CNN REPORTS: BAGHDAD SUICIDE BLAST KILLS 15, WOUNDS 30

You NEVER hear or read about it anymore, but there is STILL a war going on in IRAQ and a suicide bomber killed 15 in Baghdad and wounded another 30 in the most recent act of violence in the capitol city.

Baghdad suicide blast kills 15
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/17/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bombing killed 15 people, including a leader of a U.S.-backed militia, and wounded nearly 30 others Sunday in a Sunni Arab district of Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said.

Faruq al-Obaidi, the deputy leader of the Awakening Council in Adamiya, was among the dead, and two of his sons were among the 29 wounded in the blast, an Interior Ministry official told CNN.

The bombing took place about 8 p.m. outside a coffee shop in Adamiya, a Sunni stronghold in northeastern Baghdad. The bomber parked his bicycle near the shop and approached al-Obaidi, who was in a car at the time, the official said.

"While I was shopping just across the street, I heard a huge explosion," said Omar Qassim, a member of al-Obaidi's group, told The Associated Press. "Body parts were flying through the air. I immediately realized that Farooq's party was targeted and he was probably dead."

The attacker was a woman or a man who wore a black abaya robe to conceal the explosives, Iraqi officials told AP.

The Awakening Councils have been recruited by the U.S. military to fight against Islamic jihadists loyal to al Qaeda in Iraq and other militias. U.S. commanders credit the movement for much of the sharp reduction in violence there over the past year, but the jihadists have denounced its leaders as traitors and have frequently targeted them.

An al-Obaidi aide told AP, however, that a rival in the Awakening Council may be behind the attack.

"We had received information that we would be targeted by groups within Azamiyah and within the awakening movement itself," Khalil Ibrahim told AP.

A police official also told AP there was suspicion the attack was part of an Awakening Council power struggle.

POLITICO: OBAMA SLAMS THOMAS; McCAIN SLIP MAY HAUNT HIM

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Given the sharp words exchanged between their campaigns in recent weeks, John McCain and Barack Obama put on a good show of civility Saturday at their first joint appearance of the all but officially begun general election race. Midway through the forum at Saddleback Church, McCain joined Obama on stage.

By: Carrie Budoff Brown August 17, 2008 01:30 PM EST
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12583.html

The rivals, who have spent the summer quarreling as much over the definition of “celebrity” as the details of their policy proposals, exchanged a man hug, a handshake followed by a one-armed embrace. Smiling and tieless, they took their place on either side of the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical preacher who brought them together.For one night, at least, Warren may have achieved his desired goal of comity.

Neither candidate spoke critically of the other. And perhaps most tellingly, their campaign’s rapid response teams fell silent for the night.

It may well prove a brief respite before a critical three-week stretch in which McCain and Obama will announce their vice presidential picks and accept their party’s nomination. Obama mentioned a potential vice presidential nominee, former Sen. Sam Nunn, when asked by Warren to name three people he considers wise and would rely on for counsel as president. Nunn was listed after Obama's wife and his 85-year-old grandmother.McCain threw in a vice presidential possibility, as well: former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman, whom he described as someone he valued in economically difficult times. He also mentioned Gen. David Patraeus and, surprisingly, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).

Warren sought introspection over confrontation, pressing the candidates in separate one-hour interviews to reflect on their most gut-wrenching decision, their biggest moral failing and their faith. Warren often asked blunt questions and, at one point, playfully warned Obama: “Don’t give me your stump speech on these.” Obama appeared at ease in the southern California megachurch, a setting that played to his comfort level with openly discussing his faith. He quoted a Biblical proverb and spoke at length about his faith as a “source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis.” “I know that I don’t walk alone, and I know that if I can get myself out of the way, that I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends,” Obama said. The audience of several hundred inside the auditorium offered polite and occasionally enthusiastic applause throughout the forum. Yet Obama had trouble with the crowd when Warren asked, “At what point does a baby get human rights?” “Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade,” Obama said in a response that elicited a low murmur from the audience. He went on to acknowledge that he supported abortion rights, a position that has proved an obstacle to Obama in increasing his share of evangelical voters.A few minutes later, however, the audience members thundered applause when Obama said he believes marriage is the union of a man and a woman. But the crowd also clapped when he said he would not support a constitutional amendment codifying that definition.As the candidate who often appears less at ease discussing his faith, McCain appeared comfortable as he wove bits of his religious views into his answers. He joked more often than Obama and told stories about the adoption of his 17-year-old daughter from Bangladesh and his captivity in Vietnam. Asked what his faith meant to him, McCain said it “means I’m saved and forgiven.” He referenced the works of his Southern Baptist church in Phoenix, and his reliance on prayer during his captivity in Vietnam.

McCain said his greatest personal moral failing was the “failure of my first marriage.”There was speculation as to whether Warren would press McCain on his divorce, which McCain addressed before Warren, who was critical of former Sen. John Edward’s ability to lead after he admitted he had an affair, had a chance to ask.

Obama cited his youthful experimentation with drugs as his greatest personal failure. “What I traced this to is a certain selfishness on my part,” Obama said. “I was so obsessed with me, and you know the reasons that I might be dissatisfied that I couldn’t focus on other people.”

The forum was an unusual setting for a first joint appearance, marking the first time that two general election candidates appeared together in a megachurch. But the event served the interests of both campaigns in their pursuit of evangelical Protestant voters, who overwhelmingly favor McCain, according to a June survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. That poll showed 61 percent of evangelical voters supporting the Republican senator, with 25 percent preferring Obama, figures that align roughly with June 2004, when 69 percent backed Bush and 26 percent Kerry. (Bush ultimately took 78 percent of this vote, up 10 percentage points from 2000.) The difference is that more than 11 percent of evangelicals are undecided this year, twice as many as in 2004, the survey found. Saddleback hosted 5,000 attendees Saturday on their sprawling college-like campus, with an amphitheater, cafés and beach volleyball nets. The auditorium looked more like a soundstage than a hall of worship. The audience in the auditorium, which accommodated only a small slice of the people who made the trip here, sat quietly through the commercial breaks, although at one point someone shouted an approval — “We love you, John” — of the sort more often heard at Obama events (and, McCain might add, teenybopper concerts).

Asked which justice he wouldn’t have nominated to the Supreme Court, Barack named Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s only African-American.“I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time, for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the constitution,” Obama said.McCain said he wouldn’t have nominated the four most liberal justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. "This nomination should be based on the criteria of [a] proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution of the United States of America, and not legislating from the bench," McCain said. “Some of the worst damage has been done by legislating from the bench.” Warren asked Obama to define rich: “Give me a number.”Obama drew laughter when he briefly hesitated, then quipped: “You know, if you’ve got book sales of 25 million ...”Turning serious toward the end, Obama said: “I want people to know me well,” and added that if they do, “they’re going to make a good decision and we’re going to be able to solve the big problems that we face.”Asked his definition of "rich," McCain tossed off “$5 million,” then seemed to recognize this could join the list of comments he has tossed off in the past that have come back to him in attack ads.”I'm sure that comment will be distorted," McCain said. "The point is we want to keep people's taxes low. ... I don't want to raise anybody's taxes." Mike Allen contributed to this story.

ONE EXPLANATION FOR WHY OBAMA'S LEAD ISN'T BIGGER

The handwringing over Barack Obama’s modest lead in the polls is already rather tiresome — “Why isn’t Obama up by double digits?” the political world demands to know — and there’s no shortage of competing rationales to explain it. But the NYT’s Frank Rich offers one of the more compelling explanations I’ve seen: “[T]he public doesn’t know who on earth John McCain is.”
What is widely known is the skin-deep, out-of-date McCain image…. With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.

Posted August 17th, 2008 at 10:30 am
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16585.html


McCain never called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired and didn’t start criticizing the war plan until late August 2003, nearly four months after “Mission Accomplished.”

By then the growing insurgency was undeniable.

On the day Hurricane Katrina hit, McCain laughed it up with the oblivious president at a birthday photo-op in Arizona. McCain didn’t get to New Orleans for another six months and didn’t sharply express public criticism of the Bush response to the calamity until this April, when he traveled to the Gulf Coast in desperate search of election-year pageantry surrounding him with black extras.

McCain long ago embraced the right’s agents of intolerance, even spending months courting the Rev. John Hagee, whose fringe views about Roman Catholics and the Holocaust were known to anyone who can use the Internet. (Once the McCain campaign discovered YouTube, it ditched Hagee.) On Monday McCain is scheduled to appear at an Atlanta fund-raiser being promoted by Ralph Reed, who is not only the former aide de camp to one of the agents of intolerance McCain once vilified (Pat Robertson) but is also the former Abramoff acolyte showcased in McCain’s own Senate investigation of Indian casino lobbying.

Though the McCain campaign announced a new no-lobbyists policy three months after The Washington Post’s February report that lobbyists were “essentially running” the whole operation, the fact remains that McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from Fannie Mae to Blackwater to Ahmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia. No sooner does McCain flip-flop on oil drilling than a bevy of Hess Oil family members and executives, not to mention a lowly Hess office manager and his wife, each give a maximum $28,500 to the Republican Party. […]

Most Americans still don’t know, as [TPM’s Josh] Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.”

Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.

There’s a very good reason Republicans have worked so aggressively to make this election a referendum on Obama — because if the campaign is about McCain, the Republicans will lose. Badly.

GRAPHIC IRAQ WAR VIDEO: 10 SECONDS TO IMPACT: WARNING: ROUGH LANGUAGE

This Live Leak video is from the Iraq War and portrays how an Army combat platoon reacts to a 500 pound bomb being dropped on a house in Iraq. WARNING: The language may not be suitable for young children.

Watch video here: http://www.liveleak.com/e/876_1197364501

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video

REUTERS: ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG COMBAT VETERANS SHOWS SHARP INCREASE

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A significant number of U.S. veterans back from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin abusing alcohol after returning, perhaps to cope with traumatic memories of combat, military researchers said on Tuesday. Younger servicemen and women, those who were previously heavy drinkers, and call-ups from the National Guard and Reserves were the most likely to increase their drinking and to develop alcohol-related problems, according to the study. "Increased alcohol outcomes among...

Continue reading Reuters story here: http://article.wn.com/view/2008/08/13/Alcohol_abuse_rises_among_combat_veterans_study_b/

BREAKING NEWS: CNN'S MICHAEL WARE REPORTS RUSSIANS BREAK CEASE-FIRE

CNN's Michael Ware, who is on the ground in Gori, Georgia, reported early Saturday morning the Russians have already broken the cease-fire and have destroyed a main railway bridge and are digging in for a long stay in Georgia instead of retreating.

Developing story....

STICKY IED USED IN BAGHDAD CAR BLAST

Baghdad blast resulted from sticky IED inside vehicle

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 16 /08 /2008 Time 5:36:39
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=89601&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

BAGHDAD, Aug. 16 (VOI) – Saturday's blast in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Ur was the result of a sticky improvised explosive device emplaced inside a civilian vehicle, the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said.

"Today's blast in Ur neighborhood resulted from a sticky IED inside a civilian vehicle," BOC official spokesman, Maj. General Qassem Atta, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq –

(VOI).Earlier on Saturday, the Iraqi authorities said seventeen civilians were killed or wounded in a car bomb attack that ripped through the neighborhood of Ur."Today, a roadside car rigged with explosives detonated in an Ur street, northeastern Baghdad, killing six civilians and wounding 11 others," a police source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told VOI.

CNN: THIRD DAY CAR BOMB EXPLODES IN BAGHDAD KILLING SIX

Why doesn't the Bush administration and their mouthpiece, FOX NOISE, tell us more about how well "the surge" is going in Iraq?

For the third day in a row a car bomb has gone off in Baghdad killing Iraqi civilians.

Car bomb explodes in Iraq; 6 dead

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/16/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bomb targeting Shiite pilgrims killed six people and wounded 10 others Saturday morning, an Iraqi interior ministry official said.
The attack happened in northeastern Baghdad's Shaab district, which is mostly Shiite, the official said.
The pilgrims were heading to the city of Karbala to take part in the Shaabaniya religious festival, the official

JEROME CORSI, AUTHOR OF ANTI-OBAMA BOOK,"THE OBAMA NATION," APPEARS ON PRO-WHITE RADIO SHOW

Corsi's previous appearance on "pro-White" radio show was streamed live on "White Nationalist" Stormfront.org

Summary: Jerome Corsi's appearance on the July 20 edition of The Political Cesspool Radio Show -- during which he promoted The Obama Nation and criticized Sen. Barack Obama -- was streamed "Live" on the self-described "White Nationalist" and "White Pride" website Stormfront.org. Prior to Corsi's appearance on the July 20 broadcast, host James Edwards claimed that "most Jews ... regard[] Jews and whites as two different races," and co-host Winston Smith repeatedly referred to Obama as a "mulatto."

As Media Matters for America and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch blog have noted, Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi is reportedly scheduled to appear on the August 17 edition of The Political Cesspool Radio Show. Corsi's previous appearance on the July 20 edition of The Political Cesspool -- during which he promoted The Obama Nation and criticized Sen. Barack Obama -- was streamed "Live" on the self-described "White Nationalist" and "White Pride" website Stormfront.org.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808150009?lid=524616&rid=12713599

Additionally, at several points during the July 20 broadcast prior to Corsi's appearance, host James Edwards and co-host Winston Smith expounded on their views on race. Edwards claimed that "most Jews ... regard[] Jews and whites as two different races," and Smith repeatedly referred to Obama as a "mulatto." According to its "Statement of Principles," The Political Cesspool Radio Show "represent[s] a philosophy that is pro-White."

According to a Google cache snapshot of Stormfront.org "as it appeared on Jul 21, 2008 00:01:06 GMT," text under the headline "Stormfront Broadcast Radio" stated: "Live NOW: Political Cesspool BACK ON AIR! - Special two-hour show starting for Internet listeners! - James Edwards, Winston Smith, Eddie 'The Bombardier' Miller! Our featured guest is author and columnist Dr. Jerome Corsi."

Read more http://mediamatters.org/items/200808150009?lid=524616&rid=12713599

WASHINGTON POST'S EUGENE ROBINSON: HERE COMES THE OBAMA SMEAR MACHINE

Obama Faces The Smear Machine

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, August 15, 2008; A21
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403057.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Here come the goons, right on schedule.

The "author," and I use the term loosely, whose vicious lies damaged John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign has crawled back out from under his rock to spew vicious lies about Barack Obama. Right-wing radio talk-show hosts are dutifully transmitting this concocted venom. This presidential campaign has officially gotten ugly.

(Comment: Obama campaign issues rebuttal to book's claims: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080814/ap_on_el_pr/anti_obama_book;_ylt=AnGMTzaclA7Rz41PAUJrk9qs0NUE)

The "author" I'm talking about is a man named Jerome Corsi. In a book published last year, "The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada," Corsi claimed that George W. Bush was at the heart of a secret conspiracy to subsume the United States into a post-national, one-worldish North American Union. Corsi's writings on far-right blogs have been even more paranoid and delusional. He has written that pedophilia, for which he used a more graphic term, "is OK with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press." He has referred to Muslims as "ragheads."

Corsi would be known as just another visitor from the outer fringe if he had not been the co-author of "Unfit for Command," the book that slimed Kerry's exemplary record as a Swift boat commander in Vietnam. The allegations in that book were discredited, but not before they had been amplified by the right-wing echo chamber to the point where they raised questions in some voters' minds -- perhaps enough to swing the election.

It was an abominable trick, but quite remarkable. Kerry's opponent, George W. Bush, had avoided Vietnam by taking refuge in the Texas Air National Guard. Kerry was a decorated war hero, yet somehow his valor and sense of duty were turned into a political negative and used against him.

Now Corsi, in what he acknowledges is an attempt "to keep Obama from getting elected," has come out with a book that similarly tries to turn one of Obama's strengths -- his compelling life story -- into a liability.

Corsi's new volume of vitriol, "The Obama Nation," seeks to smear Obama as a "leftist" and add fuel to the false and discredited rumor that he is secretly a radical Muslim, or at least has "extensive connections to Islam." The liberal Web site Media Matters has already demonstrated that the book is riddled with factual errors -- for example, Corsi repeats the charge, thoroughly disproved, that Obama was in church for one of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most incendiary sermons.

But the point isn't to tell the truth. The point is to repeat the lie and thus give it new life.

Corsi's dirty work is more difficult this time because Obama has already written his life story in the autobiographical "Dreams From My Father." Since he can't reveal anything about Obama's past, Corsi is reduced to reinterpretation -- or, at times, invention.

It sounds like the kind of book that should quickly be consigned to the remainder bin, but -- unsurprisingly -- it is already a bestseller. The Post and other news organizations have noted that this and similar anti-Obama books win the imprimatur of best-seller status by being "pushed by conservative book clubs that buy in bulk to drive up sales."

This time, though, somebody is pushing back: John Kerry, whose political action committee has launched a new Web site, called Truth Fights Back, to "fight against the right-wing smear machine." The site weighs in vigorously on behalf of several Democrats who are being hit with unfair attacks, but its most urgent campaign is "making sure Jerome Corsi doesn't get away with his lies unchallenged."

The Obama campaign faces a classic dilemma. If smear attacks are left unanswered, voters can get the impression that the lies are true. But there's no way to respond without giving the falsehoods wider circulation.

Read the rest of the Eugene Robinson column here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403057.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

MARINE CORPS TIMES REPORTS: TROOPS CONTRIBUTE MORE TO OBAMA CAMPAIGN

Military personnel are contributing more to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois than to his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, according to a nonpartisan group tracking donations to candidates.

By Rick Maze - Staff writers
Posted : Thursday Aug 14, 2008 14:23:40 EDT
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/08/military_campaigncontributions_obama_081408w/


The Center for Responsible Politics says that in terms of total contributions during the 2008 election cycle, 859 service members have contributed a combined $335,536 to Obama as of June 31, an average of about $391 a person.

In comparison, 558 service members have contributed a combined $280,513 to Sen. John McCain, an average of $503 a person.

Running a close third in the contributions is Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who has suspended his run for the Republican presidential nomination but has not formally dropped out of the race. He has received $232,411 in contributions from 537 military members, an average of $433 a person.

Looking just at contributions from service members with overseas addresses, McCain trails far behind Obama and Paul.

Obama got $60,642 in contributions from 134 military personnel, an average of $453 a person. Paul got $45,512 from 99 military personnel, an average of $460 a person, while McCain received $10,665 from 26 people, an average of $410 a person.

Continue reading: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/08/military_campaigncontributions_obama_081408w/

ARMY TIMES: GREEN BERET KILLS AFGHAN AND KEEPS HIS EAR

Green Beret: Team waited to report killing

By Estes Thompson - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 14, 2008 15:43:30 EDT
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_newell_hearing_081308/

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Green Berets believed a fellow soldier had killed a civilian and kept his ear but didn’t report him because they wanted their team intact for a mission to a remote Afghan village, a team member testified Wednesday.

Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Greathead testified Wednesday that team members expected gunfire during the mission and so agreed to wait several days before telling commanders about the fatal shooting. He said they didn’t want Master Sgt. Joseph D. Newell immediately expelled from the team because they wanted “all the guns on the ground.”

Greathead denied suggestions from Newell’s attorney that team members conspired against Newell because he was too aggressive and his tactics could endanger members of the team.

He said team members held meetings without Newell only to discuss how and when they would report the March 5 killing.

Newell is accused of dumping the Afghan civilian’s body in the desert and keeping his ear as a souvenir.

Read more here: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_newell_hearing_081308/

CNN BREAKING NEWS: 18 SHIITE PILGRIMS KILLED IN BAGHDAD BLAST

You won't be reading or hearing about this in your local newspaper or on TV, but here is more proof the success of "the surge" is a myth.

18 SHIITE PILGRIMS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN BAGHAD BLAST

NEW: Coalition troops killed militant suspect during raid
Two suicide bombers kill 18 in attack on Shiite pilgrims, official says
Pilgrims en route to festival in Karbala south of Baghdad
Iraqi Interior Ministry official says 75 others wounded

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/14/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber attacked Shiite pilgrims Thursday evening as they traveled to a festival, killing 18 people and wounding 75, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
The woman's attack took place in the Iskandariya district south of Baghdad.

The pilgrims were traveling to Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of the Iraqi capital.
Earlier Thursday, coalition troops in Baghdad killed a man during a raid targeting al Qaeda in Iraq, the U.S. military said.

Don't Miss
Navy guards accused of abusing detainees in Iraq
The incident occurred during an operation that led to the capture of an al Qaeda suspect "believed to conduct financial transactions for AQI and its car-bombing networks," the U.S. military said.

Troops killed the man when he "refused to comply with their instructions and made threatening movements toward them." Two other people were detained.

On Wednesday, a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were killed when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in northwest Baghdad, military officials said in a statement.
The incident occurred about 10:10 a.m. (3:10 a.m. ET), the statement said.

The soldier was assigned to Multi-National Division -- Baghdad. The soldier's name was withheld pending notification of relatives, officials said.

The death brings to 4,141 the number of U.S. service members killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

CNN REPORTS: U.S. CONTRACTORS RAKING IN BILLIONS ON RECONSTRUCTION JOBS IN IRAQ

Report: U.S. using contractors in Iraq at unprecedented rate

Report says U.S. on track to spend $100 billion on contractors by end of 2008
Figures reflect reliance on contractors to fill jobs typically held by military personnel
Use of contractors for security criticized for lack of oversight, political favoritism
Donald Rumsfeld said contractors freed up personnel for combat roles

From Mike Mount
CNN Pentagon Producer
http://tinyurl.com/6gfljp

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States spent $85 billion on contracts in Iraq and other countries in the first four years of the war and is relying on contract employees at a greater rate than in any other war, according to a government report released Tuesday.

A report by the Congressional Budget Office says that a fifth of spending on the Iraq war has gone to contractors. Between 2003 and 2007, 70 percent of $85 billion in contracts were for work inside Iraq. The remaining 30 percent went to contracts in surrounding countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the report said.

The Government Accountability Office says the United States has spent $435 billion on operations in Iraq.

Based on war contract spending patterns since 2004, the United States could spend more than $100 billion on contractor operations in Iraq by the end of 2008, according to the report.

The U.S. military has used contractors in all of its recent conflicts, from the Gulf War to the Balkans. But military leaders are using contractors to a greater extent in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the report, reflecting a reliance on contractors to fill jobs held by military personnel in past conflicts.

Contractors in and around Iraq help serve food, clean and provide security for the U.S. and Iraqi governments, according to the report. Most of the contracts were for logistics support, gas and diesel fuel, and food.

Read more here http://tinyurl.com/6gfljp

WASHINGTON POST: AFTER WARNINGS TO MOSCOW, US HAS FEW OPTIONS

The Washington Post is reiterating what this blogger said in a commentary on Wednesday when it comes to U.S. options regarding the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

The U.S. doesn't have the resources or the will to take on Russia and so whatever is coming out of the Bush White House is just more smoke and mirrors.

Someday some enterprising reporter from the mainstream media will level with the American public and spell out just how depleted the U.S. military is after seven years in Afghanistan and five years in Iraq.

There is absolutely no way the U.S. could take on Russia with our military begging for more recruits and in dire need of new equipment.

The Washington Post story below spells out what few options the U.S. has when it comes to Russia and Georgia:

After Warnings to Moscow, U.S. Has Few Options

By Dan Eggen and Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 14, 2008; A11
http://tinyurl.com/6cqbql

The Bush administration mixed strong rhetoric with modest action yesterday in response to Russia's continued military incursion in Georgia, warning that Moscow's international aspirations are threatened if it does not honor a negotiated cease-fire in the conflict.

President Bush announced the start of a humanitarian aid program for Georgia using U.S. military airplanes and ships, although officials said the effort so far includes only two scheduled flights. One shipment arrived later yesterday and another is to land today. He also dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a diplomatic trip that will take her to Paris and then to Georgia's capital of Tbilisi to show "America's unwavering support."

"The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia," Bush said during an appearance at the White House. "We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected."

Yet Bush's statement, along with the moderate measures that came with it, served to underscore the limited options available to the United States, which has neither the wherewithal nor the willingness to enter into a military conflict with Russia on its territorial border.

Read on http://tinyurl.com/6cqbql

WHO ARE BUSH AND CONDI KIDDING? COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN

No wonder Russia is paying no attention to President Bush and Sec. of State Rice on their paper tiger threats about what the U.S. will do if Russia doesn't pullback on their invasion of Georgia.

The United States doesn't have a military that can do a damn thing about what Russia is doing.

The U .S. military is stretched way beyond their capabilities now and military commanders are crying for more troops for Afghanistan, but the U.S. doesn't have more troops.

Russia can and will tell the U.S. to go take a flying you-know-what at the moon because Russia knows the U.S. is now a PAPER TIGER.

The U.S. has 160,000 troops tied up in Iraq and 30,000 troops bogged down in Afghanistan and nothing in the military recruitment pipeline to take on Russia in Georgia.

I just saw Wendell Goler, the FOX NEWS White House Correspondent, say Russia does not want to take on the United States.

What the hell is Goler smoking?

The United States military couldn't take on a Boy Scout troop let alone the massive Russian military.

The mainstream media has to tell the truth about how the military is stretched to the breaking point, or U.S. cities will see Russian tanks rolling through them in a heartbeat.

The ONLY reporter I've seen so far tell the truth about the Russia/Georgia conflict is Shepherd Smith of FOX NEWS. He keeps asking meatheads from the right wing how the U.S. is going to take on the Russians and he gets nothing but BS from all the neocons FOX NEWS puts on the air.

If the U.S. peacekeepers and humanitarian helpers start getting their ass kicked by the Russians, the U.S. military's hand are tied because we just don't have the troops to do a damn thing about the situation and Russia knows it.

COMMENTARY BY BILL CORCORAN EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

IRAQI STUDENTS ARE FAILING EXAMS IN RECORD NUMBERS

The fallout of invading and occupying Iraq continues way beyond what is being reported by the mainstream media.

The latest victims of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq are Iraq students who are failing exams and have resorted to cheating just to try and pass courses.

IRAQ: Students Fail, Like So Much Else

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43491

BAGHDAD, Aug 8 (IPS) - Living from one crisis to another, without electricity or freedom to move under a collapse of security, massive numbers of Iraqi students are failing their exams."It is a natural result of what is going on in Iraq under this U.S. occupation that so many Iraqi students failed the high school exams," Mahmood Jassim, a teacher in Baghdad told IPS. "How can a student pass such difficult exams feeling terrified, exhausted in the heat, in darkness without electricity, having to work in the absence of a dead or detained father, and all the problems of the world over his head." Jassim says about 75 percent of his students are failing their exams. "I am ashamed of the results my school achieved this year," a school headmaster in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "I cannot tell you what percentage we achieved because that will reveal me and my school. You do not really believe we are living in a democratic country, do you?"

Two headmasters, who also spoke on condition of anonymity given the prevailing atmosphere of fear, said school results showed sectarian divisions – and not for the best of reasons. Shia schools, they alleged, ran a loose invigilation system that allowed students to cheat. Some teachers believe most students who passed their exams did so by cheating. "Those who cheated have passed while the honest failed," Ghanim Jamil, a teacher in Baghdad told IPS.

"If a student is the son of a senior government official or of a member of an armed group, how can we stop them from cheating? We would be killed."

Click on link to read full story: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43491

CNN REPORTS: TROOPS CHARGED BAGGAGE FEES ON WAY TO WAR ZONES

Story Highlights
Commercial airlines charge troops fees for military kits
VFW asks industry to enact across-the-board waiver for military personnel
American Airlines says troops are allowed heavier, bigger bags
Reimbursement available, but can require forms filled out in war zones

From Deborah Feyerick CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/13/troops.baggage/index.html

(CNN) -- Some airlines are charging U.S. soldiers extra baggage fees to take their military kits with them as they set off for war.

Military personnel carry large, heavy kit bags containing boots, clothing and gear. In the past few months, airlines have instituted fees for all travelers ranging from $15 for one bag to $250 for a third bag.

"What we want to do is nip this in the bud by exempting the military personnel who are traveling under orders from having to pay a fee on their third bag," said Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis.

The VFW sent a letter to the Air Transport Association of America, the aviation industry's umbrella group, asking that U.S. troops be exempt from any extra baggage fees.

Watch how troops are getting hit with fees »

"If you have a family at home and you stand at that airline counter and you have three bags in your hand, and they say you can't get on board unless you pay $100 up front right now, what are you going to do?" Davis said.

American Airlines, and others reached by CNN, say troops are allowed heavier and bigger bags and can check two for free, unlike commercial travelers.

Troops are allowed 190 pounds each free of charge, American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said, adding: "If they pay, they get reimbursed, so at the end, they don't pay a dime."

That's not a good answer, the VFW's Davis said.

"These young troops are going to war," he said. "There's a lot more on their mind than to have to worry or try to remember to get a hundred dollars reimbursed to them when they get into a war zone."

The military usually issues vouchers authorizing extra baggage before a flight, but troops must pay up front if they don't have one.

And though reimbursement is likely, pending approval, as with any business expense, it is not guaranteed.

The Air Transport Association says it supports the troops, but baggage policies are "made independently by the individual airlines."

85 BILLION OF TAXPAYER MONEY GOING TO CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ

The Iraq War has cost U.S. taxpayers $85 BILLION in payoffs to contractors to rebuild the Iraq the U.S. military destroyed.

U.S. spending on contractors in Iraq reported to reach $85 billion

By James Risen
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/12/america/contractor.php

WASHINGTON: The United States has reached the $85 billion mark in spending on contractors in Iraq since the invasion in 2003, according to a new government report released Tuesday, a milestone that reflects the Bush administration's unprecedented level of dependence on private companies for help in the war.

The report by the Congressional Budget Office says that about one out of every five dollars spent on the war in Iraq has gone to contractors for the U.S. military and other government agencies. Employees of private contractors now outnumber U.S. troops in the war zone.
The numbers in the report provide the first official price tag on contracting in Iraq and raise troubling questions about the degree to which the war has been privatized, several outside experts on contracting said.

The Pentagon's reliance on outside contractors in Iraq is proportionately far larger than in any previous conflict, and it has fueled charges that this outsourcing has led to overbilling, fraud and shoddy and unsafe work that has endangered and even killed U.S. troops. The role of armed security contractors has also raised new legal and political questions about whether the United States has become too dependent on private armed forces on the 21st-century battlefield.

Contractors now employ at least 180,000 people in Iraq, forming what amounts to a private army, larger than the U.S. military force, whose roles and missions and even casualties have largely been hidden from public view.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/12/america/contractor.php

VIOLENCE SWEEPS ACROSS IRAQ INCLUDING PROVINCES SUPPOSEDLY PEACEFUL FROM "THE SURGE"

There isn't much on cable TV these days about Iraq, but when the media does breakdown and decide to carry some news out of Iraq it is couched in words about how successful "the surge" has been and violence is down in IRAQ.

THIS IS NOT ONLY A LIE, BUT A BLATANT LIE AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES ARE NOW PART OF THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN IRAQ.

Here is the REAL TRUTH about IRAQ sans WHITE HOUSE and FOX NEWS spin.

Reported Security incidents in IRAQ on Tuesday.

Baghdad:
http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

#1: The bodies of two people were found with gunshot wounds in different areas of Baghdad on Monday, police said

.#2: Iraqi security forces arrested 22 people and one man was killed during security operations launched in different areas of Baghdad in the past 24 hours, Baghdad's operations command said on Tuesday. an Iraqi security soldier was killed and three were injured during the operations.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near Khullani Square, central Baghdad at 3 p.m. Tuesday injuring three people including one policeman.

#4: An IED was detonated under control in Karrada, central Baghdad at 3.20 p.m.

#5: A car bomb was detonated under control near Wathiq Square, Karrada at 3.30 p.m.

#6: Two Katyusha rockets were detonated under control by U.S. forces in Zafaraniyah, southeastern Baghdad, Tuesday.

#7: Police found one dead body throughout Baghdad in Khilani area.Diyala Prv:

Baquba:#1: Ra'ad al-Mulla Jawad, governor of Iraq's Diyala province on Tuesday escaped unhurt a suicide vest bombing in the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a local police source said. The incident occurred shortly before midday when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest struck the convoy of Jawad in central Baquba, damaging two vehicles of his convoy and a nearby civilian car, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Three civilians were killed and three others wounded by the powerful blast, the source said, adding the Iraqi security forces immediately cordoned off the scene, allowing ambulances to evacuate the casualties.The U.S. military says two Iraqis have been killed and at least six others wounded when a female suicide bomber struck a convoy carrying senior Iraqi officials in Baqouba. The U.S. military in northern Iraq says the woman was targeting a convoy carrying the Iraqi commander of ground forces in the surrounding Diyala province on Tuesday. It says she detonated her explosives relatively far from Gen. Ali Ghaidan because Iraqi soldiers guarding the convoy noticed she was acting suspiciously. Provincial council chief Ibrahim Majilan says the convoy was also carrying the Diyala province governor.

Mahaweel:#1: Gunmen killed one woman and wounded another in a drive-by shooting near a market in Mahaweel, 60 km (35 miles) south of Baghdad, on Monday, police said.Mosul:#1: "Three mortar shells were fired on the area of al-Daydan, central Mosul, wounding one civilian man," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#2: "In another incident in northern Mosul, policemen found an improvised explosive device (IED) and while defusing it one policeman was wounded," the source added.

#3: Meanwhile, a police source said the body of a gunman killed earlier by a policeman was found in the neighborhood of Adan, eastern

Mosul.#4: Two civilians were wounded in a bomb explosion. An explosive charge went off in al-Zinjli region in western Mosul, wounding two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq

#5: unknown gunmen kidnapped two truck drivers in two separate incidents in western Mosul, a police source said. Meanwhile, the same source said that unknown gunmen kidnap two truck drivers in al-Yabesat region in western Mosul. “The gunmen blocked the way of the two trucks loading with wheat and took with their drivers to an unknown place,” he also said.Al Anbar Prv:

Ramadi:#1: Six members of the same family, including one woman and three children, were found shot dead in an open area east of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said Colonel Salih Mahdi, a police official in Ramadi.

BRUTAL VIDEO: US MARINES RAPE A 14-YEAR OLD AND KILL HER IRAQI FAMILY

This video is a report of what happened back in March in Iraq when US Marines allegedly raped a 14-year old Iraqi girl and killed her family.

Watch VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/yc83o17Uqhw&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

VIOLENT VIDEO: MARINES AMBUSHED: SCREAMING AND FIGHTING

This is a night vision video but it brings the feeling what war is like in the dark of night in Iraq for a platoon of Marines.

The screams are real. The shouts are real, and the language is not for children.


Watch VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/tDYsGq7x1ok&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow to activate video

SHOCKING VIDEO: IRAQ WAR VETS TALK ABOUT RANDOM KILLING OF CIVILIANS

War is not a video game like the new Army recruiting video paints it, but instead war is what these Iraq War vets say it is when it comes to killing Iraqi civilians.

The VIDEO is both enlightening and shocking.

Watch the VIDEO here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/H-WyV7eItcM&hl=en&fs=1

Click on diamond-shaped arrow in center of picture to activate video

NEW VIDEO: TO DRILL OR NOT TO DRILL: JON STEWART'S "DAILY SHOW"

Leave it to Jon Stewart of the "Daily Show" to spear not only John McCain on the oil drilling debate, but also pokes fun at President George Herbert Walker Bush and best of all a shot at Fox News anchors who kept reducing the time it will take to get oil out of the ground and into gas tanks. And then there is a short bit on "Miss Buffalo Chips" contest that Sen. McCain volunteered his wife for without apparently knowing how the girls dress, or more accurately---undress.

Watch the video here:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=178663&title=indecision-2008-to-drill-or-not

INDECISION 08: INFLATE YOUR TIRES: DAILY SHOW WRITERS

Here is a special segment taken from the Jon Stewart Comedy Central "Daily Show" writers.

I hope you will get a good laugh out of this:

Comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

August 10th at 2:00PM
From the Writers of The Daily Show: Inflate Your Tires!

POSTED BY: TheInDecider
http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/08/10/from-the-writers-of-the-daily-show-inflate-your-tires/

This week, Barack Obama publicly suggested making sure tires are properly inflated as one way of dealing with the rising price of gas. At the Sturgis motorcycle rally, McCain mocked his opponent's recommendation, exclaiming, "Barack Obama wants you to inflate your tires!" He added...

* "We should be able to inflate our tires with oil! And then burn them to heat our homes. Even in summer! Which would then require us to run the air conditioning!"

* "This is America! I inflate my tires with oil! I charcoal-grill everything! I don't need you coming around with your fancy, 'use the off switches on your appliances' talk! If I don't keep my refrigerator door open, how'm I going to be able to see what's in there from across the room?

What'm I supposed to do? Take my constantly-idling ride-on lawnmower over there?"

* "I should be able to use my dishwasher to wash one dish at a time! I don't want my forks mingling with my spoons! I should be able to brush my teeth by running my dishwasher! And I should be able to keep my refrigerator door open -- that way, my dog can fetch me a beer!"

* "While I'm at it, I want to fill my windshield wiper fluid with Strawberry Quik!"

* "We should be able to plug our A/C unit into the cigarette adapter! Fuck it -- put a boat motor in there 'with' the motor, have 'em both running! Take that car, keep it running to power the air conditioning in the motor home that I'm also towing, and put all on the back of a bigger truck that's driving to the oil-burning FESTIVAL!"

VETVOICE REPORTS: DISABLED VETS SHUN McCAIN IN LAS VEGAS

The more combat veterans learn about John McCain and his plans, the less they like him. The Las Vegas Sun reports:

Sen. John McCain, speaking to disabled veterans Saturday in Las Vegas, attacked his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, for his foreign policy record, while also proposing a program that would allow veterans to acquire health care at private hospitals and not just through the Veterans Affairs Department.

by: Brandon Friedman
Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 15:30:30 PM EDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1743

The veterans, at Bally's for their national convention, gave him a tepid reception, especially considering McCain's life story. The Arizona senator was a Navy pilot shot down over Vietnam, tortured and held as a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years.

Just one of 14 veterans interviewed by the Sun after his speech said he is a certain McCain voter, and the nonpartisan group's legislative director expressed concerns about McCain's proposed "Veterans' Care Access Card."

Still obsessing over the privatization of the VA for some reason, John McCain is poised to lose the veterans' vote for good. In fact, in response to his Saturday speech to the DAV, Iraq War veteran and double-amputee Tammy Duckworth had this to say about McCain's proposals:

"John McCain has said that improving veterans' health care would be his top domestic priority as President, yet he has repeatedly voted against increased funding for veterans health care. And now he offers up an plastic card option that will lead to privatization of veterans health care. No one knows how to help and heal veterans like veterans -- had I ended up in a regular hospital after returning from Iraq, I would lost my arm. McCain's plan will only hurt the VA and our veterans more than they are already hurting."

Not surprising. While vets who haven't served in the current war--and those who've never seen combat--have tended to lean toward Republicans in general (as a holdover Reagan/Clinton-era default setting among troops), it now appears that even McCain's support among older veterans is beginning to crack. Significantly.

More from the Las Vegas Sun piece:

Other veterans, such as James Jewett and Jay Johnson of Texas, expressed misgivings about McCain using the occasion to attack his opponent so fiercely.

Duke Hendershot, a double amputee retired Marine who served in Vietnam, supported McCain's run for president in 2000 but is undecided this year.

"John just isn't the same as he used to be. He's not his own man," said Hendershot, who lives in San Antonio, Texas. "A lot of that has to do with how he's wanted this job so bad for so long that he's tied himself to President Bush."

He said McCain's embrace of Bush, whom Hendershot called a "draft-dodging coward," is even more perplexing because of the rivalry between the two candidates during the 2000 campaign.
Hendershot also criticized McCain for taking swipes at Obama in his speech. "He should have been talking about veterans issues, not his opponent," he said.

By contrast, he praised Obama for keeping his remarks tightly focused on veterans.
This is pretty damning. But it goes right in line with what we're hearing from many of Tammy Duckworth's Iraq and Afghanistan peers.

When it comes to today's veterans, they're far from impressed with John McCain's infatuation with the use of force--and his disdain for VA programs.

AFGHANISTAN: US FORCES KILL 25 TALIBAN AND 8 CIVILIANS

KABUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 25 Taliban insurgents and eight civilians after an ambush in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday.

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=290665

The issue of civilian casualties has led to a rift between Afghanistan and its Western allies with President Hamid Karzai saying on Sunday that foreign airstrikes had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans and would not defeat the insurgency.

The Taliban launched multiple ambushes on a patrol in the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The militants "then fled into a neighbouring compound where they held 11 non-combatants hostage, including several children and an infant," it said.

The insurgents then fired on the coalition forces from the compound and the troops called in an airstrike, but the statement said they did not know there were civilians in the building.

Read on http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=290665

PHONE CARDS SHORTCHANGE TROOPS IN IRAQ

Prepaid phone cards are packed with ways to shortchange troops in Iraq

By Dan Thanh Dang - BALTIMORE SUNUpdated: 08/11/08 11:01 AM
http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/411983.html?imw=Y

For soldiers stationed overseas, phone calls are a crucial link to loved ones and the lives they left behind to serve their country.

So when Colin Sawyer’s mom in Mount Wolf, Pa., sent him an AT&T prepaid phone card, the 24-year-old Army gunner in Iraq was excited to have the precious 550 minutes to call home.

“I went to use it one night after patrol and an automated voice came on and said, ‘You have 55 minutes left for this call,’ ” said Sawyer, who was on leave recently to visit family.

“I had barely used the card so I thought that was strange. The thing is, letters can take two weeks or more through mail. Where I’m based, I don’t have Internet access or phone access every day, so I can go three weeks without any contact.

“So when I can call home, I don’t want to worry about whether my call will go through or if I have enough minutes to talk,” Sawyer said. “It’s happened on other cards she’s sent me, too. I never get the number of minutes it says I get on the card.”

Sawyer is right. What he stumbled upon is no glitch in the system or an accounting mistake. With prepaid phone cards — whether used by the military overseas or the public here in the States, whether it’s AT&T or another carrier — the gap between advertising and reality is exasperating and filled with gotchas.

Some prepaid phone cards come laden with fees, surcharges and insidious expiration dates.
Even worse, the amount of calling time a card owner receives may be nowhere near the amount of minutes advertised on the face of the cards.

“Why can’t AT&T just tell you exactly what you’re getting?” asks Kathleen Sawyer, Colin’s mom. “How is it that when you buy a 550-minute phone card, your son or daughter is not even going to get half of that when they use it?”

The angry mom said she has spent more than $1,000 purchasing 1,200-minute, 300-minute and 550-minute AT&T cards for her son and a 22-year-old daughter who was stationed on a Navy aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. It was often a mystery to both her children how many minutes they were actually able to use.

Click here to read rest of story: http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/411983.html?imw=Y

IRAQ DEMANDS TIMELINE FOR US TROOP WITHDRAWAL: BUSH AND CHENEY RESIST

President Bush and Vice President Cheney continue to insist THEY will decide when US troops are withdrawn from Iraq and not the Iraqi government.

Iraq politicians are DEMANDING a timeline for US troops to withdraw from Iraq and it is their country and you would think Iraq should have the final say so on when US troops should leave Iraq.

But not when President Bush and Vice President Cheney have taken on the duty of also ruling IRAQ and deciding what is best for Iraq.

Iraq is a sovereign nation and should be able to decide what is best for their country, but Bush and Cheney are not listening to Iraq officials and steadfastly say THEY will decide when US troops leave Iraq.

What I would like to know is what does winning mean to Bush and Cheney?

Does it mean someone from the scores of warring parties in Iraq will sign an armistice?

Are Bush and Cheney planning on sailing the battleship Missouri up the Tigris River and have a full-fledged armistice signing ceremony on the deck of the USS MISSOURI like was done at the end of World War II with the Japanese and General Douglas MacArthur?

For two people who have sent 4,144 young Americans to their death in Iraq and another 30,000 seriously wounded and perhaps disabled for life, it appears as though BUSH and CHENEY have exceeded their powers and should step back and let Iraq decide what is best for Iraq.

Commentary by BILL CORCORAN, Editor of CORKSPHERE

BAGHDAD - Iraq's foreign minister insisted Sunday that any security deal with the United States must contain a "very clear timeline" for the departure of U.S. troops.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26123767/

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that American and Iraqi negotiators were "very close" to reaching a long-term security agreement that will set the rules for U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

Zebari said the Iraqis were insisting that the agreement include a "very clear timeline" for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces, but he refused to talk about specific dates.

WASHINGTON POST: SOLDIERS WALK THE STREETS OF BAGHDAD HANDING OUT AMERICAN TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO IRAQIS

Money as a Weapon. A modest program to put cash in Iraqis' hands stretches its mandate with big projects.

By Dana Hedgpeth and Sarah CohenWashington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 11, 2008; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/10/AR2008081002512.html

In the five-year struggle to finish the war in Iraq, military leaders and their troops have said a particular weapon is among the most effective in their arsenal:
American cash.

Soldiers walk the streets carrying thousands of dollars to pay Iraqis for doorways battered in American raids and limbs lost during firefights. Sheiks appeal to commanders to use larger pools of money locked away in Humvees and safes at military bases for new schools, health clinics, water treatment plants and generators, knowing that the military can bypass Iraqi and U.S. bureaucratic hurdles.

Army documents show that $48,000 was spent on 6,000 pairs of children's shoes; an additional $50,000 bought 625 sheep for people described in records as "starving poor locals" in a Baghdad neighborhood. Soldiers ordered $100,000 worth of dolls and $500,000 in action figures made to look like Iraqi Security Forces. About $14,250 was spent on "I Love Iraq" T-shirts. More than $75,000 sent a delegation to a women's and civil rights conference in Cairo. And $12,800 was spent for two pools to cool bears and tigers at Zawra Park Zoo in Baghdad.

Click on link to read full Washington Post story.