Rescue Iraq

Let the Nations Tremble!

Just in the past week, the news has declared of earthquakes, nuclear weapons, invasions, subversive paramilitary forces, bombings, attacks, retreats, protests, and killings all within a few hundred miles of us, in some cases just over the next mountain range.

But, more than three weeks back as I was waiting on the Lord, I felt Him speak to my spirit:

"My son there are difficulties yet ahead, but I will be with you, and give you peace. Look not to the right or to the left, focus your attention on Me. You have but 3 months remaining in this year -- world events will terrify you, but hold firm and remember I am your rock upon which you stand. Pursue Me, love me, find me through your faithful devotion to My word. Speak with Me, walk with Me, and you will live -- Fear not for I am with you. Do not give up hope!"

And now, as world events are quite terrifying for one living in this place God has called us to, I feel forced to recall His words and press in like never before.

Reading the Bible this morning I was reminded of who ought to tremble in this world. Psalm 99 boldly declares, "The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble."

When everything around us seems to be falling apart, when even the ground beneath our feet becomes untrustworthy, there is still no need to tremble. God is on His throne!

He has declared that He has given us of His Spirit, that same Spirit that has nothing to do with timidity, but everything to do with Power, Love, and a Sound Mind. This is the reality.

That we are seated with Christ in the Heavenlies and no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

Yes, we declare with the Psalmist, "Let the nations tremble" our souls are at peace!

Thanks for praying for us in these days especially as I believe the outward display of events (at least as the media report it) is only going to get worse.

But, know that no matter what the media declares or how dismal the outlook, God is still on His throne, actively involved in the affairs of men, and using every circumstance, no matter how terrible, for His glory.

There's a God side of the story that rarely gets read. I hope that through our work here, you come to see and have already seen that even in the "valley of the shadow of death" He still works miracles, He still brings salvation, and He still reigns on high!

It does not mean that hardships won't come, but that we never have need to tremble -- that's for the nations to do. Stand with us as we seek to bring peace, to share His light and His truth, and to stand up for the rights of the oppressed, in a land so raked with war and division -- the very intersection point of Turks, Kurds, and Iranians here in Northern Iraq.

Turkey and Iran to co-operate against Kurdish rebels

Last week, I watched the Turkish news as they revealed with grandour at the Turkish military's incursion into Northern Iraq. They are bent on revenge for the deaths of 24 of their compatriots, most of them simple conscripts. A bad move by the PKK whose stated purpose is to bring more freedoms for their countrymen living in Turkey.

Now, not just Turkey but Iran also has agreed to lend her strength to squelch this fledgling but tenacious Kurdish brotherhood, with the United States, NATO, and the UN offering their support as well.

Of course, this has been going on for some time, but now with public opinion strongly in their favor they are able to declare it openly.

Read on. FiratNews Photo

Aljazeera Reports: "Turkey and Iran to co-operate against PKK"

Foreign ministers of two coountries join hands against Kurdish fighters as Turkey resumes offensive for second day

Turkey and Iran have vowed to collaborate in their fight against Kurdish fighters, as thousands of Turkish troops resumed their air and ground offensive against the armed groups in northern Iraq for a second day.

The foreign ministers of the two countries announced plans to co-operate against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its Iranian wing, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) during a joint news conference held in Ankara on Friday.

"From now on, we will work together in a joint action plan until this terrorist threat is totally eliminated," Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian foreign minister, said he will seek more co-operation with Turkey against the fighters near their shared border. He said the PKK and PJAK were "common problems" for both countries.

Davutoglu’s statement came as Turkish jets kept up bombing raids on Kurdish fighter bases, taking off from Diyarbakir, the regional capital of the mainly Kurdish southeast.

The Turkish army has said that "while the majority of the land and air operations are in the Cukurca region [in Turkey], ground and air strikes are ongoing in a few points in northern Iraq across the border".

A small group of specially trained Turkish troops crossed into Iraq from the villages of Yekmal and Bilecan on the Turkish side of the border and entered the Dola Sulo region in Haftanin, the Kurdish news agency Firatnews quoted sources from the PKK as saying.

Attacks 'avoidable'

In the meeting with Davutoglu, Salehi said that the deaths of Turkish soldiers might have been avoided if the US had informed Turkey that the fighters were infiltrating into the country with heavy weaponry.

The US shares intelligence from surveillance drones with Turkey about movement of Kurdish rebels along the border.

Tehran has been carrying out a major offensive against PJAK since July, which Turkey considers a branch of the PKK.

Both armed groups, labeled as terrorist organisations by much of the international community, have been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in their respective countries.

On Thursday, the Turkish army initiated "a large-scale land operation" with 22 battalions against the fighters in five separate spots inside and across the border, according to the general staff.

Around 10,000 soldiers took part in the operation that began in reaction to the killing of 24 Turkish soldiers by the armed group. Around 6,000 of them were Special Forces, the Turkish daily Sabah said.

Meanwhile, Nechirvan Barzani, a former prime minister of the Kurdish regional government, who paid a surprise visit to Ankara on Thursday, said after meeting with the Turkish foreign minister: "We strongly condemn this attack."

The PKK took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

 

Disturbing Developments

Well, if you haven't been disturbed enough about the recent news of Iranian shelling in our area, I thought I'd uncover some further news that makes this scene all but alarming.

First of all, I wanted to show what these mortar shells can actually do. As we were leaving the village, just on the outskirts as were heading back down into the valley, we came across this telephone pole clearly struck by the recent shelling. Our security excort confirmed our fears.

Notice how it just explodes out the back.

 Shrapnel's only purpose is to maim and kill life. These are the weapons Iran is using on these bystanders in a 'war' they care nothing about.

Doing a little sleuthing I discovered that a 120mm mortar's maximum range is just 4.5 miles (someone correct me if I'm wrong), and this village stands at the very least 10 miles from the border of Iran.

Honestly, though, my hunch would be that a smaller caliber mortar was used in the neighborhood of 60mm, greatly reducing it's range. You can see that the impacts to the ground are slight but obviously devastating to anyone standing within 10-20 yards.

 This is the impact believed to have killed the mother of 5 two weeks ago.

So, all this means, that even if the larger mortar was used, the Iranian soliders would have had to transgress the Iraqi border by at least 6 miles before lauching their shells on this village. I've posted a map of our area here to give a visual picture of the region:

 The highlighted village named, Kolit is where the recent shelling took place. As you can see it's not very close to the Iranian border at all. [the red dots by the way are mine fields left by Saddam, the PKK, and Iranian forces] Remember, Kolit is not the only village that has been evacuated, 6 other villages in this area have as well.

Further disturbing is the report from the villagers that they could actually see the flashes of the mortars as they were launched from the tops of the mountains overlooking their valley.

This was a close range affair. Iran, for all intents and purposes, had a visual on this village - they weren't just aiming blindly.

When I asked my security detail about heading up the valley to see another village that had been bombed, he said, that he couldn't take me there. We were welcome to go ourselves, but he would not take a step further.

Clearly, Iran has not only transgressed the border region to shell these innocent bystanders, but encamped within Iraq proper.

A recent article explains why: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/3976.html

Iran recently gave the Kurdish Regional Government an ultimatum to deal with the PKK and PJAK elements within their borders or they will themselves. That was last week, but they've already begun to take things into their own hands.

In coordination with these strikes within the heartland of Iraqi-Kurdistan, is Turkey's air force that has bombed our region repeatedly in the past 2-3 months. Just last month a family of 7 driving through the region and was hit by a rocket killing all of them. And this week another rocket struck a truck driver killing him, not 15 miles from where we live here in Northern Iraq.

The crazy thing is, is that everyone here knows that the PKK, PJAK do not have vehicles. So, why are they striking cars and trucks?

Listen, is that more jets we hear?

Tragedy in the Village, Part 2

As we headed out of the village, the image of the old man's face with tears in his eyes kept coming back to me. I've seen few men older than him. The lines on his face seem to tell of hardships that I could never understand or comprehend. And now, he was moving again. How many times has he fled Iran's shelling or Saddam's troops, or Turkey's warplanes?

The vacated village is just one of seven that have recently become uninhabitable in our region. How many more will follow?

Keeping our eyes peeled on the road ahead we came across a couple men that told us they were part of the larger family that recently lost the woman with 5 children. We followed them another few kilometers, then cut off sharply into a canyon with a stream running besides a half a dozen tents.

Parking the car I looked up to see the man that had lost his wife just 10 days prior. I got out and shook his hand as warmly as I could.

He ushered me over to a large tent where we learned first-hand what had happened that night.

Here's more of that story:

 

  Saying 'Goodbye' - at least for now.

Tragedy in the Village, Part 1

Two weeks ago in a small Iraqi Kurdish village just 12 ½ miles from the border of Iran, a rain of mortar shells began falling all around. A mother of 35 years with 5 small children ran for shelter in her fright and was struck in the head and shoulder with shrapnel along a path between two houses. She would later die of her wounds that night.

I went to hear the story of this tragedy first hand last week with a good friend of mine who agreed to take some photos and video of our time. We had no idea what to expect, we just decided to go.

The Mayor of our community called ahead to the nearest town, called Sidikhan, and set us up with a security guard and an interpreter to help us along the way.

As we exited the town north, we immediately hit a gravel road that continued higher and higher up into the mountains, further in towards the borders with Iran and Turkey.

The drive was beautiful and we used the time to get acquainted with our new interpreter. He told us stories of how he had served in the army years back in these same mountains has they fought conflicts with the PKK. Pointing to one mountain he said, “my buddy was marching just in front of me along a trail there when he stepped on a mine… there was barely anything left of him below his waist.”

As we neared the village where the woman had died, we stopped to talk with a local man who pointed to a cache of belongings on the other side of the road. He said, “Look there, that is all that remains of the people’s prized possessions, and they will take those out today.”

The village had entirely evacuated except the owners of that last bundle of possessions lying on the side of the road.

This was a story I wasn’t quite prepared for, but knew I had to hear.