World Iraq Newswire Archive

A previously secret US diplomatic cable from 1990, published by WikiLeaks on New Year’s Day  http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/1990/07/90BAGHDAD4237.html , provides a detailed account of a crucial meeting between the US ambassador to Iraq and Saddam Hussein on the eve of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

Hossein Khezri, a 28-year-old man, and Zeynab Jalalian, a 27-year-old woman, Kurdish Youth Activist, are feared to be at imminent risk of execution. Both were convicted of “enmity against God”, in separate cases, for membership of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan.

Here's what's coming up...

World Peace Declared!

See www.smashedo.org.uk and www.freedomtoprotest.org.uk

A loud surprise noise demo was held outside EDO/ITT this morning in response to the freedom to protest call to action (www.freedomtoprotest.org.uk) that had been proposed for the weekend.

Rockets Strongly Hit Kalso Occupation Base
Katyusha Rockets Aim US Base in Kirkuk
Katyusha Rockets Felt in the Green Zone
Roadside Bomb Targets US Oil Tanker
US Occupation Wheel Destroyed in Bakuba

After having taken a week off last week to join the students' demo, we are back outside EDO today as usual.

Further allegations of war crimes committed by British troops in Iraq emerged in the High Court in London last week.

The leaders of the US Alliance have yet to face war crimes trials before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvements in the Iraqi Genocide (4.4 million deaths, 1990-2010) and the Afghan Genocide (4.9 million deaths, 2001-2010).

Judicial exposure of US Alliance war crimes can be achieved if Australian PM John Howard, who committed Australia to the illegal invasion of Iraq, is prosecuted for “proceeds of crime” over his recently published memoirs.

Global Research is publishing what the "progressive" British press has refused to publish concerning the mysterious death of Dr. David Kelly.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled Tuesday that the US is preparing to scrap a 2011 deadline for withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq, setting the stage for a permanent military occupation of the oil-rich country.

The UK and US media smears described in Part 1  http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/2010/11/467342.html should be kept in mind when considering the gravity and importance of the latest WikiLeaks. In addition to thousands of previously unreported civilian killings, the leaks revealed more than 1,300 claims of torture by Iraqi police and military between 2005 and 2009. More than 180,000 people were detained at some point between 2004 and 2009, or one in 50 Iraqi males.

Latest from Smash EDO...

“Journalists don't like WikiLeaks”, Hugo Rifkind notes in The Times, but “the people who comment online under articles do... Maybe you've noticed, and been wondering why. I certainly have.” (Hugo Rifkind Notebook, ‘Remind me. It's the red one I mustn't press, right?,’ The Times, October 26, 2010)

Rifkind is right. The internet has revealed a chasm separating the corporate media from readers and viewers. Previously, the divide was hidden by the simple fact that Rifkind’s journalists - described accurately by Peter Wilby as the “unskilled middle class” ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/10/comment.pressandpublishing) - monopolised the means of mass communication. Dissent was restricted to a few lonely lines on the letter’s page, if that. Readers were free to vote with their notes and coins, of course. But in reality, when it comes to the mainstream media, the public has always been free to choose any colour it likes, so long as it’s corporate ‘black’. The internet is beginning to offer some brighter colours.

A 1,400 word piece on the continuing peace campaign of Brian Haw in London's
Parliament Square.

A coalition of US activists demonstrated in the home neighbourhood of ITT chief executiveve, Steven Loranger, last week. US campaigners are targetting ITT, the owners of Brighton's EDO MBM, because of their involvement in the design and manufacture of drone technology and their pro-war lobbying activities. One of the participants in the 40 strong demonstration said of Loranger, "We're here today to inform his neighbors about how his personal ambitions impact all of our lives,"

WikiLeaks’ release of nearly 400,000 US military documents from operations in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 brings to light new evidence that private security contractors killed civilians with impunity.

The British private military company AEGIS Defence Services has silently relocated its headquarters to the Swiss border city of Basel. In theoretically 'neutral' Switzerland, however, the company's arrival has sparked controversy and opposition.

This is just a short reminder that this Wednesday (the 27th of October) Smash EDO are holding the yearly HALLOWEEN NOISE DEMO between 4-6 outside the factory on Home Farm Road. Come dressed in your scariest Halloween mask and be ready to spook them out!