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AS THE WORLD SQUIRMS Tuesday ~ October 17, 2006
SQUIRMS
ARCHIVE
· Families Flee
Iraqi River Towns On 4th Day of Sectarian Warfare: Families fled in search of safety Monday as open
warfare raged for a fourth day between Shiite militias and armed Sunni men in
Tigris River towns north of Baghdad. The escalating violence in the Tigris
River towns in many ways serves as a microcosm of the daily violence roiling
Iraq. Sectarian
attacks have increased more than 10-fold since the start of the year and now
claim more than 100 victims a day, according to the Iraqi government. · Islamic Army
in Iraq Issues Video of Ammo Facility Bombing: In an 8:19
minute video and transcript issued by the Islamic Army in Iraq Sunday,
October 15, 2006, the group provides footage of the bombing and resulting
blaze of an ammunitions facility at the Falcon base of American forces in
southern Baghdad. The attack, which occurred on the night of Tuesday, October
10, was claimed by both the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Conquering Army
[Jeish al-Fatiheen], and was filmed by a Mujahid from the Salah al-Din
al-Ayubi Brigades of the Islamic Iraqi Resistance Front, Ja’ami. Although
the Islamic Army accepts that “anyone who has military experience” would inform that their use of two Katyusha rockets
and three mortar shells cannot destroy a military base the size of the
Falcon base, the group claims that it truly was done so because of the
support of Allah. The narrator of the video chides that a base costing
several hundred million dollars and composed of much reinforcement, was
destroyed by about three-hundred dollars worth of weaponry. He also
reminds of statements from American military personnel of the extent of
damaged incurred, not only to the base facilities, but to aircraft, tanks,
and administrative and archival materials belonging to the Marines. However,
the group claims that the military failed to mention the casualties or
injuries of the five thousands “infidels” on the site. · Election 2006:
A War Referendum - It's all about Iraq: The November election is
shaping up as a national referendum on the war in Iraq – and the GOP, AKA the War Party, is in deep
trouble. A recent CNN poll asked voters to rank the importance of the war
issue: 48
percent said it is "extremely important," while 38 percent averred
it's "very important." The same poll shows overwhelming opposition to the war (62
percent, and climbing), and – the shocker – 56 percent believe the war was a mistake, while a mere 40
percent disagree – with the latter figure the
lowest on record. The bad news for Republicans: when it comes to Iraq, voters
would rather have Democrats in charge (51 percent). After all, a Republican
administration, aided and abetted by a rubber-stamp GOP-controlled Congress,
lied to them: according to a Newsweek poll, a whopping 58 percent say Bush and his team "purposely
misled the public about evidence that Iraq had banned weapons in order to build support for war." ·
Who Defends
Iraq’s Women?: “Our
freedom and democracy, brought by the United States of America, was the
breaking down of our daily routines. Now we can’t
even go out on the street without thinking twice,”
stated Houzan Mahmoud in the debate organised by ATTAC Portugal and with the
collaboration of PRAVDA.Ru in the Portuguese Social Forum in Almada this
weekend. ·
Criminal Justice or the Police State? (by Jacob
G. Hornberger on al-Qaeda in federal court): Long-time supporters of The Future of Freedom Foundation will
recall that immediately after 9/11
we wrote that a military attack on Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama
bin Laden and bring him to justice would just end up killing thousands of
innocent Afghan people, which would then generate more anger and more hatred,
which in turn would produce more threats of terrorism. We wrote the same
thing in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq. In retrospect, no one can deny that the
wars on Afghanistan and Iraq have turned both countries into violence-ridden,
terrorist-producing wastelands. In fact, the invasion of Afghanistan, along
with the war on Iraq, has been a dream-come-true for bin Laden and al-Qaeda
recruiters, given the enormous anger and hatred that have arisen in response
to massive military strikes both in Afghanistan and Iraq that have killed and
maimed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. · Is The Bush
Doctrine Dead? (by Patrick J Buchanan): As some of us wrote at the
time, to
call Iran and Iraq, mortal enemies in the eight-year war of the ‘80s that
took a million lives, an “axis” was absurd. Bush’s speech was a blunder of the first magnitude. First, he had no authority
to attack any of those nations, as Congress had not authorized war. Second,
he had neither the plans nor forces in place to do so. Yet he had put all
three on notice this was what he had in mind. When the United States
invaded Iraq, North Korea and Iran got the message. Both accelerated their
nuclear programs. By issuing public ultimatums, Bush left these regimes no way
out. Even tiny Serbia felt its national honor required it to fight rather
than submit to a U.S. ultimatum to let NATO march through the country to
occupy Kosovo. ·
30 More Countries Could Have Nukes
Soon: VIENNA, Austria - The head of the U.N. nuclear
agency warned Monday that as
many as 30 countries could soon have technology that would let them produce
atomic weapons "in a very short time," joining
the nine states known or suspected to have such arms. Speaking at a
conference on tightening controls against nuclear proliferation, Mohamed
ElBaradei said more
nations are "hedging their bets" by developing technology that is at the core of peaceful
nuclear energy programs but could quickly be switched to making weapons. ·
Israeli Police Charge That Israel’s President is a
Rapist: Israeli
police said they have evidence that supports allegations that President Moshe Katsav raped, assaulted and sexually
harassed several women.
Petar Pismestrovic,
Kleine Zeitung, Austria, 
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