Heise: "Mit den Turnschuhen kommst Du hier aber nicht rein!"
Wer die olympischen Spiele in Athen besucht, muss das nötige Markenbewusstsein haben
Dass bei den olympischen Spielen 1996 in Atlanta, dem Heim von Coca-Cola, nicht Pepsi ausgeschenkt wurde, kann man verstehen. Dass 2004 in Athen bekennende Pepsi-Trinker aber sogar rausfliegen sollen, nicht.
...Doch wie die Sunday Times meldet, sind nun auch die konkurrierenden Produkte selbst verboten, ob Pepsi im – zulässigen, doch mit Logo bedruckten – Plastikbecher oder ein Getränk im Pappbecher von Burger-King statt des Sponsors Mc Donalds oder Turnschuhe von Nike statt des Sponsors Adidas: Sobald ein verbotenes Logo erkennbar ist, ist Schluss mit lustig.
Friday, August 13, 2004
IRAQ: NAJAF RESISTANCE
ICH: Endgame in Najaf?
by Juan Cole
The Marines have completely surrounded Najaf and cut off all the roads leading into the shrine of Imam Ali (Shiite Islam's St. Peter). US warplanes bombarded positions in the vast Valley of Peace cemetery (2 million graves) again today. At one point Marines entered the house of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite leader, but of course found him gone. Al-Jazeerah's crawl is talking about continued fighting in the vicinity of the house. The US appears to have decided not to send the Marines into the shrine of Imam Ali, but an Iraqi force instead.
Al-Jazeerah says that the Mahdi Army may have mined the shrine. This information suggests that if any force does attack the Mahdi Army there, it may trigger explosions that could level it. (Read: Very, very bad publicity for the US).
by Juan Cole
The Marines have completely surrounded Najaf and cut off all the roads leading into the shrine of Imam Ali (Shiite Islam's St. Peter). US warplanes bombarded positions in the vast Valley of Peace cemetery (2 million graves) again today. At one point Marines entered the house of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite leader, but of course found him gone. Al-Jazeerah's crawl is talking about continued fighting in the vicinity of the house. The US appears to have decided not to send the Marines into the shrine of Imam Ali, but an Iraqi force instead.
Al-Jazeerah says that the Mahdi Army may have mined the shrine. This information suggests that if any force does attack the Mahdi Army there, it may trigger explosions that could level it. (Read: Very, very bad publicity for the US).
IRAQ: NAJAF RESISTANCE
Reuters: Sadr Unhurt, in Talks to Leave Najaf Shrine -Gov't
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is unhurt and is negotiating with the government to leave the Imam Ali shrine in the city of Najaf, Iraq's Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said on Friday.
Several spokesmen to Sadr said he was wounded in a U.S. raid on Friday.
"Sayyed Moqtada will not be touched if he leaves the shrine peacefully. A truce has been in force since last night," Naqib told Reuters.
"We will go after the criminal elements which have penetrated the Sadr movement, but not Moqtada," he added.
The government has been under pressure to stop the U.S. attack on Najaf as casualties mount and more Iraqis express outrage at the U.S. tactics used to confront the anti-establishment cleric and his followers
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is unhurt and is negotiating with the government to leave the Imam Ali shrine in the city of Najaf, Iraq's Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said on Friday.
Several spokesmen to Sadr said he was wounded in a U.S. raid on Friday.
"Sayyed Moqtada will not be touched if he leaves the shrine peacefully. A truce has been in force since last night," Naqib told Reuters.
"We will go after the criminal elements which have penetrated the Sadr movement, but not Moqtada," he added.
The government has been under pressure to stop the U.S. attack on Najaf as casualties mount and more Iraqis express outrage at the U.S. tactics used to confront the anti-establishment cleric and his followers
IRAQ: NAJAF RESISTANCE
Reuters: U.S. Marines Seize Center of Najaf, Oil Hits Record
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines backed by tanks and aircraft seized the heart of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf Thursday in a major assault on Shi'ite rebels that drove world oil prices to record highs.
Warplanes pounded militia positions in a cemetery next to the Imam Ali Mosque while U.S. forces stormed the home of a radical cleric at the center of the weeklong uprising that has killed hundreds in seven cities.
Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was believed to be holed up in the mosque along with hundreds of his Mehdi Army militia, witnesses said.
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines backed by tanks and aircraft seized the heart of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf Thursday in a major assault on Shi'ite rebels that drove world oil prices to record highs.
Warplanes pounded militia positions in a cemetery next to the Imam Ali Mosque while U.S. forces stormed the home of a radical cleric at the center of the weeklong uprising that has killed hundreds in seven cities.
Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was believed to be holed up in the mosque along with hundreds of his Mehdi Army militia, witnesses said.
IRAQ: NAJAF RESISTANCE
Asia Times: Bush gambles as Najaf burns
The administration of US President George W Bush has embarked on a desperate military adventure in hopes of creating the appearance of a pacified Iraq. The assault on the holy city of Najaf, with its attendant slaughter of combatants and civilians, its destruction of whole neighborhoods, and its threat to Shi'ite holy cities, is fraught with the possibility of another major military defeat.
But the military commanders are hoping it will instead produce a rare military victory, since they are fighting lightly armed and relatively inexperienced members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. Nevertheless, even such a victory would be short-lived at best, since the fighting itself only serves to consolidate the opposition of the Shi'ite population. The Bush administration is apparently hoping that a sufficiently brutal suppression of the Sadrists will postpone the now almost inevitable national uprising until after the November presidential elections in the United States.
"CHECK IT"
The administration of US President George W Bush has embarked on a desperate military adventure in hopes of creating the appearance of a pacified Iraq. The assault on the holy city of Najaf, with its attendant slaughter of combatants and civilians, its destruction of whole neighborhoods, and its threat to Shi'ite holy cities, is fraught with the possibility of another major military defeat.
But the military commanders are hoping it will instead produce a rare military victory, since they are fighting lightly armed and relatively inexperienced members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. Nevertheless, even such a victory would be short-lived at best, since the fighting itself only serves to consolidate the opposition of the Shi'ite population. The Bush administration is apparently hoping that a sufficiently brutal suppression of the Sadrists will postpone the now almost inevitable national uprising until after the November presidential elections in the United States.
"CHECK IT"
Thursday, August 12, 2004
USA: 1984
Information Clearinghouse: "The Ghost of Orwell is Upon us"
A rather sad state of affairs has risen out of the propaganda-laced, nationalism-spewing, draped-in-the flag-espousing and testosterone-filled Democratic National Convention that would have made Joseph Goebbels proud. The party of peace and progress has mutated into one of warmongers and military might, whoring itself to the evils of war and violence in order to regain power, forgetting principles of pacifism and humanism for those espousing death and destruction. The leaders of the Democratic Party know that to once more sit in the White House, to replace lunatics and liars, they must become George W. Bush, albeit with a brain, proclaiming the drums of war and the strength of violence. In a nation addicted to the smells of human blood and of growing hatred for the Arab and Muslim world, only mirages of warmongers and charades of military might can compete with the façade that propels Bush today.
Granted, this cynical conversion has been strategically made in order to elect John Kerry into office, knowing that the American public sits on its collective couch, as always glued to the television, furthering society’s decline as they are made ignorant, unthinking and conditioned drones, chips in one hand, beer in the other, believing the fictions being bombarded into their minds, frightened of Arab bogeymen and cowering to the insecurity and fear conditioned into daily life by a government and military-industrial complex basking in the euphoria of an easily controlled populace. Thus, needing to project strength and the ability to protect the populace in this so-called ‘war on terror’ the Democrats unleashed a wave of military symbolism, personalities and speeches, trying to recapture the ‘security’ and ‘leadership in times of war’ mantra from George W. Bush and the Republicans.
"CHECK IT"
A rather sad state of affairs has risen out of the propaganda-laced, nationalism-spewing, draped-in-the flag-espousing and testosterone-filled Democratic National Convention that would have made Joseph Goebbels proud. The party of peace and progress has mutated into one of warmongers and military might, whoring itself to the evils of war and violence in order to regain power, forgetting principles of pacifism and humanism for those espousing death and destruction. The leaders of the Democratic Party know that to once more sit in the White House, to replace lunatics and liars, they must become George W. Bush, albeit with a brain, proclaiming the drums of war and the strength of violence. In a nation addicted to the smells of human blood and of growing hatred for the Arab and Muslim world, only mirages of warmongers and charades of military might can compete with the façade that propels Bush today.
Granted, this cynical conversion has been strategically made in order to elect John Kerry into office, knowing that the American public sits on its collective couch, as always glued to the television, furthering society’s decline as they are made ignorant, unthinking and conditioned drones, chips in one hand, beer in the other, believing the fictions being bombarded into their minds, frightened of Arab bogeymen and cowering to the insecurity and fear conditioned into daily life by a government and military-industrial complex basking in the euphoria of an easily controlled populace. Thus, needing to project strength and the ability to protect the populace in this so-called ‘war on terror’ the Democrats unleashed a wave of military symbolism, personalities and speeches, trying to recapture the ‘security’ and ‘leadership in times of war’ mantra from George W. Bush and the Republicans.
"CHECK IT"
IRAQ: FREEDOM
News-Jounrnal: No security in fear
In the last week alone, the Iraqi prime minister shut down the offices of Al-Jazeera, the Arab news channel, restored the death penalty (declaring it applicable to a disturbingly broad list of offenses) and ordered his chief political rival arrested. And he vowed to crush Shiite insurgents with American forces, without negotiations or cease-fires.
Has Saddam Hussein been replaced with Saddam Alawi? The question is relevant to the American electorate if the president continues to promise, as he did last week in Minnesota, that he's keeping "our commitments to help . . . Iraq become democratic, free and therefore peaceful."
In the last week alone, the Iraqi prime minister shut down the offices of Al-Jazeera, the Arab news channel, restored the death penalty (declaring it applicable to a disturbingly broad list of offenses) and ordered his chief political rival arrested. And he vowed to crush Shiite insurgents with American forces, without negotiations or cease-fires.
Has Saddam Hussein been replaced with Saddam Alawi? The question is relevant to the American electorate if the president continues to promise, as he did last week in Minnesota, that he's keeping "our commitments to help . . . Iraq become democratic, free and therefore peaceful."
IRAQ: FREEDOM
Guardian: The failed occupation
A TV station ban, 160,000 foreign troops, trumped up charges: is this the free society Iraqis were promised?
They are falling like skittles in a bowling alley. One by one, the arguments for the 2003 invasion of Iraq keep tumbling. First to go was the big one. War was necessary because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It turned out there were none. Next was the insistent promise that a US-led conquest of Baghdad would end completely and forever human rights abuses committed in hell-holes such as Abu Ghraib jail. Except we saw the pictures and realised that abuses had continued even in Abu Ghraib itself - albeit under new management.
The last week has sent one more Iraqi ninepin wobbling. It is the hope on which Tony Blair has had to rest his case for war, the hope that Iraq is on its way to becoming a unique entity in the Arab world: an open, democratic society. There may be no WMD and the occupation may be a mess, Blair seems to say, but Iraq will be a democracy - and that alone will make all the pain and bloodshed worthwhile.
Now this justification is looking as shaky as the others. Of course, Iraq wasn't built in a day - and rooting a democracy in soil dried and hardened by decades of dictatorship will be no easy, instant task. The most one can expect are gradual, baby steps in the right direction. But even those are not coming.
A TV station ban, 160,000 foreign troops, trumped up charges: is this the free society Iraqis were promised?
They are falling like skittles in a bowling alley. One by one, the arguments for the 2003 invasion of Iraq keep tumbling. First to go was the big one. War was necessary because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It turned out there were none. Next was the insistent promise that a US-led conquest of Baghdad would end completely and forever human rights abuses committed in hell-holes such as Abu Ghraib jail. Except we saw the pictures and realised that abuses had continued even in Abu Ghraib itself - albeit under new management.
The last week has sent one more Iraqi ninepin wobbling. It is the hope on which Tony Blair has had to rest his case for war, the hope that Iraq is on its way to becoming a unique entity in the Arab world: an open, democratic society. There may be no WMD and the occupation may be a mess, Blair seems to say, but Iraq will be a democracy - and that alone will make all the pain and bloodshed worthwhile.
Now this justification is looking as shaky as the others. Of course, Iraq wasn't built in a day - and rooting a democracy in soil dried and hardened by decades of dictatorship will be no easy, instant task. The most one can expect are gradual, baby steps in the right direction. But even those are not coming.
IRAQ: IS EXPLODING
Aljazeera: Iraqi south threatens secession
Informed sources told Aljazeera that al-Maliki said the breakaway province would include Basra, Misan and Dhi Qar governorates.
He also wants to shut Basra's port and in effect stop oil exports.
Al-Maliki said the decision was taken because the Iraqi interim government was "responsible for the Najaf clashes".
He has not outlined the steps for the implementation of his proposal.
Supply cut
Ali Hamud al-Musawi, head of the Misan governorate council, told Aljazeera al-Malki's decision was a normal and a logical reaction.
"The feelings of Iraqi southerners in particular and Iraqis in general had been contempt," al-Musawi said.
"This reaction comes in response to the crimes committed against Iraqis by an illegal and unelected government, and occupation forces who claimed they came to liberate Iraq, but it turned out that they have come to kill Iraqis," he added.
Informed sources told Aljazeera that al-Maliki said the breakaway province would include Basra, Misan and Dhi Qar governorates.
He also wants to shut Basra's port and in effect stop oil exports.
Al-Maliki said the decision was taken because the Iraqi interim government was "responsible for the Najaf clashes".
He has not outlined the steps for the implementation of his proposal.
Supply cut
Ali Hamud al-Musawi, head of the Misan governorate council, told Aljazeera al-Malki's decision was a normal and a logical reaction.
"The feelings of Iraqi southerners in particular and Iraqis in general had been contempt," al-Musawi said.
"This reaction comes in response to the crimes committed against Iraqis by an illegal and unelected government, and occupation forces who claimed they came to liberate Iraq, but it turned out that they have come to kill Iraqis," he added.
IRAQ: WMD
AFP: Saddam 'gave up WMDs in 1991'
SADDAM Hussein gave up all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, the scientist who headed his nuclear program, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, said in a BBC interview today.
"There was no capability. There was no chemical or biological or any what are called weapons of mass destruction," said Mr Jaffar in what BBC television called his first-ever broadcast interview.
Speaking in Paris, where he now lives, Mr Jaffar - who ran Saddam's nuclear program for 25 years - said there was "no development" of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons "at any time after 1991".
SADDAM Hussein gave up all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, the scientist who headed his nuclear program, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, said in a BBC interview today.
"There was no capability. There was no chemical or biological or any what are called weapons of mass destruction," said Mr Jaffar in what BBC television called his first-ever broadcast interview.
Speaking in Paris, where he now lives, Mr Jaffar - who ran Saddam's nuclear program for 25 years - said there was "no development" of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons "at any time after 1991".
SCIENCE
Daily Express: A Wave of Destruction Will Destroy America's East Coast
Around this time of the year many Britons look towards the Canary Islands for a sunshine break. What most don't know, however, is that on one of the Canary Islands lies a major global catastrophe in the making, a natural disaster so big that it could flatten the Atlantic coastlines of Britain, Europe, North Africa and the United States of America and cause enormous damage to London and other UK cities.
Recently, scientists have realised that the next Mega Tsunami is likely to begin on one of the Canary Islands
Dr. Day says: "If the volcano collapsed in one block of almost 20 cubic kilometres of rock, weighing 500 billion tonnes - twice the size of the Isle of Wight - it would fall into water almost 4 miles deep and create an undersea wave 2000 feet tall. Within five minutes of the landslide, a dome of water about a mile high would form and then collapse, before the Mega Tsunami fanned out in every direction, travelling at speeds of up to 500 mph. A 330ft wave would strike the western Sahara in less than an hour."
Guardian: Tidal Wave Disaster Just
Waiting To Happen
It has everything you could wish for in a cliche-ridden disaster movie. A beautiful volcanic island in the Atlantic is on the brink of catastrophic collapse, threatening to unleash giant waves that will wreak havoc around the globe within hours. And while scientists try in vain to make their concerns heard, the world's governments look the other way.
But yesterday a leading expert claimed the doom-laden scenario was not only real but was being almost completely ignored by people in power.
When - Professor McGuire says it is not a matter of if - the rock plunges into the ocean it will trigger giant waves called mega-tsunamis.
Travelling at speeds of up to 560mph, the huge walls of water will tear across the ocean and hit islands and continents, leaving a trail of destruction.
Mega-tsunami waves are much longer than the ones we are used to.
Around this time of the year many Britons look towards the Canary Islands for a sunshine break. What most don't know, however, is that on one of the Canary Islands lies a major global catastrophe in the making, a natural disaster so big that it could flatten the Atlantic coastlines of Britain, Europe, North Africa and the United States of America and cause enormous damage to London and other UK cities.
Recently, scientists have realised that the next Mega Tsunami is likely to begin on one of the Canary Islands
Dr. Day says: "If the volcano collapsed in one block of almost 20 cubic kilometres of rock, weighing 500 billion tonnes - twice the size of the Isle of Wight - it would fall into water almost 4 miles deep and create an undersea wave 2000 feet tall. Within five minutes of the landslide, a dome of water about a mile high would form and then collapse, before the Mega Tsunami fanned out in every direction, travelling at speeds of up to 500 mph. A 330ft wave would strike the western Sahara in less than an hour."
Guardian: Tidal Wave Disaster Just
Waiting To Happen
It has everything you could wish for in a cliche-ridden disaster movie. A beautiful volcanic island in the Atlantic is on the brink of catastrophic collapse, threatening to unleash giant waves that will wreak havoc around the globe within hours. And while scientists try in vain to make their concerns heard, the world's governments look the other way.
But yesterday a leading expert claimed the doom-laden scenario was not only real but was being almost completely ignored by people in power.
When - Professor McGuire says it is not a matter of if - the rock plunges into the ocean it will trigger giant waves called mega-tsunamis.
Travelling at speeds of up to 560mph, the huge walls of water will tear across the ocean and hit islands and continents, leaving a trail of destruction.
Mega-tsunami waves are much longer than the ones we are used to.
IRAQ: NAJAF
Rense: US Attacks On Najaf Are 'Unforgivable' & 'Shameful'
Our shameful attacks on the Holy City of Najaf with F16s, Apaches, Bradleys and tanks, destroying holy sites, people,s homes, hospitals and schools is unforgiveable. This is a further black day in America,s history. We have killed the native Americans, made slaves of African Americans, abused the Third World for two centuries, killed foreign leaders such as Allende of Chile, Bishop of Grenada, tried to kill Fidel Castro and Mu'ummar Qaddafi of Libya, and have killed Imam Hakim in Iraq, tried to kill Sistani and are now trying to kill a leader of the common people, Muqtadr Al Sadr - all under the flag of 'democracy' and 'freedom'. Actually, we are the new colonialists and have been for some time. It is once again time for us ordinary citizens to chastise our government and its wrong doings in the world - this time in Iraq.
Professor Sam Hamod is a former advisor to the State Department; editor of 3rd World News: Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC (retired) and edits www.todaysalternativenews.com. He may be reached at shamod@cox.net.
Our shameful attacks on the Holy City of Najaf with F16s, Apaches, Bradleys and tanks, destroying holy sites, people,s homes, hospitals and schools is unforgiveable. This is a further black day in America,s history. We have killed the native Americans, made slaves of African Americans, abused the Third World for two centuries, killed foreign leaders such as Allende of Chile, Bishop of Grenada, tried to kill Fidel Castro and Mu'ummar Qaddafi of Libya, and have killed Imam Hakim in Iraq, tried to kill Sistani and are now trying to kill a leader of the common people, Muqtadr Al Sadr - all under the flag of 'democracy' and 'freedom'. Actually, we are the new colonialists and have been for some time. It is once again time for us ordinary citizens to chastise our government and its wrong doings in the world - this time in Iraq.
Professor Sam Hamod is a former advisor to the State Department; editor of 3rd World News: Director of The Islamic Center of Washington, DC (retired) and edits www.todaysalternativenews.com. He may be reached at shamod@cox.net.
IRAQ: REASON FOR WAR
War without End: Gen. Franks Says Threat on Israel Justified Iraq Invasion
We have Dick Cheney telling Ariel Sharon in March of 2002 that the US will Invade Iraq to protect Israel. This is according to Ariel Sharon, as he stated on Israeli radio.
We have General Zinni, Senator Hollingsworth and Patrick Buchanan saying the same thing.
We have Richard Clarke pointing, though carefully skirting complete implication, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict being the key issue to terrorism.
We have retired Brigadier General David writing a letter to the editor in Atlanta this past winter saying this.
We have Chalabi removed once he reneges on his promise to the neocons to complete a pipeline from Iraq to Haifa in order to supply Israel with a never ending stream of cheap oil.
We have Condi Rice stating on national television six weeks before 9/11 that Saddam Hussein is not a threat nuclear or otherwise and he is effectively contained. What changed in six weeks?
We have the PNAC report, created by a military think tank for Israel in the US outlining all of this, including a "second Pearl Harbor" like event.
And now we have General Tommy Franks stating Israel was to be protected and this justified our breaking international law.
We have Dick Cheney telling Ariel Sharon in March of 2002 that the US will Invade Iraq to protect Israel. This is according to Ariel Sharon, as he stated on Israeli radio.
We have General Zinni, Senator Hollingsworth and Patrick Buchanan saying the same thing.
We have Richard Clarke pointing, though carefully skirting complete implication, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict being the key issue to terrorism.
We have retired Brigadier General David writing a letter to the editor in Atlanta this past winter saying this.
We have Chalabi removed once he reneges on his promise to the neocons to complete a pipeline from Iraq to Haifa in order to supply Israel with a never ending stream of cheap oil.
We have Condi Rice stating on national television six weeks before 9/11 that Saddam Hussein is not a threat nuclear or otherwise and he is effectively contained. What changed in six weeks?
We have the PNAC report, created by a military think tank for Israel in the US outlining all of this, including a "second Pearl Harbor" like event.
And now we have General Tommy Franks stating Israel was to be protected and this justified our breaking international law.
TAIWAN: WAR GAMES
AFP: China Could Defeat Taiwan 'In Six Days' - Report
TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's armed forces staged a drill simulating an invasion by rival China Wednesday, as a military computer exercise showed the Taiwanese troops could withstand a similar onslaught for just six days. The scenario of the maneuver, the first of two rehearsals for a major exercise to be held on August 25, was that Taiwan troops had failed to hold off an amphibious landing by Chinese forces, TVBS cable television showed.
TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's armed forces staged a drill simulating an invasion by rival China Wednesday, as a military computer exercise showed the Taiwanese troops could withstand a similar onslaught for just six days. The scenario of the maneuver, the first of two rehearsals for a major exercise to be held on August 25, was that Taiwan troops had failed to hold off an amphibious landing by Chinese forces, TVBS cable television showed.
IRAQ: IS EXPLODING
Independent: US Begins Massive Bombing Of Najaf
American warplanes began bombarding insurgent positions in Najaf last night and troops used loudspeakers to urge civilians to leave the area after the sixth successive day of fighting between US Marines and Shia gunmen.
The battle for control of the holy Shia city intensified after helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks were used to try to clear the city's hallowed cemetery - the graveyard is a hideout of militiamen led by the cleric Muqtada Sadr.
In Najaf, now the focal point of the 15-month insurgency against the presence of US, British and other foreign forces in Iraq, witnesses reported plumes of smoke rising above the cemetery and said that Sadr's Mehdi Army had attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint in the city, killing and wounding several uniformed men.
A Sadr aide, Qais al-Khazali, declared: "What is going on in Najaf and elsewhere is mass killing by the Americans and the so-called interim government."
American warplanes began bombarding insurgent positions in Najaf last night and troops used loudspeakers to urge civilians to leave the area after the sixth successive day of fighting between US Marines and Shia gunmen.
The battle for control of the holy Shia city intensified after helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks were used to try to clear the city's hallowed cemetery - the graveyard is a hideout of militiamen led by the cleric Muqtada Sadr.
In Najaf, now the focal point of the 15-month insurgency against the presence of US, British and other foreign forces in Iraq, witnesses reported plumes of smoke rising above the cemetery and said that Sadr's Mehdi Army had attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint in the city, killing and wounding several uniformed men.
A Sadr aide, Qais al-Khazali, declared: "What is going on in Najaf and elsewhere is mass killing by the Americans and the so-called interim government."
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY
Guardian: A Fear Of Free Speech
A few years back, a major Arab government took "mild" action against al-Jazeera: the then information minister issued a decree preventing our correspondent from attending official functions.
When we contacted that government for an explanation, the minister cited a report we had aired, which had looked critically at a huge irrigation project that had flopped.
We pointed out to the minister that the report was not of our own production and that it had been aired by a major foreign news channel a couple of weeks beforehand.
We also noted that his government had not complained to the foreign channel. The minister replied that the other channel was broadcasting in English and many of his countrymen did not watch it.
But al-Jazeera "spoke" the same language and had a wide audience. As such the report was seen as an embarrassment.
...There is also possibly the more sinister motive of imposing a blockade on news reports while al-Sadr and the city of Najaf are "dealt with".
...The wording of the justification of such action may differ from one country to another, but the gist is always the same: undermining state security (normally code for criticising the leadership); providing a platform for terrorists (usually means political opposition); and insulting the people of the country (normally means criticising a failed policy).
"CHECK IT"
A few years back, a major Arab government took "mild" action against al-Jazeera: the then information minister issued a decree preventing our correspondent from attending official functions.
When we contacted that government for an explanation, the minister cited a report we had aired, which had looked critically at a huge irrigation project that had flopped.
We pointed out to the minister that the report was not of our own production and that it had been aired by a major foreign news channel a couple of weeks beforehand.
We also noted that his government had not complained to the foreign channel. The minister replied that the other channel was broadcasting in English and many of his countrymen did not watch it.
But al-Jazeera "spoke" the same language and had a wide audience. As such the report was seen as an embarrassment.
...There is also possibly the more sinister motive of imposing a blockade on news reports while al-Sadr and the city of Najaf are "dealt with".
...The wording of the justification of such action may differ from one country to another, but the gist is always the same: undermining state security (normally code for criticising the leadership); providing a platform for terrorists (usually means political opposition); and insulting the people of the country (normally means criticising a failed policy).
"CHECK IT"
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY
CNN: Iraq shuts Al-Jazeera's Baghdad office
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's interim government has closed the Baghdad office of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network for one month, citing national security concerns.
"This decision was taken to protect the people of Iraq and the interests of Iraq," Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's told a news conference Saturday.
Allawi said the order to close Al-Jazeera, which was to take effect immediately, came after an independent commission monitored the network's reports.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's interim government has closed the Baghdad office of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network for one month, citing national security concerns.
"This decision was taken to protect the people of Iraq and the interests of Iraq," Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's told a news conference Saturday.
Allawi said the order to close Al-Jazeera, which was to take effect immediately, came after an independent commission monitored the network's reports.
Monday, August 09, 2004
USA: SPINNING A WAR WITH IRAN
AP: Rice Says World Is Determined to Prevent a Nuclear-Armed Iran
August 8, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) -- With Iran stepping up its nuclear program, a top White House aide said Sunday the world finally is ``worried and suspicious'' over the Iranians' intentions and is determined not to let Tehran produce a nuclear weapon.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice also said the Bush administration sees a new international willingness to act against Iran's nuclear program. She credited the changed attitude to the Americans' insistence that Iran's effort put the world in peril.
She would not say whether the United States would act alone to end the program if the administration could not win international support
August 8, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) -- With Iran stepping up its nuclear program, a top White House aide said Sunday the world finally is ``worried and suspicious'' over the Iranians' intentions and is determined not to let Tehran produce a nuclear weapon.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice also said the Bush administration sees a new international willingness to act against Iran's nuclear program. She credited the changed attitude to the Americans' insistence that Iran's effort put the world in peril.
She would not say whether the United States would act alone to end the program if the administration could not win international support
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY
New York Times: Media coverage 'Afghanizes' Iraq by Paul Krugman
A funny thing happened after the United States transferred sovereignty over Iraq. On the ground, things didn't change, except for the worse.
But as Matthew Yglesias of The American Prospect puts it, the cosmetic change in regime had the effect of "Afghanizing" the media coverage of Iraq.
He's referring to the way news coverage of Afghanistan dropped off sharply after the initial military defeat of the Taliban. A nation we had gone to war to liberate and had promised to secure and rebuild -- a promise largely broken -- once again became a small, faraway country of which we knew nothing.
Incredibly, the same thing happened to Iraq after June 28. Iraq stories moved to the inside pages of newspapers, and largely off TV screens. Many people got the impression that things had improved. Even journalists were taken in: A number of newspaper stories asserted that the rate of U.S. losses there fell after the handoff. (Actual figures: 42 American soldiers died in June, and 54 in July.)
The trouble with this shift of attention is that if we don't have a clear picture of what's actually happening in Iraq, we can't have a serious discussion of the options that remain for making the best of a very bad situation.
A funny thing happened after the United States transferred sovereignty over Iraq. On the ground, things didn't change, except for the worse.
But as Matthew Yglesias of The American Prospect puts it, the cosmetic change in regime had the effect of "Afghanizing" the media coverage of Iraq.
He's referring to the way news coverage of Afghanistan dropped off sharply after the initial military defeat of the Taliban. A nation we had gone to war to liberate and had promised to secure and rebuild -- a promise largely broken -- once again became a small, faraway country of which we knew nothing.
Incredibly, the same thing happened to Iraq after June 28. Iraq stories moved to the inside pages of newspapers, and largely off TV screens. Many people got the impression that things had improved. Even journalists were taken in: A number of newspaper stories asserted that the rate of U.S. losses there fell after the handoff. (Actual figures: 42 American soldiers died in June, and 54 in July.)
The trouble with this shift of attention is that if we don't have a clear picture of what's actually happening in Iraq, we can't have a serious discussion of the options that remain for making the best of a very bad situation.
IRAQ: RESISTANCE
Christian Science Monitor: The battle for Najaf
A first-hand account by the only Western reporter in Najaf as major fighting broke out late last week
NAJAF, IRAQ – Last week, staff writer Scott Baldauf, an Iraqi interpreter, and freelance photographer Kael Alford traveled from Baghdad to the central Iraqi city of Najaf intending to write about growing tension between the Iraqi government and the Shiite militia (Mahdi Army) of Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American cleric. When they arrived fighting was already underway, and has continued for three days now. One American military spokesman called it the heaviest fighting since the fall of Saddam Hussein. To their surprise, they were the only Western journalists in the holy Shiite city.
What follows is Scott Baldauf's journal of events in Najaf from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon.
"CHECK IT"
A first-hand account by the only Western reporter in Najaf as major fighting broke out late last week
NAJAF, IRAQ – Last week, staff writer Scott Baldauf, an Iraqi interpreter, and freelance photographer Kael Alford traveled from Baghdad to the central Iraqi city of Najaf intending to write about growing tension between the Iraqi government and the Shiite militia (Mahdi Army) of Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American cleric. When they arrived fighting was already underway, and has continued for three days now. One American military spokesman called it the heaviest fighting since the fall of Saddam Hussein. To their surprise, they were the only Western journalists in the holy Shiite city.
What follows is Scott Baldauf's journal of events in Najaf from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon.
"CHECK IT"
IRAQ: RESISTANCE
AFP: Radical Iraqi cleric vows to fight Najaf 'occupation'
Radical Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has vowed to fight the "occupation of Najaf" until his "last drop of blood", as clashes continued between his militiamen and US forces for a fifth day.
"I will defend Najaf until my last drop of blood," he told a news conference in this Shiite holy city's revered Imam Ali shrine, which has remained a militia stronghold since his spring uprising against foreign troops.
"Do not call them fighters of the Mehdi Army any longer, call them defenders of the city," he added.
"The occupiers must go, and then the democratic process can start in Iraq.
"I will stay here to support the fighters and I call on all religious dignitaries to do the same."
Sadr was speaking the day after Iraqi Prime Minister Iwad Allawi made a surprise visit to Najaf, where he called on the militia to lay down their arms and leave the city.
Radical Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has vowed to fight the "occupation of Najaf" until his "last drop of blood", as clashes continued between his militiamen and US forces for a fifth day.
"I will defend Najaf until my last drop of blood," he told a news conference in this Shiite holy city's revered Imam Ali shrine, which has remained a militia stronghold since his spring uprising against foreign troops.
"Do not call them fighters of the Mehdi Army any longer, call them defenders of the city," he added.
"The occupiers must go, and then the democratic process can start in Iraq.
"I will stay here to support the fighters and I call on all religious dignitaries to do the same."
Sadr was speaking the day after Iraqi Prime Minister Iwad Allawi made a surprise visit to Najaf, where he called on the militia to lay down their arms and leave the city.
IRAQ: FREDOM
Globe and Mail: Iraq 'Far, Far Less Safe' Than Before Occupation
George W. Bush and Tony Blair claim to have made the world a safer place by invading and occupying Iraq. Whether they have remains to be seen.
What is certain is that they have rendered Iraq far, far more unsafe for the average Iraqi, and my own Christian relatives in particular.
Refugee officials in Damascus now estimate that Iraqi Christians, about 3 per cent of the country's total population, make up 20 per cent of Iraqi refugees in Syria.
If you think about how hard life was under Saddam Hussein's regime, to have made it so much worse seems particularly horrendous and irresponsible.
It's impossible for me to understand how postwar planning for Iraq never included (and still does not include) guarding the huge Iraqi border with Iran, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
George W. Bush and Tony Blair claim to have made the world a safer place by invading and occupying Iraq. Whether they have remains to be seen.
What is certain is that they have rendered Iraq far, far more unsafe for the average Iraqi, and my own Christian relatives in particular.
Refugee officials in Damascus now estimate that Iraqi Christians, about 3 per cent of the country's total population, make up 20 per cent of Iraqi refugees in Syria.
If you think about how hard life was under Saddam Hussein's regime, to have made it so much worse seems particularly horrendous and irresponsible.
It's impossible for me to understand how postwar planning for Iraq never included (and still does not include) guarding the huge Iraqi border with Iran, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
IRAQ: FREEDOM
Islam Online: Iraqis Denounce US-Made
'Bloodbath' In Najaf
BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net) - As fighting kept raging in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf between US occupation forces and Mehdi Army fighters, loyal to firebrand Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, Sunni and Shiite leaders slammed what they saw as a "bloodbath" and called upon the international community to step in to rein the Americans.
This came as Iraqi Interim Prime Minster Iyad Allawi arrived Sunday, August 8, in war-torn Najaf and called on fighters loyal to Sadr to leave the city as soon as possible.
Commenting on the escalating fighting in Najaf dragging on for the fourth day running, Shiite and Sunni leaders slammed what they said were "horrific practices" of the occupation forces against the Iraqi citizens in the Shiite holy city and elsewhere across Iraq.
"Such incidents are similar to the days of the former regime when Saddam Hussein used to commit mass killings while they (the Americans) make public funerals" the Association of Muslim Scholars press spokesman sheikh Mohamed Bashar Al-Faidi told IslamOnline.net.
'Bloodbath' In Najaf
BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net) - As fighting kept raging in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf between US occupation forces and Mehdi Army fighters, loyal to firebrand Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, Sunni and Shiite leaders slammed what they saw as a "bloodbath" and called upon the international community to step in to rein the Americans.
This came as Iraqi Interim Prime Minster Iyad Allawi arrived Sunday, August 8, in war-torn Najaf and called on fighters loyal to Sadr to leave the city as soon as possible.
Commenting on the escalating fighting in Najaf dragging on for the fourth day running, Shiite and Sunni leaders slammed what they said were "horrific practices" of the occupation forces against the Iraqi citizens in the Shiite holy city and elsewhere across Iraq.
"Such incidents are similar to the days of the former regime when Saddam Hussein used to commit mass killings while they (the Americans) make public funerals" the Association of Muslim Scholars press spokesman sheikh Mohamed Bashar Al-Faidi told IslamOnline.net.
IRAQ
Guardian: Saddam Trial Chief Faces
Iraqi Murder Charge
Salem Chalabi, the man organising the trial of Saddam Hussein, was facing a murder charge himself last night after an Iraqi judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
Another was issued for his uncle Ahmed Chalabi, the founder of the Iraqi National Congress and a former key ally of the US. He is accused of money laundering.
Both men denied the accusations, which they said were politically motivated.
Salem Chalabi, head of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, was named as a suspect for the murder in June of Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry.
"Ironie"
Iraqi Murder Charge
Salem Chalabi, the man organising the trial of Saddam Hussein, was facing a murder charge himself last night after an Iraqi judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
Another was issued for his uncle Ahmed Chalabi, the founder of the Iraqi National Congress and a former key ally of the US. He is accused of money laundering.
Both men denied the accusations, which they said were politically motivated.
Salem Chalabi, head of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, was named as a suspect for the murder in June of Haithem Fadhil, director general of the finance ministry.
"Ironie"
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