'I know what it looks like when you brutalise people so much that they've nothing left to lose.'

by Eoin Dubsky Sat Apr 17, 2004 09:55

Sharon's "Courageous" Plan
Bush Legitimizes Terrorism

By ROBERT FISK
The Independent

So President George Bush tears up the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and that's okay. Israeli settlements for Jews and Jews only on the West Bank. That's okay. Taking land from Palestinians who have owned that land for generations, that's okay. UN Security Council Resolution 242 says that land cannot be acquired by war. Forget it. That's okay.

(continues at link below)

by redjade Sat Apr 17, 2004 10:59

A National Guardsman opposed to the war in Iraq will face a court-martial next month for refusing to rejoin his unit after a two-week furlough.
[....]
The court-martial was set for May 19 at Fort Stewart. If found guilty, Mejia faces up to a year in prison and a bad conduct discharge.

by redjade Sat Apr 17, 2004 11:33

Q. What is the Italian government willing to put on the table for dialogue?

R. "We are willing to say that in the province of Nassirya our action will focus even more strongly on the protection of the population, on security, services and the necessities of everyday life. And we are also prepared to say that we will do everything possible to ensure that this line of action comes to be adopted even in those provinces not under our command. We are offering to act as interpreters to convey to the Americans the need for a more receptive attitude to the needs of the Iraqi people and a greater willingness to engage in dialogue and avoid Iraqi civilian deaths".

Q. Do you mean that you will try to "put the brakes on" the Americans in the field?

R. "As soon as we receive some signal on the hostages, we are ready to tell the Americans that the right way forward is dialogue with all the Iraqi civil and religious authorities, and that we must all undertake avoid any action that goes further than being a defence from attacks, and to take every possible step to avoid Iraqi civilian deaths. Our commitment is to speak seriously with the Americans: we are not asking to discuss the withdrawal of troops or a recognition of terrorism. We must not negotiate with terrorist movements. We will try to carry out this task of persuasion".

by redjade Sat Apr 17, 2004 12:13

Portugal may withdraw its national guard contingent from Iraq if the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate, Interior Minister Antonio Figueiredo Lopes said.

"If the conflict were to deteriorate and the GNR (national guard) did not have what it required to carry out its mission, the only solution would be to withdraw," he told Antena 1 public radio.

Portugal's centre-right Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso in November dispatched 128 national guards to southern Iraq to back the US-led coalition in the war-torn country, where they operate under British command.

by redjade Sat Apr 17, 2004 13:10

Issam Rashid, chief of security for the mosque, told us the story. At 3:30 am on Sunday morning, 100 American troops raided the mosque, looking for weapons and resistance fighters. They started the raid the way they virtually always do -- by smashing in the gates with tanks and then driving Hummers in. The Hummers ran over and destroyed some of the stored relief goods (the bulk of the goods had already been sent to Fallujah -- over 200 tons -- but the amount remaining was considerable). More was destroyed as soldiers ripped apart sacks looking for rifles. Rashid estimated maybe three tons of supplies were destroyed. We saw for ourselves some of the remains, sacks of beans ripped apart and strewn around.


The mosque was full of people, including 90 down from Kirkuk with the Red Crescent, arranging for further aid to Fallujah. They were all pushed down on the floor, with guns put to the backs of their heads. Another person associated with the mosque, Mr. Alber, who speaks very good English, told us that he repeatedly said, "Please, don't break down doors. Please, don't break windows. We can help you. We can have custodians unlock the doors." (Alber, by the way, was imprisoned by Saddam for running a bakery. As he said, "Under the embargo, you could eat flour, you could eat sugar, you could eat eggs, all separately. But mix them together and bake them and you were harming the economy by raising the price of sugar and you could get 15 years in prison.)


The Americans refused to listen to Alber's pleas. We went all around the mosque and the adjacent madrassah, the Imam Aadham Islamic College. We saw dozens of doors broken down, windows broken, ceilings ripped apart, and bullet holes in walls and ceilings. The way the soldiers searched for illicit arms in the ceiling was first to spray the ceiling with gunfire, then break out a panel and go up and search.

by redjade Sat Apr 17, 2004 13:18

Darpa, the Pentagon's research arm, has already started to investigate ways for soldiers to fight without sleep or food. Now the agency wants to see if G.I.s can carry on without most of their blood.

"The vision for the Surviving Blood Loss (SBL) Program [ http://www.darpa.mil/baa/baa04-12mod3.htm ] is to develop novel strategies that delay the onset of irreversible shock and allow an injured warfighter to survive with significantly reduced oxygen delivery for extended periods of time," a Darpa solicitation reads.

It's all part of a larger effort to shore up what the agency sees as the "weak link" in the military's chain: the fragile human being.

If all goes according to plan, phase one of the SBL effort will crescendo with a group of rats being able to live with 60% of their blood removed for three hours. Darpa wants to see a survival rate of 75%. Proposals are due by next February.

more links and info at....

by . - . Sat Apr 17, 2004 15:23

Let's start an Irish List

by . - . Sat Apr 17, 2004 15:33

.

by . Sat Apr 17, 2004 17:57

.

by ec Sat Apr 17, 2004 22:35

.

by . Sat Apr 17, 2004 22:50

.

by redjade Sun Apr 18, 2004 12:21

Jo Wilding, 29, is a human rights campaigne
Published on Saturday, April 17, 2004 by the Guardian/UK

People have been under bombardment for the last eight days. A lot of people are trapped in their houses still - despite the ceasefire - without food, without water and terrified to leave. Food and medical aid is now arriving but the problem is getting the aid around the city. A lot of it is delivered to the mosque, but then getting it to the hospitals, past the American snipers, is proving to be impossible.

The main hospital apparently has been destroyed by bombing and the second largest is covered by US snipers - the Iraqis call it sniper alley. So Iraqi people are not able to get to and from the hospitals. I was working from a private clinic that had been turned into a hospital, and there was also one other improvised hospital in a car garage.

Nobody could give us a figure for injuries but there was an enormous stream of people going to this clinic, this makeshift facility. It comes in bursts. There is a lull in fighting and then more people start coming into the clinic. We saw two kids arriving with their grandmother, they had all been wounded by gunfire, they said by American snipers, while they were trying to leave their house to flee to Baghdad.

by redjade Sun Apr 18, 2004 13:44

Denmark is to declassify intelligence assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction after newspaper leaks led to criminal charges against three men.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the publication of classified material had given rise to doubts about the government's credibility.

An intelligence officer had told two journalists that the government knew Iraq was unlikely to have the weapons.

by ec Sun Apr 18, 2004 16:25

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289458.html

by . Sun Apr 18, 2004 16:37

Kimmit faints on Lectern:

http://www.juancole.com/2004_04_01_juancole_archive.html#108226987654901244

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 13:47

The list of nations with troops in Iraq can be found here. Spain is out. Honduras is out too (led by the Spanish, they're not sticking around once the Spanish leave). Nicaragua is out, claiming they are too poor to pay for their troops' deployment. Bulgaria isn't out, but is letting any of its deployed soldiers to go home if they want. 62 soldiers, out of a total of 480, have quit thus far. El Salvador's new president continues supporting his country's deployment, but faces a hostile legislature that may force a withdrawl. Australia's Howard will keep its 850 soldiers in, but their deployment will be a big issue in Australia's November elections.

Thailand said they would consider withdrawing its troops if other nations did so. That condition has been met. Portugal is mulling pulling out. The Philippines have put a hold on new deployments to Iraq and are making plans to get out. New Zealand is also considering getting out.

And chances are this list is incomplete. Most nations signed up to "liberate" Iraq, not turn their guns against them. Others signed up in exchange for US aid or other favors. No one should be surprised when any of these nations take their troops home.

more info and comments at....

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 14:03

CBS 60 Minutes TV Show:

Bob Woodward [author of 'Plan of Attack' http://tinyurl.com/3cv38 ] says immediately after that, Rumsfeld told Gen. Tommy Franks to develop a war plan to invade Iraq and remove Saddam - and that Rumsfeld gave Franks a blank check.

”Rumsfeld and Franks work out a deal essentially where Franks can spend any money he needs. And so he starts building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait, specifically to make war possible,” says Woodward.

“Gets to a point where in July, the end of July 2002, they need $700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. …Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 14:23

Fear is being used as re-election tactic

By Sheldon S. Wolin, emeritus professor of politics at Princeton University

Fear is politically useful because it simultaneously divides and unites. It breeds suspicions among neighbors as well as a common yearning for security.

Using the battle cry of a "war on terrorism" and stubbornly insisting that Saddam Hussein possessed "weapons of mass destruction," the Bush administration is not about to surrender the tactical advantages of an anxious public being told repeatedly that it is trapped in a war with no end-point.

In January, The New York Times quoted a "senior political adviser" to Bush as describing how finely calibrated the president's re-election campaign will be in this era of global terrorism: It will have a "healthy mix of optimism and the fear factor."

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 14:33

Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq
NY Times

With every week of insurgency in a war zone with no front, these companies are becoming more deeply enmeshed in combat, in some cases all but obliterating distinctions between professional troops and private commandos. Company executives see a clear boundary between their defensive roles as protectors and the offensive operations of the military. But more and more, they give the appearance of private, for-profit militias — by several estimates, a force of roughly 20,000 on top of an American military presence of 130,000.

"I refer to them as our silent partner in this struggle," Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican and Armed Services Committee chairman, said in an interview.

The price of this partnership is soaring. By some recent government estimates, security costs could claim up to 25 percent of the $18 billion budgeted for reconstruction, a huge and mostly unanticipated expense that could delay or force the cancellation of billions of dollars worth of projects to rebuild schools, water treatment plants, electric lines and oil refineries.

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 16:20

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. has promised President George W. Bush the Saudis will reduce oil prices before this November's election to help the U.S. economy, according to Bob Woodward, author of a new book about the Iraq war.

Oil prices are ``high, and they could go down very quickly,'' Woodward said last night in an interview on CBS's ``60 Minutes.''

``That's the Saudi pledge,'' said Woodward. ``Certainly over the summer or as we get closer to the election they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly.''

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 16:42

Luis Gómez reports from La Paz, Bolivia, that late last month a coup d'etat
plot, backed by the U.S. Embassy and the border movements of 21,000 Chilean
Army troops, was launched to remove the government of President Carlos Mesa,
and then aborted when patriotic officials in the Bolivian Armed Forces
caught wind of it and took action to stop it.

But, according to a confidential report obtained by Narco News, there are
three scenarios being sought by opponents of democracy to topple the
constitutional government of Bolivia (which has not, in recent weeks,
pleased the U.S. Embassy because it has attempted to dialogue with coca
growers instead of abiding the US-imposed policy of total warfare against
the country's own people).

Most surprising to many observers is the apparent willingness of the
government of neighboring Chile, despite its own dark history with military
coup d'etat, to participate in this effort to destabilize democracy in its
neighboring country.

by redjade Mon Apr 19, 2004 18:21

The U.S.-led occupation authority reached a cease-fire agreement to help end tensions in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, Dan Senor, spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, said.

The accord, signed by the U.S. military and Iraqi civilian leaders, will allow U.S. soldiers to resume patrols in Fallujah alongside newly trained Iraqi security forces, Senor said in a televised briefing from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

[....]

Senor said no offensive U.S. military operations will be carried out if residents of Fallujah, a city of about 250,000 people that is 35 miles (56 kilometers) from Baghdad, turn in banned weapons and ``move to eliminate remaining foreign fighters, criminals and drug users from the city.''

by rc3 Mon Apr 19, 2004 20:16

Surveying Iraqi weblogs

I've been reading Iraqi weblogs lately, and I thought I'd give a brief survey of the ones I follow, in case anyone else is interested. They come from varying perspectives, and I find all of them fascinating. Some of them I find more depressing than others. One thing you'll find is that the Iraqis who write these weblogs have mistaken impressions about America. I find them illuminating as well, because the impressions of America that Iraqis have are far more important than the truth in terms of whether or not we have any hope of leaving Iraq better off than we found it.

Where is Raed?
http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/
- Salam Pax's weblog is, of course, the granddaddy of all of the Iraqi weblogs. He's on hiatus right now.

Raed in the Middle
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
- The subject of Where is Raed? Raed is, at this point, for the withdrawal of all coalition forces from Iraq. Between the growing violence in Iraq and the latest developments in Israel, Raed is becoming increasingly hysterical. As he points out, he's a secular leftist, not a conservative Islamist. The fact that we seem to have lost him completely is a bad sign.

A Family in Baghdad
http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/
- Written by Faiza, the mother of Raed (in the Middle). This is probably the most heartbreaking of the weblogs that I read. Faiza has grown children, a husband, and employees to worry about, and her worries come through in her posts. At this point she's clearly anti-occupation.

Baghdad Burning
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
- Another of the old school Iraqi bloggers. Reliably anti-occupation, and reporter of rumors circulating among Iraqis.

Healing Iraq
http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/
- A pro-occupation weblog written by a dentist. He started his weblog explicitly to provide an alternative to the bad news reported by Riverbend at Baghdad Burning. He also has guest blogs.

Iraq at a glance
http://iraqataglance.blogspot.com/
- The most reliably pro-occupation weblog I've found, run by another dentist, a friend of Zeyad at Healing Iraq. He also seems to be bigoted against the Shiites in Sadr City and elsewhere.

Iraq the Model
http://www.iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
- Run by a doctor and two dentists. Also pro-occupation.

The Mesopotamian
http://www.messopotamian.blogspot.com/
- Yet another pro-occupation weblog. I think he has unrealistic expectations of what America can achieve in the short term, I fear disillusionment will soon follow.

Hammorabi
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/
- Pro-occupation. Eager to see a return of public executions.

One thing I've seen all the Iraqi bloggers report is that they get email harassment from people who disagree with their viewpoint (including complaints of email viruses intentionally sent to them). The pro-occupation bloggers get email from anti-war types and vice versa. I think that's sad.

Above text from
http://rc3.org/cgi-bin/less.pl?arg=6169

by Someone Tue Apr 20, 2004 01:09

Why the alleged Iraqis that appeared on the TV with their heads covered, watching the kidnapped American soldier, don't have the usual type of weapon Iraqi militias normally use? Is it a fraud may be? The guy doesn't seem particularly scared either... Is it some arranged thing to boost American support to their troops? Just wondering.

by redjade Tue Apr 20, 2004 23:24

IRAQ
Echoes of Iran-Contra

Imagine that the U.S. administration deliberately hid money from Congress to invest in a war in the Middle East, potentially crafted secret deals with an oil-rich Middle Eastern country that has ties to terrorism, and appointed ideologues to be the key diplomatic emissaries to a war-torn region. Think you are back in the 1980s (http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/ui--C7C529ECF1BD4B59B1FD28A804BF2CC4/PD--10039368/MiamiVice.asp) living through the Iran-Contra scandal? Think again. Over the last two days, new revelations by journalist Bob Woodward and actions by President Bush have evoked memories of a previous scandal and an old foreign policy/national security strategy gone wrong. Yesterday, new details emerged about the Bush administration's deliberate circumvention of Congress to divert $700 million into a secret war plan (http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/news/world/8471692.htm) , and about the potential manipulation of U.S. elections by the Saudi Arabian government! (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040419/dcm081_1.html)

Meanwhile, President Bush nominated key Iran-Contra figure John Negroponte (http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,539429,00.html) as the new Ambassador to Iraq (http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~24533~2094607,00.html)

IRAN-CONTRA ECHOES - HIDING MONEY FROM CONGRESS:
U.S. Rep. David Obey (http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0419-11.htm) (D-WI) became the first lawmaker to "demand to know whether the Bush administration transferred $700 million to Iraq war planning efforts out of counterterrorism funds without informing Capitol Hill (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/8469815.htm?ERIGHTS=-2662278581855801767kansascity::[email protected]&KRD_RM=9ppprxpvwyvtwpptqvsppppppp|David|Y) ." According to Woodward, the $700 million came out of a supplemental Appropriations bill meant for Afghanistan operations. And a close look at the two supplemental Appropriations bills that passed between 9/11 and July 2002 when the secret transfer took place shows that both bills mandate the White House to inform Congress if money is moved. The Emergency Supplemental Act passed on 9/14/01 specifically instructs the president to " consult with the chairmen and ranking minority members ( of the Committees on Appropriations prior to the transfer" of any funds.

The president actually told the American public that the money would be used for those purposes, saying the bill would be used " to rebuild our communities (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010919-8.html) and meet the needs of our military" in its operations against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. He said nothing about Iraq. Similarly, while the summer 2002 supplemental bill allows the administration to transfer "up to $275 million" in unused money within the Pentagon budget, it requires the president to notify Congress within 15 days of moving money (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c107:7:./temp/~c107arQ48F:e46641:) . So far, the administration has not produced a shred of evidence that it followed these laws and informed Congress. As Woodward said, "Congress, which is supposed to control the!
purse strings, had no real knowledge or involvement, had not even be
www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/politics/20SPEN.html) that the Pentagon wanted to reprogram money."

IRAN-CONTRA ECHOES -- LYING TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT MILITARY FOCUS:
According to a new AP report, "Following an important meeting on Iraq war planning in late 2001, President Bush told the public that the discussions were about Afghanistan. He made no mention afterward about Iraq even though that was the real focus of the session at his ranch." " I'm right now focused on the military operations in Afghanistan (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0418bush-iraq18.html) ," Bush told reporters after talks on Dec. 28, 2001, with top aides and generals.

IRAN-CONTRA ECHOES -- SECRET DEALS WITH COUNTRY TIED TO TERROR?:
The Saudi Arabian government, which has ties to terrorism (http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/080303A.shtml) yet maintains close ties to the Bush administration (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/images/20020425-4-515h.html) , continued to deny Woodward's charges that its U.S. Ambassador Prince Bandar promised an increase in oil supplies to coincide with the November presidential election to help President Bush's campaign. Mounting a Saudi defense, Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir deflected the questions by claiming, "Over the past 30 years, the kingdom has sought to ensure adequate supplies of crude at moderate price levels (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/20/politics/main612741.shtml) ." Of course, al-Jubeir did not explain why the Saudis had led the recent charge within OPEC to reduce oil supplies (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-02-oil-prices_x.htm) and art!
ificially inflate the price of gasoline (http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/136344-2960-031.html) in the U.S. to record levels. Woodward remained steadfast in his reporting, saying the Saudi's definitely made a "pledge." He said, "over the summer or as we get closer to the election they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly." Author Craig Unger points to a possible motive for the alleged Saudi pledge. In his book "House of Bush, House of Saud," he says Bush presidencies " strengthen Bandar's position in Saudi Arabia (http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2004/03/16/unger_4/) . During the 12 years of the Reagan-Bush era, Bandar had enjoyed unique powers - partly because of his close relationship to Bush...But during the Clinton era, Bandar had lost clout. [He was] never an insider in the Clinton White House."

IRAN-CONTRA ECHOES -- THE IMPORTANCE OF NEGROPONTE'S RECORD:
Negroponte, who has no prior experience in the Middle East and does not speak Arabic, is sure to face new questions about his Iran-Contra past, given the circumstances of his Iraqi post. As the LA Times reports, human rights advocates charged that during his tenure as Ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, " Negroponte underplayed human rights abuses by death squads (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-negroponte20apr20,1,1870992.story?coll=la-home-headlines) to ensure that the country would continue to serve as a base for U.S.-backed Contras." Negroponte denies this, but according declassified documents, "U.S. officials knew what was happening in Honduras and engaged in a willful deception to avoid confronting Congress (http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte5,0,2446240.story) with the truth." As Molly Ivins notes, this record is important because Negroponte was a key player in a "plot that sold!
U.S. arms to Iran" in its war against Iraq. That means "our first ambassador will be a man who armed Iraq's enemy (http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Apr/04192004/commenta/158546.asp) " -- a fact that might not be lost on local Iraqis with whom he must work closely. Negroponte will also be charged with convincing U.S. allies to desist from removing troops from Iraq. The problem is some of these key allies are from Central America, where Negroponte's sordid record is well-known and where his name might not be well-received. In fact, just yesterday Honduras -- the country where Negroponte made his most indelible mark -- said it was planning to remove its troops from Iraq (http://www.freep.com/news/nw/iraq20_20040420.htm) . Finally, Kenneth Roth of Human Rights watch notes the "serious unanswered questions about Negroponte's complicity with the atrocities in Honduras" are important as the issue of "U.S.-sponsored forces avoiding complicity in atrocities" could arise in Baghdad.

all of the above found at....

by redjade Tue Apr 20, 2004 23:47

A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers
see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq

http://villagevoice.com/issues/0416/vest.php

But according to a closely held Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) memo written in early March, the reality isn't so rosy. Iraq's chances of seeing democracy succeed, according to the memo's author--a U.S. government official detailed to the CPA, who wrote this summation of observations he'd made in the field for a senior CPA director--have been severely imperiled by a year's worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA, the U.S.-led multinational agency administering Iraq. Far from facilitating democracy and security, the memo's author fears, U.S. efforts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war.

by redjade Tue Apr 20, 2004 23:57

Just before Mejia's eight years of service were up, he found himself in Iraq. "After the war people were cheering, but within a week or two they were asking when we were going to leave and getting angry. And then it became clear that nothing was getting reconstructed, people's lives weren't getting better. We had all these deadlines, for setting up the police, getting the power back on, whatever, and nothing ever got done, nothing changed or got better," Mejia explains. "And then the resistance started."

To make matters worse, Mejia found his officers to be glory-obsessed and intentionally reckless with the safety of their men. In particular, he says, they wanted the Army's much-coveted Combat Infantry Badge--an award bestowed only on those who have met and engaged the enemy. "To be a twenty-year career infantry officer and not have your CIB is like being a chef and having never cooked or being a fireman and never having put out a fire," Mejia says. "These guys were really hungry, and we were the bait."

In one attempt to draw enemy fire, Mejia's company--about 120 guys divided evenly into four platoons--was ordered to occupy key intersections in Ramadi, a notoriously violent Iraqi city, for several days running. "All the guys were really nervous. This was a total violation of standard operating procedure. They train you to keep moving, not sit in the open." Finally the enemy attacked, and a platoon in Mejia's company took casualties.

more at...

by redjade Wed Apr 21, 2004 00:54

Powerful photograph offered chance to tell an important story

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001906354_fancher18.html

The caller said she had a picture a friend had sent to her. "Somebody should see it," she said.

Barry Fitzsimmons, a veteran photojournalist, has handled many of those calls and knows most of the pictures are never published. The Seattle Times photo editor also knows, "one in a thousand is a gem," so he agreed to give this one a look.

When the photo arrived, "I just said wow," Fitzsimmons recalls. "The picture was something we don't have access to as the media," and yet it seemed undeniably newsworthy.

What the caller had was the picture on today's front page. It shows rows of flag-draped military coffins inside an airplane in Kuwait. These were America's war dead on their way home at a moment when U.S. troops are experiencing their deadliest month of the war.

Fitzsimmons felt the picture should be published, but "it's too powerful an image just to drop into the newspaper." The Times would first need to learn the story behind it.

More at....
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001906354_fancher18.html

Memory Hole has the other photos....
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/coffin_photos/

The First Image of 'Transfer Tubes' American Have Seen in 1yr of War

by redjade Wed Apr 21, 2004 01:36

A security contractor killed in Iraq last week was once one of South Africa's most secret covert agents, his identity guarded so closely that even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not discover the extent of his involvement in apartheid's silent wars.

Gray Branfield, 55, admitted to being part of a death squad which gunned down Joe Gqabi, the ANC's chief representative and Umkhonto weSizwe operational head in Zimbabwe on July 31 1981. Gqabi was shot 19 times when three assassins ambushed him as he reversed down the driveway of his Harare home.