BBC News
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VIDEO: Drone footage shows migrants' arrival September 23, 2015
Matthew Price looks at one of the Greek hotspots for migrants entering Europe.
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VIDEO: The Olympian who never gave up September 23, 2015
In 1992, 400m medal hopeful Derek Redmond pulled up injured in the semi-final of the Barcelona Olympics, but still finished the race.
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VIDEO: Football legend Pele at 75 September 23, 2015
Football legend Pele is 75 this year. He talked to the BBC about what inspires him and what he makes of football today.
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VIDEO: Pope Francis lands to cheers in US September 22, 2015
President Obama and his Family have greeted Pope Francis upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
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VIDEO: Lesbos struggles as 4,000 arrive daily September 22, 2015
The Greek island of Lesbos is still struggling to keep up with the steady flow of migrants and refugees.
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VIDEO: How much does making a drug cost? September 22, 2015
As Turing Pharmaceuticals raises the price of an Aids treatment, Daraprim, BBC News looks at how the pharmaceutical industry tries to balance the pursuit of profit with a patient's need to access medication.
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VIDEO: Refugee crisis: Food and phone charging September 22, 2015
The BBC's Mark Lowen reports from a sports stadium on the Turkey-Greece border where agencies are providing shelter and food to refugees trying to reach Europe.
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VIDEO: On the ground at refugee hotspots September 22, 2015
EU ministers have approved a controversial plan to relocate 120,000 refugees and migrants across the EU using compulsory quotas.
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VIDEO: A guide to strange initiation ceremonies September 22, 2015
Initiation ceremonies are in the news, here are some of the stranger ones from around the world.
– SWITCHING SIDES
General David Petraeus’s security plan for Iraq, from 02/2007, contained a program to negotiate with local tribes in the different districts of Iraq in order to pull them out from the cycle of fighting.
The Program was considered a success as many Sunni tribes switched sides and, for all variety of reasons, fought alongside US against Al Qaeda. Many dozens “ Awakening Council of….” (About 130 different militias), which were nothing alse but tribal based militias, emerged in the Sunnite regions of Iraq. In fact those militias contradict the USA benchmark for Iraqi government to dismantle Iraqi militias, the perception of Iraqi sovereignty with one government, one law and one weapon and the basic fundaments of democracy. (See – IRAQ’S conglomerate )
It was obvious that the Iraqi tribes can switch sides as easily as they did before and their alliance with USA is a marriage of temporary convenience. The Sunni tribes were not seeking confrontation with Al Qaeda but American support against the Shiite militias supported by Iran. When the “Awakening Councils” began to control, condition and dictate the police and military operations in their vicinities, they began to endanger the Iraq sovereignty and pushed Iraq to an even greater disintegration. Recently, especially in Diyala province, just North East of Baghdad, “Awakening Councils” took upon themselves the authority to dictate the police who should be arrested or released, who will be the local police chief and who will be nominated as its officers.
Naturally USA is obliged to support the official Iraqi regime against their supported allies – the “Awakening Councils”.
In the last weeks there are increasing question marks whether those “Awakening Councils” are still allies to USA army or they switched sides again with Al Qaeda against Americans.
Some of the “Awakening Councils” fighters refused to continue the regular patrolling of their villages and towns. A certain Abu Abdullah, a spokesman for Diyala’s Awakening Council, announced, after the deadline to replace the local police chief passed: “We hereby declare suspension of all co-operation with both US military, Iraqi security forces and the local government”.
USA army also suspects that some of the road bombs in the last week, which exploded in Baghdad and Tamim province and killed 4 American soldiers, were not placed by Al Qaeda but possibly by other factions, hinting to the local “Awakening Councils”.
As it was mentioned several times in Iraq any success is short lived without a fundamental political progress and change.
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