Recently in Iraq Category

No one particularly cares about the bloody ideology that incites all this murder. To investigate that would lead to uncomfortable questions about the texts and teachings of Islam. Better to focus on the latest "Islamophobia" report instead.

Note also that there will be no international outcry over the "desecration" of these mosques. That is because the bombers were Muslims; that kind of moral opprobrium is reserved solely for the kuffar.

"Fresh bombings in Iraq target Shiite mosque, 9 killed," from ANI, May 21:

Beijing: At least nine people were killed and 53 others wounded in bombing attacks against two Shiite mosques in Iraq's southern city of Hilla on Monday, a police source said.

A suicide bomber wearing explosive vest blew himself up at Al- Wardiyah mosque in Hilla, some 100 km south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and about five minutes later a bomb exploded in the nearby Al-Galagh mosque, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The two attacks targeted worshipers in the Shiite mosques and some of the wounded people were in critical conditions, he added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, were responsible for such massive attacks in the country, raising fears that the terrorist group and other militia could return to widespread violence.

Earlier on Monday, a series of car bombs and shootings mainly targeting Shiite areas across Iraq killed at least 61 people, including several Iranian pilgrims, and wounded some 200, apparently in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife among Iraqis....

"There's still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that." - Condoleezza Rice, January 2007.

Six years later, Washington is even more clueless than it was then.

"Dozens killed by car and suicide bombs in Iraqi cities," from the BBC, May 20 (thanks to BD):

More than 70 people have been killed and many others injured in a series of bomb attacks across Iraq.

Baghdad was worst hit, with several explosions at bus stations and markets in the mainly Shia Muslim districts.

Attacks also occurred in Samarra, north of the capital, and Basra and Hilla further south.

It is one of the worst days of violence in recent months as Iraq has seen a rise in attacks linked to growing political and sectarian tension.

The bloodshed has raised fears of a re-emergence of the levels of sectarian violence seen in 2006 and 2007.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to make immediate changes to Iraq's security strategy and told Iraqis that militants "will not be able to return us to the sectarian conflict"

Looks as if the perfume is already out of the bottle, Nouri.

In a separate incident, 10 policemen kidnapped on Saturday in western Anbar province were found dead....

But to discuss the murderous ideology behind all this -- that would be "Islamophobic"!

"Attacks kill 16 in Iraq, 8 police kidnapped," by Sameer N. Yacoub for Associated Press, May 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of attacks killed at least 16 people in Iraq on Saturday, while gunmen abducted eight policemen guarding a post on the country's main highway to Jordan and Syria, the latest in a wave of violence to grip the country.

The shootings and bombings follow three days of attacks that killed 130 people in both Shiite and Sunni areas in scenes reminiscent of retaliatory attacks between the two groups that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007. The spike in bloodshed in recent weeks has raised fears the country may be heading toward a new round of sectarian conflict.

Tensions have been worsening since Iraq's minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias in the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have frequently targeted them with large-scale attacks. But the sharp jump in attacks on Sunni areas, including bombings on Friday that killed at least 76 people, has fueled concerns of renewed retaliatory killings.

In Saturday's deadliest attack, gunmen broke into the house of an anti-terrorism police captain in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, killing the officer and his family in their sleep. Police officials identified the dead as Cap. Adnan Ibrahim, his wife and two children, aged eight and 10.

The attackers fled the scene, and killed another policeman who tried to stop them at a nearby checkpoint....

The attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to more than 130 people, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets..." But remember: it's a Religion of Peace, and if you dare think otherwise, you're a greasy Islamophobe.

"Iraq: Bombs targeting Sunnis claim at least 76 lives," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, May 17 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD — Bombs struck Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in two months, officials said. The surge in violence has raised fears the country could be on the path to a new round of sectarian bloodshed.

The attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to more than 130 people, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the Islamic sects that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.

Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north on April 23.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks. An increase attacks against Sunni mosques has fed concerns about a return to retaliatory warfare.

The deadliest blast on Friday struck worshippers as they were leaving the main Sunni mosque in Baqouba, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Another explosion went off shortly afterward as people gathered to help the wounded, leaving at least 43 dead and 56 wounded, according to police and hospital officials. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the road outside the mosque....

"The bloodshed came amid growing tensions between the Shiite-led government and minority Sunnis following a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north." This is part of a 1,400-year-old jihad. Of course, in Washington, where they know jihad is an interior spiritual struggle, they are probably preparing new aid packages for both factions as we speak, and they will certainly heal this conflict in the blink of an eye.

"Wave of bombings kills at least 33 in Iraq," by Sameer N. Yacoub for the Associated Press, May 14 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — A car bomb exploded near a bus station in Baghdad's main Shiite district Wednesday, the deadliest in a series of explosions that killed at least 33 people nationwide, officials said.

The bloodshed came amid growing tensions between the Shiite-led government and minority Sunnis following a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country's north. Violence has ebbed sharply in Iraq, but a spike in attacks has raised fears about a return of the sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks. An increase attacks against Sunni mosques has fed concerns about a return to retaliatory warfare.

The day began violently when an explosives-laden car parked in the center of the ethnically divided city of Kirkuk at around 3:00 p.m., killing three civilians and wounding eight. An hour later, another parked car bomb exploded in the same area, killing two children and their parents as they were traveling in a car nearby, the city's deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said....

Hours later, several bombs struck within a 90-minute time frame as Iraqis were heading home from work or doing errands in mainly Shiite areas of Baghdad.

The deadliest was in the sprawling slum of Sadr City, an area that saw some of the fiercest fighting between Americans and Shiite militias during the peak of sectarian bloodshed. Police and hospital officials said a car bomb exploded near a crowded bus stop in the area, killing at least seven people and wounding 20. The blast also damaged several shops and cars in the area, which was sealed off by police.

A car bomb also struck firefighters minutes after they arrived on the scene to extinguish a burning car in the mainly Shiite Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad, killing two and wounding nine others....

At least six other bombings occurred in rapid succession near other bus stops or outdoor markets across the Iraqi capital, killing 15 people and wounding nearly 50 people.

In other violence, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a police patrol, killing two officers and wounding eight other people in the town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding eight other people, a police official said.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for all the attacks. All of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, but car and suicide bombings are a hallmark of al-Qaida's Iraq branch....

Selling and drinking alcohol: haram. Shooting up alcohol shops and murdering people in the process: pleasing to Allah. "Baghdad alcohol shops caught in deadly attacks," from the BBC, May 14 (thanks to Mick):

Gunmen using silenced weapons have attacked a row of alcohol shops in Baghdad, leaving 12 people dead, officials say.

The attackers arrived in four vehicles and restrained policemen at a checkpoint in the eastern district of Zayouna, where the stores are located.

They reportedly struck when the shops were at their busiest, as commuters on their way home stopped to buy drinks.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Police were quoted as saying the shops had been rebuilt after they were targeted in bomb attacks last year.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, activities perceived to be contrary to the moral code of Islam have come under repeated attack, with alcohol shops targeted in Baghdad and other cities....

So as to dispel any illusions of societal stability or governmental power. "Suicide tanker truck targets house of army officer in northern Iraq, kills 3 people," from the Associated Press, May 11 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say that a suicide tanker truck packed with explosives blew up outside the home of an army intelligence officer, killing three people and wounding 18 others in the country's north.

Police officials say that the Saturday blast heavily damaged the house of Brig. Khalaf al-Jubouri in al-Shurqat, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Police said that al-Jubouri's son and nephew were among the dead, but the officer himself was not home at the time....

"There's still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that." - Condoleezza Rice, January 2007.

That's the kind of superficial and clueless analysis that still prevails in Washington, and that was before Obama. Yet no number of foreign policy disasters seems to be enough.

"Iraqi officials: Bombing near Sunni mosque south of Baghdad kills 3 worshippers," from the Associated Press, May 10:

BAGHDAD — A bombing at a Sunni mosque near Baghdad on Friday killed three worshippers and wounded seven others, police said, reflecting rising sectarian tensions across Iraq.

Insurgents have been targeting Sunni mosques following a deadly crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest site in Hawija town last month. Sunnis were protesting perceived discrimination by the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government.

The surge in sectarian-based fighting raises concerns that the nation is on a path back to the fighting of the last decade that approached a state of civil war.

Police said a bomb went off after Friday mid-day Muslim prayers as worshippers were leaving the al-Sultan mosque in Mahaweel, 55 kilometers (35 miles) south of the capital.

Also Friday, police said a bomb explosion struck an army patrol in western Iraq, killing one soldier and wounding two others.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mosque attack....

“There’s still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms. But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that.” -- Condoleezza Rice, January 2007

They still haven't, oddly enough! Washington continues to pursue such fantasies, while any investigation of the bloody ideology behind this conflict is strictly forbidden.

"Sunni-Shia confrontation pushes Iraq back to the brink of war," from Asia News, May 2 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia Muslims is getting worse in Iraq. At least 22 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Wednesday.

To the north of the capital, gunmen attacked a police station and occupied it after killing five police officers.

In the western province of Anbar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest in a group of government-backed Sunni "Sahwa" fighters who were collecting their salaries, killing 14 in a town about a hundred kilometres east of the city of Falluja,.

Since it was set up in 2005, the "Sahwa" has been the target of constant attacks by Sunni extremist groups fighting the government of Shia Prime Minister al-Maliki, who is accused of marginalising their religious sect, which ruled Iraq under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

In Baiji, 180 km north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed four policemen. A car bomb in a Shia district in northeastern Baghdad killed at least three people, wounding scores more. Another car bomb north of the city of Ramadi, which is 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, killed two policemen and wounded another ten.

The recent spate of attacks follows a month of clashes between Sunnis and Shiites that peaked with provincial elections on 20 April with over 460 people killed in a month. This is the worst level in violence since US troops withdrew in 2011. Fourteen candidates, mostly Sunni, are among the dead.

On 26 April, four bombs exploded in front of Sunni mosques in Baghdad, packed for Friday prayers, killing four and wounding more than 50.

Several analysts and politicians, including the al-Maliki, have linked the violence in Iraq to Syria's civil war, where several Iraqi jihadist groups are fighting with the rebels against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who belongs to the Alawi minority, which is linked to Shia Islam.

Riots and attacks have not spared Iraqi Kurdistan, where, for months, Kurds have been in a fight with the central government over oil.

Here the government used the army to oust Sunni fighters from an area south of Mosul, with dozens of deaths among military and militias.

Al Jazeera may be banned in Iraq, but not to worry: courtesy Al Gore, you'll be able to get all the "incitement to violence and sectarianism" you want right here in the U.S.A.

"Iraq suspends licence of Al Jazeera and 9 more TV channels," from AGI, April 28 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

(AGI) Baghdad, Apr 28 - The Iraqi goverment has suspended the licences of ten television channels, including the Qatari station Al Jazeera, accusing them of "incitement to violence and sectarianism" between Shiites and Sunnis. In the last six days over 220 people have been killed in sectarian clashes. The announcement was made by Mujahid Abu al-Hail, a member of the commission which oversees communications and the media. . .

Actually it was Shi'ite jihadists targeting Sunnis. But to investigate the bloody ideology behind this would be "Islamophobic."

"16 killed in bombing of two Sunni mosques in Iraq," from DPA, April 12:

At least 16 people were killed on Friday in bombings targeting two Sunni mosques in Baquba, some 57 kilometres north-east of the capital Baghdad, said security officials.

Two back-to-back explosions occurred as worshippers were leaving one mosque, killing at least 15 people and injuring 26 others, the officials added.

One person was killed and five were injured in an explosion near a second Baquba mosque, said police....

The violence comes amid a widening crisis between the Shiite-led Government and the country’s once-dominant Sunni minority.

Thousands of Sunni protesters have been holding protests for nearly four months to demand Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki repeal laws which they claim target Sunnis.

Jihad Watch reader Gravenimage notes: "The attackers were recognized as 'militant Shi'ites.' Their main 'grievance'? At one newspaper, they complained that the paper had accused Shi'ite Cleric al Sarkhi of trying to dominate the 'Holy City' of Karbala. Well, of course! What is more likely to disabuse people of the notion that you are trying to dominated an area than to send armed goons after those who dare mention it?"

Indeed. But these Shi'ites have a grievance, and in the U.S., it is our cultural custom to satisfy Muslims who have grievances. A dedicated team of pro-jihad, pro-Islamic supremacist journalists, including Christiane Amanpour, Spencer Ackerman, Manya Brachear, Bob Smietana, Kari Huus, Dave Weigel, Michael Kruse, Eli Clifton, Alex Kane, Adam Serwer, Max Blumenthal and others, should relocate to Baghdad. Then Mahmoud al-Sarkhi and all other Islamic supremacist leaders could be assured of warmly favorable coverage.

"Gunmen raid 4 newspaper offices in Baghdad," by Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Diaa Hadid for the Associated Press, April 2 (thanks to Gravenimage):

BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen suspected of being Shiite militiamen burst into the offices of four independent newspapers in Baghdad, smashing their equipment, stabbing and beating employees, and even hurling one reporter from a roof in the most brazen attack against journalists in Iraq this year, said staff and officials on Tuesday.

Two editors said they believed their assailants were members of a Shiite militia, saying the raids came after their newspapers published stories criticizing their hardline cleric-leader. It underscored the dangers facing the media in Iraq, one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters.

"The message of the assailants was to shut mouths," said Bassam al-Sheikh, editor of one of the attacked newspapers, Al-Dustour. "This is a dangerous precedent."

A government spokesman condemned the attacks.

Some 50 assailants participated in Monday's attacks, according to a notice left on one of the newspaper's websites and according to al-Sheikh and Ali al-Daraji, the editor of another of the newspapers, Al-Mustaqila.

It appeared to have been sparked when the Baghdad-based dailies published stories saying that a Shiite group lead [sic] by cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi was trying to dominate the holy city of Karbala.

The city, 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad, is home to two revered Shiite shrines. In the last decade it has witnessed power struggles between Shiite militias.

Al-Sarkhi's group was not available for comment.

A group of men initially entered the office of the small Al-Parliman newspaper, demanding to meet the editor, the paper said in a statement posted on its website.

The men identified themselves as loyalists of al-Sarkhi and demanded to know why they published a report saying their leader was trying to take over communal Friday prayers at one of the holy shrines of Karbala.

The editor tried to mollify them, saying he believed the report was even-handed, the statement said.

It didn't satisfy the men.

As they left the editor's office, they appeared to signal to another group of men waiting outside. They smashed through the building's front door, shattering windows as they went through the building, Al-Parliman said.

They attacked reporters with batons, shoved computers onto the floor and tried to smash furniture, said the statement. They dragged one reporter to the building's roof and hurled him off, breaking both his legs, it said.

Editors al-Sheikh and al-Daraji offered similar accounts, except, they noted, the assailants also attacked them with knives.

Television footage following the attack on the Al-Mustaqila office showed computers strewn on the floor, the windows smashed. "The newspaper of lies, baseless claims and lies," was scrawled on a wall.

"It was so horrifying that we could not do anything," al-Daraji told The Associated Press.

A health official said five newspaper staffers were hospitalized, four with stab wounds. Al-Parliman said the fifth person was their staffer, pushed from the building's roof.

The health official spoke anonymously because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Sheikh said he also recognized the attackers as militant Shiites belonging to al-Sarkhi's group. Al-Daraji said they had run a similar story, but also published a response from the Shiite cleric's office.

It was not immediately possible to obtain comment from the fourth newspaper attacked, Al-Nas.

The four newspapers are considered modestly sized. The largest, al-Dustour, claims a run of 12,000 copies daily.

In response to the attacks Tuesday, blue-khaki clad police set up checkpoints through the middle-class Karradeh neighborhood, snarling traffic.

Iraq is ranked among the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. At least 150 reporters and 54 support workers were killed in Iraq from the start of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to the pullout of foreign troops in December 2011.

They did not have immediately updated figures for 2012.

Such attacks have been less common of late. The last major attack on reporters was the slaying of a television presenter Ghazwan Anas in July 2012, who worked for a channel in the predominantly Sunni northern city of Mosul.

The New York-based group said in a March statement that Iraq has never charged a person for killing a reporter. The "impunity rate . is the worst in the world. It is 100 percent," the statement said. "Even today, as Iraq has moved beyond conflict, authorities have shown no interest in investigating these murders."

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi condemned the attack. "Security forces have taken action and some of the (assailants) have been arrested and we are interrogating them," he said.

Al-Parliman said in its statement that it couldn't issue news Tuesday, because the assailants had smashed all its equipment....

Things have gotten worse for the Christians in Iraq as the Muslims there have become "more outwardly pious and politically Islamist," says AP. This is a backhanded admission that Muslim piety leads to greater hostility toward Christians. But if anyone said that straight out, AP would tar him as an "Islamophobe."

"Iraqi Catholics celebrate Easter," by Diaa Hadid for the Associated Press, March 31:

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Catholic Christians flocked to churches to celebrate Easter Sunday, praying, singing and rejoicing in the resurrection of Christ behind high blast walls and tight security cordons.

It was the first Easter since the election of Pope Francis in Rome, and worshipers said they hoped their new spiritual leader would help strengthen their tiny community that has shrunk under the joint pressures of militant attacks and economic hardships.

At the St. Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad, some 200 worshipers stood and sat during parts of the Easter mass led by Father Saad Sirop....

Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraqi Christians have suffered repeated attacks by Islamic militants. Hundreds of thousands have left the country, with church officials estimating their communities have at least halved. The worst attack was at Baghdad's soaring Our Lady of Salvation church in October 2010. It killed more than 50 worshipers and wounded scores more.

More broadly, decades of immigration have shrunken the size of Christian communities throughout the Middle East, with most leaving for better opportunities and to join families abroad.

Other Christians in the region no longer feel comfortable among majority-Muslim communities that many believe have become more outwardly pious and politically Islamist over the decades.

They included Iraqi Christian worshiper Yousef's son, who moved to live with relatives in Arizona last year. Yousef said she was arranging for her other daughter and son to immigrate.

"There's still fear here, and there's no stability in this country," she said....

They could have read that the chief beneficiary of our misguided Wilsonian adventure in Iraq is Iran at Jihad Watch since at least 2006:

June 27, 2006: "Of course, Ahmadinejad may be jumping the gun a bit as far as that is concerned, but he is certainly doing all he can to bring into being a Shi'ite client state in Iraq."

September 13, 2006: "Here we see looming in Iraq the Shi'ite client state of Iran that the U.S. has unwittingly helped put into place with its short-sighted democracy project."

October 31, 2006: "Is al-Maliki on the road to creating the Shi'ite client state that the Iranians have been trying to foster in Iraq for quite some time now?"

February 11, 2007: "Iran continues its efforts to create a Shi'ite client state in Iraq."

June 10, 2008: "Or are U.S. troops the main obstacle to Iraq's becoming a full-fledged client state of Iran?"

November 12, 2008: "Very soon now the President of the United States and the President of Iran will sit down, without preconditions, and hash this out, and clear everything up before Iraq turns fully into the Shi'ite client state that the Iranians covet."

July 1, 2009: "Their goal of creating a Shi'ite client state is closer than ever to being realized."

July 30, 2009: "Was this what we have been fighting for in Iraq all these years? An Iranian Shi'ite client state in Baghdad?"

"Ten years after Iraq war began, Iran reaps the gains," by Ned Parker for the Los Angeles Times, March 28 (thanks to all who sent this in):

BAGHDAD — Ten years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the geopolitical winner of the war appears to be their common enemy: Iran.

American military forces are long gone, and Iraqi officials say Washington's political influence in Baghdad is now virtually nonexistent. Hussein is dead. But Iran has become an indispensable broker among Baghdad's new Shiite elite, and its influence continues to grow.

The signs are evident in the prominence of pro-Iran militias on the streets, at public celebrations and in the faces of some of those now in the halls of power, men such as Abu Mehdi Mohandis, an Iraqi with a long history of anti-American activity and deep ties to Iran.

During the occupation, U.S. officials accused Mohandis of arranging a supply of Iranian-made bombs to be used against U.S. troops. But now Iraqi officials say Mohandis speaks for Iran here, and Prime Minister Nouri Maliki recently entrusted him with a sensitive domestic political mission.

Iran's role reinforces its strategic position at a time when the world looks increasingly hostile to Tehran, the capital. It faces tough international sanctions for its disputed nuclear program and fears losing longtime ally Syria to an insurgency backed by regional Sunni Muslim rivals.

Western diplomats and Iraqi politicians say they are concerned that the Islamic Republic will be tempted to use proxies in Iraq to strike at its enemies, as it has done with Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

American officials say they remain vital players in Iraq and have worked to defuse tension between Maliki and his foes.

During a visit to Baghdad on Sunday, however, Secretary of State John F. Kerry was unable to persuade Maliki to stop Iranian flights crossing Iraqi airspace to Syria. The U.S. charges that Iranian weapons shipments are key to propping up Syrian President Bashar Assad; Maliki says there is no proof that Tehran is sending anything besides humanitarian aid. Kerry's visit was the first by a U.S. Cabinet official in more than a year.

Overall, Iraqi officials and analysts say, Washington has pursued a policy of near-total disengagement, with policy decisions largely relegated to the embassy in Baghdad. Some tribal leaders complain that the Americans have not contacted them since U.S. troops left in late 2011.

Iraq's political atmosphere has deteriorated. Maliki has ordered the arrest of his former finance minister, a Sunni. Disputes in the north between the central government and leaders of the semiautonomous Kurdish region are unresolved.

"The Americans have no role. Nobody listens to them. They lost their power in this country," said Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Mutlaq, a Sunni, commenting on the disappearance of the Americans as a broker for most of Iraq's disputes....

Somehow these jihadists misunderstood Muhammad's message of mercy, love and peace. If only someone had been there to give them roses.

"Officials: Car bombs kill 19, wound 72 in Baghdad," by Sinan Salaheddin for the Associated Press, March 29 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say four car bombs have struck Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding 72.

A police officer says the deadliest bombing was in western Jihad neighborhood when a parked car bomb exploded as worshippers were leaving a mosque after Friday prayers. Seven people died there and 25 were wounded.

Another police officer says four worshippers were killed and nearly 20 were wounded in a bombing in eastern Qahira neighborhood. He says three people died and 15 were wounded in the eastern Zafaraniyah district and that another car bomb killed five and wounded 14 in the northeastern Binook neighborhood.

Three health officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media.

Maliki and Kerry, Maliki and Ahmadinejad: Compare and contrast

I've been predicting this since at least 2006: the chief beneficiary of our misguided Wilsonian adventure in Iraq is Iran. But no one in Washington has noticed yet.

June 27, 2006: "Of course, Ahmadinejad may be jumping the gun a bit as far as that is concerned, but he is certainly doing all he can to bring into being a Shi'ite client state in Iraq."

September 13, 2006: "Here we see looming in Iraq the Shi'ite client state of Iran that the U.S. has unwittingly helped put into place with its short-sighted democracy project."

October 31, 2006: "Is al-Maliki on the road to creating the Shi'ite client state that the Iranians have been trying to foster in Iraq for quite some time now?"

February 11, 2007: "Iran continues its efforts to create a Shi'ite client state in Iraq."

June 10, 2008: "Or are U.S. troops the main obstacle to Iraq's becoming a full-fledged client state of Iran?"

November 12, 2008: "Very soon now the President of the United States and the President of Iran will sit down, without preconditions, and hash this out, and clear everything up before Iraq turns fully into the Shi'ite client state that the Iranians covet."

July 1, 2009: "Their goal of creating a Shi'ite client state is closer than ever to being realized."

July 30, 2009: "Was this what we have been fighting for in Iraq all these years? An Iranian Shi'ite client state in Baghdad?"

"Kerry warns Iraq on Iran flights to Syria," by Matthew Lee for the Associated Press, March 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

BAGHDAD (AP) — Just days after the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confronted Baghdad for continuing to grant Iran access to its airspace and said Iraq's behavior was raising questions about its reliability as a partner.

Speaking to reporters during a previously unannounced trip to Baghdad, Kerry said that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had engaged in "a very spirited discussion" on the Iranian flights, which U.S. officials believe are ferrying weapons and fighters intended for the embattled Syrian government.

Kerry said the plane shipments — along with material being trucked across Iraqi territory from Iran to Syria — were helping President Bashar Assad's regime cling to power by increasing their ability to strike at Syrian rebels and opposition figures demanding Assad's ouster.

"I made it very clear that for those of us who are engaged in an effort to see President Assad step down and to see a democratic process take hold ... anything that supports President Assad is problematic," Kerry said at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after meeting separately with Maliki at his office. "And I made it very clear to the Prime Minister that the overflights from Iran are, in fact, helping to sustain President Assad and his regime."...

There were 300 in 2003. But then, with Saddam Hussein gone, the efforts to impose Sharia began in earnest. "Christians, churches dwindling in Iraq since start of war 10 years ago," by Perry Chiaramonte for FoxNews.com, March 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq says that the number of Christian houses of worship there has dwindled alarmingly in the decade since the U.S. invaded and ousted Saddam Hussein from power.

There are just 57 Christian churches in the entire country, down from more than 300 as recently as 2003, Patriarch Louis Sako told Egyptian-based news agency MidEast Christian News. The churches that remain are frequent targets of Islamic extremists, who have driven nearly a million Christians out of the land, say human rights advocates.

“The last 10 years have been the worst for Iraqi Christians because they bore witness to the biggest exodus and migration in the history of Iraq,” William Warda, the head of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization told the news agency.

Many Christians live in the provinces of Baghdad, Nineveh, and Kirkuk, and Dohuk and Erbil, which are both in the autonomous region of Kurdistan. Warda said some 1.4 million Christians lived in Iraq prior to Hussein's ouster. Under the democratically-elected government that now oversees the war-torn, but oil-rich nation, Islamic extremists have been able to operate more freely.

“More than two-thirds [of Christians] have emigrated,” Warda noted.

One byproduct of regime change in the Middle East, whether at the hand of the U.S. military and its allies or demonstrators in the streets, has been a decline in tolerance for other religions, say experts. Only one Catholic church remains in Afghanistan, and it must be heavily protected. In Egypt and Libya, where demonstrators overthrew dictators in recent years, Christians have come under heavy persecution, say concerned advocates....

The "experts" did not note, and may not know, that this intolerance is rooted in Islamic law, which mandates the subjugation of non-Muslims (cf. Qur'an 9:29). Christians who had enjoyed more or less equal rights in Saddam's Iraq, which did not enforce Islamic law, had to be shown their place. And they were.

Why, thank you. "One guy who got it right from the beginning about the Iraq War," by Paul Mulshine in The Star Ledger, March 20:

I saw Robert Spencer on a panel at CPAC last week. He was making the same point I've often made about imposing democracy on the Mideast.

And that point is: If you grant majority rule to a majority that believes in imposing Islamic law, then you may have advanced democracy but you haven't advanced liberty.

By the way, boys and girls, liberty and democracy are antonyms, not synonyms.

As the old saying goes, democracy is two foxes and a hen voting on what to have for dinner.

In this case, the hen is any non-Muslim in the Mideast. That's the background of Robert Spencer. He comes from a Christian family in the Mideast and thus has a bit more insight than a certain Christian from Texas who decided to spread democracy to Iraq 10 years ago.

Here's what Spencer wrote back then:

Insisting that the nations of the Middle East choose between Western-style democracy or the terror state will do more harm than good.

The president believes that democracy can succeed in Iraq, and in the Islamic world in general, because human nature is the same everywhere on earth. "It is presumptuous and insulting," he told the American Enterprise Institute, "to suggest that a whole region of the world -- for the one-fifth of humanity that is Muslim -- is somehow untouched by the most basic aspirations of life. Human cultures can be vastly different. Yet the human heart desires the same good things, everywhere on earth."...

...the Tunisian theorist Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, author of an intriguing essay entitled "Islam and Liberal Democracy: The Limits of the Western Model." In it, he opines: "The heart of the matter is that no Islamic state can be legitimate in the eyes of its subjects without obeying the main teachings of the Shariah." Rather than looking to Western models, Islamic states should look to their own tradition: "Islam should be the main frame of reference for the constitution and laws of predominantly Muslim countries."

Within that frame of reference freedom means something quite different from what it does in the West. Governments that follow it in whole or in part generally have a poor record on women's rights. Women suffer restrictions that are quite severe in some parts of the Islamic world; in some places they cannot even leave their homes without their husband's permission. Their testimony is disallowed in cases of a sexual nature, even if they are raped.

Shariah law also sets penalties, some of which have become quite notorious: amputation for theft, stoning for adultery. Can this structure be modified?

Read the whole thing. then read this article about how Christians were run out of Iraq thanks to Bush's liberation of the Muslims.

LONDON -- Rana stepped out of church in Baghdad in December 2006 to find an envelope wedged against her car windshield. Inside was a bullet -- a message that meant she and her family were next on an assassin’s list.

They fled the city the next day, leaving behind a business, a home -- everything.

"I didn't like Saddam Hussein, but he didn't bother the Christians," said Rana, 29, after a church service in London. "He was a dictator. When he went, the gangs came from everywhere."

It's hard to escape the fact that George W. was the worst president in U.S. history. He certainly had the most unforced errors. And most of those errors followed from his policy of liberating the very people who attacked us.

I think the present incumbent is giving Mr. Bush a run for his money as the worst president in U.S. history, and there was also that Carter fellow, but anyway...

On March 28, 2003, Insight Magazine published a "symposium" on the question "Does President Bush have a realistic plan for bringing democracy to the Middle East?" I argued the "No" side. Insight has disappeared from the web, but I have preserved the article here. Some excerpts:

No: Insisting that the nations of the Middle East choose between Western-style democracy or the terror state will do more harm than good.

The president believes that democracy can succeed in Iraq, and in the Islamic world in general, because human nature is the same everywhere on earth. "It is presumptuous and insulting," he told the American Enterprise Institute, "to suggest that a whole region of the world -- for the one-fifth of humanity that is Muslim -- is somehow untouched by the most basic aspirations of life. Human cultures can be vastly different. Yet the human heart desires the same good things, everywhere on earth."...

...the Tunisian theorist Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, author of an intriguing essay entitled "Islam and Liberal Democracy: The Limits of the Western Model." In it, he opines: "The heart of the matter is that no Islamic state can be legitimate in the eyes of its subjects without obeying the main teachings of the Shariah." Rather than looking to Western models, Islamic states should look to their own tradition: "Islam should be the main frame of reference for the constitution and laws of predominantly Muslim countries."

Within that frame of reference freedom means something quite different from what it does in the West. Governments that follow it in whole or in part generally have a poor record on women's rights. Women suffer restrictions that are quite severe in some parts of the Islamic world; in some places they cannot even leave their homes without their husband's permission. Their testimony is disallowed in cases of a sexual nature, even if they are raped.

Shariah law also sets penalties, some of which have become quite notorious: amputation for theft, stoning for adultery. Can this structure be modified? Some countries already follow a modified, modernized version of Shariah law. But all suffer the same pressures that have nearly destroyed Turkish secularism: A sizable number of Muslims regard the Shariah not as a man-made construct but as the eternal law of God. As such, they maintain that such modifications are illegitimate -- as are elections and parliamentary debate. One does not vote on the will of Allah.

The radical Muslim writer Abdul Qader Abdul Aziz explicitly rules out Western political models in lauding the Shariah: "The perfection of the Shariah means that it is not in need for any of the previous abrogated religions [that is, Judaism and Christianity] or any human experiences -- like the man-made laws or any other philosophy. ... [I]n kufr, or disbelief, is the one who claims that the Muslims are in need for the systems of democracy, communism or any other ideology, without which the Muslims lived and applied the rules of Allah in matters that faced them for 14 centuries."

In view of opinions like these, which are widely held within the Islamic world, the question is not so much whether the president's vision is realistic, but whether he can convince the majority of Muslims that it is. Certainly he will find proponents of democracy in Iraq and elsewhere. But the primary opponents of these democrats will not be terrorists, but those who hold that no government has any legitimacy unless it obeys the Shariah. Even if they lose in the short run, they will not disappear as long as there are people who take the Koran and Islamic tradition seriously. And that spells trouble for any genuine democracy.

And here we are, ten years later. Not only is Iraq ruled by Sharia supremacists, but warring factions of Sunnis and Shi'ites, all proponents of Sharia, are murdering each other more or less wholesale:

"Wave of Iraq blasts kill 65 decade after invasion," by Adam Schreck for the Associated Press, March 19 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD (AP) -- A wave of bombings tore through Iraq on Tuesday, killing 65 people on eve of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion and showing how unstable Iraq remains more than a year after the withdrawal of American troops.

It was the deadliest day of attacks in Iraq since Sept. 9, when insurgents unleashed an onslaught of bombings and shootings across the country that left 92 dead.

Violence has ebbed sharply since the peak of Sunni-Shiite fighting that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007. But insurgents maintain the ability to stage high-profile attacks while sectarian and ethnic rivalries continue to tear at the fabric of national unity.

The symbolism of Tuesday's attacks was strong, coming 10 years to the day, Washington time, that former President George W. Bush announced the start of hostilities against Iraq. It was already early March 20, 2003, in Iraq when the airstrikes began.

The military action quickly ousted Saddam Hussein but led to years of bloodshed as Sunni and Shiite militants battled U.S. forces and each other, leaving nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqis killed.

A decade later, Iraq's long-term stability and the strength of its democracy remain open questions.

The country is unquestionably freer and more democratic than it was during Saddam's murderous reign. But instead of a solidly pro-U.S. regime, the Iraqis have a Shiite-led government that is arguably closer to Tehran than to Washington and is facing an outpouring of anger by the Sunni minority that was dominant under Saddam and at the heart of the insurgency.

Tuesday's apparently coordinated attacks included car bombs and explosives stuck to the underside of vehicles. They targeted government security forces and mainly Shiite areas, small restaurants, day laborers and bus stops over a span of more than two hours, according to police and hospital officials.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but they bore hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq. The terror group, which favors car bombs and coordinated bombings intended to undermine public confidence in the government, has sought to reassert its presence in recent weeks.

The violence started at around 8 a.m. Tuesday, when a bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in Baghdad's Mashtal neighborhood, killing four people, according to police and hospital officials. It blew out the eatery's windows and left several cars mangled in the blood-streaked street.

Minutes later, a roadside bomb hit a gathering point for day laborers in the New Baghdad area, killing two of them.

The sprawling Shiite slum district of Sadr City was hit by three explosions that killed 10 people, including three commuters on a minibus.

Hussein Abdul-Khaliq, a government employee who lives in Sadr city, said he heard an explosion and went out to find the minibus on fire.

"We helped take some trapped women and children from outside the burning bus before the arrival of the rescue teams. Our clothes were covered with blood as we tried to rescue the trapped people or to move out the bodies," he said. "Today's attacks are new proof that the politicians and security officials are a huge failure."

The deadliest attack was a 10 a.m. car bombing near the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Baghdad's eastern Qahira neighborhood, which killed seven people.

Another car bomb exploded outside a restaurant near one of the main gates to the fortified Green Zone, which houses major government offices and the U.S. and British embassies, killing six people, including two soldiers. Thick black smoke could be seen rising from the area as ambulances raced to the scene.

Just north of the capital, a mortar shell landed near a clinic north of Baghdad in Taji, killing two people, while a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in Tarmiyah, killing a soldier. Another roadside bomb missed a police patrol in Baqouba, hitting a passing car. One passenger was killed.

A car bomb also exploded near a bus stop south of the capital in Iskandiriyah, killing five people. Two policemen were killed when another car bomb hit a security checkpoint near the town.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt near police Maj. Ghazai al-Jubouri, the head of a local police force in the area, killing him and two bodyguards and wounding four civilians.

Attacks elsewhere in Baghdad killed 23 people in the mainly Shiite neighborhoods of Hussainiyah, Zafarniyah, Kazimiyah, Shula, al-Shurta and Utaifiya....

Actually the perpetrators were Islamic jihadists who not only misunderstood the peaceful teachings of the Book of Peace, but actually cut them out to make room for their bomb.

Yet somehow I doubt that there will be even a single riot over this horrific desecration of the holiest of books. Now, why is that? Could it be that riots over Qur'an desecration are just a tool to intimidate the Infidels? Naaah, that couldn't be it.

(Thanks to all who sent this in.)