*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[DJ Squelch]

this from the Toronto Star
"Top-secret Iraqi intelligence documents, unearthed by the Toronto Star in the bombed-out headquarters of the dreaded Mukhabarat intelligence service in Baghdad, have established the first clear link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization.
The documents were found by correspondent Mitch Potter, the Star's Jerusalem bureau chief. Potter, who has been in and out of Iraq since the war began, was digging through the rubble of the Mukhabarat's Baghdad headquarters with his translator Amir when they uncovered the intelligence treasure trove"

this from the Sunday Telegraph "Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein's regime.
Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa'eda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998."

 

[guinnessdrinker]

should this be "war in irak/afghanistan" perhaps? I was reading last week of a ab american soldier dying in fighting in combat in afghanistan. it is still going on there against the americans (they just we're not watching), and the conflicts are related.

 

[Gumbert]

Northern Iraq: Civilian deaths higher since war ended

Originally posted by consumer135
Many of the victims have been children who play with explosives or pick up unexploded ordinance (UXO) as toys and sustain serious injuries as a result.

"In some ways, the peace has proved more lethal than the war," said Hania Mufti, London Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.

"In some ways, the peace has proved more lethal than the war,"

check the list and count the times uxclusterb's are disturbed, its disturbing..

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. troops kill 15 in Iraqi crowd -- report

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al-Jazeera television says 15 Iraqis have been killed and about 50 wounded overnight when U.S. troops fired on a crowd in the town of Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030429/80/dys1h.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

With Iraq's hospitals in disarray, the long-term sick are being passed over in a frantic effort to treat emergency cases. For the thousands of young leukaemia victims, the outlook is bleaker than ever.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2982609.stm

 

[Barking_Mad]

And people give Islam a hard time!


A telethon on Saudi state television has raised about 43.3 million Saudi riyals ($11.5m) in aid donations to Iraq, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2982099.stm

 

[Barking_Mad]

First it was the market bomb which they claimed was caused by Iraqi missiles (this 'investigation' is taking a long time!) Now its the munitions dump explosion......

Three days earlier, they said, village representatives had demanded that the Americans should stop the blasts, which they feared were too close to their homes. "They ignored us, saying they took orders only from their military superiors, not from Iraqis like us," Hisham says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2982389.stm

 

[joe dick]

US troops 'kill 15 Iraqi protesters'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,945719,00.html

US troops opened fire on a group of Iraqi demonstrators near Baghdad yesterday, killing around 15 people and wounding 50 others, according to reports from the area.
Qatar's al-Jazeera television station reported that troops had fired on the demonstrators in the town of Falluja, around 30 miles west of Baghdad, after someone in the crowd threw a stone at US soldiers. The protesters had been demonstrating against the continued US presence in Iraq, al-Jazeera said.

 

[whiterose]

U.S. Military Pulls Out of Saudi in Realignment

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....YCRBAEKSFFA?type=politicsNews&storyID=2651303



Saddam to deliver message within three days: unknown Iraqi group

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...st_afp/iraq_saddam_message&cid=1514&ncid=1478

 

[bigfish]

ZNET commentary By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman sent today.

The U.S. government this week launched its Arabic language satellite TV news station for Muslim Iraq.

It is being produced in a studio -- Grace Digital Media -- controlled by fundamentalist Christians who are rabidly pro-Israel.

That's Grace as in "by the Grace of God."

Grace Digital Media is controlled by a fundamentalist Christian millionaire, Cheryl Reagan, who last year wrested control of Federal News Service, a transcription news service, from its former owner, Cortes Randell.

Randell says he met Reagan at a prayer meeting, brought her in as an investor in Federal News Service, and then she forced him out of his own company.

Grace Digital Media and Federal News Service are housed in a downtown Washington, D.C. office building, along with Grace News Network.

When you call the number for Grace News Network, you get a person
answering "Grace Digital Media/Federal News Service."

According to its web site, Grace News Network is "dedicated to transmitting the evidence of God's presence in the world today."

"Grace News Network will be reporting the current secular news, along with aggressive proclamations that will 'change the news' to reflect the Kingdom of God and its purposes," GNN proclaims.

 

[whiterose]

Bigfish - I was just looking around to see if I could find out more on your post above and came across this

Ex-Iraq Info Minister Gets TV Job Offer

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2650498

 

[whiterose]

Now that Iraq has been bombed into physical submission — sorry, liberated — it's time to unleash the cultural bombardment.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...131&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630



and link to z net article
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=3537

 

[bigfish]

Thanks for hunting the links down and putting them up whiterose you're a star!

Can you imagine what telly is going to be like in Iraq?

Songs of Praise 24/7.... Pure purgatory!

 

[bigfish]

Lifted from whiterose's Toronto Star link above....

The nerve.

Don't they know that free-market democracy requires a compliant press willing to look the other way, mouth comatose inanities, and never seriously question government claims? (Breaking news: We're still searching for weapons of mass destruction but sources say plutonium has been secretly relocated to Syria on flying carpets navigated by North Korean unicorns wearing night-vision goggles supplied by the Iranians.)

I like this guy!

 

[whiterose]

Bigfish - I know the Toronto Star link wasn't quite todays news but I thought you would enjoy it.

 

[bigfish]

And you were right. I'm a big admirer of your effort on this thread and think it should be sub titled the whiterose news wire service, that's how I think of it anyway.

 

[whiterose]

Thanks Bigfish - here's my latest offering

Arabic newspaper says it received message to Iraqis "signed by Saddam
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...st_afp/iraq_saddam_message&cid=1514&ncid=1480

 

[Lock&Light]

Comical Ali wants to surrender

The BBC are reporting that the ex-Minister for Information is negotiating his surrender.
Report

 

[Maidmarian]

Actually, L&L, the article says he`s "Trying to negotiate his ARREST" !!!!

 

[Loki]

... and the yanks don't want to arrest him even though they know where he is! Presumably cos they got so much enjoyment from his press briefings (at top level too)

 

[whiterose]

Historic return for Rumsfeld

The last time Mr Rumsfeld was in Baghdad was in 1983, when as a special presidential envoy to the Middle East he held a secret meeting with Saddam Hussein which correspondents say led to closer US-Iraq ties.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2987585.stm

 

[whiterose]

Loki - [Presumably cos they got so much enjoyment from his press briefings (at top level too)]

Or more cynically that they hope he gets bumped off by anti-Saddam forces.

 

[Lock&Light]

A letter from Saddam has been released

According to the BBC a letter from Saddam has been published. He's calling for an uprising. It would seem to me that Saddam calling for an uprising would probably have the effect of reducing the chance of such an uprising ever happening.

Report

 

[bruise]

Saddam did not have any possessions in his name. I challenge anyone to prove that the palaces were in the name of anyone other than the Iraqi State. I left them a long time ago to live in a small house.

That's alright, then.

Note the weird mixture of third and first person. (I just checked with a colleague - it's as weird in arabic as well)

from this translation of the text

 

[pk]

If there is an uprising it will come as a result of the US marines killing more kids for throwing a sandal at them, not as a result of the desperate letters of a fallen dictator.

 

[john x]

Seven US soldiers .............

injured in Iraq, as grenade is thrown over the wall of their base.

Source BBC.

john x

 

[easy g]

reuters report on above:

here

 

[bruise]

easy g - link doesn't work (perhaps because you need a subscription or something?)

 

[easy g]

link changed....apologies!!!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Try here instead: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2991069.stm