Facing the highest ever casualty rate for servicewomen in its history, America is considering making official what is already a reality - allowing women to fight on the front line in war.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3150

On June 19, Lt. Dawn Halfaker and soldiers from her military police platoon were on a reconnaissance patrol in Baqouba, Iraq, when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded inside their armored Humvee, grievously wounding two of the soldiers inside. Dazed and covered in blood, Halfaker mustered the energy to give an order to her driver. "Get out of the kill zone!" she shouted. Halfaker's right arm was loosely connected to her torso.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3149

The military gave Sharon Boyd all the things that life in Pottstown, Montgomery County, couldn't: economic stability, career advancement, and the chance to travel. But after 18 years in the service, Boyd was sleeping in her Oldsmobile Royale, battling post-traumatic stress disorder and a cocaine addiction.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3148

by John Prados, TomPaine.com

A British memo does what American politicians won't: undermine the president's legal authority to wage war in Iraq.

http://www.tompaine.com/20050502/articles/a_fig_leaf_of_legality.php

by Todd Gitlin, TomPaine.com

Thirty years ago, Vietnam war protesters were united by the unequivocal horrors of that war. But in Iraq, there are too many unanswered questions to rally the anti-warriors.

http://www.tompaine.com/20050502/articles/where_have_all_the_antiwarriors_gone.php

The uncensored U.S. report
Full Text
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8713.htm

The man who led Britain's armed forces into Iraq has said that Tony Blair and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, will join British soldiers in the dock if the military are ever prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8712.htm

'I would never do anything against the advice of the Attorney General," the Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted. Yet he did do something against the Attorney General's advice. He helped the Americans invade Iraq and replace its Ba'athist regime.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8714.htm

INSIDE Downing Street Tony Blair had gathered some of his senior ministers and advisers for a pivotal meeting in the build-up to the Iraq war. It was 9am on July 23, 2002, eight months before the invasion began and long before the public was told war was inevitable.

Michael Smith

The discussion that morning was highly confidential. As minutes of the proceedings, headed “Secret and strictly personal — UK eyes only”, state: “This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8710.htm


The secret Downing Street memo:

SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8709.htm

http://boston.indymedia.org/otherpress/display/1083/index.php


Informant: billder