As the bulk of what we hear in the media focuses upon the violent conflict between the US military forces and various militias, we need to make special effort to listen to and hear from those experimenting with the tools of nonviolent resistance during these conflicts. The fast of Palestinian detainees and the march called by Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani) are two examples. Voices will fast in Chicago from Sept 1 through Sept 10 to support those in Iraq and Palestine who are seeking to live and act nonviolently to end the deadly conflicts consuming their countries.

Leading Cleric Returns To Iraq, Calls For March To Najaf

By Evan Osnos
Chicago Tribune

BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Iraq’s paramount Shiite cleric unexpectedly returned to Iraq on Wednesday and thrust himself into the bloody standoff in Najaf, calling for a nationwide march on the holy city in a bid to quell three weeks of fighting between U.S. forces and Shiite rebels.

The call for peace from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - whose words have sent thousands into the streets in the past - could be a pivotal turn in the showdown between rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

It raises hopes among some Iraqis of a breakthrough, but also sets the stage for a huge and potentially volatile human surge into a city swarming with U.S. troops and Iraqi militants.

By Pratap Chatterjee, AlterNet
Posted on August 23, 2004

Missing: One giant generator owned by the United States military. Estimated cost: $734,863

Last seen: Somewhere in Iraq.

While much of the media is focused on the pitched battle over the control of the holy shrine in Najaf, a bigger scandal is brewing in Iraq that may well have an equally important effect on the future of the U.S. occupation.

A team of auditors was dispatched to Iraq in late January this year after a string of internal reports showed that the military was wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money. They have issued eleven reports since June 25, almost all of which have pointed to the misuse of the money allocated for reconstruction, be it Iraqi or Congress-appropriated funds.

According to two of these reports issued in late July by Stuart Bowen, the auditor-inspector general of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), not only have a full one-third of the items purchased by the Pentagon gone MIA (including the pricey generator), but a whopping. $1.9 billion or more of Iraqi oil revenue has also mysteriously disappeared.

Embarrassed military authorities did eventually track down the missing generator and much of the money, both of which seemed to have ended up with none other than Halliburton. As it turns out they weren’t missing after all; it’s just that Dick Cheney’s former employer had misplaced or conveniently forgotten to turn in the receipts to the correct people.

But the Pentagon was not able to explain just how Halliburton gained possession of Iraqi funds when neither the United States Congress nor the Iraqi government authorized their transfer to Halliburton in the first place. Worse yet, the man who authorized the allocation � CPA chief Paul Bremer � had already quietly left Iraq just as the reports were being released.

Yet days after the much-touted “transfer of sovereignty,” the White House revealed an even more startling detail about the reconstruction effort: In over a year, the CPA had managed to spend just 2 percent of the $18.4 billion earmarked for the immediate reconstruction of Iraq. And not a penny was spent on the two areas where the Iraqi people were suffering the most: healthcare or water and sanitation.

So what is really going on? Is the United States spending too much or too little money in Iraq?

By Richard Muhammad, AlterNet

Michael Hoffman, who lives outside of Philadelphia, was three days away from leaving the Marine Corps when the order came down: he was being sent to Iraq. There was no advance notice, no extra money and, of course, no guarantee that he would come back alive.

Hoffman, like thousands of others who volunteered to serve their country, are being forced to stay long after they’d planned on leaving, because of the “stop loss” orders authorized by statute. The orders – which have been called “back-door drafts” – allow the military to suspend all laws and regulations and force all personnel to continue serving. The orders apply to those whose tours of duty expire and to those who are eligible for retirement.

“I just thought you leave the military and you can get called back if they need you,” says Hoffman. “With the ’stop loss’ orders, you never leave. They extend your contract, which is something nobody really understands when they first sign-up.”

The emotional turmoil aside, Hoffman feels fortunate his extension was only a few months and he left the Marines about a year ago, without having lost much. Hoffman’s friend lost a good job with benefits and was forced to take his wife and child to live with family members after departure from military service was delayed.

Now comes a lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in San Francisco, challenging the military’s controversial policy on behalf of “John Doe,” a decorated veteran and married reservist in the California Army National Guard, asking his “stop loss” order overturned. The lawsuit argues that the policy, based on an executive order issued after Sept. 11, 2001, doesn’t apply to enlisted personnel. It further argues that the order is only valid after war is legally declared by Congress. Among the named defendats are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Army Secretary Les Brownlee and John Doe’s company commander.

Letter from Baghdad
By Yanar Mohammed

Life in Baghdad in these days is nerve wracking. It is so hard to keep your sanity through one more night of bombing. The explosions, the machine guns all around your house at night, the many times you jump up and down because it feels as if the last gun shot came from your own bedroom.

Nobody deserves to live like this.

Al Jazeera tv bombards us with the numbers and scenes of those of us who are killed each daythe children who don’t have the slightest idea why they are dying the women holding their heads unable to understand how their babies meant nothing to those who bombed them in the last air raid.

Hundreds of families in Al Thawra city are unable to buy meat for their meals because they haven’t worked for many days now. All the shops are closed in their area because it happens that the “holy” Al-Mahdi Army chose their streets and their neighborhoods as a battlefield against the American occupiers. People have no income and definitely no prospects; the young men are recruited (by al-Sadr’s army) for a monthly salary of 200$. They have only one way of getting by; take a few magic capsules from this sheetand the world will turn rosy as you are fighting to realize the will of God. “Capsuling” (or cabsala as they call it in Arabic) is a drug habit that has spread in Iraq over the last few years, only now it has become an epidemic addiction that the Al Mahdi Army thrives on. It turns thousands of young men into addicts of drugs, violence and fanaticism.

Military helicopters took to the skies around our buildings at dawn this morning after the machine guns went quiet. The beautiful skyline over the river was filled with black Apachee helicopters, flying so low you could see the drivers and of course you could feel your heart beat in a way you are not familiar with. Fear takes so many forms in this city that a heart attack awaits you around the corner at any time during the day or night.

By Peggy Gish
August 22, 2004

Since returning to Iraq, I am frequently asked about what it is like for the Iraqi people now. While it’s easier to focus on the difficulties and crises they are experiencing, I also look for movements of hope.

On a day-to-day level, there are meager improvements in their standard of living and the increased availability of modern appliances and technology. Overshadowing any satisfaction about this, however, looms the lack of security and control Iraqis continue to feel over the circumstances of their lives and the future of their society.