[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 18 May 2006]

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Chavez: “I am just a human being like you, but totally devoted to equality and justice.” Mike Whitney ... Chavez has taken the lead in denouncing Bush and the system that supports him: "For the horror it has created around the world in the last century, the United States’ war machine should be dismantled. It is a threat against all of mankind, particularly against our children." He has wisely taken aim at Bush, an indigent patrician without any identifiable qualifications, as the foremost symbol of a system ru! n amok: "The worst genocidal leader in the history of humanity is the President of the United States. Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W Bush… He is a terrorist, a drunkard, and a donkey" (...) In an interview with British Channel 4 he was asked what he would do if he was living in occupied Iraq. Chavez answered: "If I was an Iraqi I would be resisting. I would be in the trenches; I would have a rocket-launcher; I would be defending the holy sovereignty of my country against the abuses and oppression of the empire"... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23394 Support the Troops? Support Troop Resistance! Mara Ortenburger ...Although this rebellion within the military was well documented during the Vietnam years—a staggering amount of evidence is freely available in the public record—it has been almost entirely eradicated from our collective memory. Sir! No Sir! describes an exerted effort by the government, the media, and Hollywood to suppress this history, including the development of the "myth of the spitting hippie," a cultural fairy tale which was crafted to deemp! hasize the fact that some of the most effective and intense resistance to the war occurred from within the military itself. Needless to say, the people in power who have crafted the US invasion and occupation of Iraq do not want this story to be told because it allows for a radical re-conceptualization of what it can mean to "support the troops." Support the troops by supporting their resistance and rebellion. Support the troops by bringing them home now... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23380 Gates of Eden Chris Floyd Beneath the thunder of the mighty cataclysms unleashed by the Bush administration -- the war crime in Iraq, the global torture gulag, the epic corruption, the gutting of the U.S. Constitution, the open embrace of presidential tyranny -- a quieter degradation of American society has continued apace. And this slow descent into barbarism didn't begin with President George W. Bush, although his illicit regime certainly represents the apotheosis of the dark forces driving the decay. With the ! world's attention diverted by the latest scandals and shameless posturings of the Bush faction -- domestic spying, bribes and hookers at the CIA, military units roaring down to the border to scare unarmed poor people looking for work -- few noticed a small story that cast a harsh, penetrating light on the corrosion of the national character. Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23386 Inquiry Implies Civilian Deaths in Iraq Topped Initial Report THOM SHANKER, NYTimes An official military investigation into allegations that American marines killed innocent Iraqis last November has uncovered evidence that the number of dead civilians is higher than the 15 originally reported, Congressional and Defense Department officials said (...) On Wednesday, Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, talked about the investigation at a news conference on Capitol Hill. "Our troops overreacted b! ecause of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," he said. "And that's what the report is going to tell." He said he had not read the official findings of the inquiry, but had been told about them by officers he identified as commanders. Mr. Murtha said the number of Iraqi civilians killed was about twice the initial report of 15. Defense Department officials said Thursday that evidence indicated that more than 15 had been killed, but that the inquiry had not confirmed his estimate of double that number... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23387 The Iraq war and the oil weapon Xymphora ...The attack was indeed about oil, but not in any of the obvious ways. It was intended to be a part of a larger plan to take the oil weapon away from the Arabs. The larger plan, David Wurmser’s plan, is one of the main reasons for the war, and demonstrates that the war was indeed for Israel, the only country that has any reason to fear the oil weapon. Wurmser’s plan will require more thought if we are really to understand the reasons for war... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23376 DAILY WAR NEWS FOR THURSDAY, May 18, 2006 Today in Iraq Four U.S. soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed on Thursday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. The statement issued by the 4th Infantry Division that patrols the Iraqi capital did not give further details. A Sailor assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province May 17. (MNF- Iraq) In Abu Skher, a village south of Najaf, an AFP ! correspondent saw what appeared to be a sports utility vehicle typical of the kind used by US contractors burning fiercely after it was hit by a roadside bomb. US soldiers were securing the area, but the military said it could not immediately confirm the incident or provide casualty figures. In Manathera, a town south of Najaf, two roadside bombs exploded near a U.S. military and civilian convoy, wounding some passengers. U.S. soldiers then shot "by mistake" at an Iraqi policemen in the area, [Iraqi army Maj. Bshari] Ghazali said... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23375 American Military tested new generation Microwave weapons on Iraq civilians in 2003 Baghdad Dweller A new Italian documentary shade more lights that US troops tested new generation of Laser, Microwave weapons on Iraq’s military and civilians back in 2003 in the "battle of the Airport". An interview with Iraqi eyewitness reveals the whole truth. Saad al Falluji: This bus was very crowded, they were going from Hilla to Kifil, to find their families, but before they had arrived at the American checkpoint t! he villagers said to them "return back, return back". When the bus tried to return back it was shot by the checkpoint. Geert Van Morteer: No gunshot wounds? Saad al Falluji: No, no, I don’t know what it was. We are here 10 surgeons and we couldn’t decide which was the weapon that hit this car.... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23372 Murtha’s My Lai Stan Goff If you put Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha and I in a room together, we could probably identify with each other around our military experience, but we would agree on little else I’m afraid. If you accept the linear continuum model of political orientation (which I don’t, but at least it’s well known), then Murtha is center-right, and I am crimson-left. That’s precisely why this accolade I am about to write to his integrity can be taken seriously... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23392 Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 18 May 2006 Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. ...At least seven Iraqi civilians were killed, among them women and children, when US aircraft rocketed two homes in the ar-Ridwaniyah area of southwestern Baghdad early Thursday. The correspondent for Quds Press reported sources as saying that US warplanes raided the district at dawn Thursday, blasting two houses in the area known as the Ibrahim al-Khalil Vill! age in ar-Ridwaniyah. The American raid left seven local residents dead. At the time of reporting, local people were still working to dig through the rubble to extract the bodies. The witnesses added that later Thursday morning, US troops staged an airborne landing in the same area and arrested four local residents... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23389 Prodi signals early end to Italian role in Iraq 'occupation' John Hooper and Suzanne Goldenberg , The Guardian Britain and the US were last night facing almost total isolation in Iraq after Italy's new prime minister, Romano Prodi, made it clear that he intended to pull out the third-biggest contingent in the military coalition at the earliest possible opportunity. Under Silvio Berlusconi, Italy was among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Bush-Blair line. But in his first policy speech since being sworn in ! on Wednesday, Mr Prodi was excoriating in his criticism of Anglo-American policy... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23382 Oil Diplomacy Robert Dreyfuss ...Although the Bush administration claims to be engaged in a global war on terrorism and a campaign to extend U.S.-style democracy, it is more than apparent that Washington is in fact pursuing a worldwide strategy driven by the geopolitics of oil—and not just in regard to Libya and Venezuela. Iran and Iraq, of course, come to mind. More broadly, in recent weeks President Bush played obsequious host to President Ilham Aliev of oil-rich Azerbaijan. Bush warmly embraced Aliev, a less-t! han-democratic leader whose energy resources and strategic position make him an important player both in pipeline politics and in regard to U.S. plans for regime change in Iran. One-fourth of Iran’s population is comprised of Azeris. Then Vice President Cheney trundled into oil-rich and autocratic Kazakhstan last week, on a jaunt during which he warned Russia against using "oil and gas [as] tools of intimidation and blackmail." Of course. Using oil and gas for intimidation and blackmail? That’s America’s job... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23379 New Pentagon Video: Eminently Ignorable Kurt Nimmo ...All this "irrefutable evidence" aside (and there is enough of it to convict our rulers and send them packing in orange jumpsuits to a small penal island somewhere in an isolated stretch of the Pacific), I believe this latest video is not worth the stream of bytes the images encapsulate. It should be studiously ignored while other, more relevant and damaging evidence (the obvious demolition of the towers and Building Seven) is brought to the forefront. Obviousl! y, the latest video is a transparent attempt—with Judicial Watch serving as an apparently willing patsy—to hijack the argument and make nine eleven truth seekers out to be tinfoil hatters. It is interesting to note this new video surfaced as British Labor MP Michael Meacher announced his intention to screen Dylan Avery’s Loose Change (a film that trounces the official version of what happened at the Pentagon on nine eleven) on June 14 at the House of Parliament. It is hoped this new video will make truth seekers and nine eleven researchers look like idiots and churls prior to this screening... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23378 Conference Address: Make Me an Instrument of Peace Cindy Sheehan ...I left the Roman Catholic Church permanently after the 2004 elections when many Roman Catholic Bishops and priests encouraged their flocks to vote for George W. Bush because he is "pro-life." I am disappointed with many Christian traditions and other institutional religions that don't loudly and with great moral authority based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the saints about peace, love, and forgiveness, denounce George W. and his immoral w! ar against humanity. People don't see the hypocrisy of George killing tens of thousands of innocent people in the Middle East and executing a record number of people in Texas (including minors and mentally challenged people) and then voting for him because he is "pro-life!" What about Casey's life? What about Daniel's life? What about the lives of the babies and innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan? George is definitely not "pro-life," he is "pro-birth.".. Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23393 Bowing To The Police State Ray McGovern Is Congress aiding and abetting the creation of a police state? Recently, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., helped to give the CIA and NSA unprecedented police powers. By inserting a provision in the FY07 Intelligence Authorization Act, Hoekstra has undermined the existing statutory limits on involvement in domestic law enforcement. This comes after revelations in January of direct NSA involvement with the Baltimore police in order to! "protect" the NSA Headquarters from Quaker protesters... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23374 Tomgram: Michael Schwartz on Dismantling Iraqi Life Tom Engelhardt & Michael Schwartz After five months of confusion, bickering, dickering, dithering, and strong-arm tactics from Zalmay Khalilzad, our ambassador to Iraq and various high American officials arriving on the fly, Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly chosen his cabinet and a government will evidently be established in Baghdad's Green Zone. At the moment, its reach seems unlikely to extend much beyond the American-protected berms an! d fortifications of that citadel-mini-state. In the meantime, what governmental authority still existed in Iraq seems to be rapidly on the wane -- and not just in largely Sunni areas of the country either... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23373 Five US soldiers killed in Iraq Middle East Online Four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed in a roadside bomb attack northwest of Baghdad on Thursday, the US military said. Meanwhile in Abu Skher, a village south of Najaf, an AFP correspondent saw what appeared to be a sports utility vehicle typical of the kind used by US contractors burning fiercely after it was hit by a roadside bomb. US soldiers were securing the area, but the military said it could not immediately confirm the incident or prov! ide casualty figures... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23371 Zionism lite Xymphora Why are otherwise respected American commentators prepared to risk their entire academic reputations in denying the Israel Lobby thesis? Chomsky, Finkelstein, and Zunes have all weighed in, denying the thesis to varying extents. In the case of Chomsky, his denial is a kind of revisionism that completely obviates his life’s work as a political writer. Finkelstein tries to be a little more sophisticated by insisting that the Lobby’s influence only applies to the Occupied Territories, an ide! a which makes no sense – why would American geopolitical 'realists’ support the Likudnik’s position on the one issue which provides the United States with absolutely no benefit but which creates most of the enmity towards the United States around the world? – and the alleged value of Israel to the United States – an idea that made some sense twenty or thirty years ago during the Cold War, which is why these guys all use old examples to make their case - is decimated by Michael Neumann... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23370 Drug Addiction Lucrative for Neolib Banksters, CIA Kurt Nimmo "An American counternarcotics official was killed and two other Americans wounded in a suicide bombing in western Afghanistan today, while heavy fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan police continued in two southern provinces, officials said," reports the New York Times. "We confirm that a U.S. citizen contractor for the State Department Bureau of International Narcotic and Law Enforcement, working for the police training program in Herat was ! killed in a vehicle-borne I.E.D. attack," Chris Harris, an American Embassy spokesman, told the newspaper. After this mention, the Times moves on to detail the increasing violence between Afghan puppet police and "militants," that is to say Afghans fighting against the occupation of their country, an entirely natural occurrence... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23390 GI Special 4E18: "What's Our Mission Here?" - May 18, 2006 Thomas F. Barton "A Bewildered Sergeant Near Tikrit Asked His Captain, 'What’s Our Mission Here?’" "We’re Handing A Shit Sandwich Over To Someone Else," The Officer Said; "We’re Like A Frigging Organ Transplant That’s Rejected" Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23367 U.S. Fails to Comply With Ban on Torture Human Rights Watch A high-level U.S. delegation's exchange with the U.N. Committee against Torture reveals that the United States is failing to meet its international obligations to end torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, Human Rights Watch said today. The committee is expected to issue its conclusions and recommendations on U.S. practices by the end of this week. In a submission to the committee yesterday, Human Rights Watch highlighted areas where the Un! ited States response fell short of its legal commitments under the Convention against Torture... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=23391 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.