Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,205,025"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
 
===
 
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq 4,064
icasualties.org/oif/
 
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$515,918,607,081
 
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
 
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CIA Director Says Iran Wants to Kill Americans in Iraq
 
By John Milburn
 
CIA Director Michael Hayden said Wednesday that Iranian policy, at the highest government level, is to help kill Americans in Iraq, the boldest pronouncement of Iranian involvement by a U.S. official to date.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19849.htm
 
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US officials: Decision On Confronting Iran Up To Iraq
 
By The Associated Press
 
Iraqi leaders have been given the latest U.S. evidence of Iranian support for militias inside Iraq, and Baghdad will decide what to do about it, two senior Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19851.htm
 
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Is War With Iran Imminent?
 
This time, it’s more than a rumor…
 
By Justin Raimondo
 
The indications of an imminent attack – the latest incident, the steady stream of accusations coming from the U.S. regarding Iranian influence in Iraq, the nuclear charade, etc. – have suddenly taken a more ominous turn with the recent statement of America’s top military officer that the U.S. is weighing military action against Iran. The Washington Post reports.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19852.htm
 
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Distant Echoes of Vietnam
 
The Day I Lost My Innocence
 
By William P. O’Connor
 
Old men make the wars, but they don’t fight the fight. The congressmen that declare war are too important to fight, too important and too busy. They are too busy lobbying, too busy collecting the lucrative pensions they have allocated themselves, and too busy assigning defense contracts to companies that will employ them after their tenure in congress.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19853.htm
 
===
 
Since I Gave Up Hope, I Feel Better
 
By William Blum
 
Food riots, in dozens of countries, in the 21st century. Is this what we envisioned during the post-World War Two, moon-landing 20th century as humankind’s glorious future? It’s not the end of the world, but you can almost see it from here.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19855.htm
 
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Unqualified
 
By Mark A. Goldman
 
Winning the election is more important than telling the truth for the other two front- runners too. That’s why none of them are qualified to be President of the United States.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19854.htm
 
===
 
US Bombs Somalia Kills 30: :
 
A US air raid has killed up to 30 people, including two senior leaders of al-Shabaab, Somalia’s armed opposition group.
tinyurl.com/5cyr5u
 
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Double suicide attack strikes wedding convoy in Iraq, killing at least 30:
 
The attacks occurred in the town of Balad Ruz.
tinyurl.com/4n22tk
 
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Women and children among 27 killed as US occupation grinds on:
 
U.S. forces said they killed 18 fighters in clashes beginning on Wednesday afternoon and running through the night in the Shi’ite district of Sadr City in the capital.
www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSL0134024820080501
 
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Six Iraqi soldiers killed or wounded in separate incidents in Mosul, Kirkuk :
 
Six Iraqi soldiers were killed and wounded on Wednesday in separate incidents in the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk north of the country, according to the Iraqi police.
tinyurl.com/3r74v8
 
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Sense of injustice drives Iraqi women bombers:
 
Experts link recent increase in female suicide bombers to desire for revenge against US military policies in Iraq.
www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=25663
 
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Maliki: state will disarm militia by force:
 
The prime minister laid down four conditions — that militia disarm, stop interfering in state affairs, stop running their own courts and hand over wanted fugitives — or face a military assault.
www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL305633420080430
 
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Iraq PM sends team to Iran to discuss militias:
 
Iraq’s prime minister has sent a delegation to Tehran to tell Iranian officials to stop backing Shiite militias, Iraqi officials said on Thursday, underscoring Baghdad’s unease over the influence of its powerful neighbor.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24405250/
 
===
 
Fact or fiction?
 
Iraqi MPs, Sadr meet in Iran in bid to end clashes:
 
A group of Iraqi Shiite MPs is in Iran for talks with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in a bid to end clashes between his fighters and troops that have killed hundreds of people, a Sadr aide said on Thursday.
www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=228964
 
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Spokesman says anti-U.S. occupation cleric will not meet Iraqi delegation in Iran:
 
Sheik Salah al-Obeidi is a spokesman for al-Sadr in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. Al-Obeidi claims in remarks made Thursday that the five-member Iraqi delegation that traveled to Tehran is under the influence of Iran and does not represent Iraq’s national interests.
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/01/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Al-Sadr.php
 
===
 
Bluff and Bloodshed:
 
The Persian Gulf is more dangerous than ever. Will the U.S. and Iran go to war at sea?: In April 1988 the American and Iranian navies fought the biggest air-sea battle waged since World War II. By the time it was over, carrier-based U.S. attack planes had sunk the frigate Sahand and disabled the frigate Sabalan, the pride of the Iranian navy.
www.newsweek.com/id/134988\
 
===
 
Presstitute and war pimp alert:
 
US Cites New Evidence of Iranian Support for Taliban :
 
The Pentagon said Wednesday Iran is continuing to provide weapons and other material to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, in addition to its alleged continuing support for Shiite militias in Iraq.
tinyurl.com/53lpwq
 
===
 
NATO occupation force soldier among 9 killed by roadside bombs in Afghanistan:
 
Roadside bombs struck two civilian cars on a road regularly used by Afghan and foreign troops in southern Kandahar province Wednesday. Eight people were killed and six wounded.
www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/05/01/afghan-violence.html
 
===
 
2 Members Of US Occupation Forces Killed in Afghanistan:
 
The Pentagon says two Americans killed in Afghanistan Tuesday, raising to at least 425 members of the military that have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/nationworld/ci_9118669
 
===
 
Thousands flee as US occupation forces operation gets under way :
 
Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in different parts of Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, as a US military operation in and around Garmsir District against Taliban insurgents gets under way, provincial officials said.
www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=78005
 
===
 
Amid Taliban rise, U.S. weighs bigger role in Afghanistan:
 
Pentagon officials are quietly considering a significant change in the war command in Afghanistan to extend U.S. control of forces into the country’s volatile south.
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/05/01/20080501afghan0501.html
 
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Taliban Retake Control Of Region:
 
The Taliban reportedly has regained control of Pakistan’s Darra Adamkhel region and resumed its activities despite the presence of security forces.
www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212145103.shtml
 
===
 
Mullen Cites U.S. ‘Vulnerability’:
 
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, said the U.S. political transition will be “extraordinarily challenging,” particularly as the military is engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and faces interference in both countries from Iran.
tinyurl.com/4hp3eh
 
===
 
Manufacturing Consent For An Attack On Iran: ‘
 
Iran may get nuke technology this year’:
 
Iran will likely have nuclear bomb technology in 2008, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday, citing an updated Israeli intelligence assessment.
tinyurl.com/4d234m
 
===
 
Hamas are Iran’s proxy warriors: Rice:
 
Palestinian Hamas militants are serving as the “proxy warriors” for an Iran bent on destroying Israel and destabilizing the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080430/wl_afp/mideastusdiplomacyiran
 
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‘Israel must be decisive’:
 
“There will be no choice but to overthrow Hamas. They are essentially Iranian offshoots sitting within us. It’s intolerable that Israel allows its cities to be fired upon; we must move from a war of attrition to a war of decisivness,” said Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu
tinyurl.com/4xttzx
 
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Member of Hamas resistance movement killed by Israeli attack in Gaza:
 
Three others, including a child, were injured in the attack.
tinyurl.com/4spx8f
 
===
 
Israel minister rejects Gaza truce:
 
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit insisted that Israel could not accept an Egyptian-brokered proposal on Gaza, claiming it would only give the Islamist movement Hamas the opportunity to boost its military capabilities.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080501/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgaza
 
===
 
British Government urges Israel to lift Gaza blockade :
 
The British Government Thursday urged Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza and abide by international humanitarian law.
tinyurl.com/4ox5pm
 
===
 
Are these Syrian nuclear pictures faked?:
 
The CIA published three aerial photographs last week purporting to show a Syrian nuclear reactor, bombed by Israel last September. But are the pictures all that they seem? Doubts about their authenticity have been raised by Professor William Beeman, head of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, who has had a long involvement with the Middle East.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/01/syria.nuclear
 
===
 
Documents show US considered using nuclear weapons against China:
 
President Dwight D. Eisenhower overruled some of his military commanders in the summer of 1958, ordering them not to use nuclear weapons against China if communist forces blockaded the Taiwan Strait, according to declassified Air Force documents.
tinyurl.com/4nlak2
 
===
 
UK: Torture techniques taught at Chicksands:
 
The Joint Committee on Human Rights heard on Tuesday from leading human rights solicitor Phil Shiner that the soldiers carrying out these torture methods were trained at the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre at Chicksands. (DISC)
tinyurl.com/4g4a4a
 
===
 
U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list :
 
Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,”
www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-30-watchlist_N.htm
 
===
 
Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says :
 
Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency’s decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said.
tinyurl.com/554k77
 
===
 
Belarus expels US diplomats :
 
Belarus has ordered 10 US diplomats to leave the country amid a row sparked by Washington’s criticism of alleged human rights abuses, according to the US embassy in the capital Minsk.
tinyurl.com/6de4bw
 
===
 
Chavez raises Venezuelan minimum wage 30 percent :
 
The socialist leader has signed a degree that will fix the monthly minimum wage at U.S. US$372 (euro239), starting May 1, International Workers’ Day. Chavez says the move will give Venezuela the highest minimum wage in Latin America.
tinyurl.com/4qkqaq
 
===
 
Bolivia to nationalize four more oil firms :
 
Bolivia on Thursday said it would launch its second stage of nationalizing its oil industry, with plans to take over four companies – Transredes, Andina, Chaco and CLHB. The move comes as one of Bolivia’s wealthier provinces, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, prepares to hold a maverick referendum on Sunday seeking greater autonomy to commandeer more of its endemic wealth in the form of natural gas and other resources.
tinyurl.com/5ya9bc
 
===
 
Bolivia orders nationalization of telecom Entel:
 
Morales announced plans to buy back a majority of the former state company last year, but negotiations with Telecom Italia have dragged out. Terms of Thursday’s nationalization announcement are not immediately clear.
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iieMNO64Pfk2WM4zxK7CrIlopYbwD90D0G0O5
 
===
 
Just Between Us:
 
Telecoms and the Bush administration talked about how to keep their surveillance program under wraps.
www.newsweek.com/id/134930
 
===
 
Iraq: U.S. has no claim to oil boom:
 
As Congress gears up to debate the Bush administration’s latest request for an additional $108 billion in war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, Iraqis are fuming at suggestions being floated by lawmakers that Baghdad should start paying a share of the war’s costs by providing cheap fuel to the U.S. military.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oil-money_slymay01,0,7290713.story
 
===
 
Exxon Mobil reports $11B in quarterly profits:
 
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s first-quarter profit rose 17 percent from a year ago, as soaring crude oil prices helped the company reach its second-largest U.S. quarterly profit ever.
tinyurl.com/5mfxpd
 
===
 
Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet :
 
Struggling with mounting debt and rising prices, faced with the toughest economic times since the early 1990s, Americans are selling prized possessions online and at flea markets at alarming rates.
tinyurl.com/67wdbb