Getting Iraq to pay more is not the answer

By Raed Jarrar and Erik Leaver
Posted on: http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

This is an op-ed that I co-wrote with Erik Leaver for the Progressive Media Project. It was published in a few local newspapers around the US today.

Congress should stop blaming the Iraqi government for our economic woes. As our economy sputters to a halt and Congress is set to spend an additional $160 billion on the war, U.S. lawmakers are openly criticizing the Iraqi government for not paying the bills.

New legislation for funding the Iraq War includes language demanding Iraqis pay for half of future reconstruction and provide subsidies for fuel purchased by the U.S. military.

Such calls by lawmakers ignore the fact that the financial hardship our nation is suffering has much more to do with our own housing mess and with the high costs of the war than with the Iraqis not paying their way. And as a matter of fact, a recent audit by the inspector general for Iraq found that Iraq has spent more than the United States on reconstruction.

Even though the United States has international legal obligations for reconstruction as an occupying power, it has spent less than $30 billion on reconstruction projects over the last five years.

To date, there is little to show for the money spent by the United States for reconstruction.

Iraq's infrastructure is a disaster.

Electricity, access to water, sanitation, roads and health care are still, in most cases, at levels lower than before the occupation began.

Three out of every four Iraqis have no access to basic services, and 20 percent to 60 percent are unemployed.

Reconstruction projects have helped U.S. contractors far more than the Iraqi people.Yes, the Iraqi government certainly deserves criticism. It is highly corrupt, unpopular and unrepresentative.

And, yes, ultimately it is up to the Iraqis to rebuild their own country. But no incentives for reconstruction or reconciliation exist without a timeline for U.S. withdrawal. As long as fighting is still taking place and the country remains occupied by a foreign power that is supporting a handful of political leaders against the rest of the population, any hopes for reconstruction and reconciliation are idle.

Instead of trying to shift the blame to the Iraqis, the U.S. government needs to provide a timetable for U.S. withdrawal and to secure long-term funding for the reconstruction that can get under way once we leave.

Reconstruction is not an impossible task. Iraq has gone through two major reconstruction campaigns during the last two decades: one after the Iraq-Iran war and the other after the 1991 Gulf War. Both times, Iraqis managed to mobilize their human resources and fix the country. They can do it again.

As tempting as it may be to try to make the Iraqis pay the massive bills the war is costing the United States, the best way to reduce the burden of the war and occupation on the U.S. economy is not to find someone else to foot the bill. It's to stop the war.

Raed Jarrar is a consultant for the American Friends Service Committee. Erik Leaver is the policy outreach director for the Foreign Policy In Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. They wrote this for Progressive Media Project,

ÖNDER LİDER ŞEHİT MUSTAFA KEMAL YAYÇILI’NIN 4. YIL DÖNÜMÜNDE SÖZLER...

(Şehit Mustafa Kemal Yaycılının 4. yıldönümü)

ÖNDER LİDER ŞEHİT MUSTAFA KEMAL YAYÇILI’NIN 4. YIL DÖNÜMÜNDE SÖZLER

SENİNLE GURUR DUYARIZ; MİLLET YOLUNDA ÇİZDİĞİN ÇİZGİLERİ DEVAM ETTİRECEĞİZ

14 Mayıs 2004 acı bir olayın ardından Türkmen mücadelemizin en önde gelen liderlerimizden birini kaybettik. O da değerli ve kıymetli kan kardeşimiz şehit Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı'dır.

Mustafa Kemal şahadet mertebesine nail olup bize veda etmeden son yolculuğuna gitti. Öyle bizi bir üzüntüye koydu ki, Türkmen davası onun ardınca ağlıya ağlıya son yolculuğuna uğurladı. Bütün milli duygulu insanlar Türkmen, Arap, Kürt ve Asurlar hepsi ağladı ve üzüldü. Bu da sadece bir gerçeği yansıtır ki; Önder Şehit Mustafa Türkmen davasının ne olduğunu iyice çevresindeki gayrı Türkmenlere de anlatmıştır. Bunu da bugünkü Irak'ımızda bu kadar yoğun sorunlar içinde az mücadeleci bir kimse yapabilecektir.

Şehit Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı mücadeleci ve azimli bir Türkmen idi. Hassas ve tehlike anlarında çok soğukkanlı birisi idi. Zor olaylar karşısında kendini hiç bozmayıp, gülümseyerek sorunları çözmeye çalışırdı. Çoğu zor anlarda siyasi görüşmelerde yerinde ve ustaca konuları yorumlayıp korku bilmeden yanıt verirdi. Karşı tarafı küçümsemeden sorunların güzel çözümü ile tartışmasını sona erdirirdi. Kendini hiç kimseden üstün bilmezdi. Her zaman da "İnsan millet yolunda hoşgörülü olmalıdır, ne kadar hizmet ederse o kadar yükselir biz hizmetle büyüğüz" söylerdi. İşte bunlar hepsi lider olan kimsenin özellikleridir. Onun ölüm haberi bütün Türkmenleri yasa boğdu. O gözümüz önünden gitti, ama gönlümüzden çıkmadı ve çıkmayacak. Vicdanımızda yaşamaktadır.

O Türkmenlerin lider sembolüdür.

KAHRAMAN MUSTAFA KEMAL YAYÇILI’NIN
GENÇ, ÖĞRENCİ VE KADINLARA HİTABI
GENÇLERE HİTEBI
Değerli kardeşlerim, Geleceğin liderleri,
Sizlere heyecanla sesleniyorum. Çünkü buna inanıyorum, bir gün gelir sizler bizim yaptığımızın daha iyisini yapacaksınız. Sizler hürriyet meşalesini taşıyan, özgürlük çağrısına fedakarlıkla koşan nesil olacaksınız. Bizler davayı bir yerlere kader yetiştirip gideceğiz. Belki şehit olarak, belki de yaşlanarak, ancak hiç korkumuz olmadan gideceğiz. Çünkü arkamızdan hayırlı ve cesaretli bir nesil gelecek, davayı büyük bir güçle sürdürecekler. Ancak büyüklerinizi ve fikirlerini unutmayın, zira biz, bizden büyüklerin fikir, öneri ve talimatlarını unutmadık ve yaşattık.

Ey gençler;
Bundan eminiz sizler Irak’ın genelinde, tüm Irak için tarih yaratacaksınız. Ben bundan eminim, sizler zor dönemlerde yetişen nesilsiniz, onun için sizlerden çok işler beklenir. Fikirleriniz ayrılsa bile hedefiniz bir olmalı. düşmanınız çok olsa bile, imanınız büyük olsun. Bıkmayın, yılmayın ve dalgalanan bayrağa sahip çıkın.
Tanrı sizleri Milletimiz için kurusun

ÖĞRENCİLERE HİTABI
Davamızın şerefli mertebesini okumakla kazanmış öğrencilerimiz, davada en büyük adımımızı uygulayan insanlar, kendi dilimizle eğitim yapmamız büyük kazançlardan biridir. Onu koruyun ve geliştirin, bunu ortaya koymak için büyük feda karlıklar verildi. Onu kayıp etmeyin ve sürdürün, bu yolda çalışın, tüm kuruluşlara bu kazancın önemini anlatın ve geliştirilmesi için çalışın. Geleceğin fikir, bilim adamları ve siyastecileri sizlerle şimdiden gurur duyuyorum, gerçekten Türkmen Milletinin başını yuksek ettiniz ve edeceksiniz. Başarılarınız bizi ve milleti sevindirir ve kıvanc yeri olur.

Başarılarınız devamlı olsun ki, ihtisas alınca bütün gayretle hizmetinizin yoluyla, milletiniz baş kaldırıp fırtınlar aşsın, okullarınızı koruyun, gerekli bıranşları alın ve hizmet gösterin, Türkmen tarihini ve coğrafiyesini bilmelisiniz kültürümüz sürdürülmelisiniz.
Gelecekte sizlere güvenimiz büyüktür. Sizler yaşlılarla, gençlerle ve diğer kisimlerle birlikte el ele kültürümüzü sahip çıkmanızdan eminiz.
Tanrı sizleri ve milletimizi kurusun.

KADINLARA HİTABI
Kardeş, anam ve mücadeleci bacılarım,
Dava sizlere çok önemli yer tanımış, onu değerlendirip, görev ve yetkilerinizi kullanarak, Irak genelindeki kadınların haklarını ve özellikle Türkmen Kadınlarının haklarını koruyup ve uluslararası mahfillerde tanıtması için büyük caba sizlerden beklemekteyiz. Kadınlar arasındaki fikir alışveriş, dostluk, birlik beraberlik ve yardımlaşma duygusunu geliştirin, davayı bilin ve öğretin, okuyun, anlayın ve yaşayın bütün bu prensipleri hayata geçirin.
Milletimize faydası olan fikir ve önerilerinizi kendi yayınlarınız yoluyla ortaya atın ve onları koruyun.

Artı hizmet grupları oluşturarak, dava dışında kalan bacılarımıza yardım ve hizmet olaştırmaya çalışın. Sizleri ilgilendiren mevzuları çizip ve dünyaya tanıtmalısınız.
Sizler dava için, adam ve lider yetiştireceksiniz. Davayı millete en iyi anlatan sizlersiniz, sağlıklı nesil yetiştirmek en büyük görev sizlere düşmektedir.
Tanrı sizleri ve milletimizi kurusun.

ŞEHİT LİDERE KARŞI ŞUURLARIMIZ
Ne kadar çoktur Türk Dünyamızın milliyetçi adamları, hepsi de birbirinden cesur. Ama doğru düşünceli, düz sözlü, güzel fikirli ve yapıcı görüşlü siyasetçilerimizin arasında Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı bir başkaydır. Onun öz yeri ve öz adı vardı. Siyaset dünyasına ilk adım attığı günden beri kendine çok yakın bir dost bulmuştu, o da milli mücadeleydi. Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı tekçe Kerkük Şehrinin mi? Hayır böyle dersek onun yaptığı bütün çalışmaları sınırlaştırmış oluruz. Çünkü Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı’nın derdi tekçe Kerkük Şehri değildi. Onun derdi bütün Irak’ta ve yurt dışında olan Irak Türkleridir. Hele siyasi dünyasına ilk admılarını attığı günden beri ta kara gün olan 14 mayıs tarihinde son nefesini verirken, damarlarından akan asil Türk kanının son damlasına kadar çok sevdiği milletine karşı ne şahsi duygularına kapıldı ne de kendi menfaatleri için çalıştı. Çünkü o sadece ve sadece bir Türkmenoğlu gibi halkının derdini kendi derdi bilirdi. O hak yolunda suzmaz oldu bir taraftan gurbet sıkıntıları bir yandan da vatan hasreti onun şah damarındaki kana karıştı.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı Türkmen soylu bir aile evladıydı, Türkmen soylu bir aile babasıydı, Türk ruhlu bir millet önderiydi ve Türkmen topraklı bir vatan lideriydi. Onun Bütün derdi, bütün özlemi, bütün hasreti ve bütün çalışmaları Müslüman Türkmen’in tekrar ayağa kalkıp dünya çapında kendi sözüne, kendi diline ve kendi meşru haklarına sahip olmasıydı.
Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı’nın sözleri okadar etkiliydi ki, dinleyicileri ayağa kaldırıyordu. O bir önder ve lider gibi genç, ihtiyar, kadın, erkek ve her kes onun peşinden koşardı. İnsanlara gördüğü yalnışları bildirmek için sözüyle, fikriyle, görüşüyle ve çalışmalarıyla bilgi veren değerli bir millet insanıydı.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı bir siyasetçi, bir eğitimci ve bir öğreticidir. Hep Milletinin menfaati doğrultusunda yürürdü. Bir an bile ne yorulmayı ne de bu yoldan çekilmeyi düşünürdü. Üstelik millete her seslenişinde ve gençlere her konuştuğunda vatan sevgisi çağrısını seslendirirdi. Çünkü “vatan insanın gayretidir. Toprak ise; onun secde gahıdır” derdi. Birini değil ancak ikisini bir arada tutup, ikisine bütün haliyle muhafaza etmemiz gerekiyor. Çünkü bu bizim birinci ve en önemli görevimizdir söylerdi.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı bir barış sever önderiydi, bir vatan sever lideriydi ve bir millet sever insanıydı. O her zaman öz sözünü millete, milletin sözünü kendi sözüne çattırmayı başarmıştır. O her zaman yüreğinin duygusunu milletin duygusuna kattı ve milletin derdini kendi derdi bildi. Artık o bizim gurur duyduğumuz ölmeyen liderimizdir.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı’dan duyduğum son sözler ise gençler sesinizi milletin sesiyle, Türkmen’in sesiyle ve Kerkük Şehri’nin sesiyle çattırın derdi. Bu topraklar ve bu taşlar bizimdir ve bizden başkasına yar olmasın derdi. Çünkü bu topraklarda atalarımız, liderlerimiz, şehitlerimiz ve suçsuz günahsız öldürülen değerli insanlarımız yatıyor derdi, şimdiyse kendisi yatıyor, evet Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı da kendisi bu kanlı topraklarda yatıyor, bizler bu toprakları nasıl terk ederiz. bulunan altın taşlarına nasıl sahip çıkmayız. Önder şehidimiz gibi kendimizi de bu topraklar için feda ederiz. Bunu her kes bilmelidir ki; dünya ne kadar değişirse değişsin, ama Kerkük’ün öz aslı Türkmen’dir hiçte değişmeyecektir. İşte Kerkük Türktür bitmiştir. Bunu da bu topraklarda yatan şehitlerimiz tasdik etmiştir.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı sen buraları bırakıp gittin, hem de ardından vatan acısı çeken ve toprak hasreti çeken bir millet bıraktın. Şimdiyse bütün Irak Türkmenlerin yaşlısı, genci, çocuğu, kadını, erkeği yani bütün Türkmen milleti senin yokluğunun hasretini çekmeye zorlaşıyor. Özellikle de Kerkük Şehri’nin ne toprağı ne de taşı, senin yokluğunun hasretine dayanamıyor. Türkmen Diyarı olan Kerkük Şehri’nin göz bebeği olan Gürgürbaba ateşinin düşmanların yüreğini yaktığı kadar, senin de gitmen bizi öyle yaktı.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı sen kendin tek başına bütün bu milletin hasretini nasıl çekiyordun. Bir taraftan vatan hasreti, bir taraftan toprak aşkı, bir taraftan millet sevgisi ve bir taraftan da Kerkük Şehri hasretine nasıl dayanıyordun.
Ama bil ki; bütün Türkmen Milleti kararını verdi. Artık senin bize bıraktığın mücadele yolunu izleyerek ve millete teslim ettiğin milli bayrağı taşıyarak, bir el olup hep beraber ‘‘Ya Kerkük Şehri ya ölüm, başka yolu yok artık’’ diyerek sesini yükseltmeye başladı.

Kahraman Mustafa Kemal Yayçılı şimdi bizi duyduğunu biliyoruz çünkü şehitler ölmez, sen bizimle toprak hasreti, millet hasreti, ana baba hasreti, kardeş bacı hasreti ve milli mücadele hasretini yaşadın ve içine gömdüğünü biliyoruz.

Bizi öyle bırakıp uzaklara hem de çok uzaklara gittin, ama biz seni hiç ve hiç unutmayacağız. Çünkü sen bizim unutulmayan liderimizsiniz.

IRAK MİLLİ TÜRKMEN PARTİSİ
ENFORMASYON BÜROSU

Strings of Sadness - by Layla Anwar

Painting : Iraqi Artist QUTAIBA SHEIKH NOURI


Strings of Sadness
by Layla Anwar, Uncensored Arabwomanblues

May 11, 2008

Someone sent me a piece from a song by Marcel Khalifeh. He asked me to translate it for him. He also said he suffered a bad psychotic episode some months ago, and he wondered how the Iraqis must feel like in their heads...I translated the piece for him.

The song is called "ya oud" - o'luth"

ya oud, the night's companion.

you weep on velvet and you hurt,

you travel to the farthest distances of the world and return,

you write and erase borders, ya oud...

tell me about your evenings in your marble castles

tell me of the fountains and the clinking of glasses,

tell me of the hips that sway and the silk that flies...

you wander not sleeping,and your voice is like rain...

and you voice drips of sweetness ya oud"

I love the Oud, for many reasons.

One is that the Oud-Luth, was introduced to the West via Al-Andalus from Mosul, around the 11th Century by an Iraqi called Zeryab.

From the Oud, other string instruments were later developed.

The Oud was later taken on by the Troubadours in the Middle Ages and became a symbol for Love ballads.

And today you have the luth, the guitar-son of the luth, the violin and the cello who has its origins in the Rababa - another musical instrument from the desert.

And today you have music. Music to your ears...It was an Iraqi who first gave it to you. He was the first one to move you and an Iraqi will be the last one to move you as well.

Hence the Oud has a strong symbolic meaning for me. It touches me beyond anything you can imagine...

I will therefore share with you, the Joubran Trio from Ramallah, the West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

I discovered them about a year ago, when I was browsing CD's. And I secretly kept this discovery to myself, selfishly so.

But today, I will reveal it to you.

I will reveal it to you for many reasons.

For the past two days, Gaza has been without electricity, fuel or bread.

Palestinian infants have already died in the only Pediatric hospital in Gaza. Infants relying on machines to breathe...to live.

Today across the Rafah border, a little Palestinian girl, not more than 6 years old, was waiting to receive treatment in an Egyptian hospital, for kidney dialysis.

She spoke on TV. She looked 60 years old. Her eyes were puffed and she had huge brown bags underneath her lovely eyes. She explained to the spectator which is you, that she's been without dialysis for over 3 days, due to the embargo imposed on Gaza by the criminal called Israel. She said, it was important for any patient to have treatment otherwise he/she would die. She is only 6.

Another woman had a retina detached, and she was hoping to get some treatment as she was going blind...A third had severe burns and wounds from Israeli jet explosives...

And so it went...

This reminded me of the sanction years, this reminded me of today's Iraq.

This reminded me of the half a million Iraqi babies in mass graves from 13 years of sanctions. A huge cemetery...little white tombs placed next to one another, thousands of them...and the Silence whistled...

the Silence whistled among the trees and the tombs...

It even composed a song,

It also played the oud,

singing ya Oud, ya Oud,

you weep on sand

you weep on walls

your tears water the earth

like the dusk's dew

droplets...

and there grows

a thousand flowers,

a million flowers

from your tears

ya Oud...

If half a million Iraqi babies did not move you then, a million Iraqis do not move you today, Gaza does not move now, will Zeryab and his oud move you ?

I doubt it.

P.S: For those who were moved by the Joubran Trio from Ramallah-Occupied Palestine, you can check more of their oud pieces here , here and here.

And do thank Zeryab from Mosul - Occupied Iraq.

Link to Layla Anwar's blog:

uncensoredarabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2008/05/strings-of-sadness.html

GENEALOGY - DYNASTIES OGHUZ TURKS

Please click on the link below :
http://www.yerleske-campus.info/diversa/genealogie%20oghouzetplusc.html

A Surge in Iraqi Detainees

May 10 / 11, 2008
51,000 and Counting
A Surge in Iraqi Detainees
By CIARA GILMARTIN

Amid all the talk about the U.S. military "surge" in Iraq, little has been said about the accompanying "surge" of Iraqi prisoners, whose numbers rose to nearly 51,000 at the end of 2007. Four years after the Abu Ghraib scandal, occupation forces are holding far more Iraqis than ever before and thousands more languish in horrendous Iraqi-run prisons.

The Detention Camps
Detainees are held by the U.S. command in two main locations -- Camp Bucca, a 100-acre prison camp and Camp Cropper, inside a massive U.S. base near the Baghdad airport. The number of Iraqis held in these facilities has steadily risen since the early days of the occupation. In 2007, the inmate count rose 70% -- from 14,500 to 24,700.

Camp Bucca, with about 20,000 inmates, is perhaps the world's largest extrajudicial internment camp. The facility is organized into "compounds" of 800 detainees each, surrounded by fences and watch towers. Most detainees live in large communal tents, subject to collapse in the area's frequent sandstorms. Water has at times been in short supply, while temperatures in the desert conditions can be scorching hot in the day and bone-chilling at night.

In October 2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract to expand Camp Bucca's capacity from 20,000 to 30,000. While easing notorious crowding, the contract suggests Washington is preparing for even more detentions in the future.

Camp Cropper consists of more traditional cellblock buildings. Among its roughly 4,000 inmates are hundreds of juveniles. Cropper is a site of ongoing interrogation and it holds many long-term detainees who complain that they never see the light of day. Though recently expanded, the facility suffers from overcrowding, poor medical attention and miserable conditions.
Indefinite Detention

U.S. forces are holding nearly all of these persons indefinitely, without an arrest warrant, without charge, and with no opportunity for those held to defend themselves in a trial. While the United States has put in place a formal review procedure that supposedly evaluates all detainees for release on a regular basis, detainees cannot attend these reviews, cannot confront evidence against them, and cannot be represented properly by an attorney. Families are only irregularly notified of the detentions, and visits are rarely possible.

These conditions are in direct violation of international human rights law, though Washington claims that such legal constraints do not apply, because the United States considers its forces to be engaged in an "international armed conflict." The human rights community, however, firmly disagrees arguing that the conflict is not international in the traditional legal sense. Furthermore, international human rights law applies at all times, in war as well as in peace

The detention facilities are closed to human rights monitors like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, or the International Federation of Human Rights. Even the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, mandated by the Security Council to provide human rights reporting, is denied access by the U.S. command. Lack of such monitors greatly increases the likelihood that detainees will suffer from abuse and bad conditions, as human rights organizations have often pointed out.

Prisoners at Bucca have rioted to protest maltreatment, poor conditions and religious insults by guards. Most troubling, the military regularly confirms deaths of detainees in the facility, suggesting that excessive force is commonly used.

Iraqi Government Prisons
In addition to the U.S. detainees, the Government of Iraq is holding over 26,000 prisoners. Some of those held in Iraqi facilities have been convicted of crimes, but many others are being held in unlimited detention without charge. Some have even been tried in court and, even having been found innocent, continue to be held indefinitely. Many prisoners have been convicted in trials that do not measure up to minimal standards of legality. As the UN concludes in a recent report, "substantial improvement is required to prevent gross miscarriage of justice."

Recent UN reports have also said that the facilities are "severely overcrowded" and that they have "dire sanitation and hygiene conditions." Further, there were said to be "continuing reports of widespread and routine torture and ill-treatment of detainees." Several women inmates, interviewed by UN researchers, reported being raped and sexually abused while held in police custody. The U.S. command, with its enormous influence over the Iraqi detention system, has a large responsibility for these conditions.

Time to Speak Out

On February 13, 2008 the Iraqi Parliament passed an Amnesty Law that could apply to many thousands of detainees. The U.S. command has also recently announced a program of detainee releases. But despite this public relations offense, detainee numbers have declined only slightly since a peak in November 2007. Given the history of previous announcements of detainee releases, little change is anticipated.

It is time for the public in the United States and around the world to face the sordid reality of post-surge Iraq and do something about it -- beginning with the release of all those illegally held in U.S. and Iraqi prisons. Detention facilities should be opened to national and international observers. Clear accountability must be established for U.S. officers and contractors in charge of the prisons. The whole abusive system must be thoroughly overhauled or closed down.

U.S. military and civilian leaders are not the only ones complicit in the abuse and lack of due process of Iraqi detainees. All who stay silent in the face of the Iraq gulag allow it to continue.

Ciara Gilmartin is the Security Council Program Coordinator at the Global Policy Forum in New York and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.

http://www.counterpunch.org/gilmartin05102008.html

FIVE MILLION ORPHANS IN IRAQ - CINQ MILLIONS D'ORPHELINS EN IRAK

REAL NEWS VIDEO : Five million orphans in Iraq

pour voir la vidéo cliquer sur le lien ci-dessous:

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1478&thisview=item&renewx=2008-05-10+11%3A56%3A36#


Alive in Baghdad: Most orphanages a disgrace, this is a story of one that works
Saturday May 10th, 2008

We show this segment courtesy of www.aliveinbaghdad.org. Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq.

The number of Iraqi orphans increased in the last few years due to the war. According to official Iraqi government statistics released in December 2007, the number of Iraqi orphans had reached at least five million over the last three years. Many due to the Sunni-Shia conflict. There are several social organizations caring for a small number of these Iraqi orphans, such as Child Aid International.

There are approximately 26 orphanages that Alive in Baghdad has been able to locate around Iraq. Eight orphanages are in Baghdad and another 18 are distributed all over Iraq and generally they accept kids between the age of 6 and 18 years old.

One of the biggest scandals that happened in the history of the Iraq conflict is the one that happened in Al-Hanan orphanage. There were many pictures distributed online and by television of Iraqi orphans lying on the floor naked, with no food for weeks, sick and nearly dying. After this the Iraqi government began to show more attention for the orphans, there were many stories being reported regarding Al-Hanan Orphanage, like sexual abuses and bad treatment of the kids living there.

Al-A’ssal House is one of the rare orphanages that still take care of the young children who have a dead father or who are orphans due to losing both parents. The house has a special method and it’s opposed to the toy guns due to Iraq’s situation and the reason behind it, which is the constant conflict that Iraq is undergoing.

Another organization was also created by this house, and it’s called the Sazan organization. This organization is taking in orphans for free, with no payment at all. Also this house employs Iraq widows in order to help the Iraqi women support themselves during the war. Despite all their hard work, this orphanage has not yet received any funding from the Iraqi government or sponsorship by a bigger humanitarian aid organization while other orphanages such as Al-Hanan orphanage received funds from the Iraqi government without oversight.

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1478&thisview=item&renewx=2008-05-10+11%3A56%3A36#

Shoot, Kill, Lie, Repeat: America's New Moral Universe

Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque

May 9, 2008

Tell me that this doesn't sound like something out of a history of Nazi tactics in World War II:

The rules [of engagement]t explicitly allowed the killing of unarmed Iraqis under certain circumstances...Specifically, the snipers were allowed to shoot unarmed people running away from explosions or firefights....

Of course, it's not unusual for innocent people to run from explosions.Didier, who has since been promoted to captain, said that "if that individual makes contact with you and then breaks contact of their own accord and disarms themselves while they are breaking contact, they are still an engageable target because they are not wounded, nor did they surrender." He explained, "They are only breaking contact so that they can engage coalition forces at a later time." In court, Sgt. Anthony Murphy, one of the snipers who was responsible for a questionable kill, testified that he interpreted this order about breaking contact so they can engage at a later time as: "Engage fleeing local nationals without weapons."


In other words, if an innocent, unarmed Iraqi runs away to seek safety from a suicide bombing, a missile attack or a gunfight -- which any human being would instinctively do -- then he is fair game to be killed by an American sniper.

The excerpt above comes from a story in Salon.com, "Killing by the Numbers," about an "elite" U.S. sniper squad that murdered a captured, unarmed civilian in cold blood. A more detailed excerpt follows below, but I'd like to deal briefly with one ancillary aspect first.

The story expands to talk more generally about the sniper program in Iraq, and is careful -- overly careful -- to emphasize that the snipers responsible for so many "questionable kills" are operating in very stressful conditions: sleep-deprived, sweltering in deadly heat, surrounded by potential "hostiles," at constant risk of attack. All true, of course, but it prompts this simple question: What the hell are they doing there in the first place? Why are they squatting and sweltering in "hides" in a foreign land, looking to kill people who never attacked the United States?

Yes, it is entirely understandable that a soldier subjected to nerve-wracking, physically tormenting conditions might fail to act with reason, patience, judgment and prudence. But is this supposed to be some kind of excuse for crimes committed within the context of a larger crime: a war of aggression, the military invasion and occupation of a foreign country without any provocation?

Surely many of the Nazi atrocities were committed by men under unbearable mental and physical strain as well. So what? Were they absolved of their crimes? And more importantly -- were their leaders absolved for instigating the larger crime that engendered these atrocities?

For as the story also shows, the "questionable kills" by American snipers derive largely from the murderous "rules of engagement" they are given by their superiors -- and by the anxiety of their officers to produce big "kill numbers" to appease the bloodlust -- and PR needs -- of the thugs in the White House and their "counterinsurgency genius," David Petraeus.

But let's return to the story of how a sniper squad murdered Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, an Iraqi vegetable farmer, almost one year ago, after he stumbled upon their "hide" on the banks of the Euphrates.
From Salon.com:

Sandoval, who had been woken by the sound of the Iraqi's approach, motioned toward Vela's gun. Taking the signal, Vela pointed the 9 mm pistol at the farmer's face.
Sandoval woke up Redfern. Redfern and Vela waved the Iraqi into the hide, forced him down on his stomach and put the corner of the plastic poncho over his head. Vela stood over the man with the pistol, while Redfern ran his hands over Khudair's shoulders, arms, sides, back and chest in a cursory search. No weapons.

Vela woke Hensley and told him an unarmed Iraqi was in the hide. Hensley stood up, walked over to the Iraqi -- and from a standing position dropped a knee into his back with the full force of his body.

Khudair threw his head back, gasping for wind. "Staff Sgt. Hensley grabbed him by the mouth," Vela testified, "and told him to shut up or he was going to kill him."Hensley wrapped parachute cord around the Iraqi's hands and Redfern dragged him deeper into the snipers' hide.... Vela said Hensley sat down on the berm for a moment. He then got up and radioed their superior officer, Didier. Hensley reported that he had spotted an Iraqi nearby armed with an AK-47. But Vela couldn't see anyone who matched that description. Vela alerted Hand, who was fading in and out of sleep on a nearby berm, that Hensley "might have seen something." Then Hensley ordered Vela to retrieve his pistol from Sandoval in the pump house....Sandoval peered around the pump house wall to look into the hide.
Khudair was still there. Vela was sitting on his rear, with one leg cocked up and an elbow resting on his knee, holding the pistol in one hand.

Inside the hide, Hensley radioed Didier a second time, saying an insurgent was moving closer to their position. Hensley asked permission to do a "close kill" to avoid being compromised.Vela then looked around, but still didn't see any armed insurgent. "I was just really confused about what he was saying," Vela testified.

Hensley untied the Iraqi. "I thought we were going to let him go," Vela told the Army court."Are you ready?" Hensley allegedly asked Vela.

Hensley stepped aside. "Shoot," he said.

Vela claimed during testimony that he doesn't remember pulling the trigger. "It took me a second to realize that the shot had come from the pistol and it was in my hand."Hensley radioed to Didier that the snipers had killed an insurgent. Meanwhile, the Iraqi's body convulsed.

Hensley "kind of laughed" at the spectacle, according to Vela. Hensley then "[punched] the guy in the throat, and said, 'Shoot him again,' which I did."Vela testified that after he shot the man for the second time, Hensley pulled an AK-47 out of his rucksack and placed it on the body.

The snipers then agreed on a story about the shooting consistent with Hensley's radio calls...Sandoval was charged with murder for the deaths on April 27 and May 11, but convicted only of planting command wire in connection with the April 27 killing. He served about a month and a half in prison.

The Army charged Hensley with three murders for the shootings of April 14, April 27 and May 11. He was convicted of planting a weapon, for placing the AK-47 next to Khudair, and insubordination. He was sentenced to time served and busted down to sergeant.

On February 10, 2008, however, Vela was sentenced to 10 years in a military prison for the murder of Khudair.

It goes without saying that the officers who put these men in this situation -- not to mention the civilian "leaders" in Washington who instigated the mass murder in Iraq -- suffered not the slightest adverse consequence of this crime, for which they bear the primary responsibility.However, it is unlikely that the scapegoat -- and murderer -- Vela will ever serve his whole term for his part in the crime.

The case of a Marine squad who kidnapped and murdered an Iraqi man in Hamdania is instructive on this point, as AP reported this week:

A Marine from Camp Pendleton who was sentenced to 15 years in the brig for killing an Iraqi civilian had his term reduced by four years, the man's attorney said Wednesday.

Rich Brannon, the civilian lawyer for Lawrence G. Hutchins III, said the reduction came after he appealed for clemency to Lt. Gen. Samuel T. Helland, Hutchins' commanding general. "I was pleased to see a reduction, but I would like to see more," Brannon told The Associated Press in a phone call from North Carolina.Hutchins, of Plymouth, Mass., was the leader of an eight-man squad accused of kidnapping Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home in April 2006, then marching him to a ditch and shooting him to death.
The killing took place in Hamdania, a small village in Al Anbar province.

Hutchins was sentenced Aug. 3 after being convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement and larceny. He had been charged with premeditated murder, but premeditation was removed from the verdict, meaning Hutchins no longer faced a mandatory life sentence.

All eight squad members — seven Marines and one Navy corpsmen — were initially charged with murder and kidnapping, but four lower-ranking Marines and the sailor cut deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony and received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison.

Other Marines were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges and freed after their courts-martial.

When even the scapegoats escape justice, what possible hope can there be that the perpetrators and abettors of the Nazi-like war crime in Iraq will ever pay the price -- or even suffer the slightest trouble -- for their monstrous outrage?

Link: www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1506/135/

"What the government is doing is a crime against the people"

Sadr aide lashes out at Iraq's senior Shiite cleric

BAGHDAD (AFP) — An aide to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr lashed out on Friday at Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for keeping silent over clashes that have killed hundreds in Baghdad.

"We are surprised by the silence in Najaf where the highest Shiite religious authority is based," Sheikh Sattar Battat said, referring to Sistani.

"For 50 days Sadr City is being bombed ... Children, women and old people are being killed by all kinds of US weapons, and Najaf remains silent," he told the faithful at the weekly Friday prayers in Sadr City, Sadr's stronghold.

Battat said the Sadr movement has not seen any "reaction or fatwa (religious decree) from Najaf" criticising the government assault on Shiite fighters in Sadr City.

"For us this means that Najaf accepts the massacre in Sadr City," a sprawling slum district that has been the site of fierce clashes between US forces and Sadr's Mahdi Army militia since late March.

The clashes broke out after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shiite militiamen on March 25 in the southern city of Basra.

Sadr's Mahdi Army militia offered stiff resistance. The clashes then spread to other areas, particularly to Sadr City, where hundreds have been killed.

Shiite clerics, including Sistani, have remained silent despite the high casualties, suggesting that they were backing the government's crackdown on the militants.

On Friday, Sheikh Battat also launched a fresh tirade against Maliki, who he said was "murdering people with the help of a foreign state."

"What the government is doing is a crime against the people."