[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 04 Mar 2006 - Part One]

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The Democratic Republic of Hamas Mike Whitney Imagine someone grabbed you by the throat, threw you on the ground, and began pummeling you in the head and chest. Would you be inclined to address him serenely saying, "Yes, I recognize your right to exist"? Of course not. The first thing you would try to do is free yourself from his clutches and get back on your feet. How different is this from the dispute between Israel and the newly-elected Hamas? Occupation is a form of violence directed at people to prevent them from controlling their own destiny. It is very similar to a vicious mugging where one party completely dominates the other. It is an attack on the fundamental principles of statehood, sovereignty and self-determination. The election of Hamas demonstrates the collective will of the Palestinian people to rid themselves of a corrupt regime and stand up to Israeli occupation... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21219 America Anesthetized Alex Sabbeth The new Zogby poll gauging the opinions of American troops in Iraq has drawn attention mostly because it finds that 72 percent believe the United States should withdraw in a year or less and only 23 percent favor George W. Bush’s plan to "stay the course." But the poll also illustrates the power of propaganda. Shockingly, 85 percent of the troops questioned believe they are fighting in Iraq "to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks" – one of the key Iraq War myths built by Bush’s frequent juxtaposition of references to Osama bin-Laden and Saddam Hussein. This subliminal message has stuck with the vast majority of U.S. troops even though Bush eventually acknowledged publicly that there is no evidence linking Saddam to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21221 In the new Iraq, US soldiers rape schoolgirls in the daylight Reader of al moharer.net Informed sources from the city of Mosul ascertained today that the US degraded occupiers would do anything to satisfy their beastly nature and to tune up with their debased culture. The same sources added that three days ago a US occupation tank in the city of Mosul (250 miles north of Baghdad) blocked the way of a school bus carrying some forty Iraqi schoolgirls. The sources explained that two debased US soldiers got into the bus and ordered at gunpoint the school kids in the bus to show their breasts. One US female soldier, the Iraqi bus driver indicated, putting her liberation weapon aside, took off her heavy flak jacket, and exhibited to the terrified school children her sow's filthy udders... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21220 Daniel Pipes - Civil War in Iraq would not be that bad for our interests ivorykeyer, Daily Kos OK, I guess nothing should surprise me anymore, but I am surprised nevertheless that there was so little attention given to a recent article in the New York Sun and a radio interview on ABC News Lateline Australia by Dr. Daniel Pipes in which he says Civil war in Iraq, in short, would be a humanitarian tragedy but not a strategic one. To his credit (yes, I am being sarcastic), Pipes does admit that Well, let me start by emphasising that it is a humanitarian disaster and in no sense do I want one to take place. It's a horrible prospect. Before continuing on to say Should, however, it take place I don't, think from the point of view of the coalition it is necessarily that bad for our interests... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21239 Depleted Uranium Kills Indiscriminately Christopher Bollyn An alarmingly high percentage of U.S. military personnel who have served in Iraq have been afflicted by a variety of health problems commonly known as Gulf War Syndrome. Exposure to uranium spread through the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons is thought to be the primary cause of the high rate of chronic ailments and mortality among Gulf War vets. While initial casualties from the first U.S. invasion of Iraq were light, long-term casualties from the 1991 war ultimately exceeded 30 percent, according to Terrell E. Arnold, former Chairman of the Department of International Studies at the National War College. The long-term casualty rate from the current war in Iraq, Arnold says, is likely to be much higher... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21237 Hello Iran, Bye Iraq; US GIs on Video; Drilling USA; Talabani woos Sadr; "Smoking" Iraqis Truth about Iraqis If the men on the left weren't wearing the traditional bedouin 3gal, I would say this is Iran. (It's southern Iraq) But hey, we tried to warn you. Meanwhile, US soldiers are upset they can't use deadly force to mow down rock-throwing Iraqi children (...) And while US soldiers wail about the "orders" they not shoot down Iraqi riff-raff, the militias the US military trained, funded, and allowed to flourish are introducing the Driller concept in Iraq. The Driller concept is derivative of that famed US foreign policy precept - exporting torture techniques to nations of Central and South America. The Iranian Shah's Savak were also misbegotten children of the US foreign policy. And now, thanks be to god (say some Iraqi bloggers), the US military in Iraq has continued this long fine tradition. You can read more about Driller for the Gipper at The Sunday Times. That is if you like reading about Iraqis getting their eyes gouged out... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21236 Shias add fuel to hatred with 'gangsta-rap' incitement Aqeel Hussein and Colin Freeman Shia musicians in Iraq are raising sectarian tensions by producing "gangsta-rap" songs in which they call for Shias to kill Sunnis. The hate-filled lyrics of singers such as Riyadh al Wadi have proved a big hit in Shia areas after the tit-for-tat killings that have pushed the country to the brink of civil war in the past two weeks. In his songs, he urges fellow Shias to ignore the appeals of their most senior cleric not to retaliate against acts of provocation by Sunni insurgents... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21234 Muslims present Memorandum to Prime Minister of India on America's anti-Islam policies Saleem Peerzada, National President, Parcham Party of India ...In the post cold-war era the American imperialism has posed a serious threat to the world order based on mutual respect for the sovereignty of a every country. Unprovoked aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq and threatening posture against Iran has proved beyond doubt that the new security doctrine of pre-emptive strike to destroy all foci of potential resistance to American dictates of world order has blurred and finally erased the distinction between peace and war... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21231 Tribes move to fill security vacuum Ali Khaleel, Azzaman Major Iraqi tribes are in talks for a joint front on how to reinstate quiet and security in the aftermath of the bombing of a major Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra last month. The bombing has raised fears of civil war with scores of mosques burned and hundreds of Iraqis killed so far. Many Iraqi tribes transcend the current sectarian Sunni/Shiite divide. Major Sunni tribes, with members in central and southern Iraq, are coordinating efforts to ease current tensions and form a "National Tribal Front"... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21226 ‘Driller killers’ spread a new horror in Iraq Hala Jaber, The Sunday Times THERE was no sign of danger as Mohammed Sammarai arrived at his brother Mustafa’s home for lunch last week, no hint that this would be their last meal together. It was not until after they had been joined by their old friend Ali Ahmad that they heard a commotion outside and realised something was wrong. Even then, the three men — all government employees, all Sunnis — had no inkling of the terrifying events that were about to overwhelm them. First two police vehicles pulled up outside their house in the Hay al-Jihad district of Baghdad’s sprawling southern suburbs. Then came a convoy of up to 10 black BMWs and Opels — the favoured cars of the Shi’ite militias. Suddenly masked men brandishing Kalashnikov automatic rifles were storming inside. Ahmad was arrested. Mustafa protested. Mohammed fled upstairs. There was no escape, however, as Ahmad recalled. "One of the men grabbed Mustafa’s one-year-old son and put him between his legs and threatened to kill him unless Mohammed came downstairs," he said... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21223 Iraq pledges to disband militias — but not yet Plan calls to integrate fighters into U.S.-trained security forces The Associated Press Iraq pledged on Saturday to disband sectarian militias and integrate them into the country’s U.S.-trained security forces, a move that has been promised several times in the past but never successfully carried out. Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who has been accused of allowing a Shiite militia to operate from his ministry, announced the decision, but at the same time said he saw no need to hurry with the break up of the powerful and feared militias. "The ministry is ready to receive a limited number of militias and distribute them to avoid the gathering of militias in one area," said Jabr, a member of Shiite party SCAR, which oversees the Bard movement, a Shiite militia (...) As well as Bard, several other militia groups operate in Iraq including the Mehdi Army, allied to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the peshmerga, a vast Kurdish military force. In all, around 100,000 people are tied to militias... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21222 “Insurgents” Hermeneutics Are Not a Substitute for Clarity! Kim Petersen, www.dissidentvoice.org ... While Chomsky refers to the anti-occupation forces in Iraq as "terrorists" and "insurgents", he doesn’t shirk from identifying the terrorism of the occupation forces. Chomsky states that it is US terrorism that spawns the terrorism of the anti-occupation forces in Iraq and elsewhere. Nevertheless, to state that US terrorism gives rise to terrorism is ideologically flawed because it sets up an equivalency between the two terrorisms. To escape Chomsky’s equivocation, it would suffice to state that US terrorism spawns armed resistance against it (...) The murderous occupation of Iraq will likely not cease until a groundswell of American people rises up and demands a stop to the carnage. Demonizing the victims of terrorism is not only partisan but it may delay the necessary upsurge of the antiwar movement. More people would die as a result. That is a point worth considering when using language... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21224 15 arrested at White House protesting U.S. torture practices Mike Ferner, Online Journal Contributing Writer Fifteen persons were arrested Wednesday in front of the White House after winding their way for two hours through the streets of the nation’s capital, demanding the U.S. stop torturing detainees in military prisons. Members of Witness Against Torture began their protest at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, continuing to the Capitol and the Department of Justice, and ending at the White House where U.S. Park Police carried out the arrests. Speakers called on officials in each of the buildings to cease planning and executing policies that have injured and killed people in prisons such as Guantanamo Bay, Bagram in Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib in Iraq... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21225 Remarks on Kevin Benderman From Special Orders by Rep. McKinney, Congressional Record 2-26-06 page H363-365 OrbStandard This administration is being investigated on how we got into the first war, and now they want us to go to a second war, to open another front on this war. It is about time that we say no more war. No more war, Mr. Bush. I also want to, as I remember the gentleman in my district who is over 40 years of age who has been told that he has got to report for duty in Iraq, remember Kevin Benderman, whose wife frantically contacted my office asking for help for her husband. Kevin Benderman went to Iraq one time. He was asked to do things that he thought as a human being went against his conscience. Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21230 BUSH KNEW, BUSH LIED, BUSH MUST BE IMPEACHED Allen L Roland The last defense of Bush's manipulation of Iraq war intelligence has just been removed and now the truth is there for all to see ~ Bush knew the pre war Iraq intelligence was bogus, Bush purposely lied to the American people and Bush must face the consequences and be impeached. The reason, quite simply, is this ~ the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush ( note the order ) neocon global agenda has always been and still is more important than the American people's agenda... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21232 Don't wait for God. We will judge you Mary Riddell, The Observer God will judge Tony Blair on the Iraq war. Or so the Prime Minister told Michael Parkinson. Think back to another television appearance, this time last year. On that occasion, Mr Blair faced a studio of women and a different ombudsman. History would deliver its verdict on him, he said. His audience denounced his war, but he was certain that no tribunal, divine or temporal, would ever find his judgment wanting. This time, as the third anniversary of the start of war approaches, Mr Blair sounded less sure. Wishful thinking, maybe, but he looked to me like a man haunted, at last, by what he had unleashed... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21233 The "peace" movement: how not to oppose war on Iran Eli Stephens, Left I on the News I've written before about my distinction between the "antiwar" movement and the "peace" movement. Continuing the theme, yesterday's CommonDreams carries an article by three self-described "peace" activists -- Tad Daley, a Peace and Disarmament Fellow in the Los Angeles office of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink: Women for Peace, and Mimi Kennedy, Chair of Progressive Democrats of America. Just so we're clear that this distinction between the "peace" movement and the "antiwar" movement is not mine alone, the authors specifically ask the question: "What does the peace movement have to say about the Iranian crisis?", and, other than describing noting that "the Guinness Book of World Records has identified February 15, 2003 as the largest global antiwar mobilization in history," the word "antiwar" does not appear in the article... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21211 US official denies Mosul bus incident Truth about Iraqis According to the Iraqirabita.org website, on Sunday February 26, a bus carrying 40 girls enrolled in a Teachers institute, was stopped by several US armored vehicles. The driver was made to exit the bus and sit on the ground. One US female soldier accompanied by a male soldier boarded the bus and, according to the girls, told them to remove their head covering veils. The female soldier, who is said to speak some Arabic, then unbuttoned her shirt and revealed her breasts to the girls who were astounded. She then ordered them to show her their breasts... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21210 Top US General confirms militias assisted US, Iraqi forces KUNA A top US commander in Iraq conceded Friday that in the immediate aftermath of recent violence in Iraq, US and Iraqi forces worked with militias to assist in suppressing attacks. "Our estimate is that in the immediate wake of the bombings, in areas like Sadr City, militias did take to the streets," said General George Casey, commanding general of the Multinational Forces in Iraq... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21227 "There is ethnic cleansing" Amira Howeidy, Al-Ahram Weekly As Iraq falls near to the abyss of civil war, a security clampdown on the Iraqi Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) twice this week went almost unnoticed. On Monday, US forces supported by other unidentified armed groups raided the headquarters of the influential and largely Sunni Association and arrested two of its main leaders. Al-Ahram Weekly caught up with the AMS's spokesman, Mutahana Hareth Al-Dari, 37, during a visit to Cairo where he was putting the final touches on the soon-to-be-launched AMS satellite channel Al-Rafedein, to be based in Cairo. During the interview, Al-Dari cautiously avoided adopting what could be interpreted as a sectarian discourse but argued that there are forms of ethnic cleansing occurring in Iraq. When asked about the role of Muqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in last week's sectarian violence, Al-Dari declined to comment. According to informed Iraqi sources who spoke to the Weekly on condition of anonymity the Mahdi army has been "infiltrated" by the Badr Organisation, the military wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and other state-sponsored militias. And as a result, Al-Sadr gradually lost direct control over his militia... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21235 GI Special 4C3 - Most Of The Guys Here Are Antiwar - March 3, 2006 Thomas F. Barton PRISONERS BEHIND bars in Illinois jails have formed a new antiwar group: Prisoners Against the War. One of the leading organizers of the group is STANLEY HOWARD, a former death row prisoner in Illinois who was pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan in 2003. Though still incarcerated for another crime he was falsely convicted of, Stanley has become a leading voice in the struggle against the death penalty and the criminal injustice system. Working with Tom Barton of the Military Project Organizing Committee, which publishes GI Special, a daily Internet newsletter that gathers news and information helpful to soldiers and military families, Stanley and the other members of the new antiwar group came together last year. GI Special has since published essays from several of them, and members of Prisoners Against the War have been writing letters to show their support for resisters within the military... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=21238 www.uruknet.info: a site gathering daily information concerning occupied Iraq: news, analysis, documents and texts of iraqi resistance available in Italian and English.   You receive this newsletter because you subscribed it. If you think it was an abuse, or simply if you don't want to receive it any more, click here to unsubscribe from the newsletter.