Letters to the editor, April 12, 2003

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After Iraq: The Ongoing Crisis

by Dr. George Friedman



Summary

As the war in Iraq moves toward a conclusion, the expectations
are that the end of the war will bring at least a pause in
international tensions. We do not believe this will be the case.
Given U.S. war goals, crises -- inside Iraq, with nations along
Iraq's border and between Europe and the United States -- can be
expected to flow directly from war termination, whenever it
comes. As we have said, Iraq is a campaign in a much larger war
and not a war in itself. We now will see what that means.

Analysis

Stratfor has argued that the United States had two fundamental
reasons for invading Iraq:

1. To transform the psychology of the Islamic world, which had
perceived the United States as in essence weak and unwilling to
take risks to achieve its ends.

2. To use Iraq as a strategic base of operations from which to
confront Islamic regimes that are either incapable of or
unwilling to deny al Qaeda and other Islamist groups access to
enabling resources.

The war in Iraq is not over: There are extraordinarily complex
politico-military missions to confront. This is particularly true
in the north, where some substantial Iraqi forces appear to
remain and where the political situation among various players --
Kurdish, Turkish, Iranian and Syrian -- remains complex, dynamic
and opaque. Nevertheless, it is possible to make some assessment
of the intended and unintended consequences of the war.

There already has been a strong impact on the psychology of the
Arab world in particular. During the run-up to the war and until
the last week, there existed a sense of growing anger and
radicalization. With the collapse of resistance in Baghdad, this
has given way to a sense of stunned disbelief. The Arab press
appears to be filled with four themes:

1. A sense of denial, and an insistence that resistance continued
but was being hidden by the world press.

2. A sense of betrayal by Saddam Hussein, whose failure to resist
effectively was seen as a sign of corruption.

3. A sense of hopelessness, expressing the view that resisting
the United States is beyond the capacity of Arabs. This was
coupled at times with an expression of determination to rectify
the situation.

4. Bitterness at Europe -- particularly France and Russia, which
abandoned Iraq to its fate.

U.S. leaders understand that the result of the war will be
increased bitterness, although some argue that Arab bitterness
was already maxed out anyway. What they are driving for with this
operation is a psychological capitulation -- a sense that
accommodation with the United States is the only path.

The United States certainly has inflicted a massive blow on the
Arab, if not the Islamic, psyche. The only comparable moment was
in June 1967, when Israeli forces defeated the Egyptians, Syrians
and Jordanians. It should be remembered that the defeat had
unintended consequences: Not only did Egypt and Syria attack
Israel with some effect in 1973, but the consequences of the
defeat energized the Palestinian movement. The Israelis have
begun warning the Palestinians to think through the lessons of
Iraq. On the other side, the United States must carefully think
through the lessons of 1967.

The simplistic idea that resentment of the United States will
generate effective action by Arabs misses a crucial point. Two
scales are at work here: the radicalism scale and the hope scale.
On the radicalism scale, the level of radicalism and anti-
Americanism in the Arab world has been off the chart for months.
Increasing the level would be difficult. However, radicalism by
itself does not lead to action. There must also be hope -- a
sense that there are weaknesses in the U.S. position that can be
exploited, that there is some possibility of victory, however
distant. So long as the hope scale tends toward hopelessness,
radicalism can be intense.

The United States was prepared to allow the radicalism scale to
go deep into the danger zone, but Washington has been trying to
keep the hope scale deeply in the green zone. Israel's failure
after 1967 was inherent in its position: The Israelis depended
heavily on outsiders for national security. The Arab perception
was that the Israelis could be attacked by splitting them from
their patrons. This sense of vulnerability led to an active
response to defeat.

The task facing the United States now is to avoid projecting a
sense of vulnerability. This is easier for Washington than it was
for Israel. The United States comes out of the war less dependent
on others; it also has a strong domestic consensus in favor of
the war. The United States presents, at the moment, a seamless
face to the Arab world: It is hated but feared. Washington now
must act now to maintain the fear, while reducing hatred. How it
manages Iraq will determine the outcome. If the United States
loses control of the situation, it quickly could lead to a
perception of vulnerability. It must control the situation in
Iraq while maintaining a benign administration. This will not be
as easy it sounds: Where Washington can choose between
unrelenting strength and the risk of perceived weakness, it will
have to carefully choose strength. That is implicit in the
strategy.

From a geopolitical perspective, we already have seen the United
States transiting from the Iraqi war phase toward confrontation
with the surrounding states. Saudi leaders capitulated in
fundamental ways before the United States went to war, permitting
U.S. aircraft to fly air strikes against Iraq and allowing U.S.
forces to pass through Saudi territory. Jordan and Kuwait are not
problems. But there are three issues: Syria, Turkey and Iran.

* Syria: Syrian behavior has become unpredictable. The Syrians
have long understood that, as a consequence of the war, their
country would be surrounded by three enemies: the United States,
Turkey and Israel. Rather than trying to reach an accommodation
with the United States, Damascus stepped up its aggressive
behavior during the war, permitting volunteers to go into Iraq to
fight coalition forces and apparently permitting Iraqi personnel
to seek shelter in Iraq. The Bush administration has made it
clear that it finds Syrian behavior intolerable, and Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has refused to rule out assertive
action against Syria. There was no question but that the United
States was going to confront Syria at some point from its bases
in Iraq, but the Syrians seem to have chosen to accelerate the
process -- perhaps feeling that a better settlement could be
reached earlier in the game.

* Turkey: Washington needs to defuse the bad end to the pre-war
confrontation. Turkey is a geopolitical foundation of U.S.
strategy -- not only in the Middle East, but also north of the
Caucasus, in southeastern Europe and Iran. A permanent rift with
Turkey would be intolerable. Similarly, the United States remains
the foundation of Turkish national security policy. Without it,
Turkey has fundamental problems. The two countries may not be
friends at the moment, but they share fundamental interests. Both
nations now will attempt to extract themselves from the
unacceptable situation they created for each other. The key will
be limiting Kurdish expectations.

* Iran: the extraordinarily complex game that Tehran is playing
makes Syrian foreign policy transparent. Iran has positioned
itself in such a way that its pro-Iranian Shiite groups in Iraq
could wage a guerrilla war against the United States, while
Tehran holds open the possibility of reaching implicit
accommodations with the United States -- all at the same time.
Iranian subtlety notwithstanding, Washington regards Iran as the
single most potentially dangerous regime in the region, because
of both its resources and the complexity of its politics and
policies. Iran has positioned itself to be fundamentally
unpredictable -- and having achieved this goal, it concerns the
United States tremendously.

Therefore, if the goal of the United States was to create a base
of operations in Iraq from which to influence the dynamics of the
region internally, the game is in play even before the war is
formally ended. The Syrian situation will probably be contained,
but it represents a fundamentally destabilizing factor to the
region. The Iranian situation is much more difficult to predict
in the long run, even as the Iranians practice their
traditionally complex prudence in the short run.

In a similar sense, unintended consequences of the war must be
managed. The U.S. relationship with Britain is fundamental to
U.S. national strategy -- and Britain, for a host of its own
reasons, does not want an outright breach either with the Franco-
German bloc or with multilateral organizations like the United
Nations. The United States must accommodate the British without
losing control of the situation in Iraq.

The primary purpose of the April 11-12 summit in St. Petersburg
between Russian, German and French leaders is to find a way to
limit the consequences of U.S. victory in Iraq. All of them
opposed the war, and the United States prosecuted it any way.
This demonstrated that Washington needs neither material support
from Europe nor political validation. For all three countries,
this represents a fundamental redefinition of their place in the
world. There had been a fixed assumption that in some sense, the
United States remained dependent on them, that they were
necessary enablers for global actions. Alliance for them was not
an American choice, but a necessity. Iraq represented a very
public demonstration that they were irrelevant to U.S.
policymaking, either individually or collectively. This
represents a geopolitical crisis of the first order to them.

These countries' solution will be to try to manipulate the United
States into accepting the United Nations as the primary manager
of Iraqi affairs. To do so, they will use the British desire to
maintain bridges to the Franco-German bloc as a means of forcing
the United States to shift policy. The United States cannot
abandon control of Iraq without abandoning the goals for which it
fought the war. This undoubtedly will lead to another round of
unpleasantness with the Euro Three, which would not bother
Washington a bit. U.S. President George W. Bush is positioned
domestically to take advantage of resentment -- particularly of
France -- so that their demand to participate in governing Iraq
will be taken as wanting the fruits of victory without taking the
risks. The British, however, will be another matter. We expect to
see growing strains between the two countries as Britain tries to
find balance.

What we are getting at is that no postwar lull is possible here,
even if there does emerge a clear-cut end to the war. The two
goals of the war need immediate management. The management of
Arab and Islamic public opinion requires exquisite care in the
management of internal Iraqi affairs. It also requires that U.S.
power in the region be perceived as irresistible. This means that
U.S. relations with Syria and Iran must be managed aggressively
but without crossing the line to unwarranted belligerence. It
means that the U.S.-Turkish relationship must be managed
dispassionately, in spite of underlying tensions. All of this is
urgent. None of it will wait. Finally, the pre-war battle with
the Europeans, while undoubtedly more subdued, still will define
much of the global rhetoric -- save that given its stakes in the
Islamic world, the United States will be even less able and less
inclined to cooperate with European demands.

Now things get really tricky.'

 

 


 

 
Israeli hate group comes to UC Berkeley

From the UC Berkeley, "Daily Cal" 4/10/03
Woman Spits on Palestinian Supporter

A woman dressed as a suicide bomber spat on a Pro-Palestinian student at a
rally on Sproul Plaza Wednesday, police said.

Susanna Klien was cited on suspicion of battery of UC Berkeley student
Mustafa Sheikh and told to leave campus for the day, said UC police Capt.
Bill Cooper.

The annual Students for Justice in Palestine-sponsored rally marked the
anniversary of the killing of Palestinians at Deir Yassin 55 years ago.

The incident began when Klien, who was wearing a Muslim head scarf and had
mock dynamite attached to her body, walked through a group of
Pro-Palestinian students participating in a die-in on Sproul.

She was chanting "Free Palestine" in a mocking way, Cooper said. She is a
member of the Pro-Israel student group DAFKA.

As Klien walked through the group, Sheikh put his arms out by his side to
stop Klien from going through the group, Cooper said.

Sheikh, a member of SJP, told police he was trying to keep people from
stepping on the students lying on the ground. He claims she took exception
to that and spat in his face, Cooper said.

Klien told police Wednesday she spat on Sheikh because she felt threatened
by Sheikh because he prevented her from passing.

Police are investigating whether the incident is a hate crime.

Klien also filed a complaint yesterday claiming she was a victim of battery
and felt threatened because she was not allowed to move freely through
Sproul. She also charged that another student had pulled off her head scarf
at the rally, Cooper said.

Police are investigating both claims.


     

 

 


 

 

After Iraq: Perpetual War and a Nuclear World

By Ian Williams, AlterNet
April 9, 2003

John Bolton is at it again. Just in case the Arabs were worried that the attack on Iraq is just the beginning of an American crusade, the Assistant Secretary of State for Disarmament Affairs rushed to confirm their worst fears. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15601

 
 

Apr 9 2003

By Peter Arnett

WHEN I heard the story Saddam may have been bombed I knew it had to be wrong intelligence. It had to be rubbish.

Clearly if he was hurt, or had been buried, there would have been security all over the place and no one would have got near it. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12825322&method=full&siteid=50143

 
Limbless Iraqi boy offered help
 
An Iraqi boy who had both arms blown off and was orphaned when a missile hit his Baghdad home has been offered help from around the world.

A former Indian royal Maharani Gayatri Devi from Jaipur said she would pay for a pair of artificial limbs for Ali Ismail Abbas, aged 12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2930813.stm

Editors blast Rumsfeld over 'reckless' US strike

Ciar Byrne
Thursday April 10, 2003

Representatives of editors in 115 countries have written to Donald Rumsfeld to condemn the "inexcusable" and "reckless" American attack on a hotel in Baghdad, which left two journalists dead and several injured.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,933242,00.html

Al-Jazeera's Basra hotel bombed

Jason Deans
Wednesday April 2, 2003

 
A hotel in Basra being used as a base by al-Jazeera's team of correspondents in the city was shelled this morning, the Arabic TV news channel has claimed.
 
 
The American people are not being shown the horrific devastation that the massive tons of bombs and missiles are causing to Iraqi civilians including its children. La Voz de Aztlan has collected many of the following pictures from the International media to show the horrible slaughter of Iraqi civilians.
 
 
 
Poor pay with their lives in cratered suburbia
Suzanne Goldenberg in Baghdad
Thursday April 3, 2003
The Guardian
 
 
Yesterday's strike took out two homes of an extended family of about a dozen. Tuesday's raid destroyed the local school, and on Monday a poor baklava seller, pitied by the entire neighbourhood, lost his wife, mother, sister, nephew, and two sons to American missiles.

Here in Sueb, 22 miles from the centre of Baghdad and just beyond the ring of burning crude oil that marks the outer reaches of the Iraqi capital, where urban sprawl ends and desert begins, a battle that has gone largely unseen has been raging for days.

 
 
Three killed as maternity hospital is hit by bombs
Owen Bowcott, agencies, and Jon Henley in Paris
Thursday April 3, 2003
The Guardian
 
A maternity hospital operated by the Red Crescent in Baghdad was severely damaged yesterday when a trade centre on the opposite side of the street was struck during bombing raids.

The clinic, which had largely been evacuated, was hit by flying glass and debris. Windows were blown in and the roof torn open. Three passers-by in the street were killed and 25 people injured, according to reports sent to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,928501,00.html

Amid Allied jubilation, a child lies in agony, clothes soaked in blood

By Robert Fisk in Baghdad

08 April 2003

They lay in lines, the car salesman who'd just lost his eye but whose feet were still dribbling blood, the motorcyclist who was shot by American troops near the Rashid Hotel, the 50-year-old female civil servant, her long dark hair spread over the towel she was lying on, her face, breasts, thighs, arms and feet pock-marked with shrapnel from an American cluster bomb. For the civilians of Baghdad, this is the real, immoral face of war, the direct result of America's clever little "probing missions" into Baghdad.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=395117

Syria now top US target for 'regime change'
By Toby Harnden in Washington
(Filed: 08/04/2003)

One of the main subjects on the agenda of the Belfast summit yesterday was Syria, the Pentagon's next likely target for "regime change" amid suspicions it allowed Saddam Hussein to transfer weapons of mass destruction within its borders.

Although President George W Bush did not include Syria in his "axis of evil" of Iran, Iraq and North Korea in January 2001, since then American officials say they have seen growing evidence of support for terrorism by Damascus.

American officials stress, however, that regime change can be achieved without military action. There are strong hopes in Washington for a popular revolution in Iran by democratic opposition groups inspired by what has happened in Iraq.

President Bashar Assad, Syria's leader, has led Arab opposition to the Iraq war, stating that he hoped Saddam would remain in power. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, recently accused Syria of providing military equipment to Saddam.

Some US officials are also convinced that Mr Assad has actively collaborated with Saddam and agreed to take weapons, including Scud missiles, from him so they would not be discovered in Iraq by United Nations inspectors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/08/wsyria08.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/04/08/ixportal.html

Descent into a charnel-house hospital hell

April 10 2003

A searing visit to a trauma ward has Paul McGeough questioning the very essence of humanity.

There's a man who goes up to his roof terrace every time the fighting starts. Often in his underwear, he watches with his hands spread nonchalantly on the parapet wall. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/09/1049567748685.html

 
CNN's Aaron Brown on the network's coverage of the anti-war movement, the media's sanitization of the invasion of Iraq and why he believes this is an inappropriate time for reporters to ask questions about war. http://www.democracynow.org/aaronbrown.htm
 
 
 
Why the Iraqis May Resist the Peace
Seven reasons why Iraqis didn't welcome the troops at first--and why they'll be halting partners in a new Iraq
As the invasion of Iraq reaches its climax with the sieges of Baghdad and Basra, some have been surprised that Iraqi civilians have not welcomed our troops as liberators. American officials blame the restrained reaction on fear of the regime. But there are other factors as well, not discussed by the military pundits, that contribute to Iraqi ambivalence and may matter even more during the long occupation than during the short war.
 

Experts say U.S. `discovery' of nuclear materials in Iraq was breach of U.N.-monitored site

By William J. Kole, Associated Press, 4/10/2003 19:43
 
VIENNA, Austria (AP) American troops who suggested they uncovered evidence of an active nuclear weapons program in Iraq unwittingly may have stumbled across known stocks of low-grade uranium, officials said Thursday. They said the U.S. troops may have broken U.N. seals meant to keep control of the radioactive material.
 




 

 

WAR PROFITEERS

Haliburton could make $7 billion from former boss' war

STEPHEN GLAIN, BOSTON GLOBE - A subsidiary of oil giant Halliburton Co., the

company formerly chaired by Vice President Dick Cheney, won a contract that

could run as high as $7 billion to put out oil-well fires in Iraq, according

to a Pentagon official. The potential payout is 10 times what it cost to

douse the inferno of burning Kuwaiti wells at the end of the Gulf War. In a

letter to Representative Henry A. Waxman, a US Army Corp of Engineers

officer said the Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root Services of

Houston, was awarded the two-year contract to extinguish oil-well fires and

to evaluate the state of Iraq's petroleum fields. . .

So far, the conflict in Iraq has produced minimal harm to the country's oil

wells. By contrast, it took engineers nine months and about $700 million to

put out the petroleum fires in Kuwait torched by retreating Iraqi forces at

the end of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. "There's gotta be something more

to this than putting out a few wells," said Ed Porter, a senior researcher

at the American Petroleum Institute. "I've never seen a contract [summary]

like this. There's really not much information there.". . .

In a March 26 letter to Flowers, Waxman singled out the contract to Kellogg

Brown & Root for having "no set time limit and no dollar limit and is

apparently structured in such a way as to encourage the contract to increase

its costs and, consequently, the costs to the taxpayer." Flowers wrote that

the $7 billion ceiling reflected the difficulty in predicting the extent of

the damage to Iraqi wells and stressed that the actual value of the deal

will depend on the cost of the orders placed under it. Awarding the

contract, he wrote, "was justified and approved under laws providing

exceptions to full and open competition."

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/nation/Halliburton_unit_could_make_7b+.shtml

 


 

 

Bush's Propaganda Mill Is at It again with the Cheering Iraqis: U.S. Citizens Have Been Hoodwinked and Bushwhacked by the Neoconservatives' Lies


By Mark Franklin, April 11, 2003

 

 
 
I thought I had heard it all.  U.S. President George W. Bush told us that the International Atomic Energy Commission had issued a report several years back that said Iraq was months away from developing a nuclear bomb.  U.S. President George W. Bush told us that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons.  Bush said that Saddam Hussein had gassed his own people before.  Iraq has violated over 14 United Nations resolutions.  And there were those mean Iraqi soldiers who were dressing up as civilians--how could they?  Lately, we have seen images of Iraqis giving U.S. troops flowers and cheering as Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled.  It seemed that all of these were valid reasons for the war; it turns out that they were all lies or invalid reasons at best.
 
First, we heard about the report issued by the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC).  It later turned out that the IAEC issued no such report about Iraq being months away from developing an atomic bomb.  The head of this agency said that it had never said anything like that, and that it could not be predicted how far or close a country was to developing an atomic bomb.
 
U.S. President George W. Bush said that Hussein had gassed his own people.  Now, it turns out that there is a report that showed these people were actually gassed by Iran.  Accordingly, there were some Iraqis who were caught in the crossfire between Iraq and Iran.  Iraq was using mustard gas, whereas Iran was using a cyanide gas.  Later, scientists reportedly determined that the people who lived in Iraq died as a result of the cyanide gas that Iran had used against Iraq, not the mustard gas that Iraq had been using.
 
We were also told that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he was not currently using nor making threats to use.  Never mind that Israel has weapons of mass destruction and has threatened to use nuclear weapons against European countries, even the sprawling city Rome.  Never mind that Israel has used internationally banned napalm on American soldiers before (for example, the U.S.S. Liberty's crew, 34 of whom were murdered by the Israelis, which was done deliberately according to the former heads of the CIA and NSA).  Never mind that Israel has used banned weapons against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. 
 
Amid the accusations against Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, Hussein allowed internationally recognized inspectors.  Nothing was found.  Amid accusations, Hussein destroyed several dozen missiles that were said to have gone too far (something like 3 miles over the limit, which was questionable because the missiles were tested without the normal equipment that was used to direct them).  Why couldn't the weapons inspectors have continued?  Certainly, if Hussein had such weapons, they would have found them.  The war has been going on for about a month, and the only thing I've heard that was discovered for certain may very well be bug spray (which was carted away ever-so conveniently to be examined by the U.S. government).  Hussein has not used one chemical weapon thus far, which demonstrates that even if he has such weapons he has used remarkable restraint during a war.  Meanwhile, we're still patiently waiting for this "smoking gun."
 
We were told that Iraq had violated over a dozen United Nations resolutions.  This is true.  It has.  But we in the U.S. have violated international laws too.  When reporters here paraded captured war prisoners from Afghanistan on TV, it was a violation of the Geneva Convention.  And we started the war in Iraq, knowing full well that if a vote had been allowed, there is no way that the resolution would have been passed, even if Russian and France had not vetoed it.  This is why the U.S. government started the war without the United Nation's approval: because it would have been given advance disapproval, which is much worse than no organized disapproval.  Rather than allow this, Bush and his Zionist cohorts decided to do their own thing. 
 
One might argue that the U.S. has not violated over a dozen UN resolutions. This might be because we have veto status too.  More importantly, others have violated more than this.  For instance, Israel has violated approximately 600 percent as many UN resolutions since it was formed as Iraq has, yet no consideration is given to Zionist War Crimes (because George W. Bush is on the "take" from the Zionists, having unethically received much financial election campaign support from the bandit state of Israel).  If George W. Bush stands before an international tribunal some day for war crimes, he will only have himself and his Zionist comrades to blame.  (If you're curious about who these "Zionist comrades" are, please see one of my previous articles, mentioned at the end of this article.)
 
Most recently, many of us have seen the images of Iraqis giving flowers and greeting American troops.  There are some Iraqis who joyously give Americans the peace sign (which, oddly enough, is viewed in most of Europe as something pornographic, similar to "flipping the bird" here).  I saw pictures of Iraqis giving these flowers myself.  I saw the Iraqis breaking up the statue of Hussein with a sledgehammer.  And I have to admit, after seeing these pictures, I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I was wrong about how some people felt in Iraq."  I even mentioned it in my previous article about how I was in "shock" (and awe, too) over this.
 
I just couldn't figure it out.  Something just didn't seem right.  Sure, I realize that not all Iraqis may like Hussein.  Some may even hate him.  I understand that he ruled the land with an iron grip.  Nevertheless, I thought to myself, before seeing these pictures, the Iraqis probably like us less.  After all, we're invading their land.  We've been bombing Iraq for the past decade on a regular basis when ever something comes up (like Clinton's Lewinsky-scandal, for example, which momentarily distracted our attention).  It's been noted by others that over 500,000 children--maybe as many as 1 million--have died as a result of U.S.-promoted sanctions against Iraq.  Water purification is something that has been forgotten due to the inability to buy parts for them as a result of sanctions.  Hubcaps, beads, ashtrays, candles, combs, dolls, forks, glue, jackets, gowns, pens, toothpicks, tissue paper, and wax--these are just a few of the items that have been banned from Iraq due to U.N. sanctions.  And now, we're telling the Iraqis who they can have as President.  (Yes, Hussein was the overwhelmingly elected leader of Iraq.  Now, some may find fault with that.  However, I have to wonder, having been fed so many lies as it is, if I can believe the comments I've been told about the voting process there being corrupt.  And what if we bring a "democracy" there, and he is re-elected?)
 
When the invasion of Iraq initially started--given the noble sobriquet, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" or something to that effect--I was not surprised like the U.S. troops who were sent over there.  The troops here had been deceived: They thought that the Iraqis would be greeting U.S. troops with flowers (as we saw the other day) and that the Iraqis would be joining in the campaign to liberate themselves (as we saw the other day with the statue).  On the other hand, I thought that the Iraqis, while technologically outmatched, would be taking pot shots with AK-47s every chance they got.  I was told that Iraqi soldiers were dressing up as civilians; I thought that it was probably "real" Iraqi civilians who were not too happy with the fact that they were being "liberated."  As time progressed, my version initially appeared true.  Consequently, our leaders here told us that Iraqis were not being helpful because they were too fearful of Hussein at the time; that these Iraqis would be cooperating more with American troops as time progressed.  Call me the skeptic; but, again, I just didn't buy it.
 
It turns out that we've been hoodwinked and bushwhacked.  If you've seen the pictures circulating around, one of which was sent to me, you know what I mean.
 
That Iraqi who was giving our troops the peace sign--a sign that isn't typically used over there just like Europe--it turns out that he was not living in Iraq at the time.  He had emigrated to the U.S. some time back and was now a U.S. citizen. 
 
The Bush administration seems to be behind the whole affair.  Apparently concerned that the media campaign was not going over very well, despite the incessant propaganda given by the Jewish Media Barons (see my article on this topic too, described in the article's link that follows this article), Bush and his Zionist cohorts sent over approximately 700 former Iraqis who didn't like Hussein for one reason or another.  How much did the U.S. government pay these former Iraqis for the media blitzkrieg, if any, remains unknown? 
 
While a U.S. tank pulled the statue of Hussein down, many of these American Iraqis rejoiced.  From pictures taken aback of the whole affair, you can see that it was only a handful of these American Iraqis in the square.  Meanwhile, several American tanks stood on the outside of the square, preventing true Iraqis from protesting the dismantling of the statue. 
 
Lately, there is talk about a new campaign being unleashed on American troops by "other" Iraqis, not the ones that we saw "celebrating."  Apparently, the real Iraqis aren’t too happy with this whole scenario.  It seems that honesty is still cherished in other lands.

-------------------
Mark Franklin is the producer of the controversial video "Zionist War Crimes: The Case for the Prosecution." 
 
To see an online streaming video excerpt from this video (for a 56K modem), go to -
http://www.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/zwcesad.wmv
 
To see an online streaming video excerpt from this video (for a 112K modem or faster), go to -
http://www.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/zwc-ad-e-med.wmv
(sm. Video – Windows Media Video - 4 minutes download with 56K)

To read about this video, see the following (one continuous) link:
(If you want, feel free to copy the above article and post it.  No copyright.)
 
The above article is also shown here, but the quotes are messed up (seems to always mess up true-type quotes, continuous link):
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=308008&group=webcast
 
If you would like to get on my mailing list, please respond to me at nonzion@yahoo.com with the comment "Zionists suck" in the header.
 


If you would like to get on this mailing list, respond to this e-mail with the comment "Zionists suck" in the header.

If you would like to get off it, respond to this e-mail with the comment "Zionists are God's chosen people" in the header.

See the video shocking the nation, "Zionist War Crimes: The Case for the Prosecution." Read about it:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=308008&group=webcast
Online video, 56K modem: http://www.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/zwcesad.wmv


 

 


 

 

Islamic Institute Calls for Pipes to Apologize or Decline Nomination

Friday April 11, 2003

The Islamic Institute, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group today called on Daniel Pipes to retract his many offensive and bigoted statements and to apologize for his promotion of racial, religious, and ethnic stereotyping and hatred. Daniel Pipes, the founder of the Middle East Forum, was nominated last week to the board of directors of the U.S. Institute for Peace, a federally-funded think tank created by Congress to promote the prevention and peaceful resolution of international conflicts.

Khaled Saffuri, Executive Director for the Islamic Institute, stated, "If Pipes fails to do apologize for his many bigoted statements and writings, he should withdraw his nomination from the US Institute for Peace. Daniel Pipes has made it his mission to promote hate and bigotry and to divide people. The US Institute for Peace needs a person who brings the many cultures, religions and ethnicities of our diverse world together, not someone who seeks to divide people based on race or religion."

Daniel Pipes has made a series of statements considered offensive by Muslims, African-Americans, and immigrants. In some instances, Pipes has even attempted to "reeducate" Muslims about what he believes they should believe as followers of Islam (please se below).

Congress established the US Institute for Peace in 1984. The 15 Board members meet six times a year and are confirmed by the US Senate.

###

"Muslims are flourishing and in some cases are privileged," said Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum, a critic of U.S. Muslim political advocacy on Middle East issues. "My impression is that the leadership asks for these privileges, not ordinary Muslims."

Privilege, he said, is evident in the easy ability of Muslims to win legal disputes with financial penalties, payments from corporations who offend Islam, retractions from newspapers and favors from government.

"I don't see any Hindu stamps, and I don't see Hindus filing so many complaints," he said. "American Muslims a New Force," Larry Witham The Washington Times 11/28/2000

http://www.hvk.org/articles/1100/99.html

"The Koran is a not 'a product of Muhammad or even of Arabia,' but a collection of earlier Judeo-Christian liturgical materials stitched together to meet the needs of a later age...A few scholars go even further, doubting even the existence of Muhammad." - Daniel Pipes, The Jerusalem Post, 5/12/2000

"The Muslim Claim to Jerusalem," Daniel Pipes Middle East Quarterly, September 2001

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/84

"Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene...All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most." National Review 11/19/90

"(The) increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims...will present true dangers to American Jews." American Jewish Congress Convention, 10/21/01

"The Palestinians are miserable people...and they deserve to be." Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2001

"Iranians and Pakistanis, to take two groups of non-Arabs, re at least as widely conspiracy-minded and as anti- Semitic as, say, Tunisians and Kuwaitis." Commentary 9/1/99

"There is no escaping the unfortunate fact that Muslim government employees in law enforcement, the military, and the diplomatic corps need to be watched for connections to terrorism, as do Muslim chaplains in prisons and the armed forces. Muslim visitors and immigrants must undergo additional background checks. Mosques require a scrutiny beyond that applied to churches, synagogues and temples. Muslim schools require increased oversight to ascertain what is being taught to children…" - Daniel Pipes, "The War's Most Agonizing Issue," Jerusalem Post, 1/22/03

"...black converts [to Islam] tend to hold vehemently anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic attitudes." Commentary, 6/1/2000

 

 


 

 

US bomb mosque - believe Saddam is hiding in it

Reuters via SABC News

April 11, 2003

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/north_america/0,1009,56812,00.html

Where is Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi President?

A US missile slammed into a mosque in Baghdad thought to be sheltering

key Iraqi officials, and possibly Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president,

himself.

One day after jubilant Iraqis, with the help of US troops, brought down a

statue of Saddam in the centre of Baghdad, a fierce gunfight took place

at a mosque believed to be sheltering Iraqi officials.

Iraqi fighters in northern Baghdad's Imam Mosque fought bitterly with US

marines. US marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force received a

tip that regime leaders were meeting at the house of a senior Baath Party

official. Military officials still have no idea if Saddam was among them.

The "intense fighting" took place near the Az Amihyah Palace. One marine

was killed and up to 20 others were wounded; the mosque was left in good

condition. - Reuters

 

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/north_america/0,1009,56812,00.html

 


 

 

Thank you, there's the door'

AFX via News 24

April 10, 2003

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1346107,00.html

Baghdad - The people of Baghdad on Thursday were still savouring their

liberation by American troops, but said they will also be pleased to see

them leave quickly.

After the ecstatic scenes the day before welcoming US marines rolling

through the city centre and toppling President Saddam Hussein's most

cherished statue, there were few outbursts of joy for the American guests

on Thursday.

Many Baghdadis were outraged to watch US troops settle in at city

intersections while their fellow Iraqis looted with impunity.

"We are free and I had my first fearless night in years," said Muafak

Ali, a 30-year-old shop assistant.

"We thank the Americans for liberating us. But we want to see them

replaced quickly by a government because the city is lawless right now.

There are no police, there is only stealing."

As the United States talks about taking the reins for six months or more

before handing over power to Iraqis, many in Baghdad said this first

taste of freedom has been too sweet to give up already.

"I feel like I have been reborn. We are very happy. The Americans have

liberated us, but now we need a purely Iraqi government that protects our

freedoms," said Abdallah Jelem, a 30-year-old factory worker buying fruit

at one of the stalls open for business in the Karada district of downtown

Baghdad.

Amjad Saad, an interpreter, also had mixed feelings. "This is a

bittersweet day," he said.

"It is happy because we have been freed from a brutal tyrant, but at the

same time sad because a foreign army is occupying my country. I hope they

will leave as soon as possible."

In the bakery where he works, Haidar Abed, 18, was nervous about what the

future would bring.

"If they don't leave now, there will be a civil war because without a

real government, people will fight among themselves. Look at what has

already happened," he said, referring to the looting.

The city only slowly came back to life on Thursday with a few stores

opening their metal shutters and cigarette vendors manning their stalls.

At the house of Saddam's favourite daughter, Hala, one of the looters

takes a moment to speak to a journalist.

"I hate Saddam Hussein and I came to take what he stole from us. But if

the Americans want to put an administration in place directly, we Iraqis

will fight them," said Mohamad Haidari.

'We have lost our country'

Down the road, Mander Mohamad, a 68-year-old businessman, looks incensed

by the advancing American troops.

"This is a very sad day. We have lost our country. The Americans want us

to disappear from the map," he said.

"The Americans will never leave. They did not come here with troops like

this to have a picnic. This is an occupation, pure and simple."

One of his neighbours, who asked not to be named, agreed.

"In seeing all these looters do what they want before their eyes, I

suspect they will set up a government of thieves and outlaws. That is all

that will change," he said.

These feelings of relief apprehension are widespread, with a clear

mistrust of American intentions.

"They did not come to make us happy. They want to profit from our wealth.

It would be great if Saddam disappeared forever, but I hope they won't

put someone else in with another name to do what they want at the expense

of our freedoms," said Salah Mohamad, a 39-year-old shopkeeper.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1346107,00.html

 

 


 

 

20 Bodies litter streets of Baghdad suburb

Dead bodies of children could be seen lying on side of road between

Al-Dora and international airport.

Middle East Online

April 10, 2003

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=5101

------------------------------------------

photo:

http://www.middle-east-online.com/pictures/big/_5101_charred-body-baghdad-10-4-2003.jpg

Charred bodies buried in mass grave

------------------------------------------

 

BAGHDAD - Around 20 bodies and burnt-out cars littered the streets of the

southwestern Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Dora on Thursday, a photographer

reported.

Bodies, including those of children, were still strewn over the road

between Al-Dora and the international airport, which is under the control

of US forces.

The putrid, fly-covered corpses were being buried in a mass grave along

the side of the road by volunteers whose noses were covered with scarves

against the stench, according to the photographer.

Some of the corpses were in or under the charred vehicles. Dead children

lay on the side of the road, covered in sheets.

One family, two of whose members were completely incinerated, died in the

back of a pick-up truck.

"If the price of freedom is this, we don't want it," said one Iraqi

helping at the scene.

A gutted white Mercedes car sat at the roadside, a white flag still

fluttering from its antenna.

A US officer at the scene said Saddam's Fedayeen paramilitary militia

attacked an American convoy which retaliated, causing the deaths on

Monday.

Witnesses, however, said that US soldiers opened fire on cars carrying

civilians they thought posed a threat on Wednesday morning.

Two Iraqis were killed and three others wounded Wednesday when US troops

shot at an ambulance on a central Baghdad street, a doctor said.

"The American troops just mowed down the ambulance which was transporting

wounded people from the Saddam Center for Plastic Surgery to another

hospital," said Belgian doctor Geert Van Moorter.

The driver was wounded in the stomach and the co-pilot in his legs, said

Van Moorter, from the Belgian association Medical Aid for the Third

World.

The ambulance had been carrying three men wounded by exchanges of fire in

the city, he said, adding that two of them were among the dead.

"This is completely unacceptable, and when I went up to a US officer to

denounce such behavior, he just said: 'The ambulance could contain

explosives,'" said Van Moorter.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=5101

 


 

 

DON'T THINK IT'S ALL OVER

By Abdel Bari Atwan, Editor of UK-based Arabic paper al-Quds

Daily Mirror

April 11, 2003

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12833498&method=full&siteid=50143

----------------------------------------------

photos:

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/mirror/apr2003/2/3/000247C6-0B7A-1E96-B25F80C328EC0000.jpg

BITTERNESS: The Union Jack is burnt at an anti-war rally in Damascus

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/mirror/apr2003/3/2/000994F4-03D5-1E96-B25F80C328EC0000.jpg

WARNING: Arab expert Abdel Bari Atwan

----------------------------------------------

 

WHILE most viewers in America and the UK celebrated the fall of Baghdad –

and of the statues of Saddam Hussein – in Arab homes it was greeted with

frustration and anger.

Frustration because Baghdad fell without a fight. Anger because Iraq is

now effectively under US and British occupation.

The Americans and their British allies have now come face to face with

the Iraqi people, with all their complexities and racial, sectarian and

religious mosaic.

Certainly, those who danced in the streets in front of the cameras are

few, perhaps 1,000 persons.

They do not represent the overwhelming majority of Iraqis.

The same may be said of those robbing and looting before the eyes of the

US Marines in Baghdad and the British in Basra.

Iraq is now passing through a transitional stage and still living through

a state of shock and imbalance.

They lived under the sway of the Ba’ath regime and Saddam Hussein for

more than 30 years during which they had known nothing else.

They will require a long period to adapt to, and accept, the new reality

– to sense a likely future.

The shift from transitional to permanent may not be smooth.

After all, if the Americans under the leadership of George Washington

rose against British occupation, why does anyone think the Iraqis will be

different?

Saddam Hussein divided the Iraqis. His downfall may bring them together,

or unite the overwhelming majority of them, but this time by confronting

the US.

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda only emerged because of the presence of US

troops on Saudi soil; a presence the Muslims perceive as humiliating for

them and desecrating for Islamic shrines. Disagreements have begun to

show in the opposition factions. What is certain is the Sunnis, who are

counted as supporters of

Saddam’s regime, will turn into an opposition because they are

secularists who mostly believe in Arab nationalism.

But perhaps the most serious development is the transformation of the

Shi’ites, who are supposed to be most hostile to Saddam, into a

resistance movement that employs suicide operations as weapons against

the coalition.

Lebanese Shi’ite sources close to Hizbollah have confirmed to me an Iraqi

Hizbollah is being founded.

Elements of this group, who are trained to carry out resistance in South

Lebanon, have been infiltrating Iraq and will begin their operations

against the US and British troops.

The intrusion of the US troops into Najaf and Karbala, the two most

sacred cities for 60million Shi’ites in Iran, is considered a

humiliation.

The Iraqi borders with Iran are more than 1,000km long and so are those

with Syria.

Don’t be surprised to see weapons smuggling and recruits volunteering to

fight, especially in the wake of threats by US Defence Secretary Donald

Rumsfeld against both countries.

Officials in Syria and Iran firmly believe they are next in line.

Iraq is proceeding rapidly not in the direction of a democratic model,

but one of anarchy and confusion, just as in Somalia, Afghanistan and the

Balkans.

It is now the most fertile soil for radicalism, and it will attract

radicals and extremists from all sides.

They will all embrace the call for jihad against the occupation.

The American and British honeymoon in Iraq may be a short one. But if it

drags on it is only likely to be bloody.

Hence, it is rather premature to celebrate the fall of Baghdad despite

the end of Saddam Hussein.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12833498&method=full&siteid=50143

 

 

 


 

 

"Catastrophic" Situation At Baghdad Hospital: ICRC

Islam Online

April 11, 2003

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/11/article03.shtml

 

-----------------------------------

photos:

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/11/images/pic03.jpg

"The situation (at al-Kindi) is chaotic and catastrophic," ICRC

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/11/images/pic03a.jpg

Looting and chaos prevailed in Iraq

-----------------------------------

 

BAGHDAD, April 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A Baghdad hospital

visited Friday, April 11, by a team of the International Committee of the

Red Cross (ICRC) was in "catastrophic" state, an ICRC official said.

"The situation is chaotic and catastrophic," ICRC medical coordinator

Peter Tarabula told Agence France-Presse (AFP), at Al-Kindi hospital, one

of the biggest medical centers in Baghdad.

The hospital was looted after Saddam Hussein's authority crumbled

Wednesday, April 9, and U.S. occupation troops rolled into central

Baghdad.

It was the first time in several days that the ICRC had inspected a

hospital in the occupied Iraqi capital, amid the uncertain security

situation in the Iraqi capital.

Twenty-five people were admitted to the hospital Friday after suffering

gunshot wounds in clashes during looting in the Iraqi capital, hospital

sources also told AFP.

The hospital in the east of the city has been ransacked and all staff

have fled with the exception of two doctors who administer first aid but

do not carry out operations.

All patients have left the hospital, one of Baghdad's largest, and Shiite

fighters from the southern city of Najaf under the leadership of Sheikh

Abbas al-Zubaidi have set up camp there.

Shopkeepers Open Fire

 

As the UN accused U.S.-led forces of being “unable” to prevent anarchy

and chaos, shopkeepers in central Baghdad opened fire on looters Friday

for the first time since U.S. troops entered the city, as the widespread

chaos left 25 people injured.

In Al-Rasafi market, merchants fired pistols in the air outside a

seven-story garment store, while at Al-Arabi market shopkeepers fired

Kalashnikov rifles toward approaching looters.

"We want the law to rule and if the Americans don't defend us then we'll

defend ourselves with our own weapons," said merchant Khazen Hussein.

Young people were also seen with iron bars running after potential

thieves. Baghdad has seen rampant looting since U.S. troops rolled in

Wednesday and the two-and-half-decade authority of Saddam Hussein

crumbled.

Almost everything has been considered fair game, from the luxury homes of

senior regime figures to European diplomatic missions.

Twenty-five people were admitted to Baghdad's Al-Kindi hospital on Friday

after suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during the looting.

But the hospital, Baghdad's largest, can provide little help as it has

been looted itself.

All staff have fled Al-Kindi hospital with the exception of two doctors

who administer first aid but do not carry out operations. "The doctors

have all left," said nurse Jawad al-Jabiri.

Few patients have remained at the hospital since the looting Thursday, in

which armed men stole two ambulances and medicine from the facility.

U.S. troops called to assist them replied that they had no orders to

intervene and medical staff said they were powerless to stop the thieves.

Kirkuk In Chaos

Meanwhile, the situation in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, captured

by Kurdish and U.S. forces Thursday, is spiraling out of the control of

local Kurdish chiefs, and several people have been killed, the city's

Kurdish governor, Rizgarali Hamgam, told AFP.

Pillaging and score-settling had begun after the fall of the city and

carried on through the night, Hamgam said Friday, adding that a number of

people were killed or wounded. He did not give details.

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/11/article03.shtml

 


 

 

Children shot at checkpoint, traders fire on looters

Sydney Morning Herald

April 11, 2003

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/11/1049567873069.html

US Marines said they killed two children at a checkpoint in Iraq today

when the driver of the vehicle in which the youngsters were travelling

ignored warnings to stop, creating fears of a suicide attack.

Captain Jay Delarosa, spokesman for the 15th US Marine Expeditionary Unit

in the southern city of Nasiriyah, said nine other people in the minivan

were wounded in the incident.

"Our Marines took action to protect themselves against what they thought

was a suicide bomber," Delarosa told Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft

in Nasiriyah, adding that the driver had ignored repeated warnings to

stop.

"Currently, we are providing the best available medical assistance to

those injured," he said, adding that no weapons had been found in the

vehicle. "It was a regrettable mistake."

 

Meanwhile, an AFP correspondent reports that shopkeepers in central

Baghdad opened fire today for the first time on looters, as the city

descended into chaos.

In two separate incidents, shopkeepers armed with assault rifles, pistols

or iron bars opened fire on groups trying to ransack their shops.

Twenty-five people were admitted to Baghdad's Al-Kindi hospital after

suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during looting, hospital sources told

AFP, although it was unclear if they were wounded in these incidents.

In the al-Rasafi market, merchants fired pistols in the air outside a

seven-storey garment store, while at the al-Arabi market shopkeepers

fired Kalashnikov rifles toward approaching looters.

Young people were also seen with iron bars running after potential

thieves.

"We want the law to rule and if the Americans don't defend us then we'll

defend ourselves with our own weapons," said Khazen Hussein.

Baghdad has seen widespread looting since US troops rolled in on

Wednesday and the two-and-half-decade authority of Saddam Hussein

crumbled.

In London, the head of Britain's aid agency said today US troops

occupying Baghdad should make a "massively bigger effort" to bring law

and order to the Iraqi capital and make its hospitals safe.

"There must be a much bigger effort to stop all this looting and

violence," International Development Secretary Clare Short told British

Broadcasting Corp radio. "We need a massively bigger effort. It should

focus on hospitals."

The collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime led to mass looting in Baghdad, a

city of 5 million occupied by thinly stretched US forces, and earlier in

Basra, where British forces are in charge.

US battalion commanders have pledged patrols to at least stop the looting

of hospitals, which Short said lacked electricity, drugs and water

supplies.

"It's an absolute priority that US troops should bring order to Baghdad,"

Short said. "An occupying power has a duty to make sure that civilians

are cared for, to keep order and to keep civilian administration ticking

over."

British military spokesman Group Capt Al Lockwood said law and order were

slowly being restored to Basra.

"The incidents of looting are dying out," Lockwood told BBC TV from

Qatar. "Hopefully the local leaders who wish for law and order to be

restored are asking their people to stop the looting."

AFP/AP and Reuters

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/11/1049567873069.html

 

 


 

 

Hope fades at Basra hospital

AFX via Channel 24

April 11, 2003

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,6119,2-10-1460_1346585,00.html

Basra - She cradled her newlywed son, waved swarming flies away for the

hundredth time and wept with every breath he took.

In three days, he will be dead. Maybe two.

Medical staff at Basra General Hospital can do little but stand and

watch, stripped of the medicines and blood supplies that would save his

life.

The man is Nagim Abdul Nabiy, a 25-year-old Iraqi architect, who has been

at the hospital for four months, arriving just weeks after he was

married.

He lies in a semi-conscious state viewing the stifling Ward 15 through

runny bloodshot eyes. The bed is propped up by makeshift repairs, the

temperature approaches 100 degrees Farenheit by mid-afternoon and the

tiger-print sheets are already soaked with sweat.

Paint peels off the walls, open windows invite more flies and the floor

is littered with dust and debris.

Nagim is suffering from a bone disease described by doctors, who have

long since left for the day, as chronic.

"There is no medication at all," said ward assistant Ali Haffat. "We have

a blood bank, but no blood.

"Since the war started, we have had no power so he's just getting worse.

"A specialist came down from Baghdad and diagnosed him. We were keeping

him alive with transfusions before, but now there is no blood, no power,

no hope.

"He will last another two or three days. It's very sad, but really, what

can we do? We have given him all the analgesic we had, but now..."

Nagim's father, Abdul Nabiy, rose from the bedside where he had clutched

his son's hand and reassured him quietly.

He wiped away tears, grabbed our interpreter by the arm and told us: "He

is my only son. He is a good man, a proud man, an educated man.

Too young to die

"He is a family man with a wife, but not even any children yet. He is too

young to die like this."

He slumped back into his bedside vigil with a shake of his head and a

comforting arm from his weeping wife Bahiya Mathood.

There are only 90 patients in the crumbling 400-bed complex, built by the

British in 1921 and known as Republican Basra Hospital until last week.

The faded images of Saddam Hussein at the main gates survived until the

arrival of coalition soldiers.

An accompanying promise that "the confidence the Iraqi people have in

their President will burn the American hopes" can still be read but "only

because we can't find any paint" said one bystander, who took out a

banknote from his pocket and gleefully spat on the president's grinning

image.

Inside the main reception, painted murals show children undergoing

surgery while soldiers stand guard and Saddam smiles down from a

messianic pose.

In the harsh reality of the wards there are still children, but none are

getting surgery. There are no guards and few nurses.

Many of the doctors only stay a few hours. They check to see whether any

power supply has been set up, they check on their few remaining patients

and then they retire to their private practices, thriving with wartime

injuries.

Many of those wounded in fighting and B-52 bombing raids over the past

three weeks decided they would be better treated at home rather than the

hospital.

No power

The X-ray department door was open, with around 25 people milling around

outside, but the official attendant said: "They come here every day and

wait, then they go home at night. I've told them there is no power so no

X-rays, but maybe they think the British will turn it on again today."

However, electricity may not cure all the ills at Basra General.

Rumours abound that doctors are stealing medical aid intended for the

hospital and charging exorbitant rates to dispense it from their private

clinics.

"We have heard the reports and we will investigate them," said Lieutenant

Colonel John Nash, of the British Royal Logistic Corps, overseeing a

delivery of drinking water to the hospital.

"The facilities here can be restored. We are making the first steps with

medical aid ready to be delivered within the next few days, then aid

organisations will take over."

Back in Ward 15, Nagim Nabiy will not survive to see this new era take

shape.

His carer, Ali Haffat, shook his head. "We need everything you can give

us; water, medicine, food and electricity. If we don't get these things

soon this will not be a hospital. It will be a morgue."

 

 


 

 

USS Cole Attack Suspects Escape

Islam Online

April 11, 2003

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/11/article09.shtml

-----------------------------------

http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2003-04/11/images/pic09.jpg

The port side of the USS Cole after the 2000 bombing in Yemen

-----------------------------------

 

SANAA, April 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Ten Yemenis awaiting

trial on charges of involvement in the October 2000 attack on the USS

Cole destroyer with an explosives-laden boat sneaked out of a jail in the

southern port of Aden Friday, April 11.

The men cut open the bars over one of the prison windows and slipped out

around 5:00 am (0200 GMT), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Prison authorities realized one hour later that they were gone, said

officials, who requested anonymity.

Among those who escaped was Jamal Badawi, one of the principal suspects

held on connection with the deadly blast which killed 17 U.S. sailors and

was claimed by Al-Qaeda network.

Local officials said seven other suspects in the Cole case remained in

prison.

Police who inspected the facility after the escape found no trace of the

fugitives.

Authorities announced a manhunt for the suspects, distributing their

pictures to police stations around the Aden area.

Yemeni police have finished their investigation of the 17 men, carried

out in collaboration with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),

and have sent their case to prosecutors.

But the suspects, who could potentially face the death penalty, have not

been formally charged.

Yemeni officials say the United States wanted to delay the trial until

prosecution of other key al-Qaeda figures.

Seventeen US sailors were killed and 38 others wounded in the October 12,

2000 suicide attack, in which men rammed an explosives-laden boat into

the hull of the destroyer in Aden.

Yemen, known for its tribal structure and widespread ownership of

weapons, has long been seen as a key recruiting ground for al-Qaeda.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Yemen is the ancestral home of

the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.

Yemen's government rounded up more than 100 suspects after the September

11, 2001 attacks on the United States, although dozens have since been

released for lack of evidence.

At the request of Washington, Yemeni police and armed forces began in

late 2001 tracking down suspected al-Qaeda members in the unruly

provinces.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has deployed troops mainly around suspected

al-Qaeda strongholds in the country's northeast, while the U.S. military

has been sent to assist in the training of the Yemeni army.

A Yemeni man wanted by the FBI as a key planner of the Cole attack, Ali

Qaed Sunian al-Harithi, was killed with five other people in November

when a U.S. missile blew up his vehicle in eastern Yemen.

 

 

 


 

 

PHOTOS: THOMAS HURNDALL, MURDERED BY ZIONAZIS WHILE PROTECTING CHILDREN

FROM THEIR GENOCIDAL MANIA

Associated Press

April 11, 2003

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=hurndall&n=100&c=news_photos

ISLAMIC COMMUNITY NET

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamiccommunitynet

URGENT APPEAL FOR GULF WAR II VICTIMS from Human Concern International

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TRANSLATIONS OF THE MEANING BY HILALI/KHAN FROM THE HOLY QURAN OF SURAHS

1, 112, 113, AND 114 AND AYAT AL-QURSI

Surah 1

Al-Fâtihah

1. In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

2. All the praises and thanks be to Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn

(mankind, jinns and all that exists).

3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

4. The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of Recompense

(i.e. the Day of Resurrection)

5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and

everything).

6. Guide us to the Straight Way

7. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way)

of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went

astray (such as the Christians).

 

Ayat al-Kursi

Surah 2

Al-Baqarah

In the Name of Allâh, the Most

Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

255. Allâh! Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but

He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists.

Neither slumber, nor sleep overtake Him. To Him belongs whatever is in

the heavens and whatever is on earth. Who is he that can intercede with

Him except with His Permission? He knows what happens to them (His

creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter.

And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge except that which

He wills. His Kursî extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels

no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the

Most Great. [This Verse 2:255 is called Ayat-ul-Kursî.]

 

---

 

Surah 112

Al-Ikhlâs or At-Tauhîd

In the Name of Allâh, the Most

Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

1. Say (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)): "He is Allâh, (the) One.

2. "Allâh-us-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need,

He neither eats nor drinks).

3. "He begets not, nor was He begotten;

4. "And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him."

 

---

 

Surah 113

Al-Falaq

In the Name of Allâh, the Most

Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

1. Say: "I seek refuge with (Allâh) the Lord of the daybreak,

2. "From the evil of those He has created;

3. "And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its

darkness; (or the moon as it sets or goes away).

4. "And from the evil of the witchcrafts when they blow in the knots,

5. "And from the evil of the envier when he envies."

 

---

 

Surah 114

An-Nâs

In the Name of Allâh, the Most

Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

1. Say: "I seek refuge with (Allâh) the Lord of mankind,

2. "The King of mankind,

3. "The Ilâh (God) of mankind,

4. "From the evil of the whisperer (devil who whispers evil in the hearts

of men) who withdraws (from his whispering in one's heart after one

remembers Allâh),

5. "Who whispers in the breasts of mankind,

6. "Of jinns and men."

---

 

"You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace

unless he has his freedom."

"Prospects for Freedom in 1965," speech, Jan. 7 1965, New York City

(published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 12, 1965).

 

 

 


 

 

The Night After
 
The Easier the Victory, the Harder the Peace
 
By URI AVNERY
 
It is now fashionable to talk about "the day after". Let's talk about the night after.
 
After the end of hostilities in Iraq, the world will be faced with two decisive facts:
 
First, the immense superiority of American arms can beat any people in the world, valiant as it may be.
 
Second, the small group that initiated this war--an alliance of Christian fundamentalists and Jewish neo- conservatives--has won big, and from now on it will control Washington almost without limits.
 
The combination of these two facts constitutes a danger to the world, and especially to the Middle East, the Arab peoples and the future of Israel. Because this alliance is the enemy of peaceful solutions, the enemy of the Arab governments, the enemy of the Palestinian people and especially the enemy of the Israeli peace camp.
 
It does not dream only about an American empire, in the style of the Roman one, but also of an Israeli mini- empire, under the control of the extreme right and the settlers. It wants to change the regimes in all Arab countries. It will cause permanent chaos in the region, the consequences of which it is impossible to foresee.
 
Its mental world consists of a mixture of ideological fervor and crass material interests, an exaggerated American patriotism and right-wing Zionism.
 
That is a dangerous mixture. There is in it something of the spirit of Ariel Sharon, a man who has always had grandiose plans for changing the region, consisting of a mixture of creative imagination, unbridled chauvinism and a primitive faith in brute force.
 
Who are the winners?
 
They are the so-called neo-cons, or neo- conservatives. A compact group, almost all of whose members are Jewish. They hold the key positions in the Bush administration, as well as in the think- tanks that play an important role in formulating American policy and the ed- op pages of the influential newspapers.
 
For many years, this was a marginal group that fostered a right-wing agenda in all fields. They fought against abortion, homosexuality, pornography and drugs. When Binyamin Netanyahu assumed power in Israel, they offered him advise on how to fight the Arabs.
 
Their big moment arrived with the collapse of the Twin Towers. The American public and politicians were in a state of shock, completely disoriented, unable to understand a world that had changed overnight. The neo-cons were the only group with a ready explanation and a solution. Only nine days after the outrage, William Kristol (the son of the group's founder, Irving Kristol) published an Open Letter to President Bush, asserting that it was not enough to annihilate the network of Osama bin Laden, but that it was also imperative to "remove Saddam Hussein from power" and to "retaliate" against Syria and Iran for supporting Hizbullah.
 
Following is a short list of the main characters. (If it bores you, skip to the next section).
 
The Open Letter was published in the Weekly Standard, founded by Kristol with the money of ultra-right press mogul Rupert Murdoch, who donated $ 10 million to the cause. It was signed by 41 leading neo-cons, including Norman Podhoretz, a Jewish former leftist who has become an extreme right-wing icon, editor of the prestigious Encounter magazine, and his wife, Midge Decter, also a writer, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Studies, Robert Kagan, also of the Weekly Standard, Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post, and, of course, Richard Perle.
 
Perle is a central character in this play. Until recently he was the chairman of the Defense Policy Board of the Defense  Department, which also includes Eliot Cohen and Devon Cross. Perle is a director of the Jerusalem Post, now owned by extreme right-wing Zionists. In the past he was an aide to Senator Henry Jackson, who led the fight against the Soviet Union on behalf of the Jews who wanted to leave. He is a leading member of the influential right- wing American Enterprise Institute. Lately he was obliged to resign from his Defense Department position, when it became known that a private corporation had promised to pay him almost a million dollars for he benefit of his influence in the administration.
 
That Open Letter was, in effect, the beginning of the Iraq war. It was eagerly received by the Bush administration, with members of the group already firmly established in some of its leading positions. Paul Wolfowitz, the father of the war, is No. 2 in the Defense Department, where another friend of Perle's, Douglas Feith, heads the Pentagon Planning Board. John Bolton is State Department Undersecretary. Eliot Abrams, responsible for the Middle East in the National Security Council, was connected with the Iran-Contra-Israel scandal. The main hero of the scandal, Oliver North, sits in the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, together with Michael Ledeen, another hero of the scandal. Headvocates total war not only against Iraq, but also against Israel's other enemies, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority. Dov Zakheim is comptroller for the Defense Department.
 
Most of these people , together with Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are associated with the "Project for the New American Century", which published a White Paper in 2002, with the aim 'to preserve and enhance this 'American peace'"--meaning American control of the world.
 
Meyrav Wurmser (Meyrav is a chic new Israeli first name) is Director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Hudson Institute. She also writes for the Jerusalem Post and is co-founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute that is, according to the London Guardian, connected with Israeli Army Intelligence. MEMRI feeds the media and politicians with highly selective quotations from extreme Arab publications. Meyrav's husband, Davis Wurmser, is at Perle's American Enterprise Institute, heading Middle East Studies. Mention should also be made of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy of our old acquaintance, Dennis Ross, who for years was in charge of the "peace process" in the Middle East.
 
In all the important papers there are people close to the group, such as William Safire, a man hypnotized by Sharon, in the New York Times and Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. Another Perle friend, Robert Bartley, is the editor of the Wall Street Journal.
 
If the speeches of Bush and Cheney often sound as if they came from the lips of Sharon, one of the reasons may be that their speechwriters, Joseph Shattan, Mathew Scully and John McConnell, are neo-cons, as is Cheneys Chief-of-Staff, Lewis Libby.
 
The immense influence of this largely Jewish group stems from its close alliance with the extreme right-wing Christian fundamentalists, who nowadays control Bush's Republican party. The founding fathers were Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority, who once got a jet plane as a present from Menachem Begin, and Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition and the Christian Broadcasting Network, which help to finance the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem of J.W. van der Hoeven, an outfit that supports the settlers and their right-wing allies.
 
Common to both groups is their adherence to the fanatical ideology of the extreme right in Israel. They see the Iraq war as a struggle between the Children of Light (America and Israel) and the Children of Darkness (the Arabs and Muslims).
 
By the way, none of these facts are secret. They have been published lately in dozens of articles, both in American and world media. The members of the group are proud of them.
 
The Zionist general.
 
The man who symbolizes this victory is General Jay Garner, who has just been appointed chief of the civilian administration in Iraq.
 
He is no anonymous general who has been picked accidentally. Garner is the ideological partner of Paul Wolfowitz and the neo-cons.
 
Two years ago he signed, together with 26 other officers, a petition organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, lauding the Israeli Army for "remarkable restraint in the face of lethal violence orchestrated by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority," which is certainly news to the Israeli peace forces. He also stated that "a strong Israel is an asset that American military planners and political leaders can rely on."
 
In the first Gulf War he praised the performance of the Patriot missiles, which had failed miserably. After leaving the army in 1997, he became, not surprisingly, a defense contractor specializing in missiles. It was alleged that he landed non-competitive Pentagon contracts. This year he obtained a defense contract for $ 1.5 billion, as well as a contract for building Patriot systems in Israel.
 
Therefore, there can be no better candidate for the job of chief of the civilian administration in Iraq, especially at a time when contracts for billions of dollars for reconstruction have to be handed out, to be paid for by Iraqi oil.
 
A new Balfour declaration.
 
The ideology of this group, that calls for an American world-empire as well as for a Greater Israel, reminds one of bygone days.
 
The Balfour declaration of 1917, that promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine, had two parents. The mother was Christian Zionism (among whose adherents were illustrious statesmen like Lord Palmerston and Lord Shaftesbury, long before the foundation of the Zionist movement), the father was British imperialism. The Zionist idea allowed the British to crowd out their French competitors and take possession of Palestine, which was needed to safeguard the Suez Canal and the shorter sea route to India.
 
Now the same thing is happening again. Last year Richard Perle organized a briefing in which a speaker proposed war not only on Iraq, but on Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well, in order to secure the world's oil heartland. Iraq, he asserted, was only the pivot. One of the justifications for this design is the need to defend Israel.
 
To bet on our life?
 
Seemingly, all this is good for Israel. America controls the world, we control America. Never before have Jews exerted such an immense influence on the center of world power.
 
But this tendency troubles me. We are like a gambler, who bets all his money and his future on one horse. A good horse, a horse with no current competitor, but still one horse.
 
The neo-cons will cause a long period of chaos in the Arab and Muslim world. The Iraqi war has already shown that their understanding of Arab realities is shaky. Their political assumptions did not stand the test, only brute force saved their undertaking.
 
Some day the Americans will go home, but we shall remain here. We have to live with the Arab peoples. Chaos in the Arab world endangers our future.
 
Wolfowitz and Co. may dream about a democratic, liberal, Zionist and America- loving Middle East, but the result of their adventures may well turn out to be a fanatical and fundamentalist region that will threaten our very existence.
 
The partnership of the neo-cons and the Christian fundamentalists may engender counter-forces in Washington. And if Bush is defeated in the next election, like his father after his victory in the first Gulf War, this whole gang will be thrown out.
 
The Bible tells us about the kings of Judea, who relied on the then world power, Egypt. They did not appreciate the rise of forces in the east, Assyria and Babylon. An Assyrian general told the king of Judea: "Behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it." (II kings 18, 21).
 
Bush and his gang of neo-cons is not a bruised reed. Far from it, he is now a very strong reed. But should we bet our whole future on this?
 
Uri Avnery is an Israeli journalist. His essays are included in The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Di
  

 

 


 

 

Subj: Re: [eFreePalestine] The Powerful Jew and American Foreign         Policy
Date: 4/11/03 9:23:37 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Cbrad4334
To: eFreePalestine@yahoogroups.com

April 11, 2003

Dear Friends:

We see much brilliance in Emma Rosenthal's writings.

It is true, different races and different groups must band together and fight stereotypes.

Ms. Rosenthal wishes to downgrade the importance of the Powerful Jew; however, living in the US all of our lives, we have seen professors thrown out of their jobs, newspapers fold, politicians brought down, movie stars bow on bended knee with apologies for saying what they feel, all due to a very real, intensive and ominous Jewish pressure that has gone on for decades. This is a very serious and mostly unchallenged problem.

We also see in our American news media a stubborn onesidedness that portrays only the "bad" Arabs as "terrorists" and never downgrades the Zionists, never even uses the word. Moreover, the suppression here in America by our news media (usually owned and controlled by the Zionists, and written very often, but not always, by Jewish people) is much more democratic in Europe and Asia. They get the news there. Our protestations matter not. We're smothered with junk media, day by day, and especially, now.

Mr. Rosenthal downgrades America's political elite, but denies a reality of Jewish Power. She sees America, or the money elite, running the war, and the wars and murder carried on in different countries, responsible. Well, as she has implied, many Jews are of the money elite, probably a very high percentage. So, therefore, the elite is very much the Jews. Money right now, runs everything.

What is of extreme importance now, is that the American people are suffering terribly, not able to pay bills, employment has gone down the sewer, and most Americans are one or two steps at best away from homelessness. People are fired and children must stay home from school for being "anti-war." The Iraqi innocents have been killed where there was no need for war, their country in total destruction. And Washington and Israel, very much with the ability and donations of the pro-Israeli lobbies and some American Jews, also our taxes, continues to aid the rich by keeping their taxes at a minimal low, and feed the foreign country of Israel with loans that will never be paid.

The pro-Israeli mating bringing influential monies into our Congress and our Senate, combined with the very Reverends Pat Robertson's and Falwell's powerful electronic fundraising through the unaware evangelistic and extremist Christian fundamentalists, is the most dangerous ideology to have entered American politics.

We see the world at its worst, presently in upheaval, due to the marriage of the United States and Israel. Even though there are many Jews that agree with the Arabs and are against the war and for peace, we would never defend Israel as does Ms. Rosenthal. Some of what she is correct, and parts are shaded with a slightly pro-Israeli twist on history.

Though we believe totally in anyone saying or writing what they wish, eFreePalestine is a website that protects the Arab and Palestinian people and allows them to say what they usually cannot in the American press. It definitely is not a site to defend Israel.

Sincerely,
The Media Monitors

 


 

 

After you read the following, will you please go to http://www.stopjaygarner.com/index.php?action
to sign the petition against Jay Garner.  He is said to be frustrated and has considered quitting.  Maybe this petition will encourage him to do so.  Be certain to sign your full name and capitalize the first letter only of your first and last name.
Betty
 
From: Hansa
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 1:15 PM
 
If you thought you had seen far too many insults to the Iraqis, such as the hoisting of the invaders' (American) flag on the sovereign soil of Iraq, the ransacking of the palaces and bulldozing of their doors, firing at the mosques, disfiguring and desecrating them, the body-searching of Iraqi Muslim women by American male soldiers (even though female soldiers were available), wrapping of Saddam's statue with the American flag, and so many other intentional insults besides the wanton massacre of innocent people, the ultimate insult is yet to come or on its way already, to Iraq. This is the appointment of the new "President" of Iraq - Jay Garner, who, according the Independent, is a man of dubious character and most dangerously, a hard core Jewish and Israeli supporter. Ariel Sharon must have been quite happy to approve his appointment, if not he hand picked him in the first place. 
 

Jay Garner: Waiting to replace Saddam

The Independent
05 April 2003

 

Jay Garner: The US general waiting to replace Saddam By Paul Vallely

05 April 2003

General Jay Garner, being a military man, will have had his bag packed for some time now. Any day now he'll be stuffing in his toothbrush and heading for Baghdad. Garner, according to the media, has various titles-in-waiting. Before too long he will be - as your preference dictates - King, Regent, Viceroy, Pro-consul or President-designate of Iraq.

His official title is more prosaic. He is director of the Pentagon's new Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq. Just as soon as the US-led forces have control of Baghdad, Garner will move in as the man in charge of rebuilding the country. Until a new Iraqi leader is selected, he will govern 24 million Iraqis.

For the past few weeks, Garner and his team have been holed up, with their gas masks, in a seaside hotel in Kuwait City. But he has been in the job - planning - since January when President Bush summoned the 64-year-old ex-soldier from his comfortable retirement home in the moneyed enclave on the lakes just north of Disney World in the Florida magnolias, barely a mile from where Tiger Woods lives...

... To make things more difficult Jay Garner turns out to be a controversial character, in a number of respects. First is his status as an arms trader, and one whose firm supplied the military technology responsible for demolishing the country he is to set about rebuilding. An investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle two months ago revealed that the former three-star general - and a friend of Donald Rumsfeld, the contentious US Defence Secretary - was, until he took up his new post, president of the defence contractor SY Coleman, which specialises in missile systems. These include the Patriots so heavily used in Iraq and the Arrow defence system, which has been deployed in Israel. The Jewish connection we will come to later.

A row has blown up, both in the US and internationally, of such force that the Pentagon has been forced to issue a statement saying this does not constitute a conflict of interest. All very embarrassing just after another Bush hawk, Richard Perle, was last week forced to resign as chairman of a key defence board over business interests.

To make matters worse, Garner then backed a statement by the group praising the Israeli Army for showing what it called "remarkable restraint" when dealing with the Palestinian uprising. "A strong Israel is an asset that American military planners and political leaders can rely on," it said. Garner fans say that the general does not share the extreme right-wing views of the other arch hawks now running the Pentagon , including Perle, Rumsfeld, Donald Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney, George Bush's Vice-President. But many hold him guilty by association.

They say that his has been a key voice in controversial defence policies, such as the undermining of the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty; and that he will happily implement what is likely to be one of the first decisions of a new Iraqi government, recognising the state of Israel.

What is unclear is where Garner stands in the row between the US State Department and the Pentagon over who should run post-war Iraq. Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, wants the US military administration to give way, as soon as is practicable, to the UN. Donald Rumsfeld wants to retain US control as part of a wider plan to reshape the political landscape of the Middle East in America's interests; UN role, but not UN rule, is his soundbite. One of the battlegrounds for this dispute is over the make-up of Garner's staff.

The State Department drew up an eight-person team to help run the 23 ministries under Garner's control. Rumsfeld rejected the list, saying the individuals were "too low-profile and bureaucratic". The eight, whom Garner had put through security and training in preparation for departure for Kuwait last week, were at the last minute told to "stand down". Rumsfeld wants hardliners such as the former CIA director R James Woolsey instead. He has already put one of his loyalists, the Undersecretary of Defence Douglas J Feith, in as Garner's deputy - though Garner has, apparently, successfully appointed (to the dismay of the neo-conservatives) some decidedly unhawkish State Department officials at a lower level in his office. [Douglas J Feith is a dangerous pro-Israeli neocon, who is among those who engineered the war on Iraq -ed]

Now the fight is on over which Iraqi advisers to appoint. The Pentagon is pushing Ahmed Chalabi, a US-educated former banker with a conviction for fraud in Jordan, who is leader of the controversial exiled Iraqi National Congress. Rumsfeld and company see him as a known quantity who would be malleable in an ambitious regional reshuffling of alliances, with Iraq emerging as a pillar of US policy in the region. The State Department view is that Chalabi would not be welcome in several Middle East countries.

The bickering over plans and personnel is said to have frustrated Garner to the point where, according to the Los Angeles Times, he told some associates that he had contemplated quitting. Garner himself is remaining tight-lipped, to the point where The New York Times called his operation "obsessively secret". It will not be long now, it seems, before events force him to put his cards on the table.

  • A former assistant chief of staff in the Army, Garner, 64, traveled to Israel in 1998 with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
  • Two years later he signed on to an October 2000 letter that praised Israeli restraint in the face of Palestinian violence and urged the United States not to let its role as a peace facilitator hamper its responsibilities as a friend to Israel. ‘‘Friends don’t leave friends on the battlefield," the statement read.
  • The appointment of Garner has enraged some Arab leaders, who claim that putting a ‘‘pro-Israel" leader in charge of the reconstruction of Iraq will only feed accusations that the war is being fought for Israel’s benefit. ‘‘People in the Arab world are completely amazed by the Iraq policy, they don’t get it, and the view that Israel is behind it all is one that is gaining strength," said Hussein Ibish, director of communications for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
  • The concern over Garner’s relationship with Israel highlights the politically sensitive nature of regime change in Iraq, a country that has threatened Israel. It also shows growing concern about the Bush administration’s plans for the broader Middle East, specifically calls for democratization of the region. Ibish says bringing in an administrator who some Arabs see as pro-Israel hurts the chances for a successful regime change. Ibish said Garner’s appointment is a sign that the Bush administration either does not understand Arab public opinion or does not care.
  • ‘‘It’s incredible that the administration would not be sensitive to what impression that would lend to other Arabs and Iraqis themselves about what sort of occupation this would be," he said.
  • But Jewish leaders are rejecting the charge that visiting or supporting Israel should disqualify Garner from any service in the Middle East.
  • ‘‘If I were Jay Garner, I would be enormously offended that for visiting Israel for 10 days, I was disqualified from serving the American government in some capacity in an Arab country," said Shoshana Bryen, director of special projects for JINSA (Jewish Institute for National
    Security Affairs ). She noted the large number of former military leaders that visit Israel each year.
  • Bryen says Garner ‘‘has never failed to do anything I’ve asked of him," including signing letters and advising JINSA on military matters. But, she added, Garner has not been active in JINSA since his 1998 trip, and is not among the organization’s core group of military liaisons. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, called Garner’s support of Israel ‘‘irrelevant." ‘‘Should this administration look for someone who is anti-Israel?" Hoenlein asked. ‘‘The fact that he supports a close ally of the United States is natural."
  • ‘‘That’s what his detractors should be focused on," Gregg Sullivan said. ‘‘That’s the criteria for which he was chosen." Still, Ibish said, ‘‘There are lots of other people in the United States who could do this that aren’t in the pro-Israel lobby, which JINSA is a member of."
  • Arabs are concerned that Garner will push new leadership in Iraq that would foster a relationship with Israel, a state they see as an occupier and enemy of Arabs, Ibish said. Leaders of the Iraqi National Congress, which operates out of London and has close ties to the Bush administration, have been working with American Jewish groups in the past few months, expressing an interest in building relationships with the Israeli government.
  • Entifadah Qanbar, the INC’s Washington office director, told JTA last October that he believes that good relations with Israel are possible under a new regime because, he said, Saddam is the one who has a problem with Israel, not the Iraqi people.
  • ‘‘If he has a political mission, it’s better for people with a political mission to have good feelings about Israel,’’ she said.
  • Garner retired in 1997 and became president of SY Technology, a Virginia company that provides communication and targeting systems for missiles.

 

 


 

 

Israeli Snipers Kill British Activist

Israeli snipers killed Thomas Hurndall while trying to defend

Palestinian chidlren

GAZA CITY, April 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A 21-year-old

British activist was pronounced clinically dead Friday, April 11,

after being hit in the head and critically wounded by Israeli sniper

fire in Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian

medical sources confirmed.

Thomas Hurndall was volunteering with the International Solidarity

Movement (ISM), a group of pro-Palestinian activists who engage in

non-violent action to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank

and Gaza, the sources and eyewitnesses told Agence France-Presse

(AFP).

A colleague who witnessed the incident said he was trying to pull two

children out of danger with a group of other foreign activists and

To view the whole report, go to:

http://www.islamonline.net

 

 


 

 

The U.S. ( not the international community ) has to pay for all the damage they caused with their brutal illegal war, and the UN will supervise the process of restoration. Humanitarian aid, and law and order are the very first objectives. By now the whole world knows what American "liberation" means; misery. The UN will regulate the Iraqi oil export on behalf of the Iraqi people.
 
Frederik van Leeuwen
The Netherlands
===============================================================================
 
 
Postwar Planning
U.S. Asks Allies to Assist in Rebuilding

 


By Bradley Graham and Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 11, 2003; Page A01

Amid civil collapse and mounting chaos in Iraq, the Bush administration moved yesterday to enlist allied support for postwar reconstruction and financing and announced details of meetings of Iraqis that U.S. officials plan to organize inside the country to consider Iraq's future governance.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Pentagon has given the State Department a list of urgent needs from other countries, including police officers. Officials said the administration is also seeking doctors and nurses as well as engineers to help rebuild bridges, roads and buildings.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in an interview with Dutch television, asked European countries to contribute peacekeeping forces, a prospect he also raised last week at NATO headquarters. U.S. diplomats have contacted more than 65 nations in recent weeks to ask for assistance and 58 have expressed support, a State Department spokesman said.

The administration's effort to enlist other countries to help restore order and rebuild Iraq comes in the wake of significant international opposition to the decision by the United States and Britain to go to war without an explicit authorization from the U.N. Security Council. But U.S. officials said they believe the dramatic collapse of the Iraqi government -- broadcast around the world Wednesday -- will galvanize broader international support for assisting in Iraq's reconstruction.

"We are going to pressure all of our friends and allies to contribute as much as they can," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told the Armed Services Committee. Offers of military and financial help are already coming, Wolfowitz said, predicting a "larger coalition of the willing" for reconstruction than for the war.

Pressed on specifics by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), however, Wolfowitz cited none. "So far, we're still in the early stages of that," he said. "I think some people were, frankly, a bit taken by surprise by the images they saw on television [on Wednesday]."

Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said he wants to use this weekend's meeting here of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to seek support for long-term financing of Iraq's reconstruction. Snow also said he hopes the Group of Seven industrialized countries -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- will press the IMF and the World Bank to assess Iraq's needs and begin the process of providing financing.

But World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn said a U.N. Security Council resolution according legitimacy to a new Iraqi government would be required before the financial institution could lend, underscoring the role that the United Nations could play in postwar Iraq, a contentious issue between the United States and many allies.

Such countries as France and Germany have advocated that the United Nations should manage the reconstruction effort, while the Bush administration has insisted that U.S. and British officials will control the process and turn it over as quickly as possible to the Iraqis.

Wolfowitz, welcoming some U.N. involvement, said U.N. agencies would be particularly useful in areas such as refugee assistance and humanitarian relief. He also said the United Nations could play a particularly important role in "helping to mobilize international support" for Iraq, noting that U.N. endorsement is a requirement for World Bank and IMF aid.

But citing such countries as Kosovo and Bosnia, where U.N.-led administrations have been in place for years, Wolfowitz argued for a more rapid move toward self-government in Iraq and said the country is able to support it. "We want to see a situation where power and responsibility is transferred as quickly as possible to the Iraqis themselves," Wolfowitz said. While the United Nations can be a "partner" in that effort, he said, "it can't be the managing partner; it can't be in charge."

The United Nations, meanwhile, continued to press U.S. and British forces to move quickly to restore law and order in Iraq. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the military has "a responsibility for the welfare of the people. We have seen scenes of looting, and obviously law and order must be a major concern."

The unrest is severely limiting the delivery of essential supplies to hospitals and communities, according to international aid agencies. Until roads and neighborhoods are safer, officials said, the large-scale deliveries promised by the Bush administration cannot begin, nor would nongovernmental groups be willing to enter the country.

In the meantime, water is scarce and electricity is limited. Family food rations, which Iraqis had accumulated before the war, are declining, although aid specialists said the food situation has not reached the point of crisis.

Senior U.S. defense officials said it is far too early to tell how many U.S. and allied troops would be necessary to stabilize Iraq or how long they would have to remain. But they acknowledged that securing key facilities and transportation routes and providing protection for the Iraqi people would soon become critical.

"The end result of that has to be a safe and secure environment so that life can get on for the Iraqi people," said Army Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We have got to be able to secure certain things so that they can get around and do what it is people have to do in a city just to live a life. And that will take some time."

As the fighting in Iraq subsides, tens of thousands of additional Army troops will continue to move into the country. Members of the 4th Infantry Division and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment are due to move north into Iraq from Kuwait soon. Next in line is the 1st Armored Division in Germany and possibly the 1st Cavalry Division in Texas.

These additional soldiers would raise the total number of ground forces in Iraq to levels approaching 200,000, which some Pentagon officials have said may be necessary to establish security, restore basic services and continue hunting down the remnants of the fallen Iraqi government.

The likely size of the postwar force has been a subject of dispute within the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, has predicted that several hundred thousand troops will be needed, while Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have suggested that a much smaller number is more probable. "There's been no hard and fast decision on numbers," a Pentagon official said. "It's going to be condition-dependent."

In his congressional testimony, Wolfowitz provided new details for what he called "town meetings" across Iraq that are intended to help identify new Iraqi leaders who could work with U.S. authorities and begin a lengthy process of establishing democratic rule.

His remarks provided the most specific picture so far of just how U.S. officials intend to restore a measure of stability and initiate a new process of self-rule. He said a meeting planned for next week in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah with a broad range of Iraqis is meant to start a "rolling dialogue" that would "define issues" and enable Iraqis to get a sense of "who are the people that can articulate positions well, who seem to speak for more than just themselves."

The meetings will be hosted by Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and will be organized in partnership with Britain, Australia and Poland, the other countries with substantial ground forces in the country. U.N. officials will be invited as observers, Wolfowitz said, although a U.N. spokesman said yesterday that the organization will not be sending a representative because the Security Council has yet to decide the United Nations' future role in Iraq.

The first meeting will involve Iraqi exile leaders and 40 Iraqis from within the country who have been identified by the CIA over the past six months as ethnic, religious or civic leaders, U.S. officials said. All of the participants have received invitations from Franks.

"The only criterion is that, to come to this, you need to have a commitment to a free and democratic Iraq and not be a Baathist killer," Wolfowitz said, referring to the Baath Party that was the foundation of Saddam Hussein's rule.

Eventually, U.S. officials hope the process will lead to a consensus on how to set up an interim authority that can serve as a bridge to a more permanent government by setting up local elections and organizing a constitutional convention. But Wolfowitz indicated that despite months of planning, the administration is still largely feeling its way along and has been caught off guard by the speed at which Hussein's government collapsed. "It's a process more than a blueprint," he said.

Wolfowitz also offered new specifics about the group set up by the Pentagon -- called the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance -- to supervise humanitarian aid and begin the restoration of such basic needs as water, electrical power and medical care. Headed by retired Lt. Gen. Jay M. Garner, the group was designed to mirror the structure of Iraqi government ministries, Wolfowitz said.

He said some ministries -- presumably those most closely associated with Hussein's security services -- will have to be dismantled. But most, he suggested, are likely to require substantially less change. Wolfowitz said Iraqi Americans may be appointed to head some of the ministries early on.

"Eventually, you would have all of the ministries reporting directly to the Iraqi interim authority and run by Iraqis," with Garner's office playing an increasingly advisory role, he said.

Staff writers Paul Blustein and Peter Slevin contributed to this report.

 

 


 

 

The moral decline of a superpower
Günter Grass Tribune Media Services international
 
Friday, April 11, 2003
Preemptive war
 
BEHLENDORF, Germany A war long sought and planned is now under way. All deliberations and warnings of the United Nations notwithstanding, an overpowering military apparatus has attacked preemptively in violation of international law. No objections were heeded. The Security Council was disdained and scorned as irrelevant. As the bombs fall and the battle for Baghdad continues, the law of might prevails.
.
Based on this injustice, the mighty have the power to buy and reward those who might be willing and to disdain and even punish the unwilling. The words of the current American president - "Those who are not with us are against us" - weigh on current events with the resonance of barbaric times.
.
It is hardly surprising that the rhetoric of the aggressor increasingly resembles that of his enemy. Religious fundamentalism leads both sides to abuse what belongs to all religions, taking the notion of God hostage in accordance with their own fanatical understanding. Even the passionate warnings of the Pope, who knows how lasting and devastating the disasters wrought by the mentality and actions of Christian crusaders have been, were unsuccessful.
.
Disturbed and powerless, but also filled with anger, we are witnessing the moral decline of the world's only superpower, burdened by the knowledge that only one consequence of this organized madness is certain: Motivation for more terrorism is being provided, for more violence and counterviolence. Is this really the United States of America, the country we fondly remember? The generous benefactor of the Marshall Plan? The forbearing instructor in the lessons of democracy? The candid self-critic? The country that once made use of the teachings of the European Enlightenment to throw off its colonial masters and to provide itself with an exemplary constitution? Is this the country that made freedom of speech an incontrovertible human right?
.
It is not just foreigners who cringe as this ideal pales to the point where it is now a caricature of itself. There are many Americans who love their country too, people who are horrified by the betrayal of their founding values and by the hubris of those holding the power. I stand with them. By their side, I declare myself pro-American. I protest with them against the brutalities brought about by the injustice of the mighty, against all restrictions of the freedom of expression, against information control reminiscent of the practices of totalitarian states and against the cynical equations that make the deaths of so many innocents acceptable so long as economic and political interests are protected.
.
No, it is not anti-Americanism that is damaging the image of the United States; nor do the dictator Saddam Hussein and his extensively disarmed country endanger the most powerful country in the world.
It is President Bush and his government that are diminishing democratic values, bringing sure disaster to their own country, ignoring the United Nations, and that are now terrifying the world with a war in violation of international law.
.
We Germans are often asked if we are proud of our country. To answer this question has always been a burden. There were reasons for our doubts. But now I can say that the rejection of this preemptive war by a majority in my country has made me proud of Germany. After having been largely responsible for two world wars and their criminal consequences, we have made a difficult step. We seem to have learned from history.
.
The Federal Republic of Germany has been a sovereign country since 1990. Our government made use of this sovereignty by having the courage to object to those allied in this cause, the courage to protect Germany from a step back to a kind of adolescent behavior.
I thank Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, for their fortitude in spite of all the attacks and accusations.
.
Many people find themselves in a state of despair these days, and with good reason. Yet we must not let our voices, our No to war and Yes to peace, be silenced. What has happened? The stone that we pushed to the peak is once again at the foot of the mountain. But we must push it back up, even with the knowledge that we can expect it to roll back down again.
.
Günter Grass was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize for literature. This comment was translated from German by Daniel Slager and distributed by Global Viewpoint for Tribune Media Services International.

 

 


 

 

-- BREAKING NEWS AND COMMENTARY--
Links to these and other stories are found on our website at:
http://legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news 
 

Saddam Hussein key in early CIA plot --U.S. forces in Baghdad might now be searching high and low for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but in the past Saddam was seen by U.S. intelligence services as a bulwark of anti-communism and they used him as their instrument for more than 40 years, according to former U.S. intelligence diplomats and intelligence officials.

Dictatorship Hawks Want More Regime Changes --A loose-knit [loose-brained] group, whose core includes Vice pResident Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, sees the war in Iraq as a model for the world's lone superpower. Some regime supporters are already proclaiming the birth of a new historical period and suggesting that regime change in Iraq could be followed soon by Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Sony leads charge to cash in on Iraq --Japanese electronics giant Sony has taken an extraordinary step to cash in on the war in Iraq by patenting the term "Shock and Awe" for a computer game.[OMG! BushMaggots are *everywhere*!! --Lori Price]

Iraqis Storm Embassy in Tehran, but Still Hate U.S. --Iraqis stormed their embassy in the Iranian capital on Friday, tearing down photographs of Saddam Hussein but also chanting "Death to America."

Iraqis happy to see Saddam go, now waiting for Americans to leave --Local leaders were adamant when the U.S. Marines came into this eastern city: They didn't want to see U.S. flags, didn't want Iraqi flags torn down and didn't want soldiers interacting with their women at checkpoints.

US accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques --Fears that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level meeting with the US regime.

Rumsfeld on looting in Iraq: 'Stuff happens' --Declaring that freedom is "untidy," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the looting in Iraq was a result of "pent-up feelings" of oppression and that it would subside as Iraqis adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein. Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.

Americans, Iraqis 'Haul Away Spoils of War' [i.e., Loot] --From palace ashtrays and pillows to jeeps and a grand piano, the spoils of war are flying fast in Iraq. Civilians have plundered with little fear of retribution and some U.S. soldiers have helped themselves to battlefield souvenirs ["helped themselves to battlefield souvenirs" --LOL, a euphemism for "looted" --Lori Price] — a practice that could land them in trouble.

Looters at work (photo) In Baghdad, U.S.-U.K. invaders even took arms from the police station.

Killing a child: 'I did what I had to do' --When a young Iraqi boy stooped to pick up a rocket propelled grenade off the body of a dead paramilitary, US Army Private Nick Boggs made his decision. He unloaded machinegun fire and the boy, whom he puts at about 10 years old, fell dead on a garbage-strewn stretch of waste land at Karbala...

Dead and injured in arsenal explosion --Many Iraqi civilians and a US tank crew died today when a huge explosion destroyed around twenty houses in Baghdad, Al Jazeera channel reported.

Shi'ite Group to Boycott U.S. Talks on Iraq --The main Iraqi Shi'ite opposition group said on Wednesday it would boycott a political meeting the United States is trying to arrange in southern Iraq next week because of the U.S. military presence.

Shi'ite Protesters Storm Iraq's Embassy in Tehran --Dozens of supporters of Iraq's main Shi'ite Muslim opposition stormed the Iraqi embassy in the Iranian capital, tearing down photographs of Saddam Hussein and shouting "Death to America" on Friday, witnesses said.

US Proposed Iraqi Ruler a Convicted Felon --by Erik P Sorensen "Ahmad Chalabi is the darling of the neoconservatives. He is the anointed leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the CIA construction designed to cabal together Iraqi expatriates and considered to be a leading candidate to be imposed as the US selected leader of Iraq."

Pelosi stands by vote against Iraq war --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said it was still right to oppose granting Dictator Bush the authority to use force to disarm Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

American Flag Flap --Stars and Stripes on Saddam’s Doomed Statue Strikes a Sensitive Chord --It took Cpl. Edward Chin just seconds to hang an Amerikan flag on the head of Saddam Hussein's statue in central Baghdad, but it's a move that's likely to be debated for years to come.

Who's next for global vigilante? --by Gwynee Dyer "So where is the next war? ...the next phase of the drama is already taking shape offstage and is likely to be more painful and difficult for the United States than simply smashing up a Third World army."

Iraq is a trial run Noam Chomsky interviewed by Frontline, by Noam Chomsky and VK Ramachandran, --Frontline India April 02, 2003. "I cannot think of another case where hatred and contempt for democracy have so openly been proclaimed, not just by the government, but also by liberal commentators and others." [Neither can we, Noam.]

Lawmakers Move to Curb Bush's War Funds --Control Congressional negotiators scrambling to send Dictator Bush a nearly $80 billion package to finance the war in Iraq agreed on Friday to curb his free use of an emergency war fund.

Producer Is a Casualty in CBS's 'Hitler' Miniseries --Ed Gernon, longtime head of the movie and miniseries division of Canadian-based production company Alliance Atlantis, was let go because of an interview he gave regarding CBS's May sweeps miniseries Hitler: The Rise of Evil. ...Gernon is quoted as saying of the miniseries, which tracks Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Germany: "It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole world into war. I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now," Gernon tells the upcoming TV Guide that he, [actress Julianna] Margulies and director Christian Duguay believe it's a good idea to look at the Bush White House through the prism of . . . Germany's genocidal psychopath." [Call, write, and scream at Alliance Atlantis for their FASCIST REPRESSION OF LEGITIMATE OPINION, a la McCarthyism!!!! Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. Corporate Offices Toronto, ON M4X1J9 (416) 967-0022 (416) 967-8061 (fax) television@allianceatlantis.com; investor@allianceatlantis.com]

The Fall of 'Hitler' Producer --Gernon fired from miniseries after comparing war push to Nazism --The company behind the four-hour biopic has dropped one of the program's top producers after he compared the Bush dictatorship's pre-emptive strike policy on Iraq with the rise of Nazism. [If the comparison was absurd, why the uproar? LOL. --Lori Price]

Lest We Forget --by Laurie Manis "The Nazis glorified Germany and its people, claiming that other nationalities were inferior. It promised to build a harmonious, orderly and prosperous society for the Germans. Instead it brought terrorism, war and mass murder."

Rightwing protesters attack Garofalo show --Will another anti-war celeb take a career hit? Bush supporters have been deluging ABC with calls and e-mails, complaining about a sitcom the network has in development starring outspoken war protester Janeane Garofalo. The pro-war protesters are threatening to organize a major campaign against ABC, including a boycott of advertisers, if the network airs the show.

The high cost of Bush-bashing --Janeane Garofalo's relentless bashing of Dictator Bush just might have doomed her new ABC sitcom, Slice O'Life. ABC has been deluged with calls and e-mails from viewers threatening to boycott the network and its advertisers if the sitcom gets on the schedule. The war ''is a manufactured conflict for the sake of geopolitical dominance,'' Garofalo declared to the Washington Post in January, in one of her many outbursts against the Idiot Usurping Lying Dictatorial Weasel, "I refuse to allow my government and the mainstream media to bully me into accepting a war that is immoral and illegal."

March, street theater take on FBI, Patriot Act --Area residents disturbed by what they call an erosion of civil liberties in the United States marched to the place where many of their grievances were rooted: the local FBI office.

Citizens protest USA Patriot Act --"Stand up, we've had enough!" and "2-4-6-8, we don't want your police state!" echoed between buildings Wednesday evening as about 200 students and residents marched from the Bloomington Courthouse to the local FBI office.

Disabled protesters are arrested next to governor's office (TX) Six protesters were arrested Thursday on charges of misdemeanor criminal trespass after they refused to leave the governor's reception room.

The Who's Who Of Traitors --by Mary MacElveen "I came across probably what is one of the most dangerous web sites that is an affront to the very democracy we are trying to protect. Some even question if there is still one left, and I do as well. Especially, when millions in this country protested the war in Iraq, and it fell on deaf ears at the highest levels of what used to be our government. Basically, this web site states that if you are not behind George W. Bush, then you are a traitor..." http://www.legitgov.org/essay_macelveen_whos_who_of_traitors_041103.html

Tests point to domestic source behind anthrax letter attacks Army reproductions hurt theories of foreign culprit --Army scientists have reproduced the anthrax powder used in the 2001 mail attacks and concluded that it was made using simple methods, inexpensive equipment and limited expertise, according to government sources familiar with the work.

Lubbock Professor Indicted On Missing Plague Charges --A Texas Tech professor is facing a long list of federal charges after erroneously reporting vials of bubonic plague missing from a university lab.

Ex-FBI Agent Faces Charges in Spy Case --If the FBI is right, one of its own agents carried on an affair with a prominent Republican activist who happened to be a Chinese double agent.

House Approves $2.27 Trillion Budget for 2004 --A budget endorsing up to $550 billion in tax cuts through 2013 passed narrowly in the House early Friday, and seemed on its way to Senate passage with the expected support of a pivotal moderate.

House Endorses Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge, Rejects Fuel Economy Measure --The House on Thursday night endorsed oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge, setting up a likely confrontation with the Senate as Congress struggles to produce a comprehensive energy policy.

House passes pro-development energy bill --The House approved sweeping incentives Friday for oil and gas production, including a green light for drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge, despite complaints that the legislation gives too much to energy companies and does little to promote conservation.

TV Commercial Blasts Citigroup for Environmental Destruction --A new TV commercial blasting Citigroup for funding environmental destruction is airing in New York beginning this week. The ad by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) features celebrities cutting up Citi credit cards and shows graphic footage representing the environmental destruction caused by Citi’s unethical lending practices.

Digging Howard Dean Overflow Crowd Supports 2004 Prez Candidate --The next American presidential election is 19 months away. But--at least in antiwar, tech-savvy Seattle--one Democratic candidate is already drawing enthusiastic support.

Guidelines for Hatemail (humor) --by Carol Schiffler "Because we are growing weary of deleting mail from the inbred and clueless, we feel it has become necessary to lay down a few rules for those who feel compelled to send us the inane musings of their last, festering brain cell."

[April 10 lead stories:] Michael Rectenwald* responds to a CLG visitor who exclaims, "u left wing dickheads are such idiots" *Lori Price chimes in, too! http://www.legitgov.org/mike_lori_replyto_u_leftwing_idiots_041003.html

After Iraq, rogue nations won't be spared: Hoon --If you thought the war on Iraq is over, wait. This could be just the first of many more to come. British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has said that pre-emptive military strikes against rogue nations that sponsor terrorism are likely to become more common... With the future of the UN under threat already, an Anglo-American military axis is now seen as emerging, with the attack on Iraq as only its first venture.

Hawks in U.S. Eyeing Syria As Next Target --Debating its threat to region --With victory in Iraq assured, hawks outside and inside the Bush dictatorship have begun taking a notably aggressive stance toward its neighbor to the west, Syria.

April 12: March on Washington Stop the W-ar on Iraq! Gather at 12 Noon --March on the White House --Joint Action in SF & LA

Links to above stories and more articles are found on our website at:
http://legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news 

 

 


 

 

Arab American News Focus

Arab American Institute

 

Two Pakistani Men Released
This week a federal judge released two Pakistan nationals who were being held on immigration charges and whom federal authorities claimed had ties to terrorism. Citing a lack of convincing evidence presented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States District Court Judge Lewis Babcock ruled that the two men, Irfan Kamran and Sajjad Naseer, who had been living in Denver, Colorado when they were arrested, posed no threat and should be released. According to a Washington Post article on Wednesday, "Babcock noted that much of the evidence that prosecutors cited in arguing that the defendants were involved with terrorism came from statements the two men made in voluntary interviews with the FBI. Babcock also displayed skepticism when the prosecution introduced information provided by 'a confidential source.' When the judge asked from the bench whether the source was reliable, an FBI witness replied that this, too, was classified information." Of course. Isn't everything classified these days? Federal prosecutors are considering an appeal of Judge Babcock's ruling.


American Activist Hurt in Occupied Territories
An American peace activist has been severely hurt in the Occupied Territories. Twenty-four year old Brian Avery of Albuquerque, New Mexico left his apartment building in the devastated Palestinian city of Jenin to investigate sounds of gunfire. At the same time an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) armored personnel carrier came onto Avery's street. Then, according to fellow activist Tobias Karlsson, a Swede, who was with Avery, "We had our hands up and we were wearing vests that clearly identified us as international workers when they began firing. Brian was shot in the face, and it looks like he was hit by a heavy caliber bullet because of the extent of the wound." Avery was then taken to a Jenin hospital, but has since been transferred to an Israeli facility. The IDF claims that the bullet that hit Avery could have been either Israeli or Palestinian, as there was a firefight going on in the area. "The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and our Jerusalem consulate are now following up to find out what happened as well as confirm the identity and determine the welfare of the individual," said State Department spokesperson Lou Fintor.


Troubling Bill in Florida Legislature
Once again, the Florida House of Representatives is considering a bill that would eliminate state funds for students who come from countries that allegedly support terrorism. Last year, the Arab American Institute (AAI) helped defeat an identical measure. This year's version of the legislation recently, though narrowly, passed the Florida House's Education Committee. The proposal, sponsored by Representative Dick Kravitz, (R-Orange Park), would stop funds from going to students from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, and the Sudan as well as to Cubans who are not eligible for residency. "It sends the wrong message," said Representative Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood). "These students go back home and lead the revolution for America - it begins here." The bill's sponsor argued that there were no racist undertones to the legislation. "I spent two years with a Muslim family. I ate their food and lived with them. The only thing I regret is I didn't get to date one of their women." That's right folks, he actually said that...the struggle continues.


New Mexico House of Representatives Pass Civil Liberties Bill
Last month New Mexico's House of Representatives passed "A Joint Memorial Affirming Civil Rights and Liberties; Declaring Opposition to Federal Measures that Infringe on Civil Liberties," which expresses strong support for "fundamental constitutional rights and its opposition to federal measures that infringe on these rights and liberties" and "the rights of immigrants." It also opposes "measures that single out individuals for legal scrutiny or enforcement activity based on their country of origin." For full text of the bill, please go to http://legis.state.nm.us/session03.asp?chamber=H&type=JM&number=40&Submit=Search


Congressman Submits Resolution Condemning Syria and Russia on Iraq
Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) has introduced H.Con. Res 133, a resolution in the House of Representatives "Expressing the concern of Congress over Russian and Syrian actions in support of Iraq."  The resolution calls the government of Syria to task for its alleged transfer of military equipment to Iraq during the recent conflict as well as for allegedly allowing pro-Hussein fighters cross its border into Iraq. It also condemns the Russian Federation for failing to stop Russian firms from supplying the Hussein regime. The resolution has been referred to the House Committee on International Relations.

 
Of Note
 - Save the Date! The national office of the ACLU is pleased to announce a national training conference for lawyers on new strategies to advance human rights struggles in the United States.  The conference will familiarize lawyers and advocates with international human rights treaties, laws and organizing strategies that can strengthen domestic social justice work. For a preliminary program schedule, see http://www.aclu.org/humanrightsconference.


Don't forget the...

Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

This year we are honoring Amnesty International USA, Mercy Corps, MTV, former UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson, and prominent journalist Helen Thomas for their commitment to promoting co-existence, fairness, inclusion, and human rights.

Speakers include Senator Edward M. Kennedy and representatives from the White House and the Senate leadership. The dinner program includes appearances by human rights advocate Bianca Jagger; actress Wendie Malick, star of the hit TV series "Just Shoot Me"; and comedy performances by "The Arabian Knights," Ahmed Ahmed and Aron Kader.

Even if you can't join us in Washington, you can still make a difference in our efforts. Renew your AAI membership today, or make a donation - just click "Join AAI <http://www.aaiusa.org/join_now.htm>" on our website. And on the site, you'll find more information about the work on issues, elections, community building and more that your contribution allows us to do.

Order your tickets online <https://secure.aaiusa.org/gibran03_tickets.htm>!

Or contact Karim Shaaban at kshaaban@aaiusa.org <mailto:kshaaban@aaiusa.org> or (202) 429-9210 for tickets or more information

 


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