1st JULY IRAQ SITREP by Mindfriedo

1st July: Iraqi MPs are sworn in but fail to reach consensus or after interval quorum needed. The 225 MPs present were supposed to start by selecting a speaker for the house; the speaker has to be a Sunni as per the constitution. The house has been adjourned to Tuesday next week. Kurdish MPs and those of the Union of National Forces withdrew their members resulting in the minimum quorum of 150 not being met. The Kurdish MPs were upset when they were accused of giving shelter to rebel groups in Kurdistan. The Motahedoun coalition, which is led by the Sunni ex speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, the Kurds, and the Shia National Coalition opposed a third term for Maliki and withdrew.
1st July: At least 14 people are injured and one dead in mortar attacks on the Askari shrine in Samarra. The shrine was unharmed. The Iraqi air force carried out retaliatory air strikes on the militants targeting the shrine. The man killed was a construction worker repairing the shrine. Shells had landed near their caravans parked 150 meters from the shrine.
1st July: Turkey has seen a sharp decline of its exports to Iraq. The trade between the two countries was 12 billion USD annually but has decreased by 21%.
1st July: The Iraqi interior ministry has given orders to provide for the volunteers aiding the security forces.
1st July: The President of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, has declared his intention to hold an independence referendum soon. Dates are yet to be decided.
1st July: Turkey has criticized any move to create an independent Kurdish state. It has referred to Iraq as “an existing state with an existing constitution.” However, Erdogan has expressed a desire to continue importing crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan.
1st July: Hossein Amir Abdul Allahaan, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran has during his visit to Moscow referred to Daash in Iraq as the “US attempt to make Iraq a second Ukraine.” He has declared Iran’s willingness to supply military equipment to Baghdad.
1st July: The United States is sending an additional 200 men to Iraq along with additional drones and helicopters to protect its interests.
1st July: Mosul is suffering from water shortages (the main water supply station has been bombed), food shortages, and power shortages.
1st July: The governor of Ninaveh, Athel Al Nujaifi has asked Maliki and his ministers to realize the real cause of the fall of Mosul. He has blamed the collapse on the corruption of officers from the intelligence, interior and defense ministries. He has also named specific units such as the second brigade of extortion and oil smuggling. The oil was being smuggled to Daash. He has also pointed out that repeated letters sent to the respective ministries had resulted in no concrete result as the corrupt officers held sway.
1st July: The UN has listed 2417 Iraqis killed in June 2014.
1st July: Images have appeared showing Daash fighters wrapped in and using “YURT KUR” Turkey University Students’ blankets.
1st July: Tweets reportedly sent by Daash (not sure if this is genuine, propaganda, or counter propaganda) claim to want to attack the Kaba and destroy it. The tweets claim that Muslims are praying to a black stone.
1st July: Daash fighters have paraded a Scud Missile on its carrier in their Capital Raqqa, Syria or DI of Daash. The missile is believed to be inoperable.
1st July: Iraq governments tally for the day:
Daash commander for Kirkuk region is killed by Iraqi Security Services in Kirkuk province. His name was Abu Bakr al-Shishani.
50 Daash fighters killed in the west of Mosul. Abu Ayman, a foreign fighter from Afghanistan, was amongst the dead.
Mansouriya district north of Baqouba, Diyal Province saw fresh clashes between rebel fighters and security personnel. One soldier and three Daash fighters are reported killed.
Two IEDs had exploded in Baghdad on Monday not one as reported earlier. They were in western and southern Baghdad killing nine civilians.
A Kurdish civilian was killed by terrorists in al-Aitha village north east of Baqouba.

Further reading:
An excellent article on RT on shared heritage of Iraq, not just of its sects but Humanity
http://rt.com/op-edge/169600-preserving-world-heritage-iraq-isis/
An article on a Jewish blog that talks about Israeli involvement in Iraqi Kurdistan, including that of Mossad. The blog is primarily about Jewish refugees:
http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.in/2010/06/kurdish-magazine-appeals-for-jewish.html
An Article on RT that shows a map of how the oil flows
http://rt.com/business/169608-genel-energy-kurdish-oil/
Fighting extremism a dollar at a time
http://rt.com/politics/169352-russian-extremism-financing-ban/