Amerikaans Terrorisme 5

Vandaag precies drie jaar geleden begon de bezetting van Irak. Zomaar wat berichten van Democracy Now: 'Ex-Interim Iraq PM Says Iraq Mired in Civil War Meanwhile, Iraq’s former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has said he believes Iraq is in the midst of a civil war. In an interview with the BBC, Allawi said: "We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."
Iraqi Video Leads to War Crimes Investigation of US MarinesIn other Iraq news, video footage shot by a young Iraqi journalism student has led to the investigation of close to a dozen US marines for committing possible war crimes. The video was taken after a roadside bomb killed one US marine in Haditha. US troops then raided homes in the area, killing 15 civilians. The Pentagon initially blamed their deaths on the roadside bomb attack that killed the soldier. But an investigation was opened a few months later when a Time magazine reporter gave the videotape to the military. The video shows the victims lying in their bullet-ridden homes. Three children were killed. US Accused of Killing Iraqi Civilians Near Balad. Meanwhile, Iraqi police have accused US troops of murdering 11 civilians in a raid just last week. According to an Iraqi police report obtained by the Knight Ridder news agency, the villagers were killed after US troops herded them into one room of a house near the city of Balad. The dead included two young children, a 6-month-old infant and an elderly woman. The report says the troops burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house. A local police commander said all the victims were found handcuffed with gunshot wounds to the head. Prison Abuse Continued After Abu GhraibThe New York Times has revealed new details of systematic prison abuse carried out by a special US military unit based out of Baghdad’s airport. According to the Times, Task Force 6-26 regularly beat Iraqi detainees, spit in their faces and used them as shooting targets during paintball games at the base, known as Camp Nama. The prisoners were denied access to lawyers or relatives and held for weeks without charge. The abuses continued despite warnings from Army investigators beginning in August 2003 – and even after the Abu Ghraib scandal was made public less than a year later. The unit reportedly kept a motto that said: "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it." Rumsfeld Likens US Withdrawal to Handing Germany to the NazisDefense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has compared the current situation to the aftermath of the Second World War. In an op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Post, Rumsfeld wrote: "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis." Ex-Major General Calls For Rumsfeld to ResignMeanwhile, a former US military general has called on Rumsfeld to resign. Writing in Sunday’s New York Times, former Major General Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training Iraqi troops after the US invasion, wrote: “[Rumsfeld] has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq.” Carter: Israel’s “Colonization of Palestine” Obstacle to Mideast PeaceIn other news, former President Jimmy Carter has labeled what he calls Israel’s: “colonization of Palestine” as the “preeminent obstacle to peace.” Writing in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Carter said Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has prevented a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians – regardless of whether they were under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas. Carter also questioned Israel’s offers to the Palestinians during the years of Oslo peace process, saying at best they amounted to withdrawing only a small number of the over 220,000 settlers in the West Bank. Carter went on to write that Israel’s continuing control of Gaza’s borders and airspace makes the area a “nonviable economic and political entity”, while future prospects for the West Bank remain “equally dismal.”' Lees verder: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/20/1439221