Iraq , Guantanamo and Shannon

by MichaelY - iawm Wed May 24, 2006 16:57

"We have now reached a turning point," says George Bush, celebrating the formation of a "unity" government (not united enough, however, to fill the key posts of security and defence.)
There have been so many of Bush's "turning points" in Iraq that I don't have space to list them all here. Examples are: the bringing down of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad in April 2003; the capture of Saddam in December 2003; the killing of his sons in July 2003; the "handover of
sovereignty" to a provisional Iraqi government in June 2004; the national assembly elections in January 2005; the adoption of an Iraqi constitution in October 2005; the start of Saddam's trial in December 2005; the parliamentary election the same month; and now, in May 2006, the announcement of a "unity" government, which, in the words of Tony Blair, is a "new beginning" that will allow Iraqis "to take charge of their own destiny".

Meanwhile, the United Nations reports that in the last two months alone, 2500 Iraqis have suffered violent deaths and over 85,000 have been have been forced to flee their homes (http://tinyurl.com/knhus).

If you listen to Bush and Blair, and ther local supporters here in Ireland, the worse it gets, the better it is. The reality is that they have achieved the impossible in Iraq. In the words of Iraqi Anas Al- Tikriti, "Not only have they managed to contribute to a climate in which human rights can be violated in far worse ways than they were under Saddam's Ba'athist regime, they have actually driven Iraqis, all Iraqis, into openly stating that life was much better under Saddam, something that this writer, like most Iraqis,never, ever imagined possible only a few years ago."
(http://tinyurl.com/p65dl)

The "unity" government is the last throw of the dice for the US/UK occupation. Their armies now spend almost all of their time protecting themselves and the myth of "nation building" has been conclusively exposed as the reverse of the truth.

The idea that a sovereign and independent government is now established in Iraq is nonsense. According to the New York Times, the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, was the "tireless midwife in the birthing of the new government" (http://tinyurl.com/qcpu9).

Nuri al-Malik, the latest US placeman to become prime minister, has wasted no time in announcing what his American patrons want from him: he will use "maximum force" to pacify a country which has become one of the least safe places on the planet. Clearly, the idea is for Iraqis to exert "maximum force" in killing each other, instead of the US army doing the mass slaughter in person. Bush and Blair's talk of occupation troops being withdrawn is a sham. They are hoping they can command
Iraqis to do more of the killing and being killed, which may enable a cosmetic withdrawal of a small number of troops to give the impression that Iraqis are taking "charge of their own destiny". Like what happened in Afghanistan.

An ex-US soldier, 20 year-old Jessie Macbeth, having returned from Iraq sickened by his experiences, spells out in a truly shocking video what the "maximum force" activities of the US army have entailed over the past three years. It is essential viewing. Macbeth says, "We are the terrorists. We're the ones terrorising a whole nation. I didn't sign up to kill women and children. Occupation Iraqi Freedom is Operation Iraqi Slaughter." (To watch the 20 minute video, go to: http://tinyurl.com/eshbx)

This is what we need to recall when Tony Blair flies to Washington to meet George Bush this week to rejoice over a "new beginning" for Iraq.There will be nothing new in Iraq while a single foreign soldier
continues to occupy the country. There will only be ever increasing levels of killing and chaos, which is all the Bush and Blair war has brought to the Iraqi people.

by Donal Mac Fhearraigh - Irish Anti War Movement Wed May 24, 2006 17:14

Tralee Saturday 27 May 3pm in the Grand Hotel

If people from Shannon/Limerick area can make it to the above meeting it might be the best option. He has commitments for Cork early on Sunday so a later meeting won't be possible on Saturday.

hope you can make it
Donal

by Fintan Lane - Anti-War Ireland Thu May 25, 2006 11:46

Sounds like a great series of meetings. With Ed speaking, I'm sure that plenty of emphasis will be put on the Irish government's facilitation of 'renditions' through the misuse of Shannon airport.

Well done IAWM on organising the meetings!

by MichaelY - iawm Sat May 27, 2006 15:36

Omar Deghayes’ has been incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay prison for five years. The Irish Anti War Movement has organised a tour of meetings this current week where Omar’s brother Abu Baker is speaking about the illegal kidnapping, detention and torture of Omar Deghayes.

Omar and his family left Libya 1986 after his father, a democrat and trade unionist, was assassinated by Colonel Gaddafi's regime. They moved to the UK where they have been living ever since. In 2001, having obtained a Law Degree from a British University, Omar travelled to Afghanistan where he met and married his wife and had a son. When war broke out they moved to Pakistan. Omar was arrested there by bounty-hunters and sold to the US Military. The only "evidence" for his arrest was a video from the Spanish authorities allegedly showing Omar. But experts have confirmed that the person in the video isn't Omar. While in prison Omar was tortured using pepper spray in his eyes, so much was used that he is now completely blind in one eye. he has never been charged with an offense and no evidence has been produce to indicate any 'illegal' involevement. He is. very simply put, a hostage in the hands of the US Army.

Following a successful meeting in Queens University in Belfast on Thursday night, Abu Baker spoke to a very large and lively meeting in Dublin’s ATGWU Hall last night. The first speaker at the Dublin meeting was Edward Horgan who has just completed a report for the EU parliament on renditions and torture through Shannon Airport. Since the end of 2001, Shannon Airport has been used as a key military base for the US. The Department of Transport’s records show that almost all of the American troops in Iraq have transited through Shannon Airport. These records also show that the CIA has used Shannon Airport to bring people they have kidnapped to torture sites. Shannon is one of the most important nodes in a network of airports used for extraordinary renditions. Under this programme more than 10,000 people have been abducted in the last four years and transported to secret prisons, including Guantanamo Bay, where the prisoners have been tortured. All of this has been sanctioned by the very top levels of the US administration. As indicated by a speaker from the floor, the Irish Departments of Foreign Affairs and Justice, in their response to enquiries, assert that all is OK in Shannon re:rendition because they have been given “proper assurances by the US Authorities”!!

The second speaker in the Dublin meetingwas Paddy O’Keefe, an Irishman living in the UK since the ‘60s, who is a member of Respect and actively engaged in supporting and organising solidarity for Omar. Other speakers from the floor, and the organisers, spoke of Bush’s next target in his ‘war on terror’ - Iran. We are now witnessing a re-run of the lies about Iraq used to justify a new war against Iran. Bush’s opinion poll collapse to 31% is due in large part to the continued protests of the American anti-war movement, 350,000 marched in New York on April 29th last. We need to return to the streets in Europe as well to stop support for an attack on Iran and to force our own government to withdraw the use of Shannon and Baldonnel Airports from the US Military.

The very large participation of activists, from a diverse set of anti-war groups and, exceptionally, of the Muslim community in Dublin, was a very hopeful sign. Of particular interest to me was that a number of activists came to the meeting following our work together outside St Pat’s Cathedral last week in support of the Afghani hunger strikers. And it was good to hear a number of speakers from the floor linking the issue of incipient racism and the war….to follow.

The tour continues in Tralee (The Grand Hotel) at 3pm today and in Cork tomorrow Sunday 28th May, 12pm in the Kino screening of the film ‘The Road to Guantanamo’, followed at 3pm by a meeting in An Spailpin Fanach. All welcome.

by John G. Keeney Mon May 29, 2006 04:07

I neglected to add the following to address MichaelY's reply post to me:

JESSIE MACBETH (the American soldier quoted by you in your earlier article), by the way, is an absolute fraud and you, Dubliner included his fraudulent testimony as FACT. He is a liar and so, in turn, are you. Actually, he is a peon for the peace movement. In reality, he's a sacrificial lamb. Didn't realize you who your were dealing with, did you, Dubliner?:

THE FABLES OF JESSE/JESSIE MACBETH
By Michelle Malkin · May 23, 2006 11:14 AM
***scroll for updates...Just Citizens blog reports that Army has no record of service from Jesse/Jessie MacBeth...more below...(hat tip: LGF )...12noon update: I just talked to the Army spokesman as well. Paul Boyce told me: "At a minimum, this appears to have been concocted" and "some sort of hoax." Special Ops Command and State Department have been alerted. The uniform issues of the alleged soldier were a "red flag," Boyce said. As were MacBeth's claims to have entered the Army at 16 and exit at age 20, and have been both Army Ranger and Special Ops, and have received the Purple Heart and other medals. I asked whether there would be a criminal investigation. Boyce said they would follow up on any substantial leads.***

300pm EDT: The Peace Films site is now down.

"Jesse MacBeth" is currently the Number 2 search term at Technorati.

He's the moonbat and purported Army Ranger featured here at "Peace Films" sliming the troops and weaving tales of Iraq war atrocities.

Don't. Believe. The. Hype.

Macbeth's "costume" didn't copy here, but here is how the costume is fraudulent:

Via Milblogs:

1. Special Forces Combat Patch (Wrong)
2. Two "Tabs" sewn above SF patch (Wrong- Only One)
3. No Ranger Tab
4. No Airborne Wings
5. No Unit Crest
6. No Sewn on Rank
7. No One in the Army rolls their sleeves like that.
Bonus:
8. Mustache is out of regulation by extending past the corner of the mouth.

Here is the article by Michelle Malkin (and um, factually correct according to sources within the peace movement), debunking the tale told by Macbeth and the one told to you all by Michael:

Meet "Jessie MacBeth." He's the latest cause celebre of the anti-war Left — a "former Army Ranger and Iraq war veteran" who accuses his fellow troops of committing a litany of atrocities against innocent civilians. Anti-Vietnam War veteran John Kerry and the Winter Soldiers cast a long shadow.

In his 20-minute Internet video interview at peacefilms.org, which promises that watching the video "will change your life," MacBeth (who also claims to have served in Special Forces) says:

Superiors told him "our job over there is to strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqis . . . to be brutal and to not feel" and that "the Geneva Convention doesn't mean crap."

He would "do night raids, pull people out, on their knees and zip-tied," and if a man didn't answer the way he wanted him to, he "would shoot his youngest kid and keep going."

"By my hand alone . . . almost 200 people were taken out by me. That's just a rough estimate. A lot of them at close range . . . they would actually feel the hot muzzle of my rifle on their forehead . . . we'd do stuff that would scare them first . . . beat 'em up or kick 'em or hit the wife . . . slaughtering 30-40 people a night sometimes, women and children . . . I was trained, you know, in all the Ranger school, 18 months of that crap . . . I got disappointed in my country . . . but I didn't say anything because I would have been locked up."

"Other things they told us to do, man, we were ordered to go into a mosque. This really hurts me a lot. My nightmares come mostly from this . . . we infiltrated the mosque . . . a couple hundred of people of all ages were praying . . . we started slaughtering them, we started shooting them, started taking them out . . . we would burn their bodies, hang the bodies from the rafters . . . after a while, it's just sickening to think that I took part in that . . . "

"Kids threw rocks at us before and the guard command officer told us to take them out . . . Our job was just kill, kill, kill."

"I'm so disappointed in my country. I'm ashamed to have actually served in Iraq."

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On the Military.com website, to which anyone can contribute, a profile of MacBeth claimed he had three basic combat jumps, service in Afghanistan as well as Iraq, and several awards including a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

There's just one problem: According to Department of the Army spokesman Paul Boyce, there is no record of "Jessie MacBeth," a.k.a. Jesse Adam MacBeth, having served in either the Rangers or the Special Forces — or in any part of the Army at all. Boyce told me Tuesday that a check on MacBeth's credentials came up empty. "At a minimum, this appears to have been concocted" and "some sort of hoax," Boyce said. Special Operations Command and the State Department have been alerted.

MacBeth's story started to crumble after my colleagues at the Hot Air blog (www.hotair.com) called attention to the Peace Films video interview and asked military bloggers about MacBeth's appearance and claims. Harnessing the specialized knowledge of the blogosphere, military bloggers debunked a photo purportedly showing MacBeth in his official uniform (with his beret backward, incorrect flashes and tabs, and missing wings).

The Army's Boyce told me the uniform issues were a major "red flag" — as were MacBeth's incredible claims to have entered the Army at 16, served as both a Ranger and in Special Ops, sustained various stabbing and shooting wounds, and exited at age 20. Not to mention all those unsubstantiated, slanderous smears against the Army Rangers (who suffered similar attacks by another lying anti-war veteran poseur, Micah Wright, in 2004).

Anti-war zealots initially defended the bogus soldier's tale, but are now moving quickly to cover up the MacBeth stain. The video was yanked Tuesday afternoon. But not to worry.

I hear former CBS producer Mary Mapes, champion of "fake but accurate" journalism, is interested in publicizing Jessie MacBeth's tall tales.

*Your credibility is in severe question, Dubliner. You posted something to fulfill your anti-American agenda without conducting your due diligence. What a shame. Again, all the best.

John

by MichaelY - iawm Thu Jun 01, 2006 16:09

Cork Alliance Against War held a very succesful day of information and discussion in the fight against war and torture on May 28th. Over 100 people attended the KINO screening of "The Road to Guantanamo" and 45 attended the follow up public meeting in An Spailpin Fanach. Both events were addressed by Abu Baker Deghayes, brother of Guantanamo prisoner OmarDeghayes.
Sarah Danaher of Amnesty and Paddy O'Keeffe of British Stop the War Coalition also spoke.
Abu outlined how When war broke out in 2001, Omar moved his family from Afghanistan to Pakistan, fearing for their safety, and en route back to the UK. There he was arrested by bounty-hunters along with his wife and young son (both later released) and taken to Bagram, which he describes as reminiscent of a Nazi prison camp. He was later sent on to Guantánamo, where he has suffered further human rights abuses.On one occasion, guards attacked Omar with pepper spray, rubbing the chemical in his eyes, so that he is now completely blinded in one eye.
He has not heard anything of his brother since August 2005.
Cork Alliance Against War has adopted the case of Omar.

To write to Omar Deghayes address is as follows. Pass on to any friends that may be interested.....

Omar Deghayes
Prisoner 272
160 Camp Delta
Washington DC
20053
U.S.A

www.save-omar.org.uk
info@save-omar.org

Upcoming events
Sat June 10th. Street Stall Daunt Sq. 2pm - 4pm.

Fri June 16th Metropole hotel - Public Meeting dont attack Iran.
Speakers include:
Elaheh Rostami-Povey, Lecturer at the School of
Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Action Iran (Campaign Against
MilitaryIntervention in Iran) and
John Rose, Lecturer at Southwark College, author of 'The Myth of Zionism'.
Speaker from Cork Alliance against war.

Fundraiser gig scheduled for early July