24 May 2003

US forces raid Iraqi National Congress headquarters

Stupid is as stupid does. Clearly there has been a failure to communicate: [source, source]
Last night at 11 p.m. in Baghdad, heavily armed American soldiers in flak jackets and helmets stormed the headquarters of the Iraqi National Congress, a pro-American group […] The raid was apparently carried out on the basis of a tip

[…]

The leader of the Iraqi National Congress, Mr. Chalabi, has testified before Congress and met with Vice President Cheney. The INC was authorized by the American government to receive Pentagon funds. Mr. Chalabi and his allies have fought for years to unseat Saddam at great personal risk.

The Americans were searching for illegal weapons which apparently were not found. I think there must be former DEA agents in the command structure.
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Powell Watch

Our State Department in action, actively opposing the policies of the current administration. Will there be any consequences? That will be up to Colin Powell but the record on that speaks for itself. When confronted with this story, the State Department spokeman said that the meeting was supposd to be "off the record".[source, source]
Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met with a coterie of Israeli doves and Palestinian Ministers and officials under the banner of Peace Now at the U.S. Consulate in West Jerusalem. […] his response to left-wing Knesset Member Colette Avital who, according to the minutes of the meeting reported in The Jerusalem Post, "expressed reservations about the U.S. Conservatives, Christians and AIPAC," and alleged that these constituencies, "are lobbying to torpedo the road map and suggested that the Americans should help us [the Peace Coalition] to express our views to the American public."

[…] Burns stated his view that "the common sense of all peoples will override the Conservative and Christian viewpoints once they see the road map's potential." He told the anti-government group to continue with their political activities "as new peace attempts reflects the peoples will and will result in fundamental changes."

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THIS JUST IN: Ba'ath faked deaths from sanctions for propaganda

Now that the Ba'ath regime has fallen, doctors, nurses and other care givers are revealing that the Ba'ath labeled all infant deaths as due to sanctions, go so far as to refrigerate the corpses until they could be used during anti-sanction parades. [source]
Under the sanctions regime, "We had the ability to get all the drugs we needed," said Ibn Al-Baladi's chief resident, Dr. Hussein Shihab. "Instead of that, Saddam Hussein spent all the money on his military force and put all the fault on the USA. Yes, of course the sanctions hurt - but not too much, because we are a rich country and we have the ability to get everything we can by money. But instead, he spent it on his palaces."

[…]

Doctors said they were forced to refrigerate dead babies in hospital morgues until authorities were ready to gather the little corpses for monthly parades in coffins on the roofs of taxis for the benefit of Iraqi state television and visiting journalists.

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