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| Iraq |
| Kurdish Militia, Iraqi Police Terrorizing Assyrians in North Iraq |
| 2006-11-27 |
| Kurds are seen as the "nice guys" of iraq, but they do have a very bloody history of persecution against christians (they were instrumental in the armenian genocide), and they still have some nasty habits (like the casual desacration of remaining churches in kurdish territories by kids, even decades after they've been emptied). (AINA) -- Attacks against Assyrian Christian civilians (also known as Syriacs and Chaldeans) residing in the Nineveh Plain, north Iraq, have recently escalated at the hands of local Iraqi police as well as Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) paramilitary security squads. On June 30, 2006 three Iraqi Police loyal to the KDP Police Chief in the Hamdaniya District of the Nineveh governorate began assaulting civilian passers by with anti-Christian and racist slurs. The policemen had just come off duty but were still carrying their automatic weapons. As the Iraqi police continued their tirade against Christians in the overwhelmingly Assyrian Christian town, Steven Basim, a young man, left his car to plead with the police to refrain from their insults and threats. The police officers approached the man and one immediately started to strike him squarely on the side of his head with his weapon. As the young man fell to the ground bleeding, the other two policemen then also joined in the beating. Two other Assyrian men attempted to intervene and were also beaten. As a group of onlookers began to approach and question the police regarding the slurs and beating, the police began firing into the crowd. Fearing they could not control the angry crowd, the police called for reinforcements. At 6:30 pm, the police dragged their bleeding, half conscious victim to the police station. Fearing for his life, a group of young Assyrian Christian locals decided to rescue the man from his kidnappers. The local priest, Fr. Loius Kassab, who has enjoyed considerable financial support and favor from the KDP occupying forces asked the group of Assyrians to allow him to intervene to secure the release. As time dragged on, the group of Assyrians became increasingly concerned that the badly beaten man may die in custody. Finally, the group stormed the holding station and rescued the man and immediately transported him to obtain medical care Increasingly, especially over the past week, Kurdish forces as well as Iraqi police have begun a policy of harassment and intimidation of local civilians. Referring to the Arab and KDP police, one local Assyrian noted "they share one thing in common: they don't live here. They don't belong here." Another bitterly complained that "they don't come to provide security; they come to terrorize Christians and extract profits from the area for their personal gains." The issue of local residents policing in the towns and villages of the Nineveh Plain has become a thorny issue. Local Assyrians, Shabaks, and Yezidis have formally submitted the names of 800 local police to join the Iraqi Police force in order to provide local police and security for the Nineveh Plain. The request has been formally granted and approved by the Iraqi government in Baghdad. However, the KDP Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Khisro Goran, has repeatedly blocked implementation of the proposal. (AINA 6-24-2006) The role of non-local police in aggravating sectarian tensions rather than providing security played out on July 1 when KDP paramilitaries attempted to wrest control of the Central fuel distribution center for the Hamdaniya District of Nineveh. The armed KDP group was met by resistance from the Iraqi Police whom themselves had monopolized control of the distribution center and were, likewise, nonresidents of the Nineveh Plain. A fight ensued and, after additional KDP militants were called in, two police were wounded. The conflict has left the Gasoline distribution center closed, thereby depriving tens of thousands of locals of badly needed fuel for transportation and electricity generation. Local Assyrians have bitterly complained that both the Police as well as the KDP were simply opportunists attempting to control the lucrative fuel black market. Gas stations have come under the control of armed groups tied to the police or KDP who regularly siphon off a portion of gasoline. The conflict over which non local group controls the gasoline black market has left local residents particularly vulnerable at a time when electricity has dropped from an average 12 hours per day to 2 hours per day during one of the hottest months of the year. Gasoline is critical for the running of generators. Residents have also complained about the lack of real security provided by the KDP occupying forces. On June 25, a suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives in front of the minority Shabak headquarters of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) killing two people and injuring thirteen. Assyrian Christians and other minorities from the Nineveh Plain such as Shabak and Yezidis point to recent violence as further evidence of the deliberate suffocation of their area by the KDP and the police force it increasingly controls. Assyrian Christians further believe that local administration and policing by residents of the Nineveh Plain is the only way to reverse an increasingly tense and intolerable security situation. From the KDP perspective, though, total control of security is essential to continued Assyrian Christian subjugation as well as the furthering of the KDP dream to annex the Nineveh Plain into a greater KDP occupied region. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #12 THis http://www.mideastweb.org/iraqaxiscoup.htm is not that bad but it greatly overassess the strength of the British: at the beginning of the siege against the Irqki artillery the British could only oppose the two mortars who had been decoratuing the gates of the base since end of WWI. Alos if memory doesn't failm me there were Wellington heavy bombers on the base only traing planes and Gloster Gladiator (biplanes) fighters all of them biplanes. In fact I think the Irakis were flying more modern planes than the British but to no avail since the Gladiators cleared them of the sky. After that in conjunction with an action of the meager ground forces defending the base they silenced the Iraki artillery. Only then were Wellingtons able to land on Habbaniyah. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-11-27 14:59 |
| #11 Here is an interesting site devoted to the Assyrian Levies. |
| Posted by: mrp 2006-11-27 14:52 |
| #10 Unfortunately I have no special links my info comes from 1) a very, very detailed book about WWII I read when in my teens and from Churchill's "History of WWII" Otherwise search google with Habbaniyah WWII, Habbaniyah Wavell, Habbaniyah Churchill, Habbaniyah Habforce and Habbaniyah Assyrian. But there is not the welath of materials on teh subject on the internat is not that great. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-11-27 14:31 |
| #9 JFM: Have a link to an article about that battle. I'm a youngster compared to most everyone here and would love to read more and some of the battles you talk about. Military History has always fascinated me. |
| Posted by: Charles 2006-11-27 13:32 |
| #8 Also on the same site you will find articles like Proud to be an American with sentences like: "I get upset that some people don't know what it means to be a citizen of this country," she said. "There is no other country in this world like the United States. I tell people, 'Get down on your knees and thank God a million times for being in this country.'" |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-11-27 11:37 |
| #7 Thanks, JFM, always nice to have your historical insight. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-27 11:30 |
| #6 Hum: I am not sure Assyrians (who define themselves as NON arabs) were liked by the panarabist Saddam. BTW: When a pro-nazi coup toppled pro-British Nuri Said it was two meager battalkions of assyrians who defended the British air base of Habaniyah and routed a five times larger Arab force both tribesmen and regular army. Saddam's sympathies were on the Arab/Nazi side (the complete name of his party was National Socialist Party for Arab Renew) not on the British/Assyrian side. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-11-27 11:24 |
| #5 Yes, sammy was rather christian friendly, just think of tarik aziz. One more reason why french nationalists really resent the iraq war, because iraqi christians are taking hits from all sides, and are basically being ousted. This is quite true, but I still think this was brewing even when sammy was in power (cf his re-islamization, and the forced conversion law, if a christian converted to the Master Religion, all his relatives had to convert by law of face consequences, which led to a soody-funded campaign of bribery to get paid christians to convert). In that regard, the US intervention just accelerated the process, and blew the lid off. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-27 11:21 |
| #4 The religion of piss killing off Christians, no MSM story here. Chuck I have no idea what you are talking about. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-11-27 10:55 |
| #3 But Kurds are the good guys! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-27 10:52 |
| #2 Keep in mind that these folks were one of the groups that Saddam used to play power politics with. For much of his reign, they were favored. Christians served in several major roles in the Saddam thuggocracy. So, the whining is somewhat self-serving. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2006-11-27 10:18 |
| #1 Ah... the legendary tolerance of Islam. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-11-27 09:17 |