War in Iraq

[Bengal_Tiger]

Iraq is going through serious instability, with the so-called "ISIL" (Ad-Daesh in Arabic, "Al-Dawla Islamiya fil 'Iraq wa-Shaam") capturing territory in the north.

1. If the ISIL keep control of Sunni areas of Iraq and remove the tenuous control of the Shia-dominated Baghdad government then a de facto Sunni state emerges in addition to the de facto Kurdish state in Iraq.

Iraq would in effect be partitioned.




2. The problem does not lie in just that but also in the fact that this new state is controlled by radicals/militants or "jihadists".

They may then engage in a long-term war with the Shias in the region in the form of Iraq (Baghdad government) and Iran.

- Saudi Arabia and the GCC would be happy to fund Sunni Iraqis to weaken Iran and the Shia.

3. These are the possible consequences for the region.


Turkey: loser

- Turkey is a loser as there is now a nascent Kurdish state in Syria which would merge with the Kurdistan in Iraq. Turkey has historically opposed Kurdish nationalism and a Kurdish state in the middle east would weaken Turkish nationalism, as Turkey will have to give greater rights to the Kurds within Turkey to placate them.

Also if Salafists increase their power in the middle east this weakens Turkey as Salafists are an Arabo-centric/Arabophilic movement with less interest in the Ottoman state or Turkophilia, which Turkey seeks to encourage.

In other words Salafism is a type of Arab nationalism not Ottomanophilia as per Turkey's wishes.


Iran: Loser

- Kurds would be stronger, not something Tehran wants as its has millions of Kurds in the part of Kurdistan that it occupies.

- A Salafist-dominated Sunni state in central Iraq would be a Saudi/GCC proxy state to weaken Iran and Syria.

- Tehran has painful memories of its long war with Saddam and would not want a repeat of that with Sunni militants from Iraq repeating what Saddam did and fighting Iran.


Saudis/GCC

- Saudis like to use proxies to fight their wars as their own armed forces are poor, they will be happy to use Sunni militants to weaken Iran.

- These militants may one day turn against the GCC.

- If the situation deteriorates, Kuwait, Saudi and Bahrain may experience greater unrest from their Shias. Shias are a majority in Bahrain, 1/3 in Kuwait and are a majority in parts of eastern Saudi Arabia.


Syria: losers

- The Iraqi government has been an ally of the Syrian government, if Iraq is de facto partitioned it is not good for the Syrians.

- If Syria's ally Iran is weakened pouring resources to contain ISIL that means less support for Syria.


Kurds: winners


Undoubtedly the biggest winners of all this. The long suffering Kurds have an economically vibrant state in northern Iraq, have a new statelet in Syria, are increasing their power in Turkey where they are even 1/4 of some western cities such as Izmir.

However they have little power in Shia-dominated Persian nationalist Iran where all non-Shias/Persians (excluding Azeri) are under the Persian/Shia yoke.



Wider region

- Egypt: Bad news for them as the government hates radicalism and fundamentalism. The Egyptians want stability.

The Nasserite Egyptian military naturally supports the Baathist Syrian government as they both share the secular pan-Arab Republican ideology.



- Algeria: Second largest Muslim country on earth in terms of territory and until over 20 years ago was the biggest Muslim country in the world. The Algerian military that rules Algeria like the Egyptians and Syrians shares the same secular pan-Arab Republican ideology and is against fundamentalism.


- Indonesia: Would not want instability in the middle east, would want peace to prevail.

- Malaysia: The same as Indonesia.

- Bangladesh: The same as regional neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, would not want instability or fundamentalism though Bangladesh is reliant on a stable and peaceful GCC.

If the GCC suffers instability Bangladesh with its 4 million workers there sustaining the economy back in Bangladesh would be devastated.



We make du'a for peace to prevail in 'Iraq.

[Zubr-Zubr]

The Mujahideen of the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant will surely gain victory in the Iraq war. Integration Syria and Iraq will culminate with the creation of a single state.

[Zubr-Zubr]

The war in Iraq will make Iran an ally of the US.

[Cobra]

The afghan election went peacefully, not much attacks and taliban are on their last days.

Guess what? their masters, and brains behind their operation are all in iraq and syria!

[Zubr-Zubr]

The afghan election went peacefully, not much attacks and taliban are on their last days.
Guess what? their masters, and brains behind their operation are all in iraq and syria!

What election? What are you talking about? In Afghanistan already has a head of state. This Amir al-mumineen Mullah Omar. So who is Pro-American collaborators chose?

[Kushan Prince]

Obama said he won't send troops again to Iraq.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/obama-iraq_n_5492117.html

[Toramana]

Iraq is going through serious instability, with the so-called "ISIL" (Ad-Daesh in Arabic, "Al-Dawla Islamiya fil 'Iraq wa-Shaam") capturing territory in the north.

1. If the ISIL keep control of Sunni areas of Iraq and remove the tenuous control of the Shia-dominated Baghdad government then a de facto Sunni state emerges in addition to the de facto Kurdish state in Iraq.

Iraq would in effect be partitioned.




2. The problem does not lie in just that but also in the fact that this new state is controlled by radicals/militants or "jihadists".

They may then engage in a long-term war with the Shias in the region in the form of Iraq (Baghdad government) and Iran.

- Saudi Arabia and the GCC would be happy to fund Sunni Iraqis to weaken Iran and the Shia.

3. These are the possible consequences for the region.


Turkey: loser

- Turkey is a loser as there is now a nascent Kurdish state in Syria which would merge with the Kurdistan in Iraq. Turkey has historically opposed Kurdish nationalism and a Kurdish state in the middle east would weaken Turkish nationalism, as Turkey will have to give greater rights to the Kurds within Turkey to placate them.

Also if Salafists increase their power in the middle east this weakens Turkey as Salafists are an Arabo-centric/Arabophilic movement with less interest in the Ottoman state or Turkophilia, which Turkey seeks to encourage.

In other words Salafism is a type of Arab nationalism not Ottomanophilia as per Turkey's wishes.


Iran: Loser

- Kurds would be stronger, not something Tehran wants as its has millions of Kurds in the part of Kurdistan that it occupies.

- A Salafist-dominated Sunni state in central Iraq would be a Saudi/GCC proxy state to weaken Iran and Syria.

- Tehran has painful memories of its long war with Saddam and would not want a repeat of that with Sunni militants from Iraq repeating what Saddam did and fighting Iran.


Saudis/GCC

- Saudis like to use proxies to fight their wars as their own armed forces are poor, they will be happy to use Sunni militants to weaken Iran.

- These militants may one day turn against the GCC.

- If the situation deteriorates, Kuwait, Saudi and Bahrain may experience greater unrest from their Shias. Shias are a majority in Bahrain, 1/3 in Kuwait and are a majority in parts of eastern Saudi Arabia.


Syria: losers

- The Iraqi government has been an ally of the Syrian government, if Iraq is de facto partitioned it is not good for the Syrians.

- If Syria's ally Iran is weakened pouring resources to contain ISIL that means less support for Syria.


Kurds: winners


Undoubtedly the biggest winners of all this. The long suffering Kurds have an economically vibrant state in northern Iraq, have a new statelet in Syria, are increasing their power in Turkey where they are even 1/4 of some western cities such as Izmir.

However they have little power in Shia-dominated Persian nationalist Iran where all non-Shias/Persians (excluding Azeri) are under the Persian/Shia yoke.



Wider region

- Egypt: Bad news for them as the government hates radicalism and fundamentalism. The Egyptians want stability.

The Nasserite Egyptian military naturally supports the Baathist Syrian government as they both share the secular pan-Arab Republican ideology.



- Algeria: Second largest Muslim country on earth in terms of territory and until over 20 years ago was the biggest Muslim country in the world. The Algerian military that rules Algeria like the Egyptians and Syrians shares the same secular pan-Arab Republican ideology and is against fundamentalism.


- Indonesia: Would not want instability in the middle east, would want peace to prevail.

- Malaysia: The same as Indonesia.

- Bangladesh: The same as regional neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, would not want instability or fundamentalism though Bangladesh is reliant on a stable and peaceful GCC.

If the GCC suffers instability Bangladesh with its 4 million workers there sustaining the economy back in Bangladesh would be devastated.



We make du'a for peace to prevail in 'Iraq.

Dear Bengal-Tiger, as usual an insightful and intelligent post. Do you think the same may happen elsewhere?

[25tajik75pashtun]

The war in Iraq will make Iran an ally of the US.

Just how stupid are you? If anything it will pave the way for america to invade or promote insurgency in iran.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Dear Bengal-Tiger, as usual an insightful and intelligent post. Do you think the same may happen elsewhere?

Manana Toramana Lala,

1. I have to say this again since if I am proven wrong (which is possible) it will be known that I made this clear. I am not an expert of any sort (however unlike some who have never set foot in the middle east, I have lived for 1 year in Syria and also been to Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt etc, and I have also met certain "figures" who are well-known, this is why I actually give value to "conspiracy theories" [i.e. anything that deviates from the official western media version of things]).


2. I give value to people who have actually lived through certain things or know people who have such as yourself who lived in Pakhtunkhwa during the 80s and the US support for "Islamists" in Peshawar and Afghanistan against the Kabul government, rather than to people who merely read CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera websites and think they are "experts".


3. I can't go in to detail because I do not want to damage my credibility but there was definitely something sinister. How can ISIL, a group of 1,000 take Mosul, a city of 1 million with 30,000 Iraqi soldiers i.e. a ratio of 1-30?

There was definitely some sort of collusion between ISIL (which even publically is said to contain Saddamist/Baathist elements) and the Iraqi army.



Mosul.


4. What will happen elsewhere?

I really don't know.

Your guess is as good as mine.

One thing I do know is that a few years ago after the second gulf war and invasion of Iraq a friend of mine who knew someone who worked in the ministry of defence here in London said that due to the huge number of weapons and other factors it was an economic must for the western powers to wage war. That every 10 years or so they need to have a war.

I thought about this and observed a pattern.

1980: Saddam v Iran, west arms both sides, lets perhaps under a million Muslims die.

The biggest conventional war after WW2.

1991: Saddam takes Kuwait with some saying America implicit;y encouraging him to.

America masses a giant coalition in Saudi Arabia and then invades Iraq


2003: Second gulf war, invasion of Iraq, eventual execution of Saddam. Iraq de facto nuked.

Not nuked in a single concentrated attack but depleted uranium dispersed through out the country, with the west ("Ferengei") causing more ecological damage to Iraq (Mesopotamia) than the Mongols who are vilified in western literature as being fanatical and barbaric.



So 1980 - 1991 - 2003 the gap between these three wars is 11 year and then 12 years.

It has now been 11 years since 2003 and so the "Ferengei" (west) are looking for another war.

China and Russia stopped them from doing this in Syria.

So once again it maybe Iraq. Iraq may perhaps have its 4th war in 34 years, a war every decade.

I will pray that it doesn't, and I know that prayer can have a lot of effect.


5. Impact on Pashtuns?

This is relevant since Pakhtunkhwa (i.e. Afghankhwa and Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan) is part of the "greater middle east" (stretching from Pakistan to Morocco).

The only other nation to have gone through anything similar to the Iraqis are the Afghans/Pashtuns.

I do not think the "Ferengei" (America and the west) want stability for Pashtuns and have a deep hatred for them. They want continued instability and war there. Will they pull the plug on the Pakistan project that they created and control? I don't know.

Pakistan is a poor country dependent on US handouts for survival and the US can bring it to its knees virtually overnight if it wants to (it can do the same to Bangladesh, another poor country but which has more self-respect and guards its sovereignty more jealously).

Will Pakistan break up?



I don't know.

- Either it will break up or the wars there (TTP war and Baloch independence war) will continue for a long time.

I am pretty sure peace in Pakistan is not on the American agenda.

What can Pashtuns do?

- Pashtuns need to continue gaining education, to produce more doctors, engineers, scientists, architects etc so that they can form the basis of a future Pashtun state.

- Pashtuns need to produce high level literary content in Pashto including scientific and intellectual works so that Pashto is not seen as an "inferior" vernacular to a more "superior" language such as Urdu/Farsi.

So in the meantime whilst America carries out its atrocities - through its proxies e.g. Al-Qaeda, ISIL, TTP etc - Pashtuns can consolidate the intellectual resources for a future successful Pashtun state, since as of now Pashtuns do not have the military ability to deal with America.

One last thing. The American agenda for global hegemony includes using the "Islamic card" against its rivals, China and Russia. "Al-Qaeda" is basically the American foreign legion, controlled by the Americans and which can be used to attack Russia or China.

America used Pashtuns to defeat the USSR and America wants to use parts of Pakhtunkhwa as a base for Uighur militants to wage war on China.

Anglo-Saxon America and Britain, the "Ferengei", have a deep hatred for Pashtuns and are fully aware of their defeat at the hands of Pashtuns e.g. in 1841 Kabul and are carrying out revenge. The Anglo-Saxon powers did the same to Bengalis in WW2 when they engineered the starvation of 1-3 million Bengalis in a famine.

This was because Bengal - along with Pakhtunkhwa - was the most troublesome region for the British in terms of rebellion.

[Da Bannu Mazdigar]

Under OIC,Muslim countries should send troops to iraq

[Bengal_Tiger]

A du'a for Iraq

** Bismillahi Rahman ar-Raheem **

** In the name of Allah the most beneficient, the most merciful **

I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad (solAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam) is the messenger of Allah.

Oh Allah you are Akram-ul-Akrameen, the most generous of all, the Ar-Raham- Ar-Rahimeen, the most merciful of all.

Oh Allah send peace and prayers upon your noble messenger, the trustworthy, the honest one, the envoy of the King of the Universe, the one who told humanity to feed the orphans, to be good to their wives, to give charity, to help the traveller, to be good to their parents, to be merciful to mankind, to have patience and to worship Allah, the one who was there before there was a "there", a universe. The Awwal and the Akhir. The first and the last.

Oh Allah please bring peace to the blessed land of Al-'Iraq, the Bilad-ar Rafdain, the land of the two rivers, one of which, the Euphrates is said to have been revealed by your holy prophet ('alaihi salaam) as a river of paradise.


Al-'Iraq is the land of civilization. The land of the two rivers, where the water of these rivers led to crops being grown on settled lands, with man being able to eat comfortably and then turn his mind towards other things beyond feeding himself. Al-'Iraq is the land of the great civilizations of antiquity.

- Of Babylonia

- Of the Assyrians

- Of Sumer

It is in Al-'Iraq that we see the oldest type of writing in the world from the time of the Sumerians.

It is said that it is from 'Iraq that the father of monotheism (tawheed), Ibrahim 'alaih salam was from. Today his descendants from Yaqub and Ismail have gained eminence through out the world and billions in the world follow what they conveyed be it in an impure or tampered form (Judaism and Christianity) or be it the true religion of Al-Islam. From Ibrahim came Ismail and from Ismail came the one who is the ashraful makhlooqat (the most noble of creation) Muhammad sollAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam.

Al-'Iraq is the land of civilization, of a river of paradise, of the father of monotheism and the land of the prophets. It is also the land of the awliya (the friends of Allah) including Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani and Ahmed ar-Riffai (rahmatullahi 'alaihim).

Oh Allah please bless Al-'Iraq and give it peace. Oh Allah please end the suffering of the people of Al-'Iraq. War after war, dictatorship and tyranny, they have suffered. Please remove the Americans and their proxies from this blessed land.

Oh Allah, Bengal is indeed a blessed land, with more Muslims and mosques there than in the whole of Arabia from Palestine to Iraq, from Turkey to Yemen.

Oh Allah some of us in Bengal are connected to Al-'Iraq by blood as was one our leaders, Hussein Suhrawardy.



Hussein Suhrawardy, important Muslim Bengali leader whose family were originally from Al-'Iraq generations earlier, on the left with Mujib ur Rahman.



Suhrawardy's niece, the wife of the former crown prince of Jordan, her sister was a senior Awami League leader and her nephew is the editor of the Dhaka Tribune in Bangladesh.


Oh Allah we have descendants of the family of the prophet and of the Quraish in our blessed Muslim Bengal. The pain of the people in Al-'Iraq is our pain. Their tears are our tears. Their crying is our crying.

Oh Allah please accept the du'as of the 150 million Muslims of Bangladesh for the suffering of the people of our blessed brother country of Al-'Iraq to stop.

Oh Allah please destroy the plans of those seeking to prolong the suffering of the people of Al-'Iraq.

Oh Allah please bring peace in Al-'Iraq. Peace between Muslim, Christian, Jew and all others.


Oh Allah bless the land of the prophets, the land of civilization and learning, the green land of Al-'Iraq and protect it from its enemies.

Oh Allah protect civilization and humanity of the land of the two rivers from desert backwardness and barbarism.

Oh Allah protect Al-'Iraq from the Khawarij of today, from the mutakafireen.

Oh Allah protect Al-'Iraq from the Americans, the perpetrators of Abu Ghraib.



American female soldier humiliates an 'Iraqi.

Ya Rabbee, Nahnu nuhib al 'Iraq, Nahnu nuhib al mursaleen wal awliya wa sallim 'alaihim.

Ya Rabbee nahnu nuhib Ahmed ar-Riffai.

Oh Allah you have blessed Al-'Iraq with Ahmed Ar-Riffaee. Oh Allah there may never be another Ahmed Ar-Riffaee in Al-'Iraq, but please produce multitudes that are at least 100th of what he was.

Oh Allah you blessed this ummah with shaykh Ahmed Habbal Ar-Rifai.



Shaykh Ahmed Habbal Ar-Rifai, Allah yarhamahu, a "wali" (friend of Allah or "saint") from Syria but of the Rifai.

Oh Allah please bring peace to Al-'Iraq.

Oh Allah, ya Rabbee, ya Al-Azeez please destroy this Khawariji group being used by America against 'Iraq, this "Daesh", and please protect the blessed land of Al-'Iraq from the Khawarij, from the followers of the butcher Saddam Hussain, from the Americans, from all its enemies.

Oh Allah please protect the people of Al-'Iraq, be they Muslim, Christian, Jew.

Oh Allah please protect Baghdad, please protect Kurdistan, please protect the whole of Al-'Iraq.

Please end the suffering of the Muslim ummah, please bring peace to the Muslim ummah, please end their suffering at the hands of the American army, Israeli army, Pakistani army, the Saudis and others

Please bring peace to the Muslim ummah.

Peace and prayers be upon our noble messenger, Muhammad and his noble family and companions and all the prophets and their nations.

All praise be to Allah.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Update:

- The US is sending ships to the Persian Gulf including an aircraft carrier.

- Tony Blair is calling for military action in Iraq (thus conforming to the theory the West needs a war every 10 years for economic reasons, this time the 3rd western war against Iraq).

- There are different reports on the war with some articles claiming under 300 ISIL fighters being killed by the Iraqi army, some reports saying that ISIL are close to Baghdad.



* Bangladesh has supsended sending all citizens to Iraq *


Govt stops sending workers to Iraq

Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 2014-06-14 18:40:24.0 BdST Updated: 2014-06-14 19:15:18.0 BdST

Bangladesh has decided to suspend sending workers to Iraq amid escalation of a sectarian conflict which is reportedly threatening a civil war.


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday also advised Bangladeshis living in Iraq to remain alert and avoid conflict zones.

More than 14,000 Bangladesh nationals are estimated to be working in the war-ravaged Middle Eastern nation, mostly in the construction sector.

The government last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to send 30,000 workers.

The foreign ministry said in a media release they had decided not to send these workers “till confirmation of safe and secure environment there”.

The ministry is in “close touch” with the Bangladesh mission in Baghdad.

“The government of Bangladesh is also closely observing the evolving situation in Iraq”.

However, it says all expatriate Bangladeshis are “safe”.

Bangladesh hopes that Iraq, with international support, would be able to contain the situation with “an inclusive political dialogue with all ethnic groups”.

http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2014/06/14/govt-stops-sending-workers-to-iraq

[Bengal_Tiger]

Iraq conflict: Sunni militant push on Baghdad 'halted'




Iraq's government says the fight back against ISIS has begun


Iraqi government forces, backed by Shia Muslim and Kurdish militias, are reportedly holding back an advance by Sunni militants north of Baghdad.

A number of towns have been retaken from the rebels, but they still control the key cities of Tikrit and Mosul.

Reports speak of heavy clashes round the city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, with mortar shelling of some districts.

A US aircraft carrier has been deployed to the Gulf in response to the escalating violence.

In Tal Afar, inhabited mainly by Sunni and Shia Turkmens, residents told the BBC that troops clashed with militants trying to enter the city.

Government officials, quoted by AP news agency, said the rebels were using rockets captured from troops, and the local garrison had suffered heavy casualties.


The BBC's Jim Muir, reporting from northern Iraq, says government forces are building up in the city of Samarra.

They appear to be preparing for a counter-offensive on Tikrit - the hometown of Iraq's former President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by the US invasion in 2003 - our correspondent says.

On Sunday, three Iraqi soldiers and three Shia militiamen were killed in a mortar attack on a military recruitment centre near the city of Baquba, north-east of Baghdad.

In one town that changed hands, Ishaq, security forces said they had found the incinerated bodies of 12 policemen.

And in an overnight clash in the town of Jalawla, a government helicopter strike killed seven Kurdish fighters by mistake.

Many Sunni rebels are fighting under the banner of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an offshoot from al-Qaeda.

Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has issued a call to arms to fellow Shia, and there are reports that thousands have already joined militias.


On my way into the BBC office [on Sunday] I bumped into a government minister who I know and he told me that there was a real state of panic here a few days ago. Thursday in particular, he said, nobody knew what to say, they could scarcely speak to each other they were so nervous.

But since then, the idea that Shia fighters, Shia volunteers should come forward and back the army up has restored a certain amount of balance here. He said that the government feels a lot more settled at the moment.

Of course you could say that's a problem for the future of this country, if one religious group is setting out to fight another one - and that blatantly. But that is something else, something for the future. For the moment it seems that there is a bit of a sense that things are settling down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27856223

*There has been a "suicide" bombing in Baghdad killing 9.


I ask Allah to help the Iraqi government and army defeat the terrorists.

Iraqis you have the support of 150 million Muslims of Bangladesh.

[25tajik75pashtun]

This is what happens when you let shias in charge of anything - they'll dry the sunnis of their blood and then say they are enemies of the jews. Saddam was and is a million times better than what's going on now.

[Toramana]

Manana Toramana Lala,

What can Pashtuns do?

- Pashtuns need to continue gaining education, to produce more doctors, engineers, scientists, architects etc so that they can form the basis of a future Pashtun state.

- Pashtuns need to produce high level literary content in Pashto including scientific and intellectual works so that Pashto is not seen as an "inferior" vernacular to a more "superior" language such as Urdu/Farsi.

So in the meantime whilst America carries out its atrocities - through its proxies e.g. Al-Qaeda, ISIL, TTP etc - Pashtuns can consolidate the intellectual resources for a future successful Pashtun state, since as of now Pashtuns do not have the military ability to deal with America.

One last thing. The American agenda for global hegemony includes using the "Islamic card" against its rivals, China and Russia. "Al-Qaeda" is basically the American foreign legion, controlled by the Americans and which can be used to attack Russia or China.

America used Pashtuns to defeat the USSR and America wants to use parts of Pakhtunkhwa as a base for Uighur militants to wage war on China.

Anglo-Saxon America and Britain, the "Ferengei", have a deep hatred for Pashtuns and are fully aware of their defeat at the hands of Pashtuns e.g. in 1841 Kabul and are carrying out revenge. The Anglo-Saxon powers did the same to Bengalis in WW2 when they engineered the starvation of 1-3 million Bengalis in a famine.

This was because Bengal - along with Pakhtunkhwa - was the most troublesome region for the British in terms of rebellion.

Thanks, Bengal-Tiger. As a well-wisher of Pashtuns, your suggestions/recommendations are not only worth pondering but also valuable and worth pursuing. I will recommend the same for Pashtuns. That is the way to go.