IRAQ IS FALLING APART AGAIN

The Bush administration and their mouthpiece, FOX NEWS, can do all the chest-thumping they want about how well things are going in Iraq, but the reality is Iraq is falling apart again.

The Sunni faction is fed up with the U.S. military and the Iraqi government, such as it is.

Many Sunni "fighters" no longer are interested in bringing stability to Iraq and are leaving their posts.

The handwriting is on the wall. Iraq is now headed for another major crisis, and caught right in the middle of the upcoming crisis are 160,000 brave young Americans who have been deployed to Iraq.

And STILL the media in the United States ignores what is happening in Iraq. This Washington Post story is the first major newspaper story about Iraq in months.

Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com/, a blog dedicated to not letting the troops down in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sunni Forces Losing Patience With U.S.Citing Lack of Support

Frustrated Iraqi Volunteers Are Abandoning Posts

By Sudarsan Raghavan and Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Foreign ServiceThursday, February 28, 2008; A01

http://tinyurl.com/yp6rtf

BAGHDAD, Feb. 28 -- U.S.-backed Sunni volunteer forces, which have played a vital role in reducing violence in Iraq, are increasingly frustrated with the American military and the Iraqi government over what they see as a lack of recognition of their growing political clout and insufficient U.S. support.

Since Feb. 8, thousands of fighters in restive Diyala province have left their posts in order to pressure the government and its American backers to replace the province's Shiite police chief.

On Wednesday, their leaders warned that they would disband completely if their demands were not met.

In Babil province, south of Baghdad, fighters have refused to man their checkpoints after U.S. soldiers killed several comrades in mid-February in circumstances that remain in dispute.

Some force leaders and ground commanders also reject a U.S.-initiated plan that they say offers too few Sunni fighters the opportunity to join Iraq's army and police, and warn that low salaries and late payments are pushing experienced members to quit.

The predominantly Sunni Awakening forces, referred to by the U.S. military as the Sons of Iraq or Concerned Local Citizens, are made up mostly of former insurgents who have turned against extremists because of their harsh tactics and interpretation of Islam.

The U.S. military pays many fighters roughly $10 a day to guard and patrol their areas.

Thousands more unpaid volunteers have joined out of tribal and regional fealties.

U.S. efforts to manage this fast-growing movement of about 80,000 armed men are still largely effective, but in some key areas the control is fraying. The tensions are the most serious since the Awakening was launched in Anbar province in late 2006, according to Iraqi officials, U.S. commanders and 20 Awakening leaders across Iraq.

Some U.S. military officials say they are growing concerned that the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has infiltrated Awakening forces in some areas.

NEW IRAQ CASUALTY REPORT: VIOLENCE HITS BAGHDAD AND OTHER PROVINCES

The hopes and dreams of this blogger is that someday the mainstream media will again start covering what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, but until that time comes, if ever, we will continue to bring to readers of this blog the latest information about death, mayhem, chaos and violence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

U.S.Casualty Reports From Iraq: More Violence in Baghdad and Across Iraq

Pfc. Jake Williams was spending his 20th birthday – Aug. 13, 2007 – on combat patrol in the Iraqi desert when a bomb blast tore through his Humvee. “I remember looking down at my (right) hand, just hanging there,” said Williams, of Sun City in Riverside County. Half a year later, minus his amputated hand, he's out of combat but still among his military buddies.

Army Spc. Saul Martinez, 23, of Bloomington, who lost both of his legs following a roadside bomb blast in Iraq last May. Shrapnel riddled Williams' body and mangled his hand. Worse, a jagged piece of metal pierced his neck. His friends had to cut a hole in his throat to let him breathe.

Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb struck a minibus carrying travelers to a Shiite religious commemoration Wednesday morning, killing one traveler and wounding two others, police said. Wednesday's attack occurred in eastern Baghdad when the bomb went off next to the minibus, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

#2: A civilian was injured on Wednesday in a roadside bomb explosion in southeastern Baghdad, the commander of the Baghdad's operations said. "An improvised explosive device, planted by unknown gunmen near Sahet Misloun in southeastern Baghdad, went off, wounding one civilian," General Qassem Atta told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: A civilian was killed and two others were wounded when an IED exploded targeting a Caprice carrying fuel cans in al Ghadeer neighborhood in east Baghdad. The car exploded and was completely charred.

#4 IRAQ journalists' union chief Shihab al-Timimi died of a heart attack on Wednesday just days after being wounded in a drive-by shooting, a union official said. The 75-year-old had been rushed to a Baghdad hospital with a bullet wound to his chest after Saturday's attack on his car. Yesterday he suffered a heart attack which he could not survive, union secretary general Moaed al-Lami said.

#5: Police found two unidentified bodies in Baghdad today. One body was found in Doura neighborhood while the other body was found in Mashtal neighborhood.

Hilla:#1: Babil Police found an unidentified body in al Tihmaziyah village southwest of Hilla city on Wednesday morning, police of Hilla city said. Police said that the deceased body carried signs of torture and bullet wounds

Basra:#1: Gunmen using machine guns opened fire, killing one police officer, first lieutenant Raid Khudair, in the al Mutaiha area south of Basra city on Wednesday morning, police said.

Tikrit:#1: An off-duty Iraqi soldier was killed and two wounded when gunmen opened fire on their car near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Baiji:#1: Gunmen wounded four off-duty policemen in a drive-by shooting in Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Lake Thar Thar:#1: Gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police and members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood police unit, killing two and wounding three, near Lake Thar Thar, 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

Kirkuk:#1: "Domiz police chief, Colonel Anwar Hussein, survived an attempt on his life when a booby-trapped car targeted his convoy in al-Askari neighborhood in northern Kirkuk," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI)."The explosion did not cause any damage or casualties," the source explained.

#2: Unknown gunmen kidnapped two workers and a trucker in the main road leading to Rashad district, near Sami al-Assi village, 30 km south-west of Kirkuk, an eyewitness told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI) over the phone. He added, "The gunmen abducted the three individuals when their vehicle carrying construction materials passed by the road, taking them to an unknown place."

Mosul:#1: Two gunmen were killed during clashes with Iraqi soldiers in Mosul, Nineveh security spokesman Brigadier-General Khalid Abdul-Sattar said. He said one of the gunmen was an Iraqi and the other was a Saudi national.

#2: Two people were killed and one wounded when a car bomb exploded near a police patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, said Brigadier-General Khalid Abdul-Sattar, the military spokesman for Nineveh province.

#3: Gunmen using machineguns opened fire killed a student in Mosul University. The incident took place in Hamdaniyah town east of Mosul city on Tuesday night.

Afghanistan:#1: A roadside bomb killed two Polish soldiers patrolling in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, while NATO announced the seizure of $400 million in opium in the south. The explosion hit the troops in the Sharan district of Paktika province on Tuesday, said NATO's International Security Assistance Force. The Polish troops were returning from a humanitarian aid meeting in a village when their Humvee drove over a roadside mine, Maj. Dariusz Kacperczyk, spokesman for the Polish army operational command, said in Warsaw. The two soldiers killed were identified as Cpl. Szymon Slowik and Pvt. Hubert Kowalewski. One soldier was also wounded

#2: Afghanistan's interior minister survived a rocket and small arms ambush by suspected Taliban insurgents to the east of the capital Kabul on Wednesday, a ministry official said. Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel was traveling through the Tangi Abrishim area of Laghman province when the attackers opened fire on his convoy with a single rocket, then followed up with a volley of small arms fire, the official said. The minister's guards returned fire, but there was no news of any casualties in the exchange and it was not clear if the attackers knew he was in the convoy, said the official, who declined to be named.

#3: Australia says its soldiers have fought off a number of Taliban attacks over the past few days in southern Afghanistan. The defence department says extremists used rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire to attack the troops while they were working on a construction site, building a patrol base for the Afghan National Army. The department says the immediate and aggressive response to the attacks forced the militants to retreat and abandon their weapons. No Australian troops have been injured.

#4: Norway's defence ministry said on Wednesday it would allow some of its soldiers stationed in Afghanistan to go to the south of the country where battles against the Taliban and al-Qaeda have been the toughest and Canada has been pleading for more allied help. But a group of 50 soldiers, to be sent to the war-torn state in October to help train the Afghan army, will be able to accompany Afghan troops into southern Afghanistan.

Iraqi council rejects elections law
Iraq's presidential council rejected a measure Wednesday setting up provincial elections, sending it back to parliament in the latest setback to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts. The three-member panel, however, approved the 2008 budget and another law that provides limited amnesty to detainees in Iraqi custody. Those laws will take effect once they are published in the Justice Ministry gazette. The three laws were approved as a package by the Iraqi parliament on Feb. 13. The step drew praise from the Bush administration, which had sought passage of a provincial powers law as one of 18 benchmarks to promote reconciliation among Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arab communities and the large Kurdish minority.

MAJOR SETBACK FOR U.S. POLICY IN IRAQ

Just when the Bush Administration and Jennifer Griffin of FOX NEWS and BRIT HUME'S "FOX NEWS SPECIAL REPORT" were boasting about how well things were going politically in Iraq, the Iraqi government rejected a measure to hold provincial elections.

The rejection is a major blow to the United States and the Bush Administration who were hoping the elections would solidfy Iraq.

Iraqi council rejects elections law

24 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080227/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_politics

Iraq's presidential council rejected Wednesday a measure setting up provincial elections — seen as a key step to develop Iraq's nascent democracy — in the latest setback to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts.

The three-member panel approved the 2008 budget and another law that provides limited amnesty to detainees in Iraqi custody.

The three laws were approved as a package by the Iraqi parliament on Feb. 13. The move drew praise from the Bush administration, which had sought passage of a provincial powers law as one of 18 benchmarks to promote reconciliation among Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arab communities and the Kurdish minority.

"No agreement has been reached in the Presidency Council to approve the provincial elections draft law and that it has been sent back to the parliament to reconsider the rejected articles," the presidential council said in a statement.

The panel is composed of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.

IRAQ SOLDIERS WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS DENIED TREATMENT BY ARMY DOCTORS

As the Iraq war now is about to enter its sixth year, it should come as no surprise to anyone that many of the soldiers serving in Iraq are suffering from severe mental health problems.

It also should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed how the Bush Administration and the military have dealt with problems in the military that many of the soldiers in dire need need of mental health treatment are not getting it because military doctors are withholding treatment.

The result has been an increase in suicides and suicide attempts with active duty GIs and those released by the military.

The mistreatment of soldiers and Marines with mental health issues is just one more black mark on the military and the Bush administration who are quick to send troops to Iraq but not so quick to provide them with adequate mental health care when they return to the United States.

Military Doctors Withholding Treatment from Soldiers with Mental Health Problems

By Maggie Mahar, Health BeatPosted on February 27, 2008, Printed on February 27, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/77867/

Since 9/11, one Army division has spent more time in Iraq than any other group of soldiers: the 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, New York.

Over the past 6 years and and six months, their 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT) has been the most deployed brigade in the army. As of this month, the brigade had completed its fourth tour of Iraq. All in all, the soldiers of BCT have spent 40 months in Iraq
.
At what cost? According to a February 13 report issued by the Veterans for America's (VFA) Wounded Warrior Outreach Program, which is dedicated to strengthening the military mental health system, it is not just their bodies that have been maimed and, in some cases, destroyed.

Many of these soldiers are suffering from severe mental health problems that have led to suicide attempts as well as spousal abuse and alcoholism.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of the 2nd BCT have been given too little time off in between deployments: In one case they had only six months to mentally "re-set"; following an eight-month tour in Afghanistan -- before beginning a 12-month tour in Iraq.

Then, in April 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates decided to extend Army tours in Iraq from 12 to 15 months -- shortly after the BCT had passed what it assumed was its halfway mark in Iraq.

As the VFA report points out, "Mental health experts have explained that 'shifting the goalposts' on a soldier's deployment period greatly contributes to an increase in mental health problems."

Perhaps it should not come as a surprise that, during its most recent deployment, the 2nd BCT suffered heavy casualties. "Fifty-two members of the 2nd BCT were killed in action (KIA)," the VFA reports and "270 others were listed as non-fatality casualties, while two members of the unit remain missing in action (MIA)."

Go back to link to read the full story.

19-YEAR OLD OKLAHOMA GI KILLED IN BAGHDAD

02/26/08 AP: 19-year-old Ft. Campbell soldier killed near Baghdad The mother of 19-year-old Pfc. Michael Phillips of Ardmore, Okla., says she was told Sunday afternoon that her son was killed Sunday morning...near Baghdad when the Humvee he was in was hit by a roadside bomb.

http://icasualties.org/oif/

02/26/08 Reuters: Three bodies found in Baghdad, 1 in Hilla
Three bodies were found in different districts across Baghdad on Monday, police said...A body was found with gunshot wounds in central Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

02/26/08 Reuters: Gunmen kill 2 neighbourhood policemen in Kirkuk
Gunmen killed two U.S.-backed neighbourhood policemen in a drive-by shooting in an attack on their checkpoint in a town south of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

02/26/08 IRIN: Iraq's health sector under pressure
With scores of doctors killed over the past few years, an exodus of medical personnel, poor medical infrastructure and shortages of medicines, Iraq's health sector is under great pressure, a senior Health Ministry official said on 26 February.


02/26/08 Xinhua: 2 Turkish soldiers killed in operation in N Iraq
Two soldiers of the Turkish Armed Forces were killed in the latest fighting during the cross-border ground operation in northern Iraq on Tuesday, Turkish military said.

02/26/08 Xinhua: Three Iraqis killed in northern Iraq
Three people were killed in two attacks in a town in Salahudin province on Tuesday, a source from U.S. and Iraqi liaison office said. Unknown gunmen stormed a house early in the morning in the town of Tuz-Khurmato...

02/26/08 AFP: Suicide bomber kills nine on
Iraqi bus
A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus travelling from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine passengers, an Iraqi army officer told AFP.

02/26/08 PANews: Iraq condemns Turkish incursion
The Iraqi government has denounced Turkish incursions targeting Kurdish and demanded an immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Iraq. Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the military action was a violation of Iraqi sovereignty...

02/26/08 AP: Probe Sought in Marine Vehicle Delays
The Marine Corps has asked the Pentagon's inspector general to examine allegations that a nearly two-year delay in the fielding of blast-resistant vehicles led to hundreds of combat casualties in Iraq.

And still the mainstream media and FOX NEWS claim everything is just peachy in IRAQ.

WILL FOX NEWS' JENNIFER GRIFFIN IGNORE AGAIN THE MAYHEM AND VIOLENCE IN IRAQ?

Jennifer Griffin, a reporter for FOX NEWS, will present her second installment on news from Iraq on the Tuesday, February 26 BRIT HUME's FOX NEWS SPECIAL REPORT, however it remains to be seen if Ms. Griffin will actually report on what is happening in IRAQ or will she present another puff piece like she did Monday night.

Adding insult to the American public and to the 160,000 young Americans deployed to Iraq, Republican Sen. (Texas) Kay Bailey Hutchison appeared on the MSNBC "Morning Joe" show on Tuesday and told reporter Mika Bryzinski that "the surge" has been a wonderful success in Iraq.

Both Jennifer Griffin and Sen. Hutchison obviously are not reading what is taking place in Iraq, or they are simply propaganda merchants of the worst kind.

Scroll down through this list of mayhem and violence in Iraq on Tuesday, Feburary 26 alone, and if anyone can say "the surge" has been a roaring success they are either blind or too dumb to understand the truth.

Fred Barnes, of the ridiculous FOX NEWS "The Beltway Boys," is another right winger who can't see the truth about conditions in Iraq and goes on his own show and guests on FOX NEWS SPECIBRIT HUME'S SPECIAL REPORT and sings the praises of "the surge" when there is all kinds of information that contradicts his absurd comments.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com/, the blog that dares to tell the TRUTH about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and not Bush Administration "talking points" or FOX NEWS "spin."

War News for Tuesday, February 26, 2008

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle is reporting the death Army Spc. Kevin Mow, 22, at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda Maryland on Monday, February 25th. He was originally injured from an IED attack in Baghdad on August 2nd 2007. Three soldiers were killed and eleven were wounded when the explosion hit their Stryker vehicle. Here's the MNF-Iraq release.

The Danish MoD is reporting the death of a soldier who appears to have been working with NATO in Iraq. Johnny Mikkelsen appears to have died from an accident while in Northern Iraq on January 22nd. We'll have an update for this when more details are found.

Security incidents:

Diyala Prv:Baquba:#1: A group of armed men set up a fake checkpoint north of Iraq's restive town of Baquba and kidnapped 21 civilians travelling in two minibuses on Tuesday, police said. Police Lieutenant Colonel Najim al-Sumaidaie from Baquba told AFP the checkpoint was set up in an area called Al-Adaim, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baquba in the Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. "At about 10:00 am (0700 GMT) several armed men stopped a minibus carrying 11 men and three women at the checkpoint. They released the women but abducted the men," Sumaidaie said. He said minutes later another minibus was stopped by the kidnappers and 10 men travelling in it were also abducted.

#2: In Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, eight army troops were killed when militants attacked their patrol, the Iraqi news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) said.Hilla:

#1: A body was found with gunshot wounds in central Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Basra:

#1: Unidentified gunmen fired two missiles at the Iranian consulate building in Basra but no casualties or damage were reported, a police source said. "Unidentified gunmen in a vehicle fired two RPG-7 shells at the building of the Iranian consulate in southern in southern Basra," the source, who preferred not be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqTuz Khurmato:

#1: Fifteen gunmen broke into a house in the village of Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi soldier and wounding his brother.

#2: A roadside bomb detonated near a civilian truck, carrying construction materials, on the main road near the town of SulaimanBek near the town of Tuz-Khurmato, killing the driver and another man, the source said..Hawija:

#1: In Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad, two members of the local awakening council—Sunni fighters who have turned against al-Qaida—were killed after gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint.Kirkuk:

#1: In another incident, three members of the Awakening Council were killed in Kirkuk, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'Militants attacked Tuesday a checkpoint of the Awakening Councils in Abasseiya area in Kirkuk, killing at least three members,' Fatah Abdul-ah, an Iraqi official told dpa.Mosul:

#1: A suicide bomber killed 14 people in an attack on a bus in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, security sources said. Another seven people were wounded but few other details were immediately available. Another police source said the initial death toll was five. Iraqi police in Mosul, 350 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, said the bus was carrying passengers to Syria to Iraq's west. They said a wounded passenger had told them that the bomber boarded the bus and told the driver to change direction before detonating a belt packed with explosives.

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus traveling west of Mosul in northern Iraq's Nineveh province on Tuesday, killing 40 people and wounding five others, a provincial police source said.Kurdistan:

#1: The Turkish military has said 153 rebels have been killed in the operation. The Kurdish rebels disputed the claim and warned that Turkey had entered a conflict that it cannot win. A statement posted on the military's Web site Monday also said two more soldiers were killed in fighting, but gave no details. The deaths would bring the total Turkish military fatalities since the start of the incursion Thursday to 17.

#2: Turkish troops were engaged in fierce clashes with Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as they closed in on one of the main separatist camps, security sources here said Tuesday. Members of the Kurdish security force in the autonomous north of Iraq told AFP sustained fighting continued unabated since late Sunday as troops, backed by artillery and air cover, fought to seize a main rebel camp in the Zap area. The camp, situated in a deep valley just a six-kilometer (four-mile) walk from the Turkish border, is one of the main passages used by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels to infiltrate Turkish territory for attacks.

#3: Clashes also continued since late Monday in the mountainous Hakurk area to the east, close to Iraq's border with Iran, where the Turkish army air-dropped troops and helicopter gunships pounded rebel positions, the sources said.

#4: Another PKK official said fighters launched an attack on Turkish troops overnight in four positions in Alzab. 'Turkish troops suffered 21 casualties, including five soldiers, whose bodies are kept by PKK fighters, PKK spokesman, Ahmed Denees, told the Voices of Iraq news agency.Fighters has foiled an attempt by Turkish commandos to parachute into the Jimji area and forced them to retreat, Denees said. Clashes continue in Alzab and Bazya but came to a halt in Irsh with the retreat of Turkish troops.

Afghanistan:#1: A roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying five policemen and a child in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing all six, officials said. The blast happened in the eastern Khost province close to the border with Pakistan, said police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub. He blamed the attack on Taliban militants.On the Home Front:

#1: Three people are dead following an apparent homicide/suicide at Tinker Air Force base, Okla., Feb. 25. Tinker AFB security forces and Oklahoma County law enforcement officials responded to a domestic disturbance in the military family housing area at approximately 2:30 p.m. after being advised of a potential hostage situation. At approximately 4:30 p.m., a joint response force entered the residence and discovered the remains of three individuals -- one adult and two children.

#2: An Army solider on leave from Iraq walked into a High Desert convenience story Sunday night with a gunshot wound to his thigh and an account of a confrontation with a robber. But Pfc. Matthew John Myers' story about a robber shooting him at point-blank range near an Apple Valley golf course didn't match the evidence, sheriff's officials said. After interviews, detectives said they suspected something different: The 20-year-old had asked a friend to shoot him so he wouldn't have to return to Iraq.

#3: Four soldiers were injured, one critically, Monday in a training accident involving an artillery ammunition supply vehicle at Fort Carson, the post said. The accident happened about 1:30 p.m. when an M992 armored vehicle rolled over in a training area a couple of miles southwest of the post, Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt said.

#4: The Government has been ordered to release the minutes of Cabinet meetings where military action against Iraq was discussed. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said the papers should be released under the Freedom of Information Act because of the "gravity and controversial nature" of the discussions. "He believes that disclosure of this information would allow the public to more fully understand this particular decision of the Cabinet," the commissioner's office said in a statement.Casualty Reports:

#1: A Jersey Shore soldier hurt in a mortar and rocket attack last week in Baghdad is recovering from her injuries and wants to remain in Iraq, according to her mother. Army Staff Sgt. Vanessa Buck, 27, of Jersey Shore, was injured when a blast shattered walls and windows in the compound where she was working, her mother, Lynn Stockton, also of Jersey Shore, said. “There was heavy mortar fire and rockets in areas of Baghdad and my son got a phone call at about 9:30 Monday morning about it.” “They were working in Saddam’s (former) palace, which they made into an office building and mortars came in and shattered the windows,” Stockton said. “She was struck by glass and sustained injuries from the glass in her face, neck, chest and arm.”

FOX NEWS' JENNIFER GRIFFIN AVOIDS REPORTING ON WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING IN IRAQ

FOX NEWS, which everyone knows by now is the propaganda branch of the Bush White House and the Department of Defense, dispatched reporter Jennifer Griffin to Iraq to try and "sell" the American public on how well things are going in Iraq.

During Brit Hume's FOX NEWS "Special Report" show on Monday, Griffin presented the first of her reports from Ramadi, Iraq. The report, as would be expected, painted a rosy scenario of life in Ramadi including an interview with a GI who talked about how a year before one of his buddies lost several limbs in a roadside bomb explosion.

The second part of Griffin's propaganda piece is expected to air Tuesday night on Brit Hume's FOX NEWS "Special Report" http://www.foxnews.com/specialreport/index.html
Griffin purposefully avoided mentioning anything about the suicide bombings, chaos, killings and death of American GIs that is REALLY taking place in Iraq as indicated in our report which combines news sources from all across the Middle East.

The Jennifer Griffin "report" is just another indication what lengths FOX NEWS will go to in trying to cover up what is really taking place in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq.

From our point of view, we feel FOX NEWS is not only doing a disservice to their viewers, but it is an insult to the 160,000 brave young men and women deployed to Iraq who are facing a growing threat of violence everyday.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com/, the blog that tells the TRUTH about the violence and chaos that continues in Iraq and not Bush Administration "spin" aided and abetted by FOX NEWS, the mouthpiece for the Bush Administration.
Here is just a small portion of what is taking place in Iraq which FOX NEWS' Jennifer Griffin failed to report on.

DEATH AND MAYHEM SWEEP ACROSS IRAQ

Sunday: 2 US Soldiers, 75 Iraqis Killed
Monday: 26 Iraqis Killed, 31 Wounded
Blast Kills at Least 63 Shiite Pilgrims in Iraq
Mass grave of women found in Diala
A mass grave containing eight unidentified women was found in al-Khalis district, Diala, on Monday, a security source said. "The mass grave was found in the Harujah village, al-Khalis district, 15 km south of Baaquba," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ
U.S. expects 140,000 troops in Iraq after drawdown
[And god only knows how many mercenaries. – dancewater]

Oil giants poised to move into Basra
Western oil giants are poised to enter southern Iraq to tap the country's vast reserves, despite the ongoing threat of violence, according to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's business emissary to the country. Michael Wareing, who heads the new Basra Development Commission, acknowledged that there would be concerns among Iraqis about multinationals exploiting natural resources. …. "If you look at many other economies in the world, particularly the oil-rich economies, many of these places are quite challenging countries in which to do business," he said. "Frankly, if you can successfully operate in the Niger Delta, that is a very different benchmark from imagining that Basra needs to be like London or Paris."

See a map of proposed or actual permanent US bases in Iraq.

Americans: 43 Percent of Your 2007 Taxes Go to War

The Calm Before the Conflagration
The United States is funding and in many cases arming the three ethnic factions in Iraq-the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunni Arabs. These factions rule over partitioned patches of Iraqi territory and brutally purge rival ethnic groups from their midst. Iraq no longer exists as a unified state. It is a series of heavily armed fiefdoms run by thugs, gangs, militias, radical Islamists and warlords who are often paid wages of $300 a month by the U.S. military. Iraq is Yugoslavia before the storm. It is a caldron of weapons, lawlessness, hate and criminality that is destined to implode. And the current U.S. policy, born of desperation and defeat, means that when Iraq goes up, the U.S. military will have to scurry like rats for cover.


Quote of the day: With the Iraqi Security Volunteers in place, the Americans are now arming both sides in the civil war. "Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems," as U.S. strategists like to say. David Kilcullen, the counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. Petraeus, calls it "balancing competing armed interest groups." ~ from the article “The Myth of the Surge” by Nir Rosen
Security incidents:

Baghdad:#1: Also Monday, a roadside bomb exploded in the middle of a crowd of Shiite Muslims in southeastern Baghdad on Monday, killing three and wounding 15, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. The strike, in the Zafaraniya district, is the latest in a flurry of attacks against pilgrims trekking to Karbala for al-Arbaeen, one of the holiest days of the Shiite religious calendar. It falls on Wednesday this year.

#2: An Iraqi militant group has posted a video on the internet showing the killings of 12 Nepalese men who worked for a Nepalese company with a US contract. In 2004, an Iraqi militant group killed 12 Nepali hostages who had gone to Iraq to work as cooks and cleaners for a Jordanian firm. It showed pictures of one being beheaded and the others with bullet wounds to the head and back.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has dismissed news reports of killing of 12 Nepali workers in Iraq by Islamic insurgents. MoFA spokesperson Hira Bahadur Thapa told Nepalnews that Nepali embassies in Islamabad and Saudi Arabia reported to the ministry, after being asked to find out the truth, that so far no proof had been found to corroborate the news.

#2: A traffic policeman was wounded when two improvised explosive devices went off simultaneously in downtown Baghdad, Baghdad operations command said on Monday. "Two roadside explosive charges detonated simultaneously on Muhammad al-Qasim highway while an Iraqi police patrol was passing the location, wounding a traffic cop who was close to the scene of the blast," a spokesman for the operations command, Major General Qassim Ata, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq,Around 12:30 p.m., two roadside bombs exploded at the Qasim highway near the Shaab stadium (east Baghdad). Two people were injured in that incident.#3: Around 7:30 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded at Zafaraniyah neighborhood (east Baghdad) near Al-Noor mosque. No casualties recorded

#4: The mayor of al-Aazamiya, central Baghdad, on Monday escaped a kidnapping by unknown gunmen in al-Kazemiya neighborhood in northern Baghdad because local residents saved him.Hussein al-Juburi told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq - (VOI) over the phone "Unidentified gunmen stopped his car after leaving a funeral in al-Kazemiya neighborhood in northern Baghdad, forced him to exit his car, and disarmed his bodyguards.""I tried to escape but they caught me, but some persons arrived from the funeral and saved my life along with two of my bodyguards," the mayor added.

#5: Around 2p.m., a roadside bomb exploded near Al-Dayer church .No casualties or damage reported.

#6: Around 4 p.m., mortars hit Qadisiyah neighborhood..No casualties recorded.

#7: Around 5:30 p.m., gunmen using Toyota sedan car opened fire on an army check point near the Um Al-Tibul mosque and ran away. No casualties recorded.

#8: Police found three dead bodies in Baghdad today. Two of them in Risafa bank : 1 in Ubaidi and 1 in Zafaraniyah while the third was found in Amil in Karkh bank.Diyala Prv:Baquba:#1: Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms stormed a house and killed a woman near Baquba, police said.

#2: Police found the decomposing bodies of eight women who had been blindfolded, handcuffed and shot in the head, in a grave in a town just north of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: "Unidentified gunmen killed two persons near a garage in central Baaquba," the source, who declined to reveal his name, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

#4: Five Iraqi soldiers, including their commanding officer, were killed when al Qaeda militants ambushed their patrol south of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, said Major-General Abdul Kareem al-Rubaie, leader of Iraqi security forces in Diyala province.Around 2:30 p.m., gunmen attacked an Iraqi army patrol at Buhrz (6km south of Baquba) and killed all the eight patrol members including a major.

#5: Around noon, a roadside bomb targeted a civilian car on the way between Qara taba and Khanaqeen in the north east of Baquba .Both passengers of the vehicle were killed in that incident. Iskandariya:#1: (update) The death toll from Sunday's suicide bomb attack on Iraqi pilgrims heading to a Shi'ite festival south of Baghdad has risen to 63, a health official said on Monday.Basra:

#1: This morning, gunmen opened fire on three oil company guards at Bahadriya of Abu Al-Khaseeb, southeast of Basra. One guard was killed and the other two were seriously injured.#2: Police found the body of the engineer Ali Mahmoud at Hamdan neighborhood in south Basra. Ali was kidnapped a month ago from his house at a residential compound by gunmen who were wearing police uniforms.Samarra:

#1: A disabled, wheelchair-bound man blew himself up on Monday in a northern Iraqi police station, killing a top police official and wounding six police officers, police told CNN. The attack, which occurred in Samarra in Salaheddin province. A high-ranking official with Samarra police said that the man came to meet with Brig. Gen. Abdul Jabbar Rabei Muttar, the deputy commander of security, at the security operations building in the city. The pair met last week as well. The man was searched when he entered the building, but police didn't look under his wheelchair seat, where the explosives had been placed. The man detonated the explosives when Muttar approached him.In a separate attack on Monday, a handicapped man in a wheel chair wearing an explosives vest blew himself up inside a police building in the central city of Samarra, killing three policemen, including a general, officials said.Hawija:

#1: A civilian was killed and nine people were wounded (6 of them are Sahwa members including the leader of Sahwa Colonel Hussein Khalaf Ali and a commander of battalion in Sahwa) when a car bomb exploded targeting Sahwa members in Hawija town south of Kirkuk on Monday morning.Kirkuk:

#1: In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a police commander, General Sarhad Qadir, escaped an assassination attempt, according to security officials. A bomb went off as the general's motorcade was driving by the main hospital in central Kirkuk.In Kirkuk, police chief Brigadier Sarhad Qader escaped injury when a roadside explosive device detonated as his convoy passed, KUNA reported.

#2: A civilian was injured on Monday in a bomb blast in southern Kirkuk, a police source said. "An improvised explosive device went off in al-Khadraa neighborhood in southern Kirkuk, targeting a police vehicle patrol, wounding a civilian," the source, who asked to remain anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqMosul:

#1: In the northern city of Mosul, three people from the same family including a child, and four women were injured in a blast. An object fell on a house in the Tal al-Roman area, in western Mosul, causing the blast, security sources told VOI.A mortar shell killed three and wounded four civilians.

#2: Also in Mosul, four policemen were killed in an attack by gunmen on their patrol in the eastern Muarid district, VOI reported.

#3: A boy was killed when insurgents opened fire on a U.S. patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The boy, who was playing with children in the street, was hit by a stray bullet fired by the insurgents.

It will be interesting to see if FOX NEWS' Jennifer Griffin reports on any of these developments in Iraq in her next report on the Brit Hume FOX NEWS "Special Report" show on Tuesday, Feburary 26

MISSOURI AND WASHINGTON, D.C. GIS LATEST FATALITIES FROM IRAQ WAR

A soldier from St. Charles Mo and another from Washington D.C. are the latest casualties from the war in Iraq.

Their deaths were reported on http://icasualties.org/oif/, the most reliable source for news of casualties from the Iraq war.

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
3970
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
2
Total
3972DoD Confirmation List

Latest Coalition Fatality: Feb 24, 2008
02/25/08 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
Lance Cpl. Drew W. Weaver, 20, of St. Charles, Mo., died Feb. 21 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force...

02/25/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Keisha M. Morgan, 25, of Washington, D.C., died Feb. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, of a non-combat related cause. She was assigned to the Division Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

02/24/08 MND-B Soldier attacked by small-arms fire
A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier was killed by small-arms fire during combat operations in southern Baghdad Feb. 24.

02/24/08 MNF: MND-B Soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device struck the Soldier’s vehicle during a combat patrol in northern Baghdad Feb. 24.

DON'T BOTHER WITH U.S. MEDIA IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IRAQ WAR

This former intel analyst found out what I have known for better than a year.

Namely, if you want to know what is happening in the Iraq war forget about looking for it in the mainstream media in the United States. The print and electronic media in the U.S. have long ago abandoned covering the Iraq war. Inside U.S. newsroooms they call it "IRAQ FATIGUE."

The media in the United States have made a decision that Americans are tired of reading and hearing about the Iraq War.

To learn what is happening in Iraq, this former reporter and columnist has found you have to search out foreign web sites where news about the war in Iraq is reported sans the filter of the Bush White House and most of all avoid at all costs watching FOX NEWS which is nothing more than a propaganda branch of the Bush Administration and Department of Defense.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE.


Intel Analyst: Don't Bother with U.S. Media If You Want to Know About Iraq

By Alex Rossmiller, Presidio PressPosted on February 22, 2008, Printed on February 25, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/77372/

My new book, Still Broken, recounts my time working as an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency, from the halls of the Pentagon to the palaces of Baghdad. It addresses the strategic shortcomings in our efforts to defend this country from enemies overseas, from explaining how the Bush administration continues to mismanage the war in Iraq and turn our intelligence efforts into an ineffective political apparatus to describing my first-hand experience dealing with detainees likely guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I wrote the book because I think it is important that people know the truth about what is happening with our military and intelligence structures in Washington and in Iraq, and I think there are too few reality-based voices speaking out about these issues. In particular, one of the greatest challenges to an informed national dialogue on Iraq is the lack of accurate and insightful news from much of the mainstream media, especially conservative outlets. In the following excerpt, a part of the conclusion of the book, I explain how the media appeared to me while I was inside the system, and what might be done to improve the information flow.
***
Most Americans remain unaware of the depth and breadth of the ongoing problems in the intelligence community, and even of just how bad things are in Iraq. To some extent, the lack of information about the changes in U.S. intelligence and military strategy is directly related to the dearth of news reporting on these issues. It is difficult to find credible, timely, and relevant news on Iraq, and even on intelligence and military policy in general. I was one of very few analysts who augmented classified reporting with unclassified information, and I was constantly scouring the media for insightful information. Television news was unhelpful, as always, a flow of talking heads with little knowledge and even less interest in getting into details or subtleties. Print media was inconsistent at best.

For whatever reason, the television idea of "balance" was, for a long time, to report casualties on our side (Bad News) and reconstruction or casualties on their side (Good News). There was even a grim cyclical nature to the reports; invariably we could count on "School Built in Iraq" to become, a few weeks later, a casualty report: "3 Coalition Soldiers, 18 Iraqis Dead in New School Blast." Broadcast media also reported major events, such as elections, government formation, and particularly relevant statements, but rarely explained the "how" and "why" along with the "what." Some long-form TV news managed to address some of the finer points, but mostly television presented a flood of events without context. And in any case, most people can read faster than others can talk, so people can consume far more news in print form than through broadcast, making TV doubly useless.

In turning to print media, I would at least peruse mainstream news outlets: The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times,and magazines such as Time and Newsweek.There was some value there, but they, too, often reported events without conextual explanation. So if I read a piece about the latest surge in Shia-Sunni violence in the Times, the same story with minor variations was often repeated in all the major outlets. Still, I skimmed several corporate media websites every day: CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, the Post, LA Times, and Fox News, among others, to get a sense of the news cycle. Some commentators, primarily political conservatives, have criticized corporate media for neglecting to cover the good news in Iraq, but I found that the larger problem was not that the media didn't cover the good news, but that it did not cover much of anything of real depth in Iraq. While the debate went on over whether the media spent too much time reporting on casualties, a civil war raged. While the media dutifully reported the drafting of the Iraqi constitution, it failed to explain the many problems the document would likely cause. And so on.

The answer to the search for news both current and analytical, I found, often lay in nontraditional online media. Among corporate media, often the most interesting and helpful articles were op-eds, which actually took the time to proffer assessment of the news rather than just transcription of events. Some were better than others -- I avoided Tom Friedman like the plague, for example, but regularly read Fareed Zakaria -- but they were the best place to get unique and insightful perspectives on Iraq, the Middle East, and the so-called War on Terror. The logical extension of op-eds in traditional media was to online magazines and blogs. There were former intelligence professionals, professors, think-tank fellows, and people actually in the countries I worked on who wrote regularly online, and I sought out the best ones to inform my thinking, for both general knowledge and professional analysis.

BAGHDAD EXPLODES IN VIOLENCE DESPITE "THE SURGE"

Baghdad was one of the cities the Bush Administration and their puppet propaganda network, FOX NEWS, were claiming the violence was brought under control by "the surge," but on Monday Baghdad exploded with violence including the death of two more American soldiers.

Ten rockets and mortar rounds were fired into the heavily guarded "Green Zone" in Baghdad on Saturday. The "Green Zone" is the seat of the Iraqi government as well as the United States and British embassies. "Camp Victory," home to thousands of U.S. military personnel deployed to Baghdad, is situated nearby the "Green Zone."

There were other incidents of violence in other provinces and cities in Iraq as unrest and chaos are on the rise in the war torn country.

Meanwhile, back in the United States the mainstream media has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the escalation of violence in Baghdad and all across Iraq.

By Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ the blog that brings readers the TRUTH about conditions in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq and not Bush White House "spin" or propaganda by the Bush White House public relations tool, FOX NEWS.

TWO MORE GIS KILLED IN BAGHDAD AS VIOLENCE SWEEPS ACROSS IRAQ

MAN IN WHEELCHAIR BLOWS HIMSELF UP OUTSIDE A POLICE STATION

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in an IED attack in a northern neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, February 24th. MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier from a small-arms fire attack in a southern neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, February 24th.

The Danish Ministry of Defense is reporting the death of a soldier in a training accident in Helmand province in Afghanistan on Sunday, February 24th. Here's the ISAF statement.Security incidents:Baghdad:#1:

Also Monday, a roadside bomb exploded in the middle of a crowd of Shiite Muslims in southeastern Baghdad on Monday, killing three and wounding 15, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. The strike, in the Zafaraniya district, is the latest in a flurry of attacks against pilgrims trekking to Karbala for al-Arbaeen, one of the holiest days of the Shiite religious calendar. It falls on Wednesday this year.

#2: An Iraqi militant group has posted a video on the internet showing the killings of 12 Nepalese men who worked for a Nepalese company with a US contract. In 2004, an Iraqi militant group killed 12 Nepali hostages who had gone to Iraq to work as cooks and cleaners for a Jordanian firm. It showed pictures of one being beheaded and the others with bullet wounds to the head and back.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has dismissed news reports of killing of 12 Nepali workers in Iraq by Islamic insurgents. MoFA spokesperson Hira Bahadur Thapa told Nepalnews that Nepali embassies in Islamabad and Saudi Arabia reported to the ministry, after being asked to find out the truth, that so far no proof had been found to corroborate the news.

#2: A traffic policeman was wounded when two improvised explosive devices went off simultaneously in downtown Baghdad, Baghdad operations command said on Monday. "Two roadside explosive charges detonated simultaneously on Muhammad al-Qasim highway while an Iraqi police patrol was passing the location, wounding a traffic cop who was close to the scene of the blast," a spokesman for the operations command, Major General Qassim Ata, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq,Around 12:30 p.m., two roadside bombs exploded at the Qasim highway near the Shaab stadium (east Baghdad).

Two people were injured in that incident.#3: Around 7:30 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded at Zafaraniyah neighborhood (east Baghdad) near Al-Noor mosque. No casualties recordedDiyala Prv:Baquba:

#1: Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms stormed a house and killed a woman near Baquba, police said.

#2: Police found the decomposing bodies of eight women who had been blindfolded, handcuffed and shot in the head, in a grave in a town just north of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: "Unidentified gunmen killed two persons near a garage in central Baaquba," the source, who declined to reveal his name, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqIskandariya:#1: (update) The death toll from Sunday's suicide bomb attack on Iraqi pilgrims heading to a Shi'ite festival south of Baghdad has risen to 63, a health official said on Monday.Basra:

#1: This morning, gunmen opened fire on three oil company guards at Bahadriya of Abu Al-Khaseeb, southeast of Basra. One guard was killed and the other two were seriously injured.

#2: Police found the body of the engineer Ali Mahmoud at Hamdan neighborhood in south Basra. Ali was kidnapped a month ago from his house at a residential compound by gunmen who were wearing police uniforms.Samarra:

#1: A disabled, wheelchair-bound man blew himself up on Monday in a northern Iraqi police station, killing a top police official and wounding six police officers, police told CNN. The attack, which occurred in Samarra in Salaheddin province. A high-ranking official with Samarra police said that the man came to meet with Brig. Gen. Abdul Jabbar Rabei Muttar, the deputy commander of security, at the security operations building in the city. The pair met last week as well. The man was searched when he entered the building, but police didn't look under his wheelchair seat, where the explosives had been placed. The man detonated the explosives when Muttar approached him.

In a separate attack on Monday, a handicapped man in a wheel chair wearing an explosives vest blew himself up inside a police building in the central city of Samarra, killing three policemen, including a general, officials said.Hawija:

#1: A civilian was killed and nine people were wounded (6 of them are Sahwa members including the leader of Sahwa Colonel Hussein Khalaf Ali and a commander of battalion in Sahwa) when a car bomb exploded targeting Sahwa members in Hawija town south of Kirkuk on Monday morning. Kirkuk:

#1: In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a police commander, General Sarhad Qadir, escaped an assassination attempt, according to security officials. A bomb went off as the general's motorcade was driving by the main hospital in central Kirkuk. In Kirkuk, police chief Brigadier Sarhad Qader escaped injury when a roadside explosive device detonated as his convoy passed, KUNA reported. Mosul:

#1: In the northern city of Mosul, three people from the same family including a child, and four women were injured in a blast. An object fell on a house in the Tal al-Roman area, in western Mosul, causing the blast, security sources told VOI. A mortar shell killed three and wounded four civilians.

#2: Also in Mosul, four policemen were killed in an attack by gunmen on their patrol in the eastern Muarid district, VOI reported.

THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR IRAQ WAR

The cost of fighting the Iraq war is staggering, however most Americans haven't got a clue what it is costing to fight the war in Iraq.

It is costing the U.S. taxpayer 9 Billion dollars a month for the war in Iraq. It costs upwards of $400,000 for each soldier deployed to Iraq and the United States has 160,000 soldiers in Iraq.

The money to pay for the war is being borrowed and despite the enormous cost of the Iraq War the Bush administration has seen fit to lower taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

One of the worst aspects of the Iraq war has been the loss of nearly 4,000 young men and women who have been killed in Iraq with another almost 30,000 seriously wounded with injuries that will leave them disabled for life.

The cost of the Iraq war in human treasure and money is staggering and will leave Americans paying for the Iraq war for generations.

NO END IN SIGHT FOR RISING COSTS OF FIGHTING THE IRAQ WAR


By Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, The Times of London UK

Posted on February 25, 2008, Printed on February 25, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/77663/

The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs of the war. The president and his advisers expected a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined.

The cost of direct US military operations -- not even including long-term costs such as taking care of wounded veterans -- already exceeds the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double the cost of the Korean War.

And, even in the best case scenario, these costs are projected to be almost ten times the cost of the first Gulf War, almost a third more than the cost of the Vietnam War, and twice that of the First World War.

The only war in our history which cost more was the Second World War, when 16.3 million U.S. troops fought in a campaign lasting four years, at a total cost (in 2007 dollars, after adjusting for inflation) of about $5 trillion. With virtually the entire armed forces committed to fighting the Germans and Japanese, the cost per troop (in today's dollars) was less than $100,000 in 2007 dollars. By contrast, the Iraq war is costing upward of $400,000 per troop.

Most Americans have yet to feel these costs.

The price in blood has been paid by our voluntary military and by hired contractors. The price in treasure has, in a sense, been financed entirely by borrowing. Taxes have not been raised to pay for it -- in fact, taxes on the rich have actually fallen.

Deficit spending gives the illusion that the laws of economics can be repealed, that we can have both guns and butter. But of course the laws are not repealed.

The costs of the war are real even if they have been deferred, possibly to another generation.

Click on link above to read the full story.

TWO U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN BAGHDAD

Two more U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad following the announcement late last week of five U.S. soldiers killed in the Iraqi capital city.

Baghdad supposedly has been brought under control by "the surge," however a recent series of attacks on U.S. forces in Baghdad leave the question of the success of "the surge" seriously in doubt.

Two U.S. soldiers killed in Baghdad-army

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Monday , 25 /02 /2008 Time 10:43:00

Aswat Aliraq

Baghdad, Feb 25, (VOI)- The U.S. army, late on Sunday, said two service members were killed in two separate attacks in the Iraqi capital.

"A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device struck the Soldier’s vehicle during a combat patrol in northern Baghdad Feb. 24.," the U.S. army said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

In another press release, the U.S. army admitted the killing of a second soldier by small-arms fire during combat operations in southern Baghdad Feb. 24.

The deaths bring the number of the U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to 3,972 according to statistics released by the U.S. army.

Of this number, 28 U.S. soldiers have been killed so far in January 2008.