"Merry Christmas" 2010, not in Iraq

The following is an important article by the excellent Arab woman Layla Anwar, who certainly knows how to express herself and her humanity very well.

"Baghdad's Bloody Xmas Leaks..."
by Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues, arabwomanblues.blogspot.com, Dec. 25, 2010

www.uruknet.info/?p=m73249

Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? Season's Greetings? What Christmas, what Holidays, what Greetings?!

Another Christmas has gone by and the American Santa has delivered us nothing but body bags and blood containers...

Now that Arab Sunnis have been ethnically cleansed and exiled in thousands, it is the Iraqi Christians turn.

For the Festivities, they closed down their Churches, ripped the decoration, packed their suitcases and forced themselves into a permanent exile.

Around this time of the year, between the 24 and 31st of December, the corrupt criminal Jingle Bell boys installed by the US Santa are sure to deliver you some goodies...

No wonder this time of the year is the most painful one for me. Excruciatingly so.

Moreover a friend in Baghdad, I'll call him/her A.sent me the following :

I don't know where to start...there is no day that goes by without news of assassinations and killings. The use of the Silencer gun is their preferred method. Just a few days ago, there was another murder a few streets from where we live. The guy was found dumped on the road! Again, a few days ago there was another killing with the Silencer in the Yarmuk area, the body had no ID.

The Silencer has become quite popular. These are deaths I have heard about through friends and some death are so near by... and every other day a member of my family comes home and tells me another person has been killed. Killings are taking place in broad day light even in busy areas... for instance, a couple of people were walking by and all of a sudden some guy just falls over shot with a silencer gun. Some people are saying it reminds them of 05 06 07 when they woke up and found people dead on the streets. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 assassinations a day...many of them we dont know much about because its only word of mouth, things dont get out much here.

Just got today there were HEAPS of Silencer killings today... In Mansour apparently the treasurer of Malikis party was killed and director general of ministry of electricity...those are the known people, the others are unknown. Some say they wonder how they've even managed to dodge all the killings that are going on, its getting worse day by day. Needless to add, there are also daily explosions.

Freedom of speech is as you know very rare, I don't know if I can survive living here any longer, you're not allowed an opinion and you're not allowed to be outspoken in any way. On 5th of December in the Afternoon a journalist was killed in the Mansour area...in broad daylight. People were saying that he was more or less outspoken (probably spoke out against the government). Oh and he was also killed with the Silencer gun.

Christians families are moving out of Baghdad to the North on their way out of the country. One family I heard of, came back from the North to pack the remaining of their belongings, they were slaughtered outside their house.

People are feeling particularly unsafe this month and all are trying to avoid going out. There is a weird feeling going around, a great feeling of uncertainty. And the rise in assassinations with silencer guns is quite frightening...

Oh and before the electricity goes out, did you know that the government is planning on closing all clubs, even family clubs!

end of message.

That shit radio is playing yet another Christmas song...something in me is dying, it's already dead...

I haven't really celebrated anything since 2003.

And nothing since December 2006.

I'll include links and excerpts from some articles regarding the killings with guns with silencers, for I've read about the use of such arms before during this war in Iraq and it was very unlikely that these killings were committed by Iraqi Resistance fighters. It's extremely unlikely that many, most or any of the killings of Iraqi medical professionals, academics, et cetera, were committed by Iraqi Resistance. It's extremely unlikely that they would have intentionally killed innocent Iraqis who didn't work for and with the criminal foreign occupation forces. Et cetera. Iraqi Resistance would have absolutely nothing to gain and either a lot or everything to lose by committing such violence; but the US and UK would not stand to lose, excerpt for losing their souls, to Hell.

Guns with silencers:

"Iraq: The Age of Darkness"
by Dirk Adriaensens, The BRussells Tribunal, www.brussellstribunal.org, Sept. 19, 2010

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21097

Part I : “Success”, a devastating balance sheet

In the immediate aftermath of the 2003 invasion, the triumphalist verdict of the mainstream media was that the war had been won; Iraq was assured of a benevolent, democratic future. The Times's writer William Rees-Mogg hymned the victory: "April 9 2003 was Liberty Day for Iraq. (...) It was achieved by "the engine of global liberation", the United States. "After 24 years of oppression, three wars and three weeks of relentless bombing, Baghdad has emerged from an age of darkness. Yesterday was an historic day of liberation."[1]

"The problem with this war for, I think, many Americans is that the premise on which we justified going to war proved not to be valid, that is Saddam having weapons of mass destruction," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters while visiting Iraq.

"So when you start from that standpoint, then figuring out in retrospect how you deal with the war — even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States — it will always be clouded by how it began." [2]

So here Robert Gates acknowledges that this war was illegal according to international law, because there was no “casus belli”. But in the same sentence he says that the outcome has been good for the United States. What does he mean exactly? How can all the killing and destruction be a good outcome for the USA? And what about responsibilities? If you know that Iraq is still paying reparations for the invasion in Kuwait in 1990, how about the payment of reparations by the USA for the destruction it inflicted upon Iraq?

(snip)

The facts

Here the facts:

(snip)

William Blum gives a short but devastating overview of the “good outcome” of this war: “No American should be allowed to forget that the nation of Iraq, the society of Iraq, have been destroyed, ruined, a failed state. The Americans, beginning 1991, bombed for 12 years, with one excuse or another; then invaded, then occupied, overthrew the government, killed wantonly, tortured ... the people of that unhappy land have lost everything — their homes, their schools, their electricity, their clean water, their environment, their neighborhoods, their mosques, their archaeology, their jobs, their careers, their professionals, their state-run enterprises, their physical health, their mental health, their health care, their welfare state, their women's rights, their religious tolerance, their safety, their security, their children, their parents, their past, their present, their future, their lives ... More than half the population either dead, wounded, traumatized, in prison, internally displaced, or in foreign exile ... The air, soil, water, blood and genes drenched with depleted uranium ... the most awful birth defects ... unexploded cluster bombs lie in wait for children to pick them up .”[6]

(snip)

Part II: Endless occupation and its insidious effects

Withdrawal?

(snip)

The plain and simple fact is that the war and occupation will continue until the people of Iraq and the world force the U.S. to total withdrawal. People in this country (the USA) have a particular responsibility to build a powerful movement of determined political opposition to the ongoing occupation of and war upon Iraq waged by the U.S. government. Do not be fooled into thinking that Obama or any presidential administration will leave Iraq on its own volition, concludes Kenneth J. Theisen form the US antiwar group “World Can’t Wait”.[37] And the National Popular Resistance has stepped up its activities against the occupation recently: There has also been a major increase in rocket and mortar attacks in the fortified Green Zone and at the Baghdad airport, according to Brig. Gen. Ralph O. Baker, the deputy commander of American forces in central Iraq. General Baker, who said there had been about 60 such attacks in the last two months compared with “two or three” in the preceding months[38]

The infamous underevaluation of civilian casualties counts.

While the destruction of Iraq is considered by Washington’s ruling elite as a “good outcome for the United States”, most journalists in the mainstream press keep on fixing the number of civilian casualties at around 100.000. Another lie, a gross underestimate and an insult to the suffering Iraqi people. That number comes from Iraq Bodycount, an organisation that does valuable work in collecting data of the deaths that are reported in the mainstream press[39]. But their figures cannot serve as a scientific norm to establish a relevant estimate of Iraqi casualties.

Let’s give a few examples: Twenty thousand[40] of Iraq’s 34,000 registered physicians left Iraq after the U.S. invasion. As of April 2009, fewer than 2,000 returned, the same as the number who were killed during the course of the war[41]. Iraq bodycount has some 70 doctors in their database of casualties[42], which means that they have only listed 3,5% of the estimated number of killed physicians.

Iraq Bodycount has 108 academics listed in its database. The BRussells Tribunal has a partial list of 448 murdered academics[43], compiled from different sources. Although that list is very incomplete, Iraq Bodycount lists only 24% of the academic casualties reported by the BRussells Tribunal.

Perhaps the best monitored category of victims in this war are the media professionals. The BRussells Tribunal has a list of 354 killed media professionals.[44] Al-Iraqiya director general Habib al-Sadr told AFP in September 2007 that at least 75 members of his staff have been killed since he took over the channel in 2005 and another 68 wounded.[45] The BRussells Tribunal list of killed media professionals had at that moment less than 1/3rd of this number in its database. But the number of Iraq Bodycount stands at only 241 casualties.

(snip)

The discussion about casualties is not over yet, but we can safely put forward the number of + 1 million excess deaths caused by this war, most of them from violent causes. An archive of articles about the heated discussions in the press and blogs on civilian death counts during the US occupation can be found on the BRussells Tribunal website: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Lancet111006.htm

A dark summer for Iraqi academics

The BRussells Tribunal is well known for its campaign it started in 2005 to create awareness about the situation of Iraqi academics. It receives regularly (sic) updates on summary executions of Iraqi academics from a variety of Iraqi sources. Here’s a short overview of casualties that occurred during the summer:

(snip)

On 28 August 2010 the BRussells Tribunal received the following email: “I would like to add the name of my close friend Dr.Samer Saleem Abbas, who was assassinated in his private ultrasound clinic by a gunman with silencer pistol with cold blooded killer, who told his patients: “there is no need to stay and wait in the clinic anymore: your doctor is dead”. Dr.Samer was shot 5-6 bullets, one of them in his mouth... (my emphasis) He was killed with a pen in his hand. He used to work as Radiologist/Specialists and chair of radiology department at a specialized surgery hospital (Al-Jerahat Hospital) in Baghdad medical city.

(snip)

There is no end in sight of the targeted killings of Iraq’s best and brightest minds. Roughly 40% of Iraq’s middle class is believed to have fled the country by the end of 2006. The situation has only worsened since then, although at a lower frequency. Actions to reverse this brain drain remain very necessary. But most observers don’t see the government taking concrete measures that create the necessary conditions for the educated middle class to return. Without the middle class Iraq has no viable future.

"Crimes against Humanity: Iraqi academics assassinated during the US-led occupation"

by Pakistan Daily, Nov. 26, 2008

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11187

Editor's note

Pakistan Daily has published the list of Iraqi academics assassinated by US and allied occupation forces. The objective of these targeted assassinations is to "kill a nation", the (sic) destroy Iraq's ability to educate its people, to undermine its research and scientific capabilities in literally all fields of endeavor, to transform a nation into a territory, and ultmately to destroy civilization.

Of particular significance is the assassination of prominent scientists and physicians, professors of medicine in the country's leading academic institutions, its social scientists and historians, its physical scientists, its biologists, its engineers.

we are dealing with a carefully devised covert operation. The plan to kill the nation's scientists and intellectuals emanates from US intelligence and the military. It is a deliberate process.

Is the new Obama administration going to turn a blind eye to this diabolical and criminal agenda?

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 27 November 2008

We could have guessed when Professor Chossudovsky wrote his editorial note for the above article that the answer to his question about whether, or not, a President Obama would "turn a blind eye to this diabolical and criminal agenda" was YES; and, today, we can be very certain that it we would have been right.

Excerpting, now, from the Pakistan Daily piece:

UPDATE: for the complete list consult the Brussels Tribunal at http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Academics.htm

The following relation has being created against the Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq with the information provided by direct Iraqi university sources and international and Arab media. It only includes names and data referred to university academics assassinated during the Occupation period.

BAGHDAD, Baghdad University

(snip - LONG list, btw)

Mohammed Al-Miyahi: Dean of Al-Maamoun Faculty in Baghdad. He was shot with a silencer-equipped gun in front of his house in Al-Qadisiah district, southern Baghdad, as he stepped out of his car 14 December 2007. (my emphasis) [Source CEOSI Iraqi source and Kuwait News Agency, reported 19 December 2007, IPS reported 19 December 2007, and Al-Basrah, reported 12 March 2008.]

Al-Mustansiriya University (Baghdad)

(snip)

University of Technology (Baghdad)

(snip)

Al-Nahrein University (Baghdad.]

(snip)

Islamic University (Baghdad)

(snip)

Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education (Baghdad)

(snip)

Baghdad Institutes

(snip)

There are most lists of assassinations of academics at several other Iraqi universities and institutions following the list for "Baghdad Institutes", which I included the subheading for, above. It's MANY assassinations of academics. The Baghdad University list, alone, is LONG, and the total is a lot more; and that's for an article of Nov. 2008 that doesn't provide a complete listing even for that date.

Who stands to gain? Well, I agree with Professor Chossudovsky, and I've referred to a related index at BRussellsTribunal.org plenty of times here, the index linked in the home page and for which the link is entitled, "Salvador Option and Death Squads". And I think that that's likely the explanation for the murderous attacks on Iraqi Christians or Christian Iraqis, whichever way they refer to themselves, as well as other innocent Iraqis, today and recently. Who stands to gain?!

Really, only the US and its puppet Iraqi "friends" in Iraq.

"Did Blackwater sneak silencers into Iraq?
Security firm under investigation for allegedly sidestepping export controls"

by Aram Roston, Nov. 1, 2007

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21565556/ns/world_news-mideast/n_africa

The article provides a picture and the caption for it reads, "A Blackwater employee shows off a silencer-equipped rifle in Iraq in a photo obtained by NBC News. The picture has been digitally altered to protect the identity of the subject".

WASHINGTON — Federal agents are investigating allegations that the Blackwater USA security firm illegally exported dozens of firearms sound suppressors — commonly known as silencers — to Iraq and other countries for use by company operatives, sources close to the investigation tell NBC News.

Investigators from various federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the State Department and the Commerce Department, are digging into the allegations that the company exported the silencers without getting necessary export approval, according to law enforcement sources, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity. The sources said the investigation is part of a broader examination of potential firearms and export violations.

(snip)

The sources tell NBC News that Blackwater purchased the silencers legally from SWR Manufacturing, formerly of Georgia and now located in Pickens, S.C. SWR manufactures the devices for pistols, rifles and machine guns. The purchases took place over several years, the sources say.

Ex-official confirms Blackwater a customer

A former official at SWR Manufacturing of South Carolina, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Blackwater had been a customer. The former SWR official would not say how many suppressors Blackwater purchased, but another source said law-enforcement officials have been told that the number was more than 100.

The former SWR official said he faxed copies of all paperwork relating to Blackwater’s business with SWR to the ATF more than a year ago after federal investigators contacted him. The former official said investigators told him that Blackwater sent the silencers overseas with its employees without getting the necessary export approval.

(snip)

While silencers are rare in America because their possession is highly restricted, they are common props in movies and television programs, used by actors playing hit men or members of the special forces. The military uses them for covert action and nighttime tactical assaults where stealth and surprise are required, but experts say it is not clear why Blackwater guards would need them for missions such as personal protection of diplomats.

Details of case slow to emerge

It has been reported that two former Blackwater employees who pleaded guilty to firearms violations earlier this year are cooperating with federal investigators in a firearms investigation, but the specifics of the case, including the details about the silencers, have not previously been disclosed.

(snip)

"New Blackwater Iraq Scandal: Guns, Silencers and Dog Food
Ex-employees tell ABC News the firm used dog food sacks to smuggle unauthorized weapons to Iraq"

by Brian Ross and Jason Ryan, ABC News, Nov. 14, 2008

www.truth-out.org/111408R

A federal grand jury in North Carolina is investigating allegations the controversial private security firm Blackwater illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large sacks of dog food, ABCNews.com has learned.

Under State Department rules, Blackwater is prohibited from using certain assault weapons and silencers in Iraq because they are considered "offensive" weapons inappropriate for Blackwater's role as a private security firm protecting US diplomatic missions.

"The only reason you need a silencer is if you want to assassinate someone," said former CIA intelligence officer John Kiriakou, an ABC News consultant.

(snip)

The investigation of the alleged dog food smuggling scheme began last year after two Blackwater employees were caught trying to sell stolen weapons in North Carolina. The two, Kenneth Cashwell and William "Max" Grumiaux pleaded guilty in February and became government witnesses, according to court documents.

Two other former employees tell ABCNews.com they also witnessed the dog food smuggling operation. ...

(snip)

In addition to the grand jury investigation, Blackwater sources say the company is facing a multimillion-dollar fine for some 900 instances in which it violated State Department licensing requirements for the export of certain weapons.

(snip)

Another former Blackwater insider who talked with ABCNews.com said company executives made the decision to smuggle the weapons and silencers in the dog food "because it's a war over there and our guys need them."

(snip)

How is it that Blackwater mercenaries need guns with silencers when John Kiriakou is clearly right and Blackwater was not ostensibly hired to conduct assassinations? Blackwater had no legitimate or defensible need for guns with silencers and there have been many hellish assassinations of Iraqi medical professionals, academics, scientists, government officials, and police, including with the use of guns with silencers. Perhaps not many of most of these groups of assassinated Iraqis were killed with such guns, but many Iraqi guards or police have been; according to articles I came across during Web searches for articles about guns with silencers being used in Iraq.

Other articles I've read and which can therefore be found reported that many of these assassinated Iraqis were opposed to the criminal occupation of their country, so it's not at all likely that Iraqi Resistance would've committed these murders. And Iraqi Resistance certainly wouldn't want to send Iraq "back to the stone age", as a US military commander once threatened to do to Vietnam. There were also articles that reported about US forces basically raiding Iraqi hospitals, where US troops threatened medical staff and made work for them basically impossible, and I believe that some articles also reported about US forces attacking some Iraqi university or universities.

The US did not launch war on Iraq to bring democracy, justice, or anything else that's good for the benefit of Iraqis; the US brought hell to Iraq. And the US has not withdrawn from Iraq and clearly is not prepared to withdraw, but like with the Bush administration, violence in Iraq is used by Washington to "justify" US presence in, occupation of Iraq.

It's evidently not known who is committing the killings of Christian and other innocent Iraqis, but only the US and its corrupt puppets in the government in Iraq stand to gain from such violence.