SO IRAQ WAR WAS ALL ABOUT OIL. 4,100 AMERICAN LIVES LOST FOR BIG OIL COMPANIES IN U.S. REMEMBER WHO WAS A CEO OF A BIG OIL COMPANY? YEP, CHENEY

As Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow discussed Thursday night on MSNBC's "Countdown," after all the blather about WMDs, capturing Saddam, democracy for Iraq, the invasion and occupation of Iraq was really all about oil and establishing an American colony in the Middle East with Shell, Exxon, Mobil and others in charge of the country.

Americans knew this all the time, but the mainstream media kept lying to the American public and over the course of five years 4,100 Americans have been killed and another 30,000 wounded and all Washington EVER cared about was allowing big oil companies from the United States to takeover the oil rich fields of Iraq.

And guess who is one of the biggest honchos in the oil industry in the United States. None other than Dick "Darth Vader" Cheney, the former CEO of Halliburton, who do oil exploration.

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Yes, 4,100 DEAD Americans to save the ass of Dick Cheney who used six deferments to avoid military service for himself during the Vietnam War years.

When, as Lou Dobbs said Thursday night, is it time to bring up President Bush and Vice President Cheney on WAR CRIMES?

I'd say RIGHT NOW!

BILL CORCORAN, CORKSPHERE EDITOR


4 western oil companies in final stages of signing deals in Iraq

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 19 /06 /2008 Time 11:16:42
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=82976&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1


Baghdad, Jun 19, (VOI)- Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, the International Herald Tribune newspaper said on Thursday.

"Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP - the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company - along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq's Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat," the paper added.

"The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations," it also said.

"The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India.

The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production," the newspaper explained."There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract.

The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq's Oil Ministry," according to the paper.

Click on this link http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=82976&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1 to continue reading.

WASHINGTON POST: GENERAL ACCUSES BUSH WHITE HOUSE OF WAR CRIMES OVER DETAINEE TORTURE

The two-star general who led an Army investigation into the horrific detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib has accused the Bush administration of war crimes and is calling for accountability.

By Dan FroomkinSpecial to washingtonpost.comWednesday, June 18, 2008; 12:44 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/18/BL2008061801546.html

In his 2004 report on Abu Ghraib, then-Major General Anthony Taguba concluded that "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees." He called the abuse "systemic and illegal." And, as Seymour M. Hersh reported in the New Yorker, he was rewarded for his honesty by being forced into retirement.

Now, in a preface to a Physicians for Human Rights report based on medical examinations of former detainees, Taguba adds an epilogue to his own investigation.

The new report, he writes, "tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words: It is scrawled for the rest of these individual's lives on their bodies and minds. Our national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these men received from their captors.

Click on link above for full story.

NOT EXACTLY WHAT FOX NEWS' LAURA INGRAHAM REPORTED: CHARGES DISMISSED IN MARINE HADITHA CASE---KINDA

Laura Ingraham, who now hosts the "Just In" show on FOX NEWS and her guest Michelle Malkin, the Conservative blogger, were ecstatic over the news a military Judge dismissed the charges against a Marine officer who had been charged with allowing his troops to murder innocent Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

Ingraham neatly sidestepped one very important point in the court ruling. Namely, the one Marine who led the assault on the Iraqi civilians is still facing charges.

To set the record straight, here is the COMPLETE story of the trial and what was not reported by Ingraham and her guests on FOX NEWS' "Just In."

The bottom line is there were 24 Iraqi civilians killed and they didn't kill themselves.

So before Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin and the FOX NEWS "Just In" producers breakout the champagne they might want to wait until they hear what is the determination of the military court regarding the one Marine, who led the squad involved in the Haditha incident, that resulted in the death of a number of 24 Iraqi civilians.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE
Former Cpl. (E-4) United States Army Combat Engineers, Korean War veteran

Charges dismissed in Haditha case
Judge finds that a general overseeing the case was improperly influenced

The Associated Press
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25211958/

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A military judge dismissed charges Tuesday against a Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis.

Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a four-star general overseeing the case was improperly influenced by an investigator probing the November 2005 shootings by a Marine squad in Haditha.

"Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice," Folsom said. "In order to restore the public confidence, we need to take it back. We need to turn the clock back."

Chessani, of Rangely, Colo., was the highest-ranking officer to face a combat-related court-martial since the Vietnam War.

The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled, but Folsom barred Marine Forces Central Command from future involvement in the case.

One Marine still faces prosecutionOf eight Marines originally charged in the case, only one is still facing prosecution in the biggest U.S. criminal prosecution involving Iraqi deaths to come out of the war.

The incident occurred after a Marine was killed by a roadside bomb.

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who faces voluntary manslaughter charges, and a squad member shot five men by a car at the scene. Investigators say Wuterich then ordered his men to clear several houses with grenades and gunfire, leaving women and children among the dead.

Wuterich has pleaded not guilty.

Folsom's ruling comes two weeks after Gen. James Mattis took the stand — a rare courtroom appearance for such a high-ranking officer — to address the judge's initial finding that there was evidence of unlawful command influence in the case.

Investigator became adviserCol. John Ewers, the military lawyer who investigated the killings and took Chessani's statement, later became a top legal adviser to Mattis and sat in on briefings that helped Mattis decide who would be charged.

Mattis testified he never talked with Ewers about Haditha, although Ewers was present during a number of legal meetings where Haditha and Chessani were discussed.

Military policy prohibits Ewers from offering legal advice because he also was an investigator in the case.

Mattis approved the filing of charges against Chessani when he was both commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command and the commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. He has since been promoted and serves as commander of both NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and commander of U.S. Joint Forces.

Four enlisted Marines were originally charged with counts related to the killings and four officers were charged in connection with the investigation, including Chessani.

CNN REPORT: EXAM REVEALS IRAQI DETAINEES WERE TORTURED

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States were tortured, according to medical examinations detailed in a report released Wednesday by a human rights group.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/18/gitmo.detainees/index.html

The Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights reached that conclusion after two-day clinical evaluations of 11 former detainees, who had been held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan.

The detainees were never charged with crimes.

"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," said Dr. Allen Keller, a medical evaluator for the study.

In a 121-page report, the doctors' group said that it uncovered medical evidence of torture, including beatings, electric shock, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, sodomy and scores of other abuses.

The report is prefaced by retired U.S. Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2003. Watch why a rights group says there's evidence of torture »

"There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes," Taguba says. "The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account."

Over the years, reports of abuses at Abu Ghraib and allegations of torture at Guantanamo prompted the Bush administration to deny that the U.S. military tortures detainees.

Since only 11 detainees were examined "the findings of this assessment cannot be generalized to the treatment of all detainees in U.S. custody," the report says.

However, the incidents documented are consistent with findings of other investigations into government treatment, "making it reasonable to conclude that these detainees were not the only ones abused, but are representative of a much larger number of detainees subjected to torture and ill treatment while in U.S. custody."

Four of the men evaluated were arrested in or taken to Afghanistan between late 2001 and early 2003 and later were sent to Guantanamo Bay, where they were held for an average of three years before being released without charge, the report says. The other seven were detained in Iraq in 2003 and released within a year, the report says.

All the subjects told examiners that they were subjected to multiple forms of torture or ill treatment that "often occurred in combination over a long period of time," the report says.

Click on http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/18/gitmo.detainees/index.html to read full account

THE UNTOLD STORY OF IRAQ WAR LOSERS: WIDOWS

IRAQ: Home to Too Many Widows

By Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail*BAQUBA, Jun 18 (IPS)
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42858

Just about everyone in Iraq is a loser as a result of the occupation, but none more than women.

One of the more obvious signs of that is the very large number of widows.

The Asharq al-Awsat Arab media channel estimated in late 2007 there were 2.3 million widows in Iraq. These include widows from the 1980-1988 war with Iran in which half a million men were killed, the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, and from 'natural' causes. The news outlet cited the Iraqiyat (Iraqi women) group as a source for their figure. For a widow, all things are the same, dark. "Being a widow means being dead in Iraq today," a professor from Diyala University, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "This is because of the tremendous responsibilities cast upon her."

The widows have become victims of the occupation, but also of social codes. Women are not supposed to commit mistakes, and when they do, their mistakes are rarely forgiven. Women are easily accused of doing 'bad things', regardless of proof. Widowed women have a tough struggle on their hands, beyond the loss they have had to live through. They are not easily allowed to work, or even to carry out normal daily activities. "When a woman breaks these rules, she loses the respect of others, or might be spoken of badly," a local trader told IPS. "This is because much of rural Iraqi society is primitive and undereducated." Like most others, the trader did not want his name used, for fear of retribution. "Islam gives respectable freedom to the woman when she loses her husband," a religious cleric told IPS. "But because of their ignorance, people place severe restrictions on the woman."

Millions of lives have been shattered during the occupation. Two groups, Just Foreign Policy in the U.S. and the Opinion Business Research group in Britain estimate the total number of Iraqis who have died due to the occupation to be at least 1.2 million.

Click on link http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42858 to continue reading story.

THIS IS WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING IN IRAQ: GIRL 8 USED AS SUICIDE BOMBER

The U.S. military in Iraq has confirmed a story about an eight-year old Iraqi girl who was strapped with explosives and blew herself up and killed an Iraqi Army Captain in Mosul last month.

There is no solution to the occupation/war the United States is fighting in Iraq other than to pull ALL U.S. troops out of Iraq ASAP.

Sen. John McCain keeps saying he would pull our troops out of Iraq when the killing of Americans stops.

When will that be? Can McCain guarantee no more U.S. troops are going to be targeted by insurgents?

Of course not.

There are far too many different factions in Iraq and there is no ONE group that speaks for all of Iraq so if one insurgent group were to "surrender" there are ten or twenty more groups who won't surrender and the war will continue as long as U.S. forces are in Iraq.

If the Iraqis are willing to sacrifice an eight-year old girl as a suicide bomber, then any hope of hammering out some kind of "surrender" is totally out of the question.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE


Girl, 8, used as bomber kills Iraqi captain

http://www.iraqinews.com/security/girl-8-used-as-bomber-kills-iraqi-captain.html?Itemid=126#top

Spokesmen for both the US and Iraqi military have confirmed that a girl strapped with explosives was the cause of a blast that killed an Iraqi captain and injured four soldiers south of Baghdad.

Iraqi Army Lt Ahmad Ali said the explosives were detonated yesterday as the girl approached the Iraqi commander in Youssifiyah.

Ali said from the scene that "the bomb was detonated by remote control, killing Capt Wassem Al Maamouri and injuring four soldiers."
He said authorities imposed a curfew and American troops are searching for those responsible.
Maj John Hall said US reports indicated one Iraqi solider was killed and seven wounded.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki ordered a new assault on Al Qaida in the main northern city of Mosul yesterday, the jihadists' last urban bastion in Iraq according to US commanders.
Al Maliki travelled to Mosul with top aides to take command of the US-backed drive against Al Qaida in the province, defence ministry spokesman Maj Gen Abdul Kareem Khalaf said.
"Operation Umm Al Rabiain (Mother of Two Springs) has just started against those threatening the civilian population and attacking Iraqi forces in Mosul," defence ministry spokesman Khalaf told AFP.
"This operation is targeting terrorists and criminals," he said, alluding to Al Qaida, which has been accused of a string of major attacks across Nineveh province of which Mosul is the capital. Earlier this week, security forces announced a "new phase" in their operations in Nineveh, which borders both Syria and Turkey.
Officials said they advanced from the preparatory stage of the campaign to a full-scale offensive on Wednesday in a bid to flush out Al Qaida in Iraq.

TUESDAY: 75 IRAQIS KILLED, 120 WOUNDED

The mainstream media in the United States could barely brings themselves to mention the spate of suicide bombings in Iraq that claimed the lives on 75 Iraqis as well as wounding 120 others.

Tuesday: 75 Iraqis Killed, 120 Wounded
Updated at 11:57 p.m. EDT, June 17, 2008
http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=13003

At least 75 Iraqis were killed and 120 more were wounded in a spate of bombings and other attacks. The heaviest toll occurred at a Baghdad bus stop around dinnertime. No Coalition deaths were reported today. Meanwhile, Turkey claimed to have stopped a force of PKK rebels from entering the country via northern Iraq.
In Baghdad, 51 people were killed and over 80 more were wounded when a bomb exploded next to a two-story building containing shops and residential apartments in Hurriya; the blast ignited a fire that killed many of the victims. In Ghadeer, a roadside bomb blasted a police commando patrol, wounding three policemen and one civilian. Gunmen on motorcycles shot dead a policeman in Jamiya. In Mansour, gunmen killed a civil servant and wounded a companion. In Zaafaraniyah, a roadside bomb injured a civilian. Also, three dumped bodies were found.
An arms cache was found in Sadr City.
A suicide bicycle bomber attacked an Awakening Council (Sahwa) checkpoint, killing four of the U.S-backed fighters and wounding two civilians in al-Saba Abkar, which is just north of Baghdad.
A car bomb outside police headquarters in Baquba left one policeman dead and 21 others wounded.
In Mosul, U.S. forces killed four people they claim were al-Qaeda militants, but police and mourners say the four were three brothers and their father; four other family members were arrested. Gunmen stormed a home and shot a woman dead. An off-duty policeman was shot and killed in a separate incident in Bab al-Toub. Also, a local TV anchor was shot dead.
A roadside bomb exploded near Kut in Aziziya killed a police colonel and two bodyguards. Four other policemen were wounded in the blast and as many as six other people were also injured. Six people were abducted in the incident that lured the police to that location.
Police commandos fired upon a group of police recruits in Samarra. One of the recruits was killed and another was wounded.
Gunmen killed the brother of a commissioner near Udhaim.
Three brothers were abducted from a fake checkpoint near Mandali.
Police detained five people and confiscated weapons in Basra.
In Missan province, 38 IEDs were defused ahead of a security crackdown.
An arms cache was seized in Karbala.
A municipal worker was killed during a drive-by shooting in Tuz Khormato.

WE HAVE VIDEO OF DEADLY CAR BOMB THAT KILLED 51 IN BAGHDAD ON TUESDAY

This video shows the after effects of the car bomb that killed 51 Iraqi civilians in a market in Baghdad on Tuesday and plans that are going to be launched against the Mahdi militia.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multimedia/video.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10517003&content_media_id=5005600

PENTAGON: SHOOTING OF REUTERS JOURNALIST IN IRAQ JUSTIFIED

Pentagon: Shooting of Reuters journalist in Iraq justified
Pentagon finds that US soldiers were justified in shooting of Reuters journalist in Iraq

LOLITA C. BALDORAP News
Jun 17, 2008 13:54 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=216199

The 2005 shooting death of a Reuters journalist in the midst of a firefight in Baghdad was justified because U.S. soldiers believed the camera protruding from an unmarked car was a rocket propelled grenade, the Pentagon's internal watchdog has concluded.

In an 82-page report, the Defense Department's inspector general also said that Reuters safety practices contributed to the death of sound technician Waleed Khaled, and the wounding of cameraman Haider Kadhem.

While the report was critical of how the initial investigation was conducted — saying the military unit's investigating officer did not follow correct procedures — it nevertheless concluded that a "preponderance of evidence establishes that the cameraman and driver took actions during the incident that reasonably led U.S. soldiers to believe they were confronting hostile intent."

Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger said he believes the inspector general took the case seriously and came up with positive recommendations.

"We are never satisfied when a journalist is killed in the course of covering a story," he said. "I welcome the recommendation that the military and media engage together to better ensure the safety of journalists on the front line."

MAINSTREAM MEDIA FAILS AMERICAN PUBLIC AGAIN ABOUT IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Day after day the mainstream media, and especially FOX NEWS, hide from the American public what is REALLY going on in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is the ONLY war to my knowledge which has received so little attention in the American press.

By reading newspapers or watching TV you would never have any idea we have 160,000 troops in Iraq and another 30,000 in Afghanistan.

And to add insult to injury, many of the cable news stations, and again FOX NEWS, allow Republican politicians and pundits to go on the air and boast about how well things are going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is our job as a blogger reporting on what is really taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan to post information which proves the mainstream media in the United States is LYING to the American public, and most of all letting down the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families back in the United States.

The following is a list of incidents that took place on Tuesday alone in both Iraq and Afghanistan which prove the mainstream media has been LYING to the American public.

The stories have been sourced by http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/ and additional information on each event can be obtained by clicking on the part in BLUE.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE.


Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle has struck a Baghdad checkpoint manned by US-allied fighters, killing one and wounding four. The attacker detonated his explosives in the Sunni area of Silaikh in northern Baghdad, according to police and hospital officials.In a fresh attack on members of tribal police known as Awakening Councils, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle targeted a checkpoint manned by council members in Saba Abkar, north of Baghdad, police told VOI. Four council members were killed and two civilians were injured in the bombing.#2: A roadside bomb targeted a police commando patrol, wounding three policemen and one civilian in Ghadir district of eastern Baghdad, police said.Three policemen were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their patrol vehicle in southeastern Baghdad, security forces said on Tuesday."An explosive charge planted by unknown men on the main road in al-Ghadeer neighborhood, southeastern Baghdad, detonated near a police patrol vehicle, wounding three patrolmen," an Iraqi police source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.#3: A car bomb struck a busy market in a mainly Shiite area in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people, officials said, the deadliest such attack in three months. The attack occurred just before 6 pm. As the market in the northwestern Hurriyah neighborhood was packed with shoppers preparing for their evening meals.Iraqi police officials say at least 51 people were killed in a car bombing in a mainly Shiite section of Baghdad. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, say 75 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack in the northern neighborhood of Hurriyah. Witnesses say the car that exploded was parked near a two-story building with shops on the bottom floor and residential apartments on top.#4: A civil servant was killed and another wounded when the car they were travelling in was attacked by armed men in the west Baghdad district of Mansour, police said.Around 5 p.m. gunmen attacked two employees of the prime minister's office in Al Nisour square killing one and injuring one in their car.#5: Police found three dead bodies throughout Baghdad, one in Palestine Street, one in Haifa Street and one in Atifiyah.#6: Around 4 p.m. A roadside bomb targeted civilians in Zafaraniyah neighborhood injuring one civilian.Diyala Prv:#1: One person was killed and 21 others were wounded on Tuesday in a car bomb explosion that ripped through central Baaquba city, a local security source said. "A car rigged with explosives detonated inside a garage opposite to the police command headquarters in downtown Baaquba city, killing one person and wounding 21 others, including 11 police personnel," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.#2: Three brothers were kidnapped at a fake checkpoint in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, police said.Today, unidentified gunmen shot down Ali Haydar al-Azzawi, the brother of Diala's public commissioner for civil society organizations, in al-Adheem district, after they had kidnapped," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.Kut:#1: Chief of al-Aziziya district and one of his companions were killed on Tuesday and ten others were wounded in a bomb explosion targeting his motorcade north of Kut, a police source said. “An explosive charge went off targeting the motorcade of Colonel Saleh Mahdi, chief of al-Aziziya police department, killing him and his companion Lieutenant Mohammed Wali Mryoush and wounding ten more of his companions in al-Aziziya district, north of Kut,” the source, who asked to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.A roadside bomb killed a police colonel and his two guards and wounded four other policemen as they pursued gunmen in a car chase just outside the town of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.Aziziyah:#1: Around 12:30 p.m. gunmen attacked two vehicles, a mini-bus and a truck, in the town of Aziziyah. They kidnapped 6 men from the vehicles and then set the vehicles on fire. Police headed to the scene and a roadside bomb detonated in the area of the kidnapping killing police Colonel Ali Mohammed and injuring 6 other policemen.Samarra:#1: A police volunteer was killed and another was wounded by police fire in Salah al-Din's Samarra city, a source from the joint coordination center said on Tuesday. "This morning, forces from the Interior Ministry opened fire on a group of new volunteers seeking to join local police forces in Samarra at the headquarters of the mayor's office and Samarra operations center, in an attempt to organize the volunteers," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of IraqTuz Khurmato:#1: A municipal worker was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Mosul:#1: US troops killed the four suspected members of al-Qaeda hiding in a building in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, after the suspects refused to surrender, a US military statement said. Four other suspects on the scene were detained, one of them for 'his alleged role in manufacturing and distributing bombing components,' according to the statement.A police official told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency that US troops killed four people from the same family and arrested four in a dawn raid on their home in al-Mahata area, in south Mosul. The victims include the father and his three sons, the unnamed official said. It is not clear whether the incident was related to the raid cited in the US military statement, in which four people were killed and four captured.#2: Also in Mosul, gunmen killed a television presenter Mohialdin al-Naqib as he was leaving his home north of the city to go to work, police officials told VOI. Al-Naqib, 50, worked with Nineveh's television and radio station, which is part of the state-owned Iraqi Media network.#3: Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday afternoon killed a policeman near his house in central Mosul, a security source said. "Unknown armed men shot and killed a policeman near his house in Bab al-Toub region in central Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.#4: Gunmen broke into a house and shot dead a woman, in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Kurdistan:#1: The Turkish military said on Tuesday it had opened fire on 21 Kurdish PKK fighters trying to enter Turkey from northern Iraq. The General Staff, in a statement on its internet site, said its forces opened fire on the guerrillas late on Monday 3 km (2 miles) inside northern Iraq and most of them had been "neutralised".Afghanistan:#1: Taliban militants blew up bridges and thousands of residents fled villages near Kandahar Tuesday ahead of a possible offensive by Afghan and NATO troops, officials and locals said. A Taliban commander said hundreds of fighters had massed in the villages in Arghandab district since late Monday, many of them having escaped from the southern city's main jail at the weekend in a brazen insurgent attack. The Taliban had blown up one bridge "so far" in the district, he said, adding that hundreds of Afghan soldiers had been deployed in Arghandab "to clear the insurgents from the area." An Afghan army general, Aminullah Patyali, said the rebels had reportedly destroyed several bridges and laid many landmines. One of the mines exploded, killing two Taliban, he said.Taliban fighters stormed onto the doorstep of Afghanistan's second-largest city yesterday, seizing villages, bombing small bridges, and scattering landmines to keep Canadian and international troops at bay. The head of the Kandahar provincial council and brother of President Hamid Karzai said the rebels claimed control of numerous villages and were rumoured to be planning attacks on a bigger target: Kandahar city. "There are also strong rumours that they will attack Kandahar city at strategic points -- my house, the government's house, the police station."By Tuesday, a tribal elder from the area reported, Taliban fighters had taken control of 18 villages, dug trenches and laid mines. Mr. Laity said NATO aircraft dropped leaflets urging residents of the area to remain indoors. He denied reports that the leaflets urged people to flee. In any event, the tribal elder said, Taliban forces were preventing people from leaving after an early exodus of villagers fleeing in fear of hostilities. Earlier reports from families in the area said they had been told by the Taliban to leave, an indication the Taliban intended to make a stand and fight. A government spokesman, Parwez Najib, confirmed the news that Taliban fighters had infiltrated parts of Arghandab. “There is not fighting yet,” he said. Afghan and foreign forces are aware of the presence of the Taliban, he added.#2: Four people have been killed in a gun attack in north-western Pakistan, officials say.Officials say the gunmen opened fire at the four Shia Muslim men in the main market in the town of Hangu. The identity of the killers and the motive of the killing remains unclear, according to the police. A senior official in Hangu in North West Frontier Province told Reuters news agency that Tuesday morning's attack "appeared" to be sectarian. "The men were from the same family and they were killed on the spot," Quresh Khan said.#3: A Polish patrol was fired at on the road from Ghazni to the Airborne military base, central Afghanistan, Monday night. None of the Polish troops involved in the incident were hurt, reports the Radio Information Agency (IAR). Two Polish armoured vehicles were fired at from machine guns and grenades were thrown at them. The machines were damaged as a result, but could safely return to the Airborne base.#4: Afghan forces backed by air power support of foreign troops have killed 30 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province, a local official said Tuesday.

TOLL FROM BAGHDAD CAR BOMBING RISES TO 129

Baghdad, Jun 17, (VOI) - The casualty toll from the western Baghdad car bombing on Tuesday rose to 129, a military spokesman said.

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=82793&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

“The toll from the car bomb that struck al-Hurriya district, north Baghdad, on Tuesday rose to 42 killed and 87 wounded,” Brig. Gen. Wassem Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security plan, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).The spokesman noted “most of the casualties are civilians including women and children,” but he did not elaborate on further details..Atta in an earlier statement said “six civilians were killed and 37 were wounded, including women and children in the bombing that took place in northern Baghdad."Earlier, a police source said a car bomb went off on Tuesday in northern Baghdad, leaving an unspecified number of casualties, including women and children."Security forces sealed off the area and prevented vehicles and pedestrians from entering, while ambulances rushed the wounded to nearby hospitals for treatment," he added.

FABULOUS VIDEO: 101st AIRBORNE TALK ABOUT THE MISSION IN IRAQ. LOTS OF ACTION. INSIDE LOOK AT HOW MILITARY OPERATES IN IRAQ: STRONG LANGUAGE

Video: GuardianFilms and BBC Newsnight present ...
Sean Smith, the Guardian's award-winning war photographer, spent nearly six weeks with the 101st Division of the US army in Iraq. Watch his haunting observational film that explodes the myth around the claims that the Iraqis are preparing to take control of their own country.Contains some strong language.Video: GuardianFilms and BBC Newsnight present ...
Function VBGetSwfVer(i)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,1927660,00.html

HEARTBREAKING VIDEO YOU MUST SEE: BAGHDAD'S CHILDREN ALSO SUFFER FROM PTSD AND KIDNAPPINGS

VIDEO---FINAL COUNTDOWN FOR IRAQI CHILDREN

Baghdad's last refuge for orphaned and traumatised children is in danger of closing later this month when it finally runs out of funds. The man who runs it says he will take the children, many of them orphaned by the violence, into his own home rather than see them on the streets. His co-worker has already been murdered by a death squad. In the second in a series of three films about the ordinary lives of people in Baghdad, GuardianFilms and ITN look at what has happened to the city's most vulnerable children.Full Iraq coverage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,2038665,00.html

FOX NEWS' BRIT HUME DOESN'T MENTION 17 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ. HUME BOASTS ABOUT ANBAR, BUT FAILS TO SAY FEW U.S. TROOPS LEFT IN ANBAR

FOX NEWS' BRIT HUME was all so eager to point out how violence is down in Anbar Province in Iraq that he couldn't bring himself on the Monday FOX NEWS SPECIAL REPORT show to make a mention that 17 U.S. soldiers have been KILLED in Iraq in the first half of June.

Hume also failed to tell his audience the reason the violence is down in Anbar Province has NOTHING to do with the U.S. military. What it has to do with is the tribal leaders inside of Anbar Province got together and tossed Al Qaeda out of the province.

Hume made it seem like the United States military had swept through Anbar Province ridding the province of all terrorists which is totally false.

Hume, who NEVER served a day of his life in the United States military, also failed to mention U.S. troops have pulled back from Anbar Province because the tribal leaders have taken over security of Anbar Province.

In Brit Hume's rush to make it sound as though this was a major military victory for the United States, Hume should have done his homework. If he had, he would have known most of the U.S. troops have been pulled out of Anbar and moved into other "hot spots."

If there are no U.S. troops to speak of left in Anbar Province it only stands to reason the U.S. casualties would be down, a point Brit Hume failed to mention in his "glowing" report on Anbar Province and how U.S. casualties are down in Anbar Province.

The saddest part of this kind of shoddy reporting is there are thousands of FOX NEWS viewers who also have never spent one day in the uniform of any branch of the United States military and they don't know how military operations are conducted.

While BRIT HUME was boasting about how American deaths were down in Anbar Province, the following list provides details of American deaths in Iraq for the first half of June.

Apparently to BRIT HUME and FOX NEWS their deaths mean absolutely nothing and are not worth mentioning on FOX NEWS.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE, and former Cpl. (E-4), United States Army Combat Engineers.

Click on names of each American killed in Iraq for further details which BRIT HUME and FOX NEWS feels is not important enough to mention.

SOURCE: http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=4-2008


Date
Total
Name
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death
16-Jun-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Hillah - Babil
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
12-Jun-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant John D. Aragon
Kadamiyah - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
11-Jun-2008
3
US: 3 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Lance Corporal Kelly E. C. Watters
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire

US
Lance Corporal Javier Perales Jr.
Fallujah - Anbar
Non-hostile

US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Baghdad
Non-hostile
10-Jun-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant Steve A. McCoy
Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, - Baghdad
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
09-Jun-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Thomas F. Duncan III
Sinjar - Ninawa
Hostile - hostile fire
08-Jun-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Staff Sergeant Tyler E. Pickett
Kirkuk - At-Ta'mim
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
07-Jun-2008
1
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Sergeant 1st Class David R. Hurst
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
04-Jun-2008
5
US: 4 UK: 0 Other: 1



GE
Squad Commander Irakli Kordzaia
Diyala Province
Hostile - hostile fire

US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Baghdad (South of)
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

US
Sergeant Cody R. Legg
Al Hawijah - At-Ta'mim
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

US
Specialist Jonathan D. A. Emard
Al Hawijah - At-Ta'mim
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

US
Sergeant Shane P. Duffy
Al Hawijah - At-Ta'mim
Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
03-Jun-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Private 1st Class Joshua E. Waltenbaugh
Taji - Baghdad
Non-hostile

US
Specialist Quincy J. Green
Tikrit - Salah ad Din
Non-hostile
01-Jun-2008
2
US: 2 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
Specialist Christopher D. McCarthy
FOB Ramadi - Anbar
Non-hostile

US
Specialist Justin R. Mixon
Baghdad (northeastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (EFP)
Total
18
US: 17 UK: 0 Other: 1

BREAKING NEWS MONDAY: TWO EXPLOSIONS IN BAGHDAD HIT EDUCATION BUILDING: UNDETERMINED NUMBER OF CASUALTIES

Two explosions rattle Education Faculty, leave casualties

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Monday , 16 /06 /2008 Time 12:13:49
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=82596&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1


Baghdad, Jun 16, (VOI) – Two explosions rattled northern Baghdad's Faculty of Education on Monday morning, leaving an unknown number of casualties among students and security guards, according to eyewitnesses.

"A blast occurred at the entrance of the Faculty of Education in northern Baghdad's al-Adhamiya area, leaving an unknown number of casualties," one of the faculty's students told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq- (VOI). "The blast might have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED)," the student said.Earlier, another student told VOI that an explosion, whose cause remains unknown, killed a student and a security guard and wounded several students.No comment was immediately available from Iraqi authorities.

Iraqi university students began their end-of-term examinations two weeks ago.

PENTAGON ADMITS USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON FALLUJAH RESIDENTS HAS FALLOUT ON BABIES BORN IN THE IRAQI CITY

For all the talk about Saddam Hussein having WMD, or chemical weapons, it now turns out it was the United States that used chemical weapons on the attack on Fallujah, Iraq.

The use of White Phosphorous and other chemical weapons has caused a large number of babies born in Fallujah, Iraq to be suffering from all kinds of different respiratory illnesses.

Once again the United States has proven to be the one using chemical weapons, and any student of history knows the United States sold to Saddam Hussein chemical weapons when Iraq was fighting Iran during the Ronald Reagan administration. This is has been well documented and there are even pictures of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meeting with Saddam Hussein and shaking his hand when the sale of chemical weapons to Iraq was solidified.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

'Special Weapons' Have a Fallout on Babies

Inter Press ServiceBy Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*FALLUJAH, Jun 12 (IPS) - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.

The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after "special weaponry" was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.

After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.

In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tonnes of DU in Iraq thus far.

Many doctors believe DU to be the cause of a severe increase in the incidence of cancer in Iraq, as well as among U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and through the current occupation.

"We saw all the colours of the rainbow coming out of the exploding American shells and missiles," Ali Sarhan, a 50-year-old teacher who lived through the two U.S. sieges of 2004 told IPS. "I saw bodies that turned into bones and coal right after they were exposed to bombs that we learned later to be phosphorus.

"The most worrying is that many of our women have suffered loss of their babies, and some had babies born with deformations."

"I had two children who had brain damage from birth," 28-year-old Hayfa' Shukur told IPS. "My husband has been detained by the Americans since November 2004 and so I had to take the children around by myself to hospitals and private clinics. They died. I spent all our savings and borrowed a considerable amount of money."

Shukur said doctors told her that it was use of the restricted weapons that caused her children's brain damage and subsequent deaths, "but none of them had the courage to give me a written report."

"Many babies were born with major congenital malformations," a paediatric doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "These infants include many with heart defects, cleft lip or palate, Down's syndrome, and limb defects."

The doctor added, "I can say all kinds of problems related to toxic pollution took place in Fallujah after the November 2004 massacre."

Many doctors speak of similar cases and a similar pattern. The indications remain anecdotal, in the absence of either a study, or any available official records.

The Fallujah General Hospital administration was unwilling to give any statistics on deformed babies, but one doctor volunteered to speak on condition of anonymity -- for fear of reprisals if seen to be critical of the administration.

"Maternal exposure to toxins and radioactive material can lead to miscarriage and frequent abortions, still birth, and congenital malformation," the doctor told IPS. There have been many such cases, and the government "did not move to contain the damage, or present any assistance to the hospital whatsoever.

"These cases need intensive international efforts that provide the highest and most recent technologies that we will not have here in a hundred years," he added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concern Mar. 31 about the lack of medical supplies in hospitals in Baghdad and Basra.

"Hospitals have used up stocks of vital medical items, and require further supplies to cope with the influx of wounded patients. Access to water remains a matter of concern in certain areas," the ICRC said in a statement.

A senior Iraqi health ministry official was quoted as saying Feb. 26 that the health sector is under "great pressure", with scores of doctors killed, an exodus of medical personnel, poor medical infrastructure, and shortage of medicines.

"We are experiencing a big shortage of everything," said the official, "We don't have enough specialist doctors and medicines, and most of the medical equipment is outdated.

"We used to get many spinal and head injures, but were unable to do anything as we didn't have enough specialists and medicines," he added. "Intravenous fluid, which is a simple thing, is not available all the time." He said no new hospitals had been built since 1986.

Iraqi Health Minister Salih al-Hassnawi highlighted the shortage of medicines at a press conference in Arbil in the Kurdistan region in the north Feb. 22. "The Iraqi Health Ministry is suffering from an acute shortage of medicines...We have decided to import medicines immediately to meet the needs."

He said the 2008 health budget meant that total expenditure on medicines, medical equipment and ambulances would amount to an average of 22 dollars per citizen.

But this is too late for the unknown number of babies and their families who bore the consequences of the earlier devastation. And it is too little to cover the special needs of babies who survived with deformations.

(*Ali, our correspondent in Baghdad, 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).

CNN REPORTS: IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: AL-SADR THREATS 'UNACCEPTABLE'

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari sternly rebuked Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's latest threats, Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/15/iraq.main/index.html

Supporters of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rally against a U.S-Iraqi security pact on Friday.

Zebari said on CNN Sunday that al-Sadr's Friday claim that he is establishing a new fighting force to battle U.S. troops in Iraq "unacceptable."

"The Americans are there with the consent and the approval of the Iraqi elected government," he said. "Americans are there. They're our friends. They're sacrificing. So, therefore, whatever happens to them, actually, we should feel that pain. And this is unacceptable."

Over the weekend, Iraqi government troops prepared a new push against "outlaws" in the southern province of Maysan, north of Basra near the Iranian border. Those "outlaws" may trade medium and heavy weapons and explosives for cash rewards and amnesty until Wednesday, and the prime minister is also offering amnesty until Wednesday to suspects "who do not have the blood of innocent people on their hands," an official in the prime minister's office told CNN.

DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH! IRAQ PM SAYS U.S. TROOPS MAY BE ASKED TO LEAVE

Maliki raises possibility that Iraq might ask U.S. to leave

Leila Fadel and Mike Tharp McClatchy Newspaper
last updated: June 13, 2008 08:44:46 PM
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/41047.html

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki raised the possibility that his country won't sign a status of forces agreement with the United States and will ask U.S. troops to go home when their U.N. mandate to be in Iraq expires at the end of the year.

Maliki made the comment after weeks of complaints from Shiite Muslim lawmakers that U.S. proposals that would govern a continued troop presence in Iraq would infringe on Iraq's sovereignty.

"Iraq has another option that it may use," Maliki said during a visit to Amman, Jordan. "The Iraqi government, if it wants, has the right to demand that the U.N. terminate the presence of international forces on Iraqi sovereign soil."

Earlier, Maliki acknowledged that talks with the U.S. on a status of forces agreement "reached an impasse" after the American negotiators presented a draft that would have given the U.S. access to 58 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and immunity from prosecution for both U.S. soldiers and private contractors.

U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ IN FOR A FIGHT WITH AL SADR ARMY

NEW SADR ARMY TO FIGHT US
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=220221&Sn=WORL&IssueID=31086

KUFA: Hardline Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr will set up a new force to battle US troops."We will not stop resisting the occupation until liberation or martyrdom," Sadr told his more than 60,000-strong Mahdi Army militia.

The fight against US troops will now be waged only by the new group, while other members will "take on a social and religious role," Sadr said in a statement which was read out at mosques in the holy Shi'ite town of Kufa.

The announcement came amid controversy in Iraq and in neighbouring Iran over negotiations between Baghdad and Washington for a new pact to cover the US military presence when a UN mandate expires at the end of the year.

Talks on the pact are at a stalemate because of US demands that encroached on Iraq's sovereignty, said Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, who is visiting Jordan.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: "WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?"---IRAQ WAR--PETE SEEGER

So many times this blogger is asked this question. Why is it the press in the United States doesn't cover the Iraq war? We have wrestled with the question and finally come to the conclusion there are a variety of reasons. The mainstream media in the United States is now owned by corporations, and many of these corporations have subsidiaries that are making huge profits from the defense industry so the honchos at the networks don't want to do anything to upset the money apple cart. Then there is another ingredient that as a former GI myself I see only too clearly. Very, very few people in the United States have a vested interest in the Iraq war. They don't have a relative in uniform, and in many cases they don't even know anyone who is in the military and overseas in Iraq. And finally, there is the mainstream media itself. Most of the people who work in the mainstream media NEVER served a day of their lives in the uniform of any branch of the United States military. They don't know what it is like to be go through basic training. They have no idea what it is like to be in a war zone. In short, the editors and reporters in the mainstream media just don't give a damn.

"Where have all the Flowers Gone?" is a VERY GRAPHIC VIDEO that captures what the Iraq war is all about. Pete Seeger provides the music and we highly recommend this video, but with a WARNING there are images that are very, very gruesome.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

http://www.youtube.com/v/7KUzjqcWMo4&hl=en&rel=0

METALLICA IRAQ WAR MUSIC VIDEO---VERY GRAPHIC

The Iraq War has long ago been forgotten by the mainstream media in the United States even though we still have 160,000 troops in Iraq. This GRAPHIC video with music by METALLICA captures the Iraq war like it should be seen on television in the United States so the people of this country would have some idea what our brave young men and women are going through every single day in Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/v/rmTANwe56F4&hl=en&rel=0

EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IRAQ WAR VIDEO NOT SHOWN IN U.S. MEDIA

The media in the United States has filtered out everything that has to do with the horrors of the Iraq war, but this video captures the true essence of what is happening to the innocent Iraqi civilians inside of Iraq which is being kept from the people of the United States by the mainstream media. WARNING: This video is very, very graphic.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ApsfQzQDzi0&hl=en&rel=0

VIDEO: A SAD FATHER'S DAY IN IRAQ--CHILDREN STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE WITHOUT A FATHER

The invasion and occupation of Iraq by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the rest of the Bush White House warmongers has led to thousands of Iraqi children left without a father. We thought on this Father's Day it was only appropriate to post this video of how the Iraq war has affected the children of Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/v/g1x0d7AU6HU&hl=en&rel=0

BUSH ARRIVES IN LONDON TO MASSIVE PROTESTS OVER IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WARS

President Bush's job approval ratings in the United States are in the low 20 percent range, and overseas he is also regarded as a total failure.

Bush and his wife Laura arrived in London on Sunday and were greeted by crowds of people protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush wants British PM Gordon Brown to change his mind and not remove the remaining 4,000 British troops from Iraq, but that is not likely to happen.

Bush flies to Britain, faces protests over Iraq, Afghanistan

Sat Jun 14, 10:09 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080615/wl_mideast_afp/britainusdiplomacybush

LONDON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush arrives in Britain Sunday to take afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II, hold talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and visit Northern Ireland on his farewell European tour.

But his visit is set to be marked by protests from anti-war campaigners unhappy at the reception for the architect of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and police restrictions about where and how they can make their voices heard.

Bush, who has visited Germany, Italy, The Vatican and Slovenia, touches down from Paris, where he met French President Nicolas Sarkozy and set aside previous Franco-US differences over Iraq in a display of backslapping bonhomie.

Read more here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080615/wl_mideast_afp/britainusdiplomacybush

BREAKING NEWS SUNDAY: BUSH TELLS BRITISH PM NOT TO PULL TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ

President Bush is in Great Britain and the Observer in Britain is reporting Bush has told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to pull the remaining 4,000 British troops out of Iraq.

Bush warns Brown over premature Iraq withdrawal: report

Sat Jun 14, 6:55 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080614/pl_afp/britainmilitaryiraqusbush

LONDON (AFP) - Britain should not jeopardise coalition gains in Iraq by withdrawing its troops prematurely, US President George W. Bush said in an interview with The Observer newspaper published Sunday.

Newspaper reports here this week suggested Prime Minister Gordon Brown could soon announce a final timetable for the withdrawal of its remaining 4,000 or so troops from southern Iraq by the end of the year.

Brown told his monthly news conference that he hoped to make a statement to parliament before it breaks for the summer recess next month.

But Bush, who arrives in London Sunday from Paris, said that while he recognised the pressure in both the United States and Britain for such a draw-down, it could only be "based upon success".

"Our answer is: there is should be no definitive timetable," he told the weekly.
"I am confident that he, like me, will listen to our commanders to make sure that the sacrifices that have gone forward won't be unravelled by draw-downs that may not be warranted at this point in time," he said.

"I look forward to discussing it with him."

Bush and his wife, Laura, meet Brown and his wife, Sarah, for dinner at Downing Street Sunday evening following afternoon tea with Queen Elizabeth II at her Windsor Castle residence west of London.

The two leaders then go into meetings Monday morning before visiting Northern Ireland.
It is the first time Brown has met Bush as prime minister on British soil and he faces a likely vocal demonstration by anti-war campaigners opposed to British and US involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Click on link http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080614/pl_afp/britainmilitaryiraqusbush
for full story.

VIDEO: THE IRAQ WAR: "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" -SUNG BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG

This Sunday marks Father's Day and this video is a tribute to the many fathers who will never again be able to enjoy Father's Day with their family. The music is by Louis Armstrong singing "What A Wonderful World" and the title of the video is simply "The Iraq War."

http://www.youtube.com/v/JGjf5QH4sIU&hl=en&rel=0

IRAQ WAR MUSIC VIDEO: THE "KILLING" HAS TO STOP!!

We have now been in Iraq fighting a war longer than we were in World War II or the Korean War.

And what have we got to show for 4,100 DEAD Americans and another 30,000 wounded?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The Iraqi government is now demanding U.S. troops report where they will be going before going out on patrol.

This whole war was a horrible mistake and it is NEVER going to get better.

There is no such thing as "winning" in Iraq because there isn't one government or group that would represent everyone that could sign a surrender.

So the war will go on and on and on until someone has the guts to say to the Iraqi people, "you are on your own. We have sacrificed enough blood and treasure and we are out of your country."

No more scenes like the ones shown in this video. We have had enough. The Iraqi people don't want us in Iraq anyhow. So let's just pack up and ship out.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE AND A FORMER GI


http://www.youtube.com/v/LSYsin3e9rk&hl=en&rel=0

FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER STRIKES IRAQI SOCCER FANS

Female bomber strikes Iraqi soccer fans
Woman detonates explosive belt at emerging crowd at a cafe; 34 injured

The Associated Press
updated 1:17 p.m. CT, Sat., June. 14, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25161104/

BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber targeted a crowd of soccer fans celebrating Iraq's win in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday, wounding at least 34 people near a cafe north of Baghdad, police said.

The young woman, who was covered in a traditional black Islamic robe, was dropped off by a car shortly before the attack as dozens of cheering young men poured out onto the streets after watching Iraq beat China 2-1 on TV in the cafe in the town of Qara Tappah.

She told suspicious police that she was waiting for her husband but blew herself up after an officer spotted the detonator and began screaming at the crowd to disperse, according to the town's top administrator Serwan Shukir.

Seven police and 27 civilians were among the wounded, Shukir said, but the officer's warning had averted a higher casualty toll by preventing the woman from reaching the bulk of the fans.Police Capt. Najib Khourshid said she was about 20 yards away from the crowd when the blast occurred. "About 100 people were in the cafe and we went out to celebrate the victory after the match. Minutes later, a big explosion took place near us," said Salman Hameed, who was wounded in his chest and right hand. "The female bomber has spoiled our joy and celebration."