Clipmarks | tabsey's 'iraq' clips

Widow sues US over Iraq veteran's suicide

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:59:02 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Excellent motives for her actions.

The widow of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide while in outpatient care for depression at a Veterans Administration hospital has sued the federal government for negligence.

Tiera Woodward, 26, claims in her lawsuit that her late husband, Donald, sought treatment at a VA hospital in Lebanon after three failed suicide attempts but was not seen by a psychiatrist for more than two months.

She says doctors were slow to diagnose her husband with major depression, and that once the diagnosis was made, a psychiatrist failed to schedule a follow-up meeting with her husband after he informed the doctor he had gone off his medication.

Donald Woodward killed himself in March 2006 at age 23.

"I intend to make them make changes," said Donald Woodward's mother, Lori Woodward. "I have too many friends whose kids are in Iraq. I have a nephew now in Iraq, in the same unit, and I can't have my family go through this again."

Tags: govt failure

Iraq government to pay Sunni groups

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:50:23 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

The Iraqi government is to take responsibility for paying members of the country's Awakening councils, Sunni groups who had allied with US forces to fight al-Qaeda.

The government of Nuri al-Maliki, which is dominated by Shia religious parties, is to begin paying 54,000 Awakening members from Tuesday.

The Awakening groups have been instrumetal in combating al-Qaeda in Iraq [AFP]

The Awakening groups emerged in 2005 when Sunni tribesmen, who had previously fought the US military and Iraqi government forces, allied with US forces, accepting arms, money and training.

There are about 100,000 Awakening fighters in Iraq and analysts say they are one of the main reasons for the recent marked reduction in violence in the country.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, told the AFP new agency that "the GoI (government of Iraq) will pay the first salary on the 31st October 2008".

The monthly bill of Baghdad's 54,000 Sahwas is around $15 million.

Tags: tax, dollars, at, work

Finally, the Story of the Whistleblower Who Tried to Prevent the Iraq War

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:32:26 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Katharine Gun worked at the British intelligence agency when she discovered an NSA memo that she used in an attempt to stop the invasion of Iraq. (Photo: The New Statesman)

Katharine Gun was free to have a conscience, as long as it didn't interfere with her work at a British intelligence agency. To the authorities,

a conscience was apt to be less tangible than a pixel

But suddenly - one routine morning, while she was scrolling through email at her desk - conscience struck. It changed Katharine Gun's life, and it changed history.

Despite the nationality of this young Englishwoman, her story is profoundly American - all the more so because it has remained largely hidden from the public in the United States. When Katharine Gun chose, at great personal risk, to reveal an illicit spying operation at the United Nations in which the US government was the senior partner, she brought out of the transatlantic shadows a special relationship that could not stand the light of day.

Tags: spy v spy

Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:15:06 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.

The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed.

Minority Sunni Arabs were driven out of many neighborhoods by Shi'ite militants enraged by the bombing of the Samarra mosque in February 2006. The bombing, blamed on the Sunni militant group al Qaeda, sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

"By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left," geography professor John Agnew of the University

Tags: geographic politics, or, political geography

US 'in need of rebellion'

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:22:55 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

Al Jazeera speaks to Howard Zinn, the author, American historian, social critic and activist, about how the Iraq war damaged attitudes towards the US and why the US "empire" is close to collapse.

Q: Where is the United States heading in terms of world power and influence?

HZ: America has been heading - for some time, and is heading right now - toward less and less world power, less and less influence.

Obviously, since the war in Iraq, the rest of the world has fallen away from the United States, and if American foreign policy continues in the way it has been - that is aggressive and violent and uncaring about the feelings and thoughts of other people - then the influence of the United States is going to decline more and more.

[This is] leading to more and more discontent at home, so I think the American empire will go the way of other empires and I think it is on its way now.

Q: Is there any hope the US will change its approach to the rest of the world?

the hope lies in the American people.

Tags: politics

Iraq seeks answers on US spy claims

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:03:34 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

Iraq is to seek an explanation from American officials over a report asserting the US spied on Iraqi officials, including Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.

The new book claims the Bush administration spied on al-Maliki [GALLO/GETTY]

The claim comes in a new book by Bob Woodward, a US journalist, the Washington Post newspaper reported on Friday.

"If it is true ... it reflects that there is no trust," Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said in a statement.

He also said that Iraq would ask the US for an explanation.

Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, declined to comment on the claims made in The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008, Woodward's fourth book on the administration of George Bush, the US president.

'Good relationship'

"We have extensive co-operation with Prime Minister Maliki. Our ambassador sees him almost daily," Perino said.

Tags: who, told, them

US spies, not 'surge', reduced Iraq violence: book

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:18:57 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Something to add to the reading list.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

THE 2007 troop "surge", in which President George Bush sent nearly 30,000 additional US combat forces to Iraq, was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence there, according to a book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward.

Rather, Woodward reports, "groundbreaking" new covert techniques enabled US military and intelligence officials to locate and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008 also says the Bush Administration has run an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi Government.

"We know everything he says," says one of multiple sources Woodward cites about the practice in the book, which is scheduled for release on Monday.

The book is Woodward's fourth to examine the inner debates of the Bush Administration and its handling of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

China agrees $3bn Iraq oil deal

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:22:24 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: I thought that Chevron etc, had this all stitched up. Maybe they didn't like the profit margin.

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

Iraq and China have agreed the terms of a $3 billion oil service contract, Iraq's oil minister says, announcing the first major oil contract with a foreign firm since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The deal means China has taken the first opening since the US-led invasion for work on the world's third-largest reserves.

Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, warned that time was running out for big Western oil firms, which have jostled for years for Iraqi contracts, to seal even the short-term deals that were expected to mark their return to the country.

Iraq and China's state-oil firm CNPC agreed the renegotiated terms of an old deal signed in 1997 to pump oil from the Adhab oilfield, Shahristani said.

CNPC is Asia's biggest oil and gas company.

"Finally we have reached an agreement," Shahristani said after clinching the deal.

Tough bargains

Iraq has toughened the terms, changing the contract to a set-fee service deal from the oil production sharing agreement signed under Saddam.

Corruption seen as grave threat to Iraqi democracy

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:52:41 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: At first I thought that the Iraquis had been quick learners, but it is a way of survival in countries where incomes are low due to greed

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Corruption is a grave and gathering threat to Iraq's fragile democracy and its strides in curtailing bloodshed, a senior U.S. official in Baghdad said.

Unchecked, corruption "threatens the stability of the democracy, because people won't support a government that is widely viewed as corrupt through and through," Ambassador Lawrence Benedict, anti-corruption coordinator at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, said in an interview this week.

"Senior officials in the Iraqi government have characterized corruption as the second insurgency -- that's pretty strong language in a place like this," Benedict said. "Iraqis view it a serious problem, and we certainly share that view."

Widespread graft is drawing scrutiny as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government seeks to match success on the battlefield with government reforms and political progress.

After more than five years of war, violence across Iraq has dropped to levels not seen since 2004.

NZ students offer reward for Rice's arrest

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:11:21 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Nothing will happen, but the reward has drawn attention to the war and the attitude of Kiwis to the invasion.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

After her brief visit to Perth, the United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will fly to New Zealand tonight.

Dr Rice will fly into Auckland tonight and her minders will need to be on alert after a student group announced a reward for anyone who could arrest her.

Auckland University's Student Association is offering $5,000 to anyone who can make a citizen's arrest.

Association president David Do says Dr Rice should be ashamed of her role in the Iraq war.

"I think New Zealanders have an inherent sense of fairness and justice and they understand why we are doing it," he said.

"They see the link between what the US has done to the people of Iraq."

He says while the New Zealand Government opposed the war in Iraq, he doubts he would have Prime Minister Helen Clark's support if a citizen's arrest actually happens.

Tags: kiwis, are, great

Blackwater to Leave Security Business Following Problems in Iraq

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:36:46 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Truthout seems to think they are changing because the US is pulling out of Iraq. Also found the heat too hot, with the resources they have. If the US forces can't recruit enough from it's eligible base, Blackwater must be employing just about anyone.

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Blackwater, the US private military contractor widely accused of abuse of power in Iraq, is getting out of the security business.

Company executives said they are moving away from security work in the wake of close media scrutiny of private contractors' behaviour in Iraq, particularly a Baghdad shooting involving Blackwater employees that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. The incident is under investigation by American law enforcement.

"The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk,'' Blackwater founder and chief executive Erik Prince told an Associated Press reporter who was given a daylong tour of the company's headquarters.

Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokesman, said the company has not planned any "shift," but rather that the company would grow in other areas besides private security.

Tags: war, is, for, money, not, principles

McCain says Obama Europe trip amounts to politics

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:49:13 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: McCain has the foot-in-mouth disease that has haunted Bush

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

GRAND HAVEN, Michigan (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Thursday he believes Democrat Barack Obama's upcoming trip to Europe is tantamount to holding political rallies abroad.

McCain, speaking to reporters, also ridiculed Obama's vow to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in 16 months as risking losing the hard-fought gains won by U.S. soldiers under a troop build-up ordered 18 months ago.

Obama is soon to leave on a trip that will take him to Europe and the Middle East. At some stage the trip is also expected to take him to Iraq and Afghanistan, the two thorniest foreign policy challenges that will face the next president.

McCain sought to clarify remarks he made on his campaign bus in Kansas City, Missouri, in which he said he disagreed with his communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, who told the Fox News Channel that Obama's trip is "the first of its kind campaign rally overseas."

The McCain campaign had emailed out Hazelbaker's statement.

Tags: politicians, do, political, things, a, lot

Suspect Soldiers: Troubled histories follow some troops to Iraq war

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:07:46 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: This shows clearly that recruiting is not running checks on potential recruits. They are taking anyone who fronts up. This must play tremendously on the career soldiers who are just trying to survive until the madness ends.

Clip Source: www.michaelmoore.com

Bee investigation finds the military let in applicants with risky backgrounds -- with sometimes tragic results

Before Army Sgt. 1st Class Randal Ruby was accused in Iraq of beating prisoners and of conspiring to plant rifles on dead civilians, he amassed a 10-year criminal record documenting assaults on his wife in Colorado and Washington state and a drunken high-speed police chase in Maine for which he remains wanted.

Before Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes stabbed an Iraqi private to death with a bayonet, he was hospitalized after threatening suicide in high school, accused of assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing, and, in the months leading up to deployment, was twice linked to drug use.

During a yearlong examination, The Sacramento Bee studied the civilian and military backgrounds of hundreds of troops identified from recruiting documents and other military records, focusing on those who entered the services since the Iraq war began and those linked to in-service problems.

Tags: recruit, bad, eggs, and, spoil, the, force

US contractor (KBR) in Iraq accused of electrocution deaths ("burnt and smoldering body" of soldier)

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:45:25 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Knew of the problems but didn't fix them would be criminal negligence, by my reckoning.

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The biggest US military contractor in Iraq, KBR, was steeped in another scandal Friday as lawmakers, families and experts accused it of recklessly causing the electrocution deaths of US soldiers.

"While I had always been prepared to hear that one of my sons died by way of a firefight or a roadside bomb, I was dumbstruck to hear that my son was electrocuted while taking a shower in his living quarters," said Cheryl Harris, mother of army Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth, who died in January.

Maseth's "burnt and smoldering" body was found under still-running, electrically charged water by a fellow soldier who kicked down the door of the bathroom at an army base in Baghdad, Harris told a hearing of the Senate Democratic policy committee.

KBR, a former subsidiary of the Halliburton energy firm which was once led by Vice President Dick Cheney, was contracted to maintain facilities at the base and had been informed of electrical problems in the building where Maseth died.

Tags: who, will, be, the, scapegoat?

Atheist soldier sues Army for 'unconstitutional' discrimination

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:34:10 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: One would question the encouragement of bigotry in, what is supposed to be, a cohesive unit. One wonders that the men are so fearful that their god is all that gives them confidence to go on and that an atheist may effect their survival chances.

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (CNN) -- Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was raised Baptist.

Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, who was raised Baptist but is now an atheist, says the military violated his religious freedom.

Like many Christians, he said grace before dinner and read the Bible before bed. Four years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, he packed his Bible so he would feel closer to God.

He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.

His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety. Watch why Hall says his lack of faith almost got him killed »

Tags: all, is, not, well, in, the, trenches