Interesting piece in LA Times

Anti-war news

Journalist who hurled shoes at President Bush says stunt had been carefully planned

LA Times reports (June 20^th): When Iraqi journalist Muntather Zaidi stood up from his seat and hurled his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a December 2008 news conference in Baghdad, shouting "dog" at him, he was hailed as a hero by many in the Arab world and left many others stunned by what appeared to be a spontaneous act of anger.

But in an exclusive interview, Zaidi said the stunt was something he had carefully planned for years. He said.: "I was just waiting for the right opportunity. I was checking every visit that he [Bush] made so I could bring the Iraqi people's justice upon him. I left my will at my brother's house and told him to open it if I die. I recorded a five-minute long tape four years ago in which I say that I will hit George Bush with a shoe as soon as I get the opportunity. I left it with my brother telling him that, 'If I die, you bring it up and expose it to the world.'"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/president-bush-shoe-thrower-planned-stunt-for-years-he-says.html

From The Independent

Iraq: the most dangerous place on earth for journalists

The Independent reports (June 14^th): Ever since the US-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has been the most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that 89 have been murdered and a further 50 have died in crossfire or other acts of war. Some 117 of the dead journalists, were Iraqi. The CPJ says that Iraq holds the world record for journalists murdered with impunity; nobody has ever been prosecuted for any of the killings.

But, some argue, the threat to freedom of expression in Iraq is changing. Fewer journalists are dying today than a few years ago but journalism itself is beginning to expire under relentless official pressure.

"The real danger to journalism is not killings and kidnappings but the clampdown by the authorities," says Ziad al-Ajili, the head of Journalistic Freedom Observatory, a Baghdad-based media rights organisation.

The JFO, whose office is protected by heavy metal doors, methodically records and protests against the assaults, harassment and detention of reporters by the security forces as well as raids on media outlets and their closure. Its last annual report lists 262 different types of attacks, almost all of them by the state security forces.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-the-most-dangerous-place-on-earth-for-journalists-1999729.html

Paralysis in Iraq

A number of stories this week point to a worsening situation in the aftermath of the elections. On the military front, there are two reports of interest:

2 candidates from Iraq's Sunni-backed party killed

AP reports (June 5^th): Gunmen killed two candidates from the Sunni-backed coalition that won the most seats in Iraq's March parliamentary election, slayings that the alliance said were part of a politically motivated campaign of assassinations.

Neither candidate was expected to take a seat in the new parliament as both failed to win enough votes. But the killings were the third and fourth of candidates from the secular Iraqiya alliance in recent months, raising concerns about political intimidation of the top vote-getting bloc in the March 7 election.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9G5B6L01

Iraqi stalemate stirs militias

Middle East Online reports (June 4^th): Commanders from Iraq’s Sunni and Shia militias say they are ready to fight on behalf of their communities, highlighting concerns that a prolonged deadlock over forming a new government may give way to violence.

Although the militiamen said they had no desire to revive the sectarian war that nearly tore Iraq apart, they also cast doubt on the authorities’ ability to maintain security in the coming months.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=39388

Overall violence rose in May:

Iraqi Violence Rose Again in May

Antiwar.com reports (June 1^st): Iraq has seen its deadliest month of the year and a civilian death toll that more than doubled the previous year. Overall, 275 civilians were reported killed according to numbers furnished by the Iraqi government, and another 520 were wounded. This was slightly more than the tolls for April.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/06/01/iraqi-violence-rose-again-in-may/

and Christian Science Monitor underlines the political impasse:

Iraqis can't get pensions, visas, or permits due to Iraq election limbo

CSM reports (May 28^th): For hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, the delay in seating a new government, which already has lasted nearly three months, has complicated everyday errands and added bureaucratic frustration to lives that are hard enough thanks to persistent violence and the lack of basic utilities.

Licenses, pensions will just have to waitMore than 100,000 new state jobs are on hold, and mundane tasks such as obtaining licenses and registering for pensions are backlogged until a new government is seated, Iraqi officials and Baghdad residents said this week.

Each day the political infighting drags on, more Iraqis begin to question their participation in the March 7 parliamentary elections, which the Obama administration had counted on to pave the way for an unimpeded withdrawal of US forces by the end of next year.

As militants continue a campaign of bombings, assassinations, and high-profile robberies, complaints of a security void are growing. In casual conversations, call-in radio shows, and newspaper cartoons, Iraq's ruling elites are portrayed as Green Zone dwellers with 24-hour electricity, personal bodyguards, and little empathy for the suffering of ordinary folk.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100528/wl_csm/304571