[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 19 Mar 2005]

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Washington’s criminal war against Iraq enters its third year
World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board
Today begins year three of the US intervention in Iraq, with its tragic
consequences for both the Iraqi and American people continuing to multiply.
The Iraqi dead—incinerated by US air strikes, shot to death at roadblocks,
or killed in merciless sieges like the one mounted last November against
Fallujah—number in the many tens of thousands. US casualties have risen to
over 1,520 dead, with more than 11,200 troops! wounded and as many as
100,000 in need of mental health care as a result of the carnage they have
witnessed in Iraq...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10517&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10517


The attempted assassination of Giuliana Sgrena
Xymphora
...The Italians, immediately on finishing their preliminary investigation,
rather pointedly announced the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, so
we know what they think. This withdrawal, since rescinded by Berlusconi
under direct pressure from Bush, is the best indication of the truth.
Berlusconi is desperate to remain Bush's poodle, and is willing to piss on
the grave of Nicola Calipari in order to stay in the doghouse. John
Negroponte, stone-cold kille! r, is leaving Iraq to take up his new post as
Bush's new national intelligence director...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10516&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10516


Dead Iraqis Why an Estimate was Ignored
Lila Guterman, Columbia Journalism Review
Last fall, a major public-health study appeared in The Lancet, a
prestigious British medical journal, only to be missed or dismissed by the
American press. To the extent it was covered at all, the reports were short
and usually buried far from the front pages of major newspapers. The
results of the study could have played an important role in future policy
decisions, but the press’s near total silence allowed the issue to pass
witho! ut debate (...) In the meantime, five months have passed since the
paper came out. If the death rate has stayed the same, roughly 25,000 more
Iraqis have died...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10523&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10523


200,000 march in London against war and occupation
Socialist Worker
Some 200,000 people from across Britain marched through the streets of
central London this Saturday 19 March to mark two years since the invasion
of Iraq. The march went past the US embassy where members of Military
Families Against the War laid a coffin to remember all the dead caused by
the war and a two minute silence was held. The huge size of the protest
showed the level of anger at the occupation of Iraq, attacks on civil
liberties and Geor! ge Bush’s threats against Syria and Iran...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10534&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10534


Upcoming Navy SEAL court-martial a case full of secrets
SETH HETTENA, Associated Press
The upcoming court-martial of a Navy SEAL lieutenant accused of prisoner
abuse is a case full of secrets. The SEAL is accused of punching an Iraqi
detainee in the arm and allowing his men to abuse the prisoner, who later
died during CIA interrogation at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. He faces
charges of assault, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer
at a trial scheduled to begin Monday at Naval Base San Diego. One! secret
is the defendant's name (...) The SEALs acted as the CIA's warrant squad on
dangerous "capture or kill" missions in Iraq, bursting into homes in the
middle of the night and carting off suspects. A secret policy governed
these missions under the Sea, Air Land or SEAL credo of "speed, surprise
and violence of action"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10533&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10533


"We Weren't in Any Hurry to Call the Medics"
Bush's Herds: Ready to Kick Anyone in the Face
BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
Reuters, March 7: "Soldiers depicted in the new video would not face
criminal charges, the Pentagon said. One section of the video showed a
bound and wounded prisoner sprawled on the ground, and showed his bullet
entry and exit wounds. At one point, a US soldier kicked the prisoner in
the face. Army documents quoted a soldier at the scene as saying he
'thought the dude eventually died. We weren't! in any hurry to call the
medics'." This is no surprise, because there are energetic Christians in
America who applaud the murder of wounded prisoners. They think it is
wonderful to kill them. They are proud that US soldiers kill helpless
people. Doubt me? Read on...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10526&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10526


MESSAGE FOR PEACE MARCHERS IN NEW YORK AND BOSTON!
The Bolivarian Circles of Aragua State, Venezuela!- Axis of Logic
...Greetings to all the peace marchers and US citizens from the people of
Venezuela on this important day! We congratulate you on your commitment to
stopping the war in Iraq and the occupation of Afghanistan. The great
majority of the Venezuelan people are also in complete disagreement with
the use of US military force to dominate the peoples of the Middle East and
other countries, classified arbit! rarily as the "Axis of Evil". This march
is vital to pressure the current Administration from desisting in its plans
to invade other countries in search of oil or other primary materials,
which will serve the pretensions and domination of the global corporate
empire...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10514&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10514


Iraq veterans sue over war trauma
ARTHUR MACMILLAN
THIRTY Iraq War veterans are taking legal action against the British Army,
claiming they were thrown out of the ranks after ruining their mental and
physical health in the battle to oust Saddam Hussein. Two years after the
conflict began, the former soldiers accuse the army of neglect for failing
to help with the physical and psychological trauma they suffered, and then
dismissing them from the service. The veterans - who include two Scots -
are demanding compe! nsation from the Ministry of Defence in the first
legal action of its kind to stem from the 2003 conflict...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10531&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10531


We will resist U.S. empire, say voices across Middle East
Socialist Worker
“Iraqi culture is being crushed under the tracks of US tanks,” says Dahr
Jamail, one of the few independent journalists reporting from occupied
Iraq. He is clear what is happening there. He tells Socialist Worker this
week that “day by day… more people have been enraged by the occupation and
are joining the resistance”...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10535&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10535


Activists Protest Iraq War on Anniversary
SAM DOLNICK, Associated Press Writer
Anti-war activists marched in the streets of American cities big and small
Saturday, stopping traffic and lying down alongside flag-draped cardboard
coffins to mark the second anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.
Some of the demonstrators were arrested in New York as they demanded that
U.S. troops be brought home. ``This country was founded by acts of civil
disobedience,'' said David McReynolds, 75, of New York, as he marched!
along 42nd Street. ``We have an obligation to make our resistance public
and to say as clearly as we can that the war is illegal''...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10529&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10529


Baghdad Under Siege
David Enders , The Nation
...Despite the expanding prison population, the US military controls no
more ground than it did when major combat operations ended two years ago.
Abu Ghraib is a place I've visited intermittently throughout my time in
Iraq, usually to conduct interviews with families waiting outside the
prison for information or to visit family members. Like most
military/government installations in and around Baghdad, the most notable
change over the past two years is the continuing ! addition of concrete and
earth-filled blast barriers and concertina wire, pushing visitors ever
farther from the walls of the actual complex. All roads out of the capital
are considered extremely dangerous, and the entire time we are outside the
prison, we hear explosions in the surrounding town...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10525&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10525


Deconstructing Iraq: Year Three Begins
Tom Engelhardt
...The most significant fact of our Iraq War and occupation (and war),
which can't be repeated too many times, is that the Bush administration
busted into the country without an exit strategy for a simple reason: They
never planned to leave -- and they still don't. If you have a better reason
for taking a withdrawal position and pressing for it, let me know by at
least the beginning of Year Four of the Iraqi Deconstruction Era...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10524&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10524


'They can't train you for the reality of Iraq. You can't have a mass grave
with dogs eating the people in it'

Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
... Once such dissent would have been unthinkable - as would the growing
disquiet within the ranks of the US army as its forces rotate into Iraq on
second and even third tours. Open resistance remains relatively rare. Only
a handful of troops have filed conscien! tious objector applications;
Vietnam, which was fought by conscripts, produced 190,000 such petitions.
But the conscripts only had one tour. Soldiers' advocates and peace
activists believe the first signs of opposition within the military could
slowly grow - as it did for Vietnam - turning disgruntled soldiers and
their families into powerful anti-war advocates. A number of Iraq veterans
have begun to speak out...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10520&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10520


Shoot first, pay later culture pervades Iraq
Awadh al-Taee and Steve Negus, Financial Times
...Askew in the centre of the street sat a civilian car, a neat line of
bullet holes piercing its hood and windscreen. The driver lay some five
metres away, wounded in the side and stomach, and going into shock. Later
that day, he died in hospital. Another motorist, who was driving with his
two children in the car, stood dazed in the street, his head lightly grazed
by a bullet. Scenes such as this, witnessed by FT corresp! ondent Awadh
al-Taee on January 23, repeats itself time and again across Iraq. This
Baghdad neighbourhood of Kerrada alone, according to local police, sees one
fatal shooting a week by either private security companies or the
military...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10521&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10521


Iraq insurgency has worsened: US intelligence
HindustanTimes.com
Though US President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
have been giving the impression that the insurgency situation in Iraq is
improving, the American Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), which monitors
the situation daily, says it has worsened. "The insurgency in Iraq has
grown in size and complexity over the past year. Attacks numbered
approximately 25 per day one year ago," DIA Director Vice Admiral Lowell
Jacoby told the Senate! Armed Services Committee in Washington...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10522&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10522


Two Years Later, Iraq War Drains Military
Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Two years after the United States launched a war in Iraq with a crushing
display of power, a guerrilla conflict is grinding away at the resources of
the U.S. military and casting uncertainty over the fitness of the
all-volunteer force, according to senior military leaders, lawmakers and
defense experts. The unexpectedly heavy demands of sustained ground combat
are depleting military manpower and gear faster than they can be fu! lly
replenished...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10519&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10519


'Preemptive Strikes' Become Policy
National defense now extends beyond U.S. borders to include acts of 'active
deterrence.'
John Hendren, Los Angeles Times
A new "National Defense Strategy" for the first time makes the kind of
preemptive strike used in Iraq part of the nation's military policy in
dealing with rogue nations, Pentagon officials said today. The plan that
specifies the Bush administration's goals in protecting the nation
describes a muscular policy of "active deterrence"...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10518&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10518


Iraq Veterans Against the War : Statement on the Second Anniversary of the
Iraq War
Iraq Veterans Against the War, Axis of Logic
Today marks the second anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq,
a key milestone in the current U.S. Government’s campaign of lies and
deceit common since 9/11. We were first told that there was a link between
Iraq and the horrible 9/11 attacks. But there was none. Then we were told
that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction; yet only a few old warheads and
some dormant bacter! ial cultures have been found despite rigorous
searching. Then finally, we were told that Saddam Hussein was training
terrorists to attack the United States, but no terrorist presence seems to
have existed in Iraq prior to the massive build-up in early 2003...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10515&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10515


Fake Cable Labeled Writer a Spy for Iraq
Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer
Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to produce a document accusing
journalist and activist William Arkin of serving as a spy for Saddam
Hussein. The Pentagon says the supposed Defense Intelligence Agency cable
is a forgery. Arkin says it's "chilling" and is demanding an investigation.
The NBC News military analyst says he became aware of the bogus document
when a Washington Times reporter called about the spying allegation! and
sent him a copy...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10527&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10527


Let's stop the war now!
Nicolas J S Davies, Online Journal Contributing Writer
The war in Iraq is two years old today and it is already behaving like a
two-year-old, notably demonstrating a destructive power beyond the control
of those who gave birth to it. Regardless of unprecedented and largely
successful efforts at "information management" by the U.S. government, the
reality is that the devastating consequences of U.S. policy in Iraq are not
diminishing but are in fact continuing unabated. In the face of armed!
resistance and political pressure to minimize U.S. casualties, our
government is clinging to a classic "divide and conquer" policy that is
tearing apart the fabric of a multi-sectarian society in which different
religious and secular groups have coexisted and intermarried for hundreds
of years...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10512&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10512


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 18 March 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial board The
Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
...US forces kidnapped 10 children outside their homes in downtown
al-Qa’im, a town on the Syrian border. The local correspondent for Mafkarat
al-Islam reported one of the parents of the arrested children said that the
US troops captured the children and then put them on the tops of tanks and
armored vehicles and then set off with the! m on heavy patrols inside the
city. In his report posted at 12:50pm Mecca time Friday afternoon, the
correspondent said that the patrols were still underway at the time of
writing. The children were obviously being used as human shields to prevent
the Resistance from attacking the American armored vehicles...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=10513&s2=20>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=10513




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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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