[uruknet.info - daily information from occupied iraq] newsletter 31 Aug 2004.

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Demonize to Colonize
Ramsey Clark
The complete demonization of Saddam Hussein threatens to determine every
decision and action affecting not only his future but that of Iraq as well.
With U.S. mass media and U.S. government propaganda stripping Saddam
Hussein of every redeeming human quality, any act against him or Iraq is
ipso facto justified. This successful demonization made the U.S. unilateral
war of aggression against Iraq politically possible. It now makes a fair
trial for Saddam Hussein impossible. The debate about intelligence!
failures is itself a cover-up of the obvious. Saddam Hussein was demonized
to justify regime change in Iraq. It rendered him an evil madman
threatening the civilized world. He possessed weapons of mass destruction.
He supported 9/11. He aided al-Qaeda. WMDs could be launched within minutes
of his order. That Saddam Hussein would use them was clear. He used them
"against his own people." Ignored were the facts that under devastating
attacks by the U.S. in 1991 and 2003, Iraq did not use any illegal weapons.
In 1991, Iraq was the victim of 88,500 tons of explosives (almost seven
Hiroshimas) delivered by the Pentagon in 42 days that destroyed its
infrastructure: water systems, power, transportation, communications,
manufacturing, commercial properties, housing, mosques, churches,
synagogues...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5224&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Days of plunder
Zainab Bahrani, The Guardian
The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban was met with an
outcry in the United States, Britain and the countries that form the
coalition in Iraq. Yet the coalition forces! can now claim, among other
things, the destruction of the legendary city of Babylon. Ironically, the
bombing campaign of 2003 had not damaged archeological sites. It was only
in the aftermath, during the occupation, that the most extensive cultural
destruction took place. At first there was the looting of the museums under
the watch of coalition troops, but that was to be followed by more
extensive and active destruction. Active damage of the historical record is
ongoing at several archeological sites occupied as military camps. At
Babylon, I have seen the continuing construction projects, the removal of
and digging into the ancient mounds over the past three months, despite a
coalition press release early in June stating that work would halt, and the
camp would be removed....

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5219&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Prima il petrolio poi l'acqua Negroponte: alla «difesa» i fondi per la rete
idrica irachena
CARLO MARIA MIELE, il manifesto
Che fine ha fatto la ricostruzione irachena? La resistenza interna dura più
del previsto, le esp! ortazioni di petrolio sono a rischio e così gli Stati
uniti decidono di assegnare alla sicurezza buona parte degli aiuti
inizialmente destinati al «nuovo Iraq». L'ambasciatore statunitense a
Baghdad John Negroponte ha chiesto ufficialmente di sottrarre 3,7 miliardi
di dollari dal fondo ricostruzione di 18, 4 miliardi approvato dal
Congresso a novembre per destinarli alla sicurezza interna del paese e
all'accrescimento delle esportazioni di petrolio...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5220&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Mystery Surrounding French Journalists' Hostage Crisis
Michel Chossudovsky, Editor, www.globalresearch.ca
...France has no troops in Iraq. The IAI has demanded that France renege on
its ban of the Muslim headscarf in French pub! lic schools, which is to
take effect on September 2nd. This demand, however, is totally unrelated to
the Iraqi context and the IAI previous demands, which have consistently
focused on troops withdrawals. In this case, the kidnapping of the two
journalists has galvanized French public opinion (indirectly) in support
the US led "war on terrorism." It has also served to discredit the Iraqi
resistance movement while upholding the shaky legitimacy of the US
sponsored "provisional government". In other words, it has contributed to
weakening the legitimacy of France's anti-war stance to the benefit of
Washington...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5216&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Neocon vs. neocon
Martin Sieff, Salon.com
The Grand Old Party's "big tent" on foreign policy is flapping in tatters.
Behind the Republicans' predictable show of Rambo bravado as they gather in
Madison Square Garden Monday, they! are reeling. The libertarians and
isolationists have left in disgust. The respectable traditional
internationalists of the James Baker-Brent Scowcroft school are holding
their noses and saying nothing, but behind closed doors they are seething.
President Bush and his fundamentalist evangelicals have left only the
neoconservatives who plunged them into the nightmarish swamps of Iraq. And
now even that notoriously disciplined group has gone rogue and is rioting
wildly: The neocons have turned upon one another -- and on Bush himself...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5215&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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L'Islam prende le distanze dai rapitori
il manifesto
«Liberate Georges Malbrunot e Christian Chesnot». L'Islam intero, sia
quello moderato che le sue frange più radicali, prende le distanze
dall'Esercito islamico in Iraq chiede! ndogli di non uccidere i due
giornalisti francesi sequestrati il 20 agosto scorso e di non pretendere
che Parigi ritiri la legge sul velo. Una richiesta che parte dalla stessa
resistenza irachena per allargarsi fino a esponenti politici e religiosi e
che va dalla Lega araba al leader palestinese Yasser Arafat, passando per
l'opposizione islamica egiziana dei Fratelli musulmani...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5212&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Independent Iraqi Conference to Avoid US Influence
Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff
Three hundred Iraqi figures have met in Beirut to draft plans for
conceiving a mechanism to rule Iraq away from the US interference. The
independent! constitutional conference is meant to replace the Iraqi
National Conference, held in Baghdad this month to choose a national
council supervising the interim government until elections be held in
January 2005. The all-inclusive conference is well-attended by
representatives of various Iraqi forces and tribes opposed to the US
occupation of Iraq...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5221&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Civiltà incivile
VALENTINO PARLATO, il manifesto
...Marcello Pera è la seconda autorità del nostro (cattivo) stato e, sempre
ieri, i due principali quotidiani italiani - Corsera e Repubblica - con
l'editoriale di ! Glucksmann e l'intervista a Pera si fanno campioni dello
scontro di civiltà: da una parte l'occidente e dall'altra l'Islam. L'Islam
viene identificato con i terroristi, i quali in quanto rappresentanti
dell'Islam «sono determinati a distruggere (parole di Pera, ndr) la nostra
civiltà quella della libertà, delle istituzioni democratiche e della
tolleranza». Il più recente prodotto della globalizzazione sarebbe,
appunto, lo scontro tra le due civiltà e, quindi serve un patto occidentale
contro i selvaggi di oriente. Francamente nemmeno Bossi era arrivato a
tanto...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5211&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Despite end of uprising, some Mahdi Army members say they're willing to
fight again
Mariam Fam, Associated Press,
Since his Shiite militia put down its weapons and ended its uprising in
Najaf last week, Mahdi Abdul Sahib has sl! ept in a different house every
night, hiding from revenge-seeking residents. And yet the 25-year-old says
he would fight again. Aides of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday
called on his Shiite followers across Iraq to observe a unilateral
cease-fire and said the cleric was considering forming a political
movement. But despite the Najaf peace deal and Monday's cease-fire call,
al-Sadr's militia is still largely intact and armed, and many worry that
its fighters, like Abdul Sahib, are ready to fight another day...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5207&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Bush gives defense industry big budget Bush's $417 billion bill beats Cold
War average spending
By Jim Snyder
Under President Bush, the defense industry has been well-protected. The
$417 billion defense spending bill tha! t President Bush signed in July is
12 percent higher than the average budget during the Cold War, according to
the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), which tracks
federal defense spending...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5206&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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New U.S. envoy in Iraq backs shift in priorities
Steven R. Weisman/NYT
The new American ambassador in Iraq, concerned about the problems of
unemployed Iraqis and by attacks on oil fields, has urged the Bush
administration to sh! ift funds away from infrastructure improvements and
use it to improve security and job opportunities, Bush administration
officials said Monday. The officials said that under a proposal submitted
last week by Ambassador John Negroponte, more than $3.3 billion in aid that
had been set aside for improvements in Iraq's utilities - electricity,
water and sewage - needed to be spent for other purposes to quickly
demonstrate results that could be seen by discontented Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5205&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Portare Najaf a New York
Naomi Klein, Nuovi Mondi Media
Najaf non è una qualsiasi città irachena, è un luogo così sacro che il
sogno di ogni sciita è di essere sepellito qui. La battaglia di Najaf ha
fatto notizia, ma non sarà ! in alcun modo citata durante la Convention
Repubblicana. Viene relegata allo status di un lontano e irrisolvibile
conflitto etnico. Il "passaggio di consegne" ha fatto il suo dovere: l'Iraq
sta diventando problema di qualcun'altro...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5204&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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No space for the dead in Sadr City
Aljazeera.net
The elderly man who runs a hospital mortuary in Sadr City says he does not
have space for the bodies of those killed in fighting in the Baghdad
neighbourhood. "I'm tired of this,! " grumbles 74-year-old Bidu Abbass.
"This morgue is old. There's not enough room," he said, pointing at a
refrigerated metal room by the hospital gate. "Sometimes they bring 15
bodies, sometimes 20, sometimes 30," he said, grimacing as he remembers
occasions when the morgue's refrigeration units have been knocked out by
power cuts. "The smell kills"...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5203&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Al Sadr rilancia: «Cessate il fuoco»
STEFANO CHIARINI, il manifesto
Il leader sciita radicale annuncia la sospensione delle ostilità, ma non il
disarmo dell'esercito del Mahdi, in cambio del ritiro dalle città delle
truppe Usa ! e del governo Allawi. Si combatte a Sadr city, bombe su
Falluja e Samarra...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5213&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 26 August 2004 through
Sunday, 29 August 2004
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial board The
Free Arab Voice
...In a report posted at 9:10pm Mecca tim! e Thursday night, the
correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam wrote that the employees of a department
in the so-called "green zone" - the nickname given by the American
aggressors to the Iraqi Republican palace that they have occupied as their
headquarters - awoke with a shock last Tuesday to find that their building
was on fire. The fire affected an area containing all the files and papers
pertaining to the work of the US intelligence services inside Iraq.
Curiously, however, the Americans discovered that several specific
collections of documents had disappeared or were stolen just before the
outbreak of the fire...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5199&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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What More Could They Possibly Want? Israeli Moles in the Pentagon
MIKE WHITNEY, CounterPunch
The FBI's investigation into Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, on charges
of spying for Israel, has left many of us scratching our he! ads and
wondering, "Why?" The relationship between the Bush Administration and the
Sharon government is so incestuous that is difficult to imagine that there
are secrets of any consequence that haven't already been fully shared (...)
The obsession with toppling Saddam among Israeli loyalists in the Bush
Administration has become such a commonplace observation that it hardly
bears mentioning. Everyone from Pat Buchanan to the Nation magazine; from
General Zinni to Senator Hollings has commented on it at length...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5193&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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American Lawyer Finds New Evidence of Recent Torture in Iraq
Lisa Ashkenaz Croke, The NewStandard
...An attorney representing former detainees says his recent fact-finding
mission to Baghdad uncovered dozens of cases of physica! l and
psychological abuse, sexual humiliation, religious desecration and rape in
ten US-run prisons throughout occupied Iraq. The NewStandard spoke with
Michigan-based attorney Shereef Akeel, who interviewed some 50 former
detainees about their time and treatment in US custody...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5197&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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When Night Envelops Baghdad
Mazen Ghazi, Samir Haddad IOL Correspondents
In the recent past, Baghdad used to be a glamorous city and a hub for men
of letters from the four corners of the Arab world, though paralyzed by
internat! ional sanctions after the 1991 Gulf War. Now after 15 months of a
US-led occupation, what does it look like at night? Abu Fahd, an Iraqi
whose pregnant woman was attacked by labor pains at mid night, knows very
well that going out at this time means nothing but death by either bandits
or US snipers...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5194&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Would Kerry Have Invaded Iraq?
Jude Wanniski
On August 9, my wife and I were floating around on a cruise ship in the
South Pacific, almost completely cut off from the news of the day. It was
not until I returned to the states l! ater in the month that I learned
President Bush that day told supporters in Virginia he still would have
gone to war based on the evidence at hand at the time, and he challenged
Kerry to say whether he would have cast the same vote. I was then amazed to
learn of reports that Kerry said he would have voted the same way even if
he knew then about Iraq what he now knows!...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5195&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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Top U.S. general in Iraq sent memo authorizing use of dogs to scare prisoners
R. Jeffrey Smith, The Washington Post
...The Sept. 14 cable signed by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez listed several
dozen strategies for extracting informa! tion, drawn partly from what
officials now say was an outdated and improperly permissive Army field
manual. But it added one used on suspected terrorists held at Guantánamo
Bay, Cuba, but not previously approved for use in Iraq: "Exploit Arab fear
of dogs while maintaining security during interrogations." (...)It
authorized not only exploiting prisoners' "fear" of dogs but also the use
of isolation; "sleep management"; "yelling, loud music, and light control
... to create fear, disorient detainees and capture shock"...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=5192&s2=31>Read the full article / Leggi
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