It's about to get unspeakably messy in Iraq

By Pamela Engel5 hours ago

(REUTERS/Ari Jalal) Volunteers from Mosul take part in military training as they prepare to fight against Islamic State militants, on the outskirts of Dohuk province January 24, 2015.

Iranian-backed Shia militias are preparing to launch an operation to retake Fallujah, a Sunni-dominated city in Iraq, from the Islamic State terror group, Loveday Morris of the Washington Post reports.

And it looks like it's going to get messy.

While Fallujah's proximity to Baghdad, Iraq's capital, makes it strategically important for the Iraqi government, sending in militias that have been known to burn down Sunni villages might not pay off in the long run.

Eissa al-Issawi, the head of Fallujah’s local council, told the Post that if the Shia militias are allowed to lead the charge to retake the city from Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), "there would be much destruction, and much blood."

US Marines fought the bloodiest battle of the Iraq war in Fallujah in 2004.

"Then fighting the Islamic State’s predecessor, the group known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, Marines fought street to street, contending with sniper fire, roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings," Morris notes.

ISIS captured Fallujah in January 2014, and is consequently entrenched in the city. And the Iran-backed militias don't have the best track record: They struggled to oust a much smaller group of ISIS militants from the town of Tikrit and the US had to provide air cover to finish the siege.

Some residents want to leave Fallujah to escape the upcoming fight between ISIS and the Shia militias, but that doesn't seem possible.

A 29-year-old resident told the Post: "There’s a state of terror. We know there will be an assault, we want to leave, but Islamic State doesn’t let anyone leave. They want to use us as human shields."

View image on Twitter Follow Ahmed Ali @IraqShamel Interesting map released by ISCI-tied PMU showing ISF & PMUs surrounding ISIS in Fallujah. Via @IraqLiveUpdate: 3:38 PM - 9 Jul 2015 2121 Retweets 99 favorites

And it's not just ISIS the civilians have to worry about.

The Shia militias, backed by Iran, are apparently close to running amok. Michael Pregent, a former US intelligence officer and military adviser to the Iraqi security forces, wrote this week that the Shia-led government in Baghdad might have little control over the militias it allows to fight the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh).

"The introduction of Shia militias into Sunni areas has a polarizing effect on the Sunni population," Pregent told Business Insider via email.

"They will be wearing green bandanas and have [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei posters on their windshields and they are intentionally sending a message to the Sunni population [that] 'things have changed and we are now in control,' meaning Iranian-backed Shia militias now run the security and political apparatus."

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(REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani ) A member from Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) holds a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (R) in Baghdad March 31, 2015.

Morris wrote in the Post that "the move by the militias effectively carves operations against the extremists in Iraq’s Anbar province into two spheres of influence — with Iranian-supported militias zeroing in on Fallujah as US-backed forces target Ramadi, the provincial capital, 40 miles farther west toward the border with Syria."

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(Google Maps) Fallujah is located between Ramadi and Baghdad.

The US has insisted that Iraqi security forces take the lead in the assault on Ramadi, so the Shia militias likely saw an opportunity with Fallujah.

"Fallujah is where the [Shia militias] know they can lead because leading the fight for Ramadi was never going to be an option for them," said Michael Knights, a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Post.

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(The Institute for the Study of War)

Meanwhile, Sunni fighters that the US says are key to defeating ISIS for good have been largely sidelined in the fight so far because Baghdad and Tehran are reportedly concerned that they might one day rise up against the government.

This all leads to the current predicament of having Shia fighters moving into Sunni areas, rather than Sunni fighters defending their own territory.

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(Wikimedia Commons) Fallujah, Iraq.

Although Iraqi officials said in May that they've enlisted 1,000 fighters for a Sunni militia to aid the country's security forces in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, those fighters don't seem to be participating in the Fallujah operation.

And Iran's influence in the region is becoming increasingly obvious.

This week, Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was spotted near Fallujah:

View image on Twitter Follow Elijah J. Magnier @EjmAlrai #Iran #IRGC Qassem Soleimani at the outskirt of #Fallujah #Iraq via @MFS001 9:11 AM - 8 Jul 2015 1414 Retweets 33 favorites

Shia militias have emerged as the most effective fighting force against ISIS in Iraq, but some say the Shia fighters aren't much better than the ISIS terrorists they're trying to expunge. (Others, however,have welcomed the Shia militias as the best option for helping Sunni tribal fighters drive ISIS out of Iraq.)

Shiraz Maher, a senior fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and himself a former extremist, pointed out that, like ISIS, the Shia militias train child soldiers:

View image on Twitter Follow Shiraz Maher @ShirazMaher Just as Islamic State train child soldiers, here's the Iranian backed Hashed Ash-Shaabi doing exactly the same. 9:19 AM - 8 Jul 2015 218218 Retweets 7373 favorites

Sunnis in some areas that Shia militias have liberated from ISIS have complained that the militias view them with distrust and are preventing them from returning to their homes.

"The militias see no difference between Sunni military-aged-males and ISIS fighters," Pregent told Business Insider recently. "They view Sunnis that have not left ISIS-controlled areas as collaborators and use heavy handed tactics against the population. ISIS will exploit these events to the detriment of the US strategy and Baghdad."

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Thousands of excessive or unneeded rounds of chemo administered

Dr. Farid Fata Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison as Cancer Misdiagnosis Victims Tell All

Jenna BirchJuly 10, 2015

Dr. Farid Fata (Photo: Zuma Press)

A mouthful of missing teeth. Chronic pain all over the body. Unrelenting weakness in joints and muscles. Even death. Those were some of the claims that Dr. Farid Fata’s victims heaped upon him at his sentencing trial this week for administering at least 2,000 unnecessary chemotherapy treatments.

Fata admitted to misdiagnosing and exposing his cancer patients to unneeded and excessive rounds of chemotherapy to collect payments from both them and their insurance companies. He was sentenced on Friday to 45 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Paul Borman — which will most likely cover the rest of the 50-year-old’s natural life.

The sentence was greater than the 25 years that the defense advocated for, but well under the 175-year maximum requested by the prosecution. In total, his scam affected roughly 550 victims and racked up $34.7 million in payments. Fata’s restitution hearing is still coming; he has already agreed to turn over $17.6 million.

Prior to the announcement, Fata’s attorney argued that a sentence over 25 years would result in death, due to his client’s diabetes and hypertension, and asked that he “see light of day before he goes.” According to court reporters, Fata stood next to his lawyer and appeared to be crying.

In total, his scam affected roughly 550 victims and racked up $34.7 million in payments.

“I do not know how I can heal the wound. I do not know how to express the sorrow and the shame,” Fata said to victims and families as he addressed the court prior to his sentencing. “The quest for power is self-destructive. They came to me seeking compassion and care. I failed. Yes, I failed,” he said, according to Detroit’s Channel 4.

Back in September, Fata pleaded guilty to “13 counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks,” according to the Detroit Free Press. Some of the patients never even showed evidence of having had cancer, something whistleblower Dr. Soe Maunglay began noticing in records soon after he was hired at Fata’s practice, in 2012.

Fata’s former patients, and the loved ones of those who had passed, had a chance to speak in court this week.

“Farid Fata, I hate you,” said Laura Stedtfeld, whose father passed away while under Fata’s medical care, according toUS News & World Report. “You are repulsive. You disgust me. You are a monster. … You poisoned, tortured, and murdered my dad.”

According to former patient Christopher Sobieray, doctors he consulted after Fata’s scheme was exposed were “appalled” by his massive overtreatment for testicular cancer. “Look at what’s left of my mouth — I have one tooth left,” he said. “They had no idea how I was sitting in their office. … I will never be the same.”

(Photo: AP Images)

Teddy Howard was another former patient of Fata’s. He does not have cancer and now must take additional medicine for the rest of his life as a result of the phony treatments. “What really makes me angry is the fact that he lied,” Howard told CBS News. “He knew he was lying, he gave the drugs to me anyway, and I had no knowledge of it, and now my life is turned upside down. I can’t do anything about it. I don’t know how long I’m going to live.”

The damage Fata amassed with his fraudulent cancer treatments is simply tragic. “I think he’s guilty of the most cruel thing that a human being can do to another human being,” former colleague Maunglay said.

What’s the toll of excessive cancer treatments on the body?

For context, there are many variations involved in chemotherapy, according to William Oh, chief in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York.

“Chemotherapy isn’t just one drug, but rather a group of drugs used in cancer patients,” Oh tells Yahoo Health. “They work by exploiting the difference between regular cells and cancer cells, which grow at a much more rapid pace.”

This is why a hallmark side effect of chemotherapy drugs is hair loss, says Oh, among other side effects like low blood-cell counts or loss of cells in the mouth and reproductive system. Normal cells that also reproduce quickly get caught in the crossfire of the powerful drugs.

Oh says it’s tough to know how overtreating a patient with chemotherapy — or giving a cancer-free person these powerful drugs — will affect the person, since chemo responses are so individual. But the drugs are extremely strong and need to be dosed with the utmost caution by a trained doctor.

“Chemo can be lifesaving when used in the right setting by people with advanced cancers,” says Oh. “But it’s definitely a case of using the right drug on the right patient at the right time — and you should absolutely not use chemotherapy if misdiagnosed, or in this case, something a little different.”

Oh says if you or a loved one has cancer, it’s important to do your own research and get a second opinion about your diagnosis and treatment. “Talk to several people about the drugs you’re getting, and why you’re getting them,” he says. “There’s a lot of good information online now about chemotherapy treatment, too. And if you’re ever unsure if your diagnosis is correct, it can never hurt to get a second opinion.”

Saudi joins Israel as target of Jerusalem Day protests

By Ali Noorani15 hours ago

Tehran (AFP) - Tens of thousands marched in Tehran and Baghdad Friday in annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day demonstrations in support of Palestinians, with Saudi Arabia joining arch-foe Israel as a target for protesters.

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President Hassan Rouhani attended but did not speak at the main rally in Tehran, which coincided with still seemingly deadlocked nuclear talks between Iran and world powers led by the United States.

In Iraq, thousands of people marched including hundreds of fighters in military uniform on Palestine Street in Baghdad to mark the annual day of solidarity inaugurated by the late Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In Lebanon, the leader of the powerful Shiite militia Hezbollah told thousands of supporters that Iran was the only hope of liberating the Palestinians.

While Iran does not recognise Israel's existence, and supports Palestinian militant groups that fight it, Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign in Yemen drew anger.

The crowd in Tehran chanted "Down with US, Israel and the House of Saud", and carried placards that declared "Zionist soldiers kill Muslims" and "The Saudi family will fall".

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President Hassan Rouhani attends a rally to mark Quds (Jerusalem) day in Tehran on July 10, 2015 (AF …

While the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna are at the forefront of Iranian minds, they were only a backdrop to the procession in the capital.

Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia have sunk in the past six months since the Sunni kingdom began a bombing campaign against fellow Shiites in Yemen.

Tehran also accuses Riyadh of backing Sunni extremists in Iraq and Syria, including the Islamic State group.

In Baghdad, protesters were mainly from Tehran-backed Shiite factions, including the powerful Badr, Ketaeb Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq militias.

"We tell the enemies, as long as we have this mobilisation of young men, they will not be victorious," cleric Sheikh Khaled Mullah told the crowd.

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A Yemeni supporter of the Shiite Huthi movement carries Palestinian flags and models of rockets duri …

"We ask God to bring back our Jerusalem and cleanse the land of Iraq from" IS, he said.

As is customary for Jerusalem Day, Israeli flags had been painted on the road for demonstrators to trample on.

A giant stick puppet dubbed Daesh -- an Arabic acronym for IS -- was carried through Friday's Tehran demonstration, with the words "Saudi's doll" written on it.

- Mock checkpoint -

It was later burned along with American, Israeli and British flags, a common gesture at public demonstrations since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

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Iraqi members of the Popular Mobilisation units take part in a demonstration marking Quds (Jerusalem …

Iran prides itself on its support for the Palestinians against Israeli occupation, and state media screened the Tehran demonstration live and also aired footage of rallies in Mashhad, Isfahan and other Iranian cities.

Using a Quds Day hashtag, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted: "There are two sides in oppression: oppressor & the oppressed. We back the oppressed and are against oppressors."

Posters showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi King Salman and US President Barack Obama in flames.

And at a mock checkpoint, several men and a woman dressed in Israeli army uniforms shouted at people who wanted to pass and pushed them back, threatening them with batons and guns.

"We are all here to see the freedom of Quds. The people of Palestine are oppressed and their lands occupied," said Ahmad Moghadam, a 67-year-old clerk.

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Thai Muslim protesters gather to mark International Quds days in front of the Israeli embassy in Ban …

"We stand behind Palestine until its people are freed."

Iranian military commanders also attended, with General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to Khamenei, saying the Quds march was different this year because of a worsening regional security situation.

Iran has backed Iraqi forces against IS and Syrian government forces against rebels including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

"Terrorist groups such as Daesh and Al-Nusra, with the support of the Zionists and Saudi's cruel war against the oppressed people of Yemen... have created a new situation in the region and the world," the official IRNA news agency quoted Safavi as saying.

Fereshteh Ashuri, 23, a law student, said: "We still recognise Israel as the enemy of Islam. I tell Israel to stop daydreaming and rest assured that you will collapse."

In Beirut, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah told thousands of supporters by video linkup that the "only hope... aside from God for the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem is the Islamic Republic".

"No one can be with Palestine unless he is with the Islamic Republic of Iran. An enemy of Iran is an enemy of Palestine and Jerusalem."

Greek lawmakers back bailout reform plan

By ELENA BECATOROS and DEREK GATOPOULOS8 hours ago

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's parliament backed the government's reform plan containing austerity measures to win a third bailout early Saturday, but with the government suffering significant losses from dissenting lawmakers.

The motion sought to authorize the government to use the proposal as a basis for negotiation with international creditors during the weekend. It passed with 251 votes in favor, 32 against and 8 voting 'present' — a form of abstention — in the 300-member parliament.

Those who voted 'present' or were absent, as well as two of those who voted against, were members of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party — raising questions about the stability of his government.

The dissenters included two ministers — Panagiotis Lafazanis who holds the energy portfolio and Dimitris Stratoulis who holds the social security portfolio — and prominent party member and Parliament Speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou.

"I support the government but I don't support an austerity program of neoliberal deregulation and privatizations which ... would prolong the vicious circle of recession, poverty and misery," Lafazanis said in a statement released to the press explaining his "radical and categorical" objection to the proposal.

Former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who resigned this week, was absent for family reasons, saying on Twitter he was spending the weekend with his daughter who was visiting from Australia. Although he sent a letter saying he would have voted in favor had he been present, it could not be counted among the 'yes' votes under parliamentary rules.

All opposition parties except the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn and the Communist Party voted in favor.

The proposed measures, including tax hikes and cuts in pension spending, are certain to inflict more pain on a Greek public who just days ago voted overwhelmingly against a similar plan.

But the new proposal, if approved by Greece's international creditors, will provide longer-term financial support for a nation that has endured six years of recession.

Without a deal, Greece faces the immediate prospect of crashing out of Europe's joint currency, the euro. It would be the first nation to do so.

If the proposal is approved, Greece would get a three-year loan package worth nearly $60 billion (53.5 billion euros) as well as some form of debt relief. That is far more than the 7.2 billion euros left over from Greece's previous bailout that had been at stake in the country's five-month negotiations until last month.

Speaking earlier in the debate that began just before midnight Friday, Tsipras acknowledged the reforms his government has proposed were harsh and include measures far from his party's election pledges, but insisted they were Greece's best chance to emerge from its financial crisis.

Tsipras said his government had made mistakes during his six-month tenure but said he had negotiated as hard as he could.

"There is no doubt that for six months now we've been in a war," he said, adding that his government had fought "difficult battles" and had lost some of them.

"Now I have the feeling we've reached the boundary line. From here on there is a minefield, and I don't have the right to dismiss this or hide it from the Greek people," he said.

But he insisted the latest proposal contains measures that would help the economy and, if approved by Greece's creditors, would unlock sufficient financing for the country to emerge from its protracted crisis and see its massive debt tackled.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, who heads the government's junior coalition member Independent Greeks, said he was advocating a vote in favor of the proposal even though it goes against his party's principles. The party holds 13 seats in the 300-member parliament.

"I want to state clearly, I am not afraid of Grexit," he said, referring to the possibility of Greece leaving the euro. "I am afraid of one thing: national division and civil war."

He said he feared failure to get a deal with creditors would eventually lead to civil strife.

Greece's latest proposal was sent to rescue creditors who were to meet this weekend to decide whether to approve it. Eurozone finance ministers meet Saturday afternoon, followed by a summit of the 28-nation European Union set for Sunday.

The country has relied on bailout funding since losing access to financing from bond markets in 2010.

The new measures overturn many of the election promises of Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party, which had vowed to overturn bailout austerity, and come less than a week after 61 percent of voters opposed similar reforms, proposed by creditors, in last Sunday's referendum.

The coalition government has 162 and pledged backing from a large section of opposition lawmakers..

Greece's major creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and other eurozone nations — were already fine-combing through the proposals before sending them to the other 18 eurozone finance ministers Saturday.

French President Francois Hollande described the measures as "serious and credible," though Germany refused to be drawn on their merits. France's Socialist government has been among Greece's few allies in the eurozone during the past months of tough negotiations, with Germany taking a far harder line.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the meetings of the eurozone finance ministers known as the eurogroup, said the proposals were "extensive" but would not say whether he considered them sufficient.

Meanwhile, banks remained closed since the start of last week and cash withdrawals were restricted to 60 euros ($67) per day. Although credit and debit cards work within the country, many businesses refuse to accept them, insisting on cash-only payments. All money transfers abroad, including bill payments, were banned without special permission.

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Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris and Mike Corder in the The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

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Follow Derek Gatopoulos at http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Elena Becatoros at http://www.twitter.com/ElenaBec

Alexis Tsipras's proposal to assure euro creditors passes, but the vote reveals a noticeable rift.
'Radical and categorical'

Jihadists attack Iraqi forces in Anbar

By AFP

Islamic State group fighters attacked Iraqi police and soldiers in an area considered a major staging ground for operations to reconquer Anbar province, security sources said.

IS fighters used suicide car bombs to attack government and allied forces in Khaldiyah, a town in the Euphrates valley that lies between Fallujah and Ramadi, Anbar's two main cities.

A police lieutenant colonel said IS fighters stormed the town's Al-Madiq neighbourhood "following clashes that forced army and federal police to abandon their positions."

Iraqi Shiite fighters supporting government forces gather on the northern outskirts of the city of Fallujah, west of the capital Baghdad, as they prepare to attack Islamic State group positions on July 9, 2015 ©Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP/File)

"Local police and tribal fighters were left alone to fight Daesh in that area," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group that took over large parts of Iraq last year.

"After entering Al-Madiq, the organisation deployed fighters with suicide vests in houses and streets," he said.

A spokesperson for Anbar tribes fighting alongside the government said federal security forces were attempting to regain the initiative.

"The aim of the operation is to regain control of Al-Madiq and kill the suicide attackers before they target security forces and tribal fighters," Sheikh Sufian al-Ithawi said.

In its daily online radio broadcast, IS said it had launched three suicide car bomb attacks in the Khaldiyah area.

It also claimed in a statement that it had killed tens of pro-government fighters and captured a brigadier general, although security officials gave no confirmation.

A senior police officer said IS fighters fired mortar rounds and rockets at security positions in Habbaniyah, although the attack seemed limited in scope.

The Habbaniyah area, further east, is home to the main base from which Iraqi forces are planning their promised reconquest of Anbar and where US advisers and trainers are stationed.

IS has controlled Fallujah since early 2014 and captured provincial capital Ramadi in May following a three-day blitz that dealt Baghdad its worst military setback in a year.

The government had to call in Iran-backed Shiite militias to contain the jihadist offensive and supplement its own underperforming forces.

Officials and military commanders have vowed to liberate the entire province but US elite forces faced the toughest battles of their eight-year occupation of Iraq in Anbar.

There also appears not be any consensus on whether anti-IS forces should first attack Ramadi or Fallujah, which is closer to Baghdad.