OIL: IRAQ USING FEES INSTEAD OF PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENTS

"... officials were hoping to announce short-term service agreements - an interim measure pending political agreement over a national oil law... Iraqi officials were unwilling to share revenue from oil sales with the firms (production sharing agreements or PSAs)... preferring instead to pay them consultancy fees..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7480674.stm

"... PSAs are bad because they give private companies a ridiculously huge share of profit, they’re not transparent enough, they prevent Iraq from being a part of OPEC, and they are not used around the region at all..."
--Raed Jarrar, Director, the Iraqi Project of the human rights group Global Exchange, Tuesday 30 Jan 2007.
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

IRAQ TO SUE OIL FOR FOOD EMBEZZLERS

"The Iraqi government... intends to file suit in United States courts to recover funds allegedly embezzled from the United Nations oil-for-food program during Saddam Hussein's rule... the lawsuits would target companies and individuals that conspired to corrupt the U.N. program... a 2005 U.N. inquiry into the program.... headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker, concluded that 2,400 companies and individuals participated in fraud that included $1.8 billion in kickbacks to Hussein... several of those named were prosecuted in the U.S. and Europe, resulting in prison sentences for two Texas oilmen and restitution from several companies totaling 10 of millions of dollars..."

"But little has been done to recover larger sums from (other companies and individuals) named in the Volcker report in countries including Russia, China, Yemen, Egypt, Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq30-2008jun30,0,4879658.story

U.S. KILLS RELATIVE OF PRIME MINISTER, MAY DOOM "FREE ATTACK" PROVISION OF AGREEMENT

"... The US had been negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and arguing for the US military to retain the prerogative of launching operations at will and without coordinating with the Iraqi government."

"... (But on Friday) U.S. forces killed an unarmed civilian... in (a) raid in the southern town of Janaja.... the Iraqi killed in the operation was a relative of the U.S.-backed prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki).... (the) unarmed civilian named Ali Abdulhussein was killed in his home... Not one Iraqi soldier took part in the airdrop, and the operation was not coordinated with any Iraqi authority..."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/42503.html

CHANGE OF PRESIDENT WILL NOT CHANGE POLICY

"... most U.S. citizens... are not familiar with U.S. foreign policy. While Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, calls for a shift in the U.S. policy in Iraq, neither he nor his Republican rival, John McCain, talk about changing the National Security Strategy of the U.S., or the military document Joint Vision 2020, which calls for "full spectrum dominance" of the world by the U.S. military by the year 2020.

"Full spectrum dominance" means not just total control of land, air, and sea, but also of information and of space. The U.S. strategy is firm and unchanging... It makes no difference (in Iraq) whether one wins or the other. The general strategy is well established, and is never affected by the changing of the president."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42937

THE IGNORANCE OF AMERICANS

"... the thought of planting a largely Christian army in the middle of the Muslim Middle East over the opposition of most countries in the region sounds daft. Why did it not ring bells of alarm to Americans in 2003 and after, especially as it became clear that our troops would be staying a long time and that no quick victory was possible? It did not because the administration saw to it that the issue was framed differently. We weren’t planting an army. We were spreading God’s miraculous gift of freedom to a benighted people very much in need of America’s missionary help. It was the triumph of myth over logic..."

"Why were Americans so susceptible to myth?... Myths count more than facts... because Americans don't know many facts and don't care to take the time to learn them... The extent of Americans' ignorance is underestimated... five years into the war in Iraq only one in seven can find Iraq on a map."

http://www.amazon.com/Just-How-Stupid-Are-We/dp/0465077714/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213994191&sr=8-1

1 MILLION EXCESS DEATHS, 300,000 KILLED BY U.S.

"By now, summer of 2008, excess deaths from violence in Iraq since March of 2003 must be at least a million.... The one million number includes not just war-related deaths but all killings beyond what you would have expected from the 2000-2002 baseline. That is, if tribal feuds got out of hand and killed a lot of people because the Baath police were demobilized or disarmed and so no longer intervened, those deaths go into the mix. All the Sunnis killed in the north of Hilla Province (the 'triangle of death') when Shiite clans displaced from the area by Saddam came back up to reclaim their farms would be included. The kidnap victims killed when the ransom did not arrive in time would be included. And, of course, the sectarian, ethnic and militia violence, even if Iraqi on Iraqi, would count..."

"Some 310,000 of those were probably killed by US troops or by the US Air Force, with the bulk dying in bombing raids by US fighter jets and helicopter gunships on densely populated city and town quarters. In absolute numbers, that would be like bombing to death everyone in Pittsburgh, Pa. Or Cincinnati, Oh. Only, the US is 11 times more populous than Iraq, so 310,000 Iraqi corpses would equal 3.4 million dead Americans. So proportionally it would be like firebombing to death everyone in Chicago..."

"As for the Iraqis killed by Americans... the survivors are not going to be pro-American any time soon. The US can always find politicians to come out and say nice things on a visit to the Rose Garden. But the people. I don't think the people are saying nice things in Arabic behind our backs."

--Juan Cole, Informed Comment, June 22, 2008
http://www.juancole.com/2008/06/real-state-of-iraq.html

SITUATIONS IN 3 CITIES

"Moises Saman, a photographer with The New York Times, visited Basra, Mosul and the Sadr City district of Baghdad in May, visually recording the security and social situation in each of Iraq’s three largest cities... none of the three cities is stable enough for a westerner to stroll around the streets unguarded for hours at a time chatting to people, as reporters would do in normal circumstances..."

In Basra the scores of government checkpoints around the city mean that the Shiite death and kidnap squads are no longer everywhere. But they are somewhere, just waiting to come back.
In Sadr City the Americans and Iraqi army fought with tank shells and helicopter missiles in densely crowded streets against Shiite militias firing Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades. Flying metal could come from anywhere, often leaving the unfortunate residents with no idea who had just shot them.
In Mosul the omnipresent danger from Sunni insurgents means it is all but impossible to report from the city without embedding with American or Iraqi soldiers..."

http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/a-tale-of-three-cities/index.html?hp

BUSH ADMINISTRATION TORTURED AND LIED

"Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba who probed Abu Ghraib says Bush officials committed war crimes... found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices... Doctors and mental health experts examined 11 detainees held for long periods in the prison system that President Bush established after the 9-11 terrorist attacks... the men had been subject to cruelties that ranged from isolation, sleep deprivation and hooding to electric shocks, beating and, in one case, being forced to drink urine... a horrific stew of pain, degradation and ... suffering. All of them eventually were released without charges."

"Bush has said repeatedly that the United States doesn't condone torture."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/41514.html

ARMY FIRES WHISTLEBLOWER, AWARDS 10-YEAR $150 BILLION CONTRACT IN IRAQ

"The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR... Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company... Army officials... confirmed that they had reversed his decision... just as the Pentagon has recently awarded KBR part of a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/washington/17contractor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

BASES: INVISIBLE FORTRESS TOWNS IN IRAQ

"... what an epic of construction this has been, as the Pentagon built a series of fortified American towns, each some 15 to 20 miles around, with many of the amenities of home, including big name fast-food franchises, PXes, and the like, in a hostile land in the midst of war and occupation... giant bases... meant to be key garrisons of a Pax Americana in the Middle East for generations to come."

"... billions have evidently gone into single massive mega-bases like the U.S. air base at Balad, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. It's a "16-square-mile fortress," housing perhaps 40,000 U.S. troops, contractors, special ops types, and Defense Department employees... it's essentially "a small American town smack in the middle of the most hostile part of Iraq... air traffic at the base was already being compared to Chicago's O'Hare International or London's Heathrow...

" Imagine if just about no one knew that the pyramids had been built. Ditto the Great Wall of China. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Coliseum. The Eiffel Tower. The Statue of Liberty. Or any other architectural wonder of the world you'd care to mention... Someday, before this is over, all of us may actually see what was built in our names with our dollars. That will be a shock, especially when you consider what the Bush administration has proved incapable of building, or rebuilding, in New Orleans and elsewhere in this country."

http://tomdispatch.com/post/174944/why_we_can_t_see_america_s_ziggurats_in_iraq

FALLUJAH BIRTH DEFECTS FROM U.S. WEAPONS

"Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say. The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004... the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah. In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42762

U.S. LOST $23 BILLION IN IRAQ

"A BBC investigation estimates that around $23 billion may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq... A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations. The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies. While George Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted. To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq..."

" (Rep.) Henry Waxman who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous... It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7444083.stm

U.S. TREATY DEMANDS EXPANSION FROM 30 BASES TO 58

"Iraqi lawmakers say the United States is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed "status of forces" agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely... The 58 bases would represent an expansion of the U.S. presence here. Currently, the United States operates out of about 30 major bases..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/40372.html

IRAQ REFUSES TO LET U.S. ATTACK IRAN FROM IRAQ

"Iraq will not allow its territory to be used to attack Iran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said during a visit to Tehran... "We will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and neighbours."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7441329.stm

SUNNI LEADER SAYS OCCUPATION TREATY SHOULD WAIT FOR OBAMA AND NEW GOVERNMENT

"... Sunni Iraqi lawmaker, Khalaf Al-Ulayyan, founder of the National Dialogue Council, said bilateral talks on a long-term security deal should be shelved until American troops leave -- and until there is a new government in Washington. "We prefer to delay until there is a new administration in the United States. The United States elects a new president in November; Democrat Barack Obama, who clinched his party's nomination this week, is among senators sponsoring a bill requiring any long-term pact with Iraq be submitted to Congress for approval."
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN04304912

U.S. HOLDS IRAQ'S $50 BILLION HOSTAGE TO OCCUPATION TREATY

"The US is holding hostage some $50 billion of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement... prolonging the US occupation indefinitely... US negotiators say the price of Iraq escaping (bankruptcy) is to sign up to a new "strategic alliance" with the United States... the agreement... means Iraq will be a client state in which the US will keep more than 50 military bases. American forces will be able to carry out arrests of Iraqi citizens and conduct military campaigns without consultation with the Iraqi government. American soldiers and contractors will enjoy legal immunity."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-issues-threat-to-iraqs-50bn-foreign-reserves-in-military-deal-841407.html

SENATE FINDS BUSH WAR CLAIMS FALSE

"Claims by... Bush and other top administration officials before the 2003 invasion of Iraq regarding Baghdad's ties to al Qaeda and its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes were generally not supported by the evidence that the U.S. intelligence community had at the time... The president and his advisors undertook a relentless public campaign in the aftermath of the (9/11) attacks to use the war against al Qaeda as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein... Representing to the American people that the two had an operational partnership and posed a single, indistinguishable threat was fundamentally misleading and led the nation to war on false premises."
--Referencing report by U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, June 5, 2008.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42680

SECRET PLAN TO KEEP IRAQ UNDER U.S. CONTROL

"Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors... (the security) deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November... US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country..."

"... The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now. ... Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated.... the agreement would also boost the Republican candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq..."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html

REASON FOR U.S. TROOP HIGH SUICIDE RATE

"... The war in Iraq is now primarily about murder. There is very little killing. The savagery and brutality of the occupation is tearing apart those who have been deployed to Iraq. As news reports have just informed us, 115 American soldiers committed suicide in 2007. This is a 13% increase in suicides over 2006. And the suicides, as they did in the Vietnam War years, will only rise as distraught veterans come home, unwrap the self-protective layers of cotton wool that keep them from feeling, and face the awful reality of what they did to innocents in Iraq... This is a profound crisis of faith. It shatters the myths, national and religious, that these young men and women were fed before they left for Iraq. In short, they uncover the lie they have been told..."

"We laud their gallant deeds and give them uniforms with colored ribbons on their chests for the acts of violence they committed or endured. They are our false repositories of glory and honor, ofpower, of self-righteousness, of patriotism and self-worship, all that we want to believe about ourselves. They are our plaster saints of war, the icons we cheer to defend us and make us and our nation great. They are the props of our civic religion, our love of power and force, our belief in our right as a chosen nation to wield this force against the weak, and rule. This is our nation's idolatry of itself. And this idolatry has corrupted religious institutions, not only here but in most nations, making it impossible for us to separate the will of God from the will of the state..."

"... the battered wrecks of men and women who return from Iraq and speak the halting words we do not want to hear... tell us war is a soulless void... (that) plunges us into perversion, trauma, and an unchecked orgy of death. And it is their testimonies that have the redemptive power to save us from ourselves. "

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174939/chris_hedges_war_and_occupation_american_style

U.S. AND IRAQ DIFFER ON OCCUPATION TREATY

"... US wants its troops to have complete freedom of movement in the country, whereas the Iraqis want it to be limited. The Americans are said to be seeking to retain the right to dominate Iraqi air space up to 29,000 feet, and to gain open access to the land, air and water of Iraq. The US wants to retain the right to arrest and detain any Iraqi whom the US believes represents a security threat. Washington desires the right to launch military operations to chase terrorists without seeking Iraqi government permission. The US wants immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts for American troops, contractors and corporations in Iraq.
The US also wants to retain the right to define terrorism against Iraq. It does not want to give any undertaking that it will defend Iraq from any outside attack unless it is convinced about the nature of that attack. Likewise it is not offering to safeguard the democratic regime in Iraq.
Iraqis for their part are demanding a recognition of Iraqi sovereignty..."
http://www.juancole.com/2008/06/us-iraq-security-talks-hit-snag-mosul.html

AUSTRALIAN P.M. ADMITS IRAQ WAR WAS WRONG

"Going to war with Iraq was wrong, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd admits... His comments came a day after Australia's 550-strong combat force began leaving its base at Tallil, 185 miles south of Baghdad..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/2064720/Going-to-war-with-Iraq-was-wrong%2C-Australian-Prime-Minister-Kevin-Rudd-admits.html

IRAQI DEATHS FAR HIGHER THAN REPORTED

"The real number of the dead is far higher than even the highest declared in death tolls... A study by doctors from the Johns Hopkins School of Health in conjunction with Iraqi doctors from al-Mustanceriya University in Baghdad, published in the British medical journal The Lancet in October 2006, estimated the number of excess deaths as a result of the occupation at above 655,000. Just Foreign Policy, an independent organisation "dedicated to reforming U.S. foreign policy" offered an updated total of 1,213,716 at the time of this writing. On Sep. 14, 2007, Opinion Research Business (ORB), an independent polling agency located in London, produced a figure of 1,220,580 deaths as a result of the invasion... Iraqis believe that the authorities are hiding these figures."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42618

AL QAEDA DEFEATED?

"So al-Qa'ida is "almost defeated", is it? ... we've bought ourselves some time in Iraq by paying half of the insurgents to fight for us and to murder their al-Qa'ida cousins... (but) al-Qa'ida is a way of thinking, not an army. It feeds on pain and fear and cruelty – our cruelty and oppression – and as long as we continue to dominate the Muslim world with our Apache helicopters and our tanks and our Humvees and our artillery and bombs and our "friendly" dictators, so will al-Qa'ida continue... as long as we have stretched this iron curtain across the Middle East, we will be at war and al-Qa'ida will be at war with us..."
"For the kind of freedom they want – the kind of freedom that allows outfits like al-Qa'ida to flourish – is freedom from "us". And this, I fear, we do not intend to give them... al-Qa'ida is growing stronger... are they defeated in London? And Bali? And in New York and Washington?"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-so-alqaidas-defeated-eh-go-tell-it-to-the-marines-837843.html

"Michael Chertoff, the US secretary for homeland security... warned that al-Qaeda and associated groups were still intent on carrying out attacks on the US, Europe and elsewhere..train(ing) operatives who don't fit what perhaps the public believes is the normal profile of a terrorist..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7429699.stm