Who says you can't make money off of the war? Look at Bush and Cheney's friends at Haliburton and KBR. They are getting so rich over the war it is unbelievable.
But now there are a group of fat-cat Republican developers from the United States who want to buy land inside the Green Zone in Baghdad and turn it into luxury condos and a state-of-the art shopping mall with more and more fat cat Republican firms leasing property inside the Green Zone.
The whole idea that Republican fat cats are going to make a financial KILLING on land inside the Green Zone while American troops are getting KILLED outside of the Green Zone is enough to turn a person's stomach.
But it is about to happen and there is nothing anyone in the United States can do about it.
Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE
US-backed plan sees shiny future for embattled Green Zone
By BRADLEY BROOKS and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers 43 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_growing_the_green_zone
BAGHDAD - Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.
That's all part of a five-year development "dream list" — or what some dub an improbable fantasy — to transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone from a walled fortress into a centerpiece for Baghdad's future.
But the $5 billion plan has the backing of the Pentagon and apparently the interest of some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development, the lead military liaison for the project told The Associated Press.
For Washington, the driving motivation is to create a "zone of influence" around the new $700 million U.S. Embassy to serve as a kind of high-end buffer for the compound, whose total price tag will reach about $1 billion after all the workers and offices are relocated over the next year.
"When you have $1 billion hanging out there and 1,000 employees lying around, you kind of want to know who your neighbors are. You want to influence what happens in your neighborhood over time," said Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski, who led the team that created the development plan.
Karnowski said a deal already has been completed for Marriott International Inc. to build a hotel in the Green Zone. He also said a possible $1 billion investment could come from MBI International, a conglomerate that focuses on hotels and resorts and is led by Saudi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber.
Elizabeth Caminiti, a Marriott spokeswoman, declined to comment. Phone calls and e-mails sent to London-based MBI were not returned.
For the moment, however, it's mortars and rockets — not investment money — pouring into the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. and British embassies, key Iraqi government offices and other international compounds. Militants have escalated their shelling of the enclave since Iraqi forces began a crackdown on Shiite militias in late March.
But developers are clearly looking many years ahead and gambling that Baghdad could one day join the list of former war zones such as Sarajevo and Beirut that have rebounded and earned big paydays for early investors.
Even now — with violence in Baghdad again creeping up — the faint hints of the development plan have driven up the Green Zone's already sky-high real estate prices.
Land that a few years ago was going for $60 a square meter on 50-year leases in the zone is now going for up to $1,000 a square meter, American officials say.
Click on http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_growing_the_green_zone to read full story
Sunday, May 4, 2008
THIS IS TOO MUCH: FAT-CAT DEVELOPERS FROM THE US WANT TO TURN GREEN ZONE INTO LUXURY CONDOS AND SHOPPING MALL
CORRUPTION EATS INTO FOOD RATIONS FOR IRAQIS WHO ARE STARVING
IRAQ: Corruption Eats Into Food Rations
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
FALLUJAH, May 2 (IPS) -
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42216
Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption.
Iraqis survived the sanctions after the first Gulf War (1990) with the support of rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The aid was set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme.
The sanctions were devastating nevertheless. Former UN programme head Hans von Sponeck said in 2001 that the sanctions amounted to "a tightening of the rope around the neck of the average Iraqi citizen." Von Sponeck said the sanctions were causing the death of 150 Iraqi children a day.
Denis Halliday, former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq who quit his post in protest against the sanctions, told IPS they had proved "genocidal" for Iraqis.
During more than five years of U.S.-occupation, the situation has become even worse. The rationing system has been crumbling under poor management and corruption. From the beginning of this year, the rations delivered were reduced from 10 items to five. "We used the PDS as counter-propaganda against Saddam Hussein's regime before the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in 2003," Fadhil Jawad of the Dawa Party led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told IPS in Baghdad. "But then we found it necessary to maintain basic support for Iraqi people under occupation. We blamed Saddam for feeding Iraqis like animals with simple rations of food -- that we fail to provide now."
Click on link above to read full story.
8 US FATALITIES IN FIRST TWO DAYS OF MAY IN IRAQ: NAMES AND HOMETOWNS OF SOME
We have the latest list of US fatalities in Iraq. The names and hometowns of some of the GIs who have died can be read in more depth by clicking on the "blue" in their names.
Date
Total
Name
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death
02-May-2008
3
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 2
GE
Lieutenant Giorgi Margiev
Diyala Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
GE
Corporal Zura Gvenetadze
Diyala Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
01-May-2008
5
US: 5 UK: 0 Other: 0
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US
Specialist Jeffrey F. Nichols
Baghdad (central)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
Total
8
US: 6 UK: 0 Other: 2
ABC NEWS REPORTS ON IRAQI FAMILY WHO LOST 2-YEAR OLD SON DURING US ATTACK
Iraq Boy's Family Describes Fatal Blast
Parents Tell ABC News About the US Bombing that Killed Their 2-Year-Old Boy
By MARCUS BARAM
May 2, 2008—
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4775808&page=1
Just like any other day, the Hussein family was getting ready for lunch at their home in Baghdad, Iraq, when the house suddenly shook and the brick walls came down around them.
That was the dramatic account told to ABC News by the parents of 2-year-old Ali Hussein, the Iraqi boy killed during a fierce battle in Sadr City Tuesday.
Dramatic photographs of Hussein's dust-covered body being pulled out of the rubble of his home appeared on front pages and TV news reports around the world.
When a U.S. patrol in the Shiite militia stronghold was fired on by a dozen fighters, American forces fired 200-pound guided rockets that devastated at least three buildings in the district.
The U.S. military said 28 militiamen were killed. Local hospital officials said dozens of civilians were killed or wounded.
Hussein's mother recounted being buried in rubble and crawling around the home, looking for her children.
"I was crying, 'My children, my children.' I saw the house destroyed. I did not know if they are alive or not."
When Hussein's father could not locate Ali, he said he began frantically digging.
"Everyone felt desperate and the police have left the scene, but I kept on digging. I told them I will not leave my son. I will take him out. I felt fainted after two hours of digging."
The fire brigade arrived to help him find Ali and remove him from the house, according to Hussein's father.
"They gave him to me, run to the ambulance, I hold his hand in the ambulance and it was cold. They made the first aid thing to the kid, open his eye, the rescuer looked at me, I told him you're a believer, and accepts the results."
Hussein's father recalled how over the last month and a half the boy used to come to the main door of the house, wanting to go out and play.
"Ali was pushing against my legs and tell me, 'Baba, Baba.' He wanted to go out, and I did not let him out due to the military actions ongoing."
"Ali was 2 years old, still future was in front of him. Ali, if he has an opinion, he would have said, 'I do not want to interfere in the struggle.,"
Click on this link http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4775808&page=1 to read the rest of this tragic story.
YAHOO IS REPORTING IRAQ SAYS NO HARD EVIDENCE IRAN IS SUPPORTING ATTACKS IN IRAQ
The Iraqi government has come to the defense of their neighbor, Iran, and claims there is no hard evidence Iran is supporting militias in Iraq with weapons.
Iraq says no evidence of Iran support for militia
2 hours, 46 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080504/wl_mideast_afp/iraniraqpoliticsunrest
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said there was no "hard evidence" of involvement by the neighbouring Shiite government of Iran in backing Shiite militiamen in the embattled country.
Asked about US reports that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement, Dabbagh said: "We don't have that kind of evidence... If there is hard evidence we will defend the country."
Tehran strongly opposes the US military presence in Iraq, while Washington has repeatedly accused Iranian groups of arming and training Shiite militia groups in its neighbour.
MARINE CORPS TIMES REPORT FOUR MARINES KILLED IN ANBAR PROVINCE, THE PROVINCE WHICH "THE SURGE" HAD SECURED
Roadside bomb kills 4 Marines in Anbar
Attack is deadliest in province in months
By Bradley Brooks - The Associated PressPosted : Sunday May 4, 2008 9:23:35 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_anbar_marines_050408/
BAGHDAD — The military said Sunday a roadside bomb killed four Marines in western Anbar province, the deadliest attack in that area in months.
The Marines were killed on Friday, but no other details of the incident were released.
Anbar was once a stronghold for insurgents battling against U.S. forces.
But in the past year the vast desert province has largely been calmed with the rise of the Awakening Council movement — Sunni fighters who now turn their guns on al-Qaida instead of U.S. forces.
In Baghdad on Sunday, a bomb hit a motorcade carrying Iraq’s first lady in the Karrada district, injuring four of her body guards but leaving her unharmed, said the office of Iraq’s president.
Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, wife of President Jalal Talabani, was headed to the city’s central National Theater to attend a cultural festival when the attack occurred just before noon, said the presidential office. It was unclear if she was the target of the bombing.
Friday’s attack in Anbar was the most lethal in the province since Sept. 6, when four Marines were killed in combat. The military did not release details of those deaths either.
On April 22, two Marines were killed in Anbar when a bomb-rigged truck explod
ed at a checkpoint in the city of Ramadi.
Fierce fighting in the city of Fallujah in April and November 2004 made the province the symbol of the Sunni resistance to the U.S. presence in Iraq, but since the rise of the Awakening movement in 2007 commanders say it has been largely quiet.
Despite the attack in Anbar, military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll told reporters on Saturday that attacks carried out by al-Qaida declined last month after increasing earlier this year.
He said there was “no place for al-Qaida” to hide in Iraq and U.S. troops were continuing to hunt them down in Diyala province and the city of Mosul, where many are believed to have fled north from Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Iraqi health officials said at least 10 people — including two children — were killed in the past 24 hours in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people and a stronghold for the Shiite Mahdi Army militia.
Officials at two hospitals in Sadr City spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling militia members there for weeks as part of an Iraqi government crackdown on the fighters.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, speaking at the same news conference as Driscoll, said the battles against the militia fighters in Sadr City would continue.
“It is the full responsibility of the Iraqi government to implement the rule of law,” al-Dabbagh said.
On Saturday, the U.S. military fired guided missiles into the heart of Sadr City, leveling a building 50 yards away from a hospital and wounding nearly two dozen people.
AP Television News footage showed several ambulances destroyed and burning, with thick black smoke rising from them as firefighters worked to put out the flames.
The strike, made from a ground launcher, took out a militant “command-control center,” the U.S. military said. Iraqi officials said at least 23 people were wounded, though none of them were patients in the hospital.
The clashes with Mahdi Army have caused deep rifts among Iraq’s Shiite majority and have pulled U.S. troops into difficult urban combat.
Militia members have been blamed for firing hundreds of rockets or mortars from Sadr City into the Green Zone, the U.S.-protected area housing the American embassy and much of the Iraqi government. In the past month, more than a dozen people — including two American civilians and soldiers — have been killed inside the zone during the attacks.
LATEST US DEATHS IN IRAQ: NAMES AND HOMETOWNS
Latest Coalition Fatalities (click on "BLUE" for more details)
05/04/08 MNF: Marines attacked by IED
Four Multi-National Force - West Marines were killed in action May 2 when their vehicle was attacked by an enemy force with an improvised explosive device in al Anbar Province.
05/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence D. Ezell, 30, of Portland, Texas, died April 30 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat operations. He was assigned to the 71st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group...
05/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty (from July 7, 2007)
Sgt. Jerry L. DeLoach, 45, of Jackson, Ga., died July 7, 2007, at Fort Knox, Ky. He had been medically evacuated from theater, and died of a non-combat related injury. He was assigned to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Knox.
05/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Chad A. Caldwell, 24, of Spokane, Wash., died April 30 in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries suffered while conducting dismounted combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.
05/03/08 GeogiaMod: Two Georgian Military Servicemen Died in Iraq
Two Georgian soldiers who were supporting peacekeeping operations in Iraq died. Lieutenant Giorgi Margiev and Corporal Zurab Gvenetadze were assigned to the 13 Battalion of 1st Infantry Brigade. Junior Sergeant Tengiz Mirtskulava...was wounded.
05/02/08 MNF: MND-B soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier was killed from wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device struck the soldier's vehicle during a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad at
TIMES ONLINE: US DRAWING UP PLANS FOR STRIKE ON IRAN
From The Sunday Times
May 4, 2008
United States is drawing up plans to strike on Iranian insurgency camp
Michael Smith
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3868063.ece
Read Mick Smith's defence blog at www.timesonline.co.uk/micksmith
The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.
Despite a belligerent stance by Vice-President Dick Cheney, the administration has put plans for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities on the back burner since Robert Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary in 2006, the sources said.
However, US commanders are increasingly concerned by Iranian interference in Iraq and are determined that recent successes by joint Iraqi and US forces in the southern port city of Basra should not be reversed by the Quds Force.
“If the situation in Basra goes back to what it was like before, America is likely to blame Iran and carry out a surgical strike on a militant training camp across the border in Khuzestan,” said one source, referring to a frontier province.
BREAKING NEWS: FOUR US MARINES KILLED IN IRAQ
Sat May 3, 6:53 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080503/ts_nm/iraq_marines_dc
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. Marines were killed by a roadside bomb in the western Iraqi province of Anbar on Friday, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
