President George W. Bush last week asked Congress to approve $ 70 billion in funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the U.S. fiscal year 2009, which begins on October 1, 2008.
By Kaleem Omar
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=167952
The Iraq war has already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $ 500 billion dollars, and there is still no end in sight to the U.S.’s utterly illegal occupation of Iraq.
According to congressional analysts, the eventual total cost of the Iraq war and the occupation could be as high as $ 1.5 trillion – that’s $ 1,500 billion.
Click on link above for full report or from Citizens for a Legitimate Government at http://www.legitgov.org/
Monday, May 5, 2008
CITIZENS FOR LEGIT GOV REPORTS: IRAQ OCCUPATION COSTS US WHOPPING $5.54 MILLION AN HOUR
NEW VIDEO: US FORCES BRING DEATH TO IRAQI SADR CITY CIVILIANS
Baghdad's Sadr City death toll mounts
10 people killed on Sunday; over 925 killed since al-Maliki's offensives began in March
Monday May 5th, 2008
SEE THE REAL NEWS VIDEO HERE: http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1443&thisview=item
In continuing violence in Baghdad's Sadr City, 10 people, including two children were killed on Sunday. Over the past 5 weeks, the US military and Iraqi forces have been cracking down on the Mahdi army militia in this densely populated neighborhood. Since the offensive's inception, over 925 have been killed, and 2,600 have been wounded.
Transcript:VOICEOVER: Ten people, including two children, were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday as the US military and Iraqi forces continue cracking down on the Mahdi Army militia.
Since Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki's offensives against the militia began five weeks ago, over 925 people have been killed and 2,600 wounded. The Mahdi Army is led by popular Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who last year declared a ceasefire that is largely credited with reducing sectarian violence in Iraq.
REUTERS REPORTS: IRAN SAYS TALKS WITH US MEANINGLESS: IRAN SAYS US MASSACRED HUNDREDS OF IRAQIS
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Monday dismissed any prospect of new talks with the United States on Iraq, accusing U.S.-led forces on Monday of a "massacre" of the Iraqi people.
Iran says new talks with U.S. on Iraq meaninglessMon May 5, 2008 11:26am EDT
By Hossein Jaseb
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0528762620080505
The two foes last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades, but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has failed to get off the ground.
Iraq says it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran's disputed nuclear program.
"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.
"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless."
Hosseini did not elaborate, but U.S. forces have been fighting daily battles with militiamen loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad for several weeks.
BREAKING WAR NEWS AND US CASUALTY REPORTS FOR MONDAY
War News for Monday, May 05, 2008
Casualty Reports:
Cpl. Steven Kiernan, 20, lost his left foot and right leg below the knee after he was injured by an explosive device while on ground patrol in Fallujah at 11 a.m., according to his family. He also suffered shrapnel wounds.He was transported to Baghdad for medical treatment. He was critically injured in Iraq on Sunday (5-4-08)
Baghdad:#1: Iraqi health officials on Monday said 41 people, including women and children, have been wounded since Sunday in the militia stronghold of Sadr City, mostly in clashes.
#2: The military confirmed Monday that two Iraqi civilians were wounded in a Hellfire missile attack late Sunday in Baghdad's southwestern Aamel neighborhood and were evacuated to a military hospital.
#3: Clashes erupted before noon Monday in the militia stronghold of Shula and heavy gunfire could be heard. Apache attack helicopters circled the center of Shula and U.S. armored vehicles blocked entrances into the neighborhood, an Associated Press photographer witnessed.
#4: Earlier Monday, U.S. soldiers called for air support after coming under fire from a rocket propelled grenade and small arms in Kazimiyah district. More than one hour later, one militant was killed with 40 mm cannon rounds from an AC-130 gunship, the military said.
#5: In other violence on Monday, an Abrams tank fired a 120 mm round from its cannon, killing two militants who attacked a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb between the militia strongholds of New Baghdad and Sadr City, the military said.At around 1:00 am on Monday, two more militiamen were killed after a roadside bomb struck a US military vehicle in the district, Stover said.
#6: The U.S. military killed six other militants in separate clashes on Sunday. In Aamel, an attack aircraft fired three Hellfire missiles at Shiite extremists who opened fire from a building, killing three of them, the military said Monday.Five people were killed including three members of one family (parents and their child) and eight others were wounded when the American forces bombed Amil neighborhood in west Baghdad. The US military said in an e-mailed statement that the American soldiers responded to an attack from one of the buildings, killing three insurgents.
#7: A roadside bomb wounded two soldiers on patrol on the northwestern outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.
#8: A roadside bomb wounded three people, including two children, in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna district on Sunday, police said.
#9: A mortar bomb wounded five people on Sunday in Ghadir district in eastern Baghdad, police said.
#10: The Iraqi army killed six militants and detained 149 others in separate incidents across the country over the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
#11: Two policemen were wounded when gunmen opened fire targeting a police patrol in Bab al Sheikh neighborhood in downtown Baghdad on Sunday evening.
Diyala Prv:#1: Three soldiers were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast that targeted their vehicle near the village of Qurrat Tabbah, northeast of Baaquba an Iraqi army source said. “An IED went off on Monday near a patrol of the Iraqi army’s 32nd Brigade on the main road between the villages of Qurrat Tabbah and Lahib, injuring three personnel,” Maj. Kamran Ali told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.Seven Iraqi soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb that targeted their patrol in Qara Tabba area around 12:00 p.m.
#2: An IED blast had ripped through an area near Qurrat Tabbah earlier on Monday, wounding two civilians.
#3: Gunmen kidnapped three truck drivers while they were coming from Khanaqin town towards Qara Tabba area, 93 miles northeast of Baquba city on Monday morning.Balad Ruz:#1: Three policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted their patrol in Baladroz town 28 miles east of Baquba around 11:15 a.m.
Basra:#1: Militants fired two rockets at a water treatment plant in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, but failed to cause any damage, the British military in Basra said.Shatt al-Arab waterway :
#1: The Iranian Coast Guard shot dead two Iraqi fishermen and wounded another on Sunday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq, police in the port city of Basra said. It was not clear why they had opened fire, but in previous incidents, the Coast Guard shot at fishermen who entered Iranian territorial waters, the police said.
Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb blast killed one policeman and wounded five others when it hit their patrol in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.One policeman was killed and seven others wounded on Monday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their patrol in central Kirkuk, police said. A police patrol was the target of an IED attack near the al-Matar street, central Kirkuk, as one policeman was killed and seven others injured,” a security source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.
Mosul:#1: Meanwhile, the same source said, an IED went off near a military patrol in the western Mosul area of Badosh, causing severe damage to a patrol vehicle but left no casualties.
#2: Gunmen stormed an apartment and shot dead three women and wounded two others in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
Afghanistan:#1: A contracted helicopter made an emergency landing in Konar province after coming under fire from insurgents. The helicopter made a landing at an ISAF base, in central Konar, after taking machine-gun fire from an unknown number of insurgents. The aircrew inspected the aircraft and found one bullet hole that did minor damage to the helicopter. No one aboard the contracted helicopter was injured and repairs are underway to get the helicopter operational.
#2: Four children and three policemen were killed in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday by two accidental munitions blasts, the Interior Ministry said. One of the blasts happened as children knocked the munition against a rock in a residential area that was the scene of bitter fighting between rival Afghan factions in the 1990s, it said. The other blast was caused after a rocket fell from the hands of a policeman in the main anti-drugs force base in Kabul, the ministry said in statement.A policeman dropped a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded as his unit set off from Kabul on Monday on an opium poppy eradication mission north of the city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary. One policeman was killed and at least eight were wounded, said Dr. Ahmad Zia Aftali, chief of the hospital where the injured were taken for treatment. However, Khodadad, a policeman who goes by one name and witnessed the blast, said more than 15 were hurt.
Also Monday, three children died and two others were wounded when an old artillery shell they were playing with exploded, Bashary said. Another police official, Sayed Ekramudin, said two civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in an explosion Sunday at a refuse dump in the city's northern outskirts. Ekramudin said a truck had hit a buried explosive.
CARTOON: THE WRIGHT DISTRACTION AT THE WRONG TIME. WILL SOMEBODY TELL THE MEDIA WE ARE AT WAR
Would somebody let the mainstream media in the United States know we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tune into FOX NEWS, MSNBC and CNN and all you get is non-stop coverage of the Obama/Hillary races for POTUS.
In fact, for months the media in the United States has given the cold shoulder to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would take a monumental event for the three cable news outlets to break their non-stop reporting on politics to cover anything that is happening in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
We still have 160,000 troops deployed to Iraq and 30,000 deployed to Afghanistan, but you would never know it by watching FOX NEWS, MSNBC or CNN. They don't care.
Apparently all the moguls at the cable news stations feel wearing an American flag lapel pin is all they have to do to show their support for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead, the media, especially FOX NEWS, have gone totally off the rails rehashing the Rev. Jeremiah Wriight comments and how it will impact on the Barak Obama campaign.
This Mike Luckovich cartoon sums up EXACTLY how the media is looking at events that really are important to the American public:
http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20080505_the_wright_distraction_at_the_wrong_time/
US MILITARY KILLS 6 SADR CITY CIVILIANS INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN
The slaughter of Iraqi women and children by the US military continued on Monday as six Sadr City civilians were killed by US troops. Included in the deaths were women and children.
US kills 6 Sadr City residents Mon, 05 May 2008 12:33:12
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=54384§ionid=351020201
US military operations have left at least 6 Iraqi civilians dead and 40 wounded including women and children in Baghdad's Sadr City. Iraqi security and medical officials confirmed the civilians were killed and injured during 12 hours of intense US operations overnight that ended at 8 a.m.
(5:00 GMT) on Monday. The US military was not immediately available for comment. Since March 25, Sadr City has been a target of US military attacks and the populated slum area has frequently been pounded by US aircraft or artillery, leading to heavy loss of civilian life.
IRAQ OFFICIAL SAYS NO CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE IRAN IS SUPPLYING MILITIAS WITH ARMS
There seems to be a difference of opinion between the Bush administration and Iraqi officials when it comes to whether Iran is supplying militias inside of Iraq with arms.
The Bush administration, who want desperately some reason to launch an attack on Iran, have been saying for weeks that Iran is supplying militias in Iraq with weapons.
Iraqi officials say there is no proof it is true.
Iraqi official says Iran arms evidence not conclusive
Iraqi official says no conclusive evidence on some Iran arms to militias
SAMEER N. YACOUBAP News
May 04, 2008 13:10 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=154536
A top Iraqi official said Sunday there was no conclusive evidence that Shiite extremists have been directly supplied with some Iranian arms as alleged by the United States.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq does not want trouble with any country, "especially Iran."
Al-Dabbagh was commenting on talks this week in Tehran between an Iraqi delegation and Iranian authorities aimed at halting suspected Iranian aid to some Shiite militias.
Asked about reports that some rockets made in 2007 or 2008 and seized in raids against militias were directly supplied by Iran, al-Dabbagh replied: "There is no conclusive evidence."
The U.S. accuses Iran of financing and training Shiite militants in Iraq and of funneling lethal weapons into the country. Iranian officials have denied the allegations.
IT WASN'T LIKE THIS WHEN SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS IN CHARGE OF IRAQ
The rot gnawing away at Baghdad's innards
Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Al-Batawin's main thoroughfare Al-Sadun Street bustled with restaurants, hotels, upmarket stores and -- most famously -- medical centres.
Today just a scattering of businesses still bother to open their doors, residential blocks stand empty, and those buildings that are occupied have few tenants willing to risk living above the first floor.
by Bryan Pearson Sun May 4, 7:11 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080504/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestbaghdadbuildings
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Its traditional wooden-balconied Shanasheel houses in ruins, other buildings crumbling and muddied streets reeking of rubbish, Al-Batawin neighbourhood in the centre of Baghdad is an abject picture of just how far the rot has set in to the once-proud Iraqi capital.
Electricity is supplied only sporadically and water in a trickle, and there are no other services to speak of, so it makes no sense to live too far from the ground in what is now a rapidly eroding urban wasteland.
Most Iraqis know Al-Sadun Street for its medical centres and pharmacies. Many travelled from afar and waited in long queues to see a doctor. And after the consultation there were some 200 pharmacies within a few blocks ready to fill the prescriptions.
Not any more. The 2003 invasion and the sectarian violence it subsequently spawned changed all that. Today most of the doctors have left and just 20 pharmacies remain.
"Before 2003 you could hardly move here, there were so many people coming to see the doctors," said 65-year-old Hussein Abdel Hussein, a wizened bony man with bulging eyes and calloused hands who is caretaker in Al-Janabi Building, once the most famous medical centre but now the most derelict.
"Patients came from all over Iraq. There were so many people we often had to warn people to look after their property because there were thieves about," said Hussein, his voice heavy with nostalgia and too many cigarettes.
Today the thieves no longer bother, and Hussein saves his wheezing breath.
"There are now only seven doctors left and each of them sees only two or three patients a day," said the caretaker who lives in the building with his son -- Al-Janabi's only full-time tenants.
Doctors these days open their doors for only a few hours in the afternoon. With no electricity and few patients, there is little point in hanging about after dark.
Click on link to read full story.
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