Conflict-Iraq

n News

Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, has been assassinated.
Saddam Hussein 'executed in Iraq'.
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging at an
unspecified location, reports say. Iraqi TV said the execution took place just before
0600 local time (0300GMT). It was witnessed by a doctor, lawyer and officials. It
was also filmed. US troops and Iraqi security forces are on high alert for any violent
backlash. Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November
after a year-long trial over the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town Dujail. Uruknet

Here, I offer my soul to God as a sacrifice, and if He wants, He will send it
to heaven with the martyrs, or, He will postpone that… so let us be
patient and depend on Him against the unjust nations. Saddam Hussein’s Final Letter.

Hanging Saddam.
The execution of Saddam Hussein is another grim chapter in the catalogue of war crimes perpetrated against the Iraqi people. It is a gratuitous act of barbarism devoid of justice. What right does Bush have to kill Saddam? What right does the author of Abu Ghraib, Falluja, Haditha and countless other atrocities have to pass judgment on the former leader of a nation which posed no threat to the United States? Let’s be clear, the lowliest, most ruthless Iraqi has more right to rule Iraq than the most upright American. That’s what’s meant by “self determination”. When we honor “self rule” we avoid bloody interventions like the invasion of Iraq. Bush believes that killing Saddam will achieve the “closure” which has eluded him through 4 years of occupation. But he is mistaken. Saddam’s death will only eliminate any opportunity for a political solution. Reconciliation will be impossible and Saddam will die as a hero. Is that what Bush wants? Or does Bush really know what he wants? Perhaps, he is just a war-mongering psychopath completely disconnected from reality. Capital punishment is a moral evil. The state never has the right to kill its own people regardless of their crimes; Saddam is no exception. But the premeditated murder of Saddam is particularly appalling, because it is stupid as well as unjust. It cuts off dialogue with the very people (the Ba’athist-led resistance) who need to be entered into the political process to achieve normalization. Bush is destroying his last chance for a negotiated settlement and paving the way for America’s total defeat. It’s complete madness. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, told the Times Online that “the deposed president could be hanged ‘within hours’” and that his death sentence would be executed by Saturday at the latest. Munir Haddad, the presiding judge on the appeals court, said, “All the measures have been done. There is no reason for delays.” Plans are already underway to film the entire event. It’s impossible to imagine a more fitting summary of 6 years of Bush rule than video-footage of Saddam’s limp figure dangling at the end of a rope. The pictures will no doubt replace the iconic photos of the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner who appeared in headlines across the world. The United States will pay a heavy price for Bush’s savagery. The war is already going badly and this latest travesty will only quicken America’s inevitable withdrawal. America has become a moral swamp, its leaders incapable of wisdom or mercy. Hanging Saddam only adds to our mutual disgrace and exposes the real face of American justice.
Mike Whitney. Uruknet Informationclearinghouse

A letter from Palestine.
Dear Friends; Just want to wish all of you the best Greetings of the season.
Last week our Jewish brothers celebrated the Festival of Lights, this week we
saw our Christian brothers celebrate their Christmas. On Saturday night the
Feast of the Sacrifice will begin for our Muslim brothers. A time of love for all
of us, a time to be united with families and loved ones. But this is not the case
in the Occupied Territories. Thousands of families are still divided, chaos runs
rampant in our streets, our children are dying....With Israels 'blessing, a large
quantity of arms and ammunition were just sent thought the border crossing...
the move was made 'in a effort to bolster Fatah affiliated groups'.... Is this
what Olmert sees as a peace initiative? Israel won't fire at Palestinians but will aid Palestinians to do it themselves??... Details

Another US crime in Ashaqi.
Eyewitnesses say that the US occupation forces committed a crime against
innocent people in Ishaqi. The occupation forces besieged the homes of
brothers Mohammed Hussein Jalmood and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmood,
opened fire on members of the two families in the early hours today, to
cover up the crime they air bombed the houses. People of the area who
rushed to the crime scene and removed the bodies from the rubble found
that all victims had been shot at close range, which confirms that they were
mass executed. About 32 martyrs were targeted by the American forces
intentionally among them 6 children and 8 women... Photographic evidence. Details

Olmert: Thank God for Dead Iraqis and U.S. Soldiers
On numerous occasions here, I have linked to Philip Zelikow’s remark that the Iraq "war" was launched in the name of Israel’s security, not because Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States, as our unitary decider and his minions have declared ad nauseam since the invasion. "Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I’ll tell you what I think the real threat (is) and actually has been since 1990—it’s the threat against Israel," said Zelikow, the Bush political hack who worked for the NSC, the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the September 11th whitewash commission, and the CIA, the latter as an official exonerator of politicized intelligence while at Harvard. Naturally, the corporate media did not bother to mention Zelikow’s remark about the invasion. In fact, when people say such things, they are usually considered antisemites... Kurt Nimmo. Details

The uncensored Anger Manifesto
I cannot sleep. My seething anger keeps my eyes wide open. But you are sleeping safely in your home, holding your partner or your child and you know in all probability that you will awake tomorrow. And tomorrow, you will open your eyes, step into your bathroom and you will find running water. You will fix yourself a coffee and you will find electricity, you will open your kitchen cupboard and you will find food. Then you will get dresse , and you have clothes for winter and if you catch the flu, you can always call up your doctor or run to a hospital. Hey, you can even take flowers to your beloved ones if they happen to fall il,or just check to make sure that the surgery of Uncle Tom was successful. Oh yes, you can afford to do so. And if you are walking about, you know that no bomb or bullet is going to blow you or blow your loved ones away. You will neither be kidnapped nor abducted never to be seen again (...) And when you are done with all of the above, you will go back to sleep in your cozy bed, switch the lights off and snore in total oblivion. All the way to that state you are so familiar with, all the way back into your usual comatose indifferent self. And we are still here,counting the minutes, the seconds and hoping we will taste life again. A life we had before you and your ilk took it all away...
Layla Anwar. Details

Iraqi Guerilla.
There is a tendency in the West to minimize the accomplishments of the Iraqi resistance, but no one can dispute the results. With limited arms and resources, they have out-flanked, out-maneuvered and thoroughly-confounded the best-trained, best-equipped, high-tech military war-machine the world has ever seen. That’s no mean achievement. I expect that many high-ranking American officers secretly admire their enemy’s effectiveness. They’ve waged an impressive battle under very thorny circumstances and they've persevered despite clear disadvantages in communications, logistics, firepower, propaganda, mobility and supplies. With the most primitive of weaponry and bomb-making equipment, they’ve gone nose-to-nose with the world’s only superpower and forced a stalemate. In truth, the Iraqi resistance has succeeded where the Congress, the United Nations, and the millions of peace-loving antiwar citizens across the globe failed; they stopped the Bush juggernaut dead in its tracks. Mike Whitney. Details

Kissinger: Iraq Military Win Impossible.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday: "Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq." Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the US regime must enter into dialogue with Iraq's regional neighbors - including the Islamic Republic of Iran - if progress is to be made in the region. But Kissinger, an architect of the Vietnam war who has advised President Bush about Iraq, warned against a rapid withdrawal of coalition troops. He said: "A dramatic collapse of Iraq - whatever we think about how the situation was created - would have disastrous consequences for which we would pay for many years." Irib Guardian

Iraqi Residents Welcome Resistance 'With Flowers'.
Women and children clap, men raise fists in the air and shout 'Allah Akbar.’ And two young men approach and hand the masked 'mujahideen’ a bouquet of flowers. The festive mood was supposed to be reserved to the U.S. 'liberation’ troops whose leaders believed before sending them to Iraqi hell that Iraqis would go out into the streets and welcome them with flowers and ululation. Conditions are totally the opposite of what the current Whitehouse and its leaders had in mind before embarking on their Iraq mission for the sale of which they used every trick and lie in the book. And look at their troops. U.S. occupation forces and their leaders and their lackeys are now the most despised in Iraq. U.S. 'liberation’ of Iraq is now seen as a deliberate U.S. attempt to destroy Iraq... Details

Study Claims Iraq's 'Excess' Death Toll Has Reached 655,000.
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred. The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government. It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.
The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war. Of the total 655,000 estimated "excess deaths," 601,000 resulted from violence and the rest from disease and other causes, according to the study. This is about 500 unexpected violent deaths per day throughout the country.
The survey was done by Iraqi physicians and overseen by epidemiologists at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings are being published online today by the British medical journal the Lancet. The same group in 2004 published an estimate of roughly 100,000 deaths in the first 18 months after the invasion. That figure was much higher than expected, and was controversial. The new study estimates that about 500,000 more Iraqis, both civilian and military, have died since then -- a finding likely to be equally controversial.
Both this and the earlier study are the only ones to estimate mortality in Iraq using scientific methods. The technique, called "cluster sampling," is used to estimate mortality in famines and after natural disasters. While acknowledging that the estimate is large, the researchers believe it is sound for numerous reasons. The recent survey got the same estimate for immediate post-invasion deaths as the early survey, which gives the researchers confidence in the methods. The great majority of deaths were also substantiated by death certificates.
"We're very confident with the results," said Gilbert Burnham, a Johns Hopkins physician and epidemiologist. A Defense Department spokesman did not comment directly on the estimate. "The Department of Defense always regrets the loss of any innocent life in Iraq or anywhere else," said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros. "The coalition takes enormous precautions to prevent civilian deaths and injuries." He added that "it would be difficult for the U.S. to precisely determine the number of civilian deaths in Iraq as a result of insurgent activity. The Iraqi Ministry of Health would be in a better position, with all of its records, to provide more accurate information on deaths in Iraq."
Ronald Waldman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for many years, called the survey method "tried and true," and added that "this is the best estimate of mortality we have." This viewed was echoed by Sarah Leah Whitson, an official of Human Rights Watch in New York, who said, "We have no reason to question the findings or the accuracy" of the survey. "I expect that people will be surprised by these figures," she said. "I think it is very important that, rather than questioning them, people realize there is very, very little reliable data coming out of Iraq." The survey was conducted between May 20 and July 10 by eight Iraqi physicians organized through Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. They visited 1,849 randomly selected households that had an average of seven members each. One person in each household was asked about deaths in the 14 months before the invasion and in the period after. The interviewers asked for death certificates 87 percent of the time; when they did, more than 90 percent of households produced certificates.
According to the survey results, Iraq's mortality rate in the year before the invasion was 5.5 deaths per 1,000 people; in the post-invasion period it was 13.3 deaths per 1,000 people per year. The difference between these rates was used to calculate "excess deaths." Of the 629 deaths reported, 87 percent occurred after the invasion. A little more than 75 percent of the dead were men, with a greater male preponderance after the invasion. For violent post-invasion deaths, the male-to-female ratio was 10-to-1, with most victims between 15 and 44 years old. Gunshot wounds caused 56 percent of violent deaths, with car bombs and other explosions causing 14 percent, according to the survey results. Of the violent deaths that occurred after the invasion, 31 percent were caused by coalition forces or airstrikes, the respondents said.
Burnham said that the estimate of Iraq's pre-invasion death rate -- 5.5 deaths per 1,000 people -- found in both of the Hopkins surveys was roughly the same estimate used by the CIA and the U.S. Census Bureau. He said he believes that attests to the accuracy of his team's results. He thinks further evidence of the survey's robustness is that the steepness of the upward trend it found in excess deaths in the last two years is roughly the same tendency found by other groups -- even though the actual numbers differ greatly. An independent group of researchers and biostatisticians based in England produces the Iraq Body Count. It estimates that there have been 44,000 to 49,000 civilian deaths since the invasion. An Iraqi nongovernmental organization estimated 128,000 deaths between the invasion and July 2005. The survey cost about $50,000 and was paid for by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies. Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
David Brown Washington Post Staff Writer, 10/11/06. "Washington Post" Informationclearinghouse

Iraq's Ramadi announce Sunni emirate.
By Mariam Karouny, REUTERS 9:53 a.m. October 18, 2006.
BAGHDAD – Dozens of al Qaeda-linked members took to the streets of Ramadi on Wednesday in a show of force to announce the city was joining an Islamic state comprising Iraq's mostly Sunni Arab provinces, Islamists and witnesses said. Witnesses in Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province, said gunmen dressed in white marched through the city as mosque loudspeakers broadcast the statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, a Sunni militant group led by al Qaeda in Iraq. 'We are from Mujahideen Shura Council and our Amir (Prince) is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. God willing we will set the law of Sharia here and we will fight the Americans,' said a man who identified himself as Abu Harith, a Mujahideen field leader. 'We have announced the Islamic state. Ramadi is part of it. Our state will comprise all the Sunni provinces of Iraq,' he told Reuters in a telephone interview. The group often claims responsibility for attacks against U.S.-led forces and the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.
Last week the Mujahideen Council announced the formation of the Mutayibeen Coalition to step up the fight against U.S.-led forces and urged Sunni Muslim tribal leaders to join. The coalition called for a separate Islamic state 'to protect our religion and our people, to prevent strife and so that the blood and sacrifices of your martyrs are not lost'. Abu Harith said the state would be headed by Amir Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a little-known militant. It would include Sunni areas of Baghdad, and the provinces of Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salaheddin, Nineveh and parts of Babil and Wasit. Iraq has 18 provinces. Wednesday's announcement could create tension among Sunni Arabs and could bring further conflict over who will control the Sunni Arab heartland. In Anbar, which makes up a third of Iraq's territory and is the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency, some Sunni tribal leaders have vowed to take on al Qaeda, which they accuse of imposing a harsh interpretation of Sunni Islam. Al Qaeda in Iraq opposes the U.S.-backed political process and calls Sunni officials taking part in parliament and government traitors. Another fighter who did not give his name said Ramadi was just the beginning and the rest of the provinces would follow. He said the Sunni Islamic state was a response to a decision last week by Iraq's Shi'ite-controlled parliament to pass a law that allows provinces to form federal regions. He said the law weakened the Sunnis. Some Shi'ite leaders want to create a region in the oil-rich Shi'ite heartland in the south. Sunni Arab political parties oppose federalism, saying it will lead to Iraq's break-up. 'We need to secure the rights of the Sunnis based on God's sharia,' he said, 'Who will dare to oppose God's sharia?' Video

Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq Declares the Establishment of the Islamic State in Iraq.
An 8:32 minute video was issued by the Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq, Sunday, October 15, 2006, declaring the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq. Depicted is the official spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq and from its “Ministry of Information,” dressed in white, seated in front of a flag bearing the banner, “No God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger”. A white circle obstructs viewing his face. A message introducing the video explains that the “state of the truth,” the state of Islam, has been created to protect the Sunni people, and will judge according to the Islamic Shari’a (law), using such as an aegis for the people, and to defend the religion. It also calls upon Muslims to provide financial support, men, and prayers.In the video, the spokesman indicates that the state was established by the Pact of the Scented People, due to the conditions the Sunni Muslims in Iraq were experiencing, such as crime and aggression. He states: “Your brothers announce the establishment of the Islamic State in Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, Ninawa, and in parts of the governorates of Babel and Wasit, in order to protect our religion and our people”. Further, the Mujahid delivers a special call to the tribal heads in Iraq, and to all Sunni Muslims in that country, to pledge loyalty to the “Emir of the Believers,” Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, by their adherence and obedience.
The Pact finds legitimacy in its action to establish the state by observing the Kurds creating their own country in the north of Iraq, and the Shi’ite taking the part of the center and south; and claiming that the Mujahideen in iraq are “invulnerable and tougher than the government of Palestine,” the State of Iraq was formed. To the enemy Western forces and “malicious” Shi’ites, the State of Iraq promises to face them with unlimited response and will not relinquish Baghdad unless it is over their ruins and skulls. A special appeal is also sent to the Islamic scholars, urging for support and to inspire the Muslim people to defend them.
The statement is issued in the name of the Pact of the Scented Peopl e [Khalf al-Mutayibeen], which was established by the Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq on Thursday, October 12, 2006, and includes representatives from the Council, the Conquering Army [Jeish al-Fatiheen], Army Squad of the Prophet Muhamma d[Jund al-Sahaba], Brigades of al-Tawhid Wal Sunnah, and Sunni tribes. The individual speaking in the State of Iraq establishment video is dressed in the same manner as those members of the Pact. Siteinstitute

Nine huge transport planes ferry American casualties to al-Habbaniyah airbase from devastating Tuesday night (10 th October) Resistance strike on US Falcon arsenal, indicating heavy American losses. US claims “no casualties,” but Iraqi regime evacuates 90 injured puppet troops to ar-Ramadi hospital. Remains of US Falcon arsenal described as “burned out wasteland with no buildings.” US helicopters continue to dump water on site Wednesday to extinguish last flames. Puppet officials estimate US losses could exceed US$1 billion. Iraqi puppet army orders two regiments to move to southern Baghdad to fill gap left by decimated American troops. (11.10.06) Albasrah Aljazeera Video

The Next Phase of the Middle East War.
Israel's war on Lebanon is an integral part of a US sponsored "military
roadmap". The war on Lebanon, which has resulted in countless
atrocities including the destruction of the nation's economy and civilian
infrastructure, is " a stage" in a sequence of carefully planned military
operations. Lebanon constitutes a strategic corridor between Israel and
North-western Syria. The underlying objective of this war was the
militarization of Lebanon, including the stationing of foreign troops,
as a precondition for carrying out the next phase of a broader military
agenda. Formally under a UN mandate, the foreign troops to be
stationed on Lebanese soil on the immediate border with Syria, are
largely although not exclusively from NATO countries. This military
force mandated by the UN Security Council is by no means neutral.
It responds directly to US and Israeli interests. Moreover, the timely
withdrawal of Syrian troops, following the February 2005 assassination
of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has contributed to opening up a
"new space". The withdrawal of Syrian troops served Israel. The timely
pullout was of strategic significance, it certainly was a major factor in
the timing and planning of the July 2006 IDF attacks on Lebanon. In the
aftermath of the Israeli bombings and the "ceasefire", UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, drafted by France and the US in close consultation with the Israeli government, has paved the way for the militarization of Lebanon, under a bogus UN mandate. In turn the US sponsored aerial bombardments directed against Iran could contribute to triggering a ground war characterized by Iranian attacks directed against coalition troops in Iraq. In turn, Israeli forces would enter into Syria. An attack on Iran would have a direct impact on the resistance movement inside Iraq. It would also put pressure on America's overstretched military capabilities and resources in both the Iraqi and Afghan war theaters. In other words, the shaky geopolitics of the Central Asia- Middle East region, the three existing war theaters in which America is currently, involved, the direct participation of Israel and Turkey, the structure of US sponsored military alliances, etc. raises the specter of a broader conflict. The war against Iran is part of a longer term US military agenda which seeks to militarize the entire Caspian sea basin, eventually leading to the destabilization and conquest of the Russian Federation. Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research.

The following texts by Michel Chossudovsky provide detailed analysis of the US war plans:
Triple Alliance": The US, Turkey, Israel and the War on Lebanon 2006-08-06
The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil - 2006-07-26
Israeli Bombings could lead to Escalation of Middle East War - 2006-07-15
Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust? - 2006-02-22
The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear War - 2006-02-17
Nuclear War against Iran - 2006-01-03
Israeli Bombings could lead to Escalation of Middle East War - 2006-07-15
Iran: Next Target of US Military Aggression - 2005-05-01
Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran - 2005-05-01

Iraq war takes longer than WW II.
The USA war in Iraq longer, than they took part in the second world war, approximately 1244 days. America took part in the second world war since December, 11th, 1941 after Germany and Italy have declared, that they in a condition of war from the USA, till May, 8th, 1945, this day Winston Cherchil has officially declared the end of war with Germany. Intrusion into Iraq has begun on March, 20th 2003 when the USA have first air impact to Bagdad. On August, 15th 2006 United States are able to war in Iraq longer, than in war with Germany in the Second world war. Intrusion into Iraq has begun after the expiration of 48-hour term allocated to Saddam Hussein that it has left Iraq.

Despite of concealment of the facts by the Ministry of Defence of the USA, the Iraq news agency informs on destruction more than 12 thousand American soldiers in Iraq. Details

By bombing the highways and main bridges into Beirut, Israel has cut
off the capital from the outside world and put the entire nation under
siege. Israel can now execute its plan to pummel Lebanon into rubble
without the threat of foreign intervention. The north has been effectively
severed from the south allowing the IDF to continue its ethnic cleansing
operations as well as its search-and-destroy missions for Hezbollah
fighters. They have meticul! ously destroyed all the main points of entry
at the Syrian border and blockaded the coastline. Israel believes that
their earlier occupation (which ended in year 2000) failed due to the
unrestricted flow of supplies and weaponry from Syria and Iran. The
Bush administration has assisted this effort by providing crucial
intelligence from the NSA about the movement of material from the
outside. By now, it should be apparent that Israel’s military campaign
has nothing to do with Hezbollah’s capturing of the 2 Israeli soldiers
on July 14. The present plan, which was drawn up more than a year
ago (and which high-ranking members of the Bush administration were
fully briefed) is designed to establish a new northern border for Israel
at the Litani River and create an "Israel-friendly" regime in Beirut. The
plan to annex the land south of the Litani River dates back to the
founding of the Jewish state when Israel’s first Prime Minister David
Ben Gurion described the country’s futu! re borders this way: "To the
north the Litani River, the south! ern bord er will be pushed into the Sinai, and to the east, the Syrian Desert, including the furthest edge of Transjordan... Details. See Map of post WW1 Zionist plan for region.

What kind of weapons cause this kind of damage? Do you know? Could you find
out? None of this is confirmed, or could be here and now. However, there are
growing doubts that Israel might be using internationally forbidden weapons in its
current aggression against Lebanon. News from "Southern Medical Center",
a hospital in Saida (in South Lebanon) are not good. Dr. Bashir Sham, member
of "French Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons", explains that the way the
corps look when they reach the hospital, especially those of the air strikes
in Doueir and Rmayleih, is very abnormal." One might think they were burnt, but
their colour is dark, they're inflated, and
they have a terrible smell" All this , and the hair is not burnt nor do the bodies
bleed. Eight of the victims of an air strike on Rmayleih bridge, near Saida, on the
15th of July, were transferred to Sham's hospital. Sham says that only chemical
poisonous substances "lead to instant death without bleeding". And what indicates
the power of these substances, is the high and unusual of number of dead
victimes, compared to the number of injuries. Sham thinks that whatever
"abnormal" substance causing these features might penetrate through the skin,
or another explanation would be that the missiles contained toxic gas that
stopped the proper functioning of the nervous system, and led to blood clotting.
These toxic materials cause immediate death, within two to thirty minutes,
according to Sham, who admits that these doubts can't be proven, not even by
an autopsy. The director of the same medical center, Ali Mansour, says that due
to the strong smell of the corps, he couldn't breath properly for at least 12 hours
after the corps were handled. He explains that the center received eight bodies
from Rmeileh last Monday, and none of them was bleeding. Mansour tells us the
hospital wrote to both the commissioner of the European Union for Foreign
Affaires Javier Solana, and the United Nations Secretary general Kofi Anan. He
said that dr Sham will communicate his doubts to the Doctors Order in Lebanon.
Details

THEN & NOW.
More than three years have passed since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. According to U.S. predictions, by now Iraq should have been up-and-running with its infrastructure repaired and modernized and the oil spigots would be flowing at such a rate that Iraq would have paid for its own reconstruction and foreign entities would be raking in the cash from oil sales. Iraqi citizens would be living in a democracy and they would be awash with consumer items that they could only hav! e dreamed about in the past. We now know that these were fairy tales. Unemployment in Iraq is over 50%. Electricity is available in Baghdad for about four hours a day. Safe drinking water is almost non-existent. People have been forced to sort through garbage to find food. The most powerful country on Earth, with billions of dollars to spend, has left Iraq in shambles. Many Iraqis are now calling the embargo years, "The Golden Years," compared to post-invasion Iraq... Malcom Lagauche. Details

No comparison between freedom-fighters and occupying-oppressors. A lot of people are protesting George W. Bush's Genghis-Khan-like war on Iraq and Afghanistan. Even those who have not been outspoken about the invasion and occupation speak under their breath about the wrongdoing and injustice of conducting Israel-First aggression. Iraqis punctuate the intolerable abuse by boycotting the puppet-elections sought to be imposed upon them. However, I have overheard and been angered by comparisons between the Iraq-Afghanistan invasion and the Vietnam War. What may have been misunderstood is that the present atrocity is in no wise acquainted with Vietnam. And, so-called soldiers, who humiliate and murder sovereign-citizens and freedom-fighters, are unfit to be likened to American youth, who proudly beat back Ho Chi Minh's Red invaders. President Ngo Dinh Diem was faced with invading forces from North Vietnam, bent upon forcing his freedom-loving country to become a puppet of Red China. Diem asked for assistance from Americans, to repulse the invasion. Saddam Hussein, on the other hand, was faced with no such invasion and had asked for no such assistance. In fact, Hussein had gone to great lengths to repulse efforts by the White House to assassinate him, embargo his food-supplies, impose "no-fly" zones and interfere in the internal affairs of his country. President Mullah Omar had, even, repulsed an invasion by Russians. Afghanistan and Iraq were among of the most anti-Communist nations in the entire world. Diem, Hussein and Omar were all democratically elected. I truly empathize with the Islamic Jihadists, who are fighting and resisting an alien invasion. They are not the "oppressors" or "criminals" which Bush would make them out to be. The Jihad can no more be likened to the Viet Cong than whites can to Negroes. The people of Afghanistan and Iraq simply want their land and lives back. To be compared to Vietnam, Iraqis would have had to have asked Americans to help repulse incursions from Iran or Afghans would have had to have asked for help to repulse the Russians. And, our soldiers would have to be fighting on the side of the people, not bombing, strafing and assassinating them. Bush's puppet-elections are as "democratic" as East Germany and as consigned to the dumpster of history as Communism. We stepped up involvement in Vietnam when North Vietnamese attacked our fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin. But, we were never attacked by Iraq or Afghanistan. There is no comparison. 9-11 was a retaliation, brought on by radicals who objected to Oval Office support for Israel and atrocities against the Palestinians. Bush had deafened his ears to all cries by the outcast and oppressed. Only the bankers and oil-men were heard. However, even Bush's henchmen have admitted, finally, that there is no evidence that Hussein or Omar had anything to do with 9-11. Omar had simply stood up for the sovereignty of his nation by refusing to extradite Osama bin Laden, without some proof of some offense. Hussein simply maintained a pro-Palestinian policy, much like Ronald Reagan carried on in behalf of the Contras. Andrew L. Pearson. Details

When Soldiers Refuse to Fight: Is the US Army Trying to Silence Lt. Watada?
US Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada says, "I've come to believe this is an illegal and an immoral war, and the order to have us deploy to Iraq is unlawful. I won't follow this order and I won't participate in something I believe is wrong." On Wednesday, June 7th, Lieutenant Watada became the first commissioned officer to publicly announce his refusal to deploy to Iraq. He said, "The war in Iraq violates our democratic system of checks and balances. The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people with only limited accountability is not only a terrible moral injustice, but a contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land Warfare." The very next day, Watada's commanding officers read him his rights. They opened an investigation into Lieutenant Watada's alleged violations of Articles 133 and 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ): conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and making "contemptuous" statements against the president, respectively."I think I'm being watched very closely," Lieutenant Watada says. "But I'm still going to speak out. This isn't going to stop me." Despite the extra scrutiny, Watada says he doesn't regret his decision to publicly denounce the war. Legrand Jones is a member of Watada's legal defense team and says the lieutenant's statements are well within his rights. "Just because you join the military doesn't mean you give up the first amendment." Jones says the Army's efforts are simply intimidation tactics.(14.06.06)
Details www.thankyoult.org Details www.uruknet.info

Genocide is a political term completely devoid of meaning. When Colin Powell first made his claim that genocide was taking place in Sudan the most reliable figures showed that approximately 98,000 people had been killed in Darfur. At the same time the UK’s most-respected medical journal Lancet estimated that 100,000 Iraqis (mostly civilians) had been killed in the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. That was in 2004.Recent estimates put that figure at 250! ,000 to 300,000. So, which country was really undergoing genocide; Sudan; with a population of 48 million or Iraq with a population of 25 million? It’s clear that Iraq, in terms of population, suffered at least 4 times the number of casualties as Sudan although the term genocide has never appeared in any western newspaper nor will it... Mike Whitney. Details

The Billion-Dollar Baghdad Embassy. That's the estimate, though only half of it has been appropriated so far, a billion dollars to build a new embassy in Iraq . It will be the largest on the globe, the largest the world has ever seen, the size of Vatican City in Italy . U.S. embassies typically cover ten acres. This one, a 104-acre complex, will be comprised of 21 buildings, its own water wells, an electricity plant and wastewaster-treatment facility that makes the huge compound completely independent of Iraq , whose "interim government" sold the land to the U.S. in October 2004. Terms of the agreement do not appear to be readily accessible. The massive compound will include two major diplomatic office buildings, homes for the ambassador and his deputy, apartment buildings for staff, and a recreational facility that will provide a swimming pool, gym, commissary, food court and American Club. In this case, the devil is less in the details than in the monumental size and cost of the endeavor. The likeness to a small fortified city is frightening to those who object to a permanent presence of the U.S. in Iraq, already destroyed by American bombs and depleted uranium, and the core of such fear lies in the question of WHY the U.S., already dangerously in debt back home and dangerously despised in Iraq and most of the mideast, is pounding its chest with such a noisy bravado. Is this the finale of "Shock and Awe"? Those working in the embassy-city are protected by extraordinary security, overseen by U.S. Marines. Structures will be reinforced to 2.5 times the standard. There will be five high-security entrances as well as an emergency entrance/exit, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. (19.04.06) Details