[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 24 Mar 2005]

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The Iranian Threat: The Bomb or the Euro?
Dr. Elias Akleh, Serendipit
Iran does not pose a threat to the United State because of its nuclear
projects, its WMD, or its support to "terrorists organizations" as the
American administration is claiming, but in its attempt to re-shape the
global economical system by converting it from a petrodollar to a petroeuro
system. Such conversion is looked upon as a flagrant declaration of
economical war against the US that would flatten the revenues of the
American corporations! and eventually might cause an economic collapse. In
June of 2004 Iran declared its intention of setting up an international oil
exchange (a bourse) denominated in the Euro currency (...) In its
economical war Iran is treading the same path Saddam Hussein had started
when he, in 2000, converted all his reserve from the Dollar to the Euro,
and demanded payments in Euro for Iraqi oil...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10615&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10615


Two Years...
Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog from Iraq...
We've completed two years since the beginning of the war. These last two
years have felt like two decades, but I can remember the war itself like it
was yesterday. The sky was lit with flashes of red and white and the ground
rocked with explosions on March 21, 2003 (...) We sit around sometimes,
when there's no electricity, or when we're gathered for lunch or dinner and
someone will say, "Remember two years ago when…" Remember when they bombed
Mansur, a reside! ntial area… When they started burning the cars in the
streets with Apaches… When they hit the airport with that bomb that lit up
half of the city… When the American tanks started rolling into Baghdad…?
Remember when the fear was still fresh - and the terror was relatively new
- and it was possible to be shocked and awed in Iraq?...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10612&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10612


The Wolf at the door
'I'll huff and I'll puff and then I'll blow your house up'
William Bowles
...Given that Wolfowitz was one of the key planners of the Iraq invasion,
I'd say that based on the failure of the 'cakewalk', the nomination of
Wolfowitz could be viewed as largely bluff and bluster. This doesn't mean
however, that we should ignore it, far from it because along with the
appointment of Bolton as ambassador to the UN, they represent a frontal
assault on the two main opponents to the i! mperium's plans for the future
of the planet. Wolfowitz's nomination has to be seen in the context of the
growing (and increasingly organised) opposition to the imperium's economic
assault led by Venezuela, India, Brazil and to a lesser degree, Russia...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10610&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10610


The Undoing of America
Gore Vidal on war for oil, politics-free elections, and the late, great
U.S. Constitution
Steve Perry, City Pages Media
...Well, let us say that the old American republic is well and truly dead.
The institutions that we thought were eternal proved not to be. And that
goes for the three departments of government, and it also goes for the Bill
of Rights. So we're in uncharted territory. We're governed by public
relations. Very little information gets to the people, thanks to! the
corruption and/or ineptitude of the media. Just look at this bankruptcy
thing that went through--everybody in debt to credit cards, which is
apparently 90 percent of the country, is in deep trouble. So the people are
uninformed about what's being done in their name. And that's really why we
are in Iraq. Iraq is a symptom, not a cause. It's a symptom of the passion
we have for oil, which is a declining resource in the world. Alternatives
can be found, but they will not be found as long as there's one drop of oil
or natural gas to be extracted from other nations, preferably by force by
the current junta in charge of our affairs. Iraq will end with our defeat...



<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10619&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10619


Death at 'immoral' picnic in the park
Students are beaten to death for playing music as Shia militiamen run amok
Catherine Philp
THE students had begun to lay out their picnic in the spring sunshine when
the men attacked. "There were dozens of them, armed with guns, and they
poured into the park," Ali al-Azawi, 21, the engineering student who had
organised the gathering in Basra, said (...)Two students were said to have
been killed. Standing over them as the blows rained down was the man who!
gave the order, dressed in dark clerical garb and wearing a black turban.
Ali recognised him immediately as a follower of Hojatoleslam Moqtada
al-Sadr (...) Far from disavowing the attack, senior al-Sadr loyalists said
that they had a duty to stop the students' "dancing, sexy dress and
corruption"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10603&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10603


Cultural Barbarism
The Nation
The sterile term "collateral damage" justifiably brings to mind the human
tragedy of war. But the devastating and wanton damage inflicted on the
ancient city of Babylon by US-led military forces gives another meaning to
the term. In this case, we are witnessing violence against one of the
world's greatest cultural treasures. Babylon's destruction, according to
The Guardian, "must rank as one of the most reckless acts of cultural
vandalism in recent memory." When Camp Babylo! n was established by US-led
international forces in April 2003, leading archeologists and international
experts on ancient civilizations warned of potential peril and damage. It
was "tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in
Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," according to a damning report
issued in January by the British Museum. The report, drafted by Dr. John
Curtis--one of the world's leading archeologists--documents that the
military base, built and overseen by Kellog, Brown and Root, a subsidiary
of Halliburton, jeopardized what is often referred to as the "mother of all
archeological sites"...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10620&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10620


Hijacking Democracy in Iraq
Scott Ritter, AlterNet
... The Iraqi elections have been embraced almost universally as a great
victory for the forces of democracy, not only in Iraq, but throughout the
entire Middle East. The fact, however, is that the Iraqi elections weren't
about the free election of a government reflecting the will of the Iraqi
people, but the carefully engineered selection of a government that would
behave in a manner dictated by the United States...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10608&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10608


Iraq war: The smoking gun?
Foreign Office official's resignation letter reveals that Attorney General
did change his mind on legality of Iraq war
Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Documentary evidence has emerged showing that the Attorney General, Lord
Goldsmith, changed his mind about the legality of the Iraq war just before
the conflict began. The damning revelation is contained in the resignation
letter of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, a legal adviser at the Foreign Office, in
which she said the ! war would be a "crime of aggression". She quit the day
after Lord Goldsmith's ruling was made public, three days before the war
began in March 2003...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10618&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10618


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 23 March 2005.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial board The
Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
In a dispatch posted at 12:12pm Mecca time Wednesday, Mafkarat al-Islam
reported that US forces had completely sealed off the western Iraqi city of
al-Hadithah at dawn on Wednesday, preventing citizens from entering or
leaving it. The correspondent reported that the Americans surrounded the
city with more than 60 tanks, positioned! on the four sides of the city.
They also closed roads and the only two bridges in the city.

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10624&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10624


Five Minutes With: Seymour Hersh
Elana Berkowitz
...You uncovered both My Lai and Abu Ghraib. My Lai and the Vietnam War had
a really profound impact on students and student activism. Do you feel like
Abu Ghraib has had the same impact? Are students as engaged with the issue?
Well, I can certainly tell you students in the Middle East and Europe now
responded as intensely as back then. If you're talking about Americans I
think you're basically right - there wasn't the same sort of overwhelming
shock. But t! he importance of Abu Ghraib in terms of damage to our
reputation is every bit as significant as in My Lai in Europe and the
Middle East, where we're really in big trouble and growing in deeper
trouble. Abu Ghraib had a horrific impact, particularly in cultures like in
the Middle East where they view us as sexually perverse...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10621&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10621


Rove's Tricky Decoy Dump
Bernard Weiner, Co-Editort The Crisis Papers
...To smooth the way for a successful campaign on both the foreign and
domestic fronts, the Administration must continue its policy of permanent
war (the never-ending "war on terrorism") in order to keep the populace in
a state of constant anxiety and willing to grant the "Commander-in-Chief"
pretty much whatever he wants in foreign/military policy, and in the
domestic curtailment of constitutionally-guaranteed civil liberties under
the Bill of! Rights...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10616&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10616


Iraq action 'crime of aggression'
BBC News
The Iraq war amounted to a "crime of aggression", the former deputy legal
adviser to the Foreign Office has said. Elizabeth Wilmshurst made the claim
before war in her resignation letter, obtained by the BBC News Website. But
part of the letter has not been released. A report on Channel 4 claims it
shows the attorney general changed his mind on the legality of the war. The
attorney general's spokesperson said Lord Goldsmith's independent view was
that action in Iraq w! as lawful...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10617&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10617


Buck Up, The World Hates Us More Than Ever
Why the Left Was Right After All
Ted Rall
...As far as I'm concerned, Bush deserves to be impeached for lying to his
employers--us--about Iraq's WMDs. He should face prosecution at a war
crimes tribunal for the murder of the 100,000-plus Iraqis he ordered killed
by U.S. troops. He deserves life in prison for ordering the torture, and
allowing the murder under torture, of countless innocent Afghans and
Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10613&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10613


U.S. bars Italians from examining victim's car
Associated Press
The U.S. military command in Iraq has blocked two Italian policemen from
examining the car in which an Italian intelligence agent was shot to death
in Baghdad, a newspaper said Wednesday. Corriere della Sera said that the
policemen were about to leave when the Italian Embassy in Baghdad received
an order from the U.S. command on Monday to abort the mission for security
concerns...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10611&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10611


WTI-Portuguese Hearing was a success
The Portuguese Committee of WTI
...Finally, after a private meeting, the Jury Tribune presented their final
Decision in which they confirm the facts of the Accusation, condemning the
USA, UK and Portuguese governments for crimes against peace, crimes of war
and crimes against humanity. The Decision also reproach the media organs,
journalists and columnists who supported these criminal for not telling the
truth to the people, as it is their duty...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10622&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10622


Iraqi Legal Calls for Trying Bush, Blair
Samir Haddad, IOL Correspondent
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair should be
tried as war criminals for their role in the heinous crimes and abuses,
from the use of banned weapons, raping of Iraqi women to the stealing of
the body parts of Iraqi resistance fighters, according to Iraqi legal
experts. During a conference held in the Iraqi capital Baghdad Tuesday,
March 22, the legal activists broadcast a video tape showing the scale of
destruct! ion caused by US occupation forces during its massive offensive
on the western Iraqi city of Fallujah...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10607&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10607


The Amazing Hypocrites
Cindy Sheehan
...I feel so much compassion for her mother who has had to watch her
daughter slowly waste away. My heart truly breaks for everyone in Terry
Schiavo's family. However, I have one question for Congress and for George
("When in doubt it is always better to err on the side of life" - Arizona,
March 22, 2005) Bush, though: Why does Terry Schiavo deserve to live more
than my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan? (...) As far as I am concerned, the
amazing hypocrites in our Government are! not making up for killing
thousands of innocent Americans and Iraqis by passing emergency legislation
to save one life. Every member of Bush's executive branch (past and
present) and every member of Congress who voted to give George the
authority to invade Iraq have innocent blood on their hands...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10604&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10604


Iraqi officials say 80 rebels killed in clash
Associated Press
A raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces on a suspected rebel training camp left 80
militants dead, the single biggest one-day death toll for rebels in months
and the latest in a series of blows to the country's insurgency, Iraqi
officials said Wednesday...



<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10602&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10602


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 22 March 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
...The meetings of Iraqi collaborationist parties that have been taking
place on the grounds of the area around the Republican Palace - known to
the invaders as the "green zone" - have reached an impasse in their efforts
to chose a new puppet president and puppet prime minister to serve as front
men for the US occupation regime. The correspondent of Mafkarat ! al-Islam
in Baghdad met with Amin Muhammad, a leader of the Shi'i chauvinist
collaborationist "Islamic Da'wah Party" and asked him about the latest
developments in the on-going discussions between Kurdish collaborators and
Shi'i collaborators - two groups with distinct sectarian objectives under
the umbrella of the American occupation...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10601&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10601


Iraqi fighters regain control of camp
Aljazeera.net
About 30 to 40 fighters were seen at a lakeside training camp attacked by
US and Iraqi forces, an AFP correspondent who visited the site has said.
The correspondent, who travelled with other journalists to the camp at Lake
Tharthar, 200km north of Baghdad, said he saw 30 to 40 fighters there on
Wednesday. The remains of three burnt vehicles were seen on a dusty road
leading to the camp in the village of Ain al-Hilwa. A few mud huts were
partly destroyed and a f! ew big craters gouged the ground...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10625&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10625


Iraq Checkpoint Killings Unchecked
Jeremy Scahill, NYC Indypendent
While much media attention has been focused on the torture at Abu Ghraib,
two other strings of questionable killings by U.S. soldiers have been
largely ignored by the American media and not a single soldier has faced
any disciplinary action for the deaths. Since the beginning of the invasion
in March 2003, the U.S. military has killed more than a dozen journalists
in Iraq - more than the Iraqi resistance has. There have also been scores
of civilia! ns killed - including women, children and families - at US
military checkpoints across the country. Yet not a single soldier has been
charged or disciplined in any of these cases, and the internal
investigations have become a conveyor belt for exonerations....

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10614&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10614




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information concerning occupied Iraq: news, analysis, documents and texts
of iraqi resistance available in Italian and English.





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