Dispatches: Tuesday 07 November 2006

The torture and slaughter of Iraqi civilians is reaching unprecedented heights with estimates of up to 655,000 dead.

Night after night death squads rampage through Iraq's main cities. In Baghdad, up to a hundred bodies a day are dumped on the streets. Often they've been tortured with electric drills. Yet those doing the killing have little to do with al Qaeda or Sunni insurgents. The majority of the killings are carried out by Shia death squads who want to turn Iraq into a Shia state aligned to Iran.

This shocking film investigates the links between the death squads and high-ranking Shia politicians. It reveals how the Shia militia that these politicians control have systematically infiltrated and taken over police units and even entire government ministeries. It investigates how these units are closely linked to the death squads, indeed they often are the death squads. And the killers act with impunity -- there's little investigation into their activities.

Mixed Messages

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: Signaling a change in tactics, Hamas' military wing on Wednesday called on Muslims around the world to attack American targets after a deadly Israeli tank strike in the Gaza Strip.

"America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons," Hamas said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

While critical of the U.S., Hamas has always focused its violent campaign of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israeli targets. Wednesday's threat signaled that the group is identifying with global Islamic extremist movements, such as al-Qaida.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian government, said the group had no intention of attacking American targets.

"Our battle is against the occupation on the Palestinian land. We have no interest to transfer the battle," he said, though he said America was indirectly responsible for Wednesday's bloodshed because of its support for Israel.

WHAT THE FCUK DO YOU WANT?

and I thought I was an acid casualty...

I was there. I was.

OK, so I'm going to the Love Music Hate Islamophobia gig at Westminster college Student Union to film Islamic rappers. Should be interesting.

I have been contacted a few times by the producers of I Was There (Endemol) who are keen to include some of my footage in their end of year summary.

did you catch a special event of 2006 on your mobile phone, camera or camcorder? Were you in the right place at the right time, to capture the news as it happened?

If so – here’s your chance to see it on ITV1 later in the year.

I'm not sure how they want to present this, but I told them I didn't think Mr. Hamza was much use in jail.

Reasons to vote #4 & #5 from Michael Moore...

4. I'LL PUT YOU ON MY WEBSITE. That's right. You can appear on my home page and be seen by millions later today. All you need to do is bring a broom when you go to vote. The broom is our mascot today because we're going to sweep the crooks and the warmongers outta office. Take a picture of yourself holding a broom outside your polling place, e-mail it to me, and I'll put as many of you as I can up on the home page of my website. People all around the world will see you! Government files with your name on them will be initiated! What better way to celebrate this historic day?!

And the final reason to vote today...

5. 2,836 + 655,000. Each one of them, American and Iraqi, are no longer with us because of the decision by one man to start a war. Each one of them represented a precious, God-given life that no man had the right to take away. Each one of them had a mother and father, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, friends and loved ones, little boys and little girls. It's mad, my friends, utterly mad, this senseless loss of human life.

So, do it for them. Call up whoever you know and tell them to meet you at the polls. And tell them to bring a broom, real or imaginary, with a big D on it. It's the only true American thing to do.

See ya at the victory party tonight!

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

BAROT

Barot, who sat silently and impassively throughout most of today's hearing, stared intently at Justice Butterfield while his sentence was being handed down. After the punishment was read, Barot muttered briefly to himself before casting one final glare at the judge as he was led out of the courtroom.

Military Times editorial: ‘Rumsfeld must go’

Published in the Nov. 13 issue of Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times, on newsstands Monday, the editorial says it is time for the president “to face the hard bruising truth.”

“His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt,” the newspapers say.


Last week, someone leaked to The New York Times a Central Command briefing slide showing an assessment that the civil conflict in Iraq now borders on “critical” and has been sliding toward “chaos” for most of the past year. The strategy in Iraq has been to train an Iraqi army and police force that could gradually take over for U.S. troops in providing for the security of their new government and their nation.

But despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition.

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don’t show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.

and from the forum:

As a Norwegian former professional soldier who served in the Kosova, may I say how good it is to see the US military institution finally exercising their professional sense? My Iraqi friends are totally speechless over the handling your staff has conducted down there. Donald Rumsfeld should have been fired after Fallujah by direct military demand, if not before, wich was where you decisevily lost the initative in the Iraq war and pissed of all the major clans. That was, I believe, a direct order from Rumsfeld and Cheney, to employ the iron hammer.

As a bachelor in history and a military man, let me presume to make one comment/suggestion that those who read it may spread around:1) Solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict by slapping Israel a bit around the ears. The killing of unarmed women is despicable, and offends all muslims. 2) Bolster the UN, and give them operational brigade-level multinational force-capability with a European doctrine. Relinquish this US doctrine of nationalism and employ foreign soldiers into roman legions under UN command. And yes, this means that US war-criminals will be equal to all the rest. The war against islam is not a winnable war, but a surefire way to bring on the dogs of war on all of us.

If his comeback is confirmed, Ortega would join a growing number of left-leaning Latin American rulers.

"This is good for the people of Nicaragua and for the integration of Latin America," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press on Monday.

Ortega's supporters celebrated in the streets, with caravans of hundreds of cars filing into the capital, honking, waving party flags and blasting the Sandinista campaign song, set to the tune of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."

Many Nicaraguans worry Ortega's return to power will drive away the country's business leaders and elite, as did his first time in power in 1985.

"We're just trying to figure out which country to go to," said Karen Sandoval, a 27-year-old Coca-Cola marketer shopping with a friend at an upscale Managua mall. "This sets the country back 20 years."

But Herberto Jose Lopez, who earns about $235 a month selling CDs from a kiosk, said he voted for Ortega in hopes that he would help Nicaragua's poor.

"I've got a wife and kid and I'm lucky because I have a job, but most people will tell you the same thing: The current administration just governs for the guys in ties," said the 32-year-old Lopez.

Blind Alphabetz

Researching Islamic rap I met Mohammed Yahya from Blind Alphabetz over the weekend who was selling his CDs in Carnaby Street. We spoke over coffee in nearby Golden square where he told me he had reverted to Islam after a trip to Gambia where 95% of people are Muslims.

Having passed through religions as diverse as Christianity and Buddhism he was in a phase of Rastafarianism and had dreadlocks. He was impressed with the feeling of brotherhood amongst Muslims there and the way Islam covered all aspects of life, nature and the community. He cut off his dreads and took "Shahada" (became a Muslim) a week after his return and has been a Muslim for almost two years now.

In the wake of the 7/7 bombings he said he was stopped maybe 15 times by Police in the West End and at Train Stations, but didn't seem overly concerned about it.

"They just wanted to look in my bag. They didn't arrest me. I took to carrying Dawa information, leaflets about Islam to give them. I also carried information about Buddhism and Christianity as well sometimes." he laughed. "They said,"So what are you then?"

Outside London is a bit of a diferent story but here race relations are OK. People can see what the government are doing is wrong. We are part of a festival: Love music hate Islamophobia. Islamophobia is just the new racism. Some people, even rap fans will refuse to buy my CDs because I am a Muslim. Two weeks ago my wife (also a rapper, part of Poetic Pilgrimage) and I were egged. The egg bounced off me, off my wife's leg and only broke when it hit the pavement."

Apparently this was a "Drive by" egging.

Mohammed asked me about Abu Hamza, saying that he had met Mustapha (Hamza's rapping son) and spoken to Muslims who had a lighter view of him. I told him where Hamza's khudbahs were available online. Can I get done for recruitment now? I spoke of the dificulty of filming in Finsbury park and of maintaining a relationship with the Islamists there. I also said frankly that coming from a background I'd call "festival anarchism" I couldn't really connect to the atmosphere of deference around Hamza by Muslims and as a media spectacle.

"They are against music there?" asked Mohammed.

"As far as I know, yes." I said "One of the people I got on with the best put up a curtain when his wife came home and she went to another room. In his life pre-Islam he had been organising nightclubs and she had been a rapper."

"When you spoke on the phone about "Jihadi rap", that isn't how I would describe myself. I am into peace, Islam is a religion of peace. We are a positive influence on our community."

here is a link to a fatwah, or Islamic ruling about Music from Blind Alphabetz MySpace page.

AGAINST NATURE

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THE HYPE...

Aki Nawaz from Fun-Da-Mental answers his critics thus:

...It is an absolute fact that the division created between Muslims and non-Muslims stems from the lack of deep and meaningful debate. We have been here many times before and I have participated in many struggles outside the Muslim arena to know this becomes a root cause of frustration and action...I am not interested in competitive politics or in books such as the art of war. It is all manipulation and egoism. My concern is to create a chamber where people discuss issues with passion and then resolve. If this helps avoid another atrocity be it by the State or by any individual person then we all gain and enlighten ourselves. Maybe a great and gross naivety on my side but that is my root struggle however I know the branches and leaves are a washed with difficult arguments but something that is achievable.

The following quotes are fact and not fiction


"That sort of thing repeated on a daily basis made me understand how people can become suicide bombers. I think if I had to live in that situation - and I say that advisedly - I might just consider becoming one myself."

Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge referring to life in the Israeli occupied territories.


Suicide bombers "felt they had no hope but to blow themselves up".

Cherie Blair 18 June, 2002.


I have not even said anything of the sort other than creatively and musically talk about bombers as a collective yet there is Politicians asking for me to be arrested.

Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream recently penciled out poverty and replaced it with Israel in the slogan makepovertyhistory .Yet he is still entertained and respected by the music industry with no loss or resignation notices. If I had done the same can you imagine the fury?

I, for the moment, refuse to talk to the media because it is presenting me with its own sinister agenda and quoting me out of context as well as presenting the album as a few tracks to meet their sensational headlines.

I urge all people to watch V for Vendetta and then ask the press why they did not come down on this film in the same manner or ask for the director or scriptwriters to be arrested as would be the case with many other films, books, documentaries etc. written about the issues I have addressed in my music.Do not believe the hype...

New Cons

senior neocons now say they wouldn't have pushed for the invasion of Iraq if they knew how poorly it would be carried out by the Bush administration.

via snowmails

HEADFUK

SYNTHETIC CIRCUS

The Guy Fawkes Ball
This Saturday 4 November



The annual and legendary fancy dress rave-up is back with a bang...

Expect live bands, loud sounds, djs, special livesets, circus performers and stageshow

A map to the venue will be going online on Saturday evening - the web address will be announced on the phonelines!

SQUIRTWOMAN?

All people of religious persuasions are totally excused from clicking on this link. No seriously. You won't like it.

Squirtwoman?

translation via babelfish:

I must confess to them that possibly this one is the first time that can enjoy a film to me Squirting, which never attracted to me until now. Cytherea was too anglian for my pleasure. Jincha, very skinny and lacks a good apparatus of cagar like which it likes to Tococo. Nevertheless, Jada is a pretty woman, has one of the tonalities of black skin that it enchants to me and she is more explosive than a strike in the IUPI. That is to say, it promises to be a wood and for that reason I brotherly share with you trailer.

I would like to settle down and have kids with a girl like this no? She seems very nice.

THANKS

I very rarely get any reaction to my films from Muslims so I was very pleased with this via Googlekv

spoke to him at Uni last week he watched a few of your videos and actually liked them...his exact words were "I am suprised at how he just lets you form your own opinion, we Muslims dont get that kind of treatment very often"

I'm quite pleased with my experiments with Youtube so far. For some strange reason no one who comments seems to be able to spell but thats OK.

FCUK OFF YOU FCUKING CNUT

French Connection were unable to stop us using CNUT and WNAKER (at least CNUT was my idea whereas FCUK was actually nicked from a band called THE FAMILY CAT see more below) on our t-shirts but they started injunction proceedings to stop me using FRENCH CORRECTION which was on the back of all our t-shirts. We totally believed in our right to use French Correction but the legal costs soon began to mount up. So we changed the backs of the t-shirts to French Collection for which they started legal action! So we changed the backs to French Erection for which they started…we had far too much time on our hands then...

We then discovered that French Connection were very precious about their Trade Mark but not so precious about others! They were in fact clearly infringing other company’s Trade Marks below and following a few phone calls to the interested parties FCUK found themselves in a whole heap of trouble. FCUK were forced to withdraw the following: FORD, MARS, DUREX

SPEAKERS CORNER

Tonight at JAMM in Brixton FREE

myspace.com/speakerscorner

An interesting bend

London Mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone was left red-faced today after making an embarrassing U-turn over the terrorist son of jailed preacher of hate Abu Hamza.

Speaking at his weekly press conference at City Hall this morning Livingstone said he would be "happy" to have Mohammed Kamel Mostafa working on the underground...

...When it was pointed out that Mostafa was a convicted terrorist, the Mayor replied: "I wouldn't be at all surprised if MI6 was working with him to try to overthrow the regime in Yemen.

"Has he been convicted of any offence in Britain? The answer is no. We are happy to have him work here for us."

However, in a statement issued six hours later by the Mayor's press office Mr Livingstone said: "In this country a person cannot be sacked for what their parents do. It is the actions of Mohammed Kamel Mostafa himself which are relevant.

"However, Mr Mostafa has convictions in Yemen. These must be taken into account. They should have been brought to light by those doing the security checks, the failure to do so must be investigated. As he failed to declare these to the subcontractor they are correct to dismiss him."

A Road to Peace

...“While to many Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the peacefully negotiated settlement in our country,” Mr Mandela, 88, said. “His death should remind us how South Africans ultimately came together to save our country from self-destruction.”

The black-dominated African National Congress was banned and exiled throughout the time Mr Botha was Prime Minister and then President, from 1978 to 1989...

...Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, ordered flags to be flown at half-mast from today. He said that Mr Botha had “realised South Africans had no alternative but to reach out to one another”. Mr Mbeki’s son and brother are both believed to have been killed by apartheid agents...

...During the Government of Margaret Thatcher — who denounced Mr Mandela, Mr Mbeki and the ANC as terrorists — Mr Mbeki met about 20 members of the Afrikaner ruling elite at Mells Castle, near Bath, for highly secret talks from 1987 to 1990, with the blessing of Mrs Thatcher and British Intelligence.

They discussed conditions for Mr Mandela’s release and held constitutional talks. Technically Mr Mbeki’s “terrorist” ANC and the “ostracised” Afrikaners were at war. But in the English West Country, talking over South African brandy and cigars into the small hours, the two sides planned peace...