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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Sunday, November 25, 2007
"Like a drowing man clutching at straws" .. or .. jumping out of the frying pan into the fire
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"Asked when she intended to leave this squalor and return to the comfortable family home, Kahiriya Musa, 30, is emphatic. “Never,” she declares. “They will kill me if I return.”
While one of her husband’s killers has been arrested, she says, the other two have joined the Baghdad Brigade, a Sunni militia funded by the American forces which now holds sway in her old neighbourhood.
Members of the Baghdad Brigade receive $300 a man each month from the Americans, who also provide vehicles, uniforms and flak jackets. In return the brigade keeps out Al-Qaeda, dismantles roadside bombs and patrols the area, a task performed with considerable swagger by many of its 4,000 recruits.
The US military is delighted with the results achieved by the brigade in Abu Ghraib and by similar groups in other former “hot spots” of sectarian conflict that have seen a sharp decline in violence.
While one of her husband’s killers has been arrested, she says, the other two have joined the Baghdad Brigade, a Sunni militia funded by the American forces which now holds sway in her old neighbourhood.
Members of the Baghdad Brigade receive $300 a man each month from the Americans, who also provide vehicles, uniforms and flak jackets. In return the brigade keeps out Al-Qaeda, dismantles roadside bombs and patrols the area, a task performed with considerable swagger by many of its 4,000 recruits.
The US military is delighted with the results achieved by the brigade in Abu Ghraib and by similar groups in other former “hot spots” of sectarian conflict that have seen a sharp decline in violence.
...
[The] men who used to be Al-Qaeda members but now form part of the awakening. Even the militia commanders confirm that they have the Shi’ites in their long-range sights after a turbulent few months.
First they tired of Al-Qaeda’s beheadings, bombings and strange demands, such as a ban on salads containing (male) cucumbers and (female) tomatoes, and on ice cubes because the Prophet Muhammad never had them. Then the militias threw in their lot with the Americans to get rid of Al-Qaeda, but without losing their animosity for the occupying forces that many of them had been fighting.
Now they are starting to think about what happens when the Americans leave and how they can counter Iranian-backed Shi’ite forces. Abu Omar, an intelligence officer with the Baghdad Brigade in Abu Ghraib, was candid.
“Of course the coming war is with the [Shi’ite] militias,” he said. “God willing, we will defeat them and get rid of them just as we did Al-Qaeda.” "
First they tired of Al-Qaeda’s beheadings, bombings and strange demands, such as a ban on salads containing (male) cucumbers and (female) tomatoes, and on ice cubes because the Prophet Muhammad never had them. Then the militias threw in their lot with the Americans to get rid of Al-Qaeda, but without losing their animosity for the occupying forces that many of them had been fighting.
Now they are starting to think about what happens when the Americans leave and how they can counter Iranian-backed Shi’ite forces. Abu Omar, an intelligence officer with the Baghdad Brigade in Abu Ghraib, was candid.
“Of course the coming war is with the [Shi’ite] militias,” he said. “God willing, we will defeat them and get rid of them just as we did Al-Qaeda.” "
American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq November 25, 2007
From comments on the above article:
"A total betrayal of the supposed democratic election by the majority of people for a Shia Led Government, by funding a group of members of whom many are former Al-Qaeda member and likely did the bombings on their mosques. This sounds a lot like when USA used Talibun, to fight Russians, then praised them as Freedom Fighters and later, condemned them as Al-Qaeda. .."
"US arming those who only two months ago were shooting its marines is utter disgrace for a world's superpower. I think that US is defeated in Iraq and is now deperate to try anything that might save it from humiliating retreat...."
.
See earlier posting: "Iraqi Sunnis turning Iraq's victory into a defeat for fistful of dollars" November 14, 2007
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Driving Miss Condi: Skilled at Curriculum Vitae enhancement, Miss Condi is not about to follow others over the rails of the sinking Bush ship. With a flurry of activity which both she and her colleagues know is pure fluff and photo op, she is hyping the moribund ‘Roadmap’ and planning a menu of Maryland Blue Crabs for the 49 invitees to the Annapolis ‘Middle East Peace Conference’ next week which any self respecting Arab would do well to avoid.
Those pressured into attendance should visit the Annapolis Maritime Museum, perhaps watch the seagulls and the fishing boats, stroll the colonial cobble stone streets, listen to their interlocutors but sign nothing. A Palestinian quisling signature on an understanding that will likely be offered on the Chesapeake Bay risks condemning a Palestinian “state” to a small portion of its territory. The Annapolis gathering is not being convened to benefit Palestinians. It is designed to give Israel a cover for taking more Palestinian land and cleansing more of the Arabs from the “the land of Israel”, by setting up Palestinian leaders for the ‘Israel has no peace partner’ hustle just as the Clinton, Dennis Ross, and Barak trio did to Arafat at Camp David in 2000.
Those pressured into attendance should visit the Annapolis Maritime Museum, perhaps watch the seagulls and the fishing boats, stroll the colonial cobble stone streets, listen to their interlocutors but sign nothing. A Palestinian quisling signature on an understanding that will likely be offered on the Chesapeake Bay risks condemning a Palestinian “state” to a small portion of its territory. The Annapolis gathering is not being convened to benefit Palestinians. It is designed to give Israel a cover for taking more Palestinian land and cleansing more of the Arabs from the “the land of Israel”, by setting up Palestinian leaders for the ‘Israel has no peace partner’ hustle just as the Clinton, Dennis Ross, and Barak trio did to Arafat at Camp David in 2000.
Israel in Darfur and Arab National Security: "Israel's Success in developing its relations with western African states – especially these falling south of the Great Sahara region bordering Arab African states – shall achieve very important strategic gains for it, which shall overcome areas of its strategic weakness due to the tight band of Arab States surrounding it, to reach to the open Arab back in a place Arabs do not expect"….this is the resume of words ex Israeli chief of staff, General Hayem Laskoff, described his country's policy in relation to the African continent, that policy in which the Israel role becomes more apparent whenever conflicts comes to the open in its different arenas, especially after the discovery of natural resources such as oil and uranium in the continent.
Israel the occupier is making the demands of a thief : Israel is not being asked "to give" anything to the Palestinians; it is only being asked to return - to return their stolen land and restore their trampled self-respect, along with their fundamental human rights and humanity. This is the primary core issue, the only one worthy of the title, and no one talks about it anymore.
No one is talking about morality anymore. Justice is also an archaic concept, a taboo that has deliberately been erased from all negotiations. Two and a half million people - farmers, merchants, lawyers, drivers, daydreaming teenage girls, love-smitten men, old people, women, children and combatants using violent means for a just cause - have all been living under a brutal boot for 40 years. Meanwhile, in our cafes and living rooms the conversation is over giving or not giving.
Security officials are terrified about what would happen if we removed a checkpoint or released prisoners, like the whites in South Africa who whipped up a frenzy of fear about the "great slaughter" that would ensue if blacks were granted their rights. But these are not legitimate questions: The incarceration must be ended and the myriad of political prisoners should be released unconditionally. Just as a thief cannot present demands - neither preconditions nor any other terms - to the owner of the property he has robbed, Israel cannot present demands to the other side as long as the situation remains as it is.
No one is talking about morality anymore. Justice is also an archaic concept, a taboo that has deliberately been erased from all negotiations. Two and a half million people - farmers, merchants, lawyers, drivers, daydreaming teenage girls, love-smitten men, old people, women, children and combatants using violent means for a just cause - have all been living under a brutal boot for 40 years. Meanwhile, in our cafes and living rooms the conversation is over giving or not giving.
Security officials are terrified about what would happen if we removed a checkpoint or released prisoners, like the whites in South Africa who whipped up a frenzy of fear about the "great slaughter" that would ensue if blacks were granted their rights. But these are not legitimate questions: The incarceration must be ended and the myriad of political prisoners should be released unconditionally. Just as a thief cannot present demands - neither preconditions nor any other terms - to the owner of the property he has robbed, Israel cannot present demands to the other side as long as the situation remains as it is.
Protest greets speech by mayor of Jerusalem: Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, from Monsey, N.Y., said he helped organize the protest as part of the group Jews United Against Zionism.
Weiss said non-Jewish support for the state of Israel around the world was the result of misplaced sympathy after World War II.
"They think they're supporting Jewish people by supporting the takeover of occupied land," he said.
Rabbi Dovid Feldman, also from Monsey, said the peace talks in Annapolis may achieve some of Israel's goals, but would fall short.
Israelis could continue to live in the Middle East, Feldman said, but he advocated the dismantling of the Jewish state.
"They shouldn't have created it in the first place," he said.
Weiss said non-Jewish support for the state of Israel around the world was the result of misplaced sympathy after World War II.
"They think they're supporting Jewish people by supporting the takeover of occupied land," he said.
Rabbi Dovid Feldman, also from Monsey, said the peace talks in Annapolis may achieve some of Israel's goals, but would fall short.
Israelis could continue to live in the Middle East, Feldman said, but he advocated the dismantling of the Jewish state.
"They shouldn't have created it in the first place," he said.
Pre-history of Jewish control in Washington: All you need to know about American politics is that AIPAC is about a million times more powerful now.
Annapolis, as seen from Gaza: We have become a people . . . constantly preparing for dawn, in the darkness of cellars lit by our enemies.
Bush’s Twenty-Billion Dollar Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia: The Zionist Power Configuration Defeats Big Oil, the Military Industrial Complex, the White House and the Pentagon
By blackmail and deceit, the Israelis got their additional $30 billion dollars over the next ten years and they double-crossed ‘their’ president by unleashing their Fifth Column to block his military sales to the Saudis. And if Bush dares a complaint, he will be added to the list of ‘anti-Semites’ – the only honorable list in his entire 8 years in office.
By blackmail and deceit, the Israelis got their additional $30 billion dollars over the next ten years and they double-crossed ‘their’ president by unleashing their Fifth Column to block his military sales to the Saudis. And if Bush dares a complaint, he will be added to the list of ‘anti-Semites’ – the only honorable list in his entire 8 years in office.
Iran: The uninvited guest at peace summit: Tuesday's Arab-Israeli peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland, is supposed to be about resolving long-standing Palestinian issues, the Golan Heights, and other contentious matters. But, increasingly, it is framed in the United States and Israeli media as a dual-purpose conference, the other being the containment of Iran.
Thus, an editorial in the Jerusalem Post writes that "the process that Annapolis seeks to launch will be inherently conditional on Western success against the Iranian challenge ... The idea that holding an Arab-Israeli peace summit would be a setback for Iran is a valid one." The more liberal Ha'aretz went even further by stating the goal of the Annapolis conference to be the formation of a "global coalition against Iran".
Thus, an editorial in the Jerusalem Post writes that "the process that Annapolis seeks to launch will be inherently conditional on Western success against the Iranian challenge ... The idea that holding an Arab-Israeli peace summit would be a setback for Iran is a valid one." The more liberal Ha'aretz went even further by stating the goal of the Annapolis conference to be the formation of a "global coalition against Iran".
Annals of Liberation: Killers and Extremists in the Pay of Petraeus: More news rolls in about the "successful tactics" being employed by the U.S. commandant in Iraq, General David Gaius Julius Petraeus. As we have noted here before, much of the relative drop in the death rate in the still-fertile killing fields of Iraq can be attributed to one of Petraeus' bold "counterinsurgency" innovations: surrendering whole swathes of territory to your enemy – and paying them handsomely for the privilege – in exchange for their promise not to kill your own troops for awhile.
Not since the Civil War days of George McClellan has an American general been so feted and trumpeted for his crushing defeats ... .
Of course, buying off your enemy is an ancient military tactic, and it certainly beats killing each other – and innumerable "collaterals" in the process. But Petraeus is not only paying terrorists and insurgents and death squadders to lay off the roadside bombs and sniper fire in the "Sunni Awakening" movement: he's giving them iron-fisted control over various walled enclaves, where – surprise, surprise! – they are lording it over the locals with brutal abandon, while American forces look the other way, or actively assist.
The latest report comes from the pro-war, Murdoch-owned Sunday Times: "American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq." . . .
Not since the Civil War days of George McClellan has an American general been so feted and trumpeted for his crushing defeats ... .
Of course, buying off your enemy is an ancient military tactic, and it certainly beats killing each other – and innumerable "collaterals" in the process. But Petraeus is not only paying terrorists and insurgents and death squadders to lay off the roadside bombs and sniper fire in the "Sunni Awakening" movement: he's giving them iron-fisted control over various walled enclaves, where – surprise, surprise! – they are lording it over the locals with brutal abandon, while American forces look the other way, or actively assist.
The latest report comes from the pro-war, Murdoch-owned Sunday Times: "American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq." . . .
On the lighter side . . .
Fox News and Georgia Congressman agree: Iraq 'surge' a 'substantial success,' 'absolutely working'
Fox News and Georgia Congressman agree: Iraq 'surge' a 'substantial success,' 'absolutely working'
Annapolis and the ‘merry-go-round’: It is being described as a “merry-go-round” peace process, because it keeps going round and round with actors going on and off, but doesn’t lead anywhere. It has new faces all the time but it does not move on substance.
Iraqi children bear the burden of an uncalled-for war: One child dies every five minutes because of the war, and many more are left with severe injuries. Of the estimated 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced in Iraq or left the country, 1.5 million are children. For the most part, they don't have access to basic health care, education, shelter or water and sanitation. They carry on their shoulders the tragic consequences of an uncalled for war.
At the same time, a variety of environmentally related chronic diseases are emerging among children because of their exposure to environmental contaminants. Many cases of congenital malformations and cancer among children are believed to be the consequence of exposure to chemicals and radioactive materials that have significantly increased during the war. And this without counting what is euphemistically called "collateral damage," the hundreds of children killed by roadside bombs, during suicide attacks or attacks by the occupation forces.
Despite all evidence, some political leaders continue to insist that the situation is improving ... .
At the same time, a variety of environmentally related chronic diseases are emerging among children because of their exposure to environmental contaminants. Many cases of congenital malformations and cancer among children are believed to be the consequence of exposure to chemicals and radioactive materials that have significantly increased during the war. And this without counting what is euphemistically called "collateral damage," the hundreds of children killed by roadside bombs, during suicide attacks or attacks by the occupation forces.
Despite all evidence, some political leaders continue to insist that the situation is improving ... .
Iraq forces better but not ready yet: U.S. general: About 77,000 Iraqis have signed up to the predominantly neighborhood police units.
The U.S. military has been paying their wages but U.S. Brigadier-General Edward Cardon said the Iraqi government, at first ambivalent towards the initiative, wanted to pay the "concerned local citizens" groups.
The U.S. military has been paying their wages but U.S. Brigadier-General Edward Cardon said the Iraqi government, at first ambivalent towards the initiative, wanted to pay the "concerned local citizens" groups.
Iraqis Detail Shooting by Guard Firm: Guards employed by Unity Resources Group, a security company responsible for the shooting deaths of two Iraqi women here Oct. 9, had shot and seriously wounded a man driving a van 3 1/2 months earlier on the same Baghdad thoroughfare, according to four witnesses.
The company that hired Unity, RTI International, a North Carolina-based firm that promotes democracy in Iraq . . . . (etc.)
The company that hired Unity, RTI International, a North Carolina-based firm that promotes democracy in Iraq . . . . (etc.)
Family blasts Iraqi newsman over claims they were killed
(See above, November 26, 2007 7:43 AM. I do not know what, in this case, is true.)
(See above, November 26, 2007 7:43 AM. I do not know what, in this case, is true.)
This news item sounded too obtuse.
Hence, I was reluctant to point it out.
The two sisters have both came out denying it.
I am not sure how, and why, this perculated.
Hence, I was reluctant to point it out.
The two sisters have both came out denying it.
I am not sure how, and why, this perculated.
Iraqi journalist who claims 11 relatives were killed challenges government denial of deaths: Dhia al-Kawaz, editor of the Jordan-based Aswat al-Iraq news agency, had said masked gunmen stormed the family home and killed two of his sisters, their husbands and their seven children as they ate breakfast. Al-Kawaz himself has lived outside Iraq for 20 years.
"I ask the spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh to let all of my family appear on TV," al-Kawaz told Al-Jazeera television.
"I ask the spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh to let all of my family appear on TV," al-Kawaz told Al-Jazeera television.
Arrest warrant for journalist who claimed family massacre: Members from the family denied the news and said they had repudiated al-Kawwaz for making the allegation, a source from the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) said on Wednesday.
"The observatory recognized this fact after contacting the family of Diaa al-Kawwaz and Kut Governor Adel al-Tarfa, who denied attending the funeral services allegedly held by al-Kawwaz in the city," a JFO source told VOI by phone.
The observatory further revealed that the funeral services allegedly held by al-Kawwaz for his family were for an old man called Hamid Khamees al-Aameri, who died in his house in Kut.
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"The observatory recognized this fact after contacting the family of Diaa al-Kawwaz and Kut Governor Adel al-Tarfa, who denied attending the funeral services allegedly held by al-Kawwaz in the city," a JFO source told VOI by phone.
The observatory further revealed that the funeral services allegedly held by al-Kawwaz for his family were for an old man called Hamid Khamees al-Aameri, who died in his house in Kut.
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