Free Iraq
The US's occupation of Iraq will see to it that the Lion of Babylon rises again .. سنـُبعـَث ُ من جَديد ، وإلى ضَـيـرِِهِـم
|
| Unrevealed Milestones in the Iraqi National Nuclear Program: 1981-1991 | معالم وأحداث غير مكشوفة في البرنامج النووي الوطني العراقي 1981-1991 | 
|
|
Friday, November 11, 2005
"In Iraq, we are the violence"
The following excerpts are from a thoroughly researched account on the phenomenon of death squads operating in Iraq:
"Police Commandos and Disinformation Brigades
An instructive starting point for an examination of the prevailing media consensus is to consider some of the forces of the Iraqi state most closely associated with allegations of serious human rights abuses.
The majority of accusations are general. Journalists refer to the police, security forces, the National Guard or to poorly identified police commandos, but specific accusations have been made against a unit known as the Wolf Brigade. The identification of the Wolf Brigade with cases of abduction, torture and execution in Baghdad was first made on 16 May, when Mothana Harith Al-Dari, a spokesman for the AMS, stated that ‘The mass killings and the crackdown and detention campaigns in north-eastern Baghdad over the past two days by members of the Iraqi police or by an Interior Ministry special force, known as the Wolf Brigade, are part of a state terror policy’, in relation to the discoveries of the victims of extrajudicial executions noted above (Islam Online).
Within days a Knight Ridder journalist, Hannah Allam, had published under a variety of titles an article about the Wolf Brigade, highlighting their maverick tough-guy image and presenting their leader, who goes by the nom de guerre of Abul Waleed, as a devout Shiite, ‘complete with a photo of Imam Ali and religious chants programmed into his constantly ringing cell phone.’ (Knight Ridder). Allam informed readers that Waleed regarded the AMS as infidels and tossed their accusations of torture and murder into the bin. Additionally, readers learned that the unit was formed as the brainchild of Waleed in October 2004, saw its first action in Mosul after nearly two months’ training with US forces, and is behind the inhuman television programme Terrorists in the Grip of Justice, in which tortured detainees are forced to confess to a lurid array of crimes (Associated Press). However, whilst belittling charges of horrendous human-rights violations as ‘the usual complaints’, Allam made no reference to the Wolf Brigade being a special forces unit attached to the Interior Ministry (emphasis added).
What is the Wolf Brigade?
The most feared and effective commando unit in Iraq, experts say. Formed last October by a former three-star Shiite general and SCIRI member who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Walid, the Wolf Brigade is composed of roughly 2,000 fighters, mostly young, poor Shiites from Sadr City.
Are there any Sunni-led commando units?
Yes. At least one counterinsurgency unit is headed by a former officer of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. The Special Police Commandos, like the Wolf Brigade, have a reputation for brutality, but the group is also considered one of Iraq's most effective and well-disciplined counterinsurgency units.
... Those familiar with Peter Maas’s article ‘The Way of the Commandos’, published by The New York Times Magazine just six weeks earlier, will recognise that, in fact, the Wolf Brigade bears a striking similarity to the unit he identifies as the Special Police Commandos. The Police Commandos, too, were formed in autumn 2004 and saw one of their first major commitments in Mosul in November; like the Wolf Brigade, their leader also founded an unspeakably vile television show called Terrorism in the Grip of Justice.
The Police Commandos were founded on the initiative of then Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, the son of a former Iraqi Chief of Staff, believed by many to have been a major CIA asset (National Review Online), under the command of his uncle, an ex-Baathist, Sunni military intelligence officer and CIA coup-plotter called Adnan Thabit. Its recruits are drawn from former members of the special forces and Republican Guard, with mixed ethnic and religious background (Washington Post), while its chain of command is said to be largely Sunni. Most importantly, the Police Commandos were formed under the experienced tutelage and oversight of veteran US counterinsurgency fighters, and from the outset conducted joint-force operations with elite and highly secretive US special-forces units (Reuters, National Review Online).
A key figure in the development of the Special Police Commandos was James Steele, a former US Army special forces operative. [See a previous posting on this site, CIA terrorism in Iraq ..... Who? US?, June 1, 2005].
... Another US contributor was the same Steven Casteel who as the most senior US advisor within the Interior Ministry brushed off serious and well-substantiated accusations of appalling human right violations as ‘rumor and innuendo’.
... In fact, the entire intelligence establishment is a creation of the Anglo-American secret services (Los Angeles Times), which began building at least as early as the beginning of the occupation (Detroit Free Press), although it may be suspected that the process was conceived long before. The new Iraqi establishment was staffed by long-term CIA assets, such as General Mohammad Shahwani, who had been nurtured by the CIA since the late 1980s (Asia Times Online) and became director of the new National Intelligence Service (the Mukhabarat). Like Thabit and Flayyih, other old CIA hands, Shahwani had participated in attempted coups against the government of Iraq.
... Like Thabit and Flayyih, Shahwani has retained his position under the transitional government and continues to report directly to the CIA (Seattle Times). Clearly, however, the purpose of stating or implying that unaccountable militias are behind the extrajudicial executions and/or that sectarian rivalries, especially Shia control of the Interior Ministry (which, as Beaumont correctly points out, is the centre of the horror), are to blame, is to distance the US from the almost unthinkable ongoing crimes against humanity. Comparable disinformation strategies have been employed in every counterinsurgency conflict with which the US has been involved; it is known as establishing ‘plausible deniability’...
... More specifically, in the case of Iraq, this disinformation strategy not only seems to be designed to mask the real intellectual authors of genocidal crimes, but also, increasingly, appears to be directed towards creating the very sectarian divisions that it hides behind.
... To penetrate the media smokescreen of spontaneous, uncontrollable violence and understand the role of intelligence operations in the creation of a beholden, occupied client state or series of statelets is fundamental to understanding the processes in Iraq today. It is also fundamental to recognising that the presence of Anglo-American forces in Iraq does not merely exacerbate the present violence; in Iraq we are the violence."
Crying Wolf: Media Disinformation and Death Squads in Occupied Iraq November 10, 2005
We would here emphasize the contents of a recent posting:
The Occupiers are Recoiling: in horror on November 3, 2005
in which "I would venture to state, unequivocally, that the following three atrocities, among others that were exposed by sheer luck, have been perpetrated by the American occupying forces themselves in a 'Phoenix' like onslaught that reflects their dismal failure in containing the Iraqi Resistance, and a concerted effort to instigate sectarian strife among the Iraqi people."
An Update:
"Faced with an insurgency that shows no signs of abating, the US and Iraqi government rely more and more on the paramilitaries. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, has said units such as General Adnan's commandos are among "forces that are going to have the greatest leverage on suppressing and eliminating the insurgency". Those on the receiving end of some of this "leverage", however, describe terrifying experiences."
The Dirty War: Torture and mutilation used on Iraqi 'insurgents' November 20, 2005
Comments:
Guess who today said the following: "The stakes in the global war on terror are too high and the national interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges."
<< Home
Guess who today said the following: "The stakes in the global war on terror are too high and the national interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges."
Al Moharer, What does the US murderers army inject Iraqis with?: "In an unprecedented event, US soldiers have raided and attacked an Iraqi village and started to form groups of four elements with an interpreter detaining Iraqi males and administering them at gunpoint a muscular injection through their clothes and with the same single syringe for every one.
The sources said that the US army gangsters beat those who refused to get the unknown injection, and hit them in a beastly way until they past away and lost conscious. The US bloodthirsty democratic army, which came to wipe out a Muslim population in order to save it, didn't say a word about the whole thing, and didn't give an explanation about what was going on!
So! Who will bring to court these war criminals?
Just tell us! World human rights Organizations.
United Nations.
World Health Organization!
Amnesty International! Tell us please!"
The sources said that the US army gangsters beat those who refused to get the unknown injection, and hit them in a beastly way until they past away and lost conscious. The US bloodthirsty democratic army, which came to wipe out a Muslim population in order to save it, didn't say a word about the whole thing, and didn't give an explanation about what was going on!
So! Who will bring to court these war criminals?
Just tell us! World human rights Organizations.
United Nations.
World Health Organization!
Amnesty International! Tell us please!"
Gar Smith, GlobalResearch, Hunger Strike at the Guantanamo Concentration Camp: "Against all odds, these almost completely powerless prisoners have successfully employed the tactics of nonviolent resistance to win recognition for those basic human rights and civil liberties that all Americans claim as their patrimony."
Mike Rogers, LewRockwell.com, A Pact With the Devil: "Recently, over these past few weeks, many newspapers and other mainstream mass media have apologized for not reporting the truth about the Iraq War. Their weak excuses are that they were deceived by the lies put forth by the Bush administration for going to war against a defenseless country and the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. Do not be fooled by these feeble excuses. Also, don’t think that these apologies absolve you, the average pro-war American, from your complicity in war crimes committed in your name. The Bush administration is guilty; the mass media is guilty; and – if you supported this vile crime against humanity – you too are guilty. I pray to God every night that all the guilty will receive their proper judgment and the sooner the better."
Arianna Huffington about the resignation of New York Times reporter Judith Miller:
"How can you be so cavalier as a journalist about reporting that is so fundamentally wrong, not about any matter, but matters of life and death, war and peace?"
My take on Judith Miller and Ahamd Chalabi (in Arabic, March 2004)
التضليل الإعلامي و تداعياته
"How can you be so cavalier as a journalist about reporting that is so fundamentally wrong, not about any matter, but matters of life and death, war and peace?"
My take on Judith Miller and Ahamd Chalabi (in Arabic, March 2004)
التضليل الإعلامي و تداعياته
Wayne Madsen Report, November 11, 2005; U.S. "crating" prisoners and flying them around Eastern Europe in C-130 prison planes: "Although The Washington Post failed to report on the details of CIA (now Pentagon-run) 'black' interrogation sites in eastern Europe, WMR is able to report on the particulars of the covert operation. According to a well-placed intelligence source who served in eastern Europe, prisoners from Iraq and elsewhere have been flown from airport to airport in eastern Europe on board C-130 planes. Placed in what were described as 'dog-sized' cages, the covert operation became fully operational after the disclosures of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, Baghdad and Camp Bucca, Umm Qasr, Iraq. The 'crated' prisoners were either removed from the C-130s for interrogation at Soviet-era detention centers that were in various states of repair or were kept on board the aircraft and subjected to brutal interrogation by U.S. and/or contractor personnel, who, in some cases, were ex-members of the Soviet KGB, Stasi, and other eastern European security services. C-130s are used because of their short take-off and landing capabilities on short air strips located in remote regions.
"The source, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, witnessed the ground work being laid for the 'black sites' in a number of countries and locations. These include the Taszar airbase in south-central Hungary, near the town of Pecs; Lv'iv, Ukraine; Szczynto-Szymany, Poland; Skopje, Macedonia; Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in Romania; Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; Shkoder, Albania; Burgas, Bulgaria; and the Markuleshti air base in Moldova.
"Crating prisoners hearkens back to the Vietnam War when the U.S. used 'tiger cages' installed by the French on Con Son island off Vietnam to hold political prisoners. The U.S. used the tiger cages to detain and torture suspected Viet Cong sympathizers. Many of the prisoners were merely innocent Buddhists and anti-war activists. The flying of caged prisoners from airport to airport on chartered C-130s is yet another indication of what military judge advocate general (JAG) lawyers have cited as the Bush administration's penchant for placing prisoners in 'law free zones.'"
"The source, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, witnessed the ground work being laid for the 'black sites' in a number of countries and locations. These include the Taszar airbase in south-central Hungary, near the town of Pecs; Lv'iv, Ukraine; Szczynto-Szymany, Poland; Skopje, Macedonia; Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in Romania; Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; Shkoder, Albania; Burgas, Bulgaria; and the Markuleshti air base in Moldova.
"Crating prisoners hearkens back to the Vietnam War when the U.S. used 'tiger cages' installed by the French on Con Son island off Vietnam to hold political prisoners. The U.S. used the tiger cages to detain and torture suspected Viet Cong sympathizers. Many of the prisoners were merely innocent Buddhists and anti-war activists. The flying of caged prisoners from airport to airport on chartered C-130s is yet another indication of what military judge advocate general (JAG) lawyers have cited as the Bush administration's penchant for placing prisoners in 'law free zones.'"
Wayne Madsen Report, November 11, 2005; New aspect of Valerie Plame/Brewster Jennings exposure revealed: "According to U.S. intelligence sources, the White House exposure of Valerie Plame and her Brewster Jennings & Associates was intended to retaliate against the CIA's work in limiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. . . . In addition to identifying the involvement of individuals in the White House who were close to key players in nuclear proliferation, the CIA Counter-Proliferation Division prevented the shipment of binary VX nerve gas from Turkey into Iraq in November 2002. The Brewster Jennings network in Turkey was able to intercept this shipment which was intended to be hidden in Iraq and later used as evidence that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction. U.S. intelligence sources revealed that this was a major reason the Bush White House targeted Plame and her network.
"In fact, U.S. intelligence sources report that the first shipment of VX nerve gas to Saddam Hussein was carried out between 1988 and 1989. The gas was shipped to Iraq by a U.S. company that was established in 1987 -- The Carlyle Group.
"U.S. intelligence sources have also confirmed that Israeli military officers served unofficially with the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Baghdad. The Israelis were attached to the J2X (Joint Intelligence Liaison) in Baghdad. Their presence in Baghdad, according to the sources, was kept secret."
"In fact, U.S. intelligence sources report that the first shipment of VX nerve gas to Saddam Hussein was carried out between 1988 and 1989. The gas was shipped to Iraq by a U.S. company that was established in 1987 -- The Carlyle Group.
"U.S. intelligence sources have also confirmed that Israeli military officers served unofficially with the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Baghdad. The Israelis were attached to the J2X (Joint Intelligence Liaison) in Baghdad. Their presence in Baghdad, according to the sources, was kept secret."
Brian Cloughley, Counterpunch, Bush Pounds His 9/11 Theme, Again; Sleaze, Deceit and Torture: "In May this year the White House scorned an observation by the head of Amnesty International that the US was operating 'the Gulag of our time'. The foolish spokesman for Bush, the incompetent liar Scott McClellan, declared that Amnesty's statements were 'ridiculous and unsupported by the facts.' But now we realize the CIA gulag is not only extensive but a suppurating sore on the body of America's democracy.
"The soldiers of Bush have committed and continue to commit appalling atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan. They burn, kill and destroy without fear of judicial proceedings, and their jamborees of torture and murder, when they cannot be disguised, are met with derisory lenience. They try to disguise their excesses by lying. Then they try to cover up the facts once their lies are revealed for what they are, which is dishonorable practice by the very people who should live by a spotless code of honor, and in whom there should be ultimate trust by their country and indeed the world. But they, in turn and as a result of their savagery, are subjected to ferocious retributive attacks by equally barbaric resistance forces on a scale that beggars description, which is kept from the public by the Pentagon's knaves of spin and fabrication and their allies in the media.
"The entire Bush administration is rotten. It is vile, stinking and corrupt to the depths of its malevolent inner being. It is ever-ready to attack, smear and destroy anyone who does not agree with every one of its vicious policies. It relishes and encourages sleaze, deceit and torture. It has alienated most of America's formerly closest allies."
"The soldiers of Bush have committed and continue to commit appalling atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan. They burn, kill and destroy without fear of judicial proceedings, and their jamborees of torture and murder, when they cannot be disguised, are met with derisory lenience. They try to disguise their excesses by lying. Then they try to cover up the facts once their lies are revealed for what they are, which is dishonorable practice by the very people who should live by a spotless code of honor, and in whom there should be ultimate trust by their country and indeed the world. But they, in turn and as a result of their savagery, are subjected to ferocious retributive attacks by equally barbaric resistance forces on a scale that beggars description, which is kept from the public by the Pentagon's knaves of spin and fabrication and their allies in the media.
"The entire Bush administration is rotten. It is vile, stinking and corrupt to the depths of its malevolent inner being. It is ever-ready to attack, smear and destroy anyone who does not agree with every one of its vicious policies. It relishes and encourages sleaze, deceit and torture. It has alienated most of America's formerly closest allies."
Re Kurt Nimmo's "Corporate Media Script" (above): I now note ALL the media seem "on message", including the BBC. Definitely "suicide bombers" tied to Iraq. Got that? It must be so.
Malcom Lagauche, AL-DOURI WILL LEAVE A GREAT LEGACY: [ . . . ]
"Perhaps al-Douri’s legacy will be that of forming the Iraqi resistance into a formidable defending force against U.S. invaders and Iraqi quislings. Until December 2003, Saddam Hussein was calling many of the shots for the resistance. At first, it was fragmented, but began to become more organized and cohesive as time went along. Then, Saddam was kidnapped.
"Al-Douri became the resistance leader and took over where Saddam left off, building the movement into a solid entity. He is given credit for creating an alliance between the Ba’athists and those Islamists who opposed the U.S. occupation. No longer were they at cross purposes. The organizational skills of the Ba’athists and the determination of the Islamists were a good combination that enhanced the movement to where it is today.
"Al-Douri was with the Ba’ath revolution, that brought the party to power in Iraq in 1968, from the beginning. He was a top military commander and after the Gulf War of 1991, he took over diplomatic tasks. His most famous actions occurred in 2002 at the Beirut Arab summit. At the time, Iraq had mended fences with countries in the area and was beginning to get diplomatic recognition. At the summit,
"Al-Douri shook hands with the Kuwaiti foreign minister and then embraced the Saudi crown prince. These actions shook the Arab world.
"Kuwait and Saudi Arabi refused to have official relations with Iraq after the 1991 war. Al-Douri’s actions were prompted by behind-the-scenes discussion with officials from both countries. In other words, the ostracizing of Iraq was beginning to thaw.
"This meeting was given little attention in the U.S. primarily because the old lie of 'He’s (Saddam) threatening his neighbors' was still in vogue. It was a crucial meeting of which history been deficient in reporting. It also was a reason for Bush to push for a quick war agenda. He would have been embarrassed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia opening diplomatic relations with Iraq while he was telling the world that the two oil-rich kingdoms were in Saddam’s military crosshairs.
"Al-Douri’s brilliance came to the forefront as the leader of the Iraqi resistance. He was never caught by the U.S., a fact that frustrated Bush & Co. Even on the day he died, he was still working. He had just left a meeting he held with local tribal leaders in Anbar province."
[ . . . ]
"Perhaps al-Douri’s legacy will be that of forming the Iraqi resistance into a formidable defending force against U.S. invaders and Iraqi quislings. Until December 2003, Saddam Hussein was calling many of the shots for the resistance. At first, it was fragmented, but began to become more organized and cohesive as time went along. Then, Saddam was kidnapped.
"Al-Douri became the resistance leader and took over where Saddam left off, building the movement into a solid entity. He is given credit for creating an alliance between the Ba’athists and those Islamists who opposed the U.S. occupation. No longer were they at cross purposes. The organizational skills of the Ba’athists and the determination of the Islamists were a good combination that enhanced the movement to where it is today.
"Al-Douri was with the Ba’ath revolution, that brought the party to power in Iraq in 1968, from the beginning. He was a top military commander and after the Gulf War of 1991, he took over diplomatic tasks. His most famous actions occurred in 2002 at the Beirut Arab summit. At the time, Iraq had mended fences with countries in the area and was beginning to get diplomatic recognition. At the summit,
"Al-Douri shook hands with the Kuwaiti foreign minister and then embraced the Saudi crown prince. These actions shook the Arab world.
"Kuwait and Saudi Arabi refused to have official relations with Iraq after the 1991 war. Al-Douri’s actions were prompted by behind-the-scenes discussion with officials from both countries. In other words, the ostracizing of Iraq was beginning to thaw.
"This meeting was given little attention in the U.S. primarily because the old lie of 'He’s (Saddam) threatening his neighbors' was still in vogue. It was a crucial meeting of which history been deficient in reporting. It also was a reason for Bush to push for a quick war agenda. He would have been embarrassed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia opening diplomatic relations with Iraq while he was telling the world that the two oil-rich kingdoms were in Saddam’s military crosshairs.
"Al-Douri’s brilliance came to the forefront as the leader of the Iraqi resistance. He was never caught by the U.S., a fact that frustrated Bush & Co. Even on the day he died, he was still working. He had just left a meeting he held with local tribal leaders in Anbar province."
[ . . . ]
I am not sure where Jeff Archer (Malcolm Lagauche) in the quote above got his information from.
Not many fond memories can one recall from Al-Douri's past subservience and obsequiousness.
Not many fond memories can one recall from Al-Douri's past subservience and obsequiousness.
Dr. Khadduri,
Not myself being in a position of "knowing", I'm wondering if you feel any portions of the above quoted Malcom Lagauche article are supportable. Or, is it entirely off the mark?
Not myself being in a position of "knowing", I'm wondering if you feel any portions of the above quoted Malcom Lagauche article are supportable. Or, is it entirely off the mark?
Evelyn
The only part that I know of is that he funneled money to the Resistance.
The other 'leadership' traits, e.g. gaining consensus among fighting sectors, and his "brilliance came to the forefront as the leader of the Iraqi resistance" are very questionable and 'elaborative' beyond merit; knowing the shallowness of his character, his ineffective weight in policy matters and his flimsy resolve in the nineties and eighties.
Iraqis can rattle off tens of jokes and puns about these 'traits' in the space of one minute.
For example, Saddam turns to Al-Douri asking for the time after a lengthy cabinet ministers' meeting, and Al-Douri snaps back: "Whatever you say it is, Sir".
Archer (Malcolm Lagauche) is way out of his depth, I believe, in this matter.
.
The only part that I know of is that he funneled money to the Resistance.
The other 'leadership' traits, e.g. gaining consensus among fighting sectors, and his "brilliance came to the forefront as the leader of the Iraqi resistance" are very questionable and 'elaborative' beyond merit; knowing the shallowness of his character, his ineffective weight in policy matters and his flimsy resolve in the nineties and eighties.
Iraqis can rattle off tens of jokes and puns about these 'traits' in the space of one minute.
For example, Saddam turns to Al-Douri asking for the time after a lengthy cabinet ministers' meeting, and Al-Douri snaps back: "Whatever you say it is, Sir".
Archer (Malcolm Lagauche) is way out of his depth, I believe, in this matter.
.
Wayne Madsen Report, November 12, 2005 -- "The story of the theft by Jerry Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority and its Washington masters of $30 million in cash from Saddam Hussein's chief money mover -- and how the U.S. beat to death the banker to hide the secrets of past transactions between the Bush crime family and Saddam. Developing . . ."
First Periodical Report of Monitoring Net of Human Rights in Iraq
MHRI – 2005 Baghdad: The Monitoring Network for Human Rights (MHRI), which consists of more than 20 Iraqi organizations for Human Rights, made this report about the crimes and continuous violations of human rights in Iraq.
SYNOPSIS
Letter to Kofi Annan (23 Aug 2005)
Full Report (PDF)
Survey of Violations:
1. Crimes of War and Crimes Against Humanity
2. Assassinations
3. Violation of Children's Rights
4. The Health Situation
5. Collective Punishment
6. Women's Rights
7. Prisoners of War and Prisoners
8. Torture and Violations of Human Rights in Detention Camps and in Prisons
9. Minorities
10. Refugees
11. Racism
12. Religious and Civil Freedoms
13. The Situation of the Defenders of Human Rights
14. Sovereignty of Law
15. Sovereignty violations
[ . . . ]
Recommendations
1. To start an international campaign to release the Iraqi detainees in the American prisons which can form a first step into encouraging the political dialogue among the different Iraqi sides. As the General Secretary of the United Nations has warned, more than 10,000 detainees have been randomly arrested.
2. The withdrawal of the American forces of Iraqi cities as a first step to total departure from Iraq, so that honorable Iraqi cadres, instead of the American forces and government officials, can provide security to the Iraqi people.
3. the legal guarantees for every individual is achieved through giving the judiciary the total independence, and for the judiciary to have a major and effective role on the jib of the executive power (ministry of interior and defense and other security institutions in specific), with the cancellation of private courts that violates the individuals rights.
4. the prisoners should be put in a known places, the is known officially, and the names of the arrested should be all documented , with the place and date of investigation, assuring that the prison should be empty of any torture equipments.
5. Demand that the Security Council of UN issues a resolution by which new procedures and mechanisms to protect democracy and human rights in Iraq are deployed, as follows:
• To accelerate the transfer of international supervision to the UN and to substitute the American forces with Arabic or international forces who did not take part in the occupation of Iraq, thereby stressing on the resolution issued by the European Parliament on the 26th May 2005, stating a supervision period of no longer than one year and in which the armed militias are disarmed and the rule of Law is enforced, so that daily violence finds an end.
• To create international supervising committees which regularly visit all the prisons, outside or in Iraq, where Iraqis are kept prisoners on grounds relate to the two recent Gulf Wars.
• To establish an international investigation committee, which is independent of the Coalition (occupation) Countries and which looks into to cases of political assassinations and mass killings threatening the future of democracy in Iraq, and which warns of establishing new dictatorial regimes.
• To form an international committee specialized in dealing with the effects of environmental pollution in Iraq and which determines the necessary measures to reduce and eliminate these effects.
• To launch an international program to treat the victims of physical and psychological violations of human rights in Iraq.
• To establish independent Iraqi security and military forces, unaffected by confessionals and political factionalism and that armed militias are not allowed to joining these forces, on the ground that these militias are loyal to their parties rather than to their country, people, and law.
• To ask the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to appoint a new supervisor for human rights in Iraq because of the continuous daily crimes and blood baths taking place under the occupation.
• To cancel the emergency Law which has led to huge human rights violations and has failed in improving the security situation by giving way to political rivals to solve their disputes forcefully.
• The independent Iraqi judicial authorities must have the high authority on all issues concerning elections and referendums, in order to guarantee the success of the political process without that election committees be influenced by political interests, as has happened in the scandalous recent elections. The scandal was covered by the independent commission observing the elections, but uncovered by Iraqi monitoring committees who proved the failure the independent commission.
• To form an international committee to investigate into the corruption and misappropriation of Iraqi funds dedicated to the reconstruction of Iraq, that have taken place since the fall of the Saddam regime and until now. In addition, an international committee investigating into the transactions of the oil for food UN program is required.
• To allow the family members of the victims of the city of Falloujah to remove the remains of their relatives who are buried in mass graves in Al-Sijir area on the outskirts of the city. Further, to demand that the Iraqi government accelerates the compensation payments to the citizens, in order to lessen their suffering after the demolition of their city. Furthermore, to remove all limitations and regulations imposed on the city and its citizens so that they can freely participate in the political process ongoing in the country.
The international Laws and treaties concerning human rights are based on justice and equality in the protection of all human beings. Therefore, we find that the recommendations we have made, which comply with the context and spirit of the International Law, and the included demands addressed to the International Community are a basic right of the Iraqi people. If the international institutions and governments disregard the crimes and violations committed, their silence would be tantamount to participating in these crimes.
MHRI – 2005 Baghdad: The Monitoring Network for Human Rights (MHRI), which consists of more than 20 Iraqi organizations for Human Rights, made this report about the crimes and continuous violations of human rights in Iraq.
SYNOPSIS
Letter to Kofi Annan (23 Aug 2005)
Full Report (PDF)
Survey of Violations:
1. Crimes of War and Crimes Against Humanity
2. Assassinations
3. Violation of Children's Rights
4. The Health Situation
5. Collective Punishment
6. Women's Rights
7. Prisoners of War and Prisoners
8. Torture and Violations of Human Rights in Detention Camps and in Prisons
9. Minorities
10. Refugees
11. Racism
12. Religious and Civil Freedoms
13. The Situation of the Defenders of Human Rights
14. Sovereignty of Law
15. Sovereignty violations
[ . . . ]
Recommendations
1. To start an international campaign to release the Iraqi detainees in the American prisons which can form a first step into encouraging the political dialogue among the different Iraqi sides. As the General Secretary of the United Nations has warned, more than 10,000 detainees have been randomly arrested.
2. The withdrawal of the American forces of Iraqi cities as a first step to total departure from Iraq, so that honorable Iraqi cadres, instead of the American forces and government officials, can provide security to the Iraqi people.
3. the legal guarantees for every individual is achieved through giving the judiciary the total independence, and for the judiciary to have a major and effective role on the jib of the executive power (ministry of interior and defense and other security institutions in specific), with the cancellation of private courts that violates the individuals rights.
4. the prisoners should be put in a known places, the is known officially, and the names of the arrested should be all documented , with the place and date of investigation, assuring that the prison should be empty of any torture equipments.
5. Demand that the Security Council of UN issues a resolution by which new procedures and mechanisms to protect democracy and human rights in Iraq are deployed, as follows:
• To accelerate the transfer of international supervision to the UN and to substitute the American forces with Arabic or international forces who did not take part in the occupation of Iraq, thereby stressing on the resolution issued by the European Parliament on the 26th May 2005, stating a supervision period of no longer than one year and in which the armed militias are disarmed and the rule of Law is enforced, so that daily violence finds an end.
• To create international supervising committees which regularly visit all the prisons, outside or in Iraq, where Iraqis are kept prisoners on grounds relate to the two recent Gulf Wars.
• To establish an international investigation committee, which is independent of the Coalition (occupation) Countries and which looks into to cases of political assassinations and mass killings threatening the future of democracy in Iraq, and which warns of establishing new dictatorial regimes.
• To form an international committee specialized in dealing with the effects of environmental pollution in Iraq and which determines the necessary measures to reduce and eliminate these effects.
• To launch an international program to treat the victims of physical and psychological violations of human rights in Iraq.
• To establish independent Iraqi security and military forces, unaffected by confessionals and political factionalism and that armed militias are not allowed to joining these forces, on the ground that these militias are loyal to their parties rather than to their country, people, and law.
• To ask the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to appoint a new supervisor for human rights in Iraq because of the continuous daily crimes and blood baths taking place under the occupation.
• To cancel the emergency Law which has led to huge human rights violations and has failed in improving the security situation by giving way to political rivals to solve their disputes forcefully.
• The independent Iraqi judicial authorities must have the high authority on all issues concerning elections and referendums, in order to guarantee the success of the political process without that election committees be influenced by political interests, as has happened in the scandalous recent elections. The scandal was covered by the independent commission observing the elections, but uncovered by Iraqi monitoring committees who proved the failure the independent commission.
• To form an international committee to investigate into the corruption and misappropriation of Iraqi funds dedicated to the reconstruction of Iraq, that have taken place since the fall of the Saddam regime and until now. In addition, an international committee investigating into the transactions of the oil for food UN program is required.
• To allow the family members of the victims of the city of Falloujah to remove the remains of their relatives who are buried in mass graves in Al-Sijir area on the outskirts of the city. Further, to demand that the Iraqi government accelerates the compensation payments to the citizens, in order to lessen their suffering after the demolition of their city. Furthermore, to remove all limitations and regulations imposed on the city and its citizens so that they can freely participate in the political process ongoing in the country.
The international Laws and treaties concerning human rights are based on justice and equality in the protection of all human beings. Therefore, we find that the recommendations we have made, which comply with the context and spirit of the International Law, and the included demands addressed to the International Community are a basic right of the Iraqi people. If the international institutions and governments disregard the crimes and violations committed, their silence would be tantamount to participating in these crimes.
Feds' Net-wiretap order set to kick in: "On Monday [Nov. 14, 2005], the clock starts ticking for broadband and Net-phone providers to make it easier for law enforcement to conduct surveillance on users of their networks.
"According to a final order issued by the Federal Communications Commission in late September, all broadband Internet service providers and many Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, companies will have 18 months--until spring 2007--to ensure their systems have backdoors that allow police to eavesdrop on their customers' communications for investigative purposes."
Bob Chapman, Train Wreck of the Week, October 23, 2005: "AOL has been since its inception an operating entity of the US intelligence apparatus. Their latest admission is that they have formed a partnership with Fatherland Security to permit unlimited surveillance on AOL subscribers, as reported by the US Department of Commerce. They for years have supplied intelligence on subscribers and have allowed government agencies free access."
"According to a final order issued by the Federal Communications Commission in late September, all broadband Internet service providers and many Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, companies will have 18 months--until spring 2007--to ensure their systems have backdoors that allow police to eavesdrop on their customers' communications for investigative purposes."
Bob Chapman, Train Wreck of the Week, October 23, 2005: "AOL has been since its inception an operating entity of the US intelligence apparatus. Their latest admission is that they have formed a partnership with Fatherland Security to permit unlimited surveillance on AOL subscribers, as reported by the US Department of Commerce. They for years have supplied intelligence on subscribers and have allowed government agencies free access."
U.S. 'can't maintain Iraq troop levels': "The United States must reduce troop levels in Iraq, ideally with 80,000 leaving the country in 2006 and most of the rest leaving by the end of 2007, to avoid losing a broader 'struggle against violent extremists' that goes beyond Iraq."
Iraqi police commando sweep nets officials, 350 others: "Iraqi police commandos have arrested more than 350 people, including local officials and Sunni Arab party leaders, in a dragnet operation in the restive town of Baquba, north of Baghdad.
"'Units from the Wolf Brigade and security forces from the interior ministry started to search homes in Baquba at dawn, at the request of the town's governing council,' General Mohammad Hassan told AFP."
"'Units from the Wolf Brigade and security forces from the interior ministry started to search homes in Baquba at dawn, at the request of the town's governing council,' General Mohammad Hassan told AFP."
AP 11/12/05 Pope Encourages Iraqi Catholics
ROME (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged Iraqi Catholics on Saturday not to be discouraged and to continue working for peace and reconciliation.
Benedict made the appeal during an audience with the patriarch of Chaldean Catholics, Emmanuel III Delly, and other bishops from the Chaldean church at the end of their weeklong meeting, or synod, in Rome.
The pope said he wanted to send Iraqi Catholics a special word of encouragement and prayer ''so that your beloved country, despite the current difficult situation, doesn't get discouraged and continues in the path toward reconciliation and peace.''
The patriarch, spiritual leader of the world's estimated 1 million Chaldean Catholics, noted in his comments to the pope that the synod had to take place in Rome because the war in Iraq did not allow the country's bishops to gather in Ur, the biblical birthplace of the prophet Abraham.
Iraqi Christians number around 800,000 -- about 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. Most of them belong to the Chaldean Church, an Eastern-rite church that is loyal to the pope but does not follow the Roman church's Latin rite.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Vatican-Iraq.html?pagewanted=print
ROME (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged Iraqi Catholics on Saturday not to be discouraged and to continue working for peace and reconciliation.
Benedict made the appeal during an audience with the patriarch of Chaldean Catholics, Emmanuel III Delly, and other bishops from the Chaldean church at the end of their weeklong meeting, or synod, in Rome.
The pope said he wanted to send Iraqi Catholics a special word of encouragement and prayer ''so that your beloved country, despite the current difficult situation, doesn't get discouraged and continues in the path toward reconciliation and peace.''
The patriarch, spiritual leader of the world's estimated 1 million Chaldean Catholics, noted in his comments to the pope that the synod had to take place in Rome because the war in Iraq did not allow the country's bishops to gather in Ur, the biblical birthplace of the prophet Abraham.
Iraqi Christians number around 800,000 -- about 3 percent of Iraq's 26 million people. Most of them belong to the Chaldean Church, an Eastern-rite church that is loyal to the pope but does not follow the Roman church's Latin rite.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Vatican-Iraq.html?pagewanted=print
Group Trains Air Force Cadets to Proselytize
Washington Post 11/12/05
"A private missionary group has assigned a pair of full-time Christian ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where they are training cadets to evangelize among their peers, according to a confidential letter to supporters."…
…"The Lindbloms' letter was made public by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, a 1977 Air Force Academy alumnus who was a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration. He has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Air Force of violating the First Amendment's establishment clause by fostering evangelical Christianity over all faiths.
Weinstein, who has been joined in the suit by four recent graduates of the academy, said that some other religious groups are allowed onto the academy's campus, but only during certain hours and under close supervision by Air Force chaplains.
"The only group that gets 24/7 unrestricted access to cadets is this fundamentalist, born-again Christian group," Weinstein charged."…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101650_pf.html
Washington Post 11/12/05
"A private missionary group has assigned a pair of full-time Christian ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where they are training cadets to evangelize among their peers, according to a confidential letter to supporters."…
…"The Lindbloms' letter was made public by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, a 1977 Air Force Academy alumnus who was a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration. He has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Air Force of violating the First Amendment's establishment clause by fostering evangelical Christianity over all faiths.
Weinstein, who has been joined in the suit by four recent graduates of the academy, said that some other religious groups are allowed onto the academy's campus, but only during certain hours and under close supervision by Air Force chaplains.
"The only group that gets 24/7 unrestricted access to cadets is this fundamentalist, born-again Christian group," Weinstein charged."…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101650_pf.html
Very nice article on the paramilitary thugs that help the US in Iraq. The standard of posts on this site continues to be excellent!
U.S., Iraqi Troops Kill 37 Insurgents: "Operation Steel Curtain entered a new phase when U.S. and Iraqi forces moved into the Euphrates River valley town of Obeidi, about 185 miles west of Baghdad.
"'Five targets were struck by coalition airstrikes resulting in an estimated 37 insurgents killed. The insurgents were engaging coalition forces with small arms fire at the time of the strikes,' the statement said. 'Preliminary reports indicate an estimated 25 insurgents have already been captured and are currently detained.'"
"'Five targets were struck by coalition airstrikes resulting in an estimated 37 insurgents killed. The insurgents were engaging coalition forces with small arms fire at the time of the strikes,' the statement said. 'Preliminary reports indicate an estimated 25 insurgents have already been captured and are currently detained.'"
Convenient . . . ?
Jordanians reassured after Iraqi 'bomber' paraded: "The speedy arrest and televised confession of an alleged would-be Iraqi suicide bomber has bolstered the image of Jordan's intelligence services but risks stoking tension with Iraqi expatriates, officials said.
"Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi was composed as she spoke of her role in what authorities say was a four-person mission targeting three hotels, an operation that killed 57 people and wounded close to 100 on Wednesday.
"Jordan's King Abdullah II has led a chorus of praise for the intelligence services but warned against any harm being done to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates, insisting the Jordan was no 'police state'.
"'No one should exploit Wednesday's terrorist acts to harm Jordanian-Iraqi relations. Jordan will continue to be a safe haven for every Iraqi who is forced, by circumstances, to come and live in Jordan,' the king said.
"The Jordanian authorities have insisted that all the assailants were Iraqi and that no Jordanians were arrested or suspected of involvement.
"This has already spurred some Jordanians to hit back.
"'Due to the pain and shock, the Jordanians reacted angrily against Iraqi nationals although there were no serious incidents,' a security source told AFP."
Jordanians reassured after Iraqi 'bomber' paraded: "The speedy arrest and televised confession of an alleged would-be Iraqi suicide bomber has bolstered the image of Jordan's intelligence services but risks stoking tension with Iraqi expatriates, officials said.
"Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi was composed as she spoke of her role in what authorities say was a four-person mission targeting three hotels, an operation that killed 57 people and wounded close to 100 on Wednesday.
"Jordan's King Abdullah II has led a chorus of praise for the intelligence services but warned against any harm being done to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates, insisting the Jordan was no 'police state'.
"'No one should exploit Wednesday's terrorist acts to harm Jordanian-Iraqi relations. Jordan will continue to be a safe haven for every Iraqi who is forced, by circumstances, to come and live in Jordan,' the king said.
"The Jordanian authorities have insisted that all the assailants were Iraqi and that no Jordanians were arrested or suspected of involvement.
"This has already spurred some Jordanians to hit back.
"'Due to the pain and shock, the Jordanians reacted angrily against Iraqi nationals although there were no serious incidents,' a security source told AFP."
Roadside blasts kill 12 in Iraq: "In the worst attacks, three people who appeared to be Westerners were killed by a roadside bomb near the heavily fortified 'Green Zone' in central Baghdad. Police said they were Americans but that could not be independently confirmed.
"Six civilians died when a similar device hit two passenger coaches in Ramadi, a violent city west of the Iraqi capital.
"Further west in Anbar, U.S. and Iraqi forces began the latest phase of their operations to quell insurgents and foreign fighters as they attempt to make Iraq secure for next month's poll. Militants have threatened to disrupt the balloting.
"Iraqi President Jalal Talabani also believes British troops could begin leaving the country in about a year because Iraqi security forces, which now number more than 180,000, even if most are poorly trained, would be ready to replace them."
"Six civilians died when a similar device hit two passenger coaches in Ramadi, a violent city west of the Iraqi capital.
"Further west in Anbar, U.S. and Iraqi forces began the latest phase of their operations to quell insurgents and foreign fighters as they attempt to make Iraq secure for next month's poll. Militants have threatened to disrupt the balloting.
"Iraqi President Jalal Talabani also believes British troops could begin leaving the country in about a year because Iraqi security forces, which now number more than 180,000, even if most are poorly trained, would be ready to replace them."
U.S., Iraqi Troops Kill 37 Insurgents: "Operation Steel Curtain entered a new phase when U.S. and Iraqi forces moved into the Euphrates River valley town of Obeidi, about 185 miles west of Baghdad.
"'Five targets were struck by coalition airstrikes resulting in an estimated 37 insurgents killed. The insurgents were engaging coalition forces with small arms fire at the time of the strikes,' the statement said. 'Preliminary reports indicate an estimated 25 insurgents have already been captured and are currently detained.'"
"'Five targets were struck by coalition airstrikes resulting in an estimated 37 insurgents killed. The insurgents were engaging coalition forces with small arms fire at the time of the strikes,' the statement said. 'Preliminary reports indicate an estimated 25 insurgents have already been captured and are currently detained.'"
Convenient . . . ?
Jordanians reassured after Iraqi 'bomber' paraded: "The speedy arrest and televised confession of an alleged would-be Iraqi suicide bomber has bolstered the image of Jordan's intelligence services but risks stoking tension with Iraqi expatriates, officials said.
"Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi was composed as she spoke of her role in what authorities say was a four-person mission targeting three hotels, an operation that killed 57 people and wounded close to 100 on Wednesday."
"Jordan's King Abdullah II has led a chorus of praise for the intelligence services but warned against any harm being done to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates, insisting the Jordan was no 'police state'.
"'No one should exploit Wednesday's terrorist acts to harm Jordanian-Iraqi relations. Jordan will continue to be a safe haven for every Iraqi who is forced, by circumstances, to come and live in Jordan,' the king said.
"The Jordanian authorities have insisted that all the assailants were Iraqi and that no Jordanians were arrested or suspected of involvement.
"This has already spurred some Jordanians to hit back.
"'Due to the pain and shock, the Jordanians reacted angrily against Iraqi nationals although there were no serious incidents,' a security source told AFP."
Jordanians reassured after Iraqi 'bomber' paraded: "The speedy arrest and televised confession of an alleged would-be Iraqi suicide bomber has bolstered the image of Jordan's intelligence services but risks stoking tension with Iraqi expatriates, officials said.
"Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi was composed as she spoke of her role in what authorities say was a four-person mission targeting three hotels, an operation that killed 57 people and wounded close to 100 on Wednesday."
"Jordan's King Abdullah II has led a chorus of praise for the intelligence services but warned against any harm being done to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi expatriates, insisting the Jordan was no 'police state'.
"'No one should exploit Wednesday's terrorist acts to harm Jordanian-Iraqi relations. Jordan will continue to be a safe haven for every Iraqi who is forced, by circumstances, to come and live in Jordan,' the king said.
"The Jordanian authorities have insisted that all the assailants were Iraqi and that no Jordanians were arrested or suspected of involvement.
"This has already spurred some Jordanians to hit back.
"'Due to the pain and shock, the Jordanians reacted angrily against Iraqi nationals although there were no serious incidents,' a security source told AFP."
Internet Use Spreading Throughout Iraq: "Before Saddam's fall in spring 2003, many Iraqis had heard about the Internet, but very few had used it. Internet cafes were not common, security restrictions were tight and having a home connection was very costly.
"Now that many are enjoying a higher income than under Saddam*, thousands of Iraqis regularly pack shops throughout the country to check their e-mail, chat and surf — despite fears that any public place can be attacked."
-----------------------------
* See, things are getting better!
"Now that many are enjoying a higher income than under Saddam*, thousands of Iraqis regularly pack shops throughout the country to check their e-mail, chat and surf — despite fears that any public place can be attacked."
-----------------------------
* See, things are getting better!
Secretive firm helps U.S. wage information war abroad: "To fight what it sees as an insidious propaganda war waged by militants, from incendiary Web sites to one-sided television images of the Iraq war, the Pentagon has been quietly waging its own information battle throughout the Middle East and Central Asia.
"Civilian and military leaders say the contracts are necessary to fight the media wars waged by Islamic fundamentalists who control images on television, radio and the Internet in some Arab countries."
"Civilian and military leaders say the contracts are necessary to fight the media wars waged by Islamic fundamentalists who control images on television, radio and the Internet in some Arab countries."
Haaretz.com, Report: Jordanian spy agency replaces Mossad as key CIA ally: ". . . Jordan and the U.S. have cooperated in the interrogation of suspected terrorists, the methods of which have been subject to widespread media criticism due to the alleged use of torture.
"'Jordan is at the top of our list of foreign partners,' said Michael Scheuer, who resigned from the CIA and who recently led a unit responsible for tracking Osama bin Laden.
"'We have similar agendas, and they are willing to help any way they can,' he told the Times.
"Scheuer and others interviewed in the story said that the GID is as qualified and professional as the Mossad despite the latter's reputation as the CIA's closest ally in the region. The GID even enjoys an advantage over the Mossad, seeing as Jordan, an Arab nation, is more effective in operating against predominantly Arab militant organizations.
"The GID ... has a wider reach [in the Middle East] than the Mossad,' Scheuer said.
"The Times also reported that in addition to the CIA's funding of a significant portion of the Hashemite Kingdom's intelligence budget, the agency runs technologically-trained intelligence officers in GID headquarters in Amman.
"Jordan is also a partner to the controversial American policy of 'extraordinary renditions,' the extradition of terror suspects from U.S. custody to foreign intelligence agencies.
"The CIA transfers the suspects to Jordan, where they are covertly interrogated by local intelligence to the point where they are 'softened up' before being returned to American custody.
"Jordan receives annual military and economic aid from the U.S. totalling $450 million. Analysts believe the sum does not include the U.S. financing of Jordanian intelligence."
"'Jordan is at the top of our list of foreign partners,' said Michael Scheuer, who resigned from the CIA and who recently led a unit responsible for tracking Osama bin Laden.
"'We have similar agendas, and they are willing to help any way they can,' he told the Times.
"Scheuer and others interviewed in the story said that the GID is as qualified and professional as the Mossad despite the latter's reputation as the CIA's closest ally in the region. The GID even enjoys an advantage over the Mossad, seeing as Jordan, an Arab nation, is more effective in operating against predominantly Arab militant organizations.
"The GID ... has a wider reach [in the Middle East] than the Mossad,' Scheuer said.
"The Times also reported that in addition to the CIA's funding of a significant portion of the Hashemite Kingdom's intelligence budget, the agency runs technologically-trained intelligence officers in GID headquarters in Amman.
"Jordan is also a partner to the controversial American policy of 'extraordinary renditions,' the extradition of terror suspects from U.S. custody to foreign intelligence agencies.
"The CIA transfers the suspects to Jordan, where they are covertly interrogated by local intelligence to the point where they are 'softened up' before being returned to American custody.
"Jordan receives annual military and economic aid from the U.S. totalling $450 million. Analysts believe the sum does not include the U.S. financing of Jordanian intelligence."
United States asks for more European help in Iraq: "Germany and other European countries that opposed the war in Iraq should do more to help there and recognise the Iraqi leadership as a legitimate and democratic government, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.
"U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said Washington did not expect Germany to send troops to Iraq, but he urged Europe to provide more support for what he described as 'one of the most democratically constituted regimes' in the Middle East.
"'It should not be treated as a pariah and its leaders should not be treated as if they are second class citizens. Now I am not accusing Germany of doing that, though there is a kind of asterisk often put near Iraq and the government and that needs to be removed,' Fried told reporters at a U.S. embassy briefing."
"U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said Washington did not expect Germany to send troops to Iraq, but he urged Europe to provide more support for what he described as 'one of the most democratically constituted regimes' in the Middle East.
"'It should not be treated as a pariah and its leaders should not be treated as if they are second class citizens. Now I am not accusing Germany of doing that, though there is a kind of asterisk often put near Iraq and the government and that needs to be removed,' Fried told reporters at a U.S. embassy briefing."
"Defending the march to war, Bush said that foreign intelligence services and Democrats and Republicans alike were convinced at the time that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."
A lie among so many lies. Can someone please give this below link to Bush, Congress, Senate and all the media in the U.S.
This clip from John Pilger's documentary, Breaking the Silence, contains 2001 footage of Powell and Rice declaring that Iraq is not a threat
This clip from John Pilger's documentary, Breaking the Silence, contains 2001 footage of Powell and Rice declaring that Iraq is not a threat.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-rice-wmd.wmv
And here you can see the whole documentary.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/pilger_breaking_the_silence_35m
A lie among so many lies. Can someone please give this below link to Bush, Congress, Senate and all the media in the U.S.
This clip from John Pilger's documentary, Breaking the Silence, contains 2001 footage of Powell and Rice declaring that Iraq is not a threat
This clip from John Pilger's documentary, Breaking the Silence, contains 2001 footage of Powell and Rice declaring that Iraq is not a threat.
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-rice-wmd.wmv
And here you can see the whole documentary.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/pilger_breaking_the_silence_35m
xymphora, The Jordan river of lies: "There are all kinds of problems with the Official Story of the Jordanian bombings. I've mentioned some already, and here are some more."
Sunnis Want Halt in Iraq Military Action: "Sunni Arab politicians stepped up demands Sunday for an end to U.S. and Iraqi military operations, claiming they threaten Sunni participation in next month‘s elections — a key U.S. goal. ...
"Meanwhile, some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers said they withdrew from Saddam Hussein ‘s defense team over the slayings of two colleagues representing co-defendants of the ousted leader. The main attorneys for Saddam and his seven co-defendants had already threatened to boycott the next trial session Nov. 28.
"In Baghdad, a senior court official, Raid Juhi, said the withdrawal would not affect the proceedings.
"'The court will continue to give legal consultation through naming defense lawyers in case the defense team does not show up' when the trial resumes, ..."
"Meanwhile, some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers said they withdrew from Saddam Hussein ‘s defense team over the slayings of two colleagues representing co-defendants of the ousted leader. The main attorneys for Saddam and his seven co-defendants had already threatened to boycott the next trial session Nov. 28.
"In Baghdad, a senior court official, Raid Juhi, said the withdrawal would not affect the proceedings.
"'The court will continue to give legal consultation through naming defense lawyers in case the defense team does not show up' when the trial resumes, ..."
Indymedia, The Legitimacy Of Violent Resistance to Globalisation: "Under globalisation, movements of commodities, capital and profits are to be unrestrained. People, on the other hand, are to remain where they are. If not admitted to the new elite, the greater part of the world's population is fated to be consigned either to remaining as the detainees of exploitative tyrannies such as that which prevails in China or as captive consumers having no choice but to buy cheap merchandise produced under slave labour conditions. In the more developed world, formerly well-paid manufacturing work is displaced by low paid, service-sector jobs in retailing and distribution. Adding insult to injury, impoverished consumers are bound to buy these cheap imports because, since their incomes and living standards have so declined, they cannot afford to do otherwise. For a glimpse at the workers and consumers of the Neocon future, look no further than the aisles of your local Wal-Mart store, for the Neocon dream is of a world dominated by a handful of mega corporations over which they are to smugly preside, with no financial or moral responsibility for the social disruption and harm that their policies inflict as they maximise their private gains whilst socialising their costs and losses. Far from allowing markets to work, and to create genuine wealth, their tactics are to manipulate and distort markets in a Potemkin economy as a mantle for plunder and fraud by a new kleptocracy so blatant and arrogant that it can scarcely bother to conceal its own dishonesty.
"Their strategy is to defund governments of corporate taxes as far as possible, to strip them of the revenues needed to ameliorate the sufferings of the massive underclass their policies inevitably create.
"The Neocons have no use for government other than as defenders of their own persons and property from the justifiable resentment of the enraged and impoverished majority. With characteristic ingenuity, they perceive further opportunity to enrich themselves even from the very social distempers that potentially threaten them, whether by investment in the increased demand for weaponry, riot control gear, security equipment and surveillance systems or the provision of so-called military 'contractors' and privatised prisons. For the latter, there is to be an assuredly, ever increasing demand as unrest and dissent becomes endemic. Even locking people up therefore presents itself as a lucrative business opportunity. This goes some way to explaining the Neocon penchant for an inflamatory and controntational 'zero-tolerance' approach to law enforcement and a posture of self-righteous, vengeful retribution masquerading as criminal justice.
"The supposed 'War Against Terrorism' is indeed an elaborate sham in the truest Orwellian sense. Its purpose is utterly cynical. It is to inculcate a climate of fear, hysteria and intolerance so that the surrender of power to a secretive elite will seem more natural. It is indeed a war being waged by governments, but in reality, not against supposed terrorists but their own people. It is to furnish the Neocon elite with a justification for criminalising the widespread unrest and dissent that their policies inevitably cause and on which their power is to rest. Measures that suppress individual freedoms and fundamental rights will indeed be essential to the new governing and owning class that will have every reason to be fearful of its own safety. The clear objective is to legitimise the acceptance by society of the right of those who govern, to arrest, detain without trial and if necessary, torture and murder those who dare to challenge their agenda.
"To defeat the Neocons, every means possible therefore have to be deployed. Ideally, we should always seek to do so by peaceful means; but if not, we may well need to return to the Neocons their own false bill of goods, through violent resistance and armed struggle and we should brace ourselves to do so.
"As Brecht memorably observed: Fascism is dead, but the bitch that bore it is still on heat."
"Their strategy is to defund governments of corporate taxes as far as possible, to strip them of the revenues needed to ameliorate the sufferings of the massive underclass their policies inevitably create.
"The Neocons have no use for government other than as defenders of their own persons and property from the justifiable resentment of the enraged and impoverished majority. With characteristic ingenuity, they perceive further opportunity to enrich themselves even from the very social distempers that potentially threaten them, whether by investment in the increased demand for weaponry, riot control gear, security equipment and surveillance systems or the provision of so-called military 'contractors' and privatised prisons. For the latter, there is to be an assuredly, ever increasing demand as unrest and dissent becomes endemic. Even locking people up therefore presents itself as a lucrative business opportunity. This goes some way to explaining the Neocon penchant for an inflamatory and controntational 'zero-tolerance' approach to law enforcement and a posture of self-righteous, vengeful retribution masquerading as criminal justice.
"The supposed 'War Against Terrorism' is indeed an elaborate sham in the truest Orwellian sense. Its purpose is utterly cynical. It is to inculcate a climate of fear, hysteria and intolerance so that the surrender of power to a secretive elite will seem more natural. It is indeed a war being waged by governments, but in reality, not against supposed terrorists but their own people. It is to furnish the Neocon elite with a justification for criminalising the widespread unrest and dissent that their policies inevitably cause and on which their power is to rest. Measures that suppress individual freedoms and fundamental rights will indeed be essential to the new governing and owning class that will have every reason to be fearful of its own safety. The clear objective is to legitimise the acceptance by society of the right of those who govern, to arrest, detain without trial and if necessary, torture and murder those who dare to challenge their agenda.
"To defeat the Neocons, every means possible therefore have to be deployed. Ideally, we should always seek to do so by peaceful means; but if not, we may well need to return to the Neocons their own false bill of goods, through violent resistance and armed struggle and we should brace ourselves to do so.
"As Brecht memorably observed: Fascism is dead, but the bitch that bore it is still on heat."
Kurt Nimmo, Iraqi Patsy Confesses on TV: "Note how suicide bombings run in Arab families and go all the way up the al-Qaeda family totem pole to the dead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Obviously, these Arabs are dangerous nihilistic mental cases—or so the corporate media would have us believe.
"It is sincerely perplexing the Jordanians knew nothing of the attacks and yet closed in on suspects within a matter of hours. It is also perplexing why al-Rishawi’s bomb did not go off and she ran out of the hotel with frightened wedding guests—only to be captured (while other al-Qaeda terrorists blow themselves up as the police close in; see my post on the Bali bomber). During the staged interview, al-Rishawi made sure to tell the world she is a would-be monster who would have targeted innocents if only her bomb had worked.
"One of the alleged suicide bombers was identified as Safah Mohammed Ali, who was held in Fallujah in November, 2004, at approximately the same time the U.S. flattened and used chemical weapons on the Sunni city, killing resistance fighters, women, children, old people, and family pets. . . . More than likely, the Black Banners Brigade is a black op terrorist group (the group is known for kidnapping contractors and truck drivers) and Safah Mohammed Ali was brainwashed, possibly when he was apprehended in Fallujah. It is not explained why a member of the resistance in Fallujah was not sent immediately to Abu Ghraib for a prolonged session or torture and anal rape while wearing a pair of panties over his head.
"But then, of course, Abu Ghraib is reserved for torturing and raping mostly innocent Iraqis, as between 70 and 90 percent of Iraqi detainees held there are innocent of any crime, according to the Red Cross."
"It is sincerely perplexing the Jordanians knew nothing of the attacks and yet closed in on suspects within a matter of hours. It is also perplexing why al-Rishawi’s bomb did not go off and she ran out of the hotel with frightened wedding guests—only to be captured (while other al-Qaeda terrorists blow themselves up as the police close in; see my post on the Bali bomber). During the staged interview, al-Rishawi made sure to tell the world she is a would-be monster who would have targeted innocents if only her bomb had worked.
"One of the alleged suicide bombers was identified as Safah Mohammed Ali, who was held in Fallujah in November, 2004, at approximately the same time the U.S. flattened and used chemical weapons on the Sunni city, killing resistance fighters, women, children, old people, and family pets. . . . More than likely, the Black Banners Brigade is a black op terrorist group (the group is known for kidnapping contractors and truck drivers) and Safah Mohammed Ali was brainwashed, possibly when he was apprehended in Fallujah. It is not explained why a member of the resistance in Fallujah was not sent immediately to Abu Ghraib for a prolonged session or torture and anal rape while wearing a pair of panties over his head.
"But then, of course, Abu Ghraib is reserved for torturing and raping mostly innocent Iraqis, as between 70 and 90 percent of Iraqi detainees held there are innocent of any crime, according to the Red Cross."
Blair faces new inquiry into Iraq war: "Impeachment campaigners claim former ministers will join 200 supporters to force Commons probe"
Torture: Same old story
Revealed: UK wartime torture camp: "The centre, which was housed in a row of mansions in one of London's most affluent neighbourhoods, was carefully concealed from the Red Cross, the papers show. It continued to operate for three years after the war, during which time a number of German civilians were also tortured."
Revealed: UK wartime torture camp: "The centre, which was housed in a row of mansions in one of London's most affluent neighbourhoods, was carefully concealed from the Red Cross, the papers show. It continued to operate for three years after the war, during which time a number of German civilians were also tortured."
Torture: Updated
CIA allegedly hid evidence of detainee torture - report: "CIA interrogators apparently tried to cover up the death of an Iraqi 'ghost detainee' who died while being interrogated at Abu Ghraib prison, Time magazine reported today, after obtaining hundreds of pages of documents, including an autopsy report, about the case.
"The death of secret detainee Manadel al-Jamadi was ruled a homicide in a Defense Department autopsy, Time reported, adding that documents it recently obtained included photographs of his battered body, which had been kept on ice to keep it from decomposing, apparently to conceal the circumstances of his death.
"After some 90 minutes of interrogation by CIA officials, he died of 'blunt force injuries' and 'asphyxiation', according to the autopsy documents obtained by Time.
"A forensic scientist who later reviewed the autopsy report told Time that the most likely cause of Jamadi's death was suffocation, which would have occurred when an empty sandbag was placed over his head while his arms were secured up and behind his back, in a crucifixion-like pose.
"Blood was mopped up with a chlorine solution before the interrogation scene could be examined by an investigator, Time wrote, adding that after Jamadi's death, a bloodstained hood that had covered his head had disappeared."
CIA allegedly hid evidence of detainee torture - report: "CIA interrogators apparently tried to cover up the death of an Iraqi 'ghost detainee' who died while being interrogated at Abu Ghraib prison, Time magazine reported today, after obtaining hundreds of pages of documents, including an autopsy report, about the case.
"The death of secret detainee Manadel al-Jamadi was ruled a homicide in a Defense Department autopsy, Time reported, adding that documents it recently obtained included photographs of his battered body, which had been kept on ice to keep it from decomposing, apparently to conceal the circumstances of his death.
"After some 90 minutes of interrogation by CIA officials, he died of 'blunt force injuries' and 'asphyxiation', according to the autopsy documents obtained by Time.
"A forensic scientist who later reviewed the autopsy report told Time that the most likely cause of Jamadi's death was suffocation, which would have occurred when an empty sandbag was placed over his head while his arms were secured up and behind his back, in a crucifixion-like pose.
"Blood was mopped up with a chlorine solution before the interrogation scene could be examined by an investigator, Time wrote, adding that after Jamadi's death, a bloodstained hood that had covered his head had disappeared."
EXCERPT -
Charles Sullivan, Information Clearing House, Iron Fisted America: Nothing in America is what we are told it is. Whenever the president speaks—it matters little which president we are talking about—we can be reasonably certain that they do not utter truth as we know it. During the past fifty years America has not had a socially progressive president. . . . No modern era American president represents the interest of the people. They represent the rich and powerful. The same is true of Congress.
Every branch of the American government is awash in corporate money in sums so vast as to boggle the mind. Little wonder that the American government does not serve the interest and needs of the people. It serves the wants of soulless corporate entities whose only concern is unbridled bottom line capitalism.
To further complicate matters, the vast majority of the media is under the control of the same corporate oligarchy that direct the government. The corporate media, as the name implies, serves the corporate interest. Little that the corporate media tells us has any relevance to truth as most of us know it. The corporate media are purveyors of lies and distortions that are used to subdue and control the public mind, often for sinister purposes. ...
The world knows only too well that America is a violent nation. They know, many of them first hand, that America preys upon the poor and the defenseless. The manner in which the corporate oligarchy that drives American politics treats its own down trodden is a microcosm of how it treats the rest of the world. ...
Multinational corporations view the earth as a vast aggregation of commodities and markets to be exploited for profit. They do not regard the world’s citizens as human beings. They are sources of cheap labor and consumers, to be exploited by those in power. Ecosystems and the biological systems that promote life are summarily ignored by corporatism.
Global capitalism is a malignancy intent upon devouring the world. It seeks to commodify everything and every one. It intends to privatize the entire planet, effectively placing the world’s resources into the smooth, grasping, white hands of a few wealthy individuals. This explains the existence of the Bilderbergers, an annual gathering of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people who meet to determine the course of global capitalism. Along with the World Bank and the IMF it sets the world’s financial and political agenda. It also represents the establishment of a world government—George Herbert Walker Bush’s ‘New World Order.’
From cradle to grave the collective American mind is under the all pervasive assault of corporatism. This is all we have ever known; it is all most of us will ever know. It explains our combined failure to see the world in terms that can only be described as Disneyesque. Every day in America is an adventure in the implausible Land of Oz. As a people we have no conception of reality. We have been carefully insulated from the pain and suffering we have inflicted and continue to inflict upon the world. Quite literally, we [do] not know not what we do. But even more tellingly, we don’t want to know.
When we invade sovereign nations we are told that we are liberating its oppressed people from the throes of tyranny. When we enslave and torture Islamic people we are told that they are terrorists who mean us harm. In true Machiavellian terms, the ends justify the means. This also explains why we cannot come to grips through honest reckoning with the horrors of the national tragedy we call history. We have unelected leaders who lie, maim and murder and we call them Christian. Isn’t that strange?
We target nations with left wing leaders like Venezuela’s popular president Hugo Chavez and call them threats to democracy, when we ourselves have no conception of what democracy looks like. The only threat that Hugo Chavez poses to the United States is that he places the needs of the people above the profits of multinational corporations; and that is as un-American as it gets. ...
Charles Sullivan, Information Clearing House, Iron Fisted America: Nothing in America is what we are told it is. Whenever the president speaks—it matters little which president we are talking about—we can be reasonably certain that they do not utter truth as we know it. During the past fifty years America has not had a socially progressive president. . . . No modern era American president represents the interest of the people. They represent the rich and powerful. The same is true of Congress.
Every branch of the American government is awash in corporate money in sums so vast as to boggle the mind. Little wonder that the American government does not serve the interest and needs of the people. It serves the wants of soulless corporate entities whose only concern is unbridled bottom line capitalism.
To further complicate matters, the vast majority of the media is under the control of the same corporate oligarchy that direct the government. The corporate media, as the name implies, serves the corporate interest. Little that the corporate media tells us has any relevance to truth as most of us know it. The corporate media are purveyors of lies and distortions that are used to subdue and control the public mind, often for sinister purposes. ...
The world knows only too well that America is a violent nation. They know, many of them first hand, that America preys upon the poor and the defenseless. The manner in which the corporate oligarchy that drives American politics treats its own down trodden is a microcosm of how it treats the rest of the world. ...
Multinational corporations view the earth as a vast aggregation of commodities and markets to be exploited for profit. They do not regard the world’s citizens as human beings. They are sources of cheap labor and consumers, to be exploited by those in power. Ecosystems and the biological systems that promote life are summarily ignored by corporatism.
Global capitalism is a malignancy intent upon devouring the world. It seeks to commodify everything and every one. It intends to privatize the entire planet, effectively placing the world’s resources into the smooth, grasping, white hands of a few wealthy individuals. This explains the existence of the Bilderbergers, an annual gathering of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people who meet to determine the course of global capitalism. Along with the World Bank and the IMF it sets the world’s financial and political agenda. It also represents the establishment of a world government—George Herbert Walker Bush’s ‘New World Order.’
From cradle to grave the collective American mind is under the all pervasive assault of corporatism. This is all we have ever known; it is all most of us will ever know. It explains our combined failure to see the world in terms that can only be described as Disneyesque. Every day in America is an adventure in the implausible Land of Oz. As a people we have no conception of reality. We have been carefully insulated from the pain and suffering we have inflicted and continue to inflict upon the world. Quite literally, we [do] not know not what we do. But even more tellingly, we don’t want to know.
When we invade sovereign nations we are told that we are liberating its oppressed people from the throes of tyranny. When we enslave and torture Islamic people we are told that they are terrorists who mean us harm. In true Machiavellian terms, the ends justify the means. This also explains why we cannot come to grips through honest reckoning with the horrors of the national tragedy we call history. We have unelected leaders who lie, maim and murder and we call them Christian. Isn’t that strange?
We target nations with left wing leaders like Venezuela’s popular president Hugo Chavez and call them threats to democracy, when we ourselves have no conception of what democracy looks like. The only threat that Hugo Chavez poses to the United States is that he places the needs of the people above the profits of multinational corporations; and that is as un-American as it gets. ...
Christian Science Monitor, Ahmed Chalabi's excellent adventure: "The FBI is investigating his ties to Iran; many blame him for false information about WMDs. Wanted for crimes in Jordan, Iraq's deputy PM tries to rebound again"
Wayne Madsen Report, November 14, 2005 -- Agents provocateurs continue to target France and Belgium: "Arson continued to spread throughout small towns and larger cities in France and Belgium where Muslim immigrants are an insignificant minorities. This is a continuation of the 'false flag' provocation being used to ratchet up inter-ethnic tensions in nations that refused to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq. ..."
Wayne Madsen Report, November 14, 2005 -- Why Saddam, like Manuel Noriega, will never be permitted to "tell all" at his Iraq trial: "According to U.S. intelligence sources, it is doubtful that Saddam Hussein will ever be allowed to speak freely at his trial in Iraq. Like Manuel Noriega, who was prepared to disclose all his knowledge of Bush criminal cartel dealings with drug and weapons smuggling and money laundering in Latin America and around the world, Saddam has information that would be catastrophic to the Bush family and business empire if disclosed.
"For example, U.S. intelligence sources have revealed that Saddam Hussein, while being run by the CIA's Cairo Station in the late 1960s, attended the U.S. Army's special interrogation school at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. In fact, many of America's most dictatorial allies attended special intelligence training at the Fort Huachuca intelligence training center."
"For example, U.S. intelligence sources have revealed that Saddam Hussein, while being run by the CIA's Cairo Station in the late 1960s, attended the U.S. Army's special interrogation school at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. In fact, many of America's most dictatorial allies attended special intelligence training at the Fort Huachuca intelligence training center."
Wayne Madsen Report, November 14, 2005 -- How the U.S. stole $30 million from Saddam's chief money mover and then beat him to death: "In one of the worst intelligence fiascoes carried out by the neo-con administration of Iraq under Paul 'Jerry' Bremer, Saddam Hussein's chief money mover and financial adviser was beaten to death by US interrogators in Tikrit after the U.S. invasion. Sa'ad Hassan Ali, also known as Abu Seger . . . had other close connections to Saddam. Abu Seger's daughter, an engineer, designed and built Saddam's 50 palaces throughout Iraq.
"As Saddam's chief financial adviser and money mover, Abu Seger, a man who was fluent in American-style English, knew where all the 'financial skeletons' were buried -- details of Halliburton's involvement with the UN's Oil-for-Food program, the purchase by Iraq of VX nerve gas and other WMD components from US and British sources in the 1980s, and various counter-intelligence operations run by Saddam against the United States and Britain. Abu Seger was also one of Saddam's trusted counter-intelligence agents. It was Seger who Saddam sent to investigate the Iraqi Communist Party. Seger's western intelligence contacts must have given a green light to his determination that the Iraqi Communists were tied closely to Moscow -- intelligence that cued Saddam to wipe out the Iraqi Communists in 1985 -- during the height of American and Saudi support for the anti-communist Afghan mujaheddin, Nicaraguan contras, and UNITA guerrillas in Angola.
"After Samara was occupied by US forces, it was discovered that Abu Seger lived in a home on the Tigris River just 200 yards from the main U.S. military position in the city. It did not take long for U.S. troops to break down Seger's door and haul him off to a detention center. Seger's wife Sada, an English teacher, and U.S. military intelligence officers were witnesses to what soon transpired.
"U.S. forces discovered $30 million in plastic garbage bags in an armoire in Seger's bedroom. Contained in the bags was $14 million in US currency, $28 million in convertible Iraqi dinars,and $12 million in euros. Although the money was counted, signed for by two U.S. military witnesses,and transported to U.S. military headquarters in Samara, it was never seen again. A knowledgeable source present at the time revealed that the $30 million was stolen by U.S. authorities in Iraq.
[ . . . ]
"Seger knew too much about Iraq's past dealings with the Reagan, Bush 1, and Bush 2 administrations. Seger was quickly ordered transferred from Samara to Saddam's black marble palace in Tikrit. In Tikrit, against the direct orders from a U.S. military intelligence team, Seger was placed in the same room with one of the most feared men in Iraq -- Saddam's lead international assassin. That bit of psychological warfare was obviously meant to increase Seger's blood pressure to the point his death could be attributed to 'natural causes.' It took several contentious meetings to get the assassin removed from the detention room. Soon, Sada was permitted to deliver blood pressure medicine to her husband. The trip from Samara to Tikrit would be for naught. Suffering from the repeated beatings by U.S. torturers, Seger died in captivity the day after Sada delivered her husband's blood pressure medicine to the black marble palace in Tikrit.
"However, Seger left one important legacy that will haunt the United States for years to come. Seger's daughter, the engineer who built Saddam's palaces, managed to gain control of the $9 billion that Saddam's son-in-law, Kamal Hussein, managed to spirit out of Iraq when he defected to Jordan. Mademoiselle Seger, a woman about 35 years of age, is now in charge of funding the Iraq insurgency with a bankroll that could be as high as $12 billion. The money is funneled into the Sunni Triangle from banks in Western Europe. Most of the money went to Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, Saddam's one-time confidante who became leader of the Iraqi resistance. However, since his recent death from leukemia, the money for the resistance will be filtered to other resistance leaders in the field. And Mlle. Seger's importance to the resistance will certainly increase. As if out of a John Le Carre novel, much of the money is actually laundered through a barber shop on Baghdad's Haifa Street, an area that is considered so dangerous for U.S. occupiers that it is an official 'no go zone.'"
"As Saddam's chief financial adviser and money mover, Abu Seger, a man who was fluent in American-style English, knew where all the 'financial skeletons' were buried -- details of Halliburton's involvement with the UN's Oil-for-Food program, the purchase by Iraq of VX nerve gas and other WMD components from US and British sources in the 1980s, and various counter-intelligence operations run by Saddam against the United States and Britain. Abu Seger was also one of Saddam's trusted counter-intelligence agents. It was Seger who Saddam sent to investigate the Iraqi Communist Party. Seger's western intelligence contacts must have given a green light to his determination that the Iraqi Communists were tied closely to Moscow -- intelligence that cued Saddam to wipe out the Iraqi Communists in 1985 -- during the height of American and Saudi support for the anti-communist Afghan mujaheddin, Nicaraguan contras, and UNITA guerrillas in Angola.
"After Samara was occupied by US forces, it was discovered that Abu Seger lived in a home on the Tigris River just 200 yards from the main U.S. military position in the city. It did not take long for U.S. troops to break down Seger's door and haul him off to a detention center. Seger's wife Sada, an English teacher, and U.S. military intelligence officers were witnesses to what soon transpired.
"U.S. forces discovered $30 million in plastic garbage bags in an armoire in Seger's bedroom. Contained in the bags was $14 million in US currency, $28 million in convertible Iraqi dinars,and $12 million in euros. Although the money was counted, signed for by two U.S. military witnesses,and transported to U.S. military headquarters in Samara, it was never seen again. A knowledgeable source present at the time revealed that the $30 million was stolen by U.S. authorities in Iraq.
[ . . . ]
"Seger knew too much about Iraq's past dealings with the Reagan, Bush 1, and Bush 2 administrations. Seger was quickly ordered transferred from Samara to Saddam's black marble palace in Tikrit. In Tikrit, against the direct orders from a U.S. military intelligence team, Seger was placed in the same room with one of the most feared men in Iraq -- Saddam's lead international assassin. That bit of psychological warfare was obviously meant to increase Seger's blood pressure to the point his death could be attributed to 'natural causes.' It took several contentious meetings to get the assassin removed from the detention room. Soon, Sada was permitted to deliver blood pressure medicine to her husband. The trip from Samara to Tikrit would be for naught. Suffering from the repeated beatings by U.S. torturers, Seger died in captivity the day after Sada delivered her husband's blood pressure medicine to the black marble palace in Tikrit.
"However, Seger left one important legacy that will haunt the United States for years to come. Seger's daughter, the engineer who built Saddam's palaces, managed to gain control of the $9 billion that Saddam's son-in-law, Kamal Hussein, managed to spirit out of Iraq when he defected to Jordan. Mademoiselle Seger, a woman about 35 years of age, is now in charge of funding the Iraq insurgency with a bankroll that could be as high as $12 billion. The money is funneled into the Sunni Triangle from banks in Western Europe. Most of the money went to Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, Saddam's one-time confidante who became leader of the Iraqi resistance. However, since his recent death from leukemia, the money for the resistance will be filtered to other resistance leaders in the field. And Mlle. Seger's importance to the resistance will certainly increase. As if out of a John Le Carre novel, much of the money is actually laundered through a barber shop on Baghdad's Haifa Street, an area that is considered so dangerous for U.S. occupiers that it is an official 'no go zone.'"
Wayne Madsen Report, November 14, 2005 -- US shipped deadly VX nerve gas to Saddam Hussein in 1988 and 89:
[ . . . ]
"U.S. intelligence also reports sophisticated circuitry for explosive devices being imported by into Iraq by the insurgency . This so-called 'cheesebox' technology, which originated in East Germany, is imported into Iraq, via Iran, from South Africa. Except for the Hezbollah-run smuggling route from Iran to Iraq, the rest of the smuggling pipeline is the same that was used by Israeli, Turkish, and Pakistani agents to provide the A Q Khan network in Pakistan and the Iranian, Libyan, and North Korean nuclear programs with nuclear components.
"The East German technology, known as 'electroflux gradient' technology, identifies the magnetic fields of unlike metals. These fields are electronically targeted and, in turn, trigger detonations. Only certain machinery, like Humvees and tanks trigger the explosions, while people, horses, and donkeys that near the devices result in no detonations. The circuitry and explosives are contained in what is called a 'German cheesebox.' The box is able to focus the blast to defeat armor. A military intelligence official said these units are hard to defeat and make armor virtually obsolete.
"U.S. intelligence sources also report the presence of senior Al Qaeda financial leaders in Iraq in Iraq, leaders who were permitted to come and go at ease by the Coalition Provisional Authority of Jerry Bremer. These Al Qaeda officials were moving large sums of gold to cities like Samara, Baghdad, and Fallujah because gold [is] untraceable and easily converted into cash at Arab money exchanges in Mecca, Amman, Dubai, and London. In fact, Saudi Arabia permitted these Al Qaeda money movers and their political leaders to enter Iraq after they had been witnessed exhorting the faithful to attack Israelis and Americans from pulpits right in the heart of Mecca. The Saudi funding of Al Qaeda in Iraq is based on gold transfers through 8 to 10 transfer points. If the Saudis and Al Qaeda suspect anyone has tracked the gold shipments, the gold bars are melted, renumbered, and resent. The Samara gold exchange, in operation for some 2000 years, was a key transfer point for the Saudis and Al Qaeda."
[ . . . ]
"U.S. intelligence also reports sophisticated circuitry for explosive devices being imported by into Iraq by the insurgency . This so-called 'cheesebox' technology, which originated in East Germany, is imported into Iraq, via Iran, from South Africa. Except for the Hezbollah-run smuggling route from Iran to Iraq, the rest of the smuggling pipeline is the same that was used by Israeli, Turkish, and Pakistani agents to provide the A Q Khan network in Pakistan and the Iranian, Libyan, and North Korean nuclear programs with nuclear components.
"The East German technology, known as 'electroflux gradient' technology, identifies the magnetic fields of unlike metals. These fields are electronically targeted and, in turn, trigger detonations. Only certain machinery, like Humvees and tanks trigger the explosions, while people, horses, and donkeys that near the devices result in no detonations. The circuitry and explosives are contained in what is called a 'German cheesebox.' The box is able to focus the blast to defeat armor. A military intelligence official said these units are hard to defeat and make armor virtually obsolete.
"U.S. intelligence sources also report the presence of senior Al Qaeda financial leaders in Iraq in Iraq, leaders who were permitted to come and go at ease by the Coalition Provisional Authority of Jerry Bremer. These Al Qaeda officials were moving large sums of gold to cities like Samara, Baghdad, and Fallujah because gold [is] untraceable and easily converted into cash at Arab money exchanges in Mecca, Amman, Dubai, and London. In fact, Saudi Arabia permitted these Al Qaeda money movers and their political leaders to enter Iraq after they had been witnessed exhorting the faithful to attack Israelis and Americans from pulpits right in the heart of Mecca. The Saudi funding of Al Qaeda in Iraq is based on gold transfers through 8 to 10 transfer points. If the Saudis and Al Qaeda suspect anyone has tracked the gold shipments, the gold bars are melted, renumbered, and resent. The Samara gold exchange, in operation for some 2000 years, was a key transfer point for the Saudis and Al Qaeda."
Kurt Nimmo, Corporate Media and Amman Bombings: Nothing Here, Move On: "It is simply amazing how the corporate media can ignore the obvious fact there were no suicide bombers at the hotels in Amman, how photo evidence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt (see images linked in this previous post) the bombs were placed in the ceiling of the hotels, and how it makes absolutely no sense for supposed Iraqi resistance fighters to kill innocent civilians in a neighboring state. ...
"Once again, the corporate media fails to mention the obvious, taking us for fools and chumps—there is no such thing as 'Arab-Israeli peace hopes,' since Israel has no intention of ever engaging in peace with Arabs, either in occupied Palestine or anywhere else, and are more than likely responsible for the Jordan 'suicide bombings.' Finally, the corporate media pretends Arabs are attending 'rallies and candle-light vigils' en masse, when in fact most Arabs believe Israel and the United States are responsible for these increasingly frequent and deadly terrorist attacks, thus proving Arabs living under authoritarian governments (supported by the United States) are more intelligent than the average American."
"Once again, the corporate media fails to mention the obvious, taking us for fools and chumps—there is no such thing as 'Arab-Israeli peace hopes,' since Israel has no intention of ever engaging in peace with Arabs, either in occupied Palestine or anywhere else, and are more than likely responsible for the Jordan 'suicide bombings.' Finally, the corporate media pretends Arabs are attending 'rallies and candle-light vigils' en masse, when in fact most Arabs believe Israel and the United States are responsible for these increasingly frequent and deadly terrorist attacks, thus proving Arabs living under authoritarian governments (supported by the United States) are more intelligent than the average American."
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research.ca, Did Israel have Prior Knowledge of the Amman 11/9 Terror Attacks?
Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster, Train Wreck of the Week - Nov. 13, 2005:
[ . . . ]
"Fortunately, as long as George Bush and the neocons run America in an arrogant, belligerent and bellicose manner, the polite, conservative family oriented Latin Americans will never sign FTAA. Bush is the focus of their anger and this is justified, but don’t take your eye off the ball. He is just one emissary of a conspiracy for world government. Latin America should look ahead to when the neocons are gone in 39 months and get ready for a continuing battle for sovereignty. There will be another illuminist behind him that won’t be easy to hate. The problem is free trade and globalization, which is in the neocons best interest. George Bush has made it easy to reject FTAA. It is not easy to find an administration that allies with dictatorships, oligarchies, who tortures innocent people, uses secret assassinations sometimes of duly elected world leaders, allows kidnapping anywhere in the world and indefinite detention and meddles in wars and sanctions worldwide. He is reviled and scorned all over the world, but again focuses on the mission, which is an end to free trade, globalization and one-world government."
[ . . . ]
"Fortunately, as long as George Bush and the neocons run America in an arrogant, belligerent and bellicose manner, the polite, conservative family oriented Latin Americans will never sign FTAA. Bush is the focus of their anger and this is justified, but don’t take your eye off the ball. He is just one emissary of a conspiracy for world government. Latin America should look ahead to when the neocons are gone in 39 months and get ready for a continuing battle for sovereignty. There will be another illuminist behind him that won’t be easy to hate. The problem is free trade and globalization, which is in the neocons best interest. George Bush has made it easy to reject FTAA. It is not easy to find an administration that allies with dictatorships, oligarchies, who tortures innocent people, uses secret assassinations sometimes of duly elected world leaders, allows kidnapping anywhere in the world and indefinite detention and meddles in wars and sanctions worldwide. He is reviled and scorned all over the world, but again focuses on the mission, which is an end to free trade, globalization and one-world government."
Robert Fisk, Torture’s out. Now they call it abuse: "No screaming, no cries of agony, no shrieks of pain. Yes, it sounds much better, doesn’t it?"
Permanent links to above articles posted November 14, 2005:
- Wayne Madsen Report, Why Saddam, like Manuel Noriega, will never be permitted to "tell all" at his Iraq trial
- Wayne Madsen Report, Agents provocateurs continue to target France and Belgium
- Wayne Madsen Report, How the U.S. stole $30 million from Saddam's chief money mover and then beat him to death
Post a Comment
- Wayne Madsen Report, Why Saddam, like Manuel Noriega, will never be permitted to "tell all" at his Iraq trial
- Wayne Madsen Report, Agents provocateurs continue to target France and Belgium
- Wayne Madsen Report, How the U.S. stole $30 million from Saddam's chief money mover and then beat him to death
<< Home
Archives
01/12/04 01/01/05 01/02/05 01/03/05 01/04/05 01/05/05 01/06/05 01/07/05 01/08/05 01/09/05 01/10/05 01/11/05 01/12/05 01/01/06 01/02/06 01/03/06 01/04/06 01/05/06 01/06/06 01/07/06 01/08/06 01/09/06 01/10/06 01/11/06 01/12/06 01/01/07 01/02/07 01/03/07 01/04/07 01/05/07 01/06/07 01/07/07 01/08/07 01/09/07 01/10/07 01/11/07 01/12/07 01/01/08 01/02/08 01/03/08 01/04/08 01/05/08 01/06/08 01/07/08 01/08/08 01/09/08 01/10/08 01/11/08 01/12/08 01/01/09 01/02/09 01/03/09 01/04/09 01/05/09 01/06/09 01/07/09 01/08/09 01/09/09 01/10/09 01/11/09 01/12/09 01/01/10 01/02/10 01/03/10 01/04/10 01/05/10 01/06/10 01/08/10 01/09/10 01/10/10 01/11/10 01/12/10 01/01/11 01/02/11 01/03/11 01/04/11 01/05/11 01/06/11 01/07/11 01/08/11 01/09/11 01/10/11 01/11/11 01/12/11 01/01/12 01/02/12 01/03/12 01/04/12 01/05/12 01/06/12 01/07/12 01/08/12 01/09/12 01/10/12 01/11/12 01/12/12 01/01/13 01/02/13 01/03/13 01/04/13 01/05/13 01/06/13
