[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 13 Oct 2005]

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Can Attacks on Oil Facilities lead to Peace?
Mike Whitney
...The antiwar movement has failed to focus on the issue of oil; missing a
critical opportunity to undermine support for the occupation. It's not
enough to regurgitate the mantra, "No blood for oil". Oil is central to the
US involvement in Iraq and the vulnerabilities of that commitment should be
understood and exploited. The resistance has been fairly effective in
limiting the amount of oil that leaves Iraq. According to the Institute for
the Analysis of ! Global Security, the resistance mounted "more than 200
attacks on Iraqi gas or oil pipelines and refineries since June 2003.
Attacks on pipelines, particularly the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline that exports
oil to Turkey, cost the government about 200,000 barrels a day, US
officials said." The attacks on oil facilities and pipelines are the most
successful part of the resistances' strategy. They also show us the future
of asymmetrical "guerilla" warfare...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16730&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16730


THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION: A Referendum for Disaster
Phyllis Bennis, Democracy Rising
The constitutional process culminating in Saturday's referendum is not a
sign of Iraqi sovereignty and democracy taking hold, but rather a
consolidation of U.S. influence and control. Whether Iraq's draft
constitution is approved or rejected, the decision is likely to make the
current situation worse. The ratification process reflects U.S., not Iraqi
urgency, and is resulting in a vote in which most Iraqis have not even seen
the dr! aft, and amendments are being reopened and negotiated by political
parties and elites in Baghdad as late as four days before the planned
referendum. The proposed constitution would strip Iraqis of future control
over their nation's oil wealth by opening all new oil exploration and
production to foreign oil companies...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16749&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16749


Pinter: We have brought torture and misery in the name of freedom
Harold Pinter
... What would Wilfred Owen make of the invasion of Iraq? A bandit act, an
act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the
concept of International Law. An arbitrary military action inspired by a
series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore
of the public. An act intended to consolidate American military and
economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all
ot! her justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as
liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the
death and mutilation of thousands upon thousands of innocent people...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16732&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16732


Saddam to claim sovereign immunity - lawyer
Reuters
...Lawyer Abdel Haq Alani told the BBC the former president will challenge
the legality of the special tribunal, due to open inside Baghdad's
fortified Green Zone on October 19 (...) Iraqi officials say the only
charge against Saddam so far is the killing of more than 140 men in the
mostly Shi'ite village of Dujail after a failed 1982 assassination attempt
against him. Alani said the defence will argue that those killed had been
found guilty under Iraq's laws an! d Saddam's only role was to sign their
death warrants...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16755&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16755


Drug Use Soars in Iraq
JTO
Use of heroin and other hard drugs, virtually unknown in Iraq under Saddam
Hussein's regime, has increased dramatically since the U.S.-led invasion in
2003, IRIN reported Oct. 11 (...)The Iraqi Ministry of Health says drug use
is rising among men and women of all ages, particularly in Baghdad and in
the southern part of Iraq (...) Dealers say foreign troops, notably Italian
soldiers, have also driven up demand for drugs...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16752&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16752


1965
Cindy Sheehan, t r u t h o u t
...The War Department lists 1963 confirmed dead and 2 pending confirmation,
for a total of 1965. Thirty-five more of our children to go before the
grisly number of 2000 is reached. 2000 will be the wake-up call for some
Americans ... but whatever number Casey was, was a wake-up call for me: a
violent and tragic wake up call. Casey was not a number, and the 2000th
will not be a number to his or her family. Casey was a wonderful young man
who loved to go to the movies with his mo! m. What will number 2000 be
like? What will be his/her passion that will be snuffed out with the
heartbeat? Which mom in America will be the unfortunate one to fall on the
floor screaming for her baby next, for nothing?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16744&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16744


Fog facts
Larry Beinhart, The Huffington Post
Fog Facts are things that have been made public, but have somehow
disappeared into the mist. Thereby becoming invisible. Here are some
examples: seven of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers have phoned in to say they
were alive. After the US took over Iraq, including the oil for food
program, $19 billion of Iraq's money disappeared. The Florida recount,
completed in 2001, showed that Al Gore got more valid, countable votes than
George Bush...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16743&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16743


A Taste For Torture
S. Ebbets, thepeoplesvoice.org
...No American president in history has ever been charged with war crimes.
In March of 2005, The International Criminal Tribunal for Iraq (ICTI) found
Bush guilty of genocide for the use of "devastating" economic sanctions.
Bush was also found guilty of 13 counts of war crimes for attacks against
civilians and the use of indiscriminate weapons, such as; cluster bombs,
depleted uranium, nerve gas, mustard gas, burning chemicals, and napalm...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16742&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16742


Ex-US Marine Asks Iraqis for Forgiveness
Turkish Weekly
A former US Marine has urged the Iraqi people and Muslims around the globe
to forgive the US "war crimes" in Iraq, and said that the Bush
administration has sunk deeper into the Iraqi quagmire and will lose the
war at the end of the day. "I ask the Iraqis and Muslims to forgive US
practices in Iraq, especially during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan,"
Jimmy Massey told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview on Wednesday,
October 12...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16740&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16740


GI Special 3C81: War Reports - October 13, 2005
www.militaryproject.org
...Many people in Fallujah, which used to be a main battlefield against US
troops, share the same thoughts. "Participation is aimed at driving back
the cause of evil as this draft constitution is full of evil, we should
stop the division of a unified country," Sheikh Abed Khalaf al-Zobaie, Imam
of al-Ra'uof mosque in Fallujah, said in an interview with Xinhua. However,
there are still people like Abu Umar insisting that all what have happened!
in Iraq is just an American game and rejecting the referendum. "Why I
should participate in a funny American game, since the constitution will
pass whether we participate or not," Abu Umar said. "They want us to
participate as they slaughter our sons and brothers in the western cities
and towns," he added...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16739&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16739


Vice President's role in outing of CIA agent under examination, sources
close to prosecutor say
Jason Leopold, Raw Story
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to determine whether Vice
President Dick Cheney had a role in the outing of covert CIA operative
Valerie Plame-Wilson, individuals close to Fitzgerald say. Plame’s husband
was a vocal critic of prewar intelligence used by President George W. Bush
to build support for the Iraq war. The investigation into who leaked the
officer's name to reporters h! as now turned toward a little known cabal of
administration hawks known as the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), which came
together in August 2002 to publicize the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
WHIG was founded by Bush chief of staff Andrew Card and operated out of the
Vice President’s office...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16738&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16738


We need to be told
John Pilger
..."If we had all known then what we know now," said the New York Times on
24 August, "the invasion [of Iraq] would have been stopped by a popular
outcry." The admission was saying, in effect, that powerful newspapers,
like powerful broadcasting organisations, had betrayed their readers and
viewers and listeners by not finding out - by amplifying the lies of Bush
and Blair instead of challenging and exposing them. The direct consequences
were a criminal invasion called! "Shock and Awe" and the dehumanising of a
whole nation...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16737&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16737


Sunni parties divided over referendum
Aljazeera.net
The Iraqi Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) has urged the Iraqi Islamic
Party (IIP) to retract its endorsement of the Iraqi draft constitution
(...) The AMS on Thursday regretted the support of the IIP's support for a
constitution which it said would "fragment Iraq and destroy its identity".
AMS public relations official Abd al-Salam al-Kubaisi said it was not
possible to accept a constitution supervised by the US forces and written
by the martyrs' blood...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16734&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16734


We and the Constitution
A Citizen Of Mosul
Two days left before the vote for the constitution, but till now no body in
Mosul have seen a copy of it which supposed to be distributed to the
population before the referendum. In addition till now we and our neighbors
don't know yet the place where to vote which is necessory to be known in
advance since there is a curfew for all vehicles started from wednesday Oct
12 at 10 pm till monday Oct 17 at 5 am...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16731&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16731


Sunni party's Fallujah branch hit by explosion
Xinhuanet
The Falljah branch of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a main Sunni party in the
country, were damaged by explosion on Wednesday, a local source told Xinhua
(...) This incident happened shortly after the Iraqi Islamic Party decided
on Tuesday to call on its supporters to say "YES" in this weekend's
referendum on draft constitution. The party made such decision after Shiite
and Kurdish political leaders agreed to review possible changes to the
constitution after the! country's December elections. But so far, other
Sunni parties are still against the draft. ..

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16726&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16726


Iraq's Sistani urges Iraqis to back consitution
Reuters
Iraq's most influential cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has urged
Iraqis to vote "Yes" on Saturday's referendum on a draft constitution, one
of his aides said on Wednesday. "Sayyed Sistani has called on Iraqis to
vote "Yes", the aide to the top Shi'ite cleric told Reuters. Sistani's
guidance has great influence over the 60 percent of Iraqis who are Shi'ite
Muslims...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16727&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16727


Good News, or Urban Legends?
Stan Cox
... Did you know that half of all Iraqi households still don't have access
to clean water? Did you know that only 8 percent of Iraqi households
outside Baghdad are connected to sewage networks? Did you know that out of
81 water and sewage treatment projects planned as part of the
reconstruction effort, 68 have been abandoned? Did you know that the power
in Baghdad is out for 14 hours a day?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16725&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16725


Al-Qaeda and the Dubious Confederacy of Evil
Kurt Nimmo, Another Day in the Empire
It is simply astounding how many videos and audio tapes and letters slip
through al-Qaeda’s fingers and into the hands of the Pentagon, the State
Department, and various Bushites and intelligence factotums. Recall the
Osama dinner party video found in Afghanistan and the “al-Qaeda in Iraq”
chemical weapons plant left behind in Fallujah. Now we have a letter
purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, “acquired
during! U.S. operations in Iraq,” according to the Associated Press. How
this supposed letter was “acquired” is not revealed. Maybe Ayman didn’t
affix the correct postage. Or maybe Abu didn’t leave a change of address...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16724&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16724


POLLS DON'T IMPEACH PRESIDENTS; PEOPLE DO!
It don't mean a thing if their phones don't ring
thepen, www.opednews.com
First we give the action link,
<http://www.millionphonemarch.com/impeach.htm >http://www.millionphonemarch.com/impeach.htm
Why an action link first? It's because our words are useless unless they
mobilize people to take some immediate action in direct response. Unless
the central goal of all progressive punditry is to engage more people to DO
something! themselves, then what is the point . . . really? And if the
modestly patient reader will bear with us for just a couple of paragraphs,
we will show you how you can increase the effectiveness of your own
activist efforts in an incredible, new way...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16722&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16722


More U.S. Troops Die in Iraq Bombings Even as Armoring Improves
Bloomberg
Roadside bombs are killing more American troops in Iraq, as the frequency
and sophistication of insurgent attacks may be outstripping U.S. efforts to
increase protection for soldiers. So-called improvised explosive devices,
or IEDs, killed 302 U.S. troops between Jan. 1 and Oct. 7, compared with
165 in the same period in 2004, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count,
an Internet site with statistics based on official U.S. casualty report! s.
The number of U.S. armored vehicles in Iraq rose during that period to
almost 39,600 from 16,548, according to the Army. ``It's a losing game
because they can always build a bigger bomb,'' said Daniel Goure, vice
president of the Lexington Institute, a defense policy research group in
Arlington, Virginia...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16721&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16721


Sleepwalking into slavery?
William Bowles, I'n'I
...The great British public, apparently don’t think that home secretary’s
Clarke’s proposed additions to the anti-terror legislation including the
90-day detention without trial, apply to them, at least as far as we know,
as nobody has actually asked them. Perhaps they need to be reminded that
almost identical laws were passed by the Apartheid regime of South Africa.
Commonly known as the ‘90-day law’, it was first used to imprison
‘terrorist’ Ruth First, later mur! dered by a South African assassination
squad in Maputo, Mozambique...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=16720&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info/?p=16720




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