The Guardian, UK
written by AP staff
Friday July 18, 2014
The violence in Iraq has killed more than 5,500 civilians over the first six months of the year, according to a report by the United Nations that documents the massive humanitarian toll of the Sunni militant offensive.
The Islamic State (Isis) and other Sunni insurgents seized control of the city of Falluja, as well as part of nearby Ramadi in Anbar province in early January. The militants then launched an offensive in June that has brought a huge swath of northern and western Iraq under their control.
In its report, the UN mission to Iraq says at least 5,576 civilians were killed and another 11,665 wounded from 1 January until the end of June. Another 1.2 million have been driven from their homes by the violence, it adds.
The pace of civilian deaths over the first six months marked a sharp increase over the previous year. In all of 2013, the UN reported just over 7,800 civilians killed, which was the highest annual death toll in years.
The fighting "has inflicted untold hardship and suffering on the civilian population with large-scale killings, injuries, and destruction and damage of livelihoods and property", the UN report says.
It also documents human rights abuses by both sides of the conflict that may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes.
The UN said Isis and its allies had committed "systematic and egregious violations" against civilians, including killings, sexual violence, kidnappings, destruction of property and attacks on places of religious worship.
It also documented violations by government forces, including summary executions of prisoners and detainees.
The UN urged all sides in the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians, and to respect international law and humanitarian law.
The office of the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said on Friday the ailing leader would return on Saturday from Germany, where he has been receiving medical treatment since 2012. Few details have been released about his condition.
Talabani is finishing up his second consecutive term as president and is not eligible to run again.
*********************
IJ Review
written by Caroline Schaeffer
June 16, 2014
The rise of the terrorist group ISIS in Mosul, Tikrit, and other villages in Iraq has overwhelmed the country’s government and military.
Burning down villages, executing civilians and soldiers, they have created a reign of terror that U.S. Armed Forces fought and died to end. Iraq veterans have begun to question whether their sacrifices were worth the cause.
And new information about the brutal leader of ISIS is not bound to make the U.S. government’s actions regarding Iraq look any better: from 2005 until 2009, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was in U.S. custody at our now-closed Camp Bucca near Umm Qasr in Iraq, Examiner reports.
In 2003, following the initial invasion into Iraq, some reports suggest Baghdadi was drawn into the emerging al Qaeda forces and, quickly rising through the terrorism network, became known for the atrocities he and his followers committed. Via Examiner:
There, presiding over his own sharia court, he gained a reputation for brutality, publicly executing those suspected of aiding the US-led coalition forces – the same brutality that has become familiar to those living in Syria under his group’s control.During his rise to power in the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq in 2010 – and later of Isis – he murdered prominent Sunnis as well as Shia civilians in bombings.
He was released by President Obama from the Iraqi prison in 2009, and since then he’s had time to form a plan and collect and train an army of terrorists – an estimated 7,000 men.
Late last year Baghdadi announced that he was creating a new group to be merged with a rival al Qaeda affiliate, active in Syria.
The President and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in their short-sighted attempts to make good on campaign promises, have unleashed a monster unto the people of Iraq who worked so hard to help the Americans free their nation. Baghdadi is not only a threat to Iraqis, but also to our country and our way of life.
**************
CNS News
written by Terence P. Jeffrey
Sunday June 13, 2014
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), issued a rare audio message back on January 21 in which he flatly stated his group’s intention to march on Baghdad and move into “direct confrontation” with the United States.
“Our last message is to the Americans. Soon we will be in direct confrontation, and the sons of Islam have prepared for such a day,” Baghdadi said. “So watch, for we are with you, watching.”
When the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on February 5 on al Qaida’s resurgence in Iraq, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran and Iraq Brett McGurk presented written testimony explaining the agenda of ISIS (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL), and discussed Baghdadi’s audio message to Americans.
ISIL, McGurk said, focuses on “an aim to carve out an Islamic caliphate stretching from Baghdad to Lebanon.”
No comments:
Post a Comment