Articles & eye-witness accounts from inside Iraq

Page 4  (June 2006 -  February 2007 )           

Death Squads in Iraq (07 June 2006) | Al-Islah: Another Crime (27 August 2006) | On the American steps - Corruption and Militias Twins turn Iraq in a "free fraud zone"  (10 Sept. 2006) |  Federalism, Sectarian War and the American Strategy in Iraq (18 Oct 2006) | A Call for Help from an Iraqi Woman: Lift the Siege of Al-Kmira (19 Oct 2006) | Adhamiya People Call upon the Government to Stop the Massacre (06 Nov 2006) |  University Professors in Iraq and Death Anxiety ( Prof. Faris K. O. Nadhmi Oct 2006)  | A Testimony Of An Iraqi Academic (Nov 2006) | Death squads in Iraq : who leads them ? what are their objectives ? (07 Dec 2006) | Dr Hussain Abid Mohammed Al Khafaji arrested by the Scorpion Special Forces Unit (01 Dec 2006)  | Testimony of Ali Shalal on torture in Abu Graib  (Kuala Lumpur 07 Feb 2007) | Testimony of Abbas Abid on torture in Al Jadiriyah (Kuala Lumpur 07 Feb 2007) | Testimony of Abbas Abid on the Fallujah massacre  (Kuala Lumpur 07 Feb 2007) |

Return to Page 1  (September 2004 - May 2005) -  Return to Page 2  (February 2005 - October 2005) - Return to Page 3 (October 2005 - May 2006) - More stories on Page 5 (March 2007 -  2007)

WEBLOGS: Baghdad burning (Riverbend: Iraqi girl blogspot) | Dahr Jamail Iraq dispatches | Blogspot by Imad Khadduri | Iraq Diaries | The woman I was | A citizen of Mosul | Where is Raed | A family in Baghdad | Baghdad Dweller | Dr. Salam Ismael |

 Death Squads in Iraq

Fanatic Militias Used in a Dirty war

07 June 2006. 

(Name of Iraqi author withheld for security reasons) 

Okhwan Sinna wa Shi'a, hatha alwatan ma nbi'a (We are brothers, Sunnis and Shiites; we are not selling this homeland) 

This slogan was chanted by the Iraqis in Baghdad and other provinces days after the occupation in April 2003, denouncing 

any sectarian division in the Iraqi society, on every occasion. There was hope. Until very recently, in spite of all the killings, 

Iraqis were million per cent confident that there is NO sectarian sensitivity between the Shiite and the Sunnis. 

Now, death on seemingly sectarian bases is the strongest reality in Iraq. Families are afraid to show up at the morgue or the 

hospitals to collect a killed son's body because of the armed militias who might be hiding in disguise around the corner. 

Heads of young men are rolling in the streets like watermelon, they were kidnapped near the morgue. In the first five months of 2006, 

directly after the elections which was supposed to stop the killing and establish (democracy) in Iraq once and for the coming four years, 

and the Samara Shrine explosions, the Baghdad morgue was receiving 35-50 daily, according to Dr. Qais Hassan, a director in the 

morgue (1). 

Six thousands Baghdadis' bodies were brought to the central morgue in the last 5 months (for the first time in its history). 

In May alone the bodies were 1,398. according to the Ministry of Health, not including victims of explosions. 

It was the bloodiest month since the occupation. 

In Basra, which was relatively calm until the last elections, more than one thousand were killed in the same period (not including May). 

In May the number exceeded the last few months together that prime minister Maliky had to impose martial laws on the city, it is said that 

a man is killed every hour in Basra, and in Anbar the assassination were so many, especially of prominent Sunni scholars, consolations were 

rejected, while the city was under siege for months, and Maliki announced on TV late May, that a big (security operation) is going to take 

place soon. 

In Diyala (east of Baghdad), tens of mutilated bodies found in isolated areas are not news any more. 

This week, a passenger bus was stopped by armed men; all the 25 children, old people and students on it were ordered out and were shot 

one by one. At the passport office in Baghdad, which usually begins receiving people at 9:00 am, long queues gather at 5:00 for three 

months now, those who arrive at 6:00 are sent back. Huge family exodus is expected by July, when the summer holiday begins. 

Families are running away from the killings and threats letters, telling them to leave, or face death, and also from the unbearably bad 

conditions of daily life(2). It has become a very profitable trade for the passport office employees. They claim that they can not receive 

more than 30 files a day, making people pay $500 to get a passport. Those who can not afford it, or do not have any where to go decide to 

stay and face their destiny. Some simply refuse to go "We can not just leave Iraq to the criminals, we have to resist. The only problem is 

our families", a man who already received two threats said.

So what happened? Is this the beginning of the civil war? If yes, why the so called sectarian killings, which actually began 3 years ago 

did not succeed in creating civil war then? Why now? Who is behind them? Who are the death squads after all? To begin with, it has 

become common knowledge, beyond any argument that the Interior Ministry and the Iraqi Army are involved in the death squad, 

whether the Iraqi ministers or the American authorities, admit it or not (3). There are tons of eye witnesses' testimonies, documents, 

evidences, films... 

The type of killing now connected to the death squads began around early 2005, on the hands of the Iraqi police commandos. 

But some important points worth mentioning here: that the first Iraqi interim government was (elected) in January 2005 and was 

heavily Shiite (Jafari government), that around that time the talk of the Salvador option in Iraq was being heard (4), and that the 

police commandos were formed, mainly of Shiite militias, especially Badr (the armed branch of the Supreme Council of the Islamic 

Revolution in Iraq) and the Mahdi Army (the Sadr Movement militia). 

But does all this mean that the death squads are Shiite militias within the interior ministry forces? 

The answer is: NO, not exactly. I know that any Iraqi who has seen a death squads' operation (which is becoming a familiar day 

light phenomenon) would want to shoot me in the head for this answer; because a convoy of heavily armed men, masked, 

black-suited, in expensive modern cars and pick ups, calling Sunnis the worst of names, shooting in the air, calling for revenge, 

attacking individuals, shops, kidnapping people, beating them to death or shoving them in cars trunks, would not look like 

anything other than a sectarian militia. But this is only part of the story.

Throughout 2005, thousands of young Sunni men were arrested (officially) by the Iraqi police commandos (a major arrests 

operation in Baghdad was in May 2005, given the name of “Lightning”, when hundreds were arrested). Weeks later, some of 

their bodies were found in different places of Baghdad, or Iraq, mainly to the east. The names of the Wolf Brigades, the Ra'ad (thunder), 

the Nimr (Tiger), the Karrar (Imam Ali), the Imam Hussien, the Scorpion; Al-Borkan (volcano)…became familiar names of police 

commandos brigades (Maghaweer). They are supposed to be counterinsurgency, intelligence based troops. They were created, trained, 

armed, and directed by the American intelligence officers who are well known for serving in central and South America where death 

squads were a major part of the political scene (5). 

The Maghaweer were so brutal, that one of the prominent Iraqi personalities, who publicly denounce the occupation, told us that the 

American prisons are more merciful than the Iraqi. Those detainees told stories of the kinds of torture they were exposed to in the Iraqi 

Interior Ministry prisons. In many ways, they were similar to the traces seen on the bodies found in the garbage or the sewage daily in 

Baghdad nowadays, connected to the death squads. Holes drilled in the head, feet, lungs… etc are trade marks (they were well-known in 

the Iranian prisons). Broken bones, smashed sculls, burnt or pealed skin, savage beatings, electric shocks, pulled out right eye, are 

familiar in both cases.

Abu Omar, an Iraqi engineer who spent 4 months of 2005 in Al-Nissoor and Al-Kadimiya notorious prisons, talked about pick ups leaving 

after midnight and coming back after few hours with tens of men, handcuffed and blindfolded. Abu Omar was one of tens of prisoners who 

appeared on a famous TV program, produced by the Interior Ministry. Badly tortured, those prisoners admit committing several acts of 

terrorism, but more important, publicly accusing well known Sunni scholars of immoral acts or of terrorism. Interestingly enough, 

Abu Omar was released immediately after accusing on TV one of those scholar Sheikhs of using the mosque to hide weapons; although 

Abu Omar's file was filled with all kinds of fabricated crimes that would execute him a hundred times, according to his judge, who released 

him. Later, especially after the Shiite coalition won the December 2005 elections, and after the Samarra Shrine explosion, the killings 

changed dramatically in number and in technique. 

The worst were in the last week of February and in March. Thousands of Sunnis were slaughtered by black-suited militias using the 

police cars and weapons, hundreds of mosques were burnt, thousands men, women and children were kidnapped, mainly in Baghdad 

suburbs and areas of mixed sectarian communities. Crime gangs, some of them are again connected to the militias, were a big part of the 

whole chaos. Ali, a young Sunni from Doura was kidnapped in May, the gang asked for $50.000 ransom. Ali was one of the luckiest. 

He was released after his family managed to collect and pay $30.000. Ali told us how he was kidnapped, taken in a car trunk, driven 

for 1.30 hours in rural areas, and beaten. He heard the gang calling some body telling him "we got a Sunni dog", they were talking in 

a southern slang. It is well known that the Rashid ex-military barracks, the biggest in Iraq before the occupation, are now a shelter for 

criminal gangs. Mohammad, another young man from al-Madain (south east of Baghdad) was kidnapped and hidden there, he told us 

stories of kidnapped children and women kept by gangs there. A university student girl was brought one morning, he said. They called 

her the bitch, because she was not wearing the hijab. She kept on screaming until late in the afternoon that day, when she was finally 

"silenced". 

Other crimes were also connected to these groups, white and children slavery, drugs trade and smuggling, according to Iraqi Human 

Rights organizations. While some kidnappings and killings are political, criminal or for sectarian revenge, many others were for 

obscure reasons. Medical doctors, university professors, businessmen, merchants, school teachers were also targeted. Hundreds of them 

are being assassinated. Some of them were Baathists, but many others were not.

The big question remains why the government is not doing anything about it. Actually, in Amara (south east of Iraq) and in Kut 

(east of Iraq) some armed men who were caught killing civilians and burning mosques were arrested by some police stations, but the 

American troops and some political parties intervened and released them. In Basra there was a big problem between the governor and 

the Shiite reference in Najaf because he accused the Shiite political parties in the Maliky government of sponsoring the assassinations 

and corruption (namely oil smuggling). Actually, Al-Fadhila party spokesman (Shiite) accused the prime minister, Maliky, of imposing 

martial law for political, not security, reasons e.g. to marginalize and control the political forces who oppose the Shiite Coalition 

government policies and parties. But the important fact here is: that the police commandos were mainly Shiite militias does not imply 

that they were always committing their brutal crimes for sectarian reasons. Actually, that was why they were used to commit those 

crimes, simply to instigate sectarian civil war.

It was the American Governor of Iraq, Bremer, who engineered the Shiite militias join the Iraqi security forces, according to article 91 

of the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) put by Bremer himself, to fight the (Sunni insurgency) by Iraqi hands. Death Squads in 

Iraq are units inside the security forces, whose members are not just religiously fanatic sectarian militias, by foreign intelligence: 

American, Israeli, Iranian or any other country. They are also Iraqis "educated" and trained outside Iraq, brought into Iraq before the 

occupation, and shortly after it. Their job is to instigate sectarian conflict leading to create a (federal) Iraq, e.g. a divided Iraq.

It is true that the hands are Iraqis, but the minds and the money are not. It is also true that some political sectarian militias are 

involved in the death squads, especially those who are connected to the Iranian project in Iraq. But it is interesting to notice how 

the mainstream media, and the Iraqi government keep on nurturing the idea that the sectarian killings are done by the Sunni 

insurgency, what they call the rogue units in the police, and the Mahdi Army.

The other militias who are involved in the sectarian killings and violence are set aside. But who are those Iraqis whose job is to 

instigate a civil war? Why? Many of us remember very well the few hundreds of military men who accompanied Chalabi (head 

of the National Congress party, well known for being the Pentagon man) into Iraq directly after the occupation. They were highly 

trained outside Iraq, many say in an isolated island in the Pacific, by American, Israeli, and south African officers. There are reports 

that some were trained in the Israel, Hungry and Poland. 

Early after the occupation, there were few individual assassinations, mainly of Baathists, especially in Adhamiya, where the 

community still remembers a man called Mohammad Saddam. He was responsible for the arrest and killing of many Iraqi 

resistance members and advocates. There were some assassinations of Baathists and security individuals in Nassiriya too, 

where these troops were moved. There was strong reaction against their activities. The press talked then about the American 

authorities disarming the Chalabi militias.(6) They disappeared for a while. 

But all the Iraqi families, whose houses were raided by the American troops, especially in 2003, remember masked men who 

speak Iraqi, accompanying the American troops in these raids. They were called informers. Maybe some were, but the way they 

quickly joined the occupation troops was curious. A member of these forces (they were called the Forces of Iraq Freedom) recently 

sent out a sheet of facts exposing the rule they were playing in assassinating Shiites and Sunnis to create sectarian problems. 

After explaining how they were brain washed and recruited, and trained before ( and some after) the occupation, he said that 

these forces were infiltrated in the New Iraqi Army, the National Guards, the Iraqi police, the Maghaweer (police commandos), 

the Interior Intelligence and the Iraqi Special Forces. They are actually called the Iraqi Special Forces and their headquarters are 

in the Baghdadairport. They are not connected to any Iraqi security body, and are supervised by American and Israeli officers. 

This man, who promised to expose his identity once the death squad's leadership is arrested, said that they were attacking Sunnis 

"in uniforms, IDs, and police cars", and they were attacking Shiites "in cars normally used by the Mujahideen". He gave an example 

of the biggest operation they did which was the Kadhimiya bridge stampede last summer, in which more one thousand were killed. 

He gave a list of some members of these forces. Among the 67 names he gave, only 14 were Arabs, the rest were Kurds, mainly from 

Barzani (president of Kurdistan's party). Two were Jews, and one Iranian. 

Nothing in this paper was news to us, may be some of the details, but to come from a member of the death squads talking about the 

dirty war they are waging in Iraq is very important at this point, when many Iraqis begin to believe that this is a sectarian war. 

In some ways it is, and increasingly tribal too, especially after the Samara Shrine explosion, although in fact, there is a wide 

understanding that it was not the Salafists who did it, simply because Samara was under their control for months until last December, 

and they did not do it. In fact, the Iranian intelligence, or their Iraqi allies are accused of bombing the Shrine, just to unleash the sectarian 

violence through retaliatory attacks, which is what is happening the last 4 months.

When will the mainstream media give us this side of the story?

(1) -Dr. Qais said that the Baghdad morgue received 1068 bodies in January 2006, February, March, April (around four months).

He said that more 90% of them were gun shot

(2) -Extremists distribute leaflets in Baghdad streets listing prohibited things: T shirts, shorts (for boys), female drivers, 

not covering the hair, make up, and jewelry… Girls are being pulled out of the school buses and beaten if they do not put the scarf. 

A student of chemistry in the Technological University was shaved bald. School buses drivers are being beaten or threatened if they 

allow (such) girls in the bus. 

(3)-the Prime Minister, the Minister of Interior and the Vice president admitted publicly that some police troops were involved in the 

death squads.

(4)- Shortly before that, there are at least 2 cases (that we personally know about) of American soldiers in uniform killing Iraqis in an 

unfamiliar way, not shooting or bombing …etc. They were slaughtering the victims by bayonets, or shooting them in the mouth.

(5)- It is also important to mention that some of the Maghaweer brigades were actually formed late in 2004. For detailed information 

on this point see: Max Fuller, For Iraq, the Salvador Option Become Reality, Center for Research on Globalization. 

See: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=FUL20051110&articleId=1230

 (6) It would be interesting to notice that Chalabi – and Allawi too- were curiously very quiet lately, almost silent, in the last 5 months

when the big problem of the Interior and defense ministries was negotiated among the new Iraqi political players.

Al-Islah: Another Crime Committed to the Knowledge and Support of the Occupiers and the Iraqi Government

Sabah Ali (27 August 2006)

      On Sunday 20.08.06, at 7 am, 500 heavily armed militia men dressed in the national guards and the Iraqi police uniforms, and using their vehicles attacked the village of Al-Islah, a village of about 5000 inhabitants of both communities: Sunnies and Shiites on the high way Baghdad-Baquba (east). They landed on the high way to Diyala province opposite to Al-Islah village.

      These militias began shooting on the civilians from 7 to 1 pm; killing tens of people (according to Alsharqiya, an Iraqi satellite TV) (http://www.alsharqiya.com/display.asp?fname=news\2006\08\962.txt&storytitle=), burning the Rashidi mosque after steeling its furniture, and obliging the Sunni families to leave the village immediately. The American troops arrived later to stop the shooting. The only thing they did is they arrested 10 of the mosques guards, confiscated the weapons which the families in the neighborhood use to defend themselves, and left at 5 pm.

     One hour after they left, at 6 pm, the community prominent people went to the nearest Sadr Movement office in Boob Al-Sham, an area close to Al- Islah, to meet the responsible of that office, whose name is Sayed Alaa'. He told the community delegation that he had two conditions to stop the attack: That the Sadr militias pass on the highway safely to go to Fahhama area (close to the village) and to consider the area from Boob Al-Sham to the Tigris river a (pure) Shiite area and that all the Sunni families have to be evacuated from it. Naturally the community delegation rejected his conditions.

     The Sadr militias resumed the attack the next day; they burnt of Sunni families' houses in Boob Al-Sham, obliging 120 families to leave the areas.

     In spite of all the efforts that the community did to contact the occupying forces, and the Iraqi officials, Mr. Shirwan Al-Wa'ily, the National Security Minister, is one of them, and many other political forces, but none gave the issue the attention it deserved. All that the government did, after the killing and evacuating was done, was that they sent troops saying that they would stay in the area for only 10 days , then the inhabitants have to handle it on their on.

     The implicit complicity is very clear. The Iraqi and the American troops are encouraging and helping the sectarian militias in achieving their agenda. The Islah crimes are only one of many other genocide. The worst of things is the government is talking about national reconciliation!!! No comment or reaction has come from the American or the Iraqi authorities on this "incident".  

On the American steps - Corruption and Militias Twins turn Iraq in a "free fraud zone" 

Sabah Ali (10 Sept. 2006)

     On May 2, 2006 evening, two floors in the Ministry Of Oil  huge building were caught on fire, eating away two very important departments: the archives and the computers floors where all the records, documents, accounts books, and contracts…are kept. There were no employees in the building except for the guards and the Facilities Protection Services. (1) 

     Two days before this "incident", the general inspector in Iraq had issued the Smuggling Crude Oil and Oil Products: Second Transparency Report in which he exposed in details the catastrophic numbers and facts about corruption in the oil sector in Iraq : smuggling, theft, fraud, black market leading to great loss in money and resources.  On his side the former Minster of Oil, Ibrahim Bahr Al-Oloom, said that Iraq lost at least 4 billion dollars of smuggled oil last year, referring to the involvement of the government's high officials in the smuggling and corruption scandals. Many political analyses considered the fire an attempt to conceal the corruption evidences.  

     The fire took place few days before the new Iraq government took office, after 6 months of delay due to conflicts on governmental offices among the Shiite winning parties within the United Iraqi Alliance. The Ministry of Oil was one of the disputed ministries, especially between the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Al-Fadhila party (both in the Alliance). Any one who is familiar with the "new" Iraqi politics knows that the first thing each Iraqi government does, is to expose the previous government corruption scandals. Finally, the Ministry of Oil, and the Ministry of Finance, were given to two persons well known for being the closest to Iran among the Shiite Alliance. 2 

     Another "accident" : in Zafaraniya, a poor district south of Baghdad, of Shiite and Sunni mixture, a huge explosion killed and injured more than 250 civilians on Sunday evening August12. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior said that it was a car bomb; the American sources and witnesses said it was not; actually it was a gas explosion which caused many other explosions. 

      Few days later, newspapers in Baghdad were talking about a corrupt deal where the Ministry of Oil imported cooking gas from Iran. Bad deals, imported oil products which do not fulfill the same qualities mentioned in the purchase contracts, were one of the big corruption problems mentioned in the Second Transparency Report. The question is why the Ministry of Interior would try to cover the Oil corruption. 

    Another big and scandalous problem of controlling the oil production is the Ministry's failure of reinstall equipments to meter oil production, after they were stopped since the beginning of 2005. There is no way to know how much oil is officially exported, according to the UN International Advisory and Monitoring Board report published last August. The report said that $241m of oil money were put in unrecognized ministries' accounts, and that $221m were put in unrecognized accounts of the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) whose director is well known to be the previous oil Minster's closest friend.

    These are just few of many recent examples which clearly indicate that the government, or members in it, is involved in the corruption scandals directly and through its connection to the armed militias, namely Al-Mahdi army (of the Sadr Movement) and the Badr militias (of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq-SCIRI) -both heavily and effectively represented in the Iraqi government now. These militias are controlling the corrupt oil production and marketing (Ministry of Oil) and controlling the security -or rather insecurity- in Iraq (Interior and Defense). 

     A parliament member said lately that the political militias are actually stronger than the government now, and an adviser in the Prime Minister office described some of the Iraqi security forces as terrorist militias paid by the government, not to mention the handsome bribes, according to the advisor. He said that many high officials who criticize corruption are corrupt themselves and are closely connected to the sectarian militias. To prove this, he said, 15 Iraqi judges were assassinated especially those who secretly work with the Commission of Public Integrity in Iraq.  In Basra, however, those militias control the oil smuggling, with complete Iranian help and protection (together with drugs and weapons poured by the Iranians in all of the southern Iraqi regions). 

  In its statement on Sept 10, 2006, the Commission said that the number of Iraqi high officials who are involved in financial corruption cases has reached 73 (yes seventy three!), 15 of them are ministers, the rest are deputy ministers, general directors, Parliament members and parties leaders. All are granted legal immunity. 

     The Commission which is directly connected to the presidency council announced that it has 1852 corruption cases involving billions of dollars, and it is trying to change its law, obviously to have more power in the high officials' cases. The irony is that in mid 2004, a UN audit committee working on the first 6 months of 2004 found that $6 b of the Development Fund in Iraq were unaccounted for, about $2 b of them are connected to Talabani, the Iraqi president now! 

    The Commission head, Radhi Hamza al-Radhi repeats privately and publicly that there are many government pressures on him "to slow down and take it easy", and that he is facing many obstacles. The Ministry of Interior, for example, did not respond to the Commission's 164 arrests orders against prominent officials accused of corruption, and 100 investigation order concerning administrative and financial corruption inside the Interior Ministry itself.  

    The Commission speaker said that there are at least 234 corruption cases in this ministry waiting to be looked in by the judicial committee. Among the officials who are called to reply to the Commission's inquiries are the Iraqi former prime ministers: Allawi and Al-Jafari, on cases of stealing money, accepting kickbacks and assigning millions of dollars to phantom rebuilding contracts that appeared only on paper. Another corrupt official, who is already in jail now, is the High Commissioner of the Elections, Adil Allami, on charges of fraud and bribes in millions.   

  In its latest report, Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq -August 2006 the American Ministry of Defense, Pentagon, said that "Many of Iraq's political factions tend to view government ministries and their associated budgets as sources of power, patronage and funding for their parties. Ministers with out strong party ties…some times have little control over the politically appointed or connected people serving under them".  

   The corruption problem is directly connected to what is called the sectarian violence problem. It would be useful to notice that through 2005-2006, both twin problems were openly escalating together. Every "last month" was the deadliest month in Iraq, while Transparency International sited Iraq on the top of corruption list. Eye witnesses of the sectarian militias' raids in different parts of Iraq, especially in Baghdad suburbs, talk about expensive modern cars and weapons (including grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, apart from light weapons) and hundreds of young men in each raid. There is no declared number for the militias of course, but it is safe to say that they are hundreds of thousands each. These people are well known to be beautifully paid. 

    The American official reports insist on saying that terrorism is the main problem in the oil sector in Iraq, that the terrorists' attacks on pipelines are the main obstacle to normal oil industry in Iraq, implying that the resistance is responsible of depriving the Iraqi people of 95% of its national income. The Americans also attribute the reconstruction program failure to what they call terrorism. 

     The Iraqi General Inspector, Dr. Ali Al-Allaq, however, puts targeting oil pipelines as the fifth problem after 4 more dangerous problems (large discrepancy in oil product prices between Iraq and the neighboring countries, inadequate control and supervision of movement and trading oil products, lax judiciary measures against offenders and lawbreakers, and greater reliance on the imported oil products…). 

        Each of these problems is a big story in itself –detailed in the General Inspector's Second Transparency Report, available in English and Arabic - but targeting pipelines is of special interest. Well informed sources in the Ministry of Oil and eye witnesses say that an exploded pipe would create a lake of crude oil. The Ministry sells these lakes very cheep to certain individuals who in turn sell them to customers outside Iraq. 

     These individuals are usually high officials in the government or the political parties who control it, and the customers are usually Iranians. Other eye witnesses in Basra say that there are pipelines which go from Iraq directly into Iran, and that there are tens of illegal outlets of exported Iraqi crude oil which is loaded in ships holding the Iranian flag. Everything in all these cases takes place under the protection of the Shiite militias, especially Badr. Last year the amount of smuggled oil through illegal outlets was the equivalent of one billion dollars, according to Dr. Ali.   

     The Shiite-Shiite (SCIRI, Fadhila and Sadr) conflict in Basra this summer is a flagrant evidence of the connection between corruption and the sectarian militias. To begin with, the Shiite political parties, whose militias are controlling the oil smuggling, do not consider stealing the Iraq oil revenue a crime. On the contrary they consider the southern oil fields their natural right given to them by God, and that the central Sunni governments of Iraq has deprived them of this right for ages. Actually this is what the Shiite Federal region of the south is all about. 

       But each of these parties wants to control the oil industry to guarantee power through wealth to fund their militias, which means that the fighting will go on as far as these militias are not controlled by any central power. So far the Maliki government and the occupation forces proved to be helpless in dealing with them, assuming that they want to.      

    Oil black market inside Iraq is well known for being controlled by the Sadr militias. Moqtada Al-Sadr, the Sadr Movement leader, himself is said to "order" his militias to move away from the oil black market after too many scandals were exposed. Again many eyewitnesses talk about big tankers protected by armed men secretly load oil from the warehouses or the fuel stations. One of the British generals in Basra said on a documentary, months ago, that they witness oil smuggled daily but the British troops do not want to do anything about it because "we don’t want to be rained by bombs the next day".  

     Ironically, after fuel reached higher prices 374 percent in July than the previous month, thanks to the black market, the only solution that the Minister of Oil, Shehristani could come out with to fight corruption and smuggling, is to privatize the oil products trade, a procedure that leaves the doors wide open for the political mafias and for the powerful militias leaders to steal the market "legally", and of course all the contracts will go to Iran, which is what is already happening now.  

     Administrative and financial corruption as a wide, open phenomenon is new in Iraq. The Iraqi state never knew such phenomenon before the occupation. Of course there were individual cases, as every where in the world, but few officials would dare to mess with the public money. It is part of Iraq's social and political culture to consider wrong doing in the public property as the worst of crimes that damage personal integrity. It is not a defense of Saddam Hussein, but all Iraqis know that a corrupt official would be dealt with very cruelly as personal offence and betrayal against the president himself.   

    Corruption in this sense, like many other political fatal diseases, came to Iraq with the occupation. There is and endless list of the American authorities' theft and fraud scandals; probably the biggest of them was the story of the 9 billion dollars which "disappeared" when the American governor of Iraq, Paul Bremer left the country. The Americans inherited more than $30 billion of frozen and oil-for-food assets when they invaded Iraq in 2003, to say nothing of $26 million worth of Iraqi property sequestered by the occupation authorities.

      These fortunes were supposed to be spent on rebuilding through the Development Fund in Iraq. The money disappeared but the country remained in ruins. Many fraud stories are coming out and published now and then in the American mainstream media, talking about billions of Iraqi "reconstruction" money which were misused, stolen, lost, or unaccounted for. Billions dollars of Iraqi money were misused by Bremer, who issued 100 catastrophic economic decisions. 80% of big contracts were given to the American corrupt companies; only 2% were given to the Iraqis.

    Millions were handed directly to officials in certain ministries, not through the Ministry of Finance or the Iraqi Central Bank. One example: last June the Commission was investigating kickbacks of $300 million in purchase of "defective and outdated helicopters, machine guns and armored personnel carriers" by a former procurement chief in the Defense Ministry. Another senior defense official was convicted for receiving $400.000 in bribes…etc.

      The American officials describe the Iraqis as a corrupt and lawless society. Any Iraqi whose house was raided by the American troops tells a story of how the soldiers stole money, jewelry, personal weapons and any expensive thing, a part from documents. A lawyer in Al-Qaim handed the American troops 300 files of such cases documents (theft during raid) in 2005. When he went back to the American base asking about the cases, he found that the stolen things and the documents had disappeared.

   In 2003 and 2004, Iraqis were wondering why many of the thieves and criminals who were sentenced to jail by Iraqi judges were released by the Americans. I personally was a witness of a case in which a car thief was released by an American raid on the police station in which he was kept; three days after the Iraqi judge put him in jail in Dora, south of Baghdad. One of the well known oil smugglers was arrested in April 2006 in the north-western desert, but an American military commander is demanding his release now. Account books, receipts, financial documents and any evidence of financial operations before the Iraqis were "handed" authority, were destroyed or disappeared instead of being handed to the Ministry of Finance.

   The Bush Administration refuses to prosecute US firms accused of corruption, a refusal which is turning Iraq into a "free fraud zone" according to a senior official in the occupation authorities in Iraq. If the Americans are going away with their crimes, why not the Iraqis, after  

the Iraqi officials now were educated and trained in the US.

1-       Sadr's four ministries control 70,000 uniformed, armed men who are part of the Facilities Protection Service, according to the Interior Ministry. U.S. military commanders acknowledge that the agency has mushroomed to more than 140,000. A top former U.S. military commander has said militia fighters under the Facilities Protection Service are tied to kidnappings, execution-style killings and other crimes.

2-      One of the sad jokes about corruption says that the food expenses of the protection personnel for the Minister of Finance, Bayan Jabr Solagh, alone are 40.000 dollars a month. Another says that the Minister of Oil, Shehristani, used to be paid $25000 a month when he was a vice president of the National Assembly, and that this money was NOT his salary, but an allowance. He also put his hand on one of Saddam's palaces, and was given $100.000 to repair it and $50.000 to furnish it. He bought himself 3 armored cars for $300.000 each, and got 50 armed men to protect him. This information was sent in a letter to "his Excellency" the grand Ayatollah Sistani to do some thing about it. So far "his Excellency" did not.

3-      For more information ,see:

      *Smuggling Crude Oil and Oil products: Second Transparency Report

      * Commission of National Integrity in Iraq' statements

      *A Switching in Time: a New Strategy for America in Iraq. Sabban Center

      *SIGIR. Statement of Stuart W. Bowen, Jr. 

      * "So, Mr. Bremer, where did all the money go". Guardian, July7, 2006, or London Review of Books, Vol.27 No.13 dated July 7 2005. 

     *Iran, its neighbors and the regional crisis. Chatham House

     * Development Fund for Iraq, Summery of Audit results. August 2006

     *Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq. Pentagon. August 2006

     * www.iraq-amsi.com. www.alsharqiya.com . www.azzaman.com . www.kitabat.org . www.albasrah.net. Among others.

Federalism, Sectarian War and the American Strategy in Iraq 

Sabah Ali (18 October 2006)

"Everything says we are facing a very difficult time in the next few months, violence is surrounding us from all sides. Movement on the high ways to and from Baghdad is becoming extremely dangerous, and of course inside Baghdad. People disappear, get kidnapped or killed on the highways. Death squads and criminal gangs control them; only the resistance is protecting the individuals and the communities… The government is part of the killing sides (…) The streets are full of people with strange accent(…) I hear a big explosion now(…)They began artillery bombing of different parts of Baghdad, between districts of different sectarian groups (…) An eye witness from Ghazaliya said that the American troops start the bombing, and then an Iraqi doer continues. The political players are using their militias on both sides. It is very important to notice that the resistance is never mentioned within the sectarian classifications"   

These lines are written today by a well informed friend who lives in Baghdad now.  

The situation in Iraq is out of control. The number of civilians savagely killed, mainly in Baghdad, is approaching 2 hundreds every day. Official Iraqi reports say that around half a million families are internally displaced, a number much less than other Iraqi sources say. According to UN an average one thousand Iraqis are forced into homelessness everyday, in spite of (or is it because of!) the 4 month Iraqi-American security plan in Baghdad. 

Needless to say, nothing is done about all these catastrophes; obviously it is an American strategy of attrition against the resistance, some of the militias, and Maliki's government too. Names, addresses and operation rooms of the militias and death squads are well known and talked about publicly (maps are published on the internet) but the security and the occupation troops just ignore them in obvious collusion. 

For the fourth day today, fighting is continuing in Balad and Dhuluiya, 80 Kms north of Baghdad, where there is one of the biggest American military bases, militias in uniform are slaughtering Sunnis, forcing families to leave within 2 hours, while the American forces were standing by, according to one Iraqi officer. On Monday, the Balad hospital alone received 80 bodies. Iraqi towns north of Baghdad are under siege for months, while armed men in uniform and in security cars raid them, kill or kidnap their citizens. We have to admit that the CIA death squad experts did a good job. 

6.1 million Iraqis left to live in the neighboring countries especially Jordan and Syria or in other places. Iraqi hospitals and universities lost 80% of their scientific and professional cadres. Journalists, writers, intellectuals, judges, businessmen, religious , tribal and political personalities and others who are counted on to rebuild the country either left , kidnapped, or assassinated, e.g. silenced one way or another.  

The American officials are even suggesting scenarios to Maliki's replacement. Political parties in the government are involved in the death squads and sectarian militias' atrocities against civilians, a fact confirmed by the Iraqi people and officials, Al-Maliki himself (many times), and by the Interior Minister.  Meanwhile, the American and the Iraqi security forces are continuing their raids, killings, and mass arrests  against certain areas in Baghdad, its suburbs, Diyala, Anbar, Musol and Salah Addeen.   

The American media is admitting now that the resistance, what they call insurgency in the best, or terrorism usually, is the highest and most effective since the invasion. 58 American soldiers are killed in the first two weeks of October. American official (untrue) numbers this month say that 2774 American soldiers were killed in Iraq. One of the biggest military bases, Falcon, south of Baghdad is badly destroyed; nothing is mentioned about it or its casualties in media. Hardly a day passes without reports and articles analyzing the bad situation in which the occupation currently is.   

On the other hand, no one talks any more about Iraq descending into civil war; they say it IS in civil war now, sectarian warfare, they call it. Until 3 months ago, at least 655.000 Iraqis are killed since the invasion in 2003, most of them civilians, women and children. The country is devastated, with some dark-minded mullahs controlling its bloody streets. Nothing is functioning in Iraq now. 

And what the American solution is: Dividing Iraq into 3 petty powerless "countries" in the name of federalism.   

James Baker, who vowed in 1990 to bomb Iraq into the middle ages, returned back (probably to see how far Iraq is back in the middle ages) leading a congressional team to "study" the situation in Iraq and suggest the solution, but not now, after the November elections in the US. Ruling out any prospects of victory in Iraq, Baker concentrates on "stability" first, by avoiding sectarian confrontation in Iraq, which has become out of control. Hurrraaah. 

Immediately after he left, the Iraqi Parliament "passed" a law of federalism. The way it was passed is a daylight made up job, exactly like the way the constitution and the elections were "passed". It is meaningless to talk about how the "law" was passed, the usual counterfeiting, fraud, pressures, and bribes. (Informed recourses say that there were no more than 119 members attending the parliament session out of 275). "President" Talabani, on his part, offered hosting the American troops in the north. 

On the other hand, a group of extremist Sunnis announced establishing an Iraqi Islamic state of 8 provinces in the middle and the north, including Baghdad, which will inflame the sectarian confrontation. 

But that does not mean that the Mission is accomplished? No. America is powerful enough to destroy Iraq for a while, but from our first hand experience with the Americans for the forth year now, they know very little about the Iraqi culture and psychology. Officials, journalist, experts or ordinary Americans, get what their intelligence information focuses on e.g. the weak spots in the society where they can attack. They analyze whatever data they get by their own criteria. One of their worst mistakes, for example, is that they think that they can buy the underprivileged Shiite. 

They do not understand that Hakeem, Allawi, Shehristani, Sadr and the rest of the bunch do not represent the Iraqis, and that they are already burnt politically.  The Iraqi resistance will continue, and get stronger and stronger everyday. The Americans do not understand the logic of history; they do not have any, anyway. If the rest of the world does not recognize the fact that it is only the resistance who represent the Iraqi people, too bad. But does the Iraq resistance give a damn?

A Call for Help from an Iraqi Woman

Sabah Ali - 19 October 2006

The following call for help was made by an Iraqi woman who lives in Al-Kmira village. She is married and lives with her husband’s big family. They left to work one morning almost a month ago and could not go back to her house in the besieged village yet. They live now with friends in Baghdad, without their personal necessities or clothes. Al-Kmira is a village of a few thousands of people in Al-Fahhamma groves north east of Baghdad, well known for its beautiful rural landscape and agricultural surroundings.     

For the fourth week, the people of Kmira are under siege, they can not go out, or come in, no food, no provisions.

We do not know how they are, how they are fasting Ramadan. The media is fasting too, in reporting on what the people of this village, which is part Al-Fahhamma, north east of Baghdad, are going through.

The American-Iraqi troops attacked the region of Al-Kmira after they put it under siege for a week. The fighting with its community went on for two days.

Some of the people, who went out and then could not go back, said that the troops had bad casualties. Others claimed that there were Iranians among the dead of the militias’ masses which participated in the attack against Al-Kmira.

Ms (Sh.T) who sent out the call by telephone without giving her name, cried for the help of people of conscience to lift the Kmira siege, to let food reach its people. Life stopped, she said. Those who left can not go back, those who are besieged in the village can not leave. Employees and workers can not go to work.

The checkpoints, whether governmental or of the militias, prevent any food to go to the people, and they confiscated it when some tried to break the siege. They told the people who tried to send some food in “Are you sending food to these dogs?”

Sh.T said that the community is protecting itself after the first attack failed. American-Iraqi snipers lurk for the people, who are mainly from the Nidawat tribe, well known for their vehement attitude against the occupation. Many of its men are arrested since the early days of the occupation.

There were many attempts to solve the problem through negotiations with prominent people in the tribe, when they finally agreed to negotiate, they were told to choose between utter destruction and totally leaving the region. Militias representatives told them: Either us or you…The Iraqi troops (commandos of the Interior Ministry) put a military checkpoint at the region’s main entrance, opposite to the first gate of the Tourist Baghdad Island. Few meters beyond this check point, there are many checkpoints of the militias of the political parties which are heavily represented in the government. In the same way, checkpoints were put at the second exit of the besieged region leading to Bob Al-Sham and al-Husseiniya east of Baghdad.

Sh.T, confirmed that none of the government officials worry about the civilians or care for their conditions while they are under siege. She called for lifting the siege and caring for the civilians and their security, especially that the Eid (feast) is approaching and these people spent the Ramadan fasting under siege.

Adhamiya People Call upon the Government to Stop the Massacre

Fierce Fighting in the Besieged District (Sabah Ali, 06 November 2006)

Adhamiya, the northern and oldest district of Baghdad, has been exposed to daily shelling and militias' raids for few months now. While the citizens heroically defended their families and houses, the Iraqi security forces were practically putting the area under continuous siege.

But in the last 3 days, and despite the curfew, Adhamiya was shelled continuously with rockets, mortars, and militias raids with the government and the security forces doing nothing about it, apart from covering it. Today the area was bombed by 23 mortars, killing at least 8 and injuring tens while the fighting is going on in many parts of it.  

Adhamiya citizens called upon the government to take an active attitude towards the massacres committed there by the armed militias on daily level, according to Al-Sharqiya satellite TV in Baghdad.

People from the area talk about continuous ambulances, firemen cars movement and calls from the Numan hospital to donate blood, which means that the fighting is very fierce.

On Sunday morning, four- wheel propelled vehicles attacked Antar square in the middle of Adhamiya, and was strongly confronted, the same in Alcamp area where groups of Al-Mahdi army attacked, but there were no immediate numbers of casualties. Citizens and armed resistance are protecting the streets now.

30 of the National Guards and the Interior Ministry Commandos' vehicles entered the area Sunday , and began shooting at the at the people and the shops, accompanied by 120 mm mortar shelling, while the American helicopters were roaming the sky. Eye witnesses say that they were strongly confronted but there are no numbers mentioned of the casualties again.

Yesterday night the American troops toured the district streets, telling the civilians to inform about the snipers for "good money rewards".

Last Saturday night, 4 November, Adhamiya was shelled again by mortars which killed and injured several civilians, but no number was given due to the curfew. 

A Testimony Of An Iraqi Academic 

Baghdad / November 2006 

Yesterday there was very heavy rain in Baghdad. Our college and many regions in Baghdad (specially the poor and deprived) were covered with water (almost sank). I had to walk through lakes of muddy water, just to get out of the college and return home. This is not new, since the gulf war of 1991 when drainage systems were damaged and left without repairing till now. Let us imagine this depressive scene: "Hundreds of professors, instructors and students walk silently through dirty waters, under gray cloudy rainy sky, just because they are Iraqis, and they have to lose their dignity everyday in various ways, as a cheap price in benefit of globalization plans".  

However, I still believe strongly in what "Hemingway" said in The old Man and the Sea : "Man could be destroyed, but never defeated". 

I lived all my life (in Iraq) with terror and tyranny, so I think nobody can document this truth, except those who lived it. What happened inside us is much more than estimation and imagination. We (Iraqis) are accustomed to be victims and hostages for no obvious reason. We are survivors everyday. We have developed a very dialectical truth: "Although they (Fascists & Americans) succeeded in destroying everything vivid inside us, nothing vivid actually has been destroyed. We lost the pleasure of life forever, but we still keep and maintain many high meanings of life". 

I am typing now with the help of a small noisy smoky electricity generator, with fading light. There is no electricity in Baghdad for 18 – 20 hours a day. I feel very deprived and persecuted, but I shall never give up!

Let us start from the beginning: 

*       *       * 

In the moment of dramatic collapse of Baath regime at April 2003, a promising civil progressive movement begun to develop, aiming at restoring liberty, justice and civil rights, especially inside universities and other cultural institutions. But the Americans started immediately, continuously till now, to block that rational stream, by adopting the following policy:

1)      Encouraging leaders of religious groups and parties (from different sects) to be influential politicians, regardless of their ignorance, selfishness and closed minds; in parallel with dismissing secular trends (liberals, socialists, technocrats ...).

2)      Fabricating terrorism inside Iraq (religious terrorism has no roots in our enlightened Iraqi society, even among religious groups). The Americans gave green light to the governments of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia to export thousands of brainwashed "terrorists" who do not have any idea about social and intellectual fabric of the Iraqi society.

3)      Doing nothing to stop (if not involving in) the planned assassinations of brilliant doctors and academics.

4)      Fabricating continuous crises of severe shortages in electricity power, water supply, and fuel. 

This subtle strategy, simultaneously with "democratic" slogans, has succeeded in: 

1)           Dividing the Iraqi Identity into several weak conflicted sub identities (sectarianism & ethnocentrism).

2)          Absence of collective humanstic rationalistic voice, which is substituted by pre-state, primitive emotions.

3)          Keeping the people busy with their physiological and security needs (No time to think or protest).

4)          Transforming social energy that should be directed to restore fairness, liberty, and human dignity, into motives of violence and aggression towards imaginary enemies. 

So, the final result is very familiar (nothing new beneath the sun) : It is again the old story of  how capitalism exploits, humiliates man, and sucks bloods of people, just to accumulate new mythical wealth. Americans are very pragmatic, heartless and faithful to this principle. But the problem is: "Why this deceived world (except conscious elite) does not want to wake up?!" 

*       *       * 

Iraq as a nation is not "artificial invention" of the Brits. Iraq is one of the oldest societies in history. When the Brits occupied the country, they (implicitly) helped the Iraqi people to restore their social identity after long centuries of the Turkish tyranny, and gradually accomplished independence as an unified country of multiple races, religions and sects, as many nations in the world. There is a very strong feeling of the Iraqi identity among our people (obvious patriotism). We have common social memory, folklore, arts, songs, architecture, and political movements. Most of Iraqi families and tribes consist of several races and sects.

In every residence area in Baghdad, you can find mosques besides churches. It is very usual that a man from "Shiite" sect marries a woman from "Sunni" sect, and vice versa. Also, there are some cases of marriage between Muslims and Christians. This tolerance was spread widely even among religious people.  

The tragedy and crises of Iraqi identity began with American occupation 2003 as mentioned, specifically when the American authority imposed an Iraqi  Governing Council established according to various races, religions and sects, not according to participation of political, cultural, and civil progressive rational movements. 

The Americans insisted on starting this dangerous tradition which was unfamiliar in our modern political history. Our people are very conscious victims, completely aware of this dirty game (Blood for Petrol), but they are powerless in front of the American stormy strategy. 

The majority of our people are peaceful, cultured, motivated to adopt normal secular values. They like and are proud of their desirable main identity: the "Iraqi identity". 

In spite of the complete crime committed in Iraq, I still feel optimistic, and many others do so. I do believe that our social fabric will resist this conspiracy for a long time, and never surrender easily. We are a civil and cultured unified community, not tribes in the desert! 

I agree there is a serious danger that the Iraqi people may incorporate this sort of ethnic/religious mindset into their way of thinking. But, in the same time, there is an obvious intentional collective resistance against this sort of thinking. I do feel (as an instructor in university) that students (regardless of their origins) become more insistent on the word "Iraqi" through discussions and conversations. Further, they tend to avoid other ethnic or religious terms, or underestimate them. Nobody can imagine our conditions in university: studying and doing the exams, with explosions around us. Yet, my students surprised me every time by their clever scientific answers, as if they were living in normal and ideal conditions. Their answers reinforce my belief of the Iraqi immortal spirit.  

*       *       * 

Our conditions in Baghdad become more and more dangerous day after day. The clashes are everywhere, even in the streets surrounding our college. To put you in the picture, imagine this: We are in  Bab Al-Moadham University Compound (Central Baghdad where the old Campus of Baghdad University is), completely and daily  surrounded by fire belts of bombs, car bombs, almost daily clashes in light weapons among different groups and squads. For example: in the sectarian fighting in Al-Fadhil area (close to the Compound), during the last 3 months, the Iraqi security forces and the Americans were raiding the area, turned Bab Al-Moadham into a real battle field. Unknown numbers of civilians and students were killed, gun bullet fires pierce through the walls and windows glass of our offices many times. We had to hide always when we enter or leave the college, or we have to conceal our selves temporarily, or run away through back doors, to evade the clashes that often reach the college gate. The way from home to college, and vice versa, is an absolute adventure, where each one of us faces his destiny alone, in a daily infinite philosophical test of the meaning of a ripped off life, and an absurd death. 

Many of our academic colleagues have been killed or threatened, often by unknown hands. Others are insulted or frightened by prejudiced Islamic students. Two months ago, some armed strangers hysterically raided the campus, from Bab Al-Moadhem gate, which was not the first time, supported by the university guards!! They roamed the college corridors and rooms, shouting, calling the names of some professors from a list they were holding in their hands, threatening them of death if they show up in the college. This aggression was the worst in the College of Languages, which was closed for 2 weeks after. Many administrative officials resigned after they got open threats. May be these activities are not categorized as assassinations, but they give a summary image of the gravity of the physical threat, the humiliation, and the mind liquidation to which the Iraqi university professor is exposed nowadays. But we still struggle quietly and patiently to maintain what could be maintained of the academic & secular values inside the university. 

The campaign of assassinations against the Iraqi minds, takes many different shapes beside the physical assassination: the scientific blockade imposed on our almost closed university libraries, the religious groups' control of the decision making bodies in the universities, terrorizing the professors by the oral and written threats, forcing them into silence, isolation and immigration, in addition to the horrible corruption. For example, during the last 3 years, the Ministry of Higher Education announced tens of PhDs scholarships in different Arabic and Western universities, I could not get any of them, in spite of the fact that I am the first (got the highest degrees) in the college, in my BA and MA degrees (I got excellent in both degrees, which, according to the Iraqi educational system means that I got more than 90 on a 100 scale). As an instructor, I am considered one of the distinguished. Those scholarships often went to others who have nothing to do with the academic milieu, and have no academic achievements whatsoever. 

 *       *       * 

The Iraqi civil people still struggle to maintain their collective identity, where the militias and stupid politicians still fabricate this unnecessary violence. This is a very rare historical moment that the community is psychologically unified, while it is led compulsorily by irrational political factors to crumble. 

The Iraqi people are peaceful, homogeneous, and open minded (in general). So, what happens now is a temporary offense resulting from severs US occupation. Perhaps it will take an unknown period of time, perhaps we will be victims of this madness, but eventually our social fabric shall prove its hardness! This is not a wishful thinking; it is prediction from a social researcher. 

In moments like this, I fell freer (internally) because I become more certain of how our rational, secular and humanistic values, which we have adopted since our early intellectual beginnings, are quite true and brilliant!