[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 29 Aug 2006]

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

Sinister Plan to Divide Iraq Hassan Tahsin One of the most unrealistic statements made by US President George Bush in recent times is that he is worried about the lack of progress in Iraq. In his statement in the Pentagon meeting on Aug. 15, Bush also expressed disappointment at the Iraqi people’s lack of understanding of the American "sacrifices" in terms of man and material for their sake. However the most serious point made by Bush at the meeting was, according to a White House statement, his rejection of the ! idea of Iraq’s division as a solution to end the violence. This meeting was not, apparently, held to express the US president’s worries over the Iraqi people’s plight. It was, presumably, to chalk out a method to extricate the US from the Iraqi quagmire. At the same time the US also wanted to guarantee the implementation of its secret scheme to divide the Arab world into small petty states that could be easily brought to obedience in order to protect the US and Israeli interests forever. Those familiar with the American behavior in recent times could view the White House statement only as a preliminary step on the road to Iraq’s division into three states — Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish. This division would also pave the US road to Iran and Syria... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26231 Apocalypse Now or Pack of Lies?* UK Airport Terror Plot Felicity Arbuthnot** On September 11, 2001, when Prime Minister Blair announced, in the wake of the disaster of the Twin Towers — apparently without discussing Britain's stance with his Cabinet and with no debate in Parliament — that Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States, the refrain on the street, on the bus, among friends was broadly "thanks a bunch, Tony, we are all targets now." Inspite of the outpouring of sympathy for innocent! lives lost, people were mindful of possible reasons, such as the 21 countries attacked or destabilized by America since 1945. Yet when London's bombings of July 7, 2005, took place, grief and sadness were accompanied by huge doses of cynicism. Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26225 The Lobby and the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon: Their Facts and Ours James Petras, www.dissidentvoice.org All the national, state and local Jewish organizations have launched a $300 million fundraising and propaganda campaign in support of the 21 Jewish civilians and 116 soldiers killed during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon (but not the 18 Israeli Arabs who were excluded from Jews-only bomb shelters). As adjuncts of the Israeli foreign office not a single one of the 52 organizations which make up The P! residents of the Major Jewish Organizations in the US voiced a single public criticism of Israel’s massive destruction of civilian homes, hospitals, offices, supermarkets, refugee convoys and churches and mosques, and the deliberate killing of civilians, UN peacekeepers and rescue workers with precision bombing. On the contrary the entire Jewish lobby echoed in precise detail the Israeli lies that the Lebanese deaths were caused by the Lebanese resistance’s "use of human shields," despite the total devastation of the heavily populated southern suburbs of Beirut, completely out of range of any Hezbollah rockets. The magnitude of the Jewish Lobby’s cover-up of Israel’s massive military assault can be measured in great detail... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26221 If You Get Your News From the Corporate Media: Just Shut Up and Listen!!! Advice to the Uninformed From TvNewsLIES TvNewsLIES ...YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN IRAQ! You don’t know that the war in Iraq is getting less media coverage than any other conflict in American history. You only know that the invasion of Iraq is supposedly part of a greater War on Terror. The connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda was a lie, but you still believe the claim. The insurgency is made up largely of Iraqis who op! pose an invasion of their country, but they are constantly referred to as terrorists. No one tells you where the billions upon billions of your war dollars have gone; the Bush administration certainly has not rebuilt the country they bombed to smithereens. You don’t know what is happening because US reporters are not free to leave the safety of the Green Zone and they rely on official military reports for their information. You hear what the Pentagon chooses to tell you. You hear that progress is being made, despite the ongoing, daily, non-stop death and mayhem and carnage. You just don’t know... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26239 Free Speech or Censorship? Project for the Old American Century blog This story could end up being pivotal in terms of both free speech and censorship issues. The US government arrested and charged Javed Iqbal - an American businessman originally from Pakistan - for providing customers in New York with broadcasts from Al Manar (a "Hizbullah" television station in Lebanon). According to the prosecutor (Stephen A Miller), "The charge lurking in the background is material support for terrorism." Mr. Stephens said he! did not know of any other cases of people "accused of breaking US law by offering access to news outlets via satellite dish." Mr Iqbal was arrested under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA") (pdf) as Al Manar was listed as a terrorist organization in March 2006. Al Manar was bombed by Israel on June 12, 2006. Al Manar is one of the 10 most watched Arab stations... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26238 The Assault on Iraqi Agriculture --- U.S. Agribusiness Targets the Fertile Crescent Daniel Stone ...In 1991, the U.S. deliberately bombed Iraq's civilian infrastructure of water purification and electrical plants, and then prevented Iraq from rebuilding same by imposing sanctions (more accurately a "military blockade" - an act of war). In both 1991 and 2003, "US bombing raids targeted cattle feed lots, poultry farms, fertilizer warehouses, pumping stations, irrigation systems, fuel depots and pesticide factories ! ---the very infrastructure of Iraqi agriculture." It will take years to restore these operations under good conditions. Under the U.S.-driven sanctions' rubric of "dual use," the most common and necessary materials were blocked from entering Iraq. For instance, some parts for irrigation systems were banned, thus preventing the repair and use of irrigation... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26237 Iraqi hospitals are war’s new ‘killing fields' Medical sites targeted by Shiite militiamen Amit R. Paley ...In Baghdad these days, not even the hospitals are safe. In growing numbers, sick and wounded Sunnis have been abducted from public hospitals operated by Iraq's Shiite-run Health Ministry and later killed, according to patients, families of victims, doctors and government officials. As a result, more and more Iraqis are avoiding hospitals, making it even harder to preserve life in a city where dea! th is seemingly everywhere. Gunshot victims are now being treated by nurses in makeshift emergency rooms set up in homes. Women giving birth are smuggled out of Baghdad and into clinics in safer provinces. In most cases, family members and hospital workers said, the motive for the abductions appeared to be nothing more than religious affiliation. Because public hospitals here are controlled by Shiites, the killings have raised questions about whether hospital staff have allowed Shiite death squads into their facilities to slaughter Sunni Arabs (...) According to patients and families of victims, the primary group kidnapping Sunnis from hospitals is the Mahdi Army, a militia controlled by anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that has infiltrated the Iraqi security forces and several government ministries... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26247 Doing the Wrong Thing in Afghanistan: Depleted Uranium: The Definitive Moral Paradox Michael Clarke It is Canada Day evening, and I can barely hear the whistles, booms and bangs of the fireworks. It sounds a bit like distant bombs exploding, reminding me of the incredible moral paradox our federal government's aggressive military role in Afghanistan has created for all Canadians. Our government, military, newspapers, television and radio media are efficiently dispersing the official sound bytes: "our troops in Af! ghanistan have the moral authority"; "Canada is doing the right thing"; "it's a noble mission"; and, "we are just spreading freedom and democracy". But, they are not telling us that there is something else we are spreading around Afghanistan that any truly moral person would instinctively consider immoral and evil... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26240 Iraqi forces strike truce with Shiite militia after battles kill at least 80 Daily Star staff Iraqi forces struck a truce Tuesday with Shiite militia fighters after violent clashes in a town south of Baghdad left at least 80 dead since Monday (...) The deal with the Shiite militias came as a string of sectarian attacks killed at least 10 and a pipeline exploded near Diwaniyya, incinerating at least 36 civilians as they looted fuel. And Iraqi police found the bodies of 24 people who had apparently been tortured an! d shot before being dumped at two locations in Baghdad, police said. "We reached a settlement with Mehdi Army forces to end the confrontation," town councilor Sheikh Ghanim Abid said, as shops in Diwaniyya reopened and water and electricity supplies were turned back on. Saheb al-Ameri, the head of cleric Moqtada Sadr's office in Najaf, said Diwaniyya's governor met the cleric on Monday to negotiate an end to the battle, which he blamed on the "personal behavior" of some Mehdi Army members... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26232 DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, August 29, 2006 Today in Iraq U.S. soldier killed by roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad late Saturday. Marine killed on Friday in Anbar is identified as Cpl. Jordan C. Pierson, 21, of Milford, Connecticut. Bomb in a minibus in central Baghdad kills 9, injures 16. Bomb in a marketplace in Baghdad northern suburb al-Khalis kills six, wounds more than 12. Car bomb attack on Iraqi government-run newspaper in Baghdad kills one, injures 30, according to one report, kills two, wounds 20 accor! ding to another, kills 2, wounds 25 according to AFP. Al-Sabah, or "The Morning," newspaper is part of the government-run Iraqi Media Net group, which includes Iraqiya Television channel. 20 bodies found around Baghdad, shot in head and showing signs of torture... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26236 Israeli Apartheid Segregation, Control and the Creation of Bantustans in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Owen Powell The question of Israel as an apartheid state has received increasing attention over the last years as Israel has continued colonial expansion in the West Bank while simultaneously attempting to diverge itself from the Palestinians. The purpose of this article is to highlight the growing systemization of apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) with particular r! eference to Israel's policy of unilateral disengagement. The need for this debate is highlighted by the effective outcomes of disengagement which has already resulted in the segregation of Palestinian communities and delineation of exclusive Jewish space by means of the segregation barrier. Furthermore the creation of Palestinian enclaves or ghettos in the OPT bears a striking resemblance to the South African policies during the apartheid era which sought the establishment Bantustans as a means to facilitate segregation and to secure privileges for an ethnic minority... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26235 Why Israel Creates a Humanitarian Disaster in Palestine James Marc Leas Palestine is suffering a manmade disaster stemming from a sequence of US backed Israeli actions: military occupation, the wall, the embargo, and now the military invasion. Israel's pretext for these actions has been suicide bombers, captured Israeli soldiers, and rockets fired at Israeli towns. The real purpose appears to be weaken, humiliate, and force out the civilian population so Israel can take over the rest of their land. Back in 2003 a! UN report stated that "a humanitarian catastrophe" was already building in the occupied Palestinian territories "as a result of extremely harsh military measures that the occupying Israeli military forces have imposed in response to the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000."... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26234 More Sunni-Shiite clashes are reported in Baghdad Nancy A. Youssef and Mark Brunswick, McClatchy Newspapers Armed groups of Sunni and Shiite Muslims battled Tuesday for control of several neighborhoods in southwest Baghdad, residents of those areas reported. It was another sign that security is deteriorating in the capital and that Iraq may be moving closer to a full-fledged civil war. Fighting between armed groups of Shiites and Sunnis isn't uncommon in Baghdad, but the extent of Tuesday's fighting was unprecede! nted (...) There was no official version of the fighting in al Ray, Shurta Rabiyah, Ghuratan and Suwaib, which are predominantly Sunni neighborhoods. Residents said an effort by supporters of militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to seize control of the areas had triggered the fighting. A Sadr spokesman, while acknowledging battles, said no Sadr supporters were involved... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26242 Media Disinformation on 911: Anatomy of a Hatchet Job: CBC Radio’s “The Current” and Scholars for 9/11 Truth Prof. Michael Keefer, Globalresearch.ca ...That’s much what happened in 2003 and since to the corporate media’s narratives about Saddam Hussein’s fearsome weapons of mass destruction, about the supposed reluctance of Bush and Blair to go to war in Iraq, and their supposedly pure and democratic motives when they did. That’s much what’s happening now to the claims advanced by Israel to legitimize its renewed! aggressions against the Palestinians and Lebanese (Hizbollah’s "kidnapping" of two Israeli soldiers rather loses its steam as a casus belli once people learn about Israel’s prior provocations—and about the fact that all the early Israeli statements and press reports identified the soldiers as having been on Lebanese soil when they were captured). It’s happening as well to two somewhat more complex stories that have, until recently, been managing to sustain themselves in the corporate media. One of these is the story that George W. Bush actually won the 2004 presidential election, and hence has some right to the office he continues to occupy. The other is the no less fraudulent story that the terrorist crimes of September 11, 2001 were perpetrated by a gang of Islamist fanatics led by a bearded Saudi in an Afghan cave—rather than being organized (and subsequently covered up) by civilian and military officials at the highest levels of the Bush regime... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26243 America Is Losing Iraq: Is Anybody Watching? Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org ...Iraq has been reduced to a litany of bloody incidents and body counts. For many, it is both boring and hard to follow, and so they tune out. Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, terrorists, insurgents, private militias...whatever happened to 'us' and 'them?' No wonder that when the JonBenet Ramsey story resurfaced the TV channels flocked to it like flies to a flame. When I worked for network TV, we had a term for stories we lost interest in. We ! would say, "Been there, done that!" In the nation's newsrooms, the triage has begun -- with Iraq sounding more and more like something that happened long ago. Get ready for more History Channel specials and somber retrospectives that help us to believe that we can be forgiven for thinking of the Iraq War in the past-tense. Besides, covering Iraq is so dangerous. Few reporters want to take so many risks for so little "face time" on TV. And there are hardly any " positive" stories to report -- even though the conservative media keep beating the bushes for them... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26246 Israel is a terrorocracy, not a democracy Khalid Amayreh, thepeoplesvoice.org One of the most enduring myths about Israel is the often-made claim that it is a democracy. The big lie is marketed effectively in many Western countries where Zionist-controlled or Zionist-influenced media has a definitive stranglehold on public opinion. consequently, the "veracity" of the myth is taken for granted by many politicians, journalists, intellectuals and ordinary people, and is used as a ready-made weapon against Israel’s c! ritics. The truth of the matter, however, is that Israel is not a real democracy but rather a nefarious religious- ethnic terrorist regime that heavily employs state-terror as official policy... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26230 The Big Lie About 'Islamic Fascism' Eric Margolis The latest big lie unveiled by Washington’s neoconservatives are the poisonous terms, "Islamo-Fascists" and "Islamic Fascists." They are the new, hot buzzwords among America’s far right and Christian fundamentalists. President George W. Bush made a point last week of using "Islamofacists" when recently speaking of Hezbullah and Hamas – both, by the way, democratically elected parties. A Canadian government minister from the Conservative Party compared Lebanon’s He! zbullah to Nazi Germany. The term "Islamofascist" is utterly without meaning, but packed with emotional explosives. It is a propaganda creation worthy Dr. Goebbels, and the latest expression of the big lie technique being used by neocons in Washington’s propaganda war against its enemies in the Muslim World. This ugly term was probably first coined in Israel – as was the other hugely successful propaganda term, "terrorism" – to dehumanize and demonize opponents and deny them any rational political motivation, hence removing any need to deal with their grievances and demands... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26228 Today's 'Islamic fascists' were yesterday's friends Brendan O'Neill ...In a nutshell, the wars over state, territory, and politics that defined the Cold War era have given way to cosmic battles between "good" and "evil" - between a West apparently keen to defend secular, democratic values and its twisted opponents who prefer the idea of autocratic Islam. This simplistic view of the new geopolitical landscape is deeply problematic. It overlooks the key role that the West played in nurturing radical Islamist groups! , precisely as a means of isolating and undermining secular movements that were judged by Western governments to be too uppity or dangerous. Over the past 80 years and more - from Egypt to Afghanistan to Palestine - powerful governments in the West and their allies in the Middle East helped to create radical Islamic sects as a bulwark against secular nationalist parties or pan-Arabism. They gave the nod to, and in some instances funded and armed, Islamist movements that might challenge the claims of local anti-colonial, liberationist, or communistic outfits... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26227 Johann Hari. "Who Is This Guy?" Stalin’s nephews in our democracy fiction Gabriele Zamparini, The cat's dream Johann Hari, the "award-winning journalist", the "twice-weekly columnist for The Independent, one of Britain's leading newspapers" and "the youngest person to ever be nominated for the prestigious Orwell Prize for political writing" wrote on 25 August 2006 "An intriguing example of blatant anti-Semitism and blindness to it by some on the left" where he accused me of anti-Semitis! m not for something I did, said or wrote but for a comment someone else left on my blog. Accusations of "anti-Semitism" have become in these days like patriotism: usually used as the refuge of the scoundrel. In spite of the ludicrous writing of Johann Hari, this topic is quite important and it’s the subject of two interesting books by Norman G. Finkelstein: The Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah, On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26226 Battle highlights splits in Iraq's Shi'ite south Reuters A battle between militiamen and Iraqi troops that left dozens dead highlighted deep fractures among Shi'ite parties united in the Baghdad coalition government but warring for influence over the oil-rich Shi'ite south (...) At the heart of the fighting in Diwaniya, a provincial capital in the fertile Middle Euphrates plain, appear to have been fighters from the Mehdi Army militia, even though senior political officials close to its clerical leader Moqtada al-Sadr denied involvement in a battle that killed at least 20 soldiers. Sadr's movement, popular among poor and long-oppressed Shi'ites for charity work modelled on Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hizbollah, is one of a handful of major Shi'ite parties grouped in the United Alliance, which dominates parliament and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's U.S.-backed national unity government... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26222 GI Special 4H29: Cornered Rat - August 29, 2006 Thomas F. Barton Rumsfeld Caught Telling More Stupid Lies: Meets With Families Of Soldiers Held In Iraq Against Their Will; Press Shut Out, But Soldiers Wife Tapes And Spreads It; "A 'Death Watch’ For Soldiers" ... Asked why reporters would not be permitted to cover his meeting with the family members, Rumsfeld at first replied, "I don't have any idea. I haven't addressed the subject." Later he said he makes it a practice to make all family meetings private ... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26218 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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