WATCH AS COST OF WAR GROWS AND TRADE OFFS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

If you are interested in how much the Iraq war is costing you, and how many services the cost of the war could provide to you and your community, then click on this link: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

ANOTHER DAY OF VIOLENCE ALL ACROSS IRAQ

The mainstream media and the Bush administration keep telling the American public that all is well in Iraq, but Iraqwarnewstoday http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/ reports an entirely different picture.

BE SURE TO CLICK ON "BLUE" FOR EXPANDED INFORMATION ON EACH INCIDENT

Reported Security IncidentsBaghdadUpdate: U.S. soldier killed by explosively formed penetrator in northeast Baghdad.

No further details at this time.Car bomb near the Iranian embassy kills 2 civilians, injures 5. Note: There have been attacks in this vicinity previously. Not clear whether the embassy is the target. -- C And indeed, al Jazeera reports that the incident actually occurred in a parking lot used by the Iraqi Defense Ministry. This would seem to be the actual target.

U.S. Army says a helicopter crash "south of Baghdad" has injured two soldiers. The cause is under investigation. As they say 100% of the time, mechanical failure is suspected. That is just a ritual incantation which gives no indication of what may actually have happened. --

CFour civilians injured by car bomb in al-Tashria neighborhood, western Baghdad.Roadside bomb attack on police patrol in al-Ghazali, central Baghdad, injures four police officers.

Hit (Anbar Province)Suicide bomb attack on a police checkpoint kills 14, including 4 police, injures 10. The dead include a senior officer. The U.S. says it has sent reinforcements to the area. Reuters says 9 police were killed, identifies the "senior officer" as the city's Chief of Police. Also says11 police and 7 civilians injured.

Authorities have imposed a curfew on the city.al-Mafraq, near BaqubaFighting erupts between police and Sahwa council fighters. One child is killed and 3 civilians injured. Now this is fairly ominous. Many people have been concerned that by arming local Sunni militias, the U.S. created a potential for eventual armed conflict with government forces. Evidently so. --

CBaqubaRoadside bomb kills a woman.

KirkukRoadside bomb attack on a police patrol injures 6 police and 2 civilians.

Shurqat (near Mosul)After their patrol is attacked, Iraq police arrest 70 "suspected gunmen. Uh huh. How about they went out and grabbed everybody they could find?

BRITISH TROOPS ARE RESIGNING AT AN ALARMING RATE

Iraq and Afghanistan troops under pressure as more resign from Forces

By Aislinn Simpson
Last updated: 2:48 AM BST 30/05/2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/frontline/2051295/Iraq-and-Afghanistan-troops-under-pressure-as-more-resign-from-Forces.html

Almost a thousand servicemen have left the Armed Forces since the start of the year, prompting fears for the safety of troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Government figures released on Thursday showed that the number of full-time trained personnel leaving the services had accelerated.

From January to April 1, provisional figures showed that staff levels had fallen from 174,910 to 173,960, leaving the Armed Forces more than 5,000 troops short of its own target. The casualty rate in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the 97th soldier died this week, and the low pay of infantry soldiers have been identified as factors persuading recruits to leave early.

The latest losses represent a significant increase in the rate of departure from the Armed Forces. In the period between last October and January this year, the number of full-time service personnel increased by 130. The figures follow a report by the Commons Defence Committee, which said earlier this year that it was “deeply concerned” that the Armed Forces had been operating above the level of their resources for seven of the past eight years.

AUSTRALIAN TROOPS PULLOUT OF IRAQ

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - About 500 Australian combat troops pulled out of their base in southern Iraq on Sunday, fulfilling an election promise by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring the soldiers home this year.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/australia/articles/2008/06/01/australian_troops_begin_iraq_pullout/

A British military spokesman in the southern city of Basra said the pullout from Talil base in Nassiriya was under way, but a spokesman for the governor of Dhi Qar province said it had been completed, with U.S. forces replacing the Australians
.
"The Australian battle group is pulling out," the British military spokesman said.

McCAIN CAMPAIGN'S REACTION TO SENATOR'S MISTATEMENT ABOUT IRAQ: "SO WHAT?"

McCain Campaign Responds To Senator’s Inaccurate Iraq Statements: ‘So What?’»

Yesterday at a townhall meeting in Wisconsin, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed that troops in Iraq are already down to “pre-surge levels”:

So I can tell you that it is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it’s succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr city are quiet and it’s long and it’s hard and it’s tough and there will be setbacks.

Watch VIDEO OF McCAIN HERE: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/30/mccain-call-nitpicking/

This assertion is wrong. There are now 155,000 troops in Iraq — far above the 130,000 before the surge.

But today on a conference call with reporters, the McCain campaign tried to dismiss this factually inaccurate statement. “So what?” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), a strong McCain supporter. “What does that amount to?”
He added that McCain just “misspoke.” According to adviser Randy Scheunemann, McCain meant to say that troops will be eventually drawn down to pre-surge levels. From his response to the AP’s Liz Sidoti:
SIDOTI: Randy, I’m a little confused here. If the question is over the tense of the statement, why is he not wrong?
RANDY: If the question is, are we drawing down to pre-surge levels? The answer is, yes. If the question is, have we drawn down? The answer is, yes. Liz, I don’t know how to make it any clearer than that. […]
SIDOTI: He said, “We have drawn down to pre-surge levels.” And what you’re saying is, we will have drawn down to pre-surge levels by June — or, I’m sorry, by July. He was speaking in the present tense: “We have drawn down to pre-surge levels.”
RANDY: And if we want to talk about verb tenses, we can talk about verb tenses. Everybody knows — it’s been publicly announced since before April — Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker testified about it extensively. It is very well-known where we are in the surge force levels and that we are drawing down to pre-surge levels. That has not been fully completed yet, but will be completed within no more than 60 days.

CNN REPORTS CAR BOMB EXPLODES NEAR IRANIAN EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD: US HELICOPTER CRASHES NEAR BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb killed two people and wounded five others when it exploded near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad Sunday, the interior ministry said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/01/iraq.main/index.html

Also on Sunday, a U.S. military helicopter crashed south of Baghdad, wounding two American soldiers, the military said.

In a news release, the military said mechanical failure may have been the cause of the crash. However, authorities plan on investigating further to determine the actual reason.