ugnet_: Death of Mr. Laban Nyakaana - May his Soul rest in Eternal Light
Mr. Laban Nyakaana has passed away. May his soul rest in eternal peace. I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Mr. Nyakaana during this grieving period. My special condolences to his son Andrew Nyakaana Blair in USA. Mr. Nyakaana stood in the tradition of the great civil service in Uganda. God bless Steven
ugnet_: WHO CARES ABOUT DEAD IRAQI
Who Cares About Dead Iraqis? Body counts, Rummy's plan, and the grisly stuff they don't want you to see By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist Dang that pesky collateral damage. Darn those brutal civilian deaths. Hundreds and hundreds of 'em, bloody decapitated mutilated bombed-out burned-out women and children and families, over there in Iraq. Just another irritating little side effect, doncha know, of forcibly liberating a people who didn't really ask to be liberated and who are pretty much getting reamed from both ends and aren't exactly rushing out into the streets by the grateful thousands, as we had expected (except, finally, some in Najaf -- whew!) to toss flowers at the wide-eyed and confused U.S. troops and our well-armed Christian God and His almighty Starbucks franchises. What happened there, anyway? Just bad PR? Someone miss a memo? Did no one tell them we are the Great Liberator, the bringer of peace and calm and nice big oil conglomerates that will soon help them "manage" all their hundreds of billions' worth of delicious natural resources? Haven't they seen the joy and happiness we have brought to Afghanistan? Oh wait. Please believe it's not happening. Please ignore the actual data, the brutality, focus instead on the patriotism and the soothing sound of the war drum and the idea of liberation, as opposed to, you know, invasion. We don't want you to see. We don't want you to know. And we certainly don't want to make it easy for you to find out. The U.S. military doesn't even "do" body counts. They actually said as much. Don't keep track of those dang dead civilians. We've got a repressed Islamic rubble-strewn nation to annihilate, they say, and a puppet government to forcibly install afterward and a whole hell of a lot of petrochemical companies lining up. We're a little busy. And we've got lots and lots of sturdy and young and mostly poor mostly patriotically deluded U.S. troops to put in harm's way in the name of power and oil and Rummy's black-eyed sneer, many of our own troops dying from our own brilliantly termed "friendly fire," and what, you think we have time to keep track of how many foreigners we sort of accidentally blow up? Please. Hell, a few dozen families, especially mothers and children, get themselves decapitated by a U.S. missile striking a civilian market -- hey, that's not our fault, is it? After all, if Saddam hadn't been so downright evil in the first place, we wouldn't have to be invading his country and blowing up everything and killing children in the name of freeing them, and none of this would've happened, now would it? Beautiful is the logic of the Great Liberator. All hail. Except that yes, it would have happened anyway, somehow, some way, because Dick and Rummy and Wolfie and about a dozen other ultra-conservative power-mad hawks had been planning and begging for this war for years. Yes, years. Before ShrubCo. Before 9/11. Before WMDs and Dick's defibrillator and Shrub embarrassing and humiliating this nation on a global scale, daily. They had a plot all along. Oh yes they did. Overthrowing Iraq was to be merely the first step to forcibly restructuring the entire Middle East in the image of the U.S. and its corporate power interests. Their motto: First Iraq, then total power gluttony and empire expansion and big-ass cigars for everyone. More or less. Way back in 1997, Dickie and Rummy and friends got together and drew up a vile little plan, called it the Project for the New American Century, and it included lots of info about nailing Saddam and reshaping the Middle East, along with a few other pesky countries, for good measure. According to ABC News, 18 neo-conservatives signed on to the plan. Ten of them are now in Bush's Cabinet. And the plan was ugly and violent and military thick and war happy and it only needed a catalyst to kick it into gear, which 9/11 awkwardly provided, and a president other than too-smart Clinton to give it the smirking thumbs-up. And, lo and behold, BushCo illegally steals the presidency, and, boom -- here we are. Empire expanding, Iraqis dying. Neat! We are on plan. The Iraqi civilian body count, at the moment, stands at somewhere between 600 and 800, so far, and climbing fast, and we haven't even finished annihilating downtown Baghdad yet, and guerrilla warfare is expected to last into the summer, so you can bet that number will jump exponentially in the days and weeks to come and
ugnet_: Fwd: The Five manipulations that silenced Bidandi
Let Ugandans not be fooled by Mr. Bidandi Ssali. He is in it up to his gills on this "manipulations" saga. In fact his objections to the "third" (fifth) term is part of the overall strategy!Gook We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of bad people but also for the appalling silence of good people". M.L.King Original Message Follows MSN 8 helps ELIMINATE E-MAIL VIRUSES. Get 2 months FREE*.--- Begin Message --- From SUNDAY MONITOR, April 06, 2003 The five manipulations that silenced Bidandi By Dani W. Nabudere April 6, 2003 Bidandi Ssali justifiably feels let down and manipulated by a "system" he has worked for so hard and defended so much. Many Ugandans welcomed his appeal to give Museveni "his last term" during the last presidential election. He did this in his honest belief that if indeed Mr Museveni was given his constitutional last term, it would be easier to call for his succession.Well he has so far been proved wrong and it is interesting to look at the way his calculations and those democratic forces within the NRM were outmanoeuvred. This is because this experience also at the same time gives a partial record of the manner the NRM administration in general and President Yoweri Museveni in particular have successfully pursued a hidden agenda to consolidate a new form of dictatorship based on manipulations. This experience, will in particular, show that not only was Bidandi and his camp outmanoeuvred on the issue of succession, they were also outmanoeuvred in their demand that the NRM be turned into a party just like all the other political organisations. The success of the manipulation has brought us nearer to the real hidden agenda of the NRM since it gained power: the exercise of monopoly power by all means by Yoweri Museveni and his henchmen who pushed through the decisions which Museveni wanted in the National Executive Committee-(NEC) and the National Conference- (NC). Indeed by these forces succeeding, at least for the moment, the blocking of any democratic changes, including Museveni's exit and succession, and the retention of the NRM as an "organisation" instead of a party, goes to prove that the camp of "no change" to which Bidandi so much subscribed as the chief election official, in the last two presidential elections have prevailed. This also goes to show from the rear that any "freeing of political parties", will amount to nothing, if the constitutional amendments they suggest are adopted by the Ssempebwa Constitutional Review Commission and finally by Parliament. The most noteworthy observation to make of the Ugandan political elite is to the extent these forces can easily be manipulated by small dictatorial groups. It is staggering how a group of almost 3,000 delegates at a conference can be manipulated to agree in a chorus decisions that go against their own interests. How can elected members of Parliament included in this jamboree all keep quiet (save for a few members of the NC) when recommendations to reduce their powers are being tabled? The same goes for the district leaders from the 56 districts of Uganda. Does this perhaps prove that the decentralisation of power was itself a manipulation to create greater centralisation under the Movement System to which all these district leaders owe allegiance? In these circumstances, how can members of the NC claim to be representative of the people of Uganda, when they are so easily manipulated to agree to whatever is demanded by the centre? To be sure, this is the process that Mr Bidandi has expressed his disgust with. In his interview with the BBC after the National Conference, he referred to these "political manoeuvrings" as "wrapped up and stage-managed and orchestrated scheming." The real question is how did this "scheming" happen despite the fact that Mr Bidandi had a sizeable backing in the NEC in Kyankwanzi a year ago when he called for the succession debate? In our view, there have been five manipulations that have been deployed to silence not only Bidandi, but all those that seemed to be backing him as well as the population as a whole. First, the accusation by president Museveni that Bidandi and his supporters were using the wrong forum was the first shot in this manipulation game. This manoeuvre not only put Mr Bidandi's camp into disarray, it also disoriented the every democrat in the country. By accepting the decision to shut up and go to the "proper forum" in closed-door discussions, he by implication accepted this silencing, perhaps, in the hope that his views will in the end prevail. Otherwise why did he concede to the demand? It is clear, however, that within this "proper forum," he was outmanoeuvred into a minority position so that by the time the committee put out their first draft of recommendations in April 2002, he had a handful of backers within the "forum." And finding himself in this isolated position, he decided t
ugnet_: U.S. troops inflict 'so many deaths'
U.S. troops inflict 'so many deaths' Oliver Poole LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH Published April 4, 2003 BAGHDAD — As thick black smoke hung over the outskirts of Baghdad last night, American troops stood stunned by the number of enemy forces they had killed. Bodies dressed in the uniform of the Republican Guard and burned-out vehicles were strewn around the roadways. Buildings were riddled with bullet holes. "I hope we don't experience anything like that again," said Sgt. Simon, 38, who gave only one name. "It is like [the 1991 Persian Gulf war]. When I see that many bodies, I just don't want to be here anymore." As the unit regrouped on a stretch of open land, a soldier stood looking dazed. "When do we know when it's over?" one Sgt. Scott said. "You could have sent two men in to kill Saddam Hussein. Why did we have to kill so many people? There were so many deaths today." The forces from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division had fought their way from a bridgehead secured over the Euphrates River north of Karbala, encountering strong resistance from Republican Guard units stationed in the area. At the same time, the 1st U.S. Marine Division moved northwest from Kut. In a day of often-brutal fighting, the troops destroyed Iraqi units equipped with T-72 tanks and infantry armed with rocket launchers and mortars. Not one American was reported killed. From the back of an armored vehicle, the most vivid impression of the dash for Baghdad was the impassive faces of three soldiers as the shell cases cascaded down from the volleys of gunfire. First Sgt. Jose Rosa stood half out of his hatch, loading grenades into a launcher and firing them at targets indicated by hand signals from the rest of the crew. Staff Sgt. Trey Black sat at the 25 mm cannon, rotating as he sprayed bursts of rounds. Even the medic in the van behind had a weapon at his shoulder, joining the cacophony of fire. The air was thick with the smell of cordite. Finally, there was a pause in the advance to call in an air strike on a foxhole ahead. News had just come in of the unit's first casualty: a scout with a leg wound. By the end of the day, there had been five casualties in the unit, including an Abrams tank commander, Sgt. Gerald Pyle, whose vehicle was hit by three rockets fired from hand-held launchers. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening. Around 3 p.m., the first units moved into the edge of the capital, and troops conducted house-to-house searches to ensure that no enemy forces were using them as cover. Abrams tanks adopted defensive formations at key intersections. By dusk, machine-gun fire and the occasional exploding shell could be heard. At one point, sniper fire was directed close to the headquarters and supply area. Fires still burned where targets had been destroyed by artillery and air strikes earlier in the battle. In a mosque, six Iraqi soldiers and two armed civilians were captured with a cache of weapons. A unit of engineers removed the weapons and destroyed them. A few residents ventured onto the streets. Occasionally, an individual or small group walked past, holding white flags. Medics gave two injured Iraqis first aid. Soldiers passed out leaflets to the owners of the homes they searched. The leaflets explained in Arabic that they had come to liberate the people. First Sgt. Rosa said he had received a warm welcome in one of the houses. The owners offered him food and water, but a younger man, presumably their son, had appeared more hostile. "He did not have good body language," he said. After two weeks of fighting, an advance of hundreds of miles in which the troops had withstood mortar and sniper fire and sandstorms, felt constant fear of chemical attacks and overcome often ferocious pockets of resistance, the 3rd Infantry Division had finally reached its objective. A tank gunner surveyed the mud-colored, two-story buildings at a dusty suburban junction and said: "I don't like the look of it much, but I guess we've arrived." "In the time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" --George Orwell--
ugnet_: IT SEEMS THE MARINES KILLED DELIBERATELY
US Marines 'Kill Seven Iraqis After Truck Fails to Stop' By Andrew Clennell The Independent Saturday 05 April 2003 Seven civilians, including three children, were killed by US Marines last night after they opened fire on a truck that refused to stop at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, an American television network reported. The alleged incident was reported by an ABC News correspondent travelling with a marine unit early this morning. The civilian Iraqis were in vehicles behind a military truck that refused to stop and tried to crash through the marines' roadblock. Pentagon officials said they had no immediate details of the incident. ABC reported that shots were fired first at a car that went through the checkpoint. A military truck that was following it was then fired upon and two civilian vehicles, apparently caught behind the truck, were shot at, leading to the deaths. The incident appeared similar to what happened near Karbala on Monday when US Army troops opened fire on a four-wheel-drive vehicle which also drove through an Allied checkpoint. At least seven Iraqi women and children were killed. A Washington Post reporter with that unit claimed that a captain had blamed troops for not firing a warning shot soon enough. The captain had roared at his platoon leader: "You just ... killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!" US Central Command this week backed the troops involved in that incident for their actions, although it appeared less likely that it had been a suicide attack. The Central Command spokesman Brigadier General Vince Brooks said that money would probably be given to relatives of those victims as an expression of regret on behalf of the Allies. The incident this morning appeared more deliberate. US troops have been on edge since the driver of a taxi detonated a car bomb in a suicide attack that killed four soldiers last week. The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni Uganda is in Anarchy" Le groupe de transmission de Mulindwas " avec Yoweri Museveni, Ouganda est dans anarchy "
ugnet_: A TURF WAR RAGES IN WASHINGTON
Turf War Rages in Washington Over Who Will Rule Iraq by Rupert Cornwell in Washington The Bush administration was scrambling to finalize an interim government for post-war Iraq yesterday, amid a turf war pitting the Pentagon and the Vice-President's office against the State Department and Congress in Washington. The battle concerns not only the American officials who will supervise the new ministries, but the role of exiled Iraqi leaders and the extent of United Nations involvement. Above all, it is a struggle between Colin Powell's State Department and the Pentagon of Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, supported by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President. With victory in Iraq in sight, the names of the Americans who will supervise new ministries to replace the existing 23in the crumbling regime of Saddam Hussein are still far from certain. Last week the Pentagon vetoed a State Department list of eight nominees, but whether the rejection is final is not clear. In Kuwait, a group of potential US "ministers" is waiting to learn if it will be working under Jay Garner, a retired American general designated head of non-military operations in immediate post-war Iraq. These officials include former US ambassadors to Arab countries such as Barbara Bodine, a former envoy to Yemen, and Timothy Carney, who served in Sudan and Robert Reilly, a former director of the Voice of America radio station. A number of British officials are said to be working with them Mr Reilly is said to be working with Iraqi exiles on broadcasting arrangements in the future Iraq. But other possible "ministers-in-waiting" have been marooned in Washington by the disputes between the Pentagon and the State Department. A candidate to run the Information Ministry at least in the eyes of the Pentagon faction is James Woolsey, a former CIA director in the Clinton administration and among the earliest and most vocal advocates of force to topple President Saddam. Mr Woolsey is also a strong supporter of Ahmed Chalabi, the most high profile of the Iraqi opposition leaders in exile, for an important role in post-war Iraq. But in recent days a new front in the Washington bureaucratic war has opened up over Mr Chalabi. Mr Rumsfeld, in an attempt to outmaneuver the State Department, which is deeply suspicious of Mr Chalabi, sent memos to President George Bush urging that an interim government led by exile leaders be set up in coalition- controlled southern Iraq, irrespective of what happened in Baghdad. Mr Rumsfeld's move is likely to meet powerful objections from the State Department, which doubts Mr Chalabi has much support inside a country he left as a child of 11 in 1956. But the move spotlights the deep uncertainty over which Iraqis should be involved in the ministries, and the balance between exiles and civil servants who held senior positions under the Saddam regime. The quarrelling in Washington is also an increasing concern to neutral Iraqi figures, who see it not only as a distraction from the task of rebuilding, but as a sign that, for all the assurances to the contrary, Washington does indeed have neo-colonialist designs. On Thursday, Congress entered the fray on General Powell's side, when the Senate and House of Representatives insisted the State Department should have full control of the $2.5bn (£1.6bn) reconstruction money contained in the $80bn emergency war spending bill due to be sent to Mr Bush for signature next week. A Senate bill explicitly forbids the $2.5bn being used "for any Department of Defense activity". General Powell said this week that "coalition members" primarily the US would perforce take early charge in Iraq. But he has sounded much more open than the Pentagon to greater UN involvement later on. Ultimately the wrangling will probably have to be resolved by Mr Bush. His decisions will shape foreign perceptions of US intentions in Iraq. They will also determine whether foreign policy is conducted by the State Department or its traditional rival department across the Potomac river. The contenders fighting for control Paul Wolfowitz The deputy secretary of Defense, and leading neo-conservative in the Bush administration, who for a decade has advocated forcible regime change in Iraq. Barbara Bodine A former US ambassador to Yemen when the USS Cole was attacked in October 2000. She refused to allow the controversial top FBI anti-terrorist investigator John
ugnet_: BLAIR AND CO. STARING INTO WAR'S ABYSS
Blair and friends staring into war's political
abyss
By Paul Daley, Herald correspondent in
LondonApril 5 2003
As the Iraq war enters its third week, European leaders who supported
America's push to disarm Saddam Hussein with or without the support of the
United Nations are beginning to count a heavy political cost.
None more so than the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who six months ago
sometimes looked close to a decade younger than his 50 years. Today, the firm
flesh around Mr Blair's cheeks and eyes has noticeably sagged, his hair appears
greyer and thinner and he is visibly wearing each of his 50 years. Sections of
the British union movement, already deeply suspicious of Mr Blair, are openly
calling for Labour to remove him as leader, over Iraq and a range of domestic
policy issues.
Mr Blair is a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. His troops
are dying in ever greater numbers alongside - and too often at the hands of -
their US counterparts. Public support for the war is drifting the longer it
proceeds. Support for Mr Blair in his own Labour Party is becoming flimsier by
the day.
Mr Blair tied his political fortunes to the Bush Administration's when he
made it clear Britain would support the forced disarmament of Iraq without a
second UN Security Council resolution.
He then survived one of the biggest parliamentary mutinies in history after
convincing waverers in his party that the war against Iraq would be quick,
relatively bloodless and Iraqi soldiers would throw down their weapons in droves
to embrace their liberators.
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"If the war is quick, lasting a month or so, and we move on to sorting out
the Palestine-Israel problem then I think people will say that the Prime
Minister was right," a prominent backbench Blair supporter reportedly said this
week.
"If this war is still going on in three months' time, then I think there will
be acute concern."
But having committed 40,000 personnel to Iraq, Mr Blair is not afforded the
luxury of other European leaders like Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. A vocal
supporter of the US before the war, he may well have been spooked by the mass
anti-war protests across his country in the past fortnight. Initially he said
that the US could have overfly rights and access to NATO bases in Italy. A
fierce public backlash later prompted him to qualify support with an assurance
that no attacks on Iraq would originate in Italy.
"We can see the negative trends not only for Mr Berlusconi himself but his
party ... But I don't think at the end of the day they will bring big damage to
the coalition Mr Berlusconi is leading," Lucio Caracciolo, editor of the
influential political periodical Limes, said.
Mr Berlusconi is trying to balance loyalty to the US with passionate
opposition to the war from Italy's Catholic majority - an opposition which has
strengthened with the Pope's anti-war position. Spain's Prime Minister, Jose
Maria Aznar, is realising just how much, in domestic political terms, he could
pay for casting himself as the third man - alongside Mr Bush and Mr Blair - in
the countdown to the war.
The most recent poll, by his state's official pollsters, showed that 91 per
cent of Spanish voters were opposed to their country's support for the war. The
Aznar Government's popularity has slumped massively in recent months.
In Portugal, which also supported US policy, the Foreign Minister was clearly
trying to distance himself from the military campaign by pointing out that
"Portugal has not declared war on Iraq".
In Germany, the economy might be flat-lining, but Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder won moderate electoral gain and media support after his decision to
become the first European leader to openly challenge America's Iraq policy.
Germany has allowed wounded coalition troops to be evacuated to Germany and
as the war becomes protracted, bloody and ugly, Mr Schroeder has resisted any
gloating.
Despite all the evidence of years of corruption and his prior reputation as a
policy flake, France's President Jacques Chirac's staunch anti-war position has
made it the most popular government position in France since 1938.
Mr Chirac has ignored the wave of anti-French sentiment from the US
Government and the British media which followed his decision to vote against
forced disarmament of the Iraqi regime unless weapons inspectors were given more
time. Now he has made it his duty to ensure the UN - rather than the US - takes
the lead role in administering postwar Iraq before self-government.
And in so-called "new Europe" - that is, the countries lining up for European
Union membership - there is widespread caution even among those nations which
the US is promoting as "coalition" members.
Croatia has denounced the war as illegitimate, the Czech Republic's
previously strong support is waning a
ugnet_: IS THIS A CONFESSION OR WHAT?
Britain admits there may be no WMD's in Iraq Ruben Bannerjee Well into the war that was supposed to rid Iraq of its alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, a senior British official admitted on Saturday that no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction may after all be found. Making the startling confession in a radio interview, British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, added in the same breath that he would in any case rejoice the fall of Saddam Hussein and his regime regardless of whether any weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq or not. The confession reconfirms the worst fears of opponents of the war that weapons of mass destruction is only a ruse for the US and the British to go to war against Iraq. At the very least the admission certainly deals a serious blow to the moral legitimacy that the US and the British have been seeking in prosecuting the war. Soldiers of the British 7th Armoured Brigade patrol the road leading to the southern Iraq city of Basra Critics of the war across the world have been accusing the US and the British of aiming for regime change in Baghdad under the guise of unearthing and dismantling weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There have been constant accusations that the US and the British are eyeing Iraqs huge oil wealth, promoting Israeli interests, and that its campaign against weapons of mass destruction is only a convenient cover-up. Even countries like Germany, Russia and France had been less than impressed with the US-led war against Iraq saying all along that the task of unearthing weapons of mass destruction, if any, is better left to UN weapons' inspectors. In making the confession in an interview with BBC radio, the British Home Secretary however admitted that the non-discovery of any weapons of mass destruction would lead to a very interesting debate about the war. We will obviously have a very interesting debate if there are no biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear weapons or facilities to produce them found anywhere in Iraq once Iraq is free, the home secretary added. The US-led forces stand to face a huge global uproar if no weapons of mass destruction are found in Iraq. US-led forces moving across the Iraqi deserts have been under pressure since the start of the war to find evidence of Iraqs weapons of mass destruction. But instead of solid evidence, the they have so far raised only false alarms. From time to time, the US-forces have claimed to have unearthed suspicious substances. And each time, the claim has turned out to be without substance. Today Saturday 5 April, US Marines were reported to be digging up a suspected chemical weapons hiding place in the courtyard of a school in the southeast of Baghdad. Western media reported that the US Marines were digging after being tipped off by an Iraqi informer. We dont have a clue now but we are going to dig it up and check, said General James Mattis, the commander of the Marine division at the scene. Iraq has always insisted that it does not possess any weapons of mass destruction. UN weapons inspectors, who scoured the country for several months until the US asked them to leave last month, had repeatedly certified that they had found no credible evidence of Iraq possessing any weapons of mass destruction. -- Al Jazeera The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni Uganda is in Anarchy" Le groupe de transmission de Mulindwas " avec Yoweri Museveni, Ouganda est dans anarchy "
