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Crimes against Humanity.
Felicity Arbuthnot.
…On 1st January 1996, Ramsey Clark, twice US Attorney General, wrote to all Members of the UN Security Council : ‘There is one crime against humanity in this last decade of the millenium, that exceeds all others in magnitude, cruelty and portent. It is the US-forced sanctions against the twenty million people of Iraq.’ A detailed, shaming depiction of Iraqis plight, concludes: ‘ You must vote against these genocidal sanctions.Your nations should not share responsibility for the deaths of more than ten thousand Iraqis who will die before the Security Council Review in March, if sanctions are not lifted in January.’ * The shameful world body, avowed the protect ‘succeeding generations’, voted to maintain sanctions. The previous year, the head of the Red Cross told Clark that in one week, there had been six thousand infant deaths from diahorrea and vomiting due to contaminated water. Rehydration and anti-biotics costing just cents a dose, would have saved most.They were blocked under US-UK pressure. ‘ The enjoyment of the highest standard of health is .. the fundamental right of every human being ..’ states the constitution of the (UN) World Health Organisation. From wars on babies to wars on the devastated : the inevitable, illegal invasion of Iraq. Harvard Medical School’s meticulous Professor Les Roberts, estimates a possible further six hundred and fifty five thousand excess deaths in Iraq – or more – due to rape, torture, destruction on a barely believeable scale…
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President Bush wants nothing less than victory in Iraq; but over whom?
Qahtan Sami, Azzaman
…All around us are murderous militias wreaking havoc everywhere. Conditions are getting worse and worse by every passing day to the extent we the ordinary people have lost hope and know of nowhere to hide or escape. Is Bush aware that these militias and their leaders arrived in Iraq under the protection of his invasion troops? Once they landed, they were given the reins of power in the so-called democratic elections his troops and administrators organized. These murderous militias belong to the Iraqi leaders which came to power through U.S.-sponsored, financed and backed elections. They came to Iraq on the back of U.S. tanks and armored vehicles. The members of the government which came into being as a result of the style of democracy the U.S. has imposed on Iraq are the ones who are directing their armed gangs to kill, kidnap and murder innocent Iraqis under the direct oversight of U.S. troops (…) The atrocities taking place in Iraq are beyond description. Women, children and the elderly are now the most vulnerable. Most of Iraqi population is on the move and they have nowhere to settle. Unemployment is rampant. Children and orphans and young girls are doing things contrary to our society’s traditions and values…
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 7 November 2006
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice
In a dispatch posted at 2:34pm Makkah time Tuesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US occupation forces stormed into Hit General Hospital on Monday night and arrested the hospital director and a number of doctors. The Hit correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported hospital workers as saying that American troops broke down the doors and burst into the hospital during the night. The barbarically smashed windows and then arrested Dr. Yasin Hammudi ‘Assaf, the Dircetor of Hit General Hospital and four other doctors. The witnesses said that the Americans’ excuse for the abductions was that Iraqi Resistance men had been given treatment at the hospital, though a search by the Americans turned up no Resistance fighters nor any evidence that any had ever received treatment.
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Proceedings and Death Verdict Against Saddam Hussein by a Puppet Court Are Illegal, Unfair, and Invalid
Prof. Jose Maria Sison, thepeoplesvoice.org
The proceedings and death verdict against Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, by a court of the puppet government under the US Occupation in Iraq are illegal, unfair and invalid. The court is a product and instrument of US aggression. As the 1945 Nuremberg Charter states, “To initiate a war of aggression is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” The US invasion of Iraq was made on the basis of lies and in violation of the UN Charter. Contrary to the claims of Bush, the Hussein government of Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction, did not have any connection with al Qaida and did not pose any threat to the US…
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Pro-Saddam demonstrators killed
Abdulhussein Khazal
Iraqi police fired at demonstrators protesting the sentencing of former leader Saddam Hussein to death, killing 20 people and injuring many others. Azzaman correspondent in the city of Baqouba said police officers opened fired on thousands of demonstrators who had gathered to denounce the sentence. “Iraqi police fired at demonstrators in Baqouba and killed 20 of them,” eyewitnesses said. The demonstrators shouted slogans and raised banners condemning the sentence. Our correspondent in the city says bodies of the killed demonstrators were collected by ambulances and the injured were taken to hospital. Eyewitnesses said the demonstration was peaceful and the protesters did not carry any arms…
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Israelis fired banned white phosphorus on Lebanon
Steve Connor, Independent
Israel fired artillery shells containing white phosphorus in its recent conflict with Hezbollah militants in the Lebanon, according to an official investigation by the United Nations. White phosphorus is banned under the Geneva Convention when used against civilians or in civilian areas, although Israel insists that the shells were directed against solely military targets…
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Saddam’s lawyers “under US confinement” in Baghdad
dpa
The head of the defence team of the deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein Tuesday accused the US troops of preventing him and his colleagues from returning to Amman and depriving them of an access to the media and the world’s legal organizations. “The defence team members remained on the alert and under a kind of confinement inside the Green Zone since Monday, while several experts, observers and journalists who attended the last session have been evacuated,” Khalil Duleimi said in a letter e-mailed to the media in Amman. “It should be noted that the American authorities have promised to secure our return to Amman not later than Monday, 6th of November,” he added…
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Armagideon Time: Bush’s Nuclear Folly and the National Security Lie
Chris Floyd, TO UK Correspondent
Last Friday, just hours after the New York Times revealed that the Bush administration had posted advanced plans for building nuclear weapons on a public web site for months, six Arab nations formally announced they were launching nuclear programs of their own. The potential for disaster posed by this development is almost immeasurable: everything from Chernobyl-style accidents to the theft or transfer of nuclear material to terrorists to the near-certainty of new atomic arsenals appearing in the powder-keg of the Middle East. The announcement also signals the final and utter failure of the Bush administration’s demented “non-proliferation” strategy, which has been centered around a relentless, deliberate drive to gut existing nuclear arms treaties in order to free the United States to enhance its own arsenal…
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A Pre-Ordained Verdict
Saddam Must Die
PAUL WOLF
The Iraqi high tribunal has just announced the death sentence of Saddam Hussein. This should surprise no one. In fact, no other outcome was ever possible. From the moment he was captured in his underground hideout, Saddam’s fate was sealed. Saddam Hussein and the others were convicted for crimes that happened almost 25 years ago. 148 members of the pro-Iranian Dawa Party were executed for attempting to assassinate Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war (…) Anonymous witnesses were brought forth, and in some cases, the witnesses did not even appear, but submitted affidavits instead. These people testified to the terrible experiences they and their loved ones had in prison. But whether they received fair trials, or were summarily executed, no one really knows. The transcript of the 1982 proceedings, and the evidence used to convict the defendants were excluded from the trial of Saddam Hussein. It’s ironic that Saddam will be executed, essentially, for the unfair way in which these people were dealt with, yet his own trial was so unfair that the earlier proceedings and evidence were inadmissible…
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“PRESS RELEASE”
DEFENSE COMMITTEE for PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN and his COMRADES in IRAQ
Once again, the so-called Iraqi High Criminal Court, tries to ultimately kill and put a final end to the right of defense with its continued procrastination and intentional reluctance to provide the Defense Committee with a full transcript copy of the judgment decision, although we have been requesting this copy since the end of the last session and till this day. Depriving the defense from having a copy of the verdict decision cannot be viewed, except as a violation to the right of defense. The time that has passed from the moment of pronouncing the judgment until this moment, is given credit, as is part of the period accorded for the defense to submit its cassation request (contest). The defense cannot prepare a justified cassation request to contest the judgment unless it has the text and the provisions of the judgment decision…
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The First panel of the Iraqi High Criminal Court
Sub. / Request for Incrimination and Verdict Decisions
DEFENSE COMMITTEE for PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN and his COMRADES in IRAQ
Immediately after the verdict in case # (1/criminal/2005) was announced on November 5,2006, the Defense Committee, in addition to its other colleagues, the attorneys of the other convicted persons, submitted written requests to the Court through the court’s clerk and also to the American (side), who were present there in order to get copies of the incrimination and verdict decisions. The clerk returned the requests back to the lawyers stating that the court had refused to receive them and that the court will provide the defense attorneys with such copies after five days. Once again, the Court is behaving unlawfully and in an unfair manner with the defense and the clients…
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The Hutton Inquiry And The Murder Of Dr. David Kelly, GlobalResearch.ca
Ken Welch
I recently located the BBC video from the Hutton Inquiry, the official judicial investigation into the events surrounding the July, 2003, death of Dr. David Kelly, a respected government biological scientist in the U.K., and a leading arms inspector in Iraq prior to the current invasion and occupation. Dr. Kelly was found dead near his home; supposedly a suicide after becoming embroiled in the early debate regarding blatant lying by the Blair government about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A cursory investigation by the local coroner, apparently with a wink and a nod to London, concluded that Dr. Kelly had killed himself, although the manner in which this happened was not particularly clear. The emerging details pointed so strongly toward a badly botched murder, including or at least followed by official complicity, that a major outcry quickly followed…
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Fierce Battle In Ramadi
Sky news
There has been fierce fighting between US troops and gunmen in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. The largely Sunni city, to the west of Baghdad, has been a hub of pro-Saddam sentiment. There were no immediate reports of casualties but some of the fighting was captured in dramatic video footage. The violence came two days after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by a court in Baghdad after being convicted of murder. Meanwhile, the US military said this month’s casualties included two lieutenant colonels, among the highest ranking soldiers to die in Iraq since the 2003 invasion…
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Iraq development: 7, Nov, 2006
Roads to Iraq
– Shiite militias put a list of 30,000 names of people to be executed. Al-malaf revealed that Shiite militias has prepared a list of 30,000 names ready for assassinations, in their preparations to take control over Iraq, which also included the import of Iranian anti-tank missiles. Sources said that high-level meetings were held recently between militias leaders and officers of the Iranian intelligence service, drawing steps to be carried out by the Shiite militias to maintain control over the country…
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Al-Douri Calls For Baath Party Cease-Fire, said AP
Associated Press
BAGHDAD Saddam Hussein’s former second in command, now a fugitive with a $10 million bounty on his head, has ordered Baath party bosses still in Iraq to cease attacks, according to government and parliamentary officials who claimed knowledge of the developments. Four officials in the Iraqi government and parliament, each in a position to hear about largely secret efforts to reach accord with members of the Sunni insurgency, said former Iraqi vice president Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has ordered Baath party bosses still in Iraq to end attacks within the past two days. The officials, who said they knew about the order independently because of their contacts with members of the insurgency, said the directive was issued through couriers sometime after Saddam was sentenced on Sunday to hang for crimes against humanity. The four answered questions from The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information…
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Renewed violence in Gaza raises serious concerns for children’s safety
Sabine Dolan, UNICEF
Renewed violence in Gaza is again raising serious concerns about the welfare of civilians, including children. Now in its sixth day, the armed conflict has claimed the lives of an estimated 50 Palestinians – half of them civilians, and 8 of them children. “The situation in northern Gaza, and in particular in Beit Hanoun, is very serious and is getting worse,” says UNICEF Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Dan Rohrmann. “We have seen an extraordinary number of children being killed just in the last five days. There are tanks everywhere, shelling, house demolitions and there is fighting in the streets. People are getting quite desperate…
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More on the Saddam verdict
Eli Stephens, Left I on the News
…One note on the quotes around “Iraqi.” We all know that the defendants have been in the custody of Americans, not Iraqis. But tonight on BBC, something else was revealed. The BBC reporter had to get permission from the Americans to interview the defense lawyers. Yes, you read that right. Not the defendants. The defense lawyers. And, while we’re on the subject of that “landmark” “Iraqi” “justice,” just a brief reminder that there are many people – Tariq Aziz for one and Gen. Amer al-Saadi for another, who as far as we know are still being held illegally by American forces, three and a half years after surrendering voluntarily to the Americans…
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DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, November 7, 2006
Today in Iraq
…Fifty-nine bodies were discovered Sunday and Monday across Iraq, police said. A total of 10 bodies were found with gunshot wounds during the last 24 hours in different districts of Baghdad.. Some of the victims showed signs torture. At least five people were killed and 22 wounded in renewed mortar barrages against northern Baghdad’s Azamiyah district. A Russian energy specialist was killed, six more workers, including three Russians, were wounded. At present, about 100 Russian experts are working in Iraq; 14 of them at the thermoelectric power station in Basra. A bomb attack in the southern city of Basra killed one person and wounded seven others. 12 bodies of unidentified torture victims were found floating in the Tigris River in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, Police Lt. Mohammed al-Shamari said. All had been blindfolded and bound at the wrists and ankles, before being shot in the head and chest…
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The Blair Doctrine: Blood and Money
John Pilger, www.dissidentvoice.org
On 17 October, President Bush signed a bill that legalized torture and kidnapping and effectively repealed the Bill of Rights and habeas corpus. The CIA can now legally abduct people and “render” them to secret prisons in countries where they are likely to be tortured. Evidence extracted under torture is now permissible in “military commissions”; people can be sentenced to death based on testimony beaten out of witnesses. You are now guilty until confirmed guilty. And you are a “terrorist” if you commit what George Orwell, in Nineteen Eighty-Four, called “thoughtcrimes”. Bush has revived the prerogatives of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs: the power of unrestricted lawlessness. “America can be proud,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the bill’s promoters, who stood with other congressmen, clapping as Bush signed away the American constitution and the essence of American democracy. The historic significance of this was barely acknowledged in Britain, the source of these abandoned ancient rights, no doubt because the same barbarians’ law is taking hold here. The great crime of Iraq is a moral tsunami that has left New Labour’s vassals floundering and shouting their hopeless inversions of the truth as they await rescue by Washington…
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GI Special 4K6: The Generals Cut And Run – November 6, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
The more sober tone adopted recently by generals regarding events in Iraq has raised eyebrows in Washington, with military and congressional sources saying the blunt rhetoric reflects frustration among military leaders at the worsening situation, as well as their desire to preserve their credibility and insulate themselves from blame if the Iraq war ends in disaster.
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GI Special 4K5: Resistance Deploys Sniper Teams – November 5, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
The development reported below is inevitable when a foreign Imperial occupation force is hated by the local population, and a majority of the local population favor killing the occupation troops. They will assist and conceal the patriotic citizens who take up arms to fight the foreign invader.
The U.S. government itself has reported this fall that those conditions now characterize the views of the majority of the population in Iraq. There is no military answer.
The lesson is an old as greedy Empires. Any honorable, self-respecting people will fight Imperial occupation, and are right to do so. If you have any doubts about that, read what Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and Tom Paine had to say about it in 1776.
The war is lost, and every death is a death in vain, in an evil Imperial war brought on by an evil Imperial government in Washington DC.
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