A NEW WALL

"(The U.S.) is constructing a 3-mile-long concrete wall to cut off one of the capital's most restive Sunni Arab districts (Adhamiya) from the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods... the 407th Brigade Support Battalion, part of the 82nd Airborne Division... have ventured out almost nightly after curfew, overseeing installation of the 14,000-pound wall segments, using giant construction cranes and employing Iraqi crews... Soldiers have dubbed the project the "The Great Wall of Adhamiya"... Shiite and Sunni Arabs living in the shadow of the barrier were united in their contempt for the imposing new structure... (and) likened the project to the massive barriers built by Israel around some Palestinian zones..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-wall20apr20,0,5085656.story?coll=la-home-headlines

PREVIOUS WALLS

"...the Berlin Wall was 96 miles long... Israel's barrier, still under construction, is expected to reach at least 403 miles in length. The average height of the Berlin Wall was 11.8 feet, compared with the maximum current height of Israel's Wall -- 25 feet."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1775.shtml

Map of Israel's Wall:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/middle_east_israel0s_security_barrier/img/2.jpg

"... To deter arms smugglers and foreign militants, the 101st Airborne Division built a 15-foot-high earthen barrier earlier this year along 200 miles of the border with Syria."
http://nytimes.com/2004/04/20/international/middleeast/20BORD.html

"...The Green Zone... its 15ft concrete wall now stretches for 20 miles, enclosing a vast area of central Baghdad."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/02/wirq102.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/04/02/ixnewstop.html

IRAQ COULD OVERTAKE SAUDI ARABIA IN OIL PRODUCTION

"... a study by energy analysts IHS... found that Iraq had known reserves of 116 billion barrels and could be sitting on a further 100 billion barrels.... If these reserves were exploited, it said, Iraq could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil producer...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6570623.stm

BAQUBA, WAITING FOR DEATH

"Baquba, capital city of Iraq's Diyala province is located 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad on the Diyala river. In 2002 the estimated population was 280,000... well over half of our city has left, and those who remain never leave their homes. Those who are left sit in their homes and wait for their death. They may take their fate from a terrorist entering their house, or a car bomb, or a shooting"... al-Qaeda is largely in control of the city, and that US forces are doing little to stop them... Americans only control one kilometer of... the main road where the governor's office and court building are in central Baquba..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID18Ak01.html

U.S. COMPANIES TO GET CONTROL OF PRIVATIZED IRAQ OIL

"The most notable feature of the (Iraq Oil) law is a revival of an exploitive type of contract... known as a production sharing agreement... the Oil Law uses an alternative term, “exploration and production contract”... (allowing) the bulk of Iraq’s reserves to be controlled by outside oil companies... The other major Middle Eastern oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, and Iran... all maintain national control over oil, bringing in foreign corporations only as needed using technical service contracts, under which control is not relinquished and there is no sharing of profits..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/18/606/

OIL IN IRAQ WORTH $21 TRILLION

"According to a 2002 estimate by the Energy Department, the quantity of proven, probable, and possible reserves in Iraq is approximately 330 billion barrels. At today’s $64 per barrel, that’s $21 trillion dollars worth of oil... that’s $70,000 per U.S. citizen or $200,000 per household..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/18/606/

U.S. MILITARY IN IRAQ POSITIONING FOR IRAN WAR

"... It now appears that the US military intends to place as many as five mechanised brigades - comprising about 40,000 men - south and east of Baghdad, at least three of them positioned between the capital and the Iranian border. This would present Iran with a powerful - and potentially aggressive - American military force close to its border in the event of a US or Israeli military strike against its nuclear facilities later this year..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2439530.ece

FIVE OVERLAPPING WARS WILL PREVENT U.S. CONTROL OF OIL AND BASES

"... overlapping wars in Iraq:
- the Sunni Arab guerrilla struggle against the US;
- strands of Sunni Arab guerrillas against assorted Shi'ite militias/death squads;
- al-Qaeda in Iraq against the puppet, US-backed Iraqi government in the Green Zone;
- the Sunni Arab guerrilla war against the government inside the Green Zone;
- the Sadrists, from Sadr City to Kufa and Najaf, against the Americans.
All strands of these five overlapping wars will never allow... Anglo-American Big Oil to control Iraq's oil wealth. Even if the new oil law is ratified by Parliament before June, implementation will be a certified nightmare, and security for billions of dollars of necessary investment (will be) non-existent... these five overlapping wars also will never accept the long-term imposition of vast US military bases under a Status of Forces Agreement..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID14Ak01.html

GIVE BUSH CREDIT FOR IRAQ BEING PART OF A PLAN

"Give the Bush administration credit... The post-September 11 strike at Afghanistan was never simply a strike at al-Qaeda... It was always a prelude to war against Saddam's Iraq. And the invasion of Iraq was never meant to end in Baghdad (as indicated in the neo-con prewar quip, "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran"). Nor was Tehran to be the end of the line. Under the rubric of the "global war on terror", they were considering literally dozens of countries as potential future targets..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID13Ak07.html

IRAQI RESISTANCE EXISTS TO END U.S. OCCUPATION

"... There is only one solution to this disaster, and that is for the US and Britain to accept that the Iraqi resistance is fighting to end the occupation. And to acknowlege that it consists of ordinary Iraqis, not only al-Qaida, not just Sunnis or Shias, not those terrorists... inspired by neighbouring countries such as Iran. To recognise that Iraqis are proud, peace-loving people, and that they hate occuption, not each other. And to understand that the main targets of the resistance are not Iraqi civilians. According to Brookings, the independent US research institute, 75% of recorded attacks are directed at occupation forces, and a further 17% at Iraqi government forces... Without the Iraqi people's support, directly and indirectly, this level of resistance would not have happened."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2054881,00.html

ARMY PAID $32 MILLION FOR WRONGFUL IRAQI WAR DEATHS

"The US military has paid at least $33 million to civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan for wrongful deaths and injuries... (information was) obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under an open government law... Of the $33 million paid out in such claims, $32 million was for incidents in Iraq..."
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/April/theworld_April309.xml§ion=theworld&col=

BUSH LOOKING FOR A WAR CZAR

"The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job... At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined... the difficulty in finding someone to take the job shows that Bush has exhausted his ability to sign up top people to help salvage a disastrous war..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001776.html?hpid=topnews

REFUGEES ESCAPE FROM HELL OF BAGHDAD

"I used to work with the Americans near Kut (in the south)," Sa'ad Hussein, a 34-year-old electrical engineer told IPS. "I worked for Kellogg, Brown & Root in construction of an Iraqi base there"... Hussein, who left three months back, described Baghdad as a "city of ghosts" where black banners of death announcements can be seen hanging on most streets. The city, he said, lives on an hour of electricity a day, and there are no jobs to be had..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37302

POLICY IN IRAQ SPAWNING NEW TERROR

"The British and US policy towards Iraq has "spawned new terror in the region"... The countries had tried to "keep the lid on" problems by military force and had failed to address the root causes... (while) Iran, Syria and North Korea had become "emboldened", while the Taleban was on the rise in Afghanistan...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6542567.stm

IMMENSE SUFFERING OF IRAQIS GETTING WORSE

"Iraqis face 'immense' suffering... (and) The International Committee of the Red Cross says the situation for ordinary Iraqis is getting steadily worse.... every aspect of life in Iraq is getting worse - a trip to the market has become a matter of life and death.... The report also highlights the following problems:
* Iraq's healthcare facilities face critical shortages of staff and supplies. Many doctors, nurses and patients no longer dare to go to hospitals and clinics because they are targeted or threatened
* much of Iraq's vital water, sewage and electricity infrastructure is in a critical condition
* food shortages have been reported in some areas and malnutrition is said to have increased..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6543377.stm

COUNT OF 650,000 IRAQI WAR DEATHS WAS ACCURATE

"... the government's own scientists advised ministers that the Johns Hopkins study on Iraq civilian mortality was accurate and reliable, following a freedom of information request... Published in the Lancet last October... it estimated that 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the American and British led invasion in March 2003... Scientists at the UK's Department for International Development... concluded that the study's methods were "tried and tested"... "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2044345,00.html

MID EAST PRESS UNITED OVER IRAQ AS A TRAGEDY

"Four years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, press opinion across the Middle East is united in its condemnation of the invasion of Iraq as an unmitigated disaster. Most commentators accuse US President George W Bush and his allies of turning the country into a "republic of real fear", although some do describe the Iraqi insurgency as a shining example of resistance to foreign occupation..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6538229.stm

IRAQIS REGRET INVASION

"... "We got rid of a tyrant and tyranny. But we were surprised that after one thief had left, another 40 replaced him... (now) we regret that Saddam Hussein is gone, no matter how much we hated him...."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/08/AR2007040801058.html?hpid=topnews

"We live at this moment and so far 48 months of anxiety, oppression and occupational tyranny have passed, four years which have only brought us more death, destruction and humiliation. Every day tens are martyred, tens are crippled and every day we see and hear U.S. interference in every aspect of our lives, which means that we are not sovereign, not independent and therefore not free. This is what Iraq has harvested from the U.S. invasion."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-iraq9apr09,1,7487564.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=2&cset=true

IRAQI MINISTER DETAILS SHOCKING U.S. MISMANAGEMENT OF IRAQ

"... an Iraqi government insider details in 500 pages the U.S. occupation's "shocking" mismanagement of his country — a performance so bad, he writes, that by 2007 Iraqis had "turned their backs on their would-be liberators"... "The corroded and corrupt state of Saddam was replaced by the corroded, inefficient, incompetent and corrupt state of the new order"... (and) the Americans' "insipid retelling of "success' stories" merely hid "the huge black hole that lay underneath."
--Ali A. Allawi, Iraq's trade, defense and finance minister at various times since 2003
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070408/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_insider_s_account

BUILDING PRISONS FOR 22,000 MORE CAPTIVES OF SECURITY PLAN

"To deal with more detentions, the US is building facilities and adding military police.... For the past several years, the United States itself has held about 13,000 individuals captive and now holds about 18,000 captives. But as the Baghdad security plan also known as Fard Al Kanoon 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

SUNNI INSURGENTS CONDEMN AL QAEDA TACTICS

"A Sunni insurgent group... the Islamic Army of Iraq... comprised mainly of former Baathists and military officers from the Saddam Hussein era... has called on Osama Bin Laden to exert more control over al-Qaeda members there... it called on al-Qaeda to review its behaviour in the country...."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6533865.stm
and
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A6EC4EAB-854C-4D2F-A922-754648CDED8D.htm

U.S. CREATED A STRONG AL QAEDA IN IRAQ

"... There is no doubt that the US and the existed Iraqi political groups have failed to solve the security issue.... There are not enough words or language to describe the misery and sadness of the whole situation in Iraq now... The USA and the world with it have failed in its war against the terror and we will see new kind of attacks and new generations of terrorists in the near future. Indeed there were no Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq before the invasion and it is very strong now."
--Hammorabi, Iraqi blogger, 4/03/2007
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/2007/04/failure-of-war-against-terror.html

BANK LINKS SADDAM, BIN LADEN AND BUSHES

"Now that the U.S. Congress is investigating the truth of President George W. Bush's statements about the Iraq war, they might look into one of his most startling assertions: that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden... The link between Hussein and Bin Laden was their banker, BCCI. But the link went beyond the dictator and the jihadist -- it passed through Saudi Arabia and stretched all the way to George W. Bush and his father. BCCI was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, a dirty offshore bank that then-president Ronald Reagan's Central Intelligence Agency used to run guns to Hussein... (and) finance Osama bin Laden..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37212

IRAQ OCCUPATION PRODUCING FUTURE AL QAEDA LEADERS

"... Experts say they still see Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as largely independent of Al Qaeda’s hub in Pakistan but that they believe the fighting in Iraq will produce future Qaeda leaders. “The jihadis returning from Iraq are far more capable than the mujahedeen who fought the Soviets ever were,” said Robert Richer, who was associate director of operations in 2004 and 2005 for the C.I.A. “They have been fighting the best military in the world, with the best technology and tactics.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/world/middleeast/02qaeda.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

KISSINGER: IRAQ VICTORY IMPOSSIBLE

"Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger... said the problems in Iraq are more complex than that conflict, and military victory is no longer possible..."
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/iraq+victory+impossible++kissinger/371257

"Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday. Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the U.S. government must enter into dialogue with Iraq's regional neighbors _ including Iran _ if progress is to be made in the region..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111900287.html

IRAQI RELEASED AFTER 5-YEAR GUANTANAMO "NIGHTMARE"

"An Iraqi held at the US base in Guantanamo Bay for nearly five years says his "nightmare is finally at an end"... Mr Al-Rawi was arrested in November 2002 while on a business trip to Gambia... He returned to the family home in London this weekend... His lawyer... said that Mr Al-Rawi was showing signs of... psychosis, which affects prisoners held in high-security compounds... (and) described the conditions in which Mr Al-Rawi was held as "worse than any death row I've ever seen."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1886960.htm

NEW IRAQ OIL LAW FIRST DRAFTED IN HOUSTON BEFORE INVASION

"... In the months before the March 2003 invasion, members of the U.S. State Department “Oil and Energy Working Group” met to plan how to open Iraq to international oil companies.... the oil law now proposed by the Iraqi Council of Ministers is a virtual photocopy of a plan first drafted by U.S. oil industry executives and consultants in Houston long before Iraq was “liberated.” The proposed Petroleum Law creates a Federal Oil and Gas Council on which would sit representatives of Exxon- Mobil, Shell, BP, etc., whose tasks include approving their own contracts..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/01/236/

DOCTORS FLEE HOSPITALS

"Iraqi medical crisis as doctors flee... Most of the best medical staff have left after being targeted by insurgents... Drugs and equipment are almost non-existent. The notorious militias target patients inside hospitals, and doctors inside the health ministry... All this in a country that used to pride itself on the best medical services in the Middle East. As for the billions of dollars spent on reconstruction, these doctors say they saw a little of it. But most was wasted on shoddy furniture and poor decorations... Some money has gone on high-tech machinery. But it is useless, say the doctors, because no one knows how to use it..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6479997.stm

U.S. GENOCIDAL STRATEGY IN FALLUJAH

"Iraqis in the volatile al-Anbar province west of Baghdad are reporting regular killings carried out by U.S. forces that many believe are part of a 'genocidal' strategy... U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces working with them are also executing people seized during home raids and other operations... In the face of the U.S.-backed violence, most Iraqis now openly support attacks against occupation forces..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37151

IRAQI OIL LAW THE CULMNINATION OF U.S. BLOOD FOR OIL PLAN

"... By March of 2001, half a year before 9/11, (Vice President Cheney’s Energy) Task Force was poring secretly over maps of the Iraqi oil fields, pipe lines, and tanker terminals. It studied a listing of foreign oil company “suitors” for exploration and development contracts, to be executed with Saddam Hussein’s oil ministry. There was not a single American or British oil company included, and to Mr. Cheney and his cohorts that was intolerable. The final report of the Task Force was candid: “... Middle East oil producers will remain central to world security. The Gulf will be a primary focus of U.S. international energy policy.” The detailed meaning of “focus” was left blank...

"A secret NSC memorandum in 2001 spoke candidly of “actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields” in Iraq. In 2002 Paul Wolfowitz suggested simply seizing the oil fields... The seizure of the oil would have to be oblique and far more sophisticated... The (seizure) package today is in the form of draft legislation, the hydrocarbon law... The Iraqi war has never been about terrorism. It is blood for oil."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/30/201/

MAIN BENCHMARK: BUSH MUST CERTIFY THAT U.S. HAS ACCESS TO IRAQI OIL

"The Iraq Accountability Act... working its way through Congress... requires the Iraqi government to meet a series of “benchmarks”... the (Iraqi) hydrocarbon law... is the only “benchmark” that truly matters to (the Bush) Administration... if passed, the (Iraqi) law will make available to Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, BP/Amoco, and Royal Dutch/Shell about 4/5’s of the stupendous petroleum reserves in Iraq...

"The legislation pending now in Washington requires the President to certify to Congress by next October that the benchmarks have been met - specifically that the Iraqi hydrocarbon law has been passed.... he will certify the American and British oil companies have access to Iraqi oil. It is why we went to war..."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/30/201/

BAGHDAD EMBASSY

"The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world... 21 buildings on 104 acres... the size of Vatican City, with... 5,500 Americans and Iraqis... the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water... it will be a self-sufficient and “hardened” domain, to function in the midst of Baghdad power outages, water shortages and continuing turmoil... (with) its own water wells, electricity plant and wastewater-treatment facility, “systems to allow 100 percent independence from city utilities... Besides two major diplomatic office buildings, homes for the ambassador and his deputy, and the apartment buildings for staff, the compound will offer a swimming pool, gym, commissary, food court and American Club, all housed in a recreation building... ... Iraq’s interim government transferred the land to U.S. ownership in October 2004..."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070124&articleId=4579

GREEN ZONE NO LONGER SECURE

"... The US embassy in Baghdad circulated a memo to all Americans working for the US government in the Green Zone. It ordered them to wear protective gear whenever they were outside in the Green Zone, including just moving from one building to another. Guerrillas have managed to lob a number of rockets into the area in recent days, and killed one US GI on Tuesday. The Green Zone is therefore actually the Red Zone. I.e., it is no longer an area of good security contrasting to what is around it..."
http://www.juancole.com/2007/03/bombers-kill-over-130-wounding-over-two.html

BUSH: DEFEAT EVIL IN IRAQ OR IT WILL FOLLOW US HOME

"... Some call this civil war; others call it emergency -- I call it pure evil. And that evil that uses children in a terrorist attack in Iraq is the same evil that inspired and rejoiced in the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. And that evil must be defeated overseas, so we don't have to face them here again. If we cannot muster the resolve to defeat this evil in Iraq, America will have lost its moral purpose in the world, and we will endanger our citizens, because if we leave Iraq before the job is done, the enemy will follow us here..."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070328-2.html

HOW ARAB ANALYSTS SEE IRAQ

"... analysts in the Arab world have little confidence that current US troop surge in Iraq will do much more than postpone a complete political-security breakdown in Iraq, which, they fear, could then spread across the Middle East... if US forces leave Iraq... there's a possibility this would concentrate the minds of (Arab countries)... on the need to find a workable reconciliation. But if the Americans stay, we can expect the situation to remain bad... Meanwhile, the broad deployment of US troops in Iraq has been transformed from an American asset in the region into a liability that erodes US power and standing... Bush's decision to invade Iraq looks increasingly like British Prime Minister Anthony Eden's decision to invade Egypt's Suez region in 1956: an exercise in ill-considered military over-reach that hastened the subsequent shrinkage of a quasi-imperial power..."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0329/p09s02-coop.html

SAUDI KING CALLS OCCUPATION ILLEGITIMATE

"Saudi King Abdullah, whose country is a close US ally, on Wednesday slammed the “illegitimate foreign occupation” of Iraq in an opening speech to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh... He also said that Arab nations... would not allow any foreign force to decide the future of the region..."
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/mar/29/yehey/opinion/20070329opi5.html

SOME SUNNI INSURGENTS SPLITTING WITH AL QAEDA

"... divisions between insurgent groups and Al Qaeda in Iraq have widened and have led to combat in some areas... Sunni Arab insurgent leaders said they disagreed with the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq over tactics, including attacks on civilians.. "Al Qaeda is pursuing a different agenda — an international one and not an Iraqi" agenda..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-insurgents27mar27,0,4291272.story?coll=la-home-headlines

ROCKET IN GREEN ZONE

"A rocket made its way into the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad causing shock and awe in the US embassy, the buildings of the Iraqi government and those of other embassies housed there..."
http://www.arabmonitor.info/news/dettaglio.php?idnews=18281&lang=en

CHENEY: NO IRAQ PULL OUT

"... Cheney... used his appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalaplan, Florida, to reassure allies that the current political struggle will not result in a precipitous US withdrawal from Iraq... vowed that the administration would not allow an early withdrawal of US forces from Iraq... regardless of whether Iraqi security forces are ready to take over from them..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070325/1/47hm0.html

IRAN'S STRATEGY FOR IRAQ

"... A successful US withdrawal from Iraq would free up military resources and restore US political will to focus on Iran. On the other hand, a hopelessly deteriorating quagmire in Iraq may force to US to seek an alternative path to victory by widening the war with an attack on Iran, or instigate an internal coup by supporting Iranian dissident groups. Thus Iran's strategy for Iraq is neither US withdrawal nor escalation, just a slow bleed to drive home the awareness of superpower impotency to the whole world..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC21Ak06.html

EFFECT ON IRAQ OF WAR ON TERRORISM

"... The US "war on terrorism", instead of igniting a "proactive democratic revolution", has transformed a secular Ba'athist regime in Iraq into an al-Qaeda Islamic state within US-occupied Iraq..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC21Ak06.html

WILL COP SHOPS WORK?

"... "joint security stations"... The fears and distrust resulting from the subsequent warfare make it difficult, if not impossible, to persuade Iraqis to use the stations as they were intended: as friendly neighborhood cop shops where anyone can drop by with a tip on a suspected terrorist next door..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-security20mar20,0,1812344.story?coll=la-home-headlines

U.S. RETAINING PERMANENT BASES TO CONTROL OIL

"The invasion of Iraq ... was designed to transform the oil-rich nation into an unsinkable U.S. aircraft carrier from which U.S. attacks and military interventions could be launched to “discipline” oil-rich Iran, Syria, and others...

"Post-invasion, the U.S. military established 110 bases in Iraq... As authority is turned over to the central government in Baghdad... the Pentagon is working feverishly to further consolidate the U.S. military presence to 14 “enduring bases”...

"Whether the U.S. retains five or 15 “enduring bases,” its goal is clear: to keep its military hand on the “jugular vein” of global capitalism – as former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Maxwell Taylor described Middle East oil. This requires an intimidating infrastructure of deadly high-tech fortresses and the warriors that go with them...."

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0319-26.htm

TERRORISTS NOT WAITING TO "FOLLOW US HOME"

"... Shakir al-Abssi... a former associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi... trains fighters and spreads the ideology of Al Qaeda... He said killing American soldiers in Iraq was no longer enough to convince the American public that its government should abandon what many Muslims view as a war against Islam. “We have every legitimate right to do such acts, for isn’t it America that comes to our region and kills innocents and children?” Mr. Abssi said. “It is our right to hit them in their homes the same as they hit us in our homes."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/world/middleeast/16jihad.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

CHINA THE FIRST TO BENEFIT FROM IRAQ'S NEW OIL LAW

"... despite the US "investment" of more than 35,000 dead or wounded troops and over 400 billion dollars to secure access to Iraq's oil for itself, China is poised to sign the first major contract... the Ahdab oil field in south-central Iraq. It wasn't supposed to work this way. The US had a major role in developing Iraq's proposed oil law, with its scandalous long-term agreements enabling foreign oil companies to plunder the nation's most precious resource...."

"... the famed military strategist Sun Tzu... advised waiting quietly as an enemy self-destructs, then sweeping in to reap the profits, an effective plan for Beijing during the Bush years."

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar07/Wokusch15.htm

HIDDEN COST OF WAR

"The Pentagon is trying to silence economists who predict that several decades of care for the wounded will amount to an unbelievable $2.5 trillion... ... the administration has been putting out two entirely separate and conflicting sets of numbers of those wounded in the wars.... So far, more than 200,000 veterans from the current Iraq or Afghanistan wars have been treated at VA centers. Twenty per cent of those brought home are suffering from serious brain or spinal injuries, or the severing of more than one limb, and a further 20 per cent from amputations, blindness or deafness, severe burns, or other dire conditions... not only the number wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan is far higher than the Pentagon has been saying, but that looking after them alone could cost present and future US taxpayers a sum they estimate to be $536 billion, but which could get considerably bigger still... The projected $2.5 trillion price tag also includes the costs of replacing and replenishing military equipment in use...
http://www.newstatesman.com/200703120024

LOATHING OF SEARCHES BY FOREIGN TROOPS


"... (we) have underestimated is the loathing Iraqis have of foreign troops bursting into their houses... Foreign troops legitimize insurgency.... (the photo shows) four American soldiers, dressed in full, intimidating battle gear, around the periphery of a Baghdad living room. In the center, on the carpeted floor, lies a collapsed woman... A man, identified as her son, is holding her in his arms... what arrests the eye is the look of horror and terror on his face as he looks up at an armed, gesticulating soldier. Another soldier has taken the liberty of making himself at home on the sofa. The caption tells us only that the mother has fainted ... after she suffered a panic attack... when her son was "questioned."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/13/surge_doomed_to_final_failure/

CHENEY'S MARCH 2001 OIL TASK FORCE HAS ACHEIVED GOAL

"... In March 2001, the National Energy Policy Development Group (better known as Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force), which included executives of America’s largest energy companies, recommended that the United States government support initiatives by Middle Eastern countries “to open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment.” One invasion and a great deal of political engineering by the Bush administration later, this is exactly what the proposed Iraq oil law would achieve.... The Iraq hydrocarbon law would take the majority of Iraq’s oil out of the exclusive hands of the Iraqi government and open it to international oil companies for a generation or more.... It does so to the benefit of the companies, but to the great detriment of Iraq’s economy, democracy and sovereignty..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/opinion/13juhasz.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

INJURED TROOPS ORDERED BACK TO IRAQ

"The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq... Some were injured on previous combat tours. Some of their ills are painful conditions from training accidents or, among relatively older troops, degenerative problems like back injuries or blown-out knees. Some of the soldiers have been in the Army for decades.... As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor... soldiers claim that the division and brigade surgeons summarily downgraded soldiers' profiles, without even a medical exam, in order to deploy them to Iraq... where else this might be happening and who is dictating it... How high does it go?"
http://www.salon.com/news/2007/03/11/fort_benning/

U.S. TO INSTALL ALLAWI AS A NEW SADDAM

"... Maliki and his helpless, corrupt government - whose only role is to enforce imperial US edicts in Iraq - will be blamed by the Bush administration for failing to help the Pentagon occupy and "pacify" the country... Maliki will be the fall guy and a new Washington/Green Zone-engineered "coalition", led by perennial favorite Allawi, will usurp his power in Parliament.... the "secret" US Plan B... is none other than installing the new Saddam Hussein: in this case the same old "Saddam without a mustache" (as he is known in Baghdad) Iyad Allawi... (who is, like Saddam, a former CIA asset)..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC13Ak06.html

SHOULD HALLIBURTON SUBSIDIARY REPAY $400 MILLION TO U.S.?

"... (Should) KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary responsible for more than 50,000 personnel in Iraq and billions in government contracts... be forced to repay the government nearly half a billion dollars because it hired private security forces in Iraq... when the Army itself was supposed to be providing it with protection?... Under the terms of KBR's master contract, the Army is specifically tasked with providing force protection for KBR's thousands of employees.... If the Army was responsible for providing security for KBR's 50,000 employees, why didn't it do so? Is the command and control in Iraq in such disarray that $400 million in private security services that should have been provided by the Army was not, and no one noticed? Did no one realize that tens of thousands of private soldiers were performing the Army's security duties?... It's a scandal that has been brewing for more than two years..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070326/scahill_ordower

WHY THE U.S. FIGHTS FOR IRAQ'S OIL

"... Ghawar... the mother-of-all oil fields. She was once a veritable sea of light sweet crude 174 miles long and 12 miles wide, under the sands of... Saudi Arabia and now she is dead... Saudi (2006) production is down a whopping 8%... Kuwaiti oil production from the world's second-largest field (Burgan) is ‘exhausted’ and falling after almost six decades of pumping”... “Production at Cantarell, the world's second-largest oil complex, which provides about 60% of Mexico's crude... (had) a 13% drop from 2005... The famous North Sea basin... is about to experience a precipitous production decline. Back in 2000 we learned that China’s only super-giant field, Da Qing was also at death’s door..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0307-33.htm

BUSH AND TORTURE

"President Bush on Monday defended U.S. interrogation practices and called the treatment of terrorism suspects lawful. “We do not torture.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9956644

"The American Civil Liberties Union today made public... autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom died while being interrogated... According to the documents, 21 of the 44 deaths were homicides. Eight of the homicides appear to have resulted from abusive techniques used on detainees... The autopsy reports list deaths by "strangulation," "asphyxiation" and "blunt force injuries" ... autopsy reports for two detainees... present irrefutable evidence that U.S. operatives tortured detainees to death during interrogations.."
http://www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/gen/21236prs20051024.html

OIL LAW WILL KEEP U.S. IN IRAQ TO PROTECT OIL COMPANIES

"The U.S.-backed Iraqi cabinet approved a new oil law Monday that is set to give foreign companies the long-term contracts and safe legal framework they have been waiting for... (but) transferring ownership to the foreign companies would give a further pretext to continue the U.S. occupation on the grounds that those companies will need protection...."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36754

WHY IRAQ IS A SUCCESS AND WE ARE THERE TO STAY

"... many in Congress... like the idea that we have gone into Iraq, we have built four mega bases, they are complete. Most of the money we gave to Halliburton was for construction and completion of these bases. We have probably, of the 150,000, 160,000 troops we have in Iraq probably 110,000 of those folks are associated with one of those four mega bases. Safely ensconced behind acres and acres of concrete. To operate there indefinitely, no matter what happens in Baghdad, no matter who takes over, no matter if the country splits into three pieces or it stays one. No matter what happens, we have those mega bases... Part of the reason I think that we went into Iraq was to reestablish a stronger foothold than we had in Saudi Arabia, but also a more economical, a more flexible, in terms of who we want to hit. If you want to hit Syria, can you do it from Iraq? Of course you can. And now you can do it from bases that will support any type of airplane you want, any number of troops in barracks. I mean we can do things from Iraq. And this is what they wanted. So... many people in the Congress, and certainly this administration, when they call Iraq a success, they mean it, and this is why. We’re in Iraq to stay."
--Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski (ret.), a veteran of the Pentagon
http://www.truthdig.com/interview/page2/20070227_pentagon_whistleblower_on_the_coming_war_with_iran/

SIX MONTHS TO WIN, OR COLLAPSE

"... the elite group of officers advising the top US commander in Iraq believes the US and the Iraqi government have six months to win the war - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support back home that could force the military into a hasty retreat...

"The problems identified by the Petraeus team are a mix of old and new: insufficient troops on the ground, a "disintegrating" international coalition, an anticipated increase in violence in the south as the British leave, morale problems as casualties rise and political squabbling continues, and worries that the White House and Pentagon may lose control of the policy to Congress...

"Petraeus may provide the ultimate service to the troops and the nation ... not by winning, but by speaking the truth about Iraq."

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/03/six_months_to_win_the_war.html

CHENEY IDENTIFIES MIDDLE EAST OIL PRIZE - AUG 1999

"... by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize lies.."
--Dick Cheney, Halliburton CEO, speech to Institute of Petroleum, Aug 1999
http://www.energybulletin.net/559.html

U.S. GETS IRAQ OIL PRIZE - FEB 2007

"... Cheney might as well declare the Iraq war over... now is the mission really accomplished... Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet approved the draft of the new Iraqi oil law.... The key point of the law is that Iraq's immense oil wealth... will be under the iron rule of... nothing less than predominantly US Big Oil executives... (via) production sharing agreements (PSAs) - which translate into savage privatization and monster profit rates of up to 75% for (basically US) Big Oil... The law represents... pillaging of Iraq's oil wealth... (and) was drafted... by a US consulting firm hired by the Bush administration and then carefully retouched by Big Oil, the International Monetary Fund, former US deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz' World Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. It's virtually a US law... its original language is English..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB28Ak01.html

AMERICA AND ONGOING KILLING OF IRAQIS

"No one can deny the continuing killing of the Iraqis and the destruction of their country by the American forces... The USA and its allies gave full support to Saddam including WMD, money, economic supports, intelligent supports... Saddam used chemical weapons supplied to him by the west against his own people... the USA encouraged Saddam to attack Kuwait and annex it. The USA wanted to use this as an excuse to come to the region and stay there... During this dirtiest embargo which continued for 12 years the health system which was once the best in the region destroyed... Since 2003 until now there is systematic daily killing of the Iraqis..."
--Iraqi blogger Hammorabi
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/2007/02/america-and-iraq-ongoing-killing-of.html

WHO GAVE THIS SPEECH IN 2002?

“I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century. To put first things first, I believe that we ought to be focusing our efforts first and foremost against those who attacked us on Sept. 11... What if, in the aftermath of a war against Iraq, we faced a situation like Afghanistan, because we’ve washed our hands of it?... What if the al-Qaeda members infiltrated across the borders of Iraq the way they are in Afghanistan?..."
--Sept 23, 2002 speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/022507.html

U.S. BOMBING BAGHDAD

"US forces launched air strikes in southeast Baghdad on Saturday,... as a series of massive explosions rocked the war-torn city."American aircraft are bombarding terrorist targets that have been chosen by US and Iraqi forces, as part of our Baghdad security plan".
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_2074616,00.html

"... This is absolutely shameful, that the US is bombing from the air a civilian city that it militarily occupies. You can't possibly do that without killing innocent civilians, as at Ramadi the other day. It is a war crime. US citizens should protest and write their congressional representatives. It is also the worst possible counter-insurgency tactic anyone could ever have imagined. You bomb people, they hate you. The bombing appears to have knocked out what little electricity some parts of Baghdad were still getting..."
http://www.juancole.com/2007/02/al-hakim-targeted-with-car-bomb.html

"The leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia (Muqtada al-Sadr) complained Sunday that bombs "continue to explode" in Baghdad and that U.S.-led security crackdown is doomed to fail... Al-Sadr urged Iraq's mostly Shiite security forces to "make your own Iraqi plans independent of the Americans."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

ISRAEL DENIES TALKS TO USE IRAQI AIRSPACE TO ATTACK IRAN

"Britain's Daily Telegraph, citing an unnamed senior Israeli defense official, said on Saturday that Israel had sought permission from the U.S. Pentagon to be able to use an "air corridor" in Iraq in the event that the Jewish state decided to launch air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities... (but) Israel's deputy defense minister denied on Saturday that Israel was in talks with the United States to use Iraqi airspace as part of possible plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites..."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2901142

ISRAEL ASKS U.S. CLEARANCE FOR IRAQ OVERFLIGHTS TO ATTACK IRAN

"Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.. A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor"... (saying) "The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/24/wiran124.xml

FALLUJAH WAR CRIMES REVISITED

"... Let's summarize the possible (U.S.) war crimes committed in the latest (2005) siege of Fallujah
1. Use of cluster bombs
2. Use of Napalm
3. Attacking a medical facility
4. Seizing a medical facility
5. Indiscriminate killing of civilians including women and children
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album28&page=1
6. Cutting off water and electricity to the entire city before the siege
7. The use of collective punishment
8. Purposeful destruction of water, electrical and sewage facilities.
9. Preventing male Iraqis from leaving and making them return to the city.
10. Preventing the wounded from being treated
11. Preventing the Red Crescent from entering the city..."
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/009904.php

IRAQI FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"... (In) another U.S. military raid on the media. U.S. soldiers raided and ransacked the offices of the Iraq Syndicate of Journalists (ISJ) in central Baghdad Tuesday this week. Ten armed guards were arrested, and 10 computers and 15 small electricity generators kept for donation to families of killed journalists were seized... U.S. soldiers did all they could to deliver the message of their leadership to Iraqi journalists to keep their mouth shut about anything going wrong with the U.S.-led occupation..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0223-06.htm

MAJORITY OF MIDEAST SEES OIL AS U.S. OBJECTIVE

"A poll conducted recently among citizens of six Arab countries has showed an overall anti-American attitude... The poll, conducted by Prof Shibley Telhami in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, showed that 75% of the people in these countries believed that democratisation was not the real objective of the US campaigns, including the Iraqi war... The majority of the people (81%) put “oil’ as the first objective of the US in the region."
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=133521&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

IRAQ OIL LAW GIVES OIL COMPANIES CONTROL

"... Now comes new evidence of the big prize in Iraq... Under the proposed law, Iraq's immense oil reserves would not simply be opened to foreign oil exploration, as many had expected. Amazingly, executives from those companies would actually be given seats on a new Federal Oil and Gas Council that would control all of Iraq's reserves. In other words, Chevron, ExxonMobil, British Petroleum and the other Western oil giants could end up on the board of directors of the Iraqi Federal Oil and Gas Council, while Iraq's own national oil company would become just another competitor... Since most of Iraq's 73 proven petroleum fields have yet to be developed, the new council would instantly become a world energy powerhouse..."

"While the politicians in Washington and Baghdad bicker to carve up the real prize, and just what share Big Oil will get, more Iraqi civilians and American soldiers die each each day - for freedom, we're told."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/jgonzalez/story/499442p-421044c.html

Posted here on 10/29/06
FUTURE OF IRAQ TO BE DETERMINED BY IMF OIL LAW

"... US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman landed in Baghdad this past summer, insisting that Iraqis must "pass a hydrocarbon law under which foreign companies can invest". Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani was convinced, and said the law would be passed by the end of 2006... a debt-for-oil program concocted and imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is the point of the US invasion - a return on investment on the hundreds of billions of dollars of US taxpayers' money spent.

"The draft hydrocarbon law was reviewed by the IMF, reviewed by Bodman and reviewed by Big Oil executives... it will not be reviewed by Iraqi civil society... The real... future of Iraq will be decided in December... (by this) new oil law..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HJ27Ak03.html

STATE OF THE COALITION

Albania 120 non-combat troops, mainly patrolling airport in Mosul; no plans to withdraw.
Armenia 46 soldiers, serving as medics, engineers and drivers under Polish command; staying to end of 2007.
Australia Around 550 troops training security forces in southern Iraq.
Azerbaijan 150 troops; no plans to withdraw.
Bosnia-Herzegovina 36 soldiers.
Bulgaria 155 in total 120 non-combat troops guarding refugee camp near Baghdad, 35 support personnel.
Czech Republic 99 troops.
Denmark 460 troops patrolling Basra; to be withdrawn by August.
El Salvador 380 soldiers in Hillah; no immediate plans to withdraw.
Estonia 35 troops under US command in the Baghdad area.
Georgia 900 combat, medical and support personnel under US command in Baqouba; no plans to withdraw or reduce contingent.
Kazakhstan 27 military engineers; no plans to withdraw.
Latvia 125 troops under Polish command in Diwaniya.
Lithuania 60 troops, part of a Danish battalion near Basra.
Macedonia 40 troops in Taji.
Moldova 11 bomb-defusing experts returned home at end of January.
Mongolia 160 troops; no plans to withdraw.
Netherlands 15 soldiers as part of Nato mission training police, army officers; no plans to withdraw.
Poland 900 non-combat troops; commands multinational force; mission extended to end of 2007.
Romania about 600 troops, most serving under UK command; prime minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu wants them withdrawn.
Slovenia 4 instructors training Iraqi security forces.
South Korea 2,300 troops in Irbil; plans to bring home 1,100; parliament insists on complete withdrawal by end of 2007.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2018279,00.html

EFFECT OF IRAQ WAR ON TERRORISM

"... the Iraq War has generated a stunning sevenfold increase in the yearly rate of fatal jihadist attacks, amounting to literally hundreds of additional terrorist attacks and thousands of civilian lives lost; even when terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan is excluded, fatal attacks in the rest of the world have increased by more than one-third... Al Qaeda has not let the Iraq War distract it from targeting the United States and her allies. In a January 19, 2006 audiotape, Osama bin Laden himself refuted President Bush’s argument that Iraq had distracted and diverted Al Qaeda... The globalization of jihad and martyrdom, accelerated to a significant degree by the Iraq War, has some disquieting implications for American security in the future..."
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/iraq_effect_2.html

HOW TO WIN THE WAR ON TERRORISM - NEOCONSERVATIVE VIEW

"The foundational belief of the "war on terrorism" is that militant Islam is hollow. We are not fighting a credible movement with a set of core beliefs, but "evildoers" - people who have nothing to say, who are without values, who hate our freedoms and who want to return their societies to the 7th century. Militant Islam is much like worldwide communism, an empty shell that, if confronted with overwhelming power, will crumple...

"All that needs be done to triumph over this evil is to replicate the... strategy of confrontation with the USSR: increase defense spending, deploy Western armies to troubled regions, undermine collaborationist societies, spread democracy, and counter the evildoers' propaganda with political toughness..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF08Ak01.html

AL QAEDA RECRUITS SUICIDE BOMBERS FROM MOROCCO

"About two dozen men from Tetouan (Morocco) and nearby towns in the Rif Mountains have traveled to Iraq in the past 18 months to volunteer as fighters or suicide bombers... the men were recruited by international terrorist networks affiliated with al-Qaeda that have deepened their roots in North Africa since the invasion of Iraq four years ago..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/19/AR2007021901168.html

IRAQ ALLOWED AL QAEDA RENAISSANCE

"... Al Qaeda's stunning resurrection, before the very eyes of American military forces stationed across the border in southern Afghanistan, begs the question of how the most powerful country in the world can launch a six-year, no-holds-barred, global war on terrorism — at great cost to its pocketbook and international standing — only to find the main target of these Herculean efforts still alive and kicking.

"... Iraq blinded us to the possibility of an Al Qaeda renaissance... The United States' entanglement there has consumed the attention and resources of our country's military and intelligence communities... even as... Al Qaeda was regrouping."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hoffman20feb20,0,7373740.story?coll=la-home-commentary

OIL LAW BENEFITS FOREIGN COMPANIES AND SPLITS IRAQ

"... This law legalizes PSAs (production sharing agreements) in Iraq. Iraq will be the only country in the middle east with such contracts privatising Iraqi oil and giving foreign companies crazy rates of profit that may reach to more than three fourth of the general revenue.... In addition to the financial aspects of this law, it can be considered the funding tool for splitting Iraq into three states. It undermines the central government and distributes oil revenues directly to the three regions, which sets the foundations for what Iraq's enemies are trying to achieve in terms of establishing three independent states."
--Raed in the Middle, February 18, 2006
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

Download sites with his translation of the Iraqi oil law:
http://www.al-ghad.org/2007/02/14/exclusive-the-official-draft-of-the-oil-and-gas-law-of-the-iraq-republic-15-jan-2007/
http://www.freefilehosting.org/pupload/view/26722

WATER SHORTAGE IN IRAQ

"Water shortage leads people to drink from rivers... Millions of Iraqis lack potable water and live with bad sewage systems, which have increased the incidence of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea... due to the ingestion of contaminated water from rivers... only 32 percent of the Iraqi population has access to clean drinking water... around 60 percent of the population in areas like Anbar governorate and suburbs of Baghdad use river water...."

"... said Sahira Saleh, 41, a resident of the Sadr City district of Baghdad.... "I wish (Saddam) could come back to life and was in power again because at least in his time we used to have safe water, good sewage systems, had food to eat and our children never got diarrhoea."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/47680f1705a41755f52cc54b99ad50ae.htm

COLLAPSE IN IRAQ FOOD SUPPLY

"The lack of security in Iraq is leading now to a collapse in food supplies... they exported food in the past... (but now) holds both the U.S.-backed Iraqi government and U.S. occupation authorities responsible for the failing food supply... (also) Changes in Iraqi import laws introduced by former administrator L. Paul Bremer dropped tariffs on import of foreign products, making it impossible for Iraqi farmers to compete. Countless Iraqi farms went bankrupt... Under the occupation, Iraqis are getting much of their food from companies in Australia and other countries who assisted the United States during the invasion and occupation (but)... This food has often been of low quality. During July 2006 the Iraqi Ministry of Trade rejected or destroyed thousands of tonnes of contaminated food or food past its expiry date. The food had caused widespread poisoning..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36630

1/3 OF IRAQIS IN POVERTY

"One-third of Iraqis are now living in poverty... with 5% in extreme poverty, a sharp deterioration since the 2003 invasion... education... not improved since the neglect of the Saddam years... half the population having unsatisfactory water supplies and more than 40% deprived of good sanitation... From a thriving middle-income economy in the 1970s and 1980s, Iraq has been reduced to a state where one-third of households live on the equivalent of less than $70 a week..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6373943.stm

IRAQ OIL OUTLOOK BLEAK

"Former Iraq Oil Minister Issam Al-Chalabi paints a bleak picture for the future of Iraq`s oil industry, panning the result of the U.S.-led war, its insistence on passing an oil law, and the situation aboveground hampering development of the resources below it... Iraq`s production in January dropped to an average 1.66 million barrels a day from nearly 1.9 million in December... and exports dropped to about 1.2 million barrels... Iraq has a capacity to produce nearly 3 million barrels per day but violence, a lack of electricity and the poor condition of the infrastructure is blamed for keeping production numbers well below the 2.6 million bpd pumped before the war...

"They can`t increase; the only way is for production to go down,' said Mohamed Zine, regional manager of the Middle East for energy analyst firm IHS.'There`s been no improvement, nothing. It`s getting worse."

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/energywatch/oilandgas/features/article_1264543.php/Ex-oil_minister_dis_on_Iraq_oil

U.S. INVASION PLAN WAS DELUSIONAL

"The US invasion plan for Iraq envisaged that only 5,000 US troops would remain in Iraq by December 2006... (because) the US military projected a stable, pro-US and democratic Iraq by that time.... "Completely unrealistic assumptions about a post-Saddam Iraq permeate these war plans... All of these were delusions", NSA executive director Thomas Blanton said..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6364507.stm

BUSH'S POSITION ON IRANIAN IEDS IN IRAQ
(He does not know whether Iran knows who is furnishing IEDs)

"... What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did...providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq. But here's my point: Either they knew or didn't know, and what matters is, is that they're there. What's worse, that the government knew or that the government didn't know?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070214-2.html

ADD 200,000 TROOPS OR WITHDRAW

"There is no argument that U.S. troops have lost the Iraqi war all over the country, and the only two solutions left are either an increase of 200,000 soldiers or a scheduled withdrawal after certain arrangements with local fighters in order to avoid casualties and tremendous chaos in the country."
--retired Iraqi general Ahmed al-Issa
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0213-06.htm

ADMINISTRATION'S "ALTERNATIVE EVIDENCE" SLAMMED BY INSPECTOR GENERAL

"... (in reference to) the Bush Administration's reams of faked intelligence about Iraq's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and nonexistent ties to Al Qaeda... Pentagon Inspector General Thomas Gimble slammed... (Douglas Feith's) Office of Special Plans for "disseminating alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and Al Qaeda relationship." Its actions, Gimble concluded, were "inappropriate," and its conclusions "were not supported by the available intelligence."

"... The phrase "not supported by the available intelligence" is merely bureaucratese for a "lie-filled pile of crap," and that's the most straightforward way to describe the intelligence product produced by the OSP, which was run directly out of the office of then-Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070226/dreyfuss

BUT SPECIAL OFFICE TO SPIN INTELLIGENCE NOT ILLEGAL

"... (the) inspector general said former Pentagon policy chief Douglas J. Feith had not engaged in illegal activities through the creation of special offices to review intelligence...."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/8/211538.shtml?s=rss

IRAQI CHILDREN BECOME BEGGARS, TURN TO DRUGS AND PROSTITUTION

"... thousands of homeless children throughout Iraq who survive by begging, stealing or scavenging in garbage for food. Only four years ago, the vast majority of these children were living at home with their families... According to the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI), the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq is the main reason for the increase in the number of street children since the occupation of the country began in 2003. The next major contributor is the increase in the number of widows countrywide..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/89512146a2ed1f7bf9133314ff56778f.htm

"... Once on the streets, children can easily fall prey to gangs involved in drugs, violence and prostitution... children are starving to death and the gangs use their desperate situation to force them into a drugs and sex world... criminal gangs offer these children drugs in exchange for sexual favours..."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/a04197b434392c97b5d1d144f6404708.htm

U.S. JOINT CHIEF SEES NO INTERFERENCE BY IRAN REGIME

"We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran. What I would not say is that the Iranian government per se knows about this. It is clear that Iranians are involved and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved. But I would not say based on what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."
--Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/16683913.htm

POWER PLANT A SYMBOL

"(The) derelict power plant (is a) symbol of Iraq woes... The steel and cement structure stretches along about 1 1/2 miles of a fertile belt by the meandering Euphrates. It is the largest building in a 100-mile radius... the Youssifiyah power plant would serve homes across a 330-square-mile stretch of Iraq. Instead, the derelict compound has served as an insurgent stronghold, and is now a makeshift base... an assessment last year by U.S. engineers says reviving the Youssifiyah project - still only 20 percent built - may be beyond the capabilities of the fledgling Iraqi government."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/16677183.htm

U.S. ALLEGATIONS EXACT OPPOSITE OF 2003

"... The allegations against Iran are similar in tone and credibility to those made four years ago by the US government about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the invasion of 2003... (But) The US stance on the military capabilities of Iraqis today is the exact opposite of its position in four years ago. Then President Bush and Tony Blair claimed that Iraqis were technically advanced enough to produce long-range missiles and to be close to producing a nuclear device. Washington is now saying that Iraqis are too backward to produce an effective roadside bomb and must seek Iranian help..."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2261526.ece

U.S. BAITING IRAN RETALIATION

"White House officials are taunting Iran into an action the United States could use as an excuse for an attack... "They intend to be as provocative as possible and make the Iranians do something (the United States) would be forced to retaliate for."
--Hillary Mann, former director for Iran and Persian Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0212-05.htm

U.S. SAYS SHIA MILITANTS USING IRANIAN IED

"The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq... is known as an “explosively formed penetrator”... being used by Shiite groups... The link... to Iran is based on... analysis of captured devices, examination of debris after attacks, and intelligence on training of Shiite militants in Iran and in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and by Hezbollah militants... Only a small fraction of the roadside bombs used in Iraq are explosively formed penetrators... (but) “It is the most effective I.E.D out there,” said Lt. Col. James Danna.... “To me it is a political weapon. There are not a lot of them out there, but every time we crack down on the Shia militias that weapon comes out. They want to keep us on our bases, keep us out of their neighborhoods..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/world/middleeast/10weapons.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=e9a9ae56cb1df98a&hp&ex=1171170000&partner=homepage

IRAN CALLS IT FABRICATED PROPAGANDA

"Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad... said any claims of Iranian military supplies should have a "court to prove the case"... Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini had called the US allegations baseless propaganda. He said Washington had a long history of fabricating evidence..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6353923.stm

IRANIAN ANTI-AIR MISSILES IN IRAQ

"... last month, two Iranian QW-1 and SA-7 missile consignments reached Iraqi insurgents allied with al Qaeda and one, radical Shiite Moqtada Sadr’s Shiite militia, the Mehdi Army... Iran’s arms industry has succeeded in replicating a quality version of the Chinese QW-1 and improved its electronics. It is 1.447 meters long and packs 16.5 kilos of explosives... Iranian markings have been erased from the equipment going into Iraq and Lebanon to suggest they were bought on the black market..."
--DEBKAfile (Israel), February 10, 2007
http://www.debka.com/index.php

BUSH THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

"If enemies of the United States had gotten together a few years ago to devise a plan to damage America and undermine its global position... they would have been hard-pressed to create a program that would be more effective than the Bush administration’s policies on these issues of war, terrorism, and global economics have... if one is an “enemy” of the U.S., then he/she would have to be heartened that Bush has pursued this agenda and would have to be elated that the war in Iraq continues today... Like a “sleeper” agent... in The Manchurian Candidate, George W. Bush, the ultimate insider, is doing more to damage America than Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Hassan Nasrallah, the Syrians, the Iranians, or any other enemy du jour, ever could."
http://hnn.us/articles/32618.html

MISTRIAL TO AVOID DISCUSSION OF LEGALITY OF IRAQ WAR

"The ... court-martial of Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada for refusing to deploy to Iraq ended in a mistrial... (Watada) contended that his Army oath required him not to follow what he called an "illegal order" to deploy... he felt his failure to deploy had been justified by the war's alleged illegality... The mistrial occured because the military did not want to discuss the reasons for his... failure to deploy...."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16656258.htm

"ALTERNATIVE" INTELLIGENCE USED TO START IRAQ WAR

"A special unit run by former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's top policy aide (Douglas Feith ) inappropriately produced "alternative" intelligence reports that wrongly concluded that Saddam Hussein's regime had cooperated with al-Qaida... Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who requested the investigation, called the findings "devastating" because senior administration officials, particularly Vice President Dick Cheney, used Feith's work to help make their case for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16656258.htm

IRAQ A TRAINING GROUND FOR EUROPEAN TERRORISTS

"... (the) biggest worry is residents who've attached themselves to Islamic jihadism, and have gone to Iraq to learn more about how to run an insurgency... as many as 100 who have left for Iraq... They're particularly dangerous because not only will they bring back know-how but they'll also have hero status to young recruits..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16645727.htm

U.S. CREATES MILLIONS OF IRAQI REFUGEES, HAS ACCEPTED ONLY 202

"One out of every seven Iraqis has fled his or her home or sought refuge abroad, the largest movement of people in the Middle East since the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948... Every day, violence displaces an estimated 1,300 more Iraqis in the country; every month, at least 40,000... the number of internally displaced in Iraq could grow to about 2.7 million by year's end. .. U.S. officials sidestepped the question of whether Washington bears special responsibility for Iraqis fleeing the violence.... Last year, 202 refugees from Iraq were allowed to resettle in the United States..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16646194.htm

U.S. POLICY HELPED CAUSE IRAQ CIVIL WAR

"The supreme irony of President George W. Bush's campaign to blame Iran for the sectarian civil war in Iraq, as well as attacks on U.S. forces, is that the Shiite militias who started to drive the Sunnis out of the Baghdad area in 2004 and thus precipitated the present sectarian crisis did so with the support of both Iran and the neoconservative U.S. war planners... Throughout 2004 and the first half of 2005, the Shiite militias took advantage of the supportive policy of the United States to consolidate their power in Baghdad and began terrorising Sunni communities.... Only in October 2005... did the U.S. Embassy began to oppose the Shiite effort to force Sunnis out of the capital. By then it was far too late. The genie of sectarian civil war could not be put back in the bottle."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36461

DID U.S. HAVE IRANIAN BANKER KIDNAPPED AS PROVOCATION?

"Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan... to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital... Mr. Qumi said the bank was just the first of what he said would be several in Iraq — an agricultural bank and three private banks also intend to open branches.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/world/middleeast/29iranians.html?ex=1186290000&en=cc2417c3386132ad&ei=5087&excamp=mkt_at10

"Iran blamed America for the "terrorist" kidnapping of a Iranian diplomat in Baghdad... on his way to the new Baghdad branch of the Iranian state-owned Bank Melli... he was ordered out of his car by... members of the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion, a special military unit that works closely with US forces in the capital and drove American vehicles.... a US military spokesman rejected the charge today."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1340201.ece

CIVILIANS BALKING AT IRAQ SERVICE

"... The State Department... has been ordered to expand the provincial reconstruction teams in Baghdad and western Anbar Province... But... taking those jobs... outside the relative safety of the Green Zone — is widely seen as an unattractive career option..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/washington/07military.html?hp&ex=1170910800&en=1d3f6d16b7e72d5c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

"... the White House is calling for more American civilians to head... to... hostile regions — including Iraq’s volatile Anbar Province — to try to establish democratic institutions and help in reconstruction... Many federal employees have outright refused repeated requests that they go to Iraq, while others have demanded that they be assigned only to Baghdad and not be sent outside the more secure Green Zone, which includes the American Embassy and Iraqi government ministries..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/washington/08diplo.html?hp&ex=1170997200&en=db538b61415b19f1&ei=5094&partner=homepage

$5 BILLION CASH SPENDING SPREE, TOTAL OF $9 BILLION DISAPPEARED

"The Bush administration went on a $5 billion spending spree in Iraq in 2004... Huge sums were doled out... from the back of pick-up trucks... in a 13-month period, the US government had shipped 360 tons of cash to Iraq... One official from the provisional authority described an environment awash with $100 bills.“One contractor received a $2 million payment in a duffel bag stuffed with shrink-wrapped bundles of currency”... the lack of accountability raised questions about whether the “cash shipped into the Green Zone ended up in enemy hands”.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/77c172ce-b610-11db-9eea-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=4e612cca-6707-11da-a650-0000779e2340.html

"... In his first appearance before the Democratic-controlled Congress, Bremer admitted there had been problems.... an official audit that in January 2005 revealed the "disappearance" of some $9 billion dollars under his responsibility in Iraq..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070206/pl_afp/usiraqpoliticsbremer;_ylt=A0SOwmccDclF3OoAQACyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

Posted here 6/22/05
363 TONS OF CASH SENT TO IRAQ ($12 BILLION)
"It weighed 28 tons and took up as much room as 74 washing machines. It was $2.4 billion in $100 bills, and Baghdad needed it ASAP... Republicans and Democrats appeared taken aback by the volume of cash sent to Iraq: nearly $12 billion over the course of the U.S. occupation from March 2003 to June 2004... The cash — a total of 363 tons, generated mostly from oil revenues — was Iraqi funds that had been held in trust by the Federal Reserve under the terms of a United Nations resolution. The June 2004 money transfer was needed to run the country as the interim Iraqi government took over from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority... Disclosure of the frantic transfer in the final days of U.S. control over Iraq came during a daylong hearing Tuesday that indicated growing worry from Congress over U.S. oversight of spending in Iraq..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-cash22jun22,1,1759535,print.story?coll=la-news-a_section

Posted here 4/02/05
$10 BILLION IN CASH FLOWN TO BAGHDAD FOR CPA TO SPEND
"... Two former employees are suing Custer Battles, saying the firm fleeced the CPA out of about $50 million... Custer Battles has argued that it cannot be sued in the U.S. for actions involving the use of seized Iraqi funds... The Justice Department... (said) the U.S. law applied because U.S. officials were handing out the money. The Justice Department (gave) details of how the United States moved money to Baghdad to fund the fledgling Iraqi government and pay contractors. A dozen U.S. military flights carried about $10.3 billion in cash to Baghdad during the time the CPA was governing Iraq, the brief said. That currency was deposited in the Central Bank of Iraq..."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/01/national/w145318S75.DT

Posted here 2/15/05
CPA WASTED MILLIONS
"... Millions of dollars were wasted by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that ran Iraq... Huge cash payments were made to Iraqi contractors out of the back of pick-up trucks, in scenes reminiscent of the "Wild West"... The allegations were made... (by) former CPA official Franklin Willis... at a Senate hearing into the authority's practices... The allegations follow a report by the inspector general which said the CPA had transferred nearly $9 billion to the interim Iraqi government without any controls."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4266231.stm

U.S. DEALING WITH NON-REPRESENTATIVE IRAQI LEADERS

Political map of Iraqi Parliament:
http://www.freefilehosting.org/pupload/view/24999

"The Iraqi parliament is split, and all the leaders the bush administration is trying to promote as “The Leaders of Iraq” (i.e. Hakim, Maliki, Hashimi) do not represent anything more than a small parliamentarian minority. Urge your congress member to try to contact representatives of the majority instead of turning the U.S. army into another militia playing in the hands of the minority to bomb the hell out of everyone else."
--Raed Jarrar, Director, the Iraqi Project of the human rights group Global Exchange, Tuesday 30 Jan 2007.
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

NEW OIL LAW IS BAD FOR IRAQ

"... the US government representative to those talks threatened that any future economic assistance to Iraq would be conditional on economic reforms - the priority among which was the passing of an acceptable oil law."
http://carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=218&parent=39

"... leaders of Iraq’s five trade union federations – between them representing hundreds of thousands of workers – called for a fundamental rethink of the forthcoming oil law, which is designed to allow foreign investment in the oil sector."
http://carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=223&parent=39

"Remember: the law is bad and it’ll increase violence for two major reasons:
1- 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.
2- Distributing oil revenue to the regions without any central control will split Iraq into three states."
--Raed Jarrar, Director, the Iraqi Project of the human rights group Global Exchange, Tuesday 30 Jan 2007.
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

TWO LIKELY CONSEQUENCES OF IRAQ INVASION

"... intelligence analysts and experts are beginning to broach these realities with our political leadership. You can find hints of it... between the lines of the Iraq Study Group's report:

"... within 10 years and more likely within five years, U.S. forces will be back in the Middle East, fighting in numbers so large that only a draft will generate the necessary manpower. If that prediction proves accurate, we will remember Iraq as the rather tame prelude to the much larger and bloodier war that followed.

"... Within the next 10 years, and more likely within five, the chaos touched off by our invasion of Iraq will choke off the flow of oil from the Middle East, which has roughly 57 percent of the world's proven reserves. Such an event will have global economic and political repercussions that we can only imagine, perhaps touching off wars."

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/opinion/stories/2007/02/05/edbookman0205.html

BUSH TROOP SURGE USELESS

"... Soldiers interviewed across east Baghdad, home to more than half the city's 8 million people, said the violence is so out of control that while a surge of 21,500 more American troops may momentarily suppress it, the notion that U.S. forces can bring lasting security to Iraq is misguided.... Almost every foot soldier interviewed during a week of patrols on the streets and alleys of east Baghdad said that Bush's plan would halt the bloodshed only temporarily. The soldiers cited a variety of reasons, including incompetence or corruption among Iraqi troops, the complexities of Iraq's sectarian violence and the lack of Iraqi public support, a cornerstone of counterinsurgency warfare..."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/16616389.htm

IRAQ WAR A CALAMITY LEADING TO COLLISION WITH ISLAMIC WORLD

"Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. national security adviser, told Congress the war in Iraq was a calamity and was likely to lead to "a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large"... Brzezinski skewered Bush administration policy as driven by "imperial hubris" and as a disaster on historic, strategic and moral grounds....

"He set out as a plausible scenario for military collision: Iraq fails to meet benchmarks set by the administration, followed by accusations Iran is responsible for the failure, then a terrorist act or some provocation blamed on Iran, and culminating in so-called defensive U.S. military action against Iran. That, Brzezinski said, would plunge the United States into a spreading quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16934081/

IRAQ AND IRAN

The Bush Admimistration appears to be trying to use its problems in Iraq to justify military action against Iran. Since October the U.S. has built up an armada of several carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf for such a contingency. See the companion blog "Iran in the News" at:
http://webtraveler2.blogspot.com