IRAQ: Kidnappings Now Become ‘Unofficial’
By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail*
Residents of Baquba deny police claims that kidnappings are now a matter of the past. “There are fewer people disappearing, but it continues,” a trader who asked to be referred to as Abu Ali told IPS. “All of us know that several people are still being kidnapped every week.” A local sheikh, speaking to IPS on condition of anonymity, said that many from his tribe have been kidnapped in just the last three weeks. “This sectarian security operation is targeting Sunnis,” the sheikh said. “At least ten people from my tribe alone, all of them Sunnis, have been kidnapped, and we suspect it is by people with the government.”…

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Sectarianism and the nation
Galal Nassar
…In the modern era the Arab peoples fought for national liberation and independence. Their motto was national unity, a banner beneath which most liberation movements succeeded. After World War I the British and French realised that they would not be able to suppress national liberation movements by force of arms alone. They knew that the key to domination was to divide and conquer. Our modern history is replete with examples of victories when this tactic failed. In Lebanon the French established a system of government based on denominational quotas. In the absence of a project to forge an overriding national affiliation sectarian leaders squabbled over what they held was their rightful quota. This conflict overshadowed all other issues, including the need to develop the nation’s resources, to disseminate a spirit of common purpose and to deepen the concept of citizenship. Since independence, Lebanon has never enjoyed an extended period of peace and stability. The country’s long civil wars and intermittent violence furnish incontrovertible proof of the dangers of sectarianism. Iraq offers additional, and tragic, proof. When Paul Bremer, the US governor-general of Iraq, imposed a Lebanese-style system with some additions of his own, he turned Iraq into a fragile federation of ethnic-sectarian entities…

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Pregnant woman tear-gassed in Ni’lin as Israeli army injures many
International Solidarity Movement
On Thursday 28th of August, at around 11am Israeli soldiers invaded the town of Ni’lin, occupying the clinic and shooting tear gas at children who were walking home from school.This invoked a reaction from some Palestinian youth from within the town who began to throw rocks back at the soldiers. Soon after, the soldiers fired a tear gas canister breaking a window of a house and gassing a mother and her baby inside the room severely. After this, the Israeli soldiers began to push further into the town coming close to its main square, shooting tear gas into the main square and to the houses beyond it

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Israeli Police and Military Vandalized 3 Radio Stations
Kawther Salam
The military commander of the occupation in Hebron, Lt.-Col. Udi ben Moha or “Udi ben Muha” and his thugs, Lt.-Col. Aviv Feigel and Police Commander Menashe Aveshalom Peled (or “Moshe Aveshalom Peled” or “Aveshalom Peled”) continue their career of systematic crimes and attacks against the Palestinian civilians and their property in the occupied city of Hebron, under the eyes of Palestinian Authority and of the molesters, drunkards from the TIPH…

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SOFA preview
Roads to Iraq
I will write what today’s article on Al-Qabas to mention that the document uses ambiguous phrases and general terms, which can be interpreted in many ways. There is also no mention of the removal of Iraq from the UN’s article seven. It seems also that there are some kind of differences between the Arabic version and the English version but since we don’t have the English version then I can’t say about this…

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In a Lover’s Lap.
Layla Anwar, Uncensored Arabwomanblues
I have often seriously wondered if Love is ever possible under Occupation.
I mean, just ponder on the word Occupation. Take your time, am in no hurry, we have Time on our side…all of it. I am sure you have heard the following expression – He/She is too occupied to love. So tell me, is Love possible when one is so occupied ? Can the heart find that vital vacant, empty space to beat that extra beat ? Does an occupation occupy the Heart too ? I personally feel very occupied. Invaded and occupied. Whatever passion I had has turned into a refined hateful anger… A well polished one. And oh, so necessary ! People think that they insult me when they call me “hateful.” They prefer at best, gratitude and at worst indifference, less intimidating, I suppose…

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Afghan official ‘saw bodies of 50 children’ killed in US strike
AFP
An Afghan politician told AFP Friday how he had helped dig out the bodies of women and children after US-led air strikes a week ago, reiterating with another official that around 90 civilians were killed. The US-led coalition disputes the number and says only five civilians died along with 25 Taliban. US officials have also reportedly questioned the figure because of a lack of physical evidence. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, US defense officials said that the Afghan and UN counts of the civilians killed in the raid were overstated…

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A Woman and Two Children Shot Dead at German Checkpoint in Afghanistan
DPA news agency
An Afghan woman and two children were killed and four other children injured as German soldiers opened fire on a civilian vehicle in the northern province of Kunduz, Afghan police said Friday, Aug. 29. The incident — which occurred south-east of the provincial capital city, also called Kunduz — took place Thursday evening in a region where German troops lead operations for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said in Berlin. Two civilian vehicles approaching the checkpoint failed to heed clear signals from the troops manning the checkpoint and the security forces then opened fire, Raabe said…

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A Choice of War Criminals
Arthur Silber, Once Upon a Time…
…The crimes of those Republicans who supported these actions are unspeakable and eternally unforgivable. Yet the crimes of the Democrats who supported the same actions are still worse. The Democrats insist that they think the invasion and occupation of Iraq were wrong, yet they have continued to fund it, even though it has been within their power to defund it entirely for over a year and a half — and, of equal and even greater significance in one sense, the Democrats absolutely refuse to hold even one person responsible…

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Iraq’s Palestinians still live in fear
KARIN LAUB and SAMEER N. YACOUB, AP
Omar Ahmed rarely emerges from his rundown Baghdad housing project. When he does, he leaves behind the Iraqi-issued ID card that marks him as a Palestinian and switches to the Iraqi dialect of Arabic at police checkpoints. The 23-year-old keeps a low profile because of repeated attacks and harassment of Palestinians, still resented by many Iraqis for what was perceived as their privileged status under Saddam Hussein. Ahmed’s father was gunned down in a Baghdad street in 2005, one of an estimated 300 Palestinians killed in sectarian attacks since the fall of Saddam in 2003. In recent months, street violence has dropped sharply across the country. But the Palestinians, who number about 11,000 and mostly live in Baghdad, remain one of the most vulnerable groups, said Daniel Endres, the envoy of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Iraq…

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Resistance and re-awakening
Arablink
Haroun Mohammed writes in his regular op-ed in AlQuds AlArabi about the crisis facing the Awakenings, in the form of persecution by the sectarian Maliki administration and malign neglect by the Americans. He says those under attack deserve the support of Iraqi nationalists and anti-occupation forces of all descriptions. He writes: As we have said repeatedly, the occupier has no friends and no associates and his only priorities are his own interests. His role here is not only to abandon the Awakening groups, but to maintain the position of a neutral onlooker as the forces and the agencies of the government prepare and make ready their attacks on Awakening units first in Diyala and Baghdad, and then in a later stage in Anbar as well…

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Olympic Follies and Triumphs
Ramzy Baroud
…When four Palestinian athletes marched with the Palestinian flag into the Olympic Games in Beijing it was a statement, a declaration of sorts, that Palestinians insist on their right to exist on equal footing with the rest of the world, to raise their flag without fear and wear their country’s name spelled out the way it should be, not as a Palestinian Authority but as Palestine. The 1.5 million Palestinians living in besieged Gaza must have savoured that moment more than anyone else. One from amongst them, Nader Al-Masri, had a big smile on his face as he marched, nervously but proudly. Gaza lived a moment of freedom that day, one that even Israel couldn’t take away…

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Iqbal Tamimi – How come the USA politicians pray ‘God bless Am a wreck a’?
Iqbal Tamimi
For thousands of times I have watched USA president George W Bush bomb Iraq and then talk about his accomplishment with pride, and pray at the end of his speech… ‘GOD bless America’. He shelled Afghanistan many times, killing civilians, and then addressed his troops ending his speech by his old famous prayer ‘God bless America’. He visited the US troops in Kuwait and talked about how important it is for them to stay there for the sake of their country, leaving behind their mothers, wives and children. Then finishing his speech to the half asleep totally fed up soldiers by the same prayer.. ‘God Bless America’. He blessed America after Israel bombed Lebanon, and blessed America after a speech he addressed defending Israel’s decision to impose its siege on the Gaza people. Then today I remembered him again after I have heard the same prayer from Joe Biden. What’s wrong with those guys?…

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South Ossetia: Russia intends to absorb region
AP
Officials in South Ossetia said Friday that Russia intends eventually to absorb the breakaway Georgian province. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the region’s leader, Eduard Kokoity, discussed South Ossetia’s future earlier this week in Moscow, South Ossetian parliamentary speaker Znaur Gassiyev said. Russia will absorb South Ossetia “in several years” or earlier, a position that was “firmly stated by both leaders,” Gassiyev said…

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Head of Badr Organization took the role of the Army Chief of Staff in Diyala
Roads to Iraq
Sources from the Iraqi Staff Defense Office told Al-Sharqiya TV that they received instructions to ignore the orders taken by the Chief of Staff “Babkir Zebari” [Kurd].The anonymous source told the TV station that officers in the Defense Ministry and the Internal Affairs Ministry aware of the Dawa party and the United Iraqi Alliance domination on both ministries. Al-Sharqiya links this new development with the visit of the head of Badr Organization Al-Amri to Diyala to inspect the armed forces in the province saying that Al-Amri took the role of the Army Chief of Staff in Diyala. Iraqi Defense Ministry denied the above report…

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Russia remains a Black Sea power
M K Bhadrakumar
If the struggle in the Caucasus was ever over oil and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) agenda towards Central Asia, the United States suffered a colossal setback this week. Kazakhstan, the Caspian energy powerhouse and a key Central Asian player, has decided to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia over the conflict with Georgia, and Russia’s de facto control over two major Black Sea ports has been consolidated. At a meeting in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on Thursday on the sidelines of the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Kazakh President Nurusultan Nazarbayev told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Moscow could count on Astana’s support in the present crisis…

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Ex-Marine Acquitted Of Slaying 4 in Iraq
CHELSEA J. CARTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial. The jury took six hours to find Jose Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others to kill four unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the fiercest fighting of the war… Prosecutors alleged that Nazario either killed or caused others to kill four unarmed Iraqi detainees in Fallujah during “Operation Phantom Fury,” which resulted in house-to-house fighting. Other former Marines testified during the five-day trial that they did not see Nazario kill detainees but heard the gunshots. The case came to light in 2006 when Sgt. Ryan Weemer, Nazario’s former squadmate, volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. That screening was not admitted at Nazario’s trial…

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BREAKING: New Biden Plagiarism Scandal!!! MUST CREDIT TINY REVOLUTION!!!
Jonathan Schwarz
Accusations that Joe Biden was guilty of plagiarism during his 1988 presidential campaign seem to be mostly bogus. However, I’ve uncovered recent, genuine plagiarism by Biden, during his 2007 Meet the Press appearance to announce his 2008 run for president. What did his plagiarize? All of Dick Cheney’s most egregious lies about Iraq and WMD…

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Free Gaza activists praised by Gaza and Ramallah governments
PNN
Palestinian Prime Minister in the Hamas government, Ismail Haniya, led a ceremony to thank the Free Gaza movement before returning to Cyprus yesterday. Haniya offered the 44 activists from the Middle East, Europe and the US Palestinian passports and citizenship. He referred to them all as “ambassadors to Palestine” in whatever countries they come from. Earlier in their trip Haniya took the activists to his home in western Gaza City’s Beach Refugee Camp where they were introduced to his neighbors and received medals of thanks…

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Media says Hezbollah hit helicopter by mistake
BASSEM MROUE, AP
Hezbollah handed over a man suspected of firing at a Lebanese army helicopter into military authorities, a judicial official said Friday, amid media reports that the fatal shooting was a mistake by the militant group. Military court magistrate Jean Fahd refused to identify the suspect, but told The Associated Press that Hezbollah turned him over to authorities as the person who opened fire at the helicopter. Fahd’s announcement came hours after a top Lebanese newspaper reported that Hezbollah had opened fire at the helicopter mistaking it for an Israeli craft in Hezbollah’s stronghold of Iqlim al-Tuffah where the group is believed to have bases and concealed positions. The As-Safir daily quoted unidentified “multiple sources” as saying that gunmen mistook the helicopter for an Israeli aircraft dropping off soldiers in southern Lebanon. The paper often receives leaked information from the Shiite militant group…

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Iran says 4,000 atomic centrifuges working: report
Hashem Kalantari, Reuters
Iran has 4,000 working nuclear centrifuges, an official said in remarks published on Friday, in line with a number verified by the U.N. atomic watchdog but lower than a figure cited by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran says it is installing centrifuges to enrich uranium so it can make fuel for nuclear power plants. But the West accuses Tehran of seeking to master technology so it can enrich uranium to much higher levels for use in nuclear warheads. Ahmadinejad said last month Iran had more than 5,000 centrifuges running but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which routinely checks Iranian nuclear sites, later said he appeared to have overstated the number by at least 1,000…

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