GI Special:  thomasfbarton@earthlink.net 12.13.03 Print it out (color best). Pass it on.

GI SPECIAL #153



THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME
Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, Beaver Falls, Pa. Nov. 8, 2003 (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

“How Can We Leave Iraq?”

Comment:
The Bush people argue that soldiers have to keep on killing Iraqis, and being killed, to “avoid chaos.” The new Bush/Rumsfeld/Bremer occupation plan is to keep the troops in Iraq at US bases, continuing the US military dictatorship of course, but pulling back from the major cities, turning them over to stooge local forces, a screening movement to continue the occupation. No effort is being spared to con the media and the public into thinking this represents some kind of “progress” towards peace. The article below attempts to respond to this latest propaganda offensive, or, more accurately, offensive propaganda. T.)


(From:  MilitaryFamiliesSpeakOut@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, December 06, 2003 10:22:53 AM
Subject:
"How Can We Leave Iraq"

12/05/03: (Traveling Soldier) Have you noticed how the politicians who ask that question aren’t in Iraq? They’re making speeches and holding press conferences in Washington about “How can we leave Iraq?”

An old story from Vietnam Days comes to mind.

Somebody asked a soldier who was against the war, “How can we leave Vietnam?”

The answer: “Ship or plane, either is good.”

The liars in Washington in those days were selling a different line of bullshit. If “we” leave Vietnam, the Communists will take over Vietnam, then Thailand, then Malaysia, then Burma, then India, then the Philippines and before you know it they’re landing in California. “It’s better we fight communism in the streets of Saigon than in the streets of New York,” they said.

Vietnam “fell” and none of that happened. Today Vietnam is full of sweatshops where people get paid shit making sneakers for U.S. corporations and all kinds of other stuff, but noticeably few Communists have invaded California, and no Vietnamese appear to be interested in getting even for their millions of dead by traveling over here and fighting in the streets.

So what would happen if the U.S. military left Iraq and all the troops came home now?

Maybe some Iraqi multimillionaires will buy up the government and pocket the oil money. That would be the American way.

Maybe some religious political parties will get control of the government. In Turkey, a religious political party is in control of the government. It’s (gasp) Muslim too. And Bush just handed that government $8 billion. Washington politicians use “Islamic fundamentalism” as a boogeyman to scare people into supporting the occupation. They don’t give a damn about the rights of Iraqi women, or religious minorities, or democracy – so long as their fat checks come in, and they stay rich and powerful.

Maybe the millions of workers who live in the cities will organize their own party and fight for their own interests and agenda. They might even start a revolution from below that seizes the oil fields and uses their wealth to make it possible for all Iraqis to have a decent life, instead of ending up in some corporate bank account.

Maybe there will be bloodshed, a civil war, and a period of unrest until the Iraqis figure out who is going to be in charge. America had one of those from 1860-65 and no one – not the British, not the French, not the Russians, not the U.N. – had a right to interfere.

But one thing there won’t be is a foreign, invading, occupying military power suffocating all of Iraqi society and generating a national resistance movement that makes the whole country a war zone.

We shouldn’t forget that the Iraqis managed to organize their own society for about 3000 years before America was “discovered” in what were some of the earliest human civilizations. Before the U.S. invasion, Iraq was one of the few Muslim countries where city life was more like Europe than it is in Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia, or other medieval regimes supporting Bush’s Imperial War. It’s the most vicious, ignorant racism to assume they can’t run their own country without Bremer and Bush.

And while no one knows exactly what will happen in Iraq when the U.S. leaves, a few things are for sure.

Not a single American soldier will get killed by Iraqis who want to run their own country if American soldiers aren’t there.

No Iraqis fighting for independence will get killed by American soldiers if American soldiers aren’t there.

Want to make Iraq a better, safer place to live? Want to reduce the number of American soldiers missing hands, feet, arms, or life in a pointless and impossible occupation?

Bring all the troops home now.

 http://www.traveling-soldier.org/11.03.leave.php

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Telling the truth - about the occupation, the cuts to veterans benefits, or the dangers of depleted uranium - is the first reason Traveling Soldier is necessary. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance - whether it's in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers.  http://www.traveling-soldier.org/



IRAQ WAR REPORTS:


U.S. Soldier Killed In Convoy Attack

December 12, 2003 BAGHDAD (Reuters)

A U.S. soldier was fatally wounded and two others were hurt in a blast near the flashpoint Iraqi town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Friday.

The soldiers were in a convoy when the attack occurred around 6:30 a.m. local time and one died of his wounds in hospital, the military said in a statement.


Two Polish Soldiers Wounded In Roadside Attack

December 12 2003 (AFP)

Hilla, Iraq - A roadside bomb exploded on Friday, wounding two Polish soldiers, as a convoy drove by south of the Iraqi capital, a multinational force spokesperson said.

"We can confirm an attack against coalition forces. There was an explosion from an IED (improvised explosive device) and one Polish soldier is seriously wounded and one lightly wounded," he said.

"At 10.15am there was an explosion when a convoy went by," police Major Ibrahim Salam said on the main road a couple of kilometres north of Hilla, site of the ancient city of Babylon, and 100km from Baghdad.

A troop transporter, a Humvee all-terrain vehicle, two civilian cars and an Iraqi ambulance were halted on the roadside. A US helicopter flew in and out rapidly.

Soldiers stopped anyone approaching the scene


Two Blasts Rock Baghdad Near U.S. Compound

December 11, 2003 BAGHDAD, Luke Baker (Reuters) & AP)

Three loud explosions rocked the Iraqi capital Baghdad late on Thursday and a large plume of smoke could be seen coming from near the compound housing the U.S.-led administration in the city, Reuters witnesses said.

"Two coalition force members were slightly wounded from flying debris," a U.S. military spokeswoman said. One building in the area, which comprises dozens of palaces once part of Saddam's presidential compound, was slightly damaged. Smoke billowed from two locations.

Immediately after the explosions around 4 p.m. EST sirens could be heard coming from the direction of the U.S.-headquarters on the west bank of the Tigris river.

Charles Krohn, a Pentagon press official, said by telephone from his room inside the compound that he heard the explosions.

"I heard what appeared to be incoming mortar rounds," Krohn said. "I was shaken and I heard a couple of thumps. I felt the vibrations."

U.S. troops shot dead an Iraqi who they said had been shooting at them from a speeding car. The driver of the car said they were not shooting at the troops but merely firing an AK-47 rifle in the air after celebrating at a wedding party.


SOLDIER DIES OF NON-HOSTILE GUNSHOT WOUND


HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
December 12, 2003 Release Number: 03-12-12C

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A soldier with Task Force 1st Armored Division, died at approximately 3:20 a.m., December 12, of a non-hostile gunshot wound.



TROOP NEWS

Command Orders Soldiers To Kill Adopted Puppy Who Disliked Officers

By Roger Roy, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer, December 11, 2003

It's against the rules for U.S. soldiers in Iraq to have pets, but the skinny black puppy that wandered up to the Florida National Guard soldiers at a base in northern Iraq wouldn't go away.

So the soldiers from Alpha Co. of the 2nd Battalion of the 124th Infantry Regiment adopted the mutt and named her Apache after their radio call sign.


Sgt. 1st Class Bill Ford of Melbourne with Apache near Balad, Iraq (ROGER ROY/ORLANDO SENTINEL) Dec. 11, 2003


But Army regulations finally caught up with Alpha Co. and Apache.

Family members said Wednesday that the soldiers were eventually forced to obey orders and have the dog killed.

"My husband was devastated," said Maggie Ford of Melbourne, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Bill Ford, had hoped to bring the dog back to Florida. "We all cried when we found out."

Many wild and stray dogs, often unfriendly and even dangerous, roam the Iraq countryside. But soldiers said Apache was always friendly. At first, the men tried to ignore the eager pup, who kept sidling up to them begging for food while they kept guard at a checkpoint leading into Camp Anaconda, a huge American base outside Balad, about an hour north of Baghdad. But finally the soldiers gave in and took the dog back to their camp.

While affectionate with the 130 or so soldiers in the company, Apache could spot a stranger instantly and would bark and growl menacingly. She seemed to especially dislike officers, and in September nipped at a captain from another company who got too close.

But Apache would happily greet the soldiers when they returned from patrols, then roll over to have her belly rubbed and chew playfully on their arms.

Still, the soldiers were warned repeatedly that they were flouting the rules and that they had to get rid of the dog.

Maggie Ford said her husband was researching how to bring Apache back when the soldiers come home in February, but commanders last month gave the soldiers a deadline.

She said her husband couldn't bear to have the dog killed, so the soldiers drove Apache about 10 miles outside the base in the hope someone would take care of her.

Within three days, Apache had found her way back to camp, Maggie Ford said.

Finally, around Thanksgiving, the soldiers took their pet to a veterinarian, who destroyed her, she said.

Family members still don't have all the details. The soldiers from Alpha Co., who mostly train at the Leesburg armory, and those from Bravo Co., who train at the Sanford armory, have little access to telephones or e-mail at Camp Anaconda, and their families have infrequent contact with them.

But several said the soldiers were upset they had to have the dog destroyed.

"Their morale dropped," said Linda Wood of Sumterville, whose son Spc. Seth Wood is in Alpha Co. "There were some guys who were very, very attached to that dog."

Kim Alfonso of Tampa, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Mark Alfonso, is the leader of the platoon that adopted Apache, said she spoke to her husband after the dog was destroyed, but he was too upset to discuss what had happened.

She said her husband has tried to keep his men from dwelling on the dog's fate. The soldiers conduct frequent raids and patrols looking for guerrillas and can't afford to be distracted.

Kim Alfonso said her husband recently had her mail him some clothes their 3-year-old daughter had outgrown so he could give them to children in the local villages, who often wear little more than rags.

"You have to keep things in perspective," Kim Alfonso said. "It's not like one of our guys was shot. We're talking about a dog. But it is sad."

Roger Roy can be reached at  rroy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5436.

Copyright © 2003, Orlando Sentinel

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and in Iraq, and information about other social protest movements here in the USA. Send requests to address up top. For copies on web site see: http://www.notinourname.net/gi-special/



Military Hospital Nurse Writes About Soldiers Bush Didn't Visit;
“Mr. President Would Rather Lift Fake Turkeys”

Boston Globe, By Joan Vennochi, 12/11/2003

She does not want her name published. She is a nurse for the Department of the Army in Landstuhl, Germany, where casualties from the war in Iraq are treated at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. She respects the Army, and indeed, has a daughter in her third year at the US Military Academy at West Point. But the glowing reports she received from home about the Bush Thanksgiving in Baghdad prompted her to send, via e-mail from Germany, an account of her own holiday.

She writes:

"My `Bush Thanksgiving' was a little different . . . I spent it at the hospital taking care of a young West Point lieutenant wounded in Iraq. He had stabilization of his injuries in Iraq and then two long surgeries here for multiple injuries; he's just now stable enough to send back to the USA. After a few bites of dinner I let him sleep, and then cried with him as he woke up from a nightmare. When he pressed his fists into his eyes and rocked his head back and forth he looked like a little boy. They all do, all 19 on the ward that day, some missing limbs, eyes, or worse.



THE BAGHDAD TURKEY; ONE UGLY MOTHERFUCKER

"There are two more long wards just like this one. The ICU has been receiving soldiers for many months now, often unconscious young men on ventilators with wives and parents (our age) bending over the beds, stroking whatever part isn't bandaged, pinned, or burned. It requires a deep breath and strong heart anymore to walk through those swinging doors; I know the photo IDs outside the rooms will bear little resemblance to the men in the rooms.

"It's too bad Mr. Bush didn't add us to his holiday agenda. The men said the same, but you'll never read that in the paper. Mr. President would rather lift fake turkeys for photo ops, it seems. Maybe because my patients wouldn't make very pleasant photos . . . most don't look all that great, and the ones with facial wounds and external fixation devices look downright scary. And a heck of a lot of them can't talk, anyway, and some never will talk again.

Well, this is probably more than you want to know, but there's no spin on this one. It's pure carnage . . . Like all wars, the "shock and awe" eventually trickles down to blood and death. But you won't see that. I do, every single day."


The Baghdad Turkey;
Soldiers Not “Pre-Screened” Turned Away From Bush Thanksgiving, Ate MRE’s

washingtonpost.com By Dana Milbank December 12, 2003

Stars and Stripes is blowing the whistle on President Bush's Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad, saying the cheering soldiers who met him were pre-screened and others showing up for a turkey dinner were turned away.

The newspaper, quoting two officials with the Army's 1st Armored Division in an article last week, reported that "for security reasons, only those preselected got into the facility during Bush's visit. . . . The soldiers who dined while the president visited were selected by their chain of command, and were notified a short time before the visit."

The paper also published a letter to the editor from Sgt. Loren Russell, who wrote of the heroism of his soldiers and then added: "Imagine their dismay when they walked 15 minutes to the Bob Hope Dining Facility, only to find that they were turned away from their evening meal because they were in the wrong unit. . . . They understand that President Bush ate there and that upgraded security was required. But why were only certain units turned away?"

Russell added that his soldiers "chose to complain amongst themselves and eat MREs, even after the chow hall was reopened for 'usual business' at 9 p.m. As a leader myself, I'd guess that other measures could have been taken to allow for proper security and still let the soldiers have their meal."


Six Soldiers Killed By Cluster Bombs

Unexploded U.S. cluster bomblets remain a threat to U.S. forces in Iraq. They have killed or injured at least eight U.S. troops. (Jonathan S. Landay Knight Ridder Newspapers 11 December 2003)


Close Quarters At Fort Bragg

Published on: 2003-12-11, By Kevin Maurer, Fayetteville (NC) Observer Staff writer

Maj. Mark Segovia has lived under a basketball hoop since moving to Fort Bragg on Dec. 1.

Segovia is among about 800 soldiers assigned to Army Reserve civil affairs living at the Lee, Hosking and Frederick physical fitness centers.

The post is crowded because of the number of soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan.

About 200 soldiers live in Lee center. Cots line the gym floor. Tarps cover the court's foul line and three-point arc to protect the floor. Black boxes filled with gear sit next to the cots.


Civil affairs reservists' cots fill Lee Physical Fitness Center on Fort Bragg.
Staff photo by Steve Hebert

Segovia is assigned to the 486th Civil Affairs Battalion in Tulsa, Okla.

"It could be a lot worse," he said. "We could be outside in tents. We are just glad they put us somewhere warm and dry." Segovia is a mortgage banker.

"We would like to be in the Hilton, but we are not going to get that," he said.

Segovia said the close quarters helps units to build cohesion. (Typical Major, total bullshit at all times. By this “logic,” the ideal billet would be sleeping stacked in dumpsters.)


American War Hero Calls Arrogant Asshole An Arrogant Asshole

Independent 5 December 2003 By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

The left leg of retired Colonel David Hackworth still carries a bullet that he picked up while fighting in the Vietnam War. Wounded a total of eight times, he claims to be America's most highly decorated soldier, his chest weighed down by honours such as eight Purple Hearts, nine Silver Stars and eight Bronze Stars.

While no-one doubts Colonel Hackworth's patriotism or service to his country, there are plenty of people who do not appreciate what he has to say about the United States' occupation of Iraq and the way it was carried out. Donald Rumsfeld is likely to be among his critics: Colonel Hackworth, 72, described the US Defence Secretary as "an arrogant asshole".

It is not just his outspoken comments and personal invective that have established the swaggering retired soldier as a persistent thorn in the side of the Pentagon. It is also because he acts as a lightening rod for the complaints and criticisms of soldiers on the ground, for the lowly grunts and GIs whose comments would otherwise go largely unheard.

These complaints gain wide exposure on Colonel Hackworth's two websites, www.hackworth.com and www.sftt.org. Entries may discuss subjects ranging from shoddy food and badly performing equipment to a lack of ammunition. He says he receives up to 2,000 such messages a week from troops whose anonymity he scrupulously protects. His website currently carries a letter from a veteran helicopter pilot, discussing the recent attack that brought down two Black Hawk helicopters.

The veteran's self-chosen role as the Pentagon's harshest critic and a powerful, uncensored source of what American soldiers are experiencing on the ground has never been more important. In the aftermath of America's worst month in Iraq, when 79 of its soldiers died, Col Hackworth this week received an email from a "combat leader" involved in the firefight in the city of Samara in which US forces claimed to have killed 54 attackers. Local people insisted that only eight people, mostly civilians, had been killed.

In his email to Colonel Hackworth, who he has known for eight years, the soldier with the 4th Infantry Division wrote of Sunday's incident: "Hack, most of the casualties were civilians, not insurgents or criminals as being reported."

He added: "We are probably turning many Iraqi against us and I am afraid instead of climbing out of the hole, we are digging ourselves in deeper."

Speaking from his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, the white-haired veteran said yesterday of the man who sent the email: "I have known this soldier for eight years, since he first came into the US Army and I have watched him develop and have full confidence in the validity of his report."

Colonel Hackworth's assessment of the discrepancy between the body-count claimed by US forces and locals rests with the Pentagon's alleged desire to portray a positive view about a situation most independent observers believe is spiralling into chaos. "It's the nature of the beast," he said. "You try and paint the greatest face on it. It happens in every war... in Vietnam it became an art form."

He said the units involved in any firefight drew up an assessment themselves of what happened and how many of the enemy were killed. "It's like students grading their own papers," he said. "If you're a commander, are you going to say I was a dumb shit and we used too much firepower and we killed a load of civilians, or are you going to say that because of your brilliant command... we killed 54 insurgents? You don't get promoted by striking-out.

"You get promoted by hitting a home run, even if it's a mythical home run. During Vietnam there were lots of mythical home runs."

The email from the battle commander has placed Colonel Hackworth at the centre of one of the most controversial incidents in Iraq since President Bush announced an end to major hostilities at the beginning of May. Despite numerous eye-witness accounts to the contrary, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division has stood by its claim of having killed 54 insurgents.

Most newspapers and media organisations have been forced to retract initial reports that relied on the United States' claim about the number killed.

As well as being the author of two best-selling books about the US military, Colonel Hackworth has written magazine articles and appeared as a television pundit. He has long had a reputation for speaking out. As long ago as 1971, when he was a serving officer, he said of the war in Vietnam: "This is a bad war... it can't be won."

In his book Hazardous Duty, which details his exploits as a war reporter for Newsweek Magazine, he records one soldier saying to him: "Goddamn. You're Colonel Hackworth. You're the hot shit dude who tells it like it is."

John Rees, editor of the Armed Forces Journal, whose readership is made up primarily of military personnel, said some people tried to dismiss the colonel. But he added: "In the scheme of things he serves a purpose for some of our younger troops, and when he speaks he is listened to."




IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP


Iraqi Oil Workers Throw Out KBR, Reconstruct Their Own Workplaces
Autonomously

Ewa Jasiewicz, Occupation Watch, Occupied Basra, 12/12/03
For more, check out:  http://www.occupationwatch.org/

Southern Oil Company Trade Unionists have declared their workplaces a no-go zone for Halliburton, formerly headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney’s, subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. KBR was given a no-bid contract by USAID to reconstruct bomb-shattered oil refineries and installations in Iraq. Included in the contracts was authorization to export and market Iraqi Oil. The SOC Union however, representing over 10,000 workers has banned all KBR representatives and foreign workers from entering their sites. SOC Union Head Hassan Jum'a says, ''Till this moment we haven’t needed any foreigners to come in. We can do everything ourselves'.

Worker unrest erupted in Bergeseeya oil refinery and control section in October following the employment of Indian and Pakistani laborers by Kuwaiti subcontractors Al Khorrafi Company. Workers staged a wildcat two-day strike, physically threw out the foreign workers and demanded a portion of the 70% unemployed population of Iraq be employed instead. The employment of foreign laborers was halted immediately.

Occupation Watch visited SOC workers in the North Rumeilla crude oil pumping station, drilling and gas company and discovered that workers had been carrying out reconstruction work independently, using their own worn tools, cannibalized spare parts from old equipment and parts purchased form the local market. Ali Mohammad Jowad, an engineer working in the water injection section of the station told OW, 'We haven’t seen any KBR employee do any repair work whatsoever. They are not involved in any reconstruction in any way. KBR came and checked our equipment and promised to repair looted equipment but until this moment, nothing is repaired'.

Workers started autonomously reconstructing in June with cleaning and repairing what they could including water pumps and oil well safety gauges. 'During this preparing' recalls Ali Mohammad, 'We also considered that we need a place to rest and sleep so we built a place for ourselves to stay in too'. According to workers, Reconstruction is 40% of what it needs to be with regards to buildings and workers have rebuilt 50% of their equipment autonomously. 'KBR hasn't even seen our work, they've said Nothing about our repairs. All our work has been our own' says Ali Mohammad. Many of the same workers who rebuilt North Rumeilla following the devastation of the first gulf war 13 years ago also participated in reconstruction again this war-round.

Hassan Jum'a, Head of the SOC Union, father of 6, and living in a decrepit, crumbling house in the 1999 missile-blasted neighborhood of Jhoomouria where piles of garbage rot in the street, is well respected throughout Basra, not only for his hardline position on workers rights and refusal of any 'foreign interference' including Occupation administration orders and rulings, but also for bringing together both communists and religious party members as location representatives in the Union. Uncompromising, direct and possessing a totally unreadable face, he presides over seven union councils in seven different locations.

He told OW that Bremer's June Public Notice (being implemented gleefully by bosses throughout Iraq like an Order) has had no effect on them. Bremer's notice declares that the CPA 'respects Iraqi law' including anti-worker Baath dictatorship law, chiefly 1987's order 151 which turned all Iraqi workers into civil servants - state employees, forbade independent trade unions and absorbed all workers into state-run Unions functioning as organs of surveillance and repression. 'Nothing has changed since Bremer's dictates' he states flatly.

The SOC union does however have full management backing. 'The General Director meets all our demands', says Jum'a, 'sometimes he signs our orders without even looking at them'. And indeed the Union has members within all levels of the company from buying committee members to reward and bonuses committees, plus its own minibuses and building and has been holding regular ceremonies marking the latest autonomous worker reconstruction effort. The most recent was in Majnoon , two weeks ago which saw workers rebuild the damaged refinery independently, using KBR materials but refusing any KBR personnel involvement. KBR were furious at the barring.

'At first they refused to supply us with the materials but in the same time we were insisting in our demands - we insisted that Iraqi people made the repairs', Jum’a told us. ' Then they tried to negotiate 50% KBR, 50% Iraqis, we said no, they then bargained for 5% foreign workers, then 1% but we still refused. Drivers are the only foreigners allowed anywhere near'. 'Several times KBR engineers told us ' We are amused by the way you are working' and they were surprised at the fast results'.

Indeed, the mirage of the mystified 'West Knows Best' multibillion dollar reconstruction industry falls apart when undermined by the truth of ordinary Iraqi workers rebuilding their own country using the inventiveness, ingenuity and experimentally they learned throughout the 13-years of collectively punishing UN-US-UK enforced sanctions and refusing all moves to privatise their workplaces.

However, despite these skills and talents borne under duress, further training and new technologies - with no strings attached - are deeply desired by workers at all levels of industry, in order to explore, diversify and build upon skills already acquired and foster greater autonomy and non-reliance on foreign experts and corporations.


U.S. Arrests Iraqi Union Leaders

News Feature, David Bacon, Pacific News Service, Dec 10, 2003

Editor's Note: There's another kind of battle being waged in Iraq -- the struggle for worker's rights. Iraqi union organizers say the U.S. authority is working against them.

SAN FRANCISCO--U.S. occupation forces in Iraq escalated their efforts to paralyze Iraq's new labor unions with a series of arrests this weekend.

On Dec. 6, according to a union spokesperson interviewed by phone, a convoy of 10 Humvees and personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters building of the Transport and Communications Workers union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the Federation's executive board, and took them into detention.

"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over," says IFTU spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted over the name of the federation on the front of the building with black paint, Muhsin says. The union had few resources, "but we did have a few files, and they took those," Muhsin adds. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers tore down in the raid.

Although the eight were released the following day, there was no explanation from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the U.S. occupation government in Iraq, for the detentions.

The bus station raid followed the detention of two other trade union leaders on November 23 -- Qasim Hadi, general secretary of the Union of the Unemployed, and Adil Salih, another leader of the organization. In the November raid, CPA troops said they found two guns in the union's office, which was only permitted to have one. Hadi explained at the time that the organization has been the subject of threats and fatwahs by Iraqi religious parties, and needed weapons for self-defense.

Hadi and Salih were released after being detained for a day.

The IFTU held a convention in Baghdad in June, at which it established unions in 12 industries.

When these new unions try to talk with the plant managers, however, they’re told that a 1987 law forbids workers in state-owned enterprises (where the majority of Iraqis work) from forming unions. The CPA still enforces this Saddam-era law. Another order issued by the CPA on June 6 threatens that anyone who "incites civil disorder” will be detained as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention.

Resistance at the work site has been made illegal by laws banning unions and by the arrest of their leaders.

Muhsen Mull Ali, an IFTU leader who spent two long stints in prison for organizing unions, both before and during Saddam's reign, says U.S. actions against unions won't deter him. "Our responsibility is to oppose privatization as much as possible, and fight for the welfare of our workers."

PNS contributor David Bacon ( dbacon@igc.org) is a photographer and
writer specializing in labor issues. He visited Iraq in October.


Resistance Cuts Off Oil Supplies From Turkey

By Jean-Pierre Perrin, Liberation, 11 December 2003

The country, however, produces some two million barrels of oil a day, of which 1.3 are exported. But the refineries, already out of breath from the embargo, don't manage to produce the required gas. The effects of bombings and sabotage have been grafted on top of their prior dilapidation; therefore, Iraq has to import refined oil products from Turkey. But Turkish truck drivers are on strike: they've had enough of being attacked on the road.




FORWARD OBSERVATIONS


“Rebellions can be made by 2% active in a striking force and 98% passively sympathetic.” TE Lawrence




OCCUPATION REPORT


Rationing Decreed Three Days After Coalition Office Says Iraq Gas Shortage Soon Solved,
Puppet Oil Minister Says “No Crisis”

BAGHDAD, 11 December 2003 Agence France Presse — Iraq imposed gasoline rationing yesterday as it stepped up efforts to cope with a shortage of fuel in this country with the world’s second-largest oil reserves, the Oil Ministry said.

“Each driver can have only 50 liters, not more, at the price of 20 dinars (one cent) each liter,” Asem Jihad, the spokesman for Iraq’s Oil Ministry, said.

In the northern capital of Mosul, however, drivers were being limited to half that amount, said an AFP correspondent there.

Motorists say the gas station queues, some as long as three kilometers, have become increasingly common since the holy month of Ramadan ended in late November.

Jihad said that because of the oil shortage, interim Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr Al-Ulum has cancelled a trip to Cairo where he was to meet with Arab oil ministers.

Jihad said on Sunday his country was suffering only a temporary shortage of oil and not a crisis.

Among the remedies to be considered by the task force is the possible use of US military vehicles to supplement Iraq’s tanker fleet, the statement said.

The rationing announcement comes three days after a coalition civilian spokesman said the petrol problem would be resolved soon.




DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK


Democrats and Republicans Completely United:
Both Parties Want More Soldiers Available To Die For U.S. Empire

By Tom Squitieri USA Today December 12, 2003

Members of Congress from both parties are pushing for the first significant increase in the size of the active-duty military in 16 years, despite resistance from the Pentagon.

“This recognizes the reality in the strain and the stretch in all the services,” says Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Skelton promises “positive action by our committee early next year.”

Fifty-four of the 61 members of the House Armed Services Committee, joined by the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, have sent President Bush a letter urging him to expand the U.S. combat force.

(Hard as it may be to believe, there are some leaders on the fringes of the anti-war movement who support the Empire, and the deaths of more U.S. soldiers, by pushing for activists to forget building the movement on the ground and, instead, want us to wander off into the swamp of Democratic Party Imperial politics. They’re up to their necks in blood, but since when did they ever care about that?)

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to the E-mail address up top. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.



Anonymous “Pentagon Official” Concedes No Military Win In Iraq;
Will Try To Buy Peace With Cold Cash

Wall St. Journal 12.9.03

Washington—To jump-start reconstruction projects in Iraq, the Pentagon is funneling about $300 million to senior military commanders in the country, more than double the amount they got in fiscal 2003, defense officials said.

Officials say they believe the cash infusion now will give a boost to reconstruction projects and help build momentum going into next year when the vast majority of U.S. troops will rotate out of the country and be replenished by fresh troops. Spending more money to get unemployed Iraqis onto U.S. payrolls for low-tech building and security projects, rather than having them join enemy ranks, is critical to U.S. success in Iraq, these officials said.

Senior Pentagon officials are especially concerned that Iraqi insurgents will increase attacks early next year to take advantage of the new, less experienced troops arriving in the country.

“We’re giving commanders this money because we realize that when the only tools you have are guns and bullets it is hard to win counterinsurgency wars,” said one defense official familiar with the decision.



Bush/Cheney Buddies At Halliburton Caught In Iraq Rip-Off

Douglas Jehl The San Francisco Chronicle 12 December 2003

A Pentagon investigation has found evidence that a subsidiary of the politically connected Halliburton Co. overcharged the government by as much as $61 million for gasoline delivered to Iraq under huge no-bid reconstruction contracts, senior defense officials said on Thursday.

The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, also submitted a proposal for cafeteria services that inflated the cost by $67 million, the officials said. The Pentagon rejected that proposal, they said.

The problems involving Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, were described in a preliminary report by auditors, the officials said. They said the issues are a source of deep concern within the Pentagon, whose contracts with KBR were awarded without competitive bidding and have a potential value of $15.6 billion.

Criticism of the company intensified when it received the no-bid contract worth billions of dollars to provide a variety of services in Iraq.

Government documents show that the U.S. government is paying Halliburton Co. an average of $2.64 a gallon to import gasoline to Iraq from Kuwait, more than twice what others are paying to truck in Kuwaiti fuel.


DONALD RUMSFELD: POLITICAL GENIUS
The Secretary of Defense Speaks

"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."




AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS


Two US Troops Injured In Explosion

December 12, 2003 Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two soldiers were slightly injured when an explosion hit their vehicle in northeastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Friday.
The soldiers were traveling near Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, on Thursday when their vehicle was struck by a homemade explosive.


Rumsfeld Doesn’t’ Get It

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, Pravda, 05 December 2003

Speaking in heavily-guarded Kabul, Donald Rumsfeld declared to the press that "Those who have been defeated...would like to come back...but they will not have that opportunity". Referring to the Taliban and their regime, Donald Rumsfeld with this simplistic statement proves that he has no idea of the complexity of the situation in Afghanistan.

To begin with, the Taliban have not disappeared and instead of decreasing in influence, are increasing their attacks, pinning the NATO security forces inside Kabul where, on the same day that he spoke, there was an ambush by the Taliban on a convoy of trucks and a loud explosion near the US Embassy inside the city. Taliban activity in the south have again rendered half of Afghanistan a no-go area for foreign workers.

"They will not have that opportunity" presupposes that it is Washington, and not the people of Afghanistan, that is responsible for the internal affairs of this country. If the Pashtun elect their representatives democratically and the Pashtun/Taliban mix get an increased share of the vote, who is Donald Rumsfeld to say that they will not get a better power share?


Making Enemies

The Economist Newspaper 12.11.03

IT WAS a bonus for the Taliban. Last week, an American air strike aimed at the house of a suspected militant in Ghazni province, deep in the disaffected south of Afghanistan, shredded nine children playing marbles in the earth nearby. A local labourer, who had recently returned home from Iran, was also thought to have been killed, while the targeted man appeared to get away. Another strike in the neighbouring Paktia province failed to find the suspect but killed six more children.

The Americans apologised, while proceeding with their biggest operation to date in the south—dubbed “Avalanche”—to chase insurgents before winter sets in. Yet similar operations over the past two years have achieved little. The American-led coalition has so far dismally failed to deliver security to the south. Innocents are as likely to be picked up—or apart—as enemies. Meanwhile the leaders remain at large. Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, is said to operate in the Pakistani city of Quetta.


Resistance Controls 5 Of 8 Zabul Districts

AP 2003-12-12

In the southeastern province of Zabul, Deputy Gov. Mulvi Mohammad Omar said yesterday five of the area's eight districts are now under the indirect control of Taliban sympathizers.

"Kabul must supply us with better security and funds, or the international NGOs won't be able to work here any longer," Omar said.


U.N. May Abandon Afghan Effort

By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer 12.12.03

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The United Nations may be forced to abandon its two-year effort to stabilize Afghanistan because of rising violence blamed on the resurgent Taliban, its top official here warned Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Lakhdar Brahimi said his team could not continue its work unless security improves. He called for more foreign troops to halt attacks that have killed at least 11 aid workers across the south and east since March.

"Countries cannot kid themselves and cannot go on expecting us to work in unacceptable security conditions," Brahimi said.

"They seem to think that our presence is important here. Well, if they do, they have got to make sure that the conditions for us to be here are there," he said. "If not, we will go away."


Received:

From: "M” In Rafah, Occupied Palestine December 12, 2003

Dear T:

Thank you for mentioning my website in your news list. That's kind of you dear friend.
So many thanks. The situations here is very bad, they killed 6 people yesterday, 20 injured and 9 houses demolished. The situations is not good. The people get killed by US weapons, anyway, thank you for all your hard works.

Regards
M

"The world is a dangerous place to live;
not because of the people who are evil,
but because of the people who don't
do anything about it."
www.rafah.vze.com

(To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by a foreign power, go to: www.rafah.vze.com. The foreign army is Israeli; the occupied nation is Palestine.)


From: E
Sent: December 12, 2003
Subject: Re: GI Special request

Hallo, I knew about GI Special because I've a friend working in the Occupation Watch in Baghdad; the reports are very interesting because of the infos disseminated; this kind of infos is very difficult to find in the normal press and so we can understand better the real situation on the ground.
Thank you for work and keep on it.
Yours sincerely
E


From: "D"
Sent: December 11, 2003 11:21 PM

Forgot to tell u that a (deleted name of major newspaper) editorial staffer told me that he finds your G I Specials I send him great to read.

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