When the Iraqi Army withdrew from the major cities of Anbar in December in the wake of continued protests against their heavy-handed tactics, ISIS insurgents predictably poured down their familiar rat lines from Syria to join local insurgents in capturing the strategic cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. The horror that al-Qaeda has thrived on in Syria now constitutes its vision for Iraq.

Can Another ‘Anbar Awakening’ Save Iraq? – Defense One – 2/3/2014.

* * *

Analysts say that after a year-long crackdown by Maliki’s forces, tribal leaders in overwhelmingly Sunni Anbar province have set aside deep-rooted grievances with the Shiite-dominated regime to help Maliki crush the jihadists, possibly because he has promised some political concessions.

Given the increasingly autocratic Maliki’s track record of refusing to give the minority Sunnis a stake in running the country, imprisoning their political leaders or driving them into exile, he’s now asking them to help him to sort out a crisis for which he is at least partly to blame himself.

Maliki Girds for Fallujah Assault, Stakes Are High for Iraq – 2/4/2014.

It appears that while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki may have the reflexes of a dictator, and so expressed those through his manner of using force in the past year, he may not have the want of power, callous and self-aggrandizing, as a dictator would have it.  He has perhaps found the weakness in the role of elected official but also discovered the opportunity for greater strength in meaningful and committed coalition.

______

(CNN) — At least 25 people were killed and 30 others injured in three bombings that hit the Iraqi capital on Wednesday morning, Baghdad police officials said.

Iraq: Deadly car and suicide bombings rock Baghdad – CNN.com – 2/5/2014.

“While CNN is departing its current brick-and-mortar location in Baghdad, the network continues to maintain an editorial presence in Iraq through a dedicated team of CNN stringers and correspondent assignments as news warrants,” a CNN spokesperson confirms in a statement.

CNN Shutters Baghdad Bureau, the Last U.S. TV News Bureau in Iraq – TVNewser – 5/30/2014.

While I / we — or perhaps just me, it’s hard to tell — wait for news of an Iraqi military assault on ISIS fighters inside Fallujah, one might ask what happened to the “big media” news

CNN pulled it bureau out of Iraq in this still tense sector of the Islamic Small Wars.

That American troops have returned from the war zone might well demote the relevance of coverage to Americans, who in any case may be wondering what’s next now that the Superbowl is over and it’s still a long way to springtime, but the war persists and remains relevant to the world and a now worldwide readership for whom state boundaries may mean a lot less than the ethical, moral, religious, and political fissures that cross-cross our “small blue dot” of a planet.

* * *

In his weekly speech on Wednesday, Maliki said “We do not want to harm the civilians and wish them to come back home soon where the battle with terrorism will end soon” . . . .

Maliki assures end of military operations in Fallujah soon – IraqiNews.com – 2/5/2014.

What battle?

Which is not to say that the al-Maliki’s comforting words need to presage conventional fighting or that the same needs to be seen: arrests may take place quietly; fighters may refuse the fight offered; in fact, the mafia processes — “God mob” tactics — on which such as ISIS rely do “the battle” in minds, not fields, consigning so much state-owned firepower and manpower to at least temporary irrelevance.

* * *

(Baghdad) – The execution-style killing of four members of Iraq’s SWAT forces, apparently by the ISIS armed group, is the latest atrocity in a campaign of widespread and systematic murder that amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today.

Iraq: Execution of SWAT Forces Furthers Crimes Against Humanity – 2/5/2014.

Related: Iraq: Execution of SWAT Forces Furthers Crimes Against Humanity | Human Rights Watch – 2/5/2014

The story dates back to a January 20, 2014 incident near Ramadi.  The breaking story appears to be about what Human Rights Watch has to say about it.

* * *

As noted the last time I blogged, as a casual web-based observer, “Fallujah is dark” — not the spy novelist’s phrase for destroyed (e.g., ominously, “Moscow is dark”) but rather a comment about information: we know from common online news coverage that Fallujah has been ringed by state military, that some 35,000 families have been displaced, probably temporarily for once, that war machinery and materiel have been delivered to Iraqi forces, and that some kind of invasion of Fallujah is imminent but, perhaps, also difficult in design and navigation: any irregular at any time may cache his weapons, exchange his costume, and swim as Mao Zedong advised, moving among the people “as a fish swims in the sea.”

So we wait, read about car bombs elsewhere, and watch the grim statistics.

* * *

The most violent blast today took place across the street from the Iraqi foreign ministry, on the edge of the international Green Zone. Soon after, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt at a nearby falafel restaurant, the Associated Press reports. Another car bomb was detonated in Khilani Square in the city’s commercial center. Authorities managed to diffuse the fifth bomb near the oil ministry before it went off, according to the Agence France-Presse. At least 24 people died.

Iraq’s insurgency shows staying power – CSMonitor.com – 2/5/2014.

Additional Reference

Reflections on Falluja and the Impermanence of Victory – NYTimes.com – 1/28/2014.

Heavy clashes as Iraq fighting sparks rights worries – Yahoo News – 1/9/2014.

As Iraq battles Al Qaeda in Fallujah, Pentagon takes note. Will Afghanistan? (+video) – CSMonitor.com – 1/7/2014.

Fall of Fallujah reverberates in Washington. But will US help Iraq? (+video) – CSMonitor.com – 1/7/2014.

Who Are the Foreign Fighters in Syria? An Interview With Aaron Y. Zelin – Syria in Crisis – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – 12/5/2013.

Hidden memories of Iraq – Correspondent

# # #