World-News

Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel report for the Los Angeles Times, "The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the US force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082407A.shtml

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/24/3390/



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=James+Glanz
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Stephen+Farrell

P. Strobel and Leila Fadel report for McClatchy Newspapers, "A new assessment of Iraq by US intelligence agencies provides little evidence that the American troop 'surge' has accomplished its goals and predicts that the US-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki will become 'more precarious' in the months ahead."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082407K.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=troop+surge
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=al-Maliki
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Leila+Fadel
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=P.+Strobel

The Associated Press reports: "President Bush should start bringing home some troops by Christmas to show the Baghdad government that the US commitment in Iraq is not open-ended, a prominent Republican senator said Thursday. The move puts John Warner, a former Navy secretary and one-time chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at odds with the president."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082407J.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=John+Warner

CounterPunch
by Kathy Kelly

08/23/07

A versatile and talented child, Sonia loves to play the trumpet and perform classical Indian dances, the latter being somewhat unusual for a Muslim girl. When she was eight years old, shortly before the U.S. and the U.K. attacked Iraq, she wrote a poem urging respect for the rights of Iraqi children whose lives and hopes would be destroyed by war. The poem reached many people, intensifying efforts of peace activists to stop the war before it started. Sonia continued her efforts on behalf of Iraqi children, even founding an organization called ‘Children Against War’...

http://www.counterpunch.org/kelly08232007.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kathy+Kelly

LewRockwell.Com
by Robert Higgs

08/24/07

The headline of an August 22, 2007, article in the New York Times reads, ‘Citing Vietnam, Bush Warns of Carnage if U.S. Leaves Iraq.’ Readers with live brain cells must be stunned by such a warning. What, exactly, does President Bush imagine is happening every day in Iraq now? Does he envision scenes of social tranquility and cooperative harmony amid the peaceful palms of Mesopotamia? And what, one wonders, does he suppose was going on earlier in Vietnam, as the U.S. forces extended their unwelcome stay year after grisly year? At times, observing the president and listening to his speeches, one simply doesn’t know what to make of him. Is he actually as detached from reality as he appears to be? And do his handlers really believe that at this late date, the American people will take seriously the rhetoric his speech writers persist in putting into his mouth?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higgs65.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=com/higgs

Guardian [UK]
by Matthew Yglesias

08/23/07

For months now, many conservatives have been fundamentally positioning themselves for the post-war era, readying the arguments that will blame the failure of the venture in Iraq on its opponents rather than its architects. That Bush himself has chosen to join them is, perhaps, on some level the clearest reflection of the reality that the president knows perfectly well that the war is unwinnable, and blame-shifting now the best hope for saving his historical legacy...

http://tinyurl.com/37nbdt


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Matthew+Yglesias

Bush is facing problems domestically and if the Iraqis have not delivered on the benchmarks set out by Congress, the president has to find someone to blame and try to lower expectations. Bush has to be seen to put more pressure on Maliki to satisfy his domestic audience."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2154013,00.html


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=al-Maliki

http://tinyurl.com/2w7c4t



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