LATEST U.S. CASUALTY REPORT FROM IRAQ

The mainstream media has forgotten these KIA and wounded soliders, but we refuse to follow in lockstep with the mainstream media.

Casualty Reports: Click on BLUE for more details

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of three Multi-National Division – North Soldiers from small-arms fire in Hawija Iraq on Wednesday, June 4th. No other details were released.June 2 airpower summary:

lance corporal Gabriel Morse and the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines arrived in Iraq for their tour of duty in July 2006 and were based in Saqlawiyah, near Fallujah. Morse, himself, was struck by shrapnel from hand grenades on the back of his body from the waist down to his shin. He was first evacuated to a hospital near Baghdad, then to a hospital on a U.S. base in Germany. Morse has had to undergo multiple surgeries to repair the shrapnel wounds, including a half-dollar size, six-inch deep hole in his backside, he said. In addition, he also had to have exploratory operations to determine if any of his internal organs had been affected.None were, but he did have to have a loop colostomy for six months, Morse said. But Morse is still on what is called a medical hold and even though he has recovered from his physical injuries, he is being treated for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Sgt. Marcus Kuboy was hurt when his Humvee was bombed in Fallujah. He suffered significant back and leg injuries.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HIRES CONTRACTORS TO OVERSEE CONTRACTORS LIKE KBR IN IRAQ

The Department of Defense (DOD) now employs contractors to keep contractors in check in Iraq, under a new framework for war industry management solidified last month.

DOD Contracts Out Contractor OversightWednesday 04 June 2008by: Maya Schenwar, t r u t h o u t Report
http://www.truthout.org/article/dod-contracts-out-contractor-oversight

In April, the Pentagon split its largest military contract in Iraq - formerly belonging to the Houston-based corporation KBR, Inc. - among companies Fluor and DynCorp, in addition to KBR.A fourth company, the British-American service provider Serco, is responsible for managing and overseeing the other three, according to its contract, signed last year and now in effect.

Based on the contract, Serco's duties include planning activities, managerial work, performance reviews, training and budget recommendations. According to an Army Sustainment Command news release last year, Serco is responsible for "analyzing performance contractors' costs," "working with the Army to measure contractor performance" and "recommending process improvements." The company also serves as a liaison between the other three contractors, and between the contractors and the government.

The Serco deal marks a new level of Defense Department privatization, according to Dina Rasor, the chief investigator of the Follow the Money Project, who founded the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

"It's gotten to the point where we're actually outsourcing the oversight," Rasor told Truthout.
Serco plays a direct role in oversight activities previously reserved for government officials, according to Rasor. When government auditors and investigators request material from contractors in Iraq, Serco now acts as their intermediary, summarizing and interpreting the documents.

Click on link above to read full story.

CNN REPORTS: THREE U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ: SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 15 IN BAGHDAD: 12 BODIES FOUND IN MASS GRAVE IN BAGHDAD

Suicide bomber kills 15 in Iraq
Story Highlights
NEW: Bomb explodes near home of police official; children among those killed
NEW: 10 to 12 bodies found in mass grave in Baghdad, U.S. military says
Three U.S. soldiers killed in small-arms attack in Sunni town near Kirkuk
Their deaths bring U.S. toll to 4,090 since war began; six deaths so far in June

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/04/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) Three U.S. soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a small-arms fire attack in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.The incident occurred in Hawija, a predominantly Sunni Arab town near Kirkuk. The soldiers were part of Multi-National Division-North.

The number of U.S. service members killed in the Iraq war is 4,090, including eight civilian employees of the Defense Department. The number killed in June now stands at six.

A suicide truck bomb targeting a senior police officer in Baghdad on Wednesday killed 15 people and wounded at least 65 others.

An Interior Ministry official said the bomb targeted the home of Brig. Nazem Tayeh, who works for the ministry and is head of police rescue units.
When the bomb exploded, Tayeh was not at his home in the predominantly Shiite northeastern neighborhood of Shaab.

One of Tayeh's nephews was killed, and three children and two women injured were Tayeh's family members. Civilian bystanders, including a woman and a child, were also among the people killed. Eight buildings collapsed in the blast, and police pulled people from the rubble.

Also in Shaab, a mortar round killed two people and wounded five others. Among the injured were a woman and a child, the ministry said.

Iraqi National Police and U.S. soldiers found human remains in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.
A site was found with 10 to 12 bodies in a "water-filled well-like grave." The remains appear to have been buried for about two years.

CBS NEWS REPORTS: IRAQ SECURITY PACT PITS U.S. AGAINST IRAN

Iraq Security Pact Pits U.S. Against Iran

BAGHDAD, June 3, 2008
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/03/iraq/main4150401.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4150401

(AP) A proposed U.S.-Iraq security agreement is shaping up as a major political battle between America and Iran, as the debate over the future of troops here intensifies ahead of the fall U.S. presidential election.

The agreement, which both sides hope to finish in midsummer, is likely to be among the issues discussed this weekend when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is due to visit Iran - his second trip there in a year. Ahead of the visit, his party sought to calm worries by insisting that the deal would not allow foreign troops to use Iraq as a ground to invade another country - a clear reference to Iranian fears of a U.S. attack.

For their part, congressional Democrats have urged the Bush administration not to bypass Congress, which they believe should approve any deal. They fear a long-term security deal with Iraq - if it committed the U.S. to protecting Iraq - could make it difficult for the next president to withdraw U.S. forces. But the toughest words have come from Iraqi politicians, especially those loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric whose militiamen fought U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad until a May truce ended seven weeks of fighting.

A lawmaker from al-Maliki's party told reporters Tuesday that the Iraqis and the Americans are far apart on the security agreement. He said negotiations "are at a standstill, and the Iraqi side is studying its options." "The Americans have some demands that the Iraqi government regards as infringing on its sovereignty," lawmaker Haidar al-Abadi said. "This is the main dispute, and if the dispute is not settled, I frankly tell you there will not be an agreement." U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo described talks over the pact as "active" and said Tuesday that "texts are very much in flux." The deal would establish a long-term security relationship between Iraq and the United States, and a parallel agreement providing a legal basis to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

Click on link to CBS story for full account.

ALIVE IN BAGHDAD REPORTS: 5 MILLION IRAQI COLLEGE STUDENTS AFFECTED BY THE WAR

Baghdad, Iraq - Some of the people among Iraqi society most affected by the war are the students; there are about five million students all over Iraq.

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/

These students are facing a great danger because they go out in the streets regularly, heading to their schools, colleges, or universities. The girls are facing the risk of being kidnapped or attacked if they don’t wear a veil or scarf, the boys facing the risk of being kidnapped by the militias controlling the area around their school.

Unfortunately many accidents happened between the years of 2004 and 2007, such as the blast that took place in the Mustansariya University and killed 22 student and left more than 40 wounded, or the blast that took place at Al-Nahrein University and killed 15 and left about 50 wounded.

The other problems facing the students is transportation. For some students living in areas like Abu Ghraib or Ghazaliya, it’s too difficult for them to get to Baghdad University or any other university in the middle of Baghdad, because sometimes the roads are blocked due to the constant problems happening in those neighborhoods, such as car bomb attacks or battles occurring between insurgents and the US military.

When an attack happens, normally the US military or the Iraqi forces block the road or the neighborhood after a car bomb attack or a battle as a security and safety measure. In this situation, the students have to wait until the road is open again in order to continue on theri way to school. It became normal for a student to miss the first and the second class of the day due to the difficulties of the transportation and the road blocks.

Some students fled Iraq after they received death threats or were kidnapped by one of the militias. Some of them were lucky and have been able to continue their studies in Jordan or Syria.

The majority were not because most of them could not afford it or lost their high school or college certificates. Some projects such as the Iraqi Student Project are helping Iraqi students to get full scholarships in the US in order to continue their studies in the United States.

The security condition now in Baghdad appears to be much better than before. The Sahwa forces have helped with restoring security in some neighborhoods in and around Baghdad, and that helped the students improve the chance to go on with their studies.

However there are still a large number of students whom cannot reach their school, due to where they live in Baghdad or what school they are attending now. For example the schools in Sadr City are still controlled by the fear of being attacked or the risk of explosions and ongoing operations there.

Overall, the situation appears to be improving, and as this school year ends many are hopeful that the autumn will bring a more stable and comfortable learning environment.