[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 25 Jan 2005]

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Why I'm Willing to Defend Hussein
Ramsey Clark, Los Angeles Times
Late last month, I traveled to Amman, Jordan, and met with the family and
lawyers of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. I told them that I would
help in his defense in any way I could (...) Hussein has been held
illegally for more than a year without once meeting a family member, friend
or lawyer of his choice. Though the world has seen him time and again on
television — disheveled, apparently disoriented with someone prying deep
into his mouth! and later alone before some unseen judge — he has been cut
off from all communications with the outside world and surrounded by the
same U.S. military that mistreated prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9148&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9148


MEDIA, MURDER AND AMERICAN MORALITY!
TEACHING AMERICA TO ENJOY THE KILL!
A TvNewsLIES ANALYSIS
...It's not surprising that some of the most overwhelming weapons used
against the Iraqis have such inoffensive names. Most Americans hardly
suspect that daisy cutters, bunker busters, javelins and tomahawks can
snuff out so many lives so mercilessly. American WMD's such as depleted
uranium shells that sound a bit more ominous, are never mentioned by the
media, despite their long term killing ability. Neither has t! here been
any outcry against the use of outlawed weapons such as napalm, an old
friend from another time. The news networks did, however, hype those 500
pound bombs that flattened Fallujah - now there was a weapon to admire ! Of
course, there never were any photos of the dead and dismembered women,
children and old people who fell victim to the bombs...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9151&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9151


War Party's Atrocity Porn
William Norman Grigg
...Hanna's story "became a defining parable in Washington of a world gone
mad, in which dictators had been given license to terrorize their people
without consequence," observes Solovitch. On July 21, 2003, with the
insurrection beginning to coalesce and public support for the war beginning
to cool off, the Washington Post featured Hanna in a front-page story
headlined "A Lone Woman Testifies to Iraq's Order of Terror." The problem
was that everything about ! Hanna's story is a lie...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9154&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9154


Imperial Misadventures
Ghali Hassan
In April of 1975, the peoples of the world watched, as the final act of US
imperial misadventure played itself out on TV screens. It was here at the
US headquarter (embassy) in Saigon, South Vietnam, where the limit of US
power was on display. The misadventure that took the lives of more than
three million innocent people and left three nations in ruins, was an
atrocity 'dedicated to the maintenance of an [unjust] imperialist system'.
Similar to its objectives in Vietnam, the U! S objectives in Iraq are the
conquest of Iraq's oil resources and the expansion of US imperial
dominance. It will fail...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9146&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9146


Newly Released Investigative Files Provide Further Evidence Soldiers Not
Held Accountable for Abuse
ACLU
Investigative files released today by the American Civil Liberties Union
suggest that the Army failed to aggressively investigate allegations of
detainee abuse. Some of the investigations concern serious allegations of
torture including electric shocks, forced sodomy and severe physical
beatings. "Government investigations into allegations of torture and abuse
have been woefully inadequate," said ACLU Executi! ve Director Anthony D.
Romero. "Some of the investigations have basically whitewashed the torture
and abuse. The documents that the ACLU has obtained tell a damning story of
widespread torture reaching well beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib"...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9158&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9158


Bush's free-falling madness
Gary Leupp
...This, despite overwhelming evidence that life for most Iraqis is worse
now than under Saddam; that truly democratic institutions cannot be
established under an occupation that has provoked entirely predictable,
legitimate resistance; and the occupiers' own polls indicating that the
majority of Iraqis want the invaders out, now. Make no mistake. This
ringing call for "freedom," in the context of the Iraqi disaster and
relentless administration efforts to promote "regime ch! ange" in Iran,
Syria and elsewhere, is really a call for the American people to endorse
expansion of the U.S. imperial project in Muslim Southwest Asia...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9164&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9164


Saddam's lawyers cite death threats
Ahmed Janabi , Aljazeera.net
Saddam Hussein's defence team says death squads have been set up to
assassinate its members. The Jordan-based committee, Isnad (Support), said
it received an e-mail from its representative in Baghdad, Iraqi lawyer
Khalil al-Dulaimi, saying that his life was being targeted by three death
squads (...) "Mr al-Dulaimi did not elaborate in his letter about who
formed the death squads, but I can say that several parties sent us in the
past threats to give! up our mission," said al-Khasawna. "The most active
party in this regard is the Badr Brigades of the Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq [SCIRI]"...





<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9161&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9161


Occupation behind rise in abortion rates in Iraq: study
Xinhuanet
An Iraqi medical study showed on Monday that the occupation forces are to
blame for the rise in the rates of abortion among Iraqi women. The study
made by Doctor Nagham Hashim, a specialist in feminine diseases, revealed
that the rates of abortion among the Iraqi women have risen since the
US-led forces occupied the country in 2003. She said the women were put
under "the psychological pressure ofthe American threats and assaults in
many of the Ira! qi cities"...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9156&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9156


Iraqi reconstruction efforts 'rife with corruption and waste'
Thomas Catan and Jimmy Burns, Financial Times
The authors of a new report on post-conflict reconstruction have warned
that efforts to rebuild Iraq have so far proved wasteful, ineffective and
rife with corruption (...) The authors are particularly critical of donors'
tendency to use large western contractors to repair infrastructure damaged
in the war, importing foreign personnel and equipment at a huge cost. In
Iraq, that policy has proved disastrous,! one of the authors said in an
interview...



<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9155&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9155


Iraqis Abroad Show Scant Interest in Elections
IslamOnline.net
...Iraqi émigrés showed no avid interest in the Transitional National
Assembly election, which is held in a juncture marred by incessant violence
and uncontrollable chaos. The scant attention paid by the Iraqi expatriates
in 14 countries worldwide forced the vote organizers to extend until
Tuesday, 25 January, the deadline for casting the ballot...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9162&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9162


Fighting prevents Royal Jordanian flight from landing in Baghdad, airline
spokesman says
JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer
Heavy fighting outside Baghdad International Airport prevented two
Jordanian passenger planes from landing Monday, the airline spokesman said.
Royal Jordanian's planes made quick turns over Baghdad, where the airport's
control tower denied the aircraft permission to land because of heavy
fighting nearby, a spokesman said on condition of anonymity. The two
flights in the morning and at noo! n returned to Amman safely, he said. The
second flight carried Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan, the minister
told reporters in Amman afterward. Shaalan was trying to return to Iraq
after visiting Jordan...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9163&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9163


Iraqi forces torturing detainees: Human Rights Watch
AFP
Iraqi forces have tortured detainees with electric shocks to their genitals
and by beating them with cables and fists, Human Rights Watch said (...)
"Unlawful arrest, long-term incommunicado detention, torture and other
ill-treatment of detainees (including children) by Iraqi authorities have
become routine and commonplace," the group said in a 94-page report
entitled, "The New Iraq? Torture and Ill-treatment of Detainees in Iraqi
Custody," released! Monday.


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9153&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9153


British court martial bares war crimes against Iraqi civilians
Mike Ingram, WSWS
...Whatever the outcome of the court martial, it can be safely predicted
that the underlying causes of the abuse will not be addressed. It is not
only Operation Ali Baba that stands in breach of the Geneva Convention, but
the entire war and subsequent occupation of Iraq. The brutal actions
depicted in the photographs before the court martial are symptomatic of an
illegal war and brutal suppression of the Iraqi people...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9152&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9152


Bending it
Omar Khan, Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
Kevin Benderman is a mechanic who is trained to fix Bradley armored
vehicles. On December 20, 2004, he applied for conscientious objector
status. Yesterday he made time to talk with us about his decision (...)
Kevin Benderman: The things that I have seen in the war zone that I've been
to—and I am referring to this as all war, because my father told me about
things he saw during World War II, and I've talked to Vietnam War veterans,
I've talked to Korean ! War veterans, and they've all told me similar
things that they've seen. And that is how peoples homes are destroyed.
That's how people are destroyed. And just how insane, really, the entire
thing is...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9150&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9150


Election Divides a Nation
Dahr Jamail, Electronic Iraq
The elections due Jan. 30 appear to have brought more chaos and division
amongst Iraqis than unity and hope. And they have brought greater security
fears. U.S.-appointed prime minister Iyad Allawi acknowledged last week
that full security will be impossible. This despite the rather draconian
measures his interim government will have in place...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9149&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9149


Peaceful Tomorrows: 9/11 Victims Against the War in Iraq
Katherine Brengle, www.dissidentvoice.org
...Peaceful Tomorrows is a group made up of family members of those lost in
the September 11th attacks who are against the war, as they identify with
all victims of war and terrorism. The group takes its name from a 1967
speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the war in Vietnam when he said,
"The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels
for carving out peaceful tomorrows." Unfortunately! , 40 years later, with
his words still ringing in our ears, we still have not learned...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9147&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9147


Halliburton -- Poster Child For War Profiteering
Evelyn J. Pringle, www.dissidentvoice.org
Of course, by now everybody has at least heard of Halliburton, the all-time
poster child for war profiteering. But I'll bet most people don't
understand exactly how this company has gone the full financial circle in
Iraq. Some background info may be helpful. First of all it helps to know
that between 1999 and 2002, Halliburton gave more than $700,000 in
political contributions, almost always to Republicans...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9142&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9142


The Rationale of Suicide Bombing
Kim Petersen, www.dissidentvoice.org
...Meanwhile, back in reality, many US soldiers in Iraq, who largely
represent a poverty draft, continue to put their lives on the line so
transnational corporations, such as Bechtel and Halliburton, can exploit
this century's dilithium crystals: oil. Only one group of fighters can
logically be said to be dying for their country in this violence. The other
group is dying for the craven, plundering ruling-class of empire...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9141&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9141


U.S. Military May Face Shortage of Troops
ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
The strain of fighting a longer, bloodier war in Iraq than U.S. commanders
originally foresaw brings forth a question that most would have dismissed
only a year ago: Is the military in danger of running out of reserve
troops? At first glance the answer would appear to be a clear no. There are
nearly 1.2 million men and women on the reserve rolls, and only about
70,000 are now in Iraq to supplement the regulars. But a deeper look inside
! the Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve suggests a
grimmer picture...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9140&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9140


Israel's "Religious Coloration" Nukes
Kurt Nimmo
..."Freedom," or rather "a reversal of the cultural trends that spawned the
war in the first place" (because Likudites and Strausscons hate Muslim
culture) through bunker-buster, cruise missile, depleted uranium, and
possibly nukes and ethno-bombs is what the Strausscons are all about, as
Iraq and Afghanistan make painfully obvious. Bush has his "political
capital,"plans to spend it, and the Strausscons are "ascendant,"as the
corporate media reports, so we can expe! ct perpetual bombing campaigns,
invasions, and occupations in the near future. It is, after all, what the
Strausscons have promised for more than a decade now. Surprise in response
to the unleashing of World War IV will be inappropriate...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9138&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9138


Right to Life - Statement by Sgt. Kevin Benderman
Submitted by Jack Dalton, Vietnam Vet - Axis of Logic Exclusive
...Some people are asking me why is it now that I have come to this
conclusion that I can no longer take part in an organization whose primary
purpose is to kill. People are asking how I can spend ten years in the
military and now want to get out or how I can abandon the people that I
have served with. I have to tell them that I seen the wrong way that I had
been living and that I need to make some ch! anges. Changes that will
hopefully let me live a better life and that will allow me to be a better
part of the human society...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9135&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9135




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information concerning occupied Iraq: news, analysis, documents and texts
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