Iraq 2004 (January to June) - news archive

"Iraq wants to claim new territory for its own, planting its flag in cyberspace. It wants to administer and control the internet domain name .iq, taking it back from a firm in Texas which currently owns it. The government has officially petitioned the US-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) for control of .iq. It took Icann several years to settle a dispute over .pm, the domain name for Pitcairn Island, with a population of 75 or so. On the other hand, it took Icann about six months to re-assign Afghanistan's domain name, .af, after the fall of the Taliban."

"Facts ignored by tonights Channel 4 News (and probably other news outlets going along with the view that full sovereignty has been transferred), in their news report tonight showing that power has not completely been transferred."

"We know torture when we see it - the problem is those meting out the violence often don't. That's the revelatory conclusion of one expert who is attempting to understand the insidious way in which torture becomes "acceptable". "

"Iraq was officially made sovereign yesterday, but how sovereign is still in dispute. Iraq will have all the formal powers of a sovereign state: the ability to appoint and dismiss ministers; to allocate budgets; to conduct negotiations with foreign countries. But it is not clear what will happen if the Americans disagree with Iraqi decisions. Even though the United States has the leverage of troops and billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts, Iraqi complaints of American interference could embarrass an administration eager to prove to the world that Iraqis are now in charge. "We're turning over sovereignty to Iraq, but we're not turning over the capacity for Iraq to govern itself," said Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "No one waking up to a sovereign Iraq on the first day will see that very much has changed." "

"The United States has formally handed over power in Iraq. We asked eight commentators for their views on the transfer and their thoughts on the future of Iraq. Professor Saad Jawad lectures in politics at Baghdad University. Amir Taheri is a writer on the Middle East and Islam and has recently returned from Iraq. Yahia Said specialises in Iraq and other nations in transition for the London School of Economics and Political Science. Jihad al-Khazen is a journalist for the Arabic Al-Hayat daily newspaper. Thomas Donnelly is a research fellow at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. Said Aburish is a former advisor to the Iraqi government and author of Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. Henner Fuertig is a German analyst of the Middle East and author of A Short History of Iraq. Ali Shukri is a former Jordanian general who advised the late King Hussein on Iraqi affairs."

"Iraqi money cannot be accounted for by occupying forces responsible for the funds, according to two new reports. Discrepancies are highlighted in the handling of $20bn (£11bn) generated from Iraq's oil and other sources since war ended last year."

"Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has said the handover has been brought forward - two days earlier than expected. The announcement came as a surprise at the start of the Nato Summit in Istanbul after Mr Zebari had been speaking with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Officials have said it might have been done in an effort to thwart guerrilla attacks. Reports from the Iraqi capital suggest sovereignty has already been handed over at a ceremony there. Was it a good idea to bring the handover forward? What difference will it make? How much real power will the interim government have? Can it bring stability to the country?"

"The US occupation authority has officially transferred power to an interim Iraqi government in a move greeted with a mixture of scepticism and hope in the still-occupied country. The ceremony was hidden away from ordinary people who hours later were still catching the news through the media and friends. "There may have been a transfer of documents but there has not been a transfer of sovereignty," said Jawdat al-Obaid, the head of the opposition umbrella group the Iraqi Democratic Congress (IDC)."

"Iyad Akmush Kanum, 23, learnt the limits of sovereignty on Monday when US prosecutors refused to uphold an Iraqi judges' order acquitting him of attempted murder of coalition troops. "Iraqis who have been detained as a security threat can still be detained until firstly the coalition leaves or secondly they are considered to be no longer a threat," said Michael Frank, deputy special prosecutor for Multinational Force-Iraq (MNFI), who oversaw the case dressed in military fatigues."

"The US has formally handed over power in Iraq, two days ahead of schedule. At a low-key ceremony in Baghdad, US administrator Paul Bremer gave legal documents to an Iraqi judge at 1026 local time (0626 GMT). The surprise move to bring forward the handover of sovereignty was first disclosed by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, speaking after talks with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at a Nato summit in Istanbul."

"Will Iraqis really be running Iraq from Wednesday of next week? Socialist Worker looks at the facts: The army / The economy / The new regime / Guess what? Locals still won't control oil / 'Liberated' give verdict"

"THE PENTAGON'S expert on running a concentration camp flew into Baghdad to give advice. "They're like dogs," counselled Major Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who recommended the torture methods he has used as overseer of the Camp X-Ray at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. "If you allow them to believe at any point that they're more than a dog, then you've lost control of them." Gen. Janis Karpinski--who oversaw military police at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison until she was replaced by Miller--recalled Miller's words for reporters in June, driving the torture scandal to new heights."

"Iran has issued an order to release eight British sailors detained on the border with Iraq, an Iranian armed forces spokesman says."

"Iran seized three British naval patrol boats with eight soldiers and 'intends' to prosecute them after they entered its territorial waters 'illegally' on Monday, according to news reports. "Iran intends to prosecute the eight British detainees on charges of illegally entering Iran's waters," al-Alam reported, citing unnamed Iranian military sources. "The British military officials were arrested after they entered 1,000 metres into Iranian waters. The British confessed that they were arrested when they were inside Iran's waters." "

"While I don’t have any definite numbers, I can assure the world that we have *at least* 20 million Iraqis, both inside and outside of Iraq, who have only a single nationality. I can even go further to assure the world that the majority of those Iraqis with a single nationality actually have lived inside of Iraq for most of their lives. However bizarre the statistics may seem, I do believe that out of those millions of Iraqis, 37 competent ones could have been found. True, they might not have CIA alliances, bank accounts in Switzerland, armed militias or multimillion dollar companies in Saudi Arabia… but many of them actually have a sense of national pride and an anxiety for their country and for the future of their children and their children’s children inside of said country."

"Iran is to prosecute eight UK sailors detained for illegally entering its territorial waters, state-run TV quotes military sources as saying. Three British naval craft and their crews were seized on Monday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway close to the Iraqi border. Al-Alam TV said the men had admitted entering Iranian territory, and were a kilometre across the marine border."

"There is a major Anglo-American naval/military mobilization at the moment. This was discussed in an earlier thread. I add here some collateral events which have emerged and invite you to make relevant postings." Related links:

Mobilization of entire US navy: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293473.html
Eight British sailors arressted in Iranian waters: http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,12440...
Pressure on Iran from International Atomic Energy Association: http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,12424...
Israeli agents infiltrating Iran: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JP...

"Former dictator Saddam Hussein will be turned over to the new Iraqi authorities. However, George W Bush refused to confirm that the US authorities would meet the 30 June handover that Iraq's government is expecting. Mr Bush declined to give a date for Saddam Hussein's transfer, insisting that appropriate security would first have to be in place. The former Iraqi dictator is expected to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Do you think Saddam Hussein should be handed back to the Iraqi authorities? Is the US right to be cautious about security measures? Send us your views."

"Thousands of ethnic Kurds are pushing into lands formerly held by Iraqi Arabs, forcing tens of thousands of them to flee to ramshackle refugee camps and transforming the demographic and political map of northern Iraq."

" President George Bush and the Prime Minister's Office yesterday defied the independent US commission on 11 September and insisted that there were links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'ida. The report by the commission on Wednesday dealt a devastating blow to the credibility to one of President Bush's reasons for going to war against Iraq by finding there was no credible evidence linking Saddam's regime to Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation."

"The Australian Government's case for war in Iraq has been "blown apart" by a report finding no link between Iraq and al-Qaeda, the Labor opposition said. A US inquiry into the September 11 attacks found "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda. Labor spokesman Kevin Rudd said the findings destroyed the government's claim that the war was part of a wider campaign against global terrorism. But the government insisted it had never linked Iraq with the US attacks. Prime Minister John Howard's decision to join the US-led war on Iraq has divided Australia. The Labor Party has repeatedly criticised the move, and earlier this month Labor leader Mark Latham reaffirmed his commitment to withdraw Australian troops if he won the general election due later this year. "

"The staff of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks sharply contradicted one of President Bush's central justifications for the Iraq war, reporting on Wednesday that there did not appear to have been a "collaborative relationship" between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. The assertion came in staff reports that offer a chilling, richly detailed chronology of the Sept. 11 plot and rewrite much of the history of the attacks."

"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, acting at the request of George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, ordered military officials in Iraq last November to hold a man suspected of being a senior Iraqi terrorist at a high-level detention center there but not list him on the prison's rolls, senior Pentagon and intelligence officials said Wednesday. This prisoner and other "ghost detainees" were hidden largely to prevent the International Committee of the Red Cross from monitoring their treatment."

"The US commander at the centre of the Iraqi prisoner scandal has blamed the abuse on the introduction of Guantanamo-style interrogation methods. Brig Gen Janis Karpinski told the BBC the high-level decision meant prisoners had to be treated like dogs. Top US commander for Iraq, Gen Ricardo Sanchez, should be asked what he knew about the abuse, she told BBC Radio 4's On The Ropes programme."

"A week or so ago I reported on the unprecedented departure of the larger part of the US surface fleet from both its east and west coast naval bases. Evidence is pointing towards Iran as the probable target of either harassment or attack by the US and UK navies."

"An independent inquiry is to be held into the plight of thousands of British troops who reportedly suffered ill health after the first Gulf War. It will be headed by retired judge Lord Lloyd of Berwick, who will question veterans, relatives and doctors. More than 5,000 British veterans have reported illnesses which they believe may have been caused by vaccines or exposure to chemicals."

"The United States launched many more failed airstrikes on a far broader array of senior Iraqi leaders during the early days of the war last year than has previously been acknowledged, and some caused significant civilian casualties, according to senior military and intelligence officials. Only a few of the 50 airstrikes have been described in public. All were unsuccessful, and many, including the two well-known raids on Saddam Hussein and his sons, appear to have been undercut by poor intelligence, current and former government officials said. In an e-mail message, Mr. Garlasco described the campaign to attack high-value targets as "abject failure," saying, "We failed to kill the H.V.T.'s and instead killed civilians and engendered hatred and discontent in some of the population." "

"Not just in Iraq but around the world, the hallmark of Reagan's presidency was anti-communist cynicism, masked by phoney rhetoric about freedom. In his first press conference as president he used quasi-biblical language to claim that Soviet leaders "reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat". It was one of the most extraordinary cases of the pot calling the kettle black. What could Saddam, let alone other Iraqis, have thought when it became known two years after Rumsfeld's first visit to Baghdad that Washington had secretly sold arms to the mullahs Iraq was fighting. Who had been lying and cheating?"

"US military dog handlers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison say they were ordered to use their animals to intimidate detainees, according to media reports. The handlers also said the jail's top military intelligence officer had approved the tactic, the paper reports. They made the allegation in statements provided to military investigators, the Washington Post newspaper says.."
Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A557...

Kamil Al-Mahdi assesses the challenges facing Iraq's new interim government. The writer is an Iraqi professor of political economy at Exeter University in the United Kingdom. "Chalabi represented the Afghan model of a loose central administration and regional warlords with unencumbered commercial and financial interests masquerading as a liberal democracy. It represents an extremist Zionist dream and its reversal can only be welcome. The new government of Iyad Allawi presages a shift, however, towards attempting to recreate the prevalent Arab model of a centralised repressive government that is subservient to the United States and that is preoccupied with security."

"The UN Security Council has approved a revised US-UK resolution for the future of Iraq. The document intends to outline out the relationship between Iraq's government and foreign forces. It also states that the US-led coalition will consult Iraqi leaders over major military actions. France and Germany agreed to back amended coalition plans for the country while Russia and China broadly welcomed them. Will the UN resolution make a difference? What impact will it have on the handover plan? Tell us what you think."

"Abu Ghraib interrogator Joe Ryan took down his online diary when the torture scandal broke. The April 11-26 entries were quickly found in the Google cache and have been floating around the web for the last few weeks. And now... I've just found the March 21-April 02 entries in the Alexa cache! Yippee! Please download and save the cached page so there are lots of independently verified copies out there." Original was at http://www.am1500.com:80/personalities/joeryan.htm and cached copy is at http://vista.alexa.com/cgi-bin/docache?CID=DW_craw...

"Iraq says it has reached an agreement with Syria to seal their porous 370 mile desert border, which has been used by foreign insurgents to infiltrate the country. Earlier this year, The United States imposed sanctions against Syria, accusing Damascus of not doing enough to stop the movement of militants from its territory into Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has approved security laws which will allow him to set curfews, impose limited martial law, send security forces on searches and freeze suspects' assets and monitor their communications. The laws are the first major step by Allawi's government to make good on its promise to end an insurgency that has killed hundreds of Iraqis in the past 15 months. Are the emergency laws a necessary step for the nascent Iraqi democracy? What has the formal transfer of sovereignty meant for the Iraqis and the Americans?"

"Roughly 2,000 anti-war demonstrators have marched to the home of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to call for an end to the American-led occupation of Iraq. After holding a rally in front of the White House on Saturday, protesters walked almost 90 minutes through downtown Washington to Rumsfeld's house, demanding that the Bush administration withdraw US troops."

"Baghdad doctors despair at hospital's filthy conditions and lack of drugs, writes Julius Strauss. Baghdad's most famous children's hospital should never have come to this. Under Saddam the appalling conditions were cynically manipulated by the regime which blamed UN sanctions for the deaths of tens of thousands of children. But while the Coalition Provisional Authority, which hands over power to a new government at the end of the month, has spent millions on media facilities, roadblocks and security guards, the project to revamp the children's hospital seems to have been quietly forgotten."

"Mr Tenet, at least, objected to bald assertions in the British weapons dossier that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so. Mr Tenet took the blame for including the Niger claim in George Bush's state of the union address to Congress in January last year. He said later that just because the British included the claim in its weapons dossier did not mean that the US should take Britain's word for it. "This did not rise to the level of certainty which should be required for presidential speeches and the CIA should have ensured that it was removed," he said. The 45-minute claim, however, was repeated four times in the British dossier, including in the foreword signed by Tony Blair. "

"A "racist" British Government has failed to keep count of Iraq dead because it does not value their lives, Swindon peer Lord Stoddart has claimed. In an attack on the Iraq war policy, he said that ministers only cared about the lives of troops ­ not the people they were supposedly sent to help. According to estimates by the group Iraq Body Count and the Red Cross, more than 11,000 Iraqis have been killed during the invasion and its aftermath. The Government does not keep records of Iraqi dead."

At the organising meeting today, we decided to scale down the coverage of news in Iraq and Palestine, to avoid duplication of work which is being done much more effectively elsewhere. Both situations are being covered extensively, both in the commercial media and in alternative media such as Indymedia , Electronic Intafada and Electronic Iraq . The news archives in these sections will still be here (currently 290 items in the Palestine section, and 723 items in the Iraq section), but will grow less quickly. We'll still be keeping up the coverage of other news, including the Fairford and Afghanistan sections, and if there's anything under-reported which you think should be here, send it to us at swindon.stopwar@virgin.net

"Thousands of precious artefacts stolen from the Iraqi National Museum last year remain lost, the head of the museum has revealed. Iraq is planning to set up a 1300-strong antiquities police force and is looking for vehicles to patrol the country's numerous archeological sites. However, according to a senior Interpol agent, Karl Heinz Kind, policing is hampered by the fact that there are 100,000 archeological sites in Iraq but only 10,000 are registered. "This makes it impossible to protect all of them and the major problem we are now facing is the continuous looting of Iraq's archeological sites," Kind said at the start of the meeting."

"Many journalists and politicians have argued that UN Resolution 1441 authorized an attack on Iraq in the event of its breach. Further, such people also maintain that Iraq did breach 1441 or, failing that, that previous Resolutions provided authority (the British Attorney General, Peter Goldsmith, for instance). In this short essay, I attempt to refute each of these claims and demonstrate that the invasion of Iraq was illegal."

"An A-Z of the Iraq war and its aftermath, focusing on misrepresentation, manipulation, and mistakes." The Independent's front-page story: B is for Bush and Blair. F is for the forty-five minute claim. J is for the Joint Intelligence Committee. P is for the Pentagon Hawks. S is for Sovereignty. W is for World Trade Centre.

"The head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council, Ghazi Yawer, is to be the country's new interim president, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has confirmed. A statement issued by Mr Brahimi also said Ibrahim Jaafari and Rowsch Shaways would be named vice-presidents. Earlier reports said ex-Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi had been chosen as president but had declined the job. Mr Pachachi, 81, was preferred by the US, but most members of the Governing Council had favoured Mr Yawer."

"The Army is investigating reports of assaults against Iraqi civilians and thefts of their money and jewelry by U.S. troops during patrols, raids and house searches, defense officials said on Monday. Iraqis have accused U.S. troops of stealing money and other property during what they said were aggressive and even destructive American raids on homes. "It's a huge problem. Almost everyone has something to say about gold, money and other valuables going missing and they don't believe they'll ever get them back," Adel Alami, a lawyer with Iraq's Human Rights Organization told Reuters recently in Baghdad."

"Gent, Belgium, May 28 2004 - The sun is blazing near one of the main railway stations in Belgium. A bride and groom sit still on a chair with red stained blood running down their white face. They are death. Thirty corpses with white masks wrapped in blankets lay around the just-married couple. Many travellers at the Gent railway station know immediately that this street-theatre is referring to the innocent Iraqi civilians killed during a wedding party by the occupying U.S. forces in Iraq during the night of May 19th 2004."

"My brother, Sherwood Baker, died in Iraq last week. I tried to call you and I tried to write to you, but you never responded. I’m writing to you again because I believe, had you known him, you would have liked him ... And maybe if you knew him, if you knew the other soldiers, you’d have thought differently about sending them."

"A car carrying two Japanese journalists has been attacked in Iraq, and there are reports that both have been killed. The two are believed to be freelance reporters Shinsuke Hashida, 61, who lives in Bangkok, and his nephew Kotaro Ogawa, 33, from the western Japanese city of Tottori. Mr Hashida is described as a veteran war reporter."

"Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has conditionally offered to pull his fighters out of the battle-scarred Iraqi holy city of Najaf. Mr Sadr says he will withdraw his Mehdi Army if US forces also pull back from the city and an investigation against him for murder is shelved."

"Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is to make a statement to MPs on Thursday about the deployment of British troops in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence says. Mr Hoon will make the announcement in the House of Commons at about 1315 BST. The MoD says he will give details of adjustments to numbers of troops in the area of Iraq under British control."

"Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has branded as "complete rubbish" reports of differences between Britain and America on the power handover in Iraq. Tony Blair on Tuesday said "the final political control" of coalition forces after the power transfer would rest with the new Iraqi government. But US Secretary of State Colin Powell has insisted American forces will remain under US control."

"The UK has carried out "serious human rights violations" as part of its war on terror, Amnesty International says. Hundreds of civilians had been killed and thousands injured by coalition bombing during the war in Iraq, the report said. Thousands of people had been arrested and detained without charge or trial in Iraq, and "torture and ill-treatment by coalition forces were widespread", it said."

"US Secretary of State Colin Powell has insisted that US forces in Iraq will remain under American control after the 30 June handover of sovereignty. Mr Powell said that while the Americans would consult the Iraqi authorities, US military units would do whatever was necessary to protect themselves. This seemed to contradict an earlier statement by the UK prime minister. Tony Blair said the new Iraqi government would have "final political control" on military operations."

"There is growing concern about the role of private security firms operating in Iraq, a BBC report has revealed. Some security personnel claim their lives are being put at risk as they are asked to do the work of regular forces. More and more security staff are being killed in Iraq, but the exact number of private security firms working there is not known. However estimates say that they take 10% of the country's security budget."

"President Bush has said the US remains committed to creating a democratic Iraq. In a keynote speech, he said he was taking five "specific steps" to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom. These include the creation of a sovereign Iraqi government, stabilising security, rebuilding infrastructure, encouraging international support and moving towards free elections. The notorious prison Abu Ghraib will be demolished. Mr Bush said the United States would keep its troops in Iraq for as long as necessary. Can Bush's plan for Iraq work? How should Iraq be governed after 30 June? Who should have jurisdiction over the troops? Send us your views."

"UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says that after the transfer of power on 30 June, Iraq's interim government will have a veto on operations by coalition troops. "The final political control remains with the Iraqi government. That's what the transfer of sovereignty means." But France - which has the power to block a US-UK resolution on Iraq at the UN - has expressed reservations. The text of the draft resolution says that the interim Iraqi government that takes charge on 30 June will have sovereignty, but limited control over coalition military operations. It does not specify that the troops will leave Iraq if the new government asks them to."

"New video footage has emerged which adds to the evidence that US forces mistakenly bombed a wedding party in Iraq last week, killing 41 people including women and children."

"NUJ members picketed th US Embassy in London to highlight the case of Junis Kuthair an Iraqi cameraman who has been held in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison since last September. The Coalition cant claim he was a supporter of Saddam, he was after all jailed by the previous regime (In Abu Ghraib before it went downhill under new management) for writing something un patriotic about the Baath Party."

"As the evidence of the violent, sexual and psychological abuse of Iraqi people in US and UK detention centres mounted, this emergency demonstration was called at eight days notice. After the gross obscenity of war and occupation, of illegally privatising everything above the ground to reward US and UK corporations with the spoils of war, the mood of the thousands of people who demonstrated was clearly in favour of getting the foreign occupation forces out so the Iraqis can begin to clear up the mess that the occupation has created." There are 4 sets of photos - 1 of 4 2 of 4 3 of 4 4 of 4 (theatre of war)

"The Australian opposition has widened its lead over Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government, opinion polls suggest. Mr Howard admitted that the negative publicity from the war in Iraq had harmed the government's popularity. The latest poll suggested a majority now feel the war was not justified. A close US ally, Mr Howard sent 2,000 troops to the military invasion in Iraq last year, and for the first time, opinion surveys suggest his popularity is being hurt by that decision. Mr Latham, who was only appointed as Labor's leader last December, has made his stance against Iraq a key election issue and has pledged to have all Australia's troops home by Christmas."

"The US government should be held accountable for the atrocities and the crimes it is perpetrating against the people of Iraq and, in this case, Iraqi prisoners. Progressive humanity and freedom loving people around the world must not only condemn the brutal act of torture and maltreatment practiced by the US functionaries in Iraqi prisons, but also demand an independent investigation by an international body. The US government must be tried in international courts for its crimes against humanity."

"An urgent investigation has been launched in Washington into whether Iran played a role in manipulating the US into the Iraq war by passing on bogus intelligence through Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, it emerged yesterday. Some intelligence officials now believe that Iran used the hawks in the Pentagon and the White House to get rid of a hostile neighbour, and pave the way for a Shia-ruled Iraq."

Links to many stories in the mainstream media relating to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib.

"A military intelligence unit that oversaw interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was also in charge of questioning at a detention center in Afghanistan where two prisoners died in December 2002 in incidents that are being investigated as homicides."

"More photographs have come to light, which have been sent out recently with our statement to women legislators in US and UK about the rape of Iraqi women by the military. Please demand an answer from your MP, and send them our statement (www.womenagainstrape.net), and send us their reply."

Photos from the emergency demonstration in London called by Stop the War Coalition - "End the torture"

"The US and Britain are to introduce a draft resolution at the UN detailing the scope of Iraqi sovereignty after the handover of power on 30 June. The long-awaited text is expected to include limitations on the powers of a new Iraqi government and approval for a US-led force to remain in Iraq. The BBC's Susannah Price at the UN says the most controversial issue will be that of security - in particular, who commands the coalition and Iraqi forces after the handover. US officials say Washington should remain in overall command, but others disagree. Germany has suggested a national security council, including Iraqis and the US, which could co-ordinate the troops."

"A videotape has been broadcast which purports to show before-and-after footage of a wedding which Iraqis say the US bombed, killing about 40. The film released by a US news agency combines a wedding home movie with video of the aftermath of the attack, which the US says targeted militants. Some victims and survivors appear to be present in the wedding video."

"The Iraqi hotel workers say they were given a very simple choice: reveal the whereabouts of a suspected Iraqi insurgent, or face further violent abuse. According to witness statements given by the five men, they were brought in front of a British officer in turn, but none of them knew where the suspect was. The hoods were shoved back over their heads and they were dragged away for another bout of beatings at the hands of soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR), they allege."

"British and American troops are to be granted immunity from prosecution in Iraq after the crucial 30 June handover, undermining claims that the new Iraqi government will have 'full sovereignty' over the state. 'How is anyone in Iraq expected to bring a case in the British courts?' said Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East, who has been credited with uncovering many of the claims made against British troops. 'It is taking the idea of diplomatic immunity and applying it to 130,000 troops. There is a danger that you are actually going from immunity to being able to act with impunity.' "

"With choas ensuing on the tubes, I didn't arrive at the demo site until half 12, 30 minutes after the scheduled start. On a arrival I was greeted by sights of large crowds, especially noticable from the Jubilee Bridge. Protesters arrived up until the last minute due to Circle and District closure. As the demonstration lined up, a group called Theatre of War acted out scenes which are by now familiar to so many of us. With wooden models of guns and ropes around their "victims" necks, those members of the cast dressed as soldiers looked far more menacing than the police present. Overall the crowd control was laid back."

"Five Iraqis arrested with Baha Mousa, the Basra hotel receptionist who allegedly died in detention after three days of beatings by QLR troops, have given detailed witness statements about their ordeal. Their evidence - given exclusively to the IoS - will undermine claims that abuses of Iraqi civilians were carried out by "rogue" members of the regiment. However, there were reports last night that British and American soldiers would be granted immunity from prosecution in Iraq after the handover of power on 30 June."

(photos) "Local Stop the War group held a small demonstration on the high street."

"Here are more reports on Iraq not highlighted in our corporate press."

"America and Britain have the statistical resources to compute with clinical accuracy the number of pollen grains floating in the air. Yet these two states say they cannot tell anyone how many Iraqi civilians have died in the 14 months since the Iraq conflict began in March last year."

"During 12 years in the US Marines, including three years putting new recruits through boot camp, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey hardly questioned his role. But what he saw in Iraq changed that. ... Mr Massey watched as badly injured Iraqis were repeatedly "tossed on the side of the road without calling medics". His reaction to the event that triggered the recent siege of Fallujah - the sight of the blackened, mutilated bodies of four American private security men - was that "we did the same thing to them". Iraqis, he said, "would see us debase their dead all the time. We would be messing around with charred bodies, kicking them out of the vehicles and sticking cigarettes in their mouths. I also saw vehicles drive over them. It was our job to look into the pockets of dead Iraqis to gather intelligence. However, time and time again, I saw Marines steal gold chains, watches and wallets full of money." "

"A document leaked to the Sunday Times and bearing all the hallmarks of a genuine Foreign Office memorandum has revealed the extent of British unease at American military operations in Iraq. It stresses that Britain wants the Iraqi interim government to "have an effective veto over major operations". "We still need to tie the US down to language that reflects these principles. But if we do so, and then give the French, Germans and Russians a genuine opportunity to offer views on the draft, the prospects look reasonable. "This will require detailed senior level intervention with the US." As to the issue of prisoner abuse, it again hints at problems with the Americans by saying, without giving details, that the Foreign and Defence Secretaries are "considering ideas for greater international involvement". The memo, according to the Sunday Times, was accompanied by a one-page supplement with "public lines to take" for British ministers. The "line to take" is a staple of ministerial documents. It ensures everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. The interesting point about this "line to take" is that it does not reflect the memo. Instead, it blandly concedes only that "the security situation in Iraq is difficult." "

"American businessman Nicholas Berg's body was found on May 8 near a Baghdad overpass; a video of his supposed decapitation death by knife appeared on an alleged al-Qaeda-linked website (www.al-ansar.biz) on May 11. But according to what both a leading surgical authority and a noted forensic death expert separately told Asia Times Online, the video depicting the decapitation appears to have been staged."

"Last night, outside of Britain's biggest corporate sponsor of Israel - Marks and Spencer, there was a loud and passionate protest against the war crimes which are continuing in the Middle East. What was most promising was a large number of new people. What was even more promising was that a lot of these new faces were not the stereotype Palestinian/anti-war protestors made up of Muslims and lefties but people from work, people just passing. Just people - no tag necessary. Just people finishing their jobs for the day. Just people earning their wage and getting through life, to pay for their mortgage, to put food in their kids mouths and maybe to take a couple of weeks in the sun come Summer. Just people who no doubt wanted to get home to their families. Relax. Watch a little T.V. Maybe have a beer or two."

"The last Spanish soldiers in Iraq are leaving, fulfilling the election pledge made by the new Spanish government to withdraw its troops from the country. The troops have left their base in the southern town of Diwaniyah and are heading for the border with Kuwait. Spain's previous government had sent about 1,400 troops to Iraq, despite widespread public opposition."

"Graphic accounts by Iraqi prisoners of abuse at the hands of US soldiers have been published in a US newspaper, with fresh images depicting ill-treatment. The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the Washington Post appears to have gained access to photos and video clips recently shown to members of Congress by the Pentagon but not made public. One detainee, named in the report as Ameen Saeed al-Sheik, said he was asked by a soldier whether he believed in anything. "I said to him, 'I believe in Allah.' So he said, 'But I believe in torture and I will torture you.'" He said one soldier struck his broken leg and ordered him to curse Islam. "Because they started to hit my broken leg, I curse my religion," the paper quoted him as saying. "They ordered me to thank Jesus I'm alive." "

"The Iraqi Governing Council is due to meet on Friday to discuss its response to a raid on the home of one of its most prominent members, Ahmed Chalabi. The meeting comes a day after Iraqi police, backed by US troops, searched his residence and party offices, removing computers and documents. Brandishing a shattered framed picture, Mr Chalabi said armed police had roused him from his bed, ransacked his office, removed documents and a valuable copy of the Koran, and damaged his belongings. "I am America's best friend in Iraq; if the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) finds it necessary to direct an armed attack against my home you can see the state of relations between the CPA and the Iraqi people," he told reporters. "

"A former close ally of the US in Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi, has sharply criticised the US authorities in Baghdad after a raid on his home and party offices. "

"The US president has paid a rare visit to Congress for closed-door talks with Republicans to try allay concern over Iraq as US elections approach. Many in the president's party have been rattled by the unrest and the rising number of US soldiers killed in Iraq. Senator John McCain, who has on occasion been critical of Mr Bush, gave the thumbs-up as he left the meeting on Capitol Hill. "It was a pep talk for Republicans," he said. "He laid out a pretty strong case for staying the course in Iraq." With Iraqi leaders set to assume more powers more power in just over a month's time, Mr Bush likened the situation to someone learning to ride a bicycle. "It's time to take the training wheels off," he was reported as telling Republicans. The president also spoke about his budget priorities. He did not take any questions, or talk in any detail about the prisoner abuse scandal."

"On Thursday 20 May Cambridge activists and residents joined arms to create a collective scream against the illegal war, occupation, and torture in Iraq. Participants viewed the action as a striking way to reach fellow residents with a message of opposition to the silence of government, and of solidarity with those in Iraq who are screaming in the face of ongoing violence."

"New pictures have emerged showing two US guards at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison posing with the body of a detainee who died in custody. In the pictures, the Americans are smiling and giving the thumbs-up sign over the corpse. Both are among seven former US guards at Abu Ghraib facing courts martial for allegedly abusing prisoners."

"Conservative leader Michael Howard has called on Tony Blair to speak out publicly when he disagrees with President George W Bush. Mr Howard says he still supports the war in Iraq despite the difficulties facing the coalition. But he accuses Mr Blair of undermining his accountability to Parliament by keeping any disagreements with President Bush secret."

The leader of the opposition in the house of commons writes: "There has been a serious lack of candour about his discussions with President Bush"

"I think there is a general consensus that they-- the Americans-- have miserably failed in handling security," Kifa'ie said. "I think the new government will insist that the Iraqis be handed the security file."

"The US military has denied allegations that its forces in Iraq killed dozens of people celebrating a marriage in the west of the country. Initial reports suggested that a wedding party near the Syrian border was the target of a US air strike. "We took hostile fire and we returned fire," said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq. He added that a large amount of money, Syrian passports and satellite communications equipment had been found at the site of the attack. One man told al-Arabiya: "The US planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us." "They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they levelled the whole village." Television pictures from Makr al-Deeb show many bodies being taken for burial, the dead included young children."

"The father of Nick Berg - the US civilian beheaded in Iraq - has sent a message of support to the Stop the War Coalition. Michael Berg contacted the coalition to offer his backing after it sent him a letter of sympathy. His strongly-worded message will be read out at an anti-war demonstration in London on Saturday."

"Swindon peer Lord Stoddart has called on the government to pull British troops out of Iraq. He said a continued upsurge in violence, together with torture allegations against British and American troops, had left the occupation in tatters. Speaking in the House of Lords, he said it was time the Government admitted it had made mistakes and took soldiers out of the firing line."

"The Red Cross says it still has concerns about the treatment of detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail. A senior official told BBC One's Panorama programme that not all issues in a confidential report issued in February had been dealt with."

"Army officials in Iraq responded late last year to a Red Cross report of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison by trying to curtail the international agency's spot inspections of the prison, a senior Army officer who served in Iraq said Tuesday."

"Iraq isn't another Vietnam - it's much worse. The images of abused prisoners demonstrate not just American depravity, says the philosopher John Gray, but the folly of waging war as a moral crusade"

"An informal group of Cambridge residents, sickened by the rising tide of torture and human rights abuses committed by British and American troops in the illegal occupation of Iraq, are taking their anger onto the streets of Cambridge on Thursday in an unusual protest. They intend to form a 'primal scream' in Market Square - a minute-long visceral, public scream to highlight our own government's silence about the abuses and killings committed daily in Iraq. They hope to move passers-by to join them, and to publicise the national protest organised in London on the 22nd May."

"At least one soldier has been arrested in connection with faked Iraqi torture pictures published in the Daily Mirror, the Ministry of Defence has said. A spokeswoman said it was a "routine" part of the investigation."

"The first American soldier charged over the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is set to go on trial in Baghdad. Specialist Jeremy Sivits is accused of taking the photos - including one of a "human pyramid" of naked prisoners - which sparked international outrage. Three other soldiers charged with abuse declined to enter pleas at their pre-trial hearing and will return to court next month. Journalists from eight Arab media organisations - including TV networks al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya - will be among the limited number of reporters allowed to witness the proceedings at first hand. However, human rights monitors have complained that they are not allowed to attend the hearing. The proceedings will not be broadcast and neither filming nor audio recording will allowed."

"The funeral of the head of Iraq's Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, has begun amid tight security in Baghdad. The Arab Resistance Movement al-Rashid Brigades posted a statement on the internet saying two suicide bombers had been used to carry out "a qualitative heroic operation, which led to the killing of the traitor and mercenary" Ezzedine Salim. Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said they were investigating the statement of the group that could be a cover for the Zarqawi network."

"The president of the World Bank has warned that the reconstruction of Iraq is falling seriously behind schedule because of the continuing violence. Mr Wolfensohn said that his own personnel were unable to work in Iraq and had to rely on video-conferencing with Iraqi officials from locations in Jordan or Washington. Similar choices are increasingly being made by private companies thinking of investing in Iraq as rocketing security costs eat into their profit margins. "I can't speak for all private companies, but if your employees are getting killed, it is quite hard to send them in," he said."

"The current head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has been killed in a car bomb blast near the headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad. Ezzedine Salim was waiting to enter the compound when the bomb went off at 0530 GMT, killing him and several others. It is not yet clear whether Mr Salim was the target of what US officials say was a suicide attack."

"The current head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, has been killed in a car bomb blast near the headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad. Mr Salim, a Shia Muslim and political activist who was a member of the Daawa Islamic Party, is the second member of the Council to be killed since it was set up last July. It is not clear whether Mr Salim was targeted in the blast, but Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said after the bombing that Mr Salim's killing would not derail the political process. What effect will Mr Salim's death have on preparations to hand over power to the Iraqi people on 30 June? Will his killing hamper attempts to encourage Iraqis to work with the US-led coalition? Send us your comments."

"An artillery shell containing a small amount of the nerve gas sarin has exploded in Iraq. The 155mm artillery round had been set up as a roadside bomb and it exploded before the US military were able to defuse it. A senior coalition source has told the BBC the round does not signal the discovery of weapons of mass destruction or the escalation of insurgent activity. He said the round dated back to the Iran-Iraq war and coalition officials were not sure whether the fighters even knew what it contained."

"Laughter in periods of torment or disaster has always been interesting to me, possibly the origin being one of my heroes or at least inspiration, the stage clown and creation of Rafael Sabatini: Scaramouche. For those who haven’t read the book or watched the film (Stewart Granger plays the lead) Scaramouche is a complex character who lives two separate lives, one of stage clown and actor, whose mask of long nose and physical awkwardness for his audience, disguises the alter-ego, the avenging idealistic lawyer: Andre-Louis Moreau who, backstage, has a quest to expose and gain vengeance on the faults, excesses and ignorance of the ruling classes within pre-revolutionary 18th century France. For Scaramouche, joking and ridiculing those who wield power, could be as deadly as his sword. But inspiration to resist those forces of exploitation and greed in the emerging 21st century, does not lie in a fictional hero, buried in the pages of a dog-eared book. A real, if not comparable, model (and others waiting in the wings) is operating in the streets, schools and makeshift camps of Iraq. For writer, lawyer and circus clown, 29 year old Jo Wilding, the face paint may resemble Sabatini’s character, the sword is swapped for non-violence, perseverance, humility and witness, which in a climate that is dominated by weapons, are proving to be very powerful tools indeed."

"The US is planning to move some of its troops from South Korea to Iraq, according to the Seoul government. South Korea's foreign ministry said the two governments were currently discussing the details of such a move. A South Korean newspaper says the US is planning to transfer a full brigade of 4,000 soldiers currently stationed near the North Korean border. Our correspondent adds that the plan could affect the South Korean government's promise to send its own troops to Iraq."

" British defence chiefs have been drawing up plans to double the number of British troops on the ground in Iraq. It marks the first, more intensively soldiered phase of an exit strategy which would bring almost all British forces out of the country by early next year. This would mean a second brigade of fighting troops being sent to such trouble spots as Nasiriyah, Karbala and Najaf to help out hard-pressed European allies and American forces. An additional brigade would require a full division's worth of command and support troops - bringing the present 7,500 UK ground force up to more than 15,000."

"A group called ‘Guerrilla Art’ have unveiled a billboard poster in Bristol highlighting the abuse of human rights in Iraq by the U.S. The art installation coincides with the South Bank Art and Performance Trail taking place in the south of the city. The group produced the poster using a mixture of black emulsion and tens of A4 sheets of images downloaded from the internet and printed on an inkjet printer. It was put up on a billboard on Sunday in the Bedminster area of the city. (Cnr of Luckwell Rd and North St)."

"For nearly 12 years, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey was a hard-core, some say gung-ho, Marine. For three years he trained fellow Marines in one of the most grueling indoctrination rituals in military life - Marine boot camp. The Iraq war changed Massey. The brutality, the sheer carnage of the U.S. invasion, touched his conscience and transformed him forever. He was honorably discharged with full severance last Dec. 31 and is now back in his hometown, Waynsville, N.C. When I talked with Massey last week, he expressed his remorse at the civilian loss of life in incidents in which he himself was involved. "

"Regiment in fake photo storm to be charged over death of prisoner. First criminal prosecutions against UK troops. Soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment will be charged this week in relation to the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist severely beaten while in British military custody."

"No mitigation could save Mr Morgan from the final, awful truth that he was the victim of a "calculated and malicious hoax". The former editor hoped to survive with the defence that, although bogus, they "accurately illustrated" the wider truth of abuses in Iraq. The fakes contaminated legitimate concerns, however, and eased pressure on ministers just as they were facing calls to admit what they knew of genuine abuses by both British and US forces."

"The recent exposures of rape and sexual humiliation in Iraq by the US military have focused on the torture of men. We are circulating three documents about what is happening to women at the hands of the US and UK forces, both Iraqi women and women in the US military. 1. A statement from Black Women's Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape to women legislators. 2. A statement from the Global Women's Strike. 3. Attached is a statement from a former US Airforce Captain and Commander who herself suffered rape as a serving officer and who speaks about how widespread rape is."

"On April 30, US President George W Bush condemned the incidents of Iraq prison abuse and those who perpetrated them, saying: "That's not the way we do things in America." Administration officials have launched a campaign to portray the incidents as isolated aberrations; though, "systemic" abuse has been charged by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Amnesty International claims a "pattern of torture". But while an army report has described the "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" of Iraqi prisoners - including sodomy and other physical assaults - no one has yet dared compare this to America's well documented abuse of its own citizens, and the factors driving abuse at home and abroad."

"Miller’s concept, as it emerged in recent Senate hearings, was to “Gitmoize” the prison system in Iraq—to make it more focussed on interrogation. He also briefed military commanders in Iraq on the interrogation methods used in Cuba—methods that could, with special approval, include sleep deprivation, exposure to extremes of cold and heat, and placing prisoners in “stress positions” for agonizing lengths of time. (The Bush Administration had unilaterally declared Al Qaeda and other captured members of international terrorist networks to be illegal combatants, and not eligible for the protection of the Geneva Conventions.) Rumsfeld and Cambone went a step further, however: they expanded the scope of the sap, bringing its unconventional methods to Abu Ghraib. The commandos were to operate in Iraq as they had in Afghanistan. The male prisoners could be treated roughly, and exposed to sexual humiliation. “They weren’t getting anything substantive from the detainees in Iraq,” the former intelligence official told me. “No names. Nothing that they could hang their hat on. Cambone says, I’ve got to crack this thing and I’m tired of working through the normal chain of command. I’ve got this apparatus set up—the black special-access program—and I’m going in hot. So he pulls the switch, and the electricity begins flowing last summer. And it’s working. We’re getting a picture of the insurgency in Iraq and the intelligence is flowing into the white world. We’re getting good stuff. But we’ve got more targets”—prisoners in Iraqi jails—“than people who can handle them.” "

"Question: When will the editors of all the newspapers and TV and radio which unhesitatingly published every lie by Tony Blair and George Bush share the same fate? When will those who allowed their media to become the stenographers to power, beating the drums for war need a career change?"

"Two Islamic militant groups, Hezbollah and Hamas, issued strongly worded condemnations yesterday of the videotaped beheading of American civilian Nick Berg in Iraq. In a statement, Hezbollah called Berg's killing an "extremely brutal and cruel" act. Of the killers shown cutting off Berg's head, Hezbollah said: "This group belongs to the Pentagon school - the school of killings, occupation, crime, torture and immoral practices as exposed by the big scandal in the [US] occupation prisons." Both Hezbollah and Hamas said the beheading hurt Arab causes, and predicted that the United States would use it to turn attention away from the prisoner-abuse scandal."

"Revolting millions around the world, the video footage of an American citizen's execution has also raised numerous questions concerning its authenticity. There are plenty of questions raised concerning the video too. The body is completely motionless even as the knife is brought to bear – not so much as an instinctive wriggle. More graphically, some claim that cutting the throat's artery would cause a significant amount of blood to gush out. But little emerges and when the head was raised – not a drop of blood is seen to fall."

"Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake. Morgan will be replaced on a temporary basis by his deputy, Des Kelly.

The newspaper released a statement saying: "The Daily Mirror published in good faith photographs which it absolutely believed were genuine images of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi prisoner. However there is now sufficient evidence to suggest that these pictures are fakes and that the Daily Mirror has been the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax. The Daily Mirror therefore apologises unreservedly for publishing the pictures and deeply regrets the reputational damage done to the QLR and the Army in Iraq. The paper will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation. The board of Trinity Mirror has decided that it would be inappropriate for Piers Morgan to continue in his role as editor of the Daily Mirror and he will therefore be stepping down with immediate effect."

The Sun newspaper had offered a £50,000 reward for "information about the fake Mirror photos" but withdrew the offer following the sacking of Morgan."

"Fierce clashes have erupted between US forces and Iraqi militants loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holy city of Najaf. Tanks and troops moved into a cemetery near a holy shrine and traded fire with fighters sheltering among the tombs. Mr Sadr appeared in nearby Kufa, where he delivered a fiery sermon condemning the US and UK, AP news agency said."

"The Daily Mirror has said one of the British soldiers who claimed Iraqi prisoners were being abused is to appear on television on Friday. Editor Piers Morgan urged people to hear the soldier's testimony and ignore ministers who claim photos printed in the newspaper are fake. Former Mirror editor Roy Greenslade said he thought the paper had made all the necessary checks before running the story. And the story had "teased out" of ministers the wider allegations by the Red Cross and Amnesty about abuse of Iraqis by British troops. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Piers Morgan can defend himself by saying he's performed a public function." "

"The price of crude oil has hit a record high in New York and gained in London as concerns about supply and security persist. US light crude closed at $41.38 a barrel, up 30 cents from the previous day. In London, Brent Crude climbed to $38.40, reaching levels last seen following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The Bush administration, which faces an election in November, has urged oil producers to increase output so as to avoid damaging the US economy. Airlines such as British Airways and Qantas, meanwhile, already have raised prices to offset higher fuel costs."

"PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The father of Nick Berg, the American beheaded in Iraq, directly blamed President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday for his son's death. "My son died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. This administration did this," Berg said in an interview with radio station KYW-AM."

"The former Iraqi minister of human rights, who resigned over the indifference of Coalition authorities to complaints he brought before them, confirms that top US officials knew the full extent of the torture of Iraqi prisoners, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad."

"In his article in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on Monday, Abdel-Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief, argued that the significance of Abu Ghraib does not concern just the practices of US soldiers but about the dilemma facing both the US and Iraq. According to Atwan, the scandal revealed that the current US administration had allowed itself to be hijacked by a group of supporters of the Zionist lobby that are using it to launch war on Arabs and Muslims. The result, he argued, "is a short- sighted foreign policy that turns friends into enemies and makes the 21st century an era of political and military chaos ... [as a result of] a total bias by the US president of the Israeli point of view and his prejudice against everything Arab or Muslim." "

"US lawmakers have been viewing yet more photographs and videos of alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers. The unpublished images are reported to include examples of US troops torturing and humiliating captives. Senators shown the pictures by Pentagon officials in a closed-door session described them as "disgusting" and "significantly worse" than anticipated. ... The latest to be ordered to stand for court martial are Sgt Javal Davis and Staff Sgt Ivan Frederick. Both men are assigned to the 372nd Military Police Company. The two are alleged to have forced naked prisoners into a pile, which Sgt Frederick then photographed. Sgt Frederick is also accused of ordering inmates to masturbate in front of other prisoners and guards and of making some of them simulate oral sex while photographing them. ... Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended interrogation techniques used by the military in Iraq. He told a Senate committee that methods such as sleep deprivation, dietary changes and making prisoners assume stress positions had been approved by Pentagon lawyers."

"In the images coming from Iraq, racist occupation rears its ugly head In a widely read article published in the daily Al-Ahram on Tuesday, columnist Fahmy Howeidy emphasised the importance of addressing the "main question" and the "real scandal", which is the occupation of Iraq. "The atrocities committed in Abu Ghraib are only a chapter of the real problem which is occupation," he wrote. Here in Egypt, ... a number of human rights groups have launched a campaign to pressure the Egyptian government to cancel its bilateral agreement with the US that grants US personnel immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court.."

"The storm over images of Iraqi prisoners tortured by US occupying forces engulfed the Egyptian press. Smirks affixed, images of American soldiers subjugating Iraqi prisoners -- beaten, sexually humiliated and hog-tied -- were splashed on the covers and front pages of every Egyptian magazine and newspaper this week. The inside pages, too, were sardine-packed with horror images of the orgy of shame and disgrace. The unanimous conclusion of the publications: the damage done to America's credibility was irreparable. "

"The findings of an inquiry into whether the Daily Mirror's Iraq "abuse" photos are genuine are due to be released on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence says. Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram will tell MPs the results of the Royal Military Police investigation later. He is also due to respond to claims he misled MPs over when he first heard of allegations UK troops had abused Iraqis."

"According to Prof Shaker, several women held in Abu Ghraib jail were sexually abused, including one who was raped by an American military policeman and became pregnant. She has now disappeared."

"Pfc. Lynndie R. England, a prison guard who has been prominent in photographs that led to an outcry over treatment of inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said in a television interview broadcast Tuesday night that she acted on instructions from superior officers. " 'That's a good tactic, keep it up,' " Private England, who is 21 years old, quoting commanding officers that she did not name as saying. Asked about a photograph in which Private England was shown holding a leash attached to a chained and collared prisoner, she said the pose and the picture had been a result of direct orders."

"The parents of an eight-year-old Iraqi girl allegedly shot dead by British troops have vowed to avenge her death. Hanan Saleh Matrud was apparently killed by a soldier firing a warning shot in Basra last August. Her father, Saleh, told BBC News: "I want the soldier who killed my daughter put on trial and I want compensation." "

"The US has vowed to catch the killers of American hostage Nick Berg who was shown being beheaded on an Arabic language website. The images have caused widespread revulsion in the US. His captors said they were avenging the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody. Mr Berg was a US civilian who had gone to Iraq to look for work for his telecommunications company. The Bush administration has called his killers "enemies of freedom". Send us your reaction to the killing. What do you think the wider impact will be? Will this affect coalition efforts in Iraq?"

"Unless Iraq can be stabilised soon, policy planners in both the US and UK may well have to start thinking about an exit strategy. In a remarkable series of interviews in the Washington Post, senior American army officers have openly expressed doubts about whether the United States will win. Major General Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division which was in western Iraq for much of the past year, said that tactically the US was winning but when asked if overall it was losing, replied: "I think strategically we are." Colonel Paul Hughes, the first director of strategic planning in Iraq after the war, whose brother died in Vietnam said: "Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don't understand the war we are in." "

"The Bush administration has vowed to catch the killers of American hostage Nick Berg who filmed themselves cutting off his head after seizing him in Iraq. There has been widespread revulsion in the US after a video of his killing was shown on an Arabic-language website. His captors said they were avenging the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, new images of which are to be released on Wednesday."

"US President George W Bush has reacted with "disgust and disbelief" to more images of alleged prisoner abuse by US guards in Iraq, his spokesman said. Mr Bush viewed the classified images at a meeting with advisers and defence staff at the Pentagon, which is mulling whether to release them to the media. Meanwhile a Red Cross report - which has been leaked to the press - suggests that up to nine out of 10 coalition detainees in Iraq are arrested by mistake."

"The facts are probably not going to be aired at the first trial," said Michael F. Noone Jr., a law professor at Catholic University and an expert in military justice. "Critics of the administration are going to say there is a cover-up here." "Some of these offenses are arguably war crimes," Mr. Hutson (the dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center and a former judge advocate general of the Navy) said, "but there is no chance that the United States is going to turn this over to a system of justice other than our own."

A report from Amnesty International on killings in Iraq by UK forces, and by individuals and armed groups. Ends with conclusions and demonds on the UK authorities, Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraqi Governing Council, armed groups operating in Iraq, and the international community.

"At least three people have been killed after a bomb exploded in a crowded marketplace in northern Iraq. The attack in the city of Kirkuk happened at about 0530 GMT. Meanwhile, one Russian national has been killed and two others taken hostage in an attack in Baghdad, the Russian embassy in Baghdad has said."

"UK troops have killed Iraqi civilians including an eight-year-old girl when they were under no apparent threat, Amnesty International has claimed. In a report, the human rights organisation claimed in "many" cases the deaths of civilians by the British military had not been investigated. The report highlights the case of eight-year-old Hanan Saleh Matrud who was apparently shot by a member of B Company of the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment last August. An eye-witness told Amnesty researchers the girl had been killed when a soldier aimed and fired from a distance of around 60 metres, and not when accidentally hit by a warning shot as claimed by the Army."

"Frank Adamouski lost his son, Captain James Adamouski, in a helicopter crash in Iraq on 2 April 2003. BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson visits him to find out how the family are coping, and how they feel about the US's role in Iraq. Mr Adamouski still supports the war in Iraq. However, he believes that the US needs to "back off" to show that it is not a colonial or imperialistic power and stick to the 30 June deadline to hand over sovereignty. "We need to get out and the UN needs to get in," he said. "

"Officers in the regiment at the centre of mistreatment claims in Iraq has demanded a front page apology from the Daily Mirror newspaper. The Queen's Lancashire Regiment says it is "delighted" the defence minister has suggested the truck featured in "abuse" photos was not in Iraq at the time. Geoff Hoon later told Channel 4 News the photos now appeared to be fakes. But Mirror editor Piers Morgan quickly countered: "The Daily Mirror does not accept that the MoD has proved these photographs are faked. Nor will we accept that they are not genuine images until incontrovertible evidence is produced to the contrary." "

"The prime minister has apologised for any cases of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers in an interview on French television. Tony Blair promised those responsible would be punished under military rules. A MoD spokeswoman confirmed the government had been "investigating certain cases for several months". She was unable to confirm whether the cases were linked to the Red Cross report or claims by Amnesty International, or when the government had first been alerted to allegations of abuse."

"Specialist Sivits, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company from Maryland, is charged with maltreatment of detainees, conspiracy to maltreat and dereliction of duty. Under a proceeding known as a special court-martial, the maximum penalties he could receive would be one year of confinement, a reduction in grade, a forfeiture of pay for 12 months and a fine. He could also be discharged from the Army for bad conduct."

"Independent/MOP poll - Should British troops pull out of Iraq by 30th June?
55 per cent: YES
28 per cent: NO
17 per cent: DON'T KNOW"

"The full text of the February 2004 ICRC report entitled Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War and Other Protected Persons by the Geneva Conventions in Iraq During Arrest, Internment and Interrogation. Some names have been obscured, but otherwise, the report shows that the ICRC complained about treatment of Iraqi prisoners even before the war was over."

Originally published at http://www.mirror.co.uk/columnists/tonyparsons/ but that page is updated every week. This link points to a copy reposted on the Respect coalition's web site.
"It is time to come clean - before they release the pictures of Iraqi women being abused in those rancid cells, before the pictures of children being tortured come out, before a bomb goes off on the London Underground. Time to say all of us who supported this war were wrong. Hideously, horribly wrong. About as wrong as we could possibly be. Are we really torturing the children now? Are we raping their women, and taking a few happy snaps to gloat about with the boys back home? Are these really the mad acts of a few rotten eggs? To this former supporter of the war in Iraq, it looks like the whole damn farm is rotten to the core."

"Eight new cases of Iraqi civilians allegedly being shot dead in cold blood by British troops are detailed in documents seen by The Independent on Sunday. The deaths will be added to a dossier of more than a dozen such cases being presented to the High Court in London on Tuesday."

"So groups of people in positions of unaccountable power naturally resort to violence, do they? Not according to research conducted in a BBC experiment. Alex Haslam is a professor of psychology at University of Exeter and editor of the European Journal of Social Psychology. Stephen Reicher is a professor of psychology at University of St Andrews, past editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology and a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh."

"According to the author of the report, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, reservist military police at Abu Ghraib were instructed by Army military officers and the CIA to "set physical and mental conditions for favorable interrogation of witnesses" -- in other words they were to be tortured until they were reduced to well-disposed porridge."

"The prime minister has apologised for any cases of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers in an interview on French television. Tony Blair promised those responsible would be punished under military rules. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is to field MPs' questions about the alleged abuse in the Commons on Monday. He will face pressure to reveal when the claims first surfaced after Downing Street confirmed it had a Red Cross report in February raising concerns. Are you a serviceman who has had contact with prisoners in Iraq? Send us your views."

"Whether you are a Nazi henchman, international terrorist or a common-or-garden murderer, Jacques Vergès is here to help. As shadowy as many of the people he represents, the French lawyer reveals how he plans to secure a not-guilty verdict for his latest client - Saddam Hussein"

"Meanwhile, the onset of the war on Iraq did not dismantle the movement, as was the case during the first Gulf war. Instead, thousands of local groups across the country have remained active. There are, for instance, still more than 450 regional groups affiliated to Stop the War. Such local activity is the backbone of any protest movement. "That’s the hard grind, the talking, leafleting and doing things on the streets – those are the seeds," says Gabriel Carlyle at Voices UK, which campaigns against war and occupation in Iraq."

"US allies, including Arab states, have responded with fresh outrage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, despite apologies for the scandal from United States President George W Bush and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Egyptian and Bahraini MPs strongly denounced the abuses, as did Kuwait's Government. All three countries are notably US allies in the volatile region, and the Gulf states provide support to the American military."

A call for people to take action over revelations of US troops torturing Iraqi prisoners. Plus lots of contributions from readers expressing their disgust and shame, and more parallels with the Vietnam war.

"The sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was not an invention of maverick guards, but part of a system of ill-treatment and degradation used by special forces soldiers that is now being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors who do not know what they are doing, according to British military sources. Many British and US special forces soldiers learn about the degradation techniques because they are subjected to them to help them resist if captured. They include soldiers from the SAS, SBS, most air pilots, paratroopers and members of pathfinder platoons. "The crucial difference from Iraq is that frontline soldiers who are made to experience R2I techniques themselves develop empathy. They realise the suffering they are causing. But people who haven't undergone this don't realise what they are doing to people. It's a shambles in Iraq". "

"Iraq's deepening crisis has left the Bush administration with few options, and although the US has entrusted the United Nations with the task of finding a way towards political stability and elections, officials and analysts close to the White House admit that hopes of success are receding fast. Insiders describe a lack of direction and a prevailing sense of gloom and desperation in the administration. This gloom has only been intensified by the exposure of torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners."

"Ray McGovern chaired National Intelligence Estimates during his 27-year career and had high respect for the expertise and dedication of INR analysts. Ray is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, which includes alumni from CIA, INR, and other intelligence agencies. He is now co-director of the Servant Leadership School, an inner-city outreach ministry in Washington, DC.
...
My colleagues and I are appalled at how few lessons have been assimilated from the experience of Vietnam. Most of us had a front-row seat in that misguided war and had hoped it would be the last such "march of folly" in our lifetimes."

(5 photos, all with the Mirror's logo) "During the last week the Daily Mirror has published a series of pictures that it insists are genuine. They purport to show Iraqi prisoners being abused by British troops. Daily Mirror Editor Piers Morgan says the pictures are "genuine images highlighting genuine incidents of abuse". However, military experts and a number of picture editors have questioned the authenticity of the photographs. The armed forces minister Adam Ingram has launched an inquiry and promised that "no stone will be left unturned." The Daily Mirror has handed over 20 photos of the alleged abuse and Mr Morgan is set to be questioned by MPs."

"The thing about prison is that you’re locked away. No one can see you unless they’re let in or you’re let out. Suddenly – and I am relieved that the world knows about it at last – the abuse of prisoners in Iraq has become partly visible. The Photos made news in a way that countless Iraqi people’s stories did not."

"The Daily Mirror's editor says a new witness has come forward to claim some UK troops abused Iraqi prisoners. Piers Morgan says a soldier from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment has a dossier including claims of "appalling beatings" by a small "rogue element". Mr Morgan has told BBC News the new witness, "Soldier C", was not involved in the photographed incident and cannot verify the pictures. It is understood that the new soldier is not a member of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, but was a reservist with the Territorial Army, and was attached to the regiment while in Iraq."

"So where do we go from here? Bush has the power to stop the torture immediately. The solution is not for the President to warble barely coherent semi-apologies to Arab reporters. It is to address the US troops and private contractors directly. He should say: "This is your Commander-in-Chief. I am going to give you a binding order. If you think you are being told by your superiors to commit acts of torture, ignore them. Disobey. I am your ultimate boss, and I am telling you now - torture is not the policy of the US Army. If you are caught breaking this rule - and you will be - you won't just be sacked from the army. You will be jailed for a very, very long time." "

"The International Committee of the Red Cross declared that it has known for a long time that "worse things than in the photos" have been going on in the large prison of Abu Ghraib. Amnesty International makes a similar report. The United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, and Special Reporter on Torture begin investigations. Clear and systematic breaches of the Geneva Conventions Identified"

"With more evidence of the abuse involving half-a-dozen members of the Army's 372nd Military Police Company emerging every day, friends, relatives and neighbours across the hills of north-east Appalachia, that down-at-heel part of the US that includes West Virginia, Pennsylvania and western Maryland, speak not only of their revulsion, but of their shock, of pride being replaced with disgust"

"A recent Knight-Ridder report found that the military is so desperate to meet the demand for troops in Iraq that it has been deploying some National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers who aren't fit for combat. More than a dozen members of the Guard told the news service that their medical histories and chronic health conditions were ignored--and that the severe conditions in Iraq aggravated their problems and made them sicker."

"President George W Bush has gone on Arabic TV screens to denounce the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers and vow that those responsible will be punished. However, Mr Bush insisted that the abuse was not typical of the United States or its soldiers stationed in Iraq. He did not offer a full apology, but a White House spokesman later insisted: "The president is sorry for what occurred and the pain that it has caused." What do you think of President Bush's comments? Has he done enough to address Arab concerns over the treatment of prisoners in Iraq?"

(6 photos) "Helicopter gunships have been backing US troops as they push into the Iraqi Shia city of Najaf. Heavy tanks secured the governor's office after three days of skirmishes with religious militiamen. The lightly armed militia portray the conflict as a battle to defend their Shia Muslim faith. American soldiers have come under fierce fire but most of the casualties reported are Iraqi. In a city of 600,000, civilians have been caught in the crossfire. Iraqi doctors said two women and a child were killed on Thursday."

(6 photos) "Shocking photographs taken inside Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad reveal a range of abuses against Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers. Warning: You may find some of these pictures disturbing. A hooded prisoner has wires attached to his hands and is forced to stand on a box under threat of electrocution. It is believed that the wires were not actually connected to a live electrical supply. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker). An American stands over a group of bound Iraqi prisoners. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker). Two US soldiers pose next to a human pyramid of naked Iraqi soldiers. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker). An American soldier points at the genitals of a naked Iraqi prisoner. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker). The body of an Iraqi prisoner, wrapped in cellophane and packed in ice. The picture is believed to have been taken at Abu Ghraib prison. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The New Yorker)"

"And as he came out of the building he was hit full force in the face with a torrent of abuse and critique on Poland's complicity in international war cimes against the people of Iraq. Plucky anti-Occupation protestors confronted President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski yesterday as he unveilled a foundation plaque at the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies in London on his three day state visit to consolidate political, military and economic ties with partner in Occupation - Britian."

"Six Iraqis and a US soldier have been killed in a car bomb explosion outside an entrance to the compound of the US administration in Baghdad. Several people were hurt, including two US soldiers said to be in a "very serious condition" after the first bomb to target coalition offices for weeks. An army officer said the bomber stopped just before the checkpoint on the 14 July bridge and detonated explosives."

"US tanks have surged into the Iraqi holy city of Najaf to take control of the governor's office amid fierce fighting with Shia gunmen. Troops moved into the city's suburbs to draw out militiamen loyal to cleric Moqtada Sadr and allow the armour to sweep in largely unopposed. Helicopter gunships have backed up the US operations in the city but the Pentagon has said its troops will refrain from entering the shrines. "You could say we had an operation on the outskirts of Rome, but we didn't get anywhere near the Vatican," an unnamed official told Reuters news agency on Thursday."

"The White House has stressed that President Bush is "deeply sorry" for the abuses by US prison guards in Iraq after he failed to apologise directly. Speaking on Arabic TV, Mr Bush deplored mistreatment of prisoners and vowed to punish any US troops responsible. But reports indicate widespread anger among ordinary Arabs that Mr Bush did not make a personal apology."

"US President George W Bush is to appear on Arab TV channels on Wednesday in an attempt to regain trust after US forces were caught in an abuse scandal. Photographs have emerged showing inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad stripped naked and humiliated.White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president would offer interviews to the US-sponsored al-Hurra television network and the Arab network al-Arabiya."

"Lawyers acting for 12 Iraqi families whose relatives have been killed by British troops since Iraq was occupied are to appeal to the High Court. The lawyers want an independent inquiry to make the Ministry of Defence accept legal responsibility for the deaths. They will lodge papers asking for an urgent hearing of an application for judicial review at the High Court. The test cases will decide whether the UK armed forces in occupation are subject to the Human Rights Act 1998. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to argue that, because Iraq is not a European state, the human rights convention does not apply to British soldiers in Iraq."

"Mr. Abd, 34, is at the center of an explosive scandal over American mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, but he remained calm in a detailed, two-hour account of his time at the fearsome Abu Ghraib prison. He claimed that he was never interrogated, and never charged with a crime. Officials at the prison said Tuesday that they could not comment on his case."

Photo of soldiers in Iraq with Ronald McDonald-style clown wigs and makeup.

"The editor of the Daily Mirror could be questioned by MPs about his decision to publish photographs allegedly showing UK troops abusing an Iraqi. The newspaper is standing by its allegations despite doubts expressed about the pictures' authenticity. The armed forces minister Adam Ingram promised MPs on Tuesday that "no stone will be left unturned" in the investigation into the pictures. Labour backbencher Janet Anderson called for Mr Morgan's resignation as editor if they proved to be fake."

"The editor of the Daily Mirror is being invited for questioning by MPs about his publication of photos allegedly showing UK troops abusing an Iraqi. The Commons defence select committee says the hearing will give Piers Morgan "a chance to substantiate" the claims. No date has been set for the session but it is thought unlikely to happen before next month. In the Commons on Wednesday, Tony Blair used prime minister's questions to say any "human rights abuses, torture or degradation" of prisoners were "wholly unacceptable". But he said it would also be "extremely serious" if the photos turned out to be fakes."

"The Bush administration is feigning shock and disgust over the revelations of systematic torture of Iraqi prisoners. But there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the White House was fully aware that such crimes were being committed and by whom. Not only that, they continually took steps to cover their own butts should the matter ever come up - like refusing to sign onto the International Court and declaring an instant end to the war in May 2003 to circumvent the Geneva Convention. Among the mercenaries being trained in the US and deployed to Iraq, some on the Pentagon payroll, are former commandos from the brutal Pinochet regime and "enforcers" from South Africa's former Aparthied regime."

"A former soldier has gone on hunger strike in an attempt to secure a public inquiry into Gulf war Syndrome. Alexander Izett said he was ready to die to force the military to "come clean" over the issue. The former lance corporal from Cumbernauld stopped eating last Saturday, on his 34th birthday, at his home in Germany. Mr Izett said he developed brittle bone disease after being vaccinated in the run-up to the Gulf War in 1990 to 1991."

"As of midnight May 1st 2004 Mr Alex Izett a former soldier and veteran of the 1990-91 Gulf War has commenced a personal protest at the treatment of Gulf War Syndrome veterans by the UK Ministry of Defence by going on hunger strike. In an unprecedented move Mr Izett followed his action by telling Gulf War Syndrome UK Support Group that he is now prepared to jeopardise his own health and safety and possibly his life in order to bring attention to the plight and suffering of all Gulf War Syndrome veterans."

"Photographs have been released which show British soldiers allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners. The pictures, which were printed in Daily Mirror newspaper, appear to show a suspected thief being beaten and urinated on. This follows similar images shown on CBS's 60 Minutes programme involving American troops and prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Questions have been raised over the authenticity of the photographs, including disparities concerning the clothing and equipment of the British troops and the appearance of the prisoners. Are you a serviceman who has had contact with prisoners in Iraq? Do you think the photographs are staged? Send us your views."

"The armed forces minister is to make a statement to MPs over photos apparently showing UK troops abusing an Iraqi. Adam Ingram is due to address the Commons at 1530 BST. The Ministry of Defence has begun an investigation into the pictures, which appear to show a hooded and bound Iraqi prisoner being mistreated."

"In a sadly perverted way, we owe a debt of gratitude to the interrogators for those pictures in the Abu Ghraib prison. Like the photo of the little burning girl in Vietnam, these pictures will speed the end of another unjust war and save untold thousands of lives. Truth screamed at us forty years ago through the terrified eyes of a child just as it leers at us today through the smirks on our interrogators faces. Truth reveals itself. No amount of spin can hide it forever. "

"This torture of Iraqi prisoners of war will probably be portrayed mainly as the isolated acts of a few deranged, sadistic American soldiers. This is definitely not the case. Torture is an integral part of a strategy of counterinsurgency warfare, which the United States has been following for decades. Guerrilla warfare depends on popular support for its success, since the guerrilla fighters can't compete with the superior weaponry and technology of the occupying power or the government against whom they are revolting. The objective of torture and other methods of low-intensity warfare is to be so savage and shocking that people will be intimidated enough that they will no longer support the resistance."

"Around 50 retired US diplomats have written to US President George Bush to complain about America's policy towards the Middle East. The letter is similar to one written by 52 former British diplomats to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair last week. The organiser of the American missive, Andrew Killgore, who served as US ambassador to Qatar from 1977 to 1980, told the BBC: "We thought American diplomats were as unhappy as British diplomats were over what the president did." He said Mr Bush should not "take away the right of the Palestinians to return, or give Sharon the right to take settlement blocks in the West Bank which will hardly leave the Palestinians any contiguous territory"."

"General Taguba's investigation identified two military intelligence officers and two civilian contractors for the Army as key figures in the abuse cases at Abu Ghraib. In his internal report on his findings in the investigation, General Taguba said he suspected that the four were "either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib and strongly recommended disciplinary action." The Taguba report found that they were never properly trained or supervised. It found that in effect, the military police were told to soften up the prisoners so they would talk more freely in interrogations conducted by intelligence officials."

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The head of a U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quit and said Monday he was taking almost his entire staff with him because of American interference in the publication. Zayer said almost the entire staff left the paper along with him and that they were launching a new paper called Al-Sabah Al-Jedid (''The New Morning''), which would begin publishing Tuesday. Zayer had sought to break Al-Sabah away from the Iraqi Media Network, which groups the paper, Al-Iraqiya and a number of radio station and is run by Harris Inc., a Florida-based communications company that won a $96 million Pentagon contract in January to develop the media. ''We informed (Zayer) that the paper would remain part of the IMN,'' said Tom Hausman of Harris' corporate communications. ''He made the decision to resign.'' "

"The UN official who has been in Iraq helping to organise election plans says preparations are on track for a vote to be held in January next year. However, Karina Pirelli warned that security still remained a constraint. Ms Pirelli said if the security situation did not improve, the UN would not be participating in elections and they would not advise any other institutions to get involved in polls that did not represent the will of the people."

"A US hostage in Iraq broke out of a tiny windowless building to escape from his captors, American troops say. Truck driver Thomas Hamill is said to have kicked down a door and run across tomato fields to reach a US patrol about 400 metres away from his prison. The soldiers said they had asked him why he did not try to escape sooner. "I'll tell you what he replied," said Sgt Forbes. "He said, 'I could have escaped a bunch of times but where was I going to go? I only had a bottle of water, and no map, what was I going to do?'" "

(AP report) "U.S. troops in Najaf, south of the capital, clashed for hours with Shiite militiamen who barraged the Americans' base with mortars overnight, then opened fire in the afternoon from several directions. Tank and machine-gun fire demolished a building that troops said was the source of shooting, raising a pillar of smoke. Apache attack helicopters circled but did not fire. Before dawn Monday, militiamen shelled the troops with about 20 mortars, hitting in and around the base where U.S. troops replaced Spanish forces a week ago. There were no casualties."

"Are these pictures a hoax or proof that we tortured Iraqis? In Accrington, the town where the regiment implicated is based, the reaction of old soldiers, saddened by what they had seen, was that they were genuine. Some of those who heard rogue squaddies bragging in the Accrington working men's club about the treatment they had dished out to Iraqi prisoners did not like what they were listening to."

"Tony Blair has condemned as "completely and totally unacceptable" pictures which appear to show the torture of an Iraqi prisoner by British soldiers. If the pictures, published in the Daily Mirror, prove to be genuine Mr Blair said he would "condemn it utterly". Earlier Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram agreed the pictures were "appalling" if they were genuine. They "besmirch the good name of the armed forces," he said. Military police are conducting an investigation into the photos which appear to show a soldier using violence and urinating on a captive."

"The Army is institutionally racist. These stories of a few sadistic bad apples are meant to re-enforce the Occupation's agenda by implying that Iraqi resistance is a response to the actions of individual soldiers in detention camps when the resistance is a response to the entire occupation and the logic of the genocidal 13 year sanctions campaign which killed over a million and a half Iraqis and reduced the country to an Infrastructural Ground Zero - ripe for the current free market take-over fleecing the country. Below is a synopsis of an interview I had with Major Clements at CPA South in Basra, January."

"Can we please stop calling it a quagmire? The United States isn't mired in a bog in Iraq, or a marsh; it is free-falling off a cliff. The only question now is: who will follow the Bush clan off this precipice, and who will refuse to jump?"

"Highlighted here are 12 key issues in the 12 months since Mr. Bush declared an "end to major hostilities" on May 1, 2003.
1. Failure to Provide Adequate Number of Troops
2. Failure to Adequately Equip and Support Troops
3. Dissolved the Iraqi Army and Police Force
4. Failure to Secure Cities & Key Infrastructure
5. No WMDs or links to Al Qaeda Found
6. Lost Control in Fallujah
7. Uprising in Najaf
8. April is Bloodiest Month of Conflict
9. Spain, Dominican Republic, and Honduras have pulled out
10. Prisoner Abuse
11. Failure to Secure UN Assistance
12. Passively Suppressing the Domestic Media"

"A five-day hearing in the case of activists charged with conspiracy and damage to military equipment at Fairford Air Base before the war on Iraq ended today at Bristol Crown Court. The main question before the hearing was whether the matter of the legality of the war could be examined by the UK courts, as part of the defence in a criminal trial. Mr. Justice Grigson stated yesterday, "The hearing must proceed on the basis I will rule that the legality of the war is simply not justiciable in these courts." In this provisional ruling, the judge accepted the prosecution's case that British government foreign and military policy cannot be examined as part of a defence in English courts."

"The graphic images include one of a hooded and naked prisoner standing on a box with wires attached to his genitals. CBS said the prisoner was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. Another shows naked prisoners being forced to simulate sex acts. In another, a female soldier, with a cigarette in her mouth, simulates holding a gun and pointing at a naked Iraqi's genitals."

" Iraq's new flag is already being spoken of in the past tense after the universal outrage its unveiling provoked amongst Iraqis. Article Length: 318 words (approx.) . . . . . . . . . Independent Portfolio Article. This article is available in full to Independent Portfolio subscribers. Access it through BT click&buy."

"A US military investigation has recommended disciplinary action against several of its officers for the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops. Brigadier General Janice Karpinski is among seven officers being investigated following claims that soldiers under their command mistreated detainees."

"The legality of the war in Iraq cannot be examined or ruled upon in English crown courts, a judge said today. The provisional ruling by Mr Justice Grigson came three days into a hearing at Bristol crown court to decide if five peace protesters can raise questions at their trial about the lawfulness of Britain's use of force in Iraq."

"The relatives of three Italian hostages being held in Iraq are to lead a peace march through Rome on Thursday in a bid to secure the men's release. The rally was organised after a threat that the men would be killed by their captors unless protests were held against Italy's presence in Iraq."

By Andy Newman, Swindon STW secretary: "The replacement of Iraq's flag by a new one with some superficial resemblance to Israel's flag: two horizontal blue stripes, and a religious symbol, has clearly proved controversial, and already the new flag is being burned in the streets of Iraq, while the old flag is now the emblem of military resistance."

"Having arrived at the protest, guided to the protest by the sound of a distant megaphone through what has become in my experience as my wettest day in London, I arrived at one of the smallest yet dramatic protests I have yet experienced.... and by the end I came away with the deepest wish that the work of these brave few could have chipped away even in the smallest way at the relentless force that confronts the hope of our future through such an admirable display of human spirit and perseverance."

"KOBE, JAPAN - A citizens tribunal seeking to indict US President George Bush for war crimes in Iraq held its third public hearing here Sunday, April 25, presenting evidence and bearing witness to the suffering of the Iraqi people. An estimated 350 people throughout the day attended the 3rd International Criminal Tribunal for Iraq (ICTI) Hyogo Public Hearing, which featured direct testimony from a visiting Iraqi labor union leader, firsthand news footage of unfolding events in Iraq by an independent Japanese journalist, and a host of performances by university students and other activists in Japan."

Some of the photos showing abuses of Iraqi prisoners by US troops in Abu Ghraib prison.

"A US general has been suspended in Iraq over the alleged abuse of prisoners by US troops in jails she ran. CBS TV says it has "dozens" of pictures showing a wide range of maltreatment. Taken by US troops, many of the pictures show American troops watching in apparent approval. CBS says the pictures it obtained show a wide range of abuses, including: * Prisoners with wires attached to their genitals * A dog attacking a prisoner * Prisoners being forced to simulate having sex with each other * A detainee with an abusive word written on his body."

"Iraqi Procurement 2004 is a 3 day event in London where a small elite of politicians and corporations work it out how they can reconstruct Iraq for their own benefit and in line with Bush's agenda without consulting Iraqi communities in any way. To celebrate their corporate carve up of Iraqi delegates attended a banquet at the New Conaught Rooms, Great Queens St, WC1. But crowd of about 30 to 40 people, including RoR samba band loudly greeted delegates and let them know that the voices of the uninvited would also be heard. People shouted out to delegates while Iraqi corporate dollars carpeted the pavement and pigs in suits grabbed and gorged themselves on handfuls of Iraqi occupation dollars from a trough."

"Fifty-two former British diplomats yesterday delivered a damning critique of Tony Blair's close alliance with George Bush and their "doomed" Middle East policy. The former diplomats, many of whom served as ambassadors in Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the region, sent a joint letter to Downing Street. They told the prime minister they had "watched with deepening concern the policies which you have followed on the Arab-Israel problem and Iraq, in close cooperation with the United States". "

"The UK is holding talks with its coalition allies and considering the possibility of sending more soldiers to Iraq. Spain's decision to withdraw its 1,300-strong force has forced an urgent review of troop numbers. The UK currently has 7,500 troops in Iraq. The speculation follows a week of further violence in Iraq including a series of suicide bombings in Basra which killed 74 and injured hundreds, including five British soldiers. Should the UK send more troops to Iraq? Send us your views."

"Hundreds of Iraqis have been e-mailing BBC News Online to comment on the new Iraqi flag unveiled yesterday. Some said it was a welcome break from the former regime of Saddam Hussein, but many criticised the design. The flag is mostly white with a blue crescent symbolising Islam. Two blue strips stand for Iraq's rivers while a yellow strip represents the Kurds. The biggest complaint was that it had been chosen by Iraq's US-appointed council without consulting the people. "I think the so-called Governing Council has no right whatsoever to change the flag of Iraq," Ala' Al-Tamimi from the southern city of Basra wrote in a typical response. "They are not a legitimate government and their decision would not be accepted by most Iraqis." "

"We the undersigned former British ambassadors, high commissioners, governors and senior international officials, including some who have long experience of the Middle East and others whose experience is elsewhere, have watched with deepening concern the policies which you have followed on the Arab-Israel problem and Iraq, in close co-operation with the United States."

"A high court judge will be asked to decide for the first time this week whether questions about the legality of the use of force by Britain and the US against Iraq can be raised in a criminal prosecution in the English courts. Two professors of international law will face each other across a Bristol courtroom for five days of legal argument raising novel points of law. The cases concern five peace activists facing trial for conspiring or attempting to stop US bombers taking off for Iraq in the days before the war was launched. "

Report from the first day of the trial of 5 activists for attempting to sabotage bombers and support equipment at Fairford before the invasion of Iraq. "At around 8.30 this morning around 100 supporters of the Fairford Five gathered in the centre of Bristol. They were here for the start of the trail that is expected to focus world attention on the legality of the war. Louise James, a solicitor for the defence, discussed the legal perspective, “The defence is arguing that they took action to prevent a loss of life from an illegal act.” She pointed out that the prosecution are trying to argue that a UK court has no jurisdiction over that the UK government may do in other parts of the world. “Whatever happens,” she says, “I think we will see an appeal. We will fight the case to the end.” "

"Britain is holding talks with its coalition allies about the possibility of sending more soldiers to Iraq. It follows an urgent review of troop numbers following Spain's decision to withdraw its 1,300-strong force. The Times newspaper said one option being considered in Whitehall was deploying up to 2,000 more troops in the country. Another option was taking over command of a second multi-national division in central south Iraq, according to the paper."

"Yesterday, a bloody incident in Baghdad in which US soldiers in Humvees killed four Iraqi children after coming under attack further inflamed anti-US feeling. One US soldier had died in an explosion on Canal Street and the four Iraqi children were killed immediately afterwards, shot dead by US troops firing at random, witnesses claimed. "I saw a child lying on the street with a bullet hole in his neck and another in his side," a driver said. "He had his schoolbag on his back. About 15 minutes later his relatives came and took him away." The children had just left their school nearby to look at a blazing Humvee. They were dancing around it in celebration when they were shot."

"Three boats have exploded in apparently co-ordinated suicide attacks near two Iraqi oil terminals in the Gulf, off the southern city of Basra. The small boats, or dhows, were apparently attempting to reach the Bakr and Khawr al-Amaya oil terminals. An eight-man coalition interception team was approaching one of the boats when it exploded, flipping the coalition boat and killing two crew members, said the US navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet."

From Ewa Jasiewicz of Voices in the Wilderness: "Between Monday April 26th and Wednesday the 28th London plays host to the ‘Iraq Procurement Conference – Meet the Buyers’, a three day expo which will see contract-hungry British companies compete for their slice of the privatisation pie of the century – post war Iraq. The multinational corporate shindig is sponsored by companies with glowing human rights records such as Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Texaco, arms dealers Raytheon, security company Erinys (employing former South African apartheid murderers and Colombian paramilitary trainers), and pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Oxy."

"Britain's military planners are drawing up contingency plans to send up to 1,700 extra troops to Iraq in response to the escalating violence. Senior Pentagon officials have told the Washington Post newspaper that Britain may provide a new headquarters unit to replace the 1,300 Spanish troops who are due to begin their withdrawal in the next 10 days. Following the Spanish decision, Honduras has said it will withdraw its complement of 370 soldiers, and the Dominican Republic its 300."

"Iraqi generals who fought for Saddam Hussein are being reinstated to strengthen the new US-trained Iraqi army half of whose soldiers mutinied or went home during fighting earlier this month. The abrupt reversal of previous policy comes as a senior US general admitted that 10 per cent of the Iraqi security services actually changed sides during recent fighting and another 40 per cent went home."

"The US administration says many former public sector workers in Iraq who lost their jobs after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime could be reinstated. The move could allow some former senior Baath party officials into the interim government being formed by the UN. "

"An exclusive interview with Dr. Asaf Durakovic, one of the world's leading experts on depleted uranium, how Japan now faces the DU danger in Iraq, the continuing threats on his life, and the "conspiracy of silence" the world over surrounding DU. "

"The Pentagon has reacted angrily to the publication on US websites of photos of America's war dead arriving home. Defence officials had banned publicity of the return of bodies from Iraq, but were forced to release images after a freedom-of-information court action. "We need to stop hiding the deaths of our young," said Jane Bright of California, who lost a son in combat last year. "We need to be open about their deaths." "

The original poster states that recent violence in Iraq is due to Saddam loyalists and Iranian-backed fundamendalists hoping to impose a Muslim state, and that there is no popular resistance movement. He goes on to demand an apology from those who have posted on Indymedia in support of the Iraqi resistance. An interesting argument about who is doing the killing follows...

"Four British soldiers are among the injured in rush-hour bombings in Basra that have killed nearly 70 people. The UK soldiers - two of whom are in a serious condition - are thought to have been hit at a police academy in Zubair, 25 km (16 miles) to the south. Britain has suffered far fewer casualties in the conflict and the bombings will raise concerns Iraq's violence is spreading to the UK-controlled south. Can there be an end to the violence in Iraq? Do you have friends or relatives in the armed forces based in Iraq? Will the coalition be ready to hand over power by 30 June? "

"Protest to coincide with the gala dinner for the Shell-sponsored business conference ‘Iraq Procurement 2004: Meet the Buyers.’ Reconstruction not rip-off - Justice for Iraq’s workers. When: 6-9pm, Tuesday 27th April. Where: Outside the London Hilton Hotel (‘the official hotel of choice’ for the conference), 22 Park Lane. Nearest tubes Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner."

"The new coalition-trained Iraqi police force is being infiltrated by insurgents, a US army general has said. Maj Gen Martin Dempsey said about 10% of new officers were rebels and a further 40% have left their jobs - but the rest "stood tall and stood firm". "

"The UN Security Council has approved an investigation into reports of massive corruption in the UN-administered oil-for-food programme in Iraq. A total of $10bn was creamed off by the former Iraqi regime, either in bribes or illegal sales of oil. One leading source of cash was a 10% mark-up on every invoice under the programme. Mr Hankes-Drielsma said some Security Council countries had benefited from the bribes and were "part of the problem". "

"The head of the British Army admitted yesterday that there was a risk of "great military friction" between British and American soldiers attempting to hold the peace in Iraq. General Sir Mike Jackson hinted at tensions with US commanders, who have been accused of taking too heavy-handed an approach to putting down insurrections in Fallujah and Najaf."

"George Bush has chosen a replacement for Paul Bremer as governor-in-chief in Iraq. It is John Negroponte, the mastermind behind the death squads of Central America. Negroponte could give lessons to the most brutal dictatorships in the world on how to organise death squads, assassinate opponents and terrorise popular movements into submission. "

"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticised the government over its case for war in Iraq and a loss of trust in the political system. During a sermon on Christian obedience, Dr Williams said there had been facts presented by the government which it emerged were anything but certain. The Archbishop's remarks were addressed to the congregation at St Benet's Church in Cambridge. Downing Street said Dr Williams' views on the war were already well known. Do you agree with the Archbishop's views? Is he right to speak out about the government? Have you lost your trust in politics? Send us your views. "

"Three Japanese hostages have been freed in Iraq. Many other foreigners have been reported missing, prompting at least one company to withdraw from the country. Earlier, an Italian man was murdered by hostage-takers. Can there be an end to the violence in Iraq? Should more troops be sent? Will the coalition be ready to hand over power by 30 June?"

"The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has suggested the aftermath of the Iraq war has resulted in a loss of trust in the nation's political system."

"A series of attacks in the Basra area of southern Iraq have killed at least 68 people and injured many more. The first blasts occurred outside three police stations in central Basra during the morning rush hour on Wednesday. Many of the dead and injured were children travelling in passing buses on their way to school. A fourth blast south of Basra killed more Iraqis and wounded four UK soldiers. There was also fighting in the central city of Falluja. "

"A spokesman for the pro-American Iraqi National Congress has given details of the new tribunal being set up to try former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Lawyer Salem Chalabi was named president of the court," said Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). Mr Chalabi is a US-educated lawyer and nephew of the head of the INC, Ahmed Chalabi. "

"The US president has rebuked Spain's new prime minister for going ahead with his election promise to withdraw troops from the coalition in Iraq. Mr Bush warned against giving "false comfort to terrorists" as Spain sought to reassure its allies. The president of Honduras has ordered his 370-strong contingent home too."

" Over the course of April the upsurge of violence in Iraq has killed close to 100 US troops - the worst monthly casualty figures since the invasion of Iraq began. What began as an irritant in the aftermath of war has now turned into a complex insurgency presenting a whole series of problems to US commanders. "

"In Najaf, the Spanish-language “Plus Ultra” garrison closed the al-Sadr Teaching Hospital roughly a week ago (as of yesterday, it remained closed). With 200 doctors, the hospital (formerly the Saddam Hussein Teaching Hospital) is one of the most important in Iraq. Troops entered and gave the doctors two hours to leave, allowing them to take only personal items -- no medical equipment. The reason given was that the hospital overlooks the Plus Ultra’s base, and that the roof could be used by resistance snipers."

"President George W Bush has named John Negroponte as the first US ambassador to Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein last year. He led attempts last year to win the Security Council's backing for war against Iraq. Before that, he helped put together the international security force in Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taleban government. "

"The US says it expects other coalition nations to reassess their participation in Iraq's security forces as Spanish troops prepare to be called home. Washington's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said: "I think there are going to be some changes." Spain's new prime minister confirmed on Sunday that he wanted Spain's troops out of Iraq "as soon as possible". "

"Ten US troops have died in clashes with insurgents or other combat in Iraq this weekend, the US military says. The dead include five marines killed in pitched battles near the Syrian border and three soldiers ambushed near a city south of Baghdad. "

"common sense and people power won through yesterday when police gave up their attempts to move a small breakaway demo outside downing street at the MAB/STWC organised protest on sat 17th april at noon" (photos)

"We went to the demo about Iraq in Market Street. Then me and a couple of other people went to Albert Square, which was interesting because there was a big military parade going on with big anti-tank guns in the middle of it, lots of top brass military in even bigger cars and very discreet riot vans around it. Good things were, three of us telling the army and the police that it probably isn’t legal to bring anti-tank guns into the city (we were told to smash plastic guns before, because they distress people…..um) "

"The prime minister has conceded he did not expect the security situation in Iraq would become so unstable. Speaking to American television following talks with President George W Bush, Tony Blair said the coalition underestimated resistance. He insisted that the 30 June deadline for handing back power to the people of Iraq would remain. Asked about the failure to find WMD, Mr Blair told American television that he would wait until the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group, searching for such weapons, had concluded its hunt. "There are no stockpile of weapons that has been found, that is true. There is still a process to go through," he said. "

"In an embarrassing about-face for the Government, trade officials have warned British companies to postpone all visits to Iraq for at least a month after a sudden rise in kidnappings and killings of foreign workers by insurgents. The deliberate targeting of foreigners, culminating in the murder last Wednesday of an Italian security guard, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, has put the Government's strategy of getting British firms into Iraq under severe pressure."

"Monday 26th April sees the start of the long-awaited preliminary hearing in these Fairford cases. In five days of argument before Mr. Justice Grigson in Bristol Crown Court, issues related to the legality of last year’s war will be addressed. The key question to be addressed in arguments by the Q.Cs for the defence and the Crown Prosecution: Was the war on Iraq a war crime ? The answer to this question will determine what points the accused are permitted to raise in their defence. The Prosecution have said that if the court gives permission for the defence to talk about issues related to the Iraq war, they will immediately appeal."

"President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair have stressed their joint resolve to stick to the 30 June deadline for handing power to Iraqis. On Iraq, Mr Bush declared: "The prime minister and I have made our choice. Iraq will be free. Iraq will be independent. Iraq will be a peaceful nation and we will not waver in the face of fear and intimidation." He described the resistance by insurgents as "an attempted power grab by extremists and terrorists". But he said it would fail, because the Iraqi people had "no desire to trade one tyrant for another". "

" "On one side are the fanatics extremists and terrorists. On the other side are the Iraqi people - the vast majority of them - those decent people you meet at the Iraqi Governing Council, the UN, the coalition, and any country that wants to see Iraq become stable. In those circumstances there's only one side to be on," he said. "

"Some hundred people gathered today, Saturday the 17th of april, in Edinburghs parliament square following the invitation of the Edinburgh Stop the War Coalition to listen to speakers condemning the current US policy in the Middle East, and the mainstream British involvement and support for Bush's policy of massacring civilians in Falludja." (photos)

"The uprising in Iraq has terrified the US ruling class. They see the spectre of humiliating defeat as in Vietnam. The Tet Offensive of January 1968 was the moment when US defeat first seemed possible. AS 1968 began, the top US military leader General Westmoreland declared, "We have reached an important point where the end begins to come into view" and talked of "light at the end of the tunnel". Within a few weeks all that had changed, and the world knew that the US was facing a bloody and unwinnable war in Vietnam. " Plus a chronology of the Vietnam war.

"A US soldier missing since an attack last week on a US fuel convoy is being held hostage in Iraq, militants say. Pte Keith Matthew Maupin was identified by family friends as the captive shown in a video broadcast by Arabic television al-Jazeera. "

"MICHAEL HOFFMAN was part of the invasion of Iraq a year ago. When he joined the military, the former Marine lance corporal thought that U.S. military intervention could be a positive force. Today, he knows otherwise. Michael is now active as a member of Veterans for Peace, and in late March, he traveled to Fayetteville, N.C.--home of the Pentagon’s Fort Bragg--for a rally to join with hundreds of veterans and military families calling for an end to the occupation. He spoke to Socialist Worker's NICOLE COLSON about what U.S. soldiers are facing in Iraq today."

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he is seeking a new United Nations resolution to ensure the handover of power in Iraq on 30 June. After meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York, Mr Blair said there was now a common purpose in the international community over Iraq. He also denied being disappointed with the US endorsement of Israel's plan for withdrawal from Gaza. "

"BASRA - Fifty days after the first reports that the U.S. forces were unloading weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in southern Iraq, new reports about the movement of these weapons have been disclosed. An Iraqi source close to the Basra Governor's Office told the MNA that new information shows that a large part of the WMD, which was secretly brought to southern and western Iraq over the past month, are in containers falsely labeled as containers of the Maeresk shipping company and some consignments bearing the labels of organizations such as the Red Cross or the USAID in order to disguise them as relief shipments."

"Two Arab TV channels have broadcast an audiotape said to be from Osama Bin Laden in which he offers Europe a truce if it "stops attacking Muslims". "

"Some 20,000 US troops now serving in Iraq will have their tour of duty extended, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has announced. Mr Rumsfeld said they would spend another 90 days in Iraq beyond their original one-year deployment. "

"American plans to use "decisive force" to keep order in Iraq risk undermining efforts to rebuild the country, say the Liberal Democrats. Sir Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for the Lib Dems, UK's third largest party, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it defied the evidence to suggest there was a direct connection between things like the Bali bombing and Iraq. "I think the risk of lumping all of these things together is that you believe that there is one solution which will deal with all of these difficulties," he said. He warned that flying helicopter gunships above residential areas of Iraq would not help win the "battle for hearts and minds". "

" "The analogy [with Vietnam] is false," Bush insisted last night. Yet his answers inadvertently supported it. He spoke of his willingness to send as many troops as necessary and implicitly conceded that they’ll be in Iraq indefinitely. He spoke of transferring "sovereignty" to the Iraqis come June 30, but he couldn’t say to what lucky Iraqi we would transfer it, or even exactly what "sovereignty" meant. (Shades of South Vietnam.) He insisted that we had to "stay the course" in Iraq so that we would not have allowed "our youngsters to die in vain... Withdrawing from the battlefield would be just that." "

Links to a collection of news stories, mainly from Palestine and Iraq.

"Dear Mr and Mrs Blair, I have just had to mark Tony's essay, Why We Must Never Abandon This Historic Struggle in Iraq, and I am extremely worried. Your son has been in the sixth form now for several years, studying world politics, and yet his recent essay shows so little grasp of the subject that I can only conclude he has spent most of that time staring out of the window. "

"They were driven by the promise of six-figure salaries or a powerful sense of patriotism. For others, the decision to sign up for a job in the cauldron of Iraq was motivated by desire to help ordinary Iraqis improve their lives. Among the tens of thousands of American citizens working in Iraq, few could have imagined how dangerous their jobs would become."

"George W Bush says the US military is prepared to use "decisive force" in Iraq, where the Americans are facing insurgents on two fronts. He spoke as 2,500 US soldiers prepared for action against armed supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr in the southern holy city of Najaf. "This is not a civil war, this is not a popular uprising, most of Iraq is relatively stable," Mr Bush said. Mr Sadr has barricaded himself near a shrine in the city, and vowed to continue the "popular revolution" against occupying troops. "I fear only God," he told a Lebanese TV station on Tuesday. "I am ready to sacrifice my blood for this country." With the latest killings, April has become the deadliest month for the US military since the Iraq began in March last year. Meanwhile Moscow has announced it is evacuating more than 800 citizens from Russia and other former Soviet countries, following a spate of kidnappings. "

"Emergency Lobby of 10 Downing Street GIVE IRAQ BACK TO THE IRAQIS! Saturday 17 April, 12-2pm, outside 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, Central London. Tubes: Westminster, Charing Cross. Called by Stop the War Coalition. Supported by CND and the Muslim Association of Britain. "

"Two American soldiers have deserted, claiming asylum in Canada rather than serve in Iraq. They argue that the war is illegal under international law."

"At least eight Russians have been kidnapped in the latest chapter of Iraq's ongoing foreign hostage crisis. The Russians, who were in Baghdad to repair power stations, were seized as they relaxed in the courtyard of their house in the Iraqi capital. Their abduction follows the release of seven Chinese men kidnapped on Sunday near the city of Falluja. "

"Between 26-28 April, a business conference entitled 'Iraq Procurement 2004: Meet the Buyers' - sponsored by Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Enrinys, Raytheon and others - will be taking place in Central London. It's their Payday -You are invited to protest this scandalous carve up and 'dine' with the mercanaries and oil barons along with 3 days of direct action."

Links to news reports from Palestine and Iraq.

"The US are getting fed up with the lee-way being given to Iraqi security forces and military, some of whom have refused to fight in the last few days. So they're planning to stiffen them up by introducing former Ba'athist commanders." From a Pentagon / CPA press release.

"The PM mounted his latest defence of the Allies' troubled mission in the pro-war Observer. Nigel Morris highlights the gaping holes, contradictions, and double standards"

"US-led forces in Iraq have issued new casualty figures confirming that the country has seen the bloodiest period of fighting since Saddam Hussein fell. US Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said about 70 coalition troops had been killed in Iraq since 1 April, while casualties among insurgents were 10 times as high. Despite the hostage-taking, a tentative truce between US-led forces and Sunni insurgents in Falluja seems to be holding after more than 24 hours. "

"Journalist Naomi Klein and Photographer Andy Stern report from Baghdad: "April 9, 2003 was the day Baghdad fell to U.S. forces. One year later, it is rising up against them. Donald Rumsfeld claims that the resistance is just a few “thugs, gangs and terrorists.” This is dangerous, wishful thinking. The war against the occupation is now being fought out in the open, by regular people defending their homes and neighbourhoods - an Iraqi intifada." " Plus a very long debate about the history of the middle east.

"A British father-of-five kidnapped in Iraq has been released after six days of captivity in Nasiriya. Gary Teeley, 37, who lives in the Middle East, disappeared on Monday in the southern city, where he was working as a laundry firm consultant. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed on Sunday Mr Teeley had been handed over to coalition authorities."

"The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said part of the problem was that American troops viewed Iraqis as untermenschen - the Nazi expression for "sub-humans". Speaking from his base in southern Iraq, the officer said: "My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans' use of violence is not proportionate and is over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They don't see the Iraqi people the way we see them. They view them as untermenschen. They are not concerned about the Iraqi loss of life in the way the British are." "

"Senior British commanders have condemned American military tactics in Iraq as heavy-handed and disproportionate. One senior Army officer told The Telegraph that America's aggressive methods were causing friction among allied commanders and that there was a growing sense of "unease and frustration" among the British high command."

"Baghdad witnesses a general protest today, in both governmental and private sectors. You could hear explosions around the city most of the time today. Yesterday, bombing and shooting hardly stopped between the two sides. People in mosques are praying for god to be with Iraqi's and to support them and give them victory against those who hurt them and kill unarmed civilians. Some people came from Falluja as refuges, I saw many families that came to stay with their relatives here, the Americans used cluster bombs against them, and kept them with neither electricity nor water. The grave yard of the city is completely filled; they are using the football field as a grave yard temporarily."

"In response to the current wave of US/UK repression and killings in Iraq - which have claimed the lives of hundreds of people over the last week - Voices UK has called an EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE DOWNING STREET TOMORROW, Easter Sunday (11th April) between 12 NOON and 1.30 PM. Please also WRITE, PHONE, FAX AND EMAIL YOUR PROTEST. "

"Nayoko used to bring food for the street kids and wash their clothes for them, the boys who later stayed in the shelter in Bab a Sherji and now live in the Kurdish House. She wasn’t with an NGO at all, just an individual who raised some money to come over and help the kids and did it, learnt some Arabic, quietly got on with it. As a result no one, no embassy, no organisation, knows anything about her. The Japanese embassy thought all three of them had just arrived. "

"The US has managed the near impossible. It has turned a population who used to be subject to a vicious dictator against them. Saying that, backing that dictator at the height of his tyranny obviously would not have helped nor would invading the country and killing over 10,000 civilians in the process. While it was predictable that the Sunni population would oppose the Americans (at least to any bar the US state), the fact that the US has added the Shia to their enemies is quite impressive. This group, which makes up the majority of Iraqis, suffered immensely under Saddam. That the Americans have turned their neutrality into a mass uprising says a lot about the regime they have imposed. "

"One year after the "fall" of Baghdad, the old colonial maxim "divide and rule" does not apply anymore. For the occupiers, this is the ultimate nightmare: Sunni and Shi'ite, united (almost) as one. From Kirkuk in the north to Karbala in the south, from Fallujah to Nasiriyah, from Ramadi to Baghdad, Iraq is in turmoil - and this is not the work of "Saddam Fedayeen", "remnants of the Ba'ath Party" or "foreign terrorists". This is the beginning of the end: the serious possibility that the Shi'ites - 60 percent or so of the invaded and "liberated" Iraqi population - will be tempted actively to lead the multifaceted Iraqi resistance. "

"As Tony Blair prepares to fly to Washington for his meeting with President Bush shortly, questions have arisen as to whether Britain has an adequate say in the decisions being taken in Iraq. "

"This is an appeal to the anti-war movement, to the peace movement, eco-action movement, animal rights movement, anti-fascists, everybody active, everybody who can respond, can call a demo, can organise a protest, an office occupation, an embassy storming, a road blockade, mass civil disobedience, industrial shut-down, work-place occupation, solidarity work stoppage, blockade the US Embassy, Fairford Military Base action campaign? What's taking off at Fairford? Are B52s being deployed? Shannon Peace Camp protestors- are there new movements at Shannon airport? "

"A year after the fall of Saddam Hussein US troops are battling gunmen in the old regime's Sunni heartland while unrest continues in Iraq's Shia cities. Mortar rounds appeared to signal the collapse of a truce called by marines in the Sunni city of Falluja where doctors counted 450 deaths this week. "

"Iraqi insurgents yesterday kidnapped Japanese, Korean and Arab civilians regarded as helping the occupation while US-led troops continued fierce battles with Sunni and Shiite rebels in a day of bloody chaos not seen since major hostilities were declared over a year ago."

"Known faults in the US Army's Patriot missile system may have caused an RAF plane to be accidentally shot down in Iraq last year, the BBC has found. Mr Riggs said the US Army claimed the RAF airmen had not turned on equipment which tells radar systems like patriot whether a plane is a friend or an enemy. "But what the army never disclosed publicly at the time was that the army Patriots were mistakenly identifying friendly aircraft as enemy tactical ballistic missiles", he added. "

"Today, the day the Iraqi Puppets hail "National Day", will mark the day of the "Falloojeh Massacre"… Bremer has called for a truce and ceasefire in Falloojeh very recently and claimed that the bombing will stop, but the bombing continues as I write this. Over 300 are dead in Falloojeh and they have taken to burying the dead in the town football field because they aren't allowed near the cemetery. The bodies are decomposing in the heat and the people are struggling to bury them as quickly as they arrive. The football field that once supported running, youthful feet and cheering fans has turned into a mass grave holding men, women and children. "

"With every passing day, it becomes clear that the principal aim of the U.S. in invading and occupying Iraq had very little to do with democracy or even toppling a dictator, and a great deal to do with exercising imperial power, showing both the region and the rest of the world that this is how modern imperialism works--that the U.S. cannot be defied, and if it is defied, it reserves the right to punish defiance."

"The surge of violence in Iraq has created vast political complications for Democrats and Republicans, as President Bush struggled on Wednesday to address doubts about his foreign policy and Senator John Kerry sought to challenge the conduct of a war he voted for two years ago."

"US forces in Iraq must stop "acting like warriors and start acting like peacekeepers" said Robin Cook. Mr Cook argued that the current US policy in the Gulf was "not working". "A number of changes need to be made if we are going to recover the situation in Iraq," Mr Cook told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "The first and most compelling of those is that the US forces have got to stop acting like warriors and start acting like peacekeepers. "Whenever they fly over townships and fire missiles into those townships then they are convincing everybody in them that they are the enemy. "What we have done over the last few days, I fear, is we have increased the strength of the militants and we have cut the ground from underneath the moderates, which is the last thing we should be doing." "

"U.S.-led forces battled resistancemen in several Iraqi cities on Wednesday and grappled with a uprising in a two-front war that has killed at least33 soldiers and 170 Iraqis in three days."

"Papers across the Middle East on Thursday take a pessimistic view of Iraq's immediate future following the upsurge in violence. Many accuse the US-led coalition of aggravating the situation by its actions against Shia and Sunni fighters. In Iraq itself, one paper urges the United Nations to take over, while a Shia paper calls on all sides to exercise restraint." Compiled by BBC Monitoring from Al-Quds Al-Arabi (UK based), Al-Dustur (Jordan), Al-Watan (Oman), Al-Bayan (UAE), Khorasan (Iran), Jomhuri-ye Eslami (Iran), Al-Vefagh (Iran), Al-Arab al-Alamiyah (UK based), Tishrin (Syria), Al-Sharq al-Awsat (UK based), Al-Mustaqbal (Lebanon).

"I have watched with heavy heart and mounting dread as the ever-precarious battle to bring security to post-war Iraq has taken a desperate turn for the worse in recent days and hours. Along with so many Americans, I have been shaken by the hellish carnage in Fallujah and the violent uprisings in Baghdad and elsewhere. The pictures have been the stuff of nightmares, with bodies charred beyond recognition and dragged through streets of cheering citizens. And in the face of such daunting images and ominous developments, I have wondered anew at the president's stubborn refusal to admit mistakes or express any misgivings over America's unwarranted intervention in Iraq.

Robert C. Byrd is a Democratic Senator from West Virginia."

"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says some "seasoned" US troops in Iraq might be kept there longer than planned to deal with the growing violence. The troops have not lost control of the security situation, despite a recent upsurge in fighting, Mr Rumsfeld said. Operations were also continuing in the Sunni city of Falluja west of the capital - a day after the US military bombed a compound housing a mosque. Iraqi witnesses say about 40 Iraqis were killed in the strike, but US Central Command said only one "anti-coalition force member" had died and there were no civilian casualties. "

"The continuous succession of lies about Iraq and the ever-changing rationalizations for an illegal and immoral war against the Iraqi people." Covers WMD, oil, the repeated claims about the capture of Um Qasr, the staged statue toppling, the Jessica Lynch episode, the Iraqi resistance and more...

"Iraq has become George W. Bush's Vietnam, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Monday, April5, 2004, slamming the president as deceitful and, for the first time, comparing him to former President Nixon, who resigned in disgrace." Plus one of Latuff's cartoons.

"President George W Bush has declared that US resolve in Iraq remains "unshakable", despite ongoing clashes with insurgents across the country. His comments came after one of the worst single attacks since the war left 12 US marines dead and about 20 others injured in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Tuesday's attack was one of several clashes between US-led troops and Shia and Sunni Muslim gunmen. At least 36 Iraqis are said to have been killed in Falluja in the past day. "

"Rosy Bremer, sentenced to 21 days improsenment by the Portsmouth Magistrate Court this morning, because she refused to pay £815 fine for spraying tanks in Southampton military base just before the invasion of Iraq by the American and British troops. Rosy Bremer, who lives on more or less £4000 annual income refused all suggestions by a judge for her to pay the fine and all the charges againist her and critised the invasion of Iraq despite the warnings of the judge, who said this case had nothing to do with politics but was about making a desicion for her to pay the fine. She will probably be in prison for 10 days. "

"UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says the coalition must "hold firm" against the rising tide of violence in Iraq from opponents of democracy. "Our response should not be to run away in fright," he said after meeting Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari in Downing Street on Tuesday. "

"It is chaos that makes this whole system possible. Without the chaos, Iraqis would not allow the country to be sold off wholesale, or allow the U.S. troops to remain after the June 30th "transfer" of sovereignty.

Without chaos, there is little reason to assume that the imposition of neoliberal globalization, which has wreaked such havoc in so many other countries of the developing world, would be in the process of entrenchment in Iraq. Without the chaos, there would be more reporting on the appalling conditions in the hospitals and schools, which are violations of the United States' obligations as occupying power under the Geneva and Hague Conventions. "

"For Paul Bremer, the American proconsul in Iraq, and for many Shia, the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is a dangerous hothead. But to his young, radical followers, the 30-year old Shia firebrand is an inspired leader who has dared to challenge the American occupation. Mr Sadr is the only surviving son of the Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Mohamed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was assassinated by Saddam's agents in 1999 along with two sons for his defiant stand against the regime."

"The Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr is reported to have left the fortress-like mosque where he has been holed up for days. In a statement released by his office in the nearby city of Najaf, Sadr said he had left the mosque, fearing it would be damaged in an assault."

"I heard the sound of freedom in Baghdad's Firdos Square, the famous plaza where the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled one year ago. It sounds like machine-gun fire. On Sunday, Iraqi soldiers, trained and controlled by coalition forces, opened fire on a demonstration here. As the protesters returned to their homes in the poor neighbourhood of Sadr City, the US army followed with tanks, helicopters and planes, firing at random on homes, shops, streets, even ambulances. According to local hospitals, 47 people were killed and many more injured. In Najaf, the day was also bloody: 20 demonstrators dead, more than 150 injured. "

"Iraqis loyal to a radical Shia Muslim cleric have occupied the governor's office in Basra in protest at coalition actions against their movement. About 150 followers of Moqtada Sadr took over the building unopposed to stage what they called a sit-in. The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Monday that Mr Sadr's followers had effectively placed themselves outside the law and this would not be tolerated. The protesters said they were engaged in a peaceful sit-in in protest at the crackdown on their movement and there was no immediate sign of the UK coalition forces who control Basra, our correspondent says. "

"Richard Lugar and Joe Biden, the Republic and Democratic Party leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the US should consider postponing the handing over of sovereignty which at the moment is set for 30 June. The date is an important political deadline for the White House, which wants to be able to show the American people that it is making progress towards handing Iraqi affairs back to the Iraqi people. Democrat Senator Joe Biden talked over the weekend of the real prospect of civil war in Iraq if the White House sticks to the 30 June deadline for handing over sovereignty. "

"``Iraq is in danger of costing George W. Bush his presidency and the CPA's media staff are determined to see that does not happen,'' Robison said. ``I had the impression in dealing with the civilians in the Green Room that they viewed their job as essentially political, promoting what the Coalition Provisional Authority is doing in Iraq as a political arm of the Bush administration,'' he added. "

"Even the pro-US manager of Iraq's Pepsi plant feels betrayed by an occupation which has spawned fear, hatred and chaos. I figured that if there was anyone left in Baghdad willing to defend the Americans, it would be Hamid Jassim Khamis, the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company's managing director. I was wrong. "All the trouble in Iraq is because of Bremer," Khamis told me. "He didn't listen to Iraqis. He doesn't know anything about Iraq. He destroyed the country and tried to rebuild it again, and now we are in chaos." "

"The weapons inspectors had not finished their work in Iraq, they wanted a few more weeks, but war determined the agenda. The Taliban offered to hand over Osama bin laden, if the US provided evidence of his involvement in 9/11, the US refused, war determined the agenda. And ultimately oil determined the agenda. Blair shaking the hand of Gaddafi had nothing to do with forgiveness or reconciliation. Oil determined the agenda. Whilst the Blair visit was taking place, Western oil companies were negotiating future oil concessions in Libya. "

"Although the number of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq is rarely mentioned, previous estimates in the media have ranged between 2,000-3,000. The Pentagon now says that in the first year of war in Iraq, the military made over 18,000 medical evacuations - representing 11,700 casualties. We speak UPI’s Mark Benjamin who has been closely following the hidden U.S. casualties from the Iraq war. [includes rush transcript] "

"Over the weekend of March 13, 14 and 15, many Military Families Speak Out members participated in protests in Dover, DE and Washington, D.C. The weekend began Saturday evening with a get-together of members. There were about 25 of us that met for the evening. I must tell you about two families that I met. Both lost a son in Iraq. Both sons were only 24 years old (the age my youngest son Bryce went to Iraq). One son was killed in July and one in February. One family was from California and one from New Jersey. Unfortunately, they had the same story. Both wanted to meet the body of their son as he arrived at Dover AFB. The government denied both families! All they wanted to do was privately welcome their son's body home. So, not only is the press refused access to Dover, but grieving families are also denied access. "

"The US has condemned the killing and dismembering of four American civilian security contractors in Iraq. The White House said it deplored the "horrific attacks" but vowed the US would not be deflected from its mission to bring democracy to Iraq. US television networks showed only edited pictures of the incident, and did not broadcast pictures of the bodies being dragged through the streets. Television coverage of a similar incident during the US military presence in Somalia in 1993 caused widespread anger and revulsion among Americans. The US army subsequently withdrew from the country. US military officials in Iraq say there are now an average of 26 attacks against coalition troops every day, a figure which has increased over recent months. "

Quotes from US soldiers in Iraq, including "Did I honestly think doing this and coming over here was going to stop terrorism? No. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. There are no weapons of mass destruction that we've seen. These people didn't even have an air force. ... I didn't even see an army.”

"Five soldiers serving with the US-led coalition in Iraq have been killed in a bomb attack west of Baghdad, the US military has said. Their military vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device at the roadside in the province of al-Anbar. "

"At least 5 more U.S. G.I.’s were killed today in Iraq. Also 4 “civilian workers” form the the USA were attacked and slaughtered in a manner that recalls our nation’s defeat in Somolia. The mainstream account of these events below is not what the neocons and Bush were hoping for. Please share it widely. Peace and an end to occupation, jamie "

"The US military is blaming a mistake by a marine air controller for what is seen as the worst incident of so-called friendly fire during the Iraq war. Up to 10 US marines may have been killed by friendly fire during fighting around the city of Nasiriya, according to a newly published Pentagon report. The incident occurred during intense fighting around the city of Nasiriya. A US marine air controller on the ground called in air support to attack Iraqi positions - not knowing there were dozens of US marines there as well. "

"The British government may have gone to war to defend human rights in Iraq, but it is playing fast and loose with the lives of thousands of Iraqis living on its own doorstep. Iraqi refugees whose asylum claims have been rejected are now facing the prospect of forced deportation, following a Home Office ruling that Iraq is safe enough for them to return to. The Foreign Office continues to advise Britons that the country is too dangerous to visit. But the Home Office appears to disagree. The Home Secretary David Blunkett recently described northern Iraq as "generally overwhelmingly safe" and said that Iraqi asylum seekers had a moral obligation to return to their country to help rebuild it."

"American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad newspaper on Sunday and tightened chains across the doors after the occupation authorities accused it of printing lies that incited violence. Thousands of outraged Iraqis protested the closing as an act of American hypocrisy, laying bare the hostility many feel toward the United States a year after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. "No, no, America!" and "Where is democracy now?" screamed protesters who hoisted banners and shook clenched fists in a hastily organized rally against the closing of the newspaper, Al Hawza, a radical Shiite weekly."

"A poem recited on the first anniversary of the American-British invasion of Iraq outside the Canadian Parliament, Ottawa, Canada"

" "If I had known then what I know now, I would have voted against it," Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Friday. "I have admitted that my vote was wrong." "The decision got made before there was a whole bunch of intelligence," said Rockefeller, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "I think the intelligence was shaped. And I think the interpretation of the intelligence was shaped. "We had this feeling we could be welcomed as liberators. Americans don't know history, geography, ethnicity. The administration had no idea of what they were getting into in Iraq. We are not internationalists. We border on being isolationists. We don't know anything about the Middle East." "

"President George Bush sparked a political firestorm yesterday after making what many judged a tasteless and ill-judged joke about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A slide showed Mr Bush in the Oval office, leaning to look under a piece of furniture. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere," he told the audience, drawing applause. Another slide showed him peering into another part of the office, "Nope, no weapons over there," he said, laughing. "Maybe under here," he said, as a third slide was shown. "

"Women whose partners served in the Gulf in the early 1990s may have been more likely to suffer miscarriages in the years that followed, a study suggests. But researchers have rejected claims their babies were more likely to have suffered birth defects. They also found no evidence to suggest the women had higher stillbirth rates. However, the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association rejected the findings. "We must remember that this is MoD-sponsored research," said Tony Flint, its spokesman. "What we need is more in-depth studies to look at this and find out why these women are having more miscarriages." "

"A rocket has hit a hotel used by Western contractors and journalists in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Smoke rose from the Sheraton hotel , after the hit on the sixth floor, but no casualties were reported. The Sheraton and nearby Palestine hotels are surrounded by barriers and closely guarded by the US military. The Iraqi capital has been subject to repeated missile and bomb attacks, with 17 killed a week ago when a car bomb destroyed the Mount Lebanon hotel. "

"So eventualy, after getting some food from the corner shop I joined the march, which consdited mostly of one form of socialist or another, the Labour Party, SWP, SP, and some Trade Unions, all presumabley wanting to capitalise upon the spainsh election result, all stakeing a claim of electral worthyness. "

"We recognise what Spain has highlighted - that we must move from protest to politics. A month after two million people took to the streets last February to say in no uncertain terms that an attack on Iraq would be morally unjustified and politically irresponsible the bombs started falling on Baghdad. The message was loud and clear from the Government and official opposition: we have heard what you think and we are going ahead anyway."

"Exactly one year after the US and UK invaded Iraq, Britain’s huge, fervent but dripping-wet anti-war lobby returned to the streets of a grey and rainy London in its thousands to protest against Tony Blair’s "lies". London’s show of international defiance against the war on terror tied in with an extraordinary show of solidarity across the globe from Mumbai to Madrid, as street protestors marched alongside puppets of Bush and Blair through New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney. "

"On the day before the anniversary of the US led invasion of Iraq, a demonstration took place in Baghdad in tandem with protests around the world against the violence of the occupation. The protest was also a powerful show of unity between Sunni and Shia muslims. The marches started with the Shia's in Khadamiya, and the Sunni's across the river in Adamiya. The two groups met just as the Shia's came over the bridge, and emotions were high as they merged into one. They then walked for together to a public square where speakers denounced the occupation and called for unity between all Iraqis. "

"US Secretary of State Colin Powell has arrived in the Iraqi capital for a previously unannounced visit. He landed in Baghdad on the eve of the first anniversary of the start of the war that toppled Saddam Hussein. Mr Powell travelled to Iraq from Kuwait City, where he held talks with officials on the first leg of a Middle East tour, which will also take him to Saudi Arabia. "

"South Korea has cancelled a plan to send troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk next month, saying it is concerned about security in the area. The Seoul government says it still intends to send soldiers to Iraq but is looking for a different location. South Korea was preparing to send more than 3,000 troops - which would have made it the third largest contributor to the multinational force. Acting South Korean President Goh Kun has warned that the country could become a target for terrorist attacks because of its involvement in Iraq. "

"The air seems impossibly full for a second and then bursts with a roar, sending a tremor through the ground that shoots up the leg my weight is on, unbalancing me slightly, but the poker face doesn’t flinch. Young men start running past me towards the direction of the explosion. That’s when the shock hits me: I’ve learnt to ignore things blowing up behind me.

Unanimously people insist it was a missile. It came from the air. I ask everyone, did you see it yourself? No, no, they all say, but as we’re leaving there’s one who says he saw it. He points to his right, my left, opposite the demolished hotel, but behind the row of buildings which faced it. He says he was standing close to where he is now and he saw it. He thinks it was the Americans, as do all the men around him, all the people who came to talk."

"Life moves on, just about...2 bombs here yesterday, 1st one in the afternoon about 500 metres away from me, was 1st on the scene with my vid cam, fortunately not too bad damage wise, 1 poor kid with headwound, but that's 1 too many. I'm gonna take a stroll up to his house in a while and see how he is today."

"Shortages in key protective kit would have meant "severe" consequences if UK troops had come under chemical attack in the Iraq war, say MPs. The Commons defence committee says the Iraq operation was a military success. But troops had to cope with "real difficulties" caused by hurried deployment and inadequate supplies. A year on from the start of the war, a new BBC poll suggests 48% of Britons now think military action was right, with 43% opposed and 9% undecided. The ICM survey for BBC Two's Newsnight also suggests that 29% of people think Tony Blair told the truth about weapons of mass destruction. But 40% of those interviewed said he exaggerated but did not lie and 22% said he lied about the weapons threat. "

"A district judge has found that the non-violent actions of the 'Marchwood 14' were illegal, but the Attorney General's advice - which could have proved the war on Iraq was illegal - was irrelevant to the case.

The 14 volunteers were charged with Aggravated Trespass after they occupied tanks at Marchwood military base in the run-up to war last year. The charge relates to obstructing or disrupting a 'lawful activity'. Our lawyers claimed the Attorney's advice could show that the Government thought war was illegal when the protest took place. But DJ Woollard ruled the advice should be kept secret.

Our legal team is preparing an appeal on the grounds that we were denied a fair trial. We are yet to be persuaded that the illegality of the war was irrelevant. "

"An opinion poll suggests most Iraqis feel their lives have improved since the war in Iraq began about a year ago. The survey, carried out for the BBC and other broadcasters, also suggests many are optimistic about the next 12 months and opposed to violence. But of the 2,500 people questioned, 85% said the restoration of public security must be a major priority. "

"Spain's Socialist Party prime minister-elect has confirmed his intention to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said: "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster." The Socialist Party won a shock poll victory after voters appeared to turn on the government over its handling of the Madrid bombings. Spain, with more than 1,300 troops in Iraq, was supported the US-led war on Iraq despite much domestic opposition."

"Jack Straw has said he does not believe Britain has exposed itself to a greater threat of terror attack because of its role in the Iraq war. The foreign secretary was speaking just hours after it was announced Spain's socialist opposition had won power from the pro-war regime of Jose Maria Aznar. "

"You have to adopt a cost-benefit analysis. The one benefit is the removal of the Saddam Hussein regime from power in Baghdad, but the costs of that so massively outweigh it that the enterprise must be judged a failure and bankrupt. The costs can be calibrated in a hundred different ways, starting with the number of Iraqi people who were slaughtered (we don't know how many they were, because nobody was counting and, indeed, the US administration openly boasts that it can't be expected to count the number of Iraqis it killed); the number of maimed and wounded; the millions whose lives have been wrecked, who, even now, a year after the war, have no regular supplies of electricity or water and still lack basic necessities. And the vast majority are unemployed."

"There is now a call in both British Houses of Parliament to report the United States to the United Nations Security Council for breaching the Geneva Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention by supplying Saddam Hussein with the very biological materials which were the basis for war in Iraq. To read the text of EDM 300 and to check whether or not your MP has signed, see: http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=... "

"TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) Over the past few days, in the wake of the bombings in Karbala and the ideological disputes that delayed the signing of Iraq's interim constitution, there have been reports that U.S. forces have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern ports of Iraq. A reliable source from the Iraqi Governing Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mehr News Agency that U.S. forces, with the help of British forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive efforts to conceal their actions. He added that the cargo was unloaded during the night as attention was still focused on the aftermath of the deadly bombings in Karbala and the signing of Iraq's interim constitution. "

"TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) – Over the past few days, in the wake of the bombings in Karbala and the ideological disputes that delayed the signing of Iraq’s interim constitution, there have been reports that U.S. forces have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern ports of Iraq."

"Salah Hassan looks sad and very tired. The Al Jazeera cameraman, a 33-year-old father of two, is recounting his tale of incarceration in a soft and matter-of-fact tone. Sipping tea in the lobby of the hotel that serves as Al Jazeera's Baghdad bureau, he explains how on November 3 of last year he raced to the site of a roadside bomb attack on a US military convoy in Dialah, near the eastern Iraqi city of Baquba. While he was interviewing people at the scene, US troops who had previously taken photographs of Hassan at other events arrested him, took him to a police station, interrogated him and repeatedly accused the cameraman of knowing in advance about the bomb attack and of lying in wait to get footage."

"The Pentagon has awarded seven Iraq reconstruction contracts worth a total of about $130m (£72.3m) to consortia of US firms. The contracts cover management projects in six sectors ranging from oil to electricity and are part of a package worth $5bn. Payment will come out of the $18.6bn in funds for Iraq set aside by the US. Companies from nations that opposed the war in Iraq were not allowed to bid for these contracts. "

"Activists accused of chaining themselves to tanks have failed in their bid to get the Attorney General's advice on the Iraq war heard in court. The 14 Greenpeace protesters are charged with aggravated trespass and criminal damage at Marchwood Ports on 3 February last year. They group had said the protests were "necessary" to stop an "illegal" war. But a judge ruled that Lord Goldsmith's advice on the legality of Iraq war was not admissible evidence. "

"It is now almost a year after the war, which was supposed to bring "liberation" to Iraqis. Rather than an improvement in the quality of women's lives, what we have seen is widespread violence, and an escalation of violence against women. ... After the US attack and installation of the interim government, raising women's banner steadily continued: the Women's Ministry and various other commissions were created and a few women became so-called "authorities". And now that two years have passed since these events, who is to deny the fact that the condition of 99 % of women in Afghanistan has not seen fundamental changes? There are no longer Taliban who lash women because their hair or feet came out of the Burqa. But how can women go out unveiled and have normal life without the fear of warlords who annoy, insult and rape them like hunting dogs? "

"Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council is preparing to sign an interim constitution after an 11th hour dispute was apparently resolved. Shia members will publicly endorse the document after their most senior cleric gave his approval, despite reservations, Shia officials said. The ayatollah is understood to have objected to parts of the draft constitution agreed by the 25-member council. Five Shia members refused to attend a high-profile ceremony on Friday because of concerns about the power of minorities to veto a full constitution and the make-up of the rotating presidency. But Ayatollah Sistani is now said to be willing for the draft charter to be adopted without changes. "

"Twenty men slinging Kalashnikovs, Sterling sub-machineguns, and an assortment of pistols saunter down a main street in the Baghdad neighbourhood of al-Adhamiya one Friday afternoon. As locals watch anxiously, the men tear down pro-Baathist and anti-Coalition posters, which are a common sight in this predominantly Sunni district. They replace the posters by sticking up leaflets of their own, which vow attacks on "terrorists" and their allies in the name of a militia called the "Black Flag". "

"American forces are still conducting daily raids, bursting into homes and sweeping up families. More than 10,000 men and boys are in custody. According to a detainee database maintained by the military, the oldest prisoner is 75, the youngest 11. Many people have said that when they asked soldiers where their family members were being taken, they were told to shut up. A few hundred women have also been detained. "It took the Americans five minutes to take my son," said Fadil Abdulhamid. "It has taken me more than three weeks to find him." Adil Allami, a lawyer with the Human Rights Organization of Iraq, said security detainees had essentially no rights. None have lawyers, and most are denied visits. "Iraq has turned into one big Guantánamo," Mr. Allami said, referring to the United States military prison in Cuba where hundreds of terrorism suspects are being held, mostly without charges."

"The former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has declared that the war in Iraq was illegal, dealing another devastating blow to Tony Blair. Mr Blix said that while it was possible to argue that Iraq had breached the ceasefire by violating UN resolutions adopted since 1991, the "ownership" of the resolutions rested with the entire 15-member Security Council and not with individual states. "It's the Security Council that is party to the ceasefire, not the UK and US individually, and therefore it is the council that has ownership of the ceasefire, in my interpretation." "

"Iraq's US-appointed governing council is set to sign an interim constitution agreed after long talks last weekend. The signing ceremony was held over from Wednesday to allow three days of mourning for the victims of the bombings. The key differences which led to the delay in approving the final text included the role of Islam, women's rights, Kurdish autonomy, the future of paramilitary groups and the extent to which Iraq will be a federal state. "

"We are now putting the state on trial: They can't claim to have invaded Iraq for WMDs – because there don't seem to be any and it is looking increasingly apparent they knew this. They can't claim to have invaded Iraq to uphold the law, because it looks like they broke it themselves. They can't claim to have invaded Iraq out of concern for the Iraqi people, because many of the war advocates were the ones to helped Saddam stay in power in the 80s. They are running out of reasons. But they are only running out of reasons because the friction of resistance is wearing each paper-thin excuse away."

"Both Sunni and Shia leaders urged their followers to avoid sectarian violence. "We are facing critical hours and days ... so open your eyes against the plots of America and Israel to sow dissension," said Sheikh Moayad Naimi, a Sunni cleric. "If the two sides fight it's the Americans who benefit to find an excuse to stay in Iraq," said Sheikh Raed al-Kazemi, a Shia cleric."

"The United States has announced a multi-million dollar programme to strengthen security on Iraq's borders. The measures are designed to prevent infiltration by foreign militants. Paul Bremer, head of the US-led administration in Iraq, said thousands more border guards, backed by hundreds of vehicles, would be deployed. "

"It is as if bombs had been placed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Good Friday - with a few more for good measure at the Vatican and in Canterbury Cathedral. Yet even that comparison fails to convey the outrageous and sacrilegious impact of the blasts that killed scores of Iraqi Shia worshippers yesterday as they celebrated Ashoura, their most holy ritual."

"Al-Qa'ida has never uttered a threat against Shias - even though al-Qa'ida is a Sunni-only organisation. Yet for weeks, the American occupation authorities have been warning us about civil war, have even produced a letter said to have been written by an al-Qa'ida operative, advocating a Sunni-Shia conflict. Normally sane journalists have enthusiastically taken up this theme. Civil war. " Originally published as an Independent Portfolio article at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp... and reposted here at Indymedia.

"Britain's senior envoy in Iraq today predicted that UK and US troops would remain in the country for at least two years to cope with the threat to security. Tony Blair told the Commons that yesterday's attacks were "calculated acts of evil" designed to foment religious strife. "

"Iraq has begun three days of mourning for the 182 people believed killed in bomb attacks in Baghdad and Karbala. The near-simultaneous blasts came at the climax of a Shia holy festival. It was Iraq's bloodiest day since the war. Officials said that at least 112 people died in the holy city of Karbala and about 70 were killed in Baghdad. Iraqi leaders have called for national unity. They and the US have blamed the carnage on a man accused of links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. "

"So hell-bent were President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair to go to war that they were not only misleading the world by exaggerating Saddam Hussein's threat, they were also stooping to snooping on the United Nations for any scraps of intelligence to help line up enough votes to authorize war or, failing that, to discredit and ignore the world body, which is what they did in the end. Yet here we are, less than a year later, watching these two apostles of unilateralism turn to the U.N. to help extricate them from a mess of their own making."

"A number of explosions have hit the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Baghdad in what appears to be coordinated attacks on one of Shia Muslims' holiest days. Casualty figures are confused, but at least 30 people were reported killed in Karbala and at least 27 in Baghdad. BBC correspondents in Karbala said there were scenes of panic with victims being carried on makeshift stretchers and women trying to get children away. More than a million people had flocked to Karbala - 80km (50 miles) south of Baghdad - to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein in 680. "

"This can be easily adapted for your local MP, bringing notoriety where it is due. What has your local MP achieved since elected, the most memorable thing is probably the slaughter of 20,000 people. If you think people are think of something other than Iraq when they think of your local MP, adapt this poster, and make their criminal activities and warmongering the first thing associated with war mongers. Tory, Labour or Lib Dem - it doesn't matter - single out the war criminal." Plus an adapted version featuring Swindon MPs Julia Drown and Michael Wills.

"An Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran says Army officials at Fort Knox, Ky., refused him medical treatment after he talked publicly about poor care at the base, which helped spark hearings in Congress. Fort Knox officials charged that soldier, Lt. Jullian Goodrum, with being absent without leave and cut off his pay after he then went to a private doctor who hospitalized him for serious mental stress from Iraq, Goodrum said."

""These sick people with guns are seeking to start sectarian strife so they can consolidate their positions," said Adal Abd al-Mahdi of the Shia Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). "Their aim is to stop Iraqis from winning their sovereignty." A prominent Saudi Sunni cleric also condemned the blasts, warning that they were aimed at fueling sectarian strife among Muslims. "There might be infiltrators attacking the Shia to make it appear they are being targeted by Sunnis and the other way round. It is in the interest of both (Iraqi) Sunnis and Shia to agree on putting out this fire and not to react to such provocations," said Shaikh Salman al-Udah. "

"Legal affairs analyst Jon Silverman examines whether a case against five peace activists charged with criminal damage could lead to the attorney general's advice to the government before the war in Iraq being revealed. "

"The Australian government has been cleared of lying about the threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. A parliamentary inquiry said the government's presentation of the case for war was more moderate and measured than in Britain and the United States. "

"Ex-MI5 whistleblower David Shayler exposes the abuse of intelligence to justify war."

"A temporary constitution for Iraq has finally been agreed after days of talks by the country's interim leaders. Members of Iraq's Governing Council overcame differences to compromise on issues such as Islamic law, the status of Kurdish areas and women's rights. The draft charter will recognise Islam as one source of legislation rather than the only source, and give autonomy to the Kurdish minority for now. "

"Some UK Soldiers who served in Iraq have expressed fears for their unborn babies after claiming a number of child deaths are linked to anthrax jabs. There have been two miscarriages, three premature births, one still-birth and a medical termination associated with one Hampshire unit since last year. At least one of the parents had received the anthrax jab in each case. "

"Tony Blair will be challenged next week over allegations that he received British intelligence reports about the private conversations of Jacques Chirac in the approach to the Iraq war. Labour MPs will press the Prime Minister about a claim in a new biography which says he received "snippets of the French President's private conversations" when France and Britain were in dispute over the prospect of military action. Mr Blair accused President Chirac of scuppering a second United Nations resolution authorising a war."

"Tony Blair's insistence that the war on Iraq was legal suffered a blow yesterday when a former senior government lawyer broke her silence to challenge the assertion. Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the former deputy legal adviser at the Foreign Office, revealed in a statement that she had quit her post on the eve of the conflict because she disagreed with the Attorney General's advice."

"British soldiers have been accused of forcing a 16-year-old Iraqi boy to his death in a canal in Basra. A witness claims he and Ahmad Jabbar Kareem were among four youths captured by British troops in the city last May, driven to the canal and ordered across. Three survived, but Ahmad, who could not swim, drowned."

"A former Foreign Office adviser has come forward to admit she quit her job because she did not agree with the legality of the war on Iraq. Elizabeth Wilmhurst made a statement disclosing her name in the wake of recent press inquiries. She said she had not wanted to continue as deputy legal adviser at the Foreign Office because she "did not agree the use of force against Iraq was lawful". "

"Former foreign secretary Robin Cook has cast doubt on Clare Short's claims that the UK spied on UN chief Kofi Annan. He said he "would be surprised" if it were true Britain had intercepted the calls of Kofi Annan and he urged Ms Short to "put up or shut up". But former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said he was "not surprised" by the claims because he had been warned his office would be bugged. "

"Demagoguery is easy. It only takes reciting a few slogans that nobody can object to: “No to war”. “No to blood for oil”. “No to the occupation”. Like every right-thinking person, I subscribe 100% to those slogans, but I also feel that life is more complicated than that. As a result, in recent times I have found myself in conflict with many of my close friends over the war against the regime of Saddam Hussein (I refuse to say “the war against Iraq”, not yet). This article, inspired by a recent visit to Iraq, is my answer to them. "

"The former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq, Richard Butler, says his phone calls at the United Nations were bugged during his tenure from 1997 to 1999. He told Australian radio at least four UN Security Council members monitored his calls, and he would leave the UN building if taking a confidential call. "

"Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has said the decision to drop the trial of GCHQ whistle-blower Katharine Gun was taken for legal, not political reasons. Lord Goldsmith said the evidence backed up their charge that the Official Secrets Act had been broken. But lawyers no longer believed it possible to disprove Mrs Gun's defence of "necessity". "

"British spies were bugging UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's office in the run up to the Iraq war, former UK cabinet minister Clare Short has claimed. The ex-international development secretary said she had read some of the transcripts of his conversations. Ms Short said she recalled thinking, as she talked to Mr Annan: "Oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying." No 10 refused to comment and the UN said such spying would be illegal. "

"The former International Development Secretary, Clare Short, has claimed that British agents spied on the United Nations Secretary General in the run-up to the war in Iraq. She said she had seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations. Translator, Katharine Gun, walked free from court after charges of leaking a secret e-mail under the Official Secrets Act was dropped. Katharine Gun claimed the e-mail was from US spies asking British officers to tap phones of nations voting on war against Iraq. What do you think? Was it in the national interest? Should the UK have spied on Kofi Annan? Send us your views. "

"The trial of a British intelligence officer charged with leaking a top secret e-mail has collapsed. Katharine Gun, 29, who worked at GCHQ, claimed the e-mail was from US spies asking British officers to tap phones of nations voting on war against Iraq. She walked free on Wednesday when the prosecution dropped the case. "

"One of Israel's largest oil marketing firms has won a multi-million dollar tender to supply fuel to US troops in Iraq. According to a IsraelNationalNews.com report, the tender awarded to Sonol gasoline company, along with its foreign partner Morgantown International, is valued at $70-80 million. Information provided by the EIA states that in April 2003, there was some discussion of "reopening" the old oil pipeline from Mosul in Northern Iraq to the Israeli port of Haifa on its northern Mediterranean coast. The line, which was built in the 1930s, carried 100,000 barrels a day at its peak, but has been closed since Israel's establishment in 1948."

"The United States military is facing the gravest accusations of sexual misconduct in years, with dozens of servicewomen in the Persian Gulf area and elsewhere saying they were sexually assaulted or raped by fellow troops."

"Liberty is delighted that the Government has decided to drop the case against Katharine. We took her case on because we were appalled that a whistleblower who acted in good conscience should be threatened with imprisonment for exposing that our government had been asked by the US to act unlawfully and to undermine the deliberations of the UN Security Council. "

"On the question of Iraq, Tony Blair isn't so much a deceiver as someone who simply has no grasp of objective truth. The pretexts he has used over the war were so flagrant that it's hard to sympathise with anyone who ever believed them. And even the angry arguments over what the PM really knew about "45-minute" weapons are empty, since they assume that WMD were the real reason for the war. It is - and a year ago was - entirely clear that this was not so: as clear as the truth was at Suez, the episode that Iraq so much resembles. "

"Thirteen Iraqis died in another suicide bombing at a police station yesterday, this time in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, as Donald Rumsfeld flew into Iraq yesterday in a surprise for US troops. As the violence continued, the United Nations, in a long-awaited report, said it believed elections cannot be held in Iraq before the end of the year - news that could cause discontent among Iraq's Shia majority."

" A suicide car bombing has killed at least six people at a police station in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, reports say. The BBC's Stephen Sackur at the scene says a car exploded in a ball of fire in a Kurdish neighbourhood. The blast is at least the fourth since the beginning of the year to target Iraqi security services. "

"In Iraq's hospitals, children are dying because of shockingly poor sanitation and a shortage of medical equipment. In Baghdad's premier children's hospital, Al-Iskan, sewage drips from the roof of the premature babies' ward, leaking from waste pipes above." (Unfortunately you have to pay to view this article from the Independent's portfolio - but it is probably worth it)

"This is the culmination of over three months of research working with public sector workers in British Occupied Basra, interviewing, supporting and advocating for, workers in the oil, electricity and dock sectors and exploring the obstacles, attacks, and tools of empowerment available to Iraqi workers right now. Its very very long!..."

"UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been quoted by a Japanese newspaper as saying that elections in Iraq before the end of June was impossible. Annan told the daily Yomiuri Shimbun that although elections were essential, "there seems be to general acceptance of the fact that it is not going to be possible to arrange an election between now and the end of June." "

"A BRITISH soldier claims he witnessed colleagues beating and kicking an Iraqi prisoner of war who later died. He witnessed brutal treatment meted out to nine Iraqis arrested as suspected bandits. He said the Iraqi who died was put into stress positions and dumped in a toilet, where he was later found dead. "

"A FILM about the Algerian independence war of the 1950s, to be screened at an Old Town pub, will add to the current debate about the Iraq war, say organisers. The Battle Of Algiers portrays the war in graphic detail and shows how the French occupying forces and the Algerian resistance fighters were sucked into a cycle of violence and revenge. The screening has been organised by Swindon Socialist Alliance."

"After the two ambushes, foreign journalists and aid workers became nervous about taking the road through Mahmudiya, the main route south to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala. Ten months into the American occupation, the roads of Iraq are becoming more dangerous."

"The Army is paying students £200 a day to take a study break and join troops in Iraq as Arabic interpreters. Five students have already been sent to areas under British control and 11 more are in the final stages of preparation, the Ministry of Defence said. Their work includes translating documents and dealing with the public. "

"Shiite leaders are pushing a new plan for the transfer of power in Iraq that calls for partial elections, with balloting in the relatively secure Shiite and Kurdish areas but not in the more turbulent "Sunni triangle." The proposal, which has grown out of an emerging alliance between Kurdish and Shiite political parties, is part of the intensifying scramble for power among politicians before the United Nations announcement, expected this week, on whether election are feasible in Iraq. "

"The crowded halls look and sound like those of almost any American school - but Robert M Shoemaker High School in Killeen Texas is not just any school. It sits right next to Fort Hood, America's largest army base. Of the more than 2,000 students here, more than half have parents or relations who are involved in operations in Iraq. Students' grades have dropped, and more often than not, when they see a student whose grades have dropped across the board, that student has a parent who has deployed. "

"In the run-up to war, as the British were going through the motions of getting a second resolution through the UN Security Council, there was much speculation as to how the 6 non-permanent members of that body would vote. So high was the interest in this question on the part of the U.S. and British governments that a covert operation was launched to discover what the so-called Middle Six delegations were up to – and to head off any compromise proposal. The details of the U.S./UK espionage operation were exposed last March by the brave (and beautiful!) Katharine Gun, a former employee of the Government Communications Headquarters, GCHQ, Tony Blair's eavesdropping center. She faces up to two years in jail for leaking this memo from National Security Agency honcho Frank Koza to NSA personnel and "a friendly foreign intelligence agency," (i.e., British spooks). The memo describes a "surge" in surveillance efforts "against UNSC members Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters." Mexican and Chilean officials are now revealing that a secret meeting, held at the United Nations, where such a proposal was discussed, was bugged, along with the phones used by diplomats. "

Gil Loescher survived the suicide bomb that killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Special Envoy to Iraq. Here he describes the events of that murderous day, his fight to regain fitness after losing both legs and the impact of the blast on future humanitarian work. He says: "Opponents to the occupation identify the UN as taking sides and collaborating with the US. It does not help that the UN had implemented sanctions against Iraq for a decade."

"Former archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu says the "immoral" war in Iraq has left the world a much more unsafe place. "

Secretary of Swindon stop the war coalition lambast town's MPs for supporting war on Iraq. "Blair acted as Bush's poodle and Swindon deserves better than two MPs who act as fleas on a poodle. "

"Documents found on the four dead attackers indicated that two were Lebanese and that one was Iranian, the Americans said. The apparent nationalities of the attackers lent credence to claims by Iraqi officers that the attackers were trying to free a group of Iranians captured last week. After the attack on Saturday, a Falluja police captain said that Iranians had indeed been captured recently but that they had not been at the main jail at the time of the attack. "I think we still have five Iranians, but they were in another jail," Capt. Abbas Fathal said. If proved, the presence of Iranian agents inside Iraq would be potentially explosive here. Falluja is an Sunni Muslim city, where people are acutely sensitive to the growing political power of the country's Shiite majority. They are also wary of Iran, a Shiite country." You need to register and provide demographic information to access the NYT new archive, and remember, the Data Protection Act doesn't apply overseas!

"British soldiers called hooded Iraqi detainees by footballers' names as they kicked and beat them, The Independent on Sunday has been told. One of the Iraqis subsequently died. Adam Price, a Plaid Cymru MP, said he had been warned off visiting Basra next month to make further inquiries. "I will be given no protection and my safety cannot be guaranteed," he said. "The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has told me that if I do go I 'will be killed'.There seems to be a deliberate attempt to prevent the information reaching the public domain - because these are embarrassing headlines." "

"Photographs brought home from Iraq by a British soldier caused a scandal last year when he took them to be developed. One showed a prisoner of war, gagged and bound in netting, dangling from a forklift truck driven by a soldier. Others depicted squaddies performing sex acts close to Iraqi PoWs."

"Iraq and its neighbours have said the US-led occupation forces must withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible. At an unprecedented regional summit in Kuwait, they also urged the UN to play a greater role in post-war Iraq. Iraq also said it would press the US to hand Saddam Hussein over after the transfer of power and to change his prisoner of war status to face trial. "

"Tony Blair is sending the foreign trade minister, Mike O'Brien, to Washington to lobby for UK companies to be given more contracts to help rebuild Iraq. Most big deals so far have been awarded to US firms. Papers leaked to the Guardian newspaper suggest ministers' rising frustration over the situation. The Guardian quoted extracts of a briefing note from Gregor Lusty, the head of UK Trade and Investment's Iraq unit. "Several UK firms have already established a commercial presence in Iraq working for the ministry of defence. "But these firms are not able to work on CPA-funded [Coalition Provisional Authority] work unless their staff get DOD [US department of defence] contractor passes." "

"The inquiry into intelligence on Iraq before the war will focus on systems rather than the actions of individuals. The Butler Inquiry has also confirmed that all its hearings will be held in private to avoid giving the public a partial view of the evidence. The inquiry committee will start taking evidence in April but will only discuss its work when it reports in the summer. The Liberal Democrats say their refusal to take part in the inquiry has been vindicated by the latest news. "

"Although he was often lauded for being a "moderate" influence among the hardline right-wing cabinet members of the Bush administration, Colin Powell continues to spout lies and engage in the Bush-Cheney cover-up. Yesterday, he lost his cool when a staff member to one of the Congressmen shook his head in disbelief over Powell's defense of prewar statements on Iraq's WMD. "Are you shaking your head for something, young man, back there?" Powell snapped. "Are you part of these proceedings?" "

"A United Nations team has held talks with the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia Muslims on the possibility of holding early general elections. After two hours of talks with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the delegation head Lakhdar Brahimi said they agreed on the need for direct elections. Mr Brahimi said he and his team agreed with Ayatollah Sistani that general elections should be held. "[The ayatollah] is insistent on holding the elections and we are with him on this 100%," he told Reuters news agency. "Elections are the best means to enable any people to set up a state that serves their interest. "

"The Ministry of Defence is probing claims an Iraqi prisoner of war was beaten to death by a British soldier. The MoD said the Royal Military Police was investigating the death of an Iraqi man while in British custody - thought to have happened in September. The MoD said reports that a soldier could be charged with manslaughter were "pure speculation at this stage". "

"In one of the bloodiest 24 hours since the war in Iraq ended, a second powerful car bomb has exploded - this time killing 36 people in Baghdad. A US military spokesman said it appeared to be a suicide attack just outside an army recruiting centre. On Tuesday, a suicide bombing at a police recruitment centre south of Baghdad that killed at least 50 people. Insurgents appear to have changed tactics, now targeting Iraqi security forces, a US military spokesman said. "

"Saturday 30th October saw a demo organised by the `Campaign for Justice for Gordon Gentle`. Gordon was a young Scottish Fusilier who was tragically killed in Basra on June 28th this year. The rally of about 500, which was led by Gordon’s mother Rose and his sister Maxine, assembled at Pollok Centre at 12.30pm and marched along Braidcraft Road and Linthaugh Road to Lochar Park for a rally. Invited speakers included Tommy Sheridan MSP, Ewa Jasiewicz of Voices in the Wilderness and Reginald Keys whose son Thomas Richard Keys was killed in Iraq. Six labelled photos from the day are attached."

"Colin Powell, the United States Secretary of State, could learn a great deal from how his son has handled Janet Jackson's right breast. The singer bared her bosom during a raunchy dance with Justin Timberlake in the Super Bowl half-time show last week. .. It was left to Michael Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to declare his "outrage" and order a "swift and thorough" investigation, which could result in fines worth millions of dollars if CBS and its affiliates are shown to have breached indecency guidelines. Let's leave aside for a moment the value system of a government that can order an immediate inquiry into a bare breast and take a year to launch one into a bare-faced lie presented as a pretext for war. But one year, one war, no UN resolution and thousands of deaths later, we are still waiting for someone to pay the price for a conflict that never needed to start and sparked a resistance that shows no sign of ending."

"US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he cannot remember hearing the claim that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. The claim was a part of the UK government's September 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction arms dossier in the run-up to the war. "

"Without the 45-minute WMD deployment claim made by Blair, it is highly unlikely the UK and the US would have been duped into going to war. Now, as the heat goes up, the White House and Downing St. seem desperate to bury the evidence and cover their tracks...tracks that lead to a collusion between Bush and Blair."

"Since the recent introduction of Law Number 137 by the Iraqi Ruling Council, which is to remove the previous Personal Status Code and replace it with Sharia law, Yanar has exposed the serious threat to women’s lives and rights if Sharia is imposed and organized women and men in opposition to it. She has also spoken out and denounced Sharia law and called for the unconditional equal rights for women in a demonstration in Baghdad. The day after the demonstration, she received an e-mail titled “Killing Yanar within a few days”. "

A great cloud hangs over public broadcasting in Britain since Lord Hutton's trial and sentencing of the BBC. Yet for the journalist at the centre of the fuss, Andrew Gilligan, it's been a great week, as more evidence emerged that his story was essentially correct.

"The prime minister must make a formal statement setting out what he and his ministers knew about Iraq's weapons, the Liberal Democrat leader has said. The "mess of contradiction" from the government must be clarified, Charles Kennedy told BBC Breakfast with Frost. Ex-arms inspector Hans Blix should give evidence to the Butler inquiry into Iraq intelligence, Mr Kennedy added. "

"The UN team charged with exploring the feasibility of holding elections in Iraq before the end of June has pledged to help it on the path to independence. Members of a UN fact-finding team met officials of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council in Baghdad on Sunday at the start of their mission. The US has set 30 June as the deadline for handing back sovereignty. The Shia, a majority in Iraq, have been demanding direct elections, with their spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani leading the call. However, the US administration wants the new government selected by regional meetings - an approach already agreed with the IGC. "

"CIA director George Tenet has defended the gathering of intelligence later used to justify declaring war on Iraq. No-one told security officials what to say or how to say it, he said, adding: "We always call it as we see it." He said the intelligence services had never said Saddam Hussein was an "imminent threat" but stood by warnings about the future danger he could pose. "

"PEOPLE ACROSS Puerto Rico rallied to the side of "el Desertor Boricua"--and helped to save him from military prison after he was arrested and charged with desertion from the U.S. Army. Josean González joined the armed forces because he wanted to study medicine and hoped that the Army would help him. But his first months in the military--at a language school in San Antonio, Texas--turned out to be a nightmare. He faced racism and was subjected to physical and mental abuse. Desperate to get out, Josean got leave to visit his sick mother. There, he announced that he wouldn't return because of the abuse. The army classified him as a "absent without leave" (AWOL)."

"The Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon will be asked to explain more about the threat posed by Iraq before the war, when he appears before a committee of MPs on Thursday. He is likely to be asked why he knew the claim that Iraq could launch WMD within 45 minutes did not refer to long range weapons while the Prime Minister did not. The claim referred only to battlefield weapons being capable of hitting the UK or UK interests such as military bases on Cyprus. What did the 45 minute claim mean to you? What are your views? Send us your comments. "

"Prime Minister Tony Blair should resign because he failed to ask "basic questions" on claims made in his Iraq dossier, says the Tory leader. Michael Howard seized on Mr Blair's admission he did not know the claim Iraq could use weapons within 45 minutes referred to battlefield arms. Former Commons leader Robin Cook has said he knew before his pre-war resignation that the intelligence referred only to battlefield arms and it was difficult to believe that Mr Blair had not been told too. "

"South Swindon MP, Julia Drown, today met with Dr Barham Salih, Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government in Northern Iraq. Prime Minister Salih met a group of interested MPs in the House of Commons to brief them on the current situation in Iraq. He passed gratitude from ordinary Iraqi people for the action that Britain and the coalition took last year and the sacrifice that this involved. He was in no doubt that the action was warranted and worthwhile and stressed that the situation in Iraq is largely calm. He expressed his concern that the Western press is focussing unduly and almost entirely on the negatives. "

"Nine members of the public decided to use Prime Minister's Question Time today to question directly Tony Blair on the important issues of the occupation of Iraq, and the real reasons that the United Kingdom went to war. Refusing to be silent on hearing the Prime Minister's evasions on these important issues, each stood up and made one simple demand: "No more whitewashes, Tony!" "

By Dr Brian Jones who was formerly head of the branch within the Scientific and Technical Directorate of Defence Intelligence Staff that was responsible for the analysis of intelligence from all sources on nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. He retired in January 2003. "It is clear from the evidence to the Hutton inquiry that the experts of the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) who dealt with chemical and biological warfare, including those working directly with me, had problems with some aspects of what was being said in various drafts of the dossier that was published on 24 September 2002."

"The intelligence official whose revelations stunned the Hutton inquiry has suggested that not a single defence intelligence expert backed Tony Blair's most contentious claims on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.Dr Jones, who is expected to be a key witness at the new inquiry, says: "In my view, the expert intelligence analysts of the DIS were overruled in the preparation of the dossier in September 2002, resulting in a presentation that was misleading about Iraq's capabilities." "

"A former senior official at the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) has again voiced his concerns over the dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Dr Brian Jones told the Independent the DIS' "unified view" was for there to be careful caveats about assessments of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons. But, he said, they were over-ruled by the heads of the intelligence agencies, leading to a misleading dossier. "

"The Iraq War was justified, as we all know, by the systematic lies of politicians about "intelligence". How interesting to see the similar ways in which the ground was laid for the United States's invasion of Grenada in 1983 twenty years earlier"

"Nine members of the public decided to use Prime Minister's Question Time today to question directly Tony Blair on the important issues of the occupation of Iraq, and the real reasons that the United Kingdom went to war. Refusing to be silent on hearing the Prime Minister's evasions on these important issues, each stood up and made one simple demand: "No more whitewashes, Tony!" "

" "I don't know," was the bald reply of the Secretary of State when asked whether he would have argued for war under these circumstances. In the meantime, Vice- President Dick Cheney, the backstage architect of the war, still professes that weapons may be found, while two other prominent hawks, Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, have fallen silent."

"Lance Cpl. William S. Roy, granted immunity for his testimony, said guards often abused prisoners at the Camp White Horse detention centre. Roy testified on the sixth and last day of a preliminary hearing in the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, an Iraqi prisoner at Camp White Horse."

"There will be an independent inquiry into the intelligence which led Britain to war over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Tony Blair has told MPs. Mr Blair said there were issues over how intelligence was gathered and used by government. He said details would be given later by the foreign secretary. "

"Tony Blair has said the British government will hold an inquiry into the intelligence used in deciding to go to war with Iraq. He told a parliamentary committee that the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, would make an announcement about the inquiry later on Tuesday. President George Bush has said that he will launch a similar probe in the US. Do you think there should be an inquiry into weapons of mass destruction? "

"The government is to establish an independent inquiry into the intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. So what statements did the prime minister make about Saddam Hussein's weapons? Here are some of his key quotes - before and after the war. "

"On February 9, 1993 Department of Defense Directive 5105.58 created an intelligence office for the purpose of locating, characterizing and tracking Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, Smart Weapons and Conventional Weapons and associated facilities in Iraq and throughout the world through the use of spaceborn and airborne MASINT ( Measurement and Signature Intelligence) remote sensing technologies. This office is now known as the Central MASINT Oragnization. In 1996 the CMO created the Covered Lantern real time hyperspectral remote weapons detection system that can be deployed on unmanned aircraft. In Febuary of 2001 FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested in the most catastrophic espionage case in American history. What made Hanssen's spying so damaging was that he sold secret CMO documents to the Russians. At the time the news media widely reported that the CMO could detect and track nuclear, biological and chemical weapons anywhere in the world. Yet two years later, as we prepared for war with Iraq, the same news organizations apparently developed selective amnesia and completely forgot about the CMO and it's amazing remote weapons detection technologies. "

"Iraqi Kurds, some 15 per cent of the population, are the third largest Iraqi community and the only one wholly in favour of the US occupation. The suicide bombers want to show that anybody supporting the US will pay a terrible price. "

"Kurds in northern Iraq are in mourning after a double suicide bombing at the offices of their main political parties, that killed at least 56 people. Senior political figures were among the dead, and some 200 people were wounded, in the blasts on Sunday in Irbil. In virtually simultaneous attacks, the bombers hit the KDP and PUK offices packed with guests for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The KDP and PUK between them largely run northern Iraq and are strong allies of the US-led coalition which ousted Saddam Hussein. Irbil hosts the Kurdish parliament. "

We have seen nothing so far. We had hope before the war that things would improve but nothing is better. We are jobless, unemployment is high, there is so much crime and more religious division than we have ever known. Divisions existed before the war but they were limited. Now they are encouraged by the Americans. We need elections. Wee need to choose a government that reflects Iraqis. The Governing Council reflects different denominations, which is unjust, because we are all Iraqis.

Jo's postings from Iraq are always worth a read, because they show the people of Iraq as real living people, with hopes and fears and memories and experiences just like us in the UK - something which most other reports fail to do.

"Tony Blair is under mounting pressure to order an independent inquiry into the intelligence material used to justify Britain's role in the Iraq war. President George Bush is expected to launch a similar probe in the US. The Conservatives will table a Commons motion on Monday for an inquiry, a move also backed by the Liberal Democrats. "

"The Bush administration is to announce an independent inquiry into the use of intelligence material to justify the war in Iraq, say senior US officials. The BBC's Jon Leyne says that by giving the inquiry until next year to report back, President Bush may be looking to prevent the results becoming an election issue. "

"Bush & Co. noted that Americans and the world accepted the invasion of Afghanistan, the toppling of the government, and a subsequent puppet regime propped up by the US military. As any naughty child knows, if you get away with something once and it feels good, you do it again. So Bush & Co., greedy eyes (inter alia) on Iraqi oil, said America was again under attack (this time not quite yet, but imminently.) They assured us that war was a last resort, but chased out the UN weapons inspectors before they'd finished, dismissed Iraqi denials of WMD out of hand, and assembled an attack force of such size and expense that it clearly wasn't going to go home empty handed. Like a timid customer being hustled by a shady dealer to buy a wreck of a used car, few politicians had the confidence or the balls to stand up and demand, "Stop ! We need reason and solid evidence here, not just rhetoric, before you go smashing your way into yet another country." "

"Over the Christmas holidays I managed to find two US soldiers who were back from Iraq. They were both somewhat willing to be interviewed and describe their time in Iraq in their own words. One was imminently returning to Iraq within a few days and the other was home for an unknown length of time. Both knew at some point they would be returning to a bloody guerilla conflict, and they did not know if they would be coming back. I will present the interviews as they occurred, in the men’s own voices as they requested. I wanted to give them the opportunity to speak directly to the American people and the world. I have changed as little of the actual interviews as possible. I have left out some personal details, and any unit details, which might be used to identify these soldiers. I am dedicated to protecting them from military reprisals and harassment, and I have taken every precaution to keep their identity hidden. I will refer to them as O1 and O2. "

"The White House has acknowledged for the first time that its intelligence reports on Iraq might have been wrong. Until recently, US President George W Bush had insisted that weapons of mass destruction would be discovered. But now his National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, has given a round of interviews in which she acknowledges possible flaws in pre-war intelligence. The central argument used by the United States for invading Iraq was to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. But she brushed aside calls for an independent inquiry into the intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq last March. Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, she said, was a dangerous man in a dangerous part of the world and it had been time to do something about the threat he posed. "

"KHURY PETERSEN-SMITH visited Iraq at the beginning of January as part of a peace delegation organized by United for Peace and Justice, Global Exchange and Occupation Watch. A member of the Campus Antiwar Network, Khury spent a week in Baghdad, where he talked to families whose loved ones have been detained or killed in the U.S. occupation--as well as students, professors, labor leaders, doctors, lawyers, U.S. soldiers and others."

"Based on the Blair government's claim, headlines pumped the war hysteria: SADDAM COULD HAVE NUCLEAR BOMB IN YEAR, screeched the London Times. BRITS 45 MINS FROM DOOM, shrieked the Sun newspaper. Given these facts only a sissy pacifist, a lunatic or a Saddam fellow traveler would fail to see that Prime Minister "Winston" Blair had no choice but to re-conquer it's former Mesopotamian colony. But these headline were, in fact, false, and deadly so. Unlike America's press puppies, BBC reporters thought it their duty to check out these life or death claims. "

"Saw a lot of disagreement on whether to support the armed resistance in Iraq or not, but the social resistance is more important, sustainable and just as damaging to the ambitions of the occupation as the armed groups. US Soldiers coming home in bodybags by the dozen hasnt shaken US resolve or base-building here in Iraq at all. the occupaiton is expanding and refreshing itself (massive troop rotation expected in a few months, tens of thousands of would be defectors are being brought back and a new fresh round being swooped in). Below is the best news in ages - a win battled for primerally by Southern Oil Company workers in British Occupied Basra - for higher wages and a defiance of Bremer's slave wage table."

"The bomb ... came after a particularly bloody few days, with a dozen US soldiers killed since last Friday, most of them by roadside bombs. Two CNN staff - a translator and a driver - were also killed when they were ambushed south of Baghdad."

"Three people have been killed in an explosion in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The blast hit the Shaheen hotel on the banks of the Tigris close to the former US embassy shortly after dawn. "

"The former senior US weapons inspector, David Kay, has said intelligence that Iraq possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was false. Mr Kay, who resigned last week, told a Senate committee in Washington that failures had become apparent in US intelligence-gathering capability. "I believe that the effort that has been directed to this point has been sufficiently intense that it is highly unlikely that there were large stockpiles of deployed, militarised chemical weapons there," he said. "

"Human Rights Watch say the US-British attack on Iraq failed to qualify on a number of grounds normally used as a test of justified humanitarian military action. There were no mass killings going on; war was not the only option - legal, economic and political measures could have been taken; there was no evidence that humanitarian purpose was the main one for launching the invasion; the attack did not have the backing of the United Nations or any other multinational body, and the situation in the country has not got better. Human Rights Watch is a mainstream body with support across the political spectrum. It does not have a policy of opposing military action. "

"The United Nations has said it is willing to send a team of experts to Iraq to decide whether it will be possible to hold early elections. They will meet a broad range of Iraqis, Secretary General Kofi Annan said. But the mission will have to be cleared by UN security officials who will go to Iraq in the next few days, he said. "

"Today the criminal case against anti war activist Karl Debbaut was dismissed. 8 months ago, on the day the war began, International Socialist Resistance member Karl Debbaut was charged with ‘assault on a police officer in the execution of his duty’ whilst attending a school student strike against the war in Lewisham. "

"It is the bomb beside or under the road which has turned out to be the most dangerous weapon facing the US army in Iraq. It usually consists of heavy artillery shells detonated either by a command wire or from longer range by a remote switch such as a mobile phone or a car door opener. Combat engineers from the 82nd Airborne Division based near Fallujah had no warning before they came to Iraq last August that they would be responsible for the deadly task of searching roads for improvised bombs. "I never heard of this type of bomb until I came to Iraq," said Private Aaron Brown, a combat engineer in forward operational base Volturno outside Fallujah."

"Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says it is "disappointing" no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, but insisted the war was justified. He told BBC Radio 4's Today he believed the world was a safer place as a result of the removal of a "terrible tyrant". "

"In a joint report released Jan. 10, Occupation Watch and the National Association for Defense of Human Rights in Iraq (NADHRI) accused the U.S. military of ignoring "civilian needs and human rights" by refusing to compensate Iraqi civilians mistakenly injured or killed during combat situations, and concluded that the ineffective nature of the claims process emboldens U.S. troops to act with impunity. At particular issue is a bureaucratic claims filing process described as "Kafkaesque in nature," where many Iraqis walk miles to their nearest Civilian Military Operations Center (CMOC), submit to personal searches (in this report, all searches were conducted by male soldiers) and wait in endless lines for hours outdoors just to set up their first appointment. "

"A full inquest into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly is being considered, it has emerged. Nicholas Gardiner, the coroner for Oxfordshire where Dr Kelly died, says the Hutton report, due next week, will be "crucial" to his decision. Lord Hutton's report is into the circumstances of Dr Kelly's death. It had been thought the report would make an inquest unnecessary but Mr Gardiner told BBC News Online he would "have to consider" holding one. "

"Troops went to war in Iraq without the correct protection because ministers delayed ordering kit to keep Labour MPs onside, the Tories are claiming. Tory spokesman Julian Lewis told the BBC the go-ahead to prepare for war with Iraq only came in November 2002. This was late because ministers did not want to upset MPs who had been assured the UK wanted a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis, he argued. "

"The government is facing renewed calls for a full judicial inquiry into its decision to go to war with Iraq. It follows Wednesday night's Panorama programme, on BBC One, which contained a previously unseen interview with the late weapons expert Dr David Kelly. Dr Kelly said Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within days or weeks, rather than the 45 minutes mentioned in a government dossier. "

"The top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence has faced tough questioning from MPs about why some troops in Iraq did not get enhanced body armour. Sir Kevin Tebbit is being grilled after the widow of a soldier asked the defence minister to consider resigning. "

"The late government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly said it could take Saddam Hussein "days or weeks" to mobilise weapons of mass destruction. His view was at odds with the claim in the government's Iraq dossier that "military planning allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes". The interview was recorded for Panorama in October 2002, a month after the prime minister presented the dossier to parliament, but never broadcast. "

"Diplomats at the United Nations say the Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to send a team back into Iraq. It would examine the feasibility of an American timetable to hold elections there before the transfer of power in June. On Monday, the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, held talks with Mr Annan to try to persuade him to support the plan. Mr Bremer's hopes of gaining UN support however were set back by a suicide bomb at the weekend - which killed at least 20 and injured more than 60 people. Should the UN go back to Iraq? Should Nato have a role in Iraq? Send us your comments. "

"The British agreed governor of Amara, one a folk legend for his armed resistance against the Baath dictatorship, has lost the plot according to local people...this is a report rying to get to the truth of what really happened......... 'Unemployed youth came outside the city hall on Thursday. They'd been getting promises from the political parties for jobs. They'd lost all their patience. Most of them had been under pressure by the ex-regime, many had escaped from military service. The parties had told them that there'd be work for them from the governor. The governor told them he'd have jobs for them in two days. On Saturday, more people joined up. They were faced by the Iraqi police who fired on them directly. Kareem Mahoud, the Governor, gave an order to the police and his militia to fire onto the crowd. After a short time, old Baathists started to join up. How do we know who they are? We know all of them. They used the situation to loot the city hall, looted the hospital beside it, the medical stores. The governor himself was shooting people - now he's in hiding. People are demanding he be removed and that his militia's be arrested. "

"The United Nations is considering sending a team to Iraq to explore whether direct elections could be held before power is transferred in June. After talks with Iraq's interim leaders in New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said a decision would be made after final discussions. But a senior UN diplomat said Mr Annan had already decided to send a team. "

"Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is to meet the widow of a soldier who died in Iraq without the proper body armour. Sgt Steve Roberts, 33, was shot after handing back his flak jacket because there were not enough to go round. His widow Samantha has called for Mr Hoon to step down, claiming he has "blood on his hands". However, despite saying he was "extremely sorry" for Sgt Roberts's death, the minister has resisted calls for his resignation. "

"Innocent Iraqi civilians are being shot at, bombed, and killed at a quickening pace in recent weeks, but not by Saddam or "terrorist" forces. U.S. soldiers, increasingly nervous and afraid of imminent attack, have systematically followed a "shoot first, investigate later" policy. "

"Tuesday 20 January 2004 at 17:00 hours. Report of Legal Inquiry into Invasion of Iraq, Room U Portcullis House, House of Commons (Press Only). Report of the Legal Inquiry into the Invasion and Military Occupation of Iraq, following the inquiry held at LSE on 8/9 November 2003, conducted by a panel of eight professors of International law will be launched on Tuesday 20 January 2004. "

"The US administrator in Iraq is seeking a return of the UN to Iraq, in talks with the secretary general in New York. The move comes amid strong opposition from leaders of Iraq's Shia majority to US plans for the transfer of power to Iraqi hands without direct elections. Diplomats say Paul Bremer will urge Kofi Annan to tell Shias that elections cannot be held before a June deadline. The UN withdrew all staff from Iraq after a massive car bomb attack on its offices in Baghdad last August. "

"We were awoken this morning by a huge explosion, so loud that we thought it must have been nearby. The time was 07.50. We left our apartment and headed for the Hotel Palestine, thinking that would be the source of the explosion. On arrival we learnt from an Iraqi friend that the target was the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). This is located over the river from us, some 3/4 of a mile away. The road bridge was closed, however we accessed the bridge from the side steps. A number of ambulances were travelling at high speed to the scene, accompanied by police and military vehicles. A tank guarded the far side of the bridge. "

"Basra oil workers have joined Electricity workers in their threats to 'Shut Down Iraq' if their wages aren't corrected. Samir Hanoon, Vice President of the Basra Federation of Trade Unions explained: Negotiations with the GC and CPA are ongoing. We don not want to be in any hurry to take actions until the last result. In general, for the lives of people living in Basra, electricity is more important than food and water. After our discussions with unions in the oil section, we know we are capable of a total shut-down."

"TIKRIT, Iraq - The number of American service members who have died in the Iraq conflict since war started last March reached 500 Saturday after a roadside bomb exploded near Baghdad, killing three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi civil defense troopers. Two Americans also were wounded when a Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit the explosive device and caught fire on a road near Taji, about 20 miles north of the Iraq capital, said Lt. Col. Bill MacDonald, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division. "

"A top Iraqi Shia cleric has written to the US president and UK prime minister questioning their sincerity over the transfer of power to the Iraqis. Hojat Al-Islam Ali Abdulhakim Alsafi said the transition plan had more to do with US elections than Iraqi interests. The coalition says early elections are not feasible, and proposes an appointed government broadly representing Iraq's diverse religious and ethnic groups. The head of the Iraqi Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, has warned that the American-led occupation could go on for another two years if there is no agreement on how to choose a new government. "

"The defence secretary has said he is "extremely sorry" a soldier killed in Iraq had to hand back his body armour - but is resisting calls to resign. Geoff Hoon has agreed to meet Sergeant Steve Roberts' widow, Samantha, after she released her husband's audio diary. In the diary, Sgt Roberts told how he had to hand his armour to another unit because of kit shortages. "

"Kidnapping is now the crime of choice among gangsters in Baghdad. Colonel Feisal Ali, a veteran Baghdad policeman, said: "Criminals who used to steal gold and jewellery now specialise in kidnapping because it is easier and more profitable. Some actually maintain their own private prisons." "

"The widow of a British soldier killed in Iraq after having to give his body armour to other soldiers has called on Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon to resign. Sgt Steve Roberts, shot dead in March during an attack by Iraqi dissidents, recorded an audio diary in which he called supplies to soldiers "a joke." The 33-year-old soldier, from Bradford and with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, said it was a joke he did not have body armour to protect him. He had been ordered to hand his own armour back so they could be given to British infantrymen in Iraq judged to be more at risk. "

"Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been demonstrating in the southern city of Basra for direct elections to form a new government to run the country. The peaceful protest outside a mosque was organised by local clerics. The top Shia cleric Ayatollah Sistani has called for the new administration to be elected not selected. The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Basra said she did not hear a single shot fired - testament, she says, to the power of the Shia clerics, who had called for a peaceful protest. "

"The Pentagon's inspector general has reportedly been asked to investigate whether Halliburton overcharged the US military for fuel in Iraq. The request came from military auditors, Pentagon officials speaking on condition of anonymity have told the Reuters and AFP news agencies. Halliburton has said it has not been told of any new inquiry and denied any wrongdoing over the fuel oil sales. The row has embarrassed the White House as Vice President Dick Cheney was formerly Halliburton's chief executive. "

"US observers, including US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have continually worried in public about Iraq becoming a theocracy, and have rejected that option. But the American-appointed Interim Governing Council has suddenly taken Iraq in a theocratic direction that has important implications for women's rights. As reported here earlier, the IGC took a decision recently to abolish Iraq's civil personal status law, which was uniform for all Iraqis under the Baath. In its place, the IGC called for religious law to govern personal status, to be administered by the clerics of each of Iraq's major religious communities for members of their religion. Thus, Shiites would be under Shiite law and Chaldeans under Catholic canon law for these purposes. "

"A US Apache helicopter has come down to the west of Baghdad, US officials say. The helicopter appeared to have been shot down, a US spokesman told the AP news agency. Both crew members are reported to be safe. Elsewhere in Iraq, a US commander has acknowledged that American forces were likely to have been behind the killing 10 days ago of four Iraqis. And in south-eastern city of Kut seven people were injured in clashes during protests by unemployed Iraqis. "

"A report published by the US Army War College has criticised the war against Iraq as a strategic error. It also suggests that the Bush administration's global war on terror may be unsustainable. The report, by academic Jeffrey Record, has been dismissed by US defence officials, who say it does not represent the view of the US Army. "

"Tony Blair admitted yesterday that he did not know whether weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq. Asked on BBC's Breakfast With Frost whether he thought they would be discovered, Mr Blair replied: "I do not know is the answer." The Prime Minister said that on the issue of WMD: "You can't be definitive at the moment about what has happened." His words mark a stark contrast with his assertion before the war that Saddam Hussein was capable of launching a WMD attack within 45 minutes. He later said claims that Iraq had destroyed all its weapons were "palpably absurd"."

"A top official sacked from the US Government has accused President Bush of planning for an invasion of Iraq within days of coming to office. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Mr Bush was looking for an excuse to oust Saddam Hussein. As a member of the president's National Security team he said he never saw any evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Mr O'Neill also portrayed the president as unwilling to engage in debate - a charge rejected by Bush officials. "

"The Bush administration started making detailed plans for the invasion of Iraq within days of coming to office, with the President himself anxious to find a pretext to overthrow Saddam Hussein, a high-ranking former cabinet member said yesterday. The revelation is the latest in a string of potential embarrassments for the White House offered by the former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, who has gone on the record for a new book looking at his bumpy two years at the centre of US power, The Price of Loyalty. Mr O'Neill said invading Iraq was "topic A" at the very first meeting of President George Bush's National Security Council, 10 days after his inauguration on 20 January 2001, and continued to be an abiding theme in follow-up meetings."

"Three day riots in Amara follow unemployed riots in Basra organised by ex-army veterans. Riots persisted today in Amarra after Brits admitted killing one protester and Iraqi cops killed 5. Today protestors vowed to kill the mayor and avenge the deaths of their bretheren. Occupation Watch report from Occupied Basra "

"If Jessica Lynch, the fresh-faced West Virginia teenager turned international media icon, could be described as the accidental hero of the Iraq war, then Georg-Andreas Pogany is the accidental coward. His story, on the surface, seems unremarkable. Last September, after just two days on active duty in Iraq, he caught sight of the mangled body of a dead Iraqi soldier inside a white body bag. The body was ripped almost in two, with a large hole and strips of ripped flesh where the man's chest should have been. But a few hours later, the image returned and began to haunt him. He started shaking and vomiting and could not sleep. By the next morning, he thought he might be having a nervous breakdown."

"British forces in Iraq are examining the events that led to the deaths of at least five protesters in the southern city of Amarah. Iraqi police and British troops, who control the region, shot at demonstrators when their protest about job shortages turned violent. Some of the crowd were armed with grenades and stones. Order has now been restored in the Shia Muslim town, which has seen much less unrest than Sunni areas around Baghdad. "

"An Army officer who achieved fame for his speech to troops on the eve of the Iraq War has resigned. Colonel Tim Collins believes the Army is in danger of being "a glorified Home Guard" because of underfunding and bureaucracy he told the Mail on Sunday. Belfast-born Col Collins was widely praised when he told his soldiers: "If you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory." The Ministry of Defence would not confirm what was a "private matter". "

"A confrontation between police and demonstrators in the south eastern Iraqi city of Amara has left at least seven people dead. Hospital and police sources said six people were killed on Saturday after Iraqi policemen opened fire on a group of stone-throwing protesters. But locals insisted no one had attacked the US soldiers and that the troops had opened fire first on the protesters demanding the local governor find them jobs. "At 10.45 am, one Iraqi terrorist was killed during violent demonstrations in Amara," a US military spokesman said."

"Hundreds of US soldiers have carried out an overnight raid in Tikrit, home of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The commanding officer said 13 people suspected of involvement in attacks on US-led coalition force were detained. However, no arms caches were reported found, and five people on the army's wanted list were not detained."

"Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Bremer said that those released "must renounce violence" and have a guarantor responsible for their good conduct. He said he wanted to give some of those prisoners a fresh start. "In a gesture to give impetus to those Iraqis who wish to reconcile with their countrymen, the coalition will permit some currently detained offenders to return to their homes and families," he said. But he insisted: "This is not a programme for those with bloodstained hands." "

"This is a round up of the past few weeks (troops on high alert, 2 massive carbombs planted at the 'mouth' of Basra town, unemployed riots and the head of education in Basra declaring himself King, sorta) but today there was a pretty serious riot with 10 people shot - by Iraqi paramilitary plod and one demonstrator at least shot in the head and killed. The demo - 1500-2000 strong was made up of ex-soldiers fulfilling their promise to escalate their struggle for survival payments from the occupation Administration. Full report on this later."

"Andrew Smith MP for Oxford East is still a strong advocate for the war on Iraq. There is very strong evidence that British soldiers beat an Iraqi police man to death. I ask Andrew Smith to condemn this and take up the case to see justice done. No one hides the fact that most if not all the eight men picked up at the Haitham hotel - where British troops had earlier found four weapons in a safe - were brutally treated while in the custody of the Royal Military Police. One of Baha's colleagues, Kifah Taha, suffered acute renal failure after being kicked in the kidneys; a "wound assessment" by Frimley Park Hospital in Britain states bluntly that he suffered "generalised bruising following repeated incidents of assault"."

"Three soldiers have been discharged from the US army for mistreating Iraqi prisoners of war. The senior officer, Master Sergeant Lisa Marie Girman, 35, knocked a prisoner to the ground, "repeatedly kicking him in the groin, abdomen, and head, and encouraging her subordinate soldiers to do the same", according to military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Vic Harris. Staff Sergeant Scott McKenzie, 38, and Specialist Timothy Canjar, 21, were both found guilty of holding prisoners' legs apart while encouraging others to kick them in the groin. "

"The US army is introducing a series of measures to prevent soldiers serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan from leaving the service. Those who were planning to retire or leave in the next few months will now have to remain with their unit. The "stop loss order" to troops currently in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan means they will have to remain in service while their units are deployed - and for up to 90 days after they return to their home bases. "

"First of all I want to smile and express my deepest love for my entire human family and our infinitely beautiful and irreplaceable home; planet Earth. What I do I do for truth not lies; for justice not tyranny, for peace not war, for love not hate. And now I shall let my personal venom flow and commit the following act of defiance in condemnation of the illegal invasion and ongoing occupation and mass murder of the Iraqi people by my birth nation of the United States. The burning of my passport is an exercise in the inherent human right of self determination in accordance with international law after having my U.S. passport returned to me twice by the U.S. Department of State. My personal act affirms once and for all the lawful and undeniable completion of my renunciation of U.S. citizenship that began on March 1, 2001. I AM NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN! I am a lawfully registered World citizen in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) with ultimate allegiance to my entire human family and to planet Earth."

"CIA analysis suggests a new audiotape purportedly recorded by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is genuine. A CIA source told the BBC the finding was based on technical analysis of the tape, which was broadcast on Sunday. If authentic, it would be the first time Bin Laden has been heard from since a previous tape attributed to him was broadcast last October. The voice on the tape urges Muslims to fight "occupiers" and condemns Arab states which backed the US invasion of Iraq. "

"British troops will remain in Iraq for years not months, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said. "I can't say whether it's going to be 2006/2007," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Mr Straw insisted that if coalition forces were to pull out from Iraq now, there would be a security vacuum and lives would be put at risk. "

"Three peace campaigners from Swindon have just returned from a major international conference in Egypt against the US occupation of Iraq and against globalization. Over 1,000 people attended the event, mainly from Egypt. Around 100 people went from Britain." Includes the text of a paper presented by Swindon Stop the War Coalition secretary Andy Newman on the subject of demonstrations at USAF Fairford and in London in the run-up to and the early days of the 2003 Iraq war.

"The United Nations has effectively handed over control of Iraqi funds it administered to the US-led occupation force. The world body has transferred $2.6 billion to the Fund for the Development of Iraq, which is managed by the US-led occupation that spearheaded the war on Iraq last year and today occupies the country, an official UN source said on Thursday."

"TARIQ ALI, born in Lahore, Pakistan, is an internationally renowned writer based in London where he is the editor of New Left Review. He is a prolific writer, the author of more than a dozen books on politics and world history, including, most recently, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and Bush in Babylon, both published by Verso. In his spare time he's a filmmaker, a playwright and a novelist. He's a charismatic speaker and lectures all over the world. He spoke to David Barsamian on November 19 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. David Barsamian is the director and producer of Alternative Radio in Boulder, Colorado. He recently published Culture and Resistance, a book of interviews with Edward Said."

"Stan Goff is the author of Hideous Dream: A Soldier's Memoir of the U.S. Invasion of Haiti (Soft Skull Press, 2000) and of Full Spectrum Disorder (Soft Skull Press, 2003). He is a member of the Bring Them Home Now! coordinating committee, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, and the father of an active duty soldier. "

Egyptian newspaper reports the Cairo conference that was attended by 3 Swindon delegates: "A long term anti-war activist, Clark has initiated procedures to impeach United States President George W Bush and US Vice-President Dick Cheney for crimes committed against the Iraqi people during the war on Iraq. Clark was recently in Cairo to attend the second Cairo Anti-War and Anti-Capitalist Globalisation Conference, sponsored by the International Campaign against US and Zionist Occupations. The presence of prominent activists like former British Labour MP Tony Benn, among thousands of anti-capitalist activists, provided the city with an invigorating breath of fresh air. Thoroughly multinational -- representatives of Arab countries, Europe, Asia, the US and Australia attended the conference"