Free Iraq

Imad
I refer to the film of 2000
mentioned in your comment over Powell's picture above.

I hold on to my volcanic response to this ugly film.

There is not a single bleeding mention of ANY dead Iraqis throughout it !! This typifies the UGLY and SCHIZOPHRENIC American mind-set that you aptly posted about earlier.

And this is the extent of their MORAL Responsibility.
 

I am not an American"


أنا لست أمريكي

May 19, 2003

أ"أنا لست أمريكي" هذا ما انوي أن أخطه وباللون الأخضر على لوحة صغيره بحجم 10 سم في 10سم واضعها على صدري حتى يراها القاصي والداني وكل من تخول له نفسه أن يلحق الأذى بي . مع أن شكلي ليس أمريكيا ، فلا عيوني زرق ولا أسناني فرق ولا والدي رجل كاوبوي ولا والدتي امرأة من اليانكي . لكن من باب الاحتياط العقدي والجسدي . العقدي بإعلان البراءة مما تمثله أمريكا من خطر حضارة التسلط والقتل للبشرية . والجسدي والذي لربما يعود شكله إلى عهد الرومان الذين احتلوا فلسطين ومكثوا فيها مدة 600 عاما. لذا وجب المحافظة علي اثريا . فلم يعد مجدي التباهي بشيء اسمه أمريكا . وهدف اللوحة هو إعلان نبرة الاحتجاج بصورة متنقلة واضحة على رفض الأمركة في وطني العربي وإعلان الرفض لما تقوم به البلدوزر الصهيوني من اقتلاع أشجار الزيتون وهدم البيوت على أم رأس الفلسطينيين . وأنني لا أستطيع ولن أستطيع أن أرى أموري الحياتية من منظار مكبر أمريكي حتى باستخدام الأشعة تحت الحمراء.

إذا لم اكن أمريكيا فمن أنا؟ الجواب أمنية كبيرة إن نطقتها وصفت بالإرهابي . وان صمت سموني انتحاري . وان همست نعتوني بالانفجاري . وان كتبت صوروني بالمخرب . ربما أكون كل هؤلاء ! لكن الحقيقة هي ما سيقرره الواقع القادم
 

Excerpt
Dahr Jamail, Open Letter to Amnesty International on the Iraqi Constitution: "I would like to ask Amnesty International one question: why is it so necessary to write a new constitution for Iraq now? . . .

"In Tallafar families did not get the food ration, neither any other food since the beginning of this year. In many Iraqi towns, the majority, there is no authority, no law, no police, no courts, only the armed militias and their political parties. Racial cleansing has begun in many parts of Iraq. The government in the heavily fortified Green Zone is very busy working on the constitution.

"During the last attack on Haditha, for more than two weeks, all the news programs, the dialogue, the forums were focused on the constitution and in the meantime an Iraqi major city was practically slaughtered. No one said a word about it as if it was happening on the moon. Do you think that this is just a coincidence? And, by the way, it happened and is happening continuously in other places.

"There are so many problems in Iraq now, so many crimes committed daily, where innocent people are killed, arrested, tortured… Why is it so important to neglect all these crimes and be busy with the constitution? Why is it so urgent?

"Saddam did not write the Iraqi constitution, and if there were some changes or resolutions added to it during the last 30 years, they can be cancelled, simple. We can keep our constitution until we have a proper government and national assembly. After we are done with the most urgent problems, we can take our time writing the most humanitarian and progressive constitution in the world!

"At the culminating session in Istanbul, June 23-26, 2005, the World Tribunal on Iraq, a network of independent groups and individuals form across the world, who cooperated in order to investigate the US-led war of aggression against Iraq and the crimes committed by the occupying forces, resulted in a Declaration of the Jury of Conscience. This jury concluded that the invasion was illegal under international law, as is the subsequent occupation.

"Some excerpts:

Overview of Findings

10. Any law or institution created under the aegis of occupation is devoid of both legal and moral authority. The recently concluded election, the Constituent Assembly, the current government, and the drafting committee for the Constitution are therefore all illegitimate.
(…)
We recommend:
3. That all laws, contracts, treaties, and institutions established under occupation, which the Iraqi people deem inimical to their interests, be considered null and void.
(…)
10. That people around the world resist and reject any effort by any of their governments to provide material, logistical, or moral support to the occupation of Iraq.
(… )
International Law Appendix

III. The occupation of Iraq has flagrantly violated The Right of Self-Determination of the People of Iraq:

• Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and of the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights (1966): '(1) All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development';

• It is evident that the occupation, by its decrees, practices, imposition of an interim government, managed elections, and administered constitution-making process has violated the right of self-determination of the Iraqi people, a fundamental element of international human rights law."
 

Dahr Jamail, “Violence leads only to more violence.”: "Ongoing military operations continue unabated in Al-Anbar province. With names like ‘Operation Iron Fist’ and ‘Operation Iron Gate’ which was launched just days after ‘Iron Fist,’ thousands of US troops, backed by warplanes, tanks and helicopters, began attacking small cities and villages primarily in the northwestern area of Al-Anbar.

"According to the US military and corporate media, the purpose of these operations is to 'root out' fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq, along with so-called insurgents.

"An Iraqi journalist writing under the name Sabah Ali (due to concerns of retribution from US/Iraqi governmental authorities) recently returned from the Al-Qa’im area of Iraq. Her report tells quite a different story.

"Venturing into the combat zone at the end of September/beginning of October, Sabah visited the village of Aanah, 360 km west of Baghdad, accomplishing a feat no non-embedded western journalist has dared undertake. The following is the report from Sabah, with photos, which shows the effect of these operations on civilians in the area."

[ . . . ]
 

Pentagon seeks US informants on insurgencies: "Pentagon officials said on Friday they could fight insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan more effectively if Congress would allow intelligence operatives to hide their identities from potential informants in the U.S. Muslim population."

Don't let superpowers steer UN atomic policy -Iran

Israelis, Palestinians prepare summit amid doubts

Iraq government urges voters to stand firm vs militants

Saddam Lawyer Challenges Date of Trial

Ninety rebels killed in western Iraq sweeps
 

British troops to stay in Iraq for two more years: Talabani

Iraq: Democracy 'could actually strengthen the guerrillas'

Iraqi Sunni groups urge charter 'No'

US ranked second to Iraq as 'terrorist nation' - South African survey (I have a slight problem with this ranking, but S.A. response interesting nonetheless.)
 

Daniel Estulin: Breaking the Silence ... Bilderberg exposed!
 

Iraq on the brink of civil war; Uniformed Shiite death squads rounding up Sunni Arab men and executing them. (Credit to POAC for headline)
 

ALIVE & THRIVING IN U.S.A.: SLAVERY & INDENTURED SERVITUDE
 

Yet Another "Generous Offer" from Sharon; Setting Up Abbas: "From Sharon's point of view it's a done deal. Israel has won its century-old conflict with the Palestinians. Surveying the landscape - physical and political alike - the Israeli Prime Minister has finally fulfilled the task with which he was charged 38 years ago by Menachem Begin: ensure permanent Israel control over the entire Land of Israel while foreclosing the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.

". . . For help in by-passing international law and transforming Israel's Occupation into a permanent reality, Sharon turned to Israel's one and only patron in such matters, the US, which promptly obliged. ..."
 

$94,876,350,900 (Check link for updated total U.S. assistance to Israel)
 

Dying In Vain: Not Only Is The War A Disaster, Greedy U.S. Incompetents Ruined The Iraqi Oil Fields
 

LIAR

TRAITOR

SOLDIER-KILLER

DOMESTIC ENEMY

UNFIT FOR COMMAND

RUMSFELD AT IT AGAIN:

Chiseling Asshole Restricts Refunds To Military Families For Lifesaving Battle Gear
 

"For The First Time I Believe We Have Lost"; Bombing Iraq's Bridges: An Admission Of Military Defeat (Though repetitious of Dr. Khadduri's October 7 posting, this item would not yet be categorized as "ancient history".)
 

CHERTOFF'S SWEETHEART DEAL FOR ISRAELI-OWNED CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE

Israel's Mossad: Black Ops and False Flags

Assassination Of Lebanon's Prime Minister
 

بعد الإطلاع على
هذا الفلم
لا يسعني إلا القول

قيٌم الركاع من ديرة عفج

لا هواية إنحلٌت قضية العراق والعالم باستفتاء الشعب الأمريكي

أكول ليش ليهسة الجمهوريين مسيطرين

بس أويلي علينه
 

The Dark Cloud of Democracy: "On Saturday morning, October 2nd, hours after the Pentagon officially launched ‘Operation Iron Fist’, the Associated Press reported, “About 1,000 U.S. troops, backed by attack helicopters, swarmed into a tiny Iraqi village near the Syrian border Saturday in an offensive aimed at rooting out fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq, the country’s most feared militant group, the military said.”

"Being a Syrian border town, Sadah has been a target of U.S. assaults before. This weekend however, was major – 1,000 troops moved on this little village of 2,000 men, women and children.

"The most sophisticated (which simply means most deadly) military in the world has sent 1,000 troops, backed warplanes and helicopters, to enter and occupy the hamlet of Sadah, and is going door to door, raiding what homes were left standing after the air assault, apparently hunting for ‘insurgents’. Although it is uncertain what they will find in Sadah, what they have brought is clear. Death and destruction on a massive scale have come to yet another town in the so-called ‘Sunni Triangle’.

"Troops involved in the siege on this rural enclave, were backed by warplanes, such as the C-130 Specter, which hovers over its target, circling and hammering those on the ground with 105 mm rapid-fire cannons directed by it’s sophisticated computer tracking systems, and helicopters such as the Apache, which has turned humans into mincemeat with its 90 mm cannons and assortment of rockets. [ . . . ]

"In Anbar province, currently under siege from the largest U.S. offensive of the year, where all indications have been predicting a negative vote, the probability that even 67% of voters will be able to make it to the poles is unlikely. In Sadah and other civilian centers under siege in Anbar, occupation will remain in the ruins of these campaigns, with heavily armed soldiers and National Guardsmen left to control security for a referendum they want to see passed.

"The constitution, if implemented, paves the way for succession of territories, leading the way to an oil rich Kurdistan in the North, a southern Shia state also controlling great oil wealth, and a western area, war torn and without resources, left for Sunnis to rebuild after a brutal and heavily damaging occupation.

"As the U.S. continues its campaign in Western Iraq, and as questions about U.K. involvement in terrorism in the South continue to grow, the impossibilities of democracy under occupation are highlighted. Next weekend's vote on the future of Iraq further illustrates the perversions to democracy that have recently been envisioned by a U.S. administration that itself gained power under this dark cloud that now looks to envelope and dissect Iraq. All that stands in its way is the resolve of a highly terrorized constituent, a constituent that is asked to register its opinion under the watchful eye of a security force that recently razed their communities. In Anbar, as in other provinces, it doesn’t take a great leap of reasoning to know that a vote against the referendum is a vote against the occupation, an occupation intent on pushing it through."
 

INSANITY (Cont'd)
Edging Towards Disaster with Iran: "The prospect of war breaking out between the United States and Iran is more likely by the day. Still, for the most part, the American public seems strangely unaware of the growing danger. ...

"Iran’s future oil and natural gas wealth foreshadow its growth into a regional competitor to Israel as well as an energy-independent powerhouse. ...

"Last week three members of the Israeli Knesset issued a terse warning that an attack on Iran may be imminent. ...

"The appearance of three Israeli politicians dispatched to Washington to reiterate the same message can only mean trouble. We should presume that the details of an upcoming attack are currently being ironed-out and that hostilities will probably take place in the very near future.

"The upcoming attack is predicated on the belief that Iran will not strike back, but that is far from certain. What is certain, however, is that stable supplies of crude, major cities in Israel, and 140,000 American servicemen and women will be deliberately put in harms-way to achieve the elusive objectives of political fantasists and radicals. It is a reckless roll of the dice that moves the world ever-closer towards a global catastrophe."
 

Armageddon is expensive: $94,878,420,315 and counting.
 

Marines Who Stormed Fallujah Back in Iraq: "I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around."
 

Iraq government spokesman uses language of Nazis

Photos from Iraq, 9 October 2005
 

AP: 539 Bodies Found in Iraq Since April: "Relatives and neighbors in mourning are convinced they were killed by government-linked Shiite death squads they say are behind corpses that turn up nearly every day in and around the capital — two more on Friday."

Basra police obeying militias' orders: "The most powerful and feared institution here in southern Iraq's largest city is a shadowy force of 200 to 300 police officers, known collectively as the Jameat, who dominate the local police and who are said to murder and torture at will. They answer to the leaders of Basra's sectarian militias.

"In the murky world of Basra's militias, it remains unclear how the Jameat emerged as such a powerful force. Officially, it is part of the Basra police, responsible for internal affairs and investigating crimes like terrorism and murder - a role that, other police officers say, allows it to operate with impunity."
 

A Central Pillar of Iraq Policy Crumbling: "Bush's administration has insisted that political progress would quell the insurgency. But the reverse may be true, U.S. analysts say.

"Some Iraqis accuse the Bush administration of sacrificing a unifying political process in favor of speed and arbitrary deadlines needed to sustain American public support for the war and justify the politically important reduction in U.S. troop levels in Iraq.

"'We're short of time — it's the fault of the Americans,' Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman said. 'They are always insisting on short deadlines. It's as if they're [making] hamburgers and fast food.'"
 

Iraqi police killed in bombing, attacks

Israeli soldiers kill three Palestinians
 

Extract
Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, 'WAR ON TERROR' REVISITED: The conquest of Southwest Asia: "When the 'war on terror' mantra was coined, it all boiled down to what are you going to sell to American and world public opinion. It was much easier to market a war against al-Qaeda - pictured as a cartoonish bunch of demented Arab, Wahhabi freaks with no agenda except evil destruction of the American way of life - than to tell the world about the real deal: as Arabs see it, this is a war against Arab nationalists bearing a very long list of widely-documented grievances and exploitation and a very clear, concrete set of demands: self-determination in all its forms all over the Arab world and the end of foreign occupation, domination and interference.

"The key data in all this drama is what the people who live in the Middle East themselves think. A very helpful guide is a study on Middle Eastern public opinion - conducted in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine - and released by the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. The results are devastating. One of the most important findings is that the Arab street does not identify a 'clash of civilizations'; they identify their woes as direct consequences of British colonialism and US foreign policy.

"In the poll the qualifications most associated with the US and the UK were 'racist', 'aggressive', 'morally decadent' and 'imperialistic'. People were always very careful to note that they admired Western societies for their open atmosphere, individual liberties and technical progress, but they certainly don't envy the West's social problems. People in the Middle East are proud of their family and traditions. Their anger is fundamentally directed towards Anglo-American foreign policy. A majority considers that the US is run by a 'Zionist lobby'. Over 70% complain that the US and the UK try to dominate countries through the offer of foreign aid. And crucially, less than 20% of Egyptians, Syrians and Palestinians see the US as supporting democracy in the region.

"American and British policy in Iraq and US bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are almost universally rejected. Distrust of America is even higher among Middle Eastern youth. Only 15% to 20% of young people between the ages of 16 and 24 have anything good to say about the US. The majority supports Sharia law as a source for legislation. But only a tiny minority said they wanted a Taliban-like interpretation of Islamic law."
 

Zionism as a Racist Ideology; Reviving an Old Theme to Prevent Palestinian Ethnicide: "...[N]o real peace will be forged in Palestine-Israel unless the bases of Zionism are examined and in some way altered. It is for this reason that honestly labeling Zionism as a racist political philosophy is so necessary: unless the world's, and particularly the United States', blind support for Israel as an exclusivist Jewish state is undermined, unless the blind acceptance of Zionism as a noble ideology is undermined, and unless it is recognized that Israel's drive to maintain dominion over the occupied Palestinian territories is motivated by an exclusivist, racist ideology, no one will ever gain the political strength or the political will necessary to force Israel to relinquish territory and permit establishment of a truly sovereign and independent Palestinian state in a part of Palestine."
 

PHOTOS - US War Crimes in Iraq: A Gallery of Dishonor

The Myth of Tiny, Little Israel: Zionist Tentacles Everywhere
 

Wayne Madsen Report, October 9, 2005 -- Ethnic minorities around the world targeted in Bush/neo-con phony "war on terrorism": The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is a Hague-based international organization of ethnic minorities who are repressed by the New World Order triad of corporate, military, and neo-con totalitarianism. Over three years ago, this editor wrote the following about how ethnic minorities were the first targets of Bush's phony 'war on terrorism':

"Under the terms of the USA Patriot Act and other U.S. criminal statutes, the State Department's arbitrary designation of a group as a 'foreign terrorist organization' has severe ramifications. People who contribute to such organizations and financial institutions who handle transactions for such organizations can face criminal prosecution. Anyone who contributes money, lodging, expert assistance, transportation or other 'material support' to such organizations can face long prison terms and seizure of their assets. Resident aliens in the United States can be deported, or worse, be declared enemy combatants and wind up on a one-way flight to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In fact, this writer once contributed money to UNPO."

On June 24, 2005, UNPO held its Eighth General Assembly in The Hague. Antonio Bento Bembe came to The Hague from the Angolan-occupied enclave of Cabinda, which has been fighting for independence against an unholy alliance of Angola, U.S. oil companies like Chevron Texaco, and U.S. mercenaries paid by the oil companies. Bembe was arrested by Dutch police near The Hague's "Peace Palace," where the General Assembly was convening. The Bush administration quickly asked the Netherlands to extradite Bembe to the United States to stand trial The Dutch Foreign and Development ministries both expressed opposition to the arrest and suspected collusion between the Dutch Justice Ministry and the U.S. Justice Department, as well as the Department of State, headed by Condoleezza Rice, a former board director for Chevron and an opponent of self-determination for minority groups around the world where such support threatens the interests of oil and gas companies: Aceh in Indonesia, Southern Cameroons, Western Sahara, Igboland and Ogoniland in Nigeria, and Somaliland. The proposed Iraqi constitution, up for a referendum on October 15 that is widely expected to to be rigged by the neo-con occupation commissars, is being rejected by two ethnic minorities represented in UNPO -- the Turkoman and the Assyrians -- because it does not guarantee ethnic minority rights for their peoples. All these regions, plus Cabinda, are experiencing civil wars being waged between poor, disenfranchised minorities and pillaging U.S. and British oil companies and their paid guns for hire. Displaying the fact that the Bush administration is nothing more than a wholly-owned subsidiary of the U.S. oil industry, Bembe, a Cabindan peace negotiator, was arrested by the Dutch on the request of the Americans for his alleged role in the kidnapping of a Chevron employee in Cabinda in 1990. Chevron and a network of shadowy mercenary firms, employing former members of the US Special Forces from Vietnam and the contra wars in Central America, have militarily supported the Angolan occupation of oil-rich Cabinda since 1975. [ . . . ]

This editor pointed out in the 2003 article: "Just a brief overview of UNPO membership illustrates the battle lines: Muslims in Aceh province in northwest Sumatra are battling Indonesian army forces
fronting for Exxon Mobil, which has extensive installations in the province. The United States is considering resuming military aid to Indonesia to put down that rebellion and another involving UNPO member West Papua, an illegally annexed province fighting Indonesia and the U.S. mining company Freeport McMoran for control of its copper and other natural resources. UNPO member Cabinda, an Angolan enclave fighting for independence against Angola, is now being attacked by U.S. mercenaries in the pay of oil companies like Chevron, on whose board Condoleezza Rice once sat.

"Even native Americans are no longer safe from renewed Federal subjugation. One of the members of UNPO is the Sioux Lakota Nation, the scene of past bloody battles between encroaching Federal troops and FBI agent and the Sioux. With a mere stroke of a pen, the State Department can label the Lakota Sioux or native Hawaiians as linked to 'terrorists' in East Turkestan, Chechnya, or Burma (Myanmar) - and they can have their assets frozen and their leadership tossed into jails or large capacity 'detention centers' now being advanced by two Bush appointees on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission."

Recently, FBI agents murdered in cold blood a Puerto Rican independence leader. The Bush regime's lack of response to Hurricane Katrina has resulted in the depopulation of unique ethnic mixture of African Americans, Acadians ("Cajuns"), and Native Americans in Louisiana. . . . The neo-cons have shown, just as did their Nazi co-ideologists sixty years ago, that they are avid supporters and facilitators of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
 

Kurt Nimmo, Galloway and the Stampeding of Arab Jews (Comment: October 08, 2005 11:36 AM)
----------------------

(First & last paras. only. See the full article to connect the dots!)
Kurt Nimmo, Galloway and the Stampeding of Arab Jews, Part II: "Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, affirms Naeim Giladi’s account of the 'Zionist underground' plotting to stampede Arab Jews out of Iraq into Israel, where they basically served as hewers of wood and drawers of water in servitude to Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. 'Shlaim was born in Baghdad in 1945, to a wealthy family with a magnificent three-story house and 10 servants, including a special servant who went to the market to do the shopping,' Meron Rapoport writes for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. 'His father was an importer of building materials, and hobnobbed with the heads of the Iraqi government, including then-prime minister Nuri Said.' According to Shlaim, there 'were Zionist agents who tried to create propaganda [in Iraq], but it didn’t impress the Jewish elite and the middle class. There was no tradition of persecution or anti-Semitism in Iraq.' Of course, this runs counter to the assertions of Zionist historians, many who claim innate racism and anti-Semitism on the part of Arabs was responsible for the migration of Jews to Israel.[ . . . ]

"'I stand by all those comments,' Galloway told the Jewish News. 'Everything I have said there is fact and there are shelves full of books to prove it. I believe that Zionism has exploited the Jewish people as much as the Palestinian people and has turned the people of Einstein and Epstein into one apparently represented by Sharon and Netanyahu,' who are, after all, the inheritors of the fascist and racist legacy of Revisionist Zionism with its well-documented affinity for Italian fascism and opportunistic flirtation with Nazism."
 

$94,879,675,312
 

Celebrating Colombus Day
"Columbus sailed the ocean blue,
Killing folks of a different hue.
While filling his needs,
Millions fell to his deeds.
We should remember him with rue"
(Frank's unpublished work)
 

Uri Avnery, Salaam Or Salami: "The Gaza withdrawal has taught us just how dangerous the 'unilateral' approach is. We have evacuated territory, uprooted settlements, and not come one step nearer to peace.

"Even the most outstanding genius has not yet invented a unilateral peace. Peace is a tango - it takes two to perform. Two who respect each other."
 

GM crop 'ruins fields for 15 years': "The findings cast a cloud over the prospects of growing the modified crops in Britain, suggesting that farmers who try them out for one season will find fields blighted for a decade and a half."
And now in Iraq?
 

Kurt Nimmo, Hugo and Osama in a Tree: "Pat Robertson is a laughingstock. But unfortunately a lot of people—mostly deluded Christian Zionists—take him seriously, even when he goes over the deep end, as he has done again. 'Weeks after Pat Robertson suggested the United States assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the religious broadcaster alleged Sunday that Chavez had sent money to al-Qaida terror leader Osama bin Laden,' reports the neocon Jerusalem Post. . . . Asked where he got the information, Robertson said, 'Well, sources that came to me. That’s what I was told.' In other words, a little birdie told him. [ . . . ]

"If a lukewarm pretend socialist such as Saddam earned the hatred of Osama the Wahhabi, we can only imagine what kind of reaction a real socialist like Chávez would elicit. Is it possible the Iranians and Osama bin Laden would have anything to do with Hugo Chávez, who visited Saddam Hussein in August, 2000? If 'al-Qaeda,' as we are told, slaughters Shi’ite men, women, and children—who are after all mostly pious Muslims, not atheistic socialist infidels—what the heck would they do to the infidel Hugo Chávez? Can you imagine Chávez and al-Zarqawi in the same room together? Is there something wrong with this picture?"
 

Last minute PR frenzy for Iraq charter

Insurgents Kill at Least 12 Iraqis
 

Saddam may be executed before facing all charges: "The court rules are based on a statute written while the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority led the country. Officials handed the procedures to an Iraqi-led government in June 2004."
 

P.S. to above. I would argue that circumventing the Rule of Law, killing Saddam expeditiously, in no way will advance the cause of peace in Iraq. But then, who cares?
 

US soldier killed by suicide car bomb in Iraq: "An Iraqi army soldier, an interpreter and an Iraqi civilian were wounded in the attack, the military said."

Hotel containing U.S. consulate hit by mortar shell in Iraq, police say

Iraqi violence hits new peak for British troops: "The front of the building had crumbled to rubble. Inside the smouldering ruins was the dead body of a woman and her child, and those of five others injured. Outside was a deep crater gouged where the suicide bomber had detonated his car packed with explosives.

"The bombing in the early hours of yesterday was just the latest example of the violence sweeping through British-run Shia southern Iraq which, until recently, was held up as a haven of peace and stability compared to the mayhem in Sunni areas.

"The target yesterday was Hassan al-Rashid, former governor of Basra and the current strongman of the Iranian- supported Badr Brigade. But the British military, too, are very much in the firing line in what they say is the most dangerous period they have faced since the war, with attacks taking place weekly. Particularly lethal had been a new type of infra-red roadside bombs which have killed eight British soldiers and which, the British government claims, were supplied to Shia fighters by Iran.

"The British military has taken measures to combat the devices. But, according to diplomatic sources, the militia too are trying to adapt their tactics.

"Most of the attacks, however, are by rockets and mortars and launched from some distance away.

"Standing on the top of the control tower at Basra aiport, the commander Group captain Ian Wood points to an area with several stationary aircraft 'That's where we had machine gun fire yesterday, that's where some rockets went over yesterday as well. There is no doubt we have seen a steady rise in violence over the recent period as we approach some pretty important matters like Saddam Hussein's trial and then there is, of course, the referendum.'

"One of the reasons the airport is being attacked is that it will be the place where the ballot papers for the referendum will be delivered. The British base where the media are gathering to cover the vote was also hit by mortar fire at the weekend." [ . . . ]
 

The Independent, Norman Dombey: Tell us who fabricated the Iraq evidence
 

"We Still Have Three More Sides To Fill": "There are battles which need to be fought and there are battles which serve no good purpose. Afghanistan and Bin Laden lay forgotten as if they were discarded toys left by a spoiled child.

"Iraq is the new frontier of poor foreign policy and poor planning. Even the soldiers can see it.

"Why do you think nobody is re-enlisting? They don't want to keep leaving their families to go fight a losing battle and to die for an empty promise. The promise that somehow staying in Iraq makes America safer.

"We have created a martyr factory here, and we are beginning to wade through the next Vietnam.

"How wrong do you want to be before you close down shop and send the troops home? 2,000 dead? Is that wrong enough? How about 10,000?

"There is a field back home at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. There a tree has been planted for each soldier who has been killed in Iraq. After we returned in 2003 there were only a few trees, now an entire side of the field is full of them.

"My sister asked where they would plant more now that the row was complete and sadly I replied, 'we still have three more sides to fill.'

"Maybe then when we have enough names for a beautiful war memorial we can leave Iraq."
 

Top UK police officer could be charged over de Menezes death (And Blair's 'shoot to kill' policy?)
 

The following I've "lifted" (!) from Danny Schechter's current column Truth and Myth in History and News, the particular piece originating at lefti.blogspot.com.

"Verifying" the news: "Consider this story from the Los Angeles Times on the fighting in Western Iraq. The headline, and the lead, are that 'Six U.S. Marines were killed by roadside bombs.' As we read further, we are told that 'The U.S. military said Friday that at least 50 suspected insurgents were killed.' No mention of Iraqi civilians, until we get to this: 'Sheik Usama Jadaan, a tribal leader in the city of Karabilah...said the fighting in the west was so brutal that residents 'are now seeing members of their families being killed in front of their own eyes by the American bombardment.' And in response? 'The allegations of civilian deaths could not be verified. Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman, said he had no reports of civilian casualties in the offensives.' Of course, they could have been verified (or refuted) by a reporter actually going on site, or even calling the local hospitals, what the reporter means is that they weren't verified, and that their definition (as with all the corporate media) of 'verification' is 'acknowledged by the U.S. military.' And the U.S. military didn't even deny it, they just claim (which is probably true) that they 'had no reports' of civilian casualties.

"And there the matter will rest, never to be mentioned again in the U.S. media, except indirectly, when the relatives of the dead and wounded civilians set the next round of IEDs, killing more U.S. soldiers, who deaths will once again make the headlines and be 'verified.'

"Note also that there is no question that the deaths of '50 suspected insurgents' (nor any evidence that they were insurgents) could be verified; once again, the word of the U.S. military seems to be both the source of the news and the 'verification' of the news."
 

Conflict resolution pair wins Nobel economics prize: "Professor Schelling proposed game theory as a unifying framework for the social sciences against the backdrop of the nuclear arms race in the late 1950s. His book, The Strategy of Conflict, showed that a party can strengthen its position by overtly worsening its own options, that the capability to retaliate can be more useful than the ability to resist an attack, and that uncertain retaliation is more credible and more efficient than certain retaliation.

"These insights proved to be of great relevance for conflict resolution and efforts* to avoid war. . . ."

* Theoretical "efforts"? Pls. forward insights to Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz et al. (and, of course, Mme. Rice.)
 

Extract
Gideon Levy, What's Changed in the Last Year? The Beautiful Life Without Arafat: "The year since Arafat's death has not been beautiful as they promised us, and life here without him has not been better than our life with him. Arafat served as an excellent excuse for Israel to continue the occupation and almost the only significant change that has occurred since his passing is the loss of this excuse.

"The past year was the year of disengagement. Not a 'partitioning of the land' and not anything approaching this. Not even progress toward peace, but merely a year in which a unilateral arrangement was imposed on the Palestinians that completely disregards their needs. There was no letup in the occupation during this year. Gaza remains imprisoned; in the West Bank, the restrictions on Palestinian life continue in their full cruelty, and are even intensifying due to the separation fence. All this, despite the fact that the demonization of Arafat by Israeli leaders in his waning days could have led one to assume that the largest obstacle to peace had disappeared when he died.

"True, the terror attacks have drastically decreased and the IDF is also killing less. But when one looks at the statistics, it is impossible to attribute this to the death of the rais: The steep decline began while he was still alive. Since 2002, a gradual drop has occurred, from 184 Israelis killed in 2002, to 104 in 2003, and to 13 this year. However, the last month of his life, as he lay dying in Paris, was a bloody month, with the highest number of Palestinian casualties since Operation Defensive Shield --140 killed in a single month. Two months later, when Arafat was no longer among the living, Israel killed another 100 Palestinians. That is, to the extent that both sides have held their fire, it was not because Arafat was no longer in the Muqata.

"Arafat was replaced with the most moderate leader the Palestinians have ever had. However, thousands of Palestinian prisoners continue to rot in prison, some of them without trial. In recent days alone, Israel arrested about 400 more --it's not clear why.

"During this year, not only has Israel done nothing to help solidify Abbas' rule, it has done everything to weaken him. And now it complains about his weakness. . . .

". . . A civil war threatens the Palestinian people (and this is also bad news for Israel), a war that Arafat did everything to prevent and apparently would not have erupted in his day. And Israel is not doing a thing to conduct negotiations with his successor on a just accord that would ensure an end to violence. It turns out that contrary to the promises, Arafat's death did not bequeath life to anyone."
 

(The following article is intended as a caution for Americans. But the validity of its main thrust holds for all people everywhere.

I think, here, of the oft expressed thirst for revenge against Saddam Hussein whereby people cheerfully would execute him minus Due Process of Law, thereafter possibly celebrating, giving further expression to their desire for revenge. At some emotional level, perhaps understandable. Practically, a terrible precedent. When we abandon the Rule of Law for others we similarly abandon it for ourselves, for those we care about, and for the wider society in which we live.)

The Corpse of Habeas Corpus; The Police State is Closer Than You Think: "In the Anglo-American legal tradition, law is a shield of the accused. This is necessary in order to protect the innocent. The accused is innocent until he is proven guilty in an open court. There are no secret tribunals, no torture, and no show trials.

"When the protective features of the law are removed, law becomes a weapon. . . ."
 

more on above Comment by Evelyn

"The Bush administration and those who support the Iraq war frequently justify it by saying that Saddam Hussein tortured his people. They say that Iraq is better off without him. I agree that Saddam needed to go, but with the reports from Abu Graib and other US run prisons it is clear that the Iraqi people are still being tortured.

Last week the Senate voted 90-9 on an amendment requiring humane treatment of detainees in US custody. The nine Senators who voted against this amendment need their power stripped as well. They are Senators Allard (CO), Bond (MO), Coburn (OK), Cochran (MS), Cornyn (TX), Inhofe (OK), Roberts (KS), Sessions (AL), and Stevens (AK).

Now we hear that George W. Bush is threatening to veto the defense bill if this amendment is still attached. So is that the noble cause our soldiers are dying for? The right to torture Iraqis?

We also hear that Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are twisting arms in the House to attempt to kill the anti-torture amendment. Where is the outrage? Why aren't all Americans demanding that the McCain Amendment be signed into law?

This amendment should have passed with a unanimous consent request in both the House and the Senate. Anyone opposing it is unfit to serve the American people. They deserve to have their power stripped just like Saddam."
 

Wayne Madsen Report, October 10, 2005 -- "Good Night, and Good Luck, George Clooney's cinematic recreation of the1954 battle between CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and GOP right-wing fanatic Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin reminds us that the well-planned attack on CBS News, 60 Minutes, and Dan Rather in the Texas Air National Guard story last year was not the first assault on the network's news division by a Republican dirty tricks team bent on defaming a journalistic team and upending the First Amendment.

"In Murrow's case, his attacks on the demagogue McCarthy led to the Republicans spreading falsehoods about the veteran journalist, claiming that he was an member of the leftist International Workers of the World and a propaganda agent for Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Although Murrow succeeded in exposing McCarthy, ensuring his censure by the Senate and his eventual political collapse, the attack on Murrow was also profound. . . .

"The loss of Murrow's prime time slot was the price he paid for exposing McCarthy. Murrow labored on for CBS in various capacities until his death in 1965. In 1962, Murrow mentored a young Texas journalist who had recently arrived at CBS News. That journalist, Dan Rather, would also feel the wrath of a right-wing Republican wolfpack after he attempted to expose the phoniness of George W. Bush's 'military' record. As with McCarthy's red baiting, the Bush Texas Air Guard issue was overshadowed by attacks on the journalists who worked to expose the story. The French say it best: Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose -- The more things change, the more they stay the same."
 

Wayne Madsen Report, October 10, 2005 -- New leads temporarily postpone indictments: "Although the Grand Jury probe of the White House scandal has been unique by Washington standards for the relative lack of leaks to the media, there are several currents that are beginning to emerge:

1. Investigators are focusing on an email between Karl Rove and then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley that referenced a July 11, 2003 conversation between Rove and Time's Matt Cooper. In a case reminiscent of Oliver North and the shredding and deletion of e-mail in the White House PROFS office automation system during Iran-contra, there is speculation that some critical e-mails involving the CIA leak were illegally destroyed by the White House.

"Then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales informed White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card at 8:00 pm on September 29, 2003 that the Justice Department was beginning a criminal investigation of the White House over the CIA leak. Gonzales did not order the White House staff to preserve all documents, email, and memos until the next day, giving the White House a full twelve hours to destroy any incriminating documents, including email. Gonzales later claimed he delayed his order because of the late hour on September 29 -- however, the White House and its operations staff works on a 24x7 basis.

"There are rumors that critical email and other documents relating to the cover up of the CIA leak and the White House Iraq Group's 'work up' on Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his CIA wife may have been destroyed during the twelve hour interval between notification that a criminal probe was underway and Gonzales' document 'freeze' order. If the special prosecutor determines that evidence was destroyed, obstruction of justice indictments could be issued against Gonzales, Card, and Hadley.

2. Recently discovered notes of New York Times reporter Judith Miller concerning a June 2003 conversation she had with Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby before Wilson's OP ED on Niger uranium and Iraq appeared in The New York Times, may implicate Libby and Cheney in a conspiracy to go after Wilson and his wife. Previously it was reported that the White House retaliation against Wilson and his wife was in reaction to the OP ED piece. The discovery of Miller's notes points to a possible premeditated attack by the White House on the Wilsons."
 

"Despite the precautions that AIPAC took, pessimists nevertheless fear that relations between the United States and Israel will be negatively affected. AIPAC needs no warnings from the U.S. administration. It is an American organization, even though its declared goal is to improve relations between America and Israel and to make the U.S. administration and Congress cognizant of Israel's needs* and of its contribution to American policy."

* 94,884,7511,343 and climbing.
 

Yes, Dakhil,
"President Bush has made it clear that he will veto the $435 billion Pentagon appropriations bill because it restricts his ability to abuse prisoners in the war on terror": "Whether prisoners are being beaten, humiliated, starved to death or simply held without charges the facts remain the same. The policy originated at the highest levels of government and will only be strengthened by Bush’s veto. The administration is claiming the absolute authority to operate beyond the law and with complete impunity.

"Torture is the widow that allows us to see beyond the public relations smokescreen into the fetid cesspool of administration thinking. The Bush regime is divorced from any sense of decency or moral compunction. Nothing they say can be trusted. They have generated an ethos of cruelty and vindictiveness that now pervades the myriad offices of government and the defense establishment."
 

Iraqi Order 81 Update; It Is Even Worse* Than Originally Reported

* See GM crop 'ruins fields for 15 years' posted October 10, 2005 9:39 AM (above) - long ago commented upon, by the way, by Riverbend.
 

Venezuelan Gasoline Arrives in Houston
(Mr. Chavez & Venezuelans: Thank you for generously thinking "people", not "Bush". I just hope your magnanimous offering doesn't get sold at a $ zillion/gallon.)
 

(Something for the sadists - seriously; I had to read it to know for sure.)
Beck to purported torturer: "I appreciate your service"
 

(If you love George Bush as I do, read this article. It will rest your brain and please your soul.)
Ireland: I wanted to slap him: "George W Bush was so upset by Carole Coleman’s White House interview that an official complaint was lodged with the Irish embassy. The RTE journalist explains why the president made her blood boil."
 

Dedicated to: George & Donald & Dick & Condi & Paul & the rest of the gang
Everybody's Doing It; In Defense of Liars...
 

A Citizen of Mosul, Take a walk: "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes." (Thank you, Najma!)
 

While calculating "benefits" received by Israel from U.S. taxpayers, add in this runaway figure. Would the world come to an end if all these monies were used to build communites rather than destroying them?