*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[tim]

Originally posted by john x
While at the same time forcing female US soldiers to wear the burkha in public so as not to offend their Saudi hosts!

john x

Probably abayas - black cloaks, not burkhas - facial veils. The lot of non-Saudi women is slightly better than their Saudi counterparts

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. Culture Advisers Resign Over Iraq Museum Looting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two cultural advisers to the Bush administration have resigned in protest over the failure of U.S. forces to prevent the wholesale looting of priceless treasures from Baghdad's antiquities museum.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030417/pl_nm/iraq_antiquities_dc_6

 

[Barking_Mad]

BAGHDAD was given its first lesson in democracy yesterday when self-appointed leaders emerged from nowhere to fill the power vacuum left by Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Amid the confusion caused by the absence of any authority — other than the US military — Iraqi citizens discovered that they had a governor, a mayor and even a religious leader to look after affairs.

Mohammad Mohsen Zubaidi, an exiled political leader, announced that he was now running Bahgdad as the city’s governor, elected by a mysterious council of “religious and community leaders”.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-650728,00.html

 

[sub]

The Toronto Star reports that the U.S. has made the request for Canada to join several other countries involved in the stabilization of Iraq, and Ottawa is now considering it.

"Yes, we have received an American request. We are considering how we might best respond," foreign affairs department spokesperson Reynald Doiron confirmed Thursday.

U.S. ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, said the U.S. does recognize that Canada's contribution to Afghanistan, where 1,500 troops will spend the summer, means the military is probably too stretched to send troops to Iraq.

"On the military, we're aware of the commitment to Afghanistan this summer, so we understand that that's a big commitment for the Canadian Forces," Cellucci said.

The mission in Iraq would likely be similar to the security force established in Afghanistan after the Taliban was defeated in 2001, government sources told the Toronto Star.

U.S. asks Canada to play postwar role

 

[the scouser]

waiting for more 'bloody sundays' in Iraq

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Baghdad after Friday prayers, to protest against what they see as a foreign occupation of their country.

bbc link

If US troops think shooting protestors is gonna help, i think they will soon be the victims of attacks themselves

 

[3stripes]

Yes

the religious freaks want to rule so as they can fuck up the country just like they do to all the rest

 

[nosos]

Yes

Originally posted by 3stripes
the religious freaks want to rule so as they can fuck up the country just like they do to all the rest

Someone want to teach stripey how to construct a coherent sentence?

 

[Tubthumper]

Every village has one.

 

[whiterose]

Channel 4 news tonight looks like it going to be a good one - with video of Saddam - and this
[
Bechtel, the infamous US construction company, has secured the lavish contract in Iraq for redoing water, electricity and sewage. And who used to work for Bechtel and is pictured flogging their wares to Saddam Hussein some years ago? Why yes, it is Donald Rumsfeld!]

 

[whiterose]

[Originally posted by 3stripes
the religious freaks want to rule so as they can fuck up the country just like they do to all the rest ]

That's no way to talk about President Bush and his cohorts!

 

[3stripes]

Strange

I can basically do what i want in California, I am free to do most things unlike places like Iran and it's kind. Being ruled by the likes of Bush and co I would imagine would be a blessing for these people. Christ they are ruled by one maniac only to be taken over by clerics. Poor Bastards

 

[Termite]

I can basically do what i want in California

except, for example, smoke in public places, which is perfectly allowable in most of the world (except CA and NY, I think)

 

[proud american]

It's being reported that a video just released on CNN and Fox is a video of Saddam surrounded by hudreds of supporters, supposedly taken on April 9th in a suburb of Baghdad.

 

[Jingo Daigoji]

I can basically do what i want in California, I am free to do most things unlike places like Iran and it's kind. Being ruled by the likes of Bush and co I would imagine would be a blessing for these people. Christ they are ruled by one maniac only to be taken over by clerics. Poor Bastards

Listen 3 Chevrons, you venomous, ignorant little tosser,

Go suck on the fucking toilet duck and leave Iran alone. Your minuscule understanding of that society, patently apparent in this the most ignorant post only fed on sound bite politics.

It is a lot safer for you to start fucking lying about your good charity work in Cambodia, and “Up the UDF”, “Down the IRA” shit you are so fucking good at!

 

[Tubthumper]

Saddam and his mates spotted on his way out of town

 

[whiterose]

3 stripes - I'd hate to be ruled by any religious group - including born again Christians - but I guess you do have the chance of getting them out in the US - trouble is - even in the few years they may be there they can do a lot of damage both at home and abroad.

 

[WHSpliff.net]

Re: Yes

Originally posted by nosos
Someone want to teach stripey how to construct a coherent sentence?

Have you tried doing that with a London cabbie?


[stripey - you're missing out on Bank Holiday double fares bud
]

 

[extra dry]

Originally posted by Tubthumper
Saddam and his mates spotted on his way out of town

 

[john x]

Yes

Originally posted by 3stripes
the religious freaks want to rule so as they can fuck up the country just like they do to all the rest

"A Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People"

That sure fucked the country up didn't it 3stripes?

john x

 

[joe dick]

Prove Iraqi guilt, MPs tell Blair

Tony Blair is facing the threat of a fresh rebellion from Labour backbenchers who are growing increasingly alarmed that the failure to uncover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq will confirm that the war was illegal.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,939535,00.html

MPs are also starting to ask questions about the conduct of the intelligence services. They want to see the evidence that persuaded members of the Commons intelligence committee to back government efforts to win round waverers before the war began. One MP is telling committee members: "You kept saying you wished you could tell us, so now will you tell us?"



if the hummericans had any balls, they'd be doing the same.

 

[whiterose]

Fresh bank scandals hit Iraq's leader in waiting
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/17/1050172708630.html

America’s New Iraqi Order: Promising Democracy While Protecting Abusers
Iraqi journalist Kamran Karadaghi said Juburi was unable to visit his native village, Shirqat, because of the hatred his own people nurtured toward him. "He is the most corrupt person I have ever known," he said.
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_15_1_eng.txt

Barred! US military bans peace team members from Palestine Hotel
Update, Electronic Iraq

http://www.electroniciraq.net/news/677.shtml

 

[Termite]

Iraqi Finance Minister captured:

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/19/sprj.nitop.finminister/index.html

 

[whiterose]

US forces in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut are holding talks with local leaders to try to resolve a dispute over who is in power after the town hall was taken over by an Iranian-backed Muslim cleric

----

Marines have physically threatened reporters who try to get close to the meeting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2960395.stm

 

[whiterose]

Iraqi Shi'ites Flood Roads to Kerbala on Pilgrimage

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....CRBAE0CFEY?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2592185

 

[whiterose]

U.S. Seeks Iraq Oil CEO, Post-War Team Takes Shape

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2591962

 

[tim]

Originally posted by whiterose
U.S. Seeks Iraq Oil CEO, Post-War Team Takes Shape

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2591962

The possible chairman of this entity mentioned in the article is an American. However, he is also a former employee of Shell an Anglo-Dutch company. Shell is one of the world's three largest oil companies, as is BP which is also a British company, albeit one with substantial US assets. Both BP and Shell had subsidiaries Iraq before nationalisation of the industry in the 1970's.


http://www.platts.com/features/Iraq/countryprofile.shtml

I note that whilst the USA has secured Baghdad and the North of Iraq, including the oil fields in that area, Britain has effective conrol of Basra and the Southern oil fields. Is there evidence showing that this division is to is to ensure the interest of British companies in the post war carve up?

 

[joe dick]

U.S. Soldiers, Child Wounded in Iraq

Four U.S. soldiers on patrol were wounded Saturday when an Iraqi girl handed them an explosive and it blew up, American military officials said. They said they believed it was an accident.

Linnington said the girl approached one of the soldiers with an M-42 "bomblet," a canister-size piece of a cluster bomb.

"As she handed it to him, it went off," Linnington told The Associated Press.

http://www.620ktar.com/news/article.aspx?article_id=126787&cc=012345

 

[joe dick]

US to Declare Victory in Iraq, Australia Says

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States and its allies will declare victory in the war in Iraq in the next few days, military ally Australia said on Sunday.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19300249.htm

 

[whiterose]

Iraqis celebrate in London
Iraqi political parties staged a march and rally today to celebrate the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_772334.html?menu=news.wariniraq

 

[whiterose]

Plea to end Baghdad chaos
The International Red Cross has urged US forces to restore the Iraqi capital's power supply and other basic services as the threat to public health grows daily
----
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad says Iraqis remain deeply suspicious of American motives, noting that the oil ministry is one of the few government buildings not to have been looted.
Mass demonstrations against the US presence are a daily occurrence, she says.
A prominent Iraqi exile, former Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi, has spoken out against the US Government awarding big reconstruction contracts for Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2961255.stm