Nine-Second Coverage For Dozens of Dead Iraqi Women and Children.
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/


From Information Clearing House

A US fighter jet bombed a crowd gathered around a burned Humvee on the edge of a western provincial capital, killing 25 people, including 18 children.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101805J.shtml

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

10/17/05

The situation in Iraq has so deteriorated that a civil war is now the most likely outcome. Ironically, a rejection of the constitution might possibly have diminished the chances of such an all-out internecine bloodbath. In sharp contrast to the president's 'happy talk to victory' strategy, a constitutional defeat could have compelled a start for genuine Iraqi self-determination. A conclave of representatives from all of Iraq's diverse tribes and ethnic and religious groups meeting on their own timetable would have allowed true consensus-building. In such a grand council, the Iraqis would have had a variety of possible governing structures to choose from, not just an imposed U.S.-style federation. More than likely, they would have eventually chosen some type of looser confederation or even a partition...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1587


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Independent [UK]

10/18/05

Fears that British forces in Iraq are reaching 'breaking point' grew last night as the first hard evidence of a crisis in morale began to emerge. Army sources are warning that the mood among soldiers of all ranks is at its gloomiest since the invasion in March 2003. The outlook has become darker as the war proves increasingly intractable and much more dangerous than troops had expected. A string of incidents in the past week has contributed to the sense of crisis...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320343.ece


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The White House set up, without announcement, a group to market a war in Iraq in August 2002, seven months before the March 2003 invasion, according to an article published by the New York Times on Sunday.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10640.htm

A senior United Nations official has accused US-led coalition troops of depriving Iraqi civilians of food and water in breach of humanitarian law.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10627.htm

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Swiss urged to intervene over abuses in Iraq :

The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food has called on Switzerland to condemn "flagrant" human-rights violations by coalition forces in Iraq. Jean Ziegler says civilian populations are being denied access to food and water in clear breach of the Geneva Conventions.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10626.htm

Last year, the VA spent $4.3 billion on PTSD disability payments, a number which it hopes to reduce this year by revoking PTSD benefits for many veterans. According to Gene Gerard, this will be the final insult to soldiers who were asked to fight a war in Iraq on false premises.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101705R.shtml

Iraqi election officials said today that they were investigating what they described as "unusually high" vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where as many as 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution, raising the possibility that the results of Saturday's referendum could be called into question.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101705Q.shtml

"I keep hearing on the news that this past Saturday was a relatively 'peaceful' day in Iraq. I hate to spoil CNN's euphoria over the vote on the referendum, but 5 soldiers and a Marine were killed by IEDs on Saturday. I wonder if the families of those tragically slain on the 'peaceful' day are celebrating the turn-out on Saturday? I know I don't think that it was worth Casey dying so the people of Iraq can vote in a theocracy." - Cindy Sheehan

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101705Y.shtml



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan