NoWar ARCHIVES 5 July 2007 to current - scroll down to check items of interest
Last modified: 06 April 2008
Nowar newsletters
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2007 |
2006 |
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Named and identified victims of the war on Iraq
In memory of those who have died in Iraq - 3000 names
Poem by NoWar Member, Edward Cranswick, former Human Shield, Iraq, 2003
20 July 2006
Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, ... and the Earth
Our tongues are tied
Because deep inside
We all believe
That they must die
For our oil ...
And so we wait
For all the oil
To be gone ...
Then we can die
Guilt-free.
VIDEOS and POwerPoints
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6 minute video on Lebanon |
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The Potential Confrontation with Iran PowerPoint Presentation by Stephen Darley, Committee Member, NoWar
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WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE REAL IRAN? A PowerPoint Presentation that challenges the stereotypes fed to us about the people of Iranian and Persian Heritage
Click here or on the graphic to run the PowerPoint Presentation |
for FOX's softening up of the US for an attack on Iran
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IRAQ WAR - EVERYBODY HURTS - from YouTube (and NeilYoung.com)
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WHAT A WAR ON IRAN MIGHT LOOK LIKE (Photo Essay posted at AlterNet) Photos of the aftermath of Israel's air strikes on Lebanon give an idea of what a war on Iran might look like.
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News Reports and Events 2008
(11 March - current)AN ADMIRAL TAKES ON THE WHITE HOUSE
11 March 2008
A new article on CENTCOM commander Admiral William Fallon confirms that his public statements last autumn ruling out war against Iran were not coordinated with the White House and landed him in trouble more than once with President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
In an admiring article on Fallon in Esquire, former Pentagon official Thomas P M Barnett writes that Fallon angered the White House by "brazenly challenging" Bush on his aggressive threat of war against Tehran. Barnett also cites "well-placed observers" as saying Bush may soon replace Fallon with a "more pliable" commander.
Read more ...(Asia Times Online
Read the Esquire article) Photo source: Wikipedia
No 2008 items before this date (11 March)
News Reports and Events 2007
(5 July to 28 October)US PROTESTERS CALL FOR END TO IRAQ WAR
28 October 2007
Anti-war demonstrators marched in US cities to call for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and a cut-off of funding by the US Congress. The "National Day of Action", sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice (UNPAJ) coalition, attracted protesters in cities including Boston, New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles on the fifth anniversary of the US Senate's vote authorising the invasion of Iraq. Read more ...(ABC)
Photo source: ABC
CATE 'EMBARRASSED' BY AUSTRALIA - "We're so in America's back pocket it's embarrassing''
28 October 2007
Oscar-Winner Cate Blanchett yesterday strode on to the election stage to criticise Australia's "embarrassing" close relationship with the United States. In a bold performance, the actress called on the winner of the November 24 poll to end Australia's alliance with the US and forge closer links with Asia. She also urged Australia's politicians to take a "responsible'' attitude to the export of coal and uranium.
Photo source: The Advertiser
Read more ...(The Advertiser) Read the original ...(The Guardian)
WHITE HOUSE LEAK: CHENEY'S PLAN FOR IRAN ATTACK STARTS WITH ISRAELI MISSILE STRIKE
26 October 2007
US Vice President Dick Cheney -- the power behind the throne, the eminence grise, the man with the (very) occasional grandfatherly smile -- is notorious for his propensity for secretiveness and behind-the-scenes manipulation. He's capable of anything, say friends as well as enemies. Given this reputation, it's no big surprise that Cheney has already asked for a backroom analysis of how a war with Iran might begin. In the scenario concocted by Cheney's strategists, Washington's first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear facilities in Iran.
IS IT GAME OVER FOR U.S. CONTROL OF IRAQI OIL?
25 October 2007
The oil game in Iraq may be almost up. On September 29th, like a landlord serving notice, the government of Iraq announced that the next annual renewal of the United Nations Security Council mandate for a multinational force in Iraq -- the only legal basis for a continuation of the American occupation -- will be the last. That was, it seems, the first shoe to fall. The second may be an announcement terminating the little-noticed, but crucial companion Security Council mandate governing the disposition of Iraq's oil revenues. Read more ...(AlterNet)
TRILLION-DOLLAR WAR: AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ SET TO COST MORE THAN VIETNAM AND KOREA
24 October 2007
President George Bush will have spent more than $1 trillion on military adventures by the time he leaves office at the end of next year, more than the entire amount spent on the Korean and Vietnam wars combined.
TURKEY SHELLS NORTH IRAQ BORDER: KURDISH OFFICIAL
21 October 2007
A Kurdish military official in Iraq says Turkey has fired artillery shells into the northern Iraq border region early on Sunday, but there were no casualties. "This morning at 6:00am (local time) they shelled about 11 areas along the borders," the official said. Read more ...(ABC)
US RAID KILLS 10, INCLUDING CHILDREN, IRAQI MEDICS SAY
21 October 2007
Fierce fighting between the US military and militants in Baghdad's Shiite bastion of Sadr City has killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 40, medics and security officials say. The clashes broke out as US forces carried out a raid in the impoverished neighbourhood, which is loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Medics at Sadr City's Imam Ali Hospital and Sadr Hospital confirmed the casualties and said the dead included a child and a girl. US military also confirmed the operation. Read more ..(ABC)
FACTBOX-IRAQ AND ECONOMY HOLD KEYS TO AUSTRALIAN ELECTION
14 October 2007
Australia's election will decide the future for Australia's military commitment in Iraq. Australia has about 1,500 troops in and around Iraq, and conservative prime minister John Howard was one of the first to commit to the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein in 2003. Howard, a close friend and ally of U. S. President George W. Bush, has promised Australian forces will remain in Iraq until it can look after its own security. Opposition Labor leader Kevin Rudd has promised to withdraw about 500 Australian frontline troops, who are mainly based in Iraq's relatively peaceful south. Read more ...(Reuters)
EX-COMMANDER SAYS IRAQ EFFORT IS ‘A NIGHTMARE’
13 October 2007
In a sweeping indictment of the four-year effort in Iraq, the former top commander of American forces there called the Bush administration’s handling of the war “incompetent” and said the result was “a nightmare with no end in sight.” Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who retired in 2006 after being replaced in Iraq after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, blamed the Bush administration for a “catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan” and denounced the current addition of American forces as a “desperate” move that would not achieve long-term stability.
Photo source: New York Times
ANOTHER TRIGGER-HAPPY MERCENARY FIRM KILLS UNARMED IRAQIS
12 October 2007
This time, it was an Australian firm, and two women were its victims. Also: Blackwater sued by victims. Another security firm is under the spotlight in Iraq. Two women were killed by members of the Australian-owned Unity Resources Group. According to witnesses, the shooting was unprovoked. The Iraqi government has demanded answers and called for a crackdown on private bodyguards used by the US. Read more ...(AlterNet)
AUSSIE SOLDIER CONFIRMED DEAD IN AFGHANISTAN
9 October 2007
The Australian Defence Force has confirmed that an Australian soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The soldier, who was driving an Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV), was killed when an improvised explosive device went off as a Reconstruction Taskforce convoy returned from a reconnaissance mission in the southern province of Oruzgan, six kilometres from the Australian base at Tarin Kowt.
IRAQIS PROTEST AGAINST 'US WALL'
6 October 2007
More than 1,000 Iraqis have marched in west Baghdad in a rare public demonstration to protest against a wall they say the US military is planning to erect around their district. Carrying an Iraqi flag and banners condemning the wall the marchers in the mainly Shia area of al-Washash chanted: "No, no to the wall. No, no to America."
FOUR MYTHS GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA USE TO SCARE US ABOUT 'DICTATORS' by Larry Beinhart
2 October 2007
Fog Facts: The Bush White House calls Iran's President Ahmadinejad a "dictator" when he isn't - part of scaring the public into thinking preemptive war is a good thing.
Graphic source: Blood For Oil
US 'PLANNING SURGICAL IRAN STRIKES'
1 October 2007
Australia, Britain and Israel have "expressed interest" in a US campaign to launch "surgical" bombing raids on Iran targetting the Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities, according to one of America's leading investigative reporters, Seymour Hersh. Read more ...(The Age)
SHIFTING TARGETS - THE ADMINISTRATION’S PLAN FOR IRAN by Seymour Hersh
1 October 2007
This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran’s known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on “surgical” strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq. What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism. Read more ...(The New Yorker)
THE IRAN WAR IS ON THE FRONT BURNER
28 September 2007
The war that Dick Cheney has been planning against Iran, has moved from the back burner to the front, and those who do not see this are either blind or complicit. Read more ...(Global Research)
by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach (copyright)
IRAQ WILL HAVE TO WAIT by Scott Ritter
27 September 2007
Of the two problems (the reality of Iraq, the potential of Iran), Iran is by far the more important. The war in Iraq isn’t going to expand tenfold overnight. By simply doing nothing, the Democrats can rest assured that Bush’s bad policy will simply keep failing. War with Iran, on the other hand, can still be prevented. We are talking about the potential for conflict at this time, not the reality of war. But time is not on the side of peace
Photo source: Truthdig
SENATE PASSES KYL-LIEBERMAN MEASURE ON IRAN - a building block for war with Iran
26 September 2007
Yesterday, the Senate was poised to vote on a non-binding resolution, sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), to get the chamber on record supporting some aggressive language towards Iran. The measure was, as Josh Marshall described it, a building block towards an eventual military confrontation with Tehran, following the same pattern established by neocons on Iraq (as per the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act). The Kyl-Lieberman Iran amendment — which ratchets up the confrontation with Iran by calling for the designation of its armed forces a terrorist organization responsible for killing U.S. troops — just passed overwhelmingly, 76-22. Read more ...(The Carpet Bagger Report)
WORLD NOT FACING UP TO IRAQI REFUGEE CRISIS: AMNESTY
24 September 2007
The international community has not faced up to the scale of the Iraqi refugee crisis, leaving Syria and Jordan to deal with the exodus, Amnesty International says in a report out today. ...According to Amnesty's estimates, there are about 4.2 million displaced Iraqis, 2.2 million of whom are within Iraq, with the vast majority of the rest in Syria and Jordan. Read more ...(ABC)
IRANIAN PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD DELIVERS REMARKS AT U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING
25 September 2007
In the present tumultuous world and with the predominance of loud outcries, threats and tensions, and at a time when the big powers are unable to solve present problems, when mistrust in regional and international arenas is on the rise, when the psychological security of societies is being targeted by an onslaught of political and propaganda designs, and disappointment prevails over efficacy of policies and actions of the international organizations in the establishment of a durable peace and security, and the protection of human rights is being weakened, I plan to touch upon and explain the roots of and the ways out of these predicaments and some of the principal challenges facing our world. Read more. (Washington Post)
ALMOST 20,000 IRAQIS SEEK ASYLUM IN INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD IN FIRST HALF OF 2007
24 September 2007
Source: UNHCR
BLACKWATER: HIRED GUNS, ABOVE THE LAW by Jeremy Scahill, The Nation
22 September 2007
Over the past six days, we have all been following very closely the developments out of Baghdad in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of as many as 20 Iraqis by operatives working for the private military company Blackwater USA. The Iraqi government is alleging that among the dead are a small child and her parents and the prime minister has labeled Blackwater's conduct as "criminal" and spoke of "the killing of our citizens in cold blood." While details remain murky and subject to conflicting versions of what exactly happened, this situation cuts much deeper than this horrifying incident. Read more ...(uruknet.info)
IRAQ WAR BUDGET JUMPS FOR 2008
22 September 2007
After smothering efforts by war critics in Congress to drastically cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq, President Bush plans to ask lawmakers next week to approve another massive spending measure -- totaling nearly $200 billion -- to fund the war through next year, Pentagon officials said. ...The new spending request is likely to push the cumulative cost of the war in Iraq alone through 2008 past the $600-billion mark -- more than the Korean War and nearly as much as the Vietnam War, based on estimates by government budget officials.
WAR COSTING $720 MILLION EACH DAY, GROUP SAYS
22 September 2007
The money spent on one day of the Iraq war could buy homes for almost 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children, or could outfit 1.27 million homes with renewable electricity, according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday. The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute, according to the group's analysis of the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard public finance lecturer Linda J. Bilmes.
$6 BILLION IN CONTRACTS REVIEWED, PENTAGON SAYS
21 September 2007
Military officials said Thursday that contracts worth $6 billion to provide essential supplies to American troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan — including food, water and shelter — were under review by criminal investigators, double the amount the Pentagon had previously disclosed.
In addition, $88 billion in contracts and programs, including those for body armor for American soldiers and matériel for Iraqi and Afghan security forces, are being audited for financial irregularities, the officials said.
GREENSPAN ADMITS IRAQ WAS ABOUT OIL, AS DEATHS PUT AT 1.2M
17 September 2007
Alan Greenspan, the consummate Washington insider and long-time head of the US central bank, has backed the position taken by many anti-war critics - that the invasion of Iraq was motivated by oil.
Photo source: ABC
PROTESTERS IN WASHINGTON DEMAND END TO WAR
16 September 2007
Thousands of angry protesters including the families of dead US soldiers marched in Washington demanding an end to the war in Iraq, the return of US troops and the impeachment of President George W Bush.
BUSH WON'T LET GO OF HIS FAILED IRAQ PROJECT
14 September 2007
Bush's Oval Office address on Iraq culminates a week of brazen propaganda from the White House and Pentagon, with no sign that the president has learned anything from his failure. Read more ...(AlterNet)
IS A JEWISH GLASNOST COMING TO AMERICA? - DESPITE A BACKLASH, MANY JEWS ARE QUESTIONING ISRAEL - by Tony Karon
13 September 2007
First, a confession: It may tell me that I hate myself, but I can't help loving Masada2000, the website maintained by militant right-wing Zionist followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane. The reason I love it is its D.I.R.T. list -- that's "Dense anti-Israel Repugnant Traitors" (also published as the S.H.I.T. list of "Self-Hating and Israel-Threatening" Jews). And that's not because I get a bigger entry than -- staying in the Ks -- Henry Kissinger, Michael Kinsley, Naomi Klein, or Ted Koppel. The Kahanists are a pretty flaky lot, counting everyone from Woody Allen to present Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on their list of Jewish traitors. But the habit of branding Jewish dissidents -- those of us who reject the nationalist notion that as Jews, our fate is tied to that of Israel, or the idea that our people's historic suffering somehow exempts Israel from moral reproach for its abuses against others -- as "self-haters" is not unfamiliar to me. Read more ...(TomDispatch.com)
THE VIEW FROM BAGHDAD: MOUNTING DEATH TOLL WHICH MAKES A MOCKERY OF US OPTIMISM
11 September 2007
By the time General Petraeus had finished speaking yesterday the slaughter in Iraq for the previous 24 hours could be tallied. It was not an exceptionally violent day by the standards of Iraq: seven US soldiers lay dead and 11 injured in the capital; other instances of sectarian violence included a suicide bomb which had killed 10 and wounded scores near Mosul while 10 bodies were found in Baghdad. Three policemen were killed in clashes in Mosul, and a car bomb outside a hospital in the capital had exploded, killing two and wounding six.
Photo source: GI Special
ANTI-APEC PROTEST STOPS SYDNEY CBD
8 September 2007
A group of about 5,000 protesters is peacefully winding its way through Sydney's CBD in the largest demonstration of the APEC summit. The inner city is in virtual lockdown for the march, which has been organised by the Stop Bush Coalition. Read more ...(ABC)
Photo source: ABC
ISRAEL/LEBANON: ISRAELI INDISCRIMINATE ATTACKS KILLED MOST CIVILIANS
6 September 2007
Israel’s indiscriminate airstrikes, not Hezbollah’s shielding as claimed by Israeli officials, caused most of the approximately 900 civilian deaths in Lebanon during the July-August 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch investigated more than 500 of the deaths.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Read more ...(Human Rights Watch) Read the Report (PDF 2.5mb)
EXPERTS DOUBT DROP IN VIOLENCE IN IRAQ
6 September 2007
The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends...
In its December 2006 report, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group identified "significant underreporting of violence," noting that "a murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the sources of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the data base." The report concluded that "good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals." Read more ...(Washington Post)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE: BARE FACED LIES TOLD ON ABC LATELINE - SEE THE VIDEO
5 September 2007
"We were sitting innocently on a day in September..."
SNOW JOB IN THE DESERT
5 September 2007
It appears that many influential people in this country (US) have learned nothing from the last five years.
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS UP, BUSH URGES PATIENCE
1 September 2007
Civilian deaths from violence in Iraq rose in August, with 1,773 people killed, government data showed on Saturday, just days before the U.S. Congress gets a slew of reports on President George W. Bush's war strategy.
Compare with the announcement this week by Australia's Defence Minister: Nelson reassured on Iraq progress (ABC)
BRIAN DE PALMA'S REDACTED SHOCKS VENICE
1 September 2007
A wave of new American films about the Iraq war are due to arrive in cinemas over the next few months. Yet it's safe to say few could be more shocking or harrowing than the low-budget Redacted by veteran director Brian de Palma (Scarface, The Untouchables), which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival yesterday.
Photo source: Telegraph
THE RIP-OFF IN IRAQ: YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE HOW LOW THE WAR PROFITEERS HAVE GONE
30 August 2007
Operation Iraqi Freedom, it turns out, was never a war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was an invasion of the federal budget, and no occupying force in history has ever been this efficient. George W. Bush's war in the Mesopotamian desert was an experiment of sorts, a crude first take at his vision of a fully privatized American government. Read more ...(AlterNet)
Source: AlterNet
CHILDREN KILLED IN ISRAELI SHOOTING
29 August 2007
Three Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli gunfire after soldiers shot at them near a rocket-launching site in the northern Gaza strip. A doctor at the Palestinian health ministry said cousins Mahmoud Ghazal, 10, and Yehiya Ghazal, 12, were killed on Wednesday. Their cousin, Sara Ghazal, 10, was injured and died later in hospital. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops hit unidentified figures spotted near rocket launchers that were aimed at Israel. She voiced regret at the deaths of children.
How deep does the regret go? - Statement by Israeli Officer on killing a 13 y.o. girl in 2004:
"...I would have killed her even if she was three years old." (Guardian)
Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed Since September 29, 2000
BUSH WANTS $50 BILLION MORE FOR IRAQ WAR
29 August 2007
President Bush plans to ask Congress next month for up to $50 billion in additional funding for the war in Iraq, a White House official said yesterday, a move that appears to reflect increasing administration confidence that it can fend off congressional calls for a rapid drawdown of U.S. forces. Read more ...(Washington Post)
THE U.S. MEDIA PLAYS ALONG WITH THE FARCICAL TRIAL OF CHEMICAL ALI
25 August 2007
It's a Kafkaesque trial--an historical lie--it should be the shame of U.S. Media. Like a distant historical footnote to the bloody tragedy raging in Iraq, the trial of Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Chemical Ali, and 14 other former lieutenants of Saddam, began this week. The prosecutor accused them of perpetrating “ among the ugliest crimes ever committed against humanity in modern history.” In a just world, George H.W. Bush and James Baker would also be in the dock. Read more ...(AlterNet)
Photo source: AlterNet
THE WAR ON IRAQ'S WOMEN
25 August 2007
The Ministry of Women's Affairs estimates that there are 8 million widows in Iraq, with 350,000 in Baghdad alone...It almost defies comprehension that such a thing is possible, but as several recent news reports attest, the horrendous circumstances faced by Iraqi women continue to deteriorate. Read more ...(AlterNet)
Photo source: Aljazeera
ROBERT FISK: EVEN I QUESTION THE 'TRUTH' ABOUT 9/11
25 August 2007
Let me repeat. I am not a conspiracy theorist. Spare me the ravers. Spare me the plots. But like everyone else, I would like to know the full story of 9/11, not least because it was the trigger for the whole lunatic, meretricious "war on terror" which has led us to disaster in Iraq and Afghanistan and in much of the Middle East. Bush's happily departed adviser Karl Rove once said that "we're an empire now – we create our own reality".
Robert Fisk
VIOLENCE TAKING TOLL ON PREGNANT MOTHERS, INFANTS
14 August 2007
According to doctors, dozens of women in Iraq each day face delivery difficulties caused by violence and the curfew that is preventing access to health care during the night. "For at least two women in every 12 who seek emergency delivery assistance here, either the mother or her child dies," Dr Ibrahim Khalil, a gynecologist at Al-Karada maternity hospital, said. Read more ...(ElectronicIraq.net)
Photo source: AlterNet
UK 'DAMAGED' BY LEBANON WAR DELAY
13 August 2007
The UK's reputation was damaged when the government hesitated in calling for an immediate end to the Lebanon war last year, MPs have said. At the time, then-PM Tony Blair was criticised for waiting a few weeks before eventually calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. The foreign affairs committee also said it was "counterproductive" not to talk to Palestinian militant group Hamas.
It called some of Israel's military actions in Lebanon during the war "indiscriminate and disproportionate". It particularly highlighted the attacks on United Nations observers and the dropping of more than 3.5 million cluster bombs (90% of the total) in the 72 hours after the UN Security Council passed the resolution which effectively ended the war. Read more ...(BBC)
Photo source: BBC
IRAQI GOVERNOR KILLED IN BOMBING
11 August 2007
The governor and chief of police of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiyah have been killed by a roadside bomb, local security and health officials said. Read more ...(Aljazeera)
Photo source: Aljazeera
MIXED FEELINGS OVER UN IRAQ ROLE
11 August 2007
With a show of 15 hands, resolution 1770 was adopted unanimously at the UN Security Council, paving the way for a wider, political role for the UN in Iraq and a bigger presence inside the war-torn country.
TROOPS DEFY MoD GAG ORDER
10 August 2007
Unofficial army websites are full of reaction to the revelation the MoD (UK) has issued wide-ranging new guidelines to stop military personnel speaking out about defence issues without permission from a superior. The backlash coincides with reports that troops' morale in Basra city is plummeting amid mounting casualties, stifling temperatures and falling public support for an increasingly unpopular war.
WHAT UNITES IRAQIS: BLOCKING WESTERN PETROLEUM COMPANIES FROM SEIZING CONTROL OF THEIR OIL
9 August 2007
Despite the ethnic bloodshed in Iraq, majorities of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are united in their disapproval of the proposed oil laws that Washington and Big Oil are pushing. Read More ...(AlterNet)
Photo source: OilEmpire.com Click on pic for larger view)
LOSING TRACK OF GUNS, LOSING TRACK OF IRAQ?
6 August 2007
As the Pentagon is accused by US auditors of losing track of 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to the Iraqi security forces, the BBC's Nick Childs considers what this means for US strategy. Read more ...(BBC)
Photo source: BBC
US SOLDIER SENTENCED TO 110 YEARS
5 August 2007
A US soldier has been sentenced to 110 years in prison for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family. Private Jesse Spielman was convicted of conspiracy to rape and murder. He said he acted as a lookout for four other soldiers who carried out the attack in Mahmudiya in March 2006.
IRAQI POWER GRID NEARING COLLAPSE
4 August 2007
Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.
Photo source: AP
IN IRAQ, A PERILOUS ALLIANCE WITH FORMER ENEMIES
4 August 2007
U.S. commanders are offering large sums to enlist, at breakneck pace, their former enemies, handing them broad security powers in a risky effort to tame this fractious area south of Baghdad in Babil province and, literally, buy time for national reconciliation. American generals insist they are not creating militias. In contracts with the U.S. military, the sheiks are referred to as "security contractors." Each of their "guards" will receive 70 percent of an Iraqi policeman's salary. U.S. commanders call them "concerned citizens," evoking suburban neighborhood watch groups. Read more ...(Washington Post)
BRITAIN WILL TAKE TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ REGARDLESS OF US, SAYS PM
31 July 2007
Gordon Brown has paved the way for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by telling George Bush he would not delay their exit in order to show unity with the United States. After four hours of one-to-one talks with the US President at his Camp David retreat, Mr Brown told a joint press conference he would make a Commons statement in October on the future of the 5,500 British troops in the Basra region.
IRAQ IN HISTORIC ASIAN CUP WIN
30 July 2007
Iraq have completed a fairytale for the ages with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup final, making them worthy first time champions of the continental tournament. ...
"You bring happiness for one country, not just one team. "That is the most important thing."
Photo source: Aljazeera Read more ...(Aljazeera)
IRAQ CAPTAIN SAYS HE FEARS FOR HIS LIFE, CALLS FOR US TO LEAVE COUNTRY
29 July 2007
Younis Mahmoud's victory celebrations were tempered by reality. Mahmoud scored the winning goal in Iraq's 1-0 Asian Cup final win over Saudi Arabia on Sunday, yet he feared for his life if he went home to celebrate the stunning victory, and said he would not be returning to the war-torn country. The Sunni Muslim Iraqi captain — who like the rest of the team wore a black arm band to remember the dozens killed by carbombers following the side's semifinal victory over South Korea on Wednesday — said the American presence in his homeland was a "problem." "I want America to go out," he said. "Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn't invade Iraq and hopefully it will be over soon." Read more ...(International Herald Tribune)
HANEEF THANKS AUST PEOPLE FOR SUPPORT
29 July 2007
Dr Mohamed Haneef has spoken for the first time since being detained on the suspicion of terrorism related offences, thanking the Australian people for supporting him. The Gold Coast based doctor was released without charge last Friday and has flown out of Australia overnight bound for India. Speaking for the first time since his detention four weeks ago, Dr Haneef said it was good to be free. Stopping off at the Bangkok Airport, Dr Haneef told a waiting media pack waiting he was grateful to the Australian people for their support.
Mohamed Haneef (with beard) smiles as he arrives at Brisbane Airport to fly home to India after the terrorism charge against him was dropped. Photo source: ABC Read more ...(ABC)
NATIONALITY GROUNDS TO BAN STAFF
27 July 2007
Deputy Premier Kevin Foley is supporting a defence contractor's request to be allowed not to employ staff on the grounds of nationality. That comes as BAE Systems warned yesterday that hundreds of millions of dollars in defence contracts and jobs could be lost if it does not receive an exemption from anti-discrimination laws.
The company, based at Edinburgh Park, has gone to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal seeking the exemption to comply with U.S. security controls over sensitive defence material. Under the controls, nationals from proscribed countries are not permitted access to material exported by the U.S. Lawyer Tim Stanley, QC, said his client needed the exemption so it could continue to work with U.S. defence contractors.
See also: The Canadian example of the same issue - the Canadian Government thought that this was a case of racial discrimination! Not so the South Australian Government!
WOMEN INCREASINGLY TARGETED FOR VIOLENCE
24 July 2007
Haifaa Nour, 33-year-old president of the Women’s Freedom Organisation (WFO), one of the few women’s rights organisations in Iraq, said the threatening letters she had recently been receiving would not deter her from her job, even if it cost her her life. However, she acknowledged that for a woman activist the risks of doing humanitarian work were increasing daily. “After the US-led invasion in 2003, women’s rights were well recognised... but unfortunately in the past two years our situation has deteriorated and the targeting of activists and women aid workers has increased, forcing dozens to give up their jobs,” Haifaa said.
MASS FUNERALS HELD IN KIRKUK
17 July 2007
The northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has held mass funerals after a lorry and two car bombs killed up to 80 people. Dozens of men carried the bodies of their relatives from morgues in lorries and taxis on Tuesday. The burials came a day after a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle near the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Minutes later after the attack, a second bomber struck the Haseer market, 700 metres away.
Photo source: Aljazeera
TWO AUSTRALIANS KILLED IN IRAQ
16 July 2007
Two Australian security contractors have been killed and a third injured in a bomb blast in Iraq. The men were driving about eight kilometres south of Baghdad yesterday afternoon when a roadside bomb destroyed their vehicle. The men, who worked for the Brisbane-based BLP Group of companies, had been training members of the Iraqi police force. Read more ...(The Age)
HANEEF IN 'LIMBO' UNDER ANTI-TERRORIST LAWS
11 July 2007
A constitutional expert says Gold Coast terrorism suspect Mohammed Haneef is stuck in "limbo" as Australian Federal Police seek to question him over suspected links to the failed UK bomb attacks. Dr Haneef has been held without charge for more than a week under Australia's new anti-terrorism laws, and a hearing is currently under way before a Brisbane magistrate as the AFP asks for more time to question him. Read more ...(ABC)
THE OTHER WAR: IRAQ VETS BEAR WITNESS
9 July 2007
Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts. Read more ...(The Nation)
Photo source: The Nation
THE ROAD HOME THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL
8 July 2007
It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.
Like many Americans, we have put off that conclusion, waiting for a sign that President Bush was seriously trying to dig the United States out of the disaster he created by invading Iraq without sufficient cause, in the face of global opposition, and without a plan to stabilize the country afterward. Read more ...(via Truthout)
AUSSIE TERRORISM VICTIM FRONTS ANTI-WAR CAMPAIGN
6 July 2007
An Australian woman who survived the 2005 London terrorist bombings is appearing in a TV advertisement calling on Prime Minister John Howard to explain Australia's continued involvement in the Iraq war. ...Ms Barry, who has now recovered from critical injuries, says she approached GetUp because she wants people to question Australia's continuing involvement in the war.
Photo source: ABC
SEE THE ADVERT AT YouTube
"Prime Minister, please. You got us into this mess. It's your responsibility to get us out."
IS THE UNITED STATES KILLING 10,000 IRAQIS EVERY MONTH? OR IS IT MORE?
6 July 2007
300 Iraqis killed by Americans each day sounds like an impossible figure, but a close look at the reported numbers of violent deaths and rate of armed patrols makes it all too likely. ...A state-of-the-art research study published in October 12, 2006 issue of The Lancet (the most prestigious British medical journal) concluded that -- as of a year ago -- 600,000 Iraqis had died violently due to the war in Iraq. That is, the Iraqi death rate for the first 39 months of the war was just about 15,000 per month. Read more. (AlterNet)
IT’S TIME FOR A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM ISRAEL
6 July 2007
The former New York Times Mideast bureau chief warns that America’s foreign policy, particularly under the Bush administration, has been subverted by an aggressive and dangerous Israeli agenda that could launch a nightmarish regional war. Read more ...(AlterNet)
GOVT SPLITS ON IRAQ WAR OIL LINK
5 July 2007
Prime Minister John Howard has moved to hose down Defence Minister Brendan Nelson's earlier revelation that Australian troops are remaining in Iraq partially because of concerns over global oil supplies. Speaking this morning, Dr Nelson said oil was among the reasons to keep troops in Iraq. Read more ...(ABC)
SEE ALSO: AUSTRALIA ADMITS OIL MOTIVE IN IRAQ (Aljazeera)
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