9 May, 2008

Shoot, Kill, Lie, Repeat: America’s New Moral Universe
Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque
Tell me that this doesn’t sound like something out of a history of Nazi tactics in World War II: The rules [of engagement]t explicitly allowed the killing of unarmed Iraqis under certain circumstances…Specifically, the snipers were allowed to shoot unarmed people running away from explosions or firefights….Of course, it’s not unusual for innocent people to run from explosions. Didier, who has since been promoted to captain, said that “if that individual makes contact with you and then breaks contact of their own accord and disarms themselves while they are breaking contact, they are still an engageable target because they are not wounded, nor did they surrender.” He explained, “They are only breaking contact so that they can engage coalition forces at a later time.” In court, Sgt. Anthony Murphy, one of the snipers who was responsible for a questionable kill, testified that he interpreted this order about breaking contact so they can engage at a later time as: “Engage fleeing local nationals without weapons.” In other words, if an innocent, unarmed Iraqi runs away to seek safety from a suicide bombing, a missile attack or a gunfight — which any human being would instinctively do — then he is fair game to be killed by an American sniper…

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U.S. wants to build ‘paradise’ amid the burning hell it ignited in Iraq
Fatih Abdulsalam, Azzaman
The United States has leaked what can only exist in the imagination of science fiction writers. It wants to turn its fortress in Baghdad called the Green Zone into a shiny, tourist village with a ‘dream list’ of attractions. This ‘science fiction’ mentality has been there in the minds of the architects of the Iraq invasion in the U.S., both military and civil leaders. The U.S. still dreams of transforming its Green Zone, the symbol of its dreadful and horrific military and security machine that has imploded a whole nation into a ‘tourist village.’ The zone is seen in Iraq as a symbol center of terror and oppression. It is dislocated from its surroundings. It is a world the U.S. has created for itself and ringed it with blast walls and concrete bocks…

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In big concession, Sadr’s militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City
Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
Followers of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr agreed late Friday to allow Iraqi security forces to enter all of Baghdad’s Sadr City and to arrest anyone found with heavy weapons in a surprising capitulation that seemed likely to be hailed as a major victory for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. In return, Sadr’s Mahdi Army supporters won the Iraqi government’s agreement not to arrest Mahdi Army members without warrants, unless they were in possession of “medium and heavy weaponry.” The agreement would end six weeks of fighting in the vast Shiite Muslim area that’s home to more than 2 million residents and would mark the first time that the area would be under government control since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003….

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Six Blue Iguanas
Tom Chartier
…Maybe this is the way of the future, rigidly controlled borders and policies in the name of “security.” Will the US complete its fence along the Mexican border? The Gaza Strip is already an open prison with 1.5 million suffering inmates. The Palestinian West Bank has its Matrix of Control and its growing separation barrier. Baghdad is gradually being converted into walled in security zones with Sadr City being the current containment project. How far will this police state mentality of ethnic isolation, cleansing and control go? Will it extend to walling in South Central Los Angeles? How about Washington DC? Are there populations of people there where crime is bred and as such, they need to be enclosed and controlled?…

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The Beirut “Coup de Blues”…
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
…I also noticed that the Hezb congratulated Maliki for the “democratic elections”, supported the mass sectarian killer Muqtada Al-Sadr and failed to condemn not only the sectarian cleansing in Iraq but also the murdering of Palestinians in Iraq. I also noticed that the Hezb was engaged in the Nahr Al-Bared Palestinian camp in its cleansing. I couldn’t help but notice when the head of the Hezb, the “Sayyed” called for an all Shiite theocracy “Wilayat Al-Faqih” in his early speeches. And that in his last speech, on the occasion of the Ashoura (a Shiite religious day), he confirmed his sectarian zeal calling his followers “the sons and daughters of Kerbala.”…And the timing. Did you notice the timing? Just when the all Jewish state, Israel, is commemorating its 60th Birthday. One would have thought that the Hezb guns would be directed to Israel not to the Lebanese people…

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World’s Largest Key in Bethlehem
Palestinian News Network
Today it has launched a project to build a gigantic structure in the shape of key hole, in addition to the largest iron key which goes next to it. This is all in memorial of 60 years of Al Nakba, the Catastrophe. The key is 10 meters long and weighs two tons The key hole structure is about 12 meters high. The key hole structure is about 12 meters high. The key represents the symbol of Right of Return, United Nations resolution 194, for Palestinians over the years. This comes to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (The Catastrophe) in 1948…

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UIA politicians getting involved in Sadr City settlement talks (Updated)
badger, Arablinks
…A Sadrist member of parliament, Zeinab al-Kanani, told Aswat al Iraq on Friday May 9 that several Sadrist delegations led by Salah al-Obeidi have been meeting with members of the UIA and other parliamentary blocs since yesterday (Thusday), with a view to resolving the crisis. She said the results are going well, but there are some key issues that remain unresolved, including the issue of turning over armed persons against who there are arrest warrants, the number of such persons being over 40. She said the Sadrists do not object to the question of house-searches for the purpose of disarmament, adding that in the last few days there have been searches that have occurred without any incidents to speak of. She said she is inclined to think that the next few days will see an agreement with the government that will defuse this situation…

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Seven Palestinians killed in Gaza and the West Bank
Palestinian Information Center
The Israeli occupation airforce escalated its bombing of Palestinian police stations in the southern Gaza Strip Friday night killing five policemen, raising the number of casualties to seven over the past 24 hours. Three Palestinian policemen were killed in when their station Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, was bombed. Palestinian security and medical sources said that Apache helicopters fired two rockets at a police station to the west of Khan Younis and fired a third at policemen running out of the station….

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Why we’re not celebrating
The Arab American News
Between December 1947 and December 1950, over 530 Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed. Half of the Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by underground Zionist forces even before Israel was unilaterally declared a state. Palestinians call these events of the late 1940s the Nakba (catastrophe). The Palestinian refugees are the largest remaining refugee population in the world. Seven million of the ten million Palestinians are refugees or displaced people. They are prevented from returning to their homes and lands even though international law and U.N. resolutions demand it. The Israeli Knesset adopted a set of laws that are contrary to international law that ensured no refugees are allowed to return (as customarily happens at the end of a war) and that their land is confiscated for use by Jews only (”absentee property” laws)….

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Blackwater unlikely to face charges in Iraq shooting
Matt Apuzzo and Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press
Blackwater Worldwide, the security contractor blamed by an angry Iraqi government for the shooting deaths of 17 civilians, is not expected to face criminal charges – all but ensuring the company will keep its multimillion-dollar contract to protect U.S. diplomats. Instead, the seven-month-old Justice Department investigation is focused on as few as three or four Blackwater guards who could be indicted in the Sept. 16 shootings, according to interviews with a half-dozen people close to the investigation. The final decision on any charges will not be made until late summer at the earliest, a law enforcement official said. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation….

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Hezbollah storms to success in west Beirut
Nicholas Blanford, TimesOnline
The west Beirut residences of Saad Hariri, who heads the Sunni Future Movement, and Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, were besieged by heavily armed fighters from Hezbollah and its Shia ally, the Amal Movement. In the mainly Sunni and Druze Sakiet al-Janzir quarter tired but triumphant Hezbollah and Amal gunmen stood in doorways as the crackle of gunfire echoed down near deserted streets. “The people went to sleep last night with Omar and woke up this morning with Ali,” joked Hassan, commander of a small Hezbollah unit, referring to classic Sunni and Shia names respectively.Hezbollah and Amal fighters forced the closure of the Hariri-owned Future TV station and burnt down the offices of Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, also owned by the Hariri family, as well as closing other media outlets associated with the Future Movement…

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Fear and chaos govern Beirut
Rima Abushakra, Agence France Presse
…Imad, a 35-year-old businessman who lives in the Ras An-Nabaa area of predominantly Muslim west Beirut, said opposition militants had “fired at least 150 rockets. They sent us an army. “One woman and her child were killed by a rocket as they were trying to escape. Between every three or four buildings you would see Hizbullah guards wearing yellow arm bands. They have taken over the whole area.” The fighting has stoked fears of a new sectarian conflict after Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused the government of making a declaration of war by planning a crackdown on its communications network. People rushed to the few stores that remained open to stockpile on food and other basic supplies, with all stores and businesses except for the occasional market or pharmacy shut….

Others remained trapped inside their homes as armed militants patrolled their streets, where sporadic shooting could still be heard.

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Cheney: Bagdad’s Disneyland-Style Amusement Park Is Evidence That Things Are Going ‘Swimmingly’ In Iraq
Think Progress
Today, Vice President Cheney appeared on The Paul Gallow Show in Mississippi. During the interview, he and the host lamented the media’s alleged bias in its Iraq coverage, suggesting that they should cover more good news — such as the Disneyland-style amusement park being developed for Baghdad: GALLOW: You know, I look at this, and every once in a while, we’ll see a story, Mr. Vice President, things like an amusement park opens in Iraq or in Baghdad, which is totally counter to what we’re hearing over here, as far as the marketplaces being open, the schools, and things such as that. But I saw a story several weeks ago about an amusement center maybe over there, and I’m thinking this is not what you get in today’s media. CHENEY: No, that’s true. It’s — what gets covered obviously is bad news. That’s — you know, if everything is going swimmingly, then that’s not news, so it doesn’t get the kind of attention…

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Battle for Baghdad
No matter who wins the latest conflict in Baghdad, women and children living in Sadr city are likely to be the losers
James Denselow
The impact of conventional military assault on an urban environment should come as no surprise to any observer of the last five years in Iraq. In the worst case scenario, Sadr City could become a new Fallujah, where over 70% of the city was destroyed and subsequently rebuilt – effectively as a working prison with biometric scans determining access. The towns of Ramadi, Basra and Tal Afar are just more examples of the new security-based urban landscapes indicative of the scars the new Iraq is carrying with it. Whatever scenario takes place we await the next “Battle for Baghdad” with trepidation and knowledge that whoever wins the most vulnerable Iraqi women and children living in Sadr city will likely lose. …

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IRAQ: Al Qaeda in Iraq leader arrested — not
Tina Susman
Will the real Abu Hamza al-Muhajir please stand up? No, not the one detained Thursday near the northern city of Mosul who convinced Iraqi officials that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is his name. It’s another Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who heads the Sunni Muslim insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq, who U.S. and Iraqi officials want. For a few hours late Thursday and early today, it seemed the Al Qaeda in Iraq chief might actually be in custody. The Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Askari, was convinced enough that he announced al-Muhajir’s arrest and said he had been assured by security officials in the Mosul region that they had their man. But U.S. military officials, who would be thrilled to announce such a catch, insisted they could not confirm the arrest…

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Hamas called on Lebanese factions to end the violence
Ma’an News
…Hamas called on Lebanese factions to end the violence that has left at least 11 dead and 20 wounded in fierce street battles in the Lebanese capital, Beirut in the worst internal strife since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Ma’an that the Lebanese parties must return to dialogue before Lebanon descends into chaos, “which is what the US administration wants to see happen.” He called on the Lebanese people to “engage in real dialogue to preserve the unity of Lebanon.”…

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Opposition forces take control of Beirut
Mona Alami, Electronic Lebanon
Men clad in black have roamed the streets of Beirut since Wednesday, their faces covered with ski masks or dark kaffiyeh (checkered scarf), as they wreaked havoc in the large avenues leading to the airport or dividing Sunni and Shia areas. As darkness loomed over Lebanon, the winds of discord seem to set the Lebanese capital ablaze…Since Nasrallah’s speech, all hell has broken loose in Lebanon. As the staccato rattle of machine guns and intermittent explosions shake the city, some believe Hizballah’s coup d’etat is clearly under way….

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Playing the Iraq Oil Card
Robert Baer, TimesOnline
If anyone had any doubt that Iraq was a lot about oil, they shouldn’t after the recent Capitol Hill appearance by our ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker. In a closed House hearing, Crocker put the fear of god in Congress. His message: If we leave Iraq, Iraq will destabilize the Gulf, and a destabilized Gulf equals unstable oil prices…

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Sadr aide criticises Iraq’s Sistani
Aljazeera.net
An aide to Muqtada al-Sadr has lashed out at Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most revered Shia cleric, for keeping silent over clashes that have killed hundreds in Baghdad. Fifteen people were killed and dozens wounded in fighting in the Sadr City district of the capital on Friday, US and Iraqi officials said. The area is home to some of the poorest Shia in Iraq, and forms the bedrock of support for al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army militia. US forces have killed 25 fighters in two days of clashes in the area….

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Battle for Beirut
IRIN News
The Amal commander said on the night of 8 May that dialogue between the two sides was now off the table, and vowed his fighters would take military control of Sunni areas of Beirut. “God willing, we will control Beirut militarily and then we can catch all the traitors and then decide on a president and government.” Amal leader and House Speaker Nabih Berri has refused to open parliament and the country has been without a president since November, when Emile Lahoud stepped down without a successor. The Syrian and Iranian-backed opposition accuse the Western-backed government of Fouad Siniora of ignoring their demands and pursuing US and Israeli interests in Lebanon. The clashes which began in the south-eastern neighbourhood of Mazraa, where Shia and Sunni enclaves are divided by a main highway, continued through the night, spreading to Beirut’s western Sunni stronghold of Ras Beirut and Hamra…

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ISRAELI GOVERNMENT HUSH ON THE HUSH
Desertpeace
As I mentioned a few times, this year’s Independence Day celebrations were non participatory events in Israel. Hardly a flag was flying, hardly a song was sung….. but the government and the press here completely ignored that phenomenon, as does most of the Western governments. The Israeli government is in the midst of their own problems… a new scandal involving the Prime Minister, probably the scandal that will be the reason for new elections in the very near future….

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