L'Irak - Partie II: Implication d'Israël, la Turquie, retirer le troupes et articles complémentaires

L'Irak - Partie II: Implication d'Israël, la Turquie, retirer le troupes et articles complémentaires

Implications d’Israël

Mossad increasing presence in western Iraq, tribal leader reports.t

Shaykh al-Khanjar said that they have also established their own headquarters similar to the facilities used by the American occupation forces. The Mossad set up one of its headquarters in the former Hafsah Primary School in al-Qa’im on the Syrian border, and in the large building that formerly housed the headquarters of the "Projects for Roads, Bridges, and Travelers’ Rest Stops." The Zionists have surrounded their facilities with large security fortifications and barbed wire, making it virtually impossible to break in. They have also set up communication towers atop those headquarters. In addition, the Shaykh said, they have recruited Iraqis willing to work for them inside the city.

Notice that the report says that this Mossad presence is close to the Syrian border, and it appears that there is a permanent Mossad headquarters here, surrounded with security fortifications and barbed wire..

This looks like a listening post for intelligence, set up in advance of an attack on Syria.

Israel linked to Iraq intelligence failure

Israel was a "full partner" in American and British intelligence failures that exaggerated former president Saddam Hussein's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs before the US-led invasion of Iraq, a report by an Israeli military research centre has alleged.

How Israel Manipulated Western Intelligence Agencies

The report, titled "The War in Iraq: An Intelligence Failure?" was written by Shlomo Brom, a brigadier general in the Israeli Army reserves, and said what no one seems to have dared publish since President George W. Bush decided to wage war on Iraq. Shockingly, it told the full truth about the American and British intelligence "sources" making the case for war.

In fact, according to Brom, these sources were utterly compromised by Israeli intelligence, which made the case for starting the war and kept it going as long as necessary. The retired general described Israel as a "full partner" in US and British intelligence failures that exaggerated Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs in the lead up to the US-led invasion.

ISRAEL RUNNING THE SHOW

The reason for the war in Iraq. Oil flowing to Israel. This secret pipeline is buried deep underground and encased in cement

... and protected by three US military bases!

Operation Opera - 25 years ago today

25 years ago, Israel bombed Iraq's power reactor complex, insisting Iraq was building nuclear weapons. One invasion later, we now know Iraq was in fact building nothing more than a power station.

Mossad mission: Murder Iraqi scholars

The report stated that the killings were part of a mission to get rid of those Iraqi nuclear specialists and university professors that refused to cooperate with the Zionist regime.

Iraqi PM lashes out at U.S. critics

Iraq's prime minister lashed out Wednesday at U.S. criticism, saying no one has the right to impose timetables on his elected government and that his country "can find friends elsewhere."

Why they hate us.

Warning graphic pictures of Real victims of the war.

Why we care. Why do some people talk about politics so much? Well because some people don’t have their heads in the sand. And some people after they are aware, lack the lack of heart to just turn away and forget about it.

Insurgents 'right to take on US'

Insurgents in Iraq are right to try to force US troops out of the country, a former British army commander has said.

Gen Sir Michael Rose also told the BBC's Newsnight programme that the US and the UK must "admit defeat" and stop fighting "a hopeless war" in Iraq.

If you think about it, the people of Iraq and the people of the United States are really on the same side. We all want the war to end and our kids to come home.

Only Bush and the Neocons want this war to continue.

US general damns Iraq 'nightmare'

Retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez also labelled US political leaders as "incompetent" and "corrupted".

He said they would have faced courts martial for dereliction of duty had they been in the military.

Mutiny in the air?

Marine tells of order to execute Haditha women and children

A US Marine was ordered to execute a room full of Iraqi women and children during an alleged massacre in Haditha that left 24 people dead, a military court heard Thursday.

A US Marine was ordered to execute a room full of Iraqi women and children during an alleged massacre in Haditha that left 24 people dead, a military court heard Thursday. During a subsequent search of the house, Mendoza said he received an order from another Marine, Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, to shoot seven women and children he had found in a rear bedroom.

So killing unarmed and terrified women and children has now become accepted practice under US military rules of engagement.

One has to wonder whether people who have willingly participated in these activities will be the government's first line of "defence" if there is any significant civil unrest here in the US..

Remember: this is an administration with a penchant for rewarding really, really bad behavior.

Iraq's biggest dam at risk U.S. warns of 65-foot wave flooding Mosul

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq warned Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in May that the country's biggest dam, just up the Tigris River from the northern city of Mosul, is at risk of collapse, putting the city's 1.7 million people in danger of being inundated by a 65-foot flood wave.

The letter from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, co-signed by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is included in an audit to be published tomorrow. The report found that little or no progress has been made to shore up the Mosul Dam since the May warning, largely because a $27 million project funded by U.S. reconstruction money has been plagued by mismanagement and possible fraud.

You just have to love how wonderfully well "reconstruction" is going in Iraq.

Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki 'copies Saddam Hussein'

raq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is orchestrating a campaign of persecution against political rivals "even worse" than Saddam Hussein's reign of terror, his predecessor has claimed.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Ayad Allawi claimed agents of Mr Maliki's Dawa Party were tightening their control of Iraq to emulate the creeping coup tactics used by the deposed Ba'ath Party to take over in the 1960s.

"I love the smell of democracy in Iraq in the morning!" - official white horse souse.

Construction on Baghdad barrier halted

Saddam Provided More Food Than the U.S.

The Iraqi government announcement that monthly food rations will be cut by half has left many Iraqis asking how they can survive.

Children As “Collateral Damage” Of The War In Iraq

It appears that it is still not in the interest of the system to eliminate poverty. War is profitable, and the profits coming from the war in Iraq are evidently more valuable than human lives. Naturally, we are all the same under the skin, and the suffering of men and women is not intrinsically less terrible than the suffering of children. Nonetheless, there is something particularly grotesque in the soulless manner in which the world powers behave towards the must vulnerable and least culpable generation. Perhaps it is precisely the hypocritical attitude towards them that best reflects the conscience of today's world society.

Warning: very graphic pictures.

But please, don't turn away; imagine, just for one moment, that these kids were your kids.

Bush and Abu Risha

heikh Sattar, whose tribe is notorious for highway banditry, is also building a personal militia, loyal not to the Iraqi government but only to him. Other tribes — even those who want no truck with terrorists — complain they are being forced to kowtow to him. Those who refuse risk being branded as friends of al-Qaeda and tossed in jail, or worse. In Baghdad, government delight at the Anbar Front's impact on al-Qaeda is tempered by concern that the Marines have unwittingly turned Sheikh Sattar into a warlord who will turn the province into his personal fiefdom.

That's our guy. That's the pillar of America's Sunni strategy, and a key player in Fred Kagan's fantasy life.

But that's not even the worst of it.

Bomb Kills Iraqi Sheik Who Met With Bush - World on The Huffington Post

The most prominent figure in a U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Iraq was killed Thursday by a bomb planted near his home in Anbar province, 10 days after he met with President Bush, police and tribal leaders said.

The death of the charismatic young sheik dealt a blow to American efforts to recruit tribal leaders to fight the terror network.

Apparently, meeting with, and being photographed and filmed in Iraq with President Bush, can be hazardous to one's health.

Bush vows to 60 Minutes that 'no matter what Congress wants' surge is on

U.S. Pushed Allies on Iraq, Diplomat Writes

In the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys that resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war, according to an upcoming book by a top Chilean diplomat.

I relinked this today because this is an important story and I wanted to make sure you all read this.

The Baghdad gulag

There are three overlapping wars in Iraq: the Sunni Arab guerrilla struggle against the US; strands of Sunni Arab guerrillas against assorted Shi'ite militias/death squads; and al-Qaeda in Iraq against the puppet, US-backed Iraqi government in the Green Zone. Make it four wars: the Sunni Arab guerrilla war against the government inside the Green Zone. Better yet, make it five wars: the Sadrists, from Sadr City to Kufa and Najaf, against the Americans.

Images show pleading Iraq prisoners

So this is now what Iraqi "justice" looks like: men slammed into cages with no charges filed against them, and no trials.

And members of this administration can stand there with a straight face and talk about "progress" with this occupation?

In Iraq, jailed women tell of abuse

Sad, tired eyes peer out from behind the bars of Kadhimiya Prison. The pleas are desperate: "I swear I am innocent." "The criminal investigators raped us." "I have been here eight months and I have not seen a judge."

Nearly 200 women, some with their toddlers and infants living with them in their cells, are imprisoned in Baghdad's only detention facility for women. Suspected killers bunk with women charged with petty crimes. Some don't know why they were arrested.

Oh yes, things are SOOOOOOOOOO much better in Iraq under US occupation!

Iraq corruption whistleblowers face penalties

One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Or worse.

US Army loses another 12,000 guns and trucks

Dang it, they were right here just a moment ago!

US surge sees 600,000 more Iraqis abandon home

U.S. arming some Sunni groups to fight Al Qaeda

With the four-month-old "surge" in U.S. troops showing only modest success in curbing insurgent attacks, American commanders are turning to another strategy they acknowledge is fraught with risk: arming Sunni Arab groups that have promised to fight Al Qaeda-linked militants who have been their allies in the past.

This pretty much proves that the "Sectarian Violence" is simply tricking the Sunni and Shia into killing each other off.

Middle East">The surge has failed

Death squads are returning to the streets of Baghdad despite the security plan for the capital launched with great fanfare by the US two months ago.

"Get ready for Surge II - The Revenge!" -- Official White Horse Souse

Retirer les troupes d’Irak

Cheney: chaos if U.S. pulls out too soon from Iraq

Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday accused critics of the administration's war strategy of ignoring the bloodshed and chaos he said would follow a premature U.S. troop withdrawal.

Well, I guess you clowns shouldn’t have lied us into Iraq in the first place, then. And given that you DID lie to get us into Iraq, it stands to reason you are lying to keep us there.

Go *uck yourself, Mr. Vice President. You want to stay in Iraq, do it yourself. You already have experience shooting helpless old men with your shotgun.

Bush Says U.S. Pullout Would Let Iraq Radicals Use Oil as a Weapon

Iraq withdrawals "off the table": Republicans

Leading Republicans in Congress on Thursday declared that troop withdrawal legislation should be scrapped because the United States has made significant progress in the Iraq war, just as Democrats were resuming efforts to bring soldiers home.

"It should be off the table," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said of Democratic attempts to pass legislation to force President George W. Bush to withdraw some of the 168,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and wind down the combat mission there.

Memo to house republican leader John Boehner: sir, how are you defining "progress" in Iraq?

That appears to be the question most of your constituents - and fellow Americans - are really having a tough time with right now.

Are you defining "progress" by a complete breakdown of normal services, such as the delivery of electricity and water?

Are you defining it by the fact that 4 million Iraqis have been displaced?

Are you defining "progress" as the continuing intractable sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiia and the presence of roaming death squads?

Are you defining "progress" as an almost complete collapse of El Maliki's government?

Are you defining "progress" as the huge jump in aggressive cancers for both Iraqi citizens and our own troops, courtesy of the use of depleted uranium weapons?

Forgive me, sir, but if this is "progress", what is failure?

Another case for the US to leave

Iraqi Lawmakers Pass Resolution That May Force End to Occupation

While Washington lawmakers play procedural games with an out-of-control executive branch, Iraqi legislators are working to bring an end to the occupation of their country.

While most observers are focused on the U.S. Congress as it continues to issue new rubber stamps to legitimize Bush's permanent designs on Iraq, nationalists in the Iraqi parliament -- now representing a majority of the body -- continue to make progress toward bringing an end to their country's occupation.

The Iraqis want their country back, period, end of discussion.

Troop pullouts to leave only US in Iraq

Nearly five years into the occupation of Iraq, the 'coalition of the willing' is about to lose two of its key supporters.

McCain: Iraqi government can't order U.S. withdrawal

"But, Senator," Russert countered, "the Iraqi parliament, a majority of the Iraqi parliament, has signed a petition asking for a date certain for withdrawal of American troops. If the Iraqi parliament wants it, a majority in the Congress want it... then why do you stand there and say, 'No, you can't have it'?"

vMcCain replied that he understands "that if the American people don't continue to support this effort that [the US] will be forced to withdraw" but his job as a senator is to tell the American people that his assessment is that withdrawal would be "catastrophic."

Memo to John McCain: President Bush has stated that if the Iraqi government asked us to leave, we would do just that.

They just have.

And the folks for whom American withdrawal would be 'catastrophic', senator, are the defense contractors.

Prime Minister warns against hasty U.S. withdrawal from Iraq

"Never mind what those American voters want, WE think you should stay!"

Turquie attaque le nord de l’Irak

Maliki: Turkey’s bombardment violation of Iraq’s sovereignty

Maliki: Turkey’s bombardment violation of Iraq’s sovereignty Iraq's beleaguered prime minister on Sunday took a swipe at the governments of Turkey and Iran, both countries he has visited recently, and challenged their recent artillery bombardments inside Iraq in the Kurdish-dominated northern region where both the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the anti-Iranian Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), linked to the PKK, have found refuge.

So let me get this straight: we've done such a magnificent job of securing Iraq's borders that both Turkey (our friend in the region) and Iran have found it necessary to shell border areas to stop cross -border raids by the PKK?

unflipping believable.

Turkey Shells Rebels in Northern Iraq

Turkey is shelling suspected Kurdish rebel camps across the border in northern Iraq, a newspaper reported Wednesday, but the government appeared unlikely to move toward sending ground troops until next week.

A member of the governing Justice and Development Party said a request for parliamentary approval for a cross-border ground offensive was unlikely to come to the floor before the end of a four-day religious holiday on Sunday. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

So if Turkey goes for a ground invasion of northern Iraq, what next?

The US is bogged down with the rest of the country, and can't begin to secure thr border from which the PKK is conducting their raids.

Turkey Authorizes Troops to Enter Iraq to Fight Rebels

Turkey took a step toward a military operation in Iraq on Tuesday, as its top political and military leaders issued a statement authorizing troops to cross the Iraq border to eliminate separatist Kurdish rebel camps in the northern region.

Turkey moved toward military action in the face of strong opposition by the United States, which is anxious to maintain peace in the region, one of the rare areas of stability in conflict-torn Iraq. But more than two dozen Turkish soldiers have been killed in recent days, and the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed far more determined than before to act decisively.

The US occupation forces cannot stop the rebel attacks, nor the coming Turkish incursion.

NATO, U.S. Aiding PKK Terrorists In Turkey

Turkish newspapers have slammed NATO for its support of the PKK terrorist organization, while also alleging that U.S. forces are arming the militant group in Iraq, as part of an agenda to crush the democratic process and prevent the election of a populist government in Turkey.

Allegations of international support to the PKK are long-standing. According to a report in the London Telegraph, Kurdish guerrillas are being funded by the U.S. to wage a clandestine war in north-western Iran.

If in fact these allegations prove true, could the US possibly have a more psychotic and dysfunctional foreign policy than it does right now?

We are fast descending to the status of the pariah state in the eyes of the world, and it will take generations to undo the damage that this administration has done to the reputation of this country.

‘Mission Accomplished’ By The Numbers

US warplanes pound Baghdad

US warplanes dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs on more than 40 targets on Baghdad's southern outskirts, the military said in a statement.

*If they are having to do this kind of bombing in the capital city this many years after the invasion, then it means we are losing this war.

*Take a good look at the picture on the right.

If the US military is attacking densely populated civilian areas, this means that they absolutely cannot control the situation on the ground.

Look for very heavy civilian casualties to result from this.

All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Discord, Study Shows

Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of "occupying forces" as the key to national reconciliation, according to focus groups conducted for the U.S. military last month.

Awaiting justice

Since the US and UK forces invaded Iraq in 2003, an estimated 4.2 million Iraqis have fled their homes, the majority in the last two years. Up to two million are estimated to have sought refuge outside Iraq, while the remainder has been displaced within the country. The exodus is the largest the region has witnessed since the Palestinian Nakba. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the flight of Iraqis continues at a rate of 60,000 per month.

Ghetto Blaster: Bush Accelerates Concrete Cage Plan for Baghdad

So this is the "freedom" Baghdad residents are about to get, courtesy of Bush & Company: walled-off cities.

Bush Seeks Iraq War Funds ‘With No Strings’

President Bush on Sunday called for Congress to provide financing for the Iraq war “with no strings attached.” And he defended his decision, made formal this weekend, to send more than 8,000 more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan by saying they would be dedicated to training and support missions.

You can just hear the sound of defense contractors salivating collectively upon hearing this.

And unfortunately, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only people really "winning" (insert sound of Las Vegas slot machine here) are the defense contractors.

uniformed gunmen kidnap 150 in Iraq

Desperate Bush administration ends already blown Zarqawi deception

The purported execution of “Al-Qaeda mystery man” Musab al-Zarqawi ends what was exposed two months ago as a Pentagon psychological operation in leaked military documents.

The pursuit of Zarqawi is being sold as the “turning point” of the Iraq war. It is nothing of the sort. This is another lie, heaped upon the multitude of lies that comprise the “war on terrorism” itself.

The view from Baghdad: Mounting death toll which makes a mockery of US optimism

In Baghdad, on the surface the overt violence appears to have diminished. There are fewer loud explosions. But, the city is now being partitioned by sectarian hatred and fear; by concrete walls and barbed wire. Claims that the US military strategy is paving the way for a stable society bear little resemblance to the reality on the ground.

Nationality dictates media coverage

Samarra Boiling Over US Curfews

Scores killed in US Iraq raid: Women and children among victims of air strike targeting "criminals" in Sadr City

Warning: extremely graphic pictures.

But take a good, hard look at them and don't turn away, particularly at the photos of the children who have been wounded or killed in this attack.

This is what is being done in Iraq with your tax dollars and in your name.

Life in the 'triangle of death'

Defiant Iraqi PM disavows timetable

Bush says Iraq attacks are propaganda

No, idiot, LYING US INTO THE WAR IN THE FIRST PLACE was propaganda.

These attacks ARE the war you lied us into.

A U.S. Fortress Rises in Baghdad: Asian Workers Trafficked to Build World's Largest Embassy

America may penalise Iraq if it fails to stop the violence

Oh, now we're going to 'punish Bagdad' if it can't control the violence our invasion and subsequent occupation has created?<->Un-flipping believeable.

Annan calls Iraq a civil war

Yet more handwriting on the wall

Mr. Bush's ill-fated "surge" is unraveling even faster than most observers expected. Rather than yielding tentative refuge from the sectarian storm -- during which peaceful negotiations would proceed, transforming the tentative into the lasting -- all hell is breaking loose.

Cheney: ‘General Overall Situation’ In Iraq Is Going ‘Remarkably Well’

Another Disastrous Coverup: Ammo dump explosion may have killed hundreds of US soldiers

Cholera spreading, authorities in Baghdad doing little

"We are in need of 150 million chlorine tablets to purify water until the end of this wear but we do not have that," a health minister official said.

The epidemic is spreading because Iraqis don't have access to clean water, and this epidemic is something which is of no concern to US occupation forces (they've been vaccinated, remember?)

If anyone thought the US invasion and occupation of Iraq was about anything else besides the oil, they need to look with both eyes, and wonder why the US is not lifting a finger to stop this epidemic.

Another US helicopter down, British bases bombed

Another U.S. Military Assault on Media

CNN cuts Inflammatory Interview with Michael Berg Re Zarqawi

This morning I watched CNN's Soledad O'Brien conduct an incredible interview with Michael Berg, the father of Nick Berg, who was beheaded by al-Zarqawi, but the most interesting and upsetting part of the interview was cut from further broadcasts on CNN later on in the day. They had Berg on many times, but they didn't have the following provocative thoughts. (SEE BELOW)

CNN must have considered the words too inflammatory to put on the mainstream media. They balanced the coverage with predictable interviews with other relatives of Zarqawi victims

AP Exclusive: Kissinger says military victory not possible in Iraq

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who helped engineer the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, said Sunday the problems in Iraq are more complex than that conflict, and military victory is no longer possible.

Will Bush nuke the place and call it peace?

ULTRA HOT NEWS: Al-Sadi: Al-Jihad and Change Front, Al-Jihad and Reform Front and all the other Armed Resistance Groups Are to Unify, Solve All Their Mutual Questions and to Keep AMSI's Fatwas and Directions as Their Reference

As attacks rise in Green Zone, U.S. tamps down

A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone - the onetime oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital - has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside.

The order, obtained by the Associated Press, has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone after a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the United States is building a huge, expensive embassy

If the US military cannot control the Green Zone, it absolutely cannot control the rest of the country.

The Iraqi people (not just a few 'malcontents, but the entire Iraqi nation) see us as occupiers, and want us out, period, end of discussion.

Coup against Maliki reported in the making

Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with U.S. help to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Cairo-based Iraqi and Arab sources said Monday several officers visited Washington recently for talks with U.S. officials on plans for replacing Maliki's administration by a "national salvation" government with the mission to re-establish security and stability in Iraq.

Prediction; if such a coup goes forward, look for another "strong-man/military dictator" to head the new government.

And this guy will make Saddam look like a saint.

Crisis looms for Iraq refugees: Amnesty

Death squad activity up 40 percent in a month

Attacks in Iraq hit all-time high

Australia backs Cheney pledge on Iraq fight; protesters clash with police

Bad Water Afflicting Iraq's Children

Blair rejected Iraq troops plea

TONY Blair formally rejected an American appeal to send hundreds more British troops to Iraq to help with US "surge" tactics.

Translation: the "coalition of the willing" has now devolved to "the coalition of the non-existent", and Bush is very much on his own with his "surge".

Iraqi raises questions on al-Zarqawi death

Iraq - U.S. officials have altered their account of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, saying he was alive and partly conscious after bombs destroyed his hideout, and an Iraqi man raised fresh questions Saturday about the events surrounding the end of Iraq's most-wanted militant. ADVERTISEMENT

The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, claimed in an interview with AP Television News to have seen U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the man's nose.

Now then, ask yourself this. If the man they caught was the real Zarqawi, and they caught him alive, WHY WOULD THE US FORCES KILL HIM?

Or is it more likely that the man passed off as Zarqawi for the last several months was a phony, and had to be killed rather than risk exposure during interrogation?

Iraqi lawmakers demand U.S. withdrawal

Some 133 Iraqi lawmakers from different political blocs, calling themselves the "free deputies," signed a document demanding a scheduled withdrawal of the U.S.-led multinational troops from their country, according to the Sadrist bloc in Parliament.

Bush promised we would leave Iraq when the Iraqi government asked. Well, they are asking.

Down’s syndrome bombers kill 91

Baghdad’s fragile peace was shattered yesterday when explosives strapped to two women with Down’s syndrome were detonated by remote control in crowded pet markets, killing at least 91 people in the worst attacks that the capital had experienced for almost a year.

Iraqis Blame US for Carnage

Iraqis Blame US Occupation for Bloody Week

Iraqis Resist Four Years of Occupation

Fours years of occupation by Anglo-American forces in Iraq was marked in many countries around the world by massive demonstrations this past week. But as the occupation entered another year, Iraqis themselves did not demonstrate. In the country where democracy was promised, a sweeping emergency law, implemented in 2004, bans demonstrations in Iraq without government permission.

"Every three months the government renews this emergency order," says Baghdadi Zahra, "but even if we wanted to go into the streets, it’s too violent to do so. After four years, we cannot even walk down the street without risking death."

You've just got to love this "democracy" we've handed to the Iraqi people!

Ex -US soldier: 'If he didn't answer the way we liked, we would shoot his youngest kid in the head'

Iraq's Kurd villagers see no hope after air strikes

Since Turkish warplanes turned her village home into a heap of rubble last week, mother of eight Aziya Rasheed says she has lost all hope for the future.

Air strikes on mountain villages around the town of Sankasar in northern Iraq on Dec. 16 destroyed much of Rasheed's modest home as the family slept, injuring her 16-year-old daughter so severely that she had to have her leg amputated above the knee.

"We lost everything, even my daughter's leg. Isn't this terrorism from Turkey?" she said angrily.

The Turks attacked northern Iraq because the US remains impotent to protect it

Would someone please tell me again how much better life is for Iraqi Kurds under American occupation?

Key players unite in bid to rescue Iraq

A conference aimed at rescuing Iraq from chaos and bankruptcy kicked off Thursday in Egypt amid an unprecedented display of international unity.

Translation: these foreign ministers and diplomats from over 50 countries are hoping to "rescue" Iraq from the misery and carnage created from its US-engineered "liberation".

Gates visited Baghdad to quell US soldiers mutiny in Anbar, US imminent attack on Ramadi soon

Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation

More than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected for the first time on Tuesday the continuing occupation of their country. The U.S. media ignored the story.

Bush promised that he would leave Iraq when the Iraqi government asked us to.

They are asking.

Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Sudan: coldly premeditated neocon wars

Laura Bush on Iraq: 'No one suffers more than their president and I do'

Memo to Laura Bush: please tell that to the mother of 3 barely able to make ends meet, who has just been informed that her husband has died in the line of duty.

Please tell that to a father whose daughter in the military is dying from the cancer caused by the use of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq.

Please tell that to the uncle visiting his nephew at Walter Reid who had his brain blown open by an improvised explosive device, who will never fully recover.

And by the way, Mrs. Bush: if you believe this war is such a splendid idea, where are all the men and women in your family of appropriate military age?

Has your husband's and your case for this war inspired them to serve in the military?

I thought not.

L’ancien ministre britannique de l’Intérieur admet avoir demandé le bombardement d’Al-Jazeera

General Petraeus: Iraqis will have to 'learn to live' with 'sensational attacks'

"Hey, as long as the oil is secure for the big western oil companies, nothing else really matters. I mean, who cares if hundreds to thousands of Iraqis get blown to smithereens: what's important is that oil companies to be secure enough to extract and export that oil! " - Official white horse souse.

Has the US Ceded Southern Iraq?

In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals

Iraq 'hiding true casualty figures'

And what country wouldn't want the true number of civilian casualties known by
the world, particularly beforeits mid-term election?

Iraq Launches Drive to Subdue Baghdad

The puppet regime is not even able to control their own capitol city!

Iraq: New Martial Law Powers Threaten Basic Rights

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's new security plan for Baghdad grants military commanders sweeping powers to arrest people and restrict their basic freedoms of speech and association, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 13, al-Maliki issued martial law powers giving military commanders authority to conduct warrantless arrests, monitor private communications, and restrict civil society groups in Baghdad. General Qanbar Hashim, commander of Baghdad operations, announced the decree as part of the Iraqi government's latest plan to curb the escalating civil war in the country.

So, martial law is the "democracy" we've brought to Iraq?

Iraq on alert ahead of Saddam verdict

You've got to love the timing on this: three days before US mid-terms.

And death is the only way the US can silence Saddam about the level -and degree -of support the US gave him during the Iran/Iraq war.

Saddam verdict date 'rigged' for Bush

Okay folks, Bush is expecting you all to obediently clap and cheer when Saddam is sentenced.

But what is he being sentenced FOR?

WMDs? Saddam didn't have them.

9-11? Saddam was not involved.

Aiding Al Qaeda? Iraq was a secular government and Al Qaeda favors religious rule. Saddam and Al Qaeda were enemies.

Killing his own people? Evidence suggests Iran gassed the Kurds as an act of war, and in any event, the US Government has killed more Iraqis than Saddam's regime ever did.

So, what is Saddam being sentenced for?

And why should we vote for the government that told so many lies about him to trick us into a war of conquest?

Iraq on brink of collapse: report -

Iraq: over 3,700 civilians killed in October in new monthly high, UN reports

Iraq politicians oppose US pact

The Sunni group the Association of Muslim Scholars said the Iraqi signatories of the declaration would be looked on a "collaborators with the occupier".

Iraq Struggles With Cholera Outbreak

WHO has confirmed at least 3,315 cholera cases and registered more than 30,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea _ which could also prove to be cholera in its more common, milder form. The group has also warned that _ as the weather cools and temperatures become more favorable for transmission _ the bacteria could spread further.

Iraqi children bear the burden of an uncalled-for war

Looking at photos of Iraqi children maimed by the war makes the conflict unforgettable. Reflecting on the causes that led to that war makes it unforgivable. Slowly but steadily new information is coming out on the effects of the war on children, and how it has affected not only their health but also their quality of life and prospects for the future.

One child dies every five minutes because of the war, and many more are left with severe injuries. Of the estimated 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced in Iraq or left the country, 1.5 million are children. For the most part, they don't have access to basic health care, education, shelter or water and sanitation. They carry on their shoulders the tragic consequences of an uncalled for war.

The US attack and occupation of Iraq was never about "bringing freedom and democracy" to the people of Iraq and their well-being: it always was, and will be, about the oil.

Iraq to seek long-term US presence

Iraq's government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.

The proposal, described to The Associated Press by two senior Iraqi officials familiar with the issue, is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like once the U.S. significantly draws down its troop presence.

Translation: we're going to be in Iraq for the forseeable future.

Iraq: Worse than you can Imagine

Iraqi al-Qaida leader killed

The Many Times Killed and Maimed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is Reportedly Finally, Really, Definitely Killed

Saudis and Iran prepare to do battle over corpse of Iraq

More than 160 arrested at Iraq protest

Mort de Zarkaoui : satisfaction mesurée et faux débat

Mortars hit U.S. office in Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

The U.S. government’s office in central Iraq came under mortar fire early Saturday, an attack that touched off a blaze in part of the complex, Iraqi police said. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.

This story is still in the MSNBC archives but has been erased from their main pages. Indeed, Google still has an entry for "Mortars strike U.S. office in Iraq" bu7t the link now goes to a different story.

This must have been bad if they are scurrying to bury it.

Neocon Lieutenant Colonel Blames Iraq’s Victims

Middle East">Operation enduring chaos: The retreat of the coalition & rise of the militias

Yet, ironically, the death squads are the result of US policy. At the beginning of last year, with no end to the Sunni insurgency in sight, the Pentagon was reported to have decided to train Shia and Kurdish fighters to carry out "irregular missions". The policy, exposed in the US media, was called the "Salvador Option" after the American-backed counter-insurgency in Latin America more than 20 years ago, which led to 70,000 deaths and countless instances of human rights abuse.

Pentagon: Iraq suffers 1,000 attacks a week

Qaeda announces Zarqawi successor

"Okay, so THIS is the guy we'll be waving at you as you head for those polls in November. Don;t he look really mean???" -- Official White Horse Souse

Get ready for the Two Minute Hate

The new manufactured villain to keep you scared into agreeing with the state's demands makes his debut.

Remember, "Al Qaeda" is just a fake front group for US, UK<>

Progress Report: Redefining Forward Motion in Iraq

Reporter 'shot by US military on way to hospital'

Red Cross warns of 'ever-worsening' crisis for Iraqi civilians

Sadr group to boycott Iraq government

Sand Storm in Iraq: April 26, 2005

If the insurgents can interdict ground supply convoys (as they have been doing), then when these sandstorms crank up this spring cutting off air support, Baghdad will fall.

Saudi king slams 'illegitimate occupation' of Iraq

Saudi will intervene in Iraq if US withdraws-aide

If Saudi Arabia boosted production and cut the price of oil in half ... it would be devastating to Iran ... The result would be to limit Tehran's ability to continue funnelling hundreds of millions each year to Shi'ite militias in Iraq and elsewhere."

Oh, I see. Okay to lower oil prices to help the Sunni, but not okay to lower oil prices to help Americans?

Top Shi’ite seeks total US pullout

A key Shi’ite member of Iraq’s ruling coalition called yesterday for the complete
withdrawal of foreign troops from his country and rejected the possibility of permanent bases.

They want their country back.

Now that I think about it, so do I.

Three million uprooted Iraqis face "bleak future", UNHCR says

Third of Iraqi children now malnourished four years after US invasion

Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq say that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later.

Caritas says that rising hunger has been caused by high levels of insecurity, collapsed healthcare and other infrastructure, increased polarisation between different sects and tribes, and rising poverty.

More mission accomplished!

Imagine, for just one moment, if these kids were your kids, dying due a foreign occupation.

What would be your opinion of the occupiers?

The real story of what happened in Najaf –

The US Occupation forces in Iraq throw Iraqi detainees in the streets after lacerating theirs faces and killing them

The news not in the news: Baghdad is surrounded...

The Real Cost of the Iraq War: 50,000 U.S. Casualties

The Disneyfication of war allows us to ignore its real savagery

The Anniversary From Hell

Surging toward the holy oil grail

Tariq Aziz: Iran gassed the Kurds

Surge working: top US general

David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said the build-up of American forces in Baghdad since late January had produced positive outcomes. These included the killing or capture of al-Qa'ida fighters, causing the terrorist group to lose influence with local Sunnis.

General Petraeus, can you please explain for whom the surge is working? Is it for the 4 million Iraqis have left their homes due to sectarian violence?

For the people who have left their homes in Iraqi border areas because Iran has conducted cross-border raids into Iraq against the PPK because the US and the Iraqi military cannot secure the border?

Is it working to restore electricity and clean water?

Is it working to rehabilitate"reconstruction" projects so shabbily built that they can barely function?

Is it working for Iraqi kids dying from aggressive cancers caused by the use of depleted uranium by the US military?

Is it working for our vets are dying from agressive cancers caused by the US military's use of depleted uranium?

If the answers to all of the above are honestly "absolutely not", then for whom is the surge working?

General this evaluation of the surge as successful is for two groups, and two groups only: the companies salivating over the potential to control Iraq's oil, and the US congress which appears to be block-headed enough (or "bought" enough) to continue funding this debacle.

Surge Protection Plan

Struggle to find fresh troops for Iraq buildup

Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Well, here is a suggestion! Send the people in favor of the war but who haven't actually fought in one. Obviously they are very fresh and rested and ready to go! You know who I mean. People like Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Joe Scarborough, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Kristol, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbhaugh, etc. etc. etc. Don Rumsfeld and George Bush flew a few jets and looked good while doing it, but never really served in actual combat.

So let's send them into Iraq for a tour or two or five and see how they feel about the war then.

Staticide, Not Civil War in Iraq

Spanish Judge calls for architects of Iraq invasion to be tried for war crimes

Southern Iraqi Tribes Joining Armed Resistancel

Violence is spreading further across Iraq, as Shi'ite Arab tribes in the south begin to engage occupation forces in new armed resistance.<>"This is not about vengeance," a former Iraqi army officer from Kut, 200 km south of Baghdad told IPS in Baghdad. "People have lost hope in the US-led occupation's promises, and they are thinking of saving the country from Iranian influence which has been supported, or at least allowed by the Multinational Forces."

Is it a civil war yet??

Soldiers building wall separating Sunnis, Shiites

U.S. soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division in a Baghdad district are “building a three-mile protective wall on the dividing line between a Sunni enclave and the surrounding Shiite neighborhood,” according to a U.S. military press release issued Wednesday.

So things are going so magnificently well with the US escalation that the only way to cool tensions is by dividing Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods?

And this is what the current administration calls 'progress'?

Shaken Saddam sentenced to hang

Senate Endorses Plan to Divide Iraq

Showing rare bipartisan consensus over war policy, the Senate overwhelmingly endorsed a political settlement for Iraq that would divide the country into three semi-autonomous regions.

The reason for the bipartisan consensus is because splitting up Iraq into three smaller (weaker) nations is EXACTLY WHAT ISRAEL WANTED ALL ALONG.

Senate report: No Saddam, al-Qaida link

Scenes From An Iraki Childhood

The Americans have once again deliberately bombed a civilian area from the air knowing, and not caring, that they were going to kill and maim women and children.

There is no "if" about these dead children.

There is no "if" about these dead men.

And there is no "if" about who killed them. The Americans killed them.

Warning: very graphic pictures.

These people do not hate us "because we are free": they hate us because we are occupying their sovereign country to steal their oil: it's just that simple.

IRAQ AND IRAN SET TO EXPLODE. AL-SADR MAKES HIS POINT - HE CAN TAKE ON THE U.S. IN A GUERRILLA WAR AT ANY TIME.

The recent attempt by Nouri al-Maliki to take on Moqtada al-Sadr has demonstrated two points; first, Maliki has no real powerbase without US support, and secondly, even with US support, al-Sadr has the ability to take on the Iraqi puppet government and the US in a guerrilla war with recruits joining any future insurgency that al-Sadr leads actually coming from the US-trained Iraqi police and army while others simply refuse to fight against the insurgents.

Iraq Oil to be Shipped to Israel

Our children died in Iraq. Our economy is crippled by the costs of the war. Daily we are told that the rising price of gas is due to shortages.

And look who gets the prize!

Gunmen kill Sadrist official in Iraq

I believe this is Al-Sadr's brother-in-law. This will really ramp things up! (Which is probably the intent).

Washington Post journalist shot - apparently at close range - in Iraq

Video: Occupation forces bombed a village with cluster-bombs

'US withdrawal from Iraq would be disastrous for Israel'

It is high time that that this government stop thinking about what might be 'disasterous' for Israel, and start thinking about the degree to which the war in Iraq continues to be disasterous for our own country.

US suffers 34 casualities in Iraq in one day

US strikes in Baghdad kill 14 sleeping civilians

US combat helicopters and tanks bombarded a Baghdad neighbourhood in pre-dawn strikes on Thursday, killing 14 sleeping civilians and destroying houses, angry residents and Iraqi officials said.

The US military, which has deployed thousands of extra troops in the Iraqi capital to try to stem rampant violence, said the operation was aimed at Shiite extremists and the houses destroyed were "enemy strongholds."

Still "winning the hearts and minds" of the Iraqis, I see.

US soldier admits killing family after raping girl

US 'planning to keep 50,000 troops in Iraq for many years'

Early June 2005: US Intelligence Find Evidence of Mossad or CIA Support For Insurgents in Iraq

As suspected, the CIA and Mossad have been fanning the sectarian violence all along.

US helicopters strike high-rises in Baghdad battle

U.S. helicopters attacked gunmen holed up inside high-rise buildings in Baghdad on Wednesday in what the U.S. military said was an operation to regain control of a major street cutting through the heart of the city.

The US is fighting to "regain" streets. i.e. the US is no longer in control of Baghdad, and by attacking high-rises, the US has stopped worrying about collateral damage.

Conclusion: The tactical situation in Baghdad is deteriorating.

US fumes as Iraq backs Israel boycott

US crimes in Diyala

Warning: very, very graphic photos of what US "success" looks like in Diyala.

Imagine, for one brief second, that the dead in these photos were your brother, your mom, your sister, your cousin, your child: what would you think about the occupying military force which created this carnage?

Would you would want to embrace them and give them flowers?

I think not.

US force storms Allawi's Home

An Iraqi security source disclosed Wednesday that the US forces stormed the home of former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi who leads the Iraqi list, one of the biggest Iraqi parliament blocs, and arrested eight of his bodyguards.

Hey, wasn't this one of the administration's "good guys" in Iraq?

And you have to wonder just what those US forces were looking for when they ransacked his office.

US death toll in Iraq - higher than you think

US bombs Iraqi mosque

Zarqaoui : Le Pentagone admet avoir fabriqué un Fantomas

Qui est derrière "al Qaïda en Irak"? Le Pentagone reconnaît fabriquer une "Légende Zarkaoui"

Zarqawi killed - WANTED: new mascot for War on Terror

Must be available immediately, love to travel, have a mean look, Familiarity with automatic weapons a plus!

WTO: cholera infects 16,000 people in northern Iraq

Translation: the water infrastructure has been destroyed in Iraq, which has caused food and water to become contaminated.

Please tell me again how much improvement has happened in the lives of Iraqis since the invasion and occupation.

You owe us, Bush sayt

World is blind to real situation in Iraq: activists

Women prisoners languish in jail without trial

The prison is in the neighborhood of Kadhimiya and is believed to hold mainly Sunni Muslim women.

There are more than 30,000 Iraqis in jails run by the U.S. and Iraqi government and most of them have been incarcerated merely on suspicion and held without trial.

This is what your tax dollars have been buying, folks, and in your name.

Women here are simply suspected, rounded up, and receive no trial, but potentially a lifetime in jail without charge.

Doesn't that make you feel proud!?!?!?

Wolfowitz May Bring Bank Back to Iraq

What Bush's invasion would look like in the United States

How would you feel if some foreign nation did this to our country?

US army 'seized Iraqi homes'

US accused of using neutron bombs

Unmanned "Surge": 3000 More Robots for War

Robots do not care that the war is immoral.

U.S. warns against Turkish action in Iraq

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for all necessary measures to be taken against Kurdish rebels, including a possible incursion into northern Iraq, after they carried out a series of attacks.

But the U.S. State Department warned against such a move.

The US is absolutely impotent to prevent these attacks, and Turkey knows it.

U.S. to expand Iraq prisons

The United States decided to expand its major detention centers in Iraq after military officials predicted that the ongoing security crackdown in Baghdad will add hundreds or thousands of prisoners to the 17,000 detainees already in U.S. custody, an army spokesman said.

More "liberation" for Iraq, couresty of the US government.

U.S. troop drive said faltering in Iraq

U.S.-led forces have control of fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods despite thousands of extra troops nearly four months into a security crackdown, a newspaper reported Monday — an assessment that came as the U.S. casualty toll soared.

U.S. blames Iran, Syria for violence in Iraq

"Yep, it's got nothing to do with us. The Iraqis love us being here. Iran and Syria are the ones causing the trouble. Really." -- Official White Horse Souse

U.S. copter down in Iraq; 13 aboard dead

Three million uprooted Iraqis face "bleak future", UNHCR says

Turkey mulls 'invading' Iraq

Turkey's parliament went into secret session this week to debate sending troops to invade and occupy northern Iraq for security purposes.

When an ally's parliament is debating invading a portion of the country you allegedly occupy because you can't create security there, you know the situation's bad!

Top Shi’ite seeks total US pullout

A key Shi’ite member of Iraq’s ruling coalition called yesterday for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from his country and rejected the possibility of permanent bases.

They want their country back.

Now that I think about it, so do I.

Third of Iraqi children now malnourished four years after US invasion

Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq say that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later.

Caritas says that rising hunger has been caused by high levels of insecurity, collapsed healthcare and other infrastructure, increased polarisation between different sects and tribes, and rising poverty.

More mission accomplished!

Imagine, for just one moment, if these kids were your kids, dying due a foreign occupation.

What would be your opinion of the occupiers?

The US Occupation forces in Iraq throw Iraqi detainees in the streets after lacerating theirs faces and killing them