Al-Mutlaq has accused al-Maliki of being a pawn in the hands of neighbouring Iran [AFP]
An Iraqi parliamentary committee has reportedly prevented a prominent Sunni Muslim politician from running in elections due to his alleged connections with the deposed government of Saddam Hussein.
Ali Faysal Allami, the executive director of the Accountability and Justice Committee, has been quoted in the Iraqi media as saying that his panel disqualified on Thursday Salah al-Mutlaq's party from running in the March 7 vote because he had allegedly promoted Saddam's Baath Party.
The Baath party is banned in Iraq. But speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, al-Mutlaq said there was no basis for this decision and that the reasons for it had not been communicated to him.
"How am I connected to the Baath party? Ali Faysal should be the one to be banned ... he was an officer in Saddam's army. I was not", he said.
"What kind of democracy is it that a political party can be removed from election lists just by throwing the name 'Baathist' at it without any evidence?".
Decision appeal The committee, formerly referred to as the De-Baathification Committee, is responsible for vetting parliamentary candidates for the forthcoming election for ties to the former regime. It was not immediately clear whether al-Mutlaq would be able to take part in the election since he does have the right to appeal the decision, though he told Al Jazeera he will take the issue to the United Nations.
Al-Mutlaq is one of the country's most popular Sunni politicians who fared well during the provincial elections a year ago.
He has repeatedly attacked Nuri al-Maliki's government, saying that they have targeted his party and followers in an attempt to keep the group from doing well during the vote. Al-Mutlaq, who is from the predominantly Sunni city of Falluja in Iraq's Anbar province, has also accused the al-Maliki of being a pawn of neighbouring Iran.
This year many Sunni Muslim political parties are expected to take part in the vote. But if al-Mutlaq is barred from the vote, it could lead to widespread Sunni unrest and disillusionment with the political process. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Cancer – The Deadly Legacy of the Invasion of Iraq
by Jalal Ghazi
January 7, 2010
Forget about oil, occupation, terrorism or even Al Qaeda. The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer. Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.
Here are a few examples. In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004, as many as 25% of new- born infants have serious abnormalities, including congenital anomalies, brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord.The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009 according to Al Jazeera English.
In Basra there were 1885 diagnosed cases of cancer in 2005. According to Dr. Jawad al Ali, director of the Oncology Center, the number increased to 2,302 in 2006 and 3,071 in 2007. Dr. Ali told Al Jazeera English that about 1,250-1,500 patients visit the Oncology Center every month now.Not everyone is ready to draw a direct correlation between allied bombing of these areas and tumors, and the Pentagon has been skeptical of any attempts to link the two.
But Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in U.S. and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not unconnected. Dr Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects.
He told Al Jazeera English, "Children with congenital anomalies are subjected to karyotyping and chromosomal studies with complete genetic back-grounding and clinical assessment. Family and obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies have produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous consequences."
Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003invasion.
Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq" told Al Jazeera English that the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and 2008-2009.There are also similar patterns of birth defects among Iraqi and Afghan infants who were also born in areas that were subjected to depleted uranium bombardment.
Dr. Daud Miraki, director of the Afghan Depleted Uranium and Recovery Fund, told Al Jazeera English he found evidence of the effect of depleted uranium in infants in eastern and south- eastern Afghanistan. "Many children are born with no eyes, no limbs, or tumors protruding from their mouths and eyes," said Dr. Miraki.It’s not just Iraqis and Afghans. Babies born to American soldiers deployed in Iraq during the 1991 war are also showing similar defects.
In 2000, Iraqi biologist Huda saleh Mahadi pointed out that the hands of deformed American infants were directly linked to their shoulders, a deformity seen in Iraqi infants. Many US soldiers are now referring to Gulf War Syndrome #2 and alleging they have developed cancer because of exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.
But soldiers can end their exposure to depleted uranium when their service in Iraq ends. Iraqi civilians have nowhere else to go. The water, soil and air in large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years.
Dr. Doug Rokke, former director of the U.S. Army’s Depleted Uranium Project during the first Gulf War, was in charge of a project of decontaminating American tanks. He told Al Jazeera English that "it took the U.S. Department of Defense in a multi-million dollar facility with trained physicists and engineers, three years to decontaminate the 24 tanks that I sent back to the U.S." And he added, "What can the average Iraqi do with thousands and thousands of trash and destroyed vehicles spread across the desert and other areas?"
According to Al Jazeera, the Pentagon used more than 300 tons of depleted uranium in 1991. In 2003, the United States used more than 1,000 tons.
Thousands of angry protesters in Turkey have staged a demonstration in the city of Istanbul to condemn the Egyptian police crackdown on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.
At least 55 people were injured in clashes that broke out between riot police and Viva Palestina activists at the Egyptian port of El-Arish on Tuesday, after Egypt said it would not allow 59 trucks for the relief convoy to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Following the incident, Turkish protesters poured into streets and assembled in front of the Egyptian consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday.
They carried flags of Palestine and chanted slogans in condemnation of Cairo’s use of force against the human rights activists and Israel’s ongoing siege of the Palestinian coastal enclave. Led by British politician George Galloway, Viva Palestina has over 200 vehicles laden with basic food items and medical supplies, and is set to break Israel’s months-long closure of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, Cairo had said it would only permit 157 members of the convoy to drive to Gaza, but later agreed to allow the group’s 400 volunteers to enter the impoverished Palestinian territory. The Egyptian government’s denial of entry for Viva Palestina trucks came despite talks in which a delegation of Turkish lawmakers sought to convince Cairo officials to open its border to Gaza for the aid convoy.
Iraqi doctors believe depleted uranium from US military equipment used in the 2003 invasion is spreading cancer through the population.They are recording a shocking rise in the number of cancer victims south of Baghdad, they claim. Outraged, they have demanded an investigation be held into the matter.
Cancer rates in the province of Babil have risen almost tenfold in just three years.In 2004, 500 cases of cancer were diagnosed there. That figure rose to almost 1,000 two years later. By 2008, the number of cases had increased sevenfold to 7,000.
Many Iraqi doctors say radiation has caused this alarming increase in cancer rates and birth defects among Iraqi children.
Over 300 sites across Iraq are said to be contaminated by depleted uranium.
Inside Iraq is joined by Jawad Al-Ali, a consultant oncologist, and Christopher Busby, a radiation expert.
9:14am UK, Wednesday January 06, 2010 Graham Fitzgerald, Sky News Online
MP George Galloway has been involved in scuffles with Egyptian police as he led a relief convoy trying to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
British members of the convoy were among dozens of people injured during the clashes, one of the activists said.
Around 520 people were travelling with 150 trucks full of supplies when clashes broke out at the port city of El Arish, near Gaza.
One of the members, Alexandra Lort-Phillips, 37, who works for Enfield Youth Offending Service in north London, said: "I have 42 people in my team. "Out of those three Britons have been injured. There are head injuries, cuts. "We started getting pelted with stones by people in plain clothes, then the police started moving in, using tear gas and batons. People were quite severely beaten."
Ms Lort-Phillips said seven or eight of the convoy members had to be treated in hospital. She blamed "heavy-handed" policing for their injuries.
Mr Galloway during anti-war protest Protests reportedly began when Egyptian authorities at El Arish ordered some lorries to use an Israeli-controlled checkpoint. The activists would prefer the goods to be transported via Egypt's Rafah crossing. Mr Galloway, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said Israel was likely to prevent convoy lorries entering Gaza.
He told Sky News: "It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza."
Earlier this week convoy members staged noisy protests after Egyptian officialstook away their passports and delayed handing them back.
5 January 2010 #10 VIVA PALESTINA UPDATE, LAST ONE I HOPE Many thanks to “D from Turkey” who gave us these links to videos of the pre-meditated attack tonight shown on Turkish television. The first link is a longer version, the second is a shorter version. Both are in Turkish, but no words are needed to see what happened, this is a disgrace! Long version
We spent almost 3 hours in a blind panic unable to locate our people, only their phones were found on the ground and answered by strangers. Some people are STILL missing.
THIS is what it was like for us on this blog as it happened. God knows what tomorrow will bring after this attack. Hopefully the Egyptians have had enough fun and games and will now let them get on with their work of delivering the ambulances and aid to those who are in need of it. via Irish4Palestine: #10 VIVA PALESTINA UPDATE, LAST ONE I HOPE. *** Viva Palestina Convoy Attacked in El-Arish readingpsc January 05, 2010
Press TV, Tue 5 Jan 2010 @ 2200GMT: 4th interview with correspondent Hassan Ghani from El-Arish, Egypt where the Convoy is being attacked by the Egyptian riot police and negotiations stalled. Ghani is travelling with the Viva Palestina Convoy enroute to Gaza. Get News & Follow the convoy: http://readingpsc.org.uk/convoy
