The peaceful polling was remarkable and so were the results. All the Islamic parties lost ground, especially that associated with the so-called "Shia firebrand", Moqtada al-Sadr, whose share of the vote went down from 11% to 3%. The principal Sunni Islamic party, the Islamic Party of Iraq, was wiped out.
The only Islamic party to gain ground was the Dawa party of the Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki - and even that party dropped the word Islamic from its name. The power of Maliki, who has emerged a stronger leader than expected, is further enhanced by these elections. Now no Islamic parties will be able to control any provinces on their own. The election is thus a big defeat for Iran which had hoped that Shia religious parties would control the south and enable Iran to turn them into a mini Shia republic.
Instead, a new generation of Iraqi politicians is coming forward. Many of them are young and secular. They have lived always in Iraq, not in exile; they are Iraqis with local roots first and foremost - they are not pan-Arabs or pan-Islamists. Nor do they have connections to the US.
But in the last two years the "surge" of US troops under General David Petraeus appears to have destroyed much of the terrorists' infrastructure and support. Now, as US troops begin their phased withdrawal, the new American-trained Iraqi army is defending the country against Islamist violence.
There will be further setbacks. But who knows, Iraq may yet even become a model for democratic change in other Arab countries. If so, who deserves some credit? The much maligned President Bush. And Tony Blair.
#1
A new generation of politicians emerging after only two years of practicing democracy? And they're secular instead of religious? The Iraqis are climbing an impressively steep learning curve.
#2
Tipper,
The tactics in your article are not such a big departure from normal Jihadi practice. It's been know for some time that many of the male suicide bombers are teenage victims of seduction/rape by adult men. These victims tended to see martyrdom as a way regain status as well as atone for sins.
The idea of holding the rape victim (male and female) reponsible for the crime is well documented in Islam.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/04/2009 11:54 Comments ||
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Iraq's peaceful elections and strong voter turnout last weekend were a major success for both that country and the United States not that there was much celebration in American news coverage. Critics of the Iraq war claimed that overthrowing Saddam Hussein in 2003 strengthened Irans position. Had we left Mr. Hussein in power, the theory goes, Iran would be less of a global threat. This argument is fundamentally wrong.
Long before the American ouster of Mr. Hussein, Iran was supporting terrorist groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank. It was seeking hegemony in Syria and Lebanon, and was well along in its clandestine program to acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. After Mr. Husseins conviction and execution, Iran increased efforts to advance its radical brand of Shiite Islam in Iraq. But the success of the election should substantially retard those efforts.
Mr. Hussein defended his repressive regime and his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in the name of protecting Arab nations from Iran. Western critics of Mr. Husseins removal are basically parroting the arguments of a tyrant. Surely some other Iraqi government could have advanced the Arab cause without invading Kuwait, or using chemical weapons against its own citizens.
Iraqs provincial elections actually weaken Tehrans hand. First, they were not entirely dominated by Shiite voters. After mostly boycotting the 2005 Iraq elections, Sunnis participated on Saturday in large numbers. Many of them seem to recognize that their abstention had been a mistake. If they follow through in the general elections that should be held later this year, the composition of Iraqs Parliament will change substantially.
Moreover, its unfair to assume that Tehran calls the shots among Iraqi Shiites. This gives too much credit to Iranian propaganda, and too little to the good sense of the Shiites themselves. Now they must decide whether taking orders from mullahs in Tehran is really more attractive than electing their own representatives in Baghdad.
Despite these successful elections, the sectarian and communal violence will not necessarily end, and we may even see the ultimate fragmentation of Iraq. Nor will the elections put an end to Irans ambitions. Tehran appears to believe that its influence in the region is expanding, and that its neighbors and the United States have failed to respond effectively. This belief is unsurprising, given the Obama administrations acquiescent attitude toward Tehran.
Still, the elections could make a deep impression on the citizens of Iran and its vassal, Syria. Young, educated, sophisticated Iranians, dissatisfied with their countrys religious orthodoxy and economic failures since the 1979 revolution, will draw their own conclusions from Iraqs peaceful democratic process.
Uncomfortable though it may be for some on the American left to admit, the surge continues to work, politically and militarily. The moment has come for the Obama administration to acknowledge what those fingers dipped in purple ink truly represent a triumph for democracy.
#1
Uncomfortable though it may be for some on the American left to admit, the "surge" continues to work, politically and militarily. The moment has come for the Obama administration to acknowledge what those fingers dipped in purple ink truly represent -- a triumph for democracy.
The implication is that the left supports classical democracy. That is a false assumption beyond the modern Marxist concept of Peoples' Democratic Republics. What the left supports is the facade of democracy while they retain the power. That is why democracy in Iraq will not be celebrated by the usual suspects. It's always been about power.
Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Tuesday arrested ten wanted men and seized an explosive belt and weapons found with them during crackdown operations in separate areas of Basra, the media office of the Basra police said. "Police forces waged security raids in separate areas of Basra, where they arrested ten wanted men," the office told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the forces found an explosive belt in their possession. "They confessed that they were planning to detonate an exchange office in central Basra to rob it," it added. "Two Kalashnikovs and a hand grenade were found with them," it noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: A security force on Tuesday found a weapons cache during a security raid in the east of Falluja, the chief of the local police said. "A force from the al-Karama police found a weapons depot in al-Shuwertan region in eastern al-Karama in Falluja," Colonel Mahmoud al-Eissawi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The force found five bombs, 200 kg pf chlorine, and 25 km of TNT in the depot," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
25 kilometers of TNT? What, was this depot located on a used car lot?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/04/2009 11:07 Comments ||
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#2
Damn, coulda been worser, there's roumors of a 5 furlong nook missing from Wakistan.
Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Tuesday arrested four gunmen, believed of having kidnapped two shepherds in south of Jalawlaa, a police source said.
"Emergency police force on Tuesday (Feb. 3) arrested four gunmen in Baniera village, south of Jalawlaa," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"The suspected al-Qaeda gunmen believed of having kidnapped two shepherds in the region a few months ago and freed them after receiving a ransom," he explained.
Jalawlaa is one of the disputed areas between the federal and Kurdish governments.
It is located 155 northeast of Baaquba, the capital of Diala, which is 57 km northeast of Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Three gunmen were arrested on Tuesday in two separate operations in southern Kirkuk, said the deputy director of the city's Asayesh.
"An Asayesh force on Tuesday arrested two gunmen in al-Askari neighborhood and a third one on the Baghdad road in southern Kirkuk," Colonel Salar Khalid told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, pointing out that one of them is a security guard of Sadrist MP Fawzi Akram Tarzi.
"The detainees were using mortar shells an guns in attacking U.S. forces in the city," he also said, "They guided the forces to a weapons depot on the Baghdad road, which contains a number of mortar shells and guns," he noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Chris Hill, a career US diplomat who has been Washington's lead negotiator with North Korea, is expected to be named US ambassador to Iraq, a US official who asked not to be named said on Monday. I believe it was Hill whom Rodong Sinmun described as "scum." I guess the Iraqi ambassadorship's a step up.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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The US military says it has begun releasing 50 detainees a day to meet the US-Iraqi security agreement that requires those in custody not wanted by the Iraqis be released.
The military said in a statement on Tuesday that it will release 1,500 detainees a month - 50 a day - to meet the requirements of the agreement that took effect on January 1.
The statement also says those being released this month are among the first whose case files have been reviewed by Iraqi authorities, as required by the agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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The Iraqi military on Tuesday lifted a curfew in Anbar a day after tribal shaikhs sent gunmen into the streets to protest what they claimed was vote rigging in last weekend's elections.
Iraqi commander Major General Murdhi Mishhin said a vehicle ban has been lifted and there have been no reports of violence.
Anbar was one of 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces where voters on Saturday chose members of ruling councils.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Iraqi police have arrested a woman who has confessed to recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers and who helped orchestrate dozens of attacks, a senior officer said on Tuesday.
Samira Jassim, 51, admitted that she had mentally prepared the women for martyrdom operations, passed them on to terrorists who provided explosives, and then took the bombers to their targets.
"She confessed to training more than 28 female suicide bombers, all of whom conducted operations in different parts of Iraq," Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi said.
The woman was a member of the Sunni Arab militant Islamist group Ansar al-Sunna and was captured Jan. 21 at an undisclosed location two weeks ago, Moussawi said.
"Mother of the Believers"
"We arrested Samira Jassim, known as 'Um al-Mumenin', the mother of the believers, who was responsible for recruiting 80 women" suicide bombers, Major General Qassim Atta told reporters in Baghdad.
Moussawi played a video in which Jassim, a middle-aged woman in a traditional black robe, appeared to confess to training a female bomber who attacked a police station in Diyala.
"I was introduced to her, I began talking to her," Jassim could be heard saying in the video, much of which was difficult to hear when played back at the news conference.
"She sent them to the terrorists, in one of the farms where they provided the suicidal women with bombs, then Jassim took the women to the targeted place," Atta said.
Two of the attacks for which Jassim admitted responsibility in the video confession took place in restive Diyala province, in central Iraq, which is considered one of the most dangerous areas of the country.
Al Qaeda and other groups have increasingly sent women and girls on suicide bombing missions because they are less likely to be detected in searches, a tactic that became more common in 2007 and 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Samira Jassim, 51, admitted that she had mentally prepared the women for martyrdom operations
Here is a slighty more detailed explanation of "mentally prepared" from the Aussie Herald Sun:
A woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has confessed to organising their rapes so she could later convince them that martyrdom was the only way to escape the shame.
That has to be the most screwed up thing I have ever heard. Religion of peace, my ass.
#2
There's a special place in Hell for a woman who organizes rapes. And at the very bottom is the stratum for one who then leverages the resulting pain.
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Iraqi police have arrested a woman who has confessed to recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers and who helped orchestrate dozens of attacks, a senior officer said on Tuesday. 
