Iraq 2005 - news archive

In addition to the combat casualties suffered during a tour of duty in Iraq last year, an N.C. National Guard brigade also had to medevac 13 men back to a U.S. hospital after volleyball games left them vulnerable to one of the Iraq war's most exotic hazards – an outbreak of skin ulcers that can grow for years.

The victims, all men from the same small unit, contracted cutaneous leishmaniasis, characterized by weeping sores that refuse to heal, said Lt. Col Tim Mauldin, the brigade's top medical officer.

The illness is nicknamed "Baghdad Boil." At the time the guardsmen contracted it last year, the only way to treat it was to fly them back to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for up to three weeks of intravenous treatments with a drug called Pentostam.

The last hope for peace in Iraq was stomped to death this week. The victory of the Shiite religious coalition in the December 15 election hands power for the next four years to a fanatical band of fundamentalist Shiite parties backed by Iran, above all to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Quietly backed by His Malevolence, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, sustained by a 20,000-strong paramilitary force called the Badr Brigade, and with both overt and covert support from Iran's intelligence service and its Revolutionary Guard corps, SCIRI will create a theocratic bastion state in its southern Iraqi fiefdom and use its power in Baghdad to rule what's left of the Iraqi state by force.

THE 10 RAF servicemen involved in the Hercules air disaster were killed when their plane was shot down by enemy fire, an official inquiry stated. Eight of the crew were based at RAF Lyneham, near Chippenham and were in Iraq supporting coalition forces when their plane crashed in January.
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Defence Secretary John Reid told parliament on Thursday the board's findings showed three factors had contributed to the crash. Dangerous low-level daylight flying, the lack of a fuel tank safety system in the wing and insufficient robust information about ground-to-air fire all contributed.

· President accepts full responsibility for invasion
· Pentagon to plant pro-US stories in global media

A song by a US marine veteran about how George Bush sent soldiers to Iraq for a lie, and how he should go to fight his own war. Available as high- and low-resolution .wmv video with a slideshow of images, and also as a .mp3 file with audio only, and a .pdf file of the lyrics.

INSURGENTS in Iraq had already tried to destroy two helicopters only hours before they successfully shot down an RAF Hercules whose crew was not warned about the danger. Ministers yesterday admitted a poor flow of information was a cont- ributing factor to the crash of the aircraft during a low-flying operation.

This is an expose of the hypocrisy of the trial of Saddam Hussein, a man the West supported for many years, remember Tony Blair and George Bush are guilty of war crimes as well (the use of banned weapons like DU, cluster bombs, excessive force etc)

Speaking at the Iraq Occupation Focus Teach In (London, November 2005). Rahul is an American journalist who witnessed and reported on the onslaught in Fallujah in April 2004. He is publisher of the blog: http://www.empirenotes.org/

I would like to introduce America to Specialist Douglas Barber. Doug went to Iraq in April of 2003 and did not come home until January2004. Since he has been home he has lost everything both financially and spiritually. He has lost six jobs, an eleven year marriage and is in extremely dire financial straights. He is balancing on the edge of complete bankruptcy and is in the process of selling a lot of his material possessions just to stay a few steps ahead of the bill collectors. He is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and related depression and anxiety, with a whole host of coping and personal relations issues. Up till this point he has had extreme difficulty getting both treatment and access to disability benefits that he is supposed to be entitled to as a veteran of combat in a foreign country.

Despite US claims of progress in quelling the insurgency in Iraq, it remains as robust as ever and could grow a good deal stronger, according to a new study released Thursday. The study by two veteran defense analysts working for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy also said the US operation in Iraq was at a "tipping point" that will last for six to nine months. "I think the outcome of this tipping period is probably going to dictate whether or not the US effort in Iraq succeeds or fails," analyst Jeffrey White said at a lunch unveiling the report.

British mercenary firm with Pentagon contracts exposed in civilian shooting incident in Iraq. A souvenir video has surfaced on the Internet showing private security contractors working for Aegis Defense Services "Victory" Group firing indiscriminately at Iraqi civilian motorists in Baghdad. The video was reportedly taken by an Aegis employee and posted on a web site run by an ex-Aegis employee. The video has since been removed from the site. The video contains four clips showing Aegis mercenaries firing at civilian automobiles.

Swindon peace protesters are concerned about the rising death toll of British troops in Iraq. The death of Sergeant John Jones in Basra following a roadside bomb on 20 November 2005 has brought the number killed during operations in Iraq to 98. There have also been several hundred wounded. Secretary of Swindon Stop the war Coalition, Andy Newman, fears that the number may soon reach 100.

Anti-war activist Milan Rai was released earlier today from Lewes prison after serving 14 days of a 28 day sentence for non-payment of a compensation order to the Foreign Office. This arose from an action last year protesting UK involvement in the assault on Fallujah. Milan was in good shape and really appreciated the strong support he received whilst inside (over 300 cards and letters!).

The various talking heads, “experts” and the various members of congress were all saying the troops want more soldiers to be sent over to Iraq. They were also saying that the troops they had spoken to were not in favor of withdrawal.

I have interviewed numerous vets and soldiers going back to Iraq over the last few months. I can categorically state that at least 80% were opposed to sending any more troops over to Iraq. They were in favor of either immediate withdrawal or at least getting a timeframe established for withdrawal.

They feel that America as a whole is not listening to them or even giving them a voice in the current debates about Iraq. They feel that America is failing them when it comes to providing adequate health care and support when they return home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two women were arrested today while holding a bell-ringing ceremony outside parliament as part of an international peace event, to mark the anniversary of the release of the Lancet study on 29th October 2004 which estimated 100,000 people had died since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Similar ceremonies have and will be occurring in nearly 100 other communities around the United States and United Kingdom.

1.) Death Of 100th British Soldier Protest
2.) More Bristol Events
a.) 29th Nov : ‘Mulims, Civil Liberties & Peace’ Meeting
b.) 2nd Dec : Colombia Solidarity Benefit Night
c.) 8th Dec : ‘Healing The Wounds Of War’ Meeting
d.) 18th Dec : Yule Social Event For Activists
3.) The Bristol Peace Vigil

WIDOW Kellie Merritt, whose husband was one of ten Lyneham crew members to die in the Hercules crash in Iraq, has spoken out for the first time, controversially saying he died for a cause he didn't believe in.
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Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in the week the couple would have celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary, Ms Merrit said her husband didn't support the Iraq war. She said: "Paul died for a cause that he did not politically support, for a government he was not a citizen of, in a war our children were not aware of. "He questioned the legality of the war, the legitimacy of the so-called relationship between al-Qaeda and Iraq, and the ideology of a right-wing government who use fundamental Christianity as propaganda."

The Pentagon's admission - despite earlier denials - that US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon in Falluja last year is more than a public relations issue - it has opened up a debate about the use of this weapon in modern warfare. The admission contradicted a statement this week from the new and clearly under-briefed US ambassador in London Robert Holmes Tuttle that US forces "do not use napalm or white phosphorus as weapons".

Today the 11th November 2005 a small group of Southcoast people held a bell ringing event (100 times) as part of the '100,000 Rings for IRAQ' campaign to ensure that over 100,000 bells worldwide ring out for the people who have died in Iraq since the gratuitiously violent invasion, ongoing war and occupation that enables the west to profit.

Kurdish Iraqi writer and human rights activist Haifa Zangana gave a talk at the Appleton Tower in Edinburgh University on Wednesday 2nd November. Haifa is unhappy about the occupation of her country and she cannot be smeared as a stooge of Saddam as she was once imprisoned under his regime. She made the point that the West supported Saddam Hussein for many years until he outlived his usefulness.

A SOLDIER from Swindon who helped rescue two SAS men in Iraq is back at his Wiltshire base. Philip Tollafield, 19, arrived back at Tidworth army camp this week.
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The soldier and others from the King's Royal Hussars, hit the headlines in September after breaking into an Iraqi prison where the captured SAS were being held illegally. Philip was in a Warrior armoured vehicle, which smashed into the prison's walls.

Jan Benvie, a schoolteacher from Fife, spent 5 and ½ weeks in Baghdad with a delegation from Christian Peacemakers (CPT) this summer. She gave a talk about her trip to a small group at St Francis Xavier’s Church Hall in Falkirk on Monday 31st October. Christian Peacemakers are an organisation composed of Quaker, Mennonite Churches and other Christians that support non-violence - their website is www.cpt.org - and their motto is "Getting In the Way.”

Students from Edinburgh University held a naming of the dead and die-in ceremony on Saturday 29th October. The names of some of the many Iraqi dead were read out near the McEwan Hall in Bristo Square followed by a walk to the US Consulate in Regent Terrace carrying a dummy WMD.

Those assembled outside the consulate were reminded that the Lancet report of 100,000 dead was now a year old and the true figure was now likely much higher. US General Tommy Franks had insensitively said, “We don’t do body counts.” However the American military does count its own dead and the number recently reached the 2,000 mark. Yasmin, from an Iraqi background, spoke that the term `resistance is futile ` should be replaced with the phrase `resistance is fertile`.

The following is an exclusive interview with long-time activist and writer Milan Rai. Milan is the author of ‘War Plan Iraq’ and ‘Regime Unchanged’ and a leading member of Justice Not Vengeance ( http://www.j-n-v.org ). He is an advisor to UKWatch and a contributor to the UKWatch blog.

This is a 920 word article about a talk given by freelance journalist and activist Ewa Jasiewicz at Glasgow's Caledonian University recently. 9 labelled photos and several relevant websites are attached.

The survey was conducted by an Iraqi university research team that, for security reasons, was not told the data it compiled would be used by coalition forces. It reveals:

• Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified - rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province;
• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;
• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;
• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;
• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;
• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

What’s ignored and not discussed is the fact, the United States government, as I documented in my book, was complicit in all of Saddam Hussein’s major crimes, beginning in 1963 with a coup. The CIA gave names to the Ba’ath [Party]. Five thousand communists and leftists were massacred. 1975, when Saddam, the Shah [of Iran] and the United States made a deal. Saddam turned on the Kurds and drove 150,000 Kurds into exile, killed thousands. When Saddam invaded Iran with the encouragement of the United States and then used poisoned gas on the Kurds and the Iranians with direct military intelligence support from the United States.

These are the major crimes.

Yet these aren’t even part of the trial.

What’s being tried is a 1982 massacre, which is, no doubt, a crime. It’s a massacre of 150 people in a small town north of Baghdad, in retaliation for an attempted assassination of Saddam Hussein.

But I think that it’s very revealing that the major crimes aren’t even being discussed because it immediately raises the issue of United States complicity…

This is an 800 word report with 9 labelled photos and 6 labelled press clippings of the 24-hour vigil held by families bereaved by the war in Iraq. 3 photos of long-time protester Brian Haw are also included.

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has made a defiant appearance at his trial in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

He faces charges relating to the mass killing of more than 100 Shia men from the Iraqi village of Dujail in 1982.

At the trial the former Iraqi leader pleaded not guilty and questioned the validity of the proceedings. The trial was adjourned until 28 November.

Do you think Saddam Hussein's trial will help Iraq move forward? Can he get a fair trial? Do you think he should face the death penalty? Are you an Iraqi and if so what do you think? Send us your views.

The peace camp was due to remain in Whitehall for at least one night. The familys talked to the media before going to lay flowers at the gates of Downing street to remember their lost loved ones. Their lawyer addressed the gathering to explain the legal situation to everyone.

This was a dignified and symbolic gesture by the bereaved to demonstrate their determination to the assembled media. So why the f?ck did the MET mobilise a FIT team to intimidate them??? This was not a demo, the relatives and sympathetic MPs numbered about 12, there were about the same number of photographers and journos.

In the coming weeks the MET bosses will be encouraging their minions to ware a poppy to remember our war dead. Yet at the same time they are filming and photographing grieving relatives like criminals. Hypocrites.

The British government has decided to release new claims about the role of Tehran in the attacks on British troops in Southern Iraq. These latest assertions, emanating from defense sources, claim that Iran's Revolutionary Guard trains bomb-makers in Iran and Lebanon who then go to Basra to attack British forces and train others in the use of hi tech roadside bombs.

A FATHER-OF-THREE who saw children die in the Gulf War was a changed man when he returned to Swindon, an inquest heard. Royal Engineer Andrew Davies sank into a depression after serving in the Middle East and his family are convinced he was the victim of Gulf War Syndrome.

The prime minister told reporters, "What is clear is that there have been new explosive devices used not just against British troops but elsewhere in Iraq. The particular nature of those devices led us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah". Learning from being exposed over the WMD lies revealed by the infamous Downing Street Memo, he made sure to add the disclaimer, "However, we can't be sure of this at the present time."

In what must be one of the most ironic statements of all time, Blair said, "There is no justification for Iran or any other country interfering in Iraq"

It will take at least five years until Iraq can produce a substantial quantity of oil, the chairperson (1) of a large British drilling company predicted a few days ago. What the US imagined before the outbreak of the Iraq war in the spring of 2003 – that Iraqi oil production would pay for the rebuilding of the country – has not proven true. On the contrary, an American expert claims (2) that production has fallen below the pre-war level and that nothing can quickly change this. The case of Iraq demonstrates that the US strategy to secure the oil supply with military action is an illusion.

It is unclear how many civilians have been killed by insurgents in Iraq, although the Iraqi government says there were 1,594 civilian deaths as a result of bombings, assassinations and armed clashes with insurgents during the first six months of this year. Deaths among the Iraqi security forces during the same period totalled 895.

Those who join insurgent groups have a variety of goals. As well as seeking to expel foreign forces from Iraq, some are resisting the marginalisation of Sunni Muslims by the Shia-dominated government, while others are fighting for control of strategic areas such as Kirkuk. Some see themselves as being engaged in a global struggle for Islam.

Not only is Bush's Iraq War not worth the cost of our dead soldiers and the hundred thousand dead Iraqis, it is also not worth the staggering cost in cold cash. The Iraq War is the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of the United States. And the dunce who started it is the political prostitute GW Bush, whose every move is controlled by his corporate pimps.

AS the mother of a soldier serving in Iraq I have come to the conclusion that your letter confirms my suspicion that you are not only anti-Army but truly oblivious to the situation in Iraq.

I FEEL obliged to point out some omissions in the article "Now that was our brave boy," published in the Adver, Sep 22. I understand that a local newspaper will want to write a positive human interest story about a local person but this article almost read like a MoD press release.

PROTESTERS from Swindon were among the thousands that descended on London this weekend urging the government to remove British troops from Iraq. Around 20 people, from people in their early twenties through to an 80-year-old World War Two veteran, boarded the bus in Regent Circus before making their way to join the crowds at Whitehall.

Swindon Stop the War Coalition spokesman, Andy Newman, said: "We were slightly disappointed with the turnout from Swindon but you never know how many people will turn up for these type of events."
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"Our soldiers have been there for over two years now and it is deplorable that there is no exit plan," he said. "And that is not just anti-war groups, the military is also calling for plans to be made. It was sending a clear message on the eve of the Labour party conference that the Government needs to make its decision."

A SOLDIER from Swindon has been hailed a hero for his part in the daring mission to rescue two SAS hostages in Iraq. Phillip "Tolly" Tollafield, 19, of Toothill, drove the 25-ton Warrior armoured car ­ pictured in TV reports ­ that smashed into the jail where the troopers were held.

Stop The War spokesman Andy Newman said: "The events of the last 24 hours have left every British soldier in Iraq in greater danger and have made it even more complicated to reach a peaceful and just solution. We may never know the truth about what these SAS men were doing in Arab dress with explosives, but the resulting confrontation between Iraqi police and British military is a disaster."

A deadly week in Iraq / Iraqis flee as fears mount of more U.S.led strikes on cities / Insurgents Assert Control Over Town Near Syrian Border / Basra protests / Annan: Iraqis’ right to life in peril / Security Contractors in Iraq Under Scrutiny After Shootings / Iraqi farmer describes assault by seven British soldiers / Reporters at risk / Sergeant Jailed in Iraq Abuse Case / Iraq rebuilding under threat as US runs out of money / Pressure grows for troop withdrawal / American support for Iraq war at all-time low / Upcoming events / “Voices from Occupied Iraq”: An International Teach-in

British army tanks raided an Iraqi police station on Monday night to get back the two soldiers in Arabic clothes arrested on Monday. It was discovered that the pair had been handed over to local Mehdi Army militia and they were later rescued from a house in Basra...

Plus video footage of the aftermath in the police station and clips of the two arrested SAS men. MPEG format, 15.4MB, 3.5 minutes.

Statement one: "In a statement last night the defence secretary, John Reid, said: "I am pleased to be able to say that the British servicemen who were seen being injured in the graphic photographs are being treated for minor injuries only and are expected to return to duty shortly. We remain committed to helping the Iraqi government for as long as they judge that a coalition presence is necessary to provide security."

Statement two: "An official from the Iraqi interior ministry said half a dozen tanks had broken down the walls of the jail and troops had then stormed it to free the two British soldiers. The governor of Basra last night condemned the "barbaric aggression" of British forces in storming the jail."

Fact: "the two undercover soldiers - almost certainly special forces - were held by Iraqi security forces after clashes that reportedly left two people dead and threatened to escalate into a diplomatic incident between London and Baghdad.The soldiers, who were said to have been wearing Arab headdress, were accused of firing at Iraqi police when stopped at a road block."

So what is really going on in Iraq??

Demonstrators in the southern Iraqi city of Basra hurled projectiles and Molotov cocktails at British troops, setting two tanks ablaze according to reports from the scene...

A BLACK WATCH soldier has been decorated with the Queen's Gallantry Medal for saving the lives of eight colleagues following a suicide bomb attack in Iraq.

Private Michael Mc- Laughlin, a medic with the 1st Battalion The Black Watch, based at Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster, risked his own life to tend to the wounded soldiers when a suicide bomber attacked his platoon in North Babil in November 2004.

Despite coming under heavy mortar fire, Pte McLaughlin, who was then only 19, remained with the casualties throughout.

All eight soldiers survived after being airlifted to safety by an American helicopter.

Three activists including Ewa Jasiewicz and Stephen Barnes appeared at Thames Magistrates’ court in Bow Road, East London on Wednesday 14th September. Ewa and Stephen who were arrested for ‘Aggravated Trespass’ – during an occupation of Windrush’s offices in London last December – argued that they were attempting to prevent a crime, namely the illegal sell-off of Iraqi assets.

British forces have suffered approximately one thousand casualties since the invasion of Iraq and the total is likely to keep increasing as the conflict intensifies.

I must regretfully admit that before my son was killed, I didn't publicly speak out against the invasion/occupation of Iraq. I didn't shout out and say: "Stop! Stop this insane rush to an invasion that has no basis in reality—don't invade a country based on cherry-picked, prefabricated intelligence and contemptible scare tactics!" I didn't stand up and scream: "Congress, don't you dare abrogate your constitutional rights and responsibilities! Do not, under ANY circumstances give the keys to our country to power-drunk, irresponsible and reckless maniacs!"
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Well, Casey, my son, my hero. Well, Dr. King, the hero of millions, I pledge to be the kind of extremist who works for peace with justice and who will never take "No" for an answer. I will strive to hold the bad people in our government accountable for all of the heartache and emptiness they have caused our world by their deliberate lies and deceptions and by their misuse of power and their abuse of our nation's precious human resources. I will be the kind of extremist who believes that our country can be taken back from the corporatocracy and unethical war profiteers that have control of it now. I will be the kind of extremist who believes that the people of Iraq can rebuild their own country without the dangerous "help" of the American military presence and I will be the kind of extremist who strives to bring our kids home from the Middle East immediately.

If there ever was a time in our nation's history that required the passion and compassion of extremists, it is now: This very minute.

What kind of extremist will you be?

THE situation in Iraq is getting worse and worse. Wednesday, August 31, 2005 was the worst day of the war so far when 1,000 innocent civilians were killed in one day. There is no progress being made towards any restoration of law and order. It is time to admit that we have made a terrible mistake and bring our troops home.

Iraq buries its dead but recriminations from the stampede have barely begun / How the US got its neoliberal way in Iraq / US forces, fighters clash in Iraq town / Haditha under fire / Troops Target Homes in West Iraq / US probes killing of Iraqi by marines / Iraq general says US troops shot him / Tens of thousands languish in jail / “No special consideration for journalists” / Radioactive Wounds of War / Iraqi unions face threat to independence / People falling ill from contaminated water / Condemnation of scheduled executions / Iraq war “costlier than Vietnam” / Iraqi hospitals ailing under Occupation / Economic Occupation of Iraq on Trial / Upcoming events / “Voices from Occupied Iraq”: An International Teach-in

Eye surgeon Thamir YasenIRAQI surgeon Thamir Yasen has spoken of his shock that a bridge he crossed daily has been the scene of a tragedy.

Nearly 1,000 people died on Wednesday after a stampede at a holy shrine, apparently triggered by rumours of an imminent suicide attack.

Many were killed attempting to flee the area by jumping off a bridge and into the River Tigris.

As a medical student in Baghdad, Mr Yasen ­ an eye specialist at Swindon's Great Western Hospital ­ used to walk over the bridge every day.

The Foreign Office's top official warned Downing Street that the Iraq war was fuelling Muslim extremism in Britain a year before the 7 July bombings, The Observer can reveal. Despite repeated denials by Number 10 that the war made Britain a target for terrorists, a letter from Michael Jay, the Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, to the cabinet secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull - obtained by this newspaper - makes the connection clear. The letter, dated 18 May 2004, says British foreign policy was a 'recurring theme' in the Muslim community, 'especially in the context of the Middle East peace process and Iraq'.

Constitution crisis / US Attacks Continue in West Iraq / US bombs Tel Affar despite parliament speaker’s warning / Government minister lashes out at US / Sabotage halts south Iraq oil exports / Death of Iraqi brothers sparks anti-U.S. rage / Death of Iraqi brothers sparks anti-U.S. rage / Secrets Of The Morgue / US Army Planning for 4 More Years in Iraq / Housing problems increase as conflict hits / Iraq “most stressed and oppressed” country / Boys trapped in sex trade / State firms on privatisation block / Audit: Iraq fraud drained $1 billion / Veterans for Peace speak out / Occupation and resistance / IRAQ OCCUPATION FOCUS TEACH-IN / IOF/ Red Pepper 2005 Open Poetry Competition / Upcoming activities

Stock prices of Halliburton, Exxon, British Petroleum, Boeing (and other war-related companies) have doubled since the Iraq Invasion.

Written by Cindy Sheehan, who has been camped outside George Bush's ranch for two weeks.

The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey to help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting words in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have been known for sometime as a person who speaks the truth and speaks it strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a hypocrite. Now I am urged to use softer language to appeal to a wider audience. Why do my friends at Camp Casey think they are there? Why did such a big movement occur from such a small action on August 6, 2005?

There was a suicide bombing in our neighbourhood, Kerada, targeting a restaurant used by policemen. In the morning some team members went to the Ministry of Interior. When they got there, a little late, they learned that there had been a mortar attack just a short time earlier. We also heard a very loud explosion at 9.30pm – we thought it was nearby because of the noise, but apparently it was in the Green Zone (where most of the government offices, US embassy, UK consulate etc are). One of our translators witnessed someone being shot in their car on his way home, and we know there were other incidents.

TONY Blair tried to deny the connection between the London bombings and the illegal attack and invasion of Iraq. This was despite evidence to the contrary from, among others, the British Joint Intelligence Committee, the CIA, and the Chatham House Organisation, not to mention the Stop The War coalition.

We often witness the irony of self fulfilling prophecy and the strange karmic, ‘what goes around comes around’ sort of cosmic justice. To the chagrin of dreamers, dreams sometimes do come true. So can lies, hysterical delusions, and fabricated threats.
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The dream of building a Western democracy in Iraq was either immensely stupid or just another lie. Pick the latter, that’s the truth. There was never any such intent just like there was never any such intent in Haiti, Guatemala, or anywhere else.

Only last month Saddam announced he was to sue The Sun newspaper after it published pictures of him in his Y-fronts. And heavyweight Alex ­ a legal hotshot and member of Walcot Amateur Boxing Club ­ was asked to fight The Sun's corner. But it seems he will not have to deliver a knock-out blow after all ­ Saddam has done that himself. His family have issued a statement announcing that the team has been sacked.

A few days ago I visited Sadr City, a sprawling, poverty stricken suburb of Baghdad, home to some 2.5-3 million people. It is difficult to describe what I witnessed. Neither words nor photographs (3 attached) can adequately depict the living conditions.

The World Tribunal on Iraq met in Istanbul from 24-26 June 2005. The principal objective of the WTI is to tell and disseminate the truth about the Iraq War, underscoring the accountability of those responsible and underlining the significance of justice for the Iraqi people. Here is the final declaration of the jury of conscience


I. Overview of Findings
II. Charges
A. Against the Governments of the US and the UK
B. Against the Security Council of the United Nations
C. Against the Governments of the Coalition of the Willing
D. Against the Governments of Other Countries
E. Against the Private Corporations which have won contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq and which have sued for and received "reparation awards" from the illegal occupation regime
F. Against the Major Corporate Media
III. Recommendations
International Law Appendix

While George W. Bush and Tony Blair have consistently re-assured their electorates that all possible precautions have been taken to protect civilians in the conflict in Iraq, they have provided no data to support this. The Iraq Body Count has compiled information from media reports over a period of two years. With the release of their dossier on civilian casualties 2003-2005, founder John Sloboda spoke to Three Monkeys Online about the project, the methodology, figures, and unanswered questions.

COULD someone in a higher echelon than myself, ask Prime Minister Blair, is this the safer world which he and President Bush envisaged when they waged war on Iraq?

THE wild assertion by Brian Utting (SA July 13) that the London bombings are not a response to the UK involvement in the Iraq fiasco is not shared by most political commentators.

A massive demonstration against this illegal war by UK citizens was ignored by Tony Blair, as was the sound advice by the French and German governments that this matter should be resolved by the United Nations.

NO one supports the bombing in London. But many ordinary British people are equally angry with Tony Blair. He took us into an unwinable war against the wishes of a million marchers in London and overwhelming views of the British people.

"Cost of the war": a cliché to normalize the carnage, like the anaesthetizing term "collateral damage" and that new semantic horror, "torture lite." And yet the "cost of the war" report, by now a hackneyed convention of American journalism, includes only American casualties—no Iraqis—itself a violation of the American mainstream media's own professed commitment to "objectivity." Three years of "anniversary" articles in the American media adding up the so-called "cost of the war" in Iraq have focused exclusively on Americans killed, American dollars spent, American hardware destroyed, with barely a mention of the Iraqi dead as part of that "cost."

Later, at the Karbala office of Iraqi Human Rights Watch, Hussein Al Abrahemy placed a cluster bomb on his desk. Citizens, he said, had unsuccessfully requested many times that the US military retrieve the WMDs they had dropped. Daisy cutters too, with cluster bombs, were still being found throughout the city. Children thought the yellow devices were toys. So on April 3, a committee headed by Ali Hamza of the Muslim Peace Team finally decided to dispose of the ordnance itself. Attempting to clear a school yard, Ali Hamza was killed. The Army promised compensation, but the family has received nothing. Responding to American inaction, the Community of Victims' Kin was founded, demanding that 5% of Iraq's oil revenue be distributed among war victims' families.

Have you heard the name of the little girl Hannan Salih Matrud? Or of the boy Ahmad Jabir Karim? Or Sa‘id Shabram?

Yes, our dead have names too. They have faces and stories and memories. There was a time when they were among us, laughing and playing. They had dreams, just as you have. They had a tomorrow awaiting them. But today they sleep among us with no tomorrow on which to wake.

We don’t hate the British people or the peoples of the world. This war was imposed upon us, but we are now fighting it in defense of our selves. Because we want to live in our homeland – the free land of Iraq – and to live as we want to live, not as your government or the American government wish.

MP Michael Wills has refused to answer questions from me stating in the past that I don't live in north Swindon.

I don't live in London either but I have had letters from a London MP. The last letter I had from him, he said Julia Drown would answer it.

Over four years gone by and we have 88 dead in Iraq now and I am still waiting for this letter.

These politicians to get votes will say anything. As the Royal British Legion says, remember the dead but don't forget the living.

“To most ordinary Iraqis it is evident that life over the past year has been getting worse” / Occupying forces on rampage in western Iraq / Iraqi MPs, student unions call for end to occupation / Treatment of detainees evokes Hussein Era / Meanwhile... US to expand prisons across Iraq / Abductions in Kirkuk / Water shortage adds to Iraqis’ misery / And there’s a food shortage as well... / Fallujah: ongoing atrocity / “We can’t kill them all”: Occupiers’ military campaign bogged down / Mounting domestic pressure on Bush / British and US campaigners seek truth / “Our Home in Iraq” appeal / THE G8 SUMMIT - 2–8 JULY, SCOTLAND: Bush and Blair will be there, will you? / Other events

Wednesday 29 June saw the meeting of two groups of corporate pirates at the Paddington Hilton Hotel....


Inside of the hotel the Iraq Petroleum Conference 2005 was getting underway. This is a two-day gab fest attended by oil executives and technical staff from the Iraqi Oil Ministry as well as from Western major oil corporations. The conference is sponsored by, inter alia, BP and takes place in the context of continuing moves from occupying powers in Iraq to privatise the Iraqi oil industry.

On the outside of the conference were an entirely different group of Corporate Pirates. Dressed in full pirate paraphenalia they sailed into Paddington in a giant pirate galleon. Armed with cutlasses, treaure chests and free-market-maps of Iraq they were here to show the conference in its true colours - an act of corporate piracy. Singing pirate shanties and banging drums they called on the surrounding general public to join them in their opposition to the conference inside.

On the basis of the preceding findings and recalling the Charter of the United Nations and other legal documents, the jury has established the following charges against the Governments of the US and the UK:

• Planning, preparing, and waging the supreme crime of a war of aggression in contravention of the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg Principles.
• Targeting the civilian population of Iraq and civilian infrastructure
• Using disproportionate force and indiscriminate weapon systems
• Failing to safeguard the lives of civilians during military activities and during the occupation period thereafter
• Using deadly violence against peaceful protestors
• Imposing punishments without charge or trial, including collective punishment
• Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
• Re-writing the laws of a country that has been illegally invaded and occupied
• Willfully devastating the environment
• Actively creating conditions under which the status of Iraqi women has seriously been degraded
• Failing to protect humanity’s rich archaeological and cultural heritage in Iraq
• Obstructing the right to information, including the censoring of Iraqi media
• Redefining torture in violation of international law, to allow use of torture and illegal detentions

This Wednesday 29 June, the Corporate Pirates will be out en masse to protest at the Iraq Petroleum Conference 2005. The protest is taking place at the Hilton, Paddington, London. Assemble Edgware Road tube at 10.30am. Organised by Corporate Pirates and Iraq Occupation Focus. Come dressed as a pirate (if possible!) and look out for the pirates' galleon...

Amongst many other shenanigans, the pirates will be singing the following sea shanty to the tune of "what shall we do with a drunken sailor". Join us!

The newspaper has been translating various articles of mine into Turkish and running them, particularly those concerning the most recent Fallujah massacre. The report who was interviewing me today told me that the former American consulate here, Eric Edelman, asked the Prime Minister of Turkey to pressure his paper to not run so many of my stories.

"Why did he do this," I asked him.

"Edelman said it was the wrong news," he told me with a smile.

Turns out Edelman also asked that articles by Robert Fisk and Naomi Klein not be run so often in Yeni Safak either.

While we were writing this report , Dr .H Al-Aaloossy , the director of Al-Qaim General Hospital sent a call for help (June 20,2005) to the international community asking for lifting the military siege imposed by the American and British troops on Al-Qaim and the neighboring areas, and to let the ambulances evacuate the wounded. He also called upon these troops to stop the blood bath, and to let water, electricity, and medical help reach the civilians. He said that tens of families are buried under the rubbles and no medical help can reach them. He confirmed that the majority of the casualties were civilians, women and children

The document now known as the Downing Street memo is a summary of a meeting between Richard Dearlove, the head of British intelligence, and senior Bush Administration officials. It dates from July 23, 2002, just as the Bush Administration was starting to make a case for invading Iraq but before it had officially declared its intention to do so. The memo was leaked to the Times of London, which published it on May 1, 2005 in the midst of Prime Minster Tony Blair’s reelection campaign. The British media has reported on this memo and its implications, but the mainstream media this side of the Atlantic has neglected this story with impunity. Only now are media outlets beginning to look into this document. Congressman John Conyers held a public hearing in Washington DC on June 16 regarding the memo and its implications. Here we will look at the text of the memo and summarize what it says and its significance.

The Corporate Pirates are calling a protest outside ‘Iraqi Petroleum Conference 2005’ 29th June, The Hilton, Paddington. Meet 10.30am, Edgeware Road tube. After their successful week of action against Windrush Communications in April, the pirates have turned their attention to the carve-up of Iraq's oil resources. And this time the Pirates will have two spectacular pirate galleons ready to do battle...

The Downing Street memos have brought into focus an essential question: on what basis did President George W. Bush decide to invade Iraq? The memos are a government-level confirmation of what has been long believed by so many: that the administration was hell-bent on invading Iraq and was simply looking for justification, valid or not.

Away from the bloody battlefields, Iraq is being plundered through the brutal economic reconstruction of a country already bombed to submission and starved by years of sanctions. This article examines the corporate takeover of post-Saddam Iraq, set in the context of a violent expansion of neo-liberalism and argues why its crucial activists in the UK take up the issue in the run up to the G8.

Four Catholics were on trial on June 6th, at Bow Street Magistrates Court, London. They were convicted of ’Criminal Damage’, for their actions on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, 28th December 2004, when they had begun to convert the front lawn of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) building on Whitehall into a war cemetery in memory of the dead of the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq

US-led forces’ Iraq mandate extended / U.S. offensive around al-Qa'im creates humanitarian crisis and alienates local allies / U.S. death toll surges amid rebel violence / Iraqi troops refuse to attend U.S. army training / Iraqis face ‘Kafkaesque’ process to obtain compensation from US / Rice interrupted by enactment of Abu Ghraib abuse / Privisation and resistance in Iraq / Iraqi living standards in worrying decline / 11 British soldiers face charges over Iraq death / Mercenaries in the line of fire / At least 8,000 looted treasures still untraced / New anti-war film available on DVD / Upcoming events / Winning entry from IOF poetry competition

A US judge has ordered the Bush administration to release more than 100 new photographs and videos of abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib, creating a fresh public relations nightmare for government officials as they seek to rebut accusations that the US is sponsoring torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

Saddam Hussein's morale has collapsed as reality has dawned of the gravity of the charges against him, the head of Iraq's special tribunal said yesterday.
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The man who ruled Iraq for 30 years and 11 former top aides face 12 charges carrying punishments from life in jail to the death penalty. They are expected to include the gassing of Kurds, the invasion of Kuwait and the suppression of uprisings. The judge's comments followed increasing vocal demands from Shias for a swift public execution. The death penalty was suspended after the US-led invasion, but revived by Iraq's interim government last August, reportedly with Saddam in mind.

A second British soldier could face charges over the death of an Iraqi civilian as senior army commanders brace themselves for damaging new revelations about army behaviour in Iraq. A formal military hearing on Friday will consider evidence against Lance Corporal Barry Singleton, 23, following an investigation into claims that he fired his gun 12 times at a driver who tried to speed through a checkpoint. A decision on whether to press charges, which could include murder, against Singleton could coincide with an announcement to Parliament by the government's most senior lawyer, Lord Goldsmith, that as many as 11 soldiers will be charged in connection with the death of another Iraqi civilian.

Thursday 2nd June 2005 saw peace campaigner Brian Haw clock up his 4th anniversary in London’s Parliament Square. Brain has been on a one-man 24/7 vigil for Iraq since June 2nd 2001 and while at first he counted days now he counts years. How much longer can he go on? “As long as it takes.” is what Brian, a father of 7, says.
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I myself saw Brian on Wednesday May 25th 2005 and I took some photos, which I attach. I asked Brian for a quote and what he would say to people who were downhearted at not being able to stop the war and are now discouraged from further action.

Brian said: “We’re discouraged? What’s it like for people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you realise they’re being wiped out like the Native Americans and WE are responsible, just like the people of Hitler’s Germany were. It’s an awful responsibility being American or British as our governments are committing genocide; what are we doing to stop it?”

He went on: “Personally I can’t live with it, I can’t see how anyone can who is aware. Are we aware or do we have our head in the sand as nations are exterminated in our name – each one of us is a unique part of the answer. What am I doing? What more can I do? We shouldn’t have gone home and sat down after February 15th 2003. We have to get up now or answer for it, we are each responsible, Love, Brian.”

Interview with a soldier deploying to Iraq for the second time.

"There is no glory in this war; there is only tragedy and death. We’re paying the price of this with our blood and sanity; we are losing our lives, not the people at home. Think about that the next time you cheer for the war. Remember that the next time you call us heroes, and wave your flag proudly and put all your stickers on your car or truck."

Kevin Sites is the journalist who captured the moment when a young US army marine shot an equally young insurgent inside a mosque in Falluja in November last year. Sites' video, broadcast around the world, caused a storm. For some it showed an American soldier executing an insurgent, proof of the brutality of war, of the US army and of its soldiers. For others, it highlighted the perils faced by US troops, from booby-trapped insurgents taking cover in mosques to the threat of an embedded liberal media.

For Sites, it posed other questions: of how to reconcile the need for truth and honesty with the sense of responsibility to the troops around him, of how to honour his duty to minimise harm through his reporting.

IN the recent general election Mr Blair was heard to say words to the effect, `Hey guys, let's draw a line under the Iraq issue and move on.' Well, the 88th British soldier has just been killed in Iraq. The thousands of British troops now in that country have to cross that line and put their lives on that line to do their daily duty, and I'm sure that they'd love to move on too.

Up to 11 British soldiers and officers are under investigation for alleged war crimes over the death of an Iraqi civilian in British custody, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Military lawyers are considering the charges as part of a major inquiry into allegations that members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment beat Baha Mousa, a hotel worker, to death in September 2003.

Do the people of Iraq have the right to defend themselves against violent foreign invasion and occupation by any means at their disposal against an aggressive and rapacious enemy enjoying overwhelming military superiority?

This is a right Americans unquestionably would invoke were their country invaded and occupied by a foreign power. They would take whatever measures were necessary to defeat the enemy and force it to withdraw.

The United States government supports this position and recognizes its validity in relation to all other nations invaded by foreign aggressors — except when it is Washington that initiates or supports the invasion of another sovereign state. By White House whim, the subject state loses its right to self-defense.

Everyday we read about yet another "suicide car bombing" in Iraq. But who is really committing these crimes? The US Military continuously puts the blame on those dreaded "insurgents" whoever they are. But information has now come forth putting the blame back on those pointing the fingers. You guessed it--the US Military.

Newsweek ran a sensational claim based on an anonymous source who turned out to be completely wrong. While one can't blame the subsequent violence entirely on this report, it's fair to say that credulous reporting like this contributed to a climate in which many innocent Muslims died. The inaccurate Newsweek report appeared in the magazine's March 17, 2003 issue, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq. It read in part:

Saddam could decide to take Baghdad with him. One Arab intelligence officer interviewed by Newsweek spoke of 'the green mushroom' over Baghdad—the modern-day caliph bidding a grotesque bio-chem farewell to the land of the living alongside thousands of his subjects as well as his enemies. Saddam wants to be remembered. He has the means and the demonic imagination. It is up to U.S. armed forces to stop him before he can achieve notoriety for all time.

The Sun has published new pictures of Saddam Hussein - and two of his top lieutenants - a day after it showed the ex-Iraqi leader in his underpants.

The newspaper said it was proud to run the photos it described as "iconic images", despite claims they breached Saddam's human rights.

A British tabloid has published pictures of a half-naked Saddam Hussein, causing US military condemnation. The pictures appeared to breach the Geneva Convention on treatment of prisoners of war. But the Sun newspaper defended its action, saying a US military source handed over the pictures to deal a blow to Iraqi resistance. What is your reaction to the Sun pictures? Was the paper right to publish them? Or do you agree with US criticism of the images? Send us your comments

Occupation still mired in violence / Al-Sadr emerges from hiding to denounce occupiers / Disillusioned Iraq vet uses photo album to show America the real face of war / Anti-war candidates take votes from Labour in UK election / Basra Oil Union Organises Historic Anti-Privatisation Conference / Americans still hold the reins in Iraq / Pentagon looks to block disclosure of future scandals / US facing growing struggle to find willing foot soldiers / More dirty tales of where the money’s going / Upcoming events / Winning entry from IOF poetry competition

Responses to a detailed survey conducted by a United Nations agency and the Iraqi government indicate that everyday conditions for Iraqis in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion have deteriorated at an alarming rate, with huge numbers of people lacking adequate access to basic services and resources such as clean water, food, health care, electricity, jobs and sanitation.

"This survey shows a rather tragic situation of the quality of life in Iraq," Barham Salih, Iraq's minister of planning, said in statement, adding: "If you compare this to the situation in the 1980s, you will see a major deterioration."

Accustomed only to hearing ‘positive’ pro-war sound-bites from the Administration, Americans were taken aback by George Galloway’s frank oratory. Facts are his defense in the face of monumental lies and his accusers expose themselves, while attempting to disgrace him. Here are some of the quotes from British MP George Galloway as he confronted his accusers on a US Senate sub-committee.

I had the privilege of interviewing independent journalist Dahr Jamail this Monday; Dahr has spent a lot of time as an unembedded journalist in Iraq. Dahr is a US citizen born in Texas but who now lives in Alaska. Dahr has an Arabic name because his great grandparents on his father’s side are from Lebanon. His parents and himself were brought up in the US. He felt outraged at first the way Bush stole the 2000 election and on the disgracefully biased reporting up to and during the war. He first came to Iraq in November 2003 and has made a total of 4 trips totalling 8 months.

His last trip was February this year but he is not going into Iraq this time because of the extremely serious security situation.

George Galloway had vowed to give US senators "both barrels" and after sitting - coiled - through an hour-and-half of testimony against him, he unloaded all his ammunition. Far from displaying the forelock-tugging deference to which senators are accustomed, Mr Galloway went on the attack.

Much of the post-war corporate activity in Iraq has come under heavy criticism from many different fronts. There are accusations of corruption, bribery and nepotism as well as simple incompetence - the jobs just aren't getting done... So what is all the `reconstruction' activity in Iraq really about? Supposedly post-war Iraq is a neo-liberal utopia, an economy freed of the tiresome and inefficient burdens of government regulation. Yet an examination of this same economy may lead one to conclude that the system as it stands is rampant with inefficiency. Indeed Iraq's economy today looks less like an economic utopia than a giant money-laundering operation...

"Will Tony Blair finally be made to pay the price for Iraq? / Reports that attacks have increased since the election / Weapons sites looted while the US bungled the hunt for WMD / IOF t-shirts – only £10 / More Europeans pull out / Iraqi workers organise against the corporate profiteers / Human rights abuses still rampant / Doctors warn of increasing deformities in newborn babies / US troops assault assembly member / Upcoming events / Film of IOF teach-in now on the web / Winning entry from IOF poetry competition"

Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell is where most of the Reservists and TA’s being sent to Iraq are mustered. The Blair Government orders these troops to fight an illegal, unjust and murderous war. Many tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed as a result of the invasion of Iraq.

Nottingham Stop the War Coalition picketed the main entrance of Chetwynd Barracks so as to reach out to service personnel and their families. We wanted to persuade them not to support the war in Iraq. They have a legal right to become conscientious objectors.

2.00 p.m Assembled at the car park in the shopping area on Nottingham Road. Then we marched up Swiney Way to the main entrance of Chetwynd Barracks. Banners erected, speeches made.

Downing Street has published the full advice it received on the legality of the Iraq war, after fresh media leaks. It shows that the attorney general told Tony Blair on 7 March 2003 a second UN resolution was the safest legal course. Ten days later Lord Goldsmith's advice to MPs included no legality concerns.

Attorney general's advice on 7th March 2003: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/28_04_0... (You need the free Acrobat reader from http://www.adobe.com/ to open this file)
The advice presented to parliament on 17th March 2003: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/f...
BBC readers' comments: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/h...

Cadiz, Spain — Do people who peacefully protested against the illegal war in Iraq deserve to be branded criminals and thrown in jail? Prosecutors in Spain think so and want to lock up five Greenpeace activists. For four years.

SOUTH Swindon's Labour candidate has come under fire for refusing to say whether she supports Tony Blair's decision to invade Iraq. Anne Snelgrove is one of 17 new Labour candidates who are refusing to state whether they agree with the war. Ms Snelgrove was asked to state her views as part of a national survey of Labour's 48 candidates who are defending seats in which an MP is standing down. The survey found that only four candidates would publicly back the Prime Minister's decision.

Today (9th April) marks the second anniversary of the seizure of Baghdad by invading US forces – the moment generally seen as marking the transition from war to occupation. But, just as the number of coalition casualties during the past two years far exceeds those inflicted during the three-week invasion, so for Iraqi civilians, occupation has proved far more bloody and devastating than the brief ‘war’ proper, and recent reports of their continuing suffering can be found below.

It is not surprising, then, that Iraqis chose to meet today’s grim anniversary with “the largest anti-American demonstration since the US-led invasion” (Press Association, 9th April). “Chanting ‘No, no to the occupiers’, tens of thousands of young and old men gathered in the poor Shia district of Sadr City on Saturday to begin a planned peaceful march to al-Firdos Square, the central Baghdad spot where Saddam’s statue was torn down two years ago.”

Iraqis take to the streets in protest as occupation enters its third year / 70% of Fallujah destroyed / Infant malnutrition twice as common after occupation / The mercenary viewpoint: shooting people is ‘fun’ / Prisoner abuse approved by top US commander / Cronyism and corruption blight US-led ‘reconstruction’ / The corporate invasion of Iraq (New IOF Factsheet) / Journalists continue to face grave dangers in reporting the real face of occupation / More soldiers refuse to serve / US military families march / Upcoming events / Film of IOF teach-in now on the web / Winning entry from IOF poetry competition

"The first days of April were designated a `Week of action against the corporate pillage of Iraq' by a group known as the Corporate Pirates. We report back on how that week of action has gone..."

THE message on the wreath gave a simple message ­ To Daddy. Missing you from head to toe. Poppy. This came from the seven-year-old daughter of Flt Sgt Mark Gibson who died after the Hercules from Lyneham he was travelling in crashed in Iraq in January.

Photos of a Week of Action Against the Corporate Plunder of Iraq, 1st-6th April 2005, Organised by Corporate Pirates.

Set 1: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/308108.html
Set 2: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/308086.html
Set 3: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/308076.html

WHAT are we doing poking our noses into other people's countries. Let the Arab countries sort out their own affairs. Get our troops out. If Mr Blair wants troops out there let him and Mr Wills MP send their sons.

TERRITORIAL Army Private Robert Brandon is putting a university degree course on hold for a year after being mobilised to spend six months on operations in Iraq.

Also heading for Iraq is 26-year-old Chris Grant, of Chiseldon, an old boy of Ridgeway School, who joined up in 1996.

The Swindon soldiers expect to be based just outside Basra during their six-month stint in Iraq, carrying out duties that include patrols and vehicle convoys.

THE remains of Flt Lt Paul Pardoel, the Australian airman killed in the Iraq Hercules crash, which killed 10 people, will be returned to Australia. Flt Lt Pardoel was the first Australian killed in the conflict. His widow and children are to fly back to Australia for the funeral. Mystery still surrounds both the cause of the crash and the C130's mission, which was on election day in Iraq.

"In media pieces and conversations with Italian sources, there's a new twist to the Iraq episode wounding journalist and former-hostage Sgrena, and killing Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari. Michelle Malkin, a widely read right-wing US columnist, penned a profuse attack upon Sgrena's ransoming, positioning the money-for-hostage deal as the true scandal surrounding Sgrena's shooting. But others, especially in Italy, have come to believe the shooting was a deliberate US effort to eliminate the ransoming of hostages."

MIKE Spry certainly possesses a vivid imagination. His letter in the EA on March 21 paints a doomsday scenario regarding Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq that did not exist prior to the invasion.

" Documentary evidence has emerged showing that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, changed his mind about the legality of the Iraq war just before the conflict began. The damning revelation is contained in the resignation letter of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, a legal adviser at the Foreign Office, in which she said the war would be a "crime of aggression". She quit the day after Lord Goldsmith's ruling was made public, three days before the war began in March 2003.

The critical paragraph of her letter, published yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act, was blanked out by the Government on the grounds that it was in the public interest to protect the privacy of the advice given by the Attorney General. But last night the contents of the paragraph were leaked, and Tony Blair was facing fresh allegations of a cover-up. There has long been speculation that Lord Goldsmith was leant on to switch his view, and to sanction the war - and confirmation of that would be devastating for the Prime Minister. The Wilmhurst letter stops short of explaining what caused Lord Goldsmith to change his mind."

"In the first of his weekly columns for the BBC News website, John Simpson assesses the difficulties of achieving unity in post-Saddam Iraq.

It is a pretty much unbroken rule: wars never turn out as the people who plan them expect they will. If you look back at the things which supporters of the invasion of Iraq said in March 2003, you will not find they predicted any of the following:
...
Yet the invasion's opponents did not necessarily get it right either. "

"Let's briefly recall some of the absurd conspiracy theories and other crackpot notions that our Prime Minister, along with others, has tried to convince us of. One was that Saddam Hussein - the tinpot dictator of a crippled third world country that had been smashed by a decade of war, sanctions and bombing - posed a dangerous threat to the greatest superpower the world had ever seen.
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Another half-baked notion that somehow grips the imaginations of opinion-makers is that a deep concern for the plight of the Iraqi people helped to inspire the US and the UK to topple the monstrous Saddam.
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Then there was the theory that Saddam and al-Queda had joined forces, much as The Riddler and The Penguin had joined forces in Batman the Movie (starring Adam West). Again the inconvenient facts - like the mutual enmity of the bad guys, al-Qaeda's wish to overthrow Saddam, Saddam's persecution of radical Muslims - were not enough to shoot down these flights of fancy."

"Susan Karim, an Iraqi Scot who has lived in Scotland for 25 years, returned from a week in Baghdad on Thursday 17th March 2005. Susan did two sponsored walks in Scotland, one from Dundee to Edinburgh and one from Edinburgh to Glasgow to raise money for Iraqi orphans.
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Her two walks raised £17,000 (about $32,000) for the orphans. She visited Iraq in March 2004 which was her first trip there for 24 years! She was dismayed then to find that reconstruction had barely begun then and now the situation seems even worse this year.
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Overall the situation is worse, the electricity is in much poorer supply than last year. Even hospitals get power cuts of three hours or more a day and if a car bomb goes off in the neighbourhood then they may have no electricity at all. On the plane Susan sat next to a government engineer who said that the electricity has to be rationed. She said, “You have two huge rivers (the Tigress and the Euphrates) and many dams and all the gas and oil on earth, so why the problem?” The answer he gave was that people had more electrical gadgets than before, more air conditioners, and DVD players, TVs etc and said, “We can’t supply the extra demand.” What he really means is Halliburton must do it. The local people have offered to fix the electricity free of charge but the occupation refuses. Overcharging Western contractors must do the work so the electricity remains broke."

"I DO like Andy Newman, his heart is in the right place, and I do sympathise with his anti-war argument.

I think most people are anti-war. Unfortunately a significant number of people in the big world out there are not.

They have a different view on violence; some of these people are in power in countries where Andy and his supporters would not have the right to express their views."

Two years on: the world still says No! / Occupiers to wash their hands of torture jails – Yet the scale of the abuse is still just emerging / US lost control within three months / UNCC awards $265m more reparations against Iraq / The costs of empire / Coalition of the unwilling: Part II – More of America’s allies decide it’s time to leave / Iraq allies accused of failing to investigate civilian deaths / US occupiers allowed looters to strip Saddam’s weapons plants bare / Iraq vets increasingly important in US movement to end the occupation / Upcoming events / Winning entry from IOF poetry competition

"What would Britain look like if it were in Iraq's current situation? The population of the UK is over twice that of Iraq, so a lot of statistics would have to be multiplied by that number.

Its estimated that 100,000 Iraqis were killed as a result of the invasion, war and anarchy between March 2003 and October 2004. That's over 350 per month, the equivalent proportionately of 700 British people. What if 700 people had died in car bombings, grenade and rocket attacks, machine gun spray, and aerial bombardment in Britain last month, and every month for the last two years?

And what if those deaths occurred all over the country, including in London, but mainly in an area roughly forming a triangle between London, South Wales and Lancashire? What if that area gained international notoriety as "the triangle of death"?"

"The Italian government, hitherto one of Washington's staunchest allies on Iraq, has now joined the list of those bowing to domestic pressures and announcing an exit strategy from the country. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said his country would begin pulling its more than 3,000 troops troops out in September.

Main international troops in Iraq
US: 150,000
UK: 8,000
South Korea: 3,600
Italy: 3,085
Poland: 1,700
Ukraine: 1,600
Georgia: 898
Romania: 730
Japan: 550
Denmark: 496
Bulgaria: 450
Australia: 400"

"The trial of five Catholic Worker peace activists collapsed today at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as Judge Frank O'Donnell discharged the jury. The five accused Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon, Ciaron O'Reilly, and Damien Moran were been charged with causing criminal damage to a US Navy Warplane at Shannon Airport on February 3rd 2003. The defendants argued they were attempting to protect lives and property and to uphold the law by nonviolently resisting Irish participation ion the Iraq war."

"Some human rights groups believe those techniques violate the Geneva Convention and are tantamount to torture, and they have labelled the report a whitewash. But if it were the dogs that were mistreating the detainees how come there hasn't been an independent animal investigation to find out if the dogs were in breach of the rules?"

"I'm afraid this will be rather a short report as the trial thus far today has involved legal argument in the absense of the jury. Under these circumstances, it not possible to give details of the submissions put forward by the defence. Sub judice, and so on."

"Children as young as 11 years old were held at Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison at the centre of the US prisoner abuse scandal, official documents reveal.
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Brig Gen Karpinski said US commanders were reluctant to release detainees, an attitude she called "releasophobia". In her interview, she said Maj Gen Walter Wodjakowski, then the second most senior army general in Iraq, told her in the summer of 2003 not to release more prisoners, even if they were innocent. "I don't care if we're holding 15,000 innocent civilians," she said Maj Gen Wodjakowski told her. "We're winning the war." "

"The Pit Stop Ploughshares, five anti-war activists, began their defense against the charge of criminal damage to a US warplane at Shannon Airport on February 3, 2003. Prior to admitting the jury, Judge O' Donnell raised questions about the admissability of evidence to be introduced by the defense. He said " that there was a potential to contaminate the mind of the jury with totally irrelavent matters." The defense indicated that its case would consist of testimony by the defendants and three other witnesses: a miitary logistician, Kathy Kelly, and an international law expert."

"Judge O'Donnell ruled that the John Pilger's Killing the Children video tape, photos of Iraqi civilians, the Bible and Qu'raan (the items of the shrine that had been placed before the plane in the activists' prayer circle) were ruled inadmissible in court. The prosecution's argument was that if the video were allowed to be viewed then the entire Bible and Qu'raan would also be allowed to be read in their entirety as reasons for the defendents to act. The defense will call its witnesses tomorrow."

"TA infantrymen from Swindon are about to embark on their last training evening before peacekeeping duties in Iraq."

"The prosecution opened with another description of the jury's duty, excluding the possibility that jurors could nullify a judge's instructons on matters of law. The prosecutor detailed the elements of the two charges which must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order to warrant a conviction. In general, the prosecutor said a conviction for criminal damage requires intentional damage to someone else's property. He said, "I'm entitled to smash up my own car, and sometimes I want to do it, but that's not criminal damage." He said intentional damage is more direct than reckless damage; direct action has to be taken. "There must be no lawful excuse to inflict the damage. There are some circumstances when the infliction of damage can be excused." He gave as an example an emergency situation such as a fire. He went on to describe the specific destruction the defendents are accused of at Shannon airport to a "civilian-type aircraft." He said that "tensions were in the air over whether Shannon airport was being used in violation of some people's beliefs." "

"Privatisation and corporate rule or workers' control? That's the situation for southern Iraqi oil workers, who are fighting Haliburton for control of their industry. The Southern Oil Company Union (SOCU) is one of the workers' organisations that is resisting this privatisation; their President, Hassan Juma'a, visited the UK in February 2005."

With a transcript and RealPlayer footage of one of his talks.

"A group of US soldiers made a video of themselves kicking a badly wounded Iraqi prisoner and trying to make the arm of a corpse wave, it has emerged. The footage was among a compilation of recordings made by some soldiers in the Florida National Guard who were in the Iraqi city of Ramadi until last year.
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The video was made while the soldiers served as part of the 124th Regiment in the restive city of Ramadi, some 70 miles (110km) west of Baghdad, before returning home a year ago. Its existence was revealed in more than 1,000 pages of documents obtained in a lawsuit by ACLU as part of its investigations into alleged Iraq prisoner abuse."

"Another query at the desk, this time going clearly beyond 'the five' and mentioning in quick succession Shannon Airport, the Circuit Court and Catholics, established that they were outside and around the corner in Court 24. I told who I could and arrived into a small courtroom to find the defendants perched on a bench and Judge Michael White warning potential jurors, by a remote audio link, that the alleged crime in this case related to the Iraq war, and therefore if they had strong feelings about that they should disqualify themselves.

For whatever reason, two potential jurors did approach the judge and disqualify themselves before they could be sworn in. Another two got into the box, but before they could swear the oath, the prosecution objected to them, on the standard grounds that they looked like working-class young men, and therefore apparently predisposed to acquit."

"Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has described how she came under a "hail of gunfire" moments after being released from her Iraqi abductors in Baghdad.
...
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of President Bush's staunchest allies, has demanded to know why US troops fired on the car carrying Ms Sgrena to safety."

"President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine has outlined a schedule for the withdrawal of 1,650 Ukrainian troops from Iraq, starting later this month. He said the Ukrainian contingent - the sixth largest in the US-led coalition - would leave in three stages between mid-March and October."

"The Iraqi people gave America the biggest 'thank you' in the best way we could have hoped for." Reading this election analysis from Betsy Hart, a columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, I found myself thinking about my late grandmother. Half blind and a menace behind the wheel of her Chevrolet, she adamantly refused to surrender her car keys. She was convinced that everywhere she drove (flattening the house pets of Philadelphia along the way) people were waving and smiling at her. "They are so friendly!" We had to break the bad news. "They aren't waving with their whole hand, Grandma--just with their middle finger."

So it is with Betsy Hart and the other near-sighted election observers: They think the Iraqi people have finally sent America those long-awaited flowers and candies, when Iraq's voters just gave them the (purple) finger. "

"Speaking to IRIN in Baghdad, Iraq's human rights minister, Baktiar Amin, voiced his own concerns about a lack of emphasis on human rights in police training, while outlining the government's plans to improve awareness of human rights among the population in general. Hundreds of new policemen, soldiers and prison guards have been receiving training from the US military in preparation for its departure, but the human rights element of their training has been dropped in favour of tactical warfare techniques, Amin said. An eight-week training course which used to include classroom discussions about basic tolerance and respect had been trimmed to six weeks, he explained."

"We know that arguments raged about the legality of the war right up to a crucial cabinet meeting on 17 March 2003, two days before the attack began. But now new evidence pieced together by the 'IoS' strongly backs the suspicion that the PM had already made the decision to strike a year earlier"

"Thanks to the Coalition Provisional Authority's Order 39 the occupation of Iraq has coincided with a mass selling-off of Iraq's public assets. Here in the UK there has been an ongoing campaign opposing this process; a process which amounts in international law to the illegal pillage of Iraq.
...
The implications of the `occupation' status of Iraq are significant. Naomi Klein has said that occupying countries are bound by what she termed the 'house sitters rule', "housesitters, i.e. the occupiers, are allowed to eat the food in the fridge but are not entitled to sell the house and its contents and turn it into condinmiums." "

UK IMC feature with links to more information

"Ukraine's new defence minister has said his country plans to pull out all of its 1650 troops in Iraq by the end of this year. "I believe that our troops will be withdrawn this year," the Interfax news agency quoted Defence Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko as saying on Thursday. The defence minister, who took up his post this month, said that no concrete timetable would be announced before a meeting scheduled next week of the national security and defence council."

"The US Army has awarded defence contractor Halliburton more than $9 million in bonuses for some of its work supporting the military in Kuwait and Afghanistan.
...
Overall, KBR has earned $7.2 billion under a massive 2001 logistics contract with the US military and is set to earn more than $10 billion under that deal. It has separate deals with the government for reconstruction work in Iraq."

"The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq that military action could be ruled illegal. The government was so concerned that it might be prosecuted it set up a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international court. And a parliamentary answer issued days before the war in the name of Lord Goldsmith - but presented by ministers as his official opinion before the crucial Commons vote - was drawn up in Downing Street, not in the attorney general's chambers."

"Two British soldiers have been found guilty at a court martial of charges relating to abusing Iraqi prisoners. Daniel Kenyon, 33, was convicted of three charges and Mark Cooley, 25, of two following abuse at Camp Bread Basket, Basra, during May 2003. Both the soldiers, and a third - Darren Larkin - who had admitted assault, will be sentenced by the military panel in Osnabrueck, Germany, on Friday."

"Iraq's devastated marshlands can be partially revitalised, says a team writing in the journal Science. Saddam Hussein ordered the extensive draining of the wetlands, in part to punish the native Marsh Arabs who opposed his rule.
...
"The future of this area will depend directly on the quantity of water. Turkey and Iran control most of it," said Dr Richardson. "Turkey could cut off almost all of the Euphrates' flow and Iraq has no basis at the moment to negotiate hard with them." "

"Last night it emerged that the government has been forced to retract claims that no British military officer had seen or been involved with the crucial document allowing guards to subject detainees to interrogation methods including the use of dogs, sleep deprivation and stress positions, in breach of the Geneva Convention.
...
The Armed Forces Minister, Adam Ingram, has admitted in a letter to a Plaid Cymru MP, Adam Price, that a senior British Army lawyer assigned to the coalition's legal department in Baghdad contributed to 'comments provided by his superior' when drafting the document. It is not known if the officer supported or opposed the document, but the revelation raises serious questions about who in the Army's chain of command knew of the interrogation techniques being employed at Abu Ghraib and when.

"Windrush began as an independent publishing global publishing house, producing corporate journals and websites for trade and financial institutions. Its glossy mouthpieces and e-digests promote the culture of commodification and privatisation. The conquering of new markets and the wars which smash them open are sanitised and normalised. In these journals the corporate elite theorise and advocate their socially and environmentally destructive agendas."

By Andy Newman: "The results of the Iraqi elections need careful consideration. Certainly many commentators - myself included - have been wrong footed because the widely anticipated boycott was much smaller than expected.
...
What the elections have shown is that the military struggle between the Americans and the insurgents is not the only process going on in Iraq. That military struggle cannot be ignored, but there is another overlapping and sometimes contradictory strategy of very many Iraqis participating in whatever political and civil processes are open to them."

"Kate Adie: "And what actually appalls me is the difference between twelve years ago and now. I've seen a complete erosion of any kind of acknowledgment that reporters should be able to report as they witness. The Americans... and I've been talking to the Pentagon ...take the attitude which is entirely hostile to the free spread of information. I was told by a senior officer in the Pentagon, that if uplinks --that is the television signals out of... Bhagdad, for example-- were detected by any planes ...electronic media... mediums, of the military above Bhagdad... they'd be fired down on. Even if they were journalists .. "

"Cameraman Issam Rashid Abdel Rahman found himself in trouble when he filmed protests in Iraq against the occupation. He tells Simon Assaf what happened"

"We lived through dark days under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. When the regime fell, people wanted a new life: a life without shackles and terror; a life where we could rebuild our country and enjoy its natural wealth. Instead, our communities have been attacked with chemicals and cluster bombs, and our people tortured, raped and killed in our homes.

Saddam's secret police used to creep over the roofs into our homes at night; occupation troops now break down our doors in broad daylight. The media do not show even a fraction of the devastation that has engulfed Iraq. Journalists who dare to report the truth of what is happening have been kidnapped by terrorists. This serves the agenda of the occupation, which aims to eliminate witnesses to its crimes."

"It is now clear that Mr Blair was sadly mistaken and that Saddam Hussein was telling the truth ­ he had no weapons of mass destruction and no means of creating such weapons. I do not doubt he harboured ideas about wanting them but that is not the same as possessing them or being able to use them."

"EMPTY shoes were laid at the war memorial in Regent Circus in a poignant memorial to British men and women who have died in Iraq. Swindon members of the Stop The War Coalition placed 85 pairs of shoes to mark the number who have died. Among those remembered were the ten servicemen from RAF Lyneham who died after a Hercules plane crashed in Iraq."

"A British soldier who suspended an Iraqi prisoner from a forklift truck was embarrassed by his behaviour, a court martial in Germany heard. L/Cpl Mark Cooley, 25, who was later diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, said he was moving the man out of the sun's glare."

"AT LEAST four members of the Territorial Army in Swindon will be flying out to Iraq, it has been confirmed. Captain Will Richards, of the Royal Rifle Volunteers, which has an outpost in Swindon and headquarters in Reading, said the men will soon begin an intensive training course before flying out to Basra at the end of May. But he has refused to name those involved until after March 29."

"To commemorate the second anniversary of the biggest public demonstration ever held in British History, and to highlight that the occupation of Iraq still drags on, several dozen activists assembled in Cambridge Market Square for about two hours this afternoon."

Photo-essay of the day of action in Cambridge, including outlines of bodies being drawn on the pavement to represent the thousands of innocent victims of theIraq war.

Some photos of Brian Haw's permanent protest in Parliament Square, from a demonstration against his planned eviction on 7th Feb 2005.

"I am 22 and before September 11 I was relatively apolitical. I have older siblings who are in their mid thirties and they and their friends often labelled my peers as being ‘bought-off’: the ‘Playstation generation’ muted by an age of comfortable consumerism. But then came September 11, and Iraq. Parents’ friends who had lived through the sixties counter-culture looked at me with shining eyes and predicted ‘interesting times’, and my generation sensed it too. A life of benign contentment seemed to be over.

But apparently this view is not shared by many: I recently read that New Labour’s election pollsters believe the issue is relatively trivial to most voters and is the preserve of a few ‘headbangers’. This is not the case in my experience: the unprecedented turn that Britain’s foreign policy has now taken is a topic high in youth discourse. Young adults are more political than they have been for years, as was demonstrated by the Prime Minister’s recent interview with June Sarpong and a bunch of teenagers on T4. The first questions put to Tony Blair were about failures in Iraq, before anything on licensing laws, top-up-fees and sex education. "

"Two years after the enormous anti-war march and rally in London in 2003, Oxford activists sought today to remind us of the shocking and violent events that have taken place in the intervening period. " (photos)

"Kurdish successes in Iraq’s elections, notably in the disputed oil centre of Kirkuk, have heightened Turkey’s worries about a future Kurdish drive for independence and Iraq’s consequent territorial disintegration."

Originally published in the Guardian

"On the 26th and 27th January 2005, The Iraq Solidarity Campaign - in both Manchester and Liverpool, organised two public meetings called Paying the Price - Saving the Children of Iraq! to initiate a campaign to dedicate the 30th January - as a day for humanity and to honour those, alive, or no longer with us, who at often great risk to themselves, have strived to bring normality to Iraq over the years. At both events, Felicity Arbuthnot spoke about her experiances of having been to Iraq over thirty times and about what she found there in light of the UN imposed sanctions regime and also about the people whom she had the honour of meeting. Below you can read the speech that Felcity Arbuthnot gave at the meetings."

"Swindon campaigners will conduct a ceremony to remember those killed in Iraq tomorrow. Eighty-five pairs of shoes will be laid out at cenotaph in Regent Circus at midday to represent the British servicemen and women who have died so far in the conflict."

"Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.

Instead, only figures for troops "on hand" are issued. The small number of soldiers, national guardsmen and police capable of operating against the country's bloody insurgency is concealed in an overall total of Iraqis in uniform, which includes raw recruits and police who have gone on duty after as little as three weeks' training. In some cases they have no weapons, body armour or even documents to show they are in the police."

Originally published in the Independent on Sunday

"This is a short review of the play “The Truth about Hoggett and Webb”, which was performed at the Arts Centre in Swindon on Wednesday 9th February 2005. The play compresses the story of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the aftermath into a single day in the office of two civil service bureaucrats, who produce dossiers and reports to support Blair’s case for war. It does an excellent job of unravelling the lies which led us into war, making use of quotes from real dossiers and reports, and in the humble opinion of this reviewer, it should be performed and shown as widely as possible."

An e-mail to the BBC Head of News, regarding the way in which western media is ignoring war crimes carried out in Iraq by the occupation forces.

"I regret that Helen's three replies, none of which touched at all on the main issue -- "British journalists complicit in USuk war-crimes" -- hardly qualifies as detailed response in any meaningful sense. None of the other three main addressees, Andrew Marr, Roger Mosey and Jon Snow, has been able to manage any reply at all. Roger appears to hide behind his automated out-of-office response. Andrew and Jon simply maintain a total silence.

Courageous folk, careful of their reputations, aren't they?

I also regret that I don't buy this dodge of being shunted into a "complaints" backwater where I can wear out my efforts speaking with hapless functionaries who's job is to speak bromides to awkward sods until they give up and go away. If this tack of refusing to engage with serious but embarrassing questions continues, then I shall find other approaches. But I shall not be letting go any time soon. And people -- ordinary punters all over the place -- continue to watch in, I think, growing numbers."

"A HERCULES from RAF Lyneham, which crashed with the loss of all 10 people on board, was most likely shot down by a surface-to-air missile, according to a US think-tank."

"the country. There will be 14 main bases to secure American control over Iraq's oil-wells and to allow the American military easy access to other areas in the region. Under the economic treaties the Iraqi government will grant American companies long-term concessions to exploit Iraqi oil and will include, in all probability, the privatisation of the country's oil industry."

"In 2004 more than 158,000 US Troops flew through Shannon Airport, most on their way to Iraq. During much of that same period of time approximately 5,500 US Troops have deserted, gone into hiding, sent to jail and some have escaped to Canada. What if the funnel to Iraq, called Shannon Airport, were to be transformed into a sanctuary for US Troops resisting the Iraq War by requesting asylum in Ireland?
...
This is the new effort by the Dublin Catholic Worker and other anti-war activists and politicians announced in Dublin on Feb 3rd - the second anniversary of the Pit Stop Ploughshares disarmament of a US Navy Plane at Shannon. Damien Moran of the Dublin Catholic Worker said ''We encourage members of the US Military refusing to participate in this illegal war to seek asylum in Ireland. We encourage members of the US Military landing at Shannon Airport to refuse to reboard the planes bound for Iraq.'' "

"EVERYDAY life at RAF Lyneham came to a halt yesterday as the bodies of the 10 brave servicemen killed in the Hercules tragedy flew home for the last time."

"As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples."

"IT was late afternoon 10 days ago when the first news reports began to filter through that a RAF Hercules had crashed in the Iraqi desert north of Baghdad killing all 10 men on board. It was the biggest single loss of life to hit British forces since military action in Iraq began and occurred hours after polling closed for the first democratic elections held in Iraq for decades. Among the dead were two men from Swindon: Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42 from Stratton St Margaret and Flt Sgt Mark Gibson, 34, of Sparcells."

"The Socialist Unity Network has submitted the following motion to the Stop the War Coalition national conference to be held on 12 February 2005:

This conference believes that the ultimate responsibility for the current violence in Iraq lies with the US occupation. However the kidnapping or murder of civilians is unjustifiable whoever is responsible. This conference endorses the letter to the Independent by Andrew Murray sent on 7th January that said: "we have repeatedly denounced the murder of civilians" and the letter to the Observer by Lindsey German on 9th January saying: "we condemn the killing of Iraqi trade unionists". This conference notes that the recent murder of Iraqi trade union official Hadi Salih is being exploited by some who wish to harm the anti-war movement.

This conference recognises that the Stop the War Coalition embraces individuals and organisations with a wide range of opinions. Individuals and organisations can take different attitudes towards the insurgency in Iraq, and which civil institutions in Iraq they support, while still uniting to campaign together for an end to the occupation and the withdrawal of British troops. The conference affirms that we see diversity as a strength, and we deplore those seeking to split the anti-war movement.

Socialist Unity has also nominated Andy Newman for the StWC national steering committee, alongside Swindon and Bristol StWC groups."

"ON behalf of Swindon Stop The War Coalition I would like to offer our deepest sympathy to the families, friends and comrades of those killed in the Hercules crash."

"LOVED ones of those who died in the Hercules crash in Iraq are expecting to hear today when the bodies of the victims will return home. The Ministry of Defence is due to announce today when they will fly back to RAF Lyneham."

"One of the Army's best-known commanders in the Iraq war, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins, has called for a complete overhaul of the system for investigating alleged misconduct by British troops. He said the drawn-out military police inquiries into scores of alleged abuse and murder cases - which have taken up to 21 months to complete - has severely damaged army morale."

"The voters came to the polls in huge crowds, ignoring insurgent attacks and casting their votes under the protection of U.S. troops. International observers praised the process, calling it a triumph of democracy and a defeat for tyranny.

Iraq 2005? No. South Vietnam in September 1967.

As we now know, South Vietnam's experiment in democracy didn't work out well. Communist forces launched the Tet Offensive four months later, forcing the U.S.-backed government almost to its knees, and finally conquered the nation seven years afterward."

"Iraq's leading Sunni religious authority has made its participation in the upcoming constitution-drafting process conditional on the announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. The Association of Muslim Scholars' (AMS) spokesman, Umar Raghib, was speaking on Saturday after the assocation's chairman, Harith al-Dari, met UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi."

"The Iraq election on January 30 has resolved none of the political dilemmas facing the US occupation and created a series of new ones. The election has been presented as a blow to the anti-occupation insurgency. Before the results are even counted, however, it is clear that in the Sunni Muslim areas of central Iraq where the resistance is most active, millions of Iraqis followed the calls for a boycott of the ballot. In the northern city of Mosul, Iraq’s third largest and the scene of heavy fighting over the past three months, just 50,000 people out of 500,000 eligible voters participated."

"Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger whose bulletins from Baghdad during and after the war were read by thousands on the Internet, says it will take longer than Iraqis expected for their country to return back to normal. "Since last January it's been kind of a downhill ride and I don't really think that these elections are suddenly going to be the 'magic pill' that suddenly makes everything OK," Pax told Reuters at the Rotterdam film festival where the film "Baghdad Blogger" is being shown."

"LYNEHAM villagers are beginning to come to terms with the enormity of the Hercules crash. The village is still quiet and sombre, five days after the tragedy which killed eight airmen from the RAF base."

"Dozens of comments have appeared in the last few days comparing a 1967 election in Vietnam with the election of January 30, 2005 in Iraq. The following historical summary of the 1967 election, written in the 1980s, contains more details than most of the recent comments and strengthens the view that one should be exceedingly skeptical of the Bush administration's self-congratulatory propaganda on the Iraq election. The source of the paragraphs quoted below appears at the end."

"IRAQI witnesses described yesterday how the British Hercules brought down over farmland northwest of Baghdad exploded in the air, sending burning debris flying across fields. They also told how local people plundered the crash scene, with some men taking guns from the wreckage. There was little sympathy for the British servicemen among a hostile local populace, many of whom handed out orange juice to passers-by in celebration of the crash. "They deserve it, they used to provoke us by flying very low," said one man changing oil at the garage. He pointed to an electricity pylon to show the height at which coalition aircraft often fly. "We can't sleep at night for the noise," he said. "

"In a dull Baghdad world of concrete and razor-wire, chicanes and blast barriers, a little colour has just re-appeared.
Every official building or media base these days has a frontage of four-metre (13ft) high concrete walls to protect against bombs and mortars, but Iraqis have begun to see the grey expanse as a public canvas. There is of course graffiti, but mostly great swirling apolitical exuberance - everything from retro-Chagall to prog-rock album-cover teenage fantasies. "

Interview with the last Iraqi ambassador of Saddam Hussein's government to the UN, Muhammad al-Duri.

"It is wrong to say that Sunni Arabs boycotted the elections. It is an attempt to ridicule a national Iraqi position that opposes the division of the country, by labelling it as a sectarian position. The US occupation has encouraged the virtual division of Iraq into three entities. The first one is in the north, it is ethnically motivated and works to separate itself and establish an independent state (Kurdistan). The second in the south plans to split and establish a sectarian entity backed by Iran. The third is central Iraq which for some reason carries a national vision for the future of Iraq."

"FAMILY and friends of Swindon servicemen who died in the Hercules crash have described the agony they are going through. Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42, of Griffiths Close, Stratton St Margaret, and Flight Sergeant Mark Gibson, 34, of Gairlock Close, Sparcells, were among the ten men killed when the plane from RAF Lyneham came down in Iraq."

"The Princess Royal visited RAF Lyneham yesterday afternoon where she spoke to members of 47 Squadron to show her support. The Princess expressed her condolences to members of 47 Squadron and their engineering support personnel, In addition, she spoke to staff assisting the bereaved families. the Queen has sent a message to the families via Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. The message reads: "I was saddened to learn of the loss of the RAF Hercules in Iraq on Sunday. I should be grateful if you would convey my deepest sympathy to the families of those who have lost their lives." "

"THE ten service personnel killed when an RAF Hercules crashed in central Iraq have been described as among the best in the force. At a press conference at Lyneham yesterday Section Commander, RAF Lyneham Group Captain Paul Oborn paid tribute to the men that died. They are Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall, Flight Lieutenant David Stead, Flight Lieutenant Andrew Smith, Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, Chief Technician Richard Brown, Flight Sergeant Mark Gibson, Sergeant Robert O'Connor, Corporal David Williams and Acting Lance Corporal Steven Jones."

"THE community of Lyneham will strengthen after the tragedy of the Hercules crash over Iraq according to its vicar.
The Reverend Anthony Fletcher, priest in charge of Lyneham and Bradenstoke, said that the entire community was in disbelief. "Almost everyone in the community of Lyneham has a link with the base, whether they work there, have friends stationed there or are retired from the Royal Air Force," he said."

"Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has called the Iraqi parliamentary elections a desecration, according to Moscow News, an English-language sister publication of Gazeta.ru."

"Flags were flown at half-mast at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire
The 10 UK servicemen feared killed when an RAF Hercules crashed in central Iraq on Sunday have been named by the Ministry of Defence. The plane crashed 25 miles (40km) north-west of Baghdad. Eight of the men were from RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire"

"Carl Webb from the US and George Solomou from Britain explain to Andrew Stone and Simon Assaf why they refuse to go and fight in Iraq."

"But President Yawer said Mosul, Iraq's mainly Sunni third city, ran out of ballot papers twice and had to be supplied with more. "Also, tens of thousands were unable to cast their votes because of the lack of ballots in Basra, Baghdad, and Najaf," he said. "

"Under the guise of helping get Iraq back on its feet, the US is setting out to totally re-engineer the country's traditional farming systems into a US-style corporate agribusiness. They’ve even created a new law – Order 81 – to make sure it happens."

"Both George Bush and Tony Blair have said the new Iraq is going to be a prosperous country with an improved standard of living for all. But judging by the pace of reconstruction and standard of living in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, their predictions have yet to be realised. A series of reports over the last six months indicate that Washington's reconstruction plan for Iraq has been ineffectual and the sum spent on projects amounts to much less than what US officials claim."

"As expected the Iraqi elections have been compromised by poor security and lack of information for the voters about the plethora of parties they could choose between. Nevertheless the reported turnout of 8 million is higher than many were expecting, more than 60% of those registered. There is no doubt that among many Iraqis there was real enthusiasm of this election. Last week I was interviewed on the BBC radio alongside a local Iraqi, Dr Yassin, who was delighted to be voting for the first time. His family in Iraq live in Najaf and were intending to go to the polls individually so if there was an attack on the polling station they would not all be killed together.

It is sometimes overlooked that the Americans themselves did not originally want elections, and were pressurized into them by mass demonstrations initiated by Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the leading Shia cleric in Iraq."

"4 anti-war protestors, from Southampton,Gosport and Portsmouth will appear at West End Police Station, Saville Row at Midday on Wednesday 2nd February. The 4 have yet to be charged or interviewed, in connection with a protest occurring on 23rd November 2004 during the opening of Parliament."

"After the so-called ‘transfer of sovereignty’ last June, Paul Bremer, chief of the occupation authority, left behind 100 orders which had to be incorporated into Iraqi legislation, having the status and force of binding laws. Among them is Order 81 which amends Iraq’s original patent law to favour the vultures of the West, with disastrous consequences for the farmers of Iraq. For generations Iraqis have been freely exchanging farm-saved seed. An estimated 97% either use saved seed from a previous year’s harvest or purchase them from local markets. This has now been made illegal under the new law. The law is presented as being necessary to ensure the supply of good quality seeds in Iraq and to facilitate Iraq’s accession to the World Trade Organisation. What it will actually do is allow the penetration of Iraqi agriculture by the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow Chemical, the corporate giants that control seed trade across the globe. Eliminating competition from farmers is a prerequisite for these companies to open up operations in Iraq, and the new law has achieved that. The Iraqi peoples’ right to food sovereignty, the right to define their own food and agriculture policies, is fast vanishing."

"THE disgraced soldier who photographed the abuse of captured Iraqi looters boasted about subjecting two of them to electric shocks, a court martial was told yesterday. Fusilier Gary Bartlam was also involved in a “disgraceful” episode in which another serviceman held a Minimi machinegun to the heads of three civilian prisoners kneeling with their faces against the ground."

"The US military death toll in Iraq is continuing to speed up. It has been more or less steadily increasing since May 2003. The last six months are all at or above the linear fit, suggesting that the death rate might even be increasing faster than linear."

"The election in Iraq next Sunday is the result of pressure from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the 71-year-old cleric, who exercises such immense influence over the Shia community who make about 60 per cent of the Iraqi population. US officials never mention today that in the months after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein they were opposed to an election, citing difficulties in identifying voters without a census and lack of security."

Note: This article is only available to Independent Portfolio subscribers.

"Press commentators across the Arab world reveal a sense of foreboding as the elections in Iraq fast approach. Most see the presence of coalition forces and US pressure to hold the elections as undermining the whole process. In marked contrast, one Iraqi paper views the election in a positive light."

"The revelation that more of the 9,200 soldiers serving in Iraq could face courts martial has prompted calls from human rights groups for a full public inquiry into the army's activities. … What's really staggering is that these allegations would probably never have come to light had a soldier not taken some pictures into a high street developers' and the staff not called the police. Is that really the full extent of public scrutiny over the behaviour of our armed forces?"

"The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq. Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this spring, the Associated Press reports. "

Alexander Cockburn gives a view from the US of the panic sweeping the Bush administration. "Any appearance of a permanent occupation of Iraq will both undermine domestic support here in the US and play directly into the hands of those in the Middle East who-however wrongly-suspect us of imperial design." So spoke James Baker last week in a speech at Rice University in Houston."

HARRY COHEN, Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead, told a Stop the War meeting last week, "15 February contributed to the unravelling of the policies to justify war-19 March can be just as effective."

"Sharp criticisms have been made of the January 30th US-sponsored election in Iraq. The criticism comes from a broad range of elite opinion, stretching from Brent Scowcroft to The New York Times to the leadership of the Democratic Party. Though it seems that the election is deeply flawed and is likely to do more harm that good, President Bush is unshaken in his determination to press on. Is this another case of the President refusing to admit a mistake? Or is it that the Iraq election serves an altogether different purpose from that presupposed by its critics?"

Harith Al-Dhari, head of the Muslim Scholars Association, spoke to Mohamed Al-Anwar in Baghdad about the US attempts to court Iraq's Sunnis. Al- Dhari and his movement is one of the staunchest opponents of the fact that elections should be held while the country is labouring under the US-led occupation.

"More than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed and more than half a million Iraqi men and women are in prison. There are more than 120 imams and preachers from the association who were either killed or imprisoned. Then came the phase of the total or the near total destruction of the cities of Najaf and Falluja. How can people be expected to have elections under such circumstances? The major demand for which Iraqis have undergone such suffering [the end of the occupation] will not be obtained through the elections. "

"Photographs shown to a court martial where three soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are facing charges over the alleged ill-treatment of civilian prisoners at a humanitarian aid camp in Iraq, 2003. WARNING: Graphic content. Twenty-two photos were released by the court martial, some with captions identifying the soldiers. The soldier identified as Lance Corporal Mark Cooley aims a simulated punch at an Iraqi detainee bound from the waist up in blue netting. L/Cpl Cooley drives a fork lift with an Iraqi tied to the front, his upper body bound in netting. The soldier says he was moving the man "out of the sun". Two naked Iraqis simulate a sex act while giving the 'thumbs up' sign to the camera. The soldiers were accused of abusing looters who were being detained at the camp after attempting to steal powdered milk and food. A soldier aims a simulated kick at a bound detainee on the floor, his head near a puddle of water. L/Cpl Darren Larkin stands on an Iraqi, with one foot on his leg and another near his shoulder. L/Cpl Darren Larkin admitted one charge of assaulting an unknown man at the camp but denied another charge. The other two soldiers pleaded not guilty. The three soldiers face a total of nine charges and the case is expected to last at least three weeks."

"The allegations that British troops have been torturing Iraqi prisoners have not yet had the impact in the Arab world that the Abu Ghraib scandal did. But the story is being reported in newspapers and the satellite television networks, even as the Arab world prepares for the major annual holiday, Eid al-Adhar. "Understandably it's been covered quite extensively and the commentary is a mixture of indignation and anger," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for al-Jazeera. "Commentaries talk about the parallels between what is going with the British soldiers and the Abu Ghraib issue... and there has been a sense that: well, why should we be surprised." "

"The coalition of the unwilling: Governments pull out whilst soldiers refuse to serve / Ukraine to pull troops out of Iraq / ...And the Netherlands follows suit / U.S. soldiers desperate to avoid going to Iraq / US deserters flee to Canada to avoid service in Iraq / TA reservist from London says he will refuse to serve in Iraq / Prisoner abuse: Higher officials unlikely to be tried / Iraq’s power supply sinks to record low: US general / Baquba: residents refuse loyalty oath despite inducements / U.S. lowers expectations for once-heralded Iraq vote / ACTIONS COMING UP / Winning entry from IOF poetry competition"

"The US media has descended on the Asian tsunami with all the fervour of feral animals in a meat locker. The newspapers and TV's are plastered with bodies drifting out to sea, battered carcasses strewn along the beach and bloated babies lying in rows. Every aspect of the suffering is being scrutinised with microscopic intensity by the predatory lens of the media. This is where the western press really excels: in the celebratory atmosphere of human catastrophe. Their penchant for misery is only surpassed by their appetite for profits. Where was this "free press" in Iraq when the death toll was skyrocketing towards 100,000? So far, we've seen nothing of the devastation in Falluja where more than 6000 were killed and where corpses were lined along the city's streets for weeks on end. Is death less photogenic in Iraq? Or are there political motives behind the coverage?"

"In the showcase achievement, Basra's central water pumping and purification station and 14 decrepit substations were refurbished with glossy blue machines that can move along more and cleaner water than before. So what is the result? "We turn on the tap and no water comes out," was the blunt answer of Ahmad al-Khadimi, chairman of engineering at Basra University "

"The first British soldier has come forward to urge mass refusal among the ranks to serve in Iraq, saying he would rather go to prison than accept a call-up to war.

Speaking ahead of a press conference today, Lance Corporal George Solomou, from the London regiment of the Territorial Army, said: "I am not going to Iraq, point-blank. I am a conscientious objector to this war, and I am going to see how the army plays it from there. I would rather spend a year in prison than a minute in Iraq as part of an illegal war." "

The latest photos of UK soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

"Nine charges against the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers soldiers include forcing prisoners to simulate sex acts at a Basra aid camp in May 2003. Lance Corporal Darren Larkin admitted one charge of assaulting an unknown man at the camp but denied another charge. Evidence of the alleged abuse came to light when a set of photographs were left for processing at a shop in Tamworth, Staffordshire."

The charges in full against the UK soldiers being court-martialed for mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq

"Iraq is to close all its land borders for three days around the 30 January elections in an attempt to boost security, election officials have said. Only vehicles with official permits will be allowed on the roads over the same period, in an attempt to prevent car bombings."

"The United States has stopped searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to Intelligence officials. They say the chief US investigator, Charles Duelfer, is not planning to return to the country. In a previous report, Mr Duelfer said there had been no stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons at the time of the US-led invasion. What is your reaction to the announcement? Does the absence of WMD affect your views on the war? Will there be any political fallout over this? Send us your views."

By Hani Lazim - a member of Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation. "GEORGE BUSH and Tony Blair say the elections scheduled for the end of this month will bring democracy to Iraq. But the democracy they are talking about is the rule of the occupiers under the cover of an elected Iraqi assembly. The occupiers will not allow any whiff of real democracy to come near the Iraqi people. These elections will not allow people to vote for a government, but only for a "transitional assembly" that will draft a constitution-one for which the occupation authorities have already set the outline"

"Coalition forces in Iraq have caused irreparable damage to the ancient city of Babylon, the British Museum says. Sandbags have been filled with precious archaeological fragments and 2,600 year old paving stones have been crushed by tanks, a museum report claims. "

"The soldier accused of being the ringleader in the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail has been found guilty of mistreating detainees. Charles Graner, 36, was convicted by a military jury in Texas after a four-day trial at which he was said to have assaulted prisoners for fun."

"Some friends have recently arrived in Amman from Baghdad with news of the rapidly deteriorating situation there. ... Wissam is angry about all the talk of civil war, saying that, on the whole, there are no problems at all between Sunni and Shia - just the problems Allawi and the Americans want to create. ... Petrol queues have gone up from 7 - 10 hours to two days long. Men actually have to sleep in their cars for one or two nights to fill up, so they do not lose their place in the queue. (I guess the Americans figure if men are queuing they cannot be resisting, not realising that in these queues men have plenty of time to talk, plan and become more angry and resentful.) ... Hasan, our friend, cannot return and he longs to. I have you about him before. One night we were in his apartment watching the news. The Governor of Baghdad had been assassinated. Hasan suddenly got up and started pointing at the TV shouting "Look, look at this street. I used to walk along there to school for 6 years." he sat down sadly - here was a street he had walked along safely as a child day after day in a city and country he cannot now return to."

"THE plan sounds more like the preparations for war than the holding of Iraq’s first democratic elections. But such is the dire state of Iraqi security today that the authorities in Baghdad are considering a complete lockdown of the country ahead of polls in two weeks’ time. According to Iraqi and Western sources, international borders will be sealed, movement between cities tightly controlled, mobile phone networks switched off and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi security forces and foreign troops deployed in a show of force not seen since the height of the war nearly two years ago."

"The Iraqi elections due to take place on 30th January are vital to the legitimacy of the American occupation. Not only are they necessary in order to remain in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1546, that provides the legal authority for US troops to remain, but it is even more necessary to give some legitimacy to the Iraqi government in the eyes of the Iraqi people. Currently the institutions of the Interim government have no legitimacy. The elections are for a National Assembly which will serve for a transitional period of nine months, during which period it will write a new constitution. Yet a question mark still hangs over whether the elections will even take place"

"Rigged polls held under foreign occupation have a notorious pedigree whatever the turnout and relative votes for the different lists, the result cannot and will not reflect the popular will over the most important issue facing the country: the occupation. Opinion polls show most Iraqis want foreign troops to leave now. But none of those with a chance of being elected - all compromised by their links to the current administration - supports such a demand. Without foreign troops, they would fear for their own skins."

"The Russians would probably have chucked hand grenades in Kabul. But here were the terrified "liberators" of Baghdad throwing bottles of water at the Iraqis who are supposed to enjoy an American-imposed democracy on 30 January. The rear Humvee has "Specialist Carrol" written on the windscreen. Specialist Carrol, I am sure, regards every damn one of us as a potential suicide bomber - and I can't blame him. One such bomber had just driven up to the police station in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, and destroyed himself and the lives of at least six policemen. Round the corner, I discover the reason for the jam: Iraqi cops are fighting off hundreds of motorists desperate for petrol, the drivers refusing to queue any longer for the one thing which Iraq possesses in Croesus-like amounts - petrol."

This is an Independent Portfolio article, available only to subscribers, but has been reposted at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/01/303833.html

"A Muslim detainee at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison has said US soldier Charles Graner force-fed him pork and alcohol, and laughed as he dished out beatings. Amin al-Sheikh, a Syrian, testified to Specialist Graner's court martial that he was Abu Ghraib's "primary torturer".

He said the military policeman made him eat pork and drink alcohol, violating his religion, and made him insult the Islamic faith. He said a Yemeni detainee had told him that Spc Graner made him "eat from the toilet". "

"A way out still may exist. It requires acknowledging that Iraqis do not want to prolong the existing process but break from it. And it entails embarking on a process of dual disengagement: gradual U.S. political and military disengagement from Iraq and clear Iraqi disengagement from the United States. To free Iraq's authorities from U.S. tutelage, decisions made since the end of the war must be open to reconsideration. The new government should debate and potentially nullify decrees or contracts ratified by former Iraqi institutions and the occupation authorities. Likewise, Iraqis should negotiate the terms of the U.S. military presence, and independently take crucial policy decisions - even, indeed especially, when the outcome directly contradicts the occupation's legacy. President George W. Bush's position that elections must take place on Jan. 30 is, in this respect, both substantively suspect (because the harm caused by elections in which large numbers of Sunni Arabs do not participate outweighs the harm occasioned by delay) and politically unwise (because Washington should not be seen micromanaging an issue best left in Iraqi hands).

"The tragic murder of Hadi Salih, the international secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), has been exploited by pro-war columnist Johann Hari to sow divisions in the peace and Labour movements. Writing in the Independent on 7th January Hari asks where are the voices of condemnation of this murder by the international left? ... it is necessary to firstly dispose of a number of falsehoods and sleights of hand that Johann Hari indulges himself with."

"Opening arguments are due to start in the trial in Texas of US soldier Charles Graner, accused of abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Spc Graner was pictured in several of the now-notorious images featuring hooded or naked prisoners. He faces charges including conspiracy to mistreat prisoners and assault, which could lead to more than 17 years in prison. Spc Graner's defence will contend the abuse was sanctioned by his seniors. His lawyer, Guy Womack, said: "Spc Graner received orders from his direct superiors. There is going to be evidence that he complained about the orders." "

"Baghdad's deputy police chief has been killed outside his home in the south of the Iraqi capital. Brigadier Amer Ali Nayef was shot dead along with his son, Khalid Amer - also a policeman - as they left the family home for work in the south of the city. "

"During our week-long exchange with Iraqis, we heard allegations of US atrocities that made Abu Graib seem like childish pranks: a woman raped in full view of other prisoners, who is now seeking permission from religious leaders to kill herself; a seven-year-old girl, left momentarily in the car while her father stopped at the market, screaming and clawing at the window while a US tank crushed the vehicle; a mother watching in horror as the troops raided her home in the middle of the night, shot her son in the chest and then stomped on him as he bled to death."

"Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has ordered a withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Iraq. He said his government should draw up plans to withdraw the 1,600-strong contingent in the first half of 2005."

"The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq. ... NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration's battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. (Among the current administration officials who dealt with Central America back then is John Negroponte, who is today the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Under Reagan, he was ambassador to Honduras.)"

"One million Iraqis living outside the country may be eligible to vote in the forthcoming election for the transitional national assembly, according to the International Organisation for Migration, the intergov- ernmental body organising the "out-of-country" poll."

"Nothing could more aptly describe the current state of Iraqi politics than the Iraqi interim government's website. The site, which has a number of different sections touching on issues such as the constitution, law, security, business and economy, also boasts two sections entitled "Electoral process" and "Elections". Obviously, as the country goes to the polls in less than three weeks' time, the web visitor expects to find election education material, information about the parties and candidates vying for office, or even guidelines to Iraqi voters -- particularly those living abroad -- on how to cast their votes and where. Yet none of this is on offer. Instead, under the title "Electoral process", there is just a blank page, reflecting -- perhaps -- the political vacuum of the country."

Many Iraqis have fled their country to try and put their suffering behind them. But some of those who have taken refuge in Egypt told Mustafa El-Menshawy a bitter story

"I was living a hell in Iraq. There were explosions everywhere, crime and chaos were rampant, and my family felt there was no safety at all under the yoke of occupation." Salwa Azab is an Iraqi refugee who fled the war-scarred country for Cairo eight months ago. Azab has only harsh memories of war-ravaged Iraq. Her house in Al-Doura, eastern Baghdad, was demolished by occupation forces. "My four children were quivering in fear when the American troops stormed the house," she recounts, visibly distraught. "Then it caught light and burned"

"In spite of protests by key Iraqi figures, the US occupation authorities and the Iraqi interim government insist on holding the elections on time, reports Nermeen Al-Mufti from Baghdad"

"Iraqi interior ministry figures released on Wednesday revealed that 1,300 police died in attacks during the last four months of the year, AFP reported."

"Iraq's president reignited calls for a delay to the first national elections due in three weeks when he said yesterday that escalating violence would make it difficult to hold a proper vote. The main Sunni party has withdrawn from the election already while other senior Iraqi officials, including the defence minister and the ambassador to the UN, have publicly suggested a delay."

"Hadi Salih, International Officer of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, was a courageous union activist. His assassination in Baghdad yesterday is a crime against Iraq's working people and its labor movement. The cowardly manner of his killing - he was shot in his bed - is intended to send a message to Iraq's workers and trade unionists - that their efforts to participate in any peaceful process of political change will be met with death. We stand in solidarity with the IFTU in rejecting this brutal intimidation."

"Let's be realistic about what this odd war is doing to those we are asking to fight it.
The Iraq war has always been controversial. It has never been like World War II, which enjoyed vigorous majority support almost from the beginning. Too many of us can't get very enthusiastic about why we're in Iraq or why we went there in the first place. This isn't a war that inspires patriotic songs. It's a war that inspires complaints about extended stays, lack of armored vehicles, and inadequate weapons and supplies.

A surprising number of people in the service have tried to get out of going to Iraq or returning there.
Take Army Spec. Marquise J. Roberts of Hinesville, Ga. He had served seven months in Iraq, returned home, and then was scheduled for redeployment there. While on a visit to family members in Philadelphia, he allegedly persuaded a cousin to shoot him in the leg so he could avoid going back to Iraq. Roberts told police he was the victim of a robbery attempt. But when questioned closely about the alleged incident, Roberts is said to have admitted he lied."

"IRAQ’S rapidly swelling insurgency numbers 200,000 fighters and active supporters and outnumbers the United States-led coalition forces, the head of the country’s intelligence service said yesterday."

"Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, is reviewing a proposal to add hundreds of American military advisers to work directly with Iraqi units, whose disappointing performance could jeopardize the long-term exit strategy from Iraq, senior military officials said Monday."

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003 has surpassed 10,000, the Pentagon said Tuesday in a delayed update of its casualty data."