Paul Bremer should be tried for Fallujah incidents that killed thousands, says MP

Baghdad, April 6 (AKnews) - A Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament says US civil governor in Iraq Paul Bremer is responsible for massacres in Fallujah city which was heavily bombarded by the US forces killing thousands of people. The Kurdish MP's statement comes as lawmakers called on the supreme criminal court for considering the 2005 Fallujah events as "genocide" after the court ruled a 1988 chemical attack on a Kurdish city, Halabja, genocide. In gas attack on Halabja, more than 5,000 civilians were killed and double injured. Some of the lawmaker said earlier this week that Ayad Allawi, a former interim Prime Minister should be put on trial for the mass killings in Fallaujah because he was the head of the Governing Council that ruled Iraq then. The U.S. forces launched in 2005 an attack on Fallujah after Blckwater security team was ambushed and killed by insurgents. The US forces launched a military operation which was described as the deadliest and heaviest battle in the Iraq war. Some 6,000 civilians are believed to be killed in the operation also extensive damage to the a quarter of the buildings of the city. "At that time, Ayad Allawi was not responsible for the security situation (in Iraq)," said Mahmoud Osman, a Kurdish MP in the Kurdish Blocs Coalition (KBC) Wednesday.  "But it was Paul Bremer who was the civil governor. And when Fallujah was attacked, he (Bremer) did not consult the Governing Council," said Osman, "So, Allawi was not responsible or the security" The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from July 13, 2003 to June 1, 2004. It consisted of various Iraqi political, religious, and tribal leaders to provide advice and leadership of the country until the June 2004 transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government led by Ayad Allawi. Osman called for "trial of Bremer for the Fallujah and other incidents rather than sticking the issue to Allawi." An MP, Aliyah Nusaif of the White Iraqiya list - a splinter from Allawi Iraqiya list - said the calls for putting Allawi on trial for Fallujah was politically motivated. "The strange thing is that Allawi's allies raised the issue and not the National Coalition (Allawi rivals)," she said, "Allawi was unable to take decisions at that time and many massacres were committed by the occupation forces that need to be disclosed because they killed people and disseminated corruption," Reported by Kazem Atwan, edited by Raber Y. Aziz RN/AKnews Wednesday, April 6th 2011 4:02 PM

Protesters have learned collective prayers in squares from Khomeini: Iran's consul

Erbil, April 5 (AKnews) – Iran's consul in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, says the collective prayers in the squares in the Muslim countries where people are demonstrating for political reforms is Ayatullah Khomeini's tradition. Sayyid Azimi Husseini told Bas – a weekly newspaper in Kurdistan – in an interview that the wave of protests that has spanned through the middle east where people, in particular in Egypt, and Kuridstan's Sulaimaniyah city gather for the Friday sermons instead of going to the mosque, belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Protesters in Sulaimaniyah city have been demonstrating against corruption and calling for political reforms for more than 45 days. During the six weeks, they have had six Friday sermons in the main Sara Square of the city where they gather every day. Regarding the way of protests and Friday sermons in the squares as a way of strength and solidarity, Husseini says "this belongs to Imam Khomeini that's they have learned this from the Islamic Republic of Iran" he has told the weekly newspaper. "We are happy that Iran and the words of Imam Khomeini have become symbols for the whole peoples of the world and the (course of) changes in the Middle East." Raber Y. Aziz (AKnews)   Tuesday, April 5th 2011 1:29 PM