IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION FAILED

"Hundreds of Iraq schemes 'failed'... An audit of US-funded reconstruction projects for Iraq has found millions of dollars have been wasted because many schemes have never been completed. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction blamed delays, costs, poor performance and violence for failure to finish some 855 projects. Many other projects had been falsely described as complete, found the audit of 47,321 reconstruction projects... Last year, congressional investigators said as much as $10 billion charged by US contractors for Iraq reconstruction had been questionable... Iraq reconstruction has cost US taxpayers more than $100 billion so far... a depressing picture of money being poured into failed Iraq reconstruction projects..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7370355.stm

2.7 MILLION DISPLACED IRAQIS RELY ON MILITIAS

"There are an estimated 2.7 million Iraqis who have been displaced within their own country. No house; no food; no security. Who do they turn to for help? The international community's humanitarian organisations? The occupying United States government? The central Iraqi government based in Baghdad?

"... none of these has been able to provide sufficient assistance to the most vulnerable Iraqis. As a result, they are turning increasingly to local religious-political armed groups for their humanitarian needs ... Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, or the Sunni militias known as Sahwa or Awakening groups, made up of former insurgents armed and funded by the U.S. military..."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42031

SADR FINAL WARNING TO U.S.-SUPPORTED MALIKI GOVERNMENT

"I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government," said Mr Sadr. "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be [seen as] the same as the previous government [of Saddam Hussein]. If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, we will declare an open war until liberation."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sadr-threatens-open-war-as-iraqi-army-attacks-base-812660.html

IRAQ DOES NOT WANT TO BE USED BY U.S. OR IRAN

"Maliki's April 7 interview with CNN's Robertson made it clear that... his government's interests lie in an accord between Iran and the United States - not in taking sides against Iran. "We will always reject the idea of any side using Iraq as a launching pad for its attack on others," said Maliki. "We reject Iran using Iraq to attack the US, and at the same time we reject the idea of the US using Iraq to attack Iran ..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JD19Ak01.html

PENTAGON STUDY: OUTCOME OF WAR IN DOUBT

"The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt"... according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute... the National Defense University's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34101.html

BASRA BATTLE, THE SURGE, AND THE OIL

"... the battle of Basra... quickly spread to virtually every major city between Basra and Baghdad... the principal outcome of the fighting is that “the Bush Administration’s triumphalism over the so-called Iraqi ‘surge’ strategy has become irredeemably farcical”... The fighting also exposed the Iraqi Army as a hollow shell... thousands of Iraqi troops refused to fight and abandoned their weapons... much of the Iraqi army simply disintegrated... after three years and $22 billion in training and equipment... The only thing that prevented a full-scale rout was the intervention of U.S. troops and air support..."

"... every independent observer saw the attack as an effort by Maliki and the Americans to take control of Basra’s oil resources preliminary to turning them over to private oil conglomerates. Standing in the way of both those goals was the nationalist-minded Mahdi army as well as Iraq’s oil and dockworkers unions..."

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5154

20% OF SUICIDES IN U.S. ARE CURRENT OR FORMER TROOPS

"... current and former military personnel accounted for about 20 percent of U.S. suicides in 2005... About 1,821 current or former soldiers committed suicide in 16 states in 2005, the most recent year of available data, according to the report published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..."
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003789000

FALLUJAH PROGRESS IN LAST TWO YEARS

June 2006
U.S. PROMISES TO REBUILD FALLUJAH BROKEN

"One and a half years after the US assault on Fallujah, residents tell of ongoing suffering, lack of jobs, little reconstruction and continuing violence. The US Marines Corps launched Operation Phantom Fury against the city of Fallujah in November 2004, destroying an estimated 70% of the buildings, homes and shops, and killing between 4,000 and 6,000 people... very little can be seen visibly on the streets of Fallujah in terms of reconstruction. There are destroyed buildings on almost every street. Local authorities say about 60% of all houses in the city were totally destroyed or seriously damaged and less than 20% of them have been repaired so far ... Power, water treatment and sewage systems are still not functioning properly and many districts of the city are without potable water... The mayor of Fallujah... announced his resignation... "The Americans did not fulfill their promises to me and so I resign."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF27Ak03.html

April 2008
FALLUJAH IN TATTERS

"... Fallujah remains a crippled city... The city remains sealed. Many residents refer to it as a big jail... The brutal destruction of Fallujah by the American army was not followed by any reconstruction, as if the city is being punished for its attitude against the occupation... Medically speaking, "the siege is total," a doctor... speaking of the lack of drugs, oxygen, electricity and clean water at Fallujah General hospital... in 2006 (the hospital administration) found "5,928 new illness cases that were unknown before in Fallujah," over 70 percent of which were "cancers and abnormalities" in children below 12 years of age... "
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41971

IRAN IS LATEST REASON FOR IRAQ WAR

"The US rationale for war in Iraq has morphed from ousting strongman Saddam Hussein, to countering Al-Qaeda militants to its latest incarnation -- facing down what officials in President George W. Bush's administration call the Iranian "threat".

"... Brookings Institution expert Suzanne Maloney said that "disastrous Bush policies fostered a sectarian Iraq that has helped empower Iranian hardliners. "Rather than serving as an anchor for a new era of stability and American pre-eminence in the Persian Gulf, the new Iraq represents a strategic black hole, bleeding Washington of military resources and political influence while extending Iran's primacy among its neighbors."

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080414/twl-us-iran-iraq-bush-politics-unrest-7e07afd.html

U.S. CONGRESS MEMBERS INVESTED IN IRAQ WAR

"U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan...Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces... 151 current members of Congress -- more than one-fourth of the total -- have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defence contracts of at least 5.0 million dollars... These companies received more than 275.6 billion dollars from the government in 2006..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41893

IRAN'S ROLE IN BASRA

"... as the bloodshed in Basra began early last week, Moqtada Sadr tried to telephone Prime Minister Maliki from Qom, in Iran - and the prime minister refused to take his call. But a delegation from the United Iraqi Alliance, the parliamentary bloc that supports Mr Maliki, flew to Tehran, where they told representatives of the Iranian leadership that Iran's involvement in stirring up the militia violence was unacceptable and would have to stop, the source said. They pointed out that Iranian munitions were being used in the fighting. The Iranian leadership, according to the source, then brought Moqtada Sadr to Tehran. There, late on Saturday night, he crafted the statement that would order his Mehdi Army militiamen off the streets..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7329637.stm

LOSING THE HEARTS AND MINDS

Current post from an Iraqi whose 2003 blogs rejoiced in the overthrow of Saddam and looked forward to freedom and democracy. His blogpage's permanent header now reads:
"Terrorism and US-British occupation of Iraq are two faces for one coin."

"... It is the right of any occupied country to resist by using all kind of means which inflict heavy damages and losses in the occupying forces...The Americans in Iraq are nothing but occupiers and killers. They kill the Iraqis and destroying their country; so what the Iraqis should do?... the Iraqis should resist and retaliate back against the occupiers inside Iraq... Death is to those who continue the war on Iraq and hell to the occupiers whose hands are stained by the Iraqi blood..."
--Hammorabi, Iraqi blogger, 4/03/2008
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/2008/04/resistance-of-american-barbaric.html

IRAQ NOW A WAR BETWEEN IRAN AND AMERICA

"... what looks like a civil war in Iraq now is nothing but a war between Iran and America and it seems that the Iranians are wining. The question is this going to lead the USA to use its military machine in the region to ease the pressure and direct its attacks to inside Iran especially before the GWB era finished? There are certain clues pointing toward that direction. It seems that the plan is ready and a war between Iran and the USA may happen at any time. So; is what is going on now inside Iraq is a step towards that war?
--Hammorabi, Iraqi blogger, 3/27/2008
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/2008/03/iraq-is-burning-under-america-british.html

MARCH 25 SHOWED MASSIVE FAILURE OF OCCUPATION

"Despite the huge media campaign led by U.S. officials and a complicit corporate-controlled media to convince the world of U.S. success in Iraq, emerging facts on the ground show massive failure... March 25 of this year will be remembered as the day of truth through five years of occupation... "The 25th March events revealed the true failure of the U.S. occupation project in Iraq. More complications are expected in the coming days."

"Mehdi army militias controlled all Shia and mixed parts of Baghdad in no time... Iraqi army and police forces... suddenly disappeared from the streets, leaving their armoured vehicles for Mehdi militiamen to drive around in joyful convoys that toured many parts of Baghdad before taking them to their stronghold of Sadr City in the east of Baghdad."

"Brigadier-General Kathum Alwan of the Iraqi army (said) "We must admit that the formation of our forces was wrong, as we saw how our officers deserted their posts, leaving their vehicles for militias."

"The Green Zone of Baghdad where the U.S. embassy and the Iraqi government and parliament buildings are located, was hit by missiles... is supposed to be the safest area in Iraq. At least one U.S. citizen was killed in the attacks, and two others were injured..."

"The Green Zone looked deserted as most U.S. and Iraqi personnel were ordered to take shelter deep underground,... It seemed that this area too was under curfew. No place in Iraq is safe any more..."

"Further complicating matters for the occupiers of Iraq, the U.S.-backed Awakening groups, largely comprised of former resistance fighters, are now going on strike to demand overdue payment from the U.S. military..."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41827

BUSH: BASRA BATTLE A DEFINING MOMENT

"President Bush called the... military offensive launched last week into Basra by US-trained Iraqi army forces... "a bold decision." He added: "I would say this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq".

"... (but) it's apparent that the big winner... are the forces of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army faced down the Iraqi armed forces not only in Basra, but in Baghdad, as well as in Kut, Amarah, Nasiriyah, and Diwaniya, capitals of four key southern provinces..."

The other big winner... is Iran... Iran succeeded in brokering the deal that ended the fighting... mediated by the commander of the so-called Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani... So President Bush's "defining moment" is this: the head of an Iranian "terrorist" force has brokered a deal between the two leading Shiite parties in Iraq..."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080414/dreyfuss