AD CAMPAIGN FOR KURDS TO THANK U.S.

"Kurdish officials toured the United States last week to launch a massive advertising and public relations campaign thanking the United States for overthrowing Saddam Hussein and urging U.S. companies to invest in the region.... The ad campaign, as well as a U.S. tour by Kurdish politician Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, was put together by the California PR firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers. In addition to representing the Kurdish government, the firm founded the "Stop Michael Moore" campaign to discredit the film "Fahrenheit 9/11" and a group called "Move America Forward," which has brought parents of dead U.S. soldiers to be counter-protesters at peace demonstrations... "
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34168

U.S. SUPPORT OF ISRAEL COULD HAVE EFFECT IN IRAQ

"... Were the (Iraqi) Shiites actively to turn on the US for its wholehearted support of continued Israeli air raids, the US military could be cut off from fuel and supplies. The US is already not winning against a Sunni Arab insurgency, backed by around 5 million Iraqis. If 16 million Shiites turned on the US because of its wholehearted support for Israel's actions in Lebanon, the US military mission in Iraq could quickly become completely and urgently untenable..."
http://www.juancole.com/2006/07/sistani-threatens-us-over-israeli-war.html

LEBANON WAR SERVING AL-QAEDA LIKE IRAQ WAR

"... Just as Iraq served al-Qaeda's strategy by supplying an endless stream of images of 'heroic mujahideen' fighting against 'brutal Americans'... the Lebanon war offers an unending supply of images and actions which powerfully support al-Qaeda's narrative and world view..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG29Ak03.html

HEZBOLLAH CONNECTION WITH IRAQ

"... Iraq is where... the secretary general of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah Nasrallah's influence can also be felt... in 2003, Hezbollah began building up organizational and military apparatuses in Iraq... For proof of Hezbollah's active participation in the insurgency there are the arrests made in February 2005 by Iraqi authorities of 18 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters taking part in the insurgency... The connection with Muqtada al-Sadr is total..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG29Ak02.html

U.S. REDUCED TO A BYSTANDER IN IRAQ CIVIL WAR

"The United States has been reduced to the role of passive bystander as a new stage of sectarian civil war has begun in Iraq, marked by military units with heavy weaponry carrying out mass killings... the massacre of Shiites by Sunni gunmen in Mahmoudiya on Jul. 17, in which as many as 58 people were killed and 90 wounded, was a military attack on civilians by Sunnis using heavy machine guns mounted on pick-up trucks and rocket-propelled grenades... the Bush administration acknowledges that the primary problem in Iraq is sectarian violence, not the Sunni insurgency..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34090

IRAQ FUTURE UNCERTAIN

"The outgoing British ambassador in Iraq has admitted he is uncertain about the future of the country... the top British military officer in Iraq, Lt Gen Rob Fry, said the violence was likely to get worse..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5219416.stm

PARSONS FAILS TO COMPLETE IRAQI CLINICS

"... evidence of Parsons’s incompetence was its failure to successfully complete a $243 million contract it had for construction of 150 health clinics in Iraq. In the fall of 2005, Parsons had assured the Army Corps of Engineers that was supervising the project, that 114 units would be completed before the end of the year. Instead, only 20 were completed. Parsons spent $60 million of the $243 million on its own management and administration..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0729-21.htm

PARSONS FAILS TO COMPLETE IRAQI PRISON

"... Parsons had a contract for $99.1 million to build the Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility North of Baghdad. The prison was to have been completed in June 2006. It was not. According to a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers, Parsons said the project could not be completed before September 2008 and would cost $13.5 million more than the $91 million for which the contract had been awarded. The contract was cancelled..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0729-21.htm

BECHTEL FAILS TO COMPLETE BASRA HOSPITAL

"The U.S. is dropping Bechtel... from a project to build a high-tech children’s hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after the project fell nearly a year behind schedule and exceeded its expected cost by as much as 150 percent... the Basra Children’s Hospital, the project has been consistently championed by... Laura Bush and... Condoleezza Rice... Western engineers were seldom seen at the project... it was simply mismanaged... technically, Bechtel’s contract was not being terminated because the contract did not actually require the company to complete the hospital..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28basra.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

WHO WANTS US IN IRAQ?

"... Who wants us in Iraq? North Korea, Iran, China, Russia, and the Al Qaeda. Because they believe as a nation we are distracted; and as the world's superpower, we are depleting our resources...."

--Exerpted fromf remarks by Congressman John P. Murtha made on July 20, 2006 to the Center for National Policy on acceptance of the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award.

hhttp://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-36.htmere

MILITARY SOLUTION TO IRAQ CANNOT BE SOLVED BY U.S.

"... Our military is now considered occupiers by most Iraqis.
Iraq is now in a civil war and our military is caught in the middle.
All of us want stability in Iraq.
But this goal cannot be achieved by mere words alone, nor by slogans or broad policy statements.
The key word is "How."
How do we give Iraq a chance at stability?
How do we bring stability and security to the Region?
How do we strengthen our own national defenses?
And how do we keep America safe and strong?
Some say that staying in Iraq is the answer. I disagree!..."

"Listen to what I am saying-- violence has been escalating despite nearly three and a half years of US military operations and the presence of over 130,000 US troops in Iraq.
More than three and a half years in Iraq-- This is longer than our involvement in the Korean War and will soon be longer than our participation in WWII. Yet the battle rages on in Iraq.
Why??
Because the solution to Iraq's security situation cannot be solved by the United States Military..."

--Exerpts of remarks by Congressman John P. Murtha made on July 20, 2006 to the Center for National Policy on acceptance of the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award.

hhttp://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-36.htmere

CIVIL WAR RAGING IN BAGHDAD

"... Civil war is raging across central Iraq. Baghdad, a city whose population is almost the same as London, is splitting into hostile and heavily armed districts. Minorities, be they Sunni or Shiite, are being killed or forced to flee. People dare not even take their furniture in case this might alert their neighbors to their departure and lead to their deaths. Sunni no longer let the mostly Shiite police enter their districts. "If this isn't civil war," a senior Iraqi official said last weekend, "I don't know what is."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0726-29.htm

U.S. ATTACKING SHIITE MILITIAS, INVITING WIDESPREAD UPRISING WORSE THAN SUNNIS

"That which Americans should fear has come upon them: U.S. troops in Iraq killed 15 Shiite militiamen... It was part of a systematic drive U.S. forces had been ordered to carry out against the Mahdi Army of anti-American firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr... the U.S. drive against Sadr's forces could trigger a more widespread rising of Shiite militias in Baghdad and across southern Iraq against U.S. forces... the destructive potential of a widespread Shiite uprising in Iraq is vastly worse than the Sunni threat was three years ago. The Shiite population of Iraq is more than three times that of the Sunni community. It is greater by 10 million people. The Shiites control all of southern Iraq, including the U.S. Army's crucial land supply route from Kuwait to Baghdad..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0724-33.htm

IRAN DISSIDENT DECLINES WHITE HOUSE INVITATION, SAYS IRAQ WAR HAS HAMPERED DEMOCRACY
(but accepts Russian invitation for Freedom award)

"Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji declined to meet White House officials during a visit to the US... Mr Ganji said he had been invited to discuss the current situation in Iran... he rejected the offer because he believed current US policies could not help promote democracy in Iran. In a speech last week in Washington DC, he also criticised US policy in Iraq, saying: "You cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it". He added that the war in Iraq had helped Islamic fundamentalism and hampered the democracy movement in the region."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5211840.stm

"Iran has allowed a leading dissident journalist to leave the country to receive a journalism award in Moscow. Akbar Ganji, who was freed from jail in March... was given permission to go at the last minute. On Monday, he will collect the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom award in Russia's capital."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5047034.stm

MORE U.S. TROOPS NEEDED IN BAGHDAD

24 July
"Fresh American troops are to be brought into Baghdad... US troops patrolling the west of Baghdad... said they were beefing up their presence. The size of the redeployment has not been revealed, but units which were due to be sent elsewhere in the country are being diverted to the capital..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060724/1/42add.html

13 July
"... the number of Iraqi and American troops in Baghdad had increased to about 55,000 from 40,000... But the increase has not noticeably restrained the sectarian bloodletting... the senior American commander in Iraq said... that there might be a need to move more American forces into the capital..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

SADDAM ON FEEDING TUBE

"... Saddam Hussein was hospitalized on a forced feeding tube... The 68-year-old went on a hunger strike July 7 to protest the killing of one of his lawyers... Three members of the defense team have been killed since the trial began in October..."
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20060724-093057-8491r.htm

"... A spokesman for the U.S. detention command would not say whether Saddam had been hospitalized but said he was under medical supervision and was "voluntarily" taking nutrients through a feeding tube..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-23-saddam-health_x.htm

100,000 IRAQI TROOPS TRAINED IN YEAR, VIOLENCE GROWS WORSE

"Iraqi government security forces have grown by about 100,000 soldiers and police in the past year thanks to U.S. training efforts, but this big expansion has not translated into a drop in violence... New data showed tens of thousands more Iraqis have fled their homes in fear of death squads and that some 6,000 civilians may have been killed in May and June."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20208950.htm

U.S. GENERAL: SECTARIAN VIOLENCE WORSE THAN INSURGENCY

"... The top American commander for the Middle East said on Friday that escalating sectarian violence in Baghdad had become an even greater worry than the insurgency and that plans were in fact being drawn up to move additional forces to the Iraqi capital..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21319542.htm

PARLIAMENT SPEAKER CALLS COALITION BUTCHERY OF IRAQI PEOPLE

"... parliament speaker Mashhadani... gave a combative opening address in which he blamed many of Iraq's problems on US forces, and called for foreigners to end their interference. "Just get your hands off Iraq and the Iraqi people and Muslim countries, and everything will be alright," he said, addressing coalition forces. "What has been done in Iraq is a kind of butchery of the Iraqi people..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060722/1/429g5.html

IRAQ CIVIL WAR DEATHS: 100 PER DAY, ALMOST 15,000 THIS YEAR

"An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month... 14,338 civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first six months of the year... United Nations officials said they had based their figures on tallies provided by... the Ministry of Health... and Baghdad’s central morgue..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"... U.S. officials are insisting Iraq is not on the brink of civil war..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21319542.htm

Fox News: "Iraq Civil War “Made Up By The Media?”
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/01/fox-media-civil-war/

Fox News: "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602240003

COST OF WAR NOT PUT IN BUDGET

"...It has all been a tissue of lies, from weapons of mass destruction to the irresponsible low-ball estimates of the war’s costs, to the unfulfilled claims that Iraqi oil would pay for our troops. Even today the administration refuses to tell the truth. There is still an ongoing deception about cost. Appropriations for the war in Iraq are supplemental rather than regular, which means that our military costs in Iraq are off-budget. Over 90 percent of the costs of the "war on terror" have been provided for in supplemental appropriations bills or as "emergency" funding... wars have never before continued to be funded in this off-budget manner..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0719-24.htm

CURIOUS AFTERMATH OF DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN THE MID-EAST

"Iraq is destroyed, Afghanistan is destroyed, the Gaza Strip is destroyed and soon Beirut will be destroyed for the umpteenth time, and hundreds of billions of dollars are being invested solely in the vain war against the side that always loses and therefore has nothing more to lose."
http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/opinion//index.php?ntid=91454

"... the overthrow of the secular Sunni leader Saddam Hussein has extended a fiery arc of Shiite-dominated religious fanaticism blazing across the Mideast skyline that betrays Bush’s claim to be bringing democracy and stability to the region."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060718_robert_scheer_bush_open_mike/

STAY THIS COURSE?

"... after spending more than $350 billion, after more than 2500 American soldiers have died and more than 18,000 more have been wounded, and more than 50,000 Iraqis killed, this is what we have to show for it: in Iraq, a once secure secular state is transforming into either a despotic Islamic theocracy or a splintered and failed state; at home, a less secure homeland open to sabotage of our ports, industrial and power infrastructure, transportation systems, and schools; Globally, a recruiting bonanza for al Qaeda; a US military that is broken; and a USA that has lost the world’s trust, squandered our prestige, and weakened our position with many of our allies. Stay this course?..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0717-20.htm

IS U.S. WINNING? ARMY CHIEF AT A LOSS FOR WORDS.

"... Is the U.S. winning? ... for Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff... it proved a hard one to answer. Schoomaker paused for more than 10 seconds after he was asked the question... before venturing: "I think I would answer that by telling you I don't think we're losing... I think we're closer to the beginning than we are to the end of all this."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-usiraq15jul15,1,3864684.story?coll=la-news-a_section

IRAQ WAR LOST THE DAY IT STARTED

"... Iraq was "lost" the day the war started... It... ended for all practical purposes when the Americans arrived... the Kurds already have an independent country, the Shiites have established their own regional governments with close ties to Iran and the Sunnis have launched a civil war.... No foreign army is capable of policing these areas of continuing conflict. The central government that we have created will at best be able occasionally to mediate among these independent enclaves..."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel14.html

SEXUAL TERRORISM OF IRAQI WOMEN

"... since the American invasion of their country, the reported incidence of sexual terrorism has accelerated markedly. -- and this despite the fact that few Iraqi women are willing to report rapes either to Iraqi officials or to occupation forces, fearing to bring dishonor upon their families.

"... Amid the daily explosions and gunfire that make the papers is a wave of sexual terrorism, whose exact dimensions we have no way of knowing, and that no one here notices, unleashed by the Bush administration in the name of exporting "democracy" and fighting "the war on terror."

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0713-33.htm

A U.S. SPECIAL FORCES RAID DENIED

"... U.S. military helicopters landed near the home of Sinan Abdul-Ilah al-Mashadani in the al-Jughaifi district of Fallujah... the doors of his home were blasted open and "a strange looking group of people" stormed inside... "This force is not totally unknown to us here in Fallujah. They are a special force of Americans that assassinates more people than it arrests... big men with long hair and beards, some wearing earrings, and others with little black caps on the top of their heads at the back."

"... a student at al-Mustansiriya University and the sole supporter of his mother and younger brother and sister, was killed in the raid... "Their (special forces troops') dogs were biting everybody including children and women in the neighbourhood. They killed the poor boy in cold blood and arrested his little brother."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33920

"... IPS sent an email to Major Douglas Powell at the Combined Press Information Center for the Multi-National Force in Iraq to request comment on the incident. There was no reply. Later, IPS phoned the US military spokesperson in Baghdad to request information on the incident. The spokesman, who declined to give his name, said, "We have no information confirming this event ever took place."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG13Ak02.html

STATE DEPT REJECTS DIRE GAO FORECAST ON IRAQ

"... (in a) report unveiled Tuesday at a hearing in the House of Representatives... the GAO... (issued) a dire forecast: "Security, political, and economic factors will hamper US efforts to stabilize Iraq and achieve key US goals."

"... the State Department rejected the congressional findings, saying in its response that the GAO report "rests on a flawed understanding of the strategic architecture guiding United States policy in Iraq."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0712-04.htm

PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY WAS NOT THE REASON FOR INVADING IRAQ

"It is not wholly surprising that funding for democracy promotion in Iraq is dwindling. Democracy promotion was not the reason for invading Iraq, not even the stated reason for going into Iraq. Democracy promotion only came to the fore as a reason for invading Iraq after the invasion and after the 'weapons of mass destruction' justification and the 'connections to al Qaeda' justification had been discredited."
--Christopher J. Roederer, associate professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33924

LIEBERMAN ON IRAQ

"The situation in Iraq is a lot better that it was a year ago," Lieberman observed. The Iraqis "are on the way to building a free and independent Iraq. Two-thirds of their military is now ready, on their own, to lead the fight with some logistical backing from the U.S. or stand up on their own totally. That's progress. And the question is, are we going to abandon them when they are making that progress?"
>http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_4834769,00.html

2 U.S. SOLDIERS TORTURED IN REVENGE FOR RAPE MURDER

"Two soldiers from the same (platoon) were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah. The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers had been tortured and beheaded... (and that) the (Iraqi) killings (in March) appear to be unrelated to the (soldiers) kidnappings (in May)... "
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060630.wsoldie0630/BNStory/International/

"... The Mujahideen Shura Council said it had captured and killed the soldiers in revenge for the alleged rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman by US troops... the film - published on the internet - showed "extremely graphic footage" of the two men's corpses... The groups said capturing and killing the soldiers was "revenge for our sister who was dishonoured by a soldier of the same brigade".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5167524.stm

U.S. FIGHTING THE MILITIA OF SHIA PARTY

"US forces in Iraq have launched a series of bloody attacks on Shia militia forces... The US army is masking the fact that it is increasingly at war with the Iraqi Shia militias by referring to both Sunni and Shia as insurgents... This conceals the fact that the US is fighting the Mehdi Army, which is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr, whose party is an important part of the Iraqi government."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1166538.ece

NO GOOD U.S. OPTIONS IN IRAQ

"(1.) ... stay the course. The problem is that the war, at any politically imaginable level of US troop commitment, seems hopelessly unwinnable...
(2.) ... partition... ... has been promoted by the Kurds... But it doesn't work for Sunnis and Shi'ites.... Partition would require the forced removal of millions of people... except for the India-Pakistan partition of 1948... forced mass relocation has never been sponsored by a democracy in the name of peace...
(3.) ... withdrawal... (but) The intermittent anarchy would probably become open civil war. Iraq would become a haven for every known terrorist faction... (and) would likely end with a Sunni or Shi'ite dictator..."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/07/08/few_good_options_in_iraq/
and
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0708-25.htm

IRAQ WAR RECRUITING SHORTFALLS ALLOW HATE GROUPS IN MILITARY

"... recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military... The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands... a Defense Department investigator (said)... "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members."

"... An article in the National Alliance magazine Resistance urged skinheads to join the Army and insist on being assigned to light infantry units... "Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war. It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and 'cleansed. As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/washington/07recruit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"... Department of Defense investigators estimate thousands of soldiers in the Army alone are involved in extremist or gang activity. "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," said one investigator. "That's a problem."
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?site_area=1&aid=197&splcnewsletter=dalert-071206

WHO REPLACED ZARQWI?

"... Maj Gen William Caldwell, the US military spokesman in Iraq, said at the time: "This is Ayyub al-Masri, probably the person who's going to be responsible for al-Qaeda in Iraq... But... the Egyptian interior ministry has disclosed that al-Masri is in fact the nom de guerre of an Egyptian militant by the name of Sharif Haza... Mr Haza has been in jail for seven years on terrorism charges..."

"... The question of the identity of the successor to Zarqawi took another twist a few days ago when Osama Bin Laden said in an audio message that a man by the name of Abu Hamza al-Muhajir was the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq... no-one has heard of al-Muhajir... the names being released by the Americans and Bin Laden, are probably part of disinformation campaigns from both sides, whose sole purpose is to confound each other."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5153364.stm

IRAQ CONSIDERS ARMING INSURGENTS

"Iraq's government is studying a request from some local insurgent leaders to supply them with weapons so they can turn on the heavily armed foreign fighters who were once their allies... Leaders claiming to represent about 11 insurgent groups asked for weapons to fight foreign al-Qaeda elements in Iraq... Foreign fighters account for 4% to 10% of the estimated 20,000 or more insurgents in Iraq, according to a U.S. State Department report..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-07-04-insurgents-weapons_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

U.S. IS LOSING WAR ON TERROR AND FEEDING AL-QAEDA'S VISION OF WORLD

"...(of) 116 leading US experts -- a balanced mix of Republicans and Democrats -- 84 percent believe the United States is losing the "war on terror," 86 percent that the world has become a more dangerous place in the past five years, and 80 percent that a major new attack on their country was likely within the next decade..."

"It was a doomed enterprise from the very start: a 'war on terror' -- it's as ridiculous as a 'war on anger'. You do not wage a war on terror, you wage a war against people"...

"Our insistence that Islamic fundamentalist ideology has replaced communist ideology as the chief enemy of our time feeds Al-Qaeda's vision of the world."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0705-03.htm

THE TWO FACES OF AL-QAEDA

"... the two faces of post 9/11 al-Qaeda. On the one side there is a hard core of experienced fighters whose ranks are and will continue to be swelled by volunteers fighting the US military in Iraq; on the other are small, vague autonomous groups who find their own motivation—often via the Internet—to turn radical and join the jihad.... taking their jihad straight into the hearts of major western capitals...."
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/06/yehey/opinion/20060706opi8.html

4TH OF JULY HUNGER STRIKE FOR RETURN OF U.S. TROOPS

"About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savour their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq... Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4th.
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said she would drink only water throughout the summer, which she said she would spend outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas..."
hehttp://asia.news.yahoo.com/060704/3/2mp47.htmlre

IRAQ WAR RELATED TO CLOSURE OF CIA'S BIN LADEN UNIT

"... (the CIA) has closed a unit... known as Alec Station... that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden... In recent years, the war in Iraq has stretched the resources of the intelligence agencies and the Pentagon, generating new priorities for American officials... Intelligence officials said Alec Station was disbanded... (because) the agency needed to reorganize to better address constant changes in terrorist organizations..."

"Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move reflected a view within the agency that Mr. bin Laden was no longer the threat he once was. Mr. Scheuer said that view was mistaken. "This will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda," he said. "These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

IMAGE OF U.S. AS A BENIGN HEGEMON SHATTERED BY INVASION OF IRAQ

"... a series of surveys from around the world over the past three years makes clear that... the image of the U.S. as a benign hegemon -- consciously cultivated by Washington for more than a century -- has been effectively shattered by the unilateralism of the administration of President George W. Bush and particularly its invasion of Iraq..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33844

THE WORTH OF AN IRAQI LIFE

"How much is an Iraqi life worth? Answer: A lot less than an American or British life... (in) an April 2004 firefight, the American military commander in the area paid $1,500 for each fatality and $500 for each injury... By comparison, the Libyan government recently settled a lawsuit for victims of Pan Am 103... (and) paid $2.7 billion for 270 passengers with an average payment of $10 million per death..."

"For Iraqis to get a claim paid... you must have all your documents in order - birth certificates, witness accounts, proof of identity... for some is nearly impossible... Then, you must get "proof of negligence of US soldier from a US soldier or unit."
That's a task that is virtually impossible, being that US soldiers are instructed not to assume blame. The claim must be filed within 30 days of the death along with a phone number for contact, making it out of the question since the overwhelming majority of Iraqis do not have phones... Iraqis have become like dogs in the eyes of Americans."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0703/p09s01-coop.htm

IRAQIS BELIEVE U.S. INTENDS PERMANENT BASES FOR INDEFINITE OCCUPATION

"... Eighty percent of Iraqis, according to a poll conducted five months ago, believe that the US government is planning to leave permanent bases in Iraq. I am sure the number will dramatically increase now. The perception that the U.S. intends to occupy Iraq indefinitely is one of the major reasons behind the escalating violence there... Consistent U.S. interference in Iraq, and the misuse of the Iraq war for gaining advantages in the U.S. domestic sphere, eliminates any hope for Iraqis to get their country back through diplomacy and democracy, and it is pushing more Iraqis to adopt violence as a means in building a better future for Iraq’s next generations."
--Raed Jarrar, the Baghdad Blogger, Friday, June 30, 2006
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/