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STOP TORTURE: ACCOUNTABILITY: YES – IMPUNITY: NO

22/12/2014

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

This petition will be delivered to: US Government - International Criminal Court - President of the UN General Assembly - President of the Human Rights Council - European Court of Justice

Petition initiated by two former UN Assistant Secretaries-General, UN Humanitarian Coordinators for Iraq: Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday.

On 9 December 2014, the US Senate released its CIA torture report. The investigation confirmed what globally has been known for many years:

the US Central Intelligence Agency and US-outsourced national authorities in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere have been involved in an extensive range of torture applications.

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ISIL RECEIVES PLANELOADS OF ARMS AT NORTHERN IRAQ AIRPORT

4/12/2014

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BAGHDAD — Iraq has detected air shipments of weapons to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

A leading parliamentarian said ISIL was receiving planeloads of weapons from unspecified foreign suppliers. Hakim Zalmi, chairman of parliament’s Defense and Security Committee, said the aircraft were landing at Tel Afar, a northern facility under ISIL control.

“Some countries are delivering weapons to ISIL by using airplanes in Tel Afar airport, near Mosul,” Zalmi said. In a statement on Nov. 17, Zalmi did not identify the suppliers. But he suggested that the supplies were arriving from republics of the former Soviet Union.

In mid-November, a Russian aircraft filled with arms and ammunition landed in Baghdad International Airport. Officials said the Russian aircraft contained 40 tons of cargo and arrived in Baghdad after being refused landing in the northern airport of Suleimani.

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STOPPING AN AWAKENING IN IRAQ BEFORE IT CAN START

4/12/2014

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By David Ignatius

A centerpiece of President Obama’s strategy for defeating the Islamic State is mobilizing tribal fighters to join the Iraqi military in retaking Anbar province and others dominated by Sunnis. But new research shows that the jihadists have been working since 2009 to gut the very Sunni tribal leadership on which Obama’s rollback depends — making the U.S. campaign much more difficult.

U.S. strategists want to create a “national guard” version of the tribal militia known as the Awakening, which in 2007 and 2008 crushed al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of the Islamic State. But overlooked evidence shows that the jihadists have worked systematically to destroy the Awakening and assassinate tribal leaders who might challenge their rule.

The jihadists’ long-running intimidation campaign against the Sunni tribes is one more sign that, as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told me in September, the United States “underestimated” the Islamic State. Obama later told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he shared Clapper’s critique.

Despite these mea culpas, U.S. planners may be making a similar mistake in assuming that the tribal networks can be rebuilt quickly. U.S. officials believe that Sunni support has been galvanized by the removal of polarizing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite. That’s true, but fighting the jihadists will be a long uphill road.

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December 04th, 2014

4/12/2014

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By TIM ARANGO and THOMAS ERDBRINK DEC. 3, 2014

BAGHDAD — Iranian fighter jets struck extremist targets in Iraq recently, Iranian and American officials have confirmed, in the latest display of Tehran’s new willingness to conduct military operations openly on foreign battlefields rather than covertly and through proxies.

The shift stems in part from Iran’s deepening military role in Iraq in the war against the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State. But it also reflects a profound change in Iran’s strategy, stepping from the shadows into a more overt use of hard power as it promotes Shiite influence around the region.

Iranian and Pentagon officials acknowledged that Iran had stepped up its military operations in Iraq last week, using 1970s-era fighter jets to bomb targets in a buffer zone that extends 25 miles into Iraq.

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STOP TORTURE: ACCOUNTABILITY: YES – IMPUNITY: NO

ISIL RECEIVES PLANELOADS OF ARMS AT NORTHERN IRAQ AIRPORT

STOPPING AN AWAKENING IN IRAQ BEFORE IT CAN START

December 04th, 2014

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