Iraq - Over 1m dead, terror normalised, 100s killed weekly

[Leiff]

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0808/S00304.htm
Monday, 25 August 2008, 1:25 pm
Column: Michael Collins

The National Security Archive released a report Friday Aug. 22, 2008 that sheds even more light on the premeditated lying and deception that took the United States to war in Iraq. The findings are based on new evidence compiled by Dr. John Prados and published by the National Security Archive. (See "White Paper" Drafted before NIE even requested , "Scoop" Independent News, Aug. 24, 2008)

Most notably, Prados shows the depth of the deception perpetrated against citizens and Congress regarding the alleged threat to U.S. security posed by Iraq. It had appeared that the White House rewrote the Oct. 1, 2002 National Intelligence Estimate and then issued that doctored report to Congress on Oct. 4, 2002. Prados reveals convincing evidence that the Oct. 4 White Paper had already been written by July 2002. He shows that it was only slightly altered after the final NIE arrived. This White Paper served as the basis for the war.

The unavoidable conclusion is that the Bush-Cheney White paper "justifying" the invasion was developed a full three months in advance of the intelligence data and analysis that should have served as the basis for that justification. The National Security Archive summed it up succinctly:

"The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq,

"The documents suggest that the public relations push for war came before the intelligence analysis, which then conformed to public positions taken by Pentagon and White House officials. For example, a July 2002 draft of the "White Paper" ultimately issued by the CIA in October 2002 actually pre-dated the National Intelligence Estimate that the paper purportedly summarized, but which Congress did not insist on until September 2002." National Security Archive in "Scoop' Independent News, August 24, 2008.

The seemingly endless war in Iraq has become a total disaster on multiple levels for all involved. The awful toll in human deaths and casualties is largely ignored but real nevertheless. Over 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been lost in battle and tens of thousands injured. In excess of one million Iraqi civilians are dead due to civil strife unleashed by the invasion. The U.S. Treasury is drained and the steep decline in respect for the United States around the world is just beginning to manifest.

The United States political establishment responds with collective denial on a scale that's incomprehensible. In the presidential campaign, the only sustained public commentary on the war comes from the Republican presidential candidate John McCain who makes the bizarre claim that U.S. is "surrendering" with victory in clear sight. McCain touts the surge without noting that 4.0 million Iraqis are "displaced from their homes." Nearly ten percent of Iraq's population is either dead or injured and there are 5.0 million Iraqi orphans.

This pathological view of victory claims the "surge' is a success in the context of a devastated population in an obliterated nation lacking in the most essential supplies and services; a nation where death continues on a shopping spree

The report by Dr. Prados makes it clear that the executive branch was responsible for creating whatever information they found necessary to justify war and they did it by posing security threats from Iraq and demanding that intelligence briefers fill in the details

Summary of Findings by Prados, National Security Archive

"A recently declassified draft of the CIA's October 2002 white paper on Iraqi WMD programs demonstrates that that (the White) paper long pre-dated the compilation of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraqi capabilities.

"Bush administration and the Tony Blair government began acting in concert to build support for an invasion of Iraq two to three months earlier than previously understood.

"A comparison of the CIA draft white paper with its publicly released edition shows that all the changes made were in the nature of strengthening its charges against Iraq by inserting additional alarming claims, in the manner of an advocacy, or public relations document.

"The draft and final papers show no evidence of intelligence analysis applied to the information contained." August 22, 2004

One Final Hope to Avoid a Tragic War

Ultimately, the White House had what it wanted by July 2002. When the National Intelligence Estimate arrived from an intimidated intelligence community, there was still one hope of a rational outcome on the rush to war. The NIE delivered to the White House on Oct. 1, 2002 noted that the one scenario in which Iraq would attack the United States involved a U.S. attack on Iraq that threatened Saddam Hussein's survival.

The following is brutally simple. The one way to cause the hypothesized (and erroneous) claims of Hussein's intent to attack the United States is to go to war and threaten his regime. Therefore, refraining from war was the best way to protect the United States.

"Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or CBW against the United States, fearing that exposure of Iraqi involvement would provide Washington a stronger cause for making war.

"Iraq probably would attempt clandestine attacks against the U.S. Homeland if Baghdad feared an attack that threatened the survival of the regime were imminent or unavoidable, or possibly for revenge." Key Judgments, National Intelligence Estimate, Oct. 2002

That was deleted entirely. The July White Paper was "complete" and sent to Congress as the evidence justifying the invasion of Iraq.

In the most supreme of ironies, many members of Congress failed to even review the distorted White Paper before voting overwhelmingly to approve the invasion.

Is there any hope that this same legislative body can remedy the great wrong they helped create? Is there anyone who believes that this or any future White House will move with the urgency necessary to end this war? Will anyone ever be held to account for this series of premeditated deceptions?

END

[Disco_Destroyer]

Watch Tariq Aziz and a US-planted judge in Iraq's puppet court (video)
By Tariq Aziz in court; Axis of Logic editorial comment
Dec 7, 2008, 13:20
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/a ... 8975.shtml




Tariq Aziz in 2006

Editor's Comment: Tariq Aziz, shown in the video below, is former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and an Iraqi Christian. He being tried by the U.S. puppet government in Iraq for the murder of 42 people in 1992. This is all about the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Baathists, a process that the corporate media shamelessly calls "Debaathification". Debaathification is the spawn of the Neocon think-tank, Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/publication/7853/iraq.html#3

L. Paul Bremer, U.S. administrator of Iraq, imposed the "Supreme National Debaathification Commission" in November, 2003. Earlier, in May, 2003 in an anti-democratic stroke of pen, Bremer outlawed the Baath Political Party and dismissed all senior members from the Iraqi government. At the same time, Bremer dissolved Iraq's military and intelligence services, firing 500,000 members. The people of Iraq suffer today from the chaos, collapsed infrastructure and destruction of public services and security that resulted from Bremer's atrocious debaathification policy and the related U.S. war and occupation. Ironically, "debaathification" also helped build the heroic Iraqi Resistance that through guerilla warfare, continues to thwart the U.S. occupation.

In his article, "Reminiscing Tariq Aziz" http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/a ... 6671.shtml Malcolm LaGauche interviews Ibrahim Ebeid. LaGauche described the trial of Mr. Aziz:

"The verdict, as with all the so-called trials of the Ba'ath regime members, is a foregone conclusion. Aziz will be found guilty".

- Les Blough, Editor



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


Axis of Logic correspondent, Ibrahim Ebeid watanarabi@gmail.com sent this video to us with the following note:

"Watch Tariq Aziz http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/a ... 6671.shtml rebuking the so called judge Trainband challenging him, Tariq says that he was proud serving under the hero Saddam Hussein who protected the unity of Iraq. He will not deny him.

"The judge spelled out his hatred and was very vulgar. This shows that the US Imperialists are determined to liquidate the Iraqi leadership. But Tariq and his Comrades, as their leader Saddam Hussein are not afraid, they are true leaders."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI2rj39pcB0[/youtube]

Read Malcolm LaGauche's interview of Ibrahim Ebeid
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/a ... 6671.shtml

[Disco_Destroyer]

�People say to me, you (the Iraqis) are not the Vietnamese. You have no jungles and swamps to hide in. I reply, let our cities be our swamps and our buildings our jungles.�

- Tariq Aziz
I caught him at least 3 times on Newsnight before invasion and agreed with his every word
I wonder if they're on Utube??

[Disco_Destroyer]

Spose it was a dumb idea really. Damn those thought police

[Disco_Destroyer]

Iraq invites oil firms to workshop in Turkey 18 Jan 2009 The Iraqi Oil Ministry will hold a workshop next month in Turkey for international oil companies that have qualified for Iraq's first contract bidding round since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The ministry's spokesman, Assem Jihad, says Iraqi officials will hear suggestions and comments from oil companies for the bidding procedures and contract models to be studied.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD95PHVPO0

[TonyGosling]

Historic Interview by British Politician Tony Benn with Saddam Hussein. In an attempt to avert the upcomming War Tony Benn asks the questions raised by the UK and the USA. Saddams answers to the questions are VERY intriguing and it is no surpise that this interview was all but buried as the rush to war gathered Momentum.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxHtQ1__qUc[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxHtQ1__qUc

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn2Rf2v-T5Y

part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsBbZVJdM4


Tony Benn's attempt to avert the War ultimately failed as was to become clear that the desire for War was inevitable. The day after this interview Colin Powell went to the UN and lied through his teeth but convinced the World of the need for War. Powell now says his speech was a BLOT on his reputation!

Among the questions asked are:

• Does Iraq have any weapons of mass destruction?
  
  Do you have links with al-Qaeda?
  
  What are the difficulties with the Weapons inspectors and can they be cleared up?
  
  Can you work with the UN to achieve Peace?
  
  Can Iraqs Oil Reserves be used for the benefit of the Iraqi People and the needs of mankind
  
  What do you have to say about the Peace Movement?

[Disco_Destroyer]

Lawsuit filed against 3 US companies for supplying chemical WMDs to Iraq -- Alcolac pleaded guilty in 1989 to knowingly violating export laws by shipping a mustard-gas ingredient that ultimately went to Iran. 09 Apr 2009 Five survivors of the 1988 poison gas attacks of ethnic Kurds in Iraq have filed a class action lawsuit in Maryland claiming three American companies and the government of Iraq violated the Geneva Convention by using mustard and nerve gasses to kill tens of thousands of people. Filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, the lawsuit says the companies supplied the regime of former Iraqi dictator [CIA asset] Saddam Hussein with the chemical precursors and compounds needed to make the poison gases used in the six-month long "Operation Anfal."
http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cf ... &type=UTTM

Lawsuit Alleges Firms Sold Iraq Chemical Weapons 09 Apr 2009 A federal lawsuit in Baltimore accuses three companies of unlawfully selling to the Saddam Hussein regime materials for making chemical weapons that were used against Iraqi Kurds in 1988. The complaint filed Tuesday by five Kurds in Tennessee and the Nashville-based Kurdish National Congress seeks unspecified damages from chemical makers Alcolac Inc., of Cumberland, Md., and VWR International LLC of West Chester, Pa.; and laboratory equipment supplier Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Mass.
http://wjz.com/local/chemical.weapons.s ... 81406.html
http://www.legitgov.org/

[Disco_Destroyer]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr4lBhjruzc[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr4lBhjruzc

[Disco_Destroyer]

Sick _____

UK seeks deals amid Iraq pullout


Brown said Britain wants to get involved in protecting oil supplies from Iraq [EPA]

British forces have formally ended combat operations in Iraq - as the country's prime minister met his Iraqi counterpart in London to discuss business deals between the two countries.

A ceremony was held in the southern city of Basra on Thursday to remember the 179 UK soldiers killed during six years of warfare.

The conclusion of the military campaign, which began with the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, came as Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, held trade talks with Nuri al-Maliki, his Iraqi counterpart, in the British capital.

Brown said: "Today marks the closing chapter of the combat mission in Iraq. The flag of 20 Armoured Brigade will be lowered as British combat patrols in Basra come to an end and our armed forces prepare to draw down."

Britain, under Tony Blair, the then-prime minister, was Washington's key ally when George Bush, the former US president, ordered the invasion of Iraq.

Following the talks with al-Maliki at Downing Street, Brown said Britain now wanted to get involved in protecting oil supplies from Iraq.

Investment opportunities

Factbox
More than 200 companies are attending the trade talks in London, including:

Royal Dutch Shell
Rolls Royce
Barclays Capital
British Airways
BP
GlaxoSmithKline
Vodafone
JP Morgan
HSBC

Brown said: "We hope to sign an agreement with the Iraqi government about the future role that we can play in training and in protecting the oil supplies of Iraq and that will be an agreement between our two governments rather than any new United Nations resolution."

Brown said he believed a proposed agreement would go to the Iraqi parliament in the next few weeks.

Al-Maliki has been accompanied on his trip to the UK by several international business people and Iraqi officials to explore possible investment deals with the UK.

Representatives from more than 200 companies, including Shell, Rolls Royce, Barclays Capital and JP Morgan, where Tony Blair works as a senior advisor, are taking part in the meeting.

Senior Iraqi officials including Hussain al-Shahristani, the oil minister, are also attending the day of talks.

Al-Maliki said Iraq needed investment, while Brown said Iraq was open for business and urged British companies to look for opportunities there.

Iraq currently produces nearly two million barrels of oil a day and sits on the world's third-largest proven reserves.

Increased violence

British troop numbers were the second-largest in the Iraq campaign, peaking at 46,000 at the height of combat operations that resulted in the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, and his eventual execution for crimes against humanity.


British troop numbers in Iraq peaked at 46,000 [AFP]
A deal signed by Baghdad and London last year had agreed that the last 4,100 British soldiers would complete their mission, primarily training the Iraqi army, by June, before a complete withdrawal from the country in late July.

By the end of July there will be only around 400 troops left, who will help to train Iraqi troops.

Major general Andy Salmon, the senior British officer in Basra, handed over the southern base to an American commander at a similar ceremony last month, in a key step towards the departure of all foreign troops from the country.

The withdrawal of foreign troops comes amid an upturn in violence in April.

A series of bombings, suicide attacks and shootings have claimed more than 300 lives so far this month.

Under a landmark security pact signed between Baghdad and Washington in November, US troops are required to withdraw from all Iraqi towns and cities by June 30 and pull out from the rest of the country by the end of 2011.

The withdrawal of UK troops comes almost 50 years after Britain's previous exit from Iraq, in May 1959, when the last soldiers left the Habbaniyah base near the western town of Fallujah, ending a presence that dated back to 1918.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 04161.html

[fish5133]

A touching moving service on the MSM to remind us of the 179 British personnel killed. Not a mention of the immense suffering and deaths of 1000s of innocent Iraqi men women and children. Too disturbing for the British psyche . Bring them home and lets forget about it.

I noticed the speech by the head of the British Army which was far from Mission Accomplished rhetoric more like we are leaving the place with a slightly better optimistic future.

May God have mercy on our nations crimes

[Disco_Destroyer]

Should have mentioned the angle that sickens me
Trade Liberalization for Corparate Fascists at the point of a gun (inc. Chemical Weapons, Fear, and Torture)

[TonyGosling]

Don't forget of course that, after the army left, the Iraqi people are now under the thumb of mainly British/US private security.
An entitre industry is springing up out of nowhere.
The private security - industrial complex.


http://defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/

This book presents a damning analysis of Britain's military involvement in the Iraq conflict. "Ministry of Defeat" is a devastating account of military and strategic incompetence. When Tony Blair insisted that British Armed Forces form part of the invasion of Iraq, little attention was paid as to how this might work out in practice or what the consequences might be. Here we have for the first time a detailed account of just what an abject failure Britain's military intervention in Iraq has been. The British occupation of south eastern Iraq has lasted six years, a period longer than the Second World War. Despite the astonishing bravery of countless individual soldiers the only real success of the British Government has been to hide from view, thanks to catastrophic misjudgements, this has become one of the most humiliating chapters in British Military History. The British Army leaves Iraq in July 2009, ahead of schedule, and the full story of the campaign needs to be told. Richard North presents in considerable detail one of the most painful and lasting legacies of the Blair era.

About the Author
Christopher Booker was one of the founders of Private Eye and its first editor. He has a weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph and a regular column in The Daily Mail. He has published several books including The Neophiliacs (Harper Collins), The Great Deception, Seven Basic Plots and Scared to Death (all published by Continuum). Richard North is a political analyst who has been a research director in the European Parliament and was formerly a nationally known consultant on public health and food safety. He has co-authored several books with Christopher Booker.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ministry-Defeat ... 441169970/

[TonyGosling]

RT Iraq bureau at epicenter of double suicide blast
Published 25 October, 2009, 18:31

A double suicide bombing has ripped through central Baghdad, killing more than 130 people and leaving hundreds injured. Also, RT’s Iraq bureau headquarters were badly damaged by the blasts.

The Sunday morning explosions rocked the Ministry of Justice as well as a provincial government office and went off within a minute of each other. The explosions occurred in what's considered one of the most secure parts of the capital.

RT cameraman Mohammad Salem was at RT headquarters when the blasts occurred.

“When the first explosion took place, our office was damaged. I tried to leave, to escape, and when I got as far as my car the second bomb went off. All the cars were a mess, including ours. I thought it would be better to go back inside, because we thought there would be a third blast. When we got back into the office we saw that the damage was much worse than it was when we left. All of our things are damaged including our video equipment which has been destroyed,” Mohammad Salem says.

The ceiling in the office has partially collapsed and most of the windows are broken. Video and sound equipment has been damaged, as well as electrical and Internet wiring.

A government spokesperson blames al-Qaeda for the attack, but doesn't reject the possibility of links with Saddam Hussein’s supporters.

RT has talked to a political analyst, Abdel El-Alluji, who says that law enforcement agencies in the country have failed to provide security for citizens.

“During the last seven years, the Iraqis have experienced poverty, misery and death. If only there was a real connection between the Iraqi citizens and the authorities! Instead, law enforcement agencies rob banks, attack ordinary citizens, and rob them of their money. That's why security measures are ineffective,” Abdel El-Alluji said.

“Plus, we have national elections ahead of us – which are accompanied by internal political fighting. I'm sure the coalition forces in Iraq have fallen apart and are fighting one another,” he added.

The attack is Iraq’s deadliest bombings this year.

http://russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-10 ... ?fullstory

[fish5133]

You cant help thinking that all these "terrorist" attacks are just psyops meant to justify the continued "war on terrorism"

[TonyGosling]

Watch as every country invaded by the 'coalition of the willing' turns to hell on earth with random mass killings by the occupying powers, which are then blamed on whatever faction suits by the propaganda machine.

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

The only question now is was it MI6, CIA or Mossad.....?
Yes, it has all the hallmarks of a false flag. The fake group 'claims responsibility' on a deniable 'jihadi' website only when the Iraq government calls for a UN enquiry. Derisory.
And leading to waves of arbitrary arrests without charges.
Utterly sick.


Iraq seeks UN inquiry into blasts
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 95886.html

Angry Iraqis have blamed the government for failing to ensure the country's security [AFP]

Iraq's foreign minister has called for a UN inquiry into Sunday's twin suicide bombings in Baghdad which left at least 155 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Hoshiyar Zebari said the inquiry should focus on the support given by foreign countries to insurgents, adding that the attacks reinforced the need for international support to help his country defend itself.

The call came shortly before a reported claim of responsibility for Sunday's blasts from an al-Qaeda linked group, the Islamic state of Iraq.

The statement posted on the internet said its "martyrs ... targeted the dens of infidelity.''

The authenticity of the statement, posted on a web site commonly used to claim responsibility for such attacks, could not be independently confirmed.

"Suicide bombers targeted the dens of infidelity and pillars of the rejectionist Shi'ite state in the land of the caliphate," the statement read.

Deadly attacks

The attacks were the deadliest seen in Iraq in two years, targeting the justice ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration and raising fears about Iraq's ability to protect itself as it prepares for the US military withdrawal.

"The bloody Sunday explosions strengthen Iraq's demand to the UN and the Security Council to nominate a senior international envoy to come to Iraq and evaluate the degree of interference targeting stability in Iraq," Zebari told al-Arabiya television.

"I believe this will be achieved soon, especially after [Sunday's] explosions confirmed that this issue is vital and important. We need the help of the international community."

"The blood of Iraqis is very cheap and I ask, how many victims will it take to convince the government that it has totally failed?"

Hameed Salam, former Iraqi army officer
A spokeswoman for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said he was awaiting a response from the Security Council.

"The secretary-general himself wants to wait on this until he gets some clear view on what the Security Council wants," Michele Montas told reporters in New York on Monday.

In Washington the State Department said the US backed an inquiry to see if there has been any foreign involvement in the attacks.

"We would support the idea of the UN appointing a senior official to go into Iraq and look into these very serious allegations," Ian Kelly, a department spokesman, said.

"What happened was so utterly horrific that the circumstances surrounding it need to be looked into."

Grief and anger

Zebari's call comes amid growing public anger in the wake of the bombings, which occurred close to the heavily-fortified Green Zone.

As grief turned into anger on Monday Iraqis attending funerals of some of those killed accused the government of a major security breach that saw the two suicide truck bombers penetrate what was supposed to be one of the safest areas in the capital.

"The blood of Iraqis is very cheap and I ask, how many victims will it take to convince the government that it has totally failed?" said Hameed Salam, a former army officer now driving a taxi.

Many criticised Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, for what they said was his government's failure to improve the security situation.

"Al-Maliki is always on TV bragging that the situation is stable and security restored," said Ahmed Mahmoud at Yarmouk hospital after finding the remains of his brother.

"Let him come and see this mass destruction," he told Associated Press.

The co-ordinated bombings were the deadliest since a series of massive truck bombs in northern Iraq killed nearly 500 villagers from the minority Yazidi sect in August 2007.

In Baghdad itself, it was the worst attack since a series of suicide bombings against Shia neighbourhoods in April 2007 killed 183.

'Terrorist act'

The Iraqi government has blamed Sunday's attacks and the bombings on August 19 that devastated the Foreign and Finance Ministries, on al Qaeda and supporters of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.

Jawad al-Bolani, the Iraqi interior minister, said 76 people have been arrested so far, but he did not provide further details.

"This is a terrorist act," he said, calling on all the political forces to co-operate and assist the Iraqi security forces.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the US military was providing bomb disposal and forensic help to Iraqi authorities.

Underscoring the continued security problems on Monday four people were killed in a car bomb blast at a police checkpoint near Karbala in southern Iraq.

Seven others were wounded in the incident.

Meanwhile Michael Ratney, a US State Department spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the latest attacks in Baghdad will not affect the scheduled US troop withdrawal.

"We have an agreement that we have announced to pull combat troops out by August of next year and the rest by the end of 2011… that has not changed in any way," Ratney said.

He said there were adequate forces between the Iraqi and US sides to provide for security to ensure that the elections set for January proceed on time and in a peaceful way.

[TonyGosling]

More murderous Mossad/CIA bombs in Bahgdad this morning...
But hang on a minute... who is the puppet Iraqi govt. Torygraph blaming....? Does anyone care what they say any more? Only the compliant NATO press.

Baghdad car bombs blamed on Syria and Islamists by Iraqi government
Four car bombs kill more than 110 people and maim about 200 throughout the centre of the capital

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/de ... bombs-iraq

[TonyGosling]

Tuesday: 133 Iraqis Killed, 531 Wounded

An attack on government buildings in Baghdad left hundreds dead or injured even as the presidential council set March 7 for the next national election. Overall, at least 133 people were killed and another 531 were wounded across Iraq. Increased violence is expected before those elections. Meanwhile, a British intelligence official admitted at an inquiry that before the 2003 invasion the UK believed Saddam had dismantled Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons. Former Joint Intelligence Committee head, John Scarlett, added that officials feared they could be reassembled.

At least 127 people were killed and 519 more were wounded in a series of car bombings in Baghdad. Not only is it the third major attack on the capital since August, it also follows a new tactic in striking at protected government buildings. The Labor Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Interior Ministry and a courthouse were the targets of four coordinated blasts. Earlier, a suicide bomb attack likely unrelated to the other four was directed at a police patrol in Doura, leaving 15 dead and 23 wounded there. Also, a roadside bomb targeting American troops wounded four Iraqis in Bab al-Sham instead. Sporadic gunfire was heard afterwards. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed al-Qaeda and Ba’athists living in Syria. Such accusations have previously raised tensions between Iraq and its neigbhor to the west......

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/200 ... 7-wounded/

[Disco_Destroyer]

http://heritage-key.com/world/saddams-b ... s-stewards

Saddam's Babylon and its U.S. Stewards
Submitted by Sean Williams on Tue, 05/26/2009 - 17:41
Few people would ever have called Saddam Hussein a god; not even many of his most vehement supporters. But the vainglorious way in which he rebuilt many of Iraq’s most coveted ancient sites seems to suggest he saw himself as some sort of Babylonian deity along the lines of the Egyptian heretic king Akhenaten. However a great number of Saddam’s beloved monuments have fallen into the hands of the US Army since the war in 2003. How are the Americans looking after Saddam’s Mesopotamian masterpieces? And what modern uses are these sites, spearheaded by the vast Ziggurat of Ur, currently enjoying?

The God-King and his Babylon

Like most 20th century tyrants, Saddam’s reign was one based around his cult of personality. But this did not end with the chintzy portraits and billboards hanging from every corner of his home nation. Saddam billed himself as a living incarnation of the ruthless Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605 – 562 BC); rebuilding parts of his ancient hero’s illustrious city as well as echoing many of his goals and narcissistic traits. In the early 1980s, when Saddam’s conscripted army was fighting on several fronts and his population dying from starvation and disease, the formidable dictator would begin his epoch of restoration in a bid to bridge the gap between his beleaguered nation and its glorious Mesopotamian past. The first of these grandiose undertakings was the rebuilding of the ruins of Babylon. Over 60 million sand-coloured bricks were placed directly on top of their ancient counterparts; each one inscribed with Saddam’s name. One such motif reads, “This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq.” This directly echoes the work of Nebuchadnezzar, who did exactly the same almost 2,500 years previously.


The Great Ziggurat of Ur stands as a proud reminder of its city-state's glorious past
Saddam would liken himself to his hero’s image in several other ways. He minted coins with his profile transposed on Nebuchadnezzar’s; he placed portraits of them both around the walkways to his new Babylon; and he built two royal palaces – one to Nebuchadnezzar on the site of his ancient original, and one to himself just yards away and dripping with marble and gold; the walls lined with romanticised visions of Ur, Babylon and the much-fabled Tower of Babel.

Its palm-line gardens even echoed popular conceptions of Babylon’s famous Hanging Gardens, Nebuchadnezzar’s wondrous gift to his homesick wife. Rumours abound that Saddam even planned to reprise the infamous biblical tower, though evidence is scarce. As Saddam rebuilt his nostalgic vision of god-like supremacy, however, the archaeological world tore its hair out: For his new fearsome estates were crushing their ancient ancestors, and rather than preserving Nebuchadnezzar’s posterity, Saddam was erasing the few physical remnants of his reign.

So far, so 20th century dictator. Yet Saddam’s megalomania went much further than mere tyranny and ancestral worship. He saw himself as a god-king, much in the likeness of the Egyptian heretic king Akhenaten – and Saddam’s rebuilding of one of Mesopotamia’s best-loved monuments would provide the clearest example of this.

The Ziggurat

The Ziggurat of Ur is one of the showcase relics of the ancient Mesopotamian world. A vast temple spanning the gap between the gods and man, the 21st century BC site was first built by the king Ur-Namma and completed by Shulgi – who declared himself a god on its inauguration. This self-deification was later to be echoed by Akhenaten, who attempted to change the Egyptian faith, and built a new capital city and temple in his honour. Seeing the Ziggurat as a chance to cement his god-like position at Iraq’s helm, Saddam restored much of the temple’s lower ramparts, again inscribing his name upon it. This construction of grandeur, more than any other undertaken during his reign, showed how Saddam not only saw himself as an incarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, but also as a link from his people to god; a power absolute which could never possibly be toppled. Thus by cultivating this cult through the images of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and the Ziggurat, Saddam pushed his poverty-stricken people into wars in Iran and Kuwait, and eventually into destruction at the hands of the US-led coalition. He would even share the same ultimate goal as Nebuchadnezzar, by driving the Jews from Jerusalem.

The fall of the God-King

Yet Saddam was to fall spectacularly from his demigod’s burnished throne when the coalition smashed their way into his country’s historic heartland, brushing aside his Ba’athist armies and Imperial Guard with frightening ease. In stark contrast to the glittering tyranny of his rule, Saddam would be found cowering in a tiny cellar in his hometown of Tikrit; shivering and famished with a beard which resembled startlingly the matted web-like beard sported by Nebuchadnezzar in many popular likenesses. In fact, the biblical depiction of Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall seems a more-than-coincidental echoing of Saddam’s own dishevelled fate: “He was driven from mankind; he ate grass like oxen, and his body was washed by the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.” Yet Nebuchadnezzar had been the ‘destroyer of nations’, and Saddam succeeded only in destroying his own. And on December 30, as Saddam was draconically forced to the gallows, what of the Mesopotamian treasures he had strived to restore. Were they being looked after by the prevailing US Army? Or were they being subjected to even more disrepair?


Are they taking care of Nebuchadnezzar's treasures?
Since the beginning of the controversial Iraq War, U.S. and coalition forces armies have come under attack from archaeological and historical organisations for their perceived destruction of ancient Mesopotamian treasures. And while any war is hardly likely to lend itself to the preservation of antiquities, the army have come in for some pretty harsh criticisms of their treatment of some of the world’s most important antiquities.

One of the most vocal oppositions has been against the erecting of a helipad at ‘Camp Alpha’ right on ancient Babylonian ruins. Parts of the area’s archaeological site were flattened to make way for the helipad, and a large portion of the replica of the ancient city’s famous Ishtar Gate was razed. At first U.S. officials defended their actions, saying they had diverted a lot more damage from the threat of looters at the site. However, after some time Colonel John Coleman apologised for the helipad, which was originally commissioned by General James T. Convoy.

However much the army’s defences were designed to protect Babylon, its methods have not exactly been subtle. John Curtis, author of the British Museum’s report on the health of ancient Iraq in 2005, said that the U.S. army’s excavation of trenches in and around important historical sites ‘would contaminate the archaeological record of the site.’ He also noticed fuel dumps which would erode artefacts irreparably, and earth brought from outside the site to fill sandbags – which has left the area a mish-mash of foreign stones, turf, sand and broken relics. Even graffiti was found on some of the monuments, left by the American and Polish soldiers who had occupied the ancient city. ‘Miss you, Smoothy!’ is one inscription not identified with Nebuchadnezzar’s cuneiform pieces, for example.

What Next?

Many foreign and local archaeologists have also accused soldiers of looting artefacts from the city; accusations which will no doubt be left unconfirmed with the sheer number of objects hidden beneath the Iraqi desert. Thus it left for the public to decide, with all the public wrangling between museum curators, archaeologists, army officials and politicians, whether the desecration of the land Saddam sought to rebuild has been a necessary evil of a bloody war; or the shambolic miscalculations of a misguided aggressor. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, one presumes; yet one thing is for certain – Iraqis are able to enjoy their heritage for the first time in decades thanks to Saddam’s inglorious ousting. The Ziggurat, once cut off from the population as a Ba’ath fortress, is now open to ordinary Iraqis – and was the site of a ceremonial soccer match between U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians in 2007. The U.S. Army even runs a tour of Ur’s ancient treasures via the Ziggurat and the House of Abraham.

The oddest chapter in the area’s fascinating history came on June 10, 2007, when a group of U.S. soldiers held ‘Ziggurat Con’ near Ur – a role-playing game convention with the unique accolade of being the only such event held in an active war zone. Thus Iraq and the treasures of ancient Babylon have seen some monumental changes in the past few decades – from its ceremonial augmentation under Saddam Hussein, to the damage and protection meted out by the occupying coalition forces. Some may say the true Babylon has been lost forever beneath sandbags and Ba’athist opulence. But the recent tragedies in Iraq have brought its Mesopotamian heritage to the forefront of the historical world’s imagination – and a democratic Iraq may bring with it a renewed vigour for the restoration of some of the world’s most important artefacts. Nebuchadnezzar may have baulked at Saddam’s self-deification, but there’s no doubt the ancient tyrant would have wanted to see his beloved city live on forever.


Images by Adam Weissbrod. All rights reserved.

[Disco_Destroyer]

Aswat Al Iraq / Missan , Security
U.S. warplanes attack areas in Amara with live weapons
7/20/2011 8:55 AM
http://en.aswataliraq.info/Default1.asp ... 143849&l=1

MISSAN / Aswat al-Iraq: U.S. warplanes have attacked areas in southern Iraq’s city of Amara, the center of Missan Province on Monday and Tuesday, with live weapons, a Missan Province’s security source reported.

“Amara city had witnessed on Monday and Tuesday U.S.
air attacks, using live ammunition,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, saying that the raids have covered the areas of Ufiya and Abu-Rummana in central Amara, the U.S.
Army suspects were being used by armed groups to launch rockets on the Buteira military airport, 5 km to the north of Amara.

The security source said that the air raids did not cause any human or material losses, but created a state of terror among the inhabitants of the Province, after they heard the continuous air raids.

The Buteira military airport, used by the Iraqi Army and some American forces as their base had been target for an 8-rocket attack last Saturday, 4 of them falling on the airport and others close to the venue of their launching.

Amara, the center of Missan Province, is 390 km to the south of Baghdad.

SKH (IT)

[TonyGosling]

Iraq bombs kill scores before Arab League summit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ma ... ill-dozens
Car and roadside bombs explode in cities and towns across Iraq, killing nearly 50 people and wounding more than 200
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 March 2012 15.44 GMT
At least 26 explosions have hit cities and towns across Iraq, killing at least 49 people and wounding more than 200, despite a security clampdown before the Arab League summit in Baghdad next week.
The day was Iraq's bloodiest in nearly a month, with the breadth of co-ordinated bombs in more than a dozen cities showing an apparent determination by insurgents to prove that the government cannot keep the country safe.
Iraq is due to host the Arab League meeting for the first time in 20 years, and the government is anxious to show it can maintain security after the withdrawal of US troops in December.
"The goal of today's attacks was to present a negative image of the security situation in Iraq," a government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told Reuters.
"Security efforts will be escalated to counteract terrorist groups' attacks and to fill loopholes used by them to infiltrate security, whether in Baghdad or other provinces."
The deadliest incident occurred in the southern Shia Muslim holy city of Kerbala, where twin explosions killed 13 people and wounded 48 during the morning rush hour, according to Jamal Mahdi, a Kerbala health department spokesman.
"The second explosion caused the biggest destruction. I saw body parts – fingers, hands – thrown on the road," a 23-year-old shop owner, Murtadha Ali Kadhim, told Reuters.
"The security forces are stupid because they always gather at the site of an explosion, and then a second explosion occurs. They become a target."
Blasts also struck in the capital, in Baiji, Baquba, Daquq, Dibis, Dhuluiya, Kirkuk, Mosul, Samarra and Tuz Khurmato to the north, in Falluja and Ramadi to the west, and in Hilla, Latifiya, Mahmudiya and Mussayab to the south. Police defused bombs in Baquba, Falluja and Mosul.
Most of the blasts targeted police checkpoints and patrols.

[TonyGosling]

29 dead, incl 12 children in string of suicide bombings in Iraq: Sunday: Two Suicide bombers detonated explosives-rigged vehicles at an elementary school and a police station in northern Iraq, killing at least 15 people, 12 of whom were children. 14 more were killed in a suicide attack on Shi’ite pilgrims in Baghdad.
http://rt.com/news/iraq-suicide-bombers-children-802/

78 killed, 166 wounded in attacks across Iraq : Saturday: At least 78 people were killed and 166 others wounded in a wave of violent attacks across Iraq on Saturday, including a deadly suicide bombing targeting Shiite pilgrims in the capital city of Baghdad, the police and local media said, APA reports quoting XInhua.
http://en.apa.az/news/200645

[TonyGosling]

The harm before the storm: Army battles to expel resurgent al-Qa’ida from Iraq
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 40155.html

As the wars in Iraq and Syria increasingly become one, Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki must restore order before sectarianism worsens
PATRICK COCKBURN Author Biography Sunday 05 January 2014

The Iraqi army is planning to storm the city of Fallujah 40 miles west of Baghdad that has been taken over by fighters from al-Qa'ida in Iraq, which is part of the umbrella organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). They have torn down Iraqi national flags and raised the black al-Qa'ida flag over captured police stations, set fire to military vehicles on the road to Baghdad and captured 75 government soldiers.

The Iraqi government's control in overwhelmingly Sunni Anbar province, which covers much of western Iraq, is in the balance.

Al-Qa'ida in Iraq, which was seen as largely defeated three years ago, has staged a dramatic resurgence thanks to Isis, seizing significant parts of northern and eastern Syria. Some of the fighters now holding central Fallujah are reported to be Syrians who have come across the 373-mile long border. The wars in Syria and Iraq are increasingly turning into a single conflict.

The decline in the Iraqi government's position began in December as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stepped up the pressure on Sunni protesters in Anbar who have been demonstrating for a year against persecution. The government is under pressure from its supporters to stem a wave of devastating bombing attacks by a rejuvenated Isis in 2013 that killed 8,000 civilians and 1,000 police and army. A further 15 people were killed in Baghdad on Sunday.

Mr Maliki was eager to show political and military strength by a more assertive policy in Anbar and other Sunni-majority provinces in the lead up to the parliamentary elections in April, when he hopes to win a third term. Little has gone well for Mr Maliki in the last two weeks, however. On 21 December, an Isis ambush in Anbar killed 24 Iraqi army officers and tension increased a week later when the government arrested a powerful Sunni MP, Ahmed al-Alwani, whose brother was killed by security forces.

On 30 December, the long-standing encampment of Sunni protesters in Ramadi was closed but the following day Mr Maliki reversed course in the face of an outcry from Sunni leaders and withdrew the army from the cities of Anbar, notably Ramadi and Fallujah. These were occupied by Isis fighters, though they have not been able to hold Ramadi in the face of counter-attack by government-allied tribal militiamen.

A problem for the government is that Mr Maliki is engaged in a three-cornered struggle in which he faces, as well as Isis, Sunni tribal leaders who were part of the Sahwa (Awakening) movement which turned on al-Qa’ida with support from the US army in 2006. These Sunni notables have supported the protest movement, but Mr Maliki has made few concessions to the Sunnis, whom many Shias see as ultimately aiming to over-turn the post-Saddam Hussein political settlement that gave power for the first time to Iraq's Shia majority allied to the Kurds.

The government's intransigence has led a peaceful protest movement to mutate into armed resistance led by al-Qa'ida in Iraq. The latter, badly battered in 2010, has enjoyed a swift resurgence launching devastating bombings mostly targeting Shia civilians. The response to the Sunni protests and the return of al-Qa'ida has been a self-defeating mix of harshness and conciliation.

Mr Maliki promised reforms but in April his forces stormed a protest camp in Hawija, south-west of Kirkuk, killing 53 people. Sunni people in and around Kirkuk, who had previously looked to Mr Maliki as an ally against the Kurds, demanded that Iraqi army units be withdrawn from their areas. Politically, the rise of Isis, with its hatred of the Shia as heretics deserving death, is not against Mr Maliki’s interests since it solidifies the Shia vote behind him. The threat of al-Qa'ida also brings more US support in the shape of helicopters, Hellfire missiles and intelligence.

The Iraqi government may be deeply unpopular in Sunni areas but this does not mean that al-Qa'ida is liked. When it was last at the peak of its power in 2006, its violence and bigotry made it even more unpopular among Sunni than the Americans. Sheikh Abdul Malik al-Saadi, an influential Sunni cleric in Iraq previously known for counselling moderation, now says that Mr Maliki has "brought Iraq nothing but war, poverty and sectarianism. Oh people of Anbar, especially the sheikhs of Anbar, defend yourselves and your people!"