• Alliierte beschädigten Ruinen von Babylon
• Collective Punishment
• From Afghanistan to Iraq: Transplanting CIA Engineered Terrorism
• Falling like Flies 53 Iraqi Parties Withdraw from Elections
• Electoral Lists
• Bush's Grand Plan: Incite Civil War
• Recruiting voters is another deception
• The Tsunami of Iraq
• Ancient Babylon site wrecked by US-led forces: British Museum
• Report: US forces damaged Babylon
• Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 15 January 2005.

Alliierte beschädigten Ruinen von Babylon

Nach ihrem Einmarsch in Bagdad hatten die Koalitionstruppen tatenlos zugesehen, wie Plünderer wertvolle Kulturschätze aus den Museen raubten. Lehren haben sie daraus offenbar nicht gezogen: Britischen Archäologen zufolge haben sie schwere Schäden an den antiken Stätten der Stadt Babylon angerichtet.

London - "Das ist in etwa so, als wenn man ein Militärlager um die großen Pyramiden von Ägypten oder um Stonehenge in Großbritannien einrichten würde", schreibt John Curtis, Konservator des Britischen Museums, in dem Bericht, der am Samstag auszugsweise von der Londoner Zeitung "The Guardian" veröffentlicht wurde. Ein US-Militärsprecher in Bagdad sagte dagegen, die Soldaten ließen große Sorgfalt walten. Möglicherweise würden einige Einheiten aber demnächst verlegt, um die Ruinen von Babylon zu bewahren.

Das Lager war im April 2003 eingerichtet worden, um Babylon vor Räubern und Vandalen zu schützen. Der Bericht kritisiert jedoch die Entscheidung, sich nicht auf eine Bewachung des Ausgrabungsortes zu beschränken, sondern in seiner unmittelbaren Nähe ein ausgedehntes Lager aufzubauen. Nach Beobachtungen von Curtis sind unter anderem die Drachen des berühmten Ischtartors beschädigt, weil jemand versucht hat, Ziegelsteine heraus zu brechen. Der Belag der 2600 Jahre alten Prozessionsroute durch das Tor sei durch Militärfahrzeuge aufgerissen.

Noch nicht erschlossene Stellen der Ausgrabungsstätte seien mit abgelassenem Benzin aus Panzern verseucht oder unter abgeladenem Schotter begraben. Zahllose archäologische Fragmente seien von den Soldaten zusammen mit Erdreich in Tausende von Sandsäcken abgefüllt worden.

Seine Untersuchung könne keineswegs als vollständig betrachtet werden, schrieb Curtis. Vielmehr sei eine größere, internationale Untersuchung nötig, um alle Schäden festzustellen. Es müssten auch internationale Mittel bereitgestellt werden, um die Denkmäler wieder herzustellen. Die Iraker allein könnten das nicht leisten, sagte der Experte dem "Guardian". Der Zeitung zufolge soll Babylon an diesem Samstag wieder dem irakischen Kulturministerium unterstellt werden.

Lord Redesdale, der Vorsitzende einer parteiübergreifenden archäologischen Gruppe des britischen Parlaments, sagte: "Empörung ist kaum das richtige Wort, das ist einfach entsetzlich. Was die amerikanischen Soldaten da tun, schadet nicht nur der Archäologie des Iraks, sondern beschädigt das kulturelle Erbe der ganzen Welt."

Babylon war eine der ersten Großstädte der menschlichen Zivilisation und gelangte vor 2600 Jahren unter Nebukadnezar zu Weltruhm. Er errichtete unter anderem die Hängenden Gärten, eines der sieben Weltwunder. Nach der Eroberung durch die Perser im Jahr 538 vor Christus versank die Stadt jedoch in die Bedeutungslosigkeit, bei Ausgrabungen im 19. Jahrhundert wurden nur noch die Fundamente der einst mächtigen Bauten gefunden.

15. Januar 2005

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,337008,00.html

• * *

Collective Punishment

January 14, 2005

It's not a new tactic here in Iraq. The US military has been doing it for well over a year now. Last January 3rd, in the Al-Dora rural region on the outskirts of Baghdad, where beautiful farms of date palms and orange trees line the banks of the Tigris, I visited a farm where occupation forces had lobbed several mortars.

The military claimed they had been attacked by fighters in the area, while the locals denied any knowledge of harboring resistance fighters.

Standing in a field full of unexploded mortar rounds a farmer explained, "We don't know why they bomb our house and our fields. We have never resisted the Americans. There are foreign fighters who have passed through here, and I think this is who they want. But why are they bombing us?"

At that time U.S. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told reporters that Operation Iron Grip in this area sends "a very clear message to anybody who thinks that they can run around Baghdad without worrying about the consequences of firing RPG's, firing mortars. There is a capability in the air that can quickly respond against anybody who would want to harm Iraqi citizens or coalition forces."

I counted 9 small tails of the mortar rounds sticking into the air in this small section of the field.

I asked if the family had requested that the Americans come remove the unexploded ordnance.

Mr. Shakr, with a very troubled look told me, "We asked them the first time and they said 'OK, we'll come take care of it.' But they never came. We asked them the second time and they told us they would not remove them until we gave them a resistance fighter. They told us, 'If you won't give us a resistance fighter, we are not coming to remove the bombs.'"

He holds his hands in the air and said, "But we don't know any resistance fighters!"

Also last winter I also reported on home demolitions in Samarra by the military. The consistent pattern then was that anytime an attack occurred against occupation forces, nearby homes/buildings/ fields were then raided or destroyed by the military, along with complimentary electricity cuts for the villages and/or cities.

That pattern appears to remain the same, as I found today in another visit to the al-Dora region of Baghdad.

Seven weeks ago, after having suffered many attacks by the Iraqi resistance in the area, the military began plowing date palm orchards, blasted a gas station with a tank, cut the electricity which is still down, and blocking roads in the rural farming area.

As we drove deep into the rural farming area along a thin, winding road which parallels the Tigris River, a wolf trots across the road. Rounding a bend I saw a large swath of date palms which had been bulldozed to the ground. Large piles of them had been pushed together, doused with fuel, and burned.

"The Americans were attacked from this field, then they returned and started plowing down all the trees," explains Kareem, a local mechanic, "None of us knows any fighters and we all know they are coming here from other areas to attack the Americans, but we are the people who suffer from this."

Across the way are other piles of scorched date palms.

Mohammed, a 15 year-old secondary school student stands near his home explaining what he saw. "There is a grave of an old woman they bulldozed," and then he points to the nearby road, "They destroyed our fences, and now there are wolves attacking our animals, they destroyed much of our farming equipment, and the worst is they cut our electricity."

"They come by here every night and fire their weapons to frighten us," he explains while pointing out an MRE on the ground, left from some soldiers who used the bulldozers.

"But we need electricity to run our pumps to irrigate our farms," added Mohammed, "And now we are carrying water in buckets from the river instead and this is very difficult for us. They say they are going to make things better for us, but they are worse. Saddam was better than this, even though he executed three of my relatives."

His mother, Um Raed, cannot stop talking about the electricity.

"If there are bombs why do they attack our homes," she pleads, "Why don't they follow the people who attack them? Why do they come to our family? All we need now is electricity so we can run our water pumps. I don't need my house, but we need water. This is our planting season."

Ihsan, a 17 year-old student, joins the conversation near the bulldozed orchard. "I was beaten by the Americans," he explains, "They asked me who attacked them and I do not know. My home was raided, our furniture destroyed, and one of my uncles was arrested."

Um Raed is asking him to talk about the electricity some more, but then adds, "Yesterday at 5:30pm they came here and fired their weapons for 15 minutes randomly before they left."

I glance at the ground and see the casing of a 50 caliber bullet while she is speaking, "Nobody attacked them. Why are they doing this? We told them to come and search but they didn't. They just shot their guns and left."

She holds her arms in the air and pleads, "Please, please, we must have electricity. They destroyed two of our pumps and threw them in the river!"

A 20 year-old farmer sees us talking and walks up to us. "For almost the last 2 months, since they plowed these fields, we have had no electricity. "How can I irrigate my fields without pumps," asks Khalid, "With no electricity there is no water. They come here every evening and fire their weapons, and now my house has no glass in the windows."

I glance over at Um Raed's home, which has bullet pock marks in the wall.

"Every night they come on their patrols and shoot everywhere," added Khalid.

A 55 year-old blind farmer approaches us with his cane. He listens to the conversation then shares his experiences. "The problem now is no gas for our machines, then they shot our gas station with a tank," he says while his eyes look over my shoulder, "These trees are hundreds of years old and they cut them. Why?"

"They destroyed so many of our fences," he adds, "And now we have wolves attacking our animals. We are living on the food ration now, that is all. We only need to stop this hurting."

While others listening are nodding, he continues on, "Every night I hear them come and shoot. During the beginning, when they searched our houses they didn't steal. Now they steal from us. They didn't hurt us at the beginning, but now they are hurting us so much!"

We walk a little ways down the road and Ahmed, a 38 year-old farmer talks with us. He'd been detained during a home raid on August 13th, 2003.

"I don't know why I was arrested," he explained of his journey through the military detention system for 10 months, which found him experiencing treatment like having mock executions, being bound and having his head covered for days on end, and being held at a camp near Basra in the scorching summer temperatures.

"At that camp they hung a sign where we stated that said, The Zoo," he explained. He claims that his home and fields were searched and no weapons were found. His ten month detention included witnessing sexual humiliation of prisoners, and regular beatings.

"I watched black American soldiers put naked Iraqi women in a cell and then enter the cell," he explains, "I heard the screams as they soldiers raped the women."

Sheikh Hamed, a well dressed middle aged man approaches and suggests we move off the road in case a patrol comes through and begins shooting again.

After moving off the road he says, "These are our grandfathers' orchards. Neither the British nor Saddam behaved like this. This is our history. When they cut a tree it is like they are killing one of our family."

He says three of his cousins were executed by Saddam Hussein's regime before adding, "We don't want this freedom of the Americans. They are raiding our homes and terrorizing us at anytime. We are living in terror. They shoot and bomb here everyday. We have sent our families to live elsewhere."

We are told the road is blocked, so we drive a little further along the Tigris to see four large concrete blocks rising out of a deep hole blasted in the road.

One of the men with us tells us that at the same time the date palm orchards were destroyed the road was blocked by first the military blasting it, then placing smaller concrete barriers.

People grew weary of walking to their homes from the roadblock, so farm tractors were used to pull the blocks and reopen the road. Yesterday the military brought larger barriers and the road is sealed yet again.

An 80 year old man carrying several bags of food gingerly makes his way through the barrier then shuffles on down the road towards his home.

Hamoud Abid, a 50 year-old cheery farmer meets us just past the roadblock and I ask him what the soldiers told him about the roadblock.

"They humiliate us when we talk to them," he says, "They would not tell us when they will remove these blocks, so we are all walking now."

He says the soldiers used to come ask him to search his fields and he would allow it, and give them oranges while they searched. "They searched them 10 times and never found anything, of course," he explains, "But they came last time more recently and caused destruction to my wall. They were starting to knock over my trees when a tread fell off their bulldozer, so they left."

But just before leaving, they destroyed his front gate and left a block of concrete as a calling card.

We begin to leave and Hamoud, despite this horrendous situation cheerily says, "You should stay. I will grill fish, and you can stay the night in my home."

We decline and he insists we at least stay for lunch or chai, but we must be going.

As we drive back out the small, winding road two patrols of three Humvees each rumble past us headed towards where we'd just come from. Just after that two helicopters rumble low overhead towards the same area.

I just phoned the military press office in Baghdad and asked them if they can provide me information on why they are blocking roads, firing weapons, plowing down date palm groves, and cutting electricity in the Al-Arab Jubour Village in Al-Dora, as several of the residents there claim.

The spokesman, who won't give me his name, said he knew nothing about such things, but that there were ongoing security operations in the Al-Dora area.

Posted by Dahr_Jamail at January 14, 2005 07:19 PM

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000168.php#more

• * *

From Afghanistan to Iraq: Transplanting CIA Engineered Terrorism

Kurt Nimmo

January 14, 2005 - Like a lab technician experimenting on rodents and then writing a report about the result of the experimentation, the CIA's National Intelligence Council (NIC) has released a 119- page report about the terrorism it spent billions creating and unleashing on the world. Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," David B. Low, national intelligence officer for transnational threats, tells Dana Priest of the Washington Post. "Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of 'professionalized' terrorists," Priest summarizes
( www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A7460-2005Jan13?language=printer

Notice the omission--or maybe it is a case of amnesia, although unlikely--of how the CIA is responsible for the "professionalized" terrorists operating in Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq. Both Robert Gates, former CIA director, and Zbigniew Brezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, admit this. Brezinski ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski#Afghanistan ) even bragged about it to a French newspaper, Nouvel Observateur, a few years back. The Afghan Mujaheddin--and Osama bin Laden's so-called al-Qaeda--were created by the CIA, Pakistan's ISI, and Britain's MI6. As Brzezinski told CNN in 1997, the U.S. collaborated "with the Saudis, the Egyptians, the British, the Chinese, and we started providing weapons to the Mujaheddin," ostensibly to get rid of the Soviets in Afghanistan (note that the U.S. began training and funding the Mujaheddin and what the Washington Post and other corporate newspapers would ultimately call "al-Qaeda" before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan). "The full story of the productive (sic) U.S.-China cooperation directed against the Soviet Union (especially in regard to Afghanistan), initiated by the Carter Administration and continued under Reagan, still remains to be told," Brzezinski wrote in his book, The Geostrategic Triad. Rest assured, it will not be told by the likes of the Washington Post.

Priest and Low do not mention this "cooperation," nor do they mention the fact that the Mujahideen cum al-Qaeda were put to use elsewhere after the Soviets fled Afghanistan. "Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network has been active in the Balkans for years, most recently helping Kosovo rebels battle for independence from Serbia with the financial and military backing of the United States and NATO," Isabel Vincent wrote for the National Post, a fact apparently confirmed by an FBI document. "The arrival in the Balkans of the socalled Afghan Arabs, who are from various Middle Eastern states and linked to al-Qaeda, began in 1992 soon after the war in Bosnia." ( http://prisonplanet.com/us_supported_al_qaeda_cells_during_ balkan_wars.html )

In the years immediately before the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the al-Qaeda militants moved into Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, to help ethnic Albanian extremists of the KLA mount their terrorist campaign against Serb targets in the region ... The United States, which had originally trained the Afghan Arabs during the war in Afghanistan, supported them in Bosnia and then in Kosovo. When NATO forces launched their military campaign against Yugoslavia [in March, 1999] to unseat [Slobodan] Milosevic, they entered the Kosovo conflict on the side of the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army], which had already received "substantial" military and financial support from bin Laden's network, analysts say.

In other words, the United States was supporting al-Qaeda after the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in August, 1998, events attributed to al-Qaeda and thus, we are told, prompting Clinton to bomb "training camps" (constructed earlier by the CIA) in Afghanistan on August 20 of that same year. Remarkably, in a story published by Jerry Seper in the Washington Times, the bedfellow relationship between Clinton, Osama bin Laden, and the KLA was spelled out ( http://www.aim.org/publications/media_monitor/2001/09/28.html ):

Some members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which has financed its war effort through the sale of heroin, were trained in terrorist camps run by international fugitive Osama bin Laden, who is wanted in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 persons, including twelve Americans ... The KLA members, embraced by the Clinton administration in NATO's bombing campaign to bring Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the bargaining table, were trained in secret camps in Afghanistan... and elsewhere, according to newly obtained intelligence reports. ... The reports also show that the KLA has enlisted Islamic terrorists, members of the Mujahideen, as soldiers in its ongoing conflict against Serbia, and that many already have been smuggled into Kosovo to join the fight. ... The reports said bin Laden's organization, known as alQaeda, has both trained and financially supported the KLA.

Clinton and the Mad Bomber of Yugoslavia, General Wesley Clark--who the "liberal" Michael Moore wanted to be president--worked hand-inglove with the KLA, and thus al-Qaeda. "The Washington Post published a long article about bin Laden's worldwide activities, noting his presence in places like NATO- and U.N.-occupied Bosnia and Kosovo, but failed to point out that this has occurred under the watchful eye of the Clinton administration," write Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid for Accuracy in Media
( http://www.aim.org/publications/media_monitor/2001/09/28.html ). "The Post would rather not bring up that subject." Of course not--and they also "failed" to mention the well-documented connection between "Islamic terrorism" and United States foreign policy in the latest article citing the CIA lab report portraying Iraq as a terrorist incubator.

If Iraq is a "magnet for international terrorist activity," as NIC Chairman Robert L. Hutchings told the Post, it is not far off the mark to conclude it is a magnet useful for Strausscon foreign policy objectives, i.e., Bush's overblown "war on terrorism" that will last for generations, as promised by Dick Cheney and others. In fact, considering past behavior, detailed above, it is not far off the mark to conclude that what is going on in Iraq--an influx of "professionalized" terrorists, trained and sustained by the CIA in Afghanistan and Bosnia--is precisely what the "intelligence community," now firmly under control of the Bushcons with Porter Goss knocking heads together, want and have long strived for. After all, terrorism defines the CIA, Bush, and the entire foreign policy establishment. It is their raison d'être, their reason for existence.

Official history, as amplified by Priest and the Post, would have us believe Saddam was in cahoots with Osama, although even the Washington Post now adds a modifier to this outrageous and nonsensical claim-- a claim believed, contrary to reality, by millions, perhaps most Americans. "Before the U.S. invasion, the CIA said Saddam Hussein had only circumstantial ties with several al Qaeda members," writes Priest. "Osama bin Laden rejected the idea of forming an alliance with Hussein and viewed him as an enemy of the jihadist movement because the Iraqi leader rejected radical Islamic ideals and ran a secular government." Note here that it was Osama bin Laden's religious intransigence that prevented the "alliance," not the fact that Osama and Saddam had nothing in common--least of all attacking the United States--even though both worked at various times for the CIA. In the lead-up to Bush's illegal and immoral invasion, however, we were told Osama and Saddam were best of buddies, sharing Cuban cigars and plotting to kill American school children.

Bush and the CIA want to make darn sure Iraq becomes and remains the locus of terrorism for the foreseeable future. It has conveniently replaced Afghanistan as the epicenter of Islamic Evil, thus ensuring a long and profitable (for the death merchants, i.e., Lockheed Martin and Crew) "struggle" against the "dark vision" of terrorists, a generational conflict, as promised by our illustrious and criminal leaders. Like cockroaches, according to the NIC report, Islamic terrorists will spread ominously from Iraq to other destinations in the Middle East--the same destinations chalked up for destruction by the real terrorist "alliance," the Strausscons in Washington and their Likudite taskmasters in Israel--and thus perpetuate car bombings, beheadings, and other forms of chaos and mass murder, ad infinitum. Iraq, like Afghanistan before it, will serve as the breeding ground--never mind the soil of that breeding ground was fertilized and watered plentifully in Afghanistan by the United States. Pointing out such realities, at the Washington Post and elsewhere in the corporate media, is heretical and therefore must be omitted.

Most Americans are oblivious to this scam, although more and more of them are beginning to wise up to what the Strausscons and neolibs have in mind. Increasingly, Americans are beginning to demand an "exit strategy" in Iraq as the partially hidden pile of dead U.S. soldiers begins to pile up and the murderous outrageousness of the Iraqi resistance grows. In response, understanding the tolerance of the American public is wearing thin, the Strausscons are in the process of accelerating their agenda, calling for attacks against Syria, where we are told Ba'athist dead-enders hang out and plot doom and destruction with the solicitous consent of the Syrian government, and also against Iran, a nation we are consistently told harbors the desire to construct nukes and use them against us, or Israel anyway (for the Strausscons, there is little difference between America and Israel). For the Strausscons, time is of the essence, and thus this preposterous NIC report portraying Iraq as a breeding ground for terrorist cockroaches. It is but another piece of kindling thrown on the spreading fire the Strausscons and their Likduite masters plan to fan in the demented hope that it will ignite "World War IV," as they fondly call it.

Addendum

In a related article
( http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thes tar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1105656611223&call_pa ... ) on the NIC, buried in irrelevancies about the future of India's Bollywood movie industry and Korean pop stars, we learn the following: "[Robert Hutchings, NIC chairman] said this new [globalist or neolib] order will raise the stakes for Arab countries, which may join in globalization trends or experience further alienation and humiliation." In other words, get with the program, Arabs (and Iranians), or suffer "alienation and humiliation," shorthand for more invasions, bombings, killing of doctors, starvation, and likewise engineered chaos.

"While radical extremism will continue to grow, the report [the NIC's Project 2020] says Al Qaeda is expected to be superseded by similarly inspired, decentralized groups." More confirmation of what I said the other day ( http://kurtnimmo.com/blog/index.php?p=493 )-- al-Qaeda is now irrelevant, as Osama became irrelevant soon after 9/11, as Bush said repeatedly. Islamic "radical extremism" is now transnational, making it a rather vexatious nut to crack and thus a generational problem. It was designed to be this way.

It is re-run time, as the report states: "Our greatest concern is that terrorists might acquire biological agents or, less likely, a nuclear device, either of which could cause mass causalities." In short, booga-booga, be afraid, be very afraid, even though there is absolutely no evidence terrorists have devised biological weapons, that is unless they are mixing up cocktails from common household chemicals under their kitchen sinks.

Now that Porter Goss, Bush's Boy Friday, is in control of the CIA, we can expect more such "reports" and reading of tea leaves. Increasingly, the non-threat of terrorism against average Americans-- in other words, resistance to neocon-neolib globalism--will float to the surface of the corporate news cesspool, replete with vague warnings of gloom and doom that will never come to pass because the "terrorists" will not attack the United States, at least not attack the Land of the Formerly Free and Brave directly. It should be obvious to anybody with more than two brain cells to rub together what is going on: the Bushcons, the fanatics over at the Pentagon, and their slavish pundits in the corporate media are mythologizing the "threat" of "radical extremism," in other words resistance to globalization and, more pertinently in the Middle East, the on-track plan for Greater Israel.

Expect more propaganda. Maybe even expect another "terrorist event" in America to drive the point home and get the American people back to where they were after September 11, 2001. Remember, the Strausscons need your undivided attention--not to mention your money and the lives of your sons and daughters.

Article nr. 8865 sent on 14-jan-2005 23:33 ECT

The address of this page is : www.uruknet.info?p=8865

The original address of this article is :
kurtnimmo.com/blog/index.php?p=495

• * *

                       Falling like Flies
            53 Iraqi Parties Withdraw from Elections

Xinhuanet reports that:

'According to the Al Furat newspaper, 53 political parties and organizations as well as 30 individuals have asked their names to be dropped from the election lists in a bid to show their rejection of elections under US occupation.'

There had been 105 parties and individuals, and 6 coalitions, participating in the elections. There were only about 30 individuals running as independents, and it appears that they have all now withdrawn. And half of the registered parties have also withdrawn, if al-Furat is correct. The individuals mostly never had a chance, since voters only get one vote, and few would have wasted it on a single individual when they could vote for an entire party list. So their withdrawal may in part simply reflect a realistic assessment of their chances. But parties at least had the potential of gaining a seat or a few seats, and their withdrawals are serious.
www.juancole.com/2005/01/electoral-lists-kind-person-in-baghdad.html

The same news service says that among those withdrawing is The Patriotic Front for Iraqi Tribes, a Sunni Arab party. The party, which groups 40 major tribes, said that the security situation had to improve before elections could be held. Xinhuanet said that it was also protesting the arrest of Shaikh Hasan Zaidan Khalaf al-Lahibi last week. He plays a role in uniting the tribes, and has his own party.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat says that, as well, Shaikh Hasan's own party, the National Front for Iraqi Unity, has withdrawn from the election to protest his recent arrest. (This party is no. 101 on the list given here Wednesday of slates). At the Babil Hotel in Baghdad, a party official announcing the withdrawal complained that the Americans seemed uninterested in protecting candidates, and complained that the security situation made elections difficult at this time.

Al-Zaman reports that the large and powerful Dulaim tribe of Western Iraq has issued a statement condemning the killing by US troops of one of its chiefs, Shaikh Abd al-Razzaq Inad Mu'jal al-Ka'ud, last week, as well as the extensive destruction of life and property that has accompanied the US occupation in their areas. The Dulaim say that they want the United Nations to establish a fund to recompense them for their massive losses. They called for an immediate restoration of the pre-invasion Iraqi army and other security agencies. They complained that lack of security in Sunni Arab areas made voting out of the question, and said that anyway many parties were counterfeiting ballots. Of all the enemies you could have in Iraq, I would have advised the Americans not to make one of the Dulaim.

As Trudy Rubin reports from Amman, some of the Sunni Arab parties' reluctance to participate may come from foreboding of Shiite victory, something to which many Sunni Arabs have not reconciled themselves.

Minister of State Adnan Janabi, a key aide of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, has resigned to protest being detained and handcuffed by US troops at a checkpoint outside the Green Zone, where government offices and the US embassy are barricaded. It was revealed last week that Janabi was giving envelopes with $100 in them to journalists who covered the press conferences of the Iraqi National Accord, a party mainly made up of ex-Baathists that probably has little popularity in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4169965.stm

Wire services report 11 dead in Iraq violence, including two car bombings and a gun battle in Mosul, the assassination of the deputy police chief of Baquba, the burning of four bank guards and the shooting of a policeman in Baghdad.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/10626857.htm

Al-Hayat reports that the Shaikh al-Azhar, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, issued a call for Sunnis and Shiites both to participate actively in the January 30 elections. Al-Azhar University it the most prestigious Sunni seminary in the world, and its rector is widely respected. He is sometimes accused, however, of bending to government pressure, and his ruling of this week must be seen in this light.

Even as the NYT's Christine Hauser praised the courage of Iraqi electoral workers, the newspaper's editors published an editorial on Wednesday calling for the postponement of the elections.

Every path forward has costs. Postponing the elections leaves in place the increasingly unpopular Allawi interim government, populated by old CIA assets, which destroyed its credibility by acting as a cheering section for the US destruction of Fallujah. It could be argued that the Sunni Arab guerrilla war benefits from the perceived illegitimacy of the Allawi government, which has disappointed those who hoped it might restore order.

Postponement would risk radicalizing Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most respected leader in Iraq, who has already once demonstrated his willingness to call the faithful into the streets in the hundreds of thousands if he did not get his way on one person, one vote elections on a fast timetable. A postponement without his acquiescence would be dangerous in the extreme.

On the other hand, the credibility of elections in which the candidates have to remain anonymous to avoid being killed, and in which Sunni Arab candidates are increasingly unavailable, and in which half the lists have rushed to withdraw, is also very low. The credibility of the elections is not improved by the US killing or detaining and humiliating the party and clan leaders among the Sunnis who had still been willing to contest them, helping to drive them out of the race.

As usual in Bush's Iraq, there are no good options here because the administration's prior bad decisions have poisoned the most promising wells for the future.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

posted by Juan @ 1/13/2005 07:34:20 AM

www.juancole.com/2005/01/falling-like-flies-53-iraqi-parties.html

• * *

Electoral Lists

A kind person in Baghdad sent me this. It is a translation of an official announcement from last month, which appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper. It is a complete listing of the parties, coalitions and individuals that are contesting the January 30 elections. (Note that the Iraqi Islamic Party has since withdrawn). Note also that each voter can vote for only one of these lists. Where the list consists of a single individual, the voter would have to really want that person in parliament, and he or she would need on the order of 44,000 votes.

The names of the individual candidates for the most part have still not been publicly revealed. So Iraqis are expected to vote for a list based on the head of the list, who is known, and its general orientation. The United Iraqi Alliance (also translated as Unified Iraqi Coalition), e.g., groups a large number of religious Shiite parties, and is likely to attract a majority of the Shiite vote.

The Final Statistics
Of the Candidates' Lists

[Md. is an abbreviation for Muhammad below; Dem. is Democratic.]

The final results of the number of lists of candidates - parties, political entities, and coalitions - to compete in the elections for the National Assembly, the Kurdistan National Council, and the Provincial Councils that will take place on January 30, 2005, were announced [last month].

The official spokesman for the Supreme Commission for the Elections, Dr. Farid Ayyar, said that 73 political entities - organizations, political movements, gatherings, parties, and associations presented lists of their candidates for the National Assembly, while 25 single-individual political entities presented lists of their candidacies for the National Assembly. Four of the singleindividual political entities announced the withdrawal of
their candidacy altogether for various reasons, and three of the individual entities changed their status by withdrawing as individual candidates and joining existing coalitions.

The official spokesman declared that the number of entities that will enter into electoral competition has reached 98 political entities.

Concerning the coalitions, Dr. Ayyar said that their number has reached 9 coalitions with a total of 49 political entities.

The official spokesman indicated that the number of lists of candidates for the Kurdistan National Council has reached 14 lists of political entities and only one coalition, while no individual entity presented its candidacy for the afore-mentioned election.

Register

Name of Political Entity/Name of Entity Head/ No. of candidates

1. Free Democratic Homeland Party Haytham al-Hasani 63
2. Kurdistan Conservatives' Party Zayd `Umar Khudr al-Surchi 12
3. Independent Euphrates Bloc Shakir A.A. Khashan al-Jabasi 143
4. Islamic Tha'r Allah Organization Yusuf Sinadi `Abd al-Wahid 12
5. Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress Amin Farhan Jiju 12
6. Dem. Gathering of Iraqi Tribes Ghalib Su`ud Shallal al-Rikabi 51
7. Chaldean Democratic Union Party Ablahad Afram Sat 12
8. United Dem. Iraq Congress, Jawdat Kadhim Md. al-`Ubaydi 150
9. Kurdistan Dem. Socialist Party Muhammad Hajj Mahmud Md. 38
10. Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party Fa'iq Muhammad Ahmad 12
11. Islamic 15th of Sha`ban Movement Razzaq Yasir Muzhhir 47
12. New Iraq Renaissance Movement Ahmad Muhammad Faysal 45
13. Islamic Unity Party Muhammad al-Musawi al-Qasimi 19
14. Democratic National(ist) Party Nasir Kamil al-Chadirchi 12
15. Kurdistan Islamic Group Muhammad Najib hasan al-Barzanji 12
16. Democratic Qasimi Gathering Qasim Amin al-Janabi 18
17. Independent Babil Association Salim Kazhim Naji 48
18. Independent Democratic Iraqi Gathering For Liberation and Construction Jasim Husayn Sakr 117
19. Iraqi Democratic Popular Gathering Khalaf al-Munshidi 24
20. Iraqi Nat'l Unity Gathering Dr. Nihru Muhammad `Abd al-Karim 275
21. Independent `Abd al-Sattar Jabr Kati` al-`Abbudi 1
22. Independent `Ali Musallam Jar Allah al-Baydani 1
23. Independent Muhammad Rashad Khalil al-Fadl 1
24. Independent Ibrahim Khalil Sa`id 1
25. Independent `Abd al-Amir `Ubays al-Sabah 1
26. Independent Dr. Ibrahim Shafiq Khalil Ibrahim al-Basri 1
27. Independent Sa`dun Ghulam `Ali `Abd al-Karim 1
28. Coalesced with another party Hikmat Dawud Hakim (1)
29. Withdrew Salman Nasir Husayn Makutir (1)
30. Coalesced within the Iraqi List Dr. Raja' Habib al-Khuza`I (1)
31. Independent Muhammad Kazhim Fayruz al-Hindawi 1
32. Independent Muthanna Fadil Muhammad 1
33. Independent Ahmad Taha Ahmad Yasin 1
34. Independent Malik `Abd al-Husayn al-Zubaydi 1
35. Independent Muhammad Muhsin `Ali al-Zubaydi 1
36. Withdrew Rajiha Ahmad Salih al-Baghdadi (Ms.) (1)
37. Independent Majid `Abd al-Rahim Wahib al-Jami`i 1
38. Independent Amin Haydar Hamad 1
39. Independent `Abbas `Ali Zaki Hassun 1
40. Independent Muhammad `Abd `Awwad 1
41. Independent `Abd al-Razzaq Jawad Jabir 1
42. Independent `Amir `Ali Husayn `Uwayd al-Murshidi 1
43. Independent Kazhim Jasim `Ali al-Fadili al-Husayni 1
44. Independent Ghalib Muhsin `Abd Husayn al-Sabahi 1
45. Independent Dr. `Abd Jasim al-Sa`idi 1
46. Independent Muhammad Dahham Nazzal 1
47. Independent Engineer Baqir al-Baqir 1
48. Independent Engineer Wadi Muhammad Wadi Hiyal al-Khalifa 1
49. Independent Falah Hasan `Abd al-Amir al-`Aridi 1
50. Independent Ahmad Hasan Mahmud 1
51. Withdrew as an individual and joined The Unified Iraqi Alliance `Adil `Abd al-Mahdi Shibr (1)
52. Independent Mahmud Taha `Abbud al-Qurna l-Juburi 1
53. Democratic Islamic Party Dr. `Abbas Sahib al-`Askari 111
54. Iraqi Democratic Gathering Husayn Muhammad al-Juburi 124
55. Turkmen National Movement Husam al-Din `Ali Wali 36
56. Iraqi Islamic Party Dr. Muhsin `Abd al-Hamid 275
57. Islamic Da`wa Movement `Adil `Abd al-Rahim Majid 45
58. Unity Party Mubdir Salman Ways 208
59. Democratic Construction Party As`ad Hamid Rabah al-`Ibadi 30
60. National League of Leaders and Shaykhs Of Iraqi Tribes Thamir Najm Hasan `Abdallah 57
61. Independents' List Dr. Nizar `Ali Muhsin al-Wa'ili 48
62. Hashimite Iraqi Monarchists, Sharif Ma'mul A.R. Al Nisan 164
63. Democratic Collective Action Front `Abbas Hadi Jabr 111
64. Notables of Iraq Council Nizar Habib al-Khayzaran 70
65. Democratic Islamic Trend Husayn al-`Adili 64
66. Iraqi Council of NGO Humanitarian Orgs. Jabbar Mustaf Hassun `Ali 46
67. Democratic National(ist) Alliance Samir Shakir al-Sumaydi`i 36
68. Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation, Dr. Mithal al-Alusi, 25
69. Islamic Union of Fayli Kurds of Iraq Tha'ir Ibrahim al-Fayli 22
70. Democratic National(ist) Coalition Malik Duhan al-Hasan 189
71. Democratic Iraq Gathering Farqad Mu`izz al-Din Al-Qazwini 111
72. Iraqi Democratic Liberal Party Muhammad Baqir al-Suhayl 37
73. Unified Arab Front Wasfi `Asi Hasan al-`Ubaydi 24
74. Independent Iraqi Commission of Civil Society Organizations Basil `Abd al-Wahhab al-`Azzawi 80
75. Independent Iraqi Declaration Gathering, Mansur A.M. al-Asadi 96
76. Assyrian National Gathering `Udishu Malku Kurkis 15
77. Islamic Action Organization in Iraq - Central Command `Ala' Hamud Salih Al Tu`ma 45
78. 1991 Sha`bani Intifada of Iraq Bloc Yahya Kazhim al-`Isami 42
79. Grandsons of the 1920 Revolution Gathering `Abd al-Husayn `Abd al-`Azhim al-Yasin 42
80. Democratic Islamic Party Dr. `Abbas Sahib al-`Askari 1
81. Independent Nat'list Elites and Cadres Fathallah Ghazi Isma`il 180
82. Iraqi Republican Gathering Sa`d `Asim al-Janabi 275
83. Islamic Accord Movement Jamal Muhammad Hasan al-Wakil 67
84. Democratic National(ist) Party Nasir al-Chadirchi 45
85. Iraqi National Salvation Party Sami Zaydan Khalaf 132
86. Independent Iraqi Bloc Walid `Abd al-Rahman al-`Umar 57
87. Iraqi Gathering for Democracy Rahim Abu Jari' al-Sa`idi 102
88. Democratic Society Movement Hamid al-Kifa'i 30
89. General Union of the Youth of Iraq Sajid Hattab 114
90. Democratic Iraqi People's Party `Abd al-Rida Jamil Nasir al-Khafaji 75
91. Democratic Iraqi Current `Aziz al-Yasiri 64
92. National Gathering of the Center Current Muhammad `Abd al-Karim Muhammad 39
93. Independent Gathering of the Citizens of Baghdad `Ali Fadil `Ali 31
94. Iraqis Shaykh Gahzi `Ajil al-Yawar 80
95. Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc Mish`an al-Juburi 16
96. Independent List Hadi Jabbar Hamadi al-Shaybani 103
97. Iraqi Nat'l Brotherhood Party Ra`d Salman `Alwan al-`Ubaydi 181
98. National(ist) Gathering Hana' Idwar Jurj 71
99. Indep. Democrats' Gathering `Adnan Muzahim al-Pachachi 63
100. Constitutional Monarchism Sharif `Ali Bin al-Husayn 275
101. National(ist) Front for the Unity of Iraq Hasan Zaydan Khaf al-Lahibi 216
102. Arab Democratic Front Fihran Hawwas al-Sadid 50
103. National(ist) Brotherhood Movement Nadim H.S. al-Tamimi 48
104. Independent Progressive Front Shaykh `Abd al-Karim S. al-Rubay`i 102
105. National(ist) Message List* Ahmad Ya`kub al-`Ubaydi 60

Office of the Press Spokesman

Of the Supreme Independent Commission for the Elections

The Coalitions Presented for the National Assembly

Register Name Constituent Parties No. of candidates

1 Justice and the Future Party 275

1. Democratic Justice and Progress
2. Free Fayli Kurd Organization

2 Turkmen of Iraq Front 63

1. Ibli Turkmen Party
2. Turkmen National(ist) Party
3. Independent Turkmen Movement
4. Iraqi Turkmen Justice Party
5. Islamic Movement of the Turkmen of Iraq

3 Unified Iraqi Coalition [Alliance] 228

1. Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
2. Islamic Da`wa Party
3. Gathering of the Center Party
4. Badr Organization
5. Islamic Da`wa Party/Iraq Organization
6. Justice and Equality Gathering
7. Iraqi National Congress Party
8. Islamic Virtue Party
9. First Democratic Nationalist Party
10. Islamic Union of the Turkmen of Iraq
11. Turkmen Fidelity Movement
12. Islamic Fayli Gathering in Iraq
13. Islamic Action Organization
14. Iraq of the Future Gathering
15. Hizballah in Iraq Movement
16. Islamic Sayyid of the Martyrs Movement

4 Democratic Coalition of the Two Rivers 12

1. Nationalist Bith Nahrayn Movement
2. Independent Gathering of Assyrians Movement

5 People's Union 275

1. Hikmat Dawud Hakim
2. Iraqi Communist Party

6 Nationalist List of the Two Rivers 28

1. Assyrian Democratic Movement
2. Chaldean National Council

7 Iraqi List 233

1. Iraqi National Accord Movement
2. Iraqi Democrats' Movement
3. Democratic National Renaissance Party
4. Independent Iraqi Corps
5. Fidelity to Iraq Gathering
6. Notables of Iraq Council
7. Dr. Raja' Habib al-Khuza`i

8 Kurdish Alliance List 165

1. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
2. Kurdistan Democratic Party
3. Kurdistan Islamic Union
4. Kurdistan Communist Party
5. Kurdistan Democratic Socialist Party
6. Kurdistan Democratic National(ist) Party
7. Democratic Bith Nahrayn Party
8. Chaldean Democratic Union Party
9. Assyrian National(ist) Party
10. Kurdistan Peasants and Oppressed Movement
11. Kurdistan Toilers' Party

9 Iraqi National(ist) Movement and the Independent
Coalition of Iraqi Civil Society Organizations 172

1. Iraqi National(ist) Movement
2. Independent Coalition of Iraqi Civil Society Organizations

Office of the Press Spokesman Of the Supreme Independent
Commission for the Elections

The Lists Presented for the Kurdish National Council

Register Name of Political Entity Name of Entity Head No.
of candidates

1. Kurdistan Conservatives' Party Zayd Khudr al-Surchi 12
2. Kurdistan National Current Yasin Muhammad `Abd al-Qadir 109
3. Kurdistan Democrats' Movement Shukrallah Hamid Amin Sa`id 9
4. Democratic Movement of the People of Kurdistan Khudr Qadir Khudr 6
5. Kurdistan Communist Party Kamal Shakir 60
6. Chaldean Democratic Union Party Ablahad Afram Sat 3
7. Kurdistan Democratic Socialist Party Muhammad Hajj Mahmud Muhammad 112
8. Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party Fa'iq Muhammad Ahmad 33
9. Kurdish Independents' List Farhad Birbal al-Qassab 11
10. Kurdish Islamic Group Muhammad Najib Hasan al-Barzanji 9
11. Kurdistan Democratic Action Party Yusuf Hanna Yusuf 6
12. Iraqi Republican Gathering Sa`d `Asim al-Janabi 7
13. Iraqi National(ist) Brotherhood Party Ra`d Salman al-`Ubaydi 8
14. Kurdistan Labor Party Shawan Siddiq `Uthman 3

Office of the Press Spokesman Of the Supreme Independent
Commission for the Elections

Coalitions of the Kurdistan National Council

Register Name of Coalition Coalescing Entities No. of candidates

1 Kurdistan Democratic List 111

1. Kurdish Democratic Party
2. Kurdistan Democratic National Union
3. Democratic Bit Nahrayn Party
4. Kurdistan Peasants and Oppressed Movement
5. Assyrian National(ist) Party
6. Conservatives' Party
7. Chaldean Democratic Union Party

Office of the Press Spokesman Of the Supreme Independent
Commission for the Elections

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

posted by Juan @ 1/12/2005 06:04:06 AM

www.juancole.com/2005/01/electoral-lists-kind-person-in-baghdad.html

• * *

Bush's Grand Plan: Incite Civil War

Mike Whitney, ZNet

January 15, 2005 - The Bush Administration is intentionally steering Iraq towards civil war. The elections are merely the catalyst for igniting, what could be, a massive social upheaval. This explains the bizarre insistence on voting when security is nearly nonexistent and where a mere 7% of the people can even identify the candidates. (This figure gleaned from Allawi's Baghdad newspaper, Al-Sabah) Rumsfeld is using the elections as a springboard for aggravating tensions between Sunnis and Shiites and for diverting attention away from the troops. It's a foolhardy move that only magnifies the desperation of the present situation. The Pentagon brass expected a "cakewalk" and, instead, they've found themselves mired in a guerilla war.

Everyone from Brent Scowcroft to Tom Friedman has speculated on the likelihood of civil war. Their comments are more reflective of the hopes of American elites than they are of realities on the ground. Sure, Friedman would like to see Muslims killing Muslims, but it won't happen. Tom hasn't guessed right on the war yet, and that's not about to change. The same could be said for Rumsfeld. For a Sec-Def who regards "information as power", Rumsfeld seems woefully blinkered by the true nature of the fighting. He seems incapable of grasping even the most basic elements of the conflict or the psychology that fuels it. Whatever happened to the military mantra, "Know your enemy"?

When you destroy a man's home and kill and disgrace his friends, he'll fight back. And, when you rob a man of everything he has, including his dignity, you leave him with one, solitary passion_ rage. This rage is now animating the resistance in ways that no one had previously anticipated. The world's lone superpower is roped to the ground like Gulliver and the Pentagon high-command is getting increasingly agitated.

Civil war can be messy. Inciting religious and sectarian hatreds tends to disrupt the smooth execution of business; like the purging of potential enemies and the extracting of vital resources. Never the less, Rumsfeld is nearly out of options; "divide and conquer" may be all that's left. If we glance at the last 3 imperial projects; Kosovo, Haiti and Afghanistan, the very same strategy was applied. All three nations have been effectively carved up, delivered to US multi-national corporations, and reduced to warlordism or anarchy. Their outcome sets the precedent for similar results in Iraq. Will Iraq be Balkenized along ethnic and religious lines?

That's what the Generals are hoping, and their plan is already in full swing. The Marines deployed Shiite National Guards during the siege of Falluja with the obvious intention of exacerbating tensions between the two factions. The Kurdish Peshmerga was utilized in Mosul for the very same purpose. Also, there have been a number of suspicious bombings (particularly the attacks on Sunni clerics in Najaf and Kerbala) that are not at all consistent with the insurgent pattern, but suggest a clandestine (CIA?) operation to incite hostilities. Add to this the projected election results, which will tilt heavily towards the Shiites, and there's a real potential for internecine violence. It's easy to see how Pentagon planners might think that these provocations could auger a massive internal struggle. It won't happen, though.

Whatever we may think of the Iraqis at this point, one thing is certain; they know who their enemy is. The element of surprise or deception has evaporated like the plumes of smoke dispersing over Falluja. They know who we are, and they know they want us out.

Deteriorating Security

Rumsfeld finally seems to be grasping the seriousness of the predicament. The security situation has deteriorated so dramatically that even his support among elites is eroding. Last week foreign policy Gurus, Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, fired off a salvo of criticism directed at the mishandling of the occupation. The normally circumspect Brzezinski was particularly savage, slamming the war as a sign of "moral decay"; a euphemism that will undoubtedly send shock waves through America's boardrooms and think-tanks.

James Dobbins of the conservative Rand Corporation was equally ferocious, stating bluntly that "The beginning of wisdom is to realize that the United States can't win." "Can't win?"

Dobbins probably should have added, "Can't win, but won't leave," as the appropriate adjunct to his first observation. American elites may disparage the conduct of the occupation, but they've tied the nation's future to its success and won't give up easily.

Rumsfeld Shifts Gears

There are signs that the recalcitrant Rumsfeld is beginning to get the message. Last week he dispatched retired General Gary Luck to Iraq to produce a detailed breakdown of force strength and vulnerabilities. When Luck returns he will appear before Congress and make an energetic appeal for more troops and stiffer resolve. He can be expected to draw a dismal picture of a failed state that threatens to destabilize the entire region unless America makes a greater commitment. Both the Congress and the media will play a role in calling on the American people for steadfastness in the face of a very long and bloody occupation. Many believe that Luck's assessment will determine whether Bush will approach Congress to reinstate the draft.

Enlisting the skills of General Luck is an indication that Rumsfeld is giving ground to his critics; that he is no longer elevating his judgment above all others. His bungling of every aspect of the war has limited his ability to act unilaterally. He will either have to demonstrate some level of cooperation or step down. The war's two main debacles so far can be directly pinned on Rumsfeld. First, he went in "too light" (without sufficient manpower to secure the peace) and second, he dismissed the 400,000 strong Iraqi military, the majority of whom now comprise the resistance. The final outcome in Iraq will certainly rest heavily on those two foolish choices.

Leveling Falluja

The siege of a Falluja was a crossroads for the American occupation. The right-wing punditocracy insisted that the resistance in Falluja be crushed by any means possible; preferably overwhelming force. The Baghdad enclave of 250,000 was decimated by the relentless pounding of US aerial bombardment and a full-fledged ground assault that left over 700 civilians dead; 70% of whom were women and children.

In the first attack on Falluja Lt. Col. B. P. McCoy noted that, "We don't want to `rubblize' the city. That will give the enemy more places to hide." McCoy's injunction was ignored during the second (Nov 8) siege. The city has been both "rubblized" and rendered "uninhabitable". (according to the Red Crescent)

The Bush administration applied the "nuclear option" to Falluja; leveling the city to send a message that future resistance would be dealt with accordingly. The message was faithfully rejected.

If anything, Falluja has only strengthened the resolve of the antiAmerican forces and increased recruitment for the resistance. The violence has spread and intensified throughout the Sunni Triangle, with the number of attacks skyrocketing to 75 per day. Falluja has removed any doubt from the minds of young Iraqi men that a nonviolent settlement is possible. The flattening of a city of 250,000 confirms, in stark terms, that the war will be decided by force of arms. Falluja has removed whatever "gray area" there may have been before.

The numbers of insurgents are steadily on the rise since the siege. The strength of the current rebellion was estimated last week by Iraq's Intelligence Chief, General Mohammed Shahwani. Shahwani told a Saudi newspaper that the "US was facing 40,000 hard-core fighters" and a support group of as "many as 150,000 to 200,000".

Predictably, the story was buried in the western press, but the implications are clear. The Pentagon has been intentionally misleading the American people about the size and strength of the insurgency. (previous estimates were between 5,000 to 20,000) These new figures, which are now supported by many independent defense analysts, point to an insurgency which is numerically larger than the occupation and fully prepared to fight a long and gory guerilla war. This brings us back to James Dobbins observation "The beginning of wisdom is to realize that the United States can't win."

Indeed.

Falluja's failure means that the prospect of destroying the rest of Iraq's cities is more remote. Rather, success will depend on increasing the number of US troops and developing a long term strategy for "incrementally" establishing security. The only other option is to deflect attention from the occupation forces by inciting widespread instability. A civil war may serve the short term interests of the administration, but it could also provoke region-wide turmoil. It's a risk that no same person would consider. The determination to carry out the Jan 30 elections further proves that the administration has not veered from the reckless and delusional strategies that have thrust the mission to the brink of disaster.

Months ago, Baghdad correspondent, Andrew Cockburn warned that the United States was "in danger of losing the war" in Iraq. Since then the security situation has steadily worsened and vast swaths of the country have come under rebel control. Every promotional device the administration has used (the forming of the Coalition Provisional Authority; the transfer of sovereignty and, now, the elections) has backfired; bringing on larger attacks and stiffer resistance. Rumsfeld's "high-tech" warfare has degenerated into death squads and torture chambers; a pitiable return to medieval combat. The civilian leadership, drunk with hubris and greed, never noticed the wave of insurgency looming in the distance. Now, they're facing daily trauma and death without a clear plan for success. The Iraq mission is like a 21st century Striker-vehicle buried up to its axels and lolling in the dessert sand. As the Jan 30 deadline approaches, there's little sign that things will improve.

Article nr. 8885 sent on 15-jan-2005 18:56 ECT

The address of this page is : www.uruknet.info?p=8885

The original address of this article is :
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=7030

• * *

Recruiting voters is another deception

By Ibrahim Ebeid

Bush with his arrogance led the United States into a war that is not in the interest of the American people; the war became costly and levied a heavy toll on its citizens. The economy is getting worse and the poor are being used to fuel this blatant war.

The search for the "weapons of mass destruction" came to an end simply because the weapons there were no weapons. The real weapons of mass destruction were in the hands of Washington, which were used against the Iraqis since 1991 and they are still being used. President George W. Bush does not want to recognize that the weapons of mass destruction had already destroyed Iraq and flattened its institutions and economy. Millions of Iraqis died since the unjust embargo imposed more than a decade ago and they are still dying by the daily bombardment of Iraqi cities and towns. This fanatic and blind policy of aggression conducted by the United States was responsible for hundreds of mass graves in Iraq, unfortunately not many countries are heard in protest

The recent bombing of a house in Mosul that killed 14 innocent people was a testimony of this reckless war. This is terrorism by itself that the World has ignored or tolerated as a result of fear from Uncle Sam, the international tyrant.

Now the date of the so called election is approaching, the candidates are unknown and the parties who are involved are participants and supporters of the occupation establishment, they came from abroad and certainly they do not represent the Iraqi people in any way.

We know that elections under the auspices of occupation and candidates blessed by the American imperialists and by Zionism offer no solution but another deception by the Bush Administration to mislead the American people that he is concerned about
"democracy" in Iraq.

The bankrupt policy of Bush is seeking non Iraqi voters to legitimize the " democratization" of Iraq, 240,000 were wooed from the Zionist entity, "Israel", to cast their votes as Iraqi descendents in favor of the US supported candidates. About one million voters are being sought from abroad to fulfill the Bush desire for "democracy." Hundreds of thousands of Iranians crossed the borders to Iraq; they were given Iraqi identification cards to support the candidates of the religious parties leaning towards the Mullahs' regime.

Choosing voters from outside of Iraq is a new trend of deception that the Bush Administration chose to legitimize the occupation of Iraq and to keep fighting a war that is in the interest of corporate America.

Some wise voices are calling to find a way to save the United States before it faces the humiliation of defeat at the hands of the Resistance. Sixteen House Democrats led by Rep. Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma, California, called on President Bush to begin the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, just as some administration supporters are starting to question the wisdom of staying the course in the war. The U.S. spent $102 billion through Sept. 30, 2004 on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, with costs averaging $4.8 billion a month, the Pentagon comptroller's office said. Bush administration officials in February may seek as much as $70 billion in additional Iraq funding in a request separate from the fiscal 2006 defense budget.

The American people must rally around Representative Lynn Woolsey and her colleagues and call upon the Administration to withdraw immediately from Iraq before it is too late. Bring the US troops home where they belong and let the Iraqis decide their destiny.

http://www.al-moharer.net/mohhtm/iebeid209.htm

• * *

The Tsunami of Iraq

January 15, 2005

The morgues at the hospitals of Baghdad are filling to capacity. At Yarmouk Hospital in central Baghdad, the three freezers reek of decaying bodies, despite the temperature.

The smell rushes out at us as the doors are opened. I've smelled the burning bodies on the funeral pires in Nepal...but this is different. This smell...how do I describe it? But it never leaves me, long after we leave the hospital later.

The smell rushes out at us as the doors are opened. I've smelled the burning bodies on the funeral pires in Nepal...but this is different. This smell...how do I describe it? But it never leaves me, long after we leave the hospital later.

Many of the bodies are from Fallujah, obviously picked off the streets-parts of which are eaten by dogs. The bodies from Fallujah have the typical oddly discolored skin, along with other abnormalities.

I walk out of the first freezer straight into a metal pole. Two of the people with me, including Abu Talat, make sure I'm ok as I stand there stunned...I didn't even feel the pole, just that it stopped me from proceeding to the next freezer.

Bodies are piled into the freezers and most are uncovered, but not all. The hardest visuals to get out of my head are those of the eyes.

The doctor with us says that most of the bodies have been shot...and are not from Fallujah. The violence against Iraqis continues unabated ...worsening by the day.

I do my job...taking photo after photo of the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life. Many of the bodies are so old they are shrinking into themselves.

After the last cooler, we start to walk away. I am spitting, trying to get the smell to leave me...Abu Talat is staring off into distance. After I gag, the hospital worker who accompanied us to the coolers walks towards me with a small vial of scent, and begins rolling it across my upper lip.

"Shukran jazeelan (thank you very much)," I tell him, then he proceeds to do the same for Abu Talat, then we walk on.

We talk with the doctor more as we shuffle along. "The morgues in all the hospitals are filling with bodies everyday, most of them shot by soldiers," she says, "But also from crime and accidents. So many dead civilians."

We walk, well, kind of shuffle out of the hospital, towards the car.

"That is the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life," I say to Abu Talat.

We get in the car and just drive.

"I don't know what to do," I tell him, "What do you want to do?"

He holds his hands up, expressing that he doesn't know either. "Let's just drive," I say.

"Ok, I'm just trying to drive," he replies.

I decide to go buy some supplies...grasping towards normalcy as I catch whiffs of the decaying bodies despite the nice smelling scent that was rubbed across my upper lip.

We buy some lunch only because it's lunch time and we're supposed to be hungry, then drive the rest of the way to the hotel.

My head is spinning, as is Abu Talat's. "I am traumatized," I tell him. "Yes, my head is spinning also," he replies before adding, "I want to take a shower."

"I wish I could shower from the inside," I tell him.

"From the outside it's very easy," he says quietly, "But how do we clean from the inside?"

We go to my room and I begin writing. The food sits in its bag on the couch...Abu Talat says, "In Islam, if we touch a dead body, even if we just see one, we should shower," he says while walking into the bathroom.

He pauses as he catches me staring out the window at nothing, "Hey, don't think about it. I know it is hard." I slowly look up at him as he adds, "It is harder on me, because I am Iraqi. My heart is shredding."

He walks into the bathroom of my hotel room to take a shower, as I go back to writing this.

Nobody knows who these dead people are. The coolers are full. Others are full too, in the other hospitals.

He finishes and begins to pray as I start my shower, trying to wash the bodies away. It helps, some.

But it's the eyes that got me. And they won't go away.

Posted by Dahr_Jamail at January 15, 2005 12:36 PM

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000169.php#more

• * *

Ancient Babylon site wrecked by US-led forces: British Museum

LONDON (AFP) - US-led forces in Iraq have caused irreparable damage to the site of the ancient city of Babylon, contaminating the soil and destroying archaeological evidence, according to a damning report by the British Museum.

According to John Curtis, curator of the museum's Ancient Near East department, the site has suffered "substantial damage" while being used as a military depot by American and Polish forces for the past two years.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," Curtis charged in his report.

"The status of future information about these areas will therefore be seriously compromised," he warned in comments that were published by Saturday's edition of the Guardian newspaper.

Curtis has called for an international investigation to be carried out by archaeologists chosen by the Iraqi authorities, to compile a full inventory of damage sustained at the site, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

The British Museum report follows an assessment mission carried out in Iraq in December at the request of a group of Iraqi antiquities experts.

www.albasrah.net
http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/0105/babylon_150105.htm

• * *

Report: US forces damaged Babylon

US-led forces have caused substantial damage to archaeological treasures by using the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon as a military base, a British Museum report says.

The document, quoted in Saturday's The Guardian newspaper, said US and Polish military vehicles had crushed 2600-year-old pavements in the city, a cradle of civilisation and home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Archaeological fragments were used to fill sand bags, the report said.

John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Ancient and Near East department, invited to visit Babylon by Iraqi antiquities experts, also said he had found cracks and gaps made by people who had apparently tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of the city's Ishtar Gate.

Military camp

US military commanders set up a base in Babylon in April 2003, just after the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and handed it over to Polish-led forces five months later.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," Curtis said in the report.

Babylon was the capital of ancient Babylonia, an early civilisation that existed from around 1800 BCE until 600 BCE.

The Hanging Gardens - one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - are located in Babylon.

In the report, Curtis described the decision to set up a base in the area as regrettable.

Lord Redesdale, the head of Britain's all-party parliamentary archeological group, said he was horrified at the destruction.

"Outrage is hardly the word, this is just dreadful," he said.

Agencies

Saturday 15 January 2005 3:12 AM GMT

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C2102CA5-44DE-4E5AB 41F-3E92C7017E04.htm

• * *

                      Iraqi Resistance Report
              for events of Saturday, 15 January 2005.

Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org

Saturday, 15 January 2005.

Ar-Ramadi.

Details of Saturday's battle in ar-Ramadi.

In a dispatch posted at 6:40pm Saturday evening Mecca time, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the morning battle in the city ended at exactly 3pm in those neighborhoods where it had raged after US forces pulled out of the city, taking with them the wreckage of 11 American military vehicles, including three armored vehicles. The correspondent reported seeing those vehicles with his own eyes as they were pulled out of the neighborhoods on huge transport trucks. US warplanes continued to prowl the skies above the city until the time he filed his report.

The correspondent met Dr. Taha Ahmad of ar-Ramadi General Hospital who showed him the bodies of the dead fighters and local people. He said that 22 martyrs had fallen, among them 13 Resistance fighters and nine civilians, including a woman who was with the Resistance and was killed when she was trying to recover the body of her son, one of the fighters. The doctor said, "we found her with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in her hands, which we could only extract with difficulty since she died clasping it so tightly."

The General Command of the Islamic Resistance announced in a communiqué issued an hour after the fighting ended that 11 US vehicles had been destroyed, one helicopter shot down, and 30 US troops killed. The Resistance also seized a number of US weapons.

The communiqué called on the people of ar-Ramadi to pray for God's mercy on the martyrs who fell in the battle today, saying that there were 19 of them, among the fraternal Arab fighters, whom the communiqué did not identify.

Most of the dead Americans were killed in front of the al-Haqq Mosque in the west of ar-Ramadi when they tried stubbornly to storm the building but the Resistance was even more stubborn in its defense. It was there that the toughest fighting raged, and the occupation troops failed to get into the mosque where they expected to find fighters.

Other American soldiers fell in the al-Mal'ab neighborhood near the ar-Rahman Mosque. The US aircraft mentioned in the communiqué went down in the as-Sufiyah village on the edge of town.

The correspondent saw one of the Resistsance fighters during the battle raising the black flag of the Prophet Muhammad to encourage the fighters not to flee from the fight when it got toughest at around 2pm.

Three houses were destroyed in the battle Saturday when US aircraft bombed them. US forces arrested four journalists who were taken pictures of dead Americans on 17 April Street in the center of arRamadi.

Earlier dispatch: Battle rages in downtown ar-Ramadi.

In a dispatch posted at 1:05pm Mecca time Saturday, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Resistance fighters were at that time engaged in grueling battles with US troops in the streets in the central arRamadi neighborhoods of 17 April, al-Mal'ab, at-Ta'mim, and in the area of the governorate office building.

The correspondent reported that the fighting began in the al-Mal'ab neighborhood at 12 noon local time, and expanded and intensified after that.

He reported that another battle raged in the al-Iskan neighborhood with sticks and knives between the Resistance and US troops, and despite the weaponry, the reporter said that nine thick plumes of smoke were rising over burned out US vehicles in that area, the smoke enveloping the battle scene there

Witnesses and people coming from the al-Mal'ab battle zone told the correspondent that bodies of dead Americans were strewn about the area, intermingled with the bodies of dead Resistance fighters. They reported that a large number of Resistance fighters had been killed, but said that the initiative was still in the hands of the Resistance.

The correspondent reported that local mosques for the first time had openly ordered believers to go out and fight in the jihad, calling Hayy 'ala al-Jihad! Hayy 'ala al-Jihad! From the minarets, where in the past they had only chanted prayers for victory.

The correspondent reported seeing women getting up on rooftops carrying light arms. So far they had not opened fire, but were preparing to open fire on any US soldier who might venture to take cover in their houses.

One Resistance fighter went missing during the fighting with no firearms that took place in the al-Iskan neighborhood of ar-Ramadi on Saturday morning. His body was later discovered after US troops had badly defaced it. Mafkarat al-Islam interviewed a doctor at arRamadi General Hospital who said that the body was badly disfigured: the Americans had cut off its hands, plucked out its eyes, cut off its penis, and gouged big gashes in its chest spelling out a message in English saying something to the effect of "we will have no mercy, wait your turn." The doctor said over the telephone that the abdomen had been completely torn open.

The doctor noted that this was not rare for the Americans. "This isn't the first time that doctors have found bodies like this," he said. He noted that the religious leaders of al-Anbar Province had forbidden the Resistance fighters from disfiguring the bodies of their enemies, as that is contrary to Islamic ethics of war.

The doctor said that the martyr was buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery west of ar-Ramadi, and that Resistance fighters pledged to kill ten US troops in revenge for this brutality.

Al-Fallujah.

Resistance bombardments of US positions to the north of al-Fallujah.

In a dispatch posted at 11:40pm Saturday night Mecca time Mafkarat al-Islam reported that at 10am Saturday Iraqi Resistance forces fired two Grad rockets into the US forces in their base north of al-Fallujah in the agricultural area and near the old train station in the residential area and the al-'Askari neighborhood in the north of the city.

Then at about 1pm Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired four Grad rockets into the US forces north of al-Fallujah.

Then at 4pm Saturday, local time, Iraqi Resistance forces fired 10 Grad rockets into the US forces north of al-Fallujah.

Elsewhere in al-Anbar Province.

Resistance bombards US position near as-Saqlawiyah.

Iraqi Resistance forces fired two Grad rockets at 10am Saturday local time into a house near the al-Bu Shahad Bridge north of asSaqlawiyah, 15km north of al-Fallujah. Local residents said the strikes were accurate, as they saw two US Chinook helicopters transporting dead and wounded Americans out of the position towards the large US base in al-Habbaniyah, near by. The Chinooks were covered by two Apache helicopter gunships.

The US forces usually use the huge Chinook helicopters when there are large-scale losses; Black Hawks are used when the losses are more moderate.

Iraqi Resistance bombards base in al-Habbaniyah a second time on Saturday.

In a dispatch posted at 9:10pm Mecca time Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the Resistance had launched a new attack on the US al-Hadbah base in the city of al-Habbaniyah east of the city at 6:30pm Saturday night.

More than twenty mortar rounds blasted into the base and the sound of secondary explosions continued inside the US facility for some time afterwards, as American forces evacuated the base by sending troops out into the surrounding hills.

From afar the correspondent described the base, saying that there had been tongues of flame rising over the facility for a whole hour after the second such barrage by the Resistance Saturday. The attacks were brought on by news that a high-ranking US commander was in the base on a visit.

Resistance pounds US base at al-Habbaniyah in the first of two such attacks Saturday.

In a dispatch posted at 12:40am Saturday, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the Iraqi Resistance had been bombarding the US base in al-Habbaniyah, west of al-Fallujah, known as al-Hadbah, since 10:50am Friday morning. The Resistance was firing into the base from four directions after hearing a report that a top commander of the US military was paying a visit to the facility.

US artillery were intensely replying to the Resistance fire, but there were no reports of it inflicting any losses on the Resistance. The correspondent described the US base as like a cradle being rocked by the power of the Resistance bombardment, which was sending plumes of smoke into the sky, totally enveloping the facility and the city as US fighter aircraft and helicopters prowled the skies overhead and sirens wailed inside.

Local primary and secondary schools closed and sent children home because of the bombardment and many shops also closed their doors. The correspondent reported that the Resistance appeared to be using powerful Ababil and Tariq rockets as well as 120mm mortar rounds.

Al-Haditha.

Resistance bomb attack near al-Hadithah.

Iraqi Resistance forces detonated bombs under a US column in the al-Hadithah area of Haqlaniyah west of Baghdad at 11:30am Saturday, destroying three Humvees and killing 12 US troops, including an officer. The Americans afterwards encircled the area and arrested 23 local people.

Baghdad.

Fighting in Baghdad's al-Karakh District.

Fighting broke out between the Resistance and US troops accompanied by puppet "national guards" on Hayfa Street and in al-Mushahadah and al-Falhhamah in Baghdad's al-Karakh District at 10:30am Saturday. Resistance fighters hurled hand grenades and fired light arms, killing three US troops and wounding two more. Five puppet guards were killed. After they left the area, one citizen was killed by a bullet fired by the occupation troops.

Resistance forces battled US troops and their puppets on Hayfa Street and al-Mushahadah in Baghdad's al-Karakh District around 4:30pm Saturday. Resistance fighters hurled hand grenades and fired light weapons, killing five puppet "national guards and seriously wounding four more. Two American soldiers were killed and a third was seriously wounded.

Resistance assassinations of collaborators.

Iraqi Resistance fighters armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles shot and killed two lackeys working with the US occupiers in Baghdad's al-I'lam area at about 4:30pm Saturday.

Resistance attacks in at-Taji.

In a dispatch posted at 8:50pm Mecca time Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US column in the at-Tarimiyah area of at-Taji, north of Baghdad at exactly 6 o'clock, local time, killing a US soldier and wounding a second and nearly totally destroying a Humvee. A witness said that a land mine had been hidden in an old car tire and thrown in the middle of the road. It blew up as soon as the US vehicle passed.

Heavy Iraqi Resistance roadside bombs exploded in al-Mushahadah in at-Taji, north of Baghdad, at 11am Saturday, destroying a US military truck loaded with supplies for the occupation troops and a Bradley armored vehicle, and killing five US troops aboard them. Two more American soldiers were seriously wounded.

Resistance attack in ad-Durah.

A heavy Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in the Hur Rajab area of the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah at 12:30pm Saturday, destroying a Humvee command car and killing three US troops, one of them an officer. US troops then encircled the area with vehicles and arrested nine local residents.

Resistance attack in as-Suwayrah.

Iraqi Resistance forces destroyed two US military trucks and an armored personnel carrier (APC) on al-Janub Street in as-Suwayrah at about 2:30pm Saturday, killing seven troops and seriously wounding five more. American forces encircled the area and hauled the wreckage away within two hours.

Resistance ambush in Salman Bak.

Iraqi Resistance fighters detonated bombs and fired rockets and BKC machine guns at a US column in Salman Bak at 8:30am Saturday, destroying a US Bradley armored vehicle, a Humvee, and a civilian truck loaded with supplies and killing eight US troops, and seriously wounding three more. US forces then encircled the area and opened fire indiscriminately on homes, killing two civilians and seriously wounding 11 more. They also arrested 34 local residents.

Resistance attacks in Abu Ghurayb.

An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb exploded in the Kharnabat area of Abu Ghurayb at 8:15am Saturday, destroying a Humvee and killing three US troops. US forces hauled away the wreckage within an hour.

Heavy Iraqi Resistance roadside bombs exploded in the as-Samilat area of Abu Ghurayb at about 2pm Saturday, destroying a Bradley armored vehicle and a Humvee and killing eight persons. After the attack, American troops opened fire indiscriminately on civilians, seriously wounding five. US forces hauled away the wreckage of the vehicles within two hours.

Several Iraqi Resistance bombs exploded in the az-Zaydan area of Abu Ghurayb at about 4:15pm Saturday, destroying a Humvee and a Bradley armored vehicle and killing six US troops and seriously wounding two more.

Details of Thursday's Abu Ghurayb prison break.

Sources in the Iraqi puppet police and puppet "national guard" told Mafkarat al-Islam on Saturday that US forces had ordered the execution of 38 Iraqi and fraternal Arab Resistance fighters for committing "terrorist acts" and they were ordered taken to Baghdad to be killed and their bodies handed over to their relatives.

A high ranking puppet police commander in Abu Ghurayb and the brother of a prison guard killed while transporting the prisoners told Mafkarat al-Islam that 20 prisoners - Iraqis as well as Jordanians, Syrians, and a number of Saudis, Yemenis, and Egyptians - were brought by special Daewoo transport vehicle with puppet police license plates on Thursday. The van was equipped with opaque windows. The prisoners were taken out of Abu Ghurayb at 8am Thursday and driven towards a prison inside Baghdad proper.

The correspondent reported that armed Resistance fighters prepared an ambush for the Daewoo bus by the Ibn Hayyan Bridge, known as the Central Markets Bridge in the al-'Adl neighborhood, the first neighborhood reached as the bus traveled into western Baghdad. More than 15 Resistance fighters armed with light and medium weapons sprang at the bus when it came past their position. The were able to set free the prisoners and kill three of the guards and a number of US troops when they destroyed a US Humvee. They brought a small car and very quickly got away from the scene with the prisoners.

A puppet police officer said that among the prisoners who made good their escape was a leader of the First Army of Muhammad Resistance organization, and an aide to Abu Mus'ab az-Zarqawi, of whose capture the puppet prime minister of Iraq had recently boasted.

Another official in Abu Ghurayb prison denied claims that the puppet police had found and re-arrested some of he escaped prisoners on Friday.

Al-Yusufiyah - al-Latifiyah.

Attacks in al-Latifiyah.

A heavy Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in al-Latifiyah at about 4pm Saturday, destroying a Bradley armored vehicle and killing four US troops.

A heavy Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in the al-Jannabiyin area west of al-Latifiya at about 4:30pm Saturday, destroying a command Humveea dn killing four US troops aboard it, one of them an officer.

Resistance ambush in al-Yusufiyah.

An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in the al-Qasr al-Awsat area of al-Yusufiyah at 9:45am Saturday, destroying a small ZiL truck and killing six US troops. American forces encircled the area and opened fire indiscriminately.

Ba'qubah.

Resistance car bombing hits US-puppet joint checkpoint.

An Iraqi Resistance car bomb exploded at a joint US-puppet guard checkpoint in the Shahrban area east of Ba'qubah at 4pm Saturday. The Diyala Province correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi ambulance driver said that the attack left five US troops dead and seven more seriously wounded. Four Iraqi puppet troops were also killed. Witnesses said that two Humvees that were parked by the side of the road were destroyed by the blast as well.

Mosul.

Powerful Resistance bomb destroys Humvee kills four US soldiers.

An Iraqi Resistance high-yield roadside bomb exploded in Mosul, destroying a military vehicle and killing several US troops. The blast occurred on the road leading to the tomb of the Prophet Shît as a US Humvee was passing by. The blast destroyed the Humvee and killed four US troops at 10:35am Saturday morning.

Witnesses said the explosion was so powerful that it blasted the Humvee half a meter in the air before bringing it down in a pile of wreckage. A visitor to the tomb of the Prophet told Mafkarat al-Islam that the Americans had trouble recovering the remains of one of the four dead soldiers because his body parts were blown all over the place.

Tikrit.

Resistance bombing in Tikrit.

An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in the Salah ad-Din area at the entrance to Tikrit at about 3:10pm Saturday, destroying a US truck and a Humvee and killing six US troops. American forces then encircled the area with military vehicles and arrested 12 local residents.

Al-'Amarah.

Resistance sharp shooter kills British soldier in al-'Amarah.

An Iraqi Resistance sharp shooter shot and killed a British soldier in the as-Sadiq area of northern al-'Amarah on Saturday. Witnesses said the sharp shooter opened fire from a building opposite the position of the British soldier, and that the bullet apparently hit him directly in the head.

British troops immediately closed off and searched Sunni (only Sunni!) homes in the city. They arrested two persons in the asSadiq area after finding a hunting rifle in the home of one of them.

Witnesses said British troops also found ammunition for sniper rifles on the roof of the building along with a message apparently to the people of the city on which was a famous quotation by the fourth Caliph, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib saying that No people ever gave up jihad but that God afflicted them with decline and humiliation.

Resistance bombardments around Iraq on Saturday.

At about 5:30am Saturday, Iraqi Resistance fighters fired four Katyusha rockets into the US Sukkaniya base in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah, sending smoke rising into the sky. Two helicopters were observed landing and taking off from the base 25 minutes later, evacuating casualties.

At about 6:15am Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired seven 82mm mortar rounds into the headquarters of the US occupation in the Republican Palace in Baghdad, known to the US invaders as "the green zone," sending smoke rising into the sky.

At about 6:30am Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired five 60mm mortar rounds into the building of the puppet so called "Iraqi defense ministry" in Baghdad, sending smoke rising into the sky and damaging the building.

At 10:30am Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired two Grad rockets into the US al-Bakr base in Balad, north of Baghdad, sending plumes of smoke rising into the sky. Two medevac helicopters were seen landing and taking off from the facility.

At 1:30pm Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired three 82mm mortar rounds into the puppet so-called "Iraqi ministry of the interior" on Palestine Street in Baghdad, sending plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

At about 2:45pm Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired five 120mm mortar rounds and four more mortar rounds into the US camp in the military academy in Baghdad's ar-Rustamiyah district, sending clouds of smoke rising into the sky.

At about 3:30pm Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired four Katyusha rockets into the US base in Saddam International Airport.

At about 4:10pm Saturday, Iraqi Resistance forces fired several 82mm mortar rounds into the headquarters of the US occupation in the Republican Palace in Baghdad, known to the US invaders as "the green zone," sending smoke rising into the sky.

At about 4:45pm Saturday, Iraqi Resistance fighters fired two Katyusha rockets into the US Sukkaniya base in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah, sending smoke rising into the sky.

Sources

http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54468
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54467
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54462
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54461
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54460
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54459
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54458
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54457
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54456
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54455
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54454
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54453
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54452
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54451
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54445
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=54444
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=54420
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=54417
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=54413
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=54411
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=54409
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDnews=54408

>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------<<< >> GIV Mailinglist : http://mailing.giv-seiten.info << >>>-----------------------------------------------------------------<<< http://www.giv-seiten.info/www.giv-archiv.de/2002/Oktober/021031GI.010

>> Kasnazaniya / Casnazaniyyah: http://video.giv-seiten.info << >>>-----------------------------------------------------------------<<<

  >>  Further Informations about Iraq and Palestine:                 <<
  >>                                                                 <<
  >>  GIV-Pages Online :                 http://www.giv-seiten.info  <<
  >>  GIV-Page         :                 http://giv.giv-seiten.info  <<
  >>  Iraq-Page        :                http://irak.giv-seiten.info  <<
  >>  Jemen-Page       :               http://jemen.giv-seiten.info  <<
  >>  Jordanien-Page   :           http://jordanien.giv-seiten.info  <<
  >>  GIV-Archiv       :              http://archiv.giv-seiten.info  <<
  >>  GIV-Archiv       :                   http://www.giv-archiv.de  <<

>>>-----------------------------------------------------------------<<<