2/10/07

Let’s try partitioning the US
Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
As if they haven’t done enough damage bombing and invading a country on false pretences, destroying its culture and leaving it a charred shell of its former self, they – American lawmakers who gave President George W. Bush authority to go to war – now want to divide Iraq up into easily manageable bite size entities. Isn’t Iraq supposed to be a sovereign nation with an elected government? If so, then why is the US Senate attempting to meddle in its affairs by overwhelmingly passing a resolution calling for the country’s partition into three, which is tantamount to ethnic cleansing? Not to put too fine a point the shape of Iraq to come isn’t their business (…) The biggest winner from the partitioning of Iraq would be Israel, whose officials and journalists have long advocated such division. On the Shalom TV website there is an interview with Joe Biden who refers to Israel as the “single greatest strength America has in the Middle East” and proclaims with pride “I am a Zionist”. We should believe him. Here’s a suggestion for the Arab world. How about a vote on the break-up of America? How about giving California back to Mexico, returning Hawaii to its indigenous islanders and Alaska to the Eskimos and Indians? Let’s restrict Caucasians to the East and West coasts, and package-up a few states in between for African Americans and Latinos. And while we’re about it, let’s invite foreign conglomerates to buy up the country’s oil, gas and timber. Outrageous ethnic cleansing that migh! t be but that’s exactly what Biden and friends think they have the right to do in Iraq…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36851

Most Recent Incident Where U.S. Military Killed Civilians in Ongoing Afghan Conflict
The Afghan Victim Memorial
in Bati Kot in the Ghanikhel district of Nangarhar Province near Jalalabad. U.S. Special Operations and Afghan forces raided three homes, justifying the assault by saying that a bomb making facility existed there. In the assault, six civilians were killed – a teenage girl, 2 men and 3 women – and others injured others (including two children). Neighbors said five people had died, including two women with only a young girl surviving from a family. A woman named Mariam told Pajhwok Afghan News (the Associated Press and other mainstream press were apparently not interested), “at 2.00 A.M. American soldiers knocked down the main gate of our house and lobbed a hand grenade inside before storming in and firing at us.” Slapping her face, a weeping Mariam said: “The Americans gunned down my father-in-law, my husband’s brother and his sister.” The photo above shows a 9-year-old girl who told journalists that her father, mother and sisters were killed by the U.S. troops (RAWA photo)…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36865

AMSI: Kurdish assassination militias
Roads to Iraq
This a statement issued today by the AMSI criticizing Kurdish warlords for their support to the US dividing Iraq decision, accusing them with involvement of committing crimes against the Iraqi people, and secretly assassinating Iraqis. Challenging the feelings of millions of Iraqis from all ethnic groups Kurdish politicians announced their support to the United States senate’s decisions of partitioning Iraq. As is known, the Kurdish politicians and others were behind the incitement of the occupation of Iraq and cooperating with the occupiers in all projects, and content themselves to be partners in every of what happened to the people from the killing of more than 1 million, the destruction of the country and put 27 million Iraqis to unknown destiny, they also participated in targeting Iraqi cities and people through their forces PESHMARGA as happened in Fallujah and elsewhere, as they practiced shameful ethnic cleansing in a number of Iraqi cities, particularly in Mosul and Kirkuk…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36866

The division bell is ringing in Iraq?
Voices of Iraq
“Why not? It seems a nice solution,” suggested a bookshop owner in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, with bright eyes and a smile from ear to ear. “Since 1991, we became accustomed to having Iraqi Kurdistan as a special entity. We can never live under a central government again after the years we tasted a semi-independent status,” said Farouq Jamil. Iraqis from different areas in the war-troubled nation mirrored the acute splits among the political parties over a recent U.S. Congressional proposal to “divide Iraq into federal entities on ethnic and sectarian basis.” Some thought that the proposal might lead to a “solution” for the country’s security predicament, while others warned that it could be “a gateway to more chaos and fiercer conflicts.”…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36859

Brown’s Britain: ‘ Mother of Hypocrocies’
Felicity Arbuthnot
So Britain lectures Burma on the right of people to protest, the U.N., sends an envoy there and the U.S. – whilst behaving in Iraq and Afghanistan as Burma’s Junta, shooting, beating, torturing, imprisoning without trial – go in to broken record mode about the right to peacefully demonstrate and ‘freedom and democrocy’. Meanwhile, the British government, under the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown (who as Chancellor of the Exchequer write the cheques for the Iraq and Afghanistan bloodbaths) has instructed the police to ban a peaceful march and Lobby of Parliament – on 8th October, the day that Parliament re-convenes after the summer break – demanding that British troops leave Iraq and Afghanistan (…) Whatever the Burmese government’s indisputable failings and lack of regards for human rights, Britain and America have absolutely no moral ground from which to criticise them. People in glass houses, where the world can thus watch them, would show themselves to be bordering on mental deficiency, to throw stones. Ironically, at this year’s Party Conference, Gordon Brown invoked the Biblical :’ suffer the little children …’ not, apparently, when it comes to calling for British and American soldiers to stop killing, imprisoning and terrifying them. Hypocrosy does not come more towering than this. Shame, yet again…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36857

U.S. sees Iraq as own ranch
Fatih Abdulsalam, Azzaman
The vote by U.S. Congress to divided Iraq is a declaration that the political process emanating from the constitution, elections and leaders of this country has been thrown into the dustbin. It is not important whether the resolution by the U.S. Congress is binding or non-binding. If Iraq was a country with sovereignty, no state even the size of the United States would dare to discuss details of how to divide it into parts. Can you imagine the French General Assembly debating a resolution to divide Morocco, Algeria or Lebanon?…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36855

Who committed the massacre on the Yezidis in Bethnahrin?
ESNA – EasternStar News Agency
On Tuesday, August 14th 2007, the Yezidis, one of the minorities in norhern Iraq, were the target of a bloody and ruthless massacre. This massacre took place in the city of Sinjar, in the Nineveh province (…) The explosion was aimed at the civilians and is by far the most brutal and ruthless attack against civilians since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The massacre took 520 lives and several hundreds were wounded. This act of terrorism made thousands of families homeless, as they got their homes blown away (…) Attacks of this kind against a minority which does not take part in the war, or struggle for power in Iraq, have lead to many questions. What was the purpose of the attack? Who gained from the attack? Why the province of Nieneveh, and why now? As usual, the accusations were made aginst the “demon” al-Qaida. It has, so to speak, become a standard procedure; to blame all acts of terrorism on the “demon” al-Qaida. But nobody asks the question: what would al-Qaida gain in murdering the Yezidies?..

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36854

Bishops fear for future of Iraqi Christians
Azzaman
A delegation of Iraqi bishops representing the country’s multifarious denominations has given a tragic picture of conditions in Iraq particularly the capital Baghdad. The bishops have flown to Europe to explain the plight of their congregations and whether anything is left to be done not to let the country be emptied of its once prosperous Christian minority. Numbers are receding drastically and from nearly 1 million Christians registered in the 1987 census the bishops said their church records now include a little bit more than one third of the figure. Most affected have been Christians in Baghdad who once were served by nearly 100 churches. The monasteries and seminaries have been shut down and U.S. occupation troops have occupied two of them in the restive and violent Doura neighborhood. “I alone have to look after 2,000 displaced Christian families in Baghdad. They were forced to leave their districts simply because they were Christians,” one of the bishops said. The bishops did not want their names mentioned for security reasons. They were unanimous in their criticism of the United States and its blunders in Iraq. They said the coming of the Americans has resulted in tragic consequences for their congregations as many in Iraq associate U.S. troops with Christianity. “This democracy this man (President George Bush) has brought to us is that of tanks, kidnappings, random killings, car-bombing and massive marauding armies who go about their work with impunity,” another said…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36853

States or People?
The Right to Exist
Sonja Karkar, WOMEN FOR PALESTINE
It is a curious phrase this “right to exist”. Israel wants the world to accept its “right to exist” as a state, but it denies the indigenous Palestinians their right to exist as a people in their own land. International relations only acknowledges the rights of people, not states. States exist because of the formal recognition afforded them by other states, and now that Israel is recognised as a state, it in fact exists. It makes no sense to demand that a political party recognise Israel’s “right to exist”, much less punish 4 million Palestinians because a majority voted the Hamas Party into government. Yet, these are the very words that are holding the Palestinians, particularly those in Gaza, to an impossible ransom. For the outside world, Israel’s demand for the “right to exist” seems a natural enough request and easy enough words to say. However, most people have no idea of the real import of those words for the Palestinians. For them to accept the “right to exist”, effectively means that they accept their own dispossession…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36863

SYRIA: UNHCR presses for “humanitarian visas” as Syria closes border to Iraqis
IRIN News
– The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is continuing to push for “humanitarian visas” for Iraqi refugees after Syria once again closed its borders to the continuing influx of refugees fleeing Iraq. UNHCR witnesses at the Syria-Iraqi Al-Tanf border crossing on 1 October reported that entry was closed to refugees, with “only commercial drivers receiving visas”. According to the new regulations only Iraqis with visas granted for education, business and scientific purposes will be granted access into Syria. The restrictions were first introduced on 10 September but Syria reopened the border to all Iraqis as a gesture of goodwill for the Muslim holy-month of Ramadan…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36861

* * * NOT SATIRE * * *
Maliki urges Brown for British support against division resolution
Voices of Iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reiterated his government’s rejection of a U.S. Senate resolution calling for separate Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish federal regions in Iraq and called on his British counterpart to support Iraq’s stance against any resolution that “does not serve Iraq and the region,” according to a statement released by al-Maliki’s office on Tuesday. The Senate, at a late hour on Wednesday, approved, with 75 votes for and 23 against, a “non-biding” draft resolution envisaging the division of Iraq into three Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni entities, with a federal government in Baghdad undertaking border security and oil proceed management…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36858

We will not be silenced
Amjad Barham, Guardian
Palestinian academics received with dismay, although not entirely with surprise, the decision by the University and College Union (UCU) to cancel their UK speaking tour, during which they had planned to discuss the academic boycott of Israel with colleagues at British universities. Citing legal advice, the union released a statement saying that “while UCU is at liberty to debate the pros and cons of Israeli policies, it cannot spend members’ resources on seeking to test opinion on something which is in itself unlawful and cannot be implemented”. Debating effective means of countering Israeli colonial policies has thus been declared illegal…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36856

A Q and A For The People Of A Forsaken Republic: Addressing the origins of the Who’s-Your-Daddy Nation
Phil Rockstroh
How many times do we, the people of the US, have to go around on this queasy-making merry-go-round of propaganda and militarism before we shout — enough! — then shutdown the whole cut-rate carnival and run the scheming carnies who operate it out of town? It is imperative the nation’s citizens begin to apprehend the patterns present in this ceaseless cycle of official deceit and collective pathology. This republic, or any other, cannot survive, inhabited by a populace with such a slow learning curve. Over the last three decades, the authoritarian right has risen to create the nation they have been longing for since their humbling by the Watergate scandal. After being subdued and humiliated by the mechanisms of a free republic, the right has turned the tables — and subdued and humiliated the republic. If the trend continues, all but unchallenged and unabated, we might as well replace the torch held aloft by Lady Liberty with a taser…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36860

THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE HAVE SPOKEN…
Desert Peace
…But the government of Israel has drowned out their voices… with the support of Mahmoud Abbas. Despite the FACT that it was Hamas that was LEGALLY elected to lead the government of Palestine, despite the FACT that Abbas was once a part of that government, it has become apparent that the desires of the zionist occupier are the major criteria in who will head that government. United efforts of Fatah and the American government have created a situation where Palestine is now divided in two… one ruled by those elected by the people, the other dictated to by those appointed by outsiders…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36850

Climate of Fear Stymies Basra Reporters
Journalists risk death if they try to report candidly about the troubled city.
By Safa al-Mansoor and Dhiya al-Mussa in Basra (ICR No. 234, 2-Oct-07)
…As the violence has escalated in Basra, journalists have become increasingly under attack. They say inadequate security provision means they are at the mercy of militias and kidnapping gangs (…) Last year, a website of an unknown militant group posted a hit-list of 17 Basra journalists. Some of the journalists including Adil Hamid, a local media adviser, fled to neighbouring Kuwait. Local journalists who remain describe a climate of fear. They work quietly, not wanting to incite the wrath of the local Shia militias or Islamic parties that have taken control of the city since British forces stationed there handed it back to be governed by locals. These include Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s political wing and Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia; the Shia Fadheela Party, which holds substantial political power in Basra; and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and its Badr Organisation, which Iraqi exiles in Iran founded in 1982 to oppose former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime. Basra’s Sunni citizens have largely been pushed out of the province. Journalists say that openly criticising political parties or militias is a “red line” not to be crossed…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36847

Two U.S. soldiers killed, 11 injured in Iraq
Xinhua
Two American soldiers were killed and 11 others wounded in two incidents throughout Iraq, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. A soldier assigned to Multi National Division-Baghdad was killed and ten others wounded while conducting combat operations in the Iraqi capital on Sunday, the military said in a brief statement. Two Iraqi soldiers, an interpreter and a local citizen were also injured during the incident, it said. A second U.S. soldier was killed and another injured in a non-battle related cause in the Qadisiya province, south of Baghdad, the military said in a separate statement without providing further details, but it said that the incident was under investigation…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36862

Bush wants diplomatic end to ‘Iran problem’
AFP
US President George W. Bush wants a peaceful end to “the Iranian problem,” the White House said Monday after a fresh report that the United States is looking at possible military options. “The president has said that he believes there is a diplomatic solution that we can use to solve the Iranian problem. And that’s why we’re working with our allies to get there,” said Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino. Perino refused to comment on an article in The New Yorker magazine about alleged US preparations for war except to express frustration with its unnamed sources and with other US media outlets for reporting what the piece said. “We don’t discuss such things. What we have said and what we are working toward is a diplomatic solution in Iran,” she said.(…) “I’m not going to comment on that,” said Perino. “I’m not going to comment on any possible scenario that an anonymous source continues to feed into (investigative reporters Seymour) Sy Hersh. I’m just not going to do it.”…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36841

WHO RUNS THE WORLD AND WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW IMMEDIATELY
Carolyn Baker
Daniel Estulin is a Madrid-based journalist and an investigative reporter who took on the daunting and dangerous task of researching the Bildeberg Group, and who offers his findings in The True Story Of The Bilderberg Group, recently published by Trine Day. Equally intriguing as his harrowing tales of being followed and nearly killed on a couple of occasions while working on the book, is the manner in which Estulin connects the dots between the Bilderberg Group, world events, notable politicians and corporate tycoons and the two other secretive monsters of the ruling elite, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission (TC). The project lasted fifteen years and was motivated by Estulin’s curiosity about how it is that the mainstream media has never covered in depth the meetings of the Bilderberg Group whose combined wealth exceeds the combined wealth of all U.S. citizens…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36845

GI Special 5I27: Troops Refuse To Fire [ September 30, 2007 ]
Thomas F. Barton
Burma: Army Mutiny Reported: “Troops Refuse To Fire On Crowds”.
(…) The junta reinforced its reputation for paranoia by moving the capital deep into the mountainous jungle at Naypyidaw, outside the town of Pyinmana and 230 miles north of Rangoon.
Activists said the move was designed to insulate the generals from decades of misrule (Imagine some U.S. military dictators abandoning New York City, DC, and all the other cities to move their CHQ to Antelope Crotch, Wyoming).

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36844

Senate approves $150B in war funding
ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
Thwarted in efforts to bring troops home from Iraq, Senate Democrats on Monday helped pass a defense policy bill authorizing another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 92-3 vote comes as the House planned to approve separate legislation Tuesday that requires President Bush to give Congress a plan for eventual troop withdrawals. The developments underscored the difficulty facing Democrats in the Iraq debate: They lack the votes to pass legislation ordering troops home and are divided on whether to cut money for combat, despite a mandate by supporters to end the war. Hoping the political landscape changes in coming months, Democratic leaders say they will renew their fight when Congress considers the money Bush wants in war funding…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36843

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Monday, 1 October 2007
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. www.freearabvoice.org
…In a dispatch posted at 11:22am Makkah time Monday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that puppet “Iraqi Interior Ministry” forces in official cars raided a home in which 22-year-old Muhammad As’ad was staying in the az-Zubayr area near the southern city of al-Basrah, kidnapping and later killing him. Mafkarat al-Islam reported relatives of As’ad, a Sunni, as saying that the puppet troops raided the home where As’ad was visiting relatives and abducted him and a relative. The puppet soldiers shot one of his female relatives in the foot when she tried to interfere with the kidnapping. As’ad, originally from al-Basrah, had left the city, driven out by the sectarian terror practiced by Shi’i gangs and the US installed regime against Sunnis in the southern part of the country. As’ad had come back to al-Basrah just to complete the necessary procedures involved in his transfer from a local university to al-Mawsil University, where his family now lives. Evidently the Shi’i sectarian militias, which collaborate with the US occupation and the American-backed puppet regime, monitor the movements of Sunnis coming and going from the predominantly Shi’i area…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=36842