Iraq

The US, Electricity And Iran: What’s Behind The Iraq Protests?

July 23, 2018 Imran Khan, Aljazeera.com Educate! Iraq, Protests, US Imperialism

Baghdad, Iraq - Is the United States behind the protests in southern Iraq? Well, the answer to that question is both yes and no. Yes, because the US led the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, which destroyed much of the infrastructure the country needed to remain a modern society. No, because before the US, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein punished the south's residents by not building infrastructure after they rose up against him during the 1990-1991 Gulf War. But there was another game afoot here that did allegedly involve the US. The protests in the south, which kicked off in Basra almost two weeks ago, were sparked when Iran stopped supplying electricity to that region after it said it was owed $1.5bn in unpaid bills. The protesters didn't blame Iran but pointed to what they called an inept and corrupt Iraqi government. However, in recent days Al Jazeera has been told, off the record, that the US put pressure on Iraq not to pay the Iranians.

Trump Continues Drone Attacks, Facilitates Civilian Deaths

June 11, 2018 Staff, Drone Warfare. Educate! Drones, Iraq, Somalia, Wars and Militarism

The NGO CAGE, which campaigns against discriminatory state policies and advocates observance of due process and the rule of law, reminds readers that in October 2017, US President Donald Trump replaced the Obama rules pertaining to drone strikes with his own ‘rules’ called the “Principles, Standards, and Procedures,” or PSPs. It reports that according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) these laws “make it easier to kill more people in more places outside recognized battlefields, posing grave risks of death and injury to civilians”

Iraq Elections: A Step Toward Rebuilding Popular Power

June 2, 2018 David Bacon, Peoplesworld.org Create! Electoral Politics, Iraq

The U.S. media quickly dismissed the results of Iraq’s national elections on May 12. Journalists were puzzled by what the followers of Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) might have in common, and even more, by why they garnered more Iraqi votes than any other electoral list. Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army fought the U.S. early in the occupation, and his political base is mostly among poor and disenfranchised Iraqis, especially in Baghdad’s Sadr City. This vast neighborhood of 3.5 million people, half the population of Baghdad, was known originally as al-Thawra, or Revolution, built for poor people migrating from the countryside by radical nationalist Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim in 1959. For many years it was a stronghold of the ICP.

US Coalition Killed Nearly 12 Times More Civilians In Mosul Than Did ISIS

May 26, 2018 By Whitney Webb, Mintpressnews.com Educate! Iraq, US Imperialism

WASHINGTON – Just a few months after the U.S. declared ISIS in Iraq “defeated,” a new study has concluded that the U.S.-led battle to remove Daesh (ISIS) from Mosul, once Iraq’s second-largest city, ultimately killed nearly 12 times the number of civilians than were killed by the infamous terror group. The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, surveyed 1,200 households in Mosul for cases of civilian deaths by intentional violence since Daesh first occupied the city in 2014. The leading causes of reported deaths were found to have been direct results of the U.S.-led coalition battle to remove Daesh, with airstrikes accounting for around 40 percent of all reported civilian deaths and explosions accounting for another 34 percent.

Years Of Civil Society Protest Bring Change To Iraq

May 23, 2018 Staff, Uslaboragainstwar.org Resist! Class Struggle, Iraq

Forming a government, following the recent parliamentary elections in Iraq, will take time, but there is now hope for significant change and reform. The strong showing of the Saeroun Lil-Islah (“Marching for Reform”) alliance, which won 55 seats in the parliament, was a clear endorsement for ending government corruption by the appointment of qualified technocrats to head government agencies and refusing to award ministries on the basis of sectarian quotas. The alliance, whose optimistic slogan is “To Build a Civil State, a State of Citizenship and Social Justice,”brought together communists, business leaders, and religious community activists under the leadership of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Executive Who Oversaw Iraq ‘Black Ops’ Hired To Produce Anti-Qatar Propaganda

April 24, 2018 By Jessica Purkiss and Abigail Fielding-Smith, Mintpressnews.com Educate! Iraq, Middle East, Propaganda, US Imperialism

The former CEO of propaganda producer, Bell Pottinger USA, was given over $500,000 to produce a six-part film linking Qatar with global terrorism. Aveteran of Pentagon propaganda operations was hired last year by a Dubai-based company to create a film accusing Qatar of links to terrorism, the Bureau can reveal. Charles Andreae, whose firm Andreae & Associates was contracted to produce the film, used to work for PR firm Bell Pottinger. Whilst at Bell Pottinger, he helped oversee a $500 million contract with the Pentagon to run top-secret influence operations during the Iraq war. The latest contract underscores growing concerns about foreign influence campaigns in the heart of Washington. While much focus has been on Russia’s role in the US elections, Persian Gulf countries have also been spending large sums of money pushing their agenda to President Trump’s administration.

Who Calls Anyone “Civilized”?

April 5, 2018 Cathy Breen, Vcnv.org Educate! Iraq, Middle East, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

I myself tried to write something for the 15 year “commemoration” of the US war against Iraq, but wasn’t able to complete it. It was too much for me. A couple of months ago I was invited to go to the Northwest to speak about “Fifteen Years After the War.” It was too much for me emotionally, and somewhat shamefully I had to decline. As I write, I have the phone next to me. I am texting a young Iraqi boy who is alone in Turkey. About ten months ago he was kidnapped in Iraq. Through a chain of events, he ended up in Syria. About two months ago his father was contacted and was able to get his son smuggled across the border into Turkey. Last month his son turned 18 years of age and was eligible to register as a refugee with UNHCR. But he will not get an interview for many months to come.

What’s To Celebrate? Iraq, 15 Years Later

March 21, 2018 Cindy Sheehan, Cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com Educate! Iraq, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, Women

H.W. he was left in power in Iraq and during the regime of the Commander in Grief Bill Clinton, the people of Iraq were devastated with crippling sanctions and active bombing. Moreover, Clinton’s Sec of State Madeleine “The Ghoul” Albright (in)famously told journalist Leslie Stahl that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was “worth it.” First of all, that is a deeply perverse and vicious statement; and secondly, “worth” what? Not too long after Clinton was just a stain on the blue dress of history, the US was once again, in an even more intense way, bombing the crap out of Iraq which eventually led to the murder of Saddam Hussein and another million, or so, Iraqi.

Iraq, 15 Years On: A Toxic US Legacy

March 19, 2018 Belen Fernandez, Middleeasteye.net Educate! Iraq, US Imperialism

Fallout from the US assault continues to deform and kill Iraqis long after the conflict has seemingly ended. Fifteen years ago this month, the United States spearheaded a fantastically bloody war on Iraq as part of its ongoing effort to ensure the Iraqi nation's perpetual misery. Straight-up carnage aside, there were some other more trivial yet still "spectacularly unsavoury" results of the invasion, as veteran journalist Patrick Cockburn recalls: "Soon after US occupation officials took over Saddam Hussein’s palace complex in central Baghdad as their headquarters ... the lavatories in the palaces all became blocked and began to overflow. Mobile toilets were rapidly shipped into the country and installed in the palace gardens."

Man Who Sold America Iraq War Just Warned Iran Is Next

February 9, 2018 By Carey Wedler, Activistpost.com Educate! Iran, Iraq, Wars and Militarism

Fifteen years after the calamitous U.S. invasion of Iraq, an architect of the propaganda used to drum up support for the war is warning that it’s happening again — this time with Iran. Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, helped the then-secretary “paint a clear picture that war was the only choice” in his infamous 2003 speech to the U.N. This week, writing for the New York Times — an outlet that, at the time, parroted misleading narratives in support of the war — Wilkerson accused the Trump administration of manipulating evidence and fear-mongering in the same way the Bush administration did to cultivate public support for ousting Saddam Hussein. In his Monday op-ed, titled “ I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once.

America’s Renegade Warfare Killing Civilians, Violating Law

November 19, 2017 Nicolas J S Davies, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Iraq, Korea, militarism, Nuclear War, Wars and Militarism

By Nicolas J S Davies for Consortium News. Despite the U.N. Charter and international efforts to prevent war, people in countries afflicted by war today still face the kind of total war that horrified world leaders in 1945. The main victims of total war in our “modern” world have been civilians in countries far removed from the safe havens of power and privilege where their fates are debated and decided: Yugoslavia; Afghanistan; Iraq; Somalia; Pakistan; Yemen; Libya; Syria; Ukraine. There has been no legal or political accountability for the mass destruction of their cities, their homes or their lives. Total war has not been prevented, or even punished, just externalized. But thanks to billions of dollars invested in military propaganda and public relations and the corrupt nature of for-profit media systems, citizens of the countries responsible for the killing of millions of their fellow human beings live in near-total ignorance of the mass killing carried out in their name.

Britain Drops 3,400 Bombs In Syria & Iraq

October 28, 2017 Jamie Merrill, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Bombing, Iraq, Syria, United Kingdom (UK)

By Jamie Merrill for Mint Press News - Royal Air Force drones and jets have dropped more than 3,400 bombs and missiles on Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, an investigation by Middle East Eye has revealed, yet the British government maintains that there is “no evidence” they have killed a single civilian. The vast quantities of ordnance dropped since the start of Operation Shader against IS in 2014 seriously undermines the claim by ministers that the RAF has not caused any civilian casualties in the three-year-long bombing campaign, and has prompted calls for an investigation. The Ministry of Defence does not routinely release statistics on the numbers of weapons used over Iraq and Syria, but an MEE analysis has combined weekly updates of operations in the region and information collated by campaign group Drone Wars. It shows that up to the end of September UK forces have dropped at least 3,482 bombs and missiles in the battle against IS, including 2,089 Paveway IV bombs and 486 Brimstone missiles dropped by Typhoon and Tornado jets. RAF Reaper drones have also fired 724 Hellfire missiles at IS targets.

Covering Up The Massacre Of Mosul

August 23, 2017 Nicolas J S Davies, www.consortiumnews.com Educate! Bombing, Iraq, US Imperialism, US military

By Nicolas J S Davies for Consortium News - Iraqi Kurdish military intelligence reports have estimated that the nine-month-long U.S.-Iraqi siege and bombardment of Mosul to oust Islamic State forces killed 40,000 civilians. This is the most realistic estimate so far of the civilian death toll in Mosul. The bombardment of Mosul included tens of thousands of bombs and missiles dropped by U.S. and “coalition” warplanes, thousands of 220-pound HiMARS rockets fired by U.S. Marines from their “Rocket City” base at Quayara, and tens or hundreds of thousands of 155-mm and 122-mm howitzer shells fired by U.S., French and Iraqi artillery.But even this is likely to be an underestimate of the true number of civilians killed. No serious, objective study has been conducted to count the dead in Mosul, and studies in other war zones have invariably found numbers of dead that exceeded previous estimates by as much as 20 to one, as a United Nations-backed Truth Commission did in Guatemala after the end of its civil war. In Iraq, epidemiological studies in 2004 and 2006 revealed a post-invasion death toll that was about 12 times higher than previous estimates.

Rivers of Blood Action: We All Must Come Together to Stop War

July 18, 2017 Joy First, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Wars and Militarism, Yemen

By Joy First for National Center for Nonviolent Resistance. The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) keeps its focus on the US wars of aggression. NCNR has been acting in resistance to the crimes of our government with its illegal wars since 2003. We are at war in seven different countries today and members of NCNR think it is critical to make the connection between war and all the other problems affecting our world today. With that in mind NCNR planned the Rivers of Blood action - noting that Rivers of Blood flow through the US Capitol as our Congress continues to vote for funding for war. We did a Rivers of Blood action 10 years ago in the crypt of the Capitol and decided to do this second Rivers of Blood action outside on the steps of the Capitol where we hoped we would be seen by more people. Members of our group spoke so eloquently about why we were there. Alice began by saying, “Senator Schumer as our Senate leader must take a stand to stop the escalating horrific warfare that the current administration is waging on some of the poorest, most vulnerable people on the planet. We are devastating entire nations, causing cholera and starvation in Yemen, slaughter of the people of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, threatening war with North Korea. The Congress must not sit by. Senator Schumer has stood up to this administration on other important issues, but we need him to raise his voice to stop these wars, these bombings these drone attacks.”

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