CNN REPORTER SAYS MSNBC BOSSES TOLD HER TO BE PATRIOTIC IN RUN-UP TO IRAQ WAR

CNN reporter talks of pressure to be patriotic
CNN reporter says she felt pressure while at NBC News to do positive war stories

DAVID BAUDERAP News
May 29, 2008 17:35 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=189927

CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin said Thursday she was referring to her time spent at MSNBC when she said she felt pressure not to report stories critical of the Bush administration during the time leading up to the Iraq war.

Yellin's initial comments, made during a discussion with Anderson Cooper on CNN Wednesday, shifted attention to the news media's performance following release of a critical assessment of the Bush administration by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. He wrote that Bush's strategy for selling the war was less than candid and honest.

During her CNN appearance, Yellin said the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives to make sure the war was presented "in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president's high approval ratings."

VIDEO YOU MUST SEE: TROOPS IN IRAQ TALK ABOUT HALLIBURTON AND KBR ABUSES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXjCtkymRQ&feature=relat...

As most people know, Vice President Dick Cheney was once the CEO of Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR which now are making huge profits supposedly providing US troops in Iraq food, water and various other services.

This shocking video which everyone should see shows GIs in Iraq talking about the abuses of Halliburton and KBR in Iraq for the troops, but also all the perks the Halliburton and KBR employees enjoy at US taxpayer's expense.

This is a video you will never see on FOX NEWS, but is a video you should not only see but tell all your friends about how Cheney's old company is shafting the American troops in Iraq and taking millions of taxpayer dollars for doing virtually nothing in Iraq.

Incidentally, it has been alleged Vice President Cheney never completely divested himself from all of his Halliburton/KBR stock and he has it in holdings outside of the United States.

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE OR THIS LINK: http://current.com/items/88987007_us_troops_in_iraq_talk_about_halliburton_kbr

CNN REPORTS ARMY SUICIDES AT HIGHEST POINT IN TWO DECADES

Story Highlights
More soldiers killed selves in 2007 than since first Gulf War, Pentagon report says
More than 40 percent of suicides occurred stateside, report indicates
Military is set to announce the findings officially later Thursday

From Barbara StarrCNN Pentagon Correspondent
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/29/army.suicides/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More U.S. soldiers committed suicide in 2007 than at any time since the first Gulf War, according to an Army study to be released later Thursday.

There were 108 suicides last year, up from 102 the year before. The 2006 figure also was itself the highest since 1990
.
More than two in five of the suicides came after soldiers returned home from deployments.
The military is set to announce the findings officially later Thursday. CNN obtained some statistics from the study before publication. Watch what CNN's Barbara Starr found out »

Roughly one in four of the soldiers who killed themselves were on their first deployments, according to the study. About the same percentage killed themselves without ever having been deployed. Forty-three percent committed suicide after coming home.

The statistics cover active-duty Army troops, including National Guard and reserve soldiers. The numbers do not account for other branches of service.

There are 1,075,000 troops serving in the Army, according to the Department of Defense, comprising 525,000 on active duty, 194,000 in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard's 356,000.

The Army recorded 87 suicides in 2005, 67 in 2004 and 79 in 2003, the year the Iraq war began. The war in Afghanistan began in October 2001.

It is difficult to compare the military suicide rate with that of the private sector because of demographic differences and overall human stress factors, officials have said.

According to a Pentagon report released last summer, the overall suicide rate for the United States was 13.4 per 100,000 people in 2006.

For all men ages 17 to 45, it was 21.1 per 100,000 people, compared with 17.8 for men in the Army.

And it was 5.46 per 100,000 for all women, compared with an Army rate of 11.3 women soldiers per 100,000.

The Army concluded in the 2007 report that the "main indicators" for the 2006 suicides were failed relationships, legal and financial problems and "occupational/operational" issues.
The "typical profile" of a soldier who commits suicide is a member of an infantry unit who kills himself with a firearm.

20 PEOPLE KILLED IN TWO SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN IRAQ

The mainstream media will again ignore this story as they have done every story coming out of Iraq.

Thursday 29th May, 2008
Damaging actions in Iraq and Afghanistan
Big News Network.com Thursday 29th May, 2008

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=364863

At least 20 people have been killed in two suicide bombings targeting police and security forces in northern Iraq.A man in a explosives-packed jacket blew himself up at a recruitment centre in a town west of the provincial capital Mosul on the road to Syria.17 people were killed and and another 42 were wounded.A few hours earlier, a suicide bomber drove into a group of police officers and detonated his explosives in Al-Gabat, just north of Mosul.At least three people, including two policemen, were killed and 12 people were wounded.In other war news: NATO warplanes have pounded a militant compound in south-west Afghanistan, killing 30 Taliban fighters.The fighting came after after clashes that left three Afghan police and troops dead.The rebels, including Pakistani fighters, had moved the area from neighbouring Helmand.Afghan soldiers and police and troops from NATO forces surrounded their compound and started firing.In initial fighting, two Afghan soldiers and a policeman were killed and several were wounded.

MARINES PASS OUT GOSPEL VERSE COINS TO IRAQI MUSLIMS IN FALLUJAH

Marines pass out Gospel verse to Iraqi Muslims, Iraqis say

Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: May 28, 2008 08:28:57 PM
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/38820.html

FALLUJAH, Iraq — At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city.

They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.

Fallujah, the scene of a bloody U.S. offensive against Sunni insurgents in 2004, has calmed and grown less hostile to American troops since residents turned against al Qaida in Iraq, which had tried to force its brand of Islamist extremism on the population.

Now residents of the city are abuzz that some Americans whom they consider occupiers are also acting as Christian missionaries. Residents said some Marines at the western entrance to their city have been passing out the coins for two days in what they call a "humiliating" attempt to convert them to Christianity.

In the markets, people crowded around men with the coins, passing them to each other and asking in surprise, "Have you seen this?"

Click here http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/38820.html to read full story

MARINE CORPS TIMES REPORTS: MARINES AND ARMY HURTING FOR MONEY WANT DOD TO TAKE MONEY FROM NAVY AND AIR FORCE

The cost of carrying on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not only stretched the military personnel to the breaking point, but the Army and Marines are in dire need of more money to keep "fighting" and they want the Pentagon to take money from the Navy and Air Force budget and allocate it to the Marines and Army.

DoD asks to transfer $9.7 billion to Army and Marines

By William H. McMichael - Staff writerPosted : Wednesday May 28, 2008 18:48:29 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/military_defensebudget_army_supplemental_052808w/

The Pentagon, still lacking more than $100 billion it has long requested to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, asked Congress Tuesday for permission to transfer $9.7 billion to the Army and other agencies from the Navy and Air Force budgets as a stopgap measure.
If lawmakers do not take action on a new wartime supplemental spending request by June 9, the Pentagon said the Army, bearing the lion’s share of war burdens, will run out of money to pay its soldiers by June 15.
And even if the $9.7 billion reprogramming request is granted, the Pentagon said the money will fund only another few weeks of overall operations. Failure to pass the entire $108.1 billion supplemental request by mid-July, officials said, will exhaust all remaining military personnel and operations funding by late July and leave the department unable to meet both military and civilian payroll.

FIVE YEARS AFTER "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" IRAQIS DREAM OF WHEN US IS OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY

Five Years After Mission Accomplished, Iraqis "Dream of the End of the Occupation"

By Dahr Jamail and Ahmed Ali, IPS News
Posted on May 28, 2008, Printed on May 28, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/86682/

BAQUBA -- After more than five years of U.S. occupation, the very dreams of the people of Baquba have changed. For a start, they are no longer about the future.

Today, a shower is a dream. Or that the electricity supply continues just that little bit longer.

"These needs are very trivial for people of other countries," 43-year-old political leader Saad Tahir told IPS. "But in Iraq, people dream more of these things than of some ambition or success."

Abdullah Mahdi, a retired 51-year-old trader, says he dreams only of electricity.

"Like millions here, I hope supply gets better to help us to sleep in this hot summer," Mahdi told IPS. "We have been suffering from this problem since the 1991 Kuwait war, and this current occupation only made things worse."

Others dream of freedom of movement. "I dream of traveling among the Iraqi provinces freely and safely," a local resident said. "For more than two years now, I have not traveled to any province of my country." Lack of security means Iraqis can rarely travel even to a neighboring area.

Children also seem to have begun to dream differently.

"I dream of a playground in which I and my friends can play freely and at any time," 11-year-old Luay Amjad told IPS. Children are not allowed to play just anywhere for fear of unexploded bombs, haphazard firing, and a general fear of the Iraqi military. Many children in Baquba and other districts of Diyala province have been kidnapped.

"All families wish to see their children safe, and then enjoying their time," said a young father. "We know that they currently live in a very closed world. But we put pressure on our children for their own safety. Streets are dangerous, and even gardens may sometimes be dangerous."

Click on link to read full account.

WE HAVE NAMES AND HOMETOWNS OF LATEST US DEATHS IN IRAQ

U.S. Confirmed Deaths Reported Deaths:
4084 Confirmed Deaths:
4084 Pending Confirmation:
0 DoD Confirmation List

Latest Coalition Fatalities
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/ (Click on BLUE for more details of each GIs death)

05/28/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. 1st Class Jason F. Dene, 37, of Castleton, Vt., died May 25 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident on May 24. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team...

05/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. Frank J. Gasper, 25, of Merced, Calif., died May 25 in Najaf, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, Fort Carson, Colo.

05/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. Blake W. Evans, 24, of Rockford, Ill., died May 25 in Al Jazeera Desert, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment...

05/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Pfc. Kyle P. Norris, 22, of Zanesville, Ohio, died May 23 in Balad, Iraq, from wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device during a patrol May 22 in Jurf as Sakhr, Iraq. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion...