Bodies of 500 US, UK soldiers lying in Jacobabad

Wednesday March 26, 2003 17:50

by Fintan Dunne - http://www.GuluFuture.com

Pakistan Trubune claims vast losses being concealed

ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Online): Around 500 dead bodies of American and British soldiers killed during military operation in Afghanistan have been lying in a morgue at Shebhaz Airbase in Jacobabad.

Bodies of 500 US, UK soldiers lying in Jacobabad

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=20101

ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Online): Around 500 dead bodies of American and British soldiers killed during military operation in Afghanistan after September 11 blitz have been lying in a morgue at Shebhaz Airbase in Jacobabad.

American and British authorities because of fear of strong reaction from their masses had kept the dead bodies of as many as 500 soldiers in a morgue established at Jacobabad Airbase instead of shifting them to their own countries, credible sources informed Online here Tuesday.

The bodies of these soldiers, who were killed during last five months in Afghanistan, were brought from Baghram Airbase and other areas of war-ravaged country, sources disclosed.

Sources said American and British authorities, which were planning to shift these dead bodies from their own countries, delayed the decision after eruption of war in Iraq.

American and British authorities feared that shifting of dead bodies at this moment would affect the ongoing campaign of coalition forces in Iraq, sources pointed out.

They maintained that dead bodies would be kept at Shebhaz Airbase until US and British authorities take the final decision.

Sources revealed that security had tightened in and around the Airbase to keep this matter secret.

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=20101

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Comments (13 of 13)

Ignore my last comment please

by fuinseog

Fri Mar 28, 2003 01:36

Actually Daithi, I did go back to read that article and comments. So please ignore my initial reaction above. Fintan seems to be deliberately provocative, Aidan seems over-reactive. (no need to mention Avi and his sparring partners) Fred’s points are good, but Aidan’s reply seems to have to do with people who post to multiple IMCs and I didn’t see anyone accuse Fintan of that.

But because the editorial team of indymedia is a small group of people the title of his ‘Thug’ article is libellous and therefore it should be deleted. (There’s some free legal advice.) Seeing as Fintan has been good enough to give his email, you could email him and tell him that, or more sensibly just wait and tell him when he complains.

By the way, and most sincerely, thank you all for the editing work.

well I certainly didn't read it all but I wouldn't mind if you deleted all that

Fri Mar 28, 2003 00:56

Fun 'n' Games

by Daithi

Thu Mar 27, 2003 20:26

Fuinseog: check out http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=38324

look if I put up the euro story then is it okay?

Thu Mar 27, 2003 19:50

I know nothing about all the threats and paranoia, though judging from indymedia, there seems to be plenty of both to go around so I take you at your word!

Good points

Thu Mar 27, 2003 07:16

I think the actions of the author of these articles (claiming censorship and threatening phone calls from Indymedia editors - I don't think I have ever heard anything so stupid from a contributor and I've heard quite a lot of dumb things) shows that it's not just someone with lots of news, but a deliberate attempt to abuse the freedom of an open newswire.

We can't make editorial decisions based on what's interesting and what's crap - it goes against the whole idea of Indymedia. An article might be the most fascinating piece in the world but if it's posted on all global wires, for example, we try to make decisions based on that rather than substitute our judgement as to the relative importance of a contribution.

In hindsight, I see how illogical it seems to combine the topics that are not directly related. However I would argue that the absolutely ludicrous and paranoid behaviour of the author, and his threats to expose our evil censorship to his connections in independent media across the world (I'm not making this up) show that the decision to prevent his calculated and deliberate spamming was a timely one.

(Having said that I still think some of the issues raised are interesting, but volunteering as editor shouldn't allow me to make that assessment based on my own interests and hobby-horses).

please put the euro story back up on the wire

Thu Mar 27, 2003 00:30

It's the most interesting story for ages.

Just because someone has lots of news (and it is news not people spouting off) doesn't mean their articles should all be bundled together.

Delete stories if they're crap if you like.

Deleting them because they have the same name attached to them won't get you very far anyway, Fintan just has to find some more names, or use yours even.

Displaying more posts per page on newswire

by Sparks

Wed Mar 26, 2003 21:50

How can this be accomplished?

connections

Wed Mar 26, 2003 20:03

It's not - but it is the same poster filling the front page of our newswire. However I don't wish to delete postings just because of over-enthusiasm so moving seems to be an appropriate response? some sort of middle way between allowing the loudest voice to copy, paste, and drown out, and deleting the content completely.

Question

by Graham

Wed Mar 26, 2003 19:42

How is the use of the Euro as an oil currency and its threat to the US economy related to a story about possible US/UK casualties in Afganistan?

Moved

by IMC

Wed Mar 26, 2003 18:01

WAKE UP --IRAQ IS A WAR AGAINST EURO CURRENCY !!
by Fintan Dunne - http://www.GuluFuture.com Wed, Mar 26 2003, 3:37pm
guluinfo@gulufuture.com

AILING DOLLAR STRIKES AT EURO IN IRAQ WAR
Summary: Why is George Bush so hell bent on war with Iraq? Why does his administration reject every positive Iraqi move? It all makes sense when you consider the economic implications for the USA of not going to war with Iraq. The war in Iraq is actually the US and Europe going head to head on economic leadership of the world.

http://www.GuluFuture.com/news/nuke_war030321.htm

AILING DOLLAR STRIKES
AT EURO IN IRAQ WAR

READ THE FULL ARTICLE
http://www.GuluFuture.com/news/eurozone_war030323.htm

23rd March, 2003 17:00 GMT
http://www.GuluFuture.com

An Economic Perspective On The War
It's Not About Oil Or Iraq.
It's About The US And Europe Going
Head-To-Head On World Economic Dominance.

By Geoffrey Heard, Australia

Summary: Why is George Bush so hell bent on war with Iraq? Why does his administration reject every positive Iraqi move? It all makes sense when you consider the economic implications for the USA of not going to war with Iraq. The war in Iraq is actually the US and Europe going head to head on economic leadership of the world.

America's Bush administration has been caught in outright lies, gross exaggerations and incredible inaccuracies as it trotted out its litany of paper thin excuses for making war on Iraq. Along with its two supporters, Britain and Australia, it has shifted its ground and reversed its position with a barefaced contempt for its audience. It has manipulated information, deceived by commission and omission and frantically "bought" UN votes with billion dollar bribes.

Faced with the failure of gaining UN Security Council support for invading Iraq, the USA has threatened to invade without authorisation. It would act in breach of the UN's very constitution to allegedly enforced UN resolutions.

It is plain bizarre. Where does this desperation for war come from?

There are many things driving President Bush and his administration to invade Iraq, unseat Saddam Hussein and take over the country. But the biggest one is hidden and very, very simple. It is about the currency used to trade oil and consequently, who will dominate the world economically, in the foreseeable future -- the USA or the European Union.

Iraq is a European Union beachhead in that confrontation. America had a monopoly on the oil trade, with the US dollar being the fiat currency, but Iraq broke ranks in 1999, started to trade oil in the EU's euros, and profited. If America invades Iraq and takes over, it will hurl the EU and its euro back into the sea and make America's position as the dominant economic power in the world all but impregnable.

It is the biggest grab for world power in modern times.

America's allies in the invasion, Britain and Australia, are betting America will win and that they will get some trickle-down benefits for jumping on to the US bandwagon.

France and Germany are the spearhead of the European force -- Russia would like to go European but possibly can still be bought off.

Presumably, China would like to see the Europeans build a share of international trade currency ownership at this point while it continues to grow its international trading presence to the point where it, too, can share the leadership rewards.

DEBATE BUILDING ON THE INTERNET

Oddly, little or nothing is appearing in the general media about this issue, although key people are becoming aware of it -- note the recent slide in the value of the US dollar. Are traders afraid of war? They are more likely to be afraid there will not be war.

But despite the silence in the general media, a major world discussion is developing around this issue, particularly on the internet. Among the many articles: Henry Liu, in the 'Asia Times' last June, it has been a hot topic on the Feasta forum, an Irish-based group exploring sustainable economics, and W. Clark's "The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War with Iraq: A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth" has been published by the 'Sierra Times', 'Indymedia.org', and 'ratical.org'.

This debate is not about whether America would suffer from losing the US dollar monopoly on oil trading -- that is a given -- rather it is about exactly how hard the USA would be hit. The smart money seems to be saying the impact would be in the range from severe to catastrophic. The USA could collapse economically.

OIL DOLLARS

The key to it all is the fiat currency for trading oil.

Under an OPEC agreement, all oil has been traded in US dollars since 1971 (after the dropping of the gold standard) which makes the US dollar the de facto major international trading currency. If other nations have to hoard dollars to buy oil, then they want to use that hoard for other trading too. This fact gives America a huge trading advantage and helps make it the dominant economy in the world.

As an economic bloc, the European Union is the only challenger to the USA's economic position, and it created the euro to challenge the dollar in international markets. However, the EU is not yet united behind the euro -- there is a lot of jingoistic national politics involved, not least in Britain -- and in any case, so long as nations throughout the world must hoard dollars to buy oil, the euro can make only very limited inroads into the dollar's dominance.

In 1999, Iraq, with the world's second largest oil reserves, switched to trading its oil in euros. American analysts fell about laughing; Iraq had just made a mistake that was going to beggar the nation. But two years on, alarm bells were sounding; the euro was rising against the dollar, Iraq had given itself a huge economic free kick by switching.

Iran started thinking about switching too; Venezuela, the 4th largest oil producer, began looking at it and has been cutting out the dollar by bartering oil with several nations including America's bete noir, Cuba. Russia is seeking to ramp up oil production with Europe (trading in euros) an obvious market.

The greenback's grip on oil trading and consequently on world trade in general, was under serious threat. If America did not stamp on this immediately, this economic brushfire could rapidly be fanned into a wildfire capable of consuming the US's economy and its dominance of world trade.

related link: www.GuluFuture.com

COMMENTS

See also:
by Graham Caswell Wed, Mar 26 2003, 4:35pm

http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=232701&group=webcast

http://www.feasta.org/documents/papers/oil1.htm

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html

related link: www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=232701&group=webcast

Wed Mar 26, 2003 18:00

GW BUSH DEEP REASONS FOR WAR ON IRAQ
by Fintan Dunne - http://www.GuluFuture.com Wed, Mar 26 2003, 4:01pm
guluinfo@gulufuture.com

Oil, Petrodollars, and the OPEC Euro Question
summary Although completely suppressed by the U.S. media and government, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is an oil currency war. The real reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves.

1905

The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War With Iraq:

A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth

by W. Clark
January 2003 (last revised 6 March)
Independent Media Center
www.indymedia.org

READ THE FULL ARTICLE
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html

Summary
Although completely suppressed by the U.S. media and government, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking -- it is an oil currency war. The real reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves. This essay will discuss the macroeconomics of the `petro-dollar' and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency. The author advocates reform of the global monetary system including a dollar/euro currency `trading band' with reserve status parity, and a dual OPEC oil transaction standard. These reforms could potentially reduce future oil currency warfare.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be . . . The People cannot be safe without information. When the press is free, and every man is able to read, all is safe."

Those words by Thomas Jefferson embody the unfortunate state of affairs that have beset our nation. As our government prepares to go to war with Iraq, our country seems unable to answer even the most basic questions about this upcoming conflict. First, why is there almost no international support to topple Saddam? If Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program truly possessed the threat level that President Bush has repeatedly purported, why are our historic allies not joining a coalition to militarily disarm Saddam? Secondly, despite over 350 unfettered U.N inspections, there has been no evidence reported that Iraq has reconstituted its WMD program. Indeed, the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's WMD capability appear demonstrably false. [1] [2] Third, and despite President Bush's rhetoric, the CIA has not found any links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. To the contrary, some intelligence analysts believe it is far more likely Al Qaeda might acquire an unsecured former Soviet Union Weapon(s) of Mass Destruction, or potentially from sympathizers within a destabilized Pakistan.

Moreover, immediately following Congress's vote on the Iraq Resolution, we suddenly became aware of North Korea's nuclear program violations. Kim Jong Il is processing uranium in order to produce nuclear weapons this year. President Bush has not provided a rationale answer as to why Saddam's seemingly dormant WMD program possesses a more imminent threat that North Korea's active nuclear weapons program. Strangely, Donald Rumsfeld suggested that if Saddam were `exiled' we could avoid an Iraq war. Confused yet? Well, I'm going to give their game away -- the core driver for toppling Saddam is actually the euro currency, the .

Although completely suppressed in the U.S. media, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking. The upcoming war in Iraq is mostly about how the ruling class at Langley and the Bush/Cheney administration view hydrocarbons at the geo-strategic level, and the overarching macroeconomic threats to the U.S. dollar from the euro. The Real Reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves.

This essay will discuss the macroeconomics of the `petro-dollar' and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency. The following is how an astute and anonymous former-government employee/macroeconomist alluded to the unspoken truth about this upcoming war with Iraq:

"The Federal Reserve's greatest nightmare is that OPEC will switch its international transactions from a dollar standard to a euro standard. Iraq actually made this switch in Nov. 2000 (when the euro was worth around 82 cents), and has actually made off like a bandit considering the dollar's steady depreciation against the euro. (Note: the dollar declined 17% against the euro in 2002.)

"The real reason the Bush administration wants a puppet government in Iraq -- or more importantly, the reason why the corporate-military-industrial network conglomerate wants a puppet government in Iraq -- is so that it will revert back to a dollar standard and stay that way." (While also hoping to veto any wider OPEC momentum towards the euro, especially from Iran -- the 2nd largest OPEC producer who is actively discussing a switch to euros for its oil exports)."

Furthermore, despite Saudi Arabia being our `client state,' the Saudi regime appears increasingly weak/threatened from massive civil unrest. Some analysts believe a `Saudi Revolution' might be plausible in the aftermath of an unpopular U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq (ie. Iran circa 1979) [3]. Undoubtedly, the Bush administration is acutely aware of these risks. Hence, the neo-conservative framework entails a large and permanent military presence in the Persian Gulf region in a post-Saddam era, just in case we need to surround and control Saudi's Ghawar oil fields in the event of a coup by an anti-western group. But first back to Iraq.

"Saddam sealed his fate when he decided to switch to the euro in late 2000 (and later converted his $10 billion reserve fund at the U.N. to euros) -- at that point, another manufactured Gulf War become inevitable under Bush II. Only the most extreme circumstances could possibly stop that now and I strongly doubt anything can -- short of Saddam getting replaced with a pliant regime.

"Big Picture Perspective: Everything else aside from the reserve currency and the Saudi/Iran oil issues (i.e. domestic political issues and international criticism) is peripheral and of marginal consequence to this administration. Further, the dollar-euro threat is powerful enough that they will rather risk much of the economic backlash in the short-term to stave off the long-term dollar crash of an OPEC transaction standard change from dollars to euros. All of this fits into the broader Great Game that encompasses Russia, India, China."

This information about Iraq's oil currency is being censored by the U.S. media and the Bush administration as the truth could potentially curtail both investor and consumer confidence, reduce consumer borrowing/spending, create political pressure to form a new energy policy that slowly weans us off Middle-Eastern oil, and of course stop our march towards a war with Iraq. This quasi `state secret' can be found on a Radio Free Europe article discussing Saddam's switch for his oil sales from dollars to the euros effective November 6, 2000:

Wed Mar 26, 2003 17:59

Al-JAZEERA ONLINE HACKED TO HIDE SLAUGHTER
by Fintan Dunne - http://www.GuluFuture.com Wed, Mar 26 2003, 4:32pm
guluinfo@gulufuture.com

Leading Arab News Site Hacked to Cover Iraq Slaughter?
Al-Jazeera.net is unavailable now in either Arabic or English versions for over 24hrs. I suspect they are offline because mainstream media is going to scale down reporting of Arab news content. So internet distribution of their news is being blocked to cut them off completely in the West.

Al-JAZEERA ONLINE HACKED TO HIDE SLAUGHTER

by Fintan Dunne, Editor
http://www.GuluFuture.com
26th March, 2003 16:30gmt

Al-Jazeera.net is unavailable now in either
Arabic or English versions for over 24hrs.

http://www.aljazeera.net
http://english.aljazeera.net

On Tuesday the Washington Post reported that the new English language version of Al-Jazeera was experiencing DNS attack on it's servers. Since then, both that site and the main arabic language version of Al-Jazeera have been unavailable.

I suspect they are offline because mainstream media is scaling down reporting of Arab news content. So internet distribution of the premier Arab news channel is being blocked to cut them off completely in the West.

The objective would be to regain information dominance. The gloves are off because the campaign is going badly. Even worse the gloves are off in Iraq too and wholesale slaughter from the air will now ensue --against civilians and Iraqi military alike. At this stage it is the logical move for the ruthless executioners of the Iraq campaign.

No more pretence of Mr. Nice Guy. No more pretence of free speech on the war coverage. That only applied as long as there was an expectation by the planners that they would have the propaganda success of triumphal progress and engineered coverage Iraqi's greeting them with open arms.

Now we see their true colour: Blood Red.

Some other REAL news sites sites are still available:

http://www.iraqwar.ru
http://www.aeronautics.ru

http://www.khilafah.com/
http://electronicintifada.net/new.shtml
http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/mediocrity/editcalls.asp
http://www.ummahnews.com/

NOT IN MY NAME
http://www.nimn.org/

AND OF COURSE
http://www.indymedia.org
http://www.indymedia.ie

LAST BUT NOT LEAST
http://www.GuluFuture.com

Al-Jazeera Site Experiences Hack Attack

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25491-2003Mar25.html

By PETER SVENSSON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 25, 2003; 12:30 PM

Hackers attacked the Web site of Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera on Tuesday, rendering it intermittently unavailable, the site's host said.

The newly launched English-language page, which went live Monday, was hardest hit in a bombardment of data packets known as a denial-of-service attack.

Ayman Arrashid, Internet system administrator at the Horizons Media and Information Services, the site's Web host, said the attack began Tuesday morning local time.

The Web host is based in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The servers that host the Al-Jazeera site are in France and the United States. Only the U.S. servers were under attack, said Arrashid, so the attackers were likely in the United States.

He said technicians were working to thwart the attack, but could not estimate when the site would be fully available again.

UNCENSORED COVERAGE
http://www.GuluFuture.com

Space

Wed Mar 26, 2003 17:55

Fintan, please try and keep your contributions of articles copied from other web sources to a minimum; summarise, post links, add stories as comments, combine your contributions in one story rather than take up four spaces on the front page of the newswire.

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Bodies of 500 US, UK soldiers lying in Jacobabad

Comments (13 of 13)