April 15, 2008: 2 Marines, 125 Iraqis Killed; 166 Iraqis Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
The country was rocked by several car bombs as clashes resumed in Sadr City. At least 125 Iraqis were killed and 166 were wounded in the elevated violence. Also, two Marines were killed during combat operations in Anbar Province. In Baquba, as many as 53 were killed and at least 70 more were wounded during a car bombing near the courthouse…

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Free the Iraqi Sheikh Mazhar Al-Kharbit
Suzanne Esmat
The Sheikh Mazhar Al-Kharbit is one of the biggest sheikhs of Al-Anbar tribes , west of Baghdad & most opposant to the USA Occupation of Iraq , he left for Lebanon as he was hunted & tracked by the occupation . The Lebanon government decided to deliver him to the occupation , then after so many efforts they cancelled this decision , but even though he was declared a political refugee by the high commissioner of refugees , & without any legal reason he is still kept under custody in Lebanon .He gave a promise to leave Beirut at once , as soon as he’s released in order to save & relief the government from any embarrassement , but they kept him in prison & still untill now . A few days ago he started a hunger strike which is jeapordysing his life for the moment & he was transferred to the Intensive care as he’s in a critical condition…

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Why Zionism-Nazism comparisons are legitimate
Comment by Khalid Amayreh, Desertpeace
I strongly believe that Jews around the world, including those in Israel , ought to be constantly reminded of the evil crimes committed in Palestine under their collective name, as well as understand the close ideological similarity between Nazism and Zionism. This, I believe, is a legitimate tool to get Jews, especially those who still value justice and honesty, to reconsider their identification and infatuation with this evil entity and its equally nefarious ideology and actions….

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Kurds snatch new concessions on oil and militias
Kareem Zair, Azzaman
Iraqi Kurds have won two major concessions from the central government in Baghdad one on oil and the second on the state of their militias known locally as Peshmerga. Regarding oil, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to give the Kurdish regional administration in the north the right to sign oil development deals on its own. This is one of the biggest concessions the government makes for the Kurds and meets one of their long-standing and most important demands, analysts say….

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Area C strikes fear into the heart of Palestinians as homes are destroyed
Israelis defend rules that reject 94% of non-Jewish building applications
Rory McCarthy, The Guardian
In the end it came down to a single-page letter, written in Hebrew and Arabic and hand-delivered by an Israeli army officer who knocked at the front door. The letter spelt the imminent destruction of the whitewashed three-storey home and small, tree-lined garden that Bassam Suleiman spent so long saving for and then built with his family a decade ago. It was a final demolition order, with instructions to evacuate the house within three days. If Suleiman was in any doubt about the Israeli military’s intentions he had only to look outside his back door where large piles of rubble and broken concrete mark the remains of the seven of his neighbours’ houses that were demolished in the same way last year….

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.
In a dispatch posted at 8:41pm Baghdad time Tuesday evening, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that the US military had admitted that a bomb had exploded by a US military vehicle in northeastern Baghdad,…

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Iraq War Costs Skyrocketing, But Congress Unable To Scrutinize Spending
Jason Leopold
Nearly all of the $516 billion allocated by Congress to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has come in the form of emergency spending requests, a method the White House has abused, depriving Congress the ability to scrutinize how the Pentagon spends money in the so-called global war on terror. The use of emergency supplemental bills to fund the wars has likely resulted in the waste of billions of taxpayer dollars, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office….

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A Gaza Diary: Nakba for Me
Najwa Sheikh, PalestineChronicle.com
…As a third generation Palestinian, the Nakba to me is different in terms of the pain and suffering it holds. I am totally aware of the great loss that my grandparents, my parents have to experience when they fled from their homeland in 1948. I know how devastating it is to lose the place that gives you all the feelings of security, and the identity that tells who you really are. The pain that my grandparents held during the years of their life in the camp until they died with their only wish to see their home again is heart breaking. The dreams that my father holds on behalf of his parents, and his own dreams of returning back home, is also heart breaking. But for me, the Nabka is more than fleeing the homeland, and losing your identity. It is not having a single memory of the homeland that once was for your grandparents, and your parents. It is not having anything to tell your children, like the taste of your lands’ fruits, the smell of its sand, about stories and experiences with your people…

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Allam: Chalabi in Sadr City
Juan Cole, Informed Comment
The intrepid Hannah Allam of the McClatchy news service has more on the visit of Ahmad Chalabi to Sadr City to present his condolences to the slain Sadrist aide Nuri al-Riyadh, killed in Najaf last weekend . Highlights: ‘ Believe what you will about Chalabi being a has-been (or worse); precious few other Iraqi politicians can sail into Sadr City with foreigners in tow and receive ironclad guarantees of safety from the feared Mahdi Army. The militiamen greeted him with embraces, just a day after Sadr issued a statement that discouraged the targeting of Iraqis unless they have helped the occupation. You might wonder, as I do, how Chalabi, the onetime Pentagon darling who fell out of American graces, the man who ushered U.S. forces into Iraq, the secular intellectual with dubious associates around the globe, is able to preserve such close ties to the Shiite Islamist, anti-American Sadr movement…

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To Create Something from Nothing
The Making of a Palestinian State
MATS SVENSSON
Mavivi comes from South Africa and is for the first time in Gaza to speak with women’s organisations, students, civil servants and political fractions. For 18 years she was part of the struggle against apartheid. There are those who never understand despite having seen everything and having access to all knowledge. And there are those who only need a few hours to understand. Mavivi belongs to the second category. I saw when Mavivi cried for the first time. Mavivi had then been in Gaza for less than 24 hours. During a day, she had spoken to 30 representatives from several women’s organisations. She stands outside the hotel and looks out over the Mediterranean when she spontaneously exclaims, “South Africa was a picnic compared to the situation here.” 24 hours later, she cries openly for the second time. She has spoken with doctors, architects, teachers, everyone who tries to create a tolerable situation for the masses inhabiting the Gaza Strip…

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AMERICANS: THE FUCKING BUTCHERS
Malcom Lagauche
….My response will be attributed to the fact that some readers questioned my integrity, as well as slandered me in a public forum. It is not because the readers may have disagreed with me. I am writing this piece so I can assure anyone who read these responses that they are not true and I would not want anyone new to my writing to believe the allegations…Kiumars alleged that I never approached the issue of U.S. criminal activities, when in fact, it is the prime subject of my writing. In my own country, I have been called “un-American,” “terrorist sympathizer,” “anti-God” and many other not-so-nice designations. Some people have stated that I should be deported. These are not monikers given to people who do not write about U.S. criminal activity…

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Al-Sadr Tightens the Screws
Mark Kukis, Time
… On Monday Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said American troops operating at the edge of Sadr City in support of Iraqi troops would not press deeper into the area. That means any decisive push into the heart of the Mahdi Army stronghold in east Baghdad would be left to Iraqi security forces, which so far have been unable to deal any meaningful blows against the militia. The conflict in Sadr City remained stalemated Tuesday. There were no reports of serious fighting, but Iraqi government forces clung to their foothold in the area by manning checkpoints. “The city still under siege,” said Sadr City resident Ghofran al-Saidi, a member of parliament loyal to the cleric. “The Iraqi troops stopped me twice from going out although I told them who I am.” Sadr’s political power appears to be growing even as the crisis wears on. A new report by Refugees International says the Mahdi Army ranks are swelling with new recruits drawn from internally displaced people who’ve gotten aid from the militia…

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Shame on Arab Petrodollars
Kahlid Amayreh, Peacepalestine
Is Arab oil more precious than Arab blood? This is a question that many Palestinians are asking these days in light of the oil-rich Arab states’ reluctance to help the Palestinians withstand the most ferocious onslaught ever being waged by Zionism against the Palestinian people’s very existence. Today, four Arab states, (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar) produce nearly 20 million barrels of crude oil per day. Translated into dollars, these four states alone make more than $2 billion dollars per day, or $60 billion a month, nearly $720 billion a year. Now how much of this colossal amount of money goes to prop up Palestinian steadfastness in the face of diabolical Zionism, which seeks to occupy, enslave and probably annihilate Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East and beyond?…

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Gen.Petraeus & Crocker’s Washington Show is a Damp Squib
K Gajendra Singh
…Remember George Bush had declared ‘Mission accomplished’ in 2003 itself , but now General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker define victory as ‘sustainable security’ in Iraq after the so called ‘success’ of the ‘Surge’. But both former Secretary of State Gen (Retd) Colin Powell and Gen Richard Cody ,US Army’s vice chief of staff, said last week that current troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan are unsustainable and are damaging America’s readiness to meet other security threats. And that’s not all that’s unsustainable. An ailing economy can’t keep floating the war’s $3-billion-a-week cost. A Republican president intent on staying the Bush course will find his vetoes unsustainable after the Democrats increase their majorities in Congress in November. No war can be fought indefinitely if the public has irrevocably turned against it as the US polls indicate….

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Stealing history
Iraq museum still feels loss of 2003 looting
Pamela H. Sacks TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Dr. George, as he is known in the United States, was the general director of Iraq’s National Museum when it was ransacked in April 2003 as American forces took Baghdad and did not act to stop the looting. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the catastrophe with the flippant remark, “Stuff happens.” Dr. George stayed on for three years, working to safeguard the museum’s irreplaceable antiquities from further depredations and watch over his country’s 12,500 archaeological sites. As a Christian, he was increasingly in danger. Just going to work and back took considerable courage. “I would never know if I would make it,” Dr. George said. “I used to change cars, routes and the timing.” Then two years ago, Dr. George’s son, who was 17 at the time, received a letter containing a death threat and a bullet. Dr. George, his wife and their three children fled to Syria. Later, the family moved to New York when the State University of New York at Stony Brook offered the world-famous archaeologist a position on staff. The Youkhanas settled into a modest house on Long Island, and Dr. George now teaches Mesopotamian and modern Iraqi history. “Every semester I have between 60 and 80 in a class – sometimes more,” he said. Yet it is the situation in present-day Iraq that consumes Dr. George’s waking hours. He is anxious about the museum, which is closed, and the archaeological sites, from which artifacts continue to be stolen. And he wo! rries ab out his friends and colleagues…

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Iran willing to expand defensive ties with Iraq
ISNA -Iran
Iran’s defense ministry intends to expand its defensive and security-related ties with regional countries particularly Iraq within the Islamic Republic of Iran’s diplomacy framework, announced defense minister Brigadier General Mustafa Mohammad Najar. Iran’s efforts regarding Iraq situation were en route to establishing security and stability and supporting its legal government, he noted. He called US officials desperate and confused in Iraq and went on to ask why does Washington keep applying for talks with Tehran if Iran’s role in Iraq is destructive?…

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Differences emerge in US and Iraqi strategies for al-Sadr
ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
Differences have emerged between the U.S. and Iraq on how to deal with Shiite militant Muqtada al-Sadr, with the Americans appearing more willing than the Shiite-led government to concede a legitimate political role to the anti-U.S. cleric. The gap appeared after fighting broke out last month between Iraqi forces and al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in Basra. Clashes quickly spread to Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are still confronting Shiite militiamen in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City. Throughout the fighting, U.S. commanders have avoided publicly identifying al-Sadr or his Mahdi Army as their adversary, instead referring to the Shiite militants as “special groups” or simply “criminals.” Moreover, top American officials have left the door open for al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, to maintain a significant role in Iraqi politics…While the Americans were speaking of a possible role for al-Sadr, al-Maliki was lining up political support among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties for a major showdown with the cleric — aimed at eliminating the Sadrists as a political force in the Shiite heartland of southern Iraq….

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Kurds snatch new concessions on oil and militias
Kareem Zair, Azzaman
Iraqi Kurds have won two major concessions from the central government in Baghdad one on oil and the second on the state of their militias known locally as Peshmerga. Regarding oil, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to give the Kurdish regional administration in the north the right to sign oil development deals on its own. This is one of the biggest concessions the government makes for the Kurds and meets one of their long-standing and most important demands, analysts say….

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Bush’s Torture Quote Undercuts Denial
Jason Leopold
President George W. Bush’s comment to ABC News – that he approved discussions that his top aides held about harsh interrogation techniques – adds credence to claims from senior FBI agents in Iraq in 2004 that Bush had signed an Executive Order approving the use of military dogs, sleep deprivation and other tactics to intimidate Iraqi detainees. When the American Civil Liberties Union released the FBI e-mail in December 2004 – after obtaining it through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit – the White House emphatically denied that any such presidential Executive Order existed, calling the unnamed FBI official who wrote the e-mail “mistaken.”….

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Nakba for the third generation
Najwa Sheikh in Gaza, thepeoplesvoice.org
Few weeks and the Palestinian in all over the world will commemorate their Nakba (catastrophe), their loss of their homelands, of their identity, dignity and their life. Many countries and organizations that are interested in the Palestinian dilemma in the world will help in this commemoration, however, the Nakba for them is to speak about the sufferings and loss of a nation, to tell stories from those who witness the real event and fled from their homeland with one hope that one day they will return….

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British Elections 2008
Iraqi Solidarity News (Al-Thawra)
With the British elections coming up on May 1st, the ruling Labour Party is looking to loose thousands of seats across the United Kingdom, as people are hoping to be liberated from the reigns of Labour Party tyranny and Human Rights abuses. For those of you who grew up in Britain durring the 1980's, the above video is a song which you will remember and may want to send to friends and family, who may be contemplating voting for anyone in the Labour Party, an organisation whose actions have murdered one million Iraqi’s, left five million Iraqi children orphaned and whose actions have resulted in the murder of thousands of British citizens…

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Car Bombs Kill Nearly 60 in Iraq
KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
Car bombs ripped through crowded areas in Baghdad and former insurgent strongholds to the north and west of the capital on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people and breaking a recent lull in violence in the predominantly Sunni areas. The attacks were a deadly reminder of the threat posed by suspected Sunni insurgents even as clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces continued elsewhere. The first blast Tuesday occurred in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when a car parked in front of a restaurant exploded just before noon across the street from the central courthouse and other government offices…

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Iran ready to invest in Iraqi Kurdistan
IRNA
Islamic Republic of Iran is fully ready to invest in infrastructure projects in Iraqi Kurdistan. Speaking while inaugurating the official international border checkpoint of Tamarchin in Piranshahr, Mahabad, on Tuesday, secretary of Iran-Iraq Economic Development Headquarters observed that bilateral ties have increased after the collapse of the Saddam Hossein regime. “Both countries are determined to use the current opportunity to bolster relations,” Hassan Danaiefar said….

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NDC approves its withdrawal from Sunni IAF bloc-MP
Voices of Iraq
Iraqi lawmaker Khalaf al-Ulayan on Tuesday said his group, with majority approval, its withdrawal from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the largest Sunni parliamentary bloc, to stave off “sectarianism.” “All members of the National Dialogue Council (NDC) approved by majority to withdraw from the IAF, considering it one possible option,” MP Khalaf al-Ulayan told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). IAF, the biggest Sunni parliamentary bloc, consists of the Iraqi Islamic Party(IIP) led by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, the Congress of Iraq party led by Adnan al-Dulaimi, and the National Dialogue Council led by Khalaf al-Ulayan. He attributed the withdrawal of his group from the IAF “to escape from sectarian agglomeration and to join a structure based on national and non-sectarian lines.” “As long as the IIP is in the bloc, the IAF is accused of being sectarian,” the lawmaker noted, adding “we decided to withdraw in order to put an end to this excuse.” The Sunni statesman hinted that his group may consider “striking alliances with the National Dialogue Front, Fadhila party and the Sadrist Movement (loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr).”…

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Israeli Missiles Target Biet Lahia Residential Project
Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice
Before midnight on Monday,Israelis in warplanes launched ballistic missiles at the Biet Lahia residential project, some 100 m away from the homes of people I know for long.Ibrahim Muhamad Abu Olbaa 42, was killed and 4 other residents were injured seriously, they are all carried away by ambulances to Kamal Edwan hospital. In the morning on Tuesday, an Israeli death squad unit, supported by a number of bulldozers and armored vehicles, trespassed Palestinian territories in the eastern town of Al-Qarara in the northeastern parts of Khan-Younis City. Snipers took positions on roof tops of residential homes and other buildings, at this moment heavy shooting continues towards citizens in the town, and towards everything that is moving….

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NDC approves its withdrawal from Sunni IAF bloc-MP
Voices of Iraq
Iraqi lawmaker Khalaf al-Ulayan on Tuesday said his group, with majority approval, its withdrawal from the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the largest Sunni parliamentary bloc, to stave off “sectarianism.” “All members of the National Dialogue Council (NDC) approved by majority to withdraw from the IAF, considering it one possible option,” MP Khalaf al-Ulayan told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). IAF, the biggest Sunni parliamentary bloc, consists of the Iraqi Islamic Party(IIP) led by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, the Congress of Iraq party led by Adnan al-Dulaimi, and the National Dialogue Council led by Khalaf al-Ulayan. He attributed the withdrawal of his group from the IAF “to escape from sectarian agglomeration and to join a structure based on national and non-sectarian lines.” “As long as the IIP is in the bloc, the IAF is accused of being sectarian,” the lawmaker noted, adding “we decided to withdraw in order to put an end to this excuse.” The Sunni statesman hinted that his group may consider “striking alliances with the National Dialogue Front, Fadhila party and the Sadrist Movement (loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr).”…

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28 “criminals” and militants executed in Iraq’s Basra
DPA
Iraq has executed 28 criminals and members of militant groups in Basra, some 550 km south of the capital city, media reports said Monday. Abdul-Karim Khalaf of the interior ministry told the Iraqi al-Sabah newspaper that the ministry had Sunday carried out the executions of the 28 convicts ordered to be hanged the central criminal court. “The execution of such criminals is considered as a message to all criminals in Basra,” Khalaf was quoted as saying in al-Sabah. “The message says that law is above all and will not make any exceptions for any one involved in crimes,” he added. Iraqi officials told DPA that the executed criminals included militants of a Shia cult known as “Jund al-Samaa”. Members of the group are followers of Ahmed al-Yamani, who believed in the return of a hidden imam…

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