WASHINGTON POST: IRAQ BANKS BILLIONS IN SURPLUSES

The United States is shelling out $9 BILLION DOLLARS a month to fight the war in Iraq and help in rebuilding Iraq and all the time the Iraqi government is salting away almost $90 BILLION DOLLARS in surplus profits from the sale of oil.

What's wrong with this picture?

Iraq Banks Billions in Surpluses, GAO SaysNation's Oil Revenue Rising Sharply While U.S. Funds Reconstruction Projects

By Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 6, 2008; A06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502493.html

Iraq's oil income will more than double this year, even as Baghdad continues to spend only a small percentage of its own money on reconstruction and services while it banks billions in surplus funds, according to projections by U.S. government auditors.

Between 2005 and 2007, only 10 percent of Iraq's expenditures went toward reconstruction, with just 1 percent spent on maintaining U.S. and Iraqi-funded investments in roads, water, electricity and weapons, according to a report released yesterday by the Government

Accountability Office. Even when Baghdad has allocated larger sums, the report said, it has spent only a small portion of the budgeted money.

Those trends, which the report said have continued during the first half of this year, are likely to fuel further congressional discontent over ongoing U.S. payments to rebuild Iraq. "It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement yesterday.

Click on link to continue reading story.

VIDEO: TRIBUTE TO OUR FALLEN SOLDIERS

The mainstream media seldom mentions the deaths of our fallen heroes from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and that in my opinion is a travesty bordering on treason.

This video is a touching and beaufiul tribute to our fallen heroes.

http://www.youtube.com/v/HkvVfqzjkG4&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrown in center of picture to activate video.

VIDEO "SURGING McCAIN"---THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT "THE SURGE"

This video is enlightening on many fronts because award-winning Real News journalist Pepe Escobar explains what really happened with "the surge" and shows how John McCain kept changing his position on the Iraq war.

The video also chronicles how the Sunni Awakening and other tribal groups took matters into their own hands long before "the surge" was launched, and how the U.S. military played only a minor role in the success of "the surge."

Pepe Escobar, who works for THE REAL NEWS NETWORK, has spent years in Iraq and was embedded with U.S. forces when they went into Baghdad.

The White House and FOX NEWS like to say the U.S. military brought about stability in Anbar Province, but as Escobar points out the U.S. military never set foot in Anbar Province and the peace was obtained by the tribal war lords running the Al Qaeda and other terrorist elements out of Anbar Province.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2006

PARIS HILTON RESPONDS TO McCAIN AD: NEW VIDEO

You knew it was going to happen, but did you know Paris Hilton, attired in a skimpy bikini, would mock John McCain in the HOTTEST video to hit the Internet in a long, long time.

We have the VIDEO it and here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/v/opcJlIWlY6Y&hl=en&fs=1

CLICK ON DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW IN CENTER OF PICTURE TO ACTIVATE VIDEO

HOW LONG WILL MEDIA CONTINUE TO LIE TO YOU?

The media continues to LIE to Americans about why Barack Obama is not ten or 20 points ahead in EVERY poll.

The media keeps saying it is because Obama is not that well known to the American public.

Who the hell are they kidding?

Obama has been all over the news for better than a year now and to say he is not that well known defies all logic and is patently absurd.

What the media can't seem to bring themselves to mention is how much racism is playing into why Obama is not miles ahead of McCain.

Every pollster says their polls can't factor racism into their poll results because people have a tendency to lie to a pollster when asked about race.

So Obama stays stuck a point or two ahead of McCain in just about every poll, and in some polls Obama is actually behind McCain.

I don't know about any of you reading this email, but I'm sick and tired of being lied to by the media who just can't bring themselves to talk about the "elephant in the room"------RACISM.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

BOOK SAYS WHITE HOUSE ORDERED FAKE LETTER TO GET U.S. INTO WAR WITH IRAQ

Book Says White House Ordered Forgery

by: Mike Allen, Politico.com
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12308.html

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

Suskind writes in "The Way of the World," to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery - adamantly denied by the White House - was designed to portray a false link between Hussein's regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

The author also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official "that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion."

The letter's existence has been reported before, and it had been written about as if it were genuine. It was passed in Baghdad to a reporter for The (London) Sunday Telegraph who wrote about it on the front page of Dec. 14, 2003, under the headline, "Terrorist behind September 11 strike 'was trained by Saddam.'"

The Telegraph story by Con Coughlin (which, coincidentally, ran the day Hussein was captured in his "spider hole") was touted in the U.S. media by supporters of the war, and he was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Over the next few days, the Habbush letter continued to be featured prominently in the United States and across the globe," Suskind writes. "Fox's Bill O'Reilly trumpeted the story Sunday night on 'The O'Reilly Factor,' talking breathlessly about details of the story and exhorting, 'Now, if this is true, that blows the lid off al Qaeda-Saddam.'"

According to Suskind, the administration had been in contact with the director of the Iraqi intelligence service in the last years of Hussein's regime, Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti.

"The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001," Suskind writes. "It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq - thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the Vice President's Office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link,"

Click on this link for full Politico story: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12308.html

WHITE HOUSE AND CHENEY ACCUSED OF FAKE LETTER

White House denies fake Iraq-al-Qaeda link letter

Vice President CHENEY'S office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq

ASSOCIATED PRESS
9:16 a.m. August 5, 2008
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080805-0916-whitehouse-iraq.html

WASHINGTON – The White House and the CIA on Tuesday adamantly denied a report that the Bush administration concocted a fake letter purporting to show a link between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

The allegation was raised by Washington-based journalist Ron Suskind in a new book, “The Way of the World,” published Tuesday. The letter supposedly was written by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, director of Iraqi intelligence under Saddam Hussein.

“The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001,” Suskind wrote. “It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al-Qaeda, something the vice president's office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link.”

Suskind said the letter's existence had been reported before, and that it had been treated as if it were genuine.

Denying the report, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said, “The notion that the White House directed anyone to forge a letter from Habbush to Saddam Hussein is absurd.”
Fratto and former CIA Director George Tenet also rejected Suskind's allegation that the U.S. had credible intelligence, before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that Saddam did not possess weapons of mass destruction. It was supposedly British intelligence, based on information from a senior Iraqi official.

Fratto said U.S. and other intelligence agencies believed Saddam harbored such weapons and that Saddam had tried to make his neighbors believe he had them. In the end, no such weapons were found, undercutting Bush's main reason to go to war.

Go back to link to read full report.

IRAQ TODAY: VIOLENCE ON THE RISE IN IRAQ

After a brief lull, violence is again on the rise all across Iraq.

IRAQ TODAY: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
is reporting the following list of violence in Iraq.

Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: Police also discovered the bodies of three awakening council members who were abducted several days ago, police Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said.

#2: One of Tuesday's blasts struck the commercial Bab al-Muadham district in the capital, killing one person and wounding five others, police and health officials said.

#3: Another roadside bomb went off on Palestine Street, a major thoroughfare in Baghdad, wounding seven people, authorities said.

#4: Monday Police found two unidentified bodies in Baghdad. The first body was found in Talbiyah and the second was found in Iskan.

#5: Two soldiers and one gunman were killed and 10 army personnel others wounded while security forces detained 21 people and defused several explosive charges during the past 24 hours, according to the Baghdad Operations Command on Tuesday. "Two army soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded while security forces killed a gunman, detained 19 wanted men and two suspects, and defused 23 improvised explosive devices in Baghdad and its districts," read a BOC statement as received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Youssifiyah:#1: Gunmen killed a senior leader of a U.S.-allied Sunni group and six of his guards in an ambush south of Baghdad, a group member said Tuesday. Unknown gunmen attacked the convoy of Sheik Ibrahim al-Karbouli in Youssifiyah on Monday, said the group member who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for his own security. The sheik was a senior leader of the so-called awakening council in the town, which is a former al-Qaida stronghold about 12 miles south of Baghdad.

Karbala:#1: A bomb planted in a minibus exploded and wounded four people on Monday in central Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.Suwayra:#1: Two handcuffed bodies were recovered from a river on Monday in Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said. A third body was found near the river.Hilla:#1: A man was found shot dead on Monday just south of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Basra:#1: Unidentified gunmen shot down a barber in the central part of the southern Iraq port city of Basra on Tuesday, police said. "The gunmen raided the barber's shop in the area al-Saymar in central Basra, killing the shop owner and escaping to an unknown place," a security source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqTouz

Khurmato:#1: The commander of the Touz Khormato medical corps escaped an assassination attempt in central Touz district, where a sticky improvised explosive device targeted his motorcade on Tuesday, a police source said. "Lt. Colonel Nijm Salaheddin survived an attempt on his life on Tuesday morning. The incident did not leave any casualties but caused material damage," the source, who asked that his name not be revealed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Kirkuk:#1: Militants killed three members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol who were guarding a checkpoint just southwest of Kirkuk, 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Unidentified gunmen slit the throats of three Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters on Tuesday in an attack on their checkpoint west of the city of Kirkuk, a senior security official said.

Mosul:#1: A suicide bomber wounded one U.S. soldier and one other person on Monday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

#2: The body of a young man was found in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: The body of a child was found in eastern Mosul on Monday, police said.

Irbil Prv:#1: One Iraqi civilian was wounded by rockets launched from Iran on Monday, an Iraqi border guard commander said. Major-General Omar Sharif, head of operations for Iraqi border guards in Iraq's Kurdish north, said on Tuesday about 120 Katyusha rockets had landed in Arbil province, close to the Iranian border.

"THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA" NEW BOOK USES RIGHT WING CHICAGO COLUMNISTS AS SOURCES

"The Case Against Barack Obama" author David Freddoso relied upon such right wing Chicago columnists as John Kass of the Chicago Tribune to help him in his research for a scathing attack on Barack Obama.

Freddoso also worked for Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, the radical right winger who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor and has retired.

Freddoso's book, "The Case Against Barack Obama," is filled with one fabrication after another and as Alan Colmes pointed out on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," the book also contains contradictions which render the book a waste of time and money.

The books just keep coming about Barack Obama and if racism or the mainstream media don't sink his bid for POTUS, the book publishing world will.

Bill Corcoran, Editor, CORKSPHERE

"THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA"

REVIEW By: Jonathan Martin http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11263.html
The same publisher that distributed the 2004 best-seller that took aim at John Kerry’s Vietnam service is planning

a summer release of what’s scheduled to be the first critical book on Barack Obama.Conservative journalist David Freddoso’s “The Case Against Barack Obama” will offer “a comprehensive, factual look at Obama,” according to Regnery Publishing president and publisher Marjory Ross.But the book’s subtitle makes clear its perspective: “The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate.”Ross contends that the mainstream media has offered insufficient scrutiny of Obama and likens the goal of Freddoso’s book to that of “Unfit for Command,” the scathing assessment of Kerry’s war record that rocketed to No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list.

By highlighting negative aspects of Obama’s record and background, Ross says, Freddoso may compel others to offer more critical coverage of the Democratic nominee.“I think it’s critically important that the country gets a clear and honest view of who is running and what they stand for — warts and all,” Ross says. “With ‘Unfit for Command,’ like ‘The Case against Barack Obama,’ we believe the media has whitewashed the candidate.”

But unlike the Kerry book, which was co-authored by a fellow Swift Boat veteran and focused exclusively on the Massachusetts senator’s actions in Vietnam and immediately after, “The Case Against Barack Obama” aspires to be a full-length political biography.

Freddoso has taken a leave from his job with National Review Online — where he has written posts with titles such as “Obama’s Problem with the Truth” — to write the book, which is scheduled to be published on Aug. 4.

A former writer for Human Events, Freddoso learned shoe-leather reporting at the knee of syndicated conservative columnist Robert D. Novak, for whom he worked as a political reporter on the “Evans-Novak Political Report.”

Freddoso’s book is being promoted by the well-connected conservative public relations firm Creative Response Concepts. The firm, headed by former GOP operative Greg Mueller, also handled publicity for “Unfit for Command” and media relations for the 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which in 2004 ran widely covered television advertisements featuring veterans who had served in Vietnam with Kerry, criticizing his conduct and character and claiming he had exaggerated his war record.

"THE OBAMA NATION" FILLED WITH FALSEHOODS

The printing presses are rolling and one book after another attacking Barack Obama are hitting the nation's bookstores.


The smears of Barack Obama have just begun and this is one of them.

Bill Corcoran, Editor, CORKSPHERE

Unfit for Publication: Corsi's The Obama Nation filled with falsehoods

Summary: In its preface, Jerome Corsi compares his new book, The Obama Nation, to his 2004 book Unfit for Command. The comparison seems apt: Just as Unfit for Command contains false attacks on Sen. John Kerry's military service, a Media Matters review finds that The Obama Nation similarly contains numerous falsehoods about Sen. Barack Obama.

Read the entire article here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005?lid=492732&rid=12058016

In the preface of his recently released book, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, author Jerome Corsi writes: "My intent in writing this book, as was the case in coauthoring Unfit for Command, is to fully document all arguments and contentions I make, extensively footnoting all references, so readers can determine for themselves the truth and validity of the factual claims."

Indeed, Corsi's comparison of the two books seems quite apt: Just as Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry contains false and baseless attacks on Sen. John Kerry's military service, a Media Matters for America review finds that Obama Nation similarly contains numerous falsehoods about Sen. Barack Obama.

Media Matters previously documented false and baseless charges Corsi made in Obama Nation about Obama's positions on the Global Poverty Act of 2007 and nuclear weapons. Media Matters also pointed out false statements Corsi made while discussing the book with Fox News host Sean Hannity, concerning Obama's position on abortion and Obama's memoir Dreams From My Father (Crown, 1995).

Below are additional falsehoods from Obama Nation, listed in the order in which they appear in the book:
The divorce
Corsi baselessly suggests that Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., may have divorced his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, "following the prescripts of Islamic sharia law." Corsi's sole source for this statement is a blogger who made the claim in a March 20 post, which featured the false headline, "BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA WAS MUSLIM FOR 31 YEARS" and misstated Obama's mother's name as "Shirley Ann." The blogger Corsi cited, "Majalah Bulanan Kumunitas Indonesia Di Edmonton," provided no substantiation for the claim that "the senior Obama divorced Dunham according to Sharia law."

On page 44, Corsi writes:
The circumstances of exactly how or why Stanley Ann ended her marriage with Obama's father, like much else in the narrative, remain unclear. One version is that Stanley Ann divorced Obama Senior in 1964, when Obama Junior was three years old and Stanley Ann realized Obama Senior had returned to Africa to rejoin the previously undisclosed wife he had abandoned in Kenya. The other version is that Obama Senior, following the prescripts of Islamic sharia law, divorced Stanley Ann when he returned to Africa in 1963 to begin his work as a bureaucrat in the Kenyatta government.4
The endnote for Corsi's claim reads as follows:
The first version, that Stanley Ann Dunham Obama divorced Obama Senior, is the version commonly found. The version that Obama Senior divorced Stanley Ann under sharia law is told in sources such as the following: Majalah Bulanan Kumunitas Indonesia Di Edmonton, "Barack Hussein Obama was Muslim for 31 Years," March 20, 2008, at http://www.indonesiaedmonton.org/berita/2008/03/20/barack-hussein-obama-was-muslim-for-31-years/.

In the blog post that Corsi cites, the author asserted:
The senior Obama married a fellow student, eighteen-year old Shirley Ann (Anna) Dunham of Witchita, Kansas. Dunham was an anthropology student. Obama Jr. was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu.

Two years later, the senior Obama divorced Dunham according to Sharia law and returned to Kenya the same year that Kenyatta took control as the first prime minister of a self-governing Kenya (June 1963).

In Dreams from My Father, Obama quotes his mother stating of Barack Obama Sr., "I divorced him":
The teapot whistled, and I stamped my envelope. Then, without any prompting, my mother began to retell an old story, in a distant voice, as if she were telling it to herself.

"It wasn't your father's fault that he left, you know. I divorced him. When the two of us got married, your grandparents weren't happy with the idea. But they said okay -- they probably couldn't have stopped us anyway, and they eventually came around to the idea that it was the right thing to do. Then Barack's father -- your grandfather Hussein wrote Gramps this long, nasty letter saying that he didn't approve of the marriage. He didn't want the Obama blood sullied by a white woman, he said. Well, you can imagine how Gramps reacted to that. And then there was a problem with your father's first wife ... he had told me they were separated, but it was a village wedding, so there was no legal document that could show a divorce ..." [Pages 125-126]

The dedication
On Pages 49-50, Corsi falsely claims that Obama did not dedicate Dreams from My Father to his mother or his grandparents. Corsi writes:
Interestingly, Obama did not dedicate Dreams from My Father to his mother, or to his father, Barack Senior, or to his Indonesian stepfather. Missing from the dedication are the grandparents who raised him in Hawaii, especially during the years his mother abandoned him to return to Indonesia to be with Lolo [Soetoro, Obama's stepfather].

In fact, while the 2004 edition of Dreams -- the version Corsi cites in Obama Nation (Part One, endnote 2, Page 306) -- does not contain a separate dedication page, on Page xvii, the last page of the book's introduction, Obama writes:
It is to my family, though -- my mother, my grandparents, my siblings, stretched across oceans and continents -- that I owe the deepest gratitude and to whom I dedicated this book. Without their constant love and support, without their willingness to let me sing their song and their toleration of the occasional wrong note, I could never have hoped to finish. If nothing else, I hope that the love and respect I feel for them shines through on every page [emphasis added].
Obama's sister

Corsi falsely claims that Obama does not mention the birth of his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, during the chapter in Dreams in which he discusses his time living in Indonesia. Corsi writes:
In the midst of the personal drama being played against the background of this Indonesian turmoil, on August 15, 1970, Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, was born to his mother and stepfather. Obama devotes the entire second chapter of his autobiography to his time in Indonesia, but remarkably, he makes no reference to Maya's birth [Page 48].

In fact, on Page 47 of Dreams, in the chapter discussing his time in Indonesia, Obama writes that "my mother and Lolo would remain cordial through the birth of my sister, Maya."

Continue reading this review here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808040005?lid=492732&rid=12058016

IRAQI REFUGEES FORCED INTO PROSTITUTION

Some families were lucky and found a job “under the table” that helped them to remain in their new country and to afford living in the lowest life standards. Others were forced to take difficult or unappealing jobs that do not cover all their expenses.

Iraqis without sponsors were forced to do work that no human would wish to do, such a working in drug trafficking or prostitution.

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2008/08/04/iraqi-refugees-forced-into-prostitution/

Some of the sex workers are under the age of 16, those sex workers are afraid of being hunted down by their families in Iraq for the work they performed in Syria or Jordan, and at the same time they are afraid of being deported from their new country.

Some sex workers committed suicide, and a number of them began to consider doing the same.In Damascus the average payment for sex workers is approximately 500 Syrian Pounds (10 US dollars) to 1000 Syrian Pounds (20 US dollars) per night.

The customers are from all different nationalities, others get paid much less, even just 100 Syrian Pounds (2 US Dollars) to 250 Syrian Pounds (5 US Dollars) which is barely enough money for food.

Alive in Baghdad has been informed that in several cases a sex worker has been killed after returning to Baghdad. Many militias such as the Islamic Army decided on killing some of them because they consider prostitution to be a great sin and the punishment is death.

Many families send the father or a brother back to Iraq to help them collect money and support their life in Damascus or Amman. The reason behind that is Iraqis are not allowed to work in those countries, the only visa the are permitted to apply for is the tourist visa, and if you will look at the visa stamp which says “Not allowed to work.”

Unfortunately, some fathers and brothers returned to Iraq and they never came back, either killed or kidnapped or detained somewhere, families were forced to return to Iraq because they cannot afford living in Syria or Jordan any more, and some remained rather than returning to the potential dangers in Iraq.

2 US SOLDIERS KILLED BY ROADSIDE BOMB IN BAGHDAD

Sad as this story is, it is just another example of how FOX NEWS and rest of right wing media continue to lie to the American public about how well "the surge" is going in Baghdad.

2 US soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Baghdad

Roadside bombs kill at least 9 Iraqis, 2 US soldiers in Iraq

KIM GAMELAP News
Aug 04, 2008 05:02 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=280292

The U.S. military said two American soldiers were killed and one was wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Monday, while Iraqi officials reported that at least nine Iraqis died in a separate series of bombings.

The deadliest attack was a roadside bombing against an Iraqi police patrol vehicle in Mahaweel, about 35 miles south of Baghdad that killed four policemen and three civilian bystanders, according to Iraqi police.

The U.S. military said it could not immediately confirm that attack.

The roadside bomb that killed the two American soldiers occurred shortly before 10 a.m. in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. It did not provide more details.

Iraqi police officials said the attack occurred on Palestine Street, a major thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad. Two Iraqis — a soldier and a civilian — also were killed, and seven others were wounded, according to the Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

The attacks came a day after a truck bomb explosion that killed 12 people and wounded 23 in Azamiyah, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold in northern Baghdad that has seen a sharp drop in violence after tribal leaders joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

FABULOUS VIDEO: CHARLIE CO. 391st ENGINEER BATTALION IN AFGHANISTAN

The combat engineers of the 391st Engineer Battalion are shown in Afghanistan as they carry out their mission.

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/v/g71b_yJMO-U&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in picture to activate video

VIDEO: McCAIN STUTTERS AND STAMMERS TRYING TO ANSWER REPORTERS QUESTION ON THE RACE CARD AND WHAT HE HAS EVER DONE FOR BLACK PEOPLE

During a recent campaign rally in Panama City, Florida, GOP hopeful Sen. John McCain stumbled and stammered and never did answer a reporter's question about what he has ever done for Black people and how Obama played the race card.

McCain's people still want 10 Town Hall meetings. What if he got a question like this at a Town Hall meeting and stuttered and stammered through the answer like he does on this video?

Watch video here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/JVgT__TZNdQ&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond=shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

PENTAGON PLANS TO SELL $9 BILLION IN WAR ARMS TO IRAQ

Iraq seeks buying $9 billion of US arms

Pentagon notifies Congress of proposed military sales to Iraq that include helicopters, tanks.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=27226

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Friday it has notified Congress of proposed military sales to Iraq valued at more than nine billion dollars, including helicopters, tanks and armored vehicles.

The biggest proposed sale was for 392 Light Armored Vehicles, radios and anti-tank weapons at an estimated cost of three billion dollars, the Defense Security and Cooperation Agency said.

Congress also was notified of a possible sale of 140 upgraded M1A1 Abrams tanks as well as armored Humvees, tracked logistics vehicles, armored ambulances, vehicles to carry shelters and command posts, and trucks to transport heavy equipment.

It was valued at 2.16 billion dollars.

A separate 2.4 billion dollar helicopter deal would provide the Iraqi government with 24 Bell Armed 407 helicopters or 24 Boeing AH-6 helicopters, along with engines, missiles, mortars, machineguns, and rocket launchers.

Another proposed sale involved technical assistance in the construction of garrisons, training areas and operational facilities for the Iraqi security forces.

"The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as 1.6 billion dollars," the DSCA said.

MORE SIGNS "THE SURGE" IS NOT WHAT MEDIA IS TELLING AMERICANS: 35 KILLED IN BAGHDAD BLAST

The mainstream media in concert with the Bush White House and the Bush White house parrot, FOX NEWS, continue to LIE to the American public about the success of "the surge."

On Sunday in a part of Baghadad, 35 people were killed following a bomb blast.

35 killed, wounded in northern Baghdad blast

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 03 /08 /2008 Time 10:17:17
http://tinyurl.com/5rog6c

BAGHDAD, Aug. 3 (VOI) – Nearly 35 civilians were killed or wounded in a car bomb blast that ripped through a northern Baghdad area, the Iraqi police said on Sunday.

"A car bomb parked near a passports department on al-Maghreb St. in Baghdad's northern area of al-Adhamiya detonated, killing 12 civilians and wounding 23 others, who are mostly in critical condition," a police source, who preferred anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq -

(VOI)."The explosion caused damage to six vehicles and several nearby stores," an official spokesperson for Baghdad's operations command, Maj. Gen. Qassem Ata, told VOI.

McCAIN SECURITY REMOVE BLACK REPORTER FROM RALLY

McCain security ousts BLACK reporter

By Paul Flemming FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU

SOURCES: http://floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20080802/CAPITOLNEWS/808020312 and http://www.legitgov.org/ Lori Price, Managing Editor

Tallahassee Democrat senior writer Stephen Price on Friday was singled out and asked to leave a media area at the Panama City rally of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Price was among at least three other reporters, and the only black reporter, surrounding McCain's campaign bus — Gov. Charlie Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome, were already aboard — when a member of the Arizona senator's security detail asked the reporter to identify himself. Price had shown his media credentials to enter the area.

Price showed his employee identification as well as his credentials for the Friday event.
"I explained I was with the state press, but the Secret Service man said that didn't matter and that I would have to go," Price said.

When another reporter asked why Price was being removed, she too was led out of the area. Other state reporters remained.

Jonathan Block does advance work for McCain's campaign. He was in Panama City on Friday but was not present when reporter Stephen Price was asked to move from a restricted area.

"Access to the senator is tightly controlled," Block said. "I would first express regret that your reporter was moved, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that race had nothing to do with it."

Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi said the incident was unwarranted.
"We're deeply concerned and disturbed that our reporter — of all of those in that area — was asked to move," Gabordi said. "My understanding is that Stephen was the only reporter approached and asked to leave the area, and the only reporter in that area who is black. Another reporter who stood up for Stephen was then asked to leave."

A Panama City police officer approached while Price was speaking to the security member. Panama City police were unavailable for comment Friday night.

Block said the area where Price was standing was restricted to members of the traveling national press corps that accompanies McCain on the campaign trail.

"At the end of the day, your reporter was in the wrong place. I do not know why the other reporters were not moved. The rest of the local press should have been moved as well," Block said.
The campaign advance man said there were many reasons that could have prompted Price being asked to move, depending on how visible his press identification was, whether he had a bag and possibly information about McCain's movement, which could have prompted the security person to move people in one area and not in another.

"It's really like a pressure cooker with security," Block said.

COMMENTARY: JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE BLATANT RACISIM IN THE McCAIN CAMPAIGN.

CNN: MINIBUS BOMBING IN BAGHDAD KILLS 12

FOX NEWS and much of the mainstream press keep telling the American public "the surge" has been a roaring success in Iraq, and in particular Baghdad.

This report proves how wrong FOX NEWS and the mainstream press can be:

Minibus detonates, killing 12 in Iraq

Story Highlights
Bus packed with explosives detonates in northeastern Baghdad, killing at least 12
Roadside bomb explodes near hospital in eastern Baghdad
Two people wounded by bomb in southeast Baghdad

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/03/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A minibus packed with explosives detonated in northeastern Baghdad Sunday morning, killing at least 12 people and wounding 22 others, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official.

Most of the victims of the blast near a passport office, were civilians, the official said.

Another roadside bomb exploded near eastern Baghdad's al-Kindi Hospital wounding nine people, the official said. Three police officers were among those hurt, he said.

Two people were wounded by a bomb that targeted but missed a convoy of SUVs in southeast Baghdad's al-Ghadir neighborhood Sunday morning, the official said.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed in a vehicle accident north of Baghdad Saturday, military officials said. Another soldier was injured in the mishap, the military said.

It is the first American troop death in Iraq for August. July marked the lowest monthly toll of the war in Iraq with 11 U.S. troop deaths -- six killed in hostilities and five others dying from non-battle related causes, according to figures released by the Pentagon.

THE WAR SHIFTS TO AFGHANISTAN---COMBAT VIDEO

The war has shifted to Afghanistan where it should have been fought from the beginning. The loss of 4,127 American lives in Iraq did not have to happen because Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and Iraq did not have a nuclear program or any weapons of mass destruction.

However, Afghanistan is where Usama bin Laden was hiding out and the focus of the U.S. military action should have been on Afghanistan from the beginning.

The terrain and the combat situation in Afghanistan is entirely different than in Iraq as you will see in this raw combat video taken as a U.S. patrol engages the Taliban in Afghanistan:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Emr1tFK5wBc&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to start video.

SOLDIERS IN BAGHDAD WATCHING VIDEO FROM MY BLOG

I just finished scanning the "hits" to my blog and I was excited to see some soldiers in Baghdad were watching the video on this post http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2008/04/video-86th-combat-support-hospital-iraq.html from my blog about a combat support hospital in Baghadad.

HERE IS THE VIDEO THE GIS WERE LOOKING AT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5P3VNcDvZ0

And here is another video of our brave combat support medics in Iraq:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcoZ2z0WA-4&feature=related

Maybe I'm just a sentimental old cuss, but every time I watch these videos it brings tears to my eyes because I'm just so damn proud of these kids.

These videos are suitable for children or anyone with a weak stomach.

VIDEO: OBAMA CAMPAIGN ANSWERS McCAIN NEGATIVE ATTACKS

Sen. Barack Obama is fighting many obstacles in his bid for President of the United States.

The media doesn't want to talk about "elephant in the room" but the polls suggest there is more racism in this country than anyone thought there was.

Why is it Obama is only a few points ahead, and in some states behind, McCain when the country is in the throes of a recession and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan still have not brought a reconciliation in Iraq and the Taliban is getting stronger in Afghanistan.

Race, or racism, is at the center of why Obama is not further ahead in the polls, but nobody will come right out and say it.

Rachel Maddow, the brilliant Air America and MSNBC contributor, has mentioned racism as the reason why Obama is not further ahead, but she is usually shouted down by the likes of Pat Buchanan and other right wingers who are oblivious to racism in the United States.

The Sen. John McCain campaign, which is now under the wing of former Swift Boat veterans who torpedoed John Kerry's bid for the White House in '04 with lies and more lies about Kerry's service in Vietnam, and Karl Rove, the master of dirty politics, has seized upon the "race card" and plan to use race to divide the country even more than the United States is already divided along racial lines.

The McCain campaign is a campaign designed to divide America and the formula they plan to use is to tap into all the "closet racists" or latent racists who are looking for any excuse NOT to vote for Barack Obama.

This video supports the Obama campaign and spells out how the Obama campaign plans to fight the negative and racist ads of the McCain campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFMUfjUI5Ro&eurl=http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x164359

POOR FOX NEWS!. AL QAEDA #2 MAY NOT BE DEAD AFTER ALL

Fox News was jumping up and down and claiming Al Qaeda #1 had been killed or captured.
But now CNN is reporting U.S. military says it was all a BIG mistake.

Someday FOX NEWS will quit ballyhooing events out of Iraq and Afghanistan before they have been confirmed.

No evidence of al Qaeda No. 2's illness or death, U.S. says

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/01/alzawahiri/index.html

Story Highlights
Officials say there is no evidence that Ayman al-Zawahiri is dead or wounded
CBS reports on letter that referred to al-Zawahiri by name in request for doctor
Letter reportedly says he was in "severe pain," suffering from infected wounds
The No. 2 al Qaeda chief has issued many recordings urging militants to fight U.S.

(CNN) -- U.S. counterterrorism officials said Friday they have seen no evidence to support a media report that al Qaeda's No. 2 official, Ayman al-Zawahiri, may be critically wounded or dead.

A senior intelligence official told CNN there is no evidence to support a CBS News report on al-Zawahiri, and no reason to believe it is true.

"This is utterly uncorroborated, and at this point there is no reason to believe that al-Zawahiri has been injured or killed," another intelligence official said.

According to the CBS report, a letter intercepted in Pakistan refers to the 57-year-old physician by name and requests a doctor, saying he is in "severe pain" and his "injuries are infected."

The July 29 letter was reportedly written by a local Taliban leader whose signature and seal are on the letter, CBS said. But the network said it had not been able to authenticate the signature or the seal.

Two Pentagon officials also said they were unaware of any credible reports of al-Zawahiri's death.

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States said his country was "unable to confirm or deny" the report.

"We are looking into the reports and will comment only after we have solid evidence either way," Husain Haqqani said.

A $25 million reward has been offered for Al-Zawahiri. He has delivered numerous messages on audio and video urging militants to continue the fight against the United States.

He narrowly escaped death in an attack in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in 2001 that left his wife and children dead.

He was imprisoned for his involvement in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

This week, al Qaeda reported on radical Islamist Web sites that a U.S. airstrike killed Abu Abdallah al-Shami, a "military leader" who had escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005.

WHERE ARE ALL THE BODIES?

If the "surge" was such a rip-roaring success, why is it we are not reading or hearing about all the members of Al Qeada or the insurgents who have been killed or captured?

AFGHANISTAN ATTACKS RISE: 19 AID WORKERS KILLED

Afghanistan attacks on the rise

A suicide bomb at the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul killed 60

http://tinyurl.com/553of6

Attacks by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have hit record highs this year with hundreds of civilians killed, including 19 aid workers.The violence is spreading insecurity which has hampered relief work, aid groups said.

Unrest had spread to once stable areas and welfare agencies were forced to scale back aid delivery even as drought and food price hikes put millions of people in difficulty, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (Acbar) said on Friday.

"So far this year the number of insurgent attacks, bombings and other violent incidents is up by approximately 50 per cent on the same period last year," said Acbar, a grouping of about 100 Afghan and international non-governmental organisations.

Anja Debeer, co-ordinator of Acbar in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera that the attacks had "greatly affected" the aid group's capability to operate and aid workers were being subjected to threats and kidnappings.

"Access to people in the greatest need of aid becomes more and more limited and so we will be less effective and efficient," she said.

BUSH'S DEMANDS FOR BASES IN IRAQ COULD TRIGGER OFF VIOLENCE

The relative calm in Iraq is hanging by a thread and it has nothing to do with the so-called success of "the surge."

Muqtada al-Sadr has promised to work with the Iraqi government but ONLY if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki agrees to stop President Bush's plan of establishing semi-permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

The mainstream media in the United States also fails to provide any information on the number of insurgents or members of Al Qaeda who were killed or captured during the "surge." All the American public hears about is how the "surge" was a roaring success, but in any war there are always casualties of the enemy but the "surge" apparently didn't bring about any casualties of the insurgents or Al Qaeda.

There is a report this morning that the top officials of Al Qaeda in Iraq have left and are now setting up operations along with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Firebrand cleric tells followers not to attack Iraqi government forces

By Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed Al Dulaimy McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/46011.html

BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr on Wednesday offered full support for Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government if it refuses to sign an agreement President Bush has sought to allow semi-permanent stationing of U.S. troops in Iraq. Sadr warned at the same time that he would oppose any agreement between Iraq and the United States.Sadr's followers have abandoned active resistance in recent months, as Maliki's government has asserted its authority in military offensives around the country. Sadr's statement, posted Wednesday on his Web site, said that elements of his insurgency had erred in targeting fellow Iraqis and called for a centralized resistance directed only against U.S. occupiers.

Declaring that resistance to an occupier "is a legitimate right by human reason and in Islamic and human law," he called on Shiite clerics to "issue their fatwas against signing any agreement between the government and the occupier, even if it is for friendship or any other purpose." » read more http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/46011.html

LIEBERMAN TO INTRODUCE BILL LINKING IRAQ TO 9/11

Lieberman To Introduce Resolution Praising Success Of Surge ‘Against Enemies Who Attacked America On 9/11′»

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/lieberman-surge-9-11/

This morning, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) held a press conference to express their “pleasure” about President Bush’s statement this morning regarding what he described as “encouraging news from Iraq” and “the success of the surge.”

Lieberman then announced that he and Graham would do their part in celebrating the surge by introducing a resolution in the Senate “recognizing” its “strategic success” in “the central front in the war on terror.” Then, Lieberman went slightly off course, not seeming to recognize just who attacked the United States on 9/11 and from where:

LIEBERMAN: That’s why Senator Graham and I are introducing a resolution recognizing the strategic success that the surge has achieved in a central front — the central front of the war on terror against the enemies who attacked America on 9/11/01, and expressing our thanks to our troops who’ve made that success possible.

It might insult someone’s intelligence to point out the obvious fact that the terrorists who carried out the September 11, 2001 terror attacks operated out of Afghanistan, not Iraq. And despite the right wing’s insistence, even the Pentagon has confirmed that “no direct link” ever existed “between late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Al-Qaeda network.”

But Lieberman’s claim indicates that he does not understand the wider problem — namely that the surge prevented the U.S. from sending more troops where they are needed, in Afghanistan. In January 2007, just one week after Bush announced his surge policy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that “U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have recommended an increase in U.S. force levels, in part to deal with an expected upsurge in Taliban violence.”

But the troops went to Iraq at the expense of Afghanistan and since then, the security situation there has become worse than its ever been since 2001. U.S. commanders and even Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen have recently acknowledged that they do not have the troops or resources necessary to combat the Taliban and Al-Qaida threat in Afghanistan because of Iraq. Moreover, a new report directly links the troop shortages there to the Taliban’s comeback.
Instead of crafting resolutions declaring victory in “the central front in the ‘war on terror,’” perhaps Lieberman and Graham should spend more time figuring out where that “central front” is.

NEWSWEEK: DRESSED TO KILL IN IRAQ: PROFILE OF FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS

Dressed to Kill
Why the number of female suicide bombers is rising in Iraq.

Farhana Ali
Special Guest Columnist
Updated: 12:16 PM ET Jul 30, 2008
http://www.newsweek.com/id/149531

Muslim female suicide bombers are on the rise. Even before women attackers claimed dozens of lives in Monday's coordinated attacks on Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and political protesters in Kirkuk, women had carried out more than 20 missions in Iraq this year—the most violent one yet for the women of Al Qaeda. But for those of us who have studied the phenomenon, the assaults should not come as a surprise.

For almost 10 years, we have warned that women would start playing a more aggressive role in groups like Al Qaeda. As more men are captured or killed by security forces worldwide, it was inevitable that terror groups would consider other options to keep their cause alive.

Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda in Iraq leader notorious for his videotaped beheading of a foreign captive, may have been one of the first to recruit women, but his death in 2006 hardly brought the drive to an end.

From 2003 to 2006, the rate of female suicide bombers in Iraq was relatively low—five attacks in three years. But in 2007, the increase was exponential. And by the end of this year, there will likely be 50 or more attacks conducted by women mujahidaat in Iraq.

Female fighters are hardly new; Muslim women have proved adept and astute warriors since the birth of Islam in seventh-century Arabia. That, however, fails to answer the question about why modern women—the givers of life—are willing to commit suicide for their cause. Many non-Muslims believe that men choose this course for religious reasons, in the hope that 72 virginal houris will greet them as martyrs in paradise.

Women, however, do not choose suicide for reasons of faith or feminism. Too few Western scholars acknowledge that women conduct acts of violence to protect their men, country and future generations.

While much is unknown about suicidal mujahidaat, there is no doubt that many choose this course to avenge the loss of male family members—especially their sons. A simpler argument revolves around the word "protest."

Women in Iraq today are either using violence to protest the loss of their society or the loss of their country to an occupation they don't believe in. Recall that the first two female bombers in March 2003, who detonated themselves days after U.S. forces entered Baghdad, declared on television that their primary motive was to protect Iraq from a foreign invader.

Continue reading NEWSWEEK story here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/149531

WASHINGTON POST: WHAT BUSH DIDN'T TELL AMERICANS ABOUT IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENTS

President Bush stepped into the Rose Garden this morning to make what was called a major announcement about Iraq.

What it boiled down to is deployment of troops to Iraq will have their tours cut from 15 months to 12 months.

WHAT BUSH DIDN'T SAY IS THAT THE 160,000 TROOPS NOW IN IRAQ WILL STILL HAVE TO SERVE 15 MONTHS.

Bush Says Stability in Iraq Allows for Shorter Deployments

By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, July 31, 2008; 10:24 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/31/AR2008073100609.html

President Bush declared today that the gains in Iraq had reached "a degree of durability" allowing shortened military deployments and possibly leading to further U.S. reductions this fall.

"We are now in our third consecutive month with reduced violence levels holding steady," Bush said in a statement delivered outside the Oval Office, moments before he flew to West Virginia to give a speech on energy.

Bush also noted that the Pentagon today is beginning a new policy that will shorten Iraq troop deployments from 15 to 12 months "to relieve the burden on our forces and it will make life easier for our wonderful military families."

The shortened deployment schedule does not apply to troops already in Iraq, but only those who are headed there, officials said.

HILARIOUS VIDEO FROM AIR AMERICA ON JOHN MCCAIN

The mainstream media is "in the tank" for John McCain, but Air America isn't.

Air America has released this video which captures the true essence of John McCain and what he stands for:

http://www.youtube.com/v/mgF39TRCPPE&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video.

CNN REPORTS: $580 MILLION OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS WASTED ON IRAQ REBUILDING PROJECTS

Report: U.S. 'wasted' $560 million on Iraq repairs

Story Highlights
Special inspector general says poor security led to damaged facilities
Government "did not fully anticipate ... unstable working environment," report says
It reflects some optimism about improved conditions, increases in oil money
2008 oil revenues could exceed $70 billion, report says

From Joe Sterling and Adam Levine CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/30/iraq.reconstruction/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States has "wasted" more than half a billion dollars in Iraq repairing facilities that were damaged because of poor security, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction says in a report released Wednesday.

Stuart Bowen's quarterly report arrived at a price tag of $560 million by tallying the results of more than 100 audits his office has conducted.

Further billions had to be diverted from reconstruction to security because the Bush administration did not adequately foresee how volatile Iraq would be when it began rebuilding the country, the report says.

"The U.S. government did not fully anticipate or plan for the unstable working environment that faced U.S. managers when reconstruction began in Iraq," it says.

Contractors spent an average of 12.5 percent of their reconstruction contracts on security, the inspector general found.

Bowen's team also criticizes the government for poor coordination between agencies.
The lack of cooperation "contributed to delays, increased costs, terminated projects, and completed projects that did not meet program goals," the report says.