Bush knew Saddam had no WMD's
• Salon(Sid Blumenthal)(Duh) Salon exclusive: Two former CIA officers say the president squelched top-secret intelligence, and a briefing by George Tenet, months before invading Iraq.
Contents Pages by Subject
WAR: About that War
US force levels in Iraq swell to all-time high
• RawStory.comSherlock said the arrival of more combat brigades will temporarily push the total to as high as 172,000 over the coming months before it falls back to about 160,000 troops by November or December as other units leave.
US strikes in Baghdad kill 14 sleeping civilians
• AFPUS combat helicopters and tanks bombarded a Baghdad neighborhood in pre-dawn strikes on Thursday, killing 14 sleeping civilians and destroying houses, angry residents and Iraqi officials said. [brave, brave, brave Sir Robin]
Syria: Israeli planes attacked. Jerusalem remains mum
• www.haaretz.com"Syria reserves the right to determine the quality, type and nature of our response to the Israeli attack. The Syrian leadership is seriously considering its response," he told Al Jazeera television.
Overheard in Australia, Bush tells minister " were kicking ass" in Iraq
•Upon his arrival in Sydney Wednesday, Deputy Australia Prime Minister Mark Vaile "inquired politely" about his stopover in the war-torn country. "We're kicking ass," Bush said.
Countdown Special Comment: You have no remaining credibility about Iraq, sir.
• Crooks&Liars.com"Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment tonight is without a doubt, one of his hardest hitting and most emotional to date. Keith absolutely lays waste to President Bush’s lies and rhetoric about the surge." Crooks&Liars.com
Bush can't recall why Iraqi army disbanded
• LA TimesOne of the most heavily criticized actions in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was the decision to disband the Iraqi army, alienating former soldiers and driving many straight into the ranks of anti-American militant group
Envoy’s Letter Counters Bush on Dismantling of Iraq Army
• NY TimesA previously undisclosed exchange of letters shows that President Bush was told in advance by his top Iraq envoy in May 2003 of a plan to “dissolve Saddam’s military and intelligence structures,” a plan that referred to dismantling the Iraqi Army.
Letter from L. Paul Bremer to George W. Bush, May 22, 2003
• NY TimesWhile the resulting dismissal of public servants has caused some inefficiencies and griping.... I will parallel this step with an even more robust measure dissolving Saddam's military and intelligence structures to emphasize that we mean business
Letter from George W. Bush to L. Paul Bremer, May 23, 2003
• NY TimesYou have my full support and confidence. You also have the backing of our Administration that knows our work will take time. We will fend off the impatient as you and your team steadily improve the lives of the Iraqi people.
Pentagon frequently delays getting protective gear to troops
• USA TodayEven as President Bush and Pentagon officials reassured troops and their families they were doing all they could, documents show the military cut or underfunded several programs and moved so slowly and grudgingly that Congress took extraordinary meas
US Army Docs Depict Troops’ Involvement in Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan
• ACLUNew evidence of coalition forces’ involvement in civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan--10,000 pages the ACLU is making public today--include courts martial proceedings and military investigations regarding the wrongful death of civilians.
Death at a Distance: The US Air War
• CommonDreams.orgThe Air Force is also deploying a bigger, faster and more muscular version of the Predator, the MQ-9 “Reaper” - as in grim - a robot capable of carrying four Hellfire missiles, plus two 500 lb. bombs.
US troops vulnerable in Middle East
• Press TVIran's former IRGC Commander says 200,000 US troops are in weak positions in the Middle East and Iran has identified all their locations. Senior Advisor to the Leader for Military Affairs, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi
Statistics demonstrate the failure of 'the surge' in Iraq
• LA TimesU.S. military and government leaders will offer Congress their assessment of the 6-month-old plan's results. A review of statistics on death and displacement of Iraqis living under the heightened military presence reaches a dispiriting conclusion
The Insurgency's psychological component
• Washington PostOne of the most prominet advocates of this position is the political scientist Robert Pape of the University of Chicago. Increasing troops in Iraq, Pape argues, will win the US a lot of battles with insurgents but also make it likely that Americans
Baghdad's new owners
• NewsweekIt was their last stand. Kamal and a handful of his neighbors were hunkered down on the roof of a dun-colored house in southwest Baghdad two weeks ago as bullets zinged overhead. In the streets below, fighters from Moqtada al-Sadr's
Middle East Madness
Stephen LendmanThe madness of war with Iran
Iraqi Children Robbed of Childhood
• by Ahmed Ali (AntiWar)In 1996, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes if she thought the price of half a million dead children was worth it. She replied, "I think this is a very hard choice, but ... we think the price
Pentagon Justice
• Washington PostTHE MISBEGOTTEN effort to hold military officers accountable for the notorious abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison limped to a close when an Army lt. colonel was cleared by a court-martial jury of charges he was responsible for the mistreatment of
U.S. Asylum Remains Elusive for Iraqis Who Helped U.S.
• APDesperate Iraqis here and in Jordan are slogging through a slow, grueling process of interviews and background checks, trying to get one of the thousands of slots the U.S. is giving out to Iraqis for permanent asylum. When the U.S. announced it w
The Armies of Iraq
• Al JazeeraIn a series of exclusive reports, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports on the new reality of Iraq's many armies.
Doomed Iraq convoy was sent out despite threat
• LA Times"[I] think we will get people injured or killed tomorrow," warned KBR regional security chief George Seagle, citing "tons of intel." But he also acknowledged: "Big politics and contract issues involved."
Reason for Bush's secret Iraq trip: British have pulled out of Basra
• This Is LondonThe British army has pulled out from inside Iraq's second city, Basra for the first time since the start of the US-led invasion. "I think that's the right thing to do because the longer we are here, the less inclined they are to run thin
Some see 'coup' as Iraq's best hope
• Chicago TribuneAt the forefront of these efforts is former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who was Washington's first choice to lead Iraq after the U.S. occupation authority ended. He now is being presented as the best hope of saving Iraq from what
Second British general slams U.S. policy in postwar Iraq
• ReutersMajor General Tim Cross said he had talked to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the invasion about the need to have international support and enough troops on the ground to reconstruct Iraq. "He didn't want to hear that mess
Phase III of Bush's War
• by Pat BuchananThose who hoped that–with the victory of the antiwar party in 2006, the departure of Rumsfeld and the neocons, the rise of Condi and the eclipse of Cheney–America was headed out of Iraq got a rude awakening. They are about to get another.
General Sir Mike Jackson speaks out
• Daily TelegraphHe accuses an over-bureaucratic MoD of failing to value soldiers and their families, undermining the position and authority of the chiefs of staff, and confusing activity with achievement. Without the soldier, ministers, civil servants, generals, adm
More than 1,800 Iraqis killed in August
• APCivilian deaths rose in August to their second-highest monthly level this year. That raises questions about whether U.S. strategy is working days before Congress receives landmark reports that will decide the course of the war. At least 81 America
Tears in Venice as Iraq war films shock and move
• ReutersNo danger of this being a light-hearted, cinematic celebration. The Venice film festival this year has packed a real punch with two strikingly different films about the war in Iraq.
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