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من بغداد الى بوسطن، نحن ننبذ العنف! From Baghdad to Boston

مبادرة التضامن مع المجتمع المدني العراقي وماراثون بغداد يودان أن يعربا عن تعازيهما الشديدة لأسر ضحايا التفجيرات التي وقعت في ماراثون بوسطن وفي بغداد وفي مدن أخرى من مدن العراق في اليوم المصادف 15 من أبريل الجاري. إننا متألمون على جميع الذين قتلوا وأصيبوا من جراء هذه التفجيرات التي إستهدفت الأبرياء من الشعوب المسالمة. إننا نرفض الفكر الذي يظن أن العنف هو وسيلة فعالة للإدلاء ببيان أو تعزيز قضية. وتضامناً مع شعب العراق والولايات المتحدة، فنحن نطالب بأن نفهم لماذا تحدث كل هذه الأحداث المأساوية، سعياً منا لتحقيق العدالة لهؤلاء الضحايا، والأهم من ذلك هو الترويج لثقافة اللاعنف التي يتم نشرها من قبل الحوار والفعاليات الرياضية العامة التي تسهم في بناء مجتمعات أساسها الثقة والسلام.

بوسطن

القنبلتين المدوية التي إنفجرت بالقرب من خط النهاية لماراثون بوسطن بعد ظهر يوم الاثنين قتلت ثلاثة أشخاص على الأقل، بما فيهم طفل عمره 8 سنوات، وجرحت أكثر من 100 شخص. ماراثون بوسطن، السباق الذي يمثل حدثاً رياضياً على مستوى العالم، كان دوماً يدعو للقيم الاجتماعية، والإحسان، وعمل الخير. حيث انه في هذا العام كان هذا الحدث الذي  يقطع فيه متسابقي الماراثون مسافة 26 ميلاً فكان الميل السادس والعشرون وهو الميل الأخير الذي انفجرت فيه القنابل، كان مقرراً تخصيصه لضحايا اطلاق النار في مدرسة ساندي هوك الابتدائية في نيوتاون بولاية كونيكتيكت وحمل شعار"26 ميل لتكريم الضحايا الـ 26". روح الشفاء التي نقلتها شعارات الماراثون هي واحدة من الطرق التي تساهم فيها الرياضة في تعزيز السلام. والتي ينبغي ان تلهمنا جميعا للعمل من أجل نبذ العنف أينما نعيش.

بغداد، ومدن عراقية اخرى

الانفجارات القاتلة والمأساوية اصبحت وللأسف امر شائعاً جداً في مدينة بغداد هذه الأيام، ولكن يوم 15 أبريل كان يوماً مدمراً بشكل خاص. فوفقاً لمصادر أمنية عراقية ومصادر العاملين في المجال الطبي فإن 79 شخصاً على الاقل لقوا مصرعهم أو أصيبوا إثر ستة انفجارات حدثت في مناطق متفرقة من مدينة بغداد. سبعة عشر سيارة مفخخة أخرى انفجرت في أجزاء أخرى من شمال ووسط وجنوب العراق، مما أسفر عن مقتل أو إصابة 219  شخصاً على الأقل اي ما يقارب مجموعهم الـ 300 شخص من الضحايا الابرياء الذين ليسوا الا مشاة، أو موظفين حكوميين، أو شرطة، أو من المرشحين في الانتخابات المحلية التي ستعقد في العراق يوم 20  أبريل.

 إن هذه الخسارة في الأرواح البشرية أصبحت شيئاً مفرطاً ولا يمكن إحتماله.

طريق آخر

في الوقت الذي نعبر فيه عن الحزن والأسف، يتوجب علينا العمل معاً لتعزيز بدائل للعنف. يجب علينا أن نرفض الاعتقاد الخاطئ بأن الأفراد أو مجموعات او حتى الحكومات، تستطيع أن تحل مشاكلها عن طريق العنف.

قدمت مبادرة التضامن مع المجتمع المدني العراقي تضامنها مع مفهوم اللاعنف ومع ناشطي حقوق الإنسان في العراق منذ عام 2009. هؤلاء الناشطين هم الأمل الأكبر لعراق متجدد ومسالم.

العراقيون اللاعنفيون لهم حلم عملوا من أجله، وهو انعقاد فعاليات ماراثون بغداد. وفي أعقاب مأساة بوسطن، فإنهم قرروا تكريس أنفسهم للعمل وبإصرار اكبر على إطلاق سباق من شأنه أن يثبت أن شوارع بغداد يمكن تأمينها لإقامة فعاليات رياضية، والتي من دورها تعزيز ونشر ثقافة اللاعنف. ماراثون بغداد سيكون حدثاً في غاية الاهمية من شأنه أن يساعدنا جميعا في التعافي من موجات العنف وأثرها الفضيع!

From Baghdad to Boston, We Reject Violence!

 

The Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative [ICSSI] and the Baghdad Marathon want to extend our condolences to the families of the victims of the explosions that took place at the Boston Marathon, in Baghdad, and elsewhere in Iraq on April 15th. We grieve for all those killed and injured by these explosions targeting innocent, peaceful people. We reject the idea that violence is ever an effective means to make a statement or promote a cause. In solidarity with the people of Iraq and the U.S., we want to understand why these tragic events occurred, to seek justice for the victims, but most importantly to promote a culture of nonviolence in which differences are resolved by dialogue, and to build a world in which public sporting events create communities of trust and peace.

 

Boston

The two powerful bombs that exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon killed at least three people, including an 8-year-old child, and injured more than 130 people. The Boston Marathon, while a world-class sporting event, has always also been about community values, charity, and good works. This year the 26th and final mile of the Marathon, where the bombs went off, had been dedicated to the victims of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. “26 miles to honor 26 victims,” read the banners and signs. The spirit of healing that slogan conveys is one of the ways that sports promote peace. It should inspire us all to work for nonviolence wherever we live.

 

Baghdad, and Beyond

Tragically, deadly explosions are all too common in Baghdad, but April 15th was a particularly devastating day. According to Iraqi security sources and medical personnel, at least 79 people were killed or wounded by six explosions in different parts of Baghdad. Seventeen car bombs went off in other parts of northern, central and southern Iraq, killing or wounding at least 219 people – nearly 300 in total. Among the victims were innocent bystanders, government officials, police, and candidates in the local elections that are to be held in Iraq on April 20th. This loss of human lives is intolerable.

 

Another Way

As we mourn and grieve, we must work together to promote alternatives to violence. We must reject the belief that individuals, movements, or nations can ever solve their problems through violence. We must reject calls for revenge or further violence. The ICSSI has promoted solidarity with nonviolence and human rights activists in Iraq since 2009. These activists are the greatest hope for a renewed and peaceful Iraq. One of their dreams is to hold a Baghdad Marathon. In the wake of the Boston tragedy, they have rededicated themselves to a race that will prove that the streets of Baghdad can be made peaceful for sports, and that sports can promote a culture of nonviolence. A Baghdad Marathon would be a vitally important event that could help us all to heal

Visit Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative - مبادرة تضامن المجتمع at: http://icssi08.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Juan Cole asks: "Can the Boston Bombings increase our Sympathy for Iraq and Syria, for all such Victims?"

In a wonderful article by Juan Cole: "Terrorism has no nation or religion. But likewise its victims are human beings, precious human beings, who must be the objects of compassion for us all."

 

 

End of Terrorists? When we r die,

The end of terrorists? When we r die.
or maybe sooner if we stop supporting terror with our media.
April 16, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

--

The night before Boston we were talking to brother B. His house, in Baghdad, had electricity and none of the family were hurt in yesterday’s or today’s bombings. It was a good day, and he told us about the lady next door.

B was on the way home from the store. He passed his next door neighbor and they stopped to chat. After she congratulated him on his recent surgery he asked her how her children were doing in the U.S.

She is a retired lawyer in her 70’s with a daughter and son in the U.S. She’s always been very protective of her children. The kind of protection where when the children took 100 in the exams she would say they took 90’s so there would be no jealousy aimed at them. It was very hard for her to see her children leave Iraq.

“They are fine, Inshallah. But their safety is important. I thought as long as they are safe and happy…so I let them leave. But now I feel they are threatened there because Korea is about to bomb America.” A reassured her.

“America is a safe place, don’t worry.”

--

That same night, before Boston, we chatted with A, in Smawa, who posted, “It was close. The bomb, but I am OK.”

“Happy you are OK. When will it all end?”

“When we r die.”

---

And today the TV is an endless loop of terrorist propaganda. It is just what the bombers want. The publicity makes them feel strong. The terror that is induced by the repetitions magnifies the effect of their murder and maiming.

We support terror with our insensitive, profit-driven media.

AQIM Algeria Again

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has its origins in Algeria but most recently has focused on Mali. This past week has seen a marked increase in its rhetoric against the Algerian government.  AQIM is now urging the Algerian municipal guards to defect.

This shift in focus from Mali to Algeria may be a response to the recent setbacks it suffered as France stepped into the Malian situation with force enough to result is a serious AQIM retreat.

Why do we care?

West Point's Center on Terrorism indicates that AQIM's principle objectives includes ridding North Africa of western influence, overthrowing apostate "unbeliever" governments (including Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia), and installing fundamentalist regimes based on Islamic law. None of this amounts to a threat against the United States, but there was a distinct shift in the organization after 9/11, when AQIM (previously known as the Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden. A more official merger ocurred in 2006 when 2006 when Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the official merger between al-Qa`ida and GSPC.

Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, put AQIM's threat to the U.S. on a par with the dangers Ameria faces from Afghanistan. Recently, European security forces have arrested several AQIM members as part of plots against European targets.

This is an indicates AQIM's widening its target selection, and may auger a coming focus on the U.S. as well.

 

http://www.cfr.org/north-africa/al-qaeda-islamic-maghreb-aqim/p12717

http://news.siteintelgroup.com/component/content/article/6-jihadist-news/2956-aqim-extends-offer-to-algerian-municipal-guard-to-repent

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/aqim%E2%80%99s-expanding-internationalist-agenda

 

 

Related articles

Al-Qaeda pressures Algeria and General Ham pays a visit

Yesterday Mali, Today Mauritania: U.S. Gen. Ham is getting a Workout in Africa

Al Qaeda's Gamble in Mali

watch as the drones fly; count the civilians as they die

One of the best graphics I've seen lately: http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/

 

Al-Qaeda pressures Algeria and General Ham pays a visit

Jihadist sites are rumbling about Algeria, and the U.S. is on the move. Just as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) upped its rhetoric, openly calling for action and foreign support, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General Ham is dispatched to Algeria.

The SITE intelligence group reports: "A prominent jihadist incited Algerian protestors in the south and people throughout the country to launch a full-scale revolution against the Algerian government and end its policy of "apartheid" between nobles and slaves." "Redouane18" characterized Algerian President Abdulaziz Bouteflika's regime as Stalinist. He talked about now the oil revenues were not benefiting the people and the need for revolution to right the wrongs done to Algerians. 

At the same time as "Redouane18"  was posting, AQIM's Abu Abdul Ilah Ahmed was tweeting an entreaty to "the people of the "free world" to help Algerians from what they allegedly suffer of biased media agencies and poor internet access." Complaining of government censorship of the internet and the torturing of journalists who publish the truth he called for the people to remove the injustice.

Algeria's strong non-interventionist policy is evidently not enough to keep AQIM at bay, and pressure from the United Nations and U.S. policy makers may force President Bouteflika to take a more cooperative stance.The world has changed since his election in 1999.

General Carter Ham, head of US Africa Command, took a trip to Tamanrasset the other day. Located in the South of Algeria, it is a gateway to Mali. You remember Mali, where the U.S. said, "No" to getting involved before it got involved.When the Algerian hostage incident occurred the U.S. was constrained from introducing ground troops, and only allowed to use drones in Algerian air space. Perhaps General Ham is using the recent threats to negotiate a wider set of permissions.

Do you want to see U.S. forces on the ground in Algeria? Even to help stop an al-Qaeda takeover of the country? How far do you take your pacifism in the face of terrorist aggression? What U.S. policy do you favor?

 

 

 

 

Syria’s coopted revolution: Abu Musab, al-Nusrah, and Sacred Values

It’s no longer surprising to see extremist proponents Islamic rule slide into revolutions to promote their own goals. Al-Nusra’s entry into the Syrian conflict exemplified al-Qaeda’s increasingly global interventions into local affairs. Yesterday they put a half-dozen notices on jihadi forums which bragged about a series of victories in recent days. They seemed particularly proud of a Katyusha rocket attack on a government TV building.  They explained that the Syrian media "elongates" the life of the Bashar al-Assad regime and gives it legitimacy. [SITE]

It was also reported that an “English-speaking, Western commander in Syria identified as ‘Abu Musab’ asked Muslims to support the fighters in what is described as the first of his weekly updates from the battlefield.” The video was aired on “Kateeba Al-Kawthar.” They describe themselves as "group of Mujaahideen & nation builders from more than 20 countries seeking a just Islamic Nation,"

Whatever the Syrian people had in mind on March 15, 2011, when the current uprising began, may be overshadowed by the interlopers who come with their own agendas. The series of peaceful street protests against the Assad regime has morphed into a violent upheaval in which divergent forces battle each other for power as they seek to end Assad’s rule.

The stakes are high for the entire region and initial reluctance to step in and help the insurgency may well backfire as Syria’s neighbors find themselves faced with a new Syria controlled by people who base their ideas on sacred values, rather than mutually cooperative theories of government for the betterment of all.

March 4, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

 

When al-Qaeda goes too far in Iraq

SITE Reports; The al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) claimed 49 attacks in Anbar province of western Iraq between January 13 and February 10, 2013, including the suicide bombing that killed Iraqi MP Ifan Sa'doun al-Issawi.

Is this too much blood pouring from innocent civilians for Iraqis to tolerate?

ISI pushed its bragging to Jihadist forums.  Other attacks involved more indiscriminate attempts to kill anyone who was in the way of a wave ofbombings, raids, and rocket fire. Both Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias were targeted. Dozens were killed and injured.

Maliki's weak government seems unable to provide basic security. But some see intent in this failure. The security situation has allowed Maliki to postpone elections in Anbar and Ninewa provinces. Issawi was a leading opposition candidate.

The people are caught between factions that care less about the citizens than they do about their own assention to power. If only the solution was as easy as an Iraqi Spring...an upheaval strong enough to break the chains of terror and force the government to govern for the people, not over the people.

 

 

Iraq Bombings: follow the money

Iraq Bombings: follow the money
March 20, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

ISI, the military wing of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is bragging about the innocent civilians it has killed on March 19, 2013. The coordinated attacks took the lives of over 60 people, injured many more, and left Iraqis exhausted from the seemingly never ending trauma of terrorism. They released a statement in which they claim the right to kill by virtue of these being revenge attacks in support of the Sunni prisoners in Maliki’s Shi’ite jails. But self-justification is not enough to nourish a terrorist organization. It takes cash.

It takes a lot of money to coordinate and execute large scale murder. Supplies, including the cars used as bomb delivery systems, cost money. Purchase or rental of houses used to manufacture explosives is expensive. The group members take salaries. The families of the suicide killers are probably compensated also. Media expenses also mount up. It’s not cheap.

Where does AQI get the money? Prior to the deaths of Zarqawi and bin Laden there was a smooth flow of cash. We were unable to find reliable analyses of the impact of their deaths on funding. Other analyses, going back as far as documents captured in Anbar in 2006, reveal a complex and sometime lucrative chain of funding that continues to today.

Research by RAND National Defense Research Institute in late 2010 showed that more than 50% of the funds came from selling stolen goods, including construction equipment, generators, and electrical cables. Reuters has reported that ISI runs an extensive racketeering network in the city of Mosul, worth millions of dollars.

Islamic charities, wealthy individual donors, and suspected injections of cash from Iran (according to documents confiscated in 2006 from Iranian Revolutionary Guards) provide support, presumably to aid in the destabilization of Iraq.

Robbery and extortion also help with expenses. Some actions are reminiscent of Mafia tactics like burning a bus and then calling the owner of the bus company and demanding a $20,000 payment to head off the burning of the rest of his buses.

Evidently Iraq’s current regime is too weak to have an impact on AQI’s funding. The Iraqis will have to rise to the task of installing a more powerful, just, and honest government for this to occur. That’s asking a lot of a people ravaged by almost 40 years of steady sanctions and conflict.

Unfortunately that’s the only way. Only Iraqis can fix Iraq.

aljazeera
Council on Foreign Relations
ISVG, New Haven
Rand 2006
Rand 2010

Obama admits 'extraordinary' failure of Iraq war.

Obama admits 'extraordinary' failure of Iraq war.
March 19, 2013 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

In a surprise admission U.S. President Barack Obama admitted to the failure of the Iraq war saying, “We salute the courage and resolve of more than 1.5 million service members and civilians who during multiple tours wrote one of the most extraordinary chapters in military service.”

Oh, I’m sorry. Did I misinterpret that? Did he really mean that America did an extraordinarily good thing in Iraq? Is he that dense? That heartless? Does he really not see the extraordinary pain America inflicted on innocent Iraqi civilians?

Man up, Obama. An apology is due, and you shouldn’t be afraid to be the one to offer it.