DEFECTOR ADMITS TO WMD LIES THAT STARTED WAR

"... As Curveball watched Powell make the US case to invade Iraq, he was hiding an admission that he has not made until now: that nearly every word he had told his interrogators from Germany's secret service, the BND, was a lie. Everything he had said about the inner workings of Saddam Hussein's biological weapons programme was a flight of fantasy - one that, he now claims was aimed at ousting the Iraqi dictator... Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi – codenamed Curveball by the CIA – explains why he lied about Saddam's chemical weapons capability:
Video at -- http://gu.com/p/2mqcb

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/curveball-iraqi-fantasist-cia-saddam
and
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iraq_curveball

IRAQI SOLDIER KILLS 2 U.S. TROOPS

"Two U.S. troops were killed Saturday by an Iraqi soldier who apparently smuggled real bullets into a training exercise and opened fire, raising fresh concerns about insurgents worming into the nation's security forces as the Americans prepare to leave by the year's end... The Mosul attack underscores the threats that U.S. forces continue to face in Iraq even though most of the estimated 47,000 troops no longer go on regular combat missions. The vast majority of American troops left – down from nearly 170,000 in 2007 – are all but confined to bases where they help train Iraqi police, soldiers and pilots..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/15/us-soldiers-shot-dead-by-_n_809486.html

U.S. WILL HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IRAQ WAR

"... After one trillion dollars and 5,000 casualties, America will leave Iraq with nothing to show for its Quixotic commitment to build a nation in the Mesopotamian sand... The pro-Iranian government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will eliminate America's role in Iraq after America's scheduled withdrawal..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LL23Ak04.html

SINCE U.S. INVASION, HALF OF CHRISTIANS HAVE FLED IRAQ

"A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to northern Iraq or abroad amid a campaign of violence against them and growing fear that the country’s security forces are unable or, more ominously, unwilling to protect them... It threatens to reduce further what Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian Church of the East called “a community whose roots were in Iraq even before Christ.”... More than half of Iraq’s Christian community, estimated to number 800,000 to 1.4 million before the American-led invasion in 2003, have already left the country... The message is very clear: to pluck Iraqi Christians from the roots and force them out of the country..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html?_r=2

U.S. STRATEGY WAS TO DEPLOY SHIA TO TORTURE SUNNI DETAINEES
Led to rise of al Qaeda influence

"... a U.S. military order directing U.S. forces not to investigate cases of torture of detainees by Iraqis... was part of a larger U.S. strategy of exploiting Shi'a sectarian hatred against Sunnis to help suppress the Sunni insurgency when Sunnis had rejected the U.S. war. And Gen. David Petraeus was a key figure in developing the strategy of using Shi'a and Kurdish forces to suppress Sunnis in 2004-2005. The strategy involved the deliberate deployment of Shi'a and Kurdish police commandoes in areas of Sunni insurgency in the full knowledge that they were torturing Sunni detainees...

"That strategy inflamed Sunni fears of Shi'a rule and was a major contributing factor to the rise of al Qaeda's influence in the Sunni areas..."

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53426

SUNNI TRIBES REJOINING AL-QAEDA

"Members of United States-allied Awakening Councils have quit or been dismissed from their positions in significant numbers... many of whom have gained extensive knowledge about the American military — appear to have rejoined Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. ... (and) many of the Awakening fighters still on the Iraqi government payroll, possibly thousands of them, covertly aid the insurgency... (due to) the group’s marginalization by the government and its abandonment by the American military.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/world/middleeast/17awakening.html?_r=1

THE LEGACY OF FALLUJAH

"Antietam, Okinawa and Mutla Ridge earned their infamy because they were areas of brutal fighting and unprecedented carnage.
When historians assess the Iraq war from the far side of time, the city that will fall into the latter category will be Fallujah. The name itself became a symbol... making the place a byword for war as the most brutal of blood sports... There has been too much violence... too many dead for Fallujis to ever trust the Americans... there is no chance Fallujis could bestow forgiveness for the blood and destruction wrought by American hands..."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2024180,00.html

U.S. TRANSFERS PRISONERS TO ABUSIVE IRAQI REGIME

"The U.S. transfer of Iraqi detainees to national authorities with a long record of human rights abuses could prove illegal under international law... Recently transferred detainees face new dangers in Iraqi custody... (in a) secret Baghdad detention facility that practiced "systematic and routine torture". Of the 300 men transferred to the Al Rusafa Detention Centre from the secret facility in the Old Muthanna airport... (there was) physical evidence like scars, prisoners were hung upside-down, deprived of air, kicked, whipped, beaten, given electric shocks, and sodomised. Despite... the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, some Iraqis say they would prefer U.S. detention to national prison..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52831

IRAQI SOLDIER KILLS 2 U.S. TROOPS, WOUNDS 9

"Two U.S. service members were killed and nine others were wounded when a Kurdish Iraqi soldier sprayed them with gunfire at an Iraqi army commando base..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090706766.html

OBAMA DROPS PLEDGE TO WITHDRAW COMBAT TROOPS FROM IRAQ

"Seventeen months after President Barack Obama pledged to withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq by Sep. 1, 2010, he quietly abandoned that pledge Monday, admitting implicitly that such combat brigades would remain until the end of 2011... a "senior administration official" acknowledged that the 50,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq beyond the deadline will have the same combat capabilities as the combat brigades that have been withdrawn..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52366

ELECTRIC GRID FAILS IRAQIS


"... thickets of wires as dense as a jungle canopy have become as much a part of Iraq’s cityscapes as blast walls and checkpoints..."

"... the state of electricity has been one of the most closely watched benchmarks of Iraq’s progress, and of the American effort to transform a dictatorship into a democracy... Yet Baghdad, the capital, had five hours of electricity a day in July... Before Mr. Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait 20 years ago this month, Iraq had the capacity to produce 9,295 megawatts of power. By 2003, after American bombings and years of international sanctions, it was half that... Iraq does generate more electricity than it did in 2003, but nowhere near enough to match rising demand... Iraq’s electrical grid remains a patchwork of old power plants and new, supplemented with makeshift and inadequate solutions. Iraq now imports 700 megawatts from Iran..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/world/middleeast/02electricity.html?_r=2&pagewanted=2&hp

U.S. CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR HOW IT SPENT $2.6 BILLION OF IRAQI FUNDS

"... the Department of Defense cannot account for how it spent $2.6 billion that belonged to the Iraqi government... An audit of a $9.1 billion fund of Iraqi oil proceeds showed that most American military agencies entrusted with spending the money on reconstruction projects failed to adhere to U.S. rules on how such money must be tracked and spent... (Previously) The inspector general in 2005 criticized the CPA's management of an $8.8 billion fund that belonged to the Iraqi government. A criminal probe conducted by the inspector general then led to the conviction of eight U.S. officials on bribery, fraud and money-laundering charges..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072605535.html?hpid=topnews

TOXIC LEGACY IN FALLUJAH WORSE THAN HIROSHIMA
U.S. assaulted city in 2004 using depleted uranium and white phosphorous

"Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945... a four-fold increase in all cancers and a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s... a 38-fold increase in leukaemia, a ten-fold increase in female breast cancer and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults. Infant mortality in the city is more than four times higher than in neighbouring Jordan and eight times higher than in Kuwait... overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html

TIMES SQUARE BOMBER PLEADS GUILTY 100 TIMES

"... He said he wanted "to plead guilty and 100 times more" to let the U.S. know that if it did not get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, halt drone attacks and stop meddling in Muslim lands, "we will be attacking U.S."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_times_square_car_bomb

IRAQ ELECTION CHAOS: CANDIDATES DISQUALIFIED
May affect US withdrawal

"Iraq's election results have been thrown into further doubt after 52 candidates were disqualified... The US (is) concerned that the inconclusive result and power vacuum will hold up the withdrawal of its remaining combat forces... The US is expected to withdraw its remaining troops by the end of 2011 under the terms of a status of forces agreement signed by George Bush before he left the presidency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/26/iraq-election-candidates-disqualified

MALIKI HAS TORTURE PRISON FOR SUNNIS
Threat to forming a viable government

"Hundreds of Sunni men disappeared for months into a secret Baghdad prison under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's military office, where many were routinely tortured... the 431 prisoners had been subjected to appalling conditions... one of them, a former colonel in President Saddam Hussein's army, had died in January as a result of torture... "More than 100 were tortured. There were a lot of marks on their bodies. They beat people, they used electricity. They suffocated them with plastic bags, and different methods... they were handcuffed for three to four hours at a time in stress positions or sodomized".... (the revelation) would likely compromise the prime minister's ability to put together a viable government coalition.."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-prison19-2010apr19,0,5706408.story

VIDEO GAME: KILLING CIVILIANS



"... US air crew falsely claiming to have encountered a firefight in Baghdad and then laughing at the dead after launching an air strike that killed a dozen people... Among the dead were a 22-year-old Reuters photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40. When Saeed is crawling, clearly unable to do anything, their response is: come on buddy, we want to kill you, just pick up a weapon ... It appears to be a desire to get a higher score, or a higher number of kills...."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attack

OF 800 CLAIMS FOR KILLED CIVILIANS, MANY NOT PAID

"More than 800 complaints have been filed by families of civilians killed in US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan... many of the claims were denied under the "combat exemption" clause to the Foreign Claims Act (FCA), "which provides that harm inflicted on residents of foreign countries by US soldiers during combat cannot be compensated under the FCA, even if the victims had no involvement whatsoever in the combat"... Due to the claim denials, many innocent civilians were not compensated for their harm or were referred to the Commander's Emergency Response Program for a discretionary condolence payment that is subject to an automatic 2,500-dollar limit per death..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100402/twl-us-iraq-afghanistan-unrest-lawsuit-7e07afd.html

IRAQI WOMEN'S RIGHTS LOST

"Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do. Now they have Article 2 of the Constitution: "Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation." Sub-head A says "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam." Under this Article the interpretation of women's rights is left to religious leaders... The U.S. occupation has decided to let go of women's rights... women lost their right to learn and their right to a free and normal life..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50642

DEBATE OVER DEFINITION OF TERRORISM

"... confusion and doubt arose (after Joseph Stack's airplane attack on an IRS building) over whether a person who perpetrated a classic act of Terrorism should, in fact, be called a Terrorist: he's not a Muslim and isn't acting on behalf of standard Muslim grievances against the U.S. or Israel, and thus does not fit the "definition." It has really come to mean: "a Muslim who fights against or even expresses hostility towards the United States, Israel and their allies."
If an American Muslim argues that violence against the U.S. (particularly when aimed at military targets) is justified due to American violence aimed at the Muslim world, that person is a Terrorist who deserves assassination... if the U.S. military invades a Muslim country, Muslims who live in the invaded and occupied country and who fight back against the invading American army -- by attacking nothing but military targets -- are also Terrorists.... (And) large numbers of detainees at Guantanamo were accused of being Terrorists for nothing more than attacking members of an invading foreign army in their country..."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/19/terrorism/index.html

"... Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm specializing in international risk management, said the rhetoric in Stack's rant clearly matches the USA Patriot Act's definition of terrorism: a criminal act that is intended to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping..."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/plane-attack-prompts-debate-over-terrorism-label-558975.html

U.S. TO TRIPLE DRONES

"The U.S. military plans to more than triple its inventory of high-altitude, armed and unarmed drones... The long-range aviation plan... calls for 800 high-altitude drones, up from 220 currently... The U.S. military currently flies about 39 combat-air patrols for 24 hours each over Iraq and Afghanistan... The Pentagon has said it would increase the patrols to 50 a day in the next two years and 65 by 2013... We can’t get enough drones,” (said) General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, which includes the Afghanistan and Iraq war theaters..."
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-05/pentagon-to-increase-stock-of-high-altitude-drones-update1-.html

MALIKI GOT BUSH OUT OF IRAQ

"Maliki leveraged the Bush administration into signing a status of forces agreement (SOFA) in 2008 that included a full U.S. military withdrawal by the end of 2011. Maliki even demanded -- and received -- a promise to vacate the five massive “enduring” military bases the Pentagon had constructed -- with their elaborate facilities, populations that reach into the tens of thousands..."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175199/tomgram%3A_michael_schwartz%2C_will_iraq%27s_oil_ever_flow___/#more

DUTCH PANEL RULES THAT IRAQ WAR WAS ILLEGAL

"The war in Iraq had "no basis in international law", a Dutch inquiry found... a seven-member panel in the Netherlands concluded that the war, which was supported by the Dutch government following intelligence from Britain and the US, had not been justified in law..."
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/12/iraq-war-illegal-dutch-tribunal

"... There are only two conditions under which war may be launched according to the United Nations Charter, which most countries have signed. One is self-defense. Iraq did not attack the US in 2003. The other is if the UN Security Council authorizes a war, as with the Gulf War where collective security was invoked to push back the aggression on Kuwait..."
http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/iraq-war-was-illegal-dutch-panel-rules.html

DUTCH PROBE FINDS IRAQ INVASION ILLEGITIMATE

"The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq lacked legitimacy under international law, an independent commission probing Dutch political support for the still controversial war said... it said the Netherlands had wrongly interpreted UN Security Council resolution 1441, which gave Iraq a final chance to disarm, as authorising individual member states to use military force against that country..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100112/wl_mideast_afp/netherlandsiraqpoliticsusprobe3rdlead_20100112163834

DEPLETED URANIUM BOMBS CAUSING CANCER EPIDEMIC

"... The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer. Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment... In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004, as many as 25% of new- born infants have serious abnormalities, including congenital anomalies, brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord... The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009... In Basra there were 1885 diagnosed cases of cancer in 2005.... the number increased to 2,302 in 2006 and 3,071 in 2007... about 1,250-1,500 patients visit the Oncology Center every month now... Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in U.S. and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not unconnected. ... the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates... The water, soil and air in large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years..."

"There are also similar patterns of birth defects among... Afghan infants who were also born in areas that were subjected to depleted uranium bombardment... in infants in eastern and south- eastern Afghanistan... Many children are born with no eyes, no limbs, or tumors protruding from their mouths and eyes..."

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=80e260b3839daf2084fdeb0965ad31ab

IRAQ PURSUING ANY BLACKWATER EMPLOYEES LEFT IN IRAQ

"... Iraq said Friday it will file suit against five Blackwater security guards cleared of manslaughter charges in the 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians, an act a government official called murder... Investigations carried out by specialized Iraqi authorities unequivocally found that the Blackwater guards committed murder... The Iraqi government is actively pursuing any former Blackwater personnel still working in the country... "
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/03/iraq.blackwater/

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

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

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

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

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

BUSH "HELL-BENT" ON INVADING IRAQ

"U.S. leaders were "hell-bent" on invading Iraq in 2003, and President Bush had no real interest in getting U.N. approval for it, according to Jeremy Greenstock, the British U.N. ambassador from 1998 to 2003. Greenstock testified to a U.K. inquiry.
He said that serious preparations for the invasion began in early 2002, nearly a year before the war began, and that Bush and his inner circle paid little attention to U.S. allies' requests to take more time to find evidence of Iraqi WMDs.
Greenstock said the war was... of "questionable legitimacy" adding that he, like former British ambassador to the U.S. Christopher Meyer, believes Bush and Tony Blair met in Crawford, Texas to "sign in blood" a secret agreement to invade Iraq..."
http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=81878

"The United States was "hell bent" on a 2003 military invasion of Iraq and actively undermined efforts by Britain to win international authorization for the war... serious preparations for the war had begun in early 2002 and took on an unstoppable momentum... As diplomats frantically attempted in early 2003 to agree upon a U.N. resolution approving a military offensive, Bush's key aides grew impatient — criticizing the process as an unnecessary distraction... Several nations had hoped to stall the invasion of Iraq to allow U.N. weapons inspectors more time to search for evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — the key justification for the war. No such weapons were ever found..."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3md2ReGxE9CkpczxPehN4pM-z7gD9C7VRD01

U.S. ASCRIBES BAATH VIOLENCE TO AL QAEDA

"The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki... aired the confessions of three men, members of the Baath Party, that it captured after the October 25 bombings that killed 125 persons and destroyed several government buildings.. US politicians and military men seem reluctant to acknowledge the underground Baath Party as a source of some of Iraq's continued violence, choosing instead to attribute virtually all major violence to "al-Qaeda," by which they appear to mean the Islamic State of Iraq or similar Salafi organizations not in fact directly connected to Usama Bin Laden. This discourse seems to me to have elements of propaganda in it, and began with Bush's and Cheney's attempts to link their war on Iraq with 9/11..."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/11/iraq-accuses-baathists-election-law.html

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ REGAINING STRENGTH

"The Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has rebounded in strength in recent months and appears to be launching a concerted effort to cripple the Iraqi government as U.S. troops withdraw... al-Qaeda in Iraq intends to carry out additional high-profile attacks in the months ahead and is attempting to regain its foothold in former strongholds just outside the capital... it stands to gain from a deeply split political establishment, growing Sunni resentment toward the Shiite-led government, disjointed Iraqi security agencies and the diminishing ability of U.S. forces to engage in combat operations in Iraq..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/21/AR2009112102009.html?wprss=rss_world&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wp-dyn%2Frss%2Fworld%2Findex_xml+(washingtonpost.com+-+World)

UNPRECEDENTED BIRTH DEFECTS IN FALLUJAH

"Doctors are calling for an investigation into an unprecedented number of birth defects in Fallujah, Iraq... The war-ravaged population center has seen an increase of up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants since pre-war levels... Most are in the head and spinal cord, but there are also many deficiencies in lower limbs. There is also a very marked increase in the number of cases of less than two years with brain tumors. This is now a focus area of multiple tumors... The Raw Story reporter mentions white phosphorus bombs as a possibility also, but my money is on depleted uranium, or maybe the combination of both..."
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/11/15/91532/126

TYCOON SAYS U.S. ENTITLED TO IRAQI OIL

"Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are "entitled" to some of Iraq's crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the U.S. taxpayer money spent in Iraq.

Boone, speaking to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, complained that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq's vast reserves while American companies have mostly been shut out.

"They're opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world ... We're entitled to it," Pickens said of Iraq's oil. "Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars. We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," Pickens said..."

http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN2149238420091021

TROOPS TAKING SALSA AND YOGA CLASSES IN IRAQ

"As the economy sputters along, trying in vein to shake off the worst recession in history and America taxpayers are forking out $12 billion dollars a month to keep 117,000 combat troops stationed in Iraq, it comes as a disturbing surprise to learn many of the troops spend their time in Iraq taking salsa dancing, yoga and martial-arts classes... there appears to be no security justification for keeping 117,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq at least another year."
http://open.salon.com/blog/christopher_di_spirito/2009/10/21/us_troops_in_iraq_bored_taking_salsa_and_yoga_classes

"... many of the 117,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq say they now have more idle time... in places such as this large military base in southern Iraq... (there are) book clubs, karaoke nights, sports and distance-learning university programs..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-10-20-idle-troops-iraq_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

30,000 SINGLE MOTHERS DEPLOYED

"More than 30,000 single mothers have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army, the most heavily deployed branch of the military, gives women just four months to stay stateside with their newborns before deploying to the war zone, leaving them little time to bond with or nurse their infants. The divorce rate for female soldiers is nearly triple that of the men who wear the same uniform..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-glantz/report-30000-single-mothe_b_322185.html

IRAQ STANDS WITH IRAN AGAINST U.S. SANCTIONS

"Iraq's president said new sanctions against Iran won't work and warned Saturday that Iraq will never allow Israel or any other country to use its airspace to carry out an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities... President Jalal Talabani (said) "I think the Iranian leadership explained that the bomb is against Islam because it's killing innocent people," he said. "So they said openly that they are not for having the bomb but only the use of technology."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090926/ap_on_re_us/us_us_iraq_2

CONSERVATIVE GEORGE WILL: GET OUT OF IRAQ

"... If, in spite of contrary evidence, the U.S. surge permanently dampened sectarian violence, all U.S. forces can come home sooner than the end of 2011. If, however, the surge did not so succeed, U.S. forces must come home sooner."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/03/AR2009090301866_pf.html

"Will's main arguments are:
1. The past 6 1/2 years in Iraq has produced 4,327 American dead and 31,483 wounded
2. The US military is exhausted and needs a break
3. Afghanistan is spiralling down
4. It is a poor use of US troops to deploy them for a) nation-building or b) baby-sitting and correcting other peoples' politicians
5. The Iraqi government is an ingrate and makes no secret of its belief that it does not need US troops
6. It may be true that Iran will inherit Iraq as a client if the US leaves, but this outcome is unavoidable and cannot be forestalled by a longer US stay
7. An extension of the US presence in Iraq will not succeed in ensuring Iraqi democracy, which is fragile and may not survive regardless of what the US does
8. A longer US stay cannot prevent Iraq from falling back into civil war
9. Either the surge succeeded or it did not. If it did, then Iraq is secure and the US isn't needed. If it did not, then no further surge is likely to, either."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/great-withdrawer-george-will-repudiates.html

DIFFICULT LOGISTICS OF WITHDRAWAL

"... the biggest logistical challenge since the Vietnam War... how to transfer out... mountains of equipment along with 143,000 troops and a similar number of civilians, amid the continuing threat of roadside bombs, ambushes, and suicide attacks from insurgents and terrorists... A recent internal Army report laid out the sheer enormity of the task: 31 million items must be moved, including 100,000 pieces of "rolling stock,'' 120,000 containers, 34,000 tons of ammunition, and 618 aircraft. The job will require an estimated 240,000 truckloads, which translates to 8,000 convoys. Much of that material will contribute to 119 shiploads. Nearly 300,000 American personnel, military and civilian, will withdraw, and 350 bases large and small across the country will be shuttered or handed over to Iraqi forces... (a) major task will be to keep track of everything in transit - a notorious failure after the 1991 Persian Gulf War when the Pentagon had thousands of containers sitting in Kuwait but had no idea what was in them."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/07/28-6

DECLINE OF IRAQ AGRICULTURE

"Once world's bread basket, Iraq now a farming basket case... the twin disasters of war and sanctions... have transformed the country from one of the world's premier sources of aromatic rice and nearly 500 kinds of dates 30 years ago into a net importer of food..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/72051.html

AS WE PULL BACK FROM IRAQ

"... As we pull back... more than six years after the US invasion, Iraq is shattered. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead -- far more, incidentally, than even the largest estimates of the number of Iraqis who died during 35 years of Saddam Hussein's rule -- its social fabric is utterly destroyed, its economy is in ruins, and its dominant political faction is in hock to neighboring Iran.... Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki... is taking on the trappings of a dictator... and has close ties to Iran..."
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/447282/little_to_celebrate_in_iraq

OIL COMPANIES STILL TRYING TO GET PSA PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENTS

"... major companies - including Exxon, Shell, BP and Total - will gather at Iraq's oil ministry in Baghdad for a two-day meeting to take part in the first bidding round for oil service contracts. However, what the oil companies will be entitled to if they secure a contract has become one of the most controversial elements of the bidding process.

The companies want a long-term share of the oil they produce under a Production Sharing Agreement, which allows them to book reserves in advance and tell the market exactly how much oil they expect to produce.

This is exactly the type of contract that Iraqis in the oil industry are opposed to. They argue oil companies should be awarded Technical Service Agreements, meaning they will be paid solely to develop Iraq's oil fields..."

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/06/20096288505111580.html

IRAQ TO ANNOUNCE OIL CONTRACTS
Based on fees for service, not production sharing agreements (PSA)

"Iraq will at the end of June announce which major foreign oil companies have been awarded new contracts to work in the country... The deals will be service agreements in which successful bidders are paid a fee by Baghdad and not production sharing contracts where profits are shared... The decision by Baghdad to award only service contracts to foreign companies differs from the country's autonomous Kurdish region, where numerous profit-sharing deals have been struck...."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090607/bs_afp/iraqoilcompanies

ABU GHRAIB RAPE PHOTOS ALLEGED, DENIED

"... A Defense Department official who has seen the unreleased images... said there are about 2,000 images related to detainee abuse, none of which are from Abu Ghraib, and the images do not include depictions of sexual abuse. The official said the government does not have secret images of rape buried in its files..."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/02/suppressed_photos/?source=newsletter

"Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse... At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube... Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.... Maj Gen Taguba, who retired in January 2007, said he supported the President’s decision, adding: “These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5395830/Abu-Ghraib-abuse-photos-show-rape.html

U.S. ARMY PREPARED TO STAY IN IRAQ

"The Pentagon is prepared to remain in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between Washington and Baghdad that would bring all American troops home by 2012... (said) Gen George Casey... (whose) duties include main responsibility for assembling the manpower and determining assignments... he was adamant he did not intend to contradict Obama administration policy, which is to bring US combat forces home from Iraq in 2010. The US and Iraq have agreed that all American forces would leave by 2012..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/5391252/US-Army-prepared-to-stay-in-Iraq-for-a-decade.html

IRAQ PEACE ERODING

"Iraq's fragile peace already is eroding — April was the bloodiest month in a year — and it could unravel completely as the U.S. draws down its forces and prepares to leave Iraq... the Americans and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government... (need) to release detainees from Sunni groups that have stopped fighting, stop pursuing the groups' members, protect them from the Shiite Muslim-dominated Iraqi government and help them make the transition from warriors to politicians. The U.S. hasn't fulfilled any of its promises... Sunni fighters who agreed to stop fighting in exchange for help from the U.S. military think they've been betrayed... (they) worry that the U.S. will leave and Iraq will be lost to a corrupt government controlled by Iran..."

"Under the new security agreement with Iraq, the U.S. military can do little to help the mostly Sunni former insurgents who played the main role in reducing the violence in Iraq, and the American military... worries that when the U.S. leaves, all the progress toward peace will be reversed."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/68616.html

IRAQI DEATH AND SUFFERING TOLL

"... the actual death and human suffering toll in Iraq might top the list of... he most under-reported story of the 21st century... The website Iraq Body Count has cross-documented the violent deaths of between 90,000 to 100,000 Iraqi civilians since the 2003 American led invasion and occupation. Most experts agree that this number is, in all probability, significantly below the actual death toll. A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins estimated that as of July, 2006, the death toll had exceeded 600,000 people. A September 2007 study by the prestigious British polling firm Opinion Research Business, put the death toll at 1.2 million Iraqis... MIT researcher John Tirman has reported that there are perhaps 1 million Iraqi widows, up to 5 million orphans, and 4.5 million refugees as a result of the war..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/23-3

WATERBOARDING FAILED TO LINK AL-QAIDA WITH IRAQ

"... questions regarding al-Qaida's ties to the Iraqi regime were among the first presented to senior al-Qaida operational planner Khalid Shaikh Muhammad following his capture... The mastermind of the September 11 attacks... was waterboarded 183 times that same month.... The efforts at establishing a link never bore fruit... a Behavioral Science Consultation Team was "focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq... (but said) "we were not being successful in establishing a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/ksm-was-questioned-about_n_203898.html

NEOCOLONIALISM: THE NEW U.S. MISSION IN IRAQ

"... Obama's announced withdrawal plan clearly doesn't end the Iraq occupation, but rather continues it in a new form. The plan only calls for the withdrawal of "combat troops" by August 2010, while leaving behind 35,000-50,000 occupying troops until the end of 2011, many of whom will be combat troops simply relabeled as "advisory and assistance brigades".

"The plan says nothing about the parallel army of over 100,000 American mercenaries and private contractors who currently roam Iraq, nor does it address the fate of 283 military bases and installations in Iraq, including the 58 permanent bases where US troops will continue to be garrisoned."

"... the primary mission of American troops in Iraq both now and after the initial drawdown in August 2010 will be to preserve and extend this regime, both by incorporating former Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents who are willing to work with the United States-sponsored system and by eliminating those who are opposed, incarcerating the rest behind walled-off enclaves patrolled by unmanned aerial drones. Establishing a client regime to protect the interests of empire, while leaving behind a garrison of troops and bases has long been termed neo-colonialism..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE07Ak01.html

CIA: NO PROOF TORTURE STOPPED TERROR ATTACKS ON U.S.

"The CIA inspector general in 2004 found that there was no conclusive proof that waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques helped the Bush administration thwart any "specific imminent attacks"... That undercuts assertions by former vice president Dick Cheney..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/66895.html

TORTURE KILLED MORE AMERICANS THAN 9/11

"The use of torture by the US has proved so counter-productive that it may have led to the death of as many US soldiers as civilians killed in 9/11... says Major Matthew Alexander, who personally conducted 300 interrogations of prisoners in Iraq... In the case of foreign fighters – recruited mostly from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen and North Africa – the reason cited by the great majority for coming to Iraq was what they had heard of the torture in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. These abuses, not fundamentalist Islam, had provoked so many of the foreign fighters volunteering to become suicide bombers... His overall message is that the American people do not have to make a choice between torture and terror."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/torture-it-probably-killed-more-americans-than-911-1674396.html

IRAQ BOMBINGS A WARNING TO U.S. AND IRAN

"... (a) wave of suicide killings... accounted for more than 250 lives this month... Many of the victims were Iranian pilgrims visiting Shiite shrines. Al Qaeda has not given up on Iraq... By targeting Shiites and Iranian pilgrims with (female) suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden is warning Tehran and Washington that their unfolding bid to bracket their resources together for ending the Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts will precipitate fresh trouble not only in those arenas, but also in Iraq...

" (a) major change in Iraq has opened the door to al Qaeda's recovery. The 100,000 commanders and fighters of the Awakening Councils, the strong arm of the US surge strategy for crushing al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents, has dropped out of the war... after Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered mass detentions of the Sunni-dominated force's members..."

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6041

SADDAM GENERAL REBUFFS U.S. PLEA FOR HELP IN IRAQ

"American and British officials from a secretive unit called the Force Strategic Engagement Cell flew to Jordan to try to persuade one of Saddam Hussein’s top generals... to return home to resume efforts to make peace with the new Iraq. But the Iraqi commander, Lt. Gen. Raad Majid al-Hamdani, rebuffed them... he concluded that Iraq’s leader, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, simply was not interested in reconciliation... Maliki’s earlier effort to reunite the country was one of Washington’s primary benchmarks for measuring political progress in Iraq..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/world/middleeast/26baathists.html?_r=1&hp

FALSE CONNECTION BETWEEN AL-QAEDA AND SADDAM CAME FROM TORTURE
Legal opinion later concocted to justify it

"While we were there a large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between al Qaida and Iraq and we were not being successful in establishing a link between al Qaida and Iraq," Army psychiatrist Maj. Paul Burney is quoted in the Senate report as saying about Guantánamo. "The more frustrated people got in not being able to establish this link ... there was more and more pressure to resort to measures that might produce more immediate results."

"... The Justice Department opinion condoning abusive interrogations did not come out until August, eight months after the Bush administration started putting the program together and presumably well after... torture had begun."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/04/22/benjamin/index.html

AL-QAEDA BOMBINGS WILL NOT DELAY U.S. WITHDRAWAL

"An Iraqi official... said the bombings would not derail the phased withdrawal of American troops... "It would be good for Al-Qaeda if US forces stayed in Iraq, because they could justify their kidnappings, bombings and killings," he told AFP..."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jx2-KUEQZxdMnueKlUPlqW6Zgnmw

U.S. AIR RAID DEATHS ARE 85% WOMEN AND CHILDREN

"... Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women. Fatalities caused by mortars, used by American and Iraqi government forces as well as insurgents, were 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women... The report, 'The Weapons That Kill Civilians, Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq', was compiled from a sample of 60,481 deaths in 14,196 events over a five-year period since the 2003 invasion. Civilian casualties from concentrated bouts of violence, such as the two sieges of Fallujah, were excluded..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-air-raids-hit-mostly-women-and-children-1669282.html

WITHDRAWAL TO INCREASE COSTS FOR YEARS

"The removal of about 140,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 will be a "massive and expensive effort" that is likely to increase rather than lower Iraq-related expenditures during the withdrawal and for several years after its completion... The price of equipment repairs and replacements, along with closing or turning over 283 U.S. military installations in Iraq, "will likely be significant..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR2009032402741.html

IRAQ TO RELOCATE ANTI-IRAN MEK TERRORISTS

"Iraq's national security adviser said Friday that the government intends to move an Iranian opposition group... Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK... from its sanctuary near the Iranian border... "Their days in Iraq are numbered"... The U.S. military has protected the group's camp in Iraq since the 2003 invasion... "The party is over for them. The party is over for coalition protection for them," he said, referring to the U.S. military."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/27/AR2009032702954.html?nav=rss_email/components

BILLIONS OF U.S. AID WASTED IN IRAQ

"... Stuart Bowen, the U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, told Congress that... about $3 billion to $5 billion in U.S. aid for rebuilding Iraq has been wasted since 2003.."
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2544653120090325

CONDITION OF WOMEN IN IRAQ

"Women in Iraq still lack security and basic services... their plight a "silent emergency"... more than half the women had suffered from violence... more than 20% of widows had been victims of domestic violence... A third of all women surveyed said members of their families had died violently... A quarter did not have daily access to water supplies, and more than three-quarters were not getting pensions... health care provision was worse in 2008 than the two previous years, and almost half of respondents said they were getting poorer. ... Iraqi women are suffering a silent emergency, trapped in a downward spiral of poverty, desperation and personal insecurity despite an overall decrease in violence in the country... The majority feel that this is the will of God..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7930890.stm

FORMER IRANIAN PRESIDENT VISITS IRAQ

"One of Iran's most powerful political and religious figures — former President Hashemi Rafsanjani — began talks Monday with Iraqi leaders in the latest high-level contacts between the neighboring countries... Rafsanjani, an influential Shiite ayatollah, was given a red carpet welcome by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at Baghdad's airport... Talabani said Iraqi authorities could benefit from Rafsanjani's "long experience" as a leader who helped rebuild Iran after its war with Iraq."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

IRAQI POLICE SHOOT 4 U.S. SOLDIERS

"A US soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting at an Iraqi police station in the northern city of Mosul..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090225/twl-iraq-unrest-us-7e07afd.html

"... Iraqi officials said the soldier opened fire after an altercation with the Americans during a joint patrol in the city... An official in the Iraqi interior ministry said "a US soldier slapped an Iraqi soldier during the patrol." A similar incident took place in Mosul in January 2007 when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on American troops during the erection of a combat outpost in the city, killing two US soldiers..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/25-5

OVER 1 MILLION HOMELESS IN BAGHDAD

"... The bombed building is in a state of total disrepair. Concrete blocks hang precariously from metal bars, many ceilings are partially collapsed, and all of the outer walls are gone. There is no water, no electricity, no sewage, and no garbage disposal. Piles of garbage, diapers, decaying food scraps and human excrement are scattered around the area... 35 families, about 750 people, live in this compound. ... Local NGOs estimate that more than 250,000 squatters live on the streets or in such shelters all over Baghdad... The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)... estimated there are 1.6 million internally displaced persons in Iraq... almost two-thirds, just over a million, live in Baghdad, more than half of them women or girls. The report pointed out that displaced women are more prone to rape and other forms of sexual violence..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45812

DOCTORS MUST HIDE, MEDICAL SYSTEM ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE

"Seventy percent of Iraq's doctors are reported to have fled the war-torn country in the face of death threats and kidnappings. Those who remain live in fear, often in conditions close to house arrest.... Doctors and other professionals become targets for kidnapping since they earn more money than most, and so fetch higher ransom... The Iraqi government estimates there were 36,000 doctors and medical personnel in Iraq when the U.S. invasion was launched in March 2003. Most escaped to neighbouring Arab countries, especially Jordan and Syria. In early 2008, the Iraqi Health Ministry said that 628 medical personnel have been killed since 2003. Many believe the real figure is far higher, and that there is additionally a very large number of doctors who have been kidnapped and tortured. In the absence of the doctors who left, particularly of senior doctors, the medical system is on the brink of collapse. It is short not just of doctors but also of other qualified staff, equipment and drugs. Patients are often forced to buy their own medicines on the black market."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45844

IRAQ GIVES IRAN $1.5 BILLION CONTRACT TO BUILD NEW TOWN IN BASRA

"An Iranian firm has won a $1.5 billion contract to build a new town in the southern city of Basra... The new town will have all the facilities of a modern city... there will be a supermarket, 2,000 commercial shops as well as annexes offering different services... The town will include 5,000 housing units as well as modern amenities like schools, markets, parks and health facilities... It is Iran’s largest construction contract in Iraq since the 2003-U.S. invasion and signals Tehran’s economic arm... the countries were reported to have drawn a roadmap to boost trade exchange value to $5 billion..."
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-02-15\kurd.htm

U.S. FRAUD IN IRAQ MAY EXCEED $50 BILLION

"American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125 billion in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq... a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50 billion, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme... The end of the Bush administration which launched the war may give fresh impetus to investigations into frauds in which tens of billions of dollars were spent on reconstruction with little being built that could be used..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1622987.html

GENERAL IN IRAQ AGREES WITH OBAMA PULLOUT SCHEDULE

CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus and Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) Commander General Ray Odierno have... (said Obama's) 16-month withdrawal plan would pose significantly greater risk to "security gains" than the 23-month plan they favour. But... Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, U.S. commander for the eight southern provinces of Iraq, denied... that the security gains in that region were fragile, contrary to the premise that Odierno has publicly asserted... Oates had told reporters that, even if violence were to break out after provincial elections, Iraqi security forces "are well prepared to handle that". He also cast doubt on Iranian involvement with Shi'a militias in the south, saying he had "no evidence or reports of people training in Iran", despite periodic "anecdotal intelligence reports" of such training camps..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45795

IRAQ WAR DOOMED BY U.S. CORRUPTION MORE THAN POOR PLANS OR VIOLENCE

"Federal authorities examining the early, chaotic days of the $125 billion American-led effort to rebuild Iraq have significantly broadened their inquiry to include senior American military officers who oversaw the program... investigations, which are being conducted by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Justice Department, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command and other federal agencies... raise the question of whether American corruption was a primary factor in damaging an effort whose failures have been ascribed to poor planning and unforeseen violence..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html?_r=1&hp
and
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/15-0

GENERALS TO MOBILIZE PUBLIC AGAINST OBAMA DECISION TO WITHDRAW

"... (General) Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy. A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45640

TAXPAYERS SOAKED BY $51 BILLION SPENT ON IRAQ PROJECTS

"... poor planning, weak oversight and greed combined to soak U.S. taxpayers and undermine American forces in Iraq... Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says the U.S. has committed nearly $51 billion for a wide array of projects in Iraq... Some of these projects succeeded... but many did not..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/02-5

IRAQ SUPPORTS HAMAS, NOT ISRAEL

"... (Will) the new Iraqi government will support Israel rather than Hamas now that Saddam Hussein is gone (?)... The Islamic Da'wa Party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called last week for all Muslim countries to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel and to cease all public and behind-the scenes contacts with it. Large demonstrations have been staged against Israel in Mosul, Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala..."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/01/08/gaza/print.html

IRAQ TO DEPORT ANTI-IRAN MEK TERRORISTS

"Iraq plans to close a camp for Iranian dissidents who used to cross into Iran to mount assassinations and sabotage... The US and EU placed the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) on their lists of terrorist organisations after the September 11th attacks. ... US troops disarmed them after the 2003 invasion... but kept the camp intact because some Bush administration officials allegedly saw the MEK as a potential tool for regime change in Iran... The Shia-led government in Baghdad has forged close relations with fellow Shias in Tehran and rejects such ambitions..."
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0102/1230842350664.html

BUSH REWRITING HIS HISTORY

"... inside the White House in the final days of the Bush administration... the round-the-clock renovation is continuing at a frantic pace, the scraping, scrubbing, whitewashing and painting of the George W. Bush legacy... as the clock ticks toward midnight, illegal wiretaps, waterboarding, Guantanamo Bay, secret prisons, Abu Ghraib, the stripping of Geneva Convention rights and illegal detentions are all worth it because Americans have been spared another terror attack for 7 1/2 years... It is in many ways a brazen rewriting of history while the history is still unfolding..."
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/557210

U.S. TO EVADE AGREEMENT BY REDEFINING ROLES

"... Even though the agreement with the Iraqi government calls for all American combat troops to be out of the cities by the end of June, military planners are now quietly acknowledging that many will stay behind as renamed “trainers” and “advisers” in what are effectively combat roles. In other words, they will still be engaged in combat, just called something else..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22combat.html?_r=2&ref=world

U.S. MILITARY TO DEFY WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT

"U.S. military leaders and Pentagon officials have made it clear through public statements and deliberately leaked stories in recent weeks that they plan to violate a central provision of the U.S.-Iraq withdrawal agreement requiring the complete withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities by mid-2009 by reclassifying combat troops as support troops. By redesignating tens of thousands of combat troops as support troops, those officials apparently hope to make it difficult, if not impossible, for Obama to insist on getting all combat troops of the country by mid-2010... Gates, Mullen and the military commanders are already making behind the scenes to get Obama to acquiesce in the subversion of the intent of the U.S.-Iraq agreement..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45167

HISTORIC IMAGES THAT WILL DEFINE THE IRAQ WAR

"... From now on three historic images will forever sum up the Bush administration-generated Iraqi tragedy: Bush's “Mission Accomplished” stunt off San Diego harbor; the “black scarecrow” figure tortured at Abu Ghraib; and Iraq's leather-soled kiss to the man who destroyed the country..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL18Ak02.html

SHOE THROWER BEATEN

"Muntadhar al-Zaidi will go down in Arab folklore as the man who dared to throw his shoes at George Bush but his immediate problem is how to recover from the reprisals he suffered after his bold gesture. His older brother, Dargham, has told reporters Muntadhar suffered a broken hand, broken ribs and internal bleeding, as well as an eye injury, and is in hospital... (was it by) Iraqi security men or Bush's bodyguards from the US Secret Service?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/16/bush-shoe-zaidi

SHOES THROWN AT BUSH

"... An Iraqi reporter... Muntadar al-Zeidi leapt from his chair as Bush and al-Maliki were about to shake hands Sunday and hurled his shoes at the president, who was about 20 feet away."This is a farewell kiss, you dog," he yelled in Arabic. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28232519/

DEADLY GREEN ZONE ROCKET ATTACK

"Two foreign contractors... have been killed and 15 wounded in a rocket attack on Baghdad's high-security Green Zone... The Green Zone houses government offices and many foreign embassies. The victims worked for a catering company contracted by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7756274.stm

FINAL SOFA AGREEMENT ENDS U.S. PRESENCE AFTER 2011

"... the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Monday closes the door to a further U.S. military presence beyond 2011 even more tightly than the previous draft and locks in a swift end to Iraqi dependence on the U.S. military that appears to be irreversible... The agreement ends the George W. Bush administration's aspiration for a long-term military presence, aimed both at projecting power in the region from bases in Iraq and at maintaining that Iraqi military dependence on U.S. training, advice and support. The agreement represents an acute embarrassment for the Bush administration... Once a Shi'a regime with close political and religious ties to Iran came to power, it was inevitable that reliance on U.S. military power would be only a temporary policy, to be phased out when conditions permitted it."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44747

SUICIDE ATTACKS BY WOMEN RELATIVES OF DEAD INSURGENTS

"... suicide attacks carried out by women have become more common. They are often the relatives of insurgents who have been killed by US or Iraqi forces..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7745212.stm

DETAILS OF IRAQ TROOP PACT

The Status of Forces pact between Iraq and Bush Administration:

"... In three years there no longer would be any legal basis for U.S. armed forces or civilian contractors of the Department of Defense to remain in Iraq...

All U.S. combat troops, police trainers and military advisers would have to leave the country by Dec. 31, 2011...

If Iraq wants American forces to leave earlier, it could terminate the agreement with one year's notice...

All American combat troops … have no right, beginning next year, to venture off their bases and outposts without Iraqi authorities' approval and cooperation...

The Green Zone, where American contractors, some military personnel and officials live and work, would come under Iraqi control on the first day of next year...

Control of Iraqi airspace would be transferred to the Iraqis the day the agreement took effect, and after that the Iraqi government would issue annual permits to all U.S. military aircraft...

The agreement forbids attacks on other countries from inside Iraq, and if it were approved, beginning Jan. 1 all U.S. operations would have to be conducted in cooperation with the Iraqi government...

The military... would have to get arrest warrants from the Iraqi government, judicial orders for raids on homes and to consult in advance on every operation, including the attacks on high-value targets...

All detainees in American custody who are wanted by the Iraqi government would be handed over based on arrest warrants or else released, and anyone detained by U.S. forces during approved ... would have to be handed over to Iraqi authorities within 24 hours...

Iraqi authorities (would have) the right to prosecute private contractors, and it leaves a remote possibility that a U.S. service member could be prosecuted in Iraq for major and premeditated crimes… U.S. troops facing prosecution in Iraqi courts..."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/56110.html

AGREEMENT IS ULTIMATE END OF THE OCCUPATION

"The status of forces of agreement between the United States and Iraq is now called the withdrawal agreement... an ultimate end to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq... all U.S. combat troops, police trainers and military advisers would have to leave the country by Dec. 31, 2011... in three years there no longer would be any legal basis for U.S. armed forces or civilian contractors of the Department of Defense to remain in Iraq.... Obama's campaign plan to leave a residual force of some 30,000 American troops in Iraq would be impossible..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/56110.html

IRAQ DISMISSES ANTI-CORRUPTION OFFICIALS

"The (Iraqi) government... is systematically dismissing oversight officials who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration... The dismissals... come as estimates of official Iraqi corruption soar. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States has been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/middleeast/18maliki.html?_r=1&hp

AGREEMENT WOULD END BREMER ORDER 17 (A U.S. GET OUT OF JAIL CARD)

"... as soon as the agreement is passed, Iraq will go to the United Nations Security Council to ask... for permission to abrogate Order 17 issued by US viceroy Paul Bremer..."
http://www.juancole.com/2008/11/iraqis-view-security-agreement-as.html

"... Order 17... essentially granted to every foreigner in the country connected to the occupation enterprise the full freedom of the land, not to be interfered with in any way by Iraqis or any Iraqi political or legal institution. Foreigners--unless, of course, they were jihadis or Iranians--were to be "immune from any form of arrest or detention other than by persons acting on behalf of their Sending States," even though American and coalition forces were to be allowed the freedom to arrest and detain in prisons and detention camps of their own any Iraqis..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071008/engelhardt

DEMOCRACY TO DECIDE FATE OF U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ

"... the Iraqi Cabinet on Sunday finally approved the contentious Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which provides a legal basis for U.S. military operations to continue in Iraq after Dec. 31, when the U.N. mandate expires. But... The bilateral U.S.-Iraqi security pact is by no means a done deal: it must still be ratified by a fractured parliament... Washington can only sit back and watch as Iraq's exercise in democracy determines the fate of U.S. troops in the country."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1859501,00.html?xid=thepage_newsletter

IRAQI SOLDIER KILLS TWO G.I.s

"... members of the Iraqi police and Iraqi army... said that an American military patrol had stopped Wednesday afternoon to inspect a checkpoint staffed by Iraqi soldiers in the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Zanjili, on Mosul’s west side. A heated argument ensued between one of the American soldiers and an Iraqi soldier identified as Barzan Mohammed Abdullah, prompting the American to curse the Iraqi, spit in his face and then slap him, the Iraqis said. The Iraqi soldier then opened fire on the Americans... killing two and wounding six. Other American soldiers responded with a barrage of fire directed at the Iraqi... killing him instantly... This accounting of the events was corroborated by a civilian witness..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

GREEN ZONE NOT SO SAFE

"... John McCain claimed absurdly that the US was on the verge of victory, and during his visits to the Green Zone his staffers annoyed US embassy officials by requesting them not to wear helmets and body armour when standing next the candidate. McCain's people feared this might undermine in the eyes of American television viewers their candidate's claim that US prospects in Iraq were rosier than had been reported..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-the-us-can-quit-iraq-or-it-can-stay-but-it-cant-do-both-1009598.html

U.S. NOT AWARE OF IRAQI DEATHS IT HAS CAUSED

"... how many Iraqi lives have been lost because of the U.S. occupation? The answer is one million, and it exceeds the death toll of the 1994 Rwandan genocide... the most ominous consequence of media censorship (is) a public lack of awareness... a February 2007 Associated Press poll in which U.S. citizens were asked how many Iraqis died because of the U.S. occupation. The most common answers placed casualties at below 10,000..."
http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=1817

IRAQI CHANGES TO U.S. SOFA SECURITY AGREEMENT

"... the five new changes requested by the Iraqi government:
1- the title will be changed to "agreement on complete US withdrawal from Iraq".
2- ensure that Iraq does have legal jurisdictions over US troops...
3- ensure that 2011 is the final date for withdrawal all US troops...
4- allow the Iraqi government to inspect US military mail.
5- a ban on attacking any neighboring countries from Iraq.
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2008/11/iraqi-government-requests-5-changes-in.html

U.S. ATTACK ON SYRIA SURPRISES IRAQ, MAY CAUSE EARLY WITHDRAWAL

"The United States raid on Syria on October 27, which led to the killing of eight civilians, sent shockwaves throughout Iraq... Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki... was completely dumfounded... Here was the prime minister of Iraq, an ally of Iran and a former resident of Syria, watching Syria being attacked from his own territory - without his knowledge..."

"... Now, Maliki wants to delete any reference in the draft SOFA (status of forces agreement) to the possibility of American troops staying until after 2011. According to the draft, the Americans will withdraw from towns and villages by June 2009, and from all of Iraq in 2011..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak05.html

INFRASTRUCTURE CONDITIONS DIRE IN IRAQ

"The Red Cross is warning that... the condition of the country's infrastructure remains dire... even the most basic infrastructure in Iraq is not functioning... (and is) particularly concerned about poor water supplies... over 40% of Iraq's civilian population still has no access to clean mains water... the health of millions Iraqis is at risk..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7696641.stm

U.S. SPENT OVER $6 BILLION ON PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANIES

"... auditors think the United States has paid well over $6 billion to private security companies who have been guarding diplomats, troops, Iraqi officials and reconstruction workers in Iraq. The money amounts to about 12 percent of the $50 billion Americans are paying for reconstruction in the country, said Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/30/america/NA-US-Rebuilding-Iraq.php

$125 BILLION TO BE SPENT ON IRAQ INFRASTRUCTURE

"... (Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart) Bowen's quarterly reconstruction report to Congress... included the following other findings:
_More than $125.7 billion has now been committed to rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and government since U.S.-led forces overthrew the government of President Saddam Hussein five years ago... it includes $50.77 billion in money appropriated by the United States..."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/30/america/NA-US-Rebuilding-Iraq.php

U.S.TO HALT SERVICES WITHOUT ACCORD

The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down... vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq... Army Gen. Ray Odierno... listed “tens” of areas of potential cutoffs... Among the services the U.S. provides are protection of Iraq’s principal borders, of its oil exports and other shipping through the Shatt al Arab into the Persian Gulf and all air traffic control over Iraq... U.S. forces would cease activities that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ "everything"..."

"... said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president. "I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/54795.html

FAILED U.S. SEWAGE PLANT FOR FALLUJAH COVERED UP

"A huge American-financed wastewater treatment plant in the desert city of Falluja... was supposed to be the centerpiece of an effort to rebuild Iraq... and bring Western standards of sanitation... the project... has tripled in cost from original plans to $100 million and has fallen about three years behind schedule... The project was so poorly conceived that there is no reliable electricity to run pumps and purification tanks, and no money left to connect homes to the main sewer lines, which now run uselessly beneath Falluja’s streets... the plant may never operate... senior officials at the embassy and the Army Corps knew of the problems for years without taking them to the American ambassador... or including them in any substantial way in the State Department’s so-called 2207 reports, which are supposed to inform Congress of the status of taxpayer-financed projects in Iraq..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/world/middleeast/27reconstruct.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

IRAQ WON'T SIGN U.S. TROOP DEAL

"... Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki won't sign the just-completed agreement on the status of U.S. forces in Iraq... The new accord's demise would be a major setback for the Bush administration, which has been seeking to establish a legal basis for the extended presence of the 151,000 U.S. troops in this country... Instead... Iraq's political leaders are considering seeking an extension of the United Nations mandate for the presence of U.S. troops, which will expire on Dec. 31..."

"Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq... (said) "Without (a security agreement), we would potentially have to cease all operations."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/54757.html

THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN INVASION ON IRAQ

"... The Iraq that has emerged from the American invasion and occupation is now a thoroughly wrecked land, housing a largely dysfunctional society. More than a million Iraqis may have died; millions have fled their homes; many millions of others have been scarred by war, insurgency and counterinsurgency operations, extreme sectarian violence, and soaring levels of common criminality. Education and medical systems have essentially collapsed and, even today, with every kind of violence in decline, Iraq remains one of the most dangerous societies on earth."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JJ25Ak03.html

AMERICA'S LASTING EFFECT ON IRAQ

"... the devastation that is now Iraq is not of a kind that can always be easily explained in a short report, nor for that matter is it any longer easily repaired. In many cities, an American reliance on artillery and air power during the worst days of fighting helped devastate the Iraqi infrastructure. Political and economic changes imposed by the American occupation did damage of another kind, often depriving Iraqis not just of their livelihoods but of the very tools they would now need to launch a major reconstruction effort in their own country.... what was once the most advanced Middle Eastern society -- economically, socially, and technologically -- has become an economic basket case, rivaling the most desperate countries in the world..."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174993/michael_schwartz_iraq_in_hell