[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 17 Apr 2006 - Part One]

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Iraq War, Round Two Robert Dreyfuss Missing from the discussion over Iraq in the United States is the growing likelihood that the Bush administration will escalate, not de-escalate, the war. If they do, their goal will be to employ another round of "shock and awe"—namely, massive U.S. military air and ground"—in a desperate effort to tip the balance in Iraq in America’s favor in advance of the 2006 elections. The failed war in Iraq is overwhelmingly the key factor driving down poll numbers for the president, vice president and the Republican Party in general... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22641 Iraq - Greatest Strategic Disaster In US History Evelyn Pringle Its time to withdraw our troops from a war that should never have been waged. There never was any real justification for sending our young men and women to die in Iraq, and there is even less justification to keep them there now. On October 5, 2005, the former head of the National Security Agency, Retired Lt General William Odom, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: "The invasion of Iraq, I believe, will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history." I totally agree with the General... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22638 Gallup: 57% Say U.S. Won't Win in Iraq E&P Staff A report on a new Gallup poll released today shows that President Bush approval rating on his handling of Iraq is now at 32% -- tied for the lowest rating Gallup has measured. The survey, taken April 7-9, also shows that 57% of Americans think the United States will not win in Iraq. In a surprise, the new poll found that 44% of Republicans now back withdrawing some or all troops from Iraq. The number for all Americans, 64%, is higher, but the fact that better than 4 in 10 Republicans back this idea is notable. Indepedents are tracking much closer to Democrats on all issues related to Iraq... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22651 Designated Fall Guy: Replacing Rummy Jack Random, www.dissidentvoice.org ... There is only one person who bears ultimate responsibility for the disaster in Iraq. On the rare occasions that he is not vacationing, he reports to the Oval Office every morning. Beyond the president, if blame must be assigned, a portion belongs to all of us. If we are in fact a democracy, we cannot escape our fair share. We enabled this incompetent leader and his band of neocon warlords to capture the reigns of power for eight long y ears. If we now allow our leadership to evade responsibility on the myth of strategic blunders, we will pave the way for further disasters... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22652 DAILY WAR NEWS FOR MONDAY, April 17, 2006 Today in Iraq Car apparently driven by suicide bomber explodes in front of a U.S. observation post in central Iraq, sending up a huge fireball and damaging buildings and cars on a main road. There were no reports of U.S. casualties. The bombing was part of a coordinated attack by insurgents, who fired mortars and RPG's at several sites occupied by Marines in the center of the city. The Marines fired back, and a U.S. Army tank blew off chunks of a mosque minaret. About 50 i nsurgents mounted a brazen attack on Iraqi forces in Baghdad on Monday, prompting U.S. troops to provide support in a battle that lasted seven hours, a U.S. military spokesman said (...) Roadside bomb targets army patrol in central Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding nine, including some soldiers. Police discover three bodies of blindfolded and handcuffed men in the neighborhood of Shula. Assailants attack police patrol in western Baghdad in drive-by shooting, wounding two policemen. Four gunmen attack Sunni mosque killing a guard in the Adhamiya district... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22650 April 7, the Baath and the Resistance Ibrahim Ebeid, Al-Mohare.net April 7, 2006 is the fifty ninth anniversary of the establishment of the Baath Party. It is also the third anniversary of the birth of the Iraqi Resistance against the Anglo-American invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq. Baathists, Arab progressive and Nationalist Movements across the Arab Homeland celebrate and salute this dear occasion. AL-Moharer, its staff and friends pay tribute to this great party which is leading the Resistance in Iraq a gainst the aggressors and the enemies of humanity whether Imperialist invaders, sectarians or Zionist racists. The Arab Baath is a nationalist movement that addresses itself to Arabs of all religions and sects and looks at all religions and faiths with equal respect... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22649 US military deaths rise in Iraq after 5-month fall Will Dunham, Reuters U.S. military deaths in Iraq have risen sharply in April -- after five straight months of decline -- amid warnings by American officials that the failure to form a new Iraqi government has helped perpetuate violence. Last month, there were 31 U.S. military fatalities, the fewest since 20 died in February 2004 in the lowest monthly toll of the 3-year-old war. So far this month, which is a bit more than half over, there have been at least 48 Ame rican fatalities, according to a count of military death announcements... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22646 Iraq in turmoil: Conflicting reports on Aadhamiya Truth About Iraqis There have been conflicting reports concerning the midnight raid on the mostly Sunni district of Aadhamiya. A source in Aadhamiya just informed me that members of the Badr Brigade gathered in the Sadr City district and headed towards Aadhamiya with a list of names of people wanted for questioning. Two men had apparently been apprehended by members of the Badr Brigade when fighting intensified. It is not known what happened to them. According to o ther residents in Aadhamiya, there were two separate attempts made by armed groups in police uniform to penetrate the neighborhood's defenses... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22645 Fighting breaks out in Sunni district of Baghdad Reuters Fighting broke out overnight in the Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya in Baghdad after gunmen attacked a police station, police and Interior Ministry sources say. They say it is still not clear who was involved in the clashes, which later drew reinforcements from police commandos. The sources say the police commandos were accompanied by members of a Shiite Muslim militia. Residents of Adhamiya, a stronghold of Sunni insurgents, took up arms to prevent the Shii te militia from entering, the sources say... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22644 Saddam's Challenges Handwriting Experts SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer Saddam Hussein's lawyer Monday challenged findings of handwriting experts verifying the former president's signature on documents linked to a crackdown on Shiites, and demanded a review by specialists from anywhere except Iran or Israel. The report from handwriting experts said a signature on a document approving rewards for intelligence agents involved in the crackdown in the 1980s was Saddam's, prosecutors said, reading from the re port. Saddam's lawyer Khamis al-Obaidi disputed the experts' finding and insisted that the documents be analyzed by international experts except those from Iran because of ``its obvious hostility against Arabs and Islam''... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22643 PRISONS - AS A MEASURE OF TYRANNY D. L. O'Huallachain* ...When one reflects on this scandal of an innocent man being held for years in prison on no evidence whatever, and when one considers how far ahead the U.S. is in terms of prison population rates compared to the rest of the world, one can only be stunned by the arrogance of U.S. governments posing as the agents of Freedom, Justice and Democracy. In any comparison with Bush in these terms, Saddam wins hands down, and if the Bush regime wishes to rid the world of "outposts of tyranny," it ought to begin with itself... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22653 GI Special 4D17: " The Generals' Revolt" - April 17, 2006 Thomas F. Barton The calls by a growing number of recently retired generals for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have created the most serious public confrontation between the military and an administration since President Harry S. Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1951. In that epic drama, Truman was unquestionably correct -- MacArthur, the commanding general in Korea and a towering World War II hero, publicly challenged Truman's a uthority and had to be removed. Most Americans rightly revere the principle that was at stake: civilian control over the military. But this situation is quite different. First, it is clear that the retired generals -- six so far, with more likely to come -- surely are speaking for many of their former colleagues, friends and subordinates who are still inside... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22654 Al-Jaafari's Party Stands Behind Him BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer The political snarl over choosing Iraq's new government tightened Monday as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's party indicated it was standing firm for him to keep the post for a second term despite opposition from Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Ali al-Adeeb, a top official in the Dawa party, said the group would not put forward anyone else as the Shiite Muslim nominee for premier unless al-Jaafari decided to step aside. The announcement pointed to further delays in negotiations to form a broad-based government, an effort that has stumbled along for four months since the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22648 THE US NOW PLANNING A FOURTH ATTEMPT TO OUST HUGO CHAVEZ Stephen Lendman This essay has a duel purpose. I began it initially to explain how sophisticated and effective the dominant corporate media is in programming the public mind to believe whatever message they deliver regardless of whether it's true which it rarely is. I chose the title Reeducation 101 - Defogging and Reversing the Corporate Media's Programming of the Public Mind which I'm now using as the heading of my introductory section. Along with that dis cussion, I then planned a detailed case study example of how they're doing it by demonizing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias with a building and resonating drumbeat of invective in advance of the US government's fourth attempt to oust him... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22656 Straussians: Mass Murder at the Mall as Gospel Kurt Nimmo According to Tim Harper, writing for the Toronto Star, a neocon attack unleashed against Iran may result in the following: "Poison-laced missiles raining down on U.S. troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, the downing of a U.S. passenger airliner, suicide bombers in major cities, perhaps unleashing their deadly payload in a shopping mall food court. It could be 9/11 all over again. Or worse…. On the political front, more anti-Americanism…. Renewed venom aimed at Wa shington from European capitals, greater distrust from China and Russia, outright hatred in the Arab and Muslim world. Oil prices spiralling out of control, a global recession at hand…. In Iran, a galvanizing of a splintered nation. An end to hopes for political reform, a rally-around-the-leader phenomenon common among the victimized, an ability to rebuild a nuclear program in two to four years." In other words, disaster. Disaster—political, social, and economic—is what the Straussian neocons want... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22655 IRAQ: Baghdadis say curfew prevents access to medical care IRIN Residents of the Iraqi capital are complaining that a recently-imposed government curfew, aimed at deterring ongoing violence, is hampering access to medical care. "My son had stomach pains two days ago, but I couldn't take him to the hospital because we're prohibited from leaving our homes – even for medical emergencies," said Baghdad resident and father of four Abu Muhammad, 47... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22642 The Wages of Consensus Why Won't Moveon.org Oppose the Bombing of Iran? NORMAN SOLOMON MoveOn.org sent out an email with the subject line "Don’t Nuke Iran" to three million people on April 12. "There is one place where all of us can agree: Americans don’t support a pre-emptive nuclear attack on Iran, and Congress must act to prevent the president from launching one before it’s too late," the message said. And: "Please take a moment to add your name to our petition to stop a nuclear attack on Iran." The petition’s two sentences only convey opposition to a "nuclear" attack on Iran: "Congress and President Bush must rule out attacking Iran with nuclear weapons. Even the threat of a nuclear attack eliminates some of the best options we have for diplomacy, and the consequences could be catastrophic." In MoveOn’s mass email letter, the only reference to a non-nuclear attack on Iran came in a solitary sentence without any followup: "Even a conventional attack would likely be a disaster"... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22639 The United State of Israelamerica Xymphora The problem with the Israel Lobby thesis for people like Chomsky is that they cannot conceive of a situation where a predominant country would allow things to be run in a way which doesn’t benefit the interests of its elites. Chomsky’s rejection of the Lobby thesis in the face of what has to be considered to be overwhelming evidence entails that his whole view of the world is unfalsifiable, and is thus without real content. It has become clear that Chomsky defines whate ver the United States does as being done by and for American elite groups, and thus his thesis is trivial. No evidence can possibly disprove it.... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22636 Iraq on the precipice, Baghdad Burns: Aadhamiya under Siege (Update) Truth About Iraqis Several people have been killed in violent clashes, Aljazeea TV is reporting. It is confirming that the Iraqi Army has chosen to not interfere. Association of Muslim Scholars leader Abdul Salam Al Kubaisi said the militia backed by Interior Ministry commandos shelled Aadhamiya using mortars. Baghdadiya TV (Iraqi satellite channel) is saying violent clashes have broken out in Aadhamiya after a police station was attacked. Al Ira qiya TV (Iraqi satellite channel) also reported clashes but said the situation was "under control". It provided no further details... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22635 What Rumsfeld knew Interviews with high-ranking military officials shed new light on the role Rumsfeld played in the harsh treatment of a Guantánamo detainee. Michael Scherer and Mark Benjamin Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was personally involved in the late 2002 interrogation of a high-value al-Qaida detainee known in intelligence circles as "the 20th hijacker." He also communicated weekly with the man in charge of the interrogation, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the controversial commander of the Guantánamo Bay detention center. During the same period, detainee Mohammed al-Kahtani suffered from what Army investigators have called "degrading and abusive" treatment by soldiers who were following the interrogation plan Rumsfeld had approved. Kahtani was forced to stand naked in front of a female interrogator, was accused of being a homosexual, and was forced to wear women's underwear and to perform "dog tricks" on a leash. He received 18-to-20-hour interrogations during 48 of 54 days... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22640 Kidnapped brother of Iraqi Sunni leader killed Ibon Villelabeitia and Ahmed Rasheed Gunmen killed the brother of a top Iraqi Sunni politician, officials said on Monday, in the second killing in days of a relative of a Sunni leader as deadlock over a unity government showed no sign of loosening. One day after Monday's parliamentary session was delayed to give bickering politicians more time to form a government aimed at averting civil war, the body of Saleh al-Mutlak's brother was identified in a Baghdad morgue (.. .) The bodies of 12 shooting victims, some showing signs of torture, were found in different areas of Baghdad on Monday, Interior Ministry sources said... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22647 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.