On June 17th, 2008, a U.S. military judge dismissed charges against another Marine connected to the massacre of twenty-four unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. Of the eight Marines originally charged in the case, only one still faces prosecution. Criminal charges have been dismissed against six of the Marines and a seventh Marine was acquitted.

The Haditha Massacre occurred on the morning of November 19th 2005, after a roadside bomb struck a Humvee carrying US troops in the western Iraqi town of Haditha. The bomb killed one marine and injured two others. The marines responded by busting down doors of neighboring houses. 24 men, women and children were killed when marines burst into their houses after the blast and shot them dead in their nightclothes.

Democracy Now: Haditha Massacre Victims' Kin Outraged as U.S. Marines Go Free | Sixth Marine Cleared in Haditha Killing | Camp Pendleton Baby Killer Marines Set Free | Charges dropped against third Marine | Wikipedia: Haditha killings

Previous Indybay Coverage Of Haditha Massacre

On May 30th, tens of thousands of Iraqis protested in a number of cities against the proposed agreement between the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Bush administration that would codify a long-term US military occupation.

Muqtada al-Sadr is demanding that any US-Iraqi security agreement be submitted to a national referendum.

Sources close to the office of Ayatollah Ali Sistani have said that he has called on the Iraqi prime minister to deal cautiously with the agreement and called on him to organize a national referendum on it. Iranian TV has claimed that Sistani has said he will not allow a US-Iraq agreement "as long as he is alive." There are also rumors that he has approved attacks on US forces in Iraq. Officially he has said little but has stated on his website that Iraqis are forbidden to provide food for US occupiers.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq, the largest bloc in parliament and cornerstone of the al-Maliki government, issued a statement through his office. He spoke of the existence of: "a national consensus on rejecting many of the points put forward by the American side in the agreement, because they detract from national sovereignty." He said that such a consensus existed in the National Security Council, which is composed of the leaders of the major political blocs in the parliament.

Thousands of Iraqis protest agreement for indefinite US occupation | Thousands of Sadrists Protest Security Pact With US | Haeri Fatwa Against Security Agreement | Sadr demands Referendum on SOFA | Sistani Opposes SOFA | Sistani Forbids Feeding Americans | Sistani Aide: Jihad Fatwa May Come | Will Sistani Declare Jihad on US?

Fighting between Iraqi government forces and militias loyal to Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr erupted Tuesday March 25th in the southern port city of Basra. A new civil war is breaking out in Iraq as American-backed Iraqi government forces, many of whom are members of SCIRI's Badr militia, fight rival Shia militiamen tied to Sadr's Mehdi army. Fighting Tuesday quickly engulfed Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood and spread to other towns as the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, gave fighters of the Mehdi Army 72 hours to surrender their weapons.

On Wednesday March 26th, at least 16 rockets were fired into Baghdad's Green Zone following a surrender ultimatum from Iraq's prime minister. On Thursday, one of southern Iraq's two main oil export pipelines was severely damaged in a bomb attack.

The US got drawn into the fighting on Friday March 28th. US planes bombed alleged Mehdi Army positions both in Basra and in Baghdad. Despite the US intervention, government troops were unable to pierce Mehdi Army defenses or over-run their positions. The police force in Basra suffered numerous mutinies and instances of insubordination, with policemen refusing to fire on the Mehdi Army.

On Sunday, March 30th, Sadr called on followers to cease offensive operations. Reportedly, a parliamentary delegation from Maliki's political party defied him by going off to the holy seminary city of Qom in Iran and negotiating directly with Sadr and the leader of the Quds Brigades of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Qasim Sulaymani.

Iran Brokers Call for Ceasefire Bush reduced to Irrelevancy | Sadr orders fighters to stand down | The sieges of Basra and Sadr City: another US war crime in Iraq | Police Mutiny, Refuse to attack Sadrists; Clashes continue in Basra | A Family In Baghdad: Five years after occupation of Iraq | Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki | Iraqi government offensive in Basra threatens to trigger Shiite uprising | Bombers attack Basra oil pipeline | Rockets hit Baghdad Green Zone | Iraq implodes as Shia fights Shia | Dozens Dead in Basra Clashes; Mahdi Army Occupies Kut | Iraqi regime launches assault on Basra | Sadrists clash with Iraqi, US forces in Basra | Sadrists' Civil Disobedience Campaign | Sadrists Threaten General Strike

On December 23rd, Turkey bombed northern Iraq for the second time in a week, in an attack on suspected bases of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. The first cross-border attack, the largest since 2003, took place in the early hours of Sunday December 16th. Up to 50 fighter jets bombed targets up to 100 kilometres inside Iraq. The army followed up the air strikes with a series of artillery barrages on border villages.

Massoud Barzani , the leader of Iraq's northern Kurdish region, condemned the Turkish air strikes, saying innocent civilians were killed. The Turkish ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, announced on December 19th that the US military provided real-time intelligence to Turkey and was "very helpful" in allowing Turkey to launch the attacks. Ann Scott Tyson and Robin Wright of the Washington Post have confirmed from Washington sources that the US provided to the Turkish government intelligence on the PKK in Iraq.

Turkish Ambassador: US was Helpful | US backs Turkish military attacks on northern Iraq | Iraq Kurds warn Turkey over raids | Turkey 'in new Iraq air strikes' | Turkey Bombs again | Turkish aircraft 'bomb PKK bases' | US Provided Real Time Intelligence for Turkish Strikes on Iraq | Was Rice's trip to Iraqi Kurdistan Deliberately Sabotaged? | Turkey planes bomb north Iraq | Turkey Bombs N. Iraq | Kurdish Press Freedoms Curtailed | Iraq's Kurdish Jews Cautiously Return to Homeland

Past Indybay Coverage Of Iraqi Kurdistan: Tensions Rise Between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey | Kurds Call For Independence From Iraq

The United Nations has called for immediate action to assist about two million Iraqi children affected by poor nutrition, disease and disrupted education. UNICEF, the UN's childrens' fund, said young Iraqis were getting caught up in violence, with hundreds killed or injured. An average of 25,000 children a month have fled violence or intimidation this year, with their families seeking shelter across Iraq.

The widely reported drop in violence coinciding with the US "surge" has been to some extent a result of the US arming of groups openly hostile to both the Iraqi central government and the US occupation.

The World Socialist Website reports:
For all the optimism in Washington about the latest figures, a more considered analysis reveals that the “surge”, far from ending the quagmire for US imperialism in Iraq, has qualitatively deepened the crisis. The Bush administration has failed to achieve its stated aim of fashioning a pro-US Iraqi government that is accepted as legitimate by the majority of the Iraqi population. ... [T]he main reason for the decline in intra-Iraqi violence is the completion of this sectarian cleansing, not the deployment of thousands more US troops.

The US military has made no attempt to prevent the ethnic cleansing take place. Instead, it has assisted the segregation by throwing up 12-foot concrete walls around Sunni suburbs of Baghdad.... In Baghdad’s densely populated Shiite working class slum of Sadr City, arrangements have been made with representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, which is blamed for much of the violence against Sunnis... In the walled-off Sunni enclaves, the US military has gone further and actually recruited Sunni insurgents and militias into “local citizens’ groups”. Their members are paid $300 per month for not attacking US troops, while their leaders are allowed to preside like modern-day feudal vassals... The US payment of militias is widespread across the so-called Sunni Triangle in central Iraq. An estimated 192 separate armed groups with over 77,000 fighters have been formed by Sunni tribes and “local citizens’ groups” over the past year.

The Iraqi government has become aware of the danger of the US backed militias and is now demanding that they be disbanded. Muqtada al-Sadr's recent call for a halt in fighting by his followers could also be temporary; Sadr's immediate aim appears to be one of gaining more political power in regional elections while training in Najaf to achieve greater religious legitimacy, but it is unclear if he can retain a hold over his followers if he fails to respond to attacks by the US military and other groups.

What's Really Happened During the Surge? | What has the US "surge" in Iraq accomplished? | Al-Hakim Seeks Constraints on Awakening Councils | Iraq vows to disband Sunni groups | Iraq resistance still in operation | After four years and 174 dead, Britain's lead role in Basra is over | Muqtada al-Sadr Regroups | Moqtada Al-Sadr Pursues Education for Ayatollah Status | Muqtada Hits the Books | 'Westernised' women being killed in Basra

Sept 21st Update: An Iraqi interior ministry investigation has found that Blackwater is "100% guilty" of the incident in which 11 Iraqi civilians were killed, but the US security firm has resumed limited operations in the Iraqi capital.
Iraq Relents on Blackwater | Democracy Now Report | WSWS Report

On Monday September 17th Iraq's Interior Ministry revoked the license of Blackwater USA and demanded that all employees leave the country. The ban followed a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead. The Interior Ministry said authorities will prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force and "all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice." On Tuesday, the Iraqi government softened its stance, saying that the ban on Blackwater was not permanent, but warned it planned to review the legal immunity of all private security companies. Some commentators doubt that Blackwater will be expelled at all or if any US nationals will be turned over to Iraqi authorities.

Blackwater USA is a private military company and security firm. Founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark, it is based in North Carolina where it operates a tactical training facility which it claims is the world's largest. The company trains more than 40,000 people a year, from all the military services and a variety of other agencies.

In 2003, Blackwater landed its first high-profile contract: guarding Ambassador L. Paul Bremer in Iraq. On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American private military contractors from Blackwater who were conducting delivery for food caterers. The bodies were then hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Family members of those killed later sued the company for wrongful death. Blackwater has countersued for $10 million on the grounds that the lawsuit is in violation of contractual agreements signed by the men prior to deployment.

Since June 2004, Blackwater has been paid more than $320 million out of a $1 billion, five-year State Department budget for the Worldwide Personal Protective Service, which protects U.S. officials and some foreign officials in conflict zones. In 2006, Blackwater won the remunerative contract to protect the U.S. embassy in Iraq, which is the largest American embassy in the world.

It is estimated by the Pentagon and company representatives that there are 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, and some estimates are as much as 100,000, though no official figures exist.

Can Iraq (or Anyone) Hold Blackwater Accountable for Killing Iraqi Civilians? | Iraq expands US security firm probe | Iraq row grounds US diplomats | Largest Mercenary Army: Blackwater | Jeremy Scahill Responds to Blackwater CEO Erik Prince | Making a Killing: America's Private Army and the Business of War | The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army | The American "civilian contractors" killed in Falluja | Blackwater Plans for New Military Facility Near San Diego

On Thursday August 16th, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a new coalition that will govern Iraq. The alliance contains no Sunnis and resulted from the resignation of five ministers from to the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) on the previous Wednesday.

Amid the political chaos and lack of cooperation between Sunnis and Shia, violence is getting worse.

On Wednesday August 15th 4 car bombs killed over 200 people and wounded many more in the Northern Iraqi villages of of Al-Khataniyah and Al-Adnaniyah. The targeted villages were inhabited by Kurdish Yazidis, who have for years faced persecution for their pre-Islamic beliefs. Tensions between Yazidis and local Muslims has grown since a Yazidi woman was filmed being stoned to death by her community in April for trying to marry a Sunni man. The death toll from Wednesdays's car bombings may rise to 500, which would make them by far the deadliest bombings since the US occupation began.

On Tuesday, August 14th, a bridge linking Baghdad to northern Iraq collapsed when a bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a central section. Over ten people were killed as their cars plummeted into the water. Also on Tuesday,"more than 50 gunmen dressed in Iraqi security forces uniforms and using 17 official vehicles broke into an Oil Ministry compound in eastern Baghdad Tuesday and abducted a senior deputy of the oil minister, and four other officials".

On August 11th, a roadside bomb killed the governor and police chief of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiya.

US troops levels are currently ramped up as part of a "surge" that the US had advertised as a way to reduce violence and help bring about political stability. The US military has announced a new offensive against what it claims to be “Iranian-supported extremist elements” within Iraq’s Shiite population and the White House has leaked reports that it plans to classify a branch of the Iranian military as a terrorist group. Iraqi's ruling SCIRI party has a militia called the Badr Brigade that was trained and supplied by Iran before the fall of Saddam , but it is more likely the US is referring to the Sadrist movement, which was fully Iraqi in origin.

Day 1567 in Iraq | Thousands of Sadrists Protest Arrests | Iraqi Politics in Tatters, One Month Before Report | Four US Troops Killed PKK Threatens Iraq, Turkey | Iraqi women: Prostituting ourselves to feed our children | Four British soldiers killed in Basra | Why Soldiers aren't Terrorists: Escalation with Iran

Two Iraqi trade union leaders on a speaking tour of the United States are calling for a rejection of the new oil law being considered in the Iraqi parliament. The law was secretly written in Houston in favor of the U.S. oil companies long before it was ever seen by any member of the Iraqi parliament. If passed, the new oil law would effectively turn over all new oil fields to the control of foreign oil companies.

Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Southern Oil Company Union (affiliated with the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions) worked for the Southern Oil Company in Basra for 28 years. Umara was detained by Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1998 for union activities. In the post-Saddam years he has worked on his union’s negotiating team with both the Oil Ministry and British occupation authorities, defending the rights of oil company workers. His colleague Hashmeya Mushin Hussein, President of the Electrical Utility Workers Union, is the first woman to head a national union in Iraq. The Electrical Utility Workers are affiliated with the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW).

When asked what will happen if U.S. troops withdraw, Umara replied. Wherever U.S. forces are, the killing and carnage is more. Where they are not present, there is no suicide bombing. Both leaders clearly indicated that the U.S. occupation itself creates sectarian violence and reduces security.

On Sunday, June 10th, the two Iraqi trade union leaders from Basra spoke before an enthusiastic audience of approximately 125 people in the Laborers Hall in San Jose. On Tuesday June 12th, they spoke in San Francisco at an event co-sponsored by USLAW, United for Peace and Justice and the American Friends Service Committee. Organized by U.S. Labor Against the War, the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, Laborers Local 270, South Bay Mobilization, and a score of other labor and peace organizations, the programs were part of a national speaking tour to help raise awareness about the conditions facing Iraqi workers.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Iraqi Unions Speak Out Against U.S. Occupation | On U.S. tour, Iraqi unionists reject oil grab | Voices of Iraqi Workers- Solidarity Tour | Iraqi Union Leaders Speak Out in Santa Cruz

On June 12th, the minarets of the Al-Askariya mosque in Samarra, one of the most revered shrines of Shiite Islam, were reduced to rubble. The mosque was supposed to be one of the most carefully defended locations in Iraq due to its religious significance to Shiites and the violence that followed the bombing of its golden dome on February 22, 2006.

The Sadr Bloc in parliament is now threatening to suspend their participation in legislation in protest against the failure to rebuild and protect the Askariya shrine. The Sadrists are blaming "the hidden hand of the Occupation" for the bombing. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called for "self-discipline" and "refusal to target innocents in reprisal", but there appear to have been Sunni-Shiite clashes at mosques in the southern port city of Basra and some Sunni mosques were attacked elsewhere .

Read More | On The Media On The Samarra Bombing | Demonstrations in Sadr City, Basra, Kashmir. 3 Sunni Mosques Torched | Samarra Fallout | Sunni Mosque Demolished. Turks Plan Buffer Zone inside Iraq | Some Mosques Attacked, but Iraq Relatively Calm | More Sunni Mosques Bombed in Iraq | Gunmen set al-Basheer mosque on fire in Mahaweel | Attack on Iraqi Shrine Prompts Fears of Retribution | Samarra Shrine Attacked | Explosions destroy Shia shrine minarets

US commander General David Petraeus has ordered that at least 10 areas of Baghdad be entirely sealed off by walls. Five extra US brigades and additional Iraqi Army units have been deployed to Iraq’s capital to carry out the operation. Once an area is enclosed, Petraeus’s tactics call for American and Iraqi government forces to maintain bases and conduct aggressive patrols aimed at flushing out and killing or capturing insurgents.

The western Baghdad district of Ghazaliyah has already been walled off. The 15,000 residents of the area are subjected to curfews and can only enter and leave through one checkpoint, where they are subjected to repeated identity checks and searches.

Since April 10, US forces have been constructing a five-kilometer wall made of six-ton concrete sections along the highway dividing Adhamiyah from its Shiite neighbors. On April 23rd, residents the Sunni enclave demonstrated and shouted slogans against the wall. About 2,000 people marched through al-Adhamiyah carrying banners saying that their district was being turned into "a big prison".

On April 23rd, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki, called for a stop to the construction of the al-Adhamiyah wall, but the US military has said that it will continue building the wall. Colonel Don Farris, of the US army, said that after briefly halting construction of the barrier, the Iraqi government had now ordered the building of the wall to continue. "The Americans will provoke more trouble with this," one resident, Arkan Saeed, told the BBC. "They're telling us the wall is to protect us from the Shia militia and they're telling the Shia they're protecting them from us. "But it's the Americans who started all the sectarian violence in the first place."

Riverbend From Baghdad Burning writes:
Which is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans). It's a wall that is intended to separate and isolate what is now considered the largest 'Sunni' area in Baghdad- let no one say the Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans cooked up, it will 'protect' A'adhamiya, a residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads couldn't empty of Sunnis.
...
The Wall is the latest effort to further break Iraqi society apart. Promoting and supporting civil war isn't enough, apparently- Iraqis have generally proven to be more tenacious and tolerant than their mullahs, ayatollahs, and Vichy leaders. It's time for America to physically divide and conquer- like Berlin before the wall came down or Palestine today. This way, they can continue chasing Sunnis out of "Shia areas" and Shia out of "Sunni areas".
...
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.

Al-Ahram: Dividing Baghdad | US army to continue Baghdad wall | Sadr Condemns Wall | Iraqi Press on Baghdad Wall | "We'll be Like the Palestinians!": Sunnis Protest Baghdad's "Prison Wall" | Iraqis oppose US plan to divide Baghdad into ghettos | Iraqi crowds Reject Security Wall | More US Segregation Barriers in Baghdad | Baghdad: Cementing the Divide | US Walls off Adhamiya | Iraqis Decry US "Separation Wall" | Robert Fisk: America's plan for Baghdad