contributions

by Emeka Omeihe, Lagos
FOR a couple of reasons, last week’s arraignment of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was bound to generate considerable public interest around the globe.
Not only did it mark the first time Saddam would be sighted since his capture by the invaders, it was also to afford the opportunity for another assessment of that character especially given the cheap way he was captured and humiliated. There was also the expectation that Saddam could capitalise on that (…)

Another Bush Lie About Iraq: Saddam Didn’t Mass Murder His People with Gas. But is it Worse than that? How Deep Does the Republican-Iran Connection Go?
by Rob Kall
Now we’re discovering that one of the last excuses G.W. Bush has remaining for going to war, that Saddam gassed thousands of his people, is also a lie— a lie that Bush should of and probably did know was a lie.
Back in 1988 thousands of Kurds were reported killed in the gassing of Halabja. The CIA even prepared a report on (…)

Jordanian political activists and union leaders started a signature campaign Tuesday to oppose the possible deployment of troops to neighboring Iraq.
The petition said that its signatories, from various political and social groups in Jordan, "note that the Jordanian government continues to defy Jordanian public opinion and ignore constitutional and democratic norms by adopting policies that contradict the views of the public on Iraq."
It expressed concern about the government’s support (…)

by Rolleiv Solholm
The Norwegian Government and individual politicians have reacted strongly to the alleged abuse of children in Iraqi prisons by American soldiers, as reported in a German TV documentary on Monday evening.
The leader of the Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland (Labour), calls for those politically responsible in the US to step down. It is completely atrocious and contravening international law, if this is true, and it is difficult to understand if (…)

By HAMZA HENDAWI
The 19-year-old Iraqi’s swimming skills were no match for the Tigris. "Marwan, save me!" Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun screamed to his cousin, himself struggling to stay afloat. The teenager drowned; his cousin made it to shore. "I could hear them laughing," Marwan Fadel Hassoun said, recalling how U.S. soldiers pushed the young men into the river. "They were behaving like they were watching a comedy on stage."
The U.S. military said last week that three soldiers, now back in (…)

Peter Eisler and Tom Squitieri
Suspected foreign fighters account for less than 2% of the 5,700 captives being held as security threats in Iraq, a strong indication that Iraqis are largely responsible for the stubborn insurgency.
Since last August, coalition forces have detained 17,700 people in Iraq who were considered to be enemy fighters or security risks, and about 400 were foreign nationals, according to figures supplied last week by the U.S. military command handling detention (…)

US soldiers have killed an Iraqi child and wounded another when they fired on a car that failed to stop at a checkpoint in Baghdad, the army said.
"Soldiers fired on the vehicle after the driver failed to obey verbal and visual instructions to stop, switched off the vehicle lights, and forced guards out of the way as he attempted to bypass the checkpoint," a US military statement said on Tuesday.
It said the incident happened late on Monday.
The statement said the mother was taken to (…)

Tuesday 06 July 2004 - Two US marines were killed in action and one died later from wounds received during an operation in Falluja on Monday, the US military said.
"Two marines assigned to First Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in action and one marine died of wounds received in action on Monday in the (centre-west) Al-Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations," the military said in a statement on Tuesday.
The marines have now lost 10 men in just over one (…)

Dr Azmi Bishara, the Arab member of the Zionist parliament, along with a group of Palestinians have entered their fifth day of hunger strike protesting the Zionist separation fence in a tent pitched before the construction site of a section of that wall on the Quds-Ramallah road.
Bishara alongside a number of Palestinian political and popular figures started the strike on Saturday 3rd July, with the aim of drawing the attention of the Arab and world public opinion to the sustainable (…)

by Greg LaMotte
Over the past three months, doctors have been kidnapped in Baghdad and held for ransom. The tactic is causing a steady exodus of physicians, leaving the health care system in near-critical condition. According to the Iraqi Medical Association, the IMA, no fewer than 24 prominent doctors have been kidnapped in Baghdad over the past three months.
The problem has become so worrisome that the IMA has created a special committee to try to come up with workable solutions. A (…)