[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 01 Nov 2004]

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 30 October 2004 and Sunday,
31 October 2004
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial board The
Free Arab Voice
...Extremely fierce fighting broke out in ar-Ramadi city shortly before
sunset Sunday and affected many areas of ar-Ramadi - around the ar-Ramadi
Mosque, on 17 and 20 Streets, the al-Mal`ab Street, ar-Rusiyin Street and
out to the as-Sufiyah, al-Fajjariyah, al-Jazirah al-Bu Dhib areas and the
industrial zone. Resistance fighters us! ed a variety of weapons, including
SPG9s, RPG7s, C5Ks and BKCs as well as light arms, machine guns, and hand
grenades...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6767&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6767


Is "Zarqawi" Another Black-Op?
John Doraemi, Al-Jazeerah
The Bush administration has attributed the bulk of the Iraqi resistance to
a character named "Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi." There are many people asking the
legitimate question, does Zarqawi even exist? Given the credibility of Bush
and company - the people who brought us phantom weapons of mass
destruction, false links between Saddam and bin Laden, forged uranium
documents, and a stack of other untruths - there is little reason to accept
Bush's super-boogeyman on! faith alone...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6765&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6765


Carlyle Covers Up
Naomi Klein, The Nation
Less than twenty-four hours after The Nation disclosed that former
Secretary of State James Baker and the Carlyle Group were involved in a
secret deal to profit from Iraq's debt to Kuwait, NBC was reporting that
the deal was "dead." At The Nation, we started to get calls congratulating
us on costing the Carlyle Group $1 billion, the sum the company would have
received in an investment from the government of Kuwait in exchange for
helping to extract $27 billion of unpaid d! ebts from Iraq...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6764&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6764


Reply from author of Lancet report.
LENIN'S TOMB
The research published in the Lancet claiming a conservative estimate of
100,000 excess deaths as a result of the war on Iraq prompted innumerable
'ah but' replies, claiming that there was something wrong with the research
or that it was shoddy or too vague, as well as criticisms of the Lancet
from people who have no idea what kind of publication it is and would never
in their lives have dreamed of picking up a copy of what is essentially a
robustly conserva! tive medical journal...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6761&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6761


US army official slams Bush over Halliburton Iraq contracts
David Randall
One of the US Army's top procurement officers yesterday called the Bush
administration's grant of multibillion-dollar contracts to oil services
giant Halliburton "the worst case of contracting abuse she has ever seen".
Bunny Greenhouse, the Corps of Engineers chief contracting official, said:
"It was misconduct, and part of that misconduct was blatant"...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6763&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6763


Using Vietnam-Era Tactics, Army Maxing Helicopters in Counterinsurgency War
By Jim Krane Associated Press Writer
The U.S. military is increasingly turning to attack helicopters to battle
guerrillas in Iraq, using tactics closer to those from Vietnam or Israel
than the Gulf war formations that blasted Iraqi tanks.
The Army is also pushing its fleets of transport helicopters as hard as it
can, ferrying U.S. troops and Iraqi leaders by air, rather than letting
them drive the country's ambush-prone roads. "When we fly, soldiers don't
die," said Col. Jim McConville, who commands the 1st Cavalry Division's
aviation brigade...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6762&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6762


377 tons small part of absent Iraq explosives
Missing prewar stockpiles may total 250,000 tons
The Associated Press
..."There is something truly absurd about focusing on 377 tons," said
Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst and Iraq expert with the
Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. He
contends Iraq's prewar stockpiles "were probably in excess of 650,000
tons." Underscoring the depth of Iraq's militarization before the March
2003 invasion, the Pentagon says U.S.-led forces have de! stroyed 240,000
tons of munitions and have secured another 160,000 tons that is awaiting
destruction...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6760&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6760


In Ramadi, GIs fight an elusive, expert foe
James Janega Tribune staff reporter
..."What we've learned about the mortar men is they're very good. In fact,
they're experts," said Army Capt. Andre Takacs, 29, who at 3 a.m. Sunday
was briefing a dozen members of Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 9th
Infantry Regiment about trying to catch the Iraqi mortar men. The mission
would last from before sunup until after sunset. It is next to impossible
to catch them, he said...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6759&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6759


Seymour Hersh gives an inside view of Iraq and foreign policy
Journalist says insurgency has and will use missiles
By Daniela Perdomo
...The situation is complicated by a piece of information Hersh has not yet
published in The New Yorker - that reliable sources both inside and outside
Iraq confirm that the Iraqi insurgency has missiles. "The next step will be
a direct attack on our troops," he said. Due to the depth and breadth of
the insurgency, and its offensive capabilities, Hersh said the United
States m! ust be ready to negotiate. "The insurgency isn't just
concentrated in the Sunni Triangle - they're all over," Hersh said.
Similarly to the Vietnam War, the current administration does not
understand the culture of the people whose country they are fighting in and
claim to be fighting for. "There is obvious U.S. racism," Hersh said...



<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6757&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6757


Iraq reconstruction hampered by fraud
UPI
Lawlessness and corruption are hampering reconstruction efforts in Iraq,
U.S. Inspector General Stuart Bowen said. In his latest quarterly report,
Bowen said allegations have surfaced of large-scale embezzlement, robberies
perpetrated by Iraqi police and even payoffs to U.S. military personnel who
aided in theft, the Washington Post reports. The inspector general has
managed or coordinated 113 criminal investigations, and opened cases on 272
reports of fraud, waste or ot! her problems reported on the agency's
hotline...



<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6755&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6755


Zarqawi's role in Iraq overstated, analysts say
Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff
American officials have grossly inflated the role of Jordanian Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi in the violence in Iraq in their eagerness to blame foreign
terrorists for the insurgency, according to Jordanian analysts and Western
diplomats (...) ''The bottom line is that America needs to create a serious
public enemy who is not Iraqi so they can claim Iraqis aren't responsible
for the resistance," said Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political analys! t
who regularly meets with Iraqi government leaders as well as opposition
militants.

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6756&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6756


GIs Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets
CBS
Two weeks ago, a group of Army reservists in Iraq refused a direct order to
go on a dangerous operation to re-supply another unit with jet fuel (...)
The Army called it an isolated incident, a temporary breakdown in
discipline, and an investigation is underway. But the 343rd isn't the first
outfit to be put in harm's way without proper equipment, and commanders in
Iraq acknowledged that the unit's concerns were legitimate, even if their
mutiny was not. With a $400 billion defen! se budget you might think U.S.
troops have everything they need to fight the war, but that's not always
the case...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6753&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6753


Missing Explosives: Did the Military Ignore Warnings?
Mark Hosenball
New evidence shows that American military forces in Iraq were slow to
respond to suspected looting of Saddam-era ammunition dumps. According to
U.S. officials, in late April, a week or two after the fall of Baghdad, an
Iraqi informant reported to the CIA that he saw people looting buildings at
Al Qaqaa State Establishment, a huge fortress where hundreds of tons of
deadly explosive were stored...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6752&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6752


Fresh U.S. troops arrive in Iraq on eve of expected showdown in Fallujah;
Baghdad deputy governor slain
JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
U.S. troops clashed with Sunni insurgents west of the capital Monday, and
gunmen assassinated Baghdad's deputy governor as fresh American soldiers
arrived in the capital _ reinforcements that will push U.S. military
strength in Iraq to its highest level since the summer of 2003. American
artillery pounded suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah, witnesses
said, where U.S. f! orces are gearing up for an offensive if Iraqi
mediation fails to win agreement to hand over foreign Arab fighters and
other militants...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6750&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6750


The war on Iraq has made moral cowards of us all
Scott Ritter, The Guardian
...As the evidence has piled up confirming what I and others had reported -
that Iraq was already disarmed by the late 1990s - my personal vote for one
of the most culpable individuals would go to Hans Blix, who headed the UN
weapons inspection team in the run-up to war. He had the power if not to
prevent, at least to forestall a war with Iraq. Blix knew that Iraq was
disarmed, but in his mealy-mouthed testimony to the UN security council!
helped provide fodder for war (...)But we all are moral cowards when it
comes to Iraq. Our collective inability to summon the requisite shame and
rage when confronted by an estimate of 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians in the
prosecution of an illegal and unjust war not only condemns us, but adds
credibility to those who oppose us...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6749&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6749


Colin Powell Believes U.S. is Losing Iraq war
Salon.com
Secretary of State Colin Powell has privately confided to friends in recent
weeks that the Iraqi insurgents are winning the war, according to Newsweek.
The insurgents have succeeded in infiltrating Iraqi forces "from top to
bottom," a senior Iraqi official tells Newsweek in tomorrow's issue of the
magazine, "from decision making to the lower levels"...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6748&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6748


Fallujah Braces for Imminent US Onslaught
Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondent
One day after the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), Iraq's highest
Sunni religious authority, warned that an onslaught on Fallujah would break
loose the doors of hell, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said the
standoff entered its "final phase." Reports of the imminent offensive, the
second on the west Baghdad city since the fall of the country in the hands
of the US-led occupation troops forced many to flee Fallujah, leaving the
city ! virtually deserted...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6746&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6746


The costs of war
Bill to taxpayers will soon exceed $260 billion
News-Journal Corporation
...Just as Bush misled the nation on the reason for invading Iraq, he
misjudged the costs of invading and occupying it. But it's too late now.
Regardless of what happens on Nov. 2, taxpayers are stuck with the bill.
They're stuck with the open-ended conflict. They're stuck with a worsening
situation that is draining the military of feasible solutions. This is the
result of Bush's war of choice -- an oversold threat, an u! ndersold cost,
a catastrophic choice all around...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6745&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6745


Hell to Pay
Rod Nordland, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Michael Hirsh
...For months the American people have heard, from one side, promises to
"stay the course" in Iraq (George W. Bush); and from the other side,
equally vague plans for gradual withdrawal (John Kerry). Both plans depend
heavily on building significant Iraqi forces to take over security. But the
truth is, neither party is fully reckoning with the reality of Iraq—which
is that the insurgents, by most accounts, are winning...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6744&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6744


Pentagon Suppresses Details of Civilian Casualties, Says Expert
Raymond Whitaker, The lndependent/UK
The Pentagon is collecting figures on local casualties in Iraq, contrary to
its public claims, but the results are classified, according to one of the
authors of an independent study which reported last week that the war has
killed at least 100,000 Iraqis. "Despite the claim of the head of US
Central Command at the time, General Tommy Franks, that 'We don't do body
counts', the US military does collect casualty fi! gures in Iraq," said
Professor Richard Garfield, an expert on the effects of conflict on
civilians. "But since 1991, when Colin Powell was head of the joint chiefs
of staff, the figures have been kept secret"...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6740&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6740


Getting Ready to Flatten Fallujah
Kurt Nimmo
...Iraq, of course, has nothing to do with global terrorism. It has
everything to do with Israel and the Bushcon master plan to "reshape" the
Arab and Persian Middle East. In fact, there is only one force capable of
global terrorism and that is the United States with its massive military
and its "preemptive" attack dog policy of killing hundreds of thousands of
people in "rogue states," in other words states Israel wants out of the
way. For the Straussian neocons, "res! olve" must be shown in Fallujah and
elsewhere in Iraq. In a few days, after Bush steals another election, a
directive will be sent: punish Fallujah and send a "message" to the
resistance...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=6743&s2=02>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=6743




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information concerning occupied Iraq: news, analysis, documents and texts
of iraqi resistance available in Italian and English.





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