[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 24 Nov 2005 - Part One]

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Assassinations...
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning
We woke up yesterday morning to this news: Sunni tribal leader and his sons
shot dead. "Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms shot dead an aging Sunni tribal
leader and three of his sons in their beds on Wednesday, relatives said…"
Except when you read it on the internet, it’s nothing like seeing scenes of
it on television. They showed the corpses and the family members- an
elderly woman wailing and clawing at her face and hair and screaming that
soldiers from the Ministry of ! Interior had killed her sons. They shot
them in front of their mother, wives and children… Even when they slaughter
sheep, they take them away from the fold so that the other sheep aren’t
terrorized by the scene...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18138&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18138


Toward a 21st Century Socialism
How to Think About War and Peace
JAMES PETRAS, CounterPunch
For the ideologues and civilian militarists in Washington DC 'peace' can be
secured with the consolidation of a world empire, which in turn implies
perpetual wars throughout the world. For the ideologues and political
spokespeople of the multinational corporations, the operation of the free
market combined with selective use of imperial force in specific
"strategic" circumstances can ensure peace and prosperity.! For the peoples
and nations of the Third World, peace will result from self-determination
and 'social justice'--the elimination of imperial exploitation and
intervention and the establishment of participatory democracies based on
social equality. For many of the progressive forces in Europe and the US, a
system of international institutions and laws, binding on all nations, can
enforce the peaceful resolution of conflicts, regulate the behavior of the
MNCs and defend the self-determination of peoples. Each of these
perspectives has serious deficiencies...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18134&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18134


Tomgram: Jonathan Schell, Welcome to Camp Quagmire
Tom Engelhardt & Jonathan Schell
...Who doesn't like a good imperial ruin? Millions flock to Pompeii, so why
not Sunny Fallujah, once the "city of mosques" with a quarter-million
inhabitants, but massively destroyed in November 2004 by American planes,
artillery, tanks, and mortars and now being picturesquely rebuilt as a
giant Orwellian prison-camp city. Don't miss the retinal ID scans on your
way in, but be careful to stay in your Humvee. Despite the best effor! ts
of the American military, dangers abound...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18149&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18149


US, Iraqi Forces Still Target Sunnis: AMS
Samir Haddad, IOL Correspondent
Residents of Haditha, western Iraq, are being massacred by the Iraqi
national forces and US occupation troops, according to the Association of
Muslim Scholars (AMS), Iraqi's highest Sunni authority. "US troops and
Iraqi national guards are stationed at roofs and gardens of the city's
houses and are shooting anyone who dares get out," Sheikh Abdul Salam
Al-Qubaissi, AMS PR official, told a press conference Wednesday, November
23. Qubaissi ci! ted a call from an Iraqi woman who cried out for help from
the ongoing crackdowns in the city. The woman further detailed what she
described as a "massacre" perpetrated by the Iraqi forces against four
Iraqi families in the city...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18148&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18148


Press Freedom or Freedom to Bomb the Press? The Bush Plan to Bomb Al-Jazeera
Stephen Soldz, Information Clearing House
The British Daily Mirror newspaper reported today that, in April 2004,
President Bush planned to bomb the independent Al-Jazeera television
network headquarters in US ally Qatar. Tony Blair reportedly talked him out
of it. In case one doubts this report, the fact that the British government
has already indicted a civil servant for leaking this document confirms its
validity. In typical fashion,! the White House press spokesman Scott
McClellan issued one of his typical nondenials in an e-mail to the
Associated Press, writing: "We are not interested in dignifying something
so outlandish and inconceivable with a response"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18147&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18147


Sunni clerics to boycott elections
Mustafa Amara, Azzaman
The powerful Sunni Muslim Clerics Association will not take part in the
December elections, its leader said. Harith al-Dhari, Iraqi Sunnis most
senior cleric, said his association will boycott the elections. He did not
say whether the clerics under the association’s umbrella will urge Iraqi
Sunnis not to cast their votes. But he made it clear participation in these
elections would be tantamount to "legitimizing (foreign) occupation"...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18146&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18146


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 24 November 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
In a bulletin posted at 6:50pm Mecca time Thursday night, Mafakrat al-Islam
reported that at the time of writing a battle was underway between US
occupation forces and Arab fighters in the Iraqi Resistance armed with
light and medium weapons in the "no-man’s land" between the Iraqi and
Syrian border. The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that more t!
han 50 Arab Resistance fighters were engaged in combat with American
Marines of the 5th Division. As of the time of reporting, more than 12
Marine occupation soldiers had been killed or wounded in the battle, which
was still underway. An unknown number of Resistance fighters had also been
killed...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18145&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18145


Torture and Extrajudicial Killings in Iraq
Max Fuller, GlobalResearch.ca
...The US, largely through the CIA, has a long history of involvement with
genocidal intelligence operations, from Indonesia under Suharto, through
Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, to present-day Colombia. The current mass
arrests in Iraq and subsequent killings bear all the hallmarks of such an
operation. By analogy, one can reasonably guess that the current flood of
victims will include anyone opposing US hegemony, such as the hundreds of
tea! chers and academics who have already been assassinated, as well as the
human 'waste’ generated through 'heavy interrogation’. A further
possibility is that ordinary Sunni Iraqis are deliberately being victimised
as part of a strategy of fomenting sectarian strife designed to engineer
the Balkanisation of Iraq...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18144&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18144


GI Special 3D23: " We Have No Offensive Capability"
www.militaryproject.org
...Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday accused critics of "corrupt and
shameless" revisionism in suggesting the White House misled the nation in a
rush to war, the latest salvo in an increasingly acrimonious debate over
prewar intelligence. Cheney also denounced proposals for a quick U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq as "a dangerous illusion" and shrugged off the failure
to find weapons of mass destruction. "We never had the burden of proof,"!
he said, adding that it had been up to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to
prove to the world that he didn't have such weapons. Burden of proof??? So,
Saddam had to prove that he didn't have weapons of mass destruction, in
order to avoid having his country attacked?. Even though anyone within the
average intelligence range, who knew anything about Iraq, could've figured
out that Saddam's direct threat potential to the United States was pretty
slim, to say the least; the idea that Saddam could have actually proven his
way out of this mess is a really interesting assertion. I mean, is it
really even possible to prove that you don't have something like that?!...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18143&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18143


Phantom Fury revisited
Sharif Abdul-Kuddous, Al-Ahram Weekly
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the United States assault on
Fallujah, the Sunni city north of Baghdad that came to symbolise armed
resistance to the American occupation of Iraq. In the offensive, code-named
Phantom Fury, American and Iraqi military forced out the town's residents,
bombed hospitals and buildings, attacked whole neighbourhoods and denied
entry to relief workers. When the dust had settled, 10,000 buildings were
destroyed with! thousands more seriously damaged...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18142&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18142


Web Alternative
John Pilger
The great scandal of Iraq has accelerated this. In the United States,
several senior broadcasters have confessed that had they challenged and
exposed the lies told about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, instead of
amplifying and justifying them, the invasion might not have happened. Such
honesty has yet to cross the Atlantic. Since it was founded in 1922, the
BBC has served to protect every British establishment during war and civil
unrest. "We" never traduce and never commit great ! crimes. So the omission
of shocking events in Iraq – the destruction of cities, the slaughter of
innocent people and the farce of a puppet government – is routinely
applied...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18141&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18141


Getting away with murder
No Right Turn
Mark Swanner is a murderer. In 2003, the CIA interrogator tortured an Iraqi
prisoner to death in Abu Ghraib prison. And yet he continues to walk free,
because the US government refuses to prosecute him. The full details are in
an in-depth article from the New Yorker. The prisoner's name was Manadel
al-Jamadi...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18139&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18139


Libby Indictment May Open Door to Broader Iraq War Deceptions
Stephen Zunes, ZNet
The details revealed thus far from the investigation that led to the
five-count indictment against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby seem to indicate
that the efforts to expose the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie
Plame Wilson went far beyond the chief assistant to the assistant chief.
Though no other White House officials were formally indicted, the
investigation appears to implicate Vice President Richard Cheney and Karl
Rove, ! President George W. Bush's top political adviser, in the
conspiracy. More importantly, the probe underscores the extent of
administration efforts to silence those who questioned its argument that
Iraq constituted a serious threat to the national security of the United
States...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18137&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18137


THE CONTINUING NIGHTMARE
Craig Etchison, Axis of Logic
...The old men who chose this war in Iraq would have this be a phantom war.
No pictures of the destruction. Of Fallujah reduced to rubble by our bombs
and our white phosphorus. No pictures of the thousands of women and
children killed--I'm sorry, the correct phrase should be no pictures of the
collateral damage. No mention of the lack of electricity in Baghdad, not to
mention the rest of the country. No mention of the lack of drinking water.
No mention of the! rampant disease killing thousands of children. No
mention of the depleted uranium and the skyrocketing numbers of birth
defects and cancers. No mention of the billions of dollars going into the
coffers of Halliburton and Bechtel, who do little but hide their gains in
off-shore accounts so old men can add to their piles of gold...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18136&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18136


Scores killed in fresh Iraq violence
Aljazeera.net
More than 50 Iraqis have been killed in attacks, including 30 in a car bomb
attack on a hospital, as violence picked up in the run-up to the 15
December general elections. The bloodiest attack took place on Thursday in
Mahmudiyah, some 20km (12 miles) south of the capital, where a suicide
bomber attempted to ram a booby-trapped car into a hospital compound.
Thirty people died and 27 were wounded, including four US soldiers,
security sources said...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18135&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18135


Blessings?
Cindy Sheehan, t r u t h o u t
It was hard to feel blessed today as I sat at Casey's grave here in
Vacaville, California. Sure, a lot of good things have happened in my
sphere of influence this year, but the blessings are always hampered by the
reason for the blessings. If Casey had not been killed in Iraq in George's
imperialistic war for power and wealth, I wouldn't be on this path. I wish
to God I weren't on this path. But I am, so here are the blessings I am
thankful for this year...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18133&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18133


On the Road to Rock Bottom
How Many More People Will Die?
A TvNewsLIES Query
...Without doubt, however, the most damaging of the Bush fiascos has been
the war in Iraq. Almost everything else is subject to change. Almost all
the damage can be turned around by future administrations or legislatures.
But this useless war, with its unending blood and pain and suffering is so
totally and so very tragically irrevocable. It may be the primary force
that accelerates the downfall of this President as he hurtles t! o rock
bottom...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18132&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18132


British government threatens prosecution to suppress claim that Bush sought
to bomb Al Jazeera
Julie Hyland, WSWS
The British government has threatened editors with prosecution under the
Official Secrets Act if they publish further details from a top secret memo
that apparently records US President George W. Bush’s desire to bomb the
headquarters of Arab TV station Al Jazeera in the Persian Gulf sheikdom of
Qatar. The Daily Mirror has been a particular target because it published a
front-page exclusive on the mem! o under the headline "Bush plot to bomb
his ally," on Tuesday, November 22. According to the newspaper, the
five-page memo was a secret minute of a conversation held between Bush and
Prime Minister Tony Blair on April 16, 2004...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18130&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18130


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 23 November 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
...US occupation troops seized control of a building in the College of
Sciences at ar-Ramadi University around noon on Wednesday. The facility,
used to teach Arabic and English languages as well as finance and business
administration, is being turned into an American military camp following
the eviction of 3,500 male and female students, according to Dr. ! Ahmad
'Abd al-Malik as-Sa'di, the Dean of the College who spoke with Mafkarat
al-Islam. Dr. as-Sa'di described the American seizure of the college
building as "savage and barbaric," noting that the US troops threatened to
shoot anyone who approached the vicinity of the college campus...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18129&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18129


Press groups seek answers on Jazeera memo
Aljazeera.net
Journalists' rights groups are urging the United States and Britain to
provide clarification of a report that suggests US President George Bush
sought to bomb Aljazeera. The controversy surrounds details of a leaked
British government memo published by a UK newspaper, the Daily Mirror,
earlier this week. "This is a very serious charge with grave implications
for the safety of media professionals," said Ann Cooper, executive director
of the Committee to Prote! ct Journalists...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18127&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18127


NYT: spinning the Iraq war lies
Xymhpora
The spin of the New York Times to explain its deplorable coverage leading
to the war in Iraq is the usual anti-conspiracy remedy of claiming
stupidity. The publisher, editors and, in particular, Judith Miller, were
all completely taken in by liars such as Chalabi, Curveball, al-Libi and
Cheney, and, despite all appearances to the contrary, were definitely not
engaged in a treasonous criminal conspiracy to fool the American people
into illegally attacking a sovereign foreig! n country for no good reason
at all. Morons, idiots, fools - but definitely not liars...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18126&s2=25>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18126




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