Posted on 09/02/2007 1:11:37 AM PDT by familyop
MARDOW, Iraq (AP) — As explosions boomed in the distance, a Kurdish woman stood outside her house and pointed to where shells scorched parts of her father's grapes and plum orchards.
"It was a bad day when some 20 shells hit our village in a single day last week. We were crying as we prayed to God to protect us from the bombs of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Serwa Ibrahim, one of the few remaining villagers in Mardow, about 25 miles from the Iranian border.
"Despite the shelling, I will stay in my village until the end," Ibrahim, 33, said Thursday.
Iranian troops have been accused of bombing border areas for weeks against suspected positions of the Free Life Party, or PEJAK, a breakaway faction of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party. Iran says PEJAK — which seeks autonomy for Kurds in Iran — launches attacks inside Iran from bases in Iraq.
Shelling of border areas resumed Saturday after a brief lull, with Iranian shells hitting the Iraqi side of the border and causing some fires. AP Television News showed white smoke billowing from mountainous areas, and Kurdish shepherds carrying carcasses of sheep killed by the shelling.
The Iranian shelling has been criticized by Iraqi officials and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned it could have negative effects on the crucial relations between Iran and Iraq's Shiite-led government.
Ari Yashir, a PEJAK member, took a reporter in a tour around several deserted villages and claimed the Iranian attacks only serve to harm civilians.
"The bombing is only targeting villages where we have no bases," he said. "After three weeks of Iranian shelling none of our positions was hit and not a single member of our party was wounded."
Most of the people who fled their homes have gathered in an area known as Shewe Hasow, a valley with water springs in the Qandil Mountain area that borders Iran and Turkey. Many of them stay in tents or under covers mostly supplied by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"We are here because the refugees are in need," said ICRC member Patrick Youssef, standing by a truck with canned food and bottled water. "We are helping them with needed stuff because most of them left their homes leaving their things behind."
The Kurdish region's interior minister, Othman Haji Mahmoud, told the Kurdish regional parliament Tuesday that the Iranian shelling led to the displacement of some 450 families in 20 villages, adding that several people were wounded in addition to material damages.
He said the latest wave of shelling began Aug. 14.
In Baghdad, Zebari said Tuesday that the main areas struck are in the northern provinces of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah. Iranian shelling "has been ongoing and unfortunately has become a daily or a routine practice. Recently, we summoned the Iranian ambassador and handed him a note of protest."
"PEJAK sometimes moves in border area, but this does not permit all this continuous, daily and intensive shelling," said Zebari, a Kurd, who noted that Iraq was prepared to hold negotiations with Iran on the disputes over Kurdish rebel groups.
"We hope that these attacks will stop immediately."
To some Kurds in the region, they have been living the war for decades, including widespread atrocities blamed on Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s.
"We are the victims of a continuous struggle. My house was destroyed five times and I rebuilt it. Let this be the sixth time," said Abdullah Wasou Ibrahim, who fled to the refugee camp with 10 family members.
...just like always.
One country firing lethal explosives into another country = War.
How far can those American Smart Bombs travel after being released?
Our 28 year old IOU with Iran will soon come due.
So, what’s your position on the Turkish incursions into Northern Iraq in pursuit of the PKK?
Just curious. It’s a tricky situation.
As Chamberlain handed a similar note of protest to Nazi ambassador Ribbentrop on the occupation of the Rhineland.
It isn't that history repeats as much as incompetent leaders repeat the mistakes of previous incompetent leaders.
President Bush needs to lance the boil that is Iran before Jan 2009.
but I am no expert
That simple fact I assure!
The entire region is a cauldron, a bubbling kettle of people wanting to kill each other. It has been this way for thousands of years. The first people to America, I believe were running from, War, Famine, Disease, Hoping for a Better Life, and Realizing their Home was not their Home.
The Middle East is full of people who have for countless centuries been led by warlords, or other assorted fanatics. The region has a life, unto itself, and payments exchange hands like payments exchange hands for the benefit of a few and never the majority. I have no idea how to quell the violence, but I hope and pray a lot, the violence shall be quelled.
More to your question, a feeble attempt on my part thus far. Turkey is, I believe, a NATO member. Iraq is a sovereign nation. If one views recent History, the people in Northern Iraq have always wound up as the whipping boy. Even President George H.W. Bush hung the Kurds out to dry. President George H.W. Bush once headed one of the top intelligence agencies. Former George H.W. Bush probably made his decisions based on current and past intelligence reports....but What would Former President Ronald Reagan have done? I wish I could answer your question with more insight, and more brain power, but I warned at the beginning, I severely lack the expertise to type anything coherant.
Sorry, I truly attempted to type something coherant....Your question would be better addressed to an expert, of which, I hold no title of, expert.....Thanks for asking though.
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