US covertly tries to instigate Civil war?
...needs to control the region indefinately...
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"Iraq [...] suffered its worst day of violence since the war's end, when its majority Shia community was targeted in a series of sophisticated and simultaneous attacks that killed as many as 223 people and left its religious leaders blaming the Americans for multiple security failures.
Crowds in Kerbala and Baghdad turned on US troops in frustration and fury as the scale of the atrocities in both cities became clear, raising fears that the Shias will seek revenge for the bombings and bring the country to the brink of a religious civil war.
The US military last night pointed to al-Qaida involvement in the multiple explosions on one of the holiest days in the Shia calendar, with a Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate of Osama bin Laden, being named as the prime suspect.
Last night the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, warned that the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty, due to take place on June 30, could be jeopardised by the violence. Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, said the signing of the intermim constitution would be delayed until later this week after an "appropriate period of mourning".
Festival time in Iraq. But by the end of the day 220 lay dead
Blasts kill 143 pilgrims in Iraq
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Roadside bombs kill six soldiers
Sunday, March 14, 2004 BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A spate of roadside bombings this weekend has killed six U.S. soldiers, according to the U.S.-led coalition.
Most recently, a roadside bomb -- or improvised explosive device (IED) -- in Baghdad claimed the life of one 1st Infantry Division soldier Sunday morning, according to the Coalition Press Information Center. The bombing happened at 6:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. Saturday ET), CPIC said.
Saturday night, also in the Iraqi capital, three soldiers from the 1st Armored Division died when their patrol struck a roadside bomb in southeast Baghdad around 10:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m. ET), CPIC said.
Hours earlier, an IED in central Tikrit killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded five others, as they patrolled the hometown of Saddam Hussein in an armored Humvee around 5 a.m. (9 p.m. Friday ET), according to the U.S. military.
Also Saturday, a store owner was killed and two passers-by, including a little girl, were wounded when an explosion rocked a Muslim clothing store on a busy Baghdad street, Iraqi authorities and eyewitnesses said.
Hayder Abdul Kareen al-Qizwini, a Shiite, sold scarves, veils and traditional Muslim clothing at his shop on Inner Karada Street, eyewitnesses said. He was married and in his early 40s. Neighbors said Qizwini was a brother-in-law of Iraqi Governing Council member Ibrahim al Jafari. Deputy Interior Minister Ibrahim Ahmed Kadhim confirmed the details of the attack but would not comment on Hayder's relation to Jafari. Eyewitnesses said they saw a tall bearded man selling honey from shop to shop before the blast. He was last seen near Hayder's store where police believe he left a bag full of explosives by the door.
The blast came a day after an aide to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was shot and wounded on his way to Friday prayers in Najaf.
Border controls
Meanwhile Saturday L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, said the coalition plans to at least double the 8,000 security people on the borders and initiate a system called PISCES "to positively ID everyone entering or leaving Iraq."
The plan would limit the ports of entry into Iraq to 20 to reduce the number of foreign terrorists entering Iraq, Bremer said in a statement.
The coalition will cut the number of entry ports on the Iran-Iraq border to three, he said. Visitors traveling by land who want to enter Iraq will need to present a passport, fill out an entry form, and be entered into an immigration monitoring system, Bremer said.
Border police will be able to check for wanted people from entry card data punched into the PISCES system.
The program intends to have the proper equipment, staffers, training and material by June 30, when sovereignty is handed over to Iraq.
Bremer believes the stiffer security won't burden travelers and that special procedures will be put in place to handle increased border traffic during religious holidays, he said.
The program will be started after the Iraq Interior Ministry and other officials are consulted, Bremer said.
Iraq is bordered by Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
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COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY BRIEFING
Presenter: BRIGADIER GENERAL MARK KIMMITT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR COALITION OPERATIONS AND DAN SENOR, SENIOR ADVISER, CPA
March 13, 2004
Ambassador Bremer today issued the following statement on our new border security initiative:
Foreign terrorists are present in Iraq. The numbers are not known with precision but recent attacks and their continuing presence underscores the importance of improving security at Iraq's borders. That is why we are accelerating border security efforts.
The program we are announcing today is the first stage in a multistage effort to address security problems exacerbated by Iraq's porous borders, but it will also assure that when we turn over sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30th that government will have equipment, staff, training and materials necessary to operate each of its 20 major border crossing points.
We will monitor, limit and control the number of people crossing into Iraq from other nations. We will do this with a combination of increased personnel, new technology and tighter procedures. Right now there are about 8,000 law enforcement personnel devoted to border security. We will double that number and then determine if more are needed. We have tested and will begin deploying a system called PISCES, a system to positively ID everyone entering or leaving Iraq.
Beginning with the Iranian border, we will limit the number of ports of entry across Iraq's borders. The Iran-Iraq border will be reduced to three ports of entry. All visitors arriving to Iraq by land will need to present a passport, fill out an entry form, be issued a temporary entry card and be entered into an immigration monitoring system.
Data from entry cards will be loaded into the PISCES system, which will also provide border enforcement officials a means to conduct checks for wanted subjects and provide a photograph of each visitor.
We expect this process will increase security without unduly burdening legitimate travelers or commerce.
We are aware of and have taken into account the importance of religious pilgrims visiting Iraq's holy sites. Special procedures will be put into place to accommodate increased flows during religious holidays.
We recognize the challenges inherent in trying to secure Iraq's porous borders, but we must continue to do more. We owe this to the Iraqi people. And having consulted with the Iraqi minister of interior and other Iraqi officials, we will begin implementation of this program.
With that, we are happy to take your questions. Jim?
Q I'm just wondering which agencies will have access to this PISCES system. Will any U.S. agencies, especially intelligence agencies or law enforcement agencies, have access to this? Will it be networked back to the States, so that folks in Washington can keep tabs on folks coming in and out of Iraq, A?
And then B, will you be collecting biometrics at all, photos, fingerprints, iris scans, anything like that?
MR. SENOR: The PISCES system has been used for a number of purposes in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has -- it is a multi-use technology system. No final determination has been made at this point about the expansiveness of the program and the degree to which it will be used to address some of the issues you've raised. That was something we will look into and consider as we begin implementation.
- centcom.mil
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Update: Training in Pakistan? and nobody knew? eh? not even the CIA?
October 12, 2004 TIMESOFINDIA reported that they had obtained ""...documents [that] reveal how the US has mapped Pakistan's year-wise targets, details of various schemes that would give the global superpower an unhindered influence over General Musharraf's Pakistan....
The US has Pakistan all wired up in a highly sophisticated network of software systems, with direct access to information including that of every one entering or leaving Pakistan. The Personal Identification Secure Comparison Evaluation System (PISCES), an automated border control system, is being implemented in 20 ports of immigration in Pakistan.
According to latest information, all points of entry and exit in Pakistan would have PISCES system by Dec 31, 2004. Believed to have been developed by Virginia-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton for CIA before 9/11, PISCES uses biometric details to match facial images, fingerprints and biographical descriptions with the CIA data bank in the US. PISCES at Pakistani ports is believed to be linked to a central server in the US through high-speed network where American officials monitor and analyse details of passengers, matching them with suspects' data.
[London "bombers" Khan & Tanweer, ...came to Pakistan in July 2004 PISCES photos were used as proof that they had entered the country]
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,p>
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operation Vigilant Resolve?
Bahgdad April 06, 2004
"American troops are now facing some of the fiercest attacks near Baghdad since the war ended. A disorganized but determined militia exchanged gunfire with US soldiers overnight as Marines try to root out those who brutally killed four Americans last week. At the capitol, some lawmakers are already asking if the US will need to send more troops to Iraq soon to deal with these attacks that threaten the fast-approaching deadline for Iraqi sovereignty."
OPERATION VIGILANT RESOLVE UNDERWAY IN IRAQ
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operation Valiant Response?
Baghdad April 6, 2004
"...the Sunni stronghold's first response to what the US dubbed Operation Valiant Response was more defiance. Several marine positions came under mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire, killing one US soldier. The US responded with air strikes on insurgency positions."
The face of bloody Iraq defiance
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Pacification?
"On March 28, 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer said that Iraqis in Fallujah found leaflets scattered throughout the city bearing an ominous message which the Iraqis believed was left by the Marines. "You can't escape and you can't hide . . . the coalition will find you and bring you to justice," said the Arabic message printed over two steely green eyes."
Marines Push Against Rebelling Iraqis, Carol Rosenberg
Pacification worth the price?
Like in Vietnam...?
"Pacification is the military, political, economic, and social process of establishing or reestablishing local government responsive to and involving the participation of the people. It includes the provision of sustained, credible territorial security, the destruction of the enemy's underground government, the assertion or re-assertion of political control and involvement of the people in government, and the initiation of economic and social activity capable of self-sustenance and expansion. the economic element of pacification includes the opening of roads and waterways, and the maintenance of lines of communication important to economic and military activity."
The Johnson Administration and Pacification in Vietnam
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Apr 6 -
26 Iraqis Die in U.S. Strike on Fallujah
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- "U.S. warplanes firing rockets destroyed four houses in the besieged city of Fallujah late Tuesday, witnesses said. A doctor said 26 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed and 30 wounded in the strike.
U.S. Marines have been battling Iraqi guerrillas since Monday in a siege aimed at putting down Iraqi guerrillas in Fallujah, one of their main strongholds.
The rockets destroyed the houses in two neighborhoods in the city after nightfall Tuesday, the witnesses said."
Jackson County Mail Tribune
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Apr 7,
40 Reported Killed in Fallujah Mosque
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- "A U.S. helicopter hit a mosque with three missiles in the besieged city of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing about 40 people, witnesses said.
Cars were ferrying bodies of the dead from the scene. There was no immediate confirmation of casualities.
Anti-American violence intensified and spread to cities in northern Iraq on Wednesday as a U.S. helicopter went down and a Marine commander confirmed 12 of his men had been killed in fighting west of Baghdad."
Jackson County Mail Tribune
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The battle the US wants to provoke
"Make no mistake: this is not the "civil war" that Washington has been predicting will break out between Sunnis, Shias and Kurds. Rather, it is a war provoked by the US occupation authority and waged by its forces against the growing number of Shia who support Moqtada al-Sadr."
Naomi Klein Guardian
US stoking unrest before festival, say Shia
"US soldiers do not seem able to distinguish between the Army of the Mehdi and ordinary Shia pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Kerbala to commemorate the feast of Arbain, which starts today, forty days after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, one of the founders of their faith.
"The Americans are just as bad as Saddam Hussein," said Hamid al-Ugily, the leader of six men from Sadr city carrying a green flag who are spending two to three days walking to Kerbala. "We think they will attack Muqtada in Najaf. We will defend our religious leaders."
Patrick Cockburn Independent UK
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SUNNI AND SHIA UNITE AGAINST US
--18 US GI'S DEAD
"Two Sunni clerics one from the Fallujah area, arrived with a letter of support for Sadr's rebellion --the first public sign of an alliance between the Sunni resistance and the Shiites.
In an ominous development for occupation forces, the letter called upon all Muslims to come together to throw out "infidel occupiers of Iraq." Yesterday, the Sunni Scholars Council also called on Sunnis and Shiites to join forces.
Meanwhile in Fallujah, U.S. forces reached the center of the city in heavy fighting and were forced to pull back before nightfall. The military used an AC-130 helicopter to pound a civillian area. Sixteen Iraqis died during pitched battles with Marines -who reported two wounded.
Promising more troops, if needed, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the incursion was a raid. He said --"They have captured a number of people over the past 36-hours.... A number of people have resisted and been killed."
Gulu Future [see Tues 6th April]
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one week in iraq - "...
the toll of Iraqis killed climbed to 460 and the military admitted it had lost control of two southern towns. "
Fallujah
"Why have parts of the Shia population joined with the Sunni insurgency? While this revolt is a product of general hatred of the occupation and US rule, the gun battles which have erupted all across Iraq came specifically as a result of protests by supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. Somewhat ironically, this violent revolt was triggered by the closure of Sadr's al-Hawza newspaper a week ago on the grounds that it was inciting anti-US violence. Then US troops arrested one of his top deputies in Najaf.
Rather than stifling the movement, the two acts of state repression inflamed the problem. Initially, there was a wave of peaceful demonstrations, including the occupying of police stations and government buildings across Iraq including UK occupied Basra. In Baghdad, the Iraqi army responded to the protests by opening fire and allegedly killing three people. Since then the revolt has spread, with rebels taking at least two towns by Thursday (Najaf and Kut). While occupying troops are suffering losses, it is Iraqis who, as usual, are making up the bulk of the dead and wounded.
As well as the Shia revolt, 1,200 US troops as well as Iraqi security forces were sent to "pacify" Falluja, a Sunni town of 200,000 people. This is where four US citizens were killed a few weeks ago (the US is less vocal that this was in response to deaths of Iraqi civilians in their raids). By the 8th of April, the US had killed over 300 Iraqis as a result of waging heavy street battles, using warplanes and tanks. This included around 40 worshippers killed when the US blew up part of a Mosque. Not the best way to win hearts and minds."
Mission Accomplished?
anarcho -Indymedia
Occupation watch report
'It appears that the US are preparing to eliminate, by death or capture, all males between say 14 and 60 in Fallujah. The US has already warned the population they face a choice between the US forces and the militants, and told people to leave the city. Arial bombing has apparantly been heavy today, and US tanks have destroyed 10+ civilian homes. Up to 450 people have been killed, in all probability mostly civilians as there are many pictures of dead children coming out. "
Massacre Imminent in Fallujah?
"American forces declared al-Jazeera must leave before any progress is made to settle the Fallujah stand-off," al-Jazeera director general Wadah Khanfar said, citing sources close to the Iraqi Governing Council."
Al Jazeera
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Corporate news
US allies call for truce in Iraq
"How can a superpower like the US put itself in a state of war with a small city like Falluja? This is genocide," he told AFP news agency on Friday, the first anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi interim Human Rights Minister, Abdel Basit Turki, and a member of the Iraqi Governing Council's rotating presidency, Iyad Allawi, both resigned on Friday.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Shia and Sunni rebellions had proved stronger than expected. "
BBC
"U.S. authorities in Iraq say more than a million pilgrims are in and around Kerbala for the ceremonies of Arbain, but large groups of pilgrims were not yet massing on the streets.
Iraq's U.S. governor, Paul Bremer, has said the safety of pilgrims cannot be guaranteed during Arbain. Last month suicide attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala on the Shi'ite occasion of Ashura killed 171 people. Washington said the attacks were masterminded by a Jordanian linked to al Qaeda to try to spark civil war.
Iraqi police, whom U.S.-led forces had previously entrusted with keeping order during Arbain, were nowhere to be seen.
Streets were being patrolled by Sadr's Mehdi Army and another Shi'ite armed group, the Badr Brigade, as well as local guards, some employed by the clerical authorities. Militiamen waved pilgrims to the sides of streets for fear of sniper fire...
...The fall of Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dominated secular regime a year ago ended decades of oppression for the 60-percent Shi'ite majority and left them free to observe major festivals like Ashura and Arbain, marking one of the founding events of Shi'ite Islam in a seventh century battle near Kerbala."
reuters
reuters
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indymedia
"There has been a massacre in Falluga. Falluga is under siege. 470 people
have been killed, and 1700 injured. There has been no ceasefire. They
(Americans) told people to leave, said they have 8 hours to leave and
people began to leave but they're trapped in the Desert. The Americans
have been bombing with B52s..."
"an American convoy was attacked there and 9
soldiers were injured and 27 were kidnapped. That's right 27. None of the
newswires are reporting it though. And I heard this from (*name best not
to supply without permission). Its really really bad. They (Americans)
have been firing on Ambulances, snipers are following the ambulances,
they cannot get in..."
"Well over 470 people have now been slaughtered by US troops in Falluja,
this week. 1700 have been injured. The deathtoll is expected to rise due
to the siege nature of the military cordon around the town. ambulances
are being fired upon and followed by sniper sights if they attempt to
enter the town. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing bodies lying dead in
the streets. Hospitals have been attacked. Medical supplies and bed
shortages are at crisis levels. Residents are calling it a massacre.
People from all over are attempting, some succeeding, to get into Falluja
to help evacuate the injured by car. People are donating food, medical
supplies and water to those fleeing. All of Iraq is watching and
sympathising with Falluja say people on the ground there. "
"There is at the time of writing (10/04/04) a 13km column of Falluja
residents fleeing the bomb-smashed town, trapped in the desert and
surrounded by US troops which eye-witnesses report have been firing on
them. Most of the desert marooned refugees are elderly men, women and
children."
URGENT: Falluja Massacre Update. Eyewitnes Accounts. Please Take
Action!
Eyewitness Report: Fallujah
Another eyewitness report from Fallujah
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Iraqi 'beaten to death' by US troops
April 14, 2004
"AN Iraqi has died of his wounds after US troops beat him with truncheons because he refused to remove a picture of wanted Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr from his car, police said today."
News.com.au
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'We are going to fight them and impose our will on them and we will
capture or... kill them until we have imposed law and order on this
country,' he declared at the weekend. 'We dominate the scene and we will
continue to impose our will on this country."
Paul Bremer, imperial representative - Occupied Iraq source
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"I expect everyone knows by now about the kidnapping of
three Japanese civilians and the threat to burn them
alive unless the Japanese government withdraws its
troops from Iraq. Anxious, everyone huddled round the
satellite TV in one of the apartments. The tape from
the kidnappers showed them crouched, blindfolded,
knives to their throats. "
Jo Wilding writes about the Japanese hostages in Iraq
ABC news has really summed it all up...
"In Tokyo, hundreds of people rallied outside Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's office on Saturday, demanding the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Iraq to save the lives of the three Japanese hostages.
"The lives of people are more important than the Japan-US alliance,"
the demonstrators chanted as they were prevented by police from crossing the street to the prime minister's official residence in the centre of Tokyo.
Ken Takada, who organised the rally, said his group had collected 100,000 signatures to urge Mr Koizumi to yank his troops from Iraq.
He said another rally would be held on Sunday.
A former leader of the Japanese Red Army militant group also urged the kidnappers to spare the lives of the Japanese hostages, making his plea in an open letter in Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper on Saturday.
Masao Adashi, 65, said the three were "not government officials, but members of a non-governmental organisation opposing the policy of their government" in Iraq.
But the prime minister has vowed to keep his soldiers in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa despite the hostage crisis."
"We must not yield to terrorists' foul threats," he said on Friday.
Japanese Hostages face death sentence
Aljazeera airs tape of dead 'CIA men'
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hi, my name is Thomas... and i'll be your story for today...
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"One small boy of 11, his face covered by a kefir and toting around a Kalashnikov that was nearly as big as he was, patrolled areas around the clinic, making sure they were secure. He was confident and very eager for battle. I wondered how the U.S. soldiers would feel about fighting an 11 year-old child? For the next day, on the way out of Falluja, I saw several groups of children fighting as mujahedeen.
After we delivered the aid, three of my friends agreed to ride out on the one functioning ambulance for the clinic to retrieve the wounded. Although the ambulance already had three bullet holes from a U.S. sniper through the front windshield on the driver's side, having westerners on board was the only hope that soldiers would allow them to retrieve more wounded Iraqis. The previous driver was wounded when one of the sniper's shots grazed his head.
Bombs were heard sporadically exploding around the city, along with random gunfire. "
Iraq dispatches blog
Troops' death toll in April reaches 100
Eleven more U.S. troops die in Iraq
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Surely this is Hypocracy?
Psyops confuses the issues...
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US force 'to pull out of Falluja'
April 29, 2004
US marines have agreed to withdraw from positions in the flashpoint Iraqi city of Falluja, according to an American military commander. Lt Col Brennan Byrne said this would allow a newly created all-Iraqi force to take control of the city on Friday. But US defence officials in Washington say they are not aware of any deal and no troops are currently pulling out. Hours after the reported deal, fresh explosions and gunfire was reported as US warplanes circled the city. Falluja, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city of 300,000 people that lies 50km (30 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, has been a hotbed of resistance to the US-led occupation of Iraq. Satellite image showing location of recent fighting in Falluja
US forces moved against insurgents in the city on 5 April following the gruesome killings of four American civilian contractors there. Doctors in Falluja say some 600 people have already been killed since the siege began and thousands have fled. Elsewhere in Iraq, 10 US soldiers have been killed in attacks - eight in a car bombing south of Baghdad.
'Falluja Protection Army'
Col Byrne told reporters that the new Iraqi force had been set up under an agreement reached with local leaders. He said it would be known as the Falluja Protection Army (FPA), and would be made up of about 1,100 Iraqi soldiers led by a former general from the Saddam Hussein era.
BBC News
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U.S. Marines Say to Remain In,
Around Falluja
Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:47 AM ET
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines will maintain some positions in and around Falluja as an Iraqi battalion takes over the restive town, a Marines statement said Friday. "Until the battalion's units demonstrate a capability to man designated checkpoints and positions, Marines will continue to maintain a presence in and around Falluja," the statement said.
"The coalition objectives remain unchanged -- to eliminate armed groups, collect and positively control all heavy weapons and turn over foreign fighters and disarm anti-Iraqi insurgents in Falluja." A former general in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard said Friday he was forming a new force with U.S. agreement to restore stability to the town, but fresh clashes showed that a month of fighting with Sunni Muslim insurgents was not over.
The statement from the Marines said the new Iraqi force would help track down those who killed four American contractors on March 31 and the people who mutilated their bodies, the incident which led to the Marine siege. The Iraqi force would also help find those who overran Falluja's police station, killed more than 20 policemen and freed prisoners in February, it said. Once found, those responsible would be tried in Iraqi courts, it said.
reuters
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U.S. command, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told Sky News:
"Any suggestions we're handing over responsibility or withdrawing is patently false," reuters
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Bush re-defines the concept of NORMALITY
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Bush: Fallujah Getting Back to 'Normal'
The Associated Press WASHINGTON April 28
"President Bush said Wednesday he believes most parts of Fallujah are returning to "normal" despite three days of battles with insurgents. Fighting and instability in Iraq will not force a delay in the June 30 transfer of power, he said.
ABC news
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U.S. Warplane Fires on Fallujah Targets U.S.
The Associated Press FALLUJAH, Iraq April 28
"A U.S. warplane fired its cannons on targets in Fallujah for a second straight night Wednesday after a day of fighting between Marines and Sunni insurgents in parts of the encircled city. The nighttime attack from an AC-130 gunship raised smoke and flames above Fallujah. "
ABC news
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Najaf
"Because it's the site of the tomb of Ali, the first imam of the Shiites. When Mohammed died in A.D. 632, there was a schism over who should be his successor. A learned council called a shura selected Abu Bakr, one of the prophet's closest friends and allies. But many of the faithful insisted that Mohammed had wished to pass the mantle to Ali, his cousin, adopted son, and son-in-law. They claimed that the prophet had expressed this desire in a sermon delivered during his last hajj, or holy pilgrimage. Those who revered Ali as Mohammed's rightful heir became known as the Shi'at Ali, or "faction of Ali"the forefathers of today's 150 million Shiites."
Why Is Najaf So Holy?
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"An Islamic holy city, Najaf is home to the shrine of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet Mohammad's cousin and son-in-law and fourth caliph (656-661). Najaf also contains one of the largest cemeteries in the world. According to Imam Ali, any Muslim buried here will enter paradise; as a result, the tombs of several prophets are found in Najaf. Shia Muslims especially consider it a privilege to be buried here. Like Karbala, Najaf became an important center of Islamic scholarship and theology. During his exile from Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini lived here for 12 years prior to the 1979 revolution in Iran. In 1999, the Iraqi Shia leader Ayatollah Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr was assassinated in Najaf, sparking clashes between Shia and the Iraqi government. "
Global security.org
"The sight of tanks prowling along a cemetery's paths and gunmen crouching behind tombstones would be alarming in any circumstances but it has a special resonance in Iraq's great burial ground of Najaf.
This vast tract of domes and humbler tombs is on a site which Imam Ali, one of Shia Islam's most revered figures, is said to have decreed to be the entry to Paradise itself.
For centuries, Muslims from across the Shia world have sought to be buried here, within sight of the city's gilded Imam Ali Shrine.
Known as the Valley of Peace, it is said to be one of the largest, if not the largest, graveyards on the planet.
If Najaf itself is one of Iraq's biggest cities, with a population of nearly 600,000, then the city of the dead down upon which it looks holds the remains of millions, stretching for up to 10 kilometres (six miles) along the valley. "
Najafs Holy cemetary
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May 6
"In what seemed a broad move against insurgents across southern Iraq, US tanks moved unopposed into the centre of the nearby holy city of Kerbala, destroying offices used by the Mehdi Army militia of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Eyewitnesses reported fierce battles in and around Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa. One saw US tanks at the governor's building on Najaf's main street. It was the boldest action yet against an insurgency launched a month ago by Sadr. Aged about 30 and with a following among mainly young Shias, the cleric demanded Americans leave Iraq."
Bloody battle in Najaf, 41 killed
"Berg's body was found decapitated on May 8, 2004 on a Baghdad overpass by a U.S. military patrol. Berg's family was informed of his death on May 10. Military sources stated publicly at that time that Berg's body showed "signs of trauma", but did not disclose that he had been decapitated. "
Wikipedia
May 14,
"American tanks went into the city's ancient cemetery in response to what US forces said were attacks by supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
It is not known how many people died in the fighting, but one source told the BBC that bodies littered the streets.
BBC
May 15
"American troops fought militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today in Najaf and Karbala, though the confrontations in the two holy cities in Iraq's southern Shiite heartland were less intense than in previous days. "
Houston chronicle
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The decapitation of Nick Berg
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Busy guy, huh? |
Zawqawi - BOGEY MAN!!!
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is presented to World public opinion, as the upcoming terrorist mastermind, overshadowing "Enemy Number One", Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. State Department has increased the reward for his arrest from $10 million to $25 million, which puts his "market value" at par with that of Osama. Ironically, Al Zarqawi is not on the FBI most wanted fugitives list.
Global research
"Attention on al-Zarqawi has increased in recent months as he became a more vocal terror figure, due in part to three recordings released on the Internet, including the video showing the beheading of American businessman Nicholas Berg.
In the Thursday night CNBC interview, Cheney said of al-Zarqawi: "Here's a man who's Jordanian by birth. He's described as an al-Qaida associate. He ran training camps in Afghanistan back before we went to war in Afghanistan. After we went in and hit his training camp, he fled to Baghdad. Found safe harbor and sanctuary in Baghdad in May of 2002. ... There clearly was a relationship there that stretched back over that period of time to at least May of '02, a year before we launched into Iraq."
Indiana Gazette
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Update: Ahmed Chalabi - left out in the cold?
Bluff and double Bluff...
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"Chalabi, complaining bitterly about his former American friends, immediately played the anti-U.S. card like a true Middle Eastern professional. Americans, he told reporters, have outworn their welcome in Iraq, and they should let Iraqis run their own affairs and leave. Before the raid on his family and his Iraqi National Congress, or INC, party headquarters, Iraqis regarded him as the American puppet he once was. Now he is properly credentialed as a pol who has stood his ground against the increasingly unpopular occupier.
The chubby, portly Shiite scion of an old Iraqi political family lost favor with his American neocon backers when he betrayed a promise he had made about Israel before being flown back by the Pentagon -- with some 700 U.S.-trained militia -- to the Iraq he had left as a teenager over 40 years ago. Sponsored by Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Chalabi was put on the U.S. payroll to the tune of $340,000 a month. He cemented his alliance with the neocon establishment by pledging to recognize and sign a peace treaty with Israel when he made it to the top of the emerging post-Saddam Hussein political establishment."
BNN
The revenge of the CIA
- DU thread
The Strange Case of Dr. Ahmed Chalabi
The Neocon backlash!
"On May 22 a small delegation of Chalabi supporters marched into the office of Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, to complain about the Administration's abrupt change of heart about Chalabi and to register their concerns about the course of the war in Iraq. The right-wingers included Richard Perle, a former chairman of a Pentagon advisory group, and James Woolsey, a former CIA director. "
"There is a smear campaign under way, and it is being perpetrated by . . . intelligence officers who have succeeded in planting these stories which are accepted with hardly any scrutiny," Mr Perle said in an interview.
Chalabi's fall from grace irks right wing
Chalabi still involved in Iraq! Is the above disinfo?
On Sunday, U.S. troops and al-Sadr's fighters exchanged gunfire near Najaf's Valley of Peace cemetery - the largest burial ground in the Muslim world. Puffs of white smoke rose above the tombstones as Shiite gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. tanks. One Iraqi was killed and four were injured, hospital officials said.
"The situation is very tough, and it looks like there's no solution," merchant Ammar al-Khafaji complained. "Inside the city, people are afraid."
On Saturday, the U.S.-appointed governor of Najaf, Adnan al-Zurufi, accused al-Sadr of failing to honor the truce.
Despite the clashes, Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi, who traveled to Najaf to help shore up the agreement, told reporters there was a "a momentum for peace" and the fellow Shiite leaders were "working to implement this so we can avoid any clashes."
Chalabi met with al-Sadr's aides Sunday night and afterward told reporters he had worked out a "detailed plan for the implementation" of the truce agreement and would present them to U.S. and Iraqi officials Monday.
"We ask both sides to stop hostilities," Chalabi said.
Following clashes around the cemetery, an explosion rocked the center of the city, sending black smoke over Revolution of 1920 Square. Gunfire immediately broke out, injuring two people fleeing the scene.
Convoy of Britons ambushed in Baghdad: U.S. soldiers clash with gunmen in Najaf
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The fake handover
US troops to stay in Iraq
after June 30 handover: Bush
President George W. Bush has vowed US troops will stay in Iraq after the June 30 handover of power to Iraqis, as new and potentially damaging allegations emerged on US military guidelines for interrogating prisoners in Iraqi jails.
yahoo news Asia
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Blair ready to hand over Iraq by July
London/Baghdad, May 16. (Observer News Service): Tony Blair moved to extract himself from growing turmoil in Iraq with a pledge on Saturday to hand over 'full sovereignty' in June, as renewed violence flared in the troubled country.
Hindu news
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US 'appoints' new prime minister - How democratic?
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"The choice of Iyad Allawi, closely linked to the CIA and formerly to MI6, as the Prime Minister of Iraq from 30 June will make it difficult for the US and Britain to persuade the rest of the world that he is capable of leading an independent government.
He is the person through whom the controversial claim was channelled that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be operational in 45 minutes.
Dr Allawi, aged 59, who trained as a neurologist, is a Shia Muslim who was a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party in Iraq and in Britain, where he was a student leader with links to Iraqi intelligence. He later moved into opposition to the Iraqi leader and reportedly established a connection with the British security services. His change of allegiance led to Dr Allawi being targeted by Iraqi intelligence. In 1978 their agents armed with knives and axes badly wounded him when they attacked him as he lay asleep in bed in his house in Kingston-upon-Thames.
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Patrick Cockburn
More from Truthout
"The reasons for Allawis unpopularity are not difficult to find. He has a long and intimate association with Western intelligence agencies and close connections to the Baath Party and dissident elements of Saddam Husseins regime. His only opposition to Bremer has been over the issue of de-Baathification. Allawi has insisted on retaining officials from the key institutions of state repressionthe military, police and intelligence servicesin order to deal with the mounting opposition to the occupation.
Allawi presides over the IGCs security committee and has had a hand in building an Iraqi army and police force. His deputy Nouri Badran, who is also a member of Allawis Iraqi National Accord (INA), runs the interior ministry. His cousin Ali Allawi runs the defence ministry. Last December Allawi flew to CIA headquarters in the US to meet with CIA director George Tenet over the creation of a new Iraqi intelligence service to counter the armed anti-US resistance.
According to an article in the New York Times, Allawi received the green light to recruit ex-members of the hated Mukhabarat intelligence service, which was responsible for much of the torture and killings under the Hussein regime. Allawis associate Ibrahim al-Janabi, another member of the IGC security committee, justified the move as essential to establishing public order. Under the Saddam regime, the entire structure of Iraq was built around security. The mentality of the people revolved around this security, Janabi said.
Allawi has long been associated with the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Born into a wealthy Shiite merchant family, he became an enthusiastic member of the Baath Party while a student in Baghdad. He went to London in 1971 to continue his medical studies and resigned from the party in 1975. In 1978, an attempt was made on his life in London, allegedly by Iraqi agents. Allawi told the Washington Post recently: At the time I was in contact with high-ranking Baath officials and military officers who shared my view that Saddam had hijacked the party.
Allawis orientation to dissenting Baath Party members, particularly military and intelligence officers, has been the hallmark of his opposition to the Hussein regime. With the assistance first of the British MI6 then the CIA, he built a network of contacts throughout the 1980s, travelling extensively in the Middle East as a businessman. In December 1990, in the midst of the first Gulf War, Allawi established the Iraqi National Accord (INA) with the support not only of London and Washington, but of Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia
axis of logic
How long will it be before we all get our prime ministers appointed?
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Derailing the process: Who benefits?
Baghdad blast kills Iraq leader
The current head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has been killed in a car bomb blast near the headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad.
Ezzedine Salim was waiting to enter the compound when the bomb went off at 0530 GMT, killing him and several others.
It is not yet clear whether Mr Salim was the target of what US officials say was a suicide attack.
Iraq's interim foreign minister has vowed that the political process will not be derailed. "
[snip]
"Several vehicles were destroyed in the blast, which melted the asphalt of the road and sent debris flying over a large area.
"There was a huge crowd at the checkpoint," a security guard at a nearby residential compound told Reuters.
"There were a lot of cars and people on foot standing there and then this massive explosion. I saw body parts everywhere."
[snip]
[secret operations?]
US military officials say an American soldier was killed and two injured in a gunbattle in a city south of Baghdad on Sunday.
They did not identify the city but said the soldiers were from the Task Force 1st Armoured Division which has been fighting forces loyal to Mr Sadr.
BBC
Iraqi council chief assassinated in suicide attack at Baghdad checkpoint
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The New Governing Council President is chosen : Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer
Herald Tribune
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Iraqs new president : The Saudi-ization of Iraq
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Adnan Pachachi appointed, then refuses / voted out!
"Former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi was appointed Iraq's new president Tuesday but turned down the post, an aide said. Governing Council President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was then named to the top post, a council member said. "
Calgary Herald
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US Puppet No. 1
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US / Saudi Puppet No. 2?
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"Iraq's first post-Saddam government has finally been unveiled after days of wrangling between American officials in Iraq and the Governing Council.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the 30 June handover would be a major step in creating a new, sovereign Iraq.
Beside Mr Allawi as he spoke was the interim President Ghazi Yawer, himself appointed only hours before."
"Mr Allawi said Shia politician Adel Abdul Mehdi would be finance minister and Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, would remain foreign minister.
He also named Hazim al-Shalaan as defence minister and Falah al-Naqib as interior minister.
The full list of the administration came after it was announced that the head of the Governing Council, Ghazi Yawer, would be the country's new interim president.
Earlier reports said ex-Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi had been chosen as president but had declined the job. "
Iraqi interim cabinet revealed
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Sheikh Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, a "northern tribal figure (Sunni)," al-Yawer is "a civil engineer who spent 15 years based in Saudi Arabia. He is a close relative of Sheikh Mohsen Adil al-Yawar, head of the powerful Shamar tribe, which comprises both Sunnis and Shia."
Disinfopedia
"Yawer is 45 and graduated from the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He also has a Masters from George Washington University."
ABC
Full list of cabinet from the Guardian
Same people different name : cosmetic control?
"Hours later, the Governing Council decided to dissolve immediately rather than remain in office until the transfer of sovereignty June 30, said council member Younadam Kana.
"Kana told reporters that 20 of the 22 members of the U.S.-appointed body, which was appointed last July, agreed to disband. She said that two members expressed reservations, arguing the interim constitution adopted in March required the council to continue its work until the sovereignty transfer. "
MSNBC
"the Coalition Provisional Authority ``will remain the sovereign authority until June 30'' despite the naming of a new government and the dissolving of the Governing Council."
Iraq Council Disbands; CPA Still in Power
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"Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, warned against assuming that the delay meant the process was in jeopardy. "It is a process that is evolving hour by hour. It is a very delicate process and a delicate balance," he said.
Most of Governing Council favors the current head, civil engineer Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, for president, while the Americans back an 81-year-old former foreign minister, Adnan Pachachi. Both men are Sunni Muslim Arabs.
Council member Sondul Chapouka, an ethnic Turk from the northern city of Kirkuk, told Associated Press Television News that Iraq's U.S. governor L. Paul Bremer informed the council that other candidates were being considered for the president's job.
She complained that she and other council members were being sidelined, with the consultations involving only the coalition, Brahimi and prominent council members.
"It would have been better if the entire council was part of those meetings," Chapouka said. "We also are Iraqis and should take part in making decisions that are important to our nation."
ABC
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Bombs planted by Allawis group
"New Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi worked with the CIA as head of an exile group that sent agents into Baghdad in the early 1990s to plant bombs and sabotage government facilities, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Allawi's group, the Iraqi National Accord, used car bombs and other explosive devices smuggled into Baghdad from northern Iraq in its attempts to depose President Saddam Hussein, the newspaper said, citing former intelligence officials.
The bombings, whose effectiveness is disputed, never threatened Saddam's rule, the former intelligence officials said, according to the Times.
The Iraqi government at the time claimed that the bombs, including one it said exploded in a movie theater, resulted in many civilian casualties, the Times said.
But whether any civilians were killed could not be confirmed because the United States had no significant intelligence sources inside Iraq then, the Times said, citing a former CIA official. "
rueters
EH?
a CIA group sent into Iraq
doesn't know what the consequences are of
placing a bomb in a crowded cinema?
Mercenaries in 'coup plot' guarded UK officials in Iraq
Mercenaries accused of planning a coup in an oil-rich African state also worked under contract for the British government providing security in Iraq, raising fears about the way highly sensitive security work is awarded, The Observer has learnt.
The Department for International Development (DfID) signed a 250,000 deal last summer with the South-African based Meteoric Tactical Solutions (MTS) to provide 'close protection' for department staff, including bodyguards and drivers for its senior official in Iraq.
Two of the firm's owners were arrested in Zimbabwe last March with infamous British mercenary and former SAS officer Simon Mann. The men are accused of plotting an armed coup in Equatorial Guinea.
MTS is based in Pretoria and run by former members of South African special forces. Its owners are Lourens 'Hecky' Horn, Hermanus Carlse and Festus van Rooyen. Horn, the firm's Iraq contact when the contract with Britain was signed, is now in Chikurubi prison in Zimbabwe with Carlse.
Guardian
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Linked?
"Saudi authorities have been unable to explain how some of the gunmen escaped"
Saudi hostage drama
Al-Qaeda Commander claiming responsibilty for killing 22 in Saudi Arabia on May 29, 2004 was reported dead on March 16, 2004
MARCH 16, 2004 -
Abu Hazim al-Sha'ir, a Yemeni believed to be about 30, was the senior al-Qaida figure in the region, a U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The official said his death represented a "major, very significant blow" to al-Qaida. "This guy was involved in ongoing terrorist planning and plotting," the official added.
Associated press
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APRIL 26, 2004
Al-Qaeda Commander, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin also known as Abu Hazim was believed to be hiding with four to five other terror suspects 18 miles from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 200 counterterrorism officers believe they had him pinned down to a TWO SQUARE MILE AREA
Associated press
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May 31st 2004
"In the audio statement posted Sunday on Islamic Web sites, the speaker identified as Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin believed to be al Qaeda's chief in the Saudi region claimed responsibility for the attack.
The speaker railed against the Saudi government, accusing it of opening the country to Americans and providing "America with oil at the cheapest prices according to their masters' wish, so that their economy does not collapse."
CBS
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UN Security Council Resolution On Iraq Passes Unanimously
The Councils text spelled out a leading role for the United Nations to help Iraq convene a national conference in July to select a Consultative Council, advise and support the new authorities on the process for holding elections, scheduled for January 2005, and promote national dialogue and consensus on the drafting of a new constitution.
In addition, Secretary-General Kofi Annans yet-to-be named Special Representative and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) were tasked with helping the Government develop civil and social services, coordinating reconstruction, development and humanitarian assistance, promoting the protection of human rights, and helping the authorities plan for a census.
BNN
promoting the protection of Human Rights...?
It's a bit late now isn't it?
thousands have been murdered...By a coalition that flouted the UN
and now the US led junta can go on to the next conquest...breaking every rule supposedly set up by the forming of the UN and the Geneva convention:
A leader who is above the law is a TYRANT
President Bush, as commander-in-chief, is not restricted by U.S. and international laws barring torture, Bush administration lawyers stated in a March 2003 memorandum.
The 56-page memo to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cited the president's "complete authority over the conduct of war," overriding international treaties such as a global treaty banning torture, the Geneva Conventions and a U.S. federal law against torture.
"In order to respect the president's inherent constitutional authority to manage a military campaign ... (the prohibition against torture) must be construed as inapplicable to interrogations undertaken pursuant to his commander-in-chief authority," stated the memo, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.
Reuters
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20 June 2004 -
The handover of power in Iraq - now a mere 10 days away - appeared to be in a state of renewed crisis yesterday after a US air strike on homes in Fallujah brought to an end a week in which large-scale violence once again boiled to the surface.
Around 20 civilians, including eight women and children, are said to have died in the attack, which follows Thursday's devastating car bomb outside a Baghdad army recruitment centre.
The two incidents come after a string of smaller car bombings, the assassination of two government officials and the security chief of the main oil company in Kirkuk in the north, an escalating series of clashes between US forces and Iraqi militants around Baquba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, and a concerted series of attacks on the country's oil supply system which have temporarily cut off all exports from the southern fields around the port of Basra.
Independent
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Paul M Johnson Beheaded on video
Islamist radicals killed an American engineer held hostage in Saudi Arabia, then posted photographs of the mans severed head and bloodied corpse on an Islamist Web site Friday.
Hours later, Saudi security forces reported that they tracked down and killed at least three militants, including the reputed leader of a group responsible for beheading 49-year-old Paul M. Johnson Jr., a native of New Jersey.
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A group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula threatened Tuesday to kill Johnson within 72 hours unless the Saudi government freed imprisoned Islamist militants. Saudi officials refused, insisting that they wouldnt negotiate with terrorists.
In a statement posted with the grisly photographs, the group said, As we promised the mujahedeen (holy warriors), we have beheaded the American hostage ... Paul Marshal after the deadline that the mujahedeen gave to the tyrannical Saudi government passed.
Three pictures showed the decapitated remains of a man resembling Johnson. In one picture, a hand cradled the severed head. In another snapshot, the slain man was sprawled on his stomach, and somebody had balanced the head, face to the camera, atop his back.
Later Friday, Saudi forces killed the militants leader, Abdulaziz al-Moqrin and three others.
Detroit News
JackBlood.com conducted a domain name search for the website www.ansarnet.ws and the following results pointed out to an address in Dallas, Texas.
Jack Blood
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another orange prison uniform?
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Kidnappers say Saudi police helped abduction with uniforms, false checkpoints
6/20/2004 11:36 AM
By: Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt -- A Web site tied to the Saudi militant group blamed with killing Paul Johnson carries a claim that Saudi officials helped in the kidnapping.
A posting on the online publication -- Voice of Holy War -- says the kingdom's security forces supplied police uniforms and vehicles used in the abduction. It also says Saudi officials set up fake checkpoints to help al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula abduct the American contractor in Riyadh.
According to the Web site, the militants wore the uniforms and seized Johnson after he stopped at a fake checkpoint.
The article praised the security officials who allegedly helped as being "sincere to their religion.''
It said militants decided to behead Johnson when Saudi foreign affairs adviser Adel al-Jubeir ruled out negotiations with the kidnappers.
Austin news 8
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Perpetrators 'eliminated' but beheaded body Not found
20/06/2004
Riyadh - Police in armoured vehicles and a helicopter closed off three Riyadh neighbourhoods in a pre-dawn search on Sunday for more Islamic extremists and for the body of the American hostage beheaded by al-Qaeda.
The extensive search ended with no immediate word on results. The three neighbourhoods searched included al-Malaz, site of a gunbattle on Friday that ended with the death of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the mastermind of Paul M Johnson jun's kidnapping and killing and other terror attacks in Saudi Arabia.
Police sealed off the neighbourhoods on Saturday night, searching any cars that tried to leave. Dozens of police in cars and armoured vehicles moved in to search houses as other officers kept watch from a helicopter into the early morning hours.
news 24
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No body? Just a tape as proof of murder?
what if the video isn't real?
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Suprise, suprise...
"The 40-per cent rise in oil prices over the past year has been caused only partly by the violence in Iraq. At least as big a factor is the fear that attacks in Saudi Arabia by al-Qa'ida will undermine the kingdom's oil infrastructure and threaten supplies to the rest of the world. "It's another indication that Saudi Arabia is potentially vulnerable to terrorist attack," said one trader. "It raises the fear."
Crisis hits Saudi oil industry as al-Qa'ida claims slaughter of 22
"U.S. crude futures rose 1.7 percent on Tuesday following a suspected al Qaeda attack at the weekend in the Saudi oil hub of Khobar, which left 22 people dead but did not disrupt oil flows from the world's biggest exporter.
U.S. light crude (CLc1) on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 67 cents at $40.55 a barrel in opening electronic ACCESS dealings. The market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.
Saudi Arabia's leaders have assured the world they are in full control, although Britain has warned that more attacks were probable in the kingdom.
U.S. Oil Surges After Attack on Saudi Oil
Oil price jumps after Saudi siege
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US hands over sovereignty in Iraq
The US has formally handed over power in Iraq, two days ahead of schedule.
At a low-key ceremony in Baghdad, US administrator Paul Bremer gave legal documents to an Iraqi judge. He later left the country by plane.
Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who also took part in the ceremony in the heavily-guarded Green Zone, said it was "a historic day".
But the BBC's Dan Damon in Baghdad says the handover will mean little to ordinary Iraqis.
Our correspondent says it is not clear how real the transfer of power will seem to the many Iraqis whose backing is needed to defeat insurgents.
BBC
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A television image aired on Al Arabiya television June 27, 2004
rueters photo - INN news
2nd picture of Turkish - notice the Iraq flag...indystar
American Hostage
Wassef Ali Hassoun
US Marine, Turkish, Pakistani, held Hostage, Beheadings threatened
Islamic militants claim to have taken a US marine hostage in Iraq and are threatening to behead him, al-Jazeera television has reported.
Footage aired on the channel showed a blindfolded man dressed in camouflage and holding a US marine ID card.
The card said the man's name was Wassef Ali Hassoun and he was on active duty.
The US military has confirmed that a marine by that name has been missing in Iraq since 21 June, but it is not clear if it is the same man as in the tape.
BBC
UNBELIEVABLE:
AL Zarqarwi reported caught on BBC news 24 on 28th June : the SAME DAY as Iraq handover while these hostages remain missing, the report was quickly retracted! it appears you can't have a kidnapper captured while the hostages are still in captivity...oops!
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US: Al-Zarqawi captured 28-06-2004, 09:37am
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man believed to be leading the resistance in Iraq, has been captured, the US military said Monday.
Al Zarqawi was America's most wanted man in Iraq.
He is believed to have been behind a number of kidnappings and beheadings.
Reports indicated he had been captured in the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad. The area is under the responsibility of Polish forces. (Albawaba.com)
albawaba
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Zarqawi Capture Denied- 28-06-2004, 10:46am (UK)
The US military today denied that Jordanian-born terrorism suspect Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi had been caught.
That is false, said an aide to Brigadier General Mark Kimmit, the deputy chief of operations. I can tell you that Zarqawi has not been arrested. We just checked with the unit.
Al-Zarqawi was rumoured to have been picked up in Hillah, a predominantly Shiite city 60 miles south of Baghdad, the scene of a bloody car bombing on Saturday night that killed about 20 people.
Scotsman
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Al-Zarqawi or Al-Invention?
Today's Independent (06/[July]/04) has a front page story titled A video nasty: Terror chief shows off his deadly work and is about yet another foreign-led group of militants purportedly headed by the one-legged Jordanian and 'right-hand man' of Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
...The tape we are told, is
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"complete with graphics and professional-quality editing and camera-work [and is] the first significant raising of the stakes by militants since the return of partial sovereignty to Iraq by the US last week."
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Why a professionally edited videotape raises the stakes is not explained, nor does the piece unpack how a country can achieve partial sovereignty (sovereign: supreme, unmitigated), though it is in keeping with the rest of piece insofar as it presents assumptions as facts, so I suppose a country can be partially sovereign or supreme, especially after it's been liberated by bombing it back into the stone age.
That the Independent led with this story is no doubt to 'balance' the one by Robert Fisk on July 4 that the paper also carried on its front page (So this is what they call the new, 'free' Iraq).
There is also the issue of whether this Zarqawi fellow actually exists or is simply an invention of US Psyops, given the reports on his death last year in northern Iraq or his losing a leg in Afghanistan before that...the article shifts the focus of the resistance from the Iraqis to these elusive foreigners, where the US and the UK want the focus to belong.
You will anyway - blog by M
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Let freedom Reign!
Condi wrote:
"Mr. President, "Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed from Bremer at 10:26 a.m. Iraq time - Condi"
And then the President wrote back on the note in a black sharpie, "Let Freedom Reign!"
Whitehouse press release
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Freedom:
The condition of being free of restraints. Liberty of the person from slavery, detention, or oppression.
Political independence.
Exemption from the arbitrary exercise of authority in the performance of a specific action; civil liberty: freedom of assembly.
Exemption from an unpleasant or onerous condition: freedom from want. The capacity to exercise choice; free will: We have the freedom to do as we please all afternoon. Ease or facility of movement: loose sports clothing, giving the wearer freedom. Frankness or boldness; lack of modesty or reserve: the new freedom in movies and novels.
The right to unrestricted use; full access: was given the freedom of their research facilities.
The right of enjoying all of the privileges of membership or citizenship: the freedom of the city.
A right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the seductive freedoms and excesses of the picaresque form (John W. Aldridge).
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Freedom - Martial law?
18 June 2004 - Baghdad City Council Calls For Martial Law on 30 Jun
[Unattributed report: "Baghdad City Council calls for the declaration of martial law on the transfer of sovereignty on 30 June" ]
The Baghdad City Council has called for martial law to be declared in the Iraqi capital for six months as from the date of the hand over of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government on 30 June.
In a statement, the council said that the proposal would be submitted to the Council of Ministers, pointing out that such a measure would help to deal with security lapses in the country.
At the end of its weekly meeting, the council called for the re-instatement of the death penalty after it was suspended following the fall of the entombed regime.
In a statement to journalists, Deputy Chairman of the Baghdad City Council Karim Jaff said that the re-instatement of the death penalty would help to deal with security lapses which could exacerbate on the hand over of authority.
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yet another beheading in an orange jumpsuit... Kim Sun-il
Militants have beheaded a South Korean hostage in Iraq after Seoul refused their demand to withdraw its troops from the country and cancel plans to send more, the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera says.
South Korea confirmed the death of hostage Kim Sun-il and said his body had been found. Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil told reporters the U.S. military had found the corpse and informed South Korean officials.
Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad, a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who has been accused by Washington of links to al Qaeda, had said Kim would be beheaded if their demands were not met. In a video shown on Jazeera early on Monday, the 33-year-old hostage was shown pleading for his life.
Since early April, dozens of foreign hostages have been seized in Iraq, many around Falluja. Most have been freed but at least three have been killed by their captors, including U.S. entrepreneur Nicholas Berg who was beheaded by Zarqawi's group. U.S. officials say Zarqawi himself wielded the knife.
Reuters
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Kim Sun il pictured on national service
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The South Korean Kim Sun-il, had been working in Iraq as an Arabic interpreter for a year.
After graduating from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, last February with a degree in Arabic, he immediately landed a job at the Gana General Trading Company, which supplies goods to the U.S. military.
Family members have said that he requested a posting to Iraq so that he could make money to study in graduate school with hopes of later becoming a simultaneous interpreter of Arabic and Korean.
Born in September 1970 in the southeastern port city of Busan, Kim Sun-il once dreamed of becoming a missionary in the Middle East and after receiving a diploma in English from a local college he started to study theology before transferring to Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
Though a self-made man, Kim Sun-il was first and foremost a Christian and his parents said he "lived with no greed."
Kim Sun-il Was an Arab Enthusiast
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A banner with your name on?
"We are who we say we are..."
A videotape aired on al Jazeera television last night showed 33-year-old Korean businessman Kim Sun-il pleading for his life. A banner in the background named his captors as Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad, the group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian accused of links to al Qaida. "Please get out of here," Kim begged, referring to South Korean troops already in Iraq. "I don't want to die."
Kim, an Arabic speaker and evangelical Christian who has worked in Iraq for a year as a translator for a Korean firm supplying goods to the US military, was seized in Falluja on June 17, the day before Seoul announced its troop plan.
Telegraph India
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Yet more voices at the end of this video:
"I feel gargantuan and I feel as if I need to burn..." [???]
play it on a loop. What do you think? English accent?
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Unaired Videotape of Kim Sun-il Fuels Controversy
A previously unaired videotape of the slain Korean captive Kim Sun-il is adding more weight to the theory that he was kidnapped perhaps weeks before last Thursday as initially reported by the government.
The videotape was apparently delivered to the Baghdad office of APTN, the TV service of the Associated Press and ended up sitting there for weeks because the Associated Press says it was unable to confirm the man's identity with the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.
Kim Sun-il.
Q: What's your birthday? Your birthday? When birthday? A: "September, September 13th. September 13th."
Q: 13th September 19? A: "1970."
Q: 1970? A: "Year. September 13th."
Q: Where? In which country? A: "Korea. South Korea."
This is an image of Kim that is very much different from the ones last seen on the Arab satellite network Al Jazeera. He is alone, clean-shaven and is wearing a T-shirt. From these images, it's difficult to tell whether the man is being held hostage.
"So I came here and I wanted to, I wanted to learn more Arabic in Iraq."
Kim also says he likes the Iraqi people and describes them as being "very kind." He also shares his thoughts about the war, that it brought hardship and difficulties to the Iraqi people and he openly criticizes George W. Bush's policy.
Kim then shares a personal story on how he was roughly treated by U.S. soldiers during a trip to Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
If there is any indication as to when he was abducted, the only clues here may be that he went to an American camp three days before this interview to "deliver merchandise," including pillows and sunglasses.
The tape was apparently delivered to APTN by an unidentified courier and it is not known when the videotape was filmed.
APTN says it did not broadcast the videotape because it was unclear whether Kim was being held against his will.
In the first week of June, The Associated Press in Seoul says it asked the Foreign Ministry here whether it had any information about a South Korean in captivity and the response was that it had no reports.
The chosun Ilbo
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New mystery arises in killing of Kim Sun-il
In a mounting controversy, South Korean Foreign Ministry officials came under intense pressure yesterday from legislators to explain when they first learned of the abduction of Kim Sun-il, the Korean national beheaded in Iraq by Islamic militants, and what they tried to do to save him.
The situation took on gravity after a new videotape surfaced that indicates Mr. Kim had fallen into the hands of insurgents in Iraq long before the Foreign Ministry has acknowledged knowing about it, despite having been questioned about an abduction of a Korean national by international news media.
President Roh Moo-hyun ordered the Board of Audit and Inspection to investigate the matter, said Blue House Spokesman Yoon Tai-young. In a special questioning session at the National Assembly, South Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, repeatedly apologized for Mr. Kim's death and the government's failure to win his release.
Lawmakers asked that those responsible be held accountable. Representative Han Myung-sook of the governing Uri Party said,
"Depending on the outcome of the internal investigation, a severe reprimand should follow. " Representative Maeng Hyung-kyu of the opposition Grand National Party said, "We need a thorough investigation. Minister, you should be held responsible."
The new videotape delivered in early June to Associated Press Television News in Baghdad shows Mr. Kim, clean-shaven and calm. He introduced himself as a South Korean mathematics teacher and sharply criticized U.S. policy in Iraq, saying he "hated U.S. citizens, U.S. soldiers and [President George W.] Bush." Speaking in English to an unseen questioner, Mr. Kim appeared alone on the tape. The three-minute tape circulated on the Internet yesterday.
Jooongan daily
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Is this earlier film an interview by Black-ops?
On the first videotape, broadcast yesterday by the Korean media, a voice off camera asks Kim questions and he replies in halting English.
He gives his name and birthplace, says he was born Sept. 13, 1970 in Busan.
He also describes U.S. President George W. Bush as a terrorist and says he does not like the United States because they are killing Iraqis.
"I saw George Bush attack here because of Iraqi oil," he said. "So I don't like George Bush or America."
"I like Iraqi people. The Iraqi people are very kind," Kim said. "I think they are poor because of war."
AP said the video was delivered to APTN on June 3, but was not aired because it was unclear if Kim was being held against his will.
News agency asked Seoul ministry about Korean hostage weeks ago
Was Kim Sun IL really speaking against his will?
If these were his views, did this qualify him for the newest Black-ops game in town?
The psyops of kidnapping / beheading.
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