[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 29 Sep 2005 - Part One]

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Army cancels probe of "war dead for porn" scandal
AMERICAblog.com
Message to the world: The US government doesn't give a damn about Muslims
or the Geneva Conventions. Outrageous. They just canceled the entire
investigation of the scandal involving US soldiers allegedly trading death
pics from Iraq for access to online porn. And the reasons the military is
giving for canceling the investigation are simply outrageous. Get this. The
Army Criminal Investigation Command in Iraq conducted the preliminary
inquiry wit! hin the past week but closed it after concluding no felony
crime had been committed and failing to determine whether U.S. soldiers
were responsible for the photos and whether they showed actual war dead,
Army officials said. Col. Joe Curtin, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon,
said there currently was no formal investigation into the matter...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16250&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16250


Brownie's Comic Opera
Mike Whitney
Michael Brown's B-rated performance before the congressional investigative
committee provided some welcome relief from an otherwise depressing week of
bad news. It was like watching Suzanne Sommers play Lady Macbeth; poor
Brownie was in way over his head. The ex-FEMA chief stuck close to his Karl
Rove script and didn't give an inch to the blustery congressmen. He growled
and snapped at the questions; bristling with indignation one minute and
then faking compassion the next. All ! the while, he kept passing-the-buck
to everyone within a 200 mile radius. It was a pitiable presentation with
Brown refusing to answer even the easiest questions without first
consulting his army of lawyers...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16257&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16257


The pornography of war
The Broad View
I haven't written for a while because although there are as many--if not
more--outrages to document as usual, my mind has been occupied by one
story: The war porn for sex porn website. It is a malignant, miserable
testament to the degraded state of our culture and our psyche. It is so
awful that I have not been able to find a way to write about it without a
feeling of filth and shame, yet it must be faced. There has been some
minimal press and much blogging opinion about the ! porn site, but if you
don't yet know the details, here they are...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16234&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16234


Take Back Our Government and End the Unjust Iraq War
Kevin Zeese Speech at University of Maryland, September 28, 2005 with Cindy
Sheehan
Kevin Zeese
This Iraq War – based on lies and manipulations – is a defining issue of
our times, it has undermined the noble purpose of this great country, it
has destroyed our moral compass and it has embarrassed us before the world.
The simple truth is staying in Iraq does not make things better it makes
things worse. Staying in Iraq does not make us more secure it increa! ses
the strength, skills and anger of those who resort to terror tactics to
harm Americans. Every day we stay in Iraq we increase the instability of
the Middle East. We are bleeding our country of our most precious resource
-- our youth -- and squandering a kings ransom from our treasury at time
when critical needs are going unmet at home. It is time to get out –
rapidly, responsibly, and to begin doing so immediately. We need to bring
our troops home now...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16255&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16255


You're an embed. Or you're dead.
Truth About Iraqis
...I received this today: You do a wonderful job of pinning the blame for
March 2003 on international politics in general and America in particular.
You fail miserably however, in identifying why Iraq has failed miserably
since 03/03. If Iraq is to move into the future, it can not do so without
identifying and correcting the factors that have been tearing it apart
since 03/03. So which is it that you care more about - the past 20 years or
the future 20 years ! of Iraq? You can not have one without letting go of
the other. Sorry? Something is missing here. Iraq has failed miserably
because of the US-led invasion and occupation. One that was illegal by
virture of every international treaty and legal agreement signed in the
past 60 years...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16240&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16240


Another good reason to be against the Iraq War
FloridaBlues
...Violence against prisoners in the new Human Rights Watch report is
expressed as "f*&king" instead of beating. Not "f*&king up" or "f*&king
with" --- just plain "f*&king" as in "I walking in and saw him f*&king the
prisoner." I cannot help but think that something has gone terribly wrong
here. From the top of the hierarchy ordering sexual humiliation techniques,
to obscure web-sites selling war gore and pictures of girls next door
together, this is a v! ery sexualized war and it's damned strange,
particularly coming from a regime that pretends to be an arbiter of strict
sexual morals. It's clear that the leadership of this country is extremely
concerned with consensual sex between two adults but they find images of
sexual violence and kinky torture techniques to be thoroughly acceptable
among soldiers and useful to the war effort...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16232&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16232


What Noble Cause? Vietnam Combat Veteran Not Welcome at Vietnam War Memorial
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
...George W. Bush says that one's service to one's country is a "noble
cause", with the sacrifice of one's life being the highest offering. But
why is one's service to one's country not noble enough to merit being able
to pay homage to the war dead in one's own chosen way? Why is dying in
Bush's war, the so-called noble cause, not worthy of visibility as the dead
return home under secrecy and the cover of darkness?! Why are Bush's the
dead of Bush's "noble cause" hidden from view the way that the
executioner's face is always well hidden? Bush's "noble cause" perversely
requires that the United States and Iraqi dead and maimed be hidden from
public view. Why do the United States people allow this administration to
callously use the dead for their own political purposes? How many names
will there be on the yet-to-be-built Iraq war memorial? How many names on
the Afghanistan war memorial? The future Iran war memorial? The future
Syria war memorial?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16244&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16244


The Swiss cheese Iraqi Constitution .. Stuffed with Kurdish relish
Imad Khadduri , Free Iraq
...If the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution next month is conducted
fairly, it now appears very likely that the document will be defeated by a
two-thirds majority in the three Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar,
Salahadeen and Nineveh, plunging Iraq into a new political crisis.
However, one way such a defeat could be averted is by massive vote fraud in
the key province of Nineveh. According to an account provided by the US
liaison with the local election commission, supported by physical evidence
collected by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), Kurdish
officials in Nineveh province tried to carry out just such a
ballot-stuffing scheme in last January's election...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16252&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16252


Why I Was Smiling and Hurricane Rita
Cindy Sheehan, BUZZFLASH
I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a
lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had
some really good reasons for doing so. First of all, I was having fun. I
was with a group of good-humored, cheerful, happy people. We were singing
old protest songs and old Sunday school songs and clapping. I felt I had to
be cheerful to set the tone. We didn't want any trouble or to do anything
non-peace! ful. Secondly, when I got arrested and the officers lifted me
out I was afraid that America would see my underwear and that tickled me...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16251&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16251


GI Special 3C67: Sex Happen - September 29, 2005
www.militaryproject.org
Let's get real. This is the first war in American history where doing
"that" is looked down upon. World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam
saw soldiers not only drink but have sex. We now have a command structure
that frowns upon both, and how do today's soldiers relieve the stress of
combat duty? By eating ice cream and drinking soda pop...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16248&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16248


The Us Has Plans to Invade Iran Before Bush's Term Ends
Walter C. Uhler
Bill Gertz is a right-wing national security reporter for the Rev. Sun Yung
Moon's neo-fascist newspaper, The Washington Times. He's also a spigot from
which flows much classified information illegally leaked by like-minded
"patriots" seeking to advance their hawkish agenda in the
military-industrial-congressional complex. And, frankly speaking, that's
the only reason I pay any attention to him. So I was hardly surprised when,
on September 16! , 2005, Gertz reported on the Bush administration's
"computer slide presentation." which was aimed at persuading whoever would
listen that Iran is working feverishly to build nuclear weapons...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16246&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16246


Prisoner abuse in Iraq
The Boston Globe
...If the allegations are found credible, they further demolish the
contention by officials that the abuse first reported at Abu Ghraib in 2004
was an isolated case of a few bad apples. Pentagon brass also tried to
explain away the activities of England's unit as the actions of relatively
untrained reservists. It is less easy to dismiss as a fluke such abuse when
it occurs at the hands of the 82rd Airborne, a thoroughly trained and
highly decorated division. The new charges! , along with other accusations
of abuse that have emerged since Abu Ghraib, including 28 suspicious
detainee deaths, provide strong evidence that both reservist and active
duty troops throughout Iraq were confused about their responsibility to
treat detainees as prisoners of war under the terms of the Geneva
conventions...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16245&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16245


U.S. Forces Raid Homes of Sunni Officials
SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
U.S. forces raided the homes of two officials from a prominent Sunni Arab
organization on Thursday, arresting bodyguards and confiscating weapons,
Sunni officials said. Adnan al-Dulaimi, secretary-general of the Conference
for Iraq's People, was present during the early morning raid on his home in
western Baghdad, the group said. No violence was reported when the U.S.
soldiers arrested four of his bodyguards and confiscated 20 AK-! 47 assault
rifles, said Mehdi Salih, a spokesman for the conference...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16256&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16256


The Death of a Constitutional Republic
Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire
“President Bush yesterday sought to federalize hurricane-relief efforts,
removing governors from the decision-making process,” reports the Moonie
Times, otherwise known as the Washington Times. “It wouldn’t be necessary
to get a request from the governor or take other action,” declared White
House press secretary Scott McClellan. “Mr. McClellan was referring to a
new, direct line of authority that would allow the president to place the
P! entagon in charge of responding to natural disasters, terrorist attacks
and outbreaks of disease.” In other words, Bush wants to erase yet another
constitutional amendment—the Tenth, which states “powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”—and he is using
the misfortune of Katrina as an opportunistic wrecking ball...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16249&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16249


Houston: “We have a problem”
What to do with Space Cadet Bush?
Nick B. Possum
It’s the elite Bush should be worried about – the seedy crony-capitalists
who own the US of A. The Iraq imbroglio is bad enough, but after the
hurricane debacle the greedheads who once put faith in this idiot-child to
gull the masses will now regard him as a failure, a dud, a loser, a space
cadet; a man who hasn’t measured up to the challenges; a president who
isn’t fooling anybody any more...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16237&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16237


RAPID RESPONSE MEDIA ALERT: PETER BEAUMONT OF THE OBSERVER ON "THE IRAQ
PROJECT"
Media Lens
"There are two paradigms for interpreting the success of the Iraq project."
So writes Peter Beaumont in the Observer. We wonder if Beaumont would
describe the September 11 attacks as "the New York project", or "the
American project".(...) Beaumont's final comment sums up the article: "it
is far too early to cut and run." Individuals or groups engaged in violent
criminal actions should desist, or be made to desist, immediat! ely. The
question of 'cutting and running' does not arise. Beaumont appears to
assume that criminals have a duty to continue engaging in criminal actions
until they have somehow undone the damage of their crimes. This is
outrageous.

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16227&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16227


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 28 September 2005.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. ( http://www.freearabvoice.org )
US warplanes carried out an air raid on several houses in the city ofRawah
in western Iraq late Tuesday night. The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in
Rawah reported a medical source as saying that 11 people, most of them
women and children, were killed and seven others wounded as a result of the
American air raid in wh! ich four different houses in the north and
northeast of the city were destroyed. The correspondent reported that the
US fighter bombers attacked a fifth house in Rawah as well but inflicted no
civilian casualties there. The Iraqi puppet army in Rawah claimed that the
American air raids were a preparatory step for a large-scale military
operation against Rawah that is to be launched in the next few days...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16235&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16235


'I've no first aid. It's like a cab'
Anthony Loyd, The Times
“I GET used to mutilation: it’s like lunch and supper for us — something
you get twice a day,” says Ismail Fadhil, blank-faced, stubbing out another
cigarette butt. “It is usual to load up body parts, half bodies. Once, in
Al-Amel, most of the victims were kids and they were in bits.” Working
24-hour, day-on day-off shifts, Ismail, 39, drives an ambulance for Yarmouk
Hospital, and is usually scrambled to emergencies alone, without even a
radio. His decr! epit Saddam-era ambulance, pocked with bullet holes, has
not so much as a bandage: the hospital’s equipment, looted in 2003, has yet
to be replaced...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16230&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16230


EIRAQ EXCLUSIVE: Leaked constitution sets scene for foreign bases,
sectarian tensions
Tom Fox, Electronic Iraq
The draft constitution for Iraq that has been published in the Western
press has been widely reviewed and commented upon by many individuals.
There have been ongoing revisions to the constitution. The most recent
version was released internally on Sept. 13th. This version has not been
disseminated to either Western or Iraqi press or to the Iraqi public. CPT
Iraq was sent a copy by a contact in the govern! ment. While much of the
document is similar and most changes are more in terms of replacing a word
or two there are some significant differences...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16229&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16229


Iraqis blast Lynndie England sentence
Aljazeera.net
Iraqis have expressed fury over the three-year jail sentence handed down to
Lynndie England, the US soldier notorious for holding a naked inmate by a
leash in Abu Ghraib prison. They said Wednesday's sentence would have been
harsher had she been convicted of abusing Americans and added that it
exposed US hypocrisy. "America should be ashamed of this sentence. This is
the best evidence that Americans have double standards," said Akram Abdel
Amir, a retired bus dr! iver in Baghdad...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16228&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16228


The Gods Must be Angry
Peter F. Spalding
There is a reason that the President’s misfortunes multiply faster than the
germs and mosquitoes breeding in the quagmire that infects New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast. The Gods must be angry, as well they should be. The Gods
favor the poor above all others. Bush, on the other hand, has favored the
rich above all others (...) Above all the Gods are angry because the last
remaining superpower has chosen to wage an unjust and unjustified war in
Iraq. Bush has not noticed that ! the anguished faces of the poor in New
Orleans are replicated every day in Baghdad. The Gods have noticed...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16242&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16242




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