Free Iraq
The US's occupation of Iraq will see to it that the Lion of Babylon rises again .. سنـُبعـَث ُ من جَديد ، وإلى ضَـيـرِِهِـم
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| Unrevealed Milestones in the Iraqi National Nuclear Program: 1981-1991 | معالم وأحداث غير مكشوفة في البرنامج النووي الوطني العراقي 1981-1991 | 
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Friday, January 06, 2006
A recipe for mass "collateral damage"
"Excerpts from the Guardian and NYT: Between six and 14 members of an Iraqi family were reported dead yesterday after US warplanes obliterated a house in the northern oil town of Baiji. Enraged local officials described the attack as unjustified and said it had killed an innocent family, including one member who worked for the Iraqi police.
"I absolutely confirm there were no terrorists in this house," police chief Colonel Sufyan Mustafa told Reuters. "Even if there had been, why didn't they surround the area and detain the terrorists instead?" People at the scene of the blast said seven bodies were recovered from the rubble, including at least two children.
A preliminary investigation indicated the blast had killed the wife of the home's owner, his daughter-in-law and seven children and grandchildren, including one son who worked for the police, said Maj. Muthanna al-Qaisi, a spokesman for the governor of Salahaddin Province. Three more relatives were wounded, he said.
A statement from the US 101st Airborne Division said troops monitoring images from an unmanned reconnaissance drone on Monday night had observed three men "as they dug a hole following the common pattern of roadside bomb emplacement"
The men were tracked from the road site to a building nearby, which was then bombed with "precision guided munitions," the military said. The statement did not say whether a roadside bomb was later found at the site. An additional military statement said Navy F-14's had "strafed the target with 100 cannon rounds" and dropped one bomb. [End excerpts]
Get ready to see a lot more of this, because Bush has finally settled on an "exit strategy" for Iraq: he's going to bomb his way out.
... But, aping his idol, Winston Churchill, Bush intends to control the "recalcitrant" Arabs with air power: [comment: the two previous links are very noteworthy] dropping 500-pound bombs on private homes and residental neighborhoods, and keeping the natives under constant watch by helicopter gunships and robot sky-drones. "
Air America January 4, 2006
"A bomb that killed six civilians Monday near Baiji, Iraq, missed its target by 65 feet (20 meters) and hit the wrong home, military officials said.
The bomb, which was dropped by a U.S. fighter plane, was aimed at a building that three men entered after planting a roadside bomb as an unmanned surveillance plane watched from overhead, the officials said.
A U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jet strafed the building before the bomb was dropped, according to a U.S. military statement released after the nighttime attack.
The bomb had "successful effects against the insurgents," the statement added.
The strike flattened a family's home, killing six of the family members and wounding three others, said a spokesman for the Salaheddin provincial governor's office. A father and daughter survived with only minor injuries, he said.
The Baiji strike was one of 58 air missions the U.S. military carried out Monday over Iraq.
U.S. military officials said they are investigating why the wrong building was hit.
In a news conference Tuesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan emphasized the U.S. position that its military "goes out of the way to avoid civilian casualties.""
U.S. says bomb hit wrong house in Iraq January 5, 2006
Updates:
VIDEO: Iraqi Civilians Killed in U.S. Air Strikes , January 6, 2006
the Video Clip (allow Flash 8 to be installed)
"The dead included women and children whose bodies were recovered in the nightclothes and blankets in which they had apparently been sleeping. A Washington Post special correspondent watched as the corpses of three women and three boys who appeared to be younger than 10 were removed Tuesday from the house."
Because in this case – unlike in so many others in which American air power utilizes "precisely guided munitions" – there was on-the-spot reporting for an American newspaper, the U.S. military command was required to explain these casualties. Without conceding that the deaths actually occurred, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, director of the Coalition Press Information Center in Baghdad, commented: "We continue to see terrorists and insurgents using civilians in an attempt to shield themselves."
Notice that Lt. Col. Johnson (while not admitting that civilians had actually died) did assert U.S. policy: If suspected guerrillas use any building as a refuge, a full-scale attack on that structure is justified, even if the insurgents attempt to use civilians to "shield themselves (added emphasis)." These are, in other words, essential U.S. rules of engagement. The attack should be "precise" only in the sense that planes and/or helicopter gunships should seek as best they can to avoid demolishing surrounding structures. Put another way, it is more important to stop the insurgents than protect the innocent.
And notice that the military, single-mindedly determined to kill or capture the insurgents, cannot stop to allow for the evacuation of civilians either. Any delay might let the insurgents escape, either disguised as civilians or through windows, backdoors, cellars, or any of the other obvious escape routes urban guerrillas might take. Any attack must be quickly organized and – if possible – unexpected.
The Real Rules of Engagement in Iraq
We can gain some perspective on this military strategy by imagining similar rules of engagement for an American police force in some large city. Imagine, for example, a team of criminals in that city fleeing into a nearby apartment building after gunning down a policeman. It would be unthinkable for the police to simply call in airships to demolish the structure, killing any people – helpless hostages, neighbors, or even friends of the perpetrators – who were with or near them. In fact, the rules of engagement for the police, even in such a situation of extreme provocation, call for them to "hold their fire" – if necessary allowing the perpetrators to escape – if there is a risk of injuring civilians. And this is a reasonable rule… because we value the lives of innocent American citizens over our determination to capture a criminal, even a cop killer.
But in Iraqi cities, our values and priorities are quite differently arranged. The contrast derives from three important principles under which the Iraq war is being fought: that the war should be conducted to absolutely minimize the risk to American troops; that guerrilla fighters should not be allowed to escape if there is any way to capture or kill them; and that Iraqi civilians should not be allowed to harbor or encourage the resistance fighters."
A Formula for Slaughter January 11, 2006
"Lateral damage"
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Kurt Nimmo, Jack Abramoff, "Super Zionist: As usual, the corporate media is ignoring the larger picture, this time in regard to the criminal Jack Abramoff. Sure, Abramoff is a political sleazoid who “defrauded his Indian tribal clients of millions of dollars and used improper influence on members of Congress,” as the Washington Post explains. “Tribes represented by the lobbyist contributed millions of dollars in casino income to congressional campaigns,” including the Bush administration and the poster child of the Republican party, Tom DeLay, aka The Hammer. But, as the blogger Juan Cole, professor of History at the University of Michigan, tells it Abramoff represents something far more sinister and threatening: he is a “super-Zionist,” according to Mike Issikoff of Newsweek, and not only did he spread his illicitly gained money around the halls of Washington, but the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank as well.
“Abramoff’s dense network of illicit finances and phony charities might end some political careers in the United States,” writes Cole. “But the investigation into his activities by the FBI also shed light on the ways in which rightwing American Jews have often been involved in funding what are essentially terrorist activities by armed land thieves in Palestinian territory….
[ . . . ]
In essence, the “proto-fascist groups” in Israel and burrowed deeply inside the Bush administration are in the process of subverting the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, as the NSA “scandal” regarding massive snooping of Americans indicates. Unfortunately, most Americans are blissfully unaware of the true nature of these crimes, as they are unaware of the obvious fact the “war” in Iraq was waged in the name of Israel, a small outlaw nation where people who think and act like Jack Abramoff are the rule and not the exception.
“Abramoff’s dense network of illicit finances and phony charities might end some political careers in the United States,” writes Cole. “But the investigation into his activities by the FBI also shed light on the ways in which rightwing American Jews have often been involved in funding what are essentially terrorist activities by armed land thieves in Palestinian territory….
[ . . . ]
In essence, the “proto-fascist groups” in Israel and burrowed deeply inside the Bush administration are in the process of subverting the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, as the NSA “scandal” regarding massive snooping of Americans indicates. Unfortunately, most Americans are blissfully unaware of the true nature of these crimes, as they are unaware of the obvious fact the “war” in Iraq was waged in the name of Israel, a small outlaw nation where people who think and act like Jack Abramoff are the rule and not the exception.
(This article is posted for its entertainment value only; Wayne Madsen will, of course, understand!)
Wayne Madsen Report, January 6, 2006 -- Bush summons officials of nine administrations for "re-education" session at the White House: The Gang of Four in the Bush administration -- George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice -- yesterday summoned Secretaries of State and Defense from the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush's first administration for a Roosevelt Room briefing on Iraq by Gen. George Casey, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and U.S. proconsul in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad. The forty- minute briefing was on how well things are going in Iraq. Their comments came on the same day 11 more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq by suicide bombers and road side explosive devices.
The 40-minute propaganda barrage was followed by a 5 to 10 minute interchange between the past cabinet officers and Bush and his troika of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice. The New York Times is reporting today that former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright criticized Bush for allowing Iraq to distract from major problems with Iran, North Korea, Latin America, and China. Bush, who takes to criticism like a GOP congressman does to an ethics hearing, shot back that his administration "can do more than one thing at a time." (With Bush, that may not include walking and chewing gum).
The briefing was followed by an Oval Office photo op of the former secretaries with Bush and his three war hawk colleagues. Bush called the it a "family picture." It was as if Bush used a virtual time machine to entangle eight past administrations in his imperialist neo-con policy net. Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld quickly left the Oval Office for "other meetings." The stunned former secretaries were left to air their opinions to National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, a member of Cheney's neo-con clique in the administration.
Albright and Laird have openly criticized Bush's Iraq war. Powell, who has criticized the war through surrogates, remained silent during the White House meeting.
Wayne Madsen Report, January 6, 2006 -- Bush summons officials of nine administrations for "re-education" session at the White House: The Gang of Four in the Bush administration -- George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice -- yesterday summoned Secretaries of State and Defense from the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush's first administration for a Roosevelt Room briefing on Iraq by Gen. George Casey, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and U.S. proconsul in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad. The forty- minute briefing was on how well things are going in Iraq. Their comments came on the same day 11 more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq by suicide bombers and road side explosive devices.
The 40-minute propaganda barrage was followed by a 5 to 10 minute interchange between the past cabinet officers and Bush and his troika of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice. The New York Times is reporting today that former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright criticized Bush for allowing Iraq to distract from major problems with Iran, North Korea, Latin America, and China. Bush, who takes to criticism like a GOP congressman does to an ethics hearing, shot back that his administration "can do more than one thing at a time." (With Bush, that may not include walking and chewing gum).
The briefing was followed by an Oval Office photo op of the former secretaries with Bush and his three war hawk colleagues. Bush called the it a "family picture." It was as if Bush used a virtual time machine to entangle eight past administrations in his imperialist neo-con policy net. Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld quickly left the Oval Office for "other meetings." The stunned former secretaries were left to air their opinions to National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, a member of Cheney's neo-con clique in the administration.
Albright and Laird have openly criticized Bush's Iraq war. Powell, who has criticized the war through surrogates, remained silent during the White House meeting.
Author of "Bush's Brain placed on No-Fly list, can't get himself removed nor get an explanation as to why he was put on in the first place (Thanks to POAC for summary line)
4-Year-Old Boy on Government 'No-Fly' List: "I don't want to be on the list. I want to fly and see my grandma," the 4-year-old boy said.
4-Year-Old Boy on Government 'No-Fly' List: "I don't want to be on the list. I want to fly and see my grandma," the 4-year-old boy said.
Arianna Huffington: Debunking Bush's NSA Lies: A Handy Pocket Guide: I guess it all depends on what your definition of "limited" is. And of "reviewed." And of "briefed." And of "lying through your teeth."
Abullisan Walqalem, Online Journal, Abramoffgate: Mother of all scandals and a sure sign of the last days: [ . . . ] Mr. Bush should have been confused a long time ago, that is, if he was really thinking. His neocon allies, who supported McCain's candidacy in the 2000 Republican primaries, hold a belief that Israel, to ensure its survival, needs to subjugate, divide and control its neighbors. The president's co-religionists believe the same thing but only to ensure its eventual self-destruction. For, according to the fundamentalist evangelical belief, Israel's existence is a precondition for the second coming of Jesus. Jesus will then convert the Jews to good Christians! Surely, our "moral" president must have pondered who is morally right, the neocons or the evangelists?
No one can blame the president if he is heard muttering, "Strange are the ways of Lord." Even a person who is used to thinking would be confused with all these confusing signs. But aren't the confusing signs themselves a sign of the Last Days?
The Abramoffgate scandal might still end up pushing the president to take military action in Syria or Iran, or both, so that he might use it as a cover and distraction from his domestic war. He will of course not attribute this to political expediency but to divine inspiration. Stranger will be the coming days and fearsome and fascinating, too. Surely the signs abound but who knows what they say? So, my dear readers: keep all fingers crossed. And Muslims and Hindus and other such people, please don't bother to object to my use of Christian religious symbols. After all America is a Judeo-Christian country. Who says so? Well the president, Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and, yes, Bill O Reilly say so.
No one can blame the president if he is heard muttering, "Strange are the ways of Lord." Even a person who is used to thinking would be confused with all these confusing signs. But aren't the confusing signs themselves a sign of the Last Days?
The Abramoffgate scandal might still end up pushing the president to take military action in Syria or Iran, or both, so that he might use it as a cover and distraction from his domestic war. He will of course not attribute this to political expediency but to divine inspiration. Stranger will be the coming days and fearsome and fascinating, too. Surely the signs abound but who knows what they say? So, my dear readers: keep all fingers crossed. And Muslims and Hindus and other such people, please don't bother to object to my use of Christian religious symbols. After all America is a Judeo-Christian country. Who says so? Well the president, Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and, yes, Bill O Reilly say so.
Norman Solomon, Counterpunch, Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad; Axis of Fanatics: "With Ariel Sharon out of the picture, Benjamin Netanyahu has a better chance to become prime minister of Israel.
"He's media savvy. He knows how to spin on American television. And he's very dangerous.
[ . . . ]
"The specter of Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad fueling each other's madness as heads of state is frightening. In such a circumstance, the primary danger of conflagration would come from nuclear-armed Israel, not nuclear-unarmed Iran.
"Candidate Netanyahu is a standard bearer for nuclear insanity. He's also an implacable enemy of basic Palestinian human rights. ..."
"He's media savvy. He knows how to spin on American television. And he's very dangerous.
[ . . . ]
"The specter of Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad fueling each other's madness as heads of state is frightening. In such a circumstance, the primary danger of conflagration would come from nuclear-armed Israel, not nuclear-unarmed Iran.
"Candidate Netanyahu is a standard bearer for nuclear insanity. He's also an implacable enemy of basic Palestinian human rights. ..."
Robert Pollin, Counterpunch, The Man Who Explained the Empire; Remembering Harry Magdoff (Highly recommend - in a different kind of way! - this article)
Cast your vote to IMPEACH BUSH (It appears that anyone from anywhere would be able to participate. The State/Province field, at the bottom, includes the option 'None'. A not-to-be-missed opportunity!)
Mortars rattle army parade as Iraq reels from attacks
US drone crashes in Iraqi city of Mosul
Missiles hit Basra airport, no human loss
Paratroopers snatch relative of Saddam (Do you suppose one day we might read "Paratroopers snatch relative of Bush"?)
US drone crashes in Iraqi city of Mosul
Missiles hit Basra airport, no human loss
Paratroopers snatch relative of Saddam (Do you suppose one day we might read "Paratroopers snatch relative of Bush"?)
Guardian, George Bush insists that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. So why, six years ago, did the CIA give the Iranians blueprints to build a bomb?: "In an extract from his explosive new book, New York Times reporter James Risen reveals the bungles and miscalculations that led to a spectacular intelligence fiasco"
(Henceforth, the word 'intelligence' should be excised from any/all reporting on government agencies/endeavours. Strictly not applicable.)
(Henceforth, the word 'intelligence' should be excised from any/all reporting on government agencies/endeavours. Strictly not applicable.)
Dismissal of terror detainee cases sought: "The U.S. Justice Department will seek to dismiss more than 180 cases involving inmates at Guantanamo Bay who have challenged their detention in court, court documents showed on Tuesday.
"The department filed a notice to judges presiding over the cases at the U.S. District Court in Washington to advise them that by the end of next week the Justice Department would file official motions to dismiss the cases.
"The notice comes a week after President George W. Bush signed new legislation banning cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The anti-torture law also curbs the ability of prisoners being held at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba to challenge their detention in federal court."
"The department filed a notice to judges presiding over the cases at the U.S. District Court in Washington to advise them that by the end of next week the Justice Department would file official motions to dismiss the cases.
"The notice comes a week after President George W. Bush signed new legislation banning cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The anti-torture law also curbs the ability of prisoners being held at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba to challenge their detention in federal court."
John Bomar, A Former NSA Officer on Domestic Spying; The Squawkers Should be Congratulated: From my days in the Army Security Agency in Vietnam, a branch of the National Security Agency, I learned one clear lesson: "Top Secret" keeps everyone involved, except the very few at the top, completely in the dark.
In such a classified world it is essential that each cog in the wheel be kept completely ignorant of the workings of the other cogs and wheels. Only the "masters" of the system get to see the big plan. Assigning all communications, memos and briefs as "Top Secret" is the perfect way to run a dictatorship.
No one squawks when all they can see is one small piece of the pie being baked. If the pie happens to be a naked grab for power at the cost of liberty, and freedom from government intrusion and intimidation, the cogs never know, until the pie is baked.
Thank goodness that there are men and women with courage and scruples at the top who will "squawk" when the see such a pie being baked. And thank goodness there are reporters and newspapers with the courage to expose such poisonous pies to the people.
The very nature of government is power and control. In times of great fear and trembling and fear mongering to hand over individual power to the state for the sake of "national security" seems prudent. Yet, once taken up, those holding the reins seldom relinquish their new power. It is as if the lust for power, like any dark addiction, only breeds more lust.
To prosecute the "squawkers," to kill the messengers of such ill tidings, is not the choice of a free people.
In such a classified world it is essential that each cog in the wheel be kept completely ignorant of the workings of the other cogs and wheels. Only the "masters" of the system get to see the big plan. Assigning all communications, memos and briefs as "Top Secret" is the perfect way to run a dictatorship.
No one squawks when all they can see is one small piece of the pie being baked. If the pie happens to be a naked grab for power at the cost of liberty, and freedom from government intrusion and intimidation, the cogs never know, until the pie is baked.
Thank goodness that there are men and women with courage and scruples at the top who will "squawk" when the see such a pie being baked. And thank goodness there are reporters and newspapers with the courage to expose such poisonous pies to the people.
The very nature of government is power and control. In times of great fear and trembling and fear mongering to hand over individual power to the state for the sake of "national security" seems prudent. Yet, once taken up, those holding the reins seldom relinquish their new power. It is as if the lust for power, like any dark addiction, only breeds more lust.
To prosecute the "squawkers," to kill the messengers of such ill tidings, is not the choice of a free people.
And, a note following on the above. Occasionally, in conversation, I mention the amount we spend killing other people. Invariably, this proves to be highly inflammatory. 'Defending our freedoms' and 'Promoting democracy' constitute the acceptable understandings of our vast expenditure of human and material wealth. Brainwashing: successful.
Malcom Lagauche, HISTORY’S WORST MILITARY BLUNDER: "The cavalier manner in which officials now state that they were surprised by the resistance is mind-boggling. The biggest military blunder in history is being depicted as a slight error in judgement. All the time, not one U.S. official has apologized to the Iraqi people for killing their family members; destroying the infrastructure of their country; or destroying any hope of a functional Iraq for the next few decades. They just don’t understand some aspects of humanity that the resistance has and they lack: integrity and pride."
AfterDowningStreet.org, CITIZENS' TRIBUNAL TO INDICT PRESIDENT ON ALLEGED WAR CRIMES AND OTHER VIOLATIONS
When: 1:30 pm, January 10, 2006
Where: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
Website: www.bushcommission.org
A bill of indictment will be delivered to the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006 at 1:30PM charging the President of the United States and other named individuals in his administration with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A press conference will take place in Lafayette Park following delivery of the indictments to the White House. Present to answer questions will be Retired CIA Analyst Ray McGovern and others Commission participants. The indictments will also be delivered to the Department of Justice.
Named in the indictment are;
President of the United States George W. Bush,
Vice President Richard Cheney,
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
US Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez,
US Army Major General Geoffrey Miller,
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and others
These indictments result from preparatory work and testimony presented at in New York City on October 21 and 22, 2005 at the opening session of The International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration, alleging illegal acts carried out or approved by the above named individuals in relation to, or in the conduct of, the following;
1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan; 2) Torture and Indefinite Detention; 3) Destruction of the Global Environment, particular reference to systematic policies; contributing to the effects of global warming; 4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, particular reference to the genocidal effects of forcing international agencies to promote "abstinence only" in the midst of a global AIDS epidemic; and 5) Bush Administration's lethal response to Hurricane Katrina
The concluding sessions of the International Commission of Inquiry will be at the Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in New York on January 20-22. The Commission was organized by the Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.Org and many other prominent individuals and organizations, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.
The above-named defendants are invited to appear or to send representatives to speak in their defense before a panel of distinguished jurors. This is the first opportunity in the USA for a complete public hearing of the charges and the evidence and testimony supporting them.
Charter, full indictments, standards for judgment, and audio and video coverage of the first session: http://www.bushcommission.org
When: 1:30 pm, January 10, 2006
Where: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
Website: www.bushcommission.org
A bill of indictment will be delivered to the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006 at 1:30PM charging the President of the United States and other named individuals in his administration with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A press conference will take place in Lafayette Park following delivery of the indictments to the White House. Present to answer questions will be Retired CIA Analyst Ray McGovern and others Commission participants. The indictments will also be delivered to the Department of Justice.
Named in the indictment are;
President of the United States George W. Bush,
Vice President Richard Cheney,
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
US Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez,
US Army Major General Geoffrey Miller,
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and others
These indictments result from preparatory work and testimony presented at in New York City on October 21 and 22, 2005 at the opening session of The International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration, alleging illegal acts carried out or approved by the above named individuals in relation to, or in the conduct of, the following;
1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan; 2) Torture and Indefinite Detention; 3) Destruction of the Global Environment, particular reference to systematic policies; contributing to the effects of global warming; 4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, particular reference to the genocidal effects of forcing international agencies to promote "abstinence only" in the midst of a global AIDS epidemic; and 5) Bush Administration's lethal response to Hurricane Katrina
The concluding sessions of the International Commission of Inquiry will be at the Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in New York on January 20-22. The Commission was organized by the Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.Org and many other prominent individuals and organizations, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.
The above-named defendants are invited to appear or to send representatives to speak in their defense before a panel of distinguished jurors. This is the first opportunity in the USA for a complete public hearing of the charges and the evidence and testimony supporting them.
Charter, full indictments, standards for judgment, and audio and video coverage of the first session: http://www.bushcommission.org
Now here's something handy to keep in mind . . .
Jordan's Parliament closer to ratifying US citizens immunity deal: "The Legal Committee of the Lower House on Monday approved a controversial agreement that the Kingdom signed with the US, giving American citizens and personnel immunity against prosecution for war crimes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported."
Jordan's Parliament closer to ratifying US citizens immunity deal: "The Legal Committee of the Lower House on Monday approved a controversial agreement that the Kingdom signed with the US, giving American citizens and personnel immunity against prosecution for war crimes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported."
Thirty-year prison sentence for criticising Kurdish regional president in Internet articles: "FAMILY SAYS CYBER-DISSIDENT HAS BEEN ON HUNGER STRIKE FOR MORE THAN A WEEK"
IMF Occupies Iraq, Riots Follow: In December, the International Monetary Fund, in exchange for giving a loan of $685 million to the Iraqi government, insisted that the Iraqis lift subsidies on the price of oil and open the economy to more private investment.
As the IMF said in a press release of December 23, the Iraqi government must be committed to “controlling the wage and pensions bill, reducing subsidies on petroleum products, and expanding the participation of the private sector in the domestic market for petroleum products.”
The impact of the IMF extortion was swift and brutal.
[ . . . ]
As the IMF said in a press release of December 23, the Iraqi government must be committed to “controlling the wage and pensions bill, reducing subsidies on petroleum products, and expanding the participation of the private sector in the domestic market for petroleum products.”
The impact of the IMF extortion was swift and brutal.
[ . . . ]
Yamin Zakaria, Can Saddam Hussein Be Found Innocent?: Saddam Hussein was overthrown as a consequence of an illegal war waged by: state terrorists, foreign fighters, vulture like mercenaries and some peripheral nations who prostituted their soldiers in exchange for some US dollars. Kofi Anan, the UN General Secretary, eventually confirmed what the rest of the world was saying - the war was a clear violation of the UN Charter. Saddam Hussein was overthrown illegally, imprisoned unlawfully and now being tried illegitimately by a US-led kangaroo court. However, what charges can be brought against Saddam Hussein? To answer the question, all the allegations that are constantly propagated as proven fact by the Western powers are, listed and analysed below.
a) Suppressing Dissidents (Human Rights Violation)
b) The Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
c) Using Chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988
d) Invasion of Kuwait (former province of Basra - Walayah of Basra)
e) Killing of the Shi’ites uprising, post 1991 Gulf War. (See article for analyses)
Legitimacy and Purpose of the Trial
Any trial lacks legitimacy under foreign occupation, according to international laws and common sense. Especially in this case, as the war was illegal, thus subsequent occupation was also illegal; and anything else that followed under occupation, for example elections, must also be illegal, null and void. Behind the scenes, the US is orchestrating the trial using Iraqis largely imported from abroad. The US is still the real authority in Iraq with its armed forces and only the politically naive would contend otherwise. The trial has been given an Iraqi face, for the politically naive, the moderates, traitors and opportunists. In reality, the trial is a smokescreen for the US, which is part of its neo-colonial designs for the region.
Americans claim Saddam Hussein is being tried on behalf of the Iraqi masses but the Iraqis are hardly engaged in a mass euphoric celebration on the streets of Iraq. Because, even those who opposed Saddam Hussein are opposed to the US sponsored trial, they understand that the primary purpose of the trial is to humiliate all the Arabs and Muslims. Accordingly, it is already being used to intimidate nations like Syria, Iran and others. Now if Saddam Hussein was replaced in the docks with the likes of Ariel Sharon, George Bush, Tony Blair there would be a spontaneous ecstatic celebration across the world and not just the Arab/Islamic world.
If Saddam Hussein was the real issue, the coalition forces would have left Iraq after his capture and by that time most of the senior Baath Party officials had also been killed or captured. The credibility of the US claims pertaining to Saddam’s trial is like its earlier claims of Iraq’s WMDs and later claims of its soldiers are benevolent liberators. The stark reality is, no WMDs existed; and the US soldiers are allowed and encouraged as part of the softening-up process, to take the souvenir pictures of Iraqi prisoners from places like Abu-Ghraib. These are the soldiers that are swapping pictures of the genitals of dead Iraqis to gain access to internet porn sites. Numerous reports confirmed that the US soldiers stole from Iraqi homes, offices, museums and palaces. They brag on websites to the wider audience and their friends and families back home, how they murdered and raped, Iraqi boys, girls, men and women in revenge for 9/11 but never for bringing Saddam to ‘justice’!
The trial also serves to divert the attention away from the real war crimes and war criminals. How ironic, that Saddam Hussein is on trial for the alleged killings in 1980s/90s, while the real criminals have just slaughtered 100,000 plus Iraqi civilians, and destroyed the countries entire infrastructure. They are roaming free and preparing for their multinationals to ‘rebuild’ Iraq, using Iraqi oil of course! Thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children are languishing in the brutal US-led prisons, in line with the Camp-X-Ray ethos. Many of the prisoners have simply vanished. It is Bush and Blair that are the real war criminals, who should be on the docks.
Can he be found innocent?
The case against Saddam Hussein is weak from the onset, because the real plaintiff (the US) has more than once proven to be a hypocrite and a liar. Allegations of Iraqi WMDs have been proven to be to be a clear lie, perhaps the lie of the century. Likewise allegations of Saddam’s mass graves, where figures of 100,000 to 500,000 were cited have been proven to be massive pre-war propaganda hype, if anything the US has created many mass graves since the first Gulf War in 1991. In any court, the words of a proven liar have no merit; therefore, the US-based allegations and any supportive evidence provided from them should be rejected instantly.
However, regardless of the strength or weakness of the evidences and the credibility of the real Plaintiff (the US), Saddam Hussein will be found guilty and he has to be found guilty. Because after failing to find WMDs, the justification for the war was changed to removing the tyrant Saddam Hussein on behalf of the Iraqi masses. If Saddam Hussein is now found to be innocent, then there are no more arguments for the war, the last remaining fig leaf falls and then even the history according to the victor will not be kind. In any trial there is a theoretical possibility of 50-50 chance of finding someone one innocent or guilty but certainly that is not going to be the case with the trial of Saddam Hussein and we know why.
a) Suppressing Dissidents (Human Rights Violation)
b) The Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
c) Using Chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988
d) Invasion of Kuwait (former province of Basra - Walayah of Basra)
e) Killing of the Shi’ites uprising, post 1991 Gulf War. (See article for analyses)
Legitimacy and Purpose of the Trial
Any trial lacks legitimacy under foreign occupation, according to international laws and common sense. Especially in this case, as the war was illegal, thus subsequent occupation was also illegal; and anything else that followed under occupation, for example elections, must also be illegal, null and void. Behind the scenes, the US is orchestrating the trial using Iraqis largely imported from abroad. The US is still the real authority in Iraq with its armed forces and only the politically naive would contend otherwise. The trial has been given an Iraqi face, for the politically naive, the moderates, traitors and opportunists. In reality, the trial is a smokescreen for the US, which is part of its neo-colonial designs for the region.
Americans claim Saddam Hussein is being tried on behalf of the Iraqi masses but the Iraqis are hardly engaged in a mass euphoric celebration on the streets of Iraq. Because, even those who opposed Saddam Hussein are opposed to the US sponsored trial, they understand that the primary purpose of the trial is to humiliate all the Arabs and Muslims. Accordingly, it is already being used to intimidate nations like Syria, Iran and others. Now if Saddam Hussein was replaced in the docks with the likes of Ariel Sharon, George Bush, Tony Blair there would be a spontaneous ecstatic celebration across the world and not just the Arab/Islamic world.
If Saddam Hussein was the real issue, the coalition forces would have left Iraq after his capture and by that time most of the senior Baath Party officials had also been killed or captured. The credibility of the US claims pertaining to Saddam’s trial is like its earlier claims of Iraq’s WMDs and later claims of its soldiers are benevolent liberators. The stark reality is, no WMDs existed; and the US soldiers are allowed and encouraged as part of the softening-up process, to take the souvenir pictures of Iraqi prisoners from places like Abu-Ghraib. These are the soldiers that are swapping pictures of the genitals of dead Iraqis to gain access to internet porn sites. Numerous reports confirmed that the US soldiers stole from Iraqi homes, offices, museums and palaces. They brag on websites to the wider audience and their friends and families back home, how they murdered and raped, Iraqi boys, girls, men and women in revenge for 9/11 but never for bringing Saddam to ‘justice’!
The trial also serves to divert the attention away from the real war crimes and war criminals. How ironic, that Saddam Hussein is on trial for the alleged killings in 1980s/90s, while the real criminals have just slaughtered 100,000 plus Iraqi civilians, and destroyed the countries entire infrastructure. They are roaming free and preparing for their multinationals to ‘rebuild’ Iraq, using Iraqi oil of course! Thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children are languishing in the brutal US-led prisons, in line with the Camp-X-Ray ethos. Many of the prisoners have simply vanished. It is Bush and Blair that are the real war criminals, who should be on the docks.
Can he be found innocent?
The case against Saddam Hussein is weak from the onset, because the real plaintiff (the US) has more than once proven to be a hypocrite and a liar. Allegations of Iraqi WMDs have been proven to be to be a clear lie, perhaps the lie of the century. Likewise allegations of Saddam’s mass graves, where figures of 100,000 to 500,000 were cited have been proven to be massive pre-war propaganda hype, if anything the US has created many mass graves since the first Gulf War in 1991. In any court, the words of a proven liar have no merit; therefore, the US-based allegations and any supportive evidence provided from them should be rejected instantly.
However, regardless of the strength or weakness of the evidences and the credibility of the real Plaintiff (the US), Saddam Hussein will be found guilty and he has to be found guilty. Because after failing to find WMDs, the justification for the war was changed to removing the tyrant Saddam Hussein on behalf of the Iraqi masses. If Saddam Hussein is now found to be innocent, then there are no more arguments for the war, the last remaining fig leaf falls and then even the history according to the victor will not be kind. In any trial there is a theoretical possibility of 50-50 chance of finding someone one innocent or guilty but certainly that is not going to be the case with the trial of Saddam Hussein and we know why.
USA Today.com, Iraqis making connection to the outside world online : "Internet service has been one of the most dramatic changes in Iraq since 2003. Like cellphone service, it has expanded sharply.
"In 2003, there were only about 10,000 users in a country of 26 million people. Content was filtered and sites offering free e-mail were blocked, forcing people to use the government-monitored e-mail*."
* !!!!!!!!
"In 2003, there were only about 10,000 users in a country of 26 million people. Content was filtered and sites offering free e-mail were blocked, forcing people to use the government-monitored e-mail*."
* !!!!!!!!
Robert Fisk, Ariel Sharon: I shook hands with him once, a brisk, no-nonsense soldier's grip from Sharon as he finished a review of the vicious Phalangist militiamen who stood in the barracks square at Karantina in Beirut. Who would have thought, I asked myself then, that this same bunch of murderers - the men who butchered their way through the Palestinian Sabra and Chatila refugee camps only a few weeks earlier - had their origins in the Nazi Olympics of 1936. That's when old Pierre Gemayel - still alive and standing stiffly to attention for Sharon - watched the "order" of Nazi Germany and proposed to bring some of this "order" to Lebanon. That's what Gemayel told me himself. Did Sharon not understand this. Of course, he must have done.
Back on 18 September that same year, Loren Jenkins of The Washington Post and Karsten Tveit of Norwegian television and I had clambered over the piled corpses of Chatila - of raped and eviscerated women and their husbands and children and brothers - and Jenkins, knowing that the Isrealis had sat around the camps for two nights watching this filth, shrieked "Sharon!" in anger and rage. He was right. Sharon it was who sent the Phalange into the camps on the night of 16 September - to hunt for "terrorists", so he claimed at the time.
The subsequent Israeli Kahan commission of enquiry into this atrocity provided absolute proof that Israeli soldiers saw the massacre taking place. The evidence of a Lieutenant Avi Grabovsky was crucial. He was an Israeli deputy tank commander and reported what he saw to his higher command. "Don't interfere," the senior officer said. Ever afterwards, Israeli embassies around the world would claim that the commission held Sharon only indirectly responsible for the massacre. It was untrue. The last page of the official Israeli report held Sharon "personally responsible". It was years later that the Israeli-trained Phalangist commander, Elie Hobeika, now working for the Syrians, agreed to turn state's evidence against Sharon - now the Israeli Prime Minister - at a Brussels court. The day after the Israeli attorney general declared Sharon's defence a "state" matter, Hobeika was killed by a massive car bomb in east Beirut. Israel denied responsibility. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Brussels and quietly threatened to withdraw Nato headquarters from Belgium if the country maintained its laws to punish war criminals from foreign nations. Within months, George W Bush had declared Sharon "a man of peace". It was all over.
[ . . . ]
Back on 18 September that same year, Loren Jenkins of The Washington Post and Karsten Tveit of Norwegian television and I had clambered over the piled corpses of Chatila - of raped and eviscerated women and their husbands and children and brothers - and Jenkins, knowing that the Isrealis had sat around the camps for two nights watching this filth, shrieked "Sharon!" in anger and rage. He was right. Sharon it was who sent the Phalange into the camps on the night of 16 September - to hunt for "terrorists", so he claimed at the time.
The subsequent Israeli Kahan commission of enquiry into this atrocity provided absolute proof that Israeli soldiers saw the massacre taking place. The evidence of a Lieutenant Avi Grabovsky was crucial. He was an Israeli deputy tank commander and reported what he saw to his higher command. "Don't interfere," the senior officer said. Ever afterwards, Israeli embassies around the world would claim that the commission held Sharon only indirectly responsible for the massacre. It was untrue. The last page of the official Israeli report held Sharon "personally responsible". It was years later that the Israeli-trained Phalangist commander, Elie Hobeika, now working for the Syrians, agreed to turn state's evidence against Sharon - now the Israeli Prime Minister - at a Brussels court. The day after the Israeli attorney general declared Sharon's defence a "state" matter, Hobeika was killed by a massive car bomb in east Beirut. Israel denied responsibility. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Brussels and quietly threatened to withdraw Nato headquarters from Belgium if the country maintained its laws to punish war criminals from foreign nations. Within months, George W Bush had declared Sharon "a man of peace". It was all over.
[ . . . ]
"Collateral damage" . . .
The most terrible incident - praised by Sharon at the time as a "great success" - was the attack by Israel on Salah Shehada, a Hamas leader, which slaughtered nine children along with eight adults. Their names gave a frightful reality to this child carnage: 18-month-old Ayman Matar, three-year-old Mohamed Matar, five-year-old Diana Matar, four-year-old Sobhi Hweiti, six-year-old Mohamed Hweiti, 10-year-old Ala Matar, 15-year-old Iman Shehada, 17-year-old Maryam Matar. And Dina Matar. She was two months old. An Israeli air force pilot dropped a one-ton bomb on their homes from an American-made F-16 aircraft on 22 July 2002.
The most terrible incident - praised by Sharon at the time as a "great success" - was the attack by Israel on Salah Shehada, a Hamas leader, which slaughtered nine children along with eight adults. Their names gave a frightful reality to this child carnage: 18-month-old Ayman Matar, three-year-old Mohamed Matar, five-year-old Diana Matar, four-year-old Sobhi Hweiti, six-year-old Mohamed Hweiti, 10-year-old Ala Matar, 15-year-old Iman Shehada, 17-year-old Maryam Matar. And Dina Matar. She was two months old. An Israeli air force pilot dropped a one-ton bomb on their homes from an American-made F-16 aircraft on 22 July 2002.
Manuel Valenzuela, The Army of Good Americans; Marching Forward: "Festering in our midst like a toxic cloud of pollution the army of good Americans exists, living and working among us, inhabiting our neighborhoods and cities, co-existing peacefully with us, though perceiving an utterly different conception of reality than the rest of us. Their numbers, though dwindling more every day with the almost weekly revelations of corporatist lies built upon corporatist lies and government deceptions meshed with corporate criminality, remain high, thanks to those unable to escape the clouds of 9/11 and the manipulative propaganda of the corporatist media. ...
"The army of good Americans would rather live in the slavery of ignorance rather than the freedom of knowledge, preferring shackles of fiction to the liberty of reality. ...
"The army of good Americans is easily controlled through television, made to believe everything it hears, manipulated with the greatest of ease thanks to its inability to think on its own. ...
"The seeds planted on 9/11 by the new Pearl Harbor have grown into a pestilence of weeds spreading like wildfire throughout the lands of the free and the home of the brave, causing a great rift among the peoples of America. ...
"This group will in the next few years become the eyes and ears of the police state, informers, spies, snitches and narks spawning fear, mistrust and insecurity, helping to maintain tyranny inside a nation that once fought to eviscerate it. It is in their character, their selfishness and lack of empathy assisting in persecuting neighbors, customers, friends and relatives. They will have become traitors to the republic they claim to love and the freedoms they swore to protect, becoming betrayers to its principles and founding vision, to its citizens and to the ideals of the Founding Fathers. Yet the hand that feeds them will inevitably come back to haunt them, for they will invariably cannibalize each other, seeking the favor of authority yet receiving as payback that which they helped birth."
"The army of good Americans would rather live in the slavery of ignorance rather than the freedom of knowledge, preferring shackles of fiction to the liberty of reality. ...
"The army of good Americans is easily controlled through television, made to believe everything it hears, manipulated with the greatest of ease thanks to its inability to think on its own. ...
"The seeds planted on 9/11 by the new Pearl Harbor have grown into a pestilence of weeds spreading like wildfire throughout the lands of the free and the home of the brave, causing a great rift among the peoples of America. ...
"This group will in the next few years become the eyes and ears of the police state, informers, spies, snitches and narks spawning fear, mistrust and insecurity, helping to maintain tyranny inside a nation that once fought to eviscerate it. It is in their character, their selfishness and lack of empathy assisting in persecuting neighbors, customers, friends and relatives. They will have become traitors to the republic they claim to love and the freedoms they swore to protect, becoming betrayers to its principles and founding vision, to its citizens and to the ideals of the Founding Fathers. Yet the hand that feeds them will inevitably come back to haunt them, for they will invariably cannibalize each other, seeking the favor of authority yet receiving as payback that which they helped birth."
An Interview (Die Zeit) with Michael Scheuer; The Origins of the Rendition Program: Does the CIA Have the Right to Break Any Law?: "The CIA may break any law except for American law just as any secret service. And abroad we have always acted upon approval of the local authorities."
(A very brief excerpt from a long & excellent article)
William A. Cook, Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied; The Rape of Palestine: Where does one begin to describe the bodily or mental harm inflicted on the Palestinians by the Israeli IOF and its pit bulls, the squatters? .....
Let's begin with the 2004 Human Rights Watch report that observes IOF activity in Gaza: "IDF positions fire with large caliber machine guns and tanks at civilian areas [shooting which] appears to be largely indiscriminate and in some cases unprovoked." The report continues, "Violence against Palestinians has by no means been confined to the soldiers of the IDF. Settlers too have weighed in with their own abuses, actions that have increased sharply since 2000. These include blocking roads in order to disrupt the lives of Palestinians, shooting solar panels on roofs of buildings, torching cars, smashing windowpanes and windshields, destroying crops, uprooting trees and generally abusing the population." ...
... 90% of two year olds growing up have witnessed soldiers bursting through the door of their home, rifles pointed at their mother or father, pushed against walls, beaten perhaps, shouted at certainly, cursed we might assume, and left in fear knowing another raid is imminent.
[ . . . ]
The West Bank we must remember belongs to the Palestinians. The Israeli roads are built on confiscated land. The action approved by Sharon prevents the indigenous people from using their own land or roads built on their land; it prevents not only personal and community interaction, it prevents commercial activity as well. It is nothing more than a calculated attempt to destroy the viability of a people to provide for themselves, an attempt to cause deep and continuing mental harm, actions contrary to the UN Genocide Convention.
Again in October, Israeli troops invaded the town of Bil'in, going house to house to arrest peaceful demonstrators who had participated in public pacifist actions against the erection of the Sharon Wall of Fear. ...
William A. Cook, Hope Destroyed, Justice Denied; The Rape of Palestine: Where does one begin to describe the bodily or mental harm inflicted on the Palestinians by the Israeli IOF and its pit bulls, the squatters? .....
Let's begin with the 2004 Human Rights Watch report that observes IOF activity in Gaza: "IDF positions fire with large caliber machine guns and tanks at civilian areas [shooting which] appears to be largely indiscriminate and in some cases unprovoked." The report continues, "Violence against Palestinians has by no means been confined to the soldiers of the IDF. Settlers too have weighed in with their own abuses, actions that have increased sharply since 2000. These include blocking roads in order to disrupt the lives of Palestinians, shooting solar panels on roofs of buildings, torching cars, smashing windowpanes and windshields, destroying crops, uprooting trees and generally abusing the population." ...
... 90% of two year olds growing up have witnessed soldiers bursting through the door of their home, rifles pointed at their mother or father, pushed against walls, beaten perhaps, shouted at certainly, cursed we might assume, and left in fear knowing another raid is imminent.
[ . . . ]
The West Bank we must remember belongs to the Palestinians. The Israeli roads are built on confiscated land. The action approved by Sharon prevents the indigenous people from using their own land or roads built on their land; it prevents not only personal and community interaction, it prevents commercial activity as well. It is nothing more than a calculated attempt to destroy the viability of a people to provide for themselves, an attempt to cause deep and continuing mental harm, actions contrary to the UN Genocide Convention.
Again in October, Israeli troops invaded the town of Bil'in, going house to house to arrest peaceful demonstrators who had participated in public pacifist actions against the erection of the Sharon Wall of Fear. ...
Judge, Jury & Executioner: all rolled into one handy device -
The lie detector you'll never know is there: "THE US Department of Defense has revealed plans to develop a lie detector that can be used without the subject knowing they are being assessed. The Remote Personnel Assessment (RPA) device will also be used to pinpoint fighters hiding in a combat zone, or even to spot signs of stress that might mark someone out as a terrorist or suicide bomber."
The lie detector you'll never know is there: "THE US Department of Defense has revealed plans to develop a lie detector that can be used without the subject knowing they are being assessed. The Remote Personnel Assessment (RPA) device will also be used to pinpoint fighters hiding in a combat zone, or even to spot signs of stress that might mark someone out as a terrorist or suicide bomber."
Andrew Wilson, The Dying of Ariel Sharon; What If He Was Reincarnated in the Womb of a Palestinian Woman?: "And what if, about nine months later, this same young woman were to bleed to death in the agony of giving birth, because her taxi has not been permitted to pass through an Israeli checkpoint on the only road to the hospital--and what if the baby, a boy, were to survive his mother's death only to die himself, ironically but quite plausibly, at the age of ten-and-a-half rushing down a Bethlehem street away from soldiers firing from beside a tank into a crowd of stone-throwers?"
Dahr Jamail, US Propaganda vs. Iraqi Reality: A recent email from a good friend in Baghdad sums up life for Iraqis in their new “democracy”:
“We are living in a very critical situation now, for the ING [Iraqi National Guard] are covering every corner around us wherever you go inside Baghdad. The killings are ongoing everywhere inside and outside the city.”
“Everybody in my family is safe for now only because no one is interested in putting themselves in danger. Demonstrations are going on all over Iraq for different reasons; price of fuel, lack of security, jobless people are having demonstrations as well as those who do not accept the presence of the Badr Brigades or the American forces. [Meanwhile others are demonstrating in support of the Badr Brigades but against the Americans.]”
“This is some kind of situation around us. The last four nights without electricity…only half an hour every six hours. Fuel prices prevent people from running their generators at home. Fuel on the black market is fifty times the price what it used to be, and nobody can stand waiting at the pumps for days anymore. The minister of oil resigned for this, and Ahmed Chalabi is now the minister…everybody is frustrated yet life is still going on as if the people are hypnotized.”
“Nothing has changed except that we see US Humvees and pick-up trucks full of Iraqi National Guard everywhere [in Baghdad,]” he concluded.
“We are living in a very critical situation now, for the ING [Iraqi National Guard] are covering every corner around us wherever you go inside Baghdad. The killings are ongoing everywhere inside and outside the city.”
“Everybody in my family is safe for now only because no one is interested in putting themselves in danger. Demonstrations are going on all over Iraq for different reasons; price of fuel, lack of security, jobless people are having demonstrations as well as those who do not accept the presence of the Badr Brigades or the American forces. [Meanwhile others are demonstrating in support of the Badr Brigades but against the Americans.]”
“This is some kind of situation around us. The last four nights without electricity…only half an hour every six hours. Fuel prices prevent people from running their generators at home. Fuel on the black market is fifty times the price what it used to be, and nobody can stand waiting at the pumps for days anymore. The minister of oil resigned for this, and Ahmed Chalabi is now the minister…everybody is frustrated yet life is still going on as if the people are hypnotized.”
“Nothing has changed except that we see US Humvees and pick-up trucks full of Iraqi National Guard everywhere [in Baghdad,]” he concluded.
I have been proposing an Exit strategy for Iraq.
I independently formulated it in September 2004.
To see this comprehensive plan
please go to my blog:sevenpointman
I would be glad to answer any of your questions about my plan.
Howard
I independently formulated it in September 2004.
To see this comprehensive plan
please go to my blog:sevenpointman
I would be glad to answer any of your questions about my plan.
Howard
sevenpointman
You may be in the English version:
http://abutamam.blogspot.com/2005/12/end-occupation-of-iraq.html
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