AP REPORTED McCAIN'S OFFER TO "EDUCATE" OBAMA ON IRAQ WITHOUT MENTIONING McCAIN'S FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT IRAQ

The Associated Press quoted Sen. John McCain claiming in an interview that he would "seize that opportunity to educate Senator [Barack] Obama along the way" if the two were to visit Iraq together, and that McCain also said that Obama "really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq." But the AP did not mention a series of claims made by McCain that raised questions about his own "knowledge" and "judgment" about Iraq, including about the safety of Baghdad neighborhoods and that Iran is training Al Qaeda.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200805270006?lid=322934&rid=8658434

In a May 26 article about an interview with Sen. John McCain, the Associated Press reported that McCain said that he and Sen. Barack Obama should visit Iraq together and quoted McCain claiming that he would "seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way." Reporters Liz Sidoti and Barry Massey further quoted McCain saying that Obama "really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time." But they did not mention statements McCain has made or actions he has taken in the past two years that raised questions about McCain's own "knowledge" and "judgment about the issue of Iraq," including claims about the safety of Baghdad neighborhoods, and his admittedly false claim -- which he made repeatedly -- that Iranian operatives are "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."

As Media Matters for America has documented, after visiting Iraq on a fact-finding tour, McCain twice made the Iran-Al Qaeda claim to reporters during a March 18 press conference in Amman, Jordan -- one day after he made a similar claim during an interview with nationally syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt. After Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who was accompanying McCain on the trip, whispered something in his ear, McCain corrected himself, saying: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda." As The New York Times reported on March 19, Iran is believed to be financing and training Shiite extremists in Iraq, not Al Qaeda in Iraq.
On March 26, 2007, just before another fact-finding tour to Iraq, McCain told conservative radio host William Bennett that "[t]here are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today."

When asked about those comments the next day on CNN's The Situation Room, McCain told host Wolf Blitzer: "General [David] Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee." When confronted about his comment on the April 8, 2007, edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, McCain, then in Iraq, admitted to correspondent Scott Pelley: "There is no unarmored Humvees. Obviously, that's the case. ... Of course I'm going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions, and I probably will in the future."


On April 1, 2007, as part of a Republican congressional delegation, McCain visited an open-air market in downtown Baghdad. At a press conference later that day, a reporter asked McCain about his previous statement that he "could walk through" neighborhoods in Baghdad, and McCain replied: "Yeah, I just was -- came from one. ... Things are better, and there are encouraging signs. I have been here many ... times over the years; never have I been able to drive from the airport, never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today." However, McCain later admitted during his interview with Pelley on 60 Minutes that he was provided with security during his visit to the market: "I understand why they would provide me with that security, but I can tell you, if it had been two months ago, and I'd have asked to do it, they'd have said, 'under no circumstance whatsoever.' I view that as a sign of progress." As Pelley noted, McCain was accompanied by "10 armored humvees, soldiers with rifles, and two Apache attack helicopters circling overhead." Several other media outlets also noted McCain's heavy security during the visit.

The day after McCain's Baghdad market walk, Reuters reported that "[t]he crack of shots fired by unseen snipers echoed on Monday through Baghdad's wholesale Shorja market, a day after U.S. Senator John McCain held up his visit there as one sign of improving security in Baghdad." Also, in an April 3, 2007, New York Times article headlined "McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say," reporter Kirk Semple wrote that a "day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad's central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans' conclusions. ... Shorja, the city's oldest and largest market, set in a sprawling labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways, has been bombed at least a half-dozen times since last summer. At least 61 people were killed and many more wounded in a three-pronged attack there on Feb. 12 involving two vehicle bombs and a roadside bomb."
From the May 26 Associated Press article:

Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.

"He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."

McCain, a Navy veteran and Vietnam prisoner of war, frequently argues that he's the most qualified candidate to be a wartime commander in chief. In recent weeks, he has sought portray Obama, a first-term senator, as naive on foreign policy and not experienced enough to lead the military.

The Iraq war, which polls have shown that most of the country opposes, is shaping up to be a defining issue in the November presidential election.

Click on this link http://mediamatters.org/items/200805270006?lid=322934&rid=8658434 to read the rest of the story.

BREAKING NEWS: CLG REPORTS BUSH PLANS AIR STRIKE ON IRAN BY AUGUST

Bush 'plans Iran air strike by August' 28 May 2008 The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently. The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news Click here to read full story.

FORMER BUSH PRESS SECRETARY SAYS BUSH USED PROPAGANDA TO SELL THE WAR IN A NEW BOOK

Former Bush press secretary Scott Mclellan has written a memoir that, among other things, describes the administration as using "propaganda" to sell the war in Iraq.

by Chris Edelson
http://www.theseminal.com/2008/05/27/former-bush-spokesman-describes-iraq-war-propaganda/

Mclellan is not the first insider to spill the beans about incompetence and deception–he is preceded by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. John DiIulio, and Richard Clarke, among others, Mclellan also notes that Rove and Libby "at best" misled him in their role about the administration's retaliation against Valerie and Joe Wilson, and concedes that some of his own statements to the press were "badly misguided."


The administration's use of propaganda to push for war in Iraq is no surprise — for one thing, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reported on the administration's deceptions in late 2002. What's curious is that Mclellan professes to "still like and admire President Bush." How can Mclellan still likes and admire a president who, in Mclellan's own words, used propaganda to mislead a nation into war? Perhaps this helps to explain Bush's solid 30% of diehard supporters–like Mclellan, it's not clear what, if anything, could make them stop liking and admiring Bush.

A question begs to be answered, and perhaps Mclellan gets around to it somewhere in his book: if Mclellan knew that the president was lying to the American people about the need to go to war in Iraq, why didn't he speak up sooner, and leave the administration? (he stayed on as press secretary until 2006). I guess if he can still admire a president who uses deception to sell an unnecessary war, he could still feel ok feeding "badly misguided" information to the American people.

You know we've hit scandal overload when a former press secretary can accuse a sitting president of using propaganda to sell war to the public and the media's likely reaction is a yawn.

FEELING SAFER, IRAQIS COME HOME, BUT ONLY A FEW

Of some 5.1 million Iraqis uprooted from their homes, some 78,180 - fewer than 1 percent - had returned by March 31, according to the International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental humanitarian group based in Switzerland.

Up to half the displaced are in neighboring countries, chiefly Jordan and Syria. But these countries, feeling overwhelmed, have tightened visa restrictions. Meanwhile Iraqis who are refugees in their own country are feeling the pinch of high rents, lost jobs and the disruption of their children's education.

Yet the U.N. and aid agencies warn that despite the drop in violence, a rapid mass return of Iraqis demanding their old homes back may only reignite sectarian tensions.

So the exodus from Iraq remains possibly the biggest crisis of its kind in the world today, and could stay that way indefinitely.

By KIM GAMELAssociated Press Writer
Click on this link to read full story: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/387/story/370214.html

McCAIN SAYS HE AND OBAMA SHOULD VISIT IRAQ TOGETHER: DOES THIS MEAN McCAIN WILL NEED 200 TROOPS AS SECURITY INSTEAD OF 100 LIKE THE LAST TIME

When Sen. John McCain first visited Iraq, the US military provided a security guard of 100 troops to protect him as he walked around the streets of Baghdad. McCain returned to the US and told a nationwide audience that everything was so calm in Baghdad he could walk around the streets unprotected.

When McCain returned to Iraq earlier this year, he wanted to visit the same Baghdad neighborhood but the US military told him that part of the city was far too dangerous to visit and so McCain settled for a photo/op at another part of Baghdad.

Now McCain has issued a challenge to Democrat Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee for POTUS, to visit Iraq with him.

Does this mean McCain will ask for a security detail of 200 troops if Obama were to join him on a tour of Baghdad, which, of course, is highly unlikely?

Editorial Comment: Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

By LIZ SIDOTI and BARRY MASSEY, Associated Press WritersTue May 27, 12:54 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_el_pr/mccain

"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.

"He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."

McCain, a Navy veteran and Vietnam prisoner of war, frequently argues that he's the most qualified candidate to be a wartime commander in chief. In recent weeks, he has sought portray Obama, a first-term senator, as naive on foreign policy and not experienced enough to lead the military.

The Iraq war, which polls have shown that most of the country opposes, is shaping up to be a defining issue in the November presidential election.

McCain, who wrapped up the GOP nomination in March, supports continued military presence in Iraq though he recently said he envisions victory with most U.S. troops coming home by January 2013 if he's elected. Obama, who has all but clinched the Democratic nomination, says he will remove U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office, though sometimes he shortens it to 11 months.

Click on this link for full story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_el_pr/mccain

DAHR JAMAIL WRITES ABOUT HOW ONE IRAQI CITY IS COPING WITH THE US OCCUPATION OF THEIR LAND

IRAQ: Through Occupation, The Very Dreams Change

By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail*
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42529

BAQUBA, May 27 (IPS) - After more than five years of U.S. occupation, the very dreams of the people of Baquba have changed. For a start, they are no longer about the future.Today, a shower is a dream. Or that the electricity supply continues just that little bit longer.

"These needs are very trivial for people of other countries," 43-year-old political leader Saad Tahir told IPS. "But in Iraq, people dream more of these things than of some ambition or success." Abdullah Mahdi, a retired 51-year-old trader, says he dreams only of electricity. "Like millions here, I hope supply gets better to help us to sleep in this hot summer," Mahdi told IPS. "We have been suffering from this problem since the 1991 Kuwait war, and this current occupation only made things worse."

Others dream of freedom of movement. "I dream of travelling among the Iraqi provinces freely and safely," a local resident said. "For more than two years now, I have not travelled to any province of my country."

Lack of security means Iraqis can rarely travel even to a neighbouring area. Children also seem to have begun to dream differently. "I dream of a playground in which I and my friends can play freely and at any time," 11-year-old Luay Amjad told IPS. Children are not allowed to play just anywhere for fear of unexploded bombs, haphazard firing, and a general fear of the Iraqi military. Many children in Baquba and other districts of Diyala province have been kidnapped. "All families wish to see their children safe, and then enjoying their time," said a young father.

"We know that they currently live in a very closed world. But we put pressure on our children for their own safety. Streets are dangerous, and even gardens may sometimes be dangerous." Others dream of a functioning economy. According to the ministry of trade, unemployment has been vacillating between 40-70 percent over the last two years. "I hope that the trade and economic process will improve," said an unemployed trader. "I wish Iraq could be an industrial country with a flourishing and luxurious status of living. I want to get back to my shop and have my own customers."

Teachers dream of an Iraq that can be a centre for education again. "Iraq was one of the countries that paid great attention to education," a university professor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "Now, breaking the rules of schools is very common, and fake certificates are spread widely all over the country.

We dream of a rigorous and successful educational process." Farmers simply dream of water, and the security necessary to work in their fields. "I hope I can work on my farm again, and have water to irrigate all the land," said a local vegetable farmer. A cleric spoke of bigger dreams. "I dream that all Iraqis will love each other again, as we used to in the past days. We miss hope, a smile, and true love.

We hope that cooperation prevails again among people. We hope for killing and displacement to end forever in this once peaceful country. We hope that the sectarian discrimination disappears." A political analyst said he dreams of an end to the occupation. "The occupation is the source of all the problems of our people. I do dream of the end of the occupation -- no more arrests, no more prison for simple and poor people, and no more suffering."

(*Ahmed, our correspondent in Iraq's Diyala province, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who has reported extensively from Iraq and the Middle East). (END/2008)

BAGHDAD, CITY OF WIDOWS: GRIPPING NEW VIDEO OF IRAQI WIDOWS TALKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR FAMILIES

SOURCE: THE REAL NEWS NETWORK

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1568&updaterx=2008-05-27+09%3A20%3A35

We show this segment courtesy of www.aliveinbaghdad.org. Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq.
Iraq, Baghdad/Abu Dsheer -

This memorial day, as citizens of the United States, and perhaps elsewhere, are remembering the fallen soldiers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as previous conflicts, Alive in Baghdad asks you to remember the civilian fallen as well. It’s been estimated that 1.3 million women have been widowed in Iraq due to war, ranging from the Iran-Iraq war to the most recent conflict which is still going on today.Although its difficult to be certain if this number is accurate, or to know just how many have been widowed in the most recent conflict, Iraq’s acting Minister of Women's Affairs, Narmeen Othman, suggests that at least 70,000 women have been widowed due to the most recent war.

However, these numbers are disputed widely, and while a government committee on women’s affairs has claimed there are just 1.3 million widows in Iraq, others have reported drastically different numbers. One source in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs told an NBC staffer in 2007 that there were 3 million widows in Iraq due to the various wars of the last two decades.

Despite this already shocking number, the United Nations news service, IRIN, reported in 2006 that there are 8 million widows nation-wide, with upwards of 330,000 in Baghdad alone.
To put that in perspective, if true, it would mean that as much as 6-7 percent of Baghdad’s population may be made up of widows, suggesting that the number of children with only one parent left is likely to be double, or triple this, if not more.

The primary cause for women to be widowed today is sectarian violence and terrorism. Areas such as Abu Dsheer, Hawr Rajab, and other tumultuous districts that have seen some of the worst internecine fighting understandably have some of the most prevalent populations of widows and orphans.Abu Dsheer has been considered one of the bloodiest conflict areas in Baghdad, due to the influence militias have held there. Abu Dsheer is located in the south of Baghdad near Al-Saha neighborhood. Since 2004, Abu Dsheer was controlled by al-Qaeda on one side and the Sadr Movement on the other side, Many people were assassinated due to their sect whether they were Sunni or Shi’a. The Iraqi government tried many times along with coalition forces to restore security in Abu Dsheer with no success.In 2006 there were many bombings taking place in Abu Dsheer, in addition to the battles between the Iraqi or coalition forces and the militias.

The civilian casualties were very high in Abu Dsheer, and the families living there faced grave financial difficulties due to the bad security conditions which prevent them from going to work or looking for jobs within Abu Dsheer.There are NGOs trying to help the people living there, by providing them with medical and financial aid according to their abilities. NGOs such as Al-Tathamon Social Organization (Social Solidarity Organization) are trying to fix some of the problems in areas like Abu Dsheer.

The organization was created on the 10th of July 2007 in order to help families or individuals who were having medical or financial problems. They also help the families who lost there provider, like the father of that family or the mother. The Social Solidarity Organization has offices located in several areas such as Kadhimiya, Sadr City, Al-Husseiniya and Al-Nahrawan, as well as Abu Dsheer.Due to the difficulty these organizations have finding funding, many such as the Social Solidarity Organization and Al-Yateem Charity, which help the women interviewed by Alive in Baghdad, receive support from the Sadr Movement.

Although they claim to have sought financial support from the Iraqi government, both, the organization, and the widows interviewed by Alive in Baghdad say they have not received any support from the government.

US USES BULLETS ILL-SUITED FOR NEW WAYS OF WAR

As Sgt. Joe Higgins patrolled the streets of Saba al-Bor, a tough town north of Baghdad, he was armed with bullets that had a lot more firepower than those of his 4th Infantry Division buddies.
As an Army sniper, Higgins was one of the select few toting an M14. The long-barreled rifle, an imposing weapon built for wars long past, spits out bullets larger and more deadly than the rounds that fit into the M4 carbines and M16 rifles that most soldiers carry.

By RICHARD LARDNERAssociated Press Writer
http://www.kentucky.com/522/story/415759.html

"Having a heavy cartridge in an urban environment like that was definitely a good choice," says Higgins, who did two tours in Iraq and left the service last year. "It just has more stopping power."


Strange as it sounds, nearly seven years into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bullets are a controversial subject for the U.S.

The smaller, steel-penetrating M855 rounds continue to be a weak spot in the American arsenal. They are not lethal enough to bring down an enemy decisively, and that puts troops at risk, according to Associated Press interviews.

Designed decades ago to puncture a Soviet soldier's helmet hundreds of yards away, the M855 rounds are being used for very different targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of today's fighting takes place in close quarters; narrow streets, stairways and rooftops are today's battlefield. Legions of armor-clad Russians marching through the Fulda Gap in Germany have given way to insurgents and terrorists who hit and run.

Fired at short range, the M855 round is prone to pass through a body like a needle through fabric. That does not mean being shot is a pain-free experience. But unless the bullet strikes a vital organ or the spine, the adrenaline-fueled enemy may have the strength to keep on fighting and even live to fight another day.

Click on this link to read full story http://www.kentucky.com/522/story/415759.html

2 US SOLDIERS, 15 IRAQIS KILLED, 53 IRAQIS WOUNDED ON MEMORIAL DAY

At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 53 more were wounded in the latest violence. The most significant attack left two dozen casualties in Tarmiyah. Also, one American soldier was killed and two more were wounded during an IED attack today in Salah ad Din province. Another U.S. soldier died in a non-combat related incident.

Monday: 2 US Soldiers, 15 Iraqis Killed; 53 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 12:45 a.m. EDT, May 27, 2008
http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=12898

In Baghdad, a roadside bomb wounded five people near the airport. A bomb wounded two people in Shabb. In Hurriya, a car bomb killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded eight others. Five people were wounded near Abbas Ebin Firnas intersection when a bomb was detonated inside a park. No casualties were reported after shelling in Muthanna airport. A roadside bomb blasted a US convoy in al-Muhandseen, injuring three American soldiers (unconfirmed). Also, two dumped bodies were recovered.

A suicide motorcycle bomber struck at a joint police and Awakening Council (Sahwa) checkpoint in Tarmiyah. The bomber killed six people and wounded 18 more.
Eight people were wounded when a grenade was tossed at a Mosul police patrol. The body of a prison warden was found.

Three al-Qaeda leaders were arrested. Also, six teenage boys were detained on suspicion they were training to be suicide bombers. The boys said they or their family members were threatened with death if they did not obey.

A roadside bomb near Taza wounded an ambulance driver and a policeman.

One Sahwa member was killed and three were wounded during clashes in Muqdadiyah.
In Balad Ruz, four shepherds and their flock were reported missing.

Two Karkhiya chieftains were kidnapped in Baquba.

A bomb killed a policeman and his six-year-old son in Khan Bani Saad.

Gunmen in Abu Saida killed a policeman and wounded two others.

AND STILL THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA INSISTS ON TELLING AMERICANS THAT EVERYTHING IS GOING GREAT IN IRAQ.

VA HASN'T ENOUGH PSYCHIATRISTS SO THOUSANDS OF PSYCHIATRISTS OFFER TO TREAT TROOPS FREE

Thousands of private counselors are offering free services to troops returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems - jumping in to help a military that doesn't have enough therapists. "It's only an hour of your time," said Chirby, who counsels the family member of a someone deployed multiple tines. "How can you not give that to these men and women that ... are going oversees and fighting for us."

By PAULINE JELINEK, The Associated Press2008-05-25 13:56:06.0Current rank: # 278 of 7,755 WASHINGTON -

http://www.examiner.com/a-1408159~Private_psychiatrists_offer_free_service_to_troops.html

Thousands of private counselors are offering free services to troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems, jumping in to help because the military is short on therapists.

On this Memorial Day, America's armed forces and its veterans are coping with depression, suicide, family, marital and job problems on a scale not seen since Vietnam. The government has been in beg-borrow-and-steal mode, trying to hire psychiatrists and other professionals, recruit them with incentives or borrow them from other agencies.

Among those volunteering an hour a week to help is Brenna Chirby, a psychologist with a private practice in McLean, Va.

"It's only an hour of your time," said Chirby, who counsels a family member of a man deployed multiple times. "How can you not give that to these men and women that ... are going oversees and fighting for us?"

There are only 1,431 mental health professionals among the nation's 1.4 million active-duty military personnel, said Terry Jones, a Pentagon spokesman on health issues.

About 20,000 more full- and part-time professionals provide health care services for the Veterans Administration and the Pentagon. They include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and substance abuse counselors.

According to veterans groups and health care experts, that is not enough for a mental health crisis emerging among troops and their families.

"Honestly, much is being done by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist. "But the need to help these men and women goes far beyond whatever any government agency can do."

About 300,000 of those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to have anxiety or post-traumatic stress, a recent private study said. Add in spouses left home to manage families and households without their partner as well as children deprived of parents during long or repeated tours of duty, and the number with problems balloons to 1 million, Xenakis said.
The VA says it has seen 120,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have symptoms of mental health problems, half with post-traumatic stress disorder. Although rates are high from those two wars, most of the 400,000 patients seen in VA last year for PTSD were Vietnam-era veterans, officials said.

Civilian groups are trying to step in for troops from the current conflicts.

"There are over 400,000 mental health professionals in our great country," said Barbara V. Romberg, a clinical psychologist who practices in Washington. "Clearly, we have the resources to meet this challenge."

Romberg founded Give An Hour, a group of 1,200 mental health professionals donating one hour of free care a week to troops, veterans or family members. They have to commit to doing it for a year.

Romberg, in cooperation with the American Psychiatric Foundation, hopes to find 40,000 volunteers over the next three years, or about 10 percent of available civilian professionals. The effort to get the word out to those who need the help and to recruit and train volunteers is being backed by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Foundation.

Romberg's group is the largest of a number across the nation.

Click on this link to read full story http://www.examiner.com/a-1408159~Private_psychiatrists_offer_free_service_to_troops.html

BUSH'S WAR ON THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ

Surely nothing that President Bush has done in his two wretched terms of office—not the invasion and destruction of Iraq, not the overturning of the five-centuries-old tradition of habeas corpus, not his authorization and encouragement of torture, not his campaign of domestic spying—nothing, can compare in its ugliness as his approval, as commander in chief, of the imprisoning of over 2500 children.

Bush's War on Children in Iraq
DAVE LINDORFF CounterpunchMonday, May 26, 2008
http://infowars.net/articles/may2008/260508Iraq.htm

According to the US government’s own figures, that is how many kids 17 years and younger have been held since 2001 as “enemy combatants”—often for over a year, and sometimes for over five years. At least eight of those children, some reportedly as young as 10, were held at Guantanamo. They even had a special camp for them there: Camp Iguana. One of those kids committed suicide at the age of 21, after spending five years in confinement at Guantanamo. (Ironically and tragically, that particular victim of the president’s criminal policy, had been determined by the Pentagon to have been innocent only two weeks before he took his own life, but nobody bothered to tell him he was slated for release and a return home to Afghanistan.)

I say Bush’s behavior is criminal because since 1949, under the Geneva Conventions signed and adopted by the US, and incorporated into US law under the Constitution’s supremacy clause, children under the age of 15 are classed as “protected persons,” and even if captured while fighting against US forces are to be considered victims, not POWs. In 2002, the Bush administration signed an updated version of that treaty, raising the “protected person” age to all those “under 18.”

Click on link to read full story http://infowars.net/articles/may2008/260508Iraq.htm

GOP SENATOR AND VA SECRETARY DISRESPECT TROOPS ON MEMORIAL DAY

On Memorial Day weekend, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) and VA Secretary James Peake stood side-by-side in Fairbanks, Alaska to showcase their opposition to--and lack of respect for--today's newest veterans.

Source: http://www.vetvoice.com/

Speaking at the Disabled American Veterans' 19th Annual Department Convention, Senator Stevens told the majority of America's most recent war veterans that they had not yet sacrificed enough to have earned a GI Bill that would cover the full cost of their educations.

Sen. Ted Stevens warned of a "mass exodus" from the military Saturday if the so-called 21st Century GI Bill goes into law without major changes. :: "There are worries that people who are already in for two years will serve one more and leave, and there's really no incentive to stay," Stevens said.

What Stevens is really saying is that today's troops are unpatriotic--that they're only in it for the money and the college. And while Stevens' "mass exodus" theory has been thoroughly discredited by the Congressional Budget Office, the true irony of the situation lies in the fact that Stevens earned his own college degree after World War Two by using the same GI Bill he's aiming to prevent today's veterans from receiving.

In today's military lingo, this makes Senator Stevens a "Blue Falcon" or a "Bravo Foxtrot."
At the same convention, VA Secretary James Peake--who is already under fire for the cover-up of an extraordinary number of veteran suicides and for overseeing an organization that may not be taking PTSD seriously--showed a stunning lack of situational awareness by discounting recent media reports and think tank studies by suggesting that fewer returning vets actually had PTSD than is commonly thought.

On the topic of PTSD, Peake questioned if the condition is being overdiagnosed, considering the mental health services available to those in the armed forces.

"I worry about labeling all these kids coming back," he said. "Just because someone might need a little counseling when they get back, doesn't mean they need the PTSD label their whole lives."
The only reason Peake worries about "labeling all these kids" is because he understands neither the cause of combat PTSD nor how it should be treated. If Peake viewed PTSD as a combat injury sustained in theater--as the troops and the psychiatrists do--then he wouldn't worry about the "stigma." As it stands now, Peake is apparently content to perpetuate the myth of the "crazy, unstable vet guy." In fact, what Peake--a former contractor--is saying directly contradicts the message of VA psychiatrists like Jonathan Shay:

The American Psychiatric Association has saddled us with the jargon "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" (PTSD)--which sounds like an ailment--even though it is evident from the definition that what we are dealing with is an injury. . .We do not refer to a veteran who has had an arm blown off by a grenade as suffering from "Missing Army Disorder." [. . .] Combat PTSD is a war injury. Veterans with combat PTSD are war wounded, carrying the burdens of sacrifice for the rest of us as surely as the amputees, the burned, the blind, and the paralyzed carry them.
To say the least, it's alarming that the VA Secretary doesn't get this.

Unfortunately, this double-barreled blast of disrespect for the service of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans on Memorial Day weekend from a Republican Senator and a Bush appointee is not unexpected.

We're used to it.

However, it should provide all of us with an extra jolt of motivation to rid our nation of those who hold today's troops in such contempt.

ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN IRAQ ON MEMORIAL DAY

The mainstream media continues to downplay events in Iraq, and when they do report on Iraq it is some childish report like I saw this morning on FOX NEWS where a GI had taken pictures from his vehicle of Iraqi children standing by the side of the road. What that was supposed to represent I have no idea, but I'll bet the parents of the children were inside the houses loading up their AK47s and getting ready to strike the US patrol when it comes back down the same street. How can FOX NEWS continue to peddle this garbage is beyond me, but I think it is because they assume most of the people watching FOX NEWS were never in the service and don't know any better. FOX NEWS is right on that score. The FOX NEWS viewers are "laptop warriors" who never spent one day in the military so they are easily swayed by a story showing a GI taking pictures of Iraqi kids from a military vehicle as they roll down a street in Baghdad and they actually think this means things are getting better in iraq.

It is just not so, and to prove our point we have listed a series of events that have taken place in Iraq and Afghanistan on Memorial Day. You'll never see any of this reported on FOX NEWS.

Editorial Comment: By Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, a former Army Combat Engineer veteran.

War News for Monday, May 26, 2008 (Click on each story in BLUE for further details)

Photo: A U.S. armoured vehicle burns at Al Canal street, near Sadr city, Baghdad, Iraq, after a roadside bomb exploded next to a U.S. military convoy, Monday, May 26, 2008, police said. There was no immediate U.S. Army confirmation regarding the blast.(AP Photo/Mahmoud al-Badri)
See photo here: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition force Soldier in a roadside bombing in Salah ad-Din Province on Monday, May 26th. Two other soldier were wounded in the attack.NATO is reporting the death of a ISAF soldier in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 25th. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack. The British MoD is confirming the death of a British soldier two kilometres north of Sangin, Kandahar Province.The AFP is reporting the death of a U.S. coalition soldier CJTF-101 in Afghanistan on Sunday, May 25th. No other details were released.
The AP reports the attack was in Farah province.The DoD is reporting a new death of a soldier from a hit-and-run driver while on leave from the Iraq theater of operations.

Pfc. Howard A. Jones, Jr. died in Chicago, Ill. on Sunday, May 18th.

The AFP is reporting the death of a soldier in a roadside bomb attack in Najaf, An Najaf Province on Sunday, May 25th. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack. Reuters reports the attack was in Ash-Shamiyah district in Qadisiyah province.

Baghdad:#1: Another roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint on the road that leads to the Baghdad International Airport, wounding five people, including one Iraqi soldier and four civilians, police said. The blast sent up a huge plume of black smoke and caused vendors at nearby kiosks selling soft drinks to run for cover.

#2: The U.S. military said Sunday that the number of attacks by militants in the last week dropped to a level not seen in Iraq since March 2004. About 300 violent incidents were recorded in the seven-day period that ended Friday, down from a weekly high of nearly 1,600 in mid-June, according to a chart provided by the military.

#3: Rising prices of food, energy and other commodities worldwide pushed up Iraq's inflation rate to 16 per cent last month, compared to 11 per cent at the beginning of this year, the country's central bank said.

#4: A roadside bomb detonated in a parking lot near a police station in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Sha'ab, wounding nine people, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The blast destroyed a minibus and caused damages to several nearby civilian cars, the source said.

#5: A third roadside bomb struck a U.S. patrol in the al-Qanat Street near Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr City, leaving a Humvee on fire, he said. The source could not say whether the U.S. soldiers sustained casualties as the troops immediately cordoned off the area. The U.S. military did not confirm the incident yet.

#6: The Iraqi government has replaced some of the top officials in state-owned oil companies in southern Iraq, tightening its grip on an industry that fuels the economy but has been outside of its direct control. The shake-up, which has largely escaped public notice, affects industries in the southern oil hub of Basra. The Baghdad government has removed the heads of the South Oil Company, which is in charge of exports, the South Gas Company and the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company since mid-May, local officials and the Oil Ministry told Reuters.

Diyala Prv:#1: Suspected al-Qaida fighters also kidnapped Sheik Saleh al-Karkhi and his brother after blowing up his house in the village of Busaleh in the volatile Diyala province north of the capital, a police official said, declining to be identified because he wasn't supposed to release the information. The official, who read the report at the provincial military operations command center in Baqouba, said al-Karkhi was probably abducted because he had set up two awakening councils in the area and "took it upon himself to fight al-Qaida."

#2: Four shepherds disappeared along with their livestock on Monday in the desert areas in southwest Baaquba, an official security source said. "Four herdsmen disappeared today in the desert area in Baladruz, southwest of Baaquba," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. "Their families informed security authorities of their disappearance along with scores of livestock," he added.

Najaf:#1: A roadside bomb exploded in the al Shamiyah area south of Najaf at around 9 p.m. on Sunday. A source from the Iraqi army has told us that an American humvee was destroyed, a soldier was killed and two others were injured. US military said in an emailed reply that they confirm the new of the death of a coalition soldier.

Taza:#1: An ambulance driver and a policeman were wounded on Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near an ambulance close to the town of Taza, 220 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.A driver of an ambulance and a civilian were injured when a roadside bomb exploded in Tuz Khurmatu town south of Kirkuk on Monday morning.

Tuz Khurmato:#1: A source in the Kurdish security forces (Asayish) said that a bomb exploded near the house of a Turkmen teacher in al Askari neighborhood in downtown Tuz Khurmatu south of Kirkuk city on Monday morning.

Tarmiya:#1: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed at least six members of a U.S.-backed neighborhood patrol and wounded 18 others on Monday, police said. The attack took place at a checkpoint in Tarmiya, a town just north of Baghdad.Those killed included a policeman, two awakening council guards and a civilian, according to the police. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.Mosul:#1: A grenade tossed at a police patrol wounded eight people, including one policeman, in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan:#1: In another incident Monday, two Afghan policemen were killed when Taliban militants ambushed their patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire in the central province of Ghazni, a district official said.

#2: Two Afghan security guards working for a US-owned security firm were wounded in a similar ambush in the same province on Sunday, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Zaman said.

#3: Also Sunday, an Afghan security guard working for the same company, called USPI, was killed in an ambush in neighbouring Wardak province, a police commander said, also blaming the Taliban.

#4: United States drones have violated Pakistani airspace five times in North Waziristan. According to the Daily Times, unmanned US drones and fighter jets are spreading fear among residents. The US spy planes had been continuously violating the Pakistani airspace for the last four days. In Afghanistan, the fighter and unmanned planes of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces violated Pakistan’s airspace and intruded several kilometres inside North Waziristan tribal region on Sunday.

#5: Four Shiite Muslims were gunned down in a suspected sectarian attack in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province on Monday, police said. The victims, all belonging to the same family, were traveling in a motor rickshaw when the assailants intercepted them on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan town, area police chief Salahuddin Khan Kundi said. A policeman was also shot dead when he challenged the attackers as they fled the scene, according to Kundi.

.Casualty Reports:Joseph Townsend, 22, lost both legs in a mine blast in Afghanistan earlier this year.

British.Pvt. Nathon Bagwell is now recovering from a gunshot wound he received in an April 27 attack on his platoon in Sadr City at Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta. While he receives treatment for the damage done to his spine, has undergone numerous surgeries to repair the damage done when an enemy’s bullet pierced the left side of his stomach, damaged his intestines and his left kidney and shattered a vertebra in his lower spine. When he regains his strength, Bagwell will face another, 10-hour surgery that will reconnect his bladder and his left kidney, but his mother said that surgery will have to wait for another two to three months.

Private Liam Haven suffered wounds to his arm, neck and face when his Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, 17 May 2008. The 19 year old is assessed as being in a stable condition. The nature of his wounds remains medical-in-confidence. Australian

Additional editorial comment: And even after all of this, the mainstream media continues to say Iraq and Afghanistan are without any violence. How long will the mainstream media continue to LIE to the American public? We expect it from FOX NEWS because they are the mouthpiece of the Bush administration, but there is no legitimate reason the rest of the mainstream media ignores the TRUTH about Iraq and Afghanistan.

FOR WOMEN WARRIORS, DEEP WOUNDS, LITTLE CARE

THIS Memorial Day, as an ever-increasing number of mentally and physically wounded soldiers return from Iraq, the Department of Veterans Affairs faces a pressing crisis: women traumatized not only by combat but also by sexual assault and harassment from their fellow service members. Sadly, the department is failing to fully deal with this problem.

By HELEN BENEDICT
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/opinion/26benedict.html?_r=2&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print


Women make up some 15 percent of the United States active duty forces, and 11 percent of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly a third of female veterans say they were sexually assaulted or raped while in the military, and 71 percent to 90 percent say they were sexually harassed by the men with whom they served.

This sort of abuse drastically increases the risk and intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder. One study found that female soldiers who were sexually assaulted were nine times more likely to show symptoms of this disorder than those who weren’t.

Sexual harassment by itself is so destructive, another study revealed, it causes the same rates of post-traumatic stress in women as combat does in men. And rape can lead to other medical crises, including diabetes, asthma, chronic pelvic pain, eating disorders, miscarriages and hypertension.

The threat of post-traumatic stress has risen in recent years as women’s roles in war have changed. More of them now come under fire, suffer battle wounds and kill the enemy, just as men do.

As women return for repeat tours, usually redeploying with their same units, many must go back to war with the same man (or men) who abused them. This leaves these women as threatened by their own comrades as by the war itself. Yet the combination of sexual assault and combat has barely been acknowledged or studied.

Last month, when the RAND Corporation released the biggest non-military survey of the mental health of troops since 2001, it unwittingly reflected this lack of research. The survey found that women suffer from higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression than men do, but it neglected to look into why this might be, and asked no questions about abuse from fellow soldiers. Terri Tanielian, the project’s co-editor, told me that RAND needs more money to explore these higher rates of trauma among women.

As the more than 191,500 women who have served in the Middle East since 2001 return home, they will increasingly flood the Veterans Affairs system. To ask those who need help for post-traumatic stress disorder to turn to a typical Veterans Affairs hospital, built in the 1950s and designed to treat men, is untenable. Women who have been raped or sexually assaulted often cannot face therapy groups or medical facilities full of men.

At the moment, the Department of Veterans Affairs operates only six inpatient post-traumatic stress disorder programs specifically for women. And although all 153 department-run hospitals will treat women, only 22 have stand-alone women’s clinics that offer a full range of medical and psychological services.

This number of clinics may seem adequate for the 1.7 million female veterans currently at home, especially since they represent only 7.2 percent of all veterans at the moment, but it isn’t. Many clinics are miles from where soldiers live, and many more are open only a few hours a week and lack staff members trained to deal with sexual assault, let alone assault combined with combat trauma.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it plans to open more clinics for post-traumatic stress disorder, but how many will be only for women remains undecided.
Women are the fastest-growing group of veterans, and by 2020 they are projected to account for 20 percent of all veterans under the age of 45. Not all of these women will have suffered sexual assault, but many will have medical or psychological needs that conventional department hospitals cannot meet.

The Department of Veterans Affairs must open more comprehensive women’s health clinics, designate more facilities for women who have endured both combat and military sexual trauma and finance more support groups specifically for female combat veterans. The best way to honor all of our soldiers is to do what we can to help them mend.

Helen Benedict, a professor of journalism at Columbia, is the author of the novel “The Opposite of Love” and the forthcoming “The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq.”

MILITARY CHIEF WARNS TROOPS ABOUT POLITICS

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has written an unusual open letter to all those in uniform, warning them to stay out of politics as the nation approaches a presidential election in which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be a central, and certainly divisive, issue.

By THOM SHANKER
THE NEW YORK TIMES

“The U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times and in all ways,” wrote the chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, the nation’s highest-ranking officer. “It is and must always be a neutral instrument of the state, no matter which party holds sway.”

Admiral Mullen’s essay appears in the coming issue of Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal that is distributed widely among the officer corps.

The essay is the first Admiral Mullen has written for the journal as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and veteran officers said they could not remember when a similar “all-hands” letter had been issued to remind military personnel to remain outside, if not above, contentious political debate.

The essay can be seen as a reflection of the deep concern among senior officers that the military, which is paying the highest price in carrying out national security policy, may be drawn into politicking this year.

The war in Iraq has already exceeded the length of World War II and is the nation’s longest conflict fought with an all-volunteer military since the Revolutionary War.

(Editorial comment: This last paragraph sums up the problem in the United States. Only a handful of people have a vested interest in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and you can lay the blame squarely on the doorstep of the fact we don't have a military draft. If we had a military draft, you would see the media and the people of the United States a lot more interested in this war---Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE)

VETS FOR PEACE BOOTED FROM MEMORIAL DAY PARADE IN DC

There is one group of veterans that isn’t allowed to march in the national memorial parade in Washington on Monday.

That’s the Veterans for Peace, Delwin Anderson Memorial chapter, based in D.C.

It’s named after a World War II vet who fought in Italy and then worked for the VA for many years designing programs for injured veterans.

The group had applied to join the National Memorial Day parade. And initially, anyway, it was accepted.

But then, late last month, the group was told that it didn’t meet the criteria to participate.The American Veterans Center, which runs the parade, told them “we cannot have elements in the parade that have any type of political message or wish to promote a point of view.”But other groups, like the American Legion, will be participating in theparade.

Its creed is to defend “God and country” and to “foster and perpetuate a100 percent Americanism.”And check out the list of major sponsors for the parade. They include:Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, the nation of Kuwait, the U.S. Army, and even the NRA.“We’re striving to keep political statements out of the parade,” says Jordan Cross, communications director of the American Veterans Center.“

Last year, we had two groups who supported the war, and we turned them down.”Cross says that when the American Veterans Center looked more closely at the Vets for Peace application and “saw what they were requesting, to carry a coffin in the parade, and all that jazz,” it decided not to let them participate.Michael Marceau, a wounded Vietnam vet, serves as vice president of theD.C. Vets for Peace group.

“We’re puzzled,” he said, adding that he felt“ very disrespected.”Caroline Anderson, the widow of Delwin Anderson, was supposed to ride inthe parade in a convertible. Bashful, she doesn’t want to talk about herself or on behalf of the Vets for Peace chapter. But she is not happy about the expulsion. “It’s a great disappointment,” she says, “to fee lthat other veterans would not allow them to be with them and march, just because they’re for peace.”

WOUNDED CBS REPORTER KIMBERLY DOZIER TELLS CNN'S HOWARD KURTZ HOW CBS EXECS REACT TO WAR NEWS

Anyone who has been following this blog knows I have been blasting the mainstream media for months for the lack of coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The wars have literally dropped off the radar screen.

On Sunday, May 25, CBS war correspondent Kimberly Dozier, who was severely wounded in Iraq when a roadside bomb blew up the Humvee she was riding in killing her driver and two CBS News cameramen, went for a jog with CNN's Howard Kurtz, host of "Reliable Sources."

What came out of the interview was fascinating and informative. Dozier said the war has dropped off the news radar screen because when she would approach news executives with another story showing our brave young soldiers in combat in Iraq their eyes would glaze over.

The feeling Dozier expressed is the feeling Bill O'Reilly of Fox News once expressed when he said: "Once you've seen one roadside bombing or an IED going off it no longer becomes news. It is all so repetitive."

Here in part is the transcript from the Howard Kurtz interview with Kimberly Dozier:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/25/rs.01.html

SHIITE CLERIC AL SISTANI FORBIDS IRAQIS FROM SELLING FOOD TO AMERICANS IN IRAQ

This is just another indication of how the Iraqi people can't stand the United States and want the US military out of their country as soon as possible.

Shiite Cleric al-Sistani Forbids Iraqis From Selling Food To Americans In Iraq

Huffington Post May 25, 2008 03:04 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/25/shiite-cleric-al-sistani_n_103493.html

Dick Cheney infamously said in March of 2003 that when the U.S. invaded Iraq, "we will be greeted as liberators." As the Iraq War enters its 6th year, Cheney's assertion has been shown as clearly false, with the U.S. battling a largely homegrown, Sunni insurgency and Shiite militias. In a sign of just how opposed some Shiite groups are to the U.S.'s presence in Iraq, one of the most powerful Shiite clerics in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has issued a fatwa forbidding Iraqis from selling food to Americans (from Juan Cole):

Fars News reproduces in Persian on May 24, 2008, another anti-American fatwa by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Najaf. It says that its correspondent in Najaf reports that an Iraqi Shiite submitted the following to Sistani:

'I sell foodstuffs. Sometimes the Occupying Powers or their associates come to my establishment. May I sell them foodstuffs?'
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani replied:

' Selling foodstuffs to the Occupying Powers is not permitted.'
Cole identifies another reason why this fatwa is important:

This fatwa is significant in light of the reports that Sistani has been orally permitting attacks on US troops by Shiite militiamen loyal to the Shiite religious authorities in Najaf.

VIDEO SURFACES OF CHENEY IN '94 SAYING INVASION OF IRAQ WOULD LEAD TO "QUAGMIRE"

A video of Vice President Dick Cheney warning in 1994 that an invasion and occupation of Iraq would lead to a quagmire has surfaced.

See for yourself what Cheney said:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/iraq/cheney_video_1994_warning_of_iraq_invasion_quagmire.htm

POLL FINDS AMERICANS HAVE LOW OPINION OF MILITARY HEALTH CARE

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans believe that wounded troops don't receive high quality medical care in military and Veteran's Administration hospitals, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health poll.

By Federica Narancio McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/38419.html

Military families share that view, the poll found, and are slightly more pessimistic than non-military civilians when it comes to rehabilitation and mental health care. A reality check: Those polled didn't think care at major U.S. civilian hospitals was any better.

AL SADR LAWMAKERS DENOUNCE IRAQI GOVERNMENT--THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Warning of 'black clouds' on the horizon comes as government cracks down

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24804885/

BAGHDAD - Lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned Saturday of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces.

The Sadrist Movement has heightened its rhetoric against the government in recent days, raising concerns over the cease-fires in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City district, the stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.

Still, the lawmakers and other al-Sadr officials said they are adhering to the truces. The cease-fires are crucial to Iraqi security forces' sweeps in Basra and Sadr City, launched by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to show his government can spread its authority in areas long dominated by armed groups like al-Sadr's.

The new tensions were sparked when Iraqi troops in Basra attempted to break up a gathering in a northern square by firing over the heads of al-Sadr followers congregating for Friday prayers. Iraqi authorities recently banned al-Sadr gatherings in the square after a large cache of weapons was found nearby, police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.

Iraqi police in Basra said one person was wounded in the shooting, but al-Sadr officials contended that one person was killed and three wounded.

Sadrist lawmaker Hassan al-Rubaie said Iraqi forces also raided a mosque in the Baghdad district of Amil before prayers on Friday and arrested more than 350 worshippers.

"We see that there is a big nationwide conspiracy against Friday prayers. They (the government) fear it, because the Friday prayers will stand against the plots of our enemies," al-Rubaie told a press conference, referring to the anti-U.S. rhetoric common in prayer sermons run by al-Sadr loyalists.

ACTRESS JESSICA LANGE BASHES IRAQ WAR IN GRADUATION SPEECH

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Oscar-winner Jessica Lange bashed the Bush administration and denounced the war in Iraq during a commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College.

The star of "Tootsie" and "Blue Sky" was applauded by students Friday at the small liberal arts college after comparing the conflict with the Vietnam War. She said the graduates have "a heavy burden" to chart a new path for the country.

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-10/121165255238830.xml&storylist=entertainment

"We are living in an America that, in the last seven and a half years, has waged an unnecessary war, established prison camps, condoned torture, employed corporate armies, eliminated the right of habeas corpus, practiced extraordinary rendition, and believe me, this is only a partial list," Lange said.

Lange asked the graduates, including her 22-year-old daughter Hannah Shepard, to commit themselves to the "pursuit of peace."

HERE ARE NAMES OF LATEST IRAQ CASUALTIES

Casualty Reports:
Source: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
Click on "BLUE" for more details on each GI.


Marine Sergeant Shurvon Phillip, 27, was in Iraq's Anbar Province, in May 2005 was riding back to his base after a patrol when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Humvee. The Humvee's other soldiers were dealt an assortment of wounds: concussions, broken bones, herniated discs. Along with a broken jaw and a broken leg, Phillip suffered one of the war's signature wounds on the American side: though no shrapnel entered his head, the blast rattled his brain profoundly. A portion of the left side of his skull had been cut away to relieve the pressure of the casing of bone against his swelling brain. "His head," Ulerie said, "looked like a ball with the air half out of it." Piero and Clay Kelly, the hospital's chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation, explained that Phillip had hardly progressed from when he first arrived at the Cleveland facility; he remained in a nearly vegetative state and was seen as having, in the words of an evaluating neurologist, "little hope for improvement." But Piero said a system of nostril-flaring that Phillip mastered with his speech therapist had made him able last spring to respond reliably to yes-or-no questions. This breakthrough, Piero said, dissuaded the team from diminishing his physical work.

Michigan National Guard veteran Sgt. Michelle Rudzitis, 33, recounted losing her right leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 22, 2007. Her Humvee was the only vehicle in a convoy struck by a bomb that hurls a piece of molten copper through steel. Two in the crew were killed and two were injured, including Rudzitis, whose right leg was severely damaged. Rudzitis, a former Farmington Hills resident who lives in Traverse City, said the Humvee's extra armor had been removed because it was to be refitted with new shielding. Her description of the injuries -- her eyelashes were fused by the blast so she could not open her eyes, and she woke up in a hospital with her leg amputated.

Army National Guard Sgt. Ralph McCallum, 23, it was June 2007 and he was riding in the gunner position atop a convoy’s scout truck as it traveled through southern Iraq. A roadside bomb hidden behind a lamppost suddenly detonated, knocking McCallum off the peak of the Humvee and inside the vehicle, which soon caught on fire.Rescuers pulled him from the burning Humvee, but he came away with deep lacerations on the left side of his head as well as his left forearm, and the radial tendon in his right hand was sliced. Three soldiers inside the fortified vehicle suffered concussions.

Spc. B.J. Jackson of the Iowa National Guard woke up at Brooke Army Medical Center after he lost both legs and was severely burned by a land mine in Iraq.

Jacob "Jake" Knospler. Jake is a 26-year-old Marine. This great Marine and American served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, while fighting in Fallujah, he was injured when an enemy grenade put a hole in his cheek and upper jaw. The right side of his brain was injured and he was partially blind and deaf. There were other injuries to his body. He already had 22 surgeries.

U.S. Army Spc. Matt McCool suffered multiple skull fractures and a concussion from a bomb in Iraq in late March. McCool was treated at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Palo Alto Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. He later returned home.

Army veteran Rob Kislow lost his lower right leg in a firefight in Iraq two years ago

VIDEO: SEVEN VETERANS UNDER VA'S CARE COMMIT SUICIDE

This short video is just one of many telling how the Department of Veteran Affairs is failing miserably in treating veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and unfortunately many of them end up committing suicide.

When you watch this video just remember this is being repeated in hundreds of VA hospitals all across America.

It is hard to believe the VA can't take care of our veterans, but the Bush administration last month send $15 BILLION DOLLARS to the Iraqi government, and now the Iraqi government can't account for the money.

How did the United States ever allow two evil men like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney get us into this horrible mess in Iraq?

Watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuZfWo-JKBY

VIDEO: KEEP HOLDING ON 399TH COMBAT SUPPORT HOSPITAL

A video musical tribute to the men and women of the 399th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq.

They do so much and get so little credit and are totally forgotten by the rotten mainstream media in the United States.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU7RB6pNoPk

VIDEO: LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ PRESIDENT BUSH

One can only wonder if President Bush or Vice President Cheney ever stop to look at what they have done to the children of Iraq. Probably not. They really don't care. This graphic video shows the results of Bush and Cheney's war on the little children of Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrySL0cAaN4

VIDEO: CHILDREN OF WAR! MUSIC BY MOEIN

This moving video with music by Moein is a sad but realistic tribute to the war that President Bush and Vice President Cheney unleashed on the Iraqi people for absolutely no reason at all.

Iran had absolutely NOTHING to do with 9/11 and everyone who has an IQ over 75 knows it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5-fPRwfsI

VIDEO: OZZY: BLACK RAIN: BLOODY BLACKWATER

Do President Bush and Vice President Cheney have any idea what they have unleashed on the people of Iraq? I doubt it. And on top of that, I don't think either one of them care.

This video shows the hell Bush and Cheney brought on the Iraqi people and their children.

Music by Ozzy with graphic footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M78oltQCDCU

VIDEO: TELL ME WHY: CHILDREN VICTIMS OF BUSH'S WAR

While President Bush lounges at the White House or his ranch in Crawford, Texas, this video shows EXACTLY what he has done to the children of Iraq.

Enjoy your Memorial Day, President Bush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dNg9vKsHmw

VIDEO REPORT: WILL SISTANI END THE IRAQ WAR?

Pepe Escobar, the award-winnng journalist with THE REAL NEWS NETWORK , explains how the Grand Ayatollah ali-Sistani is about to issue a fatwa which would demand all US troops leave Iraq immediately. In this video, Escobar walks you through exactly what is taking place behind the scenes in Iraq and how the Sistani may be the ONLY person who can end this horrible war.

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1556&updaterx=2008-05-24+11%3A45%3A47