[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 12 Jun 2005]

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DOWNING STREET DOCUMENTS -- Ten Briefcases Full
Grace Reid
The papers are coming alive over the "Downing Street Memo." Am I supposed
to get excited? Bollocks. Until the night of the 9th of June, the "Downing
Street Memo" didn't even exist. We had the "Downing Street Minutes" all
right. And we had a BBC transcript from March 20, 2005 that included the
minutes, and several memos... including one from Christopher Meyer and one
from David Manning. These things were explosive, to be sure. But no one
read them, ! so they didn't exist. That is not until 8:00PM, June 9th, 2005
when some brave or misguided soul decided to put a whole zip file of five
confidential British memorandum up on the World Wide Web -- until then we
were a little short of anything one could call "Downing Street Memo"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12501&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12501


End to occupation pre-condition for reconstruction of Iraq.
BRussells Tribunal critical of joint US-EU conference on Iraq, in Brussels
on June 22
BRussells Tribunal
On June 22 2005, the United States and the European Union are co-hosting an
international conference on Iraq in Brussels, which aims to bolster
international support for political and economic reforms and back efforts
to draft a constitution for the new Baghdad government. The legitimacy and
autonomy of this government, ! installed and completely controlled by the
US occupation forces after an illegal and illegitimate war of aggression,
is not only challenged by a large part of the Iraqi population, but also by
the international peace movement...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12514&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12514


Frank Salvato: In Denial Over Bush’s Torture and Rape Gulag
Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire
I have news for Frank Salvato, a columnist for ChronWatch (the
“conservative,” i.e., reactionary and self-declared alternative to the San
Francisco Chronicle): Bush’s torture and sexual humiliation gulag exists
and the liberal hand-wringing vacillation of Amnesty International will not
change that gruesome (if not generally reported in the corporate media)
fact. How do I know this?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12511&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12511


Iraq war planned two years before 9/11
Aljazeera.com
According to author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz, then presidential
candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political
benefits of attacking Iraq two years before September 11 occurred. "He was
thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," said President Bush's former ghost
writer...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12518&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12518


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Sunday, 12 June 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. ( http://www.freearabvoice.org )
...A high-ranking puppet officer in the department of monitoring and
investigation in the puppet so-called “Iraqi interior ministry” admitted to
Mafkarat al-Islam on Sunday morning that the Iraqi Resistance had
penetrated the puppet regime’s security apparatus and had reached
“sensitive positions” in that structure. Speaking fr! om the Republican
Palace area of occupied Baghdad, in what the occupation forces call the
“green zone,” the puppet officer said that the Resistance had penetrated
sensitive security positions in the puppet army and puppet police and also
in the forces that guard puppet ministers and important collaborationist
party officials...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12520&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12520


THE LIE OF THE CENTURY
Michael Rivero, What Really Happened
...Right now, we have the criminals at hand. And, while other leaders in
history have lied to start wars, for the first time in history, the lie
stands exposed while the war started with the lies still rages on, to the
death and detriment of our young men and women in uniform. We cannot in
good moral conscience ignore this lie, this crime, lest we encourage future
leaders to continue to lie to use to send our kids off to pointless wars.
Lying to start a ! war is more than an impeachable offence; it the highest
possible crime a government can commit against their own people (...) You
need to be in a rage and you need to act on that rage because even as I
type these words, the same government that lied about Iraq's nuclear
weapons is telling the exact same lies about Iran's nuclear capabilities...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12510&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12510


Strategy of Lies (Col. Sam Gardiner)
Democratic Underground
...The 56-page investigation was assembled by USAF Colonel (Ret.) Sam
Gardiner. "Truth from These Podia: Summary of a Study of Strategic
Influence, Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and
Strategic Psychological Operations in Gulf II" identifies more than 50
stories about the Iraq war that were faked by government propaganda artists
in a covert campaign to "market" the military invasion of Iraq. Gardiner
has credentials. He has taught at! the National War College, the Air War
College and the Naval Warfare College and was a visiting scholar at the
Swedish Defense College...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12512&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12512


Our only identity is Iraqis.....
Faiza Jarrar, A Family in Baghdad
...my web will be from independent Iraqi people who are the majority , who
are not from government, or new parties came from outside Iraq, only GOD
knew who is funding them, and what is their motives. And my web will not
have contactors or business men or women who are greedy and looking for
power and money...Our only identity is Iraqis.....there is no sub-identity.
I believe in the power of people, and the future will be done by people`s
hands, f! araway from corrupted or puppets ( governments or parties ). And
this equation will be right for all oppressed nations...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12497&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12497


At scene of Iraq air strikes, casualties unclear
Reuters
Iraqis inspecting the damage of U.S. air strikes in western Iraq on Sunday
challenged American assertions that the raids had killed 40 insurgents,
saying there were no guerrillas in the area. "There were no mujahideen
(fighters) or armed men in the area. The planes attacked indiscriminately,"
said one man, who did not give his name, as he inspected the rubble of a
house. Quite how many may have died, or their identities, remained unclear.
Residents would no! t let a Reuters cameraman film two of the houses that
were hit by the strikes...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12517&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12517


Syria says U.S. accusations like those of Iraq WMD
Reuters
U.S. accusations that Syria has not fully withdrawn its intelligence agents
from Lebanon are similar to the unfounded prewar charges that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction, Syria's ambassador to the United States said
on Sunday. "I would say it's a shame that the world's unique superpower,
the United States of America, will degrade itself to this level," Imad
Moustapha said on CNN's "Late Edition"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12516&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12516


Iraq's Sunnis say things never worse
Associated Press
...As bad as conditions became after Saddam fell from power and the
Americans were running things, many Sunni Arab leaders claim conditions
have only become worse under the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari. An ongoing security sweep in Baghdad, they say, has singled
them out for random arrests. They also complain of brutal and high-handed
treatment during raids of their homes by forces of the Iraqi police and
army. Shiite militiamen, they insist! , are killing their clerics and
hounding them out of government jobs to make way for supporters of ruling
coalition parties...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12515&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12515


The Bush Chronicles revisited -- if you dare
P.M. Carpenter
...Journalist Herskowitz had met with Bush numerous times in 1999 in
preparation for a campaign-puff volume, and much of what he heard and later
made public -- though not without genuine reservations -- made him realize
that “Bush's true views … and basic essence had eluded the American
people.” Had they ever. For instance here’s Bush explaining the
relationship between domestic and foreign policy with a superficiality that
stuns: One of the keys to b! eing seen as a great leader is to be seen as a
commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when
he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to
invade, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to
get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a
successful presidency. In reading the above musings of candidate Bush I’m
unsure which reaction a thoughtful reader experiences more -- disgust or
sadness. Both are pronounced. The future president comes off as a cross
between a cold-blooded opportunist willing to expend others’ lives in the
pursuit of political goals and an insecure adolescent possessed of a
precocious grandeur...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12503&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12503


Liberal Basra pushed to the right
Rory Carroll, The Guardian
...Since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein two years ago, this
city with a long liberal tradition and the surrounding provinces have
fallen under the sway of conservative Islam. Alcohol shops have been burnt,
women have been encouraged to wear the veil and music has been banned in
many places. Prostitution has gone underground. A student picnic was
viciously attacked because the male and female undergraduates mingled...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12513&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12513


Mahdavi-Ghorbanifar-Ledeen
Xymphora
...The most recent Ledeen-Ghorbanifar controversy is the series of meetings
held between Ledeen and Ledeen's people from Feith's Pentagon office
(specifically, the Office of Special Plans created to create the lies
required for the attack on Iraq without having to worry about any
inconvenient factual objections raised by the CIA), and Ghorbanifar and his
associates (of course, the original Ledeen-Ghorbanifar controversy was a
little thing we now know as Iran-Contra). These meet! ings went on despite
the efforts of the State Department and the CIA to stop them...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12504&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12504


Military action won't end insurgency, growing number of U.S. officers believe
TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Newspapers
A growing number of senior American military officers in Iraq have
concluded that there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency
that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 U.S. troops during
the past two years(...) Lt. Col. Frederick P. Wellman, who works with the
task force overseeing the training of Iraqi security troops, said the
insurgency doesn't seem to be running out o! f new recruits, a dynamic
fueled by tribal members seeking revenge for relatives killed in fighting.
"We can't kill them all," Wellman said. "When I kill one I create three"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12500&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12500


Brits and Yanks Unite to Demand Answers to Downing Street Minutes
I'n'I
Military Families Against the War,
<http://www.mfaw.org.uk/, >www.mfaw.org.uk/, in Britain, and
AfterDowningStreet.org, www.afterdowningstreet.org, in the United States,
are working together to demand answers to the questions raised by the
Downing Street Minutes and related evidence suggesting that the rulers of
both nations conspired to deceive the public, Congress, and Parliament with
regard to justification for ! the Iraq War. Military Families Against the
War is an organization of people directly affected by the war in Iraq. Our
relatives and loved ones are members of the British Armed Services. We are
opposed to the continuing involvement of UK soldiers in a war that is based
on lies...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12498&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12498


U.S. Military Toll in Iraq Crosses 1,700
PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer
The military announced the killing of four more U.S. soldiers on Sunday,
pushing the American death toll past 1,700, and police found the
bullet-riddled bodies of 28 people — many thought to be Sunni Arabs —
buried in shallow graves or dumped streetside in Baghdad. The bodies were
discovered as the Shiite-led government pressed to open disarmament talks
with insurgents responsible for a relentless campaign of violence, which
has taken ! on ominous sectarian overtones with recurring tit-for-tat
killings...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12499&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12499


The Downing Street Memo Reconsidered
David Corn, The Nation
...Conservatives like Chavez and Graham now like to hide behind the CIA,
blaming bad intelligence for the missing WMDs. Bush didn't screw up, they
argue, he merely relied on inadequate intelligence. But the Straw section
of the Downing Street memo kills that argument. Straw presumably had access
to the best intelligence on the topic, and still he wasn't sold. The
bottom-line: even the bad intelligence led to a "thin" case. The problem
was not merely the ! crappy intelligence; it was how Bush used the bad
intelligence and stretched it beyond its limits to ease the way to war. Put
aside the question of "fixed" intelligence. The DSM demonstrates that Bush
was dishonest with the public about his intentions and that the
intelligence he did have in hand--fixed or not, faulty or not--did not
support the case for war. I can understand why conservative cheerleaders of
the war don't want such matters being discussed. But to call the Downing
Street memo an item of no importance is to descend into the land of total
spin...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12496&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12496


Cabinet Office paper: Conditions for military action
The Sunday Times
The paper, produced by the Cabinet Office on July 21, 2002, is incomplete
because the last page is missing. The following is a transcript rather than
the original document in order to protect the source...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12495&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12495


French hostage released in Iraq flies home
Kerstin Gehmlich, Reuters
A French journalist held hostage in Iraq for five months flew to Paris on
Sunday after what the French ambassador said had been a dangerous operation
to bring her home. Aubenas, 44, and her driver Hussein Hanun al-Saadi, who
were released on Saturday, flew to Cyprus on Sunday where she was met by
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy before boarding a government
plane to take her to France. "She looked fine. Very happy to be free and w!
as a bit emotional," said Christodoulos Pashiardis, Under-Secretary to
Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos. She left Cyprus at 1255 GMT for
Villacoublay airport outside Paris where she was to be welcomed home by
President Jacques Chirac...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12493&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12493


A Straight Line Between Two Dots
IF BUSH CAN DO IT, SO CAN WE!
Ted Lang,thepeoplesvoice.org
...The shortest distance between two dots is a straight line, and in the
case of George Bush and his lying gangsters, that straight line is the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth! It’s the straight truth
that easily connects the two dots: 9-11 and Iraq. And if Bush can bridge
the distance between his lies about the reasons for war in Iraq, then so
can we connect 9-11 and Iraq in yet another way; and ! that way is, that
the Bush regime planned, plotted and executed 9-11 in order to provoke a
rage against Saddam and Islam in order to satisfy Israel’s imperial
expansionist plans, steal Iraq’s oil, and reap zillions of dollars in
Bush-arranged military-industrial complex profits...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12505&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12505




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