SrikandiTV - Agak mudah yang dengan pemberontak telah menguasai bandar-bandar utama di Iraq mencadangkan bekas pegawai tentera dan lain-lain mungkin telah bergabung dengan Golongan ini untuk menyasarkan kerajaan Syiah yang diterajui Perdana Menteri Nouri al-Maliki, Edmund Ghareeb memberitahu RT.
"Apa juga membuat ini menarik dan apa yang menimbulkan banyak soalan tentang apa yang berlaku sekarang ialah bahawa terdapat banyak daya juang di bawah nama ISIS (Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant)," kata Ghareeb, seorang profesor di Universiti Amerika, sambil menambah bahawa banyak kumpulan mempunyai musuh yang sama dgn Maliki.
Beliau menambah bahawa mungkin ada "pegawai Iraq, yang berasal dari tentera Saddam Hussein, yang datang dari kawasan Tikrit dan kawasan Mosul, dan mungkin yang menerangkan [bagaimana] taktik tentera yang digunakan, kerana ini sangat berkesan. Terdapat perancangan profesional di sini."
RT: Adakah adil untuk mengatakan, sebagai Presiden Barack Obama telah berkata, bahawa Iraq semata-mata bertanggungjawab bagi keadaan keselamatan sendiri?
Edmund Ghareeb: Jelas apa yg berlaku di Iraq adalah satu kejutan kpd pentadbiran [Obama], kerana saya pasti bahawa, mungkin, ia adalah satu kejutan kepada kerajaan Iraq juga.
Kepantasan dengan yang kuasa-kuasa ini dapat memajukan dan mengambil alih bandar seperti Mosul menimbulkan banyak soalan mengenai tentera Iraq, yang telah dilatih, ‘supposedly’, oleh Amerika Syarikat.
Mereka, sudah tentu, tidak mempunyai senjata yang canggih dari segi kapal terbang atau peluru berpandu. Tetapi ini adalah tentera di mana $ 25 billion telah dibelanjakan untuk membantu menyediakannya untuk tugas masa depan, untuk membantu melindungi kerajaan Iraq, dan penduduk Iraq.
Tetapi saya fikir apa yang berlaku di sini adalah bahawa ini menimbulkan semua soalan tentang cara kerajaan Amerika Syarikat sedang meninjau keadaan ini, dan sudah tentu, presiden masih mempunyai persepsi legasi beliau sendiri.
Presiden Obama, semasa beliau menjadi calon untuk jawatan presiden, berjanji untuk keluar dari Iraq. Dia tidak mahu untuk kembali ke Iraq. Pada masa yang sama, ini adalah keadaan yang kompleks dan sukar, dan dia tidak boleh kekal sama sekali tidak berhubung dengan keadaan ini.
Itulah sebabnya kita melihat sambutan ini, penilaian ini berhati-hati apa yang Amerika Syarikat boleh melakukan atau perlu lakukan. Sebaliknya, Presiden telah mengambil kira di atas negara realiti politik.
RT: Jika tentera Iraq dibiarkan sesuka mereka, mereka benar2 boleh mempertahankan Iraq dari serangan ini?
Edmund Ghareeb: Dalam satu tangan, anda mempunyai tentera yang mempunyai tempat di antara 250,000 dan 300,000 lelaki. Anda mempunyai pasukan keselamatan yang dekat dengan 900,000. Supaya hendaklah mencukupi untuk melindungi Baghdad dan melindungi beberapa bandar-bandar, walaupun terhadap serangan beberapa ribu atau seratus, dalam beberapa kes, pejuang.
Sudah tentu negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIS) berpengalaman, ia terdiri daripada banyak pejuang keras. Apa juga membuat ini menarik dan apa yang menimbulkan banyak soalan tentang apa yang berlaku sekarang ialah bahawa terdapat banyak daya juang di bawah nama ISIS.
Apa yang kita lihat ialah pejuang berjuang di bawah panji-panji ISIS, dan pada masa yang sama, ia seolah-olah terdapat kumpulan-kumpulan lain. Anda mempunyai kuasa-kuasa bekas naib presiden Iraq, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, yang dari Naqshbandi, perintah Sufi.
Anda memdapati pegawai-pegawai Iraq yang berasal dari tentera Saddam Hussein, yang datang dari kawasan Tikrit dan kawasan Mosul, dan mungkin yang menerangkan [bagaimana] taktik tentera digunakan, kerana ini sangat berkesan.
Terdapat perancangan profesional di sini. Juga, Baathists, bekas Baathists, mungkin juga telah terlibat, dan juga suku kaum. Orang-orang ini mengambil pendirian bersama terhadap Perdana Menteri Maliki.
Mereka semua sedang menentang Maliki. Pada masa yang sama, saya tidak fikir kumpulan-kumpulan ini mempunyai objektif yang sama. Sebagai contoh, ISIS mahu mempunyai pemerintahan khalifah Islam.
Saya tidak fikir ini adalah semestinya dikongsi oleh beberapa kumpulan Sufi, dan ia tidak akan dikongsi oleh bekas pegawai-pegawai tentera Iraq, atau Parti Baath. Walau bagaimanapun, sekarang, mereka boleh bekerja bersama-sama terhadap Maliki.
Bagi Keadaan ini juga akan turun di Baghdad, saya tidak fikir ia akan mudah untuk kuasa ini untuk mengambil alih Baghdad, terutamanya jika ada pembelaan. Demografi Baghdad berubah sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu, dan ia adalah sebuah bandar yang kebanyakannya majoriti Syiah.
Pada masa yg sama, terdapat kuasa-kuasa profesional dan elit yg mempertahankan Baghdad, jadi ia tidak akan mudah. Walau bagaimanapun, hakikatnya ialah kuasa-kuasa ini bergerak.
Mereka telah tawan Mosul dan, dilaporkan, Tikrit - walaupun terdapat soalan tentang bahagian-bahagian itu - dan Baiji, yg merupakan sebuah bandar yg sangat penting di mana anda mempunyai kemudahan minyak di sana. Mereka mengambil bandar-bandar, dan itulah yang sangat penting.
'MULTIPLE GROUPs may be JOINING ISIS jihadists
in fight Against IRAQi GOVT' . . .
The relative ease with which insurgents have taken control of major cities in Iraq suggests former military officers and others may have joined forces with jihadists to target Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government, Edmund Ghareeb told RT.
"What also makes this interesting and what raises a lot of questions about what's going on is that there are many forces fighting under the name of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)," said Ghareeb, a professor at American University, adding that the many groups have a common enemy in Maliki.
He added that there could be "Iraqi officers, who are from Saddam Hussein's army, who come from the Tikrit area and the Mosul area, and probably that explains [how] military tactics were used, because these were very effective. There was professional planning here."
RT: Is it fair to say, as President Barack Obama has said, that Iraq is solely responsible for its own security situation?
Edmund Ghareeb: Clearly what's going on in Iraq was a surprise to the [Obama] administration, as I'm sure that, probably, it was a surprise to the Iraqi government as well.
The rapidity with which these forces are able to advance and take over a city like Mosul raises a lot of questions about the Iraqi army, which was trained, supposedly, by the United States.
They, of course, didn't have very sophisticated weapons in terms of airplanes or missiles. But this is an army where $25 billion was spent to help prepare it for future duties, to help protect Iraq's government, and the population of Iraq.
But I think what is happening here is that this all raises questions about the way the US government is looking at this situation, and, of course, the president still has his perception of his own legacy.
President Obama, when he was a candidate for the presidency, promised to get out of Iraq. He does not want to return to Iraq. At the same time, this is a complex and difficult situation, and he cannot remain totally out of touch with this situation.
That's why we're seeing this response, this careful evaluation of what the US could do or should do. On the other hand, the president has taken into account the political realities on the ground.
RT: If the Iraqi army is left to their own devices, can they really defend Iraq from this onslaught?
Edmund Ghareeb: On the one hand, you have an army that has somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 men. You have security forces that are close to 900,000.
So that should be sufficient to protect Baghdad and to protect some of the cities, even against the onslaught of several thousand or hundred, in some cases, fighters.
Of course the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is experienced, it's composed of many hardened fighters. What also makes this interesting and what raises a lot of questions about what's going on is that there are many forces fighting under the name of ISIS.
What we are seeing is that the fighters are fighting under the banner of ISIS, and at the same time, it seems there are other groups. You have the forces of the former vice president of Iraq, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who is of the Naqshbandi, the Sufi order.
You have Iraqi officers who are from Saddam Hussein's army, who come from the Tikrit area and the Mosul area, and probably that explains [how] military tactics were used, because these were very effective.
There was professional planning here. Also, the Baathists, the former Baathists, may also have been involved, as well as the tribes. These people have a common stand against Prime Minister Maliki. They're all opposed to Maliki. At the same time, I don't think these groups have the same objectives.
For example, ISIS wants to have an Islamic caliphate. I don't think this is necessarily shared by some of the Sufi groups, and it wouldn't be shared by the former Iraqi army officers, or the Baath Party. Nevertheless, right now, they may be working together against Maliki.
As for the situation also going down in Baghdad, I don't think it will be easy for this force to take over Baghdad, particularly if there is a defense. The demography of Baghdad was changed over the past several years, and it is mostly a Shiite majority city.
At the same time, there are professional and elite forces which are defending Baghdad, so it won't be easy. Nevertheless, the fact is these forces are moving. They've taken Mosul and, reportedly, Tikrit – though there is a question about parts of it – and Baiji, which is a very important town where you have oil facilities there. They are taking the cities, and that's significant.
IRAQ blok Twitter, Facebook, YouTube di tengah2 BerKEMBANGnya Ancaman ISIS . . .
Merebut imej yang diambil dari video propaganda yang dikeluarkan pada 17 Mac 2014 oleh Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) 's al-Furqan Media didakwa menunjukkan pejuang ISIL merekrut sukarelawan di lokasi yang tidak didedahkan di wilayah Anbar (An image grab taken from a propaganda video released on March 17, 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)'s al-Furqan Media allegedly shows ISIL fighters recruiting volunteers at an undisclosed location in the Anbar province (AFP Photo)
Kerajaan Iraq telah menyekat akses ke laman-laman media sosial terkenal seperti Facebook dan Twitter, dilaporkan untuk menghalang aktiviti militan yang boleh dikaitkan dengan Al-Qaeda. Sementara itu, ribuan yang mendaftar untuk melawan pemberontakan jihad di Iraq.
Banyak laporan media memetik wartawan dan penyokong-internet terbuka berkata bahawa pengguna internet di Iraq mendapat skrin blok apabila cuba untuk mengakses laman media sosial dan Google.
Kuwait News Agency memetik satu ‘cited’ sumber di Kementerian Iraq Komunikasi yang berkata agensi itu telah diberitahu untuk menyekat akses kepada Facebook, Twitter dan YouTube, dan juga beberapa laman web lucah.
Sumber itu tidak menyatakan mengapa tapak telah disekat, tetapi ia dipercayai menjadi satu langkah untuk menggagalkan militan daripada Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIS atau ISIL) untuk menghantar video & gambar-gambar eksploitasi di kawasan-kawasan utara dan barat negara. Kumpulan itu telah menawan tanah utama di kawasan-kawasan, termasuk Mosul, bandar yang ke-2 terbesar di Iraq.
Hayder Hamzoz, pengasas Rangkaian Iraq untuk Media Sosial, perkataan penyebaran blok, dan Ammar Al Shahbander, Laporan pengarah Iraq bagi Institut Perang dan Keamanan, ditawarkan screenshot mesej ralat ‘error messages’ yang diterima oleh pengguna di Iraq.
Siber Arab, seorang internet memantau kebebasan dan latihan keselamatan siber pembekal di Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara, mengesahkan ‘confirmed’ dengan Mashable bahawa Facebook, YouTube, dan Twitter telah terjejas di seluruh Iraq.
Martin Chulov, melaporkan untuk Guardian, berkata laman web yang semua turun kerana kerajaan Iraq takut bahawa ISIS akan menggunakan media sosial untuk "mengatur & menggerakkan."
"Kami terganggu dengan laporan isu-isu akses di Iraq dan sedang menyiasat," kata seorang jurucakap Facebook memberitahu Mashable. "Mengehadkan akses kepada perkhidmatan internet - penting untuk komunikasi dan perdagangan untuk berjuta-juta orang - adalah perkara yang membimbangkan bagi masyarakat global."
Twitter dan YouTube jurucakap berkata syarikat-syarikat mencari ke dalam laporan.
Terdapat laporan dari pengguna kehilangan akses kepada perkhidmatan pesanan WhatsApp dan Viber, juga.
Aktivis Internet juga menegaskan bahawa menyekat sambungan ke pengguna di seluruh Iraq akan mungkin tidak membantu menyangkal khabar angin ISIS-menye-marakkan kemenangan mereka sendiri.
Sementara itu, ribuan orang awam Iraq mendaftar untuk melawan ISIS - Golongan Arab Sunni yang juga mempunyai kehadiran utama di negara jiran Syria. ISIS telah dipukul ringan tangan pasukan keselamatan Iraq terlebih dahulu mereka melalui negara, yang membawa Perdana Menteri Nouri al-Maliki mengumumkan bahawa orang awam akan bersenjata untuk serangan terhadap militan.
Usaha sukarela menerima rangsangan daripada kata-kata perangsang dari Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, seorang ulama Syiah atas dipuja di seluruh Iraq.
"Warga yang mampu utk memikul senjata & memerangi pengganas, mempertahankan negara mereka dan rakyat mereka dan tempat-tempat suci mereka, perlu sukarelawan dan menyertai pasukan keselamatan untuk mencapai matlamat suci ini," wakil Sistani mengumumkan untuk ulama.
"Sesiapa yang mengorbankan pada jalan mempertahankan negaranya dan keluarganya dan penghormatan beliau akan mati syahid," katanya.
IRAQ blocks Twitter, Facebook, YouTube amid
growing ISIS THREAT . . .
The Iraqi government has blocked access to top social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, reportedly to hinder the activities of militants formerly associated with Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, thousands are signing up to fight the jihadist insurgency in Iraq.
Numerous media reports citing journalists and open-internet advocates said that internet users in Iraq are getting block screens when trying to access top social media sites and Google.
The Kuwait News Agency cited a source in the Iraqi Ministry of Communications who said the agency was told to block access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as a number of pornographic websites.
The source did not specify why the sites were blocked, but it is believed to be a move to thwart militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL) from posting videos and pictures of exploits in the nation’s northern and western regions. The group has captured major ground in those areas, including Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq.
Hayder Hamzoz, founder of the Iraqi Network for Social Media, spread word of the block, and Ammar Al Shahbander, the Iraq director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, offered a screenshot of error messages received by users in Iraq.
Cyber Arabs, an internet freedom monitor and cybersecurity training provider in the Middle East and North Africa, confirmed with Mashable that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter were hampered across Iraq.
Martin Chulov, reporting for the Guardian, said the sites were all down due to Iraqi government fears that ISIS would use social media to “organise & mobilise.”
"We are disturbed by reports of access issues in Iraq and are investigating," a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. "Limiting access to internet services – essential for communication and commerce for millions of people – is a matter of concern for the global community."
Twitter and YouTube spokespersons said the companies are looking into the reports.
There have been reports of users losing access to messaging services WhatsApp and Viber, as well.
Internet activists also pointed out that blocking connections to users across Iraq would likely not help in refuting ISIS-fueled rumors of their own victories.
Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqi civilians are signing up to fight ISIS – Sunni Arab jihadists that also have a major presence in neighboring Syria. ISIS has handily beaten Iraqi security forces in their advance through the nation, leading Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to announce that civilians would be armed for an offensive against militants.
The volunteer effort received a boost from words of encouragement from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a top Shiite cleric adored across Iraq.
"Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose," Sistani's representative announced for the cleric.
"He who sacrifices for the cause of defending his country and his family and his honour will be a martyr," he added.
