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31/7/07
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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In America’s War On Iraq – At Least 655,000 + +
tinyurl.com/usq4x
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 3653
icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$447,963,144,832
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
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Are you brave enough to watch?
Salee Story
2 Minute Video
The failure of the media to tell stories such as Salee’s has deprived the American people of the ability make informed judgments about US foreign policy. Click to view
bravenewfilms.org/blog/8546-july-23rd-salee-story?play=1
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The Liberator
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
An agreement was struck with OPEC to price oil in U.S. dollars exclusively for all worldwide transactions. This gave the dollar a special place among world currencies and in essence “backed” the dollar with oil. In return, the U.S. promised to protect the various oil-rich kingdoms in the Persian Gulf against threat of invasion or domestic coup.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18102.htm
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Impeachment as Political Solution to Iraq War
By James Rothenberg
Improperly framing Iraq as a war benefits those responsible for it and obscures the clearest path to a saner future. If instead Iraq was framed as the armed assault that it was (billed as “Shock and Awe”), there is a logical, expedient political solution at our disposal – impeachment.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18101.htm
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Who owns you?
George Carlin – 3 Minute Video:
The game is rigged! Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18100.htm
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Congress Eyes Pay Raise For Itself
By Rob Hotakainen
After raising the minimum wage by 70 cents an hour this week, many members of Congress are ready to give themselves a pay increase of roughly $4,400 per year. That would take their annual salaries to nearly $170,000.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18103.htm
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European Hypocrisy
A Palestinian View
By Saifedean Ammous
The tragic aspect of Europe’s policy with regard to Palestine today is not just that is practically indistinguishable from the policy of the US, but that it comes bundled with great self-righteousness and an unshakable belief that it is not only the correct policy, but is also vastly morally superior to anything anyone else is doing. The financial aid provided by Europe is the major rationale supporting this smugness.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18099.htm
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Iraq: At least 13 killed in another bloody day of U.S. occupation:
Police retrieved the bodies of six people, shot and tortured, from the Tigris River in the city of Kut, 170 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM146978.htm
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Britain will take troops out of Iraq regardless of US, says PM :
Gordon Brown has paved the way for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by telling George Bush he would not delay their exit in order to show unity with the United States.
news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2819582.ece
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Iraqi president tries to save government :
Iraq’s Kurdish president was fighting Tuesday to save the Shiite-dominated government from possible collapse, wheedling key Sunni Arab politicians to set aside threats to quit the Cabinet and counseling the prime minister to “seriously consider” their demands.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070731/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_politics
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Kurdish leader warns of ‘civil war’ over Kirkuk :
The leader of Iraq’s Kurdish region warned Tuesday of a “real civil war” If the central government does not implement a constitutional clause on the future of Kirkuk, the oil-rich city claimed by the Kurds.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3432211,00.html
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Iraq: Army chief resigns, report :
The Iraqi army chief of staff, Babaker Zebari, has tendered his resignation to the prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to a report on Kurdish news portal Bayamunir. Zebari reportedly told the site that he had taken the decision “as a sign of protest at the attitude of the prime minister and his continuing meddling in the work of the head of the armed forces.”
tinyurl.com/2cb8lg
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“Violence has destroyed my family” :
Housekeeper and mother of three Anisah Kaseb, 58, says the relentless violence in Iraq has damaged her family psychologically: Her younger son committed suicide and her daughter now requires psychological help.
tinyurl.com/2d7ehh
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U.S. Toll in Iraq Lowest in 8 Months :
The U.S. military said Tuesday that a Marine was killed in fighting west of the capital, bringing the American death toll for July to at least 73 – still the lowest in eight months
www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6818040,00.html
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A Little Easier to Occupy from the Air: U.S.
Air Force and Navy aircraft dropped five times as many bombs in Iraq during the first six months of this year as over the first half of 2006, according to official information.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38726
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Appeal court quashes media gag over White House meeting:
An attempt to prevent the press from repeating British concerns about US military tactics in Iraq, including the killing of civilians in Falluja and President Bush’s alleged suggestion that the offices of the Arabic satellite TV station al-Jazeera should be bombed, was quashed by the appeal court yesterday.
www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2138236,00.html
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Rice: Iran Biggest Threat To U.S. Interests In The Middle East :
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that Iran poses the biggest threat to her country’s interests in the Middle East, as she begins an important regional tour on Tuesday aimed at uniting U.S. allies against Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah.
tinyurl.com/29fe9l
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Hamas leader shows documents proving PNA’s corruption :
Mahmoud al-Zahhar, a prominent leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), showed on Tuesday documents verifying that President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is corrupted.
tinyurl.com/yvdn9p
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Methodists concerned with Israeli occupation:
The New England Conference of the United Methodist Church is advising congregations and individuals to divest their holdings from a wide variety of American corporations that the United Methodists believe support the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
tinyurl.com/yp7f4z
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Fifteen militants killed in fierce Pakistan clashes:
Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 15 pro-Taliban militants in intense fighting in a troubled tribal zone bordering Afghanistan on Tuesday, the army said.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070731/wl_afp/pakistanafghanistan
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Kabul: Suicide bomber hits coalition convoy:
A suicide car bomber blew himself up near a convoy of US-led coalition troops on the outskirts of Kabul today, leaving up to seven civilians and three soldiers wounded, Afghan officials said.
tinyurl.com/2fzy2w
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Taliban set new deadline after killing second South Korean hostage:
The hardline Islamic militia wants the government to free at least eight Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails, a demand negotiators have rejected.
tinyurl.com/25r2dl
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Invasion, what invasion? Sorry tale of CIA bungles:
THE CIA thought it had a scoop in 1994. Its friends in the Guatemalan Army were bugging the bedroom of Marilyn McAfee, the US envoy to the country, whom they regarded as suspect because she was fighting human rights abuses by the regime.
tinyurl.com/28zgz8
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Security hearings called “Kafkaesque” :
Terrorism suspects held under virtual house arrest in Britain suffer “Kafkaesque” treatment in special courts that review secret evidence against them, a committee of legislators said on Monday.
uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2936079920070730
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British students jailed for possessing “extremist” literature:
Such is the atmosphere created by politicians and the media after the attempted terror bombings in London and Glasgow earlier this month that there was very little opposition in the media to what are police state measures-the jailing of these youths merely for downloading material readily available on the Internet
www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jul2007/terr-j31.shtml
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Paulson: US should boost debt limit :
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday said the United States may be unable to pay its bills this fall unless Congress raises the government’s borrowing authority, now capped at $8.965 trillion.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/debt_limit_3
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U.S. Foreclosure Filings Surge:
“We could easily surpass 2 million foreclosure filings by the end of the year, which would represent a year-over-year increase of over 65 percent,” said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.
www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/30/ap3968151.html
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Study: More People Expected to Default on Mortgage: Subprime,
“Alt-A”, jumbo interest-only and option adjustable-rate mortgages account for about 25 percent of all outstanding mortgage debt – about $2.5 trillion. Of that amount, about $1.4 trillion is at serious risk of default, Zandi says.
www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2007072702?OpenDocument
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30/7/07
Information Clearing House Newsletter
Half of Iraq “In Absolute Poverty”
07/30/07
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Read this newsletter online tinyurl.com/dy6yy
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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In America’s War On Iraq – At Least 655,000 + +
tinyurl.com/usq4x
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 3651
icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$447,679,991,844
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
===
Iraq: One In Seven Joins Human Tide Spilling Into Neighbouring Countries
Patrick Cockburn in Sulaymaniyah
Two thousand Iraqis are fleeing their homes every day. It is the greatest mass exodus of people ever in the Middle East and dwarfs anything seen in Europe since the Second World War. Four million people, one in seven Iraqis, have run away, because if they do not they will be killed.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18097.htm
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Half of Iraq “In Absolute Poverty”
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Up to eight million Iraqis require immediate emergency aid, with nearly half of the population living in “absolute poverty”, according to a report by Oxfam and a coalition of Iraqi groups.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18091.htm
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U.S. Drops Baghdad Electricity Reports
By Noam N. Levey and Alexandra Zavis
The daily length of time that residents have power has dropped. The figure is considered a key indicator of quality of life
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18093.htm
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Why I Returnd to the Antiwar Movement
Video Interview Cindy Sheehan
Video blogger Davis Fleetwood asks a recently reinvigorated Cindy Sheehan about her candidacy, impeachment, Scooter Libby’s pardon, the military-industrial complex and more.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18098.htm
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Forget Third Parties – It Ain’t Gonna Happen
Hijack The Democrats
By David Michael Green
Huge numbers of Americans are disgusted with both the Republican and the Democratic parties right now, and are hungrily clamoring for a third alternative. I know, I know – imagine that! What’s not to like about one party that stands for greed, murder and destruction, and another that stands by for greed, murder and destruction?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18094.htm
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“Democracy For the Few”
A Review By Stephen Lendman
Of the world’s 100 largest economies, 51 are corporations, more US-based ones than from any other country. Noam Chomsky calls them “private tyrannies.” – They’re run by wealthy and powerful figures comprising, along with other elites, the top 1% of the nation’s affluent. Today they own 40 – 50% of the country’s wealth in the form of stocks, bonds, land, natural resources, business assets and other investments. In contrast, 90% of American families have little or no net worth after mortgage and other debt burdens are taken into account.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18095.htm
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A Warning to Tony Blair
By Uri Avnery
Last week, James Wolfensohn gave a long interview to Haaretz. He poured out his heart and summed up, with amazing openness, his months as special envoy of the US, Russia, the EU and the UN (the “Quartet”) in this country – the same job entrusted now to Tony Blair. The interview could have been entitled “A Warning to Tony”.Among other revelations, he disclosed that he was practically fired by the clique of Neo-cons, whose ideological leader is Paul Wolfowitz.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18096.htm
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Guillotining Gaza
By Noam Chomsky
Last month’s chaos may mark the beginning of the end of the Palestinian Authority. That might not be an altogether unfortunate development for Palestinians, given US-Israeli programmes of rendering it nothing more than a quisling regime to oversee these allies’ utter rejection of an independent state.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18092.htm
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Iraq: At least 19 killed as U.S. occupation grinds on:
A car bomb killed six people and wounded 31 in al-Tayaran Square in a mainly Shi’ite area of central Baghdad, police said
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30195876.htm
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U.S. Occupation Force Soldier On Trial for Iraqi Girl’s Rape and Murder :
A US occupation force soldier was in a military court on Monday for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her family.
tinyurl.com/3cfpc3
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Big U.S. presence in Iraq until mid-2009: commander:
U.S. generals expect to need a large contingent of troops in Iraq until the middle of 2009, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Monday.
tinyurl.com/2l5c5p
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Brown, Bush vow Iraq co-operation:
Brown said any decisions about redeployment of troops would only be made “on the military advice of our commanders on the ground,” echoing language often heard from Bush.
www.thestar.com/News/article/241312
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US: Saudi Arabia destabilising Iraq :
The US ambassador to the United Nations has accused Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the Middle East of undermining efforts to curb violence in Iraq.
tinyurl.com/3b9yb3
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Sidney Blumenthal: Operation Iraq betrayal:
In the absence of anything remotely resembling victory in Iraq, Bush and Cheney play the blame game — including in a new, authorized biography of the vice president
www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/07/26/cheney/
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Iraqi parliament adjourns in blow to Bush:
The recess leaves Bush with little to show Americans after sending nearly 30,000 more troops to Iraq to give Iraqi leaders breathing space to reach a political accommodation.
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30808071.htm
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Corruption ‘mars Iraq rebuilding’ :
The US agency overseeing reconstruction in Iraq has told the BBC that economic mismanagement and corruption there is equivalent to “a second insurgency”.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6922347.stm
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Desperate measures: U.S. Army Offering $20,000 Bonus For ‘Quick’ Recruits:
The Army is now offering a $20,000 “QS” – or “Quick Shipper” — bonus to new and prior service recruits joining, selecting any job and shipping out for training within 30 days.
www.wlwt.com/news/13766925/detail.html
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Taliban kill up to 13 “private security guards” in ambush:
Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of private security guards on a dangerous highway south of the capital, and officials said Monday up to 13 guards were killed.
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/30/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Violence.php
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Taliban kill male South Korean hostage:
Taliban kidnappers shot dead a male South Korean hostage on Monday, a spokesman said, accusing the Afghan government of not listening to rebel demands
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3431722,00.html
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UK Occupation Forces Soldier Killed in Afghanistan:
A soldier who was fatally wounded in a rocket attack in southern Afghanistan has been formally named.
www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/soldier+killed+in+afghanistan/637897
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Seven killed in militant violence in NW Pakistan:
Three paramilitary soldiers and four civilians died in militant attacks on Monday in the North Waziristan tribal region, military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad told Reuters
today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?rpc=401&storyId=ISL280476
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Pakistani gunship kills four in tribal area :
A Pakistani helicopter gunship fired on a suspicious car that was following an army convoy near the Afghan border, killing four suspected Islamic militants, officials said.
tinyurl.com/2924mv
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Militants occupy Pakistan shrine :
More than 70 pro-Taleban militants evicted local officials from the Haji Sahib Turangzai shrine near the Afghan border in the country’s north-west
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6921746.stm
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600 suicide bombers put Pak in a tizzy:
The Pakistani government has sounded a red alert in the wake of reports about presence of 600 suicide bombers within the limits of its national capital and asked security personnel to avoid gathering in groups and not to wear uniform in public
tinyurl.com/2qbq32
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Musharraf may quit army post to seal deal with Bhutto:
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf may hang up his army uniform to pave the way for a pact with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after the pair met in Abu Dhabi, a minister said on Monday.
tinyurl.com/2ojebx
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A new crisis in Russia-Iran relations :
From Iran’s vantage point, there is no doubt that Moscow has appeased Washington, whose officials have openly asked Russia not to complete Bushehr.
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IG28Ak03.html
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US Touts New Mideast Aid Package :
The Bush administration said Monday that a new multibillion dollar military sales package for Arab nations will help secure Iraq and the Persion Gulf while promoting stability and U.S. influence in a Middle East threatened by terrorism and rising Iranian ambitions.
www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6815484,00.html
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Reports: Iran to buy jets from Russia:
Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal.
tinyurl.com/2etwoy
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Analysis: Bush rules out strike on Iran ‘this year’:
The sources say the officials stressed the words “this year,” meaning in 2007. That, however, does not rule out the possibility of military intervention in 2008, right until January 2009, when Bush’s term in the White House comes to an end.
tinyurl.com/2tov5b
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Heritage: Economic Blowback from Bombing Iran Will be Easily Managed:
If there were any doubt in your mind that some People of Influence in Washington think that a U.S. military attack on Iran is a reasonable proposition, consider this: the Heritage Foundation has just published a paper attempting to reassure policymakers that the economic fallout from a U.S. attack on Iran.
tinyurl.com/36ftrm
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Brown says Iran next step is tougher sanctions:
“On Iran, we’re in agreement that sanctions are working and the next stage we are ready to move towards is to toughen the sanctions with a further U.N. resolution,” Brown told a joint news conference with Bush at Camp David.
tinyurl.com/2rhwvp
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U.S. Residents Reject Aggressive Foreign Policy:
Poll: 54 per cent of respondents think the U.S. will be safer from terrorism in the long run if it stays out of other countries’ affairs in the Middle East, up five points since October.
www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16656
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UN Experts Visit Iranian Nuclear Reactor:
Experts from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog have said access to the reactor is critical to their review of Tehran’s overall nuclear activities.
www.cnbc.com/id/6042524/for/cnbc/
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Peres: Ahmadinejad worships bomb over God :
Israeli President Shimon Peres, in a radio interview on Monday, called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a “Joke” And said he appeared to worship “the bomb more than he’s worshipping the God in heaven”.
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3431715,00.html
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Resistance is “legitimate right”: Palestine PM:
“We are an occupied nation and resistance is the legitimate right of the Palestinian people,” the official MENA news agency quoted Fayyad as saying in Cairo late on Sunday.
tinyurl.com/3bxejn
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U.S. labor backs Israel :
U.S. labor leaders are denouncing British union support for a boycott of Israel.
www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/103112.html
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It’s not torture, it’s sex:
Why is it the more the White House refines the rules, the pervier things get?
tinyurl.com/ypcxt3
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Gonzales Helped Bush Hide His Drunk Driving Conviction:
The Washington Post explores Gonzales’ “decades of dishonesty”, and explores his long relationship as Bush’s human shield.
www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/58281/
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Paul Krugman:: An Immoral Philosophy:
Denying basic health care to children whose parents lack the means to pay for it, simply because you’re afraid that success in insuring children might put big government in a good light, is just morally wrong.
www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/30/2863/
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Goldman Sachs guru warns of war-debt failure:
Subprimes downgraded. Will Moody’s downgrade America’s debt next? Actually, that’s already happening; our credit rating is collapsing with the dollar.
tinyurl.com/yu6rvr
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29/7/07
===
Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In America’s War On Iraq – At Least 655,000 + +
tinyurl.com/usq4x
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 3648
icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$447,362,655,781
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
===
The Death Mask Of War
U.S. Marines and Soldiers Have Become Socialized To Atrocity.
By Chris Hedges
The American killing project is not described in these terms to a distant public. The politicians still speak in the abstract terms of glory, honor, and heroism, in the necessity of improving the world, in lofty phrases of political and spiritual renewal. Those who kill large numbers of people always claim it as a virtue.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18082.htm
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You Do Not Abandon Your Own..
By Bettmann / Corbis
Of all the scandals to come out of the Iraq war – Abu Ghraib, Haditha, the gang-rape and murder of 14 year old Abeer Qassim Hamza – the most dishonorable to date is the Bush administration’s refusal to protect Iraqis who risked their lives by working as translators, interpreters, drivers for the US army.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18083.htm
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Crimes Against Peace
Was The U.S. Invasion Of Iraq Legal or Illegal Under International Law
Excellent video
Do any of the charges of illegality we’ve been hearing about have any legal basis at all? And why should we even care about international law anyway?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18090.htm
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The Pearl Harbor Myth
FDR, Pearl Harbor and the U.N.
By John V. Denson
A new book entitled The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable by George Victor and published by Potomac Books Inc. of Washington, D.C. is well researched and gives a very clear picture of how and why the Pearl Harbor myth was created. This “patriotic political myth” states that the attack by the Japanese was unprovoked and was a surprise to the Roosevelt administration, as well as, the key military personnel in Washington; but the commanders of Pearl Harbor were at fault for not being ready.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18084.htm
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The Least Useful Reaction to Terrorism is to Dismiss it as an Inscrutable Evil
By Jenni Russell
A blind faith in the moral superiority of our own way of life will only hinder efforts to tackle violent extremism.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18085.htm
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Bush’s Real Agenda in Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud
The Hamas government crackdown on Mohamed Dahlan’s corrupt security forces and affiliated gangs in the Gaza Strip in June appears to mark a turning point in the Bush administration’s foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel. The supposed shift, however, is nothing but a continuation of Washington’s efforts to stifle Palestinian democracy, to widen the chasm separating Hamas and Fatah, and to ensure the success of the Israeli project, which is focussed on colonising and annexing what remains of Palestinian land.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18088.htm
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Why my Landlord is Expecting the Worst
By Robert Fisk
Day after day, we’ve been watching the US air force C-130s arriving at Beirut’s Rafiq Hariri International Airport – named after the man whose assassination on 14 February detonated the latest tragedy of Lebanon – with their cargoes of weapons for the Lebanese army. Would that they had arrived a year ago, many Lebanese say, when Israel was destroying much of Lebanon.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18087.htm
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Bush Asserts a King’s Prerogative
With showdown over Iraq looming, president courts constitutional crisis
By Jay Bookman
In theory, President Bush is sworn to faithfully execute the laws of the United States. In reality, he has treated federal law as a menu from which he picks and chooses those laws he likes, while ignoring those that do not suit his taste. That royalist attitude may soon inspire a constitutional confrontation unrivaled in U.S. history.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18086.htm
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When Will We Have Had Enough?
“It’s far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them”
Must watch 5 Minute Video
“The tragedy of our day is the climate of fear in which we live and fear breeds repression. Too often, sinister threats to the Bill of Rights, to freedom of the mind are concealed under the patriotic cloak of anti-Communism.” Today, it’s the cloak of anti-terrorism. Stevenson also remarked, “It’s far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them” Click here for 1950s: Adlai Stevenson’s ‘’Nature of Patriotism’’ Speech, 1952.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18089.htm
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Iraq: Sunday: At least 37 killed in another bloody day of U.S. occupation:
The bodies of 20 people were found in different areas of Baghdad
today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?rpc=401&storyId=L29333538
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British troops get set to retreat from Basra:
As U.S. troop levels are peaking in Baghdad, British force levels are heading in the opposite direction as the troops prepare to withdraw completely from the city center of Basra, 300 miles to the south.
www.dailynews.com/news/ci_6490057
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US fears that Brown wants Iraq pull-:
Behind the scenes, however, American officials are picking up what they believe are signals that a change of British policy on Iraq is imminent.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2159281.ece
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Syria slams lack of US aid for Iraqi refugees:
Since the US-led invasion of 2003, about 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the violence in their country, with Syria hosting the lion’s share of 1.4 million displaced people, followed by Jordan with 750,000 refugees.
www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070729-122743-8233r
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Anti-war protest focuses on dollars over deaths:
First they tried lines of empty boots, then ribbons bearing the names of the more than 3,000 dead U.S. soldiers. Now anti-war protesters are trying a fresh tactic: appealing to American worries about their wallets
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28352931.htm
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Troops shot Iraqi many times :
A soldier charged with premeditated murder in the death of an Iraqi shot the man several times with a rifle before ordering a subordinate to do the same, according to an Army document filed in the case.
www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-07-29-iraqcharges_N.htm
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Iraqi man alleges CIA torture :
An Iraqi man alleges he was betrayed after helping British intelligence officials who handed him to U.S. CIA agents for torture in a secret prison.
www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/87952.html
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Revealed: MI5's role in torture flight hell:
An Iraqi who was a key source of intelligence for MI5 has given the first ever full insider’s account of being seized by the CIA and bundled on to an illegal ‘torture flight’ under the programme known as extraordinary rendition.
observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2137144,00.html
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Female soldier committed suicide over interrogation techniques in Iraq :
The third woman to die in Iraq, Army Specialist Alyssa Peterson, 27, from Flagstaff, Arizona, was reported as having died from a “non-hostile weapons discharge.” A reporter who dug further, Kevin Elston, found that she committed suicide on September 15, 2003, after becoming distraught from working in an interrogation unit known as “the cage.”
tinyurl.com/244q8q
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Taleban leaders set new deadline for SKorean hostages:
Taleban leaders said on Sunday their fighters would kill 22 remaining South Korean hostages if the Afghan government did not release rebel prisoners by a new deadline of 0730 GMT on Monday, a spokesman said.
tinyurl.com/2yus27
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Afghan forces surround Taliban kidnappers:
Afghan army and police surrounded the Taliban kidnappers of 23 Koreans on Sunday while tribal elders tried to mediate between the militants and government negotiators, a Kabul-based Western security analyst said.
tinyurl.com/2de5gk
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Taliban’s failed first use of SAM still worrisome:
Taliban militants used a heat-seeking, surface-to-air missile to attack a Western aircraft over Afghanistan for the first time last week, coalition military sources say.
www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070729/FOREIGN/107290045/1003
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Militants kill policeman in Pakistan, Taliban takes over mosque in tribal area:
Suspected militants Sunday attacked a police position in northern Pakistan killing one policeman and wounding two others, as armed Taliban militants took over the control of a mosque and a tomb in Mohmand tribal agency, said officials.
tinyurl.com/2yck8r
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Musharraf, Bhutto to share rule:
The accord — which will allow General Musharraf another five years as president and Ms Bhutto, who is now living in exile, a chance for a third term as prime minister — was “signed and sealed” at a secret face-to-face weekend meeting in Abu Dhabi, it was reported.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22154214-2703,00.html
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Bhutto warns of Islamist revolt in Pakistan:
Bhutto said she was planning her return to Pakistan this year to help stabilise the country in the face of the extremist threat.
tinyurl.com/228q4s
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UN inspectors to visit Iran in August for framework talks:
“Technical inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit Iran on August 6 to work on the regulations under which inspections of Iranian nuclear sites will be carried out,” it cited an unnamed Iranian official as saying.
tinyurl.com/ypwduy
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US ups Israeli defence aid to $30bn:
PRIME Minister Ehud Olmert has announced a new $30 billion ($35.2 billion) US defence package to preserve Israel’s regional military superiority, as Washington readied an Arab arms deal to counter Iran.
tinyurl.com/2hh3r4
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US to sell $20b of arms to Saudis, Gulf states:
Officials said the arms sales to Saudi Arabia were expected to include air-to-air missiles as well as Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which turn standard bombs into “smart” precision-guided bombs, the report said. They said the common goal of the military aid packages and arms sales is to strengthen pro-Western countries against Iran
www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTE1OTg1OTE5
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Israel says U.S. aid to Saudi military is understandable:
In a break from historic Israeli opposition to U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday his country understands Washington’s plan to supply state-of-the-art weapons to Riyadh as a counterweight to Iranian influence.
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/29/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-US-Arms.php
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US state department ‘funding Blair’ :
Senior UN and British officials have told Al Jazeera that the US state department has been paying Mr Blair’s bills, either directly or indirectly, via a trust fund. The amount remains undisclosed.
tinyurl.com/2oz22m
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Abbas arrives in Russia for meeting with Putin:
The Abbas-Putin meeting will be the first since the Hamas militant group took over the Gaza Strip
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/29/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Palestinians.php
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Fatah and Israel / Allies, Inc. :
For the first time in years, senior PA officials and heads of the security organizations in the West Bank are speaking in different tones. The Second Intifada against Israel is over, they say. Now, Fatah must focus its energy against its domestic threat, Hamas.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/886740.html
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Britain’s Gordon Brown becomes patron of Zionist agency :
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to become patron of the UK arm of the Jewish National Fund, whose funds have contributed to Israeli ethnic cleansing, the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expropriation of Palestinian land
www.redress.cc/global/redress20070728
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The closing of the Jewish mind:
How long will Jewish psychosis be tolerated, even vaunted, and its brutal consequences ignored
weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/855/op2.htm
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The Death of Fatah? :
According to the writer, the Palestinian Fatah movement was declared dead by a presidential decree; The article follows Fatah since its inception to its time in Jordan, to Lebanon and finally to the West Bank.
www.palestinechronicle.com/story-072707105502.htm
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Lebanese Troops Kill 8 Islamic Militants :
A Lebanese army commander said the final assault to crush the remaining Fatah Islam fighters there was ``imminent.’’
www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6812610,00.html
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Israeli soldier held by Hizbollah dies:
One of the two Israeli soldiers held by Hizbollah for more than a year has died and the other is still alive, the daily An-Nahar reported yesterday.
www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=269716
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‘We blocked US plans’ – Hezbollah :
“This war aimed to impose a new Middle East, broken up into confessional and ethnic mini-states, serving the interests of the United States and Israel,” he said.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6920908.stm
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The state of the world: Peace, War & Conflict: :
There have been over 250 major wars in the world since World War II, in which 23 million people have been killed., tens of millions made homeless, and countless millions injured and bereaved. Over 37 (or 42) million people have by killed by wars in the 20th century. Three times more people have been killed in wars in the last 90 years than in all the previous 500.
tinyurl.com/27stdn
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Peru’s president apologises to poor :
Currently 44 per cent of Peruvians live poverty. In his speech, Garcia said that increased public investment would bring that figure down to 30 per cent and “change the social face of Peru”.
tinyurl.com/2kays9
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US ‘dirty bomber’ is a trial for CIA:
IT WAS a terrorist trial that seemed to have everything – including a CIA agent testifying in disguise and a mysterious reference to a female donkey. But the long-awaited court appearance of Jose Padilla, a US citizen once known as America’s “dirty bomber”, has turned out to be missing a crucial ingredient – evidence that he actually did anything wrong.
tinyurl.com/2eozjp
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Free our Talib:
John Walker Lindh broke the law. But ‘the American Taliban’ wasn’t a terrorist, and he deserves clemency.
tinyurl.com/2xj5ln
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Bush calls on Congress for new phone, e-mail tapping law :
President Bush wants Congress to modernize a law governing how intelligence agencies monitor the communications of “suspected terrorists.
tinyurl.com/28wcxg
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Fake Fly Will Be Spy In The Sky:
“The real benefit of the fly is that from a military aspect, you probably wouldn’t be able to notice it,” said Prof Wood.
news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1277351,00.html
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1934: The Plot Against America:
In November 1934, federal investigators uncovered an amazing plot involving some two dozen senior businessmen, a good many of them Wall Street financiers, to topple the government of the United States and install a fascist dictatorship.
harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651
28/7/07
“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. “ : Thomas Paine Common Sense, January 1776
www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/sense1.htm
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Read this newsletter online tinyurl.com/dy6yy
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Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In America’s War On Iraq – At Least 655,000 + +
tinyurl.com/usq4x
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 3646
icasualties.org/oif/
The War in Iraq Costs
$446,931,312,951
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
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Fresh From The Iraqi Oven.
By Layla Anwar
I am not sure if you heard that on your news wherever you are, but 13 American soldiers met their fate yesterday in Adhamiya alone. You know Adhamiya don’t
you? The Ghetto of the 21st century. You know, come on now…The Aushwitz wall of Adhamiya. And (and this is important info) contrary to “popular” belief,
according to what I heard, the explosives used were NOT made in Iran.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18079.htm
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Dangers of a Cornered George Bush
Applied Psychoanalysis
By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity & Dr. Justin Frank
As we watched the pressure build on President Bush, looked toward the additional challenges we expect him to face over the next 18 months, and pondered his tendency to disregard the law and the Constitution, we felt very much in need of professional help in trying to estimate what kinds of decisions he is likely to make.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18081.htm
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The Threat Of Martial Law Is Real
By Dave Lindorff
The looming collapse of the US military in Iraq, of which a number of generals and former generals, including former Chief of Staff Colin Powell, have warned, is
happening none too soon, as it my be the best hope for preventing military rule here at home.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18080.htm
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90 Killed In Occupied Afghanistan Including 40 Civilians:
Nato and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban insurgents and called in airstrikes, killing at least 50 suspected militants and dozens of civilians, local officials and villagers said yesterday.
tinyurl.com/39whgp
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Two NATO occupation force troops killed in eastern Afghanistan :
Two NATO occupation force soldiers were killed in a military operation in Afghanistan’s eastern Nuristan province on Friday, the alliance’s force in the insurgency-hit country said.
www.focus-fen.net/?id=n118030
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More occupation troops may be needed in Afghanistan:
The head of the Armed Forces hinted yesterday that troop levels would have to be increased in Afghanistan. The news came as a second British soldier was killed in as many days.
tinyurl.com/2lalvh
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Taliban Spokesman Says Some Hostages Sick :
A purported Taliban spokesman warned Friday that some of the 22 South Korean hostages were in bad health, saying hours after the kidnappers’ latest deadline passed that the captives were crying and worried about their future.
tinyurl.com/3d2ljc
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Suicide blast kills 14 near Pakistan’s Red Mosque:
A suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Pakistani policemen during clashes at Islamabad’s Red Mosque Friday, killing at least 13 people, most of them police, officials said.
tinyurl.com/2jx2d2
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Islamic hardliners retake Pakistan’s Red Mosque :
Hundreds of Islamists occupied Pakistan’s Red Mosque Friday, painting the walls their original colour and clashing with police as the official reopening after an army assault descended into chaos.
tinyurl.com/2jt893
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Musharraf advised by his close military aides to quit: Report:
Though the President did not react to the suggestions, the sources said he might make a decision after his return from an official tour of Saudi Arabia where he’s likely to raise this issue with the Saudis in a bid to find “a way out of the political mess without any loss of face”.
tinyurl.com/39st4t
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Pervez, Benazir in secret meet :
Speculation intensified today that Pakistan’s embattled President Pervez Musharraf and former Premier Benazir Bhutto will form a power-sharing pact, as television channels reported they met secretly in Abu Dhabi.
www.telegraphindia.com/1070728/asp/foreign/story_8117177.asp
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Musharraf has sold country for sake of dollars:
How can the military rulers stop US and Nato forces from attacking tribal regions of Pakistan since they themselves have been using their army to kill tribal people, he said
paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?185270
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Iraq: At least 19 killed as U.S.occupation grinds on:
Police found seven bodies around Baghdad, the apparent victims of sectarian death squads, police said.
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27899782.htm
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US occupation force says kills 17 militiamen in Iraq clashes:
The U.S. military said on Friday it had killed around 17 militia fighters in clashes in Iraq’s holy Shi’ite city of Kerbala, but hospital and police sources said some civilians were among the dead.
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27743726.htm
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“Karbala civilians killed” in US-Iraqi forces raid (2nd Roundup):
Medical, police and Mahdi Army sources said 10 civilians including six from one family were killed and 28, including children, were wounded during a US raid on Karbala early Friday.
tinyurl.com/338yz5
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7 American soldiers killed in Iraq :
The American military said on Thursday that seven of its soldiers have been killed across Iraq, including three marines and a sailor killed in the province of Diyala.
www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=241392&n=22
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Four PKK leaders killed in Iraq blast -Turkish TV:
Turkey has threatened to carry out a military incursion into neighbouring northern Iraq to crush thousands of PKK rebels they believe use the mountainous region as a base.
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27139227.htm
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Substantial numbers of foreign fighters flowing into Iraq via Syria :
A substantial number of the foreign fighters flowing into Iraq via Syria have come from Saudi Arabia, and others from Yemen and the Gulf States, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday during a department briefing.
tinyurl.com/2r5wy3
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Iraqi government in deepest crisis:
Iraq is in the throes of its worst political crisis since the fall of Saddam Hussein with the new democratic system, based on national consensus among its ethnic and sectarian groups, appearing dangerously close to collapsing, say several politicians and analysts.
www.csmonitor.com/2007/0727/p01s05-wome.html
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Iraqi Government Dismisses Sunni Demands:
The Shiite-led Iraqi government issued a sharp response Friday to a Sunni political bloc that is threatening to pull out of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s administration, saying the group’s “threatening, pressuring and blackmail” cannot impede Iraq’s progress.
tinyurl.com/37t7m2
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Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out:
Relations between the top United States general in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki, the country’s prime minister, are so bad that the Iraqi leader made a direct appeal for his removal to President George W Bush.
tinyurl.com/2qxm8c
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White House warns Saudis over machinations in Iraq:
The extent of the deterioration in US-Saudi relations was exposed for the first time today when Washington accused Riyadh of working to undermine the Iraqi government.
www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,,2136514,00.html
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Rice, Gates face uphill battle to convince Saudis:
A senior State Department official said on Friday Iraq’s Sunni Arab neighbors must send an “affirmative” message of support to the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and to Sunni moderates in Iraq.
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27414110.htm
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US readies arms deal with Saudis, eyeing Iran: official:
The United States is readying a major arms package for Saudi Arabia with an eye to countering a changing threat from Iran, a senior US defense official said Friday.
www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=187306
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U.S. to sell advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and others:
The arms and aid package, which the officials said is to be announced on Monday, is part of a U.S. initiative to reassure worried allies in the Middle East that despite its troubles in Iraq, the United States remains committed to the region. It also is meant to send a signal of resolve to Iran’s increasingly confident leaders.
www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/18457.html
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U.S. Outfitting B-2's with Monster Bunker Buster Bombs – Iran May Be Target :
The U.S. is retrofitting its B-2 Stealth bombers with massive bunker-buster bombs – a move that could be a prelude to an attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities.
tinyurl.com/2myc9o
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US to fund defense systems for Israel:
Congress to vote on DoD budget proposal asking for tens of millions of dollars for development, purchase of new systems to defend Israeli skies against ballistic missiles
tinyurl.com/2wlgs3
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Candidates see Iran nuclear threat :
“Allowing Iran, a radical theocracy that supports terrorism and openly threatens its neighbors, to acquire nuclear weapons is a risk we cannot take,” Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said in a letter to the Israel Project, a pro-Israel group that educates the public about Israel and advocates an end to investment in Iran.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070726/pl_nm/usa_politics_iran_dc_1
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Israel urges ‘damaging’ Iran sanctions:
Concerned that the international community is “losing momentum” in its bid to use sanctions to deter Iran’s nuclear drive, Israel is now energetically lobbying for the imposition of a new batch of stiffer sanctions that would cause “real damage” to the regime.
tinyurl.com/2ofk72
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Sarkozy “going it alone” again in Libya deal-Germany:
France’s offer of nuclear cooperation for Libya has sparked outrage in Germany, where lawmakers see it as yet another example of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s “go-it-alone” approach to foreign policy.
tinyurl.com/2b3off
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Sarkozy says trust Arab states with nuclear power :
After agreeing to nuclear cooperation with Libya, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the West should trust Arab states to develop such technology for peaceful purposes or risk a war of civilisations.
tinyurl.com/2b3off
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Gorbachev: Bush, U.S. Trying to Build Empire:
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev criticized the United States, and current President George W. Bush in particular, on Friday for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire.
www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/7/27/102838.shtml?s=ic
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Putin Will Expand Spy Network to Counter `Imbalances’ With U.S. :
The SVR, one of the intelligence services that replaced the Soviet Union’s KGB, will increase its work, primarily through information gathering and analytical support, Putin told security officials in Moscow yesterday.
tinyurl.com/2jk4cd
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Lebanon Fighting Kills 2 Army Soldiers :
Two Lebanese soldiers died in overnight fighting with al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp in the country’s north, a senior military official said Friday.
www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6810620,00.html
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Gaza was a Gas for Blair:
Turning Palestine’s Most Valuable Natural Resource into a Political Tool
www.counterpunch.org/neslen07272007.html
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Huge payout for men framed by FBI :
A federal judge in Boston has ordered the US government to pay out more than $100m (£50m) in the case of four wrongly convicted men.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6918186.stm
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Dead Man Walking: Video:
A Texas- USA prison prepares for the execution of another young black man. Four leather belts will strap him to a white bed as he waits for the lethal injection. Visitors can stand in an adjacent room and watch through a barred window
youtube.com/watch?v=2G0v5ZLc8-Y
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Chrysler crisis and the plunge into chaos:
ON WEDNESDAY night about midnight, Australian time, the world changed, maybe forever.
www.theage.com.au/news/business/chrysler-crisis-and-the-plunge-into-chaos/2007/07/26/1185339167308.html
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