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A weekly look at events in Iraq, and on the home front.
This week: an examination of the propaganda war that's ongoing in the wake of the Shrine bombing. With our western reporters absent or holed up in Baghdad hotels, propaganda may be all we're hearing this week - and may in fact be the real battle.
The New York Times says More Clashes Shake Iraq; Political Talks Are In Ruins
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 23 — A groundswell of sectarian fury continued to roil Iraq on Thursday after Wednesday's bombing of a major Shiite shrine, leaving at least 138 people dead in the past two days and political negotiations over a new government in ruins.In addition to the death toll, as of Friday, there were published claims that as many as 184 Sunni mosques in Iraq had been attacked in retaliation for the bombing of the shrine of Imams Ali al-Hadi and Al-Hasan al-Askari.The threat of full-scale civil war loomed over the country as Sunni politicians lashed out at Shiite leaders on Thursday, accusing them of igniting anti-Sunni reprisals, and at the American military, charging it with standing idly by as the violence erupted. The most powerful Sunni Arab political group said it was suspending talks with Shiite and Kurdish politicians on forming a new government.
But Major General Rick Lynch, spokesman for Multi-National Forces-Iraq, described a somewhat different situation on the ground in the wake of the bombing:
It's important that you understand from our perspective the repercussions from that attack yesterday. Candidly, I'm watching the media, I'm listening to discussions about attacks across Iraq that we, the coalition, can't see, we can't confirm. So I'm going to tell you in detail what we've seen since yesterday when the attack occurred until the time of this press conference so that you understand what we have indeed seen and we can confirm.Note the General's candor - he admits that confirmation of the full extent of any damage nationwide can not be accomplished in a matter of hours. He was probably surprised when in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Shiite shrine accounts of over 100 attacks on Sunni mosques were presented in US media as confirmed facts.In general terms, across Iraq, based on the direction of the prime minister and the Iraqi government, and religious leaders like Sistani, we're seeing peaceful demonstrations. Sistani put out three fatwas yesterday and he called for calm, and he directed peaceful demonstrations. And that's what we're seeing. We've seen peaceful demonstrations, about 20 all across Iraq over the course of the last 36 hours.
Now, there have been violent demonstrations and there have been some attacks against mosques. And let me talk to you about that in some level of detail. We've seen across Iraq seven major mosque attacks. The one that we're most concerned about happened in the vicinity of Dora here in Baghdad, which was a complex attack of both small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades that caused significant damage to two mosques.
We're also concerned about the killings that we have seen. We've seen a Sunni imam killed in Basra, and we've seen a Sunni imam killed up the vicinity of Baghdad, an we've seen a Sunni sheikh killed and his son kidnapped in the vicinity of Husiniyah (sp) here by Baghdad.
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What I've shown you is the things that I can indeed confirm, and over time, the reports will come in, the exact situation on the ground will become clear. But that takes time.Remember, we have about 160,000 coalition soldiers all around Iraq, and they report to their chain of command what they're seeing, which gives us great fidelity on operations around Iraq. In addition to that, the Iraqi security force and the Iraqi government has their reporting chains, and those reporting chains do indeed come together at the very top. So over time, as those reports come in and are confirmed, we'll ensure we share those with you.
But today, as of now, seven attacks across Iraq that resulted in damage to mosques; two Sunni imams murdered and one sheikh murdered; and then other less significant attacks. We've seen some drive-by attacks -- people driving by mosques, sticking a weapon out the window and firing rounds at the mosque, with no resulting damage. But that's where we are.
So we're not seeing civil war igniting in Iraq. We're not seeing 77, 80, 100 mosques damaged. We're not seeing death in the streets. We're seeing a confident, capable Iraqi government using their capable Iraqi security force to calm the storm that was inflamed by a horrendous, horrific terrorist attack yesterday against the Golden Mosque in Samarra.
In fact, within hours of the shrine bombing, the New York Times had reported that at least 27 Sunni mosques had been attacked in Baghdad alone
The Iraqi police, whose ranks include many followers of Shiite militias, largely stood by during the attacks on Sunni mosques on Wednesday and Thursday, as did many Iraqi soldiers.The story would also note that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a cleric and the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political coalition, failed to make any sort of apology for the dozens of attacks on Sunni mosques and imams — a key demand made by Sunni Arab political leaders, who withdrew in protest on Thursday from talks over forming a government.
Other Times stories would describe a "wave of killings of Sunni Arabs", and the victim's response:
The attacks, mostly by Shiite militiamen, were troubling not only because they resulted in at least 170 deaths across Iraq, but also because they showed how deeply the militias have spread inside government forces. The Iraqi police, commanded by a Shiite political party, stood by as the rampage spread.The Washington Post would claim that 120 mosques had been attacked, adding that "Shiite militias -- including the Mahdi Army, loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- continued to attack Sunni mosques, engaging in drive-by shootings, occupying the buildings and setting them ablaze, or detaining worshipers inside."Now, after watching helplessly as their mosques and homes burned, many Sunni Arabs say they should have the right to form their own militias.
Time Magazine would caption a photo of the demolished shrine with a claim that "a string of similar attacks to Sunni targets took place across Iraq."
And even as a government imposed curfew established calm in the region, reports of the numbers of Sunni mosques attacked would skyrocket. By Friday night published claims would reach as high as "184 Sunni mosques" that "had been damaged, some destroyed". But perhaps as an overdue admission that the claims were becoming a bit outlandish, media reports began to qualify the numbers by actually citing the sources.
The Association of Muslim Scholars claim 168 Sunni mosques were attacked, 10 imams were killed and 15 imams were kidnapped.In the US
Some 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked around the country, 10 imams killed and 15 abducted since the shrine attack, according to the Sunni Clerical Association of Muslim Scholars.In Australia, a report that
The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars said that since Wednesday, at least 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked, 10 imams killed and 15 abducted.would even explain that "Their claims could not be immediately verified."
Other versions of the story would feature the larger number. Reports from Canada and South Africa
The main Sunni religious group said 184 Sunni mosques had been damaged, some destroyed; 10 clerics had been killed and 15 abducted.This is, in fact, the modus operandi of the Association of Muslim Scholars - an Iraqi Sunni/Ba'athist group formed in the wake of the 2003 invasion. Their role in the current conflict is to fight the "information war" while others conduct the actual shooting. After any atrocity committed by Sunni "insurgents" in Iraq, the Association immediately insists a similar atrocity has been committed by American or Shi'ite forces.
In October, 2004 a suicide car bomber slaughtered three dozen children in Baghdad. The AMS immediately accused American and Iraqi troops of widespread atrocities in Samarra.
"The hospital is full of bodies, children are buried in the gardens, and there are bodies filling the streets," said Muhammad Bashar al-Faidhi, one of the members of the group in Baghdad who said he was basing his accusations on witness accounts. It was impossible to independently verify his claims."It was impossible to independently verify" - in fact, reporters actually on the scene told a very different story. But due to the quick work of the "Muslim Scholars" both accounts appeared simultaneously in the press.
That same month, an Iraqi Sunni blogger reported
Last Monday, while I was in Basra watching TV in the afternoon, Al-Fayhaa channel broadcasted a film they said it was sent to the station via e-mail. I have to say that the credibility of the film is questionable but since I found that no one in the media, whether inside or outside Iraq commented on it, I decided to tell you about it and perhaps we could together find some answers.The film was taped on July 11 this year as written on the screen and it showed six young men, all Iraqi as there looks and accent showed, and they were reading written confessions about attacks they launched against Iraqis and coalition troops.
All those six men (the youngest is 21 years old) mentioned that they were given orders from the "Association of Muslim Scholars" to perform certain operations against "Iraqi collaborators", multinational troops and some moderate She'at clerics. One of the men said that he received (350 000 ID) from a member of the association to assassinate a She'at cleric and when the first attempt failed, he was ordered to try again as he stated.
In November 2004 the BBC reported that the AMS was protesting raids on mosques in Ramadi that had discovered weapons caches:
Yesterday coalition forces raided seven mosques in Ramadi, detaining four people and seizing bomb-making materials.Note that unlike American sources the BBC is willing to acknowledge the ties between the AMS and terrorist groups in Iraq.The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group suspected of links to rebels, condemned the mosque raids as an example of alleged American hostility toward Islam.
The US Army accused local militants of violating the mosques by using them for military purposes. A US Marine spokesman said American troops provided backup for Iraqi soldiers but did not enter the mosques.
Later the group demanded that Sunnis boycott the January, 2005 elections. (Some would interpret the demands as threats against any potential Sunni voters). After the January elections, they would condemn the new government while demanding to be included in the writing of Iraq's constitution. But within days they would announce their refusal to assist in preparring the constitution as long as the country remained under US occupation. Virtually all subsequent difficulties with developing the constitution could be traced to actions of the group.
Additional details of the relationship between the AMS and terrorist groups would be revealed following the kidnapping of Italian "journalist" Giuliana Sgrena
Giuliana Sgrena, a 56-year-old reporter for the Communist daily Il Manifesto, was kidnapped near Baghdad University.And now the group claims atrocities against Sunnis in Iraq - stories that shove the actual bombing of the Samarra shrine into the background of the daily news.A group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Organization claimed to have kidnapped the woman and gave Italy 72 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq. But it made no threats to kill her nor said what would happen if its demands were not met.
"After the judicial committee of the Jihad Organization interrogated the Italian captive Giuliana Sgrena, it has been found that the Italian captive is not involved in spying for the infidels in Iraq," the group said in a statement posted on a website that frequently carries messages from Islamic militants.
"In response to the appeal made by the Muslim Scholars' Assn., we, in the Jihad Organization, will free the Italian captive in the next few days," the statement added.
One might wonder why American media sources decline to offer details of The Association of Muslim Scholars, opting to refer to them as simply "an influential Sunni group" or "group of influential Sunni clerics". In fact, it's worthwhile to question why early reports of the mass destruction of Sunni Mosques didn't even acknowledge the group as the source of the claims.
Just prior to the Samarra attacks, Richard Miniter offerred an intriguing suggestion that could explain much of the bias in US media coverage of Iraq:
Richard Miniter: Everyone talks about intelligence failures, no one talks about media failures. The media is the people's intelligence service, and it's failing us.In fact, in at least one case last year a CBS-employed stringer was arrested for helping "insurgents" with a car bomb.You want to talk about why it's so biased?
Remember before the war, CNN, Eason Jordan made that ridiculous thing where we had to hire the fixers from Saddam's ministry or they'd be executed. We had to cover the Iraqi dictatorship in a certain way... paid Iraqis...
Roger Simon: The blogosphere was all over that one...
Richard Miniter: Who does CNN have working for them now covering the Iraq war?
The same people, the same Iraqi fixers.
So lets see, it's 1946, it's Germany, I need to understand German. Why don't I hire some Nazis to interview some Jewish survivors and explain post-war Germany by hiring Nazis?
They're hiring Ba'athist Sunnis, that's why the coverage is so bad. They went from imbedded with the US troops and just reporting what they saw, and the effect was marvelous. It was accurate, it was up to date, it was interesting, it changed all the time.
And now it's formulaic and ideological.
Why?
Because their fixers, their intermediaries between their safe little lives in the Palestine or al Rashid Hotels and the outside world are former members of the regime.
We noted previously that the role of the AMS in the current conflict is to fight the "information war" while others conduct the actual shooting. That might not be completely accurate.
On Saturday two attacks targeted the funeral procession for Atwar Bahjat, the well-known Al Arabiya correspondent killed with two crew members Wednesday while reporting on the violence engulfing Samarra, where the Al-Askariya "Golden" Mosque was bombed.Though we are left to determine for ourselves why this last fact is important to the story.Two police officers were killed and five others wounded, as the cortege, led and guarded by Iraqi police and soldiers, entered the western Baghdad neighborhood of Abu Ghraib, Iraqi Emergency Police told CNN.
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The incident happened near the home of Harith Al-Dari, the head of the Muslim Scholars Association, and along a road that splits, linking Baghdad with Syria and Jordan.When the shots rang out, security officers ordered people in the convoy to abandon their vehicles and hide behind nearby houses.
Later, as the procession resumed toward the cemetery, a roadside bomb exploded, causing an unknown number of casualties, including deaths, said al-Nasery.
"The incident happened near the home of Harith Al-Dari, the head of the Muslim Scholars Association".
But whodunnit?
A roundup of those accused in the bombing of the shrine of Imams Ali al-Hadi and Al-Hasan al-Askari would produce an interesting line up.
Following the lead of Iran's President, Vice President, and "Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian News agency reports that Friday "prayers" in Tehran were used to condemn the "agents of the Western arrogance, US leaders, Mossad, CIA and the Zionists" responsible for the mosque bombing in Iraq:
Substitute Leader of Tehran's Friday Prayers Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani here condemned the criminal act of bombing the holy shrines of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Asgari in Samarra, Iraq and called for unity between all Muslims of the world.Translations of the "prayers" also indicated the Ayatollah claimed that "Iran's nuclear issue, cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and bombings in Samarra were all part of a Western conspiracy to attack Islam."Addressing thousands of worshipers at Tehran University Campus, the Ayatollah said Shia and Sunni Muslims would rebuild the holy shrines but the agents of the Western arrogance, US leaders, Mossad, CIA and the Zionists would be blamed for this heinous crime forever.
The holy shrines of Imam Hadi and Imam Hassan Asgari (PBUT) were the targets of a terrorist act on Wednesday morning and were severely damaged.
Ayatollah Emami Kashani said the Muslim world is aware of the plots hatched by the enemies and calls for more unity and integrity.
The Ayatollah also stressed on Iran's certain right to have access to nuclear technology.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Thousands of protesters have rallied in Iran, voicing anger at the U.S., Israel and an attack on a holy Shiite shrine in Iraq.Meanwhile, in Iraq, the Ba'ath party claimed the Badr Corps (an Iranian-backed Shia militia in Iraq), the United States, and Iran were behind the attack. "The Badr Corps bombed the Shia shrine on behalf of Iran and with encouragement from American forces in Iraq."After prayers, protesters began marching through Tehran with posters while chanting "down with America."
Speaking at the rally was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, who says the U.S. and Israel are to blame because they are trying to divide Shiites and Sunni Muslims.
In an amazing coincidence, in a web forum posting The Mujahidin Shura Council in Iraq (an umbrella group of several Sunni terrorist organizations) also placed blame for the bombing on Iraqi Prime Minister al Jafari, the Badr Corps, and the government of Iran. According to the statement, the bombing was an effort to distract attention from the crimes of these groups (a likely reference to recent militia killings). They further promised a strong retaliation against the Shia.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani yesterday accused the "takfiris" - those Muslims who regard other Muslims as infidels - of carrying out the bombing in order to cause sectarian sedition. (The US does too - but while fellow Muslims call them takfiri, we call them al Qaeda.)
The U.S. ambassador in Baghdad remains optimistic
In his first acknowledgment of the turmoil, Zalmay Khalilzad is asking Iraqis to resist the push toward civil war. And he says there is "an opportunity to bring people together" to defeat the promoters of sectarian attacks.And a milblogger there offers a unique perspective: "The situation remains tense here in Baghdad." But, he adds, "I’ve never heard it this quiet."Khalilzad also tells reporters he's optimistic the biggest Sunni Arab bloc in the Iraqi parliament will return to talks to forge an inclusive government. The Sunnis pulled out after reports of widespread retaliatory attacks on Sunni mosques.
Khalilzad says leaders from all sides are talking about rebuilding Shiite and Sunni mosques as a way to restore calm.
Update: Things move fast -
THE movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, alleged to have played a role in the anti-Sunni violence over the last few days, publicly made peace with political and religious Sunni leaders overnight.The union of two of the most potent anti-US groups in Iraq might be cause for concern. They've coordinated before, when Sunnis in Fallujah were battling US forces while Sadr's militia did the same in Najaf and elsewhere. But Sadr's agreement with the US ended that battle and helped clear the way for the coalition to strike Fallujah in force.Four sheikhs from the Sadr movement made a "pact of honour" with the conservative Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, and called for an end to attacks on places of worship, the shedding of blood and condemning any act leading to sedition.
But this statement, while open to interpretation, is promising:
The sheikhs condemned "those who excommunicate Muslims" a reference to the "takfireen" or Islamist extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who justify killing fellow Muslims by declaring them non-Muslims.(Via CDR Salamander)
Last week's edition of Meanwhile Back at the Front can be read here.
(The author of these compilations, an Iraq war veteran, runs the web log The Mudville Gazette.)
