Clipmarks | Iraq Clips

Everybody but US netting oil contracts in Iraq

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:51:11 GMT

clipped by: nuttyriv3r

November 06, 2009

Ahmed Rasheed and Muhanad Mohammed

The 20-year contract is part of a raft of deals Iraq is close to formalizing in a bid to catapult itself to the world’s third largest oil producer after decades of war and economic decline.

ExxonMobil, partnering Royal Dutch Shell, beat Russia’s LUKOIL – which had teamed up with US oil-major ConocoPhillips – and two other groups led by France’s Total and China’s CNPC.

“This is better for us,” the Iraqi oil official said.

The pact on West Qurna comes after British oil major BP Plc. and China’s CNPC on Tuesday signed an agreement for the Rumaila oil field: Iraq’s first major new oil deal since the 2003 US-led invasion.

A group led by Italian oil major Eni also signed an initial agreement on Monday to develop the Zubair oilfield, and Iraq said it also expected to ink an agreement with Nippon Oil Corp on Nassiriya in the coming days.

The sleazy advocacy of a leading "liberal hawk"

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:43:15 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: What Galbraith kept completely concealed all these years was that a company he formed in 2004 came to acquire a large stake in a Kurdish oil field whereby, as the NYT put it, he "stands to earn perhaps a hundred million or more dollars." In other words, he had a direct -- and vast -- financial stake in the very policies which he was publicly advocating in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and countless other American media outlets, where he was presented as an independent expert on the region. As Cobban wrote:

Galbraith has never expressed any such regrets, and last November, he was openly scornful of Bush's late-term agreement to withdraw from Iraq completely. The revelation that for many years Galbraith had a quite undisclosed financial interest in the political breakup of Iraq may now further reduce the clout, and the ranks, of the remaining liberal hawks.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

The New York Times today details the unbelievably sleazy story of Peter Galbraith, one of the Democratic Party's leading so-called "liberal hawks" and a generally revered Wise Man of America's Foreign Policy Community. He was Ambassador to Croatia under the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s and, in March, 2009, the Obama administration (specifically, Richard Holbrooke, Galbraith's mentor) successfully pressured the U.N. to name Galbraith as the second-in-command in Afghanistan. The NYT does a good job today of adding some important details to the story, but it was actually uncovered by Norwegian investigative journalists and reported at length a month ago in pieces such as this one by Helena Cobban. In essence, this highly Serious man has corruptly concealed vast financial stakes in the very policies and positions he has spent years advocating while pretending to be an independent expert.

Tags: iraq, war, empire, conquerst, neomercantilsim, theft, hawks

The voice of broken soldiers

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:27:03 GMT

clipped by: gppixelworks

Clip Source: russiatoday.com

The voice of broken soldiers

In 2006, British soldier Martin Webster hit the headlines after being involved in a media scandal when he filmed British troops in Iraq beating up Iraqi youths

“Once the children started using grenades and firing RPGs, they certainly became a threat to our lives. Our underlying issue as infantry soldiers is to preserve life – our lives and civilians around. So once you pick up a weapon and you are going to use it – you become a target for us to either be captured, arrested or killed.”

“When video cameras became widely available I do not think that the [British] government accounted for the fact that the public is going to see how horrific the war is,” remembers Webster. “You’re fighting kids [in Iraq]. People find it very hard that their Western boys are fighting children. That is the horrible fact of war. Those bombers were in their teens.” He added that the notorious clip with British soldiers beating up Iraqi youth destroyed his life.

Tags: soldiers, war, iraq, children, rpg, grenades, teens, weapons, video

Our Tax Dollars At Work-Blackwater

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:30:53 GMT

clipped by: mcsmithblack
clipper's remarks: More from the article as follows:
"The Nisour Square shooting was the bloodiest and most controversial episode involving Blackwater in the Iraq war. At midday on Sept. 16, 2007, a Blackwater convoy opened fire on Iraqi civilians in the crowded intersection, spraying automatic weapons fire in ways that investigators later claimed was indiscriminate, and even launching grenades into a nearby school. Seventeen Iraqis were killed and dozens more were wounded."
"Those responses deeply worried Blackwater officials. Before the Nisour Square shootings, the company had operated in Iraq without a license largely because the Iraqi government had never enforced the rules. Being blocked from the country would have been costly — the State Department deal was Blackwater’s single biggest contract. From 2004 through today, the company has collected more than $1.5 billion for its work protecting American diplomats and providing air transportation for them inside Iraq."

"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Blackwater Said to Pursue Bribes to Iraq After 17 Died

Gary Jackson, left, then the company president, approved bribes for Iraqi officials, former executives say. When Cofer Black, then the vice chairman, center, learned of the scheme, he reportedly confronted the chairman, Erik Prince, right.

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Since 2001, Blackwater has undergone explosive growth, not only from security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also from classified work for the Central Intelligence Agency that included taking part in a now defunct program to assassinate leaders of Al Qaeda and to load missiles on Predator drones.

Obama Ally Code Pink Targets Children of Military Families for Psychological Abuse

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:29:56 GMT

clipped by: Jacob173

Clip Source: biggovernment.com

Obama Ally Code Pink Targets Children of Military Families for Psychological Abuse

This is not the first time Code Pink has waged psychological warfare on our troops and military families. Four years ago the group initiated a weekly protest at the main entrance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where Code Pink held signs reading, “Maimed for a lie” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton.” One Veterans Day, Code Pink protesters called the wounded warriors at Walter Reed war criminals and on other occasions have called them terrorists.

Benjamin, whose work prolonging the insurgency in Iraq with humanitarian aid and political support for the terrorists is believed by many military families to have led to the maiming and killing of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq, has now focused her energies on helping our terrorist enemies defeat America in Afghanistan by propagandizing against reinforcements for our troops.

[Video]

Lack of health insurance kills 2,000 vets each year

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:40:55 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Four times as many as die in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Clip Source: www.newser.com

(Newser) – Some 2,266 US veterans under 65 died last year because they didn't have health insurance, a team from Harvard Medical School estimates. Although most vets get medical care through the VA, there are about a million and a half, under 65, who were not wounded and are "too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care," one professor says.

Being uninsured ups your odds of dying by 40%, the researchers note. Hence the result: "Six preventable deaths a day," says a study co-author. "On this Veterans Day we should not only honor the nearly 500 soldiers who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the more than 2,200 veterans who were killed by our broken health insurance system," the associate professor says, according to ThinkProgress.

Tags: healthcare

Obama's wars are just like Bush's

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:36:26 GMT

clipped by: jasonkelly

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

On Iraq, the new president has faithfully followed the policy of George W. Bush, and now Iraq threatens breakdown.

Obama ran on a promise to fight the “right war” in Afghanistan. This policy rests upon the monumental assumption that victory can be found in a military campaign meant to alter the character of Central Asian political and religious society so as to remake it in the American image—what Condoleezza Rice defined a year ago as the Bush administration’s policy, and what is now apparently the Obama policy.

In the time-honored bureaucratic fashion, the president’s military advisers have offered him three troop options—one impossibly high, one suicidally small, and one, the one they actually want, in between, and “just right.”(In poker games, this is known as “forcing” the card onto the patsy.) The troops are already on the move. It will be some time before we see them again.

the military disaster that is now in the course of manufacture in the “Af-Pak” theater of unwinnable wars.

Tags: politics, war

10 Suicides a Month at Fort Hood

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:51:55 GMT

clipped by: leevardi

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

10 Suicides a Month at Ft. Hood -- War Stress Is Taking Soldiers to the Brink

The shooting tragedy at Fort Hood on Friday points to a much larger problem of combat stress and overdeployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.

PHOENIX, Arizona - While investigators probe for a motive behind the mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas last Thursday, in which an army psychiatrist killed 13 people, military personnel at the base are in shock as the incident "brings the war home".

Tragically, Fort Hood has also born much of the brunt from its heavy involvement in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Fort Hood soldiers have accounted for more suicides than any other army post since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. This year alone, the base is averaging over 10 suicides each month - at least 75 have been recorded through July of this year alone.

We Owe Veterans and Active Duty Warriors Better Than This

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:00:07 GMT

clipped by: nedhamson1
clipper's remarks: Cheney's old firm let their sub-contractors expose US soldiers and Iraqi's to a burning toxic waste pit that will cause years worth of injuries and illness. Cotracting out is good for profiteers like the former- Vice President and his buddies but an evil brew for our troops.

Clip Source: crooksandliars.com

Lawsuit Filed Against Iraq Contractors Charges Soldiers Were Poisoned

Contractors working for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan are fouling the nests of U.S. soldiers with pollution, poisoning the troops in the very bases meant to be their sanctuaries.

"burn pits" at U.S. bases in both military theaters that contain "every type of waste imaginable."

"Tires, lithium batteries, Styrofoam, paper, wood, rubber, petroleum-oil-lubricating products, metals, hydraulic fluids, munitions boxes, medical waste, biohazard materials (including human corpses), medical supplies (including those used during smallpox inoculations), paints, solvents, asbestos insulation, items containing pesticides, polyvinyl chloride pipes, animal carcasses, dangerous chemicals, and hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles."

How war profiteers are raping Iraq

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:18:01 GMT

clipped by: aperiozar
clipper's remarks: First invade them, kill more than 100 000 of their civilians, then profit from all the killings...

Clip Source: www.businesspundit.com

The 25 Most Vicious Iraq War Profiteers

Clip Source: www.businesspundit.com

The Iraq war is many things to different people. It is called a strategic blunder and a monstrous injustice and sometimes even a patriotic mission, much to the chagrin of rational human beings. For many big companies, however, the war is something far different: a lucrative cash-cow. The years-long, ongoing military effort has resurrected fears of the so-called “military-industrial complex.” Media pundits are outraged at private companies scooping up huge, no-questions-asked contracts to manufacture weapons, rebuild infrastructure, or anything else the government deems necessary to win (or plant its flag in Iraq). No matter what your stance on the war, it pays to know where your tax dollars are being spent.

Following is a detailed rundown of the 25 companies squeezing the most profit from this controversial conflict.

1. Halliburton

2. Veritas Capital Fund/DynCorp

3. Washington Group International

4. Environmental Chemical

5. Aegis

Clippers comparing our troops to terrorists

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:40:54 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

11-5-2009 6:42 PM

n2sooners

A terrorist by any other name.....

11-5-2009 6:48 PM

katsteevns

.......is a soldier.

Yesterday 3:37 PM

aperiozar

n2sooners, your inability to understand the point katsteevns is making reflects negatively on your IQ status.

A killer is a killer. If you dress him up in a military uniform and send him to invade Iraq he is still a killer. The fact that the American government pays his salary, simply makes it state terrorism, that's all.

Coming back to Fort Hood - it is a place where killers have been trained for decades. From this place many 'soldiers' have left who went on to kill numerous innocent civilians in far-away places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today 3:31 AM

blackroseheart

Popped just for the comment by "aperiozar" on 11/6/09

Well said!

Tags: terrorism, military, politics, radicals

ExxonMobil Wins War For Oil In Iraq!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:28:25 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Bidding war that is...for oil!

Clip Source: www.dailystar.com.lb

BAGHDAD: An ExxonMobil-led consortium has beaten rival Russian, French and Chinese groups to bag initial rights to develop Iraq’s West Qurna field, the Oil Ministry said, adding momentum to Iraq’s bid to unlock its oil riches. With reserves of 8.7 billion barrels, West Qurna is among the prized Iraqi fields eyed by Western oil majors as they face flat or lower output at home and stiff competition from Chinese and Indian oil companies in bidding for oilfields elsewhere.

“The consortium led by ExxonMobil, which includes Shell, won the contract to develop West Qurna Phase One oilfield,” Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said.

The initial deal was signed in Baghdad on Thursday but needs Cabinet approval before it can be finalized.

The 20-year contract is part of a raft of deals Iraq is close to formalizing in a bid to catapult itself to the world’s third largest oil producer after decades of war and economic decline.

This is a supergiant field

Texas military shooter a Muslim convert

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:52:37 GMT

clipped by: infidel70
clipper's remarks: As a group of soldiers were preparing to be deployed to Iraq from Fort Hood in a special commissioning ceremony today, the officer opened fire killing 12 follow soldiers and injuring 32 others. A local police officer who was on contract with the military to provide law enforcement at the base shot and killed the suspect. At least 2 others involved in the shooting have been apprehended. It is unclear as to the level of involvement of the 2 or whether or not other suspects are at large.

Clip Source: www.examiner.com

Although most responsible news outlets are withholding the name of the deceased shooter in the Fort Hood military base massacre in Texas, we can confirm that he was a military officer, an Army Major from Virginia, who had converted to Islam.

Sources state that the officer was to be deployed to the Iraq War and was extremely upset about it.

It is unclear as to any direct connection between the deceased suspect and Al Qaeda. We do know, however, that radical Muslims will often recruit military personnel not only for conversion to Islam but for carrying out acts of terrorism against the U.S. military...from within.

The objective is to infiltrate military bases and the ranks of the armed forces for the specific purpose of 'taking them out from within.'

Always a reliable source when it comes to Islamic terrorism, Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs, is providing continually updated information.

Poppy seller told to undergo risk assessment

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:55:05 GMT

clipped by: drgreenfingers

Clip Source: www.ananova.com

Poppy seller told to undergo risk assessment

An army veteran was told to stop selling poppies at a Portsmouth shopping centre unless he agreed to undergo a 'risk assessment'.

Jean Reno, who fought in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, was selling the poppies at Gunwharf Quays, in Portsmouth, when he was stopped by a security guard.

The 36 year-old was asked if he had permission to sell the plastic flowers, reports the Daily Telegraph.

When he refused to fill in a permission slip, which included a risk assessment, the guard asked him to leave the premises.

Mr Reno, from Southsea, Hants, raised more than £1,500 by selling poppies at the same venue last year.

He said: "I didn't require a risk assessment when I was sent to Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan, or Iraq. But I require one to stand on Gunwharf Quays property to sell poppies. I'm utterly disgusted."

'The Axis of Idiots' - note from a Retired Marine

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:58:09 GMT

clipped by: billpar
clipper's remarks: You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did to the Vietnamese. Iraq, like Vietnam, is another war that you were for, before you were against it.
John Murtha, you said our military was broken. You said we can't win militarily in Iraq. You accused United States Marines of cold-blooded murder without proof and said we should redeploy to Okinawa. Okinawa, John? And the Democrats call you their military expert! Are you sure you didn't suffer a traumatic brain injury while you were off building your war hero resume? You're a sad, pitiable, corrupt and washed up politician. You're not a Marine, sir. You wouldn't amount to a good pimple on a real Marine's butt. You're a phony and a disgrace. Run away, John.

Clip Source: us.mc1100.mail.yahoo.com

'The Axis of Idiots'

Jimmy Carter, you are the father of the Islamic Nazi movement. You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home, and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage. You're the runner-in-chief.

Bill Clinton, you played ring around the Lewinsky while the terrorists were at war with us. You got us into a fight with them in Somalia and then you ran from it. Your weak-willed responses to the USS Cole and the First Trade Center Bombing and Our Embassy Bombings emboldened the killers. Each time you failed to respond adequately, they grew bolder, until 9/11/2001.

John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute. You lied about American Soldiers
in Vietnam. Your military service, like your life, is more fiction than fact. You've accused our military of terrorizing women and children in Iraq. You called Iraq the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, the same words you used to describe Vietnam.. You're a fake

Tags: politics