[uruknet.info] - [daily information from occupied iraq] - [newsletter 21 Dec 2005]

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Iraq and the Laws of War
Professor Francis A. Boyle, GlobalResearch.ca
On 19 March 2003 President Bush Jr. commenced his criminal war against Iraq
by ordering a so-called decapitation strike against the President of Iraq
in violation of a 48-hour ultimatum he had given publicly to the Iraqi
President and his sons to leave the country. This duplicitous behavior
violated the customary international laws of war set forth in the 1907
Hague Convention on the Opening of Hostilities to which the United States
is still ! a contracting party, as evidenced by paragraphs 20, 21, 22, and
23 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956). Furthermore, President Bush
Jr.'s attempt to assassinate the President of Iraq was an international
crime in its own right. Of course the Bush Jr. administration's war of
aggression against Iraq constituted a Crime against Peace as defined by the
Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg Judgment (1946), and the Nuremberg
Principles (1950) as well as by paragraph 498 of U.S. Army Field Manual
27-10 (1956)...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18911&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18911


The Anglo-American War of Terror: An Overview
Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch.ca
The World is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern
history. In the largest display of military might since the Second World
War, the United States and its indefectible British ally have embarked upon
a military adventure, which threatens the future of humanity. An
understanding of the underlying historical background is crucial. This war
agenda is not the product of a distinct neo-conservative project. From the
o! utset of the Cold War Era, there is a consistent thread, a continuum in
US military doctrine, from the "Truman doctrine" to Bush's "war on
terrorism"...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18891&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18891


Guardians of Power
Exclusive interview with Media Lens’ editors David Edwards and David Cromwell
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat's Dream
"Guardians of Power. The Myth of the Liberal Media" is a new book by David
Edwards and David Cromwell, the two editors of Media Lens, an excellent
watchdog "correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media" (...)
The title is obviously a not very subtle reference to the Guardian, but it
also refers to the media in general. The sub-title is intended to indic!
ate that the liberal media - the best media, like the Guardian, the
Independent, the Observer (as it used to be) and the BBC - play a really
crucial role in protecting power. In a totalitarian system it doesn't
matter what people think - if they get out of line, you can hit them on the
head, drag them away in the middle of the night. Thanks to centuries of
popular struggle, violence of that kind is no longer an option for Western
elites. Instead, in our society, control is primarily maintained by
controlling what people think.

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18899&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18899


Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the Art of Deception
Sam Hamod, Ph.D.
Secretary of Defense, actually it should be called Secretary of War because
America is not interested in defense as much as making war these days,
Donald Rumsfeld is at it again. He is a master of deception in the use of
semantics and language. First, he told us the war was almost won in Iraq;
this when there are more attacks on U.S. troops every day and more
casualties than in previous months. Then, he told us the "war in
Afghanistan" was won! , and that America could "draw down troops", even
though we have no solid foundation to claim a "victory" in Afghanistan
because the warlords from all over Afghanistan have taken over 95% if the
country and large parts of Kabul aside from President Karzai’s compound and
offices, and the opium poppy crop this year will be the largest in the past
20 years!...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18910&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18910


GI Special 3D51: Bulgarian Troops Going Home Too - December 21, 2005
www.militaryproject.org
...In the case of the war on Iraq, it is evident that the enemy of the
United States is the majority of the Iraqi people which it attacked to
destroy its Arab-Muslim appartenance and identity, plunder its natural
resources and subjugate it to a puppet government it creates. This is
impossible for geopolitical, moral and practical reasons. The consequence
of this impossibility is that the more the United States tries to d! estroy
its enemies in Iraq, the more it finds that the resistance of the Iraqi
people grows. The Iraqi people by its culture, civilisation and heritage
supported, and supports always, the oppressed against the oppressor...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18909&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18909


Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board,
the Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
...Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told the US-assembled "court" in Baghdad
on Wednesday that he had been beaten and tortured on every part of his body
while under interrogation by US captors, in the shade of what they call
"American democracy.’ Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported that during the
Wednesday session of the "trial" b! eing put on by the American occupation
and its puppet regime, President Saddam Hussein denounced the American
imposed "constitution" under which the "trial" and recent "elections" had
been held. The President referred to the document as being drafted by "an
American counselor" in reference to Noah Feldman, the New York University
Law Professor who wrote the "Iraqi constitution" for the US State
Department...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18908&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18908


Here we go again with the censure nonsense
Bev Conover, Online Journal Editor & Publisher
...So we have to ask whether Congressman John Conyers, who quietly
introduced a motion Sunday to censure George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for
their crimes, has gone soft in the head? Censure is a tool Congress uses to
reprimand one of its own, usually for an ethical violation not a
prosecutable crime (...) Censure, Mr. Conyers? Nay. They must be impeached
now, before they turn the US military's guns on Syria, Iran, Venezuela, !
Cuba, Bolivia -- or whichever country is deemed the enemy du jour -- before
completely destroy what is left of the US and declaring themselves
dictators. Our lives, our children's lives and the lives of innocent people
throughout the world depend on their impeachment, conviction, removal from
office and handing them over to civil authorities to be tried for their
crimes. And all Bush's cabinet officers must be impeached, convicted and
removed from office as well...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18907&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18907


Iraq rebels 'intensify violence'
Brisbane Courier Mail
AN Iraqi Sunni leader said insurgents will intensify attacks to drive out
US troops and violence will worsen if a Shiite-led government returns to
power, as seems likely. Sheikh Majeed al-Gaood, head of the Wahaj al-Iraq
party with strong ties to both Islamist and secular nationalist insurgents,
today said a victory for ruling Shiite Islamists aligned to Iran in last
week's parliamentary elections would bring bloodshed. "The resistance will
intensify and ther! e will be a bloodbath and much blood will be spilt if
Iran's agents gain power," said Sheikh Gaood whose group has a strong
following among ex-army officers, Saddam Hussein loyalists and Arab Sunnis
waging the insurgency...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18906&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18906


Law asks DoD to count civilian casualties
Shaun Waterman, Monsters and Critics.com
Legislation promoted by a slain American aid worker and passed by lawmakers
at the weekend requires the U.S. military to report to Congress about what
information it collects on civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
amendment to the 2006 Defense Authorization Act sponsored by Sen. Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., highlights an issue that U.S. aid worker Marla Ruzicka made
her life`s work before she was slain by a suicide bomber in ! Baghdad on
April 16...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18905&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18905


Spy Court Judge Quits in Protest
By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer, The Washington Post
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government
surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret
authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources. U.S.
District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without !
providing an explanation...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18904&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18904


Coercion Marred Iraq Elections: Experts
United Press International
Iraq's elections were marked by widespread intimidation and coercion by
paramilitary groups, experts said Tuesday. "This election appears to have
suffered from very many problems. The reports have become overwhelming,"
Leslie Campbell, regional director of Middle East and North African
programs at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs,
told a meeting at the Center for American Progress, a think tank headed by
John Podesta, P! resident Bill Clinton's former chief of staff...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18903&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18903


Back to black
Jeff Wells, Rigorous Intuition
In his defense of the end of the pretense of constitutional rule, Dick
Cheney says "you know, it's not an accident that we haven't been hit in
four years." Of course he's right. And since Cheney warned Americans last
year that a vote for Kerry was inviting another 9/11, maybe that's how he
means it to be heard this time, too: the veiled threat of a protection
artist. Remember the claims of Ground Zero firefighters, contradicting the
official account, that they had actu! ally recovered the black boxes of
Flights 11 and 175?...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18902&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18902


United for Peace and Justice Has become Part of the Problem: Opportunist,
Favors Democrats While Rejecting Anti-Imperialism
David Silver , dissidentvoice.org
Even prior to the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq, United for Peace and
Justice (UFPJ) was telling us that connecting any other issues, and in
particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would "dilute the anti-war
message" of stopping the war and ending the Occupation. I witnessed this
political position as a former member of Vets for Peace, that also enc!
ouraged and urged us to vote for Kerry. On Dec. 12, 2005 Leslie Cagan,
speaking for the UFPJ Steering Committee posted to the website that they
will "not coordinate work with ANSWER again on a national level." (...)
UFPJ’s support earlier this year of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions and
its mentor the so-called Iraq Communist Party went beyond opportunism. Both
groups support the invasion, support the occupation, support the puppet
government in Baghdad, and want U.S. troops to remain there indefinitely...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18901&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18901


Bush's Orwellian America
PAUL CAMPOS
Franz Kafka and George Orwell would have gotten a grim laugh out of
President Bush's radio address on Saturday, in which the president assured
the nation that he had ordered Americans to be spied on, in direct defiance
of a federal law that specifically prohibits such spying, because he is
dedicated to protecting our "civil liberties." Bush's executive order,
which he has renewed more than 30 times in the past four years, violates
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The! FISA, which was passed by
Congress after Richard Nixon used the nation's intelligence services to spy
on his political enemies, requires the government to get a warrant from a
special court, the FISC, before it can use shadowy organizations such as
the National Security Agency to spy on Americans...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18898&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18898


Iraq election losers unite to contest result
Mariam Karouny and Omar al-Ibadi, Reuters
Iraq's Sunni Arab and secular parties threatened on Wednesday to boycott
the new parliament after alleging massive fraud in last week's election,
ramping up pressure on the triumphant Shi'ite Islamists to share power.
Sunni rebels, whose informal truce helped push turnout to 70 percent as
insurgents pitched for a voice in the new, full-term legislature, warned
they would intensify attacks if the Shi'ite Alliance held on to the !
lion's share of power...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18897&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18897


With the White House defiant on illegal spying: Why no outcry for Bush’s
impeachment?
Patrick Martin, WSWS
Despite the brazen declaration by President Bush that he authorized illegal
electronic eavesdropping on Americans and will continue to do so, in
defiance of clear legislative prohibitions, the response in official
Washington has been remarkably muted. There has been some verbal
condemnation and calls for congressional hearings on the secret spying by
the National Security Agency (NSA), but no serious conside! ration of the
constitutional remedy for presidential lawbreaking: impeachment...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18896&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18896


Iraqis Glad 2005 Over, Dim Hopes For 2006
Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed
..."As a doctor I usually travel daily from home to college," said Um
Feras, a doctor of physics at Baghdad University who asked that her last
name be changed for her protection. "2005 was a terrible year, and now it
has become unacceptable for me to leave my house to go teach due to the
troops, who always where sunglasses even on gloomy days, aiming their
rifles at everyone like they are gangsters." The majority of Iraqis in
Baghdad now fear t! he security forces, as dozens of people each week are
"disappeared" by police and soldiers around the city and new torture
chambers have been discovered recently...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18895&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18895


Saddam lawyer 'harangued' by death threats
Independent Online, South Africa
One of Saddam Hussein's defence lawyers claimed that he was harangued by
death threats on Tuesday after flying into Iraq on the eve of the
resumption of the ex-dictator's trial. Former Qatari justice minister Najib
al-Nuami said labourers and workmen pushed towards his group, shouted
insults and threatened his life, as he left the arrivals' hall at Baghdad
airport accompanied by US soldiers. "We will kill you. You shouldn't do
that," he q! uoted them as saying...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18894&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18894


Saddam: Americans tortured me
Aljazeera.net
The trial of Saddam Hussein adjourned until Thursday, capping a session
highlighted by the former leader's allegation that he was beaten by his
American captors. "I have been hit by the Americans and tortured. Yes, I've
been beaten on every place of my body and the signs are all over my body,"
he said on Wednesday (...) "Our enemy is not the American people. Our enemy
is the American government which is destroying Iraq," he said. Saddam also
described fighters resisting! the US forces' presence in the country as
"brave men", adding that they were doing "good work"...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18893&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18893


Goss Tells Turks to Prepare for Iran Attack
Kurt Nimmo, Another day in the empire
You’d think the fact Porter Goss, head broom sweeper at the CIA, recently
told the Turkish government the United States plans to attack Iran and
Syria would be headline splashing news in the New York Times and the
Washington Post. But although the news was carried in the Turkish press, it
elicited hardly a murmur here in America, with the exception of United
Press International and Reuters. As for the latter, only Goss’ meeting
with! Turkish officials on the "separatist terrorist organization" known as
the Kurdistan Workers Party was mentioned and nothing about the impending
attack, while the UPI mentioned it in the fourth paragraph, stating: "Goss
said that Iran sees Turkey as an enemy and will 'export its regime,’
warning Ankara to be ready for a possible U.S. aerial operation against
Iran and Syria."...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18892&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18892


BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS
Malcom Lagauche
The U.S. administration openly admits it fixes elections in foreign
countries. The list is long: Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, Ukraine, Nicaragua,
Panama, etc. Madeleine Albright proudly stated that the U.S. put $42
million into the Serb elections of 2000. Add to that the number of
dictatorial countries the U.S. supports, and it is easy to see that the
"bastion of democracy" in the western hemisphere is nothing more than an
imperialist power that must have control over the world. At o! ne time,
sporting events transcended politics and was free from the politics of
colonialism. That all changed a few days ago (...) On December 15, 2005,
the U.S. government announced it would not allow the Cuban team to
participate in the U.S. There was no reason given other than the Treasury
Department nixing Cuba’s participation...

<http://www.uruknet.com/?s1=1&p=18862&s2=22>Read the full article / Leggi
l'articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.com/?p=18862




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