Dramatic Advances Sweep Iraq, Boosting Support for Democracy (ABC News/BBC/NHK National Survey of Iraq)

Mar 16, 2009 - Dramatic Advances Sweep Iraq, Boosting Support for Democracy ABC News/BBC/NHK National Survey of Iraq ANALYSIS by GARY LANGER Dramatic advances in public attitudes are sweeping Iraq, with declining violence, rising economic well-being and improved services lifting optimism, fueling confidence in public institutions and bolstering support for democracy. The gains in the latest ABC News/BBC/NHK poll represent a stunning reversal of the spiral of despair caused by Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. The sweeping rebound, extending initial improvements first seen a year ago, marks no less than the opportunity for a new future for Iraq and its people. - 3 Comments

More on Oil in Iraq......

Jun 22, 2008 - As many of you know, lately I have been discussing my beliefs on why I do not believe that Oil was/is our main motivation for Iraq. A recent post on Citizen was used to try and show that the big oil Companies were winning large contracts and this was the reason for the war, but I argued that this was not showed. This discussion was here: http://www.citizensugar.com/1722395#comments Anyhow, I have more information which I believe needs to be brought to light: Article 1 (From the Independent in the UK): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/oil-giants-return-to-iraq-851036.html This article raises some new details that The New York Times seemed not to go into: a. - 17 Comments

The Toll of Iraq on U.S. Soldiers

Jun 12, 2009 - On Veterans Day, A Sobering Look At The Iraq War's Toll Although average U.S. soldier in Iraq is older than average Vietnam soldier, those being killed and injured are disproportionately young. In-Depth Coverage By Gil Kaufman November 12 marks the observed Veterans Day — and also the 25th anniversary of the dedication of "The Wall," the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. - 7 Comments

I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq

Dec 02, 2008 - By Matthew Alexander/Washington Post Sunday, November 30, 2008; B01 I should have felt triumphant when I returned from Iraq in August 2006. Instead, I was worried and exhausted. My team of interrogators had successfully hunted down one of the most notorious mass murderers of our generation, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the mastermind of the campaign of suicide bombings that had helped plunge Iraq into civil war. - 4 Comments

Under Iraq Troop Pact, US Can't Leave Any Forces Behind (Public)

Nov 19, 2008 - November 19, 2008 by McClatchy Newspapers by Leila Fadel BAGHDAD - The status of forces of agreement [1] between the United States and Iraq is now called the withdrawal agreement, and that's exactly what it is: an ultimate end to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. A demonstrator displays a poster of Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a march in Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, November 19, 2008. Hundreds of people took to the streets of Basra on Wednesday to support the recently signed security agreement between the Iraqi and the U.S. - 1 Comment

Final Text of Iraq Pact Reveals a US Debacle (public)

Oct 23, 2008 - Published on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by Inter Press Service by Gareth Porter WASHINGTON - The final draft of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces agreement on the U.S. military presence represents an even more crushing defeat for the policy of the George W. Bush administration than previously thought, the final text reveals. - 0 Comments

Secret British Memo Says US Planned to Provoke Iraq

Jun 21, 2009 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/21/iraq-inquiry-tony-blair-bush A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein. The memo, written on 31 January 2003, almost two months before the invasion and seen by the Observer, confirms that as the two men became increasingly aware UN inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they had to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second resolution legitimising military action. Bush told Blair the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in UN colours over Iraq with fighter cover". - 6 Comments

Stephen Colbert goes "commando" in Iraq...

Jun 09, 2009 - By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON Published: June 7, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/arts/television/08colb.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=stephen%20colbert&st=cse CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — It was Sunday night in Baghdad, and President Obama was ordering Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the American troops here, to shave Stephen Colbert’s head. (Not to give everything away, but the general is not as brutal with an electric razor as one would expect a bald man to be; Mr. Colbert’s hairdresser, on the other hand, has a merciless streak.) War, as things go, is a fairly unironic exercise. - 16 Comments

Cheney: No 'evidence' of Iraq, 9/11 link

Jun 02, 2009 - Former Vice President Dick Cheney says there was “never any evidence” that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq played any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. “On the question of whether or not Iraq was involved in 9/11, there was never any evidence to prove that,” Cheney said during an interview Monday night with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. - 9 Comments

U.S. Fears Iraq Won't Keep Up Rebuilt Projects

Nov 21, 2009 - BAGHDAD — In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges. But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people. The projects run the gamut — from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in Nasiriya that works at a fraction of its intended capacity because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate, to a farmers’ market that farmers cannot decide how to share, to a large American hospital closed immediately after it was handed over to Iraq because the government was unable to supply it with equipment, a medical staff or electricity. - 6 Comments