identity theory

Suddenly, the government of the United States has discovered the virtues of international law. It may be waging an illegal war against a sovereign state; it may be seeking to destroy every treaty which impedes its attempts to run the world, but when five of its captured soldiers were paraded in front of the Iraqi television cameras on Sunday, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, immediately complained that "it is against the Geneva convention to show photographs of prisoners of war in a manner that is humiliating for them"...
This being so, Rumsfeld had better watch his back. For this enthusiastic convert to the cause of legal warfare is, as head of the defence department, responsible for a series of crimes sufficient, were he ever to be tried, to put him away for the rest of his natural life. His prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, where 641 men (nine of whom are British citizens) are held, breaches no fewer than 15 articles of the third convention.

The US government claims that these men are not subject to the Geneva conventions, as they are not "prisoners of war", but "unlawful combatants". The same claim could be made, with rather more justice, by the Iraqis holding the US soldiers who illegally invaded their country. But this redefinition is itself a breach of article 4 of the third convention, under which people detained as suspected members of a militia (the Taliban) or a volunteer corps (al-Qaida) must be regarded as prisoners of war.

posted by Matt at 8:19 AM

Basra uprising

The trouble apparently began early Tuesday with popular protests against the conscription of family members to be forced to act -- at gunpoint -- as human shields by fedayeen and other pro-Baghdad irregulars attacking British troops.

Outraged at this "disloyalty," Saddam's cousin and special envoy to the city, Ali Hassan al-Majid -- known as "Chemical Ali" for his command of the forces who used poison gas against Kurdish Iraqis -- ordered the execution of the local Shiite official of the ruling Baathist Party.

Other Baathists in the city -- who are usually Saddam's loyal supporters -- objected violently and helped organize demonstrations. They were swiftly joined by supporters of Daawa Islamiya (Islamic Call) a militant Shiite group that has long operated underground whose leaders have been in contact with U.S.-led coalition intelligence and special forces.

British military intelligence officers learned of the unfolding events through monitoring Iraqi radio communications. Then they learned Iraqi forces inside Basra were using mortars and firing artillery over open sights at angry crowds of Shiite demonstrators.

Al-Jazeera TV says no signs of Basra uprising

Al-Jazeera television said on Wednesday there were no signs of unrest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra despite British reports that an uprising against President Saddam Hussein may have started there.
posted by K-Dawg at 7:43 AM

Another U.S. missile killed a Jordanian taxi driver on Thursday while he made a phone call at Kilo 160, a rest stop 150 miles west of Baghdad.

Taxi driver Sameer Sabah, a friend of the dead man, went pale when he heard one of his passengers at the Jordanian border speaking Spanish. Spain has been a key supporter of the U.S.-led war.

"Get out of my car before I do something," he said in a chilling monotone. "Your people killed my friend. He was killed by the cold hands of the American Army."

posted by Matt at 5:46 PM

War pictures cause YellowTimes.org to be shut down, again
posted by Matt at 5:20 PM

Evidence of Iraq weapons remains elusive

In months of allegation and investigation on the way to war, no firm evidence emerged that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction. Now it is up to the U.S. invasion force to find such weapons - if they exist...

"Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of the term, namely a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic city target," said [former House of Commons leader Robin] Cook, who had access to high-level British information...
posted by Matt at 2:18 PM

In a friendly fire incident, an American F-16 fired on a U.S. Patriot missile battery in Iraq after the battery's radar locked on the jet, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. No U.S. casualties were reported.
posted by Matt at 2:07 PM

The Bush administration is scrambling to patch together plans to run Iraq on The Day After.
posted by Matt at 1:53 PM

posted by Matt at 11:59 AM

(U.S. violates Geneva Convention?)
posted by Matt at 11:57 AM

posted by Matt at 11:54 AM

Saudis make peace proposal to U.S., Iraq

Saudi Arabia has contacted the United States and Iraq with a peace proposal, the kingdom's foreign minister told reporters Tuesday. He said he was still awaiting a response.
posted by Matt at 11:38 AM

NYSE revokes credentials for Al-Jazeera

The Arab TV network Al-Jazeera said Monday two of its reporters covering the New York Stock Exchange have had their credentials revoked because of the satellite station's coverage of the war in Iraq.
posted by Matt at 11:37 AM

Morocco offers US monkeys to detonate mine

A Moroccan publication accused the government Monday of providing unusual assistance to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq by offering them 2,000 monkeys trained in detonating land mines.

The weekly al-Usbu' al-Siyassi reported that Morocco offered the U.S. forces a large number of monkeys, some from Morocco's Atlas Mountains and others imported, to use them for detonating land mines planted by the Iraqis.

The publication quoted a highly-informed source as saying, "that is not a scientific illusion but a well-known military tactic."
posted by K-Dawg at 11:17 AM

Has Saddam approved the use of chemical weapons when our troops cross a certain point?

U.S. officials say the Iraqi leadership has drawn "a red line" around the map of Baghdad and once American troops cross it Iraqi Republican Guards have been authorized to use chemical weapons, U.S. television networks reported on Monday.
posted by K-Dawg at 11:15 AM

A Palestinian girl holds an Iraqi flag with the name of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein written on her forehead in Gaza city Sunday March 23, 2003 during a march by Palestinian women in protest against the U.S.-led attacks on Iraq.
posted by Matt at 8:59 AM

U.S.: 500 Iraqis Killed in Last Two Days

About 500 Iraqi fighters have been killed in the last two days by the 3rd Infantry Division's tanks and mechanized units as they swept through southern Iraq, according to reports reaching ground forces command.
posted by Matt at 8:54 AM

The Bush administration, having declined for weeks to estimate the cost of the war, was giving congressional leaders a figure of $70 billion to $90 billion, aides said Monday. That, they indicated, would include about $60 billion for military operations and billions more for Iraqi aid and reconstruction and tightened security at home.
posted by Matt at 7:43 PM

U.S. Attacks Republican Guard South of Baghdad

A British soldier was killed in action on Monday as he tried to calm rioting Iraqi civilians, bringing the total British dead and missing to 19. Iraqi civilians so far have shown little enthusiasm for the invaders.

Financial markets have begun to factor in a longer war than appeared last week. In New York, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Index dropped 3.6 percent, its biggest single day loss since last Sept. 27. Oil prices and gold rose, while the dollar slipped.

In Basra, water supplies were less than half the normal level following a power failure on Friday at the main treatment plant on the northern outskirts of the city.

Although other plants were able to keep some 40 percent of the usual needs flowing, the quality was poor, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
posted by Matt at 7:35 PM

'We are at war' - President George W Bush (September 15, 2001)

________

On January 11, 2002, the United States announced that it was refusing to abide by the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war. The Third Geneva Convention, which provides specific guidelines for treatment of prisoner combatants, is a part of the "law of nations" and is a mainstay of international humanitarian law. The United States explained that the prisoners taken in Afghanistan and Pakistan were not actually prisoners of war, but were in fact "unlawful combatants."

_________

On Sunday, the images of five captured American soldiers were shown on international television screens, sparking public and political outrage, especially in the United States. United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld slammed the Iraqi authorities for releasing the footage, describing it as “humiliating”, although images of Iraqi PoWs – in the hands of coalition forces – have also been seen in recent days.

________

GEORGE BUSH: I expect them to be treated, the POWs, I expect to be treated humanely, just like we're treating the prisoners that we have captured humanely. If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals.

_________

Professor Rothwell said yesterday that the situation the US now found itself in - with its own POWs under Iraqi control - showed why "there's a great, great danger in failing to respect the convention because it can eventually rebound upon you to the detriment of your nationals."

posted by Matt at 4:54 PM

Iraqi television Monday showed two men said to have been the crew of an Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting the night before in central Iraq.
posted by Matt at 4:32 PM

Al-Jazeera France chief questioned

The representative in France of the Qatari television news channel Al-Jazeera today defended the decision to broadcast Iraqi pictures of US prisoners-of-war, saying the criticism from some quarters smacked of double standards.

"For 10 years pictures of Palestinian prisoners have been shown all over the world, and in the Gulf everyone has been watching images of Iraqi prisoners kneeling in humiliation," said Michel Kik.

Kik was summoned for an interview today with the head of the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA), France's broadcast watchdog, after Al-Jazeera yesterday showed state Iraqi TV pictures of American solders being questioned in captivity.

"Why just me? Why aren't the representatives of other international channels who broadcast pictures of Iraqi prisoners being summoned as well?" he asked.
posted by Matt at 4:22 PM

Papers castigate US and Saddam

Iraqi television has shown dozens of "suicide volunteers" from neighbouring Arab countries marching and training, jumping with parachutes, and firing shoulder rockets.

Muhammad Ridha said: "I left behind in Egypt four daughters and a son. I came to fight [the war of] jihad and I take an oath in front of the leader Saddam Hussein that I will die as a martyr and that I do not want to return to Egypt. I say to all the Arabs and Muslims that jihad is our duty."

A volunteer suicide-fighter from Syria said: "This land is the land of the prophets and is the natural treasure of the Arabs. The Americans, Zionists and the British want to control the oil and the natural resources of the Arab world. We will be the drawn swords in the hand of the jihad fighter Saddam Hussein."

Another Syrian suicide volunteer said: "Listen, O Bush, and listen America, we are not the aggressors, you ... came here to slaughter our children and our women, and the most important thing that they came for is this religion." ...

The Jordanian daily Al-Ra'i, wrote: "The world has not witnessed such blatant aggression since the days of the Tartars. Under the pretext of liquidating the alleged weapons of mass destruction, the US will use weapons of mass destruction."

The daily Al-Khaleej, published in Dubai, attributed the "debasement" of American policy to President Bush's religious beliefs which had rendered his speeches more like "preaching than political directions and analysis".
posted by Matt at 4:11 PM

Civilians killed in allied raid

Five civilians, including a woman, were killed and at least 28 wounded on Monday when a missile fired by allied warplanes hit houses in a densely populated area of Baghdad, residents said.

Twenty-eight civilians were wounded in the attack and transported to the nearby al-Numan hospital for treatment, according to another AFP reporter.

Zina Sabah, 20, and her three-year-old daughter Rana were among those wounded.

"Why did they hit us? We live in a residential neighbourhood where there are no military targets," said Sabah, who suffered head wounds, as she held her child whose legs were injured.
posted by Matt at 4:04 PM

Michael Moore booed trashing Bush at Oscars

Michael Moore, whose anti-gun film "Bowling for Columbine" won the Academy Award tonight for Best Documentary, accepted his Oscar by attacking President Bush amid boos from the star-studded audience.
posted by K-Dawg at 2:49 PM

Key Arab news station knocked offline

The Arabic satellite television channel Al Jazeera, which on Sunday broadcast controversial footage of US soldiers captured by Iraqi forces, has blamed computer hackers for crashing its online news service. The station's web site, which carried still images of the footage, was inaccessible on Monday morning.

The spokeswoman said an attack could have been prompted by the film broadcast by the station. The Iraqi military provided the footage of forced interviews with five frightened-looking US prisoners of war, as well as images of the corpses of US soldiers.
posted by K-Dawg at 2:10 PM

Iraq's liberation will be the biggest good thing to happen since 9/11.

posted by K-Dawg at 11:43 AM

They Would Commit Suicide if American Bombing Didn't Start

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head.
posted by K-Dawg at 11:40 AM

Syria claims civilian bus struck by U.S. missile

A U.S. missile hit a passenger bus on the Iraqi side of the border as it carried Syrian civilians fleeing the war, killing five people and wounding 10, Syria's official news agency reported Monday.
posted by Matt at 11:36 AM

Iraqi city suffers water shortage

The Red Cross today warned of an imminent humanitarian disaster in Iraq's second city of Basra, as the aid agency struggled to restore water supplies destroyed in the war.

Most of the city has been without water and electricity since Friday, which has been threatening hospitals and sanitation services in the area, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
posted by Matt at 10:35 AM

Stocks Decline in Early Trading As War Intensifies

Difficulties in Iraq translated to challenges for Wall Street Monday, with major indexes foundering as the latest developments in Iraq undermined hopes that the war would be as quick and painless as many had come to expect last week.
posted by Matt at 10:34 AM

Saddam vows 'Victory will be ours soon'
posted by Matt at 7:36 AM

U.S. Accuses Russia Of Helping Iraq Militarily

"They won't find any of our technicians in Iraq. The Americans are trying to find a scapegoat because their bombs are not falling as accurately as they want."
posted by Matt at 10:17 PM

Al Jazeera network criticized for airing images of U.S. dead, POWs

Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, briefing reporters at coalition headquarters in Doha, Qatar, angrily blasted al Jazeera for airing the images when one of its reporters asked an unrelated question.

Abizaid said he does not consider al Jazeera - which broadcasts to 55 million people in Arabic - as "hostile media." But, he said, "Those pictures were disgusting."

"I regard the showing of those pictures as absolutely unacceptable."

After the briefing, the al Jazeera reporter, Omar al Issawi, 36, said Westerners should realize that Arab media often show such scenes because they are more accustomed to dealing with violence.

"Barring the events of Sept. 11, your society has been isolated from this. We have been exposed in this region to violence right next door.

"How come nobody said anything about the dead Iraqi civilians that we showed today that were even worse? Nobody said a peep."
posted by Matt at 10:14 PM

Anglo-American Lies Exposed

Suddenly, this weekend, the quick and easy war, the conflict of “shock-and-awe” — the Pentagon’s phrase is itself a classic slogan from the pages of the old Nazi magazine “Signal” — doesn’t seem so realistic. Things are going wrong. We are not telling the truth. And the Iraqis are riding high on it all.

posted by Matt at 9:56 PM

How a walkover turned into a three-day battle

THE skies over Umm Qasr burned orange last night as the allies brought in tanks, aircraft and heavy artillery in an attempt to bring to an end a three-day siege.
The scale of the resistance met by allied forces in Iraq’s only deep-water port has stunned coalition forces.

Intelligence officers had assured the US Marines that they would meet at most a handful of Iraqi diehards refusing to surrender when they marched into Umm Qasr, and on Friday allies spoke of “pockets of resistance”.

By last night that assessment had proved so wide of the mark that Marine commanders, edging nervously through the backstreets of this decrepit port, refused to predict how many more gunmen might be waiting for them.
posted by Matt at 9:50 PM