Washington, Baghdad silent on Iraq border conflict

By Anne-Beatrice Clasmann and Carsten Hoffmann Sep 2, 2007, 8:23 GMT

Ankara - On Iraq's northern border, Turkey and Iran have a common enemy in their sights.

The armies of both countries are engaged in conflict with around 7,000 Kurdish militants who, tolerated by the government of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, are entrenched in the mountainous frontier region.

The militants belong to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed in Turkey, and the Party for Freedom and Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) from Iran.

Here a forgotten war is being waged.

Iranian artillery fire targeting suspected PJAK positions in the provinces of Sulaymanyah and Arbil is heard almost on a daily basis. Yet on the political front, the conflict is little heard of. Few seem to be troubled by this border war, save for the residents of Kurdish villages who have been forced to flee their homes.

In contrast to the ongoing car bombing campaign targeting markets, bridges and barracks in the Iraqi capital, the violence in the north seems to be little more than a sideshow to the main conflict for the politicians in the capital.

A lone voice of dissent in Baghdad is Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, himself a Kurd. Notes of protest are occasionally submitted to the Iranian embassy over the shelling. And yet relations between the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government and the Shiite administration in Tehran remain good.

Even in Washington, where any interference by Iran in Iraqi affairs normally results in accusations and warnings from the Bush administration, any opposition to the Iranian attacks on the border region remains firmly behind closed doors.

The problem for US President George W Bush is that the two Kurdish parties of Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani are his two staunchest allies in Iraq, and must not be alienated for the sake of appeasing NATO-parter Turkey.

'What is Washington to do in the dilemma of two friends battling each other on an unwanted new front in Iraq?' wrote Robert Novak of the Washington Post at the end of July.

So far Bush has opted for a strategy of silence, Kurdish lawmaker Mahmud Othman charges. 'America sees its ties with Turkey as more important than its relations with the Kurds,' independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) quoted the conservative Islamic politician as saying.

What is more difficult to understand however, is Washington's silence on the Iranian artillery campaign.

In Turkey, with at least 14 million Kurds representing half of the worldwide population, the lack of comment from across the Atlantic is the subject of ever more bitter criticism.

Fresh reports that PKK rebels are using US weapons to fight Turkish troops are stoking the sense of anger. The arms are believed to stem from shipments originally intended for use by Iraqi police forces.

Ankara will not however be drawn on the possibility of a joint Turkish-Iranian push against Kurdish militants in Iraq.

Although the Turkish army has massed 10,000 troops along the Iraqi frontier and readied for a major offensive, it has so far engaged only in minor missions. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears committed to a policy of restraint.

'We hope that our allies will finally do something. If not, however, there are many possibilities open to us,' an advisor to the Turkish premier however warned.

So there was a spring offensive by the Taliban, just not the one the US and allies expected

September 2, 2007
Afghan Police Suffer Setbacks as Taliban Adapt
By DAVID ROHDE

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug. 26 — Over the past six weeks, the Taliban have driven government forces out of roughly half of a strategic area in southern Afghanistan that American and NATO officials declared a success story last fall in their campaign to clear out insurgents and make way for development programs, Afghan officials say.

A year after Canadian and American forces drove hundreds of Taliban fighters from the area, the Panjwai and Zhare districts southwest of Kandahar, the rebels are back and have adopted new tactics. Carrying out guerrilla attacks after NATO troops partly withdrew in July, they overran isolated police posts and are now operating in areas where they can mount attacks on Kandahar, the south’s largest city.

The setback is part of a bloody stalemate that has occurred between NATO troops and Taliban fighters across southern Afghanistan this summer. NATO and Afghan Army soldiers can push the Taliban out of rural areas, but the Afghan police are too weak to hold the territory after they withdraw. At the same time, the Taliban are unable to take large towns and have generally mounted fewer suicide bomb attacks in southern cities than they did last summer.

The Panjwai and Zhare districts, in particular, highlight the changing nature of the fight in the south. The military operation there in September 2006 was the largest conventional battle in the country since 2002. But this year, the Taliban are avoiding set battles with NATO and instead are attacking the police and stepping up their use of roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or I.E.D.’s.

“It’s very seldom that we have direct engagement with the Taliban,” said Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian forces leading the NATO effort in Kandahar. “What they’re going to use is I.E.D.’s.”

The Taliban also wage intimidation campaigns against the population. Local officials report that one of the things that the insurgents do when they enter an area is to hang several local farmers, declaring them spies.

“The first thing they do is show people how brutal they are,” said Hajji Agha Lalai, the leader of the Panjwai district council. “They were hanged from the trees. For several days, they hung there.”

NATO and American military officials have declined to release exact Taliban attack statistics, and collecting accurate information is difficult, particularly in rural Afghanistan. According to an internal United Nations tally, insurgents set off 516 improvised explosive devices in 2007. Another 402 improvised explosive devices were discovered before detonation.

Reported security incidents, a broad category that includes bombings, firefights and intimidation, are up from roughly 500 a month last year to 600 a month this year, a 20 percent increase, according to the United Nations.

The rising attacks are taking a heavy toll. At least 2,500 to 3,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year, a quarter of them civilians, according to the United Nations tally, a 20 percent increase over 2006.

NATO and American fatality rates are up by about 20 percent this year, to 161, according to Iraq Casualty Count, a Web site that tracks deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Afghan police continue to be devastated by Taliban bombings and guerrilla strikes, with 379 killed so far this year, compared with 257 for all of last year.

Yet the Taliban have been unable to take large towns this year and have carried out 102 suicide bombings, roughly the same number as last year, according to the United Nations. A conventional Taliban spring offensive was predicted by many but never materialized, and Western officials say that raids by NATO and American Special Operations forces have killed dozens of senior and midlevel Taliban commanders this year. more

Iraq convoy was sent out despite threat

Unarmored trucks carrying needed supplies were ambushed, leaving six drivers dead. Records illuminate the fateful decision.

By T. Christian Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2007

Senior managers for defense contractor KBR overruled calls to halt supply operations in Iraq in the spring of 2004, ordering unarmored trucks into an active combat zone where six civilian drivers died in an ambush, according to newly available documents.

Company e-mails and other internal communications reveal that before KBR dispatched the convoy, a chorus of security advisors predicted an increase in roadside bombings and attacks on Iraq's highways. They recommended suspension of convoys.

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"[I] think we will get people injured or killed tomorrow," warned KBR regional security chief George Seagle, citing "tons of intel." But in an e-mail sent a day before the convoy was dispatched, he also acknowledged: "Big politics and contract issues involved."

KBR was under intense pressure from the military to deliver on its multibillion-dollar contract to transport food, fuel and other vital supplies to U.S. soldiers. At Baghdad's airport, a shortage of jet fuel threatened to ground some units.

After consulting with military commanders, KBR's top managers decided to keep the convoys rolling. "If the [Army] pushes, then we push, too," wrote an aide to Craig Peterson, KBR's top official in Iraq.

The decision prompted a raging internal debate that is detailed in private KBR documents, some under court seal, that were reviewed by The Times.

One KBR management official threatened to resign when superiors ordered truckers to continue driving. "I cannot consciously sit back and allow unarmed civilians to get picked apart," wrote Keith Richard, chief of the trucking operation.

Six American truck drivers and two U.S. soldiers were killed when the convoy rumbled into a five-mile gauntlet of weapons fire on April 9, 2004, making an emergency delivery of jet fuel to the airport. One soldier and a seventh trucker remain missing.

Recriminations began the same day.

"Can anyone explain to me why we put civilians in the middle of known ambush sites?" demanded one security advisor in an e-mail. "Maybe we should put body bags on the packing list for our drivers."

Another wrote, "I cannot believe this has happened; the ones responsible should be held accountable for this."

The previously undisclosed documents raise new questions about the U.S. military's growing reliance on civilian contractors to help fight wars.

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IRAQ: Blood sellers find market niche in Baghdad
03 Sep 2007 10:16:44 GMT
Source: IRIN

BAGHDAD, 3 September 2007 (IRIN) - As the Iraqi National Centre for Blood Donation (INCBD) urges Iraqis to donate more blood to help meet increasing demand, individuals wishing to sell their blood congregate at hospitals in the hope of being able to make some money. Those offering rare blood types are best able to cash in.

"In many cases, desperate families look for blood sellers who can be found around the hospital and at the [Baghdad's main] blood centre," Abdallah Farhan Ahmed, a surgeon at Medical City Hospital, said. "The most expensive blood types are the rare ones and we cannot force people to give them for free."

Ahmed said "agents" also stand in front of the INCBD offering blood. They charge US$20-30 for every 350 cu. cm of blood. In a country where, according to Iraq's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, unemployment stands at over 38 percent, the sale of blood is an attractive option for many.

"I need to feed my family, and others need blood to save their loved ones and it is a fair exchange. I come here every month to sell my blood. I know I should do this less frequently but I'm unemployed and my family needs to eat," said a blood seller who preferred anonymity.

The continuing violence in Baghdad has kept the demand for blood high: "The increase in violence in Iraq has prevented us from storing adequate blood supplies," said Maruan Haydar, a senior official in the Ministry of Health.

"We are requesting donations of all types of blood… especially rare types like AB and O," he said.

Ahmed told IRIN that at least one in five operations in the hospital require a blood transfusion and that on many occasions they had to postpone operations because the type of blood required was not available.

"We perform operations only in emergencies. Heart and brain operations are being postponed until the right blood is available - and that sometimes might take over two weeks," Ahmed said.

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What a tangled web. The Chinese have engaged in the Great Game. The Kurds are our friends except when they are not. The Iranians and US don;t agree on anything excpet the Kurds (predictable). I predict a level of genocide on the Kurds that has to be seen to be believed, waged by the Turks, Iranians & US.

I wonder if the expression "Up the Khyber Pass" is still understood.

Cut and run: Bush heralds cut in troops as British forces head for exit
By Patrick Cockburn
Published: 04 September 2007

President George Bush flew into a US airbase in Anbar province in western Iraq yesterday to announce that recent American military successes would allow a reduction in the 160,000-strong US force in Iraq.

He said that, judging by what he had been told by US commander General David Petraeus and ambassador Ryan Crocker, "it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces."

Mr Bush chose to visit Anbar because the split between the Sunni tribes and al-Qai'da in Iraq has led to a sharp reduction in attacks on US forces in this vast western province which is mostly desert aside from the Euphrates valley.

The administration has had some success in persuading US public opinion and media that the military escalation known as "the surge" which started in February is having a measure of success. Gen Petraeus and Mr Crocker are to report on the impact of "the surge" when they testify to Congress on 10 September. Since they will be reporting on their own efforts it is likely they will report significant progress.

The reduction in American troop numbers Mr Bush suggested is probably inevitable given the strain Iraq is placing on American military resources and the public pressure domestically.

Mr Bush flew secretly to al-Asad airbase in Anbar where he met the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki whose government has been criticised by the Democrats in the US and half of whose ministers have been withdrawn.

Addressing cheering troops, Mr Bush insisted troop withdrawal would be based on a "calm assessment by military commanders on the ground not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media".

But he said that the province was an example of what could happen in the rest of Iraq. He had been told a year ago, he said, that the province was lost. "Today Anbar is really a different place," he said.

In reality, the improvement in the US position in Anbar has nothing to do with the surge and the deployment of 30,000 extra American troops. The change in the military situation in the province is a result of a split in the Sunni guerrilla movement between an al-Qa'ida umbrella organization called the Islamic State of Iraq and the rest of the Sunni guerrillas.

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raqi-American rapper TIMZ has released a politically charged music video that is getting international attention since its debut on YouTube.com. Hard hitting images. Not for the faint of heart.

On his fiery and autobiographical debut CD, TIMZ—aka Tommy Hanna, an American born rapper of Chaldean and Iraqi descent--gets right up in our faces, mixing explosive, Middle Eastern tinged beats with incendiary rhymes in an effort to shatter those ugly stereotypes that have plagued people who look like him since 9/11 and the start of the Iraq war.

Bomb targets minivans in Baghdad, toll disputed
05 Sep 2007 06:49:22 GMT

BAGHDAD, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded near minivans in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, and officials gave sharply differing accounts of casualties.

Local police in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Sadr City where the bomb exploded said 11 people had been killed and 23 wounded.

But a senior police source in Baghdad put the death toll at one, with 24 wounded. A health official said only 13 people had been wounded.

Reuters television footage showed a very small crater in the ground where the bomb exploded, and little damage to minivans parked nearby.

Police said the bomb exploded at a square where minivans gather to pick up and drop off passengers.

and in the rest of the article reuters doesn't question just repeats Bush talking points, maybe AP and reuters should just merge. Just imagine how much money they can save on copies.....;)

Basra: The soldiers' tales
A sense of relief tinged with loss as troops reflect on a brutal campaign
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 05 September 2007

The convoys from Basra Palace were lined up outside the airport yesterday, their dusty armour punched and dented by rocket-propelled grenades and bullets in the months of ferocious firefights in the "ambush alleys" of the city.

The 550 soldiers who had withdrawn from the one remaining British base in Basra to the airbridge, the last post for UK troops before the final departure from Iraq, were tired and reflective. There had already been mortar rounds fired at their new home, but it was nothing compared with what they had been facing, and most had not even noticed the attack.

The soldiers of the 4 Rifles Battle Group spoke for the first time yesterday about their night-time evacuation from the palace and also how, for five months, they had been living under a state of siege with attacks around the clock and patrols being hit by roadside bombs.

After their experience, the vast aridness of the airport, with its comparative security, air conditioning and showers was a welcome respite. Cpl Frank Taylor, a 29-year-old from Fiji, said: "This actually feels like a holiday. I am actually quite relaxed. We have been through some pretty difficult times, and, yes, I have been scared.

"I remember once a group of Bulldogs [armoured vehicles] came under fire. I dived under one of them and there were rockets and mortars landing all around us. I saw something roll by, I thought it was a tyre, but then I saw it was the tailfin of a mortar. That was pretty close."

There was a degree of bitterness among some soldiers that many in Britain appeared to have forgotten about the men and women they had sent off to this highly unpopular war.

Cpl Leigh Pool, 28, from Bedfordshire, said: "We are soldiers and we do what we are ordered to do. But it does seem sad that there is so little news about people getting killed here."

Lt-Col Patrick Sanders, the commanding officer of the 4 Rifle Battle Group, had the task of planning the withdrawal. Despite a declaration by British officials of faith in Iraqi security forces, it was decided that the Iraqi police, deeply infiltrated by Shia militias, should not be allowed access to the palace. Instead, a Palace Protection Group, drawn from outside Basra, has been trained by the UK forces.

The withdrawal from the palace has become a highly contentious event, and is seen as a symbolic parting of the ways between the UK and the US over the war. Gordon Brown has promised to meet Britain's responsibilities in Iraq, but told President George Bush at his Camp David retreat in July that the US would not have a veto over when Britain withdraws from southern Iraq. Mr Brown wants to shift British forces from Iraq to what is seen as a more winnable – and less unpopular – struggle in Afghanistan, which he has described as the "front line against terrorism".

Lt-Col Sanders had spent four years in Baghdad when his father was a British military attaché there in the 1970s. He had returned after the war and served with the Americans in the Iraqi capital. "There are issues here which are extremely difficult," he said. "But the fact remains that we are told by the Iraqi commanders that our presence in the city was inciting attacks, so, under the circumstances, it is right that we withdrew. The planning had to be carefully organised. I was reassured by the commander of the protection force.

"It has always been our intention to hand over security to the Iraqis. It is not our job to stay here as foreign troops against their wishes, so I believe we have taken the best decision possible. I would also like to think that what was achieved at Basra Palace had restored some of the reputation of the British forces which had been damaged by mistakes by a very few people."

The difference in emphasis between the UK and the US has never been so marked. While the US has poured troops into the "surge" in Baghdad and central areas of the country, British officials are adamant that the presence of foreign troops is simply encouraging more violence.

The Iranian influence, say officials, is "not all malign" and the end of the occupations would help turn Iraqis against Iranians seeking hegemony.

The British forces say they have not been defeated, but they have learnt, the hard way, not to outstay their welcome.

individual comments at link

and once again reuters strikes a truthful tale......;)

US forces arrest Iranian-linked agent in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers detained a "highly sought individual" suspected of links to senior officers in Iran's Revolutionary Guards in a predawn raid on the holy Iraqi Shi'ite city of Kerbala on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

U.S. commanders in Iraq have repeatedly accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards force of training Shi'ite militias in Iraq and supplying them with increasingly sophisticated weaponry to kill American soldiers. Iran denies the charges.

The U.S. military said in a statement that the detained man, an Iraqi, was suspected of liaising with high-level officers in the Guards' elite Qods Force to arrange the transportation of Iraqis to training camps in Iran.

"It is likely that the affiliate is closely linked to individuals at the highest levels of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Qods Force," it said.

Major-General Rick Lynch, the commander of U.S. forces in central Iraq, said last month intelligence suggested there were about 50 members of the Revolutionary Guards training Shi'ite militias in how to use mortars and rockets in southern Iraq.

He acknowledged that his troops had so far failed to seize any weapon shipments coming across the Iranian border and that no Revolutionary Guards member had been captured in his area of responsibility, which includes Kerbala.

Wednesday's arrest could therefore be significant in helping to establish a direct link between the Qods Force and militias.

The U.S. military statement said troops had confiscated computer equipment, communications devices, documents and photographs from the suspect's home.

"As Iran continues its proxy war against the people of Iraq, Coalition forces will continue to build on recent operations to disrupt the flow of illicit, lethal materials from Iran to Iraq," said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver.

U.S. generals say Iran is also trying to influence debate on the war in Washington by boosting its support for militias.

U.S. forces have been holding five Iranians since January that they say were providing support to militants. The military says the five are Qods Force agents, but Iran insists they are diplomats and has demanded their release.

Sep 5, 12:48 PM EDT

Attacks Kill 6 U.S. Troops, 13 Civilians

By DAVID RISING
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Three separate attacks in Baghdad killed six U.S. soldiers, and at least 13 Iraqi civilians died when a roadside bomb exploded Wednesday next to buses used by morning commuters, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

Three of the soldiers were killed and two were wounded after their Humvee was hit with an explosively formed penetrator, a type of bomb that the U.S. alleges Iran has been supplying to Shiite militias. Iran denies the accusation.

AP Television News video of the bombing Tuesday in the predominantly Shiite Mashtal neighborhood of eastern Baghdad showed the twisted wreckage of the Humvee burning wildly as soldiers hosed it down with water.

Two soldiers were killed and another wounded in an eastern section of Baghdad on Wednesday during combat operations, the military said.

Another soldier was killed and two were wounded during combat Tuesday in the west of the capital, the U.S. command said.

The roadside bomb that killed the 13 civilians also wounded at least 25 when it rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighborhood, police and hospital officials said.

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Command and control

Protectorate could stabilize communities, guide Iraqis through democratic process
By Maj. Morgan Smiley - Special to the Times

I’m going to go out on a limb and recommend a radical move in order to win in Iraq and, subsequently, defeat Islamic terrorists: Turn Iraq into an American protectorate. Iraq as a U.S., protectorate has, I believe, great potential for success. While we Americans tend to loathe anything that smacks of “imperialism,” as this idea clearly does, such measures have met with success in the relatively recent past. Examples are the U.S. experience in the Philippines and the British experience in Malaya.

Our experience in the Philippines during the early 20th century was a combination of guerrilla-style combat mixed with a heavy dose of what we currently refer to as stability-and-support operations. From 1899 to 1902, and sporadically through 1909, U.S. forces engaged Philippine insurgents fighting for independence while working hard to protect the civilian population from those insurgents.

The Army made efforts to separate the civilians from the guerrillas and concentrate them around U.S. garrisons. This had the impact of protecting the civilians and increasing their confidence in the U.S. military. The Army also focused on establishing schools, municipal governments and public works projects.

The British did much the same thing during the Malayan Emergency, though their policy involved the resettlement of people from insurgent-infested areas into fortified villages that had round-the-clock security. These fortified communities provided the locals a higher standard of living and greater security, and increased their stake in the land since the British gave them ownership of it.

While there are differences between our present situation in Iraq and those in the Philippines and Malaya, we may want to consider some of the lessons learned from those campaigns.

But given the highly dynamic situation we find ourselves in, a more extraordinary approach may be necessary.

Turning Iraq into a U.S. protectorate will allow for greater centralized command and control by the military through the establishment of a U.S. military government. By taking direct control of the government and economy, we can make more immediate improvements in both. The military government can expand its training and education of the Iraqi people in the details of the democratic process by employing them alongside U.S. and coalition personnel and demonstrating, through hands-on experience, how a democratic system actually works.

Economic reforms, including an aggressive program to eliminate corruption, can be handled in a similar manner: hands-on demonstration.

The Army can help generate a greater sense of security among our Iraqi allies by moving their families into protected areas where we can ensure their safety. We could use our oversized forward operating bases for this and go from there, perhaps building walled cities (using Iraqi contractors, builders and workers) with modern amenities. As of this writing, walled areas are being established in parts of Baghdad. This will give the locals jobs, decent pay and a higher standard of living.

It may also help establish stable economic zones, which will demonstrate the viability of the plan and allow for its expansion into other areas of the country, albeit slowly.

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The Myth of AQI

Fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq is the last big argument for keeping U.S. troops in the country. But the military's estimation of the threat is alarmingly wrong.

By Andrew Tilghman | Washington Monthly, October 2007

In March 2007, a pair of truck bombs tore through the Shiite marketplace in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, killing more than 150 people. The blast reduced the ancient city center to rubble, leaving body parts and charred vegetables scattered amid pools of blood. It was among the most lethal attacks to date in the five-year-old Iraq War. Within hours, Iraqi officials in Baghdad had pinned the bombing on al-Qaeda, and news reports from Reuters, the BBC, MSNBC, and others carried those remarks around the world. An Internet posting by the terrorist group known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) took credit for the destruction. Within a few days, U.S. Army General David Petraeus publicly blamed AQI for the carnage, accusing the group of trying to foment sectarian violence and ignite a civil war. Back in Washington, pundits latched on to the attack with special interest, as President Bush had previously touted a period of calm in Tal Afar as evidence that the military's retooled counterinsurgency doctrine was working. For days, reporters and bloggers debated whether the attacks signaled a "resurgence" of al-Qaeda in the city. .....

Iraq growth to top 6%: US official

Published: Thursday, 6 September, 2007, 06:22 AM Doha Time

BAGHDAD: Improved security is boosting Iraq’s war-ravaged economy which is heading for growth of more than 6% this year, a senior US official said yesterday, supporting IMF projections.

“The improvement on the security side is having an impact on the economy,” Charles Ries, the US co-ordinator for economic transition in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad, referring to claims by the US military that its troop “surge” is reining in sectarian violence.
“It is hard to measure it precisely, and there is no doubt that the Iraqi economy is burdened by a number of challenges and is performing under its potential,” said Ries, who took up his post in July.

“Nonetheless, real GDP growth this year will be over 6% and if you take out the oil sector, it will be over 7%.”

According to the International Monetary Fund, Iraq’s gross domestic product rose by 3.7% in 2005 and an estimated 6.2% in 2006.

It projects that to rise to 6.3% this year but warned in a report last month that growth had been slower than expected “mainly because the expected expansion of oil production has not materialised.

Crude output has remained static since 2004 at about two million barrels per day, the IMF said.

But Ries said he believed the oil sector was poised for take-off once a new oil and gas law has been submitted to parliament for approval later this month.

The legislation – seen by the US as a key benchmark to measure political reconciliation in Iraq – will open up the hydrocarbons sector to foreign investors and allow world energy companies to help find new oil and gas resources.

Iraq has the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, with much of the country still unexplored. What deposits have been discovered are usually close to the surface and comprise sweet crude, which can be pumped and refined more cheaply than in other countries.

According to Ries, international investors are beginning to “take a new look” at Iraq.

He said the most significant economic development this year was a $3.75bn investment by three international companies – none of them American – in Iraq’s rapidly expanding mobile telephone sector.
He hailed it as “a really quite remarkable manifestation of confidence in the Iraqi economy.”

He said the agricultural sector remained “rich”, accounting for around 20% of the economy.

But he acknowledged that industry was stagnant, transport needed massive cash injections and the electricity supply was hopelessly inadequate.

Take away foreign assistance, including $30bn from the United States since 2003, and the GDP figures would look quite different.

“Foreign assistance from the the United States and other countries do play an important stimulatory role in the economy,” acknowledged Ries, adding however that trying to measure the extent of this would be a “guestimate.

The IMF in its August report listed other economic defects – annual consumer price inflation was running at around 46% in June and there are frequent shortages of fuel products.

But the IMF directors commended the Iraqi authorities “for keeping their economic programme on track by strengthening economic policies and making progress in structural reforms, despite an unsettled political situation and a very difficult security environment.”

Ries said the focus now was to ensure that there is “sustained and sustainable economic activity” in areas made safe by the US troop surge.

“The people in this country have suffered so much from war and insurgency, they need to see a noticeable difference when peace comes back.” – AFP

Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq
Military Statistics Called Into Question

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 6, 2007; A16

The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends.

Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working. In congressional testimony Monday, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is expected to cite a 75 percent decrease in sectarian attacks. According to senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad, overall attacks in Iraq were down to 960 a week in August, compared with 1,700 a week in June, and civilian casualties had fallen 17 percent between December 2006 and last month. Unofficial Iraqi figures show a similar decrease.

Others who have looked at the full range of U.S. government statistics on violence, however, accuse the military of cherry-picking positive indicators and caution that the numbers -- most of which are classified -- are often confusing and contradictory. "Let's just say that there are several different sources within the administration on violence, and those sources do not agree," Comptroller General David Walker told Congress on Tuesday in releasing a new Government Accountability Office report on Iraq.

Senior U.S. officers in Baghdad disputed the accuracy and conclusions of the largely negative GAO report, which they said had adopted a flawed counting methodology used by the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Many of those conclusions were also reflected in last month's pessimistic National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

The intelligence community has its own problems with military calculations. Intelligence analysts computing aggregate levels of violence against civilians for the NIE puzzled over how the military designated attacks as combat, sectarian or criminal, according to one senior intelligence official in Washington. "If a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian," the official said. "If it went through the front, it's criminal."

"Depending on which numbers you pick," he said, "you get a different outcome." Analysts found "trend lines . . . going in different directions" compared with previous years, when numbers in different categories varied widely but trended in the same direction. "It began to look like spaghetti."

Among the most worrisome trends cited by the NIE was escalating warfare between rival Shiite militias in southern Iraq that has consumed the port city of Basra and resulted last month in the assassination of two southern provincial governors. According to a spokesman for the Baghdad headquarters of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), those attacks are not included in the military's statistics. "Given a lack of capability to accurately track Shiite-on-Shiite and Sunni-on-Sunni violence, except in certain instances," the spokesman said, "we do not track this data to any significant degree."

Attacks by U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen -- recruited to battle Iraqis allied with al-Qaeda -- are also excluded from the U.S. military's calculation of violence levels.

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Raw Story provides links and analysis for the confidential version of a Congressional Research Report on Iraq entitled "CRS Report for Congress - Iraq Post-Saddam Governance and Security" dated August 15. It declares that Iraq's government is "in collapse" according to the New York Daily News' James Meek, who first acquired the report.

7 Americans Killed in Iraq Attacks

Friday September 7, 2007 10:01 AM

BAGHDAD (AP) - Four U.S. Marines were killed in fighting in Anbar province, and three were killed by a roadside bomb in northern Iraq, the military said Friday.

The four Marines were killed Thursday while conducting combat operations in Anbar, a predominantly Sunni province west of Baghdad that has seen a recent drop in violence, according to a statement.

Three soldiers also were killed Thursday when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in the northern Ninevah province, the military said separately.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6903464,00.html

Britain 'backed US decision to disband Saddam's army'
By Leonard Doyle in Washington and Kim Sengupta in Basra
Published: 07 September 2007

The British Government and military high command fully supported the controversial US policy of disbanding Saddam Hussein's armed forces after the 2003 invasion, according to Washington's former proconsul in Baghdad, Paul Bremer.

Stung by remarks from President George Bush that he alone had been responsible for one of the most disastrous mistakes of the war while running the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Mr Bremer went to some lengths to set the record straight yesterday and provided previously unknown details of British support for the US policy.

British military officers were also enthusiastic supporters of the policy of de-Baathification – or sacking members of Saddam's Baath party from the security services, according to Mr Bremer. The policy, which he still defends, has been blamed for creating a security vacuum which enabled a Sunni as well as an al-Qa'ida insurgency to take hold. In a searing opinion article in yesterday's New York Times, Mr Bremer tried to defend himself from becoming the scapegoat for the administration's failures in Iraq.

He described a visit to London by the CPA's national security adviser, Walter Slocombe. "On 13 May, en route to Baghdad, Mr Slocombe briefed senior British officials in London who told him they recognised that the demobilisation of the Iraqi military is a fait accompli," Mr Bremer wrote. He said Mr Slocombe's report added that "if some UK officers or officials think that we should try to rebuild or reassemble the old RA [Republican Army], they did not give any hint of it in our meetings, and in fact agreed with the need for vigorous de-Baathification, especially in the security sector."

His words flatly contradict General Sir Mike Jackson's recent autobiography in which he lays the blame for the sectarian bloodbath in Iraq at the door of the US.

"We should have kept the Iraqi security services in being and put them under the command of the coalition," wrote General Jackson. "To what extent the Government communicated our concerns to the Americans I have no idea."

Mr Bremer's reflections are also at odds with Major- General Tim Cross, the most senior British officer involved in the post-war planning. He claims to have raised concerns about the possibility of Iraq falling into chaos but says they were dismissed by the former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Right from the very beginning we were all very concerned about the lack of detail that had gone into the post-war plan and there is no doubt that Rumsfeld was at the heart of that process," General Cross said.

But Mr Bremer makes clear that far from opposing the policy, British officials, including the military high command, were enthusiastic backers.

There were, he says, "no organised Iraqi military units left" after the invasion and the disappearance of Saddam's old army rendered irrelevant any pre-war plans to use that army.

At that point General John Abizaid, the deputy commander of the US Army's Central Command, decided to build a new army open to both vetted members of the old army and new recruits. In mid-May 2003, Mr Slocombe was sent from Iraq to secure Washington's backing as well as that of unnamed senior British officials and military officers.

Mr Bremer argues that the decision not to recall Saddam's army was thoroughly debated at the highest echelons of government – in the US and the UK.

He says the first doubts he heard about the policy came towards the end of 2003 as the insurgency began to strike hard.

Defiant to the end, he says: "We were right to build a new Iraqi army. Despite all the difficulties encountered, Iraq's new professional soldiers are the country's most effective and trusted security force. By contrast, the Baathist-era police force, which we did recall to duty, has proven unreliable and is mistrusted by the very Iraqi people it is supposed to protect."

Senior British officers dealing with Iraq in the aftermath of the war described Mr Bremer's assertions yesterday as "disingenuous and manipulation of what happened".

The American General Jay Garner and his British number two, General Cross, were forced into leaving their posts, paving the way for Mr Bremer, they said, precisely because they refused to carry out a wholesale de-Baathification process. At the same time efforts by Generals Garner and Cross to organise civic government was, it is claimed, blocked by elements in the White House.

One senior officer, who was in Baghdad at the time, and had extensive involvement in the matter, said "This is pretty disingenuous. Of course there was broad agreement that the most extreme and senior elements of the Baath party should be got rid of. But what Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld's people wanted, egged on by some Shia politicians, was a form of blanket culling of Baath party people.

"We knew this was a grave mistake and we repeatedly told the Americans that valuable time was being lost in reconstruction and building a civic society while they pursued this line. But they had their political agenda, Bremer came in and the rest is history. Bremer now appears to be trying to manipulate what actually what happened."

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The man left to pick up the pieces in Basra
By Kim Sengupta in Basra
Published: 07 September 2007

For a man carrying so many expectations on his shoulders, General Mohan al-Furayji was remarkably sanguine at the ceremony which marked the takeover of Basra Palace from British troops.

It was General Mohan who declared there was no longer any need for UK forces to stay in their last remaining base in the city, and by staying they were simply inciting violence. He is also the man credited with organising the truce with the Shia militias which has seen violence fall dramatically and enable UK forces to withdraw from the palace with minimal casualties.

General Mohan, the Iraqi commander sent from Baghdad by the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is in charge of all security forces in southern Iraq as Britain forces gather at their last post at Basra airport and prepare to leave within months.

His name is almost a mantra among British officials in London and Basra as well as a lot of prominent Iraqis. "General Mohan will sort this out," one hears, or "General Mohan has decided this." The commander is being perceived, and presented, as the man of the hour, someone capable of confronting any breakdown of law and order when the UK ends its involvement in the country.

General Mohan is regarded as broadly secular in the internecine sectarian strife, and, somewhat rarely among public figures here, it is claimed that he is relatively untainted by accusations of corruption.

In preparation for their departure, British officials have professed confidence in the Iraqi forces replacing them. General Mohan, however, had a much more brutal assessment of some of those under his command.

"The police are one of the biggest problems around here", he said. "Some of them have loyalties to groups and individuals instead of the country. It has happened like this because the US and Britain created the police force very hurriedly after the fall of Saddam. People from different parties joined and at the time their loyalties were not checked out, maybe there was not time. But that is what we are going to do now."

So is he going to sack many of them? " Yes, absolutely". With no favours given? "No, I am not from Basra, I do not owe anyone anything down here".

Wednesday saw the official ceremony to mark the handover of Basra Palace by the UK to Iraqi control. The US has claimed that Britain has "lost" the south and American troops may have to be sent to fill the "vacuum" that the withdrawal will create. The response from the exasperated British had been unusually robust and they have resisted American pressure further to postpone the pullout from Basra palace.

Surrounded by the debris of a lavish lunch, General Mohan, a short and powerfully built man with an easy smile, praised the British military for the training they had given to the Iraqi forces and the way they had behaved. Then, unprompted, he criticised the US and UK for the failure to rebuild the shattered infrastructure of the country and provide employment.

"If enough had been done to create jobs for the young men then we would not have the situation we have now with the militias. I don't think the British and the Americans have done enough. The militias have exploited the lack of money among the young. I have interviewed people who carried out murders for $500, serious criminal acts for $15. That is how cheap violence and human life has become in this country."

He Mahon also criticised the Americans. "What we saw at Abu Ghraib, the pictures, was shocking. We did not expect this of a country which says it is the land of liberty, believes in freedom".

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Dissent and discussion: Casualties in Iraq
By Mark Seibel | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Thursday, September 6, 2007

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A story by Pentagon Correspondent Nancy A. Youssef that we published on Sunday sparked a huge outcry in the blogosphere this week. Critics charged that the piece uncritically accepted the Bush administration's line that the surge of additional American troops to Iraq is working and that its statistical underpinning was flawed. McClatchy usually is associated with questioning administration claims, from the reasons for the war to Pentagon assertions about civilian casualties. We've earned a reputation for not accepting something just because someone says it's true, so being accused of uncritical reporting stings. But one of our mottos here is "Truth to Power," and that cuts both ways, so here's a more in-depth look at the story and some of the criticism of it.

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How should we withdraw from Iraq?
The New Yorker
George Packer
September 17 issue

Iraq asks Kurd rebels to stop fighting Turkey, Iran

BAGHDAD, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Iraq wants Kurdish rebels based in its northern region of Kurdistan to stop using the area to launch attacks against neighbouring Turkey and Iran, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said.

Talabani, on a visit to the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya on Friday, said his comments did not mean Baghdad was threatening the rebels, who are holed up along northern and northeastern border areas.

"We ask them to ... put an end to armed struggle or at least stop their operations for one or two years against these countries to avoid foreign interference in the Kurdistan territory," Talabani said in a recording of his news conference seen on Saturday.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic Kurdish homeland in the country, home to up to 15 million Kurds.

Several thousand PKK fighters are believed to be based in mountains inside Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region near the Turkish border.

Other guerrillas of the PJAK, who seek autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran, shelter in the northeastern border area. PJAK, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, is an Iranian offshoot of the PKK.

"If they do not accept this (to suspend operations), then let them go back to their countries and do such a thing there," said Talabani, a Kurd.

"So far this is a request. We have not decided to do anything against them."

Iraq's government in recent months has protested against shelling by Turkey and Iran of the border regions. Cross-border skirmishes also occasionally occur between the rebels and soldiers from Turkey and Iran.

Who are they to tell us we are corrupt: Baghdad policeman

18 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Yes, Iraqi police are corrupt and yes, they are sectarian, but they are also badly paid, poorly trained and lay their lives on the line daily, says Baghdad policeman Mohammed Rahim.

"And who are the Americans to tell us that our police force should be disbanded?" asked Rahim, responding angrily Friday to a report of a commission headed by Marine General James Jones, the former top US commander in Europe.

Jones's 20-member commission was scathing.

"The Iraqi Police Service is incapable today of providing security at a level sufficient to protect Iraqi neighbourhoods from insurgents and sectarian violence," it said in its report released in Washington on Thursday.

"Sectarianism in its units undermines its ability to provide security; the force is not viable in its current form. The National Police should be disbanded and reorganised."

Rahim, father of four children, acknowledged that many police are unable to hide their loyalties to their particular sects and often act accordingly.

He also concedes that some Iraqi police are corrupt -- "er, yes, there are a few" -- but says that this is true of police around the world.

"Police are not the only ones who are corrupt in Iraq," Rahim added defensively, standing guard with his AK-47 rifle outside a government building in an inner Baghdad suburb in his blue shirt, grey trousers and brown shoes.

"What has happened to the billions of dollars which the Americans have pumped into the country for reconstruction? Where has it all gone? There is very little reconstruction going on."

In the two years he has been a policeman, he has been shot at, his base in Baghdad has been mortared, and he narrowly escaped a kidnapping attempt.

His friend Hassan, also a policeman, was abducted five months ago by Sunni insurgents. Since then there has been no word.

"Because he is a policeman, and because he is a Shiite, he must be dead," said the mustachioed policeman matter-of-factly.

Rahim, his hair starting to grey and his hairline to recede, dare not wear his uniform while commuting from his home in the sprawling Shiite Sadr City slum in west Baghdad.

"I change into my uniform after I get to work," he said, admitting a little shyly to being afraid to tramp the streets in his uniform.

Even that factor is not enough, however, to allay the fears of his 14-member extended family who share a humble four-roomed home in Sadr City.

"They worry every time I leave home," says Rahim, who works on a 24-hours on, 48-hours off basis for around 200 dollars a month.

His brother Hussein, 24, is also a policeman, giving a double worry to the family, especially since the brother often has to man one of the multitude of security checkpoints established across the city.

"He has been shot at often and escaped a car bomb attack," said Rahim, who was a soldier in Saddam Hussein's army until the military was purged after the US invasion of 2003. "The most dangerous job of all is at the checkpoints."

Jones's commission concluded that it is now the turn of the 26,000-strong police force -- most of them Shiites -- to be purged, while cautioning that the Iraqi military, which is slowly being transformed into a fighting force, is at least 12-18 months away from assuming combat duties from US soldiers.

Asked if he himself was corrupt or operated on sectarian lines, the Shiite policeman grew angry before spitting out an emphatic "NO! I am a loyal policeman, I work for all Iraqis."

Soldier Hamid Salman was dismissive of his protestations.

"What do you expect, of course he'll deny it. But all police are corrupt. We work with them all the time and we can see how they favour their own sect. Armed militia will drive through checkpoints without being stopped," Salman told AFP.

Other soldiers too are clearly not impressed with the performance of the Iraqi police.

Last month, troops closed down a police station in Baghdad's western Khadra neighbourhood, gave policemen stationed there their last pay cheques and sent them home.

The reason -- not only were they in cahoots with the local militia but they were so incompetent they hadn't even detected a roadside bomb planted just 100 metres (yards) from their police post.

Iraq's New Justice Unfolds in a Fortress

Saturday September 8, 2007 8:46 PM

By DAVID RISING

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - The suspect stood behind the polished wooden bars in the new courtroom. His eyes flitted nervously as the litany of accusations was rattled off: mortar attacks, car bombings, kidnapping and murder - among other crimes linked to his alleged role as an al-Qaida in Iraq fighter.

The 26-year-old Syrian then raised his eyebrows in apparent disbelief when the chief judge read the sentence: death by hanging.

The June trial of Ramzi Ahmed Ismael Muhammad - better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Qatada - was the first at a new high-security complex built as a possible model for reforming Iraq's justice system and countering international allegations of abuses and shortcomings on every level.

But it is also a testament to Iraq's instability and the huge risks facing U.S.-backed efforts to rebuild key institutions. The Law and Order Complex - courthouse, fast-track tribunal, prison and staff living quarters - had to be built as a fortress against the violence and sectarian pressures next door, in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.

Here, judges live with their families and work behind 12-foot blast barriers. At least 31 judges have been killed in attacks apparently linked to their work since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council, the government agency that oversees the courts.

High-profile suspects such as Abu Qatada also are removed from potential reprisals - paradoxically making them much safer than ordinary Iraqis.

And now there are far more detainees awaiting their day in court. The security crackdown in Baghdad has pushed up the number of detainees from about 15,000 in January to more than 24,000, worsening already serious backlogs.

``Some prisoners we found have been in confinement here since 2003 waiting to make an appearance before an investigative judge,'' said Michael Walther, a senior Justice Department official who is in charge of the 72-member U.S. Law and Order Task Force overseeing the project.

That makes it ``virtually impossible'' for prosecutors to make a credible case, he added.

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Cluster bomb restrictions passed by Senate

By William C. Mann - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 8, 2007 7:29:07 EDT

WASHINGTON — Legislation passed by the U.S. Senate to pay for aid and other State Department operations abroad would restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs, lethal munitions that spread death over wide areas and often kill civilians.

A cluster bomb is designed to break up in the air and disperse 200 to 400 bomblets over an area 500 yards across. The weapon is meant to disrupt large-scale troop formations, but cluster bombs have been used increasingly in civilian areas in military confrontations across the world.

As passed by the Senate Thursday night, the $34 billion bill would forbid transfer or sale of any cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1 percent. The idea is to reduce the incidence of unexpected explosions of munitions that had not gone off when used.

The bill also provides military aid to familiar allies in the Middle East. Israel would receive $2.4 billion, while Egypt receives $1.3 billion. Afghanistan would receive about $1.1 billion for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction aid.

But the Senate joined the House of Representatives in denying the administration’s $456 million request for aid to Iraq; $2.8 billion in Iraq reconstruction aid provided in May has yet to be spent.

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The White House told the Senate it objects to the clause and to another one in the bill that would limit aid to countries that recruit or use child soldiers. A statement said the Bush administration imposes safeguards on sales of cluster bombs and “vigilantly pursues efforts to prevent the use of children in combat.”

The senators gave these figures in a background note:

• The Gulf region has 1.2 million bomblets left unexploded from the 1991 Gulf War and the current war in Iraq. The leftover weapons have killed an estimated 1,220 Kuwaitis and 400 Iraqi civilians.

• U.S. forces in Iraq used 13,000 cluster bombs with almost 2 million bomblets in 2003, during the initial invasion. During the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 against al-Qaida centers and the Taliban government that sheltered them, the United States used 1,228 cluster bombs with 248,056 bomblets; they have killed 127 civilians, 70 percent under the age of 18.

• In Laos, U.S. bombing campaigns during the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s left 9 million to 20 million bomblets, which have killed 11,000 people, three out of 10 of them children.

• Israel dropped an estimated 4 million bomblets in southern Lebanon in its war against the Hezbollah guerrillas last year, and an estimated 1 million did not explode. The background sheet cited reports that Hezbollah retaliated with cluster bombs of their own.

The U.S. military’s arsenal contains 5.5 million cluster bombs containing 728 million bomblets, the senators’ statement said. It said many fail at rates of 1 percent or higher.

Dallas Oil Company Signs Deal With Kurds

Saturday September 8, 2007 9:31 PM

By JOHN PORRETTO

AP Business Writer

HOUSTON (AP) - Texas' Hunt Oil Co. and Kurdistan's regional government said Saturday they've signed a production-sharing contract for petroleum exploration in northern Iraq, the first such deal since the Kurds passed their own oil and gas law in August.

A Hunt subsidiary, Hunt Oil Co. of the Kurdistan Region, will begin geological survey and seismic work by the end of 2007 and hopes to drill an exploration well in 2008, the parties said in a news release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hunt is a privately held independent oil company based in Dallas. A third partner, Impulse Energy Corp., also has a stake in the project.

``We're very pleased to have the opportunity to be a part of these landmark events by actively participating in the establishment of the petroleum industry,'' Ray L. Hunt, Hunt's CEO, said in a statement.

Revenue will be shared by the KRG throughout Iraq, consistent with the Iraq constitution and the Kurds' new petroleum law, issued by the Kurdistan National Assembly early last month.

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From the Los Angeles Times

Top aide to Sadr is slain in Baghdad

The slaying of the radical cleric's deputy could ratchet up tensions between rival Shiite militia groups. A car bomb kills 15 near a busy marketplace in the capital.

By Sam Enriquez
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

1:36 PM PDT, September 8, 2007

BAGHDAD — Gunmen shot and killed a prominent aide to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr, police said today, and a car bomb killed 15 people after the driver sped past a checkpoint toward a crowded Baghdad marketplace.

Police ordered the driver to stop as he drove past a roadblock in the Dakhil neighborhood on the capital's east side. Officers shot at the car before it could reach the market, triggering an explosion.

"We heard gunshots from the police station and then we saw a big explosion," said Mohammed Abul Khaleq, 22, who was at a kiosk selling cellphone accessories. "The time of the explosion was around the peak at this market, when people come to shop, eat ice cream and meet friends."

The driver and 14 others were killed, police said, and 45 people were injured. The blast also damaged three restaurants and three barbershops.

Authorities today also reported the bodies of 11 men found in various spots of the capital, each apparently killed by gunfire. In northern Iraq, the U.S. military reported the Army's first use of a new type of remote-controlled unmanned aircraft. The aircraft was used to kill two Iraqis who were spotted trying to plant a roadside bomb, it said.

The fatal shooting of Sadr aide Mohammed Garaawi late Friday was thought to represent another round in the escalating violence between rival Shiite militia groups. Garaawi was shot 12 times by gunmen outside his home in Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, officials said.

Sadr's so-called Mahdi Army militia has allegedly targeted Shiite militias loyal to the rival Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Iraq's largest Shiite political group, who regard Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani as their religious leader.

In the last three months, four Sistani aides have been killed. Only one slaying has been solved: A stabbing during a robbery by a guard at the Sistani compound.

Garaawi's killing might be seen as retaliation and could ratchet up tensions in south Iraq, where rival Shiites have been battling for control of the country's richest oil-producing regions. Garaawi oversaw the tribal affairs office for the Sadr organization and was linked to the Mahdi Army.

"This man was very peaceful," said Sheik Salah Ubaidi, a Sadr spokesman. "But we think he was targeted because he was a vital member of the Sadr office."

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