IRAQI DEMOCRACY
IOL: US Restricts Civilian Demonstrations In Iraq
BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net) - U.S. occupation authorities in Iraq have imposed strict restrictions on the right of the Iraqi people to demonstrate, particularly in the capital Baghdad, in what Iraqi political analysts described as the real face of sugar-coated democracy clichés.
A statement issued by the U.S.-led authority and broadcast by the Iraqi media network Wednesday, December 31, said
It demanded those who want to demonstrate or organize a meeting to submit a written request to the occupation authorities no less than a day before.
The request, according to the statement, must include the purpose and duration of the demonstration, an estimate of the maximum number of demonstrators and names and addresses of the organizers.
Detention Threat
If a permit is granted, the American statement said, demonstrators would not be allowed to wear the traditional galabiya (a loose shirt-like garment), helmets, hoods or even cover their faces.
Would-be Iraqi demonstrators must also not carry guns, even the licensed, stones or sticks, added the statement.
Last but not least, any demonstration must not last more than four hours and should not be organized less than 500 meters away from the headquarters of the occupation forces and the affiliated institutions.
Monday, January 05, 2004
TERROR
Reuters: Purported Bin Laden Tape
Mentions Saddam Capture
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Arabic television channel Al Jazeera aired an audio tape on Sunday purported to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which he mentioned the arrest of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein by U.S. troops last month.
Saddam was captured on December 13. If authenticated, the tape would prove that the man being hunted by the United States for masterminding the attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001, is still alive.
In Washington, a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said it might take a couple of days to determine whether the tape, which sounded like previous broadcast recordings by the al Qaeda leader, was genuine.
The voice said Muslim and Arab leaders had reason to fear the precedent of letting foreigners topple a Muslim government, "especially after they saw the capture of their former comrade in treachery and collaboration with America" -- meaning Saddam.
The recording, which rambled like a sermon between a myriad of topics, urged Muslims to fight U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and criticized Gulf Arab governments for supporting Washington's invasion of an Arab country.
Reuters: Purported Bin Laden Tape
Mentions Saddam Capture
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Arabic television channel Al Jazeera aired an audio tape on Sunday purported to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which he mentioned the arrest of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein by U.S. troops last month.
Saddam was captured on December 13. If authenticated, the tape would prove that the man being hunted by the United States for masterminding the attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001, is still alive.
In Washington, a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said it might take a couple of days to determine whether the tape, which sounded like previous broadcast recordings by the al Qaeda leader, was genuine.
The voice said Muslim and Arab leaders had reason to fear the precedent of letting foreigners topple a Muslim government, "especially after they saw the capture of their former comrade in treachery and collaboration with America" -- meaning Saddam.
The recording, which rambled like a sermon between a myriad of topics, urged Muslims to fight U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and criticized Gulf Arab governments for supporting Washington's invasion of an Arab country.
ECONOMY: EURO VS. DOLLAR
Reuters: Dollar Tumbles Again to Begin Year
LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar continued its downward spiral Monday, hitting yet another low against the euro, helping send gold prices to 14-year highs and pushing Japanese authorities to step in to protect the yen.
Stock markets -- which had their best year in 2003 since 1986, according to at least one calculation -- were mixed. European shares hovered around break even, but Tokyo ended its first session of 2004 up more than one percent.
The new year showed no sign of breathing new life into the U.S. currency, which tumbled last year amid doubts about the United States' ability to fund its current account gap.
Reuters: Dollar Tumbles Again to Begin Year
LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar continued its downward spiral Monday, hitting yet another low against the euro, helping send gold prices to 14-year highs and pushing Japanese authorities to step in to protect the yen.
Stock markets -- which had their best year in 2003 since 1986, according to at least one calculation -- were mixed. European shares hovered around break even, but Tokyo ended its first session of 2004 up more than one percent.
The new year showed no sign of breathing new life into the U.S. currency, which tumbled last year amid doubts about the United States' ability to fund its current account gap.
USA
Toronto Star: America - The Real Danger Lies Within
PALM BEACH -- The year 2003 dramatically and dolefully illustrated Lord Acton's famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana.
For America's hard right - a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex - the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness. President George Bush, who vowed his foreign policy would be "humble" and "compassionate," has turned out to be the most radical president in modern U.S. history.
"CHECK IT"
Toronto Star: America - The Real Danger Lies Within
PALM BEACH -- The year 2003 dramatically and dolefully illustrated Lord Acton's famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana.
For America's hard right - a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex - the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness. President George Bush, who vowed his foreign policy would be "humble" and "compassionate," has turned out to be the most radical president in modern U.S. history.
"CHECK IT"
USA
The Telegraph: US Hawks Present War Manifesto To Bush
Tell Bush How To Win War On Terror
WASHINGTON -- President George W Bush was sent a public manifesto yesterday by Washington's hawks, demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites.
The manifesto, presented as a "manual for victory" in the war on terror, also calls for Saudi Arabia and France to be treated not as allies but as rivals and possibly enemies.
The manifesto is contained in a new book by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser and "intellectual guru" of the hardline neo-conservative movement, and David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter. They give warning of a faltering of the "will to win" in Washington.
In the battle for the president's ear, the manifesto represents an attempt by hawks to break out of the post-Iraq doldrums and strike back at what they see as a campaign of hostile leaking by their foes in such centres of caution as the State Department or in the military top brass.
The Telegraph: US Hawks Present War Manifesto To Bush
Tell Bush How To Win War On Terror
WASHINGTON -- President George W Bush was sent a public manifesto yesterday by Washington's hawks, demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites.
The manifesto, presented as a "manual for victory" in the war on terror, also calls for Saudi Arabia and France to be treated not as allies but as rivals and possibly enemies.
The manifesto is contained in a new book by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser and "intellectual guru" of the hardline neo-conservative movement, and David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter. They give warning of a faltering of the "will to win" in Washington.
In the battle for the president's ear, the manifesto represents an attempt by hawks to break out of the post-Iraq doldrums and strike back at what they see as a campaign of hostile leaking by their foes in such centres of caution as the State Department or in the military top brass.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
QUOTES OF THE DAY
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." - Dick Cheney, August 26 2002
"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." - George W. Bush, September 12 2002
"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world." - Ari Fleischer, December 2 2002
"We know for a fact that there are weapons there." - Ari Fleischer, January 9 2003
"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." - George W. Bush, State of the Union address, January 28 2003
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more." - Colin Powell, February 5 2003
"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons." - George Bush, February 8 2003
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." - George Bush, March 17 2003
"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes." - Ari Fleischer, March 21 2003
"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." - Gen. Tommy Franks, March 22 2003
"We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad." - Donald Rumsfeld, March 30 2003.
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." - Dick Cheney, August 26 2002
"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." - George W. Bush, September 12 2002
"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world." - Ari Fleischer, December 2 2002
"We know for a fact that there are weapons there." - Ari Fleischer, January 9 2003
"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." - George W. Bush, State of the Union address, January 28 2003
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more." - Colin Powell, February 5 2003
"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons." - George Bush, February 8 2003
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." - George Bush, March 17 2003
"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes." - Ari Fleischer, March 21 2003
"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." - Gen. Tommy Franks, March 22 2003
"We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad." - Donald Rumsfeld, March 30 2003.
IRAQ
Information Clearinghouse: Inside Iraq - 'Where Are
Our Human Rights?' By Dahr Jamail Independent American Journalist in Iraq
(ICH) -- So far, every single journalist I've spoken with here has told me that they had followed the news closely prior to their arrival. But after being here even just a day, they have been astonished at how terrible the situation truly is.
It has now been over 9 months since the 'war' ended. The country of Iraq remains in chaos, and the lack of consistent basic services such as petrol, security, electricity, and running water continue to afflict Iraqis.
So many times I've heard people discuss that even though Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator, he still managed to get the electricity, water, and communications systems back up and running three months after the Gulf War. For the record, several engineers I've spoken with have stated that these portions of the infrastructure suffered far greater damage then, than during the more recent Anglo-American Invasion.
Each day I walk by a communications building that was bombed last March. While the building remains in shambles, a metal tower has been erected, and every other day a new dish appears on it. Several times when I've walked by it I see that the machine gun toting security guards near the 'entrance' of what is left of the building are wearing Bechtel security badges.
Meanwhile, in other parts of Baghdad there are no land lines, and I've yet to see one of the communication centers being rebuilt.
The lesson seems to be that if repairing/rebuilding something in Iraq isn't necessary to serve US and British interests, it is left as it is. Most Iraqis I speak with continue to wonder just when, exactly will the rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure begin.
Information Clearinghouse: Inside Iraq - 'Where Are
Our Human Rights?' By Dahr Jamail Independent American Journalist in Iraq
(ICH) -- So far, every single journalist I've spoken with here has told me that they had followed the news closely prior to their arrival. But after being here even just a day, they have been astonished at how terrible the situation truly is.
It has now been over 9 months since the 'war' ended. The country of Iraq remains in chaos, and the lack of consistent basic services such as petrol, security, electricity, and running water continue to afflict Iraqis.
So many times I've heard people discuss that even though Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator, he still managed to get the electricity, water, and communications systems back up and running three months after the Gulf War. For the record, several engineers I've spoken with have stated that these portions of the infrastructure suffered far greater damage then, than during the more recent Anglo-American Invasion.
Each day I walk by a communications building that was bombed last March. While the building remains in shambles, a metal tower has been erected, and every other day a new dish appears on it. Several times when I've walked by it I see that the machine gun toting security guards near the 'entrance' of what is left of the building are wearing Bechtel security badges.
Meanwhile, in other parts of Baghdad there are no land lines, and I've yet to see one of the communication centers being rebuilt.
The lesson seems to be that if repairing/rebuilding something in Iraq isn't necessary to serve US and British interests, it is left as it is. Most Iraqis I speak with continue to wonder just when, exactly will the rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure begin.
WWII
Rense: In 'Eisenhower's Death Camps' - A US Prison Guard's Story
In October, 1944, at age eighteen, I was drafted into the U.S. army. Largely because of the "Battle of the Bulge," my training was cut short. My furlough was halved, and I was sent overseas immediately. Upon arrival in Le Havre, France, we were quickly loaded into box cars and shipped to the front. When we got there, I was suffering increasingly severe symptoms of mononucleosis, and was sent to a hospital in Belgium. Since mononucleosis was then known as the "kissing disease," I mailed a letter of thanks to my girlfriend.
By the time I left the hospital, the outfit I had trained with in Spartanburg, South Carolina was deep inside Germany, so, despite my protests, I was placed in a ãrepo depotä(replacement depot). I lost interest in the units to which I was assigned and don't recall all of them: non-combat units were ridiculed at that time. My separation qualification record states I was mostly with Company C, 14th Infantry Regiment, during my seventeen-month stay in Germany, but I remember being transferred to other outfits also.
Rense: In 'Eisenhower's Death Camps' - A US Prison Guard's Story
In October, 1944, at age eighteen, I was drafted into the U.S. army. Largely because of the "Battle of the Bulge," my training was cut short. My furlough was halved, and I was sent overseas immediately. Upon arrival in Le Havre, France, we were quickly loaded into box cars and shipped to the front. When we got there, I was suffering increasingly severe symptoms of mononucleosis, and was sent to a hospital in Belgium. Since mononucleosis was then known as the "kissing disease," I mailed a letter of thanks to my girlfriend.
By the time I left the hospital, the outfit I had trained with in Spartanburg, South Carolina was deep inside Germany, so, despite my protests, I was placed in a ãrepo depotä(replacement depot). I lost interest in the units to which I was assigned and don't recall all of them: non-combat units were ridiculed at that time. My separation qualification record states I was mostly with Company C, 14th Infantry Regiment, during my seventeen-month stay in Germany, but I remember being transferred to other outfits also.
Monday, December 29, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Infromation Clearinghouse: Hooded Men Executing Saddam Officials by Robert Fisk in Baghdad
28 December 2003: (The Independent) General Charles de Gaulle gave the French resistance 48 hours to régler les comptes - settle accounts - after the liberation of France. But after the "liberation" of Iraq, the Baath party's enemies have declared it open season to hunt down and murder hundreds of the former regime's officials - with not the slightest attempt by the Anglo-American armies or their newly installed police force to end the bloodshed.
In the Shia city of Najaf, 42 ex-members of the Baath have been murdered and not a single arrest has followed. In Basra, controlled by British troops, almost 50 Baathists have been found with their hands bound behind their backs and a single bullet hole in the neck. Again, there have been no arrests. Hussam Thafer, a doctor at the Baghdad city mortuary, says that every day he receives "five or six" bodies of people who worked for the old regime.
Some of the killings may be personal revenge. The Independent on Sunday has learned of one young Shia who hunted down his former torturer in Baghdad, calmly told the man's family that he intended to execute him, refused financial retribution for his suffering and went on to murder the man. But many of the killings are being carried out systematically - and with the same cruelty Saddam's own henchmen once used against the regime's opponents.
Major-General Khalaf al-Alousi, a former director of the secret police in Baghdad, was assassinated on a Sunday afternoon this month when he visited a home he was renovating in Yarmouk. His wife, Um Ali, described how two men in black hoods were waiting for them in the yard and another in the house, and how she knew they were going to kill her husband . "I shouted and begged them not to do it, for the sake of his daughters," she said. The ex-general tried to talk to his killers. "I never saw such calm before," Um Ali said later. The gunmen fired 17 bullets into their victim
Infromation Clearinghouse: Hooded Men Executing Saddam Officials by Robert Fisk in Baghdad
28 December 2003: (The Independent) General Charles de Gaulle gave the French resistance 48 hours to régler les comptes - settle accounts - after the liberation of France. But after the "liberation" of Iraq, the Baath party's enemies have declared it open season to hunt down and murder hundreds of the former regime's officials - with not the slightest attempt by the Anglo-American armies or their newly installed police force to end the bloodshed.
In the Shia city of Najaf, 42 ex-members of the Baath have been murdered and not a single arrest has followed. In Basra, controlled by British troops, almost 50 Baathists have been found with their hands bound behind their backs and a single bullet hole in the neck. Again, there have been no arrests. Hussam Thafer, a doctor at the Baghdad city mortuary, says that every day he receives "five or six" bodies of people who worked for the old regime.
Some of the killings may be personal revenge. The Independent on Sunday has learned of one young Shia who hunted down his former torturer in Baghdad, calmly told the man's family that he intended to execute him, refused financial retribution for his suffering and went on to murder the man. But many of the killings are being carried out systematically - and with the same cruelty Saddam's own henchmen once used against the regime's opponents.
Major-General Khalaf al-Alousi, a former director of the secret police in Baghdad, was assassinated on a Sunday afternoon this month when he visited a home he was renovating in Yarmouk. His wife, Um Ali, described how two men in black hoods were waiting for them in the yard and another in the house, and how she knew they were going to kill her husband . "I shouted and begged them not to do it, for the sake of his daughters," she said. The ex-general tried to talk to his killers. "I never saw such calm before," Um Ali said later. The gunmen fired 17 bullets into their victim
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Electronic Intifada: 117 Palestinians killed, hundreds injured during media's "relative calm"
On December 25, an Israeli assassination squad killed five Palestinians in Gaza, and injured fifteen. Three of the dead were civilians. A short time later, a Palestinian blew himself up at a bus stop in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, killing four Israelis, three of whom were confirmed by Ha'aretz to be soldiers.
Many leading media organizations were quick to declare that these two incidents marked the end of a period of "relative calm" or "lull" in Israeli-Palestinian violence, that had supposedly lasted since the last Palestinian suicide attack in Haifa on 4 October.
In fact, the period since 4 October has been one of intense Israeli violence, in which 117 Palestinians were killed, including 23 children. At the same time, Israel destroyed almost five hundred Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Territories.
Electronic Intifada: 117 Palestinians killed, hundreds injured during media's "relative calm"
On December 25, an Israeli assassination squad killed five Palestinians in Gaza, and injured fifteen. Three of the dead were civilians. A short time later, a Palestinian blew himself up at a bus stop in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, killing four Israelis, three of whom were confirmed by Ha'aretz to be soldiers.
Many leading media organizations were quick to declare that these two incidents marked the end of a period of "relative calm" or "lull" in Israeli-Palestinian violence, that had supposedly lasted since the last Palestinian suicide attack in Haifa on 4 October.
In fact, the period since 4 October has been one of intense Israeli violence, in which 117 Palestinians were killed, including 23 children. At the same time, Israel destroyed almost five hundred Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Territories.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Independent: Checkpoints Prove Useless Against Suicide Bombers in Iraq by Robert Fisk
A severed arm with a hand still attached to it lay a few metres from the broken gates of the mayor's office in Karbala yesterday, a piece of humanity every bit as bloody as the story of the seventh-century Shia martyr Hussein, the golden dome of whose shrine could be seen through the smog to the east.
They said the arm belonged to a police major - one of 11 cops killed in the four ferocious attacks on Saturday in this most holy of cities - but others claimed it belonged to the man who drove the truck-bomb right up to the gates.
In the parking lot outside, stunned Polish and Bulgarian troops, many of them in the clapped-out Russian vehicles that Saddam's own army used until its demise eight months ago, looked at the scene with a strange mixture of awe and contempt. Four Bulgarians were killed a mile away when another man drove an oil tanker right up to their camouflaged headquarters.
When I approached one Bulgarian officer a few metres from the 20-foot hole that the bomb had blasted in the road, he turned away in tears
Independent: Checkpoints Prove Useless Against Suicide Bombers in Iraq by Robert Fisk
A severed arm with a hand still attached to it lay a few metres from the broken gates of the mayor's office in Karbala yesterday, a piece of humanity every bit as bloody as the story of the seventh-century Shia martyr Hussein, the golden dome of whose shrine could be seen through the smog to the east.
They said the arm belonged to a police major - one of 11 cops killed in the four ferocious attacks on Saturday in this most holy of cities - but others claimed it belonged to the man who drove the truck-bomb right up to the gates.
In the parking lot outside, stunned Polish and Bulgarian troops, many of them in the clapped-out Russian vehicles that Saddam's own army used until its demise eight months ago, looked at the scene with a strange mixture of awe and contempt. Four Bulgarians were killed a mile away when another man drove an oil tanker right up to their camouflaged headquarters.
When I approached one Bulgarian officer a few metres from the 20-foot hole that the bomb had blasted in the road, he turned away in tears
UK
Scotsman: Blair under fire again for WMD claims
CLAIMS that weapons inspectors have uncovered massive evidence that Saddam Hussein had a network of clandestine laboratories have landed Tony Blair in trouble for the second time in a month after they were rubbished by the United States’ top man in Iraq.
Paul Bremer, unaware the claims had been made by the Prime Minister, said the comments sounded like a "red herring" put about to undermine the coalition by someone opposed to military action.
Scotsman: Blair under fire again for WMD claims
CLAIMS that weapons inspectors have uncovered massive evidence that Saddam Hussein had a network of clandestine laboratories have landed Tony Blair in trouble for the second time in a month after they were rubbished by the United States’ top man in Iraq.
Paul Bremer, unaware the claims had been made by the Prime Minister, said the comments sounded like a "red herring" put about to undermine the coalition by someone opposed to military action.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
IRAQ
information clearinghouse: From joy to despair: Iraqis pay for Saddam's capture by Robert Fisk
27 December 2003: (The Independent) Ali Salman Ali was the first victim of Saddam's capture, but he died on Christmas Day. As his father Salman Ghazi, 71, tells it, Ali must have been among the first of Iraq's Shia Muslims to scream his delight in the street after the former dictator emerged from his hole in the ground.
"He shouted that the Americans had come to save us and liberated us from that terrible regime," Mr Ghazi said yesterday, his sun-blasted, lined face and dark eyes staring at my notebook.
Behind me, the 12 cousins of Ali Salman Ali were heaving his cheap wooden coffin from the Baghdad mortuary on to the back of a rusting white pick-up with a cracked windscreen and a toy rabbit swinging from a chain over the mirror.
The Baghdad morgue is a grim enough place at any hour, let alone on a grey, greasy, wet Boxing Day and - though Christmas would have had no place in the family's observances - there was a kind of weariness among the men in their damp tribal robes with frayed golden fringes standing in the mud yesterday.
It had taken Ali Salman Ali two weeks to die.
information clearinghouse: From joy to despair: Iraqis pay for Saddam's capture by Robert Fisk
27 December 2003: (The Independent) Ali Salman Ali was the first victim of Saddam's capture, but he died on Christmas Day. As his father Salman Ghazi, 71, tells it, Ali must have been among the first of Iraq's Shia Muslims to scream his delight in the street after the former dictator emerged from his hole in the ground.
"He shouted that the Americans had come to save us and liberated us from that terrible regime," Mr Ghazi said yesterday, his sun-blasted, lined face and dark eyes staring at my notebook.
Behind me, the 12 cousins of Ali Salman Ali were heaving his cheap wooden coffin from the Baghdad mortuary on to the back of a rusting white pick-up with a cracked windscreen and a toy rabbit swinging from a chain over the mirror.
The Baghdad morgue is a grim enough place at any hour, let alone on a grey, greasy, wet Boxing Day and - though Christmas would have had no place in the family's observances - there was a kind of weariness among the men in their damp tribal robes with frayed golden fringes standing in the mud yesterday.
It had taken Ali Salman Ali two weeks to die.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
BBC: Troops dead in Iraq city blasts
Six coalition soldiers have been killed and many others injured after several blasts in the Iraqi city of Karbala, military officials say.
BBC: Troops dead in Iraq city blasts
Six coalition soldiers have been killed and many others injured after several blasts in the Iraqi city of Karbala, military officials say.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship . . . voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hermann Goering
"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship . . . voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hermann Goering
IRAQ: PROFIT OVER PEOPLE
Spiegel: IRAK-WIEDERAUFBAU: "Zur Kolonie degradiert"
Die US-Regierung verspricht ein "Wirtschaftswunder zwischen Euphrat und Tigris" und setzt dabei auf ein klassisches neoliberales Konzept: Radikalprivatisierung. Konzernen aus den USA, Großbritannien und den übrigen Staaten der Kriegskoalition bieten sich im Irak fortan unbegrenzte Möglichkeiten
Während Bremer einerseits noch den Versorgungsstaat alter Schule fortführt, setzt er an anderer Stelle auf Radikalprivatisierungen. Mit einem "Gesetz zur Regelung für Auslandsinvestitionen" hat er ausländischen Interessenten einen fast schrankenlosen Zugriff auf irakische Unternehmen ermöglicht. Investoren können die Firmen zu 100 Prozent der Anteile übernehmen und sämtliche Gewinne außer Landes schaffen. Ihre Aktivitäten sollen ab 2004 überdies vollständig von Steuern und Zöllen befreit werden. Nach Einschätzung des irakische Ökonomen Kamil Mahdi wird das Land mit diesem Gesetz zur Kolonie degradiert. "Die Amerikaner", so schrieb er im britischen "Guardian", sollten die Privatisierung sein lassen, bis Normalität eingekehrt ist und eine verfassungsmäßige Regierung eingesetzt wurde." Die Mitarbeiter mehrerer Staatsbetriebe haben schon angekündigt, ihre Arbeitgeber notfalls mit Waffengewalt gegen ausländische Übernahmen zu verteidigen.
Spiegel: IRAK-WIEDERAUFBAU: "Zur Kolonie degradiert"
Die US-Regierung verspricht ein "Wirtschaftswunder zwischen Euphrat und Tigris" und setzt dabei auf ein klassisches neoliberales Konzept: Radikalprivatisierung. Konzernen aus den USA, Großbritannien und den übrigen Staaten der Kriegskoalition bieten sich im Irak fortan unbegrenzte Möglichkeiten
Während Bremer einerseits noch den Versorgungsstaat alter Schule fortführt, setzt er an anderer Stelle auf Radikalprivatisierungen. Mit einem "Gesetz zur Regelung für Auslandsinvestitionen" hat er ausländischen Interessenten einen fast schrankenlosen Zugriff auf irakische Unternehmen ermöglicht. Investoren können die Firmen zu 100 Prozent der Anteile übernehmen und sämtliche Gewinne außer Landes schaffen. Ihre Aktivitäten sollen ab 2004 überdies vollständig von Steuern und Zöllen befreit werden. Nach Einschätzung des irakische Ökonomen Kamil Mahdi wird das Land mit diesem Gesetz zur Kolonie degradiert. "Die Amerikaner", so schrieb er im britischen "Guardian", sollten die Privatisierung sein lassen, bis Normalität eingekehrt ist und eine verfassungsmäßige Regierung eingesetzt wurde." Die Mitarbeiter mehrerer Staatsbetriebe haben schon angekündigt, ihre Arbeitgeber notfalls mit Waffengewalt gegen ausländische Übernahmen zu verteidigen.
SADDAM
Arabnews: Saddam Threatens To Expose US
JEDDAH -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, now being grilled by American investigators, has reportedly warned US authorities that he will expose Washington's "political games" and its behind-the-scene role in the occupation of Kuwait.
"Saddam threatened that if they continue to pressure him he will reveal startling facts - about America's political games with his country - that would shock the whole world," Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted a high-level European source as saying.
The source said Saddam had stopped answering the investigators' questions and asked them to "give him enough time to clear his mind." He did not elaborate further, the source added.
Arabnews: Saddam Threatens To Expose US
JEDDAH -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, now being grilled by American investigators, has reportedly warned US authorities that he will expose Washington's "political games" and its behind-the-scene role in the occupation of Kuwait.
"Saddam threatened that if they continue to pressure him he will reveal startling facts - about America's political games with his country - that would shock the whole world," Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted a high-level European source as saying.
The source said Saddam had stopped answering the investigators' questions and asked them to "give him enough time to clear his mind." He did not elaborate further, the source added.
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY?
Independent: Iraq through the American looking glass by Robert Fisk (complete)
26 December 2003 : (The Independent) Something very unpleasant is being let loose in Iraq. Just this week, a company commander in the US 1st
Infantry Division in the north of the country admitted that, in order to elicit information about the guerrillas who are killing American troops, it
was necessary to "instill fear" in the local villagers. An Iraqi interpreter working for the Americans had just taken an old lady from her home to
frighten her daughters and grand-daughters into believing that she was being arrested.
A battalion commander in the same area put the point even more baldly. "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for
projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," he said. He was speaking from a village that his men had surrounded with barbed
wire, upon which was a sign, stating: "This fence is here for your protection. Do not approach or try to cross, or you will be shot."
Try to explain that this treatment - and these words - offend the very basic humanity of the people whom the Americans claimed they came to
"liberate" and you are met in Baghdad with the same explanation: that a very small "remnant" of "diehards" - loyal to the now-captured Saddam
Hussein, etc, etc - have to be separated from the civilians whom they are "intimidating".
To point out that the intimidation is largely coming from the American occupation force - to the horror of the British in southern Iraq who
fear, understandably, that Iraqi revenge will be visited upon them as it was on the Italians and the Spanish - is useless.
Instead, we are told that American troops are winning those famous hearts and minds with the spirit of Christmas. There was a grim example of
this - and the inherent racism that pervades even reporting of such events - on the Associated Press wire agency just this week.
Describing how an American soldier in a Santa Claus hat was giving out stuffed animals to children, reporter Jason Keyser wrote that one
11-year- old child "looked puzzled, then smiled" as the soldier gave him a small, stuffed goat. Then the report continued: "Others in the crowd of mostly
Muslims grabbed greedily at the box," adding the soldier's remark that: "They don't know how to handle generosity."
I don't doubt the soldier's wish to do good. But what is one to make of the "mostly Muslims" who "grabbed greedily" at the gifts? Or the soldier's
insensitive remarks about generosity? Iraqi newspapers have been front--paging a Christmas card produced by US troops in Baghdad: "1st
Battalion, 22nd Infantry Wishes you a very Merry Christmas!" it says. But the illustration is of Saddam Hussein in his scruffy beard just
after his capture, with a Santa hat superimposed on top of his head. Funny enough for us, no doubt - I can't personally think of a better fall-guy for St
Nicholas - but a clear insult to Sunni Arabs who, however much they may loathe the beast of Baghdad, will see in this card a deliberate attempt
to humiliate Muslim Iraqis. It is for Iraqis to demean their ex-president - not their American occupiers.
It's almost as if the occupying powers want to look through Alice's looking glass. This week, we had the odd statement by British General Graeme
Lamb that Saddam could be compared to the Emperor Caligula. Now the good general was probably relying on Suetonius's Twelve Caesars for his views on
Caligula. But if anything, the Roman was a good deal more insane than Saddam and even more heedless of human life.
The crazy Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, might have been a more appropriate parallel. But what was all this supposed to achieve? A serious war
crimes trial - preferably outside Iraq and far from the country's contaminated judiciary - is the way to define the nature of Saddam's repulsive
regime.
All references to the ex-dictator as Hitler, Stalin, Attila the Hun or Caligula - like all suggestions that Tony Blair or George Bush are
Winston Churchill - are infantile. And again, they will appear insulting to the Sunni Muslims of Iraq, the one community which the Americans should be
desperate to placate, since it is the Sunnis who are primarily resisting the occupation.
But the looking-glass effect seems to have taken hold of US pro-consul Paul Bremer's entire authority. Like President George Bush, Bremer has now
taken to repeating the absurdity that the greater the West's success in Iraq, the more frequent will be the attacks on American troops.
"I personally feel that we'll actually have more violence in the next six months," he said a couple of week ago, "and the violence will be
precisely because of the fact that we're building momentum toward success." In other words, the better things become, the worse they're going to get. And
the greater the violence, the better we're doing in Iraq.
I wouldn't worry about this nonsense so much if it wasn't mirrored on the ground in Iraq. Take the US claim - now regarded as an absurdity - that
they killed "54 insurgents" in Samara a month ago. The truth is that they killed at least eight civilians and there's not a smidgen of evidence
that they killed anyone else. But still they insist on sticking to the story of their great victory.
Last week, they pushed out a similar version of the same story. This time there were 11 dead "insurgents" in Samara. But when The Independent
investigated, it could only find records of four dead civilians and a lot of wounded. None of the wounded - presumably "insurgents" if the
Americans believe their own story - had been visited in hospital by US forces who might, if they didn't question them, at least have apologised.
An even more peculiar habit has now manifest itself among spokesmen for the occupation authorities. When a tank drove over a prominent Shiite
Muslim cleric in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City three weeks ago, they claimed this was a "traffic accident", as if driving an M1A1 Abrams tank over a
car and a robed prelate is the kind of thing that can happen on any downtown street.
A few days later, after a truck-bomber crashed into a car and killed 17 civilians, the occupation lads churned out the same rubbish again. It
was, they said, a "traffic accident" involving a petrol tanker. But there was no tanker attached to the lorry.
The first American troops on the scene found the grenades intended to detonate the bomb and the victims were all blasted to bits - not
burned, as they would have been if the petrol tanker had simply caught fire. Those of us who reached the scene shortly after the slaughter could still smell
the explosives. But it was a "traffic accident".
Only yesterday we had an equally bizarre event. Jets, C-130 aircraft mounted with chain guns, and heavy artillery were all reported to be
striking "guerrilla bases" in Operation Iron Hammer south of Baghdad. But investigation proved that the targets were empty fields and that some
of the heavy guns were firing blank rounds as part of an artillery maintenance routine.
So let's get this right. Insurgents are civilians. Truck bombs and tanks that crush civilians are traffic accidents. And the "liberated"
civilians who live in villages surrounded by razor wire should endure "a heavy dose of fear and violence" to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Somewhere along the way, they will probably be told about democracy as well.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
Independent: Iraq through the American looking glass by Robert Fisk (complete)
26 December 2003 : (The Independent) Something very unpleasant is being let loose in Iraq. Just this week, a company commander in the US 1st
Infantry Division in the north of the country admitted that, in order to elicit information about the guerrillas who are killing American troops, it
was necessary to "instill fear" in the local villagers. An Iraqi interpreter working for the Americans had just taken an old lady from her home to
frighten her daughters and grand-daughters into believing that she was being arrested.
A battalion commander in the same area put the point even more baldly. "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for
projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," he said. He was speaking from a village that his men had surrounded with barbed
wire, upon which was a sign, stating: "This fence is here for your protection. Do not approach or try to cross, or you will be shot."
Try to explain that this treatment - and these words - offend the very basic humanity of the people whom the Americans claimed they came to
"liberate" and you are met in Baghdad with the same explanation: that a very small "remnant" of "diehards" - loyal to the now-captured Saddam
Hussein, etc, etc - have to be separated from the civilians whom they are "intimidating".
To point out that the intimidation is largely coming from the American occupation force - to the horror of the British in southern Iraq who
fear, understandably, that Iraqi revenge will be visited upon them as it was on the Italians and the Spanish - is useless.
Instead, we are told that American troops are winning those famous hearts and minds with the spirit of Christmas. There was a grim example of
this - and the inherent racism that pervades even reporting of such events - on the Associated Press wire agency just this week.
Describing how an American soldier in a Santa Claus hat was giving out stuffed animals to children, reporter Jason Keyser wrote that one
11-year- old child "looked puzzled, then smiled" as the soldier gave him a small, stuffed goat. Then the report continued: "Others in the crowd of mostly
Muslims grabbed greedily at the box," adding the soldier's remark that: "They don't know how to handle generosity."
I don't doubt the soldier's wish to do good. But what is one to make of the "mostly Muslims" who "grabbed greedily" at the gifts? Or the soldier's
insensitive remarks about generosity? Iraqi newspapers have been front--paging a Christmas card produced by US troops in Baghdad: "1st
Battalion, 22nd Infantry Wishes you a very Merry Christmas!" it says. But the illustration is of Saddam Hussein in his scruffy beard just
after his capture, with a Santa hat superimposed on top of his head. Funny enough for us, no doubt - I can't personally think of a better fall-guy for St
Nicholas - but a clear insult to Sunni Arabs who, however much they may loathe the beast of Baghdad, will see in this card a deliberate attempt
to humiliate Muslim Iraqis. It is for Iraqis to demean their ex-president - not their American occupiers.
It's almost as if the occupying powers want to look through Alice's looking glass. This week, we had the odd statement by British General Graeme
Lamb that Saddam could be compared to the Emperor Caligula. Now the good general was probably relying on Suetonius's Twelve Caesars for his views on
Caligula. But if anything, the Roman was a good deal more insane than Saddam and even more heedless of human life.
The crazy Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, might have been a more appropriate parallel. But what was all this supposed to achieve? A serious war
crimes trial - preferably outside Iraq and far from the country's contaminated judiciary - is the way to define the nature of Saddam's repulsive
regime.
All references to the ex-dictator as Hitler, Stalin, Attila the Hun or Caligula - like all suggestions that Tony Blair or George Bush are
Winston Churchill - are infantile. And again, they will appear insulting to the Sunni Muslims of Iraq, the one community which the Americans should be
desperate to placate, since it is the Sunnis who are primarily resisting the occupation.
But the looking-glass effect seems to have taken hold of US pro-consul Paul Bremer's entire authority. Like President George Bush, Bremer has now
taken to repeating the absurdity that the greater the West's success in Iraq, the more frequent will be the attacks on American troops.
"I personally feel that we'll actually have more violence in the next six months," he said a couple of week ago, "and the violence will be
precisely because of the fact that we're building momentum toward success." In other words, the better things become, the worse they're going to get. And
the greater the violence, the better we're doing in Iraq.
I wouldn't worry about this nonsense so much if it wasn't mirrored on the ground in Iraq. Take the US claim - now regarded as an absurdity - that
they killed "54 insurgents" in Samara a month ago. The truth is that they killed at least eight civilians and there's not a smidgen of evidence
that they killed anyone else. But still they insist on sticking to the story of their great victory.
Last week, they pushed out a similar version of the same story. This time there were 11 dead "insurgents" in Samara. But when The Independent
investigated, it could only find records of four dead civilians and a lot of wounded. None of the wounded - presumably "insurgents" if the
Americans believe their own story - had been visited in hospital by US forces who might, if they didn't question them, at least have apologised.
An even more peculiar habit has now manifest itself among spokesmen for the occupation authorities. When a tank drove over a prominent Shiite
Muslim cleric in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City three weeks ago, they claimed this was a "traffic accident", as if driving an M1A1 Abrams tank over a
car and a robed prelate is the kind of thing that can happen on any downtown street.
A few days later, after a truck-bomber crashed into a car and killed 17 civilians, the occupation lads churned out the same rubbish again. It
was, they said, a "traffic accident" involving a petrol tanker. But there was no tanker attached to the lorry.
The first American troops on the scene found the grenades intended to detonate the bomb and the victims were all blasted to bits - not
burned, as they would have been if the petrol tanker had simply caught fire. Those of us who reached the scene shortly after the slaughter could still smell
the explosives. But it was a "traffic accident".
Only yesterday we had an equally bizarre event. Jets, C-130 aircraft mounted with chain guns, and heavy artillery were all reported to be
striking "guerrilla bases" in Operation Iron Hammer south of Baghdad. But investigation proved that the targets were empty fields and that some
of the heavy guns were firing blank rounds as part of an artillery maintenance routine.
So let's get this right. Insurgents are civilians. Truck bombs and tanks that crush civilians are traffic accidents. And the "liberated"
civilians who live in villages surrounded by razor wire should endure "a heavy dose of fear and violence" to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Somewhere along the way, they will probably be told about democracy as well.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
PROPAGANDA WATCH
British Journalism Review: Britain’s security services and journalists: the secret story
British journalists – and British journals – are being manipulated by the secret intelligence agencies, and I think we ought to try and put a stop to it.
The manipulation takes three forms. The first is the attempt to recruit journalists to spy on other people, or for spies to go themselves under journalistic “cover”. This occurs today and it has gone on for years. It is dangerous, not only for the journalist concerned, but for other journalists who get tarred with the espionage brush. Farzad Bazoft was a colleague of mine on the London Observer when he was executed by Saddam Hussein for espionage. It did not, in a sense, matter whether he was really a spy or not. Either way, he ended up dead.
The second form of manipulation that worries me is when intelligence officers are allowed to pose as journalists in order to write tendentious articles under false names. Evidence of this only rarely comes to light, but two examples have surfaced recently – mainly because of the whistleblowing activities of a couple of renegade officers – David Shayler from MI5 and Richard Tomlinson from MI6.
The third sort of manipulation is the most insidious – when intelligence agency propaganda stories are planted on willing journalists, who disguise their origin from their readers. There is – or has been until recently – a very active programme by the secret agencies to colour what appears in the British press, called, if publications by various defectors can be believed, “I/Ops”. That is an abbreviation for Information Operations, and I am – unusually – in a position to provide some information about it.
British Journalism Review: Britain’s security services and journalists: the secret story
British journalists – and British journals – are being manipulated by the secret intelligence agencies, and I think we ought to try and put a stop to it.
The manipulation takes three forms. The first is the attempt to recruit journalists to spy on other people, or for spies to go themselves under journalistic “cover”. This occurs today and it has gone on for years. It is dangerous, not only for the journalist concerned, but for other journalists who get tarred with the espionage brush. Farzad Bazoft was a colleague of mine on the London Observer when he was executed by Saddam Hussein for espionage. It did not, in a sense, matter whether he was really a spy or not. Either way, he ended up dead.
The second form of manipulation that worries me is when intelligence officers are allowed to pose as journalists in order to write tendentious articles under false names. Evidence of this only rarely comes to light, but two examples have surfaced recently – mainly because of the whistleblowing activities of a couple of renegade officers – David Shayler from MI5 and Richard Tomlinson from MI6.
The third sort of manipulation is the most insidious – when intelligence agency propaganda stories are planted on willing journalists, who disguise their origin from their readers. There is – or has been until recently – a very active programme by the secret agencies to colour what appears in the British press, called, if publications by various defectors can be believed, “I/Ops”. That is an abbreviation for Information Operations, and I am – unusually – in a position to provide some information about it.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Counterpunch: Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas, Rafah Counts the Dead Merry Christmas December 25, 2003
Israeli occupation forces left the center of Rafah, although as is
normal the Israelis remain at the border they have created. The Wall the
Israelis are building with armoured machines is overshadowed only by its many
sniper posts. Israeli soldiers remain daily to shoot and shell into the homes
at whatever is the latest point in the "border." The line changes as the
Israelis demolish more houses, turning what once was the center of the
city into the border.
The Israelis killed ten Palestinians in Rafah yesterday. Forty
Palestinians are in the hospital. The number of demolished homes is yet to be
determined as Israeli tanks and bulldozers have just left the Yibna Camp where
they attacked heavily yesterday. Palestinian medical and search crews are
beginning to dig through the rubble looking for bodies, as several
people report fears that there is a family still inside one of the demolished
houses.
Israeli occupation forces not only destroyed more people's homes, but
demolished the UNWRA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) Clinic as
well. The Israelis continue to target the United Nations unchallenged
Counterpunch: Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas, Rafah Counts the Dead Merry Christmas December 25, 2003
Israeli occupation forces left the center of Rafah, although as is
normal the Israelis remain at the border they have created. The Wall the
Israelis are building with armoured machines is overshadowed only by its many
sniper posts. Israeli soldiers remain daily to shoot and shell into the homes
at whatever is the latest point in the "border." The line changes as the
Israelis demolish more houses, turning what once was the center of the
city into the border.
The Israelis killed ten Palestinians in Rafah yesterday. Forty
Palestinians are in the hospital. The number of demolished homes is yet to be
determined as Israeli tanks and bulldozers have just left the Yibna Camp where
they attacked heavily yesterday. Palestinian medical and search crews are
beginning to dig through the rubble looking for bodies, as several
people report fears that there is a family still inside one of the demolished
houses.
Israeli occupation forces not only destroyed more people's homes, but
demolished the UNWRA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) Clinic as
well. The Israelis continue to target the United Nations unchallenged
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