Juan Cole - 08/19/05

Bush Administration and 'Democracratic Process' In Iraq: The Dark Details Revealed

An informed reader writes:

' From the now-unclassified State Department Report to Congress – 15 December 2003:

“On November 15, the CPA and the Governing Council (GC) agreed to and announced a plan to expedite the process of transferring authority to the Iraqi people. [!?] Under this plan, the GC, in cooperation with the CPA, is expected to establish a political process that will lead to a representative transitional national assembly to assume full sovereign powers by July 2004. The agreement also provides, in connection with the wishes of the Iraqi people, for the drafting of a permanent constitution ….”

Health Care for our Troops

Byron Williams reports:
' WITH the percentage of American troops in Iraq who are National Guard or Reserve forces estimated at 40 percent, one in five National Guard members have no health care. The U.S. Government Accountability Office further estimates that this number rises to 40 percent when accounting for junior enlisted men and women. There are approximately 6,100 California National Guard members currently serving overseas in active duty.
State Treasurer Phil Angelides, along with Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, are sponsoring bill AB 1525 that will provide refundable income tax credit of up to $4,000 a year for health insurance premiums to cover Guard members and their families.

More on Amiriya Demonstration

An informed reader writes:

' You had a brief mention today: "Al-Sharq al-Awsat: Hundreds of residents of Amiriyah, a district of Baghdad, demonstrated Thursday in protest against the recent killing of three men there in a joint US-Iraqi military sweep." Reuters also ran the story . . .

I recently wrote to some friends:

"Most Americans - and especially American troops who were only kids at the time - are also unaware that the neighborhood where this happened is the site of the Amiriya air raid shelter that was hit by a US smart bomb in the 1991 Gulf War. The US military at the time admitted they had made a mistake (they thought it was a shelter for Iraqi leaders if I recall right), but they managed to send a smart bomb down the air shaft into the shelter and literally incinerated 400 civilians. I remember thinking right before Baghdad was captured "what's the reaction going to be when US troops capture the Amiriya shelter?" It was and is a symbol of how completely out of touch we as Americans are with the reality of life as Iraqis live it in their own country. The place had become a shrine in Iraq for the past decade, a symbol of unquenchable sorrow and anger at the US during the decade of sanctions, but I doubt if there was a single US soldier who - while no fault of their own, they didn't know they were going to be sent to rule this foreign country - knew what the place meant to Iraqis. It was absolutely manipulated by Saddam as a tool for his political gain, but it also had a genuine life of its own.

4 US Troops Killed
Shiites demand Islamic Law

Al-Hayat: At least four US troops were killed in Iraq near Samarra on Thursday, and at least 8 Iraqis. US casualties from a car bomb in Baghdad were reported by eyewitnesses but not yet confirmed by the US military. Guerrillas assassinated a judge in Baghdad. Two bodies were found.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat: Hundreds of residents of Amiriyah, a district of Baghdad, demonstrated Thursday in protest against the recent killing of three men there in a joint US-Iraqi military sweep.