[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 14 Dec 2005]

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Thinking the Unthinkable: Saddam Trial: Arraignment or Apology?
Felicity Arbuthnot
When Saddam Hussein announced to the U.S. inspired kangaroo Court in
Baghdad, that he was: 'Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq...', he was
ridiculed in the media. He was right. Iraq's 'sovereignty and territorial
integrity', were guaranteed by the U.N., whose founding Charter deems
illegal the invasion of another U.N.Member state. Since the supine
Secretary General of the U.N., Kofi Annan, finally stated, twenty months
after the inv! asion that it was 'illegal' , it is worth addressing what
Saddam Hussein and his co-defendents are being tried for and whether they
are owed apology rather than prosecution (...) The charge Saddam Hussein
and his co-defendents face is that, after an assassination attempt against
him and those in his convoy in July 1982, in the village of Dujail, one
hundred and forty two villagers were executed after trial. Execution for
treason was legal under Iraq's Consitution, as it is in the U.S...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18718&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18718


After December 15, Iraq will be at mercy of US corporations
Michael Arvey, Online Journal Contributing Writer
If George W. Bush's policies on Iraq are mystifying, fret not -- there's a
method to his organized chaos after all. Bush's recent unveiling of a
"plan" for victory in Iraq projected an exercise in utterly hollow
rhetoric, unless it's understood to whose victory he is really referring.
After the upcoming December 15 parliamentary elections in Iraq, victory
will rest securely in the pockets of corporatists ! and their partners in
the administration...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18700&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18700


The endless looting of Iraq
Ghali Hassan, Online Journal Contributing Writer
Since the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Western corporate media have
deceptively reported and portrayed the Occupation as a necessary vehicle to
"spread democracy" and "fight terrorism"; however the carving up of Iraq's
wealth and oil assets is deliberately avoided. The media hype over
"reconstruction effort" and illegitimate elections is a cover up for the
colonisation of Iraq and Iraq's economy. An "agreement" between British and
U.! S. oil corporations will see Iraq's oil revenues end up in the pockets
of the invaders at the expense of the people of Iraq. Executives from
ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and Halliburton and Iraqi expatriate conmen,
described in the West as Iraqi "technocrats," have reached a deal to
carve-up Iraqi oil, despite opposition from Iraqi oil workers and union
leaders. It is described as the "second phase of the war," in which the
invaders will divide the cake between themselves as reward for their crimes
of aggression...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18697&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18697


Iraqi Elections: "To Be Free and Fair."
Phyllis Bennis and Erik Leaver, Institute for Policy Studies
...Elections are often important indices and instruments of democracy, but
elections held under conditions of military occupation are not legitimate.
Whatever combination of political forces claims to "win" the December 15
election, the result will likely increase the level of sectarianism in
Iraq. The election results are irrelevant to the U.S. obligation to
withdraw its troops and end the occupation - including ! all mercenary and
"coalition" forces, evacuating all U.S. bases in Iraq, giving up all claims
to control of Iraqi oil, and ending the occupation-imposed privatization
and other laws...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18716&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18716


Am I the only one who thinks members of the Iraqi military and resistance
fighters are human beings?
Eli, Left I on the News
...Since then, John Friedman writing in The Nation, Matthew Rothschild
writing in the Progressive, and Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! (and probably
others I'm missing) have all repeated the 30,000 number. Rothschild and
Goodman actually repeated the question, clearly specifying all Iraqis, but
showed no evidence of having listened to it. Goodman, to her credit, was
the only one to rai! se the issue of the Lancet study, and actually
interviewed one of its authors who defended it vigorously, but she, like
the others, simply didn't question the omission of an estimated 80,000
Iraqis who were just as innocent, and are just as dead, as a result of the
invasion and occupation of Iraq -- members of the Iraqi military, and
resistance fighters who died fighting against an illegal foreign invasion
and occupation of their country...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18715&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18715


Burying the Lancet report . . . and the children
Nicolas J S Davies, Online Journal Contributing Writer
Over a year ago, an international team of epidemiologists headed by Les
Roberts of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health completed a "cluster
sample survey" of civilian casualties in Iraq. Its findings contradicted
central elements of the narrative of the war that politicians and
journalists had presented to the American public and the world. After
excluding the results from Anbar province as a statistical anom! aly and
half the increase in infant mortality as possible "recall bias," they
estimated that at least 98,000 Iraqi civilians had died in the previous 18
months as a direct result of the invasion and occupation of their country.
They also found that violence had become the leading cause of death in Iraq
during that period (51 percent or 24 percent with or without Anbar).
However, their most significant finding was that the vast majority (79
percent) of violent deaths were caused by "coalition" forces using
"helicopter gunships, rockets or other forms of aerial weaponry," and that
almost half (48 percent) of these were children, with a median age of
eight...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18696&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18696


Bush claims that Iraqis are leading “better lives,” but...
Iraq slides deeper into disaster
Elizabeth Schulte & Sami Ramadani
...WE HAVE had so many turning points that we’re getting dizzy. I think
actually that the December elections are not going to change things in
Iraq. The occupation will go on, and we’ll have yet another government that
is devised under U.S. control and influence in Iraq. But at another level,
it will have an important impact in terms of the legality of the occupation
of Iraq. I t! hink one of the plans behind holding this election so
speedily is to legitimize the occupation, so the new government will be
deemed to be a sovereign government with a permanent constitution, and this
so-called new government will invite the occupation forces to stay in
Iraq...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18714&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18714


Should the U.S. Withdraw? Let the Iraqi People Decide
Abigail A. Fuller and Neil Wollman
...Some polls have asked Iraqis specifically about the presence of U.S.
troops, and guess what: they want us to leave. A February poll by the U.S.
military, cited by the Brookings Institution, found that 71 percent of
Iraqis "oppose the presence of Coalition Forces in Iraq." This poll was
taken only in urban areas, but others have found much the same sentiment.
According to a January 2005 poll by Abu Dhabi TV/Zogby Internatio! nal, 82
percent of Sunni Arabs and 69 percent of Shiite Arabs favor the withdrawal
of U.S. troops either immediately or after an elected government is in
place. But an opinion poll does not carry the weight of a referendum, in
which all Iraqis could clearly and definitively vote on whether or not U.S.
troops should remain in their country (...) It appears that we as a nation
are so self-absorbed that both the hawks and the doves among us have
forgotten to ask what those most affected by the war–the Iraqi people
themselves--want. Let us remedy this situation by supporting a referendum
and then abiding by the results. Let the Iraqi people decide...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18717&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18717


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
...Mafkarat al-Islam reported on Wednesday that US occupation forces had
discovered a second truck packed with forged election papers supporting the
Shi'i sectarian alliance backed by pro-American Shi'i religious authority
'Ali as-Sistani. The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a
high-level source in the Iraqi puppet "Interior Ministry" ! security
service as saying that a fuel tanker with tens of thousands of election
papers inside had been found one day after the discovery of a similar
vehicle in the Badrah area in southeastern Iraq. The source said that the
second tanker was found with three individuals aboard, two Iraqis believed
to belong to the Badr Brigades and one Iranian citizen...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18712&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18712


What Kind of Withdrawal?
REVOLUTIONARY FLOWERPOT SOCIETY
Since Rep. John Murtha’s declarations expressing the need to reconsider the
presence of US troops in Iraq, we have seen a considerable increase in the
volume of print-n-bytes dedicated to talk of withdrawing/redeploying US
troops in Iraq. It is therefore necessary to focus on exactly what kind of
withdrawal is being talked about. It is also extremely important for the
Left to not lose its renewed resolve and momentum, since a corollary
function of the talk ! of withdrawing/redeploying troops is to demobilize
the antiwar activists in particular (and to allay the worries of the
general public) by spreading the idea that the official representatives
have heard people’s opinions as well as the voices of the military
commanders and bigwigs on the ground...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18711&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18711


What will it take to impeach the whole Bush regime?
Bev Conover, nline Journal Editor & Publisher
...Given that Bush is at the center of two stolen elections, the "new Pearl
Harbor" of September 11, 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act, illegal wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the torturing of war prisoners and those he has
deemed "enemy combatants," the lies he and his cohorts told to launch their
wars and the lies they keep telling to keep their wars going, a destroyed
US economy, and more scandals and corruption than Carter! has little liver
pills, and now the slap in the face that the constitution is "just a
goddamned piece of paper," what constitutes and impeachable offense? Is
only oral sex in the Oval Office and/or lying about it impeachable?...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18710&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18710


Does 30,000 Mean Anything to Bush?
Matthew Rothschild
..."Bush: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say,
30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and
the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We’ve lost about 2,140 of our own
troops." Bush may have severely underestimated the total number of Iraqi
dead (...) While it’s a relief, I suppose, to know that Bush understands
that his war has killed at least 30,000 Iraqis, does even that figure mean
anything to him? He acted as ! though it was a totally acceptable number.
In fact, as David Sirota has noted, Bush in the very next breadth made a
joke as he interrupted the next questioner to say, "I’ll repeat the
question. If I don’t like it, I’ll make it up." The White House transcript
reads: "(Laughter and applause.)" That is the definition of obscenity...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18709&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18709


A Death Toll Lower Than DC Murder Rate?
NPR Swallows Bush Guestimate on Iraqi Dead
APRIL HURLEY, M.D., CounterPunch
...I witnessed Shock and Awe in Baghdad and the tsunami of lies discounting
those deaths. The bombing then was brutal and the occupation since has been
a serial massacre. Iraq today is our massive Guernica. It is obscene that
this war president continues in denial that he has, conservatively, caused
the death of 150,000-200,000 Iraqi men, women and kids. And this after,
conservatively aga! in, more than 500,000 died under Clinton's promoting of
UN sanctions. How can you National Public Radio people live with your
complicity in hustling such horrific crimes and distortions about them...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18707&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18707


Meeting of anti-establishment world leaders
Axis for Peace: The founding of an international movement against world
domination
VoltaireNet.org
The Axis for Peace 2005 international conference, the first one of its
kind, was held in Brussels between November 17 – 18, 2005. One hundred and
fifty personalities from 37 countries responded to the invitation announced
by Voltaire Network in order to elaborate an effective speech to defend
peace (...) On November 18, they signed a Final Declaration to denounc! e
the coalition headed by the United States and the danger it poses to world
peace. "A military coalition has plunged into a violent exploitation of
energy resources and raw materials, participants stated. Encouraged by
neoconservatives, it has increased its depredation and resumed all forms of
interference, from the change of regimes to colonial expansionism. It is
always violating the principles of international law drafted by the
conferences of The Hague and stated in the San Francisco Charter"..



<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18702&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18702


Pentagon may request up to $100 billion more for wars
Associated Press
The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a wartime request for up to
$100 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that
would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion
dollars. Reps. Bill Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House appropriations
defense panel, and John Murtha, D-Pa., senior Democrat on that
subcommittee, say the military has informally told them it wants $80
billion to $100 bill! ion in a war-spending request that the White House is
expected to send Congress next year...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18713&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18713


Freedom for our brothers from CPT (ECAP), peace fighters in Iraq
Asoc. Campesina del Valle del Río Cimitarra
...We know CPT from 2001, they have walked close to us, exposing their
lives, along the paths of pain and injustice so common in Colombia. They
have seen with us the way our rights are violated, but also how we fight
for them. They have objected with us to the oppression that comes from the
imperial power of the United States. They are courageous and worthy
representatives of the peoples of Great Britain, ! The United States and
Canada. CPT is an organization that fights around the world against the
military interventions, against the occupations disguised as democracy, so
it is possible watching them trying to demolish the "Wall of Shame" in
Palestine, or defending the humanity of the "illegal" immigrants in the
Brave Rio, between Mexico and the United States, or sailing along the
rivers and marshes of Magdalena Medio, in the middle of our colombian war,
saving the peasants from uncertainty and paramilitarism...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18706&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18706


Bush and the Constitution
"Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper"
GARY LEUPP
Doug Thompson, publisher of Capitol Hill Blue, says he's talked to three
people present last month when Republican Congressional leaders met with
President Bush in the Oval Office to talk about renewing the Patriot Act.
That act, passed by legislators who hadn't read it, in the immediate
aftermath of 9-11 (when most people were shell-shocked and lawmakers in
particular disinclined to use their brains), has of course been criticized
! as containing unconstitutional elements. All three GOP politicians quote
their president as saying: "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's
just a goddamned piece of paper!"

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18705&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18705


Police Seize Forged Ballots Headed to Iraq From Iran
DEXTER FILKINS, NYTimes
Less than two days before nationwide elections, the Iraqi border police
seized a tanker on Tuesday that had just crossed from Iran filled with
thousands of forged ballots, an official at the Interior Ministry said. The
tanker was seized in the evening by agents with the American-trained border
protection force at the Iraqi town of Badra, after crossing at Munthirya on
the Iraqi border, the official said. According to the Iraqi official, ! the
border police found several thousand partly completed ballots inside...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18704&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18704


Iraqi Sunni candidate wants Baath party comeback
Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters
Iraqi election candidate Ali al-Sajri tells exile voters near a polling
station in Jordan it's time to rehabilitate Saddam Hussein's Baath Party
(...) "The Baathists should be allowed to return to legalised political
life. They have a lot of experience and sacrificed a lot for Iraq over 35
years," said Sajri, wooing Iraqi voters in Jordan, many of the Sunni Arabs,
after winding up his election campaign in his hometown of Baiji, north of!
Baghdad. "They are the only ones who can bring stability," he told
supporters in Jordan, one of 15 countries where Iraqi exiles began voting
this week ahead of Thursday's election in Iraq...


<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18703&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18703


The Emperor Has Spoken
Sheldon Richman
It’s a measure of the imperial nature of the modern American presidency
that George W. Bush misstates the truth even as he defends himself against
the charge that he misstates the truth (...) Facts be damned; the president
is not giving up on convincing the American people, contrary to the
evidence, that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. He insists on ignoring
the self-fulfilling character of his war: it has made Iraq a hotbed of
anti-American violence because it has made ! the U.S. forces an army of
occupation. None of this confirms Bush’s position that "they" hate "us"
because of our way of life. "They" hated "us" because of a long history of
U.S. intervention in the Middle East, and Bush has only given "them" more
reason to hate "us" now...


<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18699&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18699


GI Special 3D44: Filling In Holes - December 14, 2005
www.militaryproject.org
...It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003,
the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later
with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. It seemed so easy. President George
Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been
accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the
war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US
! servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or
wounded since the fall of Baghdad. By November 2004 a serious guerrilla war
was under way. The 140,000-strong US Army was hopelessly ill-equipped for
such a conflict...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18698&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18698




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