IRAQI GOVERNMENT MASSACRES SHIA PILGRIMS WITH HELP OF U.S.HELICOPTERS
(The danger of letting the Iraqi military call in U.S. air strikes)
Intial Report
"US and Iraqi troops have killed about 250 militants in fierce fighting around the holy city of Najaf, police say.... US-backed Iraqi army units fought the previously unidentified group in orchards on the northern outskirts of Najaf... in a neighbourhood called Zarqa... The US military said two of its troops died when their helicopter was shot down..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6308365.stm
Next Reports
"Iraqi government lies over the killing of hundreds of Shias in an attack on Sunday stand exposed... a huge battle broke out around the small village Zarqa, located just a few kilometres northeast of the Shia holy city Najaf... more than 200 people lay dead... A U.S. helicopter was shot down, killing two soldiers... Tribal members from (the two tribes attacked) believe the attack was launched by the central government of Baghdad to stifle growing Shia-Sunni unity in the area... "our two tribes have a strong belief that Iranians are provoking sectarian war in Iraq which is against the belief of all Muslims, and so we announced an alliance with Sunni brothers against any sectarian violence in the country. That did not make our Iranian dominated government happy." ... The fighting took place on the Diwaniya-Najaf road and spread into nearby date-palm plantations after pilgrims sought refuge there.... American helicopters participated in the slaughter... They were soon there to kill those pilgrims without hesitation...We just watched them getting killed group by group while trapped in those plantations."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36387
"US 'victory' against cult leader was massacre... the official story of the battle outside Najaf between a messianic Iraqi cult and the Iraqi security forces supported by the US, in which 263 people were killed and 210 wounded, is a fabrication... The story emerging on independent Iraqi websites and in Arabic newspapers is entirely different from the government's account of the battle with the so-called "Soldiers of Heaven", planning a raid on Najaf to kill Shia religious leaders... (it was a) clash between an Iraqi Shia tribe on a pilgrimage to Najaf and an Iraqi army checkpoint that led the US to intervene with devastating effect..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2201103.ece
"... Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani announced to reporters at 9am on Sunday that Najaf was being attacked by al-Qaeda. Immediately after this announcement, the Ministry of National Security (MNS) announced that the dead were members of the Shi'ite splinter extremist group Jund al-Sama (Army of Heaven)... Iraqi National Security Adviser Muaffaq al-Rubaii said... there were Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians and Afghans.The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has a pattern of announcing it is fighting terrorists, like its backers in Washington. Many Iraqis in the south now accuse Baghdad of calling them terrorists simply because they refuse to collaborate with the Iranian-dominated government..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB02Ak04.html
Friday, January 26, 2007
U.S. MERCENARIES IN IRAQ
"... private contractors constitute the second-largest "force" in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, of which 48,000 work as private soldiers... These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are an undeclared expansion of the scope of the occupation. Many of these contractors make up to $1,000 a day, far more than active-duty soldiers. What's more, these forces are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scahill25jan25,0,4485578.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
"... private contractors constitute the second-largest "force" in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, of which 48,000 work as private soldiers... These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are an undeclared expansion of the scope of the occupation. Many of these contractors make up to $1,000 a day, far more than active-duty soldiers. What's more, these forces are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scahill25jan25,0,4485578.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Thursday, January 25, 2007
IRAQ HEALTH CARE A SHAMBLES
"... almost four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's healthcare system is still a shambles... While most hospitals lack basic supplies, dozens of incomplete clinics and warehoused high-technology equipment remain as a testament to the U.S. experiment in Iraq... the California-based engineering company Parsons Global promised 29 million dollars to build five new primary health care centres, one new pediatric hospital, and to repair a maternity hospital... Not one of the primary health centres in the province has been completed...
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36259
BASRA CHILDRENS HOSPITAL - CROWN JEWEL OF U.S. AID
"... Most prominent among the long list of failures is the Basra Children's Hospital, which was intended as crown jewel of U.S. aid to Iraq. Instead, it has become a showcase for everything that went wrong... USAID awarded the 50-million-dollar contract to build the hospital to Bechtel... to create a state-of-the-art facility to treat childhood cancer... The facility (was) championed by the U.S. First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice...(and) was planned by Project Hope, a charity headed by John P. Howe III, president of the University of Texas, San Antonio, and a family friend of George W. Bush....
"But like so many U.S.-initiated projects, the money to build this fancy facility would disappear when things went wrong. A year after the August 2005 groundbreaking, the project became a target for attacks... The price tag rose from $50 million dollars to an estimated $169.5 million dollars... In July 2006, Bechtel was asked to withdraw from the project, which is now on hold. USAID... (said) the contract did not actually require the company to complete the hospital. "They are under a 'term contract,' which means their job is over when their money ends… (so) they did complete the contract."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36259
"... almost four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's healthcare system is still a shambles... While most hospitals lack basic supplies, dozens of incomplete clinics and warehoused high-technology equipment remain as a testament to the U.S. experiment in Iraq... the California-based engineering company Parsons Global promised 29 million dollars to build five new primary health care centres, one new pediatric hospital, and to repair a maternity hospital... Not one of the primary health centres in the province has been completed...
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36259
BASRA CHILDRENS HOSPITAL - CROWN JEWEL OF U.S. AID
"... Most prominent among the long list of failures is the Basra Children's Hospital, which was intended as crown jewel of U.S. aid to Iraq. Instead, it has become a showcase for everything that went wrong... USAID awarded the 50-million-dollar contract to build the hospital to Bechtel... to create a state-of-the-art facility to treat childhood cancer... The facility (was) championed by the U.S. First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice...(and) was planned by Project Hope, a charity headed by John P. Howe III, president of the University of Texas, San Antonio, and a family friend of George W. Bush....
"But like so many U.S.-initiated projects, the money to build this fancy facility would disappear when things went wrong. A year after the August 2005 groundbreaking, the project became a target for attacks... The price tag rose from $50 million dollars to an estimated $169.5 million dollars... In July 2006, Bechtel was asked to withdraw from the project, which is now on hold. USAID... (said) the contract did not actually require the company to complete the hospital. "They are under a 'term contract,' which means their job is over when their money ends… (so) they did complete the contract."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36259
Saturday, January 20, 2007
KURDISH TROOPS DESERTING TO AVOID BAGHDAD DUTY
"Kurdish Iraqi soldiers are deserting to avoid the conflict in Baghdad..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/16502266.htm
"Kurdish Iraqi soldiers are deserting to avoid the conflict in Baghdad..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/16502266.htm
Thursday, January 18, 2007
U.S.OIL CORPORATIONS TO TAKE OVER IRAQI OIL
"The US-controlled Iraqi government is preparing to remove the country's most precious resource from national control.. the government, with the help of USAid, the World Bank and the UN, is pushing through a comprehensive oil law to be promulgated close to an IMF deadline for the end of last year... Iraqis will never accept this sellout to the oil corporations..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1991074,00.html
"The US-controlled Iraqi government is preparing to remove the country's most precious resource from national control.. the government, with the help of USAid, the World Bank and the UN, is pushing through a comprehensive oil law to be promulgated close to an IMF deadline for the end of last year... Iraqis will never accept this sellout to the oil corporations..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1991074,00.html
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
NO EVIDENCE OF IRANIAN I.E.D. INVOLVEMENT
"... US... officials suggested that Iranian government involvement in the use by Sunni insurgents or Shi'ite militias of "shaped charges" that can penetrate US armored vehicles was the only logical conclusion that could be drawn from the facts. But when asked point blank, they admitted that they had no evidence.
"... The US command admitted at first that the Sunnis were making the shaped charges themselves... (then) the Bush administration made a decision to start blaming its new problem in Iraq on Tehran... But the US administration had a major credibility problem with that story. It could not explain why Iran would want to assist the Sunnis, enemies of the militant Shi'ite parties in Iraq that are aligned with Iran... (recently) Bush apparently gave orders that the US military should seize any Iranians in the country in an effort to get some kind of evidence to use in support of its propaganda theme... trying to substantiate an anti-Iran line for which the Bush administration has no credible evidence..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA18Ak02.html
"... US... officials suggested that Iranian government involvement in the use by Sunni insurgents or Shi'ite militias of "shaped charges" that can penetrate US armored vehicles was the only logical conclusion that could be drawn from the facts. But when asked point blank, they admitted that they had no evidence.
"... The US command admitted at first that the Sunnis were making the shaped charges themselves... (then) the Bush administration made a decision to start blaming its new problem in Iraq on Tehran... But the US administration had a major credibility problem with that story. It could not explain why Iran would want to assist the Sunnis, enemies of the militant Shi'ite parties in Iraq that are aligned with Iran... (recently) Bush apparently gave orders that the US military should seize any Iranians in the country in an effort to get some kind of evidence to use in support of its propaganda theme... trying to substantiate an anti-Iran line for which the Bush administration has no credible evidence..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA18Ak02.html
Thursday, January 11, 2007
BUSH STAYS IN IRAQ BECAUSE LEAVING WOULD BE EVIL
"I'm interested in one thing: I'm interested in winning," Bush said in a recent interview. "If we can't win, I'll pull us out. The only defeat is leaving."
"... here’s what Bush really meant: “Even if things are getting worse, rather than better -- simply staying is winning. The only way to lose is to leave. I view this as a struggle of good versus evil... staying is good; leaving is evil."
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0110-21.htm
"I'm interested in one thing: I'm interested in winning," Bush said in a recent interview. "If we can't win, I'll pull us out. The only defeat is leaving."
"... here’s what Bush really meant: “Even if things are getting worse, rather than better -- simply staying is winning. The only way to lose is to leave. I view this as a struggle of good versus evil... staying is good; leaving is evil."
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0110-21.htm
Monday, January 08, 2007
BUSH RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK IN IRAQ UNTIL NEXT PRESIDENT
"...Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee... recently told The Washington Post that administration officials are simply running out the clock, so that the next president will be “the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0108-24.htm
"...Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee... recently told The Washington Post that administration officials are simply running out the clock, so that the next president will be “the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0108-24.htm
IRAQ EMBASSY STAFFING PROBLEMS
"The embassy compound being built inside Baghdad's Green Zone covers 104 acres, making it six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York. A city within a city for more than 1,000 people, it will have its own water, sewers and electricity, six apartment buildings, a Marine barracks, swimming pool, shops and some walls 15 feet thick....
"Recruits are being attracted to one-year posts by a mix of cajoling and inducement - an almost doubling of their salary, four trips outside Iraq and guarantees of favourable postings afterwards.
"Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, and other officials have repeatedly sent cables to personnel around the world saying diplomats have a patriotic duty to volunteer for Baghdad and the expanding "provincial reconstruction teams", where diplomats work out of military bases....
"... (a former US diplomat said) the embassy "will be a symbol of the US occupation and the near-total separation of US embassy staff members from the society with which they are supposed to interact... (and) reminds me of the huge, cavernous buildings that housed Soviet missions in eastern Europe during the cold war. They were hated by the local population for all they stood for: secrecy, arrogance and domination."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/002a7a18-9ebd-11db-ac03-0000779e2340.html
"The embassy compound being built inside Baghdad's Green Zone covers 104 acres, making it six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York. A city within a city for more than 1,000 people, it will have its own water, sewers and electricity, six apartment buildings, a Marine barracks, swimming pool, shops and some walls 15 feet thick....
"Recruits are being attracted to one-year posts by a mix of cajoling and inducement - an almost doubling of their salary, four trips outside Iraq and guarantees of favourable postings afterwards.
"Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, and other officials have repeatedly sent cables to personnel around the world saying diplomats have a patriotic duty to volunteer for Baghdad and the expanding "provincial reconstruction teams", where diplomats work out of military bases....
"... (a former US diplomat said) the embassy "will be a symbol of the US occupation and the near-total separation of US embassy staff members from the society with which they are supposed to interact... (and) reminds me of the huge, cavernous buildings that housed Soviet missions in eastern Europe during the cold war. They were hated by the local population for all they stood for: secrecy, arrogance and domination."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/002a7a18-9ebd-11db-ac03-0000779e2340.html
Thursday, January 04, 2007
BUSH ADMINSTRATION UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE ENEMY
"... the most striking thing about the George W. Bush administration's policy in 2006 has been its inability to identify the primary enemy in Iraq.
Is it al Qaeda in Iraq? Bush often implies that they are the real enemy, suggesting that the U.S. must fight the enemy in Iraq so it doesn't have to fight them at home.
Is it the armed Sunni resistance groups, who were the original target of a U.S. counterinsurgency war that is now an all but officially admitted failure?
Or is it the Mahdi army of Moqtada al Sadr, which has been implicated in large-scale killings of Sunnis in the Baghdad area and which is aligned with Iran in the conflict between Washington and Tehran?..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35999
"... the most striking thing about the George W. Bush administration's policy in 2006 has been its inability to identify the primary enemy in Iraq.
Is it al Qaeda in Iraq? Bush often implies that they are the real enemy, suggesting that the U.S. must fight the enemy in Iraq so it doesn't have to fight them at home.
Is it the armed Sunni resistance groups, who were the original target of a U.S. counterinsurgency war that is now an all but officially admitted failure?
Or is it the Mahdi army of Moqtada al Sadr, which has been implicated in large-scale killings of Sunnis in the Baghdad area and which is aligned with Iran in the conflict between Washington and Tehran?..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35999
U.S.CONTRIBUTES TO SECTARIAN VIOLENCE
"... This year has shown how the U.S. military is dealing with sectarian violence. While it carried out collective punishment in cities like Fallujah and Ramadi, it has ignored Shia death squads. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leads a Shia-dominated government.... Sunnis believe the U.S. military has long been favouring Shia politicians and their militias... Most of the victims of death squads are Sunnis, whose bodies are found on the streets of Baghdad every day. Many bodies show signs of torture, particularly holes drilled into them, and wounds and deformation caused by acid.
... U.S. forces ignore such killings, and carry out their own, in moves to crush Sunni resistance. And they are looking for reinforcements to carry out this job..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35995
"... This year has shown how the U.S. military is dealing with sectarian violence. While it carried out collective punishment in cities like Fallujah and Ramadi, it has ignored Shia death squads. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leads a Shia-dominated government.... Sunnis believe the U.S. military has long been favouring Shia politicians and their militias... Most of the victims of death squads are Sunnis, whose bodies are found on the streets of Baghdad every day. Many bodies show signs of torture, particularly holes drilled into them, and wounds and deformation caused by acid.
... U.S. forces ignore such killings, and carry out their own, in moves to crush Sunni resistance. And they are looking for reinforcements to carry out this job..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35995