I. Background Information

     A. Some Key Resources

          1. A Few Key Websites

Baghdad Burning (Iraqi blog by Riverbend)

Cost of the War in Iraq

Electronic Iraq

Global Policy Forum

Iraq Body Count (Iraqi civilian deaths)

Monitoring International Humanitarian Law in Iraq

Occupation Watch

Glen Rangwala's writings (U.K. researcher extraordinaire)

---U.S. mirror

Traprock Peace Center

"Where is Raed?" (Iraqi blog by Salam Pax)

For an excellent discussion of the WMD issue, see:

"The WMD lies" (Stephen J. Sniegoski, August 4, 2003)

For background, see also the following publications:

"Understanding the U.S.-Iraq Crisis: A Primer" (Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies)

"Why Another War? A Backgrounder on the Iraq Crisis" (Sarah Graham-Brown and Chris Toensing, Middle East Research and Information Project [MERIP]. 2nd ed., Dec. 2002)


          2. Maps of Iraq

Humanitarian Information Center

Iraqi Map Collection at the University of Texas (excellent)

CIA, with country resources

Cities in Iraq (GreatestCities.com)

United Nations


          3. Lists of Lies

Glen Rangwala's writings

---U.S. mirror


"The Bush Administration's Top 40 Lies About War and Terrorism" (Steve Perry, City Pages, July 30, 2003) (excellent)

"Core of Weapons Case Crumbling" (By Paul Reynolds, BBC, July 13, 2003)

"20 Lies About the War" (Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker, The Independent, July 13, 2003) (extracted from "Thirty-Six Lies," below)

"The Thirty-Six Lies That Launched a war" (Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker, July 11, 2003)

"From the September Dossier to Yesterday's Backtrack: A Truth-Spotter's Guide to How Official Language Has Changed" (The Independent, July 11, 2003)

"All Spin All The Time" (Russ Baker, TomPaine.com, July 9, 2003)

The Phoney War" (Andrew Grice and Ben Russell, The Independent, July 8, 2003)

"Experts Grow More Sceptical about Extent of Threat Posed by Saddam before War" (Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, July 7, 2003)

"Absence of Truth--Government Propaganda and the War on Iraq" (Alan Simpson and Glen Rangwala, Labor Against the War, July 3, 2003)

"Calendar of Errors" (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 2003, Volume 59, No. 4, pp. 12-14)

"10 Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq" (Christopher Scheer, AlterNet, June 27, 2003)

"Iraq: The Torrent of Deceit" (Robin Miller, March 16, 2003)

"Top Ten Bogus Justifications for the Iraqi War" (Christopher Deliso, March 5, 2003)

"Lying Us Into War: Exposing Bush and His "Techniques of Deceit" (Dennis Hans, Scoop, February 10, 2003)


          4. History of the U.S. Declaration of War on Iraq

March 20/21, 2003: House Resolution Supporting Commencement of War

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. (a) AUTHORIZATION- The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to--      (1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and      (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq. (b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION- In connection with the exercise of the authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall, prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that--      (1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and      (2) acting pursuant to this resolution is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorists attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Passed the House 296-133 with four not voting on October 10; passed the Senate 77-23 on October 11; signed into law by Present Bush on October 16.

References in the Congressional Record.

Senate Joint Resolution 23 "to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States."

Passed the Senate 98-0 with two not voting on September 14; an identical bill (H.J.Res. 64) passed the house 420-1 with 10 not voting on September 14; signed into law as Public Law 107-40 by President Bush on September 18.

References in the Congressional Record.

House Resolution 4655: "It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime. ... Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise speak to the use of United States Armed Forces."

Passed 360-38 with 36 not voting by the House on October 5; passed the Senate by unanimous consent on October 7; signed into law as Public Law 105-338 by President Clinton on October 31.

Senate Joint Resolution 54: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Government of Iraq is in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations, and therefore the President is urged to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations."

Passed with unanimous consent by the Senate on July 31; passed 407-6 with 21 not voting by the House on August 3; signed into law as Public Law 105-235 by President Clinton on August 14.


          5. U.S./U.K. Governmental Statements on the "Threat" Posed by Iraq

               a. U.S. Governmental Statements

List of administration statements at lunaville.org (good)

"Iraq: Key Speeches And Documents" (BBC)

Coalition Provisional Authority

U.S. Central Command (CentCom)

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. State Department

The White House


George Bush's Address on the Start of War (March 20, 2003) ("We will meet that threat now with our army, air force, navy, coastguard and marines so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.")

George Bush's War Ultimatum Speech from the Cross Hall in the White House (March 18, 2003) ("The danger is clear: using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other. ... Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed. ... Terrorists and terror states do not reveal these threats with fair notice, in formal declarations--and responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not self-defense, it is suicide. The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now.")

March 18 Letter from Bush to Congressional Leaders ("reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone" will not "adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq")

Dick Cheney on Meet the Press, March 16, 2003 ("We have to be prepared now to take the kind of bold action that's being contemplated with respect to Iraq in order to ensure that we don't get hit with a devastating attack when the terrorists' organization gets married up with a rogue state that's willing to provide it with the kinds of deadly capabilities that Saddam Hussein has developed and used over the years.")

George Bush's Speech to the American Enterprise Institute (February 26, 2003) ("we are opposing the greatest danger in the war on terror: outlaw regimes arming with weapons of mass destruction.")

Secretary of State Powell at the U.N. (February 5, 2003) ("There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction.")

President Bush, State of the Union (January 28, 2003) ("Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans--this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.")

"Why We Know Iraq is Lying" (Condoleezza Rice, New York Times, January 23, 2003)

Address Given by President Bush in Cincinnati (October 7, 2002)

Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists. Alliances with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints. Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq could detract from the war against terror. To the contrary, confronting the threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror. When I spoke to the Congress more than a year ago, I said that those who harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves. Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and the instruments of terror, the instruments of mass death and destruction. And he cannot be trusted. The risk is simply too great that he will use them, or provide them to a terror network. Terror cells, and outlaw regimes building weapons of mass destruction, are different faces of the same evil. Our security requires that we confront both. And the United States military is capable of confronting both. If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly-enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. And if we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Hussein would be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes his aggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East. He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists. Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

"President: Iraqi Regime Danger to America is 'Grave and Growing'" (October 5, 2002)

"President Discusses Growing Danger posed by Saddam Hussein's Regime" (September 14, 2002) ("Congress must make it unmistakably clear that when it comes to confronting the growing danger posed by Iraq's efforts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction, the status quo is totally unacceptable.")

Speech by President Bush to the U.N. General Assembly (September 12, 2002) ("if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of 11 September would be a prelude to far greater horrors.") (speech is on pages 6-9)

"A Decade of Deception and Defiance" (September 12, 2002) (document released to accompany President Bush's speech to the U.N. General Assembly; see above)

Condoleezza Rice on CNN Late Edition, September 8, 2002 ("The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't what the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.")

Secretary of Defense Dick Rumsfeld on CBS News' "Face the Nation," September 8, 2002 ("I was musing over the fact that there are so many books that have been written -- why England slept; Pearl Harbor, what happened, why didn't we know? Right now on Capitol Hill, the members of the House and the Senate are trying--are looking, having investigations on September 11 of last year and trying to connect the dots, as they say, trying to piece together what might have been known and why didn't we know it and why weren't we able to connect the dots. ... Our task is to connect the dots before the fact and see if we can't behave in a way that there won't be books written about why we slept or what happened. ... The problem with that [looking for a smoking gun] is, the way one gains absolutely certainty as to whether a dictator like Saddam Hussein has a nuclear weapon is if he uses it, and that's a little late. ... If you go back to September 11th, we lost 3,000 innocent men, women and children. Well, if you think that's a problem, imagine, imagine, a September 11 with weapons of mass destruction. It's not 3,000; it's tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children.")

Speech by Vice-President Dick Cheney to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Nashville, Tennessee (August 26, 2002) ("Should all his ambitions be realized, the implications would be enormous for the Middle East, for the United States, and for the peace of the world. The whole range of weapons of mass destruction then would rest in the hands of a dictator who has already shown his willingness to use such weapons, and has done so, both in his war with Iran and against his own people. Armed with an arsenal of these weapons of terror, and seated atop ten percent of the world's oil reserves, Saddam Hussein could then be expected to seek domination of the entire Middle East, take control of a great portion of the world's energy supplies, directly threaten America's friends throughout the region, and subject the United States or any other nation to nuclear blackmail.")

President Bush, State of the Union (January 29, 2002) ("Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction. ... Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. ... States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.")


               b. U.K. Governmental Statements

"Iraq: Key Speeches And Documents" (BBC)

"Words of Mass Deception" (Alexandra Williams And Justine Smith, The Mirror, July 8, 2003)

Recent Speeches and Statements by the Prime Minister on Iraq


"Iraq--Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation" (February 7, 2003) (the second U.K. dossier)

"Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government" (September 24, 2002) (first U.K. dossier)

--Another copy

"Iraq Weapons Dossier At-a-Glance" (BBC, September 24, 2003) (main points of first dossier)


          6. Real Reasons for the Invasion

               The administration committed to the invasion shortly after 9/11/01:

Comment: There is substantial evidence that the U.S. was committed to overthrowing Saddam, and essentially none that that was not its objective. The only legitimate conclusion from the evidence, then, is that Bush was simply lying when he continually said that war was his "last option." In fact, it was his intention all along.

"Iraq: Schemers Have Their Way" (Jim Lobe, Asia Times, July 17, 2003) ("it appears increasingly clear that key officials and their allies outside the administration decided to use the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as a pretext for going to war against Iraq within hours of the attacks themselves.")

The Decision to "Get Saddam" (Center for Cooperative Research)

"Media Silent on Clark's 9/11 Comment; Gen. Says White House Pushed Saddam Link Without Evidence" (FAIR, June 20, 2003)

"The Selling of the Iraq War; The First Casualty" (John B. Judis & Spencer Ackerman, The New Republic, posted June 19, 2003, issue date June 30)

"Why Saddam Was Doomed, WMDs or Not" (Jason Leopold, Asia Times, June 4, 2003)

"First Stop, Iraq" (Michael Elliott and James Carney, Time, March 24, 2003) ("'F___ Saddam. we're taking him out.' Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002 ...")

"For Bush, War Defines Presidency" (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, March 9, 2003) ("Bush's aides believe the president made up his mind about Iraq in the early days after Sept. 11. He resolved to do everything possible to prevent it from happening again")

"War Plan for Iraq Largely in Place" (Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, March 2, 2003) ("After more than a year of intense work, the Bush administration's plan for an assault on Iraq is essentially in place")

"You're Invited to the War Party" (Georgie Anne Geyer, American Conservative, January 13, 2003) (From Bob Woodward's book Bush at War: "The 'question of Iraq,' for instance, was raised at a White House meeting of principals the very next day after the terrorist attacks. It was raised by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld but was actually reflecting the long-time obsession of Paul Wolfowitz, his aggressive deputy. In fact, Wolfowitz did not hesitate even to step in ahead of his demanding boss that day in regaling the president on Iraq. 'Wolfowitz seized the opportunity,' Woodward writes. 'Attacking Afghanistan would be uncertain. He worried about 100,000 American troops bogged down in mountain fighting in Afghanistan six months from then. In contrast, Iraq was a brittle, oppressive regime that might break easily. It was doable. He estimated that there was a 10 to 50 percent chance Saddam was involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks.'")

"U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past; Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set" (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, January 12, 2003) ("On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 2½-page document marked 'TOP SECRET' that outlined the plan for going to war in Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism. Almost as a footnote, the document also directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, senior administration officials said.")

"Plans For Iraq Attack Began On 9/11" (CBS News, September 4, 2002) ("CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq--even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks." According to notes taken by the aides, Rumsfeld said he wanted "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time. Not only UBL" [Osama bin Laden]. "Go massive," the notes quote him as saying. "Sweep it all up. Things related and not.")

               Enforcement of the "no-fly zones" was used to prepare for the war:

"U.S. Moved Early for Air Supremacy; Airstrikes on Iraqi Defenses Began Long Before Invasion, General Says" (Bradley Graham, Washington Post, July 20, 2003) ("as early as the autumn of 2001, U.S. military authorities took steps to increase surveillance of southern Iraq and then to systematically bomb Iraq's command posts, air defense weapons and communication links in anticipation of possible war, according to the American general who commanded the air campaign.")

"U.S. Air Raids in '02 Prepared for War in Iraq" (Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, July 20, 2003) (similar to above)

"US Unveils Aggressive Strategy against Iraq" (BBC, March 3, 2003)

"U.S. Is Striking Iraqi Missiles Near Kuwait" (Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, March 2, 2003)

               President Bush's personal take on Christianity moved him toward war:

"Did Bush Say God Told Him To Go To War?" (Ira Chernus, Common Dreams, June 30, 2003)

"'Road Map Is a Life Saver for Us,' PM Abbas Tells Hamas" (Arnon Regular, Ha'aretz, June 26, 2003) (According to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, "immediately thereafter Bush said: 'God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.'")

"How a War Became a Crusade" (Jackson Lears, New York Times, March 11, 2003)

"Bush's 'Serenity'" (Tom Engelhardt, Mother Jones, March 10, 2003)

"Bush, the Bible, and Iraq" (Stan Crock. Business Week, March 7, 2003)

"Two Men Driving Bush into War" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, February 23, 2003) (Karl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz)

"In God He Trusts - How George Bush Infused the White House with a Religious Spirit" (Rupert Cornwell, The Independent, February 21, 2003)

"Bush the Infallible" (Jeffrey A. Tucker, LewRockwell.com, February 14, 2003)

"Bush's Messiah Complex" (The Progressive, February 2003)

"Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory; Bush's Armageddon Obsession, Revisited" (Michael Ortiz Hill, CounterPunch, January 4, 2003)

               The neocons (neoconservatives) in the administration--who were the primary force pushing for war--had wanted to take out Saddam for a long time:

"The 12-Year Itch" (Evan Thomas, Newsweek, March 31, 2003, issue)

"Blueprint for War Was Drafted by Team of Experts in 1998" (J. Scott Orr, Star-Ledger, March 30, 2003)

"All in the Neocon Family" (Jim Lobe, AlterNet, March 27, 2003)

"This War Is Brought to You by ..." (Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, March 20, 2003)

"Origins of Regime Change in Iraq" (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Proliferation Brief, Volume 6, Number 5; March 19, 2003)

"Deep Roots of Bush's Hatred for Saddam" (The Observer, March 16, 2003)

"Rumsfeld Urged Clinton to Attack Iraq" (Neil Mackay, Sunday Herald [Scotland], March 16, 2003)

"On the Brink: The Neocon-Xenophobe War" (Harold Meyerson, LA Weekly, March 14-20, 2003)

The War Behind Closed Doors (PBS "Frontline." broadcast February 20, 2003)

"Rumsfeld & Bush's War Plan Was Formulated In 1998" (Jason Leopold, Scoop, February 19, 2003)

"Invading Iraq Not a New Idea for Bush Clique; 4 Years Before 9/11, Plan Was Set" (William Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 27, 2003)

"Neoconservatives Consolidate Control over U.S. Mideast Policy" (Jim Lobe, Foreign Policy in Focus, December 6, 2002)

"The President's Real Goal In Iraq" (Jay Bookman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 29, 2002)

"Pre-Emption, Disarmament Or Regime Change? Part III" (Holger Jensen, October 7, 2002)

"The Struggle over War Aims: Bush versus the Neo-Cons" (Scott McConnell, antiwar.com, September 25, 2002)

"Secret Document: Bush Supporters Planned Iraq Attack Before Election" (NewsMax, September 16, 2002)

"Bush Planned Iraq 'Regime Change' Before Becoming President" (Neil Mackay, Sunday Herald [Scotland], September 15, 2002)

"Bomb Saddam? How the Obsession of a Few Neocon Hawks Became the Central Goal of U.S. Foreign Policy" (Joshua Micah Marshall, Washington Monthly, June 2002)

"Bush's Foreign Policy Blueprint: A Grand Global Plan" (Jim Lobe, TomPaine.com, March 26, 2002)

"The Next World Order" (Nicholas LeMann, issue of April 1, 2002, posted March 25)

"Our Hijacked Foreign Policy: Neoconservatives take Washington; Baghdad is next" (Justin Raimondo, March 25, 2002)

"A New Grand Strategy" (Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne, The Atlantic Monthly, January 2002) (historical perspective)

"Saddam in the Crosshairs" (Jason Vest, Village Voice, November 21-27, 2001)

                    ----Background on the Neocons

Empire Builders: Neoconservatives and Their Blueprint for US Power (Christian Science Monitor)

"The Leo-conservatives" (Gerhard Sporl, Der Spiegel, August? 2003 (on German philosopher Leo Strauss)

"What Is a Neo-Conservative Anyway?" (Jim Lobe, IPS, August 12, 2003)

"Iran-Contra, Amplified" (Jim Lobe, Asia Times, August 12, 2003)

"Suing in England, Vacationing in France: the Misplaced Patriotism of Richard Perle" (Christopher Deliso, Antiwar.com, March 25, 2003)

"Lunch with the Chairman; Why Was Richard Perle Meeting with Adnan Khashoggi?" (Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, issue of March 17, 2003, posted March 10)

Mark Donner interview for PBS show "Frontline" (January 16, 2003)


               The neocons developed their own "intelligence" to support the war:

"The Spies Who Pushed for War" (Julian Borger, The Guardian, July 17, 2003) (on the Office of Special Plans [OSP])

"Cheney And The CIA: Not Business As Usual" (Ray McGovern, Alternet, June 30, 2003)


               A principal instrument for the neocons is the Project for the New American Century:

PNAC.info: Exposing the Project for the New American Century

"How We Got Into This Imperial Pickle: A PNAC Primer" (Bernard Weiner, May 26, 2003)

PNAC Profile at the Center for Cooperative Research

Information on PNAC from Disinfopedia

----a related page

PNAC Information at The Four Reasons to Impeach Bush

                    ----PNAC documents

"Rebuilding America's Defenses" (September 2000)

Letter to House and Senate Leadership (May 29, 1998)

Letter to President Clinton (January 26, 1998)

Statement of Principles (June 3, 1997)


               Current administration strategy can be traced to the draft version of the 1992 Defense Policy Guidance, written by Paul Wolfowitz:

"Excerpts From Pentagon's Plan: 'Prevent the Re-Emergence of a New Rival'" (New York Times, March 8, 1992)

"U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop" (Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times, March 8, 1992)

"Pentagon Would Preclude a Rival Superpower" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, March 11, 1992)

This thinking caused an uproar, so the document was substantially revised. See "Pentagon Drops Goal of Blocking New Superpowers" (Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times, May 23, 1992).

Howver, Wolfowitz's approach has now been adopted as official government policy. See "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America" (September 2002).


               Particularly among the neocons, a view that regime change in Iraq was good for Israel may have been a factor making the war desirable:

"The Spies Who Pushed for War" (Julian Borger, The Guardian, July 17, 2003)

"Just the Beginning" (Robert Dreyfuss, The American Prospect, April 1, 2003)

"Whose War?" (Patrick J. Buchanan, The American Conservative. March 24, 2003)

"Whose National Interest?" (author?, Toledo Blade, March 18, 2003)

"Dual Loyalty? Are Israeli Interests 'The Elephant in the Room' in the Conflict With Iraq?" (Rebecca Phillips, BeliefNet, March 15, 2003)

"Our Media, Our Sheltering Parents" (Gabriel Ash, Yellow Times, March 14, 2003)

"Spotlight on Role Played by US Jews in Crisis" (Jim Lobe, March 13, 2003)

"U.S. Media Airs Alleged Jewish Role in Iraq War" (Jonathan Wright, Reuters, March 13, 2003)

"Moran Said Jews Are Pushing War; Apology Denies Anti-Semitism" (Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, March 11, 2003)

"The Flimflam" (Charley Reese, March 5, 2003)

"Israel Sees War in Iraq as Path to Mideast Peace" (James Bennet, New York Times, February 24, 2003)

"The Zev and Ari Show: Time for Full Disclosure" (William Hughes, Media Monitors Network, February 23, 2003)

'The Axis of Evil' (Hasan Abu Nimah, Jordan Times, February 19, 2003)

"A Bush-Sharon Doctrine?" (Arnaud de Borchgrave, February 17, 2003)

"The Likudnik Factor" (Mickey Kaus, Slate, February 14, 2003)

"The War on Iraq: Conceived in Israel" (Stephen J. Sniegoski, February 10, 2003)

"Bush and Sharon Nearly Identical On Mideast Policy" (Robert G. Kaiser, Washington Post, February 9, 2003)

"A Rose By Another Other Name: The Bush Administration's Dual Loyalties" (Kathleen and Bill Christison, CounterPunch, December 13, 2002)

"What Bush Isn't Saying About Iraq" (Michael Kinsley, Slate, October 24, 2002)

The Men From JINSA and CSP (Jason Vest, The Nation, August 15, 2002)

                    ----Documents

"This Goes Beyond Bin Laden" (JINSA, September 13, 2001) ("JINSA calls on the United States to ... halt all US purchases of Iraqi oil under the UN Oil for Food Program and to provide all necessary support to the Iraq National Congress, including direct American military support, to effect a regime change in Iraq.")

"A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" (July 8, 1996)


               The U.S. has plotted against Iraq for over a decade:

"Decade of Plans to Topple Hussein Yield Mixed Results" (James Risen and Thom Shanker, New York Times, March 26, 2003)

"The Thirty Year Itch" (Robert Dreyfuss, Mother Jones, March/April 2003 Issue)

               The invasion was intended as an example to the world:

"Viewing the War as a Lesson to the World" (David E. Sanger, New York Times, April 6, 2003) ("Shortly after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a stark warning to Iran and Syria last week, declaring that any 'hostile acts' they committed on behalf of Iraq might prompt severe consequences, one of President Bush's closest aides stepped into the Oval Office to warn him that his unpredictable defense secretary had just raised the specter of a broader confrontation. Mr. Bush smiled a moment at the latest example of Mr. Rumsfeld's brazenness, recalled the aide. Then he said one word--'Good'--and went back to work.")

               and is just the first of potentially many:

"Just the Beginning" (Robert Dreyfuss, The American Prospect, April 1, 2003)

"Iraq as a Trial Run" (Noam Chomsky, Frontline, vol. 20 #7, March 29-April 11, 2003)

"After Iraq: The Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Nicholas LeMann, The New Yorker, issue of February 17 and 24, 2003, posted February 10)

               The invasion, simply put, is part of a clearly-articulated intent to secure global domination:

"Imperialism, Then and Now" (Pat Buchanan, WoldNet Daily, August 13, 2003)

"Preventive War 'The Supreme Crime'" (Noam Chomsky, August 11, 2003)

"A Wilful Blindness; Why Can't Liberal Interventionists See That Iraq Is Part of a Bid to Cement US Global Power?" (George Monbiot, The Guardian, March 11, 2003)

"Bush's War Is Not about Democracy" (Eric Margolis, March 2, 2003)

"The President's Real Goal In Iraq" (Jay Bookman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 29, 2002)

               The two stated reasons for the invasion aren't true; Iraq was not involved in 9/11:

"Wolfowitz: Iraq Not Involved in 9-11, No Ties to al-Qaeda" (Jason Leopold, August 7, 2003)

See also III. Iraq's Alleged Links to al-Qaeda.

One American soldier in Iraq has been quoted as relying on 9/11 for his motivation: See 'I Just Pulled the Trigger' (Bob Graham, Evening Standard, June 19, 2003) ("There's a picture of the World Trade Center hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my Kevlar [flak jacket]. Every time I feel sorry for these people I look at that. I think, 'They hit us at home and, now, it's our turn.' I don't want to say payback but, you know, it's pretty much payback.")

               and the invasion had nothing to do with Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction:

Compare Joseph Goebbels at Nuremberg in 1934: "Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an understanding that will allow them to willingly and without internal resistance devote themselves to the tasks and goals of a superior leadership."

"Democracy Might Be Impossible, US Was Told" (Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, August 14, 2003)

"Domino Theory for Mideast Is High-Risk" (Michael Slackman, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2003)

"Democracy Domino Theory 'Not Credible'" (Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2003)

               and the alleged humanitarian basis for the war is hypocritical in the extreme given our country's long record of support for Saddam:

"Exclusive: Saddam Key in Early CIA Plot" (Richard Sale, UPI, April 10, 2003)

"A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making" (Roger Morris, New York Times, March 14, 2003)

"How Deal Got the Green Light Despite Nerve Gas Warning" (David Leigh, The Guardian, March 6, 2003) (U.K. relationship with Iraq)

"When Hussein Was Our Ally" (Scott Shane, Baltimore Sun, February 27, 2003) ("Newly released documents reveal U.S. talk of regime change in the early 1980s - except then it was language condemning Iran for attempting to overthrow the government in Baghdad.")

"Rumsfeld's Account Book: Who Armed Saddam?" (Stephen Green, CounterPunch, February 24, 2003)

"Iraq Chemical Arms Condemned, but West Once Looked the Other Way" (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, February 13, 2003)

"The United States and the Iran-Iraq War" (Stephen R. Shalom)

"U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup" (Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, December 30, 2002)

"A Tortured Relationship: The U.S.-Iraq Relationship Was Not Always about Confrontation" (Chris Bury, ABC News, September 18, 2002)

"Rumsfeld Key Player in Iraq Policy Shift" (Robert Windrem, MSNBC, August 18, 2002)

"The Saddam in Rumsfeld's Closet" (Jeremy Scahill, Common Dreams, August 2, 2002)

"Iraqgate" (Russ W. Baker, Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1993)

"Gulfgate: How the U.S. Secretly Armed Iraq" (Murray Waas, The Village Voice, December 18, 1990)

               Moreover, Bush doesn't even support the idea of military intervention for humanitarian reasons--even in the case of genocide:

"How Dare Bush Invoke Rwanda to Justify His War" (Gerald Caplan, The Globe and Mail, March 12, 2003) ("Mr. Fleischer should review an interview between ABC's Sam Donaldson and Mr. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign. When Mr. Donaldson asked him what he would do if 'God forbid, another Rwanda should take place,' Mr. Bush replied: 'We should not send our troops to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide outside our strategic interests. . . . I would not send the United States troops into Rwanda.'")

George W. Bush on Foreign Policy ("And so I thought they made the right decision not to send U.S. troops into Rwanda.")


               And let's not even talk about Bush's campaign promises for a more "humble" foreign policy:

George W. Bush on Foreign Policy (collected campaign statements)

Q: What is the role of the U.S. in the world? BUSH: I'm not sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be. I want to empower people. I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. I just don't think it's the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you. We went into Russia, we said here's some IF money. It ended up in Chernomyrdin's pocket. And yet we played like there was reform. The only people who are going to reform Russia are Russians. I'm not sure where the vice president's coming from, but I think one way for us to end up being viewed as the ugly American is for us to go around the world saying, we do it this way, so should you. I think the United States must be humble and must be proud and confident of our values, but humble in how we treat nations that are figuring out how to chart their own course. Q: Should the people of the world fear us, or see us as a friend? BUSH: They ought to look at us as a country that understands freedom where it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from that you can succeed. I don't think they ought to look at us with envy. It really depends upon how [our] nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. Our nation stands alone right now in the world in terms of power. And that's why we've got to be humble and yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom. We're a freedom-loving nation. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll view us that way, but if we're humble nation, they'll respect us. Source: Presidential Debate at Wake Forest University, Oct. 11, 2000.

          7. Legality of the War

"A Pattern of Aggression" (Kate Hudson, The Guardian, August 14, 2003) ("Iraq was not the first illegal US-led attack on a sovereign state in recent times. The precedent was set in 1999 in Yugoslavia writes Kate Hudson.")

"Tearing up the Rules: The Illegality of Invading Iraq," Center for Economic and Social Rights, March 2003

Lawyers Against the War

LAAW (Legal Action against War)

Law Professors for the Rule of Law

Links to Opinions on Legality of War Against Iraq


          8. Effect of Sanctions on Iraq

Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq

Canadian Network to End Sanctions on Iraq

Results of the 1999 Iraq Child and Maternal Mortality Surveys (UNICEF)


"Sanctions in Iraq Hurt the Innocent" (Bert Sacks, Seattle Post Intelligencer, August 7, 2003)

"Were Sanctions Right?" (David Rieff, New York Times, July 27, 2003)

"'We Think the Price Is Worth It'; Media Uncurious about Iraq Policy's Effects-There or Here" (Rahul Mahajan, Extra!, November/December 2001)

"The Secret Behind the Sanctions; How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water Supply" (Thomas J. Nagy, The Progressive, September 2001)

"Life and Death in Iraq" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 1999)

Autopsy of a Disaster: The U.S. Sanctions Policy on Iraq (Institute for Public Accuracy)


          9. Cost of the War and Occupation

Cost of the War in Iraq

Jubilee Iraq

"Iraq 'Needs Tens of Billions'" (BBC, August 27, 2003)

"Bremer: Iraq Effort to Cost Tens of Billions" (Peter Slevin and Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, August 26, 2003)

"U.S. Exhausts Seized Iraqi Assets, May Seek More Aid" (Adam Entous, August 26, 2003)


          10. Link Lists

Future of Iraq Portal

Middle East Virtual Library (MENALIB)

Political Resources for Iraq

Relief Web's Iraq Links


     B. News Sources

          1. First-Hand Reports

               a. Reports by Iraqis

Al-Muajaha

Baghdad Bulletin

Baghdad Burning (blog by Riverbend)

G. in Baghdad

Iraq.net

Iraq Press Online

Iraqi Sports Online

Iraq Today

Letters From An Iraqi American: Yasmin Alani

Salam Pax


               b. Reports from Internationals--Still Reporting

Christian Peacemaker Team

CyberJournalist

Electronic Iraq--Diaries

Robert Fisk---At the Independent

---At ZNet

---At Robert-Fisk.com

Iraq Peace Team--Diaries


               c. --No Longer Reporting

Children Peace Race Belgium (e-mail collected from various sources)

The Guardian--Collected Iraq Diaries

Wade Hudson

Human Shield Mission

Iraq Journal (various journalists)

Paul McGeough (reporter for Australian newspaper The Age)

Reports from Baghdad (telephone reports collected by Italian journalist)

Jo Wilding


          2. Relief Organizations

Humanitarian Information Center

ReliefWeb (collected documents)

--Another ReliefWeb page


CARE International

ECHO (European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office)

International Committee of the Red Cross

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (also the Iraqi Red Crescent Society)

International Rescue Committee

MAIC (Medical Aid for Iraqi Children)

Mercy Corps

Norwegian Church Aid

United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

----Integrated Regional Information Network

United Nations Office of the Iraq Programme

United Nations News Centre

UNICEF News on Iraq

War Child UK

World Food Programme (WFP)

World Health Organization (WHO)

World Vision International


          3. Newspapers

               Africa

News 24 (South Africa)

               Asia

Asia Times (Hong Kong) (excellent)

Daily Times (Pakistan)

Frontline (biweekly Indian magazine)

The Hindu (India)

PakTribune.com

The Times of India

The Straits Times

Xinhuanet (China)

               Australia

Australian Broadcasting Company

The Age

Sydney Morning Herald

               Middle East

Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt)

Al Bawaba

Al-Jazeera (Qatar, Arabic-language)

----English-language version

An-Nahar (Lebanon; Arabic-language)

Arab News (Saudi Arabia)

Daily Star (Lebanon)

Jordan Times

Middle East Online

Middle East Times

Syria Times

Yemen Times

               United Kingdom

BBC

Dar Al-Hayat (English-language version)

The Evening Standard

The Guardian (best)

The Independent (best)

The Mirror

The Observer (Sunday edition of the Guardian)

The Scotsman

The Telegraph

The Times

               United States

ABC News

Baltimore Sun

Boston Globe

CBS News

Chicago Tribune

---Christine Spolar

Christian Science Monitor

CNN

Los Angeles Times

Miami Herald

MSNBC News

New York Times

San Francisco Chronicle

Washington Post (best U.S. coverage)


          4. Newswires

Agence France-Presse (AFP)

---- (another AFP link)

Associated Press (AP)

Knight-Ridder

Inter Press Service (IPS)

Reuters

----Reuters UK


          5. News Collections and Blogs

Abu Aardvark

Al-Jazeerah.info

AlterNet

AntiWar.com

Back in Iraq 2.0 (Christopher Allbritton)

Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace

Electronic Iraq

Information Clearinghouse

Informed Comment (Juan Cole)

Iraq Democracy Watch (Vivion Vinson)

The Iraq War Reader (Micah L. Sifry and Christopher Cerf)

Iraqwar.ru (excellent news links)

IslamOnline

The Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia

The Rational Inquirer

Salon.com

Talking Points Memo

Warblogs:cc

World News Network

----another site

WorldWideNews

Yahoo! Full Coverage of Iraq


          6. Publications

MERIP: Middle East Research and Information Project


          7. Coalition Sources

Coalition Provisional Authority

U.S. Central Command (CentCom)


     C. Photography Collections

          1. Primarily War Victims

War Victims Photos Collected by Yasmin Alani

alarabnews.com

Christian Peace Team

Einswire.com

RobertFisk.com (unofficial site)

Wade Hudson (IPT member)

Information Clearinghouse

--Another Gallery

Iraq peace team

Iraqvictims.com

The Memory Hole

News 24 (South Africa)

Regular Everyday People

The "Shock and Awe" Gallery (The March for Justice)

thenausea.com

The Wall of Shame (What Really Happened)


     Photo essays at Scoop:

Photo-Essay 1: The Many Faces of War (March 28)

Photo-Essay 2: The Many Faces of War (March 28)

Photo-Essay 3: Death and Casualty From Iraq (March 27)

Photo-Essay 1: Consider Whom You Bomb (March 30)

Photo-Essay 2: Consider Whom You Bomb (March 30)

Photo-Essay 1: Dead US Soldiers In Nasiriya (April 1)

Photo-Essay 2: Tell Us Is This Liberation? (April 1)

Photo-Essay 3: USA Bombs A Baghdad Market (April 1)


          2. Primarily Other Images

The Age (Australian newspaper)

BBC Photo Gallery: "Baghdad Buries its Dead"

Boston Globe

G. in Baghdad

The Guardian: First 10 Days of War

--April 4

--Index to Iraq Photo Galleries

Iraq Peace Team

Iraqphotos.com

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace

Los Angeles Times Photo Gallery

Los Angeles Times Video and Audio Reports

News 24 (South Africa)

Picture Iraq

Sydney Morning Herald (see "Photo Galleries" in right column)

Washington Post

--Another Gallery

Yahoo! News


     D. Organizations and Dedicated Websites

          1. Organizations

ARROW (Active Resistance to the Roots of War) (U.K.)

Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq (U.K.)

Campaign of Conscience for the Iraqi People

Canadian Network to End Sanctions on Iraq

Churches for Middle East Peace

Cities for Peace

Citizens Concerned for the People of Iraq

Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace

Direct Action to Stop the War

EPIC: Education for Peace in Iraq Center

Human Shield Mission

International Action Center

International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism!)

Iraq Action Coalition

Iraq Peace Team

Lawyers Against the War (international)

LAAW (Legal Action against War) (U.K.)

Louisiana Organizing to Stop the War On Iraq

MAIC (Medical Aid for Iraqi Children) (U.K.)

Middle East Christians against the War in Iraq and the Occupation of Palestine (international)

National Network to End the War Against Iraq

New Jersey Coalition against War on Iraq

Not in Our Names

Poets Against the War

SOS Kinderen Irak (Belgium)

--Dutch site

Stop the War Coalition (U.K.)

Traprock Peace Center (great resources)

United For Peace and Justice

U.S. Labor against the War

Veterans Against the Iraq War

Veterans for Peace

Voices in the Wilderness U.K.

Voices in the Wilderness U.S.

Win Without War

          Lists of Organizations:

The Guardian


          2. Websites

Bring Them Home Now

The Children of Iraq

Cost of the War in Iraq

Electronic Iraq

Iraq Body Count

Iraq Pledge of Resistance

NoWar Blog

Rice for Peace

StopJayGardner.com

StopUSA

Turningtables (U.S. soldier in Iraq)

US Bombing Watch in Iraq

Vote to Impeach

We Deserve the Truth

WeLoveTheIraqiInformationMinister.com

Wearnica: An International Day of Artistic Reactions to War


     E. The United Nations

United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Office of the Iraq Programme

United Nations News Centre

U.N. News on Disarmament of Iraq

UNICEF News on Iraq

Yahoo! Full Coverage of the United Nations


     F. Other Resources

1924 (UK Muslim community)

American Friends Service Committee

Amnesty International

Amnesty USA

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Center for Defense Information

CounterPunch

FAIR

Fourth Freedom Foundation

Global Policy Forum

Greenpeace

Human Rights Watch

Independent Institute

International Committee of the Red Cross

The Nation

Oxfam International

The Village Voice

ZNet


     G. Media Analysis

          1. U.S. Media

               a. Pre-War Propaganda

                    Barton Gellman of the Washington Post

"Al Qaeda Near Biological, Chemical Arms Production" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, March 23, 2003) ("Al Qaeda leaders, long known to covet biological and chemical weapons, have reached at least the threshold of production and may already have manufactured some of them, according to a newly obtained cache of documentary evidence and interrogations recently conducted by the U.S. government.")

"Interview: Barton Gellman on a 'Washington Post' Report that an Al Qaeda Affiliate Obtained a Chemical Weapon from Iraq" (NPR, Morning Edition: December 12, 2002)

"U.S. Suspects Al Qaeda Got Nerve Agent From Iraqis" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, December 12, 2002) ("The Bush administration has received a credible report that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda took possession of a chemical weapon in Iraq last month or late in October, according to two officials with firsthand knowledge of the report and its source. They said government analysts suspect that the transaction involved the nerve agent VX and that a courier managed to smuggle it overland through Turkey.")

"4 Nations Thought To Possess Smallpox; Iraq, N. Korea Named, Two Officials Say" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, November 5, 2002) ("a former Soviet scientist told U.S. officials that his country 'transferred [smallpox] technology in the early 1990s to Iraq.'")

"Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared; Terrorists at Threshold of Using Internet as Tool of Bloodshed, Experts Say" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, June 27, 2002) ("U.S. analysts believe that by disabling or taking command of the floodgates in a dam, for example, or of substations handling 300,000 volts of electric power, an intruder could use virtual tools to destroy real-world lives and property. They surmise, with limited evidence, that al Qaeda aims to employ those techniques in synchrony with 'kinetic weapons' such as explosives.")

"Fears Prompt U.S. to Beef Up Nuclear Terror Detection" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, March 3, 2002) ("Alarmed by growing hints of al Qaeda's progress toward obtaining a nuclear or radiological weapon, the Bush administration has deployed hundreds of sophisticated sensors since November to U.S. borders, overseas facilities and choke points around Washington. It has placed the Delta Force, the nation's elite commando unit, on a new standby alert to seize control of nuclear materials that the sensors may detect.")

"Iraqi Work Toward A-Bomb Reported; U.S. Was Told of 'Implosion Devices'" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, September 30, 1998) ("United Nations arms inspectors reported twice to the United States, in 1996 and 1997, that they had credible intelligence indicating that Iraq built and has maintained three or four 'implosion devices' that lack only cores of enriched uranium to make 20-kiloton nuclear weapons, according to U.S. government and U.N. sources.")

                    Judith Miller of the New York Times

"Defectors Bolster U.S. Case Against Iraq, Officials Say" (Judith Miller, New York Times, January 24, 2003) ("Former Iraqi scientists, military officers and contractors have provided American intelligence agencies with a portrait of Saddam Hussein's secret programs to develop and conceal chemical, biological and nuclear weapons that is starkly at odds with the findings so far of the United Nations weapons inspectors.")

"C.I.A. Hunts Iraq Tie to Soviet Smallpox" (Judith Miller, New York Times, December 3, 2002) ("The C.I.A. is investigating an informant's accusation that Iraq obtained a particularly virulent strain of smallpox from a Russian scientist who worked in a smallpox lab in Moscow during Soviet times, senior American officials and foreign scientists say.")

"Iraq Said to Try to Buy Antidote against Nerve Gas" (Judith Miller, New York Times, November 12, 2002) ("Iraq has ordered large quantities of a drug that can be used to counter the effects of nerve gas, mainly from suppliers in Turkey, which is being pressed to stop the sales, according to senior Bush administration officials.")

"Verification Is Difficult at Best, Say Experts, and Maybe Impossible" (Judith Miller, New York Times, September 18, 2002) ("most inspectors said they thought Saddam Hussein was continuing his quest for such arms, but that inspectors stood little chance of proving it.")

"Baghdad's Arsenal: White House Lists Iraq Steps To Build Banned Weapons" (Judith Miller and Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, September 13, 2002) (on the administration's document "Decade of Deception," issued September 12)

"U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts" (Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller, New York Times, September 8, 2002) ("In the last 14 months, Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium. American officials said several efforts to arrange the shipment of the aluminum tubes were blocked or intercepted but declined to say, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence, where they came from or how they were stopped. ... Iraqi defectors who once worked for the nuclear weapons establishment have told American officials that acquiring nuclear arms is again a top Iraqi priority. American intelligence agencies are also monitoring construction at nuclear sites.")

"Secret Sites: An Iraqi Defector Tells of Work on at Least 20 Hidden Weapons Sites" (Judith Miller, New York Times, December 20, 2001) ("An Iraqi defector who described himself as a civil engineer said he personally worked on renovations of secret facilities for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in underground wells, private villas and under the Saddam Hussein Hospital in Baghdad as recently as a year ago.")

Postwar, Miller kept it up:

"Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert" (Judith Miller, New York Times, April 21, 2003) ("A scientist who claims to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program for more than a decade has told an American military team that Iraq destroyed chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment only days before the war began, members of the team said.")

                    Nuclear Control Institute

Saddam and the Bomb

RM: Who are these people? From their website, NCI looks like any other liberal interest group, but their extensive materials on Iraq seem to channel Richard Perle.



               b. Other Examples of Propaganda

A word the mainstream media loves to use about American governmental conduct, particularly when it's criminal, is "aggressive." Thus, holding Iraqi scientists incommunicado indefinitely is an "aggressive" tactic. See "Scientists Still Deny Iraqi Arms Programs" (Walter Pincus and Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post, July 31, 2003) ("As described by government officials and their families, the United States has used aggressive tactics to find and question key Iraqi scientists. Amir Saadi, Iraq's 65-year-old chief liaison with United Nations weapons inspectors since last year, has been held incommunicado since his voluntary surrender in Baghdad to U.S. military police more than three months ago, according to his wife, Helma.")

Snatching family members and holding them as hostages is also "aggressive" (or "tough"). See "U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters" (Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, July 28, 2003) ("Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: 'If you want your family released, turn yourself in.' Such tactics are justified, he said, because, 'It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info.' They would have been released in due course, he added later. The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.")

Anything outside the total control of the U.S.--such as international law, or the facts of history--is a "complication," rather than a matter to be seriously addressed by the press:

"Next: Trying Iraqi Leaders for War Crimes" (Seth Stern, Christian Science Monitor, April 22, 2003) ("Complicating any prosecution, say legal experts, is the fact that some may argue the US tacitly supported Hussein's regime during much of his rule, authorizing the 1980s sale of substances that can be used in chemical weapons.")

"Options on Handling of Iraqi POWs Considered; Geneva Conventions May Complicate U.S. Trial Plans" (John Mintz, Washington Post, April 19, 2003)

Describing unconscionable behavior by the U.S. in wholly unremarkable terms--and thereby communicating to readers the legitimacy of this conduct--is standard practice for the mainstream media. For particularly egregious examples of this tactic in the context of Iraq, see, in addition to the articles already cited, "U.S. Reaps New Data On Weapons" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, March 20, 2003), in which U.S. death threats to Iraqi officials are portrayed as just another investigative technique.

Official enemies of the U.S., on the other hand, are demonized, while their strength and importance are exaggerated. So, for example, the Christian Science Monitor can say of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden: "Both men hate the United States. Both see themselves as crusaders. And both have a proven desire to destroy what stands in their way." Now--aside from the article's linking Hussein and bin Laden, in furtherance of that strain of government propaganda, and examining the characterizations of Hussein, does he actually "hate America"? In fact, he was an ally of the U.S. until we turned on him. Since then, is his resentment of the U.S. properly termed "hatred"--a necessarily irrational state of mind--or the expected anger at a country's trying to overthrow him? And does he really "have a proven desire to destroy what stands in their way"? This makes him sound like Superman--or the president of the U.S.--rather than the leader of a nation that, under sanctions, was struggling to survive. See "Two Men, Two Missions" (Josh Burek, Christian Science Monitor, February 26, 2003).


               c. General Analysis

FAIR: Iraq & the Media

International Federation of Journalists

The Memory Hole

Controlling the News (TRBNews)


"Sanitized War" (The Nation, August 5, 2003)

"News Media Industry's Criticism of Iraq Coverage Reveals Deeper Problems with Mainstream Journalists' Conception of News" (Robert Jensen, Common Dreams, August 4, 2003)

"War on Truth" (John Pilger, New Statesman, August 4, 2003) ("The White House sets the tone and the media echo a line that celebrates the victimhood of the invader and the evil of the Iraqis. And then London takes its cue")

"The Usual Mangled Speech but Bush Is Let off the Hook in Rare Press Conference" (Rupert Cornwell, The Independent, July 31, 2003)

"More Questions About U.S. Death Toll; Readers Ask Media for Better Coverage" (Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher Online, July 24, 2003)

"Readers Want Press to Cover All U.S. Casualties; Article on Media and Iraq Draws Big Response" (Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher Online, July 22, 2003)

"Editorial Anxiety in Washington: Whipping the Post" (Jon Brown, CounterPunch, July 19, 2003)

"Media Underplays U.S. Death Toll in Iraq; Soldiers Dead Since May Is 3 Times Official Count" (Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher Online, July 17, 2003)

"The Press Gives Bush a Free Ride on His Lies" (Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe, July 16, 2003)

"A 'Darn Good' Quote That Almost Nobody Quoted" (Joe Conason, July 15, 2003)

"Fisk on Iraq War: Media Credibility Is the First Casualty" (Mushahid Hussain, Gulf News, June 25. 2003)

"We Ask the Questions" (Justin Webb, The Independent, June 24, 2003)

"Fibbing It Up at Fox" (Dale Steinreich, Lewrockwell.com, June 13, 2003)

"Embed Catches Heat; TV Sanitized the Iraq Conflict, But a Paper Gets the Hate Mail" (Ron Martz, Editor and Publisher, May 15, 2003)

"The New Yorker Goes to War; How a Nice Magazine Talked Itself Into Backing Bush's Jihad" (Daniel Lazare, The Nation, May 15, 2003)

"Associated Press Puts Violent Words in Iraqi Protesters' Mouths" (The Memory Hole, May 6, 2003)

"Critic Accuses Media of Aiding U.S. War Propaganda" (David Morgan, Reuters, May 1, 2003)

"Missteps by Press Color Iraqi Perceptions; Cox's Nelson on Some Unfortunate Incidents" (Craig Nelson, Editor and Publisher, April 29, 2003) (American reporter conducts mock interview with a corpse)

"Ethnic Media in U.S. Cover War Differently; Some Foreign-Language Outlets More Critical" (Sandra Marquez, Editor and Publisher, April 16, 2003)

"For Media After Iraq, A Case of Shell Shock; Battle Assessment Begins For Saturation Reporting" (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, April 28, 2003)

"BBC Chief Attacks U.S. Media War Coverage" (Merissa Marr, Reuters, April 24, 2003)

"PBS Hoodwinks the US Public" (Sam Hamod, Today's Alternative News, April 23, 2003)

"Facts Fall Victim to War Jargon" (Russell Smith, The Globe and Mail, April 16, 2003)

"Iraq and the Press" (links to articles in Editor and Publisher)

"People in Basra Contest Official View of Siege: Life Was Mostly Normal, Residents Say; Doctors Report Many Civilians Killed" (Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post, April 15, 2003)

"Is U.S. Casualty Reporting Suffering from Double Standards?" (Pascale Combelles Siegel, Foreign Policy In Focus, April 15, 2003)

"War, Media, Propaganda and Language: Coalition of the Killing" (P. Sainath, The Hindu, April 13, 2003)

"In Cyberspace, Everyone Can See the Wounded Screaming" (Ty Burr, Boston Globe, April 12(?), 2003)

"Propaganda Stinkers: Fresh Samples from the Field" (Paul de Rooij, CounterPunch, April 11, 2003)

"The Unseen War: The Images They Choose and Choose to Ignore" (Robert Jensen, CounterPunch, April 10, 2003)

"Journalists Die, the Networks Lie, Iraqis Ask 'Why?'" Linda Heard, CounterPunch, April 8, 2003)

"How Papers Are Covering Iraqi Civilian Casualties; Sparking Praise, Anger From Readers" (Joe Strupp, Editor and Publisher Online, April 8, 2003)

"The Press and the Myths of War" (Chris Hedges, The Nation, April 3, 2003)

"News Consumers Beware: You Are Being Lied To" (David Miller, Scoop, March 29, 2003)

"Eliminating Truth: The Development Of War Propaganda" (David Miller, Scoop, March 28, 2003)

"U.S. Media Waves Flag; Critics Debate at What Price" (Arthur Spiegelman, Reuters, March 28, 2003)

"Fog of Coverage Paved the Way for War" (Antonia Zerbisias, Toronto Star, March 27, 2003)

"Anti-War Message: Tough Time Being Heard in Media" (Steve James and Mark Weinraub, Reuters, March 27, 2003)

"Live, but Not Really" (Meghan O'Rourke, Slate, March 26, 2003)

"Lack of Skepticism Leads to Poor Reporting on Iraq Weapons Claims" (FAIR, March 25, 2003)

"Washington Post Warriors" (William Greider, The Nation, March 24, 2003)

"The War of Misinformation Has Begun" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, March 16, 2003)

"Spooky Story; Why the American Media Shrugged off a Story about Spying at the United Nations" (Michael Tomasky, The American Prospect, March 12, 2003)

"Cleaning the Pool: The White House Press Corps Politely Grabs its Ankles" (Matt Taibbi, New York Press, March 12, 20003 [16(11)]) (on the fraudulent pre-war "press conference" that Bush used simply to make the case for war)

"Press Isn't Asking Right Questions About Iraq" (Tom Wicker, Editor and Publisher Online, March 11, 2003)

"News Media Abdicate Role in Iraq War" (James O. Goldsborough, San Diego Union-Tribunem, March 10, 2003)

"The Papers That Cried Wolf" (Brian Whitaker, The Guardian, December 16, 2002)



               d. The "Reporting" of the New York Times' Judith Miller

"Judy Miller's War" (Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch, August 18, 2003)

"The Times Scoops That Melted: Cataloging the Wretched Reporting of Judith Miller" (Jack Shafer, Slate, July 25, 2003)

"Miller's 2nd Draft of WMD History; 'NY Times' Still Has Questions to Answer" (William E. Jackson Jr., Editor and Publisher Online, July 23, 2003)

"Defending General Judy" (Jack Shafer, Slate, June 27, 2003)

"Embedded Reporter's Role In Army Unit's Actions Questioned by Military" (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, June 25, 2003)

"'Scoops' and Truth at the Times" (Russ Baker, The Nation, June 5, 2003)

"Reassessing Miller; U.S. Intelligence on Iraq's WMD Deserves a Second Look. So Does the Reporting of the New York Times' Judith Miller" (Jack Shafer, Slate, May 29, 2003)

"Intra-Times Battle Over Iraqi Weapons" (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, May 26, 2003)

"Jayson Blair and Judith Miller; Journalistic Ethics, Hypocrisy and War at the New York Times" (Bill Vann. World Socialist Web Site, May 13, 2003)

"The Decline and Fall of American Journalism (Part LXV): The Case of Judy Miller" (Alexander Cockburn, CounterPunch, April 25, 2003)

"Follow That Story: Deep Miller; Is the New York Times Breaking the News--or Flacking for the Military? (Jack Shafer, Slate, April 23, 2003)

"Manufacturing the News: New York Times Report on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction" (Patrick Martin, World Socialist Web Site, April 23, 2003)

"Deep Miller; Did the New York Times Just Change the Rules of Journalism?" (Jack Shafer, Slate, April 21, 2003)

"Leak of the Week: Madame Smallpox" (Jack Shafer, Slate, December 6, 2002)



               e. Jessica Lynch Story

"Iraq: What Happened to Jessica Lynch?" (Rod Nordland, Newsweek, issue of July 21, 2003) (a cynical attempt to characterize the Iraqis as beasts; claims that Pvt. Lynch's injuries were caused by being beaten by Iraqi soldiers rather than a motor vehicle accident, and that Iraqi doctors treating her at the hospital were indifferent to her care. Quotes "Mehdi Kafaji, the Iraqi orthopedic surgeon who was in charge of her treatment at the hospital in An Nasiriya," an individual who is not mentioned in any of the other stories on Pvt. Lynch, and whose name comes up nowhere else in a Google search.)

"Attack on the 507th Maintenance Company, 23 March 2003, an Nasiriyah, Iraq" (the official Army report)

"Jessica Lynch Mystery: Army Report Leaves Questions Unanswered" (Sydney Morning Herald, July 10, 2003)

"M-16s Jammed During Ambush in Iraq" (Dana Priest, Washington Post, July 10, 2003)

"Crash Caused Lynch's 'Horrific Injuries'" (Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times, July 9, 2003) ("'Lynch survived principally because of the medical attention she received from the Iraqis,' one source said.")

"A Long, and Incomplete, Correction" (Michael Getler, Washington Post, June 29, 2003) (another try by the Post's Ombudsman, who acknowledges the bottom line of the affair: "None of that [Pvt. Lynch's reported heroics] actually happened." Since Mr. Getler observes that "Certainly, the events described could have taken place," presumably there would have been more editorial scrutiny had the original story reported that Pvt. Lynch "repulsed an entire platoon of aliens while armed only with an antiquated light saber.")

'Truth Was a Stretchable Fabric' (The Guardian, June 21, 2003) (excerpts from U.S. newspaper commentary)

"Reports on Soldier's Capture Are Partly Discounted by Paper" (David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, June 18, 2003)

"A Broken Body, a Broken Story, Pieced Together; Investigation Reveals Lynch--Still in Hospital After 67 Days--Suffered Bone-Crushing Injuries in Crash During Ambush" (Dana Priest, William Booth and Susan Schmidt, Washington Post, June 17, 2003) (the WP's semi-retraction of its original propaganda piece)

"Casualty of Truth" (Azmi Bishara, Al-Ahram Weekly Online, 5-11 June 2003, Issue No. 641)

"Pentagon Aims Guns at Lynch Reports" (Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2003) (even though the Pentagon's account has been discredited, they reassert it: "Calling the column a 'tirade,' Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke wrote in a letter to The Times that 'Scheer's claims are outrageous, patently false and unsupported by the facts.' 'Official spokespeople in Qatar and in Washington, as well as the footage released, reflected the events accurately,' the Pentagon letter continued. 'To suggest otherwise is an insult and does a grave disservice to the brave men and women involved.'")

"On Rescuing Private Lynch And Forgetting Rachel Corrie; The Israeli Army Got Away With Murder--And Now All Activists Are at Risk" (Naomi Klein, The Guardian, May 22, 2003)

"Saving Private Lynch: Take 2" (Robert Scheer, The Nation, May 20, 2003)

"Saving Private Lynch Story 'Flawed'" (John Kampfner, BBC, May 15, 2003)

"The Truth About Jessica; Her Iraqi Guards Had Long Fled, She Was Being Well Cared For--And Doctors Had Already Tried to Free Her" (John Kampfner, The Guardian, May 15, 2003) (the truth emerges)

"Reporting Private Lynch" (Michael Getler, Washington Post, April 20, 2003) (the first response by the Post's Ombudsman, who tells readers that "Schmidt and Loeb [who wrote the Post's dramatic April 3 story] are experienced reporters, and there is no reason to doubt they were told what they reported, and by a source in whom they had confidence. They say it is certain that the descriptions they used are included in sensitive internal intelligence reporting about the rescue. The official silence about Lynch, they suggest, may be due to intelligence classification, possible war crime investigations or other issues.")

"So Who Really Did Save Private Jessica?" (Richard Lloyd Parry, The Times [London], April 16, 2003)

"Doctor Who Risked Life to Care for Pte Jessica" (Sandra Laville, Daily Telegraph, April 16, 2003)

"Iraqis Say Lynch Raid Faced No Resistance" (Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post, April 15, 2003) (the mythology begins to be questioned)

"Command Details Events Leading to Rescue of Lynch; Dramatic Exchange at Hospital Recounted" (Alan Sipress, Washington Post, April 6, 2003) (adding to the mythology)

"'She Was Fighting to the Death'; Details Emerging of W. Va. Soldier's Capture and Rescue" (Susan Schmidt and Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, April 3, 2003) (the original propaganda piece)

The first three paragraphs of this story read as follows: Pfc. Jessica Lynch, rescued Tuesday from an Iraqi hospital, fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers after Iraqi forces ambushed the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company, firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition, U.S. officials said yesterday. Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk, continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die around her in fighting March 23, one official said. The ambush took place after a 507th convoy, supporting the advancing 3rd Infantry Division, took a wrong turn near the southern city of Nasiriyah. "She was fighting to the death," the official said. "She did not want to be taken alive."

               f. Toppling Statue of Saddam Photo

A Tale of Two Photos (Information Clearinghouse)

The Photographs Tell the Story (Information Clearinghouse)

"Snap Judgments; Did Iconic Images from Baghdad Reveal More about the Media than Iraq?" (Matthew Gilbert and Suzanne C. Ryan, Boston Globe Staff, April 10, 2003)

"About that Dead Statue..." (Shock & Awe [Kynn Bartlett], April 9, 2003)


               g. NBC's Firing of Peter Arnett

"Mirror Scoops Sacked NBC Man" (Julia Day, The Guardian, April 1, 2003)

"Home of the Free: Arnett Joins Mirror" (Mirror, April 1, 2003)

"NBC Fires Peter Arnett Over Iraqi TV Interview" (David Bauder, AP. April 1, 2003)

"Peter Arnett in Iraqi TV Propaganda Row" (Julia Day, The Guardian, March 31, 2003)


          2. Lists of Stories the Media Got Wrong

Iraq War: Unanswered Questions" (BBC, April 17, 2003)

"How Truth Ended up Spoiling Some Good War Stories" (Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney Morning Herald, April 12, 2003)

"Fact or Fiction" (Sydney Morning Herald, April 10, 2003)

"False Claims Litter Iraq Conflict" (Merissa Marr, Reuters, March 31, 2003)

"Facts, Some Fiction and the Reporting of War" (Stuart Millar and Michael White, The Guardian, March 29, 2003)

"The Uprising That Wasn't, Mythical Chemical Weapons and Other Items of 'Breaking News'" (Paul Peachey, The Independet, March 28, 2003)

"War Watch; Claims and Counter Claims Made During the Media War over Iraq" (Lisa O'Carroll, Chris Tryhorn, Annie Lawson, and Jason Deans, The Guardian, March 28, 2003)

"15 Stories They've Already Bungled" (Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher Online, March 27, 2003)

"When Are Facts Facts? Not in a War" (Chris Tryhorn, The Guardian, March 25, 2003)


          3. News from the U.S. Military

"Qatar War Briefings Were 'a Waste of Time'" (Rebecca Allison and Ciar Byrne, The Guardian, June 26, 2003)

"Photo Illustrates Rift Between Army, Army Times" (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, May 5, 2003)


          4. Comparison of U.S. and International Media

"Through Different Lenses: The Search for Truth in Iraq" (Ahmed Nassef, muslimwakeup.com, April 23, 2003)

"Iraq Shooting Coverage Varies Widely; Foreign Papers Have Very Different Accounts" (Rafe Bartholomew, Editor and Publisher, April 17, 2003)

"On Arab TV, View of War Is Different Than We See" (Todd Richissin, Baltimore Sun, April 8, 2003)

"Shockingly Awful" (Omayma Abdel-Latif, Al-Ahram Weekly Online, April 3-9 2003 [Issue No. 632])

"What You See vs. What They See" (James Poniewozik, Time, March 30, 2003)

"Many Wars; War in Iraq Looks Different When Filtered Through Other Cultures" (Bob Brown, ABC News, March 28, 2003)

"War's Tale Told 2 Ways; Media from Other Nations See Events Differently" (Dan Fost, San Francisco Chronicle, March 27, 2003)

"Television Agendas Shape Images of War" (Oliver Burkeman, Ian Black, Matt Wells, Sean Smith, and Brian Whitaker, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Study in Contrast: CNN Vs. Al-Jazeera" (Raid Qusti, Arab News, March 26, 2003)

"Free Press and the Face of War" (Paul Belden, Asia Times, March 25, 2003)

"War News Filtered Through Nations' Politics" (Glenn Frankel and Emily Wax, Washington Post, March 23, 2003)


          5. Censorship of Nonconforming Media

               a. Al-Jazeera

"Al-Jazeera Returns to NY Stock Exchange" (Ciar Byrne, The Guardian, May 1, 2003)

"Pentagon Downed Web site, Al-Jazeera Editor Says" (Graeme Smith, Globe and Mail, March 29, 2003)

"Hack Attack Hits Al-Jazeera Site for Showing U.S. Dead" (Bob Mims, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 28, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Websites 'Hit by Hackers'" (Dominic Timms, The Guardian, March 26, 2003)

"Al Jazeera Is Brought Down By Hack Attackers" (Selwyn Manning, Scoop, March 26, 2003)

"NYSE Bans Arab TV Network's Reporters" (Teresa Agovino, AP, March 25, 2003)


               b. Yellow Times

"War Pictures Cause Yellowtimes.Org To Be Shut Down" (Firas Al-Atraqchi, Scoop, March 25, 2003)

"Newssite Shut Down over War Photos; Editor of Yellow Times Decries 'Censorship' of Gruesome Images" (Sherrie Gossett, WorldNet Daily, March 25, 2003)

Yellow Times


          6. Arab Countries' Media

               a. Generally

"U.S., Media at Odds over Iraq Coverage" (E.A. Torriero, Chicago Tribune, August 1, 2003)

"Arab Media Show War as U.S. Assault on Defenseless" (Susan Sachs, New York Times, April 4, 2003)

"Malaysia Pays for Journalists to Cover War" (AFP, April 2, 2003)


               b. Al-Jazeera

"Wolfowitz Sparks Fury from al-Jazeera" (Dominic Timms, The Guardian, July 29, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Defends War Reports" (BBC, May 24, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Man 'Banned' by British Troops" (Claire Cozens, The Guardian, April 22, 2003)

"Winners in the War" (Michael Wolff, The Guardian, April 21, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Airs 'Fiction' Says Campbell" (Julia Day, The Guardian, March 31, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera: View from the Inside" (Steve Dow, The Age, March 30, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Defends Images, Won't Censor War Horror" (Jim Wolf, Reuters, March 30, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Tells the Truth about War" (Faisal Bodi, The Guardian, March 28, 2003)

"We Have Upper Hand in Iraq, Claims al-Jazeera" (Chris Tryhorn, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Critics Accused of Double Standards" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Defiant over War Dead Footage" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Blair Expresses 'Horror' at al-Jazeera" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Defence Chiefs Demand al-Jazeera Stops Screening Film of Dead Soldiers" (Rory McCarthy and Steven Morris, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Wins Anti-Censorship Award" (Ciar Byrne, The Guardian, March 27, 2003)

"Europeans Flock to al-Jazeera" (Claire Cozens, The Guardian, March 25, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Causes Outcry with Broadcast of Battle Casualties" (Brian Whitaker, The Guardian, March 24, 2003)


          7. U.K. Media

               a. The BBC

"Biased Broadcasting Corporation" (Justin Lewis, The Guardian, July 4, 2003) ("A survey of the main broadcasters' coverage of the invasion of Iraq shows the claim that the BBC was anti-war is the opposite of the truth.")

"BBC under Fire after Showing Footage of Dead Soldiers" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, June 2, 2003)

"BBC under Fire over Chaos Reports" (Michael White and Sarah Hall, The Guardian, April 12, 2003)


               b. Other Media

Doctored Photo from the London Evening Standard (The Memory Hole, April 18, 2003)


          8. Other Countries' Media

"Australian Government Tries to Muzzle National Broadcaster" (Richard Phillips, World Socialist Web Site, August 16, 2003)

"Australian Radio Admits to Sarcasm but Denies Bias in Iraq War Coverage" (AFP, July 21, 2003)

"African Press Vilifies Bush over Iraq War" (AFP, March 21, 2003)


     H. Public Opinion

          1. American Public Opinion

For more poll results, see the category Polling Organizations in my list of progressive resources.

"Bush's Approval Rating Sags Over Iraq" (AP, July 18, 2003)

"Losing Patience; More Americans Call the Level of Casualties in Iraq 'Unacceptable'" (Gary Langer, ABC News, June 23, 2003)

          2. International Public Opinion

Poll Results from British online polling company YouGov


"In the Bath With the US Elephant" (Neil Berry, Arab News, June 26, 2003

"Arab Hostility Toward U.S. Growing, Poll Finds" (Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, June 4, 2003)

"World's View of U.S. Sours After Iraq War, Poll Finds" (Christopher Marquis, New York Times, June 4, 2003)

"Invasion of Iraq Has Heightened Mistrust of America, Poll Shows" (Rupert Cornwell, The Independent, June 4, 2003)

"Poll Shows U.S. Isolation: In War's Wake, Hostility and Mistrust" (Meg Bortin, International Herald Tribune, June 3, 2003)

"War Draws condemnation" (BBC, March 20, 2003)


II. Iraq's Alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction

     A. Summary of What We Know (incomplete)

Iraq's alleged attempted uranium purchase from Niger:

1. The American government already knew the stories were false. Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, the United States ambassador to Niger, had so informed the government prior to February 2002. Late in that month, Joseph C. Wilson 4th was sent by the CIA to investigate because Vice-President Dick Cheney's office had questions about the issue. For 23 years, from 1976 to 1998, Wilson was a career foreign service officer and ambassador. He concluded that there was no truth to the rumor, and so informed the CIA and the State Department. Yet the allegation appeared in the British government's September 2002 "white paper"; a December 19, 2002, State Department fact sheet that listed attempts to purchase uranium from Niger as an item omitted from Iraq's supposedly full disclosure of its weapons of mass destruction program; and in President Bush's State of the Union speech on January 23, 2003, in which he declared that "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

"What I Didn't Find in Africa" (Joseph C. Wilson 4th, New York Times, July 6, 2003)

"Ex-Envoy: U.S. Twisted Iraq Intelligence" (Jennifer C. Kerr, AP, July 6, 2003)

"Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored; Iraqi Purchases Were Doubted by CIA" (Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 6, 2003)

2. The documents purportedly revealing these transactions were forgeries. See Mohamed ElBaradei, "Statement to the United Nations Security Council; The Status of Nuclear Inspections in Iraq: An Update," March 7, 2003.

Iraqi defector Hussein Kamal, the director of Iraq's weapons program prior to his 1995 defection: Administration spokespeople have characterized testimony by Hussein Kamal as proving that Iraq still possesses chemical and biological weapons. A transcript of Kamal's testimony later surfaced, and he actually said exactly the opposite--that he had personally ordered the destruction of all of Iraq's nonconventional weapons:

Glen Rangwala, "The Interview with Hussein Kamel"

"The Defector's Secrets" (John Barry, Newsweek, March 3, 2003)

"Iraqi Defector's Testimony Confuses Case against Iraq" (Julian Borger, The Guardian, March 1, 2003)

"Allies Hushed Up Weapons' Destruction" (Tim Cornwell, The Scotsman, February 24, 2003)

The two alleged mobile biological labs:

"Bush Aides Discredit Analysts' Doubts on Trailers" (Robert Schlesinger, Boston Globe, June 27, 2003)

"Agency Disputes C.I.A. View of Trailers as Iraqi Weapons Labs" (Douglas Jehl, New York Times, June 26, 2003)

"State Dept Analysts Had Reservations About Labs" (Jonathan Wright, Reuters, June 26, 2003)

"2 Suspect Labs Could Have Produced Hydrogen" (Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2003)


     B. The Evidence: Documents

Glen Rangwala, "Claims and Evaluations of Iraq's Proscribed Weapons" (definitive)

"The Selling of the Iraq War; The First Casualty" (John B. Judis & Spencer Ackerman, The New Republic, posted June 19, 2003, issue date June 30)

From late August 2002 to mid-March of this year, the Bush administration made its case for war by focusing on the threat posed to the United States by Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and by his purported links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Officials conjured up images of Iraqi mushroom clouds over U.S. cities and of Saddam transferring to Osama bin Laden chemical and biological weapons that could be used to create new and more lethal September elevenths. In Nashville on August 26, 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney warned of a Saddam "armed with an arsenal of these weapons of terror" who could "directly threaten America's friends throughout the region and subject the United States or any other nation to nuclear blackmail." In Washington on September 26, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed he had "bulletproof" evidence of ties between Saddam and Al Qaeda. And, in Cincinnati on October 7, President George W. Bush warned, "The Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons." Citing Saddam's association with Al Qaeda, the president added that this "alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." Yet there was no consensus within the American intelligence community that Saddam represented such a grave and imminent threat. Rather, interviews with current and former intelligence officials and other experts reveal that the Bush administration culled from U.S. intelligence those assessments that supported its position and omitted those that did not. The administration ignored, and even suppressed, disagreement within the intelligence agencies and pressured the CIA to reaffirm its preferred version of the Iraqi threat. Similarly, it stonewalled, and sought to discredit, international weapons inspectors when their findings threatened to undermine the case for war.

Rep. Henry Waxman's letter to Condoleezza Rice, June 10, 2003


     C. The Evidence: News Stories

          1. In General

"Hans Blix: Blair Made a Fundamental Mistake Over '45 Minutes to Deploy' Claim" (The Independent, July 13, 2003)

"Revealed: First Dossier Also Dodgy" (Kim Sengupta, The Independent, July 12, 2003)

"Bush Had "Faith-Based" Intelligence on Iraq: Arms Expert" (AFP, July 11, 2003)

Greg Thielmann, a former head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, said: "The Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq." He added: "Some of the fault lies with the performance of the intelligence community, but most of it lies with the way senior officials misused the information they were provided." And Thielmann said the administration's attitude toward intelligence on Iraq had been "faith-based." In other words, "We know the answers, give us the intelligence to support those answers." "Intelligence is not evidence," said Gregory Treverton, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which produces US security evaluations. "The Bush administration has turned intelligence into evidence." For Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project, a Carnegie Endowment think-tank, said that given the fact that UN inspectors turned up nothing in the final months of their work on top of the US troops' inability so far to find the weapons shows that Bush went too far out on a limb. "The administration went far beyond the intelligence assessments in changing those assessments," he said.

"White House 'Lied about Saddam Threat'" (Julian Borger, The Guardian, July 10, 2003)

This was the first time an administration official has put his name to specific claims. The whistleblower, Gregory Thielmann, served as a director in the state department's bureau of intelligence until his retirement in September, and had access to the classified reports which formed the basis for the US case against Saddam, spelled out by President Bush and his aides. Mr Thielmannn said yesterday: "I believe the Bush administration did not provide an accurate picture to the American people of the military threat posed by Iraq." In one example, Mr Thielmann said a fierce debate inside the White House about the purpose of aluminium tubes bought by Baghdad had been "cloaked in ambiguity". While some CIA analysts thought they could be used for gas centrifuges to enrich uranium, the best experts at the energy department disagreed. But the national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, said publicly that they could only be used for centrifuges. Mr Thielmann also said there was no significant pattern of cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaida. He added: "This administration has had a faith-based intelligence attitude ... We know the answers - give us the intelligence to support those answers."

"Saddam 'Destroyed Weapons in 1990s'" (Paul Lashmar, The Independent, July 6, 2003) (Professor Richard Shultz, of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, and one of the United States' top intelligence experts, says that American intelligence was convinced that Saddam Hussein had hidden actual weaponised WMD; however, "It is almost certain that Saddam ordered the weapons dismantled or destroyed some time in the 1990s. Sanctions had seriously impeded the Iraqi efforts to obtain materials and equipment for their WMD programmes.")

"Rumsfeld: No New Iraq Weapons Evidence before War" (Reuters, July 9, 2003)

"Iraq Weapons 'Not Likely to be Found'" (Andrew Marr, BBC, July 9, 2003)

"'Easter Egg Hunt' for WMD Is Abandoned" (Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, July 8, 2003)

"MoD Report Pours Scorn on Evidence for Iraqi Weapons" (Kim Sengupta, The Independent, July 8, 2003) ("Britain and the United States had no clear intelligence on whether Iraq could use its supposed weapons of mass destruction during the war, the Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday.")

"One Stark Truth: Blair Was Wrong And Must Admit it Now" (Jackie Ashley, The Guardian, July 7, 2003)

"Iraq Weapons: Would a Jury Convict?" (Paul Reynolds, BBC, July 7, 2003)

"Basis for Arms Claims Affirmed" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 4, 2003) ("U.S. intelligence analysts lacked new, hard information about Saddam Hussein's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons after United Nations inspectors left Iraq in 1998, and so had to rely on data from the early and mid-1990s when they concluded in months leading up to the war that those programs continued into 2003, according to preliminary findings of a CIA internal review panel.")

"Where Are the WMD? The Winners Are ..." (Al Kamen, Washington Post, June 30, 2003) (readers offer their suggestions)

"Others Gauge Iraqi Scientist's Ordeal" (Dafna Linzer, AP, June 27, 2003)

"New Clash in Weapons Inquiry" (BBC, June 27, 2003)

"Weapons Reports Called Lacking" (John Hendren, Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2003) ("U.S. intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction was "perplexingly incomplete," Gen. John P. Abizaid, President Bush's nominee to head the U.S. Central Command, told a Senate committee Wednesday.")

"Interview: 27-Year CIA Veteran" (William Rivers Pitt, Truthout, June 26, 2003) (interview with Ray McGovern)

"Expert Said to Tell Legislators He Was Pressed to Distort Some Evidence" (James Risen and Douglas Jehl, New York Times, June 25, 2003)

"Israeli Parliament to Probe Pre-War Exaggeration of Iraqi Threat" (AFP, June 25, 2003)

"The Fact That Hussein's Gone Doesn't Make Lying Right" (Robert Scheer, June 24, 2003)

"Denial and Deception" (Paul Krugman, The New York Times, June 24, 2003)

"The Road to Coverup Is the Road to Ruin" (U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, June 24, 2003)

"Slaughtergate" (William Rivers Pitt, Truthout, June 23, 2003)

"UN Arms Inspector Blix Criticizes U.S. Over Iraq" (Grant McCool, Reuters, June 23, 2003)

"Blix Downgrades Prewar Assessment of Iraqi Weapons" (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, June 22, 2003)

"Now Bush Blames Failure to Find WMD on Looters" (Rupert Cornwell, The Independent, June 22, 2003

"Bush May Have Exaggerated, but Did He Lie?" (David E. Rosenbaum, New York Times, June 22, 2003) (apologetics)

"The Garbage Intelligence That Helped to Unleash a War" (Marian Wilkinson, The Age, June 21, 2003)

"Untethered to Reality" (Michael Kinsley, Washington Post, June 20, 2003)

"Getting Ready to Bow Out, Hans Blix Speaks His Mind on How U.S. Doubted Him" (Felicity Barringer, New York Times, June 19, 2003)

"What Did He Know and When Did He Know It?" (Robert Scheer, AlterNet, June 18, 2003)

"Iraq: A Necessary War?" (John Prados, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2003, Volume 59, No. 3, pp. 26-33)

          2. Biological Weapons

"Bush Aides Discredit Analysts' Doubts on Trailers" (Robert Schlesinger, Boston Globe, June 27, 2003)

"Agency Disputes C.I.A. View of Trailers as Iraqi Weapons Labs" (Douglas Jehl, New York Times, June 26, 2003)

"State Dept Analysts Had Reservations About Labs" (Jonathan Wright, Reuters, June 26, 2003)

"2 Suspect Labs Could Have Produced Hydrogen" (Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2003)

          3. Chemical Weapons



          4. Nuclear Weapons

The ongoing commentary in Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo is wonderful.


"CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct.; Why Bush Cited It In Jan. Is Unclear" (Walter Pincus and Mike Allen, Washington Post, July 13, 2003) ("Administration sources said White House officials, particularly those in the office of Vice President Cheney, insisted on including Hussein's quest for a nuclear weapon as a prominent part of their public case for war in Iraq. Cheney had made the potential threat of Hussein having a nuclear weapon a central theme of his August 2002 speeches that began the public buildup toward war with Baghdad.")

"The Niger Connection" (Peter Beaumont and Edward Helmore, The Observer, July 13, 2003) (British government claims they have a "separate" source for the Niger allegation that they have not passed on to the US.)

"Blair Ignored CIA Weapons Warning; Intelligence Breakdown After Britain Dismissed US Doubts Over Iraq Nuclear Link to Niger" (Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, July 13, 2003) (U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says that the results of Joseph Wilson's mission to Niger were never shared with British intelligence, and that, when the CIA warned against including the Niger allegation in the U.K.'s September dossier, this was ignored because the agency did not back it up with "any explanation."

"Administration Says Bush's Uranium Statement Was Accurate" (William C. Mann, AP, July 13, 2003) (assertion "is supported by other British and U.S. information")

"CIA Admits It Allowed Error in Bush Speech" (Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2003) ("Rice said Friday that Wilson's mission 'was not known to anybody in the White House' and that she didn't learn of it until a month ago'"; in October 2002, the CIA was assembling a 90-page classified report on Iraq's weapons programs--a document that was the basis for much of the administration's case for war; the State Department's intelligence bureau insisted on a footnote in that document describing the Niger claim as "highly dubious.")

"C.I.A. Chief Takes Blame in Assertion on Iraqi Uranium" (David E. Sanger and James Risen, New York Times, July 12, 2003) ("In a recent interview, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said that by the time he got to a meeting that Mr. Tenet attended at the C.I.A. three nights after the president's Jan. 28 speech, Mr. Powell's staff had already dismissed any thought of using the Africa claim to bolster the case the secretary was to make a few days later at the United Nations"; Rice says that the State Department's intelligence unit "was the one that within the overall intelligence assessment had objected to that sentence"; CIA officials removed statement from Bush's October 7, 2002, speech in Cincinnati)

"In Tenet's Words: 'I Am Responsible' for Review" (text of Tenet's Statement)

"Bush, Rice Blame CIA for Iraq Error; Tenet Accepts Responsibility for Clearing Statement on Nuclear Aims in Jan. Speech" (Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank, Washington Post, July 12, 2003)

"Etc." (The New Republic Online, July 12, 2003)

... in early 2002 intelligence analysts at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) pored over the bits of intelligence the United States had about the Niger uranium procurements. The INR analysts never received Ambassador Joe Wilson's now-famous debriefing of his trip to Niger, during which Wilson determined that the procurement probably never happened. Independently, however, they came to the same conclusion: Taking into account Saddam Hussein's past procurement patterns, the sub rosa nature of the alleged transaction occurring despite the numerous eyes--both in Niger and internationally--that would have noticed such a large uranium purchase, and the kinds of risks the Iraqi dictator had previously run, INR concluded that the transactions did not in fact take place. And so, in March 2002, the bureau--whose sole reason for existence is to provide the secretary of state with intelligence analysis--sent Powell a memo explaining exactly that. "We knew it was important," an intelligence analyst who worked on the Niger issue for INR tells &c. "The [Niger] issue might have traction, and so we wanted him to know what our opinion was."

"Iraq Uranium Claim Sows Confusion" (BBC, July 12, 2003)

"Powell: Niger Evidence Too Weak for UN Presentation" (Andrew Buncombe and Kim Sengupta, The Independent, July 11, 2003)

"Analysis: Bush Admin. Backpedals in Flap" (Barry Schweid, AP, July 11, 2003)

Retracing the intelligence reveals that both the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department's intelligence and research bureau had questioned the accuracy of a British intelligence report that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger. Those doubts rose nearly a year before the United States went to war with Iraq. Working independently, and somewhat at cross-purposes, the CIA did not share with the State Department the finding of Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, that the report could not be substantiated. The intelligence bureau at the State Department circulated in early March 2002 a memorandum that described the British report as dubious, a former U.S. intelligence officer said Friday. That report went to Powell, among other department officials, the official said. Powell also was given comprehensive findings by the bureau that Iraq had not reconstituted its nuclear weapons program, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Powell did not use the uranium allegation in making the U.S. case to the United Nations last February that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"U.S. Said to Doubt British Intelligence" (John Solomon, AP, July 11, 2003) ("U.S. intelligence officials had doubts about the quality of a British intelligence report alleging Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa in the weeks just before and after President Bush made the allegation in his State of the Union address in January, senior U.S. officials said Thursday. [para.] The officials said those doubts were expressed to British officials and across several agencies of the federal government before Bush gave his speech.")

"CIA Asked Britain To Drop Iraq Claim; Advice on Alleged Uranium Buy Was Refused" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 11, 2003) ("The CIA tried unsuccessfully in early September 2002 to persuade the British government to drop from an official intelligence paper a reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa"; "'We consulted about the paper and recommended against using that material,' a senior administration official familiar with the intelligence program said. The British government rejected the U.S. suggestion, saying it had separate intelligence unavailable to the United States.")

"Bush Blames CIA for State of Union Error" (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, July 11, 2003)

"Bush Team United Iraq Front Unravels; Use of Flawed Intelligence Opens a Pandora's Box" (Michael Moran, MSNBC, July 11, 2003)

Colin Powell's Press Briefing, Pretoria, South Africa, July 10, 2003

"Bush Skirts Queries on Iraq Nuclear Allegation; Aides Have Backed Off State of Union Assertion" (Dana Milbank and Mike Allen, Washington Post, July 10, 2003) ("Bush's press secretary, Ari Fleischer, told reporters that the White House learned only after the speech that documents that were the basis for his claim had been forged"; Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, "would not say which White House official wrote that section of the speech, which eventually went through more than 25 drafts.")

"The Niger Connection: What We Know, What We Don't Know, And What We May Never Be Told" (Andrew Buncombe and Ben Russell, The Independent, July 10, 2003)

But Tony Blair was adamant in testimony this week that the UK had "separate intelligence" on Iraqi attempts to import uranium from Africa. Last night, the Foreign Office stated that Britain's information was based on "additional evidence other than documents, forged or genuine". Britain has not handed this "evidence" to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] for assessment, despite its obligations under the mandatory UN Security Council resolution 1441 to do so. The Foreign Office maintained last night that "we comply fully with our obligations to provide evidence with the IAEA" but that "in the case of uranium from Niger, we did not have any UK-originated intelligence to pass on". A UN diplomatic source told The Independent that the UK position was "incredible". Another diplomatic source said: "The only concrete evidence the UN got was the Niger set of letters [subsequently proved to be forgeries] and it was told that there was nothing else."

"Bush Knew Iraq Info Was Dubious" (CBS News, July 10, 2003) ("CIA officials warned members of the President’s National Security Council Staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa.")

--Earlier verion of this story

"US Withheld Uranium Intelligence from UN" (Edward Alden, Guy Dinmore and James Harding, Financial Times [U.K.], July 9, 2003)

The US government withheld from United Nations weapons inspectors evidence to back its claim that the Iraqi government had attempted to obtain uranium from Africa, despite repeated pledges to co-operate fully with the inspectors. In a letter released on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was forced to wait six weeks for the evidence - from December 2002 to early February 2003 - at a critical time, when it was investigating US charges that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear programme. During that period, the US several times repeated the allegations, most notably in President George W. Bush's January State of the Union address.

"Timeline: 'Niger Uranium' Row" (BBC, July 9, 2003)

"Bush Charge on Iraq Arms Had Doubters, House Told" (David E. Sanger and Carl Hulse, The New York Times, July 9, 2003) ("The State Department told a Congressional committee today that seven days after President Bush gave his State of the Union address, in which he charged that Saddam Hussein was trying to purchase uranium in Africa, American diplomats warned the International Atomic Energy Agency that the United States could not confirm the reports"; "in turning over the material, the State Department told the organization, 'We cannot confirm these reports and have questions regarding some specific claims.'")

"Nuclear Watchdog Denies Blair's Claim of 'Separate Intelligence'" (Kim Sengupta and Ben Russell, The Independent, July 9, 2003)

A senior diplomatic source close to the IAEA said yesterday: "The only information we received was from the US, and this included documents which turned out to be forgeries.This was sent to us in February. "We certainly have not received anything from Britain, and we have not received anything from a third country. "It did not take long to uncover the forged documentation. We did a Google search and discovered that someone named as a minister in the Niger government has stopped being so years ago. A lot of it was pretty crude - a cut and paste job."

"Diplomat Who Blew the Whistle on Falsified Evidence" (Andrew Buncombe, The Independent, July 9, 2003) (on Joseph Wilson)

"Is Niger the Smoking Gun? Blair under Fire as White House Rejects British Intelligence Claiming Iraq Tried to Buy Uranium" (Ben Russell and Andrew Buncombe, The Independent, July 9, 2003)

"Bush Defends War, Sidestepping Issue of Faulty Intelligence" (Richard W. Stevenson, The New York Times, July 9, 2003)

But Mr. Fleischer said Mr. Wilson's report was vague and did not specifically address the main problem with the intelligence, that documents purporting to document Iraq's efforts were almost certainly forged. "He spent eight days in Niger and concluded that Niger denied the allegation," Mr. Fleischer said. "Well, typically nations don't admit to going around nuclear nonproliferation." He said there had been "other reporting" beyond the apparently forged documents about Mr. Hussein's efforts to acquire a lightly processed form of uranium known as yellow cake, but did not specify what it was.

"Bush and Rumsfeld Defend Use of Prewar Intelligence on Iraq; Despite Use of False Information, Bush Says He Has 'No Doubt' in His Decision" (Dana Milbank and Mike Allen, Washington Post, July 9, 2003)

"White House on Defensive Over Intelligence" (James Gerstenzang, Los Angeles Time, July 9, 2003)

"Bush Recantation Of Iraq Claim Stirs Calls for Probes" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 9, 2003)

"Bush Claim on Iraq Had Flawed Origin, White House Says" (David E. Sanger, The New York Times, July 8, 2003) ("said one senior official, 'we couldn't prove it, and it might in fact be wrong.'")

"White House Says Iraq Uranium Claim Forged" (Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters, July 8, 2003) ("Italy's intelligence service circulated reports about the Niger documents--not the documents themselves--to other Western intelligence services in early 2002, and that was apparently how the British and U.S. intelligence services learned of them, U.S. government sources said; a U.S. intelligence official said Joseph Wilson was sent to investigate the Niger reports by mid-level CIA officers, not by top-level Bush administration officials; 'He is placing far greater significance on his visit than anyone in the U.S. government at the time it was made,' the official said, referring to Wilson's New York Times article.")

"White House Backs Off Claim on Iraqi Buy" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 8, 2003)

"A Diplomat's Undiplomatic Truth: They Lied" (Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2003)

"Bush 'Warned over Uranium Claim'" (BBC, July 8, 2003) (unnamed CIA officials say that Joseph Wilson's report "had been passed on to government departments, including the White House")

"US Admits Iraq-African Uranium Link 'Bogus'" (James Harding, Guy Dinmore and James Blitz, Financial Times [U.K.], July 7, 2003) (Bush's claim that Iraq had "attempted to purchase high-strength aluminium tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production" is also under scrutiny.) "What I Didn't Find in Africa" (Joseph C. Wilson 4th, New York Times, July 6, 2003) (the op-ed that made the media address the issue)

"Ex-Envoy: U.S. Twisted Iraq Intelligence" (Jennifer C. Kerr, AP, July 6, 2003) (on Joseph Wilson)

"Ex-Envoy: Nuclear Report Ignored; Iraqi Purchases Were Doubted by CIA" (Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 6, 2003) (on Joseph Wilson)

"Iraqi Says Hussein Planned to Revive the Nuclear Program Dismantled in 1991" (David E. Sanger, New York Times, June 27, 2003)

"Iraqi Nuclear Scientist Says He Hid Material from UN" (David Usborne, The Independent, June 27, 2003)

"White House, U.N. Differ on Iraq Finding" (John J. Lumpkin, AP, June 26, 2003)

"IAEA: Centrifuge Parts Not Evidence of 'Smoking Gun'; U.N. Watchdog: Iraq Had No Nuclear Weapons Program After '91" (Caroline McDonald, CNN, June 26, 2003)

"Powell's Doubts over CIA Intelligence on Iraq Prompted Him to Set up Secret Review; Specialists Removed Questionable Evidence about Weapons from Draft of Secretary of State's Ppeech to UN" (Suzanne Goldenberg and Richard Norton-Taylor; The Guardian; June 2, 2003) (Greg Theilmann says that inside the Bush administration "there is a lot of sorrow and anger at the way intelligence was misused")

"U.N. Saying Documents Were Faked" (CNN, March 14, 2003) ("U.S. officials say that assertion by the president and the British was also based on additional evidence of Iraqi efforts to obtain uranium from another African country. The other countries on that continent that have uranium deposits are Namibia, Gabon and South Africa. U.S. officials would not say which one, but they say that additional evidence was also passed on to the IAEA")

"FBI Probes Fake Evidence of Iraqi Nuclear Plans" (Dana Priest and Susan Schmidt, Washington Post, March 13, 2003)

"Evidence on Iraq Challenged; Experts Question if Tubes Were Meant for Weapons Program" (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, September 19, 2002)


     D. Governmental Responses

          1. U.S. Administration Smear Jobs

               Joseph Wilson

What happened: A July 14 article by conservative journalist Robert Novak stated that, according to two unnamed "senior administration officials," the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV is a deep-cover CIA officer.

"White House Ducks Smear Inquiry" (David Corn, The Nation)

"US Envoy Says He Is Smear Target" (Edward Alden, Financial Times [U.K.], July 22, 2003)

"Ex-Ambassador Who Criticized Iraq Arms Claim Charges He's White House Target" (AFP, July 22, 2003)

"Columnist Blows CIA Agent's Cover" (Timothy M. Phelps and Knut Royce, Newsday, July 22, 2003))

"White House Striking Back?" (MSNBC, July 21, 2003)

"The Crime and the Cover-Up" (William Rivers Pitt, Truthout, July 21, 2003)

"A White House Smear" (David Corn, The Nation, July 16, 2003)


               ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman

What happened: After Kofman wrote a story about GIs' gripes in Iraq, the White House leaked information that he is gay and Canadian.

"Let's Blame Canada" (Maureen Dowd, New York Times, July 20, 2003)


               Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois

What happened: Durbin accused the White House of trying to have him removed from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in retaliation for remarks critical of the administration over Iraq.

"Senator Accuses White House of Retaliation" (Reuters, July 22, 2003)


               France

"France Says It Was Victim of Lies Fed by White House" (Brian Knowlton, New York Times, May 16, 2003) ("French officials today took the highly unusual step of complaining formally that their country was the victim of a campaign of 'repeated disinformation' they say is being fed by Bush administration officials, accusing France of having provided military and diplomatic aid to Saddam Hussein's government.")


               Scott Ritter

What Happened: Information is leaked to the press, source unknown, of Ritter's two prior arrests for allegedly setting up meetings with underage girls over the Internet.

"Feds Reviewing Ritter's Records" (WorldNetDaily, January 25, 2003)

Ritter admits 'sex sting' arrest" (Marcus Warren, Daily Telegraph [U.K.], January 24, 2003)

"UN's Ritter Faced Sex Rap" (Joe Mahoney, New York Daily News, January 19, 2003)


          2. U.K. Government

"Angry MPs Set Blair a Deadline to Find Weapons" (Jo Dillon, The Independent, July 13, 2003)

"PM Should Quit, Warns Short" (Evening Standard [U.K.], July 12, 2003)

"Britain Stands Behind Iraq Uranium Charge" (Beth Gardiner, AP, July 11, 2003) (Tony Blair's office says "Britain has reliable information it cannot share with Washington because it comes from foreign intelligence sources.")

"Text of Foreign Affairs Committee's 33 Recommendations and Conclusions" (The Independent, July 7, 2003)

"The BBC Reported What We Were All Told--And It Was Right" (Peter Beaumont, The Observer, June 29, 2003)

"BBC Set to Sue Minister Over Iraq 'Lies' Claim" (Kamal Ahmed and Martin Bright, The Observer, June 29, 2003)

"War of the Words" (Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, June 29, 2003)

"The BBC Row Has Been Got Up to Obscure the Ugly Truth; Intelligence Can't Hide the Fact We Went to War on a False Pretext" (Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, June 28, 2003)

"Papers Were Slipped Under My Door on a Wet, Windy Night" (Andy McSmith, The Independent, June 27, 2003)

'There Is Not a Single Fact in Either Dossier That Is Actually Disputed' (The Independent, June 26, 2003)

"Ten Pressing Questions And, After a Fashion, Ten Answers" (Ben Russell, The Independent, June 26, 2003)

"Campbell Denies 'Sexing Up' Iraq Arms Report" (Tom Parry, The Independent, June 25, 2003)

"The Rush to War: Straw Admits That Dossier Was 'Embarrassing'" (Paul Waugh, The Independent, June 25, 2003)

"Straw Concedes 'Substantial Error' in Iraq Weapons Document" (Jane Merrick and Sherna Noah, The Independent, June 24, 2003)

          3. Australian Government

"Howard, Downer Must Resign: Butler" (Margaret Simons and Brendan Nicholson, The Age, July 13, 2003)

"Another Admission of Iraq Doubt" (Mark Forbes, The Age, July 12, 2003) (the Defence Intelligence Organisation was aware of an analysis stating the uranium from Niger claims were dubious, but didn't inform government ministers, becoming the third Australian intelligence agency to make this admission)

"Howard Accused of Deceit over Iraq" (The Age, July 12, 2003)

"Intelligence Story 'Reeks of Dishonesty'" (The Age, July 11, 2003)

"'I Did Not Mislead over Iraq': PM" (The Age, July 11, 2003)

"Officials Knew of Dodgy Iraq File" (Mark Riley and Craig Skehan, Syndey Morning Herald, July 11. 2003) ("The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) admitted last night that it knew intelligence on Iraq's nuclear program was questionable shortly before the Prime Minister, John Howard, presented it to Parliament to build a case for war"; the debunking information came from the U.S. State Department in January 2003)

"Intelligence 'Kept PM in Dark' over US Weapons Doubts" (Sydney Morning Herald, July 10, 2003) ("The Office of National Assessments (ONA) said it was aware in January this year that the US State Department had doubts over claims Saddam Hussein had sought to buy uranium from Africa. ... But the ONA said it did not pass on the US doubts in its reports" to Prime Minister Howard")

"Howard Denies Misleading over Iraq" (The Age, July 8 2003)

"PM Denies He Knew US Doubted WMD Intelligence" (Sydney Morning Herald, July 7, 2003)

"PM Told of Doubts on Iraqi Arms: US Official" (Marian Wilkinson, Sydney Morning Herald, July 7, 2003)

"Howard Used US Proof To Go To War, Says Blix" (Caroline Overington, The Age, June 25, 2003)


III. Iraq's Alleged Links to al-Qaeda

     A. Assessments of the Evidence

"Spanish Intelligence Service Says No Link Between Saddam and Al Qaeda: Report" (Australian Broadcasting Corp, September 6, 2003)

"Wolfowitz: Iraq Not Involved in 9-11, No Ties to al-Qaeda" (Jason Leopold, August 7, 2003)

The Other Iraq Fraud (Steve Chapman, August 5, 2003)

"Questions Grow Over Iraq Links to al-Qaeda" (Peter S. Canellos and Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, August 3, 2003)

"How Close Were Iraq and Al-Qaeda?" (Tony Karon, Time.com, July 30, 2003)

"White House 'Delayed 9-11 Report'" (Shaun Waterman, UPI, July 25, 2003) (no mention of any Iraq-al-Qaida link in the official 9/11 report)

"No Solid Proof Yet Linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda" (AP, July 25, 2003)

"Secret Report Undercuts Iraq Connection to WTC; 'No Specific Information' Saddam behind 1993 Bombing, Any Other Attack on U.S." (Paul Sperry, WorldNetDaily.com, July 23, 2003) ("U.S. intelligence services unanimously agreed last fall that 'no specific intelligence information' tied Iraq to U.S. terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.")

"The Next Debate: Al Qaeda Link" (Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, New York Times, July 20, 2003) ("the connection the administration asserted between Iraq and Al Qaeda, the organization that made catastrophic terrorism a reality, seems more uncertain than ever")

"Ex-Officials Dispute Iraq Tie to al-Qaida" (Matt Kelley, AP, July 12, 2003)

"White House 'Lied about Saddam Threat'" (Julian Borger, The Guardian, July 10, 2003) (Gregory Thielmann, former director of the state department's bureau of intelligence, said that there was no significant pattern of cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaida)

"Iraqi Who Might Have Met With 9/11 Hijacker Is Captured; New Focus Is Put on Iraq's Alleged Links to Al Qaeda" (Vernon Loeb and John Mintz, Washington Post, July 9, 2003)

"U.N. Panel Finds No Iraq Link to Al Qaeda" (Reuters, June 27, 2003)

"U.N. Group Finds No Hussein-Al Qaeda Link" (Timothy L. O'Brien, New York Times, June 27, 2003)

"U.N. Panel Reports No al-Qaida-Iraq Ties" (Dafna Linzer, AP, June 26, 2003)

"Report Cast Doubt on Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, June 22, 2003)

"Media Silent on Clark's 9/11 Comment; Gen. Says White House Pushed Saddam Link Without Evidence" (FAIR, June 20, 2003)

"The Selling of the Iraq War; The First Casualty" (John B. Judis & Spencer Ackerman, The New Republic, posted June 19, 2003, issue date June 30)

From late August 2002 to mid-March of this year, the Bush administration made its case for war by focusing on the threat posed to the United States by Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and by his purported links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Officials conjured up images of Iraqi mushroom clouds over U.S. cities and of Saddam transferring to Osama bin Laden chemical and biological weapons that could be used to create new and more lethal September elevenths. In Nashville on August 26, 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney warned of a Saddam "armed with an arsenal of these weapons of terror" who could "directly threaten America's friends throughout the region and subject the United States or any other nation to nuclear blackmail." In Washington on September 26, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed he had "bulletproof" evidence of ties between Saddam and Al Qaeda. And, in Cincinnati on October 7, President George W. Bush warned, "The Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons." Citing Saddam's association with Al Qaeda, the president added that this "alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." Yet there was no consensus within the American intelligence community that Saddam represented such a grave and imminent threat. Rather, interviews with current and former intelligence officials and other experts reveal that the Bush administration culled from U.S. intelligence those assessments that supported its position and omitted those that did not. The administration ignored, and even suppressed, disagreement within the intelligence agencies and pressured the CIA to reaffirm its preferred version of the Iraqi threat. Similarly, it stonewalled, and sought to discredit, international weapons inspectors when their findings threatened to undermine the case for war.

"CIA Had Doubts on Iraq Link to al-Qaida" (Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, June 10, 2003)

"Captives Deny Qaeda Worked With Baghdad" (James Risen, New York Times, June 9, 2003)

"Wanted: an Iraqi link to al-Qaeda" (Paul Reynolds, BBC, December 15, 2002)


     B. Americans' Beliefs

Comment: It's important to analyze Americans' beliefs that Saddam Hussein had general connections to terrorists who might attack the U.S. The percentage holding this (also false) belief is even higher than that believing Iraq responsible for the September 11 attack. This false belief was the expected and intended outcome of administration statements constantly speaking of Saddam and terrorists in the same breath.

For more poll results, see the category Polling Organizations in my list of progressive resources.

"Hussein Link to 9/11 Lingers in Many Minds" (Dana Milbank and Claudia Deane, Washington Post, September 6, 2003)

"Washington Post Poll: Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 Attacks" (Washington Post, September 6, 2003)

Americans on Iraq: WMD, Links to al-Qaeda, Reconstruction (The Program on International Policy Attitudes, July 1 , 2003)

Asked, "Do you think that the Bush administration did or did not imply that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 th attacks?" a very strong 71% said that it did, while 25% said it did not. Most of these believe that Bush was being misleading in making this implication. Asked what is "the best description of the relationship between the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein and the terrorist group al-Qaeda," only 25% said they thought "Iraq was directly involved in carrying out the September 11 th attacks." However, a clear majority does appear to believe that there was a significant link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. When asked what is "the best description of the relationship between the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein and the terrorist group al-Qaeda," 36% said "Iraq gave substantial support to al-Qaeda, but was not involved in the September 11th attacks." Together with the 25% who said they thought "Iraq was directly involved in carrying out the September 11 th attacks," 61% said there was a significant link. Just 33% characterized the association as being more minimal, with 26% saying "a few al-Qaeda individuals visited Iraq or had contact with Iraqi officials" and 7% saying there was no connection at all. Perhaps most striking, a modest majority even believes--incorrectly--that clear evidence of this link has been found. Asked, "Is it your impression that the US has or has not found clear evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization?" 52% said that the US has found evidence, while just 43% said that it has not. There was a very strong relationship between the belief that evidence for links have been found and the belief that the Bush administration was fully truthful before the war when presenting evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al-Qaeda. Among those who believed the Bush administration had been fully truthful, 84% believed evidence of links have been found. But among those who felt that the Bush administration had been stretching the truth, just 40% believed evidence has been found, and among those who believed that the administration had presented evidence they knew was false, just 13% believed that evidence has been found. Here again it appears that this misperception may to some extent be motivated by a desire to avoid cognitive dissonance. Among those thought the decision to go to war was the best thing to do (46% of the sample), 72% thought that clear evidence of close links have been found. Among Republicans 68% believed evidence has been found, and among Republicans who say they follow news on Iraq very closely 78% believed that evidence has been found.

"False War Beliefs 'Striking'" (Frank Davies, Pioneer Press, June 22, 2003)

"Americans on Iraq After the UN Resolution" (The Program on International Policy Attitude, December 3, 2002) (87% of Americans believe that invading Iraq would lead it to transfer weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups to use against the US.)

Late 2002 compilation of several organizations' poll data by the Program on International Policy Attitudes

A near-unanimous majority believes that the Iraqi government trains and supports terrorists. In an August 2002 Gallup survey, 86% said they think "Saddam Hussein is involved in supporting terrorist groups that have plans to attack the United States." Just 8% felt Hussein was not involved in such activities (don't know: 6%). This is virtually unchanged since late 2001, when Wirthlin found 91% saying they "believe that Iraq encourages, trains, and supports terrorists." Asked the same question by Penn, Schoen and Berland in September 2001, 91% believed Iraq was involved in aiding terrorists. Most recently, Newsweek elaborated a different version, asking whether respondents "believe[d] that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq is harboring al-Qaeda terrorists and helping them to develop chemical weapons." A somewhat lower 75% said they believed this (September 2002). Also, an overwhelming majority believes that removing Saddam Hussein would be at least somewhat effective as a step in the war on terrorism. A November 2001 Zogby poll found 80% who said this would be at least "somewhat effective" (with 48% saying "very effective"). Iraq is even seen as more supportive of terrorists than Iran. When asked in an August 2002 Fox poll whether Iraq or Iran "is a stronger supporter of terrorism and poses the greater immediate danger to the United States," a strong plurality of 49% chose Iraq. Just 18% chose Iran, while 23% volunteered that they were both about equal. It is not clear, however, that a majority believes there is a connection between Iraq and the September 11 terrorist attacks. When respondents were asked to say who they thought was responsible for the September 11 attacks, a fairly small percentage identified Saddam Hussein or Iraq. Shortly after September 11, respondents were asked the open-ended question: "Who do you think is more responsible [sic] for the recent terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon?" Only 3% proposed Saddam Hussein or Iraq, while 57% named Osama bin Laden as the most likely suspect. All who answered were asked for a second choice; this time Iraq scored higher, but still only got 27% of responses (Wirthlin, September 15-17, 2001). When a CNN/USA Today poll presented Iraq as a possible object of blame for September 11, 41% said they blamed Iraq "a great deal", but this was lower than the percentage blaming other countries and actors a great deal, including Osama bin Laden (83%), Afghanistan (64%), and fundamentalist Muslim leaders (53%). One poll has found a slight majority saying that Iraq was behind the attacks. In August 2002, a Gallup poll found 53% saying they believed "Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11 attacks"; 34% did not think so and 13% had no opinion. However it should be noted that this question immediately followed a question in which 86% agreed that Hussein was involved in supporting terrorists generally, so that a 'response set' may have accounted for some of this agreement with the question about September 11.

"America Responds" (Wirthlin Report, September 2001) (This is the poll of American's assessment of blame just after the 9/11/2001 attack, discussed above, in which only three percent of Americans attribute primary responsibility for the September 11 attack to Iraq)

Americans were misled by mainstream media reporting as well as by the administration's lies. See, for example:

"Two Men, Two Missions" (Josh Burek, Christian Science Monitor, February 26, 2003) ("Both men hate the United States. Both see themselves as crusaders. And both have a proven desire to destroy what stands in their way.")


     C. Administration Statements

"Administration Comments on Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 Attacks" (Washington Post, September 6, 2003)

See also the collected administration statements in this Research Guide.



     D. Ansar al Islam

"Radical Islamist in Norway Says Willing to Face U.S." (Reuters, September 2, 2003) ("I don't want to be a problem for Norway," Iraqi Kurd Mullah Krekar told the daily Aftenposten in an interview after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said during a visit to Oslo that Krekar's Ansar al-Islam group was behind terrorism.")

"Norwegian Police Drop "Terrorist" Charges Against Iraqi Kurd" (AFP, July 18, 2003)

"Iraqi Kurds Fear Return of Islamic Militant Group" (Azadeh Moaveni, Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2003)


IV. Humanitarian Consequences of U.S./U.K. Invasion and Occupation

     A. Civilian Casualties

          1. General Resources

Iraq Body Count

Monitoring International Humanitarian Law in Iraq

Occupation Watch

CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict)

Civilian Deaths in Iraq War (March 19-June 15, 2003, collected by Scuttlebutt and Small Chow site)

"Memorandum on Concerns Relating to Law and Order" (Amnesty International, July 23, 2003)

"Civilian Casualties in the 2003 Iraq War: A Compendium of Accounts and Reports" (Melissa Murphy and Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives, May 21, 2003) (excellent collection)

"Civilians under Fire" (Amnesty International, April 8, 2003)

"When 'Precision' Bombing Isn't: Iraqi Civilians Learn the Lesson of Afghanistan" (Marc W. Herold, Cursor.org, March 29, 2003)


"Americans Draw a Veil of Secrecy as Casualties Grow" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 20, 2003)

"Iraq Attacks Give U.S. Forces Jitters" (Steven R. Hurst, AP, September 19, 2003)

"Powell Draws a Veil over Killings as He Tours Iraq" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 16, 2003)

"Iraq Official Laments U.S. Troops Action" (AP, September 15, 2003) (Dr. Rajaa Habib Khuzai, one of two women on the Governing Council, said that Most U.S. troops in Iraq treat civilians with "violence and contempt," spurring animosity and anger)

"Secret Slaughter by Night, Lies and Blind Eyes by Day" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 14, 2003)

"Angry Iraqis Tell of U.S. Troops Fatal Errors" (Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown, Knight Ridder, September 10, 2003) ("U.S.-led coalition troops have shot and killed at least 49 and possibly as many as 72 civilian noncombatants since the conventional war ended, according to a Knight Ridder review of reports first compiled by Iraq Body Count")

"Three Among Tens of Thousands - A Family, Maimed and Then Forgotten" (Justin Huggler, The Independent, September 7, 2003)

"War Wounded Abound in 'Post-War' Iraq" (AFP, September 7, 2003)

"Forgotten Victims: Iraq's War Wounded Struggle to Survive" (BBC)

"Farah Tried to Plead with the US Troops but She Was Killed Anyway" (Peter Beaumont, The Observer, September 7, 2003)

It became less puzzling when I spoke to Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the International Committee for the Red Cross, who confirmed what she has said before - that despite repeated requests from the Red Cross, it can neither get information nor figures on civilian deaths during raids. What happened at Mahmudiya would be disturbing enough if it was unique, but it is not. It is part of a pattern that points not to a deliberate policy but perhaps to something equally worrying, an institutional lack of care among many in the US military for whether civilians are killed in their operations. It is not enough to say, as some defenders of the US military in Iraq do, that its soldiers are tired, frightened and under pressure from the simmering guerrilla attacks directed against them. For it is the impression that the US military gives of not caring about those innocent Iraqis that they kill that is stoking resentment.

"Postwar Stress Brings a Rise to Miscarriages" (Ghada Butti, Iraq Today, September 2, 2003)

"Sounds of Grief, Pain and Hope" (John Farrell, Voices in the Wilderness, 1 September 2003)

"We Have a Long and Dishonourable Tradition of Smearing the Dead" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, August 23, 2003)

"Civilian War Deaths in Iraq" (Jude Wanniski, August 21, 2003) (Iraq Freedom Party reports that invading troops have killed 37,137 Iraq civilians)

"Mass Graves to Reveal Iraq War Toll" (Jamie Wilson, The Guardian, August 19, 2003)

"The Things That Keep Us Here" (Caoimhe Butterly, August 18, 2003)

"Iraq Group Starts Exhuming War Casualties" (AP, August 18, 2003)

"Occupation Watch" (James Brandon, Baghdad Bulletin, August 17, 2003)

"One Ali Saved, but Thousands More Are Suffering" (Gaby Hinsliff, The Observer, August 10, 2003)

"Iraq Begins a Tally of its War Dead" (Niko Price, AP, August 8, 2003)

"Adding Indifference to Injury" (Iraq Body Count, August 7, 2003) ("At least 20,000 civilians were injured in the Iraq war: Why are the occupiers ignoring their suffering and their needs?")

"Civilian Deaths Stoke Iraqis' Resentment; Bitterness May Widen Resistance" (Vivienne Walt, San Francisco Chronicle, August 4, 2003)

----Same article at the Boston Globe under title "Bitterness Grows in Iraq over Deaths of Civilians"

"Saddam's Sons Buried; U.S. Troops Bombed" (AP, August 2, 2003) ("Yet in dozens of interviews conducted by The Associated Press, Iraqi citizens voiced growing bitterness and a desire for revenge against U.S. soldiers for the way they have allegedly treated the population while attempting to pacify the country.")

"Three Months after End of Major Combat, Iraqis Deeply Distrustful of U.S. Occupiers" (AP, July 29, 2003)

"Few Iraqis Reporting Civilian Deaths" (Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder, July 26, 2003)

"Iraq: The Human Toll" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, July 6, 2003) ("The total figure of civilian deaths in the Iraqi conflict may never be known, but an investigation of random incidents reveals that whatever the total, the proportion of civilian to military deaths among Iraqis is overwhelming.") (must-read)

"Iraq: The Human Toll (part two)" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, July 6, 2003) (also must-read)

"U.S. Runs Into an Unexpected Enemy" (Peyman Pejman, Inter Press Service, June 30, 2003)

"Why AP Counted Civilian Deaths in Iraq; Finds U.S. Not Investigating Worst Cases" (Barbara Bedway, Editor & Publisher Online, June 24, 2003)

"US Troops 'Shoot Civilians'" (Bob Graham, Evening Standard, June 19, 2003) (Note: This is the lead-in to the following article.)

'I Just Pulled the Trigger' (Bob Graham, Evening Standard, June 19, 2003)

(Note: The following are excerpts from this powerful article, which brings home the horrors of this war for both American service members and Iraqi civilians.) Specialist Anthony Castillo: "If civilians were there, they were considered the enemy" Sergeant First Class John Meadows revealed the mindset that has led to hundreds of innocent Iraqi civilians being killed alongside fighters deliberately dressed in civilian clothes. "You can't distinguish between who's trying to kill you and who's not," he said. "Like, the only way to get through s*** like that was to concentrate on getting through it by killing as many people as you can, people you know are trying to kill you. Killing them first and getting home." Such is their level of hatred they preferred to kill rather than merely injure. Sgt Meadows, 34, said: "The worst thing is to shoot one of them, then go help him." Sergeant Adrian Pedro Quinones, 26, chipped in: "In that situation you're angry, you're raging. They'd just been shooting at my men - they were putting my guys in a casket and eight feet under, that's what they were trying to do. "And now, they're laying there and I have to help them, I have a responsibility to ensure my men help them." Cpl Richardson said: "S***, I didn't help any of them. I wouldn't help the f******. There were some you let die. And there were some you double-tapped." Sgt Meadows said men under his command had been seeking help for severe depression: "They've already seen psychiatrists and the chain of command has got letters back saying 'these men need to be taken out of this situation'. But nothing's happened." Cpl Richardson added: "Some soldiers don't even f****** sleep at night. They sit up all f****** night long doing s*** to keep themselves busy - to keep their minds off this f****** stuff. It's the only way they can handle it. It's not so far from being crazy but it's their way of coping. There's one guy trying to build a little pool out the back, pointless stuff but it keeps him busy." Sgt Meadows said: "For me, it's like snap-shot photos. Like pictures of maggots on tongues, babies with their heads on the ground, men with their heads halfway off and their eyes wide open and mouths wide open. I see it every day, every single day. The smells and the torsos burning, the entire route up to Baghdad, from 20 March to 7 April, nothing but burned bodies." Specialist Bryan Barnhart, 21, joined in: "I also got the images like snapshots in my head. There are bodies that we saw when we went back to secure a place we'd taken. The bodies were still there and they'd been baking in the sun. Their bodies were bloated three times the size." Specialist Castillo said: "We're more angry at the generals who are making these decisions and who never hit the ground, and who don't get shot at or have to look at the bloody bodies and the burnt-out bodies, and the dead babies and all that kinda stuff." Sgt Quinones added: "Most of these soldiers are in their early twenties and late teens. They've seen, in less than a month, more than any man should see in a whole lifetime. It's time for us to go home." "There's a picture of the World Trade Center hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my Kevlar [flak jacket]. Every time I feel sorry for these people I look at that. I think, 'They hit us at home and, now, it's our turn.' I don't want to say payback but, you know, it's pretty much payback."

"As U.S. Fans Out in Iraq, Violence and Death on Rise" (Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times, June 14, 2003)

"War May Have Killed 10,000 Civilians, Researchers Say" (Simon Jeffery, The Guardian, June 13, 2003)

"AP Tallies 3,240 Civilian Deaths in Iraq" (Niko Price, AP, June 10, 2003)

"Breakdown of AP's Count of Iraqi Deaths" (AP, June 10, 2003)

Comment: Other reports show that the AP's figures are substantial undercounts. In Nasiriyah, for example, the AP reports 145 confirmed civilian deaths, while a story from the BBC says that over 1000 people, the vast majority of them civilians, were killed. See "Nasiriya Struggles With War Memories" (Andrew North, BBC, June 17, 2003). And in Najaf, the AP reports 293 deaths at four hospitals, while the Guardian says that the main hospital alone recorded at least 500 deaths. See "Iraq: The Human Toll (part two)" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, July 6, 2003).

"Surveys Pointing to High Civilian Death Toll in Iraq; Preliminary Reports Suggest Casualties Well Above the Gulf War" (Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 2003)

"Campaigners Count Bodies to Ensure US Compensation" (Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, May 17, 2003)

"How Many Iraqis Died? We May Never Know" (Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 2003)

"The Unthinkable Is Becoming Normal" (John Pilger, The Independent, April 20, 2003)

"Blinded by the Myths of Victory" (Mary Riddell, The Observer, April 20, 2003)

"Weary Iraq Counts Human Cost of War" (The Observer, April 20, 2003)

"'Precision Warfare' Breaks Down in Counting Dead" (Claudia Parsons, Reuters, April 18, 2003)

"Iraqi Death Toll in War Still Unknown" (Hans Greimel, AP, April 17, 2003)

"SABC Pair Tells of Iraqi Horror" (Lizel Steenkamp, News24 [South Africa], April 16, 2003)

Images of mutilated children with gaping stomach wounds, bodies stacked in piles and a jubilant Iraqi woman in a blood-red sandstorm will always remain in the memory of two South African journalists. "Babylon was the worst. They used cluster bombs on the city and many civilians, mainly children, were killed. Spangenberg said: "It was intolerable to see children without limbs. Some children's families were killed and they now have to rely on other children to survive." Horne said: "We saw children with gaping stomach wounds. Many injured people were left at ill-equipped hospitals. "Children were bleeding to death while mothers stood around helplessly. It tugged at my heart strings." Spangenberg said people died of slight injuries because basic medicine was not available to prevent wounds becoming septic.

"In Bombed Neighborhoods, Everyone 'Wants to Kill Americans'" (Carol Rosenberg and Matt Schofield, Knight Ridder, April 15, 2003)

"U.S. Has No Plans to Count Civilian Casualties; Congress Calls for 'Assistance' to Iraqis For War Losses" (Bradley Graham and Dan Morgan, Washington Post, April 15, 2003)

"With Even the Gravediggers Gone, Grieving Kin Wield Shovels" (Alan Feuer, New York Times, April 15, 2003)

"In a Dusty Hospital Graveyard ... A Father's Desperate Search for His Son" (Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, April 14, 2003)

"I Saw Marines Kill Civilians" (Michel Guerrin, Le Monde [Paris], April 12, 2003 [translated in CounterPunch, April 16])

"Frenzy Over Ali, But There Are Thousands of Children Like Him" (Kim Sengupta, The Independent, April 12, 2003)

"The Iraqi Killing Fields" (Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, April 10, 2003)

The American advance has been described as the "infernal column" by Yves Debay, a war correspondent for the military affairs magazine Raids who observed the US modus operandi at very close range: "They organize columns of 40 to 50 armored vehicles. Up front, M1 Abrams tanks, followed by Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees. They roll with two tanks up front, occupying the whole road. They shoot everything in sight, everything suspicious. It's 'fire at will'. They love shooting Saddam portraits with 25 mm cannons. They have no fire discipline. The initiative is left to the soldiers, 20-year-old kids. That's the reason why they also shoot civilians. An European army would never behave like this. By better controlling its troops, the British army kills considerably less civilians." On his way to Baghdad from Mahmudiyah, Debay saw dozens of burning civilian vehicles, all of their passengers dead. He volunteers an explanation for the indiscriminate killing: "They [the Americans] have two problems. They are still taking revenge for September 11, and there are no sanctions when a soldier kills a civilian. Their objective is not to kill civilians, but they behave like cowboys. They even shoot cows ... I have the impression it's a way to mask their fear. They are very afraid. And it gets worse every time they sustain losses." Outside the five-star al-Rashid hotel, a Reuters photographer said that the marines on Monday were firing indiscriminately on civilians and militias: he has bullet holes in his car to prove it. "Human intelligence" on the ground in Baghdad has revealed to Asia Times Online that the rate of casualties in the city could be anywhere from 100 to 500 Iraqis to each American. Popular reaction has been graphic. The Bush administration, the Pentagon and the breathless, embedded cheerleaders of American corporate media are ecstatic. The whole planet is horrified.

"Heavy Price for Freedom" (The Age [Aust.], April 9, 2003)

'A Picture of Killing Inflicted on a Sprawling City - And It Grew More Unbearable by the Minute' (Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, April 9, 2003)

Death's embrace gave the bodies intimacies they never knew in life. Strangers, bloodied and blackened, wrapped their arms around others, hugging them close. A man's hand rose disembodied from the bottom of the heap of corpses to rest on the belly of a man near the top. A blue stone in his ring glinted as an Iraqi orderly opened the door of the morgue, admitting daylight and the sound of a man's sobs to the cold silence within. Here were just some of the results of America's progress through Saddam Hussein's dominions yesterday, an advance that obliterated the symbols of his regime at the same time as it claimed to be liberating its people.

"Amid Allied Jubilation, a Child Lies in Agony, Clothes Soaked in Blood" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, April 8, 2003)

"When 'Precision' Bombing Really Isn't: The Evil, the Grotesque and the Official Lies" (Marc W. Herold, April 8, 2003)

"No Hiding Place for Baghdad's Civilians" (Paul Eedle, Financial Times [U.K.], April 7, 2003)

"US Troops Face Children, and Hard Calls, in Battle" (Kieran Murray, Reuters, April 7, 2003)

"City Battles Will Boost Growing Civilian Toll" (Elizabeth Neuffer, Boston Globe, April 7, 2003) (scroll down)

"Red Cross: Thousands of Wounded in Iraq" (Nicholas M. Horrock, UPI, April 7, 2003)

"War Hits Baghdad, And People Suffer; Fighting in Streets Leaves Residents Battered, Homeless" (Hamza Hendawi. AP, April 6, 2003)

"U.S. Troops Struggle to Find Enemy Among Civilians" (Kieran Murray, Reuters, April 6, 2003)

"Concern Grows for Iraqi Civilians" (Ellen Knickmeyer, AP, April 6, 2003)

"A Witness to Bombs, Death, Forgiveness" (Charles Burress, San Francisco Chronicle, April 5, 2003)

UN Red Cross Alarmed by Civilian Casualties" (AFP, April 4, 2003)

"Who Cares About Dead Iraqis? Body Counts, Rummy's Plan, and the Grisly Stuff They Don't Want You to See" (Mark Morford, San Francisco Chronicle, April 4, 2003)

"Samar's Story" (Kim Sengupta, The Independent, April 4, 2003)

"NGO: Iraq 'Path of Sufferings'" (UPI, April 4, 2003) ("We were for the past two weeks eyewitnesses of this ugly war during which missiles and rockets hit people in the streets, hospitals and houses... The rockets made no difference between civilians and the military," members of the group [Voices in the Wilderness] told journalists.)

"US Heavy-Handedness Baffles British" (Daniel McGory, news.com.au, April 3, 2003 [originally from the Times {U.K.}])

"In Iraqi Hospitals, Child War Casualties Mount" (Samia Nakhoul, Reuters, April 3, 2003)

Another child, Mohammad Kazem, seven, lay in the next bed with serum tubes strapped to him. He was hit by shrapnel in the stomach when a missile crashed near his home west of Baghdad. "He is so terrified now. He trembles when he hears explosions. I keep on trying to calm him down. I keep telling him that nothing will happen to him any more. "Whenever he hears the thud of explosions he grabs me. I stay hugging him and patting him until the bombings stop," said his mother, Madiha Mohsen Ali, 40. "He does not sleep or eat. The only question he keeps asking is: 'mummy when will this banging stop?" she added. Such scenes have become part of daily life in Iraq since the U.S.-led war started with a fierce air attack and a ground invasion on March 20.

"Protect Civilians, Red Cross Says" (BBC, April 2, 2003)

"Civilian Deaths Rock Campaign" (Bradley Graham and Marian Wilkinson, Syndey Morning Herald, April 2, 2003)

"ICRC Terms Baghdad Bombings 'Horror'" (The Balochistan Post, April 2. 2003)

"Tension between Forces over the Question of Heavy-Handedness" (Terry Kirby, The Independent, April 2, 2003)

"Santa Rosa Doctor Documents Casualties; Woman Sees Firsthand Effect of War on Iraqis" (Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, April 1, 2003)

"US-British Coalition Seen as 'Villains' after Iraqi Civilians Shot Dead" (AFP, April 1(?), 2003)

"FACTBOX-Civilian Deaths in the War in Iraq" (Reuters, April 1, 2003)

"Horrific Human Suffering in This Insane War" (Brian Reade, The Mirror [U.K.]. March 31, 2003)

SHE could be asleep. In her flannel pyjama bottoms and 101 Dalmatians top, her eyes gently closed, little Sarah looks like any other seven-year-old. Except she is lying on a stainless steel mortuary tray, another victim of this bloody war.

"The Unbelievable Sadness in This Place" (Jo Wilding, The Guardian, March 30, 2003)

"The 'Collateral Damage' That Can Never be Repaired" (Nadia Mahdeed, Arab News, March 30, 2003)

'I Am His mother' (Jo Wilding, Electronic Iraq, March 29, 2003)

"Angry, Very Angry" (Kathy Kelly, Comm Dreams, March 25, 2003)

"Civilian Death Numbers in Iraq Unknown" (Niko Price, AP, March 25, 2003)

"Civilian Deaths From U.S. Airstrikes Fuel Rising Anger in Iraq" (John Daniszewski, Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2003)

Blue-suited firefighters with red-and-white helmets used hoes and their bare hands to sift through the debris, looking for the corpse of a 70-year-old woman presumed to have been crushed in her home. On the ground, a plastic slipper lay in a puddle of water and a black shawl spilled out from the bulldozer's scoop. Standing in front of his destroyed home, Thamur Sheikel, a 53-year-old Oil Ministry employee, said he had returned from work to find his house no longer standing and his older sister and two young nephews killed. "Bush is cursed," he said, biting off the words. "They want to destroy the people. Maybe God will destroy them. Revenge on Bush for this aggression. We are peaceful people; we do no harm to anybody." The mood was similarly dark at nearby Al Nouman Hospital, where doctors treated survivors. Aqeel Khalil, 27, the husband of one of the dead, sat on the floor outside the locked door of the morgue, sobbing and asking why his wife and his mother had to die. "There is no military site in my house, and there is no gun in my house," he managed to say through his tears.

          2. Specific Incidents

Thursday, September 18: American soldiers shot at a car carrying Pietro Cordone, the top Italian diplomat in Iraq, as it was traveling on the road between Mosul and Tikrit. Cordone was only slightly injured, but his Iraqi translator was killed. According to Cordone, he was traveling on a "highway in which American military police cars and my car were traveling normally, following the flow of traffic." Cordone said it appeared an American soldier fired at the car because the vehicle didn't get back into its lane fast enough after trying to pass a column of American vehicles near the turnoff for Tikrit.

"Iraq Attacks Give U.S. Forces Jitters" (Steven R. Hurst, AP, September 19, 2003)

"U.S. Troops Mistakenly Target Italy Envoy" (Alessandra Rizzo, AP, September 19, 2003)

"US Troops Fire at Italian Diplomat's Car in Iraq" (Reuters, September 19, 2003)

"Anti-U.S. Chants, Gunshots Mark Iraqi Funerals" (CNN, September 13, 2003)

"Guerrillas Kill U.S. Soldier in Baghdad" (Patrick Quinn, AP, September 15, 2003)

"Angry Iraqi Town Buries Dead, U.S. Says Sorry" (Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters, September 13, 2003)

"Angry Iraqi Town Buries Dead, U.S. Says Sorry" (Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters, September 13, 2003)

Three Iraqi police vehicles--two pickups and a sedan--were chasing a white BMW traveling west from Fallujah. One of the pickups (a Nissan) and the sedan belonged to the Fallujah police force and were white with blue markings that read, "Iraqi Police, Fallujah." The other truck, which had a heavy machine gun mounted in back, was unmarked, and was operated by members of the Fallujah Protection Force, a 100-man, U.S.-trained force that works with the police force. The three vehicles had between 19 and 25 men.

Most sources say the BMW was being pursued because it was suspected of involvement in robberies ("U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill 8 Iraqi Police" (AP, September 12, 2003); "Iraqi Mourners Bury Friendly Fire Victims" (Sameer N. Yacoub, AP, September 13, 2003)), although some stories say the persons in the BMW opened fire on either the governorate headquarters ("A Hail of Bullets, a Trail of Dead, and a Mystery the US is in No Hurry to Resolve" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 13, 2003)) or the main police station ("US Killing of Eight Iraqi Police Fuels Anger in Troubled Town" (Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, September 13, 2003)) in Fallujah.

At about 1:30 a.m., at very short range, U.S. forces opened fire on the Iraqi police vehicles. They were about 15 minutes outside Fallujah, near a 100-bed Jordanian mobile field hospital. The hospital was guarded by Jordanian soldiers, who also opened fire once the shooting started.

Eleven people were killed, 10 of the pursuing Iraqis and one Jordanian soldier at the hospital. Eight of the Iraqis and the Jordanian died immediately, and two more Iraqis died overnight. At least four other Iraqis were wounded.

The U.S. military claimed that they opened fire only after being "attacked from a truck by unknown forces." However, no Americans were wounded or killed ("Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd" (Alex Berenson, New York Times, September 14, 2003)), and reporters for the Associated Press ("US Regrets Friendly Fire Incident" (Syndey Morning Herald, September 14, 2003)) and the New York Times ("Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd") saw no spent Iraqi shells. British reporter Robert Fisk also commented on the massive amounts of used American ordinance at the scene ("A Hail of Bullets ...").

An early U.S. statement reported that one American soldier was wounded after U.S. troops were fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms ("U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill 8 Iraqi Police"; "Fallujah Seethes as US Withholds Bodies, Information in Deadly Shootings" (Rouba Kabbara, Middle East Online, September 12, 2003); "US Troops 'Kill Iraqi Police'" (BBC, September 12, 2003)). This may have been a different incident.

The American military presence has been described as either a patrol or a checkpoint. There apparently was also an American military base near the hospital.

Reports vary on the status of the chase when the firefight began. Some reports say that the Iraqi vehicles came under fire after they abandoned the chase of the BMW, turned around, and began driving back towards Fallujah ("Angry Iraqis Mourn Deaths of Officers" (Hamza Hendawi, AP, September 13, 2003); "U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill 8 Iraqi Police"; "Iraqi Mourners Bury Friendly Fire Victims" (Sameer N. Yacoub, AP, September 13, 2003); "Police in Iraq Killed by US Fire; Anger Erupts on Deaths of 8 Officers, Jordanian" (Vivienne Walt, Boston Globe, September 13, 2003)). Other reports say that the chase was still in progress when the Americans started firing ("Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd"; "A Hail of Bullets ...").

The Guardian quotes one Iraqi police officer as saying that the two police department vehicles had their lights flashing and their sirens on ("US Killing of Eight Iraqi Police Fuels Anger in Troubled Town"), although other stories don't mention this.

The vehicles pulled off the road when the shooting started, and the Iraqi officers shouted, in English, "Police! Police!" The Americans kept firing--for 30 to 60 minutes, according to surviving Iraqis, and three hours, according to American spokespeople. One Iraqi reports that the American soldiers responded, "No police!" and continued firing ("Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd"). Eight of the 10 men in the Fallujah Protection Force truck died, along with two of the five in the Iraqi police sedan. The Americans apparently focused their fire on those two vehicles, as no deaths are reported from the police department truck.

The Jordanian hospital was riddled with bullet holes after the shooting. At least 150 rounds hit the breeze-block wall of a secondary building, in which two rooms had burnd out. Four other Jordanians and an Iraqi civilian were injured at the hospital compound.

The Americans apparently let the BMW through. Initial reports said that two or three of the BMW's occupants were killed ("US 'Friendly Fire' Kills 8 Iraqi Allies, Jordanian" (Fadhil Badran, Reuters, September 12, 2003)), but another report suggested that two people in a Toyota caught in the crossfire while going the opposite way were killed ("Protests, US Apology Follow Friendly Fire Deaths in Fallujah" (Abdulkadir Sadi Hamdi, Middle East Online, September 13, 2003)).

One volunteer police officer held up a badge with his force's insignia, but the soldiers shot and killed him anyway ("Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd").

None of the Iraqi soldiers fired their weapons, one survivor said. Mr. Jassim, the commander of the force, said he had been invited to the American base to pick up the bodies of the dead officers and had seen their rifles. In every case, the guns had their safeties on, Mr. Jassim said. ("Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd")

"American soldiers involved in shooting of Iraqi police had arrived in city a day earlier" (Hamza Hendawi, AP, September 18, 2003)

"US Regrets Friendly Fire Incident" (Syndey Morning Herald, September 14, 2003)

"Funeral for 10 Iraqi Police Officers Draws Angry Crowd" (Alex Berenson, New York Times, September 14, 2003)

"Iraqis Vow Revenge for Killings by U.S. Soldiers; Apology Does Little to Placate Anger" (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, September 14, 2003)

"US Troops Ignored Pleas as They Cut Down Iraqi Police" (Patrick Bishop, The Telegraph, September 13, 2003)

"Angry Iraqi Town Buries Dead, U.S. Says Sorry" (Suleiman al-Khalidi, Reuters, September 13, 2003)

"U.S. Forces Mistakenly Kill Iraqi Officers; 8 Policemen Die in Incident Likely to Increase Tensions" (Anthony Shadid, Washington Post, September 13, 2003)

"Angry Iraqis Mourn Deaths of Officers" (Hamza Hendawi, AP, September 13, 2003)

"Anti-U.S. Chants, Gunshots Mark Iraqi Funerals" (CNN, September 13, 2003)

"Police in Iraq Killed by US Fire; Anger Erupts on Deaths of 8 Officers, Jordanian" (Vivienne Walt, Boston Globe, September 13, 2003)

"Protests, US Apology Follow Friendly Fire Deaths in Fallujah" (Abdulkadir Sadi Hamdi, Middle East Online, September 13, 2003)

"'Friendly Fire' Prompts Strike" (News24 [South Africa], September 13)

"Iraqi Mourners Bury Friendly Fire Victims" (Sameer N. Yacoub, AP, September 13, 2003)

"US Killing of Eight Iraqi Police Fuels Anger in Troubled Town" (Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, September 13, 2003)

"A Hail of Bullets, a Trail of Dead, and a Mystery the US is in No Hurry to Resolve" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 13, 2003)

"US 'Friendly Fire' Kills 8 Iraqi Allies, Jordanian" (Fadhil Badran, Reuters, September 12, 2003)

"Ten Iraqi Security Personnel, Jordanian Guard Killed by US Fire" (AFP, September 12, 2003)

"Jordanian Officer Killed in Hospital Raid in Iraq" (Reuters, September 12, 2003)

"Fallujah Seethes as US Withholds Bodies, Information in Deadly Shootings" (Rouba Kabbara, Middle East Online, September 12, 2003)

"US Troops 'Kill Iraqi Police'" (BBC, September 12, 2003)

"U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill 8 Iraqi Police" (AP, September 12, 2003)

"Ten Iraqi Security Personnel, Jordanian Guard Killed by US Fire" (AFP, September 12, 2003)

"Two U.S. Soldiers Die in Bloody Iraq Raid" (Imad Ismail, Reuters, September 12)

"US 'Friendly Fire' Kills 8 Iraqi Allies, Jordanian" (Fadhil Badran, Reuters, September 12, 2003)

Other articles report the raid but don't mention civilian victims:

"US Troops 'Kill Iraqi Police'" (BBC, September 12, 2003)

"U.S. Troops Mistakenly Kill 8 Iraqi Police" (AP, September 12, 2003)

"A Hail of Bullets, a Trail of Dead, and a Mystery the US is in No Hurry to Resolve" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 13, 2003)

"Ten Iraqi Security Personnel, Jordanian Guard Killed by US Fire" (AFP, September 12, 2003)

"US Troops Shoot Dead Iraqi Policeman after Taking Four Casualties in Bombing" (AFP, September 10, 2003)

Several stories on the September 12 incident (described above), in which U.S. troops killed 10 Iraqi police officers and one Jordanian, also mention this September 10 incident:

"US Troops Ignored Pleas as They Cut Down Iraqi Police" (Patrick Bishop, The Telegraph, September 13, 2003)

"Fallujah Seethes as US Withholds Bodies, Information in Deadly Shootings" (Rouba Kabbara, Middle East Online, September 12, 2003)

"US Troops 'Kill Iraqi Police'" (BBC, September 12, 2003)

And black is white, and up is down.

"Farah Tried to Plead with the US Troops but She Was Killed Anyway" (Peter Beaumont, The Observer, September 7, 2003)

Farah Fadhil was only 18 when she was killed. An American soldier threw a grenade through the window of her apartment. Her death, early last Monday, was slow and agonising. Her legs had been shredded, her hands burnt and punctured by splinters of metal, suggesting that the bright high-school student had covered her face to shield it from the explosion. She had been walking to the window to try to calm an escalating situation; to use her smattering of English to plead with the soldiers who were spraying her apartment building with bullets. But then a grenade was thrown and Farah died. So did Marwan Hassan who, according to neighbours, was caught in the crossfire as he went looking for his brother when the shooting began. .... But all that came to a sudden bloody end at 12.30am last Monday, when soldiers arrived outside the apartment block where Farah and her family lived. What happened in a few minutes, and in the chaos of the hours that followed, is written across its walls. The bullet marks that pock the walls are spread in arcs right across the front of the apartment house, so widely spaced in places that the only conclusion you can draw is that a line of men stood here and sprayed the building wildly. I stood inside and looked to where the men must have been standing, towards the apartment houses the other way. I could not find impacts on the concrete paths or on the facing walls that would suggest that there was a two-way firefight here. Whatever happened here was one-sided, a wall of fire unleashed at a building packed with sleeping families. Further examination shows powder burns where door locks had been shot off and splintered wood where the doors had been kicked in. All the evidence was that this was a raid that - like so many before it - went horribly wrong. .... The randomness of that firing is revealed by a visit to the apartments. Windows are drilled with bullet holes; ceilings in kitchens and bedrooms and living areas are scarred where the rounds smashed in.

Compare the apolegetics of American media reports:

"Raid Shows Perils of Soldiers Doing Police Work" (Ken Dilanian, Knight Ridder, September 19, 2003)

"In Iraq, One Incident, Two Stories" (Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, September 8, 2003)

The Christian Science Monitor account is particularly reprehensible, even for American reporting, in suggesting that the murders were justified because the victims were Baathists. ("Several Iraqis have told them that they indeed hit the neighborhood Baathists.") The story mentions three times the "pro-Saddam, anti-US propaganda"--and, of course, it's "propaganda," not "leaflets" or "literature"--allegedly found on the premises and reproaches one Iraqi witness for failing to tell the reporter about the "pro-regime material" allegedly found in his apartment. And the reporter even suggests that "a burning tracer round" fired during the attack may have been Iraqi, although the Iraqi civilians present did not have a weapon that could fire "a burning tracer round."

The story openly claims that "Baathists" can be murdered by American soldiers. I wrote the CSM but received no response. The story closes by assuring its readers that Iraqis "love America." The entire account is so obviously propaganda that one wonders if the writer, Scott Peterson, is on the government payroll.

"'Al-Qaeda' Gunmen Strike in Baghdad, Two US Soldiers Killed" (AFP, August 13, 2003)

"'Al-Qaeda' Fighting US Troops" (News 24 [South Africa], April 13, 2003)

The Americans refused to allow a taxi to take him to a hospital. The soldiers later drove Ali themselves several blocks for a rendezvous with an ambulance, but Ali died when they arrived at the meeting place (Tahrir Square), so they left the body there with Iraqi police officers. Ali was never taken to Iban al-Kindi Hospital, as Ali's mother had been promised. The Americans say only a few minutes elapsed; Iraqi witnesses say it was at least 15.

"Shooting Ali in the Back; Why the Pacification is Doomed" (David Lindorff, CounterPunch, August 28, 2003)

"How and Why Did Iraqi Die? 2 Tales of Anger and Denial" (John Tierney, New York Times, August 28, 2003)

"British Soldiers Face Wrath of Iraqis as Hatred Festers on Streets of Basra" (Justin Huggler, The Independent, August 12, 2003)

"Calm Returns to Basra" (BBC, August 11)

"Eruption of Violence in Basra Angers Army" (Richard Norton-Taylor and Jamie Wilson, The Guardian, August 11, 2003)

"Ex-Gurkha Killed in Ambush as More Riots Flare in Basra" (Justin Huggler, The Independent, August 11, 2003)

"Shortages Ignite Violence In Iraq; Lack of Utilities Lead To Protests in South" (Pamela Constable, Washington Post, August 11, 2003)

"Riots Continue Over Fuel Crisis in Iraq's South (Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Robert F. Worth, New York Times, August 11, 2003)

"Shortages in Basra Fuel Anger, Rioting; British Counter Violence With Restraint" (Abdel Razzak Hamid, Reuters, August 10, 2003)

"British Troops Battle to Control Mobs in Basra" (Jamie Wilson, The Observer, August 10, 2003)

"Basra Protests Fuel Shortage, Two Killed" (Ra'ad Kadum Abbas, AP, August 10, 2003)

"Basra Protests Continue for Second Day" (Pamela Constable, Washington Post, August 10, 2003)

"Three Killed in Second Day of Violence in Basra" (Joseph Logan, Reuters, August 10, 2003)

"Gurkha Shot Dead in Basra Ambush" (Reuters, August 10, 2003)

"Basra Boils Over; British Troops Battle Fuel Riots" (Abdel Razzak Hamid, Reuters, August 9, 2003)

"Angry Iraqis Tell of U.S. Troops Fatal Errors" (Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown, Knight Ridder, September 10, 2003)

"US Troops Said to Kill Two Iraqi Policemen" (Susan Milligan, Boston Globe, August 13, 2003)

"Iraqi Police 'Shot Dead by US'" (BBC, August 11, 2003)

"Two Iraqi Policemen Shot Dead by US Soldiers" (AFP, August 11, 2003)

"I think we sent out a strong message today that you cannot walk around the streets with weapons," one American (Lt. Col. Steve Russell) said. "When people pick up weapons and carry them freely, they become combatants and we will engage them."

"Occupation Watch" (James Brandon, Baghdad Bulletin, August 17, 2003)

"American Snipers Kill Men Selling Arms in Tikrit Market" (Catherine Philp, The Times [London], August 10, 2003)

"US Shoots Two Dead at Start of Softer Rule; Snipers Kill Suspected Gun Dealers in Tikrit" (Jamie Wilson, The Guardian, August 9, 2003)

"Iraqis Angry Over U.S. Action That Leaves 3 Dead" (Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2003)

"U.S. Snipers Kill Two Iraqis in Tikrit Market; Strike Aimed at Suspected Arms Dealers" (Theola Labbe', Washington Post, August 9, 2003)

"US Troops in Tikrit Shootings" (AFP, August 8, 2003)

The AP, Los Angeles Times and August 11 Knight Ridder accounts put the shootings on Friday. The Chicago Tribune and September 10 Knight Ridder stories put them on Thursday. The story in the Independent doesn't give a date.

"Angry Iraqis Tell of U.S. Troops Fatal Errors" (Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown, Knight Ridder, September 10, 2003)

"US. Soldiers Fire on Iraqi Family; 4 Die" (Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2003)

"U.S. Assailed for Killings of Iraqi Civilians" (Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune, August 12, 2003)

"Iraqis Wary of American Force" (Ken Dilanian, Knight Ridder, August 11, 2003)

"Jittery U.S. Soldiers Kill 6 Iraqis" (Scheherezade Faramarzi, AP, August 10, 2003)

"Family Shot Dead by Panicking US Troops; Firing Blindly During a Power Cut, Soldiers Kill a Father and Three Children in Their Car" (Justin Huggler, The Independent, August 10, 2003)

The fact that an American Apache attack helicopter was shot down--and that no sheep are noted in any of the stories--suggests that this was indeed a group of fighters, or supporters of fighters. However, no training facilities were present, so it could not have been a "terrorist training camp." The men had large quantities of medical supplies, and American authorities claimed to have recovered about 80 surface-to-air missiles, 78 rocket-propelled grenades and 20 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

"Fighters' Camp Hit By Major U.S. Strike; Operation Is Deadliest Since War's End" (Daniel Williams, Washington Post, June 14, 2003)

"Carnage and Clues Are Left in Camp Destroyed by U.S." (David Rohde, New York Times, June 14, 2003)

"US Troops Kill 97 Iraqis in New Attacks" (Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, June 14, 2003)

"The Massacre of Rashdiya" (E.A.Khammas, Occupation Watch, July 28)

"Basra Bombing 'Destroyed My Family'" (Ryan Dilley, BBC, April 16, 2003)

"17 Civilians Killed in Airstikes on Basra" (Al Jazeera English-language website, April 6, 2003)

The Red Cross has been touring hospitals with first aid and surgery kits. Spokesman Roland Huguenin-Benjamin said: "They were overwhelmed by sheer numbers - during fierce bombardment they received up to 100 casualties an hour." Doctors who treated victims of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and the 1991 Gulf War were taken aback by the injuries. [Dr. Osama Saleh al-Duleimi,], 48, said: "This is the worst I've seen in the number of casualties and fatal wounds. "This is a disaster because they're attacking civilians." Dr Sadek al-Mukhtar said: "In the previous battles the weapons seemed merely disabling. Now they're much more lethal. "Before the war I did not regard America as my enemy. Now I do. War should be against the military. America is killing civilians."

April 2: The U.S. bombs the village of Awja, apparently looking for Saddam. 21 members of two families die.

"Even in Death, Uday and Qusay Keep the Americans on Their Guard" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, August 5, 2003)

"Witnesses Say U.S. Tank Fired At Them Without Warning" (Dar Al-Hayat, April 3, 2003)

"Devastation on Road to Baghdad" (Jim Dwyer, New Tork Times, April 1, 2003) ("It was possible today to drive 30 miles north from Najaf toward Baghdad and not see a single living person other than American soldiers. [para.] The roads were littered with the hulks of pickup trucks and taxi cabs that had been fired on by American forces. As for the occupants of several of those cars--singled out as members of paramilitary forces loyal to President Saddam Hussein--their bodies were sprawled on the ground nearby.")

"US Troops Accused of Excess Force" (Steven Morris, The Guardian, April 1, 2003) ("Reporters have seen more than a dozen burnt-out buses and trucks and the bodies of at least 60 Iraqi men on the road north of Nassiriya. A photograph carried in the Guardian last week showed a bus which had been attacked by US troops. Bloodstained corpses lay nearby. ")

"Tough U.S. Advance Leaves Iraq Bus Full of Corpses" (Sean Maguire, Reuters, March 27, 2003) ("The grisly remains were evidence of the ruthless efficiency with which lead Marine units are clearing the road north of the central city of Nassiriya to make way for a huge military convoy. [para] Reporters have seen more than a dozen burned-out trucks and buses and the corpses of at least 60 Iraqi men lying beside them during a three-day push out of Nassariya, where Marines suffered up to 10 fatalities during ambushes on Saturday.")

"Questions Linger About Hillah Battle That Left Hundreds of Civilian Casualties" (AP. May 15, 2003) ("At least 250 Iraqis were killed and more than 500 wounded during 17 days of fighting in the area, most of them civilians and many the victims of cluster munitions, according to hospital medical staff. Leftover bomblets still kill or maim hapless civilians daily, they said.")

"Bombs Fall on Babylon" (Anton Antonowicz and Mike Moore, The Mirror [U.K.], April 3, 2003)

THEY lie in packed wards, eight to each airless room. Many are crying. Others softly moaning. Some stare, as if lifeless. These are the survivors of what are claimed to be cluster bomb attacks on villages in Babylon and its capital Al Hillah, some 70 miles south of Baghdad. The attacks, which happened around lunchtime on Monday, are said to have killed at least 60 people and injured a further 250. But no one has completed the tally. I see six bodies in the makeshift morgue, a crude metal box teeming with flies, situated beneath an awning at Babylon General Hospital. There are scores of slightly injured patients hobbling through the grounds. Beds are laid in the entrance, every space being exploited. But it is upstairs on those wards that the suffering scream. Among the 168 patients I counted, not one was being treated for bullet wounds. All of them, men, women, children, bore the wounds of bomb shrapnel. It peppered their bodies. Blackened the skin. Smashed heads. Tore limbs. Two sisters, Khoda, five, and Mariam Nasser, aged 10, share the same bed. Khoda is crying when I approach. Her mother is trying to re-dress the wounds to her forehead and the back of her skull. Mariam sits there saying nothing, a dressing over her left shoulder, cuts all over her back and one eye bloodied. They had been playing in the garden of their home, 15 miles from Al Hillah, when the bombs went off. Goran Ali, three, has a huge blood-blister beneath one eye. His little body is a mess of tubes. His mother Zubeida just looks at me shaking her head at the madness of it all. Kifel Hassan, 13, tries to tell me what happened when the explosions struck but the effort made in pointing to his mother, his brother and sister, all lying injured alongside him, proves too much. He lowers his bandaged arm. He has lost his hand. Sejad Ali is five and lies alone. His three brothers were killed. His parents are burying them as I look upon this lad with wounds all over his body. Khalid Hallil, 21, was inside his house three miles from the centre. His left thigh is torn from knee to crotch. His father Hamid speaks English: "Metal just came from everywhere. Believe me, there were no soldiers in the area. Only civilians. There was no reason for attacking us in our homes. No justification for this murderous act. "Tell your countrymen what is happening. Let them see with their eyes instead of listening to Tony Blair's lying words. Look, this is reality - not the make-believe world of Bush and Blair." Ali Abed bends to kiss his injured son Hussein. Ali tells me his wife died in the attack. He is all that's left for his four-year-old boy. AZOR Abdul Waled, 20, holds her seven-month-old daughter Zena, her head swathed in bandages. Two other daughters have died. Her own right leg is gashed. She comes from the village of Al-Ameinera, six miles south. And she tells me a different story. Azor says that US soldiers had tried to land in the village outskirts by helicopter but that local militia and tribesmen had sent up a hail of fire which had seen off the three twin-prop transporters. Then, some 10 minutes later, fighters screamed out of the sky, delivering their fatal payloads. "All the injuries you see were caused by cluster bombs," Dr Hydar Abbas tells me. "Most of the people came from the southern and western periphery. The majority of the victims were children who died because they were outside. "We have an ambulance driver, Abdul Zahra, whose leg has had to be amputated after he came under attack while he was driving to the area. "What kind of war is it that you and America are fighting? Do you really think that you will be supported by the Iraqi people if you win? Do you think we will all forget this and say it was for our own good? "This war is building a hatred which will grow and grow against you. I have no anger for the British people. But one day, I fear they will suffer for this just as we do now." I find another ambulance driver, Hassan Ali, 37, and ask him what happened two days ago. He said he was racing to the scene of the first attack when cluster bombs erupted around him, cutting his tyres to shreds. "I turned around and slowly drove back to shelter," he says. "Even in that short space, I saw so many injured. Some dead. Animals - dogs, cattle, sheep - lying all over." He adds that there are reports that a bus containing 35 people had been hit by a tank or artillery shell. But I cannot obtain confirmation.

"Hundreds in Iraqi Town's Hospital" (Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2003)

"Iraq Shows Casualties in Hospital" (Tyler Hicks with John F. Burns, New York Times, April 3, 2003)

Comment: To the New York Times, our "newspaper of record," the horrific civilian casualties at Hilla are not a tragedy, but rather "a showcase of what Mr. Hussein's government wants the world to believe about the American way of war." This is despicable. To denigrate the local residents' reports, they are described as "confused," rather than, say "varied." Similarly, readers are told that "It was difficult to mesh accounts from the hospital with the scenes where the attacks were said to have occurred." This reporting, of course, is more skeptical than was any of the Times' coverage of Bush&Co.'s WMD fantasies.

"Wailing Children, the Wounded, the Dead; Victims of the Day Cluster Bombs Rained on Babylon" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, April 3, 2003)

The wounds are vicious and deep, a rash of scarlet spots on the back and thighs or face, the shards of shrapnel from the cluster bombs buried an inch or more in the flesh. The wards of the Hillah teaching hospital are proof that something illegal--something quite outside the Geneva Conventions--occurred in the villages around the city once known as Babylon. The wailing children, the young women with breast and leg wounds, the 10 patients upon whom doctors had to perform brain surgery to remove metal from their heads, talk of the days and nights when the explosives fell "like grapes" from the sky. Cluster bombs, the doctors say--and the detritus of the air raids around the hamlets of Nadr and Djifil and Akramin and Mahawil and Mohandesin and Hail Askeri shows that they are right.

"Witnesses Say U.S. Tank Fired At Them Without Warning" (Dar Al-Hayat, April 3, 2003)

"Innocent Victims of Brutal Confrontation" (Stephen Moyes, The Mirror, April 2, 2003)

"Apache Attack Kills 15 From One Family" (AFP, April 3, 2003)

"Children Killed in US Assault" (Ewen Mackaskill and Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, April 2, 2003)

Dozens of Iraqi villagers were killed and injured in a ferocious American air and land assault near the Iraqi city of Babylon, hospital officials in the town said yesterday. ... An Iraqi hospital official said the death toll stood at 33 civilians, with more than 300 wounded. Horrifically injured bodies were heaped into pick-up trucks, and were swarmed by relatives of the dead, who accompanied them for burial. "All of these are due to the American bombing to the civilian homes. Hundreds of civilians have been injured, and many have been killed," said Nazim al-Adali, an Edinburgh-trained doctor at the hospital, who appealed to his "colleagues" in England to protest against the bombings. "God take our revenge on America," a stunned man said repeatedly at the hospital. Hospital staff said the man's whole family was wiped out.

"Children Killed and Maimed in Cluster Bomb Attack on Town" (Robert Fisk and Justin Huggler, The Independent, April 2, 2003)

"Hilla: Civilian Toll Mounting" (Karim Saheb, AFP, April 2, 2003) ("Dozens more Iraqi civilians are said to have been killed in coalition air strikes outside Baghdad, as the allies face a political nightmare over the spiralling casualty toll of the war. ... Razek al-Kazem al-Khafaji sat inconsolably among 15 coffins, bearing what he said were the bodies of his family killed when a rocket fired by a US Apache helicopter ripped apart their pick-up truck.")

"U.S. Bombs Kill at Least 11 Civilians Near Hilla" (Reuters, April 1, 2003)

"Bombings Kill 48 More Civilians South of Baghdad" (AFP, April 1, 2003)

The toll according to the U.S. military was seven. The Washington Post's embedded reporter said the vehicle was carrying 15 people, and 10 were killed.

"Official Story Vs. Eyewitness Account: On Najaf Killings, Some Outlets Seem to Prefer the Sanitized Version" (FAIR, April 4, 2003)

"11 Family Members Killed at Checkpoint Intended to `Be Safe'" (Meg Laughlin, AP, April 2, 2003)

'I Saw the Heads of My Two Little Girls Come Off' (Sydney Morning Herald, April 2, 2003)

"U.S. to Stick to Checkpoint Rules After Killing of Civilians" (Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, April 1, 2003)

"Report Details Fatal Iraq Checkpoint Shooting" (Reuters, April 1, 2003)

"A Gruesome Scene on Highway 9; 10 Dead After Vehicle Shelled at Checkpoint" (William Branigin, Washington Post, April 1, 2003)

"Seven Women and Children Shot Dead at Checkpoint" (Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, April 1, 2003)

• "It is hard to cite a figure for the civilian dead in Nasiriyah - 'about 800, maybe more', calculates the keeper of records at the main hospital, Abdel Karim, who logged 412 war-death certificates from his own wards alone, of which only 25 were military casualties ..."
  
• On March 24, at about 6:00 pm, American planes bombed General Surgical Hospital--one of the two hospitals in Nasiriya--then helicopters shot at ambulances and survivors.

• 12 members of Kadem Hashem's family were killed on March 23 when a U.S. plane fired at missile at their Nasiriya house at 1:15 pm.
  
• At a checkpoint at the northern gate to Nasiriya, on March 25, sometime after noon, an American tank fired on a car occupied by Daham Kassim, aged 46, his 37-year-old wife, Gufran Ibed Kassim, and their four children. Three children die there; the fourth, the youngest, and her parents are taken to an American field hospital. She dies later after American troops throw the three of them out from the field hospital, saying they needed the beds.

"Iraq Blames U.S. for Market Blast That Killed Civilians in Baghdad" (John F. Burns, New York Times, March 29, 2003) (the story is not the human carnage, but that the deaths "threaten to become yet another major problem for the Bush administration." Oh, poor Bush administration! Of course, the Iraqis probably did it: "This alone [increasing international opposition to the war], Iraqi opposition leaders say, would give Mr. Hussein an incentive to organize incidents like the two bombing attacks this week.")

"U.S.: Iraqis, Not Coalition, May Have Hit Market" (CNN, March 27, 2003)

"Baghdad Blasts Are Said to Kill 17 Civilians (John F. Burns, New York Times, March 27, 2003)

Comment: John Burns' report in the New York Times courses with sarcasm toward the Iraqis. The war "had finally produced an incident with enough civilian victims, and of a sufficiently gruesome nature in a thickly populated district of the Iraqi capital, to create a shock wave of indignation against the 'villains and criminals' in Washington that Iraq has blamed for the war." In other words, the Iraqis' grief was all political theater, not raw human emotion. The coverage of the bombing by Arabic media was "lurid." American air attacks "are said to have gone astray.'' It's all conjecture, dear reader. And anyway, maybe they did it to themselves: "Nobody could be sure that the explosions had not been set off by Iraqis assigned by Mr. Hussein to plant a bomb in a public place and blame the United States for it."

Comment: Since the U.S. started the war, it would be morally responsible for the deaths even if an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile had somehow fallen back to earth and caused the blasts.

Comment: This admission in itself shows that the U.S. did not "do everything possible" to avoid civilian casualties: Every time Rumsfeld had to balance military effectiveness against civilian casualties, he chose the former. It's more accurate to say that the U.S. attempted to avoid obvious war crimes, but not much more.

"US Heavy-Handedness Baffles British" (Daniel McGory, news.com.au, April 3, 2003 [originally from the Times {U.K.}])

"U.S. Air Attacks Turn More Aggressive; Risk of Civilian Casualties Higher as Range of Targets Is Broadened, Officials Say" (Bradley Graham, Washington Post, April 2, 2003)

Comment: By now, the U.S. has hit all of its "high collateral damage" targets--targets that war planners had predicted could result in high numbers of civilian deaths. Yet the Post assures its readers that "U.S. commanders are continuing to exercise great prudence in attacking targets to keep civilian deaths and damage to public works as low as possible." Right.

"Tension between Forces over the Question of Heavy-Handedness" (Terry Kirby, The Independent, April 2, 2003)

"U.S., British Troops Face Risky Checkpoint Dilemma" (Kieran Murray, Reuters, April 1, 2003)

"U.S. to Stick to Checkpoint Rules After Killing of Civilians" (Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, April 1, 2003)

"Either Take a Shot or Take a Chance" (Dexter Filkins, New York Times, March 28, 2003)

"We dropped a few civilians," Sergeant Schrumpf said, "but what do you do?" To illustrate, the sergeant offered a pair of examples from earlier in the week. "There was one Iraqi soldier, and 25 women and children," he said, "I didn't take the shot." But more than once, Sergeant Schrumpf said, he faced a different choice: one Iraqi soldier standing among two or three civilians. He recalled one such incident, in which he and other men in his unit opened fire. He recalled watching one of the women standing near the Iraqi soldier go down. "I'm sorry," the sergeant said. "But the chick was in the way."

"Australian Pilot Gives Thumbs Down to US Bombing Order" (Greg Ansley, New Zealand Herald, March 24, 2003) ("Australia operates under a tougher set of rules of engagement than the US because Canberra has ratified more international agreements than Washington.")

"Civilian Toll: A Moral and Legal Bog" (Daphne Eviatar, New York Times, March 22, 2003)


          5. Smart Bombs Aren't

"Errant Missiles Fuel Anti-War Anger in Turkey" (Buyuk Mirdesi, Reuters, April 2, 2003)

"'Precise' Bombs Going Astray" (AP, April 1, 2003) ("the current combination of laser- and satellite-guided bombs are hitting targets 75 to 80 per cent of the time")

"Pentagon Says Some Missiles Strayed; Saudi, Turkish Routes Shut Down" (Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post, March 30, 2003)

"'Smarter' Bombs Still Hit Civilians" (Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, Octiber 22, 2002) ("When laser-guided bombs fail, they tend to fail spectacularly," says Arkin. "They could go a mile or more off target, because if a laser fails to lock, if the laser is impacted by weather, if the pilot makes an error, that bomb does not know where to go. ... But if the JDAM's satellite system fails, its inertial system kicks in, usually bringing it to within 50 yards of the target.")


     B. Life in a War Zone

Daily Stories on the War, March 19-April 15 (BBC)


     C. Iraqi POWs and Detainees

          1. General Resources

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention)

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention)

See also Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Amnesty International

----"Memorandum on Concerns Relating to Law and Order" (Amnesty International, July 23, 2003)

----"Iraq: The US Must Ensure Humane Treatment and Access to Justice for Iraqi Detainees" (Amnesty International, June 30, 2003) ("Detainees held in Baghdad have invariably reported that they suffered cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment immediately after arrest, being tightly bound with plastic handcuffs and sometimes denied water and access to a toilet in the first night of arrest. Delegates saw numerous ex-detainees with wrists still scarred by the cuffs a month later.")

----"Iraq: Responsibilities of the Occupying Powers" (Amnesty International, April 16, 2003)

Amnesty USA

International Committee of the Red Cross

Monitoring IHL in Iraq (International Humanitarian Law Research Initiative)


"Angry Iraqis Tell of U.S. Troops Fatal Errors" (Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown, Knight Ridder, September 10, 2003)

"Rough Justice" (Rod Nordland, Newsweek, issue of August 18, 2003)


          2. Who Is Being Detained?

               a. Iraqi Scientists and Political Leaders

Comment: Holding noncombatants for purpose of extracting information is prohibited by Article 31 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), which provides "No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against protected persons, in particular to obtain information from them or from third parties."


"Bremer: Iraq Effort to Cost Tens of Billions" (Peter Slevin and Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, August 27, 2003) ("On other matters, Bremer said the United States is prepared to deliver 37 former Iraqi leaders in U.S. custody to a new government once a court has been established and charges filed. He said Iraqis are drafting a proposal for a special five-judge court staffed by Iraqis.")

"Where is Tariq Aziz?" (Jude Wanniski, August 27, 2003)

"'Chemical Ali' Captured" (August 21, 2003)

"A Mighty Fall" (Ranya Kadri and Rod Nordland, Newsweek, August 20, 2003) ("Tariq Aziz was once the international face of Saddam's regime. Now his family is angry that U.S. troops are still keeping him prisoner.)

"Iraqi Ex-Vice President Caught, One of Hussein's Trusted Aides" (John Tierney, New York Times, August 20, 2003)

"Four Months on and Still Prisoners of War" (Ghada Butti, Iraq Today, August 17, 2003) ("Why is Adel Yousif Al Ganabbey, staff Brigadier General of the air defense brigade command, and of the dissolved Iraqi air force still stuck in a prisoner of war camp?)

"Is Iraqi Intel Still Being Manipulated? The Sad and Secretive Tale of an Iraqi Scientist" (Michael Hirsh, Newsweek, August 8, 2003) (Iraqi nuclear scientist Mahdi Obeidi)

More on Mahdi Obeidi (Talking Points Memo, August 7, 2003)

Remember Mahdi Obeidi? (Talking Points Memo, August 6, 2003) (Mahdi Obeidi--the Iraqi nuclear scientist who revealed gas centrifuge parts buried under a rosebush in his backyard--is being held against his will in Kuwait.)

"Prisoners Brutalized In Baghdad Gulag Prison" (Gordon Thomas, American Free Press, August 1, 2003) ("Camp Cropper also houses a growing number of what are listed as 'special prisoners.' They include the former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, Saadiun Hammadi, the former speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, and Ezzar Ibrahim, the son of Saddam's second in command on the Revolutionary Command Council. A woman 'special' is Huda Ammash--known as 'Chemical Sally,' because she was a key member of Saddam's chemical and biological weapons program." She is not receiving necessary treatment for her breast cancer.)

"Scientists Still Deny Iraqi Arms Programs" (Walter Pincus and Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post, July 31, 2003)

The sources said four senior scientists and more than a dozen at lower levels who worked for the Iraqi government have been interviewed by U.S. officials under the direction of the CIA. Some scientists have been arrested and held for months, others have made deals in return for information and at least one has agreed to be interviewed outside Iraq. ......... As described by government officials and their families, the United States has used aggressive tactics to find and question key Iraqi scientists. Amir Saadi, Iraq's 65-year-old chief liaison with United Nations weapons inspectors since last year, has been held incommunicado since his voluntary surrender in Baghdad to U.S. military police more than three months ago, according to his wife, Helma. .............. Saadi's surrender encouraged the wife and daughter of Gen. Hossam Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, to get him to surrender, and he, too, has not been heard from since, Helma Saadi said. Helma Saadi said her husband was a chemical engineer who worked on Iraq's rocket programs, not chemical weapons. He served in the military during his career and reached the rank of general, though after the Gulf War he was acting minister of oil and later minister of industry. After his retirement in 1994, when she said his position went to a Baath Party member, he was given the honorific title of science adviser to Hussein. She described that as a "way of keeping him and others on the payroll even after retirement and using them when needed." Since her husband's arrest, Saadi said she has had no official notification of where he is being held, although she believes it is somewhere near Baghdad International Airport. She has had one communication with him, a June 15 letter delivered by the Red Cross that stated: "Today the Red Cross visited me and I was happy just to talk to someone. I am in good health and being treated correctly . . . love and kisses, Amer." Helma Saadi believes he is being kept in solitary confinement, because he said in his letter he was glad to have someone with whom to talk. U.S. sources familiar with the process say Saadi may have knowledge of Hussein's chemical weapons program, and perhaps is being held to give testimony about that. His wife said she suspects her husband is being held out of sight because "he is telling the truth. . . . They have realized there are no weapons of mass destruction and the quagmire they have created. They want to hold someone as a scapegoat." After hiring a lawyer, Helma Saadi sent a written request to L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator for Iraq. She did not receive an answer from Bremer to that letter or to one sent more recently. She did receive a response to a letter she sent asking whether her husband could be represented by a lawyer. On June 27, Col. Marc L. Warren of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, assigned to Bremer's office, said her husband's status "is being investigated" under the Geneva Conventions to see whether he is entitled to prisoner of war status or some other category. Meanwhile, former government officials, scientists and professionals are still being arrested. Family members of Abdel Ilah Hameed, the former Iraqi minister of agriculture, were interviewed in Beiji and described his arrest. Hameed, a native of Hussein's home town, Tikrit, tried twice to surrender after he saw how U.S. troops were searching all homes, according to his son, Usama. On April 15 and 16, he was turned back by U.S. officers at checkpoints, although one took his name after the second attempt. On April 22 at 3 a.m., soldiers backed by helicopters overhead knocked down the door, searched the house and took Hameed away, leaving his two older sons in plastic handcuffs that had to be cut away by a younger brother, Usama said. They have had no direct contact with their father since. Two weeks ago, a professor whose expertise is satellite communications and who is the father of an Iraqi interpreter employed by Bremer's office was seized, according to another employee. "Coalition snatch-and-grab guys busted their door in at 2 AM and turned the house upside down for an hour, then hauled him off in handcuffs," this employee wrote in a message home. The wife told a friend that the troops did not say the reason for the arrest, and it took a day for other U.S. officials to find that the man was being held at the airport and being interrogated.

3

"Iraq's Missing WMD Scientists" (Mango Singham, CounterPunch, July 23, 2003)

"Iraq Row over Fate of Seized Scientists" (Jonathan Steele, The Observer, July 20, 2003) ("The International Committee of the Red Cross, with an internationally recognised mandate to inspect detention centres around the world, has been urging the US to clarify the status of the three dozen Iraqi scientists and officials it holds. The authorities have given no details of their whereabouts and, unlike Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, the place where they are held has not been shown to journalists.")

"Something to Hide?" (David Ignatius, Washington Post, July 18, 2003) (Saddam Hussein's science adviser, Amir Saadi, and former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz continue to be held against their will)

"Appeal for the Release of Dr. Mrs. Huda Ammash; A Call to Women Worldwide" (July 10, 2003) (one of the many Iraqi scientists being held by the U.S.)

"U.S. Nearly Ignored Iraqi Nuclear Scientist, Intermediary Says" (Maria Fleet, CNN, June 28, 2003) (Iraqi nuclear scientist already working with the CIA is held in detention for a day by the Army)

"What Awaits Iraqi Prisoners?" (BBC, April 26, 2003))

"Iraqi Prisoners in Limbo" (BBC, April 26, 2003)

"Tariq Aziz Faces US Questions" (BBC, April 25, 2003)

"US Seizes Saddam's Deputy" (Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, April 25, 2003)

"Captured Saddam Officials in Legal Nomansland" (AFP, April 24, 2003)


               b. Others

For detention of members of the press, see IV.D. Treatment of Journalists.

For taking wanted men's family members as hostages, see IV.I. Other American Crimes/Taking Hostages.


'It Was Punishment without Trial' (Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, August 15, 2003) ("Hundreds of Iraqis civilians are being held in makeshift jails run by US troops - many without being charged or even questioned. And in these prisons are children whose parents have no way of locating them. Jonathan Steele reveals the grim reality of coalition justice in Baghdad.")

"U.S. Raids in Iraq Net 'Dolphins' Among 'Sharks'; Civilians Get Swept Up With Targets" (Theola Labbe, Washington Post, August 8, 2003)

"U.S. Soldier Killed Guarding Baghdad Bank" (Paul Haven, AP, July 19, 2003) ("Mehdi Abdul Mehdi, head of the al-Naba Cultural Center and publisher of the weekly newspaper al-Naba, was arrested by U.S. soldiers at his office July 12 for allegedly trying to organize an anti-American political party, said protesters, who said they did not know where Mehdi was being held.")

"New U.S. Guidelines Take Tougher Iraqi Civilian Stance" (Juan O. Tamayo, Knight Ridder, April 1, 2003) ("Iraqi civilians who 'interfere with mission accomplishment' can be detained up to 30 days under new guidelines the U.S. military issued Tuesday.")




          3. Conditions of Detention

For accounts of beatings of Iraqis not in detention centers, such as during raids of residences, see IV.I. Other American Crimes: Beatings.

Comment: Articles 79 through 141 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention) regulate the conditions under which noncombatant internees must be held. The treatment of prisoners of war is governed by the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention).


"U.S. Opens Hearing on Alleged Iraqi Abuse" (Tarek al-Issawi, AP, August 27, 2003)

"Human Rights American Style (Part II)" (Zahira Houfani, Iraqi Solidarity Project, July 30, 2003) ("I couldn't believe my eyes! Is it so easy to torture someone in an Iraq liberated from Saddam? Yet the marks on the body of Al-Mountadhar Fadhel, a young Iraqi student of 23 years old, were so undeniably real, shocking, and above all completely unacceptable.")

"Arrests And Abuse By American Troops On The Rise In Iraq; 'They're Treating Us Like Cattle'" (Marc Semo Liberation [Paris], July 30, 2003) (translation from French)

"Four U.S. Soldiers Charged With Abuse" (Matt Kelley, AP, July 26, 2003)

"Amnesty Accuses US-Led Forces of Abuses" (George Wright, The Guardian, July 23, 2003)

"Iraqis Accuse U.S. Forces of Torture - Amnesty" (Cynthia Johnston, Reuters, July 23, 2003)

"Iraqi Detainees Complain about Treatment" (Dana Hull, Knight Ridder, July 10, 2003)

Iraqi citizens who have been detained by coalition forces are complaining bitterly about their treatment in American-run prisons. ......... Qais Mohammed al Saliman, 54, is an Iraqi engineer who returned to Baghdad in early May after having lived in Denmark since 1990. On May 6, he was arrested when the car he was in was stopped on a popular street along the Tigris River. He said was never told what he was being arrested for. "They treated me badly. It was very hot, and they put me on the ground with a heavy shoe on my back," he said. "Then a TV truck came, and they pretended to arrest me again for the media." Al Saliman was taken to "Camp Cropper," a detention facility at the Baghdad International Airport. Because the U.S. military also is using the airport as a base, requests from journalists to visit the facilities have been denied due to security concerns. "They asked me about Saddam Hussein and I said that he was in hell," said al Saliman, who speaks English well. "I showed them my Danish passport but it didn't make a difference." Al Saliman was held 33 days, and had no way of letting his elderly mother know where he was. He says he lived with about 130 other men in a tent that was surrounded by wire. When he was released, he said, he was told that they were sorry for holding him. "They were not human conditions. It was very dirty and there were dust storms. There was no chance to wash before praying. There was only a hole for a toilet, in front of over 100 people," he said. "We Iraqis are people who have high culture. We are educated. I told one of the guards: You may be a cowboy, but we are not Indians. The Americans came here talking about cooperation, and I was treated like an animal in a zoo in my own country." ...................... Mohammed A'Laa, who befriended al Saliman in prison, was arrested May 21 because his small pistol was found in his car when he went through a checkpoint. He asked if a passing taxi driver could pass the word of his arrest to his wife, but the American soldiers refused. "They tied my hands behind my back, and I spent the whole night standing on my feet," he said. "They said bad words to us that they thought we didn't understand, but one of the men with me translated. They kept asking me questions: Do you know officers in the Iraqi army? Do you know anyone in the Baath Party? Do you have any information about chemical weapons? Do you know of any organizations that are planning to attack American soldiers? I felt like I was being interrogated by Saddam's intelligence service." He was released a week later but said guards at the airport refused to give him the satellite phone they confiscated when he entered the prison. Soldiers regularly ask to use satellite phones to make phone calls home to the United States.

"Iraqi Details Harsh Treatment by U.S." (Jim Krane, AP, July 1, 2003)

An Iraqi businessman detained during a raid on his home says U.S. interrogators deprived him of sleep, forced him to kneel naked and kept him bound hand and foot with a bag over his head for eight days. ....... Interviewed June 20 and Monday, Al-Abally said U.S. troops stormed his home April 30, shooting his brother and taking al-Abally and his 80-year-old father into custody - apparently believing they had information on the whereabouts of a top official in Saddam Hussein's regime, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. The three men were all low-level members of Saddam's Baath Party, but al-Douri was not a family acquaintance, Al-Abally said. The brother, Dureid, shot at the troops breaking in, apparently mistaking them for looters, the family said. Al-Abally said he was told during his interrogation at Baghdad International Airport that his brother had died. Al-Abally, 39, said that while he was bound and blindfolded, he was kicked, forced to stare at a strobe light and blasted with "very loud rubbish music." "I thought I was going to lose my mind," said al-Abally, a burly man whose wrists are still scarred from plastic cuffs more than a month after his release. "They said, 'I want you on your knees.' After three or four days it's very painful. My knees were bleeding and swollen."

"As U.S. Fans Out in Iraq, Violence and Death on Rise" (Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times, June 14, 2003) ("One man, Jamal Daham, 22, a third-year computer science student at Baghdad University, said he was held for four days. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and his mouth taped, he said. His American interrogator, he said, threatened "'to send me to Cuba,' where the United States is holding, at Guantánamo Bay, people suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban.")

"Trying to Escape From Custody, Iraqi Prisoner Is Shot to Death" (Eric Schmitt, New York Times, June 13, 2003)

"U.S. Investigating Mystery Death of Iraqi Being Held as a Prisoner" (Eric Schmitt, New York Times, June 12, 2003)

"Soldiers Accused of Beating PoWs" (BBC, June 4, 2003)

"Army to Face New Torture Claims" (Jason Burke, The Observer, June 1, 2003)

"Shopworker 'Sickened' by POW Photos" (BBC, May 31, 2003)

"POW 'Torture Photos' Investigated" (BBC, May 30, 2003)

"U.S. Tortures Iraqi POWs With Heavy Metal" (IslamOnline, May 21, 2003)

"Sesame Street Breaks Iraqi POWs" (BBC, May 20)

"Iraqi Detainees Claim Abuse by British and U.S. Troops" (Marc Lacey, New York Times, May 17, 2003)

"Iraqi PoWs Tell Amnesty They Were Tortured" (Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, May 17, 2003)

"Coalition 'Tortured Iraqi POWs'" (BBC, May 16, 2003)

"Americans Split Over Marine's 'War Crimes'" (Julian Borger, The Guardian, May 2, 2003)

"US Marine Investigated for War Crimes after Newspaper Interview" (Charles Hoskinson, AFP, April 30, 2003)

"INTERVIEW FALLOUT: Inquiry to focus on Marine" (J.M. Kahil, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 26, 2003) ("Las Vegan described how he hunted down, shot Iraqis after attack on unit")

"Daily Riots Shake POW Camp for Iraqis" (AFP, April 14, 2003)

"UK Soldiers Turn Away Iraqis Looking for Relatives among POWs" (ABC [Australia], April 2, 2003)


          4. Particlar Places of Detention

               a. Abu Ghraib Prison

Comment: Holding prisoners of war at a former prison violates Article 22 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention), which provides "Prisoners of war may be interned only in premises located on land and affording every guarantee of hygiene and healthfulness. Except in particular cases which are justified by the interest of the prisoners themselves, they shall not be interned in penitentiaries."


"U.S. Holding Iraqis at Notorious Prison" (Alex Rodriguez, Chicago Tribune, August 6, 2003) ("About 500 Iraqis are detained here and, like detainees in U.S. prison camps across Iraq, none has been allowed family visits. Only one out of 10 has been allowed to see a lawyer.")

"Iraq's Most Feared Prison Open Again" (Jamie Tarabay, AP, July 11, 2003)

Khayriyat Taaban squatted to rest in the blistering sun, her head-to-toe black abaya billowing in the furnace-like wind. Every day, she's been making the long walk to look for her son at Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein's most notorious prison. The prison - which under Saddam was dreaded for its torture chambers and mass executions - is open again, now run by Iraq's American occupiers. And Iraqis still fear it.

               b. Camp Bucca

"Four Months on and Still Prisoners of War" (Ghada Butti, Iraq Today, August 17, 2003)


               c. Camp Cropper at Baghdad International Airport)

"Prisoners Brutalized In Baghdad Gulag Prison" (Gordon Thomas, American Free Press, August 1, 2003) ("The overpowering stench in this hellhole is suffocating. 'Add to sleep deprivation and physical abuse you have highly degrading conditions which are tantamount to torture and gross abuse of human rights,' said Curt Goering," deputy director of Amnesty International.)

"The Ugly Truth of America's Camp Cropper, a Story to Shame Us All" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, July 22, 2003)


          5. Number of Detainees

"Angry Iraqis Tell of U.S. Troops Fatal Errors" (Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown, Knight Ridder, September 10, 2003) (The military says it has imprisoned about 5,500 people, most of whom are held without access to lawyers or relatives.)

"Coalition Frees 200 Prisoners in Baghdad" (August 16, 2003)

"US-led Troops Detain Hundreds of Former Saddam Loyalists" (AFP, June 28, 2003)

"ICRC Says More Than 6,000 Iraqis Held by Coalition Forces" (AFP, June 19, 2003)

"U.S. Frees 11,000 Detainees, Holds 2,050" (Sue Pleming, Reuters, June 17, 2003)

"Hundreds Detained in Iraq Raids" (BBC, June 17, 2003)

"US Frees More Iraqi Prisoners" (BBC, May 6, 2003)

"Several Thousand Iraqi Prisoners Still Held in Southern Iraq: Red Cross" (AFP, April 25, 2003)


          6. Access by Red Cross

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention)

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention)

See also Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions and the International Committee of the Red Cross.


"True Price of War: Scandal of 'Lost' PoWs" (Gary Jones, The Mirror, July 5, 2003)

The Red Cross yesterday accused Tony Blair and George Bush of breaching the Geneva Convention over the shabby treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war. The humanitarian organisation said the true number of PoWs and their whereabouts was unknown, family visits have been denied and there was no system in place to monitor arrests or pass on details to the Red Cross. A high-ranking official of the International Committee of the Red Cross said: "It is an obligation of the occupying power to notify us of any arrests but that's not happening. We are not receiving anything like full information on prisoners of war. "There is no proper notification. No organisation. There is not the will to resolve this issue.

"Red Cross Denied Access to PoWs" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, May 25, 2003)

"Red Cross Seeks Access to Captured Saddam Regime Members" (AP, May 7, 2003))

"Iraq Reconstruction Inches Forward, Coalition Warned on POWs" (AFP, May 4, 2003)

"Red Cross Starts Visiting POWs" (AP, March 31, 2003)


          7. Geneva Conventions and Other Legal Considerations; War Crimes Trials of Iraqis

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention)

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention)

See also Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions and the International Committee of the Red Cross.


"Bremer: Iraq Effort to Cost Tens of Billions" (Peter Slevin and Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, August 27, 2003) ("On other matters, Bremer said the United States is prepared to deliver 37 former Iraqi leaders in U.S. custody to a new government once a court has been established and charges filed. He said Iraqis are drafting a proposal for a special five-judge court staffed by Iraqis.")

"Non-Iraqi Fighters Puzzle U.S." (Juan O. Tamayo, Knight Ridder, April 22, 2003)

"Next: Trying Iraqi Leaders for War Crimes" (Seth Stern, Christian Science Monitor, April 22, 2003) ("Complicating any prosecution, say legal experts, is the fact that some may argue the US tacitly supported Hussein's regime during much of his rule, authorizing the 1980s sale of substances that can be used in chemical weapons.")

"Options on Handling of Iraqi POWs Considered; Geneva Conventions May Complicate U.S. Trial Plans" (John Mintz, Washington Post, April 19, 2003)

"Briefing on Geneva Convention, EPW's and War Crimes" (U.S. Department of Defense, April 7, 2003)

"US may not be able to treat Iraqi fighters as terrorists" (Siddharth Varadarajan, The Times of India, April 6, 2003)

"Pentagon Defends Use of Civilian Clothes by U.S. Forces" (AP, April 4, 2003)

"Illegal to Hand PoWs to US, Claim Ministers" (Patrick Wintour and Michael White, The Guardian, April 3, 2003)

"Iraq Detainees 'Not Going to Cuba'" (BBC, April 1, 2003)


     D. Treatment of Journalists

          1. In General

Committee to Protect Journalists

International Federation of Journalists

International Press Institute

----"Caught in the Crossfire: The Iraq War and the Media--A Diary of Claims and Counterclaims" (International Press Institute, May 28, 2003)

Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders

----Iraq information

----"The Iraqi Media Three Months after the War: A New but Fragile Freedom" (Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders, July 23, 2003)


"Cambridge Student Shot by US Troops" (July 13, 2003)

"Dangerous Liasons" (Peter Beaumont, The Observer, June 22, 2003) (U.K. reporter's story of almost being shot by U.S. soldier)
"The Iraqi Killing Fields" (Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, April 10, 2003) ("There's a problem with the absolute majority of the journalists in Baghdad - surreptitiously betrayed by the rhetoric emanating from US CentCom in Qatar. They are non-embedded. 'Unilaterals' - non-embedded journalists - may be mistaken for 'legitimate' targets by the Pentagon: or rather 'targets of opportunity'. They can be bombed because of their annoying Thuraya satellite telephones with GPS. They can be beaten - like a group of Portuguese journalists in southern Iraq.")

"Jazeera Urges U.S. to Ensure Reporters' Safety" (Reuters, April 2, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera's Basra Hotel Bombed" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, April 2, 2003)

"Missing ITN Crew May Have Come Under 'Friendly Fire'" (The Guardian, March 23, 2003)


          2. Particular Incidents

               Killing of Mazen Dana on August 17

American troops in a tank shot and killed Mazen Dana, 43, with machine gun fire as he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad on Sunday afternoon. The prison had come under a mortar attack on Saturday night, and at least a half-dozen other journalists--television cameramen, photographers and reporters--were working nearby, along a barren expanse intersected by a busy highway. Dana's last pictures show a U.S. tank driving toward him outside the prison walls. Several shots ring out from the tank, and Dana's camera falls to the ground. The U.S. military said that its troops had "engaged" a Reuters cameraman, saying they mistook the blue canvas-wrapped camera and its white microphone for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which is distinctive for its small warhead fired from a long tube. There were two tanks leading a convey approaching the prison; the nearer--the one whose troops shot Dana--was 30-70 yards away.

Recounting the moments before the shooting, Reuters soundman Nael al-Shyoukhi, who was working with Dana, said he had asked a U.S. soldier near the prison if they could speak to an officer and was told they could not. He also said a U.S. soldier at the prison had granted them permission to film shortly before the shooting. "They saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission," al-Shyoukhi said. The incident happened in the afternoon in daylight. "After we filmed we went into the car and prepared to go when a convoy led by a tank arrived and Mazen stepped out of the car to film. I followed him and Mazen walked three to four meters. We were noted and seen clearly," al-Shyoukhi said. He also said that no gunshots had been heard in the area before the military opened fire.

Within moments, the troops approached with guns drawn. The soldier who al-Shyoukhi believed fired the shots carried a pistol. "I screamed to the one who shot him, 'You shot him, you killed him. He's a journalist, a cameraman.' He kept shouting, 'Step back! Step back!'"

"There were many journalists around. They knew we were journalists," said Munzer Abbas, Dana's driver. "This was not an accident." Stephan Breitner of France 2 television echoed that view. "We were all there, for at least half an hour. They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was accident. They are very tense. They are crazy."

British Journalist Robert Fisk called the U.S. explanation "the same cock-and-bull story the Israelis produced back in 1985 when they killed a two-man CBS crew, Tewfiq Ghazawi and Bahij Metni, in southern Lebanon."

Dana leaves a wife, Suzanne, and four children.

"A U.S. Silence in Iraq Puts a Deadly Cloud Over Journalists" (August 27, 2003)

"The Wild West" (Bhaskar Ghose, Hindustan Times, August 23, 2003)

"Should the Military Protect the Press? (Chris Usher, Newsweek, August 20, 2003)

"Grief and Anger as Hebron Buries Reuters Cameraman Shot by US Troops" (AFP, August 20, 2003)

"US Troops 'Crazy' in Killing of Cameraman" (Jamie Wilson, The Guardian, August 19, 2003)

"US Admits Cameraman Was Shot Dead at Close Range" (Justin Huggle, The Independent, August 19, 2003)

"Death of Journalist Killed by G.I.'s Prompts Calls for Inquiry" (Sarah Lyall, New York Times, August 19, 2003)

"Gaza Journalists Honor Fallen Reuters Colleague" (Reuters, August 19, 2003)

"U.S. Military Probes Cameraman's Death; Slaying by Troops Called 'Terrible Tragedy'" (Anthony Shadid, Washington Post, August 19, 2003)

"Reuters Cameraman Killed For Filming U.S. Graves: Brother" (Palestine Chronicle, August 19, 2003)

"Media Groups Demand Investigation after US Forces Kill Cameraman in Iraq" (AFP, August 18, 2003)

"Groups Want Probe in Iraq Shooting Death" (Tarek al-Issawi, AP, August 18, 2003)

"U.S.: Troops Killed Reporter in Tragic Incident" (MSNBC News, August 18, 2003)

"CPJ Calls for Full and Public Investigation into Journalist's Death" (Committee to Protect Journalists, August 18, 2003)

Statement by International Press Institute (August 18, 2003)

"Dismay over Death of Reuters Cameraman in Iraq" (Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders, August 18, 2003)

"IFJ Calls for Iraq Probe After Journalist Shot Dead by US Troops" (International Federation of Journalists, August 18, 2003)

"U.S. Troops Shoot Dead Reuters Cameraman in Iraq" (Andrew Marshall, Reuters, August 17, 2003)


               Japanese Reporter Beaten up on July 27

"Japanese Journalist Outraged over Beating by American Troops" (Sean McIntyre, Toronto Star, August 2, 2003) ("A Japanese journalist who was manhandled by U.S. troops in Iraq on July 27 is recovering from injuries sustained during the confrontation but remains outraged at the use of excessive force against him, said co-worker Mika Yamamoto.")

"U.S. Investigates Claim of Reporter in Iraq Being Roughed Up" (The Japan Times, July 31, 2003)


               Two Iranian Journalists Held since July 1

"Families Urge U.S. to Free Iranians Held in Iraq" (Reuters, August 4, 2003)

"Two Iranian Journalists Arrested, Other Foreign Media Harassed" (Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders, July 31, 2003) ("Reporters Without Borders today deplored the worsening attitude of US troops towards journalists in Iraq and called for US Administrator Paul Bremer to explain exactly why two Iranian newsmen, Said Aboutaleb and Soheil Karimi, of the public TV station IRIB, have been held since 1 July for alleged 'security violations.'")


               April 8 Attacks on Journalists

On April 8, U.S. forces attack three separate, but well-known, journalists' locations:

(1) A U.S. tank three-quarters of a mile away fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, home to almost the entire international press corps, killing Taras Protsyuk, a Reuters cameraman, and Jose Couso, from the Spanish television channel Telecinco. The 17-story building was easily recognizable--it was the highest in the area, and some 50 TV cameras were mounted on it. The tank targeted the hotel and waited at least two minutes before firing at 11:59 am. Samia Nakhoul, Reuters' Gulf bureau chief, was wounded in the blast along with British technician Paul Pasquale and Iraqi photographer Faleh Kheiber, also Reuters employees. Military spokespeople first said U.S. forces were being fired upon from the hotel. Later they claimed the tank was firing at someone in the hotel using binoculars as a spotter for snipers. They hit a balcony where one of the men killed (Taras Protsyuk) had a camera set up.

The three men responsible for this attack, according to the report from the Committee to Protect Journalists linked to below, are Lieutenant Colonel Philip DeCamp, commander of the Fourth Battalion 64th Armored Regiment of the Third Infantry Division; Captain Philip Wolford, company commander of the tank unit that fired on the hotel; and Sergeant Shawn Gibson, the officer who asked Wolford for permission to fire and received it.

Casual Disregard(2) Earlier in the day, a U.S. aircraft fired two missiles at the Baghdad bureau of Arabic satellite TV channel al-Jazeera, killing the station's correspondent, Tareq Ayoub. A Jordanian of Palestinian origin, Ayoub, 34, was married with two children and had only been in Baghdad for less than a week after leaving his normal base in Jordan. Another of the station's journalists, Zohair al-Iraqi, an Iraqi, received a neck wound in the attack. Al-Jazeera chief editor Ibrahim Hilal said the U.S. military has long known the map coordinates and street number of his network's office. Witnesses "saw the plane fly over twice before dropping the bombs. Our office is in a residential area, and even the Pentagon knows its location," Hilal said in Qatar.

(3) American forces (apparently a tank) also opened fire on the offices of Abu Dhabi television, whose identity is spelled out in large blue letters on the roof. The action trapped more than 25 reporters who phoned for help from the basement. The office had been there more than 2 1/2 years.


               ----Resources on the Attacks Generally

"Did the United State Murder Journalists?" (Robert Fisk, Daily Times [Pakistan], April 28, 2003)

"In the Way: A Lethal Conflict for the Press" (Deborah Snow. Sydney Morning Herald, April 12, 2003)

"Media Accuses US of Targeting Journalists" (Hamza Hendawi, AP/Reuters, April 9, 2003)

"Media Deaths Spark Outrage" (AFP, April 9, 2003)

"Bombing of Journalists 'May Have Been a War Crime'" (Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders, April 9, 2003)

"Fury at US as Attacks Kill Three Journalists" (Suzanne Goldenberg, Rory McCarthy, Jonathan Steele, and Brian Whitaker, The Guardian, April 9, 2003)

"Outrage at Killing of Journalists" (K.S. Ramkumar & Javid Hassan, Arab News, April 9, 2003)

"Is There Some Element in the US military That Wants to Take Out Journalists?" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, April 9, 2003)

"Three Journalists Die in Baghdad Attacks" (Hamza Hendawi, AP, April 8, 2003)

"Killing Of Journalists In Iraq Provokes Outcry" (Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Reuters, April 8, 2003)


               ----Resources on the Attack on the Palestine Hotel

"Should the Military Protect the Press? (Chris Usher, Newsweek, August 20, 2003)

"Ukraine Demands Follow-up on Cameraman's Death in Iraq" (ABC [Australia], August 15, 2003) ("'The inquiry must be continued to obtain more concrete results,' a spokesman for the ministry, Markian Lubkivski, said. ... Acording to Mr Lubkivski, Ukraine was particularly keen to ensure that those responsible for the death of Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk assumed 'moral and judicial responsibility' for it.")

"Dead Journalist's Family Denounces U.S. Iraq Report" (Reuters, August 13, 2003) ("The family of a Spanish television cameraman killed by a U.S. tank shell in Baghdad four months ago dismissed as 'a series of lies' Wednesday a U.S. report that cleared its soldiers of blame.")

"Hotel-Attack Probe Blasted" (News24 [South Africa], August 13, 2003)

"Unacceptable" Enquiry Clears Soldiers in Killing of Two Journalists in Palestine Hotel" (Reporters Sans Frontieres/Reporters Without Borders, August 13, 2003)

"Journalists Accuse US of 'Cynical Whitewash' Over Report Into Baghdad Hotel Media Killings (International Federal of Journalists, August 13, 2003)

CPJ Troubled by Results of Palestine Hotel Inquiry (Committee to Protect Journalists, August 13, 2003

"U.S. Says Shot Fired at Hotel Was Justified" (Thom Shanker, New York Times, August 13, 2003)

"U.S. Probe: Iraq Hotel Shooting Justified" (Robert Burns, AP, August 12, 2003)

Comment: This exoneration, although expected whenever a government investigates itself, is incomplete and unconvincing for several reasons:

1. The report doesn't explain why two alternate explanations were offered by the military--that they were taking fire directly from the hotel, and that a spotter on the hotel was directing fire from elsewhere.

2. Journalists in the hotel uniformly denounce the suggestion that someone was firing from the hotel. There were a hundred reporters there. It simply could not have happened.

3. Even if a spotter was somewhere in the general area of the tank, there was no reason to believe that a person on the balcony Cynical WhitewashCynical Whitewashof a hotel three quarters of a mile away using binoculars was that spotter; there was no evidence that this person was the spotter.

4. The Palestine Hotel building is unmistakable: It is the highest building in the area, it had some 50 television cameras on it, and everyone knew that it was home to almost the entire international journalists' corps.

5. By most reports, there was no shooting at all in the area prior to the attack on the hotel.

6. The war was almost over--Baghdad fell the next day--so there was no need to take such a risk and attack journalists.

7. The military's statement that "the shooting stopped" after the tank round at the hotel is either a lie (if there was no shooting) or wholly coincidental, as the persons the tank round killed were journalists, not Iraqi military men.

"Pressure Grows Over US Killing of Journalists" (Ian Urbina, Asia Times, June 7, 2003) ("Immediately after the hotel was hit one of the commanding officers, Lieutenant Colonel Philip, started screaming over the radio. 'Who just shot the Palestinian [sic] Hotel? Did you just fucking shoot the Palestinian Hotel?'")

"Permission to Fire; CPJ Investigates the Attack on the Palestine Hotel" (Joel Campagna and Rhonda Roumani, Committee to Protect Journalists, May 27, 2003) (comprehensive and excellent)

"Deaths Were 'Accident'" (Reuters, May 2, 2003)

"Powell Defends Attack on Baghdad Hotel" (Ciar Byrne, The Guardian, April 25, 2003)

"US Was Set to Bomb Journalists' Hotel" (AFP, April 24, 2003)

"Tank Captain Admits Firing on Media Hotel" (Giles Tremlett, The Guardian, April 21, 2003)

"Editors Blast Rumsfeld over 'Reckless' US Strike" (Ciar Byrne, The Guardian, April 10, 2003)

"The Killer Attack Journalists Never Saw Coming" (Craig Nelson, Cox Newspapers, April 10, 2003)

"Footage Shows Tank Deliberately Hit Hotel" (AFP, April 9, 2003)

"A Tribute to Taras Protsyuk, Reuters Journalist, 1968 - 2003"

"Angry Reporters Mourn Colleagues Killed by US Fire in Baghdad" (AFP, April 8, 2003)

"Army Admits Firing on Hotel" (Julia Day, The Guardian, April 8, 2003)

"Second Journalist Dies after Hotel Strike" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, April 8, 2003)


               ----Resources on the Attack on Al-Jazeera's Office

"Outrage over Attack on Al-Jazeera Office" (The Hindu [India], April 10, 2003)

"Silenced in the Name of Freedom" (Paul Belden, Asia Times, April 10, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera: Journalist Killed in Blast" (Sam F. Ghattas, AP, April 8, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera 'Hit by Missile'" (BBC, April 8, 2003)

"Al-Jazeera Cameraman Killed in US Raid" (Jason Deans, The Guardian, April 8, 2003)


               Tuesday, March 26, through Saturday(?), March 29: Four Journalists Detained and Mistreated

Two Israeli reporters (Dan Scemama of Israel TV's Channel One and Boaz Bismuth of the Yediot Ahronot daily) and two Portuguese journalists (Luis Castro and Victor Silva of Radio Televisao Portuguesa) were taken into custody by U.S. forces in the evening of March 26 about 60 miles south of Baghdad. They were accused of being spies. The four were denied food and water for extended periods and forced to stand in a cold tent in silence for an entire night, and one of the Portuguese journalists was beaten by five U.S. soldiers.

"Interview: Israeli Reporter Held in Iraq" (Joshua Brilliant, UPI, April 3, 2003)

"Western Journalists Beaten, Starved by Americans" (Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News, April 2, 2003)

"Don't Mess with My Soldiers. Don't Mess with Them Because They Are Trained Like Dogs to Kill. And They Will Kill You If You Try Again": U.S. Military Detains and Beats Foreign Journalists in Iraq. We'll Talk to Israeli Reporter Dan Scemama (Democracy Now, April 1, 2003)

"Military Accused of Mistreating Reporters" (Ciar Byrne, The Guardian, April 1, 2003)

"Israeli Journalists Claim Mistreatment" (AP, March 30, 2003)


     E. Cluster Bombs and Other Unexploded Munitions

Cluster bombs were responsible for hundreds of casualties in Hillah and the surrounding area. See Civilian casualties in al Hillah.

"The Use of Cluster Bombs (Iraq Action Center)


"Unexploded Munitions Become Child's Play" (UNICEF, July 17, 2003)

"More Than 1,000 Children Killed or Wounded by Abandoned Arms in Iraq: UNICEF" (AFP, July 17, 2003)

"Unexploded Cluster Bombs Blanket Iraqi Cities" (Jeremy Johnson, World Socialist Web Site, June 17, 2003)

"Up to 17,000 Unexploded Bombs Left in War Zone, MP Warns" (Owen Bowcott, The Guardian, July 4, 2003)

"Iraq's Children Bear Brunt of Unexploded Munitions" (Ruth Gidley, AlertNet, June 3, 2003)

"Revealed: the Cluster Bombs That Litter Iraq" (Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, June 1, 2003)

"Basra Troops Used Cluster Bombs" (Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, May 30, 2003)

"The Bombs That Keep On Killing" (Michael Weisskopf I. Karbala, Time, May 12, 2003 [posted May 3])

"Britain And US Accused over Cluster Bombs" (Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, May 5, 2003)

"Death Lurks in Unspent US 'bomblets'" (Anne Barnard, Boston Globe, May 1, 2003)

"A Wounded Child of Baghdad Learns to Hate" (Oliver Poole, The Age [Aust.], April 12 2003)

"U.S. Probes Claims of Civilian War Deaths" (Mark Fritz, AP, April 2, 2003)


     F. Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons

Traprock Peace Center

Health Risks of Using Depleted Uranium

"Depleted Uranium: A Post-War Disaster For Environment And Health" (Felicity Arbuthnot, Rosalie Bertell, Ray Bristow, Peter Diehl, Dan Fahey, Henk van der Keur, and Daniel Robicheau; Laka Foundation; May 1999)

Depleted Uranium Resources collected by Yasmin Alani


"Death By Slow Burn--How America Nukes Its Own Troops" (Amy Worthington, Sierra Times, May 2)

"Another U.S. War Crime? Iraqi Cities 'Hot' with Depleted Uranium" (Sara Flounders, August 21, 2003, issue of Workers World)

"War's Unintended Effects: Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Lingers as Health Concern" (Larry Johnson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 4, 2003)

"Dutch MPs and SFIR Troops Not Informed about Use of Depleted Uranium in South Iraq" (Maarten H.J. van den Berg, RISQ, August 4, 2003)

"Our Troops Suffer Uranium Sickness" (The Age [Aust.], June 23, 2003)

"DU = 'Disarm USA' or 'Depleted Uranium'? Part I (Lamya Tawfik, Islam Online, May 15,2003) (apparently there was no Part II)

"US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Is "Illegal (Neil Mackay, Sunday Herald [Scotland], March 30, 2003)

"'Silver Bullets' That Kill, and Kill Again" (Cristina Hernandez-Espinoza, Asia Times, March 27, 2003)


     G. Looted Radioactive Materials

"U.N. in Dark About Looted Iraq Dirty Bomb Material" (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, July 16, 2003)

"Iraqis Grapple with Post-War Radioactivity (Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, July 10, 2003)

"US Breaching Geneva Conventions Over Iraq Nuclear Plant: Greenpeace" (AFP, July 4, 2003)

"Contaminated Nuclear Barrel Swap Launched in Iraq" (Reuters, June 28, 2003)

"Greenpeace Says 'Frightening' Radioactivity in Iraqi Villages" (AFP, June 24, 2003)

"Radiation Fears Grow in Iraq" (BBC, June 24, 2003)

"Iraqis Suffer From Radiation Symptoms" (Sabah Jerges, AP, June 22, 2003)

"Uranium at Iraqi Plant Is Secured, Diplomats Say" (AP, June 21, 2003)

"Iraqis Complain of Illness near Nuclear Facility" (Karl Penhaul, CNN, May 16, 2003)

"Is Iraq Contaminated?" (Christopher Dickey, Newsweek Web Exclusive, May 16, 2003)

"Looters at Key Iraqi Nuke Site Terrify Residents" (AFP, May 8, 2003)

"'Looting' at Iraq Nuclear Sites" (BBC, May 6, 2003)

"Looters Broke into Nuclear Plant; Some Use Barrels for Storing Water" (Christine Spolar, Chicago Tribune, May 6, 2003)


     H. Looted Antiquities

"'One in 10' Iraqi Treasures Looted (BBC, July 8, 2003)

"Tenth of Missing Iraq Artifacts Returned" (Scheherezade Faramarzi, AP, July 8, 2003)

"Digging for the Truth About Iraq Museum Toll" (Nora Boustany, Washington Post, June 27, 2003)

"Looters Stole 6,000 Artifacts; Number Expected to Rise as Officials Take Inventory in Iraq" (Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post, June 21, 2003)

"How Iraq's Art Treasures Were Saved" (Charles Recknagel, Asia Times, June 13, 2003)

"Iraq's Past 'Ripped From the Ground'; Thousands of Artifacts Have Been Looted from Archeological Sites, a Team of Experts Finds" (Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2003)

"Priceless Treasures Saved from Looters of Baghdad Museum" (Jason Burke, The Observer, June 8, 2003)


     I. Other American Crimes

          1. Beatings

Listed here are accounts of beatings of Iraqis not in detention centers. For the conditions of Iraqis under detention, see IV.C., Iraqi POWs and Detainees.

And for beatings of journalists, see IV.D., Treatment of Journalists.

"Angry Iraqis Tell of U.S. Troops Fatal Errors" (Ken Dilanian and Drew Brown, Knight Ridder, September 10, 2003)

Dr. Talib Abdul Jabar Al Sayeed was asleep at home with 11 relatives, he said, when U.S. troops surrounded his house, stormed his gate and began firing. At least three dozen American soldiers blazed away for more than 60 minutes in the early morning hours of July 31, the British-trained physician recounted recently, pointing to the hundreds of bullet holes that still mark his stately home. "I shouted at them with all my strength to stop shooting," said Al Sayeed, 62. "I will open the door. Please give me a chance." Eventually, Al Sayeed said, the commanding officer told him he was sorry: They had raided the wrong house. But not before a soldier burst in and struck Al Sayeed with a rifle butt, knocking him down. The soldier kicked him in the ribs - an X-ray later showed they were cracked - and others bound his hands with plastic cuffs as his wife and young nieces cowered in the next room. They also took his three grown sons in for questioning, and they remain in a military jail in the south of Iraq.

Where is Raed ? (August 13, 2003, entry) ("G. my friend got beaten up by US Army last night, he was handcuffed and had a bag put on his head. he was kicked several times and was made to lie on his face for a while. All he wanted to do was to take pictures and report on an attack, he works for the New York Times as a translator and fixer. He got more kicks for speaking english. his sin: he looks Iraqi and has a beard.")

"US Troops Kill Iraqi Police: Witness" (AFP, August 11, 2003) (On August 9, 2003, U.S. soldiers in Baghdad shot dead an Iraqi policeman they mistook for an attacker, killed another as he tried to surrender to them and beat a third, according to the survivor. The three Iraqi officers were firing from their unmarked car at a suspect vehicle they were chasing when the Americans opened fire on them in a western suburb of the capital.)

"U.S. Raids in Iraq Net 'Dolphins' Among 'Sharks'; Civilians Get Swept Up With Targets" (Theola Labbe, Washington Post, August 8, 2003) ("Khalid Ali Kamel pointed to the red lines on his arms and crossed his wrists today to indicate how U.S. soldiers had tied them together during a raid on Wednesday night.")

"Iraqi Civilians Caught in Crossfire of US Operations" (AFP, July 28, 2003)

At the checkpoint, the Americans found a handgun, ordered the 56-year-old man out of his car and proceeded to bash his head with a rifle butt. Rahim Nasser Mohammed points to his right temple, the side of his mouth and lifts his shirt, to show the spots where the soldier cudgeled him again and again nearly a month ago. His story -- that of a government employee pulled over in his car by the US army -- seems one in a thousand as reports mount of beatings and sometimes deaths of Iraqi civilians at the hands of US soldiers. ... "It's an embarrassment for us. A lot of this has to do with the war being over, and there being not a lot for us to do and soldiers getting killed and then their friends taking it out on regular civilians," said a US military police officer investigating instances of excessive force. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, vented anger over the army's failure to make a real example of those soldiers doling out their own "Dirty Harry" style of vigilante justice or operating in brutish fashion. "They should do certain things like sting operations and arrest those soldiers like common criminals. A lot of them should be relieved and reassigned ... That's not happening," he said. "I've seen at least 20 cases," he added, referring to incidents where soldiers have beaten or robbed civilians at checkpoints. ....... But Mohammed's story is a cause for alarm, with his account backed by US military officers and Iraqi police during interviews with AFP. "They beat him pretty bad. They beat him, tied him up and beat him again," said a US officer on condition of anonymity. On July 3, Mohammed, an electricity department employee, was stopped by two army vehicles and his government car searched at 9:30 pm. The soldier found a small handgun, which Mohammed said he carried to protect the car and himself, but immediately the soldier started to beat him. "He cuffed my hands behind my back and taped my mouth and started to beat my face, hands and stomach using his rifle," Mohammed said, faint bruises still visible on his face. The rifle was butted into his stomach repeatedly even as Mohammed tried to warn him he had just received an operation for a hernia, with the scars fresh on his belly. Mohammed was then shoved into the police car. "He put me down on the floor and kicked me with his feet and put the rifle to my head, as if he was about to shoot," Mohammed recalled. "Then he took me to the police station, where he started to hit me with the gun in front of the police station." A senior coalition official, working with Iraq's interior ministry, told AFP it did not surprise him there would be some cases of soldiers beating Iraqis in post-war Baghdad. "I know when you take young soldiers when they're not police officers and are expected to act like ones, there are going to be problems," he said.

"BBC Film British Troop Hitting Iraqi" (The Mirror, June 28, 2003)


          2. Delay in Releasing Bodies

"Fallujah Seethes as US Withholds Bodies, Information in Deadly Shootings" (Rouba Kabbara, Middle East Online, September 12, 2003)

"For Raided Tribe, One Tragedy Created a Second" (Abd al Rahman al Juburi and Mustafa Alrawi, Iraq Today, September 2, 2003)


          3. Denial of Medical Care

"Farah Tried to Plead with the US Troops but She Was Killed Anyway" (Peter Beaumont, The Observer, September 7, 2003) (mother of 18-year-old woman killed in U.S. raid says they let her die)

"How and Why Did Iraqi Die? 2 Tales of Anger and Denial" (John Tierney, New York Times, August 28, 2003) (boy died after American troops delayed taking him to the hospital)

"The Things that Keep Us Here" (Caoimhe Butterly, Electronic Iraq, August 18, 2003) ("Adel Abdul Kareem and his 8-year old daughter, Mervat were taken from the scene, still living, by a U.S. military ambulance at ten p.m. They were not delivered to nearby Medical City Hospital until 11 p.m., shortly after which they both died from their injuries and heavy blood loss.")

"Occupation Watch" (James Brandon, Baghdad Bulletin, August 17, 2003) (After Americans shot at a Tikrit market where someone was selling guns on August 8, the soldiers "left the wounded bleeding on the ground and the ordinary people had to take them to hospital.")

"Jittery U.S. Soldiers Kill 6 Iraqis" (Scheherezade Faramarzi, AP, August 10, 2003)

"Family Shot Dead by Panicking US Troops; Firing Blindly During a Power Cut, Soldiers Kill a Father and Three Children in Their Car" (Justin Huggler, The Independent, August 10, 2003)

"Iraqis Angry Over U.S. Action That Leaves 3 Dead" (Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2003)

"Prisoners Brutalized In Baghdad Gulag Prison" (Gordon Thomas, American Free Press, August 1, 2003) (Huda Ammash--known as "Chemical Sally" because she was a key member of Saddam's chemical and biological weapons program--is a prisoner at Camp Cropper but is not receiving necessary treatment for her breast cancer.)

"Guerrillas in the Midst" (James Ridgeway, Village Voice, July 29, 2003) ("When his mother heard Mohammad had been hit, she raced home and saw that he was still alive and scooped him up, but American soldiers searching the house 'kicked her aside,' offering no medical treatment. Two neighbors rushed the boy to the hospital. But the road was blocked by an American tank, and when one of the neighbors tried to explain to an interpreter what was going on, the soldiers 'handcuffed them behind their back and threw them face down on the ground.' After 15 minutes, the Iraqis were allowed to get up and told to go home because the curfew had begun. It was too late for little Mohammad. He had died.")

"Cruel and Illegal: U.S. Leaves Injured Iraqis Untreated" (Ali Abunimah, Electronic Iraq, July 7, 2003)

"Iraq: The Human Toll" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, July 6, 2003) (On March 25, at a checkpoint at the northern gate to Nasiriyah, an American tank fired on a car occupied by Daham Kassim, aged 46, his 37-year-old wife, Gufran Ibed Kassim, and their four children. Three children die there; the fourth, the youngest, and her parents are taken to an American field hospital. Daham says "I asked for a helicopter to take us to hospital. They refused, but Joe [one of the American soldiers] gave us some morphine in exchange for my gold watch." The youngest child died later after American troops throw the three of them out from the field hospital, saying they needed the beds.)

"'Looters' Killed in Iraq Blast" (BBC, June 30, 2003) (30 Iraqis killed in explosion of ammunition dump; because dump was Iraqi, "US forces in the area were not taking responsibility for caring for the wounded.")

"Death on the Road to Basra" (Tristina Moore, BBC, June 28, 2003) (U.S. military vehicle runs over boy, killing him, but Americans don't stop to help)

"Soldier: U.S. Army Turns Away Burned Children in Need of Help" (Donna Abu-Nasr, AP, June 24, 2003)


          4. Failure to Provide Security

"U.S. Envoy Sparks Russian Anger Over Iraq Comments" (Reuters, July 12, 2003)

Washington's envoy to Moscow said Saturday U.S. forces could not guarantee the safety of Russia's embassy in Baghdad, prompting an angry response from Moscow that blew a chill wind between the Cold War-era rivals. In an interview with Interfax news agency, U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Washington did not see Russian staff working in the Iraqi capital as diplomats. "There is no Iraqi government to grant diplomatic privileges and immunity for foreign diplomats in Iraq," Vershbow said.

          5. Robbery and Theft

Comment: Stealing noncombatants' property is prohibited by Article 53 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), which provides "Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."


"Raiders of the Night Find the Pickings are Slim" (Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald, August 18, 2003) ("The Herald photographer Jason South watches as one of the US soldiers pockets a small wad of US cash from a handbag he comes across as he goes through the contents of a wardrobe in a ground-floor room.")

"Iraqis Struggle to Retrieve Goods From G.I.'s" (Shaila K. Dewan, New York Times, August 3, 2003)

"The Things that Keep Us Here" (Caoimhe Butterly, Electronic Iraq, August 18, 2003) ("Anwar's remaining daughter Hadil, was grabbed by a female soldier as she stumbled away from the car. She was shaken violently by the soldier,who then-Hadil testifies-pulled Hadil's gold earrings from her ears and pocketed them, before Hadil ran away back to her grandmother's house, alone, bleeding from her own wounds and covered with the blood of her dead brother and sisters.")

"Iraqi Civilians Caught in Crossfire of US Operations" (AFP, July 28, 2003) ("'I've seen at least 20 cases,' [a U.S. officer] added, referring to incidents where soldiers have beaten or robbed civilians at checkpoints.")

"Iraqi Detainees Complain about Treatment" (Dana Hull, Knight Ridder, July 10, 2003) (when Americans released Mohammed A'Laa after a week's detention, they refused to return his satellite phone)

"Iraq: The US Must Ensure Humane Treatment and Access to Justice for Iraqi Detainees" (Amnesty International, June 30, 2003)

Amnesty International is also concerned about a number of allegations of stealing of money from houses which were being searched by UK or US soldiers. Four brothers, As'ad, 'Ali, 'Uday and Lu'ay Ibrahim Mahdi 'Abeidi, were arrested from their house on 29 April 2002 after a shooting in a street in Baghdad. They were hooded and tightly handcuffed. "We spent our first night in custody lying on the ground in a school. We had no access to a toilet and were given no food or water," one of the brothers said. The next day they were taken to Camp Cropper where they were held in the open until tents were brought on the third day. There was not enough water for washing. All had been released by 11 May. The brothers said that some $20,000 in their savings and other goods was taken from the house. The Iraqi interpreter involved in the search operation said he handed over the family money to the US second lieutenant. But the money has not been returned.

"U.S. Soldiers Strip Baghdadis Clean Of Their Savings" (Ali Halani, IslamOnline, June 15, 2003)


          6. Public Humiliation

Comment: Humiliating noncombatants is prohibited by Article 27 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), which provides "Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity."


"Iraq: Stripped Naked and Humiliated by US Soldiers" (Amnesty International, April 25. 2003)

"Eyewitness Report: US soldiers stripped four Iraqi's, burnt their clothes and forced them at gunpoint onto the streets naked. Democracy NOW interview with the Norwegian reporter who broke the story"


          7. Taking Hostages

Comment: Taking hostages is prohibited by Article 34 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention), which provides "The taking of hostages is prohibited."

"Sunnis Find the Back Seat Uncomfortable" (Ferry Biedermann, IPS, August 8, 2003)

Mi'ad and her brother-in-law Salman were kept in prison in an attempt to force Mi'ad's husband Ammar to give himself up. Ammar worked for the intelligence branch of the police under Saddam Hussein. But Mi'ad says she is separated from her husband, and she has not seen him for a while. Mi'ad and Salman were finally released after 21 days. "They gave us a ride to the village," recalls Salman. "They apologised a couple of times and then said 'goodbye, say hi to your family'." Local people mutter darkly about "hostage-taking" practices of the U.S. forces, something they say even Saddam Hussein never did.

"US Colonel Kidnaps, Holds Family of Iraqi General Hostage" (Eric Garris, Antiwar.com, July 30, 2003)

"U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters" (Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, July 28, 2003) ("Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: 'If you want your family released, turn yourself in.' Such tactics are justified, he said, because, 'It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info.' They would have been released in due course, he added later. The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.")


          8. Threats of Violence

"U.S. Reaps New Data On Weapons" (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, March 20, 2003)

The U.S. government has obtained potentially valuable new information on Iraq's biological and chemical weapons programs in recent days from scientists and intelligence agents confronted outside Iraq with threats that failure to cooperate could mean unpleasant consequences when Baghdad falls, according to two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the effort. In a top-secret adjunct to an openly reported diplomatic initiative, U.S. and allied intelligence services summoned scores of Iraqi operatives in foreign capitals to present a stark choice. They were told "they could either 'turn,' " said one official, using an expression for switching sides, or be expelled back to Iraq "to enjoy your very short stay in Baghdad." Another official with access to written accounts of the conversations said the Iraqis were told that when the United States sorts friends and enemies after toppling President Saddam Hussein, "they'll be putting themselves and their families at the mercy of the new Iraqi government."

          9. Use of Napalm Bombs

"US Admits It Used Napalm Bombs in Iraq" (Andrew Buncombe in Washington, The Independent, August 10, 2003)

"Napalm by Another Name: Pentagon Denial Goes up in Flames" (Ben Cubby, Syndey Morning Herald, August 9, 2003)

"New, Improved and More Lethal: Son of Napalm" (Ben Cubby, Syndey Morning Herald, August 8, 2003)

"Heavy Reproaches against US Pentagon: Napalm Bombs in the Iraq War" (Translation of German-language report from Georg Restle, MONITOR-TV, August 7, 2003)

"Officials Confirm Dropping Firebombs on Iraqi Troops; Results Are 'Remarkably Similar' to Using Napalm" (James W. Crawley, San Diego Union Tribune, August 5, 2003)

'Dead Bodies Are Everywhere' (Lindsay Murdoch, Sydney Morning Herald, March 22, 2003) (This was the first report of Naplam use. The U.S. military denied it, issuing the following statement to the Herald: "Your story ('Dead bodies everywhere', by Lindsay Murdoch, March 22, 2003) claiming US forces are using napalm in Iraq, is patently false. The US took napalm out of service in the early 1970s. We completed destruction of our last batch of napalm on April 4, 2001, and no longer maintain any stocks of napalm.")

          10. Violation of the Rules of War

               a. Attacking Ambulances

"US Troops Fire at Iraqi Ambulance During Gunbattle" (August 19, 2003)

"The Massacre of Rashdiya" (E.A.Khammas, Occupation Watch, July 28)

"US Troops Fire on Ambulance, Two Killed" (Al Jazeera, April 11, 2003)

"An Iraqi Ambulance under Fire" (video) ("An Iraqi doctor explain how they have been shoot at by U.S. troops on 9 April 2003 as they ambulance returned to the hospital.")

"Bombs Fall on Babylon" (Anton Antonowicz and Mike Moore, The Mirror, April 3, 2003)

Many of the stories in the British press (but not, apparently, the American) describe how one of the doctors at the hospital in al-Nasiriyah where Private Jessica Lynch was being treated tried to send her to American troops in an ambulance, but the troops fired on the ambulance:

"The Truth About Jessica; Her Iraqi Guards Had Long Fled, She Was Being Well Cared For--And Doctors Had Already Tried to Free Her" (John Kampfner, The Guardian, May 15, 2003)

"Saving Private Lynch Story 'Flawed'" (John Kampfner, BBC, May 15, 2003)

"So Who Really Did Save Private Jessica?" (Richard Lloyd Parry, The Times [London], April 16, 2003)

"Doctor Who Risked Life to Care for Pte Jessica" (Sandra Laville, Daily Telegraph, April 16, 2003)


               b. Attacking Diplomatic Vehicles

"Russian Envoy Brings Back Two Russian Diplomats from Iraq to Syria" (AFP, April 8, 2003)

"Iraq May Have Set up Russian Convoy Attack: Senior US Official" (AFP, April 7, 2003)

"Russian Envoy: U.S. Forces Attacked Convoy" (Anthony Louis, UPI, April 7, 2003)

"US Forces Deliberately Attacked Russian Convoy: Russian Ambassador" (AFP, April 7, 2003)

"Russian Embassy Convoy Hit While Leaving Baghdad" (Sharon LaFraniere, Washington Post, April 7, 2003)


               c. Attacking Hospitals

                    Baghdad: A Maternity Hospital

"Three Killed as Maternity Hospital Is Hit by Bombs" (Owen Bowcott and Jon Henley, The Guardian, April 3, 2003)

"US Raid Strikes Iraqi Hospital (Reuters, April 3, 2003)

"US Bombs Hit Iraqi Hospital, Casualties--Witnesses" (Samia Nakhoul, Reuters, April 2, 2003)


                    Nasiriya: General Surgical Hospital

"Iraq: The Human Toll (part two)" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, July 6, 2003) (On March 24, at about 6:00 pm, American planes bombed General Surgical Hospital--one of the two hospitals in Nasiriya--then helicopters shot at ambulances and survivors)


                    Rutbah: A Children's Hospital

"A Witness to Bombs, Death, Forgiveness" (Charles Burress, San Francisco Chronicle, April 5, 2003) ("She and her companions, the Iraq Peace Group, provided the first outside confirmation of the March 26 hospital bombing. Speltz said the facility was a children's hospital in the small western Iraqi town of Rutbah.")

"Peace Activists Confirm Iraqi Hospital Bombed" (Charles J. Hanley, AP, March 30, 2003)


               c. Using Civilian Structures for Shelter

"Contrary to Policy, US Forces Occupy Schools and Church" (Catherine Taylor, Christian Science Monitor, April 4, 2003)

"US Forces Use Schools for Cover" (Russell Skelton, Sydney Morning Herald, April 4, 2003)


     J. War Crime Charges against Coalition Personnel

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third Geneva Convention)

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention)

See also Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions and the International Committee of the Red Cross.


U.S. Charged With War Crimes: The Evidence File (Information Clearinghouse)


"Belgian Lawyer Seeks to Revive War Crimes Case against US Commander in Iraq" (AFP, August 21, 2003)

"Panel to Hear Submissions on Alleged Coalition War Crimes in Iraq" (Marty Logan, Inter Press Service, August 19, 2003)


V. The Iraqi Resistance

     A. Accounts of the Resistance

"Americans Fail to Disclose All Attacks on Troops in Iraq" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, July 21, 2003) ("Faced with ever greater armed resistance to its occupation of Iraq, the US is admitting only a fraction of the attacks in the country against its forces, who lost another two soldiers yesterday.")

"'God, I Hate These People,' Says the Sergeant. Some Utter the V-Word: Vietnam" (Scott Wallace, the Independent, July 20, 2003)

"US Forces Hit in Northern Iraq" (BBC, July 20, 2003)

"US Sweeps Conclude with 1,200 Arrests" (AP, July 20, 2003)

"U.S. to Create Security Force of 7,000 Iraqis in 45 Days" (Eric Schmitt, New York Times, July 20, 2003)

"Two U.S. Soldiers Killed Near Mosul; 10,000 Shiite Muslims Stage Anti-American Demonstration" (Paul Haven, AP, July 20, 2003)

"Top U.S. General in Iraq Predicts Growing Anti-American Violence" (Robert Burns, AP, July 20, 2003)

"Questions Mount About Iraqi Resistance" (Paul Haven, AP, July 19, 2003)

"Family Says Nebraska Sailor Accidentally Shot by Marine Cleaning Gun" (AP, July 19, 2003)

"U.S. Soldier Killed Guarding Baghdad Bank" (Paul Haven, AP, July 19, 2003)

"Iraqi Mayor's Killing Reinforces Fear" (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, July 18, 2003)

"US Confused by Iraq's Quiet War" (Jonathan Steele and Michael Howard, The Guardian, July 18, 2003)

"U.S. Soldier Killed in Fallujah, Shiite Cleric Plans Rival Iraqi Government" (Niko Price, AP, July 18, 2003)

"Insurgency Breeds Contempt Among Iraqis" (John Daniszewski, Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2003)

"Working With U.S. Turns Iraqis Into Targets" (Glen C. Carey, USA Today, July 17, 2003)

"Funeral Points to Islamist Resistance in Iraq" (Michael Georgy, Reuters, July 17, 2003)

"Iraq's Highway of Constant Hazard; Attackers Leave Trail of Casualties on Baghdad Airport Road" (Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post, July 17, 2003)

"Iraqi Attackers -- Who Are They?" (Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 2003)

"Bodies Of 2 U.S. Troops Found; Ambush in Baghdad Kills Another Soldier" (Anthony Shadid and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, June 29, 2003)

"U.S. Begins Bid to Crush Iraq Insurgents" (Borzou Daragahi, AP, June 29, 2003)

"U.S. Finds War in Iraq Is Far From Finished" (Alissa J. Rubin, Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2003)

"Between War and Peace, U.S. Soldiers Feel Strain" (Patrick J. MdDonnell, Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2003)

"Once Hailed, Soldiers in Iraq Now Feel Blame at Each Step" (Edmund L. Andrews, New York Times, June 29, 2003)

"U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Passes 200" (Paul Haven, AP, June 28, 2003)

"Surge of Attacks Claims US Life in Shia City" (Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, June 28, 2003)

"Anti-U.S. Attacks Continue in Iraq; Two Soldiers Are Killed and Five Are Wounded. The Pentagon Sends Consultants to Baghdad" (Terry McDermott and Alissa J. Rubin, Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2003)

"U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Passes 200" (Paul Haven, AP, June 28, 2003)

"Iraqi Saboteurs' Goal: Disrupt the Occupation" (Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, June 28, 2003)

"1 American Dead, 2 Missing in Iraq; The Soldiers Are Feared Abducted. Violence Against Occupation Forces Spreads to Local Utility Workers" (Hector Tobar and Alissa J. Rubin, Los Angeles Times, June 27, 2003)

"Forces in Iraq Face Mounting Attacks" (David Teather, The Guardian, June 27, 2003)

"US Soldier Shot in Iraq, Analysts Warn of Revolt" (Andrew Gray, Reuters, June 27, 2003)

"Iraqi Ambushes Beset Troops; U.S. Soldier Killed; Targets of Escalating Attacks Include Local Supporters" (Peter Finn, Washington Post, June 27, 2003)

"Experts Question Depth of Victory; Attacks Indicate Baath Party Is Not Cowed" (Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, June 27, 2003)

"U.S. Soldier Shot While Shopping in Iraq" (Jim Krane, Associated Press, June 27, 2003)

"Marsh Arabs Threaten to Resist 'Army of Occupation'" (Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, June 27, 2003

"Arrests as US Troops 'Abducted'" (BBC, June 27, 2003)

"Attacks on Troops Show Iraqi Discontent" (Natalie Pompilio, Tom Lasseter and Dana Hull, Knight Ridder, June 26, 2003)

"How British Troops Became a Soft Target" (Robert Fisk, The Independent, June 25, 2003)

"Hell Starts Now" (Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, June 26, 2003) (powerful)

"The Path to Peace: Allies Face a Tough Battle to Bring Normality" (Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, June 25, 2003)

"Jazeera Airs Tape of Attack on U.S. Troops in Iraq" (Reuters, June 25, 2003)

"Violence Spreads South as Forces of the Rump Regime Get Ever Bolder" (Ewen MacAskill and Michael Howard, The Guardian, June 25, 2003)

"Town's Police Want the Troops Out Now" (Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail, June 25, 2003)

"Gunmen Shoot Dead Baghdad Power-Station Boss; Explosion Damages Oil Pipeline" (AFP, June 25, 2003)

"Iraq: US Soldiers Arrest Teenager Who Made Fun of Them" (AFP, June 24, 2003)

"U.S. Contractor Sees Growing Hostility in Iraq" (Reuters, June 24, 2003)

"Iraqi Girl, 12, Latest Recruit in Guerrilla Fight Against U.S." (Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail, June 24, 2003)

"US Troops Attacked at Fallujah Power Station" (AFP, June 24, 2003)

"Foreign Fighters Add to Resistance in Iraq, U.S. Says" (Michael R. Gordon with Douglas Jehl, New York Times, June 22, 2003)

"Attacks In Iraq Traced to Network; Resistance to U.S. Is Loosely Organized" (Daniel Williams; Washington Post; June 22, 2003)

"Policing of Iraq to Stay U.S. Job" (Peter Slevin, Washington Post, June 22, 2003)

"Bush Blames Recent Deaths in Iraq on 'Old Regime'" (Mike Allen, Washington Post, June 22, 2003)

"U.S. Enlists More Countries in Iraq, at Taxpayers' Expense; Bush Administration Has Agreed to Pay for Several Nations' Participation in the Peacekeeping Effort" (Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2003)

"Iraq Oil Pipeline 'Blown Up'" (BBC, June 22, 2003)

"US General Condemns Iraq Failures" (Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, June 22, 2003)

"Iraq Group Warns US to Leave" (BBC, June 21, 2003)

"US Troops Raid Baghdad Theatre, Seize 300 Ageing Machinegun 'props'" (AFP, June 21, 2003)

"Saddam's Fedayeen Alive And Well: Press" (AFP, June 21, 2003)

"US Troops Smash Open Homes to Hunt Iraqi Militants" (Reuters, June 21, 2003)

"Grenade Ignites Blaze in Iraq" (AP, June 21, 2003)

"Revenge Attacks Target Former Regime" (BBC, June 20, 2003)

"Imams in Iraq Preach Anti-U.S. Sermons" (Tarek Al-Issawi, AP, June 20, 2003)

"U.S. Troops Frustrated in Iraq: Soldiers Say They Are Ill-Prepared For Peacekeeping" (Daniel Williams and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, June 20)

"Rising U.S. Death Toll In Iraq Spurs Concern; 9 Soldiers Killed in Attacks This Month" (Peter Slevin, Washington Post, June 20, 2003)

"Scoffing at the U.S. in Hussein Country; As Americans Search for Signs of the Deposed Leader in the Tikrit Area, Iraqis Say They Wouldn't Part with Information Even if They Had It" (Alissa J. Rubin, Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2003)

"Smashed US Memorial Points to Deepening Iraqi Anger" (Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, June 20, 2003)

"Soldiers 'will create cycle of revenge'" (Patrick Hennessy and Patrick Sawer, Evening Standard, June 20, 2003)

"Frustration and Foreboding in Fallujah; For Men at Mosque, U.S. Occupation Is Focus of Anger and Reflection of Unmet Expectations" (Anthony Shadid, Washington Post, June 19, 2003)

"Mortar Hits Coalition Office in Iraq; 1 Iraqi Killed, 12 Injured in Samarra" (Arthur Max, AP, June 19, 2003)

"Confrontations Between American Soldiers And The Iraqi Population Are Multiplying" (translation of June 19, 2003, article in Le Monde)

"Iraqis Say U.S. Using Saddam's Baath as Scapegoat" (Reuters, June 19, 2003) ("U.S. troops backed by tanks and helicopters later conducted a weapons search in west Baghdad. Soldiers manacled an Iraqi man and slammed him onto the pavement as Iraqis looked on.")

"US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public" (The Memory Hole, April 25)


     B. Coalition Casualties

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (lunaville)

Casualties in Iraq: The Human Cost of Occupation (Mike Ewens , Antiwar.com)

U.S. & Coalition/Casualties (CNN)


     C. U.S. Troop Morale

Bring Them Home Now

Turningtables (U.S. soldier in Iraq)

David H. Hackworth

Soldiers for the Truth


"Military Investigates 7 Suspected Suicides" (Vernon Loeb, Washington Post, July 20, 2003)

"'Weekend Warriors' No More; National Guard's Expanded Role in Iraq Combines Risky Duties, Long Deployment" (Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post, July 19, 2003)

"Pentagon May Punish GIs Who Spoke Out on TV" (Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 2003)

"Troops Face Longer Tours for Guerrilla Fight" (Tom Bowman, Baltimore Sun, July 16, 2003)

"General Unrest; New U.S. Commander Upset by Comments From Troops in Iraq" (ABC News, July 16, 2003)

"Fort Stewart Troops Kept on Duty in Iraq" (Ron Martz and Jingle Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 15, 2003)

"A Big Letdown; Soldiers Learn They'll Be in Baghdad Longer Than Expected" (Jeffrey Kofman, ABC News, July 15, 2003)

"For the Families of Soldiers, the War in Iraq Is Hardly Over" (Elaine de Valle, Miami Herald, July 14, 2003)


     D. Saddam and His Family

"Text of Saddam's Purported Message" (AP, July 18, 2003)

"U.S.: Saddam Tape Likely Authentic" (AP, July 18, 2003)

"'Saddam Tape' Scorns WMD Claims" (BBC, July 17, 2003)

"New Purported Saddam Tape Aired" (CNN, July 17, 2003)