Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi finally managed to get parliament approval for five of six candidates he presented for cabinet. Only his pick for trade minister was rejected. Al-Abadi has been trying to implement reforms to his cabinet demanded by many including the influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Demonstrators have twice broken into the Green Zone the highly protected area containing the parliament as well as many embassies. Moqtada wants the cabinet to consist of technocrats rather than chosen by a corrupt system of sharing appointments among competing political groups. The appointments will help consolidate Al-Abadi's position and help ease the political crisis and deadlock within the system, as parliamentarians had earlier rejected his reforms. Brett McGurk envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition welcomed the development in a tweet saying that this overcomes months of deadlock. However 15 of the 22 ministers have kept their jobs so far. The defense minister Khaled al-Obeidi is under pressure as he is being grilled in parliament about allegations of corruptions involving weapons contracts. Al-Abadi wants him to stay as the battle to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) is looming. Al-Obeidi's explanations have been rejected by parliament. However, another vote will be required demanding his resignation to fire him. Iraq is infamous for its level of corruption ranking 161 of 168 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Index. Iraq still suffers from power and water cuts, shortages of schools and hospitals, with existing infrastructure suffering from neglect and mismanagement. The new oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi claimed that a solution to the federal government's conflict over oil with the Kurdish self-ruled northern region was possible. Baghdad wants to bring the region's crude oil exports under its control. Luaibi was a former head of the South Oil Company. After Saudi Arabia, Iraq is OPEC's largest producer, at about 4.6 million barrels a day. Most exports are from the southern region and are overseen by the South Oil Company. About 500,000 barrels a day are exported from the Kurdish region independently. If a solution to the conflict is found Baghdad could export some of its oil through Kurdistan and on to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean. Sources: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-oil-minister-idUSKCN10Q0Y3 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-oil-idUSKCN10Q0TL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haider_al-Abadi
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Aaron Driver, 24, was shot and killed in the back of a taxi where he had detonated an explosive device. Ralph Goodale, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness said that Canada needed to step up its counter-radicalization effects. Driver was found to have made a "martyrdom video" in which he said he was planning to launch an attack on an urban center during the morning or afternoon rush hour. Driver was well known to authorities and was under a peace bond for communicating with what the RCMP said were well-known Islamic State supporter in the UK and US. Goodale said: The government of Canada has to get far more proactive on the whole issue of outreach, community engagement, counter-radicalization, determining how and in what means the right positive constructive influences can be brought to bear to change what otherwise would be dangerous behaviour." However, the threat level for terrorism in Canada still remains at "medium" where it has remained since the autumn of 2014. As with the ousted Conservatives, Goodale is making political points with respect to government actions against the terrorist threat noting that the government spent a half billion or so in the recent budget for police, national security, and border controls saying: "We've made our first investments in that direction and there will be more to follow." The FBI had come into possession of the martyr video and had tipped of the RCMP who identified Driver as the person in the video before noon. When Driver called a cab and left his residence in Strathroy later in the afternoon. The RCMP surrounded the cab and "engaged with the suspect who detonated an explosive device in the back of the cab". It is not certain that Driver was killed in the explosion or subsequent shots by police. The cab driver was apparently injured but was at home rather than the hospital. The US embassy in Ottawa stressed the incident as showing excellent cross-border co-operation between the two countries. Driver's father said he converted to Islam as a teen. He appears to have been radicalized in part on line. He was arrested in June of 2015 and was released on bail and had to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet or undergo religious counselling. Under the peace bond this was not required. Goodale said that there were no planned changes to the former Conservative Bill C-51 based on the Strathroy events. Liberals had criticized the bill but then voted in favor of it. They have made no changes in it since they took power. With this recent incident any changes will probably add new provisions in spite of criticism of the bill by many human rights organizations. Driver attended a mosque in London where members had tried to change his perspective, and had kept police informed of his presence. A statement from the mosque noted: "While he had wrong views about the world, at no time did any officials with the mosque know or suspect that Aaron was translating those views into any kind of attack. He did not display any outward signs of aggression." The Middle East Eye also has an article on the incident. The Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous (Solid Structure or BAM) forces loyal to the UN--backed Government of National Accord appear about to finish off the remaining Islamic State fighters in the city of Sirte where they are surrounded in a confined area.
The BAM forces report that they have taken control of the key Ouagadougou Center in Sirte that the Islamic State has been using as its headquarters and had so far been able to fend off attacks. The University of Sirte was first to be liberated in fighting today. The Ibn Sina Hospital was also taken. A recent tweet says: Breaking News: "Misrata-led forces are now combing through the Ouagadougou Conference Halls in #Sirte" Most of the BAM forces are brigades from Misrata. Another tweet reports: The first picture of the Ouagadougou center in #Sirte. Still clashes inside and near the center." However, a fighter plane was lost during the offensive. The IS claimed to have shot it down but it could have crashed due to technical problems as the planes are quite old. The pilot was reported killed. This is the second plane lost over Sirte as an MiG was lost back on June 2 earlier in the offensive. The US has been aiding the offensive with airstrikes since August 1. On Monday it carried out 8 airstrikes according to the Africa Command. The total now is 28. More strikes have been carried out since then but are not yet tallied. Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord, Faiez Serraj, said that the battle in Sirte should be over in a few weeks. However, with the taking of the headquarters it may be even sooner. Serraj said that foreign ground troops would not be needed. Yet there are already special forces from a number of countries already operating in Libya as this tweet notes: "Serraj to Corriere Della Sera, “We do not need foreign troops on Libyan soil.” US,UK,Italy, France confirm ground troops operate in #Libya." Corriere Della Sera is an Italian newspaper. Serraj said: “Our soldiers had been highly successful in recent times against the men of the Caliphate” Serraj also said that the request for US help came direct from the BAM fighters. Actually, it cane through the GNA. He thanked Italy for allowing the US to use the Sigonetta air base in Sicily to launch attacks on IS. Although he said that Libya did not need more military help it needed help from Italy to treat those wounded in the offensive as Libyan hospitals were overwhelmed. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/10/libya-forces-capture-isil-headquarters-in-key-city-of-sirte/ Fighters allied to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) are making preparations for the final battle against the Islamic State in their last stronghold, the city of Sirte. The last of the Islamic State (IS) fighters left in Sirte are surrounded in an area of about 5 square miles. The Al-Bunyan Al-Marsoos (Solid Structure or BAM) forces are mostly brigades from the city of Misrata. The GNA government said in a statement: "The countdown of the final stage of the military operations against Daesh has started. The operation's leaders held intensive meetings to prepare for the final and decisive battles to eradicate the Daesh gang from the city of Sirte." Daesh is the Arabic name for the Islamic State. The IS has occupied Sirte for over a year.The offensive against Sirte began in May and the city was entered in June but since then progress has met fierce resistance. Almost a month ago it was announced that IS resistance in the city was expected to end in a few days. The IS still hold their headquarters in the Ouagdougou Conference center. However, since Monday, at the request of the GNA, the U.S. has carried out air strikes that have further weakened the IS defences. During the operation to liberate Sirte, about 300 BAM forces have been killed and 1,800 wounded. The GNA air force needs help from the west so that it could become more efficient. If it had been strengthened as has happened to the rival air force of Khalifa Haftar, the GNA could probably have already defeated the IS on their own. Perhaps the GNA wants to show they can enlist foreign help as Haftar has had from France, UAE, and Egypt.The Bunyan Marsoos news media office said that the US carried out four air strikes today against sniper positions. They deny some reports that claim some BAM fighters had been killed or injured. Some speculate that the US attacks are meant to drive remaining IS fighters into the conference center and then subject the headquarters to a devastating attack. UK special forces are reported to be helping out in the offensive. There is video footage of what the US has called Operation Odyssey Lightning here. - Finally the White House has released a redacted version of President Obama's 3-year-old guidance for the use of lethal force against terrorists overseas. It includes safeguards to minimize civilian deaths while at the same time allowing quick action. The guidance applies to drone attacks and other means. The guidance says that outside of areas of active hostilities, direct action will only be taken when there is "near certainty" that the terrorist target is present and non-combatants will not be killed or injured. Lethal action can only be undertaken against a lawful target that poses "a continuing imminent threat" to Americans. There are more details in this release than a fact sheet that had been released in 2013. Obama has spoken about the "near certainty" standard. However this applies to areas outside of active hostilities. Critics have still complained of civilian deaths from drones. Ned Price, spokesperson for the National Security Council said:"As the president has said, 'near certainty' is the 'highest standard we can set,'" Price said. The U.S. "takes feasible precautions to minimize the risk of civilian casualties" even when the U.S. is not operating in conditions covered by the guidance, he added, "or when we act quickly to defend U.S. or partner forces from imminent attack."The Obama administration has admitted to 116 civilians killed in drone strikes, a figure much lower than the estimates of others: "This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and international journalists, NGO investigators, leaked government documents, court papers and the result of field investigations." The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had sued for release of the information and welcomed its release. The document is dated May 22, 2013. However, Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director said that questions remain, as to exactly where the guidance applied and how often Obama has waived the requirements as is allowed. Jaffer also wondered how the "relatively stringent standards can be reconciled with the accounts of eyewitnesses, journalists and human rights researchers who have documented large number of bystander casualties. Jaffer also noted that the release does not indicate what is meant by a "continuing" and "imminent threat" or what it means to be unfeasible to capture a target. The president does not need to sign off on high value targets unless there is disagreement within the National Security Council. |
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Ken Hanly
Ken is a retired philosophy professor living in the boondocks of Manitoba, Canada, with his Filipina wife. He enjoys reading the news and writing articles. Politically Ken is on the far left of the political spectrum on many issues.
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