THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ: SECTARIAN CLASHES FLARE UP AGAIN

IRAQ: Sectarian Clashes Flare Up Again

By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail
BAQUBA, Aug 26 (IPS)

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A military operation said to target al-Qaeda has ended up targeting Sunni Muslims instead, creating new sectarian tensions.

A U.S.-backed security operation launched last month has only targeted cities with majority Sunni populations such as Buhriz, Tahreer, Qatoon, Mafraq, and Hay in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

The operation has drawn more than 50,000 Iraqi soldiers.

The deputy governor of Diyala, Awf Rahoomi, has demanded in a public speech in Baquba that "the new security plan should also include Shia cities like Hwaider, Khirnabat and Abara."

These Shia districts are strongholds of the Mehdi militia of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and of the Badr organisation (the militia of the ruling Shia party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.)

"The forces of the new security plan took all our weapons to the extent that we cannot fight al-Qaeda any more; we are impotent," Mullah Shihab al-Safi, commander of the Popular Committees Fighters (the Sunni leadership of the U.S.-backed Awakening Group militias), said at a meeting of the Commitment Council established by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Safi said four members of the council who are leaders of the Awakening Group were among those arrested by government security forces. Leaders of Awakening Councils from Qatoon district spoke of a similar crackdown by Iraqi forces. The Awakening groups are totally a 90,000 strong mostly Sunni militia whose members each receive 300 dollars a month from the U.S. military.

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CNN REPORTS: U.S. SOLDIER KILLED: IRAQI'S WANT A "SPECIFIC" TIMELINE FOR TROOP PULLOUT

Iraqi PM demands 'specific' U.S. pullout timeline

Story Highlights
NEW: U.S. soldier dies after being shot during patrol in Baghdad
Iraqi leader says U.S. withdrawal plan cannot be "open-ended"
Negotiators agree there would be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011, al-Maliki says
White House spokesman says agreement has not been finalized

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Monday there will be no agreement on a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq unless it includes a "specific" timeline and is not "open-ended."
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Speaking with tribal leaders, sheikhs and other prominent figures, al-Maliki said U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed that there would be no foreign soldiers in Iraq after 2011 but that some "outstanding issues" remain, according to a statement released by his office.

One issue the two sides have been working on involves the U.S. effort to keep U.S. troops in Iraq immune from Iraqi laws.

Meanwhile, a Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier died Monday after being shot during a patrol in northern Baghdad.

This brings the number of U.S. service member deaths in the Iraq war to 4,147.

Violence in Iraq on Sunday took at least 30 lives, officials said.

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