FALLUJAH HEALTH CRISIS STIFLED BY WEST

"...  stomach-turning collection of pictures of babies born with scaly skin, missing and deformed limbs, and horrifying tumors. ... in addition to shocking increases in pediatric cancers, there had also been an 18% reduction in male births. Such a finding is a well-known indication of genetic damage... One weapon system that may use uranium, in some form or another, is the SMAW-NE (Shoulder-fired Multipurpose Assault Weapon – Novel Explosive)... there is a potential connection between this weapons system and the health crisis in Fallujah – and this connection needs to be investigated...  More studies need to be done to figure out what is harming those poor children... But first, we must find a way to overcome the stifling silence of governments."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/25/fallujah-iraq-health-crisis-silence

TOXIC RESIDUES CAUSING BIRTH DEFECTS IN FALLUJAH

"New study links heavy bombing of Falluja...  to staggering rise... in miscarriages and birth defects including Anencephaly and Spina Bifida in the years following heavy bombardment of 2003 and 2004...  the study found elevated levels of mercury and lead -- an integral part of war ammunition and are extensively used in the making of bullets and bombs... in the children... there is a "footprint of metal in the population" and...  "compelling evidence linking the staggering increases in Iraqi birth defects to neuro-toxic metal contamination following the repeated bombardments"... there's a fivefold increase in Fallujah..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/10/14-0

AL QAEDA TRAINING IN IRAQ, DOUBLED IN SIZE

"... the extremist group has set up training camps for insurgents in the nation's western deserts, seizing on regional instability and government security failures... Iraq has seen a jump in al Qaeda attacks over the last 10 weeks... the insurgent group has more than doubled in numbers from a year ago to about 2,500 fighters..."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57529084/al-qaeda-in-iraq-is-rebuilding-officials-say/

RUSSIA IRAQ'S SECOND LARGEST ARMS SUPPLIER

"Iraq has signed contracts to buy Russian arms worth $4.2bn this year... thus becomes the country's second-biggest arms supplier after the US... Thirty Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems are said to be among items being sold.Further discussions are said to be under way for Iraq eventually to buy MiG-29 jets, heavy armoured vehicles and other weaponry..."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19881858>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19881858

U.S. IDENTIFIES IRANIAN AIRCRAFT SUPPLYING SYRIA

"The Obama administration has identified 117 Iranian aircraft it says are ferrying weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime... the planes operated by Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air are delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of “humanitarian” shipments. The airlines are already subject to U.S. sanctions: Americans cannot do business with them and any assets they have in the U.S. are frozen. But it is now listing planes individually, partly to pressure Iraq to crack down on Iranian weapons shipments to Syria via Iraqi airspace."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-identifies-117-iranian-aircraft-it-says-are-involved-in-arming-syrias-assad-regime/2012/09/19/db4a5d16-0280-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_story.html

BIRTH DEFECTS IN FALLUJAH FROM U.S. WEAPONS

"... The city of Fallujah remains under siege... from a deluge of birth defects that have plagued families since the use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus by U.S. forces in 2004. No government studies have provided a direct link to the use of these weapons because no government studies have been undertaken, and none are contemplated. Dr. Samira Alani, a pediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, told Al Jazeera,"We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine. There are not even medical terms to describe some of these conditions because we've never seen them until now."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/11

IRAQ HELPING IRAN SUPPLY ARMS TO SYRIA

"Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace... to the frustration of American officials... the flights have enabled Iran to provide supplies to the Syrian government despite the efforts Syrian rebels have made to seize several border crossings where Iranian aid has been trucked in... Iraq could take several steps to stop the flights, including insisting that cargo planes that depart from Iran en route to Syria land for inspection in Baghdad or declaring outright that Iraq’s airspace cannot be used for the flights..."
"The Iranians have even provided a cargo plane that the Syrian military can use to ferry men and supplies around the country... (and) Iraqi Shiite militia fighters... are now making their way to Syria to help the Assad government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/world/middleeast/iran-supplying-syrian-military-via-iraq-airspace.html?_r=2

U.S. TO DOWNSIZE HUGE EMBASSY

"The United States is looking to cut the size of its embassy in Iraq... the $750m embassy, which sits inside the heavily-fortified Green Zone... (has a) huge diplomatic operation, which reportedly costs $6bn a year... the objective was to reduce the cost of the embassy, which employs about 2,000 diplomats and 14,000 contractors...

"... the US was preparing to cut the number of staff by up to a half... with many complaining an inability to leave the embassy because of security concerns and Iraqi obstructionism... The Iraqi authorities have reportedly made it difficult for supplies to be delivered to the embassy compound and for diplomats to get visas, and have launched a crackdown on security contractors protecting diplomats...

"(In comparison) The embassy of Turkey - Iraq's largest trading partner - is believed to employ only about 55 people, only a handful of whom are diplomats."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-middle-east-16946414

IRAQ DEBACLE

"It was to be the war that would establish empire as an American fact. It would result in a thousand-year Pax Americana. It was to be “mission accomplished” all the way. And then, of course, it wasn’t. And then, almost nine dismal years later, it was over... when the Iraqis simply refused to guarantee (US) troops immunity from local law...

"...(but) Iraq was descending into a new sectarian hell, fueled by an American-built but largely Shiite military, in a land in which oil revenues barely exceeded the levels of the Saddam Hussein era, in a capital city which still had only a few hours of electricity a day, and that was promptly hit by a string of bombings and suicide attacks from an al-Qaeda affiliated group (nonexistent before the invasion of 2003), even as the influence of Iran grew and Washington quietly fretted..."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175484/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_lessons_from_lost_wars_in_2012/