Juan Cole: Falling like Flies
53 Iraqi Parties Withdraw from Elections
Xinhuanet reports that:
' According to the Al Furat newspaper, 53 political parties and organizations as well as 30 individuals have asked their names to be dropped from the election lists in a bid to show their rejection of elections under US occupation.
'There had been 105 parties and individuals, and 6 coalitions, participating in the elections. There were only about 30 individuals running as independents, and it appears that they have all now withdrawn. And half of the registered parties have also withdrawn, if al-Furat is correct. The individuals mostly never had a chance, since voters only get one vote, and few would have wasted it on a single individual when they could vote for an entire party list. So their withdrawal may in part simply reflect a realistic assessment of their chances. But parties at least had the potential of gaining a seat or a few seats, and their withdrawals are serious.
Friday, January 14, 2005
IRAQ: RESISTANCE
JUS: More Heavy US Losses
Including 18 Decapitated GIs
Mujahideen Strike Heavy In Ramadi And Basra
Mujahideen continued to target American occupiers and Iraqi collaborators throughout Iraq on Tuesday. Fierce fighting took place in Ramadi with large number of American casualties reported. Basra was also hot with reports of a rocket attack that took the life of some British soldiers. In the mean time, Americans also discovered 18 bodies of their comrades that had been beheaded in Fallujah,
Fallujah remains under media lockdown as little information is being received. We will update readers as soon as more information becomes available.
Including 18 Decapitated GIs
Mujahideen Strike Heavy In Ramadi And Basra
Mujahideen continued to target American occupiers and Iraqi collaborators throughout Iraq on Tuesday. Fierce fighting took place in Ramadi with large number of American casualties reported. Basra was also hot with reports of a rocket attack that took the life of some British soldiers. In the mean time, Americans also discovered 18 bodies of their comrades that had been beheaded in Fallujah,
Fallujah remains under media lockdown as little information is being received. We will update readers as soon as more information becomes available.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
INTERNET
Wired: The Shadow Internet
They start with a single stolen file and pump out bootleg games and movies by the millions. Inside the pirate networks that are terrorizing the entertainment business.
They start with a single stolen file and pump out bootleg games and movies by the millions. Inside the pirate networks that are terrorizing the entertainment business.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY
Financial Times: Allawi group slips cash to reporters
The electoral group headed by Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi prime minister, on Monday handed out cash to journalists to ensure coverage of its press conferences in a throwback to Ba'athist-era patronage ahead of parliamentary elections on January 30.
//
After a meeting held by Mr Allawi's campaign alliance in west Baghdad, reporters, most of whom were from the Arabic-language press, were invited upstairs where each was offered a "gift" of a $100 bill contained in an envelope.
Many of the journalists accepted the cash - about equivalent to half the starting monthly salary for a reporter at an Iraqi newspaper - and one jokingly recalled how Saddam Hussein's regime had also lavished perks on favoured reporters
The electoral group headed by Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi prime minister, on Monday handed out cash to journalists to ensure coverage of its press conferences in a throwback to Ba'athist-era patronage ahead of parliamentary elections on January 30.
//
After a meeting held by Mr Allawi's campaign alliance in west Baghdad, reporters, most of whom were from the Arabic-language press, were invited upstairs where each was offered a "gift" of a $100 bill contained in an envelope.
Many of the journalists accepted the cash - about equivalent to half the starting monthly salary for a reporter at an Iraqi newspaper - and one jokingly recalled how Saddam Hussein's regime had also lavished perks on favoured reporters
IRAQ: RESISTANCE
Independent: Iraqi insurgents ahead in war of intelligence by Robert Fisk
01/11/05 "The Independent" -- Baghdad: As usual, it was an inside job. Brig Amer Ali Nayef, deputy head of the Baghdad police, and his policeman son, Lt Khaled Amer, were driving to work in an unmarked civilian car, hoping to move through the streets of Dora without being noticed.But the two carloads of gunmen who approached from behind knew the car, its registration number and its occupants. They blazed away with Kalashnikovs until Nayef, dead at the wheel, drove into a house.
01/11/05 "The Independent" -- Baghdad: As usual, it was an inside job. Brig Amer Ali Nayef, deputy head of the Baghdad police, and his policeman son, Lt Khaled Amer, were driving to work in an unmarked civilian car, hoping to move through the streets of Dora without being noticed.But the two carloads of gunmen who approached from behind knew the car, its registration number and its occupants. They blazed away with Kalashnikovs until Nayef, dead at the wheel, drove into a house.
IRAQ: FALLUJAH RESISTANCE
Dahr Jamail: Iraq - 'This Is Not A Life'
Already today at least 18 Iraqis have died as violence continues to escalate as the so-called elections approach.
Suicide car bombers are striking Iraqi Police (IP) stations on nearly a daily basis now.
Today's target was in Tikrit, where U.S. military spokesman Major Neal O'Brien said six were killed when the police headquarters was bombed.
He also said, "As the Iraqi police continue to get stronger, and continue to pose a threat to the insurgents and terrorists, they will be targeted."
Most Iraqis I've spoken with appear to disagree with Mr. O'Brien.
Already today at least 18 Iraqis have died as violence continues to escalate as the so-called elections approach.
Suicide car bombers are striking Iraqi Police (IP) stations on nearly a daily basis now.
Today's target was in Tikrit, where U.S. military spokesman Major Neal O'Brien said six were killed when the police headquarters was bombed.
He also said, "As the Iraqi police continue to get stronger, and continue to pose a threat to the insurgents and terrorists, they will be targeted."
Most Iraqis I've spoken with appear to disagree with Mr. O'Brien.
IRAQ: FALLUJAH RESISTANCE
Guardian: City of ghosts
On November 8, the American army launched its biggest ever assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, considered a stronghold for rebel fighters. The US said the raid had been a huge success, killing 1,200 insurgents. Most of the city's 300,000 residents, meanwhile, had fled for their lives. What really happened in the siege of Falluja? In a joint investigation for the Guardian and Channel 4 News, Iraqi doctor Ali Fadhil compiled the first independent reports from the devastated city, where he found scores of unburied corpses, rabid dogs - and a dangerously embittered population Watch an extract from the documentary
On November 8, the American army launched its biggest ever assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, considered a stronghold for rebel fighters. The US said the raid had been a huge success, killing 1,200 insurgents. Most of the city's 300,000 residents, meanwhile, had fled for their lives. What really happened in the siege of Falluja? In a joint investigation for the Guardian and Channel 4 News, Iraqi doctor Ali Fadhil compiled the first independent reports from the devastated city, where he found scores of unburied corpses, rabid dogs - and a dangerously embittered population Watch an extract from the documentary
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
MIDDLE EAST
Guardian: The right to rule ourselves
For nearly a century, democracy has been denied to the Arabs by the west. There is little sign of that changing
Arabic-speaking peoples from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf suffer one common chronic ailment, namely oppressive despotism. Most of the states that stretch between the two water basins came into being less than a century ago; many were former colonies of one or other of the European powers. France and Britain in particular were instrumental after the first world war in shaping the entire map of what is today the Middle East and North Africa.
For nearly a century, democracy has been denied to the Arabs by the west. There is little sign of that changing
Arabic-speaking peoples from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf suffer one common chronic ailment, namely oppressive despotism. Most of the states that stretch between the two water basins came into being less than a century ago; many were former colonies of one or other of the European powers. France and Britain in particular were instrumental after the first world war in shaping the entire map of what is today the Middle East and North Africa.
MIDDLE EAST
Guardian: The right to rule ourselves
For nearly a century, democracy has been denied to the Arabs by the west. There is little sign of that changing
Arabic-speaking peoples from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf suffer one common chronic ailment, namely oppressive despotism. Most of the states that stretch between the two water basins came into being less than a century ago; many were former colonies of one or other of the European powers. France and Britain in particular were instrumental after the first world war in shaping the entire map of what is today the Middle East and North Africa.
For nearly a century, democracy has been denied to the Arabs by the west. There is little sign of that changing
Arabic-speaking peoples from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf suffer one common chronic ailment, namely oppressive despotism. Most of the states that stretch between the two water basins came into being less than a century ago; many were former colonies of one or other of the European powers. France and Britain in particular were instrumental after the first world war in shaping the entire map of what is today the Middle East and North Africa.
GEOPOLITICS
Asia Times: India finds a $40bn friend in Iran
India's oil diplomacy took a giant leap forward on Friday when New Delhi unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with Iran and Russia that will be crucial to India's long-term energy security, and took the initiative the same week to host the first-ever conference on regional cooperation among Asian oil-producing and consuming countries. In its US$40 billion deal with the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC), India committed to import natural gas from Iran over a 25-year period and to develop two Iranian oil fields and a gas field. Iran will sell the liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India at a price linked to Brent crude oil. According to the agreement, India will pay $1.2 plus 0.065 of Brent crude average, with an upper ceiling of $31 per barrel. Iran will ship 5 million tonnes of LNG to India annually, with a provision to increase the quantity to 7.5 million tonnes.
India's oil diplomacy took a giant leap forward on Friday when New Delhi unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with Iran and Russia that will be crucial to India's long-term energy security, and took the initiative the same week to host the first-ever conference on regional cooperation among Asian oil-producing and consuming countries. In its US$40 billion deal with the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC), India committed to import natural gas from Iran over a 25-year period and to develop two Iranian oil fields and a gas field. Iran will sell the liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India at a price linked to Brent crude oil. According to the agreement, India will pay $1.2 plus 0.065 of Brent crude average, with an upper ceiling of $31 per barrel. Iran will ship 5 million tonnes of LNG to India annually, with a provision to increase the quantity to 7.5 million tonnes.
IRAQ: DIRTY WAR
The Times: US DEATH SQUADS
From Roland Watson in Washington
THE Pentagon is considering forming hit squads of Kurdish and Shia fighters to target leaders of the Iraqi insurgency in a strategic shift borrowed from the American struggle against left-wing guerrillas in Central America 20 years ago. Under the so-called “El Salvador option”, Iraqi and American forces would be sent to kill or kidnap insurgency leaders, even in Syria, where some are thought to shelter. The plans are reported in this week’s Newsweek magazine as part of Pentagon efforts to get US forces in Iraq on to the front foot against an enemy that is apparently getting the better of them. Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, was said to be one of the most vigorous supporters of the plan.
It's all 80s again and the same people are pulling the strings.
From Roland Watson in Washington
THE Pentagon is considering forming hit squads of Kurdish and Shia fighters to target leaders of the Iraqi insurgency in a strategic shift borrowed from the American struggle against left-wing guerrillas in Central America 20 years ago. Under the so-called “El Salvador option”, Iraqi and American forces would be sent to kill or kidnap insurgency leaders, even in Syria, where some are thought to shelter. The plans are reported in this week’s Newsweek magazine as part of Pentagon efforts to get US forces in Iraq on to the front foot against an enemy that is apparently getting the better of them. Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, was said to be one of the most vigorous supporters of the plan.
It's all 80s again and the same people are pulling the strings.
IRAQ
ICH: Iraq: The Devastation
01/07/05 -- The devastation of Iraq? Where do I start? After working 7 of the last 12 months in Iraq, I'm still overwhelmed by even the thought of trying to describe this.The illegal war and occupation of Iraq was waged for three reasons, according to the Bush administration. First for weapons of mass destruction, which have yet to be found. Second, because the regime of Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda, which Mr. Bush has personally admitted have never been proven. The third reason -- embedded in the very name of the invasion, Operation Iraqi Freedom -- was to liberate the Iraqi people.So Iraq is now a liberated country.
CHECK IT
01/07/05 -- The devastation of Iraq? Where do I start? After working 7 of the last 12 months in Iraq, I'm still overwhelmed by even the thought of trying to describe this.The illegal war and occupation of Iraq was waged for three reasons, according to the Bush administration. First for weapons of mass destruction, which have yet to be found. Second, because the regime of Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda, which Mr. Bush has personally admitted have never been proven. The third reason -- embedded in the very name of the invasion, Operation Iraqi Freedom -- was to liberate the Iraqi people.So Iraq is now a liberated country.
CHECK IT
USA
New York Times: Warning From a Student of Democracy's Collapse
FRITZ STERN, a refugee from Hitler's Germany and a leading scholar of European history, startled several of his listeners when he warned in a speech about the danger posed in this country by the rise of the Christian right. In his address in November, just after he received a prize presented by the German foreign minister, he told his audience that Hitler saw himself as "the instrument of providence" and fused his "racial dogma with a Germanic Christianity."
FRITZ STERN, a refugee from Hitler's Germany and a leading scholar of European history, startled several of his listeners when he warned in a speech about the danger posed in this country by the rise of the Christian right. In his address in November, just after he received a prize presented by the German foreign minister, he told his audience that Hitler saw himself as "the instrument of providence" and fused his "racial dogma with a Germanic Christianity."
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: ELECTIONS
ZMAG: Israelis Hinder East Jerusalem Elections by Kristen Ess
Israeli police cars and military jeeps parked in crossroads near the Salah Adiin Street post office in East Jerusalem Sunday morning. Israeli soldiers with rifles slung over their shoulders stood next to Israeli police who watched scores of journalists mingle with the voters arriving just after the polls opened at 7. Already the Israeli government would not allow 96,000 of East Jerusalem's 100,000 registered Palestinian voters to vote inside the city of East Jerusalem, instead forcing them to cross checkpoints or go around the Apartheid Wall to Jerusalem neighborhoods now stuck on the other side. But as the day wore on, East Jerusalem residents realized almost none of them were going to be allowed to vote in their city
AP: Arab world welcomes Palestinian elections
but remains skeptical over Israel
CAIRO, Egypt - The Arab world cautiously welcomed Palestinian elections - portrayed by the West as means to a Mideast peace agreement - but remained skeptical of whether the successful vote would push Israel into making concesssions.
Some also cautioned that Palestinian militants who spurned the balloting could derail peace talks by launching attacks on Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian Authority president with 62.3 percent of the vote in the elections that were a rare example of political reform in the Arab world. Israeli leaders welcomed Abbas’ victory, but said Monday they will watch closely how hard he tries to subdue militants.
Israeli police cars and military jeeps parked in crossroads near the Salah Adiin Street post office in East Jerusalem Sunday morning. Israeli soldiers with rifles slung over their shoulders stood next to Israeli police who watched scores of journalists mingle with the voters arriving just after the polls opened at 7. Already the Israeli government would not allow 96,000 of East Jerusalem's 100,000 registered Palestinian voters to vote inside the city of East Jerusalem, instead forcing them to cross checkpoints or go around the Apartheid Wall to Jerusalem neighborhoods now stuck on the other side. But as the day wore on, East Jerusalem residents realized almost none of them were going to be allowed to vote in their city
AP: Arab world welcomes Palestinian elections
but remains skeptical over Israel
CAIRO, Egypt - The Arab world cautiously welcomed Palestinian elections - portrayed by the West as means to a Mideast peace agreement - but remained skeptical of whether the successful vote would push Israel into making concesssions.
Some also cautioned that Palestinian militants who spurned the balloting could derail peace talks by launching attacks on Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian Authority president with 62.3 percent of the vote in the elections that were a rare example of political reform in the Arab world. Israeli leaders welcomed Abbas’ victory, but said Monday they will watch closely how hard he tries to subdue militants.
Monday, January 10, 2005
IRAQ: RESISTANCE
JUS: Resistance Claims 80+ More US Dead In Fallujah
Resistance spokesman: booby traps kill 80 US troops in an-Nazal neighborhood on Thursday-Friday.
In a dispatch posted at 12:30pm Mecca time Friday, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in al-Fallujah reported that more than 80 US troops had been killed during Thursday-Friday in the an-Nazal neighborhood of the city, which the Americans occupied during heavy fighting early Thursday.
Resistance spokesman: booby traps kill 80 US troops in an-Nazal neighborhood on Thursday-Friday.
In a dispatch posted at 12:30pm Mecca time Friday, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in al-Fallujah reported that more than 80 US troops had been killed during Thursday-Friday in the an-Nazal neighborhood of the city, which the Americans occupied during heavy fighting early Thursday.
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