Welcome! Our goal 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. Today's Iraq Report and Winds of War coverage of the wider conflict are brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.
Top Topics:
* The BBC is reporting that the US and Turkey have reached an agreement to move against the Kurdish PKK.
* Anyone out there with FedEx or other international shipping contacts? Toys for Iraq needs your help very badly. There's a great sponsorship opportunity here for someone. If you can help email joe, at windsofchange.net
Other Topics Include: Foreign fighters captured; Saddam sighting in Kirkuk; executioner captured; guerrilla sophistication increasing; 112 guerrillas busted at al-Qaim; Iraqi press clippings; a new religious school for Iraqis; a drug/crime wave in Baghdad; Baghdad nightlife back on track; Turkey okays sending troops; Iraqi scientists killed; Scud and anthrax hunt.
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
* The Weekly Standard reports on the foreign fighters captured in Iraq.
* Saddam Hussein was reportedly sighted in Kirkuk. The PUK appears more than happy to welcome him.
* US forces have captured one of Saddam's old executioners in central Iraq.
* Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez is stating that the increase sophistication among the Iraqi guerrillas is a direct result of foreign fighters coming in through Syria and Iran.
* The US has captured a Republican Guard air defense commander and 111 apparent flunkies in a raid in al-Qaim, near the Syrian border.
RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY
* MEMRI provides some good insight into the new Iraqi press to give an idea of what the newly-freed Iraqis are thinking.
* With Saddam out of power, many observers seem worried at the prospect of Iranian-sponsored Khomeinism spreading among the Iraqi Shi'ites. As long as the Iraqi religious leaders are made up of men like Sheikh Farqad al-Quzwini, the US has nothing to worry about.
* The BBC reports that Baghdad is now experiencing a drug crisis and the accompanying crime wave, with some of the addicts being extremely young.
* On brighter note (and I'm not sure how this squares with the BBC story, but Baghdad's a pretty big city), it seems that Baghdad's cafe culture and legendary nightlife is now back on track for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
* The Turkish parliament has voted to deploy troops to assist the US in Iraq. The Turkish military is very skilled at counter-insurgency operations and so long as they're deployed outside of the Kurdish areas this shouldn't be much of a problem.
WMD HUNT
* It has now become accepted wisdom in some quarters that Iraq never possessed any WMDs after 1991. If that is in fact the case, one might want to explain why Iraqi scientists who cooperate with the US are being shot if they have nothing to tell us.
* The US is pursuing tips on Scuds and anthrax still in the country, according to David Kay.
ETCETERA
* Which other "cards" have we captured so far? The CENTCOM list. And the visual version of "Ba'ath Poker."
* The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated August 19, 2003]
I've gotta say, the PKK thing disturbs me. Allying with them during the war, then conveniently disposing of them now... I know what they are, but it leaves a bad taste.
Unless, of course, this is simply the BBC 'sexing up' a very normal move to disarm the Kurdish militias as part of restoring civil order.
The US sided with the PUK and the KDP, not the PKK, during the run-up to war with Iraq. Both of the former are long-standing factions with independent militias that were opposed to the government of Saddam Hussein. The PKK, by contrast, is a cult-like Marxist organization that has conducted suicide bombings in Turkey and is responsible for the death of over 30,000 people, including the most recent assassination attempt on the life of a Turkish governor.
The Turks are well within their rights here to demand that something be done about the PKK, every bit as much as Israel is for refusing to just stand by an allow the continued operations of Hamas. This may well be one of the reasons why Turkey is the only nation in the Middle East that recognizes Israel's right to exist.
This is currently featured at the top of the New York Times website:
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Shiite Outrage Heightens Fears of Danger to Americans
By IAN FISHER 5:27 PM ET
Shiite anger against Americans spilled over into Friday prayers in the Baghdad slum where two U.S. soldiers were killed on Thursday.
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The photo news item currently featured:
img src="http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2003/10/10/international/iraq.184.1.jpg"
Agence France-Presse
A throng of perhaps 10,000 Iraqis gathered to pay their respects to the two Shiites they believe were killed by American forces on Thursday night. Go to Article
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"The PKK, by contrast, is a cult-like Marxist organization that has conducted suicide bombings in Turkey and is responsible for the death of over 30,000 people, including the most recent assassination attempt on the life of a Turkish governor."
Don't kid yourself, the vast number of those 30,000 killed, indeed 80% were killed by Turkish government and paramilitary forces.