:: information from occupied iraq

VIDEO Iraq: The Doctor, the Depleted Uranium and The Dying Children
ÖKOMEDIA
An award winning documentary film produced for German television by Freider Wagner and Valentin Thurn. The film exposes the use and impact of radioactive weapons during the current war against Iraq. The story is told by citizens of many nations. It opens with comments by two British veterans, Kenny Duncan and Jenny Moore, describing their exposure to radioactive, so-called depleted uranium (DU), weapons and the congenital abnormalities of their children. Dr. Siegwart-Horst Gunther, a former colleague of Albert Schweitzer, and Tedd Weyman of the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC) traveled to Iraq, from Germany and Canada respectively, to assess uranium contamination in Iraq…

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Politics: The only Game in Town
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
…Maliki with his three day beard and 100000 rings silver rings from Qum on his fingers, landed in Tehran, kissing and hugging. He went there to comfort and alleviate Iranian insecurities about the American long term presence in Iraq.
Of course the Iranians are worried because they would like to have Iraq for themselves alone. So he’s trying his best to assuage their fears and reassure them that he and the other Shias in Iraq (those coopted by Iran, of course) will do their best so Iran can remain their preferred Occupier…

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WHO: The flow of untreated sewage to the sea will spread epidemics in Gaza
Palestinian Information Center
A report issued by the world health organization (WHO) warned that the increasing flow of untreated sewage from the Gaza Strip to the Mediterranean Sea would spread deadly diseases and epidemics among the Palestinian citizens who visit beaches especially for recreation in the summer. The sewage treatment plant in Gaza is not working properly due to the lack of steady electricity supply, Israel’s restrictions on fuel imports and the ban on the import of materials and necessary spare parts.,,

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Report: Israel to conquer Gaza, transfer control to PA
Ynet
The London newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to renew talks with Hamas after discovering that Israel has decided to re-conquer the Gaza Strip. According to the report, Abbas is attempting to nip the operation in the bud by holding negotiations with Hamas. Palestinian sources told the paper that after conquering Gaza, Israel will slowly transfer control over the Strip back to the Palestinians…

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Al Nakba (The Catastrophe). Ethnic Cleansing: How Palestine Became Israel
Axis of Logic
This is not only an article for reading on-line, it is also a 3-fold brochure, prepared by If Americans Knew (IAK). You can go to IAK and order the 3-fold brochure on line for a tiny fee of $5 for 50 copies which barely pays the costs, and you can print it out on-line. IAK offers even lower rates if you write to them or call and ask. At Axis of Logic, we believe this is an important flyer that should be distributed by all those who oppose the Zionist occupation of Palestine and care about the Palestinian people. You can obtain this brochure in bulk and learn more about the history of Israel’s genocide in Palestine by going to If Americans Knew. We want to encourage everyone to participate in this project….

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Iraq’s Christian cultural heritage belongs to all, let us save it!
Archbishop Louis Sako
Kirkuk’s Chaldean archbishop appeals to UNESCO. The Christian exodus from Iraq jeopardises the survival of churches and manuscripts found nowhere else in the world. The United Nations and the international community should do something. The exodus that is emptying Iraq of its two-thousand-year-old Christian community could wipe out its rich cultural heritage which has survived for centuries in this land. If emigration continues at the present rate in just a few years not only will the country be deprived of one the oldest components of its population but the world will lose a great legacy. What will happen to very ancient churches and monasteries like the Church of Koche on the outskirts of Baghdad, Tahira, Mar Isaiyia, Miskenta, St Thomas, Marhudeini, the Monastery of St Michael in Mosul and Kirkuk’s Red Church (all dating back to between the 5th and the 7th centuries AD)? What will happen to ancient manuscripts and a language—Aramaic—unknown to the rest of the world, if those who have always guaranteed its life and conservation disappear?…

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IDF troops fire tear gas at EU dignitaries during W. Bank protest
Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
The vice president of the European parliament, an Italian judge and a
Northern Irish Nobel Peace prize laureate were among the five people injured at Friday’s weekly demonstration in Bil’in against the separation fence. The three dignitaries – Giulio Toscano, Luisa Morgantini and Mairead Corrigan Maguire – were visiting the Palestinian village as part of a three-day international conference on non-violent resistance, which ended Friday…

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Mass grave found in Baghdad
Voices of Iraq
Iraqi policemen uncovered on Saturday a mass grave at one of the former Iraqi army’s camps in al-Wihda district, southern Baghdad, with a number of unidentified bodies yet to be counted, a security source said. “A report by a shepherd in al-Wihda led policemen in the district to unearth a mass grave with several unidentified bodies in the Bismaya camp of the former Iraqi army,” the source, who asked not to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI)..

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Resistance rally in Mosul – Video
Roads to Iraq
According to assafir journalist Ali Al-Hajj Yusuf reporting from Iran says that Iranian sources told him that “Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki will face heard harsh critics because of his position to sign a security agreement with the Americans, just like they criticized Al-Hakim few days ago when he visited Iran…

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Palestinian Rivals Step Towards Reducing Rift
Nora Barrows-Friedman
In the early hours of Friday morning, Israeli warplanes targeted a Hamas-run security post in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, injuring 29 Palestinian civilians, according to Gaza medical sources. In the Eastern Gaza City neighbourhood of al-Shuja’iya, a 27-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli special forces during another invasion. As the Israeli military invasions and attacks continue unabated in the occupied Gaza strip, movement towards a so-called Palestinian national unity government seem possible, according to local politicians. On Thursday, Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Prime Minister Ismayil Haniyeh of the Hamas party extended an open invitation to PNA President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that Hamas’s hand “reached out” to the Fatah party to hold talks on national dialogue, reconciliation and political unity…

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Blackwater’s Private Spies
Jeremy Scahill, The Nation
This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company’s shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman’s ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in. In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for “protective services” in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Blackwater’s Iraq contract was extended in April, but the company is by no means betting the house on its long-term presence there….

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AMERICANS MUST SEE THIS ~~ THEY PAID FOR IT
Desertpeace
This is what remained from the 8 years old Palestinian girl, Aya Al-Najjar, after being hit by an “Israeli” missile which “mistaken” its target during an air strike on a house in southern Gaza Strip. Caution: Some of the photos are too graphic… But if you BLINDLY think that Israel is defending itself by such crimes, then you shouldn’t have a problem looking at the photos; I wouldn’t expect you to have a heart that will feel these graphic photos!…

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Iraq’s Maliki says wants stronger ties with Iran
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday that Iraq wanted to strengthen ties with Iran, a news agency reported. Maliki arrived in Tehran on Saturday evening for a three-day visit. Iran is accused by the United States of supporting Shi’ite militias in Iraq. “All groups … in Iraq emphasise strengthening ties with Iran in all fields,” state broadcaster’s Web site IRIB quoted Maliki as saying after a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. “We will not allow Iraq to become a place (used) for harming Iran’s … security.” Maliki is scheduled to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, according to Iranian media, and he last travelled to the Islamic state in August…

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McCain calls for moving U.S. embassy to Jerusalem
Haaretz Service
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on Friday said that he believes the American embassy in Israel should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is undivided, Jerusalem is the capital and we should move the embassy to Jerusalem before anything happens,” McCain said while campaigning in Miami…

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YOU MUST ACT NOW TO STOP THE HOLOCAUST IN GAZA … TIME IS RUNNING OUT
Desertpeace
The forces of evil are at work plotting their course to put into action the ‘final solution’ regarding the Gaza Strip. The world must not wait for this to happen…. ISRAEL MUST BE STOPPED NOW! There are a million and a half lives at stake…. lives that will be destroyed if this present holocaust is permitted to continue. Contact your government officials NOW! Contact the Israeli Embassy in your country NOW!
Demand that this genocide end NOW! Your silence is as powerful as the bombs used by Israel! Your protest can be more powerful!…

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The Occupation and the Politics of Death
The Land, Not the People
NEVE GORDON
…The occupation’s guiding principle has consequently produced the very conditions that are now impeding a peace agreement based on the two-state solution. Recognizing the full ramifications of this principle is crucial since it allows us to see beyond the smoke screen of political proclamations and statements, and to improve our understanding of why the acrimonious conflict has developed in the way that it has. Just as importantly, the principle sheds light on how the conflict can be resolved, since the key to reaching a just and peaceful solution involves reuniting the Palestinian people and their land and offering them full sovereignty over the land. So long as the guiding principle is ignored, blood will continue to be spilled….

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Patagonia belongs to the Jews?
Kawther Salam, Palestine Think Tank
Yehuda Ben Tzion Lichtenberg writes a long and pathetic rant full of spite. He appears to have become very angry by an article about Patagonia which I wrote some years ago. If what he says is true, then truly the avarice of the zionists knows no limit. Judge by yourself, and if you don’t believe this, just write Yehuda and ask him how are things. Readers from Chile and Argentina may be interested in this rant from Yehuda, who is apparently the integrant of the Nahal Haredi unit of the IDF, a batallion under the control of religious extremists, and because of his anger, he appears to have become careless with the inner secrets of his sect. That Patagonia is somehow a “planned acquisition” for zionist Jews has been suspected for a long time. Does Yehuda confirm these suspicions in his careless rant? Judge by yourself….

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U.S. rejects Mofaz comments on ‘unavoidable’ Iran strike
Reuters
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Friday that the United States was committed to solving the Iranian nuclear threat through diplomatic multilateral means. Perino was responding to comments made earlier Friday by Transportation Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, who said that an Israeli attack on Iran appeared “unavoidable” given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential…Asked whether the United States was keeping military options open as a last resort with Iran, she said U.S. President George W. Bush had always said he “would never take any options off the table” but that Washington was pursuing multilateral diplomacy…

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Maliki arrives in Tehran
Voices of Iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived in Tehran at the head of a high-powered security and military delegation to meet with Iranian officials on his second visit to the neighboring country since he came to power more than two years ago. The semi-official al-Iraqiya TV station aired footage showing Maliki’s airplane, which landed at Tehran airport, with a number of Iranian officials receiving the Iraqi premier. An Iraqi cabinet’s media source had said that Maliki left for Iran to have talks on means to boost bilateral relations between the two countries….

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Gaza Strip Report 984: Appeal To Egypt – Open Rafah Crossing The Main Respiratory Trachera of Gaza Strip
Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice
Thousands of Hamas supporters including other political fractions, gathered after Friday noon prayers, and marched together towards the Rafah crossing in a rally protesting the blockade of Gaza Strip. Ashraf Abu Dayyeh a spokes person of Hamas said that, “this peaceful march is a Palestinian appeal to our Egyptians brothers, to open the Rafah border crossing. The Rafah terminal is the main “respiratory trachea” of the Palestinian people.” Abu Dayyeh warned that if the siege was not to be lifted,”there will be explosions ….with terrible consequences.” The Israeli predators left the little town Khuza’a on Friday morning – one day after they had killed the girl Aya, injured her mother Zahra and other villagers….

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Narratives Under Siege: Gaza’s 700 Stranded Students
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
Few days ago, on 1 June, Hadeel Abu Kwaik was sitting in her computer lab at Al-Azhar University in Gaza looking worried, and perplexed. Today, having just been told her Fulbright scholarship has been reinstated, she says she is “Happy but still worried. I’m still not sure we will [all] be able to leave for the US.” Hadeel is one of seven Gaza students who, on 29 May, all received letters from the US Consulate in Jerusalem, informing them that their Fulbright scholarship applications would not be finalised. The US consulate letter gave no reason for the sudden withdrawing of the 7 scholarships: instead all seven students, three women and four men, were “Strongly encouraged” to re-apply for the same Fulbright scholarships the following year, and assured they would receive “Priority consideration.”…

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