Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Sunni Iraqis have plenty to protest, as do Shi'ites, Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs, Christians, and others. But those complaints don't make my paper.
"New protests in Sunni stronghold" by Adam Schreck and Qassim Abdul-Zahra | Associated Press, December 27, 2012
RAMADI, Iraq — Large, noisy demonstrations against Iraq’s government flared for the third time in less than a week Wednesday in Iraq’s western Anbar province, raising the prospect of a fresh bout of unrest in a onetime Al Qaeda stronghold on Syria’s doorstep.
Yes, what is happening here is that over the last year or so the Al-CIA-Duh mercenaries have had to leak back into Iraq due to tremendous losses in Syria.
The rallies echo the Arab Spring.
Any named anything in my intelligence agency operated pre$$ is suspect. Sorry. It sounded great at the time, but all it was meant to do was replace stale dictators with new ones and discredit any Islamist government that happened to defy wishes and take power, even though most of those are propped up by oil emirate money.
Protesters chanted ‘‘the people want the downfall of the regime,’’ a slogan that has rippled across the region and was fulfilled in Tunisia and Egypt. Other rallying cries blasted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government as illegitimate and warned that protesters ‘‘will cut off any hand that touches us.’’
It's a regime change protest?
While the demonstrators’ tenacious show of force could signal the start of a more populist Sunni opposition movement, it risks widening the deep and increasingly bitter rifts with the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad. If left unresolved, those disputes could lead to a new eruption of sectarian violence.
I believe I made it clear I didn't buy into such things anymore. I'm sorry, but who benefits from the Zionist Jew narrative of sectarian division?
Yes, what is happening here is that over the last year or so the Al-CIA-Duh mercenaries have had to leak back into Iraq due to tremendous losses in Syria.
The rallies echo the Arab Spring.
Any named anything in my intelligence agency operated pre$$ is suspect. Sorry. It sounded great at the time, but all it was meant to do was replace stale dictators with new ones and discredit any Islamist government that happened to defy wishes and take power, even though most of those are propped up by oil emirate money.
Protesters chanted ‘‘the people want the downfall of the regime,’’ a slogan that has rippled across the region and was fulfilled in Tunisia and Egypt. Other rallying cries blasted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government as illegitimate and warned that protesters ‘‘will cut off any hand that touches us.’’
It's a regime change protest?
While the demonstrators’ tenacious show of force could signal the start of a more populist Sunni opposition movement, it risks widening the deep and increasingly bitter rifts with the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad. If left unresolved, those disputes could lead to a new eruption of sectarian violence.
I believe I made it clear I didn't buy into such things anymore. I'm sorry, but who benefits from the Zionist Jew narrative of sectarian division?
The car bombings and other indiscriminate attacks that still plague Iraq are primarily the work of Sunni extremists. Vast Anbar province was once the heart of the deadly Sunni insurgency that emerged after the 2003 US-led invasion, and later the birthplace of a Sunni militia that helped American and Iraqi forces fight Al Qaeda.
Today, Al Qaeda is believed to be rebuilding in pockets of Anbar, and militants linked to it are thought to be helping Sunni rebels try to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad....
True to a certain degree, about half. They keep misspelling CIA-Duh.
True to a certain degree, about half. They keep misspelling CIA-Duh.
‘‘The danger is that the revolution in Syria is perpetuating Sunni opportunism and overconfidence in Iraq,’’ said Ramzy Mardini, an analyst at the Beirut-based Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies. ‘‘Al-Maliki may have sparked a Sunni tribal movement that will attempt to harness and capitalize on the revolutionary spirit,’’ he said....
Demonstrators blocked the main highway linking Baghdad with neighboring Jordan and Syria, just as they did at another protest Sunday.
Wednesday’s protesters held banners demanding that Sunni rights be respected and calling for the release of Sunni prisoners in Iraqi jails. ‘‘We warn the government not to draw the country into sectarian conflict,’’ read one. Another declared: ‘‘We are not a minority.’’
You mean the prison camps, right?
You mean the prison camps, right?
Finance Minister Rafia al Issawi, who comes from Anbar and is one of the central government’s most senior Sunni officials, addressed the rally after arriving in a long convoy of black SUVs protected by heavily armed bodyguards. He condemned last week’s raid on his office and rattled off a list of grievances aimed at Maliki’s government.
‘‘Injustice, marginalization, discrimination, and double standards, as well as the politicization of the judiciary system and a lack of respect for partnership, the law, and the constitution . . . have all turned our neighborhoods in Baghdad into huge prisons surrounded by concrete blocks,’’ he declared.
Large numbers of protesters also took to the streets in Samarra, a Sunni-dominated town 60 miles north of Baghdad, according to Salahuddin provincial spokesman Mohammed al-Asi.
Many Sunnis see the arrest of the finance minister’s guards as the latest in a series of moves by the Shi’ite prime minister against them and other perceived political opponents.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, another top-ranking Sunni politician, is now living in exile in Turkey after being handed multiple death sentences for allegedly running death squads — a charge he denies.
I had not seen that name for a while. Why don't they go get him?
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Related:
"SUNNIS DEMAND RIGHTS -- Thousands of Sunnis amassed along a major highway in Fallujah, Iraq, on Friday for one of several protests across the country. They are demanding an end to what they consider discrimination against them by the Shi'ite-led government. Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki warned against a return to sectarian conflict (Boston Globe December 29 2012)."
A picture is worth 55 typed words.
"Sunni rally turns violent in Iraq" Associated Press, December 31, 2012
I had not seen that name for a while. Why don't they go get him?
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Related:
"SUNNIS DEMAND RIGHTS -- Thousands of Sunnis amassed along a major highway in Fallujah, Iraq, on Friday for one of several protests across the country. They are demanding an end to what they consider discrimination against them by the Shi'ite-led government. Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki warned against a return to sectarian conflict (Boston Globe December 29 2012)."
A picture is worth 55 typed words.
"Sunni rally turns violent in Iraq" Associated Press, December 31, 2012
BAGHDAD — Two people were wounded by gunshots Sunday at demonstrations in western Iraq when bodyguards and security forces protecting a senior Sunni politician opened fire to disperse protesters, a local official said, marking the first casualties in more than a week of rallies.
Some of the demonstrators were demanding that the politician, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, quit the Shi’ite-dominated government. Video of the chaotic scene showed hundreds of angry protesters chasing the official’s entourage, pelting them with rocks and bottles as repeated automatic gunfire rang out.
Mutlaq’s office described the incident as an assassination attempt by ‘‘rogue elements’’ within the crowd of protesters....
Iraqi Sunnis angry over their perceived second-class treatment by the government have been protesting for more than a week in the vast western Anbar province. Up to now there has been no violence.
The demonstrations reflect increasing sectarian tensions in Iraq, which is struggling to maintain stability nearly a decade after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime, and a year after the last US troops withdrew....
We shoulda stayed, 'murkn. Maybe we should reinvade.
It was unclear who fired the shots that caused the injuries, and if those hurt were targeted intentionally. It is often difficult to assign blame for gunfire injuries in Iraq, where weapons ownership is common and security forces often shoot into the air to break up scuffles.
We shoulda stayed, 'murkn. Maybe we should reinvade.
It was unclear who fired the shots that caused the injuries, and if those hurt were targeted intentionally. It is often difficult to assign blame for gunfire injuries in Iraq, where weapons ownership is common and security forces often shoot into the air to break up scuffles.
????
Mutlaq is one of the government’s most senior Sunni politicians and has been a frequent critic of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite.
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"Iraqi Shiite cleric lends support to Sunni protest" by Adam Schreck | Associated Press, January 02, 2013
BAGHDAD — A top anti-American Shi’ite cleric lent support Tuesday to Sunni protesters who have been rallying against Iraq’s Shi’ite-dominated central government, increasing pressure on the leadership in Baghdad.
What?
What?
Hard-line religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr told reporters in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf that the demonstrators have the right to protest as long as they are peaceful.
Ah, Sadr surfaces again!
Ah, Sadr surfaces again!
He stopped short of calling for a wider uprising like those that have rippled across the region over the past two years, but warned of further unrest if demands on the street are not met.
‘‘Beware of the Arab Spring in Iraq,’’ the firebrand cleric said in a warning to the power-sharing government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite.
Thousands of protesters have been holding rallies in the western desert province of Anbar and other Sunni strongholds for more than a week....
The protesters’ demands include guarantees of better government services and the release of prisoners in Iraqi jails.
That's one of the main beefs: the destroyed and not rebuilt infrastructure. If it were there the agenda-pu$hing paper would be crowing about it.
That's one of the main beefs: the destroyed and not rebuilt infrastructure. If it were there the agenda-pu$hing paper would be crowing about it.
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"Iraq Sunnis rally against Shiite-led government" by SAMEER N. YACOUB, The Associated Press | January 19 2013
Printed paper ended it there.
"Iraq Sunnis rally against Shiite-led government" by SAMEER N. YACOUB, The Associated Press | January 19 2013
BAGHDAD —Thousands of Sunnis rallied Friday in western and central Iraq, denouncing the Shiite-led government's policies they claim sideline their sect and saying that recent concessions by the authorities are not enough.
Tipping their Saudi-$upported hand.
Tipping their Saudi-$upported hand.
The protests — the fourth Friday in a row of rallies in Sunni parts of the country — come as tensions are rising among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups, threatening to plunge the country into more instability.
And look where we are now.
And look where we are now.
In the beginning, the protests were concentrated in Iraq's western Anbar province but on Friday, they spread to the central city of Samarra and other Sunni strongholds.
The protests first erupted after last month's arrests of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, one of the central government's most senior Sunni officials. He has since become a rallying point for the demonstrators, who are angry over perceived second-class treatment by the government.
In Samarra, about 3,000 took to the streets Friday, demanding that the government release more Sunni detainees from jails. Thousands of Sunnis also rallied in Friday in Anbar and Ninevah provinces....
Printed paper ended it there.
Sheik Hassan al-Samarie, one of the organizers of the Samarra rally, said the Sunnis there are disappointed by the slow response of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government in fulfilling their demands.
"We are fed up with the void promises of the government," al-Samarie told The Associated Press over the phone. "Our demands must be achieved very soon, otherwise the number of the protesters will increase."
Nearly every citizen in every country in the world feels that way.
The demonstrators held banners reading, "We are nobody's slaves" and "The government should stop the random arrests immediately." The crowd also chanted: "Al-Maliki, leave!"
Nearly every citizen in every country in the world feels that way.
The demonstrators held banners reading, "We are nobody's slaves" and "The government should stop the random arrests immediately." The crowd also chanted: "Al-Maliki, leave!"
Haitham al-Hadad, one of the protesters, urged the government to stop discrimination against Sunnis.
"Iraqi laws should be implemented on everybody, not only Sunnis," he said.
Sectarian tensions are a major driver of the violence that continues to plague Iraq. The 2006 bombing of the gold-domed al-Askari shrine in Samarra, which was blamed on al-Qaida, sparked years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite extremists. The violence left thousands of Iraqis dead and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.
In a way, it was Al-CIA-Duh, and think of this: all the centuries Shi'ites and Sunnis have lived together in Iraq in Iraq and that shrine stood. The U.S invades and three years later it goes boom?
In a way, it was Al-CIA-Duh, and think of this: all the centuries Shi'ites and Sunnis have lived together in Iraq in Iraq and that shrine stood. The U.S invades and three years later it goes boom?
Violence has since dropped overall in Iraq, but attacks still happen frequently, usually in the form of Sunni militants targeting Shiites or security forces in an attempt to undermine the government's authority.
The government over the past few days freed hundreds of inmates in a gesture to the Sunni protesters, and promised more would be released. It gave no details on the backgrounds or alleged crimes of those freed. The release of detainees has been one of the main demands of the rallies but apparently, the move did little to calm the tensions.
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"Iraqi Sunni official announces resignation" by Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sameer N. Yacoub | Associated Press, March 02, 2013
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Sunni finance minister drew cheers from antigovernment protesters Friday when he announced he will resign from the government.
The move further intensifies the country’s political crisis nearly a decade after the US-led invasion.
Elsewhere on Friday, officials said a Russian-made rocket fired from Syria exploded well inside Iraqi territory.
Someone is really trying to inflame the region and get a wider war going. Now jwho could that be?
The rocket’s detonation is likely to heighten worries that violence from Syria’s civil war could extend across the border.
Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi’s decision to leave marks the first resignation of a senior Sunni member of the Shi’ite-led government since a wave of antigovernment protests began following the December arrest of his bodyguards on suspicion of terrorism-related activities.
Sunnis’ feelings of perceived discrimination by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government are fueling the anger of demonstrators who are happy that Issawi ended his association with the Maliki administration.
‘‘I am presenting my resignation in front of you. I do not care about a government that does not respect the Iraqi blood and its people,’’ Issawi told thousands gathered in the western city of Ramadi, the epicenter of the demonstrations.
The protesters cheered in approval.
The resignation, however, has to be formally endorsed by Maliki, leaving Issawi’s status in government unclear for now.
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"Iraqi minister resigns after protesters shot" by Sameer Yacoub | Associated Press, March 09, 2013
BAGHDAD— Iraq’s agriculture minister quit Friday after police opened fire on Sunni demonstrators in the country’s north, killing one protester and wounding five others.
Izzeddin al-Dolah’s resignation marks the second high-profile Sunni departure from the government this month.
Fatal shootings have been comparatively rare during two months of antigovernment rallies, and the protester’s death probably will heighten Sunni demonstrators’ anger against the Shi’ite-led government.
The shooting happened in the city of Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad, as angry protesters demanded the release of a local tribal sheik arrested earlier in the day, police officials said. Hospital officials confirmed the casualties.
Dolah linked his resignation to the shooting, saying the blood of those who voted for him is now being shed. Dolah made the announcement at a news conference in Mosul, the capital of Ninevah province where he is from.
‘‘There is no way I can continue my work in a government that does not care about the demands of my people,’’ he said.
Dolah is a member of the opposition Iraqiya bloc, which draws on Sunnis for much of its support. His announcement comes weeks after Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi announced his resignation at an antigovernment rally.
That would be Saudi $unnis, if jwho know what I mean.
Minority Sunnis frustrated about what they claim is second-class treatment have taken to the streets across Iraq since late December.
They sure sound like 'em.
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"Iraqi Sunnis block major highway in protest; Al Qaeda issues call to arms" by Sameer N. Yacoub | Associated Press, February 02, 2013
BAGHDAD — Tens of thousands of Sunni protesters blocked a highway in western Iraq on Friday, as an Al Qaeda- affiliated group called on Sunnis to take up arms against the Shi’ite-led government.
At a time of mounting sectarian tensions, minority Sunnis complain of official discrimination and the arrests of bodyguards of a senior Sunni politician in December that sparked weekly protests.
The rallies on Friday took place in Fallujah and Ramadi, cities that straddle the highway through Anbar Province. The province was a former Al Qaeda stronghold that saw some of the fiercest fighting against US forces during the Iraq war.
Protesters also marched in Baghdad and Samarra. The turnout appeared to be among the largest since protests began in December.
In Fallujah and Ramadi, demonstrators performed Muslim noon prayers, the highlight of the religious week, on the highway from Iraq to Jordan.
Last week, five protesters and two Iraqi soldiers were killed in clashes in Fallujah, and demonstrators held up pictures of the dead on Friday.
Sunni cleric Abdul-Hameed Jadoua told the crowd that “the blood of the martyrs was shed so that the dignity of our Iraq and our tribes will be restored.”
Like another tribe nearby.
He demanded that soldiers be put on trial for killing protesters and said the army must stay out of the area. “From this place, we tell the government that we do not want to see a soldier from now on, not only in Fallujah, but in all its suburbs and [surrounding] villages,” he said.
The cleric appeared to be rebuffing a call to arms. “I tell the young people that we do appreciate your zeal ... but you should be disciplined and adhere to the directives of the clerics and tribal leaders so that we act in a reasonable way,” he said.
You give us a bad name and expose us as controlled opposition.
Al Qaeda has expressed support for the protests.
Case closed!
On Friday, an Al Qaeda-affiliated group, the Islamic State of Iraq, called on Sunnis to resort to violence against the government.
That's a way to win people over -- or destabilize a government!
Sunnis can either bow to Shi’ites or take up arms and restore “dignity and freedom,” said spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani in an audio statement on the group’s website.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has suggested that Al Qaeda and members of Hussein’s ousted regime are involved in the demonstrations.
Organizers said they have no links to Al Qaeda. “This organization represents only itself and it does not represent us,” Saeed Humaim, a leading activist in Ramadi, said of the Islamic State of Iraq.
Humaim said organizers also asked demonstrators to not raise Saddam Hussein-era national flags. Under Hussein, toppled by the US-led invasion in 2003, Sunnis enjoyed special privileges while Kurds and Shi’ites were often persecuted.
During previous protests, many had waved Saddam Hussein-era flags, but there were fewer on Friday. Humaim said organizers did not want to give the government an opportunity to smear protesters as Saddam Hussein loyalists.
Are there any of those left? Still carrying a torch for the guy?
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Also see: Iraq Sunnis protest; al-Qaida front calls to arms
"Sunnis stage mass protests in Iraqi cities" by Sinan Salaheddin | Associated Press, February 16, 2013
BAGHDAD — Tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims rallied on Friday in several Iraqi cities to protest what they describe as unfair treatment by the country’s Shi’ite-led government, extending concerns over rising sectarian tension in the country.
Sunnis have staged mass protests since late December. They are demanding that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki step down and are calling for the release of thousands of Sunnis they say were rounded up arbitrarily under the guise of counterterrorism regulations.
They also want authorities to rescind policies they say discriminate against Sunnis.
Protesters had hoped to move their demonstrations from predominantly Sunni provinces to Baghdad on Friday, but they backed off that plan after the government rejected their request and imposed tough security measures.
Government security forces blocked roads leading from Sunni-dominated provinces and sealed off all Sunni neighborhoods.
In the western cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, former insurgent strongholds, demonstrators blocked the main highway to Jordan and Syria to perform Friday noon prayers.
Others gathered in main squares in the northern cities of Samarra, Mosul, and Kirkuk. Local residents rallied outside a prominent Sunni mosque in the Baghdad.
‘‘Where is the partnership you are talking about? Sunnis are only seeing genocide and marginalization,’’ cleric Saad al-Fayadh shouted in front of thousands of worshippers in Ramadi.
His speech was interrupted many times by demonstrators who pumped their fists in the air and shouted: ‘‘Allahu Akbar’’ or ‘‘God is great.’’
The cleric accused the Shi’ite-led government of letting Iranian influence grow in Baghdad, saying Iranian pilgrims can travel to the country easily and Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias have marched in the streets.
To ease tension, the government formed a committee to consider the Sunnis’ demands.
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"Raid on Sunni protesters roils Iraq" by Adam Schreck | Associated Press, April 24, 2013
BAGHDAD — Security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on Tuesday, sparking deadly clashes in several towns and sharply intensifying rage at the Shi’ite-led government. The unrest and a spate of other attacks, mostly targeting Sunni mosques, killed at least 56 people.
A protest camp or CIA-Duh base?
The violence could mark an ominous turning point in the four-month Sunni protest movement, which is posing a stubborn challenge to Iraq’s stability a decade after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks on three mosques, and it was unclear whether there was any connection to the storming of the protest camp.
The hallmark of a covert intelligence agency operation.
Sunni extremists such as Al Qaeda have in the past targeted moderate Sunnis. But if Shi’ite militias were behind the attacks, it would raise fears of a return to the open sectarian fighting of 2006 and 2007.
Bad words for a "report."
The raid on the protest camp drew harsh condemnations from Sunni leaders and foreign diplomats and raised fears that Iraq would follow Syria into the descent of open warfare.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki swiftly announced the formation of a special committee to investigate what happened.
‘‘What happened today is a total disaster,’’ Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, said at a televised news conference. He appealed for calm and called for those responsible to stand trial. ‘‘If this bloodshed spreads to other provinces, God forbid, there will be a huge fire that we cannot put out.’’
The security crackdown began at dawn in the former insurgent stronghold of Hawija, about 150 miles north of Baghdad. Like many Sunni communities, the town has seen months of protests accusing the government of neglect and pursuing a sectarian agenda.
The raid occurred four days after a police checkpoint near the town came under attack. Militants seized a number of weapons before retreating into the crowd of protesters, according to the Defense Ministry. Authorities had been trying to negotiate with local officials to hand over those responsible.
So the PROTESTS are in fact COVER for the TERRORISTS! That explains the generally positive print in my agenda-pushing jewspaper (that has always had a bug up is ass on Iraq).
Iraq’s Defense Ministry said 23 people were killed Tuesday in Hawija, including three soldiers as well as militants who were using the protest grounds as a safe haven. It said members of Al Qaeda and Hussein’s outlawed Baath Party were among the militants’ ranks.
Those guys working together? Still trying to sell that lie?
In its account, the Defense Ministry said it warned demonstrators to leave the protest area Tuesday before moving in.
Amateur video posted on YouTube by protest supporters shows dozens of officers in riot gear and at least four anti-riot water cannon trucks facing off against a group of men. Many civilians were carrying swords, and security forces could be heard urging them to retreat.
I no longer believe in JouTube.
As Iraqi forces tried to make arrests, they came under heavy fire from several types of weapons, according to the Defense Ministry account.
Officials provided details of the attacks on Sunni mosques. In Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood early Tuesday, two bombs went off near a mosque, killing seven worshippers. In the evening, a bomb exploded as people were leaving a mosque in the town of Muqdadiya, killing eight worshippers. And gunmen opened fire on worshippers leaving a mosque in northeastern Baghdad, killing three worshippers.
Imho, even the most pious Al Qaeda would not do those; Al-CIA-Duh, on the other hand....
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