Iraq

Religious Leaders Urge Alternatives To Bombing

September 4, 2014 Maryknoll, www.maryknollogc.org Organize! Diplomacy, Iraq, Religion, Wars and Militarism

Dear President Obama: As religious communities, leaders, and academics, we write to express our deep concern over the recent escalation of U.S. military action in Iraq. While the dire plight of Iraqi civilians should compel the international community to respond in some way, U.S. military action is not the answer. Lethal weapons and airstrikes will not remove the threat to a just peace in Iraq. As difficult as it might be, in the face of this great challenge, we believe that the way to address the crisis is through long-term investments in supporting inclusive governance and diplomacy, nonviolent resistance, sustainable development, and community-level peace and reconciliation processes. Pope Francis has affirmed that “peacemaking is more courageous than warfare,” and more recently said that “it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor. I underscore the verb ‘stop;’ I don’t say bomb, make war -- stop him.” But how, we ask?

The Covert Origins Of ISIS

August 31, 2014 Staff, www.scgnews.com Educate! Iraq, ISIS, Libya, Middle East, Syria, Wars and Militarism

The Islamic militant group ISIS, formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and recently rebranded as the so called Islamic State, is the stuff of nightmares. They are ruthless, fanatical, killers, on a mission, and that mission is to wipe out anyone and everyone, from any religion or belief system and to impose Shari'ah law. The mass executions, beheadings and even crucifixions that they are committing as they work towards this goal are flaunted like badges of pride, video taped and uploaded for the whole world to see. This is the new face of evil. Would it interest you to know who helped these psychopaths rise to power? Would it interest you to know who armed them, funded them and trained them? Would it interest you to know why?

Iraqis Unite To Help Those Displaced By The Islamic State

August 30, 2014 Sheren Khalel, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Displacement, Iraq, Islamic State

ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq is in the midst of a refugee crisis. With Islamic State militants having taken over swathes of the Levant and establishing a caliphate from Raqqa, Syria, through to Mosul, Iraq, over one million Iraqis have found themselves seeking refuge from the marauding militants. The front lines are fluid in Iraq, but the chaos is more defined than within Syria. Safe areas still exist, such as parts of the south and in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq in the north, and thousands continue to seek refuge there every day. Across the country, average citizens, NGOs, mosques and churches have all reached out to offer refuge to the hundreds of thousands of refugees made homeless by the Islamic State over the past two months. People are refusing to be divided between religious and sectarian lines. Across Iraq, Muslims have offered refuge to Christians, Christians to Muslims, and both to many of the small groups of minorities, such as the Yezidis, who have been targeted hardest by Islamic State militants. In Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, and a city is under Islamic State control, militants have carried out public lashings and executions against individuals who do not adhere to their draconian laws. Unsurprisingly, many of the over one million displaced persons from Iraq’s latest war have come from the city and its surrounding areas.

Questions About The James Foley Death Video

August 26, 2014 Elias Weston-Farber, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Iraq, ISIS, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Wars and Militarism

The reported death of journalist James Foley by the Islamic State (IS) is resulting in increasing calls for war not only in Iraq but in Syria, with the Obama administration saying it is considering such attacks. The video of Foley’s death on which these calls for war are in part based has largely been scrubbed from the web. This article reviews the video and questions raised by it. But, we also want to emphasize that the video is only part of the story, another that should not be ignored is who is behind IS. The story is more complex than we are being told. . . . The most interesting thing about the video is that despite the hype in the media, there was no actual beheading in the video. The TIME article headline was not an accurate description of the video. There was a dead body that was, as many in the media have said, “purportedly” a beheaded James Foley, but the actual act of beheading is not shown. The video does show someone purportedly using a knife to saw at Foley’s neck, but there is no blood and seems to be no actual cut.

The Powers Behind The Islamic State

August 25, 2014 The Real News, www.therealnews.com Educate! Iraq, ISIS, Syria, Terrorism, Wars and Militarism

Well, the first thing, I think that is very important to grasp: the role that our governments have played in fomenting the crisis that we see. The rise of ISIS was kind of predictable, and it's something that some analysts--analysts have warned about civil war in Iraq for years. I guess the accelerated nature of what we're seeing, most people haven't anticipated that, but it was predictable. And when we look at the way in which we've been funding some of these groups, it's kind of ironic that we have the very same people now calling for boots on the ground, calling for a response, are the same people that have been very loud in their support for arming some of the most virulent of elements of these rebel groups. And even though the Obama administration, for instance, has given a lot of lip service, saying that we only want to fund, you know, the kind of moderate rebels and so on and so forth--but the Obama administration has actively coordinated the financing that has come from the Gulf states to the very types of groups that they historically have always favored, which is the most virulent jihadist al-Qaeda affiliated organizations. So there is a contradiction here in what we're being told now and the way in which policymakers have kind of created this crisis and now not taken responsibility for this crisis.

Democrats Call For Iraq Vote

August 18, 2014 Alexander Bolton, www.thehill.com Organize! Barack Obama, Iraq, Politics, Wars and Militarism

Will the Senate hold a vote less than two months before the midterm elections to authorize military strikes in Iraq? Democrats in both chambers have called for Congress to take action, but it’s a vote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) almost certainly wants to avoid as he seeks to keep the upper chamber majority in his party’s hands. Democratic strategists warn that voting on a use-of-force authorization before the election could prove disastrous to Democratic candidates in tough races. “The base doesn’t want airstrikes and Democratic swing voters who tend to be more blue-collar don’t want re-involvement in Iraq. So I think many Democrats would face a challenge voting for this thing,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster and strategist. Lake said Democrats are in a box because if President Obama continues military action without congressional approval, that is likely to have political reverberations as well. “The second problem with airstrikes is that if they’re unauthorized all the controversy hurts the president’s job performance numbers, which is bad for Democrats too. You really need the president’s job performance numbers higher,” she said.

Mission Creep In Iraq? U.S. Air Strikes Against ISIS At Mosul Dam

August 18, 2014 TalkLeft, www.talkleft.com Educate! Airstrikes, Foreign Policy, Iraq

CENTCOM confirms 9 strikes against ISIS near the Mosul Dam. This is far beyond the limits Obama set. There are no U.S. personnel or interests in needing protection in Mosul or Erbil. ISIS hasn't threatened U.S. interests. Baghdad, where the Embassy has ,personnel is and our interests lie, is 100 miles away. This is a bait and switch, as we all suspected it would be. Obama authorized air strikes to save the Yazidis. He said further strikes would be allowed to protect American interests and personnel. Beginning last night at 6 pm, U.S. warplanes struck ISIS in Mosul, in an effort to help the Kurds retake the Mosul Dam. The Kurds have reportedly retaken the East side of the dam. "Kurdish peshmerga, with US air support, have seized control of the eastern side of the dam" complex, Major General Abdelrahman Korini told AFP, saying several jihadists had been killed.

Popular Resistance Newsletter – End War At Home And Abroad

August 16, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Gaza, Iraq, Police abuse, Wars and Militarism, Water

The recent murders of black men by police and the excessive militaristic repression of protest in the grieving community of Ferguson, MO brought the issues of racism and militarized police to the forefront of the nation this week. We focused our coverage on these issues because they have been bubbling at the surface for a while and now that there is a national dialog and some movement by officials, there is a greater opportunity to organize and change the situation. This week, the US Civil Rights Commission asked Attorney General Eric Holder to play a stronger role in investigating the case in Ferguson. The Department of Justice announced that it willconduct a broad review of police tactics.

Iraq Escalation: Troops Headed Back To Fallujah

August 16, 2014 Jason Ditz, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Foreign Policy, Iraq, ISIS, US, Wars and Militarism

Having ditched the Yazidi rescue pretext for the new US war in Iraq, after discovering there weren’t really many Yazidis to rescue in the first place, the US has reportedly set its sights on the Anbar Province, site of some of the bloodiest US battles during the previous occupation. In an interview with Reuters, Anbar Governor Ahmed Khalaf al-Dulaimi confirmed meetings with US diplomats and senior military officials, and secured a promise of not only air strikes against ISIS holdings in the province, but a military presence on the ground. “No date was decided but it will be very soon and there will be a presence for the Americans in the western area,” Dulaimi confirmed. ISIS controls materially all of the Anbar Province at this point. Anbar was the first major territorial gain for ISIS in Iraq, way back in January when they seized Fallujah and Ramadi, the main cities in the province. Since then, they’ve expanded, and were believed to have recently taken the Haditha Dam, one of the last sites outside their control in the province.

Responding To The Crisis In Iraq — Without Bombs

August 15, 2014 Friends Committee On National Legislation, www.fcnl.org Educate! Iraq, Peace, Wars and Militarism

President Obama used a powerful term when he authorized airstrikes in Iraq. He said that these strikes were necessary to help the Iraqi military "prevent a potential act of genocide" against the Yazidi people, thousands of whom were trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq without food or water. We agree with President Obama that the U.S. and the international community must act to prevent the mass killing of civilians. When we respond to the threat of violence with more violence, however, we strengthen rather than undermine the extremist groups that are perpetuating the crisis. The United States and others in the international community must support non-military, civilian-led approaches so that Iraqis can live in peace and stability. When we respond to violence with violence, we strengthen the extremist groups perpetuating the crisis. The question of how to respond when civilians are in danger challenges us all. In the days since the strikes began, we've heard from many of you who see airstrikes as the only effective choice to save these lives. It is true that U.S. airstrikes have yielded what seem to be dramatic and immediate results. While many people remain trapped on the mountain, Islamic State forces have retreated, allowing more to be rescued.

Top 9 Reasons To Stop Bombing Iraq

August 14, 2014 David Swanson, www.warisacrime.org Educate! Foreign Policy, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

1. It's not a rescue mission. The U.S. personnel could be evacuated without the 500-pound bombs. The persecuted minorities could be supplied, moved, or their enemy dissuaded, or all three, without the 500-pound bombs or the hundreds of "advisors" (trained and armed to kill, and never instructed in how to give advice -- Have you ever tried taking urgent advice from 430 people?). The boy who cried rescue mission should not be allowed to get away with it after the documented deception in Libya where a fictional threat to civilians was used to launch an all-out aggressive attack that has left that nation in ruins. Not to mention the false claims about Syrian chemical weapons and the false claim that missiles were the only option left for Syria -- the latter claims being exposed when the former weren't believed, the missiles didn't launch, and less violent but perfectly obvious alternative courses of action were recognized. If the U.S. government were driven by a desire to rescue the innocent, why would it be arming Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain? The U.S. government destroyed the nation of Iraq between 2003 and 2011, with results including the near elimination of various minority groups. If preventing genocide were a dominant U.S. interest, it could have halted its participation in and aggravation of that war at any time, a war in which 97% of the dead were on one side, just as in Gaza this month -- the distinction between war and genocide being one of perspective, not proportions. Or, of course, the U.S. could have left well alone. Ever since President Carter declared that the U.S. would kill for Iraqi oil, each of his successors has believed that course of action justified, and each has made matters significantly worse.

Air Strikes In Iraq Largely About Oil

August 14, 2014 John B. Judis, www.newrepublic.com Educate! Foreign Policy, Iraq, Oil, Wars and Militarism

Last night, President Barack Obama announced that he was authorizing American airtstrikes in Iraq. He described his intervention as a “humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain” and as an effort “to protect our American personnel.” One word that he didn’t mention is “oil,” but it lies near the center of American motives for intervention. The United States is conducting airdrops to aid the Yazidis who have fled the advance of Islamic State militants, but it is conducting airstrikes around Erbil, which is to the east. There are American consular personnel in Erbil, but they could be evacuated if necessary. What Obama left unsaid was that Erbil, a city of 1.5 million, is the capital of the Kurdish regional government and the administrative center of its oil industry, which accounts for about a quarter of Iraq’s oil. The Kurds claim that if they were to become an independent state, they would have the ninth-largest oil reserves in the world. And oil wells are near Erbil.

Making Sense Of Pro-War Propaganda Leading To Renewed Iraq War

August 12, 2014 Jack Balkwill and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Iraq, Media, Wars and Militarism

The American people are now being subjected to a pro-war propaganda campaign that is quickly drawing the nation back into a war in Iraq. . . . The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a natural outgrowth of 100 years of US and Western domination of the region, breaking the region up into countries that serve the west’s purposes of controlling the oil supply in the region. This ‘divide and rule’ strategy has devolved into a US Empire of Chaos in the region. ISIS is the natural outgrowth of the most recent years since the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the attack on Libya, support for opposition in Syria and drone attacks throughout the region as well as the two major attacks on Gaza during Obama’s presidency. Without US support for the "opposition" in Syria, there might not be a successful ISIS now terrorizing Syria and Iraq.

Iraqis Protest Religious Persecution By Islamic State

August 11, 2014 Mariam Elba, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Christianity, Iraq, Islam, Religion, Wars and Militarism

Iraqis are taking to the streets and to social media to protest the persecution of Christians by the Islamic State — the fringe extremist group formerly known as ISIS. Since the group seized control of about a third of Syria and a significant portion of Iraq, the Islamic State has forced Iraq’s Christian population living within its territory to either convert or leave. Its members have marked Christian houses with the Arabic letter “nun” (ن), in reference to the word “Nazarene,” an old Arabic word for Christian. In response, Iraqis have launched social media campaigns protesting the Islamic State, and the hashtags #WeAreN, and #IamNasrani have been trending on Twitter this week. Another hashtag, #NO2ISIS, has been launched to protest the Islamic State for instigating sectarian violence between Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims. These hashtags have been tweeted more than 55,000 times, with the majority of tweets coming from the Middle East. Iraqi Muslims have also used the Arabic hashtags “I am Iraqi; I am Christian,” and many have changed their Facebook and Twitter profile photos to a picture of the letter ن.

Popular Resistance Newsletter – Do You See The Culture Of War?

August 9, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Environment, Iraq, Israel, Police abuse, Wars and Militarism

No matter how police militarization and violence affects your community, the trend is disturbing and justice is lacking for people of color. It is up to us to demand a demilitarization and de-escalation of police violence. Sonali Kolhatkar provides some insight and ideas into how this can be done. If you are concerned, we recommend starting a local group to discuss how your community is affected and to make plans to change local practices. Police violence and incarceration are symptoms of the militarization of our culture. Instead of common-sense, restorative practices to make our communities healthier, we are indoctrinated in the ways of Empire from a young age. This article reveals that military recruiters bend and break rules to gain access to youth in our High Schools. Look around you this week and you’ll be amazed at how deeply war culture has penetrated all aspects of our society.

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