In This Posting:

1. Under U.S.-British occupation: LIFE IS HELL FOR IRAQIS

2. US forces attack and arrest labor leaders and union members

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Under U.S.-British occupation:
LIFE IS HELL FOR IRAQIS

By John Catalinotto

Oil pipelines burn, a devastating explosion outside United Nations headquarters in Baghdad kills a top UN official, and Pentagon troops kill a Reuters reporter filming near an Iraqi prison that had been shelled. Life in Iraq under U.S. occupation continues to deteriorate in mid-August.

Iraqis are the main victims of the U.S./British occupation. Twelve former Iraqi soldiers were killed in an ammunition dump in Tikrit Aug. 18. It exploded as the unemployed and destitute men were hunting for copper parts to sell.

U.S. troops, too, continue to fall to Iraqi resistance. One was killed Aug. 18 in Baghdad by what U.S. forces described as an “explosive device.�

More than 120 U.S. troops have died—in combat and from accidents, illness and suicide—and thousands more have been wounded since Bush declared the war over on May 1. Even as they follow orders of a brutal occupation authority, the GIs are a second category of victim.

A third category of victim is journalists.

On Aug. 17, Reuters journalist Mazen Dana, a Palestinian from Hebron on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, became the 17th journalist to die in Iraq since the U.S.-British invasion began March 20. He was the second Reuters camera person to be killed by U.S. tank fire.

U.S. officers said the troops mistook Dana’s camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Dana’s colleagues disagreed.

“We were all there, for at least half an hour,� Stephan Breitner of France 2 television said. “They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don’t think it was an accident. They are very tense. They are crazy.� (Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 20)

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based group that gave Dana an International Press Freedom Award in 2001 for his work covering the Hebron conflict, called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to conduct a full inquiry. Reuters and the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders made similar demands.

The Pentagon brass face a choice of admitting either that U.S. forces target journalists or that the Iraqi resistance and a hostile Iraqi population have made the troops panicky and trigger-happy.

RESISTANCE GROWS MORE CONFIDENT

In a television interview shown on Al-Jazeera on Aug. 17, five masked figures identifying themselves as resistance fighters made a statement showing a growing confidence:

“The Iraqi resistance, as it is well known, has started to make substantial progress on the domestic front, putting the enemy on the defensive rather than offensive. And [the Iraqi National Islamic Resistance Group’s] varied and frequent attacks have prevented the occupiers from planting themselves on Iraqi soil . ...

“This resistance is not a reaction to the American provocations against the Iraqi people or to the shortage of services, as some analysts believe ... but to kick out the occupiers as a matter of principle,� one read from a statement.

“The enemy is suffering so many casualties on a daily basis that this news is being severely blacked out by the media to protect Bush’s chances in the forthcoming election and to protect the policies of the White House from the American public.�

Along with popular mass demonstrations against the occupation, guerrilla resistance actions have been aimed directly at the occupation forces. In a story in the Aug. 16 Sydney Morning Herald titled “Inside the Resistance,� a man identifying himself as a resistance fighter described a typical action:

“Yesterday we were told about the new movement of convoys, so we used a special car to take our RPG [rocket-propelled grenades] and guns up there. We struck at sunset, in an area surrounded by farms.

“We positioned ourselves as locals, just standing around. But as the convoy came into view we picked up the weapons, which we had lying on the ground. There were 19 soldiers. I could see their faces. I fired three grenades—two at a truck and one at a Humvee. Then we escaped across the fields to a car that was waiting for us.�

Another type of direct blow at the occupation occurred when the pipeline delivering Iraqi oil to Turkey was hit for a second time on Aug. 16. The burning pipeline represented a loss of $100 million that the U.S. occupation authority was going to use to finance its efforts.

UN HEADQUARTERS DESTROYED

Other attacks not clearly aimed at the U.S. occupation began around Aug. 15.

These included the destruction of a 5-foot-diameter water main in northern Baghdad on Aug. 17. The break, which engineers described as a crack in the pipe, flooded streets and forced engineers to cut off water to all of Baghdad in 122-degree heat.

A truck-bomb explosion right outside UN headquarters in Baghdad on Aug. 19 was the most devastating. Fifteen UN civilian employees, including the top official, veteran Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, were killed, along with at least five Iraqis. Dozens of others were injured or buried in rubble.

President George W. Bush blamed the attack on the UN office on “remnants of Saddam’s brutal regime.� As of this time, however, it is unclear who carried out this attack or the one on the water main. No one has taken responsibility for them.

What is clear, though, is that under U.S./ British occupation the lives of ordinary Iraqis have grown more miserable, more insecure and more chaotic than ever.

[Editors Note: While it is unclear who carried out the attack on the UN in Iraq, it should be kept in mind that the UN, under US leadership, carried out a starvation blockade against Iraq that murdered about 1.5 million people. -Steve Argue]


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US forces attack and arrest labor leaders and union members

Announcement from
The Union of the Unemployed in Iraq UUI

Sunday August 3, 2003
Yesterday night at 11:30 p.m., the U.S forces have arrested Qasim Hadi and 54 others of the leadership and members of the Union.

The Union of the Unemployed in Iraq has been continuing a Sit-In Protest yesterday, for the fifth day in a row, when the U.S troops arrested them for the second time.

The Union of the Unemployed in Iraq strongly condemns and denounces the arrest of its 55 members. It announces its determination to continue its protest until its demands are addressed and met.

We appeal to all international organizations, all workers unions and humanitarians to strongly condemn the arrest of our members and to demand the immediate release of all the arrested unconditionally and to support the union's demands.

Our Union will do its best to expose the practices of the U.S., as an occupying force in Iraq, and its indifference to the agony of the masses in Iraq.

We call upon all media outlets to meet with our arrested people (who have been detained at the old Presidential Palace) in order to cover the suppressive practices of the U.S. forces in Iraq.

Union of the Unemployed in Iraq - UUI

[Editors note: these unionists were finally released on August 12, ten days after their arrests. US, UN, Britain, and all other imperialist forces out of Iraq now! -Steve Argue]

If you need more information please contact Mahmood Ketabchi at mekch (at) msn.com

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