Today in Iraq

WAR NEWS FOR SATURDAY OCTOBER 29, 2005 Bring ‘em on: Suicide Bombings Higher Than Ever in Iraq. In the six months since Iraq’s government took office, suicide bombers have struck nearly 200 times. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi Soldier killed in Fallujah from roadside bomb. A women and child were killed in subsequent gunfire. Eight civilians wounded when a bomb went off near a bus station in Miqdadiya. Five civilians, two of them children, were injured when a morter round landed on a residential district in Baquba. Bring ‘em on: US Soldiers killed three militants in Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqis were killed in a terrorist blast in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Wounded American Troops in Hospital. More than 30 wounded American troops from Iraq were treated at the hospital at the Lakenheath air base this month. The flight was diverted from Germany because of bad weather. Bring ‘em on: British soldier would have lived if defense officials had delivered new body armor on time. Bring ‘em on: US Soldier killed by IED in south Baghdad on October 27, 2005 Bring ‘em on: US Soldier killed by IED in Ramadi on October 27, 2005 Bring ‘em on: US Soldier killed by roadside bomb on October 27, 2005 in Baghdad. This is a separate casualty report than the one above. Bring ‘em on: Two American Marines killed in Saqlawiyah on October 27, 2005 Bring ‘em on: More information on the five US troops killed above Bring ‘em on: Syria: US Troops Killed Syrian Soldier - This happened in May 2005. A quote from this article: “What bothers us the most are the continuous American attacks on our village,” said Asir Hamid, 25, from the village of Sanjak, near the Iraqi border city of Qaim. He said American warplanes attacked the area five days earlier. Bring ‘em on: US Soldier dies at Landstuhl from injuries. He was injured by an explosive device from a moving vehicle in Balad on October 23, 2005 Bring ‘em on: Ten members of one Iraqi family killed earlier this week in Qameshly. Bring ‘em on: Late Night Explosion Leads to Early Morning Arrests in Baghdad THE TRAGEDY OF IRAQ: Baghdad man describes his day, his fears, and his reactions to a book about Iraq called “Night Draws Near” THE TRAGEDY OF IRAQ: Demand For Grave Diggers And Coffins Soars In Baghdad “We have seen nothing like this. Mutilated bodies beyond recognition, bodies shot in the head with hands still cuffed. “I have been in this profession for most part of my life. But what I see now scares me to death,” said Haj Abu Muhanad, 66. THE TRAGEDY OF IRAQ: Baby “liberation” in Iraq. (Photo) THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Bribe Inquiry Looks at Sale of Field Gear to Military. In a widening scandal at the US Special Operations Command, federal investigators are looking into a bribery scheme as well as accusations of improper influence involving millions of dollars in battlefield equipment used by Navy Seals and Army Green Berets and Rangers. THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh: Iraq Confidential. They discuss how the CIA manipulated and sabotaged the work of the UN departments to achieve a hidden foreign policy agenda. Ritter also states that he has no hope for Iraq, and that the best the US can do now is “mitigate disaster.” THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Libby pushed case for war. (Libby is 55 years old, and has two children – I’ll bet they are old enough to enlist!) THE SHAME OF AMERICA: (These protestors should be arrested.) An anti-gay church's protest at the funeral of an Indiana soldier killed in Iraq has prompted a state senator to pursue a bill that would make disorderly conduct a felony offense if it occurs at military funerals. Sen. Brent Steele said his proposed bill is in response to the Aug. 28 funeral in Martinsville of Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy Doyle. Church members dragged U.S. flags on the ground and shouted insults at Doyle's wife and other survivors. THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Only US Seeks To Justify Abuse: Human Rights Watch THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Dozens of Abu Ghraibs GENEVA, Oct 25 (IPS) - U.S. human rights groups have denounced before the U.N. Human Rights Committee that there are perhaps dozens of secret detention centres around the world where Washington is holding an unknown number of prisoners as part of its "war on terror". THE SHAME OF AMERICA: The Fall of the Warrior King (This is the story of what happened to a young Iraqi man who was out after curfew and ran into US troops. This would have been an untold story, except he happened to be the cousin of a popular Iraqi blogger, who told his story, and inspired an investigation into what happened. This is one Iraqi blogger who went from being pro-American… to considerably less so. He has since quit blogging.) When he plunged into the river, Marwan recalled, the frigid water enveloped his body and a swift current pulled him toward the gates of the dam, less than 50 feet downstream. "I felt the water dragging me," he told me. "I was thinking of Zaydoon. I was looking at him. The water was so cold. My feet never touched the bottom. I tried to save Zaydoon, but he slipped from my hands." THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Many Detainees Died During Interrogation: US Body’s Report on Iraq, Afghanistan THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Col Janis Karpinski, the Former Head of Abu Ghraib, Admits She Broke the Geneva Conventions But Says the Blame “Goes All The Way To The Top” (A Democracy Now interview.) THE SHAME OF AMERICA: Now They See Us As We Are. The implication was obvious: Thanks to the United States of America, happiness was on the way. The effect of the speeches was shattering. Silence. No applause. No celebrations. Instead, Turkish women told her, "You cannot bring in war for the sake of peace. The United States cannot interfere in the democracy problem and solve it through war." And Saudi women -- who she promised would soon be able to drive cars -- told her that they were happy, thank you, and that they didn't need America to make their lives complete and that, frankly, they would be a lot happier if she just went home. It was a hard message to misinterpret. THE SHAME OF AMERICA’S MEDIA: CIA Leak Case May Reopen Iraq Debate Wounds (and the shame is that this is presented as a bad thing!) OPINION: Where Chaos Is King. Its first goal has long been to retain a (much reduced) military presence in that country for the foreseeable future. The administration is on record as saying that it will leave if asked to do so; but the continuing chaos and conflict, largely sparked by the continued presence of US troops, ensure that the desperately weak government in Baghdad's Green Zone, which is unlikely to survive without American protection, won't make such a request. Its second goal is to ensure a predominant role for US companies in the development, production and sale of the country's vast reservoirs of oil. Indeed, the few documents made public from the Cheney Energy Task Force revealed that concern over losing Iraq to European oil companies, combined with China's insatiable thirst for petroleum and fears that it would increasingly encroach on America's sphere of economic dominance, were important reasons for the war. The administration's final goal has been to continue the wholesale, disastrous privatization of Iraq's economy - something that, as the World Bank warned, was unlikely to be accepted by the people of any Middle Eastern country who possessed the wherewithal to resist. (linked by carl p. in the comments section) OPINION: Myths About Iraq Must Be Dispelled For War to End. For example, it is now regarded as an uncontested fact that the disgruntled Sunni population in areas that form an imaginary geographic triangle in the center of Iraq fuels the so-called insurgency. A parallel triangle takes on a different form, uniting the remnants of the Baath Party loyalists, Islamic terrorists fleeing Afghanistan and foreign fighters. We are also told that the reason behind the Sunni fury was their loss of power and status following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, since the latter is a Sunni, who supposedly favored the Sunni Arab minority over the country’s Shia majority, who are merely fighting for what is rightfully theirs, according to the edicts of democracy. Thus the US military occupation (often referenced as American presence) in Iraq becomes an imperative to protect the country’s fresh democratic experience that restored order in favor of the country’s Shia majority, whose democratically elected representatives are in fact the ones appealing for a military withdrawal deferral. The Bush administration, keen on nurturing democratic experiences everywhere, duly complies, since the national interests of the democratically elected governments of Iraq and the US conveniently converge. It’s such a shame that so few in the US media (excluding online media and some alternative radio) manage to break away from the above construct, which bears little or no resemblance to the truth; that those even wishing to disapprove of the administration’s policy in Iraq, often do so while accepting the above assertions as the parameters of their critique.To argue that Saddam’s brutality applied to any group or individual that dared challenge his reign, whether Sunni or Shia; that the resistance in Iraq is for the most part a determined response to an illegitimate war and occupation; to challenge the authenticity of the claim specifying one group as majority and another as minority; to question the entire edifice of claims that classify the current political establishment in Iraq as democratic in the first place, or to argue that the relationship between the US military administration and the Iraqi government is not that of equals; to do any of that is to risk being dismissed as a nuisance. To be taken seriously, one must adhere to conformity, however flawed, and renounce common sense, however evident. OPINION: Put Iraq’s Story on the Stand "Americans . . . want to blame Saddam for the mass graves and killing Kurds," Khalil Dulaimi, the dictator's lead lawyer, told the Wall Street Journal. "But they forget that they supported Saddam back then." OPINION: Iraq Blog Count comments on recent poll in Iraq and other Iraqi’s responses: "Are Iraq The Model correct to question poll results? Yes, by all means question anything when the fog of war is all about us. I just wish those two were as critical of all the pro-war drivel their visitors feed them." BRITISH PEACE ACTION: UK Christians Step Up Anti-Arms Trade Work PEACE ACTION: In Support of Kent State Students. But there is an even more important reason for demanding that Dave be given all his rights back and that all punishment against him be rescinded immediately. The rock wall is a horrible advertising scam designed to foolstudents about the reality of war, the reality of military “life,” if you are lucky enough to live through it whole and with all your faculties. War isn’t climbing rock walls and joking with friends and David knows this. War isn’t “expanding your horizons” or “learning useful skills”. War is about killing the enemy. That means that war is based on who the governmentdeems the enemy at any given moment in time. And who makes these decisions? Do we vote on war? No, those who rule decide upon war. CASUALTY REPORTS Local Story: PA State Trooper Killed by Explosion in Iraq Local Story: Soldier Laid to Rest Amid Show of Support (Texas) Local Story: Missouri Soldier Dies in Iraq Local Story: Indiana Soldier Killed in Iraq Crash Local Story: Helena Soldier Killed in Baghdad Local Story: Arkansas City Man Dies In Iraq QUOTE OF THE DAY: We stand by as children starve by the millions because we lack the will to eliminate hunger. Yet, we have found the will to develop missiles capable of flying over the polar cap and landing within a few hundred feet of their target. This is not innovation. It is a profound distortion of humanity’s purpose on earth. —Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-OR)