[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 26 Mar 2005]

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Remember Fallujah: demonising place, constructing atrocity
Stephen Graham
... In this construction of people as inhuman `terrorist' barbarians
understanding little but force, and urban places as animalistic labyrinths
or `nests' demanding massive military assault, Islamic cities, and their
inhabitants, are, in turn, cast out beyond any philosophical, legal, or
humanitarian definitions of humankind or civilisation'. Civilian
inhabitants of cities such as Fallujah are thus denied the protection of
international la! w. Their piling-up bodies remain unworthy, largely
invisible, unrecorded, and uncounted. And their deaths are rendered of no
account. Like the inmates of Abu Ghraib, Basra Airbase, or Guanta namo Bay,
such dying civilians and resistance fighters become examples of Agamben's
homo sacer (sacred man) or `bare life mere zoological organisms to be
targeted through force and disciplinary measures, who are completely devoid
of political or human rights. Derek Gregory has termed such people ``the
half-human detritus of Bush's Holy War''...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10670&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10670


The magic plane theory
Xymphora
..."This hole shows where a depleted uranium shell passed through, Manning
said, 'burning' holes through walls rather than knocking them down
outright. Manning said so much depleted uranium's been deployed in Falluja
and Iraq that the whole nation will be afflicted with radiation poisoning."
Reminds me of the neatly-edged holes in the Pentagon on September 11.
Although many airplanes have depleted uranium in them, including in the
nose cone, the Boeing 757 does not. It's par! ticularly interesting that
the plane apparently went right through the building starting with a neat
little entrance hole (...) and then made an equally neat exit hole, as if
the building itself had very little effect on its wall-cutting ability...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10678&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10678


On the Campaign Trail, Tony Blair Cannot Escape from Iraq
Jacques Duplouich, Le Figaro - t r u t h o u t
...Today, Britons are once again asking themselves about the conformity of
the military intervention to British and international law. The opportunity
to do so has been given them by the publication of the resignation letter -
partially blacked out - of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Assistant Legal Councilor
to the Foreign Office, three days before the conflict began. In this letter
- the black-outs filled in, thanks ! to opportune leaks - the lawyer
emphasizes that, in the absence of a new resolution from the UN's Security
Council, a war against Iraq would be equivalent to a "crime of aggression"
against a sovereign state...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10673&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10673


'Support our troops?'
Don Monkerud
...Where does "support the troops" end? Do we support the gung-ho young
troops who threaten and brutalize Iraqi citizens because they enjoy it? Do
we forget the Nuremberg trials and claim that soldiers only "follow orders"
and bear no personal responsibility for their actions? Do we support
torture because Bush said the U.S. doesn't have to follow any rules? Do we
support our soldiers when they shoot innocent people?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10672&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10672


The Bigot confessing to Idol Zion
Abu Assur, Al-Moharer
Once a week the bigot sees Idol Zion, his confessor. Before any session, a
remote controlled tele-evangelical advisor, in a video confession meeting,
advises him on every matter and on every move. Mr. Bigot carries on his
hands the blood of millions of innocent Iraqis he killed. He kneels in
front of a confessional cupboard, where Idol Zion is awaiting him. The
Bigot to begin with, trembles and his limbs shake with fright but not for
the atrocities, the tort! ures, the killings, the rapes of innocent Iraqis,
which are on his conscience. He has no conscience to begin with!...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10675&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10675


Major Battle North of No Government any Time Soon in Iraq
Juan Cole
The formation of a government in Iraq has been put off yet again, possibly
until April 1 or beyond, according to AFP. The Shiites and the Kurds say
they are close to agreement. But they could remain only close to an
agreement for a long time. Parliament may meet again in the meantime...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10677&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10677


A Wolfowitz in Sheep's Clothing?
Democaracy Now!
...So the appointment of Wolfowitz in this context is a very clear message
from the Bush administration. They're sending in one of their top
ideologues, somebody who is a true believer in the so-called Washington
Consensus, and we know this because Wolfowitz was, of course, the architect
of the postwar plan, such as it was, in Iraq, which was itself a radical
experiment in precisely these policies. Wolfowitz oversaw the move to
privatize Iraq's entire economy, to f! ire 500,000 state employees, based
on this same thinking, that if Iraq becomes a utopia for foreign
corporations, then everything else will be solved in the trickle-down...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10667&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
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The Missing WMD Report
David Corn
... It seems that Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the Senate
intelligence committee, wants to break the promise he made last year to
investigate whether the Bush administration misrepresented the prewar
intelligence on WMDs. What a surprise. Before the November election,
Roberts said this was an important subject warranting examination but that
his committee could not mount an inquiry until early 2005. How politically
convenient. Now he wants to forget all about it. This ! matter has so far
received little media coverage....

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10668&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10668


Sgrena's car
Xymphora
The United States promised 'full cooperation' to Italian authorities in
their investigation of the attack on the car carrying Giuliana Sgrena to
the Baghdad airport. Apparently, 'full cooperation' doesn't include
allowing the Italian investigators to actually see the car in which she was
being driven, as the Pentagon has barred two Italian policemen from
examining the car. This is the respect the Americans show their ally Italy,
whose citizens are dying in the place of Americans in the illeg! al and
immoral American occupation of Iraq. Of course, the Americans can't show
the Italians the car, as the bullet holes in it would clearly demonstrate
that it was not the subject of some unfortunate checkpoint
misunderstanding, with bullets flying everywhere from terrified American
soldiers, but a carefully planned and executed ambush engineered to kill
only one person, Giuliana Sgrena...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10669&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10669


Turkmen hold anti-US rally in Kirkuk
Turkish Press
About 250 Turkmen chanting anti-American slogans demonstrated in the
northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Friday, calling for the release of
Turkmen detainees in US custody. "No, no, America. Death to American
spies," demonstrators from the Turkmen Front of Iraq party chanted
following Friday prayers. "Down with federalism. Kirkuk is Iraqi"...



<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10676&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10676


Naomi Klein Reveals New Details About U.S. Military Shooting of Italian War
Correspondent in Iraq
Democaracy Now!
Three weeks after being shot by US forces in Iraq, veteran Italian war
correspondent Giuliana Sgrena is released from a military hospital. New
details are emerging about the killing of the Italian agent who saved her
life. We speak with independent journalist Naomi Klein, who just returned
from meeting with Sgrena in Rome...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10666&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10666


British MPs accuse U.S. of grave rights violations
Aljazeera.com
The United States committed "grave violations of human rights" against
detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Foreign Affairs
Committee of Britain's parliament said on Friday. In its annual report on
human rights, the committee also demanded the British government to make
clear whether it uses intelligence provided by other states that may have
been obtained by torturing suspects...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10674&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10674


Army Probe Finds Abuse at Base Near Mosul
MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer
An Army investigation found systematic abuse and possible torture of Iraqi
prisoners at a base near Mosul just as top military officials became aware
of abuse allegations at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, documents
released Friday showed. Records previously released by the Army have
detailed abuses at Abu Ghraib and other sites in Iraq as well as at sites
in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The documents released Friday we!
re the first to reveal abuses at the jail in Mosul and are among the few to
allege torture directly (...) "They show the torture and abuse of detainees
was routine and such treatment was considered an acceptable practice by
U.S. forces," ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh said...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10665&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10665


New Casualty Count Trend
Raed Jarrar, Raed in the Middle
The new pathetic trend of the US adminstation in announcing casualty
figures for the US army and their suppoting forces started last week. The
official body counts started to include the number of Iraqi resistance
fighters, or the insurgents as the bush adminstration call them, in the
body counts. This new trend is not ment to be more sensitive towards the
tens of thousands of Iraqis killed by the occupation forces, it is just a
way for trying to reduce th! e effect of the big numbers of casualties in
Iraq by putting them in comparison to more numbers of murdered Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10664&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
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How Do We Resist This Ruinous War?
No Troops; No Wars
YOSHIE FURUHASHI, CounterPunch
Since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, 1,524 US soldiers have died
(as of March 22, 2005), and 11,220 US soldiers have been wounded in action
(as of February 26, 2005). Iraqi casualties are even larger. A study
published in The Lancet last November estimated at least "100000 excess
deaths" in Iraq since March 20, 2003. Who is killing Iraqis? The White
House would have us believe, through the "Good News" p! ropaganda planted
in the media by the Pentagon and the State Department, that the US military
is only protecting Iraqis and reconstructing Iraq. Nothing is further from
the truth...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10663&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10663


Bomber kills 11 Iraqi police; 5 translators slain
The Associated Press
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the central
city of Ramadi, killing 11 Iraqi policemen and wounding 14 other people
including two U.S. Army soldiers, the U.S. military said Friday. In eastern
Baghdad, unidentified attackers killed five female translators working for
the U.S. military late Thursday, said Iraqi police Capt. Ahmed Aboud...



<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10659&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10659


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 24 March 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
...US occupation forces distributed leaflets in ar-Ramadi, west of Baghdad,
on Thursday calling on the people for help in finding an American soldier
taken prisoner by the Iraqi Resistance. The leaflets, one of which was
obtained by the correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam said that the soldier,
"Steve," a US Marine was taken prisoner in fighting a week ago in ! eastern
ar-Ramadi. The US military offered a reward of US$500,000 for anyone
providing information that helps to find "Steve"...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10657&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10657


No proof for claim Iraq killed 85 rebels.
Government now says battle not a major incident
Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
New details from an intense battle between insurgents and Iraqi police
commandos supported by U.S. forces cast doubt Thursday on Iraqi government
claims that 85 insurgents had been killed at what was described as a
clandestine training camp. Accounts of the fighting continued to suggest
that a major battle involving dozens of insurgents had occurred Tuesday on
the eastern shore of Lake Tha! rthar, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad.
But two U.S. military officials said Thursday that no bodies had been found
by American troops who arrived later at the scene...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10656&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10656


War crimes overseas, peace crimes at home
MICK WINTER
Two years ago, on March 19, 2003, the government of the United States
launched an illegal, immoral, impractical and totally unnecessary war
against the people of Iraq, whose country 6,000 miles away from the United
States posed absolutely no threat to our country (...) International law
considers launching a war against another country to be the most grievous
of war crimes, because out of that act follows -- almost as a natural
progression -- all other possibl! e war crimes. This latest war follows the
pattern well. Indiscriminate shooting of non-combatants, retaliatory
measures against civilians and even entire communities, torture, violation
of the rights of prisoners, direct attacks on hospitals and medical
personnel; all of these have been systematically carried out by many
American troops...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10655&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10655


The USA's Tragic Withdrawal From the Rule of Law: Pentagon Confirms
Unilateral Pre-emptive Strikes Are Now U.S. Policy
Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D., Today's Alternative News
The Pentagon has released a new strategic plan that explicitly endorses
unilateral preemptive strikes. This is yet another indication that the Bush
administration is dramatically accelerating away from longstanding
doctrines that are upheld by both general international law and
seemingly-important transatlantic coalitions like NATO. Ala! rmingly, this
plan also equates respected international organizations, such as the
International Criminal Court, with ... terrorism...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10654&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10654


Against the flow ...
Al Faraby (translated by Robert Thompson, Axis of Logic
At Falujah, 50 km to the west of Baghdad, encounters took place in the
Jolan quarter, to the north of the town, and the sound of automatic arms
could be heard. According to the person in charge of a health centre in the
quarter, four Iraqi soldiers were killed. In Baghdad, five resistance
fighters, one soldier and two civilians died in different incidents...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10658&s2=26>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10658




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