HUMAN TERRAIN WORKERS FEDERALIZED
"... Since the inception of the project in 2006... interpreters, researchers and managers, deployed overseas (in Iraq and Afghanistan) as part of the Army’s social science program, the Human Terrain System... have been generously-paid contractors, serving as cultural counselors to combat units... (Now) they’re all becoming government employees... Which means that Human Terrain pay is suddenly not all that generous. One linguist, previously pulling in an annual salary $270,000, will now make about $91,000 — if that person continues his warzone work for the Human Terrain project... The dollar amount reduction is more than 60%... the switch was ostensibly triggered by the American military’s new Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government. The pact, which went into effect in January, gives Baghdad officials broad new powers to control contractors on their soil (but not U.S. civil servants)..."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/02/more-hts-mania
Saturday, December 19, 2009
ARMY AND SEX DISCIPLINE IN IRAQ
"Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo... oversees forces in northern Iraq, an area that includes the cities of Kirkuk, Tikrit and Mosul.... has added pregnancy to the list of reasons a soldier under his command could be court-martialed... The new policy... would apply to both female soldiers who become pregnant on the battlefield and the male soldiers who impregnate them. Civilians reporting to Cucolo also could face criminal prosecution under the new guidelines... troops also are prohibited from "sexual contact of any kind" with Iraqi nationals. And, they cannot spend the night with a member of the opposite sex, unless married or expressly permitted to do so..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-12-18-pregnant-soldiers_N.htm?csp=usat.me
"… Since November 4th, when the policy was first put in place, four women soldiers were redeployed because they had become pregnant "in violation of Cucolo's order." The four women and two male soldiers ostensibly responsible for two of the pregnancies received letters of reprimand… One of the pregnant soldiers refused to provide the name of her partner… this policy has exposed the lack of consistent access to contraceptive supplies on many bases, and the lack of access particularly to emergency contraception. The army does not pay for abortion services for female soldiers facing unintended pregnancies; instead soldiers must take leave to fly home and and pay out of their own funds..."
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/12/25/us-commander-iraq-rescind-policy-punishing-pregnant-soldiers
"Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo... oversees forces in northern Iraq, an area that includes the cities of Kirkuk, Tikrit and Mosul.... has added pregnancy to the list of reasons a soldier under his command could be court-martialed... The new policy... would apply to both female soldiers who become pregnant on the battlefield and the male soldiers who impregnate them. Civilians reporting to Cucolo also could face criminal prosecution under the new guidelines... troops also are prohibited from "sexual contact of any kind" with Iraqi nationals. And, they cannot spend the night with a member of the opposite sex, unless married or expressly permitted to do so..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-12-18-pregnant-soldiers_N.htm?csp=usat.me
"… Since November 4th, when the policy was first put in place, four women soldiers were redeployed because they had become pregnant "in violation of Cucolo's order." The four women and two male soldiers ostensibly responsible for two of the pregnancies received letters of reprimand… One of the pregnant soldiers refused to provide the name of her partner… this policy has exposed the lack of consistent access to contraceptive supplies on many bases, and the lack of access particularly to emergency contraception. The army does not pay for abortion services for female soldiers facing unintended pregnancies; instead soldiers must take leave to fly home and and pay out of their own funds..."
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/12/25/us-commander-iraq-rescind-policy-punishing-pregnant-soldiers
Monday, December 14, 2009
MURDOCH IN 2003 FORSAW CHEAP OIL FROM IRAQ
"Rupert Murdoch has given his full backing to war, praising George Bush... (and) said the price of oil would be one of the war's main benefits. "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy... would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/feb/12/uk.iraqandthemedia
"Rupert Murdoch has given his full backing to war, praising George Bush... (and) said the price of oil would be one of the war's main benefits. "The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy... would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/feb/12/uk.iraqandthemedia
Friday, December 11, 2009
IRAQ AUCTIONING RIGHTS TO DEVELOP OILFIELDS
"... (an alliance of) Shell and Malaysia's state-run oil company, Petronas... won the rights to develop the giant Majnoon oilfield... which has estimated reserves of almost 13bn barrels of oil... A group of oil companies led by China's CNPC struck a deal to develop the Halfaya field... with 4.1bn (barrels)... A total of 45 firms are vying for 20-year contracts to develop the 10 fields, spanning from northern Iraq to major fields in the Basra region in the south. Among the bidders are Britain's BP, America's Exxon Mobil and state-backed companies from Asia... Iraq... sorely needs international companies' help in boosting production and revamping its dilapidated oil sector..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/11/shell-petronas-majnoon-oilfield-iraq
"... In June (Round 1), Iraq held its first oil auction, offering foreign companies the chance to increase production at already-pumping fields... The latest auction (Round) 2 was the first time foreign firms could bid on untapped fields... After at least $2 trillion spent by Washington and arguably more than a million dead Iraqis... Instead of US Big Oil getting the lion's share, strategic competitors Russia and China turned out to be big winners... The bids, supervised by the Oil Ministry... forced 44 foreign Big Oil corporations to cut to the max the fee they collect on every barrel extracted in Iraq and submit to 20-year contracts. These multinationals were not given a share in Iraqi oil production; they will be paid a $2 fee per barrel for raising output above a mutually agreed level.."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL16Ak02.html
"... (an alliance of) Shell and Malaysia's state-run oil company, Petronas... won the rights to develop the giant Majnoon oilfield... which has estimated reserves of almost 13bn barrels of oil... A group of oil companies led by China's CNPC struck a deal to develop the Halfaya field... with 4.1bn (barrels)... A total of 45 firms are vying for 20-year contracts to develop the 10 fields, spanning from northern Iraq to major fields in the Basra region in the south. Among the bidders are Britain's BP, America's Exxon Mobil and state-backed companies from Asia... Iraq... sorely needs international companies' help in boosting production and revamping its dilapidated oil sector..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/11/shell-petronas-majnoon-oilfield-iraq
"... In June (Round 1), Iraq held its first oil auction, offering foreign companies the chance to increase production at already-pumping fields... The latest auction (Round) 2 was the first time foreign firms could bid on untapped fields... After at least $2 trillion spent by Washington and arguably more than a million dead Iraqis... Instead of US Big Oil getting the lion's share, strategic competitors Russia and China turned out to be big winners... The bids, supervised by the Oil Ministry... forced 44 foreign Big Oil corporations to cut to the max the fee they collect on every barrel extracted in Iraq and submit to 20-year contracts. These multinationals were not given a share in Iraqi oil production; they will be paid a $2 fee per barrel for raising output above a mutually agreed level.."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL16Ak02.html
Monday, December 07, 2009
FT. HOOD SHOOTER BOTHERED BY WAR CRIMES
"... In the weeks before the rampage, the accused gunman, Maj. Nidal M. Hassan, an Army psychiatrist, told colleagues and Army lawyers that he wanted to report soldiers who had admitted in counseling sessions that they witnessed or committed war crimes in Iraq or Afghanistan. War crimes can include acts like torture, murder, sexual assault and cruel treatment. Though Major Hasan was discouraged from filing reports on his patients, military officials say, he would have been within his rights as an Army psychiatrist to have done so. Major Hasan’s efforts to report war crimes were first reported by ABC News..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07therapists.html?_r=1&sudsredirect=true
"... In the weeks before the rampage, the accused gunman, Maj. Nidal M. Hassan, an Army psychiatrist, told colleagues and Army lawyers that he wanted to report soldiers who had admitted in counseling sessions that they witnessed or committed war crimes in Iraq or Afghanistan. War crimes can include acts like torture, murder, sexual assault and cruel treatment. Though Major Hasan was discouraged from filing reports on his patients, military officials say, he would have been within his rights as an Army psychiatrist to have done so. Major Hasan’s efforts to report war crimes were first reported by ABC News..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07therapists.html?_r=1&sudsredirect=true