World-News

MSNBC

11/22/09

Leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, a newspaper reported Sunday. Britain’s Sunday Telegraph published details of private statements made by senior British military figures claiming plans were in place months before the March 2003 invasion, but were so badly drafted they left troops poorly equipped and ill-prepared for the conflict...

http://tinyurl.com/yfm5xlc



Iraq war inquiry will be no whitewash, Chilcot says

BBC News [UK]

11/22/09

The man in charge of the inquiry examining events surrounding the Iraq war has said his committee will not produce a report that is a ‘whitewash.’ Sir John Chilcot, a retired career civil servant, has promised to produce a ‘full and insightful’ account. Evidence from senior government figures will start on Tuesday and politicians, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be called early in 2010...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8373202.stm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Tony+Blair

The "appalling" errors that contributed to Britain's failure in Iraq are disclosed in the most detailed and damning set of leaks to emerge on the conflict.

http://snipurl.com/tdc9a



Army faces inquiry over 'Battle of Danny Boy' torture claims

Evidence indicating torture and mutilation allegedly includes close-range bullet wounds, the removal of eyes and stab wounds, human rights lawyers have claimed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6926293.ece



Inquiry into 'rape and torture' by UK troops as Iraqis' lawyer claims 32 cases are tip of the iceberg

One Iraqi man alleges two British soldiers raped him, while others say they were striped naked, abused and photographed.

http://snipurl.com/tdc9t


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mutilation
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=abuse

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Chuck Luther, who served 12 years in the military, is a veteran of two deployments to Iraq, where he was a reconnaissance scout in the 1st Cavalry Division. The former sergeant was based at Fort Hood, Texas, where he lives today. 'I see the ugly,' Luther told Truthout. 'I see soldiers beating their wives and trying to kill themselves all the time, and most folks don't want to look at this, including the military.'"

http://www.truthout.org/1121091



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=deploy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Dahr+Jamail

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/18



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Guantanamo
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=interrogat
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=David+Brown

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birth-defects






http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Falluja

By Craig Murray

Finally I have indisputable documentary evidence that the British government had a positive policy of using intelligence from torture in the War on Terror, and that the policy was personally directed by Jack Straw.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23981.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jack+Straw
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Global+War+on+Terror
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=torture
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Craig+Murray

Das britische Verteidungsministerium untersucht 33 Fälle von Mißhandlungen an irakischen Gefangenen durch britische Armeeangehörige. Laut Medienberichten, die sich auf Aussagen von Anwälten stützen, könnte die Zahl in die Hunderte gehen.

http://www.heise.de/tp/blogs/8/146556



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Abu+Ghraib
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Folter

Antonia Juhasz, AlterNet: "Last week, ExxonMobil became the first U.S. oil company in 35 years to sign an oil-production contract with the government of Iraq. As I write, several other contracts with the world‚'s largest oil companies are being finalized, and more are expected when a new negotiating round kicks off in Baghdad on Dec. 11."

http://www.truthout.org/1114092


Huge Rise in Birth Defects in Falluja

Martin Chulov, The Guardian UK: "Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting."

http://www.truthout.org/1114091



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Exxon
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Falluja
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Antonia+Juhasz
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Martin+Chulove

Sari Gelzer, Truthout: "In September 2007, Blackwater Worldwide security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. The New York Times is reporting that following the massacre Blackwater Worldwide executives bribed Iraqi officials with secret payments of about $1 million in an attempt to maintain the company's endangered ability to operate in the country. The deadly shooting marked a turning point in the Iraqi government's growing concern over the reckless actions of the security firm and led to their refusal to allow them to continue operating in the country."

http://www.truthout.org/topstories/111209sg03



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Sari+Gelzer

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/middleeast/11blackwater.html



The plunder of Iraq's oil

As the direct result of the Iraq war, major American and other transnational energy conglomerates are now gaining control over some the largest oilfields in the world.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/pers-n11.shtml


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Iraq+oil
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Big+Oil