How to Lose Friends and Incite People
Posted on | June 30, 2008
A Friday morning US Special Forces-led raid in the Iraqi city of Janaja resulted in the death of a man the Pentagon described as “a local security guard.”
Maliki is Janaja’s most famous son, but he’s been conspicuously silent in the aftermath of an apparent covert coalition raid Friday morning — finally acknowledged Sunday by the U.S. military — that killed one of his relatives and terrified the villagers, many of whom share the premier’s tribal last name and belong to his Dawa Party. Other senior Iraqi officials have not kept mum: They’ve demanded an investigation and say the incident could affect negotiations for a long-term U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
Janaja residents said the prime minister’s office privately has reassured them that Maliki is furious with his American allies but that he wanted to keep the ensuing diplomatic crisis out of the media spotlight. On Sunday, tribal leaders from throughout the south gathered under funeral tents to offer condolences and whisper about what went wrong.
The U.S. military broke its silence on the incident Sunday, releasing a vague statement confirming that coalition forces had shot and killed “a local security guard” during operations early Friday that targeted special groups, a reference to suspected Iranian-backed militant cells…
[T]he man described by the military as “a local security guard” was actually a cousin of Maliki’s and served as the personal bodyguard of Maliki’s sister, relatives and Iraqi officials said. Ali Abdulhussein al Maliki was killed at his guard post outside the villa belonging to Maliki’s sister, said the guard’s brother, Ahmed Abdulhussein al Maliki…
In a cruel irony, officials said, the crisis could strengthen the hand of Iraqi negotiators who are involved in the drafting of a Status of Forces Agreement, a long-term U.S.-Iraqi security pact to govern the conduct of American forces in Iraq. Two of the main sticking points are whether the U.S. military can conduct independent operations and whether to grant immunity for American troops or security contractors who are accused of criminal activity.
This is why they hate us. End the war. End it now.
