World-News

Several Iraqi power plants are idle due to shortages in fuel supplies, exacerbating blackouts across the country.

http://snipurl.com/1szg6


From Information Clearing House

Polish Prime Minister-designate Donald Tusk said his future government would seek to end the nation's military mission in Iraq next year.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/10/31/ap4284646.html


From Information Clearing House

Michael Schwartz, writing for TomDispath.com, says: "Why is occupying Iraq so 'vital' to those 'national security interests' of ours? None of this makes sense if you don't have the patience to drill a little beneath the surface and into the past; if you don't take into account that, as former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz once put it, Iraq 'floats on a sea of oil'; and if you don't consider the decades-long US campaign to control, in some fashion, Middle East energy reservoirs. If not, then you can't understand the incredible tenaciousness with which George W. Bush and his top officials have pursued their Iraqi dreams or why - now that those dreams are clearly so many nightmares - even the Democrats can't give up the ghost."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/103107F.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Michael+Schwartz

Sinan Salaheddin of The Associated Press reports: "The Iraqi government on Tuesday approved draft legislation lifting immunity for foreign private security companies, sending the measure to parliament, a spokesman said."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/103007S.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=contractors
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Blackwater

Sue Pleming, reporting for Reuters, writes, "Facing staff shortages in Iraq, the US State Department announced on Friday that diplomats would have no choice but to accept one-year postings in the hostile environment or face losing their jobs."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102907B.shtml

Relax und Ruhe!

USA: Die Aufmerksamkeit für den Irak hat beträchtlich nachgelassen. Indessen ist das Land auf dem Weg zum Warlord-Staat.

http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/26/26505/1.html

Asia Times
by Dahr Jamail

10/25/07

They call them ’search and avoid’ missions in Iraq, where morale among US troops is falling and some soldiers are doing their best to avoid contact with the enemy. Instead of patrolling for insurgents, some servicemen say they’ve stayed alive by parking their vehicles in safe areas and radioing in routine reports of no contact...

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ26Ak07.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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

Huffington Post
by Arianna Huffington

10/25/07

Taking a page from America’s retailers, President Bush is getting a jump on the coming battle over Iraq war funding. On Monday, he added an additional $45.9 billion in supplemental war funding to the $150.5 billion he’d already requested, and then turned up the heat on Congress to sign off on the $196.4 billion before heading home for the holidays. Only 60 more browbeating days until Christmas! And you have to give Bush credit. Despite record-low approval ratings, he’s unabashedly playing — and winning — the PR game on the war. By incrementally adding to his funding request, he made his ongoing plundering of our treasury to pursue his disastrous Iraq policy seem relatively modest. The headlines all focused on the $46 billion he’s just added to the tab — not the $196 billion he’s really after...

http://tinyurl.com/yqcbqt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Arianna+Huffington

MSNBC

10/25/07

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that U.S. objections would not stop Turkey from crossing into Iraq to eliminate Kurdish rebels. The Turkish military said it had killed more than 30 insurgents who were poised to launch an attack, near the Iraqi border. President Abdullah Gul said Turkey is running out of patience with the Kurdish separatist attacks. A steady stream of U.S.-made Turkish fighter jets roared into the sky near the Iraqi border, apparently loaded with bombs...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21466566/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The "national day of action," sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice coalition, attracted throngs of protesters in cities from Boston and New Orleans to Chicago and Los Angeles on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Senate's vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27227364.htm


From Information Clearing House