CINA

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Yesterday eKantipur wrote following:

 

Maoists will be included in govt soon: Ministers

The second round of peace talks between the government and the Maoist rebels will take up major political agendas including the formation of an interim government containing the Maoists, two senior ministers said Saturday.

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Perhaps - if there will be one or two more "mistakes", so-called "incidents", such as Qassam, or more worse Katyusha attacks leading to the killing of Israeli citizens, or the next suicide attack inside Isreal with many victims - everything will be over...

 

...but the Palestinian "resistance" is already preparing this case..

 

Hamas calls off truce with Israel (Ynet/Reuters, 6.9)

 

Group's military wing declares cancellation of 16-month-old ceasefire with Israel

After a ceasefire that lasted 16 months, Hamas's armed wing vowed on Friday to renew attacks against Israel hours after IDF artillery shells killed seven civilians.

 

"The Israeli massacres represent a direct opening battle and that means the earthquake in the Zionist cities will resume and the herds of occupiers have no choice but to prepare the coffins or the departing luggage," the group said in a statement.

 

For the first time since the August withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the IDF targeted a Hamas cell involved in firing Qassam rockets into Israel on Friday afternoon.

 

Mohammad Abu Sahila, a Hamas military commander, and his assistant, Ahmad Siam, were injured when a missile fired by an Israeli helicopter hit their car in Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp.

 

Hamas' political leadership has not immediately comment on the statement.

 

'No Jews will be left in Palestine'

 

Earlier Friday, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees vowed on Friday to avenge the killing of the group's leader, killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Thursday and promised "there will be no Jews left in Palestine."

 

"The Palestinian resistance will plant death everywhere the Jews go. We will bring death to the streets of Tel Aviv and all the cities of the Zionist enemy until Islam prevails," Mohammad Abu Al, nicknamed Abu Abir, told Ynet.

 

The spokesman admitted the assassination dealt a blow to the group as Samhadana masterminded most attacks carried out over the last decade.

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3260914,00.html

 

 

Hamas: We fired Qassams toward Israel

 

At least 16 Qassams fired early Saturday toward Sderot, other western Negev areas; member of Hamas' armed wing says, ‘next time rockets will be longer in range; they will hit places deeper inside Zionist entity’

 

“Next time, the rockets will be longer in range and they will hit places deeper inside the Zionist entity"...

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3260964,00.html

 

..................

 

 

The latest escalation of the "conflict" between the Israeli side and the "resistance" fighters in Gaza, which is under full control of the PA and the new(Hamas) govt., started with the IAF attack  against a training center where Jamal Abu Samhadana, the general inspector of the Palestinian Interior and National Security Ministry, was killed last week.

Samhadana's aim was clear: 'Jews our only enemy', he told the Sunday Times(GB). In my opinion he was just a f.. reactionary.. [in German I would say 'Faschistenschwein'.. (mi-anh hae-yo..)].

More you can read here:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3260716,00.html

 

 

More about the latest developments there you can read here:

 

Hamas fires rockets at Israel   (IHT/NYT)

 

Hamas ends truce, fires rockets   (Al Jazeera)

 

 

Abbas blasts 'Gaza massacre' (Ynet/Yedioth Ahronoth)      

 

Palestinian president condemns Israel for killing of seven Ralia family members in Beit Lahiya Saturday; sets July 26 as date for referendum in PA; Hamas rejects vote. Meanwhile, thousands attend funerals in Gaza. Masses call for revenge, Jihad against Israel..

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3261058,00.html

 

......................

 

 

 

Finally this is a very sad development... and only the "ordinary" people, especially in the Palestinian territories(mainly in Gaza), who are not directly involved, will suffer more and more... and nobody cares about them..

 

 

 

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While the "entire world" is watching/following the 2006 World Cup, the "conflict" between Palestine and Israel is inreasing - perhaps without no(really) intl attention..

 

THE ESCALATION OF THE CONFLICT IS INCREASING SINCE THE LAST TWO DAYS.. (Well, why not calling this f.. shit, as what it is - or at least will be soon??!! WAR)

 

After the I"D"F( http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/homepage.asp?clr=1&sl=EN&id=-8888 ) was attacking before yesterday a training camp in Gaza, where several Palestinian militants were killed, the situation in the region is getting.. Yo, what you think???

 

OK, here a kind of chronology:

 

The Guardian(GB) wrote yesterday morning:

 

Hamas official killed in Israeli air strike

 

 

 

More about the issue you can read here:

 

IHT/NYT:

 

Hamas official killed by Israeli airstrike

 

Al Jazeera:

 

Israeli artillery kills Palestinians

 

 

BBC:

 

Palestinians killed on Gaza beach

 

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Yesterday the new Nepalese Prime Minister Koirala returned home completing his four-day India visit. And following, according to eKantipur, some of the results of his negotiations with the Indian govt.:

 

India to release Nepalese Maoists, supports UN involvement in arms monitoring

Now it's official. India will soon release Nepalese Maoists jailed in India, and it will support the United Nations role in the monitoring of arms during the Constituent Assembly elections.

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Yesterday I wrote: "After the 'termination'... it seems that everyone is quite happy". Actually - of course - it is not the real truth. Because there are also many people, who are very concerned about what will come as next..

 

About one person who have big problems with the killing of Zarqawi you can read here, published yesterday in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth(based on AFP news):

 

 

Father of al-Zarqawi victim: More violence coming

 

Father of Jewish American businessman Nick Berg, allegedly beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says he regrets death of his son's murderer, warns of upsurge in Iraq violence 

 
The father of Nick Berg, a US businessman allegedly beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , said Thursday he regretted the death of his son's murderer and warned of an upsurge in violence in Iraq.

 

"The death of every human being is a tragedy," Michael Berg said in a statement.

 

"The death of Mr. Zarqawi means a continuation of the violence and revenge that took the life of my son," he said. "This will mean an increase in violence and resistance to the occupation of Iraq by the US military."

 
 
The headless body of Nick Berg, 26, who had gone to Iraq to look into business opportunities in the communications industry, was found in May 2004, and the video of his beheading appeared on an Al-Qaeda linked website a few days later.

 

'I don't believe in revenge'

 

Michael Berg, a long time anti-war activist and a particularly vocal critic of the US-led invasion of Iraq, is currently standing as a Green Party candidate for the November elections to the US Congress.

 

"Revenge is something that I do not follow, I do (not) ask for, I do not wish for against anybody," said Berg who, in an interview with CNN, repeatedly refused to voice any pleasure in Zarqawi's death.

 

"How could a human being be glad that another human being is dead?" he said.

 

"He (Zarqawi) has a family who reacts just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel badly for that," Berg said. "I feel doubly badly because Zarqawi was a political figure, and his death will re-ignite another wave of revenge."

 

Berg's arrest

 

Nick Berg first went to Iraq in December, 2003 and stayed for more than one month.

 

He went back in March the following year, keeping in touch with his family by phone or e-mail every day, ahead of his planned return home at the end of the month.

 

Instead, for a reason still not fully explained, Berg was arrested by Iraqi police and jailed.

 

The FBI also became involved in his case and he was eventually released on April 6 after his desperate parents filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that he was being illegally held by the US military.

 
 

Berg immediately contacted his parents, but after a final phone call on April 9, communication ended completely and they never heard from him again.

 

Berg was Jewish, although the matter of his religion was never mentioned in the video statement read by his masked captors prior to his execution.

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3260655,00.html

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..supplement:

 

Just yesterday I found following article by Voice of People(민중의 소리) about the police and military aggression against the village of Daechuri in the beginning of last month.

 

 

Police and troops ravaged the land of peace

Government broked away conversation, and removed the Daechu elementary school by force

 

In contraposition to each other between Government and the residents around U.S. base extention in Pyeongtaek, a huge amount of policemen and troops Thursday forced the people and activists off the land.

A massive force including 13,000 riot police, 3,000 soldiers broke into the Daechu elementary school which is protected by only 700 residents and activists, and conducted suppression operations, almost a massacre.

The Ministry of national defense promised to solve the problem by conversation at first, but they suddenly broked away the talk one-sidedly on Wednesday and declared the forcible expropriation.

They are severely criticized by deciding to put the troops in.

△13,000 riot police broke into the Daechu elementary school. ⓒKim Chul-Soo, the Voice of People

△Soldiers suppress the people by force. ⓒJung Taek-Yong, the Voice of People

The 'operation' started just at the same time with the sunrise in the early morning while the soldiers set barbed-wire fence in the field of the U.S. military base to be.

The riot police held the elementary school completly as of 10 a.m. and assaulted the people and activists at random. Terrible bloodshedding could be seen everywhere. Around 120 severely wounded people went to hospital, more than 500 were arrested.

Daechu elementary school is the headquqrters of resistance and the symbol of peace for the residents of Daechuri village. The people desperately resisted and cried heart-breakingly, but the police finally seized the two story building around at six in the evening.

△Terrible bloodshedding could be seen everywhere. ⓒKim Chul-Soo, the Voice of People

△11 Catholic Priests including Father Moon Jung-Hyun were fighting on the roof of the school. ⓒKim Chul-Soo, the Voice of People

11 Catholic Priests including Father Moon Jung-Hyun were fighting on the roof of the school until then. After all of them came down on condition that all the arrested people are released, the police thoroughly demolished the school building immediately.

The expansion of Camp Humphreys is part of an agreement that was struck between Seoul and Washington in 2004. The camp is to accommodate both the command headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, and infantry units stationed north of Kyongki Province.

Repositioning U.S. bases south of the Han River is significant for the two allies. Washington has been seeking to give its forces greater ``strategic flexibility'' under its global troop realignment scheme, while Seoul wants to take over more frontline security missions against North Korea from the U.S. military.

The base expansion work is scheduled to begin in October after a master plan for the construction of the consolidated U.S. base is drawn up in September.

△Daechu elementary school, the dream of the residents was thoroughly demolished. ⓒ the Voice of People

2006-05-04 ⓒThe Voiceofpeople

http://www.vop.co.kr/english/news_view_eng.html?serial=42589

 

 

 

Current developments in the same case: Hunger strike in the near of Cheongwadae("Blue House", the S.K. presidential residence). But the text you can only read in Korean..

 

문정현 신부 청와대 앞 단식 "올 데 까지 왔다"

구속자 석방, 미군기지이전 재협상 촉구     Here you can read about some of the latest developments in English: http://www.antigizi.or.kr/zboard/zboard.php?id=english_news http://saveptfarmers.org/blog/ http://www.saveptfarmers.org/

 

Just our future??

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THE "BUTCHER OF BAGHDAD" HAS BEEN KILLED

BY THE BUTCHERS OF WASHINGTON

 

After the "termination" of Zarqawi it seems that everyone is quite happy - of course the USA and its allies all over the so-called "free" world. But also Al Qaeda, while confirming his death, wrote that this is a "happy message" because Zarqawi died as a "martyr" and so he is now in the paradise(^^).

 

But believe it or not, no problems - only yesterday, short after Z's "termination", at least 40 mainly civilians were killed by attacks in Iraq - will be solved with the killing of Zarqawi...

 

 

Asia Times(HK) published today following articles:

 

Death of Zarqawi: George gets his dragon

 

The killing of the world's No 1 terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, 40, in Iraq on Wednesday, as announced by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, will undoubtedly and dramatically change the political landscape in the war-torn country.

Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq was killed in a US air strike on an isolated safe house north of Baghdad at 6:15pm local time on Wednesday, Maliki said.

The man who was portrayed as having been everywhere yet nowhere, and who has been blamed for every evil in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, is finally dead. It is America's single most important achievement since the arrest of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in December 2003. Undoubtedly, for now, it will overshadow all the bad publicity the

 

Americans have been getting for the Haditha massacre of last November, where 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by US marines, or the Ishaqi massacre, where another 11 were killed by US troops in March.

As the world stands back to digest the killing of Zarqawi, who had a US$25 million reward for his head, Iraqis hold their breath, wondering whether his demise will actually make their lives any better. Or will his killing inflame the insurgency and produce many more Zarqawis?

Zarqawi's death marks a momentous two days for Maliki. On Thursday, Jawad al-Bulani, a Shi'ite and a former army colonel under Saddam, was chosen to lead the Interior Ministry. General Abd al-Qadir Jasim, a Sunni, was approved in parliament as defense minister. Jasim was until now commander of Iraq's ground forces.

The two key security jobs were left temporarily vacant when Maliki's government of national unity took office on May 20 because his coalition partners were unable to agree on candidates, and has been a major political stumbling block. Agreement has also been reached for Shirwan al-Waili to become the new minister for national security.

Since Zarqawi appeared on the world stage in 2003, he has been a phenomenon that has overshadowed his boss, Osama bin Laden. Many in the Arab world doubted whether the Jordanian-born Zarqawi even existed. (Some reports indicate that Jordanian intelligence provided information on the location where he was killed.)

Living up to the Arab conviction in "conspiracy theories", many argued that Zarqawi was created by the Americans to justify their problems in Iraq. Whenever something went wrong, they would blame it on Zarqawi. Or, as Arab radicals would say, he was created by the Americans to pin their crimes on him. And even in the US, on April 10 the Washington Post said the US military had conducted major propaganda to exaggerate Zarqawi's role in Iraq.

So while Zarqawi may not have been created by the Americans, he certainly was magnified by them, and inflated to dramatic proportions to justify why Iraq was in such a mess.

While the US is basking in Zarqawi's death, as is the United Kingdom, it should not be forgotten that they were not the only ones after his blood.

Jordanian intelligence wanted him. So did Maliki, the Iraqi Kurds and the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, the rebel Shi'ite cleric. So did the Badr Brigade of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a leading Shi'ite organization. So did Iran. So did Saudi Arabia. So did the average Iraqi citizen.

In a recent audio message, Zarqawi not only attacked the US and the Sh'ite-dominated government in Iraq, but also Iran. He had even claimed that the US, Iran and Shi'ites in general were collaborating to destroy Islam. He has also plainly called for continued attacks against Shi'ites and called Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani an "an atheist".

Zarqawi, after all, did not have the religious legitimacy to become the No 1 leader of political radical Islam. Nor did he have the family heritage, connections and money of bin Laden.

Nor did he have the education and record of someone like Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy. Zarqawi was a terrorist who appeared out of seemingly nowhere, to inflict as much hardship and pain on the Iraqis and the Americans as he could.

The crucial question is just how much Zarqawi was responsible for holding his side of the insurgency together - that is, will the edifice fall away, or withstand the blow?

As the British Broadcasting Corp reported, "It is likely he [Zarqawi] has had a considerable impact in terms of leadership, tactics and inspiration. But he was not a one-man band."

Indeed, writes Syed Saleem Shahzad, Zarqawi's killing could be a blessing for the Iraqi resistance, in which his notoriously awkward personality was a problem: he resisted strict orders from the al-Qaeda leadership to reconcile differences between Sunnis and Shi'ites. In fact, he did his best to exacerbate sectarian strife.

And Zarqawi was even a major problem for the nationalist Iraqi resistance in the hands of Sunni tribes of the north. Many times, they clashed with Zarqawi over strategy.

The Iraqi tribes in Samarra and Mosul have ties with the southern tribes, which are Shi'ite. Many top Sunni tribal leaders have houses in the upscale neigborhoods of Basra in the south, and many top Shi'ite tribal elders have houses in Baghdad.

These tribal leaders were members of a chieftains' council during Saddam's time and they knew one another well. After the US occupation of Iraq, the Sunni-dominated Iraqi resistance tried to make a breakthrough with the southern Shi'ite tribes, but Zarqawi resisted this.

This bred resentment against Zarqawi and his followers in Samarra, the nucleus of the Iraqi resistance, even leading to the sides killing each other's members.

With Zarqawi's death, therefore, there is a strong chance of a major reconciliation between the Shi'ite groups and the Sunni-dominated Iraqi resistance: the main irritant in their relations is dead.

The rise and fall ...
Zarqawi (whose real name was Ahmad al-Khalayleh) was born into poverty in the small town of Zarka in Jordan (northeast of Amman) on October 20, 1966. His family lived near a cemetery and by the time he was 18, both his parents were dead.

He grew up playing soccer in the streets of Zarka, and dropped out of Prince Talal Primary School before obtaining his high-school diploma, pursuing from here on the life of a "street boy".

Zarqawi became a delinquent young man who drank heavily, decorated himself with tattoos, and was arrested briefly in the 1980s for sexual assault in Jordan. In jail he was influenced by Islam and, on his release, decided to travel to Afghanistan to help fight the Soviets.

It seemed the logical thing to do for an able young man who could not get a decent job because he had a criminal record, no education and no money. The warriors who went to Afghanistan were well fed and well paid by the resistance leader, Osama bin Laden.

But to Zarqawi's surprise, the Soviets left Afghanistan in February 1989, just as he arrived. He did not engage in combat, but rather, befriended bin Laden. At the time, bin Laden was an ally of the United States, fighting a common enemy, the Soviet Union.

Instead of leading guerrilla attacks, Zarqawi became a newspaper reporter for an Islamic newsletter published in Afghanistan. Bin Laden tried to recruit him into al-Qaeda, but Zarqawi refused, claiming that his only enemies were the Jews in Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom in Jordan, whom he described as "perverters of Islam and a disgrace to the Prophet Mohammed".

Zarqawi eventually returned to Jordan with the one aim of toppling the Jordanian monarchy of King Hussein, a longtime ally of the West. He was arrested for his activities in 1992 and spent seven years in jail.

During this time, Hussein signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1993, adding to Zarqawi's wrath against the Hashemite family, accusing them of having abandoned the Arab cause. When he was released in 1999, he vowed to topple the monarchy (by now under the crown of current King Abdullah II) and replace it with an Islamic caliphate.

Contradicting stories emerged about his years in prison in Jordan. Some inmates described him as a strong leader who commanded respect and fear from fellow prisoners, while others remembered that he was a man with limited political abilities, completely incapable of leading a political or military movement.

Out of jail, Zarqawi tried to blow up the SS Radisson Hotel in Amman, to create havoc in the Hashemite kingdom and disturb the new reign of King Abdullah II. When he failed, he fled Jordan and went to Pakistan, residing near the border with Afghanistan, where he reportedly met bin Laden again.

He then moved to Afghanistan and set up a military training camp, with bin Laden's support, in Herat, specialized in creating poisons for warfare. According to Jordanian intelligence, he also formed a terrorist group called Jund al-Sham in 1999, with $200,000 from bin Laden.

It was founded by 150 jihadis whom he had recruited from bin Laden's al-Qaeda. Its primary purpose was to destroy Jordan, and create terror in neighboring countries once part of Bilad al-Sham (Greater Syria), including Syria and Palestine.

Apparently, he continued to travel to Jordan, under false passports, and was arrested again in 2001 but was soon released. Authorities did not know who he was. Soon afterward, he was sentenced to death in absentia for the attempted attack on the SS Radisson.

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, a joyful Zarqawi went back to Afghanistan to help bin Laden and Mullah Omar of the Taliban in their war against the Americans. He was allegedly wounded in a US attack and traveled to Iraq to have his leg treated in a hospital owned by the Iraqi president's son, Uday Hussein.

By 2002, Zarqawi had set up permanent base in northern Iraq where he joined the radical Ansar al-Islam to fight against Kurdish militias striving to maintain Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq. Throughout this time, Zarqawi was a nobody in world politics, unknown outside of Jordan.

His name became famous when then-US secretary of state Colin Powell gave his famous speech at the United Nations on February 5, 2003 (six weeks before the war), accusing Saddam of having weapons of mass destruction and links to al-Qaeda.

Zarqawi's presence in Iraq was one of the reasons Powell cited proving that Saddam was linked to bin Laden. The speech, which became famed for its inaccuracy, referred to Zarqawi as Palestinian and not Jordanian. A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report in 2004, however, confirmed that there was no evidence proving that Saddam was informed of or involved in Zarqawi's treatment at an Iraqi hospital.

It said, "There is no conclusive evidence that the Saddam Hussein regime had harbored Zarqawi." Opponents of this claim say that it would have been impossible for Zarqawi to slip into Iraq, and be treated at a hospital run by Uday Hussein, without the knowledge and blessing of the Iraqi president. Naturally, this was challenged by King Abdullah of Jordan, who said that Jordan knew of his journey to Iraq and demanded that the Iraqi government extradite him, but Saddam refused.

According to MSNBC television, everybody knew that Zarqawi was in Iraq in 2002. The Pentagon had pushed to carry out an operation against him at least three times, but this had been vetoed by the National Security Council. The administration of President George W Bush was interested in building up allies for its upcoming war on Iraq and did not want a small invasion for the sake of a until-then petty official in al-Qaeda, to jeopardize the coalition Bush was working on creating.

Former CIA official Michael Scheuer later told reporters that Bush "had Mr Zarqawi in his sights for almost every day for a year before the invasion of Iraq and he didn't shoot!"

When the war began, Zarqawi found himself in the middle of a battle he had longed avoided. He knew that he could not fight the Americans and had wanted to concentrate his operations against Jordan. Prior to the war, he had carried out a high-profile terrorist attack in Amman, killing Laurence Foley, a senior US diplomat based in Jordan on October 28, 2002.

When interrogated by Jordanian authorities, the three suspects confessed that they had received money and arms to carry out their operation from Zarqawi. One of the leaders of the operation, it was revealed, had received $27,000 for planning the murder. Zarqawi was again brought to court in absentia for the killing of Foley and sentenced to death - for the second time in his life.

At 36 years old, Zarqawi was one of the world's youngest terrorists, with two death sentences hanging over his head. There was no turning back for his terrorist operations so he decided to work full time from within Iraq, leading the al-Qaeda branch against the US Army after the downfall of Saddam's regime in April 2003.

On October 24, 2004, he officially announced that he was working with al-Qaeda, and on December 27, 2004, bin Laden delivered a speech that was broadcast on the Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV, calling Zarqawi "the prince of al-Qaeda in Iraq". He asked all jihadists "to listen to him and obey him in his good deeds".

A trail of terror
Among Zarqawi's "achievements" in Iraq are those listed below. They have either been attributed to Zarqawi, or proudly claimed by Zarqawi.

1. Bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad on August 7, 2003, killing 19 people.
2. Bombing the United Nations headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad on August 19, 2003, killing 22 people, including the UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
3. A car bomb in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf on August 29, 2003, killing 85 people, including Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, the leader of SCIRI.
4. Four car bombs at different police stations in Baghdad and the headquarters for the International Red Cross on October 27, 2003, killing 35 people and wounding 220.
5. A suicide bombing at the headquarters of Italy's police force in Iraq, killing more than 30 people on November 12, 2003.
6. An armed attack on the office of the governor of Karbala (another Shi'ite holy city) on December 27, 2003, killing 19 people.
7. A car bomb at the gates of the Green Zone on January 18, 2004, killing 31 people.
8. Two car bombs at police stations in Iraq on February 10-11, 2004, killing 100 people.
9. A truck bomb at a Polish base on February 18, 2004, killing 10 people.
10. A series of bombing on the holy Shi'ite day of Ashoura, carried out in Baghdad and Karbala on March 2, 2004, killing 181 people.
11. A car bomb at Baghdad's Mount Lebanon Hotel on March 17, 2004, killing seven people.
12. A bombing in Basra, killing 74 people on April 21, 2004.
13. An attack on US marines in Ramadi on May 2, 2004, killing six Americans.
14. The kidnapping then beheading of American businessman Nicolas Berg on May 11, 2004. He was shown live on videotape being beheaded by a masked man, believed to be Zarqawi himself. He claimed to be killing the American in retaliation to the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal.
15. A car bomb assassinating Izz al-Din Salem, the interim president of the Iraqi Governing Council, on May 18, 2004.
16. A failed assassination of Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Abdul-Jabbar Yusuf on May 22, 2004.
17. A car-bomb attack on a convoy in Baghdad on June 14, 2004, killing 13 people, including three employees of General Electric.
18. The kidnapping and killing of Korean hostage Kim Sun-Il on June 22, 2004.
19. The kidnapping of two Americans (Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong) and a Briton (Kenneth Bigley) from their homes in Baghdad on September 16, 2004.
20. A car bomb in the Shi'ite town of Karbala, killing 60 people on December 19, 2004.
21. Zarqawi asked his followers to boycott the Iraqi parliamentary elections and unleash hell on those who participate, because by doing so, he claimed, they were legitimizing the US occupation of Iraq. No elections are free or real so long as the Americans are in Iraq, he added. On the day of the elections on January 30, 2005, more than 40 people were killed by Zarqawi's men.
22. A car bomb killed 125 people in Hillah on February 28, 2005.
23. A series of attacks in April-June 2005 after the formation of the Iraqi parliament led to the killing of an estimated 800 Iraqis.
24. A suicide bombing on July 16, 2005, killed 98 people in Mussayib.
25. A car bomb killed 112 people in Baghdad on September 14, 2005.
26. Car bombings at two hotels in Baghdad killed 17 Iraqis on October 24, 2005.
27. The deadly terrorist attacks at hotels in Amman on November 9, 2005, killing 60 people, including Palestinian officials and Syrian-born Hollywood director Mustapha al-Akkad, who had produced a film about tolerant Islam in Hollywood in the 1970s.
28. Another car bomb attack at the Hamra Hotel in Baghdad killed six on November 18, 2005. Bombers in two mosques killed 74 Iraqis.
29. About 180 Iraqis were killed in suicide attacks on January 4-5, 2006.

 

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF09Ak03.html

 

Bin Laden's jihadi spring

 

 

The Guardian(GB) wrote this:

 

Iraq terrorist leader 'eliminated'

 

'A severe blow to al-Qaida'

 

IHT/NYT:

 

Bush sees 'severe blow' to Al Qaeda in Iraq raid

 

 

Al Jazeera:

 

Al-Zarqawi killed in air strike

•	Al-Zarqawi family reacts to the news
•	Obituary: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
	Oil down, dollar up as al-Zarqawi dies

The so-called "left-liberal" Israeli daily Haaretz(please check out also the talkbacks):

 

Al-Zarqawi killed in U.S. strike north of Baghdad

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air raid north of Baghdad - a major victory in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the broader war on terror...   Read the full article here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=724649&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0   ...and so on, and so on.. Bla, bla, bla..

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2006 FIFA WORLD CUP

 

 

 

DIE WELT ZU GAST BEI FREUNDEN^^

 

WELCOME TO GERMANY!

 

WELCOME TO THE FREE FIRE ZONE

OF GERMAN FASCISTS AND RACISTS!

 

 

Just few hours before the beginning of the f.. 2006 WC the German magazine Der Spiegel, beside different "foreigner"/refugee/asylum seeker organisations, published a TRAVEL WARNING especialy for East Germany, incl. East Berlin: "The entire East Germany is dangerous for non-white people (Spiegel is writing "dunkelhaeutig")"

 

Here(for example): 

http://www.prevent-racist-attack.org/ (Prevent Racist Attacks)

you can learn how you, as an African, Asian..., can survive in(especially) East Germany without to be hunted, tortured or killed by racists or/and fascists.

 

 

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CHILE: CLASS STRUGGLE

AGAINST STATE TERROR

 

 

Despite the increasing police violence(on the other side the new elected president promised a strong investigation of the last riot cop attacks against protesting/striking students) student, supported by trade unions and many civic organisations, decided to continue the struggle until the govt. will meet their demands.

 

 

 

Yesterday's Guardian(GB) published following article about the student struggle in Chile:

 

Protests paralyse Chile's education system

 

· Student-led strike is largest in country's history
· First major test for Bachelet's government

 

The nascent government of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is facing its first major challenge with riots, strikes and a countrywide boycott by more than a million students.
A national strike called by the Coordinating Assembly of Grade School Students paralysed the Chilean education system on Monday. Teenagers occupied schools, barricading the entrances with desks, while riots raged for 10 hours in Santiago as police used tear gas and water cannon on marching students. Around 370 people were arrested.

 

The students, who raised their complaints four weeks ago, are demanding free use of public transport, lower fees for college entrance exams and a voice in government policy. At the base of their protest is the demand for a potent upgrade of the public school system.

A full 50% of high school graduates fail the college entrance exam. In private schools, 91% of students pass the exam and have the opportunity to continue studying.

Last night, the Chilean senate was meeting in a special session to hear students' complaints. President Bachelet, who came to power three months ago, has already offered an emergency spending bill of some $60m (£32m) in response to protesters' demands. The offer was rejected by students, who, in addition to extra finance, are demanding a prominent voice in education policy.

 

Monday's strike was the largest in Chilean history. Authorities were stunned by the organisation of the protest, now widely known as "the march of the penguins" - in reference to the protesters' school uniforms.

 

Using the internet and cell phones, the students have rewritten the rules of dissent with their ability instantly to organise marches and make collective decisions. The organisers are very young, with an average age of 16, and their support goes all the way down to 11-year-olds, who organise forums and debate the right to a free education, turning their break into a civics lesson.

 

Hundreds of colleges are occupied and classes have been cancelled for the past 10 days. Alliances between poor students at state schools and pupils in the private education system have erased the usual class lines that mark Chilean social protests.

"In any other country, the fact that 5,000 students are marching through the streets demanding a better education would be the object of national pride," said María Jesús Sanhueza, 16, a spokeswoman for the students. "The government should be thanking us, not beating us down."

 

Admiration for the students is nearly universal, with some 87% of Chileans polled saying they support the movement. "These are not crazy revolutionaries," wrote Patricio Fernández, an influential columnist in the Clinic newspaper. "Their parents support them. Their cousins, their neighbours, their old aunts. They are bored that the wealthy schools educate those who will be boss, while their school trains them to be workers. More than combating Chilean authorities, they are convincing them."

 

Despite government efforts to reach a quick agreement, students are digging in. In a sign that the movement is spreading, most universities also shut down on Monday and the teachers' union went on strike. Thousands of shop owners refused to open in solidarity.

Complaints of brutal police tactics at recent marches have heightened the tension between Carabineros de Chile, the national police force, and the public, leading to further violence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/chile/story/0,,1791899,00.html

 

 

Please read more about the developments here:

 

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-5-31/42179.html

http://www.americas.org/region_22

http://www.newsocialist.org/index.php?id=872

 

The latest informations, but just in Spanish, you can get here:

http://santiago.indymedia.org/ (IMC Santiago de Chile)
 

 

 

 

본문

THE MASSACRE IN HADITHA..

 

 

Asia Times(HK) published yesterday following article:

 

My Lai to Haditha, wars' turning points

It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to blame the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha last November, or the killing of 11 Iraqi civilians in the village of Ishaqi back this March, on the "stress of war". After Abu Ghraib and other US "mistakes" since 2003, people are much less likely to buy such an excuse from the Americans.

What happened in Haditha can best be described as deliberate homicide committed by soldiers of the US Marine Corps, making them in a sense no different from the al-Qaeda insurgents they are combating.

It is believed that the Haditha massacre was committed to avenge the death of Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, a 20-year-old soldier from Texas who had been killed in a roadside bombing in Haditha in November, triggering the backlash.

The Haditha massacre changes everything in Iraq. It changes the images, loyalties and dreams of the Iraqi people, as well as the honor of the US military. It is a turning point for the Americans, the Iraqis, President George W Bush and new Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

And it came as a blessing in disguise to Arab regimes and masses who are anti-American to the bone, and who only point toward the Haditha massacre and say, "This is what the Americans bring to the Middle East."

Haditha has received huge coverage in the main Arab dailies, particularly in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Jordan. It is prime news in Iran. The immediate implications of Haditha are yet more empowering of Arab regimes throughout the Middle East. It is another blow for all those who are betting on US intervention in the Arab world, claiming that the Americans will bring democracy to Iraq and the Arabs at large.

Inside Iraq, the Haditha massacre adds to the anti-Americanism boiling among Shi'ites and Sunnis, temporarily uniting them against the United States. Although it occurred in Haditha, a stronghold for the Sunni insurgency, the killings are being condemned by all politicians in the Shi'ite community.

As the world was fixated on Haditha, al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi released yet another troubling speech via the Internet last Friday, calling on the Sunnis to rise against the Shi'ites, whom he labeled "snakes" and criticized their Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, saying he was an "atheist". Yet to avoid stirring a sectarian outburst, the Shi'ites have shown overwhelmingly solidarity with the Iraqi Sunnis in Haditha.

The Haditha event was also loudly condemned by Maliki, a religiously driven Shi'ite whose anti-Americanism had been curbed by the nature of his job since he was sworn into office in May. Unable to remain silent any longer, he used the Haditha event to criticize the Americans, saying that "they have no respect for citizens. They smash civilian cars and kill on a suspicion of a hunch."

The New York Times described his comments as "an unusual declaration". A pro-Iranian, Maliki is not pleased with how the Americans have treated him and his boss and predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, since their team won last December's parliamentary elections. They ousted Jaafari from office, and empowered the Sunnis at the expense of the Shi'ites, vetoing any plans to appoint religiously driven Shi'ites at the ministries of Defense and Interior.

To put it simply: Maliki will exploit the Haditha event to get back at the Americans for bullying him and for withdrawing support from the Shi'ites.

What happened in Haditha?

On November 19, 2005, US Marine Corps commanders in Iraq said that 24 Iraqis had been killed in Haditha, a small town in Anbar province, as a result of a roadside bomb placed by Iraqi insurgents. Sad but common; there was nothing unusual to the story, since dozens of car bombs explode all over Iraq every single day.

At the time, a marine spokesman distorted the story in a public statement and said that 15 (not 24) Iraqis "were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb in Haditha. Immediately after the bombing, gunmen attacked the convoy with small firearms. Iraqi soldiers and marines returned the fire, killing eight insurgents and wounding another."

The incident was not reported as a "scandal" with "misconduct" until March 12. Unfortunately for the US troops who committed the massacre, living next door to the building was Taher Thabet, 43, an Iraqi journalist who runs the Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy. He heard the bomb that killed the US soldier at 7:15am, and saw angry marines get out of their vehicles and head for four homes on either side of the road. Thabet then heard gunfire, screams - then silence.

The next morning, he visited the house rampaged by the Americans and videotaped everything he saw. He followed up with further footage at the Haditha morgue. He gave the video to Time magazine's correspondent in Iraq, who in turn contacted the marines for an explanation, receiving the same story originally given by the Americans on November 19.

The marines said this was al-Qaeda propaganda against the US. Time, however, did not buy it. Time interviewed Haditha locals, including the mayor, the morgue doctor, relatives of the victims and a lawyer who negotiated a settlement between the marines and the families of those who were killed.

The marines had paid the families, through this lawyer, up to US$2,500 per victim. Time presented all of this to the US military spokesman in Iraq, Colonel Barry Johnson.

The continued nagging of Time journalists reached General Peter Chiarelli, the newly appointed second-in-command of US troops in Iraq. He asked his aides to brief Time on updates "after the investigation" was completed. He was shocked to hear that "there had been no investigations". He ordered a speedy investigation, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was briefed with the findings on March 10.

Bush received his copy on March 11. Then, on March 19, Time's article came out, sending shock waves throughout the White House and Pentagon. Eman Waleed, a nine-year old Iraqi girl, was quoted in Time saying, "I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head."

This makes the crime all the uglier: homicide and cover-up. US investigations into the case are currently under way, headed by General Eldon Bargewell, and meanwhile, far away in Washington, former presidential candidate John Kerry has prepared a bill in Congress demanding withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

Coinciding with the loud outcry over Haditha, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told his British counterpart Prime Minister Tony Blair that he was adamant about bringing Italian troops back home. Nobody wants to blacken their image further, and that of their country, with the continued occupation and destruction of Iraq. Nobody, that is, apparently except for Bush.

Was Bush fully informed about the Haditha massacre on March 11? One can only be amazed at how passively he has reacted to an event that could ruin not only his reputation and honor, but that of the entire US military as well.

It is equally amazing how some US commentators, such as David Reinhard of The Oregonian, rudely wrote, "Of course, nobody knows for sure what happened in that small Iraqi village last November 19."

Yet the story has come out. The entire family of Yunis Khalaf, for example, was gunned down in Haditha while he was screaming: "I am a friend. I am good!" His girls were aged 14, 10, five, three, and one year. All of them were killed in cold blood, shot in the head or chest at close range. Among the 25 Iraqis killed at Haditha were an infant and an old man in a wheelchair. He was shot nine times. One girl, aged 12, survived the massacre of her family by playing dead and lived to tell the story to Time.

As the Haditha story was making headlines from Tokyo to Washington, other troubling news was coming out of Iraq. Last Wednesday, a pregnant Iraqi woman was shot dead, along with her cousin, as she was rushing to give birth in Samarra. She entered a "prohibited area" and refused to stop when US troops asked her to do so. Regardless if she understood English, or if she was in labor and unable to stop, she was shot dead. She is survived by her husband and two children, aged two and one.

Then came new accusations against the US military, now blamed for another killing in Ishaqi village north of Baghdad. The British Broadcasting Corp last week aired images of 11 Iraqi citizens killed by the Americans on March 15. The bodies included four women and five children. The oldest was 75 years old. The youngest was six months.

The video was obtained from a Sunni resistance group opposed to the US occupation of Iraq. The US story at the time said that four Iraqis (not 11) had died as US troops raided a building trying to catch Ahmad Abdullah Mohammad Na'is al-Utaybi, a member of al-Qaeda.

Iraqi police challenged the US tale, saying that the number was 11 (including five children and four women), deliberately killed by US troops, who also deliberately blew up the building once they had finished.

Surprising the world, after leaking that 12 marines would face charges for the event, the US military declared that they were innocent on Friday, 24 hours after the BBC film was broadcast. Angry Iraqis are asking: "What kind of a verdict could be reached in 24 hours?"

Two scandals in one week, however, for Bush were simply too much to tolerate. This might explain why the Americans quickly wrapped up the Ishaqi affair, saying that all accusations of a massacre by US troops were "absolutely false".

Memories of My Lai

Daniel Henninger commented on the Haditha massacre in the Wall Street Journal: "The narrative of this story has pretty much set in already: it's another My Lai. We all know they did it, the brass covered up, and prison sentences for homicide are merely a formality."

Many in the US, like Henninger, are drawing parallels between what happened in Haditha and what happened in My Lai, Vietnam. The March 1968 massacre there, when the US Army wiped out an entire village - elderly, women and children, killing more than 300 civilians in one of the worst crimes of the Vietnam War - should be remembered to understand why the US military is acting in such a manner in Iraq.

That single act, more than all the rest, turned US public opinion against the Vietnam War. The US soldiers found no insurgents in the village on the morning of March 16. Led by Lieutenant William Calley, they killed the civilians - primarily old men, women, children and babies. Some were tortured or raped. Dozens were herded into a ditch and executed with automatic firearms.

Calley was convicted in 1971 of premeditated murder in ordering the shootings and was initially sentenced to life in prison. Two days later, however, president Richard Nixon ordered him released from prison. Calley claimed that he was following orders from his captain, Ernest Medina, who denied giving the orders and was acquitted at a separate trial. Of the 26 men initially charged, Calley's was the only conviction.

Senator John Kerry gave a statement to Congress on the Vietnam massacre in 1971 regarding Calley. He said: "I think if you are going to try Lieutenant Calley then you must at the same time, if this country is going to demand respect for the law, you must at the same time try all those other people who have responsibility, and any aversion that we may have to the verdict as veterans is not to say that Calley should be freed, not to say that he is innocent, but to say that you can't just take him alone."

And his words ring loud and clear today, 36 years later, and can be applied verbatim with regard to Haditha and Ishaqi.

Everybody in the Bush administration is responsible for the massacres in Iraq. The officers in charge on November 19. The soldiers who pulled the triggers then lied about it. The marines who did not conduct an immediate investigation into the case. Rumsfeld for sending men with low morals or dignity to Iraq. And finally, Bush. More than anybody else, he is responsible for Haditha, just as he is responsible for Abu Ghraib, Ishaqi and all the other "mistakes" committed by the Americans since they invaded Iraq in March 2003.

 

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF06Ak01.html

 

 

 

6.3 the leading German(bourgeois) magazine Der Spiegel wrote this:

 

Memories of My Lai

Death in Haditha

 

November 19, 2005 began like many days in Iraq -- with an explosion. By the end of the day, 24 people from Haditha were dead. The US Marines are suspected of having committed the biggest slaughter of civilians at the hands of the US military since the Vietnam War.

 

Haditha is a small, dusty city on the Euphrates River 200 kilometers (124 miles) northwest of Baghdad, in Iraq's Anbar Province. The primarily Sunni region, dominated by insurgents, is notorious for one, horrific fact: more people die here day after day than anywhere else in the country. The US Marines periodically attempt to crush the insurgency, but end up withdrawing to their bases, the only locations in Iraq where they feel relatively safe. Indeed, US troops lives are in danger the minute they set foot outside their bases.

 

But the region - and Haditha - isn't just dangerous for US soldiers. It is also hazardous for those who live there, primarily for farmers who often fall victim to roadside bombs set by insurgents. Avoiding civilian deaths is not much of a concern. But life in Haditha also becomes perilous when US Marines go on insurgent hunts.

 

Most of the soldiers in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment have already spent quite a bit of time in Iraq. Many are already on their second tours of duty with some even on their third -- Haditha isn't the first hellhole with which they've become acquainted. Last summer, 20 Marines were killed during a three-day battle with insurgents -- 14 killed by a roadside bomb and the remaining six, all sharpshooters, shot in an ambush. A normal day in Iraq.

 

Like so many other days in Haditha, Nov. 19, 2005 began with an explosion. At 7:15 a.m., a convoy of four Marine Humvees was driving slowly down a main thoroughfare in Haditha. This time the bomb was so carefully placed that it hit only one Humvee and not a single civilian. Miguel Terrazas, 20, the driver of one of the Humvees, was killed immediately, while two other soldiers were wounded. None of the remaining troops from the 3rd Battalion was harmed.

 

A deathly silence over Haditha

 

For the US forces in Iraq, these kinds of attacks are as unavoidable as they are common in Anbar Province. According to the results of a preliminary investigation commissioned by the US military, however, the incident on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005 led to the biggest war crime US soldiers have committed since Vietnam - nothing less than an Iraqi My Lai. It was a massacre of the innocent, of children, women and unarmed men that even overshadows Abu Ghraib, the definitive example of barbaric prison abuse in Iraq.

Twenty-four people died in Haditha that day. An old man was killed in a wheelchair and mothers tried unsuccessfully to protect their children. The only survivors were a teenager who ran away and a girl who pretended to be dead.

 

After the roadside bomb detonated, a deathly silence must have fallen over Haditha. The Marines' first step was likely to recover the dead and the two wounded in the attack, while neighboring residents watched from their brick houses and small, palm tree-lined courtyards. To onlookers, the Marines standing around the burned-out Humvee seemed as if they were in shock. According to eyewitnesses, one of the Marines suddenly yelled something and the group sprang into action.

 

They spent the next four hours terrorizing Haditha, randomly killing anyone unlucky enough to cross their paths. This, at least, is how news magazine Time reconstructed the incidents.

 

The Marines first forced their way into the house of Abd al-Hamid Hassan Ali, a diabetic who had been confined to a wheelchair after his leg was amputated. Others in his house included his wife, 66, two middle-aged men, the couple's daughter-in-law and four small children between two months and eight years of age. The daughter-in-law managed to flee with the baby. The old man was found with nine gunshots to his chest and abdomen, his entrails spilling from a gaping wound in his back.

 

 

Gruesome excesses

 

The Marines then broke into the neighboring house, shooting at close range and throwing hand grenades into the kitchen and bathroom. A married couple, 43 and 41 years of age, the wife's sister and five children between the ages of 3 and 14 were killed. Thirteen-year-old Safe Junis Salim survived when her dying mother fell on top of her and she lost consciousness, presumably leading the Marines to think that she was dead.

 

In a third house, the Marines killed four brothers. The last civilians killed on this day in Haditha were four students and a taxi driver who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The four students were in the taxi on their way home for the weekend. The taxi driver, probably sensing something was amiss, quickly put the car in reverse, but it was too late. The last five victims of the massacre died in much the same way as the others.

 

Only a few days ago, US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly conceded that their two countries had made many mistakes in Iraq. In his speech, the US president symbolically mentioned Abu Ghraib, the site of gruesome excesses committed by American soldiers. But if accusations prove to be true, Haditha would represent an even more serious act of barbarism -- a systematic murder of the innocent motivated by revenge.

 

Haditha will then be on par with the infamous My Lai incident. Five hundred and four Vietnamese civilians were killed on March 16, 1968 in a massacre committed by soldiers in the 11th Infantry Brigade, under the command of Lt. William Calley. It took almost two years before Life magazine first reported on the atrocities that took place in the village on the border with North Vietnam -- finally breaking the cloak of silence the US military had placed over My Lai.

 

Immediately prior to indications of a massacre in Haditha being made public, Iraq had just experienced a tiny flash of hope. It had taken five gut-wrenching months for the Iraqis to finally assemble a new government under President Nuri al-Maliki. In addition, the United States and Iran were cautiously moving toward the possibility of talks to address ways to achieve long-term peace in Iraq -- considered a confidence-building exercise in preparation for possible negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.

 

"Such incidents are devatating"

 

But the Haditha incident has destroyed much of any progress made in the region. Haditha reinforced widespread suspicion that the US is not only capable of atrocities, but also that it does its best to cover them up. Should it come to an investigation, each case is merely declared an isolated incident. Haditha weakens America and is likely to bolster already staunch opposition to the now-unpopular US president's war. "Such incidents are devastating," says Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to Iraq, in an interview with SPIEGEL. Arab networks Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have reported extensively on Haditha and its consequences.

 

The news of the massacre was met with dismay within the Washington political establishment. John Warner, a well-respected, elderly Republican senator from Virginia, was the first to mention Haditha in the same breath as Abu Ghraib. Warner, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which held hearings over the four-hour Nov. 19 rampage in Haditha, posed a critical question: "What was the reaction of the Marine Corps when it happened?"

 

John Murtha, highly decorated from his days as a Marine infantryman in the Vietnam War and now a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, has no doubts whatsoever that the Marines killed innocent civilians and then tried to cover up the incidents. He says that official sources have told him that the soldiers "cold-bloodedly" shot a woman who had bent over her child in a protective position and begged the Marines for mercy. Murtha is especially interested in finding out whether Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace "gave the order to cover up the affair."

 

Fittingly enough, the new Iraqi ambassador, Samir Sumaidaie, presented his credentials at the White House last Tuesday. He then gave his first interview to CNN, calling the murders "a betrayal of the American people."

 

After the massacre, the city's imams and tribal leaders led a protest march from the mosque to the US base, where the clerics reminded the Americans that they had "promised to bring the country peace and security, and not panic, fear and terror." The Iraqis were told that the murderous rampage had been a mistake.

 

Reaching the public eye

 

Instead of launching their own investigation, the Marines tried to cover their tracks. Their official version of the incident has the 24 civilians being killed by insurgents and not by US troops. According to a communiqué issued on Nov. 20, Lance Cpl. Terrazas and 15 Iraqi civilians were initially killed by the roadside bomb, while the remaining nine victims died during an ensuing firefight with snipers.

 

The families of most of the victims each received $2,500, the maximum amount of compensation allowed under Marine regulations. The payments represented an initial acknowledgment that Haditha was more than just an ordinary attack with a high, but not unusual number of victims.

 

On the day after the Haditha massacre, Tahir Thabit, a journalism student, filmed videotape of the dead in the city's morgue, setting a process into motion that would eventually bring the affair before the public eye. US magazine Time obtained Thabit's video in January and sent a copy to Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, who launched a formal investigation. In March, the magazine published a story that refuted the Marines' official version. After interviewing 28 eyewitnesses in Haditha, the Time reporters reconstructed the events of Nov. 19.

Thabit's video has since become widely available in the Middle East, with copies turning up in mosques in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Terrorist organization Al Qaida's far-reaching network presumably played a role in ensuring discreet distribution of the tape.

Col. Gregory Watt began questioning the 13 Marines in February. Although the Marines stood by their version of the 24 victims having been killed by the roadside bomb and in the ensuing exchange of gunfire, the facts point to a different story. The strongest piece of evidence to refute the Marines' version was the death of the four students and their taxi driver. The five victims were not carrying weapons, nor had they made any threatening moves against the soldiers.

 

"Something in my head and heart"

 

US military investigators examined the crime scenes a total of 15 times. Dozens of bullet holes peppered the walls of the three houses. Bullets had passed completely through the victims' bodies, indicating that they were shot at close range. In addition, new photos of the corpses materialized that had apparently been deliberately kept under wraps.

The Marines' version of the incident fell apart when the investigators reconstructed the massacre. The principal suspects include Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who led the patrol, and two privates. All three will likely face murder charges. Nine of the 13 Marines probably witnessed what happened in Haditha, but failed to intervene.

 

The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, and two other officers suspected of trying to cover up the killings have since been relieved of their commands. Chessani also apparently gave the order to compensate the victims' families. Under Marine regulations, cash compensation can only be paid when innocent people are killed.

 

Lance Cpl. Ryan Briones, 21, was a member of the Third Battalion and was stationed in Haditha, but he is not one of the suspects in the massacre. Instead, Briones was assigned to recover the bodies of the dead. Miguel Terrazas was his friend and the two had been workout partners at the unit's gym. Briones covered his friend's body with a poncho and said a prayer. A short time later, he says, he picked up the body of a young girl who had died from a gunshot to her head. Brain matter dripped onto Briones' boots as he held the girl.

 

Briones will probably never forget these images. "This left something in my head and heart," he says.

----------------------------------

 

Yesterday I published following article(incl. my - perhaps stupid - ideas):

 

이라크: 학살 주말

http://www.antiwar.or.kr/maybbs/view.php?db=antipabyeong&code=board&n=7345&page=207