US-Iraqi agreement: leaked (full text)
Translated by Raed Jarrar
I read about a leaked copy of the US-Iraqi agreement a few days ago when a radio station in Iraq mentioned some of its details, then it was mentioned in some Arab newspapers like Al-Qabas and Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. A couple of days ago, one Iraqi website (linked to an Iraqi armed resistance group) published the leaked draft on their web page for less than a couple of days before their website went offline. (Thankfully, I downloaded the 21 pages agreement and saved them before their server went down). I spent this weekend translating it, and just finished now… This leaked draft is a treasure of information. It’s the first time any document related to this topic is made public. It shows how weak the Iraqi negotiations team is (it is really pathetic to read their “suggestions” on how to fix the disaster of an agreement). There are many outrageous articles in the agreement that violates Iraq’s sovereignty and independence, and gives the U.S. occupation authorities unprecedented rights and privileges, but what has draw my attention the most (so far) are three major points: 1- the agreement does not discuss anything about a complete US withdrawal from Iraq. Instead, it talks about withdrawing “combat troops” without defining what is the difference between combat troops and other troops. It is very clear that the US is planning to stay indefinitely in permanent bases in Iraq …

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The story of an Iraqi civilian Tortured by US Soldiers- The American Torture Parties at Abu-Ghraib
Written by A prisoner from Adhamiya city* – Iraqirabita
Before the criminal American invasion of Iraq, I was living happily and peacefully like all my Iraqi brothers and sisters, in the beautiful city of Adhamiya. That changed completely after the fall of Baghdad. The American tanks filled Adhamiya city. The US army swept through all the houses and streets of the city searching for President Saddam Hussein. Every day they searched houses and randomly detained scores of the city’s men… Immediately the Americans started searching the nearby houses. At 2:00 am they burst into my house. They searched every inch of the house and smashed every piece of furniture. They found no weapons or explosives but in spite of that they took me and my two brothers to prison. The Americans took us to Camp Cropper at the airport where we spent 45 horrible days. There we experienced the most horrendous torture that anyone in the world could imagine. What the Nazis did in World War II was nothing in comparison to what the Americans did to us. Here are some of the methods they used on us… In Bucca prison, I spent eight months, and Oh my God, they were worse than Camp Cropper. The US tortured us in a beastly way that no human could ever survive, except for the will of God that kept us alive… After the eight months in Bucca prison in Basrah province, they transfered us to another prison. This prison was in the base of “Imam Ali” in Thi-Qar province and from there ! they too k us back to Baghdad to the infamous prison of Abu-Ghraib. There we got the same inhuman treatment and torture…

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An agreement on a Sofa…
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
…So I was reading all about the SOFA, a text as clear as daylight, which calls for the permanent colonization of Iraq by America the pimp and its whore Iran. Yalla, bravo Iraqi Shiites.And this is exactly what the “liberation” of Iraq was all about – its colonization. And this is exactly what the murder of Saddam Hussein was all about – its colonization. And this is exactly what the huge fake propaganda about the alleged Shiite and Kurdish “oppression and repression” was all about, allegations that your left with its matron whore Chomsky endorsed – its colonization. And the other hookers who bought it from the Left included a bunch of disgraceful Arab bloggers, journalists and so-called intellectuals of my butt — You too, bastards, are AS GUILTY as the rest of the lot in its colonization. So why quibble Iraqis and others about a few terms of agreement here and there, a few clauses and items here and there ? Some of you spread your legs and others bent over for all of this to happen. Relax now and lie down on the Sofa. And this Iraqi, Arab woman spits on you and your Sofa…

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HRW Continues False Cluster Bomb Accusations
Moon of Alabama
On August 15 Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Russian Federation of having used cluster bombs in the conflict with Georgia. These accusations were widely repeated in the ‘western’ media. The Russian Federation consistently denied any use of cluster ammunition. As it now turns out the repeated HRW accusations were wrong. The ‘evidence’ provided by HRW was based on pictures and misidentified ammunition in those. The ammunition in question is of Israeli origin and was used by the Georgian military. The Georgian Ministry of Defense has now admitted as much. HRW now also acknowledges this in a new press statement. But it continues to claim Russian use of such weapons. It does so by pointing to its own older reports which clearly misidentified Georgian cluster ammunition as Russian made…

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Why Don’t Zionists Adopt Gandhi’s Methods?
Lawrence of Cyberia
I’ve just been reading a post at Mondoweiss (Why Don’t Palestinians Adopt Gandhi’s Methods?), which describes one of the practical reasons – i.e. Israel’s (mis)use of the law enforcement and judicial system – why Palestinian non-violent resistance has not been effective in the way that those who lament the lack of a “Palestinian Gandhi” imply that it should be. I should start out by saying that personally I am not convinced that most of the people who lament the lack of a Palestinian Gandhi do so sincerely. What I mean is, non-violence might well be an effective means of realizing Palestinian rights, but I do not believe that the people who criticize Palestinians for not adopting it are necessarily interested in seeing the Palestinians realize their rights at all. I don’t think for a minute that Israel and its supporters would treat – or would ever have treated – the Palestinians any better had the Palestinians gone quietly…

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Taleban suspects held in dog pen
Nick Bryant, BBC News
The Australian Defence Force has confirmed that its troops held four suspected Taleban militants in an empty dog pen for 24 hours. The men were arrested in a raid by Australian special forces in Afghanistan in late April. One of the detainees, who was later released, was a 70-year-old man. According to the Australian defence department, the empty dog pens offered the most secure facilities at a remote Afghan army base…

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American Imperialism–Between the Balfour Declaration and the Biden Declaration
Ali al-Asadi. Kitabat, Iraq – Translated By A. Sullivan
…As for us in Iraq, the issue is completely different, since the arrival of someone such as Biden to the post of vice president renews the hopes of those who want to partition Iraq, and puts them very near to realizing the dreams they long to turn into reality. I am not sure of the intensity with which those circles welcomed and applauded the expected news of Biden’s nomination, but I am absolutely certain that they were overjoyed. As for those wanting an Iraq unified in its lands and its people, there is no doubt that they consider Biden’s nomination a bad omen, and are perhaps renewing their campaign to expose the intentions of the man and condemn his disreputable resolution and aims. And for those who have never heard of this man and his superstardom, he is behind the U.S. Senate Resolution issued on September 26, 2007, which recommended the partitioning of Iraq into three ethnic cantons: Kurds in the north, Shiites in the middle and south, Sunnis in the Western region… the expected presence of Biden in the White House has rekindled hopes to transform the Iraq partition resolution into a binding resolution on the American government, and thus the Biden Declaration would take the path of the Balfour Declaration to partition Palestine…

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“I am a Zionist. You Don’t Have to be a Jew to be a Zionist!”
Biden and Israel
ROBERT WEITZEL
…For all of Obama’s campaign promises of “change,” his choice of Joseph Biden as his running mate sends a clear signal to Israel’s lobby in Washington and its right-wing government in Jerusalem that for the next four years there will be no change in the United States’ unconditional support or its annual $6 billion in direct and indirect aid. Predictably, neither will there be a change in the hopelessness and the impotent rage of the Arabs suffering under a U.S.-supported Zionist ideology in Palestine. Senator Biden is the ardently pro-Israel chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. He is a 36-year veteran politician whose specialty is foreign policy. When he told a reporter from the Jewish cable network, Shalom TV, that he is a Zionist, he knew the implications of that admission for the Palestinians, the entirety of the Arab world, and America’s global “war on terror.”…

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Video: Palin: Our Leaders Are Sending Our Troops to Iraq ‘On a Task From God’
Antiwar.com
It hasn’t been easy to find anything about Sarah Palin’s positions on foreign policy issues, but this clip from a speech to her church gives a clue: “Pray for our military. He [Palin’s son] is going to be deployed in September to Iraq – pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right for this country – that our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that’s what he have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan and that it is God’s plan.” …

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Obama vs. Jimmy Carter
Robert Dreyfuss
If you watched the Democratic convention closely — very closely — you caught a brief glimpse of former President Jimmy Carter on stage, looking decidedly unhappy. No surprise: Carter was snubbed deliberately by Obama Inc. Reports the Forward: The sidelining of Carter was driven by recognition in the Obama camp and among Democratic leaders that giving the former president a prominent convention spot might alienate Jewish voters. Carter, of course, had dared use the word “apartheid” is discussing Israel’s abysmal treatment of the Palestinians…

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Film of Soldiers’ Atrocity Incurs Heavy Price
Palestinian Village Faces Army Reign of Terror
JONATHAN COOK
The window through which Salam Amira, 16, filmed the moment when an Israeli soldier shot from close range a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee has a large hole at its centre with cracks running in every direction. “Since my video was shown, the soldiers shoot at our house all the time,” she said. The shattered and cracked windows at the front of the building confirm her story. “When we leave the windows open, they fire tear gas inside too.” Her home looks out over the Israeli road block guarding the only entrance to the village of Nilin, located just inside the West Bank midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It was here that a bound Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was shot in the foot in July with a rubber bullet under orders from an Israeli regiment commander. The treatment of the family stands in stark contrast to the leniency shown to the soldier and his commander involved in that incident…

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Biden Camp Calls Israeli Army Radio Report a ‘Lie’
Jake Tapper, ABC News
The respected Israeli newspaper Ha’artez today repeated an Israeli Army Radio report that Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, told “senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran.” “Israel will have to reconcile itself with the nuclearization of Iran,” Army Radio said that Biden told the unnamed officials. “It’s doubtful if the economic sanctions will be effective, and I am against opening an additional military and diplomatic front.” Biden spox David Wade said the unsourced report is simply false. “This is a lie peddled by partisan opponents of Senators Obama and Biden,” said Wade, “and we will not tolerate anyone questioning Senator Biden’s 35-year record of standing up for the security of Israel. Joe Biden’s first trip as a Senator was to Israel, he has worked with every Israeli leader from Golda Meir to Prime Minister Olmert, and he takes a back seat to no one when it comes to protecting the relationship between Israel and the US.”…

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The barbarians
Western and Israeli hypocrisy in the portrayal of victims
Paul J. Balles
…Judea Pearl dubbed Samir Kuntar “the arch-symbol of barbarity”. Simply reading about how he allegedly slaughtered a four-year-old girl by smashing her head with a rifle butt makes his deed unforgivably sickening to any half-decent human being, just as it was agonizing to read about Daniel Pearl’s beheading. Wasn’t the genocide of thousands in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps or the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank or the liquidation of 1,255,026 Iraqis also agonizing to read about? NO! Unlike the descriptive images used to portray the deaths meted out by the three barbarians, the equally savage and brutal killings of Palestinians and Iraqis and Afghans have not been described in horrid detail. They are merely numbers. But numbers can be revealing if the reader can transpose the grim image of one victim to many innocents. According to the website If Americans Knew, since September 2000 Palestinians have killed 123 Israeli children and Israelis have killed 1050 Palestinian children…

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Police State Methods: Preemptive Strikes Against Protest at the Republican National Convention
Prof. Marjorie Cohn
In the months leading up to the Republican National Convention, the FBI-led Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force actively recruited people to infiltrate vegan groups and other leftist organizations and report back about their activities. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a recruiting story called “Moles Wanted.” Law enforcement sought to preempt lawful protest against the policies of the Bush administration during the convention. Since Friday, local police and sheriffs, working with the FBI, conducted preemptive searches, seizures and arrests…

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Settler violence against Palestinians on the rise
IRIN News
Violence by settlers perpetrated against Palestinians has been on the rise in recent weeks in Hebron and the surrounding areas, residents and international observers said. “These areas are hot spots for violence and are priority areas for us,” said Matteo Benatti, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s delegation in the city. He was referring to H2, the part of Hebron under Israeli control, and the rural southern part of the district, also mostly under Israel’s jurisdiction, according to the Oslo accords of the 1990s with the Palestinians…

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PCHR Concern at ongoing Gaza Strikes
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is concerned over the expansion of strikes by employees across the education sector, as well as ongoing strikes amongst workers in the health sector and other public services in the Gaza Strip. PCHR is concerned about the impact of these ongoing strikes, that threaten the delivery of all public services in the Gaza Strip. Patients, students and other civilians are all being seriously affected by these politically motivated strikes. ..

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Iran tightens screws on Iraq’s Kurds
Sami Moubayed
…Back to the Iranian meeting, al-Zaman claims that Tehran is interested in weakening the Kurdish bloc in parliament (in the absence of Talabani) and transforming it into a dwarf so that it doesn’t threaten the supremacy of the pro-Iranian Shi’ite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance. Iran does not want to break the Kurdish bloc, however, nor does it want to eject it from parliament, unless rapprochement with Iraqi Sunnis is made, to serve as a substitute ally for Maliki.Taming the Kurds will take place through direct measures, as the crackdown in Khanaqin, or indirect ones, such as getting the prime minister to further delay the issue of Kirkuk…

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Iraq-US pact to go to parliament in 10 days: report
AFP
A draft security deal between Washington and Baghdad on the future of US forces in Iraq is to be submitted to parliament within 10 days, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was quoted as saying on Tuesday. “The SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) will be sent to parliament within 10 days,” he said in the Badr newspaper, run by the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, a key Shiite political party which is closely allied to Maliki. “The government is waiting for an answer from the United States on the Iraqi suggestion to keep the sovereignty of Iraq and the interests of its people. The members of parliament will accept or reject the agreement,” Maliki said…

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September 2, 2008: 1 US Soldier, 20 Iraqis Killed; 43 Iraqis Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
At least 20 Iraqis were killed and 43 more were wounded in a number of bombings carried out in Baghdad and Mosul. A U.S. soldier died in a non-combat related incident. Also, tensions between the central government and Kurdish Peshmerga are increasing in Diyala and spreading to Mosul. Iraqi forces took over school buildings in Jalawla to set them up as military barracks. Jalawla is near Khanaqin, which is the seat of the area’s local government and where Peshmerga troops have resisted ousting by Iraqi troops…

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