dimanche 31 octobre 2010

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE TO PROSECUTE US GENOCIDE IN IRAQ

Please visit this new website:

FULL REDRESS FOR IRAQ NOW



The International Initiative to Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq was founded in November 2007 with the aimed of bringing the charge of genocide against the United States, its proxies and allies, in a court of universal jurisdiction.


The claim of genocide stems from the conclusions of an extended research paper written by Ian Douglas, Hana Al Bayaty and Abdul Ilah Albayaty in April-June 2007 that laid out the foundations of the law of genocide and the pattern of events in Iraq that suggests "specific intent" to destroy. This research paper, like the initiative that followed, takes the destruction of Iraq from 1990 as one singular, if shifting, attack on Iraq.

Initially, the initiative was conceived as a means of coordinating and combining the work of specialists drawn from the antiwar movement, in particular human rights lawyers, political analysts and researchers. The goal was to build an effective legal memorandum on US genocide in Iraq — one that could be used in international fora and become a legal reference point for the antiwar movement.

By Spring 2009, the window for bringing the case in Spain — until October of 2009, the most progressive locale for the practice of universal jurisdiction — was closing, under pressure of Israel and the United States that were already facing charges before the Spanish courts. In response, the longer-term vision of the initiative was put on hold and the Ad Hoc Committee for Justice for Iraq was formed, with the task of submitting a legal case against the United States and United Kingdom within three months.

We filed a legal case against four US presidents and four UK prime ministers one day before the Spanish Senate voted to radically circumscribe the law of universal jurisdiction in Spain. As we expected, the law was judged retroactive, and led to the closing of our case and others. But this is not the end of the struggle for justice for Iraq.

We remain committed to working towards the prosecution of high US and UK officials for the unspeakable crimes detailed in the case we submitted. Just as we look for allies in this work, we are ready to offer our insight and efforts to assist similar initiatives taken up by others.

We cannot allow the total destruction of a state and nation, entailing more than a million killed in violence, to be a precedent in this, our century. Unless law is useless, it must be taken up as a shield, and a means of defence.

samedi 30 octobre 2010

ITF EU Representative attended the reception to commemorate the 87th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey




President of Atatürk Düsünce Merkezi and Dr. Hassan Aydinli


Minister Emir Kir and Dr. Hassan Aydinli




On the Occasion of the 87th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, ITF E.U. Representative Dr. Hassan Aydinli and Spouse received an Invitation from His Excellency The Ambassador of Turkey to the Kingdom of Belgium Mr. Murat N. Ersavcı and Mrs. Zeynep M. Ersavcı

The reception took place in Brussels on 28th October 2010


Cumhuriyet´in kuruluşunun 87. yılı münasebetiyle Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Brüksel Büyükelçisi N. Murat Ersavcı ve eşi Sefire Zeynep Ersavcı birlikte Brüksel Tour& Taxis (28 Ekim 2010 Perşembe) bir resepsiyon verdiler.

Resepsiyona ev sahipliği yapan Büyükelçi N. Murat Ersavcı, Sefire Zeynep Ersavcı, Brüksel Başkonsolosu Mehmet Poroy eşi Ayşegül Poroy, Askeri Ataşe Kurmay Albay Yaşar Öztürk ve Müsteşar Tufan Korkmaz eşleri ile birlikte davetlileri karşılayarak tebrikleri kabul ettiler.

ITF TR 29th October Message

29 October 2010, Friday .

Iraq Turkmen Front Turkey Representative Dr. Hicran Kazancı published a message to commemorate 29 October Republic Day and the 87th Anniversary of the Republic.


Dr.Kazancı's message is as follows:
"With a struggle that is rarely seen in the world, an occupied land regained its freedom 87 years ago and was awarded with the best possible reward and declared a republic. The Republic of Turkey is an example of democratic practices in this region as well as leading figure in the significance it gives to establishing peace in Iraq and the Middle East and as such the people in the region and especially us Iraqi Turkmen observe the developments in Turkey with great interest.

The Republic of Turkey is a concrete example of what we miss the most in Iraq which is an administration based on national sovereignty. Today, the Republic of Turkey can take justified pride in being a modern, democratic world state.

With these feelings and thoughts, I commemorate the 87th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic with deep affection and respect."


Kerkuk.net

mercredi 27 octobre 2010

The Kirkuk/Census Ruling of the Federal Supreme Court, by Reidar Visser


Posted by Reidar Visser on Tuesday, 26 October 2010 14:03


In the recent resurge of discussion of the planned 2010 census for Iraq, there has been much focus on the decision of the ministry of planning to scrap the “ethnicity” field from the questionnaire.


This move has prompted strong Kurdish reactions since the Kurdish leaders see the results of such a census as relevant to the settlement of Kirkuk and other so-called “disputed territories” as per article 140 of the constitution. (Typical of the complex Iraqi situation, though the minister of planning is in fact himself a Kurd!) What has received less attention, however, is that the move by the ministry has been based on a ruling by the Iraqi federal supreme court that specifically tackles the relationship between the 2010 census and article 140.

In its meeting on 19 October, the federal supreme court dealt with a request from the secretariat of the Maliki government relating to the upcoming census. The question from the government is framed as follows, “Does the census planned for December, which includes a field called “ethnicity” on its questionnaire, have any relationship to article 140 of the constitution [on disputed territories such as Kirkuk]?”



The answer from the court is interesting: It says the census law of 2008 falls within the ordinary decennial censuses that were held in Iraq in the previous century, ending with the 1997 census. The court specifically says that the upcoming census has no relationship whatsoever to article 140, and that article 140 calls for a separate count in the disputed territories. The December 2010 census, by way of contrast, is for all of Iraq.

Based on this ruling from the court, the ministry of planning has apparently resolved to go ahead without the ethnicity field, since it has limited relevance for planning purposes, all Iraqis being equal in terms of government services etc. It is an interesting ruling that should perhaps serve as a warning to the Kurds about what sort of miracles the king they are currently in the process of making will be in a position to deliver at the end of the day.

Tony Blair summoned back to Chilcot inquiry into Iraq war

Members of panel are believed to be concerned about damaging and conflicting evidence revealed since former PM's last appearance

Richard Norton-Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 October 2010 12.30 BST

Tony Blair is to be summoned back to the official inquiry into the Iraq invasion in light of damaging and conflicting evidence revealed since he appeared as a witness in January.

Members of the Chilcot inquiry are believed to be concerned about evidence in documents released in July showing that the former prime minister was warned by his government's chief law officer that an invasion of Iraq would be illegal the day before he privately assured George Bush he would support US-led military action.

The Guardian first reported in February shortly after Blair testified that the inquiry team planned to question him again in light of evidence which it was already clear contradicted that given by Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general at the time.

Documents released in July provided an unprecedented insight into how Goldsmith repeatedly warned the prime minister of the potential consequences of invading Iraq without fresh UN authority – much to Blair's irritation.
They included a note from Goldsmith to Blair, marked secret and dated 30 January 2003, saying: "In view of your meeting with President Bush on Friday, I thought you might wish to know where I stand on the question of whether a further decision of the [UN] security council is legally required in order to authorise the use of force against Iraq."

Goldsmith warned Blair that he "remained of the view that the correct legal interpretation of resolution 1441 [the last security council decision on Iraq] is that it does not authorise the use of force without a further determination by the security council".

Goldsmith concluded: "My view remains that a further [UN] decision is required."

A handwritten note, believed to be from David Manning, Blair's chief foreign policy adviser, warned: "Clear advice from attorney on need for further resolution."

Demonstrating his frustration with Goldsmith, Blair scrawled in the margin: "I just don't understand this." An aide wrote: "Specifically said we did not need further advice [on] this matter."

The following day, 31 January 2003, Blair flew to Washington for a meeting with Bush. Manning records the president – in a minute previously disclosed – telling Blair that military action would be taken with or without a second security council resolution and the bombing would begin in mid-March 2003.
The note records Blair's reaction: "The prime minister said he was solidly with the president."

On 14 January 2003, in a note handed to Blair, Goldsmith warned that UN security council 1441 "contains no express authorisation by the security council for the use of force".

By 7 March, after a trip to Washington, Goldsmith told Blair that a new UN resolution might after all not be needed, although going to war without one would risk Britain being indicted before an international court.

Ten days later, on 17 March 2003, Goldsmith published a short note saying an invasion would be lawful.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/26/tony-blair-summoned-back-to-chilcot-inquiry

Büyük Oyun - A Step into Darkness



Büyük Oyun

A Step Into Darkness

2010 Yerli Filmini İzle




اللعبة الكبيرة

فيلم حول مآساة تركمان العراق

فيلم تركي عن حياة فتاة تركمانية اسمها "جنت الله ويردي" تفقد عائلتها جميعا في قرية من قرى تلعفر أحدى المدن التركمانية في شمال العراق بعد الغزو الأمريكي عام 2003 حيث تقتل الجنود الأمريكيين عائلتها كلهم وتبقى وحدها وهي لم تخرج بحياتها من قريتها تجد نفسها في طريق الى مدينة كركوك لكي تجد شقيقها الأكبر "عزمي الله ويردي" وهو حلاق في كركوك ، وتكشف بأنه أصاب في انفجار في السوق الكبير ونقل مع الجرحى الى تركيا فتبدأ المشوار الشاق الى تركيا حيث تبدأ مآساتها في ظروف حياتية قاسية وهي وحيدة ويائسة

Film hakkında kısa bilgi:ABD’nin Irak’ı işgal sürecinde direnişçileri yakalamak için operasyon yapan askerlerin bastığı köyde bütün ailesini kaybeden Cennet hayatta bir başına kalmıştır. Yaşamı boyunca köyünün dışına adım atmamış bu genç kız çaresizliğin dayattığıi cesaretle Kerkük’te berber olarak çalışan ağabeyi Azim’i bulmak için yola çıkar.

Oyuncular (ilk 5): Selim Bayraktar, Rana Cabbar, Serdal Genç, Serkan Genç, Suzan Genç
Yönetmen: Atil Inaç
Tür: Dram - Ülke: Turkey
Süre: 120 min Turkey:115 min

الرابط بالترجمة الإنجليزية

Link



http://www.filmdiziseyret.com/buyuk-oyun-a-step-into-darkness-2010-yerli-filmini-izle.html



Suzuki: Our Global Economy is not Sustainable



Posted on October 26, 2010 by Juan Cole, Informed Comment


I had the pleasure of hearing biologist David Suzuki lecture at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday night during my recent short trip to Australia. He drew on his recent slight but meaty book, The Legacy: An Elder’s Vision for Our Sustainable Future. I downloaded it and read it on my iPhone via Kindle app on the plane Monday.

The quote that alarmed me most of all was this one:
“A report by the World Wide Fund-UK examined the length of time it takes for nature to replenish renewable resources (trees, fish, soil, etc.) that all humans remove in a year. So long as those resources are restocked in a year or less, that situation should be sustainable indefinitely. The report concluded that it takes 1.3 years to replace what humans exploit in a year, and that deficit has been going on since the 1980s. In other words, rather than living on the biological interest, we are drawing down on our basic natural capital.” – David Suzuki, The Legacy

Suzuki cited a study suggesting that by 2048 there may well be no more commercial fishing in the world’s oceans (what David Pauly calls the “Aquacalypse”). You think of Somalia, Bangladesh, all the desperately poor countries now dependent on fishing and wonder what will become of them. Maybe Juan Williams should be alarmed when he sees Muslims who need to fish for a living, since they won’t be able to much longer, and could be peeved about that.The Legacy: An Elder’s Vision for Our Sustainable Future

dimanche 24 octobre 2010

The Secret Iraq Files, Aljazeera video

Could Wikileaks leave Iraq without a Government?

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Juan Cole
Informed Comment

The wikileaks document dump from the Iraq War may well derail the formation of a government by implicating caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in running death squads. We are in our seventh month since the March 7 elections, but no new prime minister has been named because no party or coalition has the 163 seats needed for a majority in Parliament.

In recent weeks caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has finally put together some 138 seats, needing only 25 to form a government.

But the Wikileak allegations about the government running Shiite death squads during al-Maliki’s term as prime minister may have derailed that process.

Al-Maliki’s rival, the largely secular Iraqiya List of Iyad Allawi, has slammed him in the aftermath of the leaks and has demanded an investigation of him. He says he is suspicious of the timing of the leaks. (Likely he means that it is odd that this information surfaced just as he closed in on nailing down a second term as prime minister, a development not welcome to Washington because it was fostered by Iran.) But it is silly to allege that Julian Assange is secretly working for the US government.

Jordanian t.v., which probably backs Allawi because he now heads a party popular with the Sunni Arabs, had this report, according to the USG open source center :

‘ Within its 1700 GMT newscast on 23 October, the Jordan Television carries as its 12th news item a report on the classified documents posted on WikiLeaks.

The channel says: “Iraqi officials have vowed to investigate any claims about crimes committed by the police and the army during the war in Iraq after WikiLeaks has published on its website classified US files that included the details of violations committed against prisoners at the hands of Iraqi forces.”

The channel then carries a video report by its reporter Sami al-Harbi in which he says: “As expected, WikiLeaks has set off d a big bomb through publishing documents on violations committed by the US forces against Iraqis, which included killing and torture.

Reactions by many parties denounced what has been published. The United Nations called on Washington to investigate the information published on this website and to quickly verify he cases of torture mentioned in the US Army’s documents.

The Iraqi side through the interior minister denounced such violations, affirming that the government will begin an investigation to verify the published information.”

The report adds: “The Iraqi street that was not surprised at these documents stressed the importance of these documents in revealing the violations against Iraqis during the war.”

The report notes: “The documents that referred to the role of Al-Maliki in these violations are expected to diminish his chances in the upcoming battle for prime minister’s post.

Iraqi officials pledged to investigate any claims on crimes committed by the police or the army during the sectarian war in Iraq.

This was confirmed by Major General Husayn Kamal, one of the deputies of the Iraqi interior minister, who said that the Iraqi officials will not turn a blind eye to these acts and any person involved in the violations.”

The channel goes on to report: “WikiLeaks website published some 400,000 US classified documents on the war on Iraq, some of which mentioned in detail horrible cases of abuse of prisoners by the Iraqi forces, which the United States was aware of but did not launch an investigation into them, according to the website.”

The channel adds: “These files indicate that the US military command in Iraq was aware of the violations of human rights and the cases of torture against the detainees in the Iraqi prisons, but failed to launch investigations into these cases.”

The report adds: “The documents disclosed that hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed at the checkpoints set up by the US forces following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and that hundreds of Iraqi detainees were tortured at the hands of the coalition forces.

The documents revealed that the US soldiers blew up complete civilian buildings because of the presence of only one insurgent on the roof. The documents disclosed in detail the killing of more than 66,000 civilians in the Iraqi war.

The New York Times published excerpts of the documents indicating the role of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in assassinations and bombings in Iraq.

The documents also reveal the confessions of detainees who received training in Iran and that they used Iranian-made weapons that were discovered by the US forces.’

A member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Jalaluddin Saghir was blistering in his criticism of the Iraqi government because of the new revelations. ISCI (which Iranian official news calls SIIC) is for the moment declining to join al-Maliki’s coalition. Its leaders thus have a vested interest in al-Maliki fading away.

BLACKWATER IN IRAQ

Iraq: Wikileaks Documents Describe Torture of Detainees

Iraq: Wikileaks Documents Describe Torture of Detainees

US Handed Over Detainees Despite Systematic Abuse by Iraqi Forces(New York, October 23, 2010)

– The Iraqi government should investigate credible reports that its forces engaged in torture and systematic abuse of detainees, Human Rights Watch said today. Hundreds of documents released on October 22, 2010, by Wikileaks reveal beatings, burnings, and lashings of detainees by their Iraqi captors. Iraq should prosecute those responsible for torture and other crimes, Human Rights Watch said.

The US government should also investigate whether its forces breached international law by transferring thousands of Iraqi detainees from US to Iraqi custody despite the clear risk of torture. Field reports and other documents released by Wikileaks reveal that US forces often failed to intervene to prevent torture and continued to transfer detainees to Iraqi custody despite the fact that they knew or should have known that torture was routine.

“These new disclosures show torture at the hands of Iraqi security forces is rampant and goes completely unpunished,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s clear that US authorities knew of systematic abuse by Iraqi troops, but they handed thousands of detainees over anyway.”

The 391,831 documents released by Wikileaks, mostly authored by low-ranking US officers in the field between 2004 and 2009, refer to the deaths of at least six detainees in Iraqi custody.

The reports also reveal many previously unreported instances in which US soldiers killed civilians, including at checkpoints on Iraq’s roads and during raids on people’s homes.

The documents indicate that US commanders frequently failed to follow up on credible evidence that Iraqi forces killed, tortured, and mistreated their captives. According to the documents, US authorities investigated some abuse cases, but much of the time they either ignored the abuse or asked Iraqis to investigate and closed the file.

In one incident on January 2, 2007, Iraqi security forces took detainees to an abandoned house and beat them, resulting in a death. The report stated, “As Coalition Forces were not involved in the alleged abuse, no further investigation is necessary.”

Even when US officials reported abuse to Iraqi authorities, the Iraqis often did not act. In one report, an Iraqi police chief told US military inspectors that his officers engaged in abuse “and supported it as a method of conducting investigations.” Another report said that an Iraqi police chief refused to file charges “as long as the abuse produced no marks.”

The documents reveal extensive abuse of detainees by Iraqi security forces over the six-year period.

In a November 2005 document, US military personnel described Iraqi abuse at a Baghdad facility that held 95 blindfolded detainees in a single room: “Many of them bear marks of abuse to include cigarette burns, bruising consistent with beatings and open sores... according to one of the detainees questioned on site, 12 detainees have died of disease in recent weeks.”On June 16, 2007, US soldiers reported that Iraqi forces interrogated and tortured a terrorism suspect by burning him with chemicals or acid and cutting off his fingers.

According to the Wikileaks file, “Victim received extensive medical care at the Mosul General Hospital resulting in amputation of his right leg below the knee[,] several toes on his left foot, as well as amputation of several fingers on both hands. Extensive scars resulted from the chemical/acid burns, which were diagnosed as 3rd degree chemical burns along with skin decay.”

In a case reported on December 14, 2009, the US military received a video showing Iraqi Army officers executing a bound detainee in the northern town of Talafar: “The footage shows [Iraqi] soldiers moving the detainee into the street, pushing him to the ground, punching him, and shooting him.”

In at least two cases, postmortems revealed evidence of death by torture. On December 3, 2008, a sheikh who a police chief claimed had died from “bad kidneys” in fact was found to have “evidence of some type of unknown surgical procedure on [his] abdomen. The incision was closed by 3-4 stitches. There was also evidence of bruises on the face, chest, ankle, and back of the body.”

On August 27, 2009, a US medical officer found “bruises and burns as well as visible injuries to the head, arm, torso, legs and neck” on the body of another detainee. Police claimed the detainee had committed suicide while in custody.

The disclosures by Wikileaks come almost six months after Human Rights Watch interviewed 42 detainees who had been tortured over a period of months by security forces at a secret prison in the old Muthanna airport in West Baghdad.

The facility held about 430 detainees who had no access to their families or lawyers. The prisoners said their torturers kicked, whipped, and beat them, tried to suffocate them, gave them electric shocks, burned them with cigarettes, and pulled out their fingernails and teeth. They said that interrogators sodomized some detainees with sticks and pistol barrels. Some young men said they were forced to perform oral sex on interrogators and guards and that interrogators forced detainees to molest one another. Iraqi authorities have still not prosecuted any officials responsible.

Between early 2009 and July 2010, US forces transferred thousands of Iraqi detainees to Iraqi custody. International law prohibits the transfer of detained individuals to the authorities of another state where they face a serious risk of torture and ill-treatment.

“US authorities have an obligation not to transfer any of the 200 or so detainees still in their custody to Iraqi forces or to anyone else who might mistreat them,” said Stork.

“The US should also make sure those detainees already transferred are not in a dungeon somewhere currently facing torture.”

At a Pentagon news conference on November 29, 2005, Gen. Peter Pace, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to a question about Pentagon guidance in situations where US commanders witness abuse by Iraqi forces, saying, “It is absolutely the responsibility of every US service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it.” Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who was also on the podium, intervened and said: “But I don’t think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it’s to report it.” Pace responded, “If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it.”A reporter then asked Rumsfeld if it was his sense that alleged Iraqi abuses were not widespread. Rumsfeld responded that he did not know.“It’s obviously something that the – General Casey and his troops are attentive to and have to be concerned about,” Rumsfeld told the reporter. “It – I’m not going to be judging it from 4,000 miles away – how many miles away?”


For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iraq, please visit:http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/iraq

For more information, please contact:In Washington, DC, Joe Stork (English): +1-202-299-4925 (mobile); or storkj@hrw.org
In Dubai, Samer Muscati (English): +971-50-923-7654; or muscats@hrw.org

samedi 23 octobre 2010

The Iraq War Logs - WikiLeaks

The Iraq War Logs

http://wikileaks.org/




At 5pm EST Friday 22nd October 2010 WikiLeaks released the largest classified military leak in history. The 391,832 reports ('The Iraq War Logs'), document the war and occupation in Iraq, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. Each is a 'SIGACT' or Significant Action in the war. They detail events as seen and heard by the US military troops on the ground in Iraq and are the first real glimpse into the secret history of the war that the United States government has been privy to throughout.


The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 'host nation' (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 'friendly' (coalition forces). The majority of the deaths (66,000, over 60%) of these are civilian deaths.That is 31 civilians dying every day during the six year period. For comparison, the 'Afghan War Diaries', previously released by WikiLeaks, covering the same period, detail the deaths of some 20,000 people. Iraq during the same period, was five times as lethal with equivallent population size.

Please donate to WikiLeaks to defend this information.

Video: Iraq files 'not surprising'

AlJazeera.net





Sabah al-Mukhtar, lawyer and president of the Arab Lawyers Association in London, spoke to Al Jazeera about the allegations of "torture", and said Iraqis will not be surprised by the findings.

vendredi 22 octobre 2010

Toppling a country: from Statue to Legality, Felicity Arbuthnot

Toppling a country: from Statue to Legality
by Felicity Arbuthnot

October 21, 2010
"The welfare of the people, in particular, has always been the alibi of tyrants." (Albert Camus, 1913-1960.)


Throughout Iraq, Americans bringing "freedom from tyranny", with their British auxillaries, and their few arm twisted "coalition", largely morphed in to tyrants overnight. As with Saddam Hussein's statue, the U.S., simply covered legality with an American flag - and toppled it. And as across the country, indiscriminate, unaccountable killing sprees started early on - and continue still.

U.S., wickednesses in Fallujah, the district by district liquidations, have probably been documented in more detail, than any other city, town or village, in deaths, injuries and deformities, so serves one tragic service - as an invaluable test case for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq. Whilst the recent, chilling Report by Busby, et al., (1) in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, has received deserved publicity, and been presented to the U.N., another, presented to the 15th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva (13th September-1st October) has received less so.

"Testimonies of Crimes Against Humanity in Fallujah - Towards a Fair International Criminal Trial" (2): "... pleads and implores", the United Nations in : ".. respect for the memory (of the) victims, to investigate the crimes and violations", in the document, and all that: "has been inflicted upon Iraq, placing the country at the top of the world's daily list for deaths, displaced persons, both internally and externally, the ensuing savage corruption, child molestation, rape, rampant kidnapping, contrary to the noble goals and (founding aspirations) of your Organisation."

After the invasion and fall of Baghdad, the document records, Fallujah remained calm, escaping the turmoil engulfing the rest of Iraq. Exactly two weeks after the toppling of the statue, on 23rd April 2003, when a group of students peacefully demonstrated outside Al Quds school, for its return by the U.S., soldiers, who had - without consultation - taken it over as a base, so they could resume studies. The response was massive violence.

The troops fired "indiscriminately" killing thirteen and wounding seventy five.Three of the dead were children under eleven. In a depressingly familiar story, according to Dr Ahmed Ghanim Al-Ali, the then hospital Director, they also fired on the medical staff who came to rescue the injured.

A week later, troops fired on a funeral, the first such occurrence in Iraq, which, with Afghanistan, along with wedding parties and mourning gatherings, have become a disgraceful litany. Two were killed and fourteen wounded, including children.

In the early hours of the second anniversary of the falling of the Twin Towers, a group driving a blue BMW, fired on the offices of the Mayor of Fallujah. Chased by the Fallujah Protection Force, the car disappeared in to a U.S., camp just outside the city. Returning, they came under heavy fire, eight were killed and two wounded. Again the ambulances were fired on and prevented assisting.

Those marking an atrocity at home, with executions abroad, transpired to be both U.S., forces and allegedly, with much substantiating evidence, mercenaries of the notorious Blackwater Security (now XL.) It took repeated demands by Fallujah's Mayor and others for the U.S., military to finally hand back the bodies (which: " ... had been left in the back of crushed vehicles in the burning sun") and two traumatised injured.

Acts of violence, murders, arrests, incarceration without trial and general acts of terror, are the hallmark of the freedom promised to the people of Iraq.

Ironically, American forces, with representatives from then U.S., "Viceroy" Paul Bremer's Office, in a meeting with the City Council, tried to recruit locals as agents, for protection. Seemingly, they were told that according to the Geneva Conventions, protection of Iraqis lay with the occupying forces. Outside, were BMWs - driven by Blackwater staff. Bremer had given the company its first contract (for a reported $21 million) in Iraq.

It was against the background the brutal, deviant behaviour, that, on 31st March 2004, four Blackwater employees, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Slovko, Wesley Bataloni and Mike Teague, were brutally murdered, dragged through the streets, their bodies hung over a bridge spanning the Euphrates.

The action was presented to the world, largely, as an example of the irrational endemic violence in Iraqis. The brutal treatment of Iraqis, at the hands of the invading forces and Blackwater, had scant mention in the main stream media.

Little can be found about the last three victims - but surreally, Helvenston, a former U.S., Navy SEAL, had been a personal trainer for Hollywood celebrities, including Demi Moore and had taken to reality shows such as: "Combat Missions", and: "Man vs Beast", where he completed an obstacle course faster then a chimpanzee. Tragically, though, not faster than the Fallujans. His last reality show appearance: "Extreme Expeditions : Model Behaviour", had still to be shown at the time of his death.(3)

The revenge April retaliation, came in spite of attempts by the City Council to mediate and negotiate. "U.S., troops rejected the intervention of and presence of the U.N." A tape recording of their refusal to negotiate and stated determination to strike the city, is witness to their lawless rejection.

U.S., troops gave orders that no one was to leave the city.The population was trapped, reminiscent of General Norman Schwartzkopf's "turkey shoot" on the Basra Road, in 1991, with the road blocked at both ends and no escape. The bridge to the hospital was cut off, condemning the wounded to death, with five hundred pound bombs, and cluster bombs being dropped on Fallujah's families - who had nowhere to hide.

That attack, with the subsequent one in October-November 2004, were compared to Guernica, and without doubt equal some of history's most shameful episodes. The people besieged in a reign of terror, of pure, primitive, savagery - targeted with weaponry of mass destruction.

Instructed by the troops to hold a white flag if they ventured out, sickeningly, U.S., snipers, then targeted heads of those who dared, in desperation, for help, food, water, medical aid, water and telephones having been cut, in contravention to the Geneva Convention. Also in contravention, is fact the forces had anyway, prevented essential foodstuffs and medicines from coming in.

The Report to the Human Rights Commission further reminds of the ongoing bombing between the two major assaults, which has continued, year on year. Whilst the two major attacks on Fallujah have been recorded in acres of newsprint (see also 4) the voices of the survivors have been largely absent. The document records those of one hundred and sixteen, from April's onslaught, with several earlier ones. Just some of the newly enfranchised, collaterally damaged, disposable Iraqis, include:

*Ahmed Hassan Shaker was killed on 6th January 2004, on going outside his home to find the cause of bullets "which were ringing out." A missile killed him and his wife, Sihan, instantly. They left six orphans, the eldest six, the youngest, just seven months. (Witness, Ahmed Hassan's father.) The U.S., military apologized to the family. No compensation has been forthcoming.

*Montaser Sami Hammad Ali al-Awani, killed, on 7th June 2003: " .. by random firing of U.S., troops on civilians", in Fallujah's Nazzal district. (Witness, his father.)

*Ahmed Obaid M'hidi Saud Issawi, died on 27th October 2003, when: "U.S., forces opened fire indiscrimately at everyone ..." (Witness, his brother.)

*In April 2004, Ali Dahi Abd Muflih lost fifteen members of his family, the majority women and children, when their home was completely destroyed by a U.S., missile. (Witness, surviving family member.)

*April 2004, Alaa Najim Abdullah Al-Issawi shot in the head by a U.S., sniper. (Witness, his brother.)

* St Valentine's Day, 14th April 2004, Fatah Saad Abbas al-Issawi, eight years old, killed as a result of "indiscriminate firearm" discharge. (Witness, her father.)

* Heba Abd Awda Jafil al-Halbusi, twenty, killed by U.S., sniper, whilst trying to escape "hell of U.S., fire", with her family. (Witness, her father.)

*Marwa Mohammed Khalif, her age not recorded, by a bullet to the head. (Witness, her mother.)

*17th April 2004, Ali Ismail Obeid Jassim Salman al-Issawi, aged five, and his brother, Hakki, Ismail Obeid Jassim Salman al-Issawi, ten, both killed by a sniper, whilst playing in front of their house. Buried together in the same grave. (Witness, their father.)

Throughout the testimonies, the words "indiscriminate", "random", "rampage" and "sniper" come up unceasingly. Other victims of this very democratic kind of killing, since there was no discrimination, included: Ayah (six); Fadhela, (thirteen); Mohammed, (nine); Shaimaa (fifteen); Alia (thirteen); Bushra (fifteen); Naba (three); Salwa (twelve); Baida (eleven); Hanin (seven.) As in the following November's psychopathic purge, the football pitch became a cemetery - but in November, they would need two.

The reign of terror in this city, which has existed since - and in some linguistic and archeological evidence, maybe before - Babylonian times, has continued, with "arbitrary arrests", "systematic torture", and allegations "of a policy of humiliation."

Dogs were unleashed by both military and often those accompanying them in plain clothes, suspicions falling on Blackwater again, in a litany. Just one victim was thirteen year old Ameen, whose twenty two year old university student and bread winner brother, Sineen, was shot "in a hail of bullets" when these mixed forces broke in to their home, after blowing out the door.

Ameen was beaten, his hand badly damaged by dogs, the all, he described carried out by men with beards and ear rings. As he was being beaten, it transpired, others were putting his brother's bloodied, mutilated body under a mattress, behind the curtains. This was after their father had been killed in the April 2004 bombardment.

Leaving the house ransacked and belongings smashed, the group allegedly rampaged through the neighbourhood, injuring, "robbing and stealing ... money and jewellery .." The U.S., forces, has thus taken a town which had escaped the invasion's murderous chaos, but has it rained upon them by the occupying forces, for now, approaching eight years.

As Dirk Adriaensens (5) has written: "The latest 'incident' occurred on Wednesday 15 September 2010 (following the official 'withdrawal' of US troops.) Seven civilians were killed and four injured. Their names will be added to the endless list of victims of the U.S., aggression against this troubled city. May they never be forgotten."

Killed during the raid by US/Iraqi forces on 15 September 2010

* Humadi Jassim Ahmed..........old man
* Manzel Humadi Jassim Ahmed.........youngster
* Sameer Humadi Jassim Ahmed........youngster
* Sadiek Humadi Jassim Ahmed.........youngster
* Abid Swissan Ahmed.........old man
* Yassein Abid Swissan Ahmed.......youngster
* Yassein Kassar Saad........Former Iraqi officer in Iraqi army

• Injured civilians

* Omar Humadi Jassim.......youngster
* Ibrahim Abid Kassar.........youngster
* Hathima Jassim (85 years old)
* Ahmed Humadi Jassim ....youngster

Whilst the people of Fallujah are stalked by visible killers in the form of Americans with their hardware, they live with an invisible one, in the residues left by the weapons used, including depleted uranium, the radioactivity and toxicity of which they eat, breathe and drink, since it can be measured in air and seeps in to the water table, affecting fauna and flora.

"In 2006, 5,928 cases of previously unknown, or rarely seen diseases were diagnosed (in Fallujah)", records the Report. "In the first half of 2007, 2,447 seriously ill patients were admitted, showing mostly little known symptoms. Fifty percent were children ... five years after the 2004 attacks, cancers had multiplied by four." In five years: "a twelve fold incident in fourteen year olds was noted." Birth defects rose by twenty five percent in a six year period.(See 4 and 5 for detail.)

Dr Bill Wilson, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, who is determined to see Tony Blair in Court on war crimes charges, also has the British government's culpability in using depleted uranium (DU) high on his agenda.
In 1996 and again in 1997, the UN Human Rights Committee included DU., in their list of weapons of mass destruction, urging all States to curb the spread and production of these weapons.

On 19th October 2010, Dr Wilson wrote to the (UK) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the successor to British Nuclear Fuels Limited, asking for details of all the documents it holds pertaining to the effects of spent or "depleted" uranium on health.

Dr Wilson comments: "Depleted uranium, high in the U-238 isotope, is what is left after uranium has been used to generate power. The nuclear industry, rather than putting this still radioactive and potentially lethal material out of harm’s way, however, sells it on to the arms industry and it is used to make armour-piercing or anti-tank shells. It has been doing this for decades, as a way of decreasing the financial losses associated with what I regard as an unnecessary and dangerous way of generating electricity.

"Such shells produce 3000oC fireballs and the resultant black uranium oxide particles get everywhere; they are blown hundreds of miles and are inhaled and ingested. There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that the cavalier use of depleted-uranium weaponry in Iraq and Afghanistan has caused a massive increase in cancers (particularly amongst children) and horrific birth defects, both in civilians living there and in service personnel and their families. What’s more, it has a half-life of almost 4.5 billion years!

"The US and UK Governments have been warned of all this, but appear to have ignored such warnings and have done practically nothing to clear up the mess they have left, not even fencing off highly radioactive destroyed tanks to stop children playing on them. It doesn’t take a genius to understand the issues at stake here and the potential for legal action.

"As part of my ongoing campaign for justice and to prevent further massive human rights abuses, I am seeking clarity on what the UK Government has historically known about the health effects of depleted uranium.
A refusal to answer my Freedom-of-Information request will tell its own story."

The Decommissioning Authority, he comments: "should come clean on dirty fuel." Indeed: "In the wake of America's "shock and awe" bombing campaign to take Baghdad, radiation detectors as far away as the United Kingdom noted a fourfold spike in radioactivity in the atmosphere." (6) The pregnant women, for whom it to too dangerous to undergo an X-ray for fear of of damaging the unborn baby, receives ongoing doses, courtesy the weapons industry, from Fallujah to Florida, from Baghdad to Belfast.

Two letters might be of use to Dr Wilson, written, respectively, immediately after and shortly after, the 1991 attack on Iraq. They are self explanatory. The late Leonard Dietz, to whom the second letter is addressed, was an eminent nuclear physicist and expert on the dangers of inhaled or ingested DU particles. They are typed exactly as written in the originals (Colonel Ziehman is not big on punctuation):

Los Alamos

Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos New Mexico 87545 memorandum

To: Studies and Analysis Branch (wr 13) (or may be 10, slightly eroded)
Attn: Maj Larson I Mar 1991

From: Lt Col M.V. Ziehman
STOP/Telephone: F668/(505) 665 19??

Symbol: MCLn0

Subject: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DEPLETED URANIUM PENETRATORS

There is a relatively small amount of lethality data for uranium penetrators, either the tank fired long version or the GAU-8 round fired from the A10 close air support aircraft. The recent was has likely multiplied the number of du rounds fired at targets by orders of magnitude. It is believed that du penetrators were very effective against Iraqi armor; (sic) how-ever, assessments of such will have to be made.

There has been and continues to be a concern regarding the impact of du on the environment. Therefore, if no one makes a case for the effectiveness of du on the battlefield, du rounds may become politically unacceptable and thus,be deleted from the military arsenal.

If du penetrators proved their worth during our recent combat activities, then we should assure their future existence (until something better is developed) through
Service/DOD proponency. If proponency is not garnered, it is possible that we stand to lose a valuable combat capability.

I believe we should keep this sensitive issue at (sic) mind when after action reports are written.

Respectfully,

(signed) Lt Col Z

Department of Defense, United States of America (seal.)

Office of the Director of
Defense Research and Engineering
Washington, DC 20301 - 3030

15th August 1991

Mr. Leonard A. Dietz
1124 Mohegan Road
Schenectady, NY 12309

Dear Mr Dietz:

Your letter of 30th July 1991 concerning depleted uranium was brought to my attention by Dr. Osterman.

In this letter you posed the question of the "probability that lung cancer could develop: after inhalation of depleted uranium. As you are no doubt well aware, since this material is a source of ionizing radiation, the potential for carcinogenicity
is real. The same holds true for nephro-toxicity which, in most of the literature available to me, seems to be the greater limiting health endpoint of concern, protection from which requires a much lower ambient concentration in drinking water or foodstuffs.

The potential risk to human health from exposure to depleted uranium is, of course, dose and time related, both of which must be measured, approximated, or assumed.

Let me assure you that we feel that your concern, which parallels our own, is real and we thank you for sharing that with us.

Sincerely,

(Signed)

John W. Kolmer, MD.,
Military Ass't for Medical
and Life Sciences.

Keen as Colonel Ziehman might have been to water down the dangers, so as not to "lose a valuable a valuable combat capability", regardless of the health of allied troops or invaded citizens, the U.S., Army's own manuals are more forthcoming. As has been written in these columns before:

"If DU enters the body, it has the potential to generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with DU are both chemical and radiological. Personnel in or near vehicles struck by DU penetrators could receive significant internal exposures." (7) Or indeed those near bombed homes, streets, schools, mosques ... Further: "Short term effects of high doses can result in death, while long term effects of low doses have been implicated in cancer." (8) This warning was sounded by the giant, US government contracted, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in July 1990, six months before Desert Storm.

Further, shortly after Desert Storm, the UK Atomic Energy Authority "self initiated a Report", warning of half a million extra cancer deaths in by 2000, if just fifty tonnes of residual DU dust had been left "in the region."

For either government to claim they were unaware of the apocalyptic consequences of further use, would be, as UK Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong admitted, in another cover up a couple of decades ago, to be "economical with the truth."


1. http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/7/2828
2. http://www.scribd.com/doc/38397725/Testimonies-of-Crimes-Aga
inst-Humanity-in-Fallujah
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Helvenston
4. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21212
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21370
5.http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21131
6. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/07/study-health-effects-felt
-fallujah-widespread-nuking-hiroshima-nagasaki/ ...
7. (US) Army Environmental Policy Institute: "Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use in the US Army", 1995.
8. SAIC : "Kinetic Energy Penetrator Long Term Strategy Study", Danesi, July 1990.

www.uruknet.info?p=70986

On Juan Williams’ Firing for Islamophobia and how Most European Terrorism is by European Separatists








On Juan Williams’ Firing for Islamophobia and how Most European Terrorism is by European Separatists
Posted on October 21, 2010 by Juan Cole
http://www.juancole.com/


A Europol report on terrorist attacks in Europe in 2009 [pdf] says that out of hundreds of terrorist attacks in Europe in 2009, most were the work of ethnic separatists. About 40 were carried out by members of the extreme left. A handful by the European far right. See also this analysis.

One terrorist attack was carried out in 2009 in all Europe by persons of Muslim heritage (I do not say ‘by a Muslim’ because terrorism is forbidden in Islamic law).

That is right. Out of hundreds. Exactly one.

After all that nonsense spewed on the internet and Fox Cable News about the danger of Muslims to Europe, and all the ethnic profiling and other discrimination against Muslims, it turns out that not only is their religion not dangerous, even the persons who depart from it into extremism and terrorism are tiny in number. Now it would not be right to profile or generalize about Basques, the Real IRA, etc., either. But even by the lights of the bigoted, it would be a waste of time to obsess about Muslims on this evidence.

As for the European far left and far right, those it is all right to generalize about and to conclude that they are, like, very dangerous. Two words: Stalin and Hitler.

Extremists of Muslim heritage have killed a few thousands of people over the past century. European political extremists have killed tens of millions.

This sort of datum is why National Public Radio was right to fire commentator Juan Williams for saying he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane.

Think Progress has the video of Williams’ weird appearance on the odious Bill O’Reilly.

Next Williams will be announcing that he sympathizes with the white police officers who get nervous when they see people dressed like African-Americans traveling in automobiles.

(Some commenters brought up free speech! No one has a ‘right’ to be hired by NPR, so this is not a free speech issue.

Generalizing about entire ethnic groups in a negative manner is bigotry, of which Williams is guilty. The airwaves in the United States are technically a public good, like the water, which the government has licensed. We don’t use public goods for racist purposes in this country, and shouldn’t. The Muslim-American community has a right not to be characterized as being in general dangerous, since almost none of them is dangerous. Substitute any other American ethnic group for Muslim in what Williams said (“I get nervous when I see x on airplanes”) and it is easy to see how wrong it is. Think about all the airplane hijackings you’ve heard of and you’ll see that stray members of various ethnic groups have been involved, but no one would tar everyone in that group with a desire to take planes to Havana at gunpoint. If anyone cannot see how wrong it is to generalize from small numbers of deviants in a marked ethnic community to everyone in that community, they need ethics 101.)

mercredi 20 octobre 2010

The Inquisitorial Gaze, Matthew Carr




Carr: The Inquisitorial Gaze
Posted on October 20, 2010 by Juan Cole
Matthew Carr writes in a guest column for Informed Comment:

Until this year, Spain appeared to be relatively indifferent to the Islamophobic politics that have become so endemic throughout Europe. In a few short months however, the signs are that Spain is moving rapidly away from a relatively laissez faire approach to immigration toward the more coercive assimilationist model being pursued elsewhere in the continent – a model that is primarily concerned with the country’s one million Muslim immigrants. In April a Madrid secondary school prohibited a Muslim teenager from attending school in a hijab and ignited Spain’s first ‘headscarf controversy’. Since then that the debate on what Muslim women should be wearing has become a burning national issue. Following various prohibitions by local town councils on the burqa and niqab, a proposal to introduce a national ban on full face and body covering was narrowly defeated in the Spanish Congress in July.

This less than emphatic rejection may prove to be only temporary, as rightwing politicians issue increasingly strident warnings that ‘immigrants’ must conform to Spain’s constitutional and cultural values or leave. In July the Socialist town council of Lleida closed a local mosque, claiming that the number of worshippers had ‘exceeded its allowed capacity’ in another indication of the changing landscape.

Debates about Muslim female dress codes and Islamisation may well be a convenient distraction from an economic crisis that has produced the highest unemployment in Europe. But these developments also echo older tendencies in the country of the Reconquista and St James the Moorslayer. Four hundred years ago, Spain expelled some 350,000 Muslims known as Moriscos or ‘little Moors’ from Spanish territory in what was then the largest forced population transfer in European history, even larger than the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.

The Moriscos were all nominal Christians who were forcibly converted to Catholicism at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Following their conversion, Spain’s rulers demanded the complete eradication of their Islamic religious and cultural traditions. Public or private bathing, dances, the speaking of Arabic, circumcision and Muslim burial rites, even eating couscous were regarded as deviant acts and punished with fines, imprisonment and even execution.

Then, as now, these demands often focussed obsessively on female dress codes, but for very different reasons. In sixteenth century Spain female emancipation was not a high priority. The Muslim veil or almalafa was regarded by the Church as a potential cover for illicit sexual liaisons and an expression of religious deviance, and women who wore it were liable to be fined or flogged.

Tolerance was not considered a virtue in sixteenth century Spain, and the repression of the Moriscos was intended to hasten the disappearance of a minority that Spain’s rulers regarded as alien, inferior and a potential fifth column. These efforts were spearheaded by the Inquisition, which pried obsessively into the public and private lives of the Moriscos to ensure their conformity. These efforts were not entirely unsuccessful. Many Moriscos did become ‘good and faithful Christians’. Others engaged in covert and sometimes violent resistance that confirmed the worst suspicions and prejudices of their Christian enemies. In the last decades of the sixteenth century leading Spain’s rulers concluded that assimilation was impossible and considered drastic solutions to the ‘Morisco question’ that included mass castration, physical extermination, and physical expulsion.

In 1582 Philip II accepted expulsion in principle, but it was not until 1609 that the final decision to expel the Moriscos was taken by his son. This decision followed a series of Spanish military reversals and a severe economic crisis, which some Spaniards saw as an expression of divine disfavour at the continued presence of Morisco infidels and heretics in Christian lands. Expulsion was seen as an act of religious purification and a sacrificial ‘burnt offering’ that would transform Spain’s fortunes and remove a niggling problem that had obsessed its rulers for decades.

At first sight there may seem little in common between the ruthless destruction of Moorish Spain and the contemporary debates about secularism and tolerance that underpin Europe’s ‘ Muslim problem’. But bigotry and intolerance do not always require purple robes and autos da fe. Every age produces its own rationalisations for persecution.

Such episodes are often accompanied by an aggrieved and self-righteous sense of victimhood, in which powerful majorities depict even the weakest and most marginalised ‘out-groups’ as collectively incompatible, alien and dangerous. Once these depictions are taken for granted then even the most radical solutions may seem reasonable and even unavoidable.

All these elements were present in the expulsion of the Moriscos. Four hundred years later, as politicians and demagogues on both sides of the Atlantic subject Muslims to a new inquisitorial gaze, this painful chapter in Spanish history is a salutary reminder of what can happen when powerful societies embark on the road to forced assimilation in an attempt to ensure that ‘they’ become like ‘us’.

Matthew Carr is author of Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain

(the UK edition is here).

lundi 18 octobre 2010

ITF RT Dr. Hicran Kazancı was hosted live on TRT Türk TV Channel.

Iraq Turkmen Front Turkey Representative Dr. Hicran Kazancı was hosted live on TRT Türk TV Channel. Topics such as where do the Turkmen see themselves after the general elections in Iraq on 7th March? What are their plans for the future? Could the problems of the past be overcome by gaining equal status with other groups? Expectations from Turkey, Kirkuk issues and other contemporary topics were discussed.
It has been impossible to establish a government in Iraq for eight months, how does this situation affect the Turkmen?

Two major developments have been on the Iraqi agenda for the last few days. The first issue is the inability to establish a government for eight months. The second issue is the census. I do not quite agree with the statements that the reason for the inability of establishing a government for eight months is due to the intervention of the regional countries and sovereign powers. This is entirely due to the problems among Iraqi politicians. Iraqi politicians do not trust each other; the loss of trust and the fact that Iraqi politicians speaking about the Iraqi identity pursue politics based on ethnic and sectarian politics. Their aim is to get the biggest share of the pie which in this case is Iraq. They give promises to each other but change their minds the next day. This attitude indicates that their priority is certainly not the Iraqi nation.

What is the situation of the Turkmen in this problematic picture? What are your views particularly regarding the census?

A census is a procedure that must be carried out periodically; a country will determine its strategy for the future, takes precautions, makes investments according to the results of its census data. However, results can be achieved only if the conditions for running a census are legitimate.
Well, is that true for Iraq? No. If a census is held without justice and transparency it will pave the way to ethnic clashes. An application form for the restructuring of government organizations which were dissolved after 2003 has been prepared. This form contains the same question regarding ethnicity as does the form prepared for the census. This title was used as basis for the structuring of the government organizations. We shall not oppose the census once the question regarding ethnic sect is deleted and the demographic structure is reinstated. According to data supplied by the Ministry of Planning, the population of Kirkuk should be 950.000 instead of 1.650.000. The figures for Mosul should be 2,650 000 instead of 3,450 000, Duhuk should be 520 000 instead of 978 000 while Basra's population should be 2 million instead of 2.5 mio. In addition, holding a census without a valid government is problematic in itself.

Serious tensions have been experienced especially during the past 4-5 years. At this point, have the tensions been overcome? Is the environment more favorable for easier communication? Is it possible to form sufficient platforms to facilitate compromise in a concrete sense? What is your opinion? If you compared a photograph taken five years ago and one of today, how would you comment?

The events of 9 April 2003 were planned. The electric authority, population and land registry offices were plundered and burnt. As long as those tensions and injustices cannot be contained, the problems will continue. The problems need permanent solutions. Otherwise, we will have postponed problems instead of permanent solutions.

There seems to be a calmer atmosphere. Is this vision false?

Of course the situation is better than previously. However, the problems will be fanned once the census is held. The activities are aimed at the future.

There seems to be a lack of unity among Turkmen. Is this an issue that has been put into words by Turkey? Why do you think such a problem is experienced?

There is unity and solidarity on the base level. However, this might not be the case among the executives. This is caused by misguided strategies in the past. All groups with the exception of the Turkmen, have armed militia forces. During the process since 1925 to date, all the regimes in Iraq have brought with them oppression and assimilation applications for the Turkmen. All the regimes developed and nurtured a perception that Turkey would have an intervening role in the fate of the Turkmen. All this brought oppression. And what did we do? Turkey, which is the strongest country in the region, felt a need to take an interest in the problems of region starting with the Turkmen issue and our people tried to administer Turkmen politics in Iraq through associations established in Turkey. Other Iraqi groups were supported by western countries to organize the military and state organizations. Everything was in place by 2003. Unfortunately, we were unable to develop such a strategy. That is mainly due to the mistakes made in past politics.

The USA is withdrawing from Iraq; does this help in ensuring stability in the region? How will this affect you?

The effect on Iraq will be negative. The withdrawal of US combat troops will put three major problems on the forefront. The first problem is the general security situation in Iraq. The second issue is the deterioration observed recently in the relationship between the Awakening Councils and the central government. The third issue consists of the armed militia forces. After the US departure, how well will the Iraqi government be able to control the armed militia forces? The Turkmen, being the only group without a militia force, will bear the brunt of the damage. Unfortunately the recognized policy in the Middle East is power. When you are unable to avail to militia sources and resort to policy you end up loosing.

Major developments have taken place in Turkey regarding the Southeast and the Kurdish problem. How is this fact perceived by Arbil, Kirkuk and the Turkmen?

The initiative incepted in Turkey is an internal issue pertinent to Turkey. The progress and institutionalization of democracy in Turkey will have positive effect mainly for the Turkmen, Iraq and even the countries in the region. From time to time Barzani and Talabani have supported this initiative in a major way. However, a specific group of Kurds perceived this initiative as a major weakness on the part of the state and fell or were induced to fall into error. If the initiative had been realized until now, the PKK terror organization would be eliminated. There are close to 1000 Syrians and Iranian in this organization; these countries would also gain stability. Regarding Kandil mountain, according to article 52 of the UN convention, if the social peace and stability of a country is threatened by another country, the threatened country has a right to intervene. If Barzani and the USA cannot control Kandil, then Turkey has a right to intervene.

Does Kirkuk still belong to the Turkmen?

According to the data of the Ministry of Planning, the population of Kirkuk should be 950 thousand; the reality is that this number is 1.650.000. That is almost twice the foreseen figure. Which is why the answer is no. Turkmen are the second or third group. After 2003, province assembly laws, article 23 and article 6 of the election law have come into force. If these articles are implemented properly, the census results will come out correctly. Then it will become evident that the Turkmen are the titleholders of Kirkuk.

When we examine the results of the last elections, we see that different results have emerged. This result was brought on through cooperation and solidarity. Do you think that during the future term unity and solidarity will emerge to the forefront in a significant way?

The Turkmen living in Turkmeneli region do so in a dispersed way. There is actually no area dedicated solely to us. If you want to be active here, you are obliged to act with groups whose strategies coincide with your own strategies. That is natural. We participated in these elections from the Iraqi list. This was a correct strategy. With this strategy we shattered the one MP syndrome. Today 10 Turkmen MP's, six from us and four from other groups, are sitting in the Parliament. Finally we have comprised a Turkmen group. This is a major step in being able to act in unison.

What else can be done in order to act in unison?

A group should be formed in the Parliament because unless you have a group, you are without influence. The six persons are from the Turkmen Front, the 4 other persons are from different parties. They will act in unison regarding issues which are vital to the Turkmen people. Like the census or Kirkuk. This is the beginning of other unions.

The democracy experience at least showed that if you want to be influential in Iraq or Northern Iraq, you are obliged to have political clout. The Turkmen learned this lesson through trial and error.

That is correct; we cannot tolerate the losses we suffered in the past any more. It is important to take steps so that we do not lose our hard earned gains.

Are there any expectations from Turkey?

Rather than asking about expectations from Turkey, why not ask "what can we do there?". Do we have a national strategy? Was this strategy adopted by our people? Turkey provides adequate support. I read the press and the impression I get is that Turkey has all but abandoned the Turkmen which is so far from the truth. The support provided is in excess of sufficient. The support is not visible because we lack a national strategy and a national policy to realize this. We need to mitigate our internal problems. If we can realize this we can do so much.

You stated that Kirkuk is our artery. If Kirkuk passes to one side the world will change. These are very striking words which are also true because under Kirkuk lies an appetizing petroleum reserve. What will happen to Kirkuk?

Let us not talk about Kirkuk's identity. I say we sit at a table and lay the problems down and discuss them. The problems can be overcome with dialogue. All groups execute policies with the intention of protecting their national interests. That is absolutely normal. When these policies are executed they may trespass our Turkmen interests. When this happens, it is important to implement a fundamental policy far from resignation and hostility. When we succeed, starting with Kirkuk, many problems emerging in the Turkmeneli region can be nipped at the bud.

As you know, the petroleum reserves in Kirkuk equal 30% of petroleum reserves in Iraq and 5% of the petroleum reserves in the world. It is not just a problem between two ethnic groups. It is a problem that is valid for all groups in Kirkuk. It is a problem between the Baghdad administration and the Arbil administration, neighboring countries and a problem for international actors.
We cannot view a problem of Iraq through a Kirkuk window. We have to diagnose the problems correctly. The problem in Kirkuk is not an ethnic problem, it is a problem caused by the conflict of sovereign powers struggling over their interests. We need to determine our role and actions in resolving this problem.

We had an interview with Turkmeneli Tv General Director 2 years ago. Actually he said something very positive. Perhaps he was underlining his ideal. He said that Iraq should share its values and riches among its people. We do not want to sole proprietors but we say that those who live above these reserves should have a say about them.

The constitutional law of Iraq says just that. A constitutional law which has been ratified by the people says so. And yet, unfortunately, it is not implemented. When normalization is carried out in Iraq, the Turkmen will be the group that benefits most.

To go back to the beginning, it is safe to say that the most significant obstacle to any formation is the inability to establish a government for eight months.

Yes that is correct.

The other presenter immediately interrupts to ask is there a calendar, a process for this?

My personal opinion is that maybe by the end of this year. Rumor has it that it will be established next month.

To round up; in the framework of our discussion are the Iraqi Turkmen hopeful about the future. What kind of Iraq; what kind of Northern Iraq do you foreseen?

The process ahead is a tough one. It will be very painful. In the end, the conditions in Iraq will normalize. The main beneficiaries of this will be the Turkmen. Looking back, the steps taken recently are very positive. This means that next term many of our problems, including internal issues, will be mitigated, and parallel to international developments have a very positive effect on change.

Is it correct to say that the biggest opportunity is the normalization trend in the region? Like you say, every country wants normalization, a peaceful and tranquil environment.

The US wants this also. They do not want the order they have set up to deteriorate after the withdrawal. Today, looking at the situation, it is evident that support to the groups which were received major support by the US has been reduced to half of its previous size. Extreme requests have been honed down. It will be to the benefit of the people living in Northern Iraq and the regional people that the order is not disrupted.

Mr.Kazancı thank you very much. This has been a pleasant conversation. You have drawn a portrait including a bit of retroactive self criticism which is the best part...A lasting future cannot be built without self criticism. Thank you again.

I thank you.

Kerkuk.net

vendredi 15 octobre 2010

WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting



WikiLeaks says funding has been blocked after government blacklisting
David Leigh and Rob Evans

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of the Guardian after thousands of US military documents were leaked and exposed Photograph: Andrew Winning/REUTERS


Founder Julian Assange hits out at decision by Moneybookers, which collects the whistleblowing website's donations

October 14, 2010

The whistleblowing group WikiLeaks claims that it has had its funding blocked and that it is the victim of financial warfare by the US government.
Moneybookers, a British-registered internet payment company that collects WikiLeaks donations, emailed the organisation to say it had closed down its account because it had been put on an official US watchlist and on an Australian government blacklist.

The apparent blacklisting came a few days after the Pentagon publicly expressed its anger at WikiLeaks and its founder, Australian citizen Julian Assange, for obtaining thousands of classified military documents about the war in Afghanistan, in one of the US army's biggest leaks of information. The documents caused a sensation when they were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and German magazine Der Spiegel, revealing hitherto unreported civilian casualties.

WikiLeaks defied Pentagon calls to return the war logs and destroy all copies. Instead, it has been reported that it intends to release an even larger cache of military documents, disclosing other abuses in Iraq.
Moneybookers moved against WikiLeaks on 13 August, according to the correspondence, less than a week after the Pentagon made public threats of reprisals against the organisation. Moneybookers wrote to Assange: "Following an audit of your account by our security department, we must advise that your account has been closed … to comply with money laundering or other investigations conducted by government authorities."

When Assange emailed to ask what the problem was, he says he was told in response by Daniel Stromberg, the Moneybookers e-commerce manager for the Nordic region: "When I did my regular overview of my customers, I noticed that something was wrong with your account and I emailed our risk and legal department to solve this issue.
"Below I have copied the answer I received from them: 'Hi Daniel, you can inform him that initially his account was suspended due to being accessed from a blacklisted IP address.
However, following recent publicity and the subsequently addition of the WikiLeaks entity to blacklists in Australia and watchlists in the USA, we have terminated the business relationship.'"

Assange said: "This is likely to cause a huge backlash against Moneybookers. Craven behaviour in relation to the US government is unlikely to be seen sympathetically."

Moneybookers, which is registered in the UK but controlled by the Bahrain-based group Investcorp, would not make anyone available to explain the decision. Its public relations firm, 77PR, said: "We have never had any request, inquiry or correspondence from any authority regarding this former customer." Asked how this could be reconciled with the references in the correspondence to a blacklist, it said: "We stick with our original statement."



www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/14/wikileaks-says-funding-is-blocked

lundi 11 octobre 2010

WAR CRIMES - A Report on U.S. War Crimes against Iraq

Incinerated body of an Iraqi Soldier on the "Highway of Death" (S. Iraq) 1991
Photo by Kenneth Jarecke/Contact Press Image




WAR CRIMES

A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq to the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal
by Ramsey Clark and Others

To read the report please click on the link below
http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrime.htm





Incinerated body of an Iraqi soldier on the "Highway of Death," a name the press has given to the road from Mutlaa, Kuwait, to Basra, Iraq. U.S. planes immobilized the convoy by disabling vehicles at its front and rear, then bombing and straffing the resulting traffic jam for hours. More than 2,000 vehicles and tens of thousands of charred and dismembered bodies littered the sixty miles of highway.

The clear rapid incineration of the human being [pictured above] suggests the use of napalm, phosphorus, or other incindiary bombs. These are anti-personnel weapons outlawed under the 1977 Geneva Protocols. This massive attack occurred after Saddam Hussein announced a complete troop withdrawl from Kuwait in compliance with UN Resolution 660.

Such a massacre of withdrawing Iraqi soldiers violates the Geneva Convention of 1949, common article 3, which outlaws the killing of soldiers who "are out of combat." There are, in addition, strong indications that many of those killed were Palestinian and Kuwaiti civilians trying to escape the impending seige of Kuwait City and the return of Kuwaiti armed forces. No attempt was made by U.S. military command to distinguish between military personnel and civilians on the "highway of death." The whole intent of international law with regard to war is to prevent just this sort of indescriminate and excessive use of force.

(Photo Credit: © 1991 Kenneth Jarecke / Contact Press Images)

"It has never happened in history that a nation that has won a war has been held accountable for atrocities committed in preparing for and waging that war. We intend to make this one different. What took place was the use of technological material to destroy a defenseless country. From 125,000 to 300,000 people were killed... We recognize our role in history is to bring the transgressors to justice." Ramsey Clark

Next » Preface
WWW URL: http://deoxy.org/wc-preface.htm


http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrim2.htm


http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrim3.htm





Ramsey Clark served as U.S. Attorney General in the administration of Lyndon Johnson. He is the convener of the Commission of Inquiry and a human rights lawyer of world-wide respect. This report was given in New York, May 11, 1991.
________________________________________
Index
WWW URL: http://deoxy.org/warcrime.htm
Copyright © 1992 by The Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal

Iraq: One of History's Greatest Crimes

Photo: Depleted Uranium severe body deformities

By Stephen Lendman

reposted

26 September, 2010

Countercurrents.org



America's hidden history is ugly and disturbing. No nation ever matched it. To Iraq alone, over the past two decades, it includes ongoing genocide, destruction, terror, occupation, and contamination - a horrendous combination of crimes, unmentioned in Western discourse.


Environmental Engineering Professor Souad N. Al-Azzawi documents them, including in her report titled, "Crime of the Century: Iraq's Occupation and DU Contamination," a detailed account of US culpability.


America's strategic aims, she explains, include:


-- controlling most of the world's oil and other natural resources;
-- remaining permanently in the Middle East, "the intersection zone of the three continents where 80% of the world('s) population" lives; and
-- if the above two objectives are achieved, America will control the world's economy, or enough of it to matter.


Spread over a large enough area, depleted uranium (DU) is a weapon of mass destruction, because it's radioactive and chemically toxic. If ingested or inhaled through food, air, water or other means, it enters the human body, remaining for decades. An earlier article reported the dangers, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2006/01/depleted-uranium-hidden-looming_16.html


It explained that continued DU use has the potential to end planetary life, yet few understand the risk, or that weaponized DU is used regularly in missiles, bombs, shells and bullets wherever America wages war - first during the 1991 Gulf War.


Its danger comes from radiation residue after use. On impact, DU munitions penetrate deeply and aerosolize into a fine spray, polluting surrounding air, water and soil. It's microscopic, sub-miscroscopic, and permanent. Spread over vast areas as radioactive atmospheric dust, its contamination causes virtually all known illnesses and diseases from severe headaches, muscle pain and general fatigue, to major birth defects, infections, depression, cardiovascular disease, and many types of cancers. It also causes permanent disability and death.


Over the past two decades in Iraq alone, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tons have been used, irradiating the entire country, some areas more than others. In her October 2009 presentation to the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia International Conference to Criminalize War, Azzawi accused America and Britain of:
"subject(ing) the whole nation of Iraq for two decades to torture and slow death through the intentional use of radioactive weapons and the sanctions.




The continuous and intentional use of (these) weapons is a crime against humanity due to its undifferentiating harmful health effects on civilians in contaminated areas tens of years to come after the military engagements." Radiation, in fact, is permanent, affecting unborn generations like living ones.
During the Gulf War, about 320 tons were used in southern Iraq, affecting the Basrah region. Post-conflict, "comprehensive" examination detected it, especially "in and around Al-Basrah City," showing:


-- "high gamma radiation" levels;
-- "soil samples from 39 locations (with) higher activities than natural background levels;" and
-- "Surface water channel sediments (with 2 - 3) times higher radioactivity than the natural background" level.


Contamination was widespread, affecting at least "45% of people in the area, the Iraqi troops, and" coalition ones. As a result, soldiers (and civilians) exposed "to DU oxides (can expect) 70 cancer cases per 1,000" persons. Perhaps a higher incidence over time, and along with other illnesses and diseases, an epidemic of human affliction.


Subsequent epidemiological studies in Basrah showed a "five times rise in the incidence rate of malignancies amongst children to be far more noticeable from 1995 onwards." In addition, exposure to ionized radiation caused:


-- higher child leukemia rates;
-- a "six fold increase in congenital malformations among births in Basrah City since 1995 onward," some too disturbing to view; and
-- higher rates of congenital heart diseases and chromosomal aberrations.


Even more destructive weapons were used in the 2003 war, including banned ones like napalm, white phosphorous, cluster bombs, and greater amounts of DU - "against people, infrastructure facilities, and environment." Further, "the looting and burning of factories, industrial complexes, laboratories, and ministries (including the looting of the Tuwaitha Atomic Energy Agency, and 300 other highly contaminated sites....)" caused contamination.


Much more as well across the country in Baghdad and suburbs, Basrah, Mosul, Fallujah, Balad, Anbar, Haditha, Qa'im, Rawa, Karbala, Najar, Aubaidi, Diala, Samara, Tikrit, Baiji, Ahsaiba, Mada'in, Kubaissa, and other locations.


In March 2009, Gideon Polya used the Just Foreign Policy estimate of 1.32 million Iraqi deaths post-March 2003 alone, a number considerably higher today. It's also well below his post-9/11 eight million "war on terror" total, mostly affecting women and children, aged five and younger, killed by war, diseases, and/or depravation, America's horrific ongoing genocidal legacy - air-brushed from history. Azzawi adds more:


-- at least 4.5 internal or external refugees, many victimized by "militias and police raids and terrorist groups;"
-- death squads targeting "certain ethnic and sectarian groups" daily; and
-- in cities throughout Iraq, sieges cutting off "all life support aids on people, (affecting) Thousands of children, women and elderly who could not leave their houses and were subjected to collective punishment...." For weeks, these areas were deprived of food, water, healthcare, and electricity. As a result, contaminated water was used "from ditches and nearby rivers," causing cholera and other waterborne diseases.


The continuous use of DU weapons in heavily populated areas exposes millions to its destructive effects. Further, "Continuous negligence of medical care systems, hospitals, and the killing of prominent medical and healthcare specialists....after 2003" exacerbated a widespread health crisis.


Yet occupation forces provide no data on civilians killed, wounded, kidnapped or otherwise harmed. Nor do they allow "exploration programs to detect (DU) related contaminated areas." Yet they're vitally needed to "help Iraqi people....cope with the damages."


Known evidence shows "Continuous deterioration of environmental quality....in Baghdad City due to explosions, and heavy traffic of tanks and vehicles...." Concentrations of numerous toxins way exceed safe levels. "Water quality deterioration caused an increase in "pathogenic water born diseases like Cholera, Typhoid, Hepatitis, (and) others." Air pollution results from continuous bombing and explosions.


The "Multiple impact of all of the above pollution sources on the human body can be critical, especially for children, women and the elderly people."
From DU munitions alone, Azzawi told the Kuala Lumpur conference that contamination is spread over vast areas by "wind storms, dust storms, sandstorms, and rainstorms," besides polluted waterways and surface migration in soil, causing:


-- "Siltation, creeping, and suspension from contaminated soil to atmosphere; (and)
-- Suspension and re-suspension of deposited DU aerosols....the most dangerous and critical pathway of transfer and spreading from source to the human population."


America and Britain are responsible "for exposing a whole nation to the risk of continually receiving high radioactive and toxic persistent contaminants," including DU and many others, a noxious brew leaving no one untouched and many lethally harmed. "This is a crime against humanity (because of) its undifferentiated harmful health impacts on civilians long (after) military operations" are concluded.


A Final Comment

On September 19, BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee member Dirk Adriaensens headlined, "Iraq: The Age of Darkness," explaining "a devastating balance sheet (of) success," including:


-- a 150% increase in child mortality since 1990;
-- only half of primary-aged children in school;
-- about 1,500 children in (horrific) detention facilities;
-- in 2007, about "5 million Iraqi orphans;"
-- over two million external refugees and almost three million internal ones (IDPs);
-- official unemployment at 50%; real unemployment at least 70%;
-- at least 43% of Iraqis "in abject poverty;"
-- at least eight million need "emergency aid;"
-- at least four million "lack food and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance;"
-- at least 80% lack "effective sanitation;"
-- "Religious minorities are on the verge of extinction;" and
-- an Oxfam survey showed 33% of women got no humanitarian aid since 2003; 76% of widows lack pension help; 52% are unemployed; 55% have been displaced; and 55% have been "subjected to (various forms of) violence."
In Iraq today, "killing of innocent people has become part of daily life." America is committing genocide against the entire population. It persists daily unreported, yet called "a success."


It includes death, destruction, torture, terror, occupation, displacement, disease, and insecurity in a nation that no longer exists. For sure, one unfit to live in - unsafe, corrupt, terrorized, tyrannized, contaminated, and permanently occupied. In virtually all rankings that matter, Iraq scores last, Afghanistan second last, a testimony to America's liberating values.


They're run from Washington with no functioning governments, de facto satraps instead obeying their imperial masters. Yet on August 31, declaring an "end to the combat mission in Iraq," Obama outrageously said: "Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility," infamously displaying his culpability as a war criminal, matching the worst America ever produced.


Under him, George Bush, and their successors, "Iraq has no viable future," Adriaensens' final assessment of America's "success."




Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.