Current News in Context
December 15, 2004
On the last day to register candidates for the January elections, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite and Washington favorite, announces his 240-member list. A bomb targeting a prominent Shiite cleric killed seven people in Karbala outside one of southern Iraq's holiest shrines. The Imam Hussein Shrine was one of a number of Shiite holy sites in Karbala and Baghdad targeted last March, when coordinated bombs and suicide blasts hit pilgrims attending a religious festival, killing at least 181. U.S. warplanes bombed Fallujah.
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Confronting Immense Loss
We recently returned to Amman, Jordan, to continue AFSC's work in Iraq, after completing a 12-state speaking tour in the United States. The ongoing violence inside Iraq has forced us—and the international staff of many humanitarian organizations—to relocate to countries bordering Iraq.
We return to the Middle East to the news that two more Iraqi friends and colleagues have been killed in Baghdad, and to attend a memorial for our dear friend Margaret Hassan, CARE's Iraq Coordinator. Margaret was taken hostage and is now presumed dead.
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Voices From Iraq
It is said that the first casualty of war is truth. In the Iraq war, that includes the truth of who the people of Iraq are and what they want to say.
In the past several weeks we have received many messages from our friends in Iraq. We believe they represent the many Iraqis who feel betrayed and angry, yet whose voices continue to be ignored by the U.S. media.
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Iraqi human rights NGOs in dire need of support (15 December)
"Iraqi human rights NGOs and activists participating in a workshop in the Jordanian capital, Amman, earlier this week, have called for financial and moral support from the international community to carry out their activities.
The groups assessed the human rights situation in Iraq and discussed their own needs during a four-day meeting, which concluded on Monday. The gathering, which brought together 25 Iraqi NGOs, was organised by the Iris NGO International Human Rights Network (IHRN).
We have to work together, we have no other choice, Mary Trotochand, Iraq's representative with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), said, adding that there had been huge violations of human rights since the war last spring."
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This letter written by Paul A. Lacey, Clerk of the Board of Directors for AFSC is powerful, insightful and a spirit led call for action.
Letter to President Bush
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AFP has an initial summary of the candidates and their parties.
5000 hopefuls for Iraq election
"But the major lists are sectarian-based even if their leaders insist they would welcome broader alliances.
The 228-candidate Iraqi Coalition is an alliance between the two mainstream Shiite religious parties and secular Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi, backed by the faith's spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The 165-member Kurdistan Alliance is a coalition between the two main Kurdish former rebel groups - the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
A 275-member list represents the Turkmen minority in northern Iraq, while three rival lists are vying for the votes of Christians.
As well as the national assembly, voters are to elect 18 provincial councils and a Kurdish regional parliament. Campaigning officially begins tomorrow and will last for six weeks."
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