http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/iraq-a23.shtml


Informant: B Stanton

Dr Gideon Polya

August 17th, 2004 -- A detailed formal complaint sent to Australia's major Federal and State Law Officers accuses the Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes in Iraq. Specifically: (1) illegal invasion of a remote, non-threatening country and (2) horrendous mass mortality in an occupied country -- e.g. current under-5 infant mortality is estimated from UNICEF data to be about 100,000 per year in Iraq (population 24 million) -- while annual per capita medical expenditure is currently $40 in occupied, war-ravaged Iraq as compared to US$1000 in Australia.

http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=86433:740526

Al Jazeera

August 21, 2004 -- A leading Egyptian Islamic leader has warned that a "volcano of anger" could explode in response to US-led military action in Najaf and Falluja. Ali Gumaa, the mufti of Egypt and the country's highest authority on Islamic law, condemned the "continuing aggression by US-led forces on the Imam Ali shrine and Islamic holy places" in Iraq. "After the humiliations and the terrorizing and killing of civilians, the world cannot expect… that a volcano of anger and indignation will not explode," Gumaa said. Gumaa is second in the Islamic hierarchy only to the shaikh of al-Azhar, Cairo's ancient university and institute of religious learning.

http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=86429:740526

Phillip Robertson / Islam Online

(August 22, 2004) -- Reporter Phillip Robertson has covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for the Salon.com, the BBC, Radio New Zealand, and NPR. During the past three years, he has written more than 50 eyewitness accounts of fighting that did not appear in mainstream Western media. He hosted a global online Q&A session via IslamOnline. Here are some excerpts:

"I lived in the Imam Ali Mosque for three days, taking shelter with Muslims from around Iraq. It is a sacred place, one of the most moving places I have ever been to. I received only kindness and hospitality while I was there and never feared for my safety. It is vital that the war in Najaf end immediately, and that US attacks on the area near the Shrine cease. There are no weapons in the Shrine. It is a place of refuge, not a military encampment. Mehdi Army officials are in the Shrine, but they are unarmed, like everyone else inside. All reporters who have been to the Shrine want to make this clear."

http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=86418:740526

http://www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk/newsletter/


Informant: PeaceNoWar

by Noy Thrupkaew

The American Prospect

08/22/04

Film review: "A little advice for the Bush administration: Don't lie to us. That's the one thing, guaranteed, that will bite you in your golf-pants -- and Sansabelt-clad behinds. The American public really hates a prevaricator. ... [T]his messy bird's nest you've woven to justify the war on Iraq -- some nice pieces of tinfoil from Ahmad Chalabi, maybe some baby powder for Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations, some yellowcake crumbs, scraps from the smoking ruins of the World Trade Center, a big old tuft from Osama bin Laden's beard to line the whole thing -- well, that?s just shameless.

Robert Greenwald's latest documentary, Uncovered: The War on Iraq, takes on the administration's pop-eyed rhetoric, intelligence-data manipulation, and low-blow tactics against dissenters...

http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=8387


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

08/18/04

Breaking ranks with his party and reversing his earlier stance, a senior retiring Republican lawmaker said Wednesday the military strike against Iraq was 'a mistake,' and he blasted a 'massive failure' of intelligence before the war. The unexpected four-page statement came from Rep. Doug Bereuter of Nebraska, who until earlier this month was the vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee -- a panel that reviewed much of the evidence the administration cited before going to war...

http://tinyurl.com/66wwc


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp