[uruknet.info - daily information from occupied iraq] newsletter 13 Oct 2004.

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Special Report on the trial of President Saddam Hussein
by
Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler, member of the Legal Team representing Saddam Hussein
Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler
The Legal Team representing Mr. Saddam Hussein the former President of Iraq
consist of individuals chosen by his family. These lawyers also represent
the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tarik Aziz. Attempts to
communicate with their clients to date have been prevented by the
government of the United States. The lawyers are acting on t! he basis of a
power of representation provided by the families of their clients. During
the latter part of September and the beginning of October, representatives
of the Legal Team met with the representatives of numerous UN Missions in
New York City, including the Iraqi Mission. Only four missions—the United
States, the United Kingdom, Italy and European Union (currently chaired by
the Netherlands)—refused meetings. These missions indicated that they did
not believe international human rights law to be the concern of private
individuals, but only of states...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6287&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6287


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 12 October 2004
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial board The
Free Arab Voice

The correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam reported that under heavy blows from
the Iraqi Resistance, US forces on Tuesday completed their withdrawal of 80
percent of their Marine forces from the al-Latifiyah - al-Yusufiyah area,
leaving only 500 Marines there. The pull-back began on Monday evening, and
involved withdrawing the troops to three positions. One group withdrew to
the US base at Saddam International Airport. Another part of the US force
pulled back to the Polish-American base in al-Hillah. The remainder
retreated to the US base in the agricultural area northeast of
al-Fallujah...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6286&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6286


U.S. Says It Hit Terror Targets, but Iraqi Civilians Disagree
EDWARD WONG, NYTimes
The American military staged a series of aggressive strikes today in
insurgent strongholds west of Baghdad, including firing missiles into the
streets of Falluja and conducting raids alongside Iraqi commandos in seven
mosques in Ramadi. The wave of assaults inflamed Sunni Muslim leaders and
residents of the cities, who said innocent civilians were killed or
arrested in the operations...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6282&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6282


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 9 October 2004 through
Monday, 11 October 2004
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial board The
Free Arab Voice
Al-Latifiyah and al-Yusufiyah south of Baghdad were the scene on Saturday
of fierce fighting. All types of weaponry were employed by the sides. The
Mafkarat al-Islam team of reporters in the area reported that the battle
raged during the day for 10 hours, beginning at6 :30 am. Major fighting
died down at around4 pm. Mo! re than 3,000 US Marines took part as well as
all types of helicopters and airplanes in the attack on al-Latifiyah and
al-Yusufiyah, but the Resistance was prepared for them and fired back with
Grad, Tariq SPG9, C5K, Katyusha, and Strela rockets,60 mm,82 mm,120 mm
mortars and fired RPG7s and BKCs at the aggressors...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6280&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6280


Iraqi woman tells of US abuse
Herald Sun
A WEALTHY Iraqi businesswoman said to have been the last female prisoner at
Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison said she saw soldiers there abuse other
prisoners, it was reported today. Houda Al-Azzawi also said that, while
held in another detention centre before being transferred to Abu Ghraib,
she was beaten, deprived of food and sleep and had her shoulder dislocated
by a guard, French newspaper Le Monde reported. The newspaper did not
specify the nationality of the guards! alleged to have mistreated her...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6277&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6277


Security Scholars Say Iraq War Most Misguided Policy Since Vietnam
Jim Lobe, OneWorld US
The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has been the "most misguided"
policy since the Vietnam War, according to an open letter signed by some
500 U.S. national-security specialists. The letter, released Tuesday by a
Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy (S3FP), said that the
current situation in Iraq could have been much better had the Bush
administration heeded the advice of some of its most experienced career mi!
litary and foreign service officers...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6276&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6276


Bush special envoy embroiled in controversy over Iraq debt
Naomi Klein, The Guardian
President Bush's special envoy, James Baker, who has been trying to
persuade the world to forgive Iraq's crushing debts, is simultaneously
working for a commercial concern that is trying to recover money from Iraq,
according to confidential documents. Mr Baker's Carlyle Group is in a
consortium secretly proposing to try to collect $27bn (£15bn) on behalf of
Kuwait, one of Iraq's biggest creditors, by using high-level political in!
fluence. It claims Mr Baker will not benefit personally, but the consortium
could make millions in fees, retainers and commission as a result...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6275&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6275


Saddam`s "Oil For Food Scandal". Is this really a scandal?
Jude Wanniski
...You should, I hope, keep an open mind on the possibility that the U.N.
operated properly... and that Saddam's "kickbacks" were not going into his
pocket or a Swiss bank account -- as the neo-con propagandists have argued.
The funds went into the Baghdad Treasury as TAX revenues, which I assume
the Volcker Commission will report (...) The only reason I make these
observations, Lou, is because all the Iraqis who are in a position to
addres! s these issues from the inside are in custody and cannot talk. The
corruption stuff is coming from the Iraqi exiles. Every time the issue is
mentioned they mention Saddam building sumptuous "palaces." I doubt more
than a few hundred thousand dollars (in dinars) were spent on "palaces." In
case you did not know, "palaces" is a loose term for government compounds,
many of them bombed from time to time by our Air Force in the hopes of
killing Saddam...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6274&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6274


Christians Fleeing Iraq
StoryHunters.com
The American and British "liberation" of the country has given rise to
killings and beatings of the indigenous Christian population. The death
toll is mounting- and the Christians are fleeing (...) The irony of this
never fails to amaze me. The uber-evangelist Bushie Jr. goes on a crusade
in the Middle East and ends up making life difficult if not impossible for
the Christians who have managed to get along with the Muslims in a Muslim
country for generations...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6273&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6273


Muzzling Soldiers Is Nothing New
David H. Hackworth
...But after dealing with the fallout, Washington vowed that never again
would the press have so much access and freedom. And from Grenada to Panama
to Kuwait to the reporters embedded last year in Iraq, the Pentagon has
been into keeping the American people in the dark. For example, caskets are
no longer allowed to be photographed, the number of evacuees from war zones
and the causes behind any evacuations are now covered up, and reporters in
general are ever m! ore carefully controlled. But one thing no one can
control is the Net. Today there's a laptop in almost every bunker, manned
by grunts who are a whole lot smarter and faster than their watchdogs.
Which means that despite a hogtied press corps, we're getting the unspun
word from Iraq - and the news ain't good...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6272&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6272


Abu Ghraib interrogator tells his story
Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio
It's been six months since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq became
public, tarnishing the reputation of American troops. Six soldiers still
face abuse charges. Two others have been sentenced to prison. The assaults
at the Baghdad-area prison came to light after incriminating photographs
surfaced in the media. The images showed naked, bloodied Iraqis in
humiliating poses surrounded by smiling U.S. soldiers. So far, only
low-ranking s! oldiers have been charged with crimes. But a recent Army
investigation says senior level officers were responsible for a breakdown
in the rules at the prison and for a lack of oversight. After months of
self-imposed silence on the issue, a former interrogator who lives in
Minneapolis, has decided to speak out about what he saw at Abu Ghraib...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6271&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6271


Families flee Fallujah
Joelle Bassoul, Middle East Online
..."I was born in Fallujah, I was married in Fallujah and I lost my first
teeth in Fallujah. I never left, and now (US President George W.) Bush has
chased me out," says Tarfa Frayyeh Ali, her face etched with tribal
tattoos. She says she has five daughters and six sons, before catching
herself and blinking tears from her eyes. "I lost a son in an American
raid. He left a widow and six children who now have no income and no
home"...



<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6267&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6267


CACI International mercenaries picking on The NewStandard for Lisa Croke's
Devastating Exposure
AntiWar.blog
CACI International, the contracting firm accused of systematic torture and
abuse in Iraq, has threatened to sue the original publisher of a recent
article that appeared on Antiwar.com. Antiwar.com has an agreement with The
New Standard , an alternative news Web publication, to run many of their
original news investigative articles. A recent article by Lisa Ashkenaz
Croke prompted a letter to ! The New Standard's editor, Brian Dominick,
accusing them of "defaming" the company accused of torturing hundreds of
Iraqi prisoners on behalf of the Pentagon.

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6263&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6263


Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh spills the secrets of the Iraq
quagmire and the war on terror
Bonnie Azab Powell, NewsCenter
The Iraq war is not winnable, a secret U.S. military unit has been
"disappearing" people since December 2001, and America has no idea how
irreparably its torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison has damaged its
image in the Middle East. These were just a few of the grim pronouncements
made by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Seymour "Sy" Hersh to
KQED host Michael Krasny b! efore a Berkeley audience on Friday night (...)
There was more rumors of atrocities around Iraq that to Hersh brought back
memories of My Lai. In the evening's most emotional moment, Hersh talked
about a call he had gotten from a first lieutenant in charge of a unit
stationed halfway between Baghdad and the Syrian border. His group was
bivouacking outside of town in an agricultural area, and had hired 30 or so
Iraqis to guard a local granary. A few weeks passed. They got to know the
men they hired, and to like them. Then orders came down from Baghdad that
the village would be "cleared." Another platoon from the soldier's company
came and executed the Iraqi granary guards. All of them...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6260&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6260


Tomgram: Yellow Journalism in Washington
Tom Engelhardt
Every now and then, an article catches my eye that seems to sum up the
worst of Washington-based access journalism ("just the spin, ma'am") in our
imperial press. On Friday, the morning of the second presidential debate,
just such a piece -- Pentagon Sets Steps to Retake Iraq Rebel Sites -- made
it onto the front-page of my hometown newspaper and I thought it might be
worth taking a little time to consider it...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6259&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6259


Democrats and WMD
Joshua Frank , ZNet
...United States weapons inspector Charles Duelfer released his extensive
report last week, and confirmed that Saddam Hussein had shut down Iraq's
chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs following the first Iraq
war in 1991. His report also showed that Saddam had no stockpiles of WMDs
after that year. With that said, it is interesting to look back at how the
Democrats, like Bush, lied to the American public, and inflated Saddam's
supposed threat to our national sec! urity. The mendacity was undoubtedly
universal. Here are a few of the choice quotes...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6256&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6256


Breaking Ranks
David Goodman, Mother Jones
...So far, only six U.S. soldiers are known to have fled to Canada rather
than fight in Iraq. But in 2003, the Army listed more than 2,774 soldiers
as deserters (military personnel are classified as having deserted after
not reporting for duty for more than a month), and many observers believe
the actual number may be even higher; the Army has acknowledged that it is
not aggressively hunting down soldiers who don't show up. The GI Rights
Hotline, a counseling operation r! un by a national network of antiwar
groups, reports that it now receives between 3,000 and 4,000 calls per
month from soldiers seeking a way out of the military...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6255&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6255


The Worst Writers in the World, or the Worst Readers?
Adam Engel
How low are the media prepared to sink in order to perpetuate the fiction
that "the War in Iraq" is anything but an unprovoked slaughter and absolute
betrayal of "our" troops? I came across this piece written by a man named
David Brooks who pretends to write opinions worth paying for in an
overpriced, over-sized "newspaper" whose tacit, if unwritten, motto, "all
the news we're not afraid to print" would be the only item worth reading in
that rag (be! sides the outright commercial copy which is at least HONESTLY
trying to convince you to buy something), if only they weren't so damn
AFRAID to print it...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6254&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6254


A GOVERNMENT THAT LIES
What Really Happened
...The Constitution does not authorize the government to lie to We The
People. The tenth amendment bars the government from presuming that right.
When the government lies, it therefore acts unconstitutionally and
illegally. A government that lies to the people breaks faith with the
people, violates the contract between the government and the people under
which the people consent to be governed (...) Surely the lies used to
initiate a war of conquest into another nation ! are the worst possible
lies a government can commit against its own people. And with such a lie,
the United States ceases to be a nation, and becomes a land under
occupation by force...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6252&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6252


Saddam 'planned' for guerilla insurgency
Bryan Bender
The "shock and awe" attack that toppled Saddam Hussein in three weeks is
often touted as a brilliant strategy that defeated Iraq with relatively few
US casualties. But new information suggests that the US may have played
into Saddam's plans for a quick war then a long guerilla insurgency. The
report last week of the Iraq Survey Group, based partly on interviews with
captured leaders of the secretive Iraqi regime, said Saddam planned to have
his troops and loya! lists pull back after an initial US thrust and engage
the Americans under terms more favourable to the Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6249&s2=13>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6249




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information concerning occupied Iraq: news, analysis, documents and texts
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