[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 02 Jun 2005 - Part Two]

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Open Letter To The American Media
Owatica
Dear Media, This is your wake-up call; your heads-up warning; your way out;
the only way to save yourselves. You apparently don't read your own polls
or have become confused about how to respond to them appropriately. The
duck-and-cover, utterly complicit Democratic, not to mention Republican,
"leadership" seems to have a similar problem. For them, there is no real
escape (...) It is so simple, it is almost silly. All you have to do is
work together to actually report the! news accurately and appropriately.
That means the "runaway bride" goes on page 24 and the "DOWNING STREET
MINUTES" go on page ONE as the HEADLINE news it is, right along with
GENOCIDE IN IRAQ, THE MURDER OF OUR OWN TROOPS, CORRUPT ELECTIONS and
noting THE HALF-LIFE OF DEPLETED URANIUM IS 4.5 BILLION YEARS (...), among
other hot topics

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12281&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12281


In the New Iraq: The Democratic Example
BRussells Tribunal
...Um Dhia is 56. On December 31, 2004, her son Dhia who is a sheep
merchant went to Najaf, about 200 kilometers south west of Baghdad, for a
deal. He never returned back. Five days later, his mother, father, uncle
and two relatives from Najaf went to ask about him in the police stations
in Najaf. They never returned back, except the two relatives. A week later
the rest of the family were asking in the garages if there was any
accidents on the high way, o! r any explosions in Najaf. They found out
that every body was arrested (...) In the Najaf police station the three
were tortured. They were kept in separate dark cold rooms with their hands
tied. They were beaten and humiliated. The mother asked to see her son. He
was brought to her, beaten and tortured in front of her..

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12285&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12285


More War Crimes: Bush’s Collective Punishment in Ramadi
Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire
Here’s a bit of disgusting news you won’t see reported by the Bush Ministry
of Disinformation and Pathological Lies (i.e., Fox News and their slavish
emulators): “US occupation forces announced on their propaganda radio
beamed at local residents of ar-Ramadi that the US military would stop
raiding houses and mosques, would open roads to local people and turn the
electricity and drinking water supply in the city back o! n if local
residents would cooperate by informing the American occupation troops of
the locations and bases of Iraqi Resistance fighters operating in the city
against the Americans”. In other words, if the residents turn in their
families and neighbors (and thus endanger their lives as collaborators),
the U.S. military will stop committing war crimes...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12271&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12271


My Own Recent Conversations With U.S. Soldiers
Mitchell E. Potts - A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
...The part of this particular conversation that stands out in my mind the
most is when he described the day to day routine of his actions in Iraq. He
told me some things that I have not heard reported in the so-called
"liberal media." He described how they would often raid schools, even more
than mosques, because that is where many of the insurgents would hide out.
He also told me that the one thing he felt the wor! st about his actions in
Iraq was that the U.S. soldiers would routinely round up the kids and use
them as human shields. I asked him why they did that, and he replied that
it was because the Muslims would not shoot their own children...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12278&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12278


The failed siege of Fallujah
Dahr Jamail
After two devastating sieges of Fallujah in April and November of 2004,
which left thousands of Iraqis dead and hundreds of thousands without
homes, the aftermath of the US attempt to rid the city of resistance
fighters in an effort to improve security in the country continues to
plague the residents of Fallujah, and Iraq as a whole. Simmering anger
grows with time among Fallujans who, after having most of their city
destroyed by the US military onslaught, have seen promi! ses of rebuilding
by both the US military and Iraqi government remain mostly unfulfilled.
"There are daily war crimes being committed in Fallujah, even now," said
Mohammed Abdulla, the executive director of the Study Center for Human
Rights and Democracy in Fallujah (SCHRDF)...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12283&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12283


The politics of sovereignty
Iraqi resistance to occupation represents the continuity of the Iraqi state
Abdul-Ilah and Hana Al-Bayaty, Al-Ahram Weekly
Only those who are not aware of the propaganda tools and methods
historically used by imperialist powers to divide and conquer peoples can
believe that there is in Iraq today a genuine political process meant to
build a unified state with a permanent constitution. It is obvious that the
occupation is attempting to build three protectorates so we! ak and
conflicting that Iraqis will not be able to get rid of American military,
political and economic control. There is no real political process in Iraq
now to build a unified state respected by all Iraqis and by the world...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12280&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12280


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 2 June 2005.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. ( http://www.freearabvoice.org )
...As the puppet regime installed by the United States in Iraq continues to
escalate its death squad campaign against Sunnis and opponents of the
occupation, soldiers of the puppet so-called "Iraqi national guard" killed
the imam of the Ahl al-Bayt Mosque in al-Latifiyah, Shaykh `Imad `Asim
al-Hamdani, and the builder of the ! mosque, al-Hajj Khalaf an-Najam, as
they were returning home from the mosque in a car on Monday, 31 May 2005...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12289&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12289


He was Speaking the truth.
Sarah Whalen, Iraq Tunnel
In the heady days of the Second Iraq War, when the West seemed to be
winning Bush’s “war on terror,” Westerners laughed at Baghdad Bob, more
formally known as Mohammed “no tanks” Saeed Al-Sahhaf, Saddam’s minister of
information. Al-Sahhaf’s cocksure pronouncements of Iraqi military victory
against US “coalition” forces — always made with an air of studied
casualness — had then a hilarity about them that spawned endless jokes. But
that was then. This is now. A! nd now, Al-Sahhaf seems almost prescient in
his predictions about how the war would progress...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12279&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12279


Postwar Iraq paying heavy environmental price
Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Reuters
Iraq's environmental problems - among world's worst - range from a looted
nuclear site which needs cleaning up to sabotaged oil pipelines, a U.N.
official said on Thursday. "An improvement is almost impossible in these
security conditions. Chemicals are seeping into groundwater and the
situation is becoming worse and creating additional health problems," said
Pekka Haavisto, Iraq task force chairman at the United Nations
Environmental Prog! ramme...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12277&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12277


US forces issue hi-tech ID cards for insurgent suspects
Phil Sands
Suspected insurgents are being issued with hi-tech identity cards by US
forces, Gulf News has learned. Tagging will allow intelligence to keep
track of suspects after their release. The cards allow American
intelligence services to keep track of people taken into custody even if
they are released because they are found to have done nothing wrong...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12276&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12276


Something wrong in Raja Nawaf (Anabr governor) death stroy
Baghdad Dweller
Exactly on 10 May 2005 Raja Nawaf (Anbar province governor) was kidnapped
[BBC repoted it after one day], on 15 May 2005 stream media reported that
Raja Nawaf been released (...) on 31 May 2005 the same individual (Raja
Nawaf) found dead. Different versions on his death, here are the 3
versions: 1- American troops bombed a house, found 4-5 foreign terrorists
inside and the body of Raja Nawaf under the debris of the collapsed
building, he w! as handcuffed on a gas container in Rawa city. 2-
Insurgents killed Raja Nawaf when the American troops attacked them inside
a house in Rawa city...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12275&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12275


The Other Bomb Drops
Jeremy Scahill, The Nation
It was a huge air assault: Approximately 100 US and British planes flew
from Kuwait into Iraqi airspace. At least seven types of aircraft were part
of this massive operation, including US F-15 Strike Eagles and Royal Air
Force Tornado ground-attack planes. They dropped precision-guided munitions
on Saddam Hussein's major western air-defense facility, clearing the path
for Special Forces helicopters that lay in wait in Jordan. Earlier attacks
had been carried out aga! inst Iraqi command and control centers, radar
detection systems, Revolutionary Guard units, communication centers and
mobile air-defense systems. The Pentagon's goal was clear: Destroy Iraq's
ability to resist. This was war. But there was a catch: The war hadn't
started yet, at least not officially. This was September 2002...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12274&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12274


Depleted Uranium: Lessons in "Humanitarian" and Other Warfare
Jeremy R. Hammond
...As the war in Iraq commenced in March, 2003, the White House and
Pentagon spokespersons made claims that the US was doing everything it
could to prevent Iraqi civilians from being harmed. That hypothesis is
seriously challenged by the fact that it has once again used depleted
uranium munitions in that country. While the US government claims DU is
harmless, an enormous body of research and published studies by the world’s
scientific! community have reached a different conclusion – that exposure
to DU, particularly internal exposure, such as through inhalation or
ingestion, poses a significant health risk...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12273&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12273


Bombing Iran: The Facts Don't Matter
Joshua Frank, www.dissidentvoice.org
As if things were going so smoothly in Iraq, now this: leaders in the US
are calling for military strikes on Iran. Their infatuation with taking
down the mullahs isn't predicated on defending the United States. Rather,
it's to protect Israel -- from what, we're not really sure. AIPAC, the
highly influential pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington recently held
its well-attended annual conference, where the core educational thrust of
the eve! nt was to persuade US politicians and the mainstream media into
believing that Iran needs a little warfare...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12272&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12272


U.S. casualties from Iraq war hidden away at Walter Reed
“Used once and thrown away”
Socialist Worker
SINCE GEORGE W. Bush launched his “war on terror,” more than 25,000 U.S.
troops have been medically evacuated from the battlefields of Iraq and
Afghanistan--about half of them injured by bombs or bullets. Many of the
most seriously wounded will eventually find themselves at Walter Reed Army
Medical Center. Walter Reed is considered the nation’s premier military
medical facility. But some patients tell a! different story--of a vastly
overcrowded facility, where they don’t receive adequate treatment...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12270&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12270


Iraq: The New Heroin Route
Arnaud Aubron, Libération - t r u t h o u t
Opiates - and cannabis - produced in Afghanistan transit through Iraq
before being distributed in Europe. Their consumption is growing in Baghdad
and elsewhere. Repeat yet again. Although Washington took the lead thirty
years ago in the global anti-drug war, narcotics seem to stubbornly want to
surge through the wake of the American Army. Thus, in 2001, following the
prohibition of poppy cultivation by the Taliban, Afghanistan had seen its
op! ium production fall by 185 tons... to shoot up to 3,200 tons (or a
1,700% increase) immediately after the United States' intervention, a
scenario that is finding an echo today in Iraq...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12269&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12269


The Slave Traders of the Gitmo Gulag
Washington is the Source of Terror
PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, CounterPunch
The US government gave the slave trade a boost by offering money for Al
Qaida and Talaban fighters. Afghan and Pakistani war lords simply rounded
up people who looked Arab or foreign and sold them to the Americans as
captured fighters. The "fighters" apparently included relief workers,
refugees, and Arab businessmen. The tribunals looking into the
classification of Guantanamo prisoners as "enemy com! batants" have
uncovered numerous examples of hapless victims of a naive US government too
flush with money...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12268&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12268


War Made Easy: From Vietnam to Iraq
Norman Solomon
On February 27, 1968, I sat in a small room on Capitol Hill. Around a long
table, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was in session, taking
testimony from an administration official. Most of all, I remember a man
with a push-broom moustache and a voice like sandpaper, raspy and urgent.
Wayne Morse did not resort to euphemism. He spoke of "tyranny that American
boys are being killed in South Vietnam to maintain in power." Moments
before the hearing adjourned,! the senior senator from Oregon said that he
did not "intend to put the blood of this war on my hands." And Morse
offered clarity that was prophetic: "We're going to become guilty, in my
judgment, of being the greatest threat to the peace of the world. It's an
ugly reality, and we Americans don't like to face up to it"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12267&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12267


US and Iraqi government troops begin lockdown of Baghdad
James Cogan, WSWS
Operation Lightning—the massive deployment of 50,000 US and Iraqi
government troops and police into the streets of Baghdad—began on Sunday
and is unfolding amid a virtual media blackout and a complete absence of
critical commentary. What is taking place amounts to the re-invasion of
Iraq’s capital aimed at terrorising the population and cracking down on
resistance groups that operate freely across large sections of the city.
There is no do! ubt that the operation was unveiled by the Iraqi government
of Ibrahim al-Jaafari on the direct orders of Washington...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12266&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12266


From Watergate to the Downing Street Memo
When Presidents Lie
JASON LEOPOLD, CounterPunch
...The sad reality these days, however, is that it takes a scandal such as
a president receiving oral sex in the Oval Office by an intern to qualify
for above the fold headlines and impeachment. Leading the country into a
war under false pretenses? Sorry, not juicy enough. The Downing Street memo
that was unearthed by the Times of London last month should have been the
smoking gun that finally resulted in B! ush being brought up on High Crimes
and Misdemeanor charges under the United States Constitution's impeachment
clause...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12265&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12265


Administration's offenses impeachable
Bangor Daily News
...We live a lie when we fail to hold leaders accountable for their lies.
By not calling now for impeachment, we are saying that we condone
hypocrisy, pseudo-democracy, and murdering thousands of Americans and
Iraqis for strategic control of energy resources that we have no right to.
Patriotism demands that we insist on the ideals of democracy, not that we
support the "leaders" who cynically destroy them. What's curious is why
anyone like me should have to e! ven point this out. Don't our senators and
congressmen feel betrayed? Are they content to continue the murdering
rather than do what truth demands? Do they think they can lie to history,
too. Do they think that this little Iraq problem will somehow just go away,
that the courageous resistance to the United States occupation will give up
and hand Bush the keys to the oil wells?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12287&s2=03>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12287




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