Iraqi Resistance Report 2.19-2.21.2004

http://www.freearabvoice.org/Iraq/Report/report54.htm

Iraqi Resistance Report XXXXXIV
===============================
The events of of Thursday, 19 February 2004, through Saturday, 21 February
2004. Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial
board, the Free Arab Voice. (http://www.freearabvoice.org)

Thursday, 19 February 2004.

Two Resistance bombings at al-Khalidiyah leave 2 US troops killed, 1 wounded.

An Iraqi Resistance bomb ripped through a US invader infantry patrol
on Thursday killing two American occupation troops and wounding one
other, according to the US military command and witnesses.

Witnesses said an Iraqi, probably a puppet policeman, was also killed
in the attack.  The blast occurred at about10 :30am as troops from
so-called "Task Force All-American" were investigating an earlier
attack on a US aggressor convoy near al-Khalidiyah, about 50 miles
west of Baghdad, witnesses said.  "About 20 US soldiers and two
Iraqi policemen were on foot inspecting the area after the first
blast," witness Bilal Hardan said. "Then the second explosion came.
I think they hit a land mine."  US occupation troops rounded up
dozens of Iraqi suspects after the second attack, the witnesses
said. The US command confirmed the American casualties but offered
no further details.

Resistance bomb wounds puppet policeman in Ba'qubah.

An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb exploded Thursday in Ba'qubah,35
miles northeast of Baghdad, missing US vehicles but wounding an Iraqi
puppet policeman, witnesses said, according to the US Associated Press.

The wounded puppet policeman, 'Amir Salman, told the Agence France
Presse (AFP) that "the bomb exploded by one of the axles as the American
convoy was passing but it didn't damage it."

A report from al-Jazeera TV said that a roadside bomb in Ba'qubah had
gone off under a US tank and destroyed the vehicle.

After the Thursday bombing, the US forces mounted search operations in
the city and announced through loudspeakers that they would pay a reward
to anyone who provided information on those responsible for the attacks
on the US forces.

On Wednesday, US troops arrested seven Iraqis in Ba'qubah claiming that
they were "suspected"of being linked to al-Qa'idah, but gave no further
details.

Resistance fires mortar barrage at US concentration camp at Abu Ghurayb.

On Wednesday evening the Iraqi Resistance fired a mortar and rocket
barrage against the US base and concentration camp at Abu Ghurayb on
the western edge of Baghdad. The US occupation command said attackers
fired 33 mortar rounds and five rockets between6 : 30p.m. and6 : 50p.m.,
but claimed that only one soldier was slightly injured. Abu Ghurayb is
one of the largest US prison camps in Iraq, holding many Iraq government
and Ba'th Party officials who stood against the invasion.

The US aggressor forces said that they returned fire in response to the
Resistance attack and that they had killed one "armed person" and rounded
up 55 individuals for interrogation.

US reports failed Resistance attack in Tikrit.

Iraqi Resistance fighters fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a US
occupation patrol in Tikrit on Wednesday, but US military sources
said it missed the patrol and killed a child by mistake.  Sergeant
Robert Cargie of the4 th Infantry Division said that the troops
could do nothing to prevent the attack.

Wednesday morning attack on occupation forces leaves Resistance
fighter martyred, US claims.

Near the town of Balad Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked a US
occupation patrol on Wednesday morning. According to Sergeant
Robert Cargie of the4 th Infantry Division one Resistance fighter
was martyred.  His body was found with his Kalashnikov after the
operation.  Cargie said that following the attack the US aggressors
arrested two persons six kilometers west of Baghdad.  Cargie made no
reference to US casualties or damage in the attack.

Pentagon announces arrest of former puppet officials
in connection with Resistance attacks.

The former acting mayor of al-Fallujah and two US-trained Iraqi puppet
so-called civil defense workers are being held on suspicion of
involvement in devastating Resistance raids in the Iraqi town last
weekend, the Pentagon said on Thursday.  Pentagon spokesman Lawrence
Di Rita and Army Brigadier General David Rodriguez told reporters at
a briefing that the former acting mayor and two puppet civil defense
corps workers were among Iraqis being questioned in connection with
the incident.

"The mayor was suspected, just based on the situation. And the people
on the ground determined that they thought he might have something to
do with it. So they detained him and we're interrogating him and trying
to get to the bottom of it," said Rodriguez, deputy director of the US
military's Joint Staff.

Police massacre in al-Basrah.

Islammemo reports from its correspondent in al-Basrah that Iraqi puppet
police killed 11 Iraqi citizens in wild gunfire as they pursued liquor
sellers on Tuesday.

According to the correspondent, the puppet police opened fire
indiscriminately as they pursued a number of liquor sellers through
the streets of the city killing 11 innocent pedestrians who happened
to be on the scene at the time. Fifty other passers by, including
several children, were also reportedly wounded.

The correspondent reported that the crime took place in the center of
al-Basrah's market near al-Fayha' School on last Tuesday.

Islammemo comments that it is strange that none of the news agencies
have reported similar outrages committed by the police force working
for the US occupation, despite the fact that such incidents are well-known
among Iraqis.  At the same time the Resistance operations undertaken against
the occupation and its stooges are regularly distorted by some of the
international news media.

Collaborationist gangs SCIRI and Da'wah Party establish arbitrary
rule in as-Samawah.

The Agence France Presse (AFP) reports that Thamir 'Abbas Hamid, the Sunni
Imam of the Mosque of the Martyrs of the Bridge (a reference to the Iraqis
martyred when US forces attacked a bridge in1991 ) that Shi'i militias
collaborating with the occupation have taken over two of the five Sunni
mosques in the city.

AFP quoted 'Abd al-Husayn Muhammad, a local official in the collaborationist
so-called Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) as
saying "we have taken over the job of maintaining security in the city
in an example that should be followed in all parts of Iraq."

For his part Hasan al-'Ulwah, Editor-in-Chief of Majallat as-Samawah
(as-Samawah Magazine) told the AFP that SCIRI and the Da'wah Party -
another collaborationist organization - control the city by means of
the Badr Brigade.  The Badr Brigade is a militia that was trained and
armed by Iran in Iranian territory over a period of many years  before
it took part in the US in its invasion of Iraq in the spring of2003 .

Al-'Ulwah told the AFP that the Shi'i religious parties filled the
vacuum left by the Iraqi government and Ba'th Party after the US
invasion pushed them out of the city.  "Those of them who did not
leave are no longer a danger," he added, indicating that there had
been arrests.

Report:100 , 000Arab refugees have fled before Kurdish advance.

A report issued under the aegis of the United Nations on Thursday
reports that nearly100 , 000Arabs have fled northern Iraq before a
wave of Kurdish chauvinist ethnic cleansing.

The report by the Geneva-based Global IDP Project warned that the
unregulated influx of thousands of Kurds could enflame simmering
tensions in the oil-rich towns of Mosul and Kirkuk where Arabs and
Turkomans have protested growing Kurdish chauvinist political influence.

Many of the displaced Arabs are now living north of Baghdad in
abandoned army camps and public buildings, largely without access
to health care, electricity or running water.

Head of Board of 'Ulama': "Israelis" buying land in Iraq.

The General Secretary of the Board of Sunni Muslim 'Ulama', Harith
al-'Annari confirmed the truth of stories that are circulating to
the effect that "Israelis" are buying up land in Iraq using Arabic names.

At a press conference al-'Annari was asked about the stories that
"Israelis" have been coming to Iraq to buy land and real estate.
He confirmed that this information is correct.  Al-'Annari said
that "Israelis" had bought in Iraq using Arabic and Islamic names
as a cover, according to a report in ar-Ra'y al-'Amm newspaper.

Turkoman sources had earlier disclosed American-Zionist plans for
land purchases and settlement in northern Iraq as a part of their
strategy of bringing the Arab Region under their control.

Sources: al-'Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Friday, 20
February2004 .
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040219/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2004/2/2-19-8.htm
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25307
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25304
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDnews=25286
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDnews=25269
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25329
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040219/wl_nm/iraq_usa_falluja_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19164177.htm

Friday, 20 February2004 .

Iraqi Resistance bomb wounds one.

At least one American was wounded in an Iraqi Resistance bomb blast
near the town of Balad,75 km from Baghdad.  The soldier was riding
in a military convoy carrying thousands of troops who were to leave
Iraq having been replaced by the1 st Infantry Division.

American killed in "road accident" in Balad.

According to a US military spokesman in Baghdad, one US occupation
soldier was killed in a traffic accident in the town of Balad.  No
further details were provided.  An earlier account had reported two
Americans and one Iraqi had been killed.

 10released from Abu Ghurayb prison camp.

US occupation forces announced that they had released 10 prisoners
from the massive concentration camp at Abu Ghurayb, west of Baghdad.
The US said it was part of its program to release prisoners not
directly involved in Resistance operations.  It is estimated that
the US occupation forces hold over12 , 000Iraqi prisoners in its
network of camps and prisons.

In all the US has released 72 prisoners from Abu Ghurayb after
they declared that they would not be involved in "violence" and
received guarantees from religious or tribal authorities for their
behavior.

 4Egyptians reported murdered in Baghdad.

Eyewitnesses and "other sources" reported that four Egyptians -
three men and one woman - living in al-I'lam District of Baghdad
have been killed.  The sources told the semi-official Egyptian
daily al-Ahram, which published the story on Friday, 20 February
2004, that it was not an accidental but an intentional slaying.
Witnesses said that they saw two or three cars pull up to the
locations were the three intended victims were living and killed
them.  They indicated that some Iraqi circles were likely behind
such killings which, al-Ahram said, come in the context of a
series of attacks on Egyptians and Arabs from other states living
in Iraq.  No party has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Many Egyptians, Palestinians, Sudanese and other Arabs were
welcomed by the oil-rich Iraqi state of Saddam Hussein where
they worked and lived, having obtained relief from the economic
distress and other difficulties plaguing their home regions.
Many were known for their sympathy for the Iraqi government
that the US invasion forcibly overthrew.

US closes Iraqi-Syrian border.

US occupation forces have closed the Iraqi-Syrian border apparently
for several days without explaining the reasoning behind the move.
Travelers coming from al-Walid Crossing reported that US invaders
backed by puppet police had closed the crossing to Iraqis and
non-Iraqis seeking to enter Iraqi territory.

In conversations with the Ahmad Sabri, the correspondent for
al-'Arab al-Yawm newspaper in Baghdad, travelers said that for
several days there have been hundreds of Iraqis and non-Iraqis
stranded outside the sealed Iraqi border.  Meanwhile US occupation
forces and helicopters can be seen patrolling the various back
roads that can also be used as alternate routes across the border
in order to prevent any crossings.

Trucks, however, both Syrian and Iraqi, are allowed to pass through
the border.  Observers surmise that the closing of the border is a
US attempt to prevent Arab volunteer fighters from entering Iraqi
territory to support the Resistance struggle against the US occupation.

Relentless, deadly pressure from Iraqi Resistance
cripples CIA operations in Iraq.

The US newspaper the Los Angeles Times reports that despite the fact
that the CIA's Baghdad station has become the largest in agency history,
eclipsing the size of its post in Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War,
the agency has had difficulty filling key overseas posts, and cannot do
its usual work because of the daily preoccupation with security for
themselves and US forces occupying the country.

The Los Angeles Times said that its sources said the number of CIA
personnel in Iraq exceeds 500 people.

A US official told the newspaper that the CIA station chief in Baghdad
was removed in December after weeks of increasingly deadly and
sophisticated attacks against US occupation and collaborator targets.

"There was just a belief that it was a huge operation and we needed
a very senior, very experienced person to run it," the official said.

"The replacement of the station chief," the LA Times reported, "means
that the high-profile post has been held by three senior officers
since Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq in May, sources
said."  The newspaper reports that the "current station chief is a
highly regarded officer who 'rose rather meteorically' during
operations in Kosovo, which was the agency's last major buildup
of assets, a former CIA officer said."

One big problem for the huge CIA station in Baghdad, according to
some of the newspaper's sources is that the CIA has been "drawn
too much into troop-protection work ordinarily done by the military,"
due to the relentless pressure of the Iraqi Resistance.  "As a result,"
the LA Times reports, "some are concerned that the agency has not been
able to concentrate on recruiting the spies that will be needed as
crucial sources of information for years to come."

The Resistance has also crippled the massive CIA operation in the
country by discouraging "Arabic speakers and qualified case officers
willing to take dangerous assignments."  As a result the CIA has had
to rely on local translators and often "uses US soldiers for tasks
that CIA officers normally perform."  CIA retirees and fresh graduates
from the CIA academy in Virginia who have military background are
rushed to Iraq. The newspaper quoted a CIA source as admitting:
"They don't speak the language, don't know how to recruit."

In general, the paper was told, "the main problem confronting the
Baghdad station has been security constraints that inhibit the
ability of operatives to move about the country."

The LA Times reported that the US official who spoke with their
reporters "acknowledged that instability and violence made 'it
harder for people to do their job. They're not locked down, but
it adds to the degree of difficulty everyone faces.'"

The Kuwaiti regime promotes acceptance of Zionist entity
and the US Plan for the "Greater 'Middle East'".

The Kuwaiti Prime Minister has called for "understanding" with
regard to western demands and calls for what he described as "the
development of education and political systems" in the Arab States.
He also said that the Arabs must "get aboard the peace train,"
referring to US and Zionist efforts to compel the Arabs to accept
the Zionist occupation of Palestine and Zionist regional hegemony.

In an interview with the semi-official Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram,
Sabah al-Ahmad said, "I believe that we must be wary of moving to
reject things and holding on to the 'old' simply because some party
has said they would like to change it."  Sabah al-Ahmad said that
such an approach will "keep us among the backward even as international
studies have shown that our region is the one most afflicted by
backwardness," he said echoing the claims of the US plan for a
Greater "Middle East" a preliminary version of which was presented
to the G- 8countries earlier in February.

A final version of the plan is expected to be presented to the G-8
in June. The US plan entails a transformation of the Arab Region
into an open free market for US and Zionist economic activity while
overhauling the educational and political systems so as to replicate
the consumerist mentality and general liberal outlook prevalent in
the US and western Europe.

Sabah al-Ahmad also called on the Arab states to get aboard the
"peace train" quickly, saying that the region had had enough of
armed conflict and that the time had come for the states to get
aboard the peace train while it is still in the station.  He said
the "peace train" had enough room for all the states and peoples
in the region, clearly implying acceptance of the Zionist occupation
of Palestine and an end to resistance struggle.

Karbala' cleric demands new local puppet council
to replace existing council.

On Friday 'Abd al-Mahdi al-Karbala'i, the representative of the
Shi'i religious authority Ayat Allah 'Ali as-Sistani in the city
of Karbala', called for an armed popular revolution in the city
if the local council appointed by the US occupation authorities
is not dissolved.

Al-Karbala'i attacked John Perry, the local representative of US
proconsul L. Paul Bremer, for having dissolved an old puppet council
and installed a new one without consulting as-Sistani or other Shi'i
authorities.  Al-Karbala'i therefore called the new council "invalid"
and "illegal".  Al-Karbala'i called on the members of the council to resign.

The local US governor, Perry denied al-Karbala'i's claim, saying "a
large number of those who came to my office confirmed that they
represented as-Sistani and there are at least two people - a woman
and a man - who said that they represent the legal agent of the Shi'i
authority in the city."  He acknowledged, however, that "I didn't
consult anyone from as-Sistani's group, and they never sent anyone
for that purpose either."

Sources: al-'Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Saturday, 21
February2004 .
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2004/2/2-20-11.htm
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25393
http://www.ahram.org.eg/Index.asp?CurFN=arab2.htm&DID=8037
http://www.ahram.org.eg/Index.asp?CurFN=fron5.htm&DID=8037
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDnews=25378
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia20feb20,1,4570519.story?coll=la-home-headlines
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=6&u=/washpost/20040218/ts_washpost/a49272_2004feb17

Saturday, 21 February2004 .

Saddam Hussein slams "inhuman treatment" to Red Cross team.

The Jordanian daily al-'Arab al-Yawm reported in its Sunday, 22 February
edition that informed sources in Baghdad say that Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein complained of the "inhuman treatment" that he has received from
the occupation forces in the prison where he is confined.

The sources say that the Red Cross team that visited the Iraqi President
in his secret prison cell spent an hour with Saddam Hussein.  During that
time he denounced the treatment to which he had been subjected and gave
them a lengthy letter to his daughter Raghd in which he refuted American
rumors and claims about his capture and the occupation of Iraq.

On Saturday, for the first time since they captured the Iraqi President
nearly two-and-a-half months ago, the US occupation allowed the
International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Saddam Hussein.
A spokeswoman for the International Red Cross in Iraq, Nada Dumani,
said in Amman that their two-person team, which included a physician
and an Arabic speaker, stayed with the Iraqi President for the "time
required to assess his physical and mental condition."

Dumani said that the Iraqi President had given them a letter to convey
to his daughter, now living in Jordan.  The Red Cross team expects that
the letter will be delivered, after the US invaders have read it and
have decided that it "contains no instructions to his followers or
other banned messages," according to the American Associated Press (AP).

The AP quoted Dumani as saying in Amman: "The aim of this visit is
to track and monitor the conditions of detention and treatment of
the detainee. We want to see whether he is getting enough food and
water and also to check his health condition and to give him the
possibility to write a message to his family - which he did."

According to al-Jazeera TV, Dumani declined to say anything about
how the team found Saddam Hussein's condition. Dumani said the Red
Cross would periodically visit the Iraqi President as long as he
remains in custody, but she gave no further details.

She said that in keeping with Red Cross procedures, they would
convey their observations directly to the occupation authorities.

Later, a Red Cross representative in Amman, Mu'in Qassis, said
that the Iraqi President had filled in a form and written a
personal message to his family.

The Red Cross stipulates that it must meet a prisoner face-to-face
without the presence of any other party, that they must carry out
a medical exam, and correspondence with the prisoner's family.

The US occupation announced that it had captured the Iraqi President
in his hometown of Tikrit on 13 December2003 , after he had eluded
the clutches of the invaders for about eight months.  The International
Committee of the Red Cross formally requested permission to visit
Saddam Hussein on 30 December2003 . In January, the Pentagon
formally declared Saddam Hussein a prisoner of war because of
his status as commander in chief of Iraq's military. As a POW,
the Iraqi President is entitled under the Geneva Conventions
to certain rights, including visits by the international Red
Cross and freedom from coercion of any kind during interrogations.
The Red Cross was not allowed to visit Saddam Hussein, however until
Saturday, 21 February2004 .

The Red Cross has visited more than10 , 000prisoners in Iraq since
March, even though fewer than 100 have been formally classified POWs,
spokeswoman Antonella Notari said.

In keeping with rules laid down by the US invaders, Dumani would not
reveal where the Iraqi President was when she visited him at some
location in Baghdad.

Resistance attack wounds four US occupation troops in "civilian" car.

Iraqi resistance fighters in a car on Saturday opened fire on three
supposedly "civilian" jeeps wounding four US occupation soldiers and
killing one Iraqi translator who was working for them, according to a
US military spokesman.  The attack occurred in al-Haswah district of
southwestern Baghdad.  The attack caused one car to explode and burst
into flames and another to crash.  US occupation forces sealed off the
area and prevented anyone approaching.

Witness Khalid 'Ali Husayn who works as a mechanic near the scene of
the attack said, "I heard gunfire and saw a car on fire and four
riders fleeing from it. And there was another car stopped by the
side of the road.  But the third car was not hit and was able to
escape." Husayn said that a US patrol took away the body of the
translator.

Later, around noon, Iraqi youths broke apart the car that had
stopped by the roadside.  Inside, patches of blood were plainly
visible.  One of the youths said, "these are spoils of war for
the Muslims."

Resistance attacks puppet forces in al-Huwayjah, killing one.

Iraqi Resistance forces carried out an attack on the headquarters
of the puppet so-called civil defense forces in the town of
al-Huwayjah near Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Saturday.  One
member of the puppet defense forces was killed.  The chief
of the puppet military organization in the Kirkuk region,
Major General Anwar Amin told the Agence France Presse
"two groups of armed men today attacked the headquarters
of the civil defense force in the center of the town of
al-Huwayjah west of Kirkuk.  The attack left one member
of the force dead."

Al-Jazeera TV reported that members of the puppet forces
were killed in the Resistance strike, but had no specific
information on the extent of losses or damage.

General Amin claimed that the Iraqi Resistance had attacked
the same post on Friday night and that one of the Resistance
fighters had been martyred at that time.

Resistance attacks puppet police chief.

Iraqi Resistance fighters carried out an armed attack on the
house of the puppet police chief in the province of Ninwa,
Major General Muhammad Habawi.  Puppet police forces battled
the Resistance fighters and claim that two of the Resistance
men were martyed and one other wounded.

The puppet police chief in the city was targeted for elimination
by the Resistance eight months previously.  In that attack he
received a bullet wound in the leg.

 60killed as blast devastates arsenal in an-Nasiriyah.

At least 60 people were reported killed in an explosion at a
supply depot for ammunition and materiel in an-Nasiriyah on
Saturday, according to a report on Islammemo's website.
Islam memo said that reports claim that the explosion was
the result of the activity of thieves who had broken into
the armory.  According to the reports, bodies were sent
flying and only 15 bodies have been recovered initially.

Iraqi children seriously wounded by stray ordnance.

In the 'Amiriyat al-Fallujah area, west of Baghdad, two Iraqi
children received serious wounds when an explosive left over
from the last war exploded.  Medical sources told al-Jazeera TV
that one of the children had to have his leg amputated as a
result of his injuries.  The other received "serious" wounds.

Witnesses said that the explosive detonated when the two children
were herding sheep.  They were brought to the General Hospital in
al-Fallujah for treatment.

Sunni religious leader assassinated.

Al-Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad reports that unknown armed
persons assassinated Shaykh Damir Sulayman ad-Darri, the Imam and
preacher in the Mosque of the Martyr Ra'd in al-Khadra' neighborhood
in Baghdad.  Damir ad-Darri was the brother of Shaykh Harith ad-Darri,
the General Secretary of the Sunni Board of Muslim 'Ulama'.  Shaykh
Damir ad-Darri died of his wounds after being taken to al-Yarmuk
Hospital in the occupied Iraqi capital.

Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian Intelligence help US occupation
on Iraq border.

A news report in the Saudi daily ar-Riyad relates that members of the
intelligence services of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria are now in Iraq,
specifically on the Iraqi border with Syria, in order to help the US
occupation forces to identify Arab volunteers from among the Resistance
fighters.  In addition to simply identifying Arab volunteers trying to
get into Iraq, one of the main tasks of the Moroccan, Tunisian and
Algerian security men is to try to determine how they were recruited
and how they made their way to the Iraqi frontier.  The report, which
first appeared in The Australian, then in Jeune Afrique, and then in
the Saudi daily ar-Riayd, maintains that the security men seek to find
out what groups or individuals are facilitating the mission of the
volunteers.

US website admits:
"We're paying foreigners to die in Iraq, so we don't have to."

In an article entitled "Outsourcing Death", dated 18 February2004 , US
writer Travis Daub writes "The US is hunting mercenaries -- so we
[i.e., the US] can put them to work. Some of the most dangerous jobs
in Iraq, formerly carried out by American and British service people,
have been handed over to soldiers of fortune."

There has been a "massive shift of duties" he writes. "Private military
companies, some hired independently, are now guarding US bases, manning
checkpoints, providing security to travelers and driving unarmored trucks
loaded with fuel, food, weapons, and other supplies."

As a result, statistics are expected to show a drop in the numbers of dead
American occupation soldiers, because those people hired by private security
companies can be ignored from the official statistics.

"The use of commercial forces to bolster US military action is nothing
new," Daub writes. Increasingly over the last ten years, the US has
relied on private military companies to provide additional personnel
when the Pentagon finds itself short. Hiring help is cheaper than
maintaining a standing army -- even if it will cost the defense
department an estimated $ 30billion this year alone.

Mercenary companies, which call themselves "risk management
agencies" are mostly based in the US or in the UK, but some
hail from India, Kuwait, and South Africa.

The exact number of such "risk-management" mercenaries deployed
in Iraq is unclear. But, Daub writes, according to some estimates
the mercenaries now outnumber British troops in occupied Iraq.

Since the Pentagon spends $ 30billion to hire the mercenaries,
Daub poses the question "why?"  His answer: "The Bush Administration
doesn't want dead US soldiers in the press."

Indeed.

In a feature report by the Associated Press on 21 February 2004 about
the makeshift morgue set up by the US military in Kuwait, the
correspondent noted: "The military denied permission to photograph
the mortuary area, saying it was the most sensitive portion
of Camp Wolverine."

Zionist corporation buys first-class Iraqi hotel.

Quds Press reports that the news that an "Israeli" company had
bought the al-Mansur Melia hotel in Baghdad has aroused public
outrage.  Iraqi sources say that a number of employees of the
Iraqi tourist organization disclosed that a Zionist tourism
company from occupied Palestine had bought the al-Mansur Melia
hotel using Iraqi front men who had been abroad but came back
to Iraq after the US occupation claiming that they were interested
in investing in tourism projects in Iraq.

Since the purchase it is reported that the Arab character of the
decor in the establishment has begun to come under attack, as
motifs of Menorahs and the star of David feature on the new hotel furniture.

The al-Mansur Melia is considered one of four first-class hotels
in Iraq.  It was originally built by the Spanish Melia Corporation
in the late1970 s but was then turned over to Iraq after the initial
investment period came to an end.

Sources: al-'Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, 22
February2004 .
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2004/2/2-21-12.htm
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25462
http://www.alriyadh-np.com/Contents/21-02-2004/Mainpage/POLITICS_20841.php
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25476
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25480
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2004/2/2-21-22.htm
http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news13.asp?IDNews=25485
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_12
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=3&u=/ap/20040221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_mortuary
http://www.knotmag.com/?article=1145
http://www.al-moharer.net/mohhtm/quds_press169a.htm

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