Video - Iraqis celebrate victory of anti-US resistance

 

THOUSANDS of Iraqis have been celebrating the victory of their resistance movement over the USA.

Thursday's triumphal event in Baghdad's Sadr City marked the pull-out of American troops.

And even mainstream US media were this week reporting "declining American influence in the country" as more cracks appear in the global neoliberal empire.

Anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said in a recorded message broadcast on a large screen at the celebrations: "The armies of resistance terrified the occupiers, so they left after they lost.

"The occupying forces were working for strife and destruction and to destabilise security. The occupier is not the one who can bring peace and safety to Iraq, but rather you, and only you."

At the urging of the cleric, his supporters shouted, "Yes, yes, to unity, yes, yes, to peace, yes, yes, to resistance."

Sadr also called on the Iraqi government to release imprisoned resistance fighters.

AFP reports that thousands of Sadr Movement members marched in formation with Iraqi flags at the event, while supporters gathered on the roadside, some holding banners reading, "No, no to America, no, no to Israel."

Among those attending the event, which was held under tight security, were cabinet ministers, members of parliament and religious figures, as well as representatives of some Arab countries.

Hazem al-Araji, one of the leaders of the Sadr Movement, told AFP that, "Today is the day of the real victory for the people and a message of unity that we throw in the face of the occupier."

Meanwhile the New York Times reports: "Less than two months after American troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the enormous diplomatic presence it had planned for Iraq, a sharp sign of declining American influence in the country.

"Officials in Baghdad and Washington said that Ambassador James F. Jeffrey and other senior State Department officials were reconsidering the size and scope of the embassy, where the staff has swelled to nearly 16,000 people, mostly contractors.

"The expansive diplomatic operation and the $750 million embassy building, the largest of its kind in the world, were billed as necessary to nurture a postwar Iraq on its shaky path to democracy and establish normal relations between two countries linked by blood and mutual suspicion.

"But the Americans have been frustrated by what they see as Iraqi obstructionism and are now largely confined to the embassy because of security concerns, unable to interact enough with ordinary Iraqis to justify the $6 billion annual price tag.

"After the American troops departed in December, life became more difficult for the thousands of diplomats and contractors left behind. Convoys of food that had been escorted by the United States military from Kuwait were delayed at border crossings as Iraqis demanded documentation that the Americans were unaccustomed to providing.

"Within days, the salad bar at the embassy dining hall ran low. Sometimes there was no sugar or Splenda for coffee. On chicken-wing night, wings were rationed at six per person. Over the holidays, housing units were stocked with Meals Ready to Eat, the prepared food for soldiers in the field.

"At every turn, the Americans say, the Iraqi government has interfered with the activities of the diplomatic mission, one they grant that the Iraqis never asked for or agreed upon. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s office — and sometimes even the prime minister himself — now must approve visas for all Americans, resulting in lengthy delays. American diplomats have had trouble setting up meetings with Iraqi officials."

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Was USA behind Baghdad terror attacks?

 
WAS the USA behind this week's terrorist outrages in Baghdad?

That's the question now being asked by many people in Iraq, while the western media paints a picture of a sectarian civil war erupting after the pseudo-departure of American forces.

Sami Ramadani writes in The Guardian that divide-and-rule tactics remain the only viable weapon the Americans have to control or influence the Iraqi political scene.

He says: "In the rush to provide an explanation for the nihilistic violence, the same old simplistic mantra is trotted out.

"Thursday's co-ordinated, simultaneous attacks are invariably described by the media as sectarian. Few pause to ask why a 'sectarian' attack would be aimed at all sects and ethnicities equally.

"Only a handful raise the possibility that these attacks are not sectarian in motive, or a reflection of sectarian hatred on the streets, but are instead designed to create sectarian entrenchment and animosity, and ignite street conflict.

"Similarly, analysts are quick to conclude that both the power struggle within the political elite, and the explosions are the result of the withdrawal of US troops. They portray the US forces as the good Samaritan who prematurely left the scene.

"Too few examine the legacy of the occupiers' poisonous presence at the heart of Iraqi society for nearly nine years, or ask why the US has built the biggest embassy in the world in Baghdad, staffed by 15,000 personnel and spies."
 
Adds Ramadani, a political refugee from Saddam's regime: "Such is the anger at the occupation that many Iraqis think the US was behind Thursday's attack. This belief is dismissed as conspiratorial, but it is widely held.

"There is a reason for this. Apart from the horrific violence committed directly by the occupation forces and Pentagon-contracted mercenaries, the US also created Iraqi secret militia, and smuggled tens of thousands of weapons and tons of explosives into Iraq through private firms in Bosnia.

"[Paul] Bremer was unable to tell a congressional committee how he spent an unaccounted-for $8.8bn dollars, but many Iraqis suspect that it was used to fund violent sectarian forces.

"Indiscriminate killings and terrorist attacks were a permanent feature of the US-led occupation, and to many ordinary Iraqis, Thursday's bloodshed is just more of the same. "

Meanwhile, some anti-imperialists also see the hand of the USA behind this week's terrorist attack in Damascus in which 55 people died.

New surge of Iraqi resistance

THE IRAQI people continue to mount a brave resistance to the regime imposed by the US occpuation.

Although given little publicity by neoliberal media, their uprising has been given new impetus by the revolts across the Arab world.

Reports antiwar.com: "At least six Iraqis were killed and 38 more were wounded in new violence. The worst attack occurred in the capital where a new agreement may allow journalists more freedoms. Also, the Arab League Summit has been postponed until May.

"The United Nation’s Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert said the organization is concerned about human rights violations, particularly violence towards demonstrators and restrictions against journalists.

"Meanwhile, the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory and Baghdad Operations Command have reached an agreement to protect journalists during demonstrations and allow them to directly broadcast from protests.

"In Baghdad, a pair of bombs targeting a Sunni Endowment official’s home in Ghazaliya killed one person and wounded 20, including the official.

"A third explosion wounded two more. A blast targeting a petrol tanker in Rustamiya wounded one person. Two people were wounded when a bomb exploded near a fuel truck in Doura.

"Three bystanders were wounded during an explosion on Palestine Street. Baladiyat saw three wounded after a blast. A blast targeting a U.S. convoy near the Mashtal Bridge left no casualties.

"In Mosul, a blast at the home of a man who had worked as a translator for U.S. forces killed him. Gunmen killed a civilian yesterday.

"A suicide bomber attacked a mosque’s imam after evening prayers in Ramadi. One civilian was killed and three others were wounded, including the imam.

"One person was injured in an attack on a petrol tanker south of Baghdad.

"A blast at the Tarmiya police station killed one prisoner and wounded three others.

"Protesters in Baquba demanded the sacking of local officials and other reforms."

The party's over for Tony Blair

PROTESTERS are claiming victory after Tony Blair cancelled another central London event in the face of angry opposition.

The Press Association reported that the former British Prime Minister called off a party to mark the launch of his new book because he said it would be "frightening" for his friends to have to walk past anti-war protesters.

Following an egg-throwing protest in Dublin, Blair had already cancelled a book signing at Waterstone's in Picadilly.

Such is the mistrust that surrounds Blair and his PR machine that protesters turned up anyway at the gallery in Bankside in case news of the cancellation was a hoax.

A report on Indymedia says they staged a mock book-signing for the many cameras, with a Blair-masked bloody-handed actor signing copies of a booklet called "Iraq: a people's dossier - questions for Tony Blair".

Meanwhile two activists scaled the scaffolding at the front of the House of Parliament for an anti-war banner drop.

They are protesting about the Afghanistan war prior to a commons debate on Thursday and vowed to remain on the front of parliament overnight and until the debate.

Baghdad battle exposes US lie

AMERICA'S claim to have 'ended combat operations' in occupied Iraq has quickly been exposed as a lie.

Some of the 50,000 US troops still in the country were involved in defending an Iraqi army base in Baghdad from an attack by resistance fighters on Sunday.

Reports The Washington Post: "The assailants detonated a car bomb outside an army division headquarters housed in the former defense ministry building, killing at least 12 people, most of them Iraqi soldiers, authorities said.

"The blast wounded at least 20 people at the complex, where a bombing last month targeting recruits killed more than 60 people.

"A gun battle raged for more than two hours after the explosion as Iraqi soldiers tried to corral the two bombers who managed to get inside the base, Iraqi officials at the scene said. A small contingent of U.S. soldiers is based at the facility.

"The assailants, who wore vests rigged with explosives, threw grenades as Iraqi soldiers shot at them from a distance, fearing that their bullets could detonate the bombs.

"American soldiers backed them up with 'suppressive fire', said Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, the U.S. military spokesman. U.S. helicopters, drones and explosives experts also responded."

Iraqi resistance in wave of attacks

IRAQI resistance fighters have set out their stall in no uncertain fashion with a wave of coordinated strikes across the country, reports The New York Times.

In attacks in 13 towns and cities, from southernmost Basra to restive Mosul in the north, insurgents deployed their full arsenal: hit-and-run shootings, roadside mines and more than a dozen car bombs.

The toll was in the dozens, but the symbolism underscored a theme of America’s experience here: its deadlines, including the Aug. 31 date to end combat operations, have rarely reflected the tumultuous reality on the ground and have often been accompanied by a wave of insurgent attacks.

“The message the insurgents want to deliver to the Iraqi people and the politicians is that we exist, and we choose the time and place,” said Wael Abdel-Latif, a judge and former lawmaker. “They are carrying out such attacks when the Americans are still here, so just imagine what they can do after the Americans leave.”

In coming days, the Obama administration will seek to portray the reduction in troops here to fewer than 50,000, reached Tuesday, as a turning point in seven years of invasion, occupation and war. President Obama will deliver a speech on Tuesday marking the deadline. The next day, the mission will be renamed “New Dawn” at a ceremony expected to draw much of the military brass to a sprawling base near the Baghdad airport.

Throughout the partial withdrawal, American officials have insisted that, while work remains, Iraq’s army and police force are ready to inherit sole control over security here.

Military officials have said they believe that insurgents number only in the hundreds, and the military has issued a daily drumbeat of announcements that leaders and cadres in the insurgency have been arrested or killed in American-Iraqi operations.

Wednesday’s attacks, which killed at least 51 people, many of them police officers, were seemingly the insurgents’ reply.

Five collaborators assassinated in Iraq

IRAQI resistance fighters have assassinated five collaborators with the US occupation.

AFP reports that two policemen were shot dead and their bodies set ablaze at a Baghdad checkpoint on Saturday while two of their colleagues and a pro-American fighter were also killed.

The insurgents shot the two policemen as they sat in their car in eastern Baghdad, an official said, and then set it on fire, while two others were killed by silenced pistols at a checkpoint in the west of the Iraqi capital.

Saturday's incident was the third time in two weeks that members of the security forces' bodies have been burned after being killed by insurgents.

In Al-Shaab district northeast of Baghdad meanwhile, a member of the government-backed Sahwa (Awakening) militia was shot dead at a checkpoint, the official said, and two other fighters wounded.

The Sahwa, known in the US military as the 'Sons of Iraq' sided with the US against the resistance from late 2006.

US comes a Cropper in Iraq (again)

YET another humiliating own goal has been scored by US occupation forces in Iraq.

Reports The Guardian: "Iraqi forces were today posting 'wanted' photos of four alleged senior al-Qaida figures who escaped last week from the US-built Camp Cropper prison along with the warden suspected of helping them flee.

"The four alleged terrorists and their jailer drove out of the prison deep inside the US military's main base in Baghdad on Tuesday, four days after American generals marked the handover of the installation to the Iraq government with the presentation of a giant gold key."

Iraqis rebel over electricity failures

RIOT police in southern Iraq used water cannons to disperse protesters pelting them with stones Monday during a demonstration against power cuts as anger spread over the lack of basic utilities to fend off the occupied country's searing summer heat.

Associated Press reports: "The protest in the city of Nasiriyah came two days after a similar demonstration turned violent, with two people killed and two wounded after police opened fire in the southern oil hub of Basra.

"The unrest has raised concerns that growing public anger over the lack of basic services could jeopardize efforts to stabilize Iraq even as security improves.

"Many impoverished Iraqis in the south have been left without air conditioning or fans despite high humidity and summer temperatures that frequently rise above 110 degrees.

"Calling for the resignation of Iraq's electricity minister and other officials, protesters threw rocks and wooden bars and scuffled with security forces as they tried to break through a security barrier protecting the local government compound in Nasiriyah, according to witnesses and officials.

"Riot police carrying shields lined up behind waist-high red and yellow barriers and a row of barbed wire and sprayed the protesters with water cannons mounted on armored vehicles.

"At least 14 policemen and four protesters were wounded in the melee, police said.

"One officer said he was stunned when the protesters started throwing stones and hitting them with wooden bars."

It was later reported that the Electricity Minister had resigned.

Resistance steps up in Iraq

THE IRAQI resistance against US occupation has stepped up again in spectacular fashion with a series of attacks on the regime.

Western media refuses to recognise the continuing existence of a resistance movement seven years after the illegal invasion, prefering to blame the elusive 'al Qaeda'.

Reports the Daily Times of Pakistan: "Two bombs near a church in Baghdad killed five policemen and injured 14 others late on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry official said.

"The first explosion struck near the Athureen church in the south Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora at about 9:30pm, but did not result in any casualties.

"A few minutes later, when police reached the scene to investigate, a second bomb detonated, killing five officers and inuring 14 others.

"The violence came a day after a devastating series of attacks killed 110 people in the country’s bloodiest violence this year, unrest blamed on al Qaeda and leading to charges of negligence on the part of the Iraq’s security forces."

Iraqi resistance in spectacular attack

IRAQI resistance fighters today struck a massive symbolic blow against the US-led occupation of their country.

Four landmark Baghdad hotels, used by westerners, were heavily damaged by car bombs this afternoon in a co-ordinated attack.

Reported The Guardian: "Security officials said at least 36 people were killed and more than 80 injured by attackers including suicide bombers and gunmen.

"The first bomb was detonated between the Sheraton and Palestine hotels in the centre of the capital, causing massive damage to both well-known structures.

"Around three minutes later, the Babylon hotel on the banks of the Tigris river, just south of the US embassy, was hit by a suicide bomber driving a car past the perimeter barriers. Damage was also reported to be severe.

"The final - and most audacious - attack came just two minutes later when gunmen opened fire on guards manning the gates to the Hamra hotel, which had been home to many foreign reporters since early 2005.

"In the ensuing firefight, Kurdish peshmerga soldiers, guarding the border of the presidential neighbourhood directly across the street, engaged with an unknown number of insurgents.

"Guards from the Hamra, employed by a British security firm, also opened fire. As they took defensive positions behind blast walls further inside the Hamra perimeter, a white van with a flashing red light to resemble an emergency vehicle broke through the hotel's security barriers and exploded inside the compound.

"The lower levels of the Hamra were destroyed, with the blast taking place about 30 metres from the lobby."

The blasts took place around the same time as the showcase execution of Saddam Hussein henchman Aki Hassan al-Majid and the BBC and other western media continued to gloat over the hanging of a man guilty of similar war crimes to their own leaders, despite the stark evidence that, seven years on, the war to control Iraq is still far from over.

Iraqi resistance hits US forces

AN IRAQI resistance group has released brief video footage of one of its latest rocket attacks on American occupying forces.

A report on the War in Iraq website said fighters from the 1920 Revolutionary Brigades first shelled US headquarters at the al Bakr air base with two rockets, scoring a direct hit.

In a second operation they shelled American occupation headquarters in northern Baghdad with two rockets, also hitting the target.

And thirdly they said they destroyed a "carrier of American occupation forces" with an IED in western Baghdad.

British army chiefs attack USA

AN ASTONISHING attack on American arrogance by angry British military chiefs has been revealed in a newspaper report based on leaked secret documents.

While British political leaders are generally groomed to obey orders from Washington and keep their mouths shut, outraged army commanders have let the cat out of the bag regarding the one-sided balance of the 'special relationship'.

The report in The Daily Telegraph, on Monday November 23 refers to "deep hostiltity" towards the Americans among top British soldiers.

It quotes the British chief of staff in Iraq, Colonel J.K.Tanner, who served as chief of staff to General Stewart and of the entire British division during Operation Telic 3, from November 2003 to May 2004 as saying: “The whole system was appalling. We experienced real difficulty in dealing with American military and civilian organisations who, partly through arrogance and partly through bureaucracy, dictate that there is only one way: the American way.

“I now realise that I am a European, not an American. We managed to get on better…with our European partners and at times with the Arabs than with the Americans. Europeans chat to each other, whereas dialogue is alien to the US military… dealing with them corporately is akin to dealing with a group of Martians."

Col Tanner’s boss, the top British commander in the country, Major General Andrew Stewart, told how he spent “a significant amount of my time” “evading” and “refusing” orders from his US superiors.

At least once, say the documents, General Stewart’s refusal to obey an order resulted in Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Sir David Manning, being summoned to the State Department for a diplomatic reprimand - of the kind more often delivered to “rogue states” such as Zimbabwe or the Sudan.

Morale crisis in US army

AN AMERICAN military source has confirmed that morale in the US/UK military machine has plunged to crisis levels.

In an article entitled Mass Shooting Indicates Breakdown of Military, the US website truthout spoke with an army specialist who is an active-duty Iraq war veteran currently stationed at the
Fort Hood base, scene of this week's shooting (see previous blog).

The soldier is quoted as saying that the mood on the base is “very grim,” and that even before this incident, troop morale has been very low.

“I’d say it’s at an all-time low - mostly because of Afghanistan now,” he explained. “Nobody knows why we are at either place, and I believe the troops need to know why they are there, or we should pull out, and this is a unanimous feeling, even for folks who are pro-war.”

Fort Hood, located in central Texas, is the largest US military base in the world and contains up to 50,000 soldiers. It is one of the most heavily deployed bases to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

War machine imploding

WESTERN imperialism in central Asia looks closer to imploding today after two extremely serious incidents over the last few days.

First of all, on Tuesday, there was the Afghan policeman who shot dead five British soldiers at a military base.

And then on Thursday there was the US army psychiatrist, about to be deployed to Iraq, who allegedly shot dead 13 people and wounded 30 when he went on a rampage at Fort Hood military base in Texas.

It is not known whether there was any connection between the two, in that the US soldier may have been inspired by hearing of the Afghan policeman's actions.

But in any case there is obviously a severe risk from the point of view of the US/UK war machine that the situation will spiral further out of control.

On the one hand, the incidents will have created momentum for a fresh wave of desperate resistance to their military machine that may well lead to further attacks and, at the very least, renewed optimism for their opponents.

On the other, morale amongst US/UK forces, already seemingly at a low ebb, will be plunged into still greater depths, with untold consequences for military efficacity.