The Militant, NY
March 5 2005

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U.S.-led forces in Iraq stage offensive along the Euphrates
(front page)

BY SAM MANUEL

In late February, the U.S. military opened a new offensive centered
on the town of Ramadi and several other cities along the Euphrates
River in the Anbar province, west of Baghdad. The same Marine
division that led the assault on Fallujah three months ago is also
heading this offensive, which includes a section of the Iraqi armed
forces.
Dubbed `Operation River Blitz,’ the Anbar offensive is a continuation
of the second phase of the Iraq war that began with the November
Fallujah assault. Its primary objective is to destroy the elite units
of the Iraqi army from the deposed Baath Party regime of Saddam
Hussein, which maintained much of their weaponry and cohesion as they
melted away in the face of the U.S.-led takeover of Baghdad in April
2003. These Baathist units have been the backbone of the withering
campaign of bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, and assassinations
directed at the U.S.-imposed interim government in Iraq and the
occupation forces.

A measure of the increasing isolation of the Baathists was the
response to a February 28 suicide car bombing in the Shiite town of
Hillah, which killed 135 people and wounded 141. It was the deadliest
single bomb attack of the war. The blast mainly killed young police
and Iraqi national guard recruits waiting at a clinic for medical
checkups. Shoppers in a nearby market, including women and children,
also died. A statement on the Internet by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s
al-Qaeda in Iraq took responsibility for the bombing. The statement
was not immediately verified.

Associated Press reported that on March 1 more than 2,000 Iraqis held
a spontaneous demonstration outside the clinic, chanting `No to
terrorism!’ `No to Baathism and Wahhabism!’ Wahhabism is a form of
Sunni Islam adhered to by Osama bin Laden. Some also condemned
interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi or local officials for failing to
prevent the attack.

A black banner hung outside the market offering condolences for
`innocent martyrs of this rural southern town at the hands of the
sinful traitorous terrorists during the cowardly attack,’ the Los
Angeles Times reported.

Meanwhile, several developments highlight further the instability of
the newly elected Iraqi government and the political space that has
opened for working people and oppressed groups since the collapse of
Hussein’s party police state. Leaders of the Kurdish slate that won
the second largest number of votes in the January 30 elections have
outlined their conditions for entering a bloc with Shiite-led parties
to form a new government. They include strengthening the Kurd’s
autonomy in northeastern Iraq and Kurdish control of the province
that contains the oil-rich city Kirkuk.

`Operation River Blitz’
U.S.-led forces began operations in late February in the towns of
Ramadi, Hit, Baghdadi, Haqlaniyah, and Haditha – all in the Anbar
province west of Baghdad. The Hussein regime had maintained a strong
base of support in the Sunni Arab population of the province, and
since Hussein’s fall, the Baathist-led insurgency has operated with
relative freedom. Residents of Ramadi started to flee the city, many
fearing a repeat of the U.S. assault on Fallujah last November,
Reuters reported. A curfew is in effect from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
Checkpoints have been set up throughout the city and at least 100
individuals have been detained, al-Jazeera TV reported. `Unmanned
drones, their engines buzzing like lawn mowers, regularly scan the
city’s warren of alleys,’ the Christian Science Monitor reported
February 24 from the city of Hit. U.S. Marines have detained all
former police officers there. Last October the police allowed armed
insurgents to take over the police station without a fight, the
Monitor reports. The U.S. military suspects the police of
sympathizing with the Baathists.

In Haqlaniyah, U.S. warplanes reportedly dropped 500-pound bombs on
targets, while an AC-130 gunship fired 40 mm rounds in support of
U.S. troops.

At a February 22 Pentagon briefing in Washington, Gen. David
Rodriguez said the operation is expected to be of a `significantly
lesser degree’ than what took place in Fallujah. In the current
operation the Marines intend to `ride that fine line…where we don’t
spoil the goodwill that’s here…while still having enough force so if
the enemy decides to fight we can kill them,’ said Lt. Col. Steven
Dinauer. To that end, said the Monitor, in addition to their regular
complement of tanks, mortars, and grenades, the Marines have also
brought along a lawyer, $20,000 to pay for damages, and dozens of
soccer balls.

In his Pentagon briefing General Rodriguez noted that attacks on
U.S., Iraqi, and civilian targets have been `down a little bit since
the election.’ He also said that although the attacks on Shiites
during the Muslim Ashura holiday have been bloody they were a third
less than in the previous year.

Rodriguez also said that `the noose is closing’ around Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda in Iraq. `Over the past several weeks there’s
been several capture-or-kill of several of the key people in his
network.’ With backing and collaboration from the Baathist elements
financing and leading the insurgency, this group has claimed
responsibility for numerous beheadings, kidnappings, and assaults on
Iraqi civilians.

The Iraqi government announced that a top leader of the group had
been captured February 20. Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi,
also known as Abu Qutaybah, was captured that day. Al-Dulaymi was
responsible for finding safe houses and transportation for members of
the group, according to the Iraqi government announcement.

Kurds press to strengthen autonomy
Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish regional government,
said the Kurdish leaders would only agree to a deal on the formation
of a new national government if they are given control of disputed
areas in the north of the country, including Kirkuk, a major oil
center. Since 1991 the main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have
administered three northeastern provinces in Iraq as an autonomous
region. The area is popularly known as Iraqi Kurdistan.

Kurds are taking advantage of the election results to press their
demands for increased autonomy for the region. A unified slate led by
the KDP and PUK is projected to win 75 seats in the 275-seat national
assembly. The Kurds are in a strong position to negotiate with the
Shiite-led slate, which won a slim majority, but far short of the
two-thirds needed to form the government on its own.

In addition, the Kurds want to maintain a provision in the interim
constitution, known as the Transitional Administrative Law, which
allows a two-thirds majority in any three provinces to block the
ratification of a new constitution.

A February 17 report in the Kurdistan Observer, based on an interview
with KDP leader Massoud Barzani, outlined the Kurdish demands:

Ownership of any natural resources in the region including oilfields
and the power to determine how the revenues are split with the
central government.
Control of the 100,000-member military force in the region, composed
mostly of former guerillas of the Kurdish peshmerga militia. No other
armed forces would be allowed to enter Kurdistan without official
permission.
The authority to appoint officials to work in and operate ministries
in Kurdistan, including overseeing security and the economy.
Authority over fiscal policy, including how much tax revenue goes to
Baghdad. The central government would also not be able to raise tax
revenue in Kurdistan without permission.
According to the London-based Independent, Kurds also want the right
of return for Kurdish refugees. In the months leading up to the
election thousands of Kurds returned to Kirkuk and many others
throughout the northern regions registered to vote in town. Kurds
want Kirkuk returned to Kurdish control in order to reverse the
Arabization campaign carried out by the Hussein regime, which
brutally removed thousands of Kurds from the region in the 1970s and
1980s. Kurdish lands and homes were given to Arabs, many of whom were
also forcibly settled there in order to strengthen the regime’s hold
on the province.

Iraqi Kurds make up an oppressed nationality that together with
another 20 million Kurds spans parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, and
Armenia. The capitalist rulers in Baghdad, Ankara, Tehran, and
Damascus fear that any move toward independence or even formal
autonomy by Iraqi Kurds would inspire national struggles among their
Kurdish populations.

Allawi tries to hold post
Nearly a month after the election, negotiations to form a new
government continue to drag out. Iyad Allawi, a wealthy Shiite and
prime minister of the U.S.-backed interim government, has announced
that he will attempt to hold onto his position in the new government
even though the slate he headed came in a distant third in the
voting, with just 40 of the 275 seats.

The United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite-led coalition that won a slim
majority of the votes, has nominated Ibrahim Jaafari for the post.
Jaafari, a leader of the Da’wa party, served as president of the
U.S.-appointed Governing Council under the occupation regime headed
by U.S. overseer of Iraq Paul Bremer and as a deputy president in the
U.S.-backed interim government.

At a news conference following his nomination, Jaafari said that
defeating the insurgency would be the first priority of his
administration, reported the New York Times. In previous statements,
the Times said, Jaafari made it clear that an Iraqi government cannot
accomplish that without the continued presence of U.S. troops.