IRAQI POLICE SHOOT 4 U.S. SOLDIERS
"A US soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting at an Iraqi police station in the northern city of Mosul..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090225/twl-iraq-unrest-us-7e07afd.html
"... Iraqi officials said the soldier opened fire after an altercation with the Americans during a joint patrol in the city... An official in the Iraqi interior ministry said "a US soldier slapped an Iraqi soldier during the patrol." A similar incident took place in Mosul in January 2007 when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on American troops during the erection of a combat outpost in the city, killing two US soldiers..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/25-5
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
OVER 1 MILLION HOMELESS IN BAGHDAD
"... The bombed building is in a state of total disrepair. Concrete blocks hang precariously from metal bars, many ceilings are partially collapsed, and all of the outer walls are gone. There is no water, no electricity, no sewage, and no garbage disposal. Piles of garbage, diapers, decaying food scraps and human excrement are scattered around the area... 35 families, about 750 people, live in this compound. ... Local NGOs estimate that more than 250,000 squatters live on the streets or in such shelters all over Baghdad... The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)... estimated there are 1.6 million internally displaced persons in Iraq... almost two-thirds, just over a million, live in Baghdad, more than half of them women or girls. The report pointed out that displaced women are more prone to rape and other forms of sexual violence..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45812
"... The bombed building is in a state of total disrepair. Concrete blocks hang precariously from metal bars, many ceilings are partially collapsed, and all of the outer walls are gone. There is no water, no electricity, no sewage, and no garbage disposal. Piles of garbage, diapers, decaying food scraps and human excrement are scattered around the area... 35 families, about 750 people, live in this compound. ... Local NGOs estimate that more than 250,000 squatters live on the streets or in such shelters all over Baghdad... The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)... estimated there are 1.6 million internally displaced persons in Iraq... almost two-thirds, just over a million, live in Baghdad, more than half of them women or girls. The report pointed out that displaced women are more prone to rape and other forms of sexual violence..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45812
DOCTORS MUST HIDE, MEDICAL SYSTEM ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE
"Seventy percent of Iraq's doctors are reported to have fled the war-torn country in the face of death threats and kidnappings. Those who remain live in fear, often in conditions close to house arrest.... Doctors and other professionals become targets for kidnapping since they earn more money than most, and so fetch higher ransom... The Iraqi government estimates there were 36,000 doctors and medical personnel in Iraq when the U.S. invasion was launched in March 2003. Most escaped to neighbouring Arab countries, especially Jordan and Syria. In early 2008, the Iraqi Health Ministry said that 628 medical personnel have been killed since 2003. Many believe the real figure is far higher, and that there is additionally a very large number of doctors who have been kidnapped and tortured. In the absence of the doctors who left, particularly of senior doctors, the medical system is on the brink of collapse. It is short not just of doctors but also of other qualified staff, equipment and drugs. Patients are often forced to buy their own medicines on the black market."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45844
"Seventy percent of Iraq's doctors are reported to have fled the war-torn country in the face of death threats and kidnappings. Those who remain live in fear, often in conditions close to house arrest.... Doctors and other professionals become targets for kidnapping since they earn more money than most, and so fetch higher ransom... The Iraqi government estimates there were 36,000 doctors and medical personnel in Iraq when the U.S. invasion was launched in March 2003. Most escaped to neighbouring Arab countries, especially Jordan and Syria. In early 2008, the Iraqi Health Ministry said that 628 medical personnel have been killed since 2003. Many believe the real figure is far higher, and that there is additionally a very large number of doctors who have been kidnapped and tortured. In the absence of the doctors who left, particularly of senior doctors, the medical system is on the brink of collapse. It is short not just of doctors but also of other qualified staff, equipment and drugs. Patients are often forced to buy their own medicines on the black market."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45844
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
IRAQ GIVES IRAN $1.5 BILLION CONTRACT TO BUILD NEW TOWN IN BASRA
"An Iranian firm has won a $1.5 billion contract to build a new town in the southern city of Basra... The new town will have all the facilities of a modern city... there will be a supermarket, 2,000 commercial shops as well as annexes offering different services... The town will include 5,000 housing units as well as modern amenities like schools, markets, parks and health facilities... It is Iran’s largest construction contract in Iraq since the 2003-U.S. invasion and signals Tehran’s economic arm... the countries were reported to have drawn a roadmap to boost trade exchange value to $5 billion..."
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-02-15\kurd.htm
"An Iranian firm has won a $1.5 billion contract to build a new town in the southern city of Basra... The new town will have all the facilities of a modern city... there will be a supermarket, 2,000 commercial shops as well as annexes offering different services... The town will include 5,000 housing units as well as modern amenities like schools, markets, parks and health facilities... It is Iran’s largest construction contract in Iraq since the 2003-U.S. invasion and signals Tehran’s economic arm... the countries were reported to have drawn a roadmap to boost trade exchange value to $5 billion..."
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-02-15\kurd.htm
U.S. FRAUD IN IRAQ MAY EXCEED $50 BILLION
"American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125 billion in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq... a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50 billion, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme... The end of the Bush administration which launched the war may give fresh impetus to investigations into frauds in which tens of billions of dollars were spent on reconstruction with little being built that could be used..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1622987.html
"American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125 billion in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq... a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50 billion, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme... The end of the Bush administration which launched the war may give fresh impetus to investigations into frauds in which tens of billions of dollars were spent on reconstruction with little being built that could be used..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1622987.html
GENERAL IN IRAQ AGREES WITH OBAMA PULLOUT SCHEDULE
CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus and Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) Commander General Ray Odierno have... (said Obama's) 16-month withdrawal plan would pose significantly greater risk to "security gains" than the 23-month plan they favour. But... Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, U.S. commander for the eight southern provinces of Iraq, denied... that the security gains in that region were fragile, contrary to the premise that Odierno has publicly asserted... Oates had told reporters that, even if violence were to break out after provincial elections, Iraqi security forces "are well prepared to handle that". He also cast doubt on Iranian involvement with Shi'a militias in the south, saying he had "no evidence or reports of people training in Iran", despite periodic "anecdotal intelligence reports" of such training camps..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45795
CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus and Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) Commander General Ray Odierno have... (said Obama's) 16-month withdrawal plan would pose significantly greater risk to "security gains" than the 23-month plan they favour. But... Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, U.S. commander for the eight southern provinces of Iraq, denied... that the security gains in that region were fragile, contrary to the premise that Odierno has publicly asserted... Oates had told reporters that, even if violence were to break out after provincial elections, Iraqi security forces "are well prepared to handle that". He also cast doubt on Iranian involvement with Shi'a militias in the south, saying he had "no evidence or reports of people training in Iran", despite periodic "anecdotal intelligence reports" of such training camps..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45795
Saturday, February 14, 2009
IRAQ WAR DOOMED BY U.S. CORRUPTION MORE THAN POOR PLANS OR VIOLENCE
"Federal authorities examining the early, chaotic days of the $125 billion American-led effort to rebuild Iraq have significantly broadened their inquiry to include senior American military officers who oversaw the program... investigations, which are being conducted by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Justice Department, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command and other federal agencies... raise the question of whether American corruption was a primary factor in damaging an effort whose failures have been ascribed to poor planning and unforeseen violence..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html?_r=1&hp
and
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/15-0
"Federal authorities examining the early, chaotic days of the $125 billion American-led effort to rebuild Iraq have significantly broadened their inquiry to include senior American military officers who oversaw the program... investigations, which are being conducted by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Justice Department, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command and other federal agencies... raise the question of whether American corruption was a primary factor in damaging an effort whose failures have been ascribed to poor planning and unforeseen violence..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html?_r=1&hp
and
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/15-0
Thursday, February 05, 2009
GENERALS TO MOBILIZE PUBLIC AGAINST OBAMA DECISION TO WITHDRAW
"... (General) Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy. A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640
"... (General) Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy. A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640
Monday, February 02, 2009
TAXPAYERS SOAKED BY $51 BILLION SPENT ON IRAQ PROJECTS
"... poor planning, weak oversight and greed combined to soak U.S. taxpayers and undermine American forces in Iraq... Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says the U.S. has committed nearly $51 billion for a wide array of projects in Iraq... Some of these projects succeeded... but many did not..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/02-5
"... poor planning, weak oversight and greed combined to soak U.S. taxpayers and undermine American forces in Iraq... Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says the U.S. has committed nearly $51 billion for a wide array of projects in Iraq... Some of these projects succeeded... but many did not..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/02-5