Co-editors: Seán Mac Mathúna • John Heathcote
Consulting editor: Themistocles Hoetis
Field Correspondent: Allen Hougland
Echoes of Indonesia CIA helps
Ba'ath Party in 1963 Iraqi coup CIA recruits Iraqi Baath Party
(including a young Saddam Hussein) to assasinate the new leader,
Abdul-Karim Kassem. After the coup, the CIA gave the Ba'ath Party
a long list of communists* and others to liquidate. During the
1980s the CIA would go on to help provide weapons to both Iraq
and Iran in a war that would kill over one million people. *largest Communist Party in the
Arab world Read more here. CIA helped Saddam Hussein seize
power in 1968 Iraqi coup Saddam Hussein's Rise to Power
By 1965, Saddam Hussein's cousin
became Secretary General of the Baathist Party. In 1968 Saddam
Hussein was made Deputy Secretary General and Saddam and his Ba'athist
supporters succeeded in seizing state power, all with CIA backing.
What followed was a slaughter of the left, including the murder
and torture of Iraqi Communist Party members and trade unionists.
Read more here. US Supplied
Iraq with weapons of mass-destruction According to information obtained
by the American Gulf War Veterans Association (AGWVA), there is
irrefutable evidence to show that the Unites States government
provided and encouraged Iraq's use of chemical weapons. The United
States Department of Commerce and The American Type Culture Collection
(ATCC) provided at least 80 shipments of biological agents that
were not attenuated (or weakened) and were capable of reproduction.
These shipments included such virulent agents as Anthrax, West
Nile Virus and Clostridium botulinum (S.R.103-900, May 25, 1994,
pg. 264).Ê Ê The AGWVA also found it very disturbing
to learn that on December 19, 1983, the Middle Eastern envoy who
carried a handwritten note from President Reagan to Saddam Hussein,
to "resume our diplomatic relations with Iraq" was none other
than our present Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. (while
he was President of Searle Pharmaceutical at the time)/ According to "U.S.
Diplomatic and Commercial Relationships with Iraq", 1980-August
2, 2000, Nathaniel Hurd states:Ê Ê "Iraq reportedly began using
chemical weapons (CW) against Iranian troops in 1982, and significantly
increased CW use in 1983 Shortly after removing Iraq from the
terrorism sponsorship list, the Reagan administration approved
the sale of 60 Hughes helicopters. Analysts recognized that "civilian"
helicopters can be weaponized in a matter of hours and selling
a civilian kit can be a way of giving military aid under the guise
of civilian assistance."Ê Ê Mark Phythian, in his book Arming
Iraq: How the U.S. and Britain Secretly Built Saddam's War Machine"
(Northeastern University Press, 1997) stated: " the Secretaries of Commerce
and State (George Baldridge and George Shultz) lobbied the NSC
(National Security Council) advisor into agreeing to the sale
to Iraq of 10 Bell helicopters, officially for crop spraying.
It is believed that US-supplied choppers were used in the 1988
chemical attack on the Kurdish village Halabja, which killed
5000 people."Ê Ê Read more here Bloody Friday: Chemical massacre
of the Kurds by the Iraqi regime Halabja-March 1988 The Iraqi regime signed the 1925
protocol of Geneva of the prohibition of the deployment of the
chemical and biological weapons in wars in 1931. The regulations
of the 1972 Convention of Geneva requesting all countries to cease
production, completion and conservation of all kinds of chemical
and biological weapons and to demolish them and the UN 37/98 resolution
emphasizing the necessity of observing the articles and contents
of the 1925 protocol and the 1972 Convention of Geneva have also
been accepted by the UN member countries including Iraq (and the
USA - Flame). Read more here U.S. planning more invasions,says
former U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate George
McGovern Former U.S. Senator and Democratic
presidential candidate George McGovern charged Wednesday that
President Bush intends to invade North Korea and Iran after finishing
with Iraq. "Even now, these wars are being planned by the current
administration," McGovern said. "I'm positive, based on conversations
with people close to the White House, that plans are in place
for the next invasions." Read more here How the Syrians defeated the
Mongols: Saddam's bedtime reading ? The Mongols who invaded Iraq in
1258 did not use horseshoes, and the rocky terrain of Syria reportedly
injured the Mongol horses' hooves to the extent that they were
unable to fight effectively. Additionally, the Mamluks realised
that grasslands were needed to pasture the Mongols' horses. Therefore,
the Mamluks often burned grasslands in Syria in their wake, to
prevent the Mongol horses from grazing. Read more here. Mechanisms of Western Domination:
A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait As the victors of World War I,
France and Britain dismantled the Ottoman Empire and the Arab
nation for their own colonial purposes. The Iraq Petroleum Company
was created in 1920 with 95% of the shares going to Britain, France,
and the U.S. In order to weaken Arab nationalism, Britain blocked
Iraqi access to the Persian Gulf by severing the territorial entity,
"Kuwait" from the rest of Iraq in 1921 and 1922. This new British
colony, Kuwait, was given artificial boundaries with no basis
in history or geography. Read more here. Dead believed to be US soldiers
in Karbala US forces are less than 50 kms
from Baghdad after a "dramatic" surge towards the Iraqi capital,
a Sky News reporter with the troops said on Wednesday. This report
came after US officials described a battle with the elite Republican
Guard in Karbala as "the biggest fight of the war". In Baghdad,
Saddam Hussein has chaired a meeting with his senior officials,
Iraqi TV said. Meanwhile, 11 bodies Ñ at least some of them believed
to be Americans Ñ were found with prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica
Lynch when she was rescued in a U.S. commando raid on an Iraqi
hospital, a military spokesman said Wednesday. Navy Capt. Frank
Thorp, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said that during the
rescue operation, 11 bodies were recovered in and around the hospital.
"We have reason to believe some of them were Americans," Thorp
said. He said the military has not confirmed whether they were
members of Lynch's unit, the 507th Maintenance Company. "We don't
yet know the identity of those people," Thorp said. "And forensics
will determine that." Read more here. US Likely to Adopt Israel's
Jenin Tactics in Baghdad Martin van Creveld, professor of
military history and strategy at Jerusalems Hebrew University,
has told reporters that, following his advice to US Marines, the
American military bought nine of the converted bulldozers used
in the Jenin demolitions from Israel. Professor van Creveld said
he gave advice to Marines last year in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
He said he was questioned about Israeli tactics in Jenin, and
told them that the giant D9 bulldozers, manufactured for civilian
use in the US and originally used in Vietnam, but fitted with
armor plating in Israel, were one of the most useful weapons. Read more here US marines trained with Israeli
troops in Palestinian urban battles In February, residents of Nablus
reported seeing English-speaking troops in unfamiliar uniforms
accompanying Israeli soldiers during a two-week incursion into
the old city, where just such tactics were used. US army officers
have observed Israeli units at first hand in Jenin and Bethlehem.
Read more
here UK and US use "illegal
weapons of mass destruction" on Iraq According to the Sunday Herald,
the UK and USA governments are deliberately breaking International
Law, and UN Conventions which they have signed up to, by using
radioactive depleted uranium shells in the war on Iraq. They are
using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and
deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies
the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction. DU contaminates
land, causes ill-health and cancers among the soldiers using the
weapons, the armies they target and civilians, leading to birth
defects in children. Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the
Pentagon's depleted uranium project - a former professor of environmental
science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel
who was tasked by the US department of defence with the post-first
Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up - said use of DU was
a 'war crime'. The Geneva Convention, Protocol
1, specifically prohibits any method of warfare which could damage
the environment. The use of depleted uranium certainly is a material
breach of this rule, because DU remains highly radioactive for
billions of years. Read Sunday
Herald, "US forces' use of depleted uranium weapons is 'illegal'" The "Shock and Awe" Photo
Gallery Site detailing the horrific effects
of the US and UK bombing - especially on Iraq's civilian population.
Please note - this site contains graphic pictures. Read more here US troops alleged to have fired
on Russian diplomatic convoy A convoy carrying Russia's ambassador
to Iraq and about two dozen Russian diplomats and journalists
came under heavy fire Sunday while evacuating from Baghdad. Five
diplomats were wounded, but none of their lives was said to be
in danger. Russian media reported that two bullets from the stomach
of one victim came from an M-16 semi-automatic assault rifle,
used by US marines. Moscow
Times, "Diplomats' Convoy Comes Under Fire", 7 April 2003.
BBC
News, "Russian envoys 'caught in crossfire' ", 7 April 2003.
Basra: British army tactics
to end siege - six months of food supplies destroyed "British tanks of destroyed
75,000 tonnes of food" A storage warehouse containing
many thousands of tonnes of essential food and emergency supplies
was been destroyed by British forces surrounding the city of Basra.
This was apparently an attempt to force an early end to the siege
of the town. The quantities and types of supplies destroyed, which
were provided to allow the city to survive under seige for at
least "six months". 76,000 tonnes of goods imported as part of
the oil-for-food programme were destroyed. The British military has not denied
the report. The UN had warned that the food shortage in Basra
could cause a humanitarian disaster. Whether or not the destruction
of Basra's food store was deliberate, this has caused an extremely
serious food-shortage, yet there has been no mention whatsoever
of the cause in mainstream UK or US media. Sunday
Times (Aus), "Basra: 200 Baath members targeted" The
Age, "Soldiers destroyed food supplies" Iraq's historical heritage:
US only defends Oil and Interior Ministry from looting Robert Fisk in the Independent reports that
US troops in Baghdad have only moved to protect the buildings
of the Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Interior - US troops "sat
back and allowed mobs" to destroy not only museums containing
artifacts from the cradle of civilisation - but allowed looters
to pillage every other Iraqi Ministry building - this includes
everything from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Irrigation,
Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs etc. Shamefully, and contary to the US obligations
as an invading power under the Geneva Convention, the US had done
nothing to protect Iraq's history in the Baghdad Archaeological
Museum. Fisk notes that the real interests of the US and Uk invaders
is shown in the government buildings they have chosen to see protected:
the Ministry of Oil - with the archives and details of Iraq's
vast oil reserves - and the Ministry of Interior - with all it's
files and information on the Iraqi people built up since the start
of the Hussian dictatorship. Fisk
observes: Read more here "American troops encouraged people" to start looting
according to eye witness Sweden's largest newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, published an interview
April 11 with a Swedish researcher of Middle Eastern ancestry
who had gone to Iraq to serve as a human shield. Khaled Bayoumi
told the newspaper, I happened to be right there just as the
American troops encouraged people to begin the plundering. He
described how US soldiers shot security guards at a local government
building on Haifa Avenue on the west bank of the Tigris, and then
blasted apart the doors to the building. Next, according to
Bayoumi, from the tanks came eager calls in Arabic encouraging
people to come close to them. At first, he said, residents were
hesitant to come out of their homes because anyone who had tried
to cross the street in the morning had been shot. Arab interpreters
in the tanks told the people to go and take what they wanted in
the building, Bayoumi continued. The word spread quickly and
the building was ransacked. I was standing only 300 yards from
there when the guards were murdered. Afterwards the tank crushed
the entrance to the Justice Department, which was in a neighboring
building, and the plundering continued there. I stood in a large
crowd and watched this together with them. They did not partake
in the plundering but dared not to interfere. Many had tears of
shame in their eyes. The next morning the plundering spread to
the Modern Museum, which lies a quarter mile farther north. There
were also two crowds there, one that plundered and one that watched
with disgust. Read more here
"How and why the US encouraged looting in Iraq" from
World Socialist Web Site
Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy
of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.
The US regime secretly supplied Iraq with CBW agents and other
military equipment used in internal repression. It is believed
that US-supplied helicopeters were used in the 1988 chemical
attack on the Kurdish village Halabja, which killed 5000 people
It casts an interesting
reflection on America's supposed war aims. Anxious to "liberate"
Iraq, it allows its people to destroy the infrastructure of government
as well as the private property of Saddam's henchmen. Americans
insist that the oil ministry is a vital part of Iraq's inheritance,
that the oilfields are to be held in trust "for the Iraqi people".
But is the Ministry of Trade - relit yesterday by an enterprising
arsonist - not vital to the future of Iraq? Are the Ministry of
Education and the Ministry of Irrigation - still burning fiercely
- not of critical importance to the next government? The Americans
could spare 2,000 soldiers to protect the Kirkuk oilfields but
couldn't even invest 200 to protect the Mosul museum from attack.
US engineers were confidently predicting that the Kirkuk oilfield
will be capable of pumping again "within weeks".