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

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Let’s indeed talk about Iraq Losing its innocents: an article in the LA Times and a reflection from Ghazwan Al Mukhtar, Iraqi engineer, member of the BRussells Tribunal. Dana Parsons & Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar Around Christmas last year I wrote a message to Helen Thomas of the HEARST NEWSPAPERS in which at the end I addressed the question of the faceless nameless Iraqis who have been killed unjustly. America claimed that it was Saddam rather than the sanctions that caused these unnecessary deaths of children under the age of 5 years. Similarly it is American "liberation / occupation" that caused of nearly 300,000 un-necessary death of children under 5 years of age.!!! Here’s an excerpt of that message: " One of the biggest insults to human "intelligence" is his claim that "30,000 Iraqis, "more or less," as Bush put it, have been killed and thousands more wounded." The UNICEF study have suggested that nearly 500.000 child under the age 5 have died from 9991-1996 from bad and deteriorating health, sanitary and food conditions due to the sanctions imposed on Iraq. That is an average of 100.000 children under the age of 5 a year!!! With worse conditions now than any time in the past, one could safely assume that at least 100.000, if not more, children under 5 are dying every year because of the "liberation"!!! That alone would mean nearly 300.000 child in 3 years!! I know that will shock the conscience of Americans but these are facts that Mr. Bush doesn't want Americans to know. Mr. Bush is leaving the American people wondering aimless! ly in th e bush."... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20769 Saddam's lawyer says Iran tried to bribe him not to reveal evidence implicating it in Halabja bombing Truth about Iraqis In a shocking statement made live on an investigative talk show - Panorama - aired on Abu Dhabi TV, one of the members of Saddam Hussein's defense team said he had evidence which proved Iran was behind the bombing of Halabja in 1988. Halabja, an Iraqi Kurdish town of 80,000, was caught in the crossfire during the Iraq-Iran war on March 18, 1988. Figures indicate some 5,000 people were killed when the town was bombed with chemical weapons. Debate over whether Iraq or Iran was behind the use of chemical weapons on the town has long raged. But on Saturday, lawyer Khalil Dulaimi told Abu Dhabi TV that he wanted to see the Halabja crimes go to court because he had evidence - as well as US intelligence reports - that Iran, and not Iraq was behind the attack... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20758 Did John Negroponte organize the Iraqi death squads? Eternal Hope, Daily Kos Remember John Negroponte, the last US Ambassador to Iraq? He was the man who organized right-wing death squads within El Salvador to wipe out dissident groups there. Now, there are reports that death squads of a similar nature are working in Iraq, killing off Sunni dissidents and people not deemed pure enough. I would not be surprised if this has Negroponte's handiwork, given his proven track record with this... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20776 UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells Mark Gould and Jon Ungoed-Thomas, The Sunday Times RADIATION detectors in Britain recorded a fourfold increase in uranium levels in the atmosphere after the "shock and awe" bombing campaign against Iraq, according to a report. Environmental scientists who uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium from the shells was carried by wind currents to Britain (...) Busby, who has advised the government on radiation and is a founder of Green Audit, the environmental consultancy, believes "uranium aerosols" from Iraq were widely dispersed in the atmosphere and blown across Europe. "This research shows that rather than remaining near the target as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds to thousands of miles away," he said... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20767 Iraq by the numbers Eli Stephens, Left I on the News Putting some numbers to Condi's lies, this tonight from ABC News: before the U.S. invasion, 13 million Iraqis had access to clean drinking water. Today, the figure is 8 million -- a 40 percent drop. But for really dramatic numbers there's the figure for the numbers of hours per day that electricity is available to Baghdad residents. Before the invasion - 18 hours. Now? Four hours. Four hours a day of electricity. And something else has changed too. Not too long ago, Baghdad residents could make up for that shortfall with their own generators, powered by cheap fuel. No more... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20781 DAILY WAR NEWS FOR SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2006 Today in Iraq Gunmen kill the owner of a petrol station in Falluja. Three civilians found hanged from a bridge in Ramadi. Five bodyguards killed in the kidnapping of an Iraqi bank boss and his son in Baghdad. Three bodies of men found in northern Baghdad. They were shot execution style. Drive by shooting kills a cigarette salesman in Husseiniyah. Main oil pipeline in northern Baghdad blown up on Friday. No reports of casualties. Roadside bomb targeted police patrol in Sebea Ibkar district of Baghdad, wounding two policemen. Another body found in northern Baghdad, shot execution style. Two gunmen stormed into a fashion accessories store in Baghdad and killed two brothers working there... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20774 Records of torturing and killing of IRAQIS Mohamed Younis ...That was one of the crimes of Mr. Bush, the father, however, Mr. Bush, the son, has recorded much higher number in the killing of Iraqis, and he is still killing more, His war has left 100,000 dead in its first 18 months. Yet larger number of deaths has happened in the second 17 months. The USA troops usually shoot deliberately, anywhere and anytime they just suspect the Iraqis, with no warning . Amid these killings, the UN and its secretary Generals, the former and the current ones kept silent. Nobody spoke of compensation to the families of the killed Iraqis during the last 15 years. However, Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, announced recently that Syrian and Lebanese governments should compensate for the damages incurred on the Danish Embassies!!!... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20770 WWIII or Bust: Implications of a US Attack on Iran Heather Wokusch, CommonDreams.org Witnessing the Bush administration’s drive for an attack on Iran is like being a passenger in a car with a raving drunk at the wheel. Reports of impending doom surfaced a year ago, but now it’s official: under orders from Vice President Cheney’s office, the Pentagon has developed "last resort" aerial-assault plans using long-distance B2 bombers and submarine-launched ballistic missiles with both conventional and nuclear weapons. How ironic that the Pentagon proposes using nuclear weapons on the pretext of protecting the world from nuclear weapons. Ironic also that Iran has complied with its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowing inspectors to "go anywhere and see anything," yet those pushing for an attack, the USA and Israel, have not... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20768 Bush administration seeks funds for regime change in Iran Peter Symonds, WSWS The Bush administration took a further step on Wednesday in its campaign against Iran by requesting a large increase in funding for the political destabilisation of the Tehran regime. Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that the US would "actively confront" Iran and called for an extra $75 million to fund anti-Tehran propaganda and to support opposition groups inside and outside the country. Last year just $10 million was allocated to such activities... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20766 Torturing for Feedom ... and Freedom for Torturing Imad Khadduri, Free Iraq ...The most asinine and lame comment yet on these atrocities: "A US state department legal adviser said the government felt it was better for the photos not to be released. John Bellinger said this was "not because there was anything to hide" - but rather "because we felt it was an invasion of the privacy of the people in the pictures". (emphasis added) He said the images, which show "conduct that is absolutely disgusting" were likely to "fan the flames around the world and cause more violence"... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20764 PENTAGON AND MAIN STREAM MEDIA CENSORSHIP SARAH MEYER Following is a letter I sent to letters@guardian.co.uk. Ref: 17 February 2005 article, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1711749,00. html Abu Ghraib leaked report reveals full extent of abuse. The Pentagon was accused of "censoring" the Abu Ghraib photographs. Many of these photos are now on the Web. Why, then, are the Guardian, Channel 4 News, et al., now also censoring the more 'unpalatable' photographs? How about some reality?... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20763 Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 17 February 2006 Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. ...In a dispatch posted at 7:50pm Mecca time Friday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported the discovery of a mass grave containing the bodies of 45 Sunni Iraqis who were arrested, tortured, and killed by the pro-American Shi'i sectarian Badr Brigades and the puppet "Interior Ministry Shock Troops (Maghawir)" two months ago. The victims were all taken from their homes in various parts of Baghdad. The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported and exclusive source in the puppet "Interior Ministry" who asked not to be identified as saying that the mass grave is located behind the Baratha Mosque, the largest Shi'i mosque in Baghdad. The area is under the control of Jalal ad-Din as-Saghir who is the preacher in the mosque and a member of the Badr Brigades. Specifically, the source said, the grave is located in "al-Mintaqah" near the first row of palm trees on the right. The bodies were buried en masse using a digging machine (steam shovel)... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20761 Sex Rituals of Abu Ghraib Professor Pan I touched a nerve when I published Sex, Drugs, Mind Control and Gitmo in July of 2005. More than anything else I've written in recent years, it was circulated and republished widely. In that article, I suggested that the goings-on at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo were not just examples of bored, unsupervised soldiers gone wild, but were part of a cleverly orchestrated, historically documented program of sexual/ritualistic mind control. Time has only added more evidence that I was correct... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20784 'The Americans are breaking international law... it is a society heading towards Animal Farm' - Archbishop Sentamu on Guantanamo Ian Herbert and Ben Russell, The Independent The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has launched a passionate attack on President George Bush, saying his administration's refusal to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay camp reflected "a society that is heading towards George Orwell's Animal Farm". Dr Sentamu, the Church of England's second in command, urged the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to take legal action against the US - through the US courts or the International Court of Justice at The Hague - should it fail to respond to a report, by five UN inspectors, advising that Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay should be shut immediately because prisoners there are being tortured... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20777 After Killing Families, U.S. Bars Iraqi Women from Visiting Brendan Coyne, 2006 The NewStandard Earlier this month, the US State Department denied the visa applications of two Iraqi women who intended to participate in a speaking tour of the United States. Both women say that US troops killed their families. They were slated to travel with other women activists opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In denying the visas earlier this month, the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan said it could not guarantee that the Iraqi women, Vivian Salim Mati and Anwar Kadhim Jawad, would return to Iraq after their visit, according to the anti-war organizers coordinating the circuit... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20778 *INTERNET EXCLUSIVE*: UK police arrest stars of award-winning film "The Road to Guantanamo" under the Prevention of Terrorism Act Craig Murray Citing the "Prevention of Terrorism" act, British Police have arrested and interrogated three of the stars of the award-winning film "The Road to Guantanamo", together with the three ex-Guantanomo detainees on whose story the film is based. Acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom ("A Cock and Bull Story", "24 Hour Party People", "Welcome to Sarajevo") had been showing the film at the Berlin Film Festival, where it has won a number of top awards. "The Road to Guantanamo" traces the true story of Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed, three Muslim friends from Birmingham who were picked up as aliens in Afghanistan by US forces and ended up in Guantanamo for three years, where they suffered brutal and humiliating treatment... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20779 Iraq inflation soars to 22% Abdulzahra al-Hindawi, Azzaman Iraq inflation shot to 22% in January driven by hikes in essential commodities like food, fuel, transport and rent. The latest figures by the Central Statistical Bureau show that January’s inflation level was 5.8% higher than the preceding month. The surge comes despite government insistence and measures that it will keep inflation unchanged to curb price hikes... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20775 U.S. church alliance denounces Iraq war BRIAN MURPHY, AP A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of "raining down terror" and apologizing to other nations for "the violence, degradation and poverty our nation has sown." The statement, issued at the largest gathering of Christian churches in nearly a decade, also warned the United States was pushing the world toward environmental catastrophe with a "culture of consumption" and its refusal to back international accords seeking to battle global warming. "We lament with special anguish the war in Iraq, launched in deception and violating global norms of justice and human rights," said the statement from representatives of the 34 U.S. members of World Council of Churches... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20760 GI Special - 4B17 Stop The Spying Now - Febraury 18, 2006 Thomas F. Barton ...While suicide bombings grab media attention for their spectacular impact, it is roadside bombings that are far more numerous in Iraq, and their frequency has grown dramatically over the past two years. There were about 10,600 roadside bombings in 2005, nearly twice the number that occurred in 2004. This means that on an average, 30 roadside bombings are carried out per day across Iraq. Media reports citing US government sources say that while the number of IED attacks has grown over the past two years, US countermeasures seem to be working in reducing the number of fatalities. Statistics give a different story, however... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20759 There is no war on terrorism Jack Duggan, Pravda.ru ...The 9/11 attacks were created for justification of U.S. covert plans to grab influence over oil politics in the Middle East and as an excuse to take away the rest of Americans' liberties through a manufactured threat-scenario called, "The War On Terror." What good are all the thousands of articles about politics, global warming, education, scandals, religion, economics and how we must always go out and vote so that we can "make a difference"? If our votes really did make a difference, they'd be illegal. Who cares about such articles when the cover up of what really happened on 9/11 is hands-off, an untouchable leper?... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20765 Car bombs and gunmen kill more than 20 people, including U.S. soldier, in Iraq Canadian Press Car bombs and gunmen killed more than 20 people, including a U.S. soldier, Saturday in Iraq, as the government said insurgency-related violence cost the vital oil industry about $6.25 billion US in damage and lost revenue last year. British and Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, confirmed two foreigners who disappeared two days ago in the southeastern city Basra were Macedonians kidnapped on their way from the airport to the city centre. The kidnappers have demanded a ransom, officials said. Most of the attacks Saturday were directed against the U.S. military and Iraqi police, with civilians caught up in the violence... Read the full article / Leggi l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=20771 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.