[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 07 Apr 2006]

uruknet.info   اوروكنت.إنفو :: information from occupied iraq :: informazione dall'iraq occupato

Layperson’s guide to counting Iraq deaths Gideon Polya AVOIDABLE MORTALITY (technically, excess mortality) is the difference between the actual mortality in a country and the mortality expected for a peaceful, decently-run country with the same demographics (i.e. with the same birth rate and the same population age profile). Avoidable mortality is a fundamental parameter to be considered in any sensible discussion of human affairs – it is the bottom-line issue when assessing the success or otherwise of societal, r egional and global policies (...) Today Mainstream Media are comprehensively ignoring the horrendous magnitude of the avoidable post-invasion deaths in Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan (presently totalling 2.3 million deaths) and the avoidable deaths in the First World-dominated non-European World (presently 14.8 million deaths each year)... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22347 The Leaker-in-Chief William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t "I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information," said George W. Bush on September 30, 2003. "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." "If someone leaked classified information," said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on October 7, 2003, "the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates, that's not the way this President expects people in his administration to conduct their business." "I'd like to know if somebody in my White House did leak sensitive information," said Bush on October 28, 2003. On this same day, Bush said, "I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is, partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers." On Thursday, we found out who the leaker is... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22358 Bush Censure: No Chance in Hell Kurt Nimmo Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat from Iowa, is embarrassed. "I’m embarrassed that more democrats haven’t lined up on this," Harkin told the Bill Press Show. "The democrats don’t have the guts to stand up to censure a president who misled us, who lied to the American people, who broke the law and violated the Constitution of the United States in spying on the American people." Harkin would have us believe there is a significant difference between Democrats and Republicans whe n in fact both represent the only party in the Washington—the Mass Murder Party, the Big Brother Snoop Party determined to wipe their feet on the Constitution. "We need to hear from people. We need to hear from people. The American people need to know, and to show support for this resolution."... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22356 Last Hope For Impeachment Paul Joseph Watson/PrisonPlanet.com Today's White House admission that George W. Bush authorized the leak of, and let's not beat around the bush and call it an 'intelligence report' like the yellow bellies at Reuters, the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame as a political stunt in retaliation for Joe Wilson's refusal to be the snake oil salesman for their rigged war, is the final nail in the coffin proving we have a dictatorship in Washington. Dictatorships are not always defined by funny han d salutes and gas chambers. The dictionary definition mentions neither, but it does mention "absolute or despotic control or power." Is a President who argues he can do anything even if it breaks the law, and an entire cabinet who agree, exercising absolute power?... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22354 Iraqi soldier allegedly kills U.S. Marine Associated Press A U.S. Marine was shot and killed allegedly by an Iraqi soldier at a base near the Syrian border, the U.S. said Friday. The Iraqi soldier was then wounded by another American Marine. The shootings occurred Thursday near Qaim, 200 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. statement said. "An Iraqi army soldier allegedly shot and killed the U.S. Marine on a coalition base" near Qaim, the statement said. "The Iraqi soldier was shot by another U.S. Marine." (...) The U. S. command also reported three other deaths among American troops... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22353 Iraqi govt. delays disarming militias Pamela Hess, UPI Despite a long-standing commitment to disarm and disband sectarian militias, the Iraqi government has quietly dropped plans to take action -- at least until a new Cabinet can be appointed and get working. 'Currently, during this period of government transition, Iraq`s political and military leaders have taken an informal decision to maintain the status quo with regard to armed groups. They are not seeking to confront them unless they are found to be acting cri minally,' a senior U.S. official in Iraq told United Press International this week. The official asked for anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media on this subject but tracks it closely. His comments highlight growing concerns that sectarian violence -- much of it perpetrated by militias, some of which are believed linked to Iraq`s interior ministry -- may spark civil war... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22352 Did Bush Lie to Fitzgerald? Robert Parry Lewis Libby’s testimony identifying George W. Bush as the top official who authorized the leaking of intelligence about Iraq’s alleged nuclear weapons program raises two key questions: What did the President tell the special prosecutor about this issue in 2004 and what is Bush’s legal status in the federal criminal probe?... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22350 GI Special 4D7: Malevolent Power At Ft. Sill - April 7, 2006 Thomas F. Barton ...Soon after, a soldier who’d been sitting on watch at the mental ward, whom deVarennes nicknamed Pvt. Gopher, committed his own small act of defiance in front of Drill Sgt. Langford and was ordered to "take a knee", meaning to genuflect. As he'd recently had knee surgery, he told Langford that he wasn't able to do that, whereupon the drill sergeant kicked his legs out from under him, sending him to the floor screaming. A first sergea nt on the scene ordered the others to turn away, and just as at Abu Ghraib; told them they didn't see anything... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22364 I Do Believe We Have a Death Threat Sunil K. Sharma, www.dissidentvoice.org Dear Readers, CounterPunch co-editor Jeffrey St. Clair this morning brought to my attention a screed by a disturbed individual named George M. Weinert V of Chicago, Illinois, whose blog, American Jihad, features a March 24, 2006 article (to put it charitably) that reads clearly as an incitement to violence . . . a call to "hunt down the treasonous operators" of Dissident Voice, CounterPunch, Uruknet, and other "radical left wing hippy co mmie Muslim sucking" (wow, what a mouthful) web sites... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22359 Thompson's Dog Wont Hunt Sheila Samples When I first read the March 31 Capitol Hill Blue headline, "9/11 conspiracy theories don't pass the smell test," I thought editor Doug Thompson was pulling an April Fool's joke on us a day early. Buoyed by Thompson's well-deserved reputation for being out there first with "damn the torpedoes -- full speed ahead" -- truth no matter where it takes him, I read avidly to the end of the rant, poised to burst into laughter at his "Gotcha!" punch line. It wasn't there. "I know my government," Thompson ended lamely, "They're just not good enough to pull off something like this." That's it, then? Thompson's reason for ridiculing those who question 9/11 is, "it's improbable such a ragtag group" is capable of attacking a vulnerable nation and killing thousands of its people? Man -- in the wake of all that has happened since 9/11, that dog won't hunt... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22355 Bush approved security leak to smear Iraq war critic Patrick Martin, WSWS The revelation that President Bush personally approved the release of highly classified information to retaliate against a critic of the Iraq war is a major political event. Once again, the modus operandi of this government is revealed: distortion, falsification, manipulation of the media, secretive methods, dirty tricks, all to defend its ongoing criminal enterprise, the US invasion and occupation of Iraq... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22349 Jordan: Open Border to Palestinians Fleeing Iraq Human Rights Watch Jordan should immediately reopen its border to Palestinian refugees fleeing violence in Iraq, Human Rights Watch said today. The international community should assist Jordan by offering to resettle these Iraqi Palestinian refugees in third countries acceptable to them. On April 4, a group of 35 Iraqi Palestinians arrived at the border, fleing from Baghdad, adding to the 94 Iraqi Palestinians already stranded on the Iraqi side of the border. They h ave fled lethal violence and threats to their lives in Baghdad, where they have lived for decades. The refugees told Human Rights Watch that they fled after seeing scores of their compatriots killed in Baghdad in recent months. Unlike Iraqi nationals, these Palestinians cannot enter Jordan on tourist visas... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22348 Leaking, Lying and Burning Covert Agents from the Oval Office The Impeachment Clock Just Clicked Forward DAVE LINDORFF The national impeachment clock moved several minutes closer to midnight this week, with word from special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's Plamegate investigation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's leaking of classified information to New York Times reporter Judy Miller and other journalists was approved by President George Bush himself. What makes this latest revelation important is that if Li bby's claim is correct, it means the president has lied about his role, both to Fitzgerald's federal investigators, and to the American people. The former act--lying to a federal agent--could be a federal crime even though the president was not under oath. The latter--lying to the American people--was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee as an impeachable offense in the case of President Richard Nixon, and was one of the counts approved by the full House of Representatives against President Bill Clinton... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22340 Rebels in full control of Samarra, cleric says Azzaman Anti-U.S. forces have spread their control over the city of Samarra, according to a Shiite cleric in charge of Shiite shrines in the city. "Samarra is still in the hands of terror … It is outside the jurisdiction and control of the state," said Saleh al-Haydari in an interview. A bomb attack in February had badly damaged a major Shiite shrine in the city sparking protests and revenge attacks... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22345 Baath Party Statement A letter to the Non-aligned Movement' summit The Arab Baath Socialist Party ...Based on the principles of the Non Aligned Movement and its liberation historical stands, we ask you to condemn the invasion of Iraq and its occupation in 2003 and to press on for the withdrawal of foreign troops from its territories, and to return its legitimate authority back, cancel every resolution, and decision imposed by the Occupiers and their stooges, respect the national unity of Iraq and reject every kind of sectarian and racist allotment, the separatist project under whatever pretexts and stop the interference in its internal affairs mainly by Iran and the Zionist entity. The Iraqi Resistance, Honorable Presidents and Heads of Delegations of the Non Aligned Countries, is the sole and only representative of the people of Iraq, and you are the ones who appreciate the most, this very national role, through your combat struggle and your generous sacrifices, the support of all the freedom loving and all the honorable people on our planet Earth... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22344 USA squanders 300 million dollars on war propaganda in Iraq Komsomolskaya Pravda Three years of the military campaign in Iraq has cost the USA tens of billions of dollars already. The US administration used about $300 million of this immense amount of money for propagandizing war both inside and outside the USA. The beginning of this informational war was quite successful for President Bush and his team. Many politicians of the world have swallowed the bait about bellicose Saddam Hussein and his horrifying intenti ons to use weapons of mass destruction against the Western civilization. That was the reason why the USA needed to invade Iraq to overthrow Hussein’s regime and save the world from the Iraqi tyrant... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22342 Suicide bombers kill 71 at Baghdad mosque Reuters Three suicide bombers dressed as women killed at least 71 people at a Shi'ite mosque on Friday, the bloodiest attack in Iraq for at least three months. One hundred and 40 people were also wounded in the attack in north Baghdad, the latest proof of how Iraq's leaders have been unable to tackle sectarian violence as they struggle to form a government (...) Men screamed as bodies of victims were taken on wooden carts to ambulances at the complex, which belongs to SCIR I, the most powerful group inside Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Alliance... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22338 Three US troops killed in Iraq TurkishPress.com The US military announced Friday the death of three of its troops across Iraq over the past 24 hours. One soldier was killed in Baghdad Friday following a small arms fire attack, the US military said in a statement. A second soldier was killed Thursday when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Baiji, 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of the capital, the military said in a separate statement. The third, a marine, was killed in the western Al-Anbar province Thursday in enemy action, the military added... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22339 DAILY WAR NEWS FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2006 Today in Iraq Suicide bombers kill 40 at Baghdad mosque. One suicide bomber blew himself up inside the mosque, another outside. Also, 45 people were wounded. Baghdad on alert after car bomb threat. Iraq’s interior ministry cautioned people in Baghdad to avoid crowds near mosques and markets due to a car bomb threat. Gunman shot dead four men in two separate incidents in Baquba. Two unidentified bodies riddled with bullets in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah neighborhood. Son of an Arab tribal chief was kidnapped in Kirkuk. Four senior officers in charge of protecting oil facilities were arrested by Multi-National Forces. Salah Abdel Aziz, a teacher at an art school in Basra, was found dead on a city street. Six bodies found in western Baghdad... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22346 Shiites may seek cleric's advice Robert H. Reid, Associated Press Iraq's embattled prime minister vowed Thursday to pursue his bid for a second term despite pressure to step down, signaling no early end to the standoff blocking a crucial national unity government (...) To break the deadlock, Sunni and Kurdish politicians suggested Parliament convene Wednesday to decide al-Jaafari's fate. But Shiite officials decided Thursday to delay the session until all Iraqi parties agree on nominees for other posts, Shiite pol itician Khalid al-Attiyah said. Al-Attiyah said al-Jaafari's supporters within the alliance want to ask the advice of al-Sistani, which would give Shiite politicians political cover and could avoid a showdown with al-Sadr... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22335 Bush would accept more US troops in Iraq if necessary AFP President George W. Bush said he would agree to boost the number of US troops in Iraq if commanders saw fit to do so. In a speech in Charlotte, Bush said he also would accept a reduction in the number of US troops on the ground if that was what commanders said they needed. "I've got all the confidence in the world in this fine general," Bush said, referring to General George Casey, commander of the coalition forces in Iraq... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22343 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.