US Bases in Iraq: Part I: Baghdad
Some of this article partially updated 06/06/2008..
The deliberate
obfuscation of permanent
bases in Iraq by the US and UK governments illustrates the myth of "freedom
of information." Many of the US bases in Iraq already have, or are now
building, facilities which will keep the US government – if not the Iraqi
people – happy for the foreseeable future.
US Bases in Iraq will be
a researched study of the possible ‘permanent’ bases1 which
have been mentioned in various articles over the last three years. All bases
had/have US names, as if they were next door to Walmart in Washington, D.C.
- crass insensitivity to the rest of the world’s right to existence.
Part I contains research of the US bases in and around Baghdad Airport.
1. Baghdad
International Airport Complex: (Camp Sather, Camp Dublin, Camp Stryker,
Camp Griffin, Log Base Seitz, Camp Thunder, Camp Cropper, Camp Nama
2. The
Palace Complex: Camp Victory, Camp Slayer, Abu Ghraib Palace Complex,
Camp Cobra
3. Camp
Victory, FOB Justice
4. The
Green Zone
5. UPDATES ;
5.1 The
War on Terror;
5.2 About
Iraqis;
5.3 Oil;
5.4 Contracts;
5.5 Contractors;
5.6 Trooops
in Iraq (Please see US
Troops)
5.7 Bases:
Green Zone, Muthana;
5.8 The
War Drags On (& Wolfovitz snags);
5.9 Media
and More Videos;
5.10 Prisons:
Camp Cropper, Abu Ghraib, Camp Nama;
5.11 Human
Rights;
5.12 Some
Deaths (Saddam, Matty Hull, Others); Future Deaths: DU
THE BAGHDAD
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT COMPLEX
“Baghdad International Airport (formerly Saddam International Airport) has
been refurbished and repaired as part of a $17.5 million contract from USAID
to SkyLink to rebuild Iraqi airports in Baghdad, Basr and Mosul.” A new Burger
King caters for American
troops at the airport.
The airport has two runways. The airport terminal and ONE runway have now
been handed over to the Iraqi government. The second runway is still
controlled by the US for its military traffic. In 10.04, Parsons received
a contract for the construction of “buildings near Baghdad airport.”2 Custer
Battles was recently found to
be liable for fraud concerning a $16m contract for securing Baghdad airport.
“Route Irish”, which connects Baghdad airport to central Baghdad, is
considered “one of the most dangerous roads
in the world.” The Italian journalist, Giuliana
Sgrena, was wounded here in 2005, whilst her security guard, Calipari,
was murdered. Their case remains unresolved.
In November ’05, a video appeared
on the web showing Iraqi civilian cars 'allegedly' being shot at by Aegis
Defence Services members … a practice known previously by the Pentagon, it
is reported. AEGIS,3 run
by CEO Tim Spicer, is a “British firm responsible for a $293 million U.S.
Army security contract in Iraq.” Also in November, this firm was named as
‘Small Consultancy Firm of the Year’ for its ‘Operation Matrix.’ Aegis has
been under contract to the US Department of Defense since June 2004. The
Aegis 2006 Terrorism and Geopolitical Instability Report costs
£4,800 plus VAT, should you wish a copy.
Iraq’s Interior Minister, Bayan
Jabr Solagh, said, in a report dated 12.04.06, that death squads
responsible for sectarian killings in Iraq are not linked to the government
but to private security forces.
Bodies of Armed Men, backed with
extensive reference material, is a very interesting essay on the various
security firms working in Iraq.4 Readhere.
+
Around Baghdad airport, there are several US camps which will presumably be
dismantled and incorporated into Camp Victory and Camp Liberty. These small
camps are: Camp Sather, Camp
Dublin, Camp Slayer, Camp
Stryker, Camp Victory and
Logistics Base Seitz. There are also two known detention facilities: Camp
Nana (now said to be closed) and Camp
Cropper.
Camp Sather, photo David Warner
Camp Sather
Master Sgt. Gerald
Johnson, an Air Expeditionary Group fire chief said, “As
long as there are aircraft and the people to keep them flying, we will be
here."
13005 airmen
lived / worked at this dusty ‘temporary’ base at the West side of Baghdad
International Airport in 2003. The Air Force's air-conditioned tent camp
lies within 300 yards of an extremely active flightline. It is inside a
larger Army-controlled area. There are trained dogs here, as well as a movie
theatre, washers and driers, popcorn machines, air conditioned SUVs, a
broadband satellite internet service and a chapel. There is also (2004) an operating
theatre in conjunction with
the 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron. Doctors sleep in flak jackets.
There is a smaller EMEDS unit designed “to travel with the attacking front …
Its entire operating room packs up into one pallet and five backpacks, to be
carried by a five-member surgical team … The (30 member) unit’s roster
included nurses and flight surgeons, an emergency room physician and
specialists including a clinical psychologist, orthopedist and anesthetist…
The group was responsible for the medical care of the almost 2,000 Air Force
personnel based at the camp.”
According to a newly
arrived soldier, Camp Sather and Camp Victory are "hardly more than a
stone's throw apart, but because of a lake and road conditions, it takes
about 20 minutes to get from one to the other." Service men based at Camp
Sather are not allowed to leave the airport for Baghdad, or anywhere else.
“Members of the SWAT team from Karbala pull
suspected “terrorists” from a commercial bus during a training exercise
Monday at Camp Dublin, near the Baghdad International Airport.”
Camp Dublin
Parsons was contracted in
11/04 for the construction of training facilities and for the procurement
and construction of a shooting house and staging buildings; and in 12/04 for
“site preparation, road and groundwork,” as well as for a water supply
system and the procurement and installation of an electrical system.
In 2004, “the U.S. military’s Civilian
Police Assistance Training Teambegan rigorous training programs to
establish specialized police teams in three areas: Special Weapons and
Tactics (SWAT), emergency response, and dignitary protection, similar to
functions carried out by the U.S. Secret service. The training team also is
responsible for organizing, training, equipping and mentoring the entire
Iraqi police force.” Black masks are ‘de rigour.’ Iraqi drop out rate is
high.
The suicide of
U.S. Army Col. Ted Westhusing was reported at Camp Dublin.
Camp Stryker, FOB Morgan is
10 miles from central Baghdad, and is a base for paratroopers. Reporter Paul
McCleary wrote that it “is a
place where travel plans go to die … (and said that) Fox News is the only
thing carried on military televisions here.” Lindsey
Hilsum of Channel 4 News
said, “I feel that I have lived in limbo forever.”
“The 48th Brigade Combat Team’s headquarters here is considered the low-rent
district,” wrote David
Herschman. With a lighter note than the above reporters, he wrote:
“There’s food provided by KBR — not Army cooks — and it’s excellent ... The
tents have full-time electricity and wood-framed doors that cut down on dust
and allow soldiers to walk in and out without crouching. There’s Internet
access around the clock and AT&T phone service. Indian barbers charge $3 for
a haircut, and that includes a neck-snapping chiropractic adjustment.”
The US frown on hiring Iraqis. “Teams of Asian
men, mostly hired by Kellogg, Root and Brown, clean the latrines and
showers, fix electrical problems, cook the food in the chow hall and run the
laundry, recreation facility and the local PX.” For this, one day a month
holiday, without pay, is allowed.
Camp Griffin, photo by “Sir Duck”
Camp Griffin is responsible
for radar in the northern 2/3rds of Iraq. (UK responsible for 1/3rd S.
Iraq). There is much more information on Camp Griffin in the US civil war
than there is on this camp in Iraq.
Log
Base Seitz, photo Z. Pollon
The helicopter is hovering over Abu Ghraib prison
Log Base Seitz
N. side of BI Airport. "The Pacesetters and their subordinate units provide
supplies, maintenance, fuel, water, showers, laundry, and transportation
support to the thousands of soldiers in and around Baghdad, Iraq."
A woman journalist, Zellie
Pollen, blogged about her experiences at Log Base Seitz. “Log Base Seitz
was established when relations between Americans and Iraqis were still good
enough that soldiers wandered into the town of Abu Ghraib for supplies, they
ate in Iraqi restaurants and talked to Iraqis on the streets. Those days are
long gone. Now the logistical base is considered by some disgruntled
soldiers as a mortar magnet and a buffer zone for the much larger Camp
Victory right next door … The worst times are when I stand and listen, over
the generators, trucks and soldier noise, to the call to prayer outside the
base walls. I can’t reach that Iraq right now, and I know that no one inside
could even understand why I would want to ... They have no understanding of
Iraqis or Iraqi culture outside of framing them as killers and “heathens.”
And why would they?” It is a good blog, written with much integrity. Read
it.
Camp
Thunder, photo A/4101Avn
Camp Thunder
W. Baghdad, a short distance from Abu Ghraib. No info except
- two released Abu Ghraib prisoners spoke from here, and
- Chinook and Black Hawks were fired upon at the Camp Thunder assembly
area during ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ (sic).
Camp Cropper
This ‘High Value Detention (HVD) Site’ is a “holding compound surrounded by
razor wire. 5 detainees were wounded here following a riot. In August 2005,
a new compound was being built. “It will consist of four pads, each
approximately 400 by 400 feet and will increase detainee capacity from 163
to 2,000.”
According to Robert
Fisk, Amnesty International was refused permission to visit Camp
Cropper, where Qais al-Salman was taken to a canvas room with up to 130
prisoners. He was beaten.
A Human
Rights First October ’05
Report, 27
Detainee Homicides in US Custody, includes the death of a Camp
Cropper detainee, Mohammad Munim al-Izmerly, a 65-year-old chemical
scientist. The autopsy found that Izmerly died from a “sudden hit to the
back of his head.” It was discovered, according to the BRussels
Tribunal list of killed Iraqi
academics, that US doctors had made a 20cm incision in his skull. The US
Army dismissed a wrongful death claim, saying “the family had presented no
evidence of wrongdoing by the US.”
Human Rights First also details the death of Dilar
Dababa, an approximately 45-year-old Iraqi civilian detainee, (who) died
on June 13, 2003 at Camp Cropper, after being subjected to what press
accounts of unreleased Army investigation records describe as “physical and
psychological stress” and restraint in a chair during interrogation.
Military investigation documents cite an autopsy finding that Dababa died
from a “hard, fast blow to the head.”
"The torture inside
this camp leads you sometimes to wish you were dead," said an exiled
ex-detainee who was fearful of speaking lest his family in Iraq were harmed.
For Saddam's execution, see Camp Justice, also in 'Updates.'
(See Barton, under Camp Slayer, below)
“Task Force 134 hopes to have some 3,600 Iraqi staff for its three jails
trained and ready by the end of this year,” Maj. General Jack Gardnersaid.
"By then Baghdad's Abu Ghraib should have closed and most of its 4,300
inmates moved to a site nearby at the high-security Camp Cropper.”
Camp Nama
The ‘Black Room’ was revealed, and reported to higher authorities as early
as 08.03, as a centre for abuse. The New
York Times uncovered the
grim details on 20.03.06. CentCom has refused to release Brigadier Gen.
Formica’s military inquiry into prisoner abuse. Camp Nama was closed in
summer 2004, and Task Force 6-26, renamed, was moved to Balad.6There
are more torture rooms yet to be revealed. “Defense Department personnel
briefed on the unit's operations said the harsh treatment extended beyond
Camp Nama to small field outposts in Baghdad, Falluja, Balad, Ramadi and
Kirkuk.”
Report of torture at Baghdad
Airport detention centre.
8.4.04. Yahoo. Iraqi
prisoners vanishing in 'black hole': Blair envoy
06.06. Human Rights Watch. Task Force 20/121/6-26/145 Camp Nama, Baghdad."No
Blood, No Foul:" Soldiers' Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq.
The
Palace Complex (airport in white, top centre)
Global Security writes: “There is some considerable confusion on the part of
Western intelligence concerning the most appropriate nomenclature for the
palace complex that envelopes the airport to the South, East and North. In
the DoD Briefing on Iraqi Denial and Deception of Oct. 8, 2002 the
Radwaniyah presidential palace was said to be the extensive complex to the
East and North of the Airport. Subsequently, the NIMA map of Baghdad assigns
this nomenclature to the much smaller palace complex to the South of the
Airport. This map assigns the name Abu Ghurayb to the palace to the East of
the Airport, while the palace to the North of the Airport is termed
"Presidential Palace North" -- otherwise known as the Qasr Al-Faw Palace. “
Al
Faw Palace
Al - Faw Palace, with lake - once privately owned by Saddam Hussein and now
privately occupied by the US - is on the grounds of the Palace Complex. It
has a conference centre, pool and 62 rooms - soldiers’ socks can be seen
drying in the windows. Very
Important People come here
and talk about “good news.”
US Camp Victory –
al-Nasr, Baghdad has been named as one of the possible future permanent
bases in Iraq. It is around 5km from Baghdad International Airport, and 15
minutes from central Baghdad.
Kellogg Root and Brown7 (KRB
– a subsidiary of Halliburton) were contracted to supply modular buildings
to house dining, living and administrative rooms and install electricity and
plumbing. The Pegasus Dining Facility also has “a short-order grill, salad,
pizza, sandwich and ice cream bars; … a Burger King stand, and a PX (04.04)
which offers … televisions, gas grills, A/C units, microwave ovens, women's
thong underwear and condoms. “ There are also “internet cafes, weight rooms
and basketball courts.”
Camp Slayer
“A former Iraqi government palace and amusement complex near the Baghdad
airport, featuring man-made lakes filled with carp, was transformed into a
logistics and operations base for US intelligence and weapons-hunting teams.
The camp has also hosted US eavesdropping and other classified operations.
Most of the 1,200 or so troops that have been based here, plus CIA and FBI
officials, covert Special Forces teams, civilian experts and others, camp in
two dozen or so garish guest houses that line three artificial lakes … As of
mid-2004, troops stationed at Camp Slayer had access to running water,
functional toilets and showers … and … had access to the internet.”
Rod Barton was sent to Iraq. “At the almost daily briefings at Camp Slayer,
the photographs of newly inducted Cropper inmates
were regularly displayed.” Details here.
For 52 photographs, see here.
Abu Ghraib (Ghurayb) Palace Complex
Camp Cobra
East of the airport, it “is a chief meeting ground for military and civilian
officials and dignitaries.” Self-sufficient medical aid station, satellite
internet.
Camp Liberty – al Tahreer is another camp mentioned as a US “permanent”
base.
Camp
al Tahreer dining facility
This camp was once Saddam Hussein’s hunting grounds. The wetlands,
presumably home to wildlife, are now gravel. KGB was ‘awarded’ the contract
here, too. The Camp is VERY large and divided into three 'cells': Camp
Blackjack, West Life Support Area (LSA), and Division LSA. Each has a “new
chapel, Moral Recreation and Welfare building, PX shoppette, barber shop,
internet café, gym, basketball courts and volleyball arenas,” etc. The Camp
can be occupied by around 14,000 troops living in an enormous Trailer Park.
The largest PX (opened ’04) in Iraq is here. “As of June 2004, Gulf Catering
Co. was reported to be the contractor in charge of catering the thrice-daily
meals to soldiers stationed at Camp Victory North, inside a massive
air-conditioned and new dining facility equipped with two wide-screen
televisions.”
In 06.04, Camp Victory North Legal Services Center and Courthouse opened. It
houses “a courtroom and enough office space for the Military Justice,
Administration, Legal Assistance, and Claims sections.”
The Mother Jones report by Joshua
Hammer in 2005 said this base
was the size of a “small American city.”
FOB Justice
This is in the center of Kadhimiya, Baghdad. This 01.05 article said that
about 2000 Iraqis worked here. They served food, interpreted, ran internet
cafes, and did maintenance work. In 03.05, Global
Security gave more detailed
information. FOB Justice was “the headquarters of the Public Order Forces
(POF), and held about 250 prisoners. …The POF has a history of torture and
abuse and conditions for prisoners (who had no recourse to legal appeal)
were said to be poor." In 05.05, “the administrative duties were transferred
to Iraqi forces." As of 09.05, there were “4,000 Iraqi members and 250 U.S.
advisors … There have been problems in electrical wiring, ammunition
supplies mortar damage repair, sewage system difficulties and poor quality
sleeping quarters.”
See 'Appendix" below. See also 'Camp Cropper' (above; in 'updates') where S.
Hussein was kept until execution at Camp 'Justice."
The Green Zone
Parsons was contracted to build “T
Walls” in 11.04. In the
summer of 2005, a Kuwaiti firm was ‘awarded’ the $592m contract for the new
US embassyin Baghdad, to be completed by 2007. Built to withstand
attack, this Ozymandius on the Tigris, composed of a cluster of 21
buildings, will have “a gym, swimming pool, barber and beauty shops, a food
court and a commissary. In addition to the main embassy buildings, there
will be a large-scale US Marine barracks, a school, locker rooms, a
warehouse, a vehicle maintenance garage, and six apartment buildings with a
total of 619 one-bedroom units. Water, electricity and sewage treatment
plants will all be independent from Baghdad's city utilities. The total site
will be two-thirds the area of the National Mall in Washington, DC.” It will
be the largest US embassy in the world. For that reason, I have included
this US Embassy in Baghdad amongst US Bases in Iraq.
For an honest view of the Green Zone and military facilities around Baghdad
airport, read the Daily
Iraqi Cheese Grader
It is possible that the US might give up some of the smaller tented Forward
Operating Bases surrounding the Baghdad International Airport. It seems
highly probable that they will keep their grasp on the imperial palaces and
expanding US bases within this area for the foreseeable future. These bases
could thus be seen as “permanent.”
Baghdad
Airport Signal
+
Camp Falcon-al-Sarqare discussed fully inhttp://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/usuk-bases-in-iraq-part-ii-south.html">US
Bases in Iraq, II.
Source Material:
Of paramount importance in the research of US
Bases in Iraq is John
Pike's website, www.globalsecurity.org,
which forms the bedrock of this research. Within this site, there is a
treasure trove, from which one can search for further information: Military
Facilities. Permission by John Pike was given for the use of his
excellent site.
Other information comes from various websites by ‘embeds’ and bloggers.
Bloggers tend to give a more personal approach to the US bases in Iraq.
Footnotes
[1] al-Asad; al Qayyara;
al-Taji; Balad Air Base (Camp Anaconda); Bashur; Camp Falcon-Al-Sarq
(Baghdad); Camp Fallujuh; Camp Marez; Mosul Airfield; Camp Renegade
(Kirkuk); Camp Speicher; Camp Victory/al-Nasr & Camp Liberty / al-Tahreer
(Baghdad); (Tikrit); H1, H2, H3; Post Freedom (Mosul); Tallil; Salmon North
(Nasiriyah); 3 unknown, one between Irbil & Kirkuk; Al Sahra.
[2] Of interest: cost
accounting standards and “foreign Proposal Insurance Questionaire” by AIG
Worldsource at this url.
[3] Aegis has acquired
Rubicon Int. services and will now also have offices in Saudi Arabia,
Afghanistan and the USA. The company expects continued growth in revenues.
[4] US outsourcing Special
Operations in Iran and Somalia
[5] 750 in Autumn ’05,
according to Global Security.
[6] See Torture
and Task Force 121
[7] KRB contract value: $4.5
billion for US base construction and maintenance.
APPENDIX TO IRAQ BASES
1. The War on Terror
See: Totalitarianism
and Obedience, Index Research (13.02.07) by Sarah Meyer. Extended with
articles about totalitarianism in both US and UK
Secret report: Terror threat worst since 9/11
25.02.07. S. Rayment, Sunday Telegraph.
Seven Countries In Five Years, Audio and transcript
An interview with General Wesley Clark. “This is a memo that describes how
we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq,
and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I
said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.
Bush War on Terror Draws Fire as Misguided Venture
29.03.07. D. Morgan, Reuters / Truthout. Five-and-a-half years after the
September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush's war on terrorism has
emerged as a wasteful, misguided exercise that poses its own threat to U.S.
national security, experts say. . A growing number of analysts and former
U.S. officials say the global war on terrorism has undermined U.S. influence
abroad, forced onerous costs in American lives and money in Iraq, and
unleashed a huge government spending spree that has often funded projects
unrelated to national security. . It has also produced a climate of fear in
the United States that helped justify the war in Iraq and the curtailment of
civil liberties at home, they said.
The War of (sic) Terror is, in itself, an obscenity. It has its own PATHETIC
DEPARTMENT. Following are some Banality
Bisquits
Security Chic: the anti-terror handbag
MI5 trains supermarket checkout staff.
04.03.07. Independent. Supermarket checkout staff are being trained by the
security services in how to detect potential terrorists. MI5 has been
secretly advising food retailers, including Asda and Tesco, on how to
identify extremist shoppers. Measures include increasing CCTV in underground
carparks to prevent bomb attacks and being alert to mass purchases of mobile
phones, which can be used as bomb detonators. The awareness training for
staff also covers bulk sales of toiletries which could be used as the basic
ingredient in explosives. (Right. Time for mass buying of toiletries by
the public!)
Senators Squabble Over TSA Provision.
03.03.07. L. Kellman, AP / Truthout. Senators left town Friday with little
to show for a week of debate on a massive anti-terrorism bill and squabbling
over whether to let federal airport screeners join unions and risk a veto of
a Homeland Security bill by President Bush.
The benefits of U.S.-style democracy.
06.03.07. Imad Allo, Azzaman / uruknet. The achievements of U.S.-style
democracy which the current U.S. administration has tried to apply in Iraq
are numerous. The benefits Iraqis have gained from these achievements have
prompted the administration to try and spread them throughout the Middle
East, taking Iraq as a small experiment. And here are a few examples of
these achievements and their advantages in case you have not yet heard of
them or have not experienced them for the bad luck of not bein! g able to
live in Iraq. The U.S. democracy has interrupted power supplies and caused
chronic fuel shortages. Iraqis have given up even dreaming of going on a
picnic to their once beautiful tourist spots like the Habaniya Lake or the
ancient Akarkouf. Iraqis now dread to go to the cinema - if there any
cinemas left in the country. Eating out is a dream of the past and taking
the children for an outing is unthinkable. Under the U.S. democracy in Iraq
you must be a prisoner of your own house or you risk being killed, injured
or kidnapped. Even staying home is no longer safe. It is very likely for
unidentified gunmen to storm your house in the middle of the night or in
broad day light. Millions of Iraqis are now on holiday in Syria or Jordan,
spending the extra foreign cash they have been earning due to massive U.S.
reconstruction works..
Anti-War Group Banned From Parade
VIDEO.. May 07, koin.com. A group of anti-war veterans were told
they cannot participate in a parade along the Oregon Coast.
Video.. Just in the
Name of Democracy. 2 min.
Video.
Can you spell Impeachment?
2. About Iraqis
Please see INDEX
ON IRAQ: A JOURNEY IN HELL
17.04.07. Sarah Meyer, Index Research. Reports and articles on: 1. General;
2. Children of Iraq; 3. Cities in Iraq; 4. Health in Iraq; 5. Refugees in
Iraq; 6. Human Rights in Iraq; 7. Death in Iraq 8. Resistance in Iraq; 9.
Videos
US officials guilty of “sociocide” in Iraq must be held accountable.
24.05.07. World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board/uruknet. T his week the
World Socialist Web Site ran a three-part article, "The US war and
occupation of Iraq—the murder of a society," by Bill Van Auken. The series,
bringing together facts and statistics drawn from the international media
and a variety of studies and surveys, painted a horrifying picture of Iraqi
society after more than four years of US-led war and occupation, preceded by
more than a decade of le! thal sanctions. "Taken together," the article
argued, "US operations in Iraq have amounted to sociocide—the deliberate and
systematic murder of an entire society."...
ACADEMICS (cont)
Iraqi Refugees Head to EU.
19.04.07. AP / Guardian. ' Professor Nazar al Kaddouri had lost his brother
- beheaded with a rotary saw - and a nephew had been assassinated. So when
he began receiving death threats, Kaddouri knew it was time to leave Iraq.
Academics at Baghdad University were being targeted, and dozens of
professors and students had already been killed. ``So I fled, I took the
road of exile,'' he said. ``Iraq, as everybody knows, has become
unlivable.''
Another wave of assassinations of Academics.
02.05.07. Jalili, Al Mosul.
Militias continue targeting Iraqi universities
14.05.07. HAQ agency/uruknet.
BRussels Tribunal: A - List of 315 killed, threatened or kidnapped Iraqi
academics.
(updated 14 May 2007)
POLICE / SECURITY
Iraqi prime minister orders the arrest of an Iraqi army colonel.
(18?).04.07. AP, Tampa Bays.comIraq's prime minister has ordered the arrest
of the Iraqi army colonel in charge of security in the area around a Baghdad
market that was hard-hit today by a deadly car bombing.
Iraq PM plans for security control by end-2007.
18.04.07. Reuters / Focus Fen / ICH. Iraq plans to take security control of
the whole country from foreign forces by the year end, Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki said on Wednesday, after growing pressure to say when U.S. troops
would leave.
HEALTH
State Department Cuts WiRED Iraq Medical Program.
19.04.07. Truthout Report. The US State Department has so far failed to
respond to requests to reawaken a highly praised medical program aimed at
saving military and civilian lives in war-torn Iraq. The program used
voluntary US doctors and other personnel to provide computer technology and
training to medical students in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
IRAQ: Doctors warn of summer dehydration among children and the elderly.
19.04.07. Alertnet. "The sewage and electrical systems in Iraq have
completely deteriorated, worsening the situation, especially for children,
as summer begins," said Dr Ibraheem Kaduri, a paediatrician at the Children
Teaching Hospital in the capital, Baghdad. Iraqis get less than eight hours
of electricity a day and during summer, some cities or districts of the
capital get less than six hours. Kaduri said that many people, especially
those in displacement camps, have no access to drinking water. Children are
forced to drink less water and as the weather gets hotter, they become
dehydrated."
What happened at Naaman Hospital yesterday ? .
01.05.07. Arablinks.blogspot.com.uruk. Dr Mahmoud said Iraqi troops,
supported by American troops, stormed into the hospital and said there was
an order from the Health Ministry to close the hospital, following which
they arrested or expelled all patients in the hospital except for three who
were in intensive care, and posted snipers on the roof of the hospital and
on the roofs of neighboring buildings. The basrah.net writer notes that the
Health Ministry has long been in the bailiwick of the Sadrists. And there
were hearsay reports that many of those expelled or arrested had been
executed.
43% of Iraqis live in absolute poverty – government report.
02.05.07. Kamal al-Basri, Azzaman.
Urgent: American forces occupied Al-Numaan hospital.
28.04.07. ROADS TO IRAQ/uruknet. Urgent news reported few minutes ago by
iraqirabita and asking your solidarity to expose the American criminal
actions against civilians. After an American convoy attacked in Ahdahmiya,
occupation forces assisted by puppet Iraqi army, occupied the only
functional hospital in AL-Ahdamiya neighborhood arresting every person
coming to the hospital for a treatment. Indiscriminately, they arrested 20
young men from the area telling the residents that they will be soon
executed in Maghrib-street...
Infant Mortality in Iraq Soars as Young Pay the Price for War.
08.05.07. A.. Buncombe, Independent Truthout. Two wars and a decade of
sanctions have led to a huge rise in the mortality rate among young children
in Iraq, making statistics that were once the envy of the Arab world now
comparable with those of sub-Saharan Africa. A new report shows that in the
years since 1990, Iraq has seen its child mortality rate soar by 125
percent, the highest increase of any country in the world.
Graveyard River.
08.05.07. Reuters/legitgov. The River Tigris has long been a symbol of
prosperity in Iraq but since the US-led invasion in 2003, this amazing
watercourse has turned into a graveyard of bodies. In addition, the water
level is decreasing as pollution increases, say environmentalists. Pollution
in the river is caused by oil derivatives and industrial waste as well as
Iraqi and US military waste, they say. The river was one of the main sources
of water, food, transport and recreation for the local population but after
four years of war and pollution, it has been transformed into a stagnant
sewer, according to environmentalists.
Save Iraq's Children : Newspaper Initiates Urgent Appeal.
15.05.07. uruknet. The Editors of Switzerland's Zeit-Fragen newspaper
have initiated an imaginative humanitarian appeal for Iraq. Citing the
'disasterous situation' and 'humanitarian catastrophe' they are proposing to
all Swiss hospitals and hospitals in other European countries not alone to
provide medical relief, but immediately make room to treat at least one
child, with additional accommodation for a close relative, ideally the
mother. . They are also appealing to Swiss and European schools and the
school community to host Iraq children, enabling them to continue their
studies until the country returns to some sort of relative normali
Iraqi Women the Worse for War.
18.05.07. Truthdig. Remember those photos of Iraqi women triumphantly
raising freshly inked fingers for Western cameras after voting in their new
“democracy”? They were presented to the world by the U.S. government as an
indication of a policy that would liberate Iraqi women and men. Well, it
didn’t quite work out that way.
Health crisis acute in Iraqi province.
24.05.07. LA Times.
Traumatised Iraqi children lack needed care - U.N..
23.05.07. Laura MacInnis, Reuters; uruknet. Most Iraqi children have
suffered trauma in the four years since U.S.-led forces invaded their
country, and few are getting the help they need to cope, the United Nations
said on Wednesday.
REFUGEES
Refugees Bring In Some Brittle Strength.
17.04.07. Dahr Jamail, inter press service / uruknet. 'Syria's decision to
accept Iraqi refugees streaming into the country has brought the government
of President Bashar Assad more power within Syria and the region, but at
significant cost.' See also A
Lot of Uninvited Guests(18.04.07).
EU
struggling to deal with Iraq refugee problem.
19.04.07. euobserver. 'Sweden's reception facilities have been under
pressure, as the Scandinavian country is the only one within the 27-nation
bloc granting refugee status or other protection to almost all Iraqi asylum
seekers. A total of 9,065 Iraqis applied for refugee status there in 2006,
compared to 2,330 the previous year.'
The Flight From Iraq.
13.05.07. Nir Rosen, NY Times ‘ Truth out. the numbers presented confirmed
what had long been suspected: the collapse of Iraq had created a refugee
crisis, and that crisis was threatening to precipitate the collapse of the
region. The numbers dwarfed anything that the Middle East had seen since the
dislocations brought on by the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Video
Unspeakable Grief and Horror.
Thewe. Photos and stories. must
read
CITIES
The Second Fall of Babylon.
18.04.07. Felicity Arbuthnot, uruknet. 'It must have been an article I wrote
recently, "Erasing History" about Iraq's splendours: I dreamt I was in
Babylon again, now destroyed by the Polish and US troops. In my dream, I
stood amongst the carnage, with only memories of how it was. I awoke with my
head on a tear soaked pillow. Another unique wickedness wrought in the name
of two professed, profoundly "Christian" leaders, the "we pray together"
Bush and Blair, by degenerate "Christian soldiers", US and Polish.'
Insecurity and lack of funds prevent cleansing of polluted sites.
20.04.07. Electronic Iraq. There are up to 400 polluted sites in Iraq that
are serious health hazards to the population and urgently need to be
cleaned, according to a specialist in the Iraqi government. But ongoing
violence, particularly the targeting of municipal workers, and a lack of
funds is hampering clean-up efforts. "The situation is very serious....
IRAQ: Decline in municipal services boosts violence and disease.
26.04.07. Irin news.
HUMAN RIGHTS
APS - The Assault on a Pregnant Woman.
18.04.07. AMSI, uruknet. AMSI issued a press release condemning the
terrorist crime committed by the joint forces of the American occupation and
the government at dawn today, Sunday, the attack on Ms. (Wadad Khames
Wuhaib), and her son, five years old, beating and lynching her although she
was pregnant, which led to the abortion of fetuses at her home in the
Amiriyah district of Baghdad.
BRussels Tribunal: List of 241 Iraqi and 24 non-Iraqi media professionals
killed under US occupation.
(updated 09 May 2007)
Women in Prison.
29.05.07. iraqirabita (Iraqi League)/uruknet. During the past four years
more than 10.000 Iraqi women were imprisoned. Most of them have undergone
rape, be it by the local police forces, or by the occupying forces.
MEANWHILE
US aims to attract business to Iraq.
04.03.07. jazeera. 45 business people touring Iraq with Pentagon under
secretary ‘looking at ways to restart businesses ctippled by the US-led
invasion of 2003.
3. Oil.
See: AC:
Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special
Interests" - The Persian Gulf
The Iraq Oil Crunch: Index Timeline
09.02.07. Sarah Meyer, Index Research. The US government has relentlessly
followed its oil plan in Iraq. Following is an index of articles for those
interested in the historical ‘progress’ of American imperialism in Iraq.
4. Contracts
Raytheon Gets $300 Million Army Contract.
22.02.07. Chron.com
Congressional auditing office recommends that military helicopter contract
bids be reopened
26.02.07. AP/ IHT. Boeing was
awarded a $15billion contract to build military contracts, but this shut out
two other companies (Lockheed and Sikorsky).
Controversial group wins public relations contract in Iraq
26.09.06. Cnews. “Washington-based Lincoln Group won a two-year contract to
monitor a number of English and Arabic media outlets and produce public
relations-type products such as talking points or speeches for U.S. forces
in Iraq … The contract is worth roughly US$6.2 million per year over a
two-year period.”
Israel to sell armored vehicles to US troops in Iraq
28.02,.07. Middle East Times. The Golan vehicles, produced by the Rafael
firm, are valued at $37 million and will be delivered within three months,
it said.
BUT
How Long Can The U.S. Count On Foreign Funding?
05.03.07. Business Week. ‘Well, by the third quarter of 2006, the U.S. was
dependent on foreign lending to the tune of more than $860 billion, or about
6.5% of gdp, and the need for foreign money will most likely hang above 6%
through 2007. The big question: Can the U.S. continue to count on this
massive amount of foreign capital to fund its overseas obligations and
finance its economic growth? … there is increasing evidence that foreigners
are diversifying their assets away from dollar-denominated securities toward
other currencies. China, for example, recently announced it is forming a new
agency to diversify $200 billion of its $1 trillion in foreign exchange
reserves. Emerging-market economies are beginning to discover that U.S.
investments, while relatively low risk, are also relatively low return
compared with other investment opportunities around the globe.’
Lockheed Martin lands Army chopper contract
05.03.07. Baltimore biz journals. Contract valued at $311m.
EDO Awarded $11M Navy Contract
05.03.07. AP / Chroncom. 2-year, $11m contract from US Navy.
Bearing Point awared contract
05.03.07. The Global, Business, Trade and Investment in Developing Countries
(GBTI II) contract has a value of up to $3 billion over its planned
2007-2012 implementation period.
BAE receives $7 million contract modification
05.03.07. Central Penn Business. BAE will remanufacture and upgrade four
M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicles for the Army. The recovery vehicles are
used to tow combat vehicles. … brings the total value of the contract to
$265 million.
Israelis to supply vehicles for Iraq
05.03.07. AP, Boston Globe.
Harris Adds to Military Contract
06.03.07. AP/Forbes. International communications / information / technology
company wins $33.5, from V||iaSat.Inc. for US military communications
system.
Israelis (sic) encouraged to invest in Iraq
15.03.07. Jerusalem Post.
VA Wastes Millions on Computer Contract
28.03.07. money central. Veterans Affairs officials wasted millions on a
$100 million computer security contract that became a virtual "open
checkbook" because of poor oversight and sloppy management, an internal
review says.
URS Receives Army Contract
28.03.07. Chron.com.
Our Tony's Last Kiss
US and Britain sign military trade pact
28.06.07. Reuters / Scotsman.
Following BAE scandal,
BAE Systems gets U.S. Navy deal29.06.07. J. Wolf, Reuters /
Scotsman.
UNIVERSITY MURDERS AND IRAQ CONNECTION (McNeil):
You Caused Me To Do This
17.04.07. ABC. His (Cho's) 'older sister, Sun-Kyung, graduated from
Princeton University in 2004. A source, who asked to be identified as a
senior Administration official, said she works for McNeil
Technologies, a firm contracted by the State Department to manage
reconstruction efforts in Iraq.' Overview of MCNEIL TECHNOLOGIES services
and capabilities include: Intelligence Architecture Operations in support of
the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Open Source Intelligence
(OSINT) which supports the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and other
government agencies. HUMINT (Human Intel) operations in support of DIA, or
with federal counter Intel outsourcing effort...] See also Iraq
link to campus killer Cho
5. Contractors
ALL INFORMATION ON SECURITY CONTRACTORS CAN BE SEEN AT Iraq:
Security Companies and Training Camps .
“Private US and UK security firms are closely allied to Mr. Bremer’s
‘Facilities Protection Service’ programme in Iraq. Newsweek (24.04.06)
suggested 146,000 belong to this ‘security’ force. The Interior Minister,
Bayan Jabr, associated the FPS with the endemic ‘death squads’ operating
inside the police forces, which are hastening the disintegration of Iraq.”
List of companies in Iraq. The number of companies expands and millions of
$s / £s for corporations = continual updates on these mercenaries.
Comprehensive list of all contractors
28 Apr 2003 Legit gov. writes: "Even before the war in Iraq began March 20,
the Bush administration was considering plans to help rebuild the country
after fighting ceased. According to news reports in early March, the U.S.
Agency for International Development secretly asked six U.S. companies to
submit bids for a $900 million government contract to repair and reconstruct
water systems, roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in Iraq. The six
companies -- Bechtel Group Inc., Fluor Corp., Halliburton Co. subsidiary
Kellogg, Brown & Root, Louis Berger Group Inc., Parsons Corp. and Washington
Group International Inc. -- contributed a combined $3.6 million in
individual, PAC and soft money donations between 1999 and 2002, the Center
reported on its news site, CapitalEye.org. Sixty-six percent of that total
went to Republicans.]
Watchdog group: Government awards contracts despite firms’ misconduct.
19.07.07. R. Tiron, thehill.com. Three companies — Kellogg
Brown and Root (KBR), DynCorp and Fluor
Corp. — now will compete for
LOGCAP projects in the Middle East worth up to $150 billion. Previously,
costs and allegations of misconduct tainted a multibillion-dollar Pentagon
contract with KBR for some of the work. According to POGO’s database, since
1995 Fluor has had 21 instances of misconduct, KBR has had five and Dyncorp,
under parent company Veritas Capital Fund, has had three.
BECHTEL
As Bechtel Goes.
03.11.06. P. Krugman, NYT / ICH. Bechtel, the giant engineering company, is
leaving Iraq. Its mission — to rebuild power, water and sewage plants —
wasn’t accomplished: Baghdad received less than six hours a day of
electricity last month, and much of Iraq’s population lives with untreated
sewage and without clean water. But Bechtel, having received $2.3 billion of
taxpayers’ money and having lost the lives of 52 employees, has come to the
end of its last government contract.
KBR
KBR Shares Hit New Highs on New Business.
13.07.07. AP / Forbes. Already last month, KBR was one of three companies
awarded respective $5 billion
contracts from the Army to provide food and shelter to U.S. troops in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Kuwait. ... On the military side of the business, the
U.S. Navy on Wednesday awarded KBR an
$8.5 million contract boost for additional services for personnel at two
Iraqi oil platforms. The company will perform the work in waters off the
coast of Iraq through November 2007.
Largest Iraq Contract Rife With Errors
17.07.07. USA Today. Matt Kelly of USA Today reports: "Government auditors
discovered something odd last year when they reviewed KBR
Inc.'s annual cost estimate
to provide support services for US troops in Iraq. The contractor proposed
charging $110 million for housing, food, water, laundry and other services
on bases that had been shut down."
Largest Iraq contract rife with errors.
18,07.07. USA Today / legitgov. 'Government auditors discovered something
odd last year when they reviewed KBR Inc.'s annual cost estimate to provide
support services for U.S. troops in Iraq. The contractor proposed charging
$110 million for housing, food, water, laundry and other services on bases
that had been shut down.'
Halliburton subcontractor executive pleads guilty in Iraq fraud case .
22.07.07. The Jurist.
LOCKHEED MARTIN
Military contractors' shares fall on news of Rumsfeld resignation.
08.11.06. AP / IHT. … the largest U.S. military contractor, Lockheed Martin
Corp. was one of the biggest losers The decline in defense stocks was broad,
with armaments maker General Dynamics Corp., combat communications systems
maker Raytheon Co., and government services company Halliburton Co. all
falling into negative territory.
URS
For One California Profiteer, Iraq is Going Great.
04.11.06. S. Anderson, Alternet / Common Dreams. Focus on San
Francisco-based URS Corp., a major provider of Pentagon engineering and
equipment repair services. URS stock, not surprisingly, is worth nearly five
times what it was before the war started. See IPS Report: New
CEO/Worker Pay Gap Study.
Documentary slams corporate profits in Iraq war..
15.09.06. Reuters. Iraq for Sale, R. Greenwald.
Armaments And Investments: Stock in Niche Defense Firms Soars in Wartime.
15.07.07. Washington Post. Last year, the sector soared 27.7 percent, while
the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 13.6 percent. So far this year,
the industry has gained 26.7 percent, compared with the S&P's 9.5 percent
increase. Since 2001, defense stocks that make up the S&P Aerospace &
Defense Select Industry Index have climbed 181.7 percent; the broader market
is up 17.6 percent. But it's the niche companies, such as the makers of
armored vehicles, that are the top individual gainers this year, according
to the Spade Defense Index, which tracks the sector.
OUTSOURCING INTELLIGENCE
Outsourcing Intelligence: How bush Gets National Intelligence from Private
Companies.
31.07.07. R. J. Hillhouse, The Nation / alternet, Private corporations are
now a major staple of national intelligence and are heavily involved in
producing the most important and most sensitive national security document
-- the President's Daily Brief. Mentioned are Lockheed Martin, Raytheon,
Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC and others.
VIDEOS
Video Iraq For Sale: The
War Profiteers
Video Iraq for Sale:
Banned Excerpts
6. Troops in Iraq
Please see
INDEX ON US TROOPS.
12.03.07. Sarah Meyer, Index Research. Updated.
Iraqi Troops
The US favourite and PNAC document signer Ahmed Chalabi back on the scene.
Alleged intel fixer Chalabi to assume new role as part of 'surge'
21.02.07. Brent Beutler, Raw Story. 'Mr. Chalabi will serve as an
intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and U.S. security
forces mounting an aggressive counterinsurgency campaign across the city.'
Training Iraqi troops no longer driving force in U.S. policy
19.04.07. McClatchy. Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone
of the Bush administration's Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in
priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said.
Creating an Iraqi Army from Scratch
25.05.07. Col. Frederick Kienle, U.S. Army American Enterprise Institute.
Lessons for the Future. (Cloud cuckoo land-spin): “Iraqi security
forces are becoming a credible force. They are growing in number and
capabilities, and they are accepting responsibility for their country's
future. This is due in no small part to the cadre of embedded military
advisors. These advisors will be essential in tomorrow's conflicts as well.
We need to invest more in their training and equipping today.”
'Iraqi police cannot control crime
30.05.07. Guardian / ICH. Even the Iraqi government today admitted that it
could barely trust its own interior ministry police.
7. Bases
NATO-supported Iraqi Training Command opens.
07.06. newsblaze.
U.S. troops to fan out into 100 garrisons to secure Baghdad
15.03.07. IHT.
Tomgram: How Permanent Are Those Bases?
07.06.07. Tom Dispatch. Iraq Has Always Been "South Korea" for the Bush
Administration. 'Finally, the great American disconnect may be ending. Only
four years after the invasion of Iraq, the crucial facts-on-the-ground might
finally be coming into sight in this country -- not the carnage or the
mayhem; not the suicide car bombs or the chlorine truck bombs; not the
massive flight of middle-class professionals, the assassination campaign
against academics, or the collapse of the best health-care service in the
region; not the spiking American and Iraqi casualties, the lack of
electricity, the growth of Shia militias, the crumbling of the "coalition of
the willing," or the uprooting of 15% or more of Iraq's population; not even
the sharp increase in fundamentalism and extremism, the rise of al-Qaeda in
Mesopotamia, the swelling of sectarian killings, or the inability of the
Iraqi government to get oil out of the ground or an oil law, designed in
Washington and meant to turn the clock back decades in the Middle East,
passed inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone -- no, none of that. What's
finally coming into view is just what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the top
officials of their administration, the civilian leadership at the Pentagon,
and their neocon followers had in mind when they invaded and occupied Iraq
in 2003. ... Because of some of the worst reporting on an important topic in
recent memory, most Americans have lived out these last years in remarkable
ignorance of what was actually being built in Iraq. Now, perhaps, that great
American disconnect is beginning to end, which may be more bad news for the
Bush administration.
Tomgram: Nick Turse, The Pentagon as Global Landlord
11.07.07. Tom Dispatch.
VIDEO
Video
The Bases are Loaded Chalmers
Johnson and Dahr Jamail discuss / illustrate key US bases in Iraq.
Green Zone
see: IRAQ:
Green Zone Blowback: Index Timeline (Sarah
Meyer, Index Research, 23.05.07). This article will be updated frequently.
Muthana Air Base
The (Iraqi) squadron moved its operations Feb. 1 from Tallil Air Base to the
new Al Muthana Airbase adjacent to Baghdad International Airport. Their first
training flight was on a
C130E Hercules, made by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. This, and one
other C130, were paid
for by both the United States
and Iraqi governments as part of a U.S. and foreign military sales program.
Russian Mi17 helicopters, paid for by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, will
also be used.
Fear flies high at new Iraq air force's first base
08.03.06. Reuters. Muthana Air Base, Baghdad. Iraqis now have their own
base.
8. The War Drags On
REPORTS
Human Intelligence Collector Operations.
09.06. DoD Report: Field Manual FM2-22.3
Defense Contracting in Iraq: Issues and Options for Congress.
January 26, 2007
Congressional Authority To Limit U.S. Military Operations
in Iraq.
29.01.07
"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: An Overview of the
Statutory Framework and U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and
U.S..
15.02.07. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review Decisions.
Accepting Realities in Iraq - new briefing paper.
May 2007. Chatham House Report .
A new briefing paper assesses the political, security and economic prospects
for Iraq in the coming year. The author, Gareth Stansfield, claims that
there is not 'one' civil war, but many civil wars and insurgencies in the
country and current realities have to be accepted if new strategies for
solutions are to be found. See Consortium
News story by Robert Parry.
“Although more and more Americans have come to see through these arguments,
a large portion of the U.S. public – the Republican “base” – still buys into
the neocon worldview. As this chasm grows between the real world and their
faux reality, the Bush cult seems to have set up permanent residence in what
might be called an ideological Jonestown.
In that context, the Chatham House report, entitled “Accepting Realities in
Iraq,” marks a direct challenge to Bush’s Iraqi dreamscape. The report
amounts to an update to the December 2006 findings of the bipartisan Iraq
Study Group, which concluded that conditions in Iraq were “grave and
deteriorating.”
ARTICLES
Middle East: An end to US primacy?.
04.02.07. BBC.
Bombs over Baghdad.
07.02.07. Nick Turse, Tom Gram. The Pentagon's Secret Air War in Iraq
Vulnerable helicopters should accelerate Iraq exit.
09.02.07. S. Pizzo, alternet. “Flying coffins” for US soldiers.
Iraqi insurgents offer peace in return for US concessions.
09.02.07. Fisk, Independent. The demands include the cancellation of the
entire Iraqi constitution - almost certainly because the document, in
effect, awards oil-bearing areas of Iraq to Shia and Kurds, but not to the
minority Sunni community. Yet the Sunnis remain Washington's principal
enemies in the Iraqi war. … "Should the Americans wish to negotiate their
withdrawal from our country and leave our people to live in peace, then we
will negotiate subject to specific conditions and circumstances." …
Al-Jeelani suggests the United Nations, the Arab League or the Islamic
Conference might lead such negotiations and would have to guarantee the
security of the participants…. Conditions given.
The project.
20.02.07. Rajiv Chandrasekara, G2, The Guardian. Part II of III. President
Bush wanted the 'right' people in charge of the reconstruction of Iraq.
Unfortunately for the country, that meant loyalty to the president rather
than expertise - including a 24-year-old estate agent put in charge of the
stock exchange, writes Rajiv Chandrasekaran in the second exclusive extract
from his new book' (See 'Updates', Green Zone for Part I)
PAUL WOLFOVITZ
Bad news day: Wolfie back on the scene
Wolfowitz May Bring Bank Back to Iraq.
23.02.07. Electronic Iraq. 'World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may
appoint a new resident director for Iraq soon, a move that sources
inside the Bank say could contradict the institution's policies on
engagement in conflict-stricken areas and put his role in the 2003
U.S. invasion back into the limelight. The move by Wolfowitz, the
former number two official at the Pentagon and a main architect of
the U.S.-led war, likely means the Bank would release new loans to
the occupied Arab nation, despite the deteriorating security
situation and recent disclosures of massive corruption in
reconstruction efforts.'
Making Love, Money and War.
14.04.07. Abu Spinoza, uruknet. Wolfowitz's Real Crimes. ' The flak
that the World Bank's President Paul Wolfowtiz is getting currently
really misses his main crimes: The invasion and occupation of Iraq
and for waging the endless war of state terror. As Rumsfeld's
second-in-command Mr. Wolfowitz bears direct personal and official
responsibility for the illegal war of aggression on Iraq and for
posing threats to international peace.'
Top Wolfowitz Postings Went to Iraq War Backers.
15.04.07. Emad MeKay, anti=war.com. 'Of the top five outside
international appointments made by embattled World Bank president
Paul Wolfowitz during his nearly two-year tenure, three were senior
political appointees of right-wing governments that provided strong
backing for U.S. policy in Iraq.'
Angry Wolfowitz in four-letter tirade.
15.05.07. R. Adams, Guardian. 8.30am Sounding more like a cast
member of the Sopranos than an international leader, in testimony by
one key witness Mr Wolfowitz declares: "If they fuck with me or
Shaha, I have enough on them to fuck them too."
Wolfowitz Negotiating Terms Of Resignation.
16.05.07. CBS. His departure would include an acknowledgment from
the bank that he doesn't bear sole responsibility for the
controversy surrounding a generous pay package for his girlfriend,
the official said. (If he doesn’t bear ‘sole responsibility,’ who
does?)
Wolfowitz to Resign From World Bank.
17.05.07. NY TIMES.
Statement of Paul Wolfowitz.
17.05.07. Washington Post. Yadda yadda …
COMMENT: Getting rid of Wolfovitz is great ... but it is like
impeaching Bush/Cheney because their feet smell raher than because
they are WAR CRIMINALS.
|
Catholic, Other Religious Leaders Call Bush's Iraq War Policies 'Morally
Bankrupt'.
23.02.07. Catholic.org.
BAD CHOICES DEPARTMENT
Chalabi Surges Back to Prominence.
24.02.07. Elizabeth Sullivan, Plain Dealer.
Yet there's one bad penny who just keeps coming up, and up and up:
Ahmad Chalabi, the wily Iraqi exile banker who cozied up to Iranian
intelligence under the very nose of the CIA and then helped land us
in war with Iraq through intelligence misinformation. Incredibly,
Chalabi now is in charge of the Iraqi government's civilian liaison
Rice Picks Neo-Con Champion of Iraq War as Counselor.
03.03.07. J. Lobe, Electronic iraq. Eliot A. Cohen … close friend
and protege of former Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and
advisory board member of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),
Cohen most recently led the harsh neo-conservative attack on the
bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG), co-chaired by former Secretary of
State James Baker and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton.
Meet Eliot Cohen, Condi's New Deputy.
06.03.07. G. Leupp, Counterpunch. “As Extremist a Neocon and
Warmonger as It Gets.”
|
Updated: the White House's latest bald-faced lie: 'The UN authorised our
invasion of Iraq.'.
27.02.07. Alternet Peek.
Murphy's view from Mideast: 'Frustrated'.
28.02.07. Phillyburbs.
The Iraq Effect: War Has Increased Terrorism Sevenfold Worldwide
Mar-April 07. Mother Jones / Truth Out.
Even Doonesbury plays U.S. blame game
28.02.07. G. Dyer, Hamilton Spectator / uruknet. As the people who talked
the United States into the Iraq war try to talk their way out of the blame
for the mess they made, one dominant theme has emerged: Blame the Iraqis.
Highlights of Iraq Spending Bill Add-Ons
01.03.07. AP / Guardian. List given. Highlights of Iraq Spending Bill
Add-Ons
US commanders admit: we face a Vietnam-style collapse.
01.03.07. S. Tisdall, Guardian.
Highlights of Iraq Spending Bill Add-Ons.
01.03.07. AP / Guardian. List given. Highlights of Iraq Spending Bill
Add-Ons
AP / Guardian. List given.
SECTARIAN VIOLENCE
Middle East is plagued by covert operations.
01.03.07. Linda heard, Online Journal / uruknet. Iraqis have long
suspected the finger of the occupying forces has stirred the pot of
sectarian violence with the ultimate aim of splitting their country
into three separate provinces.
How Easy it is to Put Hatred on a Map.
03.03.07. Robert Fisk (Independent / ICH.
In Baghdad, sectarian lines too deadly to cross.
03.04.07. D. Cave, IHT / uruknet. After centuries full of vibrant
interaction, of marrying, sharing and selling across sects and
classes, Baghdad has become a capital of corrosive and violent
borderlines. Streets never crossed. Conversations never started.
Doors never entered. Sunnis and Shiites in many professions now
interact almost exclusively with colleagues of the same sect. Sunnis
say they are afraid to visit hospitals because Shiites loyal to the
cle! ric Moktada al-Sadr run the Health Ministry, while Shiite
laborers who used to climb into the back of pickup trucks for work
across the Tigris River in Sunni western Baghdad now take jobs only
near home...
Sects slice up Iraq as US troops 'surge' misfires.
04.03.07. P. Beaumont, Observer.
Marriages Between Sects Come Under Siege in Iraq.
04.03.07. S. Raghavan, Washington Post / uruknet. Once a Sign of
Tolerance, Unions Now Seen as Perilous Betrayals.
Sects slice up Iraq as US troops 'surge' misfires.
04.03.07. P Beaumont, Guardian. .The Iraqi government wants tens of
thousands of families to return as part of the Baghdad Security
Plan, but only a few hundred have done so, many of them to hide
behind locked doors. So the cycle continues. Displaced Sunnis push
out Shias, who in turn push out the Sunnis in the areas they
relocate to. While more than a million have left Iraq, three million
have been internally displaced. The displacement has been conducted
with rut! hless efficiency. A mosque will be attacked, a grenade
thrown at a house, men kidnapped and killed, a few houses burnt -
delivering the message to get out...
Sectarian Violence Forces 1 in 8 Iraqis to Flee Home.
06.03.07. Irin / uruknet. IRAQ: Another million people could flee
homes this year. he United Nations and international agencies have
warned that if sectarian violence in Iraq does not abate, up to a
million new people could become displaced in 2007, putting an
increasing burden on the country's infrastructure and resources.
|
No US Backup Strategy for Iraq.
05.03.06. de Young, Ricks, Washington Post. Outside experts, not White
House, discuss options. What would the administration do if its new strategy
didn't work? The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was
that there is no Plan B. "I'm
a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk
about victory."
BAGHDAD-GATED
Robert Fisk: America's plan for Baghdad.
11.04.07. Robert Fisk, Independent. A new counter-insurgency strategy to
carve up the city into sealed areas. The tactic failed in Vietnam. So what
chance does it have in Iraq?
......
FAILURE ON THE HILL
Democrats scale back plans to challenge Bush's Iraq 'surge'.
04.03.07. AFP /anti-war.com
Levin: Senate Won't Withhold Iraq Funds.
08.04.07. AP.
Senate rejects legislation to cut off funds for Iraq
16.05.07. SignonSanDiego. war :
The Senate on Wednesday rejected legislation that would cut off money for
combat operations in Iraq after March 31, 2008.
House Passes $646 Billion Defense Bill
17.05.07. AP/SF Gate.
.....
Construction begins on Sadr City's New Joint Security Station.
06.03.07. Sgt. Mike Pryor, 2nd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div. Public Affairs, Black
Anthem.
George Tenet Cashes In On Iraq.
Tim Shorrock, Salon / ICH. The former CIA chief is earning big money from
corporations profiting off the war -- a fact not mentioned in his combative
new book or heard on his publicity blitz. Tenet sits on the board of
directors of L-1 Identity
Solutions , a major supplier
of biometric identification software used by the U.S. to monitor terrorists
and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company recently acquired two of
the CIA's hottest contractors for its growing intelligence outsourcing
business. At the Analysis
Corp. (TAC) , a government
contractor run by one of Tenet's closest former advisors at the CIA, Tenet
is a member of an advisory board that is helping TAC expand its thriving
business designing the problematic terrorist watch lists used by the
National Counterterrorism Center and the State Department.
Tenet is also a director of Guidance
Software , which makes
forensic software used by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence to search
computer hard drives and laptops for evidence used in the prosecution and
tracking of suspected terrorists. And Tenet is the only American director on
the board of QinetiQ ,
the British defense research firm that was privatized in 2003 and was, until
recently, controlled by the Carlyle
Group, the powerful Washington-based private equity fund. Fueled with
Carlyle money, QinetiQ acquired four U.S. companies in recent years,
including an intelligence contractor, Analex
Inc. … Last fall, as part of
its push into intelligence outsourcing, L-1 acquired SpecTal ,
a Reston, Va., intelligence contractor with at least 300 employees with
security clearances, gaining instant access to several agencies where
SpecTal had contracts, including the CIA, the NSA and the Defense
Intelligence Agency. … Just recently, L-1 picked up another intelligence
contractor, Advanced Concepts
Inc. More!
Looking at Bush's Iraq policy minus spin
16.04.07. Canberra your guide. 'GENERAL Barry R. McCaffrey, US Army
(retired), now an adjunct professor at West Point, visited Iraq last month
on a fact-finding visit. His visit report is noteworthy because he is a
respected senior officer who was given top-level access and briefings. He
provides some stark findings and and conclusions': 3000 civilians a month
are murdered; 29000 ied explosions against the U.S.; 3 million Iraqis
displaced; US has arrested 120,000 "insurgents", detained 27,000 and killed
another 20,000-plus. US losses in Iraq now exceed 27,000 killed and wounded;
with Iraqi Security Force losses of 49,000 in the past 14 months; 128,000
civilian contractors in Iraq; US recruitment = former drug addicts and
criminals; "... by January 2008 we will be largely on our own".
Insurgents Unveil Alternative Cabinet and First Minister for Iraq
20.04.07. Maamoun Youssef, The Scotsman.
Just how many terrorists are there in Iraq?
20.04.07. Maylaysia Sun / legitgov. The president's statements imply most of
the violence being carried out in Iraq is at the hands of terrorists, and
more specifically by al-Qaeda, or at least by foreign fighters. This is
simply not true. The bulk of insurgents in Iraq are Iraqi. Al-Qaeda, it is
common ground (with the exception of the U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney),
had no presence in Iraq prior to the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Baghdad security operation has failed
25.04.07. Irish examiner. Sectarian violence continued to claim the lives of
a large number of Iraqi civilians in Sunni Arab and Shiite neighbourhoods of
Iraq's capital, despite the coalition's new Baghdad security plan, the UN
said today.
U.N. report and Times data paint grim Iraq picture
25.04.07. LA Times / Fair Use/anti-war.com. Academics are being
assassinated, prisoners are being tortured, women are being murdered by
their own families in so-called "honor killings," and civilians continue to
be cut down by rampant violence, the United Nations said today in a report
painting a grim picture of life in Iraq. . The report, which covers from
Jan. 1, 2007 through March 31, was most notable for what it did not include:
the number of civilian deaths. . That's because the Iraqi government refused
to release those numbers, the U.N. spokesman, Said Arikat, said as he
presented the organization's 10th such summary of the human rights situation
in Iraq. . However, numbers obtained from various ministries by the Times
indicated that already this year, 5,509
civilians had died viollently in Baghdad province alone ,
which includes the capital.' the report draws US
denunciation
Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation
09.05.07. R. Jarrar / J. Holland, Alternet. The US media ignored the story.
Iraq MPs gather votes to force US withdrawal
11.05.05. Raw Story. Baha al-Aaraji, a supporter of radical anti-American
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, told AFP that 144 members of the 275-seat national
assembly had signed a draft law that would set a departure timetable for US
troops.
The Iraq War: Going, Going, ...
17.05.07. R. Parry, Consortium news. How should the American people
interpret the extraordinary fact that George W. Bush couldn’t convince a
single retired four-star general to sign up as the new “war czar” for
coordinating the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – and finally had to
settle for an active-duty three-star general who had opposed Bush’s “surge”
in Iraq?
Carter Criticizes Bush and Blair on War in Iraq
20.05.07. Reuters / Truthout. "I think as far as the adverse impact on the
nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history,"
… In an interview on BBC radio, he criticized Mr. Blair for his close
relations with the president, particularly concerning the Iraq war.
"Abominable," he said when asked how he would characterize Mr. Blair's
relationship with Mr. Bush. "Loyal, blind, apparently subservient."… "I
think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the
ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for
the world," he said. … Mr. Carter told the BBC that the combined
Bush could double force by Christmas
22.05.07. SF Gate. The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly
double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of
Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday. The little-noticed second surge,
designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more
combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there. The
actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early
January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon
overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
support of Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair for the war "has prolonged the war and
increased the tragedy that has resulted."
More outposts being built to accommodate troops for ‘surge’
22.05.07. Stars and Stripes/anti-war.com. ( Which
‘surge’ – the first, or the second? )
Iraq constitution reform committee admits failure to agree
22.05.07. The Jurist.
White House says bin Laden ordered Iraq plots
23.05.07. alternet / legitgov: Osama bin Laden ordered al Qaeda's leader in
Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to form a cell in 2005 to plot attacks outside
of Iraq and make the United States his main target, a senior U.S. official
said on Tuesday. Citing newly
declassified intelligence [LOL!] ,
Fran Townsend, President [sic] George W. Bush's adviser for homeland
security, said the information backs the administration's assertion that
U.S. troops must stay in Iraq for now to prevent it from becoming a
"terrorist sanctuary." Mindful
of its trouble selling its war strategy to the American public ,
the [lying sack of sh*t occupying the White
House is trying to put the spotlight on bin Laden's connections to Zarqawi,
the head of Iraq's 'al Qaeda' wing who was killed in a U.S. air strike in
June 2006.
U.S. Imperial Ambitions Thwart Iraqis' Peace Plans
21.05.07. Joshua Holland and Raed Jarrar, Alternet. Iraq's resistance groups
have offered a series of peace plans that might put an end to the country's
sectarian violence, but they've been ignored by the U.S.-led coalition
because they're opposed to foreign occupation and privatization of oil.
Deadly Illusions, Rest in Peace
25.05.07. Norman Solomon, anti—war.com. ‘This week's cave-in on Capitol Hill
– supplying a huge new jolt of funds for the horrific war effort in Iraq –
is surprising only to those who haven't grasped our current circumstances.
Permanent Bases: A Recipe for Permanent Terrorism
25.05.07. Thomas Gale Moore, anti-war.com. ‘it turns out that the Pentagon
has thought about what to do if Plan A, the "surge" doesn’t work. According
to Steve Inskeep and Guy Raz of National Public Radio, plan B would involve
maintaining a series of military bases around Iraq with some 30,000 to
40,000 U.S. troops. That plan would have them stay for decades, under the
excuse that they could train the Iraqi troops and deter neighboring
countries, such as Iran and Turkey, from sending their own troops into the
country. Already the U.S. has built military compounds that look permanent,
supplied with air-conditioning, movie theatres, Starbucks coffee houses, and
fast food outlets.
Congress Approves War-Funding Bill
24.05.07. AP, ABC/legitgov. Congress Approves Money for War Troops As
Democrats Back Off on Withdrawal Timeline
Video . Rep.
Dennis J. Kucinich: "Privatizing Iraq's Oil is Theft!" 7
Min. Rep. Kucinich explained how the proposed Bill, now pending before the
U.S. Congress, via its benchmarks, will provide for the privatization of
Iraqi oil. It requires the regime in Iraq to pass a law called, "The
Hydrocarbon Act." If they refuse to do so over a billion dollars in
reconstruction funds will be blocked by the Bush-Cheney administration, he
claimed. - Unless the scheme is stopped, Rep. Kucinich predicted, we will be
looking at an Iraqi War "going on forever!"
The Air War in Iraq Uncovered
24.05.07. Tom Engelhardt & Nick Turse. ‘Did the U.S. military use cluster
bombs in Iraq in 2006 and then lie about it? Does the U.S. military keep the
numbers of rockets and cannon rounds fired from its planes and helicopters
secret because more Iraqi civilians have died due to their use than any
other type of weaponry? These are just two of the many unanswered questions
related to the largely uncovered air war the U.S. military has been waging
in Iraq.
Al-Sadr Makes Public Appearance in Iraq
25.05.07. SINAN SALAHEDDIN, AP / uruknet.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time
in months on Friday and delivered a fiery anti-American sermon in the holy
Shiite city of Kufa. ``No, no for the devil. No, no for America. No, no for
the occupation. No, no for Israel,'' he chanted at the start of his speech.
The roughly 6,000 worshippers in the mosque repeated after him. Al-Sadr told
the worshippers that ``the occupation forces should lea! ve Iraq,'' and
condemned fighting between his Mahdi Army militia and Iraqi security forces,
saying it ``served the interests of the occupiers.'' Al-Sadr had gone into
hiding in Iran four months ago at the start of the Baghdad security
crackdown, but U.S. military officials said early Friday that he had
returned to the holy city of Najaf, where he has a house.
11. Media and More Videos
MEDIA
Hang Times: A Whitewash of White House Complicity
30.12.06. C. Floyd, Empire Burlesque. "People often write to Empire
Burlesque in search of an answer to one of the great conundrums of these
modern times, namely: "Why are the American people such suckers? How could
they -- or, to be more exact, how could a significant number of them -- ever
have fallen for the transparent bullshit of such third-rate goobers as Bush,
Cheney, Rumsfeld and all the rest? How could the American people be so
ignorant and misinformed about what goes on in the world? How can they be so
ignorant and misinformed of their own history, of the dirty deals done in
their names for years on end? How can this be?"
Good folk, look no further, for we do indeed have the answer here. If you
want to know precisely how the American people are kept deliberately
ignorant, simply click on the link to this story in the nation's "newspaper
of record," the journal which sets the standard for and largely determines
the news agenda of the American press..."
Another U.S. Military Assault on Media
23.02.07. Dahr Jamail. 'Iraqi journalists are outraged over yet another U.S.
military raid on the media. U.S. soldiers raided and ransacked the offices
of the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists (ISJ) in central Baghdad Tuesday this
week. Ten armed guards were arrested, and 10 computers and 15 small
electricity generators kept for donation to families of killed journalists
were seized. This is not the first time U.S. troops have attacked the media
in Iraq, but this time the raid was against the very symbol of it. Many
Iraqis believe the U.S. soldiers did all they could to deliver the message
of their leadership to Iraqi journalists to keep their mouth shut about
anything going wrong with the U.S.-led occupation.'
Wash.Post parroted White House claim that Iraq war was authorised by U.N.
Security Council
26.02.07. Media Matters.
US CONSTITUTION: First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances
FAILURE BY PRESENT US GOVERNMENT TO PRESERVE US CONSTITUTION
From, and thanks to, Entropic
Memes
“Blocking Websites
Today’s announcement by the military that they’re blocking a dozen
popular websites from Department of Defense computer networks says
the actions were done not for productivity reasons, or with network
security in mind, but to conserve bandwidth.
I have to wonder just how honest they’re really being.
Read the rest of this entry .”
.....
New Army Rules Could Kill G.I. Blogs (Maybe E-mail, Too)
02.05.08. Wired.
IRAQ: 'Pentagon Moved to Fix Iraqi Media Before Invasion'
09.05.07. Jim Lobe, Interpress / Corpwatch. In the run-up to the
March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon planned to create a 'Rapid
Reaction Media Team' (RRMT) designed to ensure control over major
Iraqi media while providing an Iraqi 'face' for its efforts,
according to a ‘White Paper' obtained by the independent National
Security Archive (NSA) which released it Tuesday. … ‘'The RRMT
concept focuses on USG-UK pre-and post hostilities efforts to
develop programming, train talent, and rapidly deploy a team of
U.S./UK media experts with a team of ‘hand selected' Iraqi media
experts to communicate immediately with the Iraqi public opinion
upon liberation of Iraq,'' according to the paper. … The
‘'hand-picked'' Iraqi experts, according to the paper, would provide
planning and programme guidance for the U.S. experts and help
‘'select and train the Iraqi broadcasters and publishers (‘the
face') for the USG/coalition sponsored information effort.'' USG is
an abbreviation for U.S. government. … The contractors included the
Rendon Group and Scientific Applications International Corporation
(SAIC) (aka Wolfovitz’s hired ‘friend’)which received a 25
million-dollar contract to create an Iraqi Media Network whose aims
appear to be roughly consistent with those laid out in the White
Paper, but which largely fell apart after about six months as a
result of alleged incompetence and infighting. … The third company
covered by the audit is the five-year-old Lincoln Group. Lists of
plans, including “Re-starting the Oil.” … ‘al-Jazeera was not part
of ‘the media infrastructure that we need left intact.''
Iraq to bar press from blast scenes
13.05.07. Agence France-Presse/Raw Story. Iraq's [puppet] interior
ministry has decided to bar news photographers and cameramen from
the scenes of bomb attacks, operations director Brigadier General
Abdel Karim Khalaf said Sunday. His announcement was the latest in a
series of attempts to curtail press coverage of the ongoing
conflict, which has already attracted criticism from international
human rights bodies.
No More YouTube, MySpace for U.S. Troops
13.05.08. Wired. See also BBC
story . See also:Combat
Troops already blocked from You Tube (16.05.07.
Washington Times)
(puppet) Iraqi Interior Ministry bans cameras from sites of bomb
attacks
14.05.07. The Jurist.
Iraq veteran wins blog prize as US military cuts web access
15.05.07. Ed Pilkington, Guardian. · Literary award for former
soldier's online dispatches · Critics brand Pentagon's new rules
'self-defeating'
No photos allowed after Iraqi blasts
15.05.07. AP, ADN/ICH. The Iraqi government (sic) said it decided
last weekend to keep photographers and camera crews away from blast
sites to prevent them from damaging forensic evidence. Media groups
feared the order was aimed at preventing scenes of horrific carnage
from being broadcast around the world. The ban got its first test
Tuesday, when a pair of bombs hidden in plastic bags exploded in two
shops selling CDs and cigarettes in Tayaran Square in central
Baghdad.
YouTube Wants to Meet With U.S. Military Over Web Ban
15.05.07. Salem news. Feedback from soldiers indicates that they are
anything but happy about losing access to the sites, and the list
may be longer than the government is admitting. ‘It looks like at
least one video service that is being banned from U.S. government
computers is going to fight back. … views from several soldiers …
‘But Jack Idema, a Special Forces soldier, says it isn't even the
Department of Defense that is pressing this issue; it comes from an
even higher source, "All of which emanate from State Department's
actual control of how this war is waged. The last thing they want is
a SGT in the 82nd Airborne putting up videos of what really happened
and contradicting Rene Boucher on the 6 O'Clock News. And that's
just the tip of the iceberg." … The majority of soldiers were not in
support of the government ban, they see it as an attempt to reduce
the flow of information they receive. One soldier who did not seek
to be identified, says the government has even clamped down on a
popular site that soldiers use to purchase equipment that helps them
stay alive in the war, "you can't go onto eBay anymore at some sites
across Afghanistan." … They
treat you like a mushroom- feed you a lot of sh*t and keep you in
the dark ." ‘
‘
|
From ‘al-Qu’eda’ to ‘Abductions’-the deceptions continue
17.05.07. William Bowles.
Latest from McClatchey’s Iraqi staffers: Please, America, Just Go
17.05.07. Editor and Publisher.
The new Aljazeera, an American
17.05.07. Roads to Iraq. ‘The rumors are that this change has been under
U.S. pressure, to remove the station from Arab governments and international
isolation and as a beginning for establishing new relations with the US.’
(If true, this is disGUSTing. Jazeera was (?) the ONLY news channel I
actually appreciated as it always presented many different and interesting
points of view; and also showed war as it is and not us-style-sanitised.)
US media group urges Iraq not to hinder reporters
22.05.07. Reuters. A leading U.S. media watchdog has urged Iraq's government
to lift restrictions on reporters' access to the scene of bombings, saying
the move appeared to be an attempt to limit press coverage of unwelcome
McClatchey’s D.C, bureau claims it’s barred from Defense Secretary plane.
23.05.07. Editor and Publisher.
US probe of Iraq shooting incomplete - media group
24.05.07. Reuters / ICH. The U.S. military cleared its soldiers in Iraq over
the deaths of two (Al-Arabiya) journalists in 2004 without considering
contradictory witness accounts, a media rights group said on Thursday.
2 Iraqi Journalists Killed – Including 1 Who Was Slain Along With 7
Relatives
30.05.07. AP/NBC.
Gunmen intensify attacks on Iraqi journalists
31.05.07. Agence France Presse (AFP). Three journalists, including one
killed with six members of his family, have been shot dead over the past
threes day in Iraq, their colleagues said Wednesday.
CHRONOLOGY-Journalists killed in Iraq
01.06.07. ALERTNET.
Media watchdog wants action after record Iraq toll
01.06.07. ALERTNET. Media advocate Reporters Without Borders has called for
the establishment of a special police unit to investigate media killings in
Iraq after a record 12 journalists were slain in May.
Have We Just Seen The Last U.S. Combat Injury In Iraq?
06.06.07. ***Michael Shaw,
Huffington Post / ICH. This photo -- taken by embedded photojournalist
Michael Kamber two weeks ago during a fateful patrol in search of missing
U.S soldiers -- could well become the last visual evidence of U.S.
casualties in the Iraq war. The comments to this article MUST be read.
CHRONOLOGY-Journalists killed in Iraq
17.06.07. Reuters. 184 journalists and media assistants have been killed
since 2003. This report includes those reported killed in the last three
months.
VIDEOS
Video.. Stop the
Escalation. 30 sec.
Videos.. Why They
Hate Us. 3 short videos.
Video. A Shame on our
Nation.
Service members rally against the war in Iraq
15.01.07. McMicchale, Navy Times / Truth out. Video.Appeal
for Redress.
Videos show Iraq war through troops' eyes.
20.02.06. L. Pulkkinen. Videos / urls for: may
God have mercy on our soul; Kauder's
video that he made for his fallen squad mate; G.
Algozzinivideos; iron pony
express; Others. Good story.!!!
Video..Sacrifice. Keith Oberman. The “new” Bush policy of
‘sacifice,’ is the work of neo-conservatives Jack Keane and Frederic W.
Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute – another Israeli lobby. An
American senator called the plan “Alice in Wonderland,” according to an
article by Paul Craigh Roberts in Counterpunch.
added 04.01.07.
Video. Support our
Troops? Michael Parenti.
The One Video Clip Explaining
Everything Wrong With Iraq, The Media, And The Right
18.03.07. ICH. On Meet the Press, they expressed their commitment to "fair
and balanced" debate by having on disgraced war supporter Richard Perle and
indicted, deposed ex-congressman Tom DeLay against Admiral and Democratic
Rep. Joe Sestak and Former Democratic Rep. Tom Andrews of Win Without War
Video
Can you spell Impeachment?
10. Prisons (Camp
Cropper, Abu Ghraib, Camp Nama)
REPORTS
The Department of Defense Detainee Program.
05.09.06. DoD Directive.
War Crimes Report Advertised In The Military Times Newspaper.
ARTICLES
Red Cross visits new U.S. prison in Iraq
Dr. Qais Kadhim Al Janaby arrested by US and detained at notorious US
airport prison.
07.08.06. naba.
U.S. wartime prison network grows into legal vacuum for 14,000
17.09.06. P, Quinn, AP / ICH. In Iraq, Army jailers are a step ahead. Last
month they opened a $60-million, state-of-the-art detention center atCamp
Cropper, near Baghdad's airport. The Army oversees about 13,000
prisoners in Iraq at Camp
Cropper, Camp Bucca in
the southern desert, and Fort
Suse in the Kurdish north
Lost in a Bermuda Triangle of Injustice
22.09.06. T. Englehardt, ICH. The Facts on the Ground: Mini-Gulags, Hired
Guns, Lobbyists, and a Reality Built on Fear.
War Crimes Trial in Germany
“Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case
are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former
assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assisant attorney
general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William
James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief
of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo
Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the
former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter
Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military
intelligence at Abu Ghraib.”
Time. 10.11.06.
Rumsfeld okayed abuses says former U.S. general
25.11.06. Reuters / uruknet.
‘Many women’ languish in U.S., Iraqi jails
06.12.06. Azzaman, uruknet. Stories abound in Baghdad and other cities of
U.S. Marines and Iraqi troops arresting wives of suspected rebels or
insurgents.
So far both the U.S. and the government have denied the existence of women
prisoners in Iraq, fearing a backlash from the country’s traditionally
conservative society.
U.S. unsure when, if can hand over prisons to Iraq
02.02.07. Reuters. U.S. forces are taking longer than expected to train
Iraqis to run their prisons and have no clear view of when, if ever, they
can entrust security suspects they hold to the overall control of the Iraqi
authorities. … "The biggest challenge is legal authority to hold detainees,"
Major General Jack Gardner told Reuters in an interview, saying Iraq first
needed appropriate facilities and to show it could meet international
"standards of care” (sic). Washington is training Iraqis to run its military
prisons at Camp Bucca in
the south and at Camp Cropper …
It is also offering training to guards in Iraq's own prisons, while local
U.S. units are expected to check on Iraqi jails in their areas.
Camp Cropper
03.10.06. AP / Guardian. A team of 16 delegates visited the new $60m.Camp
Cropper holding about 3,550
detainees.
Former U.S. Detainee in Iraq Recalls Torment
18.12.06. NY Times. Camp
Cropper.
Army warden charged with ‘aiding the enemy’
25.04.07. NBC. Lieutenant colonel faces multiple charges for alleged
misconduct in Iraq. the commander of Camp
Cropper (Lt. Comm. William
H.. Steele) has been charged with aiding the enemy. He is being held at a
detention center in Kuwait.
Abu Ghraib
Failures of Imagination.
9-10.06. E. Umansky, Columbia Journalism Review. The occasional triumphs and
frequent defects of media coverage of the detention and treatment of enemy
combatants were reviewed at length. Includes discussion of Abu
Ghraib.
Abu Ghraib no longer
houses any prisoners, Iraqi officials say.
26.08.06.Youseff, Real Cities. Most went to one of two U.S.-run detention
centers - Camp Cropper,
near Baghdad International Airport, and Camp
Bucca near Umm Qasr in
southern Iraq.
BUT
Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Ghraib.
10.09.06. Saber / Chamberlain, Telegraph. The notorious Abu Ghraib prison in
Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was
handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being
tortured by their new captors. ( who
trained them?)
IRAQ: Corporate Torture in Iraq
11.10.06. A. Eteraz, Corp Watch. Horrific torture at Abu Ghraib reported in
a 67-page doc. which was basis for civil suit against CACI and Titan. … A
number of such companies are involved in supervising, maintaining, and
providing support for the numerous prisons in Iraq in the areas of
interrogation, interpretation, and translation. At the current time the
litigation is in the "discovery" stages in Federal Court in the District of
Columbia . There are two major hurdles for the lawyers representing the
torture victims. First is that Iraqi plaintiffs are seeking redress not in
Iraqi court but in an American venue and therefore the American courts do
not have jurisdiction over the matter. Second is that defendants were acting
under the authority of the American government and therefore can set forth
the argument that governmental immunity from civil damages should be
extended to them.
US Army officer to be court-martialed for role in Abu
Ghraibabuses
27.01.07. The Jurist.
Abu Ghraib's horrific
images drove artist Fernando Botero into action
29.01.07. San Francisco Gate.
Israelis at Abu Ghraib?
28.02.07. Trustme / uruknet.
The American Ghosts of AbuGhraib
27.03.07. Sam Provance, consortium news. For
those of you who have not heard of me, I am Sam Provance. My career as an
Army sergeant came to a premature end at age 32 after eight years of
decorated service, because I refused to remain silent about Abu Ghraib,
where I served for five months in 2004 at the height of the abuses.
Abu Ghraib court-martial postponed until August as charges reduced
15.05.07. The Jurist. A military judge Tuesday postponed to August 20 the
court-martial [JURIST report] of the only officer charged with abuse in the
Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] prison scandal. ( Why
are those responsible for Abu Ghraib not being tried – from the top down? )
The General's Report
25.06.07. *** Seymour
M. Hersh, The New Yorker, Truthout. How
Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its
casualties. "From the moment a soldier enlists, we inculcate loyalty,
duty, honor, integrity, and selfless service," Taguba said. "And yet when we
get to the senior-officer level we forget those values. I know that my peers
in the Army will be mad at me for speaking out, but the fact is that we
violated the laws of land warfare in Abu Ghraib. We violated the tenets of
the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the
core of our military values. The stress of combat is not an excuse, and I
believe, even today, that those civilian and military leaders responsible
should be held accountable." ?
Camp Nama
The General's Report
25.06.07. *** Seymour
M. Hersh, The New Yorker, Truthout. 'The official inquiries consistently
provided the public with less information about abuses than outside studies
conducted by human-rights groups. In one case, in November, 2004, an Army
investigation, by Brigadier General Richard Formica, into the treatment of
detainees at Camp Nama ,
a Special Forces detention center at Baghdad International Airport,
concluded that detainees who reported being sodomized or beaten were seeking
sympathy and better treatment, and thus were not credible. For example, Army
doctors had initially noted that a complaining detainee's wounds were
"consistent with the history [of abuse] he provided... . The doctor did find
scars on his wrists and noted what he believed to be an anal fissure."
Formica had the detainee reëxamined two days later, by another doctor, who
found "no fissure, and no scarring... . As a result, I did not find medical
evidence of the sodomy." In the case of a detainee who died in custody,
Formica noted that there had been bruising to the "shoulders, chest, hip,
and knees" but added, "It is not unusual for detainees to have minor
bruising, cuts and scrapes." In
July, 2006, however, Human Rights Watch issued a fifty-three-page report on
the "serious mistreatment" of detainees at Camp Nama and two other sites,
largely based on witness accounts from Special Forces interrogators and
others who served there.'
11. Human Rights
REPORT
Review of DoD-Directed Investigations of Detainee Abuse
DoD Inspector General. From Secrecy
News: The Department of Defense did a poor job of investigating
andaddressing reports of detainee abuse committed in Iraq by U.S. military
personnel, according to a newly declassified report of the DoD Inspector.’
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2007 (05.07)
∑ ‘War on terror’
05.07. Amnesty International. In its international campaign against abuses
in the “war on terror”, AI exposed and denounced hundreds of cases of
torture and other grave violations of human rights claimed by states to be a
necessary response to security threats. AI also strongly condemned
deliberate attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks by armed groups.
∑ Freedom from Fear
∑ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2007: IRAQ
05.07. General Discussion; Background; Sectarian violence and attacks by
armed groups; Violations by Iraqi security forces; Violations by US-led
Multinational Force; Targeting of professionals and human rights defenders;
Violence against women; Trial of Saddam Hussain and others; Death penalty;
Northern Iraq; AI country reports/visits.
∑ Amnesty International Regional Report on the United States of America
∑ Facts and comments on detainees; Military Commissions Act; Renditions and
secret detention; Guantánamo; Detentions in Afghanistan and Iraq; Unlawful
killings by US forces outside the USA; Detention of 'enemy combatants' in
the USA; Torture and other ill-treatment; Ill-treatment in jails and police
custody; 'Supermax' prisons; Women in prison; Prisoners of conscience; Death
penalty; Other concerns; UN Committee against Torture and UN Human Rights
Committee; AI country reports/visits.
STORIES
WATADA
Lt
Watada
War Criminals ‘R’ US
29.01.07. Richard Curtis. Common Dreams. ‘But there is a reason.
Watada’s challenge is that the Iraq War is illegal. This fact seems
beyond question. A legal war cannot logically be premised on lies,
and we all know the Iraq War was premised on a series of well
coordinated lies (the “Downing Street Memo” being the proof any
rational person needs). The judge cannot allow Watada to argue the
War is illegal because it is obviously illegal, and as such
constitutes a War Crime, so the judge disregards the law – much to
the shame of us all.
If the war is acknowledged as illegal that means admitting that
everyone who participates in it, plans it, or orders it is a war
criminal. … Watada properly and legally refused an illegal order and
we must now admit the truth of his position and recognize that we as
a society stand condemned in the light of this truth’
CITIZENS’ HEARING ON THE LEGALITY OF U.S. ACTIONS IN IRAQ
20 – 21.01.07. The Case of Lt. Ehren Watada
Video
05.02.07. Watada Interview, Truth Out.
Resistance to War Cannot be Jailed
Amy Goodman, ICHblog. You can jail the resisters, but you can't jail
the resistance. George W. Bush, take notice as U.S. Army Lt. Ehren
Watada is court-martialed next week. Congress, take heed. Young
people in harm's way are leading the way out of Iraq. It is time you
followed.
Officer Who Wouldn't Serve Goes on Trial
05.02.07. A. Glanz. "If more officers like Lt. Watada come forward
and said they wouldn't order their troops into a war that's morally
wrong that means fewer enlisted people like myself will come back
injured or killed," former Marine Corp medic Chanan Suarez-Diaz told
a packed house of activists Sunday evening in the basement
auditorium of the First Congregational Church in nearby Tacoma. ..
Suarez-Diaz's back was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade in
Ramadi in 2005.
Officer Who Refused Iraq Tour Goes on Trial
06.02.07. Aaron Glantz, anti-war. "If more officers like Lt. Watada
come forward and said they wouldn't order their troops into a war
that's morally wrong that means fewer enlisted people like myself
will come back injured or killed," former Marine Corps medic Chanan
Suarez-Diaz told a packed house of activists Sunday evening in the
basement auditorium of the First Congregational Church in nearby
Tacoma.
Watada Lawyer Rebukes Judge
06.02.07. Truth Out. Bill Simpich writes: "'Special security
precautions do not erode the presumption of innocence.' Judge John
Head's observation captured his style of jurisprudence. Mindful of
public relations as several security officers
monitored the proceedings in the small courtroom, but vigilant in
making sure that every one of First Lt. Watada's witnesses would be
deemed 'irrelevant.' Absent a stroke of luck, the lieutenant's
defense against the charges of missing movement to Iraq, and
'disgraceful' conduct unbecoming an officer, have been whittled down
to his own testimony and that of his commanding officer as a
character witness. When Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, excoriated
the proceedings as an 'atrocity' and accused the judge of judicial
misconduct, the court's response was almost sheepish." Video.
Judge bans war testimony
06.02.07. Washington Times.
Watada Court-Martial Ends in Mistrial
07.02.07. Gallindez / Millard, Truth Out. In a stunning defeat for
military prosecutors, Lt. Col. John Head, the military judge
presiding over Watada's court-martial, said he had no choice but to
declare a mistrial because military prosecutors and Watada's defense
attorney could not reach an agreement regarding the characterization
of a stipulation agreement Watada signed before the start of his
court-martial. The judge characterized the stipulation agreement as
an admission of guilt by Watada for "missing movement" and making
statements against the Iraq war. Eric Seitz, Watada's attorney, said
the stipulation Watada signed, however, was by no means an admission
of guilt by his client. Rather, it was a statement of fact that his
client believed the Iraq war was illegal, and that he refused to
deploy to the region with his unit because of his beliefs.
Reprieve for Officer Who Denounced "Immoral War"
08.02.07. A. Glanz. Lt. Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, blamed the
suppression of what he called his client's "legitimate defence" for
the mistrial. "Every time the government has tried to prevent
political speech, which they are attempting to punish, from infusing
the trial proceedings it has created a major mess and many of those
cases resulted in mistrials," Seitz said, mentioning a few famous
cases he has handled over the years, such as the 1969 Chicago
conspiracy trial where seven peace activists, including Tom Hayden
and Bobby Seale, were charged with crossing state lines with the
intent to incite antiwar riots and disrupt the 1968 Democratic
National Convention in Chicago. (See also press conferences on this
same website.)
Army Files New Charges in Watada Court-Martial
24.02.07. Christian Hill, The Olympian/ Truth Out.
Lt. Watada Is Not Alone
28.02.07, Sarah Olsen, anti-war.com
|
Google blots out Iraq bases on internet
21.01.07. T. Harding, Telegraph.
US Army sued for spying on weblogs
06.02.07. pcadvisor/legitgov.
The People vs. Richard Cheney
Wil Hylton, Truth Out. 'Resolved,
that Richard B. Cheney, vice president of the United States, should be
impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that these articles of
impeachment be submitted to the American people.
Routine Practices of Torture by US Forces in Iraq: Testimony of Abbas Z.
Abid to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission
23.02.07. Global Research.ca.
Justice Department Fires Eighth US Attorney
24.02.07. D. Eggen, Washington Post/Truth Out. ' An eighth U.S. attorney
announced her resignation yesterday, the latest in a wave of forced
departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice
Department over the death penalty and other issues.'
Why Have So Many US Attorneys Been Fired? It Looks a Lot Like Politics
26.02.07. A. Cohen, NY Times / Truth Out.
The Locusts
26.02.07. Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research. Killing Civilization in
Mesopotamia. After the illegal invasion, the US military did the
unthinkable. They made a camp in the great turquoise memorial to the half
million lost souls of the Iran-Iraq warThe locusts in uniform, who have
destroyed Iraq, humanity, sustenance, its history, predating the time of
Christ and the Prophet Mohammed, are never, it seems, satiated or satisfied.
From the early defiling (ongoing) of Mosques, cemeteries (Muslim, Christian,
Yazidi ...) even the sacred tributes to the memory of the martyrs are being
destroyed and defiled.
Systematic Abuse of Prisoners in US "War on Terror"
28.02.07. Nicole Colson, CounterPunch / uruk.net. License to Torture.
Iraq: New Martial Law Powers Threaten Basic Rights
01.03.04. uruknet. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's new security plan
for Baghdad grants military commanders sweeping powers to arrest people and
restrict their basic freedoms of speech and association, Human Rights Watch
said today.
Rape Cases emerge From the Shadows
01.03.07. Dahr Jamail. Reports of the gang-rape of 20-year-old Sabrine
al-Janabi by three policemen has set off new demands for justice from Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.
Outrage over Imminent Execution of Iraqi Women
02.03.07. Dahr Jamail. Three young women accused of joining the Iraqi
insurgency movement and engaging in "terrorism" have been sentenced to
death, provoking protest from rights organisations fearing that this could
be the start of more executions of women in post-Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
War is Terror
06.04.07. William Blum, ICH. 'Like so many other "terrorists" held by the
United States in recent years, Hicks had been "sold" to the American
military for a bounty offered by the US, a phenomenon repeated frequently in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. US officials had to know that once they offered
payments to a very poor area to turn in bodies that almost anyone was fair
game.
Other "terrorists" have been turned in as reprisals for all sorts of
personal hatreds and feuds. Many others -- abroad and in the United States
-- have been incarcerated by the United States simply for working for, or
merely contributing money to, charitable organizations with alleged or real
ties to a "terrorist organization", as determined by a list kept by the
State Department, a list conspicuously political.
No
Saddam Aal-Qaida Link: Full Pentagon Report
A PDF of the Pentagon inspector general report. See also: Pentagon
Officer Created Phony Intel on Iraq/al-Qaeda Link and Report
outlines Pentagon effort to link Iraq, al Qaeda .
BUT. DICK CHENEY IS STILL
LYING
My Name Used to Be 200343
07.04.07. David Phinney, IPS / Alternet. An American former Navy soldier and
private contractor imprisoned and tortured in Iraq by the US military and
falsely accused of "aiding terrorists" warns that our worst fears about Iraq
have come true.' (also our worst fears about the USA).
US TAXES
US Tax season
16.04.07. Sabbah's Blog, uruknet. Tax deadline in the US is
traditionally on April 15, however, this year it was extended to
April 17th because April 15th was a Sunday and Monday is public
holidays. Anyway, here are relevant facts and figures for US
taxpayers:
* Percentage of US discretionary budget spent on education and other
social services: 8%
* Percentage of US discretionary budget spent for military: 57% (but
the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan are funded in supplementary budget
requests so must be add to that!)
* US Military Budget as a percent of World total military
expenditures: 49%
* Number of Americans classified as "food insecure" in 2004: 38
million
* Number of Americans without health insurance: 45 million
* Total direct aid to Israel 1948-2006: $255 billion
* Total Cost of US Support for Israel: $1.688 trillion (not counting
money and lives lost in Israel propelled wars like Iraq, not
counting loss of $trillions in business with the rest of the world
because of US support for Israel etc)
* Federal aid for each resident in Louisiana in 2002 (from their
taxes): $1,500
* Direct U.S. aid for each Israeli citizen in 2003 (per capita
income in Israel-$16,710; they do not pay taxes to the US): $581
* Direct U.S. aid for each Ethiopian citizen in 2004 (per capita
income in Ethiopia - $110): $2.50
* Percentage of U.S. foreign aid that goes to Israel: 27%
* Population of Israel as percentage of total world population:
0.1%...
|
SPANISH JUDGE: BUSH GUILTY WAR CRIMES
18.04.07. Free Market News. A Spanish judge is calling for President Bush
and his allies to be tried for war crimes over Iraq.
UN criticises Iraq human rights
25.04.07. BBC / ICH. The UN has sharply criticised the Iraqi government's
human rights record, in the two months since a security plan was launched in
the capital, Baghdad. The report describes the situation in Iraq as a
"rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis".
Iraq not respecting rights of security detainees: UNAMI
25.04.07. The Jurist.
FULL TEXT: Articles of Impeachment of Dick Cheney
26.04.07. Atlantic Free Press / anti-war.com.
Judge indicts 3 U.S. soldiers over journalist's killing in Iraq
27.04.07. Chron.com.
Army Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death
05.07. Wired / Media Channel. The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop
posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing
the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive,
issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities
since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military
blogs, observers say.
Only 55 percent of U.S. soldiers would report killing innocent civilian
04.05.07. PAULINE JELINEK, AP / ICH.
One in Ten US Occupation Troops Admit Mistreating Civilians
05.07. AFP / ICH. A survey of US combat troops deployed in Iraq has found
that one in 10 said they mistreated civilians and more than a third condoned
torture to save the life of a comrade, a report said Friday.
THE WALL
Latest US solution to Iraq's civil war: a three-mile wall
21.04.07. MacAskill, Guardian / legitgov. Concrete barrier to
encircle Sunni district · Construction under cover of night.
IRAQ: Walls will increase violence, specialists say
23.04.07. Reuters / ANTI-WAR.COM
Iraq "Security" Wall Compared to Israel's Controversial Apartheid
23.04.07. BBS.
Frustration Over Wall Unites Sunni and Shiite
23.04.07.A. Rubin, NY Times. The unexpected outcry about the
proposed construction of a wall around a Sunni Arab neighborhood has
revealed the depths of Iraqi frustration with the petty humiliations
created by the new security plan intended to protect them. … The
strong reaction underscores the sense of powerlessness Iraqis feel
in the face of the American military, whose presence is all the more
pervasive as an increasing number of troops move on to the city’s
streets.
Israelis with Ahmed Chalabi are building the walls in Iraq ... ÂÊ
Í»ÊÍ «‰Õ«∆◊ø
24.04.07. Imad Khadduri, Free Iraq/uruknet. ' Dar Babel for Studies
& Information (Mosul) has issued a report (above, in Arabic, April
24, 2007) indicating that work on the "walls" that are now being put
up in Iraq have been in preparation for over three months. This
project is being headed by Ahmad Al-Chalabi in conjunction with the
Israeli company of Zeef Belinsky who has a long track record in
ghetto construction, and with Al-Mahdi Army's financing and labor.
The document provides sufficient details on the six work locations
producing these concrete blocks, for easier targeting.'
Iraq says modifying Baghdad neighbourhood wall
25.04.07. Reuters. Iraq has modified a U.S. military plan to protect
a Sunni enclave in Baghdad with high concrete walls, and is using
barbed wire and smaller cement barriers instead, an Iraqi military
spokesman said on Wednesday. … Residents have complained bitterly
that the walls, up to 12 feet (3.5 metres) tall, would isolate them
from other communities and sharpen sectarian tensions.
Ghettoizing Baghdad
25.04.07. Felicity Arbuthnot,uruknet. ‘The world has seen America's
little President declaring 'Mission accomplished' staged on a
warship, geared up in a dinky flying suit (which did some strange
things to his lower organs) 'milestones', the 'surge' and now the
ghettoization of Baghdad. As the Nazis in Warsaw, the US in Vietnam,
the Israelis in Palestine. America also plans a wall between itself
and Mexico and Iraq and Saudia Arabia, reportedly to be built by the
Israeli company, Zeef Belinsky, who have pioneered the new Berlin
Wall between Israel and Palestine.’
The Great Wall of Segregation
26.04.07. Riverbend, Baghdad Burning.
Anger in Baghdad as Americans finish wall
03.05.07. Telegraph.
|
Disappeared without a trace: more than 10,000 Iraqis
13.05.07. McClatchy.
Iraq: A New Age Of Genocide?
15.05.07. Bill Weinberg, Tom Paine. ‘Amid daily media body counts and
analyses of whether the “surge” is “working,” there is an even more horrific
reality in Iraq, almost universally overlooked. The latest annual report by
the London-based Minority Rights Group International, released earlier this
year, places Iraq second as the country where minorities are most under
threat—after Somalia. Sudan is third.
Occupation forces arrested 900 civilians
18.05.07. Roads to Iraq/uruknet. Occupation forces in their disparate
attempt to find any information about their missing soldiers arrested 900
citizens from Al-yousfioya city, reported on Nahrainnet.
One-Third of Troops in Iraq Support Torture, Majority Condone Mistreating
Innocent Civilians
24.05.07. Winslow Wheeler, AlterNet. A recent study shows startling findings
about the widespread abuse of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops.
* "Only 47 percent of soldiers and only 38 percent of Marines agreed that
noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect."
* "Well over a third of soldiers and Marines reported torture should be
allowed, whether to save the life of a fellow soldier or Marine … or to
obtain important information about insurgents…."
* 28 percent of soldiers and 30 percent of Marines reported they had cursed
and/or insulted Iraqi noncombatants in their presence.
* 9 percent and 12 percent, respectively, reported damaging or destroying
Iraqi property "when it was not necessary."
* 4 percent and 7 percent, respectively, reported hitting or kicking a
noncombatant "when it was not necessary.
* The study also reports that only 55 percent of soldiers and just 40
percent of Marines would report a unit member injuring or killing "an
innocent noncombatant," and just 43 percent and 30 percent, respectively,
would report a unit member destroying or damaging private property.
Fairford Two strike blow for anti-war protesters after jury decide they were
acting to stop crime
26.05.07. Addley, Norton-Taylor, Guardian. Ruling seen as 'judicial
endorsement' of attempts to stop B52 bombers. The result, according to their
lawyer, is the closest an English court has come to accepting that war
crimes were committed by Britain and America in Iraq. As a jury verdict in a
crown court, the ruling does not set a direct legal precedent, but its
implications may be significant for future protesters.
12. Some Deaths
REPORTS
The Human Cost of the War in Iraq: A Mortality Study, 2002-2006
09.10.06. Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland; School of Medicine, Al Mustansiriya University,
Baghdad, Iraq; in cooperation with the Center for International Studies,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. See also related
Appendix
ACLU Releases Files on Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq
12.04.07. ACLU. Americans Have a Right to Unfiltered Information About the
Human Costs of War, ACLU Says. NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union
today made public hundreds of claims for damages by family members of
civilians killed or injured by Coalition Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
ACLU received the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request it filed in June 2006.
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today made public hundreds of
claims for damages by family members of civilians killed or injured by
Coalition Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ACLU received the records in
response to a Freedom of Information Act request it filed in June 2006.
ARTICLES
Almost 2,000 bodies taken to Baghdad morgue (July).
09.08.06. Reuters.
U.S. count of Baghdad deaths excludes car bombs, mortar attacks
08.09.06. M Brunswick / Z. Obeid, McClatchy.
4,000 Iraq Police Killed in Past 2 Years
06.10.06. AP / Forbes.
Medics Beg For Help As Iraqis Die Needlessly
20.10.06. J. Laurance, Independent. Medical facts for Iraq.
Another US crime in Ashaqi Photographic evidence
08.12.06. Roads to Iraq, uruknet.
Baath Party Statement: To the American Administration: A warning to anyone
who harms President Saddam Hussein and his comrades
26.12.06. The Arab Baath Socialist Party.
U.S.: Saddam Likely To Die By Sunday
28.12.06. CBS / AP / URUK.
Saddam's Death
Saddam hanged at dawn
30.12.06. Al Jalzeera.net.
Video
Saddam Hanging Video Leak. 2 min.
Who stands where on the death penalty
30.12.06. BBC.
Storm Rages Over Trial, Sentence
30.12.06. Toronto Star / Common Dreams. Human rights advocates say
process that saw three lawyers murdered amounted to a travesty of
justice
Bush Lies Again After Saddam Executed: Bush Doesn’t Know What a Fair
Trial, or Justice, Is
30.12.06. M/ Rothschild, Progressive / Common Dreams. ‘Saddam
Hussein had barely stopped dangling when George W. Bush revved up
the lie machine.
Saddam's last words.
31.12.06. Channel 4 news.
Did Saddam Die For Our Sins?
09.01.07. B. Lando, Tom Paine. The disappearance of Saddam Hussein
means that a lot of current and former top officials in the United
States and other Western governments can breathe easier. The story
of the West’s complicity in many of the tyrant’s most horrific
crimes will remain untold, at least by the one man who could have
spelled it out most clearly.
What the Media has Deliberately Concealed 31.01.07.
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, ICHBlog. The barbaric lynching of Saddam
Hussein, the former president of Iraq, was a choreographed event, a
carefully staged U.S. sponsored PSYOP, with a view to triggering
social divisions and fomenting sectarian violence within Iraq and
the broader Middle East.
|
The Forgotten American Dead
27.01.07. T. Englehardt, Tom Dispatch. Rural America Pays the President's
Price in Iraq. “Take the Pentagon announcements for Iraq "casualties" from
January 11th through January 23 -- 21 dead in all, 17 from the Army, 2 from
the Marines, and 2 from the Navy (one in a "non-combat related incident" in
Iraq, the other in Bahrain). (P) Then just check out their hometowns. Remove
a few obvious large metropolitan areas, or parts thereof -- Boston, El Paso,
Jacksonville, Irving (home of the Dallas Cowboys), and Irvine (California)
-- and here's the parade of names you're left with … “
Injury count in Iraq disputed.
28.01.07. S. Koff, Plain Dealer.
Story, photo of sergeant's death threatens embed status of 'Times'
journalists
01.02.07AP, USA TODAY. The intimate portrayal of a sergeant's death during
Army efforts to clear a Baghdad neighborhood has caused friction between the
military and The New York Times, while sparking larger questions about war
coverage and media-military relations.
Iraqi Civilian Deaths Up in March
01.04.07. BBC. Iraqi figures estimate civilian deaths in violence across the
country rose by 13% last month, despite the security crackdown in Baghdad.
Data compiled by several ministries put civilian deaths in March at 1,861 -
compared with 1,645 for February.
US Reconfigures the way casualty totals are given
02.02.07. DENISE GRADY, NY Times. ‘Statistics on a Pentagon Web site have
been reorganized in a way that lowers the published totals of American
nonfatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Number of US troops killed in Iraq breaks record
08.02.07. The Int. News. ‘More US troops were killed in combat in Iraq over
the past four months, at least 334 through Jan 31, than in any comparable
stretch since the war began, according to an Associated Press analysis of
casualty records. Not since the bloody battle for Fallujah in 2004 has the
death toll spiked so high. It is not possible to fully track the trend in
bomb-caused deaths by month. The US military considers such information
secret because it is considered potentially useful to the insurgents and
their backers.… Now, under a new approach announced by Bush on Jan 10, US
troops will be paired up with Iraqi brigades in each of nine districts
across Baghdad, rather than operating mainly from large US bases.’ some
further interesting details given.
Video. US_Soldiers_Run_an_Iraqi_Off_the_Road.
It would probably be nice to check on the guy that you just caused to roll
his truck. To see if he's, you know, dead or something.
Italy Orders Trial for US Soldier in Calipari Shooting
27.02.07. Current Concerns.
Unacceptable death toll in Iraq, say Americans
28.02,07. Angus Reid. 77% of respondents believe the number of U.S. military
casualties and Iraqi civilian casualties has been unacceptable.
Occupation killed a family of seven members in Iraq
25.02.07. Roads to Iraq. - Residents in Aana city in Anbar-province reported
that US occupation forces destroyed the Communication and Post Center
building. ... An eyewitness said that US soldiers put explosives in the
building and destroy it, no one injured in the process but part of the city
hospital which is close to the building was damaged.
- Reported on Qudspress, an Iraqi ambulance man, reported that US military
killed a family of seven people with their taxi driver, in their way to
leave Iraq for Jordan. ... The eyewitness Ahmed Khalaf Aljoaani said:
American forces opened fire on the car "GMC" with a family in it, a father,
the mother and five children and the taxi driver in their way to Jordan to
escape the deteriorating situation, all killed. The American forces blocked
the area of the incident, which was on the international highway, near
Al-Qaim city for an hour, re-opening after the removal of the bodies, and
prevented two photo-journalists from photographing the accident.
U.S. military deaths in Iraq at 3,230
22.03.07. AP.
Video. U.S. soldiers
shooting Iraqi civilians (23.03.07)
2 min. WAR CRIME
Another Casualty: Coverage of the Iraq War
24.03.07. Dahr Jamail. 'Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world for
journalists. Along with names and dates, the Brussels Tribunal has listed
the circumstances under which Iraqi media personnel have been killed since
the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This extremely credible report
cites 195 as dead. If non-Iraqi media representatives are included, the
figure goes beyond 200. Both figures are well in excess of the media
fatalities suffered in Vietnam or during World War II"
(from Foreign Policy in Focus). 'The primary reason why reporting from Iraq
is dangerous for all journalists is the horrific security situation. Iraqi
journalists reporting from the streets are in perpetual danger. If any of
the countless militias does not want a certain story made public, it will
make sure that the journalist has filed his or her last story. Not to
mention the scores of reporter deaths which have been the combined handiwork
of the Iraqi government, occupation forces and/or criminal gangs. . Despite
President Bush’s assertion that life in Iraq is improving, a senior Iraqi
journalist was found dead in the capital on March 3, 2007. On the same day
the body of the managing editor of Baghdad’s al-Safir newspaper, Jamal
al-Zubaidi, was found shot in the head.'
America's Hidden War Dead
26.03.07. Howard Witt, The Chicago Tribune/ Truth Out. 'Like thousands of
other Americans who have served in Iraq since the U.S. intervention began
four years ago, Walter Zbryski came home in a coffin. Only his coffin was
not draped in an American flag or accompanied by a military honor guard.
Instead, the mangled body of the 56-year-old retired firefighter from New
York City was shipped back to his family in June 2004 in the bloodied
clothes in which he died, with half of his head blown away, according to
Zbryski's brother Richard. "I viewed the body," Richard Zbryski said. "What
really upset me was that he was laying there floating in at least 6 inches
of his own body fluids. They didn't even clean him up for us."
Counting the cost
27.03.07. R. Horton, Guardian. Richard Horton. It's time we held our leaders
to account for the 650,000 Iraqi dead. 'Our collective failure has been to
take our political leaders at their word. This week, the BBC reported that
the government's own scientists advised ministers that the Johns Hopkins
study on Iraq civilian mortality was accurate and reliable. This paper was
published in the Lancet last October. It estimated that 650,000 Iraqi
civilians had died since the American- and British-led invasion in March
2003.'
Fallujah Fears a 'Genocidal Strategy'
30.03.07. Ali al-Fadhily, Dahr Jamail website, Interpress. Iraqis in the
volatile al-Anbar province west of Baghdad are reporting regular
killings carried out by U.S. forces that
many believe are part of a 'genocidal' strategy.
US compensation files for Iraqi, Afghan civilian deaths released under FOIA
12.04.07. The Jurist. A searchable database documenting civilian casualties.
There are 479 files from Iraq and 17 from Afghanistan. 'While some claims
were denied because the incidents arose from enemy action or occurred during
combat situations, other incidents resulted in cash payments. When the
military admits fault, the payments are labeled as "compensation."
"Condolence" payments, which the military offers as expressions of sympathy,
can be awarded without military admission of fault and are capped at $2500.'
Iraq: US Data on Civilian Casualties Raises Serious Concerns
12.04.07. Human Rights Watch. US government documents made public by court
order raise serious concerns about the number of civilian casualties caused
by American soldiers and contractors in Iraq and the standards under which
it pays compensation to Iraqi victims, Human Rights Watch said today. The
records, which document compensation claims made by the families of Iraqis
killed by US troops, were revealed today by the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU).
US Troop Deaths Up 21 Percent in Iraq
14.04.07. AP / Truthout. The article also says 'Iraqi civilian deaths have
fallen in last two months' - but that doesn't ring true any more than Iraq
Body Count rings true. -
The assassination of two professors from Mosul University
04.07. Al mosul. Another wave of assassination of Academics in Mosul. Dr
Talal Al-Jalili and Dr Jaffer
Iraqis Hunt for Dead Relatives After Bombs Kill 190
19.04.07. Salam Faraj, Agence France-Presse/Truthout. Devastated Iraqis
hunted for dead relatives in city morgues on Thursday after brutal car
bombings killed 190 people in Baghdad and raised
questions about the US-led security plan for the capital.
Iraq concealing casualty figures: UN
25.04.07. INT. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq criticised
Baghdad on Wednesday for concealing the casualty figures from its sectarian
war and charged that many detainees have "disappeared". In a report on
January 16, UNAMI said more than 34 400 people had died in the daily acts of
violence across the country in 2006.
Car bombs kill nearly 200 in Baghdad 18
Apr 2007 Car bombs killed nearly 200 people in Baghdad on Wednesday in the
deadliest attacks in the city since US and Iraqi forces launched a 'security
crackdown'
Bomb blasts mock Iraq's security plan 19
Apr 2007 Car bombs killed 140 people in Baghdad yesterday in the deadliest
attacks in the city since US and Iraqi forces launched a security crackdown
aim ...
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq criticised Baghdad on
Wednesday for concealing the casualty figures from its sectarian war and
charged that many detainees have "disappeared".
U.S. officials exclude car bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence
25.04.07. McClatchy / anti-war.com. 'U.S. officials who say there has been a
dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began
sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main
killers of Iraqi civilians.'
Iraq refuses to provide civilian casualty figures to U.N.
26.04.07. LA Times / fairuse / anti-war.com. ... 'but numbers from various
ministries indicate that more than 5,500 people died in the Baghdad area
alone in the first three months of this year.'
Iraqi civilians believed dead in US strike-military
26.04.07. Reuters/anti-war.com. 'Two Iraqi women and two children were
believed to have been killed in a U.S. air strike aimed at al Qaeda
militants north of Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military said.'
US Troops April Death Toll in Iraq Passes 100
30.04.07. AP /Truth out.
Memorial honoring fallen soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan runs out of room
04.05.07. Fort Wayne.com. According to the Defense Department, 3,736 U.S.
service members died in the two wars by the end of April. New names are
added to the display every few months, but none have been added since
November. The last name listed is Lance Cpl. Luke Holler, 21-year-old Marine
reservist from Bulverde, Texas, killed by an explosive device on Nov. 2.
All the children dying in Iraq aren't dying of disease
08.05.07. Eli Stephens, Left I on the News/uruk. Some are simply being
killed: A US helicopter gunship attacked a public school in Diyala Province,
killing seven children and wounding another three, police said.
Collateral Genocide
13.04.07. Mike Ferner, ICH. This summer will be one year since researchers
from Johns Hopkins University collected data for a study which concluded
655,000 additional deaths were caused by the military war, and things have
only gotten worse since then. Then consider that the economic war killed an
additional 500,000 Iraqi kids under the age of five during only the first
seven years of sanctions which were in force for a dozen years, according to
a 1999 U.N. report.
Two elements are necessary to commit the crime of genocide: 1) the mental
element, meaning intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnical, racial or religious group, and 2) the physical element, which
includes any of the following: killing or causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life
calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in
part; imposing measures intended to prevent births; or forcibly transferring
children to another group.
Andrew Bacevich’s son killed in Iraq
Writer for Post suffers ultimate sacrifice
14.05.07. Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher. His father, Andrew Bacevich,
is author of the superb book, The
New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War
Murder After the 'Surge'from anti-war.com (headlines/dates only)
Deaths from anti-war.com
Wednesday: 312 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 302 Iraqis Wounded
Thursday: 3 GIs, 2 Britons, 82 Iraqis Killed; 70 Iraqis Injured
Friday: 1 GI, 63 Iraqis Killed; 58 Iraqis Wounded; 130 Iraqi Soldiers
Poisoned
Sunday (22.04.07): Sunday: 3 GIs, 102 Iraqis Killed; 166 Iraqis Wounded
Wednesday: 1 GI, UK Soldier, 52 Iraqis Killed; 80 Iraqis Wounded
Thursday: 90 Iraqis Killed, 158 Wounded
Friday: 3 GIs, 47 Iraqis Killed, 37 Iraqis Wounded
Saturday: 81 Iraqis Killed, 61 Wounded
Bloody Sunday: 12 GIs, 118 Iraqis Killed
Monday: 2 GIs, 128 Iraqis Killed; 90 Iraqis Wounded
Tuesday: (08.05.07) 2 GIs, 114 Iraqis Killed, 127 Wounded, 30 Kidnapped
Wednesday: 1 GI, 80 Iraqis Killed; 137 Iraqis Wounded
Thursday: 3 GIs, 62 Iraqis Killed; 26 Iraqis Wounded
Friday: 2 GIs, 77 Iraqis Killed; 87 Iraqis Wounded
Saturday: 6 GIs Killed, More Captured; 40 Iraqis Killed
Sunday: 2 GIs, 146 Iraqis Killed, 201 Iraqis Injured
Monday (14.05) : 6 GIs, 1 Dane, 95 Iraqis Killed
Tuesday: 78 Iraqis Killed, 114 Wounded
Wednesday: 147 Iraqis Killed, 243 Wounded
Thursday: 3 GIs, 78 Iraqis Killed; 36 Iraqis Wounded, 12 Kidnapped
Friday: 5 GIs, 89 Iraqis Killed; 42 Iraqis Wounded
Saturday: 6 GIs, 95 Iraqis Killed; 65 Iraqis Wounded
Sunday 20.05.07. : 7 GIs, 1 Korean Soldier, 97 Iraqis Killed; 94 Iraqis
Wounded
Monday: 1 Briton, 50 Iraqis Killed; 69 Iraqis Wounded
Tuesday: 105 Iraqis Killed, 121 Wounded
Wednesday: 10 GIs, 127 Iraqis Killed, 98 Iraqis Wounded
Thursday: 6 GIs, 101 Iraqis Killed; 81 Iraqis Wounded
Friday: 6 GIs, 37 Iraqis Killed; 38 Iraqis Wounded
FUTURE DEATHS AND DU
REPORT
UK's Depleted Uranium Oversight Board Release Final Report
12.04.07. ICBUW. The Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (DUOB) was established
in 2001 to oversee a testing programme for British veterans (military and
civilian) who wished to know whether they had been significantly exposed to
depleted uranium (DU) in the 1990/91 Gulf War or during later military
operations in the Balkans. … in all 464 veterans were tested - out of a
possible 50,000 who served in the Gulf and Balkan wars.
ICBUW's Uranium Weapons Briefing
01.03.07. ICBUW. An eight page (PDF) briefing covering all the main aspects
of the DU issue
ARTICLES
Bill should've passed
18.03.07. Aberdeen News. This bill was to ensure our most recently separated
veterans were notified of possible exposure to and screening for depleted
uranium. The Veterans Affairs is testing free of charge for our South Dakota
troops. This bill would have made sure that every South Dakota man and woman
who served this country in the Armed Forces was notified of the right to a
medical evaluation for exposure to depleted uranium.
Belgium Bans Uranium Weapons and Armour
23.03.07. Willem Van den Panhuysen, Global Research. Belgium
has become the first country in the world to ban uranium weapons! ICBUW
praises the hard work and commitment of the Belgian Coalition Stop Uranium
Weapons.
US accused of using neutron bombs
08.04.07. aljazeera.net / uruknet. Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi told
Al Jazeera that US forces used neutron and phosphorus bombs during their
assault on Baghdad airport before the April 9 capture of the Iraqi capital.
... A neutron bomb is a thermonuclear weapon that produces minimal blast and
heat but releases large amounts of lethal radiation that can penetrate
armour and is especially destructive to human tissue. In a further story
entitled The
US used neutron weapons in the battle of the airport, the video has been
removed from view. ??
480 US nuclear warheads in Europe
10.04.07. presstv.ir. A documentary aired on Italian TV channel, RAI 24, has
claimed that the U.S. military is keeping 480 nuclear warheads across
Europe, 90 in Italy.
Thwarted Warrior: Depleted uranium and the mystery of sick and dying Gulf
War vets
13.04.07. Robert C. Koehler, The Smirking Chimp/uruknet. We know about the
VA scandal, the great betrayal, but what almost no one talks about are the
numbers. According to Veterans Administration figures from last November,
205,000 GIs who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, a third of the
total, have sought medical care, for such problems as malignant tumors
(1,584), endocrinal and metabolic diseases (36,409), nervous system diseases
(61,524), digestive system diseases (63,002), musculoskeletal diseases
(87,590), and mental disorders (73,157), among many other conditions. One of
the largest categories is "ill defined," a.k.a. mystery conditions (67,743).
In comparison, a relatively small number (35,765) have sought VA care for
injuries. … let's not forget to ask a more basic question: Why are all these
GIs getting sick? And with even more urgent moral imperative, especially in
the context of the invasion's justification, we must also ask: What about
the Iraqis? Count on it, if our vets are sick, so are the Iraqis' children,
their elderly, and they're making do with a shattered health-care
infrastructure that makes our own look positively First World. Interesting
life story about DU expert, (ex) Major Rokke.
Tomgram: Nick Turse, The Air War in Iraq Uncovered
15.05.07. Nick Turse, Tom Dispatch. The Shape of a Shadowy Air War. Did the
U.S. Lie about Cluster Bomb Use in Iraq? At a time when many nations are
moving toward banning the use of cluster munitions, which pose a more
serious threat to civilians than any other type of weaponry, the U.S other
type of weaponry, the U.S. opposes new limits of any kind.
Update 05.06.08
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under
US control
05.06.08. Patrick Cockburn, Independent. Bush
wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for
all American soldiers and contractors. A secret deal being negotiated in
Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq
indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in
November.
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The url to US Bases in Iraq. Part I: Baghdad is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/04/us-bases-in-iraq-part-i-baghdad.html
Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in Sussex, UK.
http://indexresearch.blogspot.com
See articles
of Sarah Meyer published by the BRussells
Tribunal website:
http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Meyer.htm
+
Sarah Meyer
is a researcher living in the UK
