Brit Jihadi Film Leaves Family 'Heartbroken'

Faith Lost In Iraq PM Amid Political Limbo

Updated: 5:46pm UK, Friday 20 June 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor, in Baghdad

The US President, Shia politicians, Sunni chieftans and none other than the Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani has joined the clamour for Iraq's Prime Minister to move fast and form a government.

The nation has languished since elections on April 30 in a political limbo that arguably undermined faith in the central government, even among the Shia-dominated armed forces.

That might, partly, explain their rapid collapse in the face of far fewer forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) plus their allies.

But now that Iraq's supreme court has ratified the results of the elections what possible reason could Nouri al Maliki have for delay?

One explanation may simply be political.

His stewardship over previous years has entrenched sectarian divisions and seen an explosion in corruption.

His party bloc won 92 of the 328 seats in Iraq's parliament and he'll need 165 to form a coalition administration.

He, therefore, has to get involved in some serious horse trading with other Shia parties to build his coalition.

But they are now losing faith in him. Particularly in his apparent refusal to reach out to Sunni parties and offer them stakes in the central government - such as a security portfolio and a ministry which would give them access to patronage systems such as an education or public works - so that they feel both secure and that they have an investment in the future political structures.

A more conspiratorial thesis, fuelled by the conspiratorial utterances of lame duck ministers left over from the previous administration, is that Iraq's latest travails are the fault of external forces.

Jordan, Saudi Arabia (both Sunni countries), the US and others are being blamed for manipulating the Middle East and somehow creating ISIS.

There is evidence of Saudi individual, and possible state funding, for extremist militant groups in Syria, which may include ISIS.

And Jordan has played a significant role in trying to boost the fortunes of the non-extremist Free Syrian Army.

But Mr al Maliki may have calculated that he can either weather the latest storm - or let ISIS form an impoverished caliphate in the desert north of his country which would leave the Shia with Baghdad and the south.

It's the south, after all, that holds the lion's share of the world's second largest oil reserves.

It can ship its oil out through the Gulf, via Kuwait, or via Iran.

A Shia state or semi-state would not only be self-sufficient - it would be spared the burden of sharing Iraq's spoils with other sectarian groups like the Sunni and the Kurds (who already have their own autonomy and oil industry).

Such a move, or allowing events to drift to this reality, would place the south of Iraq firmly inside Iran's imperial embrace.

That is not something that Saudi Arabia would be able to tolerate in the long term as it vies with Iran for influence in the Middle East.

Nor is it anything that a rump Sunni 'caliphate' would be able to live with - the extremists within it would forever plot how to steal it back by force.

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Colchester Student Murder: Suspect Released

Detectives investigating the brutal murder of a Saudi Arabian student in Colchester have released a 19-year-old man they were questioning.

Nahid Almanea was stabbed 16 times while walking along a path in Colchester, Essex, on Tuesday morning.

The 31-year-old had been taking an English language course at the University of Essex as part of her studies for a life sciences PhD.

Police have increased the number of patrols in the city since the attack

Police released a CCTV picture of Ms Almanea taken moments before her death and a map of her likely route from the home she shared with her brother to the spot on the Salary Brook trail where her body was found.

Police said the man was arrested on Friday in connection with a separate assault after a female jogger claimed a man had approached her and tried to grab her near Peache Road on June 19.

Officers said the man has now been released from police custody, no further action against him is planned, and he has been eliminated from their inquiries.

Ms Almanea was captured on CCTV moments before she was killed

Earlier, investigators promised to "unrelentingly" pursue all lines of inquiry in the hunt for the foreign student's killer.

Chief Inspector Richard Phillibrown, the town's area commander, said: "I see this murder as an attack on the entire community of Colchester and I believe we will all pull together to respond to it.

"I am confident that the vast majority of people in this town will pay no attention to those trying to stir up trouble."

Police were investigating whether Ms Almanea's clothing - an abaya robe and hijab headscarf - was a factor in the stabbing, but stressed they did not know for sure.

Officers have warned local people not to go out alone and to be vigilant

Officers warned that jumping to such conclusions would be "deeply unhelpful, wrong and dangerous" and that there were likely other possible motives.

Officers called for calm, warned local people not to go out alone and to be vigilant, as they confirmed they were investigating threats of revenge attacks on social media.

They said the fact that Ms Almanea was stabbed multiple times bore "obvious similarities" to the murder of James Attfield, a vulnerable man with brain damage who was stabbed more than 100 times in a park in Colchester in March.

But police have stressed the cases remain separate investigations.

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Kurds Lead Fightback Against ISIS Militants

Timeline: How The Iraq Crisis Unfolded

Updated: 2:12pm UK, Tuesday 17 June 2014

A look back at the main events in the Iraq crisis, which has seen Sunni insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group move to within 50 miles of the capital Baghdad.

December 2011: US troops complete their withdrawal after the 2003 invasion which led to the removal of Saddam Hussein.

August 2013: More than 70 people are killed in attacks at the end of Ramadan. ISIS claim responsibility.

January 2-4, 2014: ISIS declares itself in control of the western city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi following clashes sparked by the clearing of a Sunni-Arab protest camp.

February: al Qaeda formally disowns ISIS, which was at one time an affiliate, because of its extreme methods.

April: Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki wins the most seats in a general election.

June 10: ISIS seizes all of Nineveh province in the north, including the capital Mosul - Iraq's second city. Mr Maliki asks parliament to declare a state of emergency.

June 11: The militants launch a wave of attacks further south, taking Tikrit and freeing hundreds of prisoners in Baiji. An assault on Samarra, 70 miles (110km) north of Baghdad, is repelled by security forces.

June 12: Iraq's air force strikes fighters' positions near Mosul and Tikrit.

US President Barack Obama says he is looking at "all the options" to help the government, which fails to secure authorisation for a state of emergency.

The army abandons its bases in Kirkuk, leaving Kurdish Peshmerga troops to take control.

June 13: A top Shia cleric issues a call to arms, telling the population to take up arms and defend their country.

Mr Maliki claims government forces have started to clear cities of "terrorists" and implements an emergency plan to protect Baghdad.

President Obama rules out sending back troops to fight ISIS.

The rebels move into the towns of Saadiyah and Jalawla in eastern province of Diyala.

June 14: Iran offers to work with the US to tackle the crisis, as Britain pledges an initial £3m in emergency aid to help refugees fleeing the violence.

The Iraqi army's fightback continues, with forces retaking the towns of Ishaqi, al-Mutasim and Duluiyah in Salaheddin province.

Troops also regain much of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

US aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush is ordered to the Persian Gulf.

June 15: Photos emerge appearing to show an ISIS massacre of 1,700 captured government soldiers. Baghdad says number is exaggerated.

Reports say militants have overrun Tal Afar, the largest town in Nineveh province.

A bombing in central Baghdad leaves 15 people dead and dozens injured.

Former PM Tony Blair tells Sky News that critics who believe the violence is the result of the 2003 invasion are "profoundly mistaken".

June 16: Video footage purporting to show an ISIS fighter questioning and killing unarmed Iraqi soldiers draws condemnation.

ISIS takes control of Tal Afar and the al Adhim area of Diyala province.

US Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington is "open to discussions with Iran".

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PM Crisis Talks On Threat From ISIS Militants

Timeline: How The Iraq Crisis Unfolded

Updated: 2:12pm UK, Tuesday 17 June 2014

A look back at the main events in the Iraq crisis, which has seen Sunni insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group move to within 50 miles of the capital Baghdad.

December 2011: US troops complete their withdrawal after the 2003 invasion which led to the removal of Saddam Hussein.

August 2013: More than 70 people are killed in attacks at the end of Ramadan. ISIS claim responsibility.

January 2-4, 2014: ISIS declares itself in control of the western city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi following clashes sparked by the clearing of a Sunni-Arab protest camp.

February: al Qaeda formally disowns ISIS, which was at one time an affiliate, because of its extreme methods.

April: Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki wins the most seats in a general election.

June 10: ISIS seizes all of Nineveh province in the north, including the capital Mosul - Iraq's second city. Mr Maliki asks parliament to declare a state of emergency.

June 11: The militants launch a wave of attacks further south, taking Tikrit and freeing hundreds of prisoners in Baiji. An assault on Samarra, 70 miles (110km) north of Baghdad, is repelled by security forces.

June 12: Iraq's air force strikes fighters' positions near Mosul and Tikrit.

US President Barack Obama says he is looking at "all the options" to help the government, which fails to secure authorisation for a state of emergency.

The army abandons its bases in Kirkuk, leaving Kurdish Peshmerga troops to take control.

June 13: A top Shia cleric issues a call to arms, telling the population to take up arms and defend their country.

Mr Maliki claims government forces have started to clear cities of "terrorists" and implements an emergency plan to protect Baghdad.

President Obama rules out sending back troops to fight ISIS.

The rebels move into the towns of Saadiyah and Jalawla in eastern province of Diyala.

June 14: Iran offers to work with the US to tackle the crisis, as Britain pledges an initial £3m in emergency aid to help refugees fleeing the violence.

The Iraqi army's fightback continues, with forces retaking the towns of Ishaqi, al-Mutasim and Duluiyah in Salaheddin province.

Troops also regain much of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

US aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush is ordered to the Persian Gulf.

June 15: Photos emerge appearing to show an ISIS massacre of 1,700 captured government soldiers. Baghdad says number is exaggerated.

Reports say militants have overrun Tal Afar, the largest town in Nineveh province.

A bombing in central Baghdad leaves 15 people dead and dozens injured.

Former PM Tony Blair tells Sky News that critics who believe the violence is the result of the 2003 invasion are "profoundly mistaken".

June 16: Video footage purporting to show an ISIS fighter questioning and killing unarmed Iraqi soldiers draws condemnation.

ISIS takes control of Tal Afar and the al Adhim area of Diyala province.

US Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington is "open to discussions with Iran".

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Boris Tells Blair: Put A Sock In It Over Iraq

Boris Johnson has launched a stinging attack on Tony Blair by claiming he has "finally gone mad" after insisting the current crisis in Iraq was caused by a failure to deal with the Syria conflict - not the 2003 US-led invasion.

Writing in his Daily Telegraph column, the Mayor of London said Mr Blair and then-US president George W Bush had shown "unbelievable arrogance" to believe toppling Saddam Hussein would not result in instability.

He went as far as accusing the ex-Labour leader of having sent British forces into the bloody conflict in part to gain personal "grandeur".

He suggested there were "specific and targeted" actions that could be taken by the US and its allies to deal with latest threat - as President Barack Obama considers a range of military options short of ground troops.

But he said that by refusing to accept that the 2003 war was "a tragic mistake", Mr Blair was "now undermining the very cause he advocates: the possibility of serious and effective intervention".

Mr Blair said the West's 'inaction' over Syria is to blame for Iraq

"Somebody needs to get on to Tony Blair and tell him to put a sock in it, or at least to accept the reality of the disaster he helped to engender. Then he might be worth hearing," Mr Johnson said.

"I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair has finally gone mad. In discussing the disaster of modern Iraq he made assertions that are so jaw-droppingly and breathtakingly at variance with reality that he surely needs professional psychiatric help."

Speaking to Sky News' Dermot Murnaghan, Mr Blair said the West's inability to get tough with Syrian President Bashar al Assad and failure in Libya had allowed terrorism and chaos to spread across the Middle East.

Mr Blair told Murnaghan: "Some people will say 'well if we hadn't removed Saddam in 2003 we wouldn't have the problem today in Iraq and the reason I think that is profoundly mistaken is this: since 2011 there have been these Arab revolutions sweeping across the whole of the region - Tunisa, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, next door to Iraq in Syria - and we can see what would have happened if we left Saddam there in 2003.

Clare Short says Mr Blair was 'wrong, wrong, wrong'

"We have left Bashar Assad in Syria. The result is that there have now in the last three years in Syria been virtually the same number of people killed in Syria as in the whole of Iraq. You have had nine million people displaced from Syria, you have chaos and instability being pushed across the region."

Clare Short, who quit Mr Blair's cabinet in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, added her voice to the critical chorus saying he had been "absolutely, consistently wrong, wrong, wrong" on the issue.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage dismissed Mr Blair as an "embarrassment" who should hold his tongue - and demanded "an end to the era of military intervention abroad".

And Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's ambassador to the US from 1997 to 2003, said the handling of the campaign against Saddam was "perhaps the most significant reason" for today's violence.

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US Condemns 'Bloodlust' Of Iraq Militants

The US has condemned the massacre of hundreds of Iraqi soldiers by Islamic militants after graphic pictures of their deaths were posted online.

Tweets associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed the insurgents had killed 1,700 Shia soldiers.

The images showed the Sunni insurgents loading captives on to flatbed trucks, forcing them to lie face-down in a ditch with their arms tied behind their backs before they were shot dead.

Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the US State Department, said: "The claim by ISIS that it has massacred 1,700 Iraqi Shia air force recruits in Tikrit is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that these terrorists represent.

"While we cannot confirm these reports, one of the primary goals of ISIL is to set fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people."

Militants have posted images purportedly showing the massacre of soldiers

Chief Iraqi military spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassim al Moussawi, confirmed the authenticity of the pictures and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured soldiers in areas held by ISIS.

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has vowed to recapture territory seized by the insurgents last week. 

But in the latest fighting, residents of the northern town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, said ISIS had taken control after a dawn raid.

Iraqi security forces have claimed to have killed 279 "terrorists" in the last 24 hours.

Mr Maliki said: "We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point."

Security in Baghdad has been tightened after the militants said they would march south to the capital.

However, Ms Psaki said the US would evacuate some of its staff and boost security at its embassy - located in Baghdad's Green Zone - due to the "ongoing instability".

Three explosions in the capital have left at least 15 people dead and dozens injured.

Peshmerga soldiers on patrol in northern Iraq

The US is reportedly preparing to stage direct talks with Iran, set to begin next week, over the situation in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The White House, while declining to comment on the report, did not deny it.

Aircraft carrier the USS George HW Bush has arrived in the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers possible military action against ISIS.

The US has "airlift assets" ready to evacuate people if they are requested, the Pentagon confirmed.

ISIS insurgents have been attacking the city of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, using rockets seized from military arms depots.

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