[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 14 Dec 2004]

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In Iraq le forze statunitensi tolgono di mezzo chi osa contare i cadaveri.
Quindi medici, religiosi e giornalisti
Naomi Klein, Internazionale
Egregio signor Johnson, il 26 novembre il suo addetto stampa mi ha inviato
una lettera in cui si mostrava risentito per una frase della mia ultima
rubrica. La frase diceva: "In Iraq le forze statunitensi e i loro alleati
iracheni non si preoccupano più di nascondere gli attacchi contro i civili,
e stanno eliminando chiunque - medici, religi osi, giornalisti - osi
contare i cadaveri". In particolare, a dare fastidio era la parola
"eliminando" (...) Ma pur concordando sul fatto che l'accusa è grave, non
ho intenzione di ritirarla. Ecco invece le prove...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8099&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8099


U.S. Uses Deception in Foreign Policy: Is It Any Wonder No One Trusts Us
Sam Hamod, Tom Shanker, Eric Schmitt
Contrary to what Mr. Shanker and Mr. Schmitt say about a "debate" in the
Pentagon over lies to be used in foreign policy, I know for a fact that it
has been going on for a long time (...) Contrary to what Mr. Shanker and
Mr. Schmitt say about a "debate" in the Pentagon over lies to be used in
foreign policy, I know for a fact that it has been going on for a long
time...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8126&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8126


Gearing Up for the Draft
Mike Whitney
There's only one way the American people will accept the reinstatement of
the draft. There would have to be "a massive casualty-producing event" on
American soil. That's it. There's simply no other way Bush can get the
popular support needed. And, since we're able to figure that out, it's
certain that White House planners-and-schemers have figured it out, too.
This sets us up for some very ugly scenarios, including the possibility
that we'll be seeing more terrorist "events" s ometime in the near future...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8125&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8125


Strange Bedfellows -- Annan and the Bush Administration
Rahul Mahajan
...Still, one thing seems pretty clear to me. The threat hanging over Kofi
Annan's head has been effectively used to keep him from saying anything
more about Fallujah. It's not simply a matter of decrying abuses already
committed; he could at least call for the Iraqi Red Crescent to be allowed
back in, some more provision to be made for refugees, or some investigation
to be made. But he hasn't. The United States, which still needs Kofi Annan
and the U.N. to help it pretend that the scheduled January 30 elections
will mean something, is reciprocating by supporting Annan -- for now...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8124&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8124


Two Marines killed in Iraq's western Anbar province
Associated Press
Two U.S. Marines were killed in action in Iraq's volatile western Anbar
province, the military said Tuesday, taking the number of Marines reported
killed in the region in past three days to 10. A military statement said
two Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in
action Monday ''while conducting security and stabilization operations'' in
the vast Anbar province west of Baghdad, which includes the battleground
cities of Fallujah and Ramadi...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8123&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8123


The War is the War Crime: Abused Iraqis, Abused Americans
M. Junaid Alam
...The fundamental contradiction of war is that it can be based on lies,
but it cannot be fought by liars. If people were willing to fight for lies,
then they would not have to be lied to in the first place. Those American
soldiers in the battlefield, like all Americans at home, were subjected to
an intense propaganda barrage about the motives, aims, and goals of the
war. They were deceived. But today, those soldiers are facing a barrage of
a n altogether different sort: that of an Iraqi insurgency whose very
existence, success, and growth explodes all the official war claims...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8115&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8115


A Reply To Those Who Question Our Reports From Mafkarat al-Islam
Omar Al-Faris, JUS & Soyan Al-Hagiri, Mafkarat al-Islam
...Now Mafkarat al-Islam has answered their critics directly. Translated by
the JUS translation team, here is a letter from Soyan Al-Hagiri Director of
Mafkarat al-Islam, addressing a reader that wrote to the "Ana Al-Moslem,"
web site, criticizing Mafkarat al-Islam's news reporting standards,
questioning its credibility, and accusing it of exaggerating the number of
American casualties. We prese nt it here, uncut and uncensored...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8119&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8119


Halliburton hires Colombian gunmen
Aljazeera.net
A US company has recruited 25 retired Colombian police and army officers to
provide security for oil infrastructure in Iraq, according to the newspaper
El Tiempo. The officers met in northern Bogota on 2 December with a
Colombian colonel, who, on behalf of "Halliburton Latin America," offered
them monthly salaries of $7000 to provide security for oil workers and
infrastructure in several Iraqi cities, according to one of the men, who
spoke on condition of anonymity. ..



<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8118&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8118


Car Bomb Kills 7 at Baghdad's Green Zone
SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer
A suicide car bomber killed seven people when he struck a checkpoint at
Baghdad's Green Zone early Tuesday, the second attack in two days at the
district that houses Iraq's interim government and the U.S. Embassy,
officials said...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8116&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8116


Official documents vindicate Red Cross report on US torture
Richard Phillips, WSWS
... It is clear that the torture of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, as well as
Iraq, was not an aberration but an integral component of the Bush
administration's so-called war on terror. Further evidence has emerged that
the abuse referred to in Harrington's letter was authorised and encouraged
at the highest government levels. On December 7, a day after the Associated
Press report, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released do zens of
internal government documents on the treatment of American-held POWs in
Iraq...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8114&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8114


Fight for Fallujah continues
Associated Press
After the deadliest day for U-S forces in Iraq in more than a month --
commanders are making it clear that the work in Fallujah (fuh-LOO'-juh)
isn't yet coming to an end. Yesterday, another eight Marines lost their
lives in the area around Fallujah. And Marines continue to confront
insurgents in the city as well...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8108&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8108


Baghdad: Iraqi insurgents attack US supply convoy (nine-truck)
Iraqwar
A nine-truck convoy supplying the US military in Iraq was attacked on
Monday in the town of Garma, near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, by a group
of insurgents who called themselves the "Al-Rahman Army". s the drivers of
the trucks are missing, it is believed they have been kidnapped or killed.
Some masked insurgents made several statements at the scene shortly after
the attack. Insurgents said that everybody helping the US forces will face
su ch an end, a clear threat to truck drivers...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8113&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8113


Investigations: 'I Feel Threatened'
A string of questionable killings and tales of a macabre contest
Babak Dehghanpisheh, Newsweek
...Something went monstrously wrong in "the 1-41"—the U.S. Army's First
Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment. Out of 500 or so battalion members,
Williams is one of six now facing murder charges in five separate shooting
incidents since August. Two of the victims were also 1-41 troops, gunned
down at a Kansas farmhouse in September. In a courtroom last week at Camp
Vict ory, outside Baghdad, 1-41 members described a dysfunctional unit with
too much bloodlust and not enough accountability. Witnesses said the
battalion's Charlie Company held a macabre contest to see who would get the
first confirmed kill of the unit's second Iraq tour...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8109&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8109


Lawyer Says Saddam is on Hunger Strike, Despite US Denial
Lisa Bryant
One of Saddam Hussein's lawyers says the former Iraqi leader is refusing
food, despite reports to the contrary. French lawyer Emmanuel Ludot says he
wants the International Red Cross to check on Saddam's condition. Lawyer
Emmanuel Ludot says he heard from a colleague in Iraq that Saddam Hussein
is on a hunger strike. According to his sources in Iraq, Mr. Ludot says,
Saddam stopped eating three days ago, to protest the conditions of his
detention , and the fact he cannot meet his family or his lawyers...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8107&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8107


Giving the Gift of War
Make It a Merry Military-Corporate Christmas
Tom Engelhardt & (Little Saint) Nick Turse, TomDispatch
...It's that time of year again, folks. The moment to begin the mad
scramble to fill those Xmas stockings and so time for the second annual
TomDispatch list of gifts that will make this a jolly "military-corporate
complex" Xmas for you and yours! Yes, an entire year has passed since
TomDispatch first brought you its list of "Hot as Depleted Uranium Toys for
a New Imperial Age." This year we've got great new gift ideas from the
Complex. So, if you didn't get that Abrams tank under the tree last year
and the neighbors rubbed their new Hummer in your face (before using it to
crush your puny "girlie-man" car), don't despair. This Xmas offers a wealth
of possibilities, a shot at getting all the games, gadgets, gear, and guns
the Complex has to offer...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8106&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8106


Saddam's Cause Remains Strong Without Him
Turks.US
...Some Israeli advisors have reportedly been officiating in Iraq for a
long time at the request of US forces. According to the Israeli newspaper,
Yediot Ahronot, this cooperation between Iraq and Israel set up with the
mediation of a third Middle-Eastern country is being kept secret. Israelis
providing consulting services on technology and the development of
infrastructure are said to be working with Israeli companies operating in
Iraq. The article also said Isra eli businessmen want to invest in Iraq
despite all the life-threatening risks...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8103&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8103


Pentagon worried over legal complaint in Germany against Rumsfeld, others
Iraqwar
The Pentagon expressed concern Monday over a criminal complaint filed in
Germany against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other officials
over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, warning that "frivolous lawsuits" could
affect the broader US-German relationship. The complaint was filed in
Berlin November 30 by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) and Berlin's Republican Lawyers' Association on behalf of four Ir
aqis who were alleged to have been mistreated by US soldiers...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8098&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8098


US battalion condemned to isolation in Ramadi
Pierre Celerier, Middle East Online
The US battalion that has set itself up in the western Iraqi insurgent
bastion of Ramadi lives in total isolation thanks to the city's insecurity
and the local population's refusal to cooperate (...) "Since November's
assault on Fallujah no local leader has stood up as a go-between," between
US forces and the local population, said Lieutenant Colonel Justin Gubler,
who commands the battalion and half the city...




<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8102&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8102


Anniversary of Saddam's capture: 22 killed in Iraq violence
Daily Times
At least 22 people including nine US soldiers were killed and dozens were
injured in violence across Iraq, signalling that coalition forces remain
beset by a fierce insurgency on the first anniversary of toppled dictator
Saddam Hussein's capture. At least seven Iraqis were killed and 19 wounded,
many seriously, when a suicide car bomb exploded at a checkpoint outside
the highly fortified Green Zone, hospital sources said...


<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8100&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8100


Manipulation of the Blogging World on Iraq?
Juan Cole
Joseph Mailander of the Martini Republic weblog has an extremely important
posting on Sunday about the dangers of "blog trolling." To "troll" in the
world of the internet is to lurk on a discussion board and make
deliberately false and inflammatory comments, to which all the other
posters feel they must reply, so that it roils the list. There is also a
connotation of dishonesty about the troll's real identity (...) The MR
posting brings up questions about the I raqi brothers who run the
IraqTheModel site. It points out that the views of the brothers are
celebrated in the right-leaning weblogging world of the US, even though
opinion polling shows that their views are far out of the mainstream of
Iraqi opinion...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8094&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8094


Iraq fuel crisis adds to chaos
Rory McCarthy and Osama Mansour , The Guardian
Baghdad is in the grip of the most serious fuel crisis since the war,
forcing drivers to spend more than a day queuing for petrol and underlining
the government's struggle to maintain even basic services weeks ahead of
elections. In the past two weeks queues often hundreds of cars long have
stretched for miles, and disputes between drivers and police have turned
violent...

<http://uruknet.info?s1=1&p=8093&s2=14>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: www.uruknet.info?p=8093




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