[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 31 Marc 2006 - Part Two]

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On the Occupation’s Third Anniversary: What did Iraqis Gain from the
‘Liberation’?
:: mohammed ali ::
These days see the third year since the beginning of the tragedy of the
catastrophe of the invasion-turned-occupation by the world’s most
aggressive countries. The Iraqi people have never experienced such a
catastrophe over the course of their ancient and modern history. The
invasion, its subsequent occupation and installation of a puppet regime in
Iraq is a by-product of the wanton intentions of the colonialist ! powers
and their disrespect to recognised international law. These colonial powers
invaded and now occupy Iraq in order to force their control and influence
on the region as whole by first subjugating the Iraqi people first. Let’s
take a quick look at occupied Iraq today...

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The shattering of the Iraqi education system, yet again
Imad Khadduri
...By the end of the 1970s, and as a result of a concerted political
determination, the literacy rate, for both men and woman, reached more than
90 per cent. However, two decades of wars followed by 13-year severe
economic sanctions (1990-2003) left Iraq's education system in disrepair,
enrolment dropped, and literacy levels stagnated. Iraq's adult literacy
rate is now one of the lowest in all Arab countries. The dilapidating
impact of the sanc! tions on the education and research capabilities in
Iraq can best be exemplified by the UN banning Iraq from importing
scientific or technical text books, periodicals and journals. Iraqi
academics and professionals were intentionally isolated from scientific
development for 13 years, by an international organisation. The rate of
deterioration and fragmentation of the Iraqi education system was
compounded by two major insidious outcomes in the aftermath of the
American-led occupation that resulted in the looting and destruction of 84
per cent of Iraqi universities; the liquidation of university professors
and the implementation of sectarian attitudes and practices among
students...

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Each of us is holding his shroud by his hands, awaiting death…
Faiza Al-Arji
The situation in Iraq is very dangerous currently; there are street fights
in Baghdad and other cities, the connections are cut-off, the occupation
forces closed the Internet Cafés in the hot towns, like Sammara'a, Al-Qaim,
and Al-Ramadi, cutting off their communications with the Iraqi and
international cities, meaning- even someone living in Iraq wouldn't know
what is happening there… I try to call by Mobile phone, and written
messages,! some of them get through, and a lot don't… I called my sister in
Jordan, and she says the boarders with Iraq are also closed, and every
connection with the people there by Internet was cut off…. Our people there
are besieged; by an occupation force which commits crimes against civilians
and children, by mercenaries who kill, kidnap, and ravage, corrupting the
country, by criminal militias who perform eliminations and sectarian
revenges, while people are hiding in their houses, aiming to protect their
children and families from violence and killings. The Iraqis say: Someone
out there is destroying our country, and we are hiding in our houses,
without any power or might, without being able to do anything? We cannot
defend our country?...

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DAILY WAR NEWS FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2006
Today in Iraq
...Three civilians killed and three wounded by mortar round in northeast
Baghdad. Soldiers discovered six bullet-riddled bodies wearing handcuffs in
western Baghdad. There were male and between the ages of 25 and 30. A
policeman was killed when gunmen fired on his patrol in Falluja 50 km (30
miles) west of Baghdad, police said. A 62-year-old male prisoner died on
Thursday of an apparent heart attack at Abu-Ghraib jail, a U.S. military
statement said. At le! ast four civilians killed by car bomb in
al-Aathamiah district of Baghdad. Salem Hameed, member of the al-Daawa
Party, gunned down in western Baghdad. Majed Hameed, also a member of that
political party, also shot dead in al-Adel district in Baghdad. Two more
civilians killed by a mortar shell that hit their car in al-Ghazaliah
district of Baghdad. Four Iraqis killed and 22 others injured by IED and
car bombs in Baghdad...

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Food Rations Cut Hurting Poor
The government has slashed subsidised food, despite rising poverty.
By Daud Salman in Baghdad (ICR No. 170, 29-Mar-06)
A government decision to cut food rations has hurt poor Iraqis who cannot
afford high prices on the open market, say economists and Baghdad
residents. Despite rising poverty, the government has decided to cut the
food ration budget from four to three billion US dollars in 2006, as the
country shifts from a socialist to a free market economy. The Iraqi gove!
rnment has provided subsidies on basic food items such as flour and sugar
for decades. The United Nations expanded the programme when the country was
under crippling economic sanctions. However, subsidies have now been cut on
staples including salt, soap and beans...

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GI Special 4C28: "The Soldier-Killers In The Pentagon" - March 31, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
Soldiers will no longer be allowed to wear body armor other than the
protective gear issued by the military, Army officials said Thursday, the
latest twist in a running battle over the equipment the Pentagon gives its
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army officials told The Associated Press
that the order was prompted by concerns that soldiers or their families
were buying inadequate or untested commercial armor from private !
companies — including the popular Dragon Skin gear made by California-based
Pinnacle Armor. Murray Neal, chief executive officer of Pinnacle, said he
hadn't seen the directive and wants to review it...

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Condi Rice insults the Iraqi people
Truth About Iraqis
Three years after the war, with tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths on her
hands and the knowledge her lies helped destroy Iraq, Condi Rice has
admitted making mistakes in Iraq: "I know we've made tactical errors -
thousands of them, I'm sure," Ms Rice said in a session of questions after
her speech, organised by BBC Radio 4's Today programme and Chatham House
international affairs institution. Yes, Rice, those thousands of mistakes
are why thousands of Iraqis ! lie buried in makeshift graves, why thousands
of other Iraqis lie unburied in the wasteland, and why thousands have been
found bound and executed. Those thousands of mistakes are also why we have
death squads which your military trained (was this one of the mistakes?)
roaming the countryside picking off who they consider to be threat - Sunni,
Shia, Turkmen, Christian, no matter...

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Hyper power hubris
K Gajendra Singh
Three years after the U.S.-led illegal invasion of Iraq , so pronounced by
UN Secretary General Kofi Anan himself, Washington and its allies are
getting sucked into a deepening quagmire . A number of US commentators and
others in the West refuse to squarely blame US-UK leadership , which has
been led by disciples of Leo Strauss and his evil ideology , propounding
the theory of intellectual , cultural and racial supremacy , emphasizing
the animal side of evolving homo sapiens ,! ie the rule of jungle ...

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Ignorance by Content and Omission
Charles Sullivan
...The effects of this pervasive propaganda are visible all around us. We
see it in the flag-draped coffins that arrive home every week from Iraq. We
see it in the faces of the Iraqi children whose families were decimated by
those whose sole concern is privatized wealth. We witness it in our
dilapidated schools and national infrastructure. It is visible in the
elderly without health care, the millions of nameless poor that are forced
to live in abject poverty so ! that Bush could execute his war. The flies
are buzzing around the dung heap. This is nothing new. People have always
been deceived by their governments, regardless of which party is in power.
You see, the underlying cause is capitalism and privatized wealth. So be
careful about what you admit into your mind. It may be hazardous to your
health...

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"Israel Lobby" Essay Creates Firestorm in US
IslamOnline.net
An essay by two prominent American professors challenging the pro-Israel
lobby in the United States and its sway over the US foreign policy has
created a firestorm, drawing immediate anti-Semitism accusations and
scathing criticism, a leading British newspaper reported Friday, March 31
(...) Challenging accusation of being anti-Semite, professor Mearsheimer
said the ongoing furor over the essay proved the strength of the pro-Israel
lobby in the United S! tates. "We argued in the piece that the lobby goes
to great lengths to silence criticism of Israeli policy as well as the
US-Israeli relationship, and that its most effective weapon is the charge
of anti-Semitism," he told the Guardian...

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GI Special 4C27: Nightmare For The U.S. Military - March 30, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
They are a publicity nightmare for the US military: an ever-growing number
of veterans of the Iraq conflict who are campaigning against the war. To
mark the third anniversary of the invasion this month, a group of them
marched on Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. Inigo Gilmore and Teresa Smith
joined them. At a press conference in a cavernous Alabama warehouse,
banners and posters are rolled out: "Abandon Iraq, not the Gulf coast!" A!
tall, white soldier steps forward in desert fatigues. "I was in Iraq when
Katrina happened and I watched US citizens being washed ashore in New
Orleans," he says...

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Four Words that Spoke Volumes
Mike Ferner, Orbstandard.com
"Sentenced to time served," were the welcome words pronounced by Senior
Judge Stephen Milliken, of the District of Columbia's Superior Court, on
March 28. Ed Kinane, from Syracuse, and I stood before Milliken, charged
with disrupting a Congressional Committee hearing the evening of March 8
when Ed silently held up a banner that read, "Stop the Killing," and I
started reading the names of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war.
Capitol Police hustled ! us out and arrested us, but not before we
interjected several moments of reality into the committee's discussion of
$67,000,000,000 more for the war...

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FROM PROTEST TO RESISTANCE - Regional Student Antiwar Conferences Sponsored
by the Campus Antiwar Network
Campus Antiwar Network
Recently the US government has stepped up its bombing campaign in Samara to
the highest level of intensity since the onset of the war. Even though
public support has turned against the war and active resistance has begun
in many sectors of the country and in the military, the movement is not at
the necessary organizational levels to attain a complete withdrawal of
American forces from t! he Middle East. Meanwhile, large demonstrations are
being planned in cities across the country in April. This comes at a time
when many politicians, Democrat and Republican, are supporting policies of
"re-deployment" or outright military action against Iran...

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A Declaration of Impeachment
Mark Taylor-Canfield
At this time in American history, we must effect a profound awakening in
our nation. All citizens must take the reigns of power and demand that our
elected representatives in Congress vote to hold the President and his
administrators accountable for their many offenses committed in the name of
the people of the United States of America. We must avoid another three
years of corruption and ineptitude by the administration of George W. Bush.
Impeachment proceedings s! hould begin immediately, for both criminal and
civil violations that have caused harm to the people of this country and
the people of other sovereign nations...

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The myth of the ‘honest broker’: Britain and Israel
Mark Curtis, GlobalResearch.ca
Britain’s apparent complicity in Israel’s military assault on Jericho
prison should finally demolish an enduring myth about Britain’s foreign
policy. Iraq’s supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction was not
the only line peddled by the government to justify the invasion. Another
was that Britain was an 'honest broker’ in the Middle East and would
influence Washington to press Israel for peace with the Palestinians. Now
tha! t peace prospects look gloomier than ever following Israeli, US and EU
reactions to Hamas’ success in Palestinian elections, the reality of
Britain’s role needs to be exposed...

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Iraq is Not in Civil War (Yet)
Iraq is Under Occupation
LAITH AL-SAUD
The inability to talk about Iraq in an appropriate context has been one of
the greatest setbacks to the anti-war movement here in the United States of
America, and to describe Iraq solely in terms of being in civil war
contributes to this problem. Iraq is under occupation and the current
rivalry between what are indeed Iraqi factions has to be interpreted within
this context. The possibility of civil war in Iraq is not the result of !
mismanagement on the part of the Bush administration or some inherent
hostility in Iraqi society; civil war, rather, is and has always been the
favored alternative should the United States fail to dominate Iraq
politically. The pirates of both the Right and Left side of the
establishment agreed before hand that if they could not steer the ship they
would sink it...

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Jill Carroll should have been killed says right-wing
AHiddenSaint, Daily Kos
That is right people the right wing isn't happy with Jill Carroll being
freed. To them her death would have helped more then her life because she
doesn't preach their view. Let's look at this little article of hate from
Debbie Schlussel. Why are so many people who claim to be patriotic
Americans so overjoyed that Jill Carroll was freed, yet hardly a peep when
American contractors and others were freed? Here's a clue for the obviously
! dimwitted. Why was Jill Carroll freed? Maybe it had something to do with
the fact that she HATES AMERICA and our Mid-East policy. And, oh yeah, she
HATES ISRAEL, too. That's right because she was freed apparently is
anti-American. This is not the only little dribble from the right-wing...

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Tomgram: Frida Berrigan on a For-Profit Nuclear World
Tom Engelhardt & Frida Berrigan
..."Privatization" has been in the news ever since George W. Bush became
president. His administration has radically reduced the size of government,
turning over to private companies critical governmental functions involving
prisons, schools, water, welfare, Medicare, and utilities as well as
war-fighting, and is always pushing for more of the same. Outside of
Washington, the pitfalls of privatization are on permanent display in!
Iraq, where companies like Halliburton have reaped billions in contracts.
Performing jobs once carried out by members of the military -- from base
building and mail delivery to food service -- they have bilked the
government while undermining the safety of American forces by providing
substandard services and products. Halliburton has been joined by a cottage
industry of military-support companies responsible for everything from
transportation to interrogation. On the war front, private companies are
ubiquitous, increasingly indispensable, and largely unregulated -- a lethal
combination...

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Choosing up sides
Swopa, Needlenose
From Reuters this morning: A leading Iraqi Shi'ite cleric on Friday
demanded the United States sack its envoy, heading a push for a unity
government, accusing him of siding with fellow Sunni Muslims in the
sectarian conflict gripping the country. . . . In a sermon read out at
mosques for Friday prayers, [Ayatollah Mohammed al-]Yacoubi said Washington
had underestimated the conflict between Shi'ites and the once dominant
Sunni Arab minority, which many fear threatens to trigg! er a civil war . .
. "It (the United States) should not yield to terrorist blackmail and
should not be deluded or misled by spiteful sectarians. It should replace
its ambassador to Iraq if it wants to protect itself from further
failures."...

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Diary
Patrick Cockburn
Iraq is splitting into three different parts. Everywhere there are fault
lines opening up between Sunni, Shia and Kurd. In the days immediately
following the attack on the Shia shrine in Samarra on 22 February, some
1300 bodies, mostly Sunni, were found in and around Baghdad. The
Shia-controlled Interior Ministry, whose police commandos operate as death
squads, asked the Health Ministry to release lower figures. A friend of
mine, a normally pacific man living in a middle-class Sunni distric! t in
west Baghdad, rang me. 'I am not leaving my home,’ he said. 'The police
commandos arrested 15 people from here last night including the local
baker. I am sitting here in my house with a Kalashnikov and 60 bullets and
if they come for me I am going to open fire.’...

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America’s Blinders
Howard Zinn
Now that most Americans no longer believe in the war, now that they no
longer trust Bush and his Administration, now that the evidence of
deception has become overwhelming (so overwhelming that even the major
media, always late, have begun to register indignation), we might ask: How
come so many people were so easily fooled? The question is important
because it might help us understand why Americans—members of the media as
well as the ordinary citizen—rushed to declare their support! as the
President was sending troops halfway around the world to Iraq...

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