Because everyone seems to have forgotten, I want to remind you that Iraq has a refugee crisis
Blue Girl
We haven’t heard much about the Iraqis who have been displaced by the war lately, but that doesn’t mean that they all went home and resumed their normal lives as soon as the media stopped talking about them. Not even close. The fact still remains that five million Iraqis have been displaced as a result of the invasion and occupation of their country, and the chaos that action has wrought. Five million people. That number represents approximately 20% of the prewar population of the country…Well, Mission accomplished. If the mission was to turn Iraq into Palestine, displace one-in-five Iraqis from their homes, send the professional and middle classes into diaspora and ethnically cleanse and ghettoize the cities, it has been accomplished in trump…

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RE-CONQUERING AFRICA
Malcom Lagauche
In February 1990, Saddam Hussein, at a summit in Amman, Jordan, told the Arab world: The country that exerts the greatest influence on the Gulf and its oil, will consolidate its superiority as an unrivaled superpower. This proves that if the population of the Gulf — and of the entire Arab world — is not vigilant, this area will be ruled according to the wishes of the United States. Nowadays, Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, is sounding a lot like Saddam. He is warning the Africans that Western powers, mainly the U.S. and Britain, are in the process of re-conquering Africa. He saw the signs a few years ago…

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Inside Al-Hawza
Roads to Iraq
Something people need to know; Sistani and other Ayatollahs’ images of humble old men dedicated their lives to fulfill their “duty to God” and serve the Shiite community, is totally misleading. In reality they are multi-millionaires, Hawza-barons with turbans, make enormous amounts of money from [Al-Kumus and the supreme-cleric-share]….

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Tutu Shocked by Palestinian Suffering
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu stressed on Wednesday, May 28, that the UN fact-finding team has been “devastated” by stories from the survivors of a 2006 Israeli bombing that killed 19 civilians in Gaza. “We wanted to say that we are quite devastated. This is not something you want to wish on your worst enemy,” said Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town…

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Reflection on Sami al-Haj
Susan Crane/Witness Against Torture
Sami al-Haj is a native of the Sudan — a journalist. In December 2001, he was on assignment as a cameraman for Al Jazeera covering the war in Afghanistan. He was arrested on the Pakistan border. He was among the first “enemy combatants” brought to Guantanamo who have made that name synonymous with torture, indefinite detention and shame-filled lawlessness, He was held (and tortured) for six years without charges, without semblance of due process, all that time being told he will never leave, he will never again see his family, all that time seeing his companions in torment and despair…

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The Stockholm Conference and Conditionality in Iraq
Reidar Visser (www.historiae.org)
…Moreover, despite a façade of rhetorical disagreement in the US policy debate, both Democrats and Republicans are in practice giving in to Iran when it comes to Iraq. The Bush administration has chosen to promote Tehran’s friends in ISCI; the Democrats, for their part, insist on a narrative of an “irreversible Iranian victory in Iraq due to the follies of the 2003 invasion”, where, it is maintained, a certain level of Iranian influence must simply be accepted as a given. And because the rest of the world is doing precious little to influence these patterns, the nationalist majority of Iraqis – Shiites and Sunnis who want no role for Iran in Iraq whatsoever and who consider tripartite division an “Iranian plot” – are left with no outside support….

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Where Is the Outrage?
Robert Scheer
Are we Americans truly savages or merely tone-deaf in matters of morality, and therefore more guilty of terminal indifference than venality? It’s a question demanding an answer in response to the publication of the detailed 370-page report on U.S. complicity in torture, issued last week by the Justice Department’s inspector general. Because the report was widely cited in the media and easily accessed as a pdf file on the Internet, it is fair to assume that those of our citizens who remain ignorant of the extent of their government’s commitment to torture as an official policy have made a choice not to be informed…

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Taliban Shadow Governments
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
The ousted Taliban is gaining grounds in districts near the capital Kabul and acting as an alternative to the weak West-backed government, while winning hundreds of sympathizers inside Afghanistan’s biggest educational institution. “The shadow governments that they attempt to form are more worrying than insurgent violence,” one Western military source told the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, May 27….Taliban is not only forming alternative authorities in areas under its control, but is also winning the hearts and minds of hundreds of students in Kabul University, the country’s most prestigious educational institution and its largest with 12,000 students. “At the time of the Taliban there was security and basic justice and prices were not as high as now,” Abdul, 21-year-old law undergraduate, told The Times. “There also was not as much corruption. Lots of aid money comes to Afghanistan and disappears. We want to liberate our country, to remove these authorities and do something for the people.”…

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May 28, 2008: 31 Iraqis Killed, 24 Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
Clashes reignited in Sadr City on an otherwise quiet day. At least 31 Iraqis were killed and 24 more were wounded in the latest violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, the main Sunni political bloc has suspended talks to rejoin the Shi’ite government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In Baghdad, four dumped bodies were discovered in Ubaidi. Another four bodies were found in other areas. At the Diyala Bridge, six people were wounded. No casualties were reported after mortars struck a ministry building. Ten special groups gunmen were killed and one more was wounded during clashes in eastern Baghdad….

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Arresting John Bolton
George Monbiot
On Wednesday 28th May 2008, I will attempt a citizen’s arrest of John Robert Bolton, former Under-Secretary of State, US State Department, for the crime of aggression, as established by customary international law and described by Nuremberg Principles VI and VII. These state the following: “Principle VI
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:(a) Crimes against peace:(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i)…

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Basra’s population surges as migration from countryside continues
Abed Battat, Azzaman
Basra’s population is surging at a rate that makes provision of essential services extremely difficult, Basra’s governor said. “Basra’s population is exploding and the city is seeing major demographic transformations,” the Governor Mohammed al-Waili said. According to the last census conducted in 200, Basra’s population was less than 2.5 million. “We have now exceeded three million people mainly due to the influx from the countryside,” Waili said…

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Opium for the Masses
Who is the Enemy in Afghanistan?
ERIC WALBERG
…The facts speak for themselves, however. The Taleban wiped out heroin production entirely by 2001. Three years later, there were once again bumper opium crops, accounting for over half Afghanistan’s GNP, and ninety percent of the world’s heroin. And not only turning a blind eye, but actively engaging in drug smuggling, according to many observers, including Russian Ambassador Zamir Kabulov…

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PETITION! Lift Travel Restrictions on Palestinian Journalist
Mary Rizzo, Palestine Think Tank
To: Israeli and Palestinian Authorities -Palestinian journalist Khalid Amayreh, who lives in the West Bank, has been invited to attend a media conference in Germany. As required, he set about to request all of the necessary travel documents, including a visa that needs to be granted from the German representative office in Ramallah. After routine questioning regarding his political affiliations, it was not only determined that he was not a member of any party, nor formally associated with any organisation, but it was clear that he had never been arrested or detained by Israeli authorities. Mr Amayreh was granted an entry visa to Germany. However, the Israeli military authorities have refused to give him a permit to leave the West Bank. No Palestinian can travel abroad without receiving such a permit beforehand, otherwise he or she would be turned back once arriving at the Israeli-controlled border terminal at the Allenby Bridge…

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Arab resident of Nazareth to be imprisoned for defending the Basilica of Annunciation Church
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC
Arab member of Knesset, Wasel Taha, slammed an Israeli court decision to imprison an Arab resident of Nazareth for defending the Basilica of Annunciation Church in the city after in came under attack by an extremist Israeli couple. Jeffry Abu Sinna was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for participating in defending the church which was attacked by Odilia Habibi and his wife who hurled fire crackers and gas bombs at the church setting part of it on fire…

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Two-month-old infant dies due to Gaza siege
Palestinian Information Center
A two-month-old Palestinian baby and a 20-year-old youth died in Gaza on Wednesday as a result of the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza Strip that blocks entry of proper medication and bans travel for treatment. Medical sources said that the infant Bashir Himmo and Jihad Ali, 20, who suffered cancer, died as a result of lack of proper medication and the travel ban…

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“Surreal Coincidences”
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
…Iraq where the clear cut Iranian-American deal is on the table. All Iraqis know it and see it, except you. Another little show of force and a few barks here and there, and they will both rush to another Doha table. I guess you can call that another “surreal coincidence” in the making… And further down the line, expect more of the Iraqi “experiment” to take place where there are Shia minorities —in particular Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan. Bahrain and Kuwait have already sold it to both — the U.S and Iran…

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An Immemorial Day for the progressive media
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat’s Dream
Four among the most prestigious US progressive media outlets (CommonDreams, CounterPunch, TruthOut and ZNet) published on Memorial Day (26-5-’08) an article titled “War Immemorial Day – No Peace for Militarized U.S.” penned by Bill Quigley. One paragraph in particular got my attention: 2003 to present Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom. 4082 U.S. military killed. British medical journal Lancet estimates over 90,000 civilian deaths. Iraq Body Count estimates over 84,000 civilians killed. On May 27, I spent much time writing emails to the article’s author and to the editors of CommonDreams, CounterPunch, TruthOut and ZNet as well as to other writers, intellectuals and activists. You may read the full correspondence on my blog, Giant mistakes on CounterPunch AND CommonDreams AND TruthOut AND ZNet RE: Iraq war death toll, Lancet and IBC. Following are the changes those progressive media made (or didn’t make) to the original paragrap…

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Iraq’s main Sunni bloc suspends government talks
Wisam Mohammed, Reuters
Iraq’s main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shi’ite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over a cabinet post. Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of U.S. policy in Iraq and is widely seen as a vital step in reconciling the country’s factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a cabinet dominated by Shi’ites and Kurds…

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The Unforgotten City and its Forgotten Suffering
Reham Alhelsi. Palestine Think Tank
Jerusalem, the holy city, a city once the religious, social and economic center of the Palestinians for thousands of years, has turned into a ghost city under Israeli occupation. Moslems, Christians and Jews lived peacefully here until the Zionists started implementing their plans of establishing a Zionist state in Palestine. A city that was open throughout the centuries has become a closed city under the rule of what Bush and others call “the only democracy in the Middle East”! In what other country in the world is the original Moslem and Christian population prevented from living in their own city and reaching their holy places?…

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Iran plays positive role in preparing Iraq conference: Sweden
AFP
Iran has played a positive role in preparations for a conference on Iraq here this week at which it was hoped US and Iranian delegates could hold bilateral talks, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Wednesday on the eve of the meeting. “In so far as they have been involved, yes, their role has been positive,” said Bildt of the Iranians. Sweden is organising the first follow-up meeting, starting in Stockholm Thursday, of the so-called International Compact with Iraq (ICI) drawing some 100 delegations. “On the bilateral dialogue with Iran, (when) we’ve talked to Iranian diplomatic representatives, we find that the policies they present are constructive ones,” the minister told AFP…Washington and Tehran will each have large delegations present, and “they are interested in talking to each other, I know that,” he said…

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Deal Imminent between Israel and Hezbollah
Ulrike Putz, SpiegelOnLine
…According to the well-informed Israeli army radio, Israel has said it is willing to hand over five Lebanese prisoners for the return of Goldwasser and Regev. Israel would also be willing to release the bodies of 10 Hezbollah fighters, it added. The low numbers of prisoners being mentioned in the deal has raised eyebrows in Israel. Many take it to mean that the two soldiers are no longer alive….

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Palestinian President meets with Hamas government leaders
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC News
In a meeting that could re-start stalled national unity talks between the two main Palestinian political parties, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (with the Fateh party) met with leaders from the rival Hamas party on Monday. According to the Palestinian news agency Ma’an, the Hamas delegation consisted of former Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Addin Ash-Sha’ir, Sheikh Hamid Al-Beitawi and Samir Abu ‘Eisha. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, confirmed a meeting between Abbas and Sheikh Hamid Al-Beitawi. Al-Beitawi is a Palestinian lawmaker who was, until recently, imprisoned by Israeli forces in an Israeli detention camp…

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Post-traumatic stress soars in U.S. troops in 2007
David Morgan, Reuters
Newly diagnosed cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan surged 46.4 percent in 2007, bringing the five-year total to more than 38,000, according to U.S. military data released on Tuesday. The statistics, released by the Army, showed the number of new PTSD cases formally diagnosed at U.S. military facilities climbed to 13,981 last year from 9,549 in 2006…

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Red Cross: Denying visits to detained relatives worsens suffering of Gaza people
Palestinian Information Center
The International Committee of the Red Cross has called on the Hebrew state to allow Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to visit their detained relatives in its jails, which had been suspended for almost a year after Hamas’s takeover of Gaza. The head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied (Palestinian) territories Christoph Harnisch said in a statement on Monday that despite his acknowledgement of Israeli security fears yet such fears do not alone justify the complete suspension of family visitation to those detainees. The Israeli siege on Gaza for almost a year blocked the visitation of families of 700 Gazans who are held in Israeli occupation jails…

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Salam Fayyad’s cynical party
Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada
The Palestine Investment Conference held from 21 until 23 May in Bethlehem has incited broad resistance from Palestinian popular organizations. In his invitation to investors appointed Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad wrote, “We are throwing a party and the whole world is invited.” The organizers performed a tour de force by putting “Revitalizing Gaza” on the agenda of the conference, explicitly excluding a debate on political issues. It is obvious that ordinary Palestinians, who are battling every day with the endless rigorous Israeli occupation, will find it hard to relate to this “festive occasion” heavily advocated by the Quartet and its Middle East envoy, Tony Blair, the Portland Trust and various other donors. For the occasion the (PA) deployed 2,000 security personnel in Bethlehem during the conference…

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Iraqis losing patience with militiamen
Tina Susman and Usama Redha, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
Four summers ago, when militiamen loyal to hard-line Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr were battling U.S. forces in the holy city of Najaf, Mohammed Lami was among them. “I had faith. I believed in something,” Lami said of his days hoisting a gun for Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia. “Now, I will never fight with them.”…

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Aid shortage to hit Iraqi refugees
Suha Philip Ma’ayeh
The queue at the aid distribution centre in Zarqa backs out onto the street, where Narjas Assem waits impatiently for a food package, along with dozens of impoverished Iraqi families who arrive at the centre in north-western Jordan in droves at the end of each month. After a long wait, Mrs Assem, a mother of three, shows the volunteers her UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) card, signalling her status as a refugee, and is handed a brown box containing a sack of rice, sugar, milk, lentils, tins of tuna and other basic food items…The vast majority of refugees in Syria and Jordan depend on medical, food and financial assistance…But that could all change as the UNHCR, facing a shortage in funding, said this month that many of its assistance programmes run the risk of closure. In January, the UNHCR appealed for US$261 million for its operations on behalf of some of the 4.7 million people uprooted by the conflict in Iraq, but so far it has received only US$134m. It is feared the downsizing of distribution programmes in both countries will lead to widespread malnutrition…

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Lebanon’s Deal Hints at New Regional Accord
Osama Al Sharif
It was a spectacular event verging on the surreal. The historic session by the Lebanese Parliament to elect the country’s 12th president on Sunday brought together rivals and enemies, friends and allies and not only on the floor of the legislature. Up in the balconies, representatives of countries that had jockeyed for power and influence in Lebanon sat close to each other in the crowded chamber and watched the inauguration of army chief, Gen. Michel Suleiman, as head of state…A Hezbollah representative said in Doha that “the whole world was negotiating with us!” Indeed, the presence of such a highly mixed group of regional and Western officials and representatives underlines the valuable stake that each and everyone have in today’s Lebanon…Theories began to surface as fast as the ink began to dry on the Doha agreement. The success and role of Qatar drew attention. The backing of Iran and Syria to the deal was seen as a diplomatic triumph for both. The fact that the United States lauded the agreement launched regional and international punditry into a heated debate. What does this all mean?…

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Barzani’s connection to Al-Qaeda in Mosul
Roads to Iraq
I reported few days ago that Al-Qaeda in Mosul is the creation of the Kurdish officials in Barzani’s PDK, Al-Akhbar gives a full details of this connection [interesting you can’t find this in the western media]: Confessions of the detainees revealed that the death-squad group is connected to the Kurdish officials in Mosul province. The government tried to keep this information confidential after Barzani’s request but security forces leaked the information….

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May 27, 2008: 1 US Soldier, 37 Iraqis Killed; 83 Iraqis Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
At least 37 Iraqis were killed and 83 more were wounded in the latest attacks. One incident involved Iranian soldiers at the border. One American soldier was killed and two were wounded in a roadside bombing near Diwaniya on Sunday. Also, Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called for weekly protests against the U.S.-Iraqi security deal. A car bomb blew up in a Tal Afar marketplace, killing four people and wounding 46 more…

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