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Iraq is burning? Enjoy the show!
Numbers and winners of the so-called Iraq war
Gabriele Zamparini
…What we all call the “Iraq war” is not a war but the deliberate annihilation of an entire country. If this is not “genocide” maybe we should create a new word that could summarize the following (…) Now that Iraq has been completely destroyed (the real mission accomplished), it can be useful to remember one particular event: at 15:55 on 7 June 1981 – as the Federation of American Scientists website reports “the first F-15 and F-16's roared off the runway from Etzion Air Force Base in the south. Israeli air force planes flew over Jordanian, Saudi, and Iraqi airspace. After a tense but uneventful low-level navigation route, the fighters reached their target. They popped up at 17:35 and quickly identified the dome gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. Iraqi defenses were caught by surprise and opened fire too late. In one minute and twenty seconds, the reactor lay in ruins. (…) Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, is carrying out genocidal policies against the Palestinian People, nuking its neighbors and strongly influencing the empire’s policies in the region. This superpower has had an important role in the destruction of Iraq and the so-called re-shaping of the Middle East. Of course all this (and much more) is taboo in our Western societies that allowed themselves to be blackmailed by the merchants of the “holocaust industry” and surrendered any serious critical discussion about the role of this country i! n the ge opolitical order. In its sixty years of existence, Israel has shown over again the deepest contempt for international law, decency and human values…
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U.S. Military Adopts Desperate Tactics
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily, Inter Press Service
Increased violence is being countered by harsh new measures across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents say. “Thousands have been killed here by the Multi-National Forces (MNF) and Iraqi allies, and the situation is getting worse every day,” a member of the Fallujah city council speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. “We have no role to play because the Americans always prefer violent solutions that have led from one disaster to another.” The violence appears to be affecting the civilian population far more than it is stifling the resistance. The suffering of people in Fallujah increases by the day, and the number of resistance snipers appears to be increasing in response to the U.S. use of snipers against civilians (…) Meanwhile, attacks against occupation forces have increased in frequency and severity. On Eid recently, four U.S. Humvees in a convoy were destroyed by roadside bombs. The military responded by closing all the checkpoints in the city. Thousands had to spend the night, the first of the holidays, outside of the city. The main roads inside the city were also closed (…) Ramadi has been facing electricity and water cuts for about two weeks now. Most residents believe this is punishment for the popular support for Iraqi resistance…
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These tattoos aren’t artful – they help identify Iraq’s dead
Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers
Ali Abbas decided that his upper right thigh was the best place for a tattoo because no one gets tortured there. He’d seen hundred of bodies in the city morgue and dozens of hospitals during his 18-day search for his missing uncle. He’d seen drill marks in swollen, often unrecognizable heads, slash marks across necks, bullet holes in backs, abdomens and swollen hands. He’d seen bodies that had been thrown into the river, so swollen they’d barely looked human. But by and large, the thighs had been intact. So that’s where he decided to have his name, address and phone number tattooed, in case the day comes when someone is searching for his body…
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Most GI deaths in Oct. were outside Baghdad
New York Times
About two-thirds of the deaths among American troops in Iraq in October occurred outside Baghdad, even with a sharp increase in combat deaths in the capital that made it the fourth-deadliest month of the war for the United States, Defense Department figures show. The October death toll, which stood at 103 by late Tuesday, was the highest since January 2005, when 107 American soldiers were killed. Forty U.S. soldiers were killed in and around Baghdad in October, double the number there just two months ago, a review of casualty reports…
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A Death of A Great Iraqi
an iraqi tear
Yesterday morning we lost a great man: Dr Issam Al-Rawi, a geology scientist and in the same time a moderate Sunni who used to make the gap between the Sunnis and Shiites leading personalities smaller. Just a while before being attacked, Al-Rawi was on TV interview urging the Iraqis to comply with Mecca Code leaving aside the sectarian violence. He was attacked in Al-Dawoodi neighborhood, west Baghdad, where his house is, shortly after leaving his home toward the Baghdad University. Two other profs were with him; the both were wounded (…) According to his friends and family, the Death Squads were after his assassination. But I think the following: • The occupation forces and the “Iraqi” police special forces raided his office ( the League of the Iraqi Universities Profs) which was established by him to defend the profs rights and lives, on Oct 19 (the Iraqi police special forces are almost Shiites; many reports confirmed its links with death squads). He issued a communiqué on Oct 28 condemning the raid through which the doors were broken, the literary was messed; the office of Al-Rawi- the president of the league and his deputy office were searched…
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DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, October 31, 2006
Today in Iraq
U.S. troops abandoned checkpoints around the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the latest in a series of moves by the Iraqi leader to assert his authority with the U.S. administration. (…) A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device south of Baghdad. (MNF – Iraq). A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 5 p.m. Monday when he was hit by small-arms fire while conducting combat operations in western Baghdad. (MNF – Iraq). A suicide car bomber struck a wedding party in Baghdad killing 10 people, including four children, and wounding 12, police reported. The bomber drove an explosives-rigged sedan into a crowd of celebrants preparing to board vehicles outside the bride’s home in the capital’s northeastern Shaab neighborhood…
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‘Democracy’ galore in Iraq
Imad Khadduri, Free Iraq
…Four cars blocked their car, and 16 gunmen stepped out asking my uncle and his friends to come with them, so the gunmen started to kick him to force him to ride with them but he kept resisting telling them that if you want to kill me then do it here, at least my body can be found and identified. Then came two police cars, and to his surprise the police were shaking hands with the gunmen and asking them to hurry up because the roads are getting very crowded with people going to their work. With my uncle keep reinstating to go with them and totally covered with blood they left him and his friends, saying there will a next time. If you want to understand what’s behind the story, Islammemo has obtained the following document and I have translated it to check for yourself how bad it is.” Evidence: Mahdi Militias are working with the Iraqi Police and Army…
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 31 October 2006.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice
…In a dispatch posted at 6:14pm Makkah time Tuesday evening, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US occupation troops had carried out a wave of rids and arrests in the western Baghdad area of al-’Amiriyah. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that US troops raided a number of homes and apartments in the al-’Amiriyah area looking for “fugitives.” The Americans compared photographs they had of “wanted” men with the faces of local youths and men, hoping to find individuals they could arrest. The Americans had already sealed off the al-’Amiriyah area making it unclear how many, if any, persons were arrested in the latest US raids…
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Corporate Mercenaries
War on Want
The British government today comes under attack for its growing use of mercenaries in conflict zones while failing to introduce legislation to tackle their human rights abuses. A new report launched today by the charity War on Want reveals that no prosecutions have followed hundreds of accounts of personnel from private military and security firms committing abuses in Iraq. In one example, a website run by a former employee of the UK-based Aegis Defence Services showed security guards randomly shooting automatic rifles at civilian cars. The report is published on the opening day of the first annual conference of the British Association of Private Security Companies in London. The conference takes place as figures reveal there are now as many as 48,000 mercenaries in Iraq, compared to 7,200 British soldiers – a ratio of over six to one – and income for the private military and security industry reached $100bn in 2004…
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US troops leave checkpoints around Sadr City
AP
US troops yesterday abandoned checkpoints around the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, the latest in a series of moves by the Iraqi leader to assert his authority with the US administration. The US military announced the deaths of two soldiers in fighting in the Baghdad area on Monday, bringing the number of troops killed in Iraq last month to 103. US forces disappeared from the checkpoints within hours of the order to remove the round-the-clock barriers, setting off celebrations among civilians and armed men gathered on the edge of the sprawling slum that is under the control of the Mahdi Army militia run by radical anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr…
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Baath Party Statement
We warn the Occupation, that the life of his Excellency the President and his comrades are a red line, not to be crossed!
The Arab Baath Socialist Party
The Court-masquerade continues and goes on from bad to worse as it violates every international, ethical, moral and logical norm… Moreover there is leaked information about the possibility to execute The Arab Baath Socialist Party Secretary General (Secretary General of Iraq and Pan Arab Leadership), the militant comrade Saddam Hussein, the detained President of the Republic of Iraq. Our Party as it asserted in the past, ascertains again its principles concerning this grave issue. The party as it has completed every arrangement to achieve the decisive victory warns strongly the US administration from yet another reckless endeavor to harm his Excellency, the President, or his comrades. Our Party warns that the US will pay a very dear price it has never paid all along its history, in case the President is subjected to any harm. This is not a threat whatsoever! This is rather a fact! For the Iraqi people, Baathists and non Baathists, while deeply convinced, that the security, stability, services and sovereignty return is a sine qua none condition to the return of his Excellency the President as requested by large Iraqi masses publicly for weeks, considers that harming his Excellency, the President, is an attempt to keep on and continue the suffering of the Iraqis, and increase their ordeals at the hands of the death squads and divide Iraq faster (…) Our Party ! asks the US administration to immediately and unconditionally release his Excellency, the President, and his comrades, as it is a fundamental condition to any negotiation the US is desperately trying to establish with the Party and the Iraqi National Resistance…
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U.S. vs. AIPAC
Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar
…The United States simply cannot become an enforcing arm of the State of Israel. It is too costly for the United State and too dangerous for the world. We have seen some of the consequences of this in Iraq, and if we are not careful, we may see it again in Iran. Who will be next: Syria, Egypt or Sudan? Which other country is on the list of threats to the State of Israel? Should the United State systematically engage in one war after another to make Israel feel secure? What about US security? Should US start a war with 52 Islamic countries, one after the other, just to ensure that Israel remains a regional superpower? Are the American people willing to pay the price?…
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MEDIA ALERT: LANCET REPORT CO-AUTHOR RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS
Media Lens
A recent study published in The Lancet medical journal estimated that 655,000 Iraqi people have been killed as a result of the March 2003 US-UK invasion of Iraq. The media coverage has been appalling – the words ‘Lancet’ and ‘Iraq’ have appeared in national UK newspaper articles some 30 times, with many of these mentions in passing. There has been no serious attempt to examine the Lancet’s figures, to explain how they compare to earlier findings from different studies. Anyone aspiring to understand the issue could do so only by visiting small, alternative websites. To its credit, the BBC website has tried harder than most mainstream media to report the issue honestly. In particular, BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds – who has frequently engaged with Media Lens readers – responded to complaints by agreeing to invite questions from members of the public and to forward them to the authors of the Lancet report. On October 30, the BBC posted an edited version of answers from Les Roberts. Below, we are publishing Roberts’ unedited answers. We have also added Roberts’ response to an editorial by Steven Moore in the Wall Street Journal…
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Iraq: End Interior Ministry Death Squads
Police Must Be Held Accountable for Killings
Human Rights Watch
The Iraqi government must move quickly to prosecute all Ministry of Interior personnel responsible for “death squad” killings in Baghdad and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said today. “Evidence suggests that Iraqi security forces are involved in these horrific crimes, and thus far the government has not held them accountable,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. “The Iraqi government must stop giving protection to security forces responsible for abduction, torture and murder.” Every month, hundreds of people are abducted, tortured and killed by what many believe are death squads that include security forces. To terrorize the population, the killers often dump the mutilated corpses in public areas…
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October U.S. death toll in Iraq hits 103
AP
The American death toll for October climbed past 100, a grim milestone as a White House envoy turned up unexpectedly in Baghdad on Monday following a rough patch in U.S.-Iraqi ties. At least 81 people were killed across Iraq, including 33 in a bombing targeting workers. The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of two soldiers, raising the number of troops killed in fighting in Iraq this month to 103…
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Third and Final Act
William S. Lind
The third and final act in the national tragedy that is the Bush administration may soon play itself out. The Okhrana reports increasing indications of “something big” happening between the election and Christmas. That could be the long-planned attack on Iran. An attack on Iran will not be an invasion with ground troops. We don’t have enough of those left to invade Ruritania. It will be a “package” of air and missile strikes, by U.S. forces or Israel. If Israel does it, there is a possibility of nuclear weapons being employed. But Israel would prefer the U.S. to do the dirty work, and what Israel wants, Israel usually gets, at least in Washington…
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Israeli Massacres Decade after Decade
Israeli Massacres and Expulsions no Departure From Norm
Hayam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice
At this very moment 05.43 am – I can hear the Israeli bombardment attacking the eastern part on the northen border of the Gaza Strip – Earlier today one Palestinian was killed and and two others where injured in an artillery attack in the northern Gaza Strip,Beit Hanoun. At least one heavy artillery shell landed on a building in Beit Hanoun, Mazin Muhammad Abu Udah, 21, was killed in this attack and two others where seriously injured, they where brought to Kamal Nasser hospital.Mazims father Muhammad Abu Udah, one brother Isma’il – and a sister, Hanan, were all killed in the same buiding less than two months ago. the remaining sister, Azhar, has stilll three bullets in her body after the attack two moths ago, and is undergoing medical treatment for her injuries. With heavy heart- in a few minutes I will know whom the savage Israelis killled this time. Decade after decade the Israelis have undisturbed continued its insain massacres on the Palestinians – the world of spectators does not seam to understand that “Israel “ is in a moral, political, and psychiatric free fall…
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Army finds 7 incorrect war death reports
ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
The families of seven soldiers who died in Iraq or Afghanistan were given incorrect or misleading information about the deaths, the Army has concluded after a review of war casualty reports. The review, which began last summer, covered hundreds of casualty reports and marked the first step in a new process ordered by Army Secretary Francis Harvey to ensure that families receive accurate information. An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, said Monday the review found seven cases in which families were given erroneous information…
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The Enlightenment of Resistance
Manuel Valenzuela
…More and more, America is becoming a fascist dictatorship, combining the power of the state with that of the corporate world. We are in danger, democracy has ceased to exist, the corporatist power grows. The Enlightenment of Resistance must be born, sacrificing our conformity and indifference for the sake of those that have yet to come. This is the calling of our lives, as we stand selected by the energies of the universe to jump humanity beyond the stratosphere of our own weaknesses and limitations, flying high into new rebirths and enlightenments, seeing across the marvels of Earth a humanity changed for the common good, where what is good for one is good for all and where what affects one similarly affects us all…
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