The vandalism in Kurdistan followed violent clashes between government forces and protesters on Thursday in which at least two people were killed.
Unrest has gripped Iraqi cities in recent days as impoverished southern residents demand government action to improve their job prospects and an end to the corruption they say invades many provincial leaderships. The semi-autonomous northern Kurdish regions are comparatively more prosperous, but residents there, too, have added their voices to the discontent engulfing the Middle East.
Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani blamed the violence in Sulaymaniyah on "enemies trying to create sedition and chaos," and vowed that the region's leaders would restore order and bring instigators and vandals to justice.
Barzani's warning echoed that of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki a day earlier when he said peaceful demonstrations were permissible but violent actions would be punished.
"I welcome those who demonstrate peacefully for their legitimate rights, but I am not in favor of those who exploit those claims to incite riots," Maliki told reporters in Baghdad.
In response to this article I posted the following comment:
posted by Jeff Ahrendt at
11:13 AM
If the cities of Iraq burn, it will be in fulfillment of the 4th judgment of 9 on the land of the Chaldeans prophesied by Jeremiah in chapters 50 and 51 in the hebrew bible.
The first 3 judgments have already occurred: invasion, capture and the punishment of the "arrogant one."
If the cities burn, one can look for Obama to abandon Iraq out of frustration at the failure of reconstruction, and that leaving would itself be a 5th judgment.
6, 7, 8 and 9 -- war with and defeat to the Kurds, the Kurdish plundering of Iraq's "treasures", a catastrophic flood event, and the desertification of the plain. Ultimate outcome: complete desolation.
On the other hand, no fires, no worries.