Marie Colvin / The Sunday Times & Sorcha Faal / What Does It Mean – 2006-10-25 00:18:24
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2415692,00.html
US in Secret Truce Talks with Insurgency Chiefs
Marie Colvin / The Sunday Times
(October 22, 2006) — American officials held secret talks with leaders of the Iraqi insurgency last week after admitting that their two-month clampdown on violence in Baghdad had failed.
Few details of the discussions in the Jordanian capital Amman have emerged, but an Iraqi source close to the negotiations said the participants had met for at least two days.
They included members of the Islamic Army in Iraq, one of the main Sunni militias behind the insurgency, and American government representatives. The talks were described as “feeler” discussions. The US officials were exploring ways of persuading the Sunni groups to stop attacks on allied forces and to end a cycle of increasingly bloody sectarian clashes with members of the majority Shi’ite groups.
According to the source, the key demand of the Islamic Army was the release of American-held prisoners in allied jails.
The Islamic Army has been held responsible for the killing of Enzo Baldoni, an Italian journalist kidnapped in Baghdad in August 2004, and the execution of three Macedonian engineers working for the American army two months later.
The talks with Sunni insurgents, a further sign that US forces in Iraq are rethinking their tactics, came amid parallel efforts to persuade Shi’ite militias to quell their own violence.
Nouri Al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister and a former Shi’ite political activist, held talks with Moqtadr al-Sadr, the radical Shi’ite cleric who leads the Mahdi Army and controls 30 of the 275 seats in the Iraqi parliament. Maliki is believed to have urged him to control his men.
But there were further clashes yesterday when gunmen loyal to Sadr fought with police near Baghdad, a day after hundreds of his militiamen attacked police stations and Iraqi forces in the south of the country.
The escalation of Shi’ite infighting in Amara, where up to 300 gunmen clashed with police, left at least 31 people dead. It is believed last week’s violence was sparked by the arrest of the brother of the local leader of the Mahdi Army.
About 700 Iraqi troops were sent on Friday to restore order, but the violence highlighted the weakness of the Maliki government in keeping order as rival Shi’ite groups jostle for power. Last night it appeared that the Iraqi troops had succeeded in stopping the fighting and they were manning checkpoints around the city.
Only two months ago British troops handed Amara to Iraqi control stating that the security situation there was “relatively quiet”. Yesterday the troops, based in Basra, were on standby, ready to go back in if the Iraqi army loses control.
US Military Forces Prepare To Overthrow Iraqi Government In Coup Attempt
Sorcha Faal / What Does It Mean
RUSSIA (October 25, 2006) — Russian Military Analysts are reporting today that 2 Battalions of American Special Forces Troops have been dispatched to Iraq for the purpose of overthrowing the current Iraqi Government in a Coup attempt against the very government that the United States itself installed.
As has been confirmed by Western media sources, and as we can read as reported by the UPI News Service in their article titled “Coup against Maliki reported in the making”, and which says:
“Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with US help to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Cairo-based Iraqi and Arab sources said Monday several officers visited Washington recently for talks with US officials on plans for replacing Maliki’s administration by a “national salvation” government with the mission to re-establish security and stability in Iraq.
One Iraqi source told United Press International that the Iraqi army officers’ visit to the United States was aimed at coordinating the military coup in case the efforts of Maliki’s government to restore order reached a dead end.
He said among the prominent officers were the deputy chief of staff, a Muslim Shiite, the intelligence chief, a Sunni, and the commander of the air force, a Kurd. It is believed the three would constitute the nucleus of the next government after the army takes over power.
The proposed plan, according to the source, stipulates that the new Iraqi army, with the assistance of US forces, will take control of power, suspend the constitution, dissolve parliament and form a new government. The military will also take direct control of the various provinces and the administration after imposing a state of emergency.”
According to these reports, United States Military Leaders have become alarmed over the Iraqi Governments numerous agreements signed with Iran that would eliminate any chance of the Iraqi Nation being divided up into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish protectorates, with the emphasis being upon the United States desire to create a separate Nation for the Kurdish peoples they intend on naming Kurdistan.
Both Turkey, Iran and Syria have voiced strong International protests to the creation of a Kurdish state, with Turkey and Iran both vowing to prevent such a state from forming, even by military means and outright invasion of the Kurdish areas of Iraq.
To the United States, however, the full implementation of their “Grand Game” plan for the Middle East cannot go forward without a separate Kurdish nation, and if lost to them would cut this Western Power off from controlling the vast oil and gas resources of the Caspian Sea Region.
In preparation for the expected United States coup against the Iraqi government, Iran’s Supreme Leader issued a warning to his people, and the Arab world, and as we can read as reported by the Middle East Online News Service in their article titled “Khamenei tells Arabs: Stay united in face of US plots”, and which says:
“Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday urged Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinians to remain united in the face of what he said were US plots to destabilise the region.
“Everybody should be alert in the region. All the Arab nations in the region — Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine and other Muslim nations should be alert,” he told thousands of worshippers gathered in Tehran for Eid al-Fitr prayers. “They should be careful not to make any move that allows a new betrayal from the plans of the Zionists and the United States to be realised.”
The greatest present danger to the Americans in these actions lies in the expected Turkish and Iranian Military invasion of the Iraqi Kurdish areas, and which many of what are called the Neo-Con Faction in the United States are advocating their President to protect at all costs, and as we can read as reported by the Washington Post News Service in their article written by Richard Holbrooke, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, and which says:
“Whatever else you do, Mr. President, you should send American troops to northern Iraq (Kurdistan), which is still safe but increasingly tense, to reduce the very real risk of a Turkish-Kurdish war. Both the Turks and the Kurds would welcome this US presence, but it would have to be accompanied by a cessation of Kurdish terrorist raids into Turkey. This would allow Special Forces troops to move rapidly into other parts of Iraq if a terrorist target appeared, and it would show the world that you were not withdrawing from America’s commitment to Iraq.”
Kremlin sources, though, dispute the reasoning behind Ambassador Holbrooke’s statement that Turkey “would welcome” an American effort to halt Kurdish rebel attacks upon their Nation by pointing out that both Turkey and Iran’s stated goal is to prevent the establishment of any Kurdish Nation whatsoever.
As both Turkey and Iran continue massing troops on the Iraqi border for an expected invasion of the Kurdish areas, and as the Americans continue their unprecedented buildup of Naval Forces in the Middle East, these reports correctly surmise, in our opinion, that at no time since the darkest days of the 1930’s has our World been closer to Total War.
© October 25, 2006 EU and US all rights reserved.
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