Free Iraq

"President George W. Bush Tuesday answered growing anti-war protests with a fresh reason for American troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protecting that country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists. (emphasis added)
While in the past he has avoided making links between the war and Iraq's oil reserves, Bush used ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II to say that the Iraqi oil industry - and the wealth it could create - must not fall under the control of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida forces in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"If Zarqawi and bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks."
Bush: US Must Help Keep Iraq's Oil From Terrorists August 31, 2005 (thanks to a comment by kaka on yesterday's posting)

And what if the Iraqi vast oil fields fall under the control of the Iraqi people? But NOT with their newly minted 'constitution', 'democracy' and 'sovereignty'?

Is he contemplating 'a defeat', heaven and hell forbid?

(See Upadate below)

"The completion of Iraq's draft constitution, which will be submitted to the people for ratification in October, should have been an occasion for celebration. As most Americans are aware, it has not been. But while much of the criticism has focused on such areas as women's rights, federalism and the role of Islam, such concerns are largely misplaced. In fact, the text strives to balance democratic equality with the Islamic values that are popular with many Iraqi voters, and it sketches a workable if vague compromise on power-sharing between the center and the federal regions.
The major problem is one of who is agreeing, not what they have agreed on. The flawed negotiations of recent weeks, driven at breakneck pace by American pressure to meet an unnecessary deadline, failed to produce an agreement satisfactory to the Sunni politicians in the talks. It appears that the draft will be put before the people with their strong disapproval. The paradoxical result is a looming disaster: a well-conceived constitution that, even if ratified, may well fail to move Iraq toward constitutional government."
Agreeing to Disagree in Iraq August 30, 2005

The above is by Noah Feldman who was tasked with putting the constitution's foundations by the CPA.
See if you can manage to sympathize with his position, as he wrings his hands like a fly resting on a pile of dung.

This any-way-you-want-it constituion is rather better described by a comment from a friend of mine:

"Imad, you are completely wrong!
What a great idea: a Constitution with all sorts of blank fields in it, where the U.S. ambassador, special interest groups, religious fanatics, the CIA and the (whatever the Iraqi version of that is) Business Council on National Issues, can just write in what they want it to say, and erase parts of it when it doesn't suit their fancy!
No more need for lengthy legal debates about "what is constitutional!"
From now on, if (say) torturing detainees isn't constitutional, we'll just write in "yes it is", in one of the blank fields!
Hey, wait, I've got a better idea: Let's make it all on a MS-Word document with "Track Changes" disabled, so that nobody knows what got added or deleted!
Just think of it:
The world's first Hi-Tech Fantasy Constitution! Available in Virtual Reality!
Courtesy of your Friends at Microsoft, the Republican Party and the CIA!
M."

And, when all else fails, including a lobbying frantic phone call from Bush to Ja'fari, employ the patented 'democratic' tool:

"A source close to the Iraqi Draft Constitution Committee revealed that the US had offered bribes of US$ 5million each to Sunni members in the Constitution Committee to accept the draft constitution."
US Offered USD 75 Million to Iraqi Sunnis for Signature under Constitution August 30, 2005
(and in Arabic

This report on the scandalous performance of the Iraqi-Canadian Minister of Electricity, Mouhsin Shlash, is in Arabic.
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Iraqi culture was reborn when Saddam fell, only to die again. A report from Baghdad's fear-haunted literary cafes.
The Death of al Mutanabbi Street August 26, 2005
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"A final version of Iraq's constitution has been completed and the document will be approved later on Thursday, said government spokesman Laith Kubba.
He told reporters parliament did not need to formally meet to approve the charter because it had effectively been passed on Monday. (emphasis added)
Iraqi lawmakers had said they would allow three more days for a review of the document in order to try bring Sunnis opposed to the deal on board.
Sunnis, who have remained fiercely opposed to the charter, say it could lead to civil war.
"Laith Kubba has been saying that we solved the disputes for a month now, but so far we have not gotten anywhere," Hussein al-Falluja, a Sunni member of the constitution panel, told Reuters. "If this constitution continues to include federalism it should be put in the bin and done again."
Iraq govt says constitution complete, will be passed August 25, 2005

An Update:
"Mr. Bush intervened when some senior Shiite leaders said they had decided to bypass their Sunni counterparts, as well as Iraqi lawmakers, and send the document directly to Iraqi voters for their approval."
Charter Talks in Iraq Reach Breaking Point August 26, 2005

One wonders, is Bush here pushing for a pro Sunni or Shiite position? Knowing his intelligence dimension, he is most probably ordering a Sushi !

"The new constitution, with blank passages, was presented to parliament just before midnight on (Monday) August 22. But parliament did not vote on it, and a "three-day delay" was announced.
Announced?
The rule of law is no longer operating in Iraq, and no pretence of constitutional procedure is being striven for. In essence, the prime minister and president have made a sort of coup, simply disregarding the interim constitution. Given the acquiescence of parliament and the absence of a supreme court (which should have been appointed by now but was not, also unconstitutionally), there is no check or balance that could question the writ of the executive."
Coup in Baghdad Unfinished Constitution Presented, vote Delayed Juan Cole, August 23, 2005

Who is Laith Kubba of the (now disbanded) Iraqi National group, and who was suddenly CIA/State Department/Pentagon(take your pick) positioned next to the 'Iraqi President' as his spokesman four months ago? In the meantime, the 'Iraqi President' is not saying too many things, now has he? Perhaps he does not want Bush for a role model, no?

"One night last week (January, 2003), six Iraqi-born men gathered around the dining room table in a sparsely furnished Georgetown rowhouse owned by a local Iraqi physician. A seventh joined them via speakerphone from Geneva.
... This was a board meeting of Iraqi National Group, formed in the fall by exiled Iraqis with the goal of mapping out recommendations for the crucial early days of a transitional government in Baghdad.
"It's a given to the majority of Iraqis that there will be a regime change by war or otherwise, and whoever comes to power in Iraq will need this group," said Laith Kubba, who leads the Washington-based organization.
... Attar raised a motion picture screen hanging from the ceiling to reveal a painting by an Iraqi artist. It showed a sky of black and blue pressing down on a cluster of empty, darkened houses. In the foreground, a row of oval-shaped heads with no hair and no faces looked at the homes. "Isn't it gloomy? I call it 'Baghdad in the Saddam Era,' " said Attar, peering through rimless eyeglasses.
"I keep it covered because nobody likes it."
So how, Attar and an Iraqi friend were asked, do you imagine the same painting without him?
"Oh, we see sunshine! And flowers!" the friend said.
"And Fourth of July fireworks!" Attar added.
Area's Exiles Plot a Model Iraq January 13, 2003.

Fireworks, indeed. The Iraqi Resistance's sunshine !!

The American's 4th of July 'Iraqi'-Constitution

"Clashes erupted between rival Shiite groups across the Shiite-dominated south Wednesday, threatening Iraq with yet another crisis at a time when politicians are struggling to end a constitutional stalemate with Sunni Arabs.
The confrontation in at least five southern cities - involving a radical Shiite leader who led two uprisings against U.S. forces last year - followed the boldest assault by Sunni insurgents in weeks in the capital.
Dozens of insurgents wearing black uniforms and masks attacked Iraqi police in western Baghdad with multiple car bombs and small-arms fire that killed at least 13 people and wounded 43, police said.
Trouble in the south began when supporters of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr tried to reopen his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, which was closed after the end of fighting there last year.
When Shiites opposed to al-Sadr tried to block the move, fights broke out. Four people were killed, 20 were injured and al-Sadr's office was set on fire, police said.
That enraged al-Sadr's followers, who blamed the country's biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI."
Clashes Erupt Between Iraq Shiite Groups August 24, 2005

Below are three 'Intelligence' reports (in Arabic) on SCIRI's dominance attempts in Najjaf and the South of Iraq in the past few months that we have held for a few days awaiting the confirmation of their real source and authenticity.

However, in the light of what is explosively happening, we now do post them, nonetheless, for their relevance.

1 - AlHakim buys properties in Najjaf
2 - AlHakim setting up brigades to attack
3 - AlHakim's Badr Brigades targeting opponents (click bottom right icon to enlarge)

According with (3) above, a vicious attack upon Salamn Pak (in Arabic) commenced on Monday, August 22, 2005.

Once Sadr's Shia'a merge with the Iraqi Resistance, then one would expect a popular uprising. Large demonstrations have been called for on Friday, August 26, 2005.

An Update:
By Thursday (August 25, 2005) morning, SCIRI offices have been demolished in the southern cities of Basra (pictures) (in Arabic), Amara, Samawa and Nassiriya; in addition to those already destroyed in Najjaf, Karbala and in Sadr City in Baghdad on Wednesday. By Saryrday, August 27, 2005, a total of 48 SCIRI offices (in Arabic) have been destroyed.
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"I guess we were kind of naive when we first got here," said Sgt. 1st Class John Freeman, of Marion, N.C., who was put in charge of detainee operations at Bucca. "It was like, 'Hey, they're inside a fence. They don't have anything they can hurt us with.' We learned quickly."
... A former detainee, Challoub, known as Abu Hala, was a burly, bearded 45-year-old Mahdi Army commander detained in August during pitched fighting with U.S. forces in Sadr City, a Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad. In Bucca, he was second in command at Compound 3.
On that April morning, he said he watched as American guards tried to remove 10 prisoners from the courtyard, among them four clerics who made up the Shiite compound's leadership. The guards put the men on the ground, cuffed their hands behind them and, he said, put their boots on the clerics' backs."As a Muslim, when you see your teacher treated like that, of course, you will get angry. As a Shiite, you should respect the cleric," said Challoub, who was released last month and returned to Baghdad. "That's when the chaos started."
... Suddenly, everything the Americans had provided the inmates over the previous months was turned against them, according to guards and a videotape of the riot made available by the military. The cinderblock had been chiseled from the concrete base of a tent pole; hundreds of pieces had been stored inside a tent the inmates used as a mosque that the military designated off limits to the guards. The detainees used floorboards as shields. They hurled socks filled with a cocktail of feces, dirt and flammable, slow-burning hand sanitizer, the Americans said. One of the crude devices ignited a Polaris all-terrain vehicle.
... "The violence, it was just absolutely incredible," said 1st Lt. Shawn Talmadge, a fire engine salesman from Richmond. "The sheer volume of rocks and the accuracy of them throwing the rocks -- it was just a full-out battle."Talmadge said he had an epiphany. "I realized, these guys have been fighting riots and wars a lot longer than we have. These guys have been fighting this way for hundreds of years."
In Iraq Jail, Resistance Goes Underground August 24, 2005

""Their most prominent leaders are not Iraqis, they are not Ho Chi Minh's with a nationalist base, but in the case of Zarqawi a Jordanian murderer," Rumsfeld said.
"And their massacres of innocents have outraged most Iraqis, rather than attracting broad support. Indeed, polls indicate that the anger against the terrorists and the insurgents is growing."
Rumsfeld said that while the specter of civil war should draw attention and concern, "I haven't seen anything to indicate that the risk is greater today than it was yesterday or the day before."
Rumsfeld: Iraq not fated to civil war August 23, 2005

The 'massacres of the innocents' have indeed outraged many Iraqis for it is slowly sinking in that these 'acts' are not perpetrated by the Iraqi Resistance but by an assortment of :
- Allawi's CIA trained 'Wolf Brigades' under the CIA-paid Shahwani , head of the 'Iraqi intelligence agency' and his Langley CIA-trained 'Iraqi' mercenaries,
- With their insidious 'operative head' CIA agent James Steel of the 'Salvador Option' assignment,
- The Shi'ite's Badir Brigades
- As well as by the below-the-radar Israeli Mossad (article in Arabic) killing teams.
An Update:
- And, last but not least, Militias of Iran's Secret War for Iraq (English) and (Arabic) .

In the meantime, do Rumsfeld's metrics extrapolate only to 'yesterday or the day before'? Six months ago, he was so cock-sure of how unsure he is:

"What you need to do is have the economic progress, the political progress which is going forward in such good style (sic) . And that will determine the level of the insurgency," Rumsfeld said.
"And the level of the insurgency will determine the speed at which Iraqi security forces will be capable of managing that level of insurgency."
He acknowledged there were are lot of "ifs," but added, "That's life."
... "We don't have intelligence that good. I just don't know ," Rumsfeld said."
Rumsfeld Says No Iraq Self-Security Date February 6, 2005

Though he knows this, for sure:

""The United States is not losing the global war against terrorism, nor are we losing the war in Afghanistan or Iraq," he said. Railing against violent extremists, he added, "They are what's wrong with the world." Rumsfeld: U.S. Won't Lose in Iraq August 30, 2005

Now that is a steep, downward, learning curve, eh?

Meanwhile, back to Bucca Prison where they do not need Hollywood movies, for it comes instinctively from a heroic people:

"Unusual US and British troop movements were observed in the city of al-Basrah on Tuesday morning as the soldiers encircled a section of the city and launched a wave of arrests in the ash-Shalamijah area to the east of the city.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in the city reported a source in the puppet “Iraqi rapid deployment force” as saying that the reason for the raids and arrests was that five Iraqi prisoners in nearby Camp Bucca in Umm Qasr had escaped on Monday night with the help of a trash man working with the prisoners.
The worker took the five prisoners out of the prison in his garbage truck, the source said.The prisoners escaped in the garbage truck when a Resistance rocket attack struck Camp Bucca, distracting the guard at the gate who neglected to search the garbage trucks that were leaving the camp, something that is normally done with each truck."
Garbage man helps five prisoners escape Camp Bucca Monday night. August 23, 2005

One result of thirteen years of economic sanctions and two and a half years of a horrid occupation by the Ugly American; coming to an end soon.

The above question was posed ever since the Second concerted attack last April 11, 2005. Nonetheless, here is Robert Fisk's take on it:

"In the weird, space-ship isolation of Saddam’s old republican palace, the Kurds and the Shia have been tearing Iraq apart, refusing to sign up for a constitution lest it fail to give them the federations - and the oil wealth - they want.
They miss their deadline - though I found no one in "real" Baghdad, no one outside the Green Zone bunker, who seemed to care.
And that evening, I turn on my television to hear President Bush praise the "courage" of the constitution negotiators whose deadline Bush himself had promised would be met.
Courage? So it’s courageous, is it, to sit in a time capsule, sealed off from your people by miles of concrete walls, and argue about the future of a nation which is in anarchy. Then Condoleezza Rice steps forward to tell us this is all part of the "road to democracy" in the Middle East.
... Sometimes I wonder if there will be a moment when reality and myth, truth and lies, will actually collide. When will the detonation come? When the insurgents wipe out an entire US base? When they pour over the walls of the Green Zone and turn it into the same trashed blocks as the rest of Baghdad? Or will we then be told - as we have been in the past - that this just shows the "desperation" of the insurgents, that these terrible acts (the bus station bombing this week, for example) only prove that the "terrorists" know they are losing?"
What Does Democracy Really Mean In The Middle East? Whatever The West Decides Robert Fisk, August 20, 2005

Note: All military factions of the Iraqi Resistance have issued a condemnation on August 19, 2005 (in Arabic - Muffakirrat Al-Islam) of the above mentioned attack on the bus station that led to the death of 52 civilians, and they have accused Israeli and American mercenaries of perpetrating that massacre in an attempt to tarnish the image of the Iraqi Resistance.
That massacre occurred just one day after American airplanes had strafed a nearby hotel and injured 50 Iraqi workers who were having breakfast, as if to smother the news of that aerial attack.

"A three-day visit by a reporter working for the Guardian last week established what neither the Iraqi government nor the US military has admitted: Haditha, a farming town of 90,000 people by the Euphrates river, is an insurgent citadel.
That Islamist guerrillas were active in the area was no secret but only now has the extent of their control been revealed. They are the sole authority, running the town's security, administration and communications.
.... A year ago Haditha was just another sleepy town in western Anbar province, deep in the Sunni triangle and suspicious of the Shia-led government in Baghdad but no insurgent hotbed.
Then, say residents, arrived mostly Shia police with heavy-handed behaviour. "That's how it began," said one man. Attacks against the police escalated until they fled, creating a vacuum filled by insurgents."
Under US noses, brutal insurgents rule Sunni citadel August 22, 2005

"Asked about the possibility that Sunni rejection of the document would lead to civil war, Bush replied: "The Sunnis have got to make a choice. Do they want to live in a society that's free, or do they want to live in violence?"
Bush says Iraq's Sunnis face a choice August 23, 2005

An Update to the above:
"Too bad George didn't give them that option before he invaded and occupied their country, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. I bet they would choose to live in a peaceful country free of foreign occupiers."
My Response to George As He Speaks from his Vacation away from his Vacation August 23, 2005, Cindy Sheehan (Did she touch an American-Israeli raw nerve?).

"Behind ramparts of concrete and barbed wire, the framers of Iraq's new constitution wrestled yesterday to prevent - or bring about - the federalisation of Iraq while their compatriots in the hot and fetid streets outside showed no interest in their efforts.
Today is supposed to be "C" day, according to President Bush and all the others who illegally invaded this country in 2003. However, in " real" Baghdad - where the President and Prime Minister and the constitutional committee never set foot - they ask you about security, about electricity, about water, about when the occupation will end, when the murders will end, when the rapes will end.
As an Iraqi academic just returned from Paris and Brussels told me yesterday: "Europeans understand politics through the Green Zone level. They have no idea that the rest of Iraq - save for Kurdistan - is a place of anarchy and death. One asked me: "Do you think federalism is really a danger to the Sunni?". I answered him: "Do you think the fear of constant death is not a danger to Sunnis, Shia and Kurds? His eyes glazed over. It was not what he wanted to talk about. But it is what we talk about." "
A Constitution That Means Nothing To Ordinary Iraqis Robert Fisk, August 15, 2005

To Z day ...

"There are now two Baghdads. One is the Green Zone, where US and Iraqi officials live in a protected realm; the other is the danger zone, where everyone else lives.
... One of the Americans, an old and brave friend of mine from Beirut days, walks over. "Have a look at this, Fisky," he says. "This is the kind of crap we get from the Americans these days - this is what they want us to write about." It is a news release from the Coalition press office, the spin doctors of the occupation troops here. "Comics Bring Barrels of Laughs to Task Force Baghdad," it says.
... Friday night. In the heart of this vast and oven-like city stands the Green Zone, 10 square kilometres of barricaded, walled, sealed-off palaces, villas and gardens - once the Raj-like centre of Saddam's regime wherein now dwell the Iraqi government, the constitutional committee, the US embassy, the British embassy and many hundreds of Western mercenaries. Many of them never meet Iraqis. Women in shorts jog past the rose beds; armed men and women " contractors" lie by the pool. There were at least three restaurants - until one of them was blown up by suicide bombers. You can buy phone accessories in a local shop, newspapers, pornographic DVDs. For tactical reasons, the Americans were forced to include dozens of middle-class Iraqi homes inside the Green Zone, a decision that has outraged many of the householders. They often have to wait four hours to pass through the security checkpoints. Irony of ironies, the tomb of Michel Aflaq, founder of the Baath party that once included both Iraq and Syria, lies inside the Green Zone. On Friday night, this crusader castle was bathed in its usual floodlights. I was looking up at the stars over the city when there was a dull sound and a flash of light from within the Green Zone. Somewhere not far from me, someone had launched a mortar at the illuminated fishbowl that has become the symbol of occupation for all Iraqis. Many ask what will become of it when the whole Western edifice here collapses. Some say it will become insurgent headquarters, others the next parliament. My guess is that whoever runs Iraq once the occupation collapses will turn the whole thing into a theme park. Or maybe just a museum. (emphasis added)
People torn to pieces, relatives scream - another week in the theme park of death Robert Fisk, August 21, 2005

"The real issue in Iraq is not the constitution but the split between those doing business with the occupation and others fighting for fundamental sovereignty".
The primary divide August 18, 2005

"Despite and against all efforts of the occupation, the seeds of an Iraqi renaissance have been sown. The future of Iraq lies not in faux constitutions, but in its people".
People not puppets August 18, 2005

An Update:
"The draft constitution is the principal plank of President George Bush's exit strategy from the Iraq conflict, which has made his popularity collapse among American voters.
American diplomats, led by the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, had been frantically lobbying for it to be adopted before last night's deadline. But far from sealing Iraq's post-Saddam era, the draft appeared to be quickly fracturing the fragile edifice of government, with Shia and Kurdish parties declaring they were prepared to use their parliamentary majority to push through the document in the teeth of Sunni opposition."
Birth of a new Iraq, or blueprint for civil war? August 23, 2005

Hammurabi Code is a collection of the laws and edicts of the Babylonian king Hammurabi, and is conisdered the earliest legal comprehensive code known in history, about 2000 years before Christ. A copy of the code is engraved on a block of black diorite nearly 2.4 m (8 ft) high. This block was unearthed by a team of French archaeologists at Susa, Iraq, formerly ancient Elam, during the winter of 1901-2. The block, broken in three pieces, has been restored and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

"In mostly Shiite Sadr City, about 1,000 people demonstrated waving Iraqi and Shiite flags and chanting "No to separation, yes to unity."
"We reject federalism under occupation. Federalism does not represent our people's aspirations," said Abdelzahra al-Sueidi, an al-Sadr aide.
In Kazimiyah — another Shiite bastion — hundreds of al-Sadr supporters turned out at a protest, flying national flags and holding up banners reading "We want a united and stable Iraq."
"After all, we are one united people whether we are Sunnis or Shiites, Kurds or Arabs," Hazim al-Aaraji, another al-Sadr aide, told the congregation in a Kazimiyah mosque during Friday prayers.
More than 1,000 people also rallied in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, to protest the proposed constitution. The demonstrators chanted slogans against the proposed division of Iraq."
Gunmen Said to Kill Three Sunnis in Iraq August 19, 2005
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"July was the bloodiest month in Baghdad's modern history - in all, 1,100 bodies were brought to the city's mortuary; executed for the most part, eviscerated, stabbed, bludgeoned, tortured to death. The figure is secret.
We are not supposed to know that the Iraqi capital's death toll last month was only 700 short of the total American fatalities in Iraq since April of 2003. Of the dead, 963 were men - many with their hands bound, their eyes taped and bullets in their heads - and 137 women. The statistics are as shameful as they are horrifying. For these are the men and women we supposedly came to "liberate" - and about whose fate we do not care.
... It is clear that death squads are roaming the streets of a city which is supposed to be under the control of the US military and the American-supported, elected government of Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Never in recent history has such anarchy been let loose on the civilians of this city - yet the Western and Iraqi authorities show no interest in disclosing the details. The writing of the new constitution - or the failure to complete it - now occupies the time of Western diplomats and journalists. The dead, it seems, do not count.
Secrets of the Morgue: Baghdad's Body Count Robert Fisk, August 17, 2005

"One of Iraq’s top psychiatrists says that more than two years of war, occupation and insurgency have turned the country into possibly the most psychologically damaged place in the world. "Psychologically, it may be the worst affected country in the world,” Dr. Harith Hassan, the former head of Baghdad's Psychological Research Center, told Reuters news agency last week.
“What's going on is really a catastrophe from a psychological and a societal point of view.”More than 70 percent of the private clients Hassan sees each week are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe anxiety condition, he said.
Since the "shock and awe" of the 2003 U.S. bombing, Iraqis have had to deal with occupation by foreign forces, random and widespread death brought about by insurgents, and the growing effects of sectarian tensions."
Psychological trauma widespread in Iraq August 16, 2005

"Well, we've made the decision to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home. And when you engage the terrorists abroad, it causes activity and action."
... "But Iraq has—have got people there that are willing to kill, and they're hard-nosed killers.
And we will work with the Iraqis to secure their future."
President Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005
The Complete Bushisms

These are two articles, in Arabic, that relate to The Beirut Symposium - Statement on the National Front.
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This is a very relevant topic to what is missing in the elusive 'Iraqi Constitution':

"ON MONDAY, Iraq's National Assembly will release a draft constitution to be voted on by the people in two months. Since February, vital issues have been debated and discussed by the drafting committee: the role of Islamic law, the rights of women, the autonomy of the Kurds and the participation of the minority Sunnis.
But what hasn't been on the table is at least as important to the formation of a new Iraq: the country's economic structure. The Bush administration has succeeded in maintaining a stranglehold on issues such as public versus private ownership of resources, foreign access to Iraqi oil and U.S. control of the reconstruction effort — all of which are still governed by administration policies put into place immediately after the invasion. The Bush economic agenda favors foreign interests — American interests — over Iraqi self-determination.
Over a year ago, orders were put in place by L. Paul Bremer III, then the U.S. administrator of Iraq, that were designed to "transition [Iraq] from a … centrally planned economy to a market economy" virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat. Those orders were also incorporated into the transitional administrative law — Iraq's interim constitution — and the economic restructuring they mandate is well underway.
Laws governing banking, investment, patents, copyrights, business ownership, taxes, the media and trade have all been changed according to U.S. goals, with little real participation from the Iraqi people. (The TAL can be changed, but only with a two-thirds majority vote in the National Assembly, and with the approval of the prime minister, the president and both vice presidents.) The constitutional drafting committee has, in turn, left each of these laws in place."
Bush's economic invasion of Iraq August 14, 2005
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"The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.
The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."Administration officials still emphasize how much they have achieved despite the chaos that followed the invasion and the escalating insurgency.
"Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said yesterday in his radio address. (emphasis added)
U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq August 14, 2005

As Bush was saying:

"Iraqi investigators have uncovered widespread fraud and waste in more than $1 billion worth of weapons deals arranged by middlemen who reneged or took huge kickbacks on contracts to arm Iraq's fledgling military, according to a confidential report and interviews with U.S. and Iraqi officials.
The Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, in a report reviewed by Knight Ridder, describes transactions suggesting that senior U.S.-appointed Iraqi officials in the Defense Ministry used three intermediary companies to hide the kickbacks they received from contracts involving unnecessary, overpriced or outdated equipment.
Knight Ridder reported last month that $300 million in defense funds had been lost. But the report indicates that the audit board uncovered a much larger scandal, with losses likely to exceed $500 million, that's roiling the ministry as it struggles to build up its armed forces. The episode deprives Iraq's military of essential gear that could help prepare the way for U.S. forces to withdraw. It also raises questions about the new government's ability to provide an effective defense against an entrenched insurgency and win broad acceptance among Iraqis.
.... Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the U.S. military's training of Iraqi troops, conducts weekly briefings with the defense minister. Other Iraqi defense officials seldom are spotted without American civilian advisers nearby. The close relationship has raised questions as to how $500 million or more could vanish without U.S. intervention to stop the suspicious contracts that flowed for at least eight months.
"Ask them. I have the same question," al-Dulaimi said. "I blame those who posted them (the officials under investigation). And, by the way, the CPA posted them."
.... "Before me, there was another prime minister. His name was Bremer," Ayad Allawi, who served as interim premier when the corruption investigation began sometime last year, told Knight Ridder. "He ran this country, he had this ministry and a lot of the corruption started then. ... There was no auditing. Airplanes were flying in and the money was handed out in suitcases."
.... "The entire embassy was upside down over this," he said. "I swear to God the advisers didn't know everything going on over there. Where did they get their information? From the Iraqis. I can give you one budget that says this country is flourishing and another that tells you this country is going to s---. The Iraqis told us only what they wanted us to hear."
.... "This is not only the Defense Ministry's problem. It affects the image of the new Iraq," al-Dulaimi said. "If we really spent that money in the right way, maybe it would have given us more capabilities to face terrorists."
.... "It's chaos," al-Dulaimi said, visibly exasperated. "It's a result of all the chaos brought to Iraq."
Audit: Iraq fraud drained $1 billion August 11, 2005

Does the Bush Administration only apply sun tan lotion to Bush while he vacations?
Somebody should Talk to him about the first report above.

Way to go Cindy Sheehan ..... You have already snarled him.

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I had previously speculated (October 1, 2004) on the above information, which is now confirmed.

An Arabic saying: “the rope of lying is short”.

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ء" يقول الحكيم، أنه يريد فيدرالية تضم "الشيعة" لأنهم تعرضوا لظلم واضطهاد منذ 14 قرناً. وعلى نحو مماثل يسأل العامري بصوت حماسيّ الآلاف من المتجمهرين في ملعب النجف: "ماذا أخذنا من الحكومات المركزية غير الموت؟" ثم يُخاطب الحشد: "علينا ألا نتردد، علينا ألا نضيّع هذه الفرصة، علينا أن نمضي في طريقنا لإقامة فيدراليتنا،" وعدم تضييع الفرصة جاءت قبل ذلك على لسان الحكيم في الملعب ذاته.
إذن الدعوة للإقليم الشيعي هو لدرء المظالم، لكن هل هذا المنطق يستوي مع مفهوم الفيدرالية؟ الفيدرالية نظام إداري بالدرجة الأساس جاء لحاجات اقتصادية واجتماعية وغيرها لتنظيمها. لا علاقة للفيدرالية بالحقوق والحريات فهذه من اختصاص دستور الدولة. الفيدرالية ليست جهازاً للشرطة يمنع الظلم أو يفرضه، ولا هي بنظام قضائي يقيم العدل والقانون".ء

دعوة الحكيم للإقليم الشيعي، وطريق منع تقسيم العراق
ماجد مكي الجميل

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posted by Imad Khadduri  # 5:45 PM 5 comments

"Q: General, this is Will Dunham with Reuters. Could you please assess the current danger to supply convoys that the insurgents are posing? Is it increasing, decreasing? Is it changing in any way? And also, could you talk about the evolution of the IEDs. Are you seeing more powerful ones?
GEN. FONTAINE: Yes, sir, great question. As a matter of fact, we have seen an increase in the use of IEDs on our convoys. And our main threat is the IED for the logistics convoys coming from Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey and in going to the Baghdad area. So the increase has been to about 30 a week. We have established -- obviously as I mentioned in my opening statement, we have up-armored all our vehicles to some level, 1, 2 and 3. All the humvees are Level 1 and 2, which is the best up-armoring that we can provide these young soldiers.
Q: (Off mike) -- briefly follow up, you mentioned that you're at 30 IED attacks on a weekly basis. Could you give a comparison to what that level was previously?
GEN. FONTAINE: Yes, sir. It's about a hundred percent increase from last year (emphasis added).
Q: General, with the doubling of the IED attacks on the convoys in the past year, have you seen a proportional increase in the number of casualties on the U.S. personnel involved in those convoys?
GEN. FONTAINE: No, sir. As a matter of fact, that's a good story -- the good-news story, as far as our up-armoring is concerned. Because we've up-armored our vehicles, the casualty has decreased significantly, even though the IED attack has increased significantly (emphasis added). So now our soldiers are safe in their humvees and their trucks, and they walk out of the incidents when the incident occurs."
Special DoD Press Briefing: Presenter: Brigadier General Yves J. Fontaine, USA, Commander, 1ST Corps August 12, 2005

21 (as reported by DoD) US soldiers were killed by IED attacks in the last 11 days. The average dead US soldiers in the same period: 4 soldiers per day, the highest daily average since the first attack on Fallujah in April, 2004.

Great way to win a war.

An Update:

""The president says he feels compassion for me, but the best way to show that compassion is by meeting with me and the other mothers and families who are here," Sheehan said. "All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his five-week vacation to talk to us, before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."
Crawford's "Camp Casey" Still Growing August 12, 2005

and

Protest on the Range: Cindy Sheehan Calls for Mass Demos at Bush's Crawford Ranch August 12, 2005

and

Cartoonist slams Bush from "Camp casey"

......................................... Maybe this is the Good News: latest Anti-IED technology (in Arabic)

"With the war stalemated, repeated deployments wearing down troop morale and too few new recruits to maintain force levels, the Bush administration may be provoking civil war as its “exit strategy.” The goal would be to break up Iraq into mini-states to allow a reduction in U.S. troops while retaining access to massive oil deposits in the North and South.
“Every single thing the U.S. did led to civil war,” says Christian Parenti, author of “The Freedom,” his account of occupied Iraq, “The failure of reconstruction, the firing of the army, the blatant theft of Iraqi oil money, the use of the Badr Brigade, the use of Peshmerga, the use of death squads, the use of indiscriminate detention and torture, the destruction of Falluja and other towns in Al Anbar province,” explains Parenti, created a raging insurgency and sparked civil war.
... Once the victorious Shiite parties cobbled a government together in April, they placed the Interior Ministry under the control of the Badr Brigades, the military arm of the powerful Shiite-based Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. As for the army, a report in The Guardian states bluntly, “Both Iraqi and American officers say that the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad has fallen under the control of Kurdish political parties.”The result has been a wave of death-squad killings. Since April, “nearly 1,000 people - most of them Sunni Muslims” killed in the southern city of Basra alone, according to the Christian Science Monitor. In May, at least 10 Sunni and Shiite clerics were assassinated.Writing in The Independent, Patrick Cockburn, reports, “Many Sunni military officers and Baathist officials believe they are on a death list of the Badr Brigade which is operating through the [police] commandos… an aggressive paramilitary force controlled by the Interior Ministry.”The Times of London noted on July 18: “hardline Shia militias… are patrolling large parts of Baghdad, often rounding up suspected Sunni insurgents and imprisoning or even killing them.” The U.S. took the sectarian strategy a step further in May with “Operation Lightning,” using 40,000 mainly Shiite troops to sweep through Baghdad and round up hundreds of Sunni males."
Civil War In Iraq, Made In the USA August 6, 2005

"The occupation's sectarian discourse has acquired a hold as powerful as the WMD fiction that prepared the public for war. Iraqis are portrayed as a people who can't wait to kill each other once left to their own devices. In fact, the occupation is the main architect of institutionalised sectarian and ethnic divisions; its removal would act as a catalyst for Iraqis to resolve some of their differences politically. Only a few days ago the national assembly members who had signed the anti-occupation statement met representatives of the Foundation Congress (a group of 60 religious and secular organisations) and the al-Sadr movement and issued a joint call for the rapid withdrawal of the occupation forces according to an internationally guaranteed timetable.
There is now broad agreement in Iraq to build a non-sectarian, democratic Iraq that guarantees Kurdish national rights. The occupation is making the achievement of these goals more difficult.
Every day the occupation increases tension and makes people's lives worse, fuelling the violence. Creating a client regime in Baghdad, backed by permanent bases, is the route that US strategists followed in Vietnam. As in Vietnam , popular resistance in Iraq and the wider Middle East will not go away but will grow stronger, until it eventually unites to force a US-British withdrawal.
How many more Iraqis have to die before Bush and Blair admit the occupation is the problem and not part of any democratic solution in Iraq?"
It is not withdrawal that threatens Iraq with civil war, but occupation. July 5, 2005

An Update:
This is an an aptly put scientific scenario for Condi's mushroom cloud:

"Iraq is dangerously close to the threshold - the point of no return at which an ideological-sectarian chain reaction is triggered and a rapidly accelerated disintegration along sectarian lines occurs. The blinding flash of Iraq's disintegration will be followed closely by a powerful shockwave radiating outward in all directions, then by an irresistible reverse force that will pull Iraq's neighbors into the vortex. That is the point at which the US begins to suffer an irreversible forfeiture in Iraq.
The political detonation described here, in which Iraq's enriched, fissionable sectarian factions or elements are rammed together forcefully by the current US-driven political process, finally reach critical mass and then detonate to cause Iraq's violent disintegration, is imminent. Consequently, not only has the US finally uncovered Iraq's political WMSD (weapons of mass self-destruction) but it is also, knowingly or unknowingly, racing toward the triggering of a political fission bomb of enormous yield with widespread regional and even global fallout."
Weapons of self-destruction August 10, 2005

"The American way of warfare was designed to win huge land wars, such on the European theater against masses of Russians with huge tank armies. America needed massive firepower because of being outgunned in that potential theater of war. In Iraq, America has the advantage in numbers of men AND firepower, but little room for maneuver and little initiative. Americans are on their heels and when they do try to take the initiative they fire into buildings long after the battle is over.
This war cannot be won by America. Those pathetic Iraqis just will not stand and fight toe to toe. For some strange reason, the Iraqis are fighting to win, not to meet American wishes and expectations. Every day that Americans are in Iraq fighting the insurgency is another day that George Bush is losing ground. Every death of an American soldier is a nail in the coffin of the American Empire."
Bad Anti-Insurgent Strategy -- Hit 'em Where They Were August 9, 2005

American Foreign Policy in Iraq

"In an attempt by the occupation authorities and the Iraqi ‘government’ to suppress the authentic word of the unbiased media that is portraying the truth about the events in Iraq and the violent tragedies that are being inflicted on the sectarian sections of the Iraqi people in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’, the occupier’s appointed Interior Minister, Baqir Jabir Solagh, a leading member of the Shi’ite Badr Brigade, which has become the proxy striking arm of the occupation in Iraq, has issued a ministerial proclamation to the Iraqi ‘police force’ to arrest all those whom he labels as ‘journalists who support the ‘terrorists’ and those who work in news agencies or newspapers that are inciting the struggle against the occupying multi-national forces or the Iraqi ‘government’, and those who describe ‘terrorism’ as being a Resistance or Jihad’.

A Muffakirat Al-Islam reporter quoted a source from the Interior Ministry, who refused to divulge his name publicly, as saying: ”The proclamation of the Minister has arrived in an official order to all of the police stations authorizing the police force to arrest all journalists and photographers of various media channels whom he characterized as antagonistic to the liberation process in Iraq and who post news on the ‘terrorists’ as being that of the National Resistance”.

The order also included, according to the same source, the arrest of any religious figures who would incite struggle against the foreign occupying forces in Iraq and the Iraqi ‘security forces’ that are being incubated by them in their Friday sermons and after the five daily prayers in the mosques.

The source specified that the ministerial order had singled out, until now, 14 news media outlets, television stations and Iraqi and Arabic newspapers that will be prevented from work, and to arrest those who work for them, once they are captured.

This is a clear proof that the news emanating from these accused media sources on the situation in Iraq is in fact authentic and genuine and that they do reflect accurately what is really happening on the ground and that their news carry enough weight that has forced the ‘government’, which is blessed by the occupiers, to undertake this drastic measure to suppress the truth that is emanating from the Resistance against the occupation forces in Iraq."
Hiding their losses and scandals, the Iraqi ‘government’ initiates a campaign to suppress the ‘un-embedded’ media (in Arabic, my translation) August 8, 2005

In the meantime, take a look at this video (requires Real One player) taken at 8 am on Sunday, August 7, 2005 in Thuloiyia which shows a Resistance sniper killing the driver of a US Humvee.
The accompanying other 'brave' American soldiers high-tailed it away from the scene with their Humvees leaving the stranded Humvee to be burned.

A yellow** sandstorm in Baghdad on Monday August 8, 2005:
Shut your mouth and close your eyes (as decreed by the Interior Minister, Baqir Jabir Solagh)
(in the background, the Freedom Monument).

**مقولة : الحذر ثم الحذر من الريح الصفراء الآتية من الشرق

Further to the previous Beirut Symposium posting on August 1, 2005,

"A Marine Reserve company that was known as "Lucky Lima" before suffering heavy casualties in May was hit Wednesday by the deadliest roadside bombing of the Iraq war, a massive explosion that killed 14 Marines and the unit's Iraqi interpreter, according to witnesses and military spokesmen."
14 Marines Die in Huge Explosion in Western Iraq August 4, 2005

Take a look at the size of an Armored Assault Amphibious Vehicle (Amtrac):



Can it hold 14 people?

So what did really happen to the 14 dead American Marines (and one Iraqi interpreter)? How come this time the true number of dead American soldiers is announced by DoD, for a change?

This is the Iraqi Resistance's version of what happened to these soldiers:

"Today, Pentagon officials have concluded it was a massive roadside bomb that killed 14 Marines in the western city of Haditha! Some people were astonished and surprised by the announcement of this news. Many of us have multiplied this number by 4. All people were correct with respect to their surprise and expectation. But where is the truth?! Why did the American Administration and the Pentagon officials go out now and acknowledge this big loss in one operation?! What’s next to this declaration which disappointed the American’s public opinion including those who were pro-Bush and those who were beating the drums of war?

The key answer for these questions is the people of Haditha who had witnessed the whole event or some of it. Here is what they had to say - yesterday- and their stories have been confirmed today by the American pronouncement.

Following the retreat of the American troops from the areas of Haditha and Haqlania as a result of a massive fire and brave assault by the Iraqi resistance forces, the American Marines have kidnapped some old men, a little girl and some men who were praying in nearby mosques and held them as hostages. The Americans have also observed the retreat and redeployment of the resistance fighter around the towns and behind the enemy lines. The defeated Marines have tried the day before yesterday to trap the resistance fighters in ambushes installed in places they expected the fighters would pass through. The best of the Marine’s engineering officers have participated in the installation of the ambushes. However, they did not know that they were being watched ever since they entered the area by the resistance reconnaissance. The resistance fighters then attacked the Marines and killed three and took ten of them as prisoners of war, five of them were engineering officers. The resistance fighters have released one wounded Marine soldier in order to let him go and inform his commanders – who were in the neighbouring area- that the fighters were ready to negotiate the release of the Americans if the Americans were ready to release the old men and the little girl from Haditha who were taken hostages by the retreating Marines.

The criminal Marines have answered the resistance fighter by a new attack using all kinds of weapons including helicopters and cannon boats in an attempt to surround the freedom fighters. The brave Iraqi freedom fighters responded to the attack and lost four of their comrades. They then retreated and took with them the ten American prisoners. The freedom fighter realised that the Americans forces did not respect or even tried to preserve the souls of the best of their officers and soldiers. They also remembered the crimes committed by the American forces and their intelligence against Iraqi prisoners of war a few months ago. Namely, the Americans have tortured and killed in cold blood some captured Iraqi resistance fighters and threw them in the river over the Haditha-Haqlania Bridge which is now call the martyr’s bridge. The Iraqi freedom fighter had then no choice but to kill the American prisoners of war and threw them in the river the same way as the Americans previously did -over the same bridge- just to remind them about the crimes they have committed against the Iraqi prisoners of war and to let them bear the responsible for the lost lives of their comrades as a result of their refusal to negotiate the terms for their safe release.

Now, what are the American forces going to do when most of their officers have already been informed about what had happened? The death of the ten American officers – who were considered to be some of the best-, could have been prevented. How would the American Administration stop or prevent the spread of this scandal among its forces? How would it cover up the killing of ten of its best officers which had occurred before the naked eyes of hundreds of Marines and inhabitants of Haditha and Haqlania? They were not mercenaries from Latin America, South East Asia or Africa, they were Americans ! Therefore, the criminal American Administration has chosen to announce their death today, 36 hour after their killing! The faked story about their killing by a roadside bomb was designed to cover up their failure to save their lives. The next step that is expected to be taken by the American occupation force following this announcement is the commitment of a new war crime against the innocent civilians in Haditha and Haqlania, as a cowardly vengeance act in order to deviate the attention of the mass media away from their failure and unwillingness in rescuing their colleagues." The True Story behind the Killing of 14 U.S. Marines in Haditha August 4, 2005 . This is the same above reported version on August 2, 2005 as posted by Muffakirat al-Islam (in Arabic).

( An Update to the above: The above ended with: "The next step that is expected to be taken by the American occupation force following this announcement is the commitment of a new war crime against the innocent civilians in Haditha and Haqlania, as a cowardly vengeance act in order to deviate the attention of the mass media away from their failure and unwillingness in rescuing their colleagues." ....

"On Friday, U.S. and Iraqi troops, including Special Operations forces, moved into the city of Haqlaniyah, the Marine statement said. U.S. jets conducted an airstrike on insurgents hiding in buildings outside of the town. Residents in the area said U.S. and Iraqi forces had cordoned off Haqlaniyah, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, and began conducting house to house searches. American warplanes were hovering overhead and a number of heavy explosions were heard. Witnesses said 500-pound bombs were being dropped in the area." U.S. Launches Attacks in Western Iraq August 5, 2005 , and the Iraqi Resistance has issued an ultimatum to the Americans to lift the siege within hours, and warned their 'Iraqi SO forces', that the Americans use as life vests, of dire consequences, Mufakirrat Al-Islam, (in Arabic) August 5, 2005)

Earlier in this week;

"Insurgents in western Iraq killed seven U.S. Marines, five of them in an unusually deadly small-arms attack (added emphasis) , during one of the bloodiest days for American forces in months, the U.S. military said Tuesday." Rebels In Iraq Kill 7 Marines August 3, 2005

Here is what happened:

"This video is purported to have been taken on 08/01/05 by a section of the Iraqi Resistance and shows an attack in which 6 U.S. marines are killed." Iraqi Resistance Kills U.S. Marines

The Iraqi Resistance ambushed an American sniper unit that intended to ambush them. Mortars were used at the end to finish the Marines off. The snipers' rifles are shown, and a dead Marine.