World-News

Apologists for Bush may paint a rosy picture of Iraq's prospects. But the facts tell a different story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/iraq-bush-maliki-elections


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bush+legacy
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=James+Denselow

Maya Schenwar, Truthout: "Going on its seventh year, the Iraq war has taken its toll on not only the US military, but also on the states's National Guard units, which were called up when Congress passed the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) against Iraq. Now a growing state-level movement is working to keep the Guard at home. Its logic: The AUMF's goals have been fulfilled. The authorization's explicit purposes were to defend the US against the 'threat posed by Iraq' and to enforce UN Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq's alleged ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein - along with his supposed threat - is gone, and the UN resolutions are no longer relevant, so there's no longer a mandate to keep troops in Iraq."

http://www.truthout.org/021109J



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Maya+Schenwar

Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "The political maneuvering between President Barack Obama and his top field commanders over withdrawal from Iraq has taken a sudden new turn with the leak by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus - and a firm denial by a White House official - of an account of the Jan. 21 White House meeting suggesting that Obama had requested three different combat troop withdrawal plans with their respective associated risks, including one of 23 months."

http://www.truthout.org/021009A



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Obama
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Petraeus
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=CENTCOM
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=withdraw+Iraq
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Gareth+Porter

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Among things that have not changed in Iraq is one that I hope never changes. After a four-year-long absence, each of my meetings here with former friends and fresh acquaintances seems to suggest that adversity has taken its toll on everything except Iraqi hospitality and Iraqi generosity."

http://www.truthout.org/020809A



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

John Hanna, The Associated Press: "The Bush administration turned the US military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday."

http://www.truthout.org/020709A



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=propaganda
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Afghanistan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Bush+legacy

The two episodes highlight the difficulties the Americans and Iraqis are encountering as they try to comply with the security agreement's requirement that American troops have "full coordination with Iraqi authorities," particularly in places where there are still active counterinsurgency operations.

http://tinyurl.com/d3p48v


From Information Clearing House



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=security+agreement

By Jacob G. Hornberger

After the WMDs failed to materialize, American Christians had an option: They could have called for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops. Instead, they did the exact opposite. They supported the continued occupation of Iraq, with full knowledge that U.S. troops would have to continue killing Iraqis in order to solidify the occupation.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21921.htm



War Reporters Used To Prefer Morality Over Impartiality

By Robert Fisk

In an age when the BBC can refuse help to the suffering because of its "impartiality" - whether we still report war with the same power and passion as the men and women of an earlier generation.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21924.htm



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Jacob+G.+Hornberger
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Robert+Fisk

Even with reducing the number of deployed combat troops to 75,000 worldwide, the CBO estimates that the Defense Department faces recurring personnel costs of at least $69 billion a year, coupled with other equipment repair costs.

http://tinyurl.com/asf9h5


From Information Clearing House



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

Empire Burlesque
by Chris Floyd

02/03/09
http://tinyurl.com/d2fh6v


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=America+elite
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=imperial
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=bipartisan
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Chris+Floyd

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/02/05-8



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