Aliens in an Alien Land--Iraq Through the Lens of Soldiers' Memoirs

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Below, Steven Soldz of Dissident Voice introduces his article about soldiers' blogs (link to whole article http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=29992&s2=25):

"I am, rather, referring to the two zones into which Iraq has become divided, the Green Zone and the Red Zone. The Green Zone, a.k.a. the "International Zone," the "Ultimate Gated Community," or more appropriately, the "United States of Iraq," is the place where the various would-be rulers of Iraq have congregated since the March-April 2003 invasion. The colonial administration, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), set up its headquarters here. After the June 2004 handover of "sovereignty" but little power to an Iraqi Interim Government with its Prime Minister forced upon United Nations officials nominally in charge by the United States, this government made its home in the Green Zone. The current "elected," but largely powerless, Shia-dominated government also "rules" from this zone.

"For the Americans there, life in the Green Zone resembles life in the United States, with just enough of an exotic tinge to make it interesting. Night clubs serve liquor, women jog in shorts and sports bras, and pool parties sometimes get wild. McDonalds and Burger King are available, though, just as in many modern American cities, kebabs served by real natives are available for the daring.

For the time of the CPA, the Green Zone was a nice career stop-over point for those hoping to get some attention in the modern Republican Party. A few months there helped get that coveted PR job back in the States. Of course there was the occasional mortar shell to contend with, but the hint of danger helped relieve the boredom that was, perhaps, the greater risk of service in the colonies.

"So what of the Red Zone? It is the place where those Iraqis not cleared to get near the occupation forces live. The place where people go about their lives in a situation economically much worse off than that before the invasion. In the Red Zone people die by the tens or hundreds of thousands, from bombs and bullets, yes, both Iraqi and American, but also from crime, from disease, and from lack of basic medical care. In the Red Zone clean water is scarce, electricity available but a few hours a day, if that, and doctors are increasingly rare as the few remaining flee to the safety of exile. And boredom, that plague of the Green Zone, also plagues the Red Zone as millions of women and children, and increasingly men as well, are afraid to step outside the house for months on end as fear of murder and abduction keeps them under long-term house arrest.

Letter from Baghdad

Tweet The family that are now left in Baghdad are in such a desperate hopeless situation and
still urgently trying to find ways to leave.
The fighting is all around and they just never leave their houses
or even go into their gardens! It is just so dangerous even to go outside the door.

Many people in Baghdad now pay others to take the risk of buying their shopping
and in fact doing anything outside their homes.
There are many poor who will take this risk as there is no work and many many
people are nearly starving or actually starving. It's just unbelievable that this is happening.
People are not going to work or schools.
Many cannot get to work and want to.
These are the doctors and nurses and hospital workers that are left..
Many don't even try because they are too afraid and have families
and don't want to die and leave them defenceless too.
Also patients get angry with them in the hospitals because they are afraid their loved ones will die through lack of medical equipment, and even water, and their anger is often directed at the doctors and medical staff because of their despair and grief.
My niece said doctors are afraid to give our their names to anyone now.

People are holed up in their homes in terror and fear and sit listening to the
bombing and fighting all around and are terribly afraid of what is coming.
This major ruined capitol city has been under air attack hundreds probably thousands of times and again is under daily attack by air and ground troops right now.
It must be just so horrific to actually be there with young children,and the sick and wounded unable to go to hospitals for help....and indeed what help is there?
What in God's name are we doing?

The only communication for the people with the outside world is by their mobile phones and their words and real fear and shaking voices leave us in tears.
We feel utter despair and real grief for them.

We cannot think of any way at all to stop this and indeed to our shame there is no way.
It is a living hell and nightmare and huge crime against innocent decent beautiful,
warm hearted and a most generous wonderful people.

We have reduced them to dust in their hundreds of thousands..probably at least
one million if you include those dying of lack money, of food, clean water, medicines vaccines,and the bombed sewage systems all damaged for years now etc.

Some people have forgotten the message of the Holocaust which was to remember....... That this should never be allowed to happen again!
It has and is happening now.
Shame on us as a Christian country.

We send our warmest thanks for your excellent support and best wishes to you again.
Dr and Mrs Carole A______.

Sent to Sasha who went to Baghdad before the US invasion

Iraq Diaries--From Electronic Iraq

Tweet BAGHDAD - My name is Lina Massufi. I'm a 32-year-old laboratory assistant who works 10 hours a day just to make enough money to raise my children.

My life has been like hell over the past three months. US and Iraqi soldiers have raided my house more than 12 times.

My husband, Khalil, was killed during the US invasion in 2003 when he drove through a closed road and soldiers shot him dead.

Sometimes, when I return by taxi from my job, which is about 45 minutes from my home, I find the street closed and bullets flying around everywhere.

I live in Haifa Street, one of the most dangerous places to live in Baghdad today. The area is infamous for its huge number of insurgents. This is why Iraqi and US soldiers have increased their activity in the area, constantly raiding homes and arresting men for interrogation.

Last month, they arrested my 23-year-old brother Fae'ek, who lives with me. He is a pharmacy student but nonetheless they took him and kept him in prison for more than a week - even after knowing he was innocent. He returned with signs of torture on his body and was crying like a baby because of the pain.

At the Bottom of the Abyss (II): The Torturers Take Over

Tweet Go here and then scroll down to the title above--the author is talking about the TV show "24" which apparently deals extensively with the use of torture:

"Finally, we come to this statement from Surnow [producer of TV show "24], referring to violent and cruel acts that are committed by our own "defenders": "And I don't want to know about it. I just want to be safe." This is the ultimate plea of the abject coward: "Protect me! Keep me safe! And don't ever, ever, ever tell me what you have to do! Just keep me safe!"

"Many people in Nazi Germany said exactly the same thing. That is not exaggeration to any degree. It is literally true: watch The Nazis: A Warning from History, and you will hear people who supported the Nazis make similar statements. Such "justifications" are offered in the present day, many decades after the entire world came to know of the unending horrors perpetrated by Hitler's regime. Many (if not most) of the claims by Germans that they "didn't know" about the Third Reich's horrors during the period they were committed are not credible. Such claims cannot be credited at all now. And yet, many of the people interviewed in that documentary, interviewed in recent years, repeat the same rationalizations -- and they continue to believe them. Moreover, they expect us to accept their "explanations," and to be reluctant to condemn them. Far too many of us willingly comply.

"The human capacity for denial is limitless. We destroy an entire country that never threatened us, and commit genocide -- and we will not acknowledge what we have done. We engage in widespread torture and brutality -- and we refuse to identify the nature and meaning of our acts. Our Congress passes the torture-dictatorship law -- and we do nothing. We become increasingly accustomed to inflicting grievous injury and death upon countless people, the great majority of whom are completely innocent -- and we tell ourselves that we only do so in our own "defense," and in the name of "civilization."

"We are much, much farther down this road than most of us will acknowledge. But reality cannot be obliterated in this manner, simply because we refuse the speak the truth. In time, and if we do not radically change our course, we will all suffer the consequences of what we have done as a nation, and what we continue to do. Every day, we come closer to a nightmare world. 24 is only one of the many ways we have arrived at this moment. If enough of us don't become aware of what has happened to us and begin to change it, shows like 24 will also be a sign of the much worse nightmare that still lies ahead.

Iraqi PM told Bush to Withdraw US Troops from Baghdad

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"Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki proposed to President George W. Bush in November to withdraw US troops from Baghdad and let the Iraqi government take over security in the capital, a US newspaper reported.

"Citing interviews with several unnamed administration officials, the Washington Post wrote that Maliki made the suggestion in a presentation to Bush on November 30 in Amman, Jordan.

"But soon after, Bush rejected the idea, the paper said.

"Instead, the president opted for a strategy announced this month to deploy an additional 21,500 US troops to Iraq, focusing on quelling sectarian violence in Baghdad and the western al-Anbar province.

"Bush and his senior aides have defended the approach as the best way of supporting Iraq's government but according to the Post's account, the Iraqi prime minister wanted US soldiers to withdraw to the outskirts of the capital and let his own government's forces handle security.

"Maliki's presentation was seen as unrealistic, but a promising sign he was taking a more bold approach to defusing the sectarian bloodshed, a White House official told the paper.

"'We all recognized it was too ambitious," Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, was quoted as saying.

"The White House did not immediately comment on the story when contacted by AFP.

From Antiwar.com

MODEST PROPOSAL: Call Up the Vietnam Vets--Apocalypse Again

Tweet "LISTENING TO President Bush's speech on Iraq earlier this month, my first thought was: "Where the heck are we going to get 21,500 more soldiers to send to Iraq?" Our Reserves are depleted, our National Guard is worn out, our Army and Marine Corps are stretched to the limit.

"Then it hit me: Re-up our Vietnam War veterans and send them.

"They're trained. They're battle-hardened. Many already have post-traumatic stress disorder. Also, some have their own vehicles — Harleys mostly, which are cheap to run, make small targets and are highly mobile. I'll even bet that lots of these guys still have guns (you know, just in case).

"OK, some vets are a bit long in the tooth (or don't have teeth — because of Agent Orange?). Or their eyesight isn't what it was. Or their reflexes have slowed. But with today's modern weaponry, how well do you have to see?

"Too out of shape, you say? Listen, if Rocky Balboa can step back into the ring at age 60, all these Vietnam War vets need is a little boot-camp magic and they'll be good to go. I mean, who doesn't want to drop a few pounds?

"Don't want geezers fighting for us? Well, let's face it, our young people have greater value right here. Most of us want to retire and collect our hard-earned Social Security, and we need those youngsters here, working and paying taxes — lots of taxes.

Finally, these Vietnam War guys are hungry for revenge. After all, they fought in the only war the U.S. ever lost. And they didn't even get a parade. So this is their chance. We can throw them that big parade when they come marching home.

Carter and Camp David, Where It All Began--Electronic Intifada

Tweet "So useless were the [Camp David] Accords for the Palestinians that even Begin mocked it, saying that regarding Palestinian rights, it was "devoid of any real content ... The word 'legitimate' which is linked to rights -- as I tried to explain to my hosts at Camp David -- has no meaning, really." [16] Perhaps this was a slip, as Begin's South African-born publicity consultant, Harry Hurwitz, must have told him."

From the article linked below.

"Now it's on. The debate over President Jimmy Carter's Palestine: Peace not Apartheid has become a mainstream staple. Turn on Fox News and see resigned Carter aid Steve Berman bullied into saying that Carter is not only anti-Semitic, but supports terror. Open the New York Times, Amazon.com, Washington Post and find outraged columnists, petitioning consumers, D-Rep. Lady Macbeth washing her hands of that dreaded a-word.

"But like most things Israeli and Palestinian, few are taking note of history and what it might mean to an ex-president. Carter is no longer in "the game," which affords him the liberty to speak frankly, unlike Howard Dean, who once hinted at criticisms of Israel before quickly retreating to behavioral protocol. Perhaps then it is fairer to judge Carter's present in light of his past, when political cards were stacked and he spoke with another voice.

Let Our Children Live

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Abir Aramin

"Bassam Aramin spent nine years in an Israeli jail for being a member of the Fatah in the Hebron area and trying to throw a grenade at an Israeli army Jeep which was patrolling in Occupied Hebron. On Wednesday morning, an Israeli soldier shot his nine-year-old daughter, Abir, in the head. The soldier will not spend an hour in jail. In Israel, soldiers are not imprisoned for killing Arabs. Never. It does not matter whether the Arabs are young or old, real or potential terrorists, peaceful demonstrators or stone throwers. The army has not conducted an inquiry in Abir Aramin's death. Neither the police nor the courts have questioned anyone. There will be no investigation. As far as the Israeli Defense Forces are concerned, the shooting did not happen. The army's official account of her death is that she was hit by a stone that one of her classmates was throwing "at our forces."

"We who live in Israel know that stones thrown by 10-year-olds do not blow brains out. Just as we see every day the Israeli jeeps circling Palestinian children on their way to and from school and greet them with stun-bombs, "rubber" bullets and riot control gas.

"A bullet penetrated Abir Aramin's skull, while she was walking to school with her sister. I saw her just afterwards at Hadassah Hospital, where she slept quietly in a huge hospital bed. Abir's face was white. Her huge eyes were closed. By then, she was already brain-dead, and the doctors decided to allow the rest of her to die. I saw clearly that her head had been shot from behind. A young student who witnessed her shooting told journalists that the Israeli border police, part of the IDF, drove up to the girls as they came out of their school examinations: "The girls were afraid and started running away. The border police followed them in the direction in which they were retreating. Abir was afraid and stood against one of the shops at the side of the road. I was standing near her. The border policeman shot through a special hole in the window of his jeep that was standing very close to us. Abir fell to the ground ... I saw that she was bleeding from the head."

"Abir Aramin is dead. The doctors at Hadassah will not disclose the cause of her death to her parents or her friends. Her family has requested an autopsy. Her father, Bassam Aramin, is one of the founders of Combatants for Peace. My son, who served as an Israeli soldier in the occupied territories, is also a member. They are friends. Bassam told us that he cannot rest until his daughter's killer convinces him that nine-year-old Abir threatened his life or the lives of the other soldiers in his jeep. I fear he will never have the chance to rest.

From Electronic Intifada

Watada Faces the Future Confident in His Actions

Tweet Remember : Feb. 5th you can show support for Lt. Watada by going to Ft. Lewis. Go to thankyoult.org to get details. L

"Even with charges looming that could send him to prison for six years, Army Lt. Ehren Watada faces the future confident in his actions.

"'Yes, I have broken ranks. I have not been a good lieutenant ...," he said. "Otherwise, like those lemmings, we could all march off to our doom."

"Speaking Saturday before more than 70 people at the Kitsap Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Watada explained why he refused to go to Iraq, a decision that has him scheduled for a court martial on Feb. 5 at Fort Lewis. Since his decision last summer to purposely miss his Army unit’s deployment on June 22, the 28-year-old from Hawaii has gone from thinking he "never could or should do this" to becoming a vocal spokesman for raising public awareness against the war.

"'We all do what we believe in," Watada said.

"The odds of being convicted are likely because a judge at Watada’s Jan. 4 pre-trial hearing ruled that Watada’s lawyers cannot present arguments saying the Iraq war is illegal, which is Watada’s defense.

"'You can convict me and send me to prison," Watada said, "but in the grand scheme of things it changes nothing."

"According to his Web site, www.thankyoult.org, Watada swore allegiance to the Constitution and "not to those who would issue unlawful orders." He said that he is a servant of the people and public opinion has turned against the war.

"Watada also said the war is illegal because the reasons for beginning it and continuing it have been deceptive. "All soldiers in a free society must know the true reasons for why he or she is going to sacrifice their life," Watada said. "Do you think the American military will ever leave when there are profits to protect?"

"Though he still works at Fort Lewis — and tries to stay out of public places because of the hate mail he has received — Watada is using his role to encourage others to oppose the war.

Lobby Boy

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Bendib cartoon from Palestinian Pundit

Americans Believe U.S. International Strategy Has Backfired

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This article from World Public Opinion (who cites polling info from around the world) gives you a very different picture of American public opinion than you would expect (at least it did me). Linda (lots of good graphs if you click on the link to the article below).

"A majority of Americans believe that the way the United States has been using the threat of military force has diminished U.S. security.

"Two out of three believe that countries around the world have grown more afraid that the United States will use force against them and the same number thinks this is bad for U.S. security, according to a WorldPublicOpinion.org poll. The public believes overwhelmingly that fear of the United States has increased “the likelihood that countries will try to acquire weapons of mass destruction.”

"Large majorities also reject the idea that the United States’ military strength means it need not be concerned about international goodwill and they do not think that the U.S. government should announce that it seeks regime change in problem countries.

"The poll included interviews with a nationwide sample of 1,326 Americans conducted Nov. 21-29. It was designed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland in conjunction with the conference, “Leveraging U.S. Strength in an Uncertain World,” held Dec. 7 by the the Stanley Foundation. It was fielded by Knowledge Networks.

"Steven Kull, editor of WorldPublicOpinion.org., said Americans believed current policies had provoked fear abroad causing countries to react in ways that make the United States less secure. “Most Americans now believe that the recent thrust of U.S. foreign policy has backfired,” Kull said.

Found on World Public Opinion.com

Israeli Holocaust Trustee Blasts Hebron Settlers--Reuters News Service

Tweet JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior official of Israel's central Holocaust memorial on Saturday assailed Jewish settlers who harass Palestinians in a tinderbox West Bank city, saying the abuse recalled the anti-Semitism of 1930s Europe.

The attack by Yosef Lapid, chairman of Yad Vashem's advisory council, was prompted by Israeli television footage showing a Hebron settler woman hissing "whore" at a Palestinian neighbour and settler children lobbing rocks at Arab homes.

The spectacle stirred outrage in the Jewish state, where many view the settlers as opposing coexistence with a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Lapid, a Holocaust survivor who lost his father to the Nazi genocide, said in a weekly commentary on Israel Radio that the acts of some Hebron settlers reminded him of persecution endured by Jews in his native Yugoslavia on the eve of World War Two.

"It was not crematoria or pogroms that made our life in the diaspora bitter before they began to kill us, but persecution, harassment, stone-throwing, damage to livelihood, intimidation, spitting and scorn," Lapid said, reiterating remarks made earlier this week in Israel's Maariv newspaper .

"I was afraid to go to school, because of the little anti-Semites who used to lay in ambush on the way and beat us up. How is that different from a Palestinian child in Hebron?"

Reuters via Yahoonews.com on WhatReallyHappened.com

One Hundred Years of Jewish Solitude--Gilad Atzmon

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This article really needs to be read in its entirety to understand what Atzmon is saying about Zionism being an effort to stop assimilation of Jews into world society (as opposed to what we may understand Zionism as being expansionist). Linda

"Very much like Julia Bard, David Rosenberg and Golda Meir, Rosen is rather concerned with the ‘disappearance of Jewry’. Seemingly, Rosen is far more radical than Bard. Very much like Meir, he rejects any ideological reasoning that may justify assimilation. May I suggest at this point that neither Bard, Rosenberg, Rosen or Meir are innovative here. In fact, they all explore the original Zionist fundamental instinct. Zionism was formed as a political practice aimed at confronting assimilation and the disintegration of the Jewish identity. Already in 1897 Max Nordau and Herzl raised very similar concerns to those expressed by Meir, Rosen and Bard.

"If we take the necessary step and re-define Zionism as a modern form of Jewish activism which aims at halting assimilation, we can then re-asses the entire Jewish tribal political activity as an internal debate within a diverse Zionist political movement. We should then regard the colonizing of Palestine as not more than just one single face of Zionism. In fact, Jewish Socialism fits very nicely into the Zionist project. Being an integral part of the Zionist network, it is concerned with the future of the Jewish secular tribe, it is there to collect the lost souls amongst the Jewish leftists and it brings them back to Blooms.

"The shift towards presenting Zionism in a new terminology invites us to regard Zionism as global Jewish tribal political activism. The Israeli Lobby, the Dershowitzes of the world, the Harry’s Places of the net, the David Hirshes of the Goldsmith Colleges, are there to globally spread the voice of Israel, the colonial endeavor. The 3rd category socialists, on the other hand, are there to stop proud self-hating Jews from blowing the whistle. The Jewish Socialists are there to prevent you from reading the words you are engaged with right now.

Found on Counterpunch.org

Kissinger Teams Up with the Neocons--Kurt Nimmo

Tweet "Heinz Kissinger, the Butcher of Cambodia, who essentially signed the death warrants for thousands of Chileans, Indonesians, and micromanaged the slaughter of countless Vietnamese while nodding and winking in Pol Pot’s direction, has bestowed his venomous grace on Bush and the neocons.

“'Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, an iconic conservative who continues to command the attention of the White House, praises President Bush’s moves in Iraq and says that leaving the war-torn nation is not possible under present conditions,” writes Mike Sheehan for Raw Story.

"In an International Herald Tribune op-ed, the elder Malthusian—it rings more true than “elder statesman’—praises Bush’s “bold decision to order a ’surge’ of some 20,000 American troops for Iraq,” thus providing all the evidence we need that neocons and traditional neolibs are on the same page when it comes to killing Arabs and Muslims.

From Another Day in the Empire

Citizen's Hearing Supports Watada's Indictment of War

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"Also testifying were two law school professors, a retired Army colonel [ANN WRIGHT] who resigned from the State Department in protest of the war, and a former senior U.N. official [DENIS HALLIDAY] in charge of humanitarian aid to Iraq who quit in protest of the effects of economic sanctions on the Iraqi people.

"But the star witness Saturday was one who has little personal connection to Iraq. However, Daniel Ellsberg has experience in acting against a war that he came to believe was wrong.

"The former Defense Department analyst leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers to a New York Times reporter in 1971, exposing Johnson and Nixon administration lies about the war in Vietnam. He was put on trial for espionage, but the charges were eventually dropped.

"Ellsberg, 75, said Iraq, far more than Vietnam, “is clear-cut aggression, a crime against the peace.”

“'This war is almost unique among all wars,” he said. “We haven’t really had such a clear-cut challenge to us as democratic citizens and what to do when our country is engaging in such clear-cut aggression.”

"He praised Watada for figuring out his own course, even if it means prison.

“'The majority of the country is against this war. To oppose it incurs no risk,” Ellsberg said. “The only risk is in taking steps to stop it.”

Iran’s Strongman Loses Grip as Ayatollah Offers Nuclear Deal

Tweet "IRAN’S supreme leader is considering a change of policy on the country’s nuclear programme in an effort to defuse growing tension with the West, according to senior sources in Tehran.

"Alarmed by mounting US pressure and United Nations sanctions, officials close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei favour the appointment of a more moderate team for international negotiations on the supervision of its nuclear facilities.

;

"The move would be a snub to the bellicose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose threats to destroy Israel have left Iran increasingly isolated and facing a serious economic downturn.

"Tehran sources said the impetus for a policy switch was coming from Khamenei, who has ultimate power over Iran’s foreign policy, security and armed forces.

"Khamenei is said to believe that Washington’s aim is not only to halt Iran’s nuclear programme but to overthrow the regime.

"He also considers the national interest is being undermined by an inexperienced president whose rhetoric is unnecessarily inflammatory.

"Under proposals now being debated, an international group made up of the permanent five members of the UN security council, plus Germany or a nuclear power such as India, would oversee and monitor Iran’s nuclear programme.

"Washington may judge this too little, too late. But European negotiators would be expected to regard such a move as a significant step towards reopening talks about the programme. Tehran insists it is for civilian power but the West believes it is aimed at creating nuclear weapons.

From Antiwar.com

20 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq Today

Tweet BAGHDAD, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. forces had one of their costliest days in Iraq on Saturday when 20 troops were killed, including 13 on a helicopter and five in a clash in a Shi'ite holy city that the U.S. military blamed on militiamen.

The battle at a government building in Kerbala was the bloodiest for U.S. troops in the Shi'ite south in two years and occurred as President George W. Bush presses leaders of the Shi'ite majority to crack down on militias from their community. Hours after the loss of all 13 passengers and crew aboard a Blackhawk transport helicopter, the U.S. military said five soldiers were killed and three wounded in the Kerbala clash. Two other soldiers were killed elsewhere, and the deaths of two killed on Friday were also announced.

It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces since Bush said 10 days ago he was sending about 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to prevent sectarian civil war between Shi'ite Muslims and the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority. His plans have run into resistance from opposition Democrats who now control Congress. It was unclear whether the helicopter was shot down. Residents near Baquba in violent Diyala province northeast of Baghdad said they saw a helicopter in flames in the air.

Thousands of pilgrims are thronging Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, at the start of the 10-day rite of Ashura, a highpoint of the Shi'ite calendar and a target before for attacks by al Qaeda and other Sunnis.

"The Provincial Joint Coordination Center (PJCC) in Kerbala was attacked with grenades, small arms and indirect fires by an illegally armed militia group," the U.S. military said in a statement, apparently blaming Shi'ite militiamen rather than Sunni insurgents whom it usually refers to as "terrorists".

"Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded while repelling the attack." It made no mention of attackers killed or detained and officials did not immediately respond to queries on how the assailants' identity was established.

Southern Tribes Joining Armed Resistance--Dahr Jamail

Tweet BAGHDAD, Jan. 19, 2007(IPS) - Violence is spreading further across Iraq, as Shia Arab tribes in the south begin to engage occupation forces in new armed resistance.

Resistance in the southern parts of Iraq has been escalating over the last three months, leading to increased casualties among British and other occupation forces.
In the last seven months, at least 24 British soldiers have been killed in southern Iraq, with at least as many wounded, according to the independent website Iraq Coalition Casualties. So far at least 128 British soldiers have died in Iraq, along with 123 of other nationalities. Most of these have been stationed in southern Iraq.
Casualties earlier were far lower.
Attacks against occupation forces appear to stem more a growing nationalism.

"This is not about vengeance," a former Iraqi army officer from Kut, 200 km south of Baghdad told IPS in Baghdad. "People have lost hope in the U.S.-led occupation's promises, and they are thinking of saving the country from Iranian influence which has been supported, or at least allowed by the Multi-National Forces."

British and U.S. military leaders tend not to say who has been targeting their forces in the south. They simply call the resistance fighters "terrorists", or they point to the Mehdi Army led by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as the only source of disturbance in the south.

While members of the Mehdi Army certainly carry out attacks against occupation forces in southern Iraq, other home-grown resistance seems to have taken root, fed also by earlier memories.

"People here have always hated the U.S. and British occupation of Iraq, and remembered their grandfathers who fought the British troops with the simplest weapons," Jassim al-Assadi, a school headmaster from Kut told IPS on a recent visit to Baghdad.

From Uruknet.info

[California] Area Reps. Call for Troops Out of Iraq

Tweet "One week after George W. Bush told the nation he would commit 20,000 additional troops to fight on the ground in Iraq, the Bay Area peace community got the bold response it wanted to hear.

"On Wednesday Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland-Berkeley, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-San Rafael and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives the Bring the Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act that would get U.S. troops out of Iraq within six months.

“'The longer the U.S. stays in Iraq, the worse things get,” Lee told the Daily Planet in a brief phone interview Wednesday.

"More than 3,000 U.S. troops and more than 34,000 Iraqis have died, she said. “We need to bring home our troops. We won’t leave young men and women in harm’s way like this president has done.”

"The bill, supported by 12 co-sponsors, goes beyond the bills introduced separately Wednesday by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., to halt deployment of more troops to Iraq.

"The Lee-Woolsey-Waters bill would:

• Repeal the authorization to use force against Iraq passed by Congress in 2002;

• Require the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors within six months of the enactment of this bill;

• Turn security activities and military operations in Iraq over to the elected Iraqi government within six months of enactment; military facilities built by the United States will be turned over to the Iraqi government;

• Prohibit the U.S. from establishing permanent bases in Iraq;

• Accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi military and security forces;

• Pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy;

• Provide assistance to the Iraqi government in recovering archeological, cultural and historic artifacts that have been lost since the U.S. invasion;

• Fully fund veterans’ health care.

• Prohibit U.S. access to Iraqi oil production prior to the Iraqi government’s establishing clear rules for foreign ownership and participation.

While Woolsey and Lee are co-chairs of the 62-member Progressive Caucus and Waters is the co-chair and founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, Lee said she and her co-authors need the help of the local community: “Contact other members of the California delegation. They need to come in as co-sponsors.”

And go to demonstrations, she said: “Keep up the street heat. E-mail. Make phone calls. Our community leads all the time.”

Soldier, Read This Before You Go to War--Peter Michaelson

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"The world is upside down, and one brave first lieutenant tries to set it right. The U.S. war in Iraq is illegal and immoral, says 1st Lt. Ehren Watada. In thus choosing reality over fallacy, and refusing to deploy to Iraq with his Stryker brigade, the 28-year-old Honolulu native faces six years in the brig when his court-martial begins next month at Ft. Lewis near Seattle.

"Meanwhile, another soldier was in the news the other night, holding his baby daughter on his arm while being interviewed on local TV about going to Iraq. He shrugged and said, “Sure, I hate to leave my wife and my daughter. But what can you do? Gotta go.”

"Gotta go? There’s nothing brave about a passive surrender to fate. This soldier is fighting because he “gotta.” Lt. Watada, in comparison, is fighting for the right to be an exemplary human being, someone brave enough to stand for truth instead of easy and blind acquiescence. He’s a patriot who believes in free speech and his right to criticize the war. Now that’s worth fighting for.

"Lt. Watada made his choice. In this war or any war, every soldier needs to make a choice, one way or the other, about going to fight. When an individual fails to make a choice concerning a major decision, but instead lets that choice be made for him, he’s not assuming enough responsibility for the outcome.

Ending paragraph:

"Those of us in the antiwar movement respect the difficult position that soldiers are in. We ask them to make the best choice they know how. It’s good to do honor to your country, and it is just as noble to do honor to yourself.

From Buzzflash