Tag: Antiwar movement

MOSUL, Iraq Explosions and gunfire are being heard in the Iraqi city of Mosul (MOH’-sul) as multiple police stations are being attacked.

Residents say they see gunmen roaming the city, setting police cars on fire and controlling some of the bridges.

A U-S military spokeswoman says “offensive operations” by U-S and Iraqi forces are under way to counter the police station attacks. She says Iraqi forces are in control of the bridges, and that the city isn’t under attack “by any means.”

Reuters reports:

Insurgents have set police stations ablaze, stole weapons and brazenly roamed the streets of Mosul as Iraq’s third largest city appeared to be sliding out of control, residents said.

Explosions and fire from assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city and columns of smoke rose from at least two police stations set alight. At least seven police stations have been attacked in the past 48 hours.

The US military issued a statement admitting that local security forces had been overrun in several areas and said local authorities were doing what they could to restore order.

“It’s crazy, really, really crazy,” said Abdallah Fathi, a resident who witnessed one police station being attacked.

“Yesterday, the city felt like hell, today it could be the same or worse.”
[..]
As US forces battle to suppress insurgents in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, it appears many fighters may have fled to other cities where they are launching new attacks.

In the past three days, there has been a step up in guerrilla activity in Samarra, Baiji, Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and parts of Baghdad – across the Sunni Muslim heartland.

In Mosul, a city of about three million people, insurgents attacked a group of Iraqi National Guardsmen blocking a bridge in the city centre, killing five of them and destroying three vehicles, witnesses said.

A cameraman working for Reuters filmed groups of militants emerging from a police station carrying police-issued AK-47s and bullet-proof jackets before setting the building on fire.

It doesn’t sound as if the curfew is working very well.

A reader sends this along:

AN APPEAL FOR THE RELEASE OF ABUL KASHEM FARUK, A BANGLADESHI KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ

We earnestly appeal to all Iraqi groups for the release of our compatriot, Mr. Abul Kashem Faruk. On behalf of the Bangladeshi people and ourselves, we urge and plead for the release of Mr. Faruk in the name of our common humanity and brotherly compassion.

We call upon various Iraqi groups to have mercy on Mr. Faruk and release him because he is a civilian who had neither any intention of nor had any part in harming the Iraqi people in any manner.

We believe that the kidnapping of an innocent Bangladeshi civilian does not serve the cause of Iraqi resistance or the country’s freedom from foreign occupation. Mr. Faruk is a truck driver from Bangladesh. He went to Iraq in search of a livelihood so that he could support his family in Bangladesh with his meager remittances. Unfortunately, he is reported to have been recently kidnapped by some Iraqi group.

We urge the Iraqi people and Iraqi civilian groups to exert themselves for the release of Mr. Faruk. We request all those involved in this matter to do their utmost to have Mr. Faruk released as soon as possible and end the anxiety of his family and friends.

We also urge all Iraqi groups to end the kidnappings of civilians. These bring bad and hurtful publicity for Iraq’s rightful bid for freedom from foreign occupation.

We like to point out that the people of Bangladesh, in solidarity with the people of Iraq, have consistently and vigorously opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the cultural and historical pride of us all.

Our country, Bangladesh, is a member of the Non-aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Conference. Bangladesh is one of the world’s most important Muslim-majority countries.

Bangladeshis of all religion and faith have served in the past as professionals, military advisors, doctors, engineers, and workers in Iraq and have made their modest contributions in the service of and to the development of Iraq.

The people of Bangladesh have always favored peace and understanding among the nations of the Middle East and have resolutely opposed unjust wars and illegal foreign occupations. The government of Bangladesh, for its part, had also worked for resolving the Iran-Iraq conflict years ago. It has vehemently opposed foreign aggression during both Gulf Wars and the genocidal UN sanctions against Iraq.

The people of Bangladesh wholeheartedly support Iraqi people’s struggle for freedom from tyranny of occupation and their claim for adequate reparations and full reconstruction of Iraq.

Bangladeshis believe that it is the Iraq people who rightfully ought to exercise sovereignty over their country and have full control of their rich resources.

We hope and pray that the concerned Iraqi groups will release Mr. Abul Kashem Faruk and all other civilians kidnapped in accordance with the pledged values of Arabs and Muslims that civilians should never be harmed.

The release of Mr. Faruk would be considered a magnanimous humanitarian gesture by the Bangladeshi people.

Therefore, we urge the concerned Iraqi groups to release him and earn the gratitude of us all who stand with Iraq shoulder to shoulder in its hour of crisis.

We pray for the safe return of our compatriot.

DRISHTIPAT

The Crusaders have found a Hostage Slaughter House in Fallujah! They know this how?

The general says soldiers found CD’s and records of people seized by militants. He says soldiers also found “the black clothing” that the hostage-takers wore.

Now you know. Slaughterhouses have CDs, black clothes and papers in them.

I guess Allawi’s cousin wasn’t there, though. Or Margaret Hassan. Or any of the 130 odd current hostages in Iraq. Since Fallujah is “sealed off,” there must be Contingency Slaughterhouses elsewhere.

White House sources have told media outlets that President Bush will name White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to replace John Ashcroft as US Attorney General.

Although Gonzales is being billed as a moderate, he is best-known as the author of the controversial memo advising the Administration that they need not abide by the Geneva Conventions when it comes to prisoners captured in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the “War on Terror.”

Compared to Ashcroft, maybe that is moderate.

One can only hope that future historians will look to Ron Suskind’s account of Bushite scorn for “reality-based communities” as an explanation for events of the early aughts. But it would be a mistake to attribute this kind of thinking to Bushites only. It is ingrained in all imperialists.
Earlier this year, mentor to the previous crop of “liberal” Imperialists and ICG founder Morton Abramowitz made an exasperated comment to a Serbian interviewer:
“My answer is that there is no entirely rational answer… you seek perfect reasoning, which does not correspond to reality on the ground.”
In other words, don’t bother with logic; there isn’t any.
Abramowitz’s acolytes (the Holbrookes and Albrights of this world) at least used the language of principles and values to sell their interventions to the world, even as they follow the same philosophy as the Bushites: power over reality.
And therein’s the clue: the Empire is Nietzschean. Its world is devoid of reason, reality or principles, and contains only power and Will to Power. Continue reading “A Nietzschean Empire?”

Hey, red-staters: looking for some hot girl-on-girl Iraq liberation? I’ve got just the thing for you. (Warning: Not work-safe, unless you work at the Committee on the Present Danger.)

I love British tabloids – where do they learn to write like that?