[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 29 Aug 2005]

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IRAQ: Corporate greed drives war and occupation
Rohan Pearce, Green Left Weekly
...At a White House meeting the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, US
defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld argued that the US should use the
terrorist attacks to justify a war against Iraq, despite there being no
connection between 9/11 attacks and Saddam Hussein's regime. Present at the
meeting, along with Bush and then secretary of state Colin Powell, was
Richard Clarke, the US National Security Council's counter-terrorism
adviser a! t the time. In his 2004 book Against All Enemies: Inside
America's War on Terror, Clarke wrote: “At first I was incredulous that we
were talking about something other than getting al Qaeda. I realized with
almost a sharp physical pain that Rumsfeld and [then US deputy secretary of
defence Paul] Wolfowitz were going to try to take advantage of this
national tragedy to promote their agenda about Iraq.” According to Clarke,
Powell argued that Afghanistan had to be the first target of the “war on
terror” because “public opinion has to be prepared before a move against
Iraq is possible”...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15139&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Downing Street Memos Verify Death of Journalism Ethics
Carmen Yarrusso
The preamble to the Code of Ethics for the Society of Professional
Journalists eloquently declares: “…journalists believe that public
enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy.
The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and
providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues…” Yeah,
right! Mainstream media’s dismal failure to enlighten the public to the
dire implications o! f the Downing Street memos is the final nail in the
coffin of journalism ethics. Our mainstream media have officially given up
all pretense of “public enlightenment” or “seeking truth” (much less
“providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues”) and
instead have effectively acknowledged being a propaganda tool of our
government...

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The Man who ate his fingers :: A Fictional Story About the Stupidity of War
and the Idiots Who Glorify It ::
William John Cox, MMN
...At first, Sam said, he hadn’t paid much attention when Saddam Hussein
invaded Kuwait in August 1990, but then his division was ordered to Saudi
Arabia to participate in Operation Desert Storm. His unit led the assault
on the left flank on February 24, 1991 and quickly penetrated the defense
line. Wheeling about, his brigade executed a maneuver they had been
practicing for months. T! heir tanks had been equipped with large bulldozer
blades, and they were ordered to flank each side of the primitive trench
system dug by the Iraqis in the sand and to plow it under. “The Iraqi
conscripts, mostly old men and boys, had been ordered into their positions
at gunpoint and expected to quickly run away. They only had light weapons,
and there was nothing to stop us. We never gave them a chance to surrender.
I just drove along at about 25 miles an hour looking through my periscopes
as we buried thousands of them alive. Armored combat earth movers came
along behind us and smoothed away any evidence of what we had done.
Altogether, we covered up about 70 miles of trenches...

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American violence in Iraq: Necrophilia or savagery?
Part 5 of a 5-part series: Creating our own reality
Kim Petersen and B. J. Sabri, Online Journal Contributing Writers
At this stage of history, and considering the imperialist objectives of US
foreign policy, wars, and interventions, and considering the history of US
atrocities in Turtle Island (North America), the Philippines, Korea,
Vietnam, Iraq, and elsewhere, a question is in order: Is the United States
a torture nation? Based on evidence! gathered from America's wars in over
two centuries, the answer is a definitive yes. Trying to prove the contrary
is an exercise in futility and hypocrisy. This is for one plain reason: no
one can sweep documented history under the rug and pretend it does not
exist...

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WHY PRESIDENT BUSH WILL NEVER MEET WITH CINDY SHEEHAN ! !
Al Feldstein 1955-1984 editor of Mad Magazine
President Bush will never meet with Cindy Sheehan, the heroic Gold Star
Mother who is demanding that he tell her the 'truth' about exactly why her
son died in Iraq...exactly what the "noble cause" was that her beloved son
gave his life for. President Bush will never be able to tell her the honest
truth....because he lied to the American people**... He lied to
Congress**... He LIED in a criminal effort on behalf! of his American Big
Oil supporters, his Administration cronies' oil interests, his Project For
A New American Century Neoil-Con supporters, his own family's interests in
American Big Oil and his own family's suspect relationship with the Saudi
Royal Family...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15137&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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'This constitution was written by exiles. We will not accept it'
Richard Beeston, Times
...Hussein al-Falluji, a Sunni member of the committee that drafted the
constitution, said that his community would reject the document with their
“dying breath”. “We have never agreed on this constitution. We have
objections which are the same as we had from day one,” he said. “This is an
American constitution and we will not accept it, no matter what” (...)
“This is a constitution written by exiles for exiles. It aims to ex! clude
all those who participated in the events of this country in the past 35
years,” said Mahmoud Jubouri, 26, an engineer working in Baghdad who
listened to the constitution being read out on television. “It was not
written by professionals, but by Shia clerics and Kurdish dictators”...

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Not One More
Day 21. The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford
Cindy Sheehan, Daily Kos
A photographer friend of mine went down to Crawford to the Pro-War,
Anti-Peace rally today. There were about 1500 people there he said. He also
said that it was the most "third reich" spectacle that he had ever seen in
America. My friend said that the speakers were whipping up the crowd into a
frenzy of hatred for me (like they already didn't hate me?) and for the
peace movement. My friend said that the entire theme of the rally! was:
"Cindy is killing American troops by her anti-American protest." Oh really,
isn't George Bush killing innocent Americans and Iraqis by sending them to
fight in an illegal and immoral war for power and greed? I think the real
culprit is my neighbor: George...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15143&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Democracy-lite for Iraq: women's rights not 'critical'
Luciana Bohne, Online Journal Contributing Writer
So now that Iraq's constitution will abolish the Personal Status Law that
gave Iraqi women some self-determination, how are the apologists for
"liberating" Iraq spinning it? President Bush says that he asked
"Condi"—ain't she a woman?—and she says it'll be okay. He was eager to get
on his $3,000 bike in Idaho, so he didn't have time to express himself with
his customary clarity. Former C.I.A. Middle East speci! alist, Reuel Marc
Gerecht, said on "Meet the Press," that U.S. democracy in 1900 didn't let
women vote. If Iraqi democracy resembled that "we'd all be thrilled," he
said. "I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of
democracy"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15146&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Tomgram: A Worldview Repeated Once Too Often?
Tom Engelhardt
...Forced from his five-week vacation idyll in Crawford by the mother of a
dead boy he sent to war, the President has recently given two major
speeches defending his war policies and, between biking and boating, held a
brief news conference at Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho. On August
22nd, he addressed the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
in Salt Lake City for 30 minutes; on August 24th, he spoke for 43 minutes
to families of the! Idaho National Guard in the farming community of Nampa,
Idaho. As his poll figures continue on a downward spiral, he has found it
necessary to put extra effort into "catapulting the propaganda"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15151&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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GI Special 3C35: "Pissing In The Wind" - August 28, 2005
www.militaryproject.org
The inability of U.S. forces to hold ground in Anbar province in western
Iraq, and the cat and mouse chase that ensues, has put the Marines and
soldiers there under intense physical and psychological pressure. The sun
raises temperatures to 115 degrees most days, insurgents stage ambushes
daily then melt into the civilian population and American troops in Anbar
find themselves in a house of mirrors in which they don't speak the langu!
age and can't tell friend from foe...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15152&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Countering the Disinformation Talking Points for This Ignoble War
Anthony Wade, www.opednews.com
The sun came up today, the truth remains worth fighting for. I have seen
over the past few weeks the evolution of the GOP talking points to confront
the very real saga of Cindy Sheehan, the failings in Iraq and the horrific
nosedive in the poll numbers for this administration. It is time to cut
through the most popular talking points with the realities...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15153&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Radioactive Poisoning of Middle East
RevolutionaryFlowerpotSociety
The use of uranium-enriched munitions in the theater of war in the Middle
East and Afghanistan is one of the more sadistic sides of the US
imperialism, on par with the barbaric and terroristic nuclear bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this regard, our collective has in the past been
among those raising the alarms on this issue, in particular in an Open
Letter to Mr. Nader...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15147&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Apartment of Nine Eleven Hero William Rodriguez Burglarized
Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire
As Greg Szymanski writes for the Arctic Beacon, "William Rodriguez, the WTC
janitor who has been speaking out across the nation about a 9/11 government
conspiracy, came home to find his Jersey City apartment burglarized
Saturday," this following Wayne Madsen's decision to get out of Washington
for a few days after receiving a message indicating he may be the target of
an assassination attempt...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15149&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Tomgram: Greenberg on Why U.S. Military Lawyers Opposed Torture
Tom Engelhardt & Karen J. Greenberg
Extraordinary renditions, torture, abuse, humiliation, detention without
charge or end, an obsession with protecting American officials (and
military men) from future foreign or domestic criminal charges for their
acts -- these are the cornerstones of foreign policy under George Bush, and
they have produced horror stories galore. His is a presidency that has made
the beautiful speech about the spreading of freedom ! and human rights just
the sunny-side up version of the infliction of pain, the double standard,
and the detention center...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15148&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Cindy Sheehan, mainstream media and Bush propaganda
Carla Binion, Online Journal Associate Editor
George W. Bush once joked before a Gridiron crowd, "you can fool some of
the people all of the time, and those are the ones I have to concentrate
on." That offhand joke accurately describes how Bush gains support for his
Iraq policy. Mainstream media commentators sometimes help Bush fool the
public. They often parrot Bush's talking points as if they were "news" and
let his outright lies go unquestioned. When it comes! to the Cindy Sheehan
story, some mainstream reporters still allow Bush to frame the debate in
deceptive ways...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15145&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Fighting in Iraq's Anbar Province
Insurgents have changed U.S. ideas about winning
Tom Lasseter
Insurgents in Anbar province, the center of guerrilla resistance in Iraq,
are fighting the U.S. military to a standstill. After repeated major
offensives in Fallujah and Ramadi, and after the loss of hundreds of
soldiers and Marines in Anbar during the last two years - including 75
since June 1 - many U.S. officers and enlisted men have stopped talking
about winning a military victory in Iraq's Sunni! Muslim heartland...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15142&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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More journalists killed in Iraq than Vietnam -RSF
Reuters
More journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003
than during the 20 years of conflict in Vietnam, media rights group
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Sunday. Since U.S. forces and its
allies launched their campaign in Iraq on March 20, 2003, 66 journalists
and their assistants have been killed, RSF said. The latest casualty was a
Reuters Television soundman who was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday while a
cameraman with him ! was wounded and then detained by U.S. soldiers...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15141&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Reuters soundman killed in Baghdad, police blame US
Alastair Macdonald - Reuters
A Reuters Television soundman was shot dead in Baghdad on Sunday and a
cameraman who was wounded was still being questioned by U.S. troops 12
hours later.
Iraqi police said the two, both Iraqis, were shot by U.S. forces. A U.S.
military spokesman said the incident was being investigated. The cameraman
was being held and questioned because of "inconsistencies in his initial
testimony", he added.

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15135&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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For Basra's Christians, Hussein era the good old days
Shiite-dominated city's minorities say repression on rise
Timothy M. Phelps
For the Christians in Basra, the downfall of Saddam Hussein has meant a
terrible loss of religious freedom. The social club where Yousef Lyon and
his friends would gather in the evening to play dominoes, where families
danced or listened to live music on holidays, is closed. Wedding
celebrations are held quietly at home. "Of course, during the Saddam
regime, it was b! etter," said Lyon, 40, a member of the city's small
Armenian community. "Now we are afraid from the religious parties that
maybe they will throw a bomb at us"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15130&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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Abu Ghraib detainee escapes in Iraq
Reuters
A detainee has escaped from the notorious Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib, which
is operated by the US military. "At approximately 6:15 am (0215 GMT), US
forces discovered the detainee was missing during a normal headcount," a US
military statement said without specifying the nationality of the detainee.
"Two holes were found in the fence line surrounding the compound where the
detainee escaped," the statement added Sunday...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15128&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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911 and the Society of the Spectacle
Scott Loughrey
Imagine that elite policy makers of a foreign country conceived of a
monstrous plan that included a movie within a movie. The cast of the larger
movie is comprised of a large collection of carefully chosen intelligence
assets who pose as journalists. For decades these actors build up a huge
following and earn enormous admiration from the educated masses by
fearlessly breaking crucial stories and serving up cutting-edge commentary.
Note the policy makers have no! t just simply infiltrated the establishment
media. They have actually created a phony opposition to it as well. News
stories are planted that test whether the progressive public can figure out
that the alternative media it relies upon is a charade...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=15134&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
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