Antiwar.com Blog

Ever wonder where the term “anti-Iraqi forces” used to describe the Iraqi anti-occupation guerillas came from?

Those of you who are regular readers probably saw the story where the BBC crew was held hostage in Nablus by Israeli Troops. Now, finally, we get their story, fresh from the BBC Website.

Apparently storming the homes of random civilians and using them to shoot children in crowds is what passes for an Israeli Right to Self Defense these days.

Of course the IDF murdering (or in this case trying to murder and simply wounding) Palestinian children is nothing new. Hardly a week goes by in which at least one such story doesn’t wind up on our website. What makes this interesting though is that we’ve got the eyes and ears of BBC journalists within the actual residence the IDF was occupying, and while their cameras and whatnot were confiscated, they still tell the tale, in vivid detail.

Its probably the most interesting article you’ll see this weekend, unless American massacres in Iraq are something you really get into.

Iraqi conference walkout protests Najaf bombings

A NATIONAL conference, hailed as Iraq’s first experiment in democracy for decades, got off to a rocky start today when more than 100 delegates walked out to protest against fighting in the holy city of Najaf.

Dozens of people leapt out of their seats as soon as UN special envoy to Iraq Ashraf Jehangir Qazi finished his opening speech. “As long as there are air strikes and shelling we can’t have a conference,” some shouted.

Yahya Mussawi, from a Shiite Muslim political grouping that helped defuse a spring uprising by militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, jumped on the stage before he was forced down by chief organiser Fuad Maasum.

“Part of democracy is that you listen to the Iraqi people. It is time that you heard us and we ask that military operations stop in Najaf immediately and dialogue takes place,” Mr Mussawi shouted.

“Listen to us, prime minister, listen to us,” said the protesters, as Mr Maasum announced a 30-minute break in the proceedings.

Iraqi guerillas also demonstrated their opinion of the “conference” by shelling it.

The Iraqi National Conference, intended to help shape democracy, was interrupted Sunday by protesters who demanded an end to violence in Najaf.

Minutes after the disruption, a series of mortar rounds landed less than a mile from the conference site in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Two people were killed and 17 others wounded, according to Iraq’s Interior Ministry.

The attack took place despite a daytime curfew for central Baghdad designed to head off violence during the conference.

Meanwhile, near Sawaya,

A Dutch soldier was shot dead and five others injured seriously in a shooting incident in Iraq on Saturday, the Dutch defence ministry said in a statement.

According to reports reaching here, the 29-year-old military policeman, who was among some 1,200 Dutch troops stationed near the southern town of Samawa, was killed when an attack took place on a military vehicle near the town of Ar Rumaythah, north of Samawa, the statement said.

Shortly after the attack, US military, including a Black Hawk helicopter, came to help with the medical evacuation.

And, a Ukrainian soldier was killed Sunday in a land mine explosion southeast of Baghdad, a spokesman for the multinational forces said. The blast occurred in the area of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, in the Ukrainian troops’ area of responsibility.

Update: One US soldier was killed early Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded in northern Baghdad, the US military said in a statement.

Update:

“A major assault by forces will be launched quickly to bring the Najaf fight to an end,” Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.

“This matter has to be brought to conclusion as fast as possible and we want to bring the situation to normalcy soon.”

Police ordered Iraqi and foreign journalists out of Najaf.

“From now on this city is closed,” a senior police officer told reporters.

Police chief General Ghaleb al-Jazairi said he was under orders from the Interior Minister that all journalists, local and foreign, leave within hours.

Mohammad Kazem, an Iraqi correspondent for Iranian television, was detained at gunpoint by police in the middle of a live broadcast from a rooftop.

I’m sure the journalists are being ordered out of Najaf out of concern for their safety.

I don’t have much of a context for this because news from Fallujah has been scant except for the usual US bombardments.

1st Marine Division plans to dissolve the controversial “Fallujah Brigade” and the Iraqi police department in that turbulent city next week, clearing the way for a future decisive battle if the Iraqi government orders it.

The move came six days after a series of kidnappings and the murder of a respected Iraqi National Guard battalion commander, Lt. Col. Sulaiman Hamad Ftikan, a crime officials described as the last straw in the tense standoff with the insurgents in the city.

Both the Fallujah Brigade and the city police are believed to have participated in the kidnapping and murder.

This comes as a dramatic change in the situation in the city that for the last three months has been a thorn in the side of U.S. forces in Iraq.

“If we have to go into Fallujah this makes it a lot simpler,” said. Col. John Toolan, commander of the 1st Marine regimental Combat Team at a meeting with two newly installed Iraqi National Guard battalion commanders.

Toolan said the Fallujah Brigade and the police are to turn in their weapons and uniforms to the Marines. Members of the police force will be allowed to remain on the force, but only as part of the highway patrol outside of town. If they decline, or fail to turn in their equipment, they will never be allowed to hold a government job. Salaries of the Fallujah Brigade are paid by the 1st Marine Division. The police are paid by Iraq’s Interior Ministry.

“I want to make sure anybody (in Fallujah carrying a weapon) no matter what they are wearing is no longer a good guy,” Toolan told the commanders. “Everyone who wants to fight for the new Iraq, join us. If not, we’ll see you inside the city.”

No order has been given for the Marines to attack Fallujah.

Toolan gave the commanders — both of whom are replacing leaders kidnapped on Monday — a deadline of Aug. 21 to muster their ING soldiers at bases outside the city, and reform their battalions. Many soldiers fled their posts after the kidnapping.

Toolan suggested the ING soldiers who want to remain on the force prepare for a serious fight and move their families out of town so as not to be victimized by insurgents.

Officials close to the plan said the ING will likely be given housing on bases. They risk being killed by the mujahideen if they return to their homes in the city.

Like the police, ING soldiers who fail to report with their weapons and ID will be put on a blacklist. Soldiers not wishing to rejoin the ING, but who turn in their weapons and uniforms they will be suspended without pay. Many soldiers will have lost their weapons and uniforms when they fled their barracks Aug. 9. If they rejoin their colleagues, they will have to be completely refit. It will be the third time this occurs.

More than half of the national guard deserted during the April fight and a sizeable number joined the other side, taking their weapons with them.

Sulaiman was kidnapped Aug. 9 in an elaborate plot that implicates religious and city leaders. Insurgents also overran and looted his headquarters on the western edge of the city. A second battalion commander was also kidnapped from another location and his office overtaken.

The fate of the second officer is unknown. Sulaiman was killed and his body beaten beyond recognition, according to intelligence reports. Fallujah officials claim he died of a heart attack. His body was dumped in front a youth sport ministry where he set up his first headquarters in January.

At least one more Fallujah ING officer was also kidnapped — Sulaiman’s intelligence officer, a man named Capt. Ali.

The dissolution of the Fallujah Brigade and the police next week will put up to 5,000 armed men in Fallujah off the government payroll and out of work. Most are believed to be supporting or participating in the mujahideen that grips the city.

Read the rest….

Here we go again.

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug 14 (AFP) – Eight Iraqis were killed and 10 others wounded, mostly women and children, on Saturday after US troops clashed with insurgents in the flashpoint city west of Baghdad and warplanes struck two homes, hospital sources told AFP.

They don’t even bother claiming to have had “intelligence” about their bombing targets anymore.

The US military said earlier it struck positions suspected of being used by insurgents after they attacked a US marine postition on the outskirts of the city at about 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) with rocket propelled grenades and machine gun and small arms fire.

My emphasis. These bombings of houses are clearly meant to be lessons in due process and the American legal tradition of innocent until proven guilty.

Click the image for the 2004 American presidential election Ultimate Metaphor:

From Tim at Doctor Recommended.

Lawrence of Cyberia on Arna’s Children:

Arna’s Children won the Best Film award at Prague’s One World Film Festival in April 2004. Days later, it received the Best First Documentary award at the Canadian International Documentary Festival. The following month, it was named Best Documentary at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. Sadly, by the time Arna’s Children received this international recognition, all but one of the movie’s leading characters were already dead.

Fafnir interviews Tim Russert and Robert Novak:

FB: Wow. I wish I could be a real journalist like you guys!
RUSSERT: Oh, journalism isn’t for the faint of heart, Fafnir. You gird your loins every day only in the cloth of justice, and the only thing you’ve got coming to you is a lot of scorn, a lot of enemies, a ton of money, TV appearances, book deals, a promotional boys’ club that props up everything you do…
NOVAK: And the work. You’ve gotta get right in the thick of it. Some days you’ll get a call from the White House giving you something to write, and other days the phone won’t ring – and you’ll have to just make stuff up on your own!

Oh, and speaking of making stuff up, here’s Abu Aardvark on the NYT’s Team Miller and Chalabi.

Arthur Silber on THE USELESS PRESS, AND DEEPER INTO DISASTER.

Julia Child, 1912-2004 by Martial at De Spectaculis

Stupidest press conference ever. While you’re at TalkLeft, check out the post on Bush’s ‘Born-Again Drug War’ “There are faith-based organizations in drug treatment that work so well because they convince a person to turn their life over to Christ,” Bush divulged to the religious journal Christianity Today. “By doing so, they change a person’s heart [and] a person with a changed heart is less likely to be addicted to drugs and alcohol.”

Jesse Taylor at pandagon: Annie Jacobsen, discredited paranoid and the white woman who actually made herself seem like more of a terrorist than the 14 Arabic men she says were acting suspiciously, is back, desperately trying to prove her point. She interviews Billie Jo Rodriguez, apparently also a passenger on the flight, and the results are hilarious.

Mark at Rafah Kid Rambles:

In the last three weeks in Balata alone, soldiers have shot and killed three teenagers, one while he was drinking tea with his friends in the cemetery next to the grave of his relative. There is no reason for the soldiers to be in the camp: often they do not appear to be doing any kind of military operation; they do not arrest anyone; they just seem intent on terrorizing the residents.

The last boy killed was shot from a house which soldiers had occupied up on a hill. The family whose home it is told us that just after the soldier shot the boy, he turned to them and said: “We just shot an Arab boy, now you will hear his screams”.

Aaron Trauring links this story from Amira Hass in Ha’aretz: Gandhi’s grandson to kick off unarmed Palestinian campaign As Aaron says, this is hopeful news.

Yes, I know, everyone is posting it, but for anyone who hasn’t come across the link, here’s Roderick Long’s talk on anarchism from Mises University.

Joe at American Leftist comments on Wolfowitz’s latest brilliant plan:

So Wolfowitz wants $500 million to build a network of “friendly militias”, presumably, in places like the tribal areas of Pakistan: (from “A network of friendly militias to fight terror”, AFP)

The Pentagon urged Congress Tuesday to authorize US$500 million for building a network of friendly militias around the world to purge terrorists from “ungoverned areas” and warned Muslim clerics against providing “ideological sanctuary” to radicals. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq war, told the House Armed Services Committee the money would be used “for training and equipping local security forces– not just armies — to counter terrorism and insurgencies.”

I think the key here is finding the really really friendly militias. Hey, I know, how about those Afghan jihadists who we funded and trained to fight the Soviets in the 80’s? — I wonder what those guys are up to? …

Joe says he found this story at the Whatever It Is, I’m Against It blog, which I’m glad he linked up because I’d been meaning to blogroll this blog since finding the link over at Left I and forgot about ’til now. Anyhow, check out all WIIIAI’s posts – they’re good. Sample:

The attack on Najaf, which I believe is called Operation Sensitive Resolve, has been postponed in favor of trying to starve the city into submission, but sensitively, or as Colin Powell puts it, “Our forces in Najaf are squeezing the city.” He says the insurgents “don’t understand the spirit of peace and reconciliation” and therefore have to be starved, bombed and shot, in a spirit of peace and reconciliation.

I can remember when I thought Perry de Havilland was a libertarian.

UPDATE: Check out Swopa’s post on the Shi`a descending on Najaf.

From the AP:

About 10,000 demonstrators, some in buses, others on foot, arrived in Najaf on Saturday to show their solidarity with the militants and act as human shields to protect the city.

Many of the demonstrators arrived from as far away as Baghdad, as well as the southern cities of Amarah and Nasiriyah, demanding the interim government’s resignation and an end to the offensive here.