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Wars and conflicts

  • Children pay price of US offensive
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    Ala Barham slumps in his hospital bed and stares blankly into the air in front of him.
    Twelve years old and still deeply in shock, he can barely speak.
    Ala’s family had fled the Iraqi city of Falluja before last Monday’s all-out offensive began. He was happily playing with his brother in the garden of their uncle’s house in a village outside the city. Then the rocket hit.
    "My uncle died. They took us to hospital," he mumbles, speaking in little more than a whisper.
    His brother lies (…)

  • Allawi denies, International Amnesty confirms the killing of civilians in Falluja
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)

    The Iraqi Interim prime minister Eyad Allawi alleged that he does not believe that there are civilians who were killed in the attack which resulted in killing 38 America soldiers and 6 Iraqi soldiers and more than 1200 gunmen. However, statements of witnesses contradicted with his statements.
    Members of an Iraqi relief committee told the Qatari al-Jazeera TV that he saw 22 bodies buried under the remains in one of Golan Quarters streets in the north of Falluja on Sunday. Muhammad Farhan (…)

  • Masters of war
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)

    By Pepe Escobar
    In "Masters of War", Bob Dylan sang, "Hide behind desks" but "we can see through your masks". Now, applying their version of grassroots democracy, the US has declared that Fallujah has been "liberated". But the virtual ghost town is celebrating with no cries of joy - with no cries at all: only with the stench of tons of explosives, and the stench of decomposing bodies.
    Baghdad sources close to the resistance tell Asia Times Online that in essence the Americans control (…)

  • Think again pro warmongers
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    Iraq veteran speaks out against war; Former Marine tells ND crowd his experience reshaped his perspective
    By Patrick M. O’Connell / Tribune Staff Writer
    SOUTH BEND — Rob Sarra is not a pacifist.
    Sometimes, the former U.S. Marine sergeant regrettably believes war is a necessary evil.
    "But when military power is used, it better be for a ... good reason," Sarra said. "And this was not it."
    Sarra is talking about the U.S.-led war in Iraq, where in 2003 he experienced firsthand both the (…)

  • U.S., Iraq Try to Reassert Control in Mosul
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)

    By Alissa J. Rubin
    BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces struck insurgent strongholds in the northern city of Mosul today, trying to reestablish control over a city where rebels have festered and overtaken local police.
    Regional authorities have ordered all four bridges closed into Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city. U.S. and Iraqi troops also began taking back police stations in west Mosul, a military spokeswoman said.
    "We are in the process of securing all of police stations and returning (…)

  • Court martial confirms Britain given advance warning of Iraq invasion
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)

    By Harvey Thompson
    A court martial into the killing of a British soldier, held on October 26, heard how United States defence officials passed on plans for war against Iraq to the British Army almost six months before the invasion.
    The information emerged during the trial of Lance Corporal Ian Blaymire, who was facing charges for the manslaughter of fellow soldier John Nightingale while serving in Iraq. Both men were reservists with the Territorial Army (TA), deployed as drivers with the (…)

  • Powell Movement
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)
    4 comments

    That’s what Jon Stewart’s Daily Show called the resignation of Colin Powell. A Powell movement. (They didn’t even touch the possible pun on Colin.)
    That’s how bad it has become. The Bush national security team is now so bad that it is a joke. The Daily Show noted that Powell was the administration’s “most influential moderate.” He was, at the same time, Stewart noted, also its “least influential moderate.” (See Letterman’s Top 10 comments on Powell below.)
    It’s clear to me that the (…)

  • Progressive Resistance
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)

    by John Peters
    Shortly after declaring major combat operations complete, President Bush was faced with the reality that Iraqi resistance to “liberation” was on the rise.
    Just wait until Saddam’s sons are captured or killed, cautioned Bush, then the resistance of the few diehards will end. Uday and Qusay were dispatched in a six hour gun battle with U.S. forces, who utilized superior numbers, attack aircraft, anti-tank weapons and assault vehicles. (Oh yes, Uday and Qusay had their own (…)

  • AP Photographer Tells of Flight From Besieged City of Fallujah
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)

    In the weeks before the crushing military assault on his hometown, Bilal Hussein sent his parents and brother away from Fallujah to stay with relatives.
    The 33-year-old Associated Press photographer stayed behind to capture insider images during the siege of the former insurgent stronghold.
    "Everyone in Fallujah knew it was coming. I had been taking pictures for days," he said. "I thought I could go on doing it."
    In the hours and days that followed, heavy bombing raids and thunderous (…)

  • A mental health crisis is emerging, with one in six returning soldiers afflicted, experts say
    18 November 2004 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By Esther Schrader
    WASHINGTON - Matt LaBranche got the tattoos at a seedy place down the street from the Army hospital here where he was a patient in the psychiatric ward.
    The pain of the needle felt good to the 40-year-old former Army sergeant, whose memories of his nine months as a machine-gunner in Iraq had left him, he said, "feeling dead inside." LaBranche’s back is now covered in images, the largest the dark outline of a sword. Drawn from his neck to the small of his back, it is (…)