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Mister Death Squad Goes to Washington
Ahmed Amr
Welcome to the final Byzantine round of the Machiavellian Iraqi war games in Washington. Making his triumphant appearance today is none other than Abdelaziz Al-Hakim – the wise one. He’s a veteran player who survived four years of preliminary elimination rounds to qualify for the final phase of what is turning out to be a truly Olympian imperial project. Behold Hakim’s resplendent clerical robes. You can always spot the players who’ve spent a lifetime training for their roles on history’s stage. No one doubts that this ‘man of the cloth’ will pass the drug screening tests. This late in the game, we can only hope that our designated team captain resists the temptation to drown his Mesopotamian sorrows in a bottle of gin or indulge in a snow-snorting binge…
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A “Grand Settlement” Versus the Jewish Lobby
James Petras, Axis of Logic
Chances for a change in the direction of US Middle East policy are extremely unlikely. The reason is the growing power of the Jewish Lobby in Congress, the massive Zionist propaganda campaign in all the mass media, Olmert’s ‘nose leading’ of Bush, and a host of related activities. The end result is that Congress will not withdraw or reduce US troops and war funding for the Iraq War. Bush, with the support of McCain and Clinton, Liebermann, Reid and Hoyer, will push for more troops in pursuit of an all-out blood bath in Baghdad. The Baker Iraq Study Group under siege from the Zioncons and Zionlibs will be unable to deal with Israeli violence against Palestinians or enter into a dialogue with Syria and Iran on any but the most narrow and unpromising terms…
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Germany urged to prosecute Rumsfeld for war crimes
Tony Paterson
Human rights activists are trying to persuade German prosecutors to open a war crimes investigation against the outgoing US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over his alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. In a 220-page document lodged with Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office, the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) alleges that Mr Rumsfeld and 11 other high-ranking US intelligence and military figures either ordered, aided or failed to prevent war crimes at both places…
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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
an iraqi tear
Sorry every body; the photos are too painful.. Yet you should see and protest.. I know that the killer hands are Iraqi but the instructions are coming from out side.. am I right? Some times I feel helpless.. I could not think.. the photos belong to: Husam Fawzi Saisal Al-Janabi 30 years), Abbas Fadhil Mohammed Al-Janabi (23) and Latif Ahmed Mohammed Al-Janabi (26) years. The three were Sunnis; kidnapped by Mahdy militia from Al-Mansour area in Baghdad days ago.. the body were foundd in Baghdad morgue. The family paid $4000 to take their dead bodies. The kidnapper stole their BMW (1996) car. Any body could SHOUT with me: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Let’s wait and see what Bush’s MAN in Iraq will do?
I know.. I do not know.. Read “My Year In Iraq”, written by Bremer to discover how he (Bremer) deep rotted the sectarian feeling in Iraq; especially Shiites.. Then he created so called Governing Council..
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Death squads roam Baghdad’s hospitals
Hala Jaber, Amman, The Sunday Times
EVERYONE seems to be desperate for money to cope with the insecurities of life in Baghdad these days, so Dr Salim Jawad was not surprised when a hospital porter took him to one side and asked whether he would be interested in making some cash. Jawad, a busy surgeon and a Sunni, thought he was going to be urged to smuggle drugs out of the building so that they could be sold on the street. But the brutal proposition from the porter Ali, a Shi’ite from the Sadr City suburb of the capital, was far more shocking. For every patient the doctor identified from the predominantly Sunni provinces of Diyala and Anbar and from the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad, he was told, he would be paid $300 (£151). Jawad realised that he was being invited to pass death sentences on patients at the Medical City hospital in return for swift and surreptitious payments…
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Saudis and Iran prepare to do battle over corpse of Iraq
Philip Sherwell
The gulf’s two military powers, Sunni-Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, are lining up behind their warring religious brethren in Iraq in a potentially explosive showdown, as expectations grow in both countries that America is preparing a pull-out of its troops. A pool of blood and a damaged vehicle after a bomb blast in Baghdad. The Saudis are understood to be considering providing Sunni military leaders with funding, logistical support and even arms, as Iran already does for Shia militia in Iraq. The strategy — outlined in an article last week by Nawaf Obaid, a senior security adviser to the kingdom’s government — risks spiralling into a proxy war between Saudi and Iranian-backed factions in the next development in Iraq’s vicious sectarian conflict…
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Sunni leader promoting revival of a nationalist coalition with Sadr
Arablinks.blogspot.com
…The news today is from Aswat al-Iraq, and it is in the form of a statement by Saleh al-Matlak. Here is the whole news item: Head of the National Dialogue Front Saleh al-Matlak said today there will soon be an announcement about establishment of a National Salvation Front in Iraq to include various political and religious figures. He explained [in Amman] that the announcement comes by way of reviving a political movement that had been stalled (or words to that effect). He said this will include, besides [his own] National Dialogue Front, the Iraqi List led by Iyad Allawi, the coalition for Reconciliation and Freedom led by Mashaan Juburi, and the Sadrist movement led by Moqtada al-Sadr. It will also include groups from outside the political process including [something called] the Constituent Council led by Jawad al-Halasi, tribal elements from south and central Iraq, along with representatives of the Yazidis, and the Turkmen, Kurdish movements that oppose separation, a coalition of Christians, along with the [something called the] Arab Shiite Movement. And Matlak said the movement will be supported by religious figures of social and political weight, including al-Baghdadi, al-Jaqubi, al-Muiid, and al-Sarkhii, along with the Khalasia school…
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Sunday, 3 December 2006
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice
…In a dispatch posted at 11:20am Makkah time Sunday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US occupation forces arrested two children of an Iraqi Resistance commander in Samarra’ during a dawn raid on his house. The Americans found no one in the home other than the children so they took them prisoner. The Samarra’ correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that US troops raided a home in the al-Hawish area about 17km northeast of Samarra’. The house belongs to a Resistance commander who has been wanted by the US occupation forces for two years. Not finding the Resistance man at home, and also failing to find his wife – whom they had intended to arrest as a hostage – the Americans arrested the two children instead…
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George Bush: The Voices In His Head
ddjango
…Far from being the first time, the question arises about our President – what is wrong with this guy? Since the election, Doubleduh has been all over the place, saying everything from “we need a new direction in Iraq” (which is exactly what the Baker-Hamilton bunch are about) and “the people have spoken” to “screw you, I’m not leaving Iraq, no matter what anyone says”. There has been, during the past few years, occasional (but insufficient) speculation about Bush’s mental state. I say “insufficient” because I think it goes without saying that a president’s mental stability and healthy cognitive functioning is an important consideration for a man who has the ultimate decision-making power in areas such as a nuclear attack, an invasion of another country, or declaring domestic martial law and incarceration of thousands of Americans…
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Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss says pro-US government follows orders from Washington
Al-Manar TV
Lebanese former Prime Minister Salim Hoss said that the current government of Fouad Saniora will not seek to find a solution to the political crisis in the country, because its decision to stay or to leave lies in the hands of the US administration. In a statement he made Friday, Hoss chided Saniora’s ruling bloc for not taking any step towards solving the problem of the government at a time the people are sharply divided over it. The former PM also addressed the opposition asking it to set a date to end the sit-in, adding that his “Third Power” will not take part in the move fearing a likely infiltration of “the fifth column.” Hoss accused the United States of choosing to take a side in the Lebanese internal conflict, under the pretext of serving a democracy, the former PM dismissed this as “fake.”…
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Nine U.S. troops killed in Iraq
CNN
Nine U.S. troops died in Iraq during the weekend, including five killed by roadside bombs, the U.S. military reported Sunday. Two soldiers were killed and two wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in northern Iraq, U.S. commanders in the northern city of Tikrit announced. The soldiers were assigned to the Army’s 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Two U.S. soldiers and a Marine died from unspecified “enemy action” in western Iraq’s Anbar province Saturday, the American command in Baghdad reported, while two U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. Anbar, including the provincial capital Ramadi, has been a hotbed of the mostly Sunni Arab insurgency against U.S. troops that emerged after the 2003 invasion of Iraq…
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Baathists demand U.S. exit from Iraq
Salah Nasrawi, Associated Press Writer
A man claiming to be the top spokesman for Iraq’s former ruling party said the group will not stop aiding the insurgency or engage in national reconciliation efforts unless the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad accepts conditions that would lead to its end. Among the demands are the complete withdrawal of American troops, the abolition of laws enacted since the ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime and trials of all Iraqis who cooperated with the United States and the U.S.-supported administration. In discussing the strict conditions demanded of the U.S.-backed government in Iraq, Abu Mohammed also said his group considered the trials of Saddam in Baghdad to be illegal and the verdicts null. Still, he did not include any demand that Saddam be restored to power. He said the Baath party had committed mistakes during Saddam’s rule. “No sane man can deny this. But the leadership of the party has started a revision of the past to draw lessons that will help rebuild Iraq,” he said…
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The Road Less Traveled
Paul William Roberts
…The truth that Iraq’s current state of appalling violence and hellish chaos is entirely the fault and responsibility of the US cannot be overstated. Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in early 2003, Washington has been as responsible for Iraq as it is for Louisiana or California. If 33 percent of Iraqi children now suffer from malnutrition, Washington is at fault. If 20 percent of Iraqis do not have access to potable water, Washington is at fault. If most of Baghdad can only rely on 8-12 hours of electricity per day, Washington is at fault. If the majority of Iraq’s schools and colleges have closed down because it is too dangerous for students to attend them, Washington is at fault. If 85 percent of Iraqis have been unemployed since the invasion began, Washington is at fault. If 1000 Iraqis die each week in the civil war that dare not speak its name, Washington is at fault. This list could be extended indefinitely, and it would all be Washington’s fault…
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DAILY WAR NEWS FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2006
Today in Iraq
LSA Anaconda, Iraq– Two Soldiers assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) were killed by an improvised explosive device while conducting a security patrol in the Al Anbar province of Iraq Dec 2. A Multi-National Corps – Iraq Soldier died from injuries sustained when the convoy he was traveling in struck an improvised explosive device near Taji, Iraq, at approximately 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Air Force officially lists Troy Gilbert, pilot of downed F-16, as KIA. Gunmen kidnapped Haitham Yassin, an adviser to the electricity minister, on Saturday in Baghdad’s northern Shaab district, police said. Police found the body of Hidaib Mejhoul, a member of the national Iraqi Football Association, in Baghdad’s Yarmouk district on Saturday, relatives said. Mejhoul, who had been kidnapped from his home on Thursday, had been shot twice in the head and his body had signs of torture…
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Iran’s Schemes In Iraq
Iraqi screen
Few months after the assassination Of top Shiite cleric Baqer Al-Hakiem in Nejef in August 2003, I had the chance to meet the chief judge at the Iraqi centeral Criminal Court in Harithiyia at that time who is Shiite and asked him about sort of cases they have and when they would issue the final verdicts about them. The judge said that he had three ready cases and their result will be a shock to the entire Iraqis, I aksed him about these cases, he said first we have the case of cleric Baqer Al-Hakiem assassination, we had done deep investigation regarding this case, we checked the cars used in his convoy and the explosive material used in this explosion and some of the surviors who were his body guards…
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Excuse me, Ms Becket?
Hussein Al-alak, The Iraq Solidarity Campaign
It was with complete arrogance that Britain’s Foreign Secretary Margaret Becket, was able to declare on the 1/12/2006, at the Forum for the Future conference in Jordan, that the education of young people in the Middle East was key to tackling global problems like chronic underdevelopment, climate change and terrorism. Joined by foreign ministers of the G8 countries, Ms. Becket made this announcement to the young people of the East, forgetting that it was her government and that of fellow conference delegate Ms. Condalezza Rice, who have helped to create the instability of the region. The Labour minister failed to mention in her statement, that over 655,000 Iraqis have died as result of her governments fight against terrorism inside of Iraq with the colonial venture clearly failing with over 71 per cent of Iraqi’s wanting the illegally based troops to leave their country…
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The U.S. Has a History of Using Torture
Alfred W. McCoy
In April 2004, Americans were stunned when CBS broadcast those now-notorious photographs from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, showing hooded Iraqis stripped naked while U.S. soldiers stood by smiling. As this scandal grabbed headlines around the globe, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the abuses were “perpetrated by a small number of U.S. military,” whom New York Times’ columnist William Safire soon branded “creeps”—a line that few in the press had reason to challenge. When I looked at these photos, I did not see snapshots of simple brutality or a breakdown in military discipline. After more than a decade of studying the Philippine military’s torture techniques for a monograph published by Yale back 1999, I could see the tell-tale signs of the CIA’s psychological methods…
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Signs of a Dying City
Fatima, Thoughts from Baghdad
I hate describing Baghdad as a dying city, but that’s truly the feeling that passes through me as I drive down the streets of this once busy city. I took these pictures on different Saturday afternoons, all during the past month or so. This was once (not very long ago), one of the busiest streets in Baghdad, the 14th of Ramadan Street in the Mansour area. Now, as you drive down this street in the middle of the day, at least three fourths of the shops are closed down! Only a random store here and there opens, and some of them open for just a few hours, closing down by 1 or 2 pm. It was really sad for me especially during Eid season to drive down this street (and others in Baghdad) and to find it looking like a ghost town…
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Iraq situation ‘much worse’ than civil war, Annan says
The Associated Press
The current situation in Iraq is “much worse” than civil war, the outgoing United Nations secretary-general said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. to be broadcast Monday. Calling the situation “extremely dangerous,” Kofi Annan said that the international community must help the country to rebuild because he is uncertain Iraq can accomplish it on its own. “Given the level of violence, the level of killing and bitterness and the way that forces are arranged against each other, a few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war; this is much worse,” Annan said…
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The Times Continues to Understate the Influence of Feith’s “Gestapo Office” in the Run-up to War
Walter C. Uhler
In his ground-breaking April 28, 2004, New York Times article about Douglas Feith’s Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCEG) – which Secretary of State Colin Powell privately called “Feith’s Gestapo office” – James Risen detailed the Group’s efforts to find links connecting Saddam Hussein with al Qeada’s terrorists, in order to make a clearer case for the invasion of Iraq. As Mr. Risen notes, both the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA discounted (had already examined and dismissed) the so-called evidence that the Gestapo office was “uncovering.” But rather than demonstrating that the Gestapo office actually prevailed over the legitimate and ultimately correct Intelligence Community, and thus provided a central justification for war, Risen then undercut his reporting by erroneously concluding that “the Bush administration ultimately decided that the terrorism link was not strong enough to use as the central rationale for war.”…
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An urgent appeal from the prisoners in (Akrah prison) in the north of Iraq
Albasrah.net
An urgent appeal from the prisoners in (Akrah prison) in the north of Iraq within the authority of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), we spent almost two years in this prison, without any accusation, without any trial. We are suffering all kind of inhuman treatment, torture and discrimination. Our families are also subject to the bad and inhuman treatment when they come to visit us. We appeal to all those who could help us to interfere and use their pressure on the authorities in what so-called Kurdistan area to release us immediately…
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