As if to add insult to injury, with over 400 Iraqis killed in violence during the first two weeks of the newly sworn in Iraqi “government,” USSecretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a surprise one day visit to the newest US colony.

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000242.php


From Information Clearing House

The officer said: "US troops have the attitude of shoot first and ask questions later. They simply won't take any risk. - "I explained that their tactics were alienating the civil population and could lengthen the insurgency by a decade. Unfortunately, when we ex-plained our rules of engagement which are based around the principle of minimum force, the US troops just laughed."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8842.htm

US troops have shot and killed eight Iraqis, including five civilians, during an attack on a patrol.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BF689067-A19A-46C5-BE05-601CBDE17FB1.htm


From Information Clearing House

Iraq is a bloody no man's land. America has failed to win the war. But has it lost it?

"The battlefield is a great place for liars," Stonewall Jackson once said on viewing the aftermath of a battle in the American civil war.

By Patrick Cockburn

The great general meant that the confusion of battle is such that anybody can claim anything during a war and hope to get away with it. But even by the standards of other conflicts, Iraq has been particularly fertile in lies.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8845.htm

All three leaders of the "Coalition of the Willing" - the United States, Australia and Great Britain - had survived politically after a war that divided citizens and challenged long established principles of international law.

By Gary Hughes

The three leaders survived despite evidence - still emerging - that now seems to prove that the detailed justifications for the war were not only wrong, but in many cases known to be wrong or uncertain before the war began. This is the second battle for Iraq - the battle for the truth.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8839.htm

In the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country still struggles with high unemployment, inconsistent utility services and widespread poverty, a joint survey from the Iraqi government and United Nations indicates.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3239

Tom Friedman, the Imperial Chronicler

"The war in Iraq is the most important liberal, revolutionary US democracy- building project since the Marshall Plan. It is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad." (New York Times)

http://www.counterpunch.com/whitney05132005.html


From Information Clearing House

Blair Was Told of White House's Determination to Use Military Against Hussein.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8835.htm

The number of prisoners held in U.S. military detention centers in Iraq has risen without interruption since autumn, filling the centers to capacity and prompting commanders to embark on an unanticipated prison expansion plan.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3226

Body Counts

The morning news from Iraq today brought fresh chronicles of slaughter. Yes, even more than usual. American troops are waging an offensive they call Operation Matador in a remote stretch of desert near the Syrian border, while suicide bombs are going off in Iraq’s towns and cities, including the capital. Who’s winning? Who’s losing? Who knows?

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=3225