[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 14 Apr 2006]

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

Attacks on US forces, Iraqi police soar Truth about Iraqis Over the past few days, the US military has engaged "the enemy" in several skirmishes, ambushes and attacks mostly in the Anbar province. These are isolated incidents, but seem to be part of a new campaign of attacks against US forces. On Thursday, the US military reported two personnel killed and a further 22 wounded in what appeared to be a singular incident. Associated Press writer Vanessa Arrington said: "It was the biggest number of American casualtie s reported from a single engagement in weeks." Two of the wounded were in critical condition, while some others among them returned to duty. The US military did not provide any more information. This indicates that there was a serious military engagement... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22581 PETITION: FREE MALCOLM KENDALL-SMITH We the undersigned condemn the prison sentence passed on Flight Lieutenant Dr Malcolm Kendall-Smith and offer our full solidarity and support. The sentence of eight months passed on him for refusing to serve in Basra is an outrage, we demand his immediate release. He acted on his conscience in refusing to serve in an illegal war. In doing so, he acted on behalf of many people in this country. The judge’s remarks that orders have to be obeyed also give cause for concern. The Nu remberg trials after the 2nd World War established that obeying illegal orders was no defence against charges of war crimes... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22588 Cowardice Robert Thompson How many of us have the courage to speak out to tell the truth when we wish to stay in our comfortable lives? Obviously, not very many of us are willing to do this. It took a single young R.A.F. Doctor, Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, to show that there are still courageous men willing to serve the real interests of their country. Even though we might have done the same as them, we have to condemn the following for their part in the illegal war, invasion and occupation of Iraq and/or of cowardice in failing to stand up for this excellent young man when he came to trial before what looks like a "Kangaroo Court'... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22590 Baghdad Morgue Overflowing Daily Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed As sectarian killings continue to rise in Iraq, the central morgue in Baghdad is unable to keep up with the daily influx of bodies. The morgue is receiving a minimum of 60 bodies a day and sometimes more than 100, a morgue employee told IPS on condition of anonymity. "The average is probably over 85," said the employee on the morning of April 12, as scores of family members waited outside the building to see if their loved ones were among the dead. The f amily of a man named Ashraf who had been taken away by the Iraqi police Feb. 16 anxiously searched through digital photographs inside the morgue. He then found what he was looking for... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22565 Bush and Cheney Directed Wilson-Plame Hit Squad Evelyn Pringle Now that we've spent millions of tax dollars on the CIA leak investigation, here’s a new bit of information that adds a whole new twist to the saga. According to a recent article by ace investigative reporter, Jason Leopold, Dick Cheney met with Bush in early June 2003, and told him that CIA agent Valerie Plame was the wife of Iraq war critic Joe Wilson and that she was responsible for sending Joe on a fact-finding mission to check out reports about Ir aq's attempt to purchase uranium from Africa. And the chat wasn't limited to Bush and Cheney... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22577 On the Possibility of a Military Coup in the United States of America Anwaar Hussain, Fountainhead About the possibilities of a military coup in the United States, historian Andrew Jonas said this; "Coup d’etat in the United States would be too fantastic to contemplate, not only because few would actually entertain the idea, but also because the bulk of the people are strongly attached to the prevailing political system and would rise in defense of a political leader even though they might not like him. The en vironment most hospitable to coups d’etat is one in which political apathy prevails as the dominant style." The question to ask is whether 'political apathy’ now 'prevails as the dominant style’ in the United States of today or not? With the unending 'war on terror’ resulting in a heavy tampering of the American Constitution by the current US Administration, and the consequent granting of virtually limitless powers to the President of United States for the duration of the unending war, a real 'Constitutional Conundrum' has been created... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22564 U.S. admits military damaged Babylon ruins AP A senior U.S. military officer has said he is willing to apologize for damage his troops caused to one of Iraq’s most famous ancient sites. The British Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday that after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. Marines had built a helicopter pad on the ruins of Babylon and filled their sandbags with archaeological fragments from the ancient city. It said vibrations from U.S. helicopters caused the roof of one building to collapse (...) Last year, the British Museum said that U.S.-led troops using Babylon as a base had damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back thousands of years. The German Archaeological Institute said U.S. and Polish troops based at Babylon had caused "massive damage" to the site in 2003 and 2004... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22571 The Investigative Reporter vs. the President -- Is an Iran Attack Being Planned or Wild Speculation? Kevin Zeese ...So, back to the original question - who to believe the commander in chief or the investigative reporter. Sy Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who gained international fame for exposing the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and more recently the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. President Bush has most recently been tied to the leak of a CIA agents name in retaliation of her husband's report criticizing cl aims related to nuclear weapons in Iraq. He has been widely criticized for exaggerating the threat of Iraq regarding weapons of mass destruction. And he has claimed that the United States does not torture people it detains, when photographs and other evidence indicate that it does... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22573 Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 14 April 2006 Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. In a dispatch posted at 8:25pm Makkah time Friday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that at the time of reporting US forces accompanied by their Iraqi puppet army allies were carrying out a campaign of mass raids and arrests of youths in the city of Hit, about 140km northwest of Baghdad. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported dozens of US and Iraqi pup pet troops had stormed into the city from the west, surrounded specific areas and then proceeded to carry out what he described as "arbitrary" raids and arrests... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22574 Guantanamo by the Tigris Eli Stephans, Left I on the News The U.S. government/military has been illegally squatting on Cuban soil for more than a century. Now AP reports on the new U.S. "embassy" being built in Baghdad: The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22585 Marines Suffer 2 Dead, 22 Wounded In Iraq AP Two U.S. Marines were killed and 22 wounded — two of them critically — in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday. It was the biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in weeks. A U.S. statement said the casualties were suffered Thursday as a result of "enemy action" in Anbar province but gave no specific location or details of the fighting... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22570 Nine Eleven: A Response to Doubting Doug Kurt Nimmo Doug Thompson, editor and publisher of Capitol Hill Blue, has slipped into warp drive. He believes you and I—those who believe the government was complicit or behind the attacks of nine eleven—are "fruitcakes, lemmings and scam artists." I’m not sure why Thompson has become so enraged at those of us who don’t buy the official version (a fairy tale) and why he assumes we are either crazed tinfoil hatters or snake oil salesmen looking for a quick buck (and believe me, if you’re interested in making a quick buck, you’d have more luck going door-to-door as a hawker of Amway products). His venom leads me to believe something is going on behind the scenes. I find it remarkably strange that Thompson believes his government is capable of setting up a police state, while on the other is unable to grasp the idea that very same government would kill its own citizens, as it has slaughtered thousands and thousands of Iraqis (and millions of Asians before the latest round of serial murder)... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22583 Iran, Neocons, and the Department of Redundancy Kurt Nimmo It’s a re-run, complete with inappropriate if well-worn analogies from the disgusting neocon, William Kristol. "Comparing Iran’s alleged push to gain a nuclear weapon to Adolf Hitler’s 1936 march on the Rhineland, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol called for undertaking ’serious preparation for possible military action—including real and urgent operational planning for bombing strikes and for the consequences of such strikes," Jim Lobe reports for Int er Press Service."... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22582 Depending on Your Set of Principles You Will Be Entertained or Shocked Wafaa' Al-Natheema An Iraqi-Canadian friend forwarded to me the announcement below he received from an American recruiting company. Please read its details below and make sure you click on the link in the bottom that reads, "See how some Aegis mercenaries are earning their money ". The announcement below and especially the link in the bottom should give you some idea of the atrocities committed by the Americans in IRAQ. This is only one tiny aspect of the reality of this war... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22569 Silence kills and silence is complicity - 'a follow-up' Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Dream It seems my correspondence with Phyllis Bennis and United for Peace and Justice did produce some good results. UFPJ’s Legislative Action Coordinator wrote me "as a follow-up -- i am working with phyllis to figure out a way to force the US congress to investigate the true number of iraqi civilian casualties" The problem is that even good and well intentioned people seem not to have clear ideas on this subject, since UFPJ’s L egislative Action Coordinator then writes: "the problem is that there isn't really a credible number that we can quote because no one really knows! and that in itself is horrific." I explained that that is not correct. There IS a VERY CREDIBLE NUMBER indeed... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22568 DAILY WAR NEWS FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006 Today in Iraq US soldier killed in Baghdad by roadside bomb. US military announced that Rafid Ibrahim Fattah was killed by US forces on March 27 near Baquba. They claim he was a major al Qaeda figure in Iraq. Marine died due to enemy action near Baghdad (...). A large group of policemen transporting police vehicles near Baghdad were hit by a roadside bomb and authorities were still trying to determine casualties...A senior official in the Najaf governor's office said only 35 of the 80 members of the convoy had made it back to the city. The others (45) were either dead or unaccounted for, he said. Most of the vehicles were destroyed... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22566 Report says Rumsfeld allowed Guantanamo abuse Reuters U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld allowed an "abusive and degrading" interrogation of an al Qaeda detainee in 2002, the online magazine Salon reported on Friday, citing an Army document. In a report a Pentagon spokesman denounced as "fiction," Salon quoted a December 2005 Army inspector general's report in which officers told of Rumsfeld's direct contact with the general overseeing the interrogation at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22563 Iraq: Scores of policemen feared dead as two US soldiers killed Al Bawaba A large group of policemen transporting police vehicles near Baghdad were hit by a roadside bomb, Interior Ministry and police sources said on Friday. US patrol in IraqAccording to Reuters, the sources said they feared at least 30 policemen were either dead or missing after Thursday's attack. The policemen were ambushed as they headed towards their headquarters in Najaf in southern Iraq. A senior Najaf police official said that at least six were killed, 10 were injured and 50 missing after the bombing (...) A roadside bomb Thursday killed a U.S. soldier southwest of Baghdad, the military said. The U.S. command also reported that a Marine died Wednesday of wounds suffered in "hostile action" near Baghdad... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22562 Blood, Debt and Taxes The Real Death Tax STAN COX Now that the rush to file our income tax returns has come and gone for another year, it's only natural to wonder what all that money's paying for. These days, the money we're sending to Washington is buying a lot more war and a lot less economic security. In the current White House budget request, Pentagon spending would rocket upward, with a $29 billion increase. If you include military portions of the budgets of Homeland Security, Energy, and other dep artments, US taxpayers would fork over $563 billion for military spending in the coming fiscal year. But wait! (as they say on infomercials) There's more! That $563 billion doesn't even include the cost of the war in Iraq!... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22586 GI Special 4D13 : You Have That Power - April 13, 2006 Thomas F. Barton ...You know you set the trends for the nation, but what New Yorkers may not realize is that there are some 30 theater bookers waiting to see how Sir! No Sir! www.sirnosir.com does during its week run at the IFC Center in New York, April 19-25th. If the run does well in your city, it will reach the heartland of America and people will learn the suppressed history of GI resistance to the Vie tnam War. You may not have thought that seeing a movie could change the world, but in this case YOU HAVE THAT POWER! I hope you’ll come out to see this amazing and important film! It is the untold story of the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam and tells a part of history that has been forgotten, about the conscientious objectors, underground newspapers and coffee houses, of those who resisted in many ways. It is a powerful glimpse of both history and of the present and future... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22579 Peace Mom's Easter Stand Cindy Sheehan on the meaning of Easter in Crawford, and New York's lousy jails Sarah Ferguson ...Easter is the time for forgiveness. Can you forgive the president for sending your son to Iraq? I already have forgiven him. I learned a long time ago that you don't get anywhere holding on to hate because that just hurts the person who hates. So I don't hate him; I want justice. I just want him to be held accountable for what he's done, and to get the troops out of Iraq. Peac e and love are the things that motivate me... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22584 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. 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