Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.
TOP TOPICS
- Iraq's new National Assembly will meet on March 16, with or without a new government in place. The hope is to use the meeting to force compromises between the various factions.
- Blackfive has a must-read letter from an Air Force Forward Air Controller who spent the last few months supporting a Marine unit and has a number of fascinating firsthand reports from the field.
- JK: Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice has a round-up of links and info. re: the Italian journalist who was allegedly kidnapped, and whose car was recently shot at by U.S. forces. More inside from Andrew, who has trained soldiers for checkpoint duties...
Other Topics Today Include: al Qaeda in Iraq tries a new tack; rebuilding Iraq's health infrastructure; Turkey gives up $1 billion for Iraq; picking up the pace on Iraq reconstruction; al-Jafaari accepts al-Talibani; a new Iraqi poll; Carnival of the Liberated; hostage accident; Iraq hurts Army recruiting.
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
- Al Qaeda in Iraq has published the first edition of a new magazine designed to inspire the mujahideen. The Highest Intuition (Thurwat al-Sanam), stresses the importance of the sword in ensuring Iraq becomes a state under Sharia.
- JK: Why you MUST check your sleeping bag every night in Iraq! A picture is worth 1,000 words.
RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY
- In a building which used to train bodyguards for Saddam Hussein, US and Iraqi construction crews are creating an academy, which will train professional medical personnel for the country's postwar health system. The $4 million project is expected to be completed in October and is considered a major step in rebuilding the health system after decades of negligence.
- A $1 billion US grant earmarked for Turkey will be diverted to Iraq after the Turkish government stated they no longer needed the grant. The grant was designed to cushion the Turkish economy from the impact of trade lost due to the war.
- According to the Iraq Project and Contracting Office, as of March 2nd, the Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund has begun 1603 projects, the Accelerated Iraqi Reconstruction Program has begun 352 projects. Of the $18.4 billion allocated for reconstruction, these constitute an obligation of $7.43 billion with $1.76 billion of work already in place. These totals do not include USAID projects, which are themselves significant.
IRAQI POLITICS
- Dawa party leader and probable Iraq PM Ibrahim al-Jafaari has signalled his readiness to accept as President the Kurdish National federation party candidate, Jalal al-Talibani. This after difficulties arising with respect to Kurdish demands of annexation of certain areas into "Kurdistan" and an unwillingness to disolve the Kurdish "Bashmargha" forces.
- Matthew Yglesias notes a potential flaw in the current Iraqi constitution. While choosing a President requires a two-thirds vote of the assembly, once the selection is complete the United Iraqi Alliance can run the show without Kurdish support.
- Arthur Chrenkoff posts the results of an Iraqi poll that shows surprising support for anti-terrorism measures. While this news does suggest that the insurgency is working with very limited support, it is to be hoped that a willingness to endure harsh measures to fight terrorism won't lead to toleration for government abuses.
- The latest Carnival of the Liberated is up at Dean's World.
- On Friday night, a car sped toward a US checkpoint in Baghdad. The soldiers tried to warn the vehicle occupants before firing on the vehicle's engine block. The driver of the vehicle, an Italian intelligence officer, was killed. Three other occupants were wounded - one of them being the just freed Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena. Ms. Sgrena is challenging the U.S. version of events, claiming she was deliberately targeted by the United States because the U.S. opposed the Italian decision to negotiate for her release.
- One opinion regarding Ms. Sgrena's speculation can be found at AndreOlmsted.com.... and here's a real-life account from the city of Hit, Iraq that explains why checkpoints are such tense places.
ETCETERA
- JK: uBlog and and Iraq the Model note that those Iraqi TV broadcasts of interviews with captured insurgents are having a very positive effect. Apparently, it strips away a lot of illusions. How can we get a media like that over here?
- Iraq's effects on the Army continue, as recruiters struggle to find recruits willing to sign on the dotted line in a time of war.
- The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops: American, Australian, British, Canadian & Polish. Anyone out there with more information, contact us!
- Don't forget Chief Wiggles' Toys for Iraq drive!
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The good news is that the UIA is starting to crack. It was always a large and (in my opinion) unstable coalition to begin with, so its not a total surprise.
http://iraqilibe.blogspot.com/2005/03/sistani-in-trouble.html
Lets see how the first meeting of the Iraqi National Assembly goes before panic mode sets in.
We've run an article here right after the elections in which we predicted Italian/Israeli-style coalition politics and brinkmanship as a matter of course - and warned people about "sky is falling" analysis.
There will have to be a selection and winnowing process within the coalition, maybe even outside alliances as well. There will then be a lot of shifting around that will make any coalition they do get unstable. It will look messy as hell, and that's no surprise. These people have a lot of things to work out, politically and psychologically. They also have a pattern to date of brinksmanship followed by last-minute compromise, a pattern we've seen in some successful democracies too.
They'll manage. This is a much better option than bullets, and they know it.