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America’s “other” War Party
Mike Whitney
…Prediction: The Democrats will never get us out of Iraq nor will they repeal the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (which allows Bush to imprison American citizens without charges and torture them according to his own discretion) . The party has been co-opted by a pro-business, liberty-slashing, war-mongering clique of free traders who simply feel they can put a better face on imperial politics. No argument there; but for anyone with a trace of a cons! cience, the prospect of voting for a party that may slaughter another half-million or so Iraqis presents some basic ethical problems. Is it too sanctimonious to suggest that the war in Iraq is MORALLY EVIL, and that any policy or party that supports the conflict must be flatly rejected? …
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Saddam says victory at hand against U.S. occupation
Suleiman al Khalidi, Reuters
In an open letter, Saddam Hussein told Iraqis “victory was at hand” and urged insurgents to show magnanimity to opponents, saying he himself forgave Iraqis who aided the killers of his two sons. In the letter dictated to his chief lawyer Khalil Dulaimi during a four-hour meeting on Saturday in his prison, the former Iraqi leader also said Iraqis should put aside differences and set only one goal – to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq. “V! ictory is at hand but don’t forget that your near-term goal is confined to liberating your country from the forces of occupation,” Saddam said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Sunday (…) Saddam used emotive language to express his pain over the surge in sectarian violence between Shi’ites and Sunnis that has gripped Iraq since the bombing of a Shi’ite shrine in February. “I cannot bring myself to use the terminology used by the foreigner to sow divisions among us…this was never a real reason for division in the past,” he said…
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Chalabi’s “Death Squads” mapped
Roads to Iraq
If you remember, a time ago I translated “Iraq Death Squads” report, in the comments section there was one of Chalabi’s henchmen (and few “dancing on the tunes” Americans) who desperately tried to defend his master. Now, more information emerges about Chalabi’s role, Iraqirabita published a testimony from an Iraqi worked for Chalabi. The man who gave this testament, worked 3 days a week as an agriculture researcher in Chalabi’s farm in Baghdad (the farm is in the hear! t of Baghdad in Al-Huriya”district”, Chalabi inherit it from his grandfathers, also in the farm there a well-known monument “Chalabi’s mill”), he got this job through his relative who is Chalabi’s bodyguard. He tells about at least 140 metal cages enough for one person placed in the farm, when he asked his relative about the people in the cages his relative answered “they are terrorists”…
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Forget North Korea, America is the Nuclear Menace
The Case Against Depleted Uranium
Don Monkerud
When the US Army advertises for recruits, it emphasizes jobs and benefits the Army offers, but nowhere are prospects informed about the risk of illness, sickness and death caused by the Army’s use of radioactive munitions. On September 7, in the first court case on Gulf War I to reach Federal Court, nine veterans from a National Guard unit argued their case before a judge in New York, claiming the Army viol! ated its own safety protocols by exposing them to radioactive depleted uranium and refusing to provide medical care. Representing the US Army, Assistant US Attorney John Cronan asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit immediately because courts can’t decide “sensitive military matters” and a 1950 Supreme Court decision ruled that soldiers can’t sue the government for injuries caused by their military service. The Court has not reached a decision…
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IRAQ: Violence forcing increasing numbers to flee homes, UN agency says
IRIN
In a report released on Friday, the United Nation’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was concerned over the increase in the number of displaced Iraqis and the deteriorating humanitarian conditions they live in. “Displacement caused by continuing sectarian violence in Iraq has necessitated a reassessment of the agency’s work and priorities throughout the region,” said Ron Redmond, chief UNHCR spokesman. UNHCR estimates that there are now mo! re than 1.5 million people displaced in Iraq…
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Iraq cancels peace talks after scores more die
Michael Howard
The unremitting wave of sectarian violence that has greeted the Muslim holy month of Ramadan claimed scores more Iraqi lives at the weekend, as authorities in Baghdad announced the indefinite postponement of a conference of political leaders seen as crucial to quickly diminishing hopes for national reconciliation. In a terse statement from the ministry for national dialogue, the government said the reconciliation conference, which had been scheduled fo! r this Saturday in Baghdad, would be delayed until further notice for “emergency reasons”. The cancellation is a further blow to the credibility of the national unity government of Nuri al-Maliki…
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Violence empties schools in Iraq
Maher Al-Jasem, Aljazeera.net
…Ramadi is a city virtually under siege as it has been the battleground between armed groups and US forces. Fierce fighting has kept many of the streets closed to all traffic – in some districts the city looks deserted. Streets such as Al-Maarith, Muhafatha and Al-Iskan, on which many schools are located, have also been cordoned off by US forces, leaving families with no choice but to keep their children at home. Noor said: “When you want to pass th! ese areas you have to carry a white banner, otherwise American snipers may deal with you as terrorists and shoot you without any hesitation … they are perched on the buildings over the streets.”…
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DAILY WAR NEWS FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2006
Today in Iraq
Three Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers were killed at approximately 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device south of Baghdad. A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 7:50 p.m. Friday from wounds he received when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device southwest of Baghdad. One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5! died Oct. 14 from injuries sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province. A U.S. airman was killed in action in Iraq on Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The airman was killed while working with the Iraqi police around the capital, Baghdad, it said, giving no further details. Private 1st Class Thomas J. Hewitt, 22, of Temple, Texas, died on Oct. 13 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., from injuries sustained during a Sept. 26 incident in Baghdad, Iraq, during which an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. At least 46 Sunni Arabs killed in weekend massacre…
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“ What is Needed by Fateh – Is to Reject the AIM of US Financial AID “
PalestineFreeVoice
…Salah Bardawil and Dr Yahiya Mousa, spokesmen of the bloc, described the recent US concern over Palestinian people as “interference in Palestinian affairs,” and as an assault on Palestinian democracy. “The issue is not the financial aid, it is the aim of this aid, which is directed to the opponents of Hamas, in order to weaken the elected Hamas government. And – “ What is needed by Fatah – is to reject the aim of financia! l aid” Both the Hamas PLC members renewed the assurance that the people will not submit under any pressure or terror, “The people will be more insistent of their principles and active in defending their rights.” – Both Bardawil and Mousa condemned the attack on the PLC member, Ala Yaghi, and called for the government “to act strongly against the law breakers, in order to prevent internal strife.”…
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A Closer Look at Colin Powell: The Evil of Banality
Gary Kamiya, Der Spiegel
… This story, which Karen DeYoung relates at the outset of “Soldier,” her competent but constrained new biography of Powell, raises the crucial question that will forever hang over the career of America’s most famous soldier: Why did he continue to give public support to a war that privately he had grave doubts about? In fact, the story also provides the answer. Powell’s comparison of serving as secretary of state to going on a combat ! patrol says it all: He stayed on the Bush team because he was a loyal soldier, for whom resigning was not making a principled stand but deserting his post. Powell’s decision cleared the way to a disastrous war, hideously bloody and apparently endless. The war, according to a new study from the Lancet, has cost the lives of 655,000 Iraqis so far, and the Army chief of staff has announced that he plans to keep the current level of U.S. troops in Iraq through 2010. But Powell seems incapable of grasping that he very likely could have stopped the war, and his biographer fails to sufficiently explore the issue…
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U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Hits 53 So Far This Month
Kirk Semple, The New York Times
Two marines were killed by insurgents in Anbar Province on Sunday, the American military command said, and three American soldiers died a day earlier in a bombing in southern Baghdad, bringing the total number of American troop deaths in Iraq this month to at least 53, an extraordinarily high midmonth tally. At the current rate of American deaths — more than 3.5 a day — October is on track to be the third deadliest month of the enti! re Iraq war for American forces, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent Web site that tracks war-related casualties…
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Palestinians apprehensive about CIA money
Khalid Amayreh
Palestinian nationalist and Islamic leaders have strongly denounced efforts by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and affiliated foreign aide bodies to recruit Palestinian journalists, politicians and certain political groups to work against the Islamic group Hamas. Western news agencies on Friday reported that the US was quietly starting a campaign projected to cost up to $42 million to bolster Hamas’s political opponents ahead of possible early electio! ns. The plan includes funding the Fatah group, providing training as well as offering “strategic advice” to politicians and some liberal secular parties opposed to Hamas…
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DoD Didn’t Mean to Snoop on Antiwar Activists, Honest
Kurt Nimmo
According to Maj. Patrick Ryder of the Department of Defense, or the Department of Illegal Invasion and Occupation, the “questionable” collection of data on antiwar organizations and individuals, revealed by the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, has “led to a tightening of military procedures to ensure that only information relevant to terrorism and other threats” is collected. If you believe this, I have a b! ridge to sell you. More likely, this revelation will lead to a “tightening of military procedures” to make sure such activity is not subject to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, as we can expect the Pentagon to continue this practice. Snooping on Americans exercising their First Amendment right is not an “accident” or “questionable,” but business as usual, as the American people, or those who disagree with the government, are considered the enemy…
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Sunday Violence Leaves 88 Iraqis Dead; 6 US Soldiers Dead in Weekend Attacks
Antiwar.com
In today’s news from Iraq, at least 88 Iraqis died or were reported dead. Another 95 were injured in violent acts throughout the country. Also, three American soldiers died yesterday near Baghdad, and a Multi-National Division soldier reportedly died Friday night, also near Baghdad. Three more U.S. soldiers died on Saturday and a Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier died Friday night. The three were killed in a roadside bo! mbing south of Baghdad, and the MND soldier died in a separate incident near the capital. This brings the weekend total up to six American deaths. A Marine and an airman were also killed in separate incidents reported yesterday…
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US Reportedly Building Military Base in N. Iraq
Zaman
The United States is allegedly planning to construct a big military base in northern Iraq as part of its military plans for the Middle East. A news article published on the Firat News Agency website, which is known to have close connections to the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), said that U.S. officials in agreement with the regional Kurdish administration in northern Iraq have begun to construct a military airport in the Arbil region. A small model of the base w! ill be established in Suleymaniya…
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 14 October 2006.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice
In a dispatch posted at 10:55pm Makkah time Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that at the time of writing fierce fighting was raging between Iraqi Resistance men and US occupation forces in ar-Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad. The ar-Ramadi correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the battle erupted on 17 Street, the biggest street in t! he city, about a half an hour earlier. The Resistance was firing light and medium weapons and pipe rockets and had destroyed one US vehicle as of the time of reporting. The intensity of the combat was continuing to increase at that hour…
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Ammo Dump Explosions Investigation
Roads to Iraq
US occupation forces accusing Iraqi translators of leaking information on the location of arms and ammunition depots in the falcon military base (Al-Rashid military base) to the resistance. A source in the Iraqi army said in an interview with “Quds Press” that the American forces opened an investigation about how Iraqi resistance can target the weapons depots in such precision. The source continued: “We are sure that two Iraqi translators working with US forces l! eaked information and gave the base altitudes to the resistance. There are also doubts that a third interpreter had left the base one day before the bombing only and did not join again”. The Iraqi source, who refused to reveal his identity, said that dozens of American soldiers were killed in those explosions…
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GI Special 4J15: “Bring On The Revolution” – October 15, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
“Bring On The Revolution” British Soldiers Back Army Chief Who Called For Iraq Withdrawal “Soon”: “The General Has Laid Down The Gauntlet To The Government. It Is Now Time That We Stood Behind Him” “If He Gets The Sack, Watch Out For Fireworks: If He Has Had The Balls To Stand Up For Us, We Should Do The Same”
“When B’liar Is Put Up Against The Wall, Can I Shoot Him??????”
“Bring On The Revolution”
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YOUTUBE VIDEOS: DEPLETED URANIUM ALERT!
APNF
The United States must order an end to illegal use of depleted uranium munitions DU is a waste product of the process that produces enriched uranium for use in atomic weapons and nuclear power plants. Much like natural uranium, it is both toxic and radioactive. When DU burns, it spews tiny particles of poisonous and radioactive uranium oxide in aerosol form, which can then travel for miles in the wind. Humans can ingest or inhale the small particles. Even one particle,! when lodged in a vital organ—which is most likely to happen from inhalation— can cause illnesses from headaches to cancer. Death & mutations…the Silent Killer…
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Methodology Of Lancet Iraq Study Defended
Scoop – Middle East News Service
The methodology used by researchers from John Hopkins University in regard to the Iraq war’s casualties has unsurprisingly come under attack from the apologists for the war. Those of you who are interested in peer analysis of the methodology may find the following letter from Professor Mike Toole of the Centre for International Health, Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health, Melbourne. The institute is one of Au! stralia’s most respected scientific and medical bodies and it is well known around the world…
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Out of control
EDWARD KOCHANIEWICZ
Saddam Hussein and his cabinet members should be released from prison and restored as the leaders of Iraq, as they were before we invaded the country. Then, we should bring our troops home. Under Saddam, the people of Iraq had water, electricity, jobs, and no one was going around as suicide bombers blowing up public places and killing bystanders daily. I recall cars, buses and people moving about just like in any other city. Saddam had everything under control and we came in and! made a big mess out of everything and spent millions of American dollars doing so. Foremost and even more precious is the loss of American youths in our military…
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