IRAQ UPDATE: 15-31 January 2009
February 13th, 2009
in:
CPTnet
13 February 2009
IRAQ UPDATE: 15-31 January 2009
CPT Iraq members during this period were Peggy Gish,, Craig Kite, Denis Murphy, Michele Naar-Obed, Hilary Scarsella and Chihchun Yuan.
Thursday 15 January
Gish, Kite and Scarsella met with representatives from Develop Youth Ability Association, an organization from Tuz, south of Kirkuk. The organization is dedicated to helping youth gain skills and hope for a better future, providing activities as an alternative to involvement in extremist or violent organizations.
Hesitantly, the representatives expressed frustration and disapproval of the U.S. military action and systems in their area. One said "As Kurds, we see ourselves as allies of the U.S., but sometimes they break our hearts." They recounted the time six months ago when a special forces U.S. helicopter came from Baghdad and landed in a Tuz neighborhood. The soldiers raided two houses next to one another, one Kurd the other Turkmen. They forced the women to stand half naked while they killed two men from each house. The soldiers said there was a terrorist in the neighborhood. Neighbors said that neither of these families was connected with the terrorist. Â
Sunday 18 January
Scarsella and Pyles traveled to Erbil to pick up independent election monitoring badges for Gish, Murphy, Naar-Obed, and Pyles.
Tuesday 20 January
Yuan, Scarsella, Naar-Obed and Gish went to Sheladze/Amedi.. They met with twelve men and five women representing five villages near Sheladze. They discussed the team's wish to accompany these villagers back to their villages.
"There is continuous bombing by Turkey in our villages, day and night", one villager told the team. "There are also unexploded bombs there." Another man added, "We live in a beautiful place. It is like heaven. But we lived in fear and violence. We had no choice but to leave. For two years we have not gone back to plant and harvest, not even to get our tools.. We need to go back to water our fruit and nut trees, or they will die."  Â
Wednesday 21 January
The team met with a community leader concerning their plan to accompany the villagers. He suggested they discuss their plan with U.N. officials.
Wednesday 28 January
Naar-Obed, Murphy and Gish went to Rania and Zharawa. The team met with the director of Rania Youth Center. Naar-Obed discussed with him and the Rania mayor the Rania-Duluth (Minnesota) sister-city relationship and the Duluth delegation planned for May. The team visited the site of the new camp for Zharawa displaced families and learned it should be finished in two weeks, weather permitting.
Friday 30 January
The team went to Khanaqin, a mainly Kurdish city in northern Diyala. After speaking with the director of Kalat, an Iraqi NGO (non-governmental organization) monitoring the provincial elections in Diyala, the team heard a Kalat organization guard and another family, all IDPs (internally displaced persons), describe how they were denied their voting rights. All had tried to change their voting registration to Khanaqin months earlier but were not included on the final voting list. The team then visited the offices of the Iraqi Army and the city police offices regarding security. That night the team slept in the offices of the Kalat Organization.
Saturday 31 January
Pyles and Gish, as international independent elections monitors, along with a team friend from Khanaquin and a Kalat representative, visited three polling sites. The procedures seemed standardized and well organized at all three sites. Those who could vote were happy. But the team met many Kurds who were unhappy, because they were not allowed to transfer their voter registration after returning to this area from other parts of Iraq and were therefore denied their voting rights. One young man said "I won't leave until I vote, even if I have to stay all day." A Parliamentarian representing the region expressed his frustration that 16,000 eligible voters were not allowed to vote. He commented, "This is responsibility of the Independent Election Commission. By their name they are independent, but they do not like Kurds."
Murphy and Naar-Obed remained at the Kalat office to observe calls coming in from all over the Diyala Province. At 7:30 AM a call from the town of Karatopa reported the Iraqi military blocked the entrance of the polling place to monitors, which was illegal. In Saadiya only two of the 13 polling places were open. At 9:00 AM election observers were not allowed in the Al Makhfera polling center. Someone reported people coming in with their fingers coated in oil so the indelible ink would wipe off so they could vote again. At 9:45 AM a Kalat official returned from town saying "It looks like Christmas" because the streets were filled with people going or coming from voting. People not allowed to vote were going to the polling places anyway to complain.
At 12:30 Naar-Obed notified Pyles and Gish that a large number of unregistered Kurdish voters went to the NGO center near the Joint Command Center (JCC) to demonstrate. They were allowed to protest by the police. Pyles and Gish went and observed about 300 peaceful disenfranchised voters demonstrating in front of the Election Commission Office. They interviewed and photographed several protesters.
13 February 2009
IRAQ UPDATE: 15-31 January 2009
CPT Iraq members during this period were Peggy Gish,, Craig Kite, Denis Murphy, Michele Naar-Obed, Hilary Scarsella and Chihchun Yuan.
Thursday 15 January
Gish, Kite and Scarsella met with representatives from Develop Youth Ability Association, an organization from Tuz, south of Kirkuk. The organization is dedicated to helping youth gain skills and hope for a better future, providing activities as an alternative to involvement in extremist or violent organizations.
Hesitantly, the representatives expressed frustration and disapproval of the U.S. military action and systems in their area. One said "As Kurds, we see ourselves as allies of the U.S., but sometimes they break our hearts." They recounted the time six months ago when a special forces U.S. helicopter came from Baghdad and landed in a Tuz neighborhood. The soldiers raided two houses next to one another, one Kurd the other Turkmen. They forced the women to stand half naked while they killed two men from each house. The soldiers said there was a terrorist in the neighborhood. Neighbors said that neither of these families was connected with the terrorist. Â
Sunday 18 January
Scarsella and Pyles traveled to Erbil to pick up independent election monitoring badges for Gish, Murphy, Naar-Obed, and Pyles.
Tuesday 20 January
Yuan, Scarsella, Naar-Obed and Gish went to Sheladze/Amedi.. They met with twelve men and five women representing five villages near Sheladze. They discussed the team's wish to accompany these villagers back to their villages.
"There is continuous bombing by Turkey in our villages, day and night", one villager told the team. "There are also unexploded bombs there." Another man added, "We live in a beautiful place. It is like heaven. But we lived in fear and violence. We had no choice but to leave. For two years we have not gone back to plant and harvest, not even to get our tools.. We need to go back to water our fruit and nut trees, or they will die."  Â
Wednesday 21 January
The team met with a community leader concerning their plan to accompany the villagers. He suggested they discuss their plan with U.N. officials.
Wednesday 28 January
Naar-Obed, Murphy and Gish went to Rania and Zharawa. The team met with the director of Rania Youth Center. Naar-Obed discussed with him and the Rania mayor the Rania-Duluth (Minnesota) sister-city relationship and the Duluth delegation planned for May. The team visited the site of the new camp for Zharawa displaced families and learned it should be finished in two weeks, weather permitting.
Friday 30 January
The team went to Khanaqin, a mainly Kurdish city in northern Diyala. After speaking with the director of Kalat, an Iraqi NGO (non-governmental organization) monitoring the provincial elections in Diyala, the team heard a Kalat organization guard and another family, all IDPs (internally displaced persons), describe how they were denied their voting rights. All had tried to change their voting registration to Khanaqin months earlier but were not included on the final voting list. The team then visited the offices of the Iraqi Army and the city police offices regarding security. That night the team slept in the offices of the Kalat Organization.
Saturday 31 January
Pyles and Gish, as international independent elections monitors, along with a team friend from Khanaquin and a Kalat representative, visited three polling sites. The procedures seemed standardized and well organized at all three sites. Those who could vote were happy. But the team met many Kurds who were unhappy, because they were not allowed to transfer their voter registration after returning to this area from other parts of Iraq and were therefore denied their voting rights. One young man said "I won't leave until I vote, even if I have to stay all day." A Parliamentarian representing the region expressed his frustration that 16,000 eligible voters were not allowed to vote. He commented, "This is responsibility of the Independent Election Commission. By their name they are independent, but they do not like Kurds."
Murphy and Naar-Obed remained at the Kalat office to observe calls coming in from all over the Diyala Province. At 7:30 AM a call from the town of Karatopa reported the Iraqi military blocked the entrance of the polling place to monitors, which was illegal. In Saadiya only two of the 13 polling places were open. At 9:00 AM election observers were not allowed in the Al Makhfera polling center. Someone reported people coming in with their fingers coated in oil so the indelible ink would wipe off so they could vote again. At 9:45 AM a Kalat official returned from town saying "It looks like Christmas" because the streets were filled with people going or coming from voting. People not allowed to vote were going to the polling places anyway to complain.
At 12:30 Naar-Obed notified Pyles and Gish that a large number of unregistered Kurdish voters went to the NGO center near the Joint Command Center (JCC) to demonstrate. They were allowed to protest by the police. Pyles and Gish went and observed about 300 peaceful disenfranchised voters demonstrating in front of the Election Commission Office. They interviewed and photographed several protesters.
