[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 28 Nov 2005]

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FLASHBACK: Demonize to Colonize
Ramsey Clark
The complete demonization of Saddam Hussein threatens to determine every
decision and action affecting not only his future but that of Iraq as well.
With U.S. mass media and U.S. government propaganda stripping Saddam
Hussein of every redeeming human quality, any act against him or Iraq is
ipso facto justified. This successful demonization made the U.S. unilateral
war of aggression against Iraq politically possible. It now makes a fair
trial for Saddam Hussein imposs! ible. The debate about intelligence
failures is itself a cover-up of the obvious. Saddam Hussein was demonized
to justify regime change in Iraq. It rendered him an evil madman
threatening the civilized world. He possessed weapons of mass destruction.
He supported 9/11. He aided al-Qaeda. WMDs could be launched within minutes
of his order. That Saddam Hussein would use them was clear. He used them
"against his own people." Ignored were the facts that under devastating
attacks by the U.S. in 1991 and 2003, Iraq did not use any illegal
weapons...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18248&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18248


Whistleblower! - US Interrogator Confirms Routine Iraq Torture
Levity, Daily Kos
Here's a story that will disappear until bloggers start talking about it.
Only PBS Frontline and Democracy Now! have dared to interview U.S.
interrogator Tony Lagouranis, who reports widespread torture and abuse
throughout Iraq. He admits:
- frustrated US soldiers torture Iraqi families at length in their homes -
including flesh burning, bone breaking, and ax attacks - with impunity
- no matter how obvious their innocence, detainees are always treated as
guilty and sent to Abu Ghraib
- officers filed unfounded reports to bolster the claim that Fallujah dead
were foreigners
- actually the Fallujah corpses included numerous women and children...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18255&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18255


Let's Go Kill Us Some Innocent Iraqis and Make Us a "Trophy Video", too.
Nur al-Cubicle
UK Sunday Telegraph reports that contractors working for Aegis Defence
Services (a UK company) opened fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars
on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad and recorded a
video of their actions. In one of the videoed attacks, a Mercedes is fired
on at a distance of several hundred yards before it crashes in to a
civilian taxi. In the last clip, a white civilian car is raked w! ith
machine gun fire as it approaches an unidentified security company vehicle.
Bullets can be seen hitting the vehicle before it comes to a slow stop...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18237&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18237


The Berlin Wall, Panama and Iraq
Nicolas J S Davies
The Berlin Wall fell on November 9-10, 1989. Forty days later, the United
States invaded Panama. This was the first unilateral U.S. combat operation
in Latin America in 60 years. It was also the largest U.S. combat operation
anywhere in the world since Vietnam. The U.N. General Assembly condemned it
as a "flagrant violation of international law" by a vote of 75 to 20. The
O.A.S. condemned the U.S. for the first time in its history, by a vote of
20 to 1, and the ! U.S. representative did not vote against an additional
O.A.S. resolution condemning his own country for violating the diplomatic
status of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama. Sixteen years later, the United
States is in its second year of having invaded another country, Iraq, and
is violating international treaties regarding torture, human rights,
prisoners of war and the responsibilities of occupying powers...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18243&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18243


The Detainees are Props in the Terror Game
The Grave Threat of the Bush Administration
PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
...The Bush administration justifies torture and threatens to veto
congressional attempts to restrain its use. The Bush administration
justifies indefinite detention of American citizens without charges. It
asserts the power of indefinite detention based on its subjective judgment
about who is a threat. An American government that preaches "freedom and
democracy" to the world claims the powers of t! yrants as its own.
Americans need to wake up. The only danger to Americans in Iraq is the one
Bush created by invading the country. The grave threat that Americans face
is the Bush administration's police state mentality...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18261&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18261


It Is NOT Our "National Security" – And These Are NOT Our Representatives
Revolution
...The Nation makes several notable omissions here. First they fail to ask
the question that most obviously and essentially demands an answer: why
have the Democrats not only failed to oppose the war, but actually
supported it, right up to claiming to be better able to successfully carry
out this project of extending U.S. domination--a claim which Kerry made the
centerpiece of his 2004 campaign, and which other Democrats t! oday
continue to make? The Nation cites a poll showing that 73% of the
Democratic Party rank and file oppose the war, while their leaders have
taken the opposite stand, but they never try to explain this glaring
contradiction. To what imperatives are these leaders responding? To what
interests are they answering?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18246&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18246


Public Humiliation and Official Secrets
The "Bomb Al Jazeera" Documents Trial
CHRISTOPHER REED
When Lord Goldsmith, the British attorney general, pounced on the Daily
Mirror tabloid newspaper last week, threatening it and the rest of the
media with the nation's Official Secrets Act, he was accused of imposing
censorship to save prime minister Tony Blair, and his master George W Bush,
from embarrassment. This was likely the intention, but the result could
become not a savior, but the ultimate confirmati! on of Bush's bomb-crazed
reckless folly...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18260&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18260


UP IN THE AIR
Where is the Iraq war headed next?
Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker
...A key element of the drawdown plans, not mentioned in the President’s
public statements, is that the departing American troops will be replaced
by American airpower. Quick, deadly strikes by U.S. warplanes are seen as a
way to improve dramatically the combat capability of even the weakest Iraqi
combat units. The danger, military experts have told me, is that, while the
number of American casualties would decrease as gr! ound troops are
withdrawn, the over-all level of violence and the number of Iraqi
fatalities would increase unless there are stringent controls over who
bombs what. "We’re not planning to diminish the war," Patrick Clawson, the
deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told me...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18242&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18242


How our governments use terrorism to control us
Tim Howells, Online Journal Contributing Writer
The sponsorship of terrorism by western governments, targeting their own
populations, has been a taboo subject. Although major scandals have
received cursory coverage in the media, the subject has been allowed to
immediately disappear without discussion or investigation. Therefore the
appearance this year of two major studies of this subject is a welcome
breakthrough, and provides essential reading for anyone strugglin! g to
understand the events of September 11, 2001 and the post September 11
world...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18238&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18238


Abuse of prisoners in Iraq widespread, officials say
Leila Fadel, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Iraqi authorities have been torturing and abusing prisoners in jails across
the country, current and former Iraqi officials charged. Deputy Human
Rights Minister Aida Ussayran and Gen. Muntadhar Muhi al-Samaraee, a former
head of special forces at the Ministry of the Interior, made the
allegations two weeks after 169 men who apparently had been tortured were
discovered in a south-central Baghdad building run by the Interior!
Ministry. The men reportedly had been beaten with leather belts and steel
rods, crammed into tiny rooms with tens of others and forced to sit in
their own excrement. A senior American military official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said he
suspected that the abuse wasn't isolated to the jail the U.S. military
discovered...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18259&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18259


CIA FLIGHTS IN EUROPE
The Hunt for Hercules N8183J
Georg Mascolo, Hans-Jürgen Schlamp and Holger Stark
A bitter debate over torture has erupted in Europe. Washington is believed
to have used EU countries as transit points for moving terrorism suspects
to clandestine locations where they may have been tortured. The Council of
Europe and other organizations are now demanding answers -- from the US and
European countries who looked the other way...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18257&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18257


The ties that tangle Iraq and Iran
M K Bhadrakumar
...So, what about the "next permanent Iraqi government"? That was what
Talabani's visit to Tehran was about. Talabani, who has kept close contacts
with the Iranian regime for the past few decades, was naturally given a
red-carpet welcome. Talabani's discussions brought out the following. Iran
will not easily countenance an accommodation of Ba'athist elements in
Iraq's power structure - something that suits Talabani, too. Second, the US
attitude toward Iran (over ! its nuclear program) will impact on Iran's
willingness to cooperate over orderly US troop withdrawal from Iraq. Third,
instead of a pan-Arab identity for Iraq, Tehran visualized that Iraq "will
glitter in the world of Islam in the near future" (to quote Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei). Fourth, Iran is determined to play an assertive role in
shaping Iraq's political future...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18256&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18256


US military fatalities jump 130 - unexplained
Truth About Iraqis
Thanks to Iraq Coalition Casualties for this report. They point to a US
Defense Department link showing that the number of US military fatalities
is actually 2245 and not 2108 as ICC has been reporting. Here is the
Defense Department link:
<http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf >http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
Iraq Coalition Casualties could not explain the discrepancy: Today’s
casualty report from! the DoD states that the total U.S. deaths for
Operation Iraqi Freedom is 2245. This is over 130 more than our count and
the total number of DoD death confirmations. The DoD has given no
explanation for the sudden increase in fatality totals and there has been
no mention in the press as to why the totals have increased dramatically
over the past week...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18253&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18253


A Congressman for Impeachment
Tony Trupiano
David Swanson
While no congressional incumbent has yet introduced articles of impeachment
or a resolution of inquiry into grounds for impeachment of Bush and Cheney,
numerous 2006 candidates are committed to doing so. I know because they're
contacting ImpeachPAC, a political action committee I work for which was
recently created to support pro-impeachment candidates. Today ImpeachPAC
announced its first endorsement, that of Tony Trupiano, Democratic
candidate! for Congress in Michigan's 11th District...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18252&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18252


Kidnap Briton's peace mission to Iraq
Jim Muir, Jonathan Petre and Sally Pook
A British anti-war activist abducted in Iraq was investigating human rights
abuses with a group called the Christian Peacemakers Team when he was held.
As efforts continued to identify the kidnappers yesterday, friends of
Norman Kember, 74, spoke of his life-long opposition to war and violence
and his work to promote peace and reconciliation. Mr Kember, who is married
with a daughter, Jo, was a professor of medical physics at St Barthol!
omew's Hospital, London, before retiring. He was taken captive with two
Canadians and an American on Saturday as he left a mosque in Baghdad, where
he had met local leaders to discuss rights abuses...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18258&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18258


Live Peace......... Be Peace
Judy Andreas
Most people know who Cindy Sheehan is. Most people have read how this
incredible woman has taken the tragic loss of her son, Casey, who died in
Iraq for a war based on lies, greed and corruption, and turned it into a
mobilizing heroic effort. Cindy has transmuted violence into peace by
example. Whether she is a Democrat or a Republican becomes irrelevant.
Whether she is a Catholic or a Buddhist becomes irrelevant. Cindy is more
than a label; she is greater than that. She ! has taken an "unspeakable"
event and given everyone a mirror in which to reflect. How many of us have
the courage to look?...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18250&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18250


Security Contractor ‘Trophy’ Video
Bareknucklepolitics.com EXCLUSIVEWatch the controversial video now
Bareknucklepolitics.com
...A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly
shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted
on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The video has sparked
concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form
of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the
deaths of h! undreds of innocent Iraqis...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18239&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18239


Bush Owns the OSP and the Broken Iraqi Pottery
Ahmed Amr
After two long years of dodging and weaving, the Bush administration is
finally being held to account for fixing, twisting, exaggerating and cherry
picking pre-war WMD intelligence. So far, the White House has responded to
these charges with pleas of innocence and assertions that hostilities were
initiated only as a last resort and based on the best information available
at the time. Since the Libby indictment, the administration and its media
cronies have ! launched an aggressive campaign to convince an increasingly
skeptical public that Bush honestly believed that Saddam possessed WMD
stockpiles and was behind the 9/11 atrocities...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18235&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18235


Saddam harangues judge, trial adjourned again
Michael Georgy and Luke Baker, Reuters
Saddam Hussein harangued the judge at the second session of his trial on
Monday before it was adjourned to grant co-defendants time to find new
counsel after one of their lawyers was killed and another fled Iraq. After
less than three hours of hearings, including videotaped testimony from a
witness who has since died, Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin ordered a one-week
adjournment until Dec. 5, just 10 days before Iraq holds parliament! ary
elections...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18234&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18234


GI Special 3D28: The Turkey - November 28, 2005
www.militaryproject.org
...In Baghdad on Sunday, a group of women protested outside the Ministry of
Interior building, demanding information about relatives who have been
taken by security forces, never to be heard from again. "What have they
done wrong?" asked one woman, who identified herself only as Um Nabeel.
"Let the government tell us where they are. If they were killed let them
tell us where their bodies are."...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18254&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18254


Testimony from Rove's former assistant may solidify case that he misled
leak inquiry, lawyers say
Jason Leopold and Larisa Alexandrovna, Raw Story
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will present evidence to a second
grand jury this week in his two year-old investigation into the outing of
covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson that could lead to a criminal
indictment being handed up against Karl Rove, President Bush’s deputy chief
of staff, attorneys close to the investigation say. Rove has remained under
inten! se scrutiny because of inconsistencies in his testimony to
investigators and the grand jury. According to sources, Rove withheld
crucial facts on three separate occasions and allegedly misled
investigators about conversations he had with Time magazine reporter
Matthew Cooper...

<http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=18251&s2=29>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=18251




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