Death in Babylon

Brig. Gen. Qais al-Ma’muri, chief of the Iraqi Police in Babil (Babylon) province south of Baghdad was killed along with two of his bodyguards by a roadside bomb today, the NYT reported.
Iraq-affairs expert Reidar Visser writes in a communication that he says I can share most of with you*, that

    The news about the assassination of Babel’s police chief Qays al-Ma‘muri today is particularly tragic to those who are hoping for the restoration of a non-sectarian Iraq where ethno-religious identities are in the background. For several years, Ma‘muri had stood out as an honest figure of authority in the mixed governorate of Babel, and had fought hard against militias regardless of their sectarian affiliations.
    Already, some newswire reports speak of “suspicion towards al-Qaida”. In the absence of further evidence, such accusations should be treated with caution. In several cases of violence in the Shiite-dominated parts of Iraq – including Basra before the imposition of a state of emergency in May 2006, and Najaf during the battle with the “Soldiers of Heaven” in January 2007 – vague references to al-Qaida were used by Iraqi government sources to gloss over episodes that clearly featured elements of intra-Shiite conflict.

Visser reproduces part of an informative May 2006 report from the NYT on Ma’mouri’s problems with the Shiite militias, and adds this:

    only a few days ago, Iraqi media reported renewed attempts by the [IISC]-led provincial council to get rid of Ma‘muri by having him transferred to another part of the country. Also, there have been reports about conflicts between Ma‘muri and the Sadrists.

Today’s NYT story, which has been reported by a number of the paper’s Iraqi employees, quotes the head of Babil’s security committee, Hassan Watwet, as saying: “The primary suspect is al-Qaeda, but we do not rule out the second suspect, the militias.”
So with vicious violence continuing in many parts of Iraq outside of Baghdad, might we suppose that Petraeus’s famous “surge” had the effect of displacing some portion of the violence from the Central Baghdad areas that he has now largely “quadrillaged off” with Israeli Wall-type concrete barriers into the rest of the country?
Kirkuk, meanwhile, is also shaping up to be a huge, and hugely contested issue…

* Reidar is trying to build up the (no-cost) subscription list for the Historiae.org website on which he posts these communications. So if you want to see the whole text of his analysis, and others like it in the future, you’ll need to go there and subscribe.

2 thoughts on “Death in Babylon”

  1. Ma‘muri had stood out as an honest figure of authority in the mixed governorate of Babel, and had fought hard against militias regardless of their sectarian affiliations.
    Yes he is Honest that’s why he killed, otherwise there are allot of corrupted doggy official selected and promoted by occupier they are still alive and we did not heard any attempted of assassination against them(may be just Ahmad Chalabi twice temped).
    So the question why Iraq loosing people? question need to be asked with consideration of the security of these honest who are far more important that those corrupted guys which are more secured.
    Already, some newswire reports speak of “suspicion towards al-Qaida”. In the absence of further evidence, such accusations should be treated with caution. In several cases of violence in the Shiite-dominated parts of Iraq – including Basra
    AIQ looks the best pin that hook every thing in Iraq but who knows what AIQ? we hear from time to time arrest made of very important leaders and Ameer but nothing tolled as far of that bit of news and what information Iraqi or US got from them who support them but the dram keep AIQ name keep dominated the news from Iraq with ugly killing and acts in name of Islam.
    Just to add one thing Helena you may forgot here IISC headed by Al-Hakim the father and the son they pressing hard for split southern Iraq from the center which very oppose by southern mainstream this very important and hot issue that still looks IISC using assassinations tactic to achieve his will which is no surprise here as Bader Militia is the backbone for Al-Hakim party and members/force.
    It might be useful to bring your attention to the latest news that comes from Iraqi sources in regards the troubled situations in southern Iraq:
    Ma‘muri had stood out as an honest figure of authority in the mixed governorate of Babel, and had fought hard against militias regardless of their sectarian affiliations.
    Yes he is Honest that’s why he killed, otherwise there are a lot of corrupted doggy official selected and promoted by occupier they are still alive no one try to kill the or any attempted of assassination against them (may be just Ahmad Chalabi twice attemped).
    So the question why Iraq loosing honest figures? Question need to be asked with consideration of security of these honest who are far more important that those corrupter guys which are more secured.
    Already, some newswire reports speak of “suspicion towards al-Qaida”. In the absence of further evidence, such accusations should be treated with caution. In several cases of violence in the Shiite-dominated parts of Iraq – including Basra
    AIQ looks the best pin that hook every thing in Iraq but who knows what AIQ? we hearing from time to time about the arrest made of very important leaders and Ameers but nothing told as far as that bit of news and what information Iraqi or US got from them who support them but the dram keep AIQ name keep dominated the news from Iraq with ugly killing and acts in name of Islam.
    Just to add one thing Helena you may forgot here IISC headed by Al-Hakim the father and the son both pressing hard for split southern Iraq from the center which there are opposition from southern Iraq mainstream people this very important and hot issue, IISC using assassinations tactic to achieve his will which is no surprise here as Bader Militia is the backbone for Al-Hakim party and members/force.
    It might be useful to bring your attention to the latest news that comes from Iraqi sources in regards the situations in southern Iraq:
    Reuters
    Published: November 22, 2007, 00:11.

    Baghdad: More than 300,000 Iraqis including 600 Shiite tribal leaders
    have signed a petition accusing Iran of sowing “disorder” in southern
    Iraq, a group of shaikhs involved in the campaign said. .

    The shaikhs showed Reuters two thick bundles of notes which contained
    original signatures. The shaikhs said more than 300,000 people had
    signed the pages.

    http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/print_friendly_version.jsp?global_name=/channels/gulfnews_com/articles/07/11/22/10169423.html
    – مصدر عسكري : سكان محافظة البصرة يضيقون ذرعاً بالمجاميع المسلحة (الصباح الجديد)
    ذكر مصدر عسكري رفيع المستوى لصحيفة “الصباح الجديد” ان هناك دورا خطرا تلعبة مجاميع مسلحة تابعة للحرس الثوري الايراني في محافظة البصرة مثل ” قوات القدس الولي الفقيه” حيث تقيم لها في ايران معسكرات لتدريب اكثر العناصر المسلحة الموزعين الى مجاميع مختلفة.
    واوضح المصدر ان هذه المجاميع المسلحة , تضم سرايا خاصة واسلحة ثقيلة مثل صواريخ كرار 1وكرار2 والتي يصل مداها الى 27 كلم اضافة الى العبوات الناسفة العادية الخراسانية والعبوات التي تسمى بـ “الاسلامية” التي تقفز الى الشارع وتنفجر وهي من صنع ايراني, مشيرا ان هناك عناصر اخرى مسلحة موالية لايران ولهذه المجاميع مستشارون عسكريون ايرانيون , مؤكدا ان تلك المجاميع الخاصة قد فرضت سيطرتها على عصب الحياة في المدينة التي ضاق سكانها ذرعا بهم , خاصة وانها تقاسمت الكثير من الممتلكات العامة بينها .
    http://marsadiraq.com/index.php?show=news&action=article&id=17586

  2. وقل الجنابي في تصريحات لـ”راديو سوا”:
    “نحن نعتقد أن هناك جهات خارجية، بالإضافة إلى الجهات السياسية، لأن السيد اللواء أغلق مكاتب بعض الأحزاب في ناحية جبلة، مكاتب للمجلس الأعلى وحزب الدعوة، ومنظمة بدر، لأنه وجد فيها عبوات ناسفة وأسلحة ثقيلة. لكل شئ ضريبة وهذه ضريبة العمل الوطني”.
    وأشار الجنابي إلى أن اللواء المعموري كان يحمّل الأحزاب الدينية في العراق مسؤولية تردي الأوضاع، بقوله:
    “أنا جلست معه كثيراً، والرجل كان يقول إن سبب فشل إدارة القانون في العراق، هو أن الأحزاب الإسلامية هي التي تدير الساحة العراقية”.
    http://www.radiosawa.com/arabic_news.aspx?id=1455542&cid=24

Comments are closed.