More from War on Iraq ”
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Wounded Vets Trade One Hell for Another
By Aaron Glantz, IPS News
Top Bush administration officials knew about problems like those at Walter Reed, but they had other priorities.

That the “Iraqi government” has failed to meet crucially important goals is an almost universally-accepted narrative in the U.S., but that doesn’t make it true. A more accurate statement is that the Iraqi government has failed to meet the goals of the hawks in Washington who started this war: a long-term agreement for maintaining a U.S. military presence in Iraq, a “pro-U.S.” government in the Middle East and the radical privatization of Iraq’s economy, especially its energy sector.
Obscured by the ‘failure’ narrative is the fact that there is no unified Iraqi government working towards a common set of goals. Iraq’s executive branch — the members of which weren’t directly elected by Iraqi voters — favors the same policy-mix as the Bush administration, while a majority in Iraq’s elected legislature opposes it. It’s axiomatic in public policy analysis that it’s always better to do nothing about an issue than it is to enact some legislation that will ultimately cause more harm than good. Viewed from that perspective, at least the Iraqi nationalists in the country’s parliament have been quite successful. They’ve resisted enormous pressures and successfully blocked key U.S. goals when they perceived them to conflict with Iraqi interests. This is especially courageous given the fact that they rely on U.S. occupation forces to maintain the relative security of the Green Zone in which they work.
More on this from Robert Dreyfuss and Ammar Karim. Also this week: opium production takes off in Iraq; Juan Cole on efforts to integrate former Baathists into the government; Amanda Marcotte on vets committing homicides; Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily on the state of security in Iraq, and more. Dig in.
-Joshua Holland
Editor, War on Iraq special coverage
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Good News From Iraq: Opium Agriculture Takes Off
By Patrick Cockburn, Independent UK
War-hawks say the “liberal media” don’t report positive progress from the edges of Empire.
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Anti-Occupation Politicos Gain Clout in Iraq
By Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation
Iraqi nationalists, opposed to the U.S. presence, are slowly gaining ground.
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On Iraq, Front-Running Dem Senators’ Records Match
By Maya Schenwar, TruthOut.org
Obama and Clinton have shared the same stance on all major Iraq votes since Obama entered the Senate.
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Iraq: Less Violent But Not Less Hellish
By Dahr Jamail, Ali Al-Fadhily, IPS News
Looking around Iraq, one finds a ruined country.
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Iraqi Shiite, Sunni MPs Sign New ‘Unity’ Pact
By Ammar Karim, Middle East Online
Parties demand oil, gas, other natural resources should remain Iraqi treasures, triggering Kurds’ anger.
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New Iraqi Law on Baath Worries Ex-Baathists
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
The passage of the new law will be hailed by the War party as a major achievement. But as usual they’re misreading what really happened.
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Sensationalist Media Did Pentagon’s Bidding in Fake Naval ‘Provocation’ with Iran
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
National security expert: This is the “most egregious case of sensationalist journalism” in the service of Pentagon and Bush administration.
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Iraq Vets Commit PTSD-Fueled Murders in the Wake of Returning Home
By Amanda Marcotte, Pandagon
Unlike the majority of civilians who commit murder, the majority of the 121 veterans documented by the Times reporters had no criminal history.
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White House Falsely Claims Bush Supports Iran NIE, While He Trashes It Abroad
By Amanda Terkel, Think Progress
In private meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush disowned the U.S. intelligence community’s judgments.
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