[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 22 Jan 2005]

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Bleak Eid...
Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog from Iraq...
...There hasn't been a drop of water in the faucets for six days (...) Is
it some sort of collective punishment leading up to the elections? (...)
I'm sure people outside of the country are shaking their heads at the words
'collective punishment'. "No, Riverbend," they are saying, "That's
impossible." But anything is possible these days. People in many areas are
being told that if they don't vote- Sunnis and Shia alike- the food and
supply rations we are suppos ed to get monthly will be cut off. We've been
getting these rations since the beginning of the nineties and for many
families, it's their main source of sustenance. What sort of democracy is
it when you FORCE people to go vote for someone or another they don't
want?...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9075&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9075


"Notes of a Former Peacekeeper"
The Village Voice
...During the few days I was embedded with an infantry company in the Sunni
Triangle during January, 2004, the American soldiers routinely violated the
Geneva Conventions. I witnessed them raid a hospital with the intention of
taking anybody with a gunshot wound back to the base for interrogation
(...) I also witnessed the implementation of a policy called "Leave No
Refuge," aimed at destroying the houses of suspected highway hijackers. In
the process of finding th ose houses, the soldiers raided literally every
house in the village...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9067&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9067


The Invasion of Falluja: A Study in the Subversion of Truth
Mary Trotochaud and Rick McDowell, CommonDreams.Org
The illegal invasion, occupation, and subsequent violence perpetrated on
the people of Iraq has lent considerable evidence to the assertion that
truth is the first casualty of war. It's hard to get past the US
Administration's rhetoric that the siege of Falluja was an operation of
pacification to ensure the Iraqi population's participation in free and
democratic elections planned for late January. Is it not Orwellian that
annihilation and occupation have been redefined to represent pacification
and liberation?...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9076&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9076


The logic of the irrational: Bush's inaugural address and the global
strategy of American imperialism
David North, WSWS
However personally insignificant the man himself, the inaugural address
delivered Thursday by President George Bush is a major political statement
and must be taken with deadly seriousness. As an expression of the global
strategy of the United States, the speech presages a massive escalation of
military operations all over the world (...) The redefinition of the Bush
Doctrine of preventive war no longer requires that the United States be
endangered because one or another state has, and plans to use at some point
in the future, a weapon of mass destruction or some other form of terror
against the US. Rather, it is enough for the United States to identify
whatever country it chooses as a "tyranny" where violence is, in various
unseen and mysterious ways, gathering and multiplying...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9070&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9070


The 84th anniversary of the foundation of the heroic Iraqi army
Arab Baath Socialist Party, Al-Moharer
...This year, we celebrate the 84th anniversary of the foundation of the
heroic Iraqi army, whereas it is writing one of the greatest glorious
events of the heroism and the sacrifice of all its glorious history (...)
Today, Iraq is living one of the greatest revolutions of liberation of the
history of mankind. The heroes of the Iraqi armed forces, with their Army,
their Republican Guard (special and general units ) and their intelligence
services, are the mother source and the most valuable elements of the
armed, national, pan-Arab and Islamic resistance against the American and
Zionist occupation of Iraq...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9073&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9073


The Abu Ghraib trial
Kevin Potvin, The Repubblic
...The big issue in this affair was not whether the depraved acts happened,
but whether they were the product of one low-ranking man's depraved mind,
or were the result of orders from high up the hierarchy of command within
the US military. In essence, the US military was on trial here, and that's
why the world's media were watching so closely. Though they covered it the
a close eye, no reporters or commentators seemed to notice anything strange
or remarkable about a trial in which loyal representatives of the real
defendant served up both sides of the argument, sat as the judge, and
comprised the entire jury...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9068&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9068


Pentagon Turns Away Mothers of Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Democaracy Now!
Members of Military Families Speak Out and veterans of the Iraq invasion
and occupation gathered at National City Christian Church in Washington DC
to remember the over 1,300 U.S. soldiers and the more than 100,000 Iraqis
killed in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We hear the words of two
mothers whose sons died in Iraq: Celeste Zappala and Cindy Sheehan...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9069&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9069


Notes on a Photographic Message
Omar Khan, Electronic Iraq
Thursday, January 13, 2005: a photo colors the upper left corner of the
front page of the New York Times. The photo's apparent subject is a second
image embedded within it. This second image is also a photograph. It is of
a man's hand, which appears from the right edge, holding a miniature red,
white, and black striped likeness of the Iraqi flag. The Arabic writing
above the hand ("In order to give our children a better country") provides
context: the blue backdrop of what now appears to be poster is the curtain
of a voting booth, inside of which the hand drops a ballot into a ballot
box. A vote is cast. Yet the image, although a photo, is hardly what Susan
Sontag would have called a "mere image of truth." Its elements underscore
its artificiality...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9062&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9062


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday 21 January 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
In a dispatch posted at 6:30pm Mecca time Friday, the Mafkarat al-Islam
correspondent in al-Fallujah reported that at 1am Friday morning fierce
battles erupted on the edges of the an-Nazal neighborhood of southern
al-Fallujah, an area that US forces pushed the Resistance out of about two
weeks ago. The correspondent reported that just after midnight Friday morn
ing, Resistance forces launched an attack across the three-kilometer long
street that divides the Resistance-held ash-Shuhada' neighborhood from the
an-Nazal neighborhood...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9060&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9060


Report: U.S. can't win Iraq war
UPI
An analysis of a U.S. newspaper group concludes the United States is headed
toward defeat in the Iraqi war. The Knight Ridder Newspapers analysis of
U.S. government statistics shows the Sunni Muslim insurgency in Iraq
steadily gaining on the U.S. military, the Detroit Free Press, owned by
Knight Ridder, reported Saturday...



<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9053&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9053


The Spectacle
STAN GOFF, CounterPunch
Back in Raleigh now, and I can't shake the feeling that I've spent the last
two days in a dream. Arrive in DC on the morning of the 19th, and we are
hit with horizontal snow and a Siberian wind chill, worse because we are
standing in LBJ park taking cover on the leeward sides of the big oaks
while our Gold Star families talk to the press. Military Families Speak Out
has gathered ten family members - widows, sisters, dads, aunts,
grandmothers of those killed in Iraq (...) No on e wants to talk to Cindy
Sheehan. No one wants to see her weep. No one wants to smell the bodies
under the rubble in Fallujah. No one wants to know about the furious masses
around the world that will make a mockery of this whole futile exhibition.
That's our job now, I'm thinking. To make them see what they don't want to
see...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9057&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9057


Analysis: Iraqi insurgency growing larger, more effective
TOM LASSETER AND JONATHAN S. LANDAY, Knight Ridder Newspapers
The United States is steadily losing ground to the Iraqi insurgency,
according to every key military yardstick. A Knight Ridder analysis of U.S.
government statistics shows that through all the major turning points that
raised hopes of peace in Iraq, including the arrest of Saddam Hussein and
the handover of sovereignty at the end of June, the insurgency, led mainly
by Sunni Muslims, has become d eadlier and more effective...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9043&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9043


Fireworks in Washington, Despair Around the World
The Bush administration is in denial about its disastrous failure in Iraq
Robin Cook, Guardian/UK
...Lastly there is the biggest contrast of all between the smug complacency
of the administration over its electoral victory and the disastrous
military failure of its adventure in Iraq. Since George Bush was reelected
over 200 more US soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Each new day brings
another 70 attacks on the occupation forces as the territory dominated by
the insurgents expands and the area which the occupiers can safely patrol
shrinks. This week a senior Kurdish leader, although a supporter of the
occupation, admitted that for a lot of its citizens, "the Iraqi government
exists only on television"...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9056&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9056


We need an answer from the Vatican
Ibrahim Ebeid, Al-Moharer
The editorial of Professor Vittiorio Parsi, of the Catholic University of
Milan was very hostile and very offensive to the Arabs and to the Iraqis.
Calling upon the West to master their armies from NATO and send those
troops to Iraq to join the Americans in their brutal war to kill more
innocent people is indeed outrageous(...) I wonder if he has obtained the
blessing of the Pope and the leadership of the Catholic Church in Rome? I
would say yes, becaus e the editorial was published in the Avvenire
newspaper (September 26, 2004), which is headed by the Italian Bishops
Conference and by the organization's president the Pope's Cardinal Vicar,
Camillo Ruini (...) We demand an answer from the Vatican. As Christian
Arabs we would like to know where is the stand of the Catholic Church. Is
it with the oppressed or with the oppressor?

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9055&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9055


Where is the UN, where is the UNEP, where is the UNICEF, where is the ICRC?
Abu Assur. Al-Moharer
What happened to all these UN orators and fine talkers? Where are all these
picked up one-day experts? (...) If the war is illegal then someone has to
be held accountable for, who will bring back to life of the innocents
martyrs? Who will pay for the destruction of Iraq, and compensate the
Iraqis for this barbarian invasion? Who will bring to justice and punish
the US criminals who committed crimes against Iraq and ag ainst humanity?
Who will hold an international court to try the US murderers and assassins
for their Iraq aggression? Surely not the UN! Surely not the Secretary
General Kofi Annan...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9054&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9054


Outposts of Tyranny
Gordon Prather, AntiWar.com
Well, on the eve of Bush's second inaugural, we finally got some good news
about Operation Iraqi Freedom, already the worst foreign policy disaster -
and potentially the worst military disaster - in America's history. Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said he was encouraged because "since
June 1, there have been more Iraqi police and military killed in action
than Americans"...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9052&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9052


Gli Stati Uniti distruggono reperti archeologici a Babilonia
Islamonline.net - Aljazira.it
Un rapporto del British Museum ha affermato che le forze d'occupazione
americane, utilizzando la città monumentale di Babilonia come loro base
militare, hanno arrecato "ingenti danni" a uno dei più famosi tesori
archeologici nel mondo, utilizzando la città monumentale di Babilonia come
loro base militare...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9049&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9049


Allawi, premier dal grilletto facile
Il «New Yorker»: ha ucciso 6 sospetti ribelli, la conferma di un ufficiale Usa
Giuliana Sgrena
«Iyad Allawi, primo ministro iracheno, ha estratto una pistola e sparato a
sei sospetti ribelli nella stazione di polizia di Baghdad», la notizia
pubblicata il 17 luglio 2004 dall'australiano Sidney Morning Herald, era
stata subito smentita dallo stesso interessato e quindi minimizzata. Già
membro del mukhabarat (servizi segreti) di Saddam Hussein e poi passato
alla Cia, pur esse ndo noto per essere un «duro» sembrava impossibile che
l'appena nominato premier ad interim potesse essere avvezzo alle esecuzioni
sommarie nelle stazioni di polizia, quando era ministro della difesa. E
invece lo era. La notizia ora trova un'autorevole conferma.

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9074&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9074


False Casualty Figures
Kevin More - iraq2005.blogspot
...In my opinion the true casualty figures of Iraq is around 6,000
servicemen killed and 48,000 wounded. Totaling 54,000.If my figures are
accurate then the pentagon is only reporting, making public 20% of the
casualties. Many people will state this cannot be possible. They cannot
hide that amount. Vietnam was a good reflection initially 6,000 Kia were
reported later that rose to 58,000 and later a further 40,000 were deemed
missing in action .So if Vietnam is anything to judge, then most certainly
casualty figures are manipulated for public consumption...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9047&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9047


Rumsfeld cancels trip after accusations
Aljazeera.net
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany
after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute
him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) has learned. Rumsfeld has
informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take
part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst
Teltschik told dpa on Thursday...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9041&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9041


Why I'll Refuse to Fight in this Immoral War
George Solomou, The Independent U.K.
Earlier this week, I came out publicly against the war in Iraq. I'm not the
only member of the Labour Party to be opposed to our military participation
in this American-led adventure, nor am I the only soldier. In fact, there
growing vocal minority within the Territorial Army that is against the war.
Nonetheless I am the first one to make it clear, in public, that if called
to serve in Iraq, I will refuse...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=9064&s2=23>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=9064




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