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Iraqis Voice Outrage as Haditha Massacre Trial Ends In No Jail Time for Accused U.S. Marines

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 26 (News Report) - The last of the U.S. marines charged in the 2005 Haditha massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, received no jail time after he pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and avoiding charges of involuntary manslaughter. Under his sentencing, Wuterich now faces a maximum penalty of a demotion to the rank of private. The victims, including women and children, were killed when the marines burst into their homes and shot them dead in their nightclothes. Wuterich allegedly led the Haditha massacre and was the last defendant to face charges. Six other marines have had their charges dropped or dismissed, while another soldier was acquitted. "[Iraqi] outrage is perfectly understandable," says Tim McGirk, the Time magazine reporter who broke the story on the Haditha massacre. "Here is a case where so many Iraqis were killed, women and children, old men, and yet, what's happened? Most of the charges have been dismissed, and Wuterich was basically given a slap on the wrist." [includes rush transcript]

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Western Oil Firms Remain as US Exits Iraq

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Dahr Jamail - Jan. 09 (News Report) - hile the US military has formally ended its occupation of Iraq, some of the largest western oil companies, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell, remain. On November 27, 38 months after Royal Dutch Shell announced its pursuit of a massive gas deal in southern Iraq, the oil giant had its contract signed for a $17bn flared gas deal. Three days later, the US-based energy firm Emerson submitted a bid for a contract to operate at Iraq's giant Zubair oil field, which reportedly holds some eight million barrels of oil.

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Rick Santorum: I Would Bomb Iran

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Jan. 01 (News Report) - Republican Rick Santorum says that if he's elected president, he would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities unless they were opened for international arms inspectors....

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Could Iraq descend into a civil war again? - CSMonitor.com

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Christian Science Monitor - By Dan Murphy - Dec. 20 (News Report) - The scars of Iraq's painful bloodletting are deep, and a powerful disincentive against a return to open warfare. But Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is moving against Sunni Arabs, his political enemies.

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Iraqi Women's Activist Rebuffs U.S. Claims of a Freer Iraq: "This Is Not a Democratic Country"

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 16 (News Report) - Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, joins us to discuss the impact of the nearly nine-year U.S. occupation, particularly on Iraqi women. "The Iraqi cities are now much more destroyed than they were five years ago," Mohammed says. "At the same time, we have turned to a society of 99 percent poor and 1 percent rich due to the policies that were imposed in Iraq." Moahmmed decries the repression of Iraqi protesters that joined the Arab Spring in a February 25th action. "The women are the biggest losers in all of this. We went to the Iraqi squares, we demonstrated, but got oppressed in ways that are new to Iraqi people. Anti-riot police of the American style was something that we witnessed there ... This is not a democratic country." [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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At War Blog: What Iraqis Think of the American Withdrawal: Mosul and Basra

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Stephen Farrell, Baghdad Bureau - Dec. 15 (Opinion) - At opposite ends of the country, Basra and Mosul are Iraq's second- and third-largest cities, but with two very distinct populations.

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Pentagon Declares End to an Iraq War of Mixed Results

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Thom Shanker, Michael S. Schmidt, Robert F. Worth - Dec. 15 (News Report) - Even in its twilight days, the American military here has suffered humiliating attacks that complicated the handover.

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Arrests in Iraq Raise Concerns About Maliki

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Jack Healy, Tim Arango, Michael S. Schmidt - Dec. 12 (Special Report) - Night raids and mass arrests come as the United States prepares to leave Iraq, leading Western officials to question the country’s course under Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

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Prepping Americans for an Iran War

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Consortium News - By William Blum - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - There’s no letup, is there? The preparation of the American mind, the world mind, for the next gala performance of D&D — Death and Destruction. The Bunker Buster bombs are now 30,000 pounds each one, six times as heavy as the previous delightful model.. But the Masters of War still want to be loved; they need for you to believe them when they say they have no choice, that Iran is the latest threat to life as we know it, no time to waste.

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State Dept. Veteran Peter Van Buren Defies U.S. Censors to Recount Failed Reconstruction in Iraq

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 30 (News Report) - In "We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People," State Department official Peter Van Buren provides a first-hand account of the faltering and often misguided attempts at reconstruction in Iraq undertaken by the U.S. government. Van Buren published the book after rebuffing heavy State Department pressure to redact a number of passages. Van Buren joins us to discuss the failed efforts he witnessed in Iraq and his struggle to tell his story to the world. "The State department is very much like the Mafia," Van Buren says. [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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The dark side of counterinsurgency - Afghanistan - Salon.com

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By David N. Philipps David N. Philipps David N. Philipps David N Philipps - Nov. 16 (News Report) - The dark side to U.S. counterinsurgency tactics were on graphic display last week when Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, of the 5thStryker Brigade, was convicted in a military court of three counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges, while deployed in Afghanistan in 2009.

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Fact checking the South Carolina debate

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Glenn Kessler - Nov. 14 (Fact Check) - The GOP candidates met for a debate Saturday night sponsored by CBS and the National Journal, with a specific focus on foreign policy and national security. In foreign policy, there is often no right or wrong answer; the results of a policy are often ambiguous and its effectiveness is usually only determined by history. Still, there were a number of statements made by the candidates that were factually challenged, exaggerated or lacking context. Read full article ...

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Iran nuclear report: IAEA claims Tehran working on advanced warhead - The Guardian

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - Nov. 08 - Iran nuclear report: IAEA claims Tehran working on advanced warhead The Guardian The UN's nuclear watchdog will publish new details on Wednesday on alleged Iranian work on an advanced design for a nuclear warhead developed with the help of a former Soviet scientist, according to nuclear experts. The report by the International ... Iran ready and able to build a nuclear bomb, UN watchdog warns the world Telegraph.co.uk Iran is on the threshold of gaining nuclear capability Economic Times Ahmadinejad warns against attack on Iran in lead up to nuclear report National Post eTaiwan News ABC News all 2,533 news ...

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US Is Planning Buildup in Gulf After Iraq Exit - New York Times

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:54:19 -0700

New York Times - Oct. 29 - New York TimesUS Is Planning Buildup in Gulf After Iraq ExitNew York TimesThe Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait ...and more »

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McChrystal: US lacks knowledge to bring end to war in Afghanistan

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Oct. 07 (News) - McChrystal says the US and its allies are only 'a little better than' 50% of the way to reaching their war goals The US began the war in Afghanistan with a "frighteningly simplistic" view of the country and even 10 years later lacks knowledge that could help bring the conflict to a successful end, a former top commander said on Thursday. Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that the US and its Nato allies are only "a little better than" 50% of the way to reaching their war goals. Of the remaining tasks to be accomplished, he said the most difficult may be to create a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans can believe in and that can serve as a counterweight to the Taliban. McChrystal, who commanded coalition forces in 2009-10 and was forced to resign in a flap over a magazine article, said the US entered Afghanistan in October 2001 with too little knowledge of Afghan culture. "We didn't know enough and we still don't know ...

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In Cheney’s memoir, it’s clear Iraq’s lessons didn’t sink in

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Bob Woodward - Sep. 12 (Special Report) - A key lesson of the 9/11 decade for presidents and other national security decision makers is the importance of rigorously testing intelligence evidence: poking holes in it, setting out contradictions, figuring out what may have been overlooked or left out. It is essential to distinguish between hard facts and what is an assessment or judgment.

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A decade later, returning to the scene of something unfathomable - latimes.com

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Steve Lopez - Sep. 11 (Special Report) - A columnist goes back to Lower Manhattan, where in 2001 he got a close-up look at the destruction of 9/11. He's reminded anew that we all have a stake in what happened that day and in the days that followed.

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Yes, the Iraq drawdown is really happening

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - By Dan Murphy - Sep. 07 (News Report) - That the Obama administration has plans to drawn down to a tiny force in Iraq shouldn't be a surprise. The Iraqis haven't (yet) given America permission to stay.

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In Iraq, a new breed of returning exile

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Annie Gowen - Sep. 05 - KIRKUK — On a blistering day in the middle of the Iraqi summer, Najmaldin Karim, the provincial governor of Kirkuk, climbed in his armored car and went down to Republic Street, a small strip of fruit stands and shops in the heart of this dusty oil town north of Baghdad. Give Kirkuk time, Karim says, and Republic Street will return to the way he remembers it as a boy: an oasis of tearooms and movie theaters where the melting pot of local ethnic groups mixed with ease. A little over a year ago, Karim, 62, was a neurosurgeon with a thriving practice in suburban Washington, living with his wife in an expansive brick house in Silver Spring. ...

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Panetta: U.S. to stay in Iraq into 2012 (Politico)

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - Aug. 20 - Iraq quickly rejects the claim the defense secretary made to military paper Stars & Stripes.

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Violence Spikes in Iraq as U.S. Considers Ways to Extend Occupation Past December Deadline

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 19 (News Report) - Today, roughly 46,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, along with more than 64,000 private contractors. This week, as Iraq suffers its deadliest violence of the year, there is increasing speculation that the Obama administration will extend its occupation of the war-ravaged nation. Earlier this month, the Iraqi government authorized talks on whether to approve keeping thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq beyond a withdrawal deadline of December 31.

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United Nations: Weak leaders wanted

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Aug. 15 (Editorial) - To save his legacy Ban Ki-moon must refresh his top team with people who understand the UN's founding principles

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The right's non-reaction to the London riots - Salon

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - Aug. 09 - The right's non-reaction to the London riots Salon In theory, the SEC has another big weapon it could use, Sarbanes Oxley . Since Sarbanes Oxley became law in 2002, Sections 302, 404, and 906 of that act have required executives to establish and maintain adequate systems of internal control within their ... and ...

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How the Deficit Got This Big

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Teresa Tritch - Jul. 25 (News Analysis) - A look at how the economy went from healthy surpluses at the end of the Clinton era to the current deficit. With President Obama and Republican leaders calling for cutting the budget by trillions over the next 10 years, it is worth asking how we got here — from healthy surpluses at the end of the Clinton era, and the promise of future surpluses, to nine straight years of deficits, including the $1.3 trillion shortfall in 2010. The answer is largely the Bush-era tax cuts, war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recessions. Despite what antigovernment conservatives say, non- defense discretionary spending on areas like foreign aid, education and food safety was not a driving factor in creating the deficits. In fact, such spending, accounting for only 15 percent of the budget, has been basically flat as a share of the economy for decades. Cutting it simply will not fill the deficit hole.

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Mixed Signals on US Troops in Iraq

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Gareth Porter - Jul. 16 (News Analysis) - Anti-American Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has stood in the way of proposals to extend U.S. troop presence in Iraq beyond the end of this year, and some of his backers have attacked American forces as a reminder of the looming deadline. But Gareth Porter reported for Inter Press Service that Sadr may be sending mixed signals.

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