[uruknet] NL 23 June - Part One

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Censorship
Dahr Jamail, Electronic Iraq
...The reporter who was interviewing me today told me that the former
American consulate here, Eric Edelman, asked the Prime Minister of Turkey
to pressure his paper to not run so many of my stories (...) People like
Edelman don't want the public to know that the same tactics used in
Fallujah by the US military -posting snipers around the city to shoot
anyone who moves, targeting ambulances, impeding medical care, or the
detaining of innocent civilians en masse. After all, ! Fallujah is the
model. Fallujah is our Guernica. And now, Haditha, Al-Qa'im can be added to
the list, with Baquba and Buhrez under deconstruction.

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12954&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Cindy Sheehan of Gold Star Families for Peace:
“They died for a lie”
ERIC RUDER, Socialist Worker
CINDY SHEEHAN’S son Casey was killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004.
Since then, she has tirelessly traveled the country speaking out against
Bush’s war. Cindy is a founding member of Gold Star Families for Peace, an
organization of family members opposed to the occupation of Iraq who have
lost a loved one in the conflict. She spoke to Socialist Worker’s ERIC
RUDER about the challenges of working! to end the occupation...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12955&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Anatomy of a Coverup
Sanjoy Mahajan, ZNet
...The _NYT_ articles -- masterpieces of delay, indirection, distraction,
fake rebuttals, and elegant omission -- keep readers ignorant of the lies
and the lying liars who tell them. No wonder so many Americans still
support this gangster war. No _NYT_ article comments on perhaps the most
revolting revelation of the memo. The UK Defence Secretary thought that the
US military 'timeline [would begin] 30 days before the US Congressional
elections.' Hundreds of thousands of I! raqi die so that Americans elect a
crowd of pirates perched on the rotting platform of the war of terror...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12944&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Iraqi Resistance Fractures Bush's Relationship with the US Military
Abid Mustafa, Al-Jazeerah
...The Bush administration is now faced with two choices, either reinstate
the draft or withdraw from Iraq. Both options are humiliating for Bush, but
only one option will save the US military from further bloodshed and that
is America’s retreat from Iraq. This is because the US army is not prepared
or equipped to fight asymmetrical wars. America’s military machine prides
itself on the use of over-whelming force against ! the enemy. But against
fighters backed by popular support such tactics do not deliver tangible
results. Rather they only serve to alienate the population from the
occupation force...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12929&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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As Bush ‘hunkers down’
Leaked memos show Iraq War conspiracy Popular resistance wears down
‘coalition of willing’
Leslie Feinberg, Workers World
The shock-and-awe invasion of Iraq was not a “war of last resort.” The
“regime change” had nothing to do weapons of mass destruction [WMD] or
“terrorism” or defense of neighboring countries or nuclear capability. The
cat’s out of the bag now. All that was just a pretext created by U.S. and
British imperialism. Many in the anti-war movement who raised their v!
oices to demand “No blood for oil profits!” said it all along. But this
time it’s coming from the same people who had claimed the movement was a
bunch of conspiracy theorists.

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12931&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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The Downing Street heroes: Couple's web site kept issue percolating
The Chicago Tribune
..."When the media in the United States just basically took a pass on it,
we decided that we wanted to get it out there," said Bob Fesmire, who
writes press releases for an industrial company. Working from their home in
Sunnyvale, Calif., Fesmire and his wife, Gina, a graphic designer, created
a Web site called Downingstreetmemo.com in early May, posted the memo and
related information and generated an e-mail campaign to urge ! the media to
cover the story. "That did make a big difference," Paul Waldman, senior
fellow with Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group in Washington,
said of the Fesmires' site and others. "It's one of those things that
wouldn't have been possible in the pre-Internet age"...

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Tomgram: Arlie Hochschild on the Bush Empathy Squeeze
Tom Engelhardt & Arlie Hochschild
In October 2003, Arlie Hochschild wrote a piece for Tomdispatch, Let Them
Eat War, on the way President Bush might play war and terror fears as his
trump card and win enough of the blue-collar vote to take the 2004
presidential election. He did and he won. Now, looking back, Hochschild,
the author of The Time Bind and The Second Shift and a sociologist who
knows a great deal about how the lives of all us have been squeezed in !
recent years, suggests another factor in the Bush victory and in Republican
politics: an empathy squeeze. In the piece that follows she explains how,
as Bush used his war policies to create votes, so he converted an economic
program aimed at strip-mining America into a program for winning
blue-collar hearts and minds...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12953&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Burning Iraq Okay ... Burning Flag Not Okay ... Brilliant, Just Brilliant
Shirley Smith, BuzzFlash
Burning the flag is an action of free speech. If people are so worried
about protecting the flag ... they should worry about the desecration of
the American flag that is already being burned into people's memories
because of the murders committed in Afghanistan and Iraq by Bush under the
American flag. I have to wonder why Americans fall for this empty-of-talent
political show put on by members of our Congress. It r! eminds me of all of
the flag waving that was done before Bush invaded Iraq and killed over
100,000 innocent people, including our own military, based on his lies. I
saw wind-ripped, faded flags hanging from SUVs for months...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12951&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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On legitimacy, lies, and the war in Iraq
Steven Newcomb / Indigenous Law Institute
...Other factors, such as the economy and social security, may account for
the sharp decline in Bush's popularity, but the one factor that may
ultimately prove to be the undoing of Bush's presidency before the end of
his second term is the fact that the president illegally invaded Iraq based
on lies. By his decision, Bush has caused more than 1,741 U.S. troops to
lose their lives (though some conjecture that if we factor in the de! aths
of wounded soldiers who later died, the toll may be closer to 8,000), while
causing an estimated 15,000 - 38,000 U.S. soldiers to be wounded, many of
them horribly maimed and disfigured. At the same time, Bush's invasion of
Iraq has caused an estimated 100,000 Iraqis to be killed, while providing
the catalyst for an unrestrained Iraqi insurgency...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12957&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Psychological Armor
JB Campbell, What Really Happened
...The man confided several secrets to us, secrets about the Bosnian
adventure and about the six-month old invasion of Iraq. American vehicles
were unusable in Bosnia, he said, due to their gross weight. “The roads and
bridges couldn’t support them and they never left the airport.” This would
continue to be a problem even in Iraq, where the ballyhooed “Stryker”
vehicle would collapse roads and bridges and roll over into canals and
drown crewmen. He said, “Y! ou’ve obviously solved the tank-mine problem,
but the real threat in Iraq is the IED (improvised explosive device).” The
IED would continue to cause 70% of US casualties to this day. He revealed
that even the Future Combat System requirement for mine protection was only
against anti-personnel mines! But, of course, the real scandal is the
ridiculous Humvee, perhaps the most preposterous idea of all, after the
invasion itself. A preposterous invasion needs a preposterous vehicle...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12947&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Blinded by the light at the end of the tunnel
Sidney Blumenthal, The Guardian
..."They're starting to talk numbers again," Pat Lang remarked to me about
the return of body counts. Lang is the former chief at the Defence
Intelligence Agency for the Middle East, south Asia and counter-terrorism.
"They were determined not to do that. But they can't provide a measurement
to tell themselves they're doing well. As you know, it means nothing."
Lang, who served as an intelligence officer in Vietnam, observes: "For
almost! all of the war, Vietnam was a better situation than Iraq. During
the conduct of the war the security situation was far better than this"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12948&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Bush's empire may crumble from within
Jack MacAndrew
...But now there is something moving in the underbelly of America —
something with the eerie echoes of Viet Nam ... and Watergate ... and it is
the sound of truth wriggling and writhing and forcing its way into the
consciousness of the American people. Now there are clear signs that as the
truth inexorably forces its way out and into the American consciousness,
the Bush attempt at establishing the American Empire is crumbling just as
did the trumpeted thousand ! year reign of the Third Reich and all the
other forerunners created upon a lie...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12945&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Top general in Iraq says Cheney wrong on insurgents
LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
The top American commander in the Persian Gulf told Congress on Thursday
that the Iraqi insurgency has not grown weaker over the past six months,
despite a claim by Vice President Dick Cheney that it was in its "last
throes." Gen. John Abizaid's testimony came at a contentious Senate Armed
Services Committee hearing at which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
clashed with members of both parties, including a renewed call by! Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts for him to step down...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12943&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Fasting in Geneva
Where You Stand Determines What You See...And How You Live
KATHY KELLY, CounterPunch
...A June 17, 2005 World Food Program report should be on their agenda. It
shows significant shortfalls in rice, sugar, milk and infant formula. A
recent UN survey notes that more than half the population lives below the
poverty line. The median income fell from $255 in 2003 to $144 in 2004 Put
these reports together and its tragically easy to see that the 7.7% of
Iraqi children under age five sufferi! ng from acute malnourishment, a
disease often referred to as wasting, might not survive more cuts in Iraq’s
budget for human services...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12933&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12933


The Real News in the Downing Street Memos
Michael Smith, Los Angeles Times
It is now nine months since I obtained the first of the "Downing Street
memos," thrust into my hand by someone who asked me to meet him in a quiet
watering hole in London for what I imagined would just be a friendly drink.
At the time, I was defense correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, and
a staunch supporter of the decision to oust Saddam Hussein. The source was
a friend. He'd given me a few stories before but nothing nearly as
interesting as this. The six leaked documents I took away with me that
night were to change completely my opinion of the decision to go to war and
the honesty of Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12936&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Mass March on Saturday, September 24 in Washington D.C.
A.N.S.W.E.R.
Thousands will march on Saturday, September 24 in Washington DC, San
Francisco, Los Angeles. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urges the antiwar
movement to come together for a united demonstration (...) While we
organize around the demand for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal
of the U.S. from Iraq, it is essential that the movement show the
connection between the war in Iraq and all the other fronts of the U.S.
government's war for Empire, in! cluding the struggle of working and poor
people in the United States...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12942&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12942


The New York Times’ Joseph Lelyveld: another “liberal” defense of torture
Joseph Kay, WSWS
In the lead article in the New York Times Magazine of June 12
(“Interrogating Ourselves”), Joseph Lelyveld weighed in on issue of torture
and abuse of prisoners held by the United States government. Lelyveld, a
former managing editor of the New York Times and frequent political
commentator, set out an argument for the legalization of some forms of
abuse, and in doing so joined the growing list of American “liberal”
apologis! ts of torture...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12928&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Multiple Baghdad blasts claim dozens
Aljazeera.net
Seven bombs have rocked Baghdad, killing at least 38 people, just hours
after the Iraqi government met members of the international community in
Brussels to seek reconstruction help. Three bombs shook central Baghdad
after dawn on Thursday, killing at least 15 people, injuring another 50 and
sending smoke and flame above the main street of the popular Karrada
shopping district, police said...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12932&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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The Cheney doctrine and Iraq
Xymphora
Juan Cole has started a bit of a debate concerning his suggestion to save
the United States from its Iraqi quagmire by having various darkies assume
the white man's burden under the auspices of a UN 'peacekeeping' mission
(or 'peacekeeping plus', the new kind of violent peacekeeping like the UN
in Kosovo), all in return for a share in the spoils of war, the oil of
Iraq. A number of objections have been raised, most notably the problem
that Pakistan would be a necessary part o! f the force, and Musharraf
wouldn't be able to sign on without suffering one of those mysterious
helicopter 'accidents' that define Pakistani politics. It seems to me that
the main problem is entirely American, and involves the 'Wolfowitz
doctrine' and Baseworld...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12927&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 22 June 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. ( http://www.freearabvoice.org )
...US forces shot and killed a nine-year old Iraqi girl as she came out of
her school following final exams in Baghdad. A medical specialist in
Baghdad’s al-Yarmuk General Hospital told the correspondent for Mafkarat
al-Islam that an American sniper opened fire on ‘A’ishah Ahmad ‘Umar,
killing her...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12924&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
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World Tribunal on Iraq to Commence Tomorrow
WTI
“The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) has been convened to bring international
law to bear on America’s aggressive behaviour around the world, with
particular emphasis on the Iraq war. This represents an historic attempt by
the people of the world to hold states and their leaders responsible for
severe violations of international law. The Tribunal has both symbolic and
substantive significance as a step toward the establishment of global
democracy,” said Richard Falk, U! NESCO peace prize holder and Professor of
International Law, at a press conference held today at Darphane-i Amire in
Topkapi Palace Grounds. The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) will start
tomorrow, June 24, at 09.00 am...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=12922&s2=24>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=12922




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