[UrukNet] - [Daily Information from Occupied Iraq] - [newsletter 14 Apr 2006]

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Attacks on US forces, Iraqi police soar
Truth about Iraqis
Over the past few days, the US military has engaged "the enemy" in several
skirmishes, ambushes and attacks mostly in the Anbar province. These are
isolated incidents, but seem to be part of a new campaign of attacks
against US forces. On Thursday, the US military reported two personnel
killed and a further 22 wounded in what appeared to be a singular incident.
Associated Press writer Vanessa Arrington said: "It was the biggest number
of American casualtie s reported from a single engagement in weeks." Two of
the wounded were in critical condition, while some others among them
returned to duty. The US military did not provide any more information.
This indicates that there was a serious military engagement...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22581&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22581


PETITION: FREE MALCOLM KENDALL-SMITH
We the undersigned condemn the prison sentence passed on Flight Lieutenant
Dr Malcolm Kendall-Smith and offer our full solidarity and support. The
sentence of eight months passed on him for refusing to serve in Basra is an
outrage, we demand his immediate release. He acted on his conscience in
refusing to serve in an illegal war. In doing so, he acted on behalf of
many people in this country. The judge’s remarks that orders have to be
obeyed also give cause for concern. The Nu remberg trials after the 2nd
World War established that obeying illegal orders was no defence against
charges of war crimes...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22588&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22588


Cowardice
Robert Thompson
How many of us have the courage to speak out to tell the truth when we wish
to stay in our comfortable lives? Obviously, not very many of us are
willing to do this. It took a single young R.A.F. Doctor, Flight Lieutenant
Malcolm Kendall-Smith, to show that there are still courageous men willing
to serve the real interests of their country. Even though we might have
done the same as them, we have to condemn the following for their part in
the illegal war, invasion and occupation of Iraq and/or of cowardice in
failing to stand up for this excellent young man when he came to trial
before what looks like a "Kangaroo Court'...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22590&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22590


Baghdad Morgue Overflowing Daily
Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed
As sectarian killings continue to rise in Iraq, the central morgue in
Baghdad is unable to keep up with the daily influx of bodies. The morgue is
receiving a minimum of 60 bodies a day and sometimes more than 100, a
morgue employee told IPS on condition of anonymity. "The average is
probably over 85," said the employee on the morning of April 12, as scores
of family members waited outside the building to see if their loved ones
were among the dead. The f amily of a man named Ashraf who had been taken
away by the Iraqi police Feb. 16 anxiously searched through digital
photographs inside the morgue. He then found what he was looking for...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22565&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22565


Bush and Cheney Directed Wilson-Plame Hit Squad
Evelyn Pringle
Now that we've spent millions of tax dollars on the CIA leak investigation,
here’s a new bit of information that adds a whole new twist to the saga.
According to a recent article by ace investigative reporter, Jason Leopold,
Dick Cheney met with Bush in early June 2003, and told him that CIA agent
Valerie Plame was the wife of Iraq war critic Joe Wilson and that she was
responsible for sending Joe on a fact-finding mission to check out reports
about Ir aq's attempt to purchase uranium from Africa. And the chat wasn't
limited to Bush and Cheney...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22577&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22577


On the Possibility of a Military Coup in the United States of America
Anwaar Hussain, Fountainhead
About the possibilities of a military coup in the United States, historian
Andrew Jonas said this; "Coup d’etat in the United States would be too
fantastic to contemplate, not only because few would actually entertain the
idea, but also because the bulk of the people are strongly attached to the
prevailing political system and would rise in defense of a political leader
even though they might not like him. The en vironment most hospitable to
coups d’etat is one in which political apathy prevails as the dominant
style." The question to ask is whether 'political apathy’ now 'prevails as
the dominant style’ in the United States of today or not? With the unending
'war on terror’ resulting in a heavy tampering of the American Constitution
by the current US Administration, and the consequent granting of virtually
limitless powers to the President of United States for the duration of the
unending war, a real 'Constitutional Conundrum' has been created...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22564&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22564


U.S. admits military damaged Babylon ruins
AP
A senior U.S. military officer has said he is willing to apologize for
damage his troops caused to one of Iraq’s most famous ancient sites. The
British Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday that after the 2003 invasion of
Iraq, U.S. Marines had built a helicopter pad on the ruins of Babylon and
filled their sandbags with archaeological fragments from the ancient city.
It said vibrations from U.S. helicopters caused the roof of one building to
collapse (...) Last year, the British Museum said that U.S.-led troops
using Babylon as a base had damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back
thousands of years. The German Archaeological Institute said U.S. and
Polish troops based at Babylon had caused "massive damage" to the site in
2003 and 2004...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22571&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22571


The Investigative Reporter vs. the President -- Is an Iran Attack Being
Planned or Wild Speculation?
Kevin Zeese
...So, back to the original question - who to believe the commander in
chief or the investigative reporter. Sy Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize winning
reporter who gained international fame for exposing the My Lai massacre in
Vietnam and more recently the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. President Bush has
most recently been tied to the leak of a CIA agents name in retaliation of
her husband's report criticizing cl aims related to nuclear weapons in
Iraq. He has been widely criticized for exaggerating the threat of Iraq
regarding weapons of mass destruction. And he has claimed that the United
States does not torture people it detains, when photographs and other
evidence indicate that it does...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22573&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22573


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 14 April 2006
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice.
In a dispatch posted at 8:25pm Makkah time Friday night, Mafkarat al-Islam
reported that at the time of reporting US forces accompanied by their Iraqi
puppet army allies were carrying out a campaign of mass raids and arrests
of youths in the city of Hit, about 140km northwest of Baghdad. The
correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported dozens of US and Iraqi pup pet
troops had stormed into the city from the west, surrounded specific areas
and then proceeded to carry out what he described as "arbitrary" raids and
arrests...


<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22574&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22574


Guantanamo by the Tigris
Eli Stephans, Left I on the News
The U.S. government/military has been illegally squatting on Cuban soil for
more than a century. Now AP reports on the new U.S. "embassy" being built
in Baghdad: The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here
will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City,
with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained
power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent
future...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22585&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22585


Marines Suffer 2 Dead, 22 Wounded In Iraq
AP
Two U.S. Marines were killed and 22 wounded — two of them critically — in
fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday. It was the
biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in
weeks. A U.S. statement said the casualties were suffered Thursday as a
result of "enemy action" in Anbar province but gave no specific location or
details of the fighting...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22570&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22570


Nine Eleven: A Response to Doubting Doug
Kurt Nimmo
Doug Thompson, editor and publisher of Capitol Hill Blue, has slipped into
warp drive. He believes you and I—those who believe the government was
complicit or behind the attacks of nine eleven—are "fruitcakes, lemmings
and scam artists." I’m not sure why Thompson has become so enraged at those
of us who don’t buy the official version (a fairy tale) and why he assumes
we are either crazed tinfoil hatters or snake oil salesmen looking for a
quick buck (and believe me, if you’re interested in making a quick buck,
you’d have more luck going door-to-door as a hawker of Amway products). His
venom leads me to believe something is going on behind the scenes. I find
it remarkably strange that Thompson believes his government is capable of
setting up a police state, while on the other is unable to grasp the idea
that very same government would kill its own citizens, as it has
slaughtered thousands and thousands of Iraqis (and millions of Asians
before the latest round of serial murder)...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22583&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22583


Iran, Neocons, and the Department of Redundancy
Kurt Nimmo
It’s a re-run, complete with inappropriate if well-worn analogies from the
disgusting neocon, William Kristol. "Comparing Iran’s alleged push to gain
a nuclear weapon to Adolf Hitler’s 1936 march on the Rhineland, Weekly
Standard editor William Kristol called for undertaking ’serious preparation
for possible military action—including real and urgent operational planning
for bombing strikes and for the consequences of such strikes," Jim Lobe
reports for Int er Press Service."...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22582&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22582


Depending on Your Set of Principles
You Will Be Entertained or Shocked
Wafaa' Al-Natheema
An Iraqi-Canadian friend forwarded to me the announcement below he received
from an American recruiting company. Please read its details below and make
sure you click on the link in the bottom that reads, "See how some Aegis
mercenaries are earning their money ". The announcement below and
especially the link in the bottom should give you some idea of the
atrocities committed by the Americans in IRAQ. This is only one tiny aspect
of the reality of this war...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22569&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22569


Silence kills and silence is complicity - 'a follow-up'
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Dream
It seems my correspondence with Phyllis Bennis and United for Peace and
Justice did produce some good results. UFPJ’s Legislative Action
Coordinator wrote me "as a follow-up -- i am working with phyllis to figure
out a way to force the US congress to investigate the true number of iraqi
civilian casualties" The problem is that even good and well intentioned
people seem not to have clear ideas on this subject, since UFPJ’s L
egislative Action Coordinator then writes: "the problem is that there isn't
really a credible number that we can quote because no one really knows! and
that in itself is horrific." I explained that that is not correct. There IS
a VERY CREDIBLE NUMBER indeed...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22568&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22568


DAILY WAR NEWS FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006
Today in Iraq
US soldier killed in Baghdad by roadside bomb. US military announced that
Rafid Ibrahim Fattah was killed by US forces on March 27 near Baquba. They
claim he was a major al Qaeda figure in Iraq. Marine died due to enemy
action near Baghdad (...). A large group of policemen transporting police
vehicles near Baghdad were hit by a roadside bomb and authorities were
still trying to determine casualties...A senior official in the Najaf
governor's office said only 35 of the 80 members of the convoy had made it
back to the city. The others (45) were either dead or unaccounted for, he
said. Most of the vehicles were destroyed...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22566&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22566


Report says Rumsfeld allowed Guantanamo abuse
Reuters
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld allowed an "abusive and
degrading" interrogation of an al Qaeda detainee in 2002, the online
magazine Salon reported on Friday, citing an Army document. In a report a
Pentagon spokesman denounced as "fiction," Salon quoted a December 2005
Army inspector general's report in which officers told of Rumsfeld's direct
contact with the general overseeing the interrogation at the U.S. naval
base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22563&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22563


Iraq: Scores of policemen feared dead as two US soldiers killed
Al Bawaba
A large group of policemen transporting police vehicles near Baghdad were
hit by a roadside bomb, Interior Ministry and police sources said on
Friday. US patrol in IraqAccording to Reuters, the sources said they feared
at least 30 policemen were either dead or missing after Thursday's attack.
The policemen were ambushed as they headed towards their headquarters in
Najaf in southern Iraq. A senior Najaf police official said that at least
six were killed, 10 were injured and 50 missing after the bombing (...) A
roadside bomb Thursday killed a U.S. soldier southwest of Baghdad, the
military said. The U.S. command also reported that a Marine died Wednesday
of wounds suffered in "hostile action" near Baghdad...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22562&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22562


Blood, Debt and Taxes
The Real Death Tax
STAN COX
Now that the rush to file our income tax returns has come and gone for
another year, it's only natural to wonder what all that money's paying for.
These days, the money we're sending to Washington is buying a lot more war
and a lot less economic security. In the current White House budget
request, Pentagon spending would rocket upward, with a $29 billion
increase. If you include military portions of the budgets of Homeland
Security, Energy, and other dep artments, US taxpayers would fork over $563
billion for military spending in the coming fiscal year. But wait! (as they
say on infomercials) There's more! That $563 billion doesn't even include
the cost of the war in Iraq!...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22586&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22586


GI Special 4D13 : You Have That Power - April 13, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
...You know you set the trends for the nation, but what New Yorkers may not
realize is that there are some 30 theater bookers waiting to see how Sir!
No Sir! <http://www.sirnosir.com >www.sirnosir.com does during its week run
at the IFC Center in New York, April 19-25th. If the run does well in your
city, it will reach the heartland of America and people will learn the
suppressed history of GI resistance to the Vie tnam War. You may not have
thought that seeing a movie could change the world, but in this case YOU
HAVE THAT POWER! I hope you’ll come out to see this amazing and important
film! It is the untold story of the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam
and tells a part of history that has been forgotten, about the
conscientious objectors, underground newspapers and coffee houses, of those
who resisted in many ways. It is a powerful glimpse of both history and of
the present and future...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22579&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22579


Peace Mom's Easter Stand
Cindy Sheehan on the meaning of Easter in Crawford, and New York's lousy jails
Sarah Ferguson
...Easter is the time for forgiveness. Can you forgive the president for
sending your son to Iraq? I already have forgiven him. I learned a long
time ago that you don't get anywhere holding on to hate because that just
hurts the person who hates. So I don't hate him; I want justice. I just
want him to be held accountable for what he's done, and to get the troops
out of Iraq. Peac e and love are the things that motivate me...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=22584&s2=15>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=22584




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