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Today's Topics:
1. Sunday's election is meagre payback for reducing Iraq to utter chaos (Mark Parkinson)
2. (Fwd) The 50 Lies, Exaggerations, Distortions and Half Truths About the Iraq War (Mark
Parkinson)
3. Life's so much better without Saddam (CharlieChimp1@aol.com)
4. US fights back against 'rule by clerics' (John Churchilly)
5. Democrocy Now - Not (farbuthnot)
--__--__--
Message: 1
From: "Mark Parkinson" <mark44@DELETETHISmyrealbox.com>
To: casi-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 22:42:00 -0000
Subject: Sunday's election is meagre payback for reducing Iraq to utter chaos
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1466602,00.html
By: Simon Jenkins on: 07.02.2005
I believe the challenge here is not military but intellectual, even
racial. Nobody doubts that US and British forces can stay in Iraq as
long as they like, killing and being killed. But we cannot believe
that a Western presence anywhere in the world might be illegitimate
and counterproductive. We cannot believe that the route to stability
in Iraq might begin only when we go home.
ELECTION IS the sacrament of a modern state. For a split second in
the intimacy of a polling booth, sovereignty descends from potentate
to person. A holy cross is entered on a piece of paper and power is
purified. A citizen walks out into the light a little taller and more
saintly. Sunday=92s pictures of Shia and Kurdish Iraqis lining up to
vote were heartwarming. Any election, however imperfect, is better
than none. An election demands organisation on the part of a regime
and participation on the part of its subjects. They must stand up to
be counted. Power pays brief homage to population.
The Iraq election should and could have been held within six months
of the invasion in 2003, with the Sunnis not yet alienated by
American bombing and beating. It would have made a world of
difference. Even now, the vote was held against the advice of the
Pentagon that it was =93too soon=94 and at the insistence of Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The latter was desperate to legitimise
majority Shia control over Iraq and hold at bay rival Shia groups. He
also needs to retain Kurdish assent to his emerging dominance over
the new Iraq, assent that may not last long.
That the elections were held, and with an impressive turnout, is
plainly a credit item on the balance sheet of the invasion. Since the
vote plainly depended on Saddam Hussein having been toppled, it has
given the barnyard lobby a rare chance to crow, even more than when
it declared =93mission accomplished=94 in May 2003. Of course elections,
however belated, are welcome. In Iraq they must be a respite from the
humiliation of occupation and the horror of anarchy.
Any election is a ray of sunlight. So, some Iraqis might say, would
be a tap that flows, a light that works and a hospital where staff
are not kidnapped daily on the way to work.
I will never decry the sanctity of elections, but they are a means to
an end, not an end in themselves. History is awash in dictators and
one-party rulers born of the franchise. Wars are justified not by an
election but by the totality of their aftermaths. Many countries have
toppled undemocratic regimes without an American invasion, from Iran
to Russia to South Africa and, most recently, Ukraine. Where America
has intervened =97 in Lebanon, Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo and Afghanistan =97
the outcome has only rarely been democracy. Iraq=92s election =97 the
sole surviving justification for the invasion =97 is remarkable chiefly
for the enormity of the cost in money and human life. Britain has
devoted to it four times what it has given the rest of the world in
aid.
The neocon bragging over a =93beacon of democracy=94 now being raised
over the Muslim world is absurd. There were active, contested
elections in Palestine in 1996, Egypt in 2000, Iran in 2001 and
Pakistan in 2002. Just as Washington and London supported Saddam (and
sold him ghastly weapons) when it suited them, so they support
elections only when convenient. America refused to acknowledge Yassir
Arafat as a democrat or condemn General Musharraf as a dictator. It
continues to favour such undemocratic rulers as Colonel Gaddafi,
Hosni Mubarak and Karimov of Uzbekistan. The trumpet of democracy
sounds an uncertain note whenever offered for export.
The soil in which Iraqi democracy must now take root could hardly be
less fertile. Even Zimbabwe=92s election monitors did not have to flee
to a foreign country for fear of their lives. The poll is already
shrouded in the new =93PC=94, pious correctness. It should, must, ought,
will hopefully prove the building block of a more secure nation. That
will happen =93if and only if=94 the people of Iraq do what they are
told, refrain from violence and love one another. The story is the
old one. We are right to invade a sovereign state =93if=94 its people get
the message. If they do not, that is their fault, not ours. The new
global morality is not just relative, it is conditional. Iraq is
suffering an epidemic of subjunctivitis.
The reality is that the place is the most anarchic and dangerous
country on Earth, after two years of Anglo-American rule. The pro-war
lobby would do well to recognise this if they are to see clearly what
to do next. For the election to be no more than a fond memory =97 like
the much-boasted =93sovereignty transfer=94 last June =97 the mullahs of
the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution and their allies must do a
deal with Iyad Allawi=92s bunker administration in Baghdad. The now
dormant militias must be fused into a proper internal security force.
Some of the billions of Iraq=92s oil dollars now being stolen by
American companies (see last night=92s astonishing BBC File on 4) must
go to Iraqis.
Baghdad must in turn accommodate the sheikhs and warlords of the
Sunni Triangle. They alone might quell al-Zarqawi=92s gunmen, as
Ayatollah al-Sistani quelled the al-Sadr bandits last year. Americans
simply have not the skills for this job. The insurgency must be
quashed by Iraqis alone, preferably with money. And this must be done
before the nightmare struggle begins over the contested Arab-Kurd
areas of Kirkuk to the north. Do the Pentagon and the Foreign Office
really mean to referee that lethal contest?
Nothing would raise the stock of the new regime more than to insist
on the early withdrawal of American and British forces. The nervous
grandees in the green zone may crave their American bodyguards and
helicopters, but as long as the regime is seen as the puppet of an
occupying power, it will be target practice for internal dissent. The
one thing on which every Iraqi seems to agree is that the presence of
foreign troops exacerbates violence. Neither is the occupation
delivering on its promises. Power cuts are increasing in Baghdad. The
streets are less safe and women more repressed. Fallujah has not been
rebuilt as promised.
Most of the effort of occupation goes on its own protection. Fourteen
Saddam-sized American bases are rising in the desert. They are
offensive to Iraqis and a standing invitation to insurgent attack.
How they can be seen as hastening the security and stability of Iraq
is a mystery. As long as every supply convoy is a target, every
motorway a bomb alley and every police station a no-go area,
normality cannot even begin to return.
I believe the challenge here is not military but intellectual, even
racial. Nobody doubts that US and British forces can stay in Iraq as
long as they like, killing and being killed. We can argue all night
over =93what we want to see in Baghdad=94 and with the best of
intentions. But we seem unable to query the subject of that verb. We
cannot believe that a Western presence anywhere in the world might be
illegitimate and counterproductive. We cannot believe that the route
to stability in Iraq might begin only when we go home (as it did in
Lebanon).
The Kipling syndrome runs deep, that since the West can do what it
likes where it likes it must be right to do it. The strategy in Iraq
is akin to trench warfare, one more push, one more year, one more
Sunni city flattened, one more well-meaning British diplomat spouting
pious correctness. =93Work him hard!=94 the cry goes up, and Johnny Arab
will come to his senses and behave like a white man. =93For the wind is
in the palm trees, and the temple-bells they say: =91Come you back, you
British soldier; come you back to Mandalay=92.=94
What Saddam did or did not do =97 often with our backing =97 cannot
justify what the West does when it has that same power. America and
Britain have reduced Iraq to chaos, for which Sunday=92s election is a
significant but meagre compensation. But those now elected will
acquire real authority only if they are not tainted as puppets of a
foreign occupation. The Iraqis will rebuild their wrecked country
according to their own lights. We have already shown that we cannot
do it for them. They will start, however messily, the sooner we
leave.
At present there is only one country which has a coherent strategy
for Iraq. That country is Iran. Is that to be our legacy?
Mark Parkinson
Bodmin
Cornwall
--__--__--
Message: 2
From: "Mark Parkinson" <mark44@DELETETHISmyrealbox.com>
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 00:17:08 -0000
Subject: (Fwd) The 50 Lies, Exaggerations, Distortions and Half Truths About the Iraq War
Here's Glen Rangwala again:
Independent
January 27, 2004
Whatever the outcome of the Hutton inquiry and the vote on top-up
fees, the central charge this paper has consistently made against
Tony Blair is that he took this country to war in Iraq on a false
pretext. Raymond Whitaker and Glen Rangwala list 50 statements on
which history will judge him and his US partners.
1. Tonight, British servicemen and women are engaged from air, land
and sea. Their mission: to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and
disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.
Tony Blair, televised address to the nation, 20 March 2003
2. I have always said to people throughout that ... our aim has been
the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
Tony Blair, press conference, 25 March 2003
Within days, Mr Blair contradicts himself about the aims of the war.
3. But for this military action, Saddam Hussein and his sons would
still be in absolute control ... free to continue the repression and
butchery of their people which ... we now know was on such a savage
scale that victims number hundreds of thousands.
Tony Blair, article in "News of the World", 16 November 2003
"Regime change" again becomes a central justification of the
conflict.
4. You know how passionately I believed in this cause and in the
wisdom of the conflict as the only way to establish long-time peace
and stability.
Tony Blair to British troops in Iraq, 4 January 2004
No mention of WMD was made on this trip. But with Saddam now in
custody and the insurgency in Iraq showing no sign of abating, the PM
finds a new reason for the war.
5. As for the existence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, there
can be no doubt ... that those weapons existed. It is the job of the
Iraq Survey Group to find out what has happened, which it will do.
Tony Blair, House of Commons, 21 January 2004
Mr Blair uses lawyer's language, ignoring Iraq's claim that the
weapons existed, but were destroyed more than a decade ago. His next
sentence implicitly acknowledges WMD may never be found.
6. For reasons that have a lot to do with the US government
bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue everyone could agree on,
which was weapons of mass destruction...
Paul Wolfowitz, US deputy defence secretary, "Vanity Fair", June 2003
The Bush administration made no secret of its desire for "regime
change". Some were ready to admit that WMD was a red herring.
7. We know that he has stockpiles of major amounts of chemical and
biological weapons.
Tony Blair, NBC TV, 3 April 2002
From early 2002, the PM began to stress claims that Iraq had WMD left
over from before the 1991 war, without saying that most agents would
have deteriorated to the point of uselessness.
8. Iraq poses a threat to the world because of its manufacture and
development of weapons of mass destruction.
Jack Straw, interview with David Frost, 24 March 2002
Claims that Iraq was still producing chemical and biological weapons
were prominent, though UN inspectors hadn't found any production of
banned weapons after 1991.
9. It the dossier concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological
weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has
existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and
biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes ...
and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability.
Tony Blair to the House of Commons, 24 September 2002
No such weapons were found in place once the invasion began.
10. I have absolutely no doubt whatever that he was trying to
reconstitute weapons of mass destruction programmes. ... Saddam
Hussein has always been intending to develop these weapons.
Tony Blair to the Commons Liaison Committee, 8 July 2003
Mr Blair switched to claims about weapons "programmes" and Saddam's
intentions. No further mention of weapons "existing".
11. Saddam was a danger and the world is better off because we got
rid of him.
Q: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass
destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to
acquire those weapons still =97
A: So what's the difference?
Q: Well =97
A: The possibility that he could acquire weapons. If he were to
acquire weapons, he would be the danger. That's, that's what I'm
trying to explain to you.
President Bush, television interview, 16 December 2003
For Bush, the "possibility" of Iraq obtaining weapons in future was
enough to have justified the war.
12. Already the Kay report identified dozens of weapons of mass
destruction-related programme activities and significant amounts of
equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations.
George Bush, State of the Union address, 20 January 2004
Weapons programmes are now WMD-related programme activities.
13. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminium tubes and
other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich
uranium for nuclear weapons.
George Bush, 7 October 2002
The White House ignored persistent evidence from US scientists and
the UN nuclear agency that the tubes were useless for centrifuges.
14. The British government has learnt that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
George Bush, 28 January 2003
The CIA knew the claim was based on crudely forged documents.
15. We believe he Saddam has reconstituted nuclear weapons.
Vice President Dick Cheney, NBC's "Meet the Press", 16 March, 2003
16. Q: Reconstituted nuclear weapons. You misspoke.
A: Yeah. I did misspeak ... We never had any evidence that he had
acquired a nuclear weapon.
Mr Cheney on "Meet the Press", 14 September 2003
The VP took six months to correct his eve-of-war assertion.
17. The dossier shows that Iraq continues to produce chemical agent
for chemical weapons; has rebuilt previously destroyed production
plants across Iraq; has bought dual-use chemical facilities; has
retained the key personnel formerly engaged in the chemical weapons
programme; and has a serious ongoing research programme into weapons
production.
Tony Blair to the House of Commons, 24 September 2002
All the sites in Britain's WMD dossier were visited by UN inspectors,
and found to be clean.
18. What we are talking about is chemical weapons, biological
weapons, viruses, bacilli and anthrax - 10,000 litres of anthrax -
that he Saddam has.
Jack Straw, House of Commons, 17 March 2003
If the UN said it couldn't prove that Iraq had destroyed agents,
Britain said this proved Iraq still had them.
19. Saddam has ... the wherewithal to develop smallpox.
Colin Powell to the Security Council, 5 February 2003
UN inspectors said there was no evidence Iraq had any seed stock from
which to produce smallpox.
20. Those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices
or banned weapons, they're wrong. We found them.
George Bush, Polish TV interview, 29 May 2003
This claim about mobile biological laboratories, echoed by Tony
Blair, was rubbished by David Kelly, who saw the vehicles and
believed they were for producing hydrogen. They were built to a
British design.
21. The Iraq Survey Group has already found massive evidence of a
huge system of clandestine laboratories, workings by scientists,
plans to develop long-range ballistic missiles.
Tony Blair, on British Forces Broadcasting Service, 16 December 2003
The Iraq Survey Group had never talked of a "massive" system, and
didn't link the laboratories with weapons production or research.
22. Is it not reasonable that Saddam provides evidence of destruction
of the biological and chemical agents and weapons the UN proved he
had in 1999?
Tony Blair to the House of Commons, 25 February 2003
In 1999 the inspectors emphasised they didn't have proof that Iraq
had prohibited weapons. They had suspicions that needed to be
checked.
23. The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials
sufficient to produce more than 38,000 litres of botulinum toxin =97
enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory
failure."
President Bush, State of the Union address, 28 January 2003
UNMOVIC said in March 2003: "It seems unlikely that significant
undeclared quantities of botulinum toxin could have been produced,
based on the quantity of media unaccounted for."
24. By 1998, UN experts agreed that the Iraqis had perfected drying
techniques for their biological weapons programmes.
Colin Powell to the Security Council, 5 February 2003
Unmovic said it "has no evidence that drying of anthrax or any other
agent in bulk was conducted".
25. If Saddam Hussein does ... readmit the weapons inspectors and
allow them to do their job... then the case for military action
recedes to the point almost of invisibility and that is obvious.
Jack Straw, interview with David Frost, 15 September 2002
When the inspectors returned to Iraq, Britain and the US said they
were ineffective and were being obstructed, leaving force as the only
option.
26. Journeys are monitored by security officers stationed on the
route if they have prior intelligence. Any changes of destination are
notified ahead by telephone or radio so that arrival is anticipated.
The welcoming party is a give away.
The PM's dossier of 3 February 2003
"In no case have we seen convincing evidence that the Iraqi side knew
in advance that the inspectors were coming," chief inspector Hans
Blix told the Security Council.
27. I have every confidence - and I have expressed that confidence -
in the weapons inspectors ... As long as this regime is in place, and
as long as it is refusing to co-operate, the inspection process
becomes well-nigh impossible.
Jack Straw to the House of Commons, 17 March 2003
28. The reason why the inspectors couldn't do their job ... was that
Saddam wouldn't co-operate.
Tony Blair, interview, 4 April 2003
The inspectors reported they were making progress. Iraq was
destroying missiles they had declared illegal when the US ordered the
inspectors out on the brink of war.
29. Never once did I come to this House and say that I believed that
we should not give the weapons inspectors more time because I did not
think that they were going to get any more co-operation than they had
had in the past.
Jack Straw to the House of Commons, 27 November 2003
The Foreign Secretary tortuously acknowledges that the weapons
inspectors were getting somewhere at the time of the invasion.
30. There is no evidence linking Iraq to the events of 11th
September; there is no evidence either so far that links Iraq to the
anthrax attacks in the United States."
Geoff Hoon, 29 October 2001
This was before the war in Afghanistan to oust al-Qa'ida.
31. Iraq could decide on any given day to provide biological or
chemical weapons to a terrorist group or individual terrorist ...
Dick Cheney, 10 January 2003
The White House concentrated instead on questionable connections
between Iraq and terrorism.
32. There are things that haven't been explained ... like the meeting
of Mohammed Atta leader of 9/11 hijackers with Iraqi officials in
Prague.
Q: Which now is alleged, right? There is some doubt to that?
A: Now this gets you into classified areas again.
Paul Wolfowitz, to "San Francisco Chronicle", 23 February 2002
US intelligence had established Atta was in the US at the time of the
alleged meeting.
33. Mohammed Atta met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad prior to September
11.
We have proof of that ... The meeting is one of the motives of an
American attack on Iraq.
Richard Perle, Pentagon adviser, September 2002
If there was any proof, it would surely have been produced by now.
34. Iraq has trained al-Qa'ida members in bomb-making and poisons and
deadly gases
George Bush, 7 October 2002
This claim, four days before Congress authorised war, omitted
classified caveats and warnings that the information might be
unreliable.
35. There is some intelligence evidence about linkages between
members of al-Qa'ida and people in Iraq.
Tony Blair to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, 21 January 2003
Blair had just seen an intelligence report, later leaked, which said
al-Qa'ida was "in ideological conflict" with the "apostate" Iraqi
regime, and there were no current links.
36. In the event of Saddam refusing to co-operate or being in breach,
there will be a further UN discussion.
Tony Blair on Security Council Resolution 1441, 8 November 2002
When Britain later claimed that Iraq had violated the resolution, it
said another Security Council meeting was unnecessary.
37. Resolution 1441 gives the legal basis for this war.
Tony Blair to the House of Commons, 12 March 2003
The opposite of his earlier pledge.
38. France said it would veto a second resolution whatever the
circumstances.
Tony Blair to the House of Commons, 18 March 2003
President Chirac said France would vote against any resolution that
authorised force whilst inspections were still working.
39. The oil revenues... should be put in a trust fund for the Iraqi
people administered through the UN.
Tony Blair to the House of Commons, 18 March 2003
Britain co-sponsored a Security Council resolution that gave the US
and UK control of the oil revenues.
40. The United Kingdom should seek a new Security Council Resolution
that would affirm... the use of all oil revenues for the benefit of
the Iraqi people.
Commons motion for war, proposed by Tony Blair, 18 March 2003.
Iraq's oil revenues have been used to pay US firms, often at vastly
inflated prices.
41. Over some period of months, the Iraqis will have their government
selected by Iraqi people.
Donald Rumsfeld, press conference, 13 April 2003
Direct elections are not expected until the end of 2005.
42. This is about building a new civil society in Iraq after 35 years
when we know women were suppressed, and ensuring women have a voice
in Iraq.
Patricia Hewitt, Trade and Industry Secretary, 16 October 2003
The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has removed all the rights
Iraqi women have acquired since the 1950s on divorce, marriage,
inheritance and child custody, reverting them to the "traditional"
form.
43. Iraq's ... got tunnels, caves, all kinds of complexes. We'll find
them.
George Bush, press conference, 3 May 2003
This combination of vagueness and certainty was common during and
immediately after the fighting.
44. There will certainly not be the quantity and proximity of WMD
that we thought of before. Saddam might even have launched a massive
disinformation campaign to make the world think he was violating
international norms, and he may not have been.
Kenneth Adelman, member of US Defence Policy Board, 17 May 2003
The excuses begin.
45. It is also possible that they decided that they would destroy
them WMD prior to a conflict.
Donald Rumsfeld to the Council on Foreign Relations, 27 May 2003
Hans Blix is now convinced they were destroyed before the conflict -
at least seven years before.
46. It is not the most urgent priority now for us since Saddam has
gone ...
Tony Blair 30 May 2003
Finding WMD slides down the scale of importance.
47. In a land mass twice the size of the UK it may well not be
surprising you don't find where this stuff is hidden.
Tony Blair, interview with David Frost, 11 January 2004
This excuse variously describes Iraq as "the size of California" or
"twice the size of France".
48. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and
Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
Donald Rumsfeld, 30 March 2003
49. I should have said, "I believe we're in that area. Our
intelligence tells us they're in that area," and that was our best
judgement.
Mr Rumsfeld, 10 September 2003
WMD excuse which is now most prevalent: we believed it at the time.
50. Q: But it is absolutely clear now that the 45 minute thing and so
on, that the weapons of mass destruction idea and you've moved on to
talking about programmes now rather than weapons of mass destruction.
But that was wrong wasn't it?
A: Well you can't say that at this point in time. What you can say is
that we received that intelligence about Saddam's programmes and
about his weapons that we acted on that, it's the case throughout the
whole of the conflict.
Tony Blair, interview with David Frost, 11 January 2004
The PM blames the intelligence. (!)
Mark Parkinson
Bodmin
Cornwall
--__--__--
Message: 3
From: CharlieChimp1@DELETETHISaol.com
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:41:06 EST
Subject: Life's so much better without Saddam
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk, AlAwda@yahoogroups.com,
al-awda-london@yahoogroups.com, al-awda-universalist@umich.edu,
efreepalestine@yahoogroups.com, Intelligentminds@yahoogroups.com,
arabmediawatch@yahoogroups.com
[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
Fallujah: the truth at last
Socialist Worker
February 15, 2005 - Doctor Salam Ismael took aid to Fallujah last month.
This is his story of how the US murdered a city
IT WAS the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe,
and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of
corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. B=
odies
were rotting where they had fallen=E2=80=94bodies of men, women and childr=
en, many
half-eaten by wild dogs.
A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and
mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power =
of
the US military assault.
The accounts I heard over the next few days will live with me forever. You
may think you know what happened in Fallujah. But the truth is worse than =
you
could possibly have imagined.
In Saqlawiya, one of the makeshift refugee camps that surround Fallujah, w=
e
found a 17 year old woman. =E2=80=9CI am Hudda Fawzi Salam Issawi from the=
Jolan
district of Fallujah,=E2=80=9D she told me. =E2=80=9CFive of us, including=
a 55 year old
neighbour, were trapped together in our house in Fallujah when the siege b=
egan.
=E2=80=9COn 9 November American marines came to our house. My father and t=
he
neighbour went to the door to meet them. We were not fighters. We thought =
we had
nothing to fear. I ran into the kitchen to put on my veil, since men were =
going
to enter our house and it would be wrong for them to see me with my hair
uncovered.
=E2=80=9CThis saved my life. As my father and neighbour approached the doo=
r, the
Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly.
=E2=80=9CMe and my 13 year old brother hid in the kitchen behind the fridg=
e. The
soldiers came into the house and caught my older sister. They beat her. Th=
en
they shot her. But they did not see me. Soon they left, but not before the=
y had
destroyed our furniture and stolen the money from my father=E2=80=99s pock=
et.=E2=80=9D
Hudda told me how she comforted her dying sister by reading verses from th=
e
Koran. After four hours her sister died. For three days Hudda and her
brother stayed with their murdered relatives. But they were thirsty and ha=
d only a
few dates to eat. They feared the troops would return and decided to try t=
o
flee the city. But they were spotted by a US sniper.
Hudda was shot in the leg, her brother ran but was shot in the back and di=
ed
instantly. =E2=80=9CI prepared myself to die,=E2=80=9D she told me. =E2=80=
=9CBut I was found by an
American woman soldier, and she took me to hospital.=E2=80=9D She was even=
tually
reunited with the surviving members of her family.
I also found survivors of another family from the Jolan district. They tol=
d
me that at the end of the second week of the siege the US troops swept
through the Jolan. The Iraqi National Guard
used loudspeakers to call on people to get out of the houses carrying whit=
e
flags, bringing all their belongings with them. They were ordered to gathe=
r
outside near the Jamah al-Furkan mosque in the centre of town.
On 12 November Eyad Naji Latif and eight members of his family=E2=80=94one=
of them a
six month old child=E2=80=94gathered their belongings and walked in single=
file, as
instructed, to the mosque.
When they reached the main road outside the mosque they heard a shout, but
they could not understand what was being shouted. Eyad told me it could ha=
ve
been =E2=80=9Cnow=E2=80=9D in English. Then the firing began.
US soldiers appeared on the roofs of surrounding houses and opened fire. E=
yad
=E2=80=99s father was shot in the heart and his mother in the chest.
They died instantly. Two of Eyad=E2=80=99s brothers were also hit, one in =
the chest
and one in the neck. Two of the women were hit, one in the hand and one in
the leg.
Then the snipers killed the wife of one of Eyad=E2=80=99s brothers. When s=
he fell
her five year old son ran to her and stood over her body. They shot him de=
ad
too.
Survivors made desperate appeals to the troops to stop firing.
But Eyad told me that whenever one of them tried to raise a white flag the=
y
were shot. After several hours he tried to raise his arm with the flag. Bu=
t
they shot him in the arm. Finally he tried to raise his hand. So they shot=
him
in the hand.
The five survivors, including the six month old child, lay in the street f=
or
seven hours. Then four of them crawled to the nearest home to find shelter=
.
The next morning the brother who was shot in the neck also managed to craw=
l
to safety. They all stayed in the house for eight days, surviving on roots
and one cup of water, which they saved for the baby.
On the eighth day they were discovered by some members of the Iraqi Nation=
al
Guard and taken to hospital in Fallujah. They heard the Americans were
arresting any young men, so the family fled the hospital and finally obtai=
ned
treatment in a nearby town.
They do not know in detail what happened to the other families who had gon=
e
to the mosque as instructed. But they told me the street was awash with
blood.
I had come to Fallujah in January as part of a humanitarian aid convoy
funded by donations from Britain.
Our small convoy of trucks and vans brought 15 tons of flour, eight tons o=
f
rice, medical aid and 900 pieces of clothing for the orphans. We knew that=
th
ousands of refugees were camped in terrible conditions in four camps on th=
e
outskirts of town.
There we heard the accounts of families killed in their houses, of wounded
people dragged into the streets and run over by tanks, of a container with=
the
bodies of 481 civilians inside, of premeditated murder, looting and acts o=
f
savagery and cruelty that beggar belief.
Through the ruins
That is why we decided to go into Fallujah and investigate. When we entere=
d
the town I almost did not recognise the place where I had worked as a doc=
tor
in April 2004, during the first siege.
We found people wandering like ghosts through the ruins. Some were looking
for the bodies of relatives. Others were trying to recover some of their
possessions from destroyed homes.
Here and there, small knots of people were queuing for fuel or food. In on=
e
queue some of the survivors were fighting over a blanket.
I remember being approached by an elderly woman, her eyes raw with tears.
She grabbed my arm and told me how her house had been hit by a US bomb dur=
ing
an air raid. The ceiling collapsed on her 19 year old son, cutting off bot=
h
his legs.
She could not get help. She could not go into the streets because the
Americans had posted snipers on the roofs and were killing anyone who vent=
ured out,
even at night.
She tried her best to stop the bleeding, but it was to no avail. She staye=
d
with him, her only son, until he died. He took four hours to die.
Fallujah=E2=80=99s main hospital was seized by the US troops in the first =
days of
the siege. The only other clinic, the Hey Nazzal, was hit twice by US miss=
iles.
Its medicines and medical equipment were all destroyed.
There were no ambulances=E2=80=94the two ambulances that came to help the =
wounded
were shot up and destroyed by US troops.
We visited houses in the Jolan district, a poor working class area in the
north western part of the city that had been the centre of resistance dur=
ing
the April siege.
This quarter seemed to have been singled out for punishment during the
second siege. We moved from house to house, discovering families dead in t=
heir
beds, or cut down in living rooms or in the kitchen. House after house had
furniture smashed and possessions scattered.
In some places we found bodies of fighters, dressed in black and with
ammunition belts.
But in most of the houses, the bodies were of civilians. Many were dressed
in housecoats, many of the women were not veiled=E2=80=94meaning there wer=
e no men
other than family members in the house. There were no weapons, no spent
cartridges.
It became clear to us that we were witnessing the aftermath of a massacre,
the cold-blooded butchery of helpless and defenceless civilians.
Nobody knows how many died. The occupation forces are now bulldozing the
neighbourhoods to cover up their crime. What happened in Fallujah was an a=
ct of
barbarity. The whole world must be told the truth.
Young boy found dead in a house in the Jolan quarter of Fallujah
A father who had tried to shield his two daughters, found dead in a bedroo=
m
Man found shot dead sheltering in his living room
Man killed in his kitchen
*****************
The following should be read alongside this article:
=C2=BB Eyewitness in Fallujah:
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=3D5892
Eyewitness in Fallujah
Dr Salam Ismael, now 28 years old, was head of junior doctors in Baghdad
before the invasion of Iraq. He was in Fallujah in April 2004 where he tre=
ated
casualties of the assault on the city.
At the end of 2004 he came to Britain to collect funds for an aid convoy t=
o
Fallujah. Now the British government does not want Dr Salam Ismael=E2=80=
=99s
testimony to be heard.
He was due to come here last week to speak at trade union and anti-war
meetings. But he was refused entry. The reason given was that he received
expenses, covering the basic costs of his trip, when he came to Britain la=
st year
and this constitutes =E2=80=9Cillegal working=E2=80=9D.
Dr Salam Ismael merely wishes to speak the truth. Yet it seems the freedom
that Bush and Blair claim to champion in Iraq does not extend to allowing =
its
citizens to travel freely.
Legal challenges, supported by the Stop the War Coalition, were launched
this week in an effort to allow Dr Salam Ismael to come to Britain.
_www.uruknet.info?p=3Dm9688
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=3D5891_
(http://uruknet.info/?s1=3D9688&p=3Dm9688&s2=3D15)
____________________________________
--__--__--
Message: 4
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:43:50 -0800 (PST)
From: John Churchilly <meso999@DELETETHISyahoo.com>
Subject: US fights back against 'rule by clerics'
To: iraq@yahoogroups.com
[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB15Ak02.html
US fights back against 'rule by clerics'
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Given the widespread Sunni boycott of Iraq's January 30 elections=
for a National Assembly, with voting concentrated among the Kurdish north =
and Shi'ite south, the polls served more as a referendum to prove Shi'ite a=
nd Kurd strength.
This can be seen in the results of the polls released on Sunday, with the S=
hi'ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance capturing 48% of the vote and the Ku=
rdish alliance 26%.
Now it emerges that there is a strong movement in southern Iraq for the est=
ablishment of autonomous Shi'ite provinces as a precursor to introducing vi=
layet-e-faqih (rule by the clergy) in the whole country.
Of these calls for autonomy or federalism, the most disconcerting for US au=
thorities is the call for religious rule. Already, leading Shi'ite clerics =
in Iraq are pushing for "Islam to be recognized as the guiding principle of=
the new constitution".
To head off this threat of a Shi'ite clergy-driven religious movement, the =
US has, according to Asia Times Online investigations, resolved to arm smal=
l militias backed by US troops and entrenched in the population to "nip the=
evil in the bud".
Asia Times Online has learned that in a highly clandestine operation, the U=
S has procured Pakistan-manufactured weapons, including rifles, rocket-prop=
elled grenade launchers, ammunition, rockets and other light weaponry. Cons=
ignments have been loaded in bulk onto US military cargo aircraft at Chakla=
la airbase in the past few weeks. The aircraft arrived from and departed fo=
r Iraq.
The US-armed and supported militias in the south will comprise former membe=
rs of the Ba'ath Party, which has already split into three factions, only o=
ne of which is pro-Saddam Hussein. They would be expected to receive assist=
ance from pro-US interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord=
.
A military analyst familiar with strategic and proxy operations commented t=
hat there is a specific reason behind procuring arms from Pakistan, rather =
than acquiring US-made ones.
"A similar strategy was adopted in Afghanistan during the initial few years=
of the anti-USSR resistance [the early 1980s] movement where guerrillas we=
re supplied with Chinese-made AK-47 rifles [which were procured by Pakistan=
with US money], Egyptian and German-made G-3 rifles. Similarly, other arms=
, like anti-aircraft guns, short-range missiles and mortars, were also proc=
ured by the US from different countries and supplied to Pakistan, which han=
ded them over to the guerrillas," the analyst maintained.
The obvious reason for this tactic is to give the impression that the resis=
tance acquired its arms and ammunition from different channels and from dif=
ferent countries - and anywhere other than the United States.
Asia Times Online contacts said it is clear that Pakistan would not be the =
only country from which the US would have procured arms. And such arms coul=
d not be destined for the Iraqi security forces because US arms would be gi=
ven to them.
For the Americans, the situation in southern Iraq has turned into a double-=
edged sword. Iraqis there fully embraced the elections - even if they had t=
o be convinced by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to do so - and this partic=
ipation was welcomed as a sign of democracy taking root in the country.
But with Shi'ite religious parties emerging as the strongest power, no soon=
er were the elections over than voices were raised for the creation of an a=
utonomous southern Iraqi region, and for vilayet-e-faqih .
People from different walks of life from Basra and other southern provinces=
can be heard on television and radio channels demanding a federal system i=
n which southern Shi'ites could govern their oil resources for their benefi=
t.
Notably, Ahmad Chalabi, a leading secular Shi'ite candidate in the Iraqi el=
ections, has called for autonomy for the Shi'ite south, which contains some=
of the world's largest oil fields. Chalabi, a former US favorite who fell =
out with Washington after the 2003 invasion, said the move would ensure a f=
airer share of wealth for a region that provides the bulk of Iraqi revenue =
but receives only a fraction of state spending. The mainly Shi'ite southern=
provinces of Amara, Nasiriya and Basra are Iraq's poorest, Chalabi said.
Observers say this is the beginning of a new era which could climax in a mo=
vement for vilayet-e-faqih , a compulsory part of the Shi'ite faith that is=
intertwined with the concept of imamat or leadership (all Muslims under on=
e leader). The difference between a caliph and an imam is that a caliph can=
be anyone accepted by Muslims, but an imam must hail from the Prophet Moha=
mmed's family and be a recognized religious authority (clergy).
Already, members of the Da'wa Party, many of whom were taught in Iran, have=
taken over mosques in Basra, and members of Hezbollah have heavily infiltr=
ated the Shi'ite population, in addition to Iranian intelligence and member=
s of the Pasdaran-i-Inqalab (Iran's Revolutionary Guards) to pave the way f=
or vilayet-e-faqih.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be re=
ached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
---------------QQQQQQQQQQQ-------------
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/openmindandcodenews/message/24472
[ME] If You Have Ideas for Other Addenda, Please Suggest?
My Current Addendum :
[You too can help Save the World, so Feel Free to Cut + Paste this
From: http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com
to the bottom of your e-mails till the whole world knows,
Unless of course, You are a ZIONIST!]
A Website for Seekers of Truth About Zionism, 10 Links at:
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/index.cfm
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D
Do you Have Fun Playing the Victim?
IS G.W.BUSH CHANNELING Theodor Herzel ?
Just Substitute "Al-Qaeda" for "Anti-Semites"
and everything becomes Much Clearer.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Theodor Herzel, The founder of modern Zionism stated in his diary:
=93It is essential that the sufferings of Jews become worse,
this will assist in realization of our plans.
-I have an excellent idea.-
I shall induce anti-Semites to liquidate Jewish wealth.
The anti-Semites will assist us thereby in that
they will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews.
The Anti-Semites shall be our Best Friends=94.
(From his Diary, Part I, pp. 16)
So,is G.W.BUSH CHANNELING Theodor Herzel ?
What Do You Think ?
=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09=09 ');}=
// -->
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'
--__--__--
Message: 5
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 23:03:13 +0000
Subject: Democrocy Now - Not
From: "farbuthnot" <asceptic@DELETETHISfreenetname.co.uk>
To: casi-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk
, hussy_al_2000@yahoo.co.uk
[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
=A0Published on Monday, February 14, 2005 by Agence France Presse
Iraq Rebuilding Operations Branded Scandalous By US Democrats
=A0
WASHINGTON - The chaos surrounding US operations to rebuild Iraq were calle=
d
a "scandal" by a leader of the opposition Democrats.
Senator Harry Reid was visibly angry over accounts of incompetence and frau=
d
from former civilian employees of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authorit=
y
(CPA) in Iraq.
"This is a scandal," said Reid, the head of the Democrats in the Senate.
"We are close to 24 months into this conflict with Iraq, and the
administration (of US President George W. Bush) still cant seem to get it
right," he said.
In a hearing organized by the Democrats, civilian CPA workers compared
reconstruction efforts in Iraq to the Wild West, with money tossed freely
about, to the benefit of a few select groups.
Franklin Willis, who supervised aviation for the CPA in late 2003, said tha=
t
millions of dollars in 100 dollar bills were stored in the basement of the
CPA offices, to be liberally drawn on to pay CPA contractors in the field.
Don North, a journalist hired to create a new independent Iraqi television
station, said he was scandalized by the censorship imposed on the operation=
.
"I left after four months of frustrations," said North, who formerly worked
with leading US television networks.
Copyright =A9 2005 Agence France Presse
End of casi-news Digest
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