[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 14 Nov 2004 - Part Two]

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A disaster, made in the USA
Robert Manne
Last week, as the ferocious battle for Fallujah began, the neo-conservative
"scholar", Robert Kagan, paid a triumphal visit to Australia. Kagan was
received by the Prime Minister. An edited version of the lecture he
delivered was published in five newspapers. He was interviewed,
respectfully, by almost every serious public affairs program on the ABC.
Unhappily there was in all this virtually no discussion of the pivotal role
Kagan had played in the origin of the invasion o! f Iraq (...) A nightmare,
in which we are deeply implicated, has descended upon Iraq. How long will
it take before we see what we have done?..



<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7181&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Company commander dies on mission to clear houses in Fallujah
TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Newspapers
...Shaking off the thought, he threw on his gear and went looking for
houses to clear. A group of rebels was waiting. They'd been sleeping for
days on dirty mats and blankets, eating green peppers and dates from
plastic tubs. They spied on soldiers who occupied nearby houses without
knowing the enemy was so close, watching and waiting. When Sims and his men
came through the front door, gunfire raged for a few minu! tes...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7185&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Guilt or Guilty?
William Bowles
...And now, with the assault on Fallujah, we see the reality of the
'liberation' of Iraq as being identical to the assault on the Palestinians
even to the use of identical tactics. No wonder that the occupiers have
gone to such lengths to hide their crimes from our gaze just as the
Israelis do in occupied Palestine. Over one hundred years ago, Cecil Rhodes
enslaved Southern Africa using tactics not so dissimilar from those used
today, that of extermination, terror and subjection...!

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7187&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7187


US death toll in Falluja hits 38
Aljazeera.net
The U.S. military said on Sunday that 38 American soldiers died in the
week-long offensive against the Iraqi city of Falluja. The toll includes
three non-combat deaths. Nevertheless, the operation has proceeded quicker
than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting,
Marine Major-General Richard Natonski said...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7184&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7184


US MARINE EXECUTES SHOT MAN
Paul Gilfeather, Sunday Mirror
A US marine has sparked world-wide revulsion after being seen shooting an
injured and helpless Iraqi. The sickening scene was broadcast by Channel 4
News after a fire-fight in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah. The
trigger-happy soldier had been asked to get nearer to the injured man. But
instead of trying to capture him, the marine is seen leaning over a wall
and cold-bloodedly shooting him...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7180&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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"The Geneva Convention is out the window."
Rahul Mahajan, Empire Notes
The way the attack on Fallujah has been conducted makes one thing crystal
clear: the Geneva Convention has been overtly and specifically abandoned,
not just in the treatment of prisoners, but also in the conduct of military
assaults. Of course, the United States violates it in one way or another
frequently and systematically violates the provisions of the more
enlightened 1979 Additional Protocols (which it has never ratified), but in
this cas! e it is deliberately and systematically violating the basic core
conventions themselves...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7177&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7177


U.S.: Troops have taken Fallujah
JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
U.S. military officials said Saturday that American troops had now
"occupied" the entire city of Fallujah and there were no more major
concentrations of insurgents still fighting after nearly a week of intense
urban combat (...)
U.S. officers said, however, that resistance had not been entirely subdued
and that it still could take several days of fighting to clear the final
pockets...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7183&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Pictures from Inside Iraq
Raed Jarrar, Raed in the Middle
These pictures were taken near the Ghazalyya bridge, close to my parents
house in the west of Baghdad. It shows how the Iraqi fighters were
controlling the streets. (10th if Nov)...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7178&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7178


Watching Mosul burn
Mat Precey
Channel 4 News online has been given a dramatic account of one Iraqi city's
descent into anarchy as the world's attention focuses on events in
Fallujah. In the past week Mosul has seen bands of insurgent gunmen
wandering around largely unchallenged, killing members of the security
forces and people suspected of collaborating with the Americans...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7179&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Britain: growing opposition to occupation of Iraq as more Black Watch
troops die
Robert Stevens, WSWS
On November 11, representatives of Military Families Against the War
(MFAW), which comprises relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq as well as
some of the families of those currently stationed there, held a protest at
Downing Street, the London residence of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Five
members of Scotland's 850-strong Black Watch regiment have now been killed
and several others seriously wounded since their move! north on October 27
from southern Iraq to Camp Dogwood, 20 miles (32 km) south west of
Baghdad...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7176&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7176


British guard firm 'abused scared Iraqi shepherd boy'
Antony Barnett and Patrick Smith,The Observer
A UK security firm linked to two of Britain's top ex-SAS men is at the
centre of a prisoner 'abusè row after photographs revealed employees
interrogating a terrified Iraqi youth in a garage in Kirkuk. Pictures
obtained by The Observer show two employees of Erinys restraining the
16-year-old Iraqi with six car tyres around his body. The photographs,
taken last May, show the boy frozen with fear in a room where the w! all
appeared to be marked by bullet holes. This newspaper was told he was left
immobile and without food or water for more than 24 hours...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7174&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7174


Covering Fallujah
Omar Khan, ZNet
The Department of Defense seems continually faced with the difficulty of
waging a war upon a population while maintaining that it is doing so on
behalf of that population. But it is fortunate not to face this difficulty
alone. A vast literature has been developed and deployed to effectively
manage and promote its excursions in language that its intellectuals can
contribute to and the public can repeat (...) Dahr Jamail's reports, in
contrast, have shown Iraqi response to be anyth! ing but ambivalent. "'The
people of Falluja have the right to fight for their city..." (...) As long
as such observations remain withheld from the public at large, it seems
that today's Defense Department objectives in Fallujah will be impeded only
by the bodies of liberated Iraqis at their feet...




<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7173&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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US troops target Iraq's Baiji
Reuters
US helicopters fired missiles at suspected insurgent targets in the
northern Iraqi city of Baiji today, witnesses said (...) Ahmad Mar-Hassan,
an emergency doctor at the city's hospital, said seven people were injured
in the fighting. "The helicopters hit several houses but the Americans have
blocked the roads and ambulances cannot reach them," he said...



<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7172&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Somebody Tell Lt. Brandon Turner That He's Insane
Iraqwar
..."We've got chunks of territory, but these guys (insurgents) are all over
the place," Marine Lt. Brandon Turner said Thursday as he stood amid
shattered glass and concrete under the green dome of Al Kalfa mosque, his
fellow Marines resting on a plush red carpet (...) Somebody please tell Lt.
Brandon Turner that he's insane, that the Pentagon is insane, whoever is
allowing the marines or any American soldiers "rest" on that "plush red
carpet" with t! heir shoes, uniforms and machines guns is insane. Does
anyone understand anything about religious feelings in general or about
Islam in particular?...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7171&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Facing the Challenge to the Global Peace Movement
Walden Bello, World Crisis Web
...Iraq, of course, is the main source of the empire's unraveling. The
Iraqi people's resistance has not only frustrated a US colonial takeover of
their country. Equally important, it has shown a new generation of
anti-imperialists all over the world for whom Vietnam is ancient history
that it is possible to fight the empire to a stalemate and eventually to
victory (...) Supporting the Iraqi people's struggle to create the
sovereign ! space to create a national government of their choice continues
to be one of the two overriding priorities of the global anti-war movement.
The other is ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the trampling
of the Palestinian people's rights...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7175&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Troops see more strife in Ramadi
The Seattle Times
..."My personal take is that Ramadi is a less-publicized Fallujah, in the
sense of the combat you face every time you go into town," said Capt. Ben
Siebold, a company commander in an Army battalion. "In the time I've been
here, the nature of the enemy has changed. He's more determined, more
organized and a little bit better shot." (...) "Ramadi is really out of
control, and they needed another infantry battalion in the city," said Lt.
Col. Justin Gubler, commande! r of the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7170&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Inside Fallujah: one family's diary of terror
Dahr Jamail
She weeps while telling the story. The abaya (tunic) she wears cannot hide
the shaking of her body as waves of grief roll through her. "I cannot get
the image out of my mind of her foetus being blown out of her body." Muna
Salim's sister, Artica, was seven months' pregnant when two rockets from US
warplanes struck her home in Fallujah on November 1...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7169&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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50 US Soldiers Killed in Last Five Days. As many as 30 killed in Fallujah alone
Michael Ewens, Antiwar.com
In a flurry of weekend press releases, the Department of Defense named
another 20 US soldiers killed in Iraq. These deaths bring the total killed
since November 8th to fifty. Such facts contradict the "official numbers"
released to the unquestioning media. The difference in the totals seems to
stem from the ambiguity in press releases for US Marines. These concise
releases never state specifics. Instead, the! deaths are merely categorized
as due to "enemy action" in "Al Anbar Province." Given the recent assault
of Fallujah - located in Al Anbar- it is reasonable to pool these numbers
with the total...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7167&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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Civilian cost of battle for Falluja emerges
Rory McCarthy and Peter Beaumont, The Observer
...Although many of Falluja's 200,000 to 300,000 residents fled the city
before the assault, between 30,000 and 50,000 are believed to have remained
during the fighting. The horrific conditions for those who remained in the
city have begun to emerge in the last 24 hours as it became clear that US
military claims of 'precision' targeting of insurgent positions were
false...

<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7168&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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"Let Them Drink Sand!"
War Crimes in Fallujah; a Gutsy Campaign Against Lantos
ALEXANDER COCKBURN, CounterPunch
...If there is anything that should fuel the outrage of the antiwar
movement, it is surely the destruction of Fallujah and the war crimes being
inflicted by US commanders on its civilian population, who are now being
denied the most basic and essential source of life, water. This is not the
first time that US forces have cut water supplies, something explicitly
forbidden under Article 14 of t! he second protocol of the Geneva
Conventions (...) Back in 1991 the US war planners targeted and destroyed
the infrastructure of Baghdad's water supplies, and the sanctions
thereafter denied new equipment necessary to repair it. In consequence
civilians, particularly babies and young children died in vast numbers...



<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7152&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
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The German media and Fallujah: accomplices to a war crime
Peter Schwarz , WSWS
The reaction by the German media to the current US offensive against the
300,000 inhabitants of the city of Fallujah is nothing less than a
political scandal. The overwhelming destruction of a large city has been
relegated to minor reports by most of the German television channels and
the majority of daily papers, which have largely adopted the phraseology of
US war propaganda and say nothing about the civilian costs resulting from
the! brutal offensive...


<http://www.uruknet.info?s1=1&p=7154&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=7154




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