ABU GHRAIB RAPE PHOTOS ALLEGED, DENIED
"... A Defense Department official who has seen the unreleased images... said there are about 2,000 images related to detainee abuse, none of which are from Abu Ghraib, and the images do not include depictions of sexual abuse. The official said the government does not have secret images of rape buried in its files..."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/02/suppressed_photos/?source=newsletter
"Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse... At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube... Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.... Maj Gen Taguba, who retired in January 2007, said he supported the President’s decision, adding: “These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5395830/Abu-Ghraib-abuse-photos-show-rape.html
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
U.S. ARMY PREPARED TO STAY IN IRAQ
"The Pentagon is prepared to remain in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between Washington and Baghdad that would bring all American troops home by 2012... (said) Gen George Casey... (whose) duties include main responsibility for assembling the manpower and determining assignments... he was adamant he did not intend to contradict Obama administration policy, which is to bring US combat forces home from Iraq in 2010. The US and Iraq have agreed that all American forces would leave by 2012..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/5391252/US-Army-prepared-to-stay-in-Iraq-for-a-decade.html
"The Pentagon is prepared to remain in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between Washington and Baghdad that would bring all American troops home by 2012... (said) Gen George Casey... (whose) duties include main responsibility for assembling the manpower and determining assignments... he was adamant he did not intend to contradict Obama administration policy, which is to bring US combat forces home from Iraq in 2010. The US and Iraq have agreed that all American forces would leave by 2012..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/5391252/US-Army-prepared-to-stay-in-Iraq-for-a-decade.html
Monday, May 25, 2009
IRAQ PEACE ERODING
"Iraq's fragile peace already is eroding — April was the bloodiest month in a year — and it could unravel completely as the U.S. draws down its forces and prepares to leave Iraq... the Americans and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government... (need) to release detainees from Sunni groups that have stopped fighting, stop pursuing the groups' members, protect them from the Shiite Muslim-dominated Iraqi government and help them make the transition from warriors to politicians. The U.S. hasn't fulfilled any of its promises... Sunni fighters who agreed to stop fighting in exchange for help from the U.S. military think they've been betrayed... (they) worry that the U.S. will leave and Iraq will be lost to a corrupt government controlled by Iran..."
"Under the new security agreement with Iraq, the U.S. military can do little to help the mostly Sunni former insurgents who played the main role in reducing the violence in Iraq, and the American military... worries that when the U.S. leaves, all the progress toward peace will be reversed."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/68616.html
"Iraq's fragile peace already is eroding — April was the bloodiest month in a year — and it could unravel completely as the U.S. draws down its forces and prepares to leave Iraq... the Americans and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government... (need) to release detainees from Sunni groups that have stopped fighting, stop pursuing the groups' members, protect them from the Shiite Muslim-dominated Iraqi government and help them make the transition from warriors to politicians. The U.S. hasn't fulfilled any of its promises... Sunni fighters who agreed to stop fighting in exchange for help from the U.S. military think they've been betrayed... (they) worry that the U.S. will leave and Iraq will be lost to a corrupt government controlled by Iran..."
"Under the new security agreement with Iraq, the U.S. military can do little to help the mostly Sunni former insurgents who played the main role in reducing the violence in Iraq, and the American military... worries that when the U.S. leaves, all the progress toward peace will be reversed."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/68616.html
Saturday, May 23, 2009
IRAQI DEATH AND SUFFERING TOLL
"... the actual death and human suffering toll in Iraq might top the list of... he most under-reported story of the 21st century... The website Iraq Body Count has cross-documented the violent deaths of between 90,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians since the 2003 American led invasion and occupation. Most experts agree that this number is, in all probability, significantly below the actual death toll. A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins estimated that as of July, 2006, the death toll had exceeded 600,000 people. A September 2007 study by the prestigious British polling firm Opinion Research Business, put the death toll at 1.2 million Iraqis... MIT researcher John Tirman has reported that there are perhaps 1 million Iraqi widows, up to 5 million orphans, and 4.5 million refugees as a result of the war..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/23-3
"... the actual death and human suffering toll in Iraq might top the list of... he most under-reported story of the 21st century... The website Iraq Body Count has cross-documented the violent deaths of between 90,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians since the 2003 American led invasion and occupation. Most experts agree that this number is, in all probability, significantly below the actual death toll. A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins estimated that as of July, 2006, the death toll had exceeded 600,000 people. A September 2007 study by the prestigious British polling firm Opinion Research Business, put the death toll at 1.2 million Iraqis... MIT researcher John Tirman has reported that there are perhaps 1 million Iraqi widows, up to 5 million orphans, and 4.5 million refugees as a result of the war..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/23-3
Friday, May 15, 2009
WATERBOARDING FAILED TO LINK AL-QAIDA WITH IRAQ
"... questions regarding al-Qaida's ties to the Iraqi regime were among the first presented to senior al-Qaida operational planner Khalid Shaikh Muhammad following his capture... The mastermind of the September 11 attacks... was waterboarded 183 times that same month.... The efforts at establishing a link never bore fruit... a Behavioral Science Consultation Team was "focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq... (but said) "we were not being successful in establishing a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/ksm-was-questioned-about_n_203898.html
"... questions regarding al-Qaida's ties to the Iraqi regime were among the first presented to senior al-Qaida operational planner Khalid Shaikh Muhammad following his capture... The mastermind of the September 11 attacks... was waterboarded 183 times that same month.... The efforts at establishing a link never bore fruit... a Behavioral Science Consultation Team was "focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq... (but said) "we were not being successful in establishing a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/ksm-was-questioned-about_n_203898.html
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
NEOCOLONIALISM: THE NEW U.S. MISSION IN IRAQ
"... Obama's announced withdrawal plan clearly doesn't end the Iraq occupation, but rather continues it in a new form. The plan only calls for the withdrawal of "combat troops" by August 2010, while leaving behind 35,000-50,000 occupying troops until the end of 2011, many of whom will be combat troops simply relabeled as "advisory and assistance brigades".
"The plan says nothing about the parallel army of over 100,000 American mercenaries and private contractors who currently roam Iraq, nor does it address the fate of 283 military bases and installations in Iraq, including the 58 permanent bases where US troops will continue to be garrisoned."
"... the primary mission of American troops in Iraq both now and after the initial drawdown in August 2010 will be to preserve and extend this regime, both by incorporating former Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents who are willing to work with the United States-sponsored system and by eliminating those who are opposed, incarcerating the rest behind walled-off enclaves patrolled by unmanned aerial drones. Establishing a client regime to protect the interests of empire, while leaving behind a garrison of troops and bases has long been termed neo-colonialism..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE07Ak01.html
"... Obama's announced withdrawal plan clearly doesn't end the Iraq occupation, but rather continues it in a new form. The plan only calls for the withdrawal of "combat troops" by August 2010, while leaving behind 35,000-50,000 occupying troops until the end of 2011, many of whom will be combat troops simply relabeled as "advisory and assistance brigades".
"The plan says nothing about the parallel army of over 100,000 American mercenaries and private contractors who currently roam Iraq, nor does it address the fate of 283 military bases and installations in Iraq, including the 58 permanent bases where US troops will continue to be garrisoned."
"... the primary mission of American troops in Iraq both now and after the initial drawdown in August 2010 will be to preserve and extend this regime, both by incorporating former Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents who are willing to work with the United States-sponsored system and by eliminating those who are opposed, incarcerating the rest behind walled-off enclaves patrolled by unmanned aerial drones. Establishing a client regime to protect the interests of empire, while leaving behind a garrison of troops and bases has long been termed neo-colonialism..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE07Ak01.html