The Anti-war.com’s Midsummer Night’s Dream
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat’s Blog
To celebrate the summer solstice, Ivan Eland, the director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at the Independent Institute, wrote a romantic comedy published by Antiwar.com, titled “Lessons for Iraq from the Former Yugoslavia”…Barbarians in Yugoslavia, barbarians in Iraq. Thank God the world can count on Uncle Sam and its many nephews, always so enlightened and generous of brilliant ideas. Eland gives us the solution for Iraq: “Given Iraq’s history of one group dominating the central government machinery – the Sunnis – and using it to oppress the other groups – the Kurds and the Shi’a – [ALERT: you’re reading PROPAGANDA] the groups will likely eventually fight over any significant central government power. Thus, to prevent an all-out civil war when the United States finally pulls its finger out of the dike and withdraws its military forces from the country, the power of the Iraqi government will probably have to be reduced to a weak confederation of autonomous regions based on voluntary tribal or ethno-sectarian associations..” Back to reality. The US illegal invasion and occupation is responsible for the Iraq genocide, including the sectarian violence and the ethnic cleansing occurred AFTER THAT INVASION. The myth [the bad Sunni oppressing Kurds and Shi’a] on which the Antiwar.com’s author builds his shameful proposal [the partition of Iraq], is just one of the many propaganda tools the Empire sold its ruthless adventure. [Just out of curiosity, hav! e you no ticed that since the 2003 US-led invasion-occupation of that country, Iraq’s citizens are not called Iraqis anymore but Muslims or Christians, Sunni or Shi’a, Arabs or Kurds? Interesting, isn’t it?]…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45103

The Great Mirage
Gabriele Zamparini, The Cat’s Blog
…Iraq Body Count has been continuously quoted by the warmongers – Bush’s “30,000, more or less”, remember? – and the state-corporate media; even more disgracefully, IBC is also been the darling of the Western so-called anti-war movement, its think-tanks and alternative media. The hypocrisy is overwhelming! Just two recent examples – among many – of this deadly hypocrisy. Robert Fisk, known as the best British reporter, wrote a few days ago, “tens of thousands dead in Iraq”, when the best estimates tell us that the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, the Nuremberg’s supreme international crime, may have slaughtered well over 1.2 million Iraqi citizens. Why does Robert of Arabia, the Middle East correspondent of the British Independent, keep deceiving his readers on the most important point of the most outrageous scandal of our times, the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq? In a recent correspondence with Human Rights Watch, I was told: “We do not do any numbers on this, as it would be just guessing – no one really knows how many have died.” Human Rights Watch’s hypocrisy is nauseating if only one considers the efforts they put for well over a decade in promoting the story of Saddam’s genocide against his own people…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45107

Father and 4 year old son slaughtered by the US in Afghanistan
Professor Marc Herold
During the night of June 22/23, 2008 in a village of the Khogyani district of Nangarhar Province. U.S-led forces allegedly were conducting an operation and spotted a “militant.” Close air support was called in and a helicopter’s rocket struck a home killing a father and his 4-yr-old son according to the district chief of Khogyani. Pajhwok Afghan (Persian) carried a photo of the victims (below). The following day 200 people demonstrated chanting “we want the trial of those responsible for the death of civilians.” They carried the bodies of the victims. Again, the wire service reports’ headlines are revealing with the Associated Press as usual obscuring the U.S. responsibility in the killings…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45114

The Supreme Court, Habeas, John Yoo and Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal
Stephen Lendman
Rupert Murdoch has a corrosive effect on whatever he touches, and this writer once tangled with him in an article called Lies, Damn Lies and the Murdoch Empire. Former Chicago columnist Mike Royko also did and remarked that “no self-respecting fish would (want to be) wrapped in a Murdock paper…His goal (isn’t) quality journalism (it’s) vast power, political power.” Even Murdoch’s private joke is that “God doesn’t trust (him) in the dark.” Nor should anyone ever, including Wall Street Journal readers. They’ve seen the paper’s quality deteriorate since he took over, cleaned house, installed his own people in key positions, and now runs it like his other enterprises. He’s boss, what he says goes, including on editorial policy after he promised its former owner he’d keep hands off…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45100

Finally, the Oil…
Tom Engelhardt
More than five years after the invasion of Iraq — just in case you were still waiting — the oil giants finally hit the front page… Last Thursday, the New York Times led with this headline: “Deals with Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back.” (Subhead: “Rare No-bid Contracts, A Foothold for Western Companies Seeking Future Rewards.”) And who were these four giants? ExxonMobil, Shell, the French company Total and BP (formerly British Petroleum). What these firms got were mere “service contracts” — as in servicing Iraq’s oil fields — not the sort of “production sharing agreements” that President Bush’s representatives in Baghdad once dreamed of, and that would have left them in charge of those fields. Still, it was clearly a start…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45101

US may open diplomatic outpost in Iran
MATTHEW LEE and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers
The Bush administration is considering setting up a diplomatic outpost in Iran in what would mark a dramatic official U.S. return to the country nearly 30 years after the American embassy was overrun and the two nations severed relations. Even as it threatens the Iranian regime with sanctions and possible military action over its nuclear program, the administration is floating the idea of opening a U.S. interests section in Tehran similar to the one the State Department runs in Havana, diplomatic and political officials told The Associated Press on Monday…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45113

Sarkozy says no peace without resolution of refugee plight
From Khalid Amayreh in East Jerusalem
…Trying to strike a balance between his infatuation with Israel and France’s policy toward the Arab world, especially the Palestinian question, Sarkozy said Jerusalem would have to be capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state. “The Palestinians have the right to a viable state of their own,” he said, adding that such a state would be in Israel’s interests. More to the point, Sarkozy said there would be no peace in the Middle East without a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem which he called a sticking point in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, what probably upset the Israeli government most was his call for an immediate halt to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45119

Elderly Palestinian man wounded by Israeli gunfire in Gaza
Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies
Palestinian medical sources reported that an elderly Palestinian man was shot and seriously wounded by Israeli military gunfire on Monday evening as he was working in his land near the border fence in the northern Part of the Gaza Strip. The sources identified the man as Jamil Abdul-Rahman Al Ghoul, 68. He was shot in his back and is currently in a serious condition. The man was transferred to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, and remains in a critical condition. Political sources in Gaza described the attack as the first Israeli violation to the truce which started last Thursday…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45123

Stop the Expulsion campaign launched
CCDPRJ
The Civic Coalition today launched a campaign to mobilize the international community to end Israel’s expulsion of Palestinians from Jerusalem. We are calling on everyone from activists to governments to take concrete action to pressure the occupying power into ending violations against Palestinians housing and residency rights in the city. According to the Civic Coalition’s human rights bulletin for May just released, seven Palestinian homes were bulldozed in Jerusalem last month, part of a sustained campaign of demolition since January. The demolitions are part of a wider picture: the Israeli master plan for Jerusalem explicitly aims to keep the Palestinian population at no more than 30% of the total population of Jerusalem. This is being achieved through rapid settlement expansion, punitive restrictions on Palestinian communities, demolition of Palestinian homes and withdrawal of ID cards…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45122

On Love & Sectarianism.
Layla Anwar, Uncensored Arabwomanblues
She – Tara, a beautiful, smart, Iraqi woman in her late 20's, calls me and tells me that she is very much in love and that she finally found the “right” guy. He – a Lebanese beau (according to her – I never trusted her taste in men), early 30's, from the South. According to her, kind and gentle but a few problems…- So what is the problem then ? – His parents. – What about his parents ? – Layla, am a Sunni. His parents are opposing any idea of marriage because am a Sunni. – Bloody Hell, I can’t believe that ! And what did he say ? – He said nothing yet…So that was our conversation. But my mind wandered to when I was introduced to my then future parents in law…I had come from a very secular home, where Shias, Sunnis and Christians intermarried. I had no fucking clue what she was on about. And in Iraq, we really, at least not in my environment, ever heard or uttered such drivel. It was “Ayb” – shameful to say Shia and Sunni. The proof is that most of my friends and some of my family members are married to Shias. And I was too…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45118

ISRAEL’S STRANGE CONCEPT OF PEACE
Desertpeace
‘60-40?… an expression we sometimes hear when asked how things are going. Here in the Middle East it has a different meaning… 60 years since the State of Israel was established… ON PALESTINIAN LAND, and 40 years (now 41) years since the remaining segments of Palestine were occupied by Israeli forces. Throughout those years Israel has claimed to be the victim of terrorism. Its Lobby in the United States has been successful in getting the US government to support every move that Israel has made… all in the name of ‘protecting Israel from it’s enemies’. If the truth is to be known, Israel has one enemy… ITSELF!…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45115

Iran-Iraq trade volume to reach 4bn US dollars this year -Official
IRNA
Head of Industries Commission of Joint Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines said here Friday volume of two countries’ trade that was one billion US dollars in Iranian year 1385 (2006) reached $2.8 billion in 1386 and is expected to stand at 4bn by end of 1387 (March 20th, 2008). Mahmoud Hojjati who was speaking on the verge of convening the first joint conference-exhibition on opportunities for making investments in two countries’ medical drugs and health sectors on June 28th in Tehran, added, “Since Iraq has lots of religious commonalties with Iran, our strategy is achieving a greater share of Iraq’s market each year.”…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45121

Two U.S. soldiers killed in ambush near Baghdad
Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and three others were injured in a shootout Monday outside a local council building southeast of Baghdad, the military said. A gunman ambushed the soldiers and their interpreter, who was wounded in the exchange, as they left the Madaen municipal building, the U.S. military said in a statement. The Interior Ministry in Baghdad identified the shooter as a local official, who it said emerged from the building with the Americans, pulled a Kalashnikov from the trunk of his car and sprayed them with bullets. The man’s colleagues sought cover as the Americans returned fire and killed him, according to the ministry, which oversees the police…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45116

35 foreign firms win deals to develop Iraq’s oil riches
Ahmad Kadhem, Azzaman
The Ministry of Oil has given 35 foreign oil firms the permission “to extract and develop” oil fields in Iraq, the ministry’s spokesman said. Isam Jihad said more than 120 applications were made in response to offers the ministry had announced by the end of 2007. “The selection of these companies was made in the light of expertise, their financial situation, environment-related issues and equipment,” the spokesman added…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45117

Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden, Brian Wilson: At Work for John Negroponte?
Toni Solo
On June 16th the Nicaraguan centre-right newspaper El Nuevo Diario published a letter [1] from various well known people calling for the Nicaraguan coalition government, led by the Sandinista FSLN, not to shut down political freedom and to hold a national dialogue to address the food crisis and the high cost of living in Nicaragua. This appeal was made in solidarity with Dora Maria Tellez, the former president of the neo-liberal social democrat Movimiento Renovador Sandinista. The letter’s signatories end their appeal by saying that Tellez represents a broad section of Nicaraguan political opinion and should be listened to…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45109

Israeli army uproots 500-year-old olive grove in Beit Hanina near Jerusalem
alajnabiya’
A friend called me a couple days ago and told me that the Israelis were going to cut down or remove some groves of olive trees in Beit Hanina to make way for the wall. Some of the trees were on her father’s land. I bought oil from them just last fall. We talked about going over there to take some pictures and I looked around online to see if there was anything about a protest. Unfortunately I just read that they already cut them down this morning. Imagine killing 500 year old trees to put up that horrible wall…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45108

6,000 troops urgently needed in Afghanistan: NATO
Reuters
Up to 6,000 additional troops are urgently needed in Afghanistan and a failure to deploy them will only prolong the presence of Western forces in the country, a German NATO general said on Sunday. Egon Ramms told public radio station Deutschlandfunk that alliance members would end up paying a price later if they did not boost troop numbers now. “We are talking about a total of 5,000, 6,000 soldiers,” Ramms said. “We need these soldiers now, very soon, because we need to hold specific areas, we need to win over Afghanistan’s citizens and because at some point, in 2010, 2011 or 2012 we will want to hand over responsibility to Afghan forces…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45104

Heat Waves: Burning Off the Fog of the FISA Fiasco
Chris Floyd
Arthur Silber brings the heat in his latest posts on the FISA “compromise.” He cuts through the surface outrage over the Democratic-led, Obama-approved evisceration of the Constitution to expose the even deeper outrages beneath. And he takes on those progressive enablers who denounce critics of Obama’s position for their “freshman dorm cynicism” – i.e., calling a shameful action a shameful action, and decrying the Democratic candidate’s active collusion in undermining freedom…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45105

Awakening Councils fear Stab in Back
Juan Cole
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Awakening Councils are afraid they will be discarded by their American sponsors. Abi Abd, formerly a guerilla in the “Islamic Army,” formed the “Knights of Amiriya” in the Sunni Arab district of Baghdad near Sadr City, which kicked off the Awakening Council movement wherein former guerrillas took salaries from the US to fight Salafi Jihadis. Abi Abd said Sunday that he was afraid of being purged now as the need for the Awakening Councils declined. He has had to go into exile abroad after being accused of organizing murders and kidnappings. He denied the charges and said they were trumped up to force him out.,,

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45124

House Approves Unconstitutional Surveillance Legislation
ACLU
Following a vote in the House of Representatives sanctioning warrantless wiretapping and handing immunity to telecommunications companies for their role in domestic spying, the American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage at representatives who voted for the unconstitutional legislation. The bill, H.R. 6304, or The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed the chamber by a vote of 293-129, and is expected to be voted on in the Senate next week…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45099

Freed of militias, Basra has new problems
KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
… Basra is suffering widespread electricity shortages that residents blame on Iraqi authorities, who in turn point the finger at neighboring Iran. And then there’s the lack of clean tap water…”The government gives us food rations, but it is not enough. We are all tired,” Chitaya Mashhan Madloon said as she pushed through the crowd at a market, using her black robe to wipe sweat from her forehead…

Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: www.uruknet.de/?p=45120