WAR ON IRAK
IHT: Marines embroiled in urban warfare after all
NASIRIYA, Iraq As American marines battled their way into the heart of
this
city Monday, they appeared to be stepping into just the sort of urban
imbroglio they have been hoping to avoid. Following heavy fighting
Sunday,
when at least 10 Americans were killed near here, the battle that
unfolded
Monday had all the hallmarks of a confused and chaotic urban shootout.
Helicopter gunships rocketed the city from above, and Nasiriya’s
residents claimed the raids had killed and injured scores of civilians.
This claim was impossible to verify in the chaos of the fighting today.
"Iraker sterben in den Medien nicht oder nur möglicherweise. Es konnte leider nicht unabhängig bestätigt werden"
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
WAR ON IRAK
Swissinfo: Iraq accuses U.S. and Britain of blocking relief
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has accused the United States and Britain of forcing the United Nations
to stop a vital relief programme, which allowed the country's 25 million people to receive food and
medicine in return for oil sales.
"We denounce this immoral and inhuman behaviour by the United States and Britain to block the
oil-for-food programme," Iraq's Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told a news conference on Tuesday.
He said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had submitted to pressure from the United States and
Britain, who are launching a war against Iraq to oust President Saddam Hussein
Swissinfo: Iraq accuses U.S. and Britain of blocking relief
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has accused the United States and Britain of forcing the United Nations
to stop a vital relief programme, which allowed the country's 25 million people to receive food and
medicine in return for oil sales.
"We denounce this immoral and inhuman behaviour by the United States and Britain to block the
oil-for-food programme," Iraq's Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told a news conference on Tuesday.
He said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had submitted to pressure from the United States and
Britain, who are launching a war against Iraq to oust President Saddam Hussein
WAR ON IRAK
How did the U.S. end up taking on Saddam? The inside story of how Iraq jumped to the top of Bush's agenda—and why the outcome there may foreshadow a different world order. By Michael Elliott and James Carney
Time Magazine: First Stop, Iraq
F___ Saddam. We're taking him out." Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America's Middle East allies. Bush wasn't interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in that short phrase. The Senators laughed uncomfortably; Rice flashed a knowing smile. The President left the room.....
CHECK IT
How did the U.S. end up taking on Saddam? The inside story of how Iraq jumped to the top of Bush's agenda—and why the outcome there may foreshadow a different world order. By Michael Elliott and James Carney
Time Magazine: First Stop, Iraq
F___ Saddam. We're taking him out." Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America's Middle East allies. Bush wasn't interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in that short phrase. The Senators laughed uncomfortably; Rice flashed a knowing smile. The President left the room.....
CHECK IT
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ZMAG: Rachel Corrie's Mother Speaks Out
ON MARCH 16, 23-year old Rachel Corrie, a Palestinian rights activist working with the International Solidarity Movement, stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer in the city of Rafah in Gaza.
For three hours, there had been a standoff, as Rachel and others blocked the bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home. Activists at the scene say that the driver of the bulldozer knew that Rachel was in front of him--and deliberately drove toward her.
Initially, he covered her in sand and other heavy debris on her. Then the bulldozer pushed Rachel to the ground and drove over her--then went into reverse to drive over her again. Rachel’s arms, legs and skull were fractured. She died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
As if to underline Israel’s contempt for Palestinians and anyone who supports them, a few days later, soldiers threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters at a group of Palestinian and international activists gathered for a memorial service at the spot where Rachel was crushed.
Joseph Smith, a student from Missouri, said the group had gathered to lay carnations and plant a tree, when Israeli armored personnel carriers moved in. "They started firing tear gas and blowing smoke, then they fired sound grenades," Smith told a reporter. Later, while some of the 100 remained at the spot, Israeli forces drove by in another convoy--including the very bulldozer that had crushed Rachel to death.
Here, Rachel's mother, Cindy, talks to Socialist Worker’s GANESH LAL.
ZMAG: Rachel Corrie's Mother Speaks Out
ON MARCH 16, 23-year old Rachel Corrie, a Palestinian rights activist working with the International Solidarity Movement, stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer in the city of Rafah in Gaza.
For three hours, there had been a standoff, as Rachel and others blocked the bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home. Activists at the scene say that the driver of the bulldozer knew that Rachel was in front of him--and deliberately drove toward her.
Initially, he covered her in sand and other heavy debris on her. Then the bulldozer pushed Rachel to the ground and drove over her--then went into reverse to drive over her again. Rachel’s arms, legs and skull were fractured. She died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
As if to underline Israel’s contempt for Palestinians and anyone who supports them, a few days later, soldiers threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters at a group of Palestinian and international activists gathered for a memorial service at the spot where Rachel was crushed.
Joseph Smith, a student from Missouri, said the group had gathered to lay carnations and plant a tree, when Israeli armored personnel carriers moved in. "They started firing tear gas and blowing smoke, then they fired sound grenades," Smith told a reporter. Later, while some of the 100 remained at the spot, Israeli forces drove by in another convoy--including the very bulldozer that had crushed Rachel to death.
Here, Rachel's mother, Cindy, talks to Socialist Worker’s GANESH LAL.
WAR ON IRAK - RUSSIA
Pravda: Will American Administration Declare War on Russia?
US officials think that Russia is guilty of their unsuccessful war
It is obvious today that the war in Iraq is not the kind of war that the American administration was intended to have. The strong resistance that Iraqi troops showed, Iraqi ABM systems and anti-tank facilities turned out to be an unexpected surprise for Americans.
As the American administration believed, the war turned out to be difficult on account of the fact that the Russian defense industry delivered anti-tank missiles to Iraq via third countries. As it was said, the Russian defense industry also supplied Iraq with night vision devices, and unique Kolchuga anti-missile systems. The US administration determined that Russia delivered those weapons to Iraq several days before the war was launched. The official note of protest on the part of the US Department of State was based on those illegal deliveries. The note of protest was handed over to the Russian ambassador to the USA, Yury Ushakov.
Pravda: Will American Administration Declare War on Russia?
US officials think that Russia is guilty of their unsuccessful war
It is obvious today that the war in Iraq is not the kind of war that the American administration was intended to have. The strong resistance that Iraqi troops showed, Iraqi ABM systems and anti-tank facilities turned out to be an unexpected surprise for Americans.
As the American administration believed, the war turned out to be difficult on account of the fact that the Russian defense industry delivered anti-tank missiles to Iraq via third countries. As it was said, the Russian defense industry also supplied Iraq with night vision devices, and unique Kolchuga anti-missile systems. The US administration determined that Russia delivered those weapons to Iraq several days before the war was launched. The official note of protest on the part of the US Department of State was based on those illegal deliveries. The note of protest was handed over to the Russian ambassador to the USA, Yury Ushakov.
AFGHANISTAN
Reuters: U.S. Military Expands Afghan Operation
25.03.03 BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.S. soldiers launched an air assault on Tuesday as a major operation to hunt down Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives expanded in southern Afghanistan, a military spokesman said.
The operation, which started at the same time as the war in Iraq last Thursday, is being carried out in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province with up to 100 men targeted, said U.S. military spokesman Colonel Roger King.
He said another large cache of arms, the third since the operation began, was found as U.S. troops swept through the eastern part of the province,
Coalition forces conducted an air assault in the Samighar mountains on Tuesday in support of Operation Valiant Strike, King told a news briefing at U.S. headquarters in Bagram Air Base, just north of Kabul.
Thousands of U.S. and allied troops are searching Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden and members of his al Qaeda network, prime suspects in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, as well as leaders of the Taliban regime that sheltered them.
Reuters: U.S. Military Expands Afghan Operation
25.03.03 BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.S. soldiers launched an air assault on Tuesday as a major operation to hunt down Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives expanded in southern Afghanistan, a military spokesman said.
The operation, which started at the same time as the war in Iraq last Thursday, is being carried out in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province with up to 100 men targeted, said U.S. military spokesman Colonel Roger King.
He said another large cache of arms, the third since the operation began, was found as U.S. troops swept through the eastern part of the province,
Coalition forces conducted an air assault in the Samighar mountains on Tuesday in support of Operation Valiant Strike, King told a news briefing at U.S. headquarters in Bagram Air Base, just north of Kabul.
Thousands of U.S. and allied troops are searching Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden and members of his al Qaeda network, prime suspects in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, as well as leaders of the Taliban regime that sheltered them.
WAR ON IRAK
al-jazeera: Arab League demands withdrawal of US-led forces
Arab foreign ministers condemned on Monday the “aggression” against
Iraq and called for the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of
“invasion forces” from the country. The resolution issued at the end of
their meeting in Cairo also called on “all Arab states to abstain from
participating in any military action damaging the unity and territorial
integrity of Iraq or any other Arab country.”
al-jazeera: Arab League demands withdrawal of US-led forces
Arab foreign ministers condemned on Monday the “aggression” against
Iraq and called for the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of
“invasion forces” from the country. The resolution issued at the end of
their meeting in Cairo also called on “all Arab states to abstain from
participating in any military action damaging the unity and territorial
integrity of Iraq or any other Arab country.”
WAR ON IRAK
Pravda: US blames its setbacks on outdated Russian weapons
American army reversals in pursing the Iraqi "Blitzkrieg" are mutely resented in Washington. The White House is looking for causes of its strategic and tactical blunders not in miscalculations when preparing the Shock and Awe operation, nor in the political and military underestimation of the defence capabilities of Baghdad and its forces, but, as is their wont in such cases, in secondary and tertiary circumstances, which, all of a sudden, if only for propaganda purposes, become the most salient and move almost to the foreground.
One of such circumstances was Russian weaponry used by Iraqi units. Last weekend the Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Yuri Ushakov, was summoned to the Department of State and handed a note of protest. The note claims that over the past year, Russian private companies have sold to Iraq anti-tank missiles and shells, night-vision devices and electronic equipment able to lead astray American aircraft, cruise and self-homing missiles. All these deals, the note asserts, were done in violation of UN sanctions.
"Such equipment may pose a direct threat to the Coalition's armed forces," says the protest note. "Russia has the last chance to stop supplies". Otherwise Washington would be compelled to take adequate measures.
And although, as claimed by news agencies, the note does not point a finger at concrete Russian defence firms breaching UN sanctions, some are named in the American Washington Post and the British Financial Times - Tula Design Office of Instrument Building (KBP) and Aviakonversia.
Aviakonversia designs and manufactures active jamming stations to suppress receivers of satellite navigational systems used by the Americans to guide cruise missiles and other high-precision weapons. Its director, Oleg Antonov, has said in a RIA Novosti interview that "we supplied no equipment to Iraq," and that "the Iraqis could develop such devices by their own efforts or purchase in third countries".
Pravda: US blames its setbacks on outdated Russian weapons
American army reversals in pursing the Iraqi "Blitzkrieg" are mutely resented in Washington. The White House is looking for causes of its strategic and tactical blunders not in miscalculations when preparing the Shock and Awe operation, nor in the political and military underestimation of the defence capabilities of Baghdad and its forces, but, as is their wont in such cases, in secondary and tertiary circumstances, which, all of a sudden, if only for propaganda purposes, become the most salient and move almost to the foreground.
One of such circumstances was Russian weaponry used by Iraqi units. Last weekend the Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Yuri Ushakov, was summoned to the Department of State and handed a note of protest. The note claims that over the past year, Russian private companies have sold to Iraq anti-tank missiles and shells, night-vision devices and electronic equipment able to lead astray American aircraft, cruise and self-homing missiles. All these deals, the note asserts, were done in violation of UN sanctions.
"Such equipment may pose a direct threat to the Coalition's armed forces," says the protest note. "Russia has the last chance to stop supplies". Otherwise Washington would be compelled to take adequate measures.
And although, as claimed by news agencies, the note does not point a finger at concrete Russian defence firms breaching UN sanctions, some are named in the American Washington Post and the British Financial Times - Tula Design Office of Instrument Building (KBP) and Aviakonversia.
Aviakonversia designs and manufactures active jamming stations to suppress receivers of satellite navigational systems used by the Americans to guide cruise missiles and other high-precision weapons. Its director, Oleg Antonov, has said in a RIA Novosti interview that "we supplied no equipment to Iraq," and that "the Iraqis could develop such devices by their own efforts or purchase in third countries".
WAR ON IRAK
Pakistan Dawn: Coalition forces bogged down at Basra, Nasiriyah: •Progress made on other fronts•US Apache helicopter downed
NASIRIYAH, March 24 (alt): US and British forces were bogged down in fierce battles for the strategic southern Iraqi cities of Nasiriyah and Basra on Monday , despite reassurances from their top commander that they were in fact making "rapid" progress towards Baghdad.
On the fifth day of the US-led invasion, the series of setbacks for the coalition invasion piled up with a climbing body count, tough resistance from fighters and civilians loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and confirmation that a US Apache attack helicopter had been downed south of the Iraqi capital.
British forces assaulting Basra were forced to withdraw to regroup after coming under attack by mortars and by guerillas disguised in civilian clothes. The brigade had at one point surrounded the city. But, with the 180,000-strong Anglo-American force pushing forward in a multi-pronged strategy that involved leapfrogging many points of opposition, there was some progress on other fronts.
Pakistan Dawn: Coalition forces bogged down at Basra, Nasiriyah: •Progress made on other fronts•US Apache helicopter downed
NASIRIYAH, March 24 (alt): US and British forces were bogged down in fierce battles for the strategic southern Iraqi cities of Nasiriyah and Basra on Monday , despite reassurances from their top commander that they were in fact making "rapid" progress towards Baghdad.
On the fifth day of the US-led invasion, the series of setbacks for the coalition invasion piled up with a climbing body count, tough resistance from fighters and civilians loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and confirmation that a US Apache attack helicopter had been downed south of the Iraqi capital.
British forces assaulting Basra were forced to withdraw to regroup after coming under attack by mortars and by guerillas disguised in civilian clothes. The brigade had at one point surrounded the city. But, with the 180,000-strong Anglo-American force pushing forward in a multi-pronged strategy that involved leapfrogging many points of opposition, there was some progress on other fronts.
WAR ON IRAK: CENSORED
Scoop.nz: War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down, Again
Somebody doesn't like hearing the truth. Okay, for a second, lets scratch that and choose a slightly less politically charged term. Someone doesn't like to be disputed with alternative views, counterclaims, research and fact. Someone wants you, the reading public, to only gather one-sided, monotone, Orwellian dispatch. News the way they "fashion" it. Or as CNN will have you believe, the "most reliable source for news."
And so, once again, the staff at YellowTimes.org was threatened with a shutdown:
"We are sorry to notify you of suspending your account: Your account has been suspended because [of] inappropriate graphic material."
Within hours, the site was shut down.
What's next? Martial law?
An e-mail hours later was more explanatory: "As 'NO' TV station in the US is allowing any dead US solders or POWs to be displyed (sic) and we will not ether (sic)." Of course, at the time of this e-mail, TV stations across the U.S. were allowing the images of U.S. POWs to be brought to the public's attention.
CNN grilled an Al-Jazeera spokesperson on the (de)merits of airing such footage today. When asked by the Al-Jazeera spokesperson why it was allowed for U.S. stations to broadcast footage of Iraqi POWs, CNN's Aaron Brown said, "because their families wouldn't be watching".
Not true. CNN is broadcast around the world and is available to Iraqis. There are millions of Iraqis living outside Iraq who may recognize an Iraqi POW as a family member.
Not withstanding, to say "their families wouldn't be watching" is not an excuse. If it is a violation on the Iraqi side, then surely, it is as well on the U.S. side.
(Monday's front page of the Washington Post has a picture of an Iraqi POW being handled by U.S. troops.)
Spiegel: Bomben gegen Saddam-TV
Schwerer Rückschlag für die Iraker an der Propaganda-Front. In der vergangenen Nacht zerschossen die Alliierten in Bagdad die TV-Sendeanlagen. Der Befehl dazu kam offenbar von ganz oben: Angeblich hat Präsident Bush selbst die Anweisung gegeben.
Scoop.nz: War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down, Again
Somebody doesn't like hearing the truth. Okay, for a second, lets scratch that and choose a slightly less politically charged term. Someone doesn't like to be disputed with alternative views, counterclaims, research and fact. Someone wants you, the reading public, to only gather one-sided, monotone, Orwellian dispatch. News the way they "fashion" it. Or as CNN will have you believe, the "most reliable source for news."
And so, once again, the staff at YellowTimes.org was threatened with a shutdown:
"We are sorry to notify you of suspending your account: Your account has been suspended because [of] inappropriate graphic material."
Within hours, the site was shut down.
What's next? Martial law?
An e-mail hours later was more explanatory: "As 'NO' TV station in the US is allowing any dead US solders or POWs to be displyed (sic) and we will not ether (sic)." Of course, at the time of this e-mail, TV stations across the U.S. were allowing the images of U.S. POWs to be brought to the public's attention.
CNN grilled an Al-Jazeera spokesperson on the (de)merits of airing such footage today. When asked by the Al-Jazeera spokesperson why it was allowed for U.S. stations to broadcast footage of Iraqi POWs, CNN's Aaron Brown said, "because their families wouldn't be watching".
Not true. CNN is broadcast around the world and is available to Iraqis. There are millions of Iraqis living outside Iraq who may recognize an Iraqi POW as a family member.
Not withstanding, to say "their families wouldn't be watching" is not an excuse. If it is a violation on the Iraqi side, then surely, it is as well on the U.S. side.
(Monday's front page of the Washington Post has a picture of an Iraqi POW being handled by U.S. troops.)
Spiegel: Bomben gegen Saddam-TV
Schwerer Rückschlag für die Iraker an der Propaganda-Front. In der vergangenen Nacht zerschossen die Alliierten in Bagdad die TV-Sendeanlagen. Der Befehl dazu kam offenbar von ganz oben: Angeblich hat Präsident Bush selbst die Anweisung gegeben.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
WAR ON IRAK
Rense: US Information War - Analysis
It wasn't supposed to go like this, reporter Linda Diebel writes in today's Toronto Star. "On the weekend, these weren't supposed to be the television images of Operation Iraqi Freedom: frightened U.S. prisoners-of-war being held in Iraq; a grainy still of slain American soldiers lying on a floor; reporters explaining friendly fire incidents like the downing of a British warplane; and the stark image of a 101st Airborne soldier on the ground, taken prisoner by his own troops after grenades were tossed into officers' tents in Kuwait with deadly results.
"These grim, morale-destroying images weren't supposed to be there because the Bush administration thought it could control media war coverage."
In his decision to overrule Pentagon generals and "embed" 529 media personnel with advancing U.S. and British troops and put tough restrictions on their reporting, Bush urged White House spin-doctors to get out the news "in a coordinated way that reflects our efforts."
Despite their best efforts, they are.
Acting more like a Reichmarshall then Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld furiously warned it would be "unfortunate" for U.S. networks to air footage of American prisoners of war - even as the same images were being relentlessly beamed to the 95% of the world living outside U.S. borders.
Almost desperately, Rumsfeld repeatedly urged Americans not to believe what they were seeing with their own eyes. "The images on television tend to leave the impression that we're bombing Baghdad," he said. "The coalition forces are not bombing Baghdad."
At scripted press briefings at the White House, where America's top "journalists" read pre-approved questions, stern-faced government minders are shown on FOX News checking off each recited sentence on clipboards. But in Qatar, the U.S. Central Command has sought a wide mix of reporters, from Al-Jazeera and European networks to the Rolling Stone.
Big mistake.
In a detonation that stunned American viewers with its preview of questions to come, a reporter who neglected to identify himself for potential reprisals asked why the U.S. military was bombing the people it claimed to be liberating.
While Americans remain squeamish over viewing the results of their unprovoked attack on Iraq, in this information hyper-war Al Jazeera's candid cameras are already inflicting heavy casualties on U.S. credibility.
Just yesterday, Arab television footage of purported dead American GIs was followed by interviews with five U.S. prisoners after Pentagon officials confirmed at least 10 soldiers had been killed and up to 12 were missing following ambushes near the key southern city of Nasiriyah.
Despite repeatedly displaying dispirited Iraqi prisoners of war on American channels, Arab broadcasts showing American POWs are being denounced by Bush and coalition commanders as "violations of the Geneva Convention
Rense: US Information War - Analysis
It wasn't supposed to go like this, reporter Linda Diebel writes in today's Toronto Star. "On the weekend, these weren't supposed to be the television images of Operation Iraqi Freedom: frightened U.S. prisoners-of-war being held in Iraq; a grainy still of slain American soldiers lying on a floor; reporters explaining friendly fire incidents like the downing of a British warplane; and the stark image of a 101st Airborne soldier on the ground, taken prisoner by his own troops after grenades were tossed into officers' tents in Kuwait with deadly results.
"These grim, morale-destroying images weren't supposed to be there because the Bush administration thought it could control media war coverage."
In his decision to overrule Pentagon generals and "embed" 529 media personnel with advancing U.S. and British troops and put tough restrictions on their reporting, Bush urged White House spin-doctors to get out the news "in a coordinated way that reflects our efforts."
Despite their best efforts, they are.
Acting more like a Reichmarshall then Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld furiously warned it would be "unfortunate" for U.S. networks to air footage of American prisoners of war - even as the same images were being relentlessly beamed to the 95% of the world living outside U.S. borders.
Almost desperately, Rumsfeld repeatedly urged Americans not to believe what they were seeing with their own eyes. "The images on television tend to leave the impression that we're bombing Baghdad," he said. "The coalition forces are not bombing Baghdad."
At scripted press briefings at the White House, where America's top "journalists" read pre-approved questions, stern-faced government minders are shown on FOX News checking off each recited sentence on clipboards. But in Qatar, the U.S. Central Command has sought a wide mix of reporters, from Al-Jazeera and European networks to the Rolling Stone.
Big mistake.
In a detonation that stunned American viewers with its preview of questions to come, a reporter who neglected to identify himself for potential reprisals asked why the U.S. military was bombing the people it claimed to be liberating.
While Americans remain squeamish over viewing the results of their unprovoked attack on Iraq, in this information hyper-war Al Jazeera's candid cameras are already inflicting heavy casualties on U.S. credibility.
Just yesterday, Arab television footage of purported dead American GIs was followed by interviews with five U.S. prisoners after Pentagon officials confirmed at least 10 soldiers had been killed and up to 12 were missing following ambushes near the key southern city of Nasiriyah.
Despite repeatedly displaying dispirited Iraqi prisoners of war on American channels, Arab broadcasts showing American POWs are being denounced by Bush and coalition commanders as "violations of the Geneva Convention
USA
"They are gassing their own people"
Rense: A History Of US Secret Human Experimentation
1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.
1932 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.
1935 The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.
1940 Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to
combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.
1942 Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.
1943 In response to Japan's full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.
1944 U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.
1945 Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.
1945 "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.
1946 Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word "experiments" to "investigations" or "observations" whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation's veteran's hospitals.
1947 Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.
1947 The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.
1950 Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.
1950 I n an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Franciso. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.
1951 Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.
1953 U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.
1953 Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.
1953 CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings..................................
"They are gassing their own people"
Rense: A History Of US Secret Human Experimentation
1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.
1932 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.
1935 The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.
1940 Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to
combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.
1942 Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.
1943 In response to Japan's full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.
1944 U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.
1945 Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.
1945 "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.
1946 Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word "experiments" to "investigations" or "observations" whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation's veteran's hospitals.
1947 Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.
1947 The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.
1950 Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.
1950 I n an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Franciso. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.
1951 Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.
1953 U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.
1953 Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.
1953 CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings..................................
WAR ON IRAK ANALYSIS
Aeronautics.ru: War in Iraq - situation at An-Nasiriya (update)
March 24, 2003, 0800hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - As of morning (MSK, GMT +3) March 24 the situation in Iraq can be characterized as quiet on all fronts. Attacking coalition forces have settled into positional warfare, they are exhausted, lost the attacking momentum and are in urgent need for fuel, ammunition, repairs and reinforcements. The Iraqis are also busy regrouping their forces, reinforcing the combat units and setting up new defense lines.
Exceptionally heavy fighting continued for two days and nights near An-Nasiriya. Both warring sides employed large numbers of tanks and artillery. More than 20,000 troops of the US 3rd Motorized Infantry Division, supported by 200 tanks, 600 other armored vehicles and 150 artillery pieces, were opposed by the Iraqi 3rd Army Corps consisting of up to 40,000 troops, up to 250 tanks, more than 100 artillery, up to 100 mortars and 1000 rocket propelled grenade launchers (RPG) and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM). The two-day battle ended without any significant results.
The Americans have failed in trying to use their momentum in capturing An-Nasiriya and attempted to encircle the town from the west, where they encountered strong layered Iraqi defenses and forced to withdraw. The Iraqi forces used this opportunity to attack the US flanks with two brigades, breaking the US combat orders and causing panic among the US troops. The US command was forced to halt the advance of its forced toward An Najaf and once again redirect several tank battalions to support the attacked units. Nearly 6 hours was needed for the US aviation to stop the Iraqi attack and restore combat order of the US forces.
During the past day the coalition aviation flew more than 2,000 close support missions in this area [An-Nasiriya]. "We can only thank God for having air dominance!” said the commander of the US 15th Marines Exp. Corps Col. Thomas Waldhauser in a private conversation with one of the CNN reporters. Later the CNN journalist cited the Colonel in a phone conversation with his editor. The conversation was intercepted.
According to the intercepted radio traffic, the US forces have sustained up to 40 killed, up to 10 captured and up to 200 wounded during the fighting near An-Nasiriya. There is confirmed information about one lost attack helicopter and an unconfirmed report about a lost ground attack plane. The US forces have also lost up to 40 armored vehicles, including no less than 10 tanks. Several intercepted reports by the US field commanders stated that their troops are unable to advance due to their soldiers being demoralized by the enemy's fierce resistance and high losses.
Four days of continuous advance exhausted the coalition forces, which now have settled into defensive positions nearly on every front to rest and regroup. As of this morning (MSK, GMT +3) the coalition forces are in control of the western part of An-Nasiriya but have no foothold on the left bank of Euphrates. The left bank of the river is controlled by the Iraqi forces, which are conducting engineering works to reinforce their defenses. A part of the Iraqi forces have been deployed to strengthen the defense of An-Najaf, where they expect the next coalition attack.
Around 2300hrs (MSK, GMT +3) March 23 a British platoon was ambushed by Iraqi Special Forces unit near Basra. Following a powerful initial artillery barrage the Iraqis engaged the British in close combat and destroyed several armored vehicles. After the Iraqis withdrew the British commander reported up to 8 killed, two missing and more than 30 wounded British soldiers. Thus over the 30% of the unit's troops have been disabled in the attack. Reinforcements and medevac helicopters have been dispatched by the coalition to the scene of the attack.
During the past day there has been a sharp increase in combat activity in the coalition's rearguard.
Reports have been intercepted showing at least 5 attacks on the coalition military convoys, 8 vehicles destroyed by landmines and 2 ambushes. Iraqi special operation units are mining the roads, setting up ambushes and conduct search and reconnaissance operations. The coalition forces have been ordered to halt the movement of convoys during dark hours and to provide each convoy with combat escort units and air cover.
The situation around the borderline town of Umm Qasr (population 1,500) still remains unclear. Radio intercepts and satellite images show that the town was under constant bombardment throughout out the night. The morning photos indicate its complete destruction. This shows that the coalition command, fed up with the Iraqi's stubborn resistance, ordered the complete destruction of the town using aviation and artillery. However, according to reports by the British troops ordered to "clean up" Umm Qasr the town still contains many pockets of resistance. The overall coalition losses at Umm Qasr during the past four days amounted to up to 40 killed and up to 200 wounded. Currently it is impossible to estimate the Iraqi losses at Umm Qasr. As of yesterday's morning the Umm Qasr garrison consisted of 1600 troops.
The units of the British marine infantry have failed to establish control over the strategically important Fao peninsula. After yesterday's counterattack by the Iraqis the British forces have been thrown back some 3 to 5 kilometers and were forced into defensive positions. Intercepted radio communications indicate that today the British command will attempt to regain the lost ground after spending the night reinforcing their units on Fao with two additional marine infantry battalions. The overall British losses on the Fao peninsula during the past four days of fighting include up to 15 killed and up to 100 wounded. The Iraqis lost here up to 100 killed and around 100 captured.
A heated exchange of fire continues near Basra. The coalition units hesitate to enter the city and limit their actions to constant artillery and aviation bombardment of Basra. So far the coalition forces have failed to completely surround the city and to cut off the defending Iraqi garrison from the main Iraqi forces.
The US troops continue landing in northern Iraqi territories controlled by the Kurds. It is expected that as early as tomorrow morning these forces supported by the Kurdish units will make an attempt to capture the town of Kirkuk.
Aerial strikes against Iraq continued throughout the night. A total of up to 1,500 combat flights were carried out by the coalition aviation. Additionally, B-52 bombers launched more than 100 cruise missiles from the so-called "Turkish corridor". Some 150 more cruise missiles have been launched by the US and British naval forces.
Intercepted radio traffic indicates another lost coalition plane this morning. There was a confirmed loss of a "Predator" unmanned aerial reconnaissance aircraft.
Any further advances by the coalition within the next 8-12 hours are unlikely. The coalition command in Qatar has been in meeting since the early morning and is expected to come up with significant changes to the overall operational plan. According to most experts the coalition command made a most serious strategic error by starting the ground phase of the operation nearly at the very start of the war. The Americans have violated their own doctrine where the ground phases of a military operation coincide in time with the destruction of the enemy from the air.
The US made serious errors in their estimates of the Iraq's army strength and combat readiness. The US military intelligence and the CIA failed to uncover the true potential of the Iraqi forces and, in essence, misinformed the top military and civilian leadership of the coalition member countries.
Aeronautics.ru: War in Iraq - situation at An-Nasiriya (update)
March 24, 2003, 0800hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - As of morning (MSK, GMT +3) March 24 the situation in Iraq can be characterized as quiet on all fronts. Attacking coalition forces have settled into positional warfare, they are exhausted, lost the attacking momentum and are in urgent need for fuel, ammunition, repairs and reinforcements. The Iraqis are also busy regrouping their forces, reinforcing the combat units and setting up new defense lines.
Exceptionally heavy fighting continued for two days and nights near An-Nasiriya. Both warring sides employed large numbers of tanks and artillery. More than 20,000 troops of the US 3rd Motorized Infantry Division, supported by 200 tanks, 600 other armored vehicles and 150 artillery pieces, were opposed by the Iraqi 3rd Army Corps consisting of up to 40,000 troops, up to 250 tanks, more than 100 artillery, up to 100 mortars and 1000 rocket propelled grenade launchers (RPG) and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM). The two-day battle ended without any significant results.
The Americans have failed in trying to use their momentum in capturing An-Nasiriya and attempted to encircle the town from the west, where they encountered strong layered Iraqi defenses and forced to withdraw. The Iraqi forces used this opportunity to attack the US flanks with two brigades, breaking the US combat orders and causing panic among the US troops. The US command was forced to halt the advance of its forced toward An Najaf and once again redirect several tank battalions to support the attacked units. Nearly 6 hours was needed for the US aviation to stop the Iraqi attack and restore combat order of the US forces.
During the past day the coalition aviation flew more than 2,000 close support missions in this area [An-Nasiriya]. "We can only thank God for having air dominance!” said the commander of the US 15th Marines Exp. Corps Col. Thomas Waldhauser in a private conversation with one of the CNN reporters. Later the CNN journalist cited the Colonel in a phone conversation with his editor. The conversation was intercepted.
According to the intercepted radio traffic, the US forces have sustained up to 40 killed, up to 10 captured and up to 200 wounded during the fighting near An-Nasiriya. There is confirmed information about one lost attack helicopter and an unconfirmed report about a lost ground attack plane. The US forces have also lost up to 40 armored vehicles, including no less than 10 tanks. Several intercepted reports by the US field commanders stated that their troops are unable to advance due to their soldiers being demoralized by the enemy's fierce resistance and high losses.
Four days of continuous advance exhausted the coalition forces, which now have settled into defensive positions nearly on every front to rest and regroup. As of this morning (MSK, GMT +3) the coalition forces are in control of the western part of An-Nasiriya but have no foothold on the left bank of Euphrates. The left bank of the river is controlled by the Iraqi forces, which are conducting engineering works to reinforce their defenses. A part of the Iraqi forces have been deployed to strengthen the defense of An-Najaf, where they expect the next coalition attack.
Around 2300hrs (MSK, GMT +3) March 23 a British platoon was ambushed by Iraqi Special Forces unit near Basra. Following a powerful initial artillery barrage the Iraqis engaged the British in close combat and destroyed several armored vehicles. After the Iraqis withdrew the British commander reported up to 8 killed, two missing and more than 30 wounded British soldiers. Thus over the 30% of the unit's troops have been disabled in the attack. Reinforcements and medevac helicopters have been dispatched by the coalition to the scene of the attack.
During the past day there has been a sharp increase in combat activity in the coalition's rearguard.
Reports have been intercepted showing at least 5 attacks on the coalition military convoys, 8 vehicles destroyed by landmines and 2 ambushes. Iraqi special operation units are mining the roads, setting up ambushes and conduct search and reconnaissance operations. The coalition forces have been ordered to halt the movement of convoys during dark hours and to provide each convoy with combat escort units and air cover.
The situation around the borderline town of Umm Qasr (population 1,500) still remains unclear. Radio intercepts and satellite images show that the town was under constant bombardment throughout out the night. The morning photos indicate its complete destruction. This shows that the coalition command, fed up with the Iraqi's stubborn resistance, ordered the complete destruction of the town using aviation and artillery. However, according to reports by the British troops ordered to "clean up" Umm Qasr the town still contains many pockets of resistance. The overall coalition losses at Umm Qasr during the past four days amounted to up to 40 killed and up to 200 wounded. Currently it is impossible to estimate the Iraqi losses at Umm Qasr. As of yesterday's morning the Umm Qasr garrison consisted of 1600 troops.
The units of the British marine infantry have failed to establish control over the strategically important Fao peninsula. After yesterday's counterattack by the Iraqis the British forces have been thrown back some 3 to 5 kilometers and were forced into defensive positions. Intercepted radio communications indicate that today the British command will attempt to regain the lost ground after spending the night reinforcing their units on Fao with two additional marine infantry battalions. The overall British losses on the Fao peninsula during the past four days of fighting include up to 15 killed and up to 100 wounded. The Iraqis lost here up to 100 killed and around 100 captured.
A heated exchange of fire continues near Basra. The coalition units hesitate to enter the city and limit their actions to constant artillery and aviation bombardment of Basra. So far the coalition forces have failed to completely surround the city and to cut off the defending Iraqi garrison from the main Iraqi forces.
The US troops continue landing in northern Iraqi territories controlled by the Kurds. It is expected that as early as tomorrow morning these forces supported by the Kurdish units will make an attempt to capture the town of Kirkuk.
Aerial strikes against Iraq continued throughout the night. A total of up to 1,500 combat flights were carried out by the coalition aviation. Additionally, B-52 bombers launched more than 100 cruise missiles from the so-called "Turkish corridor". Some 150 more cruise missiles have been launched by the US and British naval forces.
Intercepted radio traffic indicates another lost coalition plane this morning. There was a confirmed loss of a "Predator" unmanned aerial reconnaissance aircraft.
Any further advances by the coalition within the next 8-12 hours are unlikely. The coalition command in Qatar has been in meeting since the early morning and is expected to come up with significant changes to the overall operational plan. According to most experts the coalition command made a most serious strategic error by starting the ground phase of the operation nearly at the very start of the war. The Americans have violated their own doctrine where the ground phases of a military operation coincide in time with the destruction of the enemy from the air.
The US made serious errors in their estimates of the Iraq's army strength and combat readiness. The US military intelligence and the CIA failed to uncover the true potential of the Iraqi forces and, in essence, misinformed the top military and civilian leadership of the coalition member countries.
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: 'You Should Have Known We'd Fight'
It is now five days since the British and US governments launched an unprecedented military invasion of my country of birth, its people, land, towns and cities. This attack was launched without UN authority, public support or the will of the international community. To win support for this unjust and illegal campaign, it has been claimed that this is not a colonial war of occupation but a war of liberation; a compassionate war. Britain and the US will save the Iraqis by bombing so they can thrive in a democratic Iraq and live at ease with their neighbours. Those who believed the hype expected the Iraqis to welcome the invading armies. After British troops were forced to retreat from Basra yesterday, a military spokesman said: "We were expecting a lot of hands up, but it hasn't quite worked out that way."
It is now clear to everyone that ordinary Iraqis are resisting this military aggression with their lives and souls. Commentators and politicians in Britain and America seem taken aback: how come the Iraqis are putting up such a fight? Why do they so passionately resist this attempt to liberate them from the brutal dictator, Saddam? But Iraqis aren't surprised at all.
When Iraq was first colonised by Britain in 1917, Iraqis were fed the same British propaganda about liberation through occupation. We fought the best part of last century to get rid of colonial Britain and, since then, have helped a great number of independence movements worldwide. Iraqis may wish for the current regime to change, but anyone who understands our culture will know that in this war Iraqis will fight and die, not to save President Saddam Hussein, but to protect their home, land, dignity and self-respect from a new world order alien to their way of life. We are an enormously proud people.
CHECK IT
Guardian: 'You Should Have Known We'd Fight'
It is now five days since the British and US governments launched an unprecedented military invasion of my country of birth, its people, land, towns and cities. This attack was launched without UN authority, public support or the will of the international community. To win support for this unjust and illegal campaign, it has been claimed that this is not a colonial war of occupation but a war of liberation; a compassionate war. Britain and the US will save the Iraqis by bombing so they can thrive in a democratic Iraq and live at ease with their neighbours. Those who believed the hype expected the Iraqis to welcome the invading armies. After British troops were forced to retreat from Basra yesterday, a military spokesman said: "We were expecting a lot of hands up, but it hasn't quite worked out that way."
It is now clear to everyone that ordinary Iraqis are resisting this military aggression with their lives and souls. Commentators and politicians in Britain and America seem taken aback: how come the Iraqis are putting up such a fight? Why do they so passionately resist this attempt to liberate them from the brutal dictator, Saddam? But Iraqis aren't surprised at all.
When Iraq was first colonised by Britain in 1917, Iraqis were fed the same British propaganda about liberation through occupation. We fought the best part of last century to get rid of colonial Britain and, since then, have helped a great number of independence movements worldwide. Iraqis may wish for the current regime to change, but anyone who understands our culture will know that in this war Iraqis will fight and die, not to save President Saddam Hussein, but to protect their home, land, dignity and self-respect from a new world order alien to their way of life. We are an enormously proud people.
CHECK IT
WAR ON IRAK
Al-Jazeera.net: US remembers Geneva Convention
Are US prisoners of war more equal than the Iraqi prisoners in the custody of US-led forces?
The answer seems to be yes, given the contrasting reactions to images of US prisoners of war captured yesterday.
Just a day earlier, pictures of surrendering Iraqi soldiers being forced to kneel down and being body-searched by US-troops stirred few emotions in the Western world.
But it all changed dramatically the moment Al Jazeera television broadcast on Monday images of five American troops in Iraq’s custody.
“Anyone found ill-treating American prisoners of war would be dealt with as war criminals,” insisted US President George W Bush told newsmen.
British Prime Minister, Tony Blair was more caustic and explained that “the televised parade of the US prisoners of war was yet another instance of excesses committed by Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein.”
Western leaders haven’t stopped spitting fire since then. In between criticising Iraq and condemning Al Jazeera, they have suddenly begun to recite ad verbatim the rights and privileges of prisoners of wars in the Geneva Convention.
“Its illegal to do things to the prisoners of war that are humiliating to the prisoners. It is against the Geneva Convention,” said US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
A US marine arrests an Iraqi soldier, dressed in civilian clothes on the road north of the town of Basra March 24
For the first couple of days of the conflict, western television broadcasts have been replete with images of humiliated and humbled Iraqi prisoners.
Some images had the Iraqi soldiers on their knees while they were frisked by US Marines. In others, they were lined up with their hands tied to their backs. Some of the Iraqi prisoners were also seen to be shivering, possibly in shock and fear.
There is nothing wrong with Article 13 of the Geneva Convention that the world adopted in 1950 for enshrining rights and privileges of a captured prisoner in war. “Prisoners of war must at all time be humanely treated…..POWs must at all time be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insult and public curiosity,” it stated.
The problem is that the US is seeking to take refuge under provisions of the United Nations when the war they are waging does not have UN approval.
There is more to US double-standards.
The US is holding 625 suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda sympathisers in Guantanomo Bay in Cuba where there designation as "unlawful comabatants" has stripped them of even the most basic human rights including the right of habeus corpus.
An application filed by Human Rights groups before the US federal court seeking an end to the arbitrary detention was again thrown out two weeks ago because the “detainees held outside US territory were beyond the jurisdiction of US courts.”
Al-Jazeera.net: US remembers Geneva Convention
Are US prisoners of war more equal than the Iraqi prisoners in the custody of US-led forces?
The answer seems to be yes, given the contrasting reactions to images of US prisoners of war captured yesterday.
Just a day earlier, pictures of surrendering Iraqi soldiers being forced to kneel down and being body-searched by US-troops stirred few emotions in the Western world.
But it all changed dramatically the moment Al Jazeera television broadcast on Monday images of five American troops in Iraq’s custody.
“Anyone found ill-treating American prisoners of war would be dealt with as war criminals,” insisted US President George W Bush told newsmen.
British Prime Minister, Tony Blair was more caustic and explained that “the televised parade of the US prisoners of war was yet another instance of excesses committed by Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein.”
Western leaders haven’t stopped spitting fire since then. In between criticising Iraq and condemning Al Jazeera, they have suddenly begun to recite ad verbatim the rights and privileges of prisoners of wars in the Geneva Convention.
“Its illegal to do things to the prisoners of war that are humiliating to the prisoners. It is against the Geneva Convention,” said US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
A US marine arrests an Iraqi soldier, dressed in civilian clothes on the road north of the town of Basra March 24
For the first couple of days of the conflict, western television broadcasts have been replete with images of humiliated and humbled Iraqi prisoners.
Some images had the Iraqi soldiers on their knees while they were frisked by US Marines. In others, they were lined up with their hands tied to their backs. Some of the Iraqi prisoners were also seen to be shivering, possibly in shock and fear.
There is nothing wrong with Article 13 of the Geneva Convention that the world adopted in 1950 for enshrining rights and privileges of a captured prisoner in war. “Prisoners of war must at all time be humanely treated…..POWs must at all time be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insult and public curiosity,” it stated.
The problem is that the US is seeking to take refuge under provisions of the United Nations when the war they are waging does not have UN approval.
There is more to US double-standards.
The US is holding 625 suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda sympathisers in Guantanomo Bay in Cuba where there designation as "unlawful comabatants" has stripped them of even the most basic human rights including the right of habeus corpus.
An application filed by Human Rights groups before the US federal court seeking an end to the arbitrary detention was again thrown out two weeks ago because the “detainees held outside US territory were beyond the jurisdiction of US courts.”
WAR ON IRAN?
Pakistan Tribune: Iran To Be Next US Target - CIA Report
LAHORE (Online) -- The next target of US after capturing Iraq will be replacement of religious government in Iran with a secular government as the US forces in Afghanistan have already started implementation on action plan in this regard.
According to reliable sources, US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had submitted a detailed 300 pages long report to President George Bush in which it was pointed out that during possible US attack on Iran religiously motivated Jehadi (holy warrior) organizations would support Iran from the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Following this report US intelligence agencies have started actions to check any possibility of provision of support to Iran from border areas of the two neighbouring countries by organizations like Tehreek Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi and tribal leaders in Pakistan and Hizb-e-Islami of Eng. Gulbadeen Hikmatyar along with supporters of former Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Sources further revealed that operation being conducted by U.S. forces in Afghanistan on March 20 was not against Al-Qaeda rather it was against Hizb-e-Islami and possible supporters of Iran.
Sources also revealed that list of countries where replacement of government has been declared essential included Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Cuba and North Korea and from this list Taliban regime has been replaced in Afghanistan while war against Iraq is going on.
Moreover, those 22 countries which are being declared threat to U.S. security could face similar US action like in Iraq if they failed to ensure disarming of their armed organizations and finishing their nuclear arsenal.
Pakistan Tribune: Iran To Be Next US Target - CIA Report
LAHORE (Online) -- The next target of US after capturing Iraq will be replacement of religious government in Iran with a secular government as the US forces in Afghanistan have already started implementation on action plan in this regard.
According to reliable sources, US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had submitted a detailed 300 pages long report to President George Bush in which it was pointed out that during possible US attack on Iran religiously motivated Jehadi (holy warrior) organizations would support Iran from the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Following this report US intelligence agencies have started actions to check any possibility of provision of support to Iran from border areas of the two neighbouring countries by organizations like Tehreek Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi and tribal leaders in Pakistan and Hizb-e-Islami of Eng. Gulbadeen Hikmatyar along with supporters of former Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Sources further revealed that operation being conducted by U.S. forces in Afghanistan on March 20 was not against Al-Qaeda rather it was against Hizb-e-Islami and possible supporters of Iran.
Sources also revealed that list of countries where replacement of government has been declared essential included Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Cuba and North Korea and from this list Taliban regime has been replaced in Afghanistan while war against Iraq is going on.
Moreover, those 22 countries which are being declared threat to U.S. security could face similar US action like in Iraq if they failed to ensure disarming of their armed organizations and finishing their nuclear arsenal.
WAR ON IRAK
al-jazeera.net: Cairo witnesses largest demonstrations in years
As war broke out in Iraq, there was no question that Egypt would witness popular demonstrations; but no one predicted the sheer size that they would take on. For the first time since the 1970s, Egyptians took over Midan Tahrir on 20 March, and the next day witnessed running battles between demonstrators and riot police through the broad avenues of downtown Cairo.
There were around 3-4,000 people in Midan Tahrir on 20 March and over 10,000 on the streets the next day--not counting the myriad smaller demonstrations around the country as well. Official counts put the injured from the two days at under 100, though many believe it to be higher and the Lawyers’ Syndicate has said that over 800 people have subsequently been detained.
By 22 March, the city was quiet again as police began the process of rounding up troublemakers in earnest. The Interior Ministry announced that while it had nothing against future demonstrations, it only asked that organizers ask permission first--a permission few people see likely to be extended any time soon.
al-jazeera.net: Cairo witnesses largest demonstrations in years
As war broke out in Iraq, there was no question that Egypt would witness popular demonstrations; but no one predicted the sheer size that they would take on. For the first time since the 1970s, Egyptians took over Midan Tahrir on 20 March, and the next day witnessed running battles between demonstrators and riot police through the broad avenues of downtown Cairo.
There were around 3-4,000 people in Midan Tahrir on 20 March and over 10,000 on the streets the next day--not counting the myriad smaller demonstrations around the country as well. Official counts put the injured from the two days at under 100, though many believe it to be higher and the Lawyers’ Syndicate has said that over 800 people have subsequently been detained.
By 22 March, the city was quiet again as police began the process of rounding up troublemakers in earnest. The Interior Ministry announced that while it had nothing against future demonstrations, it only asked that organizers ask permission first--a permission few people see likely to be extended any time soon.
WAR ON IRAK
Rense/Al-Jazeera.net: Basra Hunger, Thirst Turning Even More Against US
Days into the US-led war, Iraq's civilians are still waiting for the food, water and other help Washington and London promised they would distribute behind their advancing soldiers.
But with unexpectedly tough combat holding up the humanitarian aid convoys, hope is rapidly turning to anger against the invaders.
"This war has quickly turned us into beggars," an old man who gave his name as Farak said as he sat on the side of a road in southern Iraq Monday.
In this part of the country, at least, years of UN economic sanctions that stripped cupboards have now been replaced by a fierce war which is depleting the few remaining valuable provisions, resulting in a severe penury.
With no running water and no electricity, and food all but gone, the inhabitants of the desertic south have slipped into despair, no longer believing in the US promises they would be taken care of. There are no celebrations to greet the Western troops.
"We've been abandoned to our fate. Nobody has given us anything to eat. Nobody is providing security. All they do is arrive here, attack Saddam's forces, then leave," said Hussein Yaber, a 20-year-old shepherd living in a barn south of Nasiriyah.
On Monday, he was forced to buy 300 litres (65 gallons) of water from various trucks driving down from the north because his family now had no more drinking water.
"We can't remember when the situation has been so bad," he said -- a telling comment in a region with a Muslim Shiite majority long oppressed by the Sunni minority that runs Iraq.
If the (US and British) soldiers are among us for only a short time, we could try to respect them. But if they have come to stay, there are going to be a lot of problems because the United States only wants to destroy Islam," affirmed a young Safwan man driving a car with a white flag flying from its roof.
Rense/Al-Jazeera.net: Basra Hunger, Thirst Turning Even More Against US
Days into the US-led war, Iraq's civilians are still waiting for the food, water and other help Washington and London promised they would distribute behind their advancing soldiers.
But with unexpectedly tough combat holding up the humanitarian aid convoys, hope is rapidly turning to anger against the invaders.
"This war has quickly turned us into beggars," an old man who gave his name as Farak said as he sat on the side of a road in southern Iraq Monday.
In this part of the country, at least, years of UN economic sanctions that stripped cupboards have now been replaced by a fierce war which is depleting the few remaining valuable provisions, resulting in a severe penury.
With no running water and no electricity, and food all but gone, the inhabitants of the desertic south have slipped into despair, no longer believing in the US promises they would be taken care of. There are no celebrations to greet the Western troops.
"We've been abandoned to our fate. Nobody has given us anything to eat. Nobody is providing security. All they do is arrive here, attack Saddam's forces, then leave," said Hussein Yaber, a 20-year-old shepherd living in a barn south of Nasiriyah.
On Monday, he was forced to buy 300 litres (65 gallons) of water from various trucks driving down from the north because his family now had no more drinking water.
"We can't remember when the situation has been so bad," he said -- a telling comment in a region with a Muslim Shiite majority long oppressed by the Sunni minority that runs Iraq.
If the (US and British) soldiers are among us for only a short time, we could try to respect them. But if they have come to stay, there are going to be a lot of problems because the United States only wants to destroy Islam," affirmed a young Safwan man driving a car with a white flag flying from its roof.
WAR ON IRAK
New York Times: A Readers' Guide to the War By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
With U.S. forces running into unexpectedly strong resistance, let me suggest a couple of guideposts to monitor progress of the war:
Will the invasion get bogged down? One of the scarier places in Iraq is a tiny hamlet, Umm Qasr, just over the border from Kuwait. A smuggler's haven with docks, low buildings and just 4,000 people, it was secured in the first hours of the invasion, military officials announced. Only it wasn't.
Will ordinary Iraqis shower U.S. troops with flowers? If the White House vision — that Iraqi citizens would cheer our invasion — was borne out, that would go a long way to defuse antagonism toward us in Europe and the Arab world. So far, though, the effusive welcome the White House counted on has been largely absent.
In Safwan, some residents did shout blessings on the Americans. But reports from Basra, Nasiriya, Umm Qasr and other towns suggest there are few signs so far that the population is cheering the invasion.
A Reuters correspondent, Rosalind Russell, saw a group of Iraqi youths waving as a convoy of British tanks and trucks rolled by. But once it had passed, their smiles turned to scowls. "We don't want them here," said 17-year-old Fouad. He pulled out a photo of Saddam from the waistband of his trousers and said defiantly: "Saddam is our leader. Saddam is good."
New York Times: A Readers' Guide to the War By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
With U.S. forces running into unexpectedly strong resistance, let me suggest a couple of guideposts to monitor progress of the war:
Will the invasion get bogged down? One of the scarier places in Iraq is a tiny hamlet, Umm Qasr, just over the border from Kuwait. A smuggler's haven with docks, low buildings and just 4,000 people, it was secured in the first hours of the invasion, military officials announced. Only it wasn't.
Will ordinary Iraqis shower U.S. troops with flowers? If the White House vision — that Iraqi citizens would cheer our invasion — was borne out, that would go a long way to defuse antagonism toward us in Europe and the Arab world. So far, though, the effusive welcome the White House counted on has been largely absent.
In Safwan, some residents did shout blessings on the Americans. But reports from Basra, Nasiriya, Umm Qasr and other towns suggest there are few signs so far that the population is cheering the invasion.
A Reuters correspondent, Rosalind Russell, saw a group of Iraqi youths waving as a convoy of British tanks and trucks rolled by. But once it had passed, their smiles turned to scowls. "We don't want them here," said 17-year-old Fouad. He pulled out a photo of Saddam from the waistband of his trousers and said defiantly: "Saddam is our leader. Saddam is good."
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA WATCH
Ny Times Op-Ed: Channels of Influence by Paul Krugman
By and large, recent pro-war rallies haven't drawn nearly as many people as antiwar rallies, but they have certainly been vehement. One of the most striking took place after Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, criticized President Bush: a crowd gathered in Louisiana to watch a 33,000-pound tractor smash a collection of Dixie Chicks CD's, tapes and other paraphernalia. To those familiar with 20th-century European history it seemed eerily reminiscent of. . . . But as Sinclair Lewis said, it can't happen here.
Who has been organizing those pro-war rallies? The answer, it turns out, is that they are being promoted by key players in the radio industry — with close links to the Bush administration.
The company claims that the demonstrations, which go under the name Rally for America, reflect the initiative of individual stations. But this is unlikely: according to Eric Boehlert, who has written revelatory articles about Clear Channel in Salon, the company is notorious — and widely hated — for its iron-fisted centralized control.
Until now, complaints about Clear Channel have focused on its business practices. Critics say it uses its power to squeeze recording companies and artists and contributes to the growing blandness of broadcast music. But now the company appears to be using its clout to help one side in a political dispute that deeply divides the nation
Why would a media company insert itself into politics this way? It could, of course, simply be a matter of personal conviction on the part of management. But there are also good reasons for Clear Channel — which became a giant only in the last few years, after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 removed many restrictions on media ownership — to curry favor with the ruling party
Or perhaps the quid pro quo is more narrowly focused. Experienced Bushologists let out a collective "Aha!" when Clear Channel was revealed to be behind the pro-war rallies, because the company's top management has a history with George W. Bush. The vice chairman of Clear Channel is Tom Hicks, whose name may be familiar to readers of this column. When Mr. Bush was governor of Texas, Mr. Hicks was chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Company, called Utimco, and Clear Channel's chairman, Lowry Mays, was on its board. Under Mr. Hicks, Utimco placed much of the university's endowment under the management of companies with strong Republican Party or Bush family ties. In 1998 Mr. Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers in a deal that made Mr. Bush a multimillionaire.
There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear, but a good guess is that we're now seeing the next stage in the evolution of a new American oligarchy. As Jonathan Chait has written in The New Republic, in the Bush administration "government and business have melded into one big `us.' " On almost every aspect of domestic policy, business interests rule: "Scores of midlevel appointees . . . now oversee industries for which they once worked." We should have realized that this is a two-way street: if politicians are busy doing favors for businesses that support them, why shouldn't we expect businesses to reciprocate by doing favors for those politicians — by, for example, organizing "grass roots" rallies on their behalf?
What makes it all possible, of course, is the absence of effective watchdogs. In the Clinton years the merest hint of impropriety quickly blew up into a huge scandal; these days, the scandalmongers are more likely to go after journalists who raise questions. Anyway, don't you know there's a war on?
"Die Pro-War Demonstrationen in Amerika werden von der Firma Clear Channel organisiert. Die Firma Clear Channel hat Mr. Bush einiges zu verdanken. Eine Hand wäscht die Andere"
"CHECK IT"
Ny Times Op-Ed: Channels of Influence by Paul Krugman
By and large, recent pro-war rallies haven't drawn nearly as many people as antiwar rallies, but they have certainly been vehement. One of the most striking took place after Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, criticized President Bush: a crowd gathered in Louisiana to watch a 33,000-pound tractor smash a collection of Dixie Chicks CD's, tapes and other paraphernalia. To those familiar with 20th-century European history it seemed eerily reminiscent of. . . . But as Sinclair Lewis said, it can't happen here.
Who has been organizing those pro-war rallies? The answer, it turns out, is that they are being promoted by key players in the radio industry — with close links to the Bush administration.
The company claims that the demonstrations, which go under the name Rally for America, reflect the initiative of individual stations. But this is unlikely: according to Eric Boehlert, who has written revelatory articles about Clear Channel in Salon, the company is notorious — and widely hated — for its iron-fisted centralized control.
Until now, complaints about Clear Channel have focused on its business practices. Critics say it uses its power to squeeze recording companies and artists and contributes to the growing blandness of broadcast music. But now the company appears to be using its clout to help one side in a political dispute that deeply divides the nation
Why would a media company insert itself into politics this way? It could, of course, simply be a matter of personal conviction on the part of management. But there are also good reasons for Clear Channel — which became a giant only in the last few years, after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 removed many restrictions on media ownership — to curry favor with the ruling party
Or perhaps the quid pro quo is more narrowly focused. Experienced Bushologists let out a collective "Aha!" when Clear Channel was revealed to be behind the pro-war rallies, because the company's top management has a history with George W. Bush. The vice chairman of Clear Channel is Tom Hicks, whose name may be familiar to readers of this column. When Mr. Bush was governor of Texas, Mr. Hicks was chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Company, called Utimco, and Clear Channel's chairman, Lowry Mays, was on its board. Under Mr. Hicks, Utimco placed much of the university's endowment under the management of companies with strong Republican Party or Bush family ties. In 1998 Mr. Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers in a deal that made Mr. Bush a multimillionaire.
There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear, but a good guess is that we're now seeing the next stage in the evolution of a new American oligarchy. As Jonathan Chait has written in The New Republic, in the Bush administration "government and business have melded into one big `us.' " On almost every aspect of domestic policy, business interests rule: "Scores of midlevel appointees . . . now oversee industries for which they once worked." We should have realized that this is a two-way street: if politicians are busy doing favors for businesses that support them, why shouldn't we expect businesses to reciprocate by doing favors for those politicians — by, for example, organizing "grass roots" rallies on their behalf?
What makes it all possible, of course, is the absence of effective watchdogs. In the Clinton years the merest hint of impropriety quickly blew up into a huge scandal; these days, the scandalmongers are more likely to go after journalists who raise questions. Anyway, don't you know there's a war on?
"Die Pro-War Demonstrationen in Amerika werden von der Firma Clear Channel organisiert. Die Firma Clear Channel hat Mr. Bush einiges zu verdanken. Eine Hand wäscht die Andere"
"CHECK IT"
Monday, March 24, 2003
STAGED ISRAELI TERROR ATTACK ON NEW YORK?
Rense/unansweredquestions.org: La Guardia Incident - Staged BioWar Attack Derailed?
INCIDENT AT LAGUARDIA
www.whatreallyhappened.com
"- White powder and gas mask are found in luggage, but Israeli woman not detained and allowed to board plane to Texas. - The Texas FBI won't return calls asking if the woman has actually been interviewed. - The powder tests positive for anthrax, then is declared to be harmless. - But ten people become sick and are treated, plus the screeners (one of whom gets a rash on his hands) are decontaminated. - Why do I get the feeling that a staged terror attack to blame on Iraq just fell apart?"
Rense/unansweredquestions.org: La Guardia Incident - Staged BioWar Attack Derailed?
INCIDENT AT LAGUARDIA
www.whatreallyhappened.com
"- White powder and gas mask are found in luggage, but Israeli woman not detained and allowed to board plane to Texas. - The Texas FBI won't return calls asking if the woman has actually been interviewed. - The powder tests positive for anthrax, then is declared to be harmless. - But ten people become sick and are treated, plus the screeners (one of whom gets a rash on his hands) are decontaminated. - Why do I get the feeling that a staged terror attack to blame on Iraq just fell apart?"
WAR ON IRAK
Philly.com: Oil prices up on fear of longer Iraq war
"Nachdem die Märkte letzte Woche noch mit einem schnellen Sieg der Amerikaner gerechnet haben und der Down Jones stetig gestiegen ist sind heute die Börsen wieder um mehrere Prozent eingebrochen und auch der Ölpreis ist wieder auf 28$ pro Barrel gestiegen. Die PR Offensive der Iraker hat die Stimmung gekehrt"
Philly.com: Oil prices up on fear of longer Iraq war
"Nachdem die Märkte letzte Woche noch mit einem schnellen Sieg der Amerikaner gerechnet haben und der Down Jones stetig gestiegen ist sind heute die Börsen wieder um mehrere Prozent eingebrochen und auch der Ölpreis ist wieder auf 28$ pro Barrel gestiegen. Die PR Offensive der Iraker hat die Stimmung gekehrt"
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA WATCH
Check: CHERYL SEAL REPORTS
As the Bush War escalates, so does the intensity of propaganda cranked out by the corporate media. Voices that counter the onslaught of disinformation are desperately needed. Thus this hastily-constructed "Media MASH UNIT" is dedicated to providing life support to the first casualty of war: TRUTH.
DISINFORMATION BY THE CORPORATE MEDIA IS A WAR CRIME
As the Bush War escalates, so does the intensity and wantonness of the propaganda disseminated by the corporate media. Overnight, it has cross the line from exaggeration, suppression, and calculated spin to outright lies and the total repression of meaningful coverage of dissent. To prevent the truth from being known is to permit opinions to be formed and decisions to be made on false pretexts. These opinions and decisions, in turn, are leading to the promotion of an illegal war and the deaths, dismemberment and permanent scarring of tens of thousands of human beings.
Thereby, I believe that any news outlet or newscaster that knowingly disseminates false information or suppressed true information prior to and during a war - acts we will collectively refer to as disinformation - are guilty of war crimes and crimes, in general, against humanity, and should be held accountable. This regularly updated report will present evidence of these crimes and alerts to the schemes used by the perpetrators.
DISINFORMATION ALERT!!!!
THE 50-50 LIE
This classic disinformation technique is used to inflate the opinion the corporate media wants to promote, while minimizing any dissent against that opinion. To add an even more egregious dimension of cynical fraud to this crime, it is billed by the perpetrators as "unbiased news."
In the 50-50 lie, instead of reporting the actual fact that the number of people moved to take to the streets to protest the war totally overwhelms those willing to protest in favor, the networks or newspapers report that "protests both for and against the war are being staged." Conspicuously absent from such reports is any mention of comparative numbers of protests and protestors involved. The implication is everything, the truth nothing. Here's a classic example: At the height of this week's international protests involving millions, one headline on AOL's mainpage (AOL is the FOX of the Internet), described this historic situation as a "Mixed reaction to war around the world." Mixed reaction? That's like calling Vermont, which has the fewest non-white residents of all the states, a melting pot. This isn't unbiased reporting, this is lying by implication and it is a crime.
The reality is, the number of anti-war protestors outnumbers the number of pro-war protestors by, at the LEAST, about 100,000 to 100. The largest protest the pro-war people have mustered is about 6,000, near Valley Forge in PA. And, it was recently revealed that these protests had been funded by the corporate media giant, CLEAR CHANNEL I.e, they were a rightwing corporate sham and hardly a grassroots movement.
"CHECK IT"
Check: CHERYL SEAL REPORTS
As the Bush War escalates, so does the intensity of propaganda cranked out by the corporate media. Voices that counter the onslaught of disinformation are desperately needed. Thus this hastily-constructed "Media MASH UNIT" is dedicated to providing life support to the first casualty of war: TRUTH.
DISINFORMATION BY THE CORPORATE MEDIA IS A WAR CRIME
As the Bush War escalates, so does the intensity and wantonness of the propaganda disseminated by the corporate media. Overnight, it has cross the line from exaggeration, suppression, and calculated spin to outright lies and the total repression of meaningful coverage of dissent. To prevent the truth from being known is to permit opinions to be formed and decisions to be made on false pretexts. These opinions and decisions, in turn, are leading to the promotion of an illegal war and the deaths, dismemberment and permanent scarring of tens of thousands of human beings.
Thereby, I believe that any news outlet or newscaster that knowingly disseminates false information or suppressed true information prior to and during a war - acts we will collectively refer to as disinformation - are guilty of war crimes and crimes, in general, against humanity, and should be held accountable. This regularly updated report will present evidence of these crimes and alerts to the schemes used by the perpetrators.
DISINFORMATION ALERT!!!!
THE 50-50 LIE
This classic disinformation technique is used to inflate the opinion the corporate media wants to promote, while minimizing any dissent against that opinion. To add an even more egregious dimension of cynical fraud to this crime, it is billed by the perpetrators as "unbiased news."
In the 50-50 lie, instead of reporting the actual fact that the number of people moved to take to the streets to protest the war totally overwhelms those willing to protest in favor, the networks or newspapers report that "protests both for and against the war are being staged." Conspicuously absent from such reports is any mention of comparative numbers of protests and protestors involved. The implication is everything, the truth nothing. Here's a classic example: At the height of this week's international protests involving millions, one headline on AOL's mainpage (AOL is the FOX of the Internet), described this historic situation as a "Mixed reaction to war around the world." Mixed reaction? That's like calling Vermont, which has the fewest non-white residents of all the states, a melting pot. This isn't unbiased reporting, this is lying by implication and it is a crime.
The reality is, the number of anti-war protestors outnumbers the number of pro-war protestors by, at the LEAST, about 100,000 to 100. The largest protest the pro-war people have mustered is about 6,000, near Valley Forge in PA. And, it was recently revealed that these protests had been funded by the corporate media giant, CLEAR CHANNEL I.e, they were a rightwing corporate sham and hardly a grassroots movement.
"CHECK IT"
WAR ON IRAK
Independent: Robert Fisk in Baghdad: 'Iraq will become a quagmire for the Americans'
Iraq stunned the Americans and British last night by broadcasting video tape of captured and dead American troops – the nightmare of both George Bush and Tony Blair.
The body of one American soldier was seen with a great red gash on his neck, while five US prisoners appeared on screen. One, a black female soldier, had been wounded, while a male serviceman said he had been "only following orders".
The film will increase internal support for Saddam Hussein, because it will be regarded as proof that the American-British force will be beaten.
All day, Baghdad felt like Kuwait in 1991 after the Iraqis had set fire to the oil wells. The oil-filled trenches torched by the Iraqi army around Baghdad on Saturday are ablaze. And regardless of whether they really hinder the incoming American cruise missiles, they have placed this city under a sinister, dark canopy. The skyline is black, the sky grey. Only by looking directly upwards can you catch sight of the sun. The Tigris moves sluggishly under a dun-coloured mist. If the people of Baghdad could pretend, a few days ago, that the war did not exist, yesterday they were living in its shadow.
Independent: Robert Fisk in Baghdad: 'Iraq will become a quagmire for the Americans'
Iraq stunned the Americans and British last night by broadcasting video tape of captured and dead American troops – the nightmare of both George Bush and Tony Blair.
The body of one American soldier was seen with a great red gash on his neck, while five US prisoners appeared on screen. One, a black female soldier, had been wounded, while a male serviceman said he had been "only following orders".
The film will increase internal support for Saddam Hussein, because it will be regarded as proof that the American-British force will be beaten.
All day, Baghdad felt like Kuwait in 1991 after the Iraqis had set fire to the oil wells. The oil-filled trenches torched by the Iraqi army around Baghdad on Saturday are ablaze. And regardless of whether they really hinder the incoming American cruise missiles, they have placed this city under a sinister, dark canopy. The skyline is black, the sky grey. Only by looking directly upwards can you catch sight of the sun. The Tigris moves sluggishly under a dun-coloured mist. If the people of Baghdad could pretend, a few days ago, that the war did not exist, yesterday they were living in its shadow.
WAR ON IRAK
Village Voice: The War After the War
espite the sanguine way George W. Bush and his chamberlains talk about a post-war Iraq, senior military officers are worried.
According to recent unpublicized U.S. Army War College studies being read with increasing interest by some Pentagon planners, "The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious."
And that's especially true if occupation force soldiers are not retrained to be "something similar to a constabulary force" and imbued with the understanding that "force is often the last resort of the occupation soldier." The War College studies explore in detail a troubling paradox: While all experts agree that stabilizing post-Saddam Iraq would be a protracted endeavor, "the longer a U.S. occupation of Iraq continues," one of the studies notes, "the more danger exists that elements of the Iraqi population will become impatient and take violent measures to hasten the departure of U.S. forces."
One study broaches the subject of suicide attacks against U.S. soldiers. "The impact of suicide bombing attacks in Israel goes beyond their numbers," it says, "and this fact will also capture the imagination of would-be Iraqi terrorists."
Yet Bush and some of his top advisers have consistently preached that laying the foundation for post-blood-and-sand Iraq really won't be that much of a chore. In a recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Dubya's tone was upbeat as he rattled off a succinct post-Saddam checklist for the U.S. Army: Deliver medicine to ailing Iraqis, hand out emergency rations, destroy weapons, secure Iraq from those who would "spread chaos" internally, and mind the oil fields—but not for "a day more" than necessary.
Village Voice: The War After the War
espite the sanguine way George W. Bush and his chamberlains talk about a post-war Iraq, senior military officers are worried.
According to recent unpublicized U.S. Army War College studies being read with increasing interest by some Pentagon planners, "The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious."
And that's especially true if occupation force soldiers are not retrained to be "something similar to a constabulary force" and imbued with the understanding that "force is often the last resort of the occupation soldier." The War College studies explore in detail a troubling paradox: While all experts agree that stabilizing post-Saddam Iraq would be a protracted endeavor, "the longer a U.S. occupation of Iraq continues," one of the studies notes, "the more danger exists that elements of the Iraqi population will become impatient and take violent measures to hasten the departure of U.S. forces."
One study broaches the subject of suicide attacks against U.S. soldiers. "The impact of suicide bombing attacks in Israel goes beyond their numbers," it says, "and this fact will also capture the imagination of would-be Iraqi terrorists."
Yet Bush and some of his top advisers have consistently preached that laying the foundation for post-blood-and-sand Iraq really won't be that much of a chore. In a recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Dubya's tone was upbeat as he rattled off a succinct post-Saddam checklist for the U.S. Army: Deliver medicine to ailing Iraqis, hand out emergency rations, destroy weapons, secure Iraq from those who would "spread chaos" internally, and mind the oil fields—but not for "a day more" than necessary.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
NZZ: Palästina im Würgegriff von Israels Mauer
Mehr Sicherheit oder Kontrolle über Land und Wasser?
Bei der cisjordanischen Stadt Kalkilya werden zurzeit Schneisen für den Bau einer Mauer zur Abtrennung Israels vom Westjordanland geschlagen. Fast nirgends verlaufen sie auf der international anerkannten Grenze. Palästinenser sehen im Bau der Schutzmauer einen Versuch zur Erweiterung des israelischen Kernlandes.
Nur eine Strasse führt heute noch ohne Umwege von Jerusalem in den Norden des Westjordanlandes: die «Road Nr. One». Man nennt sie auch «Bye-Pass-Road», weil sie die palästinensischen Dörfer umgeht, oder aber «Settlers Road». Wie der Name es antönt, wurde die asphaltierte Schnellstrasse für die jüdischen Siedler gebaut; benutzen dürfen sie auch Ausländer und Palästinenser mit israelischem Pass, nicht jedoch solche aus Cisjordanien. Die Landschaft ist hügelig und karg, und beidseits der Strasse sind Ortschaften zu erkennen. Die einen sind palästinensische Dörfer; ihre Zufahrtswege hat die israelische Armee mit grossen Erdhaufen oder Betonblöcken versperrt. Dahinter warten nicht selten Taxis oder Esel, welche Palästinenser, die sich trotz dem Verbot auf der Siedlerstrasse hierher wagen, in ihre Ortschaften bringen. Auf die jüdischen Siedlungen machen grüne, hebräisch und englisch angeschriebene Strassenschilder aufmerksam.
Egal, in welche Richtung man von der Bye- Pass-Road aus schaut, immer liegen jüdische Siedlungen im Blickfeld. Sie stehen grundsätzlich auf den Hügelkuppen. Neben den festen, im Einheitsstil errichteten Siedlungen fallen die zahlreichen «Aussenposten» auf, in denen sich Pioniersiedler in Wohnwagen installiert haben. «Von dort oben kontrollieren sie die palästinensischen Gebiete und garantieren Israels Sicherheit bis zum Jordantal», sagt Jamal Jumaa mit Verbitterung in der Stimme. Jumaa ist der Koordinator der unabhängigen Organisation Apartheid Wall Campaign (AWC), die versucht, den im April 2002 von Israel beschlossenen Mauerbau zwischen dem israelischen Kernland und den Palästinensergebieten zu stoppen
NZZ: Palästina im Würgegriff von Israels Mauer
Mehr Sicherheit oder Kontrolle über Land und Wasser?
Bei der cisjordanischen Stadt Kalkilya werden zurzeit Schneisen für den Bau einer Mauer zur Abtrennung Israels vom Westjordanland geschlagen. Fast nirgends verlaufen sie auf der international anerkannten Grenze. Palästinenser sehen im Bau der Schutzmauer einen Versuch zur Erweiterung des israelischen Kernlandes.
Nur eine Strasse führt heute noch ohne Umwege von Jerusalem in den Norden des Westjordanlandes: die «Road Nr. One». Man nennt sie auch «Bye-Pass-Road», weil sie die palästinensischen Dörfer umgeht, oder aber «Settlers Road». Wie der Name es antönt, wurde die asphaltierte Schnellstrasse für die jüdischen Siedler gebaut; benutzen dürfen sie auch Ausländer und Palästinenser mit israelischem Pass, nicht jedoch solche aus Cisjordanien. Die Landschaft ist hügelig und karg, und beidseits der Strasse sind Ortschaften zu erkennen. Die einen sind palästinensische Dörfer; ihre Zufahrtswege hat die israelische Armee mit grossen Erdhaufen oder Betonblöcken versperrt. Dahinter warten nicht selten Taxis oder Esel, welche Palästinenser, die sich trotz dem Verbot auf der Siedlerstrasse hierher wagen, in ihre Ortschaften bringen. Auf die jüdischen Siedlungen machen grüne, hebräisch und englisch angeschriebene Strassenschilder aufmerksam.
Egal, in welche Richtung man von der Bye- Pass-Road aus schaut, immer liegen jüdische Siedlungen im Blickfeld. Sie stehen grundsätzlich auf den Hügelkuppen. Neben den festen, im Einheitsstil errichteten Siedlungen fallen die zahlreichen «Aussenposten» auf, in denen sich Pioniersiedler in Wohnwagen installiert haben. «Von dort oben kontrollieren sie die palästinensischen Gebiete und garantieren Israels Sicherheit bis zum Jordantal», sagt Jamal Jumaa mit Verbitterung in der Stimme. Jumaa ist der Koordinator der unabhängigen Organisation Apartheid Wall Campaign (AWC), die versucht, den im April 2002 von Israel beschlossenen Mauerbau zwischen dem israelischen Kernland und den Palästinensergebieten zu stoppen
WAR ON IRAK
NY Times: C.I.A. Aides Feel Pressure in Preparing Iraqi Reports
March 22 — The recent disclosure that reports claiming Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger were based partly on forged documents has renewed complaints among analysts at the C.I.A. about the way intelligence related to Iraq has been handled, several intelligence officials said.
Analysts at the agency said they had felt pressured to make their intelligence reports on Iraq conform to Bush administration policies.
For months, a few C.I.A. analysts have privately expressed concerns to colleagues and Congressional officials that they have faced pressure in writing intelligence reports to emphasize links between Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda.
As the White House contended that links between Mr. Hussein and Al Qaeda justified military action against Iraq, these analysts complained that reports on Iraq have attracted unusually intense scrutiny from senior policy makers within the Bush administration.
"A lot of analysts have been upset about the way the Iraq-Al Qaeda case has been handled," said one intelligence official familiar with the debate.
NY Times: C.I.A. Aides Feel Pressure in Preparing Iraqi Reports
March 22 — The recent disclosure that reports claiming Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger were based partly on forged documents has renewed complaints among analysts at the C.I.A. about the way intelligence related to Iraq has been handled, several intelligence officials said.
Analysts at the agency said they had felt pressured to make their intelligence reports on Iraq conform to Bush administration policies.
For months, a few C.I.A. analysts have privately expressed concerns to colleagues and Congressional officials that they have faced pressure in writing intelligence reports to emphasize links between Saddam Hussein's government and Al Qaeda.
As the White House contended that links between Mr. Hussein and Al Qaeda justified military action against Iraq, these analysts complained that reports on Iraq have attracted unusually intense scrutiny from senior policy makers within the Bush administration.
"A lot of analysts have been upset about the way the Iraq-Al Qaeda case has been handled," said one intelligence official familiar with the debate.
USA
Boston Globe: The World Pushes Back
Even if the US scores a quick victory in Iraq, the rest of the world won't fall in line behind America's new global agenda. Welcome to the era of ''soft balancing.''
By Robert A. Pape, 3/23/2003
OVER THE PAST six months, US diplomats have witnessed a profound change in the world's response to American power. They have seen not simply the reluctance of traditional allies to join the US war effort, but active efforts by many of the world's major powers to delay, frustrate, and undermine war plans and reduce the number of countries who would fight alongside the United States.
Such widespread opposition is unprecedented in our country's history. Most troublingly, it is only likely to increase in years ahead. America's decision to launch an unprovoked and essentially unilateral war against Iraq is encouraging other countries to form counterweights to US power. Today's conventional wisdom holds that France, Germany, Russia, China, and important regional states may be grumbling now, but they will quickly mend fences once the war ends with a decisive US victory. But the conventional wisdom is likely to be wrong.
International relations specialists speak of ''hard balancing'' when countries form military alliances to curb a strong nation. But America's rivals today, with no hope of matching our military power, are pursuing their interests by other means, and they will continue to do so. Unless the United States radically changes course, the use of international institutions, economic leverage, and diplomatic maneuvering to frustrate American intentions will only grow.
In the future, for example, Europeans may threaten our economy by paying for paying for oil in Euros rather than dollars, and they may threaten our security by permitting the construction of nuclear reactors in Iran and elsewhere. The era of ''soft balancing'' has begun......
Boston Globe: The World Pushes Back
Even if the US scores a quick victory in Iraq, the rest of the world won't fall in line behind America's new global agenda. Welcome to the era of ''soft balancing.''
By Robert A. Pape, 3/23/2003
OVER THE PAST six months, US diplomats have witnessed a profound change in the world's response to American power. They have seen not simply the reluctance of traditional allies to join the US war effort, but active efforts by many of the world's major powers to delay, frustrate, and undermine war plans and reduce the number of countries who would fight alongside the United States.
Such widespread opposition is unprecedented in our country's history. Most troublingly, it is only likely to increase in years ahead. America's decision to launch an unprovoked and essentially unilateral war against Iraq is encouraging other countries to form counterweights to US power. Today's conventional wisdom holds that France, Germany, Russia, China, and important regional states may be grumbling now, but they will quickly mend fences once the war ends with a decisive US victory. But the conventional wisdom is likely to be wrong.
International relations specialists speak of ''hard balancing'' when countries form military alliances to curb a strong nation. But America's rivals today, with no hope of matching our military power, are pursuing their interests by other means, and they will continue to do so. Unless the United States radically changes course, the use of international institutions, economic leverage, and diplomatic maneuvering to frustrate American intentions will only grow.
In the future, for example, Europeans may threaten our economy by paying for paying for oil in Euros rather than dollars, and they may threaten our security by permitting the construction of nuclear reactors in Iran and elsewhere. The era of ''soft balancing'' has begun......
AFGHANISTAN
Rense: US Afghan Losses Said Far Higher Than Admitted
Over 1200 Dead US Soldiers
Transported From Afghanistan
Since I first reported the loss of over 900 US soldiers in my report on 01/02/03, the US casualties have risen significantly. However, to the rest of the world this has not been any mystery, it is only so to the US public.
As many around the world suspected, US did not expose their losses in Afghanistan because they wanted to appear invincible as a military force. The US wanted to envisage their military might as a force that even the great guerrilla fighters from Afghanistan could not muster the skills needed to hinder their impeccable military machine. On the contrary, the truth is that the US military has lost many soldiers. On average, 5 American soldiers a day have been killed. This is not an impressive number because the Russians have lost more than dozen soldiers a day in Afghanistan, a number the Chechens also neared in their struggle against the Russian army. For those that do not know, American commandos are not superior to that of the Russian Spietnatz Forces, against whom I had the pleasure of fighting when I was 15.
"Ich kanns nicht lassen aber CNN hat mir erzählt in Afghanistan herrsche jetzt Frieden, die Frauen seien jetzt Gleichberechtigt und Afghanistan sei jetzt eine Demokratie. Es ist noch nicht mal Frühling und die Attacken gegen die US-Streitkräfte in Afghanistan nehmen täglich zu"
Rense: US Afghan Losses Said Far Higher Than Admitted
Over 1200 Dead US Soldiers
Transported From Afghanistan
Since I first reported the loss of over 900 US soldiers in my report on 01/02/03, the US casualties have risen significantly. However, to the rest of the world this has not been any mystery, it is only so to the US public.
As many around the world suspected, US did not expose their losses in Afghanistan because they wanted to appear invincible as a military force. The US wanted to envisage their military might as a force that even the great guerrilla fighters from Afghanistan could not muster the skills needed to hinder their impeccable military machine. On the contrary, the truth is that the US military has lost many soldiers. On average, 5 American soldiers a day have been killed. This is not an impressive number because the Russians have lost more than dozen soldiers a day in Afghanistan, a number the Chechens also neared in their struggle against the Russian army. For those that do not know, American commandos are not superior to that of the Russian Spietnatz Forces, against whom I had the pleasure of fighting when I was 15.
"Ich kanns nicht lassen aber CNN hat mir erzählt in Afghanistan herrsche jetzt Frieden, die Frauen seien jetzt Gleichberechtigt und Afghanistan sei jetzt eine Demokratie. Es ist noch nicht mal Frühling und die Attacken gegen die US-Streitkräfte in Afghanistan nehmen täglich zu"
WAR ON IRAK
Spacewar/AFP: Iranians take pot shots at US-British forces in Iraq
Coalition forces have come under fire from Iranian military units across the border from Iraq, British commandos said.
Iranian anti-aircraft gun emplacements and fixed machine-gun posts have opened fire sporadically at British Royal Marine commandos and low-flying US aircraft.
The 40 Commando marines were in the far southern town of Fao locked in a fire fight with Iraqi Baath party fighters just a few hundred metres (yards) from the border between the two countries, the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
A Royal Marines spokesman said: "We are content that the fire from Iran was inaccurate and ineffective, but none the less puzzling".
The first of several volleys, witnessed by a reporter from London's Daily Mirror, was directed at a US A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack jet which swooped low over the Iraqi town to 'buzz' a gun position.
Spacewar/AFP: Iran denies its units fired on coalition troops in Iraq
An Iranian official Monday strongly denied charges by British commandos that coalition troops in southern Iraq had come under fire from Iranian forces across the border.
Spacewar/AFP: Iranians take pot shots at US-British forces in Iraq
Coalition forces have come under fire from Iranian military units across the border from Iraq, British commandos said.
Iranian anti-aircraft gun emplacements and fixed machine-gun posts have opened fire sporadically at British Royal Marine commandos and low-flying US aircraft.
The 40 Commando marines were in the far southern town of Fao locked in a fire fight with Iraqi Baath party fighters just a few hundred metres (yards) from the border between the two countries, the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
A Royal Marines spokesman said: "We are content that the fire from Iran was inaccurate and ineffective, but none the less puzzling".
The first of several volleys, witnessed by a reporter from London's Daily Mirror, was directed at a US A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack jet which swooped low over the Iraqi town to 'buzz' a gun position.
Spacewar/AFP: Iran denies its units fired on coalition troops in Iraq
An Iranian official Monday strongly denied charges by British commandos that coalition troops in southern Iraq had come under fire from Iranian forces across the border.
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA WATCH
Toronto Star: Deconstructing Dick Cheney
In his brief televised address last Monday, George W. Bush offered no rationale for the U.S. attack on Iraq.
The U.S. president left that task to his vice-president, Dick Cheney, described last week by the Wall Street Journal as having "the highest credibility with Bush" among White House war advisers.
For months, Cheney has quietly disparaged the diplomatic manoeuvres on Iraq, counselling Bush to topple Saddam Hussein by force.
Last Sunday, the reclusive Cheney made his first talk-show appearance in seven months to offer perhaps the U.S. administration's fullest justification yet for war in Iraq.
Here are excerpts from Cheney's interview with Tim Russert on Meet The Press:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheney: "We have to address the question of where might these terrorists acquire weapons of mass destruction ... and Saddam Hussein becomes a prime suspect.... We know he has a long-standing relationship with various terrorist groups, including the Al Qaeda organization."
Even the most hawkish supporters of war on Iraq acknowledge that the Bush administration has continually failed to establish a substantive link between Saddam and Al Qaeda, which drew most of its funding and its Sept. 11 hijackers from Saudi Arabian sources and sought refuge in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan and Florida, but not Iraq.
There is no evidence Saddam, in his more than 20 years in power, shared his weapons with terrorists.
And International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors can find no evidence of a current Iraqi nuclear program.
Terrorists would most likely tap the huge and poorly guarded nuclear-weapons stockpile of Russia, or equip themselves with nuclear material that an impoverished North Korea, desperate for hard currency, is openly threatening to sell to all comers.
"CHECK IT"
Toronto Star: Deconstructing Dick Cheney
In his brief televised address last Monday, George W. Bush offered no rationale for the U.S. attack on Iraq.
The U.S. president left that task to his vice-president, Dick Cheney, described last week by the Wall Street Journal as having "the highest credibility with Bush" among White House war advisers.
For months, Cheney has quietly disparaged the diplomatic manoeuvres on Iraq, counselling Bush to topple Saddam Hussein by force.
Last Sunday, the reclusive Cheney made his first talk-show appearance in seven months to offer perhaps the U.S. administration's fullest justification yet for war in Iraq.
Here are excerpts from Cheney's interview with Tim Russert on Meet The Press:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheney: "We have to address the question of where might these terrorists acquire weapons of mass destruction ... and Saddam Hussein becomes a prime suspect.... We know he has a long-standing relationship with various terrorist groups, including the Al Qaeda organization."
Even the most hawkish supporters of war on Iraq acknowledge that the Bush administration has continually failed to establish a substantive link between Saddam and Al Qaeda, which drew most of its funding and its Sept. 11 hijackers from Saudi Arabian sources and sought refuge in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan and Florida, but not Iraq.
There is no evidence Saddam, in his more than 20 years in power, shared his weapons with terrorists.
And International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors can find no evidence of a current Iraqi nuclear program.
Terrorists would most likely tap the huge and poorly guarded nuclear-weapons stockpile of Russia, or equip themselves with nuclear material that an impoverished North Korea, desperate for hard currency, is openly threatening to sell to all comers.
"CHECK IT"
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA WATCH
Pravda: Pentagon totally unreliable as news source
The consistent lies by the Pentagon regarding the development of this illegal terrorist attack on the sovereign state of Iraq makes this the source of deception and denial, not news. Arab news sources like Al Jazeera are more credible as indeed is the Iraqi Information Ministry.
The Pentagon continues to insist at 18.36 MSK that there are no coalition aircraft missing, despite claims by the RAF that an aircraft has not reported back. It is not yet clear whether this aircraft was the one shot down by a US Patriot missile (a Tornado) or another one reported downed by anti-aircraft fire over Baghdad. In this incident, two US pilots are reported to have been captured by al Jazeera while Iraqi sources claimed that one US pilot has been captured and another is being searched for, a claim that it later denied.
The Pentagon started the weekend claiming that the entire Iraqi 51st Division had surrendered. Some hours later the reports quoted “massive numbers of soldiers surrendering”, then a more precise “8,000 soldiers from the Iraqi 51st Division” and finally on Sunday afternoon, Richard Myers, US Chief of Staff, admitted that only 400 Iraqi prisoners of war had been taken.
Pravda: Pentagon totally unreliable as news source
The consistent lies by the Pentagon regarding the development of this illegal terrorist attack on the sovereign state of Iraq makes this the source of deception and denial, not news. Arab news sources like Al Jazeera are more credible as indeed is the Iraqi Information Ministry.
The Pentagon continues to insist at 18.36 MSK that there are no coalition aircraft missing, despite claims by the RAF that an aircraft has not reported back. It is not yet clear whether this aircraft was the one shot down by a US Patriot missile (a Tornado) or another one reported downed by anti-aircraft fire over Baghdad. In this incident, two US pilots are reported to have been captured by al Jazeera while Iraqi sources claimed that one US pilot has been captured and another is being searched for, a claim that it later denied.
The Pentagon started the weekend claiming that the entire Iraqi 51st Division had surrendered. Some hours later the reports quoted “massive numbers of soldiers surrendering”, then a more precise “8,000 soldiers from the Iraqi 51st Division” and finally on Sunday afternoon, Richard Myers, US Chief of Staff, admitted that only 400 Iraqi prisoners of war had been taken.
WAR ON IRAK
Muslimwakeup: US Media Covers Up Reports on American POWs and Casualties
All major US news networks are refusing to air footage of captured and killed US troops. The US Defense Department had intially denied the capture or killing of US troops but later confirmed the reports after the Al Jazeera network aired Iraqi television interviews with Americans POWs as well as images of dead American soldiers near the Iraqi city of Al Nasiriyya.
We offer some of the images broadcast on Al Jazeera below. This is not done in the spirit of glorifying war, but as an attempt to expose the coverup under way by the US corporate media regarding the real impact of this war.
Guardian: America shaken by images of PoWs
The last time American prisoners of war were paraded on television - when the corpses of soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 - US public opinion quickly came to view the conflict as a disastrous debacle, and troops left soon afterwards. Yesterday's footage caused outrage among politicians and the public, and threw media organisations into a panic about how to deal with it.
The CBS television network was the only major broadcaster to show the tape, and it did so while Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defence, was still in the studio.
Immediately afterwards, reportedly after being contacted by the Pentagon, the channel agreed to show it with the prisoners' faces blurred. Interviewed later on CNN, Mr Rumsfeld said: "Television networks that carry such pictures are, I would say, doing something that's unfortunate".
CNN itself did not show the video, choosing instead to carry repeatedly a single still photograph from the Arab-language news channel al-Jazeera, showing uniformed corpses lying on the floor, but without any identifying features. It warned viewers that the image was "disturbing".
Mr Rumsfeld said the Geneva convention "indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass or humiliate prisoners of war". The defence department has asked journalists not to show Iraqi prisoners identifiably either, but the faces of some Iraqis have been clearly visible in television footage.
"Die Amerikaner sind mal wieder so was von heuchlerisch. Gefangenen aus Afghanistan werden als "Enemy Combatants" in Guantanamo jegliche Rechte verweigert, einen Internationalen Strafgerichtshof wollen sie nicht aber wenn Al-Jazeera Amerikanische Kriegsgefangene zeigt wird rumgeheult und von Genfer Konvention gefaselt"
Muslimwakeup: US Media Covers Up Reports on American POWs and Casualties
All major US news networks are refusing to air footage of captured and killed US troops. The US Defense Department had intially denied the capture or killing of US troops but later confirmed the reports after the Al Jazeera network aired Iraqi television interviews with Americans POWs as well as images of dead American soldiers near the Iraqi city of Al Nasiriyya.
We offer some of the images broadcast on Al Jazeera below. This is not done in the spirit of glorifying war, but as an attempt to expose the coverup under way by the US corporate media regarding the real impact of this war.
Guardian: America shaken by images of PoWs
The last time American prisoners of war were paraded on television - when the corpses of soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 - US public opinion quickly came to view the conflict as a disastrous debacle, and troops left soon afterwards. Yesterday's footage caused outrage among politicians and the public, and threw media organisations into a panic about how to deal with it.
The CBS television network was the only major broadcaster to show the tape, and it did so while Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defence, was still in the studio.
Immediately afterwards, reportedly after being contacted by the Pentagon, the channel agreed to show it with the prisoners' faces blurred. Interviewed later on CNN, Mr Rumsfeld said: "Television networks that carry such pictures are, I would say, doing something that's unfortunate".
CNN itself did not show the video, choosing instead to carry repeatedly a single still photograph from the Arab-language news channel al-Jazeera, showing uniformed corpses lying on the floor, but without any identifying features. It warned viewers that the image was "disturbing".
Mr Rumsfeld said the Geneva convention "indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass or humiliate prisoners of war". The defence department has asked journalists not to show Iraqi prisoners identifiably either, but the faces of some Iraqis have been clearly visible in television footage.
"Die Amerikaner sind mal wieder so was von heuchlerisch. Gefangenen aus Afghanistan werden als "Enemy Combatants" in Guantanamo jegliche Rechte verweigert, einen Internationalen Strafgerichtshof wollen sie nicht aber wenn Al-Jazeera Amerikanische Kriegsgefangene zeigt wird rumgeheult und von Genfer Konvention gefaselt"
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Israel nimmt am Irak-Krieg teil
Der irakische Außenminister Nadschi Sabri hat behauptet, Israel beteilige sich direkt am Krieg gegen den Irak. Zudem wies er Spekulationen zurück, Saddam Hussein könnte bei Luftangriffen verletzt oder getötet worden sein.
Kairo - In El Durra, einem Stadtteil von Bagdad, sei eine nicht explodierte israelische Rakete entdeckt worden, sagte der irakische Außenminister in einem Interview mit dem arabischen Fernsehsender al-Dschasira in Kairo. Sabri nimmt heute an einem Außenministertreffen der arabischen Liga teil. Im Golfkrieg von 1991 hatte der Irak mehrere Raketen auf Israel abgefeuert. Israel hatte darauf jedoch auf Wunsch der USA nicht mit militärischen Mitteln geantwortet.
Spiegel: Israel nimmt am Irak-Krieg teil
Der irakische Außenminister Nadschi Sabri hat behauptet, Israel beteilige sich direkt am Krieg gegen den Irak. Zudem wies er Spekulationen zurück, Saddam Hussein könnte bei Luftangriffen verletzt oder getötet worden sein.
Kairo - In El Durra, einem Stadtteil von Bagdad, sei eine nicht explodierte israelische Rakete entdeckt worden, sagte der irakische Außenminister in einem Interview mit dem arabischen Fernsehsender al-Dschasira in Kairo. Sabri nimmt heute an einem Außenministertreffen der arabischen Liga teil. Im Golfkrieg von 1991 hatte der Irak mehrere Raketen auf Israel abgefeuert. Israel hatte darauf jedoch auf Wunsch der USA nicht mit militärischen Mitteln geantwortet.
WAR ON IRAK: TERROR ATTACK ON NEW YORK CITY
Rense/www.godlikeproductions.com: Terror Alert For New York City Monday Or Tuesday?
From Brian E.
Something is going to happen in New York City TOMMORROW or TUESDAY 3-24-3
Jeff -
I have a friend who's wife is a spoiled rich girl who has never worked a day in her life. Apparently, her family is well-connected. Very well-connected. Someone in her family is a secret service agent in the president's entourage.
This agent was given notice to inform any friend or family living in or around New York City to "get out of the state". Something is going to happen Monday or Tuesday. Details:
It will involve a chemical or biological type weapon.
It will be set off underground central Manhattan, i.e., Times Square, Grand Central, Penn Station.
It will get into the air and water. Where it goes from there is anybody's guess. It will be very messy.
70,000 body bags are in Manhattan now. More are on the way. Over 100,1000 anticipated dead.
The city will be shut down.
This is what I was told. We believe (my friend and I) that whatever is going to happen will occur approximately 9:00 AM, under perfect blue skies, consistant with the pattern of other disasters, i.e., 9-11, Oklahoma City, space shuttle Challenger, Columbia etc etc.
According to the agent, the Bush administration feels that there is too much anti-war sentiment so "we" need another disaster event to blame on Iraq to rally public and international support for the war.
I understand that this is all heresay but it correlates with other details that I have either heard about or seen with my own eyes:
Increased police and military presence in and around New York City. Hazmat crews have been seen assembled near 42nd street & West Side Highway. Bomb scare "rehearsal" in grand Central Station on Feb 15th involving police & military. All trains and platforms were evacuated.
Increasing martial-law type police actions and brutality against peaceful demonstrators ever since Mayor Bloomberg took office. Mass arrests and round-ups.
A few weeks ago local civil defense personnel were advised to move away from New York City, by at least a 35-mile radius.
I hope that I am wrong, but I don't think so. Sorry, I didn't get word out sooner, but I only found this out last night (Saturday)
Brian
"Das ist mit ziemlich grosser sicherheit ein hoax"
Rense/www.godlikeproductions.com: Terror Alert For New York City Monday Or Tuesday?
From Brian E.
Something is going to happen in New York City TOMMORROW or TUESDAY 3-24-3
Jeff -
I have a friend who's wife is a spoiled rich girl who has never worked a day in her life. Apparently, her family is well-connected. Very well-connected. Someone in her family is a secret service agent in the president's entourage.
This agent was given notice to inform any friend or family living in or around New York City to "get out of the state". Something is going to happen Monday or Tuesday. Details:
It will involve a chemical or biological type weapon.
It will be set off underground central Manhattan, i.e., Times Square, Grand Central, Penn Station.
It will get into the air and water. Where it goes from there is anybody's guess. It will be very messy.
70,000 body bags are in Manhattan now. More are on the way. Over 100,1000 anticipated dead.
The city will be shut down.
This is what I was told. We believe (my friend and I) that whatever is going to happen will occur approximately 9:00 AM, under perfect blue skies, consistant with the pattern of other disasters, i.e., 9-11, Oklahoma City, space shuttle Challenger, Columbia etc etc.
According to the agent, the Bush administration feels that there is too much anti-war sentiment so "we" need another disaster event to blame on Iraq to rally public and international support for the war.
I understand that this is all heresay but it correlates with other details that I have either heard about or seen with my own eyes:
Increased police and military presence in and around New York City. Hazmat crews have been seen assembled near 42nd street & West Side Highway. Bomb scare "rehearsal" in grand Central Station on Feb 15th involving police & military. All trains and platforms were evacuated.
Increasing martial-law type police actions and brutality against peaceful demonstrators ever since Mayor Bloomberg took office. Mass arrests and round-ups.
A few weeks ago local civil defense personnel were advised to move away from New York City, by at least a 35-mile radius.
I hope that I am wrong, but I don't think so. Sorry, I didn't get word out sooner, but I only found this out last night (Saturday)
Brian
"Das ist mit ziemlich grosser sicherheit ein hoax"
WAR ON IRAK: WORLD WIDE PROTESTS
Independent: Zoe Pilger: Generation Apathy has woken up
Of all the carnage to come from a war in Iraq, one positive element has emerged. Young people of my generation are becoming more and more politicised. You can see it around you. It is now normal for me to overhear 14-year-olds discussing the pros and cons of military intervention, on the bus on the way home from school. Badges carrying anti-war slogans, such as "Not In My Name" are appearing on the lapels of school blazers and ties. It is common to turn on the television and see students under the age of 18 defying their teachers, waving banners and megaphones, and protesting in Parliament Square.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Bush, Blair blasted as war criminals at antiwar protests
- President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were denounced as war criminals at a large rally in London's Hyde Park on Saturday, one of many protests held in cities worldwide.
War protesters also gathered in Indonesia, Japan, Greece, Bangladesh, New Zealand and other countries, as well as in numerous U.S. cities. Anti-American sentiment appeared to be rising in many parts of the world as U.S. and British troops pressed their assault on the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The Sunday Herald: Police hem in protesters
Ugly scenes as thousands take to the world's streets
Dozens of protesters hurled rocks and paint at police who used tear gas and dogs to stop them from reaching the US embassy in Oslo, Norway. Italian police also used tear gas to break up protesters who tossed paint at the British consulate in Venice and In France, McDonald's outlets were attacked in Strasbourg and Lyon. Forty thousand marched in both Bern, Switzerland, and Berlin, Germany.
TagesAnzeiger: Anti-Kriegsproteste weltweit
Millionen von Menschen haben am Wochenende gegen den Krieg in Irak protestiert.
Die Demonstrationen in Europa, Asien, den USA sowie im arabischen Raum verliefen meist friedlich. Vereinzelt gab es aber Zwischenfälle.
In Spanien gingen allein in Barcelona am Samstag eine halbe Million Menschen auf die Strasse. In der Hauptstadt Madrid verhinderte die Polizei einen Marsch von rund 250'000 Demonstranten zum Regierungspalast. Anschliessend lieferten sich die Beamte heftige Auseinandersetzungen mit rund 400 teils vermummten Jugendlichen. Dabei gab es 120 Verletzte, darunter 37 Polizisten.
Indymedia: MARCH 22 REPORTS
People around the world engaged in massive and peaceful marches today, demonstrating continued resistance to the invasion of Iraq.
Independent: Zoe Pilger: Generation Apathy has woken up
Of all the carnage to come from a war in Iraq, one positive element has emerged. Young people of my generation are becoming more and more politicised. You can see it around you. It is now normal for me to overhear 14-year-olds discussing the pros and cons of military intervention, on the bus on the way home from school. Badges carrying anti-war slogans, such as "Not In My Name" are appearing on the lapels of school blazers and ties. It is common to turn on the television and see students under the age of 18 defying their teachers, waving banners and megaphones, and protesting in Parliament Square.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Bush, Blair blasted as war criminals at antiwar protests
- President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were denounced as war criminals at a large rally in London's Hyde Park on Saturday, one of many protests held in cities worldwide.
War protesters also gathered in Indonesia, Japan, Greece, Bangladesh, New Zealand and other countries, as well as in numerous U.S. cities. Anti-American sentiment appeared to be rising in many parts of the world as U.S. and British troops pressed their assault on the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The Sunday Herald: Police hem in protesters
Ugly scenes as thousands take to the world's streets
Dozens of protesters hurled rocks and paint at police who used tear gas and dogs to stop them from reaching the US embassy in Oslo, Norway. Italian police also used tear gas to break up protesters who tossed paint at the British consulate in Venice and In France, McDonald's outlets were attacked in Strasbourg and Lyon. Forty thousand marched in both Bern, Switzerland, and Berlin, Germany.
TagesAnzeiger: Anti-Kriegsproteste weltweit
Millionen von Menschen haben am Wochenende gegen den Krieg in Irak protestiert.
Die Demonstrationen in Europa, Asien, den USA sowie im arabischen Raum verliefen meist friedlich. Vereinzelt gab es aber Zwischenfälle.
In Spanien gingen allein in Barcelona am Samstag eine halbe Million Menschen auf die Strasse. In der Hauptstadt Madrid verhinderte die Polizei einen Marsch von rund 250'000 Demonstranten zum Regierungspalast. Anschliessend lieferten sich die Beamte heftige Auseinandersetzungen mit rund 400 teils vermummten Jugendlichen. Dabei gab es 120 Verletzte, darunter 37 Polizisten.
Indymedia: MARCH 22 REPORTS
People around the world engaged in massive and peaceful marches today, demonstrating continued resistance to the invasion of Iraq.
WAR ON IRAK
Aeronautics.ru: ANALYSIS FROM 23.03.2003
March 23, 2003, 1200hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - The situation in southern Iraq can be characterized as unstable and controversial. Heavy fighting is taking place in the Umm-Qasr-An-Nasiriya-Basra triangle. Satellite and signals intelligence show that both sides actively employ armored vehicles in highly mobile attacks and counterattacks. Additionally, fighting is continuing near the town of An-Najaf.
As of this morning the Iraqi defenses along the Basra - An-Nasiriya - An-Najaf line are holding.
Following the yesterday's Iraqi counter strike near An-Nasiriya the US command was forced to halt the advance of its troops toward An-Najaf and to redirect a portion of available tank forces to cover the flanks of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division attacked by the Iraqis. By late evening yesterday constant air strikes and increasing strength of American tank attacks forced the Iraqis to withdraw their troops back to eastern parts of Nasiriya, across the Euphrates river, were they assumed defensive positions along the river bank.
During the last day of fighting the Iraqis lost up to 20 tanks, up to 2 artillery batteries, and around 100 troops.
Yesterday's US losses are estimated at 10 destroyed or disabled tanks, several armored personnel carriers and up to 15 troops killed in action......
Aeronautics.ru: ANALYSIS FROM 23.03.2003
March 23, 2003, 1200hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - The situation in southern Iraq can be characterized as unstable and controversial. Heavy fighting is taking place in the Umm-Qasr-An-Nasiriya-Basra triangle. Satellite and signals intelligence show that both sides actively employ armored vehicles in highly mobile attacks and counterattacks. Additionally, fighting is continuing near the town of An-Najaf.
As of this morning the Iraqi defenses along the Basra - An-Nasiriya - An-Najaf line are holding.
Following the yesterday's Iraqi counter strike near An-Nasiriya the US command was forced to halt the advance of its troops toward An-Najaf and to redirect a portion of available tank forces to cover the flanks of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division attacked by the Iraqis. By late evening yesterday constant air strikes and increasing strength of American tank attacks forced the Iraqis to withdraw their troops back to eastern parts of Nasiriya, across the Euphrates river, were they assumed defensive positions along the river bank.
During the last day of fighting the Iraqis lost up to 20 tanks, up to 2 artillery batteries, and around 100 troops.
Yesterday's US losses are estimated at 10 destroyed or disabled tanks, several armored personnel carriers and up to 15 troops killed in action......
WAR ON IRAK
Straitstimes: Going home
AS BAGHDAD crumbles under the weight of massive US-led air strikes and its residents flee for their lives, something odd is taking place hundreds of kilometres away in the capital of Jordan.
Iraqis who are already out of harm's way in Amman are returning home to be with their families and to fight the Americans.
Since the war broke out on Thursday, a stream of Iraqis in battered cars and creaky buses have been making the 700-km journey across the open desert to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
One of them is 25-year-old taxi driver Ahmed Qessy.
He said that on Wednesday, he pulled out the body of his Jordanian friend from under the rubble of a building in a town near Baghdad.
The friend was a taxi driver who was plying the lucrative route between Amman and Baghdad.
Mr Qessy buried his friend on Thursday and left a day later for Iraq with three other Iraqis in his yellow Samsung car.
Interviewed at the border crossing, he attacked the United States and Britain for killing his friend.
''I don't need chemical weapons,'' he said, seething with rage.
''I will kill the Americans with my hands. George Bush is killing innocent people and telling lies to the world.''
Straitstimes: Going home
AS BAGHDAD crumbles under the weight of massive US-led air strikes and its residents flee for their lives, something odd is taking place hundreds of kilometres away in the capital of Jordan.
Iraqis who are already out of harm's way in Amman are returning home to be with their families and to fight the Americans.
Since the war broke out on Thursday, a stream of Iraqis in battered cars and creaky buses have been making the 700-km journey across the open desert to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
One of them is 25-year-old taxi driver Ahmed Qessy.
He said that on Wednesday, he pulled out the body of his Jordanian friend from under the rubble of a building in a town near Baghdad.
The friend was a taxi driver who was plying the lucrative route between Amman and Baghdad.
Mr Qessy buried his friend on Thursday and left a day later for Iraq with three other Iraqis in his yellow Samsung car.
Interviewed at the border crossing, he attacked the United States and Britain for killing his friend.
''I don't need chemical weapons,'' he said, seething with rage.
''I will kill the Americans with my hands. George Bush is killing innocent people and telling lies to the world.''
NIGERIA
Seattle Post: Nigerian Fighters Capture Oil Sites
WARRI, Nigeria -- Ethnic militants on Saturday threatened to blow up 11
multinational oil installations they claimed to have captured in
retaliation for government military raids. Dan Ekpebide, a leader of
Ijaw
tribal fighters in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, said his followers
took
over oil pipeline facilities belonging to ChevronTexaco, Royal/Dutch
Shell
and TotalFinaElf on Friday. The companies had earlier evacuated the
sites
during unrest that has killed scores of people.
Seattle Post: Nigerian Fighters Capture Oil Sites
WARRI, Nigeria -- Ethnic militants on Saturday threatened to blow up 11
multinational oil installations they claimed to have captured in
retaliation for government military raids. Dan Ekpebide, a leader of
Ijaw
tribal fighters in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, said his followers
took
over oil pipeline facilities belonging to ChevronTexaco, Royal/Dutch
Shell
and TotalFinaElf on Friday. The companies had earlier evacuated the
sites
during unrest that has killed scores of people.
WAR ON IRAK
Yahoo News: Iraqi Shiite opposition will not fight alongside US against Baghdad: leader
DOHA (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s main Shiite opposition faction, based in Iran, will not take part in the "aggressive war" being waged by the United States and its allies on Iraq, its leader said.
"We believe that the method of dealing with (the Baghdad) regime should not be through war. War is harmful," Mohammad Baqir Hakim of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) told al-Jazeera TV news network.
Therefore "we cannot ... be part of the US action since we do not believe in this action," Hakim said Saturday.
Yahoo News: Iraqi Shiite opposition will not fight alongside US against Baghdad: leader
DOHA (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s main Shiite opposition faction, based in Iran, will not take part in the "aggressive war" being waged by the United States and its allies on Iraq, its leader said.
"We believe that the method of dealing with (the Baghdad) regime should not be through war. War is harmful," Mohammad Baqir Hakim of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) told al-Jazeera TV news network.
Therefore "we cannot ... be part of the US action since we do not believe in this action," Hakim said Saturday.
WAR ON IRAK
Counterpunch: The Nation is Not United
The Other America
By EDWARD SAID
A small item in the press a few days ago reported that Prince Ibn Al-Walid of Saudi Arabia had donated 10 million dollars to the American University in Cairo to establish a department or centre of American Studies there. It should be recalled that the young billionaire had contributed an unsolicited 10 million dollars to New York City shortly after the 11 September bombings, with an accompanying letter that, aside from describing the handsome sum as a tribute to New York, also suggested that the United States might reconsider its policy towards the Middle East. Obviously he had total and unquestioning American support for Israel in mind, but his politely stated proposition seemed also to cover the general American policy of denigrating, or at least showing disrespect, for Islam.
In a fit of petulant rage, the then Mayor of New York (which also has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world), Rudolph Guiliani, returned the check to Al-Walid, rather unceremoniously and with an extreme and I would say racist contempt that was meant to be insulting as well as gloating. On behalf of a certain image of New York, he personally was upholding the city's demonstrated bravery and its principled resistance to outside interference. And of course pleasing, rather than trying to educate, a purportedly unified Jewish constituency
Counterpunch: The Nation is Not United
The Other America
By EDWARD SAID
A small item in the press a few days ago reported that Prince Ibn Al-Walid of Saudi Arabia had donated 10 million dollars to the American University in Cairo to establish a department or centre of American Studies there. It should be recalled that the young billionaire had contributed an unsolicited 10 million dollars to New York City shortly after the 11 September bombings, with an accompanying letter that, aside from describing the handsome sum as a tribute to New York, also suggested that the United States might reconsider its policy towards the Middle East. Obviously he had total and unquestioning American support for Israel in mind, but his politely stated proposition seemed also to cover the general American policy of denigrating, or at least showing disrespect, for Islam.
In a fit of petulant rage, the then Mayor of New York (which also has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world), Rudolph Guiliani, returned the check to Al-Walid, rather unceremoniously and with an extreme and I would say racist contempt that was meant to be insulting as well as gloating. On behalf of a certain image of New York, he personally was upholding the city's demonstrated bravery and its principled resistance to outside interference. And of course pleasing, rather than trying to educate, a purportedly unified Jewish constituency
WAR ON IRAK
Slash: Geoffrey Heard, "Not Oil, But Dollars vs. Euros"
Not Oil, But Dollars vs. Euros"
Geoffrey Heard
Why is George Bush so hell bent on war with Iraq? Why does his
administration reject every positive Iraqi move? It all makes sense when you
consider the economic implications for the USA of not going to war with
Iraq. The war in Iraq is actually the US and Europe going head to head on
economic leadership of the world.
Slash: Geoffrey Heard, "Not Oil, But Dollars vs. Euros"
Not Oil, But Dollars vs. Euros"
Geoffrey Heard
Why is George Bush so hell bent on war with Iraq? Why does his
administration reject every positive Iraqi move? It all makes sense when you
consider the economic implications for the USA of not going to war with
Iraq. The war in Iraq is actually the US and Europe going head to head on
economic leadership of the world.
WAR ON IRAK
Seattle Post: Russia Accuses U.S. of Seizing Iraqi Oil
MOSCOW -- Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov criticized the U.S.-led war on Iraq, accusing Washington on Saturday of trying to seize control of Iraq's oil while shutting out companies from Russia and elsewhere.
Baghdad owes Moscow at least $7 billion in Soviet-era debt and has awarded lucrative oil contracts to Russian oil companies.
Ivanov said Washington's call to expel Iraqi diplomats seemed part of a strategy to invalidate those oil deals by further undermining the legitimacy of Saddam Hussein's regime. Russia has refused to comply with the American request to force out the diplomats.
"We will have to defend our interests so that the contracts which were signed under Saddam Hussein are not annulled as lacking legal force and to make sure the Iraqi debt owed us is respected," he said in a speech to Russia's top political analysts, who were meeting near Moscow.
Seattle Post: Russia Accuses U.S. of Seizing Iraqi Oil
MOSCOW -- Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov criticized the U.S.-led war on Iraq, accusing Washington on Saturday of trying to seize control of Iraq's oil while shutting out companies from Russia and elsewhere.
Baghdad owes Moscow at least $7 billion in Soviet-era debt and has awarded lucrative oil contracts to Russian oil companies.
Ivanov said Washington's call to expel Iraqi diplomats seemed part of a strategy to invalidate those oil deals by further undermining the legitimacy of Saddam Hussein's regime. Russia has refused to comply with the American request to force out the diplomats.
"We will have to defend our interests so that the contracts which were signed under Saddam Hussein are not annulled as lacking legal force and to make sure the Iraqi debt owed us is respected," he said in a speech to Russia's top political analysts, who were meeting near Moscow.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
SITE OF THE DAY
CHECK: IRAQWAR.RU
The IRAQWAR.RU analytical center was created recently by a group of journalists and military experts from Russia to provide accurate and up-to-date news and analysis of the war against Iraq. The following is the English translation of the IRAQWAR.RU report based on the Russian military intelligence reports.
March 22, 2003, 1300hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - Additional information about the situation in the primary combat areas in southern Iraq became available by 1300hrs (Moscow time, GMT +3). The US command reports about the supposed surrender of the entire Iraqi 51st Infantry Division turned out to be a complete fabrication. According to our sources the 51st Division continues to fight on the approaches to Basra and we can only talk about individual cases of Iraqi soldiers being captured in combat
By 1100hrs MSK Iraqi units advanced into the US attack front by 10-15 kilometers and Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of the coalition forces, ordered his troops to switch entirely to defensive operations. At the same time he issued orders to the forward-deployed coalition tank units to halt their reconnaissance operations in the directions of Es-Samaba and An-Najaf and to move immediately to support the defending US forces. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that a part of the coalition tanks are currently disabled due to the lack of fuel and are awaiting the arrival of fuel convoys. Thus the tanks are able to gradually rejoin combat in small numbers as the fuel becomes available
Intercepted radio communications indicate that during the morning period of March 22 the US forces lost 10-15 tanks destroyed or disabled and up to 30 other armored vehicles. Medevac helicopters flew more than 30 search-and-rescue missions, which suggests heavy coalition losses.
Our sources report that during the early morning hours in southwestern Iraq in the vicinity of Akashat the Iraqi forces have engaged and surrounded a tactical paratroop unit of the 101st Airborne Division. Some of the surrounded paratroopers were able to break out into the desert, where they request air support and finally lost their Iraqi pursuers. However, up to 30 US troops were killed or captured in this engagement. Additionally, [Russian] radio intercept units report that one the US attack helicopters providing close air support was shot down.
The top US military command is planning to enhance the coalition command. During the Joint Chief of Staff meeting its Chairman Gen. Richard Mayers expressed strong criticism of the actions by the coalition commander Gen. Franks and proposed to strengthen his headquarters with several other senior military commanders. Gen. Franks is required to do everything he can to change the current situation on the front. Analysts believe that, if during the next 3-5 days Gen. Franks fails to achieve any significant results, than it is entirely possible that he will be replaced as the commander of the coalition forces.
Update: The coalition forces were able to capture a bridge in the suburbs of Nasiriya. Their control of the Basra airport is tentative at best as large numbers of Iraqi forces continue to resist with heavy artillery and machine gun fire. Around Basra the coalition forces have advanced at most by 1.5 kilometers. Gen. Franks has announced a change in plans: the coalition forces are no longer set on capturing Basra so not to "create military confrontations in that city." The coalition forces still do not control Umm Qasr and appear to be losing territory.
CHECK: IRAQWAR.RU
The IRAQWAR.RU analytical center was created recently by a group of journalists and military experts from Russia to provide accurate and up-to-date news and analysis of the war against Iraq. The following is the English translation of the IRAQWAR.RU report based on the Russian military intelligence reports.
March 22, 2003, 1300hrs MSK (GMT +3), Moscow - Additional information about the situation in the primary combat areas in southern Iraq became available by 1300hrs (Moscow time, GMT +3). The US command reports about the supposed surrender of the entire Iraqi 51st Infantry Division turned out to be a complete fabrication. According to our sources the 51st Division continues to fight on the approaches to Basra and we can only talk about individual cases of Iraqi soldiers being captured in combat
By 1100hrs MSK Iraqi units advanced into the US attack front by 10-15 kilometers and Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of the coalition forces, ordered his troops to switch entirely to defensive operations. At the same time he issued orders to the forward-deployed coalition tank units to halt their reconnaissance operations in the directions of Es-Samaba and An-Najaf and to move immediately to support the defending US forces. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that a part of the coalition tanks are currently disabled due to the lack of fuel and are awaiting the arrival of fuel convoys. Thus the tanks are able to gradually rejoin combat in small numbers as the fuel becomes available
Intercepted radio communications indicate that during the morning period of March 22 the US forces lost 10-15 tanks destroyed or disabled and up to 30 other armored vehicles. Medevac helicopters flew more than 30 search-and-rescue missions, which suggests heavy coalition losses.
Our sources report that during the early morning hours in southwestern Iraq in the vicinity of Akashat the Iraqi forces have engaged and surrounded a tactical paratroop unit of the 101st Airborne Division. Some of the surrounded paratroopers were able to break out into the desert, where they request air support and finally lost their Iraqi pursuers. However, up to 30 US troops were killed or captured in this engagement. Additionally, [Russian] radio intercept units report that one the US attack helicopters providing close air support was shot down.
The top US military command is planning to enhance the coalition command. During the Joint Chief of Staff meeting its Chairman Gen. Richard Mayers expressed strong criticism of the actions by the coalition commander Gen. Franks and proposed to strengthen his headquarters with several other senior military commanders. Gen. Franks is required to do everything he can to change the current situation on the front. Analysts believe that, if during the next 3-5 days Gen. Franks fails to achieve any significant results, than it is entirely possible that he will be replaced as the commander of the coalition forces.
Update: The coalition forces were able to capture a bridge in the suburbs of Nasiriya. Their control of the Basra airport is tentative at best as large numbers of Iraqi forces continue to resist with heavy artillery and machine gun fire. Around Basra the coalition forces have advanced at most by 1.5 kilometers. Gen. Franks has announced a change in plans: the coalition forces are no longer set on capturing Basra so not to "create military confrontations in that city." The coalition forces still do not control Umm Qasr and appear to be losing territory.
WAR ON IRAK
Rense: Intelligence Report #2
PHILADELPHIA March 22, 2002, 19:10 pm - The war against Iraq is being conducted by the Anglo-American coalition in an atmosphere of complete information vacuum. Turn on the CNN, MSNBC, FOX or any other major news network and the picture is the same everywhere - no news.
Yesterday, I was flipping through the hundreds of channels offered by my satellite TV service in hopes of finding any new information about the war in Iraq. CNN was showing photos and headlines from some Kuwaiti newspaper. After talking for half-an-hour about this newspaper and looking at the print from every possible angle, the CNN "field reporter" pulled out one more Kuwaiti newspaper and talked about it for another fifteen minutes. That was pathetic even for the CNN.
The complete lock down by the coalition command on the flow of information is rather unusual. Normally, the military would at least actively use the media for disinformation purposes, as the US military did during the first Persian Gulf War and during the bombing of Yugoslavia (and during all those dozens of other armed conflicts in between). But a complete absence of any significant news makes one very suspicious: how are things really going in Iraq? Is Saddam really losing control of the country and of his troops? Are the Americans and Brits really in Basra and Umm Quasar? Did all the planes really return to their bases as the Pentagon officials in Washington say?
And then there are some very lame attempts at propaganda by the US military. Consider the false report about the entire Iraqi 51st Infantry Division surrendering to the coalition troops. An entire division surrendered, really? This must be huge news. There must be hundreds of videos all over the world's news networks showing hordes of demoralized and hungry Iraqi troops. There must be hundreds of interviews with the Iraqis themselves and much more footage of all the destroyed and abandoned armor and artillery numbering in hundreds.
Where in the hell is all this stuff? All we got was one or two lame staged videos shot by the military showing a few dozen Iraqis half of whom are not even wearing any uniforms. For all I know they may be civilians or not even Iraqis. There is no footage of any weapons - was the entire division unarmed? And then, of course, all the speculation fueled by official US government reports of a possible missile strike that might have killed Saddam. As Rumsfeld put it: "He [Saddam] is either dead or alive." Yeah, no shit.
Rense: Intelligence Report #2
PHILADELPHIA March 22, 2002, 19:10 pm - The war against Iraq is being conducted by the Anglo-American coalition in an atmosphere of complete information vacuum. Turn on the CNN, MSNBC, FOX or any other major news network and the picture is the same everywhere - no news.
Yesterday, I was flipping through the hundreds of channels offered by my satellite TV service in hopes of finding any new information about the war in Iraq. CNN was showing photos and headlines from some Kuwaiti newspaper. After talking for half-an-hour about this newspaper and looking at the print from every possible angle, the CNN "field reporter" pulled out one more Kuwaiti newspaper and talked about it for another fifteen minutes. That was pathetic even for the CNN.
The complete lock down by the coalition command on the flow of information is rather unusual. Normally, the military would at least actively use the media for disinformation purposes, as the US military did during the first Persian Gulf War and during the bombing of Yugoslavia (and during all those dozens of other armed conflicts in between). But a complete absence of any significant news makes one very suspicious: how are things really going in Iraq? Is Saddam really losing control of the country and of his troops? Are the Americans and Brits really in Basra and Umm Quasar? Did all the planes really return to their bases as the Pentagon officials in Washington say?
And then there are some very lame attempts at propaganda by the US military. Consider the false report about the entire Iraqi 51st Infantry Division surrendering to the coalition troops. An entire division surrendered, really? This must be huge news. There must be hundreds of videos all over the world's news networks showing hordes of demoralized and hungry Iraqi troops. There must be hundreds of interviews with the Iraqis themselves and much more footage of all the destroyed and abandoned armor and artillery numbering in hundreds.
Where in the hell is all this stuff? All we got was one or two lame staged videos shot by the military showing a few dozen Iraqis half of whom are not even wearing any uniforms. For all I know they may be civilians or not even Iraqis. There is no footage of any weapons - was the entire division unarmed? And then, of course, all the speculation fueled by official US government reports of a possible missile strike that might have killed Saddam. As Rumsfeld put it: "He [Saddam] is either dead or alive." Yeah, no shit.
WAR ON IRAK
Reuters: Grim Slaughter Of Iraqi Militia In US Advance Iraqi Bodies Litter Plain
NEAR NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Burned-out vehicles and incinerated bodies littered a plain in central Iraq on Sunday after U.S. forces overwhelmed Iraqi militia fighters in a battle south of the holy city of Najaf.
U.S. armored infantry and tanks took control of the plain in the early hours of Sunday after a battle of more than seven hours against Iraqi forces who were armed with machine guns mounted on the back of Japanese pick-up trucks.
Najaf lies just 100 miles south of Baghdad.
On the main road running across the plain, burned-out Iraqi vehicles were still smoldering on Sunday afternoon, and charred ribs were the only recognizable part of three melted bodies in a destroyed car lying in the roadside dust.
Reuters: Grim Slaughter Of Iraqi Militia In US Advance Iraqi Bodies Litter Plain
NEAR NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Burned-out vehicles and incinerated bodies littered a plain in central Iraq on Sunday after U.S. forces overwhelmed Iraqi militia fighters in a battle south of the holy city of Najaf.
U.S. armored infantry and tanks took control of the plain in the early hours of Sunday after a battle of more than seven hours against Iraqi forces who were armed with machine guns mounted on the back of Japanese pick-up trucks.
Najaf lies just 100 miles south of Baghdad.
On the main road running across the plain, burned-out Iraqi vehicles were still smoldering on Sunday afternoon, and charred ribs were the only recognizable part of three melted bodies in a destroyed car lying in the roadside dust.
WAR ON IRAK
Rense/Skynews: ITV News Crew Hit, Reporter Killed, By 'Friendly Fire'
British TV news reporter Terry Lloyd is believed to be dead, his employers ITN said.
The journalist is believed to have been killed by Allied forces in a "friendly fire" incident in Iraq.
Rense/Skynews: ITV News Crew Hit, Reporter Killed, By 'Friendly Fire'
British TV news reporter Terry Lloyd is believed to be dead, his employers ITN said.
The journalist is believed to have been killed by Allied forces in a "friendly fire" incident in Iraq.
WAR ON IRAK
Independent: This is the reality of war. We bomb. They suffer
Veteran war reporter Robert Fisk tours the Baghdad hospital to see the wounded after a devastating night of air strikes
Donald Rumsfeld says the American attack on Baghdad is "as targeted an air campaign as has ever existed" but he should not try telling that to five-year-old Doha Suheil. She looked at me yesterday morning, drip feed attached to her nose, a deep frown over her small face as she tried vainly to move the left side of her body. The cruise missile that exploded close to her home in the Radwaniyeh suburb of Baghdad blasted shrapnel into her tiny legs they were bound up with gauze and, far more seriously, into her spine. Now she has lost all movement in her left leg.
It is the same old story. If we make war – however much we blather on about our care for civilians – we are going to kill and maim the innocent.
Dr Habib Al-Hezai, whose FRCS was gained at Edinburgh University, counted 101 patients of the total 207 wounded in the raids in his hospital alone, of whom 85 were civilians – 20 of them women and six of them children – and 16 soldiers. A young man and a child of 12 had died under surgery. No one will say how many soldiers were killed during the actual attack.
"CHECK IT"
And all this, I asked myself yesterday, was all this for 11 September 2001? All this was to "strike back" at our attackers, albeit that Doha Suheil, Wahed Hassan and Imam Ali have nothing absolutely nothing to do with those crimes against humanity, any more than has the awful Saddam? Who decided, I wonder, that these children, these young women, should suffer for 11 September?
Wars repeat themselves. Always, when "we" come to visit those we have bombed, we have the same question. In Libya in 1986, I remember how American reporters would repeatedly cross-question the wounded: had they perhaps been hit by shrapnel from their own anti-aircraft fire? Again, in 1991, "we" asked the Iraqi wounded the same question. And yesterday, a doctor found himself asked by a British radio reporter – yes, you've guessed it – "Do you think, doctor, that some of these people could have been hit by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire?"
Independent: This is the reality of war. We bomb. They suffer
Veteran war reporter Robert Fisk tours the Baghdad hospital to see the wounded after a devastating night of air strikes
Donald Rumsfeld says the American attack on Baghdad is "as targeted an air campaign as has ever existed" but he should not try telling that to five-year-old Doha Suheil. She looked at me yesterday morning, drip feed attached to her nose, a deep frown over her small face as she tried vainly to move the left side of her body. The cruise missile that exploded close to her home in the Radwaniyeh suburb of Baghdad blasted shrapnel into her tiny legs they were bound up with gauze and, far more seriously, into her spine. Now she has lost all movement in her left leg.
It is the same old story. If we make war – however much we blather on about our care for civilians – we are going to kill and maim the innocent.
Dr Habib Al-Hezai, whose FRCS was gained at Edinburgh University, counted 101 patients of the total 207 wounded in the raids in his hospital alone, of whom 85 were civilians – 20 of them women and six of them children – and 16 soldiers. A young man and a child of 12 had died under surgery. No one will say how many soldiers were killed during the actual attack.
"CHECK IT"
And all this, I asked myself yesterday, was all this for 11 September 2001? All this was to "strike back" at our attackers, albeit that Doha Suheil, Wahed Hassan and Imam Ali have nothing absolutely nothing to do with those crimes against humanity, any more than has the awful Saddam? Who decided, I wonder, that these children, these young women, should suffer for 11 September?
Wars repeat themselves. Always, when "we" come to visit those we have bombed, we have the same question. In Libya in 1986, I remember how American reporters would repeatedly cross-question the wounded: had they perhaps been hit by shrapnel from their own anti-aircraft fire? Again, in 1991, "we" asked the Iraqi wounded the same question. And yesterday, a doctor found himself asked by a British radio reporter – yes, you've guessed it – "Do you think, doctor, that some of these people could have been hit by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire?"
WAR ON IRAK
Guardian: Iraq broadcasts pictures of 'captured soldiers'
* TV channel al-Jazeera screens video of prisoners said to be captured US soldiers
* Missing ITN reporter Terry Lloyd "believed dead"
* Investigation launched into RAF aircraft 'shot down by US missile'
* Iraqis hunt for 'downed pilots'
* Umm Qasr and Basra under coalition control
* Fierce fighting in Najaf and Nassiriya
Independent: 'Friendly fire' brings down RAF Tornado
Guardian: Iraq broadcasts pictures of 'captured soldiers'
* TV channel al-Jazeera screens video of prisoners said to be captured US soldiers
* Missing ITN reporter Terry Lloyd "believed dead"
* Investigation launched into RAF aircraft 'shot down by US missile'
* Iraqis hunt for 'downed pilots'
* Umm Qasr and Basra under coalition control
* Fierce fighting in Najaf and Nassiriya
Independent: 'Friendly fire' brings down RAF Tornado
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: ALLIIERTE IN DER PR-DEFENSIVE
Heftige Gegenwehr, größere Verluste, Unglücke und ein Attentat in den eigenen Reihen: Die amerikanisch-britischen Truppen hatten am Sonntag mit zahlreichen Pannen zu kämpfen. Trotzdem gibt sich der US-Verteidigungsminister zufrieden - und sein britischer Amtskollege glaubt, die Alliierten könnten am Dienstag Bagdad erreichen
Spiegel: ALLIIERTE IN DER PR-DEFENSIVE
Heftige Gegenwehr, größere Verluste, Unglücke und ein Attentat in den eigenen Reihen: Die amerikanisch-britischen Truppen hatten am Sonntag mit zahlreichen Pannen zu kämpfen. Trotzdem gibt sich der US-Verteidigungsminister zufrieden - und sein britischer Amtskollege glaubt, die Alliierten könnten am Dienstag Bagdad erreichen
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: US-Soldat verübte offenbar Anschlag auf Kommandanten
Kuwait/Washington - Der Anschlag ereignete sich am frühen Sonntagmorgen im Lager Camp Pennsylvania, wo Einheiten der 101. Luftlandedivision stationiert sind. Die Täter hätten drei Handgranaten in das Zelt des Lagerkommandeurs geworfen, berichtete Jim Lacey, der für die amerikanische Zeitschrift "Time" arbeitet, dem Sender CNN
Spiegel: US-Soldat verübte offenbar Anschlag auf Kommandanten
Kuwait/Washington - Der Anschlag ereignete sich am frühen Sonntagmorgen im Lager Camp Pennsylvania, wo Einheiten der 101. Luftlandedivision stationiert sind. Die Täter hätten drei Handgranaten in das Zelt des Lagerkommandeurs geworfen, berichtete Jim Lacey, der für die amerikanische Zeitschrift "Time" arbeitet, dem Sender CNN
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: USA, Nato und EU warnen Türken
Das irakische Kurdengebiet ist zu einem Pulverfass geworden. Werden die Türken einmarschieren und einen Krieg mit den Kurden provozieren, nachdem die US-Armee vorübergehend auf eine eigene Nordfront verzichtet hat?
Hamburg - Wird die tickende Bombe hochgehen oder kann sie entschärft werden? Nach der Entscheidung der Amerikaner, vorerst auf eine eigene Nordfront zu verzichten, können Wochen vergehen, bis US-Bodentruppen den Nordirak erreichen werden. Wird das Machtgefüge im Nordirak so lange halten, oder wird es zu Kämpfen zwischen Kurden und Türken kommen?
Spiegel: USA, Nato und EU warnen Türken
Das irakische Kurdengebiet ist zu einem Pulverfass geworden. Werden die Türken einmarschieren und einen Krieg mit den Kurden provozieren, nachdem die US-Armee vorübergehend auf eine eigene Nordfront verzichtet hat?
Hamburg - Wird die tickende Bombe hochgehen oder kann sie entschärft werden? Nach der Entscheidung der Amerikaner, vorerst auf eine eigene Nordfront zu verzichten, können Wochen vergehen, bis US-Bodentruppen den Nordirak erreichen werden. Wird das Machtgefüge im Nordirak so lange halten, oder wird es zu Kämpfen zwischen Kurden und Türken kommen?
WAR ON IRAK: PROPAGANDA
Spiegel: Bilder des Grauens erzürnen die arabische Welt
Tote Iraker neben einer weißen Fahne, ein Kind mit zertrümmertem Kopf: Grausame TV-Bilder und Fotos aus dem Irak wecken schon jetzt Wut und Ekel in der arabischen Welt. Derweil wächst die Zahl der Opfer, bei Angriffen auf Basra und radikale Gruppen im Norden soll wieder es zahlreiche Tote gegeben haben.
Kairo - Seit Beginn der amerikanischen Bodenoffensive zeigt der TV-Sender al-Dschasira Bilder, wie sie auf CNN nicht zu sehen sind - und viele in den arabischen Welt reagieren mit Abscheu darauf. Gelangen noch mehr Aufnahmen dieser Art an die Öffentlichkeit, könnte sich dies zu einem massiven Problem für die Amerikaner auswachsen. Erste Anti-Kriegs-Demonstrationen mit Ausschreitungen hatte es bereits am Samstag im Jemen und in Ägypten gegeben.
Besonders schrecklich dürften Fernsehzuschauer am Wochenende die Fernsehbilder eines toten Kindes gefunden haben, dem der Oberkopf fehlte. Diese TV-Aufnahmen wurden von einigen Zeitungen übernommen, selbst das halbamtliche ägyptische Blatt "al-Achbar" druckte das Foto am Sonntag mit der Bildunterschrift "Amerikanische Menschlichkeit". Weitere Zeitungen zeigten Aufnahmen von verstümmelten Leichen und verletzten Kindern im Irak. Einige Blätter wählten für ihre Titelseiten ein Bild aus, das tote irakische Soldaten in einem Schützengraben zeigt. Neben ihnen liegt eine weiße Fahne.
Spiegel: Bilder des Grauens erzürnen die arabische Welt
Tote Iraker neben einer weißen Fahne, ein Kind mit zertrümmertem Kopf: Grausame TV-Bilder und Fotos aus dem Irak wecken schon jetzt Wut und Ekel in der arabischen Welt. Derweil wächst die Zahl der Opfer, bei Angriffen auf Basra und radikale Gruppen im Norden soll wieder es zahlreiche Tote gegeben haben.
Kairo - Seit Beginn der amerikanischen Bodenoffensive zeigt der TV-Sender al-Dschasira Bilder, wie sie auf CNN nicht zu sehen sind - und viele in den arabischen Welt reagieren mit Abscheu darauf. Gelangen noch mehr Aufnahmen dieser Art an die Öffentlichkeit, könnte sich dies zu einem massiven Problem für die Amerikaner auswachsen. Erste Anti-Kriegs-Demonstrationen mit Ausschreitungen hatte es bereits am Samstag im Jemen und in Ägypten gegeben.
Besonders schrecklich dürften Fernsehzuschauer am Wochenende die Fernsehbilder eines toten Kindes gefunden haben, dem der Oberkopf fehlte. Diese TV-Aufnahmen wurden von einigen Zeitungen übernommen, selbst das halbamtliche ägyptische Blatt "al-Achbar" druckte das Foto am Sonntag mit der Bildunterschrift "Amerikanische Menschlichkeit". Weitere Zeitungen zeigten Aufnahmen von verstümmelten Leichen und verletzten Kindern im Irak. Einige Blätter wählten für ihre Titelseiten ein Bild aus, das tote irakische Soldaten in einem Schützengraben zeigt. Neben ihnen liegt eine weiße Fahne.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Irakisches Fernsehen zeigt tote und gefangene US-Soldaten
Hiobsbotschaften für die Amerikaner: Erstmals hat das irakische Fernsehen Bilder teils verstümmelter Leichen ausgestrahlt, bei denen es sich um getötete US-Soldaten handeln soll. Zudem waren Aufnahmen mehrerer angeblicher Kriegsgefangener zu sehen
Washington - Mindestens vier Leichen lagen in Blutlachen in einem Raum und waren zum Teil verstümmelt. Zudem zeigte das irakische Fernsehen fünf Gefangene, angeblich sollen es US-Soldaten sein. Nach Angaben des irakischen Fernsehens und des TV-Senders al-Dschasira wurden sie bei den Kämpfen um Nasirija im Südirak gefangen genommen. Auch CNN hatte zuvor berichtet, dass es dort zu verlustreichen Kämpfen gekommen sei.
Den fünf gezeigten Soldaten, darunter eine 30-jährige farbige Frau, stand bei der Befragung Angst ins Gesicht geschrieben. Zwei von ihnen schienen verletzt zu sein, sie trugen Verbände. Die Männer und die Frau gaben an, dass sie zur 507. Instandsetzungskompanie der US-Armee gehörten und nannten ihre Identifikationsnummern. Ihre Heimat seien die US-Bundesstaaten Kansas, Texas und New Jersey
CNN hat in seinem internationalen Programm denn auch bisher keine Kopien der Bilder ausgestrahlt, auch bei CNN online waren sie zunächst nicht zu finden. Die amerikanische Regierung sorgt sich vermutlich, dass die Ausstrahlung der Bilder die Kriegsgegner im eigenen Land stärken könnte
Spiegel: Irak dementiert Festnahme in Bagdad
Es war ein unwirkliche Szene in Bagdad: Schnellboote rasen über den Tigris, Soldaten schießen mit Maschinenpistolen ins Wasser. Hunderte Gaffer säumen das Ufer, dazu etliche Kamerateams. Sie suchen zwei Piloten der Alliierten, die angeblich über Bagdad abspringen mussten. Am Nachmittag dementierte Irak, dass die Männer festgenommen worden sind.
Spiegel: Dutzende Tote im Ansar-e-Islam-Gebiet
Erneut haben die USA Lager militanter Muslimextremisten im Norden des Irak angegriffen. Dabei wurden mindestens 35 Menschen getötet.
Spiegel: US-Truppen können Widerstand nicht brechen
Irakische Militärs haben die US-Streitkräfte im Südirak offenbar in schwere Bodenkämpfe verwickelt. Vor allem um Basra toben Gefechte. Helikopter schießen Raketen in die Stadt, auch in der Hafenstadt Umm Kasr kommt es immer wieder zu Scharmützeln. Bei den Luftangriffen auf Basra soll es nach irakischen Angaben 77 Tote gegeben haben
Spiegel: Irakisches Fernsehen zeigt tote und gefangene US-Soldaten
Hiobsbotschaften für die Amerikaner: Erstmals hat das irakische Fernsehen Bilder teils verstümmelter Leichen ausgestrahlt, bei denen es sich um getötete US-Soldaten handeln soll. Zudem waren Aufnahmen mehrerer angeblicher Kriegsgefangener zu sehen
Washington - Mindestens vier Leichen lagen in Blutlachen in einem Raum und waren zum Teil verstümmelt. Zudem zeigte das irakische Fernsehen fünf Gefangene, angeblich sollen es US-Soldaten sein. Nach Angaben des irakischen Fernsehens und des TV-Senders al-Dschasira wurden sie bei den Kämpfen um Nasirija im Südirak gefangen genommen. Auch CNN hatte zuvor berichtet, dass es dort zu verlustreichen Kämpfen gekommen sei.
Den fünf gezeigten Soldaten, darunter eine 30-jährige farbige Frau, stand bei der Befragung Angst ins Gesicht geschrieben. Zwei von ihnen schienen verletzt zu sein, sie trugen Verbände. Die Männer und die Frau gaben an, dass sie zur 507. Instandsetzungskompanie der US-Armee gehörten und nannten ihre Identifikationsnummern. Ihre Heimat seien die US-Bundesstaaten Kansas, Texas und New Jersey
CNN hat in seinem internationalen Programm denn auch bisher keine Kopien der Bilder ausgestrahlt, auch bei CNN online waren sie zunächst nicht zu finden. Die amerikanische Regierung sorgt sich vermutlich, dass die Ausstrahlung der Bilder die Kriegsgegner im eigenen Land stärken könnte
Spiegel: Irak dementiert Festnahme in Bagdad
Es war ein unwirkliche Szene in Bagdad: Schnellboote rasen über den Tigris, Soldaten schießen mit Maschinenpistolen ins Wasser. Hunderte Gaffer säumen das Ufer, dazu etliche Kamerateams. Sie suchen zwei Piloten der Alliierten, die angeblich über Bagdad abspringen mussten. Am Nachmittag dementierte Irak, dass die Männer festgenommen worden sind.
Spiegel: Dutzende Tote im Ansar-e-Islam-Gebiet
Erneut haben die USA Lager militanter Muslimextremisten im Norden des Irak angegriffen. Dabei wurden mindestens 35 Menschen getötet.
Spiegel: US-Truppen können Widerstand nicht brechen
Irakische Militärs haben die US-Streitkräfte im Südirak offenbar in schwere Bodenkämpfe verwickelt. Vor allem um Basra toben Gefechte. Helikopter schießen Raketen in die Stadt, auch in der Hafenstadt Umm Kasr kommt es immer wieder zu Scharmützeln. Bei den Luftangriffen auf Basra soll es nach irakischen Angaben 77 Tote gegeben haben
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