Push for power brings back Mosul's dark legacy 1-28-2009
Mosul - The river Tigris bisects Mosul, the capital of the northern
Iraqi province of Nineveh. On the western bank is the old city, the centre of Nineveh's majority Sunni population.
Iraqi province of Nineveh. On the western bank is the old city, the centre of Nineveh's majority Sunni population.
The suburbs and villages to the east and to the north are largely Kurdish, but are also home to a patchwork of one of the most diverse mixes of Iraqis anywhere in the country.
For years, pockets of almost every religious and ethnic community in Iraq - Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Sunni Kurds, Yazidi Kurds, Turkomans, Chaldean Christians, Nestorian Christians, Armenians, and Shabaks - lived in relative harmony here.
For years, pockets of almost every religious and ethnic community in Iraq - Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Sunni Kurds, Yazidi Kurds, Turkomans, Chaldean Christians, Nestorian Christians, Armenians, and Shabaks - lived in relative harmony here.
But after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, it was Mosul that provided one of the first preludes to the dark sectarian strife that was to descend on Iraq in the years to come.
Now, as Nineveh prepares to vote in provincial council elections, Mosul has seen a series of sectarian attacks and bitter recriminations that have stoked fears that the elections could bring simmering sectarian rivalries back to a boil.
Now, as Nineveh prepares to vote in provincial council elections, Mosul has seen a series of sectarian attacks and bitter recriminations that have stoked fears that the elections could bring simmering sectarian rivalries back to a boil.
Kurdish parties have long sought to incorporate northern and eastern Nineveh into the semi-autonomous region controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government.
In the 2005 elections, aided by calls for a boycott from Sunni leaders, Kurds won 31 of 41 seats on the provincial council, despite the fact that Sunnis make up a majority in the province.
In the 2005 elections, aided by calls for a boycott from Sunni leaders, Kurds won 31 of 41 seats on the provincial council, despite the fact that Sunnis make up a majority in the province.
A US soldier collects the fingerprints of an Iraqi man next to a sign that reads, "Infidel, there's no place to hide" during a large operation launched in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Al-Qaeda remains a threat to this weekend's election in Iraq, a senior army commander warned, as the United States said it expected its troops to be involved in the war-torn nation for many years.
Tens of Thousands Vote Early in Iraq Soldiers, Physicians, Refugees Go to Polls 1-29-2009
Tens of thousands of policemen and soldiers, doctors at hospitals, prisoners clad in orange jumpsuits and residents forced from contested towns cast early ballots Wednesday in provincial elections that will redraw Iraq's political landscape.
Regular voting is scheduled for Saturday to choose the equivalent of state legislatures in 14 of the country's 18 provinces. But early voting was allowed for certain groups, in particular the security forces, which will be deployed as part of a security clampdown. On election day, the government has ordered a nighttime curfew, the closing of Iraq's borders and airport, and a ban on traffic in towns and cities.
There was scattered violence Wednesday. Assailants gunned down two policemen in Tuz Khurmatu, 40 miles south of the disputed city of Kirkuk, and a bombing killed a policeman in the northern city of Mosul. But attacks so far have been relatively few compared with the onslaught that preceded Iraq's elections in 2005. Sunni Arabs largely boycotted that vote, delivering disproportionate power to Shiite Arabs and Kurds in some provinces.
Salwa Majid, seen with her newborn son, Haidar Karrar, holds up her ink-stained finger after she cast her vote from her hospital bed in the country's provincial elections in Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009. Full-scale voting is scheduled for Saturday to pick regional councils across much of Iraq. But special ballot boxes were brought early to detention facilities, hospitals and police and military units needed for the sweeping anti-terrorism measures that include vehicle bans and double-ring cordons around polling sites.
Iraqi soldiers point their ink stained index fingers after voting in the provincial elections in the mainly Sunni Muslim city of Ramadi, 100 kms west of the capital Baghdad. Several hundred thousand Iraqis voted on Wednesday in the first stage of a landmark provincial election, the country's first ballot since 2005, with officials reporting a high turnout.
Three Candidates Are Killed in Iraq 1-30-2009
Three Sunni candidates were assassinated Thursday, just two days before provincial elections. They came from three different blocs and all three were shot to death — one in Mosul, one in Diyala and one in Baghdad.
The deaths bring to six the number of candidates who have been killed.
The candidates in Mosul and Baghdad were killed near their homes; the one in Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, was pasting his election posters to a wall when he was killed with his brother and another relative.
The candidates in Mosul and Baghdad were killed near their homes; the one in Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, was pasting his election posters to a wall when he was killed with his brother and another relative.
That candidate, Abbas Farhan al-Azzawi, was a colonel in the former Iraqi Army and a member of the Reform and Development Party, a predominantly Sunni group. The party includes members of the former security forces and members of the Awakening movement, which has many insurgents who decided to change sides and work with the Americans against extremists.
The candidate killed in the Amiriya neighborhood of western Baghdad was Omar Farouk al-Ani of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
The candidate killed in the Amiriya neighborhood of western Baghdad was Omar Farouk al-Ani of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
The candidate killed in Mosul, Hazim Salim Ahmed, was a tribal figure from the National Unity List. He was personally close to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and accompanied him during his visit there on Thursday.
A U.S soldier of 1- 8 Infantry Battalion stands guard in front of a candidate's provincial election campaign poster in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad January 29, 2009. An election in two days in Iraq's most violent province, where al Qaeda and other insurgents are making a last stand, could bring Sunni Arabs back into power and ease resentment that has fuelled the bloodshed. Picture taken January 29, 2009.
An Iraqi soldier mans a machinegun on an armoured vehicle during a patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad January 29, 2009. An election in two days in Iraq's most violent province, where al Qaeda and other insurgents are making a last stand, could bring Sunni Arabs back into power and ease resentment that has fuelled the bloodshed. Picture taken January 29, 2009.
Iraqi city of Mosul key electoral battlefield 1-31-2009
By KIM GAMEL – 12 hours ago
By KIM GAMEL – 12 hours ago
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — This weekend's election in Mosul is a showdown for power between Arabs and Kurds, with the outcome likely to influence whether al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgents lose their last major urban foothold in Iraq.
U.S. officials say the insurgency remains a potent force in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, in part because the majority Sunni Arab population believes it is poorly served by a local government dominated by Kurds.
Voters have a chance to change that when they select members of ruling provincial councils here and in most of the country in Saturday's balloting, the first election in three years.
As a sign of the tension here, Iraqi police banned vehicles from Mosul's streets Friday morning and told residents to stay at home until they are ready to vote the following day. Similar bans were not due to take effect in the rest of the country until late Friday.
The measures in Mosul were imposed the day after gunmen assassinated a local Sunni candidate.
As a sign of the tension here, Iraqi police banned vehicles from Mosul's streets Friday morning and told residents to stay at home until they are ready to vote the following day. Similar bans were not due to take effect in the rest of the country until late Friday.
The measures in Mosul were imposed the day after gunmen assassinated a local Sunni candidate.
Sunnis largely boycotted the last provincial polls in January 2005, allowing Kurds to gain control of 31 seats on the 41-member council and leaving Sunnis with only a handful. The new council will have only 37 members, including three seats reserved for minorities.U.S. officials hope a big Sunni Arab turnout will bring them fully into the political process and undermine support for the insurgency.
Sami Habib Istifo sits in his office in the village of Hamdaniya, east of the restive city of Mosul, some 370 kms north of Baghdad on January 18, 2009. Istifo, a Christian candidate in Iraq's provincial elections, has already lined up a replacement in case he is killed before voting day tomorrow.
An Iraqi police officer stands at the border crossing with Iran near Basra, southern Iraq, Friday, Jan. 30, 2009. Iraq began Friday sealing its borders, halting air traffic and ordering overnight curfews in some of its largest cities on the eve of its nationwide provincial elections. Other planned security measures included closing the southern city of Basra and ordering traffic bans across Baghdad. Hundreds of women, including teachers and civic workers, have been recruited to help search women voters after a rise in female suicide bombers last year.
