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/

U.S. HOUSE BARS (MORE) PERMANENT IRAQ BASES AND CONTROL OF OIL

"The House voted 399-24 today to... prevent creation of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq and to bar U.S. control of Iraqi oil..."
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_6460997

"The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to bar permanent US military bases in Iraq... Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee, who wrote the bill, said it made clear the United States did not intend to keep an "open-ended" presence in Iraq and had no designs on the war-torn nation's oil riches..."
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_6460997

"...(But) the bill says nothing about the need to decommission the existing U.S. bases already built in Iraq; it only prohibits ‘establishing’ military installations, implying only new ones would be prohibited.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/26/2779/

PETRAEUS AND CROCKER HAVE 2-YEAR PLAN FOR IRAQ

"... the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years.... “Sustainable security” is to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009... The (Joint Campaign Plan) developed by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior American commander, and Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador, has been briefed to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. William J. Fallon, the head of the Central Command. It is expected to be formally issued to officials here this week..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/world/middleeast/24military.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fIraq&oref=slogin

IRAQ WAR HAS TARNISHED U.S. BRAND IDENTITY

"... "brand identity" is everything.... But since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, its "show of force" brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers... the "force" brand, which the United States peddled for the first few years of the occupation, was doomed from the start and has lost ground to enemies' competing brands... a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been: "We will help you."
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/239511

IRAQ WAR CHANGING MAKEUP OF U.S. ARMY

"... the very makeup of the armed forces has been mutating before our collective eyes under the pressure of the war in Iraq... US ground forces are increasingly made up of a motley mix of under-age teens, old-timers, foreign fighters, gang-bangers, neo-Nazis, ex-cons, inferior officers and a host of near-mercenary troops, lured in or kept in uniform through big payouts and promises..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HI16Aa03.html

U.S. ALLOWED AL QAEDA IN, HAS DUTY TO CLEAN THEM OUT

"... Mahmoud Othman is a member of the Iraqi Parliament. "Before America came into Iraq we didn't have Al Qaeda in Iraq," he said. "So at least they (Al Qaeda) came to fight America and they came to fight Iraqis also - they are killing a lot of innocent Iraqis. That's why it is the duty of America to help Iraqis, and Iraqis and America together to clean out this country from Al Qaeda..."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/25/1987934.htm

IRAQ BLAMES CANCER SURGE ON U.S. DEPLETED URANIUM BOMBS

"Iraq's environment minister blamed Monday the use of depleted uranium weapons by U.S....for the current surge in cancer cases across the country. As a result of "at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing" with depleted uranium (DU) weapons, Nermin Othman said, the nation is facing about 140,000 cases of cancer, with 7,000 to 8,000 new ones registered each year..."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070723/69509899.html

U.S. MAY BE UNABLE TO STAFF NEW EMBASSY WITH IRAQIS

"The US ambassador in Baghdad... has asked... (for) immigrant visas to all Iraqis employed by the US Government in Iraq. There is growing concern that they will quit and flee the country if they cannot be assured of eventual safe passage to the US.... the number of Iraqi staff (translators) at the embassy has fallen by about half from 200 last year..."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/envoy-seeks-visas-for-all-iraqis-working-for-us/2007/07/22/1185042947280.html

LEGAL STATUS OF IRAQ WAR NOT A MYSTERY

"... The legal status of the occupation of Iraq is not a mystery. Generals know very well that the occupation is based on lies, carried out in defiance of U.S. treaties. The Nuremberg Conventions explicitly repudiate the doctrine of pre-emptive war. The U.N. Charter... outlaws war as “an instrument of policy.” Every general knows that the occupation is a “war of choice.” They also know that, except for special U.N.-sanctioned interventions, defensive necessity is the sole legal basis for war..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/24/2743/

THE CREDIBILITY OF IRAQ WAR SUPPORTERS
"... Nothing ever changes... the same idiot slogans and the same people spouting them. And they do it with no shame, no acknowledgment of their own past behavior, and no loss of credibility."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/22/bond/index.html?source=newsletter

Now it is....

"... we had the wrong plan for three years, we now have the right one."
--Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), letter to NY Times, July 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/opinion/l22iraq.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

"The strategy we had before was not the right strategy. We should have had a counterinsurgency strategy." By his remarks, Bond made it clear he meant the strategy was wrong from the time Saddam Hussein was deposed until this past January, when Gen. David Petraeus was installed as top military commander. That's a span of nearly four years."
--Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), quoted by AP, July 21, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070721/ap_on_an/us_iraq

But before now it was...

"... Bond said there has been significant progress combating the insurgency. He said the United States and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have been successful in cleaning out insurgents, turning the areas over to the ISF to prevent the return of extremists and using funds to create new jobs, particularly in Sunni areas."
--Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Press Release, January 13, 2006
http://www.bond.senate.gov/atwork/recordtopic.cfm?id=250425

" MATTHEWS:... Do you believe that based upon the huge evidence today that the Bush policy is working? Yes or no, Senator Bond?
BOND: Yes. Oh, yes. It's yes. But the process isn't over with. Yes. We've made tremendous progress to date. And it looks very good."
--Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), to Chris Matthews on Hardball, December 15, 2005

"... progress is being made despite what CNN says.
---Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Press Release, June 28, 2005
http://www.bond.senate.gov/atwork/recordtopic.cfm?id=239705

"... It's time the Democrats stop attacking the President... There is no question we are safer because we have deposed Saddam Hussein..."
--Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Press Release, July 14, 2004
http://www.bond.senate.gov/atwork/recordtopic.cfm?id=223865

BRITAIN RUNNING OUT OF TROOPS

"... Britain is almost running out of troops to defend the country or fight in military operations abroad... Reinforcements for emergencies or for operations in Iraq or Afghanistan were "now almost non-existent".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2131699,00.html

GENERALS WANT MORE TIME FOR SURGE

"The top commanders in Iraq... appealed for more time beyond their mid-September assessment to more fully judge if the new (surge) strategy was making gains.. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq... (said) it would take “at least until November” to judge with confidence whether the strategy was working..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/20/washington/20policy.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1184936403-nfNdGcHpvq0RNcnTLtYALw

PENTAGON APPOINTEE REFUSES CLINTON REQUEST TO PLAN FOR WITHDRAWAL

"... in response to Senator Clinton’s request in May for the Defense Department to draw up proposals to get the troops out of the battlefields... one of the Pentagon’s top officials sent a letter... that essentially told her that any outline of plans for withdrawing American troops from Iraq is tantamount to reinforcing “enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq..."
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/the-pentagon-issues-warning-to-clinton/

"Eric S. Edelman is a career diplomat who served as an adviser on national security to Vice President Dick Cheney during the lead up to the war in Iraq. President George W. Bush gave Edelman a recess appointment as undersecretary of defense for policy on August 9, 2005, replacing Douglas Feith..."
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1143

DENMARK WITHDRAWS, GIVES 200 IRAQIS ASYLUM

"Denmark is scheduled to withdraw its 480-strong force from Iraq next month... (and) has secretly airlifted out of the country about 200 Iraqis who were helping its troops. The Iraqi civilians, mostly those working as aides and translators in the southern region of Basra, will now be offered asylum in Denmark... because of fears the Iraqis might be targeted by militants after the Danish troops pulled out..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6907754.stm

MORE MERCENARIES THAN SOLDIERS IN IRAQ

"... Estimates of the number of private security personnel and other civilian contractors in Iraq today range from 126,000 to 180,000 – nearly as many, if not more than, the number of Americans in uniform there..."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0718/p01s02-usmi.html

IRAQI EXPERTS: OIL LAW CANNOT BE APPROVED BEFORE CONSTITUTION THAT CONTAINS IT

"More than 100 Iraqi oil, economic and legal experts sent a letter to Iraq's Parliament... the letter... calls for the oil law to be put on hold until ongoing constitutional wrangling is completed. "There are ongoing discussions aiming to amend the Iraqi constitution, including the items relating to oil and gas," it states. "Hence we do not see... the necessity to enact the law... now before the constitutional amendments are finalized."
http://www.upi.com/Energy/Briefing/2007/07/17/108_iraq_experts_call_for_oil_law_change/9428/

OIL LAW TO GET CONTROL OF IRAQ'S OIL

"(Bush) and his Generals inside Iraq... want the oil new system to be agreed and signed by the government and the parliament so quickly to control the oil of Iraq. Almost all Iraqis are opposing the new system about the oil. It is going to create more chaos and resistance. Indeed some of the resistance groups threatened to kill any one who is going to sign the new law about Iraq oil. George W Bush and Dick Cheney are trying to get their own companies to control and steal the Iraqi oil.... The new oil law is and will be rejected by the Iraqis... any oil law or deal will definitely fail. It will result in attacking the oil facilities and destroying them..."
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-oil-law-in-iraq-may-only-be-agreed.html

SUMMARY OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE

"... the US Homeland will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years... (al-Qaeda) has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability, including: a safe haven in the Pakistan... al-Qaeda's Homeland plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets with the goal of producing mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the US population..."
--from Summary of National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland, June 2007. Full summary at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG19Ak06.html

"Cooking the intelligence, again... The latest government estimate of the terrorist threat is just a rehash of the same old script, produced under pressure to support the president's efforts to sell the Iraq war...no new intelligence at all is reflected in the NIE. Its conclusions...are a rehash of obvious facts that anyone who reads a daily newspaper could glean... The NIE is utterly devoid of political analysis..."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/07/19/bush_iraq/

PROGRESS REPORT ON WAR ON TERROR
(after 6 years, >3,500 U.S. dead, >25,000 wounded, and ~$1 trillion spent)

"The Al Qaeda terror network... has reestablished a safe haven in Pakistan, retained its top leadership, and trained new operatives in Iraq -- and now poses a "heightened threat" of another massive attack on the United States..."
--from Summary of National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland, June 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/07/18/al_qaeda_seen_reborn_as_key_threat

"... after all this war and death and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars, we are back to where we were six years ago... That situation is... an indictment of America's political and military leadership...The prime example is of course Iraq. In the wake of Sept. 11, we did not invade Iraq because it posed a threat. We invaded because in the eyes of the Bush administration, Iraq posed an opportunity..."
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2007/07/18/bookmaned_0719.html

U. S. PROGRESS IN DIYALA PROVINCE

"Major General Benjamin Mixon, the top US military commander in northern Iraq, said during a news conference last week that the situation in Diyala had improved. "Now that the surge has reached its full strength, we are seeing definitive progress" in Diyala."
"(But)... yesterday morning in a straight line of official-looking vehicles... about 125 men (arrived) dressed in Iraqi Army fatigues and carrying standard-issue weapons... Then the men opened fire in the darkness, shooting indiscriminately... By the time the sun rose over the village, 30 of its people (including 6 children)... were dead. The attack in Duwailiya, a village of several hundred people, served as a reminder of how volatile Diyala remains despite its massive US military presence...."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/07/18/amid_reports_of_progress_a_massacre_shatters_village/

"The largest morgue in Diyala province is overflowing daily. Officials told IPS they have had to dig mass graves to dispose of bodies... "The number we record here is only a fraction of those killed"... Families are often unable to identify and collect the bodies, morgue officials say. It is still extremely dangerous to travel around the city... most bodies are never brought to the morgue at all to be identified or counted. Many victims of U.S. air strikes have been buried under the rubble of their homes for days, sometimes weeks, residents say..."
"The military operation has been launched to target al-Qaeda, amid local reports that the operation began after the al-Qaeda suspects had fled town."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38564

IRAQ WAR IS LOST, AMERICAN PEOPLE TO BLAME

"The Iraq war is lost... neither the President nor the war’s intellectual architects are prepared to admit this. Nonetheless, the specter of defeat shapes their thinking in telling ways.

"The case for the war is no longer defined by the benefits of winning — a stable Iraq, democracy on the march in the Middle East, the collapse of the evil Iranian and Syrian regimes — but by the consequences of defeat....

"... the Iraq war’s intellectual boosters, while insisting the surge is working, are moving to assign blame for defeat.... their target: the American people. In The Weekly Standard, Tom Donnelly, a fellow at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote, “Those who believe the war is already lost — call it the Clinton-Lugar axis — are mounting a surge of their own. Ground won in Iraq becomes ground lost at home.”

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/18/2604/

HALLIBURTON COST ESTIMATE INCLUDED NON-EXISTENT BASES

"Government auditors discovered something odd last year when they reviewed KBR Inc.'s annual cost estimate to provide support services for U.S. troops in Iraq. The contractor proposed charging $110 million for housing, food, water, laundry and other services on bases that had been shut down..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-07-16-iraq-auditors_N.htm

OIL WORKERS PROTEST DRAFT OIL LAW

"... 300 oil industry workers (employees of the Oil Pipelines Company) gathered... to protest a draft law that they said would allow foreigners to pillage the country's wealth... it would abolish sovereignty and hand over the wealth of this generation and the generations to come as a gift to the occupier... At issue is a clause in the draft hydrocarbon law allowing for production-sharing agreements with foreign oil companies..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070716/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestoildemo_070716140614

ROBOTIC (GRIM) REAPER DRONES BOUND FOR IRAQ

"... the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It’s outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles... Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada... The Air Force’s 432nd Wing, a UAV unit formally established on May 1, is to eventually fly 60 Reapers..."

"... aviation history’s first robot attack squadron... will land in Iraq sometime between this fall and next spring... the Air Force is building a 400,000-square-foot expansion of the concrete ramp area now used for Predator drones here at Balad, the biggest U.S. air base in Iraq, 50 miles north of Baghdad. That new staging area could be turned over to Reapers... It’s another sign that the Air Force is planning for an extended stay in Iraq, supporting Iraqi government forces in any continuing conflict, even if U.S. ground troops are drawn down in the coming years..."

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20070715/twl-iraq-air-surge-ii-1be00ca.html

OUT OF 18,000 U.S. CAPTIVES, ONLY 135 ARE FOREIGN
(and most of those are Saudis)

"... Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, (but) he largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from Saudi Arabia... 45% of all foreign militants... are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa... Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saudi15jul15,0,3132262.story?coll=la-home-center

"... the United States... now holds about 18,000 captives. But as the Baghdad security plan... moves forward, (General) Petraeus is planning for the possibility of holding as many as 40,000 captives. Most are being held at two facilities, one at Camp Cropper in Baghdad and another at Camp Bucca, south of the city...."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0406/p02s01-usmi.html

BUSH ON AL QAEDA AND IRAQ

"... The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th... To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region, and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda..."
--President Bush, press conference July 12, 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070712-5.html

"The latest whoppers from the White House's fib factory came this week as President George W. Bush (A) claimed U.S. forces in Iraq are fighting "the same people" who staged 9/11, and, (B) withdrawing U.S. forces means "surrendering Iraq to al-Qaida..."
http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/07/15/4340909-sun.html

"... the principal author of the "National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland", Edward Gistaro,... said flatly that Al Qaeda in Iraq did not exist before the U.S. invasion...."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-ex-intel17jul18,0,7727873.story?coll=la-home-center

TROOP DOG ATE THE BABY

"... I called my cousin in the al-Adhamiya neighborhood of Baghdad to check if they are still alive... Her husband leaves the doors open because they are afraid that the American and Iraqi troops will bomb the doors if they don't respond from first door knock during searching raids. Leaving the doors open is another terror story after the attack of the troops' vicious dogs on a ten-month old baby, tearing him apart and eating him in the same neighborhood just a few days ago. The troops let the dogs attack civilians. The dogs bite them and terrify the kids with their angry red eyes in the middle of the night... We keep asking ourselves what did we do to the Americans to deserve all this cruelness, killing, and brutishness? How can the troops do this to poor, hopeless civilians? And why?..."
--Dahr Jamail, Thousands of Stories to Tell -- And No One to Listen
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174819/dahr_jamail_iraq_reporter_schizophrenic_in_disneyland

IRAQ INCREASING MORAL WAIVERS FOR U.S. ARMY RECRUITS

"Nearly 12 percent of Army recruits who entered basic training this year needed a special "moral waiver" waiver for those with criminal records, a dramatic increase over last year and 2 1/2 times the percentage four years ago... the increase in moral waivers reflects the difficulty of signing up sufficient numbers of recruits to sustain an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq..."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/07/13/more_entering_army_with_criminal_records/

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ THREATENS TO ATTACK IRAN

"The leader of an al-Qaida umbrella group in Iraq threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq ..."
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/jul/09/na-al-qaida-group-in-iraq-threatens-iran-with-war/

WITHDRAWAL TO INCREASE CIVILIAN DEATHS FROM AIR BOMBING

"... either this winter or in the spring of 2008... some kind of drawdown, surely to be headlined as a "withdrawal" plan, will begin and that significantly lower levels of troops will be supported by a rise in air strikes - and in Iraq... this means the bombing... of urban neighborhoods... Air Power = Civilian Deaths..."
herhttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG12Ak01.htmle

"Balad Air Base... the busiest aerial port in DOD (Department of Defense)... which supports some 10,000 air operations per week.. Away from the headlines and debate over the "surge" in U.S. ground troops, the Air Force has quietly built up its hardware inside Iraq, sharply stepped up bombing and laid a foundation for a sustained air campaign in support of American and Iraqi forces.... Squadrons of attack planes have been added... The powerful B1-B bomber has been recalled to action over Iraq...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070714/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_air_surge_i

THE EFFECT OF U.S. GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

"The "global war on terror" has been going on now for over six years. Its emphasis on military responses - in Afghanistan and Iraq - has only swelled the ranks of terrorist organizations... War - the use of military force - has been counterproductive. The invasion and occupation of Iraq, which was falsely presented as part of the "global war on terrorism," in fact served as al-Qaeda's most effective recruitment campaign..."

"(Meanwhile) In the United States, the administration suspended key civil liberties. It imprisoned over 5,000 foreign nationals, subjected 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants to fingerprinting and registration, sent 30,000 "national security letters "every year to US businesses demanding information about their customers, and justified the large-scale, warrantless wiretapping of citizens. It denied the right of habeas corpus to both American and non-American detainees and plans to continue to restrict the legal rights of terrorism suspects by trying them in military tribunals rather than civilian courts..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG13Ak03.html

DEAD IRAQIS, SO WHAT?

"... the actions of the US military are beyond criticism... (but) a narrative emerges of an army that frequently commits acts of cold-blooded violence.... "we have to kill them over here so I don't have to kill them back in Colorado"... "the baby got hit. And this baby looked at me... like asking me why. You know, 'Why do I have a bullet in my leg?"... the general attitude was, "A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi... You know, so what?"... "they're not as human as us, so we can do what we want."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2758829.ece
and
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070730/hedges

INTERIM REPORT ON IRAQ TO U.S. CONGRESS

"... The interim Iraq report, ordered by Congress, says... the security situation in Iraq remains "complex and extremely challenging"... (and) the economic picture is "uneven" and political reconciliation is lagging..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6895659.stm

U.S. KILLING SUNNIS NOT AL QAEDA

"Arrowhead" (U.S. military Operation 'Arrowhead Ripper') Becomes Fountainhead of Anger... Ongoing U.S. military operations in Diyala province have brought normal life to an end, and fueled support for the national resistance... everyone agrees that the destruction is vast and the casualties numerous..."

"... the U.S. operational commander (said) 80 percent of the top al-Qaeda leaders in Baquba fled before the offensive began... (causing the residents to say) the operation seeks more to break the national Iraqi (Sunni) resistance and those who support it..."

"...The forces shelled these neighbourhoods with helicopters, destroying more than 150 houses and killing more than 350 citizens. Their bodies are still under the wreckage... Hundreds were killed and thousands evicted from the city while the so-called al-Qaeda fighters survived..."

"... Animosity towards the United States appears to be rising throughout the area as a result of the military action..."

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38479

GREEN ZONE HIT 20-30 TIMES IN A DAY

"At least 20 mortar rounds and Katyusha rockets struck the fortified Green Zone on Tuesday afternoon... killing an American service member and two other people in an attack on the heart of U.S. and Iraqi government facilities in the capital... another source in Iraq's Interior Ministry put the number of blasts at more than 30..."

"... the same day gunmen kidnapped Iraqi Police Col. Mahmoud Muhyi Hussein, who directs security inside the Green Zone..."

"... A U.S. Embassy spokesman said... "There's fire into the Green Zone virtually every day"... There were about 39 attacks in May, compared with 17 in March, according to a U.N. report..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq11jul11,0,5216733.story?coll=la-home-center

BUSH TO DUMP IRAQ ON HIS SUCCESSOR

"It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit... (But) It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost... (and) keeping troops in Iraq will only make things worse..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08sun1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

TURKISH FORCES MASSING ON IRAQ BORDER

"Iraq says Turkey has 140,000 soldiers along its border, prompting fears of an incursion... If the figure is accurate, Turkey would have nearly as many soldiers along its border with Iraq as the 155,000 troops which the US has in the country..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6284718.stm

BIG OIL MET 2001 CHENEY TASK FORCE ABOUT IRAQI OIL

"A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001... The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842_pf.html

"... Documents turned over in 2003 as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, showed that the Cheney Energy Task Force contained a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as two charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects. These documents were dated March 2001..."
http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/2007/07/08/live_earth/index.html?source=newsletter

BUSH: IRAQ SHOULD BE LIKE ISRAEL

"... Israel is a functioning democracy that is not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're looking for in Iraq: the rise of a government that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens, and function as a democracy even amid violence..."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/06/20070628-14.html

"... Bush, last week in a speech at the US Naval War College, made it official: Israel is the model for Iraq... Bush's Israeli Iraq - rather Americastan in Iraq, as it is known in many quarters in Baghdad - amounts to nothing less than a public relations nightmare in terms of the US "message" for the wider Middle East... Iraqis have every reason to fear words... Many remember the apocalyptic expressions "axis of evil" or "weapons of mass destruction". They've now been told - by the Mission Accomplisher-in-Chief - their country is the new Israel..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG06Ak03.html

MARINES INVESTIGATED FOR KILLING PRISONERS IN FALLUJAH

"... up to 10 marines are under investigation for the deaths of eight Iraqi prisoners during the November 2004 battle for Fallujah... marines held eight unarmed Iraqi men in a house during the battle and executed them after receiving orders to move to a new location..."
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/06/1971551.htm?section=justin

IS AUSTRALIA IN IRAQ FOR OIL OR DEMOCRACY?

"Defence Minister Brendan Nelson earlier (revealed) that Australian troops are remaining in Iraq partially because of concerns over global oil supplies. Speaking this morning, Dr Nelson said oil was among the reasons to keep troops in Iraq.

"(But) Prime Minister John Howard told radio 2GB Iraq is not about oil. "We are not there because of oil," he said. "We didn't go there because of oil and we don't remain there because of oil." "We're fighting for something much more important here than oil, this is about democracy..."

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/05/1970982.htm

CONTRACTORS OUTNUMBER MILITARY IN IRAQ

"Private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq... More than 180,000 civilians... are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts... Including the recent troop buildup, 160,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq. The total number of private contractors... shows how heavily the Bush administration has relied on corporations to carry out the occupation of Iraq..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-private4jul04,0,5808980.story?coll=la-home-center

CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF CIVILIAN DEATH LEVEL

"Iraqi civilian deaths dropped to their lowest level since the start of the Baghdad security operation, government figures showed Sunday, suggesting signs of progress in tamping down violence in the capital..."
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3335646

"The number of unidentified bodies found in Baghdad has increased despite the launch of a security drive in the capital in February, Iraqi police say. They say that 540 corpses - many of them tortured or mutilated - were discovered in the city in June..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6272624.stm

TESTIMONY ON HADITHA MASSACRE

"... the Marine Corps charged Wuterich, Sharratt, Tatum and Dela Cruz with murder. Chessani; McConnell; 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, an intelligence officer; and Capt. Randy W. Stone, a battalion lawyer, were charged with dereliction of duty for not investigating whether a war crime had been committed... Hearings and interviews provide a clearer picture of the day in Iraq when Marines from Camp Pendleton killed 24 civilians..."

"... a white Opel sedan approached... with five young Iraqi men inside. Marines shouted for the car to halt and pointed their M-16s at the windshield. The car stopped, and the five men got out... The five were standing still, with their fingers locked behind their necks, when Wuterich began firing, he said. "They were just standing, looking around, had hands up," he testified. Dela Cruz admitted that he "sprayed" the bodies while they were on the ground and then, in a show of anger, urinated on one of them..."

"... Within minutes, 15 civilians inside were dead, including three women and seven children. An old man's legs were severed by a grenade. Another man was shot in the eye. A child was decapitated by gunfire or grenade blasts. Several victims apparently were sitting with their backs to a wall when shot, investigators later determined. Some of the dead children, ranging in age from 2 to 13, were on a bed. The women appeared to have been trying to shield them. A teenage girl was shot in the head... (Marines) found no weapons inside the houses and that none of the males wore the kind of military garb associated with insurgents..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-haditha2jul02,0,5171978.story?page=2&coll=la-home-world

U.S. SAYS IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH BEHIND KARBALA ATTACK

"The US military in Iraq has accused Iran (Quds Force) of orchestrating an attack that killed five US soldiers (at Karbala) and of using (Hezbollah) Lebanese militants to train (Iraqi) insurgents...

"Correspondents say the accusations appear to be part of a continuing campaign by the US military to link Iran with insurgency violence in Iraq...

"Iran has always denied involvement in anti-US attacks in Iraq, saying it supports the US-backed Iraqi government, and blaming violence on the myriad conflicts within the country since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein...

"Hezbollah officials said they would not comment until they had checked claims that Mr Dakdouk was a member of their group..."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6260690.stm

PRESIDENTS OF IRAQ AND IRAN MEET IN TEHRAN

"... Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived in Tehran on Tuesday on his fifth visit during his term in office for talks with Iranian senior officials... Talabani, for his part, appreciated the guidelines of Leader of the Islamic Revolution about Iraqi reconstruction and contribution of Iranian government to Iraqi nation's progress and welfare. "Baghdad is keen on sharing experience with Tehran to implement economic development projects." President Talabani said that both Iranian and Iraqi governments are working for prosperity and progress of the two nations..."
http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=009030120070626214103

"... It's an honor to welcome the first democratically elected President of Iraq to the White House. I'm proud to stand with a brave leader of the Iraqi people, a friend of the United States... We're proud... to have you as an ally in the war on terror..."
--President Bush, September 13, 2005
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050913-5.html

BRITISH BESIEGED IN BASRA AIRPORT

The troop presence in Basra is now only 5,500 and another 500 men may be brought out soon. The British are withdrawing to a single base, the airport, where they will apparently be under siege and lack the ability to make much of a difference in the city... "The most likely outcome, possibly before the end of the year, is a quiet handover to the local administration and the Iraqi army... it seems possible to pose the uncomfortable question: who will be the last British soldier to die in Iraq?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2725713.ece