Excerpts: Obama agrees to meet with Muslim Brotherhood representatives. War
returns to Iraq August 06, 2013
+++SOURCE: Egypt Independent via Egypt Daily News 6 Aug.?13:?Exclusive:
Obama agrees to meeting with Brotherhood, sources say?,Reuters
SUBJECT: Obama agrees to meet with Muslim Brotherhood representatives
U.S. President Barack Obama has agreed to meet with Muslim Brotherhood
representatives at the White House, sources told Egypt Independent.
Obama would reportedly meet with Brotherhood officials to "hear their
opinion" on developments in Egypt, in the presence of Turkish diplomats.
[IMRA: Function of Turkish diplomats; millionaire Malek has strong Turkish
business connections.]
Egypt Independent heard from sources inside the Muslim Brotherhood that
Islamist-linked billionaire Hassen Malek requested a meeting through Obama's
office manager.
The meeting with Turkish officials is expected to take place this month.
Turkish diplomats are expected to push for Mohamed Morsy's reinstatement as
Egyptian president, sources said, if not that the Muslim Brotherhood would
be assured of political survival following a month-long violent stand-off
with the armed forces in the wake of Morsy's overthrow.
Over 300 people have been reported killed since army chief and Defense
Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Morsy's ouster on 3 July.
The U.S. has repeatedly supported the Muslim Brotherhood's ascendancy in
Egypt, researcher Mohamed Hasanein Heikahl said.
While a number of Brotherhood leaders have publicly criticized the U.S.
stance, accusing the Obama administration of "playing a role in Morsy's
overthrow," they are said to be hoping for a shift as tentative talks
continue with Egypt's interim administration
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 6 Aug.,?13:Cafes shut, sports fields empty as war
returns to Iraq?, Reuters
SUBJECT: ?War returns to Iraq?
QUOTE:?fears of return to full-blown sectarian conflict in a country where
ruling Shiites and minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds have yet to find a
stable way of sharing power?
EXCERPTS:BAGHDAD ?. . . .Iraqis have endured extreme violence for years,
but since the start of 2013 the intensity of attacks on civilians has
dramatically increased, reversing a trend that had seen the country grow
more peaceful.
Attacks have spread to some of the few places left for public entertainment,
turning Baghdad into a giant fortified prison of concrete blast walls, where
once again few now dare to socialise in public.
The attacks have raised fears of a return to full-blown sectarian conflict
in a country where ruling Shiites and minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds have
yet to find a stable way of sharing power.
More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, the highest monthly death toll
since 2008, the United Nations said last week.
The past four months have all had higher death tolls than any in the five
years before April, leading the interior ministry to declare last week that
Iraq was now once again in ?open war?, 18 months after US troops pulled out.
Most of the violence has been perpetrated by the Iraqi wing of Al Qaeda, the
strict Sunni Muslim jihadi group which was defeated by US forces and their
allies in 2006-2007 but has been reborn this year to battle the Shiite-led
government.
. . . Sectarian tensions have also escalated as a result of the civil war
in neighbouring Syria, where Iraq?s Al Qaeda branch has merged with a
powerful Sunni Islamist rebel force fighting to overthrow a leader backed by
Shiite Iran.
?Insurgents now are changing rules of the game,? said Ali Al Bahadli, a
former Iraqi army general and military analyst who works as an adviser to
the ministry of defence.
?With the recent attacks of cafes and football pitches, the message is
directed at civilians is that security forces are unable to protect you.?
Cafes close doors
Security analysts say the Sunni insurgents are targeting cafes and football
pitches as a way to undermine the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister
Nouri Maliki, wrecking its claims to have restored normal life after a
decade of war.
Recent bombings have targeted men playing in local soccer fixtures and
watching matches, after spates of attacks on Sunni and Shiite mosques,
markets and the security forces. According to figures from the interior
ministry, around 37 caf?s across Iraq have been attacked since April.
People have begun to avoid public places like cafes and busy markets,
fearing from bombs and suicide attacks. After an easing of violence in the
past few years led places to reopen, many cafes have now closed again after
losing customers.
. . .
?With more security measures cutting Baghdad into pieces, attacks on cafes,
mosques and sport areas, we feel we?re living deadlocked inside homes,? said
ceramics artist Mahir Samarrai, who used to haunt the cafes in eastern
Baghdad, where men sip strong coffee, puff on water pipes and discuss the
day.
Amateur football players are also targets, with dozens killed in recent
months.
. . ..
The interior ministry has stepped up security near football pitches, cafes
and mosques to try to prevent more attacks.
The cafes are not only targeted by the bombs of the Sunni insurgency, but
are also under pressure from smaller hardline Shiite militias, who try to
close them by force.
The Shiite militias, who warn of practices they see as going against their
strict interpretation of Islam, were also behind a campaign targeting
alcohol sellers in Baghdad which killed 12 people in May.
The militias have been emboldened by the success of Shiite religious parties
which have risen in power since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
?. Prime Minister Maliki . . .?The government will not tolerate militias
and gangs that violate freedom of people in order to impose their corrupted
opinions under various pretexts,? he said on his website.
=========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
