watch that security forces conduct random and mass arrests of women that amount to collective punishment for alleged terrorist activities by male family members.

Authorities have exploited vague provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2005 to settle personal or political scores – detaining, charging, and trying women based on their association to a particular individual, tribe, or sect, Human Rights Watch said. In the vast majority of cases Human Rights Watch examined, women had no access to a lawyer before or during their interrogation, contrary to Iraqi law when security forces presented them with statements to sign, or at trial, either because they could not afford one or because lawyers feared taking on politically sensitive cases.

In every case Human Rights Watch documented in which women told the investigating or trial judge about abuse, the judges did not open an inquiry. Some dismissed the allegations, saying that they observed no marks on the defendant’s body or that the woman should have made the allegations earlier.

Iraqi authorities should acknowledge the prevalence of abuse of female detainees, promptly investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment, prosecute guards and interrogators responsible for abuse, and disallow coerced confessions, Human Rights Watch said. They should make judicial and security sector reform an urgent priority as a prerequisite for stemming violence that increasingly threatens the country’s stability.

“The abuses of women we documented are in many ways at the heart of the current crisis in Iraq,” Stork said. “These abuses have caused a deep-seated anger and lack of trust between Iraq’s diverse communities and security forces, and all Iraqis are paying the price.” 

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http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/06/iraq-security-forces-abusing-women-detention

Iraq’s Real Problem: A US Occupation legacy of Sectarian Politics

Jan. 9, 2014

By Mohammed Alomari, Esq.

Violence in Iraq is again in the news. The biggest problem we face about what is going on in Iraq is the disinformation campaign to which we have been subjected since the 2003 invasion and occupation.

Iraq, which had its infrastructure and institutions demolished in 2003, was rebuilt on political and sectarian lines. Originally Iraq’s army had been based on a nation-wide forced conscription (in which all sects and ethnicities were represented according to their percentages in society). All that was abolished in 2003 in favor of a militia-based structure. Iraq’s current military and security forces are made of former Chalabi-led Iraq National Congress militiamen, Iran-based Badr militia, Mahdi Army militia and other sectarian based militias.

It is as though the President of the U.S. were to abolish the Armed Forces and form a new military force from recruits from extremist groups. Imagine the racial and sectarian killings that would happen here. The recent issue with Anbar province (and the other 5 provinces) is a result of ignoring the year-long demonstrations/protests and sit-ins in Anbar, Salahadeen, Diyala, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Samarra. Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in these provinces for over a year to free thousands of political prisoners, stop the mass expulsions of families from their homes, and other similar demands.

The recent issue with Anbar province (and the other 5 provinces) is a result of ignoring the year-long demonstrations/protests and sit-ins in Anbar, Salahadeen, Diyala, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Samarra. Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in these provinces for over a year to free thousands of political prisoners, stop the mass expulsions of families from their homes, and other similar demands. Thousands of Sunni families have been expelled from their homes in Diyala province by government-sanctioned militias this past year (in Miqdadiya, Baquba, other towns) with complete silence from most of the media outlets.

Additionally tens of thousands of Sunni young men have been rotting in jail for years or are being tortured and executed under provision 4 of the Terror Law. Army units like the infamous Muthana brigade march into predominantly Sunni towns and neighborhoods swearing and cursing anti-Sunni insults (using expletives against Sunni religious symbols like Aisha, the wife of the Prophet Mohammed, or Omar, the Prophet’s brother-in-law).

About two weeks ago, the Iraqi government decided to move against the peaceful protestors using military force, claiming there were “terrorists” protesting with the demonstrators. In fact, the people of Anbar and other provinces have had enough of the sectarian repression, mass expulsion of families, mass arrests, hit squads, torture, and executions.

The people of Anbar and the other provinces reacted to the attempt of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to take over cities like Ramadi and Fallujah by rebelling and establishing the Tribal forces. Theses tribal forces are the same groups (Awakening councils) which fought the extremists back in 2007 and expelled them from the cities. But they don’t want the sectarian government forces either.

Supporting the Baghdad government with arms is big mistake; instead, the White House should open talks with the Tribal leaders in these provinces, with the Sunni leaders in the Parliament and pressure the Iraqi government to reform their military and security apparatus and keep the commitment to the April 2014 elections.

Unfortunately the media is still playing the old movie of supporting the central government to “fight the bogeyman.” If this failed policy continues, of blindly supporting the central government without looking beyond the headlines to see what is really going on, Iraq will boil over worse than Syria.

Peace will only come to Iraq if the institutions of power and military/security apparatus are reformed to include all segments of society, and not allowed to be monopolized by one group. Otherwise continuing this failed policy is like throwing gasoline on a burning fire; Iraq will as a result remain a bloody mess for years to come.

Mohammed Alomari, Esq. is an attorney in the greater Detroit area.

http://www.juancole.com/2014/01/occupation-sectarian-politics.html

Details of Iranian Control of Mahdi Army Cells in Iraq

Tehran Uses Splinter Cells Within Militia

By HAMZA HENDAWI

March 21, 2007

BAGHDAD - The violent Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army is breaking into splinter groups, with up to 3,000 gunmen now financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, adding a potentially even more deadly element to Iraq's violent mix.

Two senior militia commanders told The Associated Press that hundreds of these fighters have crossed into Iran for training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

The breakup is an ominous development at a time when U.S. and Iraqi forces are working to defeat religious-based militias and secure Iraq under government control. While al-Sadr's forces have battled the coalition repeatedly, including pitched battles in 2004, they've mostly stayed in the background during the latest offensive.

The U.S. military has asserted in recent months that Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Quds force have been providing Shiite militias with weapons and parts for sophisticated armor-piercing bombs. The so called EFPs — explosively formed penetrators — are responsible for the deaths of more than 170 American and coalition soldiers since mid-2004, the military says.

In the latest such attack, four U.S. soldiers were killed March 15 by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad.

At the Pentagon, a military official confirmed there were signs the Mahdi Army was splintering. Some were breaking away to attempt a more conciliatory approach to the Americans and the Iraqi government, others moving in a more extremist direction, the official said.

However, the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name on the topic, was not aware of direct Iranian recruitment and financing of Mahdi Army members.

The outlines of the fracture inside the Mahdi Army were confirmed by senior Iraqi government officials with access to intelligence reports prepared for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The information indicates a disintegrating organization yet a potentially even more dangerous foe, they revealed, on condition that their names not be used.

The militia commanders and al-Maliki's reports identify the leader of the breakaway faction as Qais al-Khazaali, a young Iraqi cleric who was a close al-Sadr aide in 2003 and 2004.

He was al-Sadr's chief spokesman for most of 2004, when he made nearly daily appearances on Arabic satellite news channels. He has not been seen in public since late that year.

Al-Sadr has been in Iran since early February, apparently laying low during the U.S.-Iraqi offensive, according to the U.S. military. He is not known to be close to Iran's leadership or Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

While Al-Sadr's strategy appears to be to wait out the government offensive and preserve his force, his absence has left loyal fighters unsure of his future and pondering whether they had been abandoned by their leader, the commanders said.

Al-Sadr tried to return to Iraq last month but turned back before he reached the Iraqi border upon learning of U.S. checkpoints on the road to Najaf, the Shiite holy city south of Baghdad where he lives.

"Conditions are not suitable for him to return," said an al-Sadr aide, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "His safety will not be guaranteed if he returns."

The Mahdi Army commanders, who said they would be endangered if their names were revealed, said Iran's Revolutionary Guards were funding and arming the defectors from their force, and that several hundred over the last 18 months had slipped across the Iranian border for training by the Quds force.

In recent weeks, Mahdi Army fighters who escaped possible arrest in the Baghdad security push have received $600 each upon reaching Iran. The former Mahdi Army militiamen working for the Revolutionary Guards operate under the cover a relief agency for Iraqi refugees, they said.

Once fighters defect, they receive a monthly stipend of $200, said the commanders.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for an Iranian dissident group, told reporters in New York on Tuesday that Iraqi Shiite guerrillas and death squads were being trained in secret camps in Iran with the blessing of top Tehran government leaders and at least three senior Iraqi political figures.

Inside Iraq, the breakaway troops are using the cover of the Mahdi Army itself, the commanders said.

The defectors are in secret, small, but well-funded cells. Little else has emerged about the structure of their organization, but most of their cadres are thought to have maintained the pretense of continued Mahdi Army membership, possibly to escape reprisals.

Estimates of the number of Mahdi Army fighters vary wildly, with some putting the figure at 10,000 and others as many as 60,000.

The extent of al-Sadr's control over his militia has never been clear. Like many of Iraq's warring parties, it's a loosely knit force. The fiery cleric inspires loyalty with his speeches and edicts, and the Shiite gunmen are also bonded by the goal of maintaining Shiite dominance in a country long controlled by the rival Sunni Muslims, most recently Saddam Hussein.

Commanders thought to have disobeyed Mahdi Army orders or abused their power are publicly renounced during Friday prayers, a move that has forced them to quit their posts or go into hiding.

Mahdi Army militiamen also could be attracted by the cash promises of the splinter group. They don't receive wages or weapons from al-Sadr, but are allowed to generate income by charging government contractors protection money when they work in Shiite neighborhoods.

The two Mahdi Army commanders blamed several recent attacks on U.S. forces in eastern Baghdad on the splinter group. The commanders also said they believed the breakaway force had organized the attempt last week to kill Rahim al-Darraji, the mayor of Sadr City.

Al-Darraji, who is close to the Sadrist movement, was involved in talks with the U.S. military about extending the five-week-old Baghdad security sweep into Sadr City, the Mahdi Army stronghold in eastern Baghdad that was a no-go zone for American forces until about three weeks ago.

Al-Darraji was seriously wounded and two of his bodyguards were killed when gunmen ambushed their convoy in a mainly Shiite district near Sadr City. There was no claim of responsibility.

The commanders said recruitment of Mahdi Army gunmen by Iran began as early as 2005. But it was dramatically stepped up in recent months, especially with the approach of the U.S.-Iraqi security operation which was highly advertised before it began Feb. 14. Many Mahdi Army fighters are believed to have crossed the border to escape arrest.

Calls by the AP to seek comment from the Iranian Foreign Ministry have not been returned.

The Iranian recruitment of the Mahdi Army fighters appears to be an extension of its efforts to exert influence in Iraq, in part to keep the U.S. bogged down in a war that already has stretched into its fifth year. Iran already has the allegiance of the Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia founded and trained in Iran in the 1980s that maintains close links to Iraq's ruling Shiite politicians.

The Bush administration has carefully not ruled out military action against Iran, but the war in Iraq keeps U.S. ground forces at least stretched thin.

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Associated Press military writer Robert Burns contributed to this report from Washington.

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Iran's Men in Iraq--Who Are They??

Details of Iran's Surrogates in Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq (2/12/2007) --One of the key players in Iraq today is Iran. It is important to know how Iran operates in Iraq today. Iran works through surrogates, primarily of Iranian origin, who are usually either on Tehran’s payroll or who have ties to Iranian secret police, intelligence agencies, or military services. The vast Iranian governmental agencies bankroll and arm a handful of parties and militias in Iraq, to do their bidding in Iraq.

1) Who's Who of Iran’s Men in Iraq

Here are some of Iran’s important surrogates in Iraq:

a) “Jawad Al-Maliki” or "Nuri Al-Maliki" (real name “Nuri Kamil Al-Ali”) current Prime Minister, is a member of the Iranian-backed Dawa Party, like the previous Premier Ibrahim Jaafari Ashayqar. He comes from the village of Jalaajil, in the district of Tawayreej (Al-Hindiya), which is between the cities of Hilla (Babylon) and Karabala. Iraqi writer and historian Asir Abdel-Rahman says in his new book, in which he coined a new term, ("The Democra-Sectarianism of Iraq") reports that Nuri comes from the tribe of Graydhat (originally Beni-Quraydha). Some of the members of this tribe include the famous songwriter Salih Al-Kuwaiti (who wrote the well-known folk song “Khadiri Chai Khadiri”) who later fled to Israel, and famous news announcer Rushdi Abdel-Sahib. Nuri lived in both Iran and Syria from 1979 to 2003. Intelligent reports cited in many media sources report that Maliki was the head of the "Jihadi" operations of Dawa while in Syria, referring to terrorist attacks in Iraq and the Arab Gulf states during this period, most notably the car bomb attack on the Kuwaiti Royal Family in the 1980s.

b) Ibrahim “Jaafari” (real last name “Ashayqar”), previous prime minister, is from Pakistani origins. His grandfather immigrated from Pakistan. Ibrahim’s father was granted Iraqi citizenship, although he continued to maintain his Pakistani citizenship for himself and his children. Ibrahim’s sister, for instance, who lives in Babylon province, still does not have Iraqi citizenship and last year reportedly renewed her residency in Iraq as a foreigner. Ibrahim was the spokesman of the Iranian-backed Dawa Party.

c) Abdel-Aziz “Al-Hakeem” (real last name “Tabatabaee”), head of the Iranian-backed “Supreme Council on Islamic Revolution in Iraq” (SCIRI) and its Badr Militia. His grandfather Mahdi migrated from the Iranian city of Tabataba to Najaf. He practiced herbal cures for ills at the time and was labeled “Al-Hakeem” which means “physician.” Abdel-Aziz’s father Muhsin became a religious leader in Najaf but maintained his Iranian citizenship. Abdel-Aziz himself reportedly still has Iranian citizenship, and his son Ammar, who is a spokesman for SCIRI, reportedly is wanted for conscription in the Iranian Army. Two years ago, Ammar had written to former Iranian President Khatemi to grant him special permission to be excused from Iranian military service. Unlike most Iraqis, Aziz still publicly refers to the Arabian Gulf, as the "Persian Gulf" as do the Iranians.

d) “Bayan Jabr” (real name “Baqir Solagh Shishtazali”), current Finance Minister and formerly the Interior Minister under "Jaafari," is from Iranian Turkic (Azeri) origins. His father immigrated to Iraq and lived in Kadhimiya district of Baghdad. Solagh is a member of the Iranian-backed “Supreme Council on Islamic Revolution in Iraq” (SCIRI). It’s Badr militia dominate the Interior Ministry security forces.

e) “Mawafiq Al-Rubayee” (real name “Kareem Shahpoor”), current National Security Advisor, is originally from Iran, specifically from the city of Shahpoor. He was one of thousands of Iranians deported from Iraq in 1979.

f) Hussein Shahristani, current Oil Minister, is a member of the Shiite coalition. His father is Iranian and comes from the Iranian province of Shahristan. Some members of Hussein’s family still do not speak Arabic. He was a nuclear scientist in Iraq who fled to Iran just prior to the Iran-Iraq war. He was accused by former Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan in 2005 of illegally working on the Iranian nuclear program.

g) Ali “Al-Dabbagh” (real last name “Bayajoon”), official spokesman for Prime Minister "Maliki" and former spokesman for Iranian cleric Ali Sistani and member of the Shiite coalition. His grandfather immigrated to Iraq, and settled in Najaf.

h) Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, is one of the top Shiite religious authorities in Najaf. He is Iranian from the province of Sistan, which borders Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Jaafari offered the Iranian cleric Iraqi citizenship, but Sistani refused it saying “I was born as an Iranian and will die as an Iranian.” Sistani still does not speak Arabic fluently and uses translators. He refuses to do any TV and radio interviews in order to avoid appearing to Iraqi audiences as non-Iraqi.

2) Shift in Iranian Alliances in Iraq in 2004-2005

There was been a major shift in alliances in Iraq in late 2004 and early 2005. The first major one is the Dawa-Sadr alliance. The Dawa Party is an old religious (fundamentalist) Iranian-backed Shiite party, led by the current Prime Minister "Maliki." Dawa is a small party in size, only about 400 in number, but are made of many highly educated people (doctors, lawyers, etc).

The Dawa Party made an alliance with Moqtada Sadr, the young sectarian leader who led a brief revolt in 2004. Sadr, who capitalized on his father’s and uncle’s fame has made claim to lead the militant “Sadrist movement” which claims to speak for the poor Shiite masses. The young Sadr made his fame as a result of the brief revolt he led in the summer of 2004, and established the militant “Mahdi Army” militia, which is made up mostly of poor unemployed young hoodlums who have established a reputation for brutality. They were famous for killing Shiites who became Sunnis, but recently become infamous for killing just regular Sunnis.

The Dawa views the Sadrists as their grassroots, while Sadrists view the Dawa party as their leadership. Both ex-premier Jaafari and Sadr were invited to Tehran in 2004 and reported to have received millions of dollars to do Iran’s bidding in Iraq. This was an about face for Sadr who was very vocal (in 2003 and 2004) and critical of Iran’s meddling in Iraq and the Iraqi Shiite movement. But obviously everyone has his or her price. Sadr's Mahdi Army Militia (also known as JAM by the US military) is now controlled and directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Quds Force division, and is directed by the senior Iranian commander, Qasim Sulaymani.

That new Sadr-Dawa alliance was a slight to Iran’s traditional proxy, the “Supreme Council on Islamic Revolution in Iraq” (SCIRI) and their Badr Militia led by Abdel-Aziz “Hakeem” Tabatabi. Hakeem’s group, which became notorious for torturing and massacring Sunnis, had lost its popularity among most Iraqis because of its cooperation with the US military. They recently lost favor with Iran (although they are still financed by Tehran), due to their previous cooperation with the U.S. They now play seconds to Dawa-Sadrists.

This would be similar to a first girlfriend who loses favor with her boyfriend to some newer prettier girl; she tries to win her boyfriend back. That’s why Hakeem proposed the US-Iran talks, to prove to Iran that they are still useful to Tehran. Iran strongly backed a Dawa candidate (e,g, Jaafari or Maliki) as Prime Minister. The Shiite Alliance of Dawa, Sadrists, and SCIRI narrowly voted for Jaafari, but the alliance only has 47% of the Parliament seats (so much for the myth of the “Shiite Majority”). The prime minister needs 67% of the votes in parliament to form a government. The majority of the Parliament opposed Jaafari, that's why they had to pick Maliki.

After the Samarra dome attack in February, Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia went on a bloody rampage and bombed and torched about 150 Sunni mosques throughout Baghdad and the South, killed tens of Sunni religious leaders (Imams), and rounded up thousands of Sunnis in mixed neighborhoods and killed them in cold blood. Since this happened under Jaafari’s reign (along with the Badr Death Squads operating from the Interior Ministry), the Sunni Arabs stand totally opposed to his leadership. The death squads have continued their reign of terror under Maliki as well. Everyday, on an average of 150 bodies of Sunnis show up on the street or morgue tortured to death by the Mahdi Army militia or Badr militia.

There are rumors in Washington and Baghdad that Maliki has only until the end of May of 2007 to clean up his act and stop covering up for the militias doing the sectarian killings. After that word is that the SCIRI leader, current VIce-President Adel Abdel-Mahdi (real last name “Muntafaji”) might be picked as an alternative prime minister. He was a former Baathist in 1960’s and 1970’s like Ayad Allawi and worked in the Iraqi Embassy in Paris under the Baathist government. He later quit and became a Communist in the 1970’s. Then in the 1980’s he became religious and joined Hakeem’s group (SCIRI).

There are not too many choices left, especially since the tensions with Iran, the puppet controller of these leaders, is increasing.

After the U.S. military began the Baghdad security operation in February, 2007, Sadr and thousands of his Mahdi Army militiamen fled to Iran, to hide from possible arrest. This opens the door to fresh new Iranian elements to take over militia activity in Iraq.

M

Iraq--Background and History

Based on the book, Blockade & Desctruction of Iraq by Mohammed Alomari, 2002, with few updates

September 26, 2015
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Country Profile

Iraq, a country about the size of California, is located in the southwestern portion of Asia known as the Middle East. Iraq has a very small coastline (58 km) at the head of the Arabian Gulf, located in the southern tip of the country. Iraq is bordered on the east by Iran, on the north by Turkey, to the west by Syria and Jordan, and to the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Iraq has two natural flowing rivers, the famous Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which meet together in the south to form another waterway known as Shatt-al-Arab. Iraq also has small lakes in the center of the country as well as mountainous regions in the north. The central and southern portions are for the most part flatlands. The southwestern portion of the country is mostly arid and essentially a desert.

History

Historically, Iraq has been the center of some of the most ancient civilizations in the world. Iraq was also the home of two major Biblical/Quranic prophets, Noah and Abraham.
The name, Iraq, literally means in Arabic, “the land between two rivers.” The first recorded history of the use of the name of Iraq to the country is in the early 630’s AD when the Islamic caliphs began referring to the area as Iraq.

Earlier (pre-Islamic) historians based their writings on the ancient Greek writers who referred to Iraq as “Mesopotamia,” which in Greek also meant, “land between two rivers.”
Prior to the ancient Greek civilization, the Iraq was referred to by the names of the various civilizations.

The ancient history of Iraq goes back to about 7,000 years ago, around 5,000 BC to the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerians had a collection of many different city-states in the southern plains of Iraq.

The Sumerians are credited for many of the inventions we take for granted today, such the invention of the wheel, which all modern land transportation depends on today. The Sumerians also divided the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds. In addition, the Sumerians are credited for having the oldest known written language, known as cuneiform.

The Sumerians were later succeeded by the Akkadian civilization. The Akkadian period is also sometimes referred to as the Sumerian-Akkadian civilization, because it combined the high culture and scientific achievements of the Sumerians with the military nature of the Akkadians. The Akkadians concentrated on military conquests and forged an empire around in and around Iraq. The most renowned Akkadian king was Sargon I.

The Akkadians were later succeeded by the Babylonians, who came from the southern Iraqi city of Babylon. During this early Babylonian period, the civilization became known for the arts and sciences. One famous Babylonian king, Hammurabi, was the first ruler to publish laws for all the citizens to read. The written law gave the citizens an opportunity to publicly learn about the laws, rather than live in fear of what may or may not please the ruler.

Later the Babylonians were succeeded by the Assyrians who came from the northern Iraqi city of Ashur. The Assyrian Empire was much more militaristic than the early Babylonian period. The Assyrians established a sizeable empire in and around Iraq. One of the most famous Assyrian kings was Sargon II.

Later, the Babylonians were able to fight off the Assyrians, and successfully destroyed the Assyrian Empire. Although the second Babylonian period was much more militaristic than the first, the Neo- Babylonian civilization nevertheless still had an interest in the arts and sciences, like the first. This Neo-Babylonian period is also sometimes referred to as the Chaldean period.
The Neo-Babylonians also forged an empire in and around Iraq. One of the most famous Neo-Babylonian kings was Nebuchadnezzar.

After the fall of the Babylonian civilization, various empires swept through Iraq including the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans.

It wasn’t until the Islamic period that Iraq regained its independence where it eventually became the center of civilization. By the time of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258 AD), Baghdad had become the capital of the Islamic caliphate. The most famous Abbasid caliph was Harun Ar-Rasheed.

During the Abbasid period, Iraq was the center of learning and trade around the world. This golden era saw the development of universities, medical research, arts, and the sciences. Many students of learning around the world (even Europeans) traveled to Iraq to study there. Many merchants flocked to Iraq to buy and sell goods.

After the fall of Baghdad in 1258 by the Mongols, Iraq sunk into chaos, bloodshed, backwardness, and neglect. It wasn’t until the Ottomans conquered Iraq in the 1500’s that peace and order was re-established in Iraq. Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until World War I (1914-1918) when Britain conquered Iraq.

After the British conquered much of the Middle East, they re-drew much of the boundaries not according to the Ottoman rule or to ethnic lines, but rather according to strategic adjectives and various political agreements with France (such as the Sykes-Picot Agreement).

As a result, much of the border issues that developed later in the twentieth century, such as between Iraq and Kuwait, between Iran and Iraq, and even between Syria and Turkey, were results of the British and French colonial powers drawing of the borders.

The British established a kingdom in Iraq in 1921 and ruled under a mandate granted by the League of Nations. Britain chose the Hashemite family from Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia) to be the royal family in Iraq. The first king of Iraq was Faisal bin Hussein.

Britain then granted Iraq its official independence in 1932, but with a special Anglo-Iraq Treaty guaranteeing Britain that Iraq could never adopt any policy deemed “unfavorable” to the British.
Iraq became a constitutional monarchy with two houses of parliament, a nominated senate or House of Appointees and an elected House of Representatives. The members of the House of Appointees were appointed by the king, while the members of the House of Representatives were elected by the citizens.

Iraq's policies were closely aligned with Britain. After the sudden death of King Faisal I in 1933, he was succeeded by his young son, Ghazi. Ghazi was more of an Arab nationalist and began to distinguish his rule from his father by distancing himself from Britain. He also planned to build a huge port in the neighboring Kuwait which was under British rule. He also supported the Palestinian resistance to the British rule and Zionist plans for Palestine. King Ghazi ruled from 1933 until 1939, when he was killed in an automobile crash. Many later accused the British for killing the king and the British consulate was attacked in Mosul.

Since King Ghazi’s son, Faisal II was still a boy at the time of his death, Faisal’s uncle, Abdel-Ilah ruled on his behalf, as the Regent. Abdel-Ilah realigned Iraq's policies closer to Britain. For the brief exception of 1941 where the Prime Minister Rashid Ali Al-Gailani revolted and rebelled against the British, most of the period under Abdel-Ilah's rule (1939-1953) saw close ties with Britian.  In 1948, Iraq sent army units to fight along the other Arab nations to protect the Palestinian areas after the Zionists declared the nation of Israel on areas it took over in Palestine. The Iraqi Army was famed for defending the West Bank areas from the Zionist forces.

After turning 18, Faisal II officially was crowned king in 1953. During this period Faisal II began to build closer ties with the United States. The King visited the United States and met with President Eisenhower. Many felt that Iraq was moving away from Britain in favor of the U.S. In February of 1958, Iraq and Jordan officially became united into one nation, called the Hashemite Union. Iraq also founded the Baghdad Pact with neighboring nations Iran and Turkey as a bulwark against Communism.

Later that year (July, 1958), Hashemite rule was overthrown in Iraq by local army officers in a bloody revolution. Both King Faisal II and Crown Prince Abdel-Ilah were killed.

The union with Jordan was summarily dissolved. Both houses of parliament (House of Appointees and House of Representatives) were dissolved. Iraq withdrew from the Baghdad Pact.

Iraq ceased to be a kingdom in 1958, and although it was officially called a republic, it was not functionally set up as a republic. Rather, the presidency was a powerless three-man council, whereby the prime minister held all the real power. There was no parliament.

The leader of the 1958 revolution was Army General Abdel-Karim Qassim, who became the prime minister. His second in command was Army officer Abdel-Salam Arif. Qassim and Arif later split due to their political differences. Arif was an Arab nationalist, where Qassim was Iraq-centered. Arif was later arrested, tried, and released.

Qassim made many changes to the governmental institutions and civil law. He also realigned Iraq's foreign policy from the Western nations to the Soviet bloc nations. He also made claims on neighboring Kuwait in 1962. Premier Qassim was later overthrown and killed in another bloody revolution in March of 1963, also led by army officers.

After 1963, Iraq later became functionally more like a republic, where the power was transferred from the prime minister to the president.

The leader of the 1963 revolution was General Abdel-Salam Arif, who later became the president. His second in command was Army officer Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr, who was also the leader of the Arab Baath Socialist Party, an Arab ultra-nationalist party. Arif became the President and Bakr became the prime minister. Arif, fearing a takeover by the Baath Party, later in November of 1963 moved against the Baathists including Bakr. Arif realigned Iraq's foreign policies to be closer with Egypt and Syria. Arif also improved the relations with the U.S. President Arif was killed in a helicopter crash in 1966, and was succeeded by his brother General Abdel-Rahman Arif.  He was known to be very mild mannered and freed many political prisoners. Iraq participated in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, and cut ties with the U.S. as a result of that war. President Arif was later overthrown in July of 1968, in yet another revolution, also led by army officers.

The leader of the 1968 revolution was General Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr, who became the president. Although there were different non-party officers involved in the 1968 revolution, the Baath Party moved against them and ruled the country alone. The party ruled the country for almost 35 years.

After the 1968 revolution, the army officers established a Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) as the chief executive authority in the country. The president of the republic has also been the chairman of the RCC.

In 1972, Iraq nationalized all its oil resources, which were previously controlled by foreign multinational oil companies. In 1973, Iraq sent army units to neighboring Syria to participate in the Arab-Israeli war. The Iraqi Army was famed for defending the Syrian capital of Damascus from Israeli occupation.

As the vice-chairman of the RCC at the time, Saddam Hussein began consolidating his power base in the government. He was instrumental in granting autonomy rights to the Kurdish minority in the north in 1974. Saddam also engineered the deal with the Shah of Iran to end the border dispute and the insurgency in the north in 1975. Saddam gradually became the real power in the government. President Al-Bakr resigned from his posts in 1979, citing poor health, although many feel he was pushed out of power. Saddam became the chairman of the RCC and the president of Iraq.

Also in 1979, after the Iranian revolution, the leader in Tehran Ayatollah Khomeini called for the overthrow of the Iraqi government and border clashes erupted in 1980.  Iraq fought a major war with Iran for eight years (1980-1988) over several issues, including a political struggle for dominance of the region and some border issues dating back to British colonial times.

In 1990, Iraq conquered its southern neighbor Kuwait over many political, economic, and strategic issues, and to a lesser degree, a few border issues, also dating back to the British colonial period. The United Nations place a comprehensive trade ban on Iraq, as a result.

In 1991, a coalition of almost thirty nations, including the United States, Britain, and France, led a devastating war against Iraq. That war destroyed Iraq's civilian infrastructure (electricity, water, sewage treatment, etc). Iraq was forced to withdraw from Kuwait in 1991.

Iraq is still suffering from the effects of the devastation of the 1991 Gulf War and the almost 13-year UN embargo, which prevented Iraq from rebuilding its electric power grid, water pumping stations, sewage treatment plants, schools, hospitals, etc.

On March 19, 2003, the U.S. led a massive invasion of Iraq from neighboring Kuwait, on the claim that Iraq still had banned weapons. The UN Security Council refused to authorize any military action against Iraq due to the lack of evidence that Iraq violated any UN resolution, and the fact that Iraq was in fact cooperating with UN Weapons Inspectors.

The massive U.S. and British military assualt on Iraq severly overwhelmed the Iraqi military, and the Baghdad government completely collapsed on April 9, 2003.

The fact that Iraq did not use any of the supposed banned weapons it was accused of having, added to the fact that even after several months of a massive U.S.-UK military occupation, no banned weapons were ever found in Iraq, it became quite clear that Iraq in fact did not have these weapons. The pretext for the invasion was in fact just that, a pretext. Later after the 2003 invasion and occupation, the Bush Administration admitted that in fact there were no supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The U.S. and British forces established military rule over Iraq, under the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Although the CPA established an Interim Iraqi Council, the CPA held all the power and issued all the laws and decrees. The first head of the CPA was retired General Jay Garner. He was soon replaced by Ambassador Paul Bremer, who became the defacto ruler of Iraq until June of 2004.

In June of 2004, nominal sovereignty was handed over to Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secularist, who formed a cabinet of mixed religious and secular parties, to over see the first set of elections in January of 2005. The result of the January elections, which was boycotted by an important segment of society, was used to form an interim government to over see the writing of a constitution, hold a plebiscite, and conduct final elections in December 2005 for a permanent government.

After the January 2005 interim elections, Prime Minister Allawi handed power to Ibrahim Al-Ashayqar, who went by the title of "Jaafari." Jaafari, from the religious Al-Dawa Party, formed a new cabinet and ruled over a period which saw the drafting of the constitution and the elections of December 2005.

In the spring of 2006, due to opposition from other parties and coalitions in the new parliament for poor performance, Premier Jaafari was forced to hand over power to another colleague in the Dawa Party, Nuri Kamil Al-Maliki. Maliki then proceeded to form a new cabinet based on the parliament's various new coalitions.

Later after years of sectarian policies polarizing the communities in Iraq and massive demonstrations throughout the central and northern cities, calls for Al-Maliki to resign became un-ignore-able. In 2014, after the parliamentary elections, Al-Maliki's Dawa Party was forced to pick another candidate to become prime minister. The party picked Haidar Al-Abadi, who formed a new government. The Dawa Party has ruled Iraq for almost ten years. In addition, after President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke, Fuad Masum was picked to become the president.