[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 12 Apr 2006 - Part Two]

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Haditha, Iraq
Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation
As the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday, this much is known to be
true: On November 19, after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel
Terrazas, 15 Iraqi civilians – including seven women and three children –
were allegedly shot and killed by a unit of US Marines operating in
Haditha, Iraq. Then, this past Friday, a battalion commander and two
company commanders from the same unit were relieved of their duties. We
also know that the Marine Corps initially claim ed that the 15 Iraqi
civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. But in January, after Time
magazine presented the military with Iraqi accounts and video proof of the
attack's aftermath, officials acknowledged that the civilians were killed
by Marines but blamed insurgents nonetheless who had "placed noncombatants
in the line of fire." However, video evidence shows that women and children
were shot in their homes while still wearing nightclothes...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22503&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22503


Silence kills and silence is complicity - email to Phyllis Bennis
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Dream
Dear Phyllis Bennis, I hope you are well. I read with interest your article
on ZNet "Thinking Strategically, Challenges Facing the Anti-War Movement".
You write: "Additionally, the U.S. air war has escalated dramatically,
again raising the spectre of Viet Nam, especially at the moment the U.S. is
attempting to reduce the level of U.S. troop casualties, and instead move
to "change the color of the corpses," as it was described in Indochina."
(Thinking Strategically, Challenges Facing the Anti-War Movement, ZNet,
April 06, 2006) I was surprised though that in your article there is no
mention of the Iraqi civilians that have already been killed since the
US-led invasion...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22521&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22521


A Tale of Two Emails, from Ramadi and Capitol Hill
Brian Conley
So when I woke up this morning I had two emails of considerable note. One
email came from a friend of a friend, Qasem Aldulaimy(Al’Dulaimi), who is
Iraqi. He is apparently from Ramadi and has family there (...) hi all peace
friends. I am Qasem from Iraq. at 10/ April 2006 during being in Amman …I
got news about my people in Ramadi….I got news that there is big fighting
when US troops start military operation ( as usual ) . I became sure later
that fighting was closed to my house ( almost infront of my family
house)…but…. I couldnot contact them at all to make sure if they are ok or
not …all telphone lines and mobile had been already destroyed few monthes
ago. I am scared and thinking to go back Iraq to my house now even I cant
reaching them I will try strongly….. what happened to my family ??? what
can be happened ??? killed ??? US bombing destroyed and killed my family my
nephews ????...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22504&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22504


The Al Qaeda Myth
Tom Porteous

We now know that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the London bombings in
July 2005. This is the conclusion of the British government's official
inquiry report leaked to the British press on April 9. We now also know
that the U.S. military is deliberately misleading Iraqis, Americans and the
rest of the world about the extent of Al Qaeda's involvement in the Iraqi
insurgency. This was reported in The Washington Post on April 10, on the
basis of internal military documents seen by that newspaper. What do these
revelations tell us about the arguments of President George W. Bush and
Prime Minister Blair that in Al Qaeda the "Free World" faces a threat
comparable to that of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, a world-wide
terrorist network which seeks to build a radical Islamist empire over half
the world?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22507&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22507


CURVEBALL AND THE TRUCKS
Malcom Lagauche
A couple of 15-year-old vehicles made world headlines in 2002. At first,
the U.S. and British administrations heralded them as conclusive proof of
Iraq concealing biological weapons. Today, Blair and Bush wish these trucks
never existed. Making them a focal point for going to war against Iraq has
backfired. We all heard of the "mobile germ factories" that Iraq had
traveling the highways of the country to keep from getting discovered. Dick
Cheney said that inside these vehic les the most devastating germs were
being manufactured and the Iraqis were going to pelt the east coast of the
U.S. with a deadly brew that would kill millions. Cheney maintained that
these germ weapons would be carried by secret drone aircraft that Iraq was
developing. There actually were a few drones being manufactured in Iraq.
The Iraqis showed them to the world. They were made from balsa wood and had
a range of about 25 miles and were to be used for mapping purposes.
However, such a small fact that the U.S. east coast is thousands of miles
out of range of these drones did not matter to Cheney...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22511&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22511


DAILY WAR NEWS FOR WEDNESDAY, April 12, 2006
Today in Iraq
U.S. soldier killed by roadside bomb in Baghdad, the eighth American
soldier killed since Sunday. [According to ICC, in April 36 U.S. soldiers
died in Iraq so far.]. "A Multi-National Division – Baghdad servicemember
died at approximately 10 a.m. April 12 when he was struck by an improvised
explosive device during a patrol east of Baghdad." (CENTCOM). "Two
Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers were killed when their vehicle
struck a roadside bomb sou th of Baghdad at approximately 9:20 a.m. April
12." (CENTCOM. "Three Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers died April
11 at 3:45 p.m. after the vehicle they were riding in was struck by a
roadside-bomb north of Baghdad." (CENTCOM). Two rockets hit the British
military base at the Basra airport complex about 3am local time, but there
were no damages or casualties...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22518&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22518


For quality of life, Baghdad ranks last in world, survey finds
IRIN News
Residents of the capital were not surprised by the results of a recent
survey that ranked Baghdad as the worst city in the world in terms of the
quality of living. "We have to admit, this city is getting worse everyday
in regard to the quality of life," said Fadia Ibraheem, a senior official
at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. "As long as US troops remain,
the city will continue to deteriorate." Zurich ranked first in the survey,
c onducted by London-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting, with a total
score of 108.2 points. In contrast, Baghdad was ranked as the least
attractive city for expatriates, for a third consecutive year, with a total
score of 14.5...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22524&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22524


Lies, damn lies and George W. Bush
Doug Thompson
No doubt about it. George W. Bush's lying, rotten, putrid, soulless
destruction of a once-great nation called America is now open for all to
see. Bush is not just a liar. He's a serial liar who avoids truth at all
costs because facts don't' support his perverted, twisted view of the
world. Truth exposes his corrupt administration and lays bare his many
crimes against the American people and the Constitution of the United
States. Impeachment? Nah. Too good for this l owlife. Arrest the
son-of-a-bitch, lead him from the White House in chains, parade him down
Pennsylvania Avenue and then lock him in stocks on the Washington Mall so
everyone can see what happens when anyone thinks they are above the law of
the land...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22523&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22523


Saddam was not an enemy of the Shiites
Carsten Kofoed, Free Iraq Blog of Denmark
At the illegitimate "court" of the occupying power, President Saddam
Hussein is charged with the execution of 148 Shiites following an attempted
murder of him in Dujail in 1982. In accordance with existing Iraqi law,
they were sentenced to death after having admitted, according to the judge,
that they were working for Iran, which Iraq was at war with at the time.
Death sentence for treason and attempted murder of heads of state is not
uncommon. The occupying power and the Shiites of the puppet regime, backed
by and imported from Iran, are using the Dujail case as sectarian fuel. But
Saddam did not persecute the Shiites as a group. They made up the majority
of the governing Baath Party and held high civil and military positions in
the state...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22522&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22522


Your Right to Privacy? Not in the War on Terror
Nicholas von Hoffman, The New York Observer
...In times past, the American government’s attempts to spy on citizens
have only been able to proceed with a lot of public support. What was done
during Senator Joseph McCarthy’s ascendancy was done with vast approval by
the members of what is now referred to as the Greatest Generation. During
the time of the civil-rights and anti–Vietnam War struggles, the spying
went on until the public turned against it. Then and only t hen was it
stopped. It is an open question as to whether the spying will stop this
time if and when the broad ...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22520&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22520


An occupier's diplomatic transgression ... and ... servitude
Imad Khadduri
Samir Al-Sumaida'ie was appointed as Iraq's "ambassador" to the U.S. on
March 10, 2006. On April 11, 2006, Secretary Condoleezza Rice proclaimed:
"We are delighted that we have the opportunity to receive the credentials
of an ambassador from a free Iraq". There are two points that are of note:
1- Why is the U.S. in such a hurry to officially install an ambassador,
representing a transitional government, and before the formation of the
'elec ted' new Iraqi government?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22519&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22519


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 12 April 2006
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
...In a dispatch posted at 12:20pm Makkah time midday Wednesday, Mafkarat
al-Islam reported that pro-American Shi'i sectarian militias backed up by
puppet "Interior Ministry Shock Troops (Maghawir)" had killed a total of 68
residents of the south Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah. The Baghdad
correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported local eyewitnesses in ad-Durah
as saying that the puppet "Shock Troops" and sectarian militiamen carried
out a series of raids on the al-Mikanik neighborhood and the 60 Street area
of ad-Durah and arrested 68 citizens, four of them Christians and the rest
Sunni Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22517&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22517


Imminent Decline of Empire?
Ramzy Baroud
The miscalculated policies of the US administration in the Middle East are
quickly depleting the country’s ability to sustain its once unchallenged
global position. Winds of change are blowing everywhere, and there is
little that Washington’s ideologues can do to stop it. The above claim is
increasingly finding its way into the realm of mainstream thinking, despite
all attempts to mute or relegate its import. A recent speech by US
Republican congressman and chairman of the House of international relations
committee, Henry Hyde was the focal point of analysis by Martin Jacques in
The Guardian...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22515&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22515


Hawk-Tied Democrats
Robert Dreyfuss
As the Russian foreign minister correctly reminds us, there is a lot about
the manufactured crisis over Iran that is déjà vu : the axis of evil again,
attempts to tie Iran to Al Qaeda, accusations about WMD, U.S. government
efforts to play footsie with Iranian exiles, and bluster about demanding
action by the United Nations or else. One other thing looks familiar, too:
just as the Democrats meekly got in line to support the invasion of Iraq,
many (perhaps most) elected Democrats are demanding a confrontation with
Iran, too. Some, such as Hillary Clinton, are even trying to out-Bush the
president in demanding a showdown with Iran...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22514&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22514


The Cheney conspiracy?
David Corn
Did special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald come close to hitting the vice
president of the United States with a conspiracy charge? Consider these
facts. * In the Scooter Libby indictment, Fitzgerald notes that Cheney
informed Libby on June 12, 2003, that Valerie Wilson worked at the CIA's
Counter-proliferation Division. The CPD is part of the operations
directorate, the CIA's clandestine services. Many, if not most, of its
employees are undercover. Certainly, their employment status a t the CIA is
classified information. The indictment does not note exactly what Cheney
told Libby about Valerie Wilson--whether he said she was an undercover
operative or not. But he was passing on classified information to Libby...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22513&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22513


Neocon: Iran will have Nuke in Sixteen Days
Kurt Nimmo
First it was ten years, then it was five or six, and now it is sixteen
days. Iran will have a nuke in sixteen days and no doubt they will nuke
Israel on the seventeenth day, if we are to believe the mendacious neocons.
"Iran, which is defying United Nations Security Council demands to cease
its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days
if it goes ahead with plans to install thousands of centrifuges at its
Natanz plant, a U.S. Stat e Department official said," Bloomberg reports,
or rather repeats verbatim, no questions asked, as corporate media hacks
never ask questions and take every whopper dispensed by the neocons at face
value...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22512&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22512


End of story: Israel triumphant
M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times
... The support for Israel among the organized Christian groups in the US
has increased dramatically in recent years. Christian evangelicals, who
currently wield unprecedented influence in US politics, regard the return
of the Jews to their ancient homelands as a prerequisite for the Second
Coming. No serious politician in either the Republican or Democratic camp
can ignore the resurgence of Zionism in US politics. Iran has been
implanted in the US evange lical consciousness as Israel's Enemy No 1 (...)
Many US evangelicals believe that God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish
people and that the Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza should
be removed to another Arab country. Some evangelicals believe that God
punished assassinated former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin for offering to
trade land for peace with the Palestinians...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22510&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22510


Bush's Crumbling "Coalition" in Iraq
John Nichols, The Nation
"We have won, and now we have to start working to implement our program and
unify the country," Romano Prodi told Italians after the official count
confirmed from that country's national elections confirmed exit polls
showing Prodi's center-left coalition had deposed the government of Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had allied Italy with George W.
Bush's foreign policies (...) If all goes as planned, one of the new prime
minister's first m oves will be to pull Italy's contingent of 2,600 troops
out of Iraq. That will deprive the Bush administration's "coalition of the
willing" occupation force in Iraq of its fourth largest contingent...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22506&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22506


SOS over Iraqi scientists
Ahmed Janabi, Aljazeera.net
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, an alarming number of the
country's leading academics have been killed. A human rights organisation
puts the number at about a thousand and has a documented list of 105 cases.
These professors, it says, were not random casualties - they were
assassinated. The first documented case is that of Muhamad al-Rawi, the
president of Baghdad University, who was killed on 27 July, 2003, when two
men entered his private clinic, one of them feigned severe stomach pain and
was doubled over. Concealed against his stomach was a gun with which he
shot al-Rawi dead. Assassination incidents continued after al-Rawi's
shooting...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22505&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22505


Now Powell Tells Us
Robert Scheer
The president played the scoundrel -- even the best of his minions went
along with the lies -- and when a former ambassador dared to tell the
truth, the White House initiated what Special Prosecutor Patrick J.
Fitzgerald calls "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr.
Wilson." That is the important story line. If not for the whistle-blower,
former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, President Bush's falsehoods about the Iraq
nuclear threat probably would never have been expos ed. On Monday, former
Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his department's top
experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that
the president followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney
and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22502&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22502


US soldiers cry in frenzy as they come under attack
Truth About Iraqis
Click on picture, then register, takes a second and get ready to be shocked
... Will CNN show this? Thanks to Baghdad Dweller and her reader Keld Bach
for this. I guess they weren't scared when they butchered the family in
Haditha and then lied about it under investigation...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22516&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22516




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