city:baghdad

.:Middle East Online ::Poor make good use of poll campaign posters in Baghdad :.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=58809

Poor make good use of poll campaign posters in Baghdad

Building democracy Mot à mot : construire la démocratie. En Irak les plus pauvres construisent avec la démocratie en détournant les panneaux des campagnes électorales pour construire des abris de fortune. (Ce qui permet de constater que la campagne USA a aussi apporté la prospérité...)

Iraq’s Political Crisis Spreads To Sports Stadiums - Al-Monitor : the Pulse of the Middle East
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/political-crisis-affects-sports-iraq.html

Iraq’s Political Crisis Spreads
To Sports Stadiums

Toujours les stades et la politique au Moyen-Orient. Cette fois-ci, il s’agit des Kurdes. En gros, ils veulent bien être autonomes, mais pas lâcher le droit à participer au championnat irakien ;-)

Big Data dans la Big Apple - Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/03/big_data_excerpt_how_mike_flowers_revolutionized_new_york_s_building_inspecti

Un extrait du livre de Viktor Schönberger et Kenneth Cukier revient sur comment le responsable des données de la ville de New York, Mike Flowers, a transformé l’inspection des immeubles de la ville grâce à l’analyse de données en ordonnant les 25 000 plaintes annuelles que reçoivent les 200 inspecteurs du service des bâtiments qui appartiennent à la ville. La solution : un cocktail de données permettant de trouver une corrélation avec les signalement aux services d’urgences et notamment aux pompiers, (...)

#Bigdata #infolabs #citelabo #villelegere

Hussein al-Hujairi: The Jihadi Who Danced and Drank Alcohol
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/hussein-al-hujairi-jihadi-who-danced-and-drank-alcohol

After a two-year pursuit, Hussein al-Hujairi, also known as Hussein al-Hallaq (the Barber), has finally been captured. The man is believed to have launched the recent wave of kidnappings for ransom that began with the abduction of the Estonian cyclists in the Bekaa.

The 30-year-old Hujairi, who hails from the Bekaa Valley town of Ersal, is the only participant in the Estonians’ kidnapping that hasn’t been arrested or killed.

Iraq continues using fake bomb detectors
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-continues-using-fake-bomb-detectors

James McCormick, a British businessman, made an estimated £50 million ($76 million/59 million euros) selling the “bomb detectors,” based on a novelty golf ball finder, to Iraq and other countries. He was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in jail for fraud.

But despite the sentencing and overwhelming evidence that the devices are worthless, the Iraqi government has not taken them out of circulation.

Relying on bomb detectors that do not work is an especially grave issue in Iraq, where violence is a major problem and bombings by militants are common.

Évidemment, on ne peut trouver cela drôle que si l’on écarte le fait qu’il y a eu 700 morts en avril en Irak.

« Prison ferme pour l’inventeur des #faux #détecteurs_de_bombes »
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2013/05/02/prison-ferme-pour-l-inventeur-des-faux-detecteurs-de-bombes_3169733_3214.htm

Ce qui est assez extraordinaire ici et qui n’est absolument pas évoqué dans l’article, c’est la crédulité des acheteurs, ONU, police, militaires, et leur vulnérabilité à l’escroquerie pour un équipement censé être sensible. C’est ça le #marché de la #peur : du discours qu’on vend et qu’on achète - et on se passe de vérifier la réalité, de la menace comme de son antidote supposée.

Jim McCormick disait avoir mis au point au début des années 2000, dans sa ferme de Somerset, en Grande-Bretagne, un détecteur de bombes révolutionnaire. Un équipement de détection avancée (ADE) intégrant une carte programmée pour détecter la plus petite trace d’explosifs, de drogues, d’ivoire et même d’argent. Un système si pointu, selon lui, qu’il fonctionnerait à une distance de mille mètres, que ce soit sous terre, sous l’eau ou dans les airs. Un système si révolutionnaire que les quatre laboratoires dont il disait disposer en Roumanie et au Royaume-Uni travaillaient dans le plus grand secret.

En quelques années, l’invention de Jim McCormick lui a rapporté gros. Cédés pour 27 000 livres (31 650 euros) l’unité, ces détecteurs ont rapporté à « l’inventeur » britannique près de 50 millions de livres (59 millions d’euros), rapporte le Guardian. Il en a vendu aux services de sécurité du monde entier. De l’Irak, son principal marché, aux casques bleus postés au Liban, en passant par la police kényane, les services pénitenciers de Hongkong, l’armée égyptienne, la douane thaïlandaise mais également l’Iran, la Chine, la Syrie, la Jordanie, la Géorgie et le Mexique. Certaines machines auraient même fini aux Etats-Unis, au Canada, au Japon et en Belgique.

(...) Une escroquerie basée sur la transformation d’une machine destinée à retrouver les balles de golf, ne comportant aucun composant électronique et vendue pour moins de 20 dollars (15 euros) aux Etats-Unis, en détecteur de bombes.

#armement #business_sécuritaire

Du sperme explosif

Alarm in Bellevue : Verdächtiger Brief an Gauck enthielt nur ein Kondom - Welt - Tagesspiegel
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/alarm-in-bellevue-verdaechtiger-brief-an-gauck-enthielt-nur-ein-kondom/8137528.html
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4136/4763963244_06ba2ce6a2_b_d.jpg

Der vor zehn Tagen im Bundespräsidialamt eingegangene verdächtige Brief hat nach Informationen des „Focus“ lediglich ein benutztes Kondom enthalten. Spezialisten der Polizei sprengten den Brief im hinteren Teil des Parks von Schloss Bellevue.Aus Sicherheitskreisen hieß es damals, ein Verdacht auf Sprengstoff in dem Brief habe sich bestätigt.

Ils sont fous ces spécialistes de la sécurité. Quelqu’un envoie une lettre avec un préservatif utilisé aux président allemand et on la fait exploser dans un coin caché du parc du palais présidentiel parce qu’on croit y avoir détecté des explosifs.

J’ai l’impression que les services de sécurité du président figurent également sur la listes des acheteurs de l’appareil ADE 651.

How A Millionaire Sold Fake Bomb Detectors To Governments All Over The World http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-04/how-millionaire-sold-fake-bomb-detectors-governments-world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651

#berlin #allemagne #securite

La guerre en Irak, 10 ans après - Acrimed | Action Critique Médias
http://www.acrimed.org/article4054.html

Depuis le 15 avril 2013 et quatre jours durant, les attentats de Boston et la traque de leurs auteurs ont focalisé l’attention médiatique et phagocyté le reste de l’actualité… Dans le même temps, des attentats ou des combats décimaient des civils en Syrie ou en Irak, qui étaient à peine évoqués dans la presse écrite et ignorés par les radios et les télés. Cette asymétrie dans le traitement des victimes de violence armée démontre l’invraisemblable ethnocentrisme qui régit la production de l’information et paraît tout particulièrement évidente en ce qui concerne l’Irak. Le silence médiatique qui prévaut sur la guerre civile larvée qui sévit dans ce pays, où les affrontements interconfessionnels et les attentats causent la perte de centaines de civils est d’autant plus écrasant qu’il s’accompagne d’une absence totale de bilan d’une invasion prétendument libératrice, déclenchée il y a dix ans.

À l’occasion de ce triste anniversaire, le site américain d’observation des médias, FAIR [1], retrace les premiers jours de l’invasion en relevant toutes les prises de positions des journalistes et autres experts médiatiques ainsi que l’engagement des télévisions et radios américaines dans la propagande belliciste. Nous vous proposons cette traduction en français de l’article original [2]. (Acrimed)

How cities reshape themselves when trust vanishes - Ideas - The Boston Globe

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/04/20/how-cities-reshape-themselves-when-trust-vanishes/Wl95av8KK4qYmIcxjTpHJP/story.html

BEIRUT — Everything that people love and hate about cities stems from the agglomeration of humanity packed into a tight space: the traffic, the culture, the chance encounters, the anxious bustle. Along with this proximity come certain feelings, a relative sense of security or of fear.

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_960w/Boston/2011-2020/2013/04/18/BostonGlobe.com/Ideas/Images/NYC86372.jpg
A Burger King surrounded by blast barriers in Baghdad in 2008.
© Donovan Wylie / Magnum Photos

Over the last 13 years I have lived in a magical succession of cities: Boston, Baghdad, New York, and Beirut. They all made lovely and surprising homes—and they all were distorted to varying degrees by fear and threat.

#villes-en-guerre #urban-matters #adaptation

Important projet de connexion gazière et pétrolière entre l’Iraq et la Jordanie
Jordan Local Daily News| Middle East Breaking News| Jordan Times Amman-based Newspaper
http://jordantimes.com/iraq-signs-strategic-pipeline-deal-with-jordan

The Iraqi ministry of oil said on Monday that Jordan and Iraq have signed an agreement to build a double pipeline that will supply the Kingdom with crude oil and natural gas.

#pétrole
#gaz_naturel
#énergie

Une dé-dé-baathification en Irak ? http://news.antiwar.com/2013/04/07/the-un-de-baathification-of-iraq

AFP: Iraq cabinet unveils sweeping reform of Saddam law
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hWRP-VL2IqiUxeg0XUcH33waF0Iw?docId=CNG.0a12831fb7b4e57d3cb72580dd689b5

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s cabinet unveiled sweeping reforms to a law barring members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from public life on Sunday as part of moves to placate angry rallies by the country’s Sunni Arab minority.

The amendment to the De-Baathification law still needs to be approved by parliament, where it is expected to face stiff opposition, but it is among a raft of concessions to demonstrators who have alleged that the Shiite-led authorities unfairly target the Sunni community.

The protests since December lie at the heart of a political dispute that has pitted Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is Shiite, against several of his erstwhile national unity government partners with less than two weeks to go before provincial elections, Iraq’s first polls since 2010.
“This law (of De-Baathification) has excluded many talented people and prevented the country from (benefiting from) their services,” Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak said in a statement summarising the reforms.

Ministers approved a draft amendment that would allow Baath party branch chiefs, or firqa-level members, to rejoin the civil service, and would provide for pension payments for many members of the Fedayeen Saddam, a paramilitary organisation loyal to the ousted dictator.

It would also put a time limit on the law, ensuring that only names blacklisted by the end of 2013 would be restricted from public life.
In all, the draft law would allow thousands of people to either enter the civil service or receive pensions.

“If you want to create a state, you need reconciliation,” said Mahmud Othman, an independent Kurdish MP opposed to the current De-Baathification laws which, he said, were “punishing the people” with links to Saddam’s regime.

Camp Nama: British personnel reveal horrors of secret US base in Baghdad | World news | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/01/camp-nama-iraq-human-rights-abuses

Codenamed Task Force 121, the joint US-UK special forces unit was at first deployed to detain individuals thought to have information about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Once it was realised that Saddam’s regime had long since abandoned its WMD programme, TF 121 was re-tasked with tracking down people who might know where the deposed dictator and his loyalists might be, and then with catching al-Qaida leaders who sprang up in the country after the regime collapsed.

Suspects were brought to the secret prison at Baghdad International airport, known as Camp Nama, for questioning by US military and civilian interrogators. But the methods used were so brutal that they drew condemnation not only from a US human rights body but from a special investigator reporting to the Pentagon.

A British serviceman who served at Nama recalled: “I saw one man having his prosthetic leg being pulled off him, and being beaten about the head with it before he was thrown on to the truck.”

From the Editors | Middle East Research and Information Project
http://merip.org/mer/mer266/editors

[MERIP, printemps 2013]

"La guerre en Irak s’est faite essentiellement à cause du pétrole", a écrit Alan Greenspan dans ses mémoires The Age of Turbulence (2007). "Je suis attristé qu’il soit politiquement inopportun de reconnaître ce que chacun sait." Il peut en effet être évident que les Etats-Unis ont envahi l’Irak en 2003, comme l’a dit l’ancien président de la Réserve fédérale, à cause du pétrole. Mais que signifie cette proposition ? La réponse n’est pas si évidente.

(...)

Greenspan, cependant, semblait avoir quelque chose d’autre en tête quand il a affirmé que "il était essentiel" pour les Etats-Unis de "sortir" le régime de Saddam Hussein. Le golfe Persique, avait-t-il noté, est "un espace qui abrite une ressource indispensable pour le bon fonctionnement de l’économie mondiale."

Ici le banquier vétéran ressort un argument bien connu des planificateurs des politiques des États-Unis (et aux lecteurs de ce magazine) : Le pétrole est autant un produit stratégique que d’ordre commercial. (...) Tout pouvoir qui influence et façonne le flux de combustibles fossiles du Golfe aura une influence démesurée dans les affaires mondiales. (...)

La grande stratégie et l’accaparement des revenus pétroliers, buts qui obscurcissent la distinction entre les prérogatives géopolitiques et celles des entreprises, sont au cœur de l’« intérêt national » dans le Golfe. Il y a discorde au sein de l’establishment de politique étrangère sur la façon d’atteindre ces objectifs, mais pas sur les objectifs eux-mêmes.

(...)

Voici donc une question alternative et une réponse suggérée : Alan Greenspan a-t-il raison ? Était-il « indispensable » pour la préservation du statut de superpuissance américain d’envahir l’Irak en 2003 ?

Non.

Bien que les sanctions s’affaiblissaient, et que le consensus international en leur faveur s’écroulait, l’armée irakienne était vétuste et ne représentait aucune menace pour les champs de pétrole hors des frontières irakiennes. Le pétrole irakien aurait pu être ramené sur le marché par d’autres moyens. La cause immédiate de la guerre a été un méchant accident historique : Les attaques terroristes du 11 Septembre 2001 ont donné libre cours aux néo-conservateurs et leurs maîtres pour adopter leur vision distincte de perpétuation de l’hégémonie américaine, un projet pour lequel la chute de Saddam Hussein devait être un essai. Mais la guerre en Irak a été en effet "en grande partie pour le pétrole," en ce que le pétrole créait les conditions de possibilité de guerre.

Comprendre la relation entre le pétrole et la guerre est crucial pour tous ceux qui cherchent à éviter une répétition de l’invasion de 2003, qui, bien plus qu’une erreur, a été et reste un énorme et odieux crime.

The American Legacy in Iraq | The Nation
►http://www.thenation.com/article/173416/american-legacy-iraq#

Le legs étasunien : Un sectarisme digne de celui des pays du Golfe et une corruption massive et généralisée.

There is a grandeur in the blatancy and pervasiveness of corruption at every level in Iraq. People in prison found innocent at their trial must still pay to get released. Officers who want promotion in the army or police must pay. A civilian friend worked out that he could join the army and rise to the rank of colonel within months, but he would have to bribe eleven people to do so. One former minister describes the system as “institutionalized kleptocracy.” The government of Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister since 2006, allocates contracts to supporters and to political factions he wants to cultivate. Money is paid for contracts regardless of whether they are performed or not. The effects can be seen all over Baghdad, where there are almost no new buildings. I was there recently during a couple of days of heavy rain. Since 2003, $7 billion has been spent on a new sewage system, which should have taken care of the rainwater. But it turns out that either there are no new sewers or they don’t work, because within hours, the streets of Baghdad turned into murky gray pools of water and sewage. Electricity is often two hours on, two hours off, and there is a shortage of clean water.

A lire l’extraordinaire David Ignatius on croirait que la « spirale des tueries sectaires » existait avant l’invasion étasunienne et que David Petraeus n’a jamais créé d’escadrons de la mort.

David Ignatius : Ten years later, recalling Iraq’s hard lessons - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-ten-years-later-recalling-iraqs-hard-lessons/2013/03/20/5a05890c-90d7-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html?hpid=z2

By checking the spiraling sectarian killing, the surge of U.S. troops led by Bush and Gen. David Petraeus saved thousands of Iraqi lives. It’s one thing Americans did right in this painful story.

’Falluja Babies’ and Depleted Uranium — America’s Toxic Legacy in Iraq | Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/world/falluja-babies-and-depleted-uranium-americas-toxic-legacy-iraq?akid=10215.

Dr Mozghan Savabieasfahani is an environmental toxicologist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is the author of more than two dozen peer reviewed articles, most of which deal with the health impact of toxicants and war pollutants. Her research now focuses on war pollution and the rising epidemic of birth defects in Iraqi cities.

“After bombardment, the targeted population will often remain in the ruins of their contaminated homes, or in buildings where metal exposure will continue,” Dr Savabieasfahani told Al Jazeera.

“Our research in Fallujah indicated that the majority of families returned to their bombarded homes and lived there, or otherwise rebuilt on top of the contaminated rubble of their old homes. When possible, they also used building materials that were salvaged from the bombarded sites. Such common practices will contribute to the public’s continuous exposure to toxic metals years after the bombardment of their area has ended.”

She pointed out how large quantities of DU bullets, as well as other munitions, were released into the Iraqi environment.

Trained Killers, from the Americas to Afghanistan by Kelley B. Vlahos — Antiwar.com
http://original.antiwar.com/vlahos/2013/03/18/trained-killers-from-the-americas-to-afghanistan

For most Americans the death squads and torture chambers that killed thousands in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua in the 1980’s are difficult to understand and easy to forget because, aside for an apology by President Bill Clinton in 1999 – the United States has never fully acknowledged nor taken responsibility for its role in them.

The Iraq War ten years on: A turning point for US imperialism - World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/19/pers-m19.html

The Iraq War ten years on: A turning point for US imperialism
19 March 2013

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. Ten years ago, the world watched the “shock and awe” bombing campaign light up the nighttime sky of Baghdad with billowing clouds of flame and smoke.

This campaign and the bloody ten years of occupation that followed had a devastating impact on what was once among the most advanced societies in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed and millions were made homeless.

#irak #états-unis

The crisis of American capitalism and the war against Iraq - World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/19/iraq-m19.html

The crisis of American capitalism and the war against Iraq
By David North
19 March 2013

This article was originally published on March 21, 2003, two days after the onset of the US assault on Iraq.

1. The unprovoked and illegal invasion of Iraq by the United States is an event that will live in infamy. The political criminals in Washington who have launched this war, and the wretched scoundrels in the mass media who are reveling in the bloodbath, have covered this country in shame. Hundreds of millions of people in every part of the world are repulsed by the spectacle of a brutal and unrestrained military power pulverizing a small and defenseless country. The invasion of Iraq is an imperialist war in the classic sense of the term: a vile act of aggression that has been undertaken on behalf of the interests of the most reactionary and predatory sections of the financial and corporate oligarchy in the United States. Its overt and immediate purpose is the establishment of control over Iraq’s vast oil resources and reduction of that long-oppressed country to an American colonial protectorate.

#irak #états-unis

Bush-Aznar Transcript : The War Crime of the Century

Comment Bush a refusé une proposition d’exil de Saddam Hussein et a préféré la guerre

http://www.juancole.com/2007/09/bush-aznar-transcript-war-crime-of.html

The second claim that I made was that Bush was aware of, and rejected, an offer by Saddam Hussein to flee Iraq, probably for Saudi Arabia, presuming he could take out with him a billion dollars and some documents on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. Both provisions were intended by Saddam to protect him from later retaliation. The money would buy him protection from extradition, and the documents presumably showed that the Reagan and Bush senior administrations had secretly authorized his chemical and biological weapons programs. With these documents in his possession, it was unlikely that Bush would come after him, since he could ruin the reputation of the Bush family if he did. The destruction of these documents was presumably Bush’s goal when he had Rumsfeld order US military personnel not to interfere with the looting and burning of government offices after the fall of Saddam. The looting, which set off the guerrilla war, also functioned as a vast shredding party, destroying incriminating evidence about the complicity of the Bushes and Rumsfeld in Iraq’s war crimes.

DAVID CRONIN :
http://www.neurope.eu/article/truth-10-years-later-germany-helped-invasion-iraq

One or two days into the war, I found myself at a press conference given by Tony Blair. It was a salutary lesson about how the mainstream media is often supine towards the powerful. I had my hand raised for most of the event, seeking to ask Blair a question. Yet the prime minister would only deal with British reporters who he knew personally; there was a tacit understanding that none of them would give him a hard time. The thought of standing up and protesting at this quasi-censorship crossed my mind. To my regret, I didn’t have the guts to do so.

I am bolder and happier today than I was a decade ago. Around that time, I started to shed the illusions I had about my profession. Far too many journalists, I would later conclude, are little more than stenographers for an elite. Far too many of us kid ourselves into thinking that we are doing important work because we write down or record what “important” people tell us.

I was as guilty as anyone else. In 2003, I had a reasonably well-paid job with the weekly newspaper European Voice. This required me to feign something called objectivity. Eventually, I learned that objectivity is a synonym for intellectual cowardice. Journalists shouldn’t be trying to give equal weight to “both sides” in a story, especially if one of those sides is perpetrating a crime. We should be trying to expose what our political leaders are up to, not indulging them in the hope they might throw a scoop our way.

Iraq and Iran’s Oil Pipeline Politics
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-and-iran%E2%80%99s-oil-pipeline-politics

Recent moves by Iran and Iraq to press ahead with the construction of a series of new oil and gas export pipelines could be attributed to Iran’s bid to counter international sanctions. The planned pipelines could also reflect Iraq’s economic recovery or perhaps pressure from oil companies for new export routes.

[…]

But the long-term objective is more ambitious: to connect the Middle East by way of a web of economic ties that binds them into a regional partnership whose mainstays are Iran and Iraq.

Baghdad is making it increasingly clear where it stands in terms of its regional alignment. In recent months, it has openly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, clashed with Ankara, reached out to Cairo, and been at odds with Riyadh and Doha.

The pipeline schemes also underscore Iraq’s chosen course. The country has opted to assume a role consistent with its historical legacy and its economic and strategic clout.

En cas de doute : le Liban est bel est bien sur la liste des pays qui seront prochainement détruits par nos amis armés et financés par le Golfe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/13/iraq-sunnis-unite-oust-shia-government

“We taught them how to cook phosphate and make IEDs. Our struggle here is the same is in Syria. If Syria falls, we are liberated; if we are liberated, Syria will be liberated. We have the same battle with Iran – by defeating them we break the Shia crescent of Iran, Syria and Lebanon.”

[…]

“There is a new plan, a grand plan not like the last time when we worked individually,” another commander told me. “This time we are organised. We have co-ordinated with countries like Qatar and Saudi and Jordan. We are organising, training and equipping ourselves but we will start peacefully until the right moment arrives. We won’t be making the same mistakes. Baghdad will be destroyed this time.”

Turkey is economic winner of Iraq war - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-is-economic-winner-of-iraq-war/2013/03/12/ec046746-8b47-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html

Turkey, which blocked the deployment of U.S. troops through its territory during the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, is emerging 10 years on as one of the prime beneficiaries of the battle for the Iraqi market.

Très intéressant rappel : les méthodes des États-Unies au Moyen-Orient (torture, escadrons de la mort, terrorisme…) ont été largement appliquées par les mêmes en Amérique latine ; How the US exported its ’dirty war’ policy to Iraq – with fatal consequences | Murtaza Hussain (invité sur le blog de Glenn Greenwald)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/08/us-export-dirty-war-iraq

L’article commence, après l’évocation de la mort de Chavez, par une liste des exactions étasuniennes en Amérique latine :

Looking at the history of US engagement in Latin America, it becomes evident why such a situation exists. From overthrowing democratically elected leaders, operating death squads, and torturing civilians, the history of US involvement in the region has understandably helped create a widespread popular backlash that persists to this day.

et se conclut par la même liste d’exactions étasuniennes au Moyen-Orient :

Yet, the same discredited US policies of that era are now being repeated within the Middle East and the wider Muslim world. The use of torture, the patronage of sectarian proxy forces, and the facilitation of widespread human rights abuses all characterize US policy in the “war on terror”. Indeed, many of the same actors complicit in past crimes have returned to help develop and implement present US policy.