Raed in the Middle

new GAO report on IRaq Withdrawal

2009-11-03T22:38:00.002-05:00

An excellent new report from the GAO. Check it out here.

Congress Affirms Iraq Withdrawal Date of December 31, 2011

2009-10-28T21:21:00.003-04:00

With final action in the Senate today, Congress has approved legislation that formally recognizes the U.S. obligation to withdraw from Iraq and requires the Pentagon to provide quarterly reports on the progress of that withdrawal.

This is the first time since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 that Congress has passed legislation that affirms that the United States is committed to leaving Iraq by a specific date, two national Quaker organizations, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) said today.

"We congratulate Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin and House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton for including this important milestone in the 2010 military authorization bill," said Raed Jarrar, the Iraq consultant for AFSC. "The U.S.-Iraq bilateral agreement is so central to public discourse in Iraq, but too often forgotten in the U.S." The United States and Iraq signed a bilateral agreement in November 2008 that commits the United States to withdraw all military forces from Iraq by December 31, 2011.

When President Obama signs the bill given final approval by the Senate today it will require the Pentagon to report to Congress every three months on progress to withdraw all U.S. troops, withdraw or transfer to Iraqi authorities all military equipment, close down or transfer to Iraqi authorities military bases, and release or transfer to Iraqi authorities all Iraqi detainees before the December 31, 2011 deadline.

"The first congressional effort to signal support for complete withdrawal was the ban on establishing permanent bases in Iraq," said Jim Fine, the Legislative Secretary on Foreign Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. "Now the Pentagon will issue month by month reports on the progress made to close down bases or transfer them to the Iraqi government, which adds new teeth to this historic provision."

When signed into law, Congress will have established unprecedented oversight of the progress made towards complete withdrawal from Iraq.

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice. For more information visit http://www.afsc.org.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the U.S. to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org

World Public Opinion

2009-09-20T14:04:00.004-04:00

World Public Opinion released the latest iran poll results. The new poll shows that 81% of Iranians consider Ahmadinejad to be the legitimate President of Iran. At least 55% of the Iranian public confirmed they have voted for Ahmadinejad, and 85% believe the elections were free and fair.

Independent Publisher Book Awards

2009-09-08T00:10:00.004-04:00

btw, have I mentioned that our book won an award this year?

You can buy it online on Amazon, pick it up from Barnes$Noble or your local bookstore.

Iraq Street Execution

2009-08-27T16:41:00.003-04:00

This video was uploaded by "Iraqi Rabita", and I posted it last year. Youtube has taken it down since but I just found a backup copy that I'm uploading again here.

It shows the US-backed Iraqi armed forces executing an Iraqi man in the street.

If you're a US tax-payer, please consider contacting Senator Leahy's office and ask them to implement the Leahy Law on Iraq. The Leahy Law prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights, and such extrajudicial execution is an obvious violation on human rights and Iraqi/US laws. In addition, please contact your own congress member and your senator and ask them to do the same too.

It is time to cut all funds and support to the Iraqi sectarian armed forces that have been responsible enormous crimes against Iraqis. It is time for us to get out of the way and help Iraqis build their own national armed forces without US intervention.

Iraqi dies under torture

2009-08-25T18:21:00.001-04:00

An extremely graphic video showing an Iraqi tortured until his death was posted on a few websites linked to the Sadrist movement. The Iraqi appears to be the same person covered in this times article earlier in the month.

members of the US-funded and trained Iraqi army beat the naked man and threaten to rape him with a bottle. They shock him for dozens of times using what appears to be a taser. They beat him up while he's pleading for his life and assuring them that he's just a member of the media committee of Al-Sadr's office, and that he's never been involved in any violent act.

They continue to beat him up and electrocute him until he passes away. One of the torturers suggest throwing some cold water on him, but others disagree suggesting they either piss on his head or shock him with more electricity. "Piss on the head of the son of the bitch". He doesn't wake up after a few more shocks and even after pissing on him.

The video ends with one of the torturers saying "leave this one, he's over".

I downloaded the video from this website, and I'm uploading it to my blog. It is extremely graphic and shocking, so viewer discretion is advised.

These are the new Iraqi security forces trained, funded, and equipped by the US tax-payers money.

If you're a US tax-payer, please consider contacting Senator Leahy's office and ask them to implement the Leahy Law on Iraq. The Leahy Law prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights. Then contact your own congress member and your senator and ask them for the same.

It is time to cut all funds and support to the Iraqi sectarian armed forces that have been responsible enormous crimes against Iraqis. It is time for us to help Iraqis build their own national armed forces without interfering.

fasten your seat belts

2009-08-24T15:06:00.003-04:00

There have been five parties controlling Iraq's executive branch exclusively for the last few year even though they control only a minority of seats in the Iraqi parliament. The five parties are the two Kurdish parties (puk and kdp), two shiites parties (Dawa of Al-Maliki and ISCI), and one Sunni party (the Islamic party). These five parties combined control a little bit more than 100 seats out of the Iraqi parliament's 275 seats, putting them well below the 138 seats required for a quorum.

Al-Maliki has gradually broken his ties with the other 4 parties during the last few months, and that was one of the reasons he managed to survive the provincial elections, unlike the other four who lost miserably.

There are 3 major reasons for the growing split between Maliki and the other 4 parties

1- Demographic cleansing: Al-Maliki is againt partitioning Iraq now. The gang of 4 have been following and promoting a separatist agenda aimed at creating sectarian/ethnic/religious regions that are self governed instead of having a strong central government in Baghdad running the country. The gang of 4 have been supporting the cleansing campaigns directly and indirectly for years. Al-Maliki's recent attempts to reverse ethnic and sectarian cleansing and remove all walls in Baghdad were faced by fierce criticism by the gang of four. Following last week's organized attacks in Baghdad, Hoshya Zibari (a kurdish separatist who happened to be Iraq's minister of foreign affairs) claimed the reason behind the attacks is Al-Maliki's plan to remove the partitioning walls!

2- Central government vs. regional powers: Al-Maliki is now for keeping and even increasing the powers of the central government. Mainly because he's fighting for his own position's authorities, and because he's catering to the Iraqi public opinion that, according to numerous polls, favors a model where the central government runs a united and sovereign nation.

3- Ending foreign intervention(s): Al-Maliki's support for a plan where ALL U.S. troops must leave Iraq has been against the gang of four's interests. They realize that the U.S. is there protecting them and supporting their weak and unpopular regime, and more importantly, the US is fighting their fight against other Iraqis.

The gang of 4 will try their best, in collaboration with other separatists around Iraq, to delay or cancel the upcoming legislative elections because they know that they're going to loose this time, big time. They'll end up being a small minority in both the legislative and executive branches. ISCI, with Al-Hakim Dying and their supporters shrinking, will try their best to reignite the sunni/shiite divisions and to try to pressure the Sadrists (through Iran's influence) to run with them in one coalition. I think such a coalition will most likely include some token Sunnis, kurds, and Christians and I think it will most likely collapse very soon after. The PUK/KDP will most likely quit all their positions in the central government and go back to Kurdistan to start a war with Baghdad and invade Kirkuk, or they might continue their participation if they have any hope they can destroy the central government from within. The Islamic party will continue its lame and underground coordination and collaboration with the other members of the gang.

There is a lot of violence coming ahead, but this does not mean in anyway the US occupation should last for an extra day. All what Iraqi is living now and will be living in the next months and years is because of the US intervention that has destroyed the nation and took the side of some sunnis, shiites and kurds against other sunnis and shiites and kurds. Iraq is far from being a stable and peaceful country, and there no surge that can fix it. There is nothing that the US can do to fix the situation other than leaving Iraq completely and stopping all forms of intervention in Iraq's domestic issues.

Online Discourse in the Arab World

2009-08-13T23:25:00.003-04:00

I was one of the speakers at this USIP event, check it out:

Online Discourse in the Arab World: Dispelling the Myths.

Iraqi public key to security deal

2009-08-01T17:25:00.001-04:00

my latest piece on Al-Jazeera English:

Iraqi public key to security deal

By Raed Jarrar

The Iraqi public is waiting to see how the US abides by three key elements in Sofa [GETTY]

The Iraqi government has once again failed to meet its obligations as the deadline for a referendum on the security agreement between the US and Iraq has come and passed.

The original bilateral security agreement, sometimes referred to as the Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa), was signed in November 2008 and conditionally ratified by the Iraqi parliament shortly thereafter.

The parliament stipulated that the people of Iraq would have the final say on the status of US forces in the country in a general referendum originally scheduled for July 31, 2009.

While the cabinet of Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, had allocated $100 million for the referendum, it had urged postponing it until January 16, 2010.

Meanwhile, the parliament was meant to pass a "referendum law" to establish the process and date of the referendum, but even this legislation has not yet materialised.

Biding time

The two alternatives that have been proposed to remedy the situation are delaying the referendum for a few weeks - an option that most Iraqi parliament members support - or postponing it until January 2010 - a date which coincides with parliamentary elections.

If the Iraqi public were to vote 'yes' on the referendum, the timeline for troop withdrawal would proceed as established by the security agreement, which holds that all US troops must leave Iraq by December 31, 2011.

However, if the Iraqi public were to vote 'no' on the referendum it would oblige the Iraqi executive branch to immediately inform the US government of their intent to terminate the agreement, triggering the one-year cancellation clause [article 30 of Sofa].

Under this scenario, US troops would be required to completely withdraw from Iraq within one year of the 'no' vote and not wait until the end of 2011.

Determining indicators

Sovereignty and the debate over war reparations are key issues for Iraqis [GETTY]

Iraqi public opinion regarding the security agreement is shaped by a range of issues, including Iraqi perception of the US' spotty record in honouring treaties and the last 19 years of Washington's intervention in Iraq.

But the most important three indicators that will likely determine how Iraqis will vote on the referendum will be more poignantly shaped by US actions in upholding three key elements of the Sofa agreement.

First is the adherence to the terms of withdrawal of US combat forces from Iraqi cities, towns and villages.

The US did comply with the June 30 deadline as agreed, but there have been a number of incidents to date that were viewed by the Iraqi public as breaches of the security agreement.

Last week, for example, US troops killed three Iraqis and wounded another four, including two children, in what the US claims was an exchange of fire near Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

The incident gained national interest after an Iraqi army officer tried to arrest the US soldiers involved, but al-Maliki ruled out any such action and said the US troops acted in "self-defence".

This and other similar incidents have fuelled Iraqi scepticism and criticism of the agreement.

Releasing prisoners

The second hurdle involves the release of Iraqi prisoners in US custody.

The US military is still holding more than 10,000 Iraqis in prison, many without charges or access to lawyers. The security agreement requires all non-convicted prisoners to be released and all convicted ones to be handed over to Iraqi custody as soon as possible.

US state department sources have indicated that the current plan is to release all Iraqi prisoners before the end of this year. If this turns out to be true, it will have a positive impact on Iraqi public opinion regarding the security agreement.

The third challenge is ending all the active provisions under Chapter VII of the UN charter.

Article 25 of the Sofa says: "Iraq should return to the legal and international standing that it enjoyed" prior to 1990, and that "the United States shall use its best efforts to help Iraq take the steps necessary to achieve this by December 31, 2008".

Limited sovereignty

Al-Maliki's cabinet has earmarked $100 million but suggested holding the referendum in 2010

Since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 Iraqi sovereignty has been limited by a number of resolutions under Chapter VII.

Chapter VII of the UN Charter allows the security council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and non-military action to "restore international peace and security".

The fact that there are still 73 active resolutions against Iraq on the books may seem to be a technical issue on the US side, but it is viewed widely as a matter of national pride and sovereignty in Iraq.

When al-Maliki visited Washington DC last week, Barack Obama, the US president, promised to "work diligently with Iraq so that in fact Iraq is no longer within Chapter VII".

But a recent report released by the office of Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, indicated that the Security Council is unlikely to lift all of the outstanding Chapter VII-related resolutions any time soon.

The main obstacle now is that Kuwait wants Iraq to continue paying reparations for its 1990 invasion, and the existing compensation system is structured as a provision under Chapter VII.

The US government has not played a role so far in brokering a bilateral agreement between Iraq and Kuwait that would help change the structure of this compensation.

If the Iraqi referendum is held while Iraq is still dealing with active provisions under Chapter VII there is a very slim chance the Iraqi public would approve the security agreement.

Although the referendum will not take place this week as the agreement requires, there is still a reasonable possibility it will take place within the next six months.

Unless US policymakers take the issues shaping Iraqi public opinion seriously, the final deadline for all US troops to be withdrawn will very likely come much sooner than the US has intended.

Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-born architect, blogger, and political analyst. He is the Iraq consultant for the American Friends Service Committee.

good riddance :)

2009-07-28T20:23:00.000-04:00

Britain will withdraw its remaining forces from Iraq to Kuwait by the end of the month because the Iraqi parliament failed to pass a deal allowing them to stay to protect oil platforms and provide training, a spokesman said Tuesday.

more racial profiling?

2009-07-23T14:30:00.003-04:00

I sent the following email to the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition:

I wonder if the 1600 members of the MMPC are also fully supportive of Crowley's call for the President of the US to "butt out".

I suggest you conduct a thorough investigation into this matter instead of acting in such a defensive and reactionary matter.

You can contact the MMPC here.

KPFA interview

2009-07-05T00:23:00.001-04:00

This is an interview I had today on KPFA. It's about Biden's visit to Iraq.

me and my mom on NPR

2009-07-04T23:13:00.002-04:00

we went to NPR's studio in DC a couple of days ago. Here is the interview.

2009-07-03T20:45:00.001-04:00

Biden is the wrong person to push for reconciliation in iraq. His name is linked to sectarian and ethnic partitioning. Obama should have picked someone else.

2009-07-03T19:44:00.001-04:00

Okay, it works! The good news is that i can post up 160 characters, which is 20 more than twitting. This will allow more in-depth analysis :-p

2009-07-03T19:37:00.001-04:00

Testing my texting. Or should i call it tlogging :)

blog from your phone!

2009-07-03T18:44:00.000-04:00

huh

check this out

US withdrawas from Iraqi cities, towns and villages

2009-07-01T22:51:00.001-04:00

Me and Sarah Palin' around

2009-05-11T15:12:00.002-04:00

I just came back from a long speaking tour in Alaska, Washington and Oregon. The highlight, of course, is hearing the one and only Sarah Palin say "welcome to our state". And yes, her voice is as annoying in person.

More to come soon.

thank you obama!

2009-03-01T18:35:00.002-05:00

wow! I am really impressed.

Obama's speech on frieday was pretty significant. He pledged for the first time to bring *all* troops out of iraq. In addition, he promised to comply with the deadline agreed upon on in the bilateral withdrawal agreement (aka sofa).

There is a large segment of the US public that believe obama has already promised to bring all troops home in 16 months, but he never did. He talked about combat troop withdrawal in 16 month, and that was modified to 19 months now. I personally don't see a big difference between 16/19 month combat troops withdrawal, and i dont think it'll have much impact on the ground.

The only 2 military withdrawals/redeployments that will have real effect on the Iraqi public opinion are: 1- the "combat troop" withdrawal from cities, towns and villages by june of this year (in accordance to the bilateral withdrawal agreement) 2- the complete withdrawal of all troops (combat+non-combat) before decemeber 31st 2011.

of course, a "no" vote in the iraqi public referendum this july (or a "no" vote by US senate in case the agreement was submitted for ratification) would make the deadline shorter. It'll move from
december 31st 2001 to 12 months after the "no" takes place.

overall, I think this was the most significant speech by obama re Iraq so far. It is a new direction that I is very positive.

That said, I still think the work to pressure obama for a shorter timetable is still needed.

State Department: Participate in Gaza international investigation

2009-02-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

I sent the following letter in the mail today to the office of “War Crimes Issues” in the state department. It’s a relatively small office that includes 12-18 staffers, in addition to Mr. John Clint Williamson the ambassador-at-large. Mr. Williamson reports directly to Secretary Clinton.

Dear Mr. Williamson

The 2007 Advancing Democratic Values Act calls on your office, the office of the War Crimes Issues, to “help collect information on incidents that may be crimes against humanity, genocide, slavery or other violations of international humanitarian law”. The law also directs your office to help ensure that “those responsible for crimes against humanity, genocide, slavery or other violations of intentional humanitarian law are brought to account for such crimes in an appropriately constituted tribunal”.

I’ve been following the calls of a number of international human rights organizations for an “impartial international investigation” into allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law and other laws of war by Israel and the Palestinian armed groups during the recent conflict in Gaza. Two of these organizations; Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, are explicitly recognized as an authoritative resource on such matters on your own website
(www.state.gov/s/wci/ngo)

The United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, and the United Nation’s Human Rights Council have also called for an international investigation in Gaza.

I urge you to meet your mandated responsibilities by both supporting these calls for an international investigation in Gaza/Israel and sending a representative from your office to serve as an active member of any international investigation team. The State Department's participation will ensure that the investigation’s results are balanced and professional.

Best
Raed Jarrar

You also can contact the office of War Crimes Issues at their general number:

(202) 647-5072

or you can send them a letter in the mail at the following address:

U.S. Department of State
Office of War Crimes Issues 7419A
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Countdown to withdrawal

2009-01-24T23:46:00.003-05:00

President Obama pledged to end the Iraq war in 16 months. Let's hold him to it.

click here to sign the pledge and join the campaign.

gesture-coated bombs

2009-01-23T15:35:00.002-05:00

Niki and I went to the national mall during Obama's inauguration, and I have to say that I was very impressed that some great African-American figures where invited to speak and sing that day. Joseph Lowery actually read parts of the Black National Anthem in his benediction "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears", and Aretha Franklin's voice was great.

While it was indeed a historic moment to hear these words sung and spoken in the national mall, it was still symbolic. It's a nice gesture that must be followed by real actions towards African-Americans.

While I'm against executive orders in general, and I think it would have been better if Obama's order was sent to the congress to be approved, the decision to close Guantanamo was an important milestone. It's a nice gesture that must be followed by real action to free and compensate all innocent detainees who were wrongfully held for years. It's not really about closing Guantanamo's buildings and moving the prisoners to another location. It's more about ending the policies that created Guantanamo and other U.S. prisons abroad. There are still thousands of Iraqis and Afghans held in U.S. prisons for years with no due process or access to lawyers.

While Obama's order to close the secret CIA prisons around the globe is positive, it is still just a gesture that must be followed by real orders to stop all the CIA's illegal overt operations around the world.

While Obama's call on Israel to open Gaza's borders for commerce and humanitarian aid was a nice gesture, it must be followed by real steps to reevaluate the U.S. blind and unconditional support to the Israeli occupation(s).

While I deeply appreciated all these nice gestures, they all were dwarfed by yesterday's attack on Afghanistsn that killed 25 people, and today's attack on Pakistan that killed 20 people. These new criminal attacks on Pakistan and Afghanistan not only killed dozens of civilians in their homes, but also exposed and shattered Obama's hollow promises. Obama's choice to continue the same old U.S. policy in disregarding other nation-states' sovereignty cannot be excused, and the bombs that assassinated Pakistanis and Afghans during the last couple of days cannot be sugarcoated by some nice gestures.

If Obama really wants to "seek a new way forward" with the Muslim world based on "mutual interest and mutual respect", I think a good start would have been to stop assassinating Muslims in their homes.

Silence is Betrayal

2009-01-19T18:24:00.001-05:00

I spent MLK's birthday in Atlanta again, in what seems to have become my annual pilgrimage to participate in the real, non-commercialized, MLK birthday celebration in Dr. King's national historic site.

Every year, organizers at the MLK center put some parts of his speech "A Time to Break Silence" that he gave in Riverside church exactly one year before his assassination, and every year I can't stop myself from getting emotional. It's such a great speech that is still relevant in our times.

I'll share two parts of the speech with you. Both parts make the much needed connection between the U.S. domestic and foreign policies, and they challenge the mainstream hypocrisy and double standards

“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected angry men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. But they ask -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam? Wasn’t our own nation using massive doses of violence to solve its problems? Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly against the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government".

and

"There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, "Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark," but will curse and damn you when you say, "Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children." There is something wrong with that press."

At that time, Time magazine called the speech “demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi,” and the Washington Post declared that King had “diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people”.

I'm sure that if MLK were still alive, he would have praised the heroic Palestinian resistance during the last few weeks. The washington post would have been bashing him again now for diminishing his usefulness to his cause, his country, and his people, and Time Magazine would have called his speech against the Israeli occupation and massacres a demagogic slander that sounds like a script for terrorist propaganda.

Dr. King started the speech 42 years by the words "a time comes when silence is betrayal". When it comes to the U.S. relationship to israel, that time has arrived now. Silence is not an option anymore.

The world is finally speaking out. Major international organizations, like amnesty international, are calling on the UN Security Council to impose an immediate, comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, and to investigate its war crimes. The Vatican called gaza a "big concentration camp", and the Pope sent donations to Palestinians in Gaza last week. The United Nation's Human Rights Council is asking Israel to end its occupation of the 1967 territories. The UN general assembly is holding an Emergency Special Session to consider the "illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory", and so on.

Even on Obama's website, change.gov, the issue has finally came up. Hundreds of Thousands of visitors have voted on what they thought the major issues on Obama's agenda ought to be. I spent a few minutes today checking out the results of people's recommendations, and I was very happy to find this among the top ten recommendations on foreign policy:

Re-evaluate aid to Israel

Reevaluate whether the level of and the basis for the aid we provide Israel is appropriate given our tough economic circumstance.

Obama has chosen to stay silent while the atrocities and war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza were taking place. He refused to comment on the situation because he was not the president yet.

Well, tomorrow, he will be.

In his speech, MLK quoted Dante in saying "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality". Silence is not an option in this current moral crises. Obama can't vote "present" on controversial issues anymore.

It is time for the U.S. government to take a moral stand and stop its unlimited and blind support to Israel.

Vive la résistance!

2009-01-18T20:04:00.002-05:00