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Iraq Dispatches: Statement of the Council of Nineveh Province Notables, Sheikhs and Uleima

This open letter describes the terrible crimes committed by some Iraqi groups, condoned by the government. It mentions sectarian crimes and rape of Iraqi women; ongoing "ethnic cleansing" carried out by Beshmarga militias in Tel Afar and Mosul; massacres, kidnappings, use of poison gases, napalm, cluster and microwave bombs; crimes by the occupation forces; and more such heinous acts, and charges that the Iraqi Government is complicit in these atrocities. The writers call upon the UN, League of Arab Nations, Human Rights organisations, and others to heed their call for justice.

In light of this -- and previous reports from Dahr Jamail and others who are actually there on the ground in Iraq -- I am afraid that Iraq is on the brink of civil war. Bush and Blair indeed unleashed havoc of heretofore unimagined magnitude upon the people of Iraq. It makes me wonder how those two mindless chicken-hawk warriors and their legions can so insouciantly sleep at night, and parrot their inane platitudes by day. It also makes me wonder why the International Community is not reacting to this ongoing mayhem, and why people everywhere are not marching en masse to bring about a stop to this violence. Has the world become so complacent to the deaths, cries, pain and suffering of our fellow human beings? Have we lost all sense of civil decency? In this fifth year of the new millenium, have we travelled back in time instead of forward? Why do we condone barbarous acts perpetrated upon a segment of our fellow inhabitants on this planet? Is it not up to each and every one of us to do our utmost to bring this barbarism to its end?

" Statement of the Council of Nineveh Province Notables, Sheikhs and Uleima.

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful

A memorandum from Nineveh Province Dignitaries, Sheikhs and Uleima to:

General Secretary of the United Nations

General Secretary of the League of Arab Nations

General Secretary of the Organisation of Islamic States

Kings and Presidents of the Arab and Islamic States

All Humanitarian and Human Rights Organisations

In the light of the difficult circumstance that our country and people in general and the Province of Nineveh in particular are going through, a number of dignitaries and tribal chiefs from the Nineveh Province have met to discuss the tragic condition of the people of the Province under the shadow of the deficiency and absence of legislative and executive authorities and their security and military authorities which have changed to become tools for the oppression of the people of the Province
and to add further to their misery.

After discussions, it was decided to raise the following memorandum in the hope it may find some response to this call to protect this Arabic Islamic city and to assist our people in the Province of Nineveh.

We demand an International Committee of Enquiry in addition to an Iraqi committee formed by representatives of Uleima, Sheikhs and Notables drawn from central and southern Iraq to investigate the crimes committed by the American occupation forces assisted by members of the Interior Special Forces and National Guard. We especially point to the sectarian crimes and the rape of Iraqi women which count as grave precedent in Iraq. The Iraqi Government is partner to all of these crimes in the
absence of the media and in particular the killing and kidnapping of journalists by mercenaries of the occupation after terrorising and excluding satellite stations and Arabic and International media preventing the coverage of what is going on to enable the slaughter of Iraqi people without witnesses.

As we lay before the international public opinion and international human rights organisations the truth of what is happening in Tel Afar of the extreme use of force and the use of internationally forbidden weapons of poison gases, cluster, microwave and napalm bombs, we demand autopsies be carried out on the corpses of our sons who fell in the barbaric aggression by international medical bodies to verify the
inhuman practices carried out by the American forces of occupation and to expose the stooge militias that participated in the massacre of Tel Afar.

We warn as responsible people of the dangers of the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Tel Afar and the left bank of the city of Mosul and surrounding villages carried out by Beshmarga militias of the Kurdish parties and Badir Brigade “which are acting as regular forces of the National Guard” aided by the silence of the government where in
particular the homes of the Sunna in the city of Tel Afar are destroyed after the men are arrested and women and children are forcibly evicted under threat of death and rape.

We demand an end to the organised campaign of arrest against the Sunna. About fifty to a hundred sons, sheikhs and teachers of the Province are arrested only to be released days later after the payment of bribes which exposes how low the perpetrators are and their aim of breaking the morale of the people of the Province.

We demand the trial of the ministers of defence and interior for what they have caused to our people in Tel Afar and Mosul as a result of crimes rejected by human conscience. We also hold the government responsible for the exterminations and bloody butchery which took place in the city of Tel Afar and the extreme cruelty meted out to Sunna civilians both Arab and Turcoman.

We also demand the removal of the Governor of Nineveh Duraid Kashmoola who was too weak to do anything to assist the people of the Province and for keeping silent about all the assassinations and arrests carried out the Kurdish gangs and the Forces of Badir against the sons and notables of the Province. We also site his silence and failure to put a stop to Kurdish expansion which has encompassed all the villages of the Province. Kurdish gangs have abrogated the right to the control of all towns and villages surrounding Mosul where they treat all non Arabs even though they are not Kurdish such as Yezidis, Assyrians and Shabak, as Kurds by force. They also appointed party functionaries over such villages, took down the Iraqi flags and raised Kurdish flags instead.

Kurdish militias have in fact occupied the left bank of the city of Mosul itself and took down the Iraqi flags then raised Kurdish flags instead. The Governor has not stirred because the Province is lead by the Kurdish deputy Governor Khisro Kolani. He is the very person responsible for leading all of the extermination and assassination
operations against the Uleima, the sons of the Province, its sheikhs and teachers. All of the people of Mosul know that he is the person responsible for the assassination of the previous Governor Dr. Osama Yousif Kashmoola because he made a stand against the Kurdish tide.

While we warn of the gravity of the security situation in the Province in general and Tel Afar in particular we lay the responsibility for the latest sectarian escalation upon the party militias working as regular forces such as the National Guard as represented by the wolf and thunder brigades. In addition to arbitrary arrests, inhuman treatment, violation of residents’ rights and the theft of their belongings they shout upon entering towns in the Province “The army of AlHusain is here to break
the noses of the Sunnis”. This is a simple indicator of the sectarianism and hatred of such groups which was not familiar to either Sunni or Shia Iraqis and is a further clear indicator of the treachery of the parties that entered from beyond the borders of the Iraqi people.

We demand the withdrawal of all militias and all armed manifestations from the city of Mosul where these militias have established check points and distributed weapons to young militia men in an effort to terrorise the residents of Mosul. They have cut off roads arbitrarily while the Governor does nothing; in fact he is the last to know. They have hoisted Kurdish flags over buildings in order to establish a de
facto state as if we live in a country that is not Iraq. Every one knows that Mosul (despite our belief that all Iraqi cities are for all Iraqis) is an Arab city from old while the Kurdish residents in the left bank are those who migrated in last few years under pressure of difficult circumstances encountered in their areas. The people of Mosul opened their arms to their brothers and embraced them not to turn their city Kurdish because they believed in the unity of this country. This is in
sharp contrast with the banning of Iraqi Arabs from owning, building or investing in the northern areas. In addition there is a campaign of harassment to non Kurdish travellers to the north of Iraq.

We protest at the news blackout and total silence practiced by international organisations and human rights organisations towards what is taking place in Tel Afar and Mosul.

We protest at the news blackout and total silence practiced by Arab satellite stations towards what happened and is happening in Tel Afar and Mosul.

We protest the Arab, Islamic and International silence towards the use of weapons of mass destruction against our people in Tel Afar and demand an International Committee of Enquiry similar to the one investigating the death of Al-Hariri or is the blood of the people of Iraq in Tel Afar does not warrant investigating?

With God’s Peace and Blessings

The Council of Nineveh Province Notables, Sheikhs and Uleima.

Mosul 22/12/2005 "

http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Wamidh_Fallujah.htm#Mosul

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posted by Annamarie at 8:09 PM