[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 03 Sep 2006]

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

Syrian sanctuary for Iraq’s displaced Christians Chris Walker ...Iraqi Christians made up around 3% of the population, a prosperous minority numbering 700,000 pre-war and living mainly in Baghdad, a city with more Christians than any other city in the Middle East. Well-educated, it suited Saddam to offer security and public profile, embodied in the person of Tariq Aziz, like Blair, a Roman Catholic (well, nearly). I could look across the Baghdad skyline and see a rich miscellany of Christian churches, embracing A! ssyrian, Armenian, Byzantine, Anglican, Mandeans and Methodist, some of them with a presence since the first century, six centuries before Islam began. Christians sold from their shops the local Perido beer, and had a prominent role in banking, urban planning, science and commerce. I had many Christian friends, and like all Iraqis they were very hospitable. Traumatised by the killing, kidnapping and gangsterism that constitutes life in Iraq since those fine Christian gentlemen, Bush and Blair, liberated their country, 350,000 Iraqi Christians now live as near-penniless refugees, principally in Damascus, Syria, where they have been given safe status. One such refugee, Shamun Daawd, having received death threats, recently said: "Before the war there was no separation between Christian and Muslim. Under Saddam, nobody asked you your religion. We attended each other's religious services and weddings." This confirmed my own experiences in the years I lived there, Iraq's religiou! s freedom and pluralism being explicit and vibrant... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26377 Gaza doctors encounter 'unexplained injuries' Donald Macintyre, Independent Doctors in Gaza are reporting what they say are unexplained injuries among the dead and wounded in operations by the Israeli military, which have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the past nine weeks. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering whether there is a case for an investigation into the injuries amid suspicions by the medics that the injuries were inflicted by what they claim may have been unidentified "non-convention! al" weapons. Beside especially severe burning "down to the bones", the doctors say that, in other cases, internal organs have been ruptured without any obvious sign of shrapnel wounds... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26383 Amid threats and assassinations U.S. war criminals stage show trial for Saddam Hussein Sunil Freeman, Socialism and Liberation ...The real reason Hussein and members of his government are on trial and facing execution today is that they dared to stand up to U.S. imperialism. All the rest of the charges are window dressing to deceive public opinion. Anti-war and anti-imperialist activists should expose the hypocrisy of U.S. occupation forces carrying out a trial for "crimes against humanity" while U.S. t! roops and their puppets commit daily rapes, massacres and assassinations against the Iraqi population. The U.S. occupation regime has no right to try Saddam Hussein or any of his co-defendants. They should be released immediately. Real trials for "crimes against humanity" would see Bush administration officials and Pentagon generals in the docks... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26374 ADL’S FOXMAN: NEW TESTAMENT IS ANTI-SEMITIC Sabbah's blog After Islam, Arab and anyone who criticize Zionist, it’s now the turn of Christ and Christians. To be a good Christian-guy, Foxman (the ADL guy) tells Christians that they should deny part of the historical facts and ripoff some parts of the Bible. In other words, change you faith so you are not labeled anti-Semitic!... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26372 Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Sunday, 3 September 2006. Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. In a dispatch posted at 8:15pm Makkah time Sunday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US forces had refused to allow relief supplies sent from the United Arab Emirates to the people of ar-Ramadi into the city, now under an American blockade for several months. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported from ar-Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad, t! hat Dr. Ahmad Ziyad al-'Ubaydi of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society had said that the US forces refused to let the food and medical supplies sent from the United Arab Emirates into the city. Dr. al-'Ubaydi said that US troops halted the supply convoy about 15km east of the city on the Baghdad-ar-Ramadi Highway and ordered the convoy to accompany US vehicles and return to Baghdad... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26384 Behind the Curtain of the new "Good War" Chris Floyd Ted Rall speaks a hard truth here, one that goes unspoken across the political spectrum, including among innumerable anti-war dissidents: "The war against Afghanistan is no different, no more justifiable, and no more winnable than the war against Iraq. Both were underfunded, poorly planned and based on lies. Neither had anything to do with 9/11." The absence of this truth from the national discourse guarantees that the country will continue to barrel dow! n the dangerous, self-defeating road of misguided militarism... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26382 More US dead in Iraq/Afghanistan than 9/11 Born at the Crest of the Empire Not much of a peep about this in "the news." The 9/11 attacks killed 2,973 people, not including the 19 hijackers who crashed four commercial airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The number of troops and military contractors who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan has now reached 2,974.... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26381 Israel formally annexes 14% of northern Bethlehem Palestine News Network Israel has both effectively and officially overtaken northern Bethlehem, swallowing the entire Rachel’s Tomb area. The process was slow enough, ongoing for the past two years, however it all occurred with very little fuss. Those that did protest were gassed, shot at, imprisoned, or ignored. Israel has both effectively and officially overtaken northern Bethlehem, swallowing the entire Rachel’s Tomb area. The process was slow enough, ongoing f! or the past two years, however it all occurred with very little fuss. Those that did protest were gassed, shot at, imprisoned, or ignored... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26378 Doctors not easy to be found in Iraq Xinhua "I spent two days looking for a doctor or a private clinic when my son was sick last month, but was in vain," complained Muwafaq Muhammed, a resident in Baghdad. As violence and sectarian strife boiling over in much of Iraq, prompting an exodus of individuals from professional class, it is not easy today for many local residents in Baghdad to find a doctor (...) "I remember George W. Bush said in 2003 that one of the big achievement was the return of jubilant exiled Ira! qis to their country after the fall of (deposed President) Saddam (Hussein)," Abdul Karim al-Rubaie, a retired lawyer said. But now there are so many Iraqis leaving the war-torn country, al-Rubaie said ironically. "Maybe it is time for me to leave and find a stable life somewhere else?" he wondered... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26376 A little detail on the arrest of the Al Qaeda no. 2 Born at the Crest of the Empire We must show progress. The announcement came as talks between the United States and Iraq on transferring operational command of Iraq's forces to the Defense Ministry were deadlocked. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was demanding more independence for the U.S.-trained army that Washington hopes can take over and let Americans go home.....Hours after an "embarrassed" U.S. military again postponed a ceremony to hand command of Iraq! i troops to the government, the National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie summoned reporters to a hastily arranged news conference to announce that al Qaeda leader Hamid Juma Faris al-Suaidi had been seized some days ago. So, the handover flounders on the fact that the Iraqis really want it to be a handover, then Rubaie calls a "hastily arranged news conference" for something that happened days ago... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26375 Uncanny Blogenlust Iraqi forces have arrested the second most senior operative in al-Qaida in Iraq, and the group now suffers from a "serious leadership crisis," the national security adviser said Sunday. Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was arrested a few days ago, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said, adding that his arrest also led to the capture or death of 11 other top al-Qaida in Iraq figures and nine lower-level members. He was the second most important al-Qaida in Iraq leader after ! Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Rubaie said. Al-Masri succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad on June 7. That’s approximately #39 in a seemingly unending series of Al Qaeda in Iraq #2’s... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26373 What If Canada Kidnapped George Bush? Salim Nazzal ... What if Canada simply declares that it finds it appropriate to kidnap the American President George bush? (Canada, by the way, has a lot of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia). Of course the Americans will consider this as an act of war, they will not hesitate to give Canada an ultimatum to bring their president back, or Canada must expect the worst. And since the American media is fond of demonizing anybody who stands against US policy, Canada will be added to! the axis of evil alongside North Korea, Iran and Syria. The US Congress would hold an urgent meeting to declare Canada a terrorist country. The polls in US will show that the vast majority are in favor of invading Canada. The CNN TV will say that the episode is more dangerous than the Bay of Pigs crisis with Cuba in 1961, or even more dangerous than attacking Pearl Harbor! This hypothetical question is asked on the light of the Israeli kidnapping of 18 Palestinian elected law makers and ministers, including the Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Duwaik. This action has not been met by any objection by George Bush, who declared the past month that the root cause of the Israeli war on Lebanon was kidnapping (!!!) of the two Israeli soldiers (they were not kidnapped from their homes, but captured as war prisoners in a battle)... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26371 Congressman Kucinich Returns From Southern Lebanon With Message of Peace Bellaciao ..."Village after village was reduced to piles of rubble. We saw thousands of destroyed homes. We also saw bombed out hospitals, schools, factories, churches, mosques, fire stations, gas stations, cars, bridges, roads, water systems, electric systems, banana plantations, and lemon groves," Kucinich said. "In several villages we stopped and walked through piles of concrete and dust from what had once been homes. Public areas were li! ttered with unexploded cluster bombs and land mines. The smell of death was everywhere. Homes still standing upon closer inspection had holes in the walls from artillery shells.".. Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26379 Bush says Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11: Tell that to the Troops Jeff Thomas's blog, Alaska Free Press ... An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.... While 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason ! for the war was "to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq." (Both False: Saddam had no ties to al-Qaeda, no role in 9/11)... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26380 In Iraq, which army? The New York Times Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, has a problem. His power depends on two armies. One is Iraq's national army, trained and supported by the United States. The other is the Mahdi Army, a radical Shiite militia loyal to Maliki's most powerful political backer, Moktada al-Sadr. This week, open warfare broke out between these two armies. Maliki can no longer put off making an essential choice... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26370 What really happened to Hamada Ashtiyeh? Ali Samoudi The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, is refuting Israeli government and military claims surrounding the killing of 18 year old Hamada Ashtiyeh. Israeli forces killed the young man in the northern West Bank Nablus District on 26 July. B’Tselem used field investigations and eyewitness testimony in order to ascertain what actually happened. The conclusion is that Israeli forces arrested Ashtiyeh and executed him in! cold blood... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26368 Four US soldiers killed in Iraq Bahrain News Agency Four US soldiers were killed today in separate incidents in the Iraqi capital. A US army statement said that two soldiers were killed when their vehicle blew up in a road side bomb explosion in east Baghdad. A Marines soldier died today of sustained injuries from an accident on Friday and another soldier died after being severely injured earlier today in Al Anbar province... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26367 Opium Harvest at Record Level in Afghanistan, Now and in the Past Roads to Iraq We read that opium production reached it highest level in Afghanistan this year. Afghanistan’s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year. While in 2005, the UN Drug Control and the US State Department said: the Taliban religious militia has virtually wiped out opium production in Afghanistan - once the world’s largest producer - since bannin! g poppy cultivation in July Opium in Afghanistan and Pakistan was always used by dark, underground organizations like the CIA and MI6 to fund themselves and their sub-organizations controlled terror networks... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26365 Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 2 September 2006 Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice In a dispatch posted at 6:54pm Makkah time Saturday evening, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US occupation forces carried out mass raids and arrests of Iraqi civilians in al-Habbaniyah, 69km west of Baghdad at noon Saturday. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that 27 local people civilians were arrested following an atta! ck by the Iraqi Resistance at dawn in which a barrage was fried at the US military headquarters set up in a primary school in the city. In their searches, US troops used police dogs that terrified children and women I the houses they raided. The correspondent said that this time the Americans did not steal anything in contrast to their usual practice... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26364 Sistani Helpless to Prevent Civil War Islamonline.net Iraq's most revered Shiite scholar Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani has said that he is helpless to prevent a civil war in Iraq, lamenting that he no longer as an influence on Shiites who have switched allegiance to militant groups and death squads. Asked whether Ayatollah Sistani could prevent a civil war, his spokesman Ali Al-Jaberi replied: "Honestly, I think not. He is very angry, very disappointed," Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported Sunday, September 3! ... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26362 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.