[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 05 May 2005]

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Iraq causing big trouble for Pentagon
John Catalinotto
According to reports from the U.S. military command, 150 people were killed
in fighting in Iraq from April 28 to May 2 in dozens of battles. While this
overall total fails to explain all that is going on, it indicates once more
that the resistance movement which sprung up after the start of the U.S.
occupation in April 2003 is still gaining momentum. Most independent news
media have left Iraq by now, making it harder to get an accurate assessment
of developme! nts there...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11548&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11548


'How long can Bush spin big lies into truth on Iraq war?'
Andrew Greeley, Chicago Sun-Times
As the criminal, sinful war in Iraq enters its third year, the president is
in Europe to heal the wounds between the United States and its former
allies, on his own terms, of course. The White House propaganda mill hails
it as another victory for the president and ignores the fact that most
Europeans still consider the war dangerous folly and the president a
dangerous fool. One hears new rationalizations for the war on thi! s side
of the Atlantic. After the hearings on Secretary Rice, a Republican
senator, with all the self-righteous anger that characterizes many such,
proclaimed, "The Democrats just have to understand that the president
really believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11564&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11564


Special Report: The unholy trinity of electronic snooping: Bolton,
Negroponte and Hayden
Wayne Madsen, Online Journal Contributing Writer
...The three key participants who have emerged as orchestrating the misuse
of NSA and other U.S. intelligence resources to conduct surveillance of
those who opposed neoconservative plans to invade Iraq and ratchet up
tensions with North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, the Palestinian
Authority headed by the late Yasir Arafat, and the former government of
Haiti are Bolton; ! NSA's director and the new Deputy Director for National
Intelligence General Michael V. Hayden; and former U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations and Iraq and current National Intelligence Director John
Negroponte. Hayden served alongside Condoleezza Rice in the National
Security Council under President George H. W. Bush...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11563&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11563


MEDIA ALERT: BURYING THE LEGAL ADVICE FOR WAR – PART 2
MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media
...Media Tenor research institute analysed the content of the news coverage
of political figures on the evening news broadcasts of BBC1, BBC2, ITN and
ITV between April 1-15. The analysis shows that foreign politics –
including the Iraq conflict – accounted for only 1.2% of all information on
ITN news, with only a slightly greater share on BBC1 (1.4%) and ITV (1.7%).
(‘Economy dominates ne! ws while Iraq coverage slows down,’
<http://www.mediatenor.com, >www.mediatenor.com, April 22, 2005)...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11562&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11562


Uncovering the past or how I got my degree in political archeology
William Bowles, I'n'I
U.S. Congressman John Conyers demands to know in a letter to George Bush
why …the United States and Great Britain had secretly agreed to attack Iraq
in the summer of 2002, well before the invasion and before you even sought
Congressional authority to engage in military action. While various
individuals have asserted this to be the case before, including Paul
O’Neill, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Richard Clarke, a fo! rmer
National Security Council official, they have been previously dismissed by
your Administration. However, when this story was divulged last weekend,
Prime Minister Blair’s representative claimed the document contained
“nothing new.”...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11561&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11561


Abu Ghraib: Fall Guy Can’t Plead Guilty if Torture Orders Were Lawful
Kevin Zeese, www.dissidentvoice.org
...In a shocker Colonel Pohl threw out the guilty plea of Private England.
Despite photographs showing her holding a leash around an Iraqi prisoner’s
neck, pointing to the genitals of prisoners and pointing to a pyramid of
naked Iraqis, Pohl could not accept England's guilty plea if she thought
she was following lawful orders. It gets messy pleading guilty to torturing
Iraqi prisoners being held at Abu Ghraib! when you think you are acting
consistently with the policy of the United States that seems to allow
torture. Even the fall guy -- or fall girl in this case -- cannot plead
guilty!...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11560&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11560


An Open Letter to My Husband’s Chain of Command: The Players of the Game
Monica Benderman, www.dissidentvoice.org
...I know what it is like to be betrayed. Each one of you in Sgt. Kevin
Benderman’s chain of command must as well. The difference is, Sgt.
Benderman and I retain our integrity. We were betrayed by others than
ourselves. Chaplain Temple, Cpt. Aqueche, Cpt. Tavares, Maj. Amadeo, Lt.
Col. Nicholle, Col. Kidd, Brig. Gen. Byrne, commissioned officers in the US
Army, for you the feeling must be far worse! , a feeling I never could
imagine -- YOU have betrayed one of your own soldiers, and his family. By
not standing to defend what you have sworn to defend -- our Constitution --
by backing down, by hiding behind letters of form, and nothing but excuses
-- YOU, Sirs, HAVE BETRAYED YOURSELVES...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11559&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11559


We're Not Going Anywhere
Ken Sanders, www.dissidentvoice.org
Bush & Co. like to assure everyone that U.S. and coalition forces will
remain in Iraq as long as it takes to stabilize the country, but not a
moment longer. Democrats, particularly after Iraq's elections in January,
like to talk about exit strategies and try to pin down the Bush
administration on a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
To that end, on May 1, 2005, Iraq's national security adviser predicted
that U.S. troops would being w! ithdrawing from Iraq in mid-2006. I hate to
be the bearer of bad news, but the U.S. will not be leaving Iraq in 2006.
In fact, the U.S. never had any intention of ever leaving Iraq. Or
Afghanistan, for that matter...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11558&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11558


The Gates of Hell: Occupied Iraq
Jack Random, www.dissidentvoice.org
...Welcome to Baghdad: The Gates of Hell are open for business. Like the
fall of Saddam, the appointment of an interim government and the election,
itself, the christening of a new ministry did not have the desired effect.
The vast majority of casualties on the side of the occupying forces are no
longer American soldiers; they are allied Iraqis, police, militia and
contractors -- the euphemism of choice for mercenaries. How much is a man
paid t! o enter the Gates of Hell and descend to its lower depths like
Dante and his guide Virgil?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11557&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11557


Sanctioning Syria, Again?
The Obsession with Syria
FARRAH HASSEN, CounterPunch
The Bush Middle East foreign policy squad is shooting our country in its
foot again, this time in Syria. After the release of a recent US report
absolving the Damascus government from charges of accumulating WMDs and
supporting terrorism, one would think that logic would dictate a rethinking
of Syria policy. Instead, Washington officials have commenced another round
of Syria bashing...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11556&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11556


Lifting the Censor's Veil on the Shame of Iraq
Bob Herbert, New York Times
"Nobody wants to come forward about this," said Aidan Delgado. "I didn't
want to come forward about this." One of the distinctive things about the
war in Iraq is the extraordinary proliferation of photos taken by G.I.'s
that document the extreme horrors of warfare and, in many instances, the
degrading treatment of Iraqi civilians by American troops...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11555&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11555


Allawai Possibly Dead/Injured by Resistance Attack
Albasrah- Iraqwar.ru
Unconfirmed reports from the Resistance indicate that collaborator Iyad
Allawi may dead or critically injured after a Resistance attack. The attack
may explain the absence of Allawi suddenly from all media outlets as well
as his absence from the oath ceremony given by the new collaborator
government in recent days...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11554&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11554


US Marine cleared over mosque shooting
Associated Press
A US Marine corporal who shot dead an apparently injured and unarmed Iraqi
in a Fallujah mosque last year will not face court-martial, the Marine
Corps announced today. Maj Gen Richard Natonski, commanding general of the
1st Marine Division, said a review of the evidence showed the Marine's
actions in the shooting were "consistent with the established rules of
engagement and the law of armed conflict"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11553&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11553


Pentagon cut and paste
Pepe Escobar
Talk about rebel technology: the Pentagon this week was not overwhelmed by
a dirty bomb or a jet converted into a missile, but by a simple cut and
paste job. Like anyone else, the Pentagon uses Adobe Acrobat. At first, the
42 pages of the report which would supposedly shed some light on the March
4 killing of Italian secret agent Nicola Calipari and the wounding of
kidnapped journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Baghdad showed up on the Centcom
website as a PDF file heavily censored wi! th large sections blacked out -
including the significant omission, among others, of the names of all the
soldiers involved in the shooting, as well as entire pages...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11552&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11552


IMPEACHMENT TIME: "FACTS WERE FIXED."
Greg Palast, Special to BuzzFlash
Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all
over it. The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY
PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a
closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as
inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified
by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts
were being ! fixed around the policy"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11551&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11551


Turkey Is Gathering Troops Along Southern Border With Iraq
"Worldtribune.com"
Turkey is gathering troops along its southern border with Iraq. Kurdish
opposition sources said thousands of Turkish troops have been gathering in
positions near the Iraqi border. They said the Turkish military formation
was taking place in the Kurdish areas of southeastern Turkey. The Turkish
troops deployed near the Iraqi border were identified as units of two
commando brigades, Bolu and Kayseri. The sources said the commando forces
w! ere seen in the Cukurca district of Hakkari...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11549&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11549


War crimes in Iraq? U.S. must pay
John Catalinotto
Belgian doctors carried out five operations on a young Iraqi woman to
repair leg wounds caused by a U.S. cluster bomb. Wanting to add some
justice to this humanitarian act, the doctors handed a bill for 51,570
euros ($66,650) to the U.S. Embassy in Brussels on April 28. The young
woman, Hiba Kassim, was wounded in her leg, hip and abdomen by the bomb
during the U.S. invasion two years ago. The same bomb killed her brother.
The doctors, from Medical Aid for the Th! ird World (MATW), brought Kassim
to Belgium in 2004 in an attempt to save her ankle. At this time she is
able to walk, but with a limp...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11547&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11547


US, Iraqi forces hold nine journalists on suspicion of aiding insurgents
AFP
US and Iraqi forces are holding without charge nine Iraqi journalists
working for international news organisations, on suspicion of aiding
insurgents, the US military said Thursday. The local journalists working
for seven Western news organisations are currently detained with "some
having been held for several months", said Colonel Steve Boylan, a
spokesman for US forces in Iraq...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11546&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11546


U.S. Can't Account for $100M Spent in Iraq
MATT KELLEY, Guardian
U.S. civilian authorities in Iraq cannot properly account for nearly $100
million that was supposed to have been spent on reconstruction projects in
south-central Iraq, government investigators said Wednesday. There are
indications of fraud in the use of the $96.6 million, according to a report
by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. A separate
investigation of possible wrongdoing continues...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11544&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11544


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 4 May 2005.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
Iraqi Resistance forces mounted a violent bombardment on the US base in the
College of Agriculture of al-Anbar University east of the city of ar-Ramadi
(110km west of Baghdad) at 9am Wednesday morning, local time. The local
correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported witnesses as saying that 10
rockets blasted into the base, a fac! ility operated by the Iraqi Army of
Jerusalem militia before the American invasion in spring 2003.

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11543&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11543


'Blairgate' Britain's Electoral Tsunami
Felicity Arbuthnot, www.globalresearch.ca
'Blairgate', the political tsunami threatening to engulf Britain's Blair
government over the Iraq war, dodgy dossiers, dodgy advice by Lord
Goldsmith, the Attorney General, two 'whitewash' Enquiries - Chaired by
Lord Hutton and Lord Butler - and allegations that the Prime Minister even
lied about lying, has thrown up some charismatic and unlikely political
opponents running in key constituencies...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=11541&s2=06>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=11541




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