US TROOPS IN IRAQ ARE PLACED IN "ATROCITY PRODUCING SITUATIONS"

The war in Iraq is now primarily about murder. There is very little killing. The savagery and brutality of the occupation is tearing apart those who have been deployed to Iraq.

What it means when the US goes to war

By Chris Hedges
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF07Ak01.html

Troops, when they battle insurgent forces, as in Iraq, or Gaza or Vietnam, are placed in "atrocity producing situations".

Being surrounded by a hostile population makes simple acts, such as going to a store to buy a can of soda, dangerous. The fear and stress push troops to view everyone around them as the enemy.

The hostility is compounded when the enemy, as in Iraq, is elusive, shadowy and hard to find.

The rage soldiers feel after a roadside bomb explodes, killing or maiming their comrades, is one that is easily directed, over time, to innocent civilians who are seen to support the insurgents.

Civilians and combatants, in the eyes of the beleaguered troops, merge into one entity. These civilians, who rarely interact with soldiers or marines, are to most of the occupation troops in Iraq nameless, faceless and easily turned into abstractions of hate.

They are dismissed as less than human. It is a short psychological leap, but a massive moral leap. It is a leap from killing - the shooting of someone who has the capacity to do you harm - to murder - the deadly assault against someone who cannot harm you


As news reports have just informed us, 115 American soldiers committed suicide in 2007. This is a 13% increase in suicides over 2006.

And the suicides, as they did in the Vietnam War years, will only rise as distraught veterans come home, unwrap the self-protective layers of cotton wool that keep them from feeling, and face the awful reality of what they did to innocents in Iraq American marines and soldiers have become socialized to atrocity.

The killing project is not described in these terms to a distant public. The politicians still speak in the abstract terms of glory, honor and heroism, in the necessity of improving the world, in lofty phrases of political and spiritual renewal. Those who kill large numbers of people always claim it as a virtue. The campaign to rid the world of terror is expressed within the confines of this rhetoric, as if once all terrorists are destroyed evil itself will vanish. The reality behind the myth, however, is very different.

The reality and the ideal tragically clash when soldiers and marines return home. These combat veterans are often alienated from the world around them, a world that still believes in the myth of war and the virtues of the nation. They confront the grave, existential crisis of all who go through combat and understand that we have no monopoly on virtue, that in war we become as barbaric and savage as those we oppose.

This is a profound crisis of faith. It shatters the myths, national and religious, that these young men and women were fed before they left for Iraq. In short, they uncover the lie they have been told. Their relationship with the nation will never be the same.

These veterans give us a true narrative of the war - one that exposes the vast enterprise of industrial slaughter unleashed in Iraq. They expose the lie.

War as betrayal "This unit sets up this traffic control point, and this 18-year-old kid is on top of an armored Humvee with a .50-caliber machine gun," remembered Sergeant Geoffrey Millard, who served in Tikrit with the 42nd Infantry Division. "

And this car speeds at him pretty quick and he makes a split-second decision that that's a suicide bomber, and he presses the butterfly trigger and puts 200 rounds in less than a minute into this vehicle. It killed the mother, a father and two kids. The boy was aged four and the daughter was aged three. "

And they briefed this to the general," Millard said, "and they briefed it gruesome. I mean, they had pictures. They briefed it to him. And this colonel turns around to this full division staff and says, 'If these f---ing hajis learned to drive, this shit wouldn't happen'."

Millard and tens of thousands of other veterans suffer not only delayed reactions to stress but this crisis of faith. The God they knew, or thought they knew, failed them. The church or the synagogue or the mosque, which promised redemption by serving God and country, did not prepare them for the awful betrayal of this civic religion, for the capacity we all have for human atrocity, for the stories of heroism used to mask the reality of war. War is always about betrayal: betrayal of the young by the old, of idealists by cynics, and of troops by politicians.

This bitter knowledge of betrayal has seeped into the ranks of America's Iraq War veterans. It has unleashed a new wave of disillusioned veterans not seen since the Vietnam War. It has made it possible for us to begin, again, to see war's death mask and understand our complicity in evil. "And then, you know, my sort of sentiment of, 'What the f--- are we doing, that I felt that way in Iraq,'" said Sergeant Ben Flanders, who estimated that he ran hundreds of military convoys in Iraq.

"It's the sort of insanity of it and the fact that it reduces it. Well, I think war does anyway, but I felt like there was this enormous reduction in my compassion for people. The only thing that wound up mattering is myself and the guys that I was with. And everybody else be damned, whether you are an Iraqi - I'm sorry, I'm sorry you live here, I'm sorry this is a terrible situation, and I'm sorry that you have to deal with all of, you know, army vehicles running around and shooting, and these insurgents and all this stuff."

The Hobbesian world of Iraq described by Flanders is one where the ethic is kill or be killed. All nuance and distinction vanished for him. He fell, like most of the occupation troops, into a binary world of us and them, the good and the bad, those worthy of life and those unworthy of life. The vast majority of Iraqi civilians, caught in the middle of the clash among militias, death squads, criminal gangs, foreign fighters, kidnapping rings, terrorists, and heavily armed occupation troops, were just one more impediment that, if they happened to get in the way, had to be eradicated.

These Iraqis were no longer human. They were abstractions in human form. "The first briefing you get when you get off the plane in Kuwait, and you get off the plane and you're holding a duffel bag in each hand," Millard remembered. "You've got your weapon slung. You've got a web sack on your back. You're dying of heat. You're tired. You're jet-lagged. Your mind is just full of goop. And then you're scared on top of that, because, you know, you're in Kuwait, you're not in the States anymore ... So fear sets in, too. And they sit you into this little briefing room and you get this briefing about how, you know, you can't trust any of these f---ing hajis, because all these f---king hajis are going to kill you. And 'haji' is always used as a term of disrespect and usually with the F-word in front of it."

The press coverage of the war in Iraq rarely exposes the twisted pathology of this war. We see the war from the perspective of the troops or from the equally skewed perspective of the foreign reporters, holed up in hotels, hemmed in by drivers and translators and official security and military escorts. There are moments when war's face appears to these voyeurs and professional killers, perhaps from the back seat of a car where a small child, her brains oozing out of her head, lies dying, but mostly it remains hidden. And all our knowledge of the war in Iraq has to be viewed as lacking the sweep and depth that will come one day, perhaps years from now, when a small Iraqi boy reaches adulthood and unfolds for us the sad and tragic story of the invasion and bloody occupation of his nation. As the war sours, as it no longer fits into the mythical narrative of us as liberators and victors, it fades from view. The cable news shows that packaged and sold us the war have stopped covering it, trading the awful carnage of bomb blasts in Baghdad for the soap-opera sagas of Roger Clemens, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears in her eternal meltdown. Average monthly coverage of the war in Iraq on the ABC, NBC and CBS newscasts combined has been cut in half, falling from 388 minutes in 2003, to 274 in 2004, to 166 in 2005. And newspapers, including papers like the Boston Globe, have shut down their Baghdad bureaus. Deprived of a clear, heroic narrative, restricted and hemmed in by security concerns, they have walked away. Most reporters know that the invasion and the occupation have been a catastrophe. They know the Iraqis do not want us. They know about the cooked intelligence, spoon-fed to a compliant press by the Office of Special Plans and Lewis Libby's White House Iraq Group. They know about Curveball, the forged documents out of Niger, the outed Central Intelligence Agency operatives, and the bogus British intelligence dossiers that were taken from old magazine articles. They know the weapons of mass destruction were destroyed long before we arrived. They know that our military as well as our National Guard and reserve units are being degraded and decimated. They know this war is not about bringing democracy to Iraq, that all the cliches about staying the course and completing the mission are used to make sure the president and his allies do not pay a political price while in power for their blunders and their folly. The press knows all this, and if reporters had bothered to look they could have known it a long time ago. But the press, or at least most of it, has lost the passion, the outrage, and the sense of mission that once drove reporters to defy authority and tell the truth. The legions of the lost and damned War is the pornography of violence. It has a dark beauty, filled with the monstrous and the grotesque. The Bible calls it "the lust of the eye" and warns believers against it. War allows us to engage in lusts and passions we keep hidden in the deepest, most private interiors of our fantasy lives. It allows us to destroy not only things and ideas but human beings. In that moment of wholesale destruction, we wield the power of the divine, the power to revoke another person's charter to live on this Earth. The frenzy of this destruction - and when unit discipline breaks down, or when there was no unit discipline to begin with, "frenzy" is the right word - sees armed bands crazed by the poisonous elixir that our power to bring about the obliteration of others delivers. All things, including human beings, become objects - objects either to gratify or destroy, or both. Almost no one is immune. The contagion of the crowd sees to that. Human beings are machine-gunned and bombed from the air, automatic grenade launchers pepper hovels and neighbors with high-powered explosive devices, and convoys race through Iraq like freight trains of death. These soldiers and marines have at their fingertips the heady ability to call in airstrikes and firepower that obliterate landscapes and villages in fiery infernos. They can instantly give or deprive human life, and with this power they become sick and demented. The moral universe is turned upside down. All human beings are used as objects. And no one walks away uninfected. War thrusts us into a vortex of pain and fleeting ecstasy. It thrusts us into a world where law is of little consequence, human life is cheap, and the gratification of the moment becomes the overriding desire that must be satiated, even at the cost of another's dignity or life. "A lot of guys really supported that whole concept that, you know, if they don't speak English and they have darker skin, they're not as human as us, so we can do what we want," said Specialist Josh Middleton, who served in the 82nd Airborne in Iraq. "And you know, 20-year-old kids are yelled at back and forth at Bragg, and we're picking up cigarette butts and getting yelled at every day for having a dirty weapon. But over here, it's like life and death. And 40-year-old Iraqi men look at us with fear and we can - do you know what I mean? - we have this power that you can't have. That's really liberating. Life is just knocked down to this primal level of, you know, you worry about where the next food's going to come from, the next sleep or the next patrol, and to stay alive. "It's like, you feel like, I don't know, if you're a caveman," he added. "Do you know what I mean? Just, you know, I mean, this is how life is supposed to be. Life and death, essentially. No TV. None of that bullshit." It takes little in wartime to turn ordinary men into killers. Most give themselves willingly to the seduction of unlimited power to destroy. All feel the peer pressure to conform. Few, once in battle, find the strength to resist. Physical courage is common on a battlefield. Moral courage, which these veterans have exhibited by telling us the truth about the war, is not. Military machines and state bureaucracies, which seek to make us obey, seek also to silence those who return from war and speak to its reality. They push aside these witnesses to hide from a public eager for stories of war that fit the mythic narrative of glory and heroism the essence of war, which is death. War, as these veterans explain, exposes the capacity for evil that lurks just below the surface within all of us. This is the truth these veterans, often with great pain, have had to face. American Historian Christopher Browning chronicled the willingness to kill in Ordinary Men, his study of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in Poland during World War II.

Click on link above to read the full story.

WOMEN SUICIDE BOMBERS IN IRAQ USE NEW TACTICS

Women bombers show shifting tactics in Iraq

(AP)7 June 2008
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2008/June/focusoniraq_June28.xml&section=focusoniraq

IRBIL, Iraq - A girl strapped with explosives approaches an Iraqi army captain, who dies in the suicide blast.

A woman posing as a mother-to-be to disguise a bulging bomb belt strikes a wedding procession as part of a coordinated attack that kills nearly three dozen people.

The attacks last month were among the latest blows by female suicide bombers and further evidence of shifting insurgent tactics amid an overall drop in bloodshed around Iraq.

U.S. military figures show the number of female suicide attacks has risen from eight in 2007 to at least 16 so far this year not including a suicide bombing Friday near Ramadi that Iraqi police believe was carried out by a woman. That compares with a total of four in 2005 and 2006, according to the military.

Some female bombers appear motivated by revenge, like the woman who killed 15 people in Diyala province on Dec. 7. She was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party whose two sons joined al-Qaeda in Iraq and were killed by Iraqi security forces.
But activists and U.S. commanders also believe al-Qaeda in Iraq is increasingly seeking to exploit women who are unable to deal with the grief of losing husbands, children and others to the violence.

Al-Qaeda is preying on those who don't have jobs, who don't have education and who are feeling despair,' said Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a conference this week on women's issues.

The use of women as suicide bombers is a relatively new phenomenon in Iraq, although it has been used by militants elsewhere, particularly in Sri Lanka.

Click on link above to read full story

MARINE SNIPER CHARGED IN DEATH OF TWO IRAQI CIVILIANS

Marine sniper charged in Iraqi deaths
Charges allege sniper killed them in 2007 during combat mission

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25011867/

SAN DIEGO - A Marine sniper has been charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths of two civilians in Iraq.

Sgt. John Winnick II also has been charged with aggravated assault against two other civilians and failing to adhere to the military's rules of engagement.

Winnick's attorney, Gary Myers, said a hearing will be held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to court-martial the Marine.

The charges allege Winnick killed the civilians on June 17, 2007, during combat operations near Lake Tharthar in Iraq's western Anbar province. The charges also allege he fired at two others without first determining whether any of the civilians posed a threat, Myers said.

Winnick is a member of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Alvarez said. Winnick was working with the base's 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit at the time of the shootings.

The charges carry a maximum 40-year sentence and a dishonorable discharge.

The case against Winnick, whose hometown and age were not immediately released, comes on the heels of other cases in which Camp Pendleton Marines were charged with wrongdoing in Iraq, including the shooting deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha and the fatal shooting of a civilian in Hamdania.

CNN REPORTS: IRAQI MOTHER DESCRIBES HOW HER DAUGHTER BECAME A SUICIDE BOMBER

Iraqi woman describes daughter's descent into suicide bombing

"God willing, she went to heaven," said the woman, whose son also was a suicide bomber in 2004. "She told me, 'Mom, I want to do it.' "

Story Highlights
U.S. military reports 19 female suicide bombers in Iraq this year, up from 8 in 2007
Authorities say al Qaeda in Iraq targets desperate women who seek revenge
Many women bombers have lost male relatives to the war, officials say
Iraqi and U.S. officials fear more women will turn themselves into bombs

By Arwa DamonCNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/06/female.bombers/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The mother's voice lacks emotion as she recalls how her daughter became a suicide bomber.

"She wanted to die in the name of God," she says on a videotape, her face peering out from under a dark brown head scarf.

"She told me she is sick of this life. ... So she spoke about the Americans. I told her, 'Where will you get Americans?' She said she will go after the Americans." Watch as the mother tells her story »

The daughter is one of 19 female suicide bombers this year, a number much higher than in previous years. According to the U.S. military, women carried out eight bombings in all of 2007.

In the February 13 attack, the daughter posed as a journalist with an English-speaking male accomplice, claiming that they had an interview with a prominent Iraqi tribal leader who works with U.S. forces.

Four guards protecting Sheikh Ifan al-Isawi were killed in the attack. Al-Isawi brought the mother in for questioning, and CNN obtained the video of the interrogation.

The latest bombing involving a female came Friday, when a man and woman targeted an Iraqi police checkpoint in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The explosion wounded three police and two civilians, said an official with the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Authorities said that al Qaeda in Iraq actively is recruiting women and that increasing numbers of women are offering themselves up for missions. The officials said the women are desperate and hopeless. Most have pre-existing ties to the insurgency, and their main motive is revenge for a male family member killed by U.S. or Iraqi forces in the war, authorities said.

"We do see certain members of cells attempting to persuade women, specifically in many cases wives or those who have been killed as terrorists, to conduct suicide operations," said U.S. Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, whose area of operations includes the volatile province of Diyala.

"Since October, there have been nine suicide bombers who were female, seven of whom were recruited in the last 90 days," Hertling said.

Hertling's troops in Diyala have launched operations targeting members of families of suspected female bombers trying to break up the rings that are recruiting the women and girls. The U.S. military said it has six females in custody who were would-be suicide bombers. The youngest is 14, one U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Intelligence gathered from detainees indicates that al Qaeda in Iraq is looking for women with three main characteristics: those who are illiterate, are deeply religious or have financial struggles because most likely they've lost the male head of the household.

OUR GUYS ARE STILL DYING IN IRAQ. 6 MORE GI DEATHS CONFIRMED BY DOD

Six more U.S. soldiers died in Iraq as the Iraq war has taken a backseat to the ongoing political saturation coverage of the race for the White House in the United States.

The following is a list of U.S. casualties in Iraq with names, hometowns and cause of death.
To obtain more details click on the part in BLUE.

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

Latest Coalition Fatalities
06/06/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (3 of 3)
Sgt. Shane P. Duffy, 22, of Taunton, Mass...died June 4 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered in Sharqat, Iraq, when their unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire and hand grenades. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion...

06/06/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (2 of 3)
Spc. Jonathan D. A. Emard, 20, of Mesquite, Texas...died June 4 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered in Sharqat, Iraq, when their unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire and hand grenades. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion...

06/06/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (1 of 3)
Sgt. Cody R. Legg, 23, of Escondido, Ca...died June 4 in Tikrit, Iraq, of wounds suffered in Sharqat, Iraq, when their unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire and hand grenades. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion...

06/05/08 DoD Identifies Army Casaulty
Pfc. Joshua E. Waltenbaugh, 19, of Ford City, Pa., died June 3 in Taji, Iraq, of injuries sustained in a non-combat related injury. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.

06/05/08 Georgian Soldier Killed in Iraq
A Georgian soldier was killed on a combat mission in Iraq on June 4, the Georgian Ministry of Defense said on Thursday. Squad commander Irakli Kordzaia, 28, was killed when a checkpoint in the province of Diyala came under repeat fire...

06/05/08 MNF: MND-C Soldier attacked by small arms fire
A Coalition force Soldier was killed by small arms fire June 4 during a patrol south of Baghdad. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

06/05/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Quincy J. Green, 26, of El Paso, Texas, died June 2 in Tikrit, Iraq, of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 601st Aviation Support Battalion, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

THIS TAKES THE CAKE!: IRAQ WANTS TO RESTRICT U.S. TROOP MOVEMENTS

It is not bad enough that Iraq can't get their act together with their two-bit government, but now they are dictating what the United States military can and cannot do in their country.

The moguls who run the U.S. puppet government in Iraq have issued a decree saying they want the U.S. military to report to the Iraqi government any troop movements before they are made.

Considering the Iraqi government is infiltrated with all kinds of radicals who can't stand the United States the idea of letting Iraq dictate U.S. troop movements is a prescription for disaster.

If the United States agrees to such an "order" from the Iraqi government, it would put every GI and Marine in Iraq right in the cross hairs of every insurgent and anti-American Iraqi in all of Iraq.

It would also be the first time a fledgling government told the United States military what is could do and not do.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Iraq says it wants to restrict movement of U.S. troops

By Michael Georgy 42 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080606/ts_nm/iraq_usa_military_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday it would not grant U.S. troops freedom of movement for military operations in a new agreement being negotiated on extending the presence of American troops on its soil.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said the United States wanted its forces to operate without any restrictions, but this was not acceptable to Iraq.

The United States, which invaded Iraq in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein, is negotiating an agreement with Iraq aimed at giving a legal basis for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq after December 31, when their United Nations mandate expires.

The negotiations are the subject of heated debate both in United States and Iraq, where thousands have answered anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's call for weekly protests after Friday Muslim prayers.

While the Iraqi government has confirmed there are major differences between the two sides in the negotiations, few details of the sticking points have been made public.

"What I can confirm now, with no hesitation, is that there will not be freedom of movement for American (forces) in Iraq," Salih told Arabiya television.

U.S. officials said this week they would not comment on the content of the negotiations.
But Western diplomats say it is unlikely the Americans would agree to any deal that would require them to seek permission from the Iraqi government for every military operation.

NEW VIDEO: CHENEY BLOCKED TALKS WITH IRAN

Paul Jay, Senior Correspondent for The Real News Network interviews Larry Wilkerson about how Vice President Dick Cheney blocked any talks with Iran.

Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff Larry Wilkerson on how Cheney turned down talks with Iran

SEE VIDEO HERE: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1617

Wilkerson says what Dr. Rice has been saying is fairly consistent with what the administration‘s position has been and that is, that Iran must stop enrichment before talks can happen. I think that’s absurd. Setting such conditions is a route to no talks at all, which is why Cheney advocates such a policy. Iran made a serious approach in 2003 to talk, Cheney made the State department turn it down. The plan was for regime change throughout the Middle East.

Bio
Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary where he teaches courses on US national security. He also instructs a senior seminar in the Honors Department at the George Washington University entitled "National Security Decision Making."

JUAN COLE REPORTS: BUSH BLACKMAILING AL MALIKI WITH 50 BILLION IN U.S. FED

The intrepid Patrick Cockburn reveals that the White House is more or less blackmailing the Iraqi government into signing a security pact with George W. Bush. At stake is $50 bn. of Iraqi money held in the US Federal Reserve, at least $20 bn. of which could be lost to Iraq if the government of Nuri al-Maliki declines to sign on the dotted line.

Bush Blackmailing al-Maliki with $50 Bn. in US Fed
http://juancole.com/

Cockburn also reveals that the Iraqis wanted to diversify their receipts from oil sales away from dollar holdings into euros, and that the Americans vetoed the move. Bush wants 50 bases in Iraq and the prerogative of the US military to act unilaterally and with impunity inside the country.

Although the Bush administration is playing hardball to get this wideranging set of commitments from Iraq before July 31, and although Iraqis are eager to escape Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which limits their government's sovereignty, the negotiations may collapse in the face of widespread opposition to the baldly neocolonial terms sought by Washington.

Even remaining under the UN Security Council, under Chapter 7, may be preferable to Baghdad. There were large demonstrations against the security agreement, barely covered by the US press, last Friday, and Iraqi religious and political leaders are coalescing against it. Postcolonial states of the Arab world, which only attained real independence from Britain and France with great difficulty and in living memory, are touchy about being seen as kowtowing to imperial demands. The Shah's government was overthrown in 1979 by huge crowds and a wide cross section of the public precisely on these grounds.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has issued a 170-page report accusing Bush and Cheney of exaggerating the intelligence on the threat posed by Iraq, in the build-up to the Iraq War.

A big explosion in north Baghdad killed at least 15 [late reports say 18] persons and wounded 75 on Wednesday. Iraqi police said it was a suicide bombing. The US military said it was an accidental explosion of munitions a Shiite militia was moving up for an attack on US forces. Robert Reid writes, "The force of the blast crumbled several two-story buildings, buried cars under rubble, sheared off a corrugated steel roof and left a large crater on the residential street." There were several other bombings and attacks, making Wednesday a particularly violent day in Iraq (details below).Sadly, Reid notes, "The three American soldiers died when gunmen opened fire on them near the town of Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad, a U.S military statement said. No further details were released.

IRAQ REPORT UNDERMINES BUSH'S CLAIM HE IS "CREDIBLE LEADER" BECAUSE HE "READS THE INTELLIGENCE"

Iraq Report Undermines Bush’s Claim That He Is A ‘Credible’ Leader Because He ‘Reads The Intelligence’»

Today, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee released the final two sections of its pre-war intelligence report.

http://thinkprogress.org/?tag=Iraq

As Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, the report concludes “that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence.”

In today’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was dismissive of the report, explaining that President Bush made false statements before the Iraq war simply because he was kept in the dark:

PERINO: That dissent amongst experts within the intelligence community at some level did not reach the president.

Watch VIDEO of DANA PERIINO: http://thinkprogress.org/?tag=Iraq

In reality, Bush kept himself in the dark. As the report notes, the intelligence reports did contradict the administration’s hawkish statements. In fact, the National Intelligence Estimate of 2002, which the White House used to make the case for war, also included a “clear dissenting views” section:

The Estimate itself expressed the majority view that the program was being reconstituted, but included clear dissenting views from the State Department’s Buerau of Intelligence and Research, which argued that reconstitution was not underway, and the Department of Energy, which argued that aluminum tubes sought by Iraq were probably not intended for a nuclear weapon.

The revelations pour cold water on Bush’s rationale as to why he makes a good wartime leader. In 2007, he said that he is credible as Commander-in-Chief because he “reads” the intelligence:

Q: Can you explain why you believe you’re still a credible messenger on the war?

BUSH: I’m credible because I read the intelligence, David.

“All of the intelligence I looked at…the Congress looked at, said the same thing,” Bush said in 2004. Unfortunately, it seems that Bush only selectively “looked at” the intelligence.

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION CHIEF LIKENS PTSD TO "HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL INJURY"

VA Chief Likens PTSD to "High School Football Injury"

By ItsNeverOver - June 4, 2008, 6:48PM
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/va-chief-likens-ptsd-to-high-s.php

I recently traveled to Madison, WI, to interview Rachel and Josh, two young Iraq War veterans about the health issues they've dealt with, due to poor accountability for both the private contractors who are supposed to be supporting our troops, and for the mental health needs of returning soldiers.

When I interviewed Josh about his difficulties seeking help for his PTSD, he recounted the whole horrific process with a smile on his face and a self-effacing laugh. It took me a while to realize that Josh laughed about his troubles because the seriousness of the situation was overpowering. Unfortunately, even the VA is starting to turn its back on the gravity of this problem, even as it escalates to frightening proportions.

Apparently, VA Secretary James Peake is not troubled by the fact that one in five veterans are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or that every day, 18 veterans commit suicide.

In a statement last week, Peake first referred to the growing concern surrounding the veterans' mental health crisis as “overblown,” then went on to say, “Many of the brain injuries are serious but some of them are akin to what anyone who played football in their youth might have suffered.”

Peake continued to belittle the devastating effects of war-induced brain injuries and mental disorders by saying, "Just because someone might need a little counseling when they get back, doesn't mean they need the PTSD label their whole lives."

Addressing the stigma of PTSD is one thing; downplaying the prevalence and devastation of this problem in order to deflect any responsibility of the VA is another. PTSD is an effect of our troops living through horrific scenes, burdened with stop-loss and extra tours of duty; left untreated, it can mark the lives of these young men and women for years and even decades.

The fact that the VA's mental health services are grossly insufficient is a problem that the VA needs to address before more veterans slip through the cracks .

ANIMALS STRUGGLE TOO FOR SURVIVAL IN IRAQ

IRAQ: Animals Too Struggle for Survival

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42670

FALLUJAH, Jun 5 (IPS) - Amidst the huge and growing death toll, it has been easy to forget that animals, in their own way, are finding it hard to survive in Iraq."Like human beings, animals find it very hard to stay alive now," Dr. Sammy Hashim, a veterinarian who lives and works west of Baghdad, between Fallujah and the capital city, told IPS. "Naturally, no one cares for the poor animals when nobody seems to care even for human beings under the occupation."

Dr. Hashim said animals cannot get basic needs. "Good drinking water, good feed, vet care and medicines are all unavailable in Iraq since the U.S. occupation of the country began in the spring of 2003. When we complain to the government, they laugh at us, saying humans are first priority." Farmers seem to have lost hope for the future of their animals. "We treat animals like our own children," Hamdiya Alwan, 50-year-old widow of a farmer in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad told IPS. "We were brought up to treat animals in the best way possible, but now it is getting very hard. "It costs a lot to keep a cow or a few sheep with prices of feed so high, and agriculture in such bad shape. Of the six cows and 30 heads of sheep that we had before my husband was killed in 2004, I only have one cow and four heads of sheep now." Chicken farm owners have their own agonies. "It was good business, and a real support during the times of the sanctions (the UN-imposed economic sanctions on Iraq 1990-2003)," Hajji Jassim from the Saqlawiya area near Fallujah, 60 km west of Baghdad told IPS. "The support (subsidies) we got from our legitimate (previous) government was reflected in the prices of chicken meat."

Click on link above for complete story.

IRAQ CASUALTY REPORT AND LIST OF VIOLENCE ACROSS IRAQ

While the mainstream media now focuses on who will be the running mate for Barack Obama and John McCain, there is still a war going on in Iraq and we have the latest information on casualties and violence across Iraq.

War News for Thursday, June 05, 2008

CASUALTY REPORT FROM IRAQ
http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
Click on "BLUE" for more information.

David Woodard walked on crutches Tuesday for the first time in more than a month. A quarter-sized piece of shrapnel struck Woodard in the shin, destroying a 3- to 4-inch section of his right leg April 28 when a roadside bomb blast penetrated his Humvee in Baghdad. He and three other soldiers, along with an interpreter, were traveling to a main security checkpoint to relieve a platoon patrolling there. The other passengers were unhurt. “It [the bomb] went off on my side of the truck,” said Woodard, who led a platoon of 40 men in a section of Baghdad bordering Sauder City. Woodard was a member of Chaos Company, 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. Woodard since has undergone 11 to 12 surgeries – he’s lost count – and is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He speaks matter-of-factly about his sacrifice.

The International Herald Tribune reports that he died in a land mine explosion.MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition force Soldier from small arms fire south of Baghdad on Wednesday, June 4th. No other details were released.

Xinhuanet is reporting the deaths of two U.S. coalition soldiers in a helicopter crash near Kandahar, Afghanistan on Thursday, June 5th. No other details were released.

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November. The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law.....Mideast weather roundup:

Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: Around 9am, a roadside bomb targeted an army patrol at Rashid camp street (east Baghdad).One soldier was killed .

#2: Around 1pm, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in Jihad neighborhood near Mohammad Rasool Allah mosque. No casualties reported.

#3: Police found two dead bodies in Baghdad today: 1 was found in Tobchi neighborhood (northwest Baghdad)in Karkh bank while 1 was found in Fudhailiyah neighborhood(east Baghdad)in Risafa bank.

Diyala Prv:#1: Georgia's Defense Ministry says a soldier has died in a land mine explosion in Iraq. The ministry says the incident occurred Wednesday as 22-year-old Sgt. Irakly Kordzaya was on patrol with his unit in the province of Diyala, north of Baghdad. It was unclear whether he stepped on the mine or if it was remotely detonated.

#2: Three civilians were wounded on Thursday in an improvised explosive device blast targeting a civilian car in south of Baaquba, a police source said. "An improvised explosive device, planted on the road in al-Nahr al-Kabier village in Bahraz district, south of Baaquba, went off this morning, injuring three civilians," the source, who asked to be unnamed, Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#3: Three civilians were injured on Thursday by mortar shells in northeast of Baaquba, a police source said. "Five mortar shells hit al-Khadraa neighborhood in Jalawlaa, Khaniqeen district, northeast of Baaquba, wounding three civilians," Lieutenant Nehad Ali told Aswat al-Iraq

Voices of Iraq.Baquba:#1: A Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen was killed on Thursday by unknown armed in the city of Baaquba, said a police source.

Shirqat:#1: Iraqi army and U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrols backed by U.S. military killed seven militants, including two foreign fighters, in clashes in Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, said Captain Khalid al-Sahan, leader of the Shirqat neighbourhood patrols.Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb exploded near Sumer hotel downtown Kirkuk city. Seven people were injured.

Kurdistan:#1: A Turkish TV station is quoting a senior military commander as saying that Turkey and Iran have carried out coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. CNN-Turk television reports that Gen. Ilker Basbug has confirmed for the first time that the two countries share intelligence against the rebels. He said the two countries plan to launch more coordinated operations against the rebel group in the future.

Al Anbar Prv:Fallujah:#1: Iraqi security forces killed a gunman and arrested two others in an operation against al Qaeda hideouts in north Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police Captain Ahmed Jasim said.

BUSH KNEW IRAQI CLAIMS WEREN'T TRUE: SENATE REVEALS

Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true

Nancy A. Youssef and Mark Seibel McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: June 05, 2008 02:17:52 PM

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/244/story/39963.html


WASHINGTON— A long-awaited Senate Select Intelligence Committee report made public Thursday concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available intelligence.

A companion report found that a special office set up by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld undertook "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department."

“Before taking the country to war, this administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence,” said committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D- W. Va.

It's long been known that the administration's claims in the runup to the Iraq war, from Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al Qaida to whether Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program, were incorrect, and White House spokeswoman Dana Perino suggested the problems were faulty intelligence.

"We had the intelligence that we had fully vetted, but it was wrong," she said. "We certainly regret that and we've taken measures to fix it."

But the Senate report, the first official examination of whether the president and vice president knew that their claims were incorrect at the time that they made them, reached a different conclusion.

“There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate," Rockefeller said in a statement.
But Rockefeller called the administration’s statements delibrate, writing: "There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate."
The report was approved with on a 10-5 vote. Three Republican members of the committee, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Christopher Bond of Missouri and Richard Burr of North Carolina, denounced the report as "inconclusive, misleading and incomplete." Two Republicans, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snow of Maine, voted with the Democrats.
The report examined five speeches by Bush, Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell between August 2002 and February 2003 and dissected key statements. It also looked at statements by other administration leaders during that time. The report found that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and CIA Director George Tenet often made declarative statements about the reasons to go to war even though the intelligence community was largely split on key issues.
In some cases, the administration made statements that were not backed up at all, the report found.
"Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information," the report concluded.
Among the reports conclusions:
Claims by President Bush that Iraq and al Qaida had a partnership "were not substantiated by the intelligence."
The president and vice president misrepresented what was known about Iraq’s chemical weapons capabiliies.
Rumsfeld misrepresented what the intelligence community knew when he said Iraq's weapons productions facilities were buried deeply underground.
Cheney's claim that the intelligence community had confirmed that lead Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 was not true.
The report did not examine statements by senators, who often echoed the administration's statements because committee staffers said the administration's statements had a greater impact. Instead, committee staffers said that the Senate had learned from its mistakes and now has special groups dedicated to specific controversial topics such as Iran and China.
The Senate now is "wary of wholesale acceptance" of the intelligence community and of statements made by intelligence officials, said a committee staffer who asked to remain unnamed so that he could speak more freely.

BUSH WANTS 50 PERMANENT BASES IN IRAQ AND CONTROL OF IRAQI AIRSPACE

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors

By Patrick CockburnThursday, 5 June 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.

Click on link to read complete story.

RUMORS OF WAR: IS BUSH GEARING UP FOR WAR WITH IRAN?

Rumors of War: Is Bush Gearing Up to Attack Iran?

By Conn Hallinan, PortsidePosted on June 5, 2008, Printed on June 5, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/87079/

The May 8 letter from U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to George W. Bush received virtually no media coverage, in spite of the fact that it warned the president that an attack on Iran without Congressional approval would be grounds for impeachment. Rumor has it several senators have been briefed about the possibility of war with Iran.

Something is afoot.

Just what is not clear, but over the past several months, several moves by the White House strongly suggest that the Bush administration will attack Iran sometime in the near future. According to the Asia Times, "a former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community" said an air attack will target the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force garrisons. Not even the White House is bonkers enough to put troops on the ground amid 65 million Iranians.

There is a certain disconnect to all this, particularly given December's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluding that Iran had abandoned its program to build a nuclear weapon. The NIE is the consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence services. At the time, the report seemed to shelve any possibility of war with Iran.

However, shortly after the intelligence estimate on Iran was released, the old "into Iraq gang" went to work undermining it.

According to Newsweek, during his Middle East tour in January, Bush "all but disowned the document" to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A "senior administration official" told the magazine, "He [Bush] told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views."

Neither do they reflect the views of Vice President Dick Cheney or Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

In an interview with ABC during his recent 10-day visit to the region, Cheney downplayed the NIE: "We don't know whether or not they've [the Iranians have] restarted." Cheney also said Iran was seeking to build missiles capable of reaching the United States sometime in the next decade.

Click on link above for complete story

HOW THE MEDIA ABANDONED IRAQ

This blogger has been saying for months how the media has abandoned coverage of the Iraq war. We watched as the cable news stations went from one tabloid-type story to another in an effort to report on "anything" other than Iraq.

As the primaries started to heat up, we could see the cable news media switching from tabloid news to round-the-clock coverage of the primaries with "talking heads" talking and talking and talking and never really saying anything of importance.

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were shoved not only off the front pages but off the news sections of every major newspaper in the United States.

As for FOX NEWS, CNN and MSNBC, the three cable "news" stations "spiked" any story having to do with Iraq even though we have 160,000 troops in Iraq and 30,000 in Afghanistan.

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were put on the back burner and still remain there as I write this.

We have held to a theory for a long, long time that the reason the wars no longer get coverage is because there is no vested interest in the wars by a vast majority of the public. How many people actually have a loved one serving in the military? Very, very few.

And to add to the burying of Iraq and Afghanistan war news, you have a media made up of young reporters and editors who NEVER served in the military and have very little interest in anything to do with the United States military---even the military that are caught in two wars.

Now there is a story that has come out which backs up everything I have been saying about how the media has abandoned the wars. Below you can read most of it and for the full account click on the link I provide.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE.

How the Media Abandoned Iraq

By Sherry Ricchiardi, American Journalism ReviewPosted on June 4, 2008, Printed on June 5, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/86930/

Armando Acuna, public editor of the Sacramento Bee, turned a Sunday column into a public flogging for both his editors and the nation's news media. They had allowed the third-longest war in American history to slip off the radar screen, and he had the numbers to prove it.

The public also got a scolding for its meager interest in a controversial conflict that is costing taxpayers about $12.5 billion a month, or nearly $5,000 a second, according to some calculations. In his March 30 commentary, Acuna noted: "There's enough shame … for everyone to share."

He had watched stories about Iraq move from 1A to the inside pages of his newspaper, if they ran at all. He understood the editors' frustration over how to handle the mind-numbing cycles of violence and complex issues surrounding Operation Iraqi Freedom. "People feel powerless about this war," he said in an interview in April.

Acuna knew the Sacramento Bee was not alone.

For long stretches over the past 12 months, Iraq virtually disappeared from the front pages of the nation's newspapers and from the nightly network newscasts. The American press and the American people had lost interest in the war.

The decline in coverage of Iraq has been staggering.

During the first 10 weeks of 2007, Iraq accounted for 23 percent of the newshole fornetwork TV news. In 2008, it plummeted to 3 percent during that period. On cable networks it fell from 24 percent to 1 percent, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The numbers also were dismal for the country's dailies. By Acuna's count, during the first three months of this year, front-page stories about Iraq in the Bee were down 70 percent from the same time last year. Articles about Iraq once topped the list for reader feedback. By mid-2007, "Their interest just dropped off; it was noticeable to me," says the public editor.

A daily tracking of 65 newspapers by the Associated Press confirms a dip in page-one play throughout the country. In September 2007, the AP found 457 Iraq-related stories (154 by the AP) on front pages, many related to a progress report delivered to Congress by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Over the succeeding months, that number fell to as low as 49.

A spike in March 2008 was largely due to a rash of stories keyed to the conflict's fifth anniversary, according to AP Senior Managing Editor Mike Silverman.

During the early stages of shock and awe, Americans were glued to the news as Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in Baghdad and sweat-soaked Marines bivouacked in his luxurious palaces.

It was a huge story when President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, and declared major combat operations were over.

By March 2008, a striking reversal had taken place. Only 28 percent of Americans knew that 4,000 military personnel had been killed in the conflict, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Eight months earlier, 54 percent could cite the correct casualty rate.

TV news was a vivid indicator of the declining interest. The three broadcast networks' nightly newscasts devoted more than 4,100 minutes to Iraq in 2003 and 3,000 in 2004. That leveled off to 2,000 annually. By late 2007, it was half that, according to Andrew Tyndall, who monitors the nightly news (tyndallreport.com).

"In broadcast, there's a sense that the appetite for Iraq coverage has grown thin. The big issue is how many people stick with it. It is not less of a story," said Jeffrey Fager, executive producer of "60 Minutes," during the Reva and David Logan Symposium on Investigative Reporting in late April at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. The number of Iraq-related stories aired on "60 Minutes" has been consistent over the past two years. The total from April 2007 through March 2008 was 15, one fewer than during the same period the year before.

Despite the pile of evidence of waning coverage, news managers interviewed for this story consistently maintained there was no conscious decision to back off. "I wasn't hearing that in our newsroom," says Margaret Sullivan, editor of the Buffalo News. Yet numbers show that attention to the war plummeted at the Buffalo paper as it did at other news outlets.

Why the dramatic drop-off? Gatekeepers offer a variety of reasons, from the enormous danger for journalists on the ground in Iraq (see "Obstructed View," April/May 2007) to plunging newsroom budgets and shrinking news space. Competing megastories on the home front like the presidential primaries and the sagging economy figure into the equation. So does the exorbitant cost of keeping correspondents in Baghdad.

No one questioned the importance of a grueling war gone sour or the looming consequences for the United States and the Middle East. Instead, newsroom managers talked about the realities of life in a rapidly changing media market, including smaller newsholes and, for many, a laser-beam focus on local issues and events.

Click on this link http://www.alternet.org/story/86930/ to read the full story on how the media abandoned coverage of the war.

LATEST U.S. CASUALTY REPORT FROM IRAQ

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

Casualty Reports: Click on BLUE for more details

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click on link above to read full story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iraq Security Pact Pits U.S. Against Iran

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

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

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

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

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

Click on link to CBS story for full account.

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

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

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NBC REPORTS: SOLDIERS: LONG TOURS CREATE "LOTS OF STRESS"

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Three soldiers receiving Purple Hearts today at Walter Reed Army Medical Center spoke about the strains on soldiers in Iraq that contributed to a record number of suicides last year in the Army.

The Army reported last Thursday there were 115 suicides in 2007, the highest number since it began keeping records of suicides in 1980.

So far this year, there have been 38 confirmed suicides.

"There's a lot of strain because probably a lot of people are ready to come home," said Staff Sgt. Bennie Lamb, 40, of Macon, Ga., who was on his third tour in Iraq when he was wounded March 14 by a suicide bomber.

NAMES, HOMETOWNS OF LATEST U.S. IRAQ CASUALTIES

The war in Iraq is still going on even though you would never know it from watching TV or reading the newspapers, and young Americans are still dying every single day in Iraq.

Latest Coalition Fatalities
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/ Click on "BLUE" for more infor

06/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Christopher D. McCarthy, of Virginia Beach, Va., died 1 June 2008 at Forward Operating Base Ramadi, Iraq. His death is under investigation. He was assigned to the U.S. Joint Forces Command, Joint Reserve Unit, Norfolk, Va.

06/03/08 MNF: MND-B Soldier dies of non-battle related cause
A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier died from a non-battle related cause at approximately 8 a.m. June 3. The Soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

06/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Justin R. Mixon, 22, of Bogalusa, La., died June 1 in Baghdad Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

06/02/08 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
Cpl. Christian S. Cotner, 20, of Waterbury, Conn., died May 30 from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, Marine Wing Support Group 17, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing...

06/02/08 MNF: MNF-W Soldier dies in non-combat related incident
A Multi-National Force - West Soldier died as the result of a non-combat related incident June 1. The Soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

WASHINGTON POST: IRAQ LIKELY TO MISS DEADLINE FOR PACT WITH U.S.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A July target for negotiating an agreement on future relations between Iraq and the United States is likely to be missed, an Iraqi government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Iraq says likely to miss deadline for U.S. pact
ReutersTuesday, June 3, 2008; 1:51 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060301638.html

U.S. and Iraqi officials began talks in March on twin agreements on the status of U.S. military forces in Iraq after 2008 and a strategic framework agreement that defines long-term bilateral ties.

Washington has said it aims to wrap up the talks by July, but Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that was unlikely to happen.

"I don't think that we can meet this date. There is a difference in viewpoints between Iraq and the U.S. I don't think that time is enough to end this gap and to reach a joint understanding ... Therefore, we are not committed to July as a deadline," he told al-Arabiya television.

He also said Iraq was looking into possible alternatives if it could not reach agreement with the United States on their long-term relations, but he gave no details.

The talks have angered many Iraqis who suspect the United States, which led the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has around 155,000 troops in the country, of wanting to keep a permanent presence there.

Click on link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060301638.html to read complete story.

VIDEO: "FOX AND FRIENDS" ACCUSE NBC/MSNBC OF BIAS

This video is a little like the kettle calling the pot black. No pun intended. But if anyone has shown they are a biased network it is FOX NEWS. What do they think Brit Hume and his nightly panel are when it comes to the news? They are ALL extreme right wingers. Then there is Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto plus a host of so-called "correspondents" and so-called "reporters" at FOX NEWS who every single day show their right wing bias and bash the Democrats, and especially Barack Obama. Sean Hannity, IMO, is by far the worst. He never stops bashing Obama and keeps running over and over the Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger videos plus making accusations which cannot be supported by fact.

Take a look for yourself what the "crew" at "Fox and Friends" had to say in this video:
http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2008/06/03/fox-accuses-msnbc-of-media-bias/

VIDEO: FIVE MILLION ORPHANS IN IRAQ. (THIS VIDEO WILL BREAK YOUR HEART)

Alive in Baghad, one of the best news services in Iraq, reports there are now five million Iraqi orphans as the result of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. This video shows one of the orphanages that is in good shape, but most of the orphanages in Iraq are a disgrace.

See Video here: http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1478