DOCSLIB.ORG

'ISIS Has Called the Yazidi Infidels and Targeted Their People for Death And

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
'ISIS Has Called the Yazidi Infidels and Targeted Their People for Death And A10 nationalpost.com NATIONAL POST, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 ‘ISIS has called the Yazidi infidels and targeted their people for death and destruction.’ ISSUES & CHloE CusHMAN / National POST GEOFFREY CLARFIELD American English. This included all of the military acronyms, which are not part of normal English, but essential he Yazidi are an indigenous to American military life. I watched a Iraqi community of just under lot of American films and TV shows. one million people who have “I worked as a translator for the co- T lived in northern Iraq for thou- THE YAZIDIS, ALONE alition for just under five years, day in sands of years. They are Kurdish- and and day out. I was loyal, trustworthy Arabic-speaking monotheists who and hard working. I put great hope in trace their descent from Adam. Be- A Canadian anthropologist tells the story of a brave the fact that the Kurdish government cause their priests and holy men have and their peshmerga militias were at- never publicly disclosed their secret, young man working to save his people from ISIS tempting to create a place where Ya- sacred texts (just like the Druze sect zidi and Iraq’s Christian minorities of the Mountains of Syria, Lebanon and worked together on a research ignored it. We were dedicated to mak- A moment later, we came under fire can, like them, live in freedom and se- and in Israel — where their religion is project about Iraq. His story is typ- ing things better. We put our faith in from snipers. I have never been so fo- curity. During my time as a translator, respected and where the Druze have ical of the scores of Yazidi men and the coalition forces and in particular, cused in all my life. I observed that the Yazidi were essen- full rights as citizens), neighbouring women who have risked their own in the United States of America. “I watched in awe as my com- tial partners of the coalition forces in Muslims have called them devil wor- and their family’s lives, to act as on- “I started work in February 2005, a rades returned fire, carefully, mind- northern Iraq. I do know that over the shippers and infidels, worthy of death site translators from Arabic and Kurd- day after I passed my test and inter- fully and aggressively. They were in last 10 years, many of our Yazidi trans- by holy war or “jihad.” ish into English and back again, for view. If people think that a translator the moment, in the flow, as I have lators were targeted and killed by rad- The Islamic State of Iraq and al- the coalition forces who, during the sits on the base and interviews local later learned to say from my study ical Islamists in Iraq. It is a tough job Sham (ISIS) have announced that the second Gulf War, did not have the im- people, while surrounded by heavy of the English language. Once in a and not for the faint-hearted. Yazidi are infidels and have targeted mediate, on the ground linguistic and guns and barbed-wire fences, they are while, one of them would laugh. I “When I finally reached America their people and villages for death cross-cultural expertise that is essen- in for a surprise. Most of a translator’s later learned the English expression, and became an American citizen, I and destruction. With their abundant tial for winning hearts and minds in work is carried out on the ground, ‘laughing in the face of death.’ I then realized that I now had the right to and up-to-date American weaponry, war zones like northern Iraq (Kurdi- among the people, in farms, villages, understand what it meant. lobby for the rights of the Yazidi, and recently looted from the Iraqi army, stan). This is because during the last towns and on patrol. It is as danger- “Their good humour and focus all of Iraq’s threatened minorities who ISIS terrorists usually surround a Yaz- 30 years, most North American aca- ous as being an active infantryman. calmed me down as I watched them are now being slaughtered by ISIS. I idi village and then violently threaten demic, anthropological and linguistic In some ways, it is more dangerous, return fire for some hours. As we am now a resident of the U.S., but I the villagers with conversion to Islam experts for these areas have declared for you go on patrol without the same headed back to the camp, I began to feel that my life’s work has just begun. at gunpoint, often beating and hu- that America’s interest in the Middle long-term training that they have re- understand, as a young man in my There is so much suffering there.” miliating elderly men and women at East is “imperialist.” Thus, during and ceived as professional soldiers. twenties, what a local show of military Alex is visiting Iraq. Last week, he forced public meetings, echoing the after the second Gulf war, the Yazidi, “On my first day of work, I was as- force really meant. These were brave sent me a telephone number where I Nazi tactics of occupied Europe dur- and the moderate Kurds and the Ar- signed to join combat soldiers who and patriotic Americans. could contact him. During our phone ing the Second World War. ab Muslims who worked with them, “On one occasion, we were guard- call, we caught up on each other’s If the villagers show hesitation, have provided this essential linguistic ing a section of the Iraqi border with news. He told me, “You know Geoffrey, they then slaughter the men and sell service. Syria. As our patrol approached you were born and raised in North the women in local slave markets. In Alex tells me, “In 2003, during the Many young men and the border area, all of a sudden, we America. America is a seductive place. the process, the women are usually second Gulf War, coalition forces vis- caught sight of a group of five men, The cities gleam, people get on with gang raped, physically abused and ited our village in northern Iraq. Soon women have recently all of whom were carrying AK-47s. My their lives, Americans take freedom for often threatened with death. Only after, my brother volunteered to work officers thought they might be smug- granted, and it is easy to forget where then do some of their captors contact for them as a Kurdish and Arabic joined the Yazidi glers. The officer yelled at them and you come from. I cannot do that. I am their families offering their freedom translator, as they slowly consolidated told them to immediately raise their haunted by the recent slaughter and for outrageous ransom payments. their authority over northern Iraq, self-defence force. hands or we would shoot them. the ongoing enslavement of the Yazidi. Then the cycle is repeated. ISIS has protecting the autonomous regional They have only a few “As they came into view, I im- I will not be quiet until someone de- killed thousands of Yazidis and raped Kurdish government of a federated mediately realized that they were feats ISIS. I will not and cannot forget and enslaved many, many more. They Iraq that was established after the thousand rifles, and rather undisciplined border police my people until they are as free as I, in will not stop until all Yazidi men are first Gulf War. and were on our side. ‘They are not Iraq or America.” dead and their women and children “My brother was the first man from even fewer bullets smugglers,’ I yelled out. Our soldiers Since last summer’s slaughter violated and enslaved. Canada has my village to take on such work. He held their fire. Hours later, I real- and siege of the Yazidi in Sinjar and now officially joined the war against was scared, but he was and is a brave were rooting out armed terrorists in a ized that I had probably saved these on the Nineveh plains by ISIS, these ISIS. ISIS must be defeated, soon. man. For the next two years, I heard nearby town. They provided me with young men’s lives by knowing how to peace-loving people have finally Yazidi refugees who have made it stories from him and other people in a complete military uniform and told spot the difference between ill-disci- taken up arms against their oppres- to our democratic shores are usually the area that he, and a growing num- me that we were going on a walking plined, poorly uniformed troops and sors. Many young men and women traumatized people without wealth ber of Yazidi translators, had won the patrol. This was to protect me from the kind of renegade soldiers who go have recently joined the Yazidi self- and power. At best, they have made trust of the coalition officers in the snipers who, if they saw a local civil- into armed smuggling. defence force. With a few thousand the case for their communities’ pro- north. I decided to join up. ian with the soldiers, would shoot me “My most dangerous mission at Kalashnikovs and even fewer bullets, tection to our political leaders here in “My mom was worried sick for my first, as a kind of message to the local first looked simple. I was working they stand ready to fight ISIS on the Canada and the United States, hoping safety. We knew that hostile local Mus- people. I was told that the terrorists with a team from the coalition forces.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Mandaeans
    The Mandaeans A Story of Survival in the Modern World PHOTO: DAVID MAURICE SMITH / OCULI refugees and spoken to immigration officials in Aus- The Mandaeans appear to be one of the most tralian embassies and international NGOs about their misunderstood and vulnerable groups. Apart from being desperate plight. She laments that the conditions in a small community, even fewer than Yazidis, they do which they live are far worse than she could have ever not belong to a large religious organisation or have imagined, and she fears they may have been forgotten links with powerful tribes that can protect them, so by the international community overwhelmed by the their vulnerability makes them an easy target. To make massive displacement and the humanitarian disaster matters worse they are scattered all over the country, caused by the Syrian civil war. so they are the only minority group in Iraq without a There is no doubt that more of a decade of sectarian safe enclave. If the violence persists, it is feared their infighting has had a devastating impact on Iraqi society ancient culture and religion will be lost forever. as a whole. But religious minority groups have borne the brunt of the violence. For the past 14 years Mand- andaeans have a long history of per- aeans, like many other minorities, have been subjected secution. Their survival into the modern to persecution, murder, kidnappings, displacement, world is little short of a miracle. Their forced conversion to Islam, forced marriage, cruel M origins can be traced to the Jordan treatment, confiscation of assets including property and Valley area and it is thought that they may have migrated the destruction of their cultural and religious heritage.
    [Show full text]
  • COI Note on the Situation of Yazidi Idps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    COI Note on the Situation of Yazidi IDPs in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq May 20191 Contents 1) Access to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) ................................................................... 2 2) Humanitarian / Socio-Economic Situation in the KR-I ..................................................... 2 a) Shelter ........................................................................................................................................ 3 b) Employment .............................................................................................................................. 4 c) Education ................................................................................................................................... 6 d) Mental Health ............................................................................................................................ 8 e) Humanitarian Assistance ...................................................................................................... 10 3) Returns to Sinjar District........................................................................................................ 10 In August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) seized the districts of Sinjar, Tel Afar and the Ninewa Plains, leading to a mass exodus of Yazidis, Christians and other religious communities from these areas. Soon, reports began to surface regarding war crimes and serious human rights violations perpetrated by ISIS and associated armed groups. These included the systematic
    [Show full text]
  • Protecting Yazidi Cultural Heritage Through Women: an International Feminist Law Analysis
    G Model CULHER-3355; No. of Pages 7 ARTICLE IN PRESS Journal of Cultural Heritage xxx (2017) xxx–xxx Available online at ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com Original article Protecting Yazidi cultural heritage through women: An international feminist law analysis a,b,∗ Sara De Vido a Ca’ Foscari University, San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873, 30121 Venezia, Italy b Manchester International Law Centre, UK a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The purpose of this article is to consider, from an international law perspective, the relationship existing Received 25 May 2017 between violence, gender, and culture, referring to the specific situation of women belonging to the Yazidi Accepted 12 February 2018 minority, who have been abducted, raped, and sold by the Islamic State. I will demonstrate that women Available online xxx can be those who, despite huge suffering, will be able to preserve the unique culture of this minority during post-conflict situations. From an international law perspective, I will investigate the possibility Keywords: that the crimes committed against the Yazidis are brought before the International Criminal Court, and Yazidis I will recommend that a women’s tribunal be established in order to give voice to the victims/survivors. Women I will demonstrate that the participation of women during the negotiations for peace in post-conflict Violence situations is essential, and that the protection of intangible cultural heritage through women could be Intangible cultural heritage Criminal justice achieved learning the lesson from preceding successful experiences. Women’s tribunals © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS.
    [Show full text]
  • Yazidis and the Original Religion of the Near East | Indistinct Union: Chri
    Yazidis and the Original Religion of the Near East | Indistinct Union: Chri... http://indistinctunion.wordpress.com/2007/08/17/yazidis-and-the-original... Indistinct Union: Christianity, Integral Philosophy, and Politics Yazidis and the Original Religion of the Near East The horrific bombing in the Kurdish regions around Kirkuk (death toll estimates currently at 400) targeted the Yazidis, a smallish Kurdish (but non-Muslim) sect. The Ys tended to separate themselves from the Peshmerge (the Kurdish military), which likely resulted in their being left vulnerable to this brutal attack. (For interviews with some Yazidis, here via BBC). Who are theologically the Yazidis ? For repeat readers, they will know I support the (somewhat) controversial thesis of Christian scholar Margaret Barker (known as Royal Temple Theology). Barker’s first work is titled The Older Testament. A brilliant way to describe her point of view–namely that the Judaism that comes across in the Hebrew Bible we currently have has been massively (re)edited, more than most scholars will admit, by the Deuteronomic/Rabbinic schools of Judaism. The Older Testament (as opposed to the “Old Testament” of the Deutro. school) included the belief in two g/Gods. The first was the High God (El, Elyon) who had “sons” (angelic beings). Each angel, known as an angel of the nation, was chosen for a specific people. As above so below. i.e. When their was war on earth between two peoples, their angels were fighting in heaven. Hence all the Psalms rousing YHWH (Israel’s Angel/god) to fight. The second G/god then is YHWH for Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • The Yazidis Perceptions of Reconciliation and Conflict
    The Yazidis Perceptions of Reconciliation and Conflict Dave van Zoonen Khogir Wirya About MERI The Middle East Research Institute engages in policy issues contributing to the process of state building and democratisation in the Middle East. Through independent analysis and policy debates, our research aims to promote and develop good governance, human rights, rule of law and social and economic prosperity in the region. It was established in 2014 as an independent, not-for-profit organisation based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Middle East Research Institute 1186 Dream City Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq T: +964 (0)662649690 E: [email protected] www.meri-k.org NGO registration number. K843 © Middle East Research Institute, 2017 The opinions expressed in this publication are the responsibility of the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of MERI, the copyright holder. Please direct all enquiries to the publisher. The Yazidis Perceptions of Reconciliation and Conflict MERI Policy Paper Dave van Zoonen Khogir Wirya October 2017 1 Contents 1. Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................4 2. “Reconciliation” after genocide .........................................................................................................5
    [Show full text]
  • Tawsi Melek, Religion and Innovation
    International Journal of Social Science Studies Vol. 8, No. 1; January 2020 ISSN 2324-8033 E-ISSN 2324-8041 Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://ijsss.redfame.com Tawsi Melek, Religion and Innovation Michael Das Correspondence: Michael Das, E-mail: [email protected]. Received: August 8, 2019 Accepted: November 22, 2019 Available online: November 28, 2019 doi:10.11114/ijsss.v8i1.4635 URL: https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v8i1.4635 Abstract Sheikh Adi Ibn Musafir, who was born 1079 in Lebanon and spent most of his life in Syria, did something no one has since attempted: He invented a new God, Whom He called Tawsi Melek, “The Angel of the Highest Order” (from the Kurdish) and a new religion to go with Him. Sheikh Adi, a Sufi, and His colleagues, a ragtag fraternity of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Jews wrote a detailed explanation of This Angelic Being and His Pillars of Faith called the Kitab al Jilwa, “The Book We Wrote.” The people Sheikh Adi taught about Tawsi Melek, called themselves Yazidi, the descendants of Angels, or “The Defenders of the Place”. Who attacked them? Other Christians, Muslims, and Jews without restraint. Weary of war, dogma, displacement, and the shear ridiculousness of it all, Sheikh Adi led a revolution through Tawsi Melek. What did Tawsi Melek say about His religious contemporaries and reasons for their Crusades? “All the books of those who are without decency are altered by them; and they have declined from them, although they were written by their prophets and the apostles. That there are interpolations is seen in the fact that each sect endeavors to prove that the others are wrong and to destroy their books.” Sheikh Adi and the Yazidi wanted none of it.
    [Show full text]
  • Fighting-For-Kurdistan.Pdf
    Fighting for Kurdistan? Assessing the nature and functions of the Peshmerga in Iraq CRU Report Feike Fliervoet Fighting for Kurdistan? Assessing the nature and functions of the Peshmerga in Iraq Feike Fliervoet CRU Report March 2018 March 2018 © Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’. Cover photo: Peshmerga, Kurdish Army © Flickr / Kurdishstruggle Unauthorized use of any materials violates copyright, trademark and / or other laws. Should a user download material from the website or any other source related to the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’, or the Clingendael Institute, for personal or non-commercial use, the user must retain all copyright, trademark or other similar notices contained in the original material or on any copies of this material. Material on the website of the Clingendael Institute may be reproduced or publicly displayed, distributed or used for any public and non-commercial purposes, but only by mentioning the Clingendael Institute as its source. Permission is required to use the logo of the Clingendael Institute. This can be obtained by contacting the Communication desk of the Clingendael Institute ([email protected]). The following web link activities are prohibited by the Clingendael Institute and may present trademark and copyright infringement issues: links that involve unauthorized use of our logo, framing, inline links, or metatags, as well as hyperlinks or a form of link disguising the URL. About the author Feike Fliervoet is a Visiting Research Fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit where she contributes to the Levant research programme, a three year long project that seeks to identify the origins and functions of hybrid security arrangements and their influence on state performance and development.
    [Show full text]
  • Security Salary Matrix (.Pdf)
    CORRELATION OF RANKS BY PAY GRADES NIA / ICDC NIA / ICDC IPS BORDER GUARDFPS GRADE enlisted commissioned SUPER A SUPER B 1 LG National Director of Border Commissioner Enforcement 2 MG Commissioner Deputy Director 3 BG Dep Commissioner Bureau Chief 4 COL Superintendent Region Chief Colonel 5 LTC Inspector Asst Chief 6 SGM / CWO CPT / MAJ Lieutenant / Captain Lieutenant / Captain Major 7 SFC / MSG / WO 2LT / 1LT Sergeant Sergeant 8 SGT OFC (Senior) Constable (Senior) Agent Captain 9 CPL Constable Agent Sergeant 10 PVT / PFC Constable (Probation) Agent (Probation) Guard 11 RCT Trainee Trainee COMPARISON OF RANKS (SHOWING INITIAL STEP INCREMENT) NIA / ICDC NIA / ICDC IPS BORDER FPS GRADE enlisted commissioned SUPER A SUPER B National Dir of Border 1 LG Commissioner Enforcement 1 1 1 2 MG Commissioner Deputy Director 1 1 1 Dep 3 BG Commissioner Bureau Chief 1 1 1 4 COL Superintendent Region Chief Colonel 1 1 1 1 5 LTC Inspector Asst Chief 1 1 1 6 SGM / CWO CAPT/MAJ Lieut / Captain Lieut / Captain Major 1 2 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 7 SFC/MSG/WO 2LT / 1LT Sergeant Sergeant 4 7 8 6 7 6 6 8 SGT OFC (Snr) Constable (Snr) Agent Captain 6 8 6 6 1 9 CPL Constable Agent Sergeant 7 5 5 1 10 PVT / PFC Constable (Probation) Agent (Probation) Guard 4 8 4 4 1 11 Recruit Trainee Trainee 1 4 4 ENTRY LEVEL SALARIES FOR NEW IRAQI ARMY / IRAQI CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS STEPS- SALARIES LISTED IN NEW IRAQI DINAR Grade Enlisted Commission 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 LG 740,000 760,000 780,000 80,0000 820,000 840,000 860,000 880,000 2 MG 574,000 589,000 605,000 620,000 636,000 651,000
    [Show full text]
  • Rebuilding from the Yazidi Genocide from GENOCIDE to JUSTICE a B O U T T H E G E N O C I D E W H O a R E T H E Y a Z I D I S ?
    Rebuilding from the Yazidi Genocide FROM GENOCIDE TO JUSTICE A B O U T T H E G E N O C I D E W H O A R E T H E Y A Z I D I S ? In August 2014, the world witnessed genocide. The Yazidis are a small minority indigenous to Over the course of two weeks, the Sinjar region of Mesopotamia who are united by their ethnic and Iraq was invaded by the so-called Islamic State religious identity. As an ancient monotheistic (ISIS). ISIS militants undertook a strategized religion, Yazidism shares elements with other Middle Eastern traditions, but is set apart by its campaign to ethnically cleanse Yazidis from prayer rituals, a belief in reincarnation, and the existence. central role of the Peacock Angel, Tawusi Malek, Approximately 400,000 Yazidis fled to the who is worshiped as messenger to the Yazidi god. neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq and tens of It is because of these unique tenets of their faith thousands took refuge on Mount Sinjar, where that Yazidis have been persecuted for centuries. they faced near starvation. The rest, unable to Yazidi history recounts seventy-three instances flee, were killed or taken into captivity and of genocide - the latest of which was conducted subjected to horrific acts of violence – by ISIS. The constant threat of persecution led enslavement, forced labor, conscription, torture, many Yazidis to settle in the northern region of and rape. Iraq (namely Sinjar), where the mountainous ISIS considered Yazidis “infidels” and ordered men terrain provides some protection. to either convert or die.
    [Show full text]
  • Assyrians.Pdf
    World Directory of Minorities Middle East MRG Directory –> Iraq –> Assyrians Print Page Close Window Assyrians Updated April 2008 Profile An estimated 225,000 Assyrians [US CIRF 2006] comprise a distinct ethno-religious group in Iraq, although official Iraqi statistics consider them to be Arabs. Descendants of ancient Mesopotamian peoples, Assyrians speak Aramaic and live mainly in the major cities and in the rural areas of north- eastern Iraq where they tend to be professionals and businessmen or independent farmers. They are Christians, belonging to one of four churches: the Chaldean (Uniate), Nestorian, Jacobite or Syrian Orthodox, and the Syrian Catholic. Assyrians form a distinct community, but with three origins: (1) those who inhabited Hakkari (in modern Turkey), who were predominantly tribal and whose leaders acknowledged the temporal as well as spiritual paramountcy of their patriarch, the Mar Shimun; (2) a peasant community in Urumiya (see Iran); and (3) a largely peasant community in Amadiya, Shaqlawa and Rawanduz in Iraqi Kurdistan. Historical context Because of its expulsion from the ‘Orthodox' community at Ephesus in 431, the Assyrian Church operated entirely east (hence its title) of Byzantine Christendom, establishing communities over a wide area. But its heartlands were at the apex of the fertile crescent. The Mongol invasions, however, virtually wiped out the Assyrian Church except in limited areas. On the whole the Assyrians co-existed successfully with the neighbouring Kurdish tribes. In Hakkari, Assyrian tribes held Kurdish as well as Assyrian peasantry in thrall, just as Kurdish tribes did, and rival Assyrian tribes would seek allies among neighbouring Kurdish tribes, and vice versa.
    [Show full text]
  • Int Ccpr Css Arm 43371 E
    1.This report reflects the position of the "Cultural Centre of the Caucasus Yezidi" (hereinafter- CCCY), which works in the field of protection of rights and freedoms, protection of the cultural heritage of the Yazidi community in their countries of residence. The Yazidi community of Armenia is a national minority. 2.The Authors of the CCCY report welcome the official report Republicof Armenia and share many of its assessments and conclusions. We agree that the government of Georgia is committed to following the country's international obligations in the field of the protection of national minorities in several ways, and that there have been some positive changes in national legislation and domestic policy in recent years. 3. The CCCY report, however, is an alternative to the official one. From the outset, we did not consider confrontation with the government's position or the refutation of official information and official conclusions as our goal. The task of the report was to present a different from the official view of the situation with the involvement of other sources of information. At the same time, we tried, as far as possible, to avoid duplication of general information contained in the government report. This kind of description is intended, in our opinion, to promote a more versatile and deeper understanding of interested international organizations about human rights problems in Armenia, among national minorities, as well as meaningful and constructive discussions on these topics within the country. 4.For several decades, especially the last 5 years, conditions have been created when the entire ethnic group began to actively emigrate.
    [Show full text]
  • US Blunders in Iraq: De-Baathification and Disbanding the Army
    Intelligence and National Security Vol. 25, No. 1, 76–85, February 2010 US Blunders in Iraq: De-Baathification and Disbanding the Army JAMES P. PFIFFNER ABSTRACT In May 2003 Paul Bremer issued CPA Orders to exclude from the new Iraq government members of the Baath Party (CPA Order 1) and to disband the Iraqi Army (CPA Order 2). These two orders severely undermined the capacity of the occupying forces to maintain security and continue the ordinary functioning of the Iraq government. The decisions reversed previous National Security Council judgments and were made over the objections of high ranking military and intelligence officers. The article concludes that the most likely decision maker was the Vice President. Early in the occupation of Iraq two key decisions were made that gravely jeopardized US chances for success in Iraq: (1) the decision to bar from government work Iraqis who ranked in the top four levels of Sadam’s Baath Party or who held positions in the top three levels of each ministry; (2) the decision to disband the Iraqi Army and replace it with a new army built from scratch. These two fateful decisions were made against the advice of military and CIA professionals and without consulting important members of the President’s staff and cabinet. This article will first examine the de- Baathification order and then take up the even more far reaching decision to disband the Iraqi Army. Both of these decisions fueled the insurgency by: (1) alienating hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who could not support themselves or their families; (2) by undermining the normal infrastructure necessary for social and economic activity; (3) by ensuring that there was not sufficient security to carry on normal life; and (4) by creating insurgents who were angry at the US, many of whom had weapons and were trained to use them.
    [Show full text]