After ISIS Black Flags, Iraq Faces 'White Banners' Threat
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February 11, 2018 3 News & Analysis Iraq After ISIS black flags, Iraq faces ‘White Banners’ threat Mamoon Alabbasi London raqi forces began a military op- eration against militants who are threatening an oil route between Iraq and Iran, rekin- dling fears over the security of Ithe country despite Baghdad’s an- nouncement of victory against the Islamic State (ISIS). The military operation aims to secure areas between Kirkuk’s oil fields and Khanaqin on the Ira- nian border, two Iraqi officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity before the operation started. The officials said six pro-government guards were killed by the militants south of the Hamrin Mountains. “With the goal of enforcing se- curity and stability, destroying sleeper cells and continuing clear- ing operations, an operation was launched in the early hours of this morning to search and clear areas east of Tuz Khurmatu,” the Iraqi military said in a statement on Feb- ruary 7. The Iraqi Army, special security units and the predominately Shia Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) took part in the operation, which had US air support and coordina- tion with peshmerga fighters, the Iraqi military said. As part of its plans to boost oil exports, Iraq announced that it would be transporting crude oil via At gunpoint. An Iraqi flag mounted on a military vehicle at an oil field in Dibis area on the outskirts of Kirkuk. (Reuters) tanker trucks from Kirkuk to be re- fined in Iran. There are reports that an Iraq-Iran pipeline will be built Baghdad in October. News that the group is not new but on Kurdistan’s independence last merging and dividing. The list is as to export oil from Kirkuk, replac- “The White Banners group [has] made up of militants from Ansar September. mutable as everything else in the ing the one that heads to Turkey been accused of carrying out ter- al-Islam, which includes predomi- These groups, which call for the country,” wrote Wassim Bassem in via areas controlled by the Kurd- rorist activities and targeting ju- nately Kurdish fighters affiliated “liberation” of Kirkuk and Tuz the website Al-Monitor. istan Regional Government (KRG). diciary members,” Al Arabiya re- with al-Qaeda. Khurmatu from central govern- The fight against such militancy It remains unclear which group ported. There are reports that the group ment control, are made up of vol- is likely to continue, albeit not in the militants threatening the oil Turkmen MP Jassim Mohammed has welcomed former ISIS mili- unteers that are no longer affiliated the same scale as that against ISIS. route are aligned with, ISIS or Jaafar accused Kurdish leaders in tants to its ranks. with the peshmerga or the KRG. “The fight against insurgency the mysterious al-Rayat al-Bayda December of supporting the group, The White Banners group is “said “The myriad armed groups in continues and goes beyond the (translated as the White Banners or Al Arabiya said. to be an alliance of former Islamic Iraq are constantly emerging, full-on kinetic phase to address the the White Flags). The group’s flag The KRG denies links to the State militants and disgruntled many enabling structural factors is white with the head of a lion in White Banners but central govern- Kurdish mafia members pushed behind Iraq’s insurgencies (corrup- the centre. ment officials have accused their out of the nearby town of Tuz The KRG denies links tion, illicit money, uneven state The White Banners militants are Kurdish counterparts of not doing Khurmatu,” wrote Tom Westcott in to the White Banners capacity, unemployment),” Fanar reportedly made up of Kurds who enough to fight the militants. the website Middle East Eye. but central government Haddad, a senior research fellow objected to the control of the Iraqi Abu Reda al-Najjar, a PMF com- There are separate reports of officials have accused at the National University of Singa- central government over Kirkuk mander, said the White Banners is Kurdish groups not affiliated to the pore, told the National newspaper. province and Tuz Khurmatu in a new group composed of Iranian White Banners taking up against their Kurdish Saladin province, which had been Kurdish separatists, most notably the Iraqi Army and the PMF fol- counterparts of not Mamoon Alabbasi is Deputy under KRG control for more than the Kurdistan Free Life Party. lowing the fallout between Bagh- doing enough to fight Managing Editor and Online two years before being retaken by Other Iraqi officials told Arab dad and Erbil over the referendum the militants. Editor of The Arab Weekly. Viewpoint Iraqi rulers’ record since 2003 is hardly impressive he parties in power must be credited to all Iraqis rather was the establishment of the quota turned into shrines. in Iraq are more than than to this official or that party. system of power-sharing left by Women also have fallen victim happy and willing to In the coming electoral cycle, all the infamous Paul Bremer. It was to these “great achievements.” As Majed Sameraei repeat — over and over Iraqis should ask themselves — in disastrous for Iraq. Let’s not also if the humiliation of the war and is an Iraqi writer. again — that ballot all fairness and without forget the killing of hundreds of of retrograde practices were not boxes have the last say. prejudice — about the achieve- Iraqi scientists and the forced exile enough, the great “progressive” TThey expect the citizens to believe ments of the various Iraqi adminis- of thousands of doctors and engi- parties of Iraqi democracy have they live in a democracy. trations since 2003. neers. The country’s intellectual eagerly pushed for a law allowing However, a quick look at the Has the suffering in their daily elite was gone and was replaced marriages with females as young as three most recent elections in lives lessened? by illiterate opportunists with fake 9 years old. How is that for a great Iraq reveals the incredible extent Is there less death and destruc- diplomas from Iran. humanitarian achievement? of cheating and the ugly reality tion in their communities? It was heart-wrenching to come Wherever one looks in Iraq, there of shady political wheeling and Are they any safer in their homes across scores of talented Iraqi doc- is corruption and failure. The son dealing. The array of manipulative or on the street? tors practising in British hospitals. of the Najaf governor is selling tactics during election campaigns is With paramilitary militias roam- They spoke of the pain they felt drugs and billions of dollars have amazing. ing the streets and an absence for being deprived of the honour evaporated into fictitious contracts. The best proof for this is that Iraq of the state, are they safe from of serving their country. They’ve Yet, Abadi dares at Davos to speak is living the same saga of failure kidnapping, random arrests and become valuable additions to the about his achievements. If the vic- after failure because the same murder? British health services, so much so tory over ISIS is put aside, nothing players in the political arena are We will not indulge in a com- that, a few years ago, the British of what Abadi mentioned is true. adamant on staying in the game by parison between pre-2003 Iraq and Ministry of Health feared facing a Who would seriously believe any means necessary. post-2003 Iraq. In 2003, the Iraqis crisis should those doctors decide that Iraq is experiencing “peace During the initial phase of the de- were relieved of the shackles of the to return to Iraq. Iraqi Prime Min- and stability that is the envy of the mocracy sham in Iraq, the chances dictatorial regime of Saddam Hus- ister Haider al-Abadi, who inciden- world” or that Iraq hasn’t experi- of winning for any particular elec- sein but the Islamist parties of Iraq tally once had British nationality, enced such a “dazzling state since tion list depended on how much cannot claim for themselves that knows this. 50 years ago” or that he would Shia support that list enjoyed. The achievement. That is credited to Other examples of the “glorious “push through with implementing governing parties became experts the Americans and the Iranians. achievements” of the corrupt po- the cross-sectarian project?” at making local enemies based Following that, the biggest litical parties in Iraq’s newly found Abadi always puts forth his so- on sectarian discrimination and achievement of the occupation democracy are easy to come by. called anti-corruption campaign In the coming resorting to a variety of legal covers forces was the dismantling of the Public education in Iraq has gone to but it is known he wouldn’t dare such as de-Ba’athification meas- Iraqi Army. That army belonged to pot. Illiteracy in Iraq was elimi- stand up to his friends, colleagues electoral cycle, all ures. the country and not to Saddam. It nated in the late 1970s and UNESCO and influential members of his Iraqis should ask Such sectarian practices ruined would have been a better choice to ranked Iraqi public schools among Dawa Party. He would like to con- themselves about the lives of Iraqi people. Now, after remove pro-Saddam officers and the best in the world during the vince people to judge him by his defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) in leave the army standing. Alas, once 1980s. achievements post-2014 when he the achievements Iraq, everybody wants to reap the the army was gone, the gates were Recent statistics, however, show rose to power but just as Ibrahim of the various Iraqi dividends of that victory and ride flung open for all agents of evil and that the literacy rate in Iraq is ap- al-Jaafari and Nuri al-Maliki, who the wave of post-sectarianism.