News Release

Iraq * Beyond ISIS: GMCIR * Iraq Vets Speak Out

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IMAD KHADDURI, currently in Doha, from June 27 to July 31, Khadduri is scheduled to be in Toronto: imad.khadduri at gmail.com
Khadduri is author of the book Iraq’s Nuclear Mirage: Memoirs and Delusions. He worked on the Iraq nuclear weapons program beginning in 1981 and left Iraq for Canada in the late 1990s. Before the invasion of Iraq, Khadduri argued that contrary to what the Bush administration was claiming, the Iraqi nuclear weapons program had been dismantled. He now writes the “Free Iraq” blog.

Now he stresses the importance of “the emergence of the General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries and how they have managed, over a period of about two years, to unify (in thorough secrecy that has apparently escaped Mossad, MI6, NSA, etc.) to band together all of the Iraqi resistance splinters, as well as ISIS (to which I have strong opposition) into a whole Resistance Army that has swept through north Iraq in a matter of a week or two.”

See the GMCIR’s Facebook page.

See Washington Post article from March: “Iraq’s Sunni tribal leaders say fight for Fallujah is part of a revolution,” which states: “The new command, the General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries, emerged as a unified leadership of what it calls regional military councils coordinating attacks against Iraqi security forces and officials. The councils include tribal leaders and former insurgent leaders but are headed by former senior army officers — among the thousands of Sunni generals cast aside when the United States disbanded the Iraqi army after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.”

This afternoon, a news conference at the National Press Club will include a number of Iraq War veterans, including:

ROSS CAPUTI, rosscaputi at me.com
Caputi is a Marine Corps veteran of the second siege of Fallujah. Today, he is on the board of directors of ISLAH (reparations.org) and he is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

MATT SOUTHWORTH, TIM KAHLOR, MATT HOWARD, media at ivaw.org , @ivaw
Southworth is an Iraq War veteran who in 2004 was stationed near the strategic town of Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, which was captured by Sunni militants this week. He currently works in Washington, D.C. for Friends Committee on National Legislation and he is a member of Veterans For Peace.

Kahlor is the father of medically retired Sgt. Ryan Kahlor. His son served over 24 months in two tours in Iraq. He is a member of Military Families Speak Out.

Howard is communications director for Iraq Veterans Against the War, which recently released a statement: “When the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the formerly secular country was destabilized. The United States and the Department of Defense intentionally created and agitated sectarian divisions that would not have otherwise existed. The result of this is what we see today, and Iraqi civilians are paying for it.

“Iraqis have been paying with their lives for this war since March 2003. After ten years of U.S. occupation they were left with little relief. Their economic infrastructure was destroyed and new work to repair it has been awarded to U.S. corporations and contractors instead of Iraqis. Iraqi labor unions face frequent retaliation, and an entire generation of children has been born with severe birth defects in places like Hawija. No one has been held to account. No effort has been made to clean the waste left behind.” See full statement.