A criminal conspiracy : White House, CIA hid torture tapes from 9/11 Commission

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

A criminal conspiracy

White House, CIA hid torture tapes from 9/11 Commission

Joe Kay, WSWS

December 24, 2007

The CIA withheld videotapes of the abuse of suspected Al Qaeda members from the 9/11 Commission despite repeated requests for information on interrogations directed to top CIA and White House officials, according to the executive director of the commission. The CIA has acknowledged that in November 2005, more than a year after the requests were made, it destroyed tapes of CIA interrogations of two alleged Al Qaeda leaders, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

The history of the commission’s interactions with the CIA on the issue is outlined in a memo from the executive director of the commission, Philip Zelikow, to the chairman, former Republican governor of New Jersey, Thomas Kean, and the vice chairman, former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. The memo is dated December 13, 2007 and was released to the news media on Friday. (See “An analysis of the 9/11 Commission memo on interrogation tapes.”)

Zelikow’s account is a damning indictment of White House and CIA officials, and it comes from a prominent Republican with close ties to the intelligence establishment. (Zelikow served on the National Security Council in the administration of the senior George Bush and co-authored a book with current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice). According to the memo, in 2003 and 2004 the commission made “repeated requests for very detailed information about the context” of the CIA interrogations, including those of the two individuals whose interrogations were recorded on the destroyed videotapes.

Videotapes of the interrogations would have clearly been relevant to the inquiry. However, according to Zelikow, the commission was never informed of the existence of the videotapes and was allowed access only to CIA summaries of the interrogations. Zelikow indicated that withholding the information was likely illegal, but he concluded, “Further investigation is needed to determine whether these nondisclosures violated federal law.”

Among those named by Zelikow as involved in the discussions with the 9/11 Commission were: Alberto Gonzales, who was then the White House counsel and would later take the post of attorney general, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Undersecretary of Defense Stephen Cambone, CIA Director George Tenet, CIA General Counsel Scott Muller and CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence John McLaughlin.

The CIA responded to the memo over the weekend with a series of lies and obfuscations. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said that the tapes would have been turned over if the commission had asked for them. “Because it was thought the commission could ask about the tapes at some point, they were not destroyed while the commission was active,” he said. Mansfield did not explain how the tapes could be requested if there was no acknowledgement until this month that they even existed.

The New York Times, in an article on Saturday, reported that in interviews with Hamilton and Kean, the commission leaders “said their reading of the [Zelikow] report had convinced them that the agency had made a conscious decision to impede the Sept. 11 commission’s inquiry.”

Zelikow’s memo is further evidence that the refusal to inform the 9/11 Commission of the existence of the tapes and subsequent decision to destroy them were part of a high-level cover-up of the administration’s policy of using sadistic methods in interrogations that are clearly banned under international and national laws against torture. Last week, the New York Times reported that at least four senior administration lawyers were involved in discussions on whether or not the tapes should be destroyed. The discussions were held between 2003 and 2005, the very period when the 9/11 Commission was making requests for documents on interrogation.

The four lawyers named by the Times include Gonzales; Harriet Miers, Gonzales’ successor as White House counsel; David Addington, counsel and later chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney; and John Bellinger III, the top lawyer at the National Security Council. The Times cited one former intelligence official as saying that there was “vigorous sentiment” among some of the lawyers that the tapes should be destroyed.

The fact that, at the very least, Gonzales—a close Bush confidant—participated in both discussions strongly suggests that Bush and Cheney themselves were aware of and acquiesced in the concealment and subsequent destruction of the tapes. During the same period as the 9/11 Commission investigation, several federal courts issued orders for the preservation of evidence relating to the interrogation and possible torture of prisoners held by the US.

A conspiracy at the top It is almost certain that Bush was aware of the videotapes from the very beginning, and it is quite possible that he personally viewed at least some of them. When Zubaydah was arrested in 2002, he was seen within the administration as a test case for “harsh interrogation techniques”—i.e., torture—which Bush was eager to implement.An article in the Times of London on Sunday (“CIA Chief to Drag White House into Torture Cover-Up Storm) cited Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism at the CIA, as saying it was impossible that Jose Rodriguez, the former head of clandestine operations at the CIA, acted on his own. Rodriguez has been named in the media as having given the order to destroy the tapes.

“If everybody was against the decision, why in the world would Jose Rodriguez—one of the most cautious men I have ever met—have gone ahead and destroyed them?” Cannistraro asked.

There are indications that Rodriguez may implicate the White House when he testifies before the House Intelligence Committee next month. Rodriguez requested and was granted a subpoena to compel his testimony, which will likely be accompanied by immunity from prosecution for what he says.

The newspaper also cited Larry Johnson, another former CIA official, as strongly implicating the White House. “The CIA and Jose Rodriguez look bad, but he’s probably the least culpable person in the process,” Johnson said. “He didn’t wake up one day and decide, ‘I’m going to destroy the tapes.’ He checked with a lot of people and eventually he is going to get his say.”

“It looks increasingly as though the decision was made by the White House,” Johnson said. The Times of London reported that Johnson “believes it is ‘highly likely’ that Bush saw one of the videos, as he was interested in Zubaydah’s case and received frequent updates on his interrogation from George Tenet.”

New York Times national security correspondent James Risen, in his 2006 book State of War, cites one well-placed source as telling him: “‘George Bush was taking a very personal interest in the Zubaydah case’ in 2002. When George Tenet told Bush that no information had yet been gleaned from Zubaydah because he was too groggy from painkillers, Bush is said to have replied, ‘Who authorized putting him on pain medication?’”

The torture of Zubaydah was initiated soon after this conversation, and the treatment of Zubaydah then became a precedent for the torture of other prisoners—at secret CIA prisons, at Guantánamo Bay and later at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Tenet, in his 2007 book, At the Center of the Storm, records that when Zubaydah was captured, “we opened discussions within the National Security Council as to how to handle him.” The NSC includes the president, the vice president, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, and other top officials. The suggestion that there was such high-level involvement in the interrogation of Zubaydah renders absurd the notion that administration officials were not aware that it was being videotaped.

It should be recalled that the infamous “torture memo,” written by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to justify illegal interrogation methods, was produced on August 1, 2002, in the midst of the CIA’s interrogation of Zubaydah. The memo was written partially in response to CIA concerns that methods ordered by the administration could subject intelligence agents to future prosecution.

The revelation of the existence of the torture tapes and their destruction has become a focal point of intense divisions within the political and intelligence establishment.

In a separate development, the CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, illegally disclosed classified information when he told the media earlier this month that water-boarding had been used against Abu Zubaydah. Kiriakou said he considered water-boarding to be torture, but he has also sought to legitimize such methods, saying the treatment of Zubaydah was necessary to “save lives.”

Kiriakou speaks for elements within the agency who insist that top administration officials authorized all aspects of the interrogation. Kiriakou’s attorney, Mark Zaid, issued a warning to the Justice Department. He told the Washington Post, “If they do pursue [an investigation into his client], they will open a Pandora’s box that will put the spotlight on whether the interrogations were lawful, and the extent to which they have been fully revealed by federal officials.”

Under these conditions, the administration is seeking to contain a scandal that threatens to get out of its control and that of leading congressional figures from both parties who are also complicit in the cover-up.

Last week, Bush continued his obfuscation over his knowledge of the tapes’ destruction. At a Thursday White House press conference, an Associated Press reporter posed the following question: “There’s ambiguity in the statement that you have no recollection about the existence and destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes. Why can’t you say yes or no about the tapes and their destruction?”

Bush replied by merely repeating that his “first recollection” of the tapes is when CIA Director Michael Hayden spoke to him about them earlier this month. The White House has avoided making any direct statement that this was, in fact, the first time Bush heard about the tapes. It has stonewalled reporters’ questions with the statement that the White House will not speak about the matter because of ongoing internal investigations by the CIA and the Justice Department.

In a hearing before the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, the government urged Judge Henry Kennedy to deny a motion for a hearing into the destruction of the videotapes. Kennedy issued a court order in 2005 directing the government to preserve all evidence related to the interrogation of prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay. Lawyers for Guantánamo prisoners petitioning his court for a review of their detention are arguing that the destruction of the videotapes may have violated the judge’s order.

The government repeated its argument that it “would be unwise and imprudent” for the judge to investigate further, pending the government’s own investigations. Joseph Hunt, a lawyer for the government, issued a promise that the court would be informed of any results of this self-investigation, and inform the court if any rules were violated.

Hunt also argued that the tapes were immaterial to the case at hand, since the individuals involved in the taped interrogations—Zubaydah and al-Hashimi—were not at Guantánamo Bay at the time of the court order.

Whether or not they were at Guantánamo Bay, they may well have named or otherwise provided information about the defendants whose case is before the court. Even if the people who appear on CIA tapes did not say anything that directly pertains to the defendants, documentary evidence that the US tortured people under interrogation and used the information extracted to conduct their military prosecutions would be highly damaging to the drumhead military commissions operating at Guantánamo.

All of these revelations—and there can be no doubt that the truth goes far beyond what has been revealed so far—demonstrate a level of criminality that exceeds Watergate, Iran-contra and other past scandals.

The administration is depending heavily upon the Democratic Party to prevent the scandal from spiraling out of control. Calls for investigations have thus far been extremely muted, and they will be held largely under the control of Democratic legislators who have known about the tapes and the CIA torture program for years.

The full story in
http://uruknet.info/?p=m39515&hd=&size=1&l=e

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-muslim voice-
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BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

The Power of Nightmares

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

In 2004 the BBC showed a documentary titled The Power of Nightmares.

I recommend you consider watching it. (Links provided below.)

Its main theme is how various groups use fear to get power.

Here are some of the items discussed…

• The origins of the Neocons, and how their Zionist Jew father, Professor Leo Strauss, advocated lying to the masses.

• How modern Islamic resistance owes much to Mr. Sayyid Qutb of Egypt, and his 1964 book Ma’alim fi al-Tariq (Milestones). Arabs may disagree with certain details, but I think the video’s general history is sound. Also some Arabs may consider Qutb too radical and fundamentalist, but he’s an interesting figure anyway. Nasser is shown as a CIA operative (which he was until the 1967 war.)

• In the video, top ranking CIA operatives admit that al-Qaeda is a complete and total fabrication by the CIA. They plainly state that NO SUCH ORGANIZATION HAS EVER EXISTED AT ANY TIME. The fantasy was spun in January 2001 by Jamal al Fadl, a Sudanese who had been with Bin Laden in the early 1990s. Jamal al Fadl stole money from Bin Laden, and then sought protection in the USA. The FBI and CIA paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars to create the al-Qaeda fiction. In fact, al Fadl invented the name al-Qaeda.

• During the Reagan years, the CIA knew that the USSR verged on collapse, but William Casey (Reagan’s psychopathic head of the CIA) demanded that the CIA fabricate a “global network” of Soviet-led “terrorism.” Casey had read a best-selling novel titled Terror Network: The Secret War of International Terrorism (1981) by right-wing fantasist Claire Sterling. Sterling imagined that the PLO, the IRA, the Bader Meinhoff group in Germany, and every other group was part of a global Soviet terror network. William Casey took that fictional work and made it “real” in order to give Reagan his “evil empire” of Russia. After 9-11, the Bush regime did the same thing with the fictional “al-Qaeda.”

• The rise of jihadist Zio-Christians, and how they rode to power on the “Islamic threat.”

• Who Bin Laden really was, what he thought, and what he really did. He was never a leader, never had any organization, and never took part in any act of resistance. He simply provided money for several resistance groups in Afghanistan that dreamed of overthrowing corrupt regimes in places like Chechnya, Uzbekistan, and so on.

• The power struggle in Afghanistan between Palestinian Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (who favored peaceful Islamic resistance) and the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri (who favored armed resistance).

• Tora Bora, Afghanistan. Here the pro-Bush Northern Alliance claimed that “Islamofascists” (the Taliban and visiting Arabs) had vast underground cities, like the old NORAD base in Cheyenne Mountain (closed on 28 July 2006). Cheney is shown spreading this fantastic lie, claiming that such cities exist all over the world, like giant underground UFO bases. Whenever the US military found nothing, the Bush regime and the Ziocons expanded the myth. They use lack of evidence as further “proof” of how evil and cunning the “Islamofascists” are. The less something exists in physical reality, the more it “really” exists as a “global threat.”

• Where most of the victims in Guantanamo and CIA torture centers came from. Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance kidnapped anyone that looked remotely Arab, and sold them to USA for fun and profit.

• How Abu Zubaydah (under torture) dreamed up the fantasy of a “dirty bomb,” which the Bush regime uses to frighten the masses. The U.S. Dept of Energy tried to make its own “dirty bomb,” but concluded that such a weapon has no practical use, since it cannot be made to actually harm anyone. Much of the Bush regime’s propaganda came from Abu Zubaydah, who confessed to anything under torture.

• The change in western thinking. Rather than lock people up for what they did, America locks them up for what Americans fantasize their victims might do in the future. Victims cannot defend themselves against sick fantasies, since there is no actual charge. The lack of evidence is taken as further “evidence” in the pre-emptive “war of civilizations.” Imprisonment without trial. McCarthyism on a global scale.

CAVEATS

The video has a few things that will annoy WUFYS readers, but I recommend you look past them. For example, it (vaguely) compares Islamic resistance with the Zio-cons. This comparison is ridiculous, since the Zio-cons know they are lying.

Also it assumes that 9-11 was not a false flag attack. This is irritating, but the filmmaker avoided the issue in order to get the video shown. (It’s never been shown in the USA.) The filmmaker also ignores the Zionism of the Jewish neocons. It suggests the Ziocons had a totalitarian vision for America, when we all know their “vision” is of a planet controlled by Jews and Israel. The video portrays Leo Strauss as “conservative.” It suggests Strauss felt that “liberalism” led to nihilism. In reality, Zionist Jews have been the main champions of nihilism and moral relativism. They use it to break up Goy solidarity. The video shows how Strauss loved the cowboy gunslinger motif. In reality, Zionists want Americans to kill and die for Zionists.

This is irritating, but the video still has value.

Check it out if you have time.

The full story in
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/5113

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

CHRISTIANS BRUTALIZED IN HOLY LAND

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

CHRISTIANS BRUTALIZED IN HOLY LAND

A MUST READ FOR ZIONIST’S LOVER

By Mark Glenn

Some 200 Christian Zionist leaders, representing churches spread throughout America, Europe, Africa and Asia, gathered in Israelís Knesset to “beg forgiveness” for 2,000 years of “Christian persecution” of Jews.

The well publicized ceremony took place under the auspices of the “Knesset Christian Allies Caucus,” just one of a growing number of partnerships springing up in recent years between organized Jewish and Christian Zionist groups for the purpose of funneling Christian money and political support toward Israel. Part of the statement reads as follows:

“On behalf of millions of Christians, we repent before you for crimes committed against the Jewish people throughout history in the name of Christianity.…We have sinned against God and against you.… To you we
owe much.… Through you, God gave us the Holy Scriptures, and because of this we have a heritage, a destiny, a hope and a compass for living.…What a treasure you are in the sight of our God! You are His chosen and the apple of His eye.…”

But despite the fact that Israel was built (and continues to live) off of handouts from Christian countries—principally the U.S. and Germany—and for all the inherent groveling and breast-beating that this mea culpa was meant to convey, it obviously did not “cut the mustard” in improving Christian/Jewish relations in Israel, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and the 2,000-year-old religion created in His name.

Besides the fact that Israel has now become a haven for international gangsters—meaning rampant prostitution, drugs, human trafficking and money laundering to name a few—there are other indicators surrounding Israel’s political and social character as well that show she is anything but friendly to the morals and precepts of Christian teachings. Christian churches that were not taxed are now being sent heavy bills. Media outlets featuring Christian programming on television and radio are having their license renewal applications rejected.

More telling though is the fact that physical attacks on Christians, their symbols and institutions continue in Israel unabated, and not by “Islamo-fascists” (so much discussed by the likes of Norman Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes, John Hagee, Bill O’Reilly, et al.) but rather by a more fanatical sect that has nursed a hatred for Christianity since its inception, the people who collectively call themselves “the Israelites” and whom Christians are told to “bless.”

Pastor Hagee has been an avid supporter of the state Israel since his first visit there in 1978. “I went to Israel as a tourist and returned home a committed Zionist,” he said. His book says that Jesus did not come to Earth to be the Messiah. In what appears to be a growing trend these days, physical attacks on Christians, their churches and symbols are beginning to show a marked rise in Israel.

For nearly a century, since the invasion of Palestine began, Christians of all denominations have suffered bombings, shootings, arsons and wanton acts of senseless destruction of their sacred properties—and all of it by a horde
of Marxist/atheist invaders from Eastern Europe calling themselves “God’s chosen.” From the moment they arrived—announcing to the world “We’re baaaack” with all the fanfare that their grip over the Western media afforded them—they picked up where their alleged ancestors left off in attempting to erase the name of the hated Jesus from the Holy Land.

Mimicking the same kind of behavior their Bolshevik cousins exhibited during and after the takeover of Russia and using the “fog of war” as a smokescreen for their actions, Christian church properties have been bulldozed, blown up or burned down on numerous occasions, all of it chalked up to “collateral damage.” Since the Jews of Europe began reconstructing the nation that was destroyed some 2,000 years ago following the predictions of Jesus Himself, priests, pastors, nuns, churches,cemeteries, Bibles, icons, stained-glass widows, all were all fair game as far as the Zionists were concerned when it came to maintaining its exclusively “Jewish character.”

Not long after Israel declared her statehood, legislation was passed outlawing Christians trying to convert Jews to the religion of Jesus Christ with a 5-year prison sentence attached for good measure.

Now, no longer limited to impersonal attacks done in the middle of the night with minimal chance of being caught, Jews (and particularly those in Jerusalem, the city of Jesus’s sham trial and murder by his enemies) are coming out in the open now and displaying their ancestral hatred for all things Christian without any evident fear of what kind of consequences might follow.

Out-in the-open physical attacks on priests, pastors, statues and Christian processions by extremist Jews is now more the norm than the exception. A recent case involving a Greek Orthodox clergyman involved a skullcap-wearing elderly Jew tapping on the window of the clergyman’s car and when the man opened his window, the Jew spat in his face, something becoming a daily occurrence in Israel. Only a few days later, a yeshiva student spat at the cross as it was being carried by the Armenian archbishop during a procession near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and did so under the watchful eye of his rabbi, who did nothing to impede him.

In another recent case, 13 bishops from Austria were barred from praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall by a rabbi who oversees the site. The Christians refused to remove the crosses around their necks, which the rabbi considered “insulting.” Other Christians who have seen the increasingly bold and violent nature on the part of Israel’s Jews toward them and their faith in a manner up close and personal say that during Jewish religious festivals such as Purim (celebrating the hanging of Haman and the execution of 75,000 Persians) they stay inside and lock their doors, fearing their lives are in danger amid a band of rowdy, drunken and violent Jewish extremists.

One would think that, with all the lecturing taking place during the last half-century by organized Jewish groups when it comes to “hatred” and “intolerance” (not to mention the undeniable influence these groups have wielded in getting “hate crimes” legislation passed in most Christian countries), there would be more concern paid for this growing trend in the “headquarters” of Jewish values in the world—Israel.

With all the fear-mongering to which Christians are subjected on a daily basis when it comes to Islam that is inaccurately portrayed as inherently anti-Christian by the likes of John Hagee, Pat Robertson, Joseph Farah and other neo-cons, you would expect some attention given to this alarming business taking place in Israel. And yet, not a peep from any of them. Attacks on Christians by Jews Increasing in Israel, Palestine.

The full story in
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/christians_brutalized117.html

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Iraqi fighters display new weapons

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful=== News Update ===

Iraqi fighters display new weapons The fighters are adapting to the changing nature of the battlefield [Al Jazeera] Foreign forces in Iraq are hoping that a much heralded drop in violence in Iraq will continue into the new year. However, in exclusive images obtained by Al Jazeera, fighters from the Islamic Front for Resistance in Iraq (Jami) say they are biding their time and training hard with an array of new weapons in order to drive foreign forces out as soon as possible. Al Jazeera’s Iraq correspondent Hoda Abdel Hamid reports. Deep in the groves north of Baghdad, a group of fighters are shown on camera participating in an afternoon workshop on the making and use of weapons. It includes a step-by-step lesson on how to turn an old tank shell into a roadside bomb. It took only 20 minutes to put together a device powerful enough to blow up an armoured vehicle. Two will destroy a tank, the instructors say. Countless videos of these devices’ devastating effects are shown on military websites. Roadside bombs are lethal devices that cause the bulk of US soldier casualties to this day. ‘New methods’ In video Iraqi fighters’ new weaponry The Pentagon has upgraded military equipment in Iraq to counter this kind of attack, but the enemy has remained relentless, and is swiftly adapting to the changes on the field. “We have experts who are in charge of researching and developing new methods continuously,” one of the men says. “We need to find new ways all the time, in case we run out of chemicals.” He also says the Americans are now using jamming devices, but their engineers have already managed to crack the code. The fighters are part of Jami and describe themselves as a resistance group. They vow that all their firepower is directed at foreign soldiers only. “One shot, one soldier killed is the rule,” says the instructor, a former army officer. Market for weapons The fighters want to develop ever more sophisticated weapons [Al Jazeera] The disbanding of the former Iraqi army and the controversial de-Baathification law were two monumental mistakes the US is still paying for. Disgruntled former officers with no future prospects sowed the seeds of the resistance and offered up their knowledge of warfare to young recruits. They say Iraq is the best market for any kind of weapon, including new Glock pistols which belong to the newly formed Iraqi security forces. In another set of images, the instructor explains how an old rifle used by the British nearly a century ago was recently upgraded. “0ur enemies won’t take such a weapon seriously,” he says, “but with the changes we made, it has become very effective for snipers – equal to the modern sniper guns.” Rocket launchers, now with aiming sights welded on top, are also regularly used to fire at military convoys. War machines “Our researchers are developing remote controlled explosive devices, soon we [can] wage a battle with a little as two fighters“Iraqi fighter Over the past four years, groups such as Jami have grown into organised war machines, with fighters divided in combat cells, snipers, anti-aircraft gunners, bomb makers and artillery experts. One man displays a new weapon in the video. “This has a range of 1.4km,” he says. “It is best aimed at bases which are not heavily fortified and individuals because the rounds are small. He instructs his students to fire the weapon at targets who are training or taking a break. Long-haul battle The recent announcement that Washington and the Iraqi government are drawing up plans for long-term US military bases is for many Iraqis proof of an open-ended occupation. The fighters have every intention of continuing their operations and in an ever more sophisticated manner. “Our researchers are developing remote-controlled explosive devices,” one man says. “Soon we will be able to wage a battle with as little as two fighters – we will minimise our losses.” Almost five years after the start of the war in Iraq, the US still has not acknowledged the existence of a fighting force hostile to the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi soil. And despite a decrease in US casualties over the past two months, the fighters warn they are in this battle for the long haul.

Source: Al Jazeera

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

U.S. copter fire leaves 9 casualties in Samarra

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

U.S. copter fire leaves 9 casualties in Samarra

Voices of Iraq

Salah al-Din, Dec 24, (VOI) – A U.S. helicopter killed three gunmen while trying to plant an improvised explosive device in central Samarra, an Iraqi police source said on Monday, adding the U.S. fire also left two civilians killed and four others, including a woman, wounded.

“The gunmen were planting an IED in al-Dhubbat neighborhood in central Samarra when a U.S. chopper opened fire at them, killing all three gunmen instantly,” the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.

“The U.S. aircraft also killed two civilian pedestrians and wounded four others, including a woman, who happened to be near the firing scene,” the source added.

He said the U.S. forces later “carried the bodies and the wounded to a nearby U.S. headquarters.”

No further information could be obtained immediately about the incident.

Samarra, a city in Salah al-Din province, lies 120 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The full story in
http://uruknet.info/?p=m39523&hd=&size=1&l=e

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW