Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,205,025"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
 
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Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’sWar On Iraq 4,065
icasualties.org/oif/
 
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$516,207,839,839
 
See the cost in your community
nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
 
===
 

Elite Policy And The “Axis of Evil”
 
By Noam Chomsky
 
The official story right now is that after having been forced to accept an agreement on dismantling its nuclear weapons facilities, North Korea is again trying to evade its commitments in its usual devious way-”good news” for superhawks like John Bolton, who have held all along that the North Koreans understand only the mailed fist and will exploit negotiations only to trick us.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19856.htm
 
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How Under-the-Gun Iran Plays it Cool
 
By Pepe Escobar
 
This year, Iran finally becomes a natural gas-exporting country. The framework for the $7.6 billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, also known as the “peace” pipeline, is a go. Both these key South Asian US allies are ignoring Bush administration desires and rapidly bolstering their economic, political, cultural, and – crucially – geostrategic connections with Iran. An attack on Iran would now inevitably be viewed as an attack against Asia.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19857.htm
 
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Democrats Okay Funds for Covert Ops
 
Secret Bush “Finding” Widens War on Iran
 
By Andrew Cockburn
 
Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, “unprecedented in its scope.”
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19858.htm
 
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Somalia: A Victim of Bush’s Recklessness
 
How the West ended Somalia’s brief flirtation with stability
 
By Matthew Carr
 
The violence that is currently ripping Somalia apart is a direct consequence of the Bush administration’s reckless military adventurism and the Manichean fantasy world of the 21st century’s terror wars.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19859.htm
 
===
 
The Plague of Potomac Fever
 
By David Sirota
 
Professional lawmakers in Washington are insulated from real-world pressures by six-figure salaries, security sentries and servile staffers.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19860.htm
 
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Wedding twin bombing casualties up to 120 :
 
The death toll from Thursday’s Diala wedding twin bombing reached 45 and the wounded 75, according to an official medial source in the province on Friday.
tinyurl.com/4jj6ez
 
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Baghdad blasts kill 30:
 
Two suicide bombers have killed 30 people and wounded 65 others in a busy market in Baghdad.
www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/baghdad+blasts+kill+30/2121552
 
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Turkish warplanes bombs northern Iraq :
 
The warplanes hit Iraq’s Qandil region as well as 10 other sites near the Iraq-Iran border in an operation that began Thursday night and stretched into early Friday, according to the sources.
www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=140708
 
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Sadrist bloc awaits government’s response on parliamentary initiative :
 
The Sadrist bloc waits for the government’s response to the parliamentary initiative to end the current crisis in Sadr City, the spokesman for the bloc said on Friday, noting that the government has not responded.
tinyurl.com/3gypfk
 
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Iraqi MPs call Maliki ‘depraved’ :
 
Iraqi deputies have denounced the government, using a quotation from the Koran to describe Prime Minister Nouri Maliki as “depraved”.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7377005.stm
 
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Hundreds of Sadrist followers riot in Baghdad :
 
Hundreds of followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr took to the streets on Friday, in North-Western Baghdad following the bombardment of an Al-Sadr office situated in Southern Baghdad, by joint US-Iraqi forces
tinyurl.com/4fapj7
 
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Mahdi Army Commander: Fighting Is Only Option:
 
Audio:
 
The militia commander talked to Bowman about recent fighting in Sadr City, the group’s belief in its right to defend itself, and why the militia refuses to lay down its arms, even though the Iraqi government has ordered it to do so.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90127350&ft=1&f=1001
 
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Bush details $70 billion war request for 2009:
 
President’s request raises war, terror bill to $875 billion
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24428337/
 
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Senate Panel Moves to Shift Costs of War to Iraq:
 
With energy prices soaring and the federal deficit approaching $400 billion, senators from both parties moved yesterday to force Iraq to shoulder more financial responsibility for its reconstruction and self-defense.
tinyurl.com/3thocr
 
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US religious freedom watchdog mulls blacklisting Iraq:
 
A US watchdog on religious freedom on Friday expressed serious concern over violations in Iraq and was considering whether to place it on a blacklist with countries such as North Korea and Iran.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080502/pl_afp/usreligioniraq
 
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West Coast ports closed by anti-war worker protest:
 
Ports along the U.S. West Coast, including the country’s busiest port complex in Los Angeles, shut down on Thursday as some 10,000 dock workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.
www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSN0144367220080501
 
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Manufacturing Consent For An Attack On Iran:
 
Iraq presents “proof” of Iranian meddling: official:
 
 ”They presented a list of names, training camps and cells linked to Iran,” Haidar al-Ibadi, a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa party, told Reuters.
abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4772894
 
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Manufacturing Consent For An Attack On Iran:
 
US military chief slams Iran’s ‘irresponsible influence’:
 
Iran’s “irresponsible influence” in the Middle East including pursuit of nuclear weapons and support of terrorism creates a “perfect nightmare” threatening the entire region, the top US military official warned.
www.france24.com/en/20080502-us-military-chief-slams-irans-irresponsible-influence
 
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World powers agree on “incentives” for Iran:
 
The details of the amended offer being made by the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany were not revealed.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24427492/
 
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Iran-Europe gas deals anger Washington:
 
The US and its allies are worried that the sanctions regime against Tehran is under threat from a possible new wave of European investment in Iran’s strategically important gas sector.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a473f7de-16d5-11dd-bbfc-0000779fd2ac.html
 
===
 
Warships In The Persian Gulf Are Empty Exercises Of Power: :
 
American warships, do not in the slightest meet the Iranian “threat” head on. They do the reverse: They strengthen the most radical mentalities of ancient Persia that remain locked in the memories of the country’s history. In fact, they only strengthen perfervid anti-Western feelings.
tinyurl.com/3uhzko
 
===
 
18 killed in mosque blast in Yemen rebel stronghold:
 
Eighteen people, mostly soldiers, were killed in Yemen on Friday when a blast blamed by authorities on Shiite insurgents exploded at the entrance to a mosque in the rebels’ stronghold.
tinyurl.com/6k3l2s
 
===
 
US air raid kills Somali fighters :
 
Four aircraft bombed the town of Dusamareb, 300km north of Mogadishu, on Thursday
tinyurl.com/5cyr5u
 
====
 
Fighters vow revenge in Somalia:
 
Twenty four other people were killed in the attack, said one of the Dusamareeb elders, Ilmi Hassan Arab. Five of the bodies were in the targeted house and the rest from nearby homes, he said
yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/nationworld/ci_9132305
 
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Remove Gaza siege, Quartet tells Israel:
 
In a joint statement issued after talks in London, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged Israel “to freeze all settlement activity including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts” but only those erected since March 2001.
www2.irna.com/en/news/view/line-22/0805021784201714.htm
 
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Israeli occupation forces exonerates self in Gaza family killings:
 
“The family was hit during the explosion of the second missile that ignited secondary explosions or from objects that flew towards them because of the force of the blast,” the army said in a statement on the conclusions of the full investigation.
www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=25689
 
===
 
Police questioning sparks calls for Israeli PM to step aside:
 
Gideon Sa’ar, the chair of the opposition Likud party, urged the Labour party to drop out of the coalition, calling it a “government under suspicion.” In a statement issued Thursday, Olmert said he would work with police.
www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/05/02/olmert-questioned.html
 
===
 
Taliban claim victory from a defeat:
 
The Taliban have suffered their first major loss in this year’s offensive, but they are putting on a brave face, even spinning the setback as a triumph in their broader battle against foreign forces in Afghanistan.
www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JE03Df02.html
 
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Food crisis leaves many Afghans desperate:
 
Rising global food prices have hit few places as hard as Afghanistan, where the cost of wheat flour has shot up 75 percent in three months, fueling anger against the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4770706
 
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Bush pledges $770m in food aid :
 
“The American people are generous people and compassionate people. We believe in the timeless truth, to whom much is given, much is expected.”
tinyurl.com/5az456
 
===
 
Artificial Foods and Corporate Crops: Can We Escape the ‘Frankenstate’?:
 
Taking a technological approach to agriculture has put the future of the world’s food supply in jeopardy.
www.alternet.org/environment/83301/
 
===
 
Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj hits out at US captors :
 
 Saying that “rats are treated with more humanity”, al-Hajj said inmates’ “human dignity was violated”.
tinyurl.com/56k9og
 
===
 
Guantanamo inmates on hunger strike:
 
Detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba have begun a new hunger strike.
www.australiannews.net/story/354012
 
===
 
Outsourcing Intelligence in Iraq: :
 
When U.S. troops or embassy officials want to track and investigate Iraqis – such as interrogating prisoners accused of terrorism, doing background checks on potential employees, or even to chat with ordinary citizens on the street – the principal intermediary is a relatively obscure company named L-3, that is just over a decade old
www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15017
 
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Pentagon launches foreign news websites:
 
At first glance, Mawtani.com looks like a conventional news website. Only the “about” link at the bottom of the site takes readers to a page that discloses the Pentagon sponsorship. The site, which has operated since October, is modeled on two long-established Pentagon-sponsored sites that offer native-language news for people in the Balkans and North Africa.
www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-04-30-sites_N.htm
 
===
 
Post Carrier Accused of Warning Customer About ‘Mail Cover’ Surveillance:
 
Federal prosecutors in Detroit say letter carrier Darlene Cry illegally tipped off a postal customer that he was the subject of a “mail cover” — a form of warrantless surveillance in which the envelope information on every card and letter received is secretly recorded by the Post Office, then passed to federal law enforcement or intelligence officials.
blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/post-carrier-ac.html
 
===
 
Beyond 1984:
 
In government, nothing is sacred:
 
Signed into law April 24, 2008, the oh-so innocent sounding Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007 establishes a national database of newborn DNA. This law establishes collection and warehousing of newborn DNA for scientific research and requires no parental consent or knowledge.
www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/6676
 
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Commando-author under arrest:
 
Denis Morisset was preparing to do publicity for his book detailing secret missions in Afghanistan, Peru and even an Ottawa bank, when he was arrested Tuesday and charged with contacting two minors with the intent of committing sexual crimes.
register.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/420237
 
===
 
Labour mauled in UK local polls :
 
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has admitted that his party had suffered a “bad” blow in key local elections, as Labour suffered its worst results since the 1960s.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2E61A17C-2A63-4DFE-A25B-489D079232D0.htm
 
===
 
Chevron Posts $5.17 Billion Profit :
 
Chevron Corp.’s first-quarter earnings echoed a theme set earlier this week by other international oil companies: soaring crude prices are pumping up profits to astronomical levels.
online.wsj.com/article/SB120973231870862611.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
 
===
 
$150 Billion and Counting: Federal Reserve Announces Another Increase In Its Treasury Auction Facility:
 
The housing finance bailout continues. – Here’s the global angle to the junk buying binge.
tinyurl.com/5qjjzp