[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 03 Feb 2005 - Part I]

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Why we support the resistance to occupation.
Iraq's right to national self-determination
PAUL D'AMATO, Socialist Worker
...DO THE Iraqi people have a right to self-determination or not? If they
do, then they have a right to resist U.S. occupation, using whatever means
at their disposal. To deny that right--to deny their self-determination
and, by extension, to deny support for the resistance (on the grounds that
it has the "wrong" politics or leadership)--is tantamount to accepting the
right the U.S. to stay in Iraq and impose its will there. This is precisely
the Achilles heel of the American left today. Having lost its knee-jerk
opposition to U.S. imperialism, the broad left has failed to grasp the
central issue in Iraq, preoccupying itself with secondary questions that
cloud, contradict and negate the key issue: U.S. imperialism invaded Iraq
in order to advance its imperialist aims...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9427&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9427


Nothing Accidental About This Disaster
David Smith-Ferri, AntiWar.com
... By any standard of measurement, Iraq was a wreck prior to the March
2003 invasion by U.S. troops. Health care, education, and critical civilian
infrastructure - water and sewage treatment, electrical output - were in
disrepair. But there were signs of an economy struggling to breathe again,
as the international stranglehold of economic sanctions loosened: Iraq
hosted business conferences, signed contracts with European and Asian
countries, r esumed commercial air travel, and forged improved relations
with its neighbors, opening further economic opportunities. Two years
later, what was malfunctioning in Iraq prior to the invasion is now worse -
more disease and less capacity to treat it, less electricity, a decapitated
education system … the list goes on. Every sign of economic revitalization
has been erased, replaced by increased unemployment, massive insecurity,
and widespread violence...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9437&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9437


From Deliverance to Troglodyte States
Kurt Nimmo
...As for the statement that Humvees and airstrikes will not defeat
terrorism—a term so loosely defined as to be meaningless—the cave-dwelling
trogs of Tennessee may want to consult the words of Colin Powell, until
recently Secretary of State under Bush, who "has privately confided to
friends in recent weeks that the Iraqi insurgents [i.e., what Bush and the
trogs call "terrorists"] are winning the war," according to Newsweek. But
then trogs never get the message—an d they certainly don't want their kids
to get the message, even though, if Bush gets his way, a lot of them will
be dying on battlefields in Iran and Syria...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9436&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9436


Criminal World
Chris Floyd, Moscow Times
Another day, another accomplice in the construction of the Bush Regime's
torture chambers revealed. Nothing new there; the perp walk of top Bushists
colluding in torture could stretch a mile. But the remarkable thing about
the latest case is that it exposes an even greater depth of official
criminality than hitherto suspected -- no mean feat, given the rap sheet of
this crew. The new man on the hot seat is Judge Michael Chertoff, nominated
to head the U.S. Department of Hom eland Security. Chertoff was hip-deep in
creating -- and covering up -- the infamous White House "torture memos":
carefully detailed guidelines from the desk of President George W. Bush
that instigated a global system of documented torture, rape and murder...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9433&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9433


State of what Union?
Robert Thompson, Axis of Logic
The widely trailed speech lived up to the reputation of the President of
the United States, when while making wild claims that he would work for
freedom, he threatened the persecuted and the dispossessed. Anyone keen on
freedom will think first of the inhabitants of occupied Iraq, occupied
Palestine and occupied Syria. I was listening most carefully to learn what
has this arch-hypocrite had to say about the last of these countries. I was
not surprised to hear the worst, when he turned to this most attractive
land. He had famously, using the words of Mr David Frum, the man who did
not know what an "axis" was, previously referred to Syria as part of the
"Axis of Evil". Unless I am grievously mistaken, he has never referred to
the fact that a substantial part of Syria is under highly oppressive enemy
occupation...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9435&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9435


Marines come up short on recruits
Service fails to attain monthly quota for first time in a decade
Eric Schmitt, New York Times
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps missed its monthly
recruiting goal in January in what military officials said was the latest
troubling indicator of the Iraq war's impact on the armed services. The
struggles of the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard to recruit and
retain soldiers have received national attention in recent months. But the
failure of the Marines, who historically have had the luxury of turning
away willing recruits, is a potential problem for the service...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9432&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9432


No Shame
Sheldon Rampton, Center for Media and Democracy
Thanks to PR Watch forums contributor "El Gringo" for calling our attention
to a really atrocious example of dishonest propaganda. The graphic at right
is by Linda Eddy, an artist for the website, IowaPresidentialWatch.com
(...) The image you see here might lead you to believe that the child in
the picture has been made "glad" and secure thanks to the U.S. troop
presence in Iraq. As "El Gringo" discovered, however, Lindy Eddy doctored
the photograph. The ori ginal photo, taken by a journalist, depicted a
young girl who had just received bullet wounds during a firefight in which
her mother was killed and her father was wounded. Eddy doctored the photo
by erasing the little girl's own face (which carries the listless
expression you would expect from an injured child) and replacing it with
someone else's face to make her look positively radiant and adoring...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9428&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9428


Troops face court martial over Iraq death
Michael Holdenm, Reuters
Seven soldiers are to face a court martial for the murder of an Iraqi
civilian in May 2003, the Attorney General has said, in the latest serious
allegation to be levelled against UK troops. The men, who served with the
3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, also face charges of violent disorder
following a roadside incident in southern Iraq which led to the death of
the civilian, Nadhem Abdullah...


<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9431&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9431


Iran-Contra Figure to Lead Democracy Efforts Abroad
The Washington Post
Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from
Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national
security adviser to President Bush. Abrams, who previously was in charge of
Middle East affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for
advancing democracy. The White House also announced yesterday that Faryar
Shirzad, a deputy national security adviser for international economic
affairs, w ill take on added responsibilities for humanitarian affairs,
stabilization and reconstruction efforts...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9426&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9426


Allawi's government decried as corrupt
Aljazeera.net
A top Shia leader tipped to become Iraq's next prime minister has branded
Iyad Allawi's interim government the most corrupt in the country's history.
A close confidant of Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, Husain Shahristani
lashed out at the Allawi government and singled out Defence Minister Hazim
Shaalan as the main offender. "It is very well known in the country that
the corruption is very widespread from the police to the judicial systems
... as a matter of fa ct Iraq has never known the level of corruption
prevailing now," Shahristani said...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9425&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9425


CIA Ordered to Turn Over Prisoner Records
LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of
Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the
treatment of prisoners in Iraq. The spy agency also was given the option of
explaining better why it cannot release the documents. ``Congress has set
the laws, and it is the duty of executive agencies to comply with them,''
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9424&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9424


Which Side Are You On?
Resisting Soldiers Need Our Support
SHARON SMITH, CounterPunch
...No one--in this country at least--is more familiar with the reality of
war than those who have been forced to risk their own lives at the
Pentagon's behest, to carry out its war crimes abroad. Military resisters
are showing their potential as a powerful component of the antiwar
movement--forcing antiwar discourse to return to earth within the U.S.
Empire. This was certainly the case when members of Iraq Veterans Ag ainst
the War (IVAW) and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) spoke to a crowd of
more than 400 at Boston's Faneuil Hall on Sunday, January 30--the day that
the Iraqi elections were held...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9422&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9422


Are Bloggers Journalists?
Kurt Nimmo
...A constitutional republic cannot function properly with a somnolent,
careless, and ambivalent citizenry—but then we no longer have a
constitutional republic in this country and many citizens believe in all
sorts of nonsense, including the face of Jesus appearing frying pans and
are seemingly unable to make crucial distinctions between players involved
in major current events (for instance, many Americans still cannot tell the
difference between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin L aden and believe,
contrary to scads of documented evidence to the contrary, that they plotted
together to attack America, a direct result of "news" reported by so-called
journalists such as Judith Miller)...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9417&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9417


The Desperate State of the Union
Mike Whitney, www.dissidentvoice.org
...Bush offered nothing new about the Iraqi nightmare except to reiterate
the resolve of American elites to continue the colonial project ad
infinitum: "We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq…We are
in Iraq to achieve a result" etc, etc, etc. The four permanent military
bases and the $1.5 billion US embassy (the largest in the world; large
enough to facilitate the entire Middle East if you catch my meaning) attest
to the fact t hat American servicemen will be dying in Babylon for the
foreseeable future. Bush's presidency is now inextricably yoked to the
policies of aggression and subjugation.

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9423&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9423


Iraq Media Coverage
Norman Solomon, CommonDreams.org
..."We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that
would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out,"
President Bush said in his State of the Union address. "We are in Iraq to
achieve a result: A country that is democratic, representative of all its
people, at peace with its neighbors and able to defend itself." President
Johnson said the same thing about the escalating war in Vietnam. His
rhetoric was typical on J an. 12, 1966: "We fight for the principle of self
determination -- that the people of South Vietnam should be able to choose
their own course, choose it in free elections without violence, without
terror, and without fear"...


<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9419&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9419


Not Worth It
Cindy Sheehan
...I would have asked Larry King if he would want to sacrifice one of his
children for sham elections in Iraq. Would he or George Bush send their
children to be killed or maimed for life for a series of lies, mistakes and
miscalculations? Now that every lie has been exposed to the light for the
invasion and occupation of Iraq why are our sons and daughters still there?
Not one more drop of blood should be spilled for this pack of lies...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9418&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9418


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 1 February 2005 and
Wednesday, 2 February 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
...Shaykh Ra'd Hamdani, the General Secretary of the Council of Chiefs of
Tribes of Iraq announced that the percentage of voters who cast ballots in
the sham elections held by the Americans on 30 January did not exceed 35
percent. He said that the reports that put the percentage of voters higher
than that are false. Hamdani in a statement to the press said Tuesday
reported by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA that the council to be formed
on the basis of the "election" had no legitimacy and would not have any
authority to prepare a new Iraqi constitution or to choose an Iraqi
government. The puppet regime's so-called Supreme Electoral Commission
claimed that 60 percent of Iraq's registered voters had cast their ballots
in the election farce...


<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9421&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9421


Iraqi security, US forces suffer losses
Aljazeera.net
Iraqi fighters staged major attacks in and around Baghdad on Thursday - the
worst day of violence since the elections. Initial police reports indicated
two policemen were killed and 14 others wounded. At least 36 other Iraqi
security members are listed as missing. Police said fighters attacked a
police convoy as it travelled between Diwaniya, 180km (112 miles) south of
Baghdad, and the capital (...) On Wednesday two US marines were killed in
action in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the US military said...


<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9416&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9416


More Ominous Signs of Attack: General Electric Pulls Out of Iran
Kurt Nimmo
First it was Halliburton, now General Electric. Companies are closing down
business operations in Iran. "We're seeing a turnaround by a number of U.S.
companies operating in Iran," Dan Katz, chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., told the Associated Press. Last year Lautenberg accused
U.S. corporations of collecting "blood money" by doing business with
"countries the United States says sponsors terrorism and said he would pus
h for legislation to stop it." Lautenberg said, "When American companies do
business with Iran they are helping the Iranians create revenue that is
funneled to terrorists"....

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9415&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9415


US general finds 'fun' in killing
Aljazeera.net
According to an NBC-affiliated website, a US general in charge of troops in
Iraq has said he derived pleasure from partaking in fighting and killing
people. Speaking at a panel discussion on Tuesday, Lt-Gen James Mattis,
responsible for Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Division in Iraq, said he had
fun shooting Afghan men who he claimed beat women for five years. "You
know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So, it's a hell of a
lot of fun to shoot them," he said to clapping from the panel's audience...

<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9414&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9414


Iraqi soldiers killed in Kirkuk ambush
Aljazeera.net
Twelve Iraqi soldiers have been killed in an ambush near the oil-rich city
of Kirkuk amid continued violence around Iraq. An Iraqi military commander
said the soldiers were travelling from their jobs guarding oil pipelines
when they were attacked on Wednesday between the villages of Azab and
Zaraqiya, 85km west of Kirkuk...


<http://uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=9413&s2=04>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=9413




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