WHEN U.S. WITHDRAWS, SAUDI ARABIA WILL PROTECT IRAQI SUNNIS

"... Riyadh will use money, weapons or oil power to prevent Iraqi Sunnis from being massacred by Iranian-backed Shiite militias... Saudi options (were listed) as being: providing assistance to Sunni military leaders – primarily ex-Baathists leading the insurgency; establishing new Sunni brigades, or strangling Iran’s funding of Iraq’s Shiites by boosting oil production and halving prices..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), Friday, December 1, 2006
http://www.debka.com/index.php

IRAQ STUDY GROUP'S "REALIST" VIEW: U.S. NEEDS HELP OF SYRIA AND IRAN

"... Washington's position in Iraq and the region as a whole has become so weak that, without some help from Damascus and Tehran, it will be unable to stop a full-blown civil war that could well spread beyond Iraq's borders..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35656

IRAQI MEDICAL SYSTEM COLLAPSED

"After three and a half years of occupation, Iraq's medical system has sunk to levels lower than seen during the economic sanctions imposed after the first Gulf war in 1990... of 34,000 Iraqi physicians registered prior to 2003, over half have fled the country, and that at least 2,000 have been killed... of the 180 health clinics the U.S. hoped to build by the end of 2005, only four have been completed -- and none opened.... Despite more than a billion dollars claimed to have been spent by the U.S. on Iraq's healthcare system, health needs are one of the biggest problems for Iraqis under the occupation..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35584

COALITION WITHDRAWALS

"... the 7,100-member British contingent will be scaled back "by a matter of thousands" by the end of next year... Poland, which commands a 2,000-strong multi-national division in southern Iraq, said Monday that its 880-man contingent will be out of Iraq by late 2007... Italy, once a mainstay of the coalition force with 3,000 troops in Iraq, has withdrawn all but 60 to 70 troops from the country and those will be gone by early December..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1128-04.htm

IRAQ STUDY GROUP IS IS COVER FOR COURSE CHANGE

"... the Iraq Study Group (ISG)... (is) an attempt to deflect attention from... America's failure in Iraq and to shore up the authority of the foreign policy establishment... It is engaged in damage control... The ISG will provide cover for the Bush administration to shift course in Iraq... (while avoiding) inquiring into the origins of our predicament..."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1128/p08s02-coop.html

U.S. CANNOT WIN IN ANBAR PROVINCE

"The U.S. military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda's rising popularity there... as of mid-November, the problems in troubled Anbar province have not improved... Between al-Qaeda's violence, Iran's influence and an expected U.S. drawdown, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar..."
--Marine Corps intelligence report, Aug 2006 updated Nov 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701287.html

"...the war in Anbar province... is unwinnable because al-Qaeda's grip is too strong. Despite the success of the December elections, nearly all government institutions from the village to provincial levels have disintegrated or have been thoroughly corrupted and infiltrated by al Qaeda in Iraq. It would need another US division of up to 20,000 troops to make any difference..."
--COL Peter Devlin, Marine Commander in Anbar Province
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6195088.stm

"Pentagon officials are considering a major strategic shift in Iraq, to move U.S. forces out of the dangerous Sunni-dominated al-Anbar province and join the fight to secure Baghdad... There are now 30,000 U.S. troops in al-Anbar, mainly Marines, braving some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq... In a recent intelligence assessment, top Marine in al-Anbar, Col. Peter Devlin, concluded that without a massive infusement of more troops, the battle in al-Anbar is unwinnable."
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2685559&page=1

INSURGENCY SELF-FUNDED INTERNALLY

"... the insurgency now survives off money generated from activities inside Iraq... groups responsible for many insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities... $25 million to $100 million of that comes from oil smuggling and other criminal activity involving the state-owned oil industry... the $200 million a year estimate... amounts to less than what it costs the Pentagon, with an $8 billion monthly budget for Iraq, to sustain the American war effort here for a single day..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26insurgency.html?hp&ex=1164603600&en=b8c1fef0b3565f6a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

ADMNINSTATION SEEKS AGREEMENT WITH INSURGENTS

"... ongoing discussions (are being held) with insurgent Sunni leaders aimed at a cease-fire... (They are not) committed to bringing American troops home in the near future. Instead, they seek to reduce American casualties, check the influence of Iran, and redeploy US troops to permanent bases... The plan can only be paraphrased:
* Leaders of the organized Sunni resistance groups are seeking immediate meetings with top American generals towards the goal of a cease-fire...
* The resistance groups reject the ability of the al-Maliki government... want an interim government imposed...
* The former Baathist(s)... heading the underground resistance, would be rehired, restored and re-integrated...
* Multinational Force activities aimed at controlling militias to be expanded.
* Multi-National Force would be redeployed to control the eastern border with Iran.
* A Status of Forces agreement... permitting the presence of American troops in Iraq for as long as ten years.
* Amnesty and prisoner releases... Americans guaranteeing the end of torture...
* De-Baathification edicts... rescinded...
* American commitment to financing reconstruction...
* War-debt relief for Kuwait and other countries...."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayden/documents-reveal-secret-t_b_34834.html

SYRIA AND IRAN HOLD KEY TO U.S. WITHDRAWAL

"Syria and Iran... could hold the key to saving American plans in their neighbour Iraq... Washington may need the two regional allies to help stabilise Iraq in order to pull its own troops back from an increasingly unpopular commitment there... (but) Washington is only likely to secure active Iranian and Syrian co-operation by paying a high price diplomatically from two countries known for their hard bargaining...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6144842.stm

THE POINT OF U.S. DEATHS IN IRAQ

"... (Is it that they) died to protect the country from weapons of mass destruction, to create a democracy in the midst of the Arab world, to win a victory that would enhance American credibility, to keep faith with those who had already died, to get rid of Saddam Hussein because the president said it was the right thing to do, because Iraq was the central front in the war on terror?..."

"(Or is it that they) died because of the arrogance and the ignorance of the American government, because of mistakes and blunders, because some of our leaders thought the war was a good thing, because it would take pressure off of Israel, because of Arab oil?..."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/greeley/147970,CST-EDT-GREEL24.article

AL-QAEDA U.S. AND IRAN AGREE ON PARTITION OF IRAQ

"... the majority of Iraqi leaders and analysts believe that any division plans, in addition to keeping foreign military presence in Iraq, are a perfect formula for creating a full-scale, long-lasting war between the different regions and factions... the only people who seem to be working to cut Iraq into three states are the U.S, al-Qaida and Iranian politicians. The three enemies seem to have finally found some common ground."
--Raed Jarrar, Iraq project director at Global Exchange
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-22forum22nov22,0,3920788.story

RUSSIA: SADDAM VERDICT A COVER UP, SUGGESTS NEW TRIAL

"Russian politicians and Muslim leaders... suggest that an independent, international tribunal be set up to retry the former Iraqi president... "There is a clear conflict between the fact that Iraq is called a democratic state, on the one hand, and the court rendering such undemocratic decision on the other"...
(Russia) believed an attempt to dispose of a valuable witness lay behind the decision to sentence Hussein to death. "The removal of such a valuable witness... could be a cover up by those who do not want Hussein to tell the whole truth about his time in power and about the various forms of collaboration he had with a host of different countries. This verdict raises a mass of questions, first and most serious of which is: Who benefits?"
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35492

FARMING IN IRAQ

"... the regime of Saddam Hussein... purchased crops from farmers in order to encourage them to continue planting... regardless of how bad the market was under the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations in 1990... "the 'condemned regime' used to supply us with everything we needed. Seeds, fuel, trucks, harvest machines and anything we might need"... (but now this):
* lack of manpower... "most of our young men... not killed by... troops are in jail or missing."
* 48-percent unemployment rate...
* lack of electricity, fuel and security in the field...
* lack of... fertilisers and soil treatment...
* inflation rate has soared to nearly 70 percent...
* petrol and electricity (up) 374 percent over the last year...
* transport sector saw a 218-percent hike in prices...
In a study to be published soon by an Iraqi economics institute, over 75 percent of the vegetables and fruit consumed in Iraq are imported from Syria, Jordan and Iran."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35501

BUSH TO MEET MALIKI IN JORDAN - IRAQ TOO DANGEROUS

"... Bush will go to the Middle East for a summit with Iraq's prime minister next week... Bush will fly from Latvia to Amman, Jordan, for talks Wednesday and Thursday with al-Maliki... Jordan was selected as the site..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6232645,00.html

"... the President himself goes to the region to confer with Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister. But, in a sign of how dangerous Baghdad has become, the meeting will take place on the far safer territory of Amman, Jordan..."
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2009982.ece

"The fact that President Bush is having to meet the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Jordan is a sign of how desperate things have become in Iraq. It's just too dangerous for him to go there..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6195088.stm

RECORD HIGH IRAQI DEATH TOLL

"The Iraqi death toll hit a record high in October, with more than 3,700 people losing their lives... nearly 200 more than in the previous record month of July... During September and October, some 3,253 such corpses were found..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6172660.stm

"ROQUE STATE" TERM CREATED FOR TARGETS OF WAR ON TERROR

"... The US response to... (9-11) has been... a vengeful declaration of a "war on terror". This is a strategic overshoot, because terrorism is an amorphous organism that cannot be eliminated by military operations, war can only be declared on and fought between states. Thus the US was compelled to conjure up the notion of "rogue states" that gelled into an "axis of evil" allegedly linked to state-sponsored terrorism....
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak03.html

CAR BOMBS FOUND IN GREEN ZONE

"U.S. troops blew up two cars Tuesday inside the heavily fortified Green Zone after dogs indicated explosives were inside the vehicles that were used in the motorcade of the parliament speaker... the explosives were found and detonated near the Convention Center, where parliament meets and government officials hold news conferences... It is home to the Iraqi president, government, parliament, as well as the U.S. and British embassies."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_green_zone

VICTORY IMPOSSIBLE

"Henry Kissinger... said he no longer believed a military victory was possible in the conflict. "If you mean by clear military victory an Iraqi government that can be established... that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control . . . I don’t believe that is possible."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c2daddb2-7822-11db-be09-0000779e2340.html

PENTAGON STUDY: INCREASE TROOPS AND STAY

"... The military's study, commissioned by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace... has outlined three basic options: Send in more troops, shrink the force but stay longer, or pull out... "Go Big," "Go Long" and "Go Home".
- Go Big... has been all but rejected... not enough troops...
- Go Home... was rejected... as likely to push Iraq directly into... civil war...
- Go Long... is gaining favor... U.S. presence in Iraq... would be boosted by 20,000 to 30,000... or a short period..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111901249.html

HRW SAYS SADDAM TRIAL UNFAIR

"The trial of Saddam Hussein was so flawed that its verdict is unsound, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch says.... HRW group said the trials were among the most important since the Nazi trials in Nuremberg after World War II.They "represent the first opportunity to create a historical record concerning some of the worst cases of human rights violations, and to begin the process of a methodical accounting of the policies and decisions that give rise to these events"
- Proceedings were marked by frequent outbursts by both judges and defendants.
- Three defence lawyers were murdered, three judges left the five-member panel and the original chief judge was replaced.
- Defence lawyers boycotted proceedings but HRW said court-appointed counsel that took their place lacked adequate training in international law.
- In addition, important documents were not given to defence lawyers in advance, no written transcript was kept and paperwork was lost.
- The defence was also prevented from cross-examining witnesses and the judges made asides that pre-judged Saddam Hussein...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6163938.stm

BRAIN DRAIN PREVENTS IRAQ FROM REBUILDING ITSELF

"... The lack of viable opportunities coupled with the devastating daily violence has caused many of Iraq's engineers, doctors, lawyers, and professors to flee the country while some of those who remain have been killed. The massive "brain drain" may eventually have a chilling effect on Iraq's future ability to rebuild itself... an estimated 1.8 million people have fled to neighboring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003... 1,000 Iraqis a day are crossing over into Jordan and 2,000 a day into Syria... nearly 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing the country every month..."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1117/dailyUpdate.html

PERMANENT U.S. BASES IN IRAQ UNDISCUSSED IN PRESS

"... just after Baghdad fell, the Pentagon arrived in the Iraqi capital with plans already on the drawing board to build four massive military bases (that no official, then or now, will ever call "permanent"). Today, according to our former Secretary of Defense, we have 55 bases of every size in Iraq (down from over 100); five or six of these, including Balad Airbase, north of Baghdad, the huge base first named Camp Victory adjacent to Baghdad International Airport, and al-Asad Airbase in western Anbar province, are enormous -- big enough to be reasonable-sized American towns with multiple bus routes, neighborhoods, a range of fast-food restaurants, multiple PX's, pools, mini-golf courses and the like..."

"... these bases have, with rare exceptions, gone completely undescribed and undiscussed in our press (or on the television news). From an engineering journal, we know that before the end of 2003, several billion dollars had already been sunk into them. We know that in early 2006, the major ones, already mega-structures, were still being built up into a state of advanced permanency. Balad, for instance, already handled the levels of daily air traffic you would normally see at Chicago's ultra-busy O'Hare and in February its facilities were still being ramped up..."

http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=141003

AMERICAN ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN IRAQ

"... what have the American invasion and occupation of Iraq led to... As a start, an already badly battered Iraqi economy was turned into a looting ground for Bush administration crony corporations and thoroughly wrecked.... The Iraqi education system is in tatters; the medical system in ruins; basic social and urban services almost undeliverable; oil production barely up to pathetic prewar levels... the position of women now disastrous; child malnutrition on the rise; and well over a million Iraqis have fled their homes in a country of only 26 million people.

"In addition, national sovereignty has been destroyed; the national police system is on its last legs, its ranks well-stocked with men loyal to various murderous Shiite militias; a Sunni insurgency rages ever more violently; a Kurdish form of independence seems ever more likely ... corruption is rampant; and a central government... is now considered "the least accountable and least transparent regime in the Middle East."

http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=141003

U.S. BUILDING MASSIVE NEW AIRBASE IN NORTHERN IRAQ

"... U.S. officials in agreement with the regional Kurdish administration in northern Iraq have begun to construct a military airport in the Arbil region..."
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20061015&hn=37370

"Following hints U.S. troops may remain in Iraq for years, the United States is reportedly building a massive military base at Arbil, in Kurdish northern Iraq..."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15344.htm

U.S. TANKS KILL 35 CIVILIANS

"... U.S. tanks killed 35 civilians when they shelled several homes in the Al-Dhubat area of (Ramadi)... another 17 wounded had been brought into the hospital... "ambulances did not appear on the scene for hours because the Americans did not allow them to move... there were people buried under the rubble who were bleeding to death while there was still a chance to rescue them"... doctors confirmed the reason of death for many as severe bleeding that had gone on for several hours. Most of the doctors were unwilling to discuss too many details for fear of U.S. military reprisals... Residents of the city and relatives of the dead who were at the funeral were furious."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35515

IRAQ HEALTH CARE THEN AND NOW

"Thousands of Iraqis are dying from shortages of medicine, vital equipment and qualified doctors... hundreds of doctors have been killed and thousands have fled the country. The child mortality rate... has worsened since the U.S.-led invasion... Shiites who control the Health Ministry deliberately withhold medicines and other vital supplies... a looming ''humanitarian catastrophe'' as medicine, blood bags, oxygen, anesthetics, vaccines and intravenous fluid run out...

"The nation's health has deteriorated to a level not seen since the 1950s... Once, Iraqi health care was first-rate. Medicine and hospital care were free; doctors well-educated and respected... They were at the forefront... just before the 1991 Gulf War. Now they're looking more and more like a country in sub-Saharan Africa."

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/living/health/16016409.htm

BUSH: A LAST BIG PUSH TO WIN IN IRAQ

"... Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq...(Bush's) refusal to give ground... is having a decisive impact on the policy review being conducted by the Iraq Study Group... (Bush's) Four-point strategy:
· Increase US troop levels by up to 20,000...
· Focus on regional cooperation...
· Revive reconciliation process between Sunni, Shia...
· Increased.... (funding for) training and equipment of Iraqi security forces..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1948750,00.html

NEW BUSH 4-POINT VICTORY STRATEGY FOR IRAQ WAR

"... Bush is considering "a last big push" to win the war... Bush's "refusal to give ground" is affecting the policy review being conducted by the Iraq Study Group which... is expected to issue recommendations based on a four-point "victory strategy"...
- increase U.S. forces by up to 20,000 soldiers...
- more "regional cooperation" intended to promote stability in Iraq...
- development of a political framework... (for) reconciliation among Shiite and Sunni...
- call on the U.S. Congress to appropriate funds for additional troops and... training and equipping expanded Iraqi military and police forces.
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21250029.shtml

Q & A ON IRAQ WITHDRAWAL -- FROM DECEMBER 2005

Would the withdrawal of U.S. troops ignite a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites?
No. That civil war is already under way—in large part because of the American presence. The longer the United States stays, the more it fuels Sunni hostility toward Shiite "collaborators"...

But if American troops aren't in Baghdad, what's to stop the Sunnis from launching an assault and seizing control of the city?
Sunni forces could not mount such an assault. The preponderance of power now lies with the majority Shiites and the Kurds, and the Sunnis know this...

Wouldn't a U.S. withdrawal embolden the insurgency?
No. If the occupation were to end, so, too, would the insurgency. After all, what the resistance movement has been resisting is the occupation...

But what about the foreign jihadi element of the resistance? Wouldn't it be empowered by a U.S. withdrawal?
The foreign jihadi element—commanded by the likes of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—is numerically insignificant; the bulk of the resistance has no connection to al-Qaeda or its offshoots...

What about the Kurds? Won't they secede if the United States leaves?
Yes, but that's going to happen anyway. All Iraqi Kurds want an independent Kurdistan. They do not feel Iraqi...

Would Iran effectively take over Iraq?
No. Iraqis are fiercely nationalist—even the country's Shiites resent Iranian meddling...

What about the goal of creating a secular democracy in Iraq that respects the rights of women and non-Muslims?
Give it up. It's not going to happen. Apart from the Kurds, who revel in their secularism, Iraqis overwhelmingly seek a Muslim state...

What can the United States do to repair Iraq?
There is no panacea. Iraq is a destroyed and fissiparous country... it might be impossible to keep Iraq from disintegrating... the best hope of avoiding this scenario is if the United States leaves...

--Nir Rosen, Atlantic Monthly, December 2005
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/iraq-withdrawal

OVERRIDING LESSON OF THE WAR

"... Americans remain oblivious to the overriding lesson of the war. When you interfere in the affairs of another country, not for the sake of its people, but to promote your own agenda and further your own ambitions, you set in motion events that will cause enormous suffering and that will reverberate for years to come...."
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nysher134974432nov13,0,35747.column

DANISH JOURNALISTS ON TRIAL FOR LEAKING IRAQ INTELLIGENCE

"The editor-in-chief and two reporters at one of Denmark's largest newspapers went on trial Monday for publishing classified intelligence reports about... Saddam Hussein's weapons program... In February and March 2004... The reports said there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein's rule – one of the main reasons behind the U.S.-led invasion in 2003..."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20061113-0338-denmark-iraq-intelligence.html

MCCAIN: AL-SADR HAS TO BE TAKEN OUT

"Muqtada al-Sadr... has emerged as one of the most powerful forces in Iraq, commanding a large (Mahdi Army) militia and a growing political organization... Because of al-Sadr, "Al-Maliki was able to become prime minister despite the fact that other political parties had gained more seats in parliament," says Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival. "He is al-Sadr's prime minister."

"I believe that the Mahdi Army continues to pose a threat," Sen. John McCain said in Arizona last week. "I believe al-Sadr has to be taken out."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-12-al-sadr-cover_x.htm

NO NEW HOSPITALS, FEW NEW CLINICS

"... Since 2003, U.S. agencies have spent at least $493 million of Iraqi reconstruction funds on healthcare, but no new hospitals and only a few clinics have been built. With reconstruction funds running out, officials can point to few success stories beyond a child vaccination campaign. Hospitals looted in the first days after the invasion remain decrepit, without vital equipment and supplies.

"The hospital rehabilitation program has been plagued by cost overruns and complaints of shoddy but expensive work. A flagship $50-million children's hospital in the southern city of Basra, a pet project of First Lady Laura Bush, has run far behind schedule and over budget. If it is ever finished, the hospital probably will end up costing at least $40 million more than planned, not including medical equipment..."

"... The largest U.S.-funded construction program in the healthcare sector has fallen far short. A project to build 150 primary healthcare centers in Iraq was initially scaled back to 142 because of cost overruns. But only six clinics are open to the public..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-health11nov11,0,3477207.story?coll=la-home-headlines

RUMSFELD MAY FACE IRAQI DETAINEE ABUSE CHARGES IN GERMANY

"... Rumsfeld, who quit as US defence secretary this week, may face criminal charges in Germany for alleged abuses in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq... A complaint has been launched by the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, representing a Saudi detained in Cuba and 11 Iraqis held in Baghdad. German law allows the pursuit of cases originating anywhere in the world..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6138480.stm

GATES NOT OPEN TO CHANGE ON IRAQ

"... it is particularly troubling that President Bush, who marched this country into an unnecessary and costly war on the basis of specious and even fabricated intelligence, is turning to Mr. Gates, who has a reputation for politicizing intelligence. This suggests that the president is not open to real change with respect to Iraq; instead, he is circling the wagons with another loyal and obedient subordinate who will not question the wisdom of the pre-emptive use of military force in Iraq or the wisdom of pursuing "victory" in Iraq. In appointing Mr. Gates to head the Pentagon, Mr. Bush is running the risk of further poisoning the tense atmosphere at the Department of Defense."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.gates10nov10,0,3393156.story

TAPE FROM AL-QAEDA TELLS BUSH TO REMAIN STEADFAST IN IRAQ

"... Abu Ayyub al-Masri... said his group was winning the war in Iraq faster than expected due to U.S. policies. He urged Bush not to withdraw U.S. forces so al-Qaida could have more opportunities to fight U.S. soldiers. "The al-Qaida army has 12,000 fighters in Iraq... We haven't had enough of your blood yet" ... and called on "the lame duck (Bush) not to hurry up in escaping the same way the defense minister did"... "They are getting ready to leave, because they are no longer capable of staying," the al-Qaida leader said, referring to U.S. forces. "Remain steadfast in the battlefield, you coward," he said, addressing Bush."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4325708.html

IRAQ SAYS 100-150,000 CIVILIANS KILLED

"Iraq's health minister says between 100,000 and 150,000 civilians have been killed in the war..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6135526.stm

MUBARAK'S WARNING ON SADDAM EXECUTION

"Carrying out this verdict will explode violence like waterfalls in Iraq... (and) will transform (Iraq) into pools of blood and lead to a deepening of the sectarian and ethnic conflicts"...
--Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

"... many Arab leaders can see Iraq turning into a festering sore, radicalising youth across the region and creating more anti-American sentiment... many have serious reservations about his trial, held under what they consider US occupation."
--BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6134626.stm

BECHTEL QUITS -- BILLIONS DOWN THE DRAIN

"... The company has received $2.3 billion of Iraqi reconstruction funds and US taxpayer money, but is leaving without completing most of the tasks it set out to do... On every level of infrastructure measurable, the situation in Iraq is worse now than under the rule of Saddam. That includes the 12 years of economic sanctions since the first Gulf War in 1991... The average household in Iraq now gets two hours of electricity a day. There is 70% unemployment, 68% of Iraqis have no access to safe drinking water, and only 19% have sewage access. Not even oil production has matched pre-invasion levels.... of the 180 health clinics the US hoped to build by the end of 2005, only four have been completed - and none opened... A proposed $200 million project to build 142 primary-care centers ran out of cash after building just 20 clinics..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK10Ak02.html

BILLIONS LOST TO CORRUPTION - U.S. TO STOP AUDITING

"Corruption within the Iraqi government... could amount to $4 billion a year, over 10% of the national income, with some money going to the insurgency... the US official monitoring reconstruction in Iraq has said... (However) A clause in a military spending bill signed by President George W Bush three weeks ago will terminate the work of the auditor on 1 October next year..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6131290.stm

SADDAM VERDICT TIMED TO ELECTION

"White House spokesman Tony Snow decried as "absolutely crazy" any notion that the end to Hussein's nine-month trial was timed to produce positive news on the war two days before citizens here vote... (But) Scott Horton, chair of the International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association, who worked on Hussein's trial, said there is little doubt that the death sentence was intentionally handed down on the eve of the mid-term elections."This entire process from beginning to end is being closely superintended by the United States," he told IPS. "This whole process is funded by a 138-million-dollar grant from Congress and a large staff of people working out of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad called the 'Regimes Crime Unit'."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35386

FALLUJAH VIOLENT AGAIN

"... Two years after American troops launched a devastating ground assault... Fallujah once again is a violent place... "al-Qaida has won in Fallujah," said a police officer... With Fallujah's population estimated at 250,000 to 300,000... 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers and police officers (are needed). Iraqi troops number about 1,200 and Iraqi police... as low as 700 because of recent resignations. And only a few hundred American troops are available for security duty."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/15944717.htm

HUSSEIN WILL DIE A MARTYR DUE TO UNFAIR TRIAL

"... Hussein's defense lawyers died like flies. The first to go, Saadoun Janabi, was "arrested" last year by men claiming to be from the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry police and later found dead in Sadr City, the Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. The second, Adel al-Zubeidi, was shot shortly afterward, whereupon another fled the country. And the chief defense lawyer, Khamis al-Obaidi, was abducted in June. He, too, was arrested by men in police uniforms, and his body was found, with both arms broken and eight bullet wounds, dumped in the same place in Sadr City. After Obaidi's murder, Hussein's lawyers withdrew from the trial... (replaced by) no legal representation other than a court-appointed lawyer who refused to be filmed or photographed... Hussein has not had a fair trial, although that, too, would certainly have found him guilty. He is the victim of a state-sponsored lynching, and so, for many people, he will die a martyr..."
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15946295.htm

HALLIBURTON CHARGED IRAQ $8/GALLON FOR FUEL

"(Halliburton subsidiary KBR - Kellogg Brown Root) charged the Iraqi government as much as $25,000 per month for each of as many as 1,800 fuel trucks that were to deliver gasoline to Iraq after the 2003 invasion, but the trucks often spent days or weeks sitting idle on the border... The audit said the Kuwaiti government had set the price of its gasoline at $1.13 a gallon. But with the delivery charges, the effective cost of the gas was calculated to be much higher, about $8 a gallon... “For this cost you probably could have flown the fuel in... findings on how KBR came up with $1.4 billion in charges on the contract between May 2003 and March 2004 raised new questions on hundreds of millions of dollars more."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/world/middleeast/07contracts.html?ei=5094&en=8dbeb76997d4763f&hp=&ex=1162962000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1162921234-j5q2oMi9Wt3gcGUflQUteQ

IRAQ THE 3RD MOST CORRUPT COUNTRY IN WORLD

"Haiti has been ranked as the most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International (TI), followed by Burma and Iraq..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6120522.stm

ARABS THINK SADDAM VERDICT WAS DELAYED FOR U.S. ELECTIONS

"... Many Sunni Muslim Arabs in Iraq and the broader Middle East have expressed suspicion about the timing of the verdict, which judges moved from Oct. 16 to two days before hotly contested midterm congressional elections in the United States. "The American president, Bush, asked for this for a political gain in the elections that will be held in the U.S. this month," said Mohammed Daini, a member of the National Dialogue Council, a Sunni political party in Iraq. U.S. officials contested the allegation..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saddam5nov05,0,894878.story?page=2&coll=la-home-headlines

ADMINISTRATION PUBLISHES PRE-1991 DOCUMENTS TO KEEP ALIVE MYTH OF IRAQI WMD

"... weapons specialists yesterday assailed the government's decision to publish details about Iraq's defunct weapons programs on the Internet... to try to convince the public that Saddam Hussein resumed building an atomic bomb after the 1991 Persian Gulf War... weapons specialists said the web site made it seem as though the documents were recently discovered... The documents date from before the 1991 Gulf War; when the fighting ended, Hussein's government turned over the documents to the United Nations weapons inspectors who dismantled Iraq's weapons and missile programs in the early 1990s..."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/04/democrats_condemn_posting_of_iraq_arms_data/

MUTUAL ANIMOSITY BETWEEN MALIKI AND U.S.

"... For U.S. and Top Iraqi, Animosity Is Mutual... Mr. Maliki said the poor security situation across Iraq was the Americans’ fault, and demanded a more rapid transfer of command authority over the war... he demanded more American money for the buildup of Iraq’s own forces, and for reconstruction of the country’s infrastructure, on top of the $38 billion the Bush administration says it has already spent on civil and military aid to Iraq since the toppling of Mr. Hussein in 2003 and the nearly $400 billion for America’s own deployments..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/04/world/middleeast/04assess.html?hp&ex=1162702800&en=0b2d2036897a3d58&ei=5094&partner=homepage

BECHTEL QUITS IRAQ -- TOO DANGEROUS

"... Bechtel Corp... says the security situation in Iraq has made it too difficult to continue operating... is leaving the country after three years of work there... Bechtel's president for infrastructure work, said... it was "heartbreaking" to see how security in Iraq had deteriorated. Bechtel employed more than 40,000 workers..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6112164.stm

U.S. TO STOP AUDITING FOR CORRUPTION IN RECONSTRUCTION

"A US government agency that has exposed corruption in Iraqi reconstruction projects will close in 2007. Washington lawmakers have reacted with shock at the discovery that an obscure clause in a military spending bill will terminate the work of the auditor. The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has embarrassed the US administration with its reports on corrupt practices. Critics of the government claim this is what lies behind its sudden closure..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6114132.stm

MURDEROUS U.S. ARMY

“Three U.S. armed vehicles, eight soldiers in each, are driving through a village, passing candy out to kids. Suddenly the first vehicle explodes, and there are soldiers screaming. Sixteen soldiers come out of the other vehicles, and they do what they’re told to do, which is look for running people. Never mind that the bomb was detonated by remote control [The soldiers] open up fire; [the] cameras show it was a soccer game. About ten minutes later, [the soldiers] begin dragging bodies together, and they drop weapons there. It was reported as 20 or 30 insurgents killed that day... there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.”
--Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, in Montreal lecture for interdisciplinary media and communications studies program called Media@McGill
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=5450

NEW WINNING STRATEGY: UNLIMITED TIME AND SUPPORT

"Republicans Spring a New "Winning" Strategy... Since the 'stay the course' sound-bite was recently abandoned by the White House... a replacement had to be found.... asking whoever they are conversing with about the Iraq war, "Do you want us to win in Iraq?"... It's a 'when did you stop beating your dog' sort of frame. You ask the question and the person to whom you are asking it flubs the response. Or you ask the question knowing that no one wants to lose or would want to say 'I want the U.S. to lose.'"
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35335

"... Asked point-blank whether the United States is winning in Iraq, Abizaid replied: "Given unlimited time and unlimited support, we're winning the war."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0921/dailyUpdate.html?s=widep

SECURITY FIRM PULLS OUT OF IRAQ - NOT WORTH RISK

"Security company Kroll has withdrawn its bodyguard teams from Iraq and Afghanistan after it lost four workers in Iraq... Michael G. Cherkasky, president and chief executive of Kroll owner Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., told The Associated Press that the business in the two countries wasn't worth risking the lives of their employees."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KROLL_IRAQ?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

BRIEFING CHART SHOWS IRAQ IN CHAOS


"A classified briefing... portrays Iraq as edging toward chaos, in a chart that the military is using as a barometer of civil conflict.... One significant factor in the military’s decision to move the scale toward “chaos” was the expanding activity by militias. Another reason was the limitations of Iraqi government security forces, which despite years of training and equipping by the United States, are either ineffective or, in some cases, infiltrated by the very militias they are supposed to be combating.."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html?hp&ex=1162443600&en=ae294d1d13aed188&ei=5094&partner=homepage

TATTOOS USEFUL IN IRAQ

Ali Abbas decided that his upper right thigh was the best place for a tattoo because no one gets tortured there....He'd seen hundred of bodies in the city morgue and dozens of hospitals during his 18-day search for his missing uncle. He'd seen drill marks in swollen, often unrecognizable heads, slash marks across necks, bullet holes in backs, abdomens and swollen hands. He'd seen bodies that had been thrown into the river, so swollen they'd barely looked human. But by and large, the thighs had been intact.... he got a tattoo with his name, address and phone number... many Iraqis are getting ID tattoos so they won't be a nameless victim."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/15895502.htm