Coalition ‘cannot win’ in Iraq or Afghanistan
Graeme Dobell, ABC Online
One of Australia’s top defence experts says the United States-led coalition cannot win the conflicts in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Professor Hugh White, the head of Canberra’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, has told the ABC’s Correspondents Report the coalition will eventually abandon Afghanistan. He says the US cannot succeed in Iraq, but has no escape from the tragedy its invasion has created in the strategically important Gulf region….

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Christians leaving Basra despite decades of co-existence
Voices of Iraq
“From the tens of thousands of Christian families that used to live in Basra before 2003, only about five hundred remain in the southern city with their eyes on assistance coming from relatives living abroad,” Sami Basheer, a Christian from Basra said. Basra, a predominantly Shiite city in southern Iraq, once a secular city that dealt with people of all religious affiliation with tolerance, has since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 become a conservative society with Muslim extremists….

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Does Israel Feel Safer Tonight?
Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice
“Twenty-one-year-old Sabri Al Kurdi [Nael al Kurdi] became the most recent medical patient to die while waiting to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment this week. Al-Kurdi, who suffered from cancer, was denied permission from Israeli authorities to travel to Egypt for, where he was to be treated. Al-Kurdi was one of numerous patents to be denied or delayed by Israeli authorities for “security reasons.”

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Covering up corruption in Iraq
Adel Safty, Special to Gulf News
As if the calamities that befell Iraq courtesy of the Bush Administration were not enough, we now learn that the Bush administration is trying to cover up one of its many failures: its own assessment of the extent of corruption in Iraq, described by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In an official report, a copy of which was obtained by US Public Radio’s Corey Flintoff in Baghdad, US State Department investigators in Iraq said that the extent of corruption in the Iraqi government was such that the Iraqi government was not even capable of the most rudimentary enforcement of anti-corruption laws. The report was marked “sensitive but unclassified”….

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Iraqi soccer players said to be secretly seeking asylum
Wisam Mohammed, Reuters
Three Iraqi soccer players secretly left their team hotel in Australia hours after playing a weekend Olympic qualifying match and they plan to seek asylum, an Iraqi soccer official said on Sunday. Midfielder Ali Abbas, one of the heroes of Iraq’s stunning Asian Cup triumph in July, was among the three who planned to seek asylum in Australia, said Iraqi Football Association Assistant Secretary Tariq Ahmed. The other two players were identified as Ali Mansur and Ali Khadher….

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Iraq suicide attack kills three US soldiers
AFP
A suicide attack on Sunday killed three American soldiers during combat operations in the Iraqi city of Baquba, as US officials said violence in the country had dropped sharply. The US military in a statement said three soldiers were killed as a result of a “suicide vest attack” in the city of Baquba, the capital of the restive Diyala province, but gave no further details…

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Invaders and allies ignore Iraq’s humanitarian crisis
Haroon Siddiqui
…The humanitarian crisis in Iraq is the worst in the Middle East since 1948. Whereas there’s disagreement over the number of Iraqi dead since 2003 (between 75,000 to 1.2 million), there’s broad agreement over the number of Iraqi displaced: more than 2 million abroad and more than 2 million internally. The situation is only getting worse. The American troop surge that George W. Bush credits for lowering violence in Baghdad has, in fact, led to “a surge in refugees and displaced people elsewhere,” says Alastair Campbell, Middle East director of the British defence think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute (…) Shiites are still fleeing Sunni areas, and vice versa. Sunnis and Shiites are also fleeing their own sectarian neighbourhoods to escape inter-Sunni and inter-Shiite militia and gang warfare. Minorities are also vulnerable. The well-to-do among the 500,000-strong Christian community are being targeted for ransom. Yazidis, followers of an ancient sect, suffered a gruesome massacre in August. Small pockets of Roma and Turkmen are also being harassed. In addition, about 50,000 non-Iraqis whom Saddam Hussein had granted asylum are being targeted…

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Revenge from Iraqi journalist for filming dead US soldiers a year ago
Roads to Iraq
Aliraqnews reported that Iraqi journalists said that the American and Iraqi forces arrested the former journalist Sabah Al-Bazi in his work at the Bajji refinery and broke one of his hands. In a telephone conversation Al-Bazi said the reason was about a year ago he filmed a scene of dead American soldiers, added that the American troops stole fifty thousand dinars in cash from his wallet…

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IRAQ: Diyala desperately needs doctors
IRIN News
– A shortage of doctors in Diyala, a volatile province in eastern-central Iraq, has led to nurses having to take on many tasks and procedures for which they are not qualified, according to Diyala’s health department. “Patients are relying on nurses because there aren’t enough doctors to meet the demand. We know this is not right but what can we do when desperate people search for help or advice and there isn’t a doctor available,” said Adiba Nasuh, a nurse working at Baqubah General Hospital in the provincial capital….

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Rivalry between Iraqi Shiites at danger point
AFP
Rivalry between Iraq’s two main Shiite movements vying for power in the south of the country has hit danger point, sparking fears of violence ahead of the handover of Basra by British forces. An operation launched this weekend by Iraq’s security forces in Diwaniyah, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south Baghdad, against the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has spiked tension in the city. The security forces are largely controlled by the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), a fierce rival of Sadr despite the two movements having signed a peace pact in October….

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Report: Israel trying to ‘Judaize’ Temple Mount
Smadar Peri, YNet
Turkish mission sent to inspect Israeli excavations near temple Mount claims digs destroy Muslim character of site, Old City, says Israel fails to cooperate with Muslim Waqf. Foreign Minister responds: UNESCO report on digs disproves claims against Israel. The Israeli digs in the Temple Mount reflect disregard for Jerusalem’s cosmopolitan character, crudely violate international historical legacy laws and represent a pre-planned effort to destroy the Muslim nature of the holy site and the Old City, a report compiled by a Turkish mission sent to supervise the excavations claimed….

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U.S. Catholic Bishops “See No Evil” in the War Party
William Hughes, thepeoplesvoice.org
Baltimore, MD – They met in one of this city’s swankiest hotels. It’s a Marriott, located on the waterfront, just east of Harborplace, where the per diem rates begin at $260. I just can’t imagine Jesus and the Apostles hanging out at a place like that discussing their soul-awakening agenda. But, there they were—the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, all 220, in their expensive silk suits—holding their annual confab. I think they like the digs, since they were there last year, too. In a way, it is an appropriate site, since they are so much a part of the Establishment. A few of them enjoyed a $55 bottle of wine at a nearby eatery. In closing their proceedings, on Nov. 14, 2007, the clerics issued a few statements. However, there wasn’t one word of criticism that they directed specifically at the evil that is the Bush-Cheney Gang! ….

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IS CREATION OF A PALESTINIAN STATE ISRAEL’S NEW ‘FINAL SOLUTION?’
Desert Peace
As the Israeli government continues to push to the right as far as relations with the Palestinians go, I question the motives behind the following position taken by Israel’s Foreign Minister, that being the creation of a Palestinian State…. It appears that her reasoning would be to establish such a State so Israel has a place to send those Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship….. Somehow the word ‘transfer’ comes to mind, a concept held by the zionazis in the government, Herr Lieberman in particular…

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Iraqi Governor: GIs Opened Fire on Civilian Cars
Reuters
An Iraqi provincial governor accused U.S. troops of opening fire on civilian cars south of Baghdad on Sunday, wounding six people, and threatened to suspend ties with U.S. officials over the “brutal” attack. A U.S. military spokesman said no information was immediately available when contacted about the incident. Ahmed Marzok, governor of the southern Shi’ite province of Muthanna, said six people were wounded, including two policemen, in the attack near al-Rumaitha, north of the provincial capital of Samawa, 270 km (170 miles) south of Baghdad…

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Sectarian clashes claim 96 lives in Pakistan
Sify, India
At least 96 people had died in three days of sectarian clashes in northwest Pakistan, including troops sent to separate feuding Sunni and Shia tribesmen, the military said on Sunday. About 85 civilians were killed in exchange of fire with heavy weapons that erupted on Friday in the Kurram Agency area bordering Afghanistan, along with 11 members of the security forces, army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. Another 32 troops were wounded after taking fire from both the warring factions around the district’s main town of Parachinar, where about 60 people died in violence in April….

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Al-Quds Forum: the West back Israel’s crimes
Roads to Iraq
Stanly Cohen, An American lawyer and human rights activist, shade light on the American role in supporting the Israeli aggressions saying: for the last 60 years the United States has dealt with the Middle East as a chessboard. For the American administration, the good Arab and Muslim is the one who supports Israel, while the bad one is the one who resists Israel. Also, I am sure you don’t want to miss George Galloway’s interview: the Arabs have to withdraw from this farce in Annapolis. This farce is at best meaningless and at worst another festival of treason Which reflects the end statement of the forum: The United States has always been keen on supporting the occupation; providing justification for its crimes; selling out the Palestine Cause; serving the projects of internal division; and tearing apart Arab and Islamic coherence…

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Somalia: What the News Failed to Report
Ramzy Baroud
The people of Somalia are enduring yet another round of suffering as Ethiopian forces wreck havoc in the capital, Mogadishu. Apparently in response to an attack on one of its units, and the dragging of a soldier’s mutilated body through the city’s streets, an Ethiopian mortar reportedly exploded in Mogadishu’s Bakara market on November 9, killing eight civilians. A number of Somalis were also found dead the following day, some believed to have been rounded up by Ethiopian forces the night before….

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The U.S. Congress Legislates Genocide Of The Mind
Jeff Knaebel, ICH
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955, titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.
The full text is available at www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=110-1955. It was passed with 404 votes in favor. A close reading within an historical context – keeping especially in mind the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and Presidential Executive Orders, pursuant to which the government has engaged in massive surveillance of its own citizens, as well as detentions, extraordinary renditions, assassinations, and torture – leads me to the following conclusions: * This is a “Thought Crime” bill of the type so often discussed in an Orwellian context. * It specifically targets the civilian population of the United States. *It defines “Violent Radicalization” as promoting any belief system that the government considers to be extremist. · “Homegrown Terrorism” and “Violent Radicalization” are defined as thought crimes. * Since the bill does not provide a specific definition of extremist belief system, it will be whatever the government at any given time deems it to be….

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For Kurds, Iraq is a distant memory
Michel Moutot , AFP
In Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region the official line is clear: there is no question of declaring independence. But in the regional capital Arbil, Baghdad seems more distant each passing day. Bank notes, except where replaced by the US dollar, are the last refuge of the Iraqi flag.Everywhere else in this region of four million people, spared the violence which has ravaged the rest of Iraq, it is the Kurdish tricolour — green, white and red — which flies. Not a single road sign is in Arabic. “It is simple, for my students Iraq does not exist,” says Karim Kamar, professor in French at Salaheddin University….

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Saturday: 68 Iraqis Killed, 8 Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
At least 68 Iraqis were killed or found dead and eight more were wounded in the latest attacks. The toll includes a mass grave grave found in the capital. No Coalition casualties were reported. In Baghdad, a mass grave containing approximately 35 corpses, including those belonging to women and children, was found in the Doura district. Another six dumped bodies were recovered in other neighborhoods. No casualties were reported after a car bombing in the Shurta tunnel or after roadside bombs on Sadoun Street and at al-Jadiriyah Bridge. Two policemen were wounded during a roadside bombing at the Tayran Square. A huge fire, of unclear origin, erupted in the oil reserves south of the capital in Latifiya today…

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Muslim Charities: Denial of Due Process to Muslims Disgraces Us All
Katherine Hughes
Since the events of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Government has pursued its “war on terror” on two fronts. The obvious one is the military front, which has taken American soldiers to battle in places like Afghanistan and Iraq; less obvious is the financial front. The government has instituted a strategy of tracking and freezing money internationally as a way to stem the flow of the “terror-dollar” which it sees as the “lifeblood” of terrorist operations..

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