[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 9 Dec 2005]

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The Trial of Saddam Hussein / Anti-war Movement Must Reject Colonial 'Justice'
Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center
The trial of Saddam Hussein, which has opened with much international
publicity, is a desperate attempt to justify and convey some legitimacy on
the criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. It is an effort to
demoralize and divide the resistance to the occupation. It has nothing to
do with justice or truth. All the political forces internationally that
have opposed t! he 15-year-long U.S. war on Iraq--which has included
starvation sanctions, bombing and invasion--should also oppose all the
efforts to justify the continued occupation, including the present trial of
the former Iraqi leader and seven members of his government...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18569&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18569


Biopiracy and GMOs: Fate of Iraq's agriculture
Ghali Hassan, Online Journal Contributing Writer
While the Iraqi people are struggling to end the U.S. military Occupation
and its associated violence, the fate of their food sources and
agricultural heritage is being looted behind closed doors. Unless the
colonisation of Iraq ends, the U.S. Occupation of Iraq will continue to
have lasting and disastrous effects on Iraq's economy and Iraq's ability to
feed its people. Iraq is home to the oldest agricultural tradition! s in
the world. Historical, genetic and archaeological evidence, including
radiocarbon dating of carbon-containing materials at the site, show that
the Fertile Crescent, including modern Iraq, was the centre of
domestication for a remarkable array of today's primary agricultural crops
and livestock animals. Wheat, barley, rye, lentils, sheep, goats, and pigs
were all originally brought under human control around 8000 BCE. Iraq is
where wild wheat was once originated and many of its cereal varieties have
been exported and adapted worldwide. The beginning of agriculture led
inexorably to the development of human civilization...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18564&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18564


U.S.IMPERIALISM'S PRIMARY GOAL IN THE M.E. IS TO DESTROY ARAB NATIONS
Liz Burbank
...from Bassim from Baghdad. (...) Sure I agree that US/Israeli and Iranian
black ops try to promote civil war. But will they succeed? They're on it
for almost 3 years now from the very beginning when the Bushites insisted
to create their own version of government based on quotas for Shiites,
Sunnis and Kurds. Something never have Iraqis been used to. *my wife is
very Kurd, 3 sisters in law are "Shiites" while I am an Arab S! unni". The
clumsy tune began playing in 1991 when the Anglo-Saxons imposed the no fly
zone, when Voice of America/"V.O.A" iterated, repeatedly, Shiites in the
south, Sunnis in the middle and Kurds in the north as if each of these
communities is one politically separate homogeneous group of people
confined to these places - U.S. it's drooling. We are Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18576&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
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Joe Lieberman, Secretary of Invasion
Kurt Nimmo, Another day in the empire
It makes perfect sense, of course. Get rid of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary
of Invasion of Small Defenseless Countries and put the Zionist Joe
Lieberman in there. "White House officials are telling associates they
expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit early next year, once a
new government is formed in Iraq," reports the New York Daily News.
"Rumsfeld’s deputy, Gordon England, is the inside contender to replace him,
but there’s ! also speculation that Sen. Joe Lieberman—a Democrat who ran
against Bush-Cheney in the 2000 election—might become top guy at the
Pentagon." Of course, since there is only a cosmetic difference between
Democrats and Republicans, especially in regard to invading small countries
in the Middle East, party affiliation is nearly meaningless...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18571&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18571


The Splendid Failure of Occupation
Part 39: Iraq: The second stage of conquest
B. J. Sabri, Online Journal Contributing Writer
In a historical timeframe, George H. W. Bush's war to "punish" Iraq for its
invasion of Kuwait was the bridge that connected America's brutal
colonialist past to its fascist, still-colonialist present under the
presidency of his son, George W. Bush. Between the two ends of that bridge,
there was the era of the darlings to Zionism, Al Gore and his president,
Bill Clinton. Gore, Clinton! , Berger, Albright's policy of continued war
against Iraq, war against Serbia, interventions in Bosnia, Haiti and
Palestine, and threat of war against Indonesia over East Timor, paved the
way for the next president (George W. Bush) to transform the United States
into a world dictatorship that abides by no rules, international charters,
or any ethical standards...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18565&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18565


Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize speech: a brave artist speaks the truth about
US imperialism
Barry Grey, WSWS
British playwright Harold Pinter, this year’s Nobel laureate for
literature, delivered a passionate, truthful and courageous acceptance
speech to the Swedish Academy on Wednesday. The renowned author of such
plays as The Homecoming and The Caretaker, Pinter has spoken out tirelessly
and powerfully against the war in Iraq and the depredations of American
imperialism in the Balkans, Central America and elsewher! e that preceded
it...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18582&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18582


The U.S. can’t win Iraq war
Aljazeera.com, UK
With the U.S. military fatalities in Iraq, numerous political analysts and
most of the Americans themselves have become more doubtful about winning
the war. According to an article by James Klurfeld published on
Newsday.com, the U.S. President George W. Bush has lost his credibility on
IRAQ war. Nothing, the article continues, could have damaged the
president's political viability more than this illegal, unjustified and
bloody war...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18581&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18581


Saddam's trial witnesses faulty, says lawyer
Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, part of a team of lawyers
defending Saddam Hussein against charges of crimes against humanity, on
Friday accused witnesses in the trial of false testimony. Clark said the
prosecution was battling to present a coherent case, with the nine
witnesses who have testified so far either speaking from behind a curtain
to hide their identities or reading from papers as if their testimony was
pre-written (..! .) "Some of the witnesses' testimony seemed entirely
fabricated and some seemed to be assisted, and those who appeared all had
paper in front of them," Clark, 77, who has attended the trial since it
resumed on November 28, told Reuters in an interview. "They were reading.
Who do you know who wrote what? You cannot tell whether it's something they
saw or something they heard or read in a newspaper," he said...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18570&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18570


Blair's Britain 2005 - where peaceful protest can be costly
Independent, UK
The cases of Pennie Quinton and Kevin Gillan are due before the House of
Lords next month as civil rights campaigners attempt to show that
anti-terrorism laws to stop and search are being used unlawfully. Mr
Gillan, 28, a postgraduate student from Sheffield, and Ms Quinton, 34, a
freelance photo-journalist, were among about 140 people arrested under the
Terrorism Act 2000 at an arms fair at the Excel Centre in east London in
2003. Lawyers! for Liberty argued that the "draconian" powers were being
used in a way that was never intended by Parliament and that they had
unlawfully deterred members of the public from demonstrating peacefully...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18580&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
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The Big Heist by "Iraq's Best Hope"
Blair Tries to Cover Up $1.3 Billion Iraqi Theft
PATRICK COCKBURN
The British government is trying to stall an investigation into the theft
of more than $1.3bn (£740m) from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, senior
Iraqi officials say. The government wants to postpone the investigation to
help its favored candidate Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, in the
election on December 15. The money disappeared during his administration...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18588&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18588


Berlusconi channel withdraws Iraq video
Middle East Online
A television channel owned by Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
blocked the broadcast Thursday of graphic footage of Italian troops in a
firefight with insurgents in Iraq, on the grounds that it would mislead the
public. Berlusconi's Mediaset, which owns the Italia 1 channel, said the
video taken by a carabinieri officer during a firefight with insurgents in
southern Iraq in 2004 was "very confused," and "provides a representation
of Italy's milita! ry's presence in Iraq which is far from everyday
reality" (...) The footage shows an Italian patrol returning fire after
coming under attack and features one soldier shouting: "See that one
running, take him out," and another saying "Look at that bastard moving,
get him."...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18587&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18587


'Never Before!' Our Amnesiac Torture Debate
Naomi Klein, The Nation
It was the "Mission Accomplished" of George W. Bush's second term, and an
announcement of that magnitude called for a suitably dramatic location. But
what was the right backdrop for the infamous "We do not torture"
declaration? With characteristic audacity, the Bush team settled on
downtown Panama City. It was certainly bold. An hour and a half's drive
from where Bush stood, the US military ran the notorious School of the
Americas from 1946 to 19! 84, a sinister educational institution that, if
it had a motto, might have been "We do torture." It is here in Panama and,
later, at the school's new location in Fort Benning, Georgia, where the
roots of the current torture scandals can be found...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18586&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18586


Flays Commander-in-Chief's Claims
Murtha Returns to the Attack
ALEXANDER COCKBURN
On the heels of the second in Bush's series of four speeches on the war in
Iraq, Rep John Murtha returned to the attack in a press conference,
responding to Bush's claims. Armed with graphs, bar charts and intimate
knowledge of what is actually happening on the ground in Iraq, the former
US Marine shredded Bush's claims, blazing a path for his fellow Democrats,
which most of them continue to shun. Once again Murtha relayed! what the
four star generals are telling him. Among his disclosures...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18584&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18584


European governments make their peace with Washington on abductions, torture
Chris Marsden, WSWS
European ministers have signalled an end to any pretence of opposing
America’s practice of rendition, which involves shipping detainees abroad
to be tortured—using European airports and even CIA bases located in
eastern Europe. Following a formal dinner in Brussels on December 7, in
advance of the next day’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers, France,
Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium all proclaimed themselves satis! fied
with reassurances by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the US abides
by the Geneva Convention in its treatment of prisoners...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18579&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18579


Iraq war debate enters new phase
ANTHONY B. ROBINSON
...As the debate on the Iraq war enters a new phase, those who foisted a
crusade theory of warfare on Americans, and those who bought it, have much
to answer for. Such a mentality encourages an overreliance on the nation's
military, a rush to war, the failure of careful analysis and the erosion of
proscriptions against torture and abuse. In moving from a just war ethic to
a crusade theory of warfare Americans have lost their way, and some
Christian leaders have! betrayed their faith...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18578&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18578


Bush - Constitution 'Just A Goddamned Piece Of Paper'
Doug Thompson, Capitol Hill Blue
Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to
meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the
controversial USA Patriot Act (...) GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore
push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate
conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to
nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. "I don'! t
give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the
Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way." "Mr. President," one aide in the meeting
said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the
Constitution." "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed
back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18577&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18577


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 9 December 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
US warplanes carried out a violent attack on four houses belonging to local
Iraqis in the western city of Hit at 11am local time Friday morning. The
Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that the hospital in Hit had
announced that 14 local civilians as a result of the American air raid,
among them women and children. The corres! pondent reported that the
assault was concentrated on the village of az-Zawiyyah east of Hit, a
village inhabited by members of the al-Bu Nimr tribe, the largest tribe in
the ad-Dulaym tribal federation. They had earlier received threats from the
American occupation forces that they would suffer "painful" punishment for
giving help to the Iraqi Resistance...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18573&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18573


GI Special 3D39: " You Forgot That Our Soldiers Are Human"
www.militaryproject.org
...You sent our soldiers to war to protect your elected office. You banded
together because you saw the polls and you knew it was what the American
people wanted. Why did they want it? Because a president, vice president,
secretary of defense, secretary of state and a myriad of tongue-wagging,
drooling groupies all gathered together and told them this administration
could be trusted. Somewhere in the mix, people forgot - POWER CORR! UPTS -
and most assuredly makes those who believe they have the power forget. You
forgot that the American people put their trust in you to lead them well,
as one of us - with integrity, and honesty - with the TRUTH. You forgot
that our soldiers are human beings. They bleed and they die...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18572&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18572


Halabja: Iraq, Saddam, Talabani, Iran, U.S. and Zyklon-B
An open Letter to Professor Stephen Pelletière
jouna, iraq-war.ru
...The innocence of Frans van Anraat, Iraqis and Saddam Hussein to the
gassing of the Kurds leaves us with several open questions. One of them is
who then used cyanide gas against the civilian inhabitants of Halabja?
Before looking an answer to, I would like to go deeper in the details of
this murky event. First, I would like to highligth the involvement of Jalal
Talabani: (1) In! IIOS (p. 188) you write: "The rebel Kurdish Leader, Jalal
Talabani facilitated the introduction of the Iranian forces into Halabja by
night so that the Iraqi commander was unaware of the penetration." (2)
Before proceeding further, I would like to have few words on the character
of Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, the rebel force leader in March 1988. In
the events around Halabja he obviously deceives his own people, the Kurds,
as he first exposes them to Iranian attack, and right after causes them to
be gassed with cyanide. Not very nice from him, or what do you think? ...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18583&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18583


Shiite cleric demands Saddam lawyers arrested
Turkish Press
A Shiite cleric called on Iraqi authorities Friday to arrest the former US
attorney general and Qatari lawyer who are helping to defend Saddam Hussein
in his trial for crimes against humanity. "The authorities must arrest the
American and Qatari lawyers who entered the country in an illegal manner,"
Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Haidari said in his weekly sermon at the Killani
mosque in Baghdad (...) Haidari, seen as a representative of Grand
Ayatollah Ali al! -Sistani, the spiritual father of Iraq's Shiite majority,
said he wanted to see Saddam the "criminal punished"...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18567&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18567


Rumsfeld's ELIG ... another metric?
Imad Khadduri, Free Iraq
"Last weekend, while other Americans were watching football and eating
leftover turkey, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ended the Iraqi
insurgency.
It was easy, really: He declared that the insurgents would, henceforth, no
longer be called insurgents. "Over the weekend, I thought to myself, 'You
know, that gives them a greater legitimacy than they seem to merit,' "
Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon briefing yesterday, said of his ban on the I-word.
"It was an epiphany," he added, throwing his hands in the air...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18566&s2=10>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18566




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