PRISON ABUSE WIDESPREAD
"Evidence of abuse has emerged from a marine camp at Nasiriya and army camps at Baghdad International Airport, Qaim and Samarra...
* At Camp Whitehorse near Nasiriya, guards were allegedly told to prepare prisoners for interrogation by keeping them in hoods in temperatures of up to 49C degrees (120F) for 50 minutes at a time over periods of 10 hours. One Iraqi detainee choked to death.
* At a camp near Qaim, interrogators allegedly stuffed an Iraqi general into a sleeping bag, sat on his chest and covered his mouth. Maj Gen Abed Hamed Mowhoush, who had also been questioned by CIA operatives, eventually died.
* At a camp near Samarra, prisoners were reportedly choked and beaten and had their hair pulled.
* At Camp Cropper, at Baghdad International Airport, prisoners were allegedly beaten and forced to adopt painful positions for hours at a time.
... military interrogators from the Guantanamo detention camp in Cuba played a key role at Abu Ghraib. The interrogators at Guantanamo, which houses al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects, were sent to Iraq last year by the head of the Cuban prison camp, Gen Geoffrey Miller. Gen Miller was himself sent to Iraq to recommend improvements in the way prisoners were detained and questioned. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3759923.stm
Saturday, May 29, 2004
FLIP-FLOPS
"... The administration has said they will be there "as long as necessary and not a day longer,'' (BUT) aides were scrambling a few weeks ago to assure Congress that if the new Iraqi government asks American forces to leave, they will - whether their mission is completed or not."
"... Ashcroft last week (warned) of alarming intelligence that "indicates Al Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard.'' ... (BUT) Mr. Ridge reassured interviewers that there really was not much new intelligence floating around, just a general concern that Al Qaeda would try to influence the election or be tempted by a summer of big events..."
"President Bush... said there was only one fate for the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr: "Kill or capture.'' (BUT) Under a deal last week, Mr. Sadr walks, the murder charges against him apparently dropped. And while the White House had said that his militia must be broken up, the deal will allow it to stay intact..."
"... Mr. Chalabi... was a Bush administration favorite... who occupied a seat of honor when Mr. Bush addressed the United Nations last year and during his State of the Union address in January. The Pentagon paid Mr. Chalabi's party $335,000 a month... Now... the administration is suddenly describing him as a con artist at best, and perhaps a leaker of military information to Iran."
"... Colin L. Powell, declared that he now believes that the intelligence he received about the existence of mobile biological laboratories in Iraq was fabricated, and that American intelligence agencies were duped."
http://nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30sang.html?hp
"... The administration has said they will be there "as long as necessary and not a day longer,'' (BUT) aides were scrambling a few weeks ago to assure Congress that if the new Iraqi government asks American forces to leave, they will - whether their mission is completed or not."
"... Ashcroft last week (warned) of alarming intelligence that "indicates Al Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard.'' ... (BUT) Mr. Ridge reassured interviewers that there really was not much new intelligence floating around, just a general concern that Al Qaeda would try to influence the election or be tempted by a summer of big events..."
"President Bush... said there was only one fate for the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr: "Kill or capture.'' (BUT) Under a deal last week, Mr. Sadr walks, the murder charges against him apparently dropped. And while the White House had said that his militia must be broken up, the deal will allow it to stay intact..."
"... Mr. Chalabi... was a Bush administration favorite... who occupied a seat of honor when Mr. Bush addressed the United Nations last year and during his State of the Union address in January. The Pentagon paid Mr. Chalabi's party $335,000 a month... Now... the administration is suddenly describing him as a con artist at best, and perhaps a leaker of military information to Iran."
"... Colin L. Powell, declared that he now believes that the intelligence he received about the existence of mobile biological laboratories in Iraq was fabricated, and that American intelligence agencies were duped."
http://nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30sang.html?hp
THE LAB TRAILERS
June 2003
In the summer of 2003 I was interested in the recently found Iraqi "lab trailers" and did some simple research on Google. I found that the British had identifed them as part of a 1980's artillery fire control system. Long-range artillery as Iraq used against Iran depends on sending up balloons and tracking them to get information on high altitude winds that affect the trajectory of shells. The balloons are filled with hydrogen which is made by using a generator to pass an electrical current through water. The alternative, helium, is expensive and cannot be made in the field.
First, I found an article from the June 15 Observer, an English paper, that identified the trailers as hydrogen generators supplied to the Iraqis by a British company:
Sunday, June 15, 2003
by the Observer/UK
Iraqi Mobile Labs Nothing To Do With Germ Warfare, Report Finds
by Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff
"An official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq
has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs... but were for the
production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons... The revelation that the
mobile labs were to produce hydrogen for artillery balloons will also cause
discomfort for the British authorities because the Iraqi army's original
system was sold to it by the British company, Marconi Command & Control."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,977853,00.html
Then I found a 1998 report from the British House of Commons that gives the name of the fire control system and the date of supply to Iraq:
“… clearance had been given in October 1986 for supply of the Quickfire Artillery Fire Control System (Quickfire) to Iraq after the cessation of hostilities. Marconi Command and Control Systems Limited (MCCS) made a further application on 27 July 1988 for AWP clearance for the supply of Quickfire to Iraq.”
http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/UK/Scott%20Report/d6-406.htm
Finally I found a Turkish company that is currently selling a modernized more compact version of the same equipment:
http://www.aselsan.com.tr/ashomeen.htm
The system is called AFAMS - Field Artillery Meteorology System:
http://www.aselsan.com.tr/msting/tms_eng.htm
The web ad mentions the hydrogen generator in the tenth bullet. A photo shows the hydrogen generator on the bed of the truck and the telemetry tracking equipment towed on a little trailer.
Surely our intelligence agencies know all this and have informed the Administration, and it raises at least a reasonable doubt that the captured Iraqi trailers are bio-labs. The Administration is misleading people by continuing to claim that the captured trailers are definitely WMDs.
LAB TRAILERS A CHALABI DECEPTION
Mid-May 2004
"... When Secretary of State Colin Powell made his infamously inaccurate presentation to the United Nations, one of the most dramatic claims he made was that Iraq had developed mobile laboratories to produce biological weapons. The source for that phony claim is widely believed to be an engineer with links to (Chalabi's) Iraqi National Congress. Powell recently noted on "Meet the Press" that "it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading."
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher165.html
LAB TRAILERS FABRICATED
"... Colin L. Powell, declared that he now believes that the intelligence he received about the existence of mobile biological laboratories in Iraq was fabricated, and that American intelligence agencies were duped."
http://nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30sang.html?hp
June 2003
In the summer of 2003 I was interested in the recently found Iraqi "lab trailers" and did some simple research on Google. I found that the British had identifed them as part of a 1980's artillery fire control system. Long-range artillery as Iraq used against Iran depends on sending up balloons and tracking them to get information on high altitude winds that affect the trajectory of shells. The balloons are filled with hydrogen which is made by using a generator to pass an electrical current through water. The alternative, helium, is expensive and cannot be made in the field.
First, I found an article from the June 15 Observer, an English paper, that identified the trailers as hydrogen generators supplied to the Iraqis by a British company:
Sunday, June 15, 2003
by the Observer/UK
Iraqi Mobile Labs Nothing To Do With Germ Warfare, Report Finds
by Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff
"An official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq
has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs... but were for the
production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons... The revelation that the
mobile labs were to produce hydrogen for artillery balloons will also cause
discomfort for the British authorities because the Iraqi army's original
system was sold to it by the British company, Marconi Command & Control."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,977853,00.html
Then I found a 1998 report from the British House of Commons that gives the name of the fire control system and the date of supply to Iraq:
“… clearance had been given in October 1986 for supply of the Quickfire Artillery Fire Control System (Quickfire) to Iraq after the cessation of hostilities. Marconi Command and Control Systems Limited (MCCS) made a further application on 27 July 1988 for AWP clearance for the supply of Quickfire to Iraq.”
http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/UK/Scott%20Report/d6-406.htm
Finally I found a Turkish company that is currently selling a modernized more compact version of the same equipment:
http://www.aselsan.com.tr/ashomeen.htm
The system is called AFAMS - Field Artillery Meteorology System:
http://www.aselsan.com.tr/msting/tms_eng.htm
The web ad mentions the hydrogen generator in the tenth bullet. A photo shows the hydrogen generator on the bed of the truck and the telemetry tracking equipment towed on a little trailer.
Surely our intelligence agencies know all this and have informed the Administration, and it raises at least a reasonable doubt that the captured Iraqi trailers are bio-labs. The Administration is misleading people by continuing to claim that the captured trailers are definitely WMDs.
LAB TRAILERS A CHALABI DECEPTION
Mid-May 2004
"... When Secretary of State Colin Powell made his infamously inaccurate presentation to the United Nations, one of the most dramatic claims he made was that Iraq had developed mobile laboratories to produce biological weapons. The source for that phony claim is widely believed to be an engineer with links to (Chalabi's) Iraqi National Congress. Powell recently noted on "Meet the Press" that "it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading."
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher165.html
LAB TRAILERS FABRICATED
"... Colin L. Powell, declared that he now believes that the intelligence he received about the existence of mobile biological laboratories in Iraq was fabricated, and that American intelligence agencies were duped."
http://nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30sang.html?hp
Friday, May 28, 2004
60% OF IRAQ LIVES ON IMPORTED FOOD RATIONS
"An estimated 60 percent of Iraqi families depend completely on the monthly food ration distributed under the former UN-administered Oil-for-Food programme, as 55 percent of the population is living below the poverty line after 12 years of economic sanctions. Virtually all of the estimated 27 million people in Iraq use food provided in the ration in one way or another... A million children under the age of five are estimated to be chronically malnourished.... Chronic malnutrition stands at more than 22 percent in the south."
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org%2Freport.asp%3FReportID%3D41278%26SelectRegion%3DIraq_Crisis%26SelectCountry%3DIRAQ
"An estimated 60 percent of Iraqi families depend completely on the monthly food ration distributed under the former UN-administered Oil-for-Food programme, as 55 percent of the population is living below the poverty line after 12 years of economic sanctions. Virtually all of the estimated 27 million people in Iraq use food provided in the ration in one way or another... A million children under the age of five are estimated to be chronically malnourished.... Chronic malnutrition stands at more than 22 percent in the south."
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irinnews.org%2Freport.asp%3FReportID%3D41278%26SelectRegion%3DIraq_Crisis%26SelectCountry%3DIRAQ
NEW FAKE GOVERNMENT SELECTED
"Finally, we have a president and a prime minister. So “they” selected our president and prime minister... but they couldn’t even announce the place of their meeting!!! What a great strong authority!
Hiding in a dark smelly shelter someplace in the “Green Zone”, and announcing fake governments.
People from the new Iraqi government don’t have the power to guarantee their personal safety!
How are they supposed to rule a country like IRAQ?
The stupid mistakes of the Bush administration started more than one cancer in the exhausted body of Iraq -- all of these right winged militias that grew over the last year need decades to be removed.
Bush is helping extremist fundamentalists hijack the flag of Islam..."
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
From the blog "Raed In The Middle", by Raed Jarrar, the "Baghdad Blogger", May 29
aka Salam Pax, author of war diary "The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802140440/qid=1085793922/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5140642-0265564?v=glance&s=books
"Finally, we have a president and a prime minister. So “they” selected our president and prime minister... but they couldn’t even announce the place of their meeting!!! What a great strong authority!
Hiding in a dark smelly shelter someplace in the “Green Zone”, and announcing fake governments.
People from the new Iraqi government don’t have the power to guarantee their personal safety!
How are they supposed to rule a country like IRAQ?
The stupid mistakes of the Bush administration started more than one cancer in the exhausted body of Iraq -- all of these right winged militias that grew over the last year need decades to be removed.
Bush is helping extremist fundamentalists hijack the flag of Islam..."
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
From the blog "Raed In The Middle", by Raed Jarrar, the "Baghdad Blogger", May 29
aka Salam Pax, author of war diary "The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802140440/qid=1085793922/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-5140642-0265564?v=glance&s=books
UNPROFESSIONAL MILITARY
"... Why are US soldiers (at Abu Ghraib) of such poor quality? One reason for the alarming level of incompetence appears to be that many officers and foot-soldiers are not professionals. They are two-week-a-year reservists. The 320th military police battalion, at the heart of the abuse scandal, was a reserve unit... Karpinski, in charge of the brigade, was a corporate management consultant in civilian life. Phillabaum, in charge of the battalion, was a reservist. The company commander... Reese, who "failed to properly supervise his soldiers", was a salesman... this motley collection of part-timers have now sparked the worst US military scandal since Vietnam. It is they who are accused of being the true face of the force which President Bush claims is bringing freedom to Iraq..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,1226519,00.html
"... Why are US soldiers (at Abu Ghraib) of such poor quality? One reason for the alarming level of incompetence appears to be that many officers and foot-soldiers are not professionals. They are two-week-a-year reservists. The 320th military police battalion, at the heart of the abuse scandal, was a reserve unit... Karpinski, in charge of the brigade, was a corporate management consultant in civilian life. Phillabaum, in charge of the battalion, was a reservist. The company commander... Reese, who "failed to properly supervise his soldiers", was a salesman... this motley collection of part-timers have now sparked the worst US military scandal since Vietnam. It is they who are accused of being the true face of the force which President Bush claims is bringing freedom to Iraq..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,1226519,00.html
IRAQ A DIVERSION FROM WAR ON TERROR
"Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that major terrorist attacks are possible this summer -- not from Iraq but from operatives of Al Qaeda who are already inside the United States.... In a news conference of nearly 4,000 words, Iraq did not come up once. Not one of the seven new suspects Ashcroft and Mueller named came from Iraq or has any publicized tie to Iraq. This is the way it has been ever since the Bush administration created its national threat level system in March 2002."
"... Terrorist alerts about Al Qaeda may not be a lie. There is no question the alarming rhetoric on Iraq was. One shudders to think what Bush's deception has already cost in the lives of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and billions of dollars lost to our economy. Let us hope that we will not shudder again over the possibility that keeping 138,000 troops in Iraq on a wild goose chase lets the real terrorists slip into the nation once again."
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/149/oped/Bush_shifting_terror_alarm_onto_Iraq+.shtml
"Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that major terrorist attacks are possible this summer -- not from Iraq but from operatives of Al Qaeda who are already inside the United States.... In a news conference of nearly 4,000 words, Iraq did not come up once. Not one of the seven new suspects Ashcroft and Mueller named came from Iraq or has any publicized tie to Iraq. This is the way it has been ever since the Bush administration created its national threat level system in March 2002."
"... Terrorist alerts about Al Qaeda may not be a lie. There is no question the alarming rhetoric on Iraq was. One shudders to think what Bush's deception has already cost in the lives of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and billions of dollars lost to our economy. Let us hope that we will not shudder again over the possibility that keeping 138,000 troops in Iraq on a wild goose chase lets the real terrorists slip into the nation once again."
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/149/oped/Bush_shifting_terror_alarm_onto_Iraq+.shtml
MUSLIMS ARE THE ENEMY
“They are MUSLIMS! They want to kill us all. If they were over here now they’d slit your throat and RAPE you! MUSLIMS are the ENEMY.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0528-01.htm
“They are MUSLIMS! They want to kill us all. If they were over here now they’d slit your throat and RAPE you! MUSLIMS are the ENEMY.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0528-01.htm
USING TERRORISM TO GET POWER
"Will George W. Bush use terrorism to... (seize) absolute power...?... Ultimately, Bush's real peers are not US presidents but Third World dictators... Their coda is clear:
• Use of "terror" as an excuse for totalitarian control;
• Official secrecy for its own sake;
• Seizure of power in contempt of free elections;
• Totalitarian militarism;
• Love of the death penalty;
• Hatred of a free press;
• Imprisonment without legal recourse;
• Widespread torture;
• Brazen theft of public billions;
• "Free market" smokescreens for corporate domination;
• Taxing the poor to benefit the rich;
• Hatred of labor unions;
• Decimation of the natural environment;
• Assaulting elected leaders anywhere, anytime;
• Contempt for international treaties;
• Reactionary alliance with right wing church groups;
• Contempt for women's rights;
• Manipulating divisions of race and class.
The one American actually offered a dictatorship, George Washington, turned it down, shaping the nature of the Presidency for more than two centuries....until now."
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2004/897
"Will George W. Bush use terrorism to... (seize) absolute power...?... Ultimately, Bush's real peers are not US presidents but Third World dictators... Their coda is clear:
• Use of "terror" as an excuse for totalitarian control;
• Official secrecy for its own sake;
• Seizure of power in contempt of free elections;
• Totalitarian militarism;
• Love of the death penalty;
• Hatred of a free press;
• Imprisonment without legal recourse;
• Widespread torture;
• Brazen theft of public billions;
• "Free market" smokescreens for corporate domination;
• Taxing the poor to benefit the rich;
• Hatred of labor unions;
• Decimation of the natural environment;
• Assaulting elected leaders anywhere, anytime;
• Contempt for international treaties;
• Reactionary alliance with right wing church groups;
• Contempt for women's rights;
• Manipulating divisions of race and class.
The one American actually offered a dictatorship, George Washington, turned it down, shaping the nature of the Presidency for more than two centuries....until now."
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2004/897
ABU GHRAIB'S REPLACEMENT MAY NEED TO BE LARGE
"The Bush administration tried to erase the recent shameful images of postwar Iraq last night by saying it would demolish Abu Ghraib prison... the administration said that the demolition of the prison would symbolise a new beginning for Iraq... the US would help finance the construction of a new maximum security prison..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1224116,00.html
"America's inmate population (is) almost 2.1 million people, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0528-02.htm
Blogger's note: If the Iraqis are good, law-abiding democratic citizens like we in the USA, their new prison system will need to hold 167,000 prisoners. (Population of Iraq is 25 million, of which about 12.5 million are men, divided by 75, equals 167,000.)
"The Bush administration tried to erase the recent shameful images of postwar Iraq last night by saying it would demolish Abu Ghraib prison... the administration said that the demolition of the prison would symbolise a new beginning for Iraq... the US would help finance the construction of a new maximum security prison..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1224116,00.html
"America's inmate population (is) almost 2.1 million people, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0528-02.htm
Blogger's note: If the Iraqis are good, law-abiding democratic citizens like we in the USA, their new prison system will need to hold 167,000 prisoners. (Population of Iraq is 25 million, of which about 12.5 million are men, divided by 75, equals 167,000.)
IRAQ NOT A SHOWCASE
"... gone is the hubris. Let's face it: Iraq is not going to be America's showcase in the Arab-Muslim world... Back in the time of our triumph — that of swift movement and of pulling down the dictator's statues — we had let the victory speak for itself. There was no need to even threaten the Syrians, the Iranians and the Libyans with a fate similar to the one that befell the Iraqi despotism... (now) our enemies have taken our measure; they have taken stock of our national discord over the war. We shall not chase the Syrian dictator to a spider hole, nor will we sack the Iranian theocracy....
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/opinion/26AJAM.html?ex=1400904000&en=8d2067cfdd302382&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
"... gone is the hubris. Let's face it: Iraq is not going to be America's showcase in the Arab-Muslim world... Back in the time of our triumph — that of swift movement and of pulling down the dictator's statues — we had let the victory speak for itself. There was no need to even threaten the Syrians, the Iranians and the Libyans with a fate similar to the one that befell the Iraqi despotism... (now) our enemies have taken our measure; they have taken stock of our national discord over the war. We shall not chase the Syrian dictator to a spider hole, nor will we sack the Iranian theocracy....
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/opinion/26AJAM.html?ex=1400904000&en=8d2067cfdd302382&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
US TAKING HOSTAGES
"... the U.S. military is holding dozens of Iraqis as bargaining chips to put pressure on their wanted relatives to surrender... family members who are not accused of any crimes have been detained for weeks or even months and told that they would be released only when a wanted relative surrenders to U.S. forces... These detainees are not accused of any crimes, and experts say their detention violates the Geneva Conventions and other international laws..."
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/world/ny-woabus263819545may26,0,2416932.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
"... the U.S. military is holding dozens of Iraqis as bargaining chips to put pressure on their wanted relatives to surrender... family members who are not accused of any crimes have been detained for weeks or even months and told that they would be released only when a wanted relative surrenders to U.S. forces... These detainees are not accused of any crimes, and experts say their detention violates the Geneva Conventions and other international laws..."
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/world/ny-woabus263819545may26,0,2416932.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
Thursday, May 27, 2004
"SOVEREIGN" IRAQ NOT TO CONTROL OCCUPATION ARMY
"... the interim Iraqi government will have sovereignty, but limited control over coalition military operations.... Mr Powell (said): "Obviously, we would take into account whatever they might say at a political and military level."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3748183.stm
"There is no such thing as 'sovereignty lite'. "Being sovereign is like being pregnant: you either are or you aren't."
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fantiwar.com%2Fbarganier2%2F%3Farticleid%3D2657
"The new U.S.-British drafted Security Council resolution is a scam. Under cover of a “transfer of sovereignty,” it seeks to have the United Nations give the United States legal authority to continue the occupation indefinitely."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0526-09.htm
"... the American media... should awaken to the fact that every time they use phrases like "handing over sovereignty" or "transition to democracy" they are misleading the public just as thoroughly as so many did when they accepted at face value the Administration's claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0527-11.htm
"... the interim Iraqi government will have sovereignty, but limited control over coalition military operations.... Mr Powell (said): "Obviously, we would take into account whatever they might say at a political and military level."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3748183.stm
"There is no such thing as 'sovereignty lite'. "Being sovereign is like being pregnant: you either are or you aren't."
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fantiwar.com%2Fbarganier2%2F%3Farticleid%3D2657
"The new U.S.-British drafted Security Council resolution is a scam. Under cover of a “transfer of sovereignty,” it seeks to have the United Nations give the United States legal authority to continue the occupation indefinitely."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0526-09.htm
"... the American media... should awaken to the fact that every time they use phrases like "handing over sovereignty" or "transition to democracy" they are misleading the public just as thoroughly as so many did when they accepted at face value the Administration's claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0527-11.htm
LOST CAPACITY FOR TOLERATION
"... Whatever one thought of the invasion of Iraq, when patriotism becomes a market transaction, purchased by most on the cheap, that's cause for concern... the true source of this shift lies in the pathways of daily life. A reason for today's bitter, polarized politics is that people don't have to talk with those they don't agree with anymore. They just retreat into their cocoons of the like-minded where all they hear is echoes of themselves. They lose the capacity to tolerate - let alone listen to - anyone who thinks differently."
http://search.csmonitor.com/search_content/0527/p09s01-coop.html
"... Whatever one thought of the invasion of Iraq, when patriotism becomes a market transaction, purchased by most on the cheap, that's cause for concern... the true source of this shift lies in the pathways of daily life. A reason for today's bitter, polarized politics is that people don't have to talk with those they don't agree with anymore. They just retreat into their cocoons of the like-minded where all they hear is echoes of themselves. They lose the capacity to tolerate - let alone listen to - anyone who thinks differently."
http://search.csmonitor.com/search_content/0527/p09s01-coop.html
USA LIKE PARAGUAY?
"...Conventional wisdom says that an incumbent president with a $200 million war chest cannot be defeated, and that one who commands a live, bleeding, suffering army in the field is doubly invincible. By this logic, the most destructively incompetent president since Andrew Johnson will be rewarded with a second term. That would probably mean a military draft and more wars in the oil countries, and, under visionaries like Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, a chance for the USA to emulate 19th-century Paraguay, which simultaneously declared war on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and fought ferociously until 90% of the male population was dead."
http://www.populist.com/04.10.crowther.html
"...Conventional wisdom says that an incumbent president with a $200 million war chest cannot be defeated, and that one who commands a live, bleeding, suffering army in the field is doubly invincible. By this logic, the most destructively incompetent president since Andrew Johnson will be rewarded with a second term. That would probably mean a military draft and more wars in the oil countries, and, under visionaries like Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz, a chance for the USA to emulate 19th-century Paraguay, which simultaneously declared war on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and fought ferociously until 90% of the male population was dead."
http://www.populist.com/04.10.crowther.html
OCCUPATION CANNOT BE WON
"... Vietnam proved conclusively that no modern war of occupation will ever be won. Every occupation is doomed. The only way you "win" a war of occupation is the old-fashioned way, the way Rome finally defeated the Carthaginians: kill all the fighters, enslave everyone else, raze the cities and sow the fields with salt."
http://www.populist.com/04.10.crowther.html
"... Vietnam proved conclusively that no modern war of occupation will ever be won. Every occupation is doomed. The only way you "win" a war of occupation is the old-fashioned way, the way Rome finally defeated the Carthaginians: kill all the fighters, enslave everyone else, raze the cities and sow the fields with salt."
http://www.populist.com/04.10.crowther.html
CHANCE OF US TRANSITIONAL GOV'T LASTING TO ELECTION IS DIM
"... The Bush Administration is so unpopular in Iraq that all those cooperating with it, whether Iraqi or non-Iraqi, are viewed with suspicion at best and hostility at worst... The prospects for a UN-US-nominated Iraqi transitional government to last long enough to hold elections by January 2005 are very dim indeed."
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=3979
"... The Bush Administration is so unpopular in Iraq that all those cooperating with it, whether Iraqi or non-Iraqi, are viewed with suspicion at best and hostility at worst... The prospects for a UN-US-nominated Iraqi transitional government to last long enough to hold elections by January 2005 are very dim indeed."
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=3979
PROBLEM OF NOT DEFINING TERRORISM
"... Bush administration's steadfast refusal to define terrorism... has enabled the White House to label almost anybody opposed to its policies as a terrorist organization... terrorism is a catch-all term for interpreting diverse conflicts, from separatist movements to paramilitary activity to arms and narcotics trafficking... over time, the failure to define terrorism has become a real liability. The US now has some 5 million names on its master terror watch list... listing any terrorist from any terrorist organization, creates a problem, not a solution. Trying to monitor that vast number of people, causes one lose focus and jeopardize democratic values... With a growing number of groups declaring the US their number one enemy, the "war on terror" could last for generations, if we don't take a different tack.."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE28Ak03.html
"... Bush administration's steadfast refusal to define terrorism... has enabled the White House to label almost anybody opposed to its policies as a terrorist organization... terrorism is a catch-all term for interpreting diverse conflicts, from separatist movements to paramilitary activity to arms and narcotics trafficking... over time, the failure to define terrorism has become a real liability. The US now has some 5 million names on its master terror watch list... listing any terrorist from any terrorist organization, creates a problem, not a solution. Trying to monitor that vast number of people, causes one lose focus and jeopardize democratic values... With a growing number of groups declaring the US their number one enemy, the "war on terror" could last for generations, if we don't take a different tack.."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE28Ak03.html
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
SEXUAL ABUSE OF INNOCENT IRAQI WOMEN IN PRISON
"A scandal that has not yet broken in the press is the story of how many women ended up in US prisons... taken as hostages or potential informants because their husbands or sons were wanted by the US military... (the) Iraqi women were also made to strip naked, were photographed in that compromising position, and it is alleged that some were raped by US military personnel. This kind of arrest... is a form of collective punishment and not permitted under the Fouth Geneva Convention... The sexual abuse of these women is therefore a double crime... Eventually these photographs of abused or tortured Muslim women are likely to leak, and the reaction in the Muslim world will be explosive."
-- Juan Cole, Informed Comment, May 26, 2004
http://www.juancole.com/
"A scandal that has not yet broken in the press is the story of how many women ended up in US prisons... taken as hostages or potential informants because their husbands or sons were wanted by the US military... (the) Iraqi women were also made to strip naked, were photographed in that compromising position, and it is alleged that some were raped by US military personnel. This kind of arrest... is a form of collective punishment and not permitted under the Fouth Geneva Convention... The sexual abuse of these women is therefore a double crime... Eventually these photographs of abused or tortured Muslim women are likely to leak, and the reaction in the Muslim world will be explosive."
-- Juan Cole, Informed Comment, May 26, 2004
http://www.juancole.com/
IRAQ TO BE ARMAGEDDON?
"One of the Republican party's most respected foreign policy gurus yesterday appealed for President Bush to halt his plans to invade Iraq, warning of "an Armageddon in the Middle East".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,775532,00.html
" 9). Iraq is near, but is NOT the site of Armageddon".
http://www.tribulation.com/prt_iraq.htm
CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS BELIEVE IN THE SAME ARMAGEDDON
"The messiah can only return to earth after an apocalypse in Israel called Armageddon, which the fundamentalists are promoting with all their power so that The Rapture can take place. The first requirement was establishment of the state of Israel. Done. The next is Israel's occupation of the Middle East as a return of its "Biblical lands," which in the radical Christian scheme of things, means more wars. These Christian conservatives believe peace cannot ever lead to The Rapture, and indeed impedes the 1,000 year Reign of Christ. So anyone promoting peace is an enemy, a tool of Satan, hence the fundamentalist support for any and all wars Middle Eastern, in which their own kids die a death often viewed by Christian parents as a holy martyrdom of its own kind. "He (or she) died protecting this country's Christian values." One hears it over and over from parents of those killed. The final scenario of the Rapture has the "saved" Christians settling onto a cloud after the long float upward, from whence they watch a Rambo Jesus wipe out the remnants of the human race. Then in a mop-up operation by God, the Jews are also annihilated, excepting a few who convert to Christianity. The Messiah returns to earth. End of story. Incidentally, the Muslim version, I was surprised to learn recently, is almost exactly the same, but with Muslims doing the cloud-sitting..."
-- From article "The Covert Kingdom"
http://www.counterpunch.org/bageant05252004.html
"One of the Republican party's most respected foreign policy gurus yesterday appealed for President Bush to halt his plans to invade Iraq, warning of "an Armageddon in the Middle East".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,775532,00.html
" 9). Iraq is near, but is NOT the site of Armageddon".
http://www.tribulation.com/prt_iraq.htm
CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS BELIEVE IN THE SAME ARMAGEDDON
"The messiah can only return to earth after an apocalypse in Israel called Armageddon, which the fundamentalists are promoting with all their power so that The Rapture can take place. The first requirement was establishment of the state of Israel. Done. The next is Israel's occupation of the Middle East as a return of its "Biblical lands," which in the radical Christian scheme of things, means more wars. These Christian conservatives believe peace cannot ever lead to The Rapture, and indeed impedes the 1,000 year Reign of Christ. So anyone promoting peace is an enemy, a tool of Satan, hence the fundamentalist support for any and all wars Middle Eastern, in which their own kids die a death often viewed by Christian parents as a holy martyrdom of its own kind. "He (or she) died protecting this country's Christian values." One hears it over and over from parents of those killed. The final scenario of the Rapture has the "saved" Christians settling onto a cloud after the long float upward, from whence they watch a Rambo Jesus wipe out the remnants of the human race. Then in a mop-up operation by God, the Jews are also annihilated, excepting a few who convert to Christianity. The Messiah returns to earth. End of story. Incidentally, the Muslim version, I was surprised to learn recently, is almost exactly the same, but with Muslims doing the cloud-sitting..."
-- From article "The Covert Kingdom"
http://www.counterpunch.org/bageant05252004.html
AL QAEDA HELPED BY IRAQ WAR
"Al-Qaeda has more than 18,000 potential activists, and its ranks are growing because of the occupation in Iraq... Osama bin Laden's network poses a growing threat to Western interests and attacks are likely to increase... it will (also) continue carrying out attacks on "soft targets encompassing Americans, Europeans and Israelis and aiding the insurgency in Iraq..."
-- International Institute of Strategic Studies: Strategic Survey 2003-4.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=2031
BUT AL QUADA NOT THE PROBLEM IN IRAQ
"... the Americans are a largely clueless lot in Iraq. "The lack of solid intelligence on the US side means that American forces have only a partial understanding of who is attacking them."... The US occupation forces are under threat from Iraqis themselves, not primarily from al-Qaeda... al-Qaeda is not the issue in Iraq, as US officials have been suggesting..."
-- International Institute for Strategic Studies: Strategic Survey 2003-4. (The institute was correct last year in its assessment of the consequences of the invasion of Iraq.)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE27Ak03.html
"Al-Qaeda has more than 18,000 potential activists, and its ranks are growing because of the occupation in Iraq... Osama bin Laden's network poses a growing threat to Western interests and attacks are likely to increase... it will (also) continue carrying out attacks on "soft targets encompassing Americans, Europeans and Israelis and aiding the insurgency in Iraq..."
-- International Institute of Strategic Studies: Strategic Survey 2003-4.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=2031
BUT AL QUADA NOT THE PROBLEM IN IRAQ
"... the Americans are a largely clueless lot in Iraq. "The lack of solid intelligence on the US side means that American forces have only a partial understanding of who is attacking them."... The US occupation forces are under threat from Iraqis themselves, not primarily from al-Qaeda... al-Qaeda is not the issue in Iraq, as US officials have been suggesting..."
-- International Institute for Strategic Studies: Strategic Survey 2003-4. (The institute was correct last year in its assessment of the consequences of the invasion of Iraq.)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE27Ak03.html
INSECURITY A VICIOUS CIRCLE
"... according to... the Coalition Provisional Authority... Much of Iraq still has fewer than 15 hours of power a day. Phone service for large swaths of the country is usually down or crackling from terrible connections. Water supply and oil production hover only a hair above prewar levels... "
"... (the) American-led, $30 billion rebuilding effort... has little to show less than six weeks before the handover of Iraqi sovereignty... a vicious cycle: Economic stagnation caused by poor security fuels dissatisfaction with the U.S. occupation, which fuels an insurgency that further undermines stability."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8749188.htm
"... according to... the Coalition Provisional Authority... Much of Iraq still has fewer than 15 hours of power a day. Phone service for large swaths of the country is usually down or crackling from terrible connections. Water supply and oil production hover only a hair above prewar levels... "
"... (the) American-led, $30 billion rebuilding effort... has little to show less than six weeks before the handover of Iraqi sovereignty... a vicious cycle: Economic stagnation caused by poor security fuels dissatisfaction with the U.S. occupation, which fuels an insurgency that further undermines stability."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8749188.htm
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
DEBACLE IS COMPLETE
"... In Afghanistan, where we once held the promise of a new ideal, we have resumed our old alliance with warlords and drug dealers, waging punitive expeditions and propping up puppets in yet another seamy chapter of the "Great Game," presuming to conquer the unconquerable."
"In Iraq -- as every cable surely screams at you -- we are living a foreign policy nightmare, locked in a cycle of violence and seething, spreading hatred continued at incalculable cost, escaped only with hazardous humiliation abroad and bitter divisions at home. Debacle is complete."
-- Roger Morris, who served on the senior staff of the National Security Council under Presidents Johnson and Nixon until resigning over the invasion of Cambodia.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0525-14.htm
"... In Afghanistan, where we once held the promise of a new ideal, we have resumed our old alliance with warlords and drug dealers, waging punitive expeditions and propping up puppets in yet another seamy chapter of the "Great Game," presuming to conquer the unconquerable."
"In Iraq -- as every cable surely screams at you -- we are living a foreign policy nightmare, locked in a cycle of violence and seething, spreading hatred continued at incalculable cost, escaped only with hazardous humiliation abroad and bitter divisions at home. Debacle is complete."
-- Roger Morris, who served on the senior staff of the National Security Council under Presidents Johnson and Nixon until resigning over the invasion of Cambodia.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0525-14.htm
JOB OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME, RUNNING IRAQ
"When the U.S. government went looking for people to help rebuild Iraq, they had responded to the call. They supported the war effort and President Bush. Many had strong Republican credentials. They were in their twenties or early thirties... (when the) group showed up at the palace -- with their North Face camping gear, Abercrombie & Fitch camouflage and digital cameras -- they were quite the spectacle... They were young, inexperienced, and regarded as ideologues..."
"They had been hired to perform a low-level task: collecting and organizing statistics... none had ever worked in the Middle East, none spoke Arabic, and few could tell a balance sheet from an accounts receivable statement... But as suicide bombs and rocket attacks became almost daily occurrences, more and more senior staffers defected... the new young hires found themselves managing the country's $13 billion budget, making decisions affecting millions of Iraqis.... The group's primary responsibility was to hand out money. Each month, it sent out authorizations for the release of several hundred million dollars..."
"... they wondered what they had in common, how their names had come to the attention of the Pentagon, until one day they figured it out: They had all posted their resumes at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48543-2004May22.html
"... Steve Susens, a spokesman for the coalition's Program Management Office, which oversees the allocation of $18 billion in rebuilding funds, said "Right now we've been spending $75 million a week, but we're rapidly approaching a time when we'll be spending about $75 million a day."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8749188.htm
"When the U.S. government went looking for people to help rebuild Iraq, they had responded to the call. They supported the war effort and President Bush. Many had strong Republican credentials. They were in their twenties or early thirties... (when the) group showed up at the palace -- with their North Face camping gear, Abercrombie & Fitch camouflage and digital cameras -- they were quite the spectacle... They were young, inexperienced, and regarded as ideologues..."
"They had been hired to perform a low-level task: collecting and organizing statistics... none had ever worked in the Middle East, none spoke Arabic, and few could tell a balance sheet from an accounts receivable statement... But as suicide bombs and rocket attacks became almost daily occurrences, more and more senior staffers defected... the new young hires found themselves managing the country's $13 billion budget, making decisions affecting millions of Iraqis.... The group's primary responsibility was to hand out money. Each month, it sent out authorizations for the release of several hundred million dollars..."
"... they wondered what they had in common, how their names had come to the attention of the Pentagon, until one day they figured it out: They had all posted their resumes at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48543-2004May22.html
"... Steve Susens, a spokesman for the coalition's Program Management Office, which oversees the allocation of $18 billion in rebuilding funds, said "Right now we've been spending $75 million a week, but we're rapidly approaching a time when we'll be spending about $75 million a day."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8749188.htm
OCCUPATION TO END BUT 138,000 TROOPS TO REMAIN?
"... Bush said the occupation will end... (but) U.S. troop levels in Iraq will remain at 138,000 for "as long as necessary" and military leaders will continually reassess troop strength. "If they need more troops, I will send them."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-24-bush-iraq_x.htm
"...With Iraqi public opinion so hostile, some analysts had hoped that Bush would make a dramatic announcement Monday, such as his intention to withdraw all US forces no later than the end of next year, or to renounce any intention of retaining US military facilities or rights to access to bases on Iraqi territory after the occupation is ended."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE26Ak02.html
"... Bush said the occupation will end... (but) U.S. troop levels in Iraq will remain at 138,000 for "as long as necessary" and military leaders will continually reassess troop strength. "If they need more troops, I will send them."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-24-bush-iraq_x.htm
"...With Iraqi public opinion so hostile, some analysts had hoped that Bush would make a dramatic announcement Monday, such as his intention to withdraw all US forces no later than the end of next year, or to renounce any intention of retaining US military facilities or rights to access to bases on Iraqi territory after the occupation is ended."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE26Ak02.html
Monday, May 24, 2004
U.S.'S IRAQI LEADER CHALABI HAS IRANIAN CONNECTION
"... joint US-Iraqi forces carried out raids on the home and offices of the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite, Iraqi National Congress (INC) chief Ahmed Chalabi... the INC's Information Collection Program (ICP), which until last week had received millions of dollars in US taxpayer funding in the last decade, has essentially been an Iranian disinformation operation designed to get the US to oust Saddam Hussein and that the ICP's chief, currently on the lam in Tehran, was an Iranian agent..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE25Ak02.html
"... joint US-Iraqi forces carried out raids on the home and offices of the Pentagon's erstwhile favorite, Iraqi National Congress (INC) chief Ahmed Chalabi... the INC's Information Collection Program (ICP), which until last week had received millions of dollars in US taxpayer funding in the last decade, has essentially been an Iranian disinformation operation designed to get the US to oust Saddam Hussein and that the ICP's chief, currently on the lam in Tehran, was an Iranian agent..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE25Ak02.html
WEDDING PARTY INVESTIGATED, ATTACKED
"A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early today in western Iraq... Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi said between 42 and 45 people died... those killed included 15 children and 10 women.... people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and... American troops came to investigate and left... (then) helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-051904wedding_wr,1,2403319.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... At 3am they rained the air with bombs. One after another the bombs were falling. Three houses with the guests inside were hit. They fired as if there were an armoured brigade inside, not a wedding party."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1220750,00.html
"... a frontier village was attacked by helicopter gunships before dawn. The incident apparently happened after wedding guests in the village started firing in the air in celebration... One man told al-Arabiya: "The US planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us. They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they levelled the village"... A US military spokesman... said US forces had targeted a safe house used by foreign fighters..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3730423.stm
".. We received about 40 martyrs today, mainly women and children below the age of 12," Hamdy Lousy, the director of a nearby hospital... "We also have 11 people wounded, most of them in critical condition..."
>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-iraq20may20,1,6283688.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... (Mrs Shibab said) We went out of the house and the American soldiers started to shoot us. They were shooting low on the ground and targeting us one by one," she said. She ran with her youngest child in her arms and her two young boys, Ali and Hamza, close behind. As she crossed the fields a shell exploded close to her, fracturing her legs and knocking her to the ground. She lay there and a second round hit her on the right arm. By then her two boys lay dead... One, she saw, had been decapitated by a shell. "I fell into the mud and an American soldier came and kicked me. I pretended to be dead so he wouldn't kill me. My youngest child was alive next to me."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1221658,00.html
"...(General) Kimmitt disputed a videotape that shows dead children allegedly killed in the attack. He said forces on the ground after the incident "did not find any dead children among the casualties."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8715710.htm
" Iraqis in the village tell.. a vivid account of a traditional wedding celebration turned into a bloody slaughter. They painted a picture of simple desert people: Bedouin tribesmen, their wives, sisters and children who had nothing to do with foreign fighters. They talk of the seven slain musicians. They mention going to get the 12 sheep that they had slaughtered and roasted to feed the guests.... The musicians' deaths... were being mourned Thursday by hundreds of relatives in the run-down Hurriya neighborhood of Baghdad where they lived..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-bombing21may21,1,127881.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... General Mark Kimmitt... insisted there were "no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration".
"... However, the video obtained by APTN - which lasts for several hours - shows a large wedding party, and separate footage shot by AP cameramen the following day shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans, and brightly coloured beddings used for celebrations scattered around..."
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1223564,00.html
"The videotape obtained Sunday by Associated Press Television News captures a wedding party... runs for several hours..."
Video link at:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_ATTACK?SITE=TXCOL&SECTION=HOME
"A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early today in western Iraq... Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi said between 42 and 45 people died... those killed included 15 children and 10 women.... people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and... American troops came to investigate and left... (then) helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-051904wedding_wr,1,2403319.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... At 3am they rained the air with bombs. One after another the bombs were falling. Three houses with the guests inside were hit. They fired as if there were an armoured brigade inside, not a wedding party."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1220750,00.html
"... a frontier village was attacked by helicopter gunships before dawn. The incident apparently happened after wedding guests in the village started firing in the air in celebration... One man told al-Arabiya: "The US planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us. They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they levelled the village"... A US military spokesman... said US forces had targeted a safe house used by foreign fighters..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3730423.stm
".. We received about 40 martyrs today, mainly women and children below the age of 12," Hamdy Lousy, the director of a nearby hospital... "We also have 11 people wounded, most of them in critical condition..."
>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-iraq20may20,1,6283688.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... (Mrs Shibab said) We went out of the house and the American soldiers started to shoot us. They were shooting low on the ground and targeting us one by one," she said. She ran with her youngest child in her arms and her two young boys, Ali and Hamza, close behind. As she crossed the fields a shell exploded close to her, fracturing her legs and knocking her to the ground. She lay there and a second round hit her on the right arm. By then her two boys lay dead... One, she saw, had been decapitated by a shell. "I fell into the mud and an American soldier came and kicked me. I pretended to be dead so he wouldn't kill me. My youngest child was alive next to me."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1221658,00.html
"...(General) Kimmitt disputed a videotape that shows dead children allegedly killed in the attack. He said forces on the ground after the incident "did not find any dead children among the casualties."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8715710.htm
" Iraqis in the village tell.. a vivid account of a traditional wedding celebration turned into a bloody slaughter. They painted a picture of simple desert people: Bedouin tribesmen, their wives, sisters and children who had nothing to do with foreign fighters. They talk of the seven slain musicians. They mention going to get the 12 sheep that they had slaughtered and roasted to feed the guests.... The musicians' deaths... were being mourned Thursday by hundreds of relatives in the run-down Hurriya neighborhood of Baghdad where they lived..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-bombing21may21,1,127881.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... General Mark Kimmitt... insisted there were "no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration".
"... However, the video obtained by APTN - which lasts for several hours - shows a large wedding party, and separate footage shot by AP cameramen the following day shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans, and brightly coloured beddings used for celebrations scattered around..."
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1223564,00.html
"The videotape obtained Sunday by Associated Press Television News captures a wedding party... runs for several hours..."
Video link at:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_ATTACK?SITE=TXCOL&SECTION=HOME
RENDERING
"... The US involvement with torture has increased measurably since the Bush administration... but most of it is conducted outside the country in various concentration camps operated by the Pentagon... and in foreign countries within Washington's orbit which engage in torture themselves. "
"This latter practice is known as "rendering," and it consists of turning alleged "terror suspects" over to foreign intelligence services for torture, usually with an agent of the US in attendance... Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are well-known destinations for suspected terrorists" identified by the American government... the Saudis currently are detaining and interrogating [torturing] about 800 terrorism suspects... Their fate is largely controlled by... officers from the CIA, FBI and other US law enforcement agencies."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE15Ak01.html
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fpif.org%2Fcommentary%2F2004%2F0405torture.html
"... The US involvement with torture has increased measurably since the Bush administration... but most of it is conducted outside the country in various concentration camps operated by the Pentagon... and in foreign countries within Washington's orbit which engage in torture themselves. "
"This latter practice is known as "rendering," and it consists of turning alleged "terror suspects" over to foreign intelligence services for torture, usually with an agent of the US in attendance... Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are well-known destinations for suspected terrorists" identified by the American government... the Saudis currently are detaining and interrogating [torturing] about 800 terrorism suspects... Their fate is largely controlled by... officers from the CIA, FBI and other US law enforcement agencies."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE15Ak01.html
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fpif.org%2Fcommentary%2F2004%2F0405torture.html
Sunday, May 23, 2004
TANKS IN MOSQUE
"... 20 fighters loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr were killed in a battle in the compound of a Kufa mosque... Pools of blood and tank tracks covered the floor of the Sahla mosque in Kufa after the battle between coalition troops and militia..."
"...one of about 100 residents who gathered at the site said "Our sanctity has been violated... I will resist them until the last drop of blood in my body."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3739929.stm
"... 20 fighters loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr were killed in a battle in the compound of a Kufa mosque... Pools of blood and tank tracks covered the floor of the Sahla mosque in Kufa after the battle between coalition troops and militia..."
"...one of about 100 residents who gathered at the site said "Our sanctity has been violated... I will resist them until the last drop of blood in my body."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3739929.stm
THE GENERALS' VIEWS
"... I don't think we're on the brink of failure; I think we're on the brink of success here. I think that as the new transitional government stands up, that there will be traction there with the Iraqi people that will be very important to them..."
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, late May 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-iraqassess23may23,1,3465741.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... the deadly insurgency that flared this month is a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq... "
Air Force General Richard Myers, April 15 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15911-2004Apr15.html
"...there is light at the end of the tunnel... our soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors are winning over the Iraqi people..."
Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, January 2004
http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Stories/01_04/8.htm
"... I don't think we're on the brink of failure; I think we're on the brink of success here. I think that as the new transitional government stands up, that there will be traction there with the Iraqi people that will be very important to them..."
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, late May 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-iraqassess23may23,1,3465741.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... the deadly insurgency that flared this month is a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq... "
Air Force General Richard Myers, April 15 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15911-2004Apr15.html
"...there is light at the end of the tunnel... our soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors are winning over the Iraqi people..."
Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, January 2004
http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Stories/01_04/8.htm
ABU GHRAIB COVER-UP
"... Normally, something like Abu Ghraib can be blamed in part on the Downward Communication Exaggeration Spiral... Someone at the top makes a mild suggestion, and by the time it reaches the troops, it's iron-clad law. This appears to be a rare case of a reverse spiral, with the orders coming from the very top and questions being raised about them all the way down, until finally Army Spc. Joseph Darby spoke out and set off the Taguba investigation."
"In this case, there is more than sufficient evidence pointing to the culpability of those at the top. But at the same time, the Pentagon is putting out the word that it was "only a few bad apples," six low-level soldiers who have already been charged, with no one else involved. This just stinks of cover-up. Damned if I think these six low-level soldiers should be hung out there to take the blame for a set of explicitly written and signed policies made by people wearing expensive suits, getting paid big bucks and bearing some of the highest titles in the land. "
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2004/894
"... the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq was present during some "interrogations and/or allegations of the prisoner abuse," according to a recording of a military hearing obtained by The Washington Post..."
herhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48229-2004May22.htmle
"... Normally, something like Abu Ghraib can be blamed in part on the Downward Communication Exaggeration Spiral... Someone at the top makes a mild suggestion, and by the time it reaches the troops, it's iron-clad law. This appears to be a rare case of a reverse spiral, with the orders coming from the very top and questions being raised about them all the way down, until finally Army Spc. Joseph Darby spoke out and set off the Taguba investigation."
"In this case, there is more than sufficient evidence pointing to the culpability of those at the top. But at the same time, the Pentagon is putting out the word that it was "only a few bad apples," six low-level soldiers who have already been charged, with no one else involved. This just stinks of cover-up. Damned if I think these six low-level soldiers should be hung out there to take the blame for a set of explicitly written and signed policies made by people wearing expensive suits, getting paid big bucks and bearing some of the highest titles in the land. "
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2004/894
"... the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq was present during some "interrogations and/or allegations of the prisoner abuse," according to a recording of a military hearing obtained by The Washington Post..."
herhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48229-2004May22.htmle
Saturday, May 22, 2004
THE BOTTOM LINE OF IT ALL
"... The people we have detained must be terrorists, or they would not be opposing our occupation. If they are not terrorists, they probably know someone who is. Our intelligence services are not going to fail again to identify the enemy. Because we have detained these people in this special time, they have no rights. Because anything is justified to prevent terrorism, it is our duty to practice the kind of interrogation on them that will yield the desired information. International law cannot be allowed to put our soldiers and citizens in danger, wherever we have decided to insert them. The logic has come straight from the mouths of President Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft...."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4789516.html
"... The people we have detained must be terrorists, or they would not be opposing our occupation. If they are not terrorists, they probably know someone who is. Our intelligence services are not going to fail again to identify the enemy. Because we have detained these people in this special time, they have no rights. Because anything is justified to prevent terrorism, it is our duty to practice the kind of interrogation on them that will yield the desired information. International law cannot be allowed to put our soldiers and citizens in danger, wherever we have decided to insert them. The logic has come straight from the mouths of President Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft...."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4789516.html
Friday, May 21, 2004
IRAQIS COMMENT
”... U.S. companies will never be able to work in Iraq after what their military has done here. The mujahideen will never allow it.”
"... the attack on the wedding party was intentional. ”The Americans are provoking people on purpose to get a reaction. Iraq is sitting on top of a volcano.”
”... The Americans must have no religion. Anyone with religion cannot torture people, destroy mosques and homes, or kill people at a wedding ceremony. They worship force, not God.”
"... Americans are speaking of freedom and democracy while they are the cruelest, most brutal army ever.”
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23850
”... U.S. companies will never be able to work in Iraq after what their military has done here. The mujahideen will never allow it.”
"... the attack on the wedding party was intentional. ”The Americans are provoking people on purpose to get a reaction. Iraq is sitting on top of a volcano.”
”... The Americans must have no religion. Anyone with religion cannot torture people, destroy mosques and homes, or kill people at a wedding ceremony. They worship force, not God.”
"... Americans are speaking of freedom and democracy while they are the cruelest, most brutal army ever.”
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23850
OCCUPATION UNDER ANOTHER NAME
"The United States and Britain want a new U.N. resolution to call for full sovereignty for Iraq... Some ambassadors were concerned that the United Nations would be asked to approve an occupation under another name...."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DOYYEVIEQ3D2ECRBAEZSFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=5222626
"The United States and Britain want a new U.N. resolution to call for full sovereignty for Iraq... Some ambassadors were concerned that the United Nations would be asked to approve an occupation under another name...."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DOYYEVIEQ3D2ECRBAEZSFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=5222626
"UNSIGNING" THE TREATY HAS AVOIDED THE CRIMINAL COURT
May 2002
"The United States has withdrawn from a treaty to establish an International Criminal Court (ICC)... In a letter to the United Nations delivered on Monday, the US says it will not consider itself bound by the treaty - even though Bill Clinton signed up to it in 2000.... The US has vehemently opposed the setting up of the ICC, fearing its soldiers and diplomats could be brought before the court which will hear cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1970312.stm
Early May 2004
"... (Phyllis Bennis of the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington) said... ''If the U.S. were a signatory, the ICC would have clear jurisdiction (to probe U.S. atrocities in Iraq) in case the internal U.S. investigation proved insufficient.''
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0508-01.htm
Late May 2004
"The United States is moving to renew the exemption for its peacekeepers from prosecution by a global criminal court, an action human rights groups say is unjustified so soon after the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal... Human Rights Watch said... "Given the recent revelations from Abu Ghraib prison, the U.S. government has picked one hell of a moment to ask for special treatment on war crimes."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5217990
May 2002
"The United States has withdrawn from a treaty to establish an International Criminal Court (ICC)... In a letter to the United Nations delivered on Monday, the US says it will not consider itself bound by the treaty - even though Bill Clinton signed up to it in 2000.... The US has vehemently opposed the setting up of the ICC, fearing its soldiers and diplomats could be brought before the court which will hear cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1970312.stm
Early May 2004
"... (Phyllis Bennis of the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington) said... ''If the U.S. were a signatory, the ICC would have clear jurisdiction (to probe U.S. atrocities in Iraq) in case the internal U.S. investigation proved insufficient.''
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0508-01.htm
Late May 2004
"The United States is moving to renew the exemption for its peacekeepers from prosecution by a global criminal court, an action human rights groups say is unjustified so soon after the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal... Human Rights Watch said... "Given the recent revelations from Abu Ghraib prison, the U.S. government has picked one hell of a moment to ask for special treatment on war crimes."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5217990
PRISON VIDEO CLIP
"The edited video excerpt is from a collection of short digital video files obtained by The Washington Post. The videos appear to show U.S. soldiers abusing detainees last fall in Abu Ghraib prison. In this video, soldiers are shown apparently attempting to arrange a human pyramid with naked Iraqi prisoners -- a scene similar to those also shown in previously obtained photographs. The video, which was originally recorded sideways, has been edited to display vertically here and certain body parts have been obscured. The brightness of the video, which appeared to have been recorded in low light, was increased as well. "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/nation/052104-1v.htm
"The edited video excerpt is from a collection of short digital video files obtained by The Washington Post. The videos appear to show U.S. soldiers abusing detainees last fall in Abu Ghraib prison. In this video, soldiers are shown apparently attempting to arrange a human pyramid with naked Iraqi prisoners -- a scene similar to those also shown in previously obtained photographs. The video, which was originally recorded sideways, has been edited to display vertically here and certain body parts have been obscured. The brightness of the video, which appeared to have been recorded in low light, was increased as well. "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/nation/052104-1v.htm
EVANGELICAL GENERAL, PRISON REFORMER
"... General Boykin staged a traveling slide show around the country where he displayed pictures of Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. "Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army," he preached. They "will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus".... Bush, he told an Oregon congregation last June, is "a man who prays in the Oval Office... George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the US. He was appointed by God." ... (Boykin) envisages the global war on terror as a crusade. With the Geneva conventions apparently suspended, international law is supplanted by biblical law."
"... General Boykin... was at the heart of a secret operation to "Gitmo-ize" (Guantánamo is known in the US as Gitmo) the Abu Ghraib prison. He had flown to Guantánamo, where he met Major General Geoffrey Miller, in charge of Camp X-Ray. Boykin ordered Miller to fly to Iraq and extend X-Ray methods to the prison system there, on Rumsfeld's orders..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1220622,00.html
"... General Boykin staged a traveling slide show around the country where he displayed pictures of Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. "Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army," he preached. They "will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus".... Bush, he told an Oregon congregation last June, is "a man who prays in the Oval Office... George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the US. He was appointed by God." ... (Boykin) envisages the global war on terror as a crusade. With the Geneva conventions apparently suspended, international law is supplanted by biblical law."
"... General Boykin... was at the heart of a secret operation to "Gitmo-ize" (Guantánamo is known in the US as Gitmo) the Abu Ghraib prison. He had flown to Guantánamo, where he met Major General Geoffrey Miller, in charge of Camp X-Ray. Boykin ordered Miller to fly to Iraq and extend X-Ray methods to the prison system there, on Rumsfeld's orders..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1220622,00.html
Thursday, May 20, 2004
FORMER SERVICE MEMBERS CALLED UP
"The greatest limiting factor on the empire right now is manpower... They are running out of it." ... the stress on the US Army... has become even more apparent this week... the Pentagon has just launched a massive nationwide call-up of former service members - a total of 118,000 Individual Ready Reserves (IRR)... people, who have all but formally signed their release papers, are now being ordered to report to their Army National Guard or Army Reserve units for possible activation "in support of missions in Iraq"... (this) is probably the last thing they can do before either cutting back... or go to the military draft..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE21Ak02.html
"The greatest limiting factor on the empire right now is manpower... They are running out of it." ... the stress on the US Army... has become even more apparent this week... the Pentagon has just launched a massive nationwide call-up of former service members - a total of 118,000 Individual Ready Reserves (IRR)... people, who have all but formally signed their release papers, are now being ordered to report to their Army National Guard or Army Reserve units for possible activation "in support of missions in Iraq"... (this) is probably the last thing they can do before either cutting back... or go to the military draft..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE21Ak02.html
THE MISSILE DEFENSE TEST FOR IRAQ
"... like the war in Iraq, if deployed, missile defense will leave the U.S. more vulnerable and less secure than if it had never been built at all... Missile defense must pass four simple tests: Is it necessary? Can it work? Are there better alternatives? And, does it do more good than harm? ... missile defense... fails ... all four of these tests... badly..."
Does the war in Iraq pass the four tests proposed for the missile defense system?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0520-11.htm
KUCINICH 90-DAY EXIT PLAN
"(1) Transfer control of Iraqi oil assets to the United Nations until Iraq is self-governing.
(2) Hand contracts to the U.N. until Iraq achieves self-governance, so there will be no more Halliburton-type sweetheart deals or war profiteering, and Iraqis can get jobs.
(3) Obey the Geneva and Hague conventions, stop privatizing Iraq's economy, and return the Iraqi people's national wealth.
(4) Rebuild what the U.S. military destroyed, and compensate families of innocent civilians who lost their lives in the war.
(5) Help fund a U.N. peacekeeping mission until Iraq is self-governing. When U.N. peacekeepers rotate in, U.S. troops will rotate out.
This plan can achieve what's most important: bringing our troops home in 90 days, restoring America's credibility — and peace."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-05-19-oppose_x.htm
"... like the war in Iraq, if deployed, missile defense will leave the U.S. more vulnerable and less secure than if it had never been built at all... Missile defense must pass four simple tests: Is it necessary? Can it work? Are there better alternatives? And, does it do more good than harm? ... missile defense... fails ... all four of these tests... badly..."
Does the war in Iraq pass the four tests proposed for the missile defense system?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0520-11.htm
KUCINICH 90-DAY EXIT PLAN
"(1) Transfer control of Iraqi oil assets to the United Nations until Iraq is self-governing.
(2) Hand contracts to the U.N. until Iraq achieves self-governance, so there will be no more Halliburton-type sweetheart deals or war profiteering, and Iraqis can get jobs.
(3) Obey the Geneva and Hague conventions, stop privatizing Iraq's economy, and return the Iraqi people's national wealth.
(4) Rebuild what the U.S. military destroyed, and compensate families of innocent civilians who lost their lives in the war.
(5) Help fund a U.N. peacekeeping mission until Iraq is self-governing. When U.N. peacekeepers rotate in, U.S. troops will rotate out.
This plan can achieve what's most important: bringing our troops home in 90 days, restoring America's credibility — and peace."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-05-19-oppose_x.htm
ON THE BRINK OF FAILURE
"... the head of US central command, John Abizaid, warned that the period after the handover could be even more violent than the present, perhaps requiring the deployment of more US troops."
"I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure. We are looking into the abyss," General Joseph Hoar, a former commander in chief of US central command, told the Senate foreign relations committee."
"... a growing number of Republican moderates, are arguing that to salvage the situation in Iraq the administration... will have to give up all hope of establishing permanent military bases in Iraq (and) securing advantages for US firms..."
"... conservatives... are anxious because (the US) has pulled its troops out of one big producer, Saudi Arabia, without establishing a sustainable military presence in another, Iraq...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1220787,00.html
"... the head of US central command, John Abizaid, warned that the period after the handover could be even more violent than the present, perhaps requiring the deployment of more US troops."
"I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure. We are looking into the abyss," General Joseph Hoar, a former commander in chief of US central command, told the Senate foreign relations committee."
"... a growing number of Republican moderates, are arguing that to salvage the situation in Iraq the administration... will have to give up all hope of establishing permanent military bases in Iraq (and) securing advantages for US firms..."
"... conservatives... are anxious because (the US) has pulled its troops out of one big producer, Saudi Arabia, without establishing a sustainable military presence in another, Iraq...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1220787,00.html
WEDDING PARTIES A DANGER TO U.S. PLANES AND GUESTS
"... About 40 Iraqis were killed... Iraqis said the Americans had strafed civilians at a wedding party... American officials said they had called in air support after an American military operation in the area had come under hostile fire."
"... In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike... the U.S. Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire. "
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1990
"... About 40 Iraqis were killed... Iraqis said the Americans had strafed civilians at a wedding party... American officials said they had called in air support after an American military operation in the area had come under hostile fire."
"... In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike... the U.S. Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire. "
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1990
SALARIES AND INSURANCE FOR PRIVATE MILITARY
"... currently there is a glut of PMC (Private Military Companies) in Iraq. Last week, the Pentagon released to Congress a list drawn up by the Coalition Provisional Authority of 60 PMC operating in Iraq, with an aggregate total of 20,000 personnel... DynCorp... pays $75,000 to $153,600 to those it has hired on year-long contracts..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE19Ak01.html
"... PMCs have increasing costs. Employers are required by law to provide insurance to all employees in war zones... but such coverage is usually limited to $4,000 a month in the event of death or disability. Policies for additional coverage are often needed to attract workers to Iraq - with potential payments ranging from $250,000 to more than $1 million - and have been rising in price... For contractors with employees in Iraq, this currently costs about 20 percent of insured value... it is estimated that for every $100 in salary paid by the employer, $15-$20 is spent on life-insurance premiums..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE20Ak02.html
"... currently there is a glut of PMC (Private Military Companies) in Iraq. Last week, the Pentagon released to Congress a list drawn up by the Coalition Provisional Authority of 60 PMC operating in Iraq, with an aggregate total of 20,000 personnel... DynCorp... pays $75,000 to $153,600 to those it has hired on year-long contracts..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE19Ak01.html
"... PMCs have increasing costs. Employers are required by law to provide insurance to all employees in war zones... but such coverage is usually limited to $4,000 a month in the event of death or disability. Policies for additional coverage are often needed to attract workers to Iraq - with potential payments ranging from $250,000 to more than $1 million - and have been rising in price... For contractors with employees in Iraq, this currently costs about 20 percent of insured value... it is estimated that for every $100 in salary paid by the employer, $15-$20 is spent on life-insurance premiums..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE20Ak02.html
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
IRANIAN DEMONSTRATIONS
"Tens of thousands of people took to streets on Wednesday in Tehran and the cities of Mashhad, Qom, and Isfahan to protest the desecration of the holy sites in Iraq and called for the U.S.-led occupation forces to leave Iraq..."
http://www.theworldpress.com/ru/newspap/iran/tehran.htm
"Tens of thousands of people took to streets on Wednesday in Tehran and the cities of Mashhad, Qom, and Isfahan to protest the desecration of the holy sites in Iraq and called for the U.S.-led occupation forces to leave Iraq..."
http://www.theworldpress.com/ru/newspap/iran/tehran.htm
THE NON-EXIT STRATEGY
"... we are sending more troops in to get the troops out. We are giving sovereignty to the people of Iraq, so that America can continue to run the place. Iraq can choose any government it wants so long as it is pro-American... at the very moment (the) entire strategy is in ruins, (Bush and Blair) are suggesting that they can just move on. Job done. Hand over the difficult bits to Iraq – or the UN if it is daft enough to return – leaving just the oil and the guns in American hands. And they think they can wish it all away in time for the presidential elections in November... They could be in for a nasty surprise."
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/16360.html
"... we are sending more troops in to get the troops out. We are giving sovereignty to the people of Iraq, so that America can continue to run the place. Iraq can choose any government it wants so long as it is pro-American... at the very moment (the) entire strategy is in ruins, (Bush and Blair) are suggesting that they can just move on. Job done. Hand over the difficult bits to Iraq – or the UN if it is daft enough to return – leaving just the oil and the guns in American hands. And they think they can wish it all away in time for the presidential elections in November... They could be in for a nasty surprise."
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/16360.html
STAYING THE COURSE NO LONGER FEASIBLE
"... The US cannot afford an ongoing war in Iraq, but the price of a quick exit will be high. Even so, it looks clear that that is exactly what is about to happen. After the torture revelations, "staying the course" is no longer feasible. This is not because the American public has reacted with massive revulsion to evidence of the systematic abuse of Iraqis... Rather, Iraq and its people are now viewed with a mix of bafflement and hatred, and a mood of despair about the war has set in. Most Americans want out..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=522568
"... The US cannot afford an ongoing war in Iraq, but the price of a quick exit will be high. Even so, it looks clear that that is exactly what is about to happen. After the torture revelations, "staying the course" is no longer feasible. This is not because the American public has reacted with massive revulsion to evidence of the systematic abuse of Iraqis... Rather, Iraq and its people are now viewed with a mix of bafflement and hatred, and a mood of despair about the war has set in. Most Americans want out..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=522568
STAYING THE COURSE WITH BUSH
"... disastrous deficits, an untenable war, ecological carelessness, soaring gas prices, payoffs to cronies, arrogant foreign policies, trillions in unfunded obligations that threaten Social Security, education and Medicare while we go deeper and deeper into debt every day..."
"... if a Democrat were in charge of the White House now - he would be lucky to have 20 percent support ... would be looking at losing the fall election in a record landslide. Why? Because Democrats are willing to abandon their leaders and vote for the other guy if the policies their leaders are pursuing aren't working. Many Republicans, however, have apparently decided they will stick with a disaster all the way to the bitter end..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0519-09.htm
"... disastrous deficits, an untenable war, ecological carelessness, soaring gas prices, payoffs to cronies, arrogant foreign policies, trillions in unfunded obligations that threaten Social Security, education and Medicare while we go deeper and deeper into debt every day..."
"... if a Democrat were in charge of the White House now - he would be lucky to have 20 percent support ... would be looking at losing the fall election in a record landslide. Why? Because Democrats are willing to abandon their leaders and vote for the other guy if the policies their leaders are pursuing aren't working. Many Republicans, however, have apparently decided they will stick with a disaster all the way to the bitter end..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0519-09.htm
ILLEGITIMATE OCCUPATION CANNOT WIN PEACE
"The United States cannot win the peace in Iraq... President Bush has sometimes compared the occupation of Iraq to the occupations of... Japan and Germany... the case of Iraq is fundamentally different... The occupations of Germany and Japan were legitimate. These nations had been the aggressors in the war... because of U.S. deceptions, unilateralist bluster and the inability of the U.S. to convince the world that Iraq was truly an imminent danger, this occupation has had little international legitimacy. "
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?c=1&slug=lloydjansen19&date=20040519&query=Lloyd+Jansen
"The United States cannot win the peace in Iraq... President Bush has sometimes compared the occupation of Iraq to the occupations of... Japan and Germany... the case of Iraq is fundamentally different... The occupations of Germany and Japan were legitimate. These nations had been the aggressors in the war... because of U.S. deceptions, unilateralist bluster and the inability of the U.S. to convince the world that Iraq was truly an imminent danger, this occupation has had little international legitimacy. "
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?c=1&slug=lloydjansen19&date=20040519&query=Lloyd+Jansen
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
TAXPAYERS WOULD BAIL OUT INSURERS
"... Violence and kidnappings against foreigners in Iraq are starting to make war insurers sweat... They are swallowing losses, and they do not like it. If war risk insurers decided to shun Iraq contracts, contractors would have to pull out, or governments step in.... It seems the bulk of any extra costs on Iraq contracts will eventually be shouldered by taxpayers..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3627011.stm
"... Violence and kidnappings against foreigners in Iraq are starting to make war insurers sweat... They are swallowing losses, and they do not like it. If war risk insurers decided to shun Iraq contracts, contractors would have to pull out, or governments step in.... It seems the bulk of any extra costs on Iraq contracts will eventually be shouldered by taxpayers..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3627011.stm
FARENHEIT 911
"Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is... the most flaming-hot ticket at the Cannes film festival... it will bring down the US government... Half the movie is about Iraq... They are totally fucked.... Disney, the parent company of Miramax - which made Fahrenheit 9/11 - was refusing to distribute it in the US... so that Americans don't see it before the election."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1218199,00.html
"I was the straight man, and Bush wrote the funniest lines," Moore said at the Cannes Film Festival... Was it all just a dream?" Moore ponders. "Did the last four years even happen?"... the film... provokes both laughs and gasps... presents powerful segments about losses on both sides of the Iraq war and the grief of American and Iraqi families...."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FILM_CANNES_FAHRENHEIT_911?SITE=APWEB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0518-01.htm
"Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is... the most flaming-hot ticket at the Cannes film festival... it will bring down the US government... Half the movie is about Iraq... They are totally fucked.... Disney, the parent company of Miramax - which made Fahrenheit 9/11 - was refusing to distribute it in the US... so that Americans don't see it before the election."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1218199,00.html
"I was the straight man, and Bush wrote the funniest lines," Moore said at the Cannes Film Festival... Was it all just a dream?" Moore ponders. "Did the last four years even happen?"... the film... provokes both laughs and gasps... presents powerful segments about losses on both sides of the Iraq war and the grief of American and Iraqi families...."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FILM_CANNES_FAHRENHEIT_911?SITE=APWEB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0518-01.htm
112 WOMEN RAPED IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN
"The US serviceman waited outside the latrine and hit the woman on the back of the head as she exited, knocking her unconscious. He tied her hands with cord, blindfolded her, cut her clothes off with a knife, stuffed her underwear in her mouth and proceeded to rape her. When she regained consciousness and began to resist, he threatened to rape her with the knife instead. He hit her in the head again, this time forcefully between the eyes, again causing her to lose consciousness. When she came to she was transported to another facility where she was interrogated for three hours. She received no medical treatment for her head injuries. For the first few days following the rape she was housed with another woman; she was subsequently left in isolation for an extended period. Her requests for religious counsel were denied."
"Sound like the latest exposé from Abu Ghraib? Guess again." (The woman was a US soldier)
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0518-06.htm
"The US serviceman waited outside the latrine and hit the woman on the back of the head as she exited, knocking her unconscious. He tied her hands with cord, blindfolded her, cut her clothes off with a knife, stuffed her underwear in her mouth and proceeded to rape her. When she regained consciousness and began to resist, he threatened to rape her with the knife instead. He hit her in the head again, this time forcefully between the eyes, again causing her to lose consciousness. When she came to she was transported to another facility where she was interrogated for three hours. She received no medical treatment for her head injuries. For the first few days following the rape she was housed with another woman; she was subsequently left in isolation for an extended period. Her requests for religious counsel were denied."
"Sound like the latest exposé from Abu Ghraib? Guess again." (The woman was a US soldier)
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0518-06.htm
THE SILENCE OF THE DOCTORS
"... Why were military physicians and medics silent as their patients were tortured? Silence was not an option. The World Medical Association's Declaration of Tokyo and the U.N.'s Principles of Medical Ethics forbid physicians from condoning, participating in or appearing to support torture or inhuman or degrading treatment... The U.S. Army's Taguba report shows that medics saw the degradation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. It is widely reported that these same health professionals treated wounds and observed the bodies of those who died during interrogation..."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4781288.html
"... Why were military physicians and medics silent as their patients were tortured? Silence was not an option. The World Medical Association's Declaration of Tokyo and the U.N.'s Principles of Medical Ethics forbid physicians from condoning, participating in or appearing to support torture or inhuman or degrading treatment... The U.S. Army's Taguba report shows that medics saw the degradation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. It is widely reported that these same health professionals treated wounds and observed the bodies of those who died during interrogation..."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4781288.html
HOSPITALS WORSE UNDER OCCUPATION
"... After... the American "liberators" came in... the medical infrastructure was subjected to looting and destruction... The American forces didn't do anything to prevent looting of hospitals... a year after the invasion, the situation has worsened..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3711533.stm
"... After... the American "liberators" came in... the medical infrastructure was subjected to looting and destruction... The American forces didn't do anything to prevent looting of hospitals... a year after the invasion, the situation has worsened..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3711533.stm
OVERSTATED THREAT?
"... why... haven't (al Qaeda) attacked the large and tempting US homeland for almost three years... Part of the explanation... may be that the scope of the threat... was exaggerated... after September 11... Both the Bush administration and al-Qaeda have arguably had an interest in overstating the capacity of terrorists to strike the US homeland...
"If... al-Qaeda hasn't attempted an operation by the time the presidential election rolls around on November 2 - an opportunity "too good to pass up" in the words of Condoleezza Rice - real questions may be asked about the actual size and nature of the terrorist threat the US is facing."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE18Ak02.html
"... why... haven't (al Qaeda) attacked the large and tempting US homeland for almost three years... Part of the explanation... may be that the scope of the threat... was exaggerated... after September 11... Both the Bush administration and al-Qaeda have arguably had an interest in overstating the capacity of terrorists to strike the US homeland...
"If... al-Qaeda hasn't attempted an operation by the time the presidential election rolls around on November 2 - an opportunity "too good to pass up" in the words of Condoleezza Rice - real questions may be asked about the actual size and nature of the terrorist threat the US is facing."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE18Ak02.html
MUSLIM PEACEKEEPERS UNDER U.S. NOT POSSIBLE
"... questions are increasingly being raised over how America will get out of Iraq. One scenario could involve the Arab League taking over the Sunni Triangle area, protecting the Sunnis from the Shiites, while U.S. troops fade into the background... (But the) Arab League said Monday that sending Arab and Muslim peacekeepers to Iraq is not possible while Americans are in charge..."
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1953
"... questions are increasingly being raised over how America will get out of Iraq. One scenario could involve the Arab League taking over the Sunni Triangle area, protecting the Sunnis from the Shiites, while U.S. troops fade into the background... (But the) Arab League said Monday that sending Arab and Muslim peacekeepers to Iraq is not possible while Americans are in charge..."
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1953
LACK OF INTELLIGENCE
"Abdul Zahra Othman... the head of Iraq's US-appointed governing council was killed by a suicide car bomber... (His son said) "The US has not got a grip on security. They have no intelligence. They have no information. They just sit behind their tanks."... (this) comes amid mounting evidence that Iraqis working inside the Coalition Provisional Authority as translators or policemen are passing on information to Iraq's resistance."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1219236,00.html
"Abdul Zahra Othman... the head of Iraq's US-appointed governing council was killed by a suicide car bomber... (His son said) "The US has not got a grip on security. They have no intelligence. They have no information. They just sit behind their tanks."... (this) comes amid mounting evidence that Iraqis working inside the Coalition Provisional Authority as translators or policemen are passing on information to Iraq's resistance."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1219236,00.html
ALMOST UNMANAGEABLE
"... the (killing of) the head of Iraq's Governing Council on Monday gave shape to a feeling among Iraqi and U.S. officials and common citizens that the country is almost unmanageable... "It will take a lot of doing for this not to end in a debacle," a senior occupation official said..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34643-2004May17.html
"... the (killing of) the head of Iraq's Governing Council on Monday gave shape to a feeling among Iraqi and U.S. officials and common citizens that the country is almost unmanageable... "It will take a lot of doing for this not to end in a debacle," a senior occupation official said..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34643-2004May17.html
AN EGYPTIAN VIEW OF GUARDS
Egyptian demonstrators... rallied in front of a banner that read, "Bring to justice the homosexual American executioners"... the Al-Osboa weekly newspaper, who said, "Those gays forced our brothers in Iraq to practice homosexuality and filmed them. If we remain silent, we will be next."
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?date=2004/05/17/4
Egyptian demonstrators... rallied in front of a banner that read, "Bring to justice the homosexual American executioners"... the Al-Osboa weekly newspaper, who said, "Those gays forced our brothers in Iraq to practice homosexuality and filmed them. If we remain silent, we will be next."
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?date=2004/05/17/4
GUARDS PROPERLY TRAINED
"... youngsters were... were trained to treat their fellow humans with kindness and respect... when they became soldiers they were trained to kill.... training included... films designed to define patriotism as killing... identified designated enemies, and then proceeded to pump the recruits with rage and hatred for these enemies... to enable them to kill them.
"The films included close-ups of people jumping to their deaths out of World Trade Center windows and... charred and desecrated American faces and bodies. They included films of sinister looking Arabs plotting against America; pictures of jeering, taunting Arabs reeking of testosterone and prolonged close-ups of brutal acts of violence conducted by Arabs against Americans... (One recruit) had a seizure while watching the films and was sent home.
"... The soldiers at Abu Ghraib were following orders and were "properly trained." They were so well trained that they took pride their own actions to the extent that they took pictures of the atrocities they perpetuated upon prisoners, pictures which were readily passed from computer to computer."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-09.htm
"... youngsters were... were trained to treat their fellow humans with kindness and respect... when they became soldiers they were trained to kill.... training included... films designed to define patriotism as killing... identified designated enemies, and then proceeded to pump the recruits with rage and hatred for these enemies... to enable them to kill them.
"The films included close-ups of people jumping to their deaths out of World Trade Center windows and... charred and desecrated American faces and bodies. They included films of sinister looking Arabs plotting against America; pictures of jeering, taunting Arabs reeking of testosterone and prolonged close-ups of brutal acts of violence conducted by Arabs against Americans... (One recruit) had a seizure while watching the films and was sent home.
"... The soldiers at Abu Ghraib were following orders and were "properly trained." They were so well trained that they took pride their own actions to the extent that they took pictures of the atrocities they perpetuated upon prisoners, pictures which were readily passed from computer to computer."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-09.htm
Monday, May 17, 2004
ATTACK BOTH SUNNI AND SHIA
"As U.S. forces fought the Shia forces of Muqtada Al- Sadr in the south, they broke into the Sunni Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad... Amid moves by Shia and Sunni leaders to come together against the occupation, U.S. forces have chosen to attack both at the same time..."
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23762
"As U.S. forces fought the Shia forces of Muqtada Al- Sadr in the south, they broke into the Sunni Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad... Amid moves by Shia and Sunni leaders to come together against the occupation, U.S. forces have chosen to attack both at the same time..."
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23762
PERMIT A VICTORY OVER US
"... Tapes of phone conversations made by President Lyndon B. Johnson... (showed) that in 1964, Johnson already knew that the United States could win the battles, but not the war, in Vietnam.... Today... The United States can win the battles, but it cannot win the war in Iraq.
" ... Many people in Washington surely know that the war in Iraq is unwinnable and ... the United States will have to leave... Bush... is not likely to concede defeat and lose the war in Iraq on his watch.
"That is why Sen. John Kerry must offer an alternative... he has to pledge that.. he will end the war by calling upon the international community to help Iraq hold early elections and by setting a date for an orderly and phased withdrawal of American troops.
"... This is not a time to gloat at Bush's self-inflicted disaster.... it is time to set things right... to permit the Iraqi people "to have a victory over us. For us to succeed in Iraq, we have to lose." ... For democracy to have a chance, the United States must withdraw its troops, leave no military base in Iraq and not try to control that nation's oil policy.
"... It's an act of patriotism to call for an end to the occupation... How do you ask a soldier to be the last person to die in Iraq?"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/17/EDGGG5VL181.DTL
"... Tapes of phone conversations made by President Lyndon B. Johnson... (showed) that in 1964, Johnson already knew that the United States could win the battles, but not the war, in Vietnam.... Today... The United States can win the battles, but it cannot win the war in Iraq.
" ... Many people in Washington surely know that the war in Iraq is unwinnable and ... the United States will have to leave... Bush... is not likely to concede defeat and lose the war in Iraq on his watch.
"That is why Sen. John Kerry must offer an alternative... he has to pledge that.. he will end the war by calling upon the international community to help Iraq hold early elections and by setting a date for an orderly and phased withdrawal of American troops.
"... This is not a time to gloat at Bush's self-inflicted disaster.... it is time to set things right... to permit the Iraqi people "to have a victory over us. For us to succeed in Iraq, we have to lose." ... For democracy to have a chance, the United States must withdraw its troops, leave no military base in Iraq and not try to control that nation's oil policy.
"... It's an act of patriotism to call for an end to the occupation... How do you ask a soldier to be the last person to die in Iraq?"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/17/EDGGG5VL181.DTL
JUDO TOSS
"... the most essential principle of any asymmetric rebellion against a force of overwhelming power... is the principle of all Asian self-defense techniques from Tai Chi to Judo. Use your opponent's power against him. Instead of blocking it with whatever you have, simply toss him further in the direction he lunged... This... has driven the American occupiers completely nuts..."
"(Example)... thousands of Iraqis.. have been kept in the coalition's prisons under exceedingly oppressive conditions without charges or explanation. Between 60-90% of them were arrested "by mistake" (according to U.S. military authorities). Now... given the uproar over Abu Ghraib... significant numbers of them are to be dumped out onto the street, hardened, embittered, angry, oppositional."
"(Example)... We've been told by the most moderate of Shiites... not to cross the "red line" and enter Shia's holiest places, firing away.... meantime, our troops have moved ever further into Najaf... (and) coalition forces are driving the streets of Karbala with loudspeakers, urging residents to evacuate the city, while an American tank has just opened fire near the Imam Hussein Shrine there."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-06.htm
"... the most essential principle of any asymmetric rebellion against a force of overwhelming power... is the principle of all Asian self-defense techniques from Tai Chi to Judo. Use your opponent's power against him. Instead of blocking it with whatever you have, simply toss him further in the direction he lunged... This... has driven the American occupiers completely nuts..."
"(Example)... thousands of Iraqis.. have been kept in the coalition's prisons under exceedingly oppressive conditions without charges or explanation. Between 60-90% of them were arrested "by mistake" (according to U.S. military authorities). Now... given the uproar over Abu Ghraib... significant numbers of them are to be dumped out onto the street, hardened, embittered, angry, oppositional."
"(Example)... We've been told by the most moderate of Shiites... not to cross the "red line" and enter Shia's holiest places, firing away.... meantime, our troops have moved ever further into Najaf... (and) coalition forces are driving the streets of Karbala with loudspeakers, urging residents to evacuate the city, while an American tank has just opened fire near the Imam Hussein Shrine there."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-06.htm
SENATOR SAYS PRISONERS WERE TERRORISTS
"... Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)... said he was "more outraged by the outrage" over the treatment of the prisoners than by the abuses themselves. "They're not here for traffic violations," he said. "They're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0405120295may12,1,5459910.story?coll=chi-news-hed
BUT COALITION AUTHORITY SAYS MOST WERE ARRESTED BY MISTAKE
" Coalition military intelligence officials estimated that 70% to 90% of prisoners detained in Iraq since the war began last year "had been arrested by mistake," according to a confidential Red Cross report given to the Bush administration earlier this year.... most arrests resulted "in the de facto 'disappearance' of the arrestee for weeks or even months."
herhttp://www.latimes.com/la-fg-redcross11may11,1,5310478.storye
"... a report from the International Committee of the Red Cross this year... noted that, by U.S. officials' own admission, between 70% and 90% of tens of thousands of detentions turned out to be erroneous..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-decline16may16,1,1443200.story?coll=la-home-headlines
AND GENERAL TAGUBA SAYS PROBABLY NONE WERE TERRORISTS
"... Major General Antonio Taguba, who led the Army’s investigation into the prison abuse scandal, concluded that while there were common criminals at the prison, there were probably no detainees linked to Al Qaida or other terrorists groups..."
hhttp://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-11.htmere
"... Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)... said he was "more outraged by the outrage" over the treatment of the prisoners than by the abuses themselves. "They're not here for traffic violations," he said. "They're murderers, they're terrorists, they're insurgents."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0405120295may12,1,5459910.story?coll=chi-news-hed
BUT COALITION AUTHORITY SAYS MOST WERE ARRESTED BY MISTAKE
" Coalition military intelligence officials estimated that 70% to 90% of prisoners detained in Iraq since the war began last year "had been arrested by mistake," according to a confidential Red Cross report given to the Bush administration earlier this year.... most arrests resulted "in the de facto 'disappearance' of the arrestee for weeks or even months."
herhttp://www.latimes.com/la-fg-redcross11may11,1,5310478.storye
"... a report from the International Committee of the Red Cross this year... noted that, by U.S. officials' own admission, between 70% and 90% of tens of thousands of detentions turned out to be erroneous..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-decline16may16,1,1443200.story?coll=la-home-headlines
AND GENERAL TAGUBA SAYS PROBABLY NONE WERE TERRORISTS
"... Major General Antonio Taguba, who led the Army’s investigation into the prison abuse scandal, concluded that while there were common criminals at the prison, there were probably no detainees linked to Al Qaida or other terrorists groups..."
hhttp://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-11.htmere
US TO MOVE TROOPS FROM KOREA TO IRAQ
"... the United States is looking to move some of its 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to bolster forces in Iraq... Tapping into the U.S. military force in Korea would be an historic move by the Pentagon, underscoring the degree to which the military is stretched to provide enough forces for Iraq while meeting its other commitments."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-17-iraq-blast_x.htm
"... the United States is looking to move some of its 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to bolster forces in Iraq... Tapping into the U.S. military force in Korea would be an historic move by the Pentagon, underscoring the degree to which the military is stretched to provide enough forces for Iraq while meeting its other commitments."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-17-iraq-blast_x.htm
Sunday, May 16, 2004
IRANIAN VIEW
"... Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (said)... The hatred sown by U.S. troops in Iraq is going to produce hatred for decades... the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the mistreatment of the Iraqi people, the appointment of a U.S. administrator in Iraq, the torture of prisoners, and the attacks on the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala are a series of mistakes that have placed the U.S. forces in a quagmire, and the more they try to advance the deeper they sink. He called the plan for handing over sovereignty to Iraqis a ruse and said that Iraqi politicians and prominent figures should know that anyone who comes to power and becomes a puppet of the U.S. will be as hated as the U.S..."
http://www.theworldpress.com/ru/newspap/iran/tehran.htm
"... Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (said)... The hatred sown by U.S. troops in Iraq is going to produce hatred for decades... the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the mistreatment of the Iraqi people, the appointment of a U.S. administrator in Iraq, the torture of prisoners, and the attacks on the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala are a series of mistakes that have placed the U.S. forces in a quagmire, and the more they try to advance the deeper they sink. He called the plan for handing over sovereignty to Iraqis a ruse and said that Iraqi politicians and prominent figures should know that anyone who comes to power and becomes a puppet of the U.S. will be as hated as the U.S..."
http://www.theworldpress.com/ru/newspap/iran/tehran.htm
MERCENARIES
"... South Africa has become a cesspool of mercenaries... Some have murky pasts in brutal apartheid-era military units... they sign contracts and slip into Iraq... Hundreds... are serving in Iraq now as private security contractors... (they) guard L. Paul Bremer... and patrol the heavily fortified Green Zone..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8682320.htm
"... South Africa has become a cesspool of mercenaries... Some have murky pasts in brutal apartheid-era military units... they sign contracts and slip into Iraq... Hundreds... are serving in Iraq now as private security contractors... (they) guard L. Paul Bremer... and patrol the heavily fortified Green Zone..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8682320.htm
ITALIANS HOPE TO LEAVE
"... U.S. and Italian troops fought Shi'ite militia in... southern Iraq... Italy urged Washington to show restraint and work out a plan for the occupation forces to leave the country... Wednesday... Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi meets Bush and will no doubt seek assurances that 2,700 Italian troops are not caught in an unwinnable war..."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ZXN0ZOGNZOWSCCRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=5157289
"... U.S. and Italian troops fought Shi'ite militia in... southern Iraq... Italy urged Washington to show restraint and work out a plan for the occupation forces to leave the country... Wednesday... Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi meets Bush and will no doubt seek assurances that 2,700 Italian troops are not caught in an unwinnable war..."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ZXN0ZOGNZOWSCCRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=5157289
RENOVATING SCHOOLS
These reports indicate that the soldiers' actual work, if any, is probably limited to painting, and that they monitor Iraqi contractors hired by their unit or by Bechtel:
"Six weeks ago, soldiers of the First Armored Division were renovating schools..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/international/middleeast/17SOLD.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1084789784-6uk2+Ib1Pxg1avXKaaaCzg
"... The 1st Armored Division Commanders’ Emergency Response Program provided funds for the renovations, while Iraqi contractors carried out the work... Members of the 414th, 425th and 478th Civil Affairs Battalions made periodic visits to the school to monitor the progress of the renovations..."
http://www.vcorps.army.mil/www/news/2004/mar25_alanef.htm
"... The 2,000-plus schools that the United States describes as having been renovated are said by Iraqis to have been merely repainted..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-decline16may16,1,1443200.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... U.S. Army... has been working on a proposal to have nine schools rebuilt in... Tikrit, at a cost of $243,300... part of a project designed to repair some of the 2,000 schools in the three Iraqi provinces controlled by the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division. The repairs vary from replacing windows to putting in electric cables, plumbing, painting walls and rebuilding damaged sections. Money comes from (the Division's) emergency-relief-project fund, which is supporting reconstruction projects..."
http://www.rense.com/general48/troopss.htm
Raed Jarrar, the Baghdad Blogger, said on May 8: "Please... please!!! the schools that were "renovated" are the biggest scandal for Bechtel..."
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
"... Complaints about shoddy or undone school repairs have recently brought high-level outside scrutiny. An internal study by U.S. Army personnel... strongly criticized Bechtel’s attempts to renovate Iraqi schools... "The new fans are cheap and burned out immediately upon use. All inspected were already broken," wrote a U.S. soldier. "Lousy paint job. Major clean-up work required. Bathrooms in poor condition," wrote another about a different school. Much of the criticism focuses on Bechtel's Iraqi subcontractors... "In almost every case, the paint jobs were done in a hurry, causing more damage to the appearance of the school than in terms of providing a finish that will protect the structure. In one case, the paint job actually damaged critical lab equipment, making it unusable." ... we visit four Baghdad schools...The rain leaks through the ceiling, shorting out the power. The new paint is peeling and the floor has not been completely repaired... Most shocking... is the price tag: “I could fix everything here for just $1,000. ... a Bechtel sub-contractor spent $20,000!”
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2672
These reports indicate that the soldiers' actual work, if any, is probably limited to painting, and that they monitor Iraqi contractors hired by their unit or by Bechtel:
"Six weeks ago, soldiers of the First Armored Division were renovating schools..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/international/middleeast/17SOLD.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1084789784-6uk2+Ib1Pxg1avXKaaaCzg
"... The 1st Armored Division Commanders’ Emergency Response Program provided funds for the renovations, while Iraqi contractors carried out the work... Members of the 414th, 425th and 478th Civil Affairs Battalions made periodic visits to the school to monitor the progress of the renovations..."
http://www.vcorps.army.mil/www/news/2004/mar25_alanef.htm
"... The 2,000-plus schools that the United States describes as having been renovated are said by Iraqis to have been merely repainted..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-decline16may16,1,1443200.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"... U.S. Army... has been working on a proposal to have nine schools rebuilt in... Tikrit, at a cost of $243,300... part of a project designed to repair some of the 2,000 schools in the three Iraqi provinces controlled by the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division. The repairs vary from replacing windows to putting in electric cables, plumbing, painting walls and rebuilding damaged sections. Money comes from (the Division's) emergency-relief-project fund, which is supporting reconstruction projects..."
http://www.rense.com/general48/troopss.htm
Raed Jarrar, the Baghdad Blogger, said on May 8: "Please... please!!! the schools that were "renovated" are the biggest scandal for Bechtel..."
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
"... Complaints about shoddy or undone school repairs have recently brought high-level outside scrutiny. An internal study by U.S. Army personnel... strongly criticized Bechtel’s attempts to renovate Iraqi schools... "The new fans are cheap and burned out immediately upon use. All inspected were already broken," wrote a U.S. soldier. "Lousy paint job. Major clean-up work required. Bathrooms in poor condition," wrote another about a different school. Much of the criticism focuses on Bechtel's Iraqi subcontractors... "In almost every case, the paint jobs were done in a hurry, causing more damage to the appearance of the school than in terms of providing a finish that will protect the structure. In one case, the paint job actually damaged critical lab equipment, making it unusable." ... we visit four Baghdad schools...The rain leaks through the ceiling, shorting out the power. The new paint is peeling and the floor has not been completely repaired... Most shocking... is the price tag: “I could fix everything here for just $1,000. ... a Bechtel sub-contractor spent $20,000!”
http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2672
STRATEGIC FAILURE
"... defence chiefs are privately discussing "strategic failure" in the war... a contingency plan - called the "evacuation con plan" - has been drawn up by staff officers in Basra and agreed by the Chief of Joint Operations... After a month of worsening problems, the mood within the Ministry of Defence has switched... to "how do we avoid strategic failure"... One senior official described this as: "The collapse of the coalition and the inability to achieve the strategic objective of a safe, democratic Iraq". He said that "... Strategic failure is now an option that is being considered."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/16/nirq16.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/16/ixnewstop.html
"... defence chiefs are privately discussing "strategic failure" in the war... a contingency plan - called the "evacuation con plan" - has been drawn up by staff officers in Basra and agreed by the Chief of Joint Operations... After a month of worsening problems, the mood within the Ministry of Defence has switched... to "how do we avoid strategic failure"... One senior official described this as: "The collapse of the coalition and the inability to achieve the strategic objective of a safe, democratic Iraq". He said that "... Strategic failure is now an option that is being considered."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/16/nirq16.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/16/ixnewstop.html
GUANTANAMO VIDEOS
"... videotapes of American guards allegedly engaged in brutal attacks on Guantanamo Bay detainees... will provide final proof that brutality against detainees has become an institutionalised feature of America's war on terror.... Senator Patrick Leahy... said he would demand that Rumsfeld must produce the videos this week... Rumsfeld has continued to insist (abuse was) the work of a few rogue soldiers, and not a systemic problem..."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/waronterrorism/story/0,1373,1218014,00.html
"... videotapes of American guards allegedly engaged in brutal attacks on Guantanamo Bay detainees... will provide final proof that brutality against detainees has become an institutionalised feature of America's war on terror.... Senator Patrick Leahy... said he would demand that Rumsfeld must produce the videos this week... Rumsfeld has continued to insist (abuse was) the work of a few rogue soldiers, and not a systemic problem..."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/waronterrorism/story/0,1373,1218014,00.html
FUND RAISERS EFFECT ON GOVERNMENT
"... Bush "Pioneers" who had raised at least $100,000 each... or "Rangers" who had raised $200,000 each... are the heart of the most successful political money operation in the nation's history. Since 1998, Bush has raised a record $296.3 million in campaign funds...
"... Of the 246 fundraisers identified... as Pioneers in the 2000 campaign, 104 -- or slightly more than 40 percent -- ended up in a job or an appointment... 23 Pioneers were named as ambassadors and three were named to the Cabinet... At least 37 Pioneers were named to postelection transition teams, which helped place political appointees into key regulatory positions affecting industry.
"... A more important reward than a job, perhaps, is access.... about one-fifth of the 2000 Pioneers... are lobbyists... More than half the Pioneers are heads of companies -- chief executive officers, company founders or managing partners -- whose bottom lines are directly affected by a variety of government regulatory and tax decisions.
"... (Now) Rangers would soon lose their top status, just as the Pioneers had before them. Raising $200,000 was a starting point, they were told. But to qualify as a "Super Ranger," they would have to raise an additional $300,000..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29142-2004May15.html
"... Bush "Pioneers" who had raised at least $100,000 each... or "Rangers" who had raised $200,000 each... are the heart of the most successful political money operation in the nation's history. Since 1998, Bush has raised a record $296.3 million in campaign funds...
"... Of the 246 fundraisers identified... as Pioneers in the 2000 campaign, 104 -- or slightly more than 40 percent -- ended up in a job or an appointment... 23 Pioneers were named as ambassadors and three were named to the Cabinet... At least 37 Pioneers were named to postelection transition teams, which helped place political appointees into key regulatory positions affecting industry.
"... A more important reward than a job, perhaps, is access.... about one-fifth of the 2000 Pioneers... are lobbyists... More than half the Pioneers are heads of companies -- chief executive officers, company founders or managing partners -- whose bottom lines are directly affected by a variety of government regulatory and tax decisions.
"... (Now) Rangers would soon lose their top status, just as the Pioneers had before them. Raising $200,000 was a starting point, they were told. But to qualify as a "Super Ranger," they would have to raise an additional $300,000..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29142-2004May15.html
Friday, May 14, 2004
MILITARY AGAINST RUMSFELD
"Donald Rumsfeld has a new war on his hands - the US officer corps has turned on the government."
"William Odom, a retired general and former member of the National Security Council... reflects a wide swath of opinion in the upper ranks of the military. "It was never in our interest to go into Iraq. It is a "diversion" from the war on terrorism; the rationale for the Iraq war (finding WMD) is "phoney"; the US army is overstretched and being driven "into the ground"; and the prospect of building a democracy is "zero". In Iraqi politics, he says, "legitimacy is going to be tied to expelling us. Wisdom in military affairs dictates withdrawal in this situation. We can't afford to fail, that's mindless. The issue is how we stop failing more. I am arguing a strategic decision."
"One high-level military strategist (said) Rumsfeld is "detested", and that "if there's a sentiment in the army it is: Support Our Troops, Impeach Rumsfeld".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1215562,00.html
"Donald Rumsfeld has a new war on his hands - the US officer corps has turned on the government."
"William Odom, a retired general and former member of the National Security Council... reflects a wide swath of opinion in the upper ranks of the military. "It was never in our interest to go into Iraq. It is a "diversion" from the war on terrorism; the rationale for the Iraq war (finding WMD) is "phoney"; the US army is overstretched and being driven "into the ground"; and the prospect of building a democracy is "zero". In Iraqi politics, he says, "legitimacy is going to be tied to expelling us. Wisdom in military affairs dictates withdrawal in this situation. We can't afford to fail, that's mindless. The issue is how we stop failing more. I am arguing a strategic decision."
"One high-level military strategist (said) Rumsfeld is "detested", and that "if there's a sentiment in the army it is: Support Our Troops, Impeach Rumsfeld".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1215562,00.html
ABUSE TO BE DEALT WITH IN SECRET
"Iraq's first human rights minister launched a blistering attack yesterday on ... Paul Bremer, saying that he had warned him repeatedly last year that US soldiers were abusing Iraqi detainees... In December, a month before the US military set up its own secret inquiry into Abu Ghraib, he telephoned Mr Bremer to complain about the treatment of female detainees... "He listened very well. But that was all he did" ... in March he and other US-appointed ministers had demanded an investigation after a US soldier raped a woman prisoner, documented by Major General Antonio Taguba in his report on Abu Ghraib. "We were told this matter would be dealt with in secret, and with only Americans attending," he said."
(U.S.-appointed human rights minister, Abdul-Basat al-Turki, resigned in April to protest the abuses.)
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wagingpeace.org%2Farticles%2F2004%2F05%2F10_harding_bremer-knew.htm
"Iraq's first human rights minister launched a blistering attack yesterday on ... Paul Bremer, saying that he had warned him repeatedly last year that US soldiers were abusing Iraqi detainees... In December, a month before the US military set up its own secret inquiry into Abu Ghraib, he telephoned Mr Bremer to complain about the treatment of female detainees... "He listened very well. But that was all he did" ... in March he and other US-appointed ministers had demanded an investigation after a US soldier raped a woman prisoner, documented by Major General Antonio Taguba in his report on Abu Ghraib. "We were told this matter would be dealt with in secret, and with only Americans attending," he said."
(U.S.-appointed human rights minister, Abdul-Basat al-Turki, resigned in April to protest the abuses.)
http://www.oneworld.net/external/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wagingpeace.org%2Farticles%2F2004%2F05%2F10_harding_bremer-knew.htm
PRISON GUARDS' SOUVENIR PHOTOS
"... The photographs... were also intended to function as mementos in later years when the former guards reminisce about their wild and crazy year fighting for the freedom of Iraq and in defense of the homeland..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE15Ak01.html
"... Their souvenir photographs are reminiscent of the smiling lynch mobs who took each other's photographs under the hanging trees of the American South or the German soldiers who took out their cameras when the Jews were being shot in pits..."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1029318800BC10CD&p_docnum=1
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0514-06.htm
"... The photographs... were also intended to function as mementos in later years when the former guards reminisce about their wild and crazy year fighting for the freedom of Iraq and in defense of the homeland..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE15Ak01.html
"... Their souvenir photographs are reminiscent of the smiling lynch mobs who took each other's photographs under the hanging trees of the American South or the German soldiers who took out their cameras when the Jews were being shot in pits..."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1029318800BC10CD&p_docnum=1
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0514-06.htm
ENTERING THE HEART OF DARKNESS
"... generation after generation yields to the seductive power of state violence, sanctioned killing in which a few profit at the expense of many. We think we can master war. Trust us, we know how this thing's done, our leaders tell us as they march out their latest plan. Enthralled, we dress it up in patriotic bunting. Wrap it in flags. Set it to music."
"Eventually, though, every war reveals its heart of darkness... horrific slaughters in which distinctions of who's right and who's wrong and who has God's approval become blurred, confused..."
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/opinion_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_364_2884236,00.html
"... generation after generation yields to the seductive power of state violence, sanctioned killing in which a few profit at the expense of many. We think we can master war. Trust us, we know how this thing's done, our leaders tell us as they march out their latest plan. Enthralled, we dress it up in patriotic bunting. Wrap it in flags. Set it to music."
"Eventually, though, every war reveals its heart of darkness... horrific slaughters in which distinctions of who's right and who's wrong and who has God's approval become blurred, confused..."
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/opinion_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_364_2884236,00.html
THE DYNAMICS OF ATROCITIES
"... What ultimately drives the dynamic is an ideological vision that equates Iraqi fighters with "terrorists" and seeks to further justify the invasion... To attribute the scandal at Abu Ghraib to "a few bad apples... is poor psychology and self-serving pseudomorality... the greater responsibility lies with those who planned and executed the war on Iraq ...and who created... the accompanying denial of rights of captives and suspects... the Defense Secretary, the Attorney General and the White House..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040531&s=lifton
"... What ultimately drives the dynamic is an ideological vision that equates Iraqi fighters with "terrorists" and seeks to further justify the invasion... To attribute the scandal at Abu Ghraib to "a few bad apples... is poor psychology and self-serving pseudomorality... the greater responsibility lies with those who planned and executed the war on Iraq ...and who created... the accompanying denial of rights of captives and suspects... the Defense Secretary, the Attorney General and the White House..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040531&s=lifton
IRAQ UNITED
"There is no difference now between Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. We have all been invaded.... There is no Sunni or Shia now, we are all together against the Americans...the only solution to the ongoing violence in Iraq is a complete withdrawal of the U.S. military."
-- Imam Muad Al- Adhamy in sermon at Abu Hanifa mosque, Al-Adhamiyah in Baghdad
http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=23742
"There is no difference now between Sunni and Shia, Arab and Kurd. We have all been invaded.... There is no Sunni or Shia now, we are all together against the Americans...the only solution to the ongoing violence in Iraq is a complete withdrawal of the U.S. military."
-- Imam Muad Al- Adhamy in sermon at Abu Hanifa mosque, Al-Adhamiyah in Baghdad
http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=23742
MAKING AMENDS
"Armed with cash, U.S. troops attempt to make amends with Iraqi civilians who suffered.... The village leader received $15,000 on behalf of residents in compensation for dead livestock, uprooted trees, damaged fields and other losses... The son of a man killed by gunfire while driving in a battle zone received $2,500. And a man who said his 7-year-old daughter was killed as she tended the family's sheep also received $2,500..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-money14may14,1,3403599.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"Armed with cash, U.S. troops attempt to make amends with Iraqi civilians who suffered.... The village leader received $15,000 on behalf of residents in compensation for dead livestock, uprooted trees, damaged fields and other losses... The son of a man killed by gunfire while driving in a battle zone received $2,500. And a man who said his 7-year-old daughter was killed as she tended the family's sheep also received $2,500..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-money14may14,1,3403599.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RECEPTION AT ABU GHRAID
"When a fresh crop of detainees arrived at Abu Ghraib prison one night in late October, their jailers set upon them... "tossed them in the middle of the floor" and then one soldier ran across the room and lunged into the pile of detainees... He did it again, jumping into the group like it was a pile of autumn leaves, and another soldier called for others to join in. The detainees were ordered to strip and masturbate, their heads covered with plastic sandbags. One soldier stomped on their fingers and toes.... "
"Graner knelt down to one of the detainees that was nude and had the sandbag over his head and punched the detainee unconscious... (one) detainee had wounds on his legs from where he had been shot with the buckshot. (Graner) would "strike the detainee with a half baseball swing, and hit the wounds of the detainee. There is no doubt that this hurt the detainee because he would scream he got hit. The detainee would beg Graner to stop by saying "Mister, Mister, please stop..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/national/14SIVI.html?hp
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-prison14may14,1,3734760.story?coll=la-home-headlines
"When a fresh crop of detainees arrived at Abu Ghraib prison one night in late October, their jailers set upon them... "tossed them in the middle of the floor" and then one soldier ran across the room and lunged into the pile of detainees... He did it again, jumping into the group like it was a pile of autumn leaves, and another soldier called for others to join in. The detainees were ordered to strip and masturbate, their heads covered with plastic sandbags. One soldier stomped on their fingers and toes.... "
"Graner knelt down to one of the detainees that was nude and had the sandbag over his head and punched the detainee unconscious... (one) detainee had wounds on his legs from where he had been shot with the buckshot. (Graner) would "strike the detainee with a half baseball swing, and hit the wounds of the detainee. There is no doubt that this hurt the detainee because he would scream he got hit. The detainee would beg Graner to stop by saying "Mister, Mister, please stop..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/14/national/14SIVI.html?hp
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-prison14may14,1,3734760.story?coll=la-home-headlines
2,500 INNOCENT PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED?
"... the US military began releasing hundreds of prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison. The first busload of detainees left the jail in the early hours of Friday.... The releases are part of a plan to reduce the prison's population from its current level of about 4,000 inmates to about 1,500. Most of those inside Abu Ghraib have been held without charge, some for many months."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3713453.stm
"... the US military began releasing hundreds of prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison. The first busload of detainees left the jail in the early hours of Friday.... The releases are part of a plan to reduce the prison's population from its current level of about 4,000 inmates to about 1,500. Most of those inside Abu Ghraib have been held without charge, some for many months."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3713453.stm
Thursday, May 13, 2004
TERRORISTS DELIGHTED WITH THIS WAR
"... Islamic extremists are delighted the United States picked this war with Iraq because it gives those extremists a grand international stage... Now the terrorists can take the fight directly to America without the trouble of plotting another Sept. 11... It leads American news, dominates the American psyche, and dictates the American political debate. For those reasons, the war in Iraq currently represents victory for the terrorists and failure by the Bush administration..."
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/134/oped/Where_s_the_exit_from_this_mess_+.shtml
"... Islamic extremists are delighted the United States picked this war with Iraq because it gives those extremists a grand international stage... Now the terrorists can take the fight directly to America without the trouble of plotting another Sept. 11... It leads American news, dominates the American psyche, and dictates the American political debate. For those reasons, the war in Iraq currently represents victory for the terrorists and failure by the Bush administration..."
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/134/oped/Where_s_the_exit_from_this_mess_+.shtml
LIMBAUGH ON DOGS -- AUDIO LINKS
May 10 Show
"... it looks like German Shepherd, some kind of vicious big dogs, the dogs are barking, bow wow arf arf arf, this big dog -- you know and the Iraqi prisoner is cowering there in fear, he's all nude. And the picture caption "Dog attacks Iraqi." No, the dog isn't attacking anyone, the dog's on a leash. The dog is scaring an Iraqi prisoner.... Is that allowed in the Geneva Convention?!..."
http://mediamatters.org/static/audio/limbaugh-20040510.mp3
30 Minutes Later
"Apparently, ladies and gentleman, I need to offer a modification... apparently uh, well, there's another picture later where the nude Iraqi prisoner no longer cowering, um, in the corner against his cell, he's writhing on the floor with a pool of blood. Apparently, the dog did bite his leg, but there's no picture of that..."
http://mediamatters.org/static/audio/limbaugh-20040510-2.mp3
May 10 Show
"... it looks like German Shepherd, some kind of vicious big dogs, the dogs are barking, bow wow arf arf arf, this big dog -- you know and the Iraqi prisoner is cowering there in fear, he's all nude. And the picture caption "Dog attacks Iraqi." No, the dog isn't attacking anyone, the dog's on a leash. The dog is scaring an Iraqi prisoner.... Is that allowed in the Geneva Convention?!..."
http://mediamatters.org/static/audio/limbaugh-20040510.mp3
30 Minutes Later
"Apparently, ladies and gentleman, I need to offer a modification... apparently uh, well, there's another picture later where the nude Iraqi prisoner no longer cowering, um, in the corner against his cell, he's writhing on the floor with a pool of blood. Apparently, the dog did bite his leg, but there's no picture of that..."
http://mediamatters.org/static/audio/limbaugh-20040510-2.mp3
MORAL DEBAUCHERY CAME DOWN THE CHAIN
"Young military reservists from small American towns do not spontaneously torture, humiliate, sexually abuse and obscenely mock powerless prisoners unless people in authority over them have ordered or encouraged them to do so.
"An American friend who works in Saudi Arabia recently e-mailed me to say "... Photographs of American women soldiers sexually taunting and abusing naked and bound Arab men says to them that the United States is a totally depraved society."
"But who debauched these young American men and women soldiers? I would argue that the moral debauchery came down the chain of command from Washington.
"Dehumanizing language has deliberately been employed to describe all those who oppose the United States. The cumulative effect of this has conveyed to American troops that international and national norms of lawful conduct have been suspended or crucially limited in the war against terror."
http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=519400&owner=(TMSI)&date=20040512143212
"Young military reservists from small American towns do not spontaneously torture, humiliate, sexually abuse and obscenely mock powerless prisoners unless people in authority over them have ordered or encouraged them to do so.
"An American friend who works in Saudi Arabia recently e-mailed me to say "... Photographs of American women soldiers sexually taunting and abusing naked and bound Arab men says to them that the United States is a totally depraved society."
"But who debauched these young American men and women soldiers? I would argue that the moral debauchery came down the chain of command from Washington.
"Dehumanizing language has deliberately been employed to describe all those who oppose the United States. The cumulative effect of this has conveyed to American troops that international and national norms of lawful conduct have been suspended or crucially limited in the war against terror."
http://www.iht.com/ihtsearch.php?id=519400&owner=(TMSI)&date=20040512143212
OUTSOURCING DEMOCRACY AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE
"... it cost you $120,000 for a corporate cook to do a six month tour of duty in Iraq to feed the Army troops... How about one corporate dog handler and a team of dogs to sniff out road mines -- a dangerous mission to be sure? Well, that goes for $666,000 for a six month tour of duty with the trained dog handler making $200,000 of that sum." -- by Ralph Nader
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0510-09.htm
"... The woman who took the coffin photos was fired from a $100,000 contract job. Is anyone in the United States making $100,000 a year loading cargo planes?..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0512-14.htm
"... it cost you $120,000 for a corporate cook to do a six month tour of duty in Iraq to feed the Army troops... How about one corporate dog handler and a team of dogs to sniff out road mines -- a dangerous mission to be sure? Well, that goes for $666,000 for a six month tour of duty with the trained dog handler making $200,000 of that sum." -- by Ralph Nader
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0510-09.htm
"... The woman who took the coffin photos was fired from a $100,000 contract job. Is anyone in the United States making $100,000 a year loading cargo planes?..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0512-14.htm
EXCERPTS FROM UN RESOLUTION 1483
May 22, 2003
The Security Council,
- Reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq...
- Stressing the right of the Iraqi people freely to determine their own political future and control their own natural resources...
- Calls upon all concerned to comply fully with their obligations under international law including in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (i.e. the coalition must assure humane treatment for the civilian population under Article 27 of the 4th Geneva Convention and permit life in Iraq to continue as unaffected by its presence as possible)...
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/document/2003/0522resolution.htm
May 22, 2003
The Security Council,
- Reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq...
- Stressing the right of the Iraqi people freely to determine their own political future and control their own natural resources...
- Calls upon all concerned to comply fully with their obligations under international law including in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (i.e. the coalition must assure humane treatment for the civilian population under Article 27 of the 4th Geneva Convention and permit life in Iraq to continue as unaffected by its presence as possible)...
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/document/2003/0522resolution.htm
MEDIA SELLING THE WAR MORE THAN TELLING IT
"... The scandal was well known in Iraq for almost a year. Amnesty International reported on allegations of torture in the prison in July 2003.... Other abuses have been shown but not commented upon and, as a consequence, never rose to the level of being newsworthy as an issue.... These outrages, known for many months, have been reported on by truly independent agencies, even disclosed by the government, and still scant mainstream media attention was paid.... Was it understandable and reasonable for media organizations to do more selling of the war than telling about it?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0512-11.htm
"... The scandal was well known in Iraq for almost a year. Amnesty International reported on allegations of torture in the prison in July 2003.... Other abuses have been shown but not commented upon and, as a consequence, never rose to the level of being newsworthy as an issue.... These outrages, known for many months, have been reported on by truly independent agencies, even disclosed by the government, and still scant mainstream media attention was paid.... Was it understandable and reasonable for media organizations to do more selling of the war than telling about it?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0512-11.htm
HOW THE FIRST PHOTOS BECAME DISCLOSED
A prison guard was under investigation for mistreating prisoners. His family was afraid he would be punished for what he considered command lapses. Photos of abuse were circulating among soldiers and investigators. The family sent an email about the photos to the website of David Hackworth who put the family in touch with CBS 60 Minutes II. That set in motion events that led to the public disclosure of the graphic photographs and an international crisis for the Bush administration.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/08/national/08IMAG.html
A prison guard was under investigation for mistreating prisoners. His family was afraid he would be punished for what he considered command lapses. Photos of abuse were circulating among soldiers and investigators. The family sent an email about the photos to the website of David Hackworth who put the family in touch with CBS 60 Minutes II. That set in motion events that led to the public disclosure of the graphic photographs and an international crisis for the Bush administration.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/08/national/08IMAG.html
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
NEW IRAQ PHOTOS
"Members of Congress viewed fresh photos and videos of Iraqi prisoner abuse... Pentagon officials carried three discs with them to the Capitol, containing about 1,800 still images as well as an undisclosed number of videos... the pictures were taken by military personnel using their personal digital cameras... Several senators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said photos of sexual intercourse were among the images
"The whole thing is disgusting and it's hard to believe that this actually is taking place in a military facility," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif...
"I don't know how the hell these people got into our army," said Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., after viewing the images.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-12-congress-abuse_x.htm
"Members of Congress viewed fresh photos and videos of Iraqi prisoner abuse... Pentagon officials carried three discs with them to the Capitol, containing about 1,800 still images as well as an undisclosed number of videos... the pictures were taken by military personnel using their personal digital cameras... Several senators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said photos of sexual intercourse were among the images
"The whole thing is disgusting and it's hard to believe that this actually is taking place in a military facility," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif...
"I don't know how the hell these people got into our army," said Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., after viewing the images.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-05-12-congress-abuse_x.htm
GROUPTHINK AND CHICKENHAWKS
"Victims of Groupthink: A Psychology Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, Irving Janis, 1972... compelling examples of how very smart people can collectively make very stupid decisions... "
"Students of groupthink list a number of symptoms of the phenomenon that can lead the group into disaster, among them:
- Believing in the group's inherent morality.
- Sharing stereotypes, particularly of the enemy.
- Examining few alternative or contingency plans for any action.
- Being highly selective in gathering information.
- Avoiding expert opinion.
- Protecting the group from negative views or information that would contradict their basic assumptions.
- Having an illusion of invulnerability."
..."Chicken Hawks" defined as individuals who favor military solutions to political problems but who themselves avoided military service during wartime..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE13Aa01.html
"Victims of Groupthink: A Psychology Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes, Irving Janis, 1972... compelling examples of how very smart people can collectively make very stupid decisions... "
"Students of groupthink list a number of symptoms of the phenomenon that can lead the group into disaster, among them:
- Believing in the group's inherent morality.
- Sharing stereotypes, particularly of the enemy.
- Examining few alternative or contingency plans for any action.
- Being highly selective in gathering information.
- Avoiding expert opinion.
- Protecting the group from negative views or information that would contradict their basic assumptions.
- Having an illusion of invulnerability."
..."Chicken Hawks" defined as individuals who favor military solutions to political problems but who themselves avoided military service during wartime..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE13Aa01.html
ABUSE IN AFGHANISTAN
"A former Afghan police colonel gave a graphic account.. of being subjected to... sexual abuse during about 40 days he spent in American custody in Afghanistan last summer.... had been repeatedly photographed, often while naked..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/international/asia/12AFGH.html?hp
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5116960
"A former Afghan police colonel gave a graphic account.. of being subjected to... sexual abuse during about 40 days he spent in American custody in Afghanistan last summer.... had been repeatedly photographed, often while naked..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/international/asia/12AFGH.html?hp
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5116960
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
NO MILITARY SOLUTION TO AL-QAIDA
"... Military control... shows little sign of being able to eradicate al-Qaida - indeed, the more it is cut back, the more it springs up elsewhere. But there is an... alternative approach... the political dimension must now be given much greater prominence if the real and deep grievances that drive al-Qaida are to be addressed.... In Iraq it means a clear UN mandate to cover coalition forces and an early date for their withdrawal. It means the US making clear that it will not maintain a long-term de facto occupation by retaining military bases, with effective control over oil, security and the economy."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1213874,00.html
"... Military control... shows little sign of being able to eradicate al-Qaida - indeed, the more it is cut back, the more it springs up elsewhere. But there is an... alternative approach... the political dimension must now be given much greater prominence if the real and deep grievances that drive al-Qaida are to be addressed.... In Iraq it means a clear UN mandate to cover coalition forces and an early date for their withdrawal. It means the US making clear that it will not maintain a long-term de facto occupation by retaining military bases, with effective control over oil, security and the economy."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1213874,00.html
3,000 SUSPECTED TERRORISTS NO LONGER A PROBLEM
"... in his State of the Union address, Bush confirmed: "All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way -- they are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies."
"We have a president acting like a mob boss and half the nation still behind him. We shouldn't be surprised that his troops are acting like gleeful hit men, or that, with the Stars and Stripes waving above Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, this is indeed not the America that we knew."
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPCOL051104.htm
"... in his State of the Union address, Bush confirmed: "All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have met a different fate. Let's put it this way -- they are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies."
"We have a president acting like a mob boss and half the nation still behind him. We shouldn't be surprised that his troops are acting like gleeful hit men, or that, with the Stars and Stripes waving above Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, this is indeed not the America that we knew."
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPCOL051104.htm
UNCIVILIZED ARABS
"... Perhaps (prison) orgy of humiliation was intended to reinforce that "contrasting image" between the civilized, human West and the uncivilized, subhuman Arabs.... But anyone who has studied the evolution of civilization would understand the irony here: Western civilization owes some of its roots to the Sumerians who lived 5000 years ago in the land we now know as Iraq. In this cradle of civilization the first system of writing was developed, and the potter's wheel, the seed plough and many other creations we now take for granted were invented. But there is no place for these sobering facts in today's fantasy of how we imagine the Arabs to be, or should be, relative to us."
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/10/1084041332245.html
"... Perhaps (prison) orgy of humiliation was intended to reinforce that "contrasting image" between the civilized, human West and the uncivilized, subhuman Arabs.... But anyone who has studied the evolution of civilization would understand the irony here: Western civilization owes some of its roots to the Sumerians who lived 5000 years ago in the land we now know as Iraq. In this cradle of civilization the first system of writing was developed, and the potter's wheel, the seed plough and many other creations we now take for granted were invented. But there is no place for these sobering facts in today's fantasy of how we imagine the Arabs to be, or should be, relative to us."
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/10/1084041332245.html
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES ACCOMPLISHED
"... Now let us take stock of where Iraq stands today, and what constitutes a favorable outcome from the US strategic viewpoint... The most important outcome, however, relates to oil. It is not so much about the price of oil but access to it... The US-Israeli strategic objectives in Iraq have been achieved, and to stay or not to stay is more a matter of style than substance."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE12Ak04.html
"... Now let us take stock of where Iraq stands today, and what constitutes a favorable outcome from the US strategic viewpoint... The most important outcome, however, relates to oil. It is not so much about the price of oil but access to it... The US-Israeli strategic objectives in Iraq have been achieved, and to stay or not to stay is more a matter of style than substance."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE12Ak04.html
WHITE HOUSE WON'T REPUDIATE LIMBAUGH REMARKS ON PRANK
Q Scott... Rush Limbaugh (on) Tuesday, agreed with the caller, equating the pictures to a college fraternity prank, and said the U.S. soldiers should not be punished because it was an emotional release as they were letting off steam. What's the White House say about that?
MR. McCLELLAN: April, I think the White House says what we said yesterday and what the President has said over the last few days.
Q But if... you have the proverbial spokesperson for the conservative party saying this, doesn't that send a mixed message?
MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views have been very -- have been made very clear.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/05/20040506-8.html
Q Scott... Rush Limbaugh (on) Tuesday, agreed with the caller, equating the pictures to a college fraternity prank, and said the U.S. soldiers should not be punished because it was an emotional release as they were letting off steam. What's the White House say about that?
MR. McCLELLAN: April, I think the White House says what we said yesterday and what the President has said over the last few days.
Q But if... you have the proverbial spokesperson for the conservative party saying this, doesn't that send a mixed message?
MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views have been very -- have been made very clear.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/05/20040506-8.html
Monday, May 10, 2004
SORROWS OF EMPIRE
"... If present trends continue, four sorrows... are certain to be visited on the United States. Their cumulative impact guarantees that the United States will cease to bear any resemblance to the country once outlined in our constitution.
(1st) there will be a state of perpetual war, leading to more terrorism against Americans wherever they may be and a growing reliance on weapons of mass destruction among smaller nations as they try to ward off the imperial juggernaut.
(2nd) there will be a loss of democracy and constitutional rights as the presidency fully eclipses Congress and is itself transformed from an "executive branch" of government into something more like a Pentagonized presidency.
(3rd) an already well-shredded principle of truthfulness will increasingly be replaced by a system of propaganda, disinformation and glorification of war, power and the military legions.
(4th) there will be bankruptcy, as we pour our economic resources into ever more grandiose military projects and short-change the education, health and safety of our fellow citizens.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE11Aa05.html
From Chalmers Johnson's The Sorrows of Empire - Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic (Metropolitan Books, New York)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805070044/qid=1084236385/sr=1-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-5140642-0265564?v=glance&s=books
"... If present trends continue, four sorrows... are certain to be visited on the United States. Their cumulative impact guarantees that the United States will cease to bear any resemblance to the country once outlined in our constitution.
(1st) there will be a state of perpetual war, leading to more terrorism against Americans wherever they may be and a growing reliance on weapons of mass destruction among smaller nations as they try to ward off the imperial juggernaut.
(2nd) there will be a loss of democracy and constitutional rights as the presidency fully eclipses Congress and is itself transformed from an "executive branch" of government into something more like a Pentagonized presidency.
(3rd) an already well-shredded principle of truthfulness will increasingly be replaced by a system of propaganda, disinformation and glorification of war, power and the military legions.
(4th) there will be bankruptcy, as we pour our economic resources into ever more grandiose military projects and short-change the education, health and safety of our fellow citizens.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE11Aa05.html
From Chalmers Johnson's The Sorrows of Empire - Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic (Metropolitan Books, New York)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805070044/qid=1084236385/sr=1-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-5140642-0265564?v=glance&s=books