DESPITE BRAVADO FROM BUSH ADMIN AND FOX NEWS, IRAQI VP SAYS CONDITIONS IN MOSUL AND ANBAR ARE VERY FRAGILE

The Bush administration and their television parrot FOX NEWS have been bragging about how wonderful things are going in both Anbar Province and Mosul.

But now the Iraqi Vice President has issued a statement saying conditions in both Anbar and Mosul are much too fragile to do any boasting.

Security condition still fragile – VP

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 27 /06 /2008 Time 7:21:00
http://tinyurl.com/3jrm4h

Baghdad, Jun 27, (VOI)- Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said on Friday that the military operations in Mosul and Anbar yesterday proved that security condition still fragile.

“The recent operations in Mosul and Anbar proved that security condition still fragile and more measures are still needed to limit casualties in the war-ravaged Iraq,” Al-Hashemi said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“The situation also needs an immediate revision of security measures which prove they still incapable of facing challenges facing Iraq,” the statement added.Anbar and Mosul witnessed two armed attacks; the first took place in Anbar when a suicide bomber blew himself up amid a meeting of chieftains and Sahwa Council’s leaders, while a car bomb went off in Mosul.

The two operations killed more than 40 and injured more than 90.Al-Hashemi condemned the two operations

IRAQ COSTS $12 BILLION A MONTH---HUFFINGTON POST

The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

Studies: Iraq Costs US $12B Per Month
CHARLES J. HANLEY

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/studies-iraq-costs-us-1_n_90694.html

Beyond 2008, working with "best-case" and "realistic-moderate" scenarios, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion _ or more _ by 2017.
Interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to that bottom line, they say.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has done its own projections and comes in lower, forecasting a cumulative cost by 2017 of $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion for the two wars, with Iraq generally accounting for three-quarters of the costs.

Click here to read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/studies-iraq-costs-us-1_n_90694.html

FORMER UN AMBASSADOR JOHN BOLTON ARGUES WITH RADIO HOST OVER NEED FOR WAR WITH IRAN

Bolton Bristles When Challenged On Getting It Wrong On Iraq: That’s ‘An Ad Hominem Attack’

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton has been intensifying his calls for a war with Iran, telling Fox News last weekend that Israel may attack Iran before the inauguration of a new U.S. President.

LISTEN TO BOLTON ARGUE WITH RADIO HOST HERE: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/26/bolton-iraq-ad-hominem/

He added that Arab states “would be delighted” if this happened.
Bolton appeared on XM radio’s Potus ’08 earlier this week to talk about an Iran war. He argued this issue “goes fundamentally to your tolerance for the risk of radical Islamists holding nuclear weapons.” Host Tim Farley interrupted and asked, “It also goes, does it not, to the credibility of those making the argument?”

Bolton bristled at the accusation:

Absolutely not! And by the way, the credibility point is an ad hominem reference. … But to address the merits of the argument requires a response on the merits, not an ad hominem attack.

Farley tried to interject, but Bolton demanded, “Let me finish my answer!” The host later followed up by noting that the credibility of the argument is lacking when war advocates like Dick Cheney and President Bush “tell you one thing and the truth turns out to be something else.” Bolton responded by complaining to the host that you’re “debating with me.” Listen here:
George Monbiot, a columnist for the Guardian, has charged that Bolton was “instrumental in preparing and initiating the Iraq war by disseminating false claims through the State Department” while he was under-secretary of state for arms control.

Before the war, Bolton orchestrated the removal of the head of a global arms-control agency, Jose Bustani, because the Brazilian was trying to send chemical weapons inspectors to Baghdad. In Feb. 2003, Bolton orchestrated the removal of State Department official Rexon Ryu because Ryu “had been instrumental in getting the most controversial allegations” out of Colin Powell’s U.N. speech.

But Bolton would prefer all these acts are washed away with history so that he can have a clean slate to make his pitch for a new war.

HADITHA KIN OUTRAGED AS MARINES GO FREE

WATCH VIDEO AND READ FULL STORY HERE: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/41817.html
Leila Fadel McClatchy Newspapers

HADITHA, Iraq — Khadija Hassan still shrouds her body in black, nearly three years after the deaths of her four sons. They were killed on Nov. 19, 2005, along with 20 other people in the deadliest documented case of U.S. troops killing civilians since the Vietnam War.

Eight Marines were charged in the case, but in the intervening years, criminal charges have been dismissed against six. A seventh Marine was acquitted. The residents of Haditha, after being told they could depend on U.S. justice, feel betrayed.

"We put our hopes in the law and in the courts and one after another they are found innocent," said Yousef Aid Ahmed, the lone surviving brother in the family. "This is an organized crime."
No one disputes that Marines killed 24 men, women and children in this town in four separate shootings that morning. Relatives said the attack was a massacre of innocent civilians that followed a roadside bomb that killed one Marine and injured two. Marines say they came under fire following the bomb.

Nonetheless, military prosecutors filed charges that ranged from murder to covering up a crime. Three Marines were relieved of their duties then, and U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a former Marine, famously called the incident "murder" on television.

One by one, the cases fell apart. American and Iraqi witnesses provided conflicting accounts. The investigation began months after the incident, and many Iraqis who could have testified were unable to travel to the United States. Furthermore, several Marines were granted immunity.
Last week, a judge dismissed charges of dereliction of duty and failure to investigate filed against the highest ranking officer implicated, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. The Marine Corps plans to appeal.

The dismissals have deepened the victims' relatives' grief. Many say they feel deceived after having collaborated with U.S. investigators who came into their homes, collected evidence, took testimony, and ultimately failed to hold the Marines accountable.

"Right now I feel hatred that will not fade," said Ahmed. "It grows every day." Charges against two Marines who allegedly killed his brothers were dropped in August 2007.

All charges of murder in this case were dropped and at least seven Marines were given immunity to allow them to testify against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the squad leader. His charges now include voluntary manslaughter of at least nine people.

Wuterich has always maintained that he made the right decision, believing his Marines were under threat.

While other Marines' accounts have differed from his, Wuterich told the CBS News program 60 Minutes last year that he shot at five unarmed men outside a white car because he believed they were a threat when they started to move away from the car. At the first home they raided, where women and children were inside, he said he told his men to "shoot first and ask questions later", because he believed the Marines were coming under "sporadic" fire from the dwelling.

WATCH VIDEO AND READ FULL STORY HERE: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/41817.html

OHIO MARINE LANCE CPL ROBERT CRUTCHFIELD HOME ON LEAVE FROM IRAQ KILLED FOR $8

2 indicted in killing of Ohio Marine home from Iraq; prosecutors seeking death sentence

THOMAS J. SHEERANAP News
Jun 26, 2008 18:56 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=229065

Two men arrested in the curbside killing of a Marine who was robbed of $8 while on leave from Iraq were indicted Thursday on aggravated murder charges and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Ean Farrow, 19, and Thomas Ray III, 20, of Cleveland, were indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on charges of aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault and aggravated robbery in the Jan. 5 shooting of Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield.

The 21-year-old Crutchfield was crippled by a gunshot while waiting for a bus
in Cleveland and died of a related infection on May 18.

"It's sickening and appalling that this Marine, who put his life on the line fighting for our country, comes home only to face a deadlier enemy on our streets — a couple of thugs who have no regard for human life," prosecutor Bill Mason said.

Attorneys listed in court records for the defendants did not return phone messages left at their offices after business hours Thursday. Calls made to listings for both defendants were not returned.

Police tied the suspects to Crutchfield's shooting while investigating a robbery on the following morning across the street from the scene of the attack.

Crutchfield, warned by commanders that he could be a robbery target as a Marine on leave with a pocketful of money, was carrying only $8, his military identification and a bank card.

"They took it, turned his pockets inside out, took what he had and told him since he was a Marine and didn't have any money he didn't deserve to live," his aunt, Albert Holt, told The Associated Press last month. "They put the gun to his neck and shot him."

Holt described her nephew as a well-behaved, churchgoing individual who had enrolled in a suburban high school to escape his unruly Cleveland school and prepare for a career as an architect.

Mason's office received more than 60 e-mails and letters from across the country, almost all asking him to seek the death penalty.

The death penalty specifications in the indictment were based on the evidence in the case, and members of the grand jury were not aware of the outpouring of support for executing the suspects, Mason's staff said.

VIDEO: FEMALE JOHN HOPKINS GRAD STUDENT NICOLE SUVEGES FROM CHICAGO KILLED IN IRAQ

Watch this video about a female John Hopkins University grad student Nicole Suveges from Chicago who was killed earlier this week in Iraq.

Comment: Ignore the first few seconds which are an ad followed by the report. Also you can click on "enlarge" to enlarge the video.

Watch here: http://tinyurl.com/5shzk4

LIST OF U.S. CASUALTIES IN IRAQ AND VIOLENCE ALL ACROSS IRAQ THAT WE REPORT BUT FOX NEWS DOESN'T

We continue to bring to readers of my blog the truth about what is happening in Iraq and not the garbage FOX NEWS peddles to their viewers.

There have been multiple U.S. deaths in Iraq and there has also been a breakout of violence all across Iraq which FOX NEWS has conveniently decided is not worth reporting.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Thursday, June 26, 2008
SOURCE: http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/
Click on BLUE for more details

War News for Thursday, June 26, 2008
MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad. on Wednesday, June 25th. No other details were released.

The Santa Barbara News-Press is reporting the deaths of three U.S.-led coalition soldiers from an attack in Lagar Province on Thursday, June 26th. An Afghan interpreter was also killed in the attack.

The Santa Barbara News-Press is reporting the deaths of three Marines from a suicide bomb attack in Karmah, Al Anbar province, Iraq on Thursday, June 26th. Two Iraqi interpreters and at least 20 Iraqis were also killed in the attack.

Staff Sgt. Michael Kacer, Company B, 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, lost his left arm and suffered unspecified hearing loss and internal injuries, as well as vision problems, said his father, Michael T. Kacer. He learned that his son was critically injured by a rocket or mortar. From Afghanistan, Sgt. Kacer was initially flown to Germany before being transferred to Walter Reed on Sunday.

June 24 airpower summary:Military facing $100 billion in equipment repairs

Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: A car bomb also killed three people and wounded seven in Baghdad's Karradah district, witnesses and police said.

#2: update American soldiers fatally shot three Iraqi bank employees as their car passed a convoy near Baghdad International Airport, according to an Interior Ministry official and Yarmouk Hospital, where the bodies were brought. The attack was one of two bloody episodes Wednesday in which the American military and Iraqi officials offered sharply different accounts of what had happened.Iraqi authorities said at least eight civilians had been killed by American soldiers. American military officials said that in each case they opened fire after coming under attack, and that they were unaware of any civilian deaths. Officials at the hospital identified the bodies of the victims as those of Hafed Abdul Mahdi, director of the bank at the airport, and Surur Shadid Ahmed and Maha Adnan Yunis, women who worked at the bank.

#2: A number of students were wounded on Thursday in a shooting that took place in a tests center in northern Baghdad, eyewitnesses said."A number of students protested against bad services when Education Minister Khudier al-Khuzaaei paid a visit to their tests center in Sabaa Abkar region in northern Baghdad, the matter that made the ministry's bodyguards to start shooting, wounding five students," Qassem Hassan, a student, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. "The test was cancelled after the intense shooting, which forced the students to leave the tests room," Hassan explained, noting that one of the wounded students is in critical condition.

Diyala Prv:Muqdadiya:#1: Four shepherds were wounded in a bomb blast in Muqdadiya on Thursday. "An explosive device was detonated in the main street in Shirween region in Muqdadiya, northeast of Baaquba, wounding three shepherds," a police source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. He did not give further details.

Karbala:#1: South of Baghdad, a bomb exploded on a minibus near one of the most revered Shiite shrines in the holy city of Karbala. At least two people including a young boy were killed, and 14 were wounded, police said.

Shirqat:#1: The two extremists were killed in Sharqat, about 135 miles north of Baghdad, after they refused to surrender to U.S. troops who had surrounded the building where the pair had taken refuge, the U.S. said in a statement. One of the dead was identified as a militant cell leader who was the target of the raid, the U.S. said. Three people were taken into custody.

Tikrit:#1: Hours earlier, an American helicopter fired missiles into a home near Tikrit, killing a family of five, local officials and a relative said. The episode began when Afar Ahmed Zidan thought he heard thieves prowling near his home, said a cousin, Hussain al-Azawi. Zidan fired at them, al-Azawi said.

Kirkuk:#1: An Iraqi army soldier was killed late Wednesday by unknown gunman in south of Kirkuk, and security forces managed to arrest the killer, an Iraqi army source said on Thursday."Iraqi army forces, backed by U.S. troops, waged a crackdown operation in Yankaga village in Touz Khormato district, south of Kirkuk," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

Mosul:#1: A car bomb and a roadside bomb went off coordinately near a convoy of the governor of Nineveh province in the capital city of Mosul on Thursday, killing eight people and wounding 18 others, a provincial police source said. The double bombing took place after midday and apparently targeted the convoy of governor Duraid Kashmoulah in the Bab al-Toub area in central Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Kashmoulah narrowly escaped unhurt and five of his bodyguards were among the wounded, the source said.

A car bomb exploded near the provincial governor's office in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, killing 18 people and wounding 62, Governor Duraid Kashmula said.The bomb exploded soon after two Katyusha rockets landed near Kashmula's office in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Three people were wounded, including a policeman,by a roadside bombing against police patrol in Mosul on Thursday ,a Ninewa police source said. This explosion is the second of its type in Mosul today, after a car bomb attack that killed 17 persons, and wounded 62 others. "A roadside bomb went off targeting a police patrol at al-Borsa neighborhood, western Mosul, wounding three persons including a policeman," a Ninewa police source , who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Sulaimaniya:#1: Two gunmen were killed on Thursday while planting a bomb in eastern Sulaimaniya, a senior police source said. An explosive charge went off, killing the two gunmen who were trying to plant it in Sikawiz border village in Benjwin district in eastern Sulaimaniya," Hassan Nouri told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. "The explosion killed one gunman and seriously injured the other, who later died of his wounds in the hospital," he explained.Al Anbar Prv:

Karmah:#1: A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt Thursday inside a municipal government building west of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people attending a meeting of tribal sheiks, police said. Col. Fawzi Fraih, civil defense director of Anbar province, said the sheiks were members of a group opposed to al-Qaida in Iraq and were meeting with Americans when the attack occurred in Karmah, about 20 miles west of Baghdad. The U.S. military would not confirm whether Americans were inside the building during the attack, the third against a municipal government meeting in Iraq this week. Police said the bomber entered the building through a back door, but it was unclear how he managed to evade security for the meeting, which drew community leaders in the town where Sunnis have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq. The media office for Anbar province said the dead included the town's administrative director and at least two chiefs of major Sunni tribes in the area.

At least 20 people were killed Thursday when a suicide bomber targeted a meeting of clan chiefs and tribal leaders in a village to the west of Baghdad, media reports said. Al-Arabiya news channel said that the blast occurred when a suicide attacker detonated himself in the local council in Karma village in Anbar province. The attacker managed to enter through an unguarded gate, al- Arabiya said.Details of the bombing were sketchy, but U.S. officials confirmed that American service members were among the casualties in the Anbar explosion, which came just days before the United States was to turn Anbar security over to the Iraqis. That plan is now on hold, U.S. officials said.

Fallujah:#1: A mortar round targeted al-Faris Police Station in al-Amiriyah, Fallujah at 8 a.m. Thursday, killing one civilian and seriously injuring one policeman. Two police vehicles were completely destroyed.

Afghanistan:#1: A Coalition forces’ helicopter crashed Wednesday in Konar province. No Coalition forces’ Soldiers were seriously injured and all have been returned safely from the incident. The aircraft has been secured.A spokesman for the troops said there were only two soldiers on board and they had "minor injuries".

#2: A bomb hit troops from the U.S.-led coalition patrolling south of the Afghan capital on Thursday, causing an unspecified number of casualties, the coalition said. The bomb hit the coalition convoy on Thursday morning during a patrol in Wardak province, the coalition said in a statement. Coalition forces secured the scene, but that "the exact number and nature of casualties" was not immediately clear, it said.

#3: PAKISTANI Taliban have threatened to "brutally slaughter" any truck driver caught supplying oil and goods to NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, one of the country’s leading newspapers says. The Pakistani Dawn newspaper said the Taliban, who have given the drivers one week to comply with the ban, posted leaflets in a Mosque near Karachi warning hauliers against supplying equipment to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and US-led troops. One read: "After the deadline, if any truck or trawler is caught supplying diesel, petrol or goods, not only will the vehicle be set on fire but the driver will also be brutally slaughtered. "These attacks will be carried out starting from Karachi to Peshawar, Chaman, Kandahar and Bagram until such time that the supply line of the Christian army is severed."Pamphlets were also distributed among truck drivers in Mauripur. One truck driver told Dawn: "These threats have affected our work and supplies to Afghanistan have dropped to some extent. Not everyone is willing to go ahead with such a risky trip now."

NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS: SUICIDE BOMBERS KILL 30 IN 2 ATTACK IN IRAQ

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS Washington Bureau chief and host of "Special Report," earlier this week ran a story about how calm the city of Mosul, Iraq had become.

Today, two suicide bombings took place in MOSUL killing at least 30 people and wounding nearly 80.

The Bush administration and again FOX NEWS also reported on how ANBAR Province in Iraq was going to be handed over to the Iraqi Security forces, but on Thursday another suicide bombing took place in ANBAR where initial reports indicate 12 people were killed and another 27 wounded.

It should be clear to anyone looking for the truth about the IRAQ WAR, the last place you would want to go for information is FOX NEWS.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 30 in 2 Iraq Attacks

By ALISSA J. RUBIN
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://tinyurl.com/4zdzhm

BAGHDAD — Two suicide bomb blasts struck at pro-American Iraqi targets just west of Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul on Thursday, killing at least 30 people and wounding nearly 80.

The bombings extended a pattern of multiple-casualty attacks in recent days that are clearly intended to kill local Iraqi leaders, in particular the Awakening Councils of Sunni tribal chieftains who have collaborated with American forces against Sunni insurgents.

The more significant of the two attacks on Thursday took place in the town of Garma in Anbar Province, where the Awakening Councils have achieved notable progress over the past few years in battling Sunni insurgents.

The American pacification of Anbar — once considered Iraq’s most dangerous province at the height of the Iraq war a few years ago — has been so successful that American forces there are preparing to hand control of the province back to the Iraqi government.l

The Garma attack was clearly aimed at participants at a weekly meeting of the leaders of the local Awakening Council, the Iraq police said. Initial reports from the police were that the bomb killed 12 people and wounded 27.

The other bombing, in Mosul, targeted the provincial governor and killed 18 and wounded 61, according to local security forces. The governor was unhurt.

Fifty people were at the Garma meeting which was attended by tribal sheiks, local dignitaries and members of the Awakening council in the area, who had been working with the Americans in fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq, the homegrown extremist Sunni group which has support from outside the country, according to American intelligence.

The group was meeting in a tent when the bomb exploded at about 10 a.m. There were conflicting reports from people who were there about whether it was detonated by a man wearing a suicide belt or was an improvised explosive device.

“As usual we entered the tent at 9 a.m.,” said Hilal Abdullah Ali, a senior sheik from the Albu Alwan tribe. “At around 10:30 there was a big explosion. I heard the person sitting next to me say ‘he exploded himself on us.’ ”

The Garma bomb came on the eve of a ceremonial American handover of security responsibility for Anbar to the Iraqis. The anticipated handover had been announced a few days earlier.

The bombing in Mosul, which killed 18 people and wounded 61, occurred in a busy central area of the city, and was the second large bombing in the city in the past two days. One on Tuesday evening killed two people and wounded 73.

The clear target of the Mosul attacker was the provincial governor, Duraid Kashmola, who toured the site of the blast later.

Over the past week there has been a stream of attacks against local leaders both in small neighborhoods such as Abu Dshir on the southern edge of Baghdad and Madaen, which lies just southeast of the city, as well as an attack Tuesday on the Sadr City neighborhood council, which killed six Iraqis and four Americans and their Iraqi—Italian translator.

REUTERS: BLAST KILLS 8TH U.S. SOLDIER THIS WEEK IN IRAQ

Armor-piercing roadside bomb used in attack may have links to Iran

Reuters
updated 4:05 a.m. CT, Thurs., June. 26, 2008

From MSNBC Blast kills 8th U.S. soldier this week in Iraq: A roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier

http://tinyurl.com/6lre9f

(COMMENT: AS OF 5 AM CDT NOT ONE OF THE CABLE NEWS STATIONS HAVE MENTIONED THIS STORY. THE IRAQ WAR IS NOW THE "FORGOTTEN WAR II" RIGHT ALONG WITH THE KOREAN WAR)

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday, bringing to eight the number of American troops killed in Iraq this week.

A military statement said the soldier was killed on Wednesday by an armor-piercing roadside bomb called an explosively formed projectile, or EFP.

U.S. officials say components of EFPs are made in neighboring Iran and supplied to Shiite militias fighting U.S. troops. Tehran denies the charge.

The latest death raises the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in June to 26, according to the independent Web site iCasualties.org, which tracks U.S. military casualties.

That is up from 19 American soldiers killed in May, the lowest monthly total since the 2003 invasion.

More than 4,100 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.

SPIKE IN DEADLY VIOLENCE KILLS 4 MORE U.S. SOLDIERS IN IRAQ

The Pentagon had no sooner released their report claiming violence was down all across Iraq when a spike in violence erupted which so far has claimed the lives of nine U.S. soldiers this week alone.

US forces face spike in deadly violence in Iraq
Roadside bombs kill 4 US soldiers in spike of violence against American forces

KIM GAMELAP News
Jun 25, 2008 17:58 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=227402

Roadside bombs killed four U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq, the military said Wednesday, in a spike of violence that pushed to at least nine the number of Americans who have died here this week.

In the latest attack, one soldier was killed by an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, about 9 a.m. Wednesday in the predominantly Shiite eastern half of Baghdad, the military said. The armor piercing bombs are believed to come from Iran and have been used by Shiite extremists to kill hundreds of American forces.

The U.S. military said three other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed late Tuesday by a roadside bomb in the northern Ninevah province, where al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni extremist groups remain active.

The four U.S. fatalities brought the monthly death toll for American troops in Iraq to at least 26 — well below figures of last year but an increase over the 19 who died in May, the lowest monthly tally of the war.

In all, at least 4,110 U.S. military service members have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The U.S. military says violence in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level in more than four years, but attacks are continuing as Sunni and Shiite extremists try to regroup and undermine security gains.

"The level of violence has dropped dramatically," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for the U.S. command in Baghdad. "It has gotten quieter. But that doesn't make these losses any easier."

He said militants "are constantly thinking of ways that they can undermine us, undermine the government, undermine the Iraqi security forces."

The bombing in Nineveh occurred a day after a bombing in a district council office in the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City killed four Americans — two soldiers and two government employees.

The government employees were identified as Steven L. Farley of Guthrie, Oklahoma, a member of a provincial reconstruction team, and Nicole Suveges, a 38-year-old political scientist from Wauconda, Illinois, who was working with the military.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman suggested that the four Americans were not the main targets of the attack. Five Iraqis and an Italian-Iraqi interpreter for the Americans also were killed.

Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, the spokesman, said a preliminary investigation indicated that internal Shiite rivalries among the council members were to blame.

"The presence of the American forces and embassy employees was by chance," al-Askari said. "Chance played a role in the casualties among the Americans."

On Monday, a Sunni gunman waiting in a car killed two U.S. soldiers and an interpreter as they emerged from a meeting with municipal officials in Madain, about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad.

The U.S. military said American soldiers on Wednesday killed three suspected militants, including two women, after they came under small-arms from a vehicle near the Baghdad International Airport — one of the most heavily guarded areas in Iraq.

The soldiers, who were part of a convoy that was stopped on the roadside, returned fire. That caused the vehicle to run off the road and explode, killing the three people inside, the military said.

But a security official at the hospital that received the bodies said the three people killed were bank employees and not militants. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he said he was not authorized to release information.

U.S. soldiers acting on tips also found nine rockets in the back of a truck ready to be fired at a joint American-Iraqi base in the Shiite militia-dominated neighborhood of Hurriyah in northwestern Baghdad.

Col. William Hickman, the commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division that operates in the area, said the attack most likely would have "hurt many of our soldiers but it easily could have killed many innocent civilians also."

A car bomb also killed three people and wounded seven in Baghdad's Karradah district, witnesses and police said.

South of Baghdad, a bomb exploded on a minibus near one of the most revered Shiite shrines in the holy city of Karbala. At least two people including a young boy were killed, and 14 were wounded, police said

CNN REPORTS: ANGELINA JOLIE AND BRAD PITT DONATE $1 MILLION TO KIDS AFFECTED BY IRAQ WAR

Jolie, Pitt donate $1 million to kids affected by Iraq war
Story Highlights
Money goes to groups that help children in Iraq and in U.S.
$1 million will be divided among four groups

Jolie-Pitt Foundation gave $300,000 last year to help Darfur refugees


http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/06/25/jolie.pitt.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's love for children is by no means limited to their own: The couple has donated $1 million to help kids affected by the war in Iraq, the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict announced Wednesday.

The organization will distribute the donation, made through the couple's Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to four organizations working on behalf of children who have lost parents, homes and schools in Iraq. Children in the U.S. who have lost parents in the conflict will also benefit.

"These educational support programs for children of conflict are the best way to help them heal," said Jolie in a statement from Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which she co-chairs.

"We hope to encourage others to give to these great organizations," Pitt added in the statement.

The money will be divided between the Armed Services YMCA Operation Hero Program, which provides military children with counseling and educational support; Women for Women International, which will provide books, school supplies and other basic necessities to Iraqi women and children; the International Rescue Committee, which will repair three schools and offer classes for more than 2,500 students; and NineMillion.org, which will give school uniforms and learning materials to more than 2,000 displaced Iraqi kids.

Last year, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation gave more than $300,000 to support the International Rescue Committee's relief program for Darfur refugees.

Jolie, who's expecting twins, has said the babies are due in August. She and Pitt have four children: Maddox, 6; Pax, 4; Zahara, 3; and Shiloh, 2.

LOS ANGELES TIMES REPORTS: IRAQ AUTHORITIES SAY U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED 9 CIVILIANS

Nine Iraqi civilians were killed Wednesday in two armed clashes involving U.S. soldiers, local authorities reported. The military said U.S. soldiers were fired upon first in both incidents.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq26-2008jun26,0,680763.story
From the Los Angeles Times
By Doug SmithLos Angeles Times Staff WriterJune 26, 2008BAGHDAD
Thanks to Citizens for Legimate Government http://www.legitgov.org/ for heads up on this story.

In the capital, three people were killed in a fiery crash after gunfire erupted as their vehicle passed U.S. soldiers with a convoy stopped near the Baghdad international airport to recover a stalled vehicle.Officials at Yarmouk Hospital identified the dead as a manager and two female employees from a bank at the airport.

Iraqi police also reported that two bodyguards were injured.A statement from the U.S. military characterized the three as criminals who opened fire on the military convoy about 9 a.m.

The statement said that the assault left bullet holes in the U.S. vehicles and that a weapon was recovered from the wreckage.The conflicting information in the two reports could not be immediately reconciled.

Return to link for full story.

WASHINGTON POST AND FOX NEWS DIFFER ON WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED IN IRAQ

FOX NEWS continues to tout the military success of "the surge" in Iraq, but the military success, although very fragile, has absolutely NOTHING to do with the overall goals of the Bush administration for Iraq according to the Washington Post.

Most of the benchmarks set down by the Bush administration in 2007 for Iraq have not been met according to a General Accounting Office report issued the other day.

However, FOX NEWS pulled out ONLY the military successes and conveniently overlooked the fact that the government in Iraq has accomplished little or nothing.

The Bush administration lacks an updated and comprehensive Iraq strategy to move beyond the "surge" of combat troops President Bush launched in January 2007 as an 18-month effort to curtail violence and build Iraqi democracy, government investigators said Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/3mon9b

While agreeing with the administration that violence has decreased sharply, a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office concluded that many other goals Bush outlined a year and a half ago in the "New Way Forward" strategy remain unmet.

The report, after a bleak GAO assessment last summer, cited little improvement in the ability of Iraqi security forces to act independently of the U.S. military, and noted that key legislation passed by the Iraqi parliament had not been implemented while other crucial laws had not been passed.

The report also judged that key Iraqi ministries spent less of their allocated budgets last year than in previous years, and said that oil and electricity production had repeatedly not met U.S. targets.

Bush's strategy of January 2007, the GAO said, "defined the original goals and objectives that the Administration believed were achievable by the end of this phase in July 2008." Not meeting many of them changed circumstances on the ground and the pending withdrawal of the last of the additional U.S. forces mean that strategy is now outdated, the report said.

The GAO recommends that the State and Defense departments work together to fashion a new approach.

The GAO report contrasted with a Pentagon report, dated June 13 but not released until Monday. The Defense Department's quarterly assessment to Congress, "Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq," said that "security, political and economic trends in Iraq continue to be positive, although they remain fragile, reversible and uneven."

In many respects, the two reports seemed to assess wholly different realities. The 74-page Pentagon document emphasized what it called the "negative role" in Iraqi security that Iran and Syria have played. The 94-page GAO report did not mention Iran and referred to Syria only in the context of Iraqi refugees who had settled there.

REUTERS REPORT ON SECURITY PROBLEMS IN IRAQ DIFFERS FROM FOX NEWS GLOWING REPORTS

This REUTERS NEWS report flys in the face of FOX NEWS glowing reports about how well things are going in IRAQ.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, June 25
REUTERSReuters North American News Service
Jun 25, 2008 12:48 EST
June 25 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1745 GMT on Wednesday:
Source: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=226890

* Denotes new or updated item

* KERBALA - A bomb attached to a parked minibus killed two people and wounded three others outside a restaurant in Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said
.
* KIRKUK - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one civilian in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - A U.S. air strike on a house killed a family, including four children aged between four and 11, in the village of Samra, near the northern town of Tikrit, police said. The U.S. military said its troops had been fired at, then had seen an armed man enter the building. They called in the air strike after he did not respond to calls to come out, it said.

SAMARRA - U.S. forces said they killed two suspected al Qaeda members near Samarra, about 110 km (70 miles) north of Baghdad.

BAQUBA - An Iraqi soldier was killed and three were wounded in an explosion when they entered a booby-trapped house in Mullaeid, a reputed al Qaeda stronghold near Baquba 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces said a military convoy was fired on from a civilian vehicle near Baghdad airport. U.S. soldiers destroyed the vehicle, killing three occupants, they said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter late on Tuesday in Nineveh province, in northwestern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed Mosul city council's public service director, Khalid Mahmoud, and his driver in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - A roadside bomb targeting Kirkuk's health director exploded in the city 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The health director escaped unhurt but his driver was wounded, they said. (Compiled by Khalid al-Ansary)

WHAT FOX NEWS AND MAINSTREAM PRESS DON'T REPORT ABOUT BASRA, IRAQ

FOX NEWS and the mainstream press are bending over backwards these days to bring "feel good" stories to the American people about how things are going in Iraq.

The city of Basra is a perfect example of how FOX NEWS and the media are praising how "the surge" has brought peace and tranquility to Basra and how the Iraq security forces have run the Mehdi Army out of town.

There is one glaring problem with this kind of reporting. It tells only half the story.

There are huge water and electricity shortages in Basra and many of the residents fear a return to violence if something isn't done soon about the daily living conditions.

You can read more about the REAL BASRA in the story below and not the truncated version given to the American people by FOX NEWS.

COMMENTS BY BILL CORCORAN, EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Freed of militias, Basra has new problems
But electricity, water shortages pose new challenges in Iraqi city

The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25334420/

BASRA, Iraq - Men and women can openly study for the first time in years at Basra University, free from the threat of Shiite gunmen enforcing extreme Islamic views.

To get to class, however, the students must navigate traffic jams and ubiquitous checkpoints that the Iraqi military calls the price of peace in this sweltering, oil-rich southern city where temperatures soar above 120 degrees.

It often doesn't get any cooler indoors. Basra is suffering widespread electricity shortages that residents blame on Iraqi authorities, who in turn point the finger at neighboring Iran. And then there's the lack of clean tap water.

From students to merchants, people here say they are happy and hopeful about their new freedoms three months after the Iraqi military wrested control of the country's second-largest city from Shiite militiamen. But frustration is rising over the failure of the Iraqi government to follow through on its promises to improve basic services, provide jobs and distribute enough food to citizens.

"The government gives us food rations, but it is not enough. We are all tired," Chitaya Mashhan Madloon said as she pushed through the crowd at a market, using her black robe to wipe sweat from her forehead.

Possibility of more violenceMany worry the neglect could ignite more violence.
"The services are getting worse, they're not getting better. This is creating ill will toward the government," said Mustafa Mahdi Hussein, the dean of Basra University's college of administration and economics.

BREAKING: THREE U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES

No sooner had the Pentagon issued their glowing report on how violence was down all across Iraq than a series of bombings have killed three more U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Wednesday.

FOX NEWS' anchors BRIT HUME and LAURA INGRAHAM have been misleading their audiences and the familes of American soldiers in Iraq by claiming security conditions in Iraq have improved.

They haven't as this report (see story below) indicates violence is on the upswing all across IRAQ.

Three US soldiers killed in Iraq bombing

http://tinyurl.com/4bhhdu


A roadside bomb killed three US soldiers and an interpreter in northern Iraq, the US military said today.

A military statement gave no further details about last night's attack in Nineveh province, where US and Iraqi forces have been waging a crackdown against al Qaeda insurgents.

It brings the US military death toll to 25 so far in June. US troop deaths are up from May when they fell to 19, the lowest monthly total since the 2003 invasion. More than 4,100 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.

Two US soldiers and two US government employees were among 10 people killed yesterday when a bomb exploded at a council meeting in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

On Monday, a gunman killed two US soldiers and wounded three as they left a council building southeast of Baghdad.

The US military said violence in Iraq fell to a four-year low in May following crackdowns by US and Iraqi forces on Shia militias in Baghdad and the south of the country, and on al Qaeda in Mosul, capital of Nineveh province. US officials say Mosul is the last major urban stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgents. Despite the crackdown, security forces have reported frequent shootings and bomb attacks around the city.

The head of Mosul city council, Khalid Mahmoud, and his driver were killed in a drive-by shooting today, police said.

Late yesterday, a car driven by a suicide bomber exploded near a police station in Mosul, killing a policeman and a child and wounding 73 people, including seven policemen, police said.

The US military said as many as 90 civilians were wounded in the bombing, which it blamed on al Qaeda.

WILL BRIT HUME AND LAURA INGRAHAM OF FOX NEWS APOLOGIZE TO THEIR AUDIENCE FOR MISLEADING THEM ON CONDITIONS IN IRAQ?

LISTEN UP BRIT HUME AND LAURA INGRAHAM OF FOX NEWS: CAR BOMB IN MOSUL INJURES 90-WASHINGTON POST

Both BRIT HUME and LAURA INGRAHAM of FOX NEWS have been cheering about how stabilized MOSUL, Iraq has become.

What are HUME and INGRAHAM going to say NOW?

90 Wounded in Mosul; Sunnis Blamed
Wednesday, June 25, 2008; A07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401340.html

BAGHDAD, June 24 -- A car bomb wounded 90 civilians in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The military said the attack was carried out by the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Capt. Khalid Ibrahim Salman, a police official, said the Khazraj police station in downtown Mosul was the target of the bombing. The city is one of the last urban strongholds of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

CBS NEWS REPORTS: ISRAEL PRODDING U.S. TO ATTACK IRAN: CHENEY IS ALL FOR LAUNCHING A STRIKE ON IRAN

It appears as though Israel isn't going to be happy until they get the United States to strike Iran and this is just what the Bush Administration and their propaganda puppet FOX NEWS have been waiting to hear.

CBS is reporting Wednesday that Israel is working all the channels in an effort to get the United States to launch an air strike on Iran.

The Bush administration has already setup contingency plans for an air strike on Iran, but sources close to the administation claim they want to do it right after Labor Day so it will have more impact on the Presidential election.

Vice President Cheney is said to favor a strike, but both Joint Chife of Staff Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates are opposed to an attack which could touch off a third war in the region.

The following is how CBS News will be reporting Israel's request to the U.S. on Wednesday.

Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran
June 24, 2008
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/eveningnews/main4206201.shtml

(CBS) Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran's nuclear complex.

CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn't want to wait for a new administration. "The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize," Oren said. "Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran." Israel's message is simple: If you don't, we will.

Israel held a dress rehearsal for a strike earlier this month, but military analysts say Israel can not do it alone. "Keep in mind that Israel does not have strategic bombers," Oren said. "The Israeli Air Force is not the American Air Force. Israel can not eliminate Iran's nuclear program."

The U.S. with its stealth bombers and cruise missiles has a much greater capability.

U.S. intelligence estimates Iran won't be able to build a weapon until sometime early in the next decade.

But Israel is operating on a much shorter timetable. "The Iranians, according to Israeli security sources, will have an operable nuclear weapon by 2009. That's not a very long time," Oren said.

For now, the Bush administration is counting on new economic sanctions which took effect Tuesday to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program.

But nobody's counting on it.

HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF IN IRAQ

Two Caliphates in Baghdad: U.S. Paying High Cost for Ignoring History's Lessons

By Ben Tanosborn, Middle East OnlinePosted on June 24, 2008, Printed on June 24, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/89142/

The Brits made an imperial mess of Iraq back in 1930, now it is America's turn!

We followed the fate of the French in Vietnam; are trying hard to imitate the Russians in Afghanistan; and now, our emulation-in-progress is of our beloved European cousins.

Who would ever think that it was an American philosopher (by way of Spain), George Santayana, who stated just a century ago, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." And American government leaders always seem to be the forgetful ones, although as it happens in all these cases, it is the American people who are condemned to pay the consequences in both blood and dollars.

We are not even speaking of millennia ago, or even centuries; only the recent past. How can we be so forgetful as to how the British bamboozled a timid Iraqi Parliament, where the true nationalists lacked a voiced, into signing an agreement in 1930 that would have Iraq in turmoil with coup after coup until Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979? And we all know what has happened since then. Seventy-eight years later here we are, cramming down their throats an illegal "strategic alliance" that is similar in both content and tone to that Great Britain "imposed" on Iraq almost eight decades ago.

And I say illegal for both Iraq and the United States. For Iraq, it's a non-valid agreement since it will be contracted under duress from an occupier's demands, whatever excuses are brought forward to obtain legitimacy. For the US, it's also an invalid pact unless it is subsequently ratified by the US Senate. We are told that the wording in this strategic alliance has been crafted so as to "avoid such ratification." Nonsense, if the provisions in such agreement or alliance have the underlying intent of a treaty, it is a treaty; and as a treaty, constitutionally, it must be ratified.

Go back to link to read full story.

FOX ANALYST: IRAQIS 'OWE US' 100 YEAR LEASES ON THEIR OIL

Fox Analyst: Iraqis ‘Owe Us’ 100-Year Leases On Their Oil, ‘We Ought To Take It’»

Last week, the New York Times reported that four Western oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP — are in the final stages of negotiating no-bid oil contracts “to service Iraq’s largest fields.” These contracts would run for one to two years, and give the oil companies a “foothold” in bidding on future contracts.

But one-to-two year service contracts aren’t enough for analyst Bob Beckel, a Fox News liberal. On the O’Reilly Factor last night, Beckel said that “what we ought to do is get Iraq to give us a 100 year lease” for exploring their oil fields:

BECKEL: OK, now, what we ought to do is get Iraq to give us 100 year lease on their unexplored — they’re the second largest source of oil in the world. Known reserves. Give the United States oil companies 100 year leases. Let us explore. We can get it quickly. It’s through sand. It’s the fastest way to get oil.

Beckel justified giving U.S. oil companies a century of business in Iraq by claiming, “The Iraqis owe us, Bill. We ought to take it.”

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/24/beckel-oil-iraq/

As the New York Times notes, such no-bid contracts play into the suspicions of those who believe that the U.S. invaded Iraq “precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract.” It’s uncertain what role the U.S. played in negotiating the four no-bid contracts.
If U.S. companies were given 100-year leases like Beckel wants, more people would likely agree with former Centcom Commander John Abizaid’s 2007 claim about the war in Iraq: “Of course it’s about oil.”

THE COMING CATASTROPHE? CONTINGENCY PLANS TO STRIKE IRAN

The Coming Catastrophe?The finishing touches on several contingency plans for attacking
Iran

By David DeBatto24/06/08
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20164.htm

Global Research Editor's noteWe bring to the attention of our readers David DeBatto's scenario as to what might occur if one of the several contingency plans to attack Iran, with the participation of Israel and NATO, were to be carried out.

While one may disagree with certain elements of detail of the author's text, the thrust of this analysis must be taken seriously.

"Israel has said a strike on Iran will be "unavoidable" if the Islamic regime continues to press ahead with alleged plans for building an atom-bomb." (London Daily Telegraph, 6/11/2008)
"Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany joined President Bush on Wednesday in calling for further sanctions against Iran if it does not suspend its uranium enrichment program." Mr. Bush stressed again that "all options are on the table," which would include military force. (New York Times, 6/11/2008)

We are fast approaching the final six months of the Bush administration. The quagmire in Iraq is in its sixth painful year with no real end in sight and the forgotten war in Afghanistan is well into its seventh year. The "dead enders" and other armed factions are still alive and well in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan again controls most of that country. Gas prices have now reached an average of $4.00 a gallon nationally and several analysts predict the price will rise to $5.00-$6.00 dollars per gallon at the pump by Labor Day.

This, despite assurances by some major supporters of the decision to invade Iraq that the Iraq war "will pay for itself" (Paul Wolfowitz) or that we will see "$20.00 per barrel" oil prices if we invade Iraq (Rupert Murdoch).

Continue reading here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20164.htm

WE HAVE NAMES AND INFO ON LATEST U.S. CASUALTIES IN IRAQ

The following is a list of names or information on U.S. casualties from the Iraq war as confirmed by the Department of Defense (DOD). Click on name or details for more information:

Latest Coalition Fatalities
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

06/24/08 MNF: 3 Soldiers killed by attacked by IED in Ninewah Province
Three Multi-National Division - North Soldiers and an interpreter were killed in an improvised explosive device attack in Ninewah Province at 10:45 p.m., June 24.

06/24/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Du Hai Tran, 30, of Reseda, Calif.,died Jun. 20 in Baqubah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit while on patrol during combat operations. He was assigned to the Fires Squadron...

06/24/08 MNF: Two Soldiers, 2 civilians killed in Sadr City explosion
Two Coalition forces soldiers and two civilians serving with Coalition forces were killed after an explosion inside the District Advisory Council building in a southern neighborhood of Sadr City district at approximately 9:30 a.m. today.

06/23/08 MNF: Second soldier dies from small arms fire attack near Salman Pak
A Multi-National Division - Center Soldier was killed as a result of a small arms fire attack near Salman Pak, Iraq June 23...The Soldier was the second of two killed by the same attack.[url pending]
06/23/08 AP: American soldier killed, 5 others wounded in Iraq
The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed and five others wounded southeast of Baghdad. The military says the soldiers were hit Monday by small-arms fire in an attack near Madain.

CNN REPORTS: U.S. TRAINS IRAQI WOMEN TO FIND FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS

U.S. trains Iraqi women to find female suicide bombers
Story Highlights
Halfway through 2008, the number of female suicide bombers is 20
"Daughters of Iraq" trains Iraqi women to find female suicide bombers
Women will work two or three days a month, making up to $300

http://tinyurl.com/4xzg5h

YUSUFIYA, Iraq (CNN) -- Female suicide bombers, who often slip through security checkpoints untouched because of cultural norms, are taking a more deadly toll than ever across Iraq.
But the U.S. Army has created a solution with "Daughters of Iraq," a program that trains Iraqi women to find female suicide bombers.

Women carried out eight bombings in all of 2007, according to the U.S. military. Halfway through 2008, the number of female suicide bombers is 20. A suicide attack carried out by a woman on Sunday in Baquba killed at least 16 people and wounded another 40.

"Daughters of Iraq" is a spinoff of "Sons of Iraq," which employs Iraqi men to run checkpoints and is credited with taking much of the steam out of the insurgency.

The goal of the women's program is twofold: to protect against female suicide bombers, and to provide much-needed income to Iraqi women with few chances for employment.

In the town of Yusufiya, southwest of Baghdad, some 30 women are being trained to search other females at security checkpoints -- something men are forbidden to do under Iraqi cultural norms.

In mid-May, a female suicide bomber killed an Iraqi army officer in this town.
"When he came out to meet her to help her with a problem she was having, she detonated the vest and killed him and injured some of his soldiers," said Michael Starz, a U.S. Army captain.
The women will work two or three days a month, making up to $300, an Iraqi military officer explained to applicants. In a community, where families struggle to survive, that's good money. Watch how "Daughters of Iraq" works »

The women come from small farming communities. Many of them are widows with numerous children and almost no income.

Click here http://tinyurl.com/4xzg5h for full CNN story.

ATTN: FOX NEWS' BRIT HUME AND LAURA INGRAHAM: SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 2 AND INJURES 70 IN MOSUL

Both BRIT HUME and LAURA INGRAHAM of FOX NEWS are still singing about how well things are going in MOSUL, IRAQ while at the same time denying on Tuesday a suicide bomber killed two and injured 70 in MOSUL (see story below)

Also, the following incidents took place in MOSUL and were again somehow overlooked by BRIT HUME and LAURA INGRAHAM who kept bragging about how well things are going in MOSUL:

Mosul:#1: U.S. soldiers killed three people of the same family and arrested two other members in a raid on a house in western Mosul on Tuesday, police said. "The house raided by the U.S. forces was in al-Uraibi neighborhood, western Mosul. The raiding troops killed three and detained two, all members of the same family, without any apparent reason," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq.

#2: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped four Mosul University students while heading for their final exams in the western part of the city on Tuesday, police said. "Unknown gunmen boarding two civilian vehicles kidnapped four University Mosul students, residents of al-Anbar province, in al-Shifaa neighborhood, western Mosul, on Tuesday," the source, who asked not to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. "The kidnappers released two of the four a short while later."

#3: Militants shot dead an off-duty police lieutenant studying law in the University of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, as he left the campus, police said.

#4: Police found the body of a tax department employee, who had been shot, in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

And the breaking news on Tuesday that BRIT HUME and LAURA INGRAHAM of FOX NEWS apparently missed in their "extensive research" on MOSUL, IRAQ was this:

Breaking News: Iraq: Suicide car bomber kills 2 people, wounds 70 in Mosul http://tinyurl.com/3q3h56

Breaking News: Iraq: Suicide car bomber kills 2 people, wounds 70 in Mosul

http://tinyurl.com/3q3h56 or this link http://www.gmanews.tv/story/103094/Iraq-Suicide-car-bomber-kills-2-people-wounds-70-in-Mosul

Even with ALL this documented evidence that things are not that "rosy" in MOSUL, IRAQ, both FOX NEWS BRIT HUME AND LAURA INGRAHAM continue to LIE, LIE, LIE to the Americian public through their respective shows, "FOX NEWS SPECIAL REPORT" and "FOX NEWS JUST IN."