[fajg]

Novedades en CSCAweb - nº 608 -
+ Diario de la resistencia iraquí (16-17 de octubre): Son ya 1.101 los soldados estadounidenses muertos y 27 los helicópteros derribados / 19 soldados ocupantes se niegan a cumplir la orden de escoltar un convoy / Entrevista con un dirigente del Partido Ba'az: "Lideramos la resistencia" / Un experto finlandés afirma que no hay solución militar en Iraq / El gobierno colaboracionista invita a las grandes multinacionales del petróleo a explotar las reservas iraquíes

+ Agenda de solidaridad internacionalista:
- Jornadas de debate y dinamización de la Asamblea contra la Globalización Capitalista y la Guerra
- II Asamblea de la Campaña Estatal contra la Ocupación y por la Soberanía de Iraq
- Concentración frente a la Embajada de EEUU al cumplirse 19 meses del asesinato de José Couso

+ Humor Árabe: "Plan americano para Iraq" (Rasmi)

Oil
March 2003 Iraq has oil;

June 2003 Iraq still has oil;

October 2003; what the hell is Iraq doing with our oil under their sands;

January 2004 Iraq still has oil but resistance groups are preventing us from stealing it;

October 2004 We must get UN troops in so that we can really get at Iraq oil....

Oil
March 2003 Iraq has oil;

June 2003 Iraq still has oil;

October 2003; what the hell is Iraq doing with our oil under their sands;

January 2004 Iraq still has oil but resistance groups are preventing us from stealing it;

October 2004 We must get UN troops in so that we can really get at Iraq oil....

Novedades en CSCAweb - nº 600
+ Diario de la resistencia iraquí (9-20 de septiembre): La insurgencia iraquí multiplica sus ataques contra los ocupantes y los colaboracionistas, atacando diariamente la zona de seguridad, la llamada "zona verde" - Fuentes militares estadounidenses consideran que sólo en la denominada “zona suní” hay unos 5.000 combatientes de la resistencia, pero que el número de iraquíes que colaboran directa o indirectamente con ella llega a los 100.000 - Bajo la acusación de colaborar con la resistencia, el Ejército de los EEUU ha disuelto la Brigada de Falluja, compuesta por 1.600 miembros del anterior ejército iraquí y de la desaparecida Guardia Republicana del gobierno de Saddam Hussein

World Tribunal on Iraq
a presentation


They said that the world was facing an immediate threat as a result of Iraq¹s large-scale possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. They said that Iraq was connected to the Œterrorist¹ plots of Al-Qaeda and that Iraq served as a nurturing ground for global terrorism. They said that there was no other way to eliminate this real and persistent threat to humankind other than by military action. They said that this was a Œclean¹ and ¹just¹ war. They said that this was a war for peace; a war of liberation of the Iraqi people from a tyranny. They say that this war ended the first of may of 2003, but instead it continues in an armed occupation and the destruction of Iraqi civil society. They continue to state that the armies in Iraq are for maintaining peace, which they do by indiscriminately using heavy weapons and bombing from above. They told us that he civil causalities war collateral damages to be avoided, but the large majority of dead are still civil, including a majority of children, older people and women.

The war to Iraq has been conducted through information detracted, distorted and denied and has had one victim of Œexcellence¹, ¹The Truth. We aim to reclaim the truth about this war. We want to know the truth. We wish to analyze the reasons that lead to the lies and to examine the means by which we have been denied it. We aim to interrogate those who bear the duty and the responsibility of truth-telling. And in so doing inform, identify responsibilities and form a people judgment.

The World Tribunal on Iraq is an international peoples¹ initiative aimed at seeking the truth about the War and Occupation in Iraq and to judge accordingly.
The World Tribunal on Iraq is comprised of various sessions culminating in a Final Session in Istanbul, Turkey on March 20, 2005. Sessions have so far been held in London, Mumbay, Tokyo, Copenhagen Brussels, and New York, and are planned for Hiroshima, Stockholm, Berlin, Paris and Tunis, amongst others. This is a proposal for a session in Italy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Italy session on information in war
Introduction:

The case for war against Iraq was made by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom under various guises, which resulted to be false. Against the opposition of the membership of the United Nations, and the unprecedented uprising of peoples¹ anti-war movements globally, it was asserted that what was being undertaken was a Œnoble¹ violence for the common good, and more particularly for the good of the Iraqi peoples.
And we continue to be presented with the Œneed¹ of the continuing occupation with the motivation to Œsave¹ Iraq, to prevent the primary evil of terrorism.
This message was transmitted to us all by different means of communication that have told these stories as Œthe Truth¹. We were reassured of its veracity by reference to the Œfindings¹ of the Œintelligence services¹; we were reassured of its implications by the spokespeople of government information services.
The same message of this war as a Œprototype¹ of the good against evil is perpetuated today in relation to the continuing occupation of Iraq and in relation to the resistance by the Iraqi peoples. The same means of communication are again employed to propagate this message. But the message starts to show its contradictions, its omissions and its lies.
We citizens too often have taken for granted the independence and credibility of the institutions of public information; our governments, our intelligence service, our media. We perhaps too often leave unquestioned the claim that propaganda is something only the Œother side¹ indulges in, never our own. The war in Iraq has exposed this lie. It has also revealed that we have been lied to.

The Italian session World Tribunal on Iraq aims to examine the mechanisms by which Truth has been sacrificed to the pursuance of a war based on a corporate-militaristic project.
It seeks to to find the hidden or distorted truth, unveil the mechanisms of mis-information and tell the reality of the events. At least of some exemplary events of this history. By these means showing that a correct information was and is possible, but it was denied. By these mean showing how big a part plays information in the participating , or not, into the war making.
The session will expose the politics of misinformation and silences that has enabled criminal deception by our Œleaders¹ with the cost of an estimated 10,000 Iraqi civilian lives and the destruction of a nation. The session will therefore challenge the claim to truth by institutions of power.
The session will be built around the collection of documents, official and from the media and the witness of informators and direct actors. It will provide a space for the Œvoices of truth¹ to speak.
------------

Appeal in support of an Italian session of the World Tribunal on Iraq to be held in Genova on 8th-9th of January 2005

A war of aggression was launched despite the opposition of people and governments all over the world. A worldwide anti-war movement gave voice to millions of people which expressed their opposition to the permanent war launched by the US government and its allies.This strategy not only is destroying whole countries but also is seeding seeds of suspicion, uncertainty and growing poverty all over the world. While in Afghanistan and Iraq war has caused thens of thousands of deaths, mainly among civilians, and is threatening the lives and future of other millions, in the rest of the world individual and civil liberties (where existing) are put at stake in the name of war against terrorism. War stimulates aggressive and racist behaviors toward foreign and immigrant citizens, especially Islamic or Arab people. Moreover, war is shifting the financial resources toward the military, thus jeopardizing the survival of most of humanity.

As demonstrated by Congressional hearings, the US government and its allies justified this war on the basis of groundless motivations which turned out to be flat lies. Millions of people in the world are articulating their concern as to the hegemonic nature of this war which aims also at the appropriation of primary resources. Notwithstanding the partiality, distortion and lies of the mainstream media narrative id, since the very beginning, the civil society all over the world understood the ethically perverse, pervasive and colonial reality of this war. Consequently, millions of citizens in the world mobilized against the military invasion of sovereign states and against permanent war.

The project of an international moral tribunal on war crimes in Iraq (known as ³World Tribunal on Iraq²) had sprung up in these anti-war mobilizations around the world. Besides information and collective discussion on this war, the sessions hear direct witness, deliberate and formulate recommendations and collect, through regional and local hearings, contributions from a large number of people in the world. The final session of the WTI will be held in Istanbul on March 20th 2005.

Also Italy is now committing itself to the participation in this world tribunal. The Italian session should investigate the behavior of the media in the war.
In accordance with UN inspectors, millions of citizens believed there was no evidence that Iraq possessed either weapons of mass destruction or the capability to make them. Millions of people in the world asked themselves why so many world media had endorsed the ³truth² of US, British and other aggressor countries. When successively the official motivation for waging war became ³freedom² and ³democracy² in Iraq, they asked themselves if killing dozens of thousands of civilians and condemning other millions to hunger in the name of this slogan, was fair.

Millions of people asked themselves why, if war was declared in the name of freedom, war information was subdued to the invasion forces and accepted restrictions and censorship.They also asked themselves which was the professional ethics of media which accepted all this and then carelessly admitted they did not supply correct information on war motivations, a belated and mannered repentance in a situation in which a correct information could have changed the destiny of Iraqis and of he whole world. They finally asked themselves why, despite excuses and repentance, media keep on playing a role which clashes with a truthful information.

The Italian session of the WTI commits itself to answer these outstanding questions. Having ascertained that the Fifth Power is largely obedient to invading countries despite its professional ethical claims (stated in the UNESCO International Principles of Professional Ethics in Journalism) it will engage in verifying whether media behavior is embedded in war plans.

On the grounds of these considerations, we, women and men of peace, we citizens of a city that during the 2001 G8 Summit experienced how a distorted information can contribute to nourish institutional violence, share the proposal to hold a Session of the World Tribunal on Iraq in Genova on January 8th-9th , 2005 devoted to the role of information in war and we commit ourselves to support it and campaign for this objective.


On behalf of the Promoting Committee

Genova, September 7th 2004
Follow 82 signatures from the Genova supportiing commitee

Please send endorsements to tribunaleitalianoiraq@yahoo.it
www.tribunaleitalianoiraq.org

La Radiación en Iraq es Igual a 250 mil Bombas de Nagasaki
>
>Bob Nichols
>Ecoportal
>
>
>Esta historia es acerca del armamento norteamericano construido con
>componentes de uranio empobrecido a objeto de ponerle punto final a las
>cosas. Casi todas las balas norteamericanas, balas de tanques, misiles,
>bombas tontas, bombas inteligentes, bombas de 500 y 2 mil libras, misiles
>de crucero y cualquier cosa diseñada para ayudar al lado nuestro en nuestra
>guerra contra ellos, contiene uranio empobrecido. Mucho uranio empobrecido.
>
>En el caso de un misil de crucero, podría ser tanto como 800 libras de
>uranio. Este artículo se trata de cuánto uranio empobrecido radioactivo
>nuestros muchachos, en representación de los ciudadanos de los Estados
>Unidos, han dejado volar en Iraq. Resulta que han utilizado, más o menos y
>de acuerdo con el Pentágono, alrededor de 4 millones de libras de uranio.
>Eso es una barbaridad.
>
>Hoy día la gente no tiene idea acerca de cuánto de cualquier cosa son 4
>millones de libras, mucho menos de polvo de oxido de uranio empobrecido
>(UOD), que es en lo que el uranio se convierte cuando es disparado o
>explotado. Es suficiente decir que es igual a l.333 carros que pesen 3 mil
>libras cada uno. Lo que significa muchos carros; pero podemos imaginar lo
>que parecería un estacionamiento con 1.333 carros. El punto de esto era y
>aún es que se trata de una operación con fuerza industrial. Y que, además,
>aún continúa.
>
>No señor, colocar cuarenta millones de libras de polvo de uranio
>radioactivo (RUD) en el suelo de Iraq fue una cosa definitivamente hecha ?a
>propósito?. No fue ?sólo un accidente?. Nosotros, los ciudadanos de los
>Estados Unidos, por medio de nuestros hijos en el ejército, lo hicimos
>adrede.
>
>Cuando las balas, misiles o bombas de uranio empobrecido impactan algo o
>explotan, la mayor parte del uranio inmediatamente se convierte en
>pequeñísimas partículas, demasiado finas para verlas a simple vista (esto
>se llama oxido de uranio y es la parte peor del asunto). Cuando las tropas
>norteamericanas o iraquíes respiran aunque sea sólo una ínfima cantidad,
>tan poco como un gramo, es lo mismo que hacerte una radiografía cada hora
>por el resto de tu acortada vida.
>
>El uranio empobrecido no puede ser eliminado, no hay tratamiento ni cura.
>Permanecerá y sobrevivirá a la vida de los cuerpos de los veteranos y de
>los iraquíes, porque como pueden ver, dura virtualmente para siempre.
>
>Pero es peor aún. Parece ser que un almirante, antiguo jefe de la armada de
>India, quiso saber cuánta radiación representaba esto. Quería también
>expresar la cantidad en una cifra que el mundo, especialmente los
>no-norteamericanos pudieran entender con facilidad.
>
>El almirante decidió averiguar cuántas bombas de plutonio de Nagasaki se
>necesitarían para incluir el equivalente a los cuatro millones de uranio
>empobrecido volatilizado en Iraq en el año 2003. También quería saber
>cuánta radiación fue volatilizada durante los últimos cinco años de guerras
>norteamericanas, las llamadas Cinco Guerras Radioactivas Nucleares.
>
>Esto fue algo sencillo para alguien como el jefe naval del estado mayor de
>un país miembro del Club Nuclear. El uso de la bomba de Nagasaki como
>medida es un modo particularmente horrible. Para los norteamericanos que no
>lo saben, las fuerzas militares de los Estados Unidos lanzaron dos bombas
>nucleares en Japón al final de la II Guerra Mundial. El resto del mundo lo
>recuerda.
>
>Una bomba atómica fue lanzada sobre la ciudad de Hiroshima y la otra en
>Nagasaki, tres días después. Alrededor de 170 mil a 250 mil personas fueron
>vaporizadas o incineradas de inmediato. El Departamento de Energía aún
>califica las detonaciones en Hiroshima y Nagasaki como ?experimentos?.
>
>Hace un mes el Almirante dio la información en una conferencia científica
>en la India. Este artículo es el primer reporte de esos datos en los
>Estados Unidos. Serán pasados por internet en primer lugar.
>
>En la India el Almirante calculó la cantidad de radiación de la bomba de
>Nagasaki y la comparó con la cifra de 4 millones de libras de uranio
>empobrecido regado en Iraq durante la guerra en el 2003. Ahora, créanme,
>las cosas se han complicado mucho más, pero eso fue lo que los expertos
>hicieron en la India.
>
>¿Cuántas bombas de Nagasaki se requieren para igualar la radiación del 2003
>en Iraq? Respuesta: alrededor de 250 mil. ¿Cuántas bombas de Nagasaki se
>requieren para igualar la radiación de las últimas Cinco Guerras
>Radiactivas Nucleares Norteamericanas? Respuesta: alrededor de 400 mil.
>
>¿Quién podría hacer algo semejante?
>
>Nosotros. El único pueblo en la historia comprometido en guerras nucleares
>es el norteamericano, los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos. Supuestamente
>los alemanes y los japoneses también querían iniciarse en guerras
>nucleares, excepto que los militares norteamericanos les ganaron la
>delantera, por decir algo.
>
>Académicos respetables podrían debatir toda la vida acerca de si Herr
>Hitler, Fuehrer de Alemania, hubiera utilizado municiones de uranio
>empobrecido en su guerra, en el caso de que el armamento hubiese estado
>disponible. Ciertamente, los alemanes en esa época sabían lo mismo que
>nosotros sobre guerras con uranio. Pareciera dudoso que Adolfo Hitler
>hubiese ordenado el uso de municiones de uranio allí porque el teatro de
>guerra estaba muy cerca de la madre patria, la Alemania Nazi.
>
>En 1943 un general norteamericano de nombre Leslie Groves estuvo a cargo de
>la operación de fabricación de la bomba, llamado el Proyecto Manhattan. El
>Departamento de Guerra sabía exactamente para los que servían las balas y
>bombas de uranio.
>
>Si no hubiesen detonado el armamento nuclear en Japón, la utilización de
>balas y bombas de uranio hubiese sido el plan alternativo. Fue sólo durante
>la presidencia de Ronald Reagan en 1981, cuando el nuevo Departamento de
>Estado (antiguo Departamento de Guerra) revivió las mortales balas, bombas
>y misiles de uranio radioactivo. No es extraño el sobrenombre popular de
>Ronnie-Ray-Gun.
>
>En 1943 los militares norteamericanos también conocían los síntomas del
>envenenamiento por radiación que comienzan con irritación de garganta hasta
>llegar a la agónica muerte de ser cocinado de adentro hacia fuera.
>
>En su discurso del 2003 en el portaviones State of the Union, el Presidente
>Bush prometió invadir y atacar muchos países. Por alguna razón algunos
>norteamericanos confundidos no le creyeron, o pensaron que estaba
>?exagerando?. El resto del mundo tenía poderosas razones para creerle y
>temerle.
>
>Para no preocupar a los norteamericanos, el Presidente Bush aún tiene mucha
>materia prima para fabricar municiones de uranio. 77 mil toneladas están
>almacenadas en las 103 plantas nucleares, y un asombroso millón y medio en
>numerosos laboratorios de armamento nuclear e instalaciones conexas en los
>Estados Unidos.
>
>Cada planta nuclear que genere desechos constituye otras 250 libras diarias
>de material radioactivo para fabricar balas, bombas y misiles. Sin querer
>ahondar más en el asunto, pero ello es suficiente para llevar a cabo 288
>gloriosas campañas como las de la Guerra Nuclear en Iraq del 2003.
>
>¿Quién es el próximo?
>
>Cada año por esta época los vientos del sur dejan una fina capa de arena
>del desierto en los parabrisas de los carros estacionados a la intemperie
>en Africa, luego en Europa Continental y Gran Bretaña. Pronto, este polvo
>de arena producirá una sorpresa. Gracias a los norteamericanos. Gracias a
>nosotros. Le hicimos esto al mundo. Y ahora nos extrañamos de que nos odien
>y desprecien tanto.
>
>Los indiscriminados efectos mortales dan un nuevo sentido al viejo dicho:
>carne de cañón. En Iraq lo que da vueltas vuelve. De no ser las municiones
>de uranio empobrecido, el mismo polvo de uranio empobrecido invadirá como
>bombas de tiempo los cuerpos de nuestros soldados que vuelven a casa,
>quitándole lentamente la vidas de los ingenuos que ignoran su propia fuente
>personal interna de radiación: carne de cañón de las Guerras Radiactivas
>Nucleares Norteamericanas del Siglo 21.
>
>Mucha gente ha hecho todo lo imaginable para parar estas guerras nucleares.
>Aún más específicamente, para frenar el uso de uranio empobrecido en las
>municiones, cerrando las plantas de energía nuclear. Por años lo hemos
>intentado y fracasado.
>
>¿Por qué no tratan ustedes? ¡No le harán daño a nadie! Escriban qué medidas
>tomarían para remediar esta situación. Comuníquense conmigo en
>bobnichols@cox.net.
>
>Traduccion para Ecoportal Margott Allais
>
>* Bob Nichols escribe en la Ciudad de Oklahoma y contribuye con Liberal
>Slant, Online Journal, America Held Hostage y otras publicaciones en la
>red. Nichols también escribe para el Observador de Oklahoma y otros medios
>impresos. Es miembro de CASE (en inglés, Acción Ciudadana para la Energía
>Limpia), y presidente de la Fundación Carrie Dickerson. CASE acabó con dos
>serios y bien financiados intentos de construcción de plantas de energía
>nuclear en Oklahoma y muchos otros intentos para ubicar lo que se conoce
>ahora como ?Vertedero del Reactor de la Montaña de Yucca? en Oklahoma.
>Todos estos esfuerzos para construir instalaciones nucleares han fracasado.
>CASE ganó en cada oportunidad. Este articulo fue publicado en International
>Clearing House y traducido para Ecoportal por Margott Allais, Cumaná,
>Sucre, Venezuela

Novedades en CSCAweb - nº 574 - 18 de junio de 2004
+ Amira Howeidy: Las organizaciones palestinas rechazan el plan de seguridad egipcio-israelí para Gaza

+ Diario de la resistencia iraquí (16 y 17 de junio): Hasta un centenar de civiles empleados de empresas contratadas por el Pentágono han muerto en Iraq en los últimos meses, los últimos cuatro en un ataque el miércoles en Ramadi - Paralización total de las exportaciones iraquíes de petróleo tras dos nuevos atentados el miércoles contra oleoductos del sur del país

+Agenda de solidaridad internacionalista:
- Movilizaciones contra el fraude de la 'transferencia de poder' en Iraq el 30 de junio y en solidaridad con Palestina: 18 de junio, Zaragoza: Cadena humana por la paz y contra la ocupación de Iraq y Palestina
- 21 de junio, Madrid: Concierto de celebración de la retirada de las tropas españolas de Iraq
- 18 de junio: Acto público sobre Iraq en Orcasitas (Madrid)

Novedades en CSCAweb - nº 573 - 16 de junio de 2004
+ Movilizaciones contra el fraude de la 'transferencia de poder' en Iraq el 30 de junio y en solidaridad con Palestina:
- Manifiesto unitario de la manifestación del 29 de junio en Madrid
- Manifest de la Plataforma per l'Alliberament i la Sobirania de l'Iraq (Cataluña)
- Citas de las manifestaciones en Barcelona (19 junio), Madrid y Pontevedra (29 junio), y Salamanca (30 junio)

+ Testimonios e Informe del Centro del Observatorio de la Ocupación en Bagdad:
- Imán Ahmad Jamas: Lo que significa en Iraq recibir 'una visita' de las tropas estadounidenses. Asaltos a viviendas por las fuerzas de ocupación

+ Diario de la resistencia iraquí (14-16 de junio): Tres sabotajes en el norte y sur de Iraq reducen a menos de un tercio las exportaciones de petróleo - Dos de los cinco extranjeros muertos en el atentado del lunes en Bagdad eran mercenarios británicos, mientras un nuevo ataque este martes acaba con la vida de un número no determinado de empleados de la APC - EEUU exige al nuevo gobierno iraquí inmunidad también para el personal privados de seguridad en Iraq, que podría elevarse hasta 30.000 efectivos - Varios soldados heridos en un ataque con morteros contra una base de tropas británicas y neozelandesas en Basora

+ Humor árabe: El cumpleaños de Bush padre (viñeta de Rasim)

Americans must look through Iraqi eyes
ZNet Commentary
June 10, 2004
By Charles Glass

On the videotape, the American hostage stands in front of a flag with
Arabic writing on it. His appearance is of a man in shock. He speaks. "I
hope to return home one day, and I want my family to know that these
people are taking care of me, and provide me with food, water and a place
to sleep." The tape does not show the men who are undoubtedly pointing
weapons at him. It does not indicate the compulsion he is under to say
what his captors want him to say. The armed men who kidnapped him make
their own announcement. If American forces in Iraq do not end their
assault, their captive "will be treated worse than those who were killed
and burned in Fallujah."

Thomas Hamill, a Texan who was kidnapped last Friday in Iraq, is 43 and
works for the Kellogg Brown Root subsidiary of Dick Cheney's
Halliburton. Hamill told the Houston Chronicle last month that he wasn't making
it as a small farmer. So, he signed a year-long contract to drive tanker
trucks in Iraq. The Chronicle quoted him as being on an $80,000-a-year
salary. "The money's not good enough to die for, but it's good."

Iraqi resistance to the American occupation has led to kidnappings of
Americans as well as of men from Italy, Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany
and Arab east Jerusalem. Shia Muslims used kidnapping in Lebanon, and
Iraq's Muslims - who have adopted the Lebanese tactics of suicide
bombings and hit and run ambushes - have learned the lesson. In Lebanon,
kidnappings, suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks expelled the American
and Israeli armies. In Iraq, the insurgents are better armed, better
financed and much more numerous.

In Lebanon after the Israeli invasion of 1982 - another attempt at Arab
regime change - the US Marines were sent to police a ceasefire. The US
trained a new Lebanese army and promised to support democracy. Some
Lebanese leaders worked with the US. Most didn't. They did not trust a
power they saw as the main supporter of the Israeli army that was
occupying their country.

The US, Israel's main financial support, forced the Lebanese government
to sign a humiliating deal with Israel's occupying army. Israeli troops
attacked the Shia in south Lebanon, detained thousands of villagers and
practiced targeted assassinations. Somehow, the US did not understand
why the Lebanese came to hate them so much that they fought them until,
in February 1985, they left the country without consulting their allies
in the multi-national force - the British-Italian-French contingent
that was the forerunner of the "coalition" in Iraq.

In Iraq, the US itself is the occupier. Just as the Israeli occupation
of Lebanon after 1982 created the fundamentalist Shia Hizbollah party,
the American occupation of Iraq is creating insurgent groups such
asMuqtada Sadr's Army of Mehdi. The US promised Iraq democracy, then said
there could be no elections. It guaranteed freedom of expression, then
closed an opposition newspaper. It denounced its opponents as former
regime loyalists, foreign forces and, now, anti-Iraqi forces. If the
insurgents shooting at Americans are the anti-Iraqis, does that imply that
the Americans are the Iraqis?

If Americans are ever to understand why Iraqis are shooting at them,
they must take a look at themselves through Iraqi eyes. It is
self-defeating to hide behind a wall of propaganda that their opponents are all
former Baathists, terrorists or foreigners. To Iraqis, the Americans are
foreigners.

The United States arrived in Iraq last year lugging a ton of history.
All Iraqis know that the US supported Saddam Hussein for 30 years. They
remember that the US gave Saddam the help he needed to sustain a
disastrous eight-year war with Iran in which millions died. On the day the UN
reported Saddam had used illegal chemicals against Iran, 24 March 1984,
Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi Foreign Minister was giving lunch to Donald
Rumsfeld.

America's Navy protected Saddam's shipping in the Gulf. The US supplied
the helicopters from which Saddam sprayed poison gases on Kurds in the
north and army deserters in the marshes of the south. In 1991, despite
that legacy, Iraqis heeded President George Bush's call to overthrow
their dictator. Their rebellion was on the verge of success, when the US
changed tack. Bush allowed Saddam to deploy air power against them.
Saddam then murdered Shia in the south and Kurds in the north.

For the next 12 years, while Iraqis were trying to recover from that
shock, the US enforced an embargo against them. Sanctions enriched
corrupt Iraqi and UN officials, punished Iraq's people and left the regime in
power. After all that, the US came back in 2003 promising to do good
for the Iraqi people. Is it surprising they were and are suspicious?

Once in Iraq, the US forces suspended the country's sovereignty and
announced it would govern the county until Iraqis were ready to govern
themselves on terms acceptable to the US. Meanwhile, the US would
construct permanent bases on Iraqi soil without consulting a legitimately
elected Iraqi government.

The American administrators, who protected the oil ministry while
looters invaded the national museum, awarded contracts without tender to
companies friendly to the Bush administration. Among the sub-contracting
firms that came to Iraq, Ma'ariv an Israeli daily newspaper reported
last week, were 30 to 40 Israeli companies.

The Bush administration allowed Christian missionaries to work among
Iraq's Muslim population. America's troops detained thousands of young
men, some of whom died without explanation in American custody. There
were accusations of torture of detainees by both US and British troops
that have not been refuted.

In far off Israel, Ariel Sharon assassinated Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the
crippled and blind Hamas religious leader in the Gaza Strip. The Shia
population of Basra demonstrated to protest his murder. The Shia of Iraq
ignored the sectarian fact that Hamas is an all-Sunni Muslim
organisation. They felt strong kinship with fellow Muslims under occupation. They
demonstrated solidarity with Sunnis while the US was predicting a
Shia-Sunni civil war in Iraq. British forces fired on the Basra
demonstrators.

The US closed the newspaper of the Shia leader Muqtada Sadr, blaming it
for "incitement" - the justification Arab regimes use when they punish
newspapers. The US-appointed Iraqi judiciary issued a warrant for the
arrest of Sadr. The rebellion was born.

Killing or capturing Sadr, a ruthless fundamentalist agitator who may
well have killed some of his Shia rivals, will not end resistance to the
US - anymore than it stopped with the capture of Saddam Hussein. In
Lebanon, Israel killed successive leaders of Hizballah. Israel pulled out
of Lebanon in 2001. Hizbollah is still there. Hizballah's spiritual
leader, Sayed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, told his Beirut mosque on
Friday: "The bloody scene of savage Israeli crimes against the Palestinian
people...is being replayed in the shame of savage American massacres
against the Iraqi people."

It is time to make the connections: the Shia of Iraq feel closer to the
Sunnis of Iraq than they do to the Americans. The Shia of Lebanon and
of Iraq have close family ties and have inspired each other for
generations. And the Arabs of Iraq have not forgotten the Arabs of Palestine.
Onr Iraqi group to claim the kidnapping of foreigners calls itself the
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Brigade, in honour of a blind and crippled Sunni
cleric murdered by Ariel Sharon in Gaza.



Charles Glass covered the wars in Iraq in 1991 and 2003. He was a
hostage of Lebanon's Shia Hizballah in 1987.

Máxima Difusión CSCA
Torrelavega

Cinco personas irán a la cárcel por la "ocupación" pacífica de la sede del PP durante las movilizaciones contra la guerra en 2003
19 de junio: jornada de protesta contra la represión
Nota informativa CSCAweb (www.nodo50.org/csca), 7 de junio de 2004
http://www.nodo50.org/csca/agenda2004/multas-casos.html

Cinco personas, miembros del 'Grupo de acción directa no-violenta', deberán ingresar en prisión para cumplir un arresto de fin de semana por la "ocupación" pacífica de la sede del Partido Popular de Torrelavega (Cantabria) en protesta por la guerra de Iraq el 27 de marzo de 2003. Durante esta acción se empapelaron la fachada y las ventanas de la sede con carteles contra la guerra, hasta el momento en que una intervención policial trasladó a los ocupantes detenidos a dependencias policiales. La condena se llevará a cabo en la cárcel de El Dueso, en Santoña, y en la Prisión Provincial de Santander a partir del día 11 de junio, unos, y del 18, otros. Hasta el momento, que se sepa, es la única condena de cárcel en nuestro país por acciones contra la guerra en Iraq [1] .

En un escrito remitido a CSCAweb los encausados quieren dejar claro que no se arrepienten de su acción para demostrar a aquellos que tratan de acabar con las protestas de los ciudadanos a base de multas, condenas y represión que "las ideas y la solidaridad no se pueden encerrar tras unos barrotes", y prosiguen "nos negamos a callarnos, nos negamos a obedecer a la injusticia, y no nos resignamos a entrar en la cárcel sin antes animar a la gente, una vez más, a que se organice y se movilice para conseguir una sociedad más libre y solidaria".

Con este motivo, se celebrarán una serie de actos de protesta en la Plaza Mayor de Torrelavega el próximo sábado 19 de junio, a partir de las cinco de la tarde.

Más información: www.geocities.com/grupoacciondirecta
e-Mail: acciondirectanoviolenta@hotmail.com

Nota:

1. Otros casos de represión contra el movimiento antiguerra en Cantabria y en el resto del territorio español pueden verse en la página especial: Campaña de información y apoyo sobre represalias económicas y penales por iniciativas contra la guerra - Casos de represalias económicas y penales remitidos http://www.nodo50.org/csca/agenda2004/multas-casos.html

OpenDemocracy News
IRAQ IN THE BALANCE: AN IRAQI ROUNDTABLE

As a new Iraqi government forms amid continued violence
http://openDemocracy.net hosts a heartfelt discussion among six Iraqis
about what is best for their country. Their views are diverse, but they
are unified by an avoidance of simplistic platitudes (no calls for
immediate US withdrawal), and a serious concern for the future of their
country. As over-heated arguments about Iraq swirl around us, shouldn't
we all find out what Iraqis think?

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THIS WEEK'S TOP FIVE

IRAQ IN THE BALANCE
How did we get here, what is happening now, which future for our
nation?
Six Iraqis bring personal lives and political judgments to an essential
debate
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/roundtable_1937.jsp

OUR ELECTION YEAR: KERRY 3500, CBS 43
John Kerry thinks big on foreign affairs. But will the media let
Americans know? TODD GITLIN'S weekly column keeps score
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/gitlin_1936.jsp

INSIDE WASHINGTON: THE WIZARD OF OZ
The European Union represents statism, stagnation, disunity and
weakness.
Why should the United States be enthused, asks JOHN HULSMAN, in his bi-
weekly reports from America's capital
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/hulsman_1934.jsp

AMERICA'S PRAYER
Can America find its universal soul in being normal rather than number
one? And can Europe's former "dissidents" speak truth to its power?
MARTIN MATUŠTÍK, a Czech scholar in Chicago, poses a sharp, dual
challenge
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/matusek_1938.jsp

WHERE PEOPLE MATTER: A JORDANIAN DIALOGUE
Can the path to Middle East security go through Europe? PAUL HILDER
reports from an international civil society conference in Amman
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/hilder_1932.jsp

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SPEAK OUT

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COLUMNS

GLOBAL SECURITY: THE SAUDI JUGULAR
The targeting of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia and Iraq augurs a hard
summer for US strategists and international oil markets alike, says
PAUL
ROGERS
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/rogers_1933.jsp

GLOBOLOG: THE DAZE AFTER TOMORROW
Hollywood's global warming fantasy impresses CASPAR HENDERSON less than
the real world disaster of Hispaniola
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/henderson_1930.jsp

WHAT DO WE HAVE FAITH IN? RELIGION IS GOOD FOR THIS
Religion can bring hope, respect, salvation. DAVE BELDEN, a
non-believer,
makes the case
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed4200/belden_1929.jsp

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Novedades en CSCAweb - nº 568 - 4 de junio de 2004
+ EEUU preserva en el nuevo borrador de resolución el pleno control sobre sus tropas en Iraq, imposición aceptada por el gobierno de transición designado esta semana

+ Diario de la resistencia iraquí (2 y 3 de junio): Al menos 11 iraquíes muertos por disparos de tropas estadounidenses en Kufa y Medina as-Sadr - Las muertes en combate de un capitán del Ejército y un 'marine' elevan a 498 el número de bajas mortales de EEUU desde el 1 de mayo de 2003 - Sendos ataques contra efectivos de Filipinas y Georgia el martes y el jueves

+ Llamamiento en apoyo a los encarcelados por la 'Operación Lago': no a la extradición de Youb Saudi

+ Sin palabras (viñeta de Hajjaj)