AP: "The Bush administration has developed a formal written strategy for Iraq that envisions using a mix of diplomacy and military force to try to wrest control of dozens of key cities from insurgents before planned January elections, a senior administration official said Friday. The strategy -- already largely outlined by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top officials in recent weeks -- was developed over the summer as Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry was accusing President Bush of lacking a coherent plan to end the rising violence and pave the way for the withdrawal of American troops." And Bush criticized Kerry in the debate for changing his mind because of politics???

Air Force Times: "Iraq will need at least a decade to become stable enough for the U.S. military to withdraw, said a retired general who commanded the air campaign in the 1991 Gulf War. Retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Horner said Thursday the 10-year estimate was based on how long it took to rid Germany of Nazis after World War II." [And the Germans weren't in outright rebellion!] 'Every time we train 10 Iraqis, we can pull out one GI,' he told the World Affairs Council of the Florida Palm Beaches. 'We should have never disarmed the Iraqi army.' " That was just one of Bush's stupid 'macho man" stunts - Make all Iraqi men turn in their guns while he makes a trophy of Saddam's pistol. Like some junior high school bully's phallic fantasy.

Consortium News: "In the vice presidential debate on Oct. 5, 2004, Dick Cheney cited El Salvador as a precedent for the U.S. policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an article almost a year ago, Robert Parry noted the dangers of the Bush-Cheney administration transferring to the Middle East lessons supposedly learned from the Reagan-Bush intervention in Central America two decades ago. That article is reprinted below."

Sunday Times, AFP and AP: "Fighters loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr have been allowed to keep weapons such as AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers as part of secret provisions in a deal that ended the 22-day siege of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. The revelation by Sayyed Immad Mohamed Kalantal - who acted as an intermediary in the agreement brokered by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric - raised fears members of Sadr's Mehdi Army could regroup and prepare a new armed uprising against the Government and its US backers. Mr Kalantal said the clause had been agreed to by Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi Prime Minister [who] had initially been determined to 'finish off' Sadr's militia but baulked at the consequences of a full-scale assault on the city's Imam Ali shrine.... Elsewhere in Iraq, supporters of Sadr continued to battle US forces. At least 12 people were killed and more than 100 injured in skirmishes in the Baghdad Shi'ite slum of Sadr City."

Sid Blumenthal writes, "There was no 'imminent threat' to the US from Iraq. Then there was no strategy for building a new Iraq. Our closest allies and international help were 'marginalized' and 'ignored.' 'The Bush administration was never willing to commit anything like the forces necessary to ensure order in postwar Iraq.' 'Hubris and ideology' ruled. When chaos and insurgency overwhelmed 'naive assumptions,' the blunders were 'compounded' by a further refusal to recognize reality. 'The obsession with control was an overarching flaw in the U.S. occupation from start to finish.' When faced with a harsh choice between 'legitimacy and control ... the U.S. administration opted for the latter whenever the tradeoff presented itself.' Now, 'Iraq is more dangerous to the U.S. potentially than it was at the moment we went to war.' These are the reluctant judgments of one of the key U.S. officials who participated in the highest levels of decision making of the CPA," Larry Diamond.

As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words: from the strained, fearful look in a young soldier's face to the Hurricane Charley-scale destructive power of a bomb in a residential neighborhood.....here is a first hand look at life in occupied Iraq.

A Secular Prayer for Occupied Lands (poem) --by Michael Rectenwald, CLG Founder and Chair "I still abhor The Shock and Awe, The horrific barrage of bombs, The torture of Islam, The raped nation without arms, 'Democratized' by harm, And now that heads have rolled, Still no one is fooled..."

Robert Scheer writes, "Although [Iyad Allawi] is a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, who later conducted anti-Hussein terrorist operations on behalf of the CIA -- operations in which innocent Iraqi civilians may have been killed -- his anointment as leader of a 'free Iraq' is being hailed by Bush as a great victory in the war on terror... The political group run by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the 1990s, but financed by the CIA, 'used car bombs and other explosive devices smuggled into Iraq' in an attempt to sabotage and destabilize Hussein's regime... In 1996, one of Allawi's top officers and his group's self-proclaimed chief bomb maker detailed the mechanics behind Allawi's murderous actions in a videotape subsequently obtained by a British newspaper, the Independent. On the tape he even expresses annoyance that the CIA had shortchanged him on one job, a car bombing, allegedly paying only half the agreed-upon amount."

"In a few key areas - electricity, the judicial system and overall security - the Iraq that America handed back to its residents Monday is worse off than before the war began last year, according to calculations in a new General Accounting Office report released Tuesday. -In 13 of Iraq's 18 provinces, electricity was available fewer hours per day on average last month than before the war. Nearly 20 million of Iraq's 26 million people live in those provinces. -Only $13.7 billion of the $58 billion pledged and allocated worldwide to rebuild Iraq has been spent, with another $10 billion about to be spent. The biggest chunk of that money has been used to run Iraq's ministry operations. -The new Iraqi civil defense, police and overall security units are suffering from mass desertions, are poorly trained and ill-equipped. -The number of what the now-disbanded CPA called significant insurgent attacks skyrocketed from 411 in February to 1,169 in May." Impeach Bush Now!

The Independent reports that under US occupation, Baghdad is rife with corruption on a colossal scale. "Private contracts," originally hired for security, have become blackmarket weapons dealers, supplying insurgents. Any attempts to report such activity to the Pentagon has been ignored - even as the same weapons are used to kill our troops. Treason? Under the Bush-named Coalition government, "Many of its officials were in Iraq because they were ideological neo-conservatives or were simply well connected to the Republican Party or the White House. Some were paid astonishing salaries. Ahmed al-Rikaby, in charge of re-establishing Iraqi television, discovered that he was to be assisted by three Iraqi-American media advisers paid $21,000 a month. He recalls: "They had no expertise and never helped me or anybody else." They got the jobs because they had influential friends in the Pentagon."

"From the start, refurbishing Iraq's dismal infrastructure and creating a thriving market economy were promoted by Bush administration officials as pillars of the American-led invasion â?? 'the perfect complement to Iraq's political transformation,' in the words of Mr. Bremer. But more than a year later, supplies of electricity and water are no better for most Iraqis, and in some cases are worse, than they were before the invasion in the spring of 2003. Repairs of three giant wastewater treatment plants in Baghdad, for example, are weeks or months behind, while water supply systems in the south of the country are months or even years away from functioning properly. Unrepaired bridges continue to create monstrous bottlenecks in many parts of the country... On Sunday a local paper reported that new sewage flooding in five poorer neighborhoods of eastern and western Baghdad was raising serious fears of disease."

Tom Engelhardt writes, "Imagine if, on May 1, 2003 as George Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in color-coded triumph, someone had leaned over and, behind a cupped palm, whispered that he would not attend the crowning triumph of his first term, the official recreation of an Iraqi government in our image. Imagine if someone had then told him that an insurgency, evidently without a central command, armed with nothing more powerful than Kalashnikovs and RPGs, and made up to a significant degree of ordinary, angry Iraqis would stop his plans in their tracks; or that our sheriff in Baghdad would, hardly a year later, flee town tossing his badge in the dirt. What would George Bush have said then? Who among his followers wouldn't have had the laugh of their lives? And yet, here we are. You won't read this in your daily paper or see it on the nightly prime-time news, but I assure you that what we're witnessing in slow motion is likely to be one of the great imperial defeats in history."

Int'l Forum on Globalization: "The Bush Administration is using the military invasion and occupation of Iraq to advance a corporate globalization agenda that is illegal under international law, has not been chosen by the Iraqi people and may ultimately prove to be even more devastating than twelve years of economic sanctions, two U.S.-led wars and one occupation. Transformation of an occupied country's fundamental laws is illegal under international law. It directly violates the international convention governing the behavior of occupying forces, the Hague regulations of 1907 (the companion to the 1949 Geneva conventions, both ratified by the United States), as well as the U.S. Army's own code of war -- as stated in the Army field manual 'The Law of Land Warfare.' Under this scheme, all services would not only be privatized, including schools, but largely designed and operated by US megacorporations. For example, Bechtel is in control of the entire country's water supply."

A last minute spending spree by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and language in the UN Security Council resolution setting the conditions for Iraqi sovereignty appear likely to limit the interim governmentâ??s ability to exercise meaningful control over the country's oil revenues. According to documents posted on its own web site, the CPA's little-known Program Review Board (PRB) has quietly committed billions of dollars in Iraq's oil revenues to new contracts that critics say will enrich US and British corporations while limiting the amount of revenue Iraq's new interim government will have at its disposal when it assumes authority from the CPA on June 30.

Bush's appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is best known in Iraq as a CIA supported terrorist who bombed innocent Iraqis in the 1990's. Last week, Allawi said he and his ministers were prepared to use "drastic measures" to end the insurgency. When a terrorist talks about "drastic measures," be VERY afraid. Now his Interior Minister is talking about Martial Law. So now "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is turning into "Operation Saddam II." Bush has sacrificed 837 American lives and over $200 billion - for nothing. Impeach Bush Now!

A poll requested by the Coalition Provisional Authority last month but not released to the American public (gee, wonder why not?) reveals the truth about the state of Iraq. The poll shows that Iraqis' confidence in the coalition stood at an abysmal 11%t, down from 47% in November, while coalition forces had just 10% support. 92% of Iraqis view coalition troops as occupiers, while just 2% (yes, that is a SINGLE DIGIT) called them liberators. Nearly half of Iraqis said they felt unsafe in their neighbourhoods - 55% say they'd feel safer if U.S. troops immediately left.. 71% of Iraqis said they were surprised by the revelations of Abu Ghraib, but 54% said they believed all Americans behave like the guards. Disturbingly, The poll reported that 81% of Iraqis said they had an improved opinion of al-Sadr in May. 64% said the acts of his insurgents had made Iraq more unified.

President Jacques Chirac of France cast a cloud over the G8 summit yesterday by rejecting a call by George Bush and Tony Blair for Nato to send troops to Iraq to back the interim government after the handover of sovereignty on 30 June. President Bush and Mr Blair made it clear they were hoping that Nato nations, which have been reluctant to become embroiled in Iraq, would have a change of heart following the unanimous passing of the UN Security Council resolution giving authority to the Allied force...

AP: "Misguided U.S. training of Iraqi police contributed to the country's instability and has delayed getting enough qualified Iraqis on the streets to ease the burden on American forces, the head of armed forces training said Wednesday."It hasn't gone well. We've had almost one year of no progress," said Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who departs Iraq next week after spending a year assembling and training the country's 200,000 army, police." Wolfowitz sabotaged the training efforts by holding up $257 million in spending authority for two months, delaying construction of Iraqi army barracks for four brigades awaiting training. Last but certainly not least, none of the US troops came to Iraq trained to deal resistance from the natives.

LA Times: "As Iraqi and U.S. leaders focus on ending the bloodshed in the southern holy cities of Najaf, Kufa and Karbala, Baghdad's backyard is quietly boiling over. U.S. military officials estimate that they have killed more than 800 Iraqis in Sadr City over the past nine weeks -- more than a dozen a day -- in battles with the Al Mahdi army, the militia of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr. That's more than twice the number hospitals estimate were killed in similar fighting in southern Iraq. 'It's a daily massacre,' said Qassim Kadim, a native of Sadr City, also known as Thawra."

"Bush will launch an ambitious campaign tomorrow night to shift attention from recent setbacks that have eroded domestic and international support for U.S. policy in Iraq, particularly the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the escalating violence, and focus instead on the future of post-occupation Iraq. The president will open a tightly orchestrated public relations effort in a speech at the Army War College outlining U.S. plans for the critical five weeks before the limited transfer of political power June 30. The White House then intends to circulate this week a draft U.N. resolution on post-occupation Iraq, wrap up negotiations with Iraqis on an interim government and begin shoring up the coalition to ensure that other foreign forces also stay after June 30. 'There's a sense that this week is our chance to create some movement in a different direction. We'll start talking about the future, not the past, by focusing on the U.N. resolution and Brahimi's transition process.'"

Andrew Cockburn writes: "Only five months ago, Chalabi was a guest of honor sitting right behind Laura Bush at the State of the Union. What brought about this astonishing fall from grace of the man who helped provide the faked intelligence that justified last year's war? The answer lies in Chalabi's reaction to his gradual loss of US support in recent months and the realisation that he will be excluded from the post June 30 Iraqi 'government' being crafted by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. Lashing out against his exclusion from power, he has in effect been laying the groundwork for a coup, assembling a Shia political coalition with the express aim of destabilising the 'Brahimi' government even before it takes office."

While Bush, like the village idiot, smiles and babbles about "progress" in Iraq, across town in Congress even those instinctively sympathetic to the US military cause in Iraq were warning that America was facing a strategic disaster. "I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure. We are looking into the abyss," General Joseph Hoar, a former commander in chief of US central command, told the Senate foreign relations committee. The apocalyptic language is becoming increasingly common here among normally moderate and cautious politicians and observers. Larry Diamond, an analyst at the conservative Hoover Institution, said: "I think it's clear that the United States now faces a perilous situation in Iraq. "We have failed to come anywhere near meeting the post-war expectations of Iraqis for security and post-war reconstruction. "There is only one word for a situation in which you cannot win and you cannot withdraw - quagmire."

Here's another Iraq-Vietnam analogy - as the war goes south, hawks want "escalation." "It may be, as pessimists contend, that there is now no way to restore order to Iraq -- that chaos and civil war are inevitable. But we believe a solution may still lie in the aggressive embrace of all the strategies under discussion. Iraq needs more American troops, and more of its own security forces and any other foreign allied troops that can be collected, and it needs them soon, to make possible the staging of elections by early next year. Only dramatic steps by President Bush will make such reinforcements possible" - including " a permanent increase in the size of the U.S. Army." We say - Not a Penny More! Democrats.com/notapenny

"'We had a plan that anticipated, I think, that we could proceed with an occupation regime for much longer than it turned out the Iraqis would have patience for. We had a plan that assumed we'd have basically more stable security conditions than we've encountered,' Wolfowitz told the senators... Wolfowitz said the United States had been 'slow' in creating Iraqi security forces and too severe in its early policy of de-Baathification, or barring from government jobs and political life tens of thousands of Iraqis who were members of Hussein's ruling Baath Party. He listed other shortcomings in planning, including underestimating the resilience of Hussein or his supporters, their postwar operational capabilities and financial resources. Wolfowitz also said he did not know how many U.S. troops would remain posted to Iraq over the next 18 months. 'It could be more, it could be less' than the level of 135,000 troops the Pentagon has said it plans to keep in Iraq through 2005."

Pentapost: "Iraqi political leaders expressed anger and despair over the inability of U.S. authorities to stem the relentless violence gripping Iraq as they paid tribute to the slain president of the country's Governing Council. Othman, who is generally pro-American, described the assassination as only the most extreme example of the lawlessness that has grown in the year since Saddam Hussein was driven from power. 'Never in Iraq has it been like this -- never, even under Saddam,' he said. 'People are killed, kidnapped and assaulted; children are taken away; women are raped. Nobody is afraid of any punishment.' The anger among Iraqis normally favorable toward the Americans' efforts in Iraq was expressed after a solemn memorial service for Salim, who was killed with six other Iraqis as they waited to enter the compound that houses the occupation headquarters."

The same day that Alan Greenspan gets reappointed by Bush, Greenspan's wife Andrea Mitchell showed her gratitude by putting out a phony story for the White House: "Chalabi is fired," Mitchell reported on NBC's Nightly News on May 18. This completely false statement was designed to make the public believe that Ahmed 'Still Wanted for Fraud in Jordan" Chalabi was removed from his position as Bush's chief puppet in Iraq. WRONG. All Bush did was cut off Chalabi's $335,000 per month gravy train (Chalabi was actually getting paid to provide false info to the Pentagon...though we suspect the payments were more for compliance than info). Here's the unspun story from BBC.

"Bush has already spent $166 BILLION of our hard-earned dollars on Iraq. Now Bush wants $25 BILLION MORE just to get through the 2004 election. Then, when taxpayers can no longer hold him accountable, his post-election request will 'surely be much larger than $25 billion.' And then Bush plans to occupy Iraq for years. We, the taxpayers of America, refuse to pay for Bush's War of Lies. We demand: 1) Bush and his rich friends should pay the $166 billion spent so far through an immediate repeal of Bush's tax giveaways to the rich. 2) Bush should beg the United Nations to take over Iraq's transition to self-rule, and begin the pullout of all U.S. troops. 3) Congress should not approve one more penny for Iraq. 4) Congress should begin impeachment hearings for the lies that took America to war. " Sign the petition!

UK Independent: "British and American soldiers yesterday faced further accusations of abuses against Iraqi prisoners in a report on human rights violations released by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The report details incidents of pistol whippings and beatings as well as threats to send prisoners to America's military detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist reporting on Iraq. He presents another perspective on events: "The US 1st Marine Division sent a small convoy into Fallujah today in order to meet with the mayor and show cooperation with the Iraqi Police (IP) and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC). But the supposed show of force was a pre-arranged exercise. Immediately following the Marines' departure, the embattled city erupted into what could only be described as a huge victory celebration over the US military."

Stars and Stripes: "Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld swept into the Pentagon in 2001 with grand ideas of downsizing, resizing, rightsizing, or something sizing our military. In the midst of the destruction of the armed forces as we knew them, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks happened. Suddenly, the military had a lot of work to do. Not to worry, said the Potomac pundits. We have lots of National Guard and Reserve forces to fill the gaps, just like we planned. Besides, Bush declared that major combat was over a year ago. So all we need to do now is mop up a little light resistance. Our soldiers in Iraq -- active duty, reserve and National Guard -- are performing magnificently. They are simply following orders and doing a fine job in a dangerous and politically uncertain area. Somebody once commented toward the end of the Vietnam War: How would you like to be the last man to die for a mistake? I believe the situation in Iraq is rapidly approaching that point."

The Bush administration is like a mindless monster whose sole strategy in every situation is the use of force - whether appropriate or not. Now the monster is cornered by a scandal it cannot contain. In response, it is, as ever, escalating the use of force. Against the advice of scores of diplomats, instead of even trying to apply any other strategy, the US military in Iraq has launched an all-out assault on Najaf, one sure to escalate the violence in the wear-torn nation. The Guardian reports: "The move is likely to inflame Shia opinion against America, making enemies of the people who initially welcomed the invasion because it rid them of Saddam Hussein... if there is any strategic thinking on the US side about how to deal with the Najaf standoff, it was hard to find it there yesterday."

PentaPost reports, "A senior general at the Pentagon said he believes the US is already on the road to defeat. 'It is doubtful we can go on much longer like this,' he said. 'The American people may not stand for it -- and they should not'... One Pentagon consultant said that officials with whom he works on Iraq policy continue to put on a happy face publicly, but privately are grim about the situation in Baghdad. When it comes to discussions of the administration's Iraq policy, he said, 'It's 'Dead Man Walking.' '... 'The idea that Iraq can be miraculously and quickly turned into a shining example of democracy that will 'transform' the Middle East requires way too much fairy dust and cultural arrogance to believe,' said a senior military intelligence officer... The US is likely to be fighting in Iraq for at least another five years, said an Army officer who served there. 'We'll be taking casualties,' he warned, during that entire time."

BBC: "Five-hundred Iraqis from across the political spectrum have been taking part in a Baghdad conference to discuss opposition to the US-led occupation. The organisers, calling themselves the United Iraqi Scholars Group, say the aim of their five-hour meeting was to work out a common platform on how to end the occupation. If the people of Iraq, and the Arab world beyond, were hoping that the US-led invasion of Iraq and the collapse of its authoritarian Baathist regime would usher in an era of stability, peace and democracy, then they have been sorely disappointed. What is becoming increasingly accepted as the inherent inability of the US-led coalition to come to grips with the situation - further exacerbated by the range of opposition forces ranged against it - has left a political vacuum, a vacuum that this initiative hopes to help fill. "

"Worshippers at a Basra mosque were told yesterday that anyone who captures a female British soldier can keep her as a slave. A senior aide of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also called on supporters to launch a holy war against British troops in the city. Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli held in his hand what he said were documents and photographs of three Iraqi women being raped at British-run prisons in Iraq. Bahadli said 250,000 dinars will be given to anyone who captures a British soldier and 100,000 dinars for the killing of one. This is the first time that any anti-occupation activist of note has offered financial reward for the killing or capturing of coalition troops."

"Rows and rows of fresh graves fill the football stadium in Falluja. Many of them are smaller than others. My translator Nermim reads the gravestones to me: 'This one is a little girl.' We take another step. 'And this one is her sister.' Next to them is their mother... Old man wearing jacket with black dishdasha, near industrial center. He has a key in his hand. Many of the bodies were buried before they could be identified... The rumor is going around that the Marines will resume patrolling the streets of Falluja this coming Monday, along with Iraqi Police (IP) and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC)... Abdul Muhammed tells me, 'When the Americans start patrolling on Monday, even more people will fight them this time because so many people need revenge now.'"

Louis Nevaer identifies two security contractors working in Iraq: "[Frans] Strydom was a member in the Koevoet, Afrikaner for 'Crowbar,' an outlaw group that paid bounty for the bodies of blacks seeking independence during the 1980s. The Koevoet terrorized blacks in Namibia and northern South Africa for more than a decade. Hundreds of deaths are attributed to its members. More notorious is [Deon] Gouws' past. A former police officer, Gouws was a member of the notorious Vlakplaas death squad that terrorized blacks under apartheid. Only after South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Col. Eugene de Kock, a former death-squad leader who supervised Gouws, applied for amnesty, did the activities of the Vlakplaas come to light. Gouws faced a choice: repent by confessing, or be charged with crimes. He applied for amnesty, confessing on his application for absolution to killing 15 blacks and firebombing the homes of 'between 40 and 60 anti-apartheid activists.'"

"A Navy chaplain who served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom [sic] believes the civilian population of that country is ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lieutenant Carey Cash was assigned to the First Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment during the opening months of the war.... Cash says the Iraqis seem burdened under Islam. He believes this creates an openness to Christianity, he says, 'in part because Islam, as a cultural motif, does oppress. And I think that says that one day, perhaps, a new day may dawn in that nation where the gospel can be proclaimed without fear of reprisal, and where it can liberate men, women, and children unlike they've ever known.' Despite the influence of Islam in Iraq, Cash says he finds there is great openness to Christianity there now, and he feels that believers currently serving in that country will have an even better opportunity to share their faith in the future." Will Americans ever stop deluding themselves about Islam?

From the Daily Kos: "Well before Winston Churchill made his famous 'Iron Curtain' speech in Missouri after World War II, men at the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, decided to recruit [Nazi] General Reinhard Gehlen to help them in the war on communism.... the U.S. has chosen to deploy a version of the Gehlen model: fight the new war with a warrior from the old regime. ... 'But the record of the man chosen to lead the force -- a commander in Saddam Hussein's feared Republican Guard -- appeared to be raising questions in the American command, which has appeared somewhat confused over the sudden turnabout here in which old enemies have become new allies. Although some officials in the Pentagon told reporters on Friday that Maj. Gen. Jasim Muhammad Saleh had not been a member of the Republican Guard, intelligence and other Marine officers here reconfirmed their own Friday comments that General Saleh had been a ranking officer in the guard.' "

On March 15, 2004, Rumsfeld declared: "We now have 200,000 Iraqi security forces that are out there providing security in their country." David Corn & Kristin Jones write, "All those months Rumsfeld was cooking the books. In late March the Pentagon released a chart [which] notes that 75,844 Iraqis were on the payroll as police officers, but only 2,865 were fully qualified and on duty. Another 13,286 were deemed 'partially qualified' and supposedly on duty, while 3,245 were in training. Three-fourths of those on the police payroll had received no training... Add up the active and fully trained Iraqi police, border personnel and military forces, and the number of Iraq security troops is 6,114. Throw in those partially trained, and the total goes up to 37,874. The Iraqi security forces hardly could boast over 200,000 troops 'providing security,' as Rumsfeld claimed in March." We demand Congressional hearings!

Now here's one we doubt you'll find in the Pentapost or the New York "Government Times"! Seems that the Iraq interim government is taking its oil industry in its own direction: "Iraq will start oil exports through a new pipeline to Iran by the end of this year and does not expect to come back within the OPEC cartel's quota system any time soon, Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said. Feasibility studies have been completed for two short crude oil export pipelines to fellow OPEC member Iran with a capacity of 200,000 bpd each at a cost of just $30 million, the minister said. Iraq's oil exports have risen to 1.9 million bpd in recent weeks, close to pre-war capacity of 2.2 million bpd, as a pipeline from Iraq's northern oilfields and the southern port of Khor al-Amaya were both reopened/" This March 27 figure was BEFORE the April attacks on pipelines - yet Wolfowitz continues to claim 2.5 million bpd!

Robert Dreyfuss reports, "There's no sugar-coating the fact that the Bush administration has suffered a major, public defeat in Fallujah. The United States looked the insurgents in the eye there-and blinked. Instead of flattening Fallujah if the insurgents didn't hand over heavy weapons and stop fighting, U.S. forces have meekly retreated, under cover of a plan that would put some of the same insurgents on the U.S. payroll. [AP reports] 'A new Iraqi military force being proposed to tame Fallujah's guerrillas could bear a striking resemblance to the guerrillas themselves. The band of about 1,000 Iraqis would be led by one of Saddam Hussein's generals, and its U.S.-funded payroll might include some of the same gunmen who have been fighting U.S. Marines.'... It is a massive defeat for the neocons and their allies. The policy of de-Baathification-linked to Ahmad Chalabi and Co.-is over, as Baath-era generals will be taking over the Iraqi army."

"A Sunni-dominated political party and a member of the fading Iraqi Governing Council, the Iraqi Islamic Party was looking at the possibility of political extinction with the planned transfer of 'limited sovereignty' on June 30. But then came the battle and siege of Falluja [and its role in turning Falluja over to Gen. Salih]... Though only now coming to prominence, the Iraqi Islamic Party was founded in 1960 to curb the growing influence of the Communist Party, Mr. Hameed said. But Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim, the strongman who ruled Iraq then, forced the party underground. The persecution continued when the socialist Baath Party came to power in 1968, resulting in waves of arrests, including one in 1996 in which Mr. Hameed was imprisoned, he said."

"The last month of US aggression in Iraq has inspired what can only be described as a mutiny: Waves of soldiers, workers and politicians under the command of the US occupation authority are suddenly refusing to follow orders... First Spain announced it would withdraw its troops, then Honduras, Dominican Republic,Nicaragua and Kazakhstan. South Korean and Bulgarian troops were pulled back to their bases, while New Zealand is withdrawing its engineers. El Salvador, Norway, the Netherlands and Thailand will likely be next. And then there are the mutinous members of the US-controlled Iraqi army... they've been donating their weapons to resistance fighters in the South and refusing to fight in Falluja... And it's not just Iraq's soldiers who have been deserting... Four ministers of the Iraqi Governing Council have resigned in protest. Half the Iraqis with jobs in the 'green zone'--as translators, drivers, cleaners--are not showing up for work."

Falluja refugee Fadhil Ahmed reports, "The Americans have violated the ceasefire. They are attacking us with jet fighters, tanks and artillery. The US snipers are on every roof and minaret. They don't care who they shoot. They are shooting old people, women and children. Where is the UN in all this?' Abu Mohammad reports, 'They are bombing civilians. When I was about to leave there were two ladies trying to get out. American snipers shot them dead. Their bodies are still lying out on the street in al-Jumhuriya.' 'There is no mercy at all,' said Sami Sabri, 65, who arrived at the camp a week ago said. Two of his cousins, Kalif Ali, 22, and Issam Shaker, 19, had been shot dead by US snipers."

Independent: "The basic message of a new CNN-USA Today poll is that ordinary Iraqis are glad that Saddam Hussein has gone but feel less secure than when he was in power. They no longer regard US forces as liberators, but as heavy-handed occupiers. By a 56-37 majority, Iraqis would prefer US and British troops to leave their country at once. Over two-thirds believe that, during military operations, US forces are 'not trying at all' to protect ordinary civilians from being killed or wounded." Just wait until the Iraqi people see the horrific Abu Ghraib Prison photos - 100% of Iraqis will want the US to leave.

Erich Marquardt writes for PINR: "Washington's ultimate success in creating a stable Iraq completely hinges on its ability to create viable Iraqi security forces capable of handling all of the security tasks currently being undertaken by U.S.-led forces. While the United States is presently taking the majority role in attempts to bring security to Iraq, it will be able to fulfill this role at its present intensity for only so long. Washington does not have the funds, troop reserves, or domestic support to sustain a permanent occupation with troops numbering in the tens of thousands and coming under consistent guerrilla attack. Washington will have to replace the bulk of its troops with indigenous Iraqi security forces or else risk the chance of having to end the occupation of Iraq on terms not in synch with U.S. regional interests." In other words, the goals of the US Military-Industrial Complex. For Democrats.com, we echo what Dennis Kucinich says, "UN In, US Out!"

Bush will do anything, say anything, risk anything - including thousands of troops lives - to avoid admitting the situation in Iraq is a catastrophe and trying something truly different - like real diplomacy. Now, after humiliating, starving, and socially and economically exiling all Ba'athists, he has "changed his mind" and wants to recruit them to fight along side troops. But how trustworthy as fighting allies will people who have been treated this way be? This has the makings of a catastrophic mistake - just like the US decision to pass out weapons to hundreds of able-bodied Baghdad males who lined up back in the early days of the occupation, with minimal or no screening. Many of the same weapons have no doubt since been used to kill American troops.

Matthew Rothschild writes: "Bush's announcement that he intends to appoint John Negroponte to be the U.S. ambassador to Iraq should appall anyone who respects human rights. Negroponte, currently U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., was U.S. ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s and was intimately involved with Reagan's dirty war against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua. Reagan waged much of that illegal contra war from Honduras, and Negroponte was his point man. According to a detailed investigation the Baltimore Sun did in 1995, Negroponte covered up some of the most grotesque human rights abuses imaginable. The CIA organized, trained, and financed an army unit called Battalion 316, the paper said. Its specialty was torture. And it kidnapped, tortured, and killed hundreds of Hondurans, the Sun reported. It 'used shock and suffocation devices in interrogations. Prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves.' "

"The new Iraqi interim government scheduled to take control on July 1 will have only 'limited sovereignty' over the country and no authority over United States and coalition military forces already there. Control of Iraq's security will remain with the US military commanders when its interim government takes control on July 1... Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman [told Congress] the US will operate under the transitional law approved by the Iraqi Governing Council and a resolution approved by the United Nations Security Council last October... Whereas in the past the turnover was described as granting total sovereignty to the appointed Iraqi government, Mr Grossman yesterday termed it 'limited sovereignty' because 'it is limited by the transitional law...and the UN resolution'." Bush made a big deal out of 'Iraqi sovereignty' in his State of the Union, but, with most of the cameras turned away, reality intrudes.

When the disastrous history of the US conquest of Iraq is written, the battle of Falluja will be seen as the turning point when Bush lost the support of mainstream Iraqis. "Falluja has become a galvanizing battle, a symbol around which many Iraqis rally their anticolonial sentiments. Some say the fighting there exposes the lie of American justice by showing that the world's sole superpower is ready to avenge the killings and mutilation of four American security contractors by sending marines to shell and invade a city of 300,000 people. News reports, including those on the widely watched Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya cite hospital officials in Falluja saying that hundreds of people have been killed, including many women and children. American military officials say those reports are inaccurate [but Iraqis know the truth]. The invasion of Falluja has shattered the remaining hope of those Iraqis who thought the Americans might be able to free the country from might-makes-right rule."

On the same day Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Iraqi troops were improving, "About one in every 10 members of Iraq's security forces 'actually worked against' U.S. troops during the recent militia violence in Iraq, and an additional 40% walked off the job because of intimidation, Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said... The failure of Iraqi security forces to perform is significant because it could hurt the US' overall exit strategy from Iraq. Officials have said the U.S. military would delay its withdrawal from parts of Iraq until Iraqi forces were ready to take control. On April 5, a newly created Iraqi army battalion of several hundred soldiers refused to join U.S. Marines in their offensive against insurgents in the city of Fallujah. Dempsey acknowledged 'a form of descending consent' for the U.S. military presence occurring among Iraqis as time passes. 'There is a point where it doesn't matter how well we're doing, it won't be accepted that we have a large military presence here.'"

Jason Vest writes: "As the situation in Iraq grows ever more tenuous, the Bush administration continues to spin the ominous news with matter-of-fact optimism... But according to a closely held Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) memo written in early March, the reality isn't so rosy. Iraq's chances of seeing democracy succeed, according to the memo's author--a U.S. government official detailed to the CPA, who wrote this summation of observations he'd made in the field for a senior CPA director--have been severely imperiled by a year's worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA... the memo's author fears, U.S. efforts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war."

"Iraq's transport network has practically come to a halt because of a deterioration in security and the closure of main roads by US forces, shippers and merchants said yesterday... truck movement had mostly stopped on the western roads to Jordan and Syria, and that a bridge on the only road left open to Baghdad from the south was now too weak to cross because of war damage and recent sabotage."

IHT: "They have come from all corners of the world. Former Navy Seal commandos...Gurkhas from Nepal. Soldiers from South Africa's old apartheid government. They have come by the thousands, drawn to the dozens of private security companies that have set up shop in Baghdad. Far more than in any other conflict in U.S. history, the Pentagon is relying on private security companies to perform crucial jobs once entrusted to the military There is no central oversight of the companies, no uniform rules of engagement, no consistent standards for vetting or training new hires. Some security guards complain bitterly of being thrust into combat situations without adequate firepower, training or equipment. There are stories of inadequate communication links with military commanders and of security guards stranded and under attack without reinforcements."

Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni opposed the Iraq War from the outset, calling it a "brain fart" by the neocons - who retaliated by attacking his patriotism. Zinni "wondered aloud yesterday how Donald Rumsfeld could be caught off guard by the chaos in Iraq that has killed nearly 100 Americans in recent weeks and led to his announcement that 20,000 U.S. troops would be staying there instead of returning home as planned. 'I'm surprised that he is surprised because there was a lot of us who were telling him that it was going to be thus,' said Zinni, a Marine for 39 years and the former commander of the U.S. Central Command. 'Anyone could know the problems they were going to see. How could they not?'... 'I think that some heads should roll over Iraq,' Zinni said. 'I think the president got some bad advice.'.. 'I spent two years in Vietnam, and I've seen this movie before,' he said. '[Iraqis] have to be willing to do more or else it is never going to work.'"

Note: ancient Mespotomia included what is now Iraq) "The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are to-day not far from a disaster." T.E. Lawrence, aka "Lawrence of Arabia" writing on the British occupation in the Middle in 1920.

Eric Blumrich has produced a new flash with powerful photos from the past few weeks in Iraq. Can we afford 4 more years of Bush? Of course not!

Matthew Rothschild says Bush's press conference "performance was scary because he plunged the United States deeper into a no-win war in Iraq. 'We will finish the job of the fallen,' he said. He gave only a pro forma nod toward the additional innocent Iraqis the United States may kill in the process. 'We will continue taking the greatest care to prevent harm to innocent civilians; yet we will not permit the spread of chaos and violence,' he said. 'I have directed our military commanders to make every preparation to use decisive force, if necessary, to maintain order and to protect our troops.' He reiterated this point later, saying, 'Our commanders on the ground have got the authority necessary to deal with violence, and will-and will in firm fashion.' Here is the President warning that U.S. troops, who have already killed more than 600 Iraqis in the last week, will have a free hand. That is a signal for slaughter."

In an interview on C-SPAN on 4/12, an expert from the Brookings Institute said that the Iraqi police and military were had been so inadequately trained by the US that no one could blame them for running the other direction when confronted by a hostile mob. "If I'd had that kind of training, I would've run, too!" Now listen to how the Pentagon has soft-shoed this story in press releases on 4/13: "Top U.S. military commanders in Iraq yesterday acknowledged serious shortcomings in efforts to establish new Iraqi security forces and said the program is being reassessed in light of the failure over the past week of Iraqi units to join U.S. troops in combating militants."

"Relatives of an American civilian taken hostage in Iraq waited to learn what had happened to him after a Sunday morning deadline imposed by his abductors passed. Thomas Hamill works for the Houston-based engineering and construction company Kellogg, Brown & Root, a division of Halliburton. 'Prayers are all we need right now,' [Kellie Hamill] told The Dispatch of Columbus, Miss... 'I'm doing about as good as can be expected under the circumstances'... Hamill, 43, was snatched Friday by gunmen who attacked a fuel convoy he was guarding, the latest in a string of kidnappings in Iraq. His captors threatened to kill him unless U.S. troops ended their assault on the city of Fallujah. The deadline passed Sunday morning with no word on Hamill's fate... Hamill sold his dairy farm last summer after fighting a losing battle to survive in the industry. But the sale still left the family in debt. 'With this job, he saw a way to help get us back on track,' she said."

Reuters: "The three Japanese prisoners being held hostage by guerrillas in Iraq will be killed within 24 hours, according to a man claiming to have visited the group. A man described as Muzhir al-Duleimi, head of the League for the Defence of the Rights of the Iraqi People, told a correspondent for Al Jazeera station in Baghdad on Sunday that previous reports that the hostage-takers were about to free the Japanese had been untrue. 'This morning we visited the fighters and we discovered that everything reported yesterday is absolutely not true and the resistance leadership said it would not release the hostages,' said Duleimi."

"Senior British commanders have condemned American military tactics in Iraq as heavy-handed and disproportionate. One senior Army officer said that America's aggressive methods were causing friction among allied commanders and that there was a growing sense of 'unease and frustration' among the British high command. The officer, who agreed to the interview on the condition of anonymity, said part of the problem was that American troops viewed Iraqis as untermenschen - the Nazi expression for 'sub-humans.' 'My view and the view of the British chain of command is that the Americans' use of violence is not proportionate and is over-responsive to the threat they are facing. They don't see the Iraqi people the way we see them. They view them as untermenschen. They are not concerned about the Iraqi loss of life in the way the British are. Their attitude towards the Iraqis is tragic, it's awful.' "

"A battalion of the new Iraqi army refused to go to Fallujah earlier this week to support U.S. Marines battling for control of the city, senior U.S. Army officers here said, disclosing an incident that is casting new doubt on U.S. plans to transfer security matters to Iraqi forces... The 620-man 2nd Battalion of the Iraqi Armed Forces refused to fight Monday after members of the unit were shot at in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad while en route to Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim stronghold... The convoy then turned around and returned to the battalion's post on a former Republican Guard base in Taji...members of the battalion insisted during the ensuing discussions: 'We did not sign up to fight Iraqis.' "

Senator Robert Byrd gave another eloquent speech to the Senate: "I have watched with heavy heart and mounting dread as the ever-precarious battle to bring security to post-war Iraq has taken a desperate turn for the worse in recent days and hours. Along with so many Americans, I have been shaken by the hellish carnage in Fallujah and the violent uprisings in Baghdad... I have wondered anew at the president's stubborn refusal to admit mistakes or express any misgivings over America's unwarranted intervention in Iraq... It is staggeringly clear that the administration did not understand the consequences of invading Iraq a year ago, and it is staggeringly clear that the administration has no effective plan to cope with the aftermath of the war and the functional collapse of Iraq. It is time-past time-for the president to remedy that omission and to level with the American people about the magnitude of mistakes made and lessons learned. America needs a roadmap out of Iraq."

Robert Dreyfuss writes, "The neocons, though weakened, are still calling the shots. Any chance that Bush will break with the war party on his own is zero. Here's why: First, Bush is notorious for thinking in black and white terms, eliminating the possibility that he could consider a more complex solution to the quagmire in Iraq. So he is likely to heed those who want to hit back, and hard. Second, the U.S. military, whose leaders never supported Bush's war, is now in full hoo-ah mode since Fallujah, and wants revenge. So the brass isn't likely to be looking for an exit strategy, only bloodletting. And the neocons themselves are out for blood, demanding what Bill O'Reilly calls the 'second war in Iraq.'... So America is firebombing mosques, surrounding entire cities with armor and barbed wire, and turning a whole nation into a free-fire zone. Bush has unleashed demons that perhaps can't any longer be controlled."

The Chimp-in-Chief likes very simple concepts. So his mouthpieces have reduced the entire Iraqi opposition to one man, Moktada al-Sadr, plus a handful of "thugs, gangs and terrorists." But the NY Times says the CIA believes our enemies are countless. "American intelligence officials now believe that hatred of the American occupation has spread rapidly among Shiites, and is now so large that Mr. Sadr and his forces represent just one element... The Sunni rebellion also goes far beyond former Baathist government members. Sunni tribal leaders, particularly in Al Anbar Province, home to Ramadi and Falluja, have turned against the United States and are helping to lead the Sunni rebellion, intelligence officials say. The result is that the United States is facing two broad-based insurgencies that are now on parallel tracks." Add to this Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and a who's who of Islamic terror groups. Hey Wolfowitz - isn't Democracy in Iraq a joy to behold?

As this report from Al Jazeera shows, the Bush's reliance on force rather than diplomacy is backfiring tragically and perhaps irreparably in Iraq. Now, instead of scattered groups of insurgents, coalition troops are faced with a growing, nationwide network of resistors, with Sunnis and Shi'ites united to fight the "common enemy" - the US. "Protesters answered a call by Muslim groups for a peaceful march to carry supplies to residents of the Sunni town where dozens of Iraqis have been killed since US marines launched an offensive on Sunday against resistance fighters." The protestors reportedly chanted: "No Sunni, no Shia, yes for Islamic unity. We are Sunni and Shia brothers and will never sell our country." Meanwhile, it is our troops who are paying the ultimate price for Bush's endless string of fatal mistakes.

Rahul Mahajan blogs, "Before the Iraq war, at a meeting of the Arab League, Secretary General Amr Moussa famously said that a U.S. war on Iraq would 'open the gates of hell.' In Iraq, those gates are yawning wider than they ever have before - at least for the US. 'Sunni and Shi'a are now one hand, together against the Americans,' a man on the street in the mostly Shi'a slum of Shuala on the west side of Baghdad told me, as we conversed in the shadow of a burnt-out American tank transporter... Everyone in the area agreed that when those forces were driven from Shuala, it was done by Sunni and Shi'a fighting together - and by unorganized local inhabitants, not al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. Whether or not the resistance here grows to a scale that the US cannot control - and this is more in the hands of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani than of Paul Bremer or George Bush - it is already clear that the events of the last ten days mark a critical turning point in the occupation of Iraq."

Juan Cole writes, "The difficulty the US and its allies are having in regaining control of the major cities of the Shiite south is breathtaking in its implications. There is little doubt that they can prevail eventually in a military sense. But if the Sadrist uprising were a minor affair of a few thousand ragtag militiamen, it is difficult to understand how they could survive the onslaught of 150,000... troops for more than a day. Rather, it is clear that urban crowds are supporting the uprising in some numbers. Even when the Coalition puts the uprising down, it may well incur the wrath of many persons who had earlier viewed it with favor. And if the US cannot control Iraq now, when it has its hands directly on all the levers of power, how will it do so in the coming year?... Major fighting in most Shiiite urban areas is unambiguous in its significance. It means Bush's rule of Iraq is FUBAR... The US has managed to create a failed state, similar to Somalia and Haiti, in Iraq."

Eric Alterman writes, "Those awful pictures from Falluja are a necessary part of Americans' education and must be shown to them just as frequently as the deliberate deceptions the media so gullibly passed along when the president was misleading us into war. As horrific and inhuman as these actions may be, Bush asked for this. He invaded another country in near complete ignorance of its history and traditions, in defiance of world opinion, and on the basis of dishonest and trumped-up arguments. What's more, he and Cheney ensured the failure of the post-war plans by refusing even to consult with experts who knew something about the region, even those in our own government. The result has been an unending series of easily predictable catastrophes that are worsening by the day. Knowing the ways of the all-powerful Karl Rove, I predict he will instruct Bush to cut and run before Election Day. The question is, Will Cheney second the motion? Will the media allow them to get away with it?"

Juan Cole writes, "Al-Hayat reports that the Interim Governing Council (IGC) is rejecting any role for the United Nations in overseeing Iraqi elections save that of 'help and consultation'). Iraqi National Congress spokesman Intifadh Qanbar said that the UN delegation was told by the IGC that elections would have to be a purely Iraqi affair, that Iraqis would have to take the leading role in them, and that there would be no UN role in administering elections. He also said that no interference would be brooked from Iraq's neighbors. Qanbar and the INC sharply criticized UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for having opposed the first Gulf War (which aimed at forcing Saddam back out of Kuwait), and blamed him for meeting with Saddam in 1998. He also criticized Brahimi's statement that Iraq might face a civil war."

Sydney Morning Herald reports, "The United States wants to transfer power in Iraq to a hand-picked prime minister, abandoning plans for an expansion of the current 25-member governing council, coalition officials in Baghdad say. With less than 100 days before the US occupation authorities are to transfer sovereignty on June 30, fears of wrangling among Iraqi politicians has forced Washington to make its third switch of strategy in six months. The search is now on for an Iraqi to serve as chief executive. He will almost certainly be from the Shia Muslim majority, and probably a secular technocrat. It is not clear if Iraqi agreement on this issue has been sought. Initial plans for enlarging the existing 25-member governing council, which has the task of appointing the cabinet, have been downgraded in favour of letting the present members get on with their job. Although the council may still be increased, the process need not be tied to the June 30 deadline."

"An aide to Iraq's most influential Shiite Muslim cleric was quoted Saturday as saying that the cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, might issue a religious edict against any Iraqis who join the interim government that is scheduled to take office when the United States transfers sovereignty to Iraq on June 30. Al-Sistani's representative in Kuwait, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Mohri, warned that the edict, or fatwa, would be issued if al-Sistani's demands for changes in the interim constitution adopted earlier this month were not met. Al-Sistani has called for scaling back guarantees of minority rights that were written as an assurance to Iraq's principal minorities, Sunni Muslims and Kurds, who have been concerned at the prospect of domination by the country's Shiite majority."

"The U.S.-led coalition on Sunday shut down a weekly newspaper run by followers of a hardline Shiite Muslim cleric, saying its articles were increasing the threat of violence against occupation forces. Hours after the closure of Al-Hawza, more than 1,000 supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demonstrated peacefully in front of the newspaper's offices, decrying what they called a crackdown on freedom of expression. Dozens of U.S. soldiers arrived at the Al-Hawza newspaper offices Sunday morning and closed its doors with chains and locks, sheik Abdel-Hadi Darraja said... Darraja is a representative of al-Sadr, who has been an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led occupation, but has not called for armed attacks. A coalition letter in Arabic, signed by Bremer, said the paper's articles 'form a serious threat of violence against coalition forces and Iraqi citizens who cooperate with coalition authorities in rebuilding Iraq.' The paper will close for 60 days, the statement said."

"In a recent piece in the Los Angeles Times, military analyst William M. Arkin reported that the Marines being deployed in Iraq this month will bring along the newest high-tech gadget in America's ever-expanding arsenal to try out on whatever resistant Iraqis they may happen to run into... But Arkin asks a crucial question seldom heard these days: 'Is actual combat in a foreign country the appropriate place to test a new weapon?' The military and its industrial partners sure think so. As the fears of the Vietnam era continue to fade, successive, sometimes concurrent wars and foreign adventures provide the means to constantly improve and upgrade weapons, early versions of which are rushed into battle for real-world testing, re-tooling and perfecting on what increasingly seems to be the global assembly line of the military-industrial complex."

The Bush administration's mad pursuit to bring Iraq and its resources under US political control presses forward. The NY Times reports, "With fewer than 100 days to go before Iraq resumes its sovereignty, American officials say they believe they have found a legal basis for American troops to continue their military control over the security situation in Iraq. After months of concern about the legal status of the 110,000 American troops who are expected to remain here after the occupation formally ends on June 30, the officials say they believe an existing United Nations resolution approving the presence of a multinational force in Iraq, approved by the Security Council in October, gives American commanders the authority needed to maintain control after sovereignty is handed back." Rajul Mahajan has extensive analysis at EmpireNotes.org.

"Spain's incoming prime minister resisted U.S. and British pressure Wednesday to keep Spanish troops in Iraq and said they could only stay if the United Nations was given much greater control of the occupation. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss Iraq, and Zapatero's likely foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said he had held firm. Zapatero told them the 1,300 Spanish troops would come home on June 30 unless radical changes gave the United Nations control over security policy and the democratic transition in Iraq, Moratinos said. Zapatero's pledge to pull out the troops has popular support in Spain and Blair appeared to recognize that in their meeting. 'The prime minister said he understood that whichever way the situation moved in Iraq, Zapatero was backed by the Spanish people,' a spokesman for Blair said." LOL!

"U.S. military engineers are overseeing the building of an enhanced system of American bases designed to last for years. Last year, as troops poured over the Kuwait border to invade Iraq, the U.S. military set up at least 120 forward operating bases. Then came hundreds of expeditionary and temporary bases that were to last between six months and a year for tactical operations... Now U.S. engineers are focusing on constructing 14 'enduring bases,' long-term encampments for the thousands of American troops expected to serve in Iraq for at least two years... As the U.S. scales back its military presence in Saudi Arabia, Iraq provides an option for an administration eager to maintain a robust military presence in the Middle East and intent on a muscular approach to seeding democracy in the region. The number of U.S. military personnel in Iraq, between 105,000 and 110,000, is expected to remain unchanged through 2006, according to military planners."

One thing all corporazis have in common is that their number one allegiance, when all the chips are down, is self interest. In addition, like all predators, the corporazis are quick to smell a change in the wind. David Kay bailed early and began to speak out against Bush. Now Jay Garner is trying to rewrite his own history and thus "come up smelling like a rose." Garner, the first choice for Bush as head man in post-war Iraq, says Bush canned him because he wanted free elections and opposed any privatization schemes. Pul-eeze! He was canned as a PR move by Bush because the progressive media IDed him early on as a corporazi of the worst water. (See http://www.newsinsider.org/seal/a_zionist_in_charge_in_iraq.html ) On an upbeat note - we predict more corporazi turncoating as the SS Bush continues to sink.

George Galloway writes in the Guardian: "This notion that sovereignty is being given back to Iraq in June is a hoax. First, this so-called governing council is the not the government of Iraq: it was imposed by the tanks and guns of a foreign invading army which illegally invaded Iraq. Nothing legal can come from something illegal. So the people drawing up the constitution have absolutely no legitimacy whatsoever. Second, they don't plan to give sovereignty back to Iraqis in June, they plan to give some sovereignty back to some hand-picked Iraqis in June, and the Americans will still run the country. The American companies will still be looting Iraq's wealth; the contracts will still be given overwhelmingly to American corporate interests. The Iraqi resistance will continue and intensify in the run-up to June. The Americans are trapped: not able to withdraw and not able to go forward."

NY Times reports, "Spain's opposition Socialists swept to an upset victory in general elections on Sunday, ousting the center-right party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in a groundswell of voter anger and grief over his handling of terrorist bombings in Madrid last week. Those bombings, the deadliest terror attack in Europe since World War II, turned on its head what had been a predictable victory by Mr. Aznar's Popular Party just a few days ago. Some voters apparently believed that Al Qaeda had plotted the attacks to punish Mr. Aznar for supporting the war, which Spaniards overwhelmingly opposed... The Socialist victory was seen as a repudiation of Mr. Aznar, whose party has been in office for eight years, and his close bonds with President Bush. It also posed a new problem for the American-led occupation force in Iraq, where Spain has 1,300 troops, because the Socialists have said they will withdraw them in the absence of a clear United Nations mandate."

"It was almost year ago, on March 20, when the first bombs struck 30km from Baghdad, orange glows that wallowed along the horizon. They came for Baghdad the next day, and the Cruise missiles swished over our heads to explode around the presidential palace compound, the very pile where Paul Bremer, America's supposed 'expert' on terrorism, now works, resides and hides as occupation proconsul over the Anglo-American Raj." A report as only Fisk can do it.

CS Monitor reports: "Once united in opposition to Saddam Hussein's brutal oppression against them, Iraq's Shiites and Kurds appear increasingly divided over how to share the spoils of the new Iraq. Nowhere is that tension more evident than in this oil-rich city in northern Iraq, which many residents fear is about to explode into violence between Kurds and the mainly Shiite Turkmen. In Kirkuk, the unexpected split in the Governing Council has merely exacerbated the deepening distrust between Kurds and the mainly Shiite Turkmens." Worse yet, says the CS report, Shiite and Kurdish militias are beginning to mass, while Shiite tolerance of Kurds and vice versa has been decreased, not increased by the Constitutional process." In short, Bush once again ignored the warning of the UN to tread very slowly and instead opted for a rush-job "constitution signing" photo op moment.

"In Abu Sifa, a sunbaked village north of Baghdad, entire swaths of farmland have been cleared of males -- fathers, sons, brothers, cousins. There are no men to do men's work. Women till the fields, guard the houses and hoist sacks of grapefruit on their backs...Iraq has a new generation of missing men. But instead of ending up in mass graves or at the bottom of the Tigris River, as they often did during the rule of Saddam Hussein, they are detained somewhere in American jails...More than 10,000 men and boys are in custody. According to a detainee database maintained by the military, the oldest prisoner is 75, the youngest 11."

The Guardian reports: "Plans by the US to beef up security on Iraq's borders in the wake of Tuesday's suicide bombings will not be enough to stem the influx of foreign insurgents, experts fear. It will not only require thousands of extra border guards, but improved training, access to technology and political pressure on Iraq's neighbours before the jihadists are halted." In short, this is something that should have been thought about long before the US's "triumphal entry" into Baghdad. "A member of the American-appointed governing council, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday: 'Our joke border security is an invitation for all the trash in the Arab world to come in.'"

"In its effort to relieve overstretched U.S. troops in Iraq, the Bush administration has hired a private security company staffed with former henchmen of South Africa's apartheid regime... 'It is just a horrible thought that such people are working for the Americans in Iraq,' said Richard Goldstone, a recently retired justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and former chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda."

AFP via Khaleej Times: "Turkmen were conspicuous in their absence in Kirkuk on Saturday after they called a general strike, closing down shops and restaurants to demand their political rights. Even police officers stopped work in the community of 250,000 Turkmen, who make up Iraq's third-largest ethnic group. In Baghdad, Turkmen on a hunger strike camped in front of the military headquarters and clashed with US troops. The hunger strikers chained themselves to concrete blocks outside the complex and blocked a military convoy from passing. Soldiers scuffled with the protestors, who eventually returned to their tents."

Cheryl Seal writes, "In every war zone or destabilized country, blackmarket activity, accompanied by the rise of organized crime networks is inevitable. With Iraq's wrecked economy and infrastructure, its pool of captive consumers (the US troops), poor security, and corporations with 'connections,' the blackmarket is flourishing - just as it did in the Balkans in the wake of the wars there. The blackmarketeers have a vested interest in keeping Iraq destabilized and keeping the police weak. Meanwhile, as recent history shows, the likelihood of corporate involvement to some degree is extremely high. Some DynCorp employees were caught blackmarket trading in women and children in Bosnia/Kosovo. Philip Morris and several other corporations were caught in a money laundering scheme in Colombia. Could Halliburton be involved in Iraq's gasoline blackmarket?"

"Thousands of protesters demanding an end to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq took to the streets in downtown Madrid and other Spanish cities Sunday, holding banners reading, 'We are with the Iraqi people, Invaders, out of Iraq.' At Madrid's Plaza Espana square, police said about 10,000 people rallied, while organizers put the number at 100,000. Some young marchers chanted, 'Where are the weapons? They are in the U.S.!' and 'The Popular Party, a criminal party!' in reference to the party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of President Bush's staunchest allies on Iraq and other issues... Smaller rallies were held in Barcelona and Valencia, where demonstrators added the Palestinian cause to their campaign. The protests were timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the first major international anti-war marches before the conflict started last March. Several large demonstrations were held in Madrid before and during the war, attracting between 750,000 and 2 million people."

"The UN threw America's latest political plan for Iraq into disarray yesterday by making it clear that direct elections cannot be held before the June 30 transfer of power to an Iraqi authority," reports Rory McCarthy for the Guardian. "This was a key demand of the Shias, whose leaders set their face against the US plan to give control of the country to panels of 'the great and the good'. Last night the UN envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, said power should still be handed over to the Iraqis this summer as planned. But his aides said there would not be time to hold 'credible elections' before then. He distanced himself from the controversial US plan, hinting that it would have to be drastically rewritten or shelved." The plan was so full of holes that even its creators could not have taken it seriously: "I think the people who put it together realize that it needs at the very least to be improved considerably," said Brahimi.

"Guerrillas overwhelmed an Iraqi police station west of Baghdad on Saturday, meeting little resistance as they went room to room shooting police in a bold, well-organized assault that killed 23 people and freed dozens of prisoners, officials said. The fierce daylight attack in Fallujah raised questions whether Iraqi police and defense forces are ready to battle insurgents as the U.S. military pulls back from the fight in advance of the November U.S. presidential election. Police in the Fallujah station complained they had only small arms -- nothing larger than an automatic rifle in the face of dozens of fighters armed with heavy machine guns, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades. No U.S. forces took part in the battle."

"Retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the former interim administrator of post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Iraq, said Thursday that a U.S. military presence in Iraq should last 'the next few decades,' but questioned the mix of forces already there and current plans to reconfigure the armed forces as a whole. Echoing concerns raised by lawmakers at this week's defense budget hearings, Garner said in an interview with National Journal Group reporters and editors that the size of the Army and Marine Corps should be increased by enlarging the infantry or ground forces. And he warned that the current strain on National Guard and Reserve forces deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan could cripple efforts to retain experienced soldiers."

Bush wants Americans to believe that the escalated violence in Iraq is all about "Al Qaeda," his all-purpose bogeyman. But weeks ago, experts on Iraq were predicting the violence now being seen: "In the past few months, Sunni and Shiite Arabs have clashed in Baghdad. Tensions are also on the rise between Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkomans in the ethnically mixed and oil-rich regions around the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul. The intercommunal strife is aggravated by the aggressive counter-insurgency tactics employed by the US military in the 'Sunni triangle' where most attacks upon occupation soldiers have occurred, occupation policies which seem to favor the Shiites and the Kurds, and the failure of the occupying powers to restore stability." From the Middle East Research and Information Project, January 7, 2004.

The Pentapost reports: "Insurgents in Iraq sought the help of senior leaders of the al Qaeda terrorist network for a plan to spark a 'civil war'... citing a document seized from an al Qaeda courier." How convenient! Almost as convenient as the rescue team "stumbling" on Jessica Lynch! "Their [Al Qaeda's] strategy is to provoke sectarian warfare in an effort to tear this country apart," asserts Dan Senor, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq. Senor is a former lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel lobby on Capitol Hill and former press secretary of Sen. Spencer Abraham, who is now Bush's Energy Secretary (as in oil and gas!). The real reason for looming civil war is Bush, who has made and broken promises to both the Kurds and Shiites, and, say some, seeks to foment continued violence to keep his "war time president" image alive.

"American officials here have obtained a detailed proposal that they conclude was written by an operative in Iraq to senior leaders of Al Qaeda, asking for help to wage a 'sectarian war' in Iraq in the next months... they believe that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian.. suspected [of] ties to Al Qaeda, wrote the undated 17-page document... The document would also constitute the strongest evidence to date of contacts between extremists in Iraq and Al Qaeda. But it does not speak to the debate about whether there was a Qaeda presence in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era, nor is there any mention of a collaboration with Hussein loyalists. Yet other interpretations may be possible, including that it was written by some other insurgent, but one who exaggerated his involvement." There has been no evidence of a link between al-Zarqawi and Saddam -- in fact, al-Zarqawi may be linked to Iran. Bush is a 'uniter, not a divider' -- of terrorists and insurgents against his Iraq occupation.

"The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq is threatening the Iraqi and regional stability by empowering Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups, according to an Arab League report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press... The report, drawn up by an Arab League delegation that visited Iraq in December, is circulating among the 22 members of the Cairo-based Arab League but has not been made public. It reflects concerns among Arab countries that changes in the sharing of power in a post-Saddam Hussein government could give too much authority to the Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups, inspiring those minority groups in neighboring countries to rise up and demand more power... The Arab League delegation, headed by Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed Bin Heli, spent 10 days in Iraq meeting with members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, the Cabinet, religious leaders, tribal chiefs and trade union representatives."

LA Times: "Nearly two months after the capture of Saddam Hussein, the casualty rate among U.S. soldiers and Iraqis in insurgent attacks has accelerated, and much of this nation's Sunni Muslim heartland remains a perilous zone of conflict - with bouts of violence also striking the Kurdish north and the Shiite south. The most recent spate of bloodshed includes bombings last weekend in the northern cities of Irbil and Mosul as well as last month's suicide attack outside the main U.S. compound in Baghdad, blasts that claimed well over 100 lives. Iraqi security forces, civilians and others deemed collaborators are now the major targets, and although attacks on U.S. troops have diminished in number, they remain lethal: 45 soldiers were killed in January, according to unofficial tallies, compared with 40 in December."

"A former Marine guard testified yesterday that it was common practice in Iraq to kick and punch prisoners who didn't cooperate - and even some who did. Lance Cpl. William S. Roy, granted immunity for his testimony, said guards often abused prisoners at the Camp White Horse detention center. Roy testified on the sixth and last day of a preliminary hearing in the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, an Iraqi prisoner at Camp White Horse. Although guards beat and choked Hatab and although he died in their custody, Col. William Gallo, the investigating officer, said he had not seen evidence to substantiate charges of negligent homicide against two Marines in the case: Maj. Clarke Paulus and Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez."

"James Schlesinger, former secretary of defense and energy, was one who did personally brief administration officials. Mr Schlesinger, who co-chaired the independent 'task-force' set up by the CFR, said 'nobody' believed oil revenues would support reconstruction costs. But there was an expectation the industry could be revived more quickly than has proved the case. 'There was a great deal of optimism about likely expenditures. I don't know if they didn't want to face up to realities, or come clean with their gloomier forecasts,' he told the FT [Financial Times], referring to the administration's own internal studies... The CFR study also noted that by late February, the Pentagon had still not worked out its plans. Mr. Feith was quoted as saying: 'We do not have final decisions . . . on exactly how we would organize the mechanism to produce and market the oil for the benefit of the people of Iraq.'"

"Two suicide bombers with explosives wired to their bodies struck the offices of the country's two main Kurdish parties in nearly simultaneous attacks Sunday, killing at least 56 people and wounding more than 235 in the deadliest assault in Iraq in six months. Elsewhere, an American soldier was killed and 12 were wounded in a rocket attack on a logistics base in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. The death raised to 523 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq conflict began in March. The attacks in the Kurdish heartland took a heavy toll among senior leaders of Iraq's most pro-American ethnic group."

"Two suicide bombers struck the offices of two US-backed Kurdish parties in near-simultaneous attacks today as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday," reports the Scotsman. "At least 56 people were killed and more than 235 were wounded, officials said. One Kurdish minister said the death toll could exceed 100. The attack was believed to be the deadliest since a car bombing in August in the holy city of Najaf killed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 100 others as they emerged from Friday prayers." Many experts in the CIA, NSA and even Paul Bremer himself have expressed fears that civil war could erupt over conflicts centered around Kurdish self rule and Iraqi elections.

"Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Baghdad, yesterday declared that the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) and its affiliates which use northern Iraq as a safe haven would be treated as terrorist organisations by coalition troops... In a deal reached last October to facilitate Turkey's agreement to sending peacekeepers to Iraq, the US said it would 'subdue the terrorist threat that might exist in this area', ... General Ilker Basbug, the number two at Turkey's General Staff, said on January 16: 'Our view is that the US must start some military actions against the [PKK] terror group within a short space of time.'" The problem is no one knows what the Iraqi Kurds will do. Would they intervene to support their fellow Kurds?

"A massive military rotation now under way in Iraq calls for more than 200,000 U.S. troops to trade places as fresh divisions of soldiers and Marines begin a second year of American presence in the fractious nation," reports Newsday. "Now comes word that the Army may need to keep tens of thousands of soldiers in Iraq through 2006. Already, senior military leaders are worried that the sheer scope of the current move, unprecedented since World War II, will leave U.S. troops crisscrossing Iraq more vulnerable to attack and increase bloodshed. Outside Iraq, the supply of combat-ready troops available for a major conflict elsewhere will dip. The equivalent of eight-and-a-half of the Army's 10 active-duty divisions will be on the move through May."

"How long it would take to generate paper lists of Iraqis over voting age, according to province, district, or other consituency? Ahmed Al-Mukhtar, a director general in Iraq's Ministry of Trade, does a quick calculation "We have eight printers, and each prints 1600 lines per minute. Let's see. It would take three weeks - less if we got more printers," he says. Iraq has no up-to-date census, which US officials have given as a prime reason for opposing direct elections later this year. But Mr al-Mukhtar says Iraq has something even better: a database for a national food rationing system which has been in place since sanctions were imposed in 1990 -- Iraq is perhaps the only country with a food rationing programme open to the entire population, and Mr al-Mukhtar estimates that 96-98 per cent of all Iraqis in the country are on it."

"It is estimated that 50 percent of the work force is unemployed, 60 percent of the population lives under the poverty line and the inflation rate is around 15 percent a month," reports the Daily Star. "It is not unusual to see children in the street picking through garbage to get their daily meals. Meanwhile, budgets and plans to pour billions of dollars in the country during the next few months are being drawn up by both the US and international financial institutions. The question is: How and when will these funds reach the ordinary Iraqi citizen?" Never, as long as Bush refuses to rein in the corporate carpetbaggers

A senior defense analyst who recently returned from Iraq says U.S. commanders there expect attacks by insurgents to last through 2005… Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon official, says the stubborn fighting shows the resistance runs deeper than just those loyal to Hussein. "People are not loyal to Saddam as much as loyal to their own view of nationalism or the Baath (Party) or being Sunni (Muslim) - or seeing themselves threatened and occupied."

Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraq authorities..."I think the list is true," Naseer Chaderji, a Governing Council member, said. "I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted." At present there is almost a war of documents under way as Iraqis come to the realisation that they could be used as blackmail or as a settling of scores. And the leak of the documents could be a manipulation by the US-backed authorities in Iraq to discredit France.

Billmon reports from Davos: "Kofi Annan has agreed to send a UN team to Iraq to mediate the dispute between the Americans and the Ayatollah Sistani... Annan made his announcement after his meeting with Chirac, which suggests that something indeed may be up. Annan explicitly ruled out a 'blue hat' peacekeeping operation -- one directly under UN supervision and control. So it may be that the outlines of a deal, one that would bring France and Germany into the mix while keeping military control firmly in Donald Rumsfeld's hot little hands, is beginning to take shape... When [Senator Biden] mentioned to Bush that Chirac had sent out a feeler, Biden said, the reaction was along the lines of 'maybe we'll sit down and talk about it -- some day.' But, of course, Biden is probably one of the last guys the administration would tell if it was serious about talking Chirac up on his offer."

"On January 16, the Iraqi Women's Organization and women's rights activists held a conference in response to the December 29, '03 decision by the Iraqi Governing Council to pass a bill canceling the 'Personal Status Law,' a set of rules that has long provided opportunities for and protected the rights of women here. The cancellation of this law would mean that Iraqi women will have to rely on religious institutions for personal issues such as marriage and divorce, rather than being allowed to use civilian courts for these matters. It is seen by many as a step toward the implementation of fundamentalist Islamic law.... The US occupation command (CPA) in Iraq has stated that it will not endorse the decision by the IGC because it would deprive women of their rights. L. Paul Bremer must sign off on decisions in order for them to take effect. The CPA also has the power to overrule decisions of the IGC, but has yet to overrule the recent decision, nor stated as to whether they will do so."

"An influential Sunni Muslim group in Iraq said yesterday it was opposed to partial elections scheduled for the summer and wanted a vote taken only when American forces had left the country. The opposition of the newly organised Council for Sunnis in Iraq represents another dilemma for the US-led administration in Baghdad, which is already under pressure to rewrite its political programme in Iraq a second time. Earlier this month, officials at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) began to reconsider their idea of regional caucuses to select a new government because of criticism from a powerful Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who demanded democratic direct elections. Sabah al-Qaisi, one of the founders of the Sunni council, told the Guardian that his members would not accept any elections organised by the US-led authority." So reports the UK Guardian.

From the Education for Peace in Iraq Center: "In his State of the Union address, Bush failed to take responsibility for U.S. failures in Iraq, or address the realities that U.S. soldiers and the people of Iraq face today. Ignoring the lessons of history and the warnings of advisors, Bush failed to prepare for postwar Iraq. As a result, he is responsible for not preventing the widespread civil disorder that destroyed much of Iraq following the fall of Baghdad. Bush is responsible for putting ideologues at the Pentagon in charge of nation-building in Iraq, a job that neither they nor the Pentagon have adequate experience or expertise in. And he is largely responsible for failing to create a stable political transition in Iraq. From Bush's claim that 'no one can now doubt the word of America' to the idea that 'the people of Iraq are free', EPIC analyzes this year's State of the Union address. Read our response."

The Independent reports: "Iraqi Kurds, the one Iraqi community that has broadly supported the American occupation, are expressing growing anger at the failure of the United States and its allies to give them full control of their own affairs and allow the Kurds to expel Arabs placed in Kurdistan by Saddam Hussein. Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told The Independent in an interview that the Kurds had been offered less autonomy 'than we had agreed in 1974 with the regime of Saddam Hussein'. There are the seeds here for a savage ethnic conflict. The Arabs and Turkomans in Kirkuk are frightened. Many of the Arab settlers have been there for more than a generation and it is not clear where they would go. The last year has seen a number of small-scale but bloody clashes." Hmm...funny, the US media never mentioned that "little detail."

As Americans flood Iraq's airwaves with radio stations playing harmless Western and Arab pop tunes, the young are turning elsewhere for their musical inspiration. They turn to artists like Sabah al-Jenabi who sings: "America has come and occupied Baghdad. The army and people have weapons and ammunition. Let's go fight and call out the name of God." Banned from the air, such songs are proving increasingly popular in the CD and tape shops of Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi.

"The weapons expert David Kelly believed Saddam Hussein was less of a threat before the Iraq invasion last year than he was 10 years ago, and could only use his supposed weapons of mass destruction in 'days or weeks', rather than 45 minutes as the Government has claimed. Dr Kelly's views were revealed yesterday in a hitherto unshown interview with BBC's Panorama, which took place just a month after Tony Blair made the 45-minute assertion in his dossier last September. Dr Kelly, who allegedly killed himself after being revealed as the source for Andrew Gilligan's report that the Government had 'sexed up' the dossier, believed Iraq was a real threat. But he also maintained British intelligence had major gaps in knowledge about the country's WMD, and that Saddam would only use them if he was attacked as a last resort." So reports the UK Independent.

"Guerrillas have attacked an Iraqi police post with assault rifles and a grenade, killing two policemen and a civilian, hours after a mortar attack on a US base killed two soldiers and wounded another. Insurgents also opened fire on a bus carrying Iraqi women home from work at a military base west of Baghdad, killing four women and wounding six others. All the attacks were in the volatile 'Sunni triangle' region around Baghdad. The latest upsurge of violence came amid US talk of handing over political power to an Iraqi administration later this year and a dispute over whether this should be done before or after elections are held." So reports New Zealand News.

A team of investigative reporters in Iraq have uncovered a pattern of waste and abuse among U.S. companies receiving multi-billion-dollar reconstruction contracts in the country, including massive over-charges for projects; shoddy work or a failure to complete tasks; and ignoring local experts who contend they could do the job better and cheaper... Among the findings: Despite over eight months of work and billions of dollars spent, key pieces of Iraq's infrastructure -- power plants, telephone exchanges, and sewage and sanitation systems -- have either not been repaired, or have been fixed so poorly that they don't function.

Prime Minister "Erdogan said the government supports that 'Iraqis determine Iraq's future,' and added that, in the event of disintegration in Iraq, neighboring countries will intervene. He said: 'Syria and Iran think the same as well. I say with sincerity that Iraq's freedom is our greatest priority. Disintegration of Iraq means instability for us.'"

Dilip Hiro writes, "Although Bush dropped the earlier plan of having Iraq's Constitution framed by a committee of 'experts,' he and Bremer have been unwilling to let Iraqis elect the provisional assembly to take over sovereignty from the CPA by July 1. The reasons offered--electoral rolls not being up to date and ration-card identification disenfranchising returned exiles--are spurious. Since every Iraqi carries an ID giving name, address and age, and since the 250 parliamentary constituencies are demarcated and have been used five times between 1980 and 2000, there is no need for updated electoral rolls or the use of ration-card IDs. At an estimated 250,000, the number of Iraqi returnees is a mere 1% of the population. Washington's real reason for depriving Iraqi voters of the right to elect the transitional assembly lies in a poll by the Baghdad-based Center for Research and Strategic Studies, which found that 56% of respondents wanted an Islamic Iraq."

The UK Guardian reports: "The international news agency Reuters has made a formal complaint to the Pentagon following the 'wrongful' arrest and apparent 'brutalisation' of three of its staff this month by US troops in Iraq. The complaint followed an incident in the town of Falluja when American soldiers fired at two Iraqi cameramen and a driver from the agency while they were filming the scene of a helicopter crash... [The] US soldiers... put bags over their heads, told them they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, and whispered: 'Let's have sex.' At one point during the interrogation, according to the family of one of the staff members, a US soldier shoved a shoe into the mouth one of the Iraqis. The US troops... also made the blindfolded journalists stand for hours with their arms raised and their palms pressed against the cell wall... One source said. 'It was pretty grim stuff. There was mental and physical abuse.' He added: 'It makes you wonder what happens to ordinary Iraqis.'"

As long as Bush can claim a "war time" situation exists in Iraq, the US can ignore the Geneva Convention on civilian "combatants," and direct responsibility for the welfare of Iraqis. Bush can also justify oil-protecting troops. Now the US has taken actions guaranteed to create an explosive situation: granting Kurds, who make up 15% of Iraqis, federal sovereignty now, while the rest of Iraq must wait until 2005 or beyond. "Arabs, Turkmens, Sunnis and Shi'ites have expressed vociferous opposition to a federal system for Kurdish Iraq," reports the Asia Times. "Iraqi Shi'ites have vehemently rejected the Kurdish-proposed federalism of Iraq. A representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq Sheikh Sadrudin al-Qabanji says. 'The first and foremost priority should be given to our main goal - the independence of Iraq. Our Kurdish brothers should bear this in mind.'"

By all rights, Iraq, in need of extensive reconstruction, should have a booming economy - at least an abundance of jobs, from laborers to electricians. But the only people who appear to be getting jobs are workers imported by Halliburton, Bechtel, and SAIC. The anger of Iraqis at this situation is increasing. This week, protests against joblessness ended in injuries: "At least seven Iraqis were wounded when a protest against unemployment in southern Iraq turned violent on Tuesday...It was the fourth day of protests in the Shiite south over a sluggish job market and endemnic poverty, while Iraq's leading Shiite cleric was standing firm on his demands for elections before the end of the US occupation."

Erich Marquardt writes for PINR: "The capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on December 13 offered a glimmer of hope for the U.S.-led coalition that the insurgency against their occupation would soon begin to crumble and possibly even spontaneously implode. Now, three weeks later, it is clear that the insurgency is plowing ahead, apparently unaffected by the capture of Iraq's former strongman."

Bush is trying to talk the UN into coming back into Iraq - but only as a superficial PR strategy (75% of Americans still believe the UN should be part of the peace process). "U.S. officials concede that they have no intention of assigning the UN sufficient independence in Iraq to negotiate new terms for the political transition," reports the Pentapost. Instead, "they want the organization to participate in drafting an interim constitution and help organize regional caucuses." Bush also wants the UN to urge groups outside the political process to support the U.S. plan - the same groups, like the Shiites, Bush policy has severely alienated. In short, Bush simply wants to use the UN to make him look better and clean up some of his mess and run interference with other nations - yet not grant any real power. Such a deal!

David Newsom writes, "Today's debate over bringing democracy to the Muslim Middle East often centers on whether the region is 'ready for democracy.' Another question is equally valid: 'Is the United States ready to tolerate democracy?' ...In their plans for a transition in Iraq, coalition authorities are making every effort to ensure that such a government will not emerge. The US commitment to democracy would quickly lose credibility if transition efforts are accompanied by conspicuous machinations to produce friendly regimes...Democratic France's rebuff of the US preemptive action against Iraq was met with infantile responses: French fries became freedom fries. Angry words were directed at the Germans for their opposition. Americans felt particularly offended when a traditional ally, Turkey, would not let US troops cross its territory to attack Iraq. In each case, democratic processes were at work."

"Two Democratic senators asked the U.S. occupation authority in Iraq on Wednesday to explain its intended purchase of up to 50,000 AK-47 assault rifles for Iraq security forces, when they said the country is filled with such weapons. The September solicitation to contractors sought prices for up to 50,000 'brand new, never fired, fixed stock' weapons made in 1987 or later. 'We question whether this is an efficient use of U.S. taxpayer dollars in a country already awash with AK-47s, many of which have been confiscated by coalition forces and are sitting in stockpiles,' Sens. Byron Dorgan (ND) and Ron Wyden (OR) wrote L. Paul Bremer III... Wyden added, 'If the answers are unsatisfactory, the two us will consider going to the Senate floor and offering an amendment' to cut reconstruction funds." Just what Iraq needs - more assault weapons to kill American soldiers! Memo to Dem campaign strategist: It's the WAR PROFITEERING, STUPID!

"Military police are investigating the death of a young Iraqi man, who allegedly died after being beaten by British soldiers in Basra, the Ministry of Defence said last night. The Independent on Sunday reported that, according to military and medical records, he was among eight Iraqis arrested, kicked and assaulted by British troops. Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist who was the son of an Iraqi police colonel, died in September, three days after he and seven colleagues were arrested and placed in military custody. His body was returned to his family covered in bruises and with his nose broken. They have refused $8,000 in compensation and plan to take the MoD to court."

Reuters: "The police chief investigating the deaths of an Iraqi family gunned down in their car in northern Iraq said on Monday he was convinced U.S. troops were responsible, although the army has denied involvement. Tensions have been rising in Tikrit... since the bodies of the family were found on a nearby highway on Saturday. Coalition forces said the bodies were of a man, a woman and a child. General Mazhar Taha al-Ganaim, police chief of Salahaddin province, said four people were killed -- two men, a woman and a nine-year-old boy. A fifth man who survived and was taken to Tikrit hospital has told local soldiers the car was fired on by a U.S. Army convoy. Mazhar said he had interviewed other witnesses and was '100 percent' sure this was true. 'The civilian car tried to by-pass the convoy. Because they tried to by-pass, they (the army) opened fire,' Mazhar said... The machine gunner on the rear vehicle of the convoy must have suspected the car posed a threat, he said."

"Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said today that British troops would stay in Iraq for years, perhaps as late as 2007, to help restore that country's security and stability. In an interview on BBC radio, Mr. Straw said he could not offer a precise time for the withdrawal of the troops. 'I can't say whether it's going to be 2006, 2007,' he said, but added, 'It's not going to be months, for sure.'"

When Sherman said, "War is hell" -- he knew what he was talking about. After all, he was the man whose men burnt, looted, killed, and raped their way through Georgia in the Civil War's largest-scale show of excessive force. Now, trapped in Iraq in a war with no justification other than oil, US soldiers are becoming dehumanized. "Master Sergeant Lisa Girman. Girman was found guilty of dereliction of duty and maltreatment of an Iraqi detainee 'by knocking him to the ground, repeatedly kicking him in the groin, abdomen and head and encouraging her subordinate soldiers to do the same,' an army statement said. Girman was stripped to the rank of private." Outrageously, Girman was not even court-martialed! Shows just how low the moral standards of the Bush Pentagon have sunk.

"Nine months after the end of Saddam Hussein's regime and his feared intelligence force, Iraq is to get a secret police force again - courtesy of Washington. The Bush Administration will fund the agency in its latest bid to root out the Baathist loyalists behind the insurgency in parts of Iraq. The force will cost up to $3 billion over the next three years. Its ranks will comprise Iraqi exile groups, Kurdish and Shiite forces - and former [Saddam] agents who are now working for the Americans. CIA officers in Baghdad will play a leading role in directing them... Although officially banned by the CPA, militia groups are already patrolling in Iraq, resulting in an increasing death toll of top former Baathists. The US hopes to organise the various groups into one force with the local knowledge, motivation and authority to hunt down resistance fighters. According to Washington, the new agency could number 10,000. Initially, salaries will be paid by the CIA, which has 275 officers in Iraq."

The UK Guardian reports: "Mohammad al-Faysal pointed to a picture of his father hanging in their darkened living room. 'They arrested him on May 24. He didn't surrender. After the war he stayed in this house for two weeks. Nobody came. He then moved to the house of one of our relatives. US soldiers burst in suddenly, ordered everyone to lie on the floor, and handcuffed him and the other men in the room, and took them away.' He added: 'We haven't seen him since.' Dr Faysal's father - Sa'ad Abdul Majid al-Faysal - is a former Iraqi ambassador to Russia. But he is also the three of spades: number 55 in Washington's pack of playing cards of the 55 'most wanted' members of Saddam Hussein's regime... The Americans are believed to be holding several hundred prominent figures at their military base at Baghdad international airport... With some of the detainees in prison for eight months without charge, the airport base is rapidly turning into an Iraqi version of Guantanamo Bay, they say."

Robert Fisk writes: "Major-General Khalaf al-Alousi, a former director of the secret police in Baghdad, was assassinated on a Sunday afternoon this month when he visited a home he was renovating in Yarmouk... The guard on the house, Wisam Eidan, had earlier found the men in the yard. 'One of them showed me an ID written in English with his picture, and he told me, 'don't argue with the CIA and keep your mouth shut'.' In fact, al-Alousi's family suspect Iranian agents were responsible. He was, they said, in contact with the American-created Governing Council. Was he just a marked man? Or did he know too much - about Saddam's enemies, about the Iranian secret police, or about the American intelligence services which, after all, co-operated with al-Alousi and his comrades between 1978 and 1990?"

Erich Marquardt writes: "On December 9, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet approved a plan to send upwards of 1,000 troops from Japan's Self Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq in a mission that will last between six months and one year. The troops, which are considered non-combat personnel, will be pursuing humanitarian goals, such as rebuilding schools, boosting medical services, and upgrading Iraq's dilapidated infrastructure. Despite their humanitarian mission, the Ground Self Defense Force will be equipped with armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons. There will also be contributions from the Air Self Defense Force, which plans on sending up to eight aircraft. The Koizumi cabinet's decision is significant since it is the country's most ambitious military operation since World War II... Japan is considered a peaceful state that has repudiated war since its surrender in the fall of 1945; Japanese troops have not set foot in a war zone since."

The Boston Globe reports: "The Pentagon has frozen new funds approved for Iraqi reconstruction amid growing allegations of corruption and cronyism associated with the rebuilding process. Companies eager for a stake in the $18.6 billion in fresh postwar funds that Congress approved in November have been told not to expect requests for proposals from the Defense Department, the first step in the kind of ambitious redevelopment slated for the war-torn country. The freeze will almost certainly mean the United States will not issue new contracts until well after the initial Feb. 1 target date."

"Since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq last spring, 18 soldiers and 2 Marines have committed suicide, most of them after major combat was declared over May 1... Experts have said the rate is alarmingly high compared with the military's average suicide rates. A report by a 12-member team of military and civilian mental health professionals... is expected to be released after the holidays. Independent experts said they hope the team's report offers some insight into the suicides. Did they result from personal issues, such as the loss of close relationships, or from legal and financial matters? Or did they involve larger, more sensitive issues about the U.S. mission in Iraq? Those broader questions relate to the morale of soldiers in Iraq, many of whom have complained of a long deployment. And they bear upon whether the Bush administration is over-straining its standing army with such practices as deploying soldiers, such as Suell, on consecutive tours with insufficient family time."

AFP reports: "Iraq's interim trade ministry is investigating alleged corruption of up to $US40 million by members of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and senior ministry officials. Trade minister Ali Allawi says he discovered a month ago that a contract for wooden doors worth about $US80 million had been manipulated. 'I think a third of it was stolen,' he said, specifically estimating that 'probably around 30, 40 million' disappeared. Mr Allawi said the allegations mainly involve 'contract manipulation and ... contract prioritisation' which he has asked a prosecutor to investigate. 'There is strong evidence ... of the implication of certain individuals, senior management who have since been asked to leave, together with, unfortunately, figures in the CPA,' said Mr Allawi... 'If the evidence is confirmed then obviously I'll bring charges,' he said... Mr Allawi said Paul Bremer, who heads the CPA, has asked each ministry to appoint an inspector general."

Josh Marshall writes: "This is an unfortunate passage. It comes from David Brooks' column in tomorrow's Times: 'But ours is the one revolution that worked, and it did precisely because our founders were epistemologically modest too, and didn't pretend to know what is the good life, only that people should be free to figure it out for themselves. Because of that legacy, we stink at social engineering. Our government couldn't even come up with a plan for postwar Iraq - thank goodness, too, because any 'plan' hatched by technocrats in Washington would have been unfit for Iraqi reality.' I don't know where to start. The failure to do proper planning for post-war Iraq, it turns out, wasn't a matter of hidebound ideologues who ignored and attacked expertise and experience. It was the happy result of America's tradition of non-ideological pragmatism. This is screw-up laundering with a spritz of history tossed on."

"Insurgents using car bombs, mortars and machine guns launched three coordinated attacks in the southern city of Karbala on Saturday, killing 11 people -- including six Iraqi police officers and four coalition soldiers, military and hospital officials said. Two of the four coalition dead were from Thailand. An Iraqi civilian also was killed. The attacks also wounded at least 172 people, with U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt saying 37 of them were coalition soldiers, including five Americans. Some 135 Iraqi police officers and civilians also were wounded, said Ali al-Arzawi, deputy head of Karbala General Hospital. 'It was a coordinated, massive attack planned for a big scale and intended to do much harm,' Maj. Gen. Andrzej Tyszkiewicz, head of the Polish-led multinational force responsible for security around Karbala, said from his Camp Babylon headquarters in comments carried on Polish television."

"When US CentComm has good news to report in Iraq, as it did after troops from the 4th ID captured Saddam Hussein, it adores the media. But journalists say that when there's bad news--a helicopter crash, a mortar attack--they are increasingly being blocked from covering the story by US soldiers, who frequently confiscate and destroy their film disks and videotapes. This happened to Detroit Free Press photographer David Gilkey while covering the crash of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying thirty-six US soldiers, shot down near Fallujah on November 2. His film disk was erased by a soldier from the 82nd Airborne, who then forced Gilkey and other journalists on the scene to a site twenty miles away. 'Listen, I have respect for these guys,' Gilkey says of the soldiers. 'I truly understand that they are upset, and angry, that they've lost friends. The point is, however, you don't have the right to take disks and clean them. When did that become standard operating procedure?'"

"U.S. construction giant Bechtel, a firm with a major contract to help rebuild Iraq, planned to hire 'non-U.S. suppliers of technology' so it could evade economic sanctions imposed by Washington after Saddam Hussein used poison gas against Iraq's Kurdish minority [in 1988], according to a newly declassified document. In April 2003 Bechtel was awarded one of the largest contracts to date by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for infrastructure repair work in U.S.-occupied Iraq. The deal is worth an initial payment of 34.6 million dollars and up to 680 million dollars in total. Bechtel maintains that it has always respected and complied with U.S. government prohibitions in Iraq, but the uncovered document shows how its officials were prepared to challenge even its Washington allies to retain its business."

"CARLSON: Well, actually, I didn't deal with a lot of soldiers... We stayed in a house in Baghdad and saw almost no soldiers... In the drive from Kuwait into Baghdad, I didn't see a single American soldier from the Kuwait border all the way until I got to the CNN bureau at the Palestine Hotel. Driving around Baghdad, which we did a lot every day, I didn't see any, none, not one American soldier. It was really striking... The green zone is essentially the neighborhood where Saddam Hussein kept his palaces, wide streets, lovely area... And it's essentially an American zone, heavily fortified, hard to get in, tanks around the perimeter, parts of it anyway, and many American soldiers there, and also the CPA... And that's...very different than the rest of Baghdad, which, again, there's not an obvious American presence. I saw one American flag, one, when I was there for the entire week. And it was at the Baghdad International Airport on the fourth floor in the bar. And that was it."

"Pipelines carrying crude oil to refineries in central Iraq were attacked, exacerbating the fuel shortage facing ordinary Iraqis, as US troops intensified a crackdown on anti-American guerrillas across the country. Iraq's interim Oil Ministry said two pipelines feeding refineries in the center of the country were attacked Friday night, worsening the fuel and power crisis plaguing the country. Three anti-tank rockets hit a pipeline south of Baghdad on Friday night, causing a 'significant' leakage, while an explosive device struck another pipeline in the Mashahda region, 50 kilometers north of the capital, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP on Sunday. The twin attacks have limited the output of the central refineries, already operating at half their capacity, said Jihad without providing further details."

Philip Gourevitch: "Such is the bind that the Bush Administration has led us into in Iraq. Appalling, intolerable-in all senses, maddening-as the terrorist tactics of the Iraqi insurgents may be, their truck bombs, donkey-cart missile launchers, and sniper rifles are tactical political instruments that have steadily and systematically succeeded in isolating American forces in Iraq. They have effectively driven the UN, the Red Cross, and other aid groups from the country, and-more disastrously-they have fostered a mutual sense of alienation between the American forces and the Iraqi people they are supposed to be liberating. Right now, there is no Iraqi state and, in the absence of an Iraqi leader, Bush holds power. Of course, Iraqis won't get to vote for him when they do eventually go to the polls, and for that, at least, he can be grateful... [Bush] cannot afford to lose Iraq. What is less obvious, with the guerrillas setting the agenda, is what the price would be to win it."

AP: "The new Iraqi war crimes tribunal includes provisions taken from the International Criminal Court, which the United States vehemently opposes - an irony that the international court's supporters have been quick to note. The statute establishing the Iraqi Special Tribunal was approved by the Iraqi Governing Council and signed into law on Dec. 10 by L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, on behalf of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority. It has come under intense scrutiny because members of the Iraqi Governing Council said this week that the Special Tribunal would try Saddam Hussein, though the United States says no decision has been made. The statute for the Iraqi tribunal has been published and was distributed to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte [who should be tried in the ICC for aiding and abetting Honduran Death Squads], prompting comparison with the 1998 Rome statute that created the International Criminal Court."

"The most recent poll conducted in Iraq to gauge the feelings that the populace holds toward the U.S.-led coalition should act as an alarm bell for policymakers in Washington. Oxford Research International, together with Oxford University's Department of Sociology, conducted the poll in the months of October and early November. The poll found that Iraqis are quickly becoming disenchanted with the U.S.-led coalition... Surprisingly, while less than 1 percent of Iraqis lament the fall of Saddam, about the same number believe that the U.S.-led reconstruction is what Iraqis need most in the next 12 months. Furthermore, only 1 percent of Iraqis fear a withdrawal of U.S.-led forces... When asked to rate their confidence in eleven listed organization -- such as the Iraqi Governing Council, the new Iraqi army, and the United Nations -- the U.S.-led coalition garnered the least support out of the eleven."

"All the shades are drawn in Raba's house on a wide residential street in one of Baghdad's more affluent neighborhoods. Small daughters and nieces streak through a well-appointed living room as their young mothers and aunts sip Pepsi from cans and make wry comments in the darkened space. None of these women leave this home, even so many months after the war came to its so-called end. And Raba, a usually spunky twentysomething, is afraid even to stand in her own doorway. 'Before the war we were out until 2 o'clock in the morning all the time,' she says. 'Now I don't even bother to put on my shoes.' Millions of women have found themselves living under such de facto house arrest since the coalition forces claimed Baghdad in April... The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is treating a growing human rights crisis for women as an extracurricular issue at best, leaving women at the mercy of thugs on the streets and the religious parties that have rushed into the political vacuum."

American Prospect "has learned that part of a secret $3 billion in new funds-tucked away in the $87 billion Iraq appropriation that Congress approved in early November-will go toward the creation of a paramilitary unit manned by militiamen associated with former Iraqi exile groups. Experts say it could lead to a wave of extrajudicial killings, not only of armed rebels but of nationalists, other opponents of the U.S. occupation and thousands of civilian Baathists-up to 120,000 of the estimated 2.5 million former Baath Party members in Iraq... The plan is part of a last-ditch effort to win the war before time runs out politically. Driving the effort are U.S. neoconservatives and their allies in the Pentagon and Dick Cheney's office, who are clearly worried about America's inability to put down the Iraqi insurgency with time to spare before November... The covert money will support U.S. efforts to create a lethal, and revenge-minded, Iraqi security force." Impeach Bush NOW!

Robert Fisk writes, "While Washington and London were still congratulating themselves on the capture of Saddam Hussein, US troops have shot dead at least 18 Iraqis in the streets of three major cities in the country. Dramatic videotape from the city of Ramadi 75 miles west of Baghdad showed unarmed supporters of Saddam Hussein being gunned down in semi-darkness as they fled from Americans troops. Eleven of the 18 dead were killed by the Americans in Samarra to the north of Baghdad. All the killings came during demonstrations by Sunni Muslims against the American seizure of Saddam, protests that started near Samarra on Monday evening. The first demonstrators blocked roads north of Baghdad when armed men appeared alongside civilians who believed - initially - that US forces had arrested one of Saddam's doubles rather than the ex-dictator of Iraq. But their jubilation turned to fury when the Americans opened fire in Samarra a few hours later."

"Bush's special envoy on Iraq won agreement Tuesday from Germany and France, two of the most ardent opponents of the American-led war, to ease Baghdad's huge debt burden... James A. Baker III overcame serious misgivings during a meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder about the U.S. exclusion of German firms from Iraqi reconstruction... Details of how much debt would be restructured and canceled were left for further negotiations. Iraq owes $40 billion to the United States [does that include the $2 Billion that Poppy Bush and Baker left the taxpayers holding after Hussein welched on his US loans for his arms deals?], France, Germany, Japan, Russia and others in the 19-nation Paris Club... The White House... gave no indication that debt forgiveness could result in a slice of the reconstruction deals... [but Scott McClellan added] 'If additional countries want to join the efforts... in the overall reconstruction, then circumstances can change.'' No doubt Baker made some promises...

From Crossfire: "CARLSON: I just got here, so I don't know much about the security situation other than people act like it's very dangerous. We heard gunfire within moments of getting to Baghdad... I went with Kelly McCann, a CNN contributor, and guys who work for him, mostly ex-Special Forces. We drove about 100, 120 most of the way, heavily armed. Pulled over for gas at one point. There are these enormous gas lines here, four-mile long gas lines in some cases. Pulled in, you know, nine armed guys with machine guns got out of our cars, out of our convoy, sort of took over the gas station, you know, blocked off entrance, searched cars, looked through cars, that kind of thing, while we filled up. People seem like it's threatening. One of the guys I was traveling with is a former Marine recon guy, Special Forces guy, who spent five months in Somalia in the early '90s. And he said he believed after living here for six months that it's more dangerous than Mogadishu, is what he said."

Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger, writes: "I first heard it in a taxi. It kind of reminded me of the time when I would get in a taxi a year ago and get the fright of my life because the driver had a tape of a sermon by Shia clerics on. The 'correct' thing to do was to ask the driver to turn it off, you know, just in case the driver was actually secret police and this was a test. Yes, paranoia ruled. Anyway, I got into a taxi a couple of days ago and the first thing out of the car speakers was: 'The men of Falluja are all as brave as wolves./They hit in the darkest nights with great precision./The sun of freedom will never set down on them./They fight in the name of Allah, followed by a big army."

Matthew Riemer writes for PINR: "In response to numerous guerrilla strikes in early November -- the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the onset of the war in Iraq -- the U.S. leadership initiated a new hard-line policy regarding security in the occupied country. Originally dubbed Operation Iron Hammer, the new approach to the emboldened insurgents was decidedly proactive, with U.S. forces attacking and destroying what were believed to be guerrilla camps and bases, as well as supply centers. Since then, areas generally considered to be civilian have also been subject to a more aggressive security philosophy... Additionally, increasingly aggressive security measures levied on Iraqi towns and civilians may be alienating an unacceptable amount of citizens. Most recently, U.S. forces have begun surrounding entire villages that appear to be harboring guerrillas, or from which mortar fire has come, with barbed wire fences."

"Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution and James Lindsay of the Council on Foreign Relations write in Newsday, yesterday's extraordinary events 'represent an opportunity to get Iraq right by ending the American occupation quickly and bringing the international community in to help build a stable, secure, and representative Iraq.'... Reuters reports, 'joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein has given way to resentment towards Washington as Iraqis confront afresh the bloodshed, shortages and soaring prices of life under U.S. occupation.' While 'many were ecstatic to see Saddam in the dock and hoped he would answer for his deeds,' some 'said they would not rush to thank America - in their eyes the source of their problems since a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam in April.' AFP reports Arabs throughout the world 'shared little of the world's joy over Saddam Hussein's capture, expressing hope only that US troops may soon end their occupation of Iraq.'"

Robert Fisk writes, "In Fallujah, in Ramadi, in other centres of Sunni power in Iraq, the anti-occupation rising will continue. The system of attacks and the frighteningly fast-growing sophistication of the insurgents is bound up with the Committee of the Faith, a group of Wahabi-based [Iraqi] Sunni Muslims who now plan their attacks on American occupation troops between Mosul and the city of Hilla, 50 miles south of Baghdad. Even before the overthrow of the Baathist regime, these groups, permitted by Saddam in the hope that they could drain off Sunni Islamic militancy, were planning the mukawama - the resistance against foreign occupation... The Anglo-American narrative will then be more difficult to sustain. Saddam 'remnants' or Saddam 'loyalists' are far more difficult to sustain as enemies when they can no longer be loyal to Saddam. Their Iraqi identity will become more obvious and the need to blame 'foreign' al-Qa'ida members all the greater."

"Iraq specialist Juan Cole: 'Those (Shiites) who dislike U.S. policies or who are opposed to the idea of occupation no longer need be apprehensive that the U.S. will suddenly leave and allow Saddam to come back to power. They may therefore now gradually throw off their political timidity, and come out more forcefully into the streets when they disagree,' Cole wrote on his website Sunday... 'They are fighting for local reasons. Some are Sunni fundamentalists, who despised the Ba'ath. Others are Arab nationalists who weep at the idea of their country being occupied. Some had relatives killed or humiliated by U.S. troops and are pursuing a clan vendetta. Some fear a Shiite and Kurdish-dominated Iraq will reduce them to second-class citizens.' Both this thesis, as well as the administration's continued insistence that the insurgency consists mainly of Saddam and Ba'ath loyalists, criminals, and foreign 'jihadis', will be tested in the coming weeks and months."

"Amnesty International has expressed concern to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council about the decision to establish an Iraqi special tribunal that was taken without prior consultation with the Iraqi civil society or the international community. 'We have been urging that the proposals to establish the tribunal be subject to widespread consultation within Iraqi civil society, especially the legal profession and human rights groups, as well as the international community,' said Amnesty International today. 'Unfortunately, the draft statute of the tribunal was not made public before its adoption.' Under international humanitarian law, the authority of the CPA as an Occupying Power to establish a tribunal of the scope envisaged for the Iraqi special tribunal is doubtful at best." And may very well be illegal.

Lloyd Hart writes: "I find it very interesting that just a few days after the American appointed governing council in Iraq votes to begin a tribunal for Iraqi war criminals (even though no constitution has been ratified that could legitimize any form of Judiciary in Iraq) Saddam Hussein conveniently shows up. The U.S. must of had Saddam Hussein on ice as the Bush regime pressed the governing council to put together the so-called human rights tribunal. The question I have is, if Milosevic can be sent to The Hague why can't Saddam? Unfortunately the murder of 30,000 plus Iraqi civilians in order to take control of the 'oil' using Saddam Hussein as the demon that both Bush regimes focused on to distract us from the real goal, 'oil', is a human rights violation comparable to any thing Saddam Hussein may have committed himself along with his regime members."

"With controversies swirling over the activities of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Inside the Pentagon newsletter reports, 'Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz directed a newly formed inspector general's office in Iraq not to request sensitive information about Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) activities.' Inspectors general 'are a mainstay of U.S. government, intended to identify and prevent waste, fraud and abuse in federal activities.' In the Defense Department, 'that means auditors with appropriate clearances have access to all internal information deemed necessary to carry out their duties. However, Wolfowitz has directed the new IG to refrain from requesting sensitive information about operations, intelligence or criminal.'"

Greg Palast writes, "Well, ho ho ho! It's an early Christmas for James Baker III. All year the elves at his law firm, Baker Botts of Texas, have been working day and night to prevent the families of the 9-11 victims from seeking information from Saudi Arabia... It's tough work, but this week came the payoff when Bush appointed Baker, the firm's senior partner, to restructure the debts of the nation of Iraq. And who will net the big bucks under Jim Baker's plan? Answer: his client, Saudi Arabia, which claims $30.7 billion due from Iraq plus $12 billion in reparations from the First Gulf war... Should Iraqis today and those not yet born have to be put in a debtor's prison to pay off the secret payouts to Saddam? James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, says 'No!'... Iraq should simply cancel $120 billion in debt. Normally, the World Bank is in charge of post-war debt restructuring... Bush has rushed Baker in to pre-empt the debt write-off the World Bank would certainly promote."

Paul Krugman writes: "James Baker sets off to negotiate Iraqi debt forgiveness with our estranged allies. And at that very moment the deputy secretary of defense releases a 'Determination and Findings' on reconstruction contracts that not only excludes those allies from bidding, but does so with highly offensive language. What's going on? Maybe I'm giving Paul Wolfowitz too much credit, but I don't think this was mere incompetence. I think the administration's hard-liners are deliberately sabotaging reconciliation."

A "former high-level Democratic executive branch appointee" writes: "Baker knows - as does presumably the vigilant Rove who has perhaps arranged this supplanting of Rumsfeld, Powell, Bremer, and Rice - what it will take to get this Administration out of Iraq. Baker has to pull off a trifecta: (1) involve Europeans (and perhaps Indians) in an indefinitely long occupation of a country they did not want invaded, (2) bring in enough non-American troops to create an appearance of stability by next summer, and (3) enable President Bush to announce with a straight face at the Republican Convention next September that 'progress' will permit him to withdraw virtually all American troops soon after his second inauguration. This deal will be as much appearance as substance. In return for playing their part in the President's re-election, our 'allies' naturally will ask for a great deal of... money. " In Baker's hands, one thing will NOT be in Iraq's future: ELECTIONS.

The horrors of war, as broadcast on CNN: "CNN REPORTER CROWLEY: Wounded, another Iraqi writhes on the ground next to his gun. The Marines kill him -- then cheer. RIDDLE: Like, man, you guys are dead now, you know. But it was a good feeling. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire! UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah! CROWLEY: When the battle is over and you are still standing, the adrenalin rush is huge. RIDDLE: I mean, afterwards you're like, hell, yeah, that was awesome. Let's do it again." WARNING: This video should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Juan Cole writes, "CNN reports that the first new battalion of the Iraqi army being trained by the US has collapsed, with nearly half of recruits having resigned. Apparently poor pay ($60 a month) is one of the big complaints. But surely a further motive is their increasing suspicion that the same guerrillas who have wounded 10,000 US troops and killed hundreds will put them through the meat grinder as soon as they are deployed."

CNN reports, "About 300 of 700 members of the new Iraqi army have resigned, citing unhappiness with terms, conditions and pay and with instructions of commanding officers, a representative of the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday." And BushFeld can say with a straight face that we're making progress rebuilding Iraq? Send Bush, Rumsfeld, and the rest of these comic fools to Iraq - and bring our troops home!

"Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. While the official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent with around 9 900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000 private military contractors now on the ground. The investigation has also discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In 1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and women; now there are 10. The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat, occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without it."

AP reports, "The Pentagon has formally barred companies from countries opposed to the Iraq war from bidding on $18.6 billion worth of reconstruction contracts. A directive from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz limits bidders on those 26 contracts to firms from the United States, Iraq, their coalition partners and other countries which have sent troops to Iraq. The ruling bars companies from U.S. allies such as France, Germany and Canada from bidding on the contracts because their governments opposed the American-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein's regime."

From the UK Guardian: "Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders. 'This is basically an assassination programme. That is what is being conceptualised here. This is a hunter-killer team,' said a former senior US intelligence official, who added that he feared the new tactics and enhanced cooperation with Israel would only inflame a volatile situation in the Middle East. 'It is bonkers, insane. Here we are - we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams.'"

UK Guardian reports, "Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has sent urban warfare specialists to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the home of US special forces, and according to two sources, Israeli military 'consultants' have also visited Iraq... 'This is basically an assassination programme. That is what is being conceptualised here. This is a hunter-killer team,' said a former senior US intelligence official, who added that he feared the new tactics and enhanced cooperation with Israel would only inflame a volatile situation in the Middle East. 'It is bonkers, insane. Here we are - we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams.'"

New York Times: "Underlying the new strategy, the Americans say, is the conviction that only a tougher approach will quell the insurgency and that the new strategy must... make clear to ordinary Iraqis the cost of not cooperating. 'You have to understand the Arab mind,' Capt. Todd Brown said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. 'The only thing they understand is force - force, pride and saving face.'" Nico Pitney writes, "I wonder what renowned Arab Mind expert Capt. Todd Brown would think of a person who said this? Arab or non-Arab? (Identities withheld in case anyone else wants to take a guess...) ''We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins,' [--] told [some people while waiting to get his picture taken with a rubber turkey].' Only understands force, pride, and saving face... hmm.... I think I know!"

"As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in. The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories... an Iraqi man named Tariq muttered in anger. 'I see no difference between us and the Palestinians,' he said. 'We didn't expect anything like this after Saddam fell.'" Is this the "freedom" that Bush (now) says he invaded Iraq for? Impeach Bush Now!

"Bush on Friday called on a longtime family troubleshooter, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to oversee the job of getting Iraq out from under its crushing $125 billion debt... 'The future of the Iraqi people should not be mortgaged to the enormous burden of debt incurred to enrich Saddam Hussein's regime,' Bush said." Hey Bush, Jim Baker helped Saddam accrue that debt, with loans through the Dept. of Agriculture, under the specific direction of your Daddy! Bush-Baker were leaders of the Iraqgate scandal -- in which arms, including Weapons of Mass Destruction, were sold to Saddam Hussein! Baker and your Daddy left the American taxpayer holding $2 billion in Iraqi debt with their weapons sales! And now you are putting this crook in charge of handling Iraq's debt? Baker is the family 'fixer' -- such as his key role as the spokesman for Bush's election theft -- and his law firm is representing Saudi royals in the 9/11 lawsuit! (Enter 'iraqgate' 'baker' in Google).

The UK Independent reports: "Pressure is mounting on the United States military to support its claim to have killed 54 Iraqi guerrillas in the biggest battle since George Bush declared an end to major combat seven months ago. Scepticism about the US's version of the death toll has been expressed within upper echelons of the occupation authorities. A US combat leader who was involved in the battle has also denounced the military's account of the battle... Iraqi hospital officials and police say the death toll was far lower - eight with some 55 injured. Iraqi residents have given conflicting and inconsistent accounts of the battle including an erroneous claim that a mosque was hit by an American missile... The credibility of the US military was dented in April after it supplied inaccurate information about the killing of 14 Iraqis in Fallujah by the 82nd Airborne Division, when its soldiers opened fire on demonstrators."

Reuters: "When U.S. soldiers found explosives in the house of Aziz Abdel-Wahhab and his elderly wife during a raid, they proposed swift and direct punishment -- demolishing the building... A crowd had gathered by the time Abdel-Wahhab emerged on crutches with his wife Bushra. 'Tell him we found enough explosives to flatten this neighborhood,' a soldier ordered one of the army translators. The toothless old man could hardly talk, but mumbled a few words about his son Adel... In a tactic used by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but new to Iraq, a bulldozer was positioned in front of the house ready to destroy it... [Bushra decided to offer US forces information.] 'OK, I'm not gonna destroy the house. Just the front, as a show of force,' Rohling announced, at which the bulldozer brought down the front wall of the compound and Bushra was bundled into a Humvee. 'All of this is a crime against me after all the hardship I've suffered in life,' the old woman muttered."

"One thousand and seven hundred U.S. soldiers have deserted their posts in Iraq, with many of them failing to return to military duty after getting permission to go back to the United States, according to the French weekly magazine Le Canard Enchaine. The magazine, known for its satires and exposes, said the French intelligence agency obtained the information from what it described an 'American colleague.' Citing a senior French official posted in Washington, the magazine also said that 7,000 U.S. soldiers have left Iraq allegedly due to psychological troubles and other illnesses. Some 2,200 others sustained serious injuries including the loss of limbs, it said." Before any Iraq War deserters are prosecuted, can we first bring Bush up on charges for deserting his National Guard post during Vietnam? (See awolbush.com)

Nomi Prins writes: "Scrounging up money for anything Iraq-related has been the Bush administration's most consistent economic policy. And it's been ridiculously easy ever since Congress blessed the first 'emergency package' defense budget addendum in April. Fast forward eight months, and the latest $87-billion injection that went predominantly into the Iraq black hole puts the total sum of 'liberation and reconstruction' funds at more than a quarter- trillion dollars, roughly the combined annual revenue of IBM and General Electric... Perhaps it's no surprise that complete financial statements on Iraq haven't been disclosed. After all, we're dealing with the same crew that hasn't indicted Enron's Ken Lay or WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers. But, by not producing comprehensive and transparent records, the Bush administration is shirking a major domestic and international oversight responsibility."

The UK Independent reports: "The United States abruptly changed course over Iraq yesterday, urging Nato to prepare for a key role in the country next year, as Washington turned to its European allies to share the burden of the troubled military occupation. With the Bush administration making little secret of its desire for an Iraq exit strategy, the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, suggested that the transatlantic alliance make a start by taking over one of four military zones now led by Poland, possibly next summer... The position of France, most likely to oppose a Nato role, remained unclear. Without a fresh UN mandate some policy-makers in Paris may resist an alliance deployment." Can you believe this? As a shill for Bush, Colin Powell lied before the UN about Iraq WMDs. When most refused to buy the Bush con job, especially France and Germany, the Busheviks started a campaign of xenophobia -- especially against France and Germany. Now they are begging NATO for help!

Dick Feagler writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he thought it was marvelous that George W. Bush was going to Iraq. "But then my spirits sank. It turned out he was coming back." Feagler is outraged that the Warmonger-in-Chief used the soldiers in Iraq for a photo-op -- but then got to go home when they have to stay and be cannon fodder in a war that Bush started without justification. He is even more outraged that "we - a lot of us in America - don't care." Mr. Feagler is right. Where's the outrage?

The UK Guardian reports: "Iraqi officials in Samarra yesterday challenged US military accounts of a bloody battle on Sunday, accusing American soldiers of spraying fire at random on the city streets, killing several civilians. US army spokesmen claimed that up to 54 Iraqi guerrillas had been killed when they tried to ambush two armoured convoys bringing new banknotes to two Samarra banks, triggering the biggest pitched battle in Iraq since May 1, when President George Bush declared 'major combat operations' over... On Sunday Col Rudesheim put the Iraqi death toll at 46 but that was raised to 54 yesterday by a more senior US spokesman, Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, at a Baghdad briefing. He said 22 Iraqis had been wounded and one taken prisoner. But the colonel conceded that the figures were a rough estimate based on battlefield reports."

"Nearly four out of five Iraqis (78.8%) have little or no confidence in occupying U.S. and British forces... Almost three-quarters of respondents lack confidence in the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority. But only around a fifth of Iraqis questioned said they trust political parties, according to Oxford Research International, the British-based consultancy that led the survey of 3,244 people aged 15 and over... Asked how much confidence they had in U.S. and British forces in Iraq, 56.6% of respondents said they had none at all and 22.2% said they didn't have very much confidence, while only 7.6% had 'a great deal.'... When people were asked to name the best thing that had happened to them in the last 12 months, by far the most common response - with 42.3% of answers - was the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime... But when asked to name the worst thing that had happened to them in the last 12 months, 35.1% cited the war, bombings and defeat."

In March 2002, Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld declared, "I don't do body counts." But now, the Pentagon is not just doing body counts, but revising them upwards -- from 46 Iraqis killed after ambushing a U.S. patrol to 54. (And Iraqi civilians are saying that, at most, 8 or 9 of the attackers were killed.) Good morning, Iraqnam!

Billings Gazette: "Neither the Pentagon nor the news media are giving the American public an accurate picture of the situation in Iraq, which is 'a nightmare,' says a soldier who is about to go back. 'It's nothing like what the people back home have been hearing,' Army Sgt Michael Badgley Jr. said. 'They're saying the war's over. The war's not over. Now, it's more of a guerrilla war.' But despite the problems... allied forces seem to be accomplishing some great things, he said. 'The waste and frustration, everything that goes on over there, it's just a nightmare,' Badgley said... Some of the troops in Iraq have been told they are there only to provide numbers, and there are more troops in Iraq than there are jobs for them, he said. 'Morale over there is very low.'... Badgley said he hears about humanitarian projects the United States and its allies are doing, but in his seven months in Iraq he hasn't seen a single food or water distribution point set up or a school being constructed."

"Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed, wounded, injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq since the war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to the Pentagon. Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers. Military officials deny they are fudging the numbers. But the latest figures show that 9,675 U.S. troops have been killed, wounded, injured, or become sick... Nancy Lessin of Boston, the mother of an Iraq war veteran and co-founder of Military Families Speak Out: 'We really think there's an effort to hide the true cost in life, limb and the mental health of our soldiers... There's a larger picture here of really trying to hide and obfuscate what's going on, and the wounded and injured are part of it.'"

Erich Marquardt writes: "On August 19, a truck bomb devastated the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, in the worst attack ever committed on a U.N. civilian complex in the history of the [UN]; more than twenty people were killed... On October 12, many people were killed in a blast outside the Baghdad Hotel... Two days later, a car bomb exploded outside the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad, killing 17 people... Finally, on November 12, insurgents in Iraq used a truck bomb to make a devastating strike on the Italian Carabinieri base in the southern city of Nasiriyah, killing 19 Italians. All of the preceding attacks are part of a simple strategy aimed at isolating the United States in its occupation of Iraq. By striking devastating blows against countries supporting the U.S. occupation of Iraq, insurgents believe that they will be able to limit the support that other countries and organizations supply to Washington. Judging by the reaction from victims of these attacks, the insurgents are correct."

Erich Marquardt writes for PINR: "Whether or not Washington is able to bring stability to Iraq before the U.S. public becomes disenchanted with U.S. objectives there largely depends on the size and capacity of the guerrilla movement. General Abizaid claimed on November 13 that the insurgency against the U.S. occupation 'does not exceed 5,000.' Yet, at the same time, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released a report, titled 'appraisal of situation,' written by the CIA station chief in Baghdad, which contradicted Abizaid's claims, warning that the insurgency could contain 50,000 guerrillas. Furthermore, the CIA report concluded that more and more ordinary Iraqis were siding with the insurgency due to their disillusionment with the U.S. occupation and because of the instability plaguing the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's hold on power."

Associated Press: "A U.S. commander warned troops Thursday to watch their friends because suicides were on the rise. 'Check on your buddy,' Lt. Col. Harry Nantz told soldiers Thursday, urging them to be vigilant for signs of depression. Since April, at least 17 Americans -- 15 Army soldiers and two Marines -- have taken their own lives in Iraq, the military said. At least two dozen noncombat deaths, some possible suicides, are under investigation, according to a review of Army casualty reports. The military sent a 12-person mental health team to Iraq to see what can be done to help troops cope with anxiety and depression. The team completed its mission and is expected to make recommendations soon."

Washington Post: "More U.S. troops have died in Iraq in November than in any month since the war began in March, according to Defense Department figures. With November nearly over, the official death count yesterday stood at 79, surpassing March (65) and April (73), when the invasion was underway and fighting was most intense and widespread. The surge has reflected an increase in the effectiveness and the frequency of guerrilla attacks... At one point during the month, military officials reported that the number of guerrilla attacks was averaging more than 40 a day. In response to the heightened activity, U.S. troops intensified their tactics, engaging in a stronger show of force that included greater use of artillery, tanks, attack helicopters, F-16 fighters and AC-130 gunships to pound targets throughout central Iraq. The move was followed by a drop in the rate of assaults on U.S. forces to fewer than 30 a day."

"The current president of the council, Jalal Talabani, [met last week] in Najaf with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. The senior Shiite cleric declared his opposition to the latest Bush administration plan, which calls for carefully vetted caucuses to be held in Iraqi provinces during the spring, leading to a constitutional assembly. Sistani insisted that the body drafting a new constitution be democratically elected, rather than chosen by the occupation regime. An aide to Sistani, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a member of the Governing Council, told the press, 'Some Iraqis perceive the process as being too rushed to fit the American presidential elections.' Even Chalabi concurred in this assessment, saying of the US timetable for the constitutional process: 'The whole thing was set up so President Bush could come to the airport in October for a ceremony to congratulate the new Iraqi government. When you work backwards from that, you understand the dates the Americans were insisting on.'"

Al Jazeera: "A series of shocking pictures revealing US soldiers tying up Iraqi women and children in their own home has provoked international outrage. The occupying forces have now come under renewed fire for their treatment of ordinary Iraqis as shown in the pictures published today by Aljazeera.net. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is conducting an investigation and seeking advice before taking further action. 'This kind of image increases resentment of American troops in Iraq and can also play a major part in demoralising troops who are having to tie up small children. We are seeking to raise this issue further in the appropriate arena,' said Washington CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. A spokesman for the London-based Islamic Observation Centre said the pictures showed a 'complete disregard for the human rights of the Iraqi people'. He added: 'A normal human being should be repulsed by the very idea of tying up children.'"

Jim Lobe writes: "International human rights groups are raising new questions about US counterinsurgency tactics in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In a letter sent to Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld late last week, Amnesty International asked whether the US military has adopted a policy of demolishing houses of the families of suspected insurgents in Iraq. At the same time, New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR) dispatched a letter to the US Commander in Afghanistan regarding the status of military investigations announced over the past 11 months into the deaths of three suspected Taliban members while they were in US custody... Amnesty said it had learned that at least 15 houses have been destroyed by US forces since November 16 in or near Tikrit alone. In one case, in the village of al-Haweda, a family was given five minutes to evacuate their house before it was razed to the ground by tanks and helicopter fire."

AP reports: "Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied U.S. soldiers from a wrecked vehicle and pummeled them with concrete blocks Sunday, witnesses said, describing the killings as a burst of savagery in a city once safe for Americans. Another soldier was killed by a bomb and a U.S.-allied police chief was assassinated. The U.S.-led coalition also said it grounded commercial flights after the military confirmed that a missile struck a DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday at Baghdad International Airport with its wing aflame... In Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, a bomb exploded at an oil compound, injuring three American civilian contractors from the U.S. firm Kellogg Brown & Root. The three suffered facial cuts from flying glass, U.S. Lt. Col. Matt Croke said. KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, also has a significant presence at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, which was rocketed by insurgents Friday, wounding one civilian."

Inter Press Service reports: "U.S. officials and the contractors working for them favor a few high-profile Iraqi companies they trust, and set excessively high contract standards that most Iraqi companies cannot meet, they say. U.S. officials have reportedly allowed some companies closely associated with the former regime to win lucrative contracts. U.S. officials deny most of the charges. They say some of the frustration comes because Iraqis do not understand legal obligations... USAID contracts are awarded through the Bechtel Corporation. Army contracts are awarded primarily through the Halliburton Corporation, which Vice President Richard Cheney headed until he moved to the White House. Some CPA contracts are awarded through Halliburton, but it has also signed some of its own agreements. The total value of the contracts awarded has not been made public, but sources in Baghdad put the figure above $10 billion."

The Moonie UPI reports: "American's top man in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, last week fired 28,000 Iraqi teachers as political punishment for their former membership in the Saddam Hussein-dominated Baath Party, fueling anti-U.S. resistance on the ground, administration officials have told United Press International... The Central Command spokesman attributed the firings to 'tough, new anti-Baath Party measures' recently passed by the U.S.-created Iraqi Governing Council, dominated by Ahmed Chalabi, a favorite of administration hawks in the White House and Pentagon. 'It's a piece of real stupidity on the part of the neocons to try and equate the Baath Party with the Nazis,' said former CIA official Larry Johnson. 'You have to make a choice: Either you are going to deal with Iraqis who are capable of rebuilding and running the country or you're going to turn Iraq over to those who can't.'"

Phyllis Bennis writes:" Facing the most serious escalation in U.S. casualties in Iraq, with the New York Times proclaiming 'Iraq Policy in Crisis,' and with the specter of Viet Nam-style quagmire hovering over the 2004 elections, the Bush administration has issued two major policy pronouncements. One was the November 6 speech on democracy in the Middle East, the other a high-profile timetable for ostensibly turning some authority over to Iraqis. Both statements are critical. The first lays out the administration's official new rationale for the Iraq war--designed to divert public attention from the lies regarding weapons of mass destruction. The second is primarily the Bush campaign effort to convince Americans the U.S. will not be bogged down in Iraq by July 2004, just five months before the elections. The effect of the shift will be to abandon even the current claim of 'democratization' in Iraq in favor embracing the Iraqization of the U.S. war."

Mike Hammerschlag writes: "As distasteful as it is, it seems clear America is going to be driven out of Iraq, within 9-15 months. This country won't endure 2 or 5 or 20 dead Americans a day forever, and Karl Rove may pull the plug on Iraq at any time to save Bush's plummeting reelection hopes. It's likely a rushed Iraqi-ization of the war and pullout of Americans will occur -- but what comes after will be a bloodbath. Since WW1, Iraq rulers have come from the 15-20% Arab Sunni minority, who maintained savage control over the 60-65% Shiite majority and the 19% Kurdish non-nation (who are Sunni, but never part of the leadership). The second the American military presence is removed, the thousands of Shiite militiamen will fight the trained Sunni Iraq Army and Baathists in a Civil War that could be Bosnia across a country the size of California, Beirut in a place with the second largest oil reserves; maybe even the mass slaughters of Rwanda."

"Army planning for Iraq currently assumes keeping about 100,000 United States troops there through early 2006, a senior Army officer said Friday. The plans reflect the concerns of some Army officials that stabilizing Iraq could be more difficult than originally planned. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, warned that maintaining a force of that size in Iraq beyond then would cause the Army to 'really start to feel the pain' from stresses on overtaxed active-duty, Reserve and National Guard troops... The Pentagon has said it will reduce the American military presence in Iraq to 105,000 by May from 130,000 now... White House and Defense Department officials have insisted political considerations played no role in the Pentagon's decision to reduce the force that is rotating into Iraq next spring to replace troops that have been there a year."

Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., commander of the 82nd Airborne Division is also chief of Anbar province, where there is a bastion of armed resistance against U.S. occupation forces. Yet much of Swannack's time is spent trying to figure out what to do about damaged power plants and other technical matters that are beyond his background. The Bush Pentagon is now plugging an increasing number of US officers into jobs that should be held by Iraqis or trained UN officials. This is outrageous for three reasons: 1. Troop strength in Iraq is slim enough in the face of growing attacks without pulling soldiers off military details; 2. Soldiers aren't trained in these areas, so reconstruction is being set way behind schedule, 3. The Pentagon is using these soldiers as "free" slave labor for Halliburton and the other corporations who will reap the benefits of work they should be financing themselves in many cases.

Reuters: "The U.S. military's code name for a crackdown on resistance in Iraq was also used by the Nazis for an aborted operation to damage the Soviet power grid during World War II. 'Operation Iron Hammer' this week launched the 1st Armored Division's 3rd Brigade into the roughest parts of Baghdad to ferret out the attackers who have killed scores of U.S. troops since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was ousted in April. A Pentagon official said the name was chosen because of the 'Old Ironsides' nickname of the 1st Armored Division. He was unaware of any connection to any Nazi operation. 'Eisenhammer,' the German for 'iron hammer,' was a Luftwaffe code name for a plan to destroy Soviet generating plants in the Moscow and Gorky areas in 1943, according to Universal Lexikon on the www.infobitte.de Web site."

WashPost: "Frustrated by a persistent insurgency, the U.S. military has surrounded ousted president Saddam Hussein's birthplace with concertina wire, issued identification cards to all male residents and begun controlling access to this wealthy enclave of Hussein relatives on the outskirts of Tikrit. The latest attempt to root out those planning and financing attacks on U.S. soldiers began almost three weeks ago, when Lt. Col. Steve Russell and two rifle companies from the Army's 4th Infantry Division showed up here at midnight, cordoned off the town and began uncoiling the razor-sharp wire. Three days later, Auja had become, in effect, a reverse 'strategic hamlet': Instead of forcing peasants into new villages surrounded by barbed wire to separate them from insurgents, as U.S. forces had done during the Vietnam War, Russell encircled an existing village with barbed wire to keep the wealthy insurgents inside and under control."

"Italy's representative on Iraq's Coalition Provisional Council has resigned in protest at what he said were disagreements over the US-dominated council's policies in the country, press reports said here Monday. 'I am in deep disagreement with the policies of the coalition, whether they be about the economic reconstruction of the country or about the democratic transition,' Marco Calamai told Italian newspapers. 'The provisional authority is not working,' said Calamai, Italy's representative on the council headed by the American Paul Bremer. 'To my mind, only a new, United Nations driven international plan giving Europe a greater role can improve the situation which is seriously compromised at the moment.' 'Projects which have been implemented are not working and the Iraqis are more and more furious,' he said. 'This social unrest can only encourage terrorism.'"

"Americans agreed to a kind of quasi democracy on the 'Afghan model.' This involves selection of delegates for a National Assembly by tribal leaders and 'notables' in Iraq's 18 provinces. That body in turn would form a provisional government of elites by next June that will 'assume full sovereign powers for governing Iraq,' according to an agreement released Saturday. This is to be followed by a constitutional convention, a referendum and then national elections - but not until 2005-06." Sure - unless future Residents Jeb Bush, Noelle Bush, and Jenna Bush put elections off until 2666.

"You get a sense that things are deteriorating into 'Hail Freedonia'-like proportions in Iraq when Bush's administration starts talking about using Afghanistan as a role model for democratic reform. Wouldn't that be a bit like looking to Jeffrey Dahmer for home entertainment advice? Geez, Tampa City Councilman John Dingfelder wields more political clout than Hamid Karzai, who rules firmly - with more body armor than Sir Lancelot, protected by Special Forces, the Sixth Fleet, the Strategic Air Command, Rambo and The Untouchables - over his front porch. Isn't it amazing, and sad, that the only consistent voice with any credibility when it comes to Iraq has been 20-year-old Jessica Lynch, the former Army private who has resisted efforts by the Pentagon to turn her into a Sgt. York of the Persian Gulf? Nearly 400 U.S. body bags later, the White House is only now concluding that it installed Spanky and Our Gang to run Iraq, led by Ahmad Chalabi, the Dennis Kozlowski of the Sunni Triangle?"

Max Boot writes for Rupert Murdoch's Weekly Standard. Now he's writing frequently for the NY Times, which (as with David Brooks) refuses to reveal his Murdoch connection. Boot advocates a new assassination campaign for Iraq, modeled on programs like the infamous Operation Phoenix in Vietnam (sounds like Murd[er]och values!). "Excessive brutality can be counterproductive in fighting an insurgency (as the French discovered in Algeria), but there is also a danger of playing by Marquess of Queensbury rules against ruthless opponents." What a disgusting argument. How can we possibly bring "democracy" to Iraq through mass murder? Bring our troops home - send Bush to Iraq!

The NY Times helped Bush take America to war on a mountain of lies. But now the Times has soured on Bush's miserable failure at nation-building. "Iraqis are growing weary of American occupation and the White House argues that they will not tolerate the current situation long enough for a constitution to be prepared. That is the precise reason that the job should be turned over to the United Nations. The United Nations has far more international experience, credibility and reputation for neutrality in these matters than the United States does. There is certainly no guarantee it can succeed. There is only the certainty that the Bush administration, which has made all the wrong bets so far, does not have any better options." Amazingly, the Times has embraced the position of Dennis Kucinich: "UN in and US out." Of course, the Times does not credit Kucinich for being the first political leader to take this position. There's a word for taking someone's ideas without credit: Plagiarism.

From Business Week: "To anyone who knows the history of Iraq, the fierce resistance directed at the American forces occupying the country will come as no surprise. America's British allies encountered an early 20th-century version of the same when they attempted to cobble three Ottoman provinces into an Iraqi nation between 1914 and 1932. Like their British counterparts in the 1920s, American policymakers failed to understand that by invading Iraq they weren't so much liberating a bunch of democrats-in-waiting but stirring up a hornets' nest. Saddam was a brutal leader, but he needs to be placed in the context of Iraqi history. Saddam, writes Dodge, a fellow at London's Royal Institute of International Affairs, 'must be understood less as the cause of Iraq's violent political culture and more as the symptom.'"

Erich Marquardt has written a new analysis for PINR on the recent developments in Iraq. The analysis points out the following: Resistance against U.S. forces has been increasing. The U.S. response to this resistance -- using overwhelming force -- will only escalate attacks against the U.S. occupation. Furthermore, U.S. attempts at 'Iraqification' may fail for the same reason that U.S. attempts at 'Vietnamization' failed in the 1960s and 1970s.

"In two separate letters to the Pentagon, the press claims that U.S. troops are harassing journalists in Iraq and sometimes confiscating equipment, digital camera disks and videotapes. The Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) wrote a letter of protest to Larry Di Rita, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs... The harassment has deprived 'the American public of crucial images from Iraq in newspapers, broadcast stations and online news operations.'... Separately, 30 media organizations, lead by The Associated Press, fired off their own letter to Di Rita, saying they have 'documented numerous examples of U.S. troops physically harassing journalists,' according to a report... The letter was signed by representatives from CNN, ABC, The Boston Globe, Newhouse News Service, and many others. 'It's back to the bad old days where journalists are being treated as adversaries,' AP Washington Bureau Chief Sandy Johnson told the Globe."

The U.S. death toll in Iraq has surpassed the number of American soldiers killed during the first three years of the Vietnam War, the brutal Cold War conflict that cast a shadow over U.S. affairs for more than a generation. A Reuters analysis of Defense Department statistics showed on Thursday that the Vietnam War, which the Army says officially began on Dec. 11, 1961, produced a combined 392 fatal casualties from 1962 through 1964, when American troop levels in Indochina stood at just over 17,000. By comparison, a roadside bomb attack that killed a soldier in Baghdad on Wednesday brought to 397 the tally of American dead in Iraq, where U.S. forces currently number about 130,000 troops -- the same number reached in Vietnam by October 1965... Recent opinion polls show public support for the president eroding as he heads toward the 2004 election, partly because of public concern over the deadly cycle of guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings in Iraq."

"In a blow to U.S. hopes for more support in rebuilding Iraq, Japan on Thursday delayed sending troops and other American allies altered plans after a surge in anti-coalition violence. South Korea decided to cap its possible troop deployment at 3,000, rebuffing Washington's request for a bigger force. Denmark said Thursday it would not, for now, send more soldiers. And nations such as France that opposed the war that ousted Saddam Hussein again declared that the U.S.-led coalition's postwar plan must be changed."

NY Observer reports that the Coalition Provisional Authority "has severely limited access to key officials in the provisional government. In an effort to stanch the flow of reporting on [insurgent attacks], sources said, morgues and hospitals in Baghdad have become impenetrable to reporters. Reporters have found their access to police stations cut off. When access is granted, reporters said, the C.P.A. often assigns 'minders' to accompany them... Contractors working on rebuilding projects, sources said, have been told not to speak to journalists without prior C.P.A. approval... Following a less-than-positive story, reporters often find their phone calls go completely unanswered. There have even been charges that reporters whose work is viewed as unfavorable or unflattering to the ongoing operations in Iraq have been blackballed at the Republican Palace. 'People joke that it's just like the old days,' one Baghdad-based reporter said."

PR Watch sums up a recent Village Voice piece: "The U.S. sponsored Iraqi Media Network -- planned to include a 24-hour satellite channel, two land-based TV channels, two radio channels, a national newspaper and studios in every major Iraqi region -- promises Iraqis 'comprehensive, accurate, fair, and balanced news.' The Village Voice's Cynthia Cotts reports, however, that IMN already faces credibility issues. Budgeted at $100 million (part of the $87.5 billion approved for Iraq), the project's money will flow through the Defense Department's Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict division, which also handles military psy-ops. 'Critics say the network's mission is weakened by its contradictory goals. So far IMN is touted as both the voice of an occupying military force and an inspiration for Iraqis to produce fair and balanced news coverage. But many Iraqis have already dubbed the network a propaganda organ.'"

"The White House yesterday drew up emergency plans to accelerate the transfer of power in Iraq after being shown a devastating CIA report warning that the guerrilla war was in danger of escalating out of US control. The report, an 'appraisal of situation' commissioned by the CIA director, George Tenet, and written by the CIA station chief in Baghdad, said that the insurgency was gaining ground among the population, and already numbers in the tens of thousands. One military intelligence assessment now estimates the insurgents' strength at 50,000. Analysts cautioned that such a figure was speculative, but it does indicate a deep-rooted revolt on a far greater scale than the Pentagon had led the administration to believe. An intelligence source in Washington familiar with the CIA report described it as a 'bleak assessment that the resistance is broad, strong and getting stronger'. 'It says we are going to lose the situation unless there is a rapid and dramatic change of course.'"

"A new top-secret intelligence report warns that Iraqis are losing faith in U.S.-led occupation forces, a development that is increasing support for the resistance, officials said Wednesday... Because the report is classified, the U.S. officials declined to furnish details, talking about it only in general terms and only on the ground that they not be publicly identified. On the subject of the increasing violence, one official noted that U.S. forces were already using more aggressive raids and other tactics to try to fight insurgents, which officials fear could alienate more Iraqis." This totally flies in the face of Bush's Orwellian line that "the more progress we make on the ground,... the more desperate these killers become." It's not Bush's "progress" in Iraq that is fueling support for the resistance -- but his failure! And it's not the insurgents that are acting desperate, but Bush's forces! Once again another CIA leak leaves the Bush gang with egg on their face. Payback's a...

BBC News reports: "The US military has confirmed that one of its soldiers shot dead the mayor of a highly volatile Baghdad district. Mohannad Gazi al-Kaabi, who was appointed by the US authorities to run the largely Shia Muslim area of Sadr City in Baghdad, died on Sunday. He was shot during an altercation with US troops at the local council's compound. US Central Command says it is still investigating the incident in the area where US-Iraqi tensions are high."

Fred Kaplan writes, "And so it's official: 'Postwar Iraq' is just another term for 'Iraq War-Phase II.' In a heavily guarded news conference in Baghdad today, Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, called the state of conflict there a 'war.' John Burns, the New York Times correspondent covering the event, quotes Sanchez's aides noting that the general's choice of words was deliberate-his way of injecting realism into the debate back in Washington. 'We are taking the fight into the safe havens of the enemy in the heartland of the country,' Sanchez stated. That sounds like war, all right." Do YOU support Gulf War III? If not, call your Senators and Representatives at 202-224-3121 and tell them to end Gulf War III!

"President Bush told the Heritage Foundation yesterday that violence in Iraq is confined to Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle north of the city, saying '93 percent of terror attacks have occurred in Baghdad and five of Iraq's 18 provinces.' In trying to convince the Japanese to deploy troops to Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld undercut the Administration's claim that the majority of Iraq is entirely peaceful, and that violence is only confined to the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad. Saying 'nowhere in Iraq is really safe,' Rumsfeld said attacks can occur 'at any time and at any place' in Iraq and 'emphasized that nowhere is completely safe.'"

CNN reports, "A recent CIA assessment of Iraq warns the security situation will worsen across the country, not just in Baghdad but in the north and south as well, a senior administration source told CNN Tuesday. The report is a much more dire and ominous assessment of the situation than has previously been forwarded through official channels, this source said. It was sent to Washington Monday by the CIA station chief in Iraq. It was not immediately clear if the assessment was what prompted the hastily arranged trip to Washington by Iraq civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer, who met Tuesday at the White House with... Bush and senior national security officials. The report was discussed during the high-level meetings, sources said. The senior administration source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bremer agreed with the CIA assessment and added his personal comments to the station chief's memo."

The Progress Report: "As if there wasn't enough controversy swirling around the Bush Administration's secretive no-bid contracts in Iraq, the WSJ reports this morning that the Administration 'plans to select as few as three prime contractors to handle as much as $15 billion' in new reconstruction contracts, moving the contract award process out of the less politicized State Dept/Army Corps of Engineers and into the neo-con laden Pentagon... Experts 'worry that the new operation will be ill-equipped to parcel out, and later oversee, complex contracts that will rely on possibly hundreds of subcontractors to do much of the work.' And while the Administration has shrouded the reconstruction effort in secrecy, anecdotal evidence is now emerging that raises serious questions about waste, fraud and abuse... Some lawmakers have demanded answers from the Administration to account for the $87bn, but the WP reports that Congress's 'defiance almost always melts' under White House resistance."

Reuters: "American soldiers handcuffed and firmly wrapped masking tape around an Iraqi man's mouth as they arrested him for speaking out against occupation troops. Asked why the man had been arrested on Tuesday and put into the back of a Humvee vehicle on Tahrir Square, the commanding officer told Reuters at the scene: 'This man has been detained for making anti-coalition statements.' He refused to say what the man said... U.S. politicians and military commanders often say they toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein so that Iraqis can enjoy free speech and democracy after years of iron-fisted rule. Another U.S. soldier swore at Iraqis as he ordered them to move back. School teachers and young students looked on. The troops had earlier closed off the sprawling square with barbed wire to search for home-made bombs, which along with rocket-propelled grenades have killed 153 American soldiers since major combat was declared over on May 1."

Heather Wokusch writes: "As America honors its service men and women this Veterans' Day, we especially owe it to those struggling on the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan - wherever fate and the Bush administration have sent them - to take a closer look." Here then are "Five Important Questions to Ask on Veterans' Day."

IndustrialTradesman.com writes, "$87 billion is enough to pay every American that lost their job since Bush took office $26,000..... $87 billion is 87 times more than the money spent on after school programs... $87 billion can buy enough food for the 6 million children that will die of starvation in the seven years... $87 billion is more than the deficits of all 50 states combined.. $66.2 billion is what the US spent on health and human services last year." How many people could get health care in this country if this money was used for that?

WashPost: "Iraqis marched in anger through the streets here Monday after the killing of an American-appointed local Iraqi council leader by U.S. military guards under disputed circumstances. Separately, the U.S. command here reported the death of an American military police officer who was attacked by a rocket propelled grenade while on patrol 40 miles south of Baghdad Sunday evening. November -- only ten days old -- has now claimed 37 American lives. It's been the deadliest month since formal combat ceased in May. The shooting of the Iraqi leader illustrated the inherently sensitive and increasingly tense relationship between the American occupiers here and Iraqis installed by the United States in official positions."

The NeoCon Chickenhawks' "big mistake was not in thinking that optimistic scenario might be borne out... The assumption that events will conform to a preconceived model is a failing to which neoconservatives are notably vulnerable. Part of this may be Marxist residue that never quite washed off. The intellectual descendants of Trotskyists, the neocons find the idea of revolution from above, in which intellectuals and ideas play the crucial role, instinctively appealing... There was nothing wrong with that theory either, except that it happened to be completely wrong. Another reason the neocons go for grand theories may be that their primary experience tends to come from the classroom, rather than the real world... What's more, few neoconservatives have cultivated a deep appreciation or understanding of other cultures -- unless you count the Athens of Pericles or Machiavelli's Florence."

Veterans for Common Sense writes, "The international media needs to report this grim statistic far and wide: More than 7,000 wounded US soldiers have been treated at a single US military hospital in Germany. The counts of wounded treated at other US military hospitals is unknown. An investigation should be launched immediately to determine how and why the US military is downplaying (at best) or concealing (at worst) the high number of wounded from the US - Iraq War ..."

UK Independent: "An official US army review leaked to the US NGO globalsecurity.org has revealed that the army had no plan for the occupation of Baghdad... The study provides the first formal internal view of the Iraq war from the point of view of the soldiers who brought down Saddam Hussein. The report provides official confirmation of a complete absence of high-level military and political planning to manage the aftermath of victory and indicates some key problems that continue to hamper US army effectiveness to this day... The report [shows] that the 3rd Infantry Division itself, which had been engaged in some of the heaviest fighting on the outskirts of Baghdad, 'lacked guidance' on how to deal with the different competing Iraqis they encountered. 'Ongoing struggles for power, establishing security without the benefit of a functioning police system, and re-establishing a pay system for government workers continue to plague the restoration of 'normalcy' to Baghdad,' it said."

"In a memo dated October 16, 2003 distributed to his senior staff, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld raised a number of questions with respect to military transformation inspired in part by the conduct of the war on terror and the U.S invasion and occupation of Iraq. Much media commentary focused upon the contrast between Rumsfeld's positive public pronouncements on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and his characterization of a victory in those countries as likely but only as a result of a 'long, hard slog.' Receiving less focus were his questions with respect to broader U.S. plans for military transformation in the context of the war on terror. FPIF analyst Dan Smith answers these questions, answers that Rumsfeld is unlikely to receive from his subordinates."

"Insurgents killed two U.S. paratroopers and wounded another west of Baghdad on Saturday as the U.S. military unleashed a show of force in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, rocketing buildings to rubble and dropping 500-pound bombs near the site where a Black Hawk helicopter crashed... In retaliation, U.S. rocket and heavy machine gun fire destroyed a warehouse and two houses believed to have been used by militants. Air Force fighters screeching overhead dropped bombs, which rattled houses. Mortar rounds howled, and tracer bullets lit up the sky. 'We want to remind this town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them,' said Lt. Col. Steven Russell of the 4th Infantry Division, who led raid in Tikrit, a city of 120,000 people about 120 miles north of Baghdad." Every day, the rhetoric sounds more and more like Vietnam. Soon we'll have to destroy the village (country) to save it. Or as Trent Lott said, "If we have to, we just mow the whole place down, see what happens."

"Turkey said Friday that it was withdrawing its offer to deploy troops to help stabilize Iraq. The decision ended a lengthy and almost entirely futile effort by the Bush administration to solicit large numbers of foreign troops to bolster the American presence. With the announcement, the administration's effort, presented by the resident in early September, appears to be close to a complete failure. India and Pakistan both have declined, at least for the time being. South Korea has said it may be willing, but is concerned about reducing its own troop levels at a moment of heightened tension with North Korea. Japan has approved sending some troops for noncombat missions, but has yet to deploy them. There are 24,000 non-American troops in Iraq, but almost half of them are British, and few countries have agreed in recent months to join the effort... [In] September [Busheviks predicted] that Mr. Bush's appeal would draw 10,000 to 15,000 foreign troops to Iraq."

"The first indicator of what a Saddam-free education will look like is arriving this month, as millions of newly revised textbooks roll off the printing presses to be distributed to Iraq's 5.5 million schoolchildren in 16,000 schools. All 563 texts were heavily edited and revised over the summer by a team of US-appointed Iraqi educators. Every image of Saddam and the Baath Party has been removed. But so has much more - including most of modern history. Pressured for time, and hoping to avoid political controversy, the Ministry of Education under the US-led coalition government removed any content considered 'controversial,' including the 1991 Gulf War; the Iran-Iraq war; and all references to Israelis, Americans, or Kurds. 'Entire swaths of 20th-century history have been deleted,' says Bill Evers, a US Defense Department employee, and one of three American advisers to the Ministry of Education."

From Billmon: "Sounds like Lt. Col. Russell has been talking to Trent Lott. Or maybe he's just a Monty Python fan: 'Captain Carpenter: We've been on red alert for three days sir, and still have no sign of Mr. Neutron. General: Have we bombed anywhere? Have we shown 'em we got teeth? Captain Carpenter: Oh yeah, sir. We've bombed a lot of places flat, sir. General: Good. Good. We don't anyone to think we're chicken.' - Monty Python's Flying Circus' I'm reasonably sure that driving around a hostile city taking random pot shots at 'suspected' insurgent hideouts and dropping bombs on uninhabited mud flats are not part of any generally accepted counterinsurgency doctrine. They're not nearly brutal enough to terrify the population into submission, but they're a great way of showing the insurgents you've been reduced to a helpless, impotent rage -- which is pretty much the state of mind they're trying to induce."

"An Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed Friday - apparently shot down by insurgents - killing all six U.S. soldiers aboard and capping the bloodiest seven days in Iraq for Americans since the fall of Baghdad. In retaliation, American troops backed by Bradley fighting vehicles swept through Iraqi neighborhoods before dawn Saturday, blasting houses suspected of being insurgent hideouts with machine guns and heavy weapons fire. 'This is to remind the town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them,' said Lt. Col. Steven Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment... Late Friday, U.S. troops fired mortars and a U.S. jets dropped at least three 500-pound bombs around the crash site, rattling windows over a wide area in an apparent show of force."

Billmon comments on a "gem of a quote from Marine Corps General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: 'Pace...told [congressmembers] that the Bush administration had put off much of the planning for the aftermath of the Iraq war out of concern such planning would bring on the conflict. 'We did not want to have planning for the post war make the war inevitable. We did not want to do anything that would prejudge or somehow preordain that there was definitely going to be a war,' he said.' This isn't just a lie, it's one of those lies that so stupid and so transparent you wonder why the liar even bothered telling it... Does Gen. Pace seriously expect anyone to believe the Pentagon planned the invasion of Iraq right down to the last JDAM, tank and MRE, but failed to plan for the occupation because they didn't want to look like a bunch of warmongers?... Update: Well, the MSNBC/GOP hacks have flushed Gen. Pace's asinine quote down the memory hole. Very considerate of them."

The Progress Report mentions today's WashPost, which "notes that much of the increase in Iraqi forces cited by Administration officials in recent weeks 'was accomplished by allowing Iraqi policemen and building guards to start work with little or no formal training in democratic standards and relevant job skills, according to officials with the U.S.-led occupation authority. The recent ballooning of reported figures also has raised questions about the reliability of the count.' In fact, it appears that the Bush Administration's effort to obscure the chaotic security situation in Iraq has resorted to fuzzy math about Iraqi security forces. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that 'there are some 118,000 Iraqi security forces of various types' - a whopping 58,000 more than the Administration claimed less than three weeks ago."

Tom Engelhardt writes, "From the scores of letters in response to my recent piece, The Time of Withdrawal -- all of them, remarkably enough, thoughtful and considered, often worried, sometimes confused about what path even to suggest that we follow in opposing this occupation/war in Iraq -- I've chosen to publish all or parts of ten below, each addressing the question of withdrawal from Iraq in a somewhat different way. There's an eloquent plea from a mother whose son is going to Afghanistan; a hard-nosed critique from Noam Chomsky; a discussion of the failings of the Arab League from a Turkish college student; notes from a former Bush voter; the carefully considered worries of essayist and professor of religion Ira Chernus, among others."

"Some relatives of the 15 soldiers who died as a result of last Sunday's missile attack on a Chinook helicopter have openly denounced the Bush administration's war policy... The family of the Illinois National Guard pilot killed in the downed helicopter, 30-year-old First Lt. Brian Slavenas, voiced similar sentiments. 'I'm just furious that we're over there,' said Marcus Slavenas, Brian's brother, who was a Marine in the 1991 Gulf War. He described the death toll among US personnel as 'a sickening waste,' adding, 'All of them should have been back here dating girls and working jobs.'... Sgt. Ernest Bucklew's ... uncle, Jack Smith, 75, of Point Marion, Penn., said, 'They say there's a reason for everything, but I just can't find a reason for this. This country shouldn't be starting wars; we should be defending ourselves and others. I think all these boys should be sent home.'"

"The Pentagon announced plans Thursday to send 85,000 Army and Marine combat forces to Iraq early next year to relieve troops completing one-year tours - a rotation that when combined with another switchout of troops in Afghanistan will be the Army's largest sequence of troop movements since World War II. In addition, 43,000 National Guard and Reserve support troops have been alerted that they may be sent as well. The moves are part of a rotation plan that assumes Iraqis will be capable of contributing enough to the battle against the anti-occupation insurgency that the number of American troops in Iraq can be reduced from 131,600 today to 105,000 by May. In an added twist, the Army announced that soldiers in every unit designated for deployment to Iraq next year - whether active-duty or reserve - will be prohibited from leaving the service during a period beginning 90 days before they go to 90 days after they return. That [is] known in the military as 'stop-loss.'"

Norman Solomon writes: "When the efficacy of the occupation becomes the issue, the door swings open for the kind of escalation being propounded by some members of Congress - more troops. If 130,000 American soldiers won't do the trick, how about 200,000 or a quarter-million or 300,000? If an iron fist won't do, how about two? Although they might seem to be simmering in the same pot, there's a big difference between a critique that challenges the legitimacy of the occupation and a critique that condemns how the occupation is being run. Faulting [Bush] for a lack of military effectiveness in Iraq sets a media tone that could be partly stilled, at least temporarily, by any number of military maneuvers. A U.S. missile attack on Iran or Syria, on the pretext that 'terrorists' are entering Iraq from across the borders, could provide a new round of red-white-and-blue euphoria."

"The puppet regime of the U.S. occupation in Iraq has agreed with King Abdullah II that tens of thousands of Iraqi police officers are to be trained in Jordan over the next 18 months... Throughout October, Jordanian authorities have prepared facilities for the instruction of more than 30,000 officers, who will be trained in eight-week courses... King Abdullah expects recompense from Washington in exchange for the unpopular support his government has given the US invasion and occupation. In announcing the plan to train Iraqi police, the king made clear that an economic quid-pro-quo was expected. Agence France-Presse reported him saying, 'The Jordanian private sector has had a long and productive relationship with Iraqi companies. The knowledge and expertise that they bring can be tapped in the efforts aimed at reconstruction in Iraq. We would like a sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship to be established, underpinned by a strong private sector cooperation.'"

"If defeat is an orphan, the U.S. occupation of Iraq, for which the Senate appropriated $87 billion by a voice vote on Monday, should already go down in the loss column. By rejecting the normal option of a recorded vote, America's senators decided that they did not want to be held individually accountable for our continuing presence in Iraq... And it wasn't Democratic critics who forced a Republican-run Senate to cast an unrecorded vote on the occupation. It was Republicans, who voted for the funding but who lack all confidence in [Bush's] chosen course... What a difference a year makes! In the fall of 2002, the administration was positively gleeful about forcing Congress to go on record to authorize the coming war, and Democrats from swing states or districts knew they voted no at their own peril. This week no such pressure was forthcoming. Those Republicans who live by the wedge issue understand when they could die by it, too."

"The US-appointed governor of Iraq's holy Shia city of Najaf, Haydar Abdul Munim, has been jailed for 14 years on charges of corruption, extortion and false imprisonment. Munim was arrested along with 62 of his militia Judges at Iraq's newly-convened central criminal court in Baghdad announced the verdict on Monday after a trial that lasted several months... Within weeks of taking office last April, locals had dubbed him Saddam II after he began stealing cars, extorting public funds from bank officials and kidnapping anybody who got in his way. Munim was assisted in his crimes by his brother Mohamed, known as the Monster, who ran his own private army of 150 henchmen and is still at large. The case has proved hugely embarrassing for Coalition forces, who initially ignored repeated complaints about Munim's behaviour. He was only arrested after US troops hunting for three missing teenagers found them imprisoned in the mayoral offices, which lay within their own heavily-guarded HQ."

Now that our troops have proven that Iraq had no WMD's or ties to Al Qaeda, Bush's only remaining justification for W-ar is to claim that he ended Saddam's "brutal regime." On 11-4-03, Bush vehemently denounced the members of that regime: "Saddam loyalists, those are the people, the torturers and murders [sic] and thugs that used to benefit from Saddam Hussein's regime." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031104-3.html) Yet on THE VERY SAME DAY, the Busheviks announced plans to REHIRE those TORTURERS AND MURDERS AND THUGS, part of the "creation of an Iraqi-led paramilitary force composed of former employees of the country's security services and members of political party militias"!!! So much for "Occupation Iraqi Freedom" - let's now call it "Operation Iraqi Betrayal." It's the same old brutal Baath regime, now under Bush - a "Bushist" regime. Bush has BETRAYED Iraq - he should resign immediately or be IMPEACHED! (http://democrats.com/impeach)

13-term"Iowa Republican Rep. Jim Leach said White House policy-makers had made one of the most misguided assumptions ever in U.S. strategy by not planning for a decisive withdrawal from Iraq. 'The current (administration) thinking is that we'll be there six or seven years, people will realize that we're saviors and they'll want us to have many (military) bases and that this will be a bulwark in the Middle East for an American presence,' said Leach. 'I think that is one of the most misguided assumptions in the history of United States' strategic thinking,' he added... He said the administration of Bush was on a 'slow slog' in Iraq, instead of announcing a 'decisive' withdrawal of U.S. military forces by the end of next year. 'If we stay longer, we are going to have more, not fewer, problems in Iraq, and ... consequently more problems around the world and potentially in the United States as well,' Leach said." Send Bush to Iraq - Bring Our Troops Home!

The UK Guardian reports: "[The] shooting down of a US Chinook helicopter near Fallujah may have a disproportionate psychological impact on US military operations in Iraq and on US public opinion. The attack was without any doubt a disaster for American forces. With [16] personnel reported killed and many more injured, it was the deadliest such incident since the war officially ended last May. But its significance will be greatly magnified by its context. The perception, in America itself and abroad, is that the security situation in Iraq is deteriorating, rather than improving as P-resident George Bush claims. US-led coalition forces are now being subjected to an average of over 30 attacks daily. Hardly a day passes without news of one or more US fatalities. Far from being accepted as routine, this toll appears to be convincing more and more ordinary Americans that Mr Bush and his officials are not in control of a situation that they, uniquely, created."

Scotsman reports, "Six months on from the formal end to the war, and the country is still without a regular power supply. Sabotage has already destroyed about 700 transmission centres. After the 1991 war, the destroyed electric grid was back in operation in just three months. A much more ambitious and costly US effort has still to get to this point. Indeed, it is only in recent weeks that the coalition has reached the power generation level that Saddam achieved last March. And far from the US winning hearts and minds with an impressive demonstration of hi-tech repair and problem solving, the whole reconstruction effort is foundering under allegations of overspending, favouritism and corruption."

NY Times: "Some American military officers in Iraq are pressing to reconstitute entire units of the former Iraqi Army, which the top United States administrator in Baghdad disbanded in May. They say the change would speed the creation of a new army and stabilize the nation. Proposals under consideration would involve identifying former Iraqi officers and weeding out any still loyal to Saddam Hussein. Those who pass the vetting could then track down the troops who had served under them in order to re-assemble complete companies and battalions rapidly. 'We feel we could contact a midlevel officer - say, the rank of captain or major - who knows where all the members of his unit are today,' said a senior military officer at the occupation's military headquarters in Baghdad."

On 9-28-03, Sgt. Garth Talbott wrote: "There are a number of reasons why I should be pissed off,' Talbott writes. 'But really only one thing about this whole 'war situation' manages to get my goat. Never mind that Bush, the commander in chief, the zenith of my chain of command, the 'lord high commander' at the very pinnacle of the military rank structure, promised that no combat troops would be deployed more than six months. I guess he wasn't including the 3rd Infantry or the 82nd Airborne.'... If Iraq was funding terrorists, he wonders, 'Why didn't we do Saudi Arabia and Syria, too? And if that was valid enough reason, then why did the focus so suddenly shift to weapons of mass destruction?' Why, if WMD were the focus, he asks, did the United States secure the oil fields but not the nuclear-research facilities? Why did the focus then shift a third time to freeing the people of Iraq? 'Doesn't it seem strange to anyone that we haven't had one constant reason for starting a war?'"

"Rejecting criticism of inadequate postwar planning, Rumsfeld said 'tragic days' would be inevitable. But they were a 'necessary' part of a 'war that is difficult and complicated.' Some 360 US military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of military operations there, and 222 since May 1, when Bush declared major combat over. There are as many as 35 attacks a day on coalition forces, mainly in Baghdad and the restive 'Sunni triangle' to the north and west of the capital. However, US commanders feel their casualties in Iraq are 'sustainable.' Speaking before yesterday's helicopter attack, Lieutenant General Richard Sanchez, described the upsurge in violence since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as 'strategically and operationally insignificant'" Somehow we doubt the families of the dead will see it that way.

"The depiction by these Pentagon officials of the structure of the resistance - though tentatively expressed - suggest a hierarchical organisation, led by former Saddam officials, with Saddam at its head, and allied to groups of foreign jihadists and al Qaeda under a single command... It is not, however, recognised by British officials. The picture that they paint of what is going on in Iraq is a more chaotic and a far more dangerous one. 'What we are looking at,' one UK official told The Observer, 'is not some monolithic organisation with a clear command. That would be far easier for us to deal with and get into. Instead, we are looking at lots of different groups with different agendas. They are locally organised with each having its loyalty focused on middle-ranking former commanders.' What he describes is a network of partisan-type groups without a central command and links between them based on personal relationships - an organic rather than monolithic structure."

Helen Thomas writes, "Coffin images during the Vietnam era - along with photos and video of body bags in the field and military officials talking constantly about 'body counts' - had a tremendous impact in prompting antiwar sentiment at home. In a move by the Bush administration to suppress distressing images of war, the Defense Department issued a directive last March on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq that declared: 'There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein (Germany) airbase or Dover (Del.) base, (and) to include interim stops.' There have always been some media restrictions at Dover - the site of the largest Defense Dept. mortuary for the remains of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. But the new rule expands the blackout to all military bases. Under the Pentagon clamp down, American fatalities will be reduced to statistics and the public will see little of the human side of the war."

"The final version of the $87 billion spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan is missing provisions the Senate had passed to penalize war profiteers who defraud American taxpayers. House negotiators on the package refused to accept the Senate provisions... 'When the Senate Appropriations Committee considered this supplemental request, Senators Leahy, Feinstein, and I joined together to criminalize war profiteering -- price gouging and fraud -- with the same law that was passed during World War II. Yet this amendment, was stripped out of the final bill,' said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL). 'I fail to understand how anyone can be opposed to prosecuting those who want to defraud and overcharge the United States government and the American taxpayers.'" Stop War Profiteering - Defeat ALL Republicans!

NY Times reports, "A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the military costs for the occupation of Iraq could range from $85 billion over four years to $200 billion over 10 years, even if the Pentagon sharply reduces the forces there... The Pentagon has said little about future troop levels, although some military planners have sketched out their own plans for a possible reduction by next year. Just Tuesday, Bush declined to say whether he could promise a reduction within a year... A spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget declined to comment on the analysis, except to say, 'The resident is committed to our mission in Iraq and will work with our commanders in the field to make sure our soldiers have the full resources necessary to succeed'" - in other words, there is NO LIMIT to how much of OUR MONEY Bush will flush down the desert in Iraq.

NY Times reports, "Allied forces are still struggling to figure out the dimensions and composition of the opponent they now face in Iraq. 'We are quite blind there,' said the head of an intelligence agency in Europe. He added: 'The Americans and Brits know very little about this enemy. They are trying to fight an enemy they cannot see.' As a result, allied forces assume that they are fighting a loose conglomerate of like-minded opponents. Counterterrorism officials estimated that as many as 15 militant groups, some with loose ties to Al Qaeda, might now be operating in Iraq. 'Al Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, loyalists, disgruntled former army personnel - they are all suspects, but there is no focus on a specific group,' said a senior American counterterrorism official." These groups share only one bond - they all want to kill the American soldiers that Bush sent to invade Iraq. Bring our troops home!

"The U.S. military intelligence gathering operation in Iraq is being undercut by a series of problems in using technology, training intelligence specialists and managing them in the field, according to an internal Army evaluation. A report published by the Center for Army Lessons Learned at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., uses unusually blunt language to identify the intelligence problems and to recommend solutions. In discussing the training of intelligence specialists, for example, it states that commanders reported that younger officers and soldiers were unprepared for their assignments, 'did not understand the targeting process' and possessed 'very little to no analytical skills.' [Also,] reserve troops specializing in civil affairs and psychological operations sent earlier this year to Afghanistan received 'marginally effective' training before their deployment. 'The poor quality of mission preparation was inexcusable given that the operation was over a year and a half old'."

"Insurgents shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter over western Iraq on Sunday as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 15 soldiers [since reported as 16] and wounding 21 in the deadliest single strike against American troops since the start of war. The strike by a shoulder-fired missile was a significant new blow in an Iraq insurgency that escalated in recent days - a 'tough week,' in the words of the U.S. occupation chief. Other U.S. soldiers were reported killed Sunday in ground attacks here and elsewhere in central Iraq... At the scene, villagers proudly showed off blackened pieces of wreckage to arriving reporters. Others celebrated word of the helicopter downing, as well as a fresh attack on U.S. soldiers in Fallujah itself, where witnesses said an explosion struck one vehicle in a U.S. Army convoy... It was the third helicopter known to have been brought down by Iraq's insurgents since Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1."

Charles Lewis writes, "This is all outrageous. We are talking about the expenditure of billions of dollars in taxpayer money. As Americans, we have a right to know how our hard-earned money is spent. When American soldiers are at risk or worse, are being killed, the stunning incompetence and deliberate stonewalling become even more offensive and unacceptable. Too often, we found that federal officials were reluctant to release contract information, wanting to check first with the companies, to see if they minded releasing the contracts and related information... The GAO is investigating the entire contracting mess in Iraq and Afghanistan, and acknowledging the almost incomprehensible confusion, the Pentagon has announced that it is creating a centralized, consolidated contracts office in Baghdad next month. These all sound like improvements, but does anyone really believe the substantial political influence problems and perceptions will go away? "

AP reports: "The 298-121 House vote late Thursday night was a victory for Bush, but came with pointed questions from Democrats about the wisdom of an Iraq policy that is costing American lives and dollars with limited help from the international community. 'Because Resident Bush lacked an adequate plan for postwar Iraq, American soldiers are taking virtually all of the risks and American taxpayers are paying virtually all of the bills,' said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who voted against the measure. The package, for expenses during the current budget year, includes nearly $65 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18.6 billion to rebuild Iraq and improve the country's security and law enforcement. The package closely mirrored the amounts sought by the resident, and met his demand that all the money for rebuilding Iraq be in the form of grants rather than loans." The Bushbrat lied us into an unnecessary war, and we foot the bill!

Seth Porges writes for Editor and Publisher: "On Wednesday and Thursday, newspapers around the country have reported that the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq following the official end of major combat has exceeded the number killed during the war. This, however, continues the pervasive pattern of downplaying U.S. deaths from all causes in Iraq, many related to official duties and the stress of combat. USA Today's report is typical: 'the 115 American troops killed in combat in Iraq since May 1 -- the day Bush declared major combat operations over -- exceeds the 114 killed by hostile fire during the war itself.' But these reports continue to ignore the total death count. In fact, 218 troops have been killed since May 1 from all causes (nearly doubling the combat-only count), and a total of 139 before May 1. This includes suicides, drownings, and the many military vehicle accidents."

The UK Guardian reports: "The number of US soldiers killed in combat in postwar Iraq rose yesterday above the number killed before May 1, the day Resident George Bush declared victory [i.e. 'Mission Accomplished']. Two soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb about 75 miles north of Baghdad, bringing US combat fatalities to 116 since May 1. Between March 20, when coalition forces invaded Iraq, and May 1, 115 US troops were killed in combat."

"They are angry and disillusioned, frustrated and full of doubt. This war is not going the way they hoped it would. They are wives and husbands of the 129th Army Reserves Company, stationed in Kansas, and they are terrified for spouses in Iraq. A month ago, these family members launched a 'bring our soldiers home' petition drive when, with no advance notice, the 129th Company's tour of duty was extended. Today they stand with a growing number of military families who are convinced that the war is going awry and who think the American public isn't getting a straight story on the conflict. Cherie Block, 29, could barely contain herself while watching Resident Bush's news conference Tuesday from her home in Sac City, Iowa, especially when he insisted the vast majority of Iraqis are with Americans, not against them... 'Either he doesn't really understand what's going on, or he's not telling it the way it really is,' said Block." It's the latter, Cherie, and we're so sorry for it.

As US soldiers die each day in Iraq, BushFeld are clueless about the people who are killing our troops. For the sake of our troops, perhaps a member of the in-bed press corps will ask whether the following report is true: "Dr Muhammad al-Massari, a political activist living in exile in London, has told Aljazeera.net that resistance attacks in Iraq will continue to escalate in Baghdad. 'There are around 5000 mujahidin fighters from Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, and many others joining them from all over the Muslim and Arab world. 'These men have already stepped up their efforts to kick out the American imperialists from Iraq, but what we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg,' he said."

"USA Today reports several nations which had indicated they might send troops to Iraq have decided against the idea. Bangladesh and Portugal, two countries that the US had been pressing to send troops, said they would not send any. At one point Bangladesh had said it might send as many as 5000 troops... Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia will not even ask Parliament to vote on a motion for deployment. Portugal, which has 120 policemen already in Iraq, had said it would consider sending a limited number of troops once the UN resolution authorizing a force was passed. But the recent violence in Iraq has convinced the Lisbon government not to send any combat force. South Korea is also equivocating on an offer of 5000 troops for Iraq... Meanwhile, an MSNBC report quotes Iraq's foreign minister as saying it was increasingly unlikely Turkey would send troops, since the new provisional Iraqi government has strongly objected to the idea."

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who recently compared aspects of the conflict to Vietnam, yesterday said U.S. forces need to be more proactive. 'To set up roadblocks after the bomb goes off is not the answer,' he said. 'We've got to get into prevention... We need more troops,' said McCain. 'We need more special forces. We need more marines. We need more intelligence capabilities.' 'Honestly, it's a little tougher than I thought it was going to be,' [Trent] Lott said. In a sign of frustration, he offered an unorthodox military solution: 'If we have to, we just mow the whole place down, see what happens. You're dealing with insane suicide bombers who are killing our people, and we need to be very aggressive in taking them out.' Republicans fear they could suffer in the polls if the situation does not improve, since the administration's Iraq policy is so closely associated with Bush." Lott is calling for GENOCIDE - we demand the condemnation and censure of Trent Lott!

"Iraqi guerrillas have an abundant supply of small arms and explosives that could allow them to maintain their pace of attacks indefinitely, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command intelligence analysts have concluded. The guerrillas' shoot-and-scoot tactics use up relatively little ammunition while inflicting serious casualties and even deeper psychological damage... The discovery of thousands of arms caches - not only at military bases, but also in schools, mosques, hospitals and homes - indicates to U.S. commanders that there remain thousands more undiscovered caches accessible to guerrillas. Two U.S. intelligence officials, one civilian, the other military, said there is simply no way to keep weapons out of the hands of guerrillas. Instead, the focus is turning to finding technologies that can be used to detect mines, booby traps and roadside bombs before they inflict casualties on coalition patrols."

Billmon noticed a running theme in Bush's attempts to spin the q'W'agmire: "And we are confronting that danger in Iraq, where Saddam hold outs and foreign terrorists are desperately trying to throw Iraq into chaos." - Speech at Bush-Cheney Fundraiser, October 15, 2003; "Saddam holdouts and foreign terrorists are trying desperately to undermine Iraq's progress and to throw that country into chaos." - Speech to New Hampshire National Guard, October 9, 2003; "You've seen how Saddam holdouts and foreign terrorists are desperately -- desperately trying to undermine Iraq's progress and to throw the country into chaos." Speech at Ft. Stewart, Ga., September 12, 2003; "The more progress we make in Iraq, the more desperate the terrorists will become." - Speech to the American Legion, August 26, 2003; "Every sign of progress in Iraq adds to the desperation of the terrorists and the remnants of Saddam's brutal regime." Press Remarks, August 19, 2003

Robert Fisk writes, "No wonder morale is low. No wonder the American soldiers I meet on the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities don't mince their words about their own government. US troops have been given orders not to bad-mouth their resident or Secretary of Defence in front of Iraqis or reporters (who have about the same status in the eyes of the occupation authorities). But when I suggested to a group of US military police near Abu Ghurayb they would be voting Republican at the next election, they fell about laughing. 'We shouldn't be here and we should never have been sent here,' one of them told me with astonishing candour. 'And maybe you can tell me: why were we sent here?'"

"The Bush administration's favorite statistic from Iraq is the 1,595 schools it has just finished rehabilitating. This is, after all, the human face of occupation-freshly painted walls, American know-how and generosity, all wrapped up in smiling, adorable faces. And though that number is still less than a fifth of Iraq's 10,000 schools, it seems like amazingly fast work. The problem: many of the 'rehabilitated' schools don't look ready for the morning bell. NEWSWEEK visited five schools in Baghdad's Camp Sara neighborhood, all of which were among those listed as rebuilt, all by different Iraqi contractors working for Bechtel. None had enough textbooks, desks or blackboards. Most had refuse everywhere, nonfunctioning toilets and desks made for two kids that were accommodating four. Even Ahmed Majid Jassim, a pro-U.S. headmaster who says that 'Americans have made a great effort,' comments, 'I've seen rebuilt schools, and this isn't one of them.'"

Dennis Kucinich writes, "People are asking, is there a way out? I believe there is... The President must go to the UN and announce the US intention to hand over all administrative and security responsibilities to the UN. The UN would help Iraqis move quickly toward self-determination. The UN, not the US, will administer Iraq's oil revenues. It will be necessary to renounce clearly and unequivocally any interest in controlling Iraq's oil resources. The UN will administer contracts to repair Iraq. War profiteering will no longer be practiced by the White House. It will be necessary to suspend all reconstruction contracts and close the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, because of the suspicion caused by the sweetheart deals that the Administration has given to large American corporations. In its place, the UN would help Iraqis administer funds to employ Iraqis to repair the damage from the invasion. Bring US troops home as UN peacekeeping troops rotate into Iraq."

The Raleigh News and Observer reports: "World War II had its 'krauts,' Vietnam had its 'gooks,' and now, the war on terrorism has its own dehumanizing name: 'hajji.' That's what many U.S. troops across Iraq and in coalition bases in Kuwait now call anyone from the Middle East or South Asia. Soldiers who served in Afghanistan say it also is used there. Among Muslims, the word is used mainly as a title of respect. It means 'one who has made the hajj,' the pilgrimage to Mecca. But that's not how soldiers use it. Some talk about 'killing some hajjis' or 'mowing down some hajjis.' One soldier in Iraq inked 'Hodgie Killer' onto his footlocker... A spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Baghdad said that the term was troubling but that there had been no official order to stop its use... (Centcom has a new policy, the soldier said, of not allowing press spokesmen to identify themselves in the media.)"

"Under 'Operation Hero Miles,' people will be able to turn their frequent-flier miles over to their airlines, which in turn will make them available to soldiers trying to get home for their brief leaves. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., said he got the idea after he visited troops passing through BWI. He began pushing in earnest in mid-month, when the House rejected an amendment to the Iraq supplemental spending bill that would have paid for troops' connecting flights home. 'Our men and women risking their lives serving our country in Iraq deserve our support,' Ruppersberger said. He sent a letter to 12 airlines Tuesday, asking them to support the program because it allows citizens to 'contribute in their own way to the morale and welfare of those defending our country.' His own staff is donating 67,000 of their frequent-flier miles to the program. Delta Air Lines is the first to sign up, contributing 10 million miles to kick off its 'SkyWish SkyMiles for Heroes' program."

"Car bombers struck the international Red Cross headquarters and three police stations across Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 200 in a spree of destruction that terrorized the Iraqi capital on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The string of bombings, all within less than an hour, was the bloodiest attack yet in the city of 5 million by insurgents targeting the American-led occupation and those perceived as working with it. It also appeared like a dramatic escalation in tactics - in past weeks, bombers have carried out heavy suicide bombings, but in single strikes." Coordinated bombings on significant dates are the trademark of Al Qaeda. Is this the attack Osama promised in his last video? Is Iraq - which had NO Al Qaeda presence before the US invasion - now a breeding ground for Al Qaeda? Impeach Bush Now!

Tim Shorrock writes, "The blueprint for Iraq's economic future was unveiled by Iraq's US-appointed finance minister, Kamel al-Gailani, on September 21. The new laws, drafted by the CPA, allow foreign investors to own 100% of any Iraqi asset except oil and real estate and to remit profits and royalties when they choose. They also reduce import tariffs to 5% and allow foreign banks to take over the country's banking system. Iraq is now 'one of the most open countries in the world,' proclaimed Gailani. But his reforms were denounced by Iraq's leading business association, which warned that the new laws would 'destroy the role of the Iraqi industrialist.' Many observers, including even US businessmen and Iraqis who favored 'regime change' in Iraq, agree. They say the shock therapy being applied in Iraq will concentrate wealth in the hands of large US and Iraqi corporations, particularly the family-owned businesses that have won the majority of subcontracts from Bechtel and Halliburton."

"Though there is no love lost between Bush and McCain - the residue of the brutal nomination race - the senator has been a dutiful soldier. Until now... [After his trip to Iraq,] McCain, aides say, was rankled by what he saw as a useless, Panglossian classified briefing, especially after reading Donald Rumsfeld's now infamous internal memo... 'This is the first time that I have seen a parallel to Vietnam,' McCain declared, 'in terms of information that the administration is putting out versus the actual situation on the ground. I'm not saying the situation in Iraq now is as bad as Vietnam. But we have a problem in the Sunni Triangle and we should face up to it and tell the American people about it.' Also reminiscent of Vietnam, McCain said, was the administration's reluctance to deploy forces with the urgency required for the quickest victory. 'I think we can be OK, but time is not on our side... If we don't succeed more rapidly, the challenges grow greater.'"

"None of the people the Guardian contacted said their family member would re-enlist. Some have taken a decision to get out - even those who have devoted their lives to the reserves. 'My husband has 20 years in the military, and loved every minute of it,' says Candance Gordon, the wife of a reservist from Texas. 'He will be resigning his commission the minute he steps foot on American soil, and he says almost everyone he knows is doing the same...' The biggest complaint is the one most difficult for the Pentagon to remedy: that service personnel are under strain from long deployments in Iraq... Several said they feared their children or spouses would be unrecognizable. Others said they detected anger and depression in their emails that would be difficult to fix when they returned. 'They're changing. They have dehumanized the Iraqis. They call them 'hajji' now - that's like 'gook'...' says Adele Kubein, whose daughter is a National Guard mechanic serving in Iraq."

A Buzzflash Reader Commentary: "That memo wasn't leaked, it was obviously planted. Why? Well here are a few reasons I believe: The administration obviously knows they are losing the war on terrorism and so now they are setting up their excuses. How else are they going to try to explain why there are still so many terrorists? They are trying to prepare the American mentality to expect long drawn out occupations in both Iraq and Afghanistan as necessary evils. It makes Rumsfeld look like he is doing his job, but that the Department of Defense is a large difficult bureaucracy to manage (shift the blame). It plants the seed for the possible development of a new branch of defense designed by the White House. It paves the way for them to take more 'necessary' aggressive measures."

"Six foreign banks will get 'fast-track' entry and be allowed to buy up to 100% of local banks within 5 years. This has raised fears among Iraqis, who are grappling with lawlessness, 60% unemployment, and dysfunctional electricity and water supplies 5 months after the fall of the Baath regime, that their economy will be dominated by foreigners. They doubt Iraq's oil wealth, the 2nd largest after Saudi Arabia can be kept out of the equation for long. 'This is a prelude to include oil,' says Iraqi financial expert Ridha al-Qoreishi. 'The United States will have control of all the Arab oil in the Gulf, or 60% of the crude in the world, which reinforces their hold on the world economy.' On 9/24, confirming the pre-war fears of Russia, France and China, Nabil Ahmed al-Musawi, one of the [Pentagon-appointed] Governing Council's 25 members, said US companies would receive preferential treatment to exploit Iraq's oil reserves."

If you want to know how stupid the Busheviks think we are, here's all the proof you need. It has been one week since Bush DEMANDED that Congress provide grants - NOT LOANS - to Iraq. But today, the Busheviks are claiming a huge victory in Madrid upon receipt of promises of $10 billion in LOANS. What a pathetic joke. Impeach Bush Now!

The Bush administration and its media minions' favorite line about Iraq right now is that it's only a "handful of rebels" or "scattered Saddam loyalists" who are causing the trouble in Iraq. But a survey of Iraqis shows that not only is this a lie-- the numbers of everyday Iraqis who see the US as an occupying enemy has been climbing. "67% of Iraqis view the US-led coalition as an occupying force, while only 46% of the population considered them as such when US troops rolled into Baghdad on April 9, said the Iraqi Centre for Research and Strategic Studies." Since then, the percentage viewing US forces as liberators has plummeted from 43% to 15%, the study said. "Asked about a future Iraqi government, 33% said they favoured an Islamic model as opposed to 30% who said yes to a Western-style democracy. Asked what country offered the best model for Iraq, 14% said Iran, followed by 13.5% opted for the United Arab Emirates, and 9.6% for the United States."

Ian Williams writes: "Well-spun by U.S. and British press handlers, the wire services announced the unanimous passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1511 as a victory for American diplomacy. And so it was, in the sense that a bald man winning a hair brush in a raffle could claim a victory. The U.S. did indeed get their resolution, but the question is, can they do anything with it? The short answer is 'not a lot.' The White House did not seek this resolution because they felt a need for moral and legal absolution and approbation from the United Nations. It wanted it as a means to four specific goals: to coax more troop contributions from reluctant governments: to coax more cash for Iraqi reconstruction: to coax Kofi Annan to return UN civilian staff to Iraq: and perhaps most of all, reinforced by the previous three, to persuade the bulk of Iraqis that they weren't really occupied at all. It is highly unlikely to secure any of those goals."

"A new Iraq scandal erupted today as a report claimed billions of dollars earmarked for rebuilding the country have vanished after being handed to the United States-controlled governing body in Baghdad. At least $5bn has been passed to the ruling Coalition Provisional Authority, a leading UK aid agency has calculated. But only a fifth of those development funds have been accounted for, figures unearthed by Christian Aid show. And that missing four billion dollar 'black hole' will double by the end of the year unless the CPA's accounts are made public. The allegations emerged as British aid agencies claimed millions of pounds of government aid cash will have to be diverted from poor countries in South America, Eastern and Central Asia to rebuilding Iraq. And they threaten to undermine a conference in Spain, where the United Nations and World Bank hopes to raise 20 billion [British pounds] to pay for the reconstruction of the country following the toppling of Saddam Hussein."

Here is an interview with a US soldier that you won't see on TV or read in a newspaper. This is what the euphemism "low morale" truly sounds like. "'You f..king dumb dipsh.ts don't want us to kill the Iraqis and you don't want the Iraqis to kill us. What the hell are we supposed to do when those rag heads shoot at us or throw grenades at us. You f..king tell me why I shouldn't shoot all those motherf..kers and get it done with. We should just leave and drop a nuke on them. F..k 'em all. Do you know what those ungrateful mother f..kers are doing to us now? We gave them freedom and got rid of Saddam and they want to turn around and kill us. F..k them sand n.ggers, all of 'em are better off dead. I hate all of them and if I could line 'em up and blow 'em all away, I would. If we really wanted to make sure the f..kers didn't kill us, we would just start killing their kids until they stopped fighting us.'" Read the full interview to understand the torment of an ordinary soldier.

"More than 30 soldiers who came home from Iraq for two weeks of leave have failed to show up for their flights back to the combat zone. The soldiers, among more than 1,300 troops so far in the first large-scale home leave program since Vietnam, have yet to be declared absent without leave... A week after return flights began, 28 soldiers had not made it to Baltimore-Washington International Airport... Six others did not make yesterday evening's flight out of BWI... Escudie said 'a small number' have been granted emergency extensions by military commanders... But a military advocacy group cited two cases in which service members called to say they do not want to return to the long and difficult mission in Iraq... A survey of 1,935 soldiers in Iraq published last week by the military newspaper Stars and Stripes found that 49% rated morale in their unit as low or very low." Looks like BushRove is delaying the AWOL charges to avoid reminding Americans that Bush went AWOL in 1974!

When Dick Cheney appeared recently on Meet the Press, he spewed the rosy results of a poll of Iraqi people. The poll, gushed Cheney, shows that Iraqis favor a government modeled on the US "hands down." In reality, says respected pollster John Zogby, only 23% of Iraqis responding to the poll in question said they wanted a US-style government. If "hands down" applied to anyone, it is Cheney, as in "Hands down - where we can see them!" The bogus poll results, designed to deceive Americans into believing "most Iraqis" are behind Bush reconstruction, were spouted further by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the second favorite propaganda crafter of the White House (Heritage Foundation is the first).

"Adday al-Sakab was once the Saddam Hussein regime's charge d'affaires in India but today he represents the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC). Or, more accurately, the Coalition Provisional Authority that rules Iraq through the IGC. The envoy held his first formal meeting with Indian journalists since the end of the war on Monday with great poise - and only the faintest trace of embarrassment. There were no portraits of Saddam anywhere in the embassy. Neither, mercifully, were any likenesses of L Paul Bremer III, the decree-happy American viceroy of Iraq. The Iraqi diplomat circulated copies of an appeal issued by Iyad Allawi, president of the IGC issued on the eve of the Madrid donors conference calling on countries to generously provide for Iraq's reconstruction. According to al-Sakab, who regularly receives instructions from the Asia-Africa-Australia division of the Iraqi foreign ministry, all of Saddam's ambassadors were transferred to Baghdad by the new dispensation."

"The U.S. military does not keep statistics on the civilian deaths it has caused, saying it is 'impossible for us to maintain an accurate account.' But in two weeks of research last month, Human Rights Watch confirmed the deaths of 20 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad at the hands of American troops since May. In total, we collected reports of 94 civilian deaths in Baghdad involving questionable legal circumstances that warrant investigation. U.S. soldiers are hot, tired and homesick. They face attacks every day from an increasingly organized resistance that melds into the local population and does not care about civilians. But that doesn't mean that coalition forces should be allowed to operate with near total impunity, as they currently are. They are exempt from Iraqi law, and the military is not adequately investigating allegations of abuse... The excessive behavior of American soldiers is creating animosity at least, and possibly even new recruits for the resistance."

"The U.S. military is failing to conduct proper investigations into civilian deaths resulting from the excessive or indiscriminate use of force in Baghdad, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today... The precise number of Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. soldiers since the end of major military operations is unknown, and the U.S. military told Human Rights Watch that it keeps no statistics on civilian deaths. 'It's a tragedy that U.S. soldiers have killed so many civilians in Baghdad,' said Joe Stork, acting executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. 'But it's really incredible that the U.S. military does not even count these deaths. Any time U.S. forces kill an Iraqi civilian in questionable circumstances, they should investigate the incident.'... 'The cases we documented in this report reveal a pattern of over-aggressive tactics, excessive shooting in residential areas and hasty reliance on lethal force,' Stork said."

"More than 30 soldiers who came home from Iraq for two weeks of leave have failed to show up for their flights back to the combat zone, military officials said yesterday. The soldiers, among more than 1,300 troops so far in the first large-scale home leave program since Vietnam, have yet to be declared absent without leave -- a violation of military law, said Army Col. Paris Mack... Air Force Maj. Mike Escudie, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa...said 'a small number' have been granted emergency extensions by military commanders because of extenuating circumstances, including deaths in the family. Military officials could not say how many presented valid reasons or how many others had failed to contact authorities. But a military advocacy group cited two cases in which service members called to say they do not want to return to the long and difficult mission in Iraq." Following the example of their Deserter-in-Chief? Bush went AWOL from the National Guard in '72/73.

"The former Saddam International Airport now houses Iraq's first Burger King. Part creature comfort, part therapy for homesick troops, its sales have reached the top 10 among all Burger King franchises on Earth in the five months since it opened. The shiny metal broiler spits out 5,000 patties a day... Adrian Miller, 19, of Bascom, Ohio, a platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division, is stationed in a southwest section of Baghdad, where guerrillas continue to fight U.S. forces. But a trip to the airport to pick up soldiers returning from leave in Qatar brought him to Burger King. 'We're lucky if we can get over here once a month, we're so busy raiding houses and kicking down doors in the middle of the night,' said Miller, who bought $84 worth of food. 'When we get free time and no one is using the trucks, then we come out here.'"

Financial Times reports: "The shockwaves of the first big clash between rival Shia militias since the end of the war, a dark portent for the future of Iraq's political process, are still settling on Iraq's Shia community... The potential prize [of the conflict] is leadership of Iraq's Shia, who form around 60% of the population and may well determine the country's political destiny. For six months, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority has worked to prevent a rift from plunging the Shia into turmoil. Until now, the CPA could count as its main success the relative peacefulness of the Shia Arab south of Iraq - as opposed to the Sunni heartland, which is a magnet for guerrilla attacks... The violence takes place at a key juncture in US-led negotiations to write a new constitution and hold elections in Iraq - a timetable for which is due to be submitted by Iraq's Governing Council, under yesterday's United Nations resolution, no later than December 15."

"Profits earned by U.S. companies engaged in the multibillion-dollar reconstruction of Iraq are being kept secret from taxpayers and Congress, raising questions of potential waste. Dozens of American corporations working in Iraq are being paid under 'cost-plus' contracts that reimburse them for their expenses while also awarding fees and bonuses, U.S. officials and contractors said. While the contracts themselves are public records, many details are kept secret under federal acquisition regulations designed to protect trade secrets, U.S. officials said. On Capitol Hill, critics said the secrecy thwarts proper congressional oversight of the massive spending program... When budget estimates [in the bill] are translated into actual contracts, Congress and taxpayers won't be able to tell how much of the $9 million postal contract, for instance, will go to contractor profits, bonuses and fees, and how much will be charged to overhead and administrative costs."

In his visit to the Philippines, Bush claimed that the United States had "liberated the Philippines from colonial rule" and cited that country as a model for his Iraq policy. In fact, the U.S. seized the Philippines from Spain in 1898 and ruled it as a U.S. colony until after World War II. (Republican President William McKinley said that the Filipinos were unfit for self-rule and that the U.S. had to "civilize and Christianize" them.) The Filipinos revolted against U.S. military dictatorship in 1899. The ensuing rebellion lasted several years, claimed the lives of more than 4,000 American soldiers, in addition to 20,000 rebels and 200,000 Filipino civilians. Ultimately, Congress passed a law in 1932 allowing the Philippines to become independent over a ten year period--over the objections of another Republican President, Herbert Hoover.

"The UN and the World Bank estimated this month that Iraq's economy will shrink 22% this year. In 1980, average annual Iraqi income was over $3,000. Hussein's US-backed war with Iran, the '91 war and the UN sanctions saw it plunge to $1,020 by 2001. The UN now predicts that annual income will fall another third this year, to just $450 to $610, as a result of the US invasion. No one expects the situation to improve in 2004. More than 70% of working-age Iraqi adults-some 12m people-are unemployed. According to Bechtel engineers, Baghdad barely receives half the electricity supply it requires and its water is 25% more polluted than before the war. Raw sewage runs in the streets and is pouring from damaged mains into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers... Large parts of the city still lie in ruins from the war and from post-war looting. There are ongoing fuel shortages. Endemic crime has driven up both the death rate and personal insecurity. Malnutrition has doubled, according to Oxfam."

"The UN Security Council's unanimous vote Thursday to support Resolution 1511 drafted by the US represents a grotesque cave-in by the European powers, Russia and China in the face of sustained pressure from Washington. Syria's backing for the resolution underscores the impotence of the Arab bourgeoisie in face of America's military drive to secure its hegemony over the entire Middle East. There is no doubt that every one of the 15 votes in support of a manifestly illegal occupation carried out in direct violation of the UN Charter was cast out of consideration for the geopolitical interests of the governments involved. In each case, the question of whether to support Washington's criminal war was decided on a quid pro quo basis involving either promised rewards-trade preferences, aid, etc.-or threatened punishment-economic sanctions or outright military aggression."

Reuters: "During three months of tough negotiations, Iraq's U.S. administrator fought hard to trim the powers of an independent watchdog being set up to monitor how he spends Iraq's oil money, international agency officials said on Friday. At one point, administrator Paul Bremer suspended the talks for six weeks to show his displeasure with efforts by the agencies to ensure the independence of the new watchdog agency, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity... 'It was a question of the extent of the board's oversight powers,' said [an] international official involved in the negotiations. 'We wanted to make sure it could ask the necessary questions and pursue special audits, for example, so it could obtain a complete and detailed picture.' But Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority, which is running Iraq on behalf of the post-war occupation, wanted to confine the board's role to bookkeeping, the official said."

NY Times reports, "A yearlong State Department study predicted many of the problems that have plagued the American-led occupation of Iraq, according to internal State Department documents and interviews with administration and Congressional officials... Several officials said that many of the findings in the $5 million study were ignored by Pentagon officials until recently... The man overseeing the planning, Tom Warrick, a State Department official, so impressed aides to Jay Garner, a retired Army lieutenant general heading the military's reconstruction office, that they recruited Mr. Warrick to join their team... But top Pentagon officials blocked Mr. Warrick's appointment, and much of the project's work was shelved." Who blocked Warrick? Rumsfeld's Neocons of course - Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, etc. Amazingly, not ONE of these officials has been fired for their gross incompetence - or their manufacture of never-ending LIES to justify W-ar. Impeach Bush Now!

The Bush propaganda line is that Iraqis love us. But "Resistance forces have mounted an average of 22 attacks a day on the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq in recent weeks." And when reporters witness such attacks, they write: "Dozens of Iraqi youths cheered and danced in celebration as contents of the flaming vehicles continued to explode." We're sick and tired of hearing Bush Lie while Soldiers Die. Let's bring our troops home - and send BUSH to Iraq!

"Someone threw a homemade grenade at the Americans, wounding 13 servicemen. According to the Oct. 8 Daily Threat Assessment-the Coalition's internal casualty report, which was shown to NEWSWEEK-eight soldiers were wounded seriously enough to be evacuated to military hospitals. Yet at a press conference the next day, there was no mention of the attack. Pushed by reporters, U.S. officials would only say the incident was under investigation. It was as if the ambush, and the casualties, had never happened. In Baghdad, official control over the news is getting tighter. Journalists used to walk freely into the city's hospitals and the morgue to keep count of the day's dead and wounded. Now the hospitals have been declared off-limits and morgue officials turn away reporters who aren't accompanied by a Coalition escort... News management is at the heart of the administration's shake-up of Iraq policy."

NY Times reports: "A yearlong State Department study predicted many of the problems that have plagued the American-led occupation of Iraq, according to internal State Department documents and interviews with administration and Congressional officials. Beginning in April 2002, the State Department project assembled more than 200 Iraqi lawyers, engineers, business people and other experts into 17 working groups to study topics ranging from creating a new justice system to reorganizing the military to revamping the economy. Their findings included a much more dire assessment of Iraq's dilapidated electrical and water systems than many Pentagon officials assumed. They warned of a society so brutalized by Saddam Hussein's rule that many Iraqis might react coolly to Americans' notion of quickly rebuilding civil society." Impeach Bush NOW!

WashPost reports: "Eight Marine reservists stationed at Camp Pendleton have been charged in connection with the June death of an Iraqi man who was held at a detention facility in Iraq, authorities said. Two of the men, Maj. Clark A. Paulus and Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez, face negligent homicide charges, said staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon, a Marine spokesman at Camp Pendleton. Charges against the other six range from assault to dereliction of duty... Lisbon acknowledged the charges stemmed from a case in which an Iraqi man died while being detained by U.S. authorities. He would not, however, say whether the case in question was that of a 52-year-old Iraqi prisoner of war, whose corpse was found June 6 at a camp run by the 1st Marine Division near Nasiriyah. The man had been held at the camp in southern Iraq since his capture May 3. Lisbon said Paulus and Hernandez also face lesser charges, including cruelty and maltreatment, and assault."

"Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers expressed concern Thursday over a survey suggesting major morale problems among U.S. troops in Iraq, saying he was worried that he and other top officers were sometimes allowed to talk only to 'all the happy folks' when they visited service members. 'I want to see the folks that have complaints. And sometimes they won't let them near me,' Myers said when asked about the Stars and Stripes newspaper survey in which half of 1,939 troops responding said morale in their units was low or very low and that they did not plan to reenlist. The newspaper, which receives funding from the Pentagon, also said that a third of the respondents complained that their mission lacked clear definition and that they would characterize the war in Iraq as having little or no value."

"Although senators and House members gave Bush the bulk of what he sought, they rejected a handful of his most controversial requests and left a few nettlesome items for House-Senate negotiators to resolve next week. The House voted 303 to 125 to approve an $86.9 billion measure that lopped off $1.7 billion of Bush's $20.3 billion request for Iraq reconstruction aid... 83 Democrats joined 220 Republicans to pass the bill, while 6 Republicans, 118 Democrats and 1 independent opposed it. Hours later, the Senate voted 87 to 12 to pass an $86.4 billion package that includes the House cuts plus a $200 million reduction in the administration's plan to import petroleum into Iraq. Despite strong White House objections, the Senate designated nearly half of the reconstruction aid as a loan, to be repaid by Iraq unless its foreign creditors forgive 90% of the debts incurred under Saddam Hussein."

Reuters reports: "U.S. troops may have to stay in Iraq until 2006 to fully secure the country they invaded in March, a top U.S. general says. Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, commander of the 3rd Corps, said there could be two more yearly troop rotations until newly trained Iraqi forces are ready to take over. 'We're engaged in the long term to be successful here,' Metz told reporters... 'The current pace of success leads me to believe we could have an end state of (another) rotation or two.'... U.S. forces in Iraq have been coming under increasing guerrilla attacks since the war ended. New attacks on Thursday and Friday raised to 101 the American death toll from hostile action in Iraq since George Bush declared major combat over on May 1. Metz's comments were in line with those of the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who said earlier this month it would take years before Iraq was able to maintain security without backup."

"An explosion damaged part of the main pipeline running from Iraq's northern oilfields yesterday, forcing a cut in the amount of oil available for export. The explosion ripped open part of the main pipeline linking the northern oilfields to the al-Doura oil refinery and the Mussayab power plant. The oil in the pipeline was earmarked for domestic use. To maintain domestic supplies, the official said, exports from the southern oilfields will be reduced by 80,000 barrels a day to make up for the shortage from the northern oilfields. There have been many attacks on pipelines in the region, complicating the American rebuilding effort in Iraq, which depends on oil revenue." Maybe Iraq would be able to pay for its own reconstruction with oil if the US pulled out and the attacks ceased, saving both countries millions of dollars.

Last week, you could tell the Bush administration was bailing its sinking ship for all it was worth. First, they used a classic Freeper ploy: spam the news media with a bogus letter from "a concerned citizen" - in this case, a "concerned soldier." The phony letter claimed all was rosier than anyone thought in Iraq. The same week, a CNN-Gallup poll (the White House fudge-a-poll folks), released a "new poll" showing an amazing and inexplicable rebound of Bush's approval. Now this week, the phony letter was unmasked as a fraud, polls by less paid-off pollsters show a continuing drop in Bush's stock, and a survey of REAL soldiers in Iraq shows abysmal moral, poor training, and a desire to get the hell out of the Bush military.

Moktada al-Sadr, "An anti-American cleric, whose forces clashed on Thursday with American soldiers and killed two of them, has proclaimed his own government in Iraq... Mr. Sadr, 30, is evidently challenging the authority of the Governing Council while trying to build a following among poor and alienated Iraqis among the Shiites Muslims... Mr. Sadr is the son of a revered Shiite cleric who was killed in 1999... Though it is unclear how far Mr. Sadr intends to push, tension has been growing in recent days between him and Iraqi and American officials. On Tuesday, his supporters took over the city council office in Sadr City, the huge Shiite slum in northeast Baghdad where he has the most support and which is named for his father... On Thursday night, American officials say, a troop patrol was ambushed near his headquarters in Sadr City, setting off a sustained firefight that killed two American soldiers and wounded four others. "

"Sen. Joe Lieberman said he will vote for Bush's $87 billion request for military occupation and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Sens. John Edwards and John Kerry said they will oppose it in its current form... Edwards said Bush needs to change his policies and it's time somebody 'stand up to him and say no.' Kerry said, 'Unless this proposal is changed to better protect taxpayer dollars and shares the burden and risk of transforming Iraq with the United Nations and the rest of the international community, then I will oppose it.'... Rep. Dick Gephardt is still weighing his decision, while Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans to oppose the package. Wesley Clark, a retired general who won't have to cast a vote, told AP 'not without lots and lots and lots of work. I'm not ready to say I support that. Absolutely not.' Howard Dean, another White House hopeful with no vote in Congress, said he would oppose the $87 billion unless Bush pays for it by repealing a portion of his tax cuts."

"Monday, in an interview with Hearst-Argyle television stations, Resident Bush said, 'There's a sense that people in America aren't getting the truth. ... We're making great progress about improving the lives of the people there in Iraq,' he said. 'It's very important for the American people to know that a peaceful Iraq, a free Iraq, is in our national interests. It'll make America more secure, and it'll change the neighborhood.'" Bush is complaining about the press? Good. Show the truth. Show the body bags coming home every day. What ever happened to the solemn ceremonies of the brave soldiers that died for our country? Show the injured US soldiers coming home. Show the moneybags Halliburton is taking home. Show the lies Bush used to get us into war. Show the Bush/bin Laden family business connections. The media hasn't even begun to expose the ugly truth.

"A two-car suicide bomb attack aimed at a hotel used by U.S. officials on central Baghdad's main street killed six Iraqis and injured dozens on Sunday. The attack deals a further blow to Resident Bush who is trying to bolster support for his invasion of Iraq by highlighting postwar successes. Polls show his popularity tumbling as the cost of the war in lives and money mounts... 'I saw limbs and pieces of flesh everywhere,' security guard Kahin Hussein said... The attack took place exactly a year after the bombing of two nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali which killed 202 people and three years to the day after an explosives-laden rubber raft rammed a U.S. destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors... The hotel is widely thought to be used by members of the CIA, officials of the U.S.-led coalition and their Iraqi partners in the Governing Council as well as U.S. contractors. A U.S. official in Washington said: 'It is not a CIA facility.'"

"Alarmed by the number of suicides among soldiers in Iraq, the Army has asked a team of doctors to determine whether the stress of combat and long deployments is contributing to the deaths. 'The number of suicides has caused the Army to be concerned,' said Lt. Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a psychiatrist at the Army's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Ritchie is helping to investigate the suicides in Iraq. 'Is there something different going on in Iraq that we really need to pay attention to?' In the past seven months, at least 11 soldiers and three Marines have committed suicide in Iraq, military officials say. That is an annual rate of 17 per 100,000. The Navy also is investigating one possible suicide. And about a dozen other Army deaths are under investigation and could include suicides."

Juan Cole reports: "perhaps a million and a half Shiite worshippers crowded into the shrine city of Karbala on Saturday, to begin commemorating the birth of the Twelfth Imam (August 2, 869 AD). The Polish commander of the region expects as many as three million on Sunday. Iraqi police and Muqtada al-Sadr's Army of the Mahdi were providing security. [Shiite Muslims believe the 12th Imam] went into a supernatural and invisible realm as a small child, from which he secretly rules the world, and that he will one day return to restore the world to justice. (The belief is similar to Christian ideas about the ascent and ultimate return of Christ). Pious Shiites interpret the recent Iraq war not as a victory of American arms but as the expression of the divine wrath with Saddam Hussein's wicked government. That young Shiite sectarian leader Muqtada al-Sadr has chosen this anniversary to announce that he will form an Iraqi government points to the millenarian beliefs of the Sadrists."

UK Independent: "US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops. The stumps of palm trees, some 70 years old, protrude from the brown earth scoured by the bulldozers beside the road at Dhuluaya, a small town 50 miles north of Baghdad... Nusayef Jassim, one of 32 farmers who saw their fruit trees destroyed, said: 'They told us that the resistance fighters hide in our farms, but this is not true. They didn't capture anything. They didn't find any weapons.' Other farmers said that US troops had told them, over a loudspeaker in Arabic, that the fruit groves were being bulldozed to punish the farmers for not informing on the resistance which is very active in this Sunni Muslim district." Isn't this a violation of the Geneva Convention?

NY Times: "Shiite Muslim anger against Americans spilled into Friday Prayers in Sadr City, the poor Baghdad district where two Iraqis and two American soldiers were killed Thursday night. The violence and subsequent public outrage raised fears of new dangers to US troops from the followers of Moktada al-Sadr, a young anti-American Shiite cleric. Up to now, the main threat to American forces has come from loyalists to Saddam Hussein. A seething throng of perhaps 10,000 people gathered on Friday to pay respects to the two men they believe were killed by American forces the night before... Sheik Abdel Hadi al-Daraji delivered the sermon at Friday Prayers and issued a defiant demand: no American soldiers should be allowed inside Sadr City. 'America, which calls itself the supporter of democracy, is nothing but a big terrorist organization that is leading the world with its terrorism and arrogance,' Mr. Daraji said."

AP: "Delegates to the world's largest gathering of Islamic nations opened their biggest meeting in three years Saturday with calls for the eviction of U.S. troops from Iraq and fears that the recent Israeli air strike in Syria could spark a larger Mideast war. The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council also sought to get backing for its effort to prevent the deployment of Turkish peacekeepers to its territory. The gathering of the 57 countries in the Islamic Conference, the world's biggest Muslim political grouping, is its first regular summit since the Sept. 11 attacks brought terrorism to the center of world politics... Top priority should go to 'the eviction of foreign forces from Iraq, allowing the UN to administer Iraqi affairs (as a) prelude to restoration of Iraq's independence, and to the rebuilding of what has been destroyed over the past 20 years, all in accordance with a clear and short timetable,' [host and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad] said."

"The United States needs to give the United Nations 'some real authority' in Iraq to avoid the risk of alienating ordinary Iraqis, former CIA Director Stansfield Turner suggested to U.N. Wire yesterday. Turner said in an interview that if the Bush administration loses too much popular support in Iraq, it will face difficulties overcoming snipers and other security problems in Baghdad. The administration, he said, is having problems in the United Nations now 'because they don't like the U.N. and they don't like nation-building in general.' In addition, he said, the administration 'had a false impression of what Iraq reconstruction was going to be like.' Referring to last week's report to the U.S. Congress on weapons of mass destruction by lead U.S. investigator David Kay, Turner said, 'I'm just aghast when I read what Mr. Kay says and then read what Mr. Bush says about Mr. Kay and then read what Mr. (U.S. Secretary of State Colin) Powell wrote yesterday about Mr. Kay's report.'"

"The US Army Surgeon General's investigation is focusing on 19 severe cases of pneumonia, including two deaths, among US service personnel from March 1 until August 20... They fell ill between one day and 189 days after they began their overseas deployment, with the median being 81 days. Eighteen were male and one female... According to the military, there is no evidence any case was infected by contact with one of the others... The diverse and mysterious nature of the illnesses makes it inexplicable as to why the military has limited the inquiry to these cases. At least 17 other people - 16 military and one civilian - have suddenly and unexpectedly died while on deployment or preparing to deploy to Iraq during the same time period. The fact that some of the deaths involve pneumonia and other respiratory and pulmonary conditions makes the narrow scope of the investigation even more inexplicable."

"Haider Kadhim, who claimed to be 20, stood at his post along the Tigris River, unarmed, dressed in baggy jeans and sneakers, dancing to music blaring through his headset. As the U.S. military works to quell unrest in Iraq, it is relying on help from people like Kadhim, young men and women rushed into security service with little training and no real uniforms but armed with the powerful weapons that are now a fixture in this country. 'We've retrained them twice and they seem to get it, then you let them alone for five minutes and it's like they've never talked to us,' said a soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who asked that his name not be used because his unit has been forbidden to speak with reporters. 'Some of them are OK, but a lot of them are like little kids.'"

"The most shocking development within the Bush White House has been the public rise of intra-administration politics... But the reorganization of administrative duties in Iraq have cast the Bush team's former golden boy (er, old man) Rumsfeld out into the cold when it was revealed that Condoleezza Rice and the NSC will be assuming duties once handled poorly by the Defense Dept... Oh, and they excluded him from all meetings about it. So did Rumsfeld react with the dignity of a man with vast political experience who'd seen these types of power plays on countless occasions? Not at all. On Tuesday he was hit with questions about the shakeup by the European press [US reporters were busy feeding him grapes]. After parrying several questions, Rumsfeld unloaded on a German reporter who pressed the issue: 'I said I don't know. Isn't that clear? You don't understand English?' Classy. Rumsfeld later admitted that...he was forced to learn about [the policy change] through a short memo from Rice."

"War affects everyone, not just those directly involved in the fighting. This webpage is a simple attempt to demonstrate one of the more quantifiable effects of war: the financial burden it places on our tax dollars. 'Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.' President Dwight D. Eisenhower April 16, 1953" Guess What? Every man, woman, and child in America has already been charged $300 on the Bush debit card -- not counting the the next $87 billion. Bush said it's OUR money - now it's OUR debt.

AFP: "Six months after US and British forces ousted former President Saddam Hussein in the name of freedom and human rights the future of Iraqi women is bleak. Women in Baghdad live every day in fear of rape or abduction, many shut away in their homes. The few women in the crumbling streets of the capital are hastening about on errands clad in the abaya, a long black garment which covers the entire body except the face. 'I can't do anything anymore. I'm scared of everything. There are demonstrations everyday in Baghdad, kidnappers who sell girls abroad. I don't dare go out in the street, or take a taxi on my own,' said Ala Hasan, 26, who works with the French charity Doctors of the World. 'They live like they are in a cage,' said Salma Kamal of the League of Iraqi Women. Many have stopped going to school or university or have even quit going to work, she said. Instead, they are forced to lock themselves away in the relative safety of their homes."

Jeff Madrick writes, "By almost any mainstream economist's standard, the plan, already approved by L. Paul Bremer III, the American in charge of the Coalition Provisional Authority, is extreme -- in fact, stunning. It would immediately make Iraq's economy one of the most open to trade and capital flows in the world, and put it among the lowest taxed in the world, rich or poor. Is this Middle Eastern nation, racked by war, ready for such severe experimentation? Moreover, the radical laws have been adopted without a democratic Iraqi government to discuss or approve them... Fadhil Mahdi [of the UN Development Program]: 'After the long years of war since 1980 and the sanctions since the 1990's... Iraq's technological prowess in the civilian sector is worse than Russia's in the 90's. Opening up to imports at a mere 5 percent tariff will most probably ruin many producers and exacerbate unemployment.'... The new economic planners have not included provisions for social programs."

"As Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S. ground troops in Iraq, admitted that resistance attacks become 'a little more lethal, a little more complex, a little more sophisticated and in some cases a little more tenacious', an Iraqi group announced the formation of a unified command of Iraqi resistance groups. In a statement, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnline.net, the National Front for the Liberation of Iraq revealed that 'after intensive contacts with a number of armed Iraqi groups and Arab volunteers who flocked to the country ahead of the U.S.-led invasion, a unified resistance command has now been forged.'... It asserted that the resistance factions that joined the new alliance - not less than 10 - are deployed across the occupied country, but are specially active in Kirkuk and Arbil in the north; Baghdad, Tikrit and Fallujah in the center; and Basra and Babel in the south."

"U.S. forces removed the police chief of Beiji from office Monday after a weekend of fighting and riots between pro-Saddam Hussein demonstrators, Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers in this important oil refining city north of Baghdad. In Baghdad, meanwhile, U.S. troops fired in the air to disperse hundreds of ex-soldiers who gathered for a third straight day to complain they had not been paid as promised. Coalition said more than 320,000 former Iraqi soldiers had received one-time payments of $40 after the army was disbanded but some Iraqis were refused payment because they could not prove they had been in the military."

Heading into election 2004, Bush's biggest problem is the daily body count of American soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. BushRove tried to foist off occupation duties to the "Coalition of the Willing," but these tiny nations - led by such powerhouses as Moldova - have no troops. So then they tried to coerce the UN - but France, Germany, and Russia told Bush to piss off. Bush will NOT accelerate the transition to democracy, because he doesn't trust double-crossing Chalabi. So with US troops stuck in Iraq-istan, BushRove's only choice is predictable - to "scrub" the deaths of US soldiers from the headlines, so Americans don't know. The NY Times reports that Condi Rice will take personal control of both occupations, and here's the bottom line: "Anna Perez, Ms. Rice's communications director, will focus on a coordinated media message - a response to concerns about the daily reports of attacks on American troops and lawlessness in the streets." Impeach Bush Now!

"Shortly after the war began in March, the administration... said that Iraq would 'not require sustained aid' because of its abundant resources, including oil and natural gas. On March 27, Paul Wolfowitz told [Congress] 'The oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 billion and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years.' Testifying in the Senate that same day, Mr. Rumsfeld emphasized that 'when it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayers we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government.'... [But Paul] Bremer, in his remarks to legislators two weeks ago, said that for the next two years, whatever revenue was reaped from oil production would not exceed the cost of Iraq's day-to-day operating expenses. In 2005, he said, there would be a surplus of only $4 million to $5 million." The Busheviks lied by $50-$100 BILLION - Impeach Bush Now!

"Top Bush administration officials in the past weeks have been citing a pair of public opinion polls to demonstrate that Iraqis have a positive view of the U.S. occupation. But an examination of those polls indicates Iraqis have a less enthusiastic view than the administration has portrayed. For example, in testimony before Congress, Paul Bremer and Paul Wolfowitz both cited a recent Gallup Poll that found that almost 2/3 of those polled in Baghdad said it was worth the hardships suffered since the U.S.-led invasion ousted Hussein. Bremer also told Congress that 67% thought that in 5 years they would be better off, and only 11% thought they would be worse off. That same poll, however, found that, countrywide, only 33% thought they were better off than they were before the invasion and 47% said they were worse off. And 94% said that Baghdad was a more dangerous place for them to live, a finding the administration officials did not discuss."

"Four months after the Security Council ordered an independent board to monitor U.S. spending of Iraq's oil revenues, diplomats on Thursday accused the United States of blocking it from taking up its duties... They said the disagreement reflected a U.S. desire to keep Iraqi reconstruction exclusively in American hands... In Washington, administration officials said they were eager for the board to be set up and begin its work but wanted its role confined essentially to bookkeeping. 'By getting more people involved, you are going to have a lot of quibbling over how the money is spent,' one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'We are on the ground, we know what the needs are, and we are committed to ensuring the money is spent appropriately and in a transparent fashion,' the official said." Independent oversight is Quibbling? 'Trust us, we'll keep it transparent'? Impeach Bush Now!

"After supporting Ahmad Chalabi for years, the US has grown disenchanted and made a serious effort during the past two weeks to rein in the former Iraqi exile leader, pressing him specifically to stop embarrassing Resident Bush with calls for a speedy handover of power in Baghdad... Administration officials are questioning his credibility and growing increasingly concerned about the positions he is taking on Iraq's future. Condoleezza Rice confronted Chalabi in a meeting last week in NYC with him and two other members of the Iraqi Governing Council, and again Tuesday in Washington, on recent statements calling for greater Iraqi control over both political power and the economic reconstruction, the sources said. 'She was instructed to tell him to behave. She stressed how unhelpful it was for Iraqis to be enunciating positions that were personally embarrassing for the president, who was the strongest advocate of a new regime in Baghdad,' said a senior U.S. official. 'She was blunt.'"

Boston Globe: "In a week that has seen five more US combat deaths and left 41 soldiers wounded, the commander of military forces in Iraq indicated yesterday that resistance to the occupying troops was strengthening and warned Americans to brace for more casualties. With 313 American soldiers dead in the conflict so far, more than half since May 1, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said at a weekly news briefing here, 'This is still wartime.'... Sanchez said the US-led forces are engaging resistance groups 15 to 20 times a day, on average, with as many as 25 incidents on some days. Military spokesmen have consistently cited lower figures, about 13 a day. The general added that the resistance was showing signs of improved organization. Though most attacks against US forces are being carried out by small, locally based groups apparently acting on their own, there are indications that the resistance is beginning to operate under a broader, more regional control, Sanchez said."

Senate Republicans "beat back a Democratic effort yesterday to pay for Bush's $87 billion spending request for Iraq and Afghanistan by raising taxes on affluent Americans... The 57 to 42 vote, largely along party lines, scuttled an amendment that would have raised the rate on taxable incomes over $312,000 to 38.2% in 2005, from the 35% rate that took effect this year. Democrats said affluent Americans would still reap most of $1.8 trillion in tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, and said it is time for sacrifice to fund war and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'Responsibility dictates that we be responsible rather than ideological, that we pay now, that we don't ask our children to pay for our security,' said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), the amendment's primary architect." Sign our petition at taxtherich.com

"The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, yesterday issued a stinging rebuke to Washington's attempts to win financial and military backing for the US-led occupation of Iraq. Mr Annan took the unusual step of openly rejecting a US-sponsored draft for a resolution calling for international support for the transition to Iraqi self-rule, saying the Bush administration had failed to heed his recommendations. France, Russia and Germany also signalled that they were not prepared to support the resolution, in a sharp setback for US postwar diplomatic efforts to share the burden of running Iraq. The rejection reflected a sharp rift in the security council over how Iraq should be managed in the transition to self-rule, and how long that transition should be."

"The United States presented a revised version of its draft resolution on Iraq this morning at a closed-door meeting of the Security Council. The draft gives the United Nations more responsibilities in administering the transition to Iraqi self-government, but all political control of the country remains in the hands of the United States. The draft says the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq 'should strengthen its vital role in Iraq' through humanitarian assistance, reconstruction and 'efforts to restore and establish national and local institutions for representative government.' But the text says nothing about allowing the United Nations to administer the country on an interim basis, as it did in East Timor and Kosovo."

While the mainstream media and Pentagon (there's a difference?) claim soldier morale in Iraq is high, families of the troops know the truth and are speaking out and demanding changes. "Families of "weekend warriors" are particularly bitter by extended call-ups. "There are single parents, business owners, employees and new fathers in our unit. The reserve system is not designed to supplement the military for such an extended period of time," says a petition set up by families of the 129th Combat HET Transportation Company Reserve Unit in Kansas. "Morale is absolutely pathetic," said Rachel Trueblood, whose husband, a staff sergeant, is based in Kuwait. "Some of the guys out there are saying 'Let me get out of here, we are sitting out here doing stupid stuff and risking our lives." Sign the petition at http://www.129bringthemhome.com

Randy and Pam Forcier of Spokane, WA wrote this letter to the Spokesman Review: "We are usually quiet individuals, expressing little about world events and politics, etc. However, we have to stand up and say something now. Our son-in-law is in the Army, serving our country for several months in Iraq. He was recently authorized to return home for two weeks. We are all grateful for this news! However, there is one catch - he has to pay for the journey! How can the government expect him to pay his own airfare? It seems unfair the government won't foot the bill to send troops home, after they risk their lives for our country. They have had to leave their families struggling emotionally and some financially. Then when they do have the opportunity to come home briefly, they are expected to pay their own way. This is an atrocity! And, too often, there is no way some of these families can afford the airfare."

"Businessmen linked by their close ties to Resident Bush, his family and his administration have set up a consulting firm to advise companies that want to do business in Iraq, including...[U.S.] taxpayer-financed reconstruction... New Bridge Strategies is headed by Joe M. Allbaugh, Mr. Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until March. Other directors include Edward M. Rogers Jr., vice chairman, and Lanny Griffith, lobbyists who were assistants to the first President George Bush and now have close ties to the White House. At a time when the administration seeks Congressional approval for $20.3 billion to rebuild Iraq...the company's Web site...says, 'The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in Washington, D.C., and on the ground in Iraq.'"

"Members of Congress fumed early this week after reports surfaced that the Governing Council would ease its crippling power shortage by buying electricity from Syria and Iran. Tempers rose further after a council member, at a meeting of OPEC, voted in support of a proposal to cut oil production at a time when gas prices in the US are already at record highs... 'I have to ask,' Edward J. Markey, (D-MA), said in a statement Thursday, 'why the Bush administration expects the US taxpayers to [finance] an open-ended financial and military commitment to nation-building in a country that turns around and votes with OPEC to shake down the American consumer with higher oil prices.'... Chalabi's increasingly vocal role has rankled some members of Congress. Don Young (R-AK) who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said Chalabi - a grateful recipient of US support while in exile - 'now seems like he is no longer one of us. He seems to be one of them now.'" Yeah - a Halliburton executive.

"Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) took the floor of the Senate last week to question a $9 million request by Bush to overhaul Iraq's postal service by establishing ZIP codes, one small item in an $87 billion measure... 'It is amazing... What a generous thing for this administration to do for other people on the other side of the planet, on our dime, borrowing money to do it.' Johnson's complaint is part of a growing chorus of congressional criticism over the $20.3 billion in reconstruction costs... Democrats have discovered a political gold mine in the details and are now agitating for a separate vote on the reconstruction part of the bill when it reaches the Senate floor. Bush's request has created some political nervousness among GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill as Democrats step up their criticism... Republicans fear that Democratic criticism of alleged excesses in the reconstruction package will resound throughout the 2004 election campaign." Go Dems!

"Actor Bruce Willis has performed before US soldiers in Telafar, northern Iraq, and offered $1m to the man who captures Saddam Hussein... 'Peculiar thing back home is that the liberal media was trying to portray it as a bad war. But being over here just a couple of days, seeing how well our troops and the allied troops are being received here, (I) think the Iraqi people are happy we're here,' the Hollywood star said... But the star later admitted he had not met many Iraqis because he had been travelling the country by helicopter. Willis, a Republican party supporter, was one of the few celebrities to publicly back the US' stance during the recent war on Iraq, which was led by Resident Bush."

"The interim Iraqi government, set up by the United States to advise its senior administrator in Baghdad, has surprised Washington recently with a series of increasingly contentious positions as it presses for self-rule, from a push for sweeping economic changes to a move toward normalizing trade relations with Syria and Iran, countries branded by US officials as exporters of terrorism. For the Bush administration, which is already fending off demands from allies for a swift return to Iraqi self-rule, such assertiveness by the Governing Council is a mixed blessing, analysts say: It means democracy is evolving in Iraq, but at a pace difficult for Washington to control and not necessarily compatible with its interests... Although many Iraqis dismiss the body as an American rubber stamp, it has become increasingly forceful in ways that have become as nettlesome to the Bush administration's controlling approach to Iraq's transition as was France and Germany's opposition to the war."

Josh Marshall: "Last night we told you about Joe Allbaugh, Bush's longtime right-hand-man [search Funeralgate] who just opened a company to get into the Iraq contract business. Last week we told you about how Undersec. of Defense Doug Feith's old law firm, Feith & Zell, has now opened a new division specializing in hooking up clients with the sweetest deals in Iraq. Feith & Zell is now Zell, Goldberg & Co, though they haven't yet gotten around to changing their website address, which is still www.fandz.com. Well, there's more. Let me introduce you to the Iraqi International Law Group, a new outfit ready to help you secure contracts for rebuilding Iraq. And let me also introduce you to the head of IILG, Salem Chalabi. Name sound familiar? Related to Ahmed Chalabi? You bet: Salem's Ahmed's nephew. Now, Salem just got his website up online... [and] up until a couple days ago the site address was registered under the name of Marc Zell. Right, that Mark Zell, Feith's former law partner."

"An Army reservist home on leave was struck and killed as she walked along Highway 69 early Friday morning. Authorities said that shortly before 4 a.m., dispatchers received calls from drivers alerting them to a pedestrian on the highway. A few minutes later, police received calls about the accident. KMBC's Donna Pitman reported that the driver of an SUV was apparently unable to avoid hitting the 24-year-old woman. 'The lady (driver) had just gotten off work. It's tragic. The lady appeared in front of her and stuck her. She's very upset, but has been cooperating with us,' Sgt. Todd Chappell said. Police have not released the victim's name. They did tell KMBC that she was home on leave from Iraq for her brother's wedding." Sign our petition at http://democrats.com/bringthemhome

"The father of a soldier killed in Iraq accused George Bush yesterday of being responsible for his son's death. Fernando Suarez, whose 20-year-old son, Jesus, was one of the first fatalities, said: 'My son died because Bush lied.' Mr Suarez, from Escondido, California, speaking at a press conference to publicise tomorrow's anti-war demonstrations in eight US cities, said that about 1,300 parents of troops stationed in Iraq were involved in a movement against the occupation. 'Neither my wife nor my family want more children to die in this illegal war. We are no less patriotic for wanting peace. Bush wants $87bn for this war, but what does he give us for our schools?' he asked. In another sign of the growing protest movement, the father of two soldiers serving in Iraq used a full page advertisement in yesterday's NY Times to demand the sacking of the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. The ad accused Bush and his administration of misleading the public about WMDs."

Le Figaro reports: "No country asked has offered to send troops or contribute financially to the country's reconstruction. Neither money nor men: at the end of a decisive week at the UN, American resident George W. Bush measures the failure of his attempted return to the international organization. 'The Iraqi nation needs our help', he pleaded Tuesday before the General Assembly in New York. Two days later, not one of the 191 countries represented there had responded to his appeal for help with a concrete promise, whether in the form of a financial contribution or by placing troop contingents at his disposition. The UN even decided yesterday to withdraw part of their expatriate personnel in Iraq, undermining American normalization efforts a little more."

"With WWII, Japan had attacked us. The Axis Powers had declared war on us. The US occupation of Germany and Japan took place in the wake of a widely supported defensive war, under a commitment to internationalism and multilateralism. We're seeing none of this in Iraq. For one, the war in Iraq was not defensive. It was a preemptive attack. Secondly, we have alienated most of the int'l community in fighting the war. Third, the Germans and Japanese did not resist the US occupation through sabotage, assassinations, and guerilla warfare. The Marshall Plan was not a huge bill presented to Congress for its rubber-stamp approval. It was a comprehensive strategy to provide $13.3bn to 16 countries over 4 years to aid in reconstruction. In current dollars, the US share would be...very nearly the same amount that has been requested by the Resident for one country for a period of mere months. Moreover, the total amount of aid that the Resident will ultimately request for Iraq is anyone's guess."

"The United Nations says it is cutting back its operations in Iraq amid a deteriorating security situation in the country. 'Today there remain 42 in Baghdad and 44 in the north of the country, and those numbers can be expected to shrink over the next few days,' said Fred Eckhard, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. 'This is not an evacuation, just a further downsizing, and the security situation in the country remains under constant review,' he added. Some 600 international staff were stationed in Iraq before the bomb attack on the UN's Baghdad offices last month, which killed 22 people, including the chief UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello. In the absence of international staff, the UN will rely on more than 4,000 Iraqis to continue mainly humanitarian work... The decision is a blow to United States' claims that the security situation in Iraq is under control, and is likely to undermine efforts by Resident Bush to increase the UN role in Iraqi reconstruction."

David Corn writes, "Once more, George W. Bush has assaulted the truth in front of the UN... 'The regime of Saddam Hussein,' he claimed, 'cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction. It used those weapons in acts of mass murder.' This is a slippery rendition of what's known. Hussein may have 'cultivated' contacts with terrorists, but the Bush administration has yet to demonstrate he had developed any operational ties to al Qaeda. And built WMDs? Certainly, he did so in the past--before UN inspectors in the mid-1990s reported that they had destroyed most of his WMDs. But there's no undeniable proof he was manufacturing WMDs more recently. In fact, a classified Defense Intelligence Agency analysis produced in October 2002 noted that there was no reliable evidence that Hussein was making chemical weapons." Read Corn's new book, "The Lies of George W. Bush."

"Bush ended two days of meetings with foreign leaders today without winning more international troops or funds for Iraq and with a top aide saying it could take months to achieve a new U.N. resolution backing the U.S. occupation. Bush's failure to win a promise of fresh soldiers in meetings with the leaders of India and Pakistan -- aides said the resident did not even ask -- increased the difficulty the United States will have in assembling another division of foreign troops in Iraq, which senior Pentagon officials say is the minimum needed to relieve overstretched U.S. forces... Bush's empty-handed departure after two days at the United Nations, combined with warnings from the military that it will soon need fresh U.S. troops to relieve those in Iraq, makes it increasingly likely that the U.S. military will have to rely on its own reservists to do the job -- a politically dicey move for Bush, whose domestic support already has declined because of the continuing instability in Iraq."

"The first definitive total of violent civilian deaths in Baghdad since mid April has been published by Iraq Body Count (IBC)... IBC's latest study is the first comprehensive count to adjust for the comparable 'background level' of deaths in Baghdad in recent pre-war times. It is therefore an estimate of additional deaths in the city directly attributable to the breakdown of law and order following the US occupation of Baghdad. The study confirms the widespread anecdotal evidence that violence on the streets of Baghdad has skyrocketed, with the average daily death rate almost tripling since mid April from around 10 per day to over 28 per day during August. Another worrying development is that during the pre-war period deaths from gunshot wounds accounted for approximately 10% of bodies brought to the morgue, but now account for over 60% of those killed. The small number of reports available for other cities indicate that these trends are being mirrored elsewhere in the country."

"I am a National Guardsman of the 105th Personnel Services Detachment out of Lincoln, Neb. My unit and I are stationed in Kuwait at Camp Wolf. We were deployed Feb. 2. We arrived in Jordan in April and half of us were moved a week later to Kuwait to throw mail... Yes, we are physically able to finish our mission, but mentally and spiritually we are dying... This isn't a simple board game of Axis and Allies, this is a game people are playing with real people - people with families, not robots... It feels as if every decision is off the cuff. In this situation there should be plans in place and decisions made before the rubber hits the road. We are slowly becoming frantic. I hear people saying they are going to begin hurting themselves or others if they can't go home. The helplessness our soldiers are feeling is indescribable, it is past the point of 'suck it up and drive on.' We just want somewhere to drive on to."

"U.S. soldiers backed by helicopters firing rockets attacked a farmhouse Tuesday, killing three Iraqis and wounding three others, villagers said. The U.S. military said soldiers followed suspected guerrillas into this village after a patrol was ambushed.... The fighting in Al-Sajr, a small village west of Baghdad, highlighted the difficulties of combating guerrillas in populated areas and was likely to deepen resentment of the U.S. occupation in an already volatile region... Villagers insisted no one had fired on the Americans... Residents said the Americans appeared in the village about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and began firing with light weapons. Villagers later heard aircraft approaching. Soon afterward, six missiles struck the home of Ali Khalaf Mohammed, killing the 45-year-old farmer. Two of Mohammed's sons, aged 11 and 9 years, were wounded. Villagers said two other men - Saadi Fayad and Salem Ismail - were killed after they rushed to Mohammed's house to offer assistance."

"They were told at first they would be in Iraq for just a few just months. Now they are being told they must stay in Iraq until next spring. Without uniforms, they would be the Joe or Jane you see on the streets of the US. Before they were called to duty, many were students or government workers. One soldier in battle fatigues says she is a schoolteacher, with two kids at home. Most have never seen battle or death before.... Many soldiers acknowledge that the majority of Iraqis do not like them. Anthony Parrish is a tank driver from task force 1st Battalion, 37th Armoured Division, and he says they have come to expect daily attacks. He learnt what to expect within the first couple of days. 'We got shot, we got rounds coming at us, every time we went out, there's somebody yelling, everywhere people hanging chicken wire across the street, dropping grenades off the bridges, shooting at you, even children. We saw 13, 14-year-old children with weapons - AK-47s, rifles, handguns.'"

"Iraq's Governing Council said Tuesday it planned to suspend the Iraqi operations of two Arab satellite channels it accused of inciting violence against U.S.-led occupation forces. Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for council chairman Ahmed Chalabi, said the move against Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Dubai-based Al Arabiya was intended as a clear message to other channels that might stir unrest among the Iraqi population. Qanbar told a news conference in Baghdad [that the stations would be closed] 'for promoting political violence, promoting killing of members of the Governing Council, promoting killing of members of the U.S. coalition, putting on their screens videotapes of terrorists.'... 'We are trying to cover all aspects of the situation in Iraq as objectively as possible and that includes allowing our channel to be a forum for everyone in Iraqi society, be they opposition, the Americans or the government,' Abdul Sattar Ellaz, program editor for Al Arabiya, told Reuters."

Fred Kaplan writes: "Has an American president ever delivered such a bafflingly impertinent speech before the General Assembly as the one George W. Bush gave this morning? Here were the world's foreign ministers and heads of state, anxiously awaiting some sign of an American concession to realism -- even the sketchiest outline of a plan to share not just the burden but the power of postwar occupation in Iraq. And Bush gave them nothing, in some ways less than nothing."

William Rivers Pitt writes: "There is not enough grammar in the entirety of the English language to describe the incredible international humiliation that has befallen the United States of America. That this humiliation was brought down upon the American people by the man supposedly in charge of the country is, in all honesty, no big surprise for those who have been watching this all unfold. The layers of crushing embarrassment have been building like river sediment for months upon months upon months. On Tuesday, however, George W. Bush managed to completely obliterate the hard-won standing the United States has earned within the global community. Never mind that the Iraqi seat was filled at the United Nations by none other than the crawling kingsnake himself, Ahmad Chalabi... He was, in fact, Rumsfeld's hand-picked leader-in-waiting of Iraq as early as 1997. Chalabi was convicted of 32 counts of bank fraud and sentenced to 22 years imprisonment by a Jordanian court in 1992."

"Sen. John Kerry said 'once again [Bush] has failed to tell us exactly what role he expects the United Nations to play now and what timetable he envisions for the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people,'... [Sen. John] Edwards said Bush 'missed an opportunity' to bring the international community in by failing to offer them a seat at the table and a meaningful role in decision making. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an opponent of the war, called the speech 'further proof that the war against Iraq was a complete failure' that had harmed U.S. standing, depleted funds from domestic priorities and distracted from the war on terror. Another staunch critic who voted against the war, Sen. Bob Graham, accused Bush of trying to force other nations to comply with U.S. demands with his 'do it my way or the highway' approach. 'He missed an opportunity once again to unite the world against terrorism and rekindle relationships with our long time allies,' Graham said."

"While Iraq has been the occasion for unprecedented schisms among the G8, there is little disagreement about what kind of economic future awaits Iraq... maximum flexibility for multinational corporations and foreign investors, and minimal voice for Iraqi citizens. In post-conflict countries like East Timor and Afghanistan, the World Bank has guaranteed that new economies fit comfortably into familiar patterns, just as...in countries of the former Soviet bloc. That does not mean that the people of those countries have necessarily seen their living standards rise - quite the opposite in Russia, for example. But none of those countries have posed a challenge to the established economic order. In the 'transition' countries that has meant snuffing out any hint of economic sovereignty in potential mavericks like Moldova, and turning a blind eye to the autocratic eccentricities of the Cent. Asian republics so long as they cooperate with plans to extract the oil under their lands and waters."

Reuters: "Iraq was set to unveil on Sunday sweeping economic reforms that include giving foreign investors full access to all sectors of the economy except oil after three decades of almost total state control...A senior U.S. official involved in oil-rich Iraq's reconstruction said the new proposals were agreed upon on Saturday and were now effectively the law of the land. The list of steps to liberalize foreign investment, the banking sector and the tax and tariff code reads like a recipe devised by Washington for a free-market Iraq."

Robert Fisk writes: "A culture of secrecy has descended upon the occupation authorities in Iraq. They will give no tally of the Iraqi civilian lives lost each day. They will not comment on the killing by an American soldier of one of their own Iraqi interpreters yesterday - he was shot dead in front of the Italian diplomat who was the official adviser to the new Iraqi Ministry of Culture - and they cannot explain how General Sultan Hashim Ahmed, the former Iraqi minister of defense and a potential war criminal, should now be described by one of the most senior US officers in Iraq as 'a man of honor and integrity'. On Thursday, in an ambush outside Khaldiya, 100 miles west of Baghdad, a minimum of three US soldiers were reported dead and three wounded - local Iraqis claimed eight dead. Yet within hours, the occupation authorities were saying that exactly the same number were killed and wounded in an ambush on Americans in Tikrit."

"A U.S. soldier shot dead a rare Bengal tiger at Baghdad zoo after the animal injured a [moronic] colleague who was trying to feed it through the cage bars, the zoo's manager said on Saturday. Adil Salman Mousa told Reuters a group of U.S. soldiers were having a party in the zoo on Thursday night, after it had closed. 'Someone was trying to feed the tigers,' he said. 'The tiger bit his finger off and clawed his arm. So his colleague took a gun and shot the tiger.' The night watchman said the soldiers had arrived in military vehicles but were casually dressed and were drinking beer. There was no immediate U.S. comment.... At the tiger's now-empty cage, pools of blood showed that the soldier passed through a first cage intended only for keepers and was standing right up against the inner cage's narrow bars."

"As a measure of the fierce resistance against American forces around here, even those Iraqis who serve as US allies in the town said they had no intention of trying to halt the insurgents' attacks. 'We'll fight American military patrols every day if we can,' said Iraqi police officer Ahmed Juma'a Ahmed, 35, standing outside the crumbling Khaldiyah police station. 'Our situation under Saddam was very good compared to America's occupation,' said Ahmed, who was hired into the police force three months ago by US military officers. Asked if the police officers would attempt to find those responsible for Thursday's attack, he shrugged his shoulders. 'We have no cooperation here with the Americans.'"

"In an effort to ensure that Iraqi oil revenues are managed in a transparent manner, Open Society Institute Chairman George Soros has launched a new initiative called Iraq Revenue Watch. Iraq Revenue Watch will monitor Iraq's oil industry to ensure that it is managed with the highest standards of transparency and that the benefits of national oil wealth flow to the people of Iraq. Iraq Revenue Watch complements existing Open Society Institute initiatives that monitor revenues produced by the extractive industries. In many parts of the world, the lack of proper stewardship over oil resources has resulted in corruption, the continued impoverishment of populations, and abuses of political power. By prompting governments to tackle these problems early, before U.S. management of the Iraqi oil industry becomes a reality, the Open Society Institute hopes to help Iraq avoid this plight."

The UK Guardian reports: "Bush sought to push through his huge new spending package for Iraq, and to solicit international help in securing and rebuilding the country yesterday, as attacks against US troops increased. The newly revealed small print of Mr Bush's $87bn funding request left many Democrats and some Republicans outraged that the administration aimed to spend more per head on Iraqi public services than it spends on each American... 'The Bush administration, in a scant 2 years, has imperiled our country in the gravest of ways, and set us up for a possible crisis of mammoth proportions,' said the outspoken Democratic senator Robert Byrd, leading a chorus of congressional attacks following the formal submission of the funding request. Critics noted that the plan calls for spending $255 per Iraqi on electrical improvements by 2005, compared to 71 cents per American per year, and $38 per capita on hospitals compared to $3.30 in the US."

"The president of the United States decides to go to war against a nation led by a brutal dictator supported by one-party rule. That dictator has made war on his neighbors. The president decides this is a threat to the United States. In his campaign for president he gives no indication of wanting to go to war. In fact, he decries the overextension of American military might and says other nations must do more. However, unbeknownst to the American public, the president's own Pentagon advisers have already cooked up a plan to go to war. All they are looking for is an excuse. Based on faulty intelligence, cherry-picked information is fed to Congress and the American people. The president goes on national television to make the case for war, using as part of the rationale an incident that never happened. Congress buys the bait -- hook, line and sinker -- and passes a resolution giving the president the authority to use 'all necessary means' to prosecute the war."

"American soldiers in northern Iraq fired on a car carrying the Italian official heading up U.S. efforts to recover Iraq's looted antiquities, killing the man's Iraqi interpreter, an official said Friday in Rome. The Italian, Pietro Cordone, was unhurt. Cordone, who is the senior adviser for cultural affairs of the U.S. provisional authority and the top Italian diplomat in the country, was traveling on the road between Mosul and Tikrit on Thursday when his car was fired on at a U.S. roadblock, said a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said American troops fired at the car, and that Cordone's Iraqi interpreter was killed. Cordone was unharmed. The official said it appeared the car's driver did not understand the signals that the American troops were giving, and that the American's didn't understand what the car was trying to do."

"According to Rumsfeld, our soldiers are in Iraq because 'it is better to be fighting the terrorist in Iraq than in America.' Obviously hatched from the sick skull of some Republican spin master, this line has become the Administration's #1 tool to stave off the question, 'Why are we in Iraq?'.... The U.S. occupation of Iraq is not an alternative war - fighting in Iraq instead of fighting in America - but a superfluous war, and one that exposes Americans to great danger.... [I]f our soldiers were not occupying Iraq and attracting trouble, where would these enemies of America, or nationalists for Islam, be? They would be hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the slums of Pakistan, isolated in Syria and Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Far from America, they would be unable to inflict serious harm on our citizens, except on the rare traveler oblivious to danger. The only hope those thirsting to kill Americans had was for Americans to come to them. And we did, by occupying Iraq."

As the hurricane blows into DC, Josh Marshall posts part one of his long interview with Joseph Wilson: "So, setting aside why we're in Iraq, [where are we now?] WILSON: Well, I think we're f-cked. I think the--we should have learned from the bombing of the United Nations building that there was all sorts of anti--not just American but anti-international presence--pressure building within Iraq... It was a question of managing the risk, and we did not manage the risk of this enterprise very well in a strategic sense. We've alienated the international community... and I think that was precisely the wrong thing to do. Concretely, I think that we had to have as our first principal objective--after having taken Baghdad--making a good first impression. In other words, establishing firmly in the minds of the Iraqis that this was in fact a liberation/reconstruction activity and not an occupation activity." Read it and weep.

Joseph Wilson, who helped expose the Niger Uranium lies, writes: "During the gulf war in 1991, when I was in charge of the American Embassy in Baghdad, I placed a copy of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' on my office coffee table. I thought it conveyed far better than words ever could the weird world that was Iraq at that time, a world in which nothing was what it seemed: The several hundred Western hostages Saddam Hussein took during Desert Shield were not really hostages but 'guests.' Kuwait was not invaded, but 'liberated.' It is clearly time to dust the book off and again display it prominently, only this time because our own government has dragged the country down a rabbit hole, all the while trying to convince the American people that life in newly liberated Iraq is not as distorted as it seems."

"A member of Iraq's Governing Council Monday accused U.S. troops of regularly mistreating Iraqi civilians so that the population had come to regard American forces as an army of occupation. 'There is widespread discontent with the coalition forces, the majority of whom treat the Iraqi people with violence and contempt,' Rajaa Habib Khuzai told a joint news conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio. 'The opinion of the Iraqi people about the coalition forces is that they are forces of occupation,' said Khuzai the head of a maternity hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya and one of 13 Shi'ite Muslims on the 25-member council. Khuzai said the U.S.-backed Governing Council was in talks with coalition forces to transfer sovereignty to the Iraqi people, but no deadline had been established."

"New intelligence assessments are warning that the United States' most formidable foe in Iraq in the months ahead may be the resentment of ordinary Iraqis increasingly hostile to the American military occupation, Defense Dept. officials said today. That picture, shared with American military commanders in Iraq, is very different from the public view currently being presented by senior Bush administration officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who once again today listed only 'dead-enders, foreign terrorists and criminal gangs' as opponents of the American occupation. The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were concerned about retribution for straying from the official line. They said it was a mistake for the administration to discount the role of ordinary Iraqis who have little in common with the groups Mr. Rumsfeld cited, but whose anger over the American presence appears to be kindling some sympathy for those attacking American forces."

"Mysterious pneumonia-like illnesses and breathing problems appear to be striking U.S. troops in greater numbers than the military has identified in an investigation -- including more deaths, according to soldiers and their families," says a new Moonie UPI report. "They suffered a pneumonia-like illness after being given vaccines, particularly the anthrax shot. One Air Force staff sergeant who was deployed to Turkey for Operation Iraqi Freedom told UPI he was hospitalized in Incerlik in March with a pneumonia-like illness, 10 days after his fourth anthrax shot. He got his next anthrax shot in August, and 10 days later was hospitalized in California with what he said was the same pneumonia-like illness." Yet the Pentagon continues to SWEAR the shots have NOTHING to do with the illness. Yeah - like oil had nothing to do with the invasion.

London Times reports: "Iraqi policemen declared themselves holy warriors yesterday and vowed to take revenge for the deaths of their comrades in the town where ten police and a security guard were killed on Friday in the worst 'friendly fire' incident of the Iraq conflict. 'I am full of hatred for the Americans and I am ready to kill them,' said Arkan Adanan, who was injured in the shoulder early on Friday morning when US troops poured rifle and machinegun fire into three police vehicles that were chasing suspected bandits. 'All Fallujah people are Mujahidin and they care only about killing Americans. We don't care about their powerful weapons, because we know that if we die we will become martyrs.' Survivors of the incident and relatives of the dead and injured men made similar comments.... That the incident occurred in Fallujah, already the centre of the country's most violent resistance to coalition authority, makes it doubly disastrous."

Wall Street Journal reports: "'They treat us all the same, like we are their enemies,' Ahmad Al-Naeem, said of the Americans. 'Then they wonder why people hate them and form resistance groups.' Almost every night, the U.S. military carries out raids in neighborhoods across Iraqi cities. Frequently, one or more male family members are taken away for further investigation... [O]fficials concede the overburdened detention system is unprepared to process them properly - or to sift out the truly dangerous in their midst. Meanwhile, mistakes, or even the mishandled detentions of true threats, can alienate extended Iraqi families and even whole communities at a time when the U.S. desperately needs [their] active support... None of the investigations for security detainees have been completed since the U.S. took over Iraq in April... Int'l organizations such as the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch have sharply criticized the U.S. for failing to track detainees or even try to notify families."

"The architect of Russia's at times disastrous transition to a market economy, Yegor Gaidar, has been invited by the U.S.-led coalition authority in Iraq to help craft a recovery plan for that country's war-torn economy.... Gaidar was the overall architect of the largest and swiftest privatization in world history [which] ended up sparking a wave of hyperinflation that saw prices increase by a factor of 26 within a year, wiping out the life savings of an entire generation overnight. His scheme to privatize as rapidly as possible saw the crown jewels of the economy handed over to a handful of well-connected insiders for next to nothing. Ironically, [the decision to pick some of the world's most experienced brains on transition economies] comes shortly after Iraq's new oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr Al-Uloum, told the Financial Times that his country is preparing to privatize its oil sector."

"On the subject of bin Laden deputies, Wolfowitz said he was referring to only one man -- bin Laden supporter Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the few names that Bush administration officials [i.e. paid liars] previously have cited to assert links between al-Qaida and Iraq before the war. Al-Zarqawi allegedly helped train Iraqis in the use of poisonous chemicals and once received medical care in Baghdad, [lying] U.S. officials have said. 'Zarqawi is actually the guy I was referring to -- should have been more precise,' Wolfowitz said Friday... ' In a Sept. 6 interview, Wolfowitz told The Washington Post that hundreds of fighters from al-Qaida and other groups were now in Iraq... On Friday, he said he couldn't say how many of the hundreds of foreigners might be al-Qaida because U.S. military forces were still trying to identify them." Hey Wolfie, there was no Iraq-Al-Qaida link BEFORE the war. Thanks to Bush and your NeoCon crusade, there is one NOW!

According to its website, the "law firm of Zell, Goldberg & Co.... 'is assisting regional construction and logistics firms to collaborate with contractors...in implementing infrastructure and other reconstruction projects in Iraq.... ZGC is also assisting American companies in their relations with the US government in connection with Iraqi reconstruction projects as prime contractors and consultants.' Interested parties can reach the law firm through its Web site, at www.fandz.com. Fandz.com? Hmmm. Rings a bell. Oh, yes, that was the Web site of the Washington law firm of Feith & Zell, P.C., as in Douglas J. Feith, former Pentagon official in the Reagan administration and now undersecretary of defense for policy and head of -- what else? -- reconstruction matters in Iraq. It would be impossible indeed to overestimate how perfect ZGC would be in 'assisting American companies in their relations with the United States government in connection with Iraqi reconstruction projects.'"

The Office of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) held a briefing last week with family members of soldiers to call for an end to U.S. troop involvement in Iraq and the Gulf. Watch C-Span's coverage of this important event.

The Hill reports: "The reconstruction of Iraq has companies from around the world trying to get a piece of the action and Washington lobbyists and consultants are reaping the benefits. Firms large and small hope to capitalize on both the perception and the reality that there will be billions of dollars in new business as the United States and its partners pour money into Iraq. 'If you go to the Four Seasons and shout out 'Who's working on a deal in Iraq?' everybody there will raise their hand,' said Ed Rogers, a partner at Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, who recently returned from Baghdad, where he met with officials from the U.S.-led provisional government, the Iraq Governing Council and the private sector."

Blogging from Iraq, RiverBend writes, "I heard/read Bush's speech yesterday. I can't watch him for more than a minute at a time- I hate him that much. He makes me sick. He stands there, squinting his eyes and pursing his lips, going on and on with such blatant lies. And he looks just plain stupid. I listened for as long as I could tolerate his inane features and grating voice, then turned off the television. Then turned it back on. Then turned the channel. Then turned it back. Then almost threw a cushion at the screen. Is it possible that someone like that is practically running the world? Is it possible he might see another term in the White House? God forbid! His whole speech was just an idiotic repetition of what he's been saying ever since Afghanistan, 'Give me more money, give me more power- I'm doing this for you. Bechtel and Halliburton have nothing to do with it.' Doesn't he ever get tired of saying the same words? Don't people ever get tired of hearing them? " Read on...

Financial Times: In the "first scientific survey of Iraqi public opinion, pollsters commissioned by a conservative US think-tank have discovered that most Iraqis do not trust Americans and want to be left alone. John Zogby, president of Zogby International which completed the poll last month, summed up the findings on Wednesday, saying that, like most Arabs, Iraqis want to 'control their own destiny', without the intervention of outside forces, and are confident in their own ability. 'Now that tyranny is over,' he said, 'it is time to move forward but not as a colony.'... Asked if the US and UK should help make sure a fair government is set up in Iraq, or should the Iraqis work this out themselves, 31.5% wanted help while 58.5% did not. Asked whether in the next five years the US would 'help' Iraq, 35.3% said yes while 50% said the US would 'hurt' Iraq. Asked the same of the UN, the figures were almost reversed, with 50.2% saying it would help and 18.5% the opposite."

"Claiming their loved ones were deceived by the Bush administration, the family members of some troops serving in Iraq urged Congress on Tuesday to bring home the troops and vote down additional spending for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq. Representatives of Military Families Speak Out, an organization that claims to represent 800 to 1,000 military families opposed to the war, said at a meeting on Capitol Hill that the morale of U.S. troops in Iraq is deteriorating as the number of fatalities and combat-related injuries continues to rise. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) reported he had just returned from a visit to the amputee and psychiatry wards of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he talked to troops who had lost limbs or suffered other injuries in Iraq... McDermott said he would not vote for any more money until the United States goes to the United Nations and negotiates a Security Council resolution to share responsibility in Iraq." You Go, Jim!

"Resident Bush's $87 billion request for postwar costs is heavily weighted to maintaining military operations, with $65.5 billion directed to the armed forces, $15 billion toward rebuilding Iraq and $5 billion toward building its security forces, and $800 million to new spending for civilian programs in Afghanistan, administration officials said today. The $87 billion price tag makes the package the most expensive postwar military and civilian effort since the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, after adjusting for inflation. Combined with the earlier $79 billion approved by Congress to conduct the war and pay initial postwar expenses, it would bring the cost to the United States of deposing Saddam Hussein and stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan this year and next to $166 billion. That is more than 25 times the $6.4 billion bill to American taxpayers, in today's dollars, for the Persian Gulf war in 1991 to expel Iraq from Kuwait."

"The Washington Post reported on Sept. 2 that 'more than 6,000 service members' had been medically evacuated from Iraq since the launch of the war.... The figure of 'more than 6,000' supplied to the Post therefore implies that over 4,500 US troops have required evacuation from Iraq for medical reasons other than combat or non-combat injuries. The article did not include any further information on what is a staggering admission by the military. At no point have the American people been told that for every soldier who has been killed in Iraq, at least another 15 have fallen so ill that they had to be flown back to the U.S. The Post described the unexplained evacuations simply as the 'thousands who became physically or mentally ill'. The obvious questions that must be answered are: what were they diagnosed with; what units are they from; what duties were they were performing; what long-term effects have they suffered; and what treatment are they receiving?"

"U.S. intelligence agencies warned Bush administration policymakers before the war in Iraq that there would be significant armed opposition to a U.S.-led occupation, according to administration and congressional sources familiar with the reports.... Among the threats outlined in the intelligence agencies' reporting was that 'Iraqis probably would resort to obstruction, resistance and armed opposition if they perceived attempts to keep them dependent on the U.S. and the West,' one senior congressional aide said. The general tenor of the reports...was that the postwar period would be more 'problematic' than the war to overthrow Hussein.... [This] more pessimistic view generally remained submerged [within the administration], but the controversy did occasionally break into the open, most notably when Gen. Shinseki told Congress in February that several hundred thousand occupation troops would be needed. Paul Wolfowitz rejected his estimate at the time as 'wildly off the mark.'"

Eric Margolis on CNN: "The allegations that have come against him personally strike me as really rather very odd and not very substantial... [H]e's accused by the publicity-seeking Spanish judge, Judge Garzon, of being linked to al Qaeda suspects who were arrested in Spain in 2001 and who were never charged with anything and never brought to trial.... But there is a more disturbing element here. This suggests that the U.S. government is pursuing a very aggressive and hostile policy towards the Al-Jazeera network, which has often been called the CNN of the Middle East. It is the only network that gives really free news across the Arab world. And it is intensely watched. This journalist was one of its leading men.... The U.S. Air Force bombed the Al-Jazeera office in Basra, Iraq and in Baghdad, and it bombed the Al-Jazeera office in Kabul, Afghanistan, and nearly killed Mr. Alouni. So this may suggest that there is a much more of a menacing situation here than meets the eye."

From the Daily Kos: "The Speech itself was mostly familiar phrases with brushed-up connectives, but I did pick up one new note: we went into Iraq to save them from 'decades of oppression and mismanagement'. Hmmm. 'Mismanagement' ... that's new, IIRC. Wouldn't want all those poor Iraqi people to suffer the agonies of mismanagement, would we? Hmmmmm. Not sure what form of mismanagement the ROTUS had in mind, but it sounds like a good pretext for a wave of hostile takeovers followed by zero-based budgeting, functional reengineering, cultural transformation, focus on core competencies, benchmarking, outsourcing, downsizing and generally moving people's cheese until they all go crackers."

Spc. Baumis, a member of the 1-293rd Infantry Battalion of the Indiana Army Nat'l Guard, stationed at Tallil Air Base in Iraq, writes, "I'm tired of reading letters telling soldiers to quit whining and do their job.... During the war we dealt with hot drinking water, sand storms, lack of sleep, living in a hole, no showers, scorpions, snakes and wild dogs - not to mention the enemy. We dealt with these elements because we were in the middle of a combat zone during a war. The problem is, after the hostilities ended we were treated like dirt. We were swept under the rug and forgotten. We were given meaningless jobs to keep us gainfully employed until they could find us a go-home date.... For several weeks after the war ended we still had no means of cooling our drinking water. We had no tents or buildings to sleep in and no hot food to eat.... Every time we complained...the reply was always the same: 'Suck it up and drive on.'" At least the oil wells are safe, right?

In a possible response to Bush's vow in his Sunday speech to remain in Iraq no matter what, saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline in North Iraq in the past few hours. A civil defence official in the petroleum centre of Kirkuk called the blast, which erupted near an electric power plant 15km south of Kirkuk, an act of "sabotage". He said it hit a pipeline connecting the Janbur and Kirkuk oil fields. There was no immediate word on the extent of the damage."

Bush serves as commander in chief of the D.C. National Guard, the way governors do in their states. "So you might have expected him to show up yesterday at the funeral for Spec. Darryl T. Dent, 21, the D.C. guardsman who was killed recently in Iraq," writes Courtland Milloy. After all, the funeral took place just five miles from the White House. "Bush could have jogged to the wake, had a courier drop off flowers and a card or, at the very least, telephoned the slain soldier's family. Call Bush AWOL, missing in action -- or just too busy fundraising. But he blew it. "We haven't heard from him or the White House, not a word," said Marion Bruce, Dent's aunt and family spokeswoman."

"At a small-town bar in northern Texas where I watched the Bush speech, there was silence for most of the president's television address. The bar owner told me the US should stay the whole duration but that each time a US soldier dies, support for the war back home is hit. Another drinker told me he was 100% behind the president, whatever the announcement made on Sunday would be. But perhaps the strongest words came from a woman who had been setting up a karaoke sound system. When I asked her what she thought, with tears in her eyes she told me she had two sons-in-law serving in Iraq. She said she is indignant that not enough is being done for their families back home. Overjoyed at the president's announcement that the war was over back in May, she told me now she could hardly stand to listen to him speak in public. " -BBC.

In a BBC analysis of the Bush speech, the heading of the section on Bush's "strategy" for Iraq was entitled "Questions Unanswered": "Mr Bush insisted that his administration's strategy in Iraq had three objectives: 'Destroying the terrorists'; 'Enlisting the support of other nations for a free Iraq;' 'And helping Iraqis assume responsibility for their own defence and their own future.' " The BBC uses the words of Howard Dean to summarize this section: "'Lets be clear - a 15-minute speech does not make up for 15 months of misleading the American people on why we should go to war against Iraq or 15 weeks of mismanaging the reconstruction effort since we have been there.'"

"In deciding to go on national television tonight to push an Iraqi financial package of up to $80 billion, Bush is responding to pressure from his party to be more open about his plans for the country's occupation and reconstruction," reports the Baltimore Sun. "At a time of economic distress at home and growing criticism about American casualties in Iraq, Republican congressional sources said GOP House and Senate leaders made it clear to Bush that he needs to be more forthright about what the U.S. commitment in Iraq entails." GOP Congressfolk are feeling the heat back home: " 'My constituents are asking questions about how long are we going to be there, why are we going to stay if the people don't seem to want us there," said Rep. William M. "Mac" Thornberry, a Texas Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee.'" And Bush's speech failed to answer either of these questions.

"Farah Fadhil was only 18 when an American soldier threw a grenade through the window of her apartment. Her death was slow and agonizing. Her legs had been shredded, her hands burnt and punctured by splinters of metal... She had been walking to the window to try to calm an escalating situation; to use her smattering of English to plead with the soldiers who were spraying her apartment building with bullets... Farah died. So did Marwan Hassan who was caught in the crossfire as he went looking for his brother when the shooting began. What is perhaps most shocking about their deaths is that the coalition troops who killed them did not even bother to record details of the raid with the coalition military press office. The killings were that unremarkable."

Reuters reports: "If they had the chance, U.S. soldiers at a base in Iraq would have had one question for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- When are we going home?. But Rumsfeld made no formal speech on Friday to the troops at their base.... 'I don't give a damn about Rumsfeld. All I give a damn about is going home,' Specialist Rue Gretton said, humping packs of water bottles on his shoulders from a truck. 'The only thing his visit meant for us was we had to clean up a lot of mess to make the place look pretty. And he didn't even look at it anyway,' Gretton said after soldiers swept the dusty streets around the complex of lakes and mansions. Instead, the Pentagon chief briefly thanked soldiers after a meeting with military leaders.... 'If I got to talk to Rumsfeld I'd tell him to give us a return date. We've been here six months and the rumor is we'll be here until at least March. This is totally, totally uncalled for,' [Sergeant Green] said."

"'There is no strategy or mechanism for putting the pieces together,' said retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, and so, he said, 'we're in danger of failing.' In an impassioned speech to several hundred Marine and Navy officers and others, Zinni invoked the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. 'My contemporaries, our feelings and sensitivities were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam, where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice,' said Zinni. 'I ask you, is it happening again?'... [H]e implied that the Bush administration is now damaging the U.S. military in the way that Bush and Vice President Cheney charged that the Clinton administration had done. 'We can't go on breaking our military and doing things like we're doing now,' he said.... Zinni's comments...were greeted warmly by his audience, with prolonged applause at the end. Some officers bought tapes and compact discs of the speech to give to others."

"Executive order 13315, which Bush signed on 8/28/03, was published in the Federal Register on 9/3/03. It expands upon executive order 13303, and appears to be an asset grab under the guise of funding the Iraqi reconstruction, placing Iraq's state assets under control of the U.S. Treasury: in effect, the official looting of Iraq. Very convenient for a government which seeks to hand over control of Iraq to UN peacekeepers. This executive order has had zero corporate media coverage as of today." E.O. 13315 reads in part: "[I]t is in the interest of the U.S. to confiscate certain additional property of the former Iraqi regime...and controlled entities. I intend that such property, after all right, title, and interest in it has vested in the Dept. of the Treasury, shall be transferred to the Development Fund for Iraq." The E.O. says that the property will be used for various noble deeds and, here's the vital clause, "for other purposes benefiting the Iraqi people." Hmmm...other purposes?

Tehran Times reports: "Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Friday the situation in Iraq is getting worse day by day and urged the United States not to make light of it. 'In this respect, one cannot but express surprise at statements made by some Washington officials that life in Iraq is returning to normal and becoming better virtually day by day,' Ivanov said. 'One should not be misled -- the situation in Iraq is becoming not better, but worse day by day.' He also said a U.S.-backed draft resolution seeking broader international help in postwar Iraq 'still needs further, very serious work.'"

BUSHMEDIA LIE, 9/4: On statements played up by network news, Bush states that France and Germany appear ready to soon "come on board" in response to the US plea for help in Iraq. TRUTH: (from BBC, 9/4) "French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have said a US draft resolution seeking greater international help in Iraq does not go far enough. Speaking after talks in Germany, Mr Chirac said the US proposals 'seem quite far from what appears to us the primary objective, namely the transfer of political responsibility to an Iraqi government as soon as possible.'" In short, the opposite of the Bushmedia lie.

"The White House has informed congressional leaders that it is preparing a new budget request for between $60 billion and $70 billion to help cover the mounting costs of the reconstruction and military occupation of Iraq. The planned request - which congressional budget analysts said will be nearly double what Congress expected - reflects the deepening cost of the five-month-old U.S. occupation and serves as an acknowledgement by the administration that it vastly underestimated the price tag of restoring order in Iraq and rebuilding its infrastructure... The administration has until now been reluctant to put a firm figure on its budget request. The request for new money... follows a $79 billion wartime budget supplement for Iraq and Afghanistan that Bush signed in April... one proposal would allocate about $55 billion for the Pentagon and $10 billion for reconstruction. Most of the money would be designated for Iraq and a small part for Afghanistan." http://democrats.com/bringthemhome

"The World Council of Churches on Monday called for the 'immediate and orderly' withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq and the transfer of power to the UN.... In a five-page statement on Iraq, the WCC called the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 'immoral, ill-advised and in breach of the principles of the (UN) Charter.' The WCC said it remains concerned about the 'long-term political, social, cultural and religious consequences of this war and the continued occupation, especially the negative impact on Christian-Muslim relations.' The U.S. occupation of Iraq will exacerbate the 'intense hatred towards the Western world, strengthening extremist ideologies (and) breeding further global insecurity and increased emigration of Christians from the Middle East,' the WCC said. The Geneva-based body of 342 Protestant and Orthodox churches called on American and British forces to pay 'full reparations' to the Iraqi people for the war's damages and urged 'unimpeded access' for humanitarian groups."

Tim Predmore, who is on active duty with the 101st Airborne Division near Mosul, Iraq, writes: "This looks like a modern-day crusade not to free an oppressed people or to rid the world of a demonic dictator relentless in his pursuit of conquest and domination but a crusade to control another nation's natural resource. At least for us here, oil seems to be the reason for our presence.... I once believed that I served for a cause: 'to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.' Now, I no longer believe; I have lost my conviction, my determination. I can no longer justify my service for what I believe to be half-truths and bold lies. My time is done as well as that of many others with whom I serve. We have all faced death here without reason or justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed before America awakens and demands the return of the men and women whose job it is to protect them rather than their leader's interest?"

"Sooner or later, the United States must admit that it has made a terrible mistake in Iraq, and it must move quickly to undo it. That means the U.S. must yield not only command of the occupation force, but participation in it. The U.S. must renounce any claim to power or even influence over Iraq, including Iraqi oil. The U.S. must accept the humiliation that would surely accompany its being replaced in Iraq by the very nations it denigrated in the build-up to the war. With the U.S. thus removed from the Iraqi crucible, those who have rallied to oppose the great Satan will loose their raison d'etre, and the Iraqi people themselves can take responsibility for rebuilding their wrecked nation. All of this might seem terribly unlikely today, but something like it is inevitable. The only question is whether it happens over the short term, as the result of responsible decision-making by politicians in Washington, or over the long term, as the result of a bloody and unending horror."

Al Jazeera reports, The star spangled banner "is a foreign flag for more than 37,400 US troops... [These] 'green card soldiers' are in fact non-US citizens who have been recruited to fight the Bush administration's foreign wars ... with promises of a fast-track citizenship, a college education and financial bonuses... About one in ten of the 282 soldiers killed fighting for America have been non-citizens, mostly from Latin America... About one in every 40 US soldiers does not have an American passport, but hopes to pick one up soon, courtesy of the commander in chief. In an executive order on 3 July last year, Bush called for 'expedited naturalisation for aliens and non-citizen nationals serving in an active-duty status ... during the period of the war against terrorists of global reach.' Around a third of these soldiers come from Mexico and other Latin-American nations. They fight alongside others from China, Vietnam, Canada, South Korea, India and many other countries."

NY Times reports, "Bush agreed today to begin negotiations in the UN Security Council to authorize a multinational force for Iraq... [in] a tacit admission that the current American-dominated force is stretched too thin... Bush's national security team envisions withdrawing the majority of American forces now in Iraq within 18 months to two years, and 'making this peacekeeping operation look like the kind that are familiar to us,' in Kosovo and Bosnia. [But those folks aren't killing each other!] But it is far from clear that France and Germany... will agree to the terms that Mr. Powell plans to circulate... [Without UN help,] recruiting, training and equipping two new US Army divisions would require an up-front cost of up to $19 billion and take five years, and it would cost an extra $9 billion to $10 billion a year to put in place in Iraq. That would bring the total size of the occupation force up to 129,000 troops and cost up to $29 billion a year" - plus countless deaths.

Chris Floyd writes, "Here's a headline you don't see every day: 'War Criminals Hire War Criminals to Hunt Down War Criminals.' Perhaps that's not the precise wording used by the Washington Post this week, but it is the absolute essence of its story about the Bush Regime's new campaign to put Saddam Hussein's murderous security forces on America's payroll. Yes, the sahibs in U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraqi Raj are now doling out U.S. tax dollars to hire the murderers of the infamous Mukhabarat and other agents of the Baathist Gestapo - perhaps hundreds of them. The logic, if that's the word, seems to be that these bloodstained 'insiders' will lead their new imperial masters to other bloodstained 'insiders' responsible for bombing the UN headquarters in Baghdad - and killing another dozen American soldiers while Little George was playing with his putts during his month-long Texas siesta."

"U.S. battlefield casualties in Iraq are increasing dramatically in the face of continued attacks by remnants of Saddam Hussein's military and other forces, with almost 10 American troops a day now being officially declared 'wounded in action.' The number of those wounded in action, which totals 1,124 since the war began in March, has grown so large, and attacks have become so commonplace, that U.S. Central Command usually issues press releases listing injuries only when the attacks kill one or more troops. The result is that many injuries go unreported. The rising number and quickening pace of soldiers being wounded on the battlefield have been overshadowed by the number of troops killed since Bush declared an end to major combat operations May 1. But alongside those Americans killed in action, an even greater toll of battlefield wounded continues unabated... Indeed, the number of troops wounded in action in Iraq is now more than twice that of the Persian Gulf War in 1991."

"Many of the troops on duty in Iraq do not count English as their first language and would prefer to take orders in their native tongue...usually Spanish. The revelation has prompted British MP George Galloway, one of the fiercest critics of the invasion of Iraq, to accuse the US of using its 'green card' troops as cannon fodder. Galloway went on to attack the US policy of putting its poor minorities and non-citizens in the frontline of its foreign wars.... The statistics, buried by White House spin doctors, reveal that a significant minority of troops fighting under the US banner are not in fact US citizens but residents hoping to speed up their citizenship. Galloway said that this was typical of a government used to having the marginalised fight its battles. 'Nothing has changed since that last failed attempt to invade and determine the future of another country, Vietnam,' he told Aljazeera.net from his holiday villa in Portugal."

AFP reports: "A withdrawal of British soldiers from Iraq is backed by 61 percent of Britons, with 29 percent saying the troops should be pulled out 'as soon as possible,' according to an ICM poll published Monday in The Mirror tabloid. Another 32 percent said the British soldiers should leave Iraq 'gradually but with a final date set,' while a similar number said they should 'stay as long as necessary.' The poll was carried out after British Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared on Thursday before an inquiry headed by Lord Hutton into the apparent suicide of David Kelly, 59, a former UN arms inspector in Iraq. Asked who was most to blame for Kelly's death, 21 percent of those polled named Blair, well ahead of the 15 percent who blamed Kelly himself, seven percent for Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and six percent for communications director Alastair Campbell."

The Seattle Times reports: "The United States should move 'without delay' to transfer political power to the Iraqi people under the mandate of the United Nations, French President Jacques Chirac said yesterday. 'In the face of the risk of chaos, an approach based on security is necessary, but not sufficient. The transfer of power and sovereignty to Iraqis themselves constitutes the only realistic option.' Meanwhile, 'In Porto Rotondo, Italy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said 'The United Nations did not support the war in Iraq and is not responsible for its consequences, but it wants to help the Iraqi people. It is true that the US is suffering considerable moral and financial losses in Iraq, and there is a need to join forces to find a way out of this crisis."

"Up to 20 people have been killed by a car bomb in the holy city of Najaf - among them leading Shia Muslim politician Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim. The bomb blew up near the Tomb of Ali in the central Iraqi city, one of the holiest shrines for Shia Muslims, just as main weekly prayers were ending. A spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri) in London, Hamid al-Bayati, told the BBC he suspected that supporters of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 'could be behind this attack'. He added that when visiting Baghdad in May and June, he had told the US occupation authorities that protection of holy places and leading clerics should be stepped up. 'The allies did not respond to this proposal,' Mr Bayati said. 'I blame them for negligence in not protecting holy places and holy men.'"

"The commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq said today that an American helicopter crew intentionally dislodged a Shiite Muslim banner from a tower in the capital's Sadr City district two weeks ago, an incident that sparked violent protests in which U.S. troops killed an Iraqi boy. In an abrupt reversal of denials issued at the time, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said that as a result of a U.S. military investigation, 'I think the aircraft was getting close enough to that tower in order to blow the flag down.' Sanchez did not say why the helicopter crewmen might have wanted to knock down the black banner, which was inscribed in white letters with the name of one of Shiite Islam's most revered figures. He said that the soldiers faced punishment and that results of the investigation could be released as early as next week."

Chris Floyd writes: "Yes, the sahibs in Bush's Iraqi Raj are now doling out U.S. tax dollars to hire the murderers of the infamous Mukhabarat and other agents of the Baathist Gestapo -- perhaps hundreds of them... But like vaudeville troupers of old, the media-sashib double act saves the best gag for last... [This is] business as usual for the American security apparatus, which happily incorporated scores of its Nazi brethren into the fold after World War II, and over the years has climbed into bed with many a casually raping and murdering thug -- such as, er, Saddam Hussein, who spent a bit of quality time on the CIA payroll... And shall we mention the intimate relations between Saddam's regime and U.S. intelligence services back when Saddam was merrily gassing his own people -- and the Iranians -- with the eager connivance of Ronald Reagan, George Bush I and their 'special envoy' to Baghdad, Donald Rumsfeld?"

Tom Engelhardt writes, "The mainstream 'critics' in the U.S. ... [want to send] in more troops - 18,000 suggests John McCain, 40-60,000 suggests Joe Biden... [Bush] got us into this and now... we are all obligated to tough it out. My response is: Nuts!... The lesson of the last two centuries is that peoples everywhere refuse to be ruled from afar and imperially. 'People,' as [Jonathan Schell] said to me recently, 'do not like to be taken over by other countries and ruled. I do think it's an unconquerable world. It's not just that we can't do it; it's that it can't be done. People do not want to be occupied. It's folly.' Sending more troops, more money into the sinkhole this administration's policies have already produced in Iraq (as in Afghanistan) is indeed a folly. More of the same will produce -- more of the same. Our fundamentalists and theirs have married and are now settling down contentiously to create a thoroughly extreme and miserable world for the rest of us."

Eric Margolis writes, "The American neo-conservatives who played a primary role in engineering this war have stuck the U.S. in much the same morass that their hero and ally, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, found himself in after he engineered the invasion of Lebanon... At first, Israeli troops were welcomed by many Lebanese, but, they soon ended up in a bloody guerrilla war. Israel's Lebanese Christian allies, many neo-fascists, turned out to be as inept, conniving and treacherous as America's Iraqi yes-men. Israel was eventually car-bombed and blasted out of Lebanon by Hezbollah guerrillas who, like today's Iraqi resistance forces, were branded 'terrorists.' The war cost Israel heavy casualties and billions of dollars. Syria emerged as the real winner, and overlord of Lebanon. Israel suffered its first-ever military defeat... The very neo-cons who fathered this disaster are now calling for more American troops to be sent to Iraq."

Financial Times reports: "The fitful effort to restore electricity supplies epitomises the so far ineffectual reconstruction effort in Iraq. Shortages--not just of energy but of goods and services of all kinds--remain acute. The lack of security and the country's dilapidated condition remain the two biggest problems. But increasingly contractors and CPA dissidents openly allege that the US's direction of Iraq's recovery is beset by bureaucratic inertia and mismanagement. 'The Americans have a lot of problems,' says Dattar Kassam, director-general of Baghdad's refinery. 'They are overwhelmed and understaffed. Just when I get to know one of them, he gets himself sent back. Until the war broke out, I used to be able to order my own high-priority spare parts through Jordan. We are depending now on KBR [Kellogg, Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary] to order our spare parts, but so far we haven't received any.'"

"Lucent Technologies on Monday became the first company to be awarded a major contract to repair Iraq's battered telecommunications network. Bechtel, the construction company charged with the rebuilding of the country's infrastructure, announced a $25m subcontract for the telecommunications equipment maker to restore service to 240,000 telephone lines...still out of service since the end of the war.... [Lucent's] operations in Saudi Arabia [are] under investigation by the US Dept. of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission over bribery allegations. Two weeks ago a Saudi telecommunications company filed a lawsuit against Lucent Technologies, accusing the telecommunications equipment carrier of bribing a Saudi official with money, medical expenses and free use of private jets to gain favourable business decisions.... In return for gifts and money, the suit alleges, Mr Al-Johani pushed the publicly owned Saudi Telecommunications Company to make decisions in favour of Lucent."

"More than 400 Iraqi women have been kidnapped and raped amid the lawlessness gripping the country since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq said Sunday. The group's director Yanar Mohammed said the four months since the US-led coalition took control had seen an 'unprecedented' explosion of violence against women. 'More than 400 women have endured the pain and suffering of being kidnapped, raped and sometimes sold,' she told reporters at a demonstration in Baghdad's Fardous Square. 'This violence is still a daily occurrence, especially on the streets of Baghdad, without attracting the least attention of the (US) soldiers.' Mohammed said the attacks had created a climate of fear among women which meant few dared venture out of their homes.... Saihan Ali, a 35-year-old health ministry employee...agreed. 'Before, I would take a walk after work, but now I quickly return home, and I'm always on the alert because anything can happen,' she said."

CNN reports: "The U.S. military on Monday suffered its 138th death in Iraq, making the number of fatalities since the end of major combat equal to those during the height of the Iraqi war, according to U.S. military figures. The latest death was that of a U.S. soldier Monday from a 'nonhostile' gunshot wound, U.S. Central Command said. The soldier -- whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives -- was with the 130th Engineer Brigade, according to a spokesman. No other information was available. Since Resident Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1, 61 of the 138 U.S. service members killed have died in hostile action. Between the start of the war on March 20 and May 1, 116 died in combat."

"Former Iraqi General Nizar al-Khazraji, touted as a possible successor to President Saddam Hussein, is now in Kuwait after escaping from Denmark last month with the help of the CIA, the Danish daily Politiken reported on Sunday. Citing a report by the former head of the CIA's counter-terrorism department, a copy of which was obtained by the paper, Politiken said the US security services see Khazraji as their preferred successor for Saddam in a post-war Iraq, a view that is not shared by the Pentagon... The ex-CIA official who wrote the report, Vincent Cannistraro, has declined to comment on the document... Khazraji, who has been charged with war crimes for alleged chemical weapon attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, went missing from his house arrest in Denmark on March 15."

"When Azadeen Abdullah Ani was buried, thousands poured out to celebrate a new martyr. Azadeen died trying to kill American soldiers. Part of a festering and, by all accounts, widening guerrilla resistance to U.S. occupation, Ani, one evening last month stood on a ramshackle market street, pointed a grenade launcher at a convoy of U.S. military vehicles and opened fire. The Americans gunned him down immediately. ... [His family has] received hundreds of neighbors paying visits to express not condolences, the brothers stressed, but congratulations. 'Everyone said they were proud of him,' brother Nejem said.... The resentment against U.S. troops is so great that armed resistance has become attractive to those who might once have been allies to the American cause... Although U.S. intelligence indicates that a number of foreign Islamic radicals have infiltrated Iraq through its porous borders, many of the daily attacks can easily be attributed to a fully home-grown insurgency."

Newsweek released the results of its telephone poll showing support for Bush's Iraq policies is eroding. What do YOU think? Vote in the Newsweek poll and compare your responses to those of the general public. Note: the Internet poll results are running strongly AGAINST Bush's Iraq policy. 67% do NOT think Bush will "successfully establish a stable, democratic form of government in Iraq over the long term." 76% think Bush did the WRONG thing in taking military action against Iraq last March. 75% think the U.S. should reduce spending and scale back its efforts. 23% think we should keep large numbers of U.S. military personnel in Iraq for under 1 year; 42% think we should BRING THEM HOME NOW.

"Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the US mission in Iraq, saying the US should reduce its spending and scale back its efforts there, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. 69% of Americans polled say they are very concerned (40%) or somewhat concerned (29%) that the US will be bogged down for many years in Iraq without making much progress in achieving its goals. Just 18% say they're confident that a stable, democratic form of government can take shape in Iraq over the long term; 37% are somewhat confident. Just 13% say U.S. efforts to establish security and rebuild Iraq have gone very well since May 1, when combat officially ended; 39% say somewhat well. 47%, say they are very concerned that the cost of maintaining troops in Iraq will lead to a large budget deficit and seriously hurt the U.S. economy. And 60% of those polled say the estimated $1 billion per week that the US is spending is too much and the country should scale back its efforts." Democrats.com/bringthemhome

"Postwar Iraq has become what many U.S. intelligence officials feared and some predicted: a magnet for terrorists, who are finding shelter among a people growing more disaffected by the American-led occupation of their country... The terrorist strategy has four elements: 1) Kill Americans to raise the cost of the occupation and attract foreign jihadis - holy warriors - by killing under the banner of Islam. 2) Kill other foreigners to discourage cooperation with the United States. 3) Kill alleged Iraqi collaborators with the Americans. 4) Stoke popular discontent by sabotaging basic services and encouraging street crime. What Abizaid didn't say - but ordinary Iraqis know - is that terrorists are finding sympathizers among a growing number of people who have been alienated by the heavy-handed tactics of American soldiers, and by the failure of the U.S.-led occupation to deliver safe streets, electricity, clean water and jobs." The Jihadis have a plan -- what's yours, Mr Bush?

Many Iraqis blame the US-led "coalition" for the UN attack: "It was the coalition's fault, because it was their job to watch the parking area where the bombing happened... but it seems they were incapable of that," said Mohammed Abdul Aziz, an Iraqi security officer working for the UN. Earlier, the Pentagon tried to claim it offered security to the UN but was turned down. Now the story has changed again, as reported in FOX: "The U.S.-led coalition claims responsibility in the country in general but says it has no obligation to guard specific sites such as the U.N. headquarters and diplomatic missions. U.S. troops are guarding locations such as Iraqi banks and the oil ministry." Meanwhile, Three British soldiers were killed in Basra on Saturday. With "reporters" like those at FOX on the job, the US can just change its story - and have it reported as fact - until it finds one that works.

"Kofi Annan warned Friday that the Security Council would be unlikely to support a new resolution for sending more troops to Iraq if the U.S.-led coalition doesn't agree to share decision-making and responsibility. The U.S. campaign to get more countries to contribute troops to U.S.-led forces in Iraq faces an uphill struggle in a Security Council still bitterly divided over Washington's decision to launch a war without U.N. approval. Annan reiterated that the U.N. was not considering sending a peacekeeping force to Iraq 'but it is not excluded that the council may decide to transform the operation into a U.N.-mandated multinational force operating on the ground with other governments coming in.' That 'would ... imply not just burden-sharing but also sharing decision and responsibility,' Annan said after meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. 'If that doesn't happen, I think it's going to be very difficult to get a second resolution that will satisfy everybody.'"

"Relying on the help of an Iraqi political party, the United States has moved to resurrect parts of the former Iraqi intelligence service, with the branch that monitors Iran among the top priorities, former Iraqi agents and politicians say. The Iraqi National Congress, which is led by Ahmad Chalabi, the long-time exile who is now a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, says its senior officials have met with senior members of the 'Iran' and 'Turkey' branch of the Mukhabarat, or Iraqi intelligence, over the last several weeks. ... American officials had been fully informed about what the party was doing. Iraqi intelligence officers who have been asked to rejoin the branch contend that the U.S. is orchestrating the effort. 'We are sending back information to the Pentagon, to people who are responsible,' Mr. Kubaisi [the INC official responsible for recruiting] said. 'They know the nature of what we're doing. There is coordination. We have representatives of Rumsfeld at the INC."

Asia Times reports: "Ahmad Chalabi... went on record in Baghdad saying that he had received intelligence on Thursday, August 14, that 'a large-scale act would take place ... against a soft target, such as Iraqi political parties or other parties, including the UN'. He even learned that the attack would be a truck bombing - by means of a suicide bomber or a remote-controlled detonator. Chalabi also made clear that according to this intelligence, 'neither the Coalition Provisional Authority nor coalition troops' would be attacked. Chalabi is usually not recognized as a reliable source. But if this startling piece of information is true, it means two things: 1) The Americans in Iraq knew about an attack, and did nothing to try to prevent it. 2) The UN itself didn't know anything about it, according to Fred Eckhard, spokesman for secretary general Kofi Annan: 'To my knowledge, that information was not relayed to the United Nations.'"

A Buzzflash Reader Commentary: "Imagine: the truck that delivered the explosives is still BURIED under all that rubble, but the FBI has been able to ascertain--with full confidence--that the material to construct the bomb was all from Hussein's prewar arsenal! Amazing, since they have not even EXAMINED the wreckage of the UN headquarters. This is VERY exciting because, apparently, not only can our FBI leap piles of illogic as high as tall buildings, they also possess x-ray vision! It is unfortunate that these skills were unavailable during the investigation of the similar bombing in Oklahoma City. It took much longer than a few hours to discover the type of explosives used in that truck."

"The US commander in charge of all forces in Iraq said on Thursday American troops might not be brought home once international peacekeepers are deployed to the war-torn country, a reversal that means 150,000 US soldiers may stay in Iraq indefinitely. Gen. Abizaid, the new head of US central command, said foreign troops and indigenous Iraqi forces would gradually take over internal security duties from American soldiers, but added US troops would then be redeployed for a 'more aggressive posture on external duties', such as securing borders. ... The Centcom chief's comments are a clear break from previous Pentagon statements on the status of American deployments. 'I believe that that's exactly the purpose of getting foreign troops in,' said Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defence secretary, when asked ... if American forces would be reduced when foreign troops arrived. 'We are trying to get other people to fill in for us. We're trying to get Iraqis to fill in for us.'"

Don Williams writes, "The French were right. The liberals were right. The peaceniks were right. True conservatives were right. Veterans opposed to the war - I hear from more of them than you might imagine - were also right. They said this war was based on lies, and it was. They said this war, like most wars, would lead to more chaos and killing, and it has. Now some in the Bush administration are telling the world that the car bombing of United Nations headquarters in Iraq is evidence that our policy is right. How illogical can you be? Insurgents blow up oil pipelines and water mains; American soldiers get killed or maimed almost daily. Demonstrations are ongoing. And the biggest blow from the Iraqi resistance so far - destruction of U.N. headquarters in Iraq - is presented by the Bush team as evidence that our policy is correct because - because - because this proves terrorists are really, really bad. Duh." Democrats.com/bringthemhome

The Sydney Morning Herald reports, "Ali Shukri was an adviser to King Hussein of Jordan for 22 years. But as a member of St Anthony's College at Oxford University, he is now able to share the accumulated advice that was the exclusive preserve of the late monarch as they monitored their troublesome eastern neighbour. Over Turkish coffee on the terrace at Amman's Four Seasons Hotel, he issued a warning: 'Last week they blew up oil and water. They've attacked the Jordanian Embassy and now the UN, and this has been without the involvement of the Shiites, who make up almost 70 per cent of the population. So far this resistance is only Sunni. If the Shiites or even a part of them get involved, Iraq will go up in fire and there will be nothing the US, Britain or the UN can do about it. This disease started in the Sunni areas; it's contagious and it will spread to the Shiites.'"

The Pentagon plan for the postwar period "was that the Iraqi people would rise in one mass and greet us as an army of liberation. They failed to take into account the very real resentments that have built up against the United States within Iraq over the previous 12 years. [We allowed Saddam Hussein to survive in 1991, and we allowed him to butcher at least 200,000 rebels when they rose when exhorted to do so by the first President Bush -- we maintained sanctions which were aimed directly at the people of Iraq for 12 years. Once in, they should not have dissolved the Iraqi army.] You had 400,000 men, the overwhelming majority of whom were not connected to the Baath Party... The people of Iraq are far more likely to accept a national emergency defense force consisting of Iraqi citizens than they are going to be of foreigners coming into Iraq. This is something that is fundamental in the psyche of the Iraqi people that we need to understand."

"The brother of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana said he was deliberately murdered for discovering mass graves of U.S. troops killed in Iraqi resistance attacks. 'The U.S. troops killed my brother in cold blood,' Nazmi Dana told IslamOnline.net in exclusive statements. 'The U.S. occupation troops shot dead my brother on purpose, although he was wearing his press badge, which was also emblazoned on the car he was driving,' he said.... 'Mazen told me by phone few days before his death that he discovered a mass grave dug by U.S. troops to conceal the bodies of their fellow comrades killed in Iraqi resistance attacks,' Nazmi said. 'He also told me that he found U.S. troops covered in plastic bags in remote desert areas and he filmed them for a TV program. We are pretty sure that the American forces had killed Mazen knowingly to prevent him from airing his finding.'"

Former Army Captain David Wiggins writes, "Bush and Blair lies to the contrary, it is now clear that US and British intelligence services ... knew that Al-Qaeda had little or no presence in Iraq before the US invasion. Saddam Hussein made sure of that. He didn't want any competition. The only Islamist group in Iraq at all, Ansar-al-Islam, was confined to a small remote corner of northern Iraq. Saddam Hussein could not get at them there because the area was under the protection of the United States via its unsanctioned 'Northern No Fly Zone.' Now we see that the US invasion of Iraq is the best thing that ever happened to Ansar-al-Islam. Paul Bremer said there was, 'clear evidence of ... the Ansar al-Islam, reconstituting its capabilities inside of Iraq since the war'. The group is now operating all over Iraq. It is suspected in the bombing of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad on August 7th. The Al-Qaeda recruiters haven't had it so good since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan."

"After the latest attacks on coalition forces and now UN personnel the US must be wondering why the original script, so persuasive in its simplicity, has become so distorted and bitter. Instead of freedom there has been a struggle of sectional, if not national, liberation against the occupying forces. What was supposed to be a re-enactment of the landing on the Normandy beaches in 1944 looks like the descent into the Vietnam quagmire after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. What has gone wrong? To begin with, the US message of liberation has never been unadulterated. It has been said that there are two Americas, that of the Declaration of Independence and that of the CIA and the Pentagon. [Few] are deceived by their own rhetoric of liberation as much as the Americans are, or so ill-equipped to understand that an occupied people might not see things in the same way."

"Members of Voices in the Wilderness, Al-Awda, the International Solidarity Movement, and Middle East Children's Alliance take to the road in a colorfully decorated full-size school bus for the Wheels of Justice Tour. Starting in mid-August 2003, this tour will canvass the western United Sates to challenge and educate North Americans on the occupation of Palestine and Iraq. Having seen and lived with war, terror and occupation in Iraq and Palestine, participants in the Wheels of Justice offer first-hand experience irrespective of partisan politics and sound bite sloganeering. To build upon and reassert the massive domestic opposition to war against Iraq and occupation of the Palestinians, the Wheels of Justice Tour will travel all across the western United States for education, outreach, nonviolence/action training, active resistance, and community-building." Check the schedule for a visit near you.

Bob Herbert writes, "How long is it going to take for us to recognize that the war we so foolishly started in Iraq is a fiasco - tragic, deeply dehumanizing and ultimately unwinnable? How much time and how much money and how many wasted lives is it going to take? At the United Nations yesterday, grieving diplomats spoke bitterly, but not for attribution, about the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. They said it has not only resulted in the violent deaths of close and highly respected colleagues, but has also galvanized the most radical elements of Islam. 'This is a dream for the jihad,' said one high-ranking U.N. official. 'The resistance will only grow. The American occupation is now the focal point, drawing people from all over Islam into an eye-to-eye confrontation with the hated Americans. 'It is very propitious for the terrorists,' he said. 'The U.S. is now on the soil of an Arab country, a Muslim country, where the terrorists have all the advantages.'" Bring them home now!

The Financial Times reports: "Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned. A senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was 'extremely worrying.'... According to Saad al-Faguih, a UK-based Saudi dissident, the Saudi authorities are concerned that up to 3,000 Saudi men have gone 'missing' in the kingdom in two months, although it is not clear how many have crossed into Iraq.... Pressure on Islamists in Saudi Arabia has grown since the bombing of an expatriate residential compound in May killed 35 people. The subsequent arrest of many Islamists has forced some underground while others are trying to flee to Iraq."

Fisk writes, "What UN member would ever contemplate sending peace-keeping troops to Iraq now? The men who are attacking America's occupation army are ruthless, but they are not stupid. They know that Resident George Bush is getting desperate, that he will do anything - that he may even go to the dreaded Security Council for help - to reduce US military losses in Iraq. But yesterday's attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad has slammed shut the door to that escape route. Within hours of the explosion, we were being told that this was an attack on a 'soft target', a blow against the UN itself. True, it was a 'soft' target.... True, too, it was a shattering assault on the UN as an institution. But in reality, yesterday's attack was against the United States. For it proves that no foreign organisation - no NGO, no humanitarian organisation, no investor, no businessman - can expect to be safe under America's occupation rule."

AFP: "Iraq's 25-member interim Governing Council received intelligence on August 14 that a truck bombing was imminent in the capital, council member Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, said. 'The intelligence specifically said that a large-scale act would take place ... against a soft target, such as Iraqi political parties or other parties, including the UN,' said Chalabi, who is a favourite of the US Defense Department. He stressed that according to the information, neither the ruling Coalition Provisional Authority nor coalition troops would be targeted. Chalabi added that the intelligence had warned the attack would be a truck bombing, using either a kamikaze driver or a remote-control detonator, but declined to disclose the source of his information or how it was collected. Chalabi said the council shared the news with US intelligence agents... At UN headquarters in New York, Fred Eckhard... said he was unaware that any such intelligence had been passed along."

"Kofi Annan insisted on Wednesday that the UN had no plans to pull out of Iraq despite the bombing of its Baghdad headquarters, taking a swipe at the United States-led coalition, which he said was responsible for security. 'We will carry on our mandate that has been given to us by the Security Council,' the secretary general said at a news conference at Stockholm airport shortly before he was due to board a flight to New York... Annan criticised the US for failing to secure the situation in Iraq for international humanitarian workers: 'The occupying power is responsible for law and order and the security of the country,' he said. 'We had hoped that by now the coalition forces would have secured the environment for us to be able to carry on the essential work of political and economic reconstruction, institution-building and for Iraqis to carry on with their work,' he said. 'That has not happened,' he said, while acknowledging that it was difficult to prevent such an attack."

It is SOOO enlightening (NOT!) to read Tom Friedman, the head cheerleader for the conquest and occupation of Iraq. How is this for clear, cogent analysis? "Everyone has advice now for the U.S.: bring in U.N. peacekeepers, bring in the French. They're all wrong. There are only two things we need: more Americans out back and more Iraqis out front. Bush needs to give the U.S. administrator, Paul Bremer III, more resources to get basic services here running and Iraqis in charge as fast as we can. This is not Germany 1945. America is much more radioactive in this region. We don't have infinite time." You're right about that! We'd better bring our troops home NOW, before we get completely swallowed up in the cycle of terror and retribution. Tom, if you're so committed to Iraq, then go to work for Bremer and deliver some food, water, or electricity to the Iraqi people you love so passionately. And spare the rest of us your mindless drivel!

"Intelligence reports in the past two weeks indicated Ansar al-Islam might be planning a major attack in Iraq, and a top U.S. official in the country also said he suspects the group could have launched Tuesday's strike that killed at least 17 people. 'It's part of a global war against terrorism that was officially declared on us on September 11,' U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer said. 'It's quite clear we do have terrorists inside Iraq now.'" Careful readers of Democrats.com know that Ansar al-Islam is a small group - estimated 600 members - whose base was in US-controlled Northern Iraq. Without invading Iraq, Bush could have dropped paratroopers completely around the Ansar base and captured or killed ALL of them. So why did Bush let Ansar fighters - estimated at 150 - escape to Iran during the war? Does Bush WANT to keep Ansar in the picture to justify US occupation?

NY Times opines, "Yesterday's attack, the worst in U.N. history, was another sign that surly, chaotic postwar Iraq is becoming a magnet for terrorists. That is yet another consequence of the Iraq war that the Bush administration failed to anticipate, like the uncontrolled postwar looting, the delays in restoring water and electricity, the ambushes of American soldiers and the sabotage of infrastructure." All true. BUT - "The Bush administration has to commit sufficient additional resources, and, if necessary, additional troops, to prevent that. Iraqis need to see that Washington has the will and the means to get their country back on its feet." This is EXACTLY how we got into Vietnam - lies, illusions, failure, death, and ESCALATION. Bring the troops home - http://democrats.com/bringthemhome

Jessica Stern writes, "As bad as the situation inside Iraq may be, the effect that the war has had on terrorist recruitment around the globe may be even more worrisome. Even before the coalition troops invaded, a senior United States counterterrorism official told reporters that 'an American invasion of Iraq is already being used as a recruitment tool by Al Qaeda and other groups.' Intelligence officials... say that the recruits they are seeing now are younger than in the past. Television images of American soldiers and tanks in Baghdad are deeply humiliating to Muslims, even those who didn't like Saddam Hussein... Some 3,000 young Saudis have entered Iraq in recent months, and called the war 'a gift to Osama bin Laden.' ... Hezbollah has greatly stepped up its activities not only in Shiite regions but also in Baghdad. Most ominously, Al Qaeda's influence may be growing. It has been linked to attacks as far apart as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Morocco."

"US authorities in Iraq were warned last week that a large-scale terrorist attack on a 'soft' target in Baghdad was being planned." Reports the Independent, "The warning emerged as rescue teams searched the wreckage of the bombed UN headquarters where at least 20 people, including UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, died. Ahmad Chalabi said that during a meeting on 14 August 'we received information that a large-scale terror attack would take place in Baghdad. The information said that the attack would be aimed at a soft target, not the American military or forces. The information said the attack would use a truck and would be carried out by using a suicide mechanism or by remote control. We shared this information with the Americans.'" How convenient for Bush - de Mello died just a few weeks before becoming head of the UN Human Rights Commission - a job he would have assumed armed with substantial rights abuse evidence against the US.

UK Independent reports: "The American army admitted yesterday that its soldiers killed an award-winning Reuters cameraman. Mazen Dana, a Palestinian, was shot dead by a US tank crew at close range while trying to film outside Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison on Sunday, after a mortar attack on the prison. The Americans claimed that the soldiers mistook the camera Mr Dana was holding for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher - a claim that was immediately rejected by journalists who witnessed the killing... The Reuters team had identified themselves to American soldiers guarding the perimeter of the prison, and they had been given permission to film."

AP reports, "Private analysts have estimated that the cost of U.S. military and nation-building operations in Iraq could reach $600 billion. The closest the administration has come to estimating America's postwar burden was when L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of occupied Iraq, said last month that 'getting the country up and running again' could cost $100 billion and take three years. He estimated that repairing Iraq's electrical grid alone will cost $13 billion and getting the water system in shape will require an additional $16 billion... Bush and other administration officials have refused to provide projections, saying too much is unpredictable. That has angered lawmakers of both parties, who are writing the budget for the coming election year even as federal deficits approach $500 billion. 'I think they're fearful of having Congress say, 'Oh, my God, this thing is going to be very costly,' ' said Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz."

CBS/AP reports: "Fellow journalists accused U.S. troops of negligence in the shooting death of a Reuters cameraman, saying it was clear the victim was a newsman when soldiers on two tanks opened fire. Press advocacy groups called for an investigation. Mazen Dana, 43, was shot and killed by U.S. soldiers Sunday while videotaping near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. The U.S. Army said its soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Press advocacy groups Reporters Without Borders and the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded a full investigation into the shooting... 'We were all there, for at least half an hour. They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was accident. They are very tense. They are crazy,' said Stephan Breitner of France 2 television."

"On the day that the Bush Administration awarded a contract to ABT Associates to provide universal health service to 25 million Iraqis within a year, U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), John D. Dingell (D-MI), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) called on Resident Bush to provide the same commitment to the 44 million Americans without health care coverage... 'The problems in Iraq are daunting. There is only one doctor for every 1,667 people compared to 1 for every 400 in the United States. Life expectancy is 60 years for men and 58 for women, compared to 74 and 79 in the United States. The country's infrastructure is in shambles,' said Rep. DeGette. 'If, despite all of these huge challenges, we can provide universal health care in Iraq within one year, we can certainly find a way to provide coverage to the 400,000 Coloradoans and 44 million Americans without health care coverage.'"

The UK Independent reports: "The four-storey house in Mosul where Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, made their last stand has been demolished to prevent it being made into a shrine by Iraqis nostalgic for their father's rule. But before the bulldozers moved in, the site was picked over by American souvenir hunters. Four armed CIA men in plain clothes were prowling through the rubble in Mosul's Chalalat Street last week. One, a bald man with an automatic rifle slung over his shoulders who said he was from Colorado, admitted he was collecting souvenirs for himself and his colleagues. He and other armed Americans were removing pieces of blue and pink marble from interior walls and stacking them in the back of their vehicle. The Americans spent two hours in the rubble, watched silently by Iraqi workers and resentful local residents. Some said the demolition was unnecessary and compared the CIA men to looters. 'They act with no honour,' said one of the Iraqis bulldozing the house."

The Christian Science Monitor reports: "One night at the end of June, a young Iraqi man goes out to ambush an American convoy near the central Iraqi town of Fallujah... The man's motivations for attacking the convoy are simple: to resist the American 'insult to Iraqi and Arab tradition.' His remarks... convey a sense of betrayal and trampled dignity. 'They might have helped, but they destroyed things,' he says of the Americans in Iraq. 'They provoked'... But the man... is no Baathist; he complains about the old regime's corruption and other failings. He cites his two years as an Army conscript. For enlisted men, he says, military service was like living in a jungle full of lions - the rapacious, bribe-soliciting senior officers... He does not deny that he is part of an armed group fighting the Americans. But he seems to know - or is able to say - very little about it. The group is nameless, he says, and so decentralized that he is not certain who is behind it."

"Even as the United Nations voted to welcome Iraq's Governing Council yesterday, the United States was already increasing the intense security surrounding it. Paul Bremer, the US's civilian administrator for Iraq, has deployed 120 new security personnel to guard the 25 members of the council appointed by the Americans to help run its occupation. The council members are almost never seen in public. They meet behind closed doors in a building set back half a mile from the road... The Americans are presenting the tight security as an effort to protect the council from Saddam's loyalists and foreign militants that the US claims are now slipping into Iraq. But the reality is that the Governing Council needs protection from the ordinary Iraqi people they are supposed to 'govern' as much as from anyone else. 'If Ahmed Chalabi [the member of the council most often singled out for loathing by Iraqis] walked down the street without security guards, the people might kill him,' said one Iraqi."

The Daily Kos reports: "Before the war begun, chickenhawk boosters claimed that nation's occupation and reconstruction would cost the US nothing -- it would be paid by Iraq oil revenues. Heck, even thoughtful war supporters like Tacitus assumed oil revenues would do the trick. But the anti-war camp has been proven right -- under the best case scenario, Iraq oil revenues [will not be sufficient to pay for reconstruction, or even provide basic government services.] In any case, what meager oil revenues the US hoped to extract from Iraq will clearly be reduced by rampant vandalism and sabotage. It was all foreseeable. It was all obvious. Except to those who wanted to get their war on."

NY Times reports: "The United States military apologized today for an incident that deeply angered Iraqi religious leaders on Wednesday when soldiers in a helicopter forced down a flag near a mosque in an overwhelmingly Shiite district of Baghdad. A large protest followed, leading to the death of one Iraqi and the wounding of four others by American troops. The flag episode outraged residents of Sadr City, a poor but fervent Shiite neighborhood in northeast Baghdad. They poured out in droves on Wednesday to demonstrate against what they considered the desecration of an important religious symbol. At least 3,000 Iraqis joined the protest, said American officials, who added that the troops opened fire during the demonstration after being attacked by small-arms fire and a rocket-propelled grenade. The Iraqi who was killed had been operating the grenade-launcher, the officials said."

From Reuters: "A fresh wave of sabotage and violence took its toll on Iraq on Sunday as a second blaze hit a crucial oil export pipeline, a water pipeline was blown up and six Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack on a Baghdad prison. A Danish soldier was killed as he tried to stop looting on Saturday night and a Reuters cameraman was shot dead while working near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. Iraq's crucial oil export pipeline to Turkey, which saboteurs attacked two days ago, was ablaze again on Sunday following another blast... The U.S. military acknowledged on Sunday that its troops had 'engaged' a Reuters cameraman, saying they had thought his camera was a rocket propelled grenade launcher. 'Army soldiers engaged an individual they thought was aiming an RPG at them. It turned out to be a Reuters cameraman,' Navy Captain Frank Thorp, a spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters in Washington." Just what does 'engaged' mean? Stay tuned...

Sydney (AU) Herald reports, "[Ahmed] describes a Sunni resistance that is a disciplined, religiously focused force. Asked where authority rests, he says: 'It's with the sheiks in the mosques. Baath Party people and former members of the military are not allowed to be our leaders... We now have a single, jihadist leadership group that operates nationally. Everything is done on instructions carried by messengers. There are 35 men in my cell and I'm a leader of three other cells. The number of foreigners who are coming to help us is increasing - Syrian, Palestinian, Saudi and Qatari... Our fighters are protecting our religion. We cannot allow foreigners to occupy our country... We suffered under Saddam and we hate him, but we would put him in our hearts ahead of a Christian or a Jew, because he is a Muslim... The Americans do not respect us, so we cannot respect them. They are a cancer of bad things: prostitution, gambling and drugs." But Bush promised we would be cheered as liberators.

"It appears that the WAR PROFITEERS are killing our troops by not even supplying them with at least the basics. If we are to have private corporations involved, why not ones that will lose customers if they don't perform? Take Back the Media is Challenging Pepsi and Coke to take the reins and save some lives. SEND THE TROOPS LIQUIDS. Send them Water at the very least - Send them something with electrolytes, a sports drink? Send them YOUR PRODUCTS FOR FREE. YOU can afford it and you will have the weight of every soldier loving american behind you squarely. DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOUR COUNTRY. Don't tell us that you don't read the newspapers or cruise the web looking for trends for advertising campaigns - your fingers are on the pulse, everyone knows that. Here's your chance to BOTH create a goodwill campaign and get FREE ADVERTISING while you SAVE the LIVES of the truest Patriots there are - those willing to DIE FOR THEIR COUNTRY."

Boston Globe reports: "Intelligence officials cautioned the National Security Council before the Iraq war that the American plan to build democracy on the ashes of Saddam Hussein's regime -- as a model for the rest of the region -- was so audacious that, in the words of one CIA report in March, it could ultimately prove 'impossible.' That assessment ran counter to what the Bush administration was saying at the time as it sought to build support for the war... The question of how quickly, and easily, the United States could establish democracy in Iraq was the key to a larger concern about how long US troops would be required to stay there... The National Intelligence Council, which represents the consensus view of American spy agencies, reported to top policy makers at the start of the year that 'what the administration was saying was a rosy picture,' said a senior intelligence official who read the report and asked not to be named. 'The report's conclusions were totally opposite.'"

"The Bush administration has abandoned the idea of giving the UN more of a role in the occupation of Iraq as sought by France, India and other countries as a condition for their participation in peacekeeping there... 'The administration is not willing to confront going to the Security Council and saying, 'We really need to make Iraq an international operation,'' said an administration official. 'You can make a case that it would be better to do that, but right now the situation in Iraq is not that dire.' [OH YEAH? ASK THE SOLDIERS!] The administration's position could complicate its hopes of bringing a large number of American troops home in short order. The length of the American occupation depends on how quickly the country can be stabilized and the attacks and uprisings brought under control... UN officials involved in peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and the Balkans say the total number of troops in Iraq may have to double before the security situation comes under control."

"All troops in Iraq should expect to serve for at least a year, with brief rest breaks in the region and possibly a few days at home, the commander of U.S. forces said Tuesday. That came as news to some soldiers. 'It's a one-year rotation,' Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told The Associated Press in an interview. 'Every soldier has been told that they'll be deployed for a year, and then at the end of the year we'll be working to send them home.' But some of the 148,000 soldiers in Iraq said nobody told them how long they would remain in the country, where guerrillas attack Americans daily and high temperatures often top 120 degrees... The issue of soldiers' tours has been contentious, with troops and their families posting missives on the Internet criticizing their government for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq. Some express concern about 'mission creep,' in which what begins as a swift war turns into a long-term occupation that could cause heavy American casualties.'"

PentaPost reports, "Citing a milestone generally associated with a new presidency, the White House issued a 24-page report called 'Results in Iraq: 100 Days Toward Security and Freedom,' which claims to catalogue 'highlights of the successes' in Iraq... The report cites 90 ways the administration believes Iraq is better since the demise of Saddam Hussein's government. 'Only in isolated areas are there still attacks,' the report says. The document adds that 'health care, previously available only for Baathist [political party] elite, is now available to all Iraqis.' ... The report does not mention the almost daily attacks on U.S. forces, or the kidnappings and carjackings that terrify many Baghdad residents. It does not mention Iraq's high unemployment or widespread lack of electricity. No documentation for the claims is included. Officials said the unsigned report was prepared by the White House Office of Global Communications and the staff of L. Paul Bremer."

From the Nation: "Iraq has its first temporary president....Ibrahim Jafari. (He'll hold the job for a month: It's a rotating presidency, handed off like a relay baton between nine 'chairmen'....chosen by a USDA-approved 25-member Governing Council.) Jafari hails from the Shiite fundamentalist party Al Dawa... Would that be the same Dawa that carried out a series of Reagan-era bombings in Kuwait of....the American and French embassies and the residential housing of American Raytheon employees -- bombings that killed five people and injured 80? The same Dawa that took inspiration from the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the Ayatollah Khomenei? The same Dawa that founded and set up Hezbollah... ? Why yes, it would. Only now, after three decades of guerrilla and terrorist violence, they've surfaced to demand a share of ruling post-Saddam Iraq...claiming they now believe in democracy and rule of law. And we trust them on this because...well...who can keep track of all these guys anyway?"

"U.S. troops came under renewed attacks Saturday that wounded at least four soldiers, and a team of FBI investigators prepared to take control of the probe into the car bombing of the Jordanian Embassy," reports ABC. "Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade on patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk were fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms early Saturday. Two soldiers were wounded in the explosion and were in stable condition... Also Saturday, soldiers west of Kirkuk opened fire on a car that ran a military checkpoint, wounding two Iraqis, McDonald said. The victims were evacuated to a Kirkuk hospital in stable condition. In south-central Baghdad, two soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their armored Humvee vehicle." And so marks yet another day of "peace" and "no major conflict" in Iraq.

"An American civilian defense contractor died yesterday north of Tikrit when a bomb exploded under his car in an area U.S. officials believe is rife with Saddam Hussein loyalists. Also yesterday, angry residents of Fallujah attacked an Iraqi police station for the second straight day. An American soldier was slightly injured trying to fight off the attackers, who were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. In Tikrit, the slain U.S. civilian worked for Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, a Houston-based oil field-services and construction company formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney. Halliburton has major contracts for reconstruction in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Company spokeswoman Wendy Hall said the worker was on a daily mail run when the mine was exploded by remote control. Two soldiers in the convoy also were injured, said Lt. Col. David Poirier, commander of the military police convoy escorting the contractor."

Salon reports: "The retired colonel calls Donald Rumsfeld an 'a--hole' whose bad planning mired U.S. troops in an ugly guerrilla conflict in Iraq. His sources? Defiant soldiers sending dispatches from the front... Hackworth was everywhere on cable television during the first days of the war, when early military setbacks convinced him and other retired military leaders that the administration, whose backers sold the conflict as a 'cakewalk,' hadn't sent enough troops to quell Iraqi resistance. He wrote a widely quoted column headlined 'Stuck in the quicksand' in early April -- just as the tide seemed to turn and the pace of victory picked up again. Though he is a colonel by rank, Hackworth was counted among the so-called 'television generals' the administration blasted after Baghdad fell, and many conservative admirers turned against him. But now, with American soldiers still dying almost daily in Iraq, the tide of opinion may be turning again, in favor of Hackworth's argument."

Bloomberg reports: "The Pentagon is working to determine how about 100 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and other parts of southwestern Asia got pneumonia, killing two so far, while saying that a biological toxin likely played no part in the outbreak. 'We've found no evidence of anthrax, smallpox or any other biological agent to which we can attribute the pneumonia,' Colonel Robert DeFraites, of the office of the Army Surgeon General, told reporters in Washington. Since March, soldiers deployed to the Iraqi conflict and the military operation in Afghanistan have contracted the infection of the lungs, and about 15 of those cases were serious enough for doctors to put the patients on respirators. One of the seriously ill soldiers died in June and another died last month, according to the Pentagon."

James Ridgeway writes: "In response to the continued killing of Yankee soldiers, U.S. commanders are staging raids on whole neighborhoods--killing those thought to be guerrillas, rounding up hundreds of others, ransacking homes. Last week, the American military kidnapped the wife and child of an Iraqi general and held them as ransom until the man turned himself in. On Sunday, a man got out of his car to tell American troops searching an area that he was not involved. They shot him... Consider the story of little Mohammad al-Kubaisi, as Amnesty International described it last week. On June 26, Mohammad was carrying the family bedding up to the roof, where they slept each night. As he climbed, Mohammad saw American soldiers searching nearby houses. He stopped to watch. Across the street, an American soldier spotted the boy and raised his gun. An Iraqi standing near the soldier said something about 'that baby.' But the soldier said, 'No baby,' and shot the boy."

Robert Fisk writes: "The American killing of up to 11 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad during an abortive attempt to seize Saddam Hussein on Sunday has provoked disturbing questions as well as widespread anger in the city. Many witnesses now say armed Americans in civilian clothes also participated in the raid - after which at least three of the wounded were spirited away by US troops and have not been seen since... In the crowded street, the American troops - and US plain clothes agents they brought with them - apparently regarded every approaching car as a threat and opened fire. Even last night, the exact number of dead remained unknown. Standing beside his father, Firas Abdul Rahman broke down angrily at one point in our interview. 'Why did they shoot at the innocent?' he asked. 'What did we do to the Americans? We were only going to post a letter. They shot at us from 50 metres away. Why?'"

Steve Kretzmann and Jim Vallette write: "During the initial assault on Baghdad, soldiers set up forward bases named Camp Shell and Camp Exxon. Those soldiers knew the score, even if the Pentagon's talking points dismissed any ties between Iraqi oil and their blood. The Bush/Cheney administration has moved quickly to ensure U.S. corporate control over Iraqi resources, at least through the year 2007. The first part of the plan, created by the United Nations under U.S. pressure, is the Development Fund for Iraq, which is being controlled by the United States and advised by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The second is a recent Bush executive order that provides absolute legal protection for U.S. interests in Iraqi oil."

Daniel Patrick Welch writes: "Yet the national stupidity persists, facilitated by its enablers in the headline-addicted US press establishment, to the detriment of the American reputation around the world. Consider these gems from recent press accounts of the massacre in the Mansur district of Baghdad: 'Oh So Close,' chirped half a dozen tabloids. So close to what, exactly? Genocide? A War Crimes Tribunal? No. The reference to a botched raid on a house where Saddam 'may have been hiding' was to how close our liberators came to catching The Beast. The press has so completely given itself over to Pentagon propaganda that they can't even see red flags where they should, sort of like a Bizzarro Running of the Bulls. Before the monotony set in, my ears perked up at the tedious repetition of the obviously planted party line: how US forces had come within twenty-four hours of catching Hussein's security detail, '...and possibly even the deposed dictator himself."

Earth Rights International reports: "Bush has issued an Executive Order, so far completely unreported, that purports to grant broad legal immunity to oil companies operating in Iraq. The Order is, on its face, outrageous, and should be investigated. Executive Order 13303, issued on May 22, 2003, claims to be essential to Iraqi reconstruction efforts. A cursory reading of the Order indicates that its real purpose is to protect oil companies by giving virtual impunity for any activities undertaken relating to Iraqi oil."

"A Japanese reporter was manhandled and briefly detained by US troops in Baghdad after filming their weekend raid on a house in search for ousted president Saddam Hussein, Japanese press reports said. Kazutaka Sato, 47, was held in an arm-lock, thrown to the ground and kicked by several US soldiers Sunday when he was filming the bodies of Iraqis being removed from a car which was shot up in the raid, the reports said. Sato suffered slight injuries to his face and hands, the Kyodo news agency and the newspaper Asahi reported from Baghdad. He had his hands tied and was detained for about one hour. When members of the Western media approached, Sato was released and his camera, which had been confiscated, was handed back to him, the Asahi said."

AFP reports, "Banking on the Americans' failure to deliver on many of their promises to Iraqis, a firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric has managed to rally tens of thousands of Shiites in the largest anti-occupation gathering since the war. Sayyed Moqtada Sadr is offering an alternative way to that of a Shiite religious establishment he deems lax over the US occupation of Iraq... Sadr began raising his tone against US authorities two weeks ago, slamming not only the occupation but also the 25-member US-named Iraqi transitional Governing Council inaugurated on July 13. In the process, Sadr took a swipe at the ambiguous stand of Najaf's religious authorities and, posing as the champion of Sunni as well as Shiite Muslims, announced the creation of a private militia dubbed the 'Mehdi Army,' recruitment for which has already begun in Sadr City. On Saturday, he also called for the establishment of a 'popular' council to govern Iraq in place of the 'illegitimate' Governing Council."

Japan Times reports, "The plan to dispatch [Japan's 'Self Defense'] troops to Iraq came after Bush... expressed hope that Tokyo would participate in Iraq's postwar reconstruction... Prime Minister Koizumi's Liberal Democratic [in name only] Party and its two partners in the ruling coalition, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, backed the bill. Opposition parties led by the Democratic Party of Japan voted against it. Amid a dramatic tussle of lawmakers, the coalition rammed the bill through the Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the final step before its passage. Opposition members of the committee claimed the procedure was invalid because Committee Chairman Ryuji Matsumura allowed a mob of ruling lawmakers to push the bill through, but to no avail." Bush's mob rule shut down the recount in Miami-Dade... Bill Thomas' mob rule pushed an awful pension bill through a House committee... now it's mob rule in Japan too. Impeach Bush Now!

"The commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq says the country is becoming a magnet for foreign terrorists targeting Americans... Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, whose troops usually blame the attacks on die-hard Saddam loyalists, said the sophistication of the raids had increased over the last 30 days. 'This is what I would call a terrorist magnet where America, being present here in Iraq, creates a target of opportunity if you will,' Sanchez told CNN. Sanchez did not elaborate on the nationalities, but said there was no evidence any country was sponsoring the fighters. 'The key that we must not lose sight of is that we must win this battle here in Iraq. Otherwise America will find itself taking on these terrorists at home,' Sanchez said." US intelligence now admits there was no Al Qaeda presence in Iraq BEFORE Bush's War, but now they are flocking to Iraq to take advantage of the chaos Bush created there. America is LESS safe that it was before the war. Impeach Bush Now!

Heather Wokusch writes: "Outspoken Pentagon advisor Richard Perle recently called for Iraq's debt to be cancelled as a way of teaching banks about the 'moral hazard of ... lend[ing] to a vicious dictatorship.' Fair enough. Other countries with 'odious debt' incurred under nasty regimes may be granted debt forgiveness. Why not Iraq? Why not indeed. A war profiteer like Perle lecturing on morality is doubtful enough, but who in today's occupied Iraq will really profit from debt forgiveness, the Iraqi people or companies like Halliburton? At stake is more than $184 billion of pending contracts and debts against Iraq, many of which transpired before the 1991 invasion of Kuwait. In other words, even deals inked when Saddam Hussein was considered a US ally could now be considered odious debt... And of course, today's 'war on terror' has become a gold mine for brutal regimes of strategic US interest. Take Uzbekistan [for instance]."

NY Times reports, "The attack [on U.S. soldiers guarding a children's hospital, killing 3] is a blow to hopes that the slaying in Mosul on Tuesday of Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, would weaken the resolve of Iraqi insurgents. This has been one of the deadliest weeks for American troops since Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1. Of the 104 Americans who have died in Iraq since then, 14 have been killed in the last seven days... The attacks continue to deeply frustrate soldiers. 'What a lot of people don't understand is that the war is far from over,' said Pfc. Adam Gable, of suburban Washington, D.C., who stood guard outside the hospital tonight. Another private first class, Higinio Nunez, from Fresno, Calif., said, 'All we want is for people to see that we are here to protect them.' But he said Iraqis 'call us Ali Babas,' a common reference to thieves."

CBS News reports: " Bush may be turning to one of his father's most trusted allies to take charge of Iraq's physical and economic reconstruction as part of a major overhaul of U.S. postwar efforts, the Washington Post reports. According to administration sources, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III would serve alongside L. Paul Bremer, currently the top civilian administrator in Iraq, who would concentrate on rebuilding the country's political system." Baker was Bush Sr.'s right-hand man in the arming and financing Saddam Hussein (see Alan Friedman's 'Spider's Web'). He is one of the worst criminals in the history of the US government. Appointing Baker to head Iraq's reconstruction would be as outrageous as Bush's nomination of Kissinger to head the 9/11 Commission.

"Striving to convince fearful Iraqis that Saddam Hussein's sons are dead, US officials have showed journalists two bodies that Washington says it is certain are those of Uday and Qusay. But unlike grisly, blood spattered photographs published by the US military earlier, the faces had been touched up and shaved to make them more closely resemble the brothers in life with an US official insisting the aim was not to deceive. 'The two bodies have undergone facial reconstruction with morticians putty to make them resemble as closely as possible the faces of the brothers when they were alive,' a US military official said." Are the deaths for real - or just another "made-for-TV movie" brought to you by the Rumsfeld Pentagon?

PentaPost reports the new Pentagon plan for Iraq "assumes that 156,000 U.S. forces battling a stubborn Baathist insurgency will have to remain in Iraq well into next year, showing that defense officials have now abandoned an earlier belief that they could begin to withdraw some U.S. forces this fall. But the plan is built upon the arrival of a third multinational division in February or March to replace the 101st Airborne Division [which is highly unlikely]. With more than 60% of the Army's active-duty combat force deployed in Iraq, Army planners were forced to abandon six-month tours for most overseas deployments in favor of year-long assignments to sustain a force of that size. The last time the Army used year-long deployments was Vietnam... 'Is the force stressed? Yes, the force is stressing hard to meet its challenges,' Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal." America is WEAKER thanks to Bush!

"Bush on Wednesday hailed the deaths of Saddam Hussein's two sons as the clearest sign yet that 'the former regime is gone and will not be coming back.' The deaths of the feared sons of Iraq's toppled dictator did nothing to quell attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, however, with two American soldiers dying in separate incidents. Meanwhile, a new audiotape that an Arab satellite network said was made by Saddam exhorted Iraqis to escalate the violence by rising up in a new 'liberation army'... Still, in a Rose Garden appearance with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. occupation governor for Iraq, Bush acknowledged that 'a few remaining holdouts' loyal to Saddam's government are complicating efforts to stabilize Iraq and advance freedom... Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said that the coalition would provide proof 'in due time' to the Iraqi people that Odai and Qusai, second only to their father in power in the ousted regime, were dead." 'Mission Accomplished 2'? NOT!

Iraq proconsul Paul Bremer announced "a 60-day plan for [Iraq], including restoring power to prewar levels, resuming criminal courts, awarding mobile-telephone licenses, and distributing revised textbooks to newly opened schools... 'There's a lot of talk that we have no plan, and don't know what we're doing,' Mr. Bremer said. 'Well, we have a plan and we're executing that plan.' [Yeah, RIGHT!] Mr. Bremer acknowledged that his $6 billion budget for the next six months would nearly deplete his available funds, from sources like appropriated money and Iraqi oil revenue, and his budget for the 2004 fiscal year was now projected to run a deficit. 'We'll need more money,' he said, noting that allies will hold a donor's conference in Europe in October." Europe will probably send as many dollars as troops - that is, chump change. America, grab your wallets and your children - Uncle George wants YOU!

A discussion board post by an Army Officer: "After this war our troops will quit the army in droves, weakening it for a long time: While the Army did a great in winning the war, what is not being covered is how broke the Army logistics system is and the damage it is doing to the long term readiness and morale of the Army. The Army seems to have this NTC rotation mentality, which consists of f*** it live in the dirt and filth you only have to be here for a month. That works at NTC, but it seems no one has thought of how to sustain an Army in the field for weeks and months at a time. The answer has always been, 'after a month or so, we will contract with the locals for everything.' The problem is that outside of a few areas in Kurdistan and the north, Iraq is so poor that there is nothing to contract for. Moreover, we don't trust the locals enough to contract with them even if they did have something of value."

CBS reported (and then scrubbed): "Amnesty International is looking into a number of cases of suspected torture in Iraq by American authorities. One of case involves Khraisan al-Aballi. Al-Aballi's house was raided by American soldiers, who came in shooting and arrested Khraisan and his 80-year-old father. They shot and wounded his brother Dureid. Dureid was carrying a weapon. His brother says Dureid thought the Americans were looters. The three men were taken away. Khraisan and his father went to the U.S. detention center at Baghdad's airport. They still don't know where his wounded brother is. Khraisan says his interrogators stripped him naked and kept him awake for more than a week, either standing or on his knees, bound hand and foot, with a bag over his head. Khraisan says he told his captors, 'I don't know what you want. I don't know what you want, I have nothing.' 'I asked him to kill me,' says Khraisan. After eight days, they let him and his father go."

"One night in mid-March, three days before the Iraq war began, 30 Florida National Guardsmen swung picks and shovels in the Iraqi desert. [They were supporting a Special Forces unit, digging a Humvee-size hole through a huge sand berm.] When they finished, Spec. Jeffrey Wershow, a tall and exuberant 22-year-old college student from Gainesville, ran to the top of the berm to wave the Special Forces on. A video from that night showed him, like an earlier generation of soldiers on Iwo Jima, raising a standard toward the sky, this time flying the Stars and Stripes above the Florida state flag. Four months later, Wershow and another guardsman from Charlie Company are dead, among the first National Guard combat fatalities in more than a decade. The remaining soldiers from the unit [are still in Baghdad], wondering when they will get to return to the civilian lives they left behind more than half a year ago, some on 24 hours' notice."

William Greider writes, "Let me be the first to resurrect the fabled Aiken 'peace plan' enunciated by Senator George Aiken (R-VT) during the terrible years of Vietnam: 'Declare victory and get out.' Hundreds of thousands of lives would have been spared in Indochina if LBJ or Nixon had had the courage to follow Aiken's advice. My hunch has always been that Bush intended a prompt exit from Iraq along those lines -- say anything, do anything, whatever it takes to extract the bulk of American forces before the next presidential campaign is underway. Change the subject so American voters can think about something else... I do hope Bush finds the wisdom to embrace the Aiken plan... Yes, Iraqis would be left with a broken country and vulnerable to fratricidal civil conflicts, maybe an elected government of Islamic theocracy. But it is their country, not ours. And many lives would be spared, theirs and ours. Democracy means people get to make their own mistakes. Spread the word. "

NY Times reports, "The Bush administration, which spurned the UN in its drive to depose Saddam Hussein in Iraq, is finding itself forced back into the arms of the international body because other nations are refusing to contribute peacekeeping troops or reconstruction money without UN approval. With the costs of stabilizing Iraq hovering at $4 billion a month and with American troops being killed at a steady rate, administration officials acknowledge that they are rethinking their strategy and may seek a UN resolution for help that would placate other nations, like India, France and Germany. Administration officials contend that they are being practical, but within their ranks are policy makers sharply critical of the UN and those who would consider it humiliating to seek its mantle after risking American lives in the invasion that ousted Mr. Hussein." Hey Chirac - don't lift a finger until Bush pigs out on French Fries, Brie, and Champagne!

AP reports, "The brightly painted wooden sign in the yard marks the home as 'Grandma & Grandpa's House. Hugs & Kisses. Love & Laughter. Candy & Cookies.' But now there are only tears and heartache. Grandpa was Sgt. Roger Dale Rowe, a Tennessee Army National Guardsman who was killed by a sniper July 9 as he drove a tanker fuel truck in Iraq. Rowe died five days before his 55th birthday, making him the oldest American casualty since the start of the war in Iraq." Bush LIES while soldiers DIE - Impeach Bush Now!

"The Pentagon could start a call-up of as many as 10,000 U.S. National Guard soldiers by this winter to bolster forces in Iraq and offset a lack of troops from allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the U.S. military thin, the report said, and soldiers there still face danger every day. One senior U.S. defense official, asked by the Journal if he had ever seen the Army stretched so thin, said: 'Not in my 31 years' of military service... About 146,000 U.S. troops are serving in postwar Iraq amid mounting security threats. The U.S. death toll of 147 combat deaths has now equaled the number killed in the 1991 Gulf War. National Guard soldiers would likely not be deployed until March or April after they complete two or three months of training, the paper said. Their lengths of service could last 12 to 16 months each including training." Hey - how about sending Bush to complete his last 2 years of Air National Guard Service???

One day after soldiers from the Army's Second Brigade, Third Infantry Division complained on TV about their duty in Iraq, 'The retaliation from Washington was swift. 'It was the end of the world,' said one officer Thursday. 'It went all the way up to Bush and back down again on top of us. At least six of us here will lose our careers.' ... In Baghdad, average soldiers from other Army brigades are [still] eager to spill complaints. 'I'm not sure people in Washington really know what it's like here,' said Corp. Todd Burchard.. 'We'll keep doing our jobs as best as anyone can, but we shouldn't have to still be here in the first place.' Nearby, Pfc. Jason Ring stood next to his Humvee. 'We liberated Iraq. Now the people here don't want us here, and guess what? We don't want to be here either,' he said. 'So why are we still here? Why don't they bring us home?' " Support our troops - bring them home!

In Scott Mclellan's inaugural news conference this week, Helen Thomas asked him how the White House felt about the soldiers speaking out on their grim situation in Iraq to reporters. McClellan, oilier than Ari but more arrogant and nastier, babbled about how grateful the White House was to our troops - then cut her off roughly, refusing to answer her question. Now the truth comes out: the White House "gratitude" to our troops will be shown in punishments to any soldier who dares to try to speak the truth to reporters about the debacle that is now Iraq. How about a show of REAL gratitude, Bushfeld? Bring our troops home!

"At his first news conference since becoming commander and head of the 24th Infantry (Mechanized) in May, Brigadier General Dennis E. Hardy stated, "It is still a tough situation in Iraq. We're assuming that we will be deployed for quite a while. 'Quite a while' to me means at least a year." During hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 9, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that the cost of U.S. forces in Iraq is topping $3.9 billion a month - double what was previously reported. That does NOT include funds for reconstruction or relief. The hearings also affirm that the 140,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future. What is the impact of these costs on social services in your city or state? A new web site displays a counter that posts an up-to-the-second count of the cost."

PentaPost reports, "Gen. Abizaid also addressed the growing morale problems in the 3rd Infantry Division. He said that soldiers quoted yesterday on ABC News' 'Good Morning America' questioning their mission in Iraq and calling for Rumsfeld's resignation were wrong and could be disciplined. 'None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the secretary of defense or the president of the United States. We're not free to do that. It's our professional code,' he said." Gee, didn't they tell us our troops were fighting for "Democracy"? Nah, we must've been dreaming again.

PentaPost reports, "The U.S. military's new commander in Iraq acknowledged for the first time yesterday that American troops are engaged in a 'classical guerrilla-type' war against remnants of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and said Baathist attacks are growing in organization and sophistication. The statements by Army Gen. John Abizaid, in his first Pentagon briefing since taking charge of the U.S. Central Command last week, were in sharp contrast with earlier statements by Rumsfeld [and Bush, who declared 'Mission Accomplished' on 5-1-03]... The Baathist attacks, most troubling to U.S. forces, he said, are being staged by former mid-level Iraqi intelligence officials and Special Republican Guard personnel, who have organized cells at the regional level and ... 'are conducting what I would describe as a classical guerrilla-type campaign against us. It's low-intensity conflict in our doctrinal terms, but it's war however you describe it.'" Bring our troops home!

ABC News reports: "The sergeant at the 2nd Battle Combat Team Headquarters pulled me aside in the corridor. 'I've got my own 'Most Wanted' list,' he told me. He was referring to the deck of cards the U.S. government published, featuring Saddam Hussein, his sons and other wanted members of the former Iraqi regime. 'The aces in my deck are Paul Bremer, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and Paul Wolfowitz,' he said... 'If Donald Rumsfeld were sitting here in front of us, what would you say to him?' I asked a group of soldiers who gathered around a table, eager to talk to a visiting reporter. 'If he was here,' said Pfc. Jason Punyahotra, 'I would ask him why we're still here, why we've been told so many times and it's changed.' In the back of the group, Spc. Clinton Deitz put up his hand. 'If Donald Rumsfeld was here,' he said, 'I'd ask him for his resignation.'"

Newsday's Mohamad Bazzi interviewed a leader of the Iraqi fighters named Khaled, and learned that Rummy is dead wrong when he adamantly denied the claim that "regime loyalists are operating freely throughout the country attacking coalition forces at will." "Khaled described the workings of a loosely organized network of former Baath Party members, Iraqi soldiers, intelligence officers and other die-hard Hussein supporters who have been responsible for an unknown number of the attacks that have killed 29 U.S. soldiers and injured dozens since May 1. He said the network operates in cells of five or six members that answer to a secret leadership structure. It goes by various names - the Fedayeen, the Iraq Liberation Army, Muhammad's Army - and Khaled said only a handful of people know its full reach. He said its members draw inspiration from Hussein and from the belief that the ousted Iraqi leader is alive and will regain power once U.S. troops are forced to leave." Fire Rummy now!

Chris Floyd writes, "In a political world blackened with the stinking pitch of lies, distortion and death-dealing hypocrisy, a shining knight of truth stepped boldly forth last week. With admirable -- if ruthless -- honesty, Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz openly declared that his nation joined the Anglo-American crusade against Iraq for one purpose only: a share of the plunder from the conquered country's oil fields... 'We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to finally have access to sources of commodities,' the minister told a group of Polish magnates gathered to sign an agreement allowing them to join the corporate hunting packs from the United States and Britain in tearing off chunks of the Iraqi carcass. Indeed, access to Iraq's oilfields 'is our ultimate objective,' Cimoszewicz told the press. That's why Poland contributed a small combat force to the invasion: to seal its claims to loot in blood.'

Knight Ridder reports that Pentagon ideologues "did not develop any real postwar plans because they believed that Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops with open arms and that Washington could install a favored Iraqi exile [Ahmed Chalabi] as the country's leader. The Pentagon civilians ignored CIA and State Department experts who disputed their conclusions, resisted White House pressure to back away from supporting the exile leader, and when their scenario collapsed amid increasing violence and disorder, had no backup plan... The Pentagon planning group, directed by Undersec. of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, the department's No. 3 official, included hard-line conservatives who had long advocated using the American military to overthrow Hussein. The planning group's day-to-day boss was William Luti, a former Navy officer who worked for VP Dick Cheney before joining the Pentagon." When will these ideologues - and Bush - be held responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers?

From Reuters: "The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to encourage Bush to reach out to NATO and the United Nations for help in peacekeeping and rebuilding in Iraq, reflecting mounting worries in Congress that the post-war operation is stumbling. The Senate voted 97-0 for a nonbinding resolution that said Bush "should consider requesting formally and expeditiously" that NATO deploy forces to Iraq."

AFP reports: "Pentagon planners failed to develop detailed plans for postwar Iraq because they were convinced Iraqis would welcome US troops and that a hand-picked exile leader would replace Saddam Hussein and impose order. The exclusive report in Knight Ridder Newspapers quoted more than a dozen current and former senior government officials, many of whom linked a lack of US planning to the current chaos in Iraq."

"On May 25, while scanning the Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program images pipelined into his desktop from 450 miles in orbit, Hank Brandli skidded at a nighttime photo of Iraq... The most recent photo showed a blazing corridor of light running the length of Kuwait, south to north, all the way to the Iraqi border. The image wasn't there on May 3. 'It's going right up to Iraq's oil fields,' says the retired Air Force colonel from his home in Palm Bay. 'Maybe I'm full of s---. Maybe all they're doing is building a highway to put in McDonald's and sell hamburgers. But why go that way? I think we're in bed with Kuwait. I think we're pumping oil out of Iraq to pay for this war'... 'If you're building pipelines, you've got to have power, you've got to have light -- trucks and personnel and food and all sorts of support. If I had to bet, I'd say it looks like we're running Iraqi oil through Kuwait. It would make sense, because Kuwait's got its infrastructure intact.'"

WashPost reports: "Democratic senators sharply questioned the Bush administration's handling of the Iraqi occupation yesterday, repeatedly pressing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on the cost and duration of the U.S. military presence there and voicing concern about the long-term impact on the armed forces. Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee offered Rumsfeld perhaps his roughest handling from Congress since he became defense secretary two years ago as they expressed unease about the continuing problems facing occupation forces in Iraq."

From Reuters: "U.S. troops in Iraq face 10 to 25 attacks a day, partly because they are hunting for Baathists, 'jihadists' and fighters crossing the border from Syria, Gen. Tommy Franks, who ran the war against Baghdad, said on Thursday. Franks, who stepped down recently as head of U.S. Central Command and will soon retire, told the House Armed Services Committee that 'on a given day, there will be somewhere between 10 and 25 violent incidents' in Iraq where 148,000 U.S. troops are located." But this isn't enough for Tommy-gun -- he seconded Bush's 'Bring 'Em On' the other day. And the specter of guerilla war was raised. "Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the senior Democrat on the panel, said if the current pattern were left unchecked, the United States may find itself 'in the throes of guerrilla warfare for years.'"

Erich Marquardt writes for PINR: "Since the end of major combat operations in Iraq, mounting instability throughout the country is threatening U.S. and British objectives in the region. Daily attacks are launched on coalition forces with the attackers becoming more successful and increasingly bold as times goes on. The methods of attack range from planted bombs to drive by rocket-propelled grenade assaults; acts of sabotage are also common, such as attempts to blow up oil pipelines and electrical facilities. The frequency of attacks has led to skepticism over whether coalition forces are making progress in the war-torn country. It is not completely clear whether the attacking groups or individuals are remnants of the Ba'ath Party, disenchanted civilians, or irregular forces coalescing into a new guerrilla resistance movement."

Michael Renner writes: "Chaos and lawlessness have gripped large parts of Iraq following the U.S.-British invasion... Museums, hospitals, universities, power stations, water plants, and telecomm facilities have been stripped bare by looters, leaving the country in dire straits. Several weeks after the end of major fighting, ordinary Iraqis have seen little in the way of benefits from whatever reconstruction is going on. Indeed, the focus of the occupation regime is more on emergency repairs than on a major rehabilitation of Iraq's dilapidated and war-destroyed public infrastructure. Less visible than the pedestrian plundering afflicting Iraq's cities and archeological treasures, another looting operation from on high is in the works: the Bush administration has been moving with great alacrity to take control of the major prize to be won in Iraq--strategic control over the country's considerable oil wealth."

Time reports: "Much has been written about how Iraqis complicated the task of rebuilding their country by looting it after Saddam Hussein's regime fell. In the case of the international airport outside Baghdad, however, the theft and vandalism were conducted largely by victorious American troops, according to U.S. officials, Iraqi Airways staff members and other airport workers. The troops, they say, stole duty-free items, needlessly shot up the airport and trashed five serviceable Boeing airplanes."

Col. Daniel Smith (ret.) writes: "Between May 1, when... Bush declared that major combat in Iraq was over, and June 26, 57 U.S. and eight UK military personnel have died in Iraq. That is more than one death every day. To the U.S. and UK toll must be added the sometimes tens or scores of Iraqis, both Saddamists -military, intelligence, fedayeen, non-Iraqi volunteers - and innocent civilians... the media are edging ever so gingerly toward serious questioning of what kind of 'war' U.S. and UK troops (the 'Authority') are fighting in Iraq. 'Counterinsurgency,' a 1960s buzzword, already has re-appeared in some reports. The dreaded 'quagmire' has also been voiced. The Pentagon denies it is doing 'body counts' - although the media always seems to know the number of guerrilla dead. Can 'free fire zones,' 'five o'clock follies' (the daily official U.S. military briefings in Saigon), and 'light at the end of the tunnel' be far off?"

"An Iraqi businessman detained during a raid on his home says U.S. interrogators deprived him of sleep, forced him to kneel naked and kept him bound hand and foot with a bag over his head for eight days. Khraisan al-Abally's story, told to an Associated Press correspondent, comes as an Amnesty International report released Monday harshly criticizes American interrogation techniques. A U.S. Army officer confirmed receiving a complaint from al-Abally, but coalition officials declined to discuss his account. The activist group Human Rights Watch said it was trying to corroborate his story... U.S. soldiers have detained hundreds of Iraqis -- some of whom have endured days of strenuous interrogations, rights groups say. AP journalists have observed prisoners wearing only underwear and blindfolds, handcuffed and lying in the dirt 24 hours after their capture... Al-Abally, 39, said that... he was kicked, forced to stare at a strobe light and blasted with 'very loud rubbish music.'"

Bob Ray Sanders writes: "I've tried hard to avoid the Southeast Asia analogy, but every time I hear about the growing unrest among the Iraqi people and the escalation of violence against American and British troops, it becomes more evident that this latest battleground -- like the one in and around Vietnam -- is a place we ought not to be."

Joel R. Charny writes: "Operation Iraqi Freedom... embodies a new approach to post-conflict humanitarian action. This approach unifies security, governance, humanitarian response, and reconstruction under the control of the Department of Defense. Humanitarian action is unilateral in character and linked inextricably to the U.S. security agenda in the context of the global war on terrorism. The UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations, traditionally the coordinators and implementers of humanitarian assistance and post-conflict reconstruction programs, are expected to play supportive roles within an effort managed by the Pentagon. While public attention has focused on the Iraq war as the expression of the Bush administration's new national security policy of pre-emptive self-defense, there has been virtually no public discussion of the far-reaching implications of the administration's new approach to humanitarian assistance and post-conflict reconstruction."

Neil Wollman and Leonard Williams write: "As reports came in a few weeks back about bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, we had to finally conclude that the anti-war folks were right about many things. Besides diverting attention from the war on terrorism, the war against Iraq has spurred more violent attacks on US targets. In fact, anti-war voices had predicted just such a development well before the US invasion... Indeed, it looks like the intelligence on the crippled terrorist network was as faulty as the intelligence reports that Iraq had large stockpiles of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons ready to be used by its troops... Opponents of the war repeatedly had asked for credible evidence that Iraq posed a direct challenge to US security. The upcoming 'Weaponsgate' investigations may lead to a questioning of the Administration that was unthinkable several weeks ago."

From Reuters: "U.S. troops psyched up on a bizarre musical reprise from Vietnam war film 'Apocalypse Now' before crashing into Iraqi homes to hunt gunmen on Saturday, as Shi'ite Muslims rallied against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. With Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' still ringing in their ears and the clatter of helicopters overhead, soldiers rammed vehicles into metal gates and hundreds of troops raided houses in the western city of Ramadi after sunrise as part of a drive to quell a spate of attacks on U.S. forces." We really have fallen through the looking glass. Depraved life is imitating art.

USA Today reports: "Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave no explicit estimates for the time U.S. forces would stay in Iraq, but they did not dispute members of Congress who said the deployment could last a decade or more. The comments were among the most explicit acknowledgements yet from the Bush administration that the U.S. presence in Iraq will be long, arduous, costly and a strain on the military. Wolfowitz told the House Armed Services Committee that the Bush administration will eventually come to Congress to seek more money for the military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan... Wolfowitz urged Congress to vote for money to train Iraqi and Afghan troops, both to ease the burden on U.S. forces and to free them for other duties, including 'a possible contingency in Korea.' 'We are still in a phase where we need some significant combat power to take on these remnants of the old regime,' Wolfowitz said."

The Evening Standard of London reports, "At first glance they appear to be the archetypal Band Of Brothers of Hollywood myth, brave and honest men united in common purpose. But a closer look at these American GIs, sweltering in the heat of an unwelcoming Iraq, reveals the glazed eyes and limp expressions of those who have witnessed a war they do not understand and have begun to resent. By their own admission these American soldiers have killed civilians without hesitation, shot wounded fighters and left others to die in agony. What they told me, in a series of extraordinary interviews, will make uncomfortable reading for US and British politicians and senior military staff desperate to prevent the liberation of Iraq turning into a quagmire of Vietnam proportions, where the behaviour of troops feeds the hatred of an occupied people. "

WashPost reports: "U.S. and Iraqi officials have confirmed the theft of at least 6,000 artifacts from Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities during a prolonged looting spree as U.S. forces entered Baghdad two months ago, a leading archaeologist said yesterday... The June 13 total was double the number of stolen items reported by Customs a week earlier, and Gibson suggested the final tally could be 'far, far worse.' Customs could not immediately obtain an updated report, a spokesman said... It now appears, however, that although the losses were not nearly as grave as early reports indicated, they go far beyond the 33 items known to have been taken from the museum's display halls. Gibson said looters sacked two ground-floor storerooms and broke into a third in the basement. Two other storerooms appear to have been untouched."

"A US soldier was killed and two others wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack Thursday, the latest casualties in a string of almost daily anti-American strikes in the restive center of the country. [The] number of American deaths by hostile fire only partly reflects the level of guerrilla activity. The US military usually reports only the hostilities that cause serious injury to troops, leaving scores of non-lethal firefights, failed ambushes and snipings undisclosed. [Over the last two weeks soldiers] have come under repeated attack from Iraqis without any of the actions being made public, the unit's combat logs show. Troops were targeted by rocket-propelled grenades at least twice and exchanged fire with four rifle-toting Iraqis. Hand grenades were lobbed at the Americans from a highway overpass, and three occupants of a Humvee were slightly injured when someone punctured the tires with a truck-mounted recoilless rifle. None of those attacks was reported."

The Boston Globe reports: "Six weeks after President [sic] Bush declared the major fighting over, the 'shock and awe' campaign that flushed Saddam Hussein's government from power has settled into a protracted, guerrilla-style war against organized units. This new phase dashes hopes of a speedy American withdrawal, and could severely test the US military presence and Iraqi support for it... 'We are into insurgency, and we are going to have to do counter-insurgency,' [said retired Army Colonel William Taylor, 'It's going to be touch and go for a while.'] US commanders have launched a new, aggressive strategy to ferret out the increasingly violent foe, beginning what military officials said will be sustained sweeps. Success might depend heavily on the good will of Iraqis, many of whom are already discouraged by the slow pace of reconstruction."

Tom Engelhardt writes, "Do you remember when, in the wake of Gulf War I, our then president, Bush the Father, exulted that we had finally kicked the 'Vietnam thing,' that heinous 'Vietnam syndrome,' all that seemed to be left of America's staggering defeat? Well, here's the strange thing - now, we've supposedly kicked it all over again again again in the wake of Gulf War II. You know, quick war, low casualties, no quagmire, stupid critics who predicted otherwise (though most didn't) disarmed, the press well embedded, and so on and so forth. But 'Vietnam,' which like some deadly virus morphs and morphs, seems incapable of performing the disappearing our leaders have long prepared for it. And there are reasons for that. I've been carefully watching recent coverage of the upsurge of fighting in Iraq and the Vietnam analogy is buried deep not just in the reportorial mind, but in the military and governmental mind as well."

"When Resident Bush declared on May 1 that major combat operations had ended in Iraq, there was little discussion of what he meant. For all practical purposes, it seemed the war was over. It is not. Since the resident made his statement to waves of applause from sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, 47 American servicemen have died in Iraq. Commanders say there is much more fighting ahead. [Lee Feinstein, a foreign policy expert, said] that Bush needs to make an unequivocal public commitment to completing the stabilization of postwar Iraq. The administration's oft-repeated statement that U.S. forces will remain as long as necessary, 'and not one day longer,' suggests an impatience to leave that only encourages Iraqi opposition fighters to wait out the Americans, he said. 'It encourages attacks on us.' [Another expert] believes the administration is in 'the early stages of trouble' with its Iraq policy because Bush has not given a coherent explanation of the long-term goal."

"While attention has focused on the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, growing evidence that the war is far from over has been overlooked. Fighting with real weapons is on the increase. A sudden upsurge in violence in the past couple of weeks has killed at least 10 American soldiers and wounded more than 25 in a series of attacks against checkpoints and military convoys. Iraqi fighters yesterday brought down an Apache helicopter in the west of the country. Far more numerous than these incidents is the unpublicised number of attacks on American positions that do not injure or kill soldiers. Attacks occur daily - more than a dozen every day in the past week, according to some accounts... Hostile residents are not shy of threatening more attacks, insisting they are not Saddam loyalists but angry at the US military occupation."

"For the 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, the war doesn't seem to end. Some feel angry that they're still here, guilty that they're not with their families and perplexed that their reward for capturing Baghdad has been extra duty in a country they have grown to dislike. Their families, who watched the liberation of Iraq on TV, expected a clean end to a hard-fought war. Instead, they worry their loved ones could die keeping peace in a country where U.S. forces are widely regarded as occupiers, not liberators. Iraq is still a dangerous place. During the 43-day war, 139 U.S. servicemembers died - an average of about three deaths a day. In the six weeks since, 44 have been killed - about one a day. U.S. forces have recently faced stepped-up attacks, particularly in this central Iraq region where Saddam Hussein loyalists are still active... In the past three weeks, 10 U.S. troops have been killed by enemy ambushes or attacks."

Barbara Ehrenreich notes that the Busheviks have developed a "sudden, and apparently wholehearted, embrace of socialism... [They] have committed themselves to generous public services--though only, so far, in Iraq. Schools will be repaired, damaged infrastructure rebuilt, and education made available even to the poorest. Plus, there will be quality health care for all. Imagine: A universal health program, of the kind that has eluded Americans for at least half a century, will be created with a snap of the imperial fingers in Iraq... If the Bushies get their way, the Iraqis will be enjoying their universal health care system just as Medicaid gets savaged at home... As for the troops we were all vigorously enjoined to support... they will come home to find their veterans' benefits cut by $15 billion over the next ten years. American veterans' hospitals, which already resemble the looted hospitals of downtown Baghdad, will soon have fewer amenities to offer than morgues."

"The US-led coalition plans to privatize the first of Iraq's 100 or so state-owned firms within a year as it begins overhauling the centralized economy of Saddam Hussein without waiting for a new government." AFP reports, "Tim Carney, senior adviser to the Iraqi ministry of industry and minerals, said the coalition had decided to go back on an earlier pledge to leave any decision to an elected Iraqi government, and planned to start privatization as soon as an interim administration was in place... He admitted the change of heart could spark suspicions among some Iraqis that their national assets were being sold off for the benefit of foreigners, particularly as the coalition has now said it plans to lead the consultations that will appoint the promised interim administration."

From Reuters: "Crime and insecurity still stalk Iraq two months after Saddam Hussein's overthrow and pressures from Islamic fundamentalists are growing, U.N. officials said Thursday. Veronique Taveau, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, cited a female Iraqi U.N. employee who had received a written death threat warning her and her daughters to wear an Islamic headcovering. The frightened woman had complied. 'This is a big concern at the moment,' Taveau told a news briefing, adding that Iraqi women could no longer drive or walk in the streets at night as freely as they had in pre-war Iraq." Lest we forget, women are the majority. And this is not a fashion issue.

Mission Accomplished??? AFP reports: "US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that coalition forces in Iraq will need many more months to eliminate armed resistance from fighters loyal to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, as hostile fire wounded four more US soldiers... Rumsfeld, who was due to visit Germany later in the week, had said earlier that the failure to capture or account for Saddam himself may be fostering the guerrilla-style attacks on US forces in Iraq... In an embarrassing climbdown, the US-led administration in Iraq admitted it had been forced to print hundreds of thousands of new Iraqi banknotes bearing the portrait of Saddam -- in defiance of its own ban on the public display of his image... to remedy the shortage of 250 dinar notes."

"Representatives of the U.N. nuclear agency got a firsthand look Saturday at the postwar damage to Iraq's main nuclear facility, ...roaming the grounds to assess the extent of looting and disarray. The visit to the Tuwaitha nuclear plant was conducted under close watch by American officials, as is the entire mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency -- which aims to determine how much damage was done to the plant during the war and what went missing... Tuwaitha, Iraq's largest nuclear facility and now defunct, was left unguarded for two weeks after Iraqi troops fled the area on the eve of the war. U.S. troops didn't secure the area until April 7. In the meantime, looters from the surrounding villages stripped it of uranium storage barrels they later used to hold drinking water. Villagers said the looting continued when the Marines handed over control to another unit in mid-April." This radioactive material could be used for Dirty Bombs -- Bush's War has endangered all of us!

The LA Times reports: "U.S. reconstruction officials will soon hand out pink slips to nearly half a million Iraqi military and civilian personnel, exacerbating an unemployment crisis that experts say could slow the pace of postwar reconstruction. The layoffs will mean the loss of a government paycheck for roughly 1 in 10 Iraqi workers. The Bush administration hopes to soften the blow by making cash 'termination payments' to members of Saddam Hussein's armed forces, Information Ministry employees and other government workers whose services are no longer wanted. The amount of the payments had not been announced."

USA Today reports: "Former Army secretary Thomas ['Enron'] White said in an interview that senior Defense officials 'are unwilling to come to grips' with the scale of the postwar U.S. obligation in Iraq. The Pentagon has about 150,000 troops in Iraq and recently announced that the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's stay there has been extended indefinitely. 'This is not what they were selling (before the war),' White said, describing how senior Defense officials downplayed the need for a large occupation force. 'It's almost a question of people not wanting to 'fess up to the notion that we will be there a long time and they might have to set up a rotation and sustain it for the long term'... [Back in February] Rumsfeld was furious with White when the Army secretary agreed with [Army Chief of Staff Eric] Shinseki" that the occupation "could require several hundred thousand troops."

Elizabeth Becker writes: "Republican and Democratic lawmakers asked [Friday] that a Congressional investigation into how federal contracts were awarded for the reconstruction of Iraq be expanded to include nearly every aspect of the American occupation. It was another sign of Congressional displeasure with the administration's plans for rebuilding Iraq and what lawmakers perceive as administration reluctance to give them a full role in overseeing those plans... Congress is more vigorously questioning why the administration's plan has failed to provide basic security and services in Iraq... The investigation requested... would cover 'the U.S. agencies, offices and international organizations involved in rebuilding Iraq' and their 'roles in the procurement process,' the administration's plans for security, reconstruction of the economy, the creation of a new Iraqi government and 'progress in meeting ongoing humanitarian and security problems.'"

Dena Montague writes: "As Bush creates a corporate protectorate in Iraq, many companies who stand to benefit from reconstruction and oil exploration there are familiar to Africans. Shell, Bechtel and Fluor are all associated with massacres and crimes against humanity in Africa. Oil giant Shell had a hand in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the massacre of hundreds of Ogoni in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Bechtel has profited from and exacerbated the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And Flour had tight relationships with the apartheid regime of South Africa... Philip Carroll, former chief executive of Shell Oil Co., is a 'a leading contender to oversee Iraqi oil production,' according to the New York Times. Carroll, who headed Shell through 1990, oversaw the company's Nigeria operations during the dictatorship of Sani Abacha, a time of massive political upheaval. Shell was, and continues to be, the largest oil producer in Nigeria."

Erik P Sorensen writes: "Bremer has a long history of foreign service work, a close connection to Henry Kissinger and a Middle East position indistinguishable from Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz... Robert Scheer, LA Times columnist, underscored some of the concerns about prospective conflicts of interest that Kissinger Associates had in its international contracts. 'Kissinger Associates, the former secretary of State's ultra-connected consulting firm, has had dealings in the past with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- the two nations most closely linked with the 9/11 hijackers -- and was the subject of a congressional investigation for its role in the $4-billion bankrolling of Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s by the Atlanta office of Italy's BNL bank. Kissinger Associates then included Brent Scowcroft, who became national security advisor for President George H.W. Bush, and Lawrence Eagleburger, secretary of State in that administration,' Scheer wrote in December 2002."

The UK Guardian reports: "Britain believes that heavy-handed tactics by the US military are to blame for America's failure to secure Baghdad, which threatens to delay the reconstruction of Iraq as foreign companies steer clear of the capital. Tony Blair has been told in stark terms that American forces have exacerbated tensions because they have refused to mingle among the local population in the same way as British forces in Iraq's second city of Basra. The finger of blame is being pointed at troops from the 3rd Infantry Division, the main US forces in Baghdad, who are said to be desperate to return home after bearing the brunt of the military campaign."

"The Shiite clerics have moved quickly to constrain the freedom of [Iraqi] women as a show of their authority," NYT reports. "The cleric appointed to run the educational system in Basra...declared that female teachers would not be allowed to receive their emergency salary...if they appeared without a head scarf. Female students at the university said they were being harassed...for not wearing head scarves, and many shops have put up signs that read, 'My sister, cover your hair'... [When Saddam] Hussein was in power, Iraqi women worked and studied with fewer restrictions than in neighboring Muslim countries, and made up a large percentage of the professional class... Women came under pressure in the 1990's...when Mr. Hussein began trying to please Islamic leaders. [Now] in conservative cities like Najra...no woman is seen in public without an abaya, a head-to-toe black garment. Religious men are vocal in criticizing women, even foreign women who do not wear an abaya there."

"The U.N. Security Council voted Thursday to lift sanctions against Iraq after almost 13 years and to give the United States and Great Britain authority to control the country until an elected government is in place. Resolution 1483 passed by a 14-0 vote, with no abstentions. Syria's ambassador to the United Nations was not present and did not participate in the vote. [Former Honduran Death Squad collaborator] John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that 'it is time for the Iraqi people to benefit from their natural resources' after being frozen out of the world's economy under Saddam Hussein's rule." Those sanctions resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, but did nothing to undermine Saddam. Meanwhile companies like Halliburton, under CEO Dick Cheney, did tens of millions of dollars of business with Iraq, by exploiting loopholes in the sanctions policy.

IHT reports: "Every morning, the professors and students come to Basra University and watch one more donkey pull one more load of loot from the place. Every morning, they stand around and look at the wreckage of what was once one of Iraq's premier institutions of higher learning and ask: How? Why? How, they ask, could allied forces have allowed criminals to violate Basra University, picking it apart book by book, chair by chair, brick by brick?"

The UK Register reports: "MCI has won the gig to build Iraq's mobile phone network. The value of the contract is undisclosed. Sensibly, the US Government ignored demands from Congressman Darrell Issa (R., San Diego) to ditch the outdated, 'French' GSM option, in favour of an All-American Qualcomm CDMA network. Technical considerations aside, the Middle East is an all GSM-zone. It makes sense for Iraq to be GSM too. It's been a good couple of days for MCI, the company formerly known as Worldcom. Today the company agreed to pay shareholders $500m, around one week's revenue, in a settlement with the SEC over fraud charges concerning $9bn, give or take a billion, in inflated revenues."

David Teather writes for the UK Guardian: "The US-led effort to rebuild Iraq was facing more criticism ... after the Texan businessman installed to run the country's oil industry admitted having financial links to a company bidding for reconstruction work. Philip Carroll acknowledged in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he could be accused of a conflict of interest because of his relationship with Fluor. The disclosure will pile more pressure on to the Bush administration for its handling of the rebuilding programme... Mr Carroll said he could 'absolutely' see that his business interests with Fluor could cause controversy. The Californian company has formed a joint venture with the British construction company Amec to bid for work estimated to cost about $6bn. Mr Carroll, 65, receives more than $1m a year from Fluor in retirement benefits and bonuses pegged to the company's performance. He also owns about 1m of its shares, worth about $34m."

"The United States called for a vote Thursday on a U.N. resolution to let the U.S.-led coalition run Iraq until it has a recognized government and to lift sanctions so the country's oil wealth can be used for reconstruction... Many council members had complained the resolution predicted no end to the U.S. and British occupation of Iraq. Many also pressed for a bigger role for the United Nations... But [U.S. Ambassador and one-time Honduran death squads collaborator John] Negroponte insisted the United States will not stand for any time limits on how long it can administer Iraq... The resolution would also phase out the U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian program over six months... It would also grant immunity from lawsuits involving oil and natural gas until an internationally recognized government is in place and Iraq's $400 billion debt is restructured... all frozen Iraqi assets would be transferred to a new Development Fund for Iraq, where its oil revenue will be deposited."

Reuters reports: "Lawlessness in oilfields and a warning of a possible nuclear emergency reared up to confront Iraq's US administration as thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad Monday to demand their own government. The UN's nuclear watchdog agency said it was alarmed by almost daily reports of looting and destruction at nuclear sites," including "caesium 137, a powder that could be used to spread radioactivity in a so-called 'dirty bomb'... Oil officials said the looting and lack of security were also hampering efforts to restore oil output, vital for the devastated country's economic recovery after the US-led war... Iraq is pumping only 310,000 barrels per day now compared to 2.5 million before the war."

"The U.S. adviser to Iraq's Ministry of Oil said it may be in that country's best interest to disregard quotas set by OPEC and export as much oil as it can... Phillip Carroll, former head of Royal Dutch Shell's U.S. operations, also told the Post in an interview that oil drilling and production contracts signed by the ousted Iraqi government with companies in Russia, China and France were potentially void or subject to renegotiation... The Post also said Iraqi Oil Ministry officials were actively considering pulling the country out of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in order to export as much crude as possible once oil fields had returned to full capacity... He rejected suggestions the United States was using its influence in Iraq to try to break OPEC. 'In the final analysis, Iraq's role in OPEC or in any international organization is something that has to be left to an Iraqi government,' Carroll said." Yeah, we believe you...NOT!

WashPost reports: "As part of its propaganda effort in Iraq, the reconstruction office is establishing a newspaper called al Sabah, which is translated as 'the dawn' ['U.S. to Take Its Message to Iraqi Airwaves,' news story, May 11]. In fact, al sabah means 'the morning'; the word for 'dawn' is fajr. This is well known even among Muslims who don't speak Arabic, because a chapter in the Koran is called 'al Fajr,' and the first prayer of the day is the fajr, or dawn, prayer. So morning, dawn -- what's the difference? Well, al Sabah also happens to be the name of the Kuwaiti royal family, as every Iraqi probably knows. News reports indicate that Iraqis already believe that Kuwaitis were behind the looting of their museums. Now they may be likely to believe that this new newspaper is sponsored by Kuwait."

MSNBC reports: "Still, some worry that women are being sidelined as never before. Thikra Nadr, a novelist in her mid-forties who published a tale about a government that ruined the country through deprivation and war, said she cannot remember a time when women had less visibility or freedom. 'The long period of sanctions reduced the role of women in Iraq,' she said as a generator roared across the street from her ground-floor apartment in the middle-class Mansour district. 'But this period we're living in right now has completely canceled the role of women in society.' Iraqi women have attended universities for decades. They were well represented in medicine, engineering, academia and the civil service. The Baathist government made education mandatory for girls; the number of girls attending school at all levels tripled in the 1970s after the Baath takeover."

WashPost reports: "Defense experts inside and outside the Pentagon say military planners were clearly influenced by the Pentagon's belief, expressed by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and other senior leaders, that U.S. forces would be welcomed as liberators. They also point to the Bush administration's professed antipathy to military peacekeeping and nation-building, as articulated by the president [sic] during the 2000 campaign when he charged the Clinton administration with overextending the armed forces with such missions. Defense experts and some military officers also cite the Pentagon's determination to fight the war and maintain the peace with as small a force as possible, noting it reflected Rumsfeld's determination to use the war in Iraq to support his vision for 'transforming' the military by showing that smaller and lighter armed units, supported by Special Forces and air power, could prevail on the 21st century battlefield."

"Iraqis said on Friday their patience with U.S. pledges to restore law and order in Baghdad and to improve the economy was running thin and fear of lawlessness could lead to anti-American violence. Iraqis, many hiding in their homes for fear of being robbed, are now calling for the establishment of any interim government that would end what many see as growing anarchy... Wamidh Nazmi, an Iraqi political analyst questioned the logic behind keeping Baghdad almost in complete darkness and without services more than three weeks after the war ended. 'This is the worst situation in Iraq's modern history. On top of this there is no sense of security whatsoever. People also want wages,' Nazmi told Reuters... Retired Christian teacher Sabah Yusef said security at the moment was more important than freedom. 'If this anarchy and unemployment continues for another month, people will rise against the Americans and bring about a more chaotic situation,' he said."

NY Times reports: "In an abrupt reversal, the United States and Britain have indefinitely put off their plan to allow Iraqi opposition forces to form a national assembly and an interim government by the end of the month. Instead, top American and British diplomats leading reconstruction efforts here told exile leaders in a meeting tonight that allied officials would remain in charge of Iraq for an indefinite period, said Iraqis who attended the meeting. It was conducted by L. Paul Bremer, the new civilian administrator here... One Iraqi who attended the meeting said Iraqi opposition leaders expressed strong disappointment over the reversal... In a step calculated to combat any resurgence of Baath Party influence here, Mr. Bremer today issued an order banning up to 30,000 top-ranking members 'from future employment in the public sector.'"

Bob Herbert writes: "'We are not barbarians. Our young men and women in uniform did not join the military to take on the odious mission of gunning down unarmed Iraqis in the streets. Deadly force should always be a last resort, and shooting looters on sight does not fall into that category.' By late yesterday afternoon the administration seemed to be backing away from this crazy policy... Rumsfeld was still doing his macho act, telling a Senate subcommittee that the forces in Baghdad 'will be using muscle to see that the people who are trying to disrupt what is taking place in that city are stopped and either captured or killed.' But Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, of the Army's Third Infantry Division, told reporters in Baghdad that his troops 'are not going to go out and shoot children' who might be stealing, say, wood or cement from a factory. Stay tuned. This controversy is one more screaming example of the need for the U.N. to be handed the major responsibility for administering Iraq."

Is "Bush's victory in Iraq coming undone like a cheap cowboy boot? Let's look at some of the unraveling stitches. First, there's the situation on the ground in Iraq. [American 'peacekeepers' have been ordered] to travel as little as possible. It's especially critical to avoid casualties now, as body bags might upstage the administration's declare-victory-and-let's-cut-taxes blitz. [Meanwhile] the Shiites are mobilizing. The multiple factions of Shiite Islam don't agree on much, except that the United States should leave. In the past, colonialists kept the Shiites under control through a divide-and-conquer strategy. But for the U.S. to be so Machiavellian, it will need Americans who speak Arabic, and those are in short supply in Baghdad. Yet in the Muslim world, to ignore a problem is not to make it go away. The Times reported Tuesday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in despair over his inability to control provincial warlords, is considering asking Washington to crush his rivals."

Newsweek reports: "After losing its license, the Chalabis' Swiss bank had to file for bankruptcy. Soon, so did a related family 'trading company' called SOCOFI. About $160 million in claims were filed by angry SOCOFI creditors (many from the Middle East). But according to a secret Swiss bankruptcy report obtained by news-week, there was a big hole in the company's balance sheet: about $100 million worth of outstanding loans to members of the Chalabi family and their companies. This included a $2 million loan to a Swiss software company run by Ahmad... The big loser, however, was Jordan. When the government seized Petra, it assumed its debts, and the eventual run on the bank cost it, according to Nabulsi, some $500 million, or 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Chalabi was subsequently tried in absentia in a military tribunal. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison."

Reuters reports: "The new U.S. administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, is preparing a series of security-related measures that include permitting soldiers to shoot looters on sight, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Bremer, outlining his approach at a meeting with senior staff members on Tuesday, also said he was eager to hire more police officers and ban Baath Party members from serving above a certain rank in future governments, the Times reported, citing officials present at the meeting."

Why did Bush's CIA and FBI ignore all the 9-11 warnings? Because these agencies collect information for political BLACKMAIL, not for defending America against terrorists or criminals. This NY Times article demonstrates how Bush's CIA is helping its top Iraqi exile agent, Ahmad Chalabi, gain power in Iraq through the same technique of blackmail. "[Chalabi] said his supporters [yeah - the CIA!] had seized as much as 60 tons of documents from the Baath Party and Iraqi secret police and intelligence services. The files document Mr. Hussein's relationship with Arab leaders and foreign governments, he said."

Bill Berkowitz writes: "When L. Paul Bremer III sets down in Iraq as the U.S.'s new overseer of reconstruction, he'll be bringing a lot of baggage along with him... Bremer has a resume that includes extended service in the Reagan Administration, an eleven-year stint at Kissinger & Associates, and the co-chairmanship of the Heritage Foundation's Homeland Security Task Force... Although Bremer co-chaired the Operations Sub-Group at the National Security Council along with Oliver North, according to Malcolm Byrne of the National Security Archive, Bremer was on the 'periphery' of the Iran/Contra Scandal... He is a 'voracious opportunist with voracious ambitions,' the official told Newsday. 'What he knows about Iraq could not quite fill a thimble. What he knows about any part of the world would not fill a thimble. But what he knows about Washington infighting could fill three or four bushel baskets.'"

Oil

Tony Blair: 'We don't touch it, and the US doesn't touch it' MTV, 7 March

The reality: Yesterday's draft UN resolution gives total control of Iraq's oil revenues to the US and UK until an Iraqi government is established

The UN

George Bush: 'The UN will have a vital role to play' Belfast, 8 April

The reality: The UN is reduced to an advisory function on the ground in Iraq. All operational decisions will be taken by UK and US officials

"U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte introduced the eight-page resolution on behalf of the co-sponsors, the United States, Britain and Spain. 'I would say most delegations saw this as charting a way forward; certainly they had some questions,' Negroponte said after the closed-door council session. The plan envisions the United States and Britain running Iraq as 'occupying powers' for at least a year and probably much longer, although Britain's Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said: 'We want to leave Iraq as soon as it is possible to ensure stability and normal arrangements for a new country.' The plan's centerpiece is the lifting of oil and trade sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the phasing out of the oil-for-food humanitarian program."

"Two hospitals in southern Iraq have reported 17 confirmed cases of cholera in Basra, and the World Health Organization said Wednesday it fears far more have gone unreported. A WHO team dispatched to the southern city this week said the number of confirmed cases does not reflect the extent of the disease. 'An outbreak of cholera, affecting probably several hundreds of people, is occurring' said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib. The first confirmed cases in Basra turned up in children age 4 and under. Tests were done by the Al-Tahir Teaching Hospital and Basra Maternal and Child Hospital... With 17 confirmed cases, 'you can expect 10 times more within the larger population,' said Dr. Denis Coulombier, a WHO epidemiologist... During the war, Basra's water treatment system was shut down after coalition airstrikes damaged the electric grid. Residents in the city of 2 million went for several weeks without running water. Many people collected water from the Shatt al-Arab waterway."

BBC reports: "General Tommy Franks is threatened with a Belgian war crimes trial alleging US troops failed to prevent looting in Iraq. BBC News Online uncovers evidence suggesting his soldiers even egged on some looters... Yet unlike many of the incidents of post-war pillaging, this one was easily preventable, says the institute's acting dean, Dr Khalid Majeed. When the college called on the patrolling US forces to help, not only did they refuse, some eyewitnesses allege the troops even encouraged the looters to storm the campus. The US has not denied the incident took place, but says protecting colleges was not its responsibility."

On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that nuclear sites in Iraq sealed by UN weapons inspectors have been looted since the US occupation. On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Commission announced that chief Mohommed ELBaredei has written to the Bush administration with an offer to send a team to investigate reports of widespread nuclear looting. The IAEA has a detailed inventory of Iraq's stored radioactive materials, including medical waste. A serious concern is that some of these looted materials could end up in terrorist dirty bombs. "I don't think the international community would be satisfied as long as we, the UN weapons inspectors, do not go there and examine the discoveries," ElBaradei told Reuters. "We have years of experience, the mandate of the UN and the credibility." Reuters notes that the Bush regime has failed to find any Weapons of Mass Destruction. They have refused to let the UN inspectors finish their work -- even undoing what the inspectors did accomplish.

Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman write: "The U.S. government this week launched its Arabic language satellite TV news station for mostly Muslim Iraq. It is being produced in a studio -- Grace Digital Media -- controlled by fundamentalist Christians who are rabidly pro-Israel. That's grace as in 'by the grace of God.' Grace Digital Media is controlled by a fundamentalist Christian millionaire, Cheryl Reagan, who last year wrested control of Federal News Service, a transcription news service, from its former owner, Cortes Randell. Randell says he met Reagan at a prayer meeting, brought her in as an investor in Federal News Service, and then she forced him out of his own company. Grace Digital Media and Federal News Service are housed in a downtown Washington, D.C. office building, along with Grace News Network."

Nope, Iraq's shortages of food, gas, and everything else have NOTHING to do with being invaded, having supply lines cut off, and bombing the country. Nope. It's all the UN's fault, according to "retired general" and "unretired weapons peddler" Jay Garner. Garner says the UN is being a big meany by failing to lift sanctions. Perhaps someone should point out to "Not Retired Weapons Peddlar" Garner and his bosses that the UN uses sanctions to discourage rogue nations from using their resources to foment instability and war and create despotic, abusive regimes. So, sorry Jay, guess as long as the US is in Iraq, the sanctions will have to stay in place!

Tom Hundley writes: "Early in the last century, the British placed their imperial stamp next to the 800-year-old Abbasid Palace along the Tigris River... On Friday it was looted in broad daylight, apparently under the noses of U.S. troops. On Saturday, some members of Beit al-Hikma wept as they stood in the rubble of what once was their fine library. The incident underscores the deepening resentment of many Baghdad residents toward their new American masters and their bewilderment at how an army that so easily swept aside the regime can have such difficulty in restoring some semblance of order to their society... Last Tuesday, Amal Shlash and other members of Beit al-Hikma said they met with several senior U.S. officials in Baghdad, including Jay Garner.. 'We told Gen. Garner and the others of the importance of this building. They promised to send security within 24 hours,' said Shlash, a senior economist at Beit al-Hikma. The security never came. Three days later, the looters did."

Harvey Wasserman writes for FreePress.org: "George W. Bush has fittingly stopped short of declaring victory in Iraq. He doesn't want to claim a definitive triumph because it would legally obligate the US to begin cleaning the place up and enforcing human rights obligations. But in fact, the US attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan have been shattering defeats. Let's count the ways: At least three times US troops have fired live ammunition against angry crowds of 'liberated' Iraqis. Far from 'dancing in the streets' over the American presence, the people of Iraq have made it clear they want the US out just days after the removal of Saddam Hussein, who most Iraqis understand was put in power by the US in the first place. US troops have now killed at least twenty Iraqis in demonstrations that appear to be nonviolent. Military claims of self-defense are reminiscent of lies that Kent State students fired weapons during the May, 1970 massacre there."

Cheryl Seal Reports: "L. Paul Bremer III has been named supreme commander of Iraq "reconstruction." Although Bremer is a relic from the Reagan administration, far more ominously, he is chairman of Kissinger Associates, which are corporate lobbyists on a grandscale. They are dedicated to the promotion, protection, and power-enhancement of multinational corporations. In fact, the Kissinger tie says it all. As a protege of Kissinger, Bremer will have been schooled in all the Kissinger arts: how to foment civil unrest to your advantage, how to install and entrench exploitative corporations in disadvantaged nations, then terrorize the natives into submission; how to overturn or get around any regulation, be it humanitarian or environmental that might hinder wanton profit scooping; how to lobby Congress to get exactly what you want, how to intimidate journalists and human rights workers, and how to commit political assassinations."

"Amnesty International expressed concern today at the disturbing article and images portrayed in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet which show American soldiers escorting naked Iraqi men through a park in Baghdad. The pictures reveal that someone has written the words 'Ali Baba - Haram(i)' (which means Ali Baba - thief) in Arabic on the prisoners' chests. The article quotes a US military officer as saying that this treatment is an effective method of deterring thieves from entering the park and is a method which will be used again; another US military officer is quoted as saying that US soldiers are not allowed to treat prisoners inhumanely. 'If these pictures are accurate, this is an appalling way to treat prisoners. Such degrading treatment is a clear violation of the responsibilities of the occupying powers,' Amnesty International said."

Chris Hughes writes for the London Daily Mirror: "It started when a young boy hurled a sandal at a US jeep - it ended with two Iraqis dead and 16 seriously injured. I watched in horror as American troops opened fire on a crowd of 1,000 unarmed people here yesterday. Many, including children, were cut down by a 20-second burst of automatic gunfire during a demonstration against the killing of 13 protesters at the Al-Kaahd school on Monday."

Knute Royce writes for Newsday: "In an apparent acknowledgment that postwar reconstruction efforts in Iraq are floundering, the White House plans to name a politically astute career diplomat to replace Jay Garner as the civilian administrator of the country, sources said Thursday. L. Paul Bremer, ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism in the Reagan administration, will report directly to the White House, sources said. It was not immediately clear whether Garner, a retired Army lieutenant general who reports to the Pentagon, will stay on under Bremer. Garner was handpicked in January to oversee the reconstruction by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He held his first meeting in Iraq on April 15."

Chris Johnson writes: "The Bush administration, US soldiers, and the mostly-male media have little or no knowledge of what Iraqi women think about the invasion of their country. The views of some of these modern, educated, outspoken Iraqi women may come as a big surprise... Saddam Hussein, despite all his ills, gave these women many of their rights three decades ago, making Iraq the relatively progressive oasis of women's rights in a highly conservative and repressive region... While the views of the majority of Iraqi women remain a mystery, the dictator's rare generosity toward them may explain why at least some are plotting to oust what they call American invaders in the name of their liberator, Saddam Hussein... 'We love Saddam Hussein very much,' says Arwa, 23, who was a senior in chemical engineering at Baghdad University before it was trashed by looters... 'We were safe, even when there were wars. He gave opportunities to Iraqi women. Now every dream is broken.'"

Julian Borger reports: "Paul ['Jerry'] Bremer, a former US diplomat and terrorism expert will be made Iraq's civilian administrator, it was reported yesterday. The appointment is being seen in Washington as a victory for the secretary of state, Colin Powell, in his battle with the Pentagon for control over Iraq's future. Mr Bremer, who was Ronald Reagan's counter-terrorism adviser and now runs a 'crisis consulting' company, will be put in charge of the Pentagon's man in Baghdad, retired general Jay Garner, who is expected to leave Iraq in the next few months." Perhaps oblivious of the Iran-Contra scheme, "while Jerry Bremer was on the road persuading friends and allies not to supply arms to Iran or Iraq and not to reward those who sponsored terrorism, Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter, Oliver North, and Ronald Reagan [and George Bush Sr.] had been playing a different game." ["Firewall", Lawrence Walsh, p. 321]

CBS News reports: "Bush will announce that 'major combat operations' in Iraq are over in a speech Thursday night from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln at sea in the Pacific... The resident will stop short of declaring victory or saying the war is over, spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday. Such declarations could trigger international provisions requiring the speedy release of prisoners of war and limit efforts to go after defeated Iraqi leaders. While major combat may be over, Iraq remains a battleground, reports CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews. Once again Wednesday, American troops fired into a crowd of protesters in the pro-Saddam town of Fallujah. At least two people were killed and 18 wounded, hospital officials reported. U.S. soldiers said they were fired on first."

Bernard Weiner gets answers from the Dummies experts: "The U.S. doesn't really understand Islam, Islamic nationalism, or proud Islamic history of battling 'infidels.' Case in point: Bush early on used the term 'crusade' to describe what the U.S. was about in the Middle East, and was clueless as to why Muslims worldwide reacted in anger and horror. Sending in Christian missionaries to Iraq just fuels this fire of resentment. Rumsfeld says the U.S. won't let Islamists take control. But once you let the democracy genie out of the bottle, it's often impossible to deal with the implications on the ground. The PNAC boys tend to see only how strong the U.S. is militarily, and believe that force always is capable of bending the will of citizens and nations. The PNACs are weaker in understanding the force of people power, of religious fervor, of nationalistic pride -- all of which may well came back to bite them where it really hurts."

From Memoryhole: "On 25 April 2003, the [Norwegian] newspaper Dabgladet published photos of armed US soldiers forcing Iraqi men to walk naked through a park. On the chests of the men had been scrawled an Arabic phrase that translates as 'Ali Baba -- Thief.' A military officer states that the men are thieves, and that this technique will be used again. No word yet from the newly liberated Iraqi people about some of them being summarily found guilty of theft, forced at gunpoint to strip, having a racist phrase written on their bodies, and then made to walk naked in public. No doubt the Arab/Muslim world is impressed by this display of 'democracy,' 'freedom,' 'due process,' and 'no cruel or unusual punishment.' We wonder if the soldiers will be using this technique on their comrades who stole $13.1 million in Iraq. Or the journalists who looted Iraq's art." The photos can be seen at memoryhole along with details from AFP and an expression of concern from Amnesty International.

AFP reports: "The United States will next week appoint a former head of Shell Oil to run Iraq's oil industry, it was reported today. 'The US Government is setting up Iraq's oil industry to run much like an American corporation, with a chief executive and management team vetted by US officials who would answer to a multinational board of advisers,' the Wall Street Journal Europe reported. The advisory board would be chaired by Philip J Carroll, a former chief executive of Shell Oil, the US unit of the Dutch-British oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell, the newspaper reported. Mr Carroll would work closely with an Iraqi vice-chairman, expected to be Fadil Othman, who worked as an Iraqi oil executive before Saddam Hussein came to power."

"The Pentagon has begun sending a team of Iraqi exiles to Baghdad to be part of a temporary American-led government there, senior administration officials said today. The exiles, most of whom are said by officials to have a background in administration, are supposed to take up positions at each of 23 Iraqi ministries, where they will work closely with American and British officials under Jay Garner, the retired lieutenant general who is serving as Iraq's day-to-day administrator. The group of technocrats was assembled two months ago and has been working from an office in suburban Virginia... But that process [of setting up an interim government] is proving fractious, with the largest group of Shiite Muslim exiles boycotting the talks so far and other exiles deeply suspicious of Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi National Congress official who is seen as a Pentagon favorite."

Is Bush taking lessons from Julius Caesar? Apparently so. When Caesar's short but bloody conquest of the Celtic tribes led to the founding of the Roman province of Gaul (modern France) in 52 B.C. he divided the country into three parts. Well-connected sources tell us that Bush plans to divide Iraq into three parts as well: Premium, regular and unleaded.

"Ahmed Chalabi, the man the Pentagon has been pushing as the face of the new Iraq, is mourning the first fatalities within his ranks. Two members of Mr Chalabi's pro-US Iraqi National Congress and one member of his militia, the Free Iraqi Forces, were shot dead by US Marines trying to protect a bank in Baghdad. They are the first post-war casualties among followers of Mr Chalabi, the exiled Iraqi businessmen who has a force of 1,500 men armed with Kalashnikovs and US-issued uniforms now operating in Iraq and patrolling in Baghdad and elsewhere. The three men were shot in their car in the Iraqi capital late on Fri. by a US Abrams tank outside the Central Bank, where US Marines were mounting guard to stop armed men who had been blasting their way into the vaults using rocket-propelled grenades and welding equipment."

"They have quietly removed the pictures of Saddam Hussein from their sitting rooms, and reconfigured their memories to transform lives of privilege into tales of suffering. Less than two weeks after the collapse of the regime, thousands of members of the Arab Ba'ath Socialist party, the all too willing instrument of Saddam, are resuming their roles as the men and women who run Iraq...It has become increasingly apparent that Washington cannot restore governance to Baghdad without resorting to the party which for decades controlled every aspect of life under the regime...'The coming bureaucracy will be overwhelmed by Ba'athists. They had loyalty to Saddam Hussein, and now they have loyalty to foreign invaders,' said Wamidh Nadhmi, a political science professor at Baghdad U."

AP reports: "Members of the news media and U.S. soldiers are being investigated for taking art, artifacts, weapons and cash from Iraq, with criminal charges already brought in one case, federal officials said Wednesday. At least 15 paintings, gold-plated firearms, ornamental knives, Iraqi government bonds and other items have been seized at airports in Washington, Boston and London in the last week, according to the bureaus of Customs and Border Protection and of Immigration and Customs Enforcement... So far, only Benjamin James Johnson, who worked as an engineer for Fox News Channel, has been charged. But officials said more charges could be brought and more seizures of stolen items are expected in what is being dubbed 'Operation Iraqi Heritage'... U.S. military officials also say that about $900,000 was taken by American soldiers from a cache of about $600 million in U.S. currency found in Baghdad palace complexes. Officials say most of the money has been recovered."

At a Pentagon news conference Monday, AP reports Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated that, "The United States expects an eventual government of Iraq to be a democracy where the rights of minorities are guaranteed, not a theocracy run by clerics such as in neighboring Iran...'There should be a country that is organized and arranged in a way that the various ethnic groups and religious groups are able to have a voice in their government in some form,' Rumsfeld said...'And we hope (for) a system that will be democratic and have free speech and free press and freedom of religion.'" AP notes, "Some demonstrators in Iraq, particularly from the Shiite Muslim majority, have called recently for an Islamic republic similar to Iran, where top Shiite clerics known as ayatollahs have the final say. Rumsfeld said such a government would not be truly democratic." Suppose the liberated Shiite majority chooses a Shiite, Taliban-style government by ayatollah? What then?

LA Times reports: "After being suppressed for 35 years by Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, the leaders and faithful of the Shiite branch of Islam, who represent perhaps 16 million Iraqis, are asserting themselves and moving into the power vacuum left by the collapse of Iraq's secular government. The Shiites' emerging power will be on display this week, when they converge in massive numbers on Karbala, where [the] grandson of the prophet Muhammad was martyred in a 7th century battle that became the symbol for suffering and self-sacrifice among Shiites...For miles and miles, the Shiites have been streaming toward Karbala", demonstrating that they are the mainstream. "Such processions were banned during Saddam's rule...Though Shiite leaders are cautious about discussing their ambitions, many secular Iraqis, Kurds, Sunnis and Christians assume that their aim is an Islamic republic...One Kurdish intellectual said, 'They will create another Afghanistan and Iran in Iraq.'"

"Iraq's national museum is identified as a 'prime target for looters' and should be the second top priority for securing by coalition troops after the national bank, says a memo sent last month by the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), set up to supervise the reconstruction of postwar Iraq. Looting of the museum could mean 'irreparable loss of cultural treasures of enormous importance to all humanity', the document concluded. But the US army still failed to post soldiers outside the museum, and it was ransacked, with more than 270,000 artefacts taken... The Observer has seen documents submitted to senior US generals by ORHA on 26 March, listing 16 institutions that 'merit securing as soon as possible to prevent further damage, destruction and or pilferage of records and assets'... The memo said 'looters should be arrested/detained', yet US troops continued to pass by looters carting off their booty, and no tanks appeared in front of these buildings for days."

The UK Guardian reports: "The US is planning a long-term military presence in Iraq, in a move which will dramatically extend American power in the region and spread dismay and fear among its opponents across the Arab world. According to reports, the Pentagon intends to retain four military bases in Iraq after the invasion force withdraws. It is already using the bases to support continuing operations against pockets of resistance. They are at the international airport near Baghdad, at Talil; close to the city of Nassiriya in the south; at an isolated airstrip called H-1 in the western desert; and at the Bashur airfield in the Kurdish north... The plans could leave the White House open to the charges of empire-building that it has been so desperate to avoid... 'This will be an alarming step to most of the Middle East,' said Abdul Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi. 'It seems they want to control the whole region.'"

From CNN: "Democracy in Iraq is at least five years away, but the United States has not adequately prepared for postwar reconstruction, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday. Interviewed on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, did not back down from his comments in The Wall Street Journal calling the White House and its choice to administer the country, retired U.S. Army Gen. Jay Garner, 'ill-prepared.' 'They started very late,' he told NBC... Lugar said it was not clear to Congress or the American people 'what the costs are.'"

"Jay Garner, the retired U.S. general overseeing Iraq's reconstruction arrived in Baghdad on Monday to see for himself the devastation suffered by the capital, and promised to work all-out to repair the damage. But in a sign of tensions with Iraqi leaders emerging after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Garner's team said the United States did not recognize the authority of an Iraqi who has declared himself governor of Baghdad. And not all Baghdad residents welcomed the U.S.-led team tasked with rebuilding their country... 'I want to cry, because these are only words,' said a doctor who gave her name as Iman. 'If they give us anything it is not from their own pockets. It is from our oil,' she said. 'Saddam Hussein was an unjust ruler, but maybe one day we could have got rid of him, and not had these foreigners come in to our country.'" Garner is the President of SY Coleman, a weapons manufacturer. Read more at StopJayGarner.com.

AP reports: "Iraqis exercised new freedoms and jockeyed for power in a new era on Friday, marching in Baghdad to demand the quick withdrawal of the same American troops and tanks that toppled Saddam Hussein. 'No to America, no to Saddam, our revolution is Islamic,' [At a 1,300-year-old Sunni Muslim mosque] Sheik Ahmed al-Kubeisy said, 'We will not accept a government that will oppress us. There must be an elected government.' Addressing some of his remarks to Americans, he added, 'You are masters today. But I warn you against thinking of staying. Get out before we force you out.' [Meanwhile, Bush puppet Ahmed Chalabi established makeshift headquarters in two social clubs. Armored U.S. vehicles provided security. Representatives of other Irai groups] said Chalabi looked like 'an American propagandist.'"

"Less than 24 hours after issuing a press release, http://electroniciraq.net/news/674.shtml, highlighting the failures of the U.S. military's attempts to oversee humanitarian intervention in Iraq, Voices in the Wilderness was banned from meeting with the U.S. Civil Military Operations Center, or with international journalists working out of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. If the freedom to critique U.S. policies in Iraq regarding humanitarian issues is being curtailed already, then exactly what does this mean for building 'democracy' here?"

"Iraq's neighbours, led by Saudi Arabia, are telling the United States to get out of the country as soon as possible and keep its hands off Iraqi oil. As U.S.-led forces struggle to reconnect key services such as water and power, foreign ministers of eight Middle Eastern states said on Saturday the United States had to restore order and then leave so that Iraqis could form their own government. Ministers of Iraq's immediate neighbours Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, as well as Egypt and Bahrain, issued a joint statement in Riyadh opposing a U.S. call to lift U.N. sanctions on Iraq. They said Baghdad must be allowed to have a government of its own first. The ministers said they wanted the United Nations to play a central role in postwar Iraq, echoing similar demands made by European Union leaders at their summit in Athens on Thursday. Among those was Washington's key European ally Britain."

Cheryl Seal writes: "After Gulf War I, the corporations were apparently willing to wait to put their grand plan in place - the grand plan being using the centrally located oil rich Iraq as a platform for conquering the rest of the oil-producing lands of the Middle East and Central Asia. So, they waited for Saddam to be starved out through sanctions and waited for Clinton's term to play out. To accelerate the latter process, the corporate barons used their bought-and-paid-for rightwing reps in Congress to instigate and prosecute an endless Lewinsky/White Water investigation, followed by a dragged out travesty of an impeachment trial. This witch-hunt-like crusade was designed not just to remove Clinton, it was also designed to induce 'impeachment/investigation fatigue' in the public, who, weary of such proceedings, would tolerate far worse offenses by the coming corporate backed puppet president rather than going through the wringer again."

Reuters reports, "Iraq's collapsed infrastructure means the re-establishment of basic services and civil order are more urgent priorities than food aid, humanitarian workers said on Saturday. The US-led war on Iraq has left many cities without power or water supplies, government buildings burned and looted and a security situation so bad that many essential workers are too frightened to report for duty. 'This country has collapsed. Nothing works--no phones, no electricity, no schools, no proper medical care, no transportation, nothing,' said Roland Huguenin-Benjamin of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Baghdad. Using generators, ICRC engineers have restored water to Baghdad, but the capital still lacks electricity and other cities still lack both water and electricity. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said, 'We're seeing increased diarrhea, increased malnutrition and potentially life threatening diseases.'"

AP reports: "Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting. The U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. Although much of the looting was haphazard, experts said some of the thieves clearly knew what they were looking for and where to find it, suggesting they were prepared professionals. 'It looks as if part of the looting was a deliberate planned action,' said McGuire Gibson, a University of Chicago professor and president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. 'They were able to take keys for vaults and were able to take out important Mesopotamian materials put in safes.'"

Andrew Gumbel writes: "The burning of Iraq's National Library is a 'devastating loss' and is the equivalent of losing the British Library, international academics said. The US military's failure to prevent the calamity must be investigated to prevent it happening again, they added. After the looting and burning at government ministries and the ransacking of Iraq's main archaeological museum, the burning of the library, with its thousands of rare printed books and hand-written archives, marks a further erasure of Iraq's past, obliterating large chunks of Middle Eastern history and destroying many unique documents... Dr Riedlmayer described the failure of American troops to prevent the looting as 'totally discreditable', saying they had violated a whole series of international conventions on the rules of war. He said an investigation was essential, not so much to assign blame as to make sure everyone understood what had gone wrong."

BBC reports: "Brigadier-General Vince Brooks said US marines and special forces soldiers fired at demonstrators on Tuesday after they came under attack from people shooting guns and throwing rocks. 'Fire was indeed delivered from coalition forces, it was lethal fire and some Iraqis were killed as a result, we think the number is in the order of seven and we think there were some wounded as well,' he said... Some reports suggest up to 15 people were killed in Mosul, with between 60 and 100 people injured."

AP reports: "The government on Thursday awarded a big contract to evaluate and repair Iraq's power, water and sewage systems to Bechtel Restoration of San Francisco. The initial award by the U.S. Agency for International Development was for $34.6 million, although the contract could be worth up to $680 million over 18 months. The larger amount would be subject to congressional approval. Several Democratic lawmakers have complained the Bush administration did not allow open competitive bidding, but rather invited a small number of firms to submit proposals." Bechtel is one of the companies listed as having sold services to Hussein. The main reason for Donald Rumsfeld's overtures to Hussein was to secure the Aqaba Oil Pipeline contract for Bechtel.

From Reuters: "U.S. forces have refused a Save the Children plane permission to land in northern Iraq to deliver aid, breaching the Geneva Convention and 'costing children their lives,' the British aid agency said on Thursday. Save the Children said in a statement it had been trying for more than a week to land a plane in Arbil carrying enough medical supplies to treat 40,000 people and emergency feeding kits for malnourished children. A U.S. official told the charity no aid flights would be allowed until the area was safe but the U.N. has already declared Arbil a 'safe and secure' area, the charity said. 'The doctors we are trying to help have been struggling against the odds for weeks to continue saving lives, but now the help we have promised them is being endlessly delayed,' Emergency Program Manager Rob MacGillivray said."

"Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned to protest the looting of Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities. 'The tragedy was not prevented, due to our nation's inaction,' Sullivan, the committee's chairman, wrote in his letter of resignation. Noting that American scholars had told the State Department about the location of Iraqi museums and historic sites in Iraq, he said the resident 'is burdened by a compelling moral obligation to plan for and try to prevent indiscriminate looting and destruction.'"

"We are paying one more price for Bush's reckless decision to go it alone. If the UN had been involved, it is inconceivable that the need for civil order in the aftermath of Saddam's ouster would have been overlooked. Precisely because it included people from other nations, who evidently have more empathy for the suffering of foreigners than Bush has, a UN operation would have imagined the aftermath from the perspective of ordinary Iraqis... Whatever gratitude Iraqis have for America's toppling their tyrant is being rapidly squandered by the Bush administration's disregard for Iraqi citizens. Actions speak louder than words. The administration can profess its desire for Iraqis to enjoy the blessings of liberty, but its failure to plan for civil order leads the average Iraqi to suspect that its true priorities are geopolitics and oil. All the wanton, preventable destruction adds not just to the suffering of Iraqis but to the bill that will be paid by American taxpayers."

PentaPost reports, "Mosques have filled up with confiscated loot, popular committees are being organised by clergy to restore civil services and order, and some prayer leaders have taken to patrolling their neighbourhoods, forcing bakeries to feed people... But the rise of the clerics hints at the formidable challenges that might face any new government in Baghdad: Sunni-Shiite disputes, the spectre of warlords seizing and administering territory, and the dangerous jockeying for position with United States forces. The clerics are among the first to articulate their postwar intentions: a government shaped if not controlled by religious leaders who enjoy respect and authority among Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. 'The clergy are taking over,' Maher Abdel-Hassan, a 42-year-old prayer leader in the neighbourhood, said with a mix of hope and satisfaction. 'There's no other authority. The people will only obey the orders of the religious men.'"

AP reports, "Looters and arsonists ransacked and gutted Iraq's National Library, leaving a smoldering shell Tuesday of precious books turned to ash and a nation's intellectual legacy gone up in smoke. They also looted and burned Iraq's principal Islamic library nearby, home to priceless old Qurans; last week, thieves swept through the National Museum and stole or smashed treasures that chronicled this region's role as the 'cradle of civilization.' 'Our national heritage is lost,' an angry high school teacher said as he stood outside the National Library's blackened hulk. 'The modern Mongols, the new Mongols did that. The Americans did that. Their agents did that, 'he said as an explosion boomed in the distance as the war winds down. The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan's grandson Hulegu, sacked Baghdad in the 13th century. The National Library building, dating to 1977, housed all books published in Iraq, including copies of all doctoral theses."

PentaPost reports, "In the months leading up to the Iraq war, U.S. scholars repeatedly urged the Defense Department to protect Iraq's priceless archaeological heritage from looters, and warned specifically that the National Museum of Antiquities was the single most important site in the country. Late in January, a mix of scholars, museum directors, art collectors and antiquities dealers asked for and were granted a meeting at the Pentagon to discuss their misgivings. McGuire Gibson, an Iraq specialist at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, said yesterday that he went back twice more, and he and colleagues peppered Defense Department officials with e-mail reminders in the weeks before the war began. 'I thought I was given assurances that sites and museums would be protected,' Gibson said." History will record that BushFeld was warned - just like 911.

Here's the US version of the Mosul Massacre from Rupert Murdoch's Sky News: "US forces said they fired back after being shot at, but did not aim at the crowd during the incident. 'There were protesters outside, 100 to 150, there was fire, we returned fire,' an [anonymous] US military spokesman told AFP. The shots came from a roof opposite the building, about 75 metres away, he said. 'We didn't fire at the crowd, but at the top of the building,' he added. 'There were at least two gunmen, I don't know if they were killed. 'The firing was not intensive but sporadic, and lasted up to two minutes.'" If they fired at the top of the building, how were 10 killed and scores wounded on the ground? The official US version is completely at odds with the reports from Iraqis at the hospital, who say the only shots came from US troops. A few days ago, a US tank killed 2 journalists at the Palestine Hotel after claiming it was fired upon - a claim rejected as false by all the reporters on the scene.

Islam-Online.net reports, "At least 10 Iraqi people were shot dead and scores wounded Tuesday, April 15, in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul, a hospital doctor said, with witnesses claiming U.S. troops opened fire after a crowd turned against an American-installed local governor... 'We were at the market place near the government building, where Mashaan al-Juburi was making a speech,' said Marwan Mohammed, 50... The American [soldiers] were going through the crowd with their flag. They placed themselves between the civilians and the building. The people moved toward the government building, the children threw stones, the Americans started firing. Then they prevented the people from recovering the bodies,' he told AFP... 'Juburi said the people must cooperate with the US. The crowd called him a liar, and tempers rose as he continued to talk. They threw objects at him, overturned his car which exploded,' said Dr. Said Altah. 'The wounded said Juburi asked the Americans to fire.'"

Doug Sanders writes: "Iraq is about to be invaded by thousands of U.S. evangelical missionaries who say they are bent on a 'spiritual warfare' campaign to convert the country's Muslims to Christianity... The largest of these is the Southern Baptist Convention, an ardent supporter of the war as an opportunity to bring Christianity to the Middle East. It says it has 25,000 trained evangelists ready to enter Iraq... Such words have caused deep alarm among military and diplomatic authorities... The worry is that missionaries could reinforce the widespread popular belief that the war is really a 'clash of civilizations' between Christians and Muslims. Muslim groups say they believe the presence of evangelists is a sign that Resident Bush is trying to impose his own evangelical Christianity on Muslims. It does not help that Bush became a born-again Christian in the 1980s with the assistance of the Rev. Billy Graham." Graham's son Franklin has repeatedly called Islam "wicked."

Cheryl Seal writes, "Jay Garner's company, the defense contractor SY Technology has made millions off the instability of the Middle East. They not only supplied missile systems for the Bush II war in Iraq, they have also done extensive work for Ariel Sharon's government. Garner does not intend to let a little thing like being 'sheriff of Baghdad' get in the way of his financial interests. Garner only plans to take a TEMPORARY LEAVE from his post as President of SY Coleman. This means all of Garner's personal financial interests in his company will be ongoing. Wonder if the next stage in SY Coleman's 'business development plan' will be to design missile guidance systems for missiles trained on Iran and Syria?"

Bob Herbert writes, "The primary goal of Mr. Rumsfeld's [1983] visit to Baghdad was to improve relations with Iraq. But another matter was also quietly discussed. The powerful Bechtel Group, of which Secretary Shultz had been president before joining the Reagan administration, wanted to build an oil pipeline from Iraq to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, near the Red Sea. It was a billion-dollar project and the U.S. government wanted Saddam to sign off on it... It was known by the fall of 1983 that Iraq had used chemical weapons against Iran. That did not prevent the U.S. from pursuing improved relations with Saddam, or curb the enthusiasm for the Aqaba pipeline - a project promoted by a company that had [also] given the Reagan administration its secretary of defense, Caspar Weinberger, who had been Bechtel's general counsel... [Now] a company that is fairly panting with anticipation over oil and reconstruction contracts worth scores of billions, is of course Bechtel."

Laurie Manis of Military Families Speak Out writes: "The decision on how post-war Iraq is to be managed will be made in the next several days. Please contact your elected representatives and urge them to oppose the unilateralism that already has done so much damage. It is time for America to mend her fences and mend them fast; we must never forget what was achieved with a few box cutters. A new report by the Center for Economic and Social Rights, WATER UNDER SIEGE IN IRAQ, sets forth the possibility that the United States and United Kingdom risk committing war crimes by depriving Iraqi civilians of safe water. 100,000 children in Basra are already threatened with severe illness due to a crippled water treatment plant, according to UNICEF. As American troops advance on Baghdad, the city of five million has lost electric power and the population there also faces a pubic health crisis from water-borne disease."

Jim Lobe writes for Foreign Policy in Focus: "If you want to figure out whether the administration of President [sic] George W. Bush intends a crusade to 'remake the Middle East' in the wake of Washington's presumed military victory in Iraq, watch what happens with R. James Woolsey. A former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Woolsey is being pushed hard by his fellow neoconservatives in the Pentagon to play a key role in the post-Saddam Hussein U.S. occupation... At a NATO conference in Prague last November, Woolsey declared 'Iraq can be seen as the first battle of the fourth world war,' in rhetoric that he has practiced and honed virtually since the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. 'After two hot world wars and one cold one that all began and were centered in Europe,' he said, 'the fourth world war is going to be for the Middle East.'"

The looting of Iraq momentarily wakened Tom Friedman from his dream of creating a model democracy in Iraq: "The widespread looting that has followed the fall of Saddam tells me just how hard that will be. So far, all that we have unleashed in Iraq is chaos, not freedom. There is no civil society here. We are starting from scratch." Duh! But Friedman went right back to sleep, completely rewriting history that is only ONE MONTH old. "This war in Iraq was meant to bring the idealistic side of U.S. power into the Arab world." Oh yeah? In public, Bush told the world he had to defy the United Nations because his job was to defend America against the threat of Iraq's WMD - one of history's Biggest Lies, as every WMD "discovery" has proved to be a hoax (our $1,000 reward remains unclaimed). But Bush's real "idealism" was revealed in his private declaration of W-ar to US Senators a full year ago: "F**k Saddam - we're taking him out!"

NY Times reports, "The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But ... it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters... [in] what is likely to be reckoned as one of the greatest cultural disasters in recent Middle Eastern history... Nothing remained, museum officials said, from a museum that had been regarded by archaeologists and other specialists as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East... Mr. Muhammad, the archaeologist, directed much of his anger at Bush. 'A country's identity, its value and civilization resides in its history,' he said. 'If a country's civilization is looted, as ours has been here, its history ends. Please tell this to Bush. Please remind him that he promised to liberate the Iraqi people, but that this is not a liberation, this is a humiliation.'"

Peter Galbraith writes, "Hussein's forces leveled the historical centers of the Shiite towns, bombarded sacred Shiite shrines and executed thousands on the spot. By some estimates, 100,000 people died in reprisal killings between March and September. Many of these atrocities were committed in proximity to American troops, who were under orders not to intervene... The first Bush administration's decision to abandon the March uprising was a mistake of historic proportions. With U.S. help, or even neutrality, the March uprising could have succeeded, thus avoiding the need for a second costly war. (The uprising started after the Gulf War ended, and the United States was positioned to easily down Iraqi helicopters and halt Iraqi tanks.)... Unfortunately, [Bush II] carries a national and family legacy that many Iraqis associate with deadly betrayal. Overcoming that legacy has only begun. It is one of the critical challenges that lie ahead."

"Chaos threatened to engulf Iraq yesterday, with American-led forces apparently unwilling or unable to deal with a storm of arson, looting, car-jacking, drunkenness and factional fighting that swept Baghdad, Mosul and other big cities... Mosul's university library, celebrated for its ancient manuscripts, was sacked, despite appeals from the minarets of the city's mosques for people to stop destroying their own town... In Najaf, where a Shia religious leader was hacked to death on Thursday, days after returning from exile in London, the rival Shia faction that murdered him was reported to have taken control of the city. [Don Rumsfeld] dismissed the chaos as a 'transitional' phase, born of 'pent-up frustration' after 24 years of oppression. He accused newspapers of exaggerating the unrest."

Saddam's fall has unleashed a lot of looting - and it's not just in Iraq. Back home in the USA, BushBuddy Pug Winokur's DynCorp is looting the contract for policing Iraq under Bush's occupation. Even though no contract has been signed, DynCorp is already recruiting rent-a-cops (visit http://www.policemission.com/iraq.asp). Unfortunately, DynCorp's track record is nothing to salute; a whistleblower lawsuit from Kosovo policing in 1999 charges "employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal weapons, women, forged passports and [participating in] other immoral acts."

TAP reports: "The Pentagon is rumbling into Baghdad completely unprepared to fashion a viable new Iraqi government, seemingly obsessed with installing the discredited and corrupt Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), as the country's leader. The task force assigned the job of putting Humpty Dumpty together again after the shooting stops is woefully ill-equipped for its mission, is keeping the Department of State at arm's length, and has few regional experts and Iraq specialists aboard. At the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., where the military staff is supporting the task force, there is something akin to panic. [The Pentagon don't have] "a clue as to what's going on... They don't have plans for a transition in place, they don't know where the money is going to come from, they don't have any organization. And they just don't know anything about Iraq.'"

Naomi Klein writes that Iraq "is being treated as a blank slate on which the most ideological Washington neoliberals can design their dream economy: fully privatized, foreign-owned and open for business... Some argue that it's too simplistic to say this war is about oil. They're right. It's about oil, water, roads, trains, phones, ports and drugs. And if this process isn't halted, 'free Iraq' will be the most sold country on earth... A people, starved and sickened by sanctions, then pulverized by war, is going to emerge from this trauma to find that their country has been sold out from under them. They will also discover that their newfound 'freedom'--for which so many of their loved ones perished--comes pre-shackled with irreversible economic decisions that were made in boardrooms while the bombs were still falling. They will then be told to vote for their new leaders, and welcomed to the wonderful world of democracy."

It's official: the Bush Regime is not playing with a full deck. Today AP reports that Don Rumsfeld's Department of Offense issued "a deck of cards picturing a most-wanted list of 55 former leaders in Saddam Hussein 's regime [aka government] to be pursued, captured or killed." The deck has been distributed "to the thousands of U.S. troops in the field to help them find the senior members of the government." Displaying the cards at the daily "CentCom" press briefing, Brig(adoon) Gen. Vincent Brooks said the Most-Wanted List "also was being put on posters and handbills for the Iraqi public. Brooks did not identify figures on the list, except to suggest they included Saddam and his minister of information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who boasted of battlefield successes right up to the time he disappeared Tuesday. "There are jokers in this deck, there is no doubt about that," Brooks said." SO WHO IS THE JOKER WHO DREAMED THIS UP WHILE BAGHDAD BURNS AND AMERICA IS SUBJECT TO REPRISALS?

AP reports, "Taking the law into their own hands, Baghdad residents blockaded streets and beat up looters Friday as disorder spread in the Iraqi capital. Thousands of Iraqis--including entire families--plundered and burned government ministries and [a] main market in the city center in a third straight day of lawlessness that began with the arrival of U.S. troops in Baghdad. With many Baghdad residents demanding U.S. troops restore order, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, Central Command spokesman, said, 'At no time do we really see becoming a police force.' He suggested the lawlessness will ease with the rebuilding of the civil authority. 'We have to be patient.' Meanwhile, scattered bursts of machine-gun fire could be heard around the city in a reminder that the fighting is not yet over. [One resident pleaded],'Tell the Americans to stop the killing and the looting. We can't live like this much longer.'"

Nick Kristof writes, "A large, angry mob was squaring off in the center of Basra against tense British troops backed by tanks and heavy machine guns, so I asked the Iraqis what they were doing. 'We're here to rob the banks,' one man explained cheerfully... [They] enveloped my car to complain furiously about the lack of electricity and drinking water. For a few minutes, I was afraid they were going to demonstrate their anger by rocking my car and turning it over. Perhaps it's churlish to say this so soon after an impressive military victory, but we may have underestimated the risk of chaos in postwar Iraq. 'The robbers come at night, 20 or 30 together, and throw grenades' and break into private houses, complained Muhammad Jassem, a middle-aged man in a crowd gathered around British troops in Basra. 'They ask for money and if they don't get it, they shoot you on the spot.'" Hours later, British troops shot and killed 5 bankrobbers in Basra. Paging Martin Scorcese...

Bob Herbert writes: "The war against Iraq has become one of the clearest examples ever of the influence of the military-industrial complex... This iron web of relationships among powerful individuals inside and outside the government operates with very little public scrutiny and is saturated with conflicts of interest. Their goals may or may not coincide with the best interests of the American people... The Pentagon and its allies are close to achieving what they wanted all along, control of the nation of Iraq and its bounty, which is the wealth and myriad forms of power that flow from control of the world's second-largest oil reserves... Those who dreamt of a flowering of democracy in Iraq are advised to consider the skepticism of Brent Scowcroft... 'What's going to happen the first time we hold an election in Iraq and it turns out the radicals win? What do you do? We're surely not going to let them take over.'"

Seumas Milne writes, "On the streets of Baghdad yesterday, it was Kabul, November 2001, all over again. Then, enthusiasts for the war on terror were in triumphalist mood, as the Taliban regime was overthrown. The critics had been confounded, they insisted, kites were flying, music was playing again and women were throwing off their burkas. In parliament, Jack Straw mocked Labour MPs who predicted US and British forces would still be fighting in the country in six months' time. Seventeen months later, such confidence looks grimly ironic. For most Afghans, 'liberation' has meant the return of rival warlords, harsh repression, rampant lawlessness, widespread torture and Taliban-style policing of women. Meanwhile, guerrilla attacks are mounting on US troops - special forces soldiers have been killed in recent weeks, while 11 civilians died yesterday in an American air raid - and the likelihood of credible elections next year appears to be close to zero."

Financial Times reports, "Hay Al Ansar, on the outskirts of Najaf in Iraq, was glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party government, when the city was seized by US forces last week. But they appear to be just as terrified, if not more so, of their new rulers -a little-known Iraqi militia backed by the US special forces and headquartered in a compound nearby. The Iraqi Coalition of National Unity (ICNU), which appeared in the city last week riding on US special forces vehicles, has taken to looting and terrorising their neighbourhood with impunity, according to most residents. 'They steal and steal,' said a man calling himself Abu Zeinab. 'They threaten us, saying: 'We are with the Americans, you can do nothing to us'... If true, the testimony of residents reveals a darker side to US policy in Iraq. In their distaste for peacekeeping and eagerness to hand the ruling of Iraq back to Iraqis, US forces are in danger of losing the peace as rapidly as they have won the war."

David Corn writes, "CNN showed his face. A twelve-year-old boy lying on a hospital bed. A white bandage on his head. Wide eyes. A grimace. One of the civilian casualties of the United States' successful (so far) war in Iraq. But this close-up told only part of the story. Arabnews.com posted a Reuters photograph of this boy, whose name is Ali Ismail Abbas. It was not a close-up. A viewer could see that both his arms are gone, two bandaged stumps protruding from his shoulders. And most of his burnt torso was covered with white ointment. He is liberated from Saddam Hussein's brutal regime--as are millions of others. But he will never feel with his fingers again, never hold a ball, a pen, a book with his own hands. He is one price of victory." Should Bush compensate civilian victims and their families? Of course! Will he? Don't hold your breath...

AFP reports, "At least five ministries were on fire in downtown Baghdad as looters rampaged through the Iraqi capital, where anarchy was setting in. The buildings housing the ministries of information, trade, education, higher education and industry were ablaze, as was the old market of Baghdad's commercial center on Rashid Street. No firefighters or US marines were in sight to extinguish the flames. The skyline of the capital, which US forces captured Wednesday, glowed orange as clouds of smoke billowed into the night air. Much of the capital has been without power for days and plunged into total darkness after dusk... When asked why they have not intervened to stop the plundering, Marines explained they are not under orders to do so. "

Cheryl Seal writes, "'So the Bush-Blair prerecorded 'Trust us! We Care!' liberation message kicked off the debut of the new Iraqi State TV station, the title of which is just as grandiose and hollow as all Bush regime titles: TOWARD FREEDOM TV. This new station is about as 'free' as a private in the Marine corps: It is being run entirely by the Department of Defense - the content will be entirely created and controlled by the DOD, as the Ari the Egg Man acknowledged at his press briefing today. For an hour a day to start, they will broadcast for an hour from their flying TV studio (having destroyed so many ground-based TV stations themselves, the guys in the Pentagon are, understandably, a bit paranoid). The studio is located on the military plane Commando Solo. Yep, sounds like a real move 'toward freedom' to me! Like locking yourself in a closet with 10 bottles of vodka is a move 'toward sobriety.'"

Reuters reports, "A suicide bomber seriously wounded four U.S. Marines at a military checkpoint in Baghdad Thursday, CNN television said. CNN reporter Walter Rogers said from near the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad that he could see smoke rising from the scene in the distance. He quoted military officials as saying the four Marines were seriously wounded but gave few other details." SkyNews.com reports one of the Marines has died.

AP reports, "A crowd rushed and hacked to death two Shiite Muslim clerics - one a Saddam Hussein loyalist, the other a returning exile who had urged support for U.S. troops - during a meeting meant to forge reconciliation at one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, witnesses said. An unknown number of people were injured in the melee at the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites of Shiite Islam, practiced by the majority of Iraqis. 'People attacked and killed both of them inside the mosque,' said Ali Assayid Haider, a mullah who traveled from the southern city of Basra for the meeting in Najaf. Witnesses told reporters that a meeting was being held among leading mullahs about how to control the shrine, which had been under the control of the hated Haider al-Kadar, of Saddam's Ministry of religion." Bush broke Iraq, now he owns it. Does he have a clue?

"In 1988, Jordan was in the midst of a severe financial crisis, running chronic budget deficits and defaulting on its external loans. The value of the dinar had plunged, and as a result, banks in Jordan were asked to deposit 30% of their foreign exchange holdings with the Central Bank. Of all the banks in Jordan, according to Nabulsi, only Chalabi's Petra Bank was unable to comply. 'So Chalabi tried to buy dollars to cover himself, running around feverishly to meet the demand for foreign exchange,' says Al-Anani. 'He used to sell dollars in the market in a show of bravado.' A new government came to power in 1989, and by then, Petra Bank's difficulties were totally exposed. The bank was closed, and though the depositors were paid off, several thousand shareholders lost millions. Chalabi fled the country, allegedly in the trunk of a friend's car. 'The impact was much, much greater than the Enron case,' says Nabulsi. Half a billion dollars was lost, some 10%, he says, of Jordan's GNP."

Tom Engelhardt writes, "We have an administration which proved itself eager first to buy an election (of course, who in America isn't?), raising staggering sums from staggering friends in an orgy of staggeringly undemocratic corruption, and then, as we all remember, to win it by any means at hand, along the way saying anything that needed to be said, most of which bore no relation to the policies these men had long dreamt of and written about putting into place. They are control freaks who deeply believe in secrecy and glory in making policy under cover of darkness, and these are also the model men who will bring 'democracy' to Iraq. Last night, for instance, I heard David Brooks of the Weekly Standard say on Charlie Rose that this administration, with whose officials he assured viewers he was in contact, was indeed in favor of bringing democracy to Iraq, but the process might, he guessed modestly, take 80 years."

The Busheviks insisted the conquest of Iraq had NOTHING to do with oil. So how come the day Baghdad is conquered, Israel wants to take delivery of Iraqi oil through a pipeline that has been closed for 55 years? "An Israeli minister says he wants to reopen a pipeline which has been closed for more than fifty years to bring Iraqi oil through Jordan to Israel's Mediterranean coast," says the BBC. " A spokesman for the infrastructure minister, Joseph Paritzky, said the move would cut fuel costs in Israel and help regenerate the port city of Haifa. There has been no official comment yet from Jordan, but any suggestion that Israel might benefit from the fall of Saddam Hussein is likely to enrage many people in Arab countries."

On Tuesday, Saddam's regime semi-officially collapsed when Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed "There are no US troops in Baghdad" al-Sahhaf failed to report for his daily spin cycle. [Rumors are flying that al-Sahhaf was whisked away by Special Forces under direct orders from Karl Rove, who is negotiating a 7-figure salary for al-Sahhaf to replace Ari Fleischer, based on his utterly reality-free spinning for Saddam.] Baghdad civilians celebrated as US troops pulled down statues of Saddam. And looters praised Bush for making it possible to grab everything in sight: "Thank you, thank you, Mr. Bush," some of the looters shouted. [We don't make this stuff up!] But "not everyone rejoiced. 'This is the destruction of Islam,' said Qassim al-Shamari, 50, a laborer wearing an Arab robe. 'After all, Iraq is our country. And what about all the women and children who died in the bombing?'" Hey Qassim - Bush set you FREE! Go steal a car and get OVER it - it's the Bushevik way!

"Two leading evangelical Christian missionary organizations said Tuesday that they have teams of workers poised to enter Iraq to address the physical and spiritual needs of a large Muslim population. The Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant denomination, and the Rev. Franklin (W's minister) Graham's Samaritan's Purse said workers are near the Iraq border in Jordan and are ready to go in as soon as it is safe. The relief and missionary work is certain to be closely watched because both Graham and the Southern Baptist Convention have been at the heart of controversial evangelical denunciations of Islam, the world's second largest religion. Both organizations said their priority will be to provide food, shelter and other needs to Iraqis ravaged by recent war and years of neglect. But if the situation presents itself, they will also share their Christian faith in a country that's estimated to be 98% Muslim and about 1% Christian."

Inter Press Service reports, "A visibly divided Iraqi opposition leadership is heading back to take up political life in the name of the people. The divisions emerged Tuesday even before confirmation of the fate of Saddam Hussein. A group of opposition leaders sat together at a press conference in London and frequently contradicted one another... If there was one thing that seemed to unite the Iraqi opposition leaders, it was their sensitivity to exploitation of oil resources by British or U.S. firms. 'Iraqis do not need foreign expertise in production, surveying, refining or marketing oil,' said Dr Salah Shaikhy of the Iraqi National Accord. 'We have been running our own oil sector for 33 years. The Americans did not bring more than 100,000 troops to Iraq because our oil sector was not doing well.'"

"Strange, then, that a front-runner is construction giant Bechtel, whose record in managing America's biggest public works project has been, by most accounts, disastrous. Only last week, Bechtel's record in managing the 'Big Dig', a 14.8bn [in British Pounds] project to burrow a highway under Boston, was criticised at a public hearing in the city. [US AID head Andrew] Natsios should know all about this: in fact, he was invited to give evidence but said he was too busy 'directing the relief and construction effort in Iraq'. The reason for the invitation was that between 2000 and 2001 he was chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the organisation with responsibility for the Big Dig. According to MA State Senator Robert Havern, it was when Natsios was Turnpike chief that the biggest rise in costs, from $10.8bn to $14.7bn, took place. Havern says: 'This is the biggest works project in the history of America, and it is the largest cost overrun of any project.'"

Tom Friedman is still deluding himself into believing Bush wants to turn Iraq into a model democracy for the Arab world. On his victory tour of Umm Qasr, Friedman is shocked and awed by the anarchy and lack of essential resources like water. He concludes, "America broke Iraq; now America owns Iraq, and it owns the primary responsibility for normalizing it. If the water doesn't flow, if the food doesn't arrive, if the rains don't come and if the sun doesn't shine, it's now America's fault. We'd better get used to it, we'd better make things right, we'd better do it soon, and we'd better get all the help we can get." Hey Tom - why don't you challenge Bush for giving all the juicy rebuilding contracts to his cronies, and for appointing corrupt exiles to keep the Iraqi people from ever having a democracy?

Doug Ireland writes, "In 1992, Ahmed Chalabi was convicted by a Jordanian court on 31 counts of embezzlement and fraud in the collapse of the Jordanian-based Petra Bank, which he controlled and ran, with losses of some $500 million (The bank also lent heavily to Saddam in the '80s). Chalabi avoided an eventual 22-year prison sentence and $250 million in fines by escaping Jordan in the trunk of a car. As the British magazine Private Eye reported in its April 2 issue, 'the man who would be Iraq's new leader' has been denounced by the former head of Jordan's central bank, Mohammed Nabulsi, as the 'master crook' who had cooked Petra's books and as 'one of the most notorious crooks in the Middle East.' Moreover, the notion that the Iraqi people would rise up against Saddam and greet the U.S./Brit invaders with flowers as soon as the first bombs dropped was sold to the Bush administration by Chalabi and his corrupt cronies in the U.S.-funded Iraqi National Congress."

Remember how the Third Reich looted the artworks of Europe? "Fears that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level meeting with the US administration. It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with US defence and state department officials prior to the start of military action to offer its assistance in preserving the country's invaluable archaeological collections." The American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP) "has caused deep unease among archaeologists since its creation in 2001. Among its main members are collectors and lawyers with chequered histories in collecting valuable artefacts, including alleged exhibitions of Nazi loot."

Ken Jowitt writes: "the attempt to impose democracy in Iraq and the Middle East has all the unreality of Don Quixote. The truth is that an invasion and occupation of Iraq with the pronounced intent of imposing democracy will more likely be a 'poison dart' with a 'boomerang effect' than a 'magic bullet' with a 'democratic domino effect' in the region. For decades, the Iraqi middle classes have been forced to act like supplicants towards those who rule them with arbitrary power. Their servility has undoubtedly produced a psychology and culture that emphasize avoidance and distrust of political life... As for Iraqi society in general, it is fragmented into hostile tribes and clans based on kinship, religion, and ethnicity. In such an environment, creating civility will require Promethean effort. Creating a civil society and democratic government will take a miracle."

AP reports,"The leader of the largest Iraqi opposition group has decided to return home now that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime is under heavy pressure from the U.S.-led military invasion. 'Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim has made a definite decision to return home after 23 years in exile [in Iran],' according to his spokesman. Al-Hakim heads the Tehran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose military wing, the Badr Corps, claims 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Iran. The group has said for years that it has spread guerrillas throughout Iraq in anticipation of a revolution. Al-Hakim's spokesman said, 'The Iraqi nation will not accept U.S. domination.' Meanwhile, more than 100 members of the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen, have returned to Iran and given themselves up to authorities there. Advocating secular government, they seek to overthrow Iran's ruling clerics and were supported by Saddam.

Tom Engelhardt writes, "For all the wartime talk in the media and the administration about the 'coalition of the willing,' this will clearly be a unilateralist occupation of the most extreme sort, few Iraqis, less Brits, no Spaniards, Bulgarians, Rumanians, Italians, or Micronesians, nor, as far as I can tell, other members of the 'coalition,' and certainly not - Condi Rice made this more than clear yesterday - those weasels at the UN, which at best is expected to pony up some money and some humble humanitarian assistance. And, oh yes, I almost forgot this one entirely, no Arabs from the various 'Allied' governments in the Gulf region, and for the time being, few Iraqis, exile or otherwise. As presently imagined, it's the sort of occupation of hubris that quite naturally follows from the dreams of the men who run the Earth's hyperpower with their stated 'foreign policy' of disarming the world by force and striking where they want at will."

"The US is ready to install the first leg of an interim government for the new Iraq as early as Tuesday, even while fighting still rages in Baghdad. America's readiness to establish the first stages of a civil administration to run post-war Iraq comes at lightning speed and constitutes a rebuff to European ambitions to stall on the process until some kind of role for the United Nations is agreed. It was reported yesterday that the Condoleezza Rice has also ruled out any key role for the UN. The decision to proceed with an embryonic government comes in response to memoranda written by Donald Rumsfeld last week, urging that the US begin to entrench its authority in areas under its control before the war is over. Pentagon officials told The Observer the administration is determined to impose the Rumsfeld plan and sees no use for a UN role, describing the international body as 'irrelevant'... Elements of an embryonic new government will be established in the southern port of Umm Qasr."

AFP reports, "With persistent fighting, a lack of drinkable water and only a slow trickle of humanitarian relief, the better life promised by US-led troops is appearing more distant by the day for the people of southern Iraq. While US forces entered Baghdad for the first time Saturday, down south the ground campaign is trudging into its second week. [Many Iraqis feel deeply disillusioned with the war.] 'Do you really think that they came here to bring us freedom? Certainly not. They're just here for our oil,' fumed Mohammad, an engineer from Basra's suburbs. He insisted Iraqis already knew British forces 'very well'. 'They already came to Basra during World War I and what happened? They killed us and stole from us. Our elderly haven't forgotten that.' And while today's coalition troops may be well-intentioned, ordinary people's constant run-ins with their new armed neighbors have not always been reassuring."

David Corn writes, "On April 2, Woolsey made headlines by telling students at UCLA that the Iraq war was part of 'World War IV.'... He has been saying the same for months, using the exact same words. For instance, last November, during a speech before an audience assembled by conservative provocateur David Horowitz, [former CIA director James] Woolsey told the crowd 'that we are in World War IV' and 'I don't believe this terror war is ever really going to go away until we change the face of the Middle East.'" Amazingly, THIS is the guy Deputy Proconsul Paul Wolfowitz wanted to make "Minister of Information" in US-occupied Iraq - until the idea was deflected by the slightly-more-subtle Karl Rove. "Still, Woolsey may end up with a role in the occupation government...And what's next? Ken Lay to head up the new Iraqi energy ministry? Trent Lott, the cultural ministry? Richard Perle, the new Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations?" Get ready for Operation Iraqi Fascism.

"Iraq's official INA news agency says a car explosion which killed coalition troops north-west of Baghdad was a suicide attack carried out by two Iraqi women. US Central Command says three coalition soldiers, a pregnant woman and her driver were killed in the explosion at the checkpoint near Hadithah Dam, about 200 kilometres north-west of Baghdad. The Arab satellite television Al Jazeera has broadcast images of two Iraqi women, but with names slightly different to those offically released as being repsonsible, vowing to launch suicide attacks in the defence of their country. 'They blew up their car at the positions of the enemy in the west of the country on the night of April 3-4,' INA said. 'The martyr operation brought the destruction of nine armoured vehicles with their teams on board,' it added. Iraq has frequently said this 'martyr operation' will be followed by others against US and British troops."

Guardian reports, "Pentagon hardliners appear to be mounting a coup d'etat even before the government has any territory to control. Apart from the attempt by Paul Wolfowitz to install Ahmed Chalabi, the failed Iraqi banker, and his cronies in advisory positions (since all the ministerial posts will be filled by Americans), the Pentagon has also ousted eight senior officials nominated by the US state department [and replaced them with] neo-conservative hawks - most notably James Woolsey, a former CIA director. One of the first concerns of this government-in-waiting is what to do about Iraqi banknotes which - horror of horrors - carry a picture of Saddam Hussein. Their solution, according to the Washington Post, is to scrap the Iraqi dinar and replace it with the US dollar. This will doubtless be viewed by all Iraqis as conclusive proof of America's imperialist intentions."

"A US official told The London Times that Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, was resisting State Department appointments to the administration-in-waiting, at least one of whom is already in Kuwait. He said that the Pentagon had ruled that Mr Rumsfeld should personally approve appointments to the temporary US-British administration, 'and there are many people who question his authority to take that decision, including, I assume, the Secretary of State'... The row boils down to control over policy-making on Iraq in the postwar phase, with the State Department anxious to create an environment that is more acceptable to foreign countries while the Pentagon is anxious to stay in control... Powell and Mr Blair are trying to secure a prominent role for the United Nations in an attempt to avoid further alienating US allies in Europe." Fat chance - Rummy has crowned himself Proconsul of Iraq.

Ian Williams writes, "The real hitch in Bush administration's grand vision for post-war Iraq may well be the man slated to take charge of it - arms-dealer and former 'Star Wars' guru General Jay Garner. In a move typical for what passes for U.S. diplomacy these days, the Pentagon developed and announced its occupation plan without consulting the rest of the alleged coalition (no, not even trusty Britain) or the State Department. Worse, to this highly visible and important position, it picked a man with a dubious past and ideological credentials worthy of a Bush appointee. In 2000, Garner and 26 other U.S. officers signed a statement released by the right-wing Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) praising the Israeli Defense Forces for its 'remarkable restraint in the face of lethal violence orchestrated by the leadership of a Palestinian Authority.' Indeed, the choice of Garner seems designed to enflame local and regional resistance.'"

"Dear George Bush and Tony Blair: We are writing to express our grave concern over your selection of Jay Garner to be the top civilian in the transitional government of Iraq and to urge you to allow the United Nations to oversee reconstruction and democratization. Without public debate or a public hearing, you chose a former Army General who was, until recently, an executive at SY Technology - a weapons maker that built elements of missile systems now being used to bomb Baghdad. As human rights leaders, and as American and British citizens, we believe that the Iraqi people deserve better. They deserve transitional civilian leadership that represents freedom and democracy - not military conflict, weapons manufacturing, and back room deal-making. It is not too late to make a change. We urge you to allow the United Nations oversee the process of democratization and reconstruction. It's not just what's best for the Iraqi people - it's essential to protecting us all." Sign the petition.

Guardian reports, "Oil is the war aim on which all Arabs agree. While the Palestinian intifada is resistance to old-fashioned colonialism with its seizure and settlement of other people's land, they see the Iraqi intifada as popular defence against a more modern phenomenon. Washington does not need to settle Iraqi land, but it does want military bases and control of oil... [Under pressure from Blair, Bush promised that Iraq's oil belongs to the Iraqi people. But] leaks from the state department's 'future of Iraq' office show Washington plans to privatise the Iraqi economy and particularly the state-owned national oil company. Experts on its energy panel want to start with 'downstream' assets like retail petrol stations. This would be a quick way to gouge money from Iraqi consumers. Later they would privatise exploration and development."

Guardian reports that Iraq's liberated "government will consist of 23 ministries, each headed by an American... [It] will take over Iraq city by city. Areas declared 'liberated' by General Tommy Franks will be transferred to the temporary government under the overall control of Jay Garner, the former US general appointed to head a military occupation of Iraq... Decisions on the government's composition appear to be entirely in US hands, particularly those of Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defence. This has annoyed Gen Garner, who is officially in charge but who, according to sources close to the planning of the government has had to accept a number of controversial Iraqis in advisory roles, [notably Ahmed Chalabi]... The revelation about direct rule is likely to cause intense political discomfort for Tony Blair, who has been pressing for UN and international involvement in Iraq's reconstruction to overcome opposition in Britain as well as heal divisions across Europe."

Star Tribune reports, "As the war on Iraq rages to the south and the northern military front heats up, an estimated 400,000 Kurds are on the move in northern Iraq, according to Kurdish government officials. With that exodus, the specter of a humanitarian crisis looms. The weather is harsh, there is little fresh water and there are not enough tents for people who can't find housing. Hundreds of children in the Chamchamal region are suffering from severe respiratory infections and dysentery from drinking dirty stream water. Using their hands and small picks, families are digging wet clay, which they use with rocks to weigh down plastic sheets draped over rock ledges -- all the protection they have against the harsh conditions. Doctors from the Kurdistan Health Foundation say they are so overwhelmed -- seeing 600 in the last week."

It is becoming clear that Bush's plans for humanitarian aid delivery were even more unrealistic than his military plans. What did he think - that the elves would leave it in the night? But the reality is now coming out: Civilian aid workers are being blocked from even getting food and medicine across the Kuwait-Iraq border... There is a water pipeline into the area - but only into secured areas - a small fraction so far... Most sewage and water treatment plants in Basra have been knocked out... But Bush and Rummy say "There's NO evidence of a humanitarian crisis." In what parallel universe?

Bush PROMISED over a week ago that within 36 hours, food from the US would arrive in Iraq for distribution. First he promised 675,000 tons, then 50 tons up front, with 610,000 to come. However, the reality is that only 500,000 tons of wheat and rice (combined) has officially been authorized for release, and only 50,000 tons of this will be immediately shipped. Worse, it is not expected to arrive in the Iraq region until mid April at the earliest. An additional 110,000 tons in food aid was supposedly authorized earlier and shipped, but appears to have disappeared from the "radar." The only real aid right now is coming from the Brits (the Sir Galahad). In short - Bush plans to stick the allies with the check.

Jason Vest writes, "Despite the sanguine way George Bush and his chamberlains talk about a post-war Iraq, senior military officers are worried. According to recent unpublicized U.S. Army War College studies being read with increasing interest by some Pentagon planners, 'The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious.' ... The War College studies explore in detail a troubling paradox: While all experts agree that stabilizing post-Saddam Iraq would be a protracted endeavor, 'the longer a U.S. occupation of Iraq continues,' one of the studies notes, 'the more danger exists that elements of the Iraqi population will become impatient and take violent measures to hasten the departure of U.S. forces.' One study broaches the subject of suicide attacks against U.S. soldiers." And now a suicide bomber in a taxi has killed four American troops at a checkpoint in south-central Iraq.

UK Independent reports, "British and American soldiers are building an internment camp at a secret location inside Iraq to hold thousands of prisoners of war from Saddam Hussein's forces. So far they have not disclosed the location, even to the Red Cross which has a right under international law to visit prisoners... General Tommy Franks, the officer overseeing the US-led war, said American and British forces had taken about 3,000 Iraqi prisoners of war. Iraq is holding at least seven Americans... According to the Geneva Conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has the right to visit PoWs and speak to them in private... 'We don't know [where the prisoners are being held],' said Tamara Al-Rifa, a spokeswoman for the ICRC based in Kuwait."

AP reports "US legal experts are hoping, however, that the Iraqi justice system won't fall apart in the event of a coalition victory, and will be able to maintain order once the shooting stops. 'The U.S. cannot take over the mantle of law enforcement for the Iraqi people,' said Lt. Col. Richard Vanderlinden... How the coalition will establish the boundary between U.S. military and Iraqi laws remains a 'work in progress,' Wherry said. 'We're still making it up as we go along and hope for the best,' Wherry, of Rock Island, Ill., said. 'We are trying to have as little to do with this country as possible while, in effect, taking it over.'... A nightmare scenario would be a postwar, revenge-based bloodbath, with the police and judiciary melting away and the United States having to become cop, judge and jailer." This article makes it clear that Bush has NO CLUE how to govern Iraq.

CNN reports, "The first contracts for rebuilding post-war Iraq have been awarded, and Cheney's old employer, Halliburton Co., is one of the early winners.... Bush Tuesday asked Congress for $489.3 million to cover the cost of repairing damage to Iraq's oil facilities, much or all of which could go to Halliburton... on a 'cost plus' basis... Since it's still unknown how much damage has been or will be done to Iraqi oil fields in the war, it's difficult to estimate the contract's eventual dollar value. [But the MORE Cheney destroys, the RICHER Halliburton gets!] But its biggest value could be that it puts Halliburton in a prime position to handle the complete refurbishment of Iraq's long-neglected oil infrastructure, which will be a plum job. Getting Iraq's oil fields to pre-1991 production levels will take at least 18 months and cost about $5 billion initially, with $3 billion more in annual operating expenses." Indict Bush and Cheney for war crimes!

Dallas Business Journal reports, "The Texas oil industry will be a big winner of a quick end to the regime of Saddam Hussein, industry observers agree... John Gerdes said Texas oil and gas companies are already lining up for hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to put out Iraqi oil well fires and rebuild the country's oil industry... The job will require billions of dollars in capital and technology, not only to repair war damage but to modernize an industry barred from new technologies for a generation... Gerdes estimated the recovered industry could generate $10 billion to $20 billion a year for a new government. 'We are not going to war to pilfer the resources of a sovereign nation,' Baxter said. 'That's not in the cards. I don't even think that can happen.'" Hey John - the world is littered with the corpses of those who "misunderestimated" Bush's ruthless evil...

UK Guardian reports, "As George Bush today formally asks Congress for $75bn for the war in Iraq, his emergency request has already come under fire. The proposal includes $63bn for the war itself - enough to keep American troops in Iraq for nearly five months - $8bn for international aid and relief, and $4bn for homeland security. Of the $63bn for the war effort, $53bn will go towards the deployment of troops, $5bn to replenish weapons and $1.5bn in payments to Pakistan and others, and unspecified classified expenses, most likely for the CIA. The $8bn for international relief and reconstruction in Iraq is notable in that most of that money is not even meant for Iraq, but for those countries deemed to have been helpful to the US war effort. Iraq gets $3.5bn ($2.5bn in a relief fund and much of the rest for oil field repair), while the rest goes to Jordan, Israel, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Colombia and some eastern European countries."

"Weeks before the first bombs dropped in Iraq, the Bush administration began rebuilding plans. ABCNews has obtained a copy of a 99-page contract worth $600 million. 'We have never in our 40-year history spent this much money in one country in one year,' said Andrew S. Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the State Department... But other details are being shielded by the USAID, which chose to conduct the bidding in secret... to move this through quickly, the agency said it went to firms with track records and security clearances. It asked seven - about half the number that normally would have sought the business - to bid. Among the companies believed to be bidding are Bechtel [that helped Iraq build WMD's with the blessing of Reagan-Bush], Fluor, Parsons, the Washington Group and Halliburton, ... Cheney's old firm", that made millions in post-Desert Storm Iraq.

ABC News reports, "They were unforgettable images: Residents of this southern Iraqi town openly welcoming coalition forces. They danced in the streets as a picture of Saddam Hussein was torn down. That was yesterday. Traveling unescorted into Safwan today, I got a far different picture. Rather than affection and appreciation, I saw a lot of hostility toward the coalition forces, the United States and President Bush... The newly-liberated Iraqis ask the same questions that seem to nag many outside Iraq. Why are you here in this country? Are you trying to take over? Are you going to take our country forever? Are the Israelis coming next? Are you here to steal our oil? When are you going to get out? But also fueling the simmering animosity among Iraqis here is the lack of physical aid and comfort, promised by the United States... Others told us that three or four people had been wounded during the first night of the war and people were very bitter about that."

"During the Afghanistan invasion, the U.S. dropped tons of bright yellow plastic packages of emergency rations. While the bulk of this 'gift' ended up in the hands of blackmarketeers, hungry children and women eagerly scavenged the countryside for the desperately needed food. Because these rations were the same color and surface texture as many land minds, many Afghans were blown to bits or maimed by mines mistaken for food. Bush swore he changed the color of the food packages. But in network footage on Saturday, March 22, of a convoy of American armored vehicles, it clearly showed Iraqi children running along side, smiling, clutching bright yellow plastic food packages." Cheryl Seal Reports.

Cheryl Seal writes, "Bush has clearly established a pattern in his approach to humanitarian aid: promise anything, but deliver nothing. Case in point: As long as the 9/11 families could provide photo ops and sound bytes, Bush lavished them with praise and pomises, few of which were ever willingly fulfilled. In his 2003 budget request, Bush did ask for a single penny for humanitarian aid for Afghanistan. Why? The conflict had already served his political purpose. Now, as the bombs fall on Baghdad, we are supposed to believe Bush will treat Iraq any differently than he treated the Afghans? I predict that by the end of the summer, if not before then, he will have forgotten all about the starving, disease-ridden, mine-lacerated Iraqi women and children and be dumping tax dollars into that new CBS/NBC/ABC/FOX/CNN production "America at War....with North Korea."

AP reports, "With lightning speed, U.S. and British troops moved successfully in the war's opening days to control key parts of Iraq's southern oil fields... [But] is not certain who will run Iraq's oil industry once Saddam falls. Bush administration officials are sensitive to charges that the US covets Iraq's oil wealth. 'The oil is the Iraqi people's oil,' Donald H. Rumsfeld insisted Friday... [The US now controls Iraq's oil, but] oil industry experts say that in the long run, Iraqis will demand total control of their oil wealth, believed to be second only to Saudi Arabia's with at least 112 billion barrels of reserves. A 'heavy American hand' in resurrecting Iraq's oil industry could result in a 'serious political, security and public relations backlash,' according to the Council on Foreign Relations and the James A. Baker Institute. It urged the Bush administration to take measures that 'assures skeptical publics that the US has no aims to take over Iraqi oil assets.'"