Axis of Evil
Agence France Presse
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
LONDON - Home Secretary Charles Clarke ordered the extradition of British national Babar Ahmad to face terror charges in the United States.
Ahmad's family said they would appeal against his extradition to the United States, which alleges he tried to set up a terrorist training camp in Arizona in 1998 and raised money to finance attacks in Chechnya and Afghanistan.
Comment: Attorneys in the UK argued that if Ahmad is sent to the US, his rights may very well be violated. We're not sure which is more shocking: that the Bush administration can get away with violating the civil and human rights of even US citizens, or that other countries - knowing full well what will happen to their own nationals - nevertheless ship them off to "stand trial" in the US.
ROBERT BURNSAP
Associated Press
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials acknowledged Tuesday that U.S. troops used white phosphorous as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November. But they denied an Italian television news report that the spontaneously flammable material was used against civilians.
Comment: From
The Independent:
Jeff Englehart, a former marine who spent two days in Fallujah during the battle, said he heard the order go out over military communication that WP was to be dropped. In the RAI film, Mr Englehart, now an outspoken critic of the war, says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete ... Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children."
Given that the US government lied about the use of WP in the first place, it is clear that they have no qualms about deceiving the American people. As such, nothing they say - including their recent clarifications - can be trusted.
Donald Macintyre
UK Independent
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
The guilty plea by Sharon means that he is likely to bear the full brunt of the charges of illegal funding of the campaign which secured his father the Likud leadership.
The one shadow still hanging over the Prime Minister himself is a continuing investigation into payments by the South Africa-based businessman Cyril Kern which were allegedly made to cover the cost of repayment of illegal campaign contributions. The investigation is said to be progressing very slowly.
Jamie Wilson
The Guardian
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable said the substance, which can be used to lay smokescreens but burns down to the bone in contact with skin, was not covered by international conventions on chemical weapons.
"White phosphorus is a conventional munition. It is not a chemical weapon. They are not outlawed or illegal," he told the BBC. "We use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon, and may be used against enemy combatants."
Jamie Wilson
The Guardian
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
A deputy interior minister said he was stunned by their treatment. "I've never seen such a situation like this during the past two years in Baghdad. This is the worst," he told CNN. "I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating, one or two detainees were paralysed and some had their skin peeled off."
Chris McGreal
The Guardian
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
The transcript
The following is a recording of a three-way conversation that took place between a soldier in a watchtower, an army operations room and Capt R, who shot the girl
From the watchtower "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward." "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?" "A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death." "I think that one of the positions took her out." "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."
From the operations room "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"
Watchtower "A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."
A few minutes later, Iman is shot from one of the army posts
Watchtower "I think that one of the positions took her out."
Captain R "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."
Capt R then "clarifies" why he killed Iman
"This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."
Aljazeera
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
In the wake of recent bomb attacks targeting three hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman, the corporate media attempted to shape events to the liking of the Bushcons and the Israelis.
Uruknet suggests that Amman's attacks were carried out by seasoned experts, particularly from Mossad, with the complicity of Jordan's intelligence and America's CIA, in an attempt to shift the support from average Sunni Jordanians for the Sunni resistance in Iraq.
BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
The revelation about the mostly Sunni Arab detainees by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was deeply embarrassing to the government as critics in the United States and Britain question the U.S. strategy for building democracy in a land wracked by insurgency, terrorism and sectarian tension.
One detainee had been crippled by polio and others suffered "different wounds," the deputy interior minister, Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, said without elaboration.
Sunni politicians have been complaining of torture, abuse and arbitrary arrest by special commandos of the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry since the current government took power last April.
The case also raises troubling questions about the training and discipline of Iraqi security forces, which Washington hopes can assume a greater role in fighting the insurgents so that U.S. and other international troops can begin to go home.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
The United States made a "big mistake" when it invaded Iraq, former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday, citing the lack of planning for what would happen after dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press Writer
Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:00 EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister said Tuesday that 173 Iraqi detainees - malnourished and showing signs of torture - were found at an Interior Ministry basement lockup seized by U.S. forces in Baghdad. The discovery appeared to validate Sunni complaints of abuse by the Shiite-controlled ministry.
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