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/

THE U.S. IS NOT LEAVING IRAQ

"... the Obama administration is leaving behind a huge contingent from the State Department along with thousands of armed private contractors. The possibility for violence between Americans and Iraqis is very real... there are going to be 18,000 people who work for (the US) embassy. Very few of those will be diplomats. Others will be American civil service workers. A great number will be non-Iraqi contractors who do things like the laundry, mail services, cleaning, etc. Then there’s going to be a substantial component of armed private security contractors... 3,500 to 5,500 of them... if you also know that there are these armed contractors helping diplomats get from point A to point B, you win if you provoke them into violence. And it’s really easy to place an IED on a road or to open fire on a convoy. Then if there are Americans in Iraq opening fire on Iraqis — after the Iraqi leaders have said Americans are gone — that’s a major propaganda win for Iran. This is a really foreseeable disaster.... Just because we don’t have a U.S. troop presence anymore or a formal U.S. chain of command anymore, does not mean that the war is over."
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/17/no_the_u_s_is_not_leaving_iraq/?source=newsletter

THE WASTE OF THE IRAQ WAR
Victory is no victory

"... the largest move of military equipment we have done since World War Two... nearly 3 million pieces of equipment to be moved, from airplanes, helicopters and tanks to laptops and lights.... around 2 million pieces of equipment have been redeployed... some back to the United States, others to Afghanistan or other locations... Closing down the Iraq war has meant shutting down the U.S. military bases, which numbered 505 at the peak... The Victory Base complex in Baghdad, the heart of the war operation surrounded by 27 miles of concrete blast walls and razor wire, once hosted 40,000 troops and more than 20,000 contractors. Victory was so big it had a reverse osmosis water plant that could generate 1.85 million gallons a day, an ice plant, a 50-megawatt power generating station, stadium-sized chow halls and a laundromat with 3,000 machines able to do 36,000 loads a day... Balad, north of Baghdad, had 36,000 residents... with two 11,000-foot runways, had 27,500 takeoffs and landings a month in 2006, second only to London's Heathrow... nearly 4 million items worth $390 million had been given to Iraq, including 26,000 CHUs worth $124 million and 89,000 air conditioners worth $18.5 million..."
http://news.yahoo.com/u-withdrawal-iraq-eight-years-worth-stuff-130926527.html;_ylt=Ahgm2p5QuYR.A.ITQ53bYrTyWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTRwMGY4cHZtBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM3YzFjNWY2Yi05OTI5LTM4NzktYjJkYi1kMjcxOTE3MmRlMjkEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwNuZXdzX2Zvcl95b3UEdmVyA2ZlMTNhOTcwLTE3NjYtMTFlMS1iYmQ3LWQ3NDM4NjViMmM1Mw--;_ylg=X3oDMTMzMDRxZ2RpBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDOWYzMzE0MDItZmMwNC0zNTRlLWE1YWYtZGUwYWE0YTdjNWQwBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxhc2lhBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3

WAR CRIMES A FACTOR IN PTSD

"… CBS show "48 Hours Mystery" focused on John Needham, a young veteran from the war in Iraq… (who) claimed to have witnessed horrendous atrocities committed by his unit against Iraqis during their deployment in the country. In a letter to senior army officials… Needham wrote that he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression, described what he called war crimes, asked for an investigation and requested to be assigned to a different unit…"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/john-needham-iraq-veteran_n_1093454.html


FT. HOOD SHOOTER BOTHERED BY BY ACCOUNTS OF 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... 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

U.S. LOST OUT ON IRAQI OIL IN 2009 AUCTION

"... One of [the Neo-Cons'] key reasons to unleash the war on Iraq in 2003 was to seize control of its precious oilfields... After at least US$2 trillion spent by Washington and arguably more than a million dead Iraqis, it has come to this... (Iraq held) bids to exploit a number of vast and immensely profitable oil fields... Instead of US Big Oil getting the lion's share, strategic competitors Russia and China turned out to be big winners..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL16Ak02.html

THE FAILURE AND COST OF IRAQ

"The United States is leaving Iraq. It is not leaving because it accomplished its mission of replacing a hostile regime in that country with a friendly regime. America is leaving because the Iraqis are kicking America’s soldiers out. The U.S. has replaced one hostile regime in Iraq with another hostile regime... (that) has aligned itself with Iran...

"America’s military is so loathed in Iraq that it is being expelled by the Iraqi government. America’s soldiers are leaving because Iraq refused to negotiate a status of forces agreement, which exempts American soldiers from local laws. These agreements are the norm in other countries where the U.S. has stationed large numbers of troops, including Japan and South Korea. They trust that the American military will punish crimes by American soldiers committed in its country. The fact that Iraq refuses to exempt U.S. soldiers from prosecution under its own laws demonstrates the extent to which the misconduct of the U.S. military and its mercenary contractors alienated the Iraqi population....

"Apart from the more than 4,000 Americans killed, the more than 30,000 Americans maimed, and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who lost their lives or have been wounded, a conservative estimate of the costs of the war puts it at $1.2 trillion, although ... the long-term costs, including medical treatment for veterans, may exceed $2 trillion..."

http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/iraq_war_mission_failed/?source=newsletter

IRAQ A NEOCON FAILURE

"The final troop withdrawal marks a complete defeat for Bush's Iraq project. The neocons' grand plan to use the 2003 invasion to turn the country into a secure pro-western democracy and a garrison for US bases that could put pressure on Syria and Iran lies in tatters..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/23/us-withdrawal-iraq-defeat-bush-neocons

5,500 MERCENARIES TO PROTECT U.S. FORTS IN IRAQ

"5,500 Mercs to Protect U.S. Fortresses in Iraq.... the State Department plans to field 5,500 private security contractors to protect up to 17,000 civilians working for the American government in Iraq... A force of 3,650 private security guards will be stationed at the huge Baghdad embassy... The Senate report anticipates a whopping “17,000 individuals” working for the Baghdad embassy. Only 650 of them will actually be diplomats, backstopped by “hundreds” of U.S. officials from the Treasury, Justice and Agriculture departments. But they’ll “mostly” be foreign employees “working as life-support and security contractors"... The security firm SOC Inc. has a contract for protecting that embassy worth as much as $974 million.) It’ll be supplemented with mercs at four satellite installations: 600 in the Kurdish capitol of Irbil; 575 in Basra... and 335 each at Mosul and Kirkuk..."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/5500-mercs-to-protect-u-s-fortresses-in-iraq/

HOW THE WAR ENDS

"… all US troops will have to leave Iraq by 31 December, in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) negotiated between George W. Bush and the Iraqi parliament… Bush was forced into that SOFA because US troops could not fight in Iraq without a legal cover if they were to avoid possible war crimes prosecutions and lawsuits. From June 2003 until fall of 2008, the United Nations Security Council resolutions recognized the US as the occupying power with the responsibility to provide security to the population… But the Iraqi government did not want, by 2008, to go to the UNSC for yet another such resolution… In the absence of a UNSC resolution, US troops needed a bilateral treaty to legalize their activities in Iraq. Thus, Bush had to sign what the parliament gave him…"

"And so that is the way the war ends… the US is forced to adhere to the 2008 SOFA… The US will receive no benefit from its illegal war of aggression, no permanent bases, no bulwark against Iran, no new Arab friend to Israel, no $14 a barrel petroleum– all thing things Washington had dreamed of. Dreams that turned out to be flimsy and unsubstantial and tragic."

http://www.juancole.com/2011/10/this-is-the-way-the-iraq-war-ends-with-bangs-and-wimpers.html

MASSIVE EMBASSY TO EXPAND AS SOLDIERS LEAVE

"... The embassy compound is (already) by far the largest the world has ever seen, at one and a half square miles, big enough for 94 football fields. It cost three quarters of a billion dollars to build (coming in about $150 million over budget). Inside its high walls, guard towers and machine-gun emplacements lie not just the embassy itself, but more than 20 other buildings, including residential quarters, a gym and swimming pool, commercial facilities, a power station and a water-treatment plant...."

"As the Department of Defense pulls out and its spending drops, the State Department is expecting its costs to skyrocket. State asked Congress for $2.7 billion for its Iraqi operations in fiscal year 2011, and got $2.1 billion. It wants $6.2 billion for next year. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee estimates that State's plans will cost $25 to $30 billion over the next five years...."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/us-embassy-iraq-state-department-plan_n_965945.html


U.S. EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD TO DOUBLE STAFF

"The US Embassy in Baghdad, already the largest in the world, is expected to double its staff after American forces pull out of the country... James Jeffrey, the US ambassador in Iraq... said the staff would increase "from 8,000 plus personnel that we have now to roughly double that by 2012"... in 2012, the American presence in Iraq will consist of up to 20,000 civilians at sites that include two embassy branches, two consulates, and three police training centres. The figure includes armed private security personnel, support staff and diplomats..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/8422912/US-Embassy-in-Baghdad-to-double-staff.html

ALL U.S. TROOPS TO LEAVE BY END OF 2011

"The U.S. is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline... (because) Iraqi leaders have adamantly refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans have refused to stay without it..."

"... there will be a massive American diplomatic presence. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is the largest in the world, and the State Department will have offices in Basra, Irbil and Kirkuk as well as other locations around the country where contractors will train Iraqi forces on U.S. military equipment they're purchasing. About 5,000 security contractors and personnel will be tasked with helping protect American diplomats and facilities around the country... The U.S. Embassy will still have a handful of U.S. Marines for protection and 157 U.S. military personnel in charge of facilitating weapons sales to Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-us-drops-keeping-troops-iraq-212223355.html

1 IN 3 VETS SEE WAR AS WASTE

"... Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and about 1,700 in Afghanistan. Combined war costs... have topped $1 trillion.... (now) One in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems.. "
http://news.yahoo.com/poll-1-3-vets-sees-iraq-afghan-wars-040253311.html