IRAQ TO REJECT PERMANENT U.S. BASES

"... permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi..."
--Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraqi national security adviser, on Dubai-based al Arabiya television.
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL11202737.html

BUSH AND MALIKI TO COMMIT TO PERMANENT OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

"Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071126-11.html#

"President Bush on Monday signed a deal setting the foundation for a potential long-term U.S. troop presence in Iraq... The agreement between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirms that the United States and Iraq will hash out an "enduring" relationship... Iraqi officials said that under the proposed formula, Iraq would get full responsibility for internal security and U.S. troops would relocate to bases outside the cities. Iraqi officials foresee a long-term presence of about 50,000 U.S. troops..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112601120_pf.html

HOW U.S. COVERS TRAILS OF DEAD IRAQI CIVILIANS

"How the Pentagon has used "tactical perception management" to obscure the killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces."

U.S. Account
"A suspected insurgent and improvised explosive device cell member was identified among the killed in an engagement between Coalition Forces and suspected IED emplacers just north of Samarra ... During the engagement, insurgents used a nearby house as a safe haven to re-engage coalition aircraft. A known member of an IED cell was among the 11 killed during the multiple engagements. We send condolences to the families of those victims and we regret any loss of life."
--U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq, Maj. Peggy Kageleiry

Iraqi Account
"... the "group of men" attacked were actually three farmers who had left their homes at 4:30 a.m. to irrigate their fields. Two were killed in the initial helicopter attack and the survivor ran back to his home where other residents gathered. The second airstrike, he claimed, destroyed the house killing 14 people. Another witness told reporters that four separate houses were hit by the helicopter. A local Iraqi policeman, Capt. Abdullah al-Isawi, put the death toll at 16 -- seven men, six women and three children, with another 14 wounded."
--Abdul al-Rahman Iyadeh, a relative of some of the victims

http://sacdcweb06.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/11/28/iraq_civilian_deaths/

60% FOREIGN TERRORISTS FROM U.S. ALLIES

"Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of the (more than 700) foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks, according to senior American military officials...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/world/middleeast/22fighters.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

POOR OVERSIGHT OF $25 BILLION IN CONTRACTS

"US contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan more than doubled from 2004 to 2006 to over 25 billion dollars but government oversight of the firms involved has slackened... marred by issues such as a lack of competitive bidding, missing contracts and unidentified companies..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071120/pl_afp/usiraqafghanistanmilitarycompany_071120002626

IRAQI PARLIAMENT WANTS TO END U.N. MANDATE ALLOWING OCCUPATION

"The United Nations Security Council has been warned by Iraqi parliamentarians of a potentially "serious" constitutional and political crisis if it decides to renew the mandate of the U.S.-led multinational force (MNF) beyond December 2007, without approval from lawmakers... (but) Washington -- apparently unconcerned about democracy in Iraq -- is determined to keep troops there, run the show, and to press forward with another U.N. mandate, irrespective of the parliament's wishes..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40038

HIDDEN COSTS DOUBLE PRICE OF WAR

"The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing nearly double the amount previously thought... the wars have cost $1.5 trillion - almost twice the requested $804 billion - because of "hidden costs"... (that) included the costs of treating wounded veterans and mounting interest payments on money borrowed to finance the wars... That figure would amount to $20,000 for a regular US family of four... (and) could rise to $46,300 over the next decade..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7092053.stm

IRAQ PRISON PROGRESS

"... The Iraqi inmate population at American prisons has been rising... and construction crews have been hustling to catch up. Camp Cropper, inside the mega-base Camp Victory at the edge of Baghdad, has, for instance, undergone constant upgrades. It started out as a bunch of tents, but, by 2006, was a $60 million state-of-the-art prison - and it's been expanding ever since. In April 2007, for example, the military was soliciting bids for "construction projects" at the camp valued at up to $5 million...."

"(At) Dusty Camp Bucca, in the south of Iraq... about $110 million is about to be poured into expanding its overcrowded quarters for a detainee population that should soon leap from 20,000 to 30,000. The work will include "retrofitting 13 existing compounds to add concrete pads to prevent tunneling, better segregation areas and better shower and latrine facilities," as well as "15 new guard towers, three medical units and work on two 'supermax' compounds with the highest levels of security".

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK06Ak03.html

AL-ASAD AIR BASE (1 OF 5)

"al-Asad Air Base, another of the US's billion-dollar mega-bases... (is) in Iraq's western desert... (has) a 32 kilometer perimeter... Asad is known among Americans as "Camp Cupcake" ("a military base where you can have all the ice cream you want, swim in an air-conditioned indoor pool, drink cafe lattes at 3am and even take yoga courses in the gym"). At present... it holds 17,000 people ("most of whom don't even work for the military") and evidently has its own Starbucks. With sidewalks, clean paved roads and working street lamps... (it is like) a small city in Arizona instead of the Sunni Triangle.... drivers get speeding tickets and vehicles are towed for bad parking.... Someone built all this and the building hasn't stopped yet..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK06Ak02.html

BALAD AIR BASE (1 OF 5)

"Balad Air Base about 70 kilometers north of Baghdad... is essentially an "American small town", so big that it has neighborhoods and bus routes - and its air traffic rivals Chicago's O'Hare International Airport... the base now houses 30,000 American troops as well as perhaps another 10,000 private contractors. It has well-fortified Pizza Hut, Burger King and Subway fast-food outlets, two PXs that are as big as K-Marts, and actual sidewalks... . Billions of dollars have reportedly gone into Balad, one of at least five "mega-bases" the Bush administration has built in that country (not counting the embassy, which is functionally another base) - and... billions of dollars are being spent on upgrades..."

"The base is one giant construction project, with new roads, sidewalks and structures going up across this 16-square-mile fortress in the center of Iraq, all with an eye toward the next few decades ... At the base, the sounds of construction and the hum of generators seem to follow visitors everywhere. Seen from the sky at night, the base resembles Las Vegas: While the surrounding Iraqi villages get about 10 hours of electricity a day, the lights never go out at Balad Air Base."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK06Ak02.html

BUT FOR BUSH AND IRAQ, AL QAEDA WOULD BE DEAD

"... Al Qaeda has at most a few thousand members. It holds no territory and its constituent organizations have been roundly defeated in Egypt, Algeria and other Muslim nations. Its command and control networks have been effectively disrupted. Most threats now come from amateur copycats. Al Qaeda has no prospect whatsoever of taking over any state in the Muslim world. It probably would be dead altogether if Bush had not poured gasoline on the flames with his large-scale invasions and occupations..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071119/cole

BASRA CONTROLLED BY SHIA MILITIAS

"... Major-General Jalil Khalaf, commander of the Basra police department... said: "Most of Basra's ports, especially Um Qasr, are under the control of militia gangs. The police force is incapable of executing its duties because its members report to Basra's militias and (political) parties which own those militias. Their loyalty is not to the Iraqi state but to their (Shi'ite) parties..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8E7B6E54-EBE1-4B7B-811D-DB98DE1C4F14.htm

TURKEY SEEKS TO RECLAIM ITS OIL IN IRAQ

"... if Iraq one day splintered, Turkey would be tempted to seize Iraq's major northern oil regions around Mosul and Kirkuk.That day is near. President Geoge W. Bush's invasion devastated Iraq and split into three pieces...Iraq's Mosul oil fields, which formerly belonged to the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, are only 119 kms from Turkey's border.

"After the First World War, the British Empire grabbed the oil-rich region, creating the unnatural state of Iraq to safeguard it. If Iraq slides further into the abyss, Turkey and Iran may partition Iraq. Today, Turkey has no oil... But if Turkey repossessed Iraq's northern oil fields, this nation of 70 million with 515,000 men at arms would become an important power that would reassert traditional Turkish influence in the Mideast, Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia... If the U.S. can invade Iraq for oil, why not neighbouring, ex-owner Turkey?"

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/10/28/4611261-sun.php

U.S. COERCING DIPLOMATS TO WORK IN BAGHDAD EMBASSY

"The US state department has said it may have to force some diplomats to work in Iraq to fill vacancies... for nearly 50 jobs... at the embassy in Baghdad... Iraq postings have previously been filled on a voluntary basis... If too few people volunteer, some will be ordered to go and risk dismissal if they refuse..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7065019.stm

U.S. SOLDIERS SHY FROM BATTLE

"... morale among US soldiers in the country is so poor, many are simply parking their Humvees and pretending to be on patrol, a practice dubbed "search and avoid" missions... "search and avoid" missions continue today across Iraq... "nearly each day they pull into a parking lot, drink soda and shoot at the cans. They pay Iraqi kids to bring them things and spread the word that they are not doing anything and to please just leave them alone."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ26Ak07.html

U.S. KNOWS THAT IRANIANS ARE NOT FURNISHING EFPs

"When the U.S. military command accused the Iranian Quds Force... of providing the armour-piercing EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) that were killing U.S. troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years... (and) the U.S. command had considerable evidence that the Mahdi army had gotten the technology and the training on how to use it from Hezbollah rather than Iran..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39810

BIG GAME HUNTING IN IRAQ

"... as part of an instruction course named "Combat Hunter," the Marines have brought in "big-game hunters" to school their snipers in the better use of "optics"... The program included a 15-minute CD titled "Every Marine a Hunter"... U.S. Army snipers... took part in "a classified program of 'baiting' their targets" to lure insurgents within their sniper scopes...

"... treating Iraqis scavenging in a weapon-strewn war zone as the equivalent of elephants, water buffalo, or other prized trophies of great white hunters has gone largely unexamined... a language of dehumanization that includes the idea of hunting humans as if they were animals has crept into our world..."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174854

RICE CALLED WAR CRIMINAL


"An anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's face at a congressional hearing... "War criminal. The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands!” yelled the protester, Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz of the Code Pink organization..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN24534480

BUSH INVASION SQUANDERED MID-EAST ASSETS AGAINST AL QAEDA

"... After Sept. 11... the United States enjoyed some clear assets in fighting the al-Qaida terrorist network.
* In the Middle East, the United States had the support of secular Turkey, a NATO member.
* The long relationship of the powerful Pakistani military with that of the United States enabled Bush to turn the military dictator Musharraf against the Taliban, which Pakistan had earlier sponsored.
* Shiite Iran announced that it would provide help to the United States in its war on the hyper-Sunni Taliban regime.
* Baathist Syria and Iraq, secular Arab nationalist regimes, were potential bulwarks against Sunni radicalism in the Levant.

"(But) Like a drunken millionaire gambling away a fortune at a Las Vegas casino, the Bush administration squandered all the assets it began with by invading Iraq and unleashing chaos in the Gulf.
* The secular Baath Party in Iraq was replaced by Shiite fundamentalists, Sunni Salafi fundamentalists and Kurdish separatists.
* The pressure the Bush administration put on the Pakistani military government to combat Muslim militants in that country weakened the legitimacy of Musharraf, whom the Pakistani public increasingly viewed as an oppressive American puppet.
* Iraqi Kurdistan's willingness to give safe haven to the PKK alienated Turkey from both the new Iraqi government and its American patrons.
* Search-and-destroy missions in Afghanistan have predictably turned increasing numbers of Pushtun villagers against the United States, NATO and Karzai..."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/10/24/kurds/index1.html

AN IRAQI VIEW OF U.S. TRIBAL STRATEGY

"Americans applied a strategy that has affected some weak brains and hearts," former Iraqi Army colonel Jabbar Saed from Fallujah told IPS. "They starved people, arrested those who opposed their occupation, killed a million Iraqis, supported sectarian militias and death squads, destroyed infrastructure to increase the rate of unemployment, and divided Iraqis into sects and now into tribes, just to make us feel that life would not be possible unless we work for them."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39725

BLACKWATER EVADED $16 MILLION IN EMPLOYEE TAXES

"... Blackwater has avoided paying Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes by treating its armed guards as independent contractors and not employees... between May 2006 and March 2007, Blackwater avoided paying $15.5 million in Social Security and Medicare taxes and $500,000 in unemployment taxes... The other two large private security companies in Iraq, DynCorp and Triple Canopy, classify their guards as employees and pay the federal taxes that Blackwater has not..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/20754.html

$1.2 BILLION TO TRAIN IRAQI POLICE CAN'T BE AUDITED

"The State Department so badly managed a $1.2 billion contract ... to contractor DynCorp International, LLC... for Iraqi police training that it can't tell what it got for the money spent... Because of disarray in invoices and records on the project... auditors have temporarily suspended their effort to review the contract's implementation..."
"DynCorp has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Blackwater USA in the contract to provide armed security for diplomats in Iraq..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071023/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_police

ISLAMO-FASCISM AWARENESS WEEK TO OPPOSE LIES OF LEFT

"... October 22-26, 2007... will be... Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week... to confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat.... Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is a national effort to oppose these lies..."
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamo-fascism-awareness-week/

KURD TERRORISTS AGAINST IRAN ARE NOT CALLED TERRORISTS

"... The guerrillas from the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or P.J.A.K., have been waging a deadly insurgency in Iran and they are an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., the Kurdish guerrillas who fight Turkey....Americans classify the P.K.K. as a terrorist group because it is fighting Turkey, an important American ally, while the P.J.A.K. is not labeled as such because it is fighting Iran.
In fact, the two groups appear to a large extent to be one and the same, and share the same goal: fighting campaigns to win new autonomy and rights for Kurds in Iran and Turkey. They share leadership, logistics and allegiance..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/world/middleeast/23kurds.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

"... The label of the word terrorist is so devoid of meaning now, it's hypocritical... First we find groups around the world we don't like, then we find ways to label them as terrorists"... (refering to) the U.S.'s double-standard with regard to two Kurdish separatist groups that, on either side of Iraq's borders, attack Turkish and Iranian troops. "One [the Kurdish Workers Party] is a terrorist, the other [Party for Free Life in Kurdistan] receives support from us."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39861

$189 BILLION MORE REQUESTED FOR WARS, TOTAL = $789 BILLION

"... Bush asked Congress... for $189.3 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... (this) covers ongoing military operations for fiscal 2008, which began on October 1... It is in addition to about $600 billion already approved for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2252200020071022

INVESTIGATION OF U.S. EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION

"A mortar shell smashed into the hulking new U.S. Embassy that's under construction in Baghdad last May, damaging a wall and causing minor injuries to people inside the building... A congressional committee is examining whether the walls of the still-unfinished embassy complex, which are supposed to be blast-resistant, performed as they should have during the mortar attack... Aspects of the embassy's construction are the subject of at least one U.S. government criminal investigation... (including) a ($592 million) sole-source contract... to Kuwait-based First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20071018/wl_mcclatchy/20071018bcusiraqembassyexclusive_attn_national_foreign_editors_ytop

U.S. TERROR CHIEF RESIGNS AFTER COMMENT ON IRAQ

"Three days after Americans saw the Bush administration’s counterterrorism chief say the Iraq war has likely not made the United States safer from terrorism, the official announced his resignation... NBC News (had) broadcast an interview with Adm. Scott Redd, head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) in which he said that the U.S. was “probably” not safer from terrorism today than it was before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In the longer term, he said, “We’ll wait and see.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/18/4663/

3 MAIN REASONS WHY WE INVADED IRAQ

"There were... real reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. There might even be 27 real reasons. But I know of three.

"One reason has to do with enhancing our military-basing posture in the region... to secure the energy lines of communication in the region...

"A major reason (was)... Many companies around the world were preparing to do business with Iraq in anticipation of a lifting of sanctions. But the U.S. and the U.K. had been bombing northern and southern Iraq since 1991. So it was very unlikely that we would be in any kind of position to gain significant contracts in any post-sanctions Iraq...

"Another reason... relates to our currency, and our debt situation. Saddam Hussein decided in November 2000 to sell his Food for Oil program oil sales in euros... if the sanctions were lifted, the sales from the country with the second largest oil reserves... would have been setting a standard away from, and competing with, US paper... In any case, the first executive order regarding Iraq that Bush signed in May [2003] switched trading on Iraq’s oil back to the dollar...

"(Those) are the big three... American bases, American contracts, and propping up the dollar."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski193.html

WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED BY IRAQ WAR

"... what we have accomplished, so far.

"So far, we have spent, according to the National Priorities Project, about $460 billion on fighting in Iraq. That’s just the direct cost. We’ve racked up nearly two trillion in total costs of the war so far, including equipment and training losses, lifetime health care of the disabled soldiers, etc.

"We have sacrificed the lives of nearly 4,000 American troops, and injured, in many cases permanently, over 30,000 troops. So far, well over 100,000 American troops have persistent stress reactions or other mental disturbance as a result of their experience.

"We have weakened American defensive capability with multiple extended tours for both National Guardsmen and the active forces, years of reduced training and maintenance of equipment, and drastically lower standards for entry into the military...

"For Iraqis... In a country that once had 26 million inhabitants, two million have fled, two million more are internally homeless, and nearly a million have lost their lives since we invaded in 2003.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski193.html

BUSH STATEMENTS ON IRAQ FROM 2002 SPEECH
(None turned out to be true)

* It has given shelter and support to terrorism.
* We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq.
* The regime is rebuilding facilities that it had used to produce chemical and biological weapons.
* It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons.
* Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons.
* The regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas.
* Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.
* It is seeking nuclear weapons.
* Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.
* Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles.
* Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas... (or) for missions targeting the United States.
* Saddam Hussein... does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons?
* Iraq stands alone -- because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place.
* We cannot wait for the final proof... in the form of a mushroom cloud.
* The lives of iraqi citizens would improve dramatically if Saddamm Hussein were no longer in power.

--Remarks by the President on Iraq, Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, OH, October 7, 2002.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021007-8.html

IRAQ WAR ENTERS PHASE II of III

"The rebranding of War With Iraq into War With Iran is only Phase I of a multi-phased rebranding strategy that will go on for years... Phase II (began) last week, when all three of the leading presidential candidates from the (Democratic Perty)... professed...(it was) unrealistic... to get troops out of Iraq any earlier than... 2013...."

"Phase III will last 50 years, and you'll never hear the word 'combat,' only 'stabilization', but on the ground, the facts will be the same they've always been; unwelcome Americans kids getting killed and maimed by a debilitated local populace who hate them. Desperate Iraqis--armed and otherwise--with no water, sanitation, electricity, protection or hope will still be slaughtered in the streets or made into internal or external refugees. And of course there'll be the big cherry on top we've wanted all along; control of the oil..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-gilroy/how-pelosi-ended-the-war_b_67681.html

IRAQ AND FRAUDULENT WAR ON TERROR

"... Once we recognize the global war on terror for the fraudulent enterprise that it has become, then we can get serious about designing a strategy to address the threat that we actually face, which is not terrorism but violent Islamic radicalism. The antidote to Islamic radicalism, if there is one, won’t involve invading and occupying places like Iraq..."
http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_09_24/article2.html

PETRAEUS'S POLITICAL ROLE (thread)

October 2007
"... David Petraeus is a political general... of the worst kind — one who indulges in the politics of accommodation... namely, bringing our military policies into harmony with our political purposes...
--The American Conservative, October 8, 2007 Issue
http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_09_24/article2.html

September 2007
"Petraeus (agreed) in February to serve as front man for the George W Bush administration's effort to sell its policy of increasing US troop strength in Iraq to Congress. In a highly unusual political role for an officer who had not yet taken command of a war, Petraeus was installed in the office of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in early February just before the Senate debated Bush's troop increase. According to a report in the Washington Post on February 7, senators were then approached on the floor and invited to McConnell's office to hear Petraeus make the case for the "surge" policy..."
"Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (Centcom), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad in March... Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit"... Fallon was strongly opposed to Petraeus's role as pitchman for the "surge" in Iraq adopted by Bush in December as putting his own interests ahead of a sound military posture in the Middle East and Southwest Asia - the area for which Fallon's Centcom is responsible..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II14Ak02.html

February 2007
"General Is Front Man For Bush's Iraq Plan... Petraeus was set up last week in the office of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Senators were approached on the floor and urged to meet with him. And the new Iraq commander then privately outlined his view of the war and what he will do with the 21,500 extra troops....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601918.html

TORTURE OF IRAQIS BY U.S. CONTRACTORS

"Abu Ghraib prisoners accuse US companies of torture... Titan and CACI International were hired by the Army to provide interrogators... One former Iraqi prisoner now living in Sweden says that under the companies' watch, he was sodomized, nearly strangled with a belt, tied by his genitals to other detainees, and given repeated electric shocks..."
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071002/usa/us_iraq_military_justice_1

LIBERATED SOVEREIGN IRAQ CANNOT PROSECUTE MERCENARIES

"... Despite all the nonsense about a “liberated Iraq”... the Iraqis still lack the authority to prosecute American mercenaries occupying their country because of a law pushed through by then-U.S. proconsul Paul Bremer, who was also guarded by Blackwater personnel. Bremer awarded the original no-bid contract to Blackwater, run by a major Republican campaign contributor, Erik Prince, who has donated $225,000 to the GOP. Prince’s sister Betsy DeVos was Michigan’s Republican Party chair and a Bush-Cheney “Pioneer” who came through with at least $100,000 for their 2004 campaign..."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071002_robert_scheer_oct_3_us_outlaws_

U.S. GENERALS "BETRAYING" SOLDIERS WHO BAITED IRAQIS TO INFLATE BODY COUNT

The headline said:
"3 US Soldiers Charged with Premeditated Murder in Iraq “Bait” Case... The three soldiers facing court are also accused of planting weapons on the Iraqis they killed..."
http://www.thehollywoodliberal.com/2007/09/27/3-us-soldiers-charged-with-premeditated-murder-in-iraq-bait-case/

As one soldier put it:
"... In a July hearing at Fort Liberty, Iraq, Sgt. Anthony G. Murphy said he and other snipers felt "an underlying tone" of disappointment from their commanders when they didn't rack up big body counts... (but) When the snipers started setting traps to lure in unsuspecting Iraqis, the kill ratios went up and the commanders were pleased."
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4649

Fox News spun the story as:
"Our generals are betraying our soldiers... again... Our generals in both the Army and Marine Corps have cared more about their precious careers and reputations than their soldiers and Marines under them... In Iraq... The Army rediscovered a trick we used in ‘Nam' called “baiting,” where you leave ammunition and pieces of explosive devices out and shoot whoever takes them... the Army is now putting on trial: Ranger Snipers for doing their jobs..."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298203,00.html

But wiser people cautioned:
"... such a baiting program should be examined "quite meticulously" because... what happens when civilians pick up the items... In a country that is awash in armaments and magazines and implements of war, if every time somebody picked up something that was potentially useful as a weapon, you might as well ask every Iraqi to walk around with a target on his back..."
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_snipers_bait_Iraqis_report_09242007.html

SENATE VOTES FOR PARTITIONING "SOVEREIGN" IRAQ

September 2007
"The US Senate has approved a Bosnia-style plan to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines... the Senate passed the non-binding resolution on dividing Iraq... as the best hope to produce a political solution to murderous sectarian strife... It proposes to separate Iraq into Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni entities, with a federal government in Baghdad in charge of border security and oil revenues."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22490525-2703,00.html

June 2004
"... the notion of "Iraqi sovereignty" can't be anything but a fiction... the U.S. will retain sovereignty as long as the U.S. maintains its military, monetary, and administrative domination of the country..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0617-14.htm

IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE:
BUSH REFUSED EXILE OFFER BY SADDAM, STARTED UNNECESSARY WAR

"... transcript of the conversation between George W. Bush, Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, and Condoleeza Rice held at Crawford before the Iraq War. "The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1 billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction," Bush was quoted as saying at the meeting one month before the U.S.-led invasion.'
(So) Bush could have sent Saddam off to exile in Saudi Arabia and avoided the whole war, but refused to do so because of the family vendetta between the Bushes and the Tikritis. Nearly 4,000 US soldiers have died and thousands have been wounded because Bush would not take the deal Saddam offered him. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead, and millions displaced. Going to war unnecessarily is an impeachable offense..."
http://www.juancole.com/2007/09/transcript-reveals-impeachable-offenses.html

Transcript on Spanish news site El Pais:
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Llego/momento/deshacerse/Sadam/elpepuint/20070926elpepinac_1/Tes

Translation of transcript:
http://watchingamerica.com/elpais000012.shtml

FILM: "NO END IN SIGHT"

"... Charles Ferguson's film "No End in Sight"... (shows) the Bush White House made a series of policy decisions that would determine a disastrous course of events -- the descent of Iraq into civil chaos under the dysfunctional stewardship of an occupying force... the main culpability lies... (with) the "gang of four": Vice President Dick Cheney; former deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz; Bremer; and Rumsfeld. All four declined to be interviewed for the film... President Bush is described as an aloof leader who does not bother to read National Intelligence Estimates... He is noticeably absent from the decision-making process..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39415

$1 BILLION MORE REQUESTED FOR BASES IN IRAQ

"... Defence Secretary Robert Gates is set to ask Congress to approve a request for nearly $190 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.... He will also ask for $1 billion to spend on improving and consolidating US bases in Iraq..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7015087.stm

BUSH THREATENED NATIONS NOT BACKING IRAQ WAR

"... Bush threatened nations with retaliation if they did not vote for a UN resolution backing the Iraq war... Angola stood to lose financial aid while Chile could see a free trade agreement held up in the US Senate if they did not back the resolution..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070926/pl_afp/spainusiraqwar_070926143404

OIL THE REASON FOR IRAQ INVASION

"... the Bush administration began making plans for Iraq’s oil industry “within weeks” of Bush taking office in January 2001... In public... the Bush administration built its case for an invasion of Iraq without referring to that country’s oil or the fact that it had the third largest reserves of petroleum in the world. But what happened out of sight was another matter... gaining privileged access to Iraqi oil for American companies was a primary objective of the Pentagon’s invasion of Iraq..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/26/4106/

COST OF IRAQ WAR NOW $720 MILLION PER DAY

"... the American Friends Service Committee... (said) The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute, according to the group's analysis of the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard public finance lecturer Linda J. Bilmes... The $720 million figure breaks down into $280 million a day from Iraq war supplementary funding bills passed by Congress, plus $440 million daily in incurred, but unpaid, long-term costs..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102074_pf.html

BLACKWATER AT WORK IN BAGHDAD

"... The eruption of gunfire was sudden and ferocious, round after round mowing down terrified men women and children, slamming into cars as they collided and overturned with drivers frantically trying to escape. Some vehicles were set alight by exploding petrol tanks. A mother and her infant child died in one of them, trapped in the flames. Hassan Jabar Salman, a lawyer, was shot four times in the back, his car riddled with eight more bullets, as he attempted to get away from their convoy. Yesterday, sitting swathed in bandages at Baghdad's Yarmukh Hospital, he recalled scenes of horror. "I saw women and children jump out of their cars and start to crawl on the road to escape being shot," said Mr Salman. "But still the firing kept coming and many of them were killed. I saw a boy of about 10 leaping in fear from a minibus, he was shot in the head. His mother was crying out for him, she jumped out after him, and she was killed. People were afraid." At the end of the prolonged hail of bullets Nisoor Square was a scene of carnage with bodies strewn around smouldering wreckage. Ambulances trying to pick up the wounded found their path blocked by crowds fleeing the gunfire... the death toll from the incident, according to Iraqi authorities, stood at 28. And it could rise higher... as some of the injured, hit by high-velocity bullets at close quarter, are unlikely to survive..."

"... Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice has... promised a "transparent" inquiry into what happened..."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2984819.ece

KURDS PROTEST U.S. ARREST OF IRANIAN

"U.S. troops arrested an Iranian man... and accused him of helping to smuggle a deadly type of roadside bomb into Iraq... The U.S.... allege that he is an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp's elite Quds force... (and) had trained foreign fighters in Iraq and provided them with roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs..."

"But the Kurdistan Regional Government in a statement called the arrest "illegitimate," said the man was a member of a trade delegation that had been invited to Sulaimaniyah by the local government and demanded that he be released... The Kurdish Regional Government said the man was Aghai Farhadi, a member of an economic and commercial delegation from the Iranian governorate of Karmanshah, which borders Iraq's Sulaimaniyah and Diyala provinces. Hassan Baqi, the head of the Sulaimaniyah chamber of commerce, said Farhadi had been in Sulaimaniyah for a week for discussions on opening a border crossing near Panjween,68 miles east of Sulaimaniyah, and other trade-related issues..."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19856.html

CHLORINE FOR ANTI-CHOLERA WATER TREATMENT HELD UP

"The World Health Organisation confirmed the first case of cholera in Baghdad... Dr Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO's representative in Iraq... said some 100,000 tons of chlorine were being held up at Iraq's border with Jordan apparently because of fears the chemical could be used in explosives. She urged authorities to release it for use in decontaminating water supplies."
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvXJToLe3tpbY096cbBc_HX-xKXw

CHOLERA SPREADS TO BAGHDAD

"The World Health Organization confirmed... the first cholera case in Baghdad... raising fears the disease is spreading from the north of the country where it has struck more than 1,000 people... The disease... had been confined to northern Iraq, affecting the provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Irbil and Tamim... Several suspected cholera cases also have been reported in Diyala province, north of Baghdad..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070920/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_cholera

THE GENERAL SPEAKS, AGAIN

"The strategy we're following this time is the proper one, and is producing results. Repeated successes."
—Gen. William Westmoreland, before Congress, April 28, 1967

"I believe that this is indeed the best course of action to achieve our objectives in Iraq."
—Gen. David Petraeus, before Congress, Sept. 11, 2007

"... Sen. John Warner... asked him if he thought what we were doing was making America safer. "Sir, I don't know actually. I have not sat down and sorted out in my own mind," he said. As the brilliant Frank Rich noted in The New York Times, that was coded military speech for, "No, of course it isn't making us safer!"

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=11803

WHY IRAQIS DON'T WANT THE U.S.-DRAFTED "OIL LAW"

"... The contracts that the Bush administration has been pushing the Iraqi government to accept are not just about the distribution of oil among the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. The contracts call for 30-year exclusive rights for British and American oil companies, rights that cannot be revoked by future Iraqi governments. They are called “production sharing agreements” (or “PSA’s”) - a legalistic code word. The Iraqi government would technically own the oil, but could not control it; only the companies could do that. ExxonMobil and others would invest in developing the infrastructure for the oil (drilling, oil rigs, refining) and would get 75% of the “cost oil” profits, until they got their investment back. After that, they would own the infrastructure (paid for by oil profits), and then get 20% of oil profits after that (twice the usual rate). The profits are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. And the Iraqi people would have no democratic control over their own major resource. No other Middle East country has such an arrangement..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/20/3969/

AFTER THE PETRAEUS REPORT

"... One week after Petraeus flashed his metrics, a whole new set of facts on the ground suddenly emerged: an admission (previously denied) by Petraeus that the United States was arming the Sunnis, who might use those weapons in the next phase of Iraq's civil war; the release of a Pentagon report that there is "an increase in intra-Shi'a violence throughout the South" (a report conveniently withheld as Petraeus was testifying); the Iraqi government's expulsion of Blackwater, a private security firm with close ties to the administration, after a band of its guards gunned down Iraqi civilians; the restriction of all nonmilitary U.S. personnel in Iraq to the Green Zone; a report by the Iraqi Red Crescent that about 1 million people are internal refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing (apart from the more than 2 million refugees who have fled the country); and the announcement by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of an investigation into the State Department's inspector general for quashing scrutiny and embarrassing studies of fraud in the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, among other projects...."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/20/bush_draper/index.html?source=newsletter

U.S. HAS CAUSED MORE IRAQI DEATHS THAN SADDAM

"The World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), a grouping of NGOs, intellectuals and writers opposed to the war in Iraq, on Friday accused the United States of causing more deaths in Iraq than ousted president Saddam Hussein... Some 200 non-governmental organsiations... are involved in the WTI."
http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?189822

STATE OF THE POLICE IN A POLICE STATE

"The Iraqi national police force is riddled with militia and corruption and should be disbanded, a panel of retired US military officers has told Congress... They said that its parent body, the Interior Ministry, was a ministry “in name only” and rife with sectarianism and corruption. The entire 26,000-member police force should be scrapped and rebuilt anew, they said..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2401262.ece

AMERICAN MISCALCULATION ABOUT SHI'ITES, IRAQ AND IRAN

"... The scale of the American miscalculation is striking. Before the Iraq war began, its neoconservative architects argued that conferring power on Iraq’s Shiites would serve to undermine Iran because Iraq’s Shiites, controlling the faith’s two holiest cities, would, in the words of then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, be “an independent source of authority for the Shia religion emerging in a country that is democratic and pro-Western.” Further, they argued, Iran could never dominate Iraq, because the Iraqi Shiites are Arabs and the Iranian Shiites Persian. It was a theory that, unfortunately, had no connection to reality..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/19/3934/

IRAQ DECAYING

"... By the end of 2006, Washington had provided $37.45 billion to help rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure... the total has since swollen to $44.54 billion... But ordinary Iraqis have seen no benefit... Baghdad's electricity ministry recently warned that the national power grid was close to collapse, while water supplies in the Iraqi capital have been cut off for days at a time. Conditions are arguably worse than... in 2003... The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)... has singled out widespread corruption and economic mismanagement as the source of the continuing decay..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6977728.stm

1.2 MILLION ESTIMATED DEATHS FROM VIOLENCE

"... a survey of Iraqis... suggested that up to 1.2m people might have died because of the conflict in Iraq. A UK-based polling agency, Opinion Research Business (ORB), said it had extrapolated the figure by asking a random sample of 1,461 Iraqi adults how many people living in their household had died as a result of the violence rather than from natural causes. The results lend weight to a 2006 survey of Iraqi households published by the Lancet, which suggested that about 655,000 Iraqi deaths were "a consequence of the war". However, these estimates are both far higher than the running total of reported civilian deaths maintained by the campaign group Iraq Body Count which puts the figure at between 71,000 and 78,000..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6998788.stm

"... IBC’s figures (are less because they) are not ‘estimates’ but a record of actual, documented... solely violent... solely civilian (strictly, ‘non-combatant’) deaths..."
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/about/

PETRAEUS'S POLITICAL ROLE

February 2007
"General Is Front Man For Bush's Iraq Plan... Petraeus was set up last week in the office of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Senators were approached on the floor and urged to meet with him. And the new Iraq commander then privately outlined his view of the war and what he will do with the 21,500 extra troops....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601918.html

September 2007
"Petraeus's (agreed) in February to serve as front man for the George W Bush administration's effort to sell its policy of increasing US troop strength in Iraq to Congress. In a highly unusual political role for an officer who had not yet taken command of a war, Petraeus was installed in the office of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in early February just before the Senate debated Bush's troop increase. According to a report in the Washington Post on February 7, senators were then approached on the floor and invited to McConnell's office to hear Petraeus make the case for the "surge" policy..."
"Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (Centcom), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad in March... Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit"... Fallon was strongly opposed to Petraeus's role as pitchman for the "surge" in Iraq adopted by Bush in December as putting his own interests ahead of a sound military posture in the Middle East and Southwest Asia - the area for which Fallon's Centcom is responsible..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II14Ak02.html

REPORT ON U.S. SUCCESS IN IRAQ AND ANBAR

PRO-U.S. SHEIK KILLED BY INSURGENTS

"... 10 days after he met with President Bush... The most prominent figure in a U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Iraq was killed Thursday by a bomb planted near his home in Anbar province... Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening — an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces. Officials said his assassination would be a huge setback for U.S. efforts in Iraq..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6993211.stm

IRAQ STRATEGY MAKING AMERICA SAFER?

"...Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, who is one of the party’s leading voices on foreign policy, asked whether the current strategy in Iraq was “making America safer.” General Petraeus... said: “Sir, I don’t know, actually.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/washington/12policy.html?hp

BIN LADEN 2004 TAPE - HIS REASONS FOR 9/11

"... it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind. The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced. I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy... And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children."

"... security is an indispensable pillar of human life and free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom... we fight because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation. So shall we lay waste to yours... Is defending oneself and punishing the aggressor in kind, objectionable terrorism? If it is such, then it is unavoidable for us..."

http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=7403

IRAQI POLL ON SURGE AND RESISTANCE, VS PETRAEUS

"About 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military "surge" of the past six months, an opinion poll... by the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq also suggests that nearly 60% see attacks on US-led forces as justified. This rises to 93% among Sunni Muslims compared to 50% for Shia..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/69838

"The military objectives of the US troop surge in Iraq "are largely being met", the top US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus... told a Congressional panel..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6986461.stm

BUSH KNEW SADDAM HAD NO WMD

"On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister (Naji Sabri), a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again..."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/06/bush_wmd/

92% OF IRAQI CHILDREN HAVE LEARNING IMPEDIMENTS FROM FEAR

"... According to an Oxfam report on Iraq released Jul. 30, "92 percent of children had learning impediments that are largely attributable to the current climate of fear. Schools are regularly closed as teachers and pupils are too fearful to attend. Over 800,000 children may now be out of school, according to a recent estimate by Save the Children UK -- up from 600,000 in 2004." The Oxfam report also said that child malnutrition rates in Iraq have risen from 19 percent before the invasion in 2003, to 28 percent. "More than 11 percent of newborn babies were born underweight in 2006, compared with 4 percent in 2003."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39113

SCHOOLS IN BAQUBA

"... Baquba city, capital of Diyala province, has been at the centre of major U.S. military operations... Only two provincial schools and one private kindergarten school are functioning in this city of 280,000, located 50 km north of Baghdad..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39113

IRAQ MEETS ONLY 3 of 18 BENCHMARKS

"... A draft of the report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was leaked to the Washington Post by an official "who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down" by the Department of Defence and other government agencies prior to the release of the final report... (The) draft report... states that Iraq has met only three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for progress, in contrast to an earlier White House report which claimed "satisfactory" progress on eight of the benchmarks... Pentagon officials and prominent Iraq hawks were quick to attack the validity of the draft..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39094

FALLUJAH IS BACK TO DARK AGES

"A brave new attempt is under way to project that all is well now with Fallujah. Residents know better -- or worse... "The media in the west are lying about Fallujah by saying everything is well. What is so good about a city that lives with no electricity, no water, no fuel... and most important, with no vehicles? The local police guided and supported by the American Army have prevented car movement for nearly three months now... A tour of the city on foot gives the impression of the dark ages. People are back to riding donkeys..."

"... The city has also been affected by the U.S. and Iraqi authorities' dependence on tribes in Fallujah and throughout Iraq's western al-Anbar province. Sheikhs are the real leaders now. "They are taking us back to the British occupation period when the British gave power to ignorant sheikhs of tribes instead of politicians and academics... This is a terrible conception that will take us back to the dark ages instead of the promised progress and prosperity. These men are highly respected for being what they are, but never to lead a city, a province and a country."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39146

WHO DISBANDED IRAQI ARMY?

"... Paul Bremer has insisted that President George W Bush approved plans to dismantle Iraq's army... (but) Bush says the agreed policy was to keep Iraq's army intact. The disbanding is now widely seen as a mistake that fuelled Iraq's insurgency..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6977642.stm

BRITISH WITHDRAW FROM BASRA INTO AIRBASE

"British soldiers began withdrawing... 550 soldiers stationed in Basra Palace were leaving the downtown site to join 5,000 other personnel at an air base camp on the fringes of the city — ending their permanent presence in Iraq's second largest city.... the palace compound (had been) targeted with daily mortar and rocker attack in recent months.."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070902/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq

CHOLERA SPREADS AS HEALTH SERVICES COLLAPSE

"Lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation has led to 5,000 people in northern Iraq contracting cholera... "The disease is spreading very fast," Dr Juan Abdallah, a senior official in Kurdistan's health ministry, told a UN agency. "It is the first outbreak of its kind here in the past few decades."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2914413.ece

IRAQ FAILS TO MEET BUSH BENCHMARKS

"Iraq has managed to reach only three out of 18 progress benchmarks set by the US..."
--Draft report by US Government Accountability Office.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6970150.stm

"Pentagon disputes bleak GAO Iraq report... a few of the benchmark grades should be upgraded from 'not met' to 'met'..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-08-29-gao-iraq_N.htm

CHOLERA OUTBREAK FROM WATER CONTAMINATED WITH SEWAGE

"An outbreak of cholera in two northern Iraqi provinces has killed eight people and infected 80 others... local health authorities were also treating 4,250 suspected cases of the disease in Sulaimaniya and Tamim... Serious problems with water quality and sewage treatment, worsened by crumbling local infrastructure, are being blamed... 70% of Iraq's population does not have adequate water supplies and that only 20% has access to effective sanitation.."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6921623.stm

ISRAEL: BUSH ATTACKED THE WRONG COUNTRY

"Israeli officials warned... that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilising to the region and urged the United States to instead target Iran as the primary enemy... the Israelis reacted immediately to indications that the Bush administration was thinking of war against Iraq. After the Israeli government picked up the first signs of that intention... "The Israelis were telling us Iraq is not the enemy -- Iran is the enemy"... the Israeli message to the Bush administration in early 2002... (was) "If you are going to destabilise the balance of power, do it against the main enemy."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39051

VIOLENCE HAS CREATED 4 MILLION IRAQI REFUGEES

"More than four million Iraqis have fled their homes because of sectarian violence, the largest population movement in the Middle East since Palestinians left the new state of Israel... Many are barely surviving in makeshift camps, inaccessible to aid workers for security reasons... More than 1.4 million have crossed into neighbouring Syria with between 500,000 and 750,000 heading into Jordan... The number of Iraqi asylum seekers in Europe in the first half of 2007 rose to nearly 20,000, the same number received during the whole of 2006... Only 133 Iraqi refugees have been allowed into the United States... (but) over 400 Iraqi refugees will travel to the US this month... (and) close to 2,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of September..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070828/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestrefugees_070828172717

MID-EAST RECOGNIZES U.S. HAS LOST AND IRAN HAS GAINED

"... By eliminating Saddam Hussein... and installing a Shia-dominated government for the first time in Iraq's history, the United States strengthened Iran's clerical regime... Without lifting a finger, the Iranians became the most dominant regional power.... All regimes in the Middle East recognize that America has lost the war in Iraq... They're all maneuvering to protect their interests and to gain something out of the American defeat..."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woiran265346912aug26,0,7481706,print.story

U.S. CONTRACTS ARE FINANCING THE INSURGENTS

"... insurgent groups have financed their war... with hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. rebuilding funds that they've extorted from Iraqi contractors in Anbar province... The Americans are handing out contracts and jobs to terrorists, bandits and gangsters... the arrangement makes sense for insurgents.... Insurgents control the roads... By granting safe passage to a truck loaded with $10,000 in goods, they receive a "protection fee" that can buy more weapons and vehicles... (also) The contracts are inflated, all of them. The insurgents get half... The Americans think you're hiring a security company, but how you execute it is something else entirely. This is how it's been working since Day 1..."

"... a contractor said... (of) a recent order he took to haul gravel to U.S. bases in Anbar. "If I do it in the Green Zone, it's just putting gravel in Hesco bags and it would be about $16,000. But they needed it for Ramadi and Fallujah. I submitted an invoice for $120,000 and I'd say about $100,000 of that went to the mujahideen."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/19232.html

SUCCESS OF SURGE HAS DOUBLED IRAQI DEATH TOLL

"... in June our troops launched a surge of operations that is helping... give families in liberated Iraqi cities a safer and more normal life... the success of the past couple of months have shown that conditions on the ground can change..."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070825.html

"... the death toll from sectarian attacks nationwide is running nearly double the year-ago pace... Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths nationwide compared with last year — an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year...
http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/247449.html

BUSH AND NAPOLEON IN IRAQ AND EGYPT

http://hnn.us/roundup/comments/17176.html

"... Both leaders invaded and occupied a major Arabic-speaking Muslim country; both harbored dreams of a "Greater Middle East"; both were surprised to find themselves enmeshed in long, bitter, debilitating guerrilla wars. Neither genuinely cared about grassroots democracy, but both found its symbols easy to invoke for gullible domestic publics. Substantial numbers of their new subjects quickly saw, however, that they faced occupations, not liberations..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH25Ak03.html

RECONSTRUCTION THROWING MONEY AT PROBLEMS

"... the Vo-Tech Iskandariyah Industrial School... workshop's ceiling were cracked or curved. The cafeteria floor had a gaping hole and concrete chunks. The auditorium was unfinished, with cracked floors and poorly painted walls peppered with holes... The contract shows the Iraqi contractor was paid $679,000... inexperienced soldiers do their best to scrutinize millions of dollars in contracts and monitor projects they don't fully comprehend... throwing money at the problems... (with) no training in drawing up contracts, handling bids or using worksheets..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082402307.html?hpid=topnews

DETAINEE POPULATION

"The number of detainees held... in Iraq has swelled by 50 percent under the troop increase... with the inmate population growing to 24,500 today from 16,000 in February... Nearly 85 percent of the detainees in custody are Sunni Arabs... the other detainees are Shiites... of the Sunni detainees, about 1,800 claim allegiance to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia... the vast majority are not inspired by jihad or hate for the coalition or Iraqi government — the vast majority are inspired by money... The primary motivator is economic — they’re angry men because they don’t have jobs... The detainee population is overwhelmingly illiterate and unemployed..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/25/world/middleeast/25detain.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

SURGE HAS ACCELERATED FIGHTING, PARTITION AND FLIGHT

"... The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop increase began in February... accelerating the partition of the country into sectarian enclaves.... American-led operations have brought new fighting, driving fearful Iraqis from their homes at much higher rates than before the tens of thousands of additional troops arrived..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/world/middleeast/24displaced.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

U.S.-SUPPORTED MILITARY COUP RUMORED FOR IRAQ

"A rumor is circulating among well-connected and formerly high-level Iraqi bureaucrats in exile in places like Damascus that a military coup is being prepared for Iraq... a military commission (majlis `askari) to take over the government... The military group is composed of internals, people who have the goal of securing the country even at the risk of no democracy... It is said that the Americans are supporting this behind the scenes."
http://www.juancole.com/2007/08/military-coup-planned-for-iraq.html

LACK OF WATER AND BAD WATER KILLING IRAQIS

"The collapse of Iraq's infrastructure has created a worsening water crisis that is killing untold numbers of Iraqis. Iraq, with its famous Tigris and Euphrates rivers that run the length of the country, is now unable to provide drinking water to most of its people... 70 percent of Iraqis are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50 percent in 2003... Much of the country is suffering severe lack of water, and the small quantities supplied are not good for human use. .. Iraqi hospitals are full of people with illnesses due to the unsafe water..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38928

"... The U.S. company Bechtel, whose board members have close ties to the Bush administration, was to carry out reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq's water and electrical infrastructure. But it left the country without carrying out most such tasks..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38465

MALIKI A TOOL OF THE OCCUPATION, WILL NOT SURVIVE

"Al-Maliki's government will not survive because he has proven that he will not work with important elements of the Iraqi people. The Prime Minister is a tool for the Americans and people see that clearly. It will probably be the Americans who decide to change him when they realise he has failed. We don't have a democracy here, we have a foreign occupation."
-- Muqtada al-Sadr, interviewed in Kufa, Iraq, August 20, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2878776.ece

2ND BADR ALLY OF IRAN KILLED BY I.E.D.

"... The killing of a second governor in the Shiite south is... a sign of an increasingly virulent Shiite on Shiite power struggle between SIIC (Shiite Iranian sympathizers) and the Sadrists (Shiite Iraqi nationalists), between the Badr Corps and the Mahdi Army...these assassinations have been strikes against Iranian influence in Iraq..."
http://www.juancole.com/2007/08/second-shiite-governor-slain-levin.html

August 20:
"The Shia governor of Iraq's southern Muthana province has been killed by a roadside bomb... Mohammed Ali al-Hasani... belonged to the largest Shia party in Iraq, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SiiC)... (and) was a key figure in the Badr Organisation, the military wing of SiiC. He is the second Shia governor killed this month... Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr... condemned the killings of both governors, describing them as "a secret plan by the occupiers to create the environment to stay in Iraq".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6954467.stm

August 12:
"A powerful roadside bomb has killed the governor and police chief of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiya...The governor (Khalil Jalil Hamza) was a key figure in the Badr Organisation, the military wing of the largest Shia Muslim party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC)..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6942239.stm

NO IRANIAN TRAINERS FOUND IN IRAQ

"... U.S. military said... that Iranian soldiers are in Iraq training insurgents to attack American forces... (saying) recently discovered caches of weapons with Iranian markings on them indicate that the Iranians are there..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19049.html


U.S. ALLIED WITH IRANIAN-TRAINED GROUP IN IRAQ

"The US military hasn't found any Iranian trainers in Iraq or any training camps... What I cannot understand is why the Pentagon needs Iranians in Iraq as a plot device. The Iraqi Badr Corps, tens of thousands strong, was trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and it has been alleged that some Badr corpsmen are still on the Iranian payroll. It is the paramilitary of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, America's chief ally in Iraq.... Why bother to send revolutionary guardsmen when the country is thick with Badr fighters anyway (who have all the same training)? I think the US is just embarrassed because Badr is its major ally in Iraq..."
http://www.juancole.com/2007/08/mortar-shells-kill-10-in-downtown.html

DEMOCRACY DISCREDITED BY IRAQ WAR

"... Bush had made democracy in the Middle East a cornerstone of his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks... (but) The Iraq war has distracted Bush and... discredited his aspirations... Two and a half years after Bush pledged in his second inaugural address to spread democracy around the world, the grand project has bogged down in a bureaucratic and geopolitical morass..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/19/AR2007081901720.html?hpid=topnews

IRAQ WAR RECRUITERS "OPTED OUT" IN PUERTO RICO

On (Puerto Rico) with a long tradition of military service... pro-independence advocates are tapping the territory's growing anti-Iraq war sentiment... 57 percent of Puerto Rico's 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, or their parents, have signed forms over the past year withholding contact information from the Pentagon -- effectively barring U.S. recruiters from reaching out to an estimated 65,000 high school students.... opt-out rates for states in the continental United States rarely break beyond 10 percent..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081702175.html?hpid=topnews

WHITE HOUSE TO WRITE PETRAEUS REPORT ON IRAQ

"Political Spin’ over Iraq Report... the White House want(s) to block public testimony in Congress next month from war commander General David Petraeus and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker... the assessment on the surge, required under US law, will be written at the White House, not personally by Crocker and Petraeus..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/17/3229/

NO CHRISTIAN VIDEO GAME FOR TROOPS

"Plans by a Christian group to send an evangelical video game to U.S. troops in Iraq were abruptly halted yesterday by the DOD after ABC News inquired about the program. Operation Start Up (OSU) Tour, an evangelical entertainment troupe that actively proselytizes among soldiers, will not be sending the "apocryphal" video game in care packages as planned... "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" was ... about the battle of Armageddon, in which believers of Jesus Christ fight the Antichrist... said the Rev. Timothy Simpson of the Christians Alliance for Progress. "You either kill or convert the other side. This is exactly what the Osama bin Ladens of the world have portrayed us."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/dod-stops-plan-.html

"The Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended... they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers. The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, or OSU... the episode is just another example of increasingly disturbing, and indeed unconstitutional, relationships being forged between the U.S. military and private evangelical groups... despite what Operation Straight Up and its supporters in the Pentagon may think is taking place in Iraq, the Rapture is not a viable exit strategy."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-aslan22aug22,1,2971273.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true

U.S. MISLEADING ON CAUSE OF CASUALTIES AND SOURCE OF E.F.P'S

"When a top top US commander in Iraq reported last week that attacks by Shi'ite militias... killed or wounded US forces in Baghdad, he claimed it was because of an effort by Iran to oust the United States from Iraq, referring to "intelligence reports" of a "surge" in Iranian assistance... (but) the obvious reason for the rise in Shi'ite-related US casualties... is that the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr was defending itself against a rising tempo of attacks by US forces at the same time attacks by al-Qaeda forces had fallen..."

"On April 8, Muqtada issued a statement urged the Iraqi Army and police to stop cooperating with the United States and told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate on pushing US forces out of the country. Thus it requires no Iranian hand to explain... the changing pattern of US casualties in Baghdad..."

"... The administration... (also) continues to assert that EFPs are provided by the Iranian government, despite numerous discoveries by US forces of workshops manufacturing such devices in Iraq..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH16Ak04.html

CHENEY SAID INVADING BAGHDAD WOULD CREATE QUAGMIRE

"In this interview from April 15th, 1994, Dick Cheney reveals the reasons why invading Baghdad and toppling Saddam Hussein wouldn't be a great idea. He also stipulates that "not very many" American soldiers' lives were worth losing to take out Saddam during the Gulf War.... This clip was originally aired on C-SPAN3 [History] on the evening of Thursday, August 9th."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

IRAQ BY THE NUMBERS

All kinds of numbers...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH15Ak03.html

FATIQUE CRIPPLING ARMY IN IRAQ

"Fatigue cripples US army in Iraq... A whole army is exhausted and worn out... a chaplain's assistant who has come to bless a patrol (says) 'Why don't you tell the truth? Why don't you journalists write that this army is exhausted?'... the public affairs team adds bitterly: 'We should just be allowed to tell the media what is happening here. Let them know that people are worn out..."
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147052,00.html

ALLY OF IRAN KILLED BY I.E.D.

"A powerful roadside bomb has killed the governor and police chief of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiya...The governor (Khalil Jalil Hamza) was a key figure in the Badr Organisation, the military wing of the largest Shia Muslim party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC)..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6942239.stm

"Militiamen deployed a powerful roadside bomb to kill the governor and police chief of Qadisiya Province, the capital of which is Diwaniya. Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza (was) of the Badr Organization... the Badr Corps, the paramilitary of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, was formed in Tehran in the 1980s, trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and may still be in some part on the Iranian payroll. So Iran (had) a Badr commander as governor of Qadisiya province... That roadside bomb did not come from Iran; if Iran was going to give such bombs to anyone, it would be to the Badr Corps itself, not the enemies of Badr..."
http://www.juancole.com/index.html/2007/08/guerrillas-kill-governor-of-qadisiya.html

BAATH PARTY STATEMENT ON U.S.-DRAFTED OIL LAW

Ba'th Party Issues Statement Warning of Reprisals Over Iraq Oil Law Approval
Jihadist Websites -- OSC Summary
Friday, August 10, 2007

"First, control of the oil of Iraq was "one of the most important objectives" behind the US occupation of Iraq, not only to steal more other nations natural resources, but also in order that the United States uses oil as a means to "intimidate" the whole world, particularly the major powers, and "establish the global American dictatorship."

"Second, the "securing" of Iraqi oil and maintaining it under the control of the Iraqi people is one of the most important goals of the Ba'th Party and the armed Iraqi resistance... The party wants to assure all Arabs and Iraqis that keeping Iraqi oil under the sovereign control of the people of Iraq will be the best indicator of the independence of Iraq. When the "military liberation" of Iraq is accomplished, it only will be complete when the oil is liberated and returned to the people of Iraq..."

http://www.juancole.com/index.html/2007/08/baath-party-seeks-information-on-shiite.html

IRAN TO HELP IRAQ
"Al-Maliki... had a warm meeting Wednesday evening with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, walking hand-in-hand with him into an ornate meeting room... Iranian support boosts al-Maliki amid Iraq's political turmoil... Iraqi and Iranian officials also sought to increase the already surging economic ties between the two oil-rich countries... Iran would build a power station in the Shiite Sadr City enclave and supply Iraq directly with electricity. Iran would also provide 363,000 tonnes of kerosene and liquid gas this year."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2007/08/08/4401847-ap.html

U.S. FINALLY ALLOWING SUNNI INSURGENTS TO COMBAT AL QAEDA

"... Sunni leaders in Anbar were complaining that U.S. military operations were strengthening al Qaeda by disarming local Sunni forces. The Sunni leaders were pleading for the U.S. military to arm Sunnis in the province... (so now) in Anbar (province)... Sunnis have replaced U.S. forces and largely Shiite troops in providing security against al Qaeda... they are unofficially approved Sunni militias. The same arrangements have now been extended to other Sunni provinces and to Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad... (General) Petraeus admitted that the Sunnis "can figure out who al Qaeda is a heck of a lot better then we can..."

"... (but) The Sunni insurgents do not acknowledge their insurgent affiliation to the U.S. forces... (and) remain committed to expelling the "occupation" once al Qaeda has been defeated..."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38844

U.S. GENOCIDE IN IRAQ: 3 MILLION DEATHS

"... the U.S. invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq in and of itself constitutes a kind of genocide. American economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s killed one million civilians... And the U.S. funded both sides of the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980’s, contributing to well over one million Arab and Persian casualties... Now an additional 996,836 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion in 2003..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/07/3059/

SEGREGATION ON U.S. BASE

"... at (Forward Operating Base Warhorse) about four miles west of Baqouba, Iraqis — including interpreters who walk the same foot patrols and sleep in the same tents as U.S. troops — must use segregated bathrooms... soldiers traced the regulations to what they called cultural differences between the Iraqis and the Americans... the Iraqis who're paid $80,000 to $120,000 a year for their interpreting services are offended..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/18685.html

IRAQI POWER GRID NEARS COLLAPSE

"Power cuts worsen as Iraqi grid nears collapse... Provinces refuse to share electricity across country... Supplies meet only half of demand in 45C (113F) heat..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2142312,00.html

FAKE WAR OPPPONENTS

"... Far too many of the newcomers are fakes. They shout loudly that they want the war to end now. But they choose their words very carefully. They talk about withdrawing troops but are careful never to say "all troops." They endorse withdrawing "combat" troops (a technical term that covers less than half of all U.S. forces in Iraq) or just "starting to withdraw" troops. They oppose "establishing" permanent bases, but they don't say anything against keeping the bases (some of them small cities) that have already been built. And they would let the Pentagon decide which bases are officially "permanent." They never mention the ever-increasing air war, nor the civilian forces... Behind that smokescreen, the fakes are busy building support for the next phase of the war. In that phase, tens of thousands (perhaps up to a hundred thousand) U.S. troops would stay in Iraq..."
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/aug/05/the-real-debate-about-iraq-is-between-real-fake/

U.S. HAS FAILED TO DELIVER 2/3 OF IRAQ ARMY EQUIPMENT

"The US... has failed to deliver nearly two-thirds of the equipment it promised to Iraq's army... The Pentagon said only 14.5 million of the nearly 40 million items of equipment ordered by the Iraqi army had been provided..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6918536.stm

190,000 GUNS GIVEN TO IRAQI FORCES NOW MISSING

"... the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which is an independent US government agency... says that, of some 185,000 assault rifles and 170,000 pistols that the Pentagon says it supplied to the Iraqi security forces, it can account for less than half: there is a discrepancy of 110,000 in the case of AK-47s, and 80,000 pistols. The gaps in the figures for body armour and helmets are even bigger - only 80,000 out of a total of 215,000 sets of body armour accounted for, and only 25,000 out of 140,000 helmets... There is the fear... that many of the missing weapons have found their way into the hands of insurgents..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6933569.stm

OCCUPATION BY AIR A SIGN OF DEFEAT

"... U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft dropped five times as many bombs in Iraq during the first six months of this year as over the first half of 2006,... the dramatic escalation in U.S. military use of air power is a sign of defeat for the occupation forces on the ground... the U.S. military have actually failed in finding solutions on the ground and are now back to air raids that kill more civilians than militants... On the other hand, they are giving away the land to local forces that they know are incapable of facing the militants, who will grab the first chance of U.S. withdrawal to bases to hit back and hold the ground again... Going back to air raids is an alarming sign of defeat,... To bombard an area only means that it is in the hands of the enemy..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38726

COST OF IRAQ WAR NOW ESTIMATED AT $2 TRILLION

"...The Bush Administration initially claimed that the war in Iraq would cost "only" about $50 billion... Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz claimed that Iraq’s vast oil reserves would help defray the costs... (but the total cost), if one considers the sum of the current and future budgetary costs along with the economic impact of lives lost, jobs interrupted and oil prices driven higher by political uncertainty in the Middle East, will now exceed $2 trillion..."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance116.html

NEARLY 1/3 OF IRAQ POPULATION NEEDS EMERGENCY AID

"Nearly a third of the population of Iraq is in need of immediate emergency aid... the Iraqi government was failing to provide basic essentials such as water, sanitation, food, and shelter to up to eight million people... 70% of Iraq's 26.5m population are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50% percent prior to the invasion. Only 20% have access to effective sanitation. Nearly 30% of children are malnourished, a sharp increase on the situation four years ago. Some 15% of Iraqis regularly cannot afford to eat. The report also said 92% of Iraq's children suffered from learning problems..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6921617.stm

BAGHDAD DOWN TO 1 HOUR OF ELECTRICITY A DAY

"... Temperatures in Baghdad are now reaching above 110... Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that Baghdad residents could count on only "an hour or two a day" of electricity. That's down from an average of five to six hours a day earlier this year.... But that piece of data has not been sent to lawmakers for months... (because) the Bush administration... has stopped reporting to Congress a key quality-of-life indicator in Baghdad: how long the power stays on..."
http://www.latimes.com/la-na-iraqpower27jul27,0,705711.story?coll=la-home-center

GENERALS' OPTIMISM CONTINUES

"... the future of the province looks promising. There's still a lot of work left to do in Al Anbar... but I believe we have turned the corner..."
General Walter E. Gaskin, Multinational Force-West, July 20,2007
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4012

"... I don't think we're on the brink of failure; I think we're on the brink of success here. I think that as the new transitional government stands up, that there will be traction there with the Iraqi people that will be very important to them..."
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, late May 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-iraqassess23may23,1,3465741.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"... the deadly insurgency that flared this month is a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq... "
Air Force General Richard Myers, April 15 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15911-2004Apr15.html

"...there is light at the end of the tunnel... our soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors are winning over the Iraqi people..."
Air Force Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, January 2004
http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Stories/01_04/8.htm

SAUDI ROLE IN IRAQ WAR

"... Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia’s counterproductive role in the Iraq war. They say that beyond regarding Mr. Maliki as an Iranian agent, the Saudis have offered financial support to Sunni groups in Iraq. Of an estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month, American military and intelligence officials say that nearly half are coming from Saudi Arabia... (there is) evidence that Saudi Arabia is providing financial support to opponents (Sunni insurgents) of Mr. Maliki...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/world/middleeast/27saudi.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

SPIN ON WITHDRAWAL

"... Media outlets will keep telling us that the U.S. government is developing serious plans to “leave” Iraq. But we would be foolish to believe those tall tales... The spin routinely glides past such matters as the hugely militarized U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the numerous permanent-mode U.S. bases in Iraq, and the vast array of private-and-often-paramilitary contractors at work there courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. And there’s the rarely mentioned prize of massive oil reserves that top officials in Washington keep their eyes on....

"... there’s not a single “major” candidate for president willing to call for withdrawal of all U.S. forces... or willing to call for a complete halt to U.S. bombing of that country.what will happen when we leave is that we won’t leave... A force of 50,000 to 100,000 troops would dig in for a longer stay to protect America’s most vital interests..."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/26/2779/