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Neither Civil War Nor Sectarian Violence. It’s Ethnic Cleansing Before the Partition of Iraq
Hassan El-Najjar, Al-Jazeerah
…Apparently, the new shift to the term of “civil war” is another spin to justify staying in Iraq “until victory,” which is apparently dividing the country into better-controlled three mini states: Kurdish North, Shi’i South, and Sunni Middle. The battles raging in Baghdad everyday are nothing but ethnic cleansing to drive Shi’is and Sunnis to specific areas suitable to the partition. If Democrats are truly different from Republicans in Congress, then they should stop the ongoing ethnic cleansing now. The question is how can they do that? Simply, the perpetrators are mainly the Shi’i militias of Badr and Mahdi Army, together with the police death squads of the Interior Ministry. All of these belong to the US-backed ruling Shi’i alliance. They are on the US payroll. The US is in direct control over the Iraqi armed forces, including those of the Interior Ministry. The US is also in indirect control over the Shi’i militias because of its backing of the ruling Shi’i alliance. The Democratic Congress has to press and scrutinize the Bush administration to stop the campaign of ethnic cleansing, perpetrated by the US-backed Shi’i ruling alliance…
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Much worse
Gabriele Zamparini
Asked by the BBC whether the situation in Iraq could now be classified as a civil war, the outgoing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan replied: “A few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse.” A few days ago, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees released an update on the Iraq situation. It starts: “Iraq is haemorrhaging”. Then it gives the picture of an apocalypse (…) This is the democracy the United States and their vassals brought to Iraq. The political process – that Trojan horse welcomed in many quarters of the Imperial left – was set 1) to divide the Iraqis between collaborators and anti-occupation and 2) (and even worse!) on ethnic and religious affiliations. Iraqis were forced to vote on religious and ethnic divides not for political parties and ideas. Incompetence on the US side or a plan to complete the destruction of Iraq and wipe it off the map? The only solution for Iraq has to be found in the restoration of international law by bringing the clock back to March 20, 2003 and judging the perpetrators of the supreme international crime. Operation Iraqi Freedom has already exported enough freedom and democracy; nobody feels the need for more imperial adventures. What now appears impossible may be the only way out if we don’t want to assist to a bloodbath that could last years and millions of human lives. Of course bringing the clock back to March 20, 2003 is a dream. But the alternative is a never-ending nightmar! e millio ns of people have already been living on their own skin. Much worse indeed!…
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The Iraqi resistance, the only hope for Iraq
Truth About Iraqis
Once again, Anbar is a no-go zone for US soldiers. As is Baghdad. And pretty much elsewhere. There are currently more than 250,000 US soldiers operating in Iraq … and they will soon “cut and run” in shame as they did in Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia and almost every other military misadventure since the Second World War. Yes, 250,000 as a new report indicates there are 100,000 “civilian” contractors in Iraq now. Sixteen less in the past 15 days. Fully armed civilians, what a laugh. These “civilian” contractors, many of them live in the Green Zone and they have Iraqi whores working for them. Iraqi whores who pretend to speak for Iraqis, shedding crocodile tears. Tsk, tsk, how the mighty have fallen. Weren’t you cheering but a few months ago how much pride you felt working with the American liberator? And now you sense your doom is near…
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US and Israel Targeting DNA in Gaza? The DIME Bomb: Yet Another Genotoxic Weapon, Part I
James Brooks, Al-Jazeerah
It’s been almost five months since the first report that Israeli drone aircraft have been dropping a “mystery weapon” on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since then, news media around the world have run stories depicting the strange and “horrific” wounds inflicted by the new bomb. The international press has spoken with Palestinian doctors and medics who say Israel’s new device is a kind of chemical weapon that has significantly increased the fatality rate among the victims of Israeli attacks. In mid-October, Italian investigators reported forensic evidence that suggests the new weapon may also represent the near future of US “counterinsurgency warfare”. Combined with photographs of the victims and testimony from attending doctors, this evidence points to the use of Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME)…
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The Rumsfeld Memo: “I was just about to change everything…Really!?!”
Mike Whitney
By now, everyone has heard about Rumsfeld’s memo. It was leaked to the New York Times supposedly without Rumsfeld’s knowledge. It makes the case that Rumsfeld was just about to make major changes in Iraq because he could see that the strategy was failing and had created a disaster. Everything about the memo reeks of deception. In fact, the Times even admits that, “Rumsfeld may have been trying to shape the coming discussion and present himself as open to ‘change’”. Why? Because, according to the article, “President Bush interviewed Texas A&M University President Robert Gates as a potential successor to Rumsfeld a day before the midterm elections” …
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Israeli violence against children and youth in custody
Terry Scott, American Palestinian New Generation
Our American tax dollars are used to support, arm, and protect a violent and criminal Israeli military and “justice” system that has institutionalized violence against women and children. Israel holds hundreds of child prisoners and had imprisoned over 2500 children since 2000. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September1990 (to which Israel is a signatory), and to relevant Israeli law, a child is defined as every human being under the age of 18 years. This is reiterated in the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, adopted by General Assembly Resolution 45/113 of 14 December 1990. However, Palestinian children from the age of 16 years are considered adults under Israeli military regulations governing the Occupied Palestinian Territories. An international court of law ought to take the testimony of this 15-year old whose incarceration and interrogation was characterized by threats of rape…
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It’s Hard Being a Woman
Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily
Once one of the best countries for women’s rights in the Middle East, Iraq has now become a place where women fear for their lives in an increasingly fundamentalist environment. Prior to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, Iraqi women enjoyed rights under the Personal Status Law since Jul. 14, 1958, the day Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy. Under this law they were able to settle civil suits in courts, unfettered by religious influences. Iraqi women had many of the rights enjoyed by women in western countries…
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Child detainee threatened with rape during interrogation
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies
A Palestinian child detainee, who was taken prisoner by the Israeli forces two months ago, said that he was threatened with rape by Israeli interrogators unless he confesses to what they accuse him with. The child also said that he was tortured for 25 days and was confined to solitary in Petah Tikva prison. In an affidavit singed in front of lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Hanan Al Khateeb, detainee Dhia’ Mahdi Al Bostami, 15, from Nablus, said that he was taken prisoner on October 2, and was forced to sign a “confession” written in Hebrew without knowing what it states…
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GI Special 4L6: “Success” In Afghanistan – December 6, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
“British Marines Attacked A Taliban-Held Valley In Southern Afghanistan On Tuesday But Withdrew After A Ferocious Counterattack”
“Taliban Fighters Launched A Ferocious, Organized Riposte With Heavy Weapons”
“Major Plewes Said He Considered The Assault A Success”
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GI Special 4L5: Welcome To Vietraq – December 5, 2006
Thomas F. Barton
Welcome To Vietraq: Collaborator Troops Incompetent;
Guerrillas Know All About Operation In Advance And Set Trap;
U.S. Command Brags About Body Count & Fake “Success”
The offensive was initially billed by U.S. officials in Baghdad as an Iraqi-led success and a case study in support of the Pentagon’s increasing reliance on using American troops as military advisors as a way to shift security responsibilities to Iraqi soldiers.
But interviews at their joint Rustamiya base with U.S. advisors and Iraqi soldiers involved in Friday’s battle revealed a different story. The operation was hastily prepared and badly executed, they said, and plans to let the Iraqis take the lead in the battle were quickly scrapped.
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A Beacon of Hope
Apartheid Israel
VIRGINIA TILLEY, CounterPunch
On November 27, Ehud Olmert responded to frantic international pressure and US hand signals by delivering what was billed as a “landmark” policy speech. The BBC has raised a faint cheer for the “new mood” it seems to signal. But the occasion, an annual memorial for Ben Gurion, was appropriate: in silky language, Mr. Olmert baldly reiterated the same terms and conditions that have blocked all progress toward Middle East peace for years. Talks with the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Olmert declared, will begin only after a newly elected Palestinian government “renounces violence”, recognizes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, abandons the right of return on behalf of the entire Palestinian people, and agrees that the large urban Israeli settlements that now dismember the West Bank will be permanently annexed to Israel…
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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 5 December 2006.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.
…In a dispatch posted at 12:22pm Makkah time Tuesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that unknown armed men killed four professors in the Agricultural College of Diyala University who also worked as engineers with a private company. The Ba’qubah correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet police as saying that unknown armed men attacked the car in which the four professors were riding. The cut off the professors’ car and then opened fire, killing all of them. The bodies were taken to the local forensic medicine department in Ba’qubah General Hospital…
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The Taliban Gets Closer to Kabul
SPIEGEL ONLINE
The regeneration of the Taliban — which has retaken control of parts of southern Afghanistan — is no longer fresh news to anyone. But are the insurgent forces preparing to launch a series of attacks on the capital city of Kabul, which is home to peacekeeping troops, the Afghan government and non-government organizations that are helping to rebuild the war-torn country? The leadership of Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, fear that Taliban attacks on the Afganistan capital of Kabul will likely increase in the coming months. According to a classified report on the state of Afghanistan obtained by SPIEGEL, “militant opposition forces” have made it clear that they will focus fighting during the winter “on the country’s largest cities.”…
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DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, December 5, 2006
Today in Iraq
Insurgents attacked a Multi-National Division – Baghdad patrol Dec. 4, killing one Soldier and wounding five others. The patrol was conducting operations to deny enemy movements and enforce curfew restrictions in a northeastern neighborhood of the city when it was attacked. A Task Force Lightning Soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, died of wounds Monday as a result of an explosion near his vehicle while conducting operations in Diyala Province. In southern Iraq, a 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) soldier died Monday when his M-1117 Armored Security Vehicle rolled over north of Camp Adder, which is 200 miles southwest of Baghdad, the military said. In northern Baghdad, gunmen set off a car bomb to intercept a minibus carrying employees of the Shiite Endowment, a government agency that cares for Shiite mosques in Iraq, to work, the organization said. The gunmen then opened fire on the workers, killing 15 of them and wounding seven, said Salah Abdul-Razzaq, an Endowment spokesman…
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House Demolitions in the West Bank
Jane Smith
As we arrived in the village of Al Funduq, central West bank, the aftermath of the first house demolition was evident. A family stood on a pile of rubble silenced and shocked. The second house demolition was just beginning, with the Caterpillar and Volvo bulldozers ripping into the top floor of the nearly completed house. As we approached four Palestinian men ran forward from behind the line of soldiers and entered their house. I was deeply moved by their courage. The soldiers grabbed the men out of the house, holding one in a tight neck lock, and handcuffed two of them throughout the demolition. Within an hour the future home was nothing but a pile of rubble. The family was powerless in this situation, and could only watch as years of labour and money was obliterated by the Israeli army. Caterpillar and Volvo are profiting from this family’s grief…
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US not winning Iraq war, admits US defence secretary nominee
Mark Tran, Guardian Unlimited
Robert Gates, the Bush administration’s choice to succeed Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary, today admitted the US was not winning the war in Iraq and warned of the risk of conflagration in the Middle East because of the conflict. Mr Gates, who was named by President George Bush because of the need for “a pair of fresh eyes” on Iraq, told a Senate confirmation hearing that all “options were on the table” and that developments in Iraq would determine geopolitics for years to come…
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Net Neutrality Petition
Kurt Nimmo
The giant phone and cable companies are trying to take control of the Internet away from the public and convert it into their own private, corporate network They’re boasting that they’ll create premium lanes on the Internet so that people who can pay get seen and those who can’t don’t. Tell Congress to keep the Internet open and free and to protect the rights of users to see what you want to see and go anywhere you want to go on the Internet – just as you can today. Fill out the electronic petition and send it to your Congress critters today…
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Saddam refuses to attend genocide trial
The Associated Press
Saddam Hussein has written the chief judge at his second genocide trial to say he no longer wants to attend the hearings, regardless of the consequences, his lawyers say. In a handwritten Arabic statement, the ousted Iraqi president cited what he claimed were repeated “insults” by Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa and prosecutors trying him for his role in the 1987-88 military campaign against the Kurds, code-named Operation Anfal. “I wasn’t given the chance to speak when I tried to clarify the truth,” Saddam wrote in a one-page letter dated Monday and made available to the Associated Press…
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IRAQ: Sectarian violence tears Baghdad into two parts
IRIN
For decades, Iraq’s six million-strong capital was a city where people mixed freely and did not care whether their neighbour was a Sunni or a Shi’ite Muslim. But now, the years-old peaceful coexistence between members of different religions and sects in Baghdad is threatened with a battle underway between the two major Muslim sects to have their own territory in this war-torn city. “A new Baghdad is now emerging, a Sunni west and a Shi’ite east with the broad Tigris River in the middle as a sectarian boundary,” said Dr Jamal al-Uraibi, a Baghdad-based analyst who lectures in political science at the University of Baghdad…
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It’s Happening Again!
Media Consensus: Stay in Iraq!
NORMAN SOLOMON
The lead-up to the invasion of Iraq has become notorious in the annals of American journalism. Even many reporters, editors and commentators who fueled the drive to war in 2002 and early 2003 now acknowledge that major media routinely tossed real journalism out the window in favor of boosting war. But it’s happening again. The current media travesty is a drumbeat for the idea that the U.S. war effort must keep going. And again, in its news coverage, the New York Times is a bellwether for the latest media parade to the cadence of the warfare state…
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WP: Census: 100,000 contractors in Iraq
Number is 10 times that in first Gulf War, far more than previous estimate
Renae Merle, The Washington Post
There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military’s first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield. The survey finding, which includes Americans, Iraqis and third-party nationals hired by companies operating under U.S. government contracts, is significantly higher and wider in scope than the Pentagon’s only previous estimate, which said there were 25,000 security contractors in the country…
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